A Farewell Lunch I Wish I Never Had to Organise

A email I just received in the inbox brought tears (complete with a box of my weakness - Royce chocolates on my table) ... ...

"To my RO and the hottest mum @ BA  - Christy, thank you for your guidance, both professionally and personally. Your passion is really inspiring. And it's really great that I met someone who love shoes and fashion as much as me :D You have been a wonderful boss to me!"

We had the farewell lunch for W this afternoon and yours truly had the honour of organising it, wish very much that I didn't have to. 

Recall W joined us slightly less than a year ago and since then, life has never been the same. There was finally someone who shared my atypical dress sense and love for high heels. Known as the "Lims on Heels", we love pants, fitting skirts, pretty dresses, tank tops (with jackets on in class of course) and not forgetting matching eye shadows. Nay-sayers of our dress sense are aplenty, but with W, I was not alone. Over lunch or along corridors, our conversations would always start off with where to get that pair of heels or for that matter clothes or accessories before moving on to work stuff. We had even taken pictures of our heels side by side as well! 

Not only do we have similar views on the use of games, activities and social media to engage students, W's drive also brought to fruition many initiatives to harness social learning. A class Facebook identity and associated info-graphics activity to link 400 students on a common platform, building interactive game platforms for the annual National Accounting Quiz (which saw close to 800 participants) revitalising a dated card game to an on-line BINGO form, and as her parting gift, an iPhone application to help students in the review of the journal entries for their weakest topic. Where would we be without her?

Though labelled as "Bimbos" by many (W and I are at least a decade apart in terms of age so to be labelled with her as such is an honour), we have more than proven them wrong with our drive and results. More than a breath of fresh air, she brought back memories and reminded me of myself years back when I first joined the academia, full of youth, passion, energy and drive, although of course I can no longer keep up with W now. Of all W's positive traits, I appreciated her straight-talking style most, telling me on the face when she disagreed or when presenting other alternatives. Needless to say, W is miles ahead of yours truly in terms of technical competency as well.

It sucks when team members resign under your watch, it sucks even more when that happens to be a super performer. To be honest, when W tendered her resignation months ago, it was the lowest of the lows that I had to work through. Hours were spent reflecting on what could I have done differently, what could have gone wrong and to be frank I nearly called it quits as well. But now, I am happy that she's able to explore other opportunities at an age where I could no longer turn the clock back to. I have no doubts that she will soar like an eagle no matter where she is. It leaves me now to wish her only the very best.

Lunch with Ex-Bosses... ...Time Seemed to Have Stood Still

A long time 师姐 of mine extended an invitation to a well-wishing lunch for a retiring ex-boss and boy, am I glad I took up the offer. It was a good catch-up with 2 ex-bosses and 2 ex-colleagues. Icing on the cake was that the other ex-boss (my encounters with her would warrant more than a blog post) bought us lunch instead!

BG T will be retiring at the end of this month. It came as a surprise when I read about his retirement in the papers for he's still young with many more good years to serve. He shared about his post retirement plans which included devoting some of his time to the needy students in a primary school. That really took me by surprise for there's indeed a compassionate side to a tough man. Still it was hard for me to visualise how lower primary school kids will take to his no-nonsense style. Unforgettable was the potential post retirement spousal conflicts that my ex-bosses shared. From infringing of mopping rights to spaces in the fridge, isn't it supposed to be back to lovey dovey twosome days now that livelihood and kids are out of the way?

Regardless, BG T was the boss who taught me to write what I mean and to mean what I write when I was a young officer in MOF. I recall the many versions of my policy papers and meeting minutes he would painstakingly amend, once even in his office when he went through line by line verbally before amending on paper (those days we didn't work on laptops). He was the boss who taught me the key role of a secretariat when taking minutes, i.e. to make the boss look good whichever way I chose to write. 

Thinking back, BG T gave me many opportunities as a young officer. As a fresh graduate then, I was tasked to evaluate recommendations from the accounting fraternity on revisions to the Accountants' Act. Recalled that gave me sleepless nights having to liaise and sit in meetings with the fraternity leaders. Of course, I would never forget the boo-boos I made during the thank-you lunch organised for the leaders which was hosted by the Minister. Soft-spoken but tough boss to serve, BG T took a walk to my cubicle which was so far away from his office to thank me for the job done and gently debriefed me on the points that I should take note henceforth. That personal touch still resonate in me till today.

BG T was also the boss who offered me an opportunity to join the Administrative Service. He would proudly harp on the fact that yours truly graduated with a first class honours during meetings back in those days. I was really stressed to the point of embarrassment for I knew I am one who studies better than work and one who writes better than speak. I also knew very early on that policy making wasn't in my blood (too much of an idealist with overpowering emotions) though I hung on for a year just to satisfy myself that I had done my best. Still, BG T would always reply to my well-wishing emails thereafter and yes he attended my wedding even after I had left his office.

As I sat through lunch, time seemed to have stood still at the late 90s, that my ex-bosses and ex-colleagues still look very much the way they did and I was hoping against all hopes that I still looked like the young officer I did. So it was a drive home filled with reflection and reminiscing. Of course there is always a part of me who wonders how life would have been if I had taken up BG T's offer back then, though I am certain that my troop of five would be a distant possibility if that had been so.

Thanks (but no thanks) to the Kids!

We really have our kids to thank that MY ONE and I were able to complete our maiden 10km run since parenthood began, 12 years ago to be exact! 

It all started with a very innocent question from yours truly after chancing upon the SAFRA Bay Run advertisement in the PIONEER magazine. I was just casually asking whether they think mummy should sign up for the run. When an overwhelmingly enthusiastic affirmation came along, I began to chicken out with excuses like, "It's been half my life time ago that I last did long distance running!" and the mother of all excuses, "I have become so unfit after having all of you especially after all the weight gain cum lost which had caused all the saggy muscles and stretched marks!"

The sportsman in the family, Nigel, then opined, "Mummy, as you have always said, it's all in the mind. If you really want something that badly, nothing can stop you! It's mind over body remember?" Then came the punch line from Claire, "PRACTISE WHAT YOU PREACH!" Still able to recall vividly the ongoings of this conversation in the car enroute to their classes. There was no turning back since.

So I started with 2km sometime in June, increasing one round at the track during every subsequent practice run. Mind you, the kids really did keep track of whether I was keeping up with the training programme with their incessant, "How many rounds did you do today?", but of course encouragement was aplenty whenever I was up to speed. Not to mention, suffering needs companionship, hence MY ONE was dragged in.

Out to prove a point to the kids but we ended up reaping the good fruits of keeping fit, "pak tor" whilst running, sometimes in the rain as well (relieving good old romantic days I would say). I have never been fitter and closer to MY ONE over a sport. Though it feels good to revisit my old love - running, I will be no where close to digging my own grave by announcing to the kids my intent to do a half marathon!