A beautiful Malaysian evening!

Looking out the window from where I sat yesterday, I saw this beautiful clear sky about 5 o'clock in the evening. It's a view I had to treasure, considering the rainy days I had endured for the past few weeks. And, it also reminds me of how much we should treasure the environment, which itself is deteriorating. The signs are clear - erratic rainfall or sudden hot spells that sky rocket the temperature up to 37C during the mid day.

Seeing the sky as beautiful as this, gave me a calming and relaxing effect. Simply a beautiful view! :)

New profile picture.........projecT mickamix @ work

Couple of days back I got a little fed up with studying, so I decided to look for ideas for my long overdue mix, which I wanted to release two months ago. So while I was working and testing out some ideas on the mixer, I decided to give my ears a break and put my headphones on the table. That was when I look at the posture of the headphones lying beside my laptop, and I pulled out my digital camera and I got this photo! Since, I wanted a picture that really fitted my music mixing pesona, I had the picutre fitted into my profile, and I also turned it into my wallpaper. :)

Time to make a decision - to let go or to hang on? (in case you are wondering, I don't mean committing suicide)

Alright! Here's the current scenario - I am going to sit for four papers in a few days time. Ask me about progress? Here's my answer - I don't even know how to describe my progress right now, frankly.

So I am deciding to go on a risk based approach (and no, I don't mean risk based approach of audit). Well, anyway one of the papers that I am taking is business and corporate law. This morning whilst studying in college, I met a friend of mine in the full time class for the law paper, and apparently I have been studying it on the wrong basis. Although I cannot confirm it, but considering she has been attending classes and I have been attempting to self study it. Well, considering she's got the guidance of a lecturer, what she said could be true (i.e. it is mandatory to include which section in the law e.g. Sect. XX(X) when answering, while I was on the assumption it was not necessary).

So, I am thinking about making a stand right now. There is only a few days left before the exam paper. And I sure as hell don't have steroids to help boost my brain intake! So what are my chances of passing? 30%, 40%, 50% - once again, I don't know! I don't have a clue at all.

And thinking ----------- thinking ------------ thinking --------------- thinking ---------> My stand? If I am going to fail not trying, I might as well die trying, fail it and at least be happy saying I tried like a MAN!!!

I have to learn to adapt to stressful situations, and I qoute Bruce Lee, "be water, my friend".

A moment to reflect

Counting down to my exam date is really getting closer and I am still struggling to find my confidence. I am really not sure where it has run to. I am still unsure of myself regarding my risky undertaking of four papers. I have to ascertain my chances. Sometimes I feel good about it, and sometimes I feel very weary about it. The only thing I can think of is that, 'if I am sure, it means I am probably not ready yet'. In terms of support, I am getting a tremendous amount of support from my parents and it has helped me carry myself through so far. It has not been a smooth ride and it will probably continue to be bumpy until I complete my last paper on the 12th of June.

Talking about confidence, while taking a break from studying yesterday afternoon I was watching a National Geographic Special on the famous actress Zhang Zi Yi (if that's you spell her name?). Seeing her work out those tough scripts she gets when shooting motion pictures, and at one point she had to learn to sing for a special set she was doing in Japan. I was deeply moved by her determination and there was one point during the show I actually felt envious, for she had that sort conviction in what she was doing. When they recorded her practising the song she was supposed to sing for the show, I could see the amount of effort she was putting into it. In addition, the song she was singing was anything but easy, since it was a Japanese song. In case you don't know, she's Chinese! The Japanese language is a language one cannot expect to grasp by just listnening to songs or watching heaps of Japanese dramas. And throughout the show, when she was interviewed, she often put emphasis on how difficult the road ahead is, and how difficult it is trying to put herself into a character she is playing that constantly differs from show to show, but often repeated that she would always take up the challenge and look at it as the many ways to move her career upwards, and more importantly making it a stepping stone to improve herself as a person. That's what I call determination and dedication.

Reflecting on the recent peak @ work I had to go through.....

Alright...... let me see where to start. :)

It all started when I got seconded to help another manager. At that time all I knew was he had a really, really low supply of staff. So at that time, being so junior in the firm I thought to myself, "How tough can it be?? Besides, I probably just end up doing the same ole' senior assisting stuff a.k.a. senior say do, I do kind of thing."

But.........

I was wrong. Dead wrong! Senior was maxed out with other clients to handle, so there was no senior for the early substantial part of the engagement. And I had to learn to guide a fellow new-comer, which was not easy considering I was only slightly more experienced than her (combining my experience as a vacation trainee before, and whatever experience I had accumulated since I joined in October 2006).

It was a bumpy start to the audit. Client's staff were not too friendly, and somewhat hostile. Eventually, things got better as we got to know each other better. But in terms of workload, things got pretty rough. I was still working and trying to handle the complexities of the engagement step by step. It was not easy..... believe me. 'Overwhelming' was the feeling I got deep down in my heart. But, I was still ignorant regarding what was about to come...........

.......and what came about?

Things moved from low gear to high gear when my senior informed me that I had to assist in doing a more complex task. More complex than I expected alright! It was pretty complex to the point I had to dig out my text books from my university days to help me get into the task at hand. That task, was pretty much every accounting students' worse nightmare - consolidation (if you are an accountant, or accountant-to-be I can see your grin, yeaaa, you reading this blog)!

Deadlines got really tight - at one point my senior and I worked for thirty six hours, and the whole team ended up staying over at the office. Even to the very last minutes of our deadline, amendment were still coming in. Eventually, we got it done and we all gave a huge breath of relief.

I guess, this pretty much sums up my peak period for the first half of the year 2007.

Conclusion - I learned a lot about leading, being a team player and assisting a manager in his job. It was tough, but I believe I benefited from the experience. In addition, I intend to carry along this experience in hope to improve the quality of my work as a whole and to assist other seniors and managers!

Off peak @ work!

After all the tough times trying to meet deadlines and horrible workloads, it is now the time of the year for the off peak season! :D Wondering what off peak season means? For us auditors, off peak season is when work load tend to decrease a bit and when deadlines are less hectic. What so special about off peak? Well, there's less work of course!!! LOL :P

What about peak? Peak on the other hand, is when deadlines are really, really tight. This applies mainly to listed companies, whereby those having their accounts close on the 31 December are required to have an audited accounts handed to the stock exchange by 30 April of every year (see what I mean when off peak starts after April!).

One can really the feel the presence of off peak, with the printer coming on less often and churning out less pages of printed working papers unlike the peak season, and not to mention the printer gets jammed less often too! In addition, the most obvious part about peak is when you notice more people are leaving office earlier (when auditors can get a bit of their lives back! :P).

As for myself, I should be starting my leave tomorrow if all goes well. I get only four weeks to squeeze in as much as I can for my exams. Taking four papers at one go is no joke, really! @_@ Given a choice, I wouldn't have opted to go for so many papers. Unfortunately, circumstances refuse to let me have the eaiser path (how was I to know I couldn't the some exemptions?).

study leave then exams!!!

Its a happy day today, since I may have my study leave starting from this Friday onwards!!! Now that's what I call some time back from all the hectic times at work and trying to survive the pressure at work. Although I am getting leave from work, I will still have to use the time well to prepare myself for the upcoming papers in a few weeks time. :( (its still bad news but not too bad I guess :P)

But as soon as I get back from my leave, it is going to get hectic all over again. :S I have seen my job scheduling and it is not very impressive. Towards the end of the year I will be back working on a tough client again (recurring job since I was on the engagement team last year). *sigh* then again, things could be worse right? So I will just settle for this...... As far as I am concern, as long as I don't have to end up sleeping in office again or working 36 hours non-stop is good enough for me.

Just a few days ago, I got news of people dying due to to over working. Not one but two news!! Fortunately, in two different countries. One in Romania (this one's an auditor, like myself), and another in Singapore (not sure what job it was related too). A cousin of mine who lives in Singapore having heard of the news started to worry about how I was doing with my work. After all, she knew about my 36 hours stint and sleeping-over in office!

I can safely say, all those long hours will not be happening probably until some where in August this year when the build up of peak period starts for auditors. Sadly, it would not have been this bad if staff availability was greater. Less and less people are coming into this line due to the bad reputation it has among the public (i.e. long hours, low salary).