On Shipping

It was one of the most painful mondays that I have had in the office. On top of the mon blues, my severe lack of sleep. I nodded to sleep a few times and each time I woke up in shock. And I hoped no one saw that. But each time I woke up the moment I felt my eyes closed. I was reading the notes from my class and so yah.. and the office is damn quiet, and I was DAMN SLEEPY...

After i manage to pull through the day at the office, I told myself that I really should go home and rest. But I already told Wongso that Im going to collect my Tennis racquet from him and the fact that he had been lugging them around the whole time wouldnt justify him bringing them back. So i decided to go get my book and racquet from him and have dinner plus have a quick meet up with Chis. HAHA

I was craving for the Mr Bean Tau Hway so I stopped at SESS to buy, still flashing my old SMU pass for discount. aHAH... And GUESS WHO I MET?>? LYNETTE TEO!!! Woah... so cute and sweet lor.. she was on her way to meet her EGG TART FRESH FROM HONG KONG. Egg tart spoil market(this was said on behalf of all Singaporean man). AHHA.... HE Flew all the way here for these two days just to meet up with his sweetie pie and celebrate VALENTINES DAY. WOAH.... SO SWEET LOR!!!! Tsk Tsk....

Anyway... After dinner, after i bidded goodbye to Chris, and was walking past SOB towards the MRT station, I caught wongso at the lobby. Haha.. Ok, he left me and chris first after dinner cos it was time for class and i told him that Im not going. And he was there at the lobby and I he told me today's topic was on the sale and purchase... WOAH... HOW CAN I MISS THIS CLASS. And so I decided to go and attend the class. Guess what? I manage to still use my SMU PASS. This clearly means one thing, I am not cleared for graduation yet. Im not sure to be happy or not leh, cos this means that i can still go to the Gym. And it doesnt really make a difference whether Im cleared for graduation this round or next round since commencement would be the same anyway...

SO!!! Today's class is so interesting. I got to know and understand a lot more on the sale and purchase of ships on the second hand market, where the market is indeed more vibrant. And I got to know so much more about RON's life as a shipbroker. He gets like 2.5k emails a day. Yes... And he needs to speed read a lot of information first thing in the morning cos he has to know the market the moment someone calls him even before he takes his first sip of KOPI.
He said a lot about the his life as a shipbroker, what he does, like how he works till like 1am every day. ITs very hectic but he said that he looks forward to the excitement and new challenges in his life everyday.

And I went to speak to him. He told me that it is a good stepping stone for me to start off and learn all that I can now in my company. In the even that I want to go into ship broking next time, I would be an asset now that I have a rather holistic understanding and knowledge of the business. Im pretty happy now because now at least I see another path that motivates me equally well in the industry other than me doing or going to do what im doing. I wouldnt feel that I might be stuck. I see another great opportunity awaits. Anyway, Rons says that the the industry is always in need of people. So... Im glad to be here at this point in time, and I truly feel very blessed to be given the opportunity to experience all for myself. To get the job, to know that somene is paying attention to my career path, to be able to join this class and learn so so much. It is really so exciting that, I thought by the time it was like 1030pm just now I should be already sound asleep regardless of my location and what I was doing. Instead, I was wide awake and totally excited and motivated about my work now. Im so motivated to learn everything well. It all makes so much sense. The forum from the trade fair, the classes, the things i learnt at work, everything is tying together really well. Learning hasnt been more fun. When you learn the theories, and you see it immediately at work.

Anyway, I have to make sure i master the shipping language well. It speaks a language of its own. Ron says i must make sure I am techinically sound, not as sound as an engineer, but sound enough to go out and clinch deal. I would certainly look forward to become a shipbroker like him if I feel that after sometime that I might get some mid life career crisis. I would be staying in the shipping industry for sometime from now for sure though....