The week passed by relatively fast for me. Monday was a public holiday but I had to go for my monthly Yangon trip as the flights were booked months earlier before they also declared that it was a Diwali holiday there too for the first time. We had a great lunch and dinner with the CEO that day, before having a long day of meetings the following day. Managed to also have my regular Deloitte conference call too.
I am so amazed by the capabilities of modern-day communication tools like Skype and Zoom which allows anyone to have a meeting anywhere in the world, sharing presentations and removing the need to be in the same room. Global road warriors can maximize their efficiency and multitask effectively. We have had regular calls between 3 parties that span the world (Toronto/NY, Asia and Europe), done training sessions and sorting out lending facilities over the months using these tools.
Back to S’pore from Yangon on a Wed morning flight after another training session call and caught a lovely feel-good movie (Yesterday: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesterday_(2019_film) ). Got back to work in the late afternoon till night time. Then full Thursday at client’s office to sort some things out till late evening.
Friday morning was more back to back meetings which turned out better than I imagined, before joining my regular lunch buddies for an intense lunch of Korean BBQ and lots of alcohol. Had to sober up for another conference call at 5 pm before dinner with family.
Though it is into the final quarter of 2019 and one expects things to wind down into year-end now, it just doesn’t seem so. For me, things are getting more intense as I juggle a number of things together. It is challenging but yet satisfying. A lot of quality time and new experiences ahead for the final 60 days of 2019.
One year end firework that is coming? The impeachment of Donald Trump. Things are moving up a notch into a faster gear this week. Pelosi got her majority vote to shut down another complaint from GOP that it is not legal. Next, the public hearings will start by mid-Nov which will boost TV ratings to a new Dec high.
Trump seems pretty cool about it all. He might have drunk too much of his cool-aid or decided that they will not be able to get the two-thirds majority in the Senate to go through the final step anyway. The evidence is piling up on him every day as numerous new witnesses collaborate the story against him. GOP loyalists are just toeing the line for now until the ship sinks and all will bail out at the same time. The country is so polarized at the moment that there are 0nly 2 equal sides and no middle ground. All the news media can talk about is this topic and nothing else.
Next week will be my Hainan trip which my dad had asked me to join him. It is also for the Project Smile cleft lip medical mission, where my brother in law has been organizing for the last 10 years. He brings a group of professionals who work pro bono to operate on children with cleft lips at a local hospital. It is a very noble charity trip where a group of doctors and nurses operate on these kids.
It has been running for the last 10 years where a trip is organized in Apr to assess the list of possible patients to operate on and then come Nov, the medical team will arrive to perform the ops non-stop for a few days. They will also train the team at the local hospital in Chengmai. My family joined them in 2015 and it really felt good to be able to make a real-life difference to families who even have to borrow money to bring their kids to the hospital for this free procedure that will hopefully improve their chances with life.
So many things happening for the next 60 days from now till year-end!
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