Mission: Impossible

And so the journey of the accidental consultant continues. You know this is cliched when you hear ppl say "you learn along the way". Never more so with this line. Upon my attachment to my first project (more of that later), I quickly learnt / realised that the consulting line is similar to that of those super agents working in IMF, (not the higher-than-any-national-debt Intl Monetary Fund type, but more the uber cool espionage type Impossible Mission Force). You see, firstly you have a "profiler" that looks at profiles of all the available "agents" (us), views and compares the agents according to their strengths and skills and what nots to then match them to available "missions" (projects). When I was briefed bout my upcoming project (no we didnt get it from shades or tape recorders that blew up after 5 seconds), I already had a stupid grin plastered on my face as the bloody Mission Impossible tune was blasting in my head!

To my project...obviously nothing I could / would talk about except it involves the implementation of key HR services from one place to another. May sound like Russian Opera (read: I dont give a shit!) to others but it definitely tickles the HR afficionado's fancy for sure, or I think! Now the irony to it all is that the client is one of the places I would love to work for too, which I applied as well and is in fact Malaysia's TOP place to work (so says some survey). So unique is this project that us "agents" are "embedded" with the client where the mission will take place, meaning I get my gears and accessories from here as well (ie. email address, laptop, smart cards, similar holidays etc). It also means I am hardly ever at home base in Uptown, unless I am there to "claim some ammo" (literally do my mileage and claims!). Lets just call this project, "Project Kerang" (pic).

Already I was considered lucky as this project requires me to travel...it was in fact THE REASON I chose it in the first place. And right before my first salary, I am required to fly with my team to the Middle East, specifically DUBAI on the 20th! But funny enough, and cliched as it may sound, timing is in fact such a bitch! I fly smack on my mum's birthday, plus THE AIESEC EVENT OF THE YEAR (no, its not some National Committee election, but the AIESEC Msia Awards Night - acronyze it and you get AMAN which is PEACE in Malay, yup...the WORD for AIESEC!) and following that a combined birthday party of several close friends in a suite at Berjaya Hotel! You would think you ll get a natural rush of excitement at the mere thought of business class travelling for work...but not surprisingly its a bit lacking in me this time! :(

Try as I might to get an ounce of excitement...I wiki-travelled and googled about Dubai and at least knowing its a shoppers paradise kinda pleased me a little. Ok got even perkier knowing that there is H&M too! Of course lets not mention the skyscrappers and many man made islands of which Nat Geo has been showcasing far too many times! However before this I got excited about the mere mention of the Burj Al Arab...but blame it on the mood, or the fact I dont even have a freakin camera, or that I am missing several major events...the feeling is just not there!