No car today... and so - well, today kena tumpang kereta with Ai Cheng to go home. Luckily for the both of us, we didn't intend to get stuck in the office past 6pm.
Pei Ling had messaged me earlier about an impromptu dinner with our usual college group at Secret Recipe, Belissa Row. Cool. We also made bets that MunY will not attend (as per his usual absence in most gatherings). Ok... so we were wrong this time. My dear friend came after all... and proved us sceptics all wrong :)
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all! Happy! Happy! Happy!
Managed to go home at 5:15pm from work yesterday. Woohoo!! Never done that in a long, long while. Also... managed to hand deliver some last minute Christmas cards that I made... hahaha...
Jolly greetings to all!
In the afternoon, went to Rohana's Hari Raya open house and met up with many of my ex-colleagues there. The food was great and the company I was was wonderful.
Later in the evening, I had a reunion dinner with my high-school classmates tonight at Soul's Gourmet - Basement of Crown Jewel Hotel. For RM 25: We had soup, main course, and endless supply of Haagen Daaz ice cream. :)
After dinner - we had actually intended to hang out at the beach but it was raining somewhat... and so, all of us decided to go for coffee at Coffee Bean , Belissa Row. Nice to see all my old friends again - especially those who just completed their studies overseas.
Overall, it's been a really good day for me. I feel refreshed and my soul feels revived after going through much strain from work to the point of just feeling empty.
Would love to go home early today but... everyone in the Dept has to move to our new cubicles. Yup! Major re-layout in our seating plans. Got home in time to freshen up before it was time to go for...
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King! In BM - it was translated as "Ketua Sidang Perhimpunan: Kepulangan Raja"... hahaha... ketua sidang perhimpunan? What the...??
Ok... how was the movie? Well... battle scenes were good if you are looking for action... not to mention there was a "Legolas glory scene" for Legolas fans out there... but as a person who has read the book - I'd say this movie was a bit disappointing.
A lot of things were brought in without much explaination. People who hadn't read the book or studied details in the first 2 movies will not be able to catch on some of the things brought up in the later part of the movie.
Seafood dinner with my colleagues at Teluk Kumbar!!! Baked crabs with special chilli sauce.... Yummy!
Back to work and it feels like I'm still in a holiday mood. Lazy...
Have been off since last Wednesday... the day I finally did my banking; my wardrobe spring-cleaning; and the one evening I had dinner with most of my team (Irene, Chris, Cindy, Mich, Jo) + the whole team from Singapore. Dinner was great. It was at this place near my house where the dishes are just superb.
For the next 4 days, I was in KL/PJ doing lots of mall-hopping, shopping & window-shopping. Trust me that I've blown a whole month's salary this time... inclusive of having gone to watch the Saturday matinee show of Riverdance in Stadium Putra with Chin. The show is not too bad.
The best part was the scene where there was a showdown between Irish tap and American tap - a true comedy piece at heart. The worse part was the scene that had Celtic music while the dancer was doing a flamenco piece - it didn't quite mesh together although I know what they were trying to say (lots of background on the dance in the programme book)
Ah well... time to go to sleep now. Good night and sweet dreams to all.
How would I describe how I am these days within 5-words? "I am so stressed-out!"
There's no better way to say it. I've admittedly cried 2 times in 3 days. First one happened a few days back while I was giving feedback to my Dept Mgr about the sentiments in the entire functional team I’m in.
Let’s just say that I had to tell the DM, vis-à-vis, the really demeaning comments that some of my colleagues were receiving from someone who should be more sensitive to those under her care.
Let’s also say that I’m truly frustrated by a few colleagues who are not being understanding towards what I have been assigned to do. The list is never-ending.
The more I had to say, the more I couldn’t contain myself from bursting into tears. My DM acknowledged how stressed most of us are feeling. However, he asked me why I didn’t bring up these issues earlier - since I am one of the employees who knew him prior to getting into this job I’m in now.
All I had to say was that I know the rest of them wouldn’t be able to address the core problem the way I’m telling it to him now. It kills me to know that my colleagues have generalized the real problem that they are going through in the only avenue open for them to air their grievances.
I know I can’t save the world but the only way I can help improve the situation is to voice out. Nothing will happen for better or for worse if everyone kept quiet while each of them are (to some extend) boiling underneath the surface. Let’s see how things go from here. God! If only the rest understood the company culture... but I’ll have to excuse them for being newbies.
After the DM had left my cube - one of the caring trainers from Singapore came by to ask why I was crying and tried to console me. I just couldn’t talk. I made some of my responses in pen on paper. I can never seem to compose myself if I had to talk while still recovering from a good cry.
Episode two happened today, when my dad started his 2-minute pep-talk on - "Don’t be stupid! Why do you have to work until so late? Work only within the hours that you are compensated for. American MNCs will motivate you when they have to and let you go when they don’t need you!"
Tell me now - which company doesn’t practice that nowadays?! All of them do that!! Besides, I’d rather clear my work pile within the same bloody-day than to let it snowball into Mount Fuji or Mount Everest for that matter. Worse yet - dad had to mention all these when I was driving. He didn’t even know tears were streaming down from my eyes.
So, it seems that watching Haunted Mansion as entertainment this evening with dad as a means for me to take my mind off my job was a total waste. As you probably noticed by now, I’m still sensitive if anyone mentions something depressing about work.
Today I didn't want to wake up for work. But today, I still had to drag myself to go to work. Oh heck! What'a another day of work while still much in holiday mood?
My colleagues and I have already purposely went out for a longer lunch on Monday... the day we worked in half darkness... since the facilities folks were doing maintenance checks and we were on generators.
We felt more like sleeping than working anyway... what with the aircon and bare lighting in the office. But that was Monday. And today is the 2nd day of Raya... and I'm not goofing off with friends coz... why is that? Oh yeah... I have to work... *type,type,type...*
SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!! to all who celebrate the festive occasion....
and Happy Holidays for those just enjoying some time off from pure mundane routine...
Meanwhile... I only have 1-day off since I'm following the Singaporean calendar... and well... that's the only pain of being placed to support Singapore in the Customer Service side of things.
Other than that... I had a blast for my something like 36 hours of time away from work (including sleeping time). Finally managed to watch 4 movies out of my pile of DVDs that I haven't had time to watch over the past few mths!
(1) Spirited Away: Mighty weird story (but heck... it's a Japanese anime, no?) but I sure enjoyed watching this one... where the supposedly most evil one turns out to be the good one...
(2) The Majestic: I really loved this one. If you believe Jim Carrey is only good for slapstick comedy - think again! He did some serious acting for this one. Jase!!! I'll lend you this one if you haven't already watched this one!!! It's even better than...
(3) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: Well... watching this after having watch #2 was like watching something a little lower classed. It's a fun movie no doubt but #2 had a better story behind it.
(4) Catch Me If You Can: Its about this Frank W. Abagnale dude - a legend in bank fraud history. The things this guy does all before his 19th birthday... without modern day PCs and the convenience of the www.... whoa! Not bad for a guy to be able to change from being an elusive fugitive who siphons money from banks early in his life to become a person who legitimately earns millions by becoming a check security designer for major banks later in his life. Whoa.....
Ok... so I conclude that my Singaporean mentor is not all too bright after all. In fact, he could be the easiest person for anyone to bamboozle if you ever need to find a target.
Lifetime Award for the Dumbest SMS interaction for year 2003.... has to be for this:
"Hey! You went home early today?" - the mentor
So yeah... I did go home before 6pm for once and that's a good thing... and people do notice when I go home before they do... coz usually I leave after most of them have gone home... so how much dumber can that question be to lil' old me?!
"Erm... that's my evil twin" - I decided that this reply would be one that is sarcastic enough
"You mean... You are still IN THE OFFICE?" - the mentor
Gosh! How dumb can this dude be?! I shall not reply... I shall not reply... and may some light shed on my mentor's somewhat dim-witted mind
Don't get me wrong but he does seem to have the capability to ask everyone dumb questions that can irritate the hell out of our minds... even when we are busy at work... via yahoo messenger. How do I know all this? Gossip with my colleagues lar... when sudah the terlalu stress.
You are Form 1, Goddess: The Creator.
"And The Goddess planted the acorn of life. She cried a single tear and shed a single drop of blood upon the earth where she buried it. From her blood and tear, the acorn grew into the world."
Some examples of the Goddess Form are Gaia (Greek), Jehova (Christian), and Brahma (Indian). The Goddess is associated with the concept of creation, the number 1, and the element of earth. Her sign is the dawn sun.
As a member of Form 1, you are a charismatic individual and people are drawn to you. Although sometimes you may seem emotionally distant, you are deeply in tune with other people's feelings and have tremendous empathy. Sometimes you have a tendency to neglect your own self. Goddesses are the best friends to have because they're always willing to help.
Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
12th day since I last blogged... and nothing much has really changed. Ho-humm
Have watch Matrix: Revolutions with Jase 2 Saturday evenings ago. Still gotta love the effects although the movie is as confusing as ever... don't mind the tons of loopholes in the movie that screams... "Oooh... we'll make a sequel in years time! Just you wait!!"
Aside from the steamboat dinner my colleagues and I decided to carry on with last Tuesday despite the rain, life on weekdays is pretty mundane. I'm still working an average of 12 hours 5-days a week... and I carry work home on a CD every weekend. Life sure is mundane and pretty stagnant. I need to get out more. I need to see more sun.
Ooh... before I forget... outcast bitch of the office didn't leave on Tuesday as we'd much been looking fwd to... her last day was prolonged to Friday by some twist of events. Her courtesy farewell do was just really weird... no one had much to say to her... no one said they'd miss her... and some of us were just keeping ourselves from telling her, "Good riddance to bad rubbish"
As for how I spent my weekend - Sat evening was spent at Shen's BBQ. It was fun altho' I did stay away from the booze by keeping myself bbq-ing at the grill... hehehe... I didn't wanna get pissed that night coz I was already having an irritating headache.
Sunday was all about catching up on lost sleep, watching cartoons, ironing my 2 weeks worth of laundry, preparing some decorations for my team's official "Go-Live" party in about... 16 hours, and finishing whatever work I took home from the office on Friday.
Last note... am looking forward to LOTR: Return of the King... the new wallpapers are as darling as expected!!
Oh gLeEEeeEeee! My manager had happily announced in a memo to the team that those of us who stayed til very late on Friday can go home early provided we have no work to do... and so... the happy campers of my team slowly trickled out of the office starting from 2pm... and I only went out shortly before 4pm... but what the heck?! I'm still leaving way earlier than I normally would...
Did I mention that one outcast colleague will not be eligible for this little bonus? No?! Ok... so she was the only bitch who left at 5pm sharp while everyone else in the team stayed back to help team mates with huge workloads to clear their pile. Oh justice is served!!
Btw... we won't miss her when she leaves on the 11th... it's no loss at all to the team coz she wasn't a team player in the first place and has been a pain in the neck although most of us gave her a benefit of a doubt on her personality... good luck to her next employer man!! Amen!!
During the weekend - I joined my colleagues, Michelle and Jeffrey (this guy is my Singaporean mentor), on an impulse trip to KL. Muahahahaha... Ok! So I had a pretty great time.
We left Penang late Saturday morning and stopped at Ipoh's Jusco for lunch. Then we headed to my dad's house in USJ to drop off our bags prior to a rendezvous with some other colleagues from S'pore in KLCC - had to battle some down nasty rain to get there
...and later a scrumptious dinner at Modestos in Bangsar... then it was off to some clubbing. We ended up in Beach Club after seeing ppl being true to the concept of the Barfly at the Bar (12 SI)... barflies all!!! I kid you not...
On Sunday... we more or less woke up between 10-ish and 11-ish. But my big surprise was that my brother actually woke up at 11! Usually he wouldn't be alive to the world until 2-3pm... maybe 4pm at times... and the reason that he woke up was "Kim Possible". Hahaha... so that explains why we can reach him over the phone by 12 noon on Sundays!!!
Prior to going back to Penang - Mich, Jeff, & I spent some time walking around Sunway Pyramid. It was a nice stroll... and it's still one of the malls that I love. Can never seem to leave without ending up buying something from there...
Before heading home - we decided to go for a seafood dinner at Batu Kawan / Tambun. The food was absolutely wonderful... aside from the fact that we have to constantly swat those big fat flies away who are just looking for a chance to get to our food... nyah nyah... nasty flies. BUzZzz off!!
29... 30... 31 Oct... 3-days in a row I worked from 8am til more or less up til 12 midnight as it was our year-end closing. Free dinner provided on 30 & 31 ~ I won't complaint coz I had a really great time with my team mates and our manager during our "Community" dinner.
Besides... we essentially had a fantastic Halloween... Although I must admit being initially disappointed for being unable to join my friends for a Halloween party.
As busy as my colleagues and I were over the week, I must say that it's pretty amazing how we even managed to squeeze a bit of time thru-out the whole week to produce some pretty decent last-minute custom-made Halloween deco and to put it up during the nite of Hallow's Eve. Hmm... musta been all those de-stressing breaks we take... hehehe...
5pm on Halloween - the freaking system was down and out. People were tensed. We NeeeEEeeed the system... but we can't do a bloody thing... so we did the only thing we could - take a goof-break. Apparently something always happens to our system every 31-Oct... sPooOooOOky...
But before you knew it - it was back to work... just 30 mins later... yeah... so it would have been mundane, senseless toil yet again at work again - but the whole office suddenly became alive!
Hmm... what's up? What's up? It seems like we have "uninvited" guest. 2 Chinese Ghost!! One totally decked in black, the other all white... hahaha... OMG!!! Those 2 are part of our team of Singaporean colleagues...
Wait! A look around entailed us to discover that there's more - Our dept. manager is in a cape with a "Scream" mask... my direct manager had put on a "paper bag" with a monster's face drawn on it, one of the supervisors was a fairy, and another was an angel... and all of them went around the office handing us goodies!!! Meanwhile, some ppl in my team (including me) put on our "crooked witch hats".
By now... no one was working. Everyone was taking whatever candy that came our way, everyone was taking pictures with our costumed managers and colleagues. We were just plain having fun in the midst of a tensed period in the office. Woo-HoOOoOOo!!
Infinitium's version of Happy Birthday...
Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to You... Happy Birthday to You-u... I~~~ REMEMBERED THIS~~~ YEAR!!!!!
That really cracked me up. Thanks for the good laugh man!!!
Exhaustion from work.
3 Thursday's ago, my supervisor told me to pick up some reporting thinghy from the BPA. The next day I found out it was his last day. I also found out that he hasn't been collecting data as he should have done for his remaining days at work.
This daily reporting thinghy is purely the shits. Gotta pull data at 4pm daily. Gotta prepare numbers and compile a report by 10 am the next day... and weekly report... die also must try to produce by 11 am on Monday. It's not easy to have to handle incoming transactions that should ideally be completed within the day while also trying to finish this reporting shit.
Thank God they are discontinuing the need for the report and giving me something else to do soon.
Love my new phone. Btw, mine's in Volcanic Red. Now I just gotta explore the software CD for the phone-Computer interaction.
And most importantly for today -- IT IS THE FIRST TIME in eons since I got back early from work... and am back early just because I'm suppose to visit a granduncle in the hospital.
*sigh* He's in coma. I don't know the full story yet. Depressing thought indeed.
Also... am again containing potential sore throat. Lack sleep. Panicked 2 mornings ago when I woke up with terrible pain at my right abdominals. Luckily it was something other than the worse thing that first popped into my mind.
Yup. Wasn't appendicitis. Some muscle spasm/cramp. Maybe because it was too cold the night before... coupled with my having suffered diarrhoea since the evening before.
My 3310's screen has said goodbye / No call ID, No SMS, No message of any kind I can read / Life is tough without a gadget I once could live without.
Ok... so that pretty much happened last Wednesday. By Friday, Chin2 & I had plans to go phone-hunting on Sunday after watching the earliest show of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Bonus trivia... movies before noon coz only RM5 per head. Woo-HooOooo!!!
Over the weekend I was mulling over whether to get a Nokia 6610, SE T68i or to go for the SE T610... so many things to consider... but eventually... I set my heart to one and felt the pain of having to spend so much cash in such a short time after getting my replacement home PC...
And all I have to say now is... it was well-worth it. Let's just hope I don't so something totally brainless to my new phone like what I did to my 3310. *crossed-fingers*
F I S H
Yup, that's right! Fish! My office has lots of it. Paper fishes and cardboard ones... they are everywhere!
1.5 weeks to D-day, Friday, Oct 3 - a group of unsuspecting employees where pulled into an organizing committee. Gosh! That's not a lot of time for us to help pull things together. Everyone is busy with month end closings... At the same time - each team in the dept had to think of what's a good fish deco to make for the competition. Best fish wins a prize for the team.
1.5 days to D-day... the project chieftess came by and told me... "Hey, I need you to play only parts of so-and-so songs". I broke the news to my partner in crime, James. We sorta-panicked... we lacked the proper tools.
And so we found ourselves stealing whatever time we could to pull bits of small wonders into place for D-day with what limitations we had... of course this included a search over the net for freeware or shareware to aid us. We ended up with only one useful tool. All others were essentially crap to us.
D-day finally arrives. Chaos! I spent more time than I would prefer in reacquainting myself to sound editting via Flash 5.0. James forgot to prepare music for one whole section in the itinerary... The food arrived late.
Later, halfway into FISH - the chieftess asked if we could edit some song like an hour before a scheduled item. We tech fellas nearly fainted... but luckily we managed to make it clear that it would have been impossible to get things done with such short notice.
Considering that our playful boss really dressed up like a pirate and that we all got to see our project chieftess boogie-ing her bootie during one of the games... this event lacking good organization... with no proper rehearsal for the events sequencing and the like... the event was successfully fun! Not bad at all... not bad at all :)