Wet-the-bed day!

Adik was found curling between Deli and i, on my bed this morning. He might have too much too drink last night coz we found a round, wet spot on my bed. Yikes!

Went to chek his bed and yup - found the same round, wet spot as well.

Saw kakak sleeping on the sofa instead of her bed - with her pyjama top and her pull-up. Checked her bed and you guessed right! She wet her bed as well. Aisehh!

So in total, we have three wet beds in the house. The kids will definitely have fun playing camps underneath the bedsheets spread over the dining chairs. Not to mention the cats. Aiyohhh!

Too Tired

I'm too tired to write. Had lots to blog about but am lacking of energy and time.

Just finished payroll reports.

Need to clear almost a hundred emails for HRSC, apart from my own.

Since we published 2004 EA form last Friday, tons of staff called for various inquiries. Endless calls since then till today.

Saturday was payday and the company paid performance bonus. Some might get a lot and some might not get anything at all. The things is this year, HR Planning team implemented new rating scale. As a whole, it sucks. Elaborating would be such a waste of time and blog space. People have been calling non-stop for their ratings. Some even yelled and screamed at us. These few days have been a torture. Pity my ears.

This entry is really depressing.

Sleepy, hungry and thankful

Am so sleepy right now. And hungry too.

Can't pretty much do anything at the moment. Need to wait for the the console papers to be signed before i can start with my reports. Might be after lunch.

We stayed until nearly 1am last night. Yep. Printed all letters and batched them accordingly. Got home like half an hour later. Took a quick bath, had a cup of milo and managed to catch the finale for Outback Jack on StarWorld.

I'm glad that Jack chose Natalie. I would, if i'm in his position. It simply proves that u just need to be yourself and stop pretending to be someone u're not. Someone out there will eventually find you interesting and fits the perfect-figure that he/she's been dreaming of. Looks, wealth and other things are secondary.

Bossy Boss took off at around 9ish last night. He had plans to go 'berjoli mabuk todi' with his friends. Thanks to VF, who did a bit of eavesdropping! Apparently, he told the others that he had to attend some dinner thingy. So clever (not)!

I'm just happy that i have a little bit more to spend and keep this month. Am not complaining about the increment either. What's there to fuss? Some didn't even get any. I'm just thankful i'm not one of them.

I'm too tired to write.

Adik oh adik

Malas betul nak pergi kerja hari ini knowing that it's gonna be a very long one.

Apart from that, pagi tadi memang berat hati nak tinggalkan adik. Berat sangat. I was mean to him. I did. I totally lost it.

Adik normally bangun pagi as cheerful as a chirping bird. Not today though. He's a bit reluctant to open his eyes. I had to literally force him to do so. He refused to even take his clothes off. So i said, 'kalau adik tak siap lagi, mummy tinggal saja tau!'. He just looked at me and didn't move an inch.

Half an hour later, he's still on the bed. Clothes still on. By then kakak dah siap pakai baju and everything. Dah siap kemas her bed and katil adik. Bila adik nampak kakak dah siap, baru la nak start bangun and mandi. I doubt that he brushed his teeth sebab dia mandi kat my bathroom. He took forever in the shower. I decided to teach him a lesson and betul-betul leave him behind. He was still in the shower bila i switched off the lights. He panicked and started wailing. Kakak begged adik to listen to me and pakai baju cepat-cepat. Instead, i instructed kakak to get in the car. She did so reluctantly. Adik was still crying tapi masih tak pakai baju. He's wet from top to toe. Nasib baik dia tak jatuh masa turun tangga. Kalau tak, jadi cerita lain pulak! I started the engine and saw kakak was sobbing quietly, clutching to her bear-bear. Aiseh. Rasa sedih la pulak. Could hear adik menangis kat dalam rumah. And like any typical drama swasta, the mother pun join sama menangis. Anak-beranak menangis. Stepped out of the car. Waited while adik pakai baju and carried him to the car. He promised to be a good boy. Just hope that the promise will last longer than a day!

Adik is a charming boy - he's good at sweet-talking. Typical guy thing kan. He's the most caring fella. Bila any of us demam or sakit, he'll be the first to ask if u're doing ok. Kadang-kadang memang tak tahan dengan ayat dia. Nak marah pun tak jadi. Last night, he pastered us to let him watch his vcds. Deli suruh dia check his school books dulu. Bukan buat apa pun. Just to see if dia recognize the alphabets and all. He did so for a few minutes then terus menuntut janji plus sebotol susu. Bila dah habis minum susu, normally he will put the bottle kat sinki. Agaknya dia sayang nak tinggalkan his Power Rangers vcd semalam so he asked Deli to do the chore.

Adik: Da, susu dah habis.
Deli: Letak kat sink, ok adik?
Adik: Dada la letak. Please Dadaa...
Deli: Adik la letak.
Adik: Daa... tolong la adik... tolong laa... *repeat over and over*
Deli: *tolong berbakti untuk anak and put the bottle kat sink*

Bertuah betul anak sorang ni. Buli bapak dia.

Kakak was all smiles this morning. We're slowly trying to see if she can go to bed without wearing a diaper. Kadang-kadang okay and some nights dia terlupa and wet her bed. Today she got a big hug from me sebab tak wet her bed. Yey!

Can't wait to see them both.

Today tak jadi print increment letters. Dah agak dah. So tomprrow's gonna be a loooong day for us. Sigh.

Kebosanan

Agak bosan sedikit at the moment. Tak boleh nak buat most of my stuff sebab database is blocked for updates sampai hari Jumaat. I've been blog-hopping since 2pm. KMG kata Bossy Boss nak upload data today. Hopefully jadi.

No More Good Deeds

Yup. I'm done doing favours for people in the office. *Applicable to selected people only*. Some of them have totally crossed the line and I will not allow them to step on my toes and use me as they please.

Am not writing about the incident. It's just a waste of my time and blogspace.

Blogspot's been acting weird lately. I've updated a few times but it they didn't seem to appear on the default page. I wonder why.

Received an e-mail this morning. Tomorrow is the day. Letter printing day. The day i hated most. Not because of the work but because of the time wasted by 'some' people. We do this every year. They should know the process by now. How it works, when to get things ready and when to finalize the figures. Instead of trying hard to get things done, they will sit around, gossiping, eat dinner for hours and will only resume work after that. By then, it's already 8pm.

It's Tuesday. We have not even uploaded the figures. Saturday is payday.

This is suicide.

Hell Day

Yesterday was officially hell day! *Please excuse my choice of words*

Was in the office a little before 8am. Bossy Boss asked to help GR with CDCS ratings and all. Managed to get everything done after numerous amendments and the sort. It was very, very tiring. Was trying very hard to cencentrate on the worksheet and answer HRSC calls at the same time. It's times like this when i could use an extra hand or better yet, an octopus!

The final copy was sent to level 12 at 5pm. I was about to proceed to other matters when my gut urged me to relook at the formulas. Am i glad that i decided to do that! Apparently, i had worked on the wrong file! The one before the revised figures! Rushed to see GR and she was not pleased. I offered to see CDCS HOD just to check if i had really sent the wrong file and prepared myself for the worse. Went to level 12 to modified the formulas. Could almost felt my heartbeat incrasing rapidly while waiting for him to decide on my fate.

There was a brief moment of total silence.

'There's gonna be a riot in front of my office tomorrow', he said.

I apologized repeatedly and will bear full responsibility for the mess i've caused. To my suprprise, he was not mad - at all! No yelling or screaming or even cynical statements. GR said that he was glad that i detected the flaw before finalizing the document. Otherwise, there'd really be a riot!

I told Bossy Boss about it. He was not mad or anything - which is weird. Maybe it's because i have fixed the problem and informed him of the situation OR maybe he's so happy to see me working my ass off till 9pm!

I am so relieved right now.

Help!!

I need extra energy! And time too!

Bugged down with matters pertaining to performance bonus and increment. Spent the whole of yesterday finalizing the figures for NEO. Didn't get to do much of my own work. Ops, let me rephrase - i didn't get to do any of my stuff yesterday!

Help!!

How rude!

'Working with you guys made me wanna vomit blood!'

What would you say to a MANAGER who says that to your face? How would you feel? That was so insensitive, right? Not to mention rude too!

A manager should be able to act professionally when it comes to dealing with others. Knowing the importance to contain your anger and not blurt it out just when you feel like it. Especially when those people are not your subordinates.

To TSTB and SS, just ignore him. He's a jerk and we all know that.


In case you're wondering who the manager was - it's Bossy Boss.

What the...

Watched Anugerah Seri Angkasa last night. Well, we kinda had to since all of the major local stations aired the live telecast. It was a great idea – to have all the stations combined their effort to organize such grand occasion. Then again, with every grand occasion, comes grand blunders. First thing first, the trophy replica did not descend smoothly. If memory serves, it had to be pulled up twice before getting to the right place. Technical fault? Maybe but it was totally unacceptable. It’s a big event and such thing should not happen.

Next was the interview. Winners were interviewed while performances were staged. It was kinda hard to concentrate. They should have waited until the ceremony ended. Some of the performances were good and worth-watching.

Opening gambit was supposed to get you puffed up for the coming performances. Not this one though. Winners of reality tv shows sang theme songs of radio and tv stations as well as the sponsors’. Farah of AF 2 sang a one liner for TV3. A waste for such beautiful talent and sponsored dress.

The stations showed their own tv personalities commenting the ceremony as it progressed. While TV3 interviewed the winners, Astro broadcasted the performances. This happened while RTM was on commercial break. My oh my.

In a perfect world, all of those can never happen.

Doing just a bit of positive thinking *putting on thinking cap*.

The thing about Managers

I was reading The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams a few nights ago. It was as interesting as reading Harry Potter books – you’re willing to ignore a good night sleep for a satisfying and thought-provoking pages of tiny prints.

Somewhere in the book, the author made a rather good point on MANAGERS. Back then, managers used to be those who understood what their subordinates do for a living. In other words, managers used to be the best in the field. The best of the group. One is a manager because one deserves it. Once a manager gets a promotion, the next best in the group will resume the role. This goes on and everybody’s happy.

Managers today are still the best. But instead of being the best in the field or group, they are mostly best at snaking their way up the corporate ladder. *They are very good at buttering up, a**-licking, back-stabbing and stepping on toes. Jeez!

I intend to finish reading the book and share the good things I might benefit from it.



*Disclaimer: Applicable to those who really did all those things to get promoted.

Sepet

Taking a day off from work to spend time with my better half. Send the kids to school before making a move to Bandar Utama. Did a bit of window shopping, followed by hearty lunch at TGIF and watched a movie – Sepet.

I’ve read reviews on Sepet countless times before. I had high expectations for the film. With good reviews of the movie in mind, I braced myself to the empty theatre. In less than ten minutes, the crowd grew larger. Mostly of Chinese teens and Malay youngsters. A few old timers and a smaller crowd of my age.

It started fine. The actors were really fine too – looks and acting-wise. Seong who played Jason or Ah Loong was so right for the part. He’s like a virgin to dating and film acting. Same goes to Amani who played Orked. There’s nothing special about the story-line. The parts however, were played diligently. Intonation, facial expression and bady language. It was all pure and honest. This is like a captured moment of an everyday life.

I’ll watch it again. Definitely.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 6th anniversary!

We’re still in Kuantan. Spent the morning at Teluk Cempedak. Used to be a very nice and clean beach. It’s not that people-friendly like it used to but it’s not that bad. Had breakfast at McDonald's. It was drizzling so we didn't quite venture the beach like we had planned. Doesn't really matter as long as we're there.

Luch was planned at 12 noon. Didn't eat much. Was still full from breakfast. Kakak caught a bug and fed it honeydew while adik the superhero, was terrified and close to tears when kakak tried to shove him the bug. Deli explained to both of them that if they put the bug on their watches, it will turn them into Power Rangers. Kakak was pretty sure she'll turn into Pink Power Rangers - she was wearing pink and her watch was pink as well. Adik was a bit confused - he had a blue watch and a green shirt on. He was not sure which Power Rangers will he transformed into.

Kids will believe anything you tell them.

Left Duta Villa at 1pm and reached KL 3 hours later.

Was too tired (read: lazy) to preare dinner. Deli suggested Cozy House in Great Eastern mall. Had a nice meal with loads of prawn. Yummy-licious!

Happy 6th anniversary to both of us. May we still have this faith and love going strong for years to come.

Here we come!

Todays’s the day – Deli’s department trip to Kuantan.

All of us were up quite early for a Saturday. The kids didn’t complain when I made them wake up as early as 7am. Adik had an early incident – even before the trip started.

Kakak: Mummy!! Adik kencing kat carpet butterfly!

Me: Adik, kenapa tak kencing kat toilet??

Adik: Bukan adik la. ‘Bird’ (pointing to his p*n*s) ni yang buat sendiri. Adik tak buat!

Me: Erk!!


Left KL at around 10.30am. Adik and kakak refused to nap during the journey. The enjoyed the view and sang to tunes from the radio. Kakak even did a bit of disco-dancing, John Travota-style (read: cucuk bintang). She can do a bit of The Calling’s Anything and Hoobastank’s The Reason. She’s quite good at picking up songs – unlike adik. Adik only recognize songs as ‘lagu mummy’, ‘lagu kakak’ or ‘lagu adik’. There’s no ‘lagu dada’ coz Deli, how do say this – well, he’s not very good in singing or memorizing lyrics. I blamed him for teaching adik a very weird version of Baa baa black sheep!

Made a stop at Temerloh rest area. Deli was grinning ear to ear when the scent of ‘gulai tempoyak ikan patin’ filled the air. Temerloh is very well known for this dish. Left the area half an hour later to resume the journey.

We decided to make an exit at Gambang. I can barely recognize the place! Ten years ago, it was only a two-laned road. Hypermarts, community colleges and u-turns - you can find a lot of these along the road. It was simply incredible!

Deli spent ten of his schooling and growing years in Kuantan. He can pretty much remember the area and was excitedly pointing to the kids of his old schools and the places he used to hang out.

My favourite restaurant – The Swan is still standing. I totally love their shrimp fried rice! Restoran Pattani is still there as well. This is like the most grand restaurant (read: according to our budget). All grand dinner events and parties were held here.

Reached Duta Villa around 2.30pm. Spent half an hour in the chalet before the monsters (kids and the father) were off to the pool. Games were from 5 to 7pm. Deli had a great time participationg in all the games but complained of multiple muscle aches afterwards. Very typical of you, dear!

Dinner was supposed to be by the poolside but had to be moved to the top floor of the restaurant due to heavy downpour. The food was amazing for a decent resort like Duta Villa. Even adik asked for a second helping of the fried rice.

Three of the senior managers were invited to say a few words before dinner. Among other things, they repeatedly apologized to their staff’s spouses for the long hours the staff spent in the office. It was a very nice gesture. I for one, hate it when Deli had to spend a lot of time in the office. Especially when it’s past 9pm and weekends. But when the acknowledgement came from those people, you kinda feel a bit relieved knowing that Deli’s bosses recognized his hard work and everything. Knowing that the long hours are well spent in the office and not somewhere else!

Our table was so conveniently placed beside the prezzies area. Adik had his eyes on the presents – especially the tele-match hamper. It was full of Mamee, biscuits and other junk food that can make him drool. Kakak on the other hand, was eyeing on a rather large present with teddy bear wrapper. I’m not sure if it’s the present or the wrapper that really enticed her.

Now, Deli and I have never been very lucky at lucky draws. The Japanese managers however, were very, very lucky indeed. There were five of them and interestingly enough, their room numbers were picked - all five of them! What are the odds, eh? They were kind enough to refuse the winnings and let five other room occupants to become lucky instead. Hey, we actually won for the first time! Kakak was all smiles and adik literally jumped from his chair when Deli excitedly walked towards the MC to collect the prize. Guess what? We won the teddy-bear-wrapped box!

Diner ended at 10pm. We were too tired to do anything else but watch tv. While watching cerekarama on TV3, I noticed that kakak was sobbing.

Me: Kakak, kenapa ni? Kakak nangis ke?

Kakak: Mummy tak sayang kakak *sobs*

Me: Kenapa kakak cakap macam tu? Mummy kan sayang kakak. *hugged her*

Kakak: Mummy tu peluk Dada aje. Tak peluk kakak. *sobs*

Me: La.. Come, mummy peluk kakak *Aiyoh! Anak pun pandai jeles*

Deli: Habis tu, siapa nak sayang Dada ni? *konon-konon sobs*

Me: *pengsan*

Oh no..

Hoobastank's The Reason is such a letdown. I was really looking forward to listening to the whole album and enjoying it as much as The Calling's II. I had instant headache listening to Hoobastank's fast numbers. Maybe i'm too old for their kinda stuff. Am i? Aiyohh!

Douglas Robb wrote nearly all of the lyrics. Short, beautiful and meaningful. He might want to consider being a poet if the band doesn't work out. Or he can be my toy boy *kidding!*. He's such an eye candy.

Been very busy these past few days. March is always a busy month. It's the 'bonus' month and just like the previous years, i need to prepare countless lists for the HODs. Even longer lists for HODs with not-so-rajin secretaries. Preparation starts as early as end of February and will end by the second week of April. If we're lucky, then there won't be any 'letter-printing-night'. That is when we stayed until as late as 4am to print increment letters and come back to work at 9am the next day as zombies.

On a lighter note, we'll be off to Kuantan tomorrow. Duta Villa Beach resort to be exact. Have never been to this place but the picts in the internet looked nice. It's been years since i last visited Kuantan. Left MCC Kuantan in 1995 - goodness! It's been 10 years! Back then Kompleks Teruntum was the most happening place for us (my college 'gang'). We'll definitely make a stop at A&W no matter how full we were, just to share a tall mug of rootbeer float or a pack of french fries. I used to practise for 1995 Netball National League at the field in front of Teruntum. The hooligans in public buses and especially those on motorbikes will make such annoying mouse-screeching sound to distract us. Some of them will even park their bikes and 'lepak' on the roadside. Can't really blame them. Some of the girls were wearing short skirts and those things were like rubber bones to dogs. Some droolled, some even looked like their eyes were about to leave the sockets. Those were the days.

Aiseh.. am i really that old?

Bzzzzz!!!!

Yup! I'm one busy & buzzing bee today.

Was supposed to go to Sunway for leave UAT but had to cancel due to some payroll problem. Apart from that - my 'to-do' list is as long as Kechik's tail. Believe me, it's long! Managed to finish 80% of it. Not good enough but i have to force myself to switch off the pc and leave the office. It's the kids and my better half's turn. It's all about balance, people.

Am supposed to go to Sunway again tomorrow for a brief discussion. Maybe i'll go in the morning. Bossy Boss just 'pot-pet' about ePeople Manage that needs to be updated tomorrow. Maybe i'll cancel the appointment. Or postphone it to afternoon.

I'll blog again tomorrow.