Freak

Today's not a very good day. The only thing I'm looking forward to is to get home and see my kids and their dad.

Everthing else doesn't really matter.

The boss was upset with us. No, upset was an understatement. He was fuming mad at us for the email that we sent out.

He told us to ask questions - so we did (in email).

He freaked out when we asked if there's a specific reason why the staff selected are Malay.

He freaked out because we copied the email to HCD.

He freaked out because HCD forwarded the email to his boss.

He freaked out because his boss called him and asked about it.

He freaked out and then screamed at us.


Oh well.

Hiatus

Hiatus. A mini hiatus. Obviously for good reasons.

Things are so screwed up at work. So bad that I don't even know where to start, what to think or even why I'm all tangled up in this mess.

I can't begin to describe the feeling.

Anger. Disappointment. Betrayed. Fooled.

It all seemed like a joke. One big, cruel joke.

People take us - my fellow friends and I, for granted. They might even think we are so darn stupid that they can literally walk all over us, doing all sort of experiments on us and chuck us aside when the strings they pulled no longer work the way they want them to.

The economic crisis is not an axcuse to distort or mistreat a staff. I have heard enough of 'be thankful you still have a job' or 'we have no choice but to do this'.

There will always be choices. You just need to put a little bit of effort finding them. There is nothing absolute in the universe. Everything has disadvantages, loopholes and imperfections.

There's always light at the end of the tunnel, they say.

Only that this is a freakin long tunnel and I am not seeing any hint of light at this point of time.

You can say you understand what I'm feeling or what I'm going through, but unless you are in my shoes, I dare say that you don't understand what I feel. Until then, limit your pity to yourself.

Leave me alone and let me be bitter for a while.

Haiyah!!

Deli and I stayed the whole one and a half hour of the kids' taekwondo class yesterday.

Adik pretty much knows his moves while kakak - well, kakak being kakak, was a bit playful and forgot some of the kicks and punches when the teacher asked.

The kids are getting ready for their first test on April 19th. That's 3 weeks away and 2 more classes to revise and perfect their moves.

I have not seen the young lad they had for a teacher yesterday. He looked like a Malay - features and skin but he didn't seem to be fluent in the mother language. As he walked nearer, I noticed his name sewn on his black belt and he's definitely not a Malay lad. He carries a Chinese and Indian name, assuming from a mixed marriage.

He looked a bit like Zizan Nin - the reason why I noticed him in the first. Heheh.

So. Until the next class. Haiyahh!!!

Man Down

Think I'm catching a flu.

Man.. the weekend is here and I am gonna be sick. Been popping Sandox since yesterday. I seriously hope I'll be well soon. Adeh...

All Things Minty

I absolutely love peppermint - tea, ice-cream, whatever.

However, I noticed that Dilmah peppermint tea is extremely difficult to find and this is my absolute fave. Found it a couple of times in Cold Storage and Ampang Grocer but so far, that was it.

If you ever come across this brand and flavor, be a darling and let me know, will ya?

Thanks :)

p/s: Thanks to Ina for the effort. Love ya!

Cats on the Prowl

School holiday is here.

The kids are occupied with games (console, pc, etc) and books. The parents are relieved from constant ironing of school uniforms and endless nagging of revision and homework. The cats are tensed from stretched hours of being chased around the house.

Kakak and her precious Lily.

Baby Cat taking a breather.

My handsome and macho boy, lounging away.

Note: Pictures are fresh from the cam.

The Good, The Bad and The In-Between

I didn't feel like going to work today. Add shoulder pain to that and walah - I got a day off.

Am still suferring from the massage last Saturday. It's getting worse - I could feel the pain with every swing of my right arm. It's painful even when I half-lifted my arm.

I was prescibed pain killer, muscle relaxant and some cream to be applied to the sore muscle.

I was supposed to have a meeting with the Dutchman today to discuss performance appraisal for 2008. Truth be told, I no longer believe in the system. I have done fighting for a good rating. Don't even get me started on the reason why or the fact that I am fighting a useless battle.

Oh, by the way, we bitched about the bosses during our lunch date last week. Heheh. Been a while since we last did that. He did mention about the promotion but I'm not holding my breath. If I get it, alhamdulillah - it's a bonus and have been long due. If I don't get it, it's fine as well. I am still under the Union and will be protected if the company decided to exercise their option to retrench the employees.

Have I not mentioned silver lining often enough?

A Free Weekend - Not So!

I thought we could just spend the weekend at home and do nothing else but clean the house.

As usual, that didn't happen.

Adik and Deli were both down with fever. The boys went to see the good doctor for a bit before Deli noticed that adik is growing a new tooth under a loose one. He had a couple of them, about to bid farewell to the gum. I planned to bring him to the dentist on Monday coz he has taekwondo on Sunday.

Looks like the tooth decided to make its debut sooner than we expected.

My boy came home with 2 missing teeth! Adorable. Heheh.


Fever and missing teeth are no excuse to not have a good lunch. We had Indonesian food and it was absolutely fantastic.


After lunch, kakak suggested that we all go for foot massage. We've been frequenting this place at Ampang Point and kakak loved it there.

Adik somehow was not interested to join in the sessions before but decided to give it a try this time. Kakak fell asleep halfway though while Deli, stayed awake the whole time. Usually, he'd be in slumberland after the first 10 minutes. Adik on the otherhand was trying hard to be civil and not laugh. Heheh. Cute.

I ended up with an extra session of shoulder massage. I was told that the pain on my shoulder will be much worse if not treated. Have been living with the pain for quite a while and would normally ignored the pain, which can be quite bad at times.

The whole ordeal was a torture. I was in excruciating pain - seriously. I almost cried. Almost.

We had subway for dinner before heading home.

So there. Not so free as I wanted it to be but I'm not complaining. I spent it with the people I love the most. What's there to not like?

:)

Dazed & Confused

I don’t know if I should feel sad or mad. Or not feel anything at all.

Yesterday a manager in my department assigned some tasks to my staff. I was surprised that I was not in the picture when she did that. I would think as a supervisor, I have the right to know of any assignment dumped to my direct reports.

Well that particular incident made me think of something else. I was thinking about my unit – if it even exists after the new re-org. I am assuming it still is a function in the team, since there was no announcement saying otherwise.

A domino effect is about to begin.

No BA team, no BA Team Manager position required, no promotion, not much of anything at all.

This is just great.

The Dutchman asked me to join him for lunch tomorrow to talk about stuff. I wonder if it’s about all these.

Oh well.

Doing the Things You Love

It was one heck of a weekend. A merry event, a family outing and basket upon basket of laundry!

Anyone interested in making extra quid by doing my laundry?

Anyhow, kakak was again the flower girl for the event. I have lost count of how many times she’s been one. I particularly liked the one where she played flower girl for Yana’s wedding last year.

The kids in action - Yana's wedding, 2008

We stayed at the hotel for a couple of nights. On the second day, my parents and Along’s family attended the event and by 4pm decided to spend the night with us instead of driving back to BP. Booked a room for them and made a trip to Tesco for extra clothing for everyone. Bought food from Tesco food court and was pleasantly surprised that everything was yummylicious.

Had an early morning on Monday and headed to Kompleks PKNS for breakfast. Again, we were surprised by the quality and taste of the food served. I guess it’s our luck to be finding food we loved and enjoyed. We just love stuffing our faces silly anyways. Heheh.

Stopped by MIL after a quick shopping spree before going our separate ways. The kids had a hard time saying goodbye, as always. They traded plans for the coming school break and I somehow heard the word ‘Singapore’ mentioned a couple of times. We’ll see about that.

Oh before I forgot, adik received awards for achievement in 2 different subjects in Primary 1 (2008). The prize giving ceremony was held last Saturday. We are so very proud of him. We hope that both adik and kakak will continue to excel in sports and academic in years to come.



Kakak is now in the hockey team – which reminds me that I have to get her shin guards. Adik on the other hand is doing great in taekwondo and been fretting over missing classes for 2 weeks in a row because of Epi’s wedding.

I just hope that they’ll do well in everything they’re involved in and not worry about winning or losing too much. They need to just do their best and love what they’re doing.

Success, is getting to do the things you love – Wise words of Jason Mraz.

Happy 10th Anniversary

To my dearest friend,

This journey is long and may not always be peachy but we'll get through it with trust, faith and love.

Here's to a 10 wonderful years and more to come!

Freakin Awesome

Jason Mraz was freakin awesome!

I seriously hope he'll be back for a grander event. The (almost) 2 hours concert was too short!

We (read: me) were pretty excited about the event. Deli and I took half day leave to make sure we'd get to the venue on time. The kids had monthly test for their religious classes so they couldn't skip school. Picked them up at 5.30pm and headed straight to the stadium, but not without detours.

My car had a bit of a tantrum earlier today so we decided to take Deli's car instead. Since it's not the planned mode of transportation, we had to stop for gas. The kids literally did some 'business' at the gas station and we spent almost half an hour for the whole ordeal.

I was a bit agitated because I had to collect the tickets that I bought online a month before. I imagined a long queue at the ticket counter. Parking is another matter to consider. The later we arrive, the further we'd have to park.

Traffic was not that bad considering the rush hour. Managed to reach the venue at 6.45pm. We parked on the curb and paid a hefty $2 to a long haired guy flashing tiny t-light and prayed that we'd still the car after the concert.

Looked for the ticket counter and was relieved to see a rather short line. Was done in 10 mins - coolness! We bought food from the stalls scattered around the venue and chowed everything down before joining the beeline into the stadium.



We were refused entry at first because of our digital camera. Deli hid the camera in his pocket before trying a different entrance - lo and behold, we got through!




Our spot was alright though lacking air-conditioner or even air, for that matter! The organizer should have considered putting more fans/air-cond hoses or whatever. We were drenched in sweat, not to mention stench from the crowd. The kids were cool with the whole thing though a couple of times complained about the lack of air.

The show started around 8.30pm and JM awed us all with his aura, incredible performance and awesome songs. Adik and I screamed our lungs out at the end of each song. Kakak was pretty quiet at the beginning but soon joined us with the screamings and singing. Heheh.

We were a bit dissapointed with the girl who sang Lucky with JM though. She was terrible and we didn't even know who she was. She kinda spoil the song. We thought we were singing it with just him. If only..

It was truely awesome.

Jason Mraz was on that bus!

The whole things ended after almost 2 hours but we were stuck between parked cars on the curb. Had no choice but to wait for the cars either in front of or at the back to move before we could hit the road. Wish we had an SUV or a 4wd to just ram the curb -sigh-.


Got home before midnight - our car didn't transform back to the pumpkin it originally was. Like Cinderella - get it? Heheh.

So like I said, it's awesome. Don't think I could ever say it enough.

A.W.E.S.O.M.E!!