The streets are no longer safe!

"The streets are no longer safe!" - This has been my on my MSN nickname for a couple of weeks now.

On 2nd October 2007 (Tuesday), my Head of Department was robbed of her new Honda Civic. She had gone back in the afternoon, as the Muslim staff who were going to attend the Buka Puasa (Breaking of fast) event at our workplace later that day were allowed half-day off to go home early and bring their families to attend the event. It happened at 2.30pm - in broad daylight, in a busy area (SS3 heading towards LDP)!!

We often get forwarded emails that tells the tale of people (especially single female drivers) whose cars have been hit by another car and then have their cars stolen when they pulled over to check the damage onto their cars, right? This actually happened! In a nutshell, my boss' car was hit from behind by a car that sped towards her, she didn't pull over to have a look (remembering all these email forwards and her husband's and friends' advice) but eventually pulled over to take a quick look anyway (the bang was quite loud) and this was when the driver of the car that hit her also pulled over and offered to settle for the damages. She had said she didn't want to settle or want any compensation from the man. A second man probably came out of the car by then, as she mentioned that there were two Indian men. One of the men had punched her in the face, giving her quite a nasty "black eye". It was quite miraculous that in spite of all that, she managed to grab her handbag from the car before the car was driven off!
[Note: All this happened in minutes... Roughly 5-10 minutes only!]

This story may sound like a repetition of all those email forwards about incidences just like this, but I tell you, the shivers up your spine after hearing it happen to someone you know (and seeing the nasty bruise) is no joke! So please, please, please be careful and always alert when driving - especially to the single female drivers out there! If anyone hits you or follows you when driving, please do not stop and if you have to stop, stop at the nearest police station. You may think "It could not happen to me" (especially in broad daylight on a busy road), but it's better to be safe than sorry!! Take care, my friends!

Work, work, work...

Work, work, work...

Had such a long day today. My working hours are 7.30am - 4.30pm. Had a meeting today at 8.30am - preparations towards the meeting started as soon as I got into work. A bit slow lah, since it was still early in the morning. Need to pick up momentum. =P

The meeting was tiring as there were quite a number of issues addressed. Well, tiring mostly for me since I was the secretary at the meeting. Have to pay extra attention and try to figure out what is going on and who is trying to say what. To make things more complicating today, the previous minutes were questioned and "amended" during the meeting. I have put every effort to ensure that every minutes I write is accurate, so the nit-picking was not appreciated. No one else wants to write minutes, but don't seem to blink when "spotting" mistakes, sigh. What's worse is that some "mistakes" need not be aired out like dirty laundry, but was brought up anyway - and by my own department! *faints* So much for team spirit... sadness.

After the meeting was a blur of work. Mostly was the handling of registrations for a seminar my department will be conducting. Registration forms are starting to pour in and I'm the only one handling the registration and the administrative tasks involved with registrations. This is on top of my regular work, which I haven't even had a chance to touch the entire day! =S

Need to get someone to train me on how to use the module/program that I need for one of my new job descriptions. Have to complete today's meeting minutes draft by tomorrow, if this is possible. Have to catch up on the work I was unable to do prior to having the module/program installed into my PC at the office. Work, work, work... Never ending work.

Thank God for Fifi, who suggested a nice place for lunch. =) It's a new restaurant called 'My Elephant' - recently discovered Thai restaurant - but that's another story.

Anyway, despite all this, I still say I LOVE MY JOB and am thankful that God has placed me here. =)

I finally dug up my sermon notes from a service I attended at Metro Tabernacle. The sermon addresses our work and the marketplace anointing . Points to remember: our work is sacred and God-given; the marketplace anointing is the power of God demonstrated in the workplace.

Here are the 6 ways to succeed in work that was shared. Hope it will be useful to you!
1. Know your calling and destiny
~ find out how God has wired you; recognise your passion and abilities
2. Find a job that you enjoy
3. Do your job with excellence
~ excellence is an attitude within you
4. Be a servant and be faithful in the little things
~ what is your attitude towards your job?
~ serve the company as if you are serving God
5. Walk in obedience and the fear of God
~ the marketplace anointing is not to fulfill our own agenda
6. Get the marketplace anointing
~ bring the presence of God into our workplace, into the world
~ marketplace anointing is not about making money, but to manifest Christ's power in the world

** I pray that both you and I will make a difference in our workplace, wherever we are and whatever station of life we are at. And if making a difference requires us to dare to be different, may we be bold enough to do so - trusting and relying on God every step of the way. God bless!

["For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11]

Two cents...

Sunday service was mainly inspiring testimonies from two people. Both testified of God's goodness in their work - both in the corporate world and in ministry. Makes me think what about me? What can I do to make a difference in my workplace?

Attended the Bahasa Malaysia service along with Shi Wei, mostly to give moral support to Ps. Tim, who was sharing that day. He shared about God's people stepping into our heritage. Here are the points... I'll translate for those of you who need it. =)

1. Ingatilah kebaikan Tuhan (Joshua 24:2-13)
(Remember God's goodness)
2. Buatlah pilihan yang bijak (Joshua 24:14-15)
(Make wise decisions)
3. Bersedialah untuk melepaskan dirimu (Joshua 24: 19-24)
(Be prepared to let go of yourself)
4. Jadilah saksi terhadap diri sendiri (Joshua 24:26-27)
(Be accountable to yourself)

As he was sharing these points, the questions arose again - What can I do to make a difference at my workplace? And the answer (or at least I think it is the answer...) came - to BE different. Some of my colleagues tell me that eventually I will be very curt when dealing with applicants. As it is, I am already told that I'm being too nice and I will be "pushed around" by the applicants. This would explain why some of them are also curt when talking among colleagues, or maybe just to me? =S

So, I'm going to (sorry if this is straying from the intentions of the sermon points...) apply these points by:
1. Remembering God's goodness of placing me at my workplace - I love my job, but not necessarily the stress that I have to face at times.
2. Making the wise decision to honour God in all I do - remembering that my work is for God, so I will be different and hopefully, make a difference! =)
3. Letting go and let God take control of my work - I am currently doing the workload of two people and can only run on the strength and wisdom from God.
4. Being accountable by "writing" this down - hoping that one day when I look at this post again, I can smile and be thankful for the ways God has seen me through.

** I believe God's words speak differently and individually to each person. Hence, the above points are how the sharing has spoken into my heart and into my life. I hope the sermon points will also bless you and touch your heart in a special way... God bless!

Greater than...?

Yesterday, while chatting with a friend, who’s an engineer, I recalled the conversation I had with my dad and my uncle who were both electronic engineers. From their description of what their work encompasses, it sounded as though they were just highly paid mechanics / technicians… Look at it this way – they go and fix machines and maintain machinery… Sounds like a mechanic / technician’s job description, doesn’t it? *winks* But I believe their pay is more than your average mechanic / technician, haha! The wonders of having a degree, eh? =P *winks*

I mentioned to my friend that conclusion regarding an engineer’s work and the thought of my own sister doing the same thing soon (She’s about to graduate in electronic engineering… finally! Seems like so long liddat, hehe!). Eventually, after considering the actual job scope, we concluded that the work of an engineer is similar to that of a mechanic / technician, but they are supposed to know more than the mechanic / technician – for example, the design of the machine and how it works. But, given sufficient training and experience, a mechanic / technician will be able to know the piece of machinery like the back of his hand, is it? (And hey, at worse case, there’s always the manual!) On top of that, a fresh graduate will still need to depend on the experienced technician in order to learn the ropes and to adjust to his responsibilities…

As a result, we concluded that we need each other – whether we are higher or lower in the food chain organizational hierarchy – and can learn valuable lessons from one another. Comparing relatively to my job as a pharmacist, I can see that we do depend on the grace of the pharmacy assistants to help us through, to show us how things are done and where things are kept, etc. We depend on the administrative staff to help us figure out how to “survive” various documentation requirements and procedures.

In a nutshell, lessons learnt:

• no one job or title is greater than the other
• we need to depend on each other and work as a team to get things done efficiently
• we should not show off or discriminate people based on their status
• we should appreciate each other’s unique giftings and try to compliment each other’s strengths towards greater achievement(s)

The One About The Dream...

Dreams... An expression of our emotions? A vision of things to come? The playing of our subconscious thoughts?

"Both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung identify dreams as an interaction between the unconscious and the conscious." (Wikipedia - Dream)


I suppose by now, you would be able to guess that I'm up at this hour because of a dream.

"According to Craig Hamilton-Parker, author of Fantasy Dreaming, many humans find certain dreams extremely difficult to recall." (Wikipedia - Dream)



I have to agree with the guy. So, I figured I may as well blog about it since I can't fall back to sleep, sighz.

It was quite real... at least it felt that way, cos I think I woke up whimpering...

I drove to someplace (I think it was some sort of school), parked right in front of the building and went into the building. I reckon that I was going for class or something. I had brought along my laptop in a computer bag, and I remembered my new camera was in the bag as well. After a while, I realised that I had left my bag in the car. I quickly rushed to the entrance of the building, it was raining outside. Dark skies. I could see my parked car from the entrance. I quickly ran to my car. Then everything went into slow motion (like the movie, Matrix). I was approaching the front of my car. Don't even remember if it was still raining, but felt like it wasn't. My mouth dropped, and so did my heart, as I fell onto my knees. Everything happened s-l-o-w-l-y. The car door was ajar. And it was opened from the 'wrong angle', as in, the door opened from the hinge instead of the erm... door. (I have no clue how that was possible! But, I suppose in dreams, anything can happen, right?) At that instant, I knew. The computer bag with my laptop and camera in it - gone! My heart fell to the ground before my knees touched the ground. Then slow motion picture of knees dramatically hitting the ground with a splash as the raindrops kept falling. The next scene was going home and telling my mom what happened. Crying from the devastation of my loss due to my absent mindedness.

I suppose it was then I woke up whimpering. I laid there wondering whether it was actually real. Sure felt real... Realized it was a dream and tried to go back to sleep. Obviously, that didn't happen.

I am reminded of how we should be good stewards of what we have. Often time, we take what we have for granted. Or, we don't use what we have. For example, the gifts, talents and characteristics that God has given us. How many actually serve others with what they have?

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. - 1 Peter 4:10 (NASB)

Moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. - 1 Corinthians 4:2

I have only just a minute,

only sixty seconds in it,

Forced upon me, can’t refuse it;

didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it;

But it’s up to me to use it.

I must suffer if I lose it,

Give account if I abuse it.

It is only just a minute,

BUT ETERNITY IS IN IT!

Highlights from my first business trip

Well, work has been really busy lately... Really REALLY busy!! =S However, was blessed with an opportunity to be included in a recent business trip to Sg. Petani, Kedah... My first time travelling for work purposes, woo hoo! It was definitely... interesting. In various ways, hehe. Here's the highlights from the trip and the various 'interesting' happenings! Enjoy!!


First, I got myself to the airport earlier than expected. Checked in. No more window seats, sighz. Oh well, moving on... When I got to the boarding checkpoint, as usual, had to walk through a metal detector... which, unfortunately for me, I seem to have set off!! Hey, no weapons on me lar!! I suspect it was the overload of metallic accessories... As a result, I got body checked, sighz!! -.-" I suspect the metal hairclip set me over the threshold of 'allowable' metallic items to pass through the detector, as I didn't set off the detector when I didn't wear my hair up with that clip during my return flight. =S


<-- Accessories I had on, minus a necklace and a bracelet, which I didn't want to take off for photography sake <-- My plane to Penang!! Flew in to Penang International Airport and then by car to Sg. Petani. Because our transport was stuck on the Penang bridge due to a massive traffic jam, we were 'stranded' at the airport in Penang for about an hour. One of the more unusual things I noticed was this lady hurriedly walking INTO the airport... while zipping up her jeans!! =S Perhaps she really needed to go to the toilet and forgot that she's gotta be in it before unzipping??? At the end of my first workday, I checked into my hotel room!! A whole big room and a whole big bed... for one little me, hehe! Check it out... <-- Various angles of my room... before it started to look lived in, hehe! <-- I don't believe this... they provide detergent, haha! Too bad the place I had to spend 2 weeks at didn't... would've been useful then. <-- View of hotel at night... =) Sg. Petani is a relatively small town... so you can imagine how wonderfully surprised I was to find a mall!! Within walking distance from my hotel, some more, hehehe!! *grinz* Didn't get a chance to go shopping la, but from the outside, it looks like this little mall only has Parkson Ria and Giant in it... Well, it IS still better than nothing, no? *winks* <-- Petani Parade!!

Pangkor Trip : 12th - 25th April 2007

Pangkor trip has come and gone. Still so tired from the extremely LONG two weeks which was lectures and activity packed from the time you woke up till you went to sleep at night. The only rest in between that you got was if you managed to catch a few winks after grabbing an extremely quick lunch, or just catch a few (and hopefully not get caught) during the lecture. Of course another good opportunity is when we have taichi sessions for morning excercise, haha! But who likes to sleep standing up, right?

Here are some highlights from the trip... The more 'exciting' parts anyways!

<<= Some Chinese temple with a mini-Great Wall and huge arapaima fishes in their pond. Stumbled upon a section where they kept lots of tortoises too, but didn't have a chance to take any pictures

<<= Kota Belanda (Dutch Fort)

<<= Karaoke night (supposedly with one of the lecturers, who didn't join in eventually!)

<<= The first room I stayed in (really old and small)

<<= The new room I moved into

<<= Me and the coolest roomie a girl could ask for

<<= My group (behind us is our erm... 'masterpieces')

<<= Few pics from Malam Mesra

<<= Kem Kesihatan (Health Campaign) at Kampung Sungai Pinang Kechil, Pangkor Island, Perak

Points to ponder

Christians - By Maya Angelou

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean living.'"
I'm whispering "I was lost,
now I'm found and forgiven.

"When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow!