Molested in Ipoh!

Just came back from a work assignment in Ipoh yesterday...

Ipoh + me = not compatible, maybe? Let me count the ways...

The trip up to Ipoh on Wednesday was quite uneventful - no embarassing narcolepsy moments, lolz! Perhaps I've been getting enough sleep lately since I've been feeling under the weather, bordering to actually falling sick, for the past couple of weeks already... (To sidetrack, it's actually amazing that I've not actually fallen sick since everyone else around me have been succumbing to a bug or two!)

By the end of my work assignment on Wednesday, I was already starting to feel ill. I was looking forward to getting back, getting some rest and preparing for another work assignment the next day (Thursday) before making the trip back to KL. I got back to where I was staying, looked down and discovered that I was wearing slippers that did not belong to me - I forgot to change back to my shoes, which I had to remove to put on the slippers, as per the requirement of the place I went to. =.=" So, had to go all the way back to swap shoes, sighz... It didn't help that I was already having a splitting headache and felt like throwing up. (It was good that my parents accompanied me to Ipoh, so I didn't have to do the driving back to retrieve my forgotten shoes)

Sadly, the state I was in made the delicious dinner laid out before me quite unbearable indeed... sigh... Gotta try that claypot rice place again next time - if I can manage to find the place on my own, that is... grrr...

The good thing about Ipoh, however, is the lack of traffic jams, haha! So, the next morning, I could sleep in a bit more before having to head out to work. Had a very delicious nasi lemak breakfast at Simpang Pulai on the way... Had quite a ferocious appetite since I barely ate the night before, haha!

After ending my work assignment, the company offered to take me out for a late lunch. Got into the car, unknowing that I was about to be molested... gah! Here's a picture *shudder* of the culprit:

Erm, what were you thinking, har? This not disgusting enough meh? Eewww... *shudder* This is the account of what happened:

Got into the car and after a bit of the way towards the lunch location, I felt a tad bit uncomfortable. Thinking it was probably a bra strap that got twisted, I discreetly attempted to straighten it while talking to my hosts. Oddly, it seemed to have worsened the situation - now I felt something wriggling in my shirt!! Since I was wearing a cap-sleeved work shirt, I summoned my discreet abilities to reach in and pull out what I thought then was a worm (although I had no clue how it was possible for a worm to find its way into my shirt!). It was still wriggling as I pulled it out - the tail of a lizard!!! How gross, I thought, that the detached, wriggling tail could fall into my shirt - perhaps a lizard got spooked when I got into the car!

Oh, but wait, there's more surprises to come!! I was already distracted and wrapped up in the sheer disgust from discovering the wriggling tail, I tuned off from the conversation as I stared blankly at the tail as it wriggled through the crack of the car door. Thinking it was the end of my harrowing experience, I wondered why I was still feeling uncomfortable. It took me like a whole TWO seconds later before I considered that the discomfort could be due to the other half of our friend, the cicak (Malay for "gecko"). My eyes widened as I shook my shirt about, forgetting about being discreet anymore at this point, and true enough, out pops the other half!! =.=" *faints* Surprisingly, neither of my hosts seemed to have noticed my panic - or maybe they were being courteous?

Thank God, no more surprises after that and I had a good lunch. However, I was haunted by harrowing deja vu moments of the cicak incident throughout my drive back to KL, which became even longer than expected as it was raining quite heavily at some stretches of the highway...

I was glad to be home, though, where the cicak keep to themselves!! ^^

Breakdown...

Today was exceptionally difficult in the office. This is an especially busy month for me - 2 training modules (3 days each); 3 days auditing as a trainee auditor for ISO internal audit; 3 days being audited for ISO internal audit... Each 3-days block are on different weeks. Throw in a couple of meetings to attend, being secretary to one of the meetings (meeting minutes to prepare, organizing the next meeting - meeting dates, call letters, booking of refreshments, etc)... Most importantly now, make sure that the department is prepared for the internal audit, on top of rushing licensing tasks and departmental training needs... Yeah, that roughly sums up the month of May... Oh wait, forgot about the departmental statistics reports and summaries. =S

 

Today, the stress level totally overwhelmed me and I finally broke down when talking to my colleague. It was the culmination of so many burdens placed upon my shoulders with limited (if any) resources or help from others, especially in terms of audit preparation... I'm the newest in the department, but expected to know everything... craziness!!!

 

Days like these become more frustrating when someone comes along and tells me how "wah... you work in government service... whole day so free can sit around shaking legs wat..." what I'm saying is - as if I would be lying about this workload!! Erm... wanna come take over so I can have a break for a few days??? So, be warned that there may be snapping if you try to "pull a stunt" like this, kayz?

 

So tired... Need to de-stress, take a holiday... when I can find some time... if I can afford some time! My first time conducting internal audit starts tomorrow till the end of the week... Wish I didn't have to be involved this year, but what to do... "saya yang menurut perintah" (roughly translated : I that follow instructions) mah... *winks*

Bittersweet Day

It was indeed bittersweet today...

"Bitter" cos it was so difficult to get out of bed this morning. Woke up at 8am and I had to get to Eastin Hotel by 9am for training! Was late yesterday since I overslept and only got up at almost 8.30am... =S

"Sweet" cos I actually breezed past some traffic lights as they either turned green when I reached the light, or it had just turned green as I approached - yay!

"Bitter" cos I am probably gonna have 3 days of backlog to clear when I get into office tomorrow. Plus gotta be secretary for a meeting first thing in the morning - and I haven't even printed the finalized minutes of the previous meeting yet!

"Sweet" cos...

There was a Levi's retailer's meeting in the ballroom, which also included a runway show (probably for the fall/winter collection), which also means eye-candy to look at during lunch today, hehe!

I casually took a walk into the ballroom where they had the event as well, hehe... There were clothes and bags and caps and belts and wallets on display at the back of the hall - Fall/Winter collection, perhaps? Nothing particularly striking to me, though. Oh well, at least there was a "scenic" lunch, hehe! Oh wait, we ended our session before 4pm today as well - sweet!! =)

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - Thank God It's Friday!!

No, I'm not promoting for TGI Fridays... However, I wouldn't mind promoting if I got some free meal or something, hehehe... *winks*

 

Friday was really a day where the phrase, "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" fit perfectly!

 

The Good :-

1. Managed to clear a little bit of work by the end of the day so that I can have a clear mind during my 3 days away from office next week. Most importantly, sent out Meeting Minutes for upcoming meeting on the coming Thursday (my first day of the next week in the office!)

2. Got black and white that I will be attending the extra training modules, the first of which starts on Monday.

 

The Bad :-

1. Post meeting = backlog + more work (Familiar equation, right?)

2. If this keeps up, I'll have to bring home work more often, blog less... =(

 

The Ugly :-

1. Got pulled over by Mr. Traffic Police on the way home.

It was bad enough that I left the office later than I'd liked, I realised (about two thirds of the way home) that I'd left my mobile phone on my table in the office. =.=" So turned around and drove all the way back to office to retrieve my mobile phone, since I would probably need it... (Mobile phones have become a necessity - Gone are the simple, mobile-phone-less days, hehe!) Praying and hoping all the way back to office that my colleagues had not left and locked up the office already. Zoom, zoom... back to office, grabbed phone, quickly made my way home. On the way home (the second time), I got pulled over by Mr. Traffic Police. Ironically, this same point was where I realized my phone wasn't with me and I turned back to get it. Sigh.

2. Mr. Traffic Police seems to want bribe

He requested for my Identification Card and asked me, "So how now, Miss? Should I summon you?" I was already praying before and during my conversation with good ol' Mr. Policeman. This was temptation staring me in the face here! What would you do? To bribe and get away? Or to risk getting a summons? I prayed and prayed not to give into the temptation to take the "easy way out". Praise God, I resisted the temptation, and eventually, Mr. Traffic Police probably realised he ain't gonna get any, so he sent me off with a warning.

 

Thank God It's Friday! Went to dinner then Homelife feeling rather disheartened and unenthusiastic. The verses shared brought encouragement.  Here's the paraphrase from NLT:

I cried out, “I am slipping!”
      but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.

When doubts filled my mind,
      your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

~ Psalm 94:18-19 ~

So long, farewell...

This is how it started...

Rumour has it that somebody got caught enjoying some of this during working hours:

(I don't know why the person didn't know the meaning of the word "timing"; hello?!! watch during your break lar... not during working hours, right in front of your boss!!)

Which then speedily brought along a firewall that refused passage to the following (as well as others similar to them); bringing with it demotivation as venues to relief stress has been blocked... sighz.

Now, to top it off, "dear firewall" has also bade "so long and farewell" to:

*sienz*

Hence, I do apologize, dear reader(s) - if you are still out there reading - for even fewer posts now. Yes, I have tried to be more consistent, and I do have some more posts (Look out for Domestication Reprise, among others, which will be coming to you as soon as I can get it out)... But please bear with me, as work is coming down like a tsunami-sized tidal wave... Till the wave tides over, I'll be treading water, haha!!! Hoping my Lifesaver help keep me afloat... cheers!

Observations...

It's been quite a hiatus from blogging, with all the CNY hols and all... Have some stuff to blog about CNY but the pictures aren't ready for posting yet... Hence, been hoping to do the CNY blog first, which added to the procrastination of posting a new post. Finally decided to just continue blogging and posting the CNY one(s) as and when I get to it, hehe...

Anyhoo, back to the topic...

While dining out today, my attention was drawn to a little girl at a neighbouring table who was wincing as she beared the pain of a needle prick - I soon found out that the mother was doing a finger prick test on the girl who seemed about 4-5 years old. I suspected that the girl had diabetes as she later was given an insulin shot via a pen injector... My whole body cringed as I watched her get pricked by the lancet for the finger prick test and then my whole body froze as she calmly braved the insulin shot... Even recollecting it now is sending shivers up my spine!! Okay, so I'm a wimp when it comes to needles... Me no like-ee needles!!

On a different note, an update on the office MSN connection - there is now NONE!! Sigh... No more Live Messenger... (I still can sign in but cannot send/receive messages, except an offline message I received, which I'm not even sure if it got through due to a glitch - so no point there, right? As good as none... =P) Even Meebo or WebMessenger or e-buddy websites are firewalled... The firewall is so annoying that even Friendster and Facebook have been blocked! Gmail Chat... no more... Even the chatbox on this blog now will say "Access denied" or something to that effect... >.<" However, I guess I have to be thankful that Gmail is still okay, as well as Blogger... (so far... *fingers crossed*) So I suppose the only way to "chat" to relieve stress is to email people or post on the blog, lolz! Perhaps you'll be seeing more of me on the blog, eh? But blogging takes a bit more time and effort as compared to MSN-ing, haihz... So my two-minute break may take 20 minutes instead... Oh well... take what you have, right? *winks*

"Pin-drop" ponderings...

It's like "pin-drop" silent lately... at work, anyways. Not much work (not much that requires rushing anyways), not many demands from people (seems like a lot are out of office this week as well) and generally been very quiet (perhaps everyone (outside, i.e. customers) is busy with clearing their own stuff before Chinese New Year?) So, it's the re-emerging of the blogger in me, hehe... Provided that there are stuff to talk about lar. Here's some anyways:

The Ikea Incident
This happened to me at Ikea last week - went there on Friday with my colleague for lunch. Craving for Swedish meatballs, hehe. So anyhoo, as those of you who are familiar with the drinks system at Ikea - there are two types of cups available for the free flow of drinks (either carbonated or coffee/tea). The first cup, the glass goblet-like cup, is for the carbonated drinks only as it "cannot" withstand high temperatures - priced at RM1.50. The second, the ceramic(?) mug, is able to withstand the heat of hot coffee/tea - priced at RM3.00 and people who "purchase this cup" will get the convenience of safely consuming either hot or cold drinks in their cup. Okay, I think the foundation has been laid... Now for the feature "presentation":

I got the RM3.00 cup, which meant that I could have either hot or cold drinks. And, not wanting to start with the delicious coffee before I had anything to eat, proceeded to fill my cup with a carbonated drink. As the bubbly gush of sweet, sticky (if you spilt it!) drink filled my cup, I got a "oi, you can't take cold drink in that cup - only meant for hot drink!" from the fella (most likely foreign and new to Ikea) who was refilling the coffee beans in the coffee machine (ooh, they've got a new coffee machine by the way!)... grrr... >.<

The Lack of Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger, or previously commonly known as MSN Messenger, had always worked perfectly well in my office. Hence, on days like these I can at least catch up with some people - most times, I'm swamped with work and my status is set to "Busy" (to the point that Irene Lai will "ask permission" to chat, haha! - no need lar... so pai seh liddat ler!). Sadly, from Monday (28th Jan), although I am able to sign into Messenger, I am unable to send or receive messages. To the misery of some other "Mesengger-kaki's" at the office and myself, it continued on in this trend the next day...

Then a glimmer of hope came on Tuesday (29th Jan), after lunch - Irene Lai messaged me and I received it!! Since then, it was back to normal. What joy for all of us!! Messenger worked just fine for the rest of the day. =)

The joy didn't last long, as yesterday (30th Jan) the inability to send or receive messages via Messenger set in again... and the trend has continued on till now. Withdrawal symptoms, such as increased stress levels and a gloomy outlook, seemed to have set in for the Messenger regulars, who have since (in attempt to retain their sound mind) either resorted to continuing their moping and lamentating, or to Web Messenger (which seems to be working just fine). Thankfully, I also have a blog to keep myself occupied, no? *winks* Haven't resorted to using Web Messenger... yet. I still harbour hope that it's just some problem at the "Messenger service provider", which should be resolved... soon?! =S I do hope it's not my office firewall-ing (the horror!!) Messenger, sigh. Here's hoping Messenger works properly again!!

Need : Holiday

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR... (Yes, I know it's already like 8 days into the new year already... Wrapped up with all sorts of stuff lar, so no time to blog oso...)

Lots has been happening since the welcoming in of 2008... Despite clearing up my work on New Year's Eve (yes, I was working that day, sadly... hehe!), as of 2nd January 2008, I have been working non-stop : reports to wrap up 2007, more license renewal applications to evaluate, annual report contribution, certify true copies of licenses... Before one task is completed, another one seems to have added itself at the end of the long queue of tasks!

On a lighter note, it's nice to have Chels and Sa dropping into the blog... =)

Am involved in the ISO Internal Audit training this week also... Yesterday and today was quite tough... especially the keeping awake in class after lunch! *winks* Tomorrow will be the last day of the course... Then, Thursday is a public holiday (yay, finally... some rest!!) and then Friday will come soon after, which will be the last day to clear up work before the much needed holiday...

Yes, you read it right... HOLIDAY!!! Woots!! I will be away in Terengganu... May not be the best time to be hanging around Terengganu, but will be praying for good weather and great fun anyways! Don't know if I'll come back with a tan though... We shall see!

Well, here's looking forward to a break from work... Objectives for 12th - 17th January : sleep, relax, bum on the beach, catch up on some reading... to sum it in one word, I'll have to say - RELAX!!! *grinz* Awana Kijal, here I come... whee!!

Inhale... Exhale... Repeat.

What a day... an exceptionally long, tiring day... time really flew by and the workday ended very exhaustingly... thank God for the strength to endure it and now, it's over...

Today turned out to be the last day to close-off the submissions for the meeting, which will be held tomorrow. I had started the day off thinking, "I'd wrap up everything today so that I will be able to attend the talk/seminar/meeting (I'm not even that sure what exactly it is, lolz!) that my boss wanted me to sit in tomorrow morning - after all, the submission will close tomorrow". So much for that. Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one who thought the submissions would only close tomorrow - so did my immediate boss!! Well, we were both thoroughly surprised and hence, I had to rush work like crazy today... We finally "negotiated" with Fifi (thanks, girl!) to close the submissions by 3pm so that we could put as many applications through to be tabled at tomorrow's meeting.

Praise God, I managed to get quite a lot of work done - also thanks to all my MSN buddies who heeded the message to "strictly DND until after 3pm" *grinz*! I also managed to get the GL for my parents' visit to the doctor tomorrow. =)

So, a very busy day indeed... Didn't even realize it was time for lunch until the punchclock "sang" and after lunch time flew again till it was time to go home... A really, really busy day, where at any slight chance of a break required a gentle self-reminder to "inhale... exhale... repeat." *winks*

Sickie wanna rest at home...

Yup... feeling sick liao, haihz.

Yesterday, my workload was like some sort of twisted ironic joke ler. Started the day off having nothing much to do - good lor, then I can read up in preparation for Bible Quiz this Friday, as well as work on the SAN blog... Was just thinking, "What a nice break for a change..." (Was swamped with work for the past few weeks, so a break was much welcomed)

One of our department's admin girls came over and asked if I could "CTC" (certified true copy) some documents. Since I was free, I thought why not and welcomed some work to keep me occupied. "Surprise" #1 - the stack was more than an inch thick and I have to sign each and every page! Then later on, just before lunch, I received a thick stack of documents, which were license applications I had to evaluate - a stack that measured up to a couple of inches thick! ("Surprise" #2) Moments later, "Surprise" #3 came along... another stack of document to CTC - about 1.5-2 inches thick, and again, each and every page required my signature... *faintz*

By the end of the day, I had completed signing the first stack of CTC documents and cleared up the applications (counted a total of 25!) before I left for the day. Unfortunately, the houseman I requested to help me to get a company's contact number faxed the document that I had prepared but not planned to send out yet... haihz. This led to me having to entertain the "uncle" that called and tried to weasel/intimidate/bargain for me to approve his application although he was missing some key documents. Called me 2-3 times, and in the end, I passed the last call he made directly to my immediate boss - who told him the same thing (no license if insufficient insufficient documents), haha!

So, today - so far I've completed CTC-ing the remaining documents from yesterday as well as clear up some follow up cases... Unfortunately, the sniffles that started this morning seems to not want to clear itself, haihz... Now I'm feeling feverish and weak liao... Head feels heavy...

Sickie wanna go home... haihz.

28 Days Later... [The Update]

It's been a while since my last blog post... Been busy - the reason for the endless mountain of work? Please refer to The Prelude.

Anyways, I've been swimming (you could also say 'drowning', but that would just be a bit too morbid, doncha think?) in work since I got back into the office - thank God that I'm still alive, though, hehe! Plenty of work to keep me occupied so I haven't been able to post or say much via MSN either.

Thankfully, things are starting to be more under controlled now and the office has been quiet for a couple of days (which means I have time and space to settle my work). Probably will be quiet for till the end of the week - slightly more than half my department are away in Singapore for a seminar, another two more are away for training till Thursday, one more went off to Penang yesterday for some workshop. Today's attendance: my direct boss (who's covering for Head of Department), another officer and yours truly... If you think that is few, you should've seen yesterday - my direct boss (who went out for inspection, so does that count?) and me! - this leaves me the 'highest ranking' staff in my dept (the rest are admin staff) and the 'right' to be "boss for the day"...

I know, I know what you must be thinking now: "Wah, get to be boss - good mah..." On the contrary!! Being boss is good... Playing boss is NOT. Someone from the admin department tried to twist my arm into making a decision regarding some renovations that supposedly is confirmed and finalised for the department. I wasn't updated with the latest plans or decisions regarding this renovation matter - the last I heard was we were waiting on upper level management to decide whether or not the renovations can be done --> how does the ding dong expect me to make any decision with the excuse "since I'm the boss for the day and the contractor is already here to discuss"? Gah!! In case you're wondering... Of course I didn't make any decisions and told him to come back another time when at least my direct boss (whom I hope knows what is happening) is around... duh.

Anyway, on a brighter note... I've also been working on my homelife group's blog... Finally got it kick-started (after quite some delay)!! Praise God, it's finally up and running! If you wanna take a peek there, you're welcomed to. =) Just click here to be redirected!

Two Weeks Later... [The Prelude]

Been out of the office for two weeks... well, most of the two weeks... Which explains my Houdini act from MSN as well as the blog... I know some have been looking out and found no new updates - thanks for dropping by anyways or noticing that I was offline for so long yah; your support/care means a lot to me... =)

Well, the past two weeks have been crazy... Two weeks ago, I was in Malacca from Monday to Wednesday (for work lah... not play, lolz!) Then was supposed to be out of office for at least half a day on Thursday, but at 9am, I was 'grounded' and scolded unnecessarily by one of the bosses (the head of the secretariate team for the seminar we're conducting the coming Monday - Wednesday) - he 'commented' that I didn't know how to plan my time and my work and 'accused' me of being "calculative regarding work" (whatever that's supposed to mean... haihz), then told me to reschedule the appointment and stay in the office to clear up the seminar-related work! I've already been working full time on the seminar-related stuff for the past couple of weeks full time and almost everything was already in place... But, what to do... boss mah... stay in office lor... So Thursday and Friday was 'grounded' in office to work on the final bits of preparatory work... There were changes every now and then, even up till the last day, aiyo... Even stayed back on Friday for an extra hour overtime (no OT pay la, for those who were wondering... lolz!) even though I actually wanted to rush back home so that I could make it on time to meet up with some friends for dinner before going to the Leader's Conference at church that evening.

Leader's Conference was Friday night and the whole of Saturday (started at 8.30am for breakfast and ended at around 4pm). Sunday was it's usual 9.15am - 3pm at church for Creative Arts class (teaching) - Sunday Service - Christmas Musical practice! Then it was a quick visit to Jack and Lyanne who were celebrating their son, Darrell's full moon, followed by dinner with my family and a visit to my aunt's.

Slept fairly early on Sunday as I had to be at Sheraton Subang at 6.30am to prepare for the seminar registration, which was supposed to start at 8am... Good thing we were there already... There was a participant who came at 7am!! So, Monday to Wednesday was running around and working at Sheraton Subang for the seminar. Made it to pop in to visit Andy (get well soon, golf diva! We're all praying for you...) at SJMC on Tuesday during lunch hour. Thursday was Deepavali, which was a public holiday. Went for an overnight retreat with some cell group members, which meant I had to take a day off from work on Friday - this also means an entire week out of the office. Saturday was spent going out with friends and then Sunday's activities again.

Thankfully I had a nap before dinner, so I'm hoping tomorrow I will be able to walk into office and not crawl in, lolz! Phew, what a busy time... Will have to settle reports and claims and prepare for an upcoming meeting (and the minute-taking for the meeting) and start working on the paperwork that's been put aside for weeks due to the seminar-related work I was busy with... Whoa, I gotta stop thinking about what's waiting for me at the office, or else I won't be able to sleep, lolz! Well, all glory to God for sustaining me throughout the past two weeks... The retreat, although tiring, was great fun and a good break away from the craziness of the office! =)

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]

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!!

Treasure hunt / Solving mysteries

It's interesting to note that at my new workplace, I've been assigned to do the department's statistics... extract, tabulate, report... and at times, even do an audit on the numbers (why they don't tally)!! These couple of days I've been working on numbers and more numbers. =S

Having been frazzled by the assortment of numbers and manual calculations, also not to forget the mini-'statistical'-investigations, I decided to do a bit of slice-and-dice with some recycle paper in order to refill the rough paper in my mini clipboard. This task resulted in a little mountain of paper bits to be thrown away. And by the time I was done, my desk was cluttered with paper - work related as well as the paper bits.

Cleared my desk and back to the numbers... Then I realized my highlighter went missing! Another 'mystery'... Did a search on my desk, my cubicle, the floor, other colleagues desks... it was nowhere to be found, and I'd just received it last month... still so new! Doing a little 'retrospective analysis', I decided to check my wastepaper basket... And at the bottom of all the paper bits I'd just thrown away, there it was - my brand new bright yellow highlighter!!! *slap forehead* Sigh... Good thing I didn't chuck my work related papers, hehe! And also that the cleaning people haven't cleared the wastepaper basket... phew!

Well, yet another mystery solved, hehe!!

Other happenings...
> Working hours for me are 7:30am - 4:30pm, from June onwards (oooh... almost time to go home, yay!)
> Fara's wedding is tomorrow! (Congratulations, Fara!!! *grinz*)
> Church camp is coming soon and I have yet to start packing, haha!
> Uploaded new song (from one of the new CDs I got recently) and... it plays... thought it had some problems, but perhaps I was just being a bit impatient... dunno lar, I'm still not sure if I got the codes done properly mah... so please forgive and bear with my noobness lah

Okay, time to go home... Looks like today no need to stay overtime, yay!! It's raining... and freezing now!!! Thankfully, it's school holiday - hopefully traffic is clear!

I have a cubicle!!

It's been a little while since my last post. Just reported in to my 'new job' mah... So far, things have been both up and down. I got my leave approved for camp, and then after yesterday's internal meeting, it was decided that all leave applications were to be handled by our direct superiors and not the department head (who'd already approved my leave for camp)!! Thankfully, my direct superior was alright with it, so praise God!! I get to go for camp, yay!! Just praying and hoping that nothing pops up between now and then, so that I really get to go!! Pray with me, ya?

Am currently filling a position in 'Technical Management Unit'. Sounds so glamour-rama, right? But it seems the job scope is a whole lot of ISO documentation work, i.e. paperwork! And I'm all by my lonesome in that unit... *shudder* However, I was still granted an opportunity to train to be certified as an auditor... praise God! And, because I'm the only one to be trained for certification, I have to now prepare my own training schedule and make sure I get trained... ironic! So... faster finish training, faster get certified, faster get to do different stuff at work lor!

Ah yes... I have a cubicle!!! I can 'hear' Vino singing the cubicle song as I type this, haha! Well, I'm 'well provided for' here... Own cubicle, own computer, own desk, own chair, own drawer... Even an extra chair at my table for 'guests', haha! Yeah, pretty well taken care of lar... no complaints!! *grins* (Don't worry, I haven't forgotten you bunch back at the research centre!!! Let's do lunch sometime, yeah?)

From KL to PJ...

Yesterday was my first day back at the regulatory centre, after I left when I'd completed my housemanship. God has been good thus far, not only in granting me my first choice for posting location (the regulatory centre), but also my first choice in departments to work in. Now workplace is closer to home and the line of work is something I'm passionate about. I should be satisfied, I know, but I'm gonna be praying for yet another miracle... So pray with me yeah, that I'd be able to get leave approved to go for Church Camp!! I've been looking forward to going, and even more since Lovy said she will be able to come along. Prayers are pre-requisites for miracles, so Pray Until Something Happens (P.U.S.H.)!!

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

The one about the posting

Posting. A word that can send shivers down the spine of anyone working in the government sector. You see, in government service, we (government servants) are sent to our respective workplaces based on posting. Anyone could be posted anywhere. Can be quite scary ler.

Anyways, I got a post in Perak during my housemanship year. During that time, I was 'lent' to an institute in Petaling Jaya. This means, I'm actually working (or rather, training) in PJ, while "holding" a post in Perak. Confusing? Yeah. It is confusing.

Then once I'd completed the houseman year, I was supposed to work in Perak (where I'm posted) but a miracle happened! I was transferred to a research institute in Kuala Lumpur! This kind of transfers are quite rare, as in 'normal' circumstances, once being 'lent' out, we have to return to our post and work there. So... miracle number one!

Thinking all was fine and dandy in the research institute in KL, I was transferred to a new institute two months later. This new institute is currently based in KL so not much of a change there. In fact, the institute is currently operating in the premise of the research institute I was posted to. However, this new institute is about to become 'privatized'. This means that I would not be fulfilling my compulsory service requirement if I stayed on once that happens (the privatization). Since I had to serve in the government sector for another 2.5 years, I was advised to apply for a transfer before the privatization happens, which was exactly what I did.

Yesterday (Good Friday... and indeed it was a good Friday!), I received news that my transfer has already been approved (considered very fast, as it took less than a month since I'd started the application process!) and that I will have to report to the new posting on 16th April. And, on top of that, I got my first choice of posting locations!! Wow, another miracle!! Praise the Lord! Woot!

Will have to go for my induction course from 12th onwards, so will have to call to postpone the reporting date. Looking forward to the new posting, which is actually the institute where I did my housemanship training, so not that much learning curve before I get used to the new post... yay! Will miss my colleagues, who have become very good friends... do keep in touch ya?