updates...

ok, i know i've not been updating very consistently. one of the many reason is due to sheer laziness... hehe. anyway, here are some very quick updates on what's been going on for the earlier half of this year.

1. i went to france (paris and toulouse) in march, the "west-est" country on the globe i've been to thus far. this is also the first overseas trip with the significant other (to be known as "SO" henceforth). yes, there's a presence of an SO for quite some time now... hehe *blush*

2. i was going to go to greece in may, but had to cancel it due to point no. 3.

3. i applied and got transferred back to m'sia. so i'm officially not living in the land of the shimmering sands anymore, but on an island now.

4. things have been rather crazy with all the packing up of my desert abode, flying home, moving up north to the island, settling into my new job, looking for a new apartment... i finally moved into my new pad last weekend! yahoo!!

5. oh, and in between spending a few days back home and moving up north, i also managed to squeeze in a short getaway to the banjaran hotsprings retreat... a heavenly place! it's a belated birthday treat and pampering from the SO :)

ok, that's all for now!

the 2 year mark...

it was a few days after the date that i realized... i've been here in the sandland for 2 years! time really does fly. so just thought of penning down something to put a mark on the timeline.

so... 2 years. i feel this 2nd year has gone by rather quickly, as compared to my 1st year here. i've fallen into a routine, and the days and weeks and months run by like clockwork most of the time. looking back at my 1 year post, i think most of the sentiments still stand. but as with all of my previous jobs, i've been getting rather restless and ready for change. i've never gone past the 3 year mark in all my previous jobs! 

actually, i've been sorta looking around a bit to move. the good thing about my current company is that the group has many properties and we're encouraged to move around within the group. in fact, i've applied for 2 or 3 positions, all back in asia. yeah, i've been looking to move closer to home, and my most recent application was within home itself, tho' further north. but the thing is, the moment i applied and realized that i have a good chance of getting the position, i started regretting it! i even panicked a bit, enough to go speak to my immediate boss to ask for his advice on how to reject an offer if ever one was made! LOL...

i guess deep down inside, i'm not really ready to leave here yet. here're a few reasons why:

1. location - it's really great being in the middle, between asia and europe. i'm so much nearer to europe that it's opened up more traveling options for me. looking to venture more to the west in the near future!

2. money - ok, i admit that money plays a big part in my decision for now. if i go home, i don't think i'll ever be able to get what i'm getting here, with all the added benefits and remunerations, not to mention tax free income. need to put aside more for my retirement fund! :P

3. job - tho' i always tell people that this is not what i want to do in the long run, but i guess i can live doing this a little while longer. also, there has been some slight change in my job scope, where i have the opportunity to branch out into a slightly different function (which is handled by a different position for other bigger properties, but since my company is quite small, the function falls under my jurisdiction). so in the future, i'd have the option to move to a bigger property to solely handle this function in my current level or higher, and don't have to start from bottom (in order to enjoy the benefits of this level).

4. people - no, i don't have anyone that i can't leave behind here. by people, i mean the lack of a significant other to spur my desire to go home. other than my parents, of course. being single gives me the freedom and opportunity to explore more of the world out there. in a way, i only have myself to answer to. on one hand, there's  the issue of my clock ticking and time running out. of course the idea of a more settled life back home is tempting, but that can come in due time. i do see myself settling down with a man (?), kids (?) and a dog perhaps, in the near future, but if that doesn't happen, at least it's my choice. i chose this path. tho' i'd always regret not having a kid of my own, at least a dog or two would never be out of the question later on, right? 

phew, this is getting a tad jiwang, huh? well, these are the 4 that i can think of at the moment, so better leave it here for now. and would i be able to hang on for more than 3 years here? we'll see... ;)

like a true chinese!

boss: i like your new hairstyle. you look like a ninja. when your enemies approach, you just pull out the dagger from your hair and throw at them!
stargal: =_=''' boss, this is not a dagger!
boss: no? oh, then it's a pencil?
stargal: no, not a pencil also... it's a... a... a chopstick!
boss: aahhh... then you can just pull it out and eat at anytime!
stargal: yeah, like a true chinese! :P

2nd birthday in sandland...

taking a break from travel blogging (ok, i know i've been lazy. will find the mood to continue with my turkey trip soon! hehe), i guess i need to record down this annual event of my life lar: my birthday. last year was nothing special, just an ordinary weekend in my ordinary life. this year, i'd LOVE to say that it was very special, but hehe... it's quite ordinary as well :P


the greetings started coming in at the stroke of midnight, or rather, at the stroke of midnight m'sian time! so touched that my buddies and friends remembered, especially since i've removed my birthday from facebook :")


anyway, had a mini meltdown for a while, right after i sent an sms to my mom to thank her for everything. another year away from my family and loved ones! but all is good, so pulled myself up, regrouped, and went about the rest of my day as per normal.


as it was a working day, my colleagues prepared a cake for me. it's actually quite standard lar, as we have a departmental budget for these kinda things... but it was quite sweet just the same.

cake pic with instagram...

with my departmental colleagues... 

haha... look at that long knife! and i didn't realize my colleague was posing behind me like that! :D

the cake was so chocolaty and thick (as in consistency) that it was so difficult to cut into!

stargal: boss, what is this? *showing the photo*

boss: omygad, who is that?

stargal: boss, u're the only one wearing blue today =_='''

boss: i dunno what u're talking about. so many people wearing blue today *pointing at my other colleagues whom none of them were wearing blue*

with our director. this other colleague's birthday is this coming weekend, so we sang her a song as well... :)

well, that's another year in the bag!

riding on the efforts of others…

warning: ranting post ahead!

the manipulator

this morning, ms. blackberry* came over and asked me to tune into the internet radio. at first i thought it was an instruction by her boss (the gm), coz we're recently running a radio ad campaign. so i thought the boss wants me to monitor the ad, and asked her to pass on the message. then she added, "it's so boring here. we should have some form of entertainment and music. leave it on, and i'll speak to boss about it."

at first i didn't really catch on that this was her own idea but luckily, i have my earphones semi-permanently attached to my cpu and i was lazy to reach down to unplug it. so i told her it can't be done and asked her to do it from her side. she went back to her desk, but no music came from her pc.

then i realized, "damn, it wasn't the boss's instruction. she just wanted to use me!" damn damn damn!!! if my earphones weren't connected to my cpu, i'd have bodoh-bodoh (malay: stupidly) played the radio and when gm walks pass, he'll think, "wah, this girl so free. enjoying life here." what the hell lah!

*nicknamed as such due to the fact that she's on her blackberry the whole day in the office, facebooking, sms-ing, messaging etc. there's even talk that it's stuck to her hands permanently, like a mutated growth or something!

 

the rider

my company has this staff benefit whereby we are allowed to claim our taxi fare to selected destinations such as a mall or beach park etc. of course, there are conditions but yeah, we have such benefits.

anyway, there's this colleague, yakking yvette, who somehow always refuse to submit for the transportation claims, due to certain reasons that i'm not convenient to divulge here. ok fine, if that's your stand. but then, she'll still happily tag along and benefit from the free transportation whenever we go to those selected destination. so it's ok if other people makes the claim, which benefits you, but it's not ok for you to submit the claim? how hypocrite is that?!

 

the body huggers

in the recent green campaign that took place in m'sia (and even the "cleaning" campaign of last year), i've noticed a category of people among my facebook friends. while most of my friends shared information, videos and links about the issue, some expressing their own opinions and anger on their status updates, take part in impromptu discussions, or even just simply changed their profile photos to show their support to the movement, there were some who decided that they don't want to have anything whatsoever to do with it.

in this time and age, it's impossible that they don't know anything at all about the issue. even if the mainstream media tried to mute it as much as possible, it's all over the internet, on online independent media and facebook. aren't they at least a tiny bit curious as to why is it that most of their friends' profile photos have suddenly taken on a greenish theme? of course everyone would know the significance of it, unless they've been in a coma for the past one year. hence we can safely rule out "ignorance" as the reason.

so why aren't some of them showing any form of acknowledgement to the campaign? don't they care about what is happening to our country? i'm sure they care, coz i know my friends are not cold-blooded people. maybe they feel that it's not happening in their city, hence it has nothing to do with them? or maybe they feel that it's a futile exercise, all these protesting and gathering. after all, it's been approved by the gov. what can we do, right? nothing's gonna change. or maybe they're just afraid? all these anti-this anti-that, what if the authorities decided to take action on those who support the cause? at least they won't be incriminated.

or maybe they think that there are so many others in the bandwagon already. so it's ok for them to berpeluk tubuh (malay: hug their own body - meaning have their arms crossed and not doing anything), coz one more supporter or one less supporter won't really make any difference. after all, i'm not good at talking, i can't express my views so well, i'm this and i'm that, bla bla bla all the excuses in the world... let the others who are more outspoken do all the work and hopefully they'll succeed. then it'll benefit everyone, including ME!

well, i know i can't force anyone to support anything that i believe in or am passionate about but it's really disheartening to see people who don't give a damn about anything. especially if it's something that will and does affect them and their families too! it's not like we're asking them to lead or start something. all these campaigns need are a show of support, even in the smallest gesture, just to let them know that they have our backing and that they're not alone.

 

the planters

there are some people who are very good planters... not of plants, but ideas. they'll try to plant a certain idea into you, and then sorta passed the responsibilities on to you to act on it while they take a seat back and let you do all the work.

once, 2 of my colleagues wanted to go for steamboat at a restaurant and asked me, sweet sheila and yakking yvette if we would like to join. we agreed but sweet sheila wondered aloud if it’s at the same restaurant that she went before. according to her, that restaurant’s steamboat is not nice at all!

upon reaching the building where the restaurant is, sweet sheila confirmed that it was really the same restaurant. so the whole way going up to the restaurant, which was situated at the upstairs terrace of the building, sweet sheila kept telling me how bad the food at the restaurant is. my 2 other colleagues were walking some distance in front of us, so sweet sheila kept trying to convince me to change venue. “trust me, the food there is really bad! it’ll be better if we go to the steamboat at “little lamb”. this restaurant caters mostly to filipinas. not our taste at all! really, you wouldn’t like it!”

she kept right on at it, buzzing non-stop at my ears, that finally i can’t take it anymore. i turned coolly to her and said, “if you want to propose a change of venue, say it out to everybody. stop buzzing around at my ears coz i’ll never open my mouth for you. first of all, it wasn’t me who suggested this place. we are just tagging along. secondly, i’ve not eaten at this place before. so don’t expect me to tell everyone that the food is not nice.” that shut her up nicely for the rest of the night…

another time, yakking yvette was telling me about her roommate's departmental outing and how much fun her roommate had. then she proceeded to sorta complain that our department never does such things and how nice it would be if we could have something like this.

now, if i don't know yakking yvette that well, i'd have jumped right into her trap and say, "let's plan something!" but i saw right through her ploy! if i'd have said that, then the task would definitely be placed upon my shoulders and i'd be the official organizer for the departmental outing.

if it were someone else, maybe i'd have very happily want to plan something TOGETHER. but now i've come to recognize the few "planters" here (through the hard way, unfortunately!), so my answer to their manipulation would be, "good idea! why not you plan one?", making sure to emphasize on the word YOU.

well, in my previous life (meaning life back home lar), i'd probably be very gung-ho in wanting to organize an outing or trip etc. anything the spells FUN! but that also would need to depend on for whom i'm organizing it for. which brings me to my last category of "riders" as per the title of this post...

 

the wait-and-seers

i really hate it when we put so much time and energy and effort into organizing something, only to be met with lukewarm or even cold responses. when we throw ideas around, everyone would be very excited but when the e-mail is sent out, no one would want to be the first to reply. everyone wants to wait and see what other people say. in the end no one will reply, which then makes us feel like we're just syiok sendiri (malay: excited/happy about something only you yourself is excited/happy about).

so nowadays, i'll refrain from organizing anything that involves a big group, unless i know the group is as gung-ho as me. luckily my makan group is always very responsive to foodie-outing proposals, so i don't mind doing that. besides, other members of the group are also always organizing stuff, it's not always organized by me.

for other stuff like shopping, outing or just going for dinner, normally i'll just throw the idea with my artist. if both of us are game for it, then we'll ask anyone who would like to join. if no one else wants to go, we'll just go by ourselves. easy peasy...

and if there's something i'd like to do for say, a celebration or event, i'd do it by myself instead of plan it with someone else and making a big deal out of it. that way, i do it on my own free will, in my own time and capacity, instead of having to wait for others. one good example was what i prepared for a few of my colleagues during valentine's day.

 

phew, ok. that was a long rant... but just getting things off my chest! :)

staff party '11

ok, this is also another long-overdue post - my company's staff party, which happened last september. the theme was "hollywood" and at first, they said to just dress up as our favourite star, actor or actresses.

this, in a way, can be very easy or very difficult. easy in a sense that we can just dress up in our best tux or gown, like in a red carpet event. but it's very difficult if we wish to be recognized for the star we're dressing up as. i think in the history of hollywood, there are very few stars with distinctive characteristic that is easily recognizable. i can only think of just a handful, like marilyn monroe, charlie chaplin, elizabeth taylor, elvis prestley and... that's it.

so i went to hr to give my feedback, that it's better to include characters as well. that way, our choice of costumes can be expanded further. so at the last minute (in the final week), hr agreed and changed the "definition" to the theme.

guess who i went as? ;)

at first i wanted to make my own costume, but my colleague found a costume rental place so i tagged along to see what they have. the adult size of the costume for the character i wanted is only for sale, not for rent. and it's only one piece of cloth with nothing else, for AED370 (≈ RM309). crazy... i won't even buy a piece of dress that i like for that price! then the shop girl said i can try the one for kids (with much assurance that it'll fit me), which is for rental at AED150 (≈ RM125), and comes with the full set of accessories (like the tie shown above).

if u still don't know who i went as, i was the boy who lived lar...

only me and 2 other colleagues from my department went dressed as a character. the rest of the company went in "red carpet" theme. anyway, here are some photos to share.

here's me manning my department's games booth. before the dinner starts, there's a segment where each department was given a "booth" for games and we had to sell tickets before the event to get people to come play our game. the game we chose were "guess the movie" (in-line with the "hollywood" theme) and we even gave away free popcorns! and no, i don't know what my colleague and i were sniggering about there...

as an added bonus, we even prepared this mug-shot thingy (dunno what's the actual name for this) free for anyone who stopped by our booth. i was the one who printed this out, joint up the pieces, stick them onto a foam board and cut it up! i had to do it twice, coz i got the hole for shrek's face too big. it's still too big the 2nd time, but slightly better than the first and i couldn't be bothered to do it a 3rd time. also, i was out of foam board and our printer ink was running dangerously low!

cam-whoring at the booth... no points for guessing that our "business" didn't do too well that night :P

each department had to prepare a performance too. sorry for the blur pic...

i suggested we do a number from "phantom of the opera" (again, in-line with the theme), with the song "masquerade". i feel it was an awesome idea, coz the other departments would surely do hot and sexy dances or dance to fast music etc, and ours would really stand out. too bad, my colleagues weren't very keen to take part and we had to literally force everyone to put each foot in front of the other. it's really that bad! so we got our act sorted out at the very last minute (an hour before the party, actually!) and only managed to do a very very short presentation. we were just getting started and the audience were only starting to anticipate a great performance from us, and then it ended! haha...

more cam-whoring... this is just part of my department actually. a few were missing, probably partying off somewhere with the free-flow booze, and some just didn't show up for the party just because they refused to dance! what wet blankets...

cool props prepared by the party committee... :D

best costumes of the night, roxy (of 1920's harlem) and zoro. both are from my department. so means i didn't win for best dressed, but i still had fun dressing up! :)

my department also won the 2nd runner up for departmental presentation, so at least our efforts paid off!

here's a final cam-whoring photo of me in closing... i love this costume so much! :D

addicted to prezi!

i came to know about prezi last week, when my gen-y gm (or so he claims!) requested us to do up a presentation using it. it's such a cool app!


so i've made up another presentation for my department's christmas party, and everyone loved it! hehehe... just wanna share it with everyone here (tho' u're NOT invited to the party! :P)


wait for it to load fully, hover your mouse over the word "more" to view it in full screen, and keep clicking > to advance to the next slide.

sales & marketing xmas gathering on Prezi

here's another cool presentation, by the prezi team themselves. but this required a higher level of skills, involving flash and photoshop etc...

on bended knees...

like i've mentioned before, i've not been sleeping well lately... other than stress from work, i've also been doing a lot of thinking. well, some of the thinking are not deliberate. sometimes one just can't control the thoughts that come into our minds.

i've been starting to question myself, if this is the kind of job i want to be doing for the rest of my life. and i know the answer to that: NO, this is not what i want! ok, so what if in a few years' time, i'm being promoted to director of my division? then what? if i continue on, the next step would be director of the department. so what? i don't even wanna be in this division anymore. and being a division director would just be the same as what i'm doing now, just on a different level. and i definitely don't wish to be a director of the department!

so what am i doing here? i know this is not the kind of job i'm happy doing. i'm not talking about the company or the bosses (which is another story altogether). i'm talking about the very nature of the job. it's just not ME! i feel as if i'm trap in a job that is not who i am. as if i'm lying to the whole world that i'm the perfect person for this job, that this is what i'm passionate about, when deep inside, i dread every moment of it. ok, not every moment lar. that's a bit dramatic but u get what i'm trying to say, right?

ok, so i'm living out one of my dreams of living and working in a different country. for the exposure and experience. but in living that dream, it must be also possible to be in a job that you can actually find meaning in and are passionate about, right? i know it's possible! i just know it!!!

we've always heard of people telling us not to give up on our dreams, to hold onto our dreams and work towards it, bla bla bla... but the problem is, i don't even know what my dreams are! of course, i know what i like and don't like to do, but there's no one concrete dream that i can sum up as my dream career. i guess i'm just messed up and complicated like that :P

anyway, after a few chat sessions with Lamenting Lynette, i've sorta worked out what i want. it's the HOW that's the problem. i have this IDEA of my ultimate dream job, but what that job is, or how i'm gonna get such a job, or if this kinda job even exist... i guess i'll have to seek the answers on my bended knees. or more accurately, be more diligent in seeking the answers to my questions on bended knees.

i've been slacking. maybe all these questions that invade my mind in the middle of the night is a wake up call. well, not a wake up call literally, as i really need to sleep! but a wake up call to not forget. to always remember to go back to my prime point of faith. NMHRGK.

most used arabic words...

these are the 2 that i always use here.

sho hada! = what is this?

colleague: eh, you didn't send the file yet?

me: i sent yesterday. did u check your e-mail?

colleague: oh, not yet. hehe...

me: sho hada!

me: do we get public holiday on 1st may?

hr: no

me: but it's international labour day!

hr: sorry, this country don't follow...

me: sho hada!

haram = sinful/forbidden

pervert colleague 1: can i go up to you flat tonight?

me: no

pc 1: why?

me: *said with muka selamba (malay: nonchalantly)* haram *walked away*

*yes, the perverts here are really so bold! esp towards asian girls, coz they have this perception that asian girls are "easy".

pervert colleague 2: how come you refuse to shake hands with me now?

me: cannot

pc 2: why?

me: *muka selamba* haram *walked away*

*i know it's rude not to shake someone's hand when someone stretch out his/her hand, but how many times he wanna shake my hand in a day??? every time he sees me, he'll come up to me, ask how i am while shaking my hand. for 5-6 times a day! not only that, he'll also hold on to my hand while speaking! and u know what he speak to me about? it's all stupid things like "how are you today? good? have u had your lunch? how did u find the lunch today? bla bla bla..." i mean, what the hell???

german-ized

last week, i wrote about cantonese-izing my colleagues' names. well, seems like the joke's on me now!

it all started with my gm, a german, greeting us with guten morgen (german: good morning). after a few mornings of guten morgen, i pandai-pandai (malay: trying to be smart) greeted him with guten tag (german: good afternoon) and guten abend (german: good evening), hence opening a floodgate of new german words everyday! thank god we have google translate to look up the words that he shoot at us!

a few days back, he stopped at my work station.

gm: you know, your name is a short form for susan. or in german, we call it "su-za-ne".

me: but that's not my name.

gm: i don't care. from now on, you're su-za-ne from communications.

me: ................

gm: alright, su-za-ne ta-ne? *grin*

me: =_='''

gossips in broad daylight...

working in a place where there aren't many people from your country or those who speak your language is always the best... you get to gossip about people terang-terang (malay slang: straight/outright) right in front of them!

sweet sheila, a chinese national, and i speak cantonese in the office, especially when talking about stuff not related to work. so it's really convenient for us to gossip. we've even developed nicknames and cantonese-ized names for our colleagues, to make it easier for us to talk without having to mention anyone's real name. evil, right? :P

(conversation in cantonese)

sweet sheila: you know this Wai Lum*? (and Wai Lum was actually standing right in front of us!)

me: what about him?

sweet sheila: i heard that he's been trying to court Sau San* from the finance.

me: wah, Sau San is so pretty. you think she'll fall for him meh? everyday face black-black, like the whole world owes him money like that!

sweet sheila: that's y. dunno how true lar, that's what the Xiu Pei Shu** told me.

me: but Ah Pou*** told me Wai Lum is already married wor!

sweet sheila: aiya, so what? that Lou Shu**** is also married lar, and still he's going around with that Pak Hap*****!

* can you guess the english names for Wai Lum and Sau San? easy enough, right?

** cantonese for "lil secretary". the most junior (in age) of all the secretaries here, but obviously no junior in her connections where juicy stories are concerned!

*** her name means "gem or precious stone" in english, hence "pou", meaning "precious" in cantonese.

**** cantonese for "mouse". nothing to do with his name. just that he looks a lot like one! :P

***** her name is also the name of a flower. this is the cantonese name of that flower.

but today, we realized that sometimes we need to be careful with what we're saying, coz we'll never know who's listening (and actually understanding what was being said).

sweet sheila: (arranging some photos while doing the layout for a newsletter, with a few pics showing our gm posing with some vip guests - thinking aloud in cantonese) hmm... so many people here, but our gm is still the most leng-chai (cantonese: handsome) one.

at that very moment, our gm walked past us from behind... he stopped short, turned back and spoke to sweet sheila: ngo leng-chai? (cantonese: i'm handsome?) omg, how sweet sheila's face turned red! and i was trying so very hard not to laugh out too loud, in case the lou fatt yeh (cantonese: empress dowager) pokes her head out of her office!

we totally forgot that the gm, even though an angmoh (hokkien slang: caucasian), has worked in hongkong for a few years before! :D

suspense aje!

*phone ringing

saw that it's the gm's secretary, answered with a frown.

me: (how come she's calling me on the phone when she's sitting just 2 steps away from me?) hello?

gm's sec: hi, gm wants to see u at 2pm later.

me: oh? did he say what's it regarding?

gm's sec: no. he just said to make an appointment with u at 2.

me: (what do i still owe him? i think i've done all the things that he asked me to do. and my work is up-to-date. what could it be? think! think!)

*for the next 2 hours

me: (what did he wanna speak to me about? my job performance? have i not been performing? maybe he wants to speak to me about my immediate superior, the empress dowager? should i tell him what a tyrant she is? what if he wants to fire me? i guess it's ok to go home too... at least my parents would be happy. could this be just part of the company program, to have the gm have one-on-one dialogue sessions with its staff? *brooding*pondering*)

me: boss, u wanted to see me?

gm: yes. u're on facebook a lot, right?

me: (oh shit, he's going to reprimand me for being on facebook all day!) erm... yes.

gm: ok. i just went into the facebook a few days back...

me: (oh shit, he's going to comment that i've not been updating the company facebook often enough!)

gm: ...and i accidentally accepted a friend request from someone without thinking and now i'm regretting it. what should i do so that he doesn't get to see what i post in there?

me: (*phew* apa lar, u asked ur secretary to help u set an appointment with me for this??)

sigh, another bad habit of mine... thinking too much! no wonder i shed so much hair, esp since i came here. 

*note to self: minimize facebook time when in the office, esp when the gm's in!

night duty…

i think i've mentioned a few times in this blog about having to do night duties and rooms inspections... well, it's actually part of my company's policy imposed on most staff of the managerial levels and up. i said "most" coz not all managers or higher would be required to do this. positions deemed by the management to be too "busy" will be exempted. as if the rest of us are so free in the office? anyway, this post is not a ranting post about the unfairness of it all. it's about this "extra-curricular" job that i have to do, on top of my regular job functions.

every 2 weeks or so, or twice every month, i would need to stay back in the office until 11pm as the "executive on duty" (eod). the role of the person on duty is basically to represent the gm in cases of emergency or when a decision or signature from the highest authority is needed urgently and the gm is not around. other than that, we are also required to inspect some rooms at random as well as walk around the whole property, and then submit a report at 11pm. the report consists of our observations that we feel should be brought to attention, such as a burnt bulb, stained carpet, dirty floors, broken doors etc. or maybe some commotion caused by guests, loud voices caused by staff, complaints brought to our attention etc.

every member of staff required to do this job has his/her own style of doing, but basically the objective is the same: to ensure everything is in order and our policies are well-practiced.

for me, this is what i normally do:
6.15pm
- go down to the security office to get the eod handphone, which i've to carry with me the whole time i'm on duty, to be easily contactable.
- since i'm down there already, i start my rounds in that area.
- then make my way up to the front desk to get the keys for the rooms i'm to inspect. usual practice is 2 rooms, but if we're running full, we just need to inspect one or sometimes none at all.
- take the lift up to the highest floor, and walk around the public areas, staff only areas as well as the main corridors at random. at random meaning, i may walk along one corridor on this floor, then take the back stairs to one floor below and walk down the corridor in another direction or in another part of the building, then take the lift down another one floor etc.
- in the rooms, we check for any defects in there. if there's a scale in the room, i'd normally step onto it to weigh myself, to see if i've put on any weight the scale is working accurately :P
- once i finished checking the upper floors and the rooms, i go down to the ground floor and check the areas there.
- then i hang around at the lobby, sometimes chatting with staff at the front desk, the security guards, the bellboys etc when it's not too busy, or try to assist guests or my colleagues when it's busy.

3 phones to carry with me during night duty. as i’m the “emergency rep” for my department, i’d have to carry one phone that’ll receive any call/sms should there be an emergency, and i’m the one who would have to inform everyone in my department. so on normal days, i’ve to carry 2 phones, my own and this phone. but on night duty days, i’ve to carry 3 phones! like i’m running some big business hor? ;)

 

7.30pm
- make my way to the restaurant to have my duty meals.
- we're encouraged to take our meals at the restaurant, as part of our inspection process.
- normally i'll order something "asian" like nasi goreng, mee curry, char kueh teow etc. if you're my friend in facebook, you'll see that i've been posting photos of my "m'sian food fixes" on my wall.

8.15pm
- finished with dinner, i take a slow stroll back to my work station to do some work.
- this is the best time to get some work done, with no phone calls, colleagues or bosses to bug you.
- basically, after we've done our rounds, we just need to be physically in the office.

10.00pm
- do another quick round of inspection.
- hang around at the bar to hear the live band for a while.
- hang around at the lobby

10.50pm
- back to my work station to start on my report

11.05pm
- e-mail out my report.
- pack my stuff and shut down my computer.
- go down to return the eod handphone.

11.30pm
- catch the staff bus back to the accommodation.

*due to the late hours, we get to start work at 12pm the next day and not at 9am like usual, never mind that we've to put in an extra 5 hours for duty, but only get to come in 3 hours later the next day! like i said, this is not a ranting post... :D

operation rabbit…

ok, i know i’ve not been updating lately… been too busy lazy :P

anyway, i think most of you knows that i went home for the chinese new year last 2 weeks. so i guess i better put up a post about it before the cny ends… hehe…

so, it was after about 1 month in sandland that i decided that i wanna go home. originally, i told my parents that i’ll not be going home for cny as i’d still be under probation and will not be able to take leave. but after 1 month, i decided to try my luck and ask my hr if it’ll be ok for me to go home for the festivities. and they said ok! i was elated! so i quickly went to ask my immediate superior if it’s ok for me to take a few days off. she was a bit blur at first, coz it was nov and as far as she knows, there’s never been a “chinese new year” in nov! after explaining that cny’s in feb, but i’m asking coz i’d like to book my flights early, she gave her nod too… yay!

anyway, i then made up my mind to give my parents a surprise, so when i told my brother abt my impending trip, i made him promise not to tell them. then as the date neared, more and more people asked me if i’m going home, so i told them, “yes, but don’t tell my parents!” so in the end, it seems like the whole world knows except for them… :P

one bad thing about arriving early at the airport is that with nothing much to do, we tend to look for food…

and shop too much at the duty free stores!

on the day of my arrival, it was drizzling a bit… i got down from the taxi, and expected to see my dad sticking his head out to see who is at the front gate, like always, when he hears a car stopping outside our house. but that day, no head stuck out. i dragged my luggage right up to the grill door, peered in and called out, “hi! hi!” and proceeded to open the door. then i heard my dad’s voice calling out to my mom, “anne, someone’s here!” oh, dad’s lying on the couch. he didn’t even bother to turn around to see who it was! then i got into the house, and was bending down to take off my shoes when my mom came out. she was stunned for a while, just staring at me for like 5 seconds before uttering one word, “ei?”

then she turned to dad and said, “it’s ah girl!”. that’s when my dad jumped up from the couch… actually he’s sprained his leg and was in a lot of pain but apparently when he heard it was me, all the pain seemed to have disappeared! hahaha…

anyway, here are some snippets of conversations from my trip home… :)

2 months ago
me: i'll be home for reunion dinner lar... 3pm arrive in kl, take cab back to m'ca. should be able to arrive on time kua...
bro: then should i ask ma to cook more rice?
me: aiya, no need lar. if u ask, then she'll know
bro: but she'll not cook enough for one more
me: apa lar, as if i'm such a big eater. worse comes to worse, we'll just eat less and then have supper later at night. anyway, ma always cooks extra for cny eve
bro: ok lar. but u sure ma's heart can take it? better tell her in advance
mo: no! dun tell!

2 days before my departure
bro: So, could you pls confirm your flight details again? Make sure you arrive before Ma starts cooking the rice... haha.
me: ETA KL 3pm. pray the highway is not jam! i'm not worried abt the food lar... i'm sure will have enough, and it's not like i'm such a big eater!
bro: I think you better call pama once you touched down in KL... otherwise it would be too shocking for them to see you at the front door.... remember ma just had a balloon done on her heart... hehe.
me: aiya, then no surprise element liao... no problem one lar...

can pengsan right, this brother?? =_=’’’

tried something special this year… fruits yee-sang!

taxi ride from airport
me: abang, agak-agak pukul brapa boleh sampai? (what time do you think we'll arrive?)
taxi driver: kira-kira 5 stengah lah. jgn risau, i tau mlm ni u ada makan besar. sure sempat punya... (around 5.30. don't worry, i know you have big dinner tonight. u'll sure be able make it)

at home
mom: when i saw u with ur big luggage, i thought u quit ur job and is home for good! :D
me: sorry ma, my luggage is empty one. i'll be buying more things to bring over there!

phone call
5th cousin sis: hello uncle, are you all having dinner now?
dad: not yet lar...
5th cousin sis: oh, how many people having dinner at your house today?
dad: 5 people. me, my wife, my son, my son's wife and my girlfriend lar
5th cousin sis: oh, sue has arrived issit?!
dad: you all very good har? all pakat behind our backs!
5th cousin sis: haha... i wasn't sure if she's arrived, and didn't wanna spoil the surprise if she hasn't... :P

relatives gathering at my house on 2nd day
kluang aunt: so did u meet any rich oil king?
3rd cousin sis: remember har, must be oil king har. if not, dun bother.
5th cousin sis: must own a house where when u open the door, there's an oil-well right outside!
3rd cousin: yeah. when u cook also easier. just scoop out the oil from the well.
me: =_='''

visiting at relative's house
mom's cousin sis: eh, must find a rich oil tycoon har! then when u get married, u can charter a plane to fly us all over there. reserve 5 seats for us from this house. remember har!
me: =_='''

checking in my cello… bye-bye baby, see u in 7 hours!

 

reshuffling my stuff due to overweight luggage
airport counter staff: pergi dubai makan mamee jer? (u'll only eat mamee in dubai?)
me: dubai takde mamee! (no mamee in dubai!)
airport counter staff: eh, yang bongo ni u main eh? ada konsert ker? (u play this bongo? are u having a consert?)
me: =_='''

tho’ it was a short trip, and pretty hectic, but i was glad i made it home! i know i’d regret it if i didn’t, and i’d feel all miserable the whole time, knowing all the things that are happening back home. the fun times, crazy laughters and good food…

also, managed to meet up with my besties mon and san for my fav fish head noodles! and some bak-kua (dried meat) and shandy at pin’s place… and also some catching up with N when she fetched me to the airport!

  no teary eyes this time round at the airport, tho’ the panda eyes were worse than ever! all from staying up late to watch astro with a vengeance… :P

when i exit from the dubai airport to look for a taxi, a man directed me towards the “pink line” where all the bigger taxis are. i thought, “what the hell? i just want a normal taxi! i’m not gonna let them bully me into taking a bigger taxi just because i have a cello with me!” but as it turned out, the “pink line” is the line for pink taxis, driven by lady drivers!

up until now, these “pink taxis” have been only a hearsay (for me, at least) coz we seldom see them on the roads. these taxis are exclusively for ladies and families. and this lady driver was so friendly and chatty. she’s indonesian and when she found out that i’m m’sian, she started speaking malay to me. and she didn’t allow me to lift a finger when loading and unloading my heavy luggage and cello onto/from her taxi! :) oh, and unlike in m’sia, the bigger taxis (family size) are of the same price as the normal size taxis…

ok, this is getting to be a very long post. hope it’ll make up for my lack of updates these past few weeks… but before i go, i’ll just end with a photo of myself on my first day back to work after cny, since N complained that i don’t post enough photos of myself on facebook and my blog. anyway, can’t really see, but i was actually wearing a red blouse there, a deviation from my normal “funeral clothing” – blacks and whites! not that i’m superstitious or anything, but just for the fun of it… :)

hope everyone had a great cny this year!

hoi-kung dai-katt!!

p/s: this big-ass mirror is just beside the door to my gm’s office and i simply love it! not only is it big (from floor to ceiling), it also tends make us look tall and slim! :P

encounter with the (non)supernatural

riding in the bus on the way to work this morning, my graphics artist, sweet sheila, turned to me and said, “bossie (cantonese version of “boss”), yesterday night i jorng che (cantonese: encountered with the supernatural).” immediately my skin started to prick, coz we stay in the same building and the last thing i want to know is that the building i’m staying in is “dirty”!

anyway, she proceed to relate to me how last night, soon after she’s turned off her lights to go to sleep at about 12.30am, she felt her bed being shaken rather violently! her room mate was on night duty and she was alone in her room. it was as if someone was hiding underneath her bed and was shaking her bed from below, but she knew no one can possibly be hiding under there, as there were a lot of stuff under her bed and furthermore, the space below there were rather narrow. she was so stunned that she just didn’t know what to do. after a while, it stopped and she jumped out from her bed to turn on her lights. but nothing was amiss… nothing fell from her cabinets, all her skin care bottles didn’t topple over… it was really puzzling. then she got very angry and decided that if it happens again, she’s gonna scold and cuss whoever/whatever is disturbing her.

the whole time i was listening to her, i was so scared. damn, and i’m staying alone! as we went shopping after work yesterday and got home at 11pm, sweet sheila was speculating that maybe “something” followed us home in the late hours. yikes!!

then we got to the office and i was scrolling through facebook to see the latest posts posted by my friends… and guess what? it turned out there was a 7.2 magnitude earthquake at pakistan yesterday night near the border of iran and afghanistan, and the tremors could be felt right up to dubai!

ok, i know an earthquake is no laughing matter and i really feel sorry for those countries and people hit by natural calamities, but i laughed like a mad woman when i read about this earthquake! maybe i should start calling my artist silly sheila instead! :D

p/s: no, i didn’t feel anything even though i was still awake at that time. i think it’s coz i was on the 2nd floor and sweet sheila was on the 3rd floor.

on staying in the staff accommodation...

first of all, i'd just like to note that the staff accommodation is just an apartment building that the company has rented (most of) the units for the staff. there are some other families and non-staff staying in the building, but i dare say about 80% of the units are occupied by my colleagues.


1. fraternity/sorority hall?

contrary to my earlier perception, staying in the staff accommodation is not at all like staying in a university dorm. when we go back to the accommodation, we'll just go into our unit and close the door! no running to each other's units to chat or hang out. maybe it's just me being anti-social, but i also don't see other people running to each other's unit when i'm in the corridor. or maybe i just don't spend enough time in the corridors? hehe...

2. you're being watch!

i was chatting with Lamenting Lynette today and our conversation led to the staff accommodation. she advised me to move out, coz the people staying at the accommodation are real busybodies. apparently they know everything that goes on here, even behind closed doors!

lynette: don't you know the *burmese staff have a weekly gathering in Hanky Howard's apartment?

me: i seldom bump into anyone in the corridors and i'm not burmese! how should i know they have such gatherings?

lynette: you better know, coz they gather there and gossip like a bunch of old ladies, i tell u! so be careful of what you do!

me: aiya, i'm not doing anything illegal or scandalous. dun care lar, what they wanna say. i'm also not so kaypoh (busybody) wanna know what they're up to. they wanna have party ker, gossip sessions ker, sewing sessions ker... i dun care lar.

lynette: u better care. they know everything that goes on in the building, so u should know what they're doing also!

me: =_='''

but hmm... i wonder how can i get myself invited to these gatherings to have access to those juicy gossips. but then i'd have to learn to speak burmese! :P
*don't know why, but my company seems to have an extra high population of burmese compared to other places!

3. just like in school after all!

our hr sent out an e-mail notification that they will be conducting their year end "visits" to the accommodation soon. the objectives of such visits are:

- to ensure that all the employees are complying with the rules and regulations as per the employees handbook.

- equipment and appliances' inventory.

- to avoid having storage of unnecessary items / dangerous goods / alcoholic beverages.

- fire and life safety check.

- maintenance and hygiene check.

- initiating the best room competition and recognize the winner with a valuable award as per the following criteria:

1. cleanliness and orderly room

2. good condition of inventory items

3. overall room hygiene and housekeeping condition 

4. compliance to the rules and regulations of the accommodation

when i read about the "alcoholic beverages" part, i panicked a bit. what, spot check??? in sandland, we'll need a liquor licence to buy alcohol... but i didn't know we'll also need it to have some alcohol in our house! prior to my coming here, a friend just got back from langkawi and gave me a few of those cute little bottles of absolut vodka, as well as some chocolates containing alcohol, which i packed up and brought over here! and there's also that big bottle of benedictine dom that my mom packed for me, to be drank a tiny portion a day to increase alertness and general health and whatnot... which till now, is still in it's "packed" state (in thick layers of newspaper and tape, to withstand being checked into the flight cargo). then i checked with hr ("we can't keep alcohol in our apartment??" *with big innocent eyes* :P) and they said that these visits are only applicable to those of a lower level than me. so i'm safe! hehehe...

i guess there'll be plenty of parties being thrown at the accommodation between now and the date of the visits, as everyone tries to clear off their booze! maybe i should offer some kind of "storage service" for them to stash away their stock at my apartment, and as suggested by kg in fb, i can tax them by the liter! :D

but owh, here i was, thinking i'd surely win the "cleanest apartment" award, seeing that everyone else don't bother to take off their shoes upon entering their unit! :P

e-mails with my gm

from: stargal
to: gm


dear boss,


please find attached the file as requested.


thanks 


--------------
from: gm
to: stargal


thanks for the file. but there's a little animal moving around my screen. is it a virus?


--------------
from: stargal
to: gm


boss, it's not a virus. it's just an emoticon (emotional icon - in case you're wondering), something to decorate the otherwise plain e-mail :P


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from: gm
to: stargal


gen Y. tsk tsk tsk...