Gunning for that ...

Last week I finally had the ‘talk’ with T. I had been wanting to for some days but I’m not a person fond of talks, been putting it off and dreading it and finally did it. Glad to have it done and over with.

It was basically a chat to voice my concerns cos I felt that I wasn’t doing enough to take care of my HBV Asia ‘baby’. Felt useless and helpless that I wasn’t in the position to reply emails on costs etc even though it was my ‘baby’. And then China didn’t run, and Taiwan finally didn’t have a client purchase as well after all that lateness and chasing. Ok now it does sound pretty bad but it’s not within anyone’s scope to ‘force’ the clients to buy. It might have been UK’s goals to increase sale but it’s not mine.

T said she’ll speak to some people to give me more things to do, it’s normal to have someone proofread every email sent out and she liked it when I said I feel responsible for the Taiwan’s delay (which in the end didn’t even materialise). She said to get cc’ed and learn this year, for next. It was indeed frustrating cos I know I can do more but don't know what to do.

And then today there was the project briefing. Now this is real cool, so I am totally new to this and I was supposed to brief a fieldwork manager and a project coordinator that have been doing these for years. Even T asked to check if they want to do these, for they know it so well already. So the newbie me want to brief them hahaha. I am the one who needs the briefing instead.

Anyway..

What went wrong:
• The stupid admin exec taught me to press the ‘line 1’ and ‘line 2’ buttons on the keyphone but not the ‘3rd party’ button. Result: I either cut the UK team or the HK team out of the conversation. I took some minutes to figure out and found the ‘3rd party’ button instead. Good that the admin woman apologised

Oh, actually that was the only thing that went wrong :D Paul the research manager sat in too. I’ve never met him and only cc’s him on very important mails, so I guess he’s kinda important. Scary. Altogether 3 ppl from UK, 2 ppl from HK and me in KL :D It feels different to have people dial in. And it’s troublesome to do so (borrow keyphone, book laptop, book meeting room, send the dial-in number to all). But I was the ‘chairman’ of the conference call hehe, and I am getting there soon!

Sim said the briefing went well! It was ok I guess, nothing much. But I don't want to speak about some stupid fcuking idiotic thing that I missed yesterday and today. I really think I need to open my eyes bigger. Luckily she didn’t taruk me and I stupidly told her ‘You didn’t send this, this, this’. Omg. I was stupid today but I learnt how was I being stupid and I won’t be stupid anymore cos I’ve learnt  I was depressed and angry earlier on because of this but had a nap in the train and am ok already. Naps do wonders; you wake up and wonder what was that I was feeling sad on earlier?

Whiner Woman asked today why did I borrow a laptop for the TC. Then she asked that I’m very free, thus helping out with project coordination is it? I just mumble that I am coordinating Asia. Don't wanna say so much, don't wanna let them know what am I doing so that you can’t do and can’t get promoted as well. Fine, think all you want that I am so free.

Oh yeah, that day I made a brilliant move: I suddenly had an idea and asked the 2 new girls if they want an intro to diabetes and heps, and cc’ed T in the mail. So I am the only one who has the initiative to give them an intro huh? ;) proud of my ‘schemes’, hope I don't look like I am trying so hard. And part 2 to remind T when she is back that I am doing ‘something’: Coordinate an intro session for the new girls with all the other disease areas. And cc her :D :D

8 more months to go, if I don't nail it, I’m gonna get pissed. And I think my relationships are suffering because of this. Who cares anyway, I don't need people who need to chat online all the time despite sitting in the same office, nor a pregnant woman who wants to go back together before 5.30pm. And I don't understand what's so great about doing automation, that you get promoted for doing it?? Ok, so maybe you were there for the past 2 or 3 years, so it is due anyway. But I'm gonna do it in 1.5 years!

Malay wedding souvenirs

Just back from Jiana's wedding and Ikea. Tired physically but mind can still talk :D It was strange to be invited to her wedding considering that we were never close in school days and have never kept in touch since leaving school. Anyway..

I've never been to a Malay weddings til err.. recently. I've always thought that bunga telur was still the norm but apparently, they are not given out anymore. So outdated huh? There were none for Ajoy's wedding, Lily's and Man's. But today, there was. Now, the heng thing is to give other pretty things, so pwetty that I have to blog about it :) They fascinate me :)

Those porcelain containers were so cute. Inside was potpourri. In the long paper bag on the right were muffins. That bag was customised with the couple's names on it. Usually it's just some stuff bought from the shops, I think. Hey, there was even a banner with their faces at the entrance of the tent.

The bunga telur! I thought they gave us some cloth when I peeked into the bag :D Erm.. this bunga telur is not pwetty and doesn't look like a bunga also.

I forgot to take one of this for myself :S This is my bro's. The little pouch is cute!! So cute la, so sweet.

This is the souvenir from the last wedding, Man's. Little aluminium tin with tulips! I think I should have kept Timmy's hehe, since it was of another design =P

At the wedding just now, I brought my bro. Haih, he can never not be strange for once. Anyway.. I got a paper bag containing the bunga telur, 1 customised paper bag (containing 3 muffins) and 1 potpourri porcelain. But my bro got just the muffin bag. Before that, we got a porcelain potpourri each. But when Crystal and Pam arrived later, they got another kinda paper bag with a packet of Maggi mee inside (and egg, if I'm not mistaken)? Now that is so so strange bwahaha!

So much effort is put into all these little gifts. I imagine those women in cottage industries stapling and making all those little stuff. Not only 1 kind, but up to 2 or 3 kinds given to each guest. Guess this shows how appreciative they are of our attendance? For Chinese weddings, I think the richer ones will give out fruit cakes. 

And as I was writing this, Pam emailed the links to pictures she took. I found out that when left like that, batteries lose their power. So, I couldn't bring my camera. So, here's me:

Pam wanna take my pic when my mouth is full of rice

That's all folks. And I hate having to give air-kisses. That is sooo not our culture. I don't see what's the point of pretending to put right cheek, left cheek and right cheek again. If you wanna do it, at least just right and then left suffices la!! Grr.. I think right-left-right looks so moronic.

Gred 41 test review

So I went for the government sector entrance test, specifically for the post of Pegawai Tadbir dan Diplomatik (PTD). I decided to go because WW (Whiner Woman) at the office said she wanna apply for it and I felt so dumb that they called me last year and I didn’t even go. These are the highest posts in the public sector and report to the KSU. Purportedly very powerful especially when they are the District Officer and get to travel everywhere. That’s one part that was extremely enticing.
But before that, you have to go for some PAC which includes 2.4km runs in 12 minutes, fire brigade and police cadet training.

The flow is (as far as I remember): Test --> PAC --> Interview --> Diploma (9 months) and then you get posted anywhere they want to chuck you to. There is a PTD Unggul process but I don't remember where that fits into.

Anyway, the purpose of this is to share how ridiculous some of the sahsiah questions are. But we must be patient and start from the beginning first.

Bahagian 1, Seksyen A
Pengetahuan am, 50 questions, 40 mins
This was the part that I was worried about the most. I only read the top news in The Star. Govt stuff doesn't interest me. So I had to spend 2 days at the office reading up on dasar kerajaan, 9 Rancangan Malaysia’s, 1Malaysia, GTP and all those Dewan Rakyat and bidang kuasa kerajaan negeri dan pusat stuff.

I got stumped at:
• Who founded Google – sounds easy but I got stuck. Shaun said Microsoft owns Google. If they do, then why have Google Chrome when there is already IE? That was what I was thinking.
• The social networking site that is accessible from space - I said it was Twitter =P
• I got confused with the slogan for 1Malaysia. I got the answer right, and then changed it cos I recalled it was GTP’s instead. And then later realised that 1Malaysia and GTP has the same slogan?? Grr.. since school days, I have always told myself not to change the answer, to follow the 1st instincts
• ASEAN Free Trade – bugger this. It came out last year, I didn’t expect it to come out again and I didn’t bother finding out what it was!

Other stuff asked was which is an OS (not, stupid Open Office isn't), some mahkamah stuff and those NKRAs that I’ve already read. Not too bad overall.

Bahagian 1, Seksyen B
Penyelesaian masalah (Maths), 40 questions, 45 mins
I had already read that time is extremely limited for this. So as soon as I got it, I boom boom pow. It was really boom boom pow. No calculators allowed and had to count manually at lightning speed. Questions were long too. I mean if this Maths teacher had to use lightning speed to finish 40 SPM Maths questions with some sweat, I think the others will be left with their mouths open :D Not fair that the invigilators waited for some people to finish shading when the time was up. A girl I met complaint there wasn’t enough time too. Well, do your homework and read forums earlier on then =)

Bahagian 1, Seksyen C
Kefahaman BM dan BI, 40 questions, 45 mins
I was a little surprised that they asked us to find synonyms for ‘abate’ and ‘abash’. I wasn’t too sure of the meanings but I guessed from the sentence hehe. The paper was easy; it was easy to pick the answer from the given options. Finished it and managed to take a 10min nap (really fell asleep). Cool!

Bahagian 1, Seksyen D
Esei BM, 300 – 500 words, 1 hour
My 2nd concern. The topics given were tough.
1. How to increase food yield so that we don't have to rely so much on imports
2. Discuss the lack of patriotism among our youth
3. How to implement GTP

I don't have the points to write on! Hey if I know how to implement GTP, I can be the PM la. How to increase the amount of paddy we grow, the cows, goats and pigs we breed and the amount of eggs the chickens poot out daily? I don't know!

So I wrote on why is patriotism lacking and how we can tackle it. I think I did alright; I used a lot of bombastic words, not even sure if they were appropriate :D

Bahagian 1, Seksyen E
Esei BI, 200 - 300 words, 1 hour
Not fair, half the length and in 1 hour still. Choices:
1. Discuss the potential dangers of social networking sites that the public underestimates
2. How to improve unity (boring.. I would be talking about the same points from the BM essay)
3. I forgot what it was!

The dangers option would probably be the most common choice and I wanted to do something different, but I don't know the points to write. So I went with networking anyway; the rest can’t write as well as I do anyway :D

I’m damn cocky huh? :D Well, especially since I run an article writing ‘business’. I even gave both my essays (catchy) titles!

Exceeded 300 words in half an hour, felt guilty and decided to read through and then I slept for 15 mins. Sleeping is such a fun thing to do.

Bahagian 2, Seksyen A
Sahsiah, 200 questions, 40 mins
This is crazy! This was something like a personality test, except some of the questions were to test how angelic/devilish you are.

Answer whether you sangat bersetuju, bersetuju, tidak tahu, kadang-kadang or tidak pernah:
• Sekali-sekala anda suka mengumpat – wtf, who doesn't? And who would admit?
• Anda tidak sesekali berbohong
• Anda akan membayar denda walaupun berpeluang melepaskan diri – of course I didn’t admit to not paying all the MPK summons that I got for parking AT my house
• Anda menyumpah seseorang – now this is hilarious!!
• Kita boleh melanggar lampu isyarat merah sekali-sekala

And other stupid questions like if you cry when watching a sad scene, whether you will be beremosi if ditinggalkan kekasih.. wtf, 200 questions of those!

I thought those questions listed above were highly amusing!

Bahagian 2, Seksyen B
Minat, 227 questions, 20 mins
Hello, it takes time to shade 227 questions, you know. Rushing like mad to read and shade. Ask me stupid questions like if I am interested in 227 types of jobs and activities like woodwork, repairing TVs..

So let’s see if I pass. Looking at the way how people work in the govt, by polishing one’s shoes and fanning one’s ass, I don't like it. Too much smiling to do all day. And then there’s the so many more training and interviews to pass; this is only the 1st hurdle. And I gotta work in the govt til I retire just so that I can get the pension which is one of the main reasons of interest. We’ll see.. Btw, I’ll be going to LONDON again maybe in August. Not gonna give up LONDON for the whatever post! (maybe PTDs get to travel but much later, maybe to Lubnan or Islamabad as what I read in the forum lol)

“Nice time spent” (pangsai-ing)

We did something different, not the usual Pyramid haha. We wanted to watch How to Train Your Dragon in 3D but both of us can’t bear going to Pyramid anymore :D 1U’s GSC booking was crap. Website kept asking to try again later, the phone booking went dead. Later we found out that the cinema was burnt. Why don't they just say so over the phone and the site.. duh.. Finally we decided to go to Times Square woot woot!

Troot troot troot.. we took the LRT and monorail there. Big crowd at the monorail station. We went to Sg Wang first cos Timmy said we waited so long for the monorail, might as well go further to make up for it :D And then we found T Bowl restaurant.

I've seen this concept restaurant on tv before but didn't knew it existed here too. Since there wasn't any other interesting place to try (and hot and thirsty from the commute), T Bowl it shall be!

We pangsai..

Timmy pangsai..

Me pangsai..

So the whole place is decorated like a toilet. You can sit on the floor too, you will be sitting on a piece of glass covering a squat toilet :D Their ice-creams really look like shit, I tell you! Dark brown and that swirl, oh my.. We avoided ordering anything soupy for they came in little toilet bowls. Yeah, we might have come to a toilet bowl restaurant but wasn't adventurous enough, but it was really putting off hahaha!!

Verdict: Good concept. good for laughs but wouldn't return for the food. No, not because of the presentation but the taste..

And then we watched the much-awaited How to Train Your Dragon. The 3D effects was better than Avatar since it was an animation but not very 3D-ish that they came out of the screen into your face. The ending where Hiccup’s leg was amputated disturbed me. It was quite a surprise for the movie didn’t end 100% happily as expected.

Amputated limbs always disturb me, I don't know why. Maybe it’s because I once dreamt I lost my leg, maybe it’s also because I realise it’s one of God’s greatest gift to just move around, besides the gift of sight.

The sight of a beggar tertiarap on his front at the station and a passer-by who threw coins outside his cup didn’t help. The beggar’s legs were amputated actually; he didn’t have to tertiarap as he sat up soon after. And the passer-by was a jerk. If he didn’t want to donate, it’s fine. He didn’t have to throw the coins down like that and end up all over the road.

Anyway.. those were the sights of KL that I don't see often hehe..

We learnt some other things too, like:
• Pirated software isn't available easily anymore. I thought Low Yat is the place to go for them =p
• Times Square is the best place where you can show full support for Uncle Tan, by doing Starbucks, 7-11, U-Mobile, Krispy Kreme and Papa John
• Those might be Uncle Tan’s friends whose Bentleys (plate number 1), Lamborghini Diablo and F40 were parked there. They came to yum cha with him at Starbucks, Papa John or Krispy Kreme (only). (car models courtesy of Timmy. I don't know what cars were those. There is another one there, but forgotten what it was already)
• There is a Sports Toto Fitness Centre!

And dragons don't like eating unagi, they collapse on their sides when tickled on the neck and they have a something for grass.

So that’s why we need to go to KL and meluaskan pandangan :D

As Timmy said, it’s a ‘nice time spent’ :)

On the way home in the LRT :)

Sunshine Tim's birthday

After a hiatus, it is time to have a nice romantic celebration again since the last one on V-Day 2008. So the gf goes in seek of the ultimate venue and the ultimate gift. Scoured the food blogs and LYN for dining ideas around KLCC, and scoured MV and Gardens for the ultimate design and brand. And decided to throw in a little something to make his day :)

Starters:
This arrived in the office via PosLaju :D

Just wanted to send a little something, intended on a box of chocolates but found this cute hamper instead. Had trouble stuffing it inside a box :D

                                      

Main course:
Sassorosso at Lorong Yap Kwan Seng

                                                 

I’m not much of an Italian food fan, other for pizzas, but I chose the place for its great ambience. Sassorosso triumphed over the other considerations for its nice atmosphere. Besides, it had rave reviews and touted as the best Italian restaurant in KL. The menu was very extensive but I don't know what to have. We had Pan Fried Scallops with Belgium Endive and Taleggio Fondue for starters, and then I finally decided on Chicken Scaloppine with Broccoli and Creamy Mushroom Sauce which was chicken breast with all those stuff. Sunshine had Wild Mushroom Risotto with Fresh Herbs and Shaved Parmesan Cheese. These were after referring to the menu again while writing; it's hard to remember the boombastic names and especially when you don't know what scaloppine meant =P The scallops were good but sikit only, and the sauce that came with my chicken was yummy too. I would actually want to have pizza since they were wood-oven baked. Quattro staggioni would have been nice.. mmm...

Dessert:
Not the ‘real’ dessert cos Timmy don’t wanna have tiramisu cos he’s so full. Dessert was the gift, an item that I think he would want to use. No pic cos forgotten to take one but I think it’s the best among the Guess, Renoma, Bonia, Daniel Hechter and Obermain that I checked out.

So, that’s the birthday celebration I planned for my ah pek. Think it was a good job, pat myself on the back pat pat pat :D