I guess this would be my shortest post ever except for my maiden post, but what the heck...
If my leave for Monday is approved, tonight would be the last time I'm going to iron my work clothes for the next couple of years.
Just thinking about it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside...
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Something to look forward to
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Break Time!
I'm taking a break. A break from my silence. Sorry 1na, this post isn't about Dato'shi*s yet. I'll come to that in a later post. But for now, I'm taking a break from my hectic last days here.
I finished my PTK course on the 15th of June 2007. But even before that, I already got a call from the office saying that I have to give a tender briefing in JKR Bera on the 19th of June. Fine, this should be a new experience for me. I thought I'd slowly ease myself out of my work in preparation for my continuing studies. So on the 18th, I got to the office and prepared some materials for the briefing the next day. That morning, too, I received my much awaited package from Singapore. Finally, my GPS receiver has arrived! After loading the relevant maps onto my PDA, I set out in the project car to Bera. Someone told me that getting there via Negeri Sembilan is shorter. So at 1400 hours, I started my journey with the help of my trusty old PDA and my spanking new GPS.
Since I needed to get there as soon as possible, I set for the shortest route possible. Almost immediately my PDA started instructing me on which roads to venture, which turning to take. However, the shortest route didn't turn out to be the fastest, since it took me thru Seremban town and all the back roads, all the way to Bera. To cut a long story short, I arrived in JKR Bera at 1730 hours. Thankfully the people waiting for me there were still around. After doing a quick survey of the project site and the briefing room, I was again on the roads, heading towards Temerloh. Yes, there were hotels in Bera but the Bera District Officer suggested that I put up a night in Temerloh instead. So the hotel reservation in Bera was cancelled and eventually I arrived at the recommended hotel in Temerloh instead. After jama' Maghrib + Isya', I thought of going over my briefing notes, but my eyelids felt they were tied to 5 kg dumbbells. So off I went to lullaby-land but woke with a start to unfamiliar surroundings at 0100. Terkebil-kebil sekejap, trying to figure out where I was. Eventually it came back to me and I fired up my laptop. Konon-kononnya nak start on my PTK individual assignment. But then I realised that all my notes were in another bag in my car, safely parked at the basement of Block D9. So instead, I looked through the tender documents, trying to figure out the scope of work needed. After about an hour, I gave up and decided to go back to slumberland.
The next morning, I woke up at 0600 hours. By 0700, I was ready to go. Half an hour of breezy traffic-free driving later, I was at a restaurant in front of JKR Bera, contemplating on what to eat but daring not to eat anything heavy. By 0845, I was already parked in front of JKR Bera office and unloading my stuff.
The briefing was slotted to start at 1000. The session started off with the District Engineer welcoming the contractors who came and giving a brief introduction of the history of the project. The time came and I delivered the brief briefing. Now, for the moment of truth: Q&A time. I braced myself for a salvo of unanswerable questions. Instead, the questions stumped me in a very different way. I mean, they were asking me about what a push-button was? Or the definition of "sealed envelopes". And definition of cost materials? And they call themselves C-Class contractors? Heck, I was expecting something to the tune of what's cut-off pricing or tender evaluation norms or the likes. THIS is what I was having dragonflies in my tummy for? I might as well just have that big breakfast I was afraid to have earlier!
Anyway, the next agenda was the site visit. There was a slight hiccup in plans, since one of the project sites was closed because they had a Pekan Sehari thingy. So we ended up going to just one of the project sites. There, I gave them another briefing about the scope of the actual work needed, and half an hour later we all parted ways. The JKR Technical Assistant then suggested that we have lunch first. So another half hour and we were comfortably seated, waiting for lunch to arrive. After lunch, it was time to head back home.
Anyway, back at the office the next day, I still hadn't started on my PTK assignment. At the same time, I got another assignment at hand. Seems I had to attend a working meeting at Concorde Shah Alam the next day. It was a 3-day working meeting, to prepare a proposal for a huge change in the Ministry. I grudgingly went, since it had nothing to do with my job scope but since there were nobody else available, I had to go.
So on Thursday afternoon, I was driving towards Shah Alam. Tangan menggatal nak pakai GPS lagi, but the route plotted was soooo illogical. I mean, from Putrajaya going towards Puchong towards Motorola towards Batu Tiga to the hotel? That's just absurd! But what the heck, I'll give a chance for the software to add to its so-called "fuzzy learning", so that it learns something new.
After checking into the hotel, I realised that I haven't shaved for days. Also, my hair is now taking the persona of Ronald McDonald. So I walked over to the shopping complex next to the hotel to get a haircut. But after walking around and asking people around, I learnt that there were no Indian barber shops around, only multiple hair salons. *Sigh* I guess I'll have to fork out over RM20 to get a haircut, then. So, which one shall I choose? After peering into one hair salon to another, I came to the conclusion that most hair salons there were operated by transgender operators, all except one. I've never had my hair cut by a pair of female hands before. At least not as far as I can remember. But this time, I'll make an exception. So I entered this one salon which doesn't look as shady-looking as the rest, if you catch my drift. Looking at the prices... *gulp*. Again, I'm making an exception. So I braced myself for a new experience...
The girl with the nose ring asked: "Abang nak potong camane?" I looked at her, looked at my reflection in the mirror, and said: "Potong pendek je lah. Rambut cam McDonald ni bukannya boleh buat fesyen apa pun." So she started working on my hair. And true to nature, I dozed off. The thing about me is that EVERY time I get a haircut, I'd get sleepy. So sleepy that I'd actually doze off but sitting stiff as a tree trunk. Next thing I knew, she said: "Bilas rambut ye?" Being the ignorant fool that I am, I had no idea what she was talking about. I thought she was just reminding me to wash my hair after I get back, so I just sat there, looking at my reflection in the mirror. So she said again: "Bilas rambut ye?" So I nodded, still looking at the mirror, thinking to myself, is it done already? And for the third time, and this time gesturing to another part of the shop, she said: "Abang, nak bilas rambut sekarang ni kat sini." Alamak, malunya aku..... It was soooo obvious that I've never been to a hair salon before....
Anyway, I sheepishly walked over to the other side to get my hair washed and rinsed. That done, I walked back to my original seat and sat there, unsure of what's going to happen next. Then the girl came by and dried my hair before applying some sort of cream or something and kind of styled my hair. Once done, I looked back in the mirror and found myself thinking: not bad jugak what she's done to my hair. So I paid her an exorbitant amount of moolah and walked back to the hotel. And again, being the ignorant fool that I am, the first thing I did when I got back to the room was to take a shower. And you've guessed it: GONE was what she did to my hair. What's left was my usual hair after a shampoo: dry, dead-looking and removed of any sense of style whatsoever. But again, what the heck! My aim was not to have stylish hair, but to have a haircut. I achieved that, didn't I?
Let's not talk about the work done at the meeting but instead focus on the food now, shall we? The food at the hotel was, simply put, fabulous! It was wonderful. I really helped myself to all the 'sinful' food. Heaps of prawns, bowl after bowl of crab soup, at least 6 scoops of ice-cream per meal. Memang makan tak ingat dunia & akhirat.
So what happened after the 3-day meeting? Let's just say I couldn't agree with the direction of the meeting. A lot can be said about it, but I'll refrain from saying anything bad about it. Put it this way, to me my only achievement after 3 days was me stuffing myself silly with food. What's next, you might ask? Well, it's my body's payback time, what else!
Saturday night, the signs crept in. First, it was just a numb sensation. Then it crescendoed into a full-fledged, hair-pulling, jaw-locking, fist-banging-on-the-wall pain at my left leg. Hello Mr. Gout! Long time no feel. Like I said, it's payback time. All the uric acid in the food has crystallized in my leg, resulting in an oh-if-only-I-could-hack-off-my-leg-and-throw-it-away kind of sensation. By Sunday night, I was crawling instead of walking. But determined not to take any more painkiller jabs, I gritted my teeth and just had to bear it. I ODed on my gout medication and it seemed to help a bit. Monday came and I went to see my doctor, with the assistance of a cane. Got a 2-day MC. And since I was already on MC, I took the opportunity to get my medical check-up done for my admission into UKM. Thank God for automatic transmission! And today, although I could somewhat walk slowly, I still didn't go to the office. Instead, I went to JPA to drop off the documentations for my scholarship and to CIMB to open a new account as per JPA's request. And after Maghrib just now, I finally started on my PTK assignment, with now just hours away from the deadline. But I'm not worried. As of right now, I'm already into my 5th page, and I still have a lot of ideas. I think by 0400 hours, I'll be done with it and the only thing left is some minor editing.
So I guess now you understand why I said I needed a break. Obviously, if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a full-fledged professional procrastinator. Even in the wee hours of the morning, I'm still hacking away at this blog entry instead of my assignment. Pathetic, isn't it...
I finished my PTK course on the 15th of June 2007. But even before that, I already got a call from the office saying that I have to give a tender briefing in JKR Bera on the 19th of June. Fine, this should be a new experience for me. I thought I'd slowly ease myself out of my work in preparation for my continuing studies. So on the 18th, I got to the office and prepared some materials for the briefing the next day. That morning, too, I received my much awaited package from Singapore. Finally, my GPS receiver has arrived! After loading the relevant maps onto my PDA, I set out in the project car to Bera. Someone told me that getting there via Negeri Sembilan is shorter. So at 1400 hours, I started my journey with the help of my trusty old PDA and my spanking new GPS.
Since I needed to get there as soon as possible, I set for the shortest route possible. Almost immediately my PDA started instructing me on which roads to venture, which turning to take. However, the shortest route didn't turn out to be the fastest, since it took me thru Seremban town and all the back roads, all the way to Bera. To cut a long story short, I arrived in JKR Bera at 1730 hours. Thankfully the people waiting for me there were still around. After doing a quick survey of the project site and the briefing room, I was again on the roads, heading towards Temerloh. Yes, there were hotels in Bera but the Bera District Officer suggested that I put up a night in Temerloh instead. So the hotel reservation in Bera was cancelled and eventually I arrived at the recommended hotel in Temerloh instead. After jama' Maghrib + Isya', I thought of going over my briefing notes, but my eyelids felt they were tied to 5 kg dumbbells. So off I went to lullaby-land but woke with a start to unfamiliar surroundings at 0100. Terkebil-kebil sekejap, trying to figure out where I was. Eventually it came back to me and I fired up my laptop. Konon-kononnya nak start on my PTK individual assignment. But then I realised that all my notes were in another bag in my car, safely parked at the basement of Block D9. So instead, I looked through the tender documents, trying to figure out the scope of work needed. After about an hour, I gave up and decided to go back to slumberland.
The next morning, I woke up at 0600 hours. By 0700, I was ready to go. Half an hour of breezy traffic-free driving later, I was at a restaurant in front of JKR Bera, contemplating on what to eat but daring not to eat anything heavy. By 0845, I was already parked in front of JKR Bera office and unloading my stuff.
The briefing was slotted to start at 1000. The session started off with the District Engineer welcoming the contractors who came and giving a brief introduction of the history of the project. The time came and I delivered the brief briefing. Now, for the moment of truth: Q&A time. I braced myself for a salvo of unanswerable questions. Instead, the questions stumped me in a very different way. I mean, they were asking me about what a push-button was? Or the definition of "sealed envelopes". And definition of cost materials? And they call themselves C-Class contractors? Heck, I was expecting something to the tune of what's cut-off pricing or tender evaluation norms or the likes. THIS is what I was having dragonflies in my tummy for? I might as well just have that big breakfast I was afraid to have earlier!
Anyway, the next agenda was the site visit. There was a slight hiccup in plans, since one of the project sites was closed because they had a Pekan Sehari thingy. So we ended up going to just one of the project sites. There, I gave them another briefing about the scope of the actual work needed, and half an hour later we all parted ways. The JKR Technical Assistant then suggested that we have lunch first. So another half hour and we were comfortably seated, waiting for lunch to arrive. After lunch, it was time to head back home.
Anyway, back at the office the next day, I still hadn't started on my PTK assignment. At the same time, I got another assignment at hand. Seems I had to attend a working meeting at Concorde Shah Alam the next day. It was a 3-day working meeting, to prepare a proposal for a huge change in the Ministry. I grudgingly went, since it had nothing to do with my job scope but since there were nobody else available, I had to go.
So on Thursday afternoon, I was driving towards Shah Alam. Tangan menggatal nak pakai GPS lagi, but the route plotted was soooo illogical. I mean, from Putrajaya going towards Puchong towards Motorola towards Batu Tiga to the hotel? That's just absurd! But what the heck, I'll give a chance for the software to add to its so-called "fuzzy learning", so that it learns something new.
After checking into the hotel, I realised that I haven't shaved for days. Also, my hair is now taking the persona of Ronald McDonald. So I walked over to the shopping complex next to the hotel to get a haircut. But after walking around and asking people around, I learnt that there were no Indian barber shops around, only multiple hair salons. *Sigh* I guess I'll have to fork out over RM20 to get a haircut, then. So, which one shall I choose? After peering into one hair salon to another, I came to the conclusion that most hair salons there were operated by transgender operators, all except one. I've never had my hair cut by a pair of female hands before. At least not as far as I can remember. But this time, I'll make an exception. So I entered this one salon which doesn't look as shady-looking as the rest, if you catch my drift. Looking at the prices... *gulp*. Again, I'm making an exception. So I braced myself for a new experience...
The girl with the nose ring asked: "Abang nak potong camane?" I looked at her, looked at my reflection in the mirror, and said: "Potong pendek je lah. Rambut cam McDonald ni bukannya boleh buat fesyen apa pun." So she started working on my hair. And true to nature, I dozed off. The thing about me is that EVERY time I get a haircut, I'd get sleepy. So sleepy that I'd actually doze off but sitting stiff as a tree trunk. Next thing I knew, she said: "Bilas rambut ye?" Being the ignorant fool that I am, I had no idea what she was talking about. I thought she was just reminding me to wash my hair after I get back, so I just sat there, looking at my reflection in the mirror. So she said again: "Bilas rambut ye?" So I nodded, still looking at the mirror, thinking to myself, is it done already? And for the third time, and this time gesturing to another part of the shop, she said: "Abang, nak bilas rambut sekarang ni kat sini." Alamak, malunya aku..... It was soooo obvious that I've never been to a hair salon before....
Anyway, I sheepishly walked over to the other side to get my hair washed and rinsed. That done, I walked back to my original seat and sat there, unsure of what's going to happen next. Then the girl came by and dried my hair before applying some sort of cream or something and kind of styled my hair. Once done, I looked back in the mirror and found myself thinking: not bad jugak what she's done to my hair. So I paid her an exorbitant amount of moolah and walked back to the hotel. And again, being the ignorant fool that I am, the first thing I did when I got back to the room was to take a shower. And you've guessed it: GONE was what she did to my hair. What's left was my usual hair after a shampoo: dry, dead-looking and removed of any sense of style whatsoever. But again, what the heck! My aim was not to have stylish hair, but to have a haircut. I achieved that, didn't I?
Let's not talk about the work done at the meeting but instead focus on the food now, shall we? The food at the hotel was, simply put, fabulous! It was wonderful. I really helped myself to all the 'sinful' food. Heaps of prawns, bowl after bowl of crab soup, at least 6 scoops of ice-cream per meal. Memang makan tak ingat dunia & akhirat.
So what happened after the 3-day meeting? Let's just say I couldn't agree with the direction of the meeting. A lot can be said about it, but I'll refrain from saying anything bad about it. Put it this way, to me my only achievement after 3 days was me stuffing myself silly with food. What's next, you might ask? Well, it's my body's payback time, what else!
Saturday night, the signs crept in. First, it was just a numb sensation. Then it crescendoed into a full-fledged, hair-pulling, jaw-locking, fist-banging-on-the-wall pain at my left leg. Hello Mr. Gout! Long time no feel. Like I said, it's payback time. All the uric acid in the food has crystallized in my leg, resulting in an oh-if-only-I-could-hack-off-my-leg-and-throw-it-away kind of sensation. By Sunday night, I was crawling instead of walking. But determined not to take any more painkiller jabs, I gritted my teeth and just had to bear it. I ODed on my gout medication and it seemed to help a bit. Monday came and I went to see my doctor, with the assistance of a cane. Got a 2-day MC. And since I was already on MC, I took the opportunity to get my medical check-up done for my admission into UKM. Thank God for automatic transmission! And today, although I could somewhat walk slowly, I still didn't go to the office. Instead, I went to JPA to drop off the documentations for my scholarship and to CIMB to open a new account as per JPA's request. And after Maghrib just now, I finally started on my PTK assignment, with now just hours away from the deadline. But I'm not worried. As of right now, I'm already into my 5th page, and I still have a lot of ideas. I think by 0400 hours, I'll be done with it and the only thing left is some minor editing.
So I guess now you understand why I said I needed a break. Obviously, if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a full-fledged professional procrastinator. Even in the wee hours of the morning, I'm still hacking away at this blog entry instead of my assignment. Pathetic, isn't it...
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Mixed Feelings
This might very well be my last post.
Yes, you read it right. My last post.
Well, at least until I get back from my 10-day PTK course anyway. I'm looking forward to going for this course. At least I'll be out of the office for 10 days. But at the same time, I think I've never been this unprepared for such a big occasion. At least my last PTK exam, I did read up a bit the day before. Not much, but turned out the stuff I was reading were the things that came out in the exams. But this time, I haven't read up on anything at all. Not only that, It's been ages since I read the newspapers. Neither have I been watching the news. Just feel like most of the news only serve to deceive, inveigle and obfuscate. So I must say that I'm totally unprepared for the next 10 days. But what the heck, if I can't get through it, at least I'm going for the experience.
I actually have something to say, but as I have to start my journey at 0630 tomorrow, I think I better call it a night. Some say I can afford to leave the house at 0700, but I'm not taking any chances. I prefer waking early, leaving at 0630, arriving there before 0700 and waiting the rest of the morning than going thru the morning traffic. So, au revoir for now...
Yes, you read it right. My last post.
Well, at least until I get back from my 10-day PTK course anyway. I'm looking forward to going for this course. At least I'll be out of the office for 10 days. But at the same time, I think I've never been this unprepared for such a big occasion. At least my last PTK exam, I did read up a bit the day before. Not much, but turned out the stuff I was reading were the things that came out in the exams. But this time, I haven't read up on anything at all. Not only that, It's been ages since I read the newspapers. Neither have I been watching the news. Just feel like most of the news only serve to deceive, inveigle and obfuscate. So I must say that I'm totally unprepared for the next 10 days. But what the heck, if I can't get through it, at least I'm going for the experience.
I actually have something to say, but as I have to start my journey at 0630 tomorrow, I think I better call it a night. Some say I can afford to leave the house at 0700, but I'm not taking any chances. I prefer waking early, leaving at 0630, arriving there before 0700 and waiting the rest of the morning than going thru the morning traffic. So, au revoir for now...
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