Just as I was about to go see the big boss (for the office, not my immediate boss) about something he asked me to cuba-try-test-tengok on Friday, he got a conference call. Wuhooo..

A great weekend was the pick-me-upper that I needed after last week's emotional conundrum. I still got to learn to ignore some of the ill-thinking. Spent time with the family. Met my relatives at my cousin's wedding in Kg Melayu Ampang, although for a short while because everyone was busy. It took me only 30 minutes to drive from Subang to Ampang, in a Viva with 4 other passengers. Wuhoo! Caveat: toll was RM6.70 heheh.. The bride's kenduri was last weekend near Jalan Kuari. It could be on tv, my cousin, the groom, is now happily married to one of the Channel 3's show host.

Sunday, went to Gart's regular Pasar Haiwan, Sayuran dan Pelbagai for the weekly fridge updates. A former mate (office, not any other) mentioned earlier that another former mate (office, again) is holding a house warming event on the same day. Couldn't attend, sorry. Besides the berpasaran, we had other things to do in one day before my return trip later in the afternoon.


Forgotten about the new EPL season starting on Saturday while me and the wife was out bercanda. And totally bummed out when I came back down here that there's also no free EPL matches on the telly. Must subscribe to a pay tv channel. This, and the broadband service that I conveniently didn't even bother to shop around.

Meet-my real boss-and-training trip to Schenectady is on for mid September. 2 weeks of puasa for me on my own over there. Good news 1: shopping raya at malls and outlets over there. Good news 2: my boss has already pre-approved my raya leave. Good news 3: I can stop over in KL on the way out and back from the training. Now, that saves a lot of money and one less hassle to plan for raya trip. This is so cool.

Heh.. Who cares who wins in Permatang Pauh. From a non-partisan viewer like me, all the circus going around the by-election only further proves my thinking that politicians are all the same. Plus, a lot of my countrymen are becoming even more taksub-er by the day.

Bad news:
I got the flu. Viral flu.

Mild news:
The doc gave me an MC for 2 days.

Good news:
Monday's a replacement holiday, so it's going to be a long weekend break

Very the hampeh news:
My bus departs at 5.30pm, and all earlier ones are sold out because of the above.


Gotta go, before the office kicks me out for spreading germs and virus. Have fun people.

My throat was slightly sore towards the end of yesterday. Stopped at the mini mart near the apartment but there was no orange juice except for lime and lemonade. I settled for the lemonade. Popped 2 paracetamols after a late dinner and I went to bed after having my usual hot drink before bed.


As expected, I woke up with a slight fever and runny nose. The weather wasn't so kind the past few days. It was extremely hot, no rain at all. At least the night was still cool, but that could be because my apartment is on the 6th floor. At least, no haze yet over here.


If the fever worsens, I might have to hop over to the nearby clinic. Hopefully they'll give me the day off and I could sleep through the fever. Should I dare to dream that they'll give me two days instead, and I can swap the bus ride to an earlier one? heheh..

The wife too woke up with the same symptoms this morning. Can viruses be transferred over the phone lines?

The weekend was great.

Spent time with the family.
Dinner and movie date with the wife at Chilli's and TGV KLCC.
Dark Knight was great even though we were about 2 weeks late.
Sunday's body scrub and massage at IREE was great too.
Bus ride back down south was trouble and jam free, even at the checkpoints.
Catching a cab back to the apartment with no midnight surcharge was a bonus.

All else being fair, I am thankful.

But then, Monday morning blues hit right at you in the face.

Ughhh...

It's a cycle that's going to be a norm.

Monday blues, Friday wuhoos.
Solo activities on weekdays, group on weekends.
Train to work on weekdays, bus to home on weekends.
See office, leave office.
See family, leave family.

If you're an engineer, you should know that anything cyclical will need routine inspection, check ups and maintenance. With neither, things will breakdown.

Let's see how long we'll last with this North-South cycle.

Drive myself deep inside Hulu Langat to get to Lembah Azwen to pick up my wife who'll be attending her company's weekend motivational camp. I have never been so far into Hulu Langat before, let alone to this resort. The closest was to Batu 9 to accompany a friend due to a sudden death in his family. That's like, 8-9 years ago. A quick search using wikimap showed it's about a couple of kilometers away from the IKBN, with a turn off that goes through a kampung. I'd better give myself more than 1 hour to get there, in case I miss that junction.

Another task: pay my Citi credit card balance. I ran up the balance (and Tiger's) quite high the past few months due to my not-so-smooth cashflow. That should leave me with about 2k more to go for the Tiger's. Excluding the huge sum I'm owing my mum, I'm on track to liberate my credit card balances. Wuhuu!

Another no less important task is to sit down with my wife and work out our finances. The current house, the new house completing next year, the plan for the family, moving to down here or not, current and expected budgeting, those stuff. That's gonna be a big headache.

For someone who used to work as a planner, I don't really have a proper plan for me and my family. Financially. That includes my wife. We're ad hoc and reactive. We don't plan what or how to go for the next step, most of the time we reacted after the event. Family vacation to OZLand: sell shares after purchasing the flight tickets and booking the accommodations. New house: scrummage through our savings (or whatever there is) and roughly go through our expenses after signing the S&P. Moving down here: still no definite plans although I've been here almost a month. 3rd kid? Family car replacement? Adam's school plans for next year? Other stuff? Ouch! We're that bad.

At least, we've planned for a couple's spa and massage for Sunday at our friend's boutique. Wait, which pocket are we paying this from?

After doing a cross-island office tour, at the invite of my supervisor and to accompany the visiting HR big dog, we rushed out to the world's biggest turning wheel, the Flyer.

It's tall, it's huge, it's humongous. It's the tallest man-made object down here, or so it seems. I didn't bring any measurement devices to compare the height with a couple of nearby tall towers. How lucky we were that it was a clear and bright evening, and we got to see, everything downtown, the sea and lots of flats and apartments. That's how big the land is down here.

Okay, so I got to ride it for free, and I'm not gonna complain. I did have a good time, I've always loved looking at the Earth from up above, an aerial view of things I'd normally see at ground level. Plus I get to gel with my new colleagues during the ride and the office dinner which was nothing to shout about by the way, the grilled tuna was dry and the rest, I couldn't eat a pinch. The cranberry juice gave me a bad headache later that night. Anyway, that was made up by a couple of drunk colleagues. Oh, and a couple of hot young things on tight baby T's and skimpy hot pants that could very well be boy-shorts worked our group up all the way. I guess, it wasn't that boring after all.

On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend the ride if you have kids in tow like I do, two rambunctious and boisterous boys who can't sit still for more than 2 minutes. 5 minutes, tops. It takes 30 minutes to complete the ride, at a slow and very smooth sweep of the skyline. It's best if you're planning for a romantic evening, newlyweds or otherwise. Be forewarned that it costs a bomb to get on that. If I can recall, that's about 20+ dollars per adult and slightly less than that for kids.

By the time dinner was over and the post-dinner get drunk session was done, it was almost half past nine. I dreaded taking the free shuttle to the nearest transit station, which will cost me another 1+ hour of my time to get home. I decided to take the taxi, which meant a quicker trip by more than 30 minutes, and way expensive because we're still in the CBD. They have this complex way of setting the taxi fare: location, time of the day, congestion charges, types of car. The last one, I didn't realize until I got on the taxi. Heck, who would've thought a newer sedan will have a slightly higher starting charge than an older one? Isn't that supposed to be meant for a bigger MPV or van, or the Mercs? Pay lah, what else is there for me?

Ni belum lagi cerita pasal the driver. Efficient and willing to take the fastest route, or so he claimed. Yet, very opinionated especially towards some of the non-faired locals. Oh well, the things you get to see, meet and listen to.

Got in at 8.45 this morning, on purpose heheh.. There's an office-do later this evening, so that should count as working hours. There's a team-building of some sort, visiting the largest Ferris wheel, followed by a dinner in the vicinity. The dinner was planned for at a Mexican restaurant but I supposed they don't have any non-red or white-meat. So for today, they've changed the location to a sports bar (bra?) & grill place. Either way, it's fishies and plants for me unless I slide out to the halal eatery next door.

The landlords were home when I got back from the office. They're stopping over for Maghrib and to hand me a few things. Thank God I didn't mess up the place, or else I would've given them second thoughts to having me as a tenant.

The message I got from home this morning: "Ibu, kenapa ibu pakai baju kerja. Adik cuti hari ni, kita nak pergi ambik ayah kan?". Ooppss. We gotta re-word the explanation to him. It's always "Ayah balik rumah bila adik cuti". Today, the two boys are staying at home because my wife is worried about a couple of suspected HFMD cases at the kindy. Amir being Amir, he's thinking that I'll be home today since he's on holiday. It's unconfirmed though, the suspected HFMD cases. It could be normal rashes or fever, but the kindy are not taking any chances and have done a good job of making sure that the toys are cleaned up properly and checking all the kids for signs of the disease. They've been sending out emails to notify parents and ease our fears but the wife is being extra cautious anyway.

That should be manageable, the Amir Confusion Paradox. It's not so much of a problem except to reassure him once in a while of what's going on.

Off to work then, and get my nostrils cleared up. The morning commute was marred by someone who kept farting in the train every 3 stops.

It's Friday again, and my new tour is almost 2 weeks here. Friday also means that I'll be commuting to KL after office, and today I'll be taking an earlier bus. Last week's trip arrived in KL at 1.30am.

What have I learned for the first 10 working days?

1) Moving to a new country is a hassle but no less traumatic than moving to a new home.

2) A new office with a new set of colleagues isn't that traumatizing. You'll learn to adapt to the new surroundings and make new acquaintances.

3) The company's name is daunting, well respected and could bring jitters to newcomers, but it's not as bad as I feared it would do to me. They're not far off from where I was before in terms of working atmosphere, but they do expect you to really outshine when the crunch time arrives.

4) It gets a little lonely once in a while after office, but once you've nailed down the right routine, it is bearable. There's always the weekend trip to look forward to.

I suppose four should be good for now.

Beyond that, I've managed to do things that I rarely would've done back then. I walk a lot more: to work, to lunch, to prayers, to shop. That should be good for my health and minimize the waistline. If before this there was a surau right in front of my room, now I have to walk for 5-7 minutes to the nearest mosque. I get to join the zohor jamaah too, another plus point.

I get to read on the train on the way back. I could try on the mornings too but it's too packed with barely enough elbow room. That brings me to the next point: I get to exercise my eyes a lot more. Enough said haha..

There's always a silver lining to something. You may not see or realize it now, but it'll come up someday. So if you've been thinking about change but are afraid, don't be fearful. Follow your dreams, your instincts, your guts (p/s: it has no correlation with size). Have faith and belief that Allah will show you the way. InsyaAllah, if it's meant to happen, it will happen.

Finally, the locals here. They don't just invent and define the word 'kiasu'. They embrace it, regardless of age, sex and brain capacity.

There was a slight drizzle this morning on the way to work, and that wasn't helping me any further. Forget about any sense of personal space whenever you're traveling on the MRT, or that you may have to jostle with rude people along the way.

I am still tired from last night's bus trip back down south. It was smooth all the way except for the snag before reaching the Tuas CIQ. The bus queue was excruciatingly slow moving and took us about 40 minutes to reach the parking bays. Inside the CIQ, the queue was non-existent, a blessing. It still took me until 12.30am to reach the apartment.

While on the way, the wife called me just before reaching JB. Amir was a bit disjointed, searching for me before bed time. He's ok actually, he knows I'm at work far away but he's still a little confused. Once in a while, he'll cry out for me when he jumps into our bedroom, still thinking I'm there. He still thinks that I'll be back later at night. One time, he rushes to the door at the sight of car lights turning into the house next door. Another time, he was angry with the house help for making hot drinks at night when I wasn't even home yet. Boy, it's gonna take a while for him to fully adjust.

Adam? He's as good as he can be, so used to being left on his own. Plus, he's at the age that he could easily grasped complex ideas and thoughts. He's the boy that I had to leave for 2 months when he was barely 3 years old.

All else being fine, we as a family are slowly adapting and adjusting to the current weekday arrangements. I'm trying to make it a point to travel back home every weekends so as to make the boys, Amir specifically, a bit more adjusted and relaxed. I need to adjust a lot too. It gets kinda lonely going home to an empty apartment when I was so used to listen to my kids laughing, talking, screaming & shouting every night. Not forgetting, missing the warmth of my wife sleeping next to me.

Who ever said it's going to be easy?

I had Wendy's yesterday, but Carl's was definitely better.

Meatier and tastier.

Burgers, ok. Nothing to do with any sexual innuendos.

Although, the current hot topics in the country isn't something to be proud of. Who knows who's telling the truth, or who's the victim. It's their words against the other side's.

All else being equal, politician will do what it takes to secure their power and position.

Yikes

The usual.

Anywhere with free wifi.
Driving in the hot afternoon sun. Rushing here and there.
Nonchalant HR exec yang nak kena ketuk kepala dengan aku (managed to get the 'missing' statement request printed).
A suicidal motorcyclist beating the red light as I was crossing the junction.
An idiot driver almost sideswiping me while yakking on the phone.

The extra 'un'-usual.
A lazy assed piece of human who threw away a used kid's diapers on the parking lot under another car.

Bloody 'ell..

20 minutes to 11pm, and there's still a huge crowd hanging out at KLCC's outdoor cafes. Some are surfing on the free net like me, some are just having a drink, a lot more idling around having a good chat. I'm hanging out at the Starbucks while waiting for the wife who's at the hotel next door attending a dinner and awards presentation. Driver, kena la tunggu somewhere else.

A preview of my next journey, maybe.

Weekday nights on my own.

Net or channel surfing.

People watching.

Heh...

Although it was almost a non-surprise when Tini accidently blurted out about a luncheon.

A nice pigging-out session at The Gardens courtesy of my good friends from the office. How in the world they managed to rope in the wife is a wonder. I'm beginning to lose my skills in detecting these sort of things. Yishh..

All in all, it was so wonderful of them. I'm touched, although not physically. The wife is around, remember. The food was okay, but the company was great.

Too bad a few other good buddies couldn't make it. Gartblue, Kak Putih, a few others from EPD. Moshimoshi was around, drinking an old man's beverage: GInger Ale. Who would've thunk? Sorry buddy.

Tak sangka aku ni popular hahaha..

Here I am, blogging at Setarbucks KJ. Hooray for free internet access.

The weekend sojourn down south was a success. Tried and proven experiment that it really sucked to commute daily across the causeway. We tried out on Friday night, the mother of all commuting horror nights over there. Even after 9pm, it took us almost an hour just to get through the immigration on the southern end and hop on the bus. A definitely unworthy and uneconomical thing to do every day.

Thanks to the power of the internet and forums, a friend had sent out an SOS and that helped me secure a great public housing apartment. All for only $300 a month, a bargain. It's actually the rent for a room, completely furnished with a queen-sized bed, and I get to use the facilities kept by the landlady. The apartment was recently renovated, a non-typical public unit (heck, it is closer to the mid-range condos we have here, I was imagining something like our very own PPR's) and the owner only uses it sparingly. A place for them to relax once in a while when they're in the country for the medical check ups. They won't be around most of the time, another plus point. Within minutes to the local LRT, and about 4-5 stops away from the nearest MRT interchange. A huge relief: great apartment, great location, and well below budget.

We went window shopping and all I got was huge blisters on both feet courtesy of a pair of crappy socks. Things are still expensive even with the discounts, unless you're going for the super luxury goods.

Things are slowly settling in. Accomodation: done. Work permit: done. Transferring the kids' savings to TH: in process. Car sale: unresolved. Kompeni issues: to rewrite and resubmit the resignation notice, & housing loan yet to be refinanced. insyaAllah things should work out well, at least I've resolved the most pressing item: rental.

Tomorrow, the office farewell lunch and futsal. Food and foot galore. Weeeee!

This morning was the last breakfast at the canteen as a staff of the Kompeni. Tomorrow, I'm officially on leave until the official last day of my employment here. Peghabihkan cuti, ngam-ngam cuti yang tinggal after the pro-rate.

I'm having mixed emotions thinking about the end of today. I'll be around, and I'm sure I'll be seeing some of my friends once in a while. They're even organizing a farewell, testimonial futsal match for me on Tuesday.

I am excited and sad at the same time. I've known some good people here, made friends with people that I wasn't even sure that I can get along with in the first place. I'm gonna miss their jokes and merapu-ness, and I'm sure they're gonna be relieved that I won't be replying the department emails with some nonsensical write ups anymore haha..

I want to enjoy my last few days in the Kompeni, but the mood here is not good. It has never been good for some time. The pay hike announcement didn't help, it made things even worst. I don't want to be seen as rubbing salts into their wound. I don't think I'm gonna write that farewell email as yet. Heck, I still need to drop by the office a few times in the next few weeks. I still got some stuff that I have not moved from the office. The HR still hasn't called me up, especially on the Kompeni's housing loan (sebabnya? the HOD 'lost' my resignation notice.. heh). Maybe I'll do that when it's nearer to the official last day of mine.

I just wish that things would've been better for my friends here. Maybe not now, but not too late for them either. The union, the management and the board should really sit down and think hard if it's worth it to lose the young ones further. It'll cost a lot more to the Kompeni than the money that they have to spend for the salaries.

Until I see you guys again..

Savvy 1.2AMT, registered in 2006.
46k km done, city driving, to and fro between home and office.
No accidents, though some minor dings from stones flung by lorries and when the two clones opened the Jawa door.
Maintained by authorized service center, no 'mekanik bawah pokok'.
No modifications, no after market performance parts installed.
Unless lead-footed, capable of dishing out on average 7L/100km consumption.
PM for pricing.

I think it's the Malaysian mentality and crassness.

When words got out that I'm leaving the Kompeni soon, most of the questions directed at me was 'How much are they paying you?'.

Sensibly, one would never leave if the pay is lousier than what you're getting now. Unless, it's for something that you love and have the passion for, like getting your dream job, or starting your own business.

First off, what I earn or how much I am gonna earn in the future is private. It's a personal matter. It's none of your business to know that, unless you're the LHDN, the creditors, the ah longs or the wife. So, be gone you vultures.

Secondly, it's not always about the money. If it's something that you love, you'll be willing to sacrifice a few things. If it's worth the trouble and effort, you'll go for it.

A good friend asked me this morning why am I leaving and what were the reasons.

I would love to say that it's because of what I'm seeing in the office or where I think everything is heading from here on, but that wouldn't be a good enough reason. Sure, I was looking for a way out. I would've taken the first offer that came my way even it meant a big cut in pay or benefits.

So why I'm doing it? Fear and opportunity.

I fear for myself. I'm afraid that I'll be useless, hopeless, lackadaisical and eternally narcissistic if I'm still here. I'm afraid that I'll turn into the very beings and things that I despise in the Kompeni. I fear that I may not get past my skepticism and see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Before I became more hopeless and helpless, I decided to take my bow.

And when a big, global company, THE number two in the whole world comes to you and offers you a job, would you say no to that? It is an offer that you know that you should not ignore. It's an opportunity, a huge one. The opportunity to be a part of them, to learn from them, to grow with them. You know that if you don't grab that, you'll never know when you're gonna get that chance again. I felt that, and I don't want to rue that in the future.

I know it's not going to be easy. I have to shift myself from a GLC environment to a global giant. I have to proof myself again. I have to leave my family behind for a while. I have to leave my comfort zone, something that I never thought I would or be capable of doing.

You'll never know until you do it.

Try, do not. There is no try.

And who says the TV is an idiot box.

There, I've done it.

I have officially tendered my resignation to the Kompeni.

I'll be taking a long break the week after next before I start my new tour of duty in mid July.

A nervy moment for me though.

It's been awhile, it's been a wild ride.

A whole new adventure awaits.

When: Friday night

Location: Sunway Pyramid New Wing

Main event: Dinner date with wife

Side event: Smoky podium interior when words got out that there was a small fire somewhere between Jusco and TGIF. TGIF's host wasn't even sure what's going on, yet assured us that things should be under control. No announcement or evacuation of patrons to that effect. Other than a higher number of security officers each blaring away at their walkies and advising patrons to not enter Jusco, things went as normal everywhere else. We assumed that it could be some irresponsible smoker who left an unburned butt in the dustbin, starting a small fire somewhere. We cooly paid for our dinner and continued with our shopping and browsing.

In actual truth: As reported in Saturday's the Star, it was a major fire at the motorcycle parking garage. 50 bikes were burnt to their bare metals in what was suspected to be caused by a short circuit. The mall was packed with shoppers, diners, post-Sunway Lagoon crowds and what nots. It was so irresponsible of the mall management not to at least mini-evacuated the patrons to the old wing. I can't imagine if the fire went out of control.