My life: Time to move

This is first time I'm in a company which is moving office. Not that it's anything cool, but it seems like a new experience for me. A lot of planning go into place, from packing, informing the relevant parties, when and which to move first, parking arrangements, infrastructure set up...etc. I'm quite amazed how my senior colleague manage to rack her brains doing all these planning. We even had a template letter and email signature for notifying our clients about us moving office.

My files have been packed in a paper box sitting beside my table, nicely labelled with my desk number. All is left is my stationery and lil stuff, which should be cleared by tomorrow. *must remind myself to bring a big paper bag to put all the stuf...ooh, not forgetting my money plant.

The new place is going to further, but I hope it's a good beginning for all, and a good environment to work in :P *hmm...and nearer to all the big shopping centres in the area...muahahaha....

Jalan-jalan: Lang Tengah Island

When: 17-19 March
Where: Lang Tengah Island, Terengganu (between P. Perhentian & P. Redang)
Accomodation: Redang Lang Resort

Joined the trip to Lang Tengah last 2 weeks ago. Was organised by someone's in N's company. Got a good deal, so I decided to join. This was a very ad-hoc thingy. Initially couldn't make it because I was away from KL, then at the last minutes, I got back in time for this trip...phew!

We gathered at Cyberjaya on Thurs night in a cramped van and off we went...(* N, that was a really bad travel experience, couldn't get a good night's rest). Reached K. Terengganu early morning, around 6:30 am i think. Had a simple breakfast around the market area. Then proceeded to the Kuala Merang jetty to board the boat to the island. All of us in the group were too tired then, and couldn't wait to check in to our rooms to lie down!

The journey to the island took about 1 hour. Had a short briefing when we reached the resort. After lunch, we had a coral conservation workshop organised by one of the divemaster. Then we had a snorkelling trip after that. Came back to the island late noon, and had a tea break, then crashed into bed. Oh, food and beverages are free flow in the resort. You can make you own tea and have light snack anytime. Dinner was BBQ buffet style. Not too much variety, but sufficient and yummy at the least. Some of us then had simple fun playing a card game called "Ken" after dinner, and ventured along the seaside after that. And that's when we found a gecko on the sand, and a hermit crab.

Early next morning half of the group went for a short jungle trekking trip. The tracking trail started from the hill behind the resort. Took about 30 - 40 minutes to reach the rock beds by the seaside, where we could enjoy the scene of the rising sun. We had packed our breakfast in the styrofoam box, so we had breakfast up there while enjoying the breeze and the beautiful scene. Also saw the tongkat ali plant on the way up there.

Went to Marine Park in the afternoon. Lucky me to see a shark from a distance away. But unfortunately, I missed out the moray eel whom the locals said has stayed at the bottom of the jetty for a long time. We weren't aware of it, so too bad lah... I guess I would have freaked out if I did see it.

We then tried introductory diving course after that. This was where you could try to have a simple 30-mins course to diving. If you do complete the whole course, you will only pay RM100, or else it's free to try. I was hesitant but decided to give it a go at the last minute. But I had problems equalising the pressure in my ears, and had to quit halfway. I had this stupid phobia of being under the deep sea, so I was trying hard to control the my fear. But I'm glad at least I tried it. haha...silly me! probably diving is just not for me. I guess it would better to stick to National Geographic mags in my comfort zone :P Had another conservation workshop again after dinner. It was informative, and it did help me know more of the corals and fishes.

We left the island early next day, and had lunch at K. Terengganu before heading back to KL. The divemaster has said they are considering organising another trip later this year. And I'm definitely looking forward to it! Plus I get to know some new friends, who have been quite enjoyable companions throughout the trip =D

My life: Sunblock and bikini

Sun, sand and sea.

hmm...I can already visualise myself under the sun (*ok, perhaps under the coconut tree, i'm scared of getting a sun burn), my feet on the soft white sands, the wind blowing on my face, and listening to the roaring waves of the sea... aaahhh~

Oh, and this time, I'm not forgetting to get some bread to feed those cute little fishies.

Time to get my sunblock and bikini...and few more days to go.. :P

Sharing: The Undomestic Goddess

Just bought this book - "The Undomestic Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella, from the bookstore yesterday. It was an unplanned buy (*yeah, I know I'm a bad consumer, but what the heck, I just want to use up the RM5 book voucher before it expires end of the month).

This book has been one of the bestsellers, and this author, Sophie Kinsella has written a few other books which are bestsellers too. I'm giving this book a shot, as the storyline seems simple but fun.

Mclady has already read one of her book "Can You Keep A Secret?". I guess pretty soon we can exchange her books ...hahaha.. (* eh, mclady, can or not hah? :P)

My life: Mission accomplished

Mission accomplished.

It has been some time the last time I had this feeling. It is the sense of achievement, the good feeling you relish when you know you have done overcome another personal challenge. At the beginning of this trip, I thought it would be a big hurdle to overcome. Clients are always hard to please, and they're always right (most of the time, anyway), and most importantly, they are the ones who are paying the big bucks!

Not too sure how well I did in this mission. But there's saying by Deng Xiao Ping, "it doesn't matter if it's a white or black cat, as long as it catches the mice, it's a good cat". hahaha...so I guess I'm a good "cat" too in this cat-and-mice game.

Time to go home.

Makan-makan: Kaizen Restaurant @ Kiarong, Brunei

A new colleague recommended this Japanese restaurant, Kaizen Japanese Restaurant in Kiarong area in Bandar Sri Begawan. Japanese restaurants are rare in this country, not to mention good ones. Since this is our last night staying here for this trip, we decided to treat our something good.

The food was definitely up to our expectation, but I thought that the sushi selection was too few to choose from. The sushi plates were arranged on a little toy train, which chugged around the food counter on a railway track. What an ingenious idea! And I was so excited seeing the train going round and round, with all the sushi on the carriages behind it. Took a snapshot of it to share with all of you ;-)

My life: Thanks!

It's comforting to know that you have people whom you can always count on. Family and friends, you know they are concerned about you, always help without asking for return, stand on your side without hearing the whole story.

Life, without these people, would be such a cold and lonely place. And I'm thankful to have these people around me.

My life: 3 more days and counting...

Sudden change of plans. Thought it was going to upset my schedule for this working trip, and both of us would be working late every night and non-stop through the weekends.

But turned out to be good news, for both of us at least. Probably not so project-wise.

Anyway, happy to see and smell KL soon. I miss you, home. 3 more days to go and counting...

Sharing: Spoke to soon

And I thought my sis wrote at snail's pace.
Seemed like this snail is working overtime, crawling 2 entries in her blog today.
I bet this snail would be hiding in its shell soon..haha :P

Oh, btw, nice writing. But I don't understand a thing about E&E , I guess it's just not WIRED into my brain.

Sharing: An Apple & A Blog

Apple just told me she wanted to have her own blog. And I just got to visit her blog. And I laughed myself silly over her childhood stories. Never knew she had such "interesting" thoughts. But I promised her not to laugh at what she wrote.... not in front of her anyway... :P But I'm happy to have another "kaki blog", haha...

Then my sis tiba-tiba semangat aje message me to say she also wants to start her own blog. Oooh... but this "big author" has a snail's writing pace... so I don't think I'll be reading her first entry any time soon.

Oh my, this is gonna be fun.. more blogs to read. It's more fun to read blogs of others, when you know who they are :P

And to Mr. FF, i'm telling you the blog fever is raging on! muahaha...

My life: Feel your presence all around me

No matter where you are,
knowing that your presence is with me,
knowing your thoughts are with me,
makes me happy and contented.

I hear no words,
I see no faces,
I sense no touch,
but I feel your presence, all around me.

Sharing: Lene Marlin

在收音机听见 “Sitting Down Here"这首歌，是我喜欢的一首。这是Lene Marlin的歌曲。

听到这首歌，总是让我心情放松，就象歌手逍遥写意地演唱这首歌一样。

谢谢他介绍我认识这歌手， 认识她的歌曲。虽然Lene Marlin CD弄丢了，但是依然喜欢听她的歌。

看看她的官方网站吧，觉得网站的设计很别致。SleepyYen, 如果你看得懂这遍文章，她的网站设计值得一看 http://www.lenemarlin.com/。

想家

我又思念了。每次离开家去外地工作，总是会思念。

思念家里的温暖， 妈妈煮的菜肴， 妈妈的罗嗦， 弟妹们的吵闹声， 爸爸的声音。平时并不觉得， 但这一切就形成了家的温暖。

一个人需要有一个能叫家的地方， 一个属于自己的地方。
一个歇脚的地方，抛开所有烦恼的地方。
一个当你放下所有伪装的时候，做会自我的地方 。
家， 就是这么一个地方。

你，想家吗？

My life: Working on a Sunday

Stuck in a foreign country. With not much entertainment choices to while away the weekends. Work seems like the best option. And it is the only thing that is in my mind right now. Finish it quick and get back earlier. Back to more work piling up on my inbox.

I was complaining when I needed to work on public holidays on my previous job. But still, I was back in my hometown working, not in a foreign country. Life still goes on as usual, waking up in your own bed, eating homecooked meals, and still surrounded by family and friends. And best of all, no traffic jams. I was happy eventhough I complained sometimes :P

Back to present, I have 5-days work week, but travelling has been more frequent in this present job. Nope, I'm not complaining about the travelling, it's just the extended stay that makes me a grumpy and unhappy person. Maybe another place will make the difference, but I don't want to bet on that. It's the state of mind, not the state of surroundings.

Used to envy people who go travelling on working trip. But now, I'm not so sure anymore. Of course you get to "see more things", "go different places", and it's always fresh and interesting on your first trip, but dullness sets in when visits to the same place become more frequent.

The bright side of it is easy to see, but the dark side remains dark. You gain a little, and you lose a little. Balance is always a nature of life. Priorities in life, and personal dreams, push us to reach our limits. Along the journey, hopefully we gained more than what we have sacrificed. And most importantly, not to regret when you look back in time.

My life: Escargots or ...?

Saw a big snail crawling up a flower pot this morning. I mean really big, a little bigger than the size of my clenched fist. Well...you don't usually see a snail of that size crawling anywhere in your garden anyway. It was oblivious to its surrounding, slowly crawling up, with its big fat body.

Am now i'm visualing that big fat snail on a dinner plate....oh, definitely not on my dinner plate! Escargots (if you prefer calling it by that funny sounding name), may be exotic to some, but I don't fancy the idea of putting one in my mouth. *yuck* *eww~*

Anyone who have tried them, tell me what does it taste like in your mouth har? Sucking some slimy creatures out from the shell...*eeeK!!*....what with the two tiny tentacles sticking out... ok, maybe the taste is good, but oh my god... I think I will rather go for the cockels ("kerang") with my favourite char kuay teow or curry laksa, or eating them the stemboat-style (the usual fatty lok-lok van found by the roadside or pasar malams) dipped in chilli sauce :P~

i know some of you gonna tell me..."hello gal! that's more gross la..., somemore you can get Hep. B one leh...you not scare meh?" Nope, that's least of my worries...make sure it's well cleaned and cooked, and it shall taste heavenly to me...muahahaha... i'm sure the kerang-lovers like me would agree ;-)

so does anyone of you tried anything weird or gross? I might not like escargots, but I'm still gamed for other food...haha...

...\@...@/@/....@/\@...

Sharing: Dinner and a movie

Picked up a new word from an article on the web today - necrophilia.
And guess what it means? An irresistible sexual attraction to dead bodies.
ewww....that's so gross! *vomit*

I wonder what makes the dead bodies "irresistable" in a sexual way? I thought the irresisitable part only applies to the "sumptuous food source" for the corpse bugs. *vomit again*

Ok, before you guys think I'm into something sexual or crazy....let me clear up the confusion. I like reading some of the odd news headlines from the Yahoo! News page. And I was wondering what can be so peculiar about a dinner and a movie? Sounds like a normal affair for a casual date. And OMG!...it turned out to be talking about man-eating cannibals histories and a German movie about it. (read about it here).

The fuss about it was a real-life German cannibal, (like Hannibal Lecter), was trying to legally block the movie about his morbid story. The movie has been titled "Rohtenburg" ("Butterfly -- A Grimm Love Story"), and is set to open in Germany on March 9. The interesting thing in the piece of news must have been some of the lines picked out from the movie. Read about the gruesome movie storyline there, and make your spine tingle with fear...

My life: Working away from KL

It's amazing how relationship develops between people when you are left together in a foreign country. Just like what I'm experiencing when I work away from KL. It's our basic instincts to stick together, look out for each together, and also keep each other company. And it's always a great opportunity to build up relationship.

As a lady traveller, I tend to be cautious and restrain in most situations. To me, safety is the main concern. And a travel companion is always a must for me. Not that I can't travel alone, but it makes me feel safer with a companion, especially in a foreign and unfamiliar place.

Maybe it's a matter of costs, or maybe it's just security concern, companies will always arrange room sharing for ladies if more than one is travelling together. But it's not the same case for men travellers. Ever noticed that? Sharing room is one thing, but I guess sometimes you need some privacy after spending almost the whole day with your room mate. All's well if there's no conflict at work, but what if it was the other way round? But the whole point of it, is to get some privacy and some individual time-out after your working hours. It eases strain on working relationship too.

Anyway, having my own room is always not an option, as I always travel with a lady companion (haha...). That's when a working relationship can develop to friendship. Being in a small confined area, you tend to bump into each other more often, and there's no way you can avoid each other (unless you choose to stay in the WC :P)

Taking turns to use the toilet, ask before switching tv channels, sharing things like nailcutter and lotion, boiling water and making drinks for each other, chatting topics other than work, sharing occasional secrets and personal thoughts (i don't mean gossips ok? :P), sleeping at almost the same time, rushing each other in the mornings, reminding each other on last minute checks before stepping out the room...hmm.. i guess you get the picture. And now your realised your colleague has suddenly become your room mate and your current best buddy!

This peculiar bond will begin the first day you start travelling and everything returns to usual state after the travelling period. Is the different environment a factor to how we bond? Maybe it's just me, but colleagues who have travelled together with me, are usually one of my closest allies in work....hehehe...

Of course there would be many stories and different experiences to tell from your very own working trips. Every trip is unique and there's always a story to remember. And no matter how difficult or stressful the working trip was, you will always remember the experience.