my last day in FSD...

06:30
Woke up and it dawned upon me... This is it. The day has come.

07:40
Masuk kereta and drive towards work. Decided that I shall blog the day as it progresses...

08:03
The lift opened and I entered 10A. A few people are already in... the usual early birds.

08:30
The day started early... meeting on FSEC. As the meeting progressed I realised something... my current boss chaired the meeting, someone who *could have been my boss* was also there, and my future boss was right next to me. Haha... talk about fate bringing us all together on what was a monumental day for me. And quite likely only the three of them know about my *story*.

09:45
Gossip and pot pet sekejap dgn JC and MM abt a certain person dekat depan lift

09:50
Ila informed that SHH and JMS wanted to have an urgent meeting about KPI. Haha... am glad that they still wanted to get my input despite the fact that today is my last day.

10:20
Boss came in to discuss on outstanding work. My last meeting discussing about what we do as a dept. We discussed things macam biasa... like things are status quo. I guess I don't get away that easily ;)

11:25
SHH and boss has another meeting while JMS and I continued to discuss about training and development for our people

12:15
Finally back at my place... so much for chronologically recording the events for the day. My credit card bill and payment cheque was there on the table as I left it early this morning.
Put in envelope, tampal stamp. Cleared a memo and read beberapa email.

12:45
Left for lunch with boss... naik kereta Proton Saga baru. Destination: Delicious @ BV2.

13:10
Boss got a call from DBB#3. He wanted to join us, sekali dgn NSY.
Delicious was jam packed, so we went to Marmalade instead.

14:10
Made our way back to the office. *Lost* his car sekejap... we went to the wrong floor, duh! Had a good chat with boss on the drive back. I'm going to miss having these chats...

15:00
Discussed with TWL on a few matters regarding a project. It feels so surreal... to talk about these things and giving my final advice to her.

15:50
Talked to RA and discovered that there is a place for me in 10B afterall. But she'll need to pindahkan barang dulu. I guess I can no longer give an excuse to not pindah...
Dropped by to talk to some of the new people that I'll be working with.

16:10
Rushed to solat zohor.

16:20
Discussion with AZA and FMA on a memo that they're working on.

17:00
Solat Asar and finally I have some time to myself to clear all the stuff that I need to do. A feeling of sadness began to sweep in...

17:10
Discussed with NN on what needs to be followed through... my final instructions for the RICN section

17:30
Discussed with KM on what the FM section needs to do.

17:50
NDH invited to have a small tea party that several of them had arranged impromptu... how nice of them!

18:05
Talked to Ila... my eyes began to water...

18:35
I finished reading a report and passed it over to NN for her to collate feedback. My final piece of work :(

18:45
People from THE *island* came by to say bye... oh no! This is getting really sad... I did my best to maintain composure. I shall not cry... I shall not cry...
Told FMA not to be shocked come Monday when he sees someone else in the room. Took a group photo

19:05
I started writing my notes...

19:30
SHH came by on her way home to bid farewell and to enjoy myself during the holiday. We were the last two from the group from JPB days. And now it's down to one...

20:00
Called boss to thank him and say bye... ter miss seeing him in person, wish I could have thanked him in person. "I'll still see you", he said... yup, that's true

21:55
Finished the last note. Placed them on the desk of each addressee

22:00
I finally succumbed and cried as I closed my door for the final time.
Tears just flowed. After 10 years 3 months and 18 days, I'm bidding 10A farewell...


I've never realised how hard this was going to be. I wouldn't have thought that I'll feel such grief... but that's exactly how I feel right now. It's not just about moving to another department. It's leaving a family behind... a wonderful family.

Tears are rolling down... I'm an emotional wreck.

test drive di waktu malam...

Every weekend we plan to go out to ambik gambar, tapi tak pernah menjadi. Today sebab I was busy packing and lepas tu nak tengok F1 pulak. Semalam petang pun tak jadi because it was so damn hot!! Pagi... erm, susah sikit lah ;)

So tonight, since I needed to visit Maggie the tailor to pick up my seluar yang perlu di alter, I ajak Amt singgah kat Tasik Titiwangsa to tangkap gambar. Never thought that KL is so pretty at night.

Things are going well... hopefully I'll get to capture the beauty of English country side and the Alps.

Note: I tengah berangan that if I manage to capture some beautiful shots during the trip tu nanti, nak buat a photobook. My own coffee table book :D The title shall be "captured jaunts"

my new toy...

In planning for the trip to UK & Germany (I'm leaving on Thursday... woohoo!!), I've been looking at car rental companies that also rent out GPS. Quite mahal lah jugak to rent... about GBP8/Euro7 per day... which is a lot of money bila convert to MYR and for the duration that we need to use it. But given that I'll be driving and I don't trust Papa with the map, a GPS is a necessity.

Boss showed me his masa naik mini cooper and when I went to LowYat the other day, saw Garmin. I've seen Mile use it in the US... very handy, very useful.

So this weekend, Amt and I were on a mission... if I could find one which is dlm price range yang reasonable, I might as well get one, since I'd end up spending quite a lot of $$$ if I were to rent it kat UK and Germany tu nanti.

Nasib baik lah Amt had the ilham to tengok lowyat.com dulu before we keluar rumah. Found a shop selling for RM850 je... as compared to the official kedai price of RM1599. And it was cheaper than the price that boss bought it for too ;)

Terus went to Subang and promptyly got lost, haha... I'm not very good with Subang and if only we had a Garmin with us, we would have easily found Subang Square. What to do, before dapat Garmin, kena sesat dulu lah...

I also asked for the Europe map (obviously)... an additional RM150, as compared to RM800 at the official shop. So this is one very satisfied girl :)

Eager to give it a test drive, we terus guna... to take us back to KL, to pick up Ina, then to Damansara. Petang pun keluar lagi... and although I know the route with my eyes closed, I couldn't resist turning it on. Sangat best!

Now I'm more confident about our upcoming road trip. But just to be safe, I'm still downloading directions from viamichelin and aa.com. One can't be too reliant on technology ;)

Cuma now I wonder... should I still get that road map when I'm there?
We'll see...

ikan makan kaki...

Nora and I have been planning to go try this new in thing... and finally, we managed to find a Friday lunch time where both of us are free. Unfortunately Ana wasn't feeling well and couldn't join us.

Instead of going to the one in Pavillion, we decided to go to the fish spa in Bangsar. A good decision indeed because the place was not as crowded and it's nearer to the office (although we somehow still managed to return a bit late to the office...)

It was FUN! Very ticklish in the beginning... I couldn't stop giggling... and almost at the brink of screaming in geli. At first only a few fish came over then a whole school. I obviously had a LOT of dead skin cells. Nora jealous "kenapa your kaki lagi banyak ikan?" Isn't it obvious Nora? ;)

Took me a while to get use to it... trying my best to ignore the ticklish feeling... I know now exactly where on my foot yg I'm most geli. After a while it began to rasa mcm semut2... and it was all ok. Except when a larger fish come by to feast on my feet. Then rasa geli balik... I tahan je from gelak and giggle continuously :)

Thoroughly enjoyable... and would recommend it to all, girls and guys alike.

Giddy, Linda, NMS... when you come home, I know one place to take you girls...

diplomatic...

Today someone made the comment again "You speak very diplomatically".

Huh?
Really??

It wasn't very long ago that I had *angered* people for being a bit too blunt with my comments. I was in my 20s days... I said what was in my heart, and I got *scolded* for being tactless.

My take of the whole incident... some people just can't take criticism ;) But I still sought some advice from K Pi who said something to the effect of "you're still young..."

I guess it comes with the job. I've been told that I am at times rather vocal with my views by my mom. Maybe that's it... I'm quite diplomatic when it comes to work, but if it is something that is personal or close to my heart... no more tapis-tapis.

Today is Earth Day. Early in the morning I sent email to my colleagues encouraging them to do something to *save* the Earth. If not for good, at least for the day lah... And for my effort, someone wished me "Thank you Earth angel" :)

I'm not your most environmentally friendly person. I don't car pool, I still use plastic bag when I shop... but I do realise that we need to do something. I try to do my part... I've managed to persuade ppl in my dept to use normal plates for our departmental makan2 instead of those super unfriendly disposable plates. I use tipuware for my tapau food at the office. I recycle paper at work. Small small things... I strongly believe that those small can add up and make things better.

Tonight I watched The Inconvenient Truth. I'm so glad I did and I hope many more did as well and will change their behaviour/habits. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

On a related note, I found this wonderful quote... will use it for my volunteer thing

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these
- George Washington Carver

customer #1

In addition to a day at the movies, today was also a day at the restaurants... yes, you read right. Plural... restaurants.
(Note to Giddy: Don't ask me abt my new year's resolution... it never took off from the get go, haha...)

First stop, while waiting for our screening time, was Waroeng Penyet. Recommended by Tao... a fellow foodie, I decided to give it a try, since our original destination was not open yet (more of that later).

It was just before noon, but there were already several customers waiting for their ayam penyet. Good omen... restaurant already with customers before lunch time. Music by PeterPan was on air and the menu were in Indonesian... complete with the Malaysian translation. How cute is that? ;) The setting was simple... but as we later discovered, the taste was anything but. Despite the *fast food joint* look, it was based on home cooking taste.

We had Ayam Penyet (mestilah try... the shop was named after it what), Bakso sup, Siomay Bandung and Soda Gembira. Hahaha... I kid you not! That's really the name of their sirap bandung with ice cream soda. Talk about funky names that make you smile :)

The food was good... we were happy. As usual, we did our food musical chair... food rotated around the table to enable everyone to taste everything.



Our original intent was to manger at Bubba Gump. Ever since our first taste at the restaurant's outlet in San Francisco, Ina Abg & I have been dreaming of a nice bowl of spinach artichoke cheese shrimp dip. So imagine my delight when I saw the signboard while on a mission to get cupcakes for ZCD's birthday last Tuesday. I literally squealled in excitement! AAA ARG SHH were amazed with my reaction that day, haha.

Little did we realise that today was their opening day and that the restaurant will only accept its customers from 4pm onwards. Undeterred, Ina and I agreed to wait until 4pm (and *forced* Amt to follow us, hehe). So after the movie, we loitered around The Curve while waiting for the hour to strike dong.. dong.. dong.. dong..

At 4pm, we went to the restaurant... and were informed that they won't start operations until later... maybe around 5 or 5.30. WHAT?? Not a good start for a restaurant... with an unhappy customer. My dissatisfaction must have been clearly evident from my face because soon we were ushered to our table.

The staff were eager... a little too eager if you ask me. We were asked whether we'd like to place our order 3 times. I know lah the restaurant just opened... but don't you have better things to do? It also felt rather uneasy to have a swarm of waiters and waitresses around you... just waiting for you to turn the sign.

Oh... I forgot. One unique thing about this restaurant is that if you want to call a server, instead of lifting up your hand trying to get service, you just need to use their *signs*... "Stop Forrest Stop" (in case you haven't caught on, this restaurant is based on the movie Forrest Gump... Bubba is his shrimp loving friend. Geddit?) We never had to use the sign because every 5 minutes or so, someone would come by our table to ask whether everything is ok.

Having craved for the yummy dips for over 3 years now, obviously we ordered the dip, alongside Cajun Shrimp and Bourbon Street Barramundi. The dip wasn't as nice as the one we had in San Francisco, the shrimp was good and the fish a bit bland (although Ina kata it tasted fine... I agree that the sauce was good but the fish no longer has its natural sweetness).




Then someone more serious looking came by our table as I was about to put a morsel of food into my mouth. We were informed that we are officially their first customers and in our honour, they'd like to have us sign the order form which will be hung in the kitchen. Also in appreciation, we were each given a goodie bag. Cool! Thankfully I've perfected my signature, haha... rasa macam celebrity ;) The guy introduced himself as the operations manager and beside him the head chef. They asked me how the food fared and I told them the truth. If they were expecting something nice and polite, they've got the wrong person, haha. Well... better to be told the truth, right? Of course I could see that they had not expected to hear something like that on their opening day, from their first customers... but they should be given credit for accepting the comments positively. Something that don't kill you will make you better....

Hmm... maybe I should have been more diplomatic and berlapik, but I guess having experienced the *are you or are you not open yet?* encounter and feeling like I was being watched over every bite and munch had lessened the magic to it all.

Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure that it won't be my last visit. I would recommend both Ayam Penyet and Bubba Gump to others to try.

Be adventurous, try something different... you only live once!

surprising and unexpected...

I haven't been to the movies for a while... so long, I can't even remember what the last movie I saw is. Isn't that pathetic?

So last night when Ina ajak pergi tengok movie, I said yes in a heartbeat. We wanted to go see 27 Dresses (yes... I'm THAT ketinggalan zaman) but we're so outdated that the movie is no longer showing at the cinemas.

Still wanting to have a day of fun and frivolity, Amt and I searched online to check out what's on. Not wanting to watch anything that will make me have a headache (read: something serious, hehe...) Amt suggested "Over My Dead Body" or "Definitely Maybe". I somehow have doubts that I'll enjoy watching Eva Longoria so I made the executive decision to watch the other movie starring Ryan "2 guys a girl and a pizza place" Reynolds, Rachel "The Mummy" Weisz, Isla Fischer, Kevin Klein, Elizabeth Banks and the wonderful Abigal "Little Miss Sunshine" Breslin.

I had no idea what the movie was about and had no expectations. I like it when I go watch something without any preconception... just go and enjoy it. Enjoy it I definitely did!

It was a fresh, more realistic take of a romantic comedy, with a tinge of sadness. The jokes aren't over the top, the romance isn't overly mushy and the story line filled with drame about love and life... how things aren't always how we plan it to be and that the unexpected will happen when you least expect it. I don't want to give away too much... coz for once, this is one romance which kept me guessing right till the end (ok... not really til the end, but you'll know what I mean if you watch it).

I enjoyed it immensely and there were even moments when I was teary eyed. It wasn't your usual *feel good movie* and the reviews by the *experts* weren't that great... but I liked it very much. From the *birds and the bees talk* to the *you don't choose the person, the person chooses you*.

I got my much needed fix :)

Follow this link for the movie trailer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfUwvTvzrg8

test drive...

Beli dah over a week, but have not had the chance to to really play around with it... until today.

"Along... camera mana?" I immediately knew what he was talking about. He wasn't asking about my IXUS850IS, but rather Amt wanted to check out my new lense.

"Tu... ambik lah"

So he played around while I continued to upload my Scotland photos (looking at the pix make me want to go there again).

Click... click...

"Meh jap... I nak try". I went down... snapped some photos inside and outside the house.

"Jom kita keluar ambik gambar?" I ajak Amt. "Jom..."

Tapi sekali Mama suruh Amt ikut Papa pergi wedding kat Putrajaya... and at the same time hujan lebat turun. So cancel...

"Ina... mana CD for the driver? Nak download gambar". Being a 3+ year old camera, it's not as canggih as the baru2 ones yg just plug and download. I still need the driver.

Ina tak jumpa (I'm not surprised... she's not the most organised person in the world, hehe). "Along download je lah from internet", she suggested.

So, here are the photos...

Yang Amt ambik:





Yang I ambik:












I'm liking it very much! :D

until my final day...

I am tired... exhausted to be exact.

Stayed back late at the office today and didn't reach home until past 10pm. Had to finish some stuff for the volunteer thing that I'm involved in. It was due last week but I just hadn't had the time to do it. But I had to get it done by hook or by crook... lagi delay lagi tak terbuat.

And it was a time spent well... had to write some summaries and a report. Am pretty happy with the report. Tried to write a la reporter this time... hope people will like it. And get motivated to get involved... that's the goal.

Today and yesterday were busy busy busy at work. Yesterday I had meetings back to back and overlapping... from lunch (yes... lunch meeting) all the way until 5:45pm. Pergi satu, keluar, masuk lagi satu, keluar, another one... by the time I got back to my desk, other stuff needing immediate attention was in my mailbox. To prepare notes for BigBoss... utk meeting hari ni. That plus amending a speech for BigBoss and clearing presentation slides for a discussion group today.

Today not that different... pagi2 I went through the notes for BigBoss, followed by a coaching session for my staff who will be making the presentation later in the evening. Habis je discussion, got a call to see ABB to brief him on the paper. Came down had a meeting on an IT project. Meeting ended in time for me to check on the notes for BigBoss before leaving for lunch at SouledOut. Got back to office, replied to emails requiring attention and then pergi the discussion session. Habis 5.30pm... I was already in no mood to do more work but I knew that I had to get that writeups for the volunteer thing done. So I spent 2+ hours drafting... The carpark was empty when I got to the basement. Luckily the lights were still on...

Today I took some ppl from the office out... farewell treat. The first of three. The day to say goodbye is nearing... FAST! Throughout this week I've receiving remarks in a variety of ways regarding the impending move on a daily basis... somedays sampai beberapa kali... Things like "this will be the last presentation", "get it done before you go", "sekarang mcm trend orang pindah across the floor", "kenapa orang tak nak datang sini? and people are leaving?", "although you're leaving... think about what we should do", "you no longer have a local standi...", "are you packing?" and banyak lagi.

Why are people thinking that I'm in a "can't wait to go and leave this place" mood? If only they know how I feel inside... As I've mentioned to 3 ppl last Monday, I shall serve until the last day. Until that day comes, I am still here wholeheartedly.

Whenever these types of questions or remarks are made, I malas nak respond. Especially if it is received from this one particular person. No matter what I say, dia will still kata the same, repeatedly, at different occasions and times. I don't know... is it to show dia punya dissatisfaction or is it just dia punya way to let me know that dia will miss me? haha... that would be something ;)

I belum rasa lagi... but I think next week will be the crunch. And I need to start thinking about that speech... just in case they ingat my promise.