Friday, October 8, 2010
Upin & Ipin ... Yes yes yes
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
New Start ... 6th October 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
A Nice Surprise?
Better I was feeling out of sorts because I had no plans to celebrate except going out to McD for takeaway or something ... not much of a birthday plan ... the few people I know in Medan are either stuck in the mountains (thanks Volcano!) or not available (sick in Medan or gone home to Singapore/ Malaysia for holidays already) ... so it was going to be a dreary depressing kind of event ... unless I go hook up with a prostie or gigs ... whichever strikes my fancy, yes? HAHAHAHAHA!
Anyway in the office, our HR this week has started daily emails of anyone's birthday. So you can just imagine the number of emails and phone calls continuing ... at around noon, I had a meeting with my MD before her flight to Singapore ... I thought for sure she was going to be another well-wisher like everyone else ...
But to my surprise she didn't! Why? Because she doesn't carry a notebook and her BB had gone MIA. So that was a relief. As the meeting wore on until near 2pm, we covered a lot of issues which was great but since I was getting hungrier and thirstier by the minute ... I was starting to fidget ... (yes, I am like that, childish at times) ... and then the clincher!
She said she realized that I should be due for my 3rd month soon, right? I nodded pretending no-big-deal because HEY I am thinking of looking around for another job ... (thanks airport construction plans and Mr Volcano!) ... when to my surprise she said she had advised payroll to give me a little $$$ ... I acted non-plus and nodded ... then she pressed on with the amount and it was a WOW MOMENT!
Literally a WOW MOMENT!!!!!!
So now I have to wait and see if it materializes in end Sep or Oct yes? Fingers crossed and all that! Hehehehehe! I was not expecting this since they have a mixed reputation but to my surprise without me opening my mouth this came. I have only been here 2.5 mths and was not expecting even 1 cent until appraisal next year. Hehehehehe!
So what did I do last night? I overate of course! HAH!
I know. I have to lose weight. Sigh!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Damn those becaks ...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
I am in pain
Saturday, July 3, 2010
I remember now ...
3rd weekend in Medan ...
Friday, June 18, 2010
Meeting Dewy and her effeminate younger brother ...
I made a new friend ... a house mate who takes the same car as me ... except that he goes to a different office in the city ... he is from a banking background and engaged to work as an IT project manager for my wonderful boss' arrogant brother ... he asks me to call him Jo ... and he is a married gentleman with kids ... nice chap ... a bit tight on the budget but not surprising as he has kids ...
So after a day or two in the office but boss officially decided to show up and asked me to meet her at her brother's house ... her brother is a graduate from USA and supposedly screwing around there for umpteen years until she was asked to go and bring him home ... to keep him occupied she got him involved in the hotel in-charge of IT ... except the hotel is so small ... and he runs the hotel IT as if it is an MNC ... imagine for a 140 room hotel with theme park ... he needs 20 people in IT ... no wonder we run at a loss!
Anyway ... we arrived and waited and waited ... then boss shows up ... and she was asked to wait as he is getting ready ... I was shocked ... his house is his office and he lives in the whole house with all sorts of gadgetry to lock the actual house from the garage ... where he has converted the garage into office for his staff and the garage looks like a garage ... so much for a good boss ... ugh! I guess being Indonesians in Medan they tolerated this ... and anyway they cannot all have much to do ... seeing as there is 2 person for every single task and no one is the back-up for another task ...
When I first saw him ... he seemed like a decent enough guy ... he is certainly intelligent ... and honestly if he has a real job that keeps his brain occupied ... I think we could even be good time hanging out friends ... but since he is huddled away there with no future to speak off ... I cannot blame him for creating work for himself ... as otherwise he would go bonkers and slit his own wrists ... hahaha!
He has so much big plans ... he criticized all known software and instead prefers to work with untested software for other industry and customizing for the hospitality ... but why bother? Why re-invent the wheel? And waste tons of money? Just doesn't make good business sense ... and the obsession with SOPs and what-nots! And then telling me things like SBU and SMU ... they all read too much of these management books and jargons and just wanna use the latest buzzword! And they appointed me SMU head ... whatever that means in their minds ... all I know is I make things work. That's it. Plain and simple.
Weather has been fine ... will probably hang out with Jo for some take away dinner!
[This is typed based on memory on 8th Jan 2012]
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day One ... and the Pits feeling continues ...
I had 12 boxes of bloody biscuits that Dewy asked me to bring ... can you imagine that? I felt so foolish ... anyway, they told me to get into this car finally going to something like Muta (Buta) Tuli ... and I did ... and I met a guy who said his name was something like Jo or Ko ... when we arrived, there was a stockily built gentleman who came to greet us after they let us sit in the waiting room of some sales office for a fair bit of time ...
Then I was told I was in the wrong office as I was supposed to go to head office ... so I waited some more ... for a car to come and pick me up and go there ... and by the time I reached ... more than an hour has passed ...
And here I was greeted by someone named Ratz and then Lys and someone doing payroll ... which was fine ... then I met a man named Agus who said he was in-charge of HR but was formerly an Engineer or some such and he said he wasn't supposed to meet me today but I was lucky he was around ... wow talk about welcoming new staff, right?
Basically I did nothing except chat and was shuttled back to Buta place ... and then just hung around until 5:00pm and followed the car home ... only to be miserable yet again ... really felt like going home to Penang and slowly looked for another job ... ugh!!!
[This is typed from memory on 19.12.11 - 10:40pm]
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
NEW JOB NEW JOB NEW JOB AND THE PITS!!!
So this is a gathering of my first 2 days here in Medan ... I didn't know what to expect except that my memories were hazy from the 80s (if I am not mistaken) ... of a mall ... and some roads ... and Jln Sutomo ... where we came out of a restaurant and I saw this boy (teen?) in uniform and reddish brown shorts and I memorized the shoplot until today (46 Jln Sutomo) ... although I have no idea if he was buying something there or his dad owned the place ... is that a crush? Hahahahaha!
I am getting sidetracked
Okay let's get back to business ... I boarded the plane .. and within the hour landed in Medan ... had a bit of a nightmare clearing immigration as they took my form, then escorted me to a sideroom and another officer asked for the form ... and I said the officer at the counter had it ... he graciously said he would do me a favor and filled up one on my behalf ... I was confused ... why didn't he just take the damn form?
Anyway, after that, I went out and scanned the multitudes waiting for me to find a non-uniformed chap with a piece of paper with my name on it ... so I went with the guy and it started to pour ... and I arrived in a gated community ... not a hotel or apartment (???) and to my surprise in the rain the driver had an argument with the lady housekeepers on who would carry my bags as it appeared that they have assigned me the 3rd floor and the ladies didn't want to carry so high ... I said it is fine and I would do it myself ... and I did!
After that, I looked around and the bed was new but kinda cheap and bump, no proper wastebasket etc and the furniture looked really cheesy ... guess it is a huge jump from Sey to here ... and I thought I was going to be in a higher position?!?!?!?!?
After sneaking out, I had a look around and the house was quiet ... so I had a shower ... then decided to come down and explore the neighbourhood as the rain had dwindled down a wee bit ... I walked out ... to my right there was a petrol station and some buildings ... and decided to go left ... walked and walked and walked ... until I passed by Marriott and decided to have my meal in a Padang Resto ... first time, last time ... 1 piece of chicken, some veg and egg ... all cold ... and nearly RM20 a meal!
You know, that very first night? I almost decided to pack up and buy a ticket out the next day. It was such a miserable experience. I will continue this entry shortly as it is getting late ... cheers ...
Oh yeah ... to sum it up ... I accepted a job as Financial Advisor cum Business Development Manager for Mikie Holidays, Berastagi in Sumatera, Indonesia. Rock ON!!!!!!!!!!!
[This is typed on 19.12.11 ... 10:30pm based on memory]
Sunday, April 25, 2010
29 Nights and Counting ...
So what's 29 nights? In case, I don't some day go backwards and post retrospectively ... it's the number of nights I will remain in Seychelles before my flight home ... I have resigned ... yup yet again ... but this time I am going to go all out and stick to whatever next posting I will do ... high time I make a commitment to give my all ... humanly possible that is. That's also my next resolution. Me - resolution! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Other than that, today was a great day
I went out on a rented boat of Gerard's sister. As crew were his brother in law, Joachim and nephew, Livio. Aside from me, there was Insan and Ahmad. We had a nice time inspite of the intermitten rain but had to cut short after 4 hours when the rain came back with a vengeance
After that we drove to Beau Vallon and I finally after 5 years tried Baobab Pizza. We shared a fish n chips, lasagne and smoked fish pizza. Everything was delicious and the whole bill came to about SR370. So it was decent pricing for Seychelles
Cheers and Good Night
Friday, April 2, 2010
I am not procrastinating
So I was in office and wanted to post an entry but as is the norm these days, I was way overloaded.
Where am I doing this entry then? Why my black berry, of course. Hehehe. Yes I have joined the club as of this past monday. 9ompany insisted we have one each. Sigh! Lots to share with you all but I will save it for tomorrow. Typing on blackberry is making me dizzy ... Like car or motion sickness! Weird, huh?
Nite nite
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
New friendships ...
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Almost showtime ... I hope
[Photo was taken in Jan at the Mahek Indian Restaurant of Coral Strand Hotel at Beau Vallon, Mahe Island, Seychelles - it's the best restaurant for Indian foods - you get a lovely starters of papads when you are seated with 3 different dips/ condiments]
So predictably workwise, yesterday was yet another shitty day. This is the third week now I am waiting for just a normal busy day but guess what, it doesn't exist in this hotel
The good news is we have our licence approved and issued for North Beach. This means the hotel entire. So we can finally legally get it on with the business of selling to guests. Next up is insurance. Now if only a certain boss outside of Seychelles would actually reply his emails one way or another, we can move it on and close the case ... sigh ...
Resignation - we had 2 junior staff and 1 sous chef resigned ... so the stats for yesterday is 3 ... we can maintain 3 a day by Friday ... it will be a new record! Hah!
On a more personal front, I had a nice quiet dinner at the Barrangers. It was omelette, salad and coffee. Simple but lovely especially omelette. I missed my fried eggs. I have been having too much unhealthy foods lately and need to start cutting down on meats and fried stuff, sugar and smaller portions and INCREASE THOSE DAMN EXERCISES
Ummmmmm ....... what's next? The interviews. The first one from Shang ... came nearly around 1100am when I thought it wasn't ging to happen. But it did. Mr. Tay was nice, the interview was short, I don't think I flubbed it because all questions were asked and answered without any hiccups. We talked about $$$ and he didn't seem surprised so I may have asked within budget or too low. At the end, his point of contention was the notice period. But that happens everywhere. And he requested for a photo which I have sent to him
Second interview came within the hour from Ian of Saujana. That was pretty much in the same vein which I found odd ... pleasant, short, questions asked and answered with no difficulty. Even the salary range seemed to go smoothly and again the main point was notice period. And he said if I have any questions, to drop him a note ... which I did ... just to keep the momentum going ...
Well I am hoping one of them do offer me a post. I would leave for RM15k and preferably RM18k. Each has its positives and negatives. Shang will be difficult to settle in as it is old hotel but it is Penang so that's nice and a great group even if there is a chance I will be in a dead-end job. The KL Saujana is going to be difficult if I have to do month-end closing but not impossible and it is for a short time before we move on. I just have to ensure I survived the 2 years and it is KL so there is room for my personal life to be great and of course, the future is bright if they expand like intended
Whatever God decides, I will submit myself to His will