The End of a Day ... the End of a Year ...

What's in a year but something we used to mark the passage of time? I can understand this for the farmers, fishermen, etc but for the rest of us in today's world? I guess we just need something to strike off ... similar to a to-do list so that we can say YAY or THANK GOODNESS this nightmare of a year is over, right?


Whatever your reasons may be, it's become tradition to party or something on today, New Year's Eve. I do not want to be philosophical about this because that's not what I am - pretentious. Hahaha! So how did I celebrate my Eve?

Well, in the morning, I went back to the resort of Gee Pee Tee ... and was annoyed to the point that I had to switch on office email in order to send those "wonderful" people I am hiring to manage yet another problem ... someone went in to change the room service menu on TV but this is not coordinated ... hence we have incorrect pricing comparing item to item ... and incorrect pricing for same item from page to page ... and incorrect pricing from TV to Micros. This is basic and even this, the so-called experienced hoteliers from 5-star establishments can make mistakes??? Sort of reinforces my view that a number of senior hoteliers are all talk no action types

If you think my frustration ends there for today (my supposed off-day), no it doesn't. As I went out to lunch in Pelek-land, while I was eating with eye sac, to my surprise was the Justice and the Sad Tier men. They came, they ordered, they sat down at the next table to us and didn't even see us for several minutes. But that is not what is annoying. With the Bakar gone, these are the 2 in-charge. So how can they depart the hotel together? Who is left running the show especially at peak check-in and check-out times? See? I knew they were like this - bloody liars the lot of them and the best part is they didn't even see this as a problem

Finally, the absolute embarassment is in the evening when I took the buggy to check out the ballroom scene. Guests were asking driver why no fireworks and if we are cost-cutting because the guests came the past 2 years and had a good time. Other guests were saying to go to the airport as there should be something going on!

Whoof!

That's on the work angle. On a personal angle, did you think/ guess  I had a fight with Cory? Naturally. Otherwise it wouldn't be him. As usual, he thinks to fly from Jkt to KL return at about 2 juta IRP is expensive but then bugged me for 1 juta IRP just to go have booze with his mates. See? Typical! When the money is in his control, he stinges. When it is with me, he spends wantonly

When o when am I going to dump him?

Hahaha! What a great thought on New Year's Eve, eh?

Like my opening paragraph, this is actually just another day for matters like these.

But for all others, like school children is the best example, 2013 beckons. Set your targets, make them compulsory and then and only then will you achieve this!

So what's mine? Let's post it in 2013 itself, shall we?

Cheers, all!

[Comic covers are issues 1 and 6 of the Kitty n Wolvie miniseries - see sidebar for reviews]

Final Squeeze for 2012 ...

Even though Monday is 31st and the official final working day for 2012, today is mine because I am clearing my cumulative off-days. I have like 4 hours but I had to squeeze in 6 hours rushing around from 8:00am to 2:00pm  

I  caught up with the Meer-Man ... and he gossiped about what happened in land of the Thais with the German and his directness. Well, that's a lesson for the Meer-Man that the German is not thoughtful or caring about his people even those who supposedly he is using as his "insider"

Then I exchanged a quick word with the Bakaring man

After that, it was a mad rush to Tg "Rue" with the Chin-dian and sure am keeping fingers crossed that he will invest in the land. I NEED TO BE MY OWN SUCCESS with GOD'S BLESSINGS!

And finally, I spent sometime with Dare-Man and his other half ... and also Master Gunn who was at the resort ... so as you can see, it was rush rush rush all day long

What a relief to hop into the bus to the city!

To close out the day, I bought some nice comics that I am actually excited about and finished reading! This is a nice relief instead of keeping it somewhere and waiting for boredom before doing any reading. Next we went to watch Kevin James new movie that is actually funny yet touching (see side bar for the review) and dinner? It was nice at Papa Rich. I heard a lot of contradicting things about this place ... and I have to admit ... my choice was quite  nice.  Steamed chicken, dry curry noodlels and a milky drink

Good night all!

[Artwork is from issue 1 of Beta Ray - today's comic review - see sidebar]

If only AL can be AL ...

It's that time of year again where if you worked for a year or more, you have earned your valuable Annual Leave. Sadly, in many companies, this is also the time when they "forced" you to clear all cumulative off-in-lieu and annual leaves regardless of whether you want to or not i.e. they do not allow you to take as and when you please. Now, if we are healthy and do not mind, why do they not just PAY US? Right? Damn but I could use the extra cash ... hahaha!

So in my case, I have 6 off-days in lieu (Sundays and public holidays) and I am clearing them ... then I have like 9 days of annual leave that cannot be carried forward anymore ... that makes a total whopping of 15 days (yes this has been a bitching kind of year in terms of work) ... and that's like 2.5 weeks off ... unfortunately there is also too much to do thanks to the year-end that I have to wrap up on behalf of all my bosses and kickstart groundwork for 2013 ... so they permit me to carry a wee bit forward ...

So this Christmas ... I took 24th and 26th off, right?

Well if you read my 24th blog, you will know I was in 2 appointments for a development deal. What about 26th? Hmmm ... I had 2 meetings as well. One is noon with my director on 2013 strategies and the next is potential investors from PLC on a new deal. This is not counting follow up on a few "friends" booking and I had to check with reservation and also front office ... o wait ... and let's not forget we had a VIP arrival and I was on standby to greet the chap and his family!

So yes, that's what we call clearing off-days. Now I generally do not mind this type of work as opposed to thinking about the pain of handling people problems (heh!). My main gripe is WHY NOT YOU JUST PAY ME?

I need the MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Materialistic, huh? Hehehehehe!

(The first cover is by  David Aja and the second is by the series main artist, Cary Nord (ugh!) - see sidebar for review and my personal opinions)

What's my Christmas Day 2012 like?

This is Malaysia and similar to the Eve, my parents decided, for some reason not to book anyhere fancy. So no hotel buffets and no beautiful restaurants. Sigh! Again, I have no idea why they are skimping but ... I decided that enough is enough. Unless we are in the poor house, there is no reason why we cannot treat this like a good family get-together

In the morning, we had mass and I was impressed by the lovely flower arrangements. This year, they are creative. Not just a huge bouquet chucked on the front of the altar only but rather arty with trumpets and what-not. It all looked very lovely and Christmassy

And then for some reason BANG I was hit with the understanding that I made with myself that whatever happens in 2013, for every incentive I received from my projects and bosses of normal employment, I am going to set up a separate bank account and put in 10% and decide on what "charity" to give it to i.e. not just a "rich" church but perhaps to different needy associations

I did have a lookaround (as usual) to see who is dressed in what ... hahaha ... typical for church service on Christmas morning, isn't it?

Next up?

After service, we went to Coffee Bean for a shared slice of cake and some nice caffeine. Once that is over, we went home only to find that dad came early. As traffic was a bit of bummer, we decided to go in the direction of least traffic and that is up to Tanjung Bungah. We went waltzing around Straits Quay and came across a buffet steamboat and charcoal grill restaurant. They used sushi conveyor belt system and the variety is really good for the price we are paying: fresh mushrooms; gigantic cheese sausages; very tender chicken satay; marinated pork coins; marinated pork kebabs; pomfret; kembung fish; fresh scallops; proper sized shrimps and lots more. So it was a nice yummy session for lunch!

In fact, we were so stuffed that when 7:00pm rolled around, none of us felt like dinner. However, we decided to go to airport instead so by the time we pushed some food into our mouths it was well past 8:00pm. I was flying home tonight as I had some appointments the next day

So was this year's Christmas nice? From a food perspective, yes. From a family perspective, yes - we didn't quarrel. Hahaha! From a religious perspective, well, I liked the decor in church although the sermon was a bit rambling and unfocused for my taste but at least I had that feeling to set aside some funds, right? Hehehe! Hope I can do it!

Cheers and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE CYBERWORLD!

[Today's artwork posting is from the comic review of the day - X Factor vol 1 #2 - enjoy!]

My Christmas Eve 2012 ...

This is one  heck of an odd year for me ... I knew I can go home on Sat evening but plans keep changing thanks to my usual indecisiveness ... part of me wants to be home ... part of me wants this final push to get more contacts and deals set up for 2013 ... to the point that in the end, I flew out only this morning, the 24th ...

And when I touched down Penang (Thanks Yarn-Man for dropping me @ KLIA ... booooo to KLIA as no cuties in sight ... sigh!), cousin Ads picked me up ... as he had managed to line up 2 meetings for me in the afternoon!

Thank  goodness we had time for a nice lunch first. Went to Precinct 1's Jap Resto ... and while food was good the service was shocking. Our set meal (bento) ... we finished a few dishes ... and the lady in black like the supervisor or manager type came up and cleared the tray ... when she saw there were still 2 inserts with food, she merely asked us to take it out so she can clear!!! So not right!!!

At the end of the meal, I actually asked her and she was kind of embarassed but hey woman how did you make your customers feel, right? Darn it!

Anyway, the first chap we finally met was a decent sort of chap who has his offices in Midlands opposite the mall on the residential side. He seemed keen to get on the land deal so that was good. After this, to my utter surprise, his wife is none other than my high school Add-Maths teacher! ARGH! Small world!

Next up is an Indian chap ... and you know what that entails! At first, he asked us to meet him in Pulau Tikus. Then it was in Georgetown where the office is. We arrived early and had a drink. Then he asked us to go to Penang road as he is stuck there and cannot get through - yeah right! We can reached and parked and he couldn't? This is for sale of villas deal. I am 50/50 with this guy. He has contacts and what-not. So if he can arrange for a meeting with them, it will be great

Another surprise is that this year to save money (which I do not comprehend why we need to do so) my parents booked nowhere for Christmas Eve or Day ... so it was a quiet makan session at this place called Cab Western Food ... surprisingly huge portions for almost roadside Western style cooking and pricing ... it's at the junction of Bagan Jermal/ Mt Erskine traffic lights

And .... that's it. Quiet quiet quiet! Sigh!

[Cover is of X-Men issue of the crossover with Ghost Rider - see side bar for comics reviews]

FB Launching Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yippeeeee after days and hours of frustration, I decided to just go ahead with my NEW Indonesian project and ... I registered online for our website and email addresses (thank goodness for own credit card) ... with that done, I started our own FB ... we can never be too early with publicity, right?

I rather spread the word and keep the momentum going for the next 15 months or so ... in order by the time we launched our own new hotel chain, at least thousands of people are aware!

Now that we are on the topic of hotels ... what is it with hoteliers and their old fashioned style of thinking? Why are they always doing things the old-fashioned way? Like in their financial statements, they have a whole P&L on telecommunications! Hellooooooo! This is the 21st century where most people who can afford to fly are carrying phones and with such low roaming charges in addition to pre-paid sim cards, how many will use the hotel phone lines for overseas calls? Negligible! Grow up, people!

And also with their sales tactics ... what the F kind of tactic is this? Everyone doing the same rounds and using the same tired packages ... and I don't even want to talk about the majority of FB/ Website style of promotions and marketing ... is there even a difference between how they use FB versus their own website? NO ... GROW A BRAIN PEOPLE!

Okay

Enough from me ... all I can say here is that I wished all my readers can actually go and see my FB ... hehehe ... but as I am keeping this a sort of confidential kind of blog ... so I can RANT N RAVE as I please ... shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... but hey if you can find one on new Jakarta hotels ... drop me a comment, here okay?

Good luck!

First 10 people get a free night's stay on me - serious!

[Today's comic coveris a complete waste of time - do not read it - hahaha!]

KLCC is Impossible ...

Today is my second off-day ... and as my usual carpool chap has changed his off-days to every Thursday instead of Tuesday ... I had no choice but to use the company bus to go back to hotel since I came out to Damansara with him ... no biggie

At noon, I tried to call and book a cab. I waited and waited and waited for 5 minutes and gave up. I walked to Tropicana Mall nearby and along the way, I saw this cutie in front of me. He came out from the office block, crossed the road and went ahead. To my surprise as I came to the Information Counter, there he was coming in from the main entrance and he does look great. Nice skin, nice features, nice slim bod in an office attire of shiny black shoes, black pants and belt!

I sweated and waited for the bus until I almost gave up but hey ... it was me ... the bus dropped us off at Kelana Jaya station ... my first time ever ... and I managed to get a train with a seat all the way to KLCC ... this was about 1:20pm

So I was hungry as I had nothing since last night's half-eaten Jap ... and this morning I did do my exercise ... now comes the unbelievable part ... I walked through both food courts and there was not a single place to be found for seating ... then I went to the satellite cafes and all were full ... finally I went to the top floor for the premium restaurants and everyone had queues! Penang was uneblievably long! The Taiwanese and (first time ever) Japanese had queues. Even the Vietnames and Indonesian were full

Thinking I will give KFC a try since they generally have place, guess what? They were full until I had no choice but to do counter seating. Sigh! They really need more restaurants, eh? Hehehe!

Aside from that, nothing monumental happened ... about the only annoying thing is how I cannot seem to shut off my thinking ... I do get annoyed about the Dare-Man ... and slightly annoyed at my new Jkt Project as they seemed to think I will do all the hands on work ... but I need a ground staff ...

What is bad is I started thinking about Eye We See and immediately ideas started to flood ... then think about the new Ar Nun Tar Rah ... and same ... until I had to jot down in order not to forget and just get them out of my mind!

I wished I had more to share but such is life that every day cannot be an overload of events, right? Hehehe!

O ya ... the Sad-Dick sms me that his case is almost done with the cheats agreeing to reimburse him ... this is what he says "da final trial wz on MON& dey b gvin dad bak al h $ & sharez ... wil b mitin in 30 dayz 2 finalize da payment term"

Goodnight all!

[Comic cover  for today is from new Vertigo series - Fairest #1]

Back to Phuket Round 3 ... Day 3 ...

Today was going to be a long day ... I woke up and not sure what to do ... the sunshine from yesterday was gone and we are back to drizzly, dark-ish kind of weather ... so I lounged in my room and watched all sorts of program on AFC ... breakfast was kind of UGH ...

Times like these I wished I understood why people deliberately go for weeks to the Maldives to do nothing ... or at least brought my laptop along ... or a sketchbook, eh?

Lunch was the awesome green curry and I decided to head early to the airport ... only to be told to join the queue ... as counter has yet to be opened! MAS is doing this? Not just Air Asia? UGH!

So I waited n waited until it finally opened ... not much drama there ... until I reached KLIA airport ... then drama unfolds ... bought  my ticket ... and taxi driver took a wrong turn to Nilai ... so we went one looooooooooooong roundabout before I reached hotel late at night ... the driver says this is his first month driving a taxi ... brilliant ... he should get a GPS

So what is weird here is how my vacations turn into work .... years ago I went to Langkawi on holidays with Cory ... and then in the same year, I ended up working in Langkawi ...

Last year, I went to Phuket with  Cory and this  year with Eye-Sag and now I have been back twice ... cos we ended up dealing with companies/ employees that has a base in Phuket ...

What will next year bring, eh?

Back to Phuket Round 3 ... Day 2 ...

After yesterday's over-eating, to my absolute disappointment, I didn't sleep in late. Still it was nice to just sit on my balcony, reading and watching the hotel wake up ... before going to breakfast ... the breakfast was a huge disappointment after the dinner ... I was seriously expecting more from it than that. It was so 3-star!

Other than that, nothing else happened. I went out to the beach ... walked down to the next beach ... swam in the sea (second time people!) ... then chilled out by the pool and had lunch ... it was then that I decided to email the GM to meet him ... since overall it was satisfactory his performance ... and we had a good 2 hours of chat

After that, nothing again until evening when I met up with Meer-Man and Sim-Woman. This time they said they will take me to a local restaurant near their place but to my absolute surprise it was a huge restaurant designed for tourists! Imagine in the parking a local chap opens the doors for you! Then you can sit outside and watch the fishes in the gigantic lake filled with carp and catfish! Or you can sit inside at various specially designed nooks and crannies

Even the menu was simply excellent not the usual standard tourist Thai fare. We had some sort of crab that came out like crabment/ egg/ herbs and was so yummy, the massaman curry was thick until you want to slurp it, banana flower salad was the main disappointment as far as I am concerned as it had too much of other things like seafood and not enough salad and the deep fried seabass with herbs was again a nice surprise as the herbs was fried along and literally was thicker and more varied than our banana flower salad!

To close out the night, we went walking along the streets and looked in at some cheesy touristry shops because I wanted to buy some stuff and again it was fun to walk, talk and laugh at absolutely trivial things. I even saw some touristry stuff that I had not seen before

So all in, it was yet again, a nice time!

Back to Phuket Round 3 Day 1 ...

You would not believe the shit luck I am having ... or rather how muddled I am with all the flying and the wonderful e-ticket system ... I checked my e-ticket and saw the boarding time and assumed it is like Air Asia i.e. with an extra 30 minutes after that ... so I took a cab at 7:30am thinking my flight is 10:00am give or take 5 minutes

I arrived thinking it is early right? So I took the skytrain to the main terminal area, waltzed around shopping, then back again to my place for an Old Town ... okay ... sidetrack ... after sitting down with my coffee in a restaurant that is like 80% empty ... an Indian guest took his coffee and sat down at my table without even asking if he may join! I mean come on ... I thought he was going to sell me some shit but he kept silent only ... what is this? Loneliness day? So I finished up and went

I was thinking if I should shop some more as it was only 9:15am ... toilet break? But decided against it ... as I walked towards H8 ... I started to notice people petering out ... the crowd that is ... thinner n thinner and I was going like it's only 9:20am ... was there a delay? By the time I reached the gate even the security on duty was looking like bored. However, a MAS staff on duty rushed out and asked if I am Chris and I said yes and he said well the plane is about to take off in about 5 minutes and why the HECK I was so late! I was stunned. I read the damn ticket wrong!

Then the funny part is as I was walking into that little tunnel to the plane they started announcing my name! Come on guys! I am already going in! So in retrospect, the Indian guy at Old Town was probably divine intervention to get me uncomfortable and leaving for the plane in order not to miss it! Thank you Lord for always looking out for me!

Other than that, Phuket airport still sucks in terms of taxi services. I decided not to risk going out to the roads and haggle. So I got the taxi inside the airport and they say THB500! Wow! My hotel is offering at THB400. Where in the world is hotel taxi cheaper than airport taxi? Phuket Phuket Phuket

Thank goodness the hotel is very nice, old but nice. And the people are warm and friendly and speak reasonably good English which is a huge plus point as far as I am concerned. I also tried the Thai massage and was surprised that they did the really traditional stuff with the lady climbing onto the bed and twisting and turning your body into odd positions and cracking your back with her knees

O something good to report. I met up with Meer-Man and we went out for late lunch but the awesome bit? I finally went swimming in Phuket! I kid you not.Really. This is my third time to Phuket this year and I have yet to touch the waters until today. Today? I did it - in the sea. Hahaha!

Dinner was a quiet affair in the hotel with Sim-Lady and Meer-Man. Then we went out for a spot of dessert with fried ice cream, some banana in coconut soup and mango sticky rice. Ate too much, laughed a lot ... all in all? A good day. Here's to tomorrow

A Quiet Day ...

I am really trying to find the time to invest in myself ... a little downtime to relax ... indulge in my hobbies ... recharge myself ... find myself and today is such a day. I made it such a day. Everyone who messaged me, I didn't have to lie even. I just either do not reply them or tell them I am going for a walk and a meal which are two bits of truth. I woke up, I got dressed and went for a walk. Then Case-Man picked me up and we went to Dare-Man's fave shop, the Murugayah for Roti Canai

However, I forgot myself and had the dhal curry ... and am now paying for it with mild gout attack! About the only odd thing was towards the end, the fly landed in the gravy. Yup, it is fly season once more!

After that, for the remainder of the day? Well, I read a book, read some comics, did some more stretching exercises, watched some TV and started once again, on writing. This time I worked on a story idea that will most likely never see the light of day but it is an idea that has been with me since I was staying in Seychelles back when I was with PADL. It's about 2 old school friends and for some reason, I got this idea that they could have made a great story line of appearing indifferent at school but secretly lovers or some such. I have tried writing this on and off before but always ended up deleting it

Imagine from like 2007! 5years!

But this time, I liked the format that I used and managed to do about 20 whole pages! Yeah, baby!

What the Fuck?

That was precisely what happened this morning. I was supposed to follow the Yarn-Man to office. So I woke up, pottered around my sister's apartment and then seeing the time, began a mad rush. This is all thanks to being addicted to online gaming (damn you gaming hahaha!). However, just a few minutes before I ran out of the door, I received a message that there is an emergency and it will change from 8;30amt o 9:50am!

With that, I thought, cool! So I messaged my sis and a friend for breakfast. I changed, I went downstairs and waited for them. However, just before they arrived, guess what? I received another message that said he will be here in 5 min as in 8:45am! I was like ... what the fuck?!?!?! Right?

So I ran back upstairs, texted everyone that breakfast is cancelled, packed and ran down and out and up the stairs and into Tropicana mall. Turns out, the Yarn-Man texted wrong timing. Ah well!

Good thing my stomach has improved lately with less complains. So at least the journey in was uneventful. We picked up the other Macedonian along the way, he fell asleep and we began to jaw about the Algerian - Yarn Man's fave topic

Aside from that, I had a quiet day in the office until about 6:00pm. It was nice as I managed to catch up not only on emails but errands like my claims. This is how a good working day should be, right? Eight hours and no stress and no pain in my back! Hah!

After that, I walked back to my room, showered, walked back out and sweated while having a dinner with Eye Sag. Then it was yet another walk back to my room (so that makes it about 4km today) and had a nice surprisingly nearly 2 hours chat session with future G candidate. That was the only downside. As usual, the Av Head Office sent me incorrectly vetted CV. Looks like inspite of the fact that they tried to show they are professional, they are not. Sigh! Hoteliers, right? Hahahahaha!

Anyway, the candidate was honest and open but I didn't get a buzz from him. Still as Mr. Wong said, leave it up to Av. So I will

So from a bit of a rush to a bit of perfect working day to a bit of a downer ... that was this Saturday

I Hate Emergency Meetings and Office Politics

After what seemed like a bloody eternity, I finally caught up with the Dare-Man. I was busy but naturally had to give him time to catch up. Oddly enough, he was once again very keen to know about the Indonesian project and who I was involved with even though he is totally not involved

So I ribbed him about his China deal

He was having a bad case of the flu though coughing somewhat terribly

Then just as I finally went out with the Nori-not-seaweed-woman for a spot of lunch and to discuss work in an easier, more welcoming environment, who should call but the Dare-Man! He said the Gunn-ster wanted to meet today! Damn! So we had to rush through the meal and headed back to the Gee Pee Tee

Dare-man drove me down since my road tax has yet to be received. In the car, it was the right time to dig for gossip, if you know what I mean. Hahaha! He was moaning about his spouse being so busy that she forgot to pay their car loan until they received a threatening reminder from the bank. I sort of wondered how many months they didn't pay then because normally banks will call for the first time around, right? Unless they over-spent until no money! If not, why can he not help his wife and pay for the car?

Then he launched into his usual litany of complains about how the gang is moving offices from one Shah Alam lot into another. Well, at least he and his Mrs have a private office in Shah Alam. He kept on saying how he was not looking forward to it, how he will be doing more business development and so he is leaving everything up to me. I am thinking What the Heck does he know about business development. So far, in nearly 2 years, he and the team were merely servicing all the contacts from the chairman. They themselves brought in nothing, not one deal. Sure I know deals are not made overnight but in the years they have been with the company, they closed nothing?!?!?! The company has been around for like 10 years and most of them have been here more than 2. Geez!

As for the actual meeting, it was more of the same. Everyone was there - the so called inner circle with Master Wong, Master Red and the Stevie-Baby. I did my sharing on Indonesia. Then they asked about China and I had to share my vision while everyone else just questioned me. Hey - you are all senior positions, more senior than me. So why are ideas coming from me and planning coming from me while all of you make more than me? How about some directions, right?

The only highlight? After the meeting, we went back and I got off at Empire. I had a nice time walking around, shopping, eating before heading home to my sis place for the night. Britney Spears looked so old on X-Factor and Demi Lovato looked so chubby! Hahaha!

Jakarta Dayz 2 or 3 ... Archi Review ...

This is how a working day should be ... hahaha! I woke up ... had a nice, slow, breakfast with Cory ... then he went off on his own errands while I enjoyed internet surfing and watching TV ... until the time came to check out and I did. Then the car was waiting for me with a chaffeur ... hehehe!

It was a nice leisurely drive to their office ... my first time ever ... it reminds me of those offices Will Yam used to show me ... and similar to Medan office ... seems like it is the Indonesian preferred style of suburb/ outer city offices ... and we immediately went for lunch ... noodles ... until now I do not understand the different types of names for noodles when they all appear to be the same "wan tan mee" noodles, with almost same type of dry sauces and shredded bits of condiments ... different names but all ... almost similar

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon reviewing the initial concept plan and architecturals of the hotel ... and we got it all nailed down!

To my surprise, at 5:00pm, cutie G received a call from his dad to ask me to join them for a swim! I know he was surprised since I am new to them but his dad certainly welcomed me ... even though I had no swimsuit ... after their swim (noodles again!) ... we went to eat seafood dinner ... was not expecting this ... and I asked them about the noodles and they said it was a snack! WHOA!!!

What a good life they live, eh?

Papa B ordered some smashing fish, sotong n crabs ... crabs were amazing ... younger son was not!

After that, I was relieved to just come back to my hotel ... which was a new hotel ... in the heart of the city ... opposite old Smart ... was impressed though ... cos the hotel looks budget but is quite nice!

And now?

Now Cory says to go for supper! ARGH! So stuffed!

Jakarta Day 1 ... or is it Day 2 ... Meeting the Gang ...

Well I arrived nearly midnight or after midnight depending on your definition of time (Malaysia or Indonesia) ... so this can be counted as Day 1 or 2 ... not that you should be giving a damn either way, right? Hehehe!

This trip is different because it is not just to do my own hotel chain but others as well ... so after a few hours sleep, I woke up and rushed downstairs only to be embarassed cos the Hard-Dee is already there at reception ... apparently his BBM came through to me late and I thought he was only approaching the hotel (eeps!)

It was a short nice drive ... and we went from Millenium to Hyatt where Mee-Shell was ... and we had a lovely breakfast while the 2 men got to know each other ... I wished I was with Cory ... then I could indulge because to have ice-cream for breakfast?!?!?! Wow! I so want to over-eat ... even though I have to watch my cholesterol and calorie in-take

After that, we had a nice hour at the lounge chatting and exchanging ideas ... then I was free to wander around the mall until noon or thereabouts ... before I took their car to the next meeting place ... a bit of an embarassment as I didn't know which car ... so I went into the wrong car! Hahaha! After that, I messaged the driver and he replied ... nice Mercedes! Hehehe! Imagine, me and a Mercedes with a driver all to myself!

The afternoon went quite well with us going through the list of activities and getting confirmation. Glad to know that the majority investor for my hotel chain was actually happy with all the name suggestions put forth. After that, they invited me to sit in and listen to the development of another project and the boss, Pak Sue-Sand-Toe showed me a clip of his missus at JLo concert. Hah! It was quite sweet the way his face lit up when he talked about his family or his business. Here is a man who enjoys doing what he is doing and has been rewarded with success. I wished I could find that much satisfaction in what I do and in my life in general ... and did I mention that his son is a hottie? Hah!

Once all is said and done, I hopped into the next car and went with his son ... dropping him to night school ... and headed for the mall ... and finally I encountered the Jakarta traffic jam! It was horrible. I arrived near closing time and managed to get a good massage in before it was all closed up. Nightmare ensued ... we went to get a cab to go home ... as I had already sent back the car thinking Cory had our car with him ... but instead the lazy bugger took a cab! Seeing the queue so long ... we crossed the road ... and found the queue equally nasty ... and he suggested we walked out to the main road ... where we waited in the rain and wondered why no cab stopped ... after 20 min we realized there was a sign that forbade cabs from stopping ... what a F-up!

Then we walked up and to the overhead bridge ... as he suggested we try the bus ... when we reached the stand ... the policeman on duty said it was already closed even though it was 30 more mins to 11:00pm ... and in the end we had to go further up just to grab a mini-bus! Hah! By the time we reached the car park it was well over 11:00pm and I am starving! On top of that ... we have to find a hotel for the next day as my initial booking is only for 2 nights! Not looking forward to that tonight

Aaargh ... after 10 months ... you still get it wrong?

I started the morning nice n peaceful ... this is how I liked it ... because of the meetings to come ... it's our monthly full on meeting sessions ... I dread this because it is so many different things all stuffed into one day and it starts from 10:00am until late at night ... which means all other work gets piled up!

Anyway, I thought to avoid but the Dare-Man insisted I go and he even came to my office to disrupt my morning routine. So I  decided to pack it up and head for the meeting. It was kind of annoying to have it in the ballroom as there were no powerpoints for laptops and twice we had to leave the laptops on the floor at far end of room just to charge up

One nice drama was early afternoon when one of the silver foil candle incence thingy started to burn itself with the flames going up quite high! Nice little piece of drama as everyone was going ... hey there's a fire! Hehehe!

The nightmare started when it was the Whore-Tell's turn to present ... Gee Am has been here since Jul ... Ef See has been here since Jan ... each month I keep telling them to get ready and what to prepare and each month they come generally unprepared ... this time? I have a checklist ready for them to present ... but when they started, I decided it is not right for Pak H to always be the bad guy analysing and questioning ... so I did it and it was a breeze because spelling errors, typo, calculation, justification all are a mess!

Ef See - first answer to everything is "O it's a typo" followed by "Sorry"

Gee Am and his Assistant - presented things without remembering what was said in emails and in past meetings - and tried to weasel their way out of it - so they got annoyed with me and I got annoyed with them! Argh!

And then the weather poured! So I had to rush to my room, packed my bags and rushed back to lobby ... since I am flying in to Jkt with Pak H ... we thought to carpool and lucky thing he mentioned KLIA ... cos the SMS he gave me is Air Asia ... but he said he sent the confirmation to Shirl-Lee ... well, that's typical Shirl-Lee ... never mentioned anything!

Good thing I am familiar with JKT  and could get Cory to pick me up and headed to our hotel ... room service was awesome though! Yummy! Hehehe!

As 2012 Marches to a close ...

This is the year of speculation about doomsday ... the question is if it will come true ... and if it does which dates? 20.12.2012 or 12.12.2012 or 31.12.2012 or ...? While whether this is going to happen or not, one thing does matter: think about our lives for a moment. We are all rushing from one event to another, be it a job working for that increment, promotion, year end bonus ... looking for another job or business opportunity ... looking for love ... worrying about the kids ... there is just so much stress and pressure in this world that even our so-called fun moments are either mere coincidence that bumped into our pressured schedules or we squeezed a small moment out of the weeks that unfold ...

As I sit here this morning, on my balcony, on my own enforced weekend of doing nothing related to work ... and wondering what to type on this blog ... or diary ... that's what is actually going through my mind ... and I have to relook on this year and the remaining months and ask myself ... what do I really want to do if the world is indeed coming to an end?

Of course we have to plan for the future as if lives will continue and world doesn't end ... but it just makes me want to find more of those moments to doing what I enjoy most ... and not just work and crumble under the pressure until life is just one blur moment

So while my mind is still running around in circles about all the things that can go wrong on my future projects and all the outstanding work to be done ... I have to learn, like it or not, to just let it be. Work is never done. If the owners of my company, their families and those in senior positions can let things slide and dump it all on me hoping I can fix it ... then I should just do the best I can in my allotted time and find time of my own to live a life to call my own ... they are not sacrificing personal time with their families and friends going for holidays and functions and religious activities while I have been doing so for the past 16 months ... well it's my turn now. I have been on over-stressed since Oct 2011 when doctor diagnosed and this year is worse ...

Yup ... I will take time out to find true love ... to take some risk in finding true love ... to chase my passion of painting and writing ... and find time for my family and having a family of my own as well

To all of you out there, who is reading this, I wish you the very best in your life and may the Creator bless us all and guide us all in our paths!

Return of the Were Pigs ...

Guess what readers? As expected, the were-pig is back today and true enough, he comes back refreshed, recharged as a full on were-pig. Actually the problem is I have no idea if he is being a were-pig or being sincere ... that's the damn problem ... all these were-people!

So what did he do today? Well after not meeting for nearly 2 weeks, I had to officially update him on what was going on but instead of being focused on Gee Pee Tee or share his traipsing about trip in Chai Nah, he asked about my Indonesian trip. Of course he used Master Gun's name. So over breakfast, I gave him some brief details only. When we reached office, he came back inside and again said he needed updates on my Indonesian trip. I am left wondering if this is true. Why would Master Gun be so keen and asked him to check with me when Master Gun does call me about the hotel performance and what-not? In addition, Master knows he is not involved with Indonesia so far and none of them invited him over even though he has the huge title of We-Pee of the Industry that shall not be named (sounds so Harry Potter-ish, yes?)

While I was giving him more casual updates, I was messaging the H-Man and he kept silent. When I messaged other things, he replied. So I know what could be going on. Basically the were-pig could be trying to know what is going on so he can sound intelligent and tell the Gun as if it was his input. Sigh! So it really is the were-pig who wants to be the idea-snatcher and no one else. All this while, I have always had the feeling it was him who is doing this. He always pretended to be my friend saying everyone is against me but not up front, he is my shield against everyone and he gets trashed and he is trying to protect others from stealing others. So he wants me to tell him everything and then let him be the one who presents first to the Masters G and W. So I tell him, he presents without me around ever. What does this sound like to all of you? Doesn't it sound like he who is trying to ferret out ideas and present first so he gets some credit? Sigh!

Were-pigs ... I just have to know how to balance things I guess. Why can life not be simple? Why can people not just do their damn work instead of being involved in politics?

Time to Grow Up!

First day back in the office and already stressed! Stressed not because of the work (nope I am actually so pumped up after my Indonesia trip) but instead stressed because of people. When I talked about people, I am not referring to the junior staff or even supervisory but rather the senior staff, the ones labelled with the big M, called Managers and what-not

I mean, come on! You apply for a job, you negotiated a package, you received it. Is it too much to expect that you perform based on requirements?!?!?!?!?!

As readers of this blog knows, the company I am working on is in the midst of upgrading its services, product delivery and in the middle term, clientele. Hence we have partnered with one of the bigger companies that delivers successfully on this criteria. Do you know that the juniors are not whining? Only the seniors and worse of all is the politics. They are getting behind each other using this. I am so annoyed

And then when you tell them they need to work at it to be successful, they either give you excuses or say I left my last job for this ... well yes you left to join here ... but this is not a retirement home ... you knew when you join what to expect ... and when you are here, we give you in writing the goals so go and do it ... surely they cannot expect to receive big paychecks and continuously fail to achieve, right?

Because it seems that some people seem to think so. They seemed to think we owe them a favour or something. So tired of talking nicely to people especially when they are all earning more than me and getting more perks than me including time off while I am so nice to cover them all this while - well people Enough is Enough!

Damn!

Worst of all is when I talked to the Thai leader. I worked at it on him and true enough after several minutes he opened up and BANG we got the truth. Backstabbing by someone

Disappointed!

Bye Bye Jakarta ...

So after 9 days of travelling for work and pleasure, it was time to bid farewell to Joyous Jakarta yet again ... and I do hope to be back ... fingers crossed and all that ... hahaha ... even this morning's breakfast did not dampen my spirits ... I knew it was going to be bad and it indeed was ... crowded ... no coffee or tea ... no pastries ... no sausages and bacon topped up throughout our entire stay ... sigh!

Anyway, after that, we just chilled out in our room online gaming, chatting until time to say farewell and headed for the airport (cutie alert!!!)

Everything was surprisingly smooth ... and no plane delays thank goodness!

The airport is getting better and better - T3 is definitely miles better than the older T1 and T2 where there is overcrowding until we frequently sit on the walkway to the waiting room and sweat (I kid you not for those of you who have not been to Jakarta's international airport). I will upload photos the next time if I have the opportunity to use that airport (ugh!)

So all in, a good close to a good business trip ... and here's to my own hotel chain ... Insyallah! God Willing!

Fuck fuck fuck ... the damn plane delays ...

As if my week isn't bad enough, thanks to Air Asia, it is made worst! I mean, what the fuck! At 3:00pm in the afternoon, we are told that our 7:00pm flight will be delayed for 2 hours. What the fuck!

This is how my day started:

I slept fitfully (for once) and thought I would have a good 7 hours sleep but guess what? The fucking phone rang in my hotel room. I got up, answered and the person said wrong room. O go fuck yourself. It wasn't even 7:00am yet. Then I realized that I could hear the cutlery etc rattling at the pool 4-storeys below - so much for great sound proofing and insulation

At breakfast, we were told to queue but no one came to seat you .. so basically you go get what you

After that, as I checked out, guess what? No one offered to help you with your bags from one end of the hotel to the other and up 2 flights of steps. By that time, I was already sweating and the back pain is coming back. I tried, I really tried to de-stress but this is just so contrary an experience

I even went to a huge place for massage and guess what? The therapist had body ordour. The towels and bedsheets smell and worst of all, the therapist is ill or something. She had to sit on my bed to give me a massage! And then she didn't do the body scrub but pour stuff all over me and left it drying! That is not a body scrub mind you!

By the time I was done, I was starving until my stomach had developed cramps. I went to the mall looking for decent food but it seems like there is only coffee or items with cholesterol. Nuts I tell you

Finally I reached the airport and decided to splash for the so-called exec or vip lounge as I needed a power point or two and some weak ass AC ... otherwise it was simply too hot to stay for 3 hours until flight time

You can bet the cramp on my back came back on

You know what? Fuck all the people I have to handle. I need to de-stress. I have had enough of carrying everyone's worries and concerns from my parents to sis to other half to colleagues and listening to their crap. I am going to keep to myself and act like boss and be done with them. I cannot continue like this until I am sick. I have rarely had a good day since Apr

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH YOU FUCKERS!

Bangkok here I come ... Part 1 ...

Of all the bad luck, today is flying day for me and I had to wake up with a stiff neck. Lucky thing I could find a last bit of koyo and that was a bit of a blessing even though it was partially scrunched up. At least, the medicinal heat is there ... am at Coffee Bean typing this now ... keeeping it live, so to speak! Hah!

And then there is the tsunami ...

Today is Saturday. I decided to have the day off and drove down to 1 Utama on my own without a GPS. I decided enough is enough. I am a COWARD AT HEART. See? I am admitting it because without this, we cannot move forward, right? And I thought as the day is nice, I need to destress and just go for it and go I did. And you know what? Going down was a breeze and reached there with no dramas. Coming back was a bit of a challenge as I followed the signs instead of gut instinct and went out through a different point to the highway, a bit further but still okay. So all in, it's good

I also admit going down, I had the stomach butterflies and same for the trip back. But hey, that's probably anxiety factor. Another thing I am learning about myself that I am psychologically so scared of trying anything different and appearing a loser that I made myself physically ill

So it is time TO CONQUER IT ALL

Okay. So from the last posting, basically the summary is I stayed in Malaysia for about 2 years before I ventured forth. It was with a company that had been contacting me before for a post in the Maldives but I never accepted that until this time. And I had a great time in Maldives. I will go back to those years and "construct" my diary/ blog but for this real time post ... the summary is I stayed in Maldives working on 2 different hotel projects for about 16 months ... I was on vacation ... and had to fly back on Christmas Day ... as the island where I am staying on was predominantly French speaking, every time we had English speaking guests, I joined in to make them feel welcome ... so I was asked to stay the night at Hulhule, airport hotel to join guests in the morning

It was harrowing because as I was waiting for the guests ... suddenly there is a rumbling of confused voices and people were turning to the seas ... we were all looking and wondering WTF are they talking about ... at first it was nothing then the water level just started to rise ... there was no massive waves like those in Thailand ... but it was worrying as we thought what could have happened at sea like a massive vessel upchucked or something causing the tide to rise (I know, I know, foolish thinking!) ... then phones went down so no one could even call anyone to find out what is happening

And then the scary part started ... boats that were parked at the jetty had to drift out to sea ... otherwise the rough and tumble would make it hard to remain parked safely ... and then the waters rose onto the road and snaked closer and closer to the airport stalls and where we were all waiting. People who loitered on the roads started walking in ... and then we moved even deeper into the airport as the waters kept on sneaking across the tarmac ... we were wondering what we were all going to do because the airport is quite flat and if waters kept coming?!?!?!?! Good thing, it stopped before we had to run into the arrival area!

But then as passengers disembarked, we had another challenge. How do we hail our boat waiting out in the sea? In the end, wading through water, we stood at the edge and just waved like mad until the boat saw us and came to pick us up. Our guests were confused as all phones and radio didn't work

And when we reached or neared our resort, BANG, it had disappeared! We saw the diving boats loaded with other guests and we were told that it was a tsunami as some of the international guests had satellite phone that they could receive news on. The island was submerged. We could see the roofs of some of the villas and that's it. Our crew used a small boat to go back to the island to search for food, water, etc. There was even ice-cream and it was passed around the three boats for people to eat

Toilet was a towel. Someone would squat at the edge of the boat and another person would hold a towel to give you privacy and everyone would look away while you do your business

We did that from morning until late afternoon when waters started to recede. Staff first made it back to the island to see if any areas could be lived in ... and then we shipped the guests back ... everyone spent the night together sharing a hastily reconstructed open shower, washing clothes and cooking whatever food not spoilt ... and waited until the airport reopened to fly home the guests

One thing I will say ... in tragedy, everyone bonded together ... from the lowly educated and poor workers (all of us) ... versus our rich guests ... no one minded and no one pretended they had class

I saw so many incidents where some staff lost their nerves especially 2 of the foreigner staff and had to be shipped home for good as they could not contemplate living and working in a place like that again

We were so blessed that the Maldives consists of small low islands where the waters could cut across the islands ... this meant no built up of pressure and no huge damage and sending guests out to sea to their deaths unlike elsewhere

I will end this posting here ... and give my thanks to the Lord for his mercy that day and for the people who were there with me ... you guys and girls are great!

Sep 11, 2001 ...

Yes, for those of you who read my blog be it sporadically, first, or regular, you will know that I generally bitch about my life in general, work, love and all sorts of inconsequential stuff. So why tonight did I put that on the title of my blog entry?

Am I trying to cash in on the event and thus cheapen the issue? Honestly, no. I have just watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the movie on pay-per-view TV and was so wrapped up in it. Then while watching, my other half texted me and half chatting, half watching, suddenly from out of nowhere, it hit me

And I remembered. In fact, it was one of the main driving forces that changed my life

And no, I am not American or even Caucasian

Here then is my story

On the day of Sep 11, here where I was, it was evening. I had stopped working for Star Cruises in May and started a job on land. However, in 3 months, I was extremely unhappy and found that I missed life onboard the seas seeing new horizons every day and living the life with a group of mates. So I decided to apply further afield to different cruise liners. It was the nomadic spark within me calling. Both my grandfathers moved around a lot in their younger days and so did my dad. So at that time, it felt most natural to me. Anyway, I got an application through to a company and they arranged for a phone interview. An hour or two before that time, I went back to Park Plaza KL (now the Maya Hotel). I waited and waited and I remembered I was so excited and nervous

However, as the appointed time came and went, I was wondering why there was no call. I dared not leave my room even though it was well past dinner and I was feeling a bit peckish. Then someone contacted me and asked me to switch on the TV. I hadn't done so because I was concerned that I would not hear the phone ring. So I turned it on and I was stunned speechless to see the tragedy unfolding on the tube live!

It floored me and left me there sitting alone in my room feeling all numb and lost. I do not know who to call or who I can go to be with. It was a horrible feeling. And I felt so sad and was kicking myself. I mean, there I was, concerned about a lousy job interview from a company in USA and there on the tube, drama unfolding. Of course, I could not be blamed for not knowing what was going on but when you see that, it made all your concerns so small, doesn't it?

After a few days, the company contacted me to explain that all new recruitment have been frozen. Naturally, I understood perfectly and even stopped looking for a job out of that place. I stayed there for about 2 years or so before I even considered a job elsewhere

And where did I go next? Well, that is a story for another day but that? It's also where tsunami hit

To all the people who died that day in the towers tragedy, and all the surviving family and friends, may the Lord bless you and yours!

I will not type anything else in this entry to cheapen the posting above

James Bond - back to the top of the heap

Skyfall - watched it today with my folks. Dad was bitching about the cost of the ticket especially since it is in Penang and day time slot but after the show, both of the older people agreed that it was very good. Thank goodness because in the movie? Dad commented almost throughout and I was concerned about complains from other cinema  patrons. It was a good thing the people who sat next to them are in the same seniors category. Hehehehehe!

So what's good about this movie? Well for those of you who have watched both Casino Royale and that rubbish called Quantum of Solace, you will be pleased to know that this is more the former. For me, Daniel Craig killed it in Casino bringing an edge to the Bond movies that is different from his predecessor. It is a spy, gadget, rough action movie and that's great. Then in Quantum, it seems like they are celebrating their own genius in part 1 by doing more of part 2 and that's why it failed

But in this Skyfall, they remembered the ingredients and actually made this movie an important chapter in the early life of Bond. We are finally introduced to the characters that will actually appear in the Bond mythos waaaaaaay back from the early  Connery movies. After all, you get a quirky but youthful Q and Miss Moneypenny and finally ... okay, I will hold it back for now on the last reveal

Aside from the above, I would love to continue elaborating but I suggest you read my movie review section on this blog, eh?

Movie aside, I will not bitch about work or my so-called relationship. I will instead say I am GRATEFUL yet again for the opportunity to meet yet another old friend/ ex-colleague. This time I caught up with dear Or-Dray. We went out in pouring rain, she shared her latest trip which was to Peru with a lady from Shanghai or some such and we chatted over sushi about marriage, love, sharing lives and what-not

Love Air Asia? Yes and No ...

I love Air Asia because since they started and of late cleaning up their services and being better and more on time and more friendlier, it definitely has made travelling for me and my family and friends much easier and more frequent. And hey, who doesn't like that, eh?

What I do not like? Sometimes, it becomes a little too impersonal and the wonderful reasons you get just doesn't make sense to the normal person

Example: yesterday, they rushed us to board. Then when we are seated, they announced to wait because there is a Petronas issue i.e. Petronas is late so they cannot refuel and so they cannot take off. One has to wonder if they are not aware of this before rushing everyone onto the wonderfully uncomfortable seats in their planes. It is true that Petronas has yet to refuel because after more waiting, we were told to unbuckle all seat belts because the refuelling process is going to start and you can see the tanker outside the little windows. Sigh! Total waiting time? Wow! Maybe all in 30 to 45 minutes for a 45 minutes flight. Not good

Example: last week, they rushed us out onto the airport walkway to the plane. Then as we approached our plane, we were stopped. Why? Because they were still doing disembarkation of the same plane. More than half the passengers have yet to disembark. I tell you: standing in the middle of the airport, in driving rain, with so much noise pollution is no fun

So how is Penang? Well, it rained all day for which I am happy. This may be one trip that I will feel better while I am here instead of falling sick. I continued clearing up my comics collection, I actually did a little "sweat it out" session to clear the impurities, I did a little ice therapy session on my foot and managed to watch a DVD

So all in, today is a good day

Day Two: Kicking @$$ and carrying monkeys

Last night was a super nice night. I was supposed to have as room mates Unker Case and  the Eye. But last minute for some reason, the Eye didn't show up. While we are all friends, I am secretly pleased. This is kind of like 10 years ago with Will Yam and Yosh-Sha. Hehehehhehe!

And the best part is we shared a platter of sandwich and fruits and when I showed the Case some photos, I asked him to join me on the sofa sitting side by side. O if only I can just reach out three inches and placed a warm, caring hand on him, eh?

Yeah, right, in my dreams

But at least I tried because in the evening, as he mentioned that the Eye is more popular with the ladies etc, I said he is handsome but he kept on denying and I said okay if he is gay for the Eye and he said he doesn't do gay on gay stuff ... hmmm ... chances for me? O I so wish!

As for today, I had to again listen to people who are either higher position or make more money than me whine about their insecurities. The worst part of it all is ... do they think I cannot see through their weak attempts at convincing me of matters? Sigh! So obvious

Example: The Dare Man was going on and on about how I should not share with others all my plans but only tell him and he will packaged it to the chairman so we get max credit and he will support me all the way. Really? So I come up with ideas, sources, drive the business, find the funding and all he will do is present to the Board and say it is our team effort? He thinks I am unable to think at all?!?!?!

Example 2: the Ash Burnt Man was whining about the new company and maybe they didn't like him while indeed the clunking Robot Man appears to have it in for him. Dude - there is still 6 months. Find a good job if someone doesn't want you, right? Then move on and be happy. I had to send him 2 job vacancies. While he works hard, I have to admit, he is still not much of a thinker and planner. He thinks small scale just like the Justice Man who is old school 5-star not the luxury market. Sigh!

Other than that, the kicking ass bit is me writing to Arr Varr Knee and telling them off about their so-called efforts at recruitment. I must admit, they are not that smooth inspite of the picture they presented

Seriously, at this juncture, I feel like I really want to go out there and do my own thing. Sigh!

Day One: Ar Var Nee

Well, finally the big day, the official day, the move-in day ... o call it whatever you want to, the day is here - Nov 1st, 2012 when the Mai Nor Group came to Malaysia to operate its brand of hospitality. Yup, they said today is the day and they are here, all 15 of their people as a task force for our hotel to switch from the old standards to the new standards

Anyway, this morning started on a very bad note because ... guess what? Yes, you are right, the beeping. It sounded again but at least I didn't wake up several times. At least, this night/ morning, I managed to sleep for about 4 to 5 hours and for me, that felt so good. Am I completely healed? Nope. But I don't think it is just purely my imagination. I do believe my body is stitching itself back together again quite nicely

I went over during breakfast to say HI to the Thai people and from there, I did my own thing. After that, I spent the rest of the day getting my act together and following up on miscellaneous matters after last night's meeting and putting together my own ideas for the golf course, the theme park, future developments and a few other stuff in Indonesia. Naturally, later in the day, when the DareMan hears, he keeps on saying that yes, he has spoken to the Gunn Master and shared that we will not be part of the active team in Ass Gee See but we will do like right now, choose a project and work on it! O wow - how generous is he! He just wants to ride on my efforts for the next few years?!?!?! Good thing he is married to the right person, eh?

Aside from that, I touched base with an old acquaintance: SiautheSeow and hopefully everything will fall into place

About the only main negative for the day is my health. I still have headaches here and there and hope it is nothing serious but lack of sleep and what-not. I still have back aches from the massage on Tuesday and I cancelled my trip to Vietnam. I think I better go back to Penang

Now comes the real downer of the  day: I went to collect my medical report!

Blood count etc - normal
Sugar level in urine etc - normal
Uric acid - down to almost borderline - so maybe 1 more month or so of the allopurinol
Cholesterol - sky high! Ugh! No more red meat in terms of beef and lamb, no more chicken skin, no more egg yolks and immediately exercise 30 minutes a day plus medication

That's ... the horrifying news. Ugh!

Michael Bolton's Karaoke Night?

I was so looking forward to my first so-called concert of an artist that I actually listened to when they were hot on the pop charts unlike say Air Supply. Hah! But sad to say, it wasn't all that! Sigh!

Okay. I was there with my sis and Car-Reen. All of us agreed to meet at KLCC. As it was race day for MotoGP and the weather was raining, I decided to go early and spent the day watching a movie, having nice meals and coffees and what-not

I even had an incident at Raku-zen where I chewed on a rubber band thinking it was some sort of salad stuff until I really couldn't swallow it and when I took it out, it was a rubber band! I raised a bit of a ruckus and they gave me a rebate

Anyway, while waiting for the concert, I was already feeling not so good. AC was kinda off and I actually sweat. Since the past 4 weeks, I was lacking sleep, today I was feeling mighty sleepy. However, after so much waiting, Michael finally took to the stage

To his credit, he could make with the small talk and was a most agreeable person. He encouraged everyone to take photos, video recordings, whatever and to sing along as we please and just have a good time. This is in contradiction to the wordings on his tickets. He made a few jokes here and there. But what was a disappointment is the lack in the older hit songs of his. In fact, he seemed intent on singing what he himself loved and also to promote his later works which is when his fame was already sliding. Sad, isn't it?

We opened the night with something that sounded pre-recorded from Hercules cartoon. Then he launched into Stand By Me which showed that his voice was still as powerful as ever and as fully charged on as ever. Then as the night progresses, he sang more songs from those unpopular albums. Sigh! And he even had to control himself from over-singing. You can hear that in patches where he overdid it and immediately checked himself

All in, I am glad I went but if he ever came back to perform, I would like to know the song list before I consider attending. Sigh!

Sick again ...

As if sleeping not fitfully the past 3 weeks was not enough ... this afternoon, I was hit by a case of food poisoning ... could be from that bloody Medan Selera stall that I went for a late lunch ... haven't been there in ages ... or perhaps from my own cup? Hahaha! I sometimes left it for days unwashed ... perhaps there is bacteria in the tiny cracks ... when I cleansed the last round ... sigh!

5 times ... toilet o toilet ...

Other than that, it was business as usual ... the W Master came by ... and as usual, was unrealistic ... after dragging his feet for such a looooong time (6 weeks) ... he expected the world to jump within 48 hours ... has he forgotten that the company we are dealing with is significantly larger than ours? Ugh!

Imagine, they visited us only last Thu and yesterday was Tue and he expected much movement and a lot of pressure ... wonder why he is so hard on us while being so lenient on the under-achievers who finally only managed to achieve last month ... has he forgotten all his promises from last year Nov? So far, I have achieved and he has forgotten to give me what he promises ... a cut of the spa as if it is my own ... and the boutique ... and the restaurant ... sigh! It is all talk, yes?

New developments under way ...

Last night, I got an SMS from the were-pig  that today I have to meet up with the Gunn Lord. This morning,when I offered to drive the WP, he replied that he will be at resort and the request was to meet me personally. I thought it was only the palm oil deal that I am not too keen on but ...

To my surprise, we chatted a lot aside from the palm oil ... there is the future of the vacation club ... the properties in Jakarta ... my role in China   ... and he even starte talking about my role in the Group and that he liked people who view things as challenging and non-routine and want to get things done ... and he explained that's why he liked the Red Master ... cos the Red Master is a deal maker who gets things done and do not bring troubles to the table ... to which I have to honestly admit I agree wholeheartedly with. That's how to grow as a company and a person. We cannot be hands on for  the minutae ... the details I will reserve for my novel (some day) and art (any day now)!

So now aside from the routine of GeePeeTee, I cannot wait to be a regular Asset Mgr and then focus on all these new developments, eh? More fun. And it starts this Friday! Keeping fingers crossed and what-not!

Wish me luck, o dear diary!

A Quiet Day of Celebration ...

Well ... I wanted to celebrate ... what I call as the end cycle of this project at Gee Pee Tee with the final bye-bye of Ass Bee Eye and the welcoming move of Ar Var Nee. So because I made up my mind last minute, basically I found NO ONE who wants to celebrate with me. Sob sob sob. My life is so pathetic. I am slowly but surely becoming successful and yet so alone. Sigh!

Anyway, this morning, I went out to have roast pork and chicken rice ... half portion ... Case Man finished on my behalf the remainder ... then I went out to look for a house ... I want to get a nice property fast so I can move out of the hotel ... and do my artwork properly and be a great artist ... sigh! But at the same time, I may have to get one that is suitable for my parents as they prefer a new house as opposed to an old house ... so what to do, right?

Other than that, in the afternoon, I did my 1.5 hours run to KLCC ... nothing momentous happened ... no significant cutie sighting too ... argh!

And then when I got back? Dinner in the room and that's it. Quiet day. No celebrations except overeating but starting tomorrow, it is time to step up the health game and start losing weight. Exercise exercise exercise baby!

Cheers all!

Renewing acquiantances ...

Although I had another late night last night gaming online and woke up feeling less than sterling, I am still glad I stayed in the office, not so much for the actual work but rather catching up with my ex-boss and someone I am honoured to call a friend of sorts - Mr. KCLim. Smart he is but I have to admit also one of the nicest, most humble, most helpful character I have ever met in my working career

So many of us had our start because of him ... mine was in the Maldives ... and all the project construction knowledge I learned, it was from him. He was so openly sharing with everyone on his team. To you, sir, I raise a glass!

Anyway, KCLim came   over on his way to visit his relatives and stopped to visit me since I have been touting this place. He was impressed by how nice it looked. He went to my spa and came out saying it was very very very good and they were very pleased with the treatments. In fact, his niece wanted to spend the night at our place so much did they enjoy the treatments. When I mentioned that by next year, it will be even better, everyone was happy!

Of course we talked over old times and what each of us have been up to ... I finally told him about the Shaft-fowl incident because he made mention that this man is in Singapore now. Ugh!

And as for my so-called love life? The Corn is being himself ... means not working ... going out ... and spending money. Sigh! What more signs do I need to dump him, eh?

Flying Day ... to Penang ... homeward bound ...

At last ... after 15 months here in Sepang ... I had my first real trip home ... real in the sense that I could actually take a proper break ... not like at CNY when it was a rushed 2 nights ... or the May trip of 2 nights for my dad's surgery only

Okay ... admittedly this trip is also for my dad's surgery but hey at least I am going to be home from Sun to Wed night - that's a whopping FOUR days ... hehehe ... it was supposed to be longer but this is life and the Ar Var Nee people are flying in on Thursday so I have to be there since I am the guy who arranged for all this to happen from start to end ...

Anyway back to the topic of the day ... for this trip, at LCCT, I have to make one CUTIE report ... I was literally walking around trying to find anyone worth seeing and nothing caught my eye ... until I decided to just check in and there before me as I was walking to the place where you get your bags scanned were 2 handsome police officers on duty ... one chap was told and finishing his duty ... he walked past me and I literally turned my head to follow him and checked him out ... the way he walked? There is potential there but I cannot get a good look on his face ... the next chap was a real looker ... so handsome and sweet I kid you not! His name is Suhaimi ... and I remembered him when I saw the tag ... so he is still there and still taking care of the same job after a year or so ... sigh! I really wish I can find a way to contact him. He is soooooo good looking that I really enjoyed looking straight into his face even while pretending that it is casual

Okay...aside from this ... the only thing worth mentioning is I finally used my Galaxy Tab 2 ... cos it is Air Asia flight ... nothing to do ... so at least I could watch a movie on it ...

Home is the same ... met up with my sis, mom n dad ... eat, sleep ... went out with Edwin to watch a movie after dropping sis at airport in the evening pula ... and that is that

Still it is nice to think I have the next few days ahead of me to rest and chill out

The Indonesia Angle Strikes ...

It's one more day before flight day ... yup you know me ... I am psyched whenever I can fly ... so there I was dickering around while half worried about work when I had an unexpected surprise ...

Indonesian Hardieeeeeee's called me up after last week and the BBM ... I thought I better BBM him my mobile number in case he didn't have it ... and as I am travelling tomorrow, I didn't know if I will subscribe to a data package or not ... and sure enough he called ... he explained the challenge of the new hotel that they are building in Indonesia ... he explained the challenge of right branding ... he asked for my opinion (MY OPINION) on what is best if it was me ... and he explained that there are many more sites/ hotels that they can convert to their own chain if this one proves successful!

O pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee this could be the break I am looking for - starting a new chain from scratch - a new chain with my direction and my tastes!

I don't wanna jinx it by talking to somebody although me with my BIG mouth ... you know I so want to ... but the whole day, I kept my lips sealed ... even texting or BBM or whatever ... keeping fingers crossed and praying that it goes ahead!

Apparently for this hotel, the Hard has small shares in it but a bigger say as the rest trusts him to get the job done and obviously he is happy with what I have done. Thank goodness. So last month, when he thawed out a bit more and actually chatted with me and the breakfast ... makes sense ... and the last week as well ... I was 50/50 ... you know me again ... half worried I did something wrong!

He ended by saying he will discuss with his partners and then talk to the GUN when the GUN is in Jakarta and get his agreement so that I can be involved. I offered to fly in and chair this project to ensure its success and he sounded pleased!

PLEASE GIVE ME THIS CHANCE!

Aside from the above ... everything went as normal workwise ... talk, joke, eat, drink ... and becoming more addicted to Monster World ... the online game from FB ... which I need to stop soon ... this is because of my kia-su character ... that's why I cannot let go ... hahaha

Okay time to shower, pack and get ready for tomorrow!

Tiring Day

It's Sunday and like any Sunday that I am back in Damansara, I tended to sleep late, wake up several times during sleep, and wake up too early ... then I will feel sleepy later on in the morning ... and this Sunday is no different ... except that I had to go back to office ... ARGH!

I kid you not ... this time, I followed the Macedonian YarnMan ... and if he had told me he over-slept, I would have chilled out at home instead of sitting under the sun waiting for him ... but what the heck no big deal ... so in the office, I was so sleepy ... I nearly fell asleep ... in fact, I tested pushing away everything on the table top and lying down there just chilling out ... but it wasn't what I liked for some reason ...

Then around 2:00pm or so ... we went out for lunch ...

Other than that, I spent the rest of the day downloading movies and didn't do anything else. I still haven't downloaded everything on my Samsung yet and for Tuesday's flight, I think I will leave my Samsung at home ... sigh! And take my camera with me instead

Anything else to add?

Oh yes on the cutie front ... ARGH! I was so bummed out. I thought cutie K, the trainee from 2 batches ago wanted a job here. He was the slim, cute guy with the white glass frames but unforch as the Hajj has left ... he decided he didn't want to work here without the Hajj ... so weird, right? Unless K is also a closet gay who has a man crush on Hajj??? Hmmmmmm .... he was so cute in a geeky sort of way especially with his long bony fingers ... hah!

Annoying Day ...

I am supposed to have today off but guess what? From last weekend to this weekend, my dear old SUPES could not go through the documents and make a decision ... so I am perpetually on standby

This morning, I woke up and decided not to go in office so early ... so waited until about 9:00am and went to the restaurant as per the SMS ... naturally the DAREMAN is not there ... this is China and Thailand all over again ... I SMS him twice and no reply ... saw the JUST ... and he said he had SMS the DAREMAN as well ... and the man himself finally showed up around 15 min late ... in his T-shirt, shorts and sandals! Why o Why do you call for a discussion dressed like that? Basically he was there to appear busy and important, that's all. He could have caught up with us on news earlier or through other means. However, as his folks and sis were in-house, so he had to show them he is VVIP!

The only consolation is to watch him wolf down 3 rounds of breakfast and topped it up with an omelette. Yup, that was worth while! Hahahahahaha!

I am not going to continue in great detail about what I did during the day ... I noticed most of my blog are like that ... kinda boring so I will tell you something not so boring ... I finally got home to Damansara and my worst fears came to live ... I am now at my heaviest weight ever! I AM A FATTY 91.8KG. That's tipping the scale at a FREAKING 200 POUNDS! DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMNDAMNDAMNDAMN!

No matter what, after the Thai trip, I am going to start slow walk of 30 min a day regardless of whether I walk to work or not and cut down on sugar and food quantity. UGH!

Other cool things that happened today? Met ADMAN n his MRS ... they are psyched about her opening new business ... their own first business together ... Met SUE n his MRS ... she is so plump that I was stunned when she said she is 7 months preggers already! I thought maybe 4 ... hahaha ... we had dinner followed by movie together ... and last thing ... from out of nowhere DUBAICHUNG called me ... apparently he had moved house as well and is asking if we are interested in organizing a get-together. So I told him about BUZZMAN'S asian tour ... so let's see if this can materialize

No cutie sighted in Tropicana Mall tonight ... sigh ...

O lust ... wonderful lust ... hahaha

Today is such a day ... work is a bitch, mind you ... but I am dedicating this post to the Dog Prince, Sam-Sam-Sam ...

Thanks to the problems in our wonderful reservation, I got annoyed and wanted to solve it ... so I was at Front Desk and calling Eye We See ... and no one answered ... so after a few rounds of calls, I walked over and saw a new girl and handsome SamSamSam! Sigh!

So I got to sit next to him, talked to him, patted him on the shoulder, bent so close to him until I could sniff him and chatted and laughed ... and he was so nice and helpful and even offered to help me get documents that are not in office so as not to inconvenient me ... so sweet! I kept on checking him out from top to bottom ... o I so want to put my hand on his muscular thighs and stroke his cute little tush and perhaps cup his crotch and gave it a gentle squeeze! Hahahahaha!

Enough?

Enough

And on that note, I will end this and will not even talk about the nasty bit of work that happened today especially on the Peeing Woman - talk about ungrateful, dude! Bitches!

Intentionally Setting Matters on Fire ...

As expected, after the Monday night episode, when I woke up this morning, I decided to SMS the DareMan pretending to see the miss calls from last night ... he didn't answer until much later ... he is sleeping I guess ... so much for his efforts at getting up and exercising ...

He said he wanted to meet and talk about the exciting developments in China ... yeah right! And he suggests Bilax2 to which I said no. This is simply because I was already in Bilax2 with the Burnt Man and the Just Man catching up on the things happening and the things yet to come ... so much to juggle, I kid you not!

So we ended up going out to Le Teng and he didn't know that they had something called deep fried chicken wan tan mee. Naturally he whacked it all and said it was very good. Hahahahahaha!

Naturally he started talking about who came to meet them in Shanghai, developments coming more and more in Dongping and what-not. And then as per his norm, he talked without thinking and saying that even though things are exciting, he cannot imagine living in China for the project especially now that he is a family man! You see? He wants the money but he doesn't want the hardship. So he asks if I am keen. I said I am open for anything but naturally I told him that if it is Dongping, it is a 22 days work and 8 days off to Malaysia or 3 weeks work and 1 week off to Malaysia. I didn't tell him about matters such as pay and benefits. After all, does that mean I have no chance of ever having a family of my own if I continue to work for this company? If so, then this company is a selfish company, right?

Anyway, after the nonsense is over, he came down to the crux and asked about the reasons for my email. I explained it to him and I could see from his face, he was trying to find a weak ass answer. So he blamed everyone but himself. He said he wanted the secretary to assist me and have been telling her to get it done not for her to demand that I do it (???). Then he said this is in case head office HRD comes a-checking. How is this even possible when he kept my employment in a subsidiary and managed by a different company? Ah well ... let him say what he wanted. At least, he knows now how I feel. Of course, he had to comment on salaries and what-not. Hey, I am sorry if your pay is low. But you are family. And Master W is a successful CEO of his own companies who still has millions to his name. As for me, I am 40, still single, still trying to find his fortune. So excuse me if I am not willing to work for small pay, making everyone and the company a success and sacrificing personal life as well. Again ... some people ...

The worst part? He actually thought staying in the hotel is a good thing for me. Hello! What about my personal life? Personal space? The villa is not my own as I am subjected to relocate any time and people can pop in any time as well! UGH!

Finally, in the afternoon, Master W also called me up (he called twice earlier but each time I was tied up on the phone interviewing coincidentally) ... he also asked me why and then assured me that they trusted me and just ignored all the idiots around ... so he must have spoken to the DareMan and realized it is the DareMan who had annoyed the hell out of me ... after that, we talked about work in general. Ah well ... let us see what is next eh?

I am praying that the Av-Ani-Deal goes through well enough so that our performance remains positive and we have a good year. Sigh! Quite stressful I tell you

Let them stew ...

I woke up ... yet again feeling tensed after a night of sleep that  was not very fitful ... again worried about not just work but the wonderful people I have as my superior ... so after much thinking,  I decided to F*** it all ... it isn't worth it! Sure I would love for this job to be long term and maybe no more movement in terms of job or country hopping but nothing is worth the kind of shit I have been put through. I am willing to work hard and sacrifice so much but then to have someone questioning me? Pffffft!

I sent an email to Master W and the DareMan explaining my situation and saying enough is enough. As long as I am willing to be jobless, there isn't much they can do about it or to hold it against me. Why am I so unfortunate to always end up working for people like that? Sigh!

What am I supposed to learn here? What am I supposed to contribute or help out?

Anyway, aside from that, nothing else monumental happened ... except just now before 11:00pm when the DareMan called. I let it ring. Then he called again. I let it ring. That's what I meant. I am pretty sure he is calling because he is back from Shanghai and has seen the email and is concerned that I am pissed off about them ... or more specifically him. And that's why I am deliberately not answering. Yes, I am on standby. Yes, I am working late. But hey, if you want to be calculative with me, then let's all be calculative. Or at least, I am pretending to be calculative while still replying to JustMan and the Burnt Man. Hahaha!

Okay. Time for some comics and sleep

Setting My Priorities ...

This is it! I am walking down the path of 40 years of age plus 1 day ... and I  am going to do it right. I woke up with yet another nightmare about work and the Gunn Man and decided that it is simply not worth it. Money is not all that much. The promise of money? Well it is not even explicit in numbers. So why bother so much? Do the best I can and leave it as such

In short, I didn't sleep well for the whole week and I. Have. Had. ENOUGH!

I spent the day cleaning the room and setting my comics and what-not in place. I spent the day getting my life in order. I spent my day enjoying my meals but documenting them and I have started stretching exercises

I have also gone driving to look for house to occupy and found a few. I am going to call them up and see what day is best to view

I have done a good soaking session to cleanse my body

I have wrapped up my artwork 1 full volume, more or less, finally!

And I am going to start on volume 2. Volume 2 will still be something to tingle me down there as otherwise I am not sure how long I can focus but this has only 8 pages. So let's get it on

For the rest of tonight, I am going to start cleaning up this laptop hard drive and start on my writing

This is year 40 + and I am going to LOSE WEIGHT. DO ARTWORK. DO WRITING. DO DIARY

This is the year where I take back my life and not let jobs control me because at the end of the day, we can lose our jobs so easily but then what is there available for us? Nothing. So better get my priorities right

Remember Emaar Dubai!

Remember Park Plaza KL!


Cutie Alert: Saw the Dog Boy today as we were whizzing around the neighbourhood looking for house and he was heading for work. Then had the joy of watching him walk up the driveway to the lobby. Nice hair, beautiful skin and that cute tush in grey trousers. Sigh! I so want to hold him!

The Bat is a Let Down ...

A month  ... not a new month although yes today is Sep1 and therefore is a new month (hello September) ... is how long it has been since I went out for a movie ... and all thanks to my leg issue. And before that, in Jul, it was busy ... with Sill Man and new GM and travelling to China ... so to my disappointment, Spider Man is over but at least the Bat is on

So how was it? Read my review on the side bar ... the only highlight is cutie Joseph Gordon Levitt. He is such an adorable fellow. If he is here now, I would so date him, kiss him and what-not. Yup, I have a huge man crush on him

Other than that, the Gunn Man called while I was in the cinema so naturally I am not going to pick it up. Hah! Not until the movie is finished. He wanted to know how the hotel performed last month since it is Sep 1 and we did just fine, thank you very much. So he is very happy. At least one of his Malaysian efforts are producing, right?

Other than that, it was reunion time - flashback 1989. Yup. Chuboon brought his wife and 2 lads here. Finally we met. The last time they came by, I was in town and when I got back, they had left. So this time I took them on a tour of the place and they chose the beach for dinner. Hopefully they enjoyed the sand, sea and show. They picked that because they said they had boys and the boys wanted it. The wife is so pretty but Choops looks the same except larger - thank goodness ... so I don't have to feel bad. Hahaha!

Breakfast - 1 Sausage and 1 Latte (1 + 2 = 3)
Lunch - 1 Potato Mushroom Salad & 1 Chicken Curry Rice & 1 Apple Juice (1 + 1 + 2 + 0.5 = 4.5)
Dinner - 1 Fried Rice & 1 Egg (2 + 0.5 = 2.5)
Supper - 1 Steak, 1 Mashed Potatoes, 1 Veg, 2 Orange Juice (2 + 1 + 0.25 + 1 = 4.25)
Total = 14.25 (Target 9 for Sep)

Merdeka Merdeka Merdeka ... 55 ... 55 ... 55

[Edited: 2nd Sep 2012 ... as of today, I am going backwards to attach pics otherwise blog is boring when I am not travelling or there is no foodie stuff, eh? So I will attack pics from Mile High (thanks) of the comics that I reviewed on the same day as the blog and this is it!]

 

To my surprise, at midnight, I heard fireworks and I went out to watch because it didn't fall silent after the first burst but kept on and on ... stupidly I went out on my balcony forgetting the fact that I am facing the sea! Realizing my stupidity, I came in and went out on the trunk to see the last bits of smoke going up in the air. So while I didn't see anything but there was someone blasting away for several minutes. To my surprise, most of our villas are in darkness

Anyway to ... this morning ... it is Malaysia's 55th Independence Day ... and to whoever is celebrating their retirement year ... those who hit 55 this year ... congratz ... you were born in the year Malaysia became a free country ... free from Colonial rule, that is

It is sad when I go to Facebook or the general news to see, yet again, politicians using this day to slang mud at each other. Opposition supporters even used the flag and claimed that the Malaysian flag is a disgrace and supporting Selangor or some such flag instead. Can you all give it a rest? This day is beyond all of you. This day was when Malaysians united against a common problem and achieved success. Each of you are thinking only of your own pockets and your own fist of glory! UGH! POLITICIANS!

On a more personal side, I am typing this from the office because both of wonderful bosses are away - one to walk walk in China on invitation from potential business partner and the other to visit friends in Australia. Apparently both of these 2 visits are more significant than finalizing a contract that has huge impact on the group and their trips cannot be delayed even a few days to wrap things up. Nice isn't it to be bosses? Sigh! I need a break

I don't want to waste this one entry into a bitching session about my personal life. So I will take a STOP order here

Hah!

On a personal note, I collected back my blood test today and saw that my uric acid is indeed high at 5.68. Doctor says I should increase dosage of allopurinol and work it down and come back in 2 months to test again. Keeping fingers cross

On a more annoying front, as expected, my so-called other half annoys me with his lust for money. If only he was cuter, handsomer or more successful, eh? Hahahahaaha! I need to dump him, yes?