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!