Let the Games Begin

Today is a special day: The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics Games at 8:00pm on 8 August 2008 – a total of four eights which is supposedly to be an auspiciously good day according to the extremely superstitious Chinese. But the Chinese forgot that today’s date is based on the Gregorian calendar and not the Chinese calendar. But then, any 8 is good for the Chinese for it symbolizes wealth or prosperity.

The Olympics mascots have been blamed for the recent calamaties occured in China including the Sichuan earthquake. Human beings like to blame others for bad things that happened to them and these mascots are not spared. The irony of the blame is that The Fuwa (Olympics mascots) literally means “good-luck dolls”.

One of my colleagues was born on this day thirty three years ago but she does not celebrate her birthday because her religion does not allow her to do that.

Twenty years ago today one of my male cousins got married but tonight we are not invited to any anniversary dinner to commemorate the occasion. Instead my elder brother, sis-in-law and mum would be attending a wedding dinner at Shangrila Tanjung Aru Resort. And in mum’s own words ‘I have to miss out on the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics!’ *shucks*

Monican Reunion Class 1980

I have not seen most of my ex-classmates and schoolmates from primary school since we left the school at the end of Primary Six. After all of us left St. Monica’s Primary School, most of them went to St. Michael’s Secondary School while some girls went to St. Cecilia Secondary School. Only a handful of us (six to be exact) went to Sung Siew Secondary School.

I have lost touch with all of them as I did not even get to do my SRP in Malaysia. But I bumped into one of my ex-classmates and a schoolmate from primary school at the same time when I went to Giant Kolombong Foodcourt to have lunch a few years back. That was when Bestmart had just opened and both of them were working there. I am still in touch through work with the schoolmate HL. At the end of July 2007, HL told me that our ex-classmates and schoolmates had a reunion back in Sandakan on 7 July 2007. After that a couple of them sent me photos taken during the reunion. On that night, they had already planned in advance to have another reunion on 9 August 2008.

On 5 March 2008, I bought a round trip airticket back to Sandakan. The details are as follows. I did not care whether I could make it for the reunion or not.

Flight RM19.98

Airport Tax RM15.00

Administration Fee RM42.00

Fuel Surcharge RM32.00

Total RM108.98

Up until last week I did not plan to go back anymore because I cannot afford to take even half day leave this Saturday since I am swamped with too much work. And that was what I told katsmew (ex-schoolmate) through MSN Messenger.

On 31 July 2008 I received a sms from an ex-classmate : Dear Fellow Classmates, Monican Reunion Class 1980, 9 August 2008, Saturday 630pm Sabah Hotel Plantation Café buffet, etc at RM50 per pax, pls inform others & confirm attendance Tq from Henley Liew

This morning when two of my colleagues handed me their leave form for this Saturday, I thought maybe I could take the half day leave as well since I managed to do more work than I expected this week. For a while there I really thought I could make it for the reunion and was really looking forward to it.

But my daydreaming was short-lived when my boss told me I had to complete the MOA between our company and the Ministry of Education by this weekend. I have not done much and so I have lots to do. My boss had asked the lady boss to assist me since I am busy with so many other things but she did not want to help.

As I was thinking about what I was going to miss out during this upcoming reunion, suddenly I received a forwarded sms from katsmew : REGRETS: Dear Fellow Classmates, Monican Reunion Class 1980, 9 August 2008, IS CANCELLED Tq from Henley Liew

Apparently a lot of people are just like me, too busy with their work to fly back to Sandakan this weekend. So another one of my airticket is going down the drain (this is not the first time - the previous airticket I bought to go to Tawau during Harvest Festival last year, I ended up having to work OT at that time). As I work OT during this weekend, I would be able to recover back the $ spent to buy the airticket. That is not too bad at all.

Snail Mail

I started calling all mails through the post office snail mail after I first encountered email in 1993.

I used to look forward to receiving snail mails especially when I first came back from Down Under. My friends and I sent so many of those mails to each other because most of us did not have internet access at that time. But now even with email, we hardly communicate anymore due to the busyness of working and family lives.

I do not know how long my brother or his wife had not been to the post office lately. Last night as I was about to go to sleep, Chloe knocked on my bedroom door and handed me nine different mails.

None of the snail mails were personal mail but nevertheless I was still glad to receive so many at one time. They were sent from:-

1. Bonuslink (Shopping Loyalty Programme) - 1

2. Statement from Investment Company - 1

3. Shiseido Camellia Club – 2

4. RBC Resource Centre Berhad – 1

5. Kota Kinabalu City Hall – 1

6. ING Insurance Berhad – 3

I think this was the first time I received so many snail mails at one shot in my entire life.

Today’s Happenings

My brother was having his business partner (PC) from Peninsula Malaysia staying in his house for quite a while before his parents-in-law came over for a visit since two days ago. So PC had to stay in our spare room downstairs since two nights ago. He does not join us for dinner. He goes over to my brother's house for dinner.

(I haven’t been properly introduced to PC yet. I only saw him on the night I was going out for dinner with Paul Lok and gang on 25 July 2008 and he came over with my brother’s family to join mum and her guests for dinner)

I did not sleep well last night. At 1.30a.m. I suddenly woke up and when I looked through the space underneath my bedroom door, I could see that the light downstairs at the front of the house was still on.

When I went downstairs, I saw that the guest room door was still wide open. I unlocked the front door and did not see PC’s pair of shoes. I closed the front door and locked it again. On the table next to the front door, I saw a bunch of our house keys.

I came back upstairs and was debating on whether to call my brother to check with him where was PC but since the time was already early morning, I decided against it. I did not want to wake him up unnecessarily. I was thinking maybe PC was out somewhere with some other people besides my brother.

When I woke up again at 2.30a.m., I saw the light downstairs was off. I was relieved.

As a result of being awaken twice last night, I did not want to wake up when the alarm on my mobile phone went off this morning.

The officer from Statistics Department finally came today to collect the duly filled Survey Form and apologised for taking so long to come.

Since two days ago, the nearby coffee shop had finally increased the price of the economy rice for one meat dish and one vege dish from RM3 to RM3.50. The portion stays the same as before.

So today it is back to Jawa style economy rice for me at the same price of RM3.50 for one meat dish and one veges dish but the serving is more than the chinese shop. Of course having this also depends on whether the office boy is in the office at lunchtime to takeaway for us and himself.

At 4.00p.m. there was a heavy downpour and by 4.20p.m., there was a blackout in the office. The boss announced that we could go home early if the electricity supply did not come back but he did not spell out at exactly what time. At 4.35p.m. I realised I could go home because I started work at 7.30a.m. and therefore could go home at 4.30p.m. eventhough my official office hours is 8a.m. to 5p.m. Normally I do not go home since I do OT from 4.30-6.00p.m.

I quickly called home to see whether there was any electricity at home but no one answered the house phone. I called my brother’s house and my nephew told me there was electricity in the house. I also talked to my sis-in-law and told her the situation I was in last night. She said PC and my brother were out for business meeting until after midnight last night and when they came back home, they were working until early morning. This morning when my sis-in-law opened her front door, she saw PC’s pair of shoes. She thought that he slept on their couch. We laughed. Actually he wore my brother’s slippers to come back and left his own shoes at my brother’s house.

So I left work and brought home some work to do and managed to do it just now. I am glad it is done and tomorrow I can concentrate on other more urgent work. I have not had time yet to write out the cheques due to Inland Revenue Department which will be due on Friday. I hope I could get to do it tomorrow.

Tonight was the finale of the TVB show ‘Always Ready’ on ntv7. Since the weather was not that great, the reception for this channel was bad. Most of the time we could not see anything but can hear the conversation. So the maid suggested to take out the 12” tv from the guest room to watch. Mum was surprised that the reception of the small tv is better than the big tv. I told her twice that her maid has been watching tv in the room most of the time when she does not like what we are watching but both times she could not hear me properly because the volume of the tv was louder. Yes, the maid can be the boss sometimes but since she is not my maid, I refrain from saying anything. I just have to tolerate things.

Perks

With JE not coming to work in the meantime, if I am the earliest to arrive at work, then I will have the shaded carpark next to the boss’s carpark.

Had an extremely busy day. If I had started work at 6.30a.m. and left 12 hours later, my work table would still look like a hurricane had just landed.

Different clients have been calling me asking me re. their respective project and therefore my desk and its vicinity is littered with files and documents everywhere. It is not a pretty sight at all.

One of the clients Mr. Cheng who works for a telecommunications company, told me he wanted to fly over from Kuala Lumpur to collect the documents personally from me as well as to invite me for a meal to thank me for all the assistance I had rendered to him so far in his job. I told him he does not have to or rather his company does not have to waste such kind of $, I will get the documents scanned and email to him.

Clients from Peninsula seem to be more daring and I am glad we are separated by the South China Sea. Most of the time they would tell me to call them if I am visiting Kuala Lumpur so that they can bring me out. I have never taken up on any of those offers. It is hard to judge a book by its cover so to speak. If I accept an invitation and if their intention is really only to thank me then everything would be fine. But if they have ulterior motive, then I would not know until I am out with them. Most of the time I am not prepared to take the risk. Call me a chicken if you have to. I am too wary of people.

Mr. Cheng used to have a colleague (an Indian fellow who died a few years back) who whenever he came over to Kota Kinabalu would invite me to have a drink with him at the pub. I was glad each time my boss would entertain him instead of me.

If I do not accept the invitation, I would appear to be snobbish. And if I do, something may happen to me. Truly I cannot win both ways.

So far working in the company for ten years, the most generous person I have ever met is a contractor, Mr. Wong. He had given me RM200 red packet for CNY as well as invited one of my colleagues and I to join their company for their annual dinner feasting on individual serving of shark fin soup, ‘yee sang’, lobster, other seafood and high cholesterol food.

Most of the time when clients and contractors invited me out for lunch, I declined the offer. Sometimes they will give me mandarin oranges or hamper for CNY, and mooncakes for Mooncake Festival. I may accept those gifts but if they only give them to me and not my boss, then I will give to the boss to let him decide what to do with those gifts.

Yesterday one of my colleagues bought me a raisin bun, a curry puff and a chicken bun for afternoon tea. I was thankful for that but if I eat all these everyday, I am sure I would not be able to fit in my clothes anymore.

I believe if we treat people well, most of the time people would treat us back kindly. But sometimes even if we take the initiative and make extra effort to do something, not all people would appreciate our effort especially the rich people. They think the whole world owe them and just because they have $ and high pitched voices, people will have to automatically kowtow to them, which to me is a lot of hogwash.

Today I asked the office boy to assist me in some tasks but he said he was busy to go to collect the boss’s pair of shoes under repair at the shop. I could not believe my ears. When I told my colleague NE about it, she asked me what kind of shoes is so important until helping Spinxie is not important at all. To maintain my sanity, I had to crack a joke before I go crazy with all the stress. So I told her ‘Cinderalla’s crystal slippers which will turn into a pumpkin if not collected by 5p.m.’

Finally …

About three months back, the bludger of the company (JE) told the lady boss verbally in the absence of the boss that he wanted to resign at the end of June 2008 or should I say take unpaid leave indefinitely. He wants to look after his newborn baby, due that same month since he and his wife could not find a babysitter. His wife does not want to resign from her government job at the hospital. Otherwise she will lose her gratuity at the end of the day.

(My colleague NE bumped into JE’s elder brother recently and JE’s brother told NE that JE has found another job as a car salesman)

At the end of June 2008, the boss held a farewell lunch for JE and my temporary assistant (UMS student) plus welcoming a new draftslady into the company. On the way to the restaurant, the boss asked JE (we were inside the boss’s car) about his resignation. He told the boss that since he had a relative to help him to look after the baby in the month of July, he would still be working.

NE and I were extremely annoyed on hearing that. If he wants to resign, just resign. Do not allow the matter to drag on. Plus isn’t it his courtesy to inform the boss no matter what his decision is and not wait for the boss to ask him. But that is the kind of thing that is expected from a bludger, someone who is extremely slow in his work and never pro-active but when it is the time to eat, act as if he just came out from prison ie. work the least but eat the most.

Last month when the boss said he would review our salary, JE was adamant that he was not going to leave anymore. He also told other colleagues that since the boss was so nice in giving us vouchers to spend, he would definitely be staying put.

Last Wednesday when our colleague was treating all the office staff to lunch at Restaurant Kim Fah, the boss once again asked JE whether July would be his last month and how long would he be taking unpaid leave, he avoided answering the questions. The bosses also requested him to leave on last Friday instead of last Thursday and he obliged.

Last Friday when the Resident Engineer (KL) asked JE whether that day was his last day, JE told KL he would still be coming to work today. I quickly told the lady boss after KL told me what JE told him. At that time the boss was attending a meeting outside. Once again my colleague NE and I were extremely annoyed in hearing that.

That Friday afternoon when the boss came back to the office, he summoned JE inside his room. I do not know what he told the boss but the lady boss told me to prepare JE’s salary for him.

When JE left on last Friday afternoon, no one bothered to say goodbye to him. I guess everyone was hoping that he would not turn up for work today.

All of us were very happy when we did not see his car when we arrived at work today. Even the male colleagues are happy. We hope he would take longer than one week off.

My colleagues were guessing why JE was trying to act as if he’s so indecisive. We can only come into one conclusion. He did not give a black and white re. his resignation so that he can prolong the matter as long as he wants so that the boss would not give him much work thinking that he would not be around for long. But too bad the whole thing backfired on him and he only had himself to blame.

Christmas is Early This Year

Today we received increment in our July 2008 salary.

On top of that, I have been good this year. Haha! Santa Claus (opps! I mean the boss) is so nice in rewarding me for my 28 days of untaken annual leave. Yes I sold back that amount to the company and got $$$ plus EPF for it. It is as good as having bonus. Woohoo!

I have six days of annual leave remaining for this year and I have not planned to go anywhere. By 1 January 2009 once again I will have 21 days of annual leave.

BCCM Likas Formation & Installation Celebration

This morning I had a dream before I woke up. Sophia Tsen and I were visiting John Lee in Melbourne and he was driving us around a surburb looking at houses. Sophia and I were talking and waiting for him to come back to the car. Then I woke up. Strange dream but at least not a nightmare.

Had Yeo’s Chicken Curry with two pieces of bread for breakfast. I was running a little late but I still had to switch on the pc to print out the attendance list for Canaanland Celebration for this month before having my shower. I should have done it last night but I forgot.

When I arrived at Kyrugma House, Monica Leong and Mimi Quek were starting to prepare the elements for Holy Communion. I counted 60 pieces of bread.

Today we had an invited guest speaker and he is Rev. James Wong. This round though the topic was ’40 Days of Fasting and Prayer’, he shared a lot of jokes.

His sermon can be summarised as follows.

Why 40? (mid life crisis haha)

- Noah’s life – 40 days in the ark.

- Moses fasted & prayed for 40 days and after that God gave him the Ten Commandments.

- David and Goliath. The Israelites was threatened by Goliath for 40 days before David came to the rescue.

- Elijah was fed by God for 40 days.

- Jesus fasted and prayed for 40 days before He started His Ministry.

It usually takes 21 days to develop a new habit. Rev. James shared that when he first came back to Sabah after his Theology studies, he was posted by the Bishop to UK. No, not the UK we know but ‘Ulu Kunak’ (haha). There was a family there who had never brushed their teeth. So he challenged them to brush their teeth esp. the kids before they could visit his house. After their visit to his house, they found that he did not have many toys. A few weeks after that when they met again, he asked them how come they don’t brush their teeth anymore. They replied by saying because we had visited your house already (ie. there was no more motivation to cultivate the habit again).

Purpose of Fasting and Praying

1. To Intensify One’s Prayer Experience

Matt. 4:21

2. For Spiritual Warfare

Mark 9:29

3. For Getting Closer To God

Luke 2:37

4. For Spiritual Cleansing

Joel 2:12

5. For Special Divine Intervention

Esther 4:3

6. For Releasing Power In a Person’s Life

Daniel 1: 8-21

7. For Divine Direction

Acts 13:2-31

Today some people signed up for the Canaanland Retreat to be held on 30 August to 1 September 2008 at Perkasa Hotel, Kundasang. The speaker is Rev. George Ong from Singapore.

I came home to have the sushi I made last night for lunch. After my shower, I only had 40mins to rest before I got ready again to attend the BCCM Likas Formation & Installation Celebration at 3p.m. at Kyrugma House.

It was a grand celebration and the occasion was graced by Bishop Rev. Dr. Thomas Tsen (Sophia’s uncle) and his wife, Rev. James Wong, Rev. Chung Hee Min, a lot of other pastors and VIPs.

After the celebration, we were all treated to refreshment of fried noodles, fried rice noodles, fried wontons, fried chicken wings, cakes, buns, and sausage, cucumber & fishball stick. I did not take the fried noodles but the rest of the food were delicious and more than enough for everyone.

I also managed to talk to some people that I have not seen for a long time. They were Peter Chu and Dr. Mandy, Kenny Lo, Chong Voon Fah, Chan Kok Woh, Mrs. Chia (Vivian’s mum), Shirley Chee and an ex-colleague Tay Teng Chi (Kian Fui’s uncle).

On the way home, I dropped by Tong Hing Supermarket and bought some sandwich ham. After that I went to Recipe House and bought a bottle of Kikkoman Soy Sauce (have been using Teriyaki Sauce to dip the sushi recently), a tube of wasabi, a small bottle of sake and a pack of 10 slices of sushi sheets.

I ate slightly less for dinner tonight.

Long and Tiring Day

Lady boss only passed me all the office staff personal file late yesterday evening. So I can only do the payroll for July 2008 today. I had to remind the part time colleague to fax me his claim.

I bought some noodles the maid cooked yesterday to work today and reheated the food in the microwave for lunch. The weather was extremely hot outside so I did not want to leave the office after lunch.

Mum called at 4p.m. to tell me she and Chloe would not be eating dinner at home tonight and so I had to fend for my own dinner.

I felt very tired but thank God I had the energy to work until 5.30p.m.

As I was leaving the office block, at the corner of my eye I could see that one of the office lights was still on. The new colleague had forgotten to switch it off. This is not the first time she had left the lights on before going home. I can summarise the Generation Y into a single word – hotshot. It's pretty annoying because I had to make one round and drove back to the office to switch off the light.

I came home after dropping by Khidmat Supermarket on the way home.

It’s amazing that I still have the energy to make sushi for dinner tonight while watching the TVB game show on TV2.

Dinner

I had last night's leftovers for dinner tonight including the following. Yummy!



Thanks a million mum!