Meeting the Masters

Who have never heard of Terry Thoren and Shahril Ibrahim? Well, I didn’t. Not before the launching of e-Farm by the state of Terengganu. We had a so called company event involving the state gov of Terengannu recently and two of the state guests were Terry and Shahril. The promotional bunting of the special guests was all over the town the day before the event took place. Who are they really? I was in one of the exhibition gazebo when I asked KS who they were. The Simpsons and Rugrats ring a bell? Of course! I spent most of my voluptuous time in the States watching The Simpsons and I don’t know who Terry is?

Terry is the CEO of Klasky Csupo and the founder of The Simpsons and Rugrats cartoon series. Shahril, a success Malaysian who works in Hollywood was the guy behind the creative effects work for movies like the Species, The Matrix, Airforce One and many more. Me & some of the tribemates attended the dinner talk by both speakers. Terry had invested in Malaysia to develop some episodes of their cartoon series and we had the chance to witness the sample of the completed development. The cartoon strokes really look familiar, frankly speaking, it look much alike the designs by our tribemates. So I guess we can really compete with the international industry, but not yet, not now. We have yet to improve a lot especially on the working attitude and ethic before we can end up producing a massive animation series like that. But nothing is impossible, if they can do it, so do we.

The nite before the event, the tribemates were testing the internet connection to Sophia, Bulgaria. The internet was running smoothly here, but unfortunately there were some internet problem in Sophia, so the event was canceled.

MB signing the M2Farm plate, watched by Terry Thoren, Shahril Ibrahim, Prof. Rahman & Jamil. Picture courtesy of http://www.terengganu.gov.my

All the happy faces taking pictures with the legendary Mr. Terry.

Kedai Asap

Pagi-pagi lagi transporter dah call, barang-barang dah sampai KT awal pagi lagi. Sejam lepas tu baru kitorang muncul untuk bukak pintu. Nasib baik driver dua orang tu sabar je menunggu, siap boleh senyum-senyum gelak-gelak lagi. Dah settle angkut barang and kunci office semula, singgah breakfast kat kedai ‘Asap’, tu Ben yg bagi nama, rationale-nya sbb kedai tu sentiasa berasap. Makanan not bad, ayam bakar marvelous tapi service hampeh. Cashier yang juga merangkap tuan kedai ambik duit and bagi duit ala ala rampas dan hempas, pergh boleh di consider rude, tak kisah lah kalau sebaya atau tua daripada customer, cara greet sesama manusia perlu sopan. Mana kesopanan yang di war war kan?

Settle makan, gi hantar kete kat kedai wash car, sib baik bukak hari ni. Kesian my Gentz tu dah 2 minggu tak mandi. Asyik mandi hujan je mana leh jadi. Since kena tunggu sejam baru kete siap, so menapak lah balik apt, sampai kat lif rosak la pulak .. pergh, takkan nak kena naik tingkat 7 nih. Malang betul nasib hari ni. Nasib baik kereta berkilauan lepas basuh, cool down sikit rasa hati.

Home Alone

Home alone lagi. All the MR girls went back to KL last nite. Lala went back to Kemaman as soon as office hour ended. So back to basic, I’m alone again. Nothing much to do rite here in KT on Friday, everything is closed. Bila nak boleh tgk Permint Harmoni ni?

Dilemma

It’s been more than three weeks since I’ve been transferred here in Kuala Terengganu. Finding a place to crash in is becoming a routine day by day. Every opportunity has its own catch which will later turn off our desire and excitement. Most of the time past office hours was spent worrying about a permanent place to stay.

After a long search, finally I’ve found a few choices that I would say as a short listed list.

Option1: Permint Harmony Apartments, about 500 metres from the office. A spacious 3- bedrooms apartment with 2 baths, a good security features and a designated covered parking space. The only catch would be the monthly rental, it’s quite expensive.

Option2: Kondo Rakyat, about 6-9 kilometers from the office. This low cost apartment has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. A covered parking space is reserved behind the kitchen doorway. The catch would be, security is not guaranteed, and since I’m living alone, security would be pretty much top of the priority list. Rental is half the price of Permint Harmony.

Option3: Flat Cempaka, Seri Kolam, about 800 meters from the office. This 4^th floor cute little apartment with 2 bedrooms and 1 baths has a security features but with no designated parking space. Rental is a little bit more than Kondo Rakyat.

So which one to pick? I’m in dilemma.

7 Years Pack in Boxes

I’m leaving CMD today with mixed ball of emotions. On one hand I’m sad to be leaving my tribe mates, my workspace and the environments. But on the other hand I’m quite excited about branching out to grab a challenging opportunity and living a new life in a new town.

It took me about four hours just to clear out things from my workspace. Imagine seven years of documents to be packed in a few boxes, totally crazy. There’s a lot shredding activities going on, not to mention tearing, throwing and crumpling. I just hope Kak Mas would not be angry when she saw the mess I did and the number of black dumpster bags waiting to be picked up on Wednesday morning.

Before ...

After a while ...

After 4 hours ...

The Last Bash

‘Birthday Bash’ … sounds catchy right? Tak sure idea siapa, but it sounds so funky & fun. Few days ago, Azie keep pushing me untuk buat the last bash before Trg operations start. Since I have so many chores to cover before my leaves, so tak layan sangat permintaan Azie tu, kesian Azie … sorry dear. But Azie tak patah semangat, dia kautim dengan Shonna, tup tup … tau tau dah kutip duit dah for the last birthday bash for 2006.

This last bash covers for September, October, November & December birthdays. So altogether ada twenty one tribemates yang perlu diraikan. Seronok dapat raikan semua, but a bit sad since I have to leave for Trg in less than a week.

Barisan tribemates yang dirai ...

Kek coklat tempahan dari FLY

Kek close-up. Erks .. ada tribemate nama pajoo?

Tipah Tertipu at Nandos

Dah lama craving nak makan Extra Hot Peri Peri Chicken Nandos so me and the tribe went off to the Mines. It was that voucher Apiz gave us that made us decide to go treat ourselves. Mula-mula ingat nak guna satu voucher sorang, Tanya waitress Nandos tu, diorang bilang satu voucher for 2 or more chicken meal in one receipt. Nak tak nak kena share le one voucher for 2 people. So since I’ve been craving nak makan Nandos regardless the price, I offered not to use the voucher. Shonna kongsi ngan Bib, Chuop with Pajoe, tapi soft drinks yang satu jug tu tak sure masuk tab siapa … anyway jgn lupa mintak before akak drive off to Trg yer … hehehe.

Yum! Extra Hot Peri Peri Chicken Nandos

Kena tipu pun happy jer ...

Tribe of the day ...

Happy Birthday Bro

The whole clan had dinner at a local restaurant near town. Cempaka Rimba's the name. It was the first time for AbgSham & Abah. The food was good and we had fun. It was on AbgSham's tab of course. Thanks & Happy birthday Bro, semoga panjang umur dan dimurahkan rezeki.

Return of Andak

Andak came back yesterday. No wonder my eye-lids keep moving lately. It’s a sign. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen them. The whole clan waited since yesterday’s evening and Andak’s flight finally touched down at around 7:15pm. Pity them who waited at the airport since 3:00pm. The flight delayed due to some complications in Heathrow Airport. Congrats to Dr Andak & wife for the completion of their Phd.

Pushing The Limit

Aaah at last, a new entry!

Busy. That’s the word to put it. Wish I could update my blog everyday. I’ve just completed a very short, emotional, and tiring project. I’m not just pushing my own limit, but I have to push others as well. How to motivate those fatigue and emotionally unstable people to fight along till the end? I don’t know! They just keep fighting along with me. I salute them for that. Thanks people.

Nearly two weeks without enough sleep made me feel like zombies. I really am. I can’t focus on what people say, I walked to follow where my feet wanna go, I drove with my eyes closed, felt hungry and yet I didn’t have the appetite to eat, my energy was totally burned out.

Bila nak cuti panjang ni?

Manic Friday

3:31 am - Still di office.
Oh mata, kenapa mengantuk? Ada lagi yang perlu dijenguk.
Oh badan, kenapa penat? Esok byk lagi aktiviti perlu dibuat.
Oh fikiran, kenapa runsing? drM buat kau pening?
Oh lutut, kenapa sakit? Sedari tadi terasa perit.
Oh perut, kenapa semacam? Esok jgn pulak meragam.

4:26 am - Di office.
Insan-insan yang masih berjaga dah berkurangan. Ada yang dah parking kat surau. Ada yang masih berkerut-kerut dahi menyudahkan yang tak sudah. Ada yang dah balik. BD called tanya if ada yang ready to package. Our cut off time kul 5:00 am, so kena tunggu 2 hrs kot.

5:30 am - Office ...
Belum ada yg start packaging. Boleh landing dulu ni sementara tunggu. Surau ... here i come.

6:30 am - Office ...
Terjaga. Surau dah kosong. Still blom ada yang package lagi. Ngantuknye ...

10:00 am - Office
Selamat burn semua. Kena pegi Shah Alam utk project lain ... Ngantuknya ...

11:30 am - Shah Alam
Lambat sampai. Jam teruk kat Subang. Review ada prob!! arghhh! ... Ngantuknya ...

1:30 pm - Shah Alam
Small discussion. Dah nampak jalan penyelesaian, tapi masih kabur ... Ngantuk + Penat tak terhingga ... nak lunch pun tak selera (blom jamah makanan dari pagi)

2:30 pm - Shah Alam
Sessi pujuk memujuk. Payah betul. Jalan dah nampak, tapi perlukan commitment tinggi.

3:00 pm - Shah Alam
Masih sessi pujuk memujuk. Rupanya ikhlas juga cik Puan ni.

4:00 pm - Highway
Ngantuk + Penat, handphone habis batt, so tak boleh nak discuss on next planning dengan sapa-sapa pun. Argg .. GEC called pulak. Pajoe oh Pajoe ... alahai, rupanya tak dapat call 'A'. Lucky dia boleh accept appologies & sebab-sebab lambat.

4:30 pm - Highway
Singgah Dunkin Donut. Ngantuk bukan alasan untuk tidak ber'donat' ... yumm!

4:45 pm - Home
At last sampai gak rumah. Call semua yang patut.

5:33 pm - Home
Belum rehat lagi. Belum tido lagi. Perut belum isi. Baru teringat ... what's the point of this entry? hehehe ... Roger n out .. thanks kerana membaca :)

Happy Cakes

I’ve experienced my first happycakes today. Not only it looks incredibly cute but the taste is amazing too. Thanks SOUL sbb bagi tumpang order :) Happy cakes will hear from me again ... soon.

A day off

I’m glad it’s a day off. An unexpected phone call woke me up this morning and I spent the whole day with chores I left behind during work days. Assisted Mak with groceries at TESCO and drove her around to anywhere she wanted to go. Later after the Friday prayers, I sent my highline to an express service at BBB, that part was a deal Abah made me do. Tried my very best not to think about work, but the first thing I can remember when I woke up was work. What’s become of me?

I did something I should do long ago. Some people seem very comfortable in their comfort zone but things are about to change. Just wait and see. Since I’m the one who call the shot, one slip of the tongue could get all of us into big trouble. I did learn a valuable lesson though that one email can cause someone’s future down the drain. Absurd but true. Just hope that I can pull this off without drawbacks.

JB - Day 4

Jam 3:00am lebih dah terjaga, mata dah tak boleh nak lelap balik. Mat rempit kat luar tu prennngg prenggg prennggg, naik sakit telinga dibuatnya. Sekejap-sekejap dengarlah ambulan lalu, mesti ada hospital dekat-dekat sini. Since mata tak boleh tido, aku masak air, bancuh Nescafe pastu makan kuih raya yang mak bekalkan sambil layan citer James Bond kat Star Movies. Sejak dua menjak Casino Royale nak ditayangkan wayang ni, tv pun asyik tunjuk citer Bond yang lama-lama. Sambil-sambil tgk tv, habiskan capture OR untuk dibawak balik.

Jalan lurus depan hotel jadi lokasi rempit malam-malam.

Jam 5:00am lebih, bib bangun join capture OR. Masing-masing dah tak leh tido. Lepas breakfast, satu module close bahagian content & language. Yang lain dah tak sempat nak cover, suntuk sangat masa. Urusan dengan organizer habis lebih kurang 12:00PM lebih. Bell boy pun dah angkut semua barang-barang ke bawah. Settle je loading barang dalam kereta, lebih kurang dekat-dekat kul 1:00pm, kami bertolak balik. Tak singgah mana-mana pun. Kepala pun mula lah berdenyut-denyut bila angkat mengangkat barang tu, ni sure pasal tak cukup tido.

Minyak ada suku, kena isi dulu before drive balik KL. Sebelum toll dah nampak Petronas, Apiz siap bagi signal, aku ikut bagi signal, alih-alih jalan masuk tu ada kon berderet-deret. Ciss! Apa kes jalan tutup ni! Lepas tu Apiz buat kamikaze turn masuk ikut jalan kluar Petronas tu, aku dah terlansung terus stop tepi jalan. Apiz suruh aku kamikaze reverse ke Petronas tu. Nak tak nak ku ikutkan jugak reverse. Selesai isi minyak, telan Uphamol sebijik, we all continue dengan perjalanan.

Weather ok jer, tak seteruk waktu bertolak je JB tu hari. Sampai kat Machap, budak-budak nak berhenti – leaking. Kononnya nak solat & lunch dulu baru continue, tapi kedai makan semuanya tutup. Last-last berhenti makan kat Restoran Jejantas Ayer Keroh. Lepas sejam lebih berhenti rehat,, continue ke destination. Sampai office lebih kurang jam 5:15pm.

JB - Day 3

Sedar-sedar tengok member sebelah takde, aikk ... dia layan tv subuh-subuh buta. Lepas breakfast ada meeting dgn organizers, ada good news ada bad news, masih dalam kawalan. Hari ni tak payah standby kat tingkat 1, semua lepak kat working area (which is my room) siapkan kerja. Perut dah lega, tak macam semalam. Tengah hari ni semuanya skip lunch. Left over kfc semalam yg dalam fridge tu Apiz abiskan, so tak membazir.

"Abiskan aje lah kfc tu"... kata kak Bib

Petang ada gak module yang ready untuk closing, kejap je diorang verify, cuma kita je tak sempat nak cover semuanya in one night. Malam kul 7 lebih, perut dah start rasa lapar. Lepas maghrib, we all siap-siap nak gi makan. Apiz tak ikut sebab nak ke rumah mak mertua katanya. Kami berlima je lah yg meredah Jln Skudai tu ke gerai-gerai dekat Dataran Bandaraya tu. Sampai destinasi je, perkara yang sama berlaku, berpusu-pusu gak brader-brader dan kakak-kakak yang melambai-lambai dengan harapan kami duduk di kawasan mereka. Dah mula la sessi tolak menolak, “Eh pilih la bib” … “Ehhh saya pulak, kak Ain pilih lah” … Last-last ibu mengandung tu jugak yang pilih hehe. Berkat pilihan ibu mengandung la, we all makan malam ni tersangatlah kenyangnye. Makanan pun pedas & superb! Malam ni Erica makan, tak diet lak.

Work area Apiz, Raha & Meen

Work area Erica

Tempat keje kak Bib. Sambil keje sambil tengok cermin.

My work area. Takde kerusi lain, so dok kat sofa je lah. Empuk.

Lepas makan, gi gerai rojak buah & tauhu bakar berdekatan. Lama gak menunggu pakcik tu buat rojak buah, nampak cam sedap je tauhu bakar tu, tapi malam ni perut tak boleh nak isi dengan yang berat-berat lagi, dah over loaded. Lepas tu sessi bergambar dekat Dataran Bandaraya. Memalam ni apa sangat yang nampak, jam besar tu for sure nampak.

Balik dari Dataran, Meen & Raha sambung keje. Tengah-tengah capture error, mata ngantoks teramat sangat, ku tinggalkan aje notebook tu terbukak terus masuk selimut, yang lain continue keje. Entah bila masing-masing balik bilik pun tak tau lah.

Kerja-kerja yang bakal menanti di office.

JB - Day 2

Sesudah subuh - gambar dari tingkap bilik.

Terjaga kul 6:50am. Lambat! Bib tgh solat, rupanya kul 5 lebih dia dah jaga, sambung buat packaging. Tak sedar apa pun tidur dek kerana keletihan. Lepas breakfast, gi register internet connection dulu kat reception, 12 jam hotel charge rm40 untuk 2MB broadband connection, mahal tu, terpaksa redah juga.

Ruang kerja kat tingkat 1 penuh. Tak sangka seramai ni pulak yg dtg kali ni. Selalunya acara camni tak ramai yang endah. Organizer bagi tau, ruang kerja di tingkat 1 tak dapat menampung semua org, jadi kami perlu berada di suatu tempat yg mudah dihubungi. Akhirnya bilik kami jadi port utk small office.

Malam ni tak kemana, tak larat nak kluar. Since ada org offer nak gi tapau KFC, so we all kenduri KFC je malam ni. Bentang today's berita harian kat atas wood flooring yg sejuk dan licin ni, masing-masing bersila menikmati ayam kfc sehingga menjilat jari. Erica sorang je tak makan, diet kot. Kenyang sgt, sampai tak boleh nak tido, perut semacam je kenyang, so layan tv la tgk pengantin popular.

JB - Day 1

Bertolak dari office around 2:10PM. Weather antara hujan dan tak hujan, kejap cerah, kejap mendung. Masuk je border Johor, hujan turun mencurah-curah, tapi ku ikutkan jugak kereta depan, kalau dia laju, aku pon laju sama, kalau dia slow, aku pon slow sama. Dalam hujan lebat tu, singgah kejap kat R&R Pagoh utk Asar & isi perut, pekena mee rebus jawa & teh tarik. Tak dan hujan nak berhenti, kami teruskan perjalanan.

Dekat nak sampai Skudai baru reda sikit hujan. Tak susah nak cari hotel, jalan pun ok tak sibuk sgt. Sampai hotel, organizer cakap tak sure agenda nya camne, so barang2 bawa ke bilik dulu. So secara automaticnya, bilik apiz jadi store penyimpanan monitor dan cpu. Lagi pon dia duduk sorang dalam bilik sebesar tu, so plenty of room utk dijadikan store sementara.

Malam, pi cari makan kat gerai2 berdekatan. Redah je, bukan familiar pun tempat ni, tapi takde lah sesat. Sampai je kat tempat makan, berpusu-pusu brader-brader gerai tu melambai tangan, ajak duduk kat kedai masing-masing. Rimas gak, sebab semua orang pandang & tak tau nak pilih gerai mana. Lepas makan, tanya brader gerai tu kat mana kedai runcit terdekat, yelah peti ais besar dalam bilik kalau tak diisi takde maknanya. Brader tu tunjuk jalan lain, aku masuk jalan lain, tapi jumpa jugak akhirnya kedai yang dicari-cari. Rupanya kawasan gerai yg kami pegi makan tu dekat je dengan Dataran Bandaraya. Balik membeli-belah, sambung keje. Sebelum dozz off, seingat aku Meen sorang je yg ngadap PC, yg lain dah selamat belayar agaknye, termasuk aku.

Besar bilik ni

From different angle.

Submission Day

Selamat juga akhirnya. Cut off pukul 10:00am, we all deliver around 9:50am, sipi gak tapi secara fizikalnya, we all yg first submit. Thank you all for the effort. Yang blom tido, dah pon balik tido. Yang balik awal semalam, dah pun sampai ke office subuh-subuh tadi. Rasa ringan sikit kepala macam separuh beban hilang camtu je.

Lepas tu, lepak office sat check apa yang patut, around 12:00PM bertolak gi open house kat Kinrara dengan Bib & Echah. Echah siap terlentok lam kete, penat lah tu, mana taknya, mama dia keje, dia pon kena keje gak weekend .. Thanks to tuan rumah sbb jemput kami.

Baby gap, buah hati pengarang jantung tuan rumah

Byk tul koleksi fridge magnet tuan rumah ni, jeless!!

Countdown to Deadline - 1 day

One of the busiest day of the week. It's 10:30PM and I'm still at my work chair. Quite a few members of the clan stayed over tonite, Bib & Echah at the meeting room next door. Echah made more than few tawafs waiting for her mama to finish. Chuopa's ehem ehem join us waiting for him to finish his work. Farhan, Cdot & Erica are at the other end of the room, accompanied by tons of mp3 songs .. mostly oldies from Cdot's collections. Cik Ham at the other wing trying to settle out his international project SB.

My head spins & my stomach aches, but that rojak ayam was superb!, sehingga menjilat garpu. Nasib baik K.Shikeen teman gi Azhar Maju ... been craving for the rojak since the first time I've tasted it yesterday. I would give it a four star for being not to sweet and tasty. Sorry, no pictures to describe the look.

So much for today's entry, I'm outta the office. Ought to get some sleep and get pump up for tomorrow's chores. Roger n out.

Shocking news

I’m tired. The hassles and bustles towards 2007 really left me exhausted. I need a break, but I don’t think I will get it in this near future. I received a shocking SMS at 5:47am. A colleague caught up with an armed robbery at her parent’s house … maybe one of those muggers who were on the news lately. Lucky no one was hurt.

It’s nearly 1:00am, but I’m still searching my way through the CSS stylesheets. I ought to get a new template soon. I should have some sleep now, have an early meeting in the morning. Roger n out.