Through Different Eyes

Woke up yesterday feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck. No time to worry, though, had to get to Nilai by 8.00 a.m., and it was already seven! Rushed there and got to KUIM just in time to start the talk. Afterwards got fed and drove back. By this time my head was starting to ache real badly; so went home instead of straight to the office. Slept all the way through lunch and hobbled into the office without eating. Found I was completely useless in the office – I couldn’t even do the simplest tasks. The musty, cockroachy smell of the house was oppressive; the dim interior and watery light was horribly depressing. Time was ticking intolerably slowly (something that I would normally appreciate). In the end split just before five – I just couldn’t take it anymore.

At home slept some more. My fever was really high. Asked K Ayu to buy me bubur ayam. The thought of driving out to the ATM, then McD was just too much to bear. After eating, went up and crashed. Slept fitfully, though… Sigh. Got up at six to get myself a pot of tea. Had a bit of food and downed another 2 Panadols. Thankfully it got better by eight, so had no problems working today.

Was relieved the problem went away quickly. Tomorrow we’re leaving for Tekad, and I need to finalize a few things. There’s not much to worry about, but would be completely a bummer if I went there feeling like s***. However, in the evening it started up again. Aarggh! NOO!! Will go to the clinic tomorrow, hope I get better PDQ.

Boss was pretty unsymphatetic - siap perli2 lagi. Damn. FYI, I don't GET headaches, tqvm. Think I need to look around for another job. Working in a place where you get sick so often is not a good sign, even though you like the job and get along with the boss pretty well. Being sick freaks me out!

The interview I went to doesn’t seem to be promising (Shoot! And I was SO “highly recommended”…) Have applied to a few other places, but no interview calls yet. I do have another 8 months on this contract, so have to make full use of the time…

Horrorscope

Dear Azura,
Here is your horoscope
for Tuesday, June 27:

Outwardly, you may be the picture of confidence, but inwardly, you're shaking in your boots. It's time to cultivate a sense of faith. When you're ready to take the leap, the ground will be there to support you.


Eeps! This site is so spot on, it's scary!

Weekends - As It Should Be

Straightening out personal projects and chores.

Watching movies.

Tooling around on my bike. A swim.

Simple meals at home. Fruit from my own garden.

Sunday papers. Comics. Horoscopes. Crosswords.

Kittens taking time out to nap.



Me taking time out to nap.

Time spent with friends and/ or family.

Any combination of the above -> BLISS

Chore, Work, Job, Career…

Chore : Something that you’d usually rather not do, but needs to get done

Work : Something that needs effort to get done

Job : Employment that puts food on the table

Career : A path of jobs that should move in the direction you want it to

When we were kids, we had chores to do. It’s a lesson in taking care of things that need to be done, whether we like it or not. It can also be a lesson in bargaining for chores that you don’t mind doing in exchange of those that you do.

Later, we learn about work. Homework, part-time work, voluntary work, piano practice, sports practice… These are things that come with rewards, monetary or otherwise.

A job is what you try to get after graduation, or before. You want the money, you work for it. A job provides a platform for continuous income. You can be self-employed; it’s a job all the same.

A career makes sense of what you have been doing all this while. It defines your interests, strengths, skills, passion, commitment and direction. It’s like an embodiment of your soul…

Wisdom for Women No 1:
Never criticize your other half’s career choice, or work obligations. If you don’t like his job, get another partner. Never even imply that his job is not good enough for you. A man’s career is his life.

Wisdom for Women No 2:
Build your own career, be it General Manager, Teacher or Homemaker. It gives you a purpose in life.

We all know building a career is not so easy. There are obstacles all along the way, challenges at every turn. It’s not a one off thing; it’s a lifetime job, its history in the making. How you deal with these obstacles is what makes you a winner or a loser. In trying to move forward, you may have fears that mistakes in the past will jeopardize your future. Sometimes you are unsure of where you should turn.

But if I learnt anything all these years, it’s that if you give yourself enough time, put in your best efforts, and do things for the right reasons, insya-Allah, things will work out for the best. God bless :-)

Life is like...

...a jigsaw puzzle.

I'm sure everyone has done a jigsaw puzzle before. From the easy 10 piece puzzle to the great big 3000 piece one, you are sure to have encountered one some time in your life. The older you get, you tend to find yourself with more, increasingly tinier parts to piece together.

For sure, it's a time-consuming activity - this is the main reason I haven't dared touch one in years. Finding interlocking pieces that fit together correctly and filling in the blanks is never too easy. But it IS a lot of fun, especially if you have a deadline and a team to work on it. Acik, remember those inter-block contests we used to have? It was always an all-nighter and I'd conk out the next day, but it was so much fun I never failed to take part each year :-)

One basic trick of this game is to work on the edges first. You also compare the pieces to the picture on the box and hope to figure out where it goes. I like to divide the pieces into groups according to objects in the picture such as parts of a house, the fence, the fields, etc. Then we construct the parts and cobble them together.

Now imagine our life having parts like the puzzle. There is education, religion, family, relationships, work, so on and so forth. Each has its place in the whole. When a part is missing, the picture is incomplete.

Sometimes there are pieces that seem to fit but somehow look out of place. Or they may look like they belong there but the interlocks just refuse to click into place. Sometimes you get a set with pieces missing. Sometimes pieces disappear and you're left with a gaping hole where they should have been.

Like the game, we construct our life bit by bit. We know what should be our lives, and we try as much as we can to make the picture complete. Sometimes a piece that has been missing for a long time suddenly appears and makes a huge difference. Sometimes we are stumped and have to try our options one by one to find a suitable solution. In any case, we should not give up too fast, and patience often brings with it glory.

So friends, may we have patience in building our life, and may God bless our efforts with joy and beauty. Insya-Allah.

Lessons for a Sunday Aunty

Lesson No 1: Be ready for ANYTHING

Went over for breakfast at Abang's and subsequently got badgered by Anis to go toy shopping. Of course adik pun nak ikut... Since Abang was going to OU, decided to meet him at Toycity there. Kids went from "kereta Papa" to "kereta Ucu" and back to Papa again. In the end, both got in my car.

Got parking at the end of the old wing and walked all the way to Toycity in the new wing. Kids were happily running around in the way kids do... Got to Toycity and followed them as they browsed. Abang was still not there, he wanted to get some banking done.

Suddenly, Adik looked at me with a worried look, said something like 'nak cing..' and proceeded to pee standing up right there in the aisle of the toy shop.

I was flabbergasted...

Err... what do I do NOW? I had no tissues, no towel, nothing to deal with the expanding pool of water on the floor. Shoot. I didn't think to check if she was wearing diapers or take her to the toilet before leaving.

Gathered my wits, called Abang to advise him of the situation and apologised to one of the staffers who assured me it was ok, and went to get me an armful of toilet paper. Anis found some forgotten tissues too. Wiped Adik as best I could and put the rest of the tissues on the floor to stop the spread. Thank goodness it miraculously did not touch the goods...

The boy got a mop and bucket and started mopping up the pee. Sensing Abang would be a while coming, took Adik to the toilet, which was thankfully equipped with a changing station, complete with a sink. Assessed the damage, ascertained that only her skirt and undies were wet. Took them off and hosed her down, with Anis providing helpful tips.

Abang called and I updated him on what we needed. He went to buy a new skirt and undies while I dried Adik up and fashioned a makeshift 'skirt' from her jacket. Since we were more or less done, took them outside until Abang got there with clothes. Once done, we carried on with shopping and lunch.

~ Fast forward to the evening...

Attended Anuar's wedding reception in One Bangsar hall with Loretta and a slew of MNS comm members and staff. The bride's family was noticably larger than the groom's, but it was a beautiful wedding. The couple was lovely, food was good, the decorations and ceremony were nicely done. Lillian made an excellent co-MC and it was nice to see MNS people out of their grey and green 'uniform' for once. Congratulations to the happy couple, may you be blessed with a wonderful life together :-)

Just Screw It la...

Remember those cartoons of someone who is trying to write and discarding reams of paper in the trash? It’s a good way to illustrate a point, isn’t it?

Sometimes you’re trying to write something, and somehow you couldn’t make it work, no matter how hard you try. You twist and turn, edit and delete, scratch it and move chunks up and down. Sometimes you just hit a blank. Sometimes you finish something and upon re-reading it sounds so ridiculous you have no other option than to screw up the piece of paper, or delete the electronic file.

Or it could be a project you’re working on – a cake, a blouse, a shelf. It was a wonderful idea. This was going to turn out so right… It will be your piece de resistance…You equip yourself with good materials and tools. You get some instructions and tips from a pro. But somehow, along the way, you screw up. The thing doesn’t turn out the way you want it to be. Your cake sinks like a rock, your blouse ends up as a misshapen mess and your shelf is lopsided. Nothing you do can salvage the monstrous flop of your precious efforts.

The prudent thing would be to chuck the whole mess into the trash and forget about it. But sometimes you just can’t because you started out with material of sentimental value and to throw it out would be a shame… So you end up staring at a horrific mess that you wish would somehow turn out right, yet deep down, you know that that is one thing that will not happen. You could relegate it to the back of the store in the vain hope that someday a miracle would occur and the ugly duckling would transform into a beautiful swan. You know you should just say “Screw It!” and get rid of the monstrosity. Instead, you hem and haw, and come up with a million excuses to hang on to it when everyone is telling you to move on and get a life…

Never underestimate the power of sentiments, it rules your world with an iron fist…

Annoyed again...

Today must be one of those days reserved to test my patience. I think I failed.

It started in the morning when not 1, but 2 printers failed to print 5 pages of a simple Excel document. Needless to say, the papers were flying out of the printer to the floor, being printed on the wrong side, yada yada yada. And there was a new guy so of course I had to pretend to be nice instead of cussing to the other side of heaven...

The rest of the day went smoothly enough, except for me misplacing the number of someone I needed to call. Went home thinking of dinner, asked Abah to come over but he had to 'rewang'. Wanted to go over for dinner but found that he was not in Sg Buloh after Sri Damansara, but Sg Buloh near Kuala Selangor. Right...

Was in a bad enough temper thinking that I'd be having dinner alone, again, when after I alighted to open the gates, found that my dear car has decided to lock me out, engine running and all. Right. I knew it has a tendency to lock/ unlock itself at will (I suspect it's haunted), but it had never locked ME out before. Since I had the HOUSE keys, I went upstairs to get the spare. Unfortunately the doors refused to open. SH*T!! All my phone nos, phone, etc were in the car... Started kicking the car and tyres in the futile hope that somehow it would jar the lock open. Grabbed the house phone and since I can't remember anyone else's number, called Abang, for all the good it would do. Guess bitching out loud helps because I suddenly remembered that I had changed the lock last year, so I may be using the wrong key. Went back upstairs and found the OTHER spare key. Thank goodness it worked. Sheez, I had an almost full tank in there. Imagine watching it all burn in vain when petrol is so expensive!!

Parked, booted laptop, and failed to connect to Streamyx. Seems something's wrong with my modem. Is it? Or something's wrong with the computer because yesterday it did connect without any problems. Used the standby Jaring to go online and check if my cheque has cleared and somehow failed to connect to Maybank2U. Tried enough times to get my account blocked - thank you very much. I don't know what the **** is going on. I log on every other week, once a month at least, and now I forgot the password?? What gives??? Urgh...

So now I'm bitching to the blog, I wonder if anyone ever stops by anymore because the place has been as quiet as death lately. Sigh. I know, people have better things to do... No offense, peeps, I really need to vent. My usual venting hotline has been unavailable - probably overseas or outstation. Of course I wasn't informed, I'm hardly on the need-to-know list. Shoot. I'd better stop now before I contract another case of foot-in-mouth disease...

Have a good weekend peeps. I may decide to sleep for 3 days straight.