5S....!!

Last Friday we were on an office trip to Mindef, the legal dept, to witness and learn about 5S. It was a good trip i think. Now they see what it's all about with their own eyes and can then think of how it could be implemented in our office. It was nice meeting up with all my former officers and staffs as well. Thank you all..!!! Hope we'll have a chance to meet up again...!!

The interlude before the visit was quite nice too..!! We parked at setiawangsa LRT station and make our way to masjid jamek where the ladies had time to purchase some stuffs (including me.. haha).. For some of them it was their first trip on an LRT too..

Laksa buyong bukit gantang

One of my favourite food in Perak. Never missed it if it's on my way. Kadang-kadang sengaja make my way there so i could singgah and have a bowl... It's really delicious..!! Not at all like Kole Kangsar's laksa which is rather light (jernih) and bland. Laksa buyong Bkt Gantang's kuah is thick and full of flavour.. u can even add cili padi and limau for taste.. The laksa is of course hand-made and is called laksa pulas.. smaller than the ones sold dekat kedai. I took nadiah with me to show her the place and she loved it too..!! Next two weeks, i'll be in Kole Kangsar and Taiping.. boleh singgah and makan lagi...!!

Aarrgghh!!!

Here i am... at the office still.. i don't feel good... aching all over... i think i'm going to get a fever... you can only push yourself so far before the body will protest... Apalagi ngko yang memang sakit tapi tak take care of urself..!

Benci laa HQ ni... ntah apa-apa yg nak dibuatnyer... nak dapat 5star, soh orang buat lapuran online bla bla bla... Dorang tak realise ke keying-in data tu makan lebih banyak masa dari menulis....???

Technology, in this case IT does not make things easier.... it takes up more time, more energy.. time and energy better spent actually minuting files and writing reports...

Tak larat seh.....

Lost in Translation

I finally did it..!! went and attended the translation course in ITNM. It reinforced my fondness of the subject. I would really like to do translation work.. well part-time for now.. just to maintain and improve the skill. Who knows, i may be able to do it full time in the near future.. freelancing...working from home... that would be great.. Doing what u like and getting paid for it..!

Met some nice people on the course. Sat with a doctor who was sent by his boss and he is required to come up with medical terminologies later.. Nice chap. A datin who was also a golfer (a good one too, i heard) and her son who went MIA after the 1st week. There was a meeting of a variety of backgrounds and specialities, we even had a young lady and man with Arab language and literature in the group. All in all, a satisfying experience and something i hope to continue soon with real work...!

Updates:
Well.. i've passed the exam...!! Not cemerlang, but only kepujian la... but alhamdulillah... i actually scored not in legal translation but in mass comm..! Maybe i should be a journalist instead.. haha..

Malay-counter movement?/ Pergerakan Melayu Alternatif?

This from Lim Kit Siang's blog here. Here's the source - Bakri Musa's take on it. How very cunning and slick..... I know why Uncle Lim is supporting it. Actually a movement that will promote DAP's middle malaysia aka malaysian malaysia policy. What it really wants to do is create an apologetic and guilt-ridden group of Malays to question the privileges provided under the Federal Constitution. Kononnya mereka tak perlu bantuan DEB. Sudah la.. kalau korang kaya pun, semuanya ada direct and indirect consequences of DEB.

Abih Cina-cina kaya tu seme on their own ke? They directly and indirectly get the benefit of DEB also okay.... Tak yah la nak berlagak as if korang tak dapat apa-apa. What you really want is MORE than what you are already getting.. dasar KIASU..

The reason why Malays are still lagging behind in economy? One of them is because middle-men, wholesalers, suppliers, manufacturers of goods and services in this country is still controlled by Chinese and their powerful connections. So Malays can start a business, produce crops etc but if they cannot get supplies, have no one to accept their produce... how will they survive..?

True.. its the implementation of NEP that is a major weakness of the policy.. so.. research that la kalau u ikhlas. Tak payah nak cakap bende basi pasal corruption etc.. kalau korang tak ade offer, takde acceptance k.. Siapa beneficiaries of cronyism yang ko sebok tu? Tengok list 10 orang paling kaya kat Malaysia nih.. Siapa yang tidak directly or indirectly benefit from the policy yang korang kutuk tu?

That was then...

This is a picture of an abandoned Felcra house (picked it up from flicker photos - tq). For those who don't know, Felcra is similar in purpose and function to Felda, a bigger and maybe better run agency. Both was in the news recently when the court ordered them to pay settlers millions of ringgit for buying latex or palm fruits at lower than market value.

This could be my family's house nearly 48 years ago... My parents and some of my older siblings would have just arrived at the settlement and starting a new life. I wasn't born until a few years later. The place would have been more forest than village.. tempat jin bertendang..!! Stories from my father and the elders in the village would have confirmed that too!!

I remember faintly that our house is built on stilts, there's a verandah and staircase where we would be sitting about, lepaking in the evening, watching the days and people go by. The place was cool in the day time but got really cold at night.. You can imagine how cold it is when we would have to reheat the coconut oil before we can use it for cooking in the morning..!! We were poor then... but i dont remember the struggle or the pain of being poor. Kids are so resillient... I only remember the fun, happiness and utter peace of the days gone by.. Playing around the kampung, dalam semak, belukar... running around in my underpants made of guni tepung cap kunci hahaha..!!

Those were the days... such carefree lives.... only on hindsight would i understand the tense atmosphere, the sadness in my mother's or father's eyes, or the small quarrels between my older sisters before they went up to my neighbour's house.... the embarrasment they must have felt having to borrow rice from them to feed us....My older brothers have to work to help ease my parents burden...

Thank you mak & abah.., along, angah, kak adoik, kak imot, kak zah, kak yot, kak itit, bang man.., my pesky little sister ina.. We would never be able to go back to the times.. but truly, i've never felt more happy, safe and loved than during those times... We were materially poor, but so rich in love and happiness..

Happy Birthday to me....!!

The office threw a surprise birthday party of sorts for me today. That was nice of them. A beautiful bouquet and some gifts for me and the others who also celebrates their birthday in January and February. Nice food and smiling faces around... makes up nicely for being away from home and family. Thank you all for the nice party and thank you to all the well-wishers... You made my day!!!