So the cut isn't that bad after all. Didn't need any stitches and it stopped hurting. I hope it heals quickly thought. With the dry air here its always so hard for my cuts to heal quickly. My skin gets dry and peels and ugh.. I end up with scars!
Anyway, that's nothing major.
Today I found out at work that one of the newbies finally went to the manager to complain about a co-worker who was supposed to be a mentor. The mentor I have to admit is really loud and sometimes rude. I've been observing her u know? She comes across as a person who wants attention and wants to feel important. She'll get involved in any little thing that needs to be done and she's very generous with stating her mind. She has these comments.... you know the kind that kinda makes you wonder if she really is joking. It's kind of on the borderline of being rude. I see the other people in the team and some of them say something in return but she will always have the last word. But after 4 of 5 rounds of 'smart' comments you either ignore her or she'll turn to someone else and say that you were butting into her business or she was just being nice by having a conversation. Let's just say she thinks putting you down is humorous.
Anyway, she hasn't been helping the newbie be a better worker and she's had these comments that make you feel like you're being put down. And newbie reported to the manager. I wonder what effect it'll have on the mentor-mentee relationship. Apparently mentor apologized but said that she was just being professional by stating her mind and how the team we work in is the kind that blabbers comments like she does. Ho boy....
It makes me feel lucky to have my mentor who's very encouraging and is willing to share her knowledge with me. She'll tease at times, but it doesn't come across as rude. And she does it moderately too, so I don't care. After all it can't be too serious a working relationship.
I just wonder why the manager never addressed the situation in the team before. The way I see it, he lets all the people under him push him around. Maybe it's a joke but I was surprised as how easy he gave into the teasing that the other team members gave him. In fact, my newbie friend said that the manager had put her with the mentor to work together because he knew newbie could put mentor in her place. Wow... how caring can the manager be to put a new person into the team to put someone else who's been in the team a lot longer in her place? I thought that was the manager's job. What's the point of him knowing the situation if he can't control his own subordinates. It makes me really worried.
I'm just going to continue observing and see what happens.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Sliced my finger
Hmph... I'm so smart. Thought I could use a blunt knife to get the seed of an avocado out. You know, how those pro chefs do it... You slice the avocado in half, hit the pit with your knife, twist your knife to loosen the pit and walah.... you now have a pitless avocado. See here for pictures and more info.
But I was so stupid to use my blunt knife and so the knife slipped right off the pit, and landed onto my thumb. Cut up a clean deep cut in my skin I did. And I'm a sissy.. I'm such a sissy when it comes to blood and cuts. So what did I do? I screamed and put my finger under running water and closed my eyes. Hubby came out of the study room and saw my finger. Took a band-aid and just covered it up while I felt queasy and like I was about to pass out. The blood continued to soak the band aid and so hubby asked me to keep my hand above my head. That made me even more queasy that I thought I was going to black out.
That was last night. And this morning as I changed the band-aid I saw that the cut didn't really dry up as I thought it would. I wanted to put minyak gamat (my mom had supplied me with the miracle ointment before I left for the US) but hubby said not to infect it with it. Hmph.....
Ah well, the normal accidents of a lady in the kitchen isn't it? I can't tell you how many scars I have from the hot oils, tiny nicks and scratches from all the cooking and cleaning in the kitchen.
But I was so stupid to use my blunt knife and so the knife slipped right off the pit, and landed onto my thumb. Cut up a clean deep cut in my skin I did. And I'm a sissy.. I'm such a sissy when it comes to blood and cuts. So what did I do? I screamed and put my finger under running water and closed my eyes. Hubby came out of the study room and saw my finger. Took a band-aid and just covered it up while I felt queasy and like I was about to pass out. The blood continued to soak the band aid and so hubby asked me to keep my hand above my head. That made me even more queasy that I thought I was going to black out.
That was last night. And this morning as I changed the band-aid I saw that the cut didn't really dry up as I thought it would. I wanted to put minyak gamat (my mom had supplied me with the miracle ointment before I left for the US) but hubby said not to infect it with it. Hmph.....
Ah well, the normal accidents of a lady in the kitchen isn't it? I can't tell you how many scars I have from the hot oils, tiny nicks and scratches from all the cooking and cleaning in the kitchen.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Gunshots in the night
Never would I have imagined myself waking up in the middle of the night to the sounds of gunshots. I thought it only happens in the movies. Or at least, in a more dangerous part of town.
Last night I couldn't sleep. I had too much coffee and was struggling to calm my over-active brain activities so that I could get some shut eye. The bedroom window was open to let some cool air into our warm room. It was quiet outside. Then I heard some shouting in the distance followed by 3 popping noises. It sounded like firecrackers but my mind kept saying that it could possibly be gunshots. "Did you hear that?" I asked hubby. Then we heard two more popping sounds. "Were those gunshots?!". Hubby got out of bed and looked out the window. Not like he would get such a great view anyway. Our window overlooks the driving range and then another apartment complex. Behind the apartment complex are all the shops, restaurants and cinema in the area. He swore it was firecrackers and he got back into bed. But as soon as he did that I heard sirens. "It was gunshots! Can you hear the sirens?". Oh yeah, it was quite obvious they were sirens. But it sounded like it went past the general area where we live. So we ignored it. But then came more sirens and we strained to listen if it would also pass where we were or if it would get louder. Then hubby heard an ambulance siren. We scrambled back out of bed to take a look outside. Sometimes if you're lucky you can see the main street that people take to go to the shops that are hidden behind the neighboring apartment complex. And sure enough, we saw two glowing red lights flashing from the right side of the main road. And then we saw another from the other side of the road. If it weren't for the flashing lights we wouldn't have been able to see anything. The road is about 5 minutes drive from where we live. So it wasn't all that close. But we saw the flashing lights getting closer to us, as if the cars were entering the inner roads that lead to the neighboring apartment complex. And the flashing lights came from different directions. Hubby was sure that they were either chasing someone or trying to surround the people they were trying to catch.
First thought that went in my mind was woah... that's really close. I hope no one's hurt. And then the second thought was "That's an amazing response time!!". It must've been only 2 minutes since I heard the first shot and already the police and ambulance were close to the scene. I wanted to go back to sleep coz I was pretty confident that whatever drama that was going on would be over soon. But hubby coaxed me into taking a drive to see what the incident was about. Never will the 'menyibuk' characteristic of a true blood melayu be thrown away.
So we rushed downstairs, got in the car and drove out of the apartment complex towards the shops. As soon as we passed the neighboring apartment complex, we saw 5 police cars surrounding a normal looking green colored car - blocking off the road. A policeman was talking to someone in the driver seat of the car. And all the police cars had their headlights shining on the green car.There was a junction just before the group of police cars, so we turned into that junction only to find another group of police cars surrounding two other normal cars. This time I saw two black guys face down on the ground with their hands behind their heads. It didn't look like anyone was injured. And again all the lights of the police car and the ambulance was shining on the cars and the guys on the ground. We drove by pretty slowly to take a good look and hubby actually asked if I had brought my camera so that we could take pictures. (Ok, menyibuk giler!!!). But no, I didn't have my camera coz we left in such a rush. We went around the block to take a look again at the scene and then drove back home.
The weird thing about the whole incident though, is that I don't feel worried or scared at all that such an incident happened pretty close to where we live. The fact is that this is a safe area. The most a police had to do was pull someone over for speeding in a residence area. The speed limit is 70kph. Anyone going 80kph on the stretch of main road would surely be pulled over by the police. Most kids who hang out by the cinema and go to the retail stores around the area come from pretty well to do families. We hardly see any gathering of young people that look like they're up to no good. Hardly ever hear of burglaries nor cars getting broken into. Not unlike the downtown area where I went to university. I'd hear about muggings almost everyday and I had friends whose house were broken into and I had a friend whose car window was smashed for no apparent reason. The area we're in is very safe and so hubby and I have deduced that the people who were involved in the incident yesterday were not from this area. And the police response was amazing that if anything similar were to happen, the people involved would be caught right away.
So that's my interesting thing to blog about this week. Other than that, things have been pretty boring. Work is getting more realistic and people are starting to talk about the 'bad side' of working there. Unlike when I was interviewing when everything that I was told is only good. I do think though, that the things people are complaining about are normal everyday things other people in other work environments complain about - you know, the management, lazy co-workers and the like. So nothing new there.
Last night I couldn't sleep. I had too much coffee and was struggling to calm my over-active brain activities so that I could get some shut eye. The bedroom window was open to let some cool air into our warm room. It was quiet outside. Then I heard some shouting in the distance followed by 3 popping noises. It sounded like firecrackers but my mind kept saying that it could possibly be gunshots. "Did you hear that?" I asked hubby. Then we heard two more popping sounds. "Were those gunshots?!". Hubby got out of bed and looked out the window. Not like he would get such a great view anyway. Our window overlooks the driving range and then another apartment complex. Behind the apartment complex are all the shops, restaurants and cinema in the area. He swore it was firecrackers and he got back into bed. But as soon as he did that I heard sirens. "It was gunshots! Can you hear the sirens?". Oh yeah, it was quite obvious they were sirens. But it sounded like it went past the general area where we live. So we ignored it. But then came more sirens and we strained to listen if it would also pass where we were or if it would get louder. Then hubby heard an ambulance siren. We scrambled back out of bed to take a look outside. Sometimes if you're lucky you can see the main street that people take to go to the shops that are hidden behind the neighboring apartment complex. And sure enough, we saw two glowing red lights flashing from the right side of the main road. And then we saw another from the other side of the road. If it weren't for the flashing lights we wouldn't have been able to see anything. The road is about 5 minutes drive from where we live. So it wasn't all that close. But we saw the flashing lights getting closer to us, as if the cars were entering the inner roads that lead to the neighboring apartment complex. And the flashing lights came from different directions. Hubby was sure that they were either chasing someone or trying to surround the people they were trying to catch.
First thought that went in my mind was woah... that's really close. I hope no one's hurt. And then the second thought was "That's an amazing response time!!". It must've been only 2 minutes since I heard the first shot and already the police and ambulance were close to the scene. I wanted to go back to sleep coz I was pretty confident that whatever drama that was going on would be over soon. But hubby coaxed me into taking a drive to see what the incident was about. Never will the 'menyibuk' characteristic of a true blood melayu be thrown away.
So we rushed downstairs, got in the car and drove out of the apartment complex towards the shops. As soon as we passed the neighboring apartment complex, we saw 5 police cars surrounding a normal looking green colored car - blocking off the road. A policeman was talking to someone in the driver seat of the car. And all the police cars had their headlights shining on the green car.There was a junction just before the group of police cars, so we turned into that junction only to find another group of police cars surrounding two other normal cars. This time I saw two black guys face down on the ground with their hands behind their heads. It didn't look like anyone was injured. And again all the lights of the police car and the ambulance was shining on the cars and the guys on the ground. We drove by pretty slowly to take a good look and hubby actually asked if I had brought my camera so that we could take pictures. (Ok, menyibuk giler!!!). But no, I didn't have my camera coz we left in such a rush. We went around the block to take a look again at the scene and then drove back home.
The weird thing about the whole incident though, is that I don't feel worried or scared at all that such an incident happened pretty close to where we live. The fact is that this is a safe area. The most a police had to do was pull someone over for speeding in a residence area. The speed limit is 70kph. Anyone going 80kph on the stretch of main road would surely be pulled over by the police. Most kids who hang out by the cinema and go to the retail stores around the area come from pretty well to do families. We hardly see any gathering of young people that look like they're up to no good. Hardly ever hear of burglaries nor cars getting broken into. Not unlike the downtown area where I went to university. I'd hear about muggings almost everyday and I had friends whose house were broken into and I had a friend whose car window was smashed for no apparent reason. The area we're in is very safe and so hubby and I have deduced that the people who were involved in the incident yesterday were not from this area. And the police response was amazing that if anything similar were to happen, the people involved would be caught right away.
So that's my interesting thing to blog about this week. Other than that, things have been pretty boring. Work is getting more realistic and people are starting to talk about the 'bad side' of working there. Unlike when I was interviewing when everything that I was told is only good. I do think though, that the things people are complaining about are normal everyday things other people in other work environments complain about - you know, the management, lazy co-workers and the like. So nothing new there.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Kids
I thought I had a good handle on my emotions when it came to living so far away in a foreign country. I have established a stable home and created a pleasant life for me here. Things are going well and it makes me happy. But once in a while I come across pictures of friends and family in KL and I feel almost a pang of envy. I feel so left out and disconnected from the life that's going on over there. It hits me really hard and always unexpectedly. I yearn to be a part of the lives of my friends and family but at the same time I don't want to let go of the life I have here. I worked so hard to make it as good as it is and I don't want it to disappear.
Today I found a friend's blog. I haven't kept in touch with her for a while but I've heard that she's married and has a one year old daughter. On her blog she posted pictures of herself and her daughter and the things they've been doing. One of the albums was of her meeting up with other friends who all had children too. They were my classmates in school and it was just an outing to a restaurant. But all of them brought their children. I didn't know that some of them had children and seeing the pictures of all of them just made me feel like I've been left out somehow. I mean, it's not like they're my best friends u know? And even if I were in Malaysia I wouldn't be hanging out with them on a constant basis. But it was amazing looking at the smiles, the laughters and the playful moments the children all had with each other and their mothers. I want that. I want to be able to share my moments with my friends that I grew up with. I want to attend a birthday party for a child of a friend of mine. I want to be able to bring my child to that party and to interact with all the people that are familiar to me.
Even if I were to have a child here, I'll never be able to have the whole 'let's have a party and invite all our friends and their kids too' occasion. Even if we had a group of people that we would do that with, it will never ever be comparable to celebrate and live life with the familiar faces back in KL. At times like this, I wish hubby and I were living in Malaysia and enjoying the sunshine, the family members, the friends and the whole KL culture that sometimes we complain about.
Hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri..... (you fill in the blanks).
Today I found a friend's blog. I haven't kept in touch with her for a while but I've heard that she's married and has a one year old daughter. On her blog she posted pictures of herself and her daughter and the things they've been doing. One of the albums was of her meeting up with other friends who all had children too. They were my classmates in school and it was just an outing to a restaurant. But all of them brought their children. I didn't know that some of them had children and seeing the pictures of all of them just made me feel like I've been left out somehow. I mean, it's not like they're my best friends u know? And even if I were in Malaysia I wouldn't be hanging out with them on a constant basis. But it was amazing looking at the smiles, the laughters and the playful moments the children all had with each other and their mothers. I want that. I want to be able to share my moments with my friends that I grew up with. I want to attend a birthday party for a child of a friend of mine. I want to be able to bring my child to that party and to interact with all the people that are familiar to me.
Even if I were to have a child here, I'll never be able to have the whole 'let's have a party and invite all our friends and their kids too' occasion. Even if we had a group of people that we would do that with, it will never ever be comparable to celebrate and live life with the familiar faces back in KL. At times like this, I wish hubby and I were living in Malaysia and enjoying the sunshine, the family members, the friends and the whole KL culture that sometimes we complain about.
Hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri..... (you fill in the blanks).
Friday, March 09, 2007
The other person
The day I started work, I wasn't the only new person. There were a few others. We were seriously guided throughout the first few weeks. And even now, after almost a month of work, we haven't been given that much independence in terms of getting our work done. Every piece of code, every piece of digital document that we touch is looked over by a senior member of the team. I have no problems with that. I was quite surprised, sure, coz I always thought most companies throw a new person into the pool to see how capable they are of staying afloat. You know, they try to gauge your knowledge and see if you need some guidance or not. If you don't, they normally challenge you with work that's not as easy as someone who would need the guidance from the very beginning. But no, this is not how it works in this team that I'm in. You're literally guided every step of the way. And once again, I have absolutely no problem with that. In fact, I kind of like it. Go figure.
The thing is, this other new member of the team can't stand having his hand held throughout the process. He's young and smart and isn't finding the work at all what he expected. He says it's too easy. In fact, he's quite appalled that someone is looking over his shoulder whenever he's assigned some work. He laughs at the type of projects that need to get done and he's already looking for another job to transfer to.
He talks about all this everyday to me. And I can't identify with the frustrations he has. I mean, sure its easy work and all that, but he has to have some sort of respect for the people who've been here way before he has. And he needs to be more thankful for the fact that he was even offered a job in the first place. But whenever I try to point out the positives in his situation, he says he's not complaining.... but ugghh.. kinda sounds like it don't you think? Anyway, he's complained about everything. About how he can't believe he has to pay so much for tax, about how horrible the weather is, about how little work there is to do, about how little regard he has for his mentor... on and on the list goes. It's just sad that he can forget how hard it was for him to interview for the job and how with the degree that he has, he's really being paid more than what the other people on the team are. I just wish he had more appreciation for the opportunities that have been given to him. Tak tahan lah... asyik complain memanjang.
When I think back, I believe I would feel the same way he does. Maybe I'm just a little bit older now and I can appreciate the laid back style that this company has. I've been through the 7 day a week 10 hours a day job and I've been through the keeping myself afloat since no one has time to guide me through the business processes of a job. I've been there, done that and I'm happy for the experience that I had. And now I'm happy for the laid back style of the job and I'm happy with the salary that I'm getting paid. I sure hope this guy doesn't bring me down with him when he can't stop complaining about his first ever full time job.
The thing is, this other new member of the team can't stand having his hand held throughout the process. He's young and smart and isn't finding the work at all what he expected. He says it's too easy. In fact, he's quite appalled that someone is looking over his shoulder whenever he's assigned some work. He laughs at the type of projects that need to get done and he's already looking for another job to transfer to.
He talks about all this everyday to me. And I can't identify with the frustrations he has. I mean, sure its easy work and all that, but he has to have some sort of respect for the people who've been here way before he has. And he needs to be more thankful for the fact that he was even offered a job in the first place. But whenever I try to point out the positives in his situation, he says he's not complaining.... but ugghh.. kinda sounds like it don't you think? Anyway, he's complained about everything. About how he can't believe he has to pay so much for tax, about how horrible the weather is, about how little work there is to do, about how little regard he has for his mentor... on and on the list goes. It's just sad that he can forget how hard it was for him to interview for the job and how with the degree that he has, he's really being paid more than what the other people on the team are. I just wish he had more appreciation for the opportunities that have been given to him. Tak tahan lah... asyik complain memanjang.
When I think back, I believe I would feel the same way he does. Maybe I'm just a little bit older now and I can appreciate the laid back style that this company has. I've been through the 7 day a week 10 hours a day job and I've been through the keeping myself afloat since no one has time to guide me through the business processes of a job. I've been there, done that and I'm happy for the experience that I had. And now I'm happy for the laid back style of the job and I'm happy with the salary that I'm getting paid. I sure hope this guy doesn't bring me down with him when he can't stop complaining about his first ever full time job.
Monday, March 05, 2007
*grin*
Ok... ok.. I haven't updated my blog in a while now. Everytime I thought about writing I've had to abandon the idea and attend to something else that pops up. It's pretty hard to take the time to sit down and write a proper entry since I've started working. The main reason of course is coz so many 'entertainment' websites are banned at work so I can't even get onto the blogger site. The other reason is that when I'm at home, I have to tend to hubby and the house. But right now I'm back early from work, the rice is cooking, the dishes ready to be heated up and hubby isn't home from work yet. So here's my chance to write!
So nothing much has been happening. Work is moving along at a very easy going pace. I can grasp all the concepts very quickly and boy, does my mentor set really low expectations for me. I kinda wonder why. I know some of the people on my team are those that are somewhat older and arrived at their position through hard work and by climbing the corporate ladder. Some of them don't even have degrees. It kinda makes me wonder how hard the job really can be. I mean, no lah... I'm not boasting about the fact that I have higher qualifications in terms of formal education, but.... it's one of those jobs that anyone can learn if they really try hard u know? I've told myself... don't complain.... don't complain... In fact I should be thankful. I'm getting paid really well and my benefits are great too... If this is what the stress level is going to be for the rest of my working career, I have nothing to complain about.
Think about it.... if I get pregnant anytime soon, I'm soooo not going to worry about how to juggle my time between work and taking care of myself. And I'm certainly not going to worry about having to stay at work past 5pm to get home and be with my future children. It's a really great place to be to juggle a career and be a mom and wife. And for that I'm really thankful.
So, my team is made up of about oh, I think 13 people including me. There's a guy from France, a girl from China and me who make up the 'foreigners'. Then there's two black ladies (you will not believe how kepoh they are and how different the blacks talk compared to the whites!). Then there's 2 Caucasian ladies, and 6 Caucasian guys. All of them are married except for the French dude. Our manager is South African and is a really nice guy. He's kinda funny sometimes. He'll say the weirdest things about meeting up with him or holding a meeting. Not a typical manager. I kind of get along with the French dude the best only coz he started the same day as I did. Then the other people are friendly to some degree. But most of them are older than me so the types of jokes are somewhat different. I do feel more comfortable talking about families and children with this group of ppl compared to the friends I had in uni who were mostly single and about 2 years younger than me. And as I said, the work itself isn't very hard at all. So far I'm happy.
Well, thats' that.... work I mean. That's all I have to say really. Nuthing much happens so I don't have too much to say about it.
Oops there's hubby back home from work. Better go and tend to him now. I sure miss reading blogs now that I can't access them from home. But if you're still visiting me here, I thank you!
So nothing much has been happening. Work is moving along at a very easy going pace. I can grasp all the concepts very quickly and boy, does my mentor set really low expectations for me. I kinda wonder why. I know some of the people on my team are those that are somewhat older and arrived at their position through hard work and by climbing the corporate ladder. Some of them don't even have degrees. It kinda makes me wonder how hard the job really can be. I mean, no lah... I'm not boasting about the fact that I have higher qualifications in terms of formal education, but.... it's one of those jobs that anyone can learn if they really try hard u know? I've told myself... don't complain.... don't complain... In fact I should be thankful. I'm getting paid really well and my benefits are great too... If this is what the stress level is going to be for the rest of my working career, I have nothing to complain about.
Think about it.... if I get pregnant anytime soon, I'm soooo not going to worry about how to juggle my time between work and taking care of myself. And I'm certainly not going to worry about having to stay at work past 5pm to get home and be with my future children. It's a really great place to be to juggle a career and be a mom and wife. And for that I'm really thankful.
So, my team is made up of about oh, I think 13 people including me. There's a guy from France, a girl from China and me who make up the 'foreigners'. Then there's two black ladies (you will not believe how kepoh they are and how different the blacks talk compared to the whites!). Then there's 2 Caucasian ladies, and 6 Caucasian guys. All of them are married except for the French dude. Our manager is South African and is a really nice guy. He's kinda funny sometimes. He'll say the weirdest things about meeting up with him or holding a meeting. Not a typical manager. I kind of get along with the French dude the best only coz he started the same day as I did. Then the other people are friendly to some degree. But most of them are older than me so the types of jokes are somewhat different. I do feel more comfortable talking about families and children with this group of ppl compared to the friends I had in uni who were mostly single and about 2 years younger than me. And as I said, the work itself isn't very hard at all. So far I'm happy.
Well, thats' that.... work I mean. That's all I have to say really. Nuthing much happens so I don't have too much to say about it.
Oops there's hubby back home from work. Better go and tend to him now. I sure miss reading blogs now that I can't access them from home. But if you're still visiting me here, I thank you!
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