9 November 2007
Busy sangat harini. Di sebelah pagi ada meeting dengan satu association ni… petang pulak ada meeting dengan this guy yg beria-ia nak jumpa sebab ada hal besar katanya. Takde issue pun sebenarnya dia ni…hampeh. Habis appointment dengan this guy, bergegas to clear my in tray + kena buat several calls to resolve some issues.
Tadi, lunch pun keluar lambat. Dah pukul 1 pm lebih. Ke Masjid India je jawabnya. Then bergegas balik lunch kat Kupang.
Nampak gayanya harini pun aku gagal lagi turun gym. Nasib baik hari Ahad ni dah janji nak main badminton dengan gang biasa.
Sebab aku ada lagi outstanding work yang perlu diselesaikan malam ni, I decided to go for early dinner (yang tak berapa early ni) and to come back to office after that.
Before aku keluar dinner, aku called Mr Tan dulu, aku punya dedicated taxi driver. Besok nak kena pegi Sunway Lagoon pagi-pagi buta. Nasib baik Mr Tan free besok.
Aku ajak si RS dinner. Cepat je dia setuju sebab dia pun nak keluar hantar images to be printed kat Pertama Complex. Lepas pegi Pertama, aku ngan RS ke Gerai di bangunan Mara tu. Tetiba aku teringin pulak nak makan nasi lemak daun pisang kat situ. Katanya, berlaukkan sambal telur dan ikian bilis. Aku dengan RS pun ambik lah sorang satu. But of course, takkan nak makan itu aje… mau kebulur malam karang. So we ordered bubur nasi as well + ABC.
Nasi lemak tu rasanya OK… tapi yg karutnye tu… adake ikan bilis dia ala-ala sprinkle kat atas je…? Dia ingat daun bawang ke? Memanglah cepat kaya kalau bisnes macam ni.
After dinner, aku balik ke office and sambung keje sampai 10 lebih. Sampai rumah dah dekat 11:30 p.m. Besok nak kena bangun awal pulak… Alahai!
The Age of Turbulence
8 November 2007
First of all, let me apologise to Alan Greenspan for borrowing the title of his latest book "The Age of Turbulence" as the title of my entry today... sorry ye Pak.
Secondly, allow me to wish all of you Muslim readers "SALAM AIDILFITRI 1428 HIJRAH". I know it's already late, but I was just too busy managing mini turbulence in my life.
Thirdly, Happy Deepavali to those celebrating this "Festival of Light," where the lights or lamps signify the uplighting of darkness and victory of good over the evil within.
Okay... Let me begin.
It has been more than a month since I last updated my blog. Life has been challenging, but interesting, as I transitioned to a new portfolio in October. Since then, my schedule has been hectic. As a Director of a department, this new job comes with added responsibility and accountability. Nevertheless, as we approached the end of Ramadhan in the first and second week of October, I still managed to take a break and have fun attending numerous buka puasa get-together with friends and colleagues. Raya came and passed by quickly as I only balik kampung for 2 days. Then , I flew to Washington DC on fourth raya for a series of meetings at the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Post US trip, I've been busy with work (meetings, brainstorming sessions, etc). As a result, this blog was left unattended, 'bersawang' sudah sekian lama.
Today's entry aims to resuscitate my blogging practice and I hope this time around this practice will last...he he. For the past 1 month banyak juga lah benda yang berlaku. Penghujung bulan puasa dihabiskan dengan berbuka puasa with friends...Tamarind Springs would have been my favorite buka puasa venue for the year if not for its 1 major weakness; kat situ takde surau! You would need to drive all the way to the nearest masjid for Maghrib. How leceh was that? Nevertheless, the ambience was superb and I truly enjoyed myself in the company of RM, NAMN, AAA & wife, and HA. Other memorable buka puasa events include the one at Bora Asmara with RS, NA, NM, MZ and NAAR. We also celebrated NA's 28th birthday (ekh ke yg ke 27?). I bought her a set of goodies from Crabtree and Evelyn. On that night, RS also made an important announcement regarding his future... semoga berbahagia lah hendaknya.
Initially, I was planning to 'balik kampung' early considering that aku akan ke US on raya ke-4. Unfortunately, I was required to attend a meeting on 11 October. Sekian lah jawabnya. Flight tickets on 12 October ke Alor Setar pulak semua dah habis. Memang hanj. The only ticket left is on 13 October at 2 p.m. which is on the raya day itself. Mau tak mau, beli jelah...kang tak beraya pulak. Return tickets to Alor Setar nowadays costs RM472. Tu tak termasuk taxi from rumah ke airport and airport ke rumah both kat KL and Perlis. So all in all, transportation costs alone dah RM700 lebih... It will definitely be cheaper kalau pakai kereta sendiri. Maybe it's time to get myself a car... (some of you will be happy to hear this :)
On the last day of Ramadhan, aku berbuka puasa kat Ratu Sari...errr ke Sari Ratu? Located in Bukit Bintang. Dengan sape lagi, if not HA. By this time semua orang yg dah berkeluarga would have balik kampung...so tinggal kengkawan bujang je lah yang sanggup nak gi buka puasa buffet and using-pusing kat area Bukit Bintang tu. I wanted to do last minute shopping, cari baju raya, sebab I had not done any shopping lagi this Ramadhan. Tapi, I only managed to buy 1 white shirt for Raya. Nampak suci sikit la (poyo) ... baju melayu yang aku nak beli tak muat pulak seluarnya... dah tau XXL still berangan nak beli ready made baju melayu...I rest my case. Kasut Lacoste yang aku nak pun takde size... malang betul. Ended up beli SDs ajee...... (SD = barang yang dipakai di badan, tapi orang tak nampak)
HA and RM were kind enough to invite me beraya kat rumah diaorang. Tapi aku segan sikit lah nak ke rumah RM, di pagi2 raya pulak tu. Ke rumah HA ok sikit sebab aku kenal some of the family members. Lagipun, by 11:30 am, I should leave for the airport. So I accepted invitation from HA. Keesokan harinya tatkala orang sibuk bersembahyang raya... aku pulak sibuk mengemas baju untuk balik kampung. HA datang jemput aku at about 10 am untuk beraya di rumahnya. Siap ada nasi beriani bagai...makan besar aku pagi tu. Lepas tu HA and his brother hantar aku ke KLIA. Jalan jam ya amat.... nasib baik tak terlepas flight...or else beraya kat KL je lah jawabnya.
Raya this year was uneventful.... boring!!! Aku sampai rumah dah pukul 4 pm. Lepas beraya dengan family members, aku ke rumah paksu aku which is just next door. Kenalah tunjuk muka... kang dituduh kekwat pulak. Makcik pun ada...she is a divorcee with 3 kids. Kesiann...tragis sikit la dia punya life story. And now with her ex-husband already passed away, she is on her own raising her kids. One of her kids is very much talented in sports and has a chance to be accepted to Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS). I offered her my assistance to take care of Amir financially if he decides to join BJSS. Petang raya tu, hujan turun dengan lebatnya... I ended up duduk kat rumah je melayan sedara mara yang datang.
Every year aku dengan cousin aku will take turn to belanja family sebelah arwah my mom pada malam raya pertama. This includes family Wa (Maklong), family Paklang and family Makcik plus me and my sister. Yelah, selalunya dah tak larat nak makan ketupat, rendang, lemang, etc di malam raya, lagipun takde sape yang sanggup nak masak malam tu. So for the past 3-4 years memang this nightly activity dah jadi routine. And selalunya about 20++ of us akan ke Restoran Rosnani Tomyam, the only restaurant that opens on hari raya.
This year pun plannya sama. Unfortunately, cousin aku lambat sampai balik from KL and because of hujan lebat, semua dah malas nak pegi. Malam raya kedua aku tak free pulak coz dah janji nak keluar dengan a friend. The following day i.e. Raya kedua, I visited all of them (bapa and mak sedara) kat rumah masing2 mainly sebab dah jadi tradisi aku kasi duit raya kat my younger cousins. And memang bebudak ni pun tunggu aku je coz I give quite subtantial amounts, RM50 each untuk 16 orang kesemuanya. So kalau aku lambat balik kampung, memang lah bebudak ni risau and asyik tanya bila aku nak balik aje... hehe
Sebab tak jadi dinner, aku just give a few hundred bucks to my cousin so that they can have dinner on their own. Malam tu aku keluar dengan YA. Saje lepak kat Kangar minum2 and sembang2. Besok tengah hari, I was already on my way to the airport to catch a flight back to KL.
I went out shopping kat the Pavillion malam raya ketiga. Bought a few things for myself. Late that night baru kelam kabut packing for my trip to DC. As traveling is something that I do quite often these days... I already have a checklist of what to bring on this trip. So packing up was quite a breeze.
16 October 2007. As usual, Tan picked me up at home untuk ke airport. Aku singgah office untuk ambik documents. Dalam pukul 1:00 pm aku dah sampai kat KLIA. The trip to Washington DC this time around was packed with meetings. Meetings started on Thursday sampailah Monday. Penat gilerr... I did not have much time to go out shopping ataupun sight seeing. Tapi sempat le menjengah the White House as well as pegi ke Pentagon City.
I bought myself an iPhone....yess... iPhone people!! It is such a cool gadget... (ada incident gak waktu nak beli iPhone ni... tapi tak nak lah aku cite kat sini). A good friend of mine, si AAA was also there in DC for some benchmarking studies. Dia pun joined aku ke Pentagon City. On our way back, we stopped over kat Hard Rock Cafe sebab 2 of my neighbors kirim suruh beli t-shirts. I also bought for HA and his bro. Memang lah aku stressed out sepanjang minggu tu sebab banyak meetings dengan jadual yang hectic.
Aku sampai KL on 25 October. Since then aku memang busy with work. Gym pun belum turun lagi sejak Raya ni. Dah put on 2 kg dah...sekiann!
Hari ni NM's beloved and I must add...'cute' daughter celebrates her birthday yang ketiga. Aku janji dengan Y to go together. We met dekat Sogo....Lepas breakfast kat Sogo (walaupun dah pukul 1 pm), aku pegi beli gift. I bought Yaya a cuddly teddy bear...yang hampir sama besar dengan Yaya. Hope she'll like it.
Sementara nak sampai ke rumah NM ni... aku dah sesat barat beberapa kali... taxi driver pun tak tahu jalan... aku, lagilah tak tahu jalan kat area Setapak ni. Nasib baik kawan si NM tu guided me on how to get there over the phone... Sampai ruma h NM dah pukul 2 lebih. Mak ai! Gayatnya...rumah si NM ni kat tingkat 18. Aku punya apartment, tingkat 2 jek... Kalau lift rosak, mau tidur kat bawah ... hehe. Selepas buat kechoh kat rumah NM...aku paksa pulak MZ atau sekarang lebih dikenali sebagai AM untuk hantar aku balik ke Bank.
Aku sambung keje kat office for about an hour. Lepas tu aku gi lepak kat Starbucks Maju Junction. Ada mamat lepak sebelah aku ni. Aku rasa he's watching porn, sebab semacam je aku tengok. Buat bodoh je lah. Sambil2 update blog ni, aku tengah seronok baca buku Greenspan yg aku mentioned earlier. Best la buku ni. Kalau korang a central banker, this book is a must...!! Kat DC pun aku dapat berdiri sebelah Greenspan in person. Something I'll cherish ...
OK lah...malas nak tulis dah. I will update some images later. Taaa for now!
First of all, let me apologise to Alan Greenspan for borrowing the title of his latest book "The Age of Turbulence" as the title of my entry today... sorry ye Pak.
Secondly, allow me to wish all of you Muslim readers "SALAM AIDILFITRI 1428 HIJRAH". I know it's already late, but I was just too busy managing mini turbulence in my life.
Thirdly, Happy Deepavali to those celebrating this "Festival of Light," where the lights or lamps signify the uplighting of darkness and victory of good over the evil within.
Okay... Let me begin.
It has been more than a month since I last updated my blog. Life has been challenging, but interesting, as I transitioned to a new portfolio in October. Since then, my schedule has been hectic. As a Director of a department, this new job comes with added responsibility and accountability. Nevertheless, as we approached the end of Ramadhan in the first and second week of October, I still managed to take a break and have fun attending numerous buka puasa get-together with friends and colleagues. Raya came and passed by quickly as I only balik kampung for 2 days. Then , I flew to Washington DC on fourth raya for a series of meetings at the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Post US trip, I've been busy with work (meetings, brainstorming sessions, etc). As a result, this blog was left unattended, 'bersawang' sudah sekian lama.
Today's entry aims to resuscitate my blogging practice and I hope this time around this practice will last...he he. For the past 1 month banyak juga lah benda yang berlaku. Penghujung bulan puasa dihabiskan dengan berbuka puasa with friends...Tamarind Springs would have been my favorite buka puasa venue for the year if not for its 1 major weakness; kat situ takde surau! You would need to drive all the way to the nearest masjid for Maghrib. How leceh was that? Nevertheless, the ambience was superb and I truly enjoyed myself in the company of RM, NAMN, AAA & wife, and HA. Other memorable buka puasa events include the one at Bora Asmara with RS, NA, NM, MZ and NAAR. We also celebrated NA's 28th birthday (ekh ke yg ke 27?). I bought her a set of goodies from Crabtree and Evelyn. On that night, RS also made an important announcement regarding his future... semoga berbahagia lah hendaknya.
Initially, I was planning to 'balik kampung' early considering that aku akan ke US on raya ke-4. Unfortunately, I was required to attend a meeting on 11 October. Sekian lah jawabnya. Flight tickets on 12 October ke Alor Setar pulak semua dah habis. Memang hanj. The only ticket left is on 13 October at 2 p.m. which is on the raya day itself. Mau tak mau, beli jelah...kang tak beraya pulak. Return tickets to Alor Setar nowadays costs RM472. Tu tak termasuk taxi from rumah ke airport and airport ke rumah both kat KL and Perlis. So all in all, transportation costs alone dah RM700 lebih... It will definitely be cheaper kalau pakai kereta sendiri. Maybe it's time to get myself a car... (some of you will be happy to hear this :)
On the last day of Ramadhan, aku berbuka puasa kat Ratu Sari...errr ke Sari Ratu? Located in Bukit Bintang. Dengan sape lagi, if not HA. By this time semua orang yg dah berkeluarga would have balik kampung...so tinggal kengkawan bujang je lah yang sanggup nak gi buka puasa buffet and using-pusing kat area Bukit Bintang tu. I wanted to do last minute shopping, cari baju raya, sebab I had not done any shopping lagi this Ramadhan. Tapi, I only managed to buy 1 white shirt for Raya. Nampak suci sikit la (poyo) ... baju melayu yang aku nak beli tak muat pulak seluarnya... dah tau XXL still berangan nak beli ready made baju melayu...I rest my case. Kasut Lacoste yang aku nak pun takde size... malang betul. Ended up beli SDs ajee...... (SD = barang yang dipakai di badan, tapi orang tak nampak)
HA and RM were kind enough to invite me beraya kat rumah diaorang. Tapi aku segan sikit lah nak ke rumah RM, di pagi2 raya pulak tu. Ke rumah HA ok sikit sebab aku kenal some of the family members. Lagipun, by 11:30 am, I should leave for the airport. So I accepted invitation from HA. Keesokan harinya tatkala orang sibuk bersembahyang raya... aku pulak sibuk mengemas baju untuk balik kampung. HA datang jemput aku at about 10 am untuk beraya di rumahnya. Siap ada nasi beriani bagai...makan besar aku pagi tu. Lepas tu HA and his brother hantar aku ke KLIA. Jalan jam ya amat.... nasib baik tak terlepas flight...or else beraya kat KL je lah jawabnya.
Raya this year was uneventful.... boring!!! Aku sampai rumah dah pukul 4 pm. Lepas beraya dengan family members, aku ke rumah paksu aku which is just next door. Kenalah tunjuk muka... kang dituduh kekwat pulak. Makcik pun ada...she is a divorcee with 3 kids. Kesiann...tragis sikit la dia punya life story. And now with her ex-husband already passed away, she is on her own raising her kids. One of her kids is very much talented in sports and has a chance to be accepted to Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS). I offered her my assistance to take care of Amir financially if he decides to join BJSS. Petang raya tu, hujan turun dengan lebatnya... I ended up duduk kat rumah je melayan sedara mara yang datang.
Every year aku dengan cousin aku will take turn to belanja family sebelah arwah my mom pada malam raya pertama. This includes family Wa (Maklong), family Paklang and family Makcik plus me and my sister. Yelah, selalunya dah tak larat nak makan ketupat, rendang, lemang, etc di malam raya, lagipun takde sape yang sanggup nak masak malam tu. So for the past 3-4 years memang this nightly activity dah jadi routine. And selalunya about 20++ of us akan ke Restoran Rosnani Tomyam, the only restaurant that opens on hari raya.
This year pun plannya sama. Unfortunately, cousin aku lambat sampai balik from KL and because of hujan lebat, semua dah malas nak pegi. Malam raya kedua aku tak free pulak coz dah janji nak keluar dengan a friend. The following day i.e. Raya kedua, I visited all of them (bapa and mak sedara) kat rumah masing2 mainly sebab dah jadi tradisi aku kasi duit raya kat my younger cousins. And memang bebudak ni pun tunggu aku je coz I give quite subtantial amounts, RM50 each untuk 16 orang kesemuanya. So kalau aku lambat balik kampung, memang lah bebudak ni risau and asyik tanya bila aku nak balik aje... hehe
Sebab tak jadi dinner, aku just give a few hundred bucks to my cousin so that they can have dinner on their own. Malam tu aku keluar dengan YA. Saje lepak kat Kangar minum2 and sembang2. Besok tengah hari, I was already on my way to the airport to catch a flight back to KL.
I went out shopping kat the Pavillion malam raya ketiga. Bought a few things for myself. Late that night baru kelam kabut packing for my trip to DC. As traveling is something that I do quite often these days... I already have a checklist of what to bring on this trip. So packing up was quite a breeze.
16 October 2007. As usual, Tan picked me up at home untuk ke airport. Aku singgah office untuk ambik documents. Dalam pukul 1:00 pm aku dah sampai kat KLIA. The trip to Washington DC this time around was packed with meetings. Meetings started on Thursday sampailah Monday. Penat gilerr... I did not have much time to go out shopping ataupun sight seeing. Tapi sempat le menjengah the White House as well as pegi ke Pentagon City.
I bought myself an iPhone....yess... iPhone people!! It is such a cool gadget... (ada incident gak waktu nak beli iPhone ni... tapi tak nak lah aku cite kat sini). A good friend of mine, si AAA was also there in DC for some benchmarking studies. Dia pun joined aku ke Pentagon City. On our way back, we stopped over kat Hard Rock Cafe sebab 2 of my neighbors kirim suruh beli t-shirts. I also bought for HA and his bro. Memang lah aku stressed out sepanjang minggu tu sebab banyak meetings dengan jadual yang hectic.Aku sampai KL on 25 October. Since then aku memang busy with work. Gym pun belum turun lagi sejak Raya ni. Dah put on 2 kg dah...sekiann!
Hari ni NM's beloved and I must add...'cute' daughter celebrates her birthday yang ketiga. Aku janji dengan Y to go together. We met dekat Sogo....Lepas breakfast kat Sogo (walaupun dah pukul 1 pm), aku pegi beli gift. I bought Yaya a cuddly teddy bear...yang hampir sama besar dengan Yaya. Hope she'll like it.
Sementara nak sampai ke rumah NM ni... aku dah sesat barat beberapa kali... taxi driver pun tak tahu jalan... aku, lagilah tak tahu jalan kat area Setapak ni. Nasib baik kawan si NM tu guided me on how to get there over the phone... Sampai ruma h NM dah pukul 2 lebih. Mak ai! Gayatnya...rumah si NM ni kat tingkat 18. Aku punya apartment, tingkat 2 jek... Kalau lift rosak, mau tidur kat bawah ... hehe. Selepas buat kechoh kat rumah NM...aku paksa pulak MZ atau sekarang lebih dikenali sebagai AM untuk hantar aku balik ke Bank.
Aku sambung keje kat office for about an hour. Lepas tu aku gi lepak kat Starbucks Maju Junction. Ada mamat lepak sebelah aku ni. Aku rasa he's watching porn, sebab semacam je aku tengok. Buat bodoh je lah. Sambil2 update blog ni, aku tengah seronok baca buku Greenspan yg aku mentioned earlier. Best la buku ni. Kalau korang a central banker, this book is a must...!! Kat DC pun aku dapat berdiri sebelah Greenspan in person. Something I'll cherish ...
OK lah...malas nak tulis dah. I will update some images later. Taaa for now!
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