Someone Like You

I really love Adele ... starting from Rolling In The Deep. I love it when the singer in Hard Rock Penang sang Rolling In The Deep to live band. It usually got me into the mood. However, for Someone Like You ... we need a nice piano and a soulful voice ... Tersentuh hati akak bila dengar lagu ni for the first time. As if satu penceritaan on akak punya perchentaan yang tak kesampaian ... hahahaah! One day I must try sing this song in my Kotak Merah session.

But anyway, I had to say it's hard to turn something negative to positive. In the song, Adele sang ... "nevermind I'll find someone like you, I wish nothing but the best for you ...., Don't forget me, I begged, I remember you said, sometimes it last in love, sometimes it hurts instead"... Fuh meremang bulu roma akak when she get into that part. 2-3 kali ulang lagu ni ... part tu jugak yang buat bulu roma meremang.

Adakah orang nak wish macam tu to their ex-lovers? Usually after the break-up, you usually wish him or her to ROT in hell. And he or she met someone else, some people will use black magic or spreading bad rumours so that he or she will never live that "happily ever after". Sedih bila mengenangkan kejadian yang menimpa one of my staff. After 5 kids, one very jealous ex-admirer still couldn't get over with it ... macam-macam dia buat to my staff's wife. Santau lah, penuju lah aiyoooo ... Kan bagus if he just write a song about his pain and who knows like Adele, it became a chart topper.

One of my friend pernah pujuk me by saying ... "God is fair ... He will send good man to a good woman and bad man to a bad woman" ... Wonder I ni kategori mana ... hmmm maybe cute and forever young ... balik-balik yang mengetuk pintu hati yang muda belia jer auwwwww ... tak rela akak! Tapi I doakan I met "someone like you" yang like 10 years ago sebab sekarang that "you" dah boroi so tak lazat hahaahahahahahahaahah

To be honest, blogging to me is a very "positive" avenue in channeling your thoughts and feelings. I had been busy these last few months that it came to a point that I myself don't know which way I am heading to. Despite the "hoohaas" I felt empty inside (unfortunately stomach never empty hehehe). But I returned back to this blog once in a while, looking back what I had done in the past ... what exciting experience that I shared ... comments I got from friends and fellow bloggers. One most important comment ... "this blog lighted up someone's life" ...

Okaylah chow dulu ... Saja nak lift up my mood on this Moody Monday hehehe

Mie On Penang after 19 months

When I started blogging somewhere 2007, I managed to separate my working life and personal life as it was already quite balance. I refused then to blog so much about my working life as I was dealing a lot with housing problems - sales and purchase agreements, rehabilitation of abandoned housing projects, prosecutions of rogue developers etc. Looking back, if i was to compile all these work stories, it may be a bestseller hehehehe

Here in Penang, working life rules! So can't help lah selit-selit about work. Gosh ... I couldn't enjoy my weekends. Got calls on odd hours. Kadang-kadang tu teringin jugak tak dapat tidur malam sebab terbayang-bayang seseorang. Ni tidak, cannot sleep sebab worried work tak siap. Kadang-kadang wish jugak my heart pumping hard because nampak object yang "lazat" mata memandang. Ni tidak, jantung berdegup kencang sebab nampak no telefon yang tak lazat appeared on phone screen hahaha

Though I have all the priviledges of a state Director but at this age ... I think I deserve a good rest. Had been doing this when I was 41-44 officers. Btw, I hope the Housing Act amendment are being carried out smoothly ... it was already 80% complete when I left. Bukan nak take credit, but it was a team 4 people yang really think about it from 2009- april 2010 ... now semua left Ministry due to better offer. Hari-hari balik pukul 9 malam. But weekends ... sorang pun tak kacau.

Penang to be honest post quite a challenge for me to handle. The greatest pressure is actually how to be different or better than my predecessors. And in order to do that I need a good team. Adoh, when we first start-up, some posts were not being filled up. And ada pulak officer bermasalah yang dihantar ke opis aku. OMG! Ada yang sebok dengan DAP (Di Alam Percintaan), ada yang ada kes tatatertib, ada yang sebenarnya lari dari negeri asal sebab tak bayar kontraktor heheheheeh ... tapi after probing further some are actually mild and can be tackled easily. Masih better than one of the state directors who had to handle isu staff tiba-tiba hilang dari ofis sebab masalah pankreas atau gout stage kritikal. 

But the funniest incident was when my HR officer told me that one of the staff is a disable person. The description given was "no hand and leg". I almost had a heart attack. So what can she do? Dahlah staff tak cukup, bagi pulak sorang yang OKU takde tangan dan kaki I nak buat macam mana? So when I arrived in Penang, I checked sorang-sorang yang takde tangan dan kaki. Rupa-rupanya the staff hands and legs are slightly deformed but she still can do work but slow. Now, she is one of my best staff handling homestay and program pelancongan pelajar. And has longer list of beau than me hehehe

Throughout 2010, I had been through many trials and errors ... polishing my people skills, building bridges and linking cultures, and trying to adapt Ministry's policy into Penang settings. Coincidentally,  many of the programs and products introduced by Ministry or to be exact, my Lady Boss actually work in Penang. Sometimes, it's hard to tell the OTAI of tourism in Penang that the tourism scene has change and we need to change. Itu belum lagi those who think they know better than you huhuhu

Entering the tourism market now are the Gen X and Gen Ys, both as tourists and tourism players. At the end of the day, what we want to get from tourism are income, job opportunities and of course leisure. Domestic tourism must also work for both local and foreign tourists. I looked at the growth of our budget carriers. Their routes, not only it must encourage outbound but it must also bring inbound as well. I relooked at all the concrete structures implemented during 8th-9th Malaysia plan. Many of those had become white elephants as people just know how to build but dunno how to market and used it to it's fullest capacity.

I know many people dislike Dato' Seri Idris and his PEMANDU team. But having worked with him for a month I learned one very valuable lesson, if we can change the way we work, no matter how simple the idea is to create a big impact and transformed the industry, why not?

The Batu Keras Story

It had been quite a while since I had a very loud, huge guffaw of laughters. Yelah status kat FB pun none yang brain stimulating kan ... Like I said before, since I now breathing, living and eating in a heritage city ... lama-lama I pun jadi heritage. Soooooo the 19 kong kong (1900 BC).

Despite that, thank you sooooooo much Sazali, for making my day and night! I had so much fun catching up with you. You know what, despite working like in a living hell for 4 years under Dr. P ... looking back we had so many stories and memories that comparitively NOW, despite all the glamour and paparan di dada akhbar  (kelasssss) ... my life as Lady Di (Lady Director) is soooooooo pale in comparison. Hari-hari my blood go upstairs hehehehe

Back to Sazali ... when I got his surprised sms the other day ... I quickly called him and said .... "We are soooooo going to Batu Kerasssss today". Didn't realise that he had no idea what is Batu Keras that he had to ask his bus driver cum tourist guide, Mr Baskaran. 

Zali: Mr Baskaran, where is Batu Keras ha?

Mr Baskaran: Mr Sazali, I have been living in Penang for 30 years ... I never heard of Batu Keras. Batu Uban, Batu Maung, Batu Kawan and Batu Feringghi ada lah ... Batu Keras mana ada ... 

Zali: My friend is working with Tourism and she said she want to bring me to a place called Batu Keras. Must be exclusive place that locals don't know.

Hahaha ...luckily lah I didn't say ... Senorita Licin (Slippery Senorita) or Straits Kuey (Straits Quay ... hehehe) ... lagi konfius Mr Baskaran!

Yaaaaa .... this is Batu Keras. Had a great time rocking !

Singapore Trip 2011 - Reunited and Reacquainted

Flu, fever and unexpected call from JPA last week sort of hindered me from writing this post earlier. But then again, I felt my mood to update my blog seemed deteriorating with age hahaha ... I felt older living here in Penang (where sits one of world's heritage site) "ditambah pula dengan" living with senior citizens. Memang heritage!

Okay, the Singapore trip was unexpected but timely. I traveled a lot last year so I thought I wanted to cut down on the travelling, save the money for London and Paris trip next year. However one assignment got me on a dead end recently and the only solution was to go to Singapore. Coincidentally, Emel got an invitation from Chan (our eating buddy during her Infeneon Kulim days who is currently working in Singapore) and asked whether I wanted to join her for the trip. Finally I found the reason to travel on Tiger Airways (hahaha) but of course as part of the "assignment" must travel with Air Asia too.

I learned a lot of things even from the planning this trip ... starting from the itinerary, airport services (which I usually buat dek jer in KLIA and LCCT), transit tours (as I arrived earlier than Emel ... about 5 hours gap), transportation system in Singapore (taxi, train, bus) as the location of places I need to cover was all over Singapore. Not that it didn't occur to me before but it term of town and infrastructure planning (hints hints) ... I take my hat off to Singapore.

To be honest, I love planning and organising my trip ... and be in control of situation. Something I learned from my last year's trip to Chiang Mai. We covered the best of Chieng Mai in 2 days ... puas hati wooo. But from my Phuket trip ... I must reminded myself that Singapore is much nearer than Kuching, somemore got 6 direct flights from Penang (everyday) on two budget carriers.. so no need to cramp everything.

If you take Air Asia flight from Penang, you will land at Terminal 1@ Changi Airport.

The first and oldest terminal. Even bigger than our KLIA. Currently there are 4 terminal operational in Changi Airport including their Budget Terminal. If I am not mistaken, one more terminal is underway.

You can find the visitor information centre everywhere. I baru perasan that Singapore Tourism Board tagline is Your Singapore, whereas Penang State tourism is currently on My Penang campaign ... who is more kiasu here.

I received stares from many people (even passengers on same flight) when I wrapped my new travelling luggage bag. Memang lah tak mahal ... sekali sampai Singapore it was raining and my bag bebas dari kebasahan. My turn to "stare back" hehehe

Many years ago ... when I first came to Singapore there was no MRT. It makes travelling so convenient in Singapore.

  

Once I arrived and tried it ... baru lah it make sense hehe

As part of the assignment, I must leave my bag here for a few hours. Not that pricey ... SGD 3.21 for small luggage (24hours).

It was raining when I arrived in Singapore. Nobody will be waiting for me at the airport and Emel arrived only 5 hours later. First and foremost, travelling solo sucks but please bear in mind that there might be a time in our life that we have to travel solo especially for business people or head of department. I remembered once I was stuck for 6 hours in KLIA as I got last minute notification from KL and most of the flights back to Penang was fully booked.

It didn't occur to me that day to try out the Left Baggage service in KLIA but just imagine, travelling back and forth to KL itself may cost a fortune! Galleries, museum or shopping malls around KLIA ... nada! Perhaps Malaysia Airport Berhad, Ministry of Tourism or State Government of Selangor could look into establishing satelite mini tourism based township around KLIA. I see three of MOTOUR products can be a niche there ... shoe, contemporary arts and parks and gardens!

I had to select one of the 4 hour city tour for transit passengers which I got from the Singapore Visitors Centre Guide. Taking into consideration my own plans the next few days I decided to try out the Civic District Tour ... very the cultured society gitew. From Changi Airport ... I find my way to the Bras Basah MRT Station.

Singapore Art Museum .. occupying Singapore oldest Catholic School, the 158 years old St. Joseph Institution.

They were having Video- An Art History Exhibition that day. Entrance fee SGD 10.00

They have many contemporary arts collection here.

 

Video art doesn't appeal to anyone ... I had difficulty at first to understand the exhibition. Actually it is about camera tricks and positioning of objects in front of video camera to get some effects. Some of the galleries focus on expression and shots. See ... I was part of the art hehehe

I didn't have much time so my next stop was the legendary Raffles Hotel.

Though on paper MRT seems to be near certain location ... but the distance from the station to the exit memang jauh. Luckily I didn't have to walk in the blazing hot sun as everything is more than 6 feet under the ground hehehe. Anyway, it was great to be reunited with Emel and Chan in Singapore. Though life has been great in Penang (ok i lied a bit here) I really miss the time when we went from one shop to another shop in mainland Penang and Kulim ...searching for great food. Ok ... the eating part here, I will blog in my food blog. Stay tune!

Dinner at Paulaner Baurhaus. We came all the way from Penang and Kuching just to eat German food hahaha

Angels and Demons

I was thinking of blogging something based on the title above last night but ended up reading the e-book instead ... something I wanted to do for a very long time. I watched the movies but some Netizens commented that reading the book was soooooo much better as the storyline was simplied in the movie. I have problems with imagining something so technical or involved symbolism ... therefore watching the movie then reading the book seems to be a better option.

Anyway, angels and demons seem to be warring within me these past few days. I really don't like it that people are taking their frustration on the economy, the politics, or even the weather on government servants. Hey ...who do you think we are .. punching bags ... or God? They are angry at other agencies ... they thought that the other agencies are the same. At one point I raised my voice at one very prominent hotelier for not wanting to sponsor his project after his sinical reply that "all the money went to RM 1.8 million FB account". I told him that I am protecting taxpayers money from people like you. Personal project not taking into consideration public interest ... fund it yourself lah! 

I am sure many of my colleagues are doing the same thing ... but often been potrayed differently by some opportunists. God knows how many files, records, mesyuarat pagi, minutes of meetings, minit ceraian everytime there are events ... just so that I could explain to internal audit and of course a control measure just in case, there is indeed some little Napoleon in my office. But most important of all ... I hope my successor got some guidance on how to handle those event in the future.

But even all these "bona fide" gestures might invite criticism from certain people ... "You are not going GREEN. You cut down so many trees and should go paperless". And so ... I had to let out the demon inside of me to counter them ... "what concerns you more now ... is it the tree or how we spend your tax money". By the way ... I drive a Green car, do you?