Happy happy birthday to you luv! Friday we SIIIIIIING!
Thought of the day
It ain't fun having a shared blog when you're the only one updating it on a regular basis.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sore all over... but oh it was so damned GOOD!
First impressions of Cope Adventure.
1. Great reception
2. Felt like I was away from the city
3. AIR WAS SO FRESH!
4. Food was great!
5. Activities were certainly fun & stimulating.
6. Cold showers are the bomb!
7. Hate insects then, still hate it now.
Will elaborate more in the upcoming issue of MANAGEMENT.
1. Great reception
2. Felt like I was away from the city
3. AIR WAS SO FRESH!
4. Food was great!
5. Activities were certainly fun & stimulating.
6. Cold showers are the bomb!
7. Hate insects then, still hate it now.
Will elaborate more in the upcoming issue of MANAGEMENT.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Why I love Marina Mahathir.
This is taken from Marina Mahathir's 'Musings' column. In no way do I claim to be the author of this piece. All credit goes to this amazing lady :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Government wants us to change our lifestyles to cope with
inflation. It is easier said than done since most people were
having it difficult even before the hikes. The Government must
first set an example by doing things it should have done long
ago.
WITH the recent hike in fuel prices and the Government's
exhortations for us to change our lifestyles in order to cope,
may I provide here some suggestions for the Government and
those who work for it to 'share our burden'.
1. Stop having meetings, especially out at resorts, far enough
away to be able to claim transport allowances. Have online
meetings instead or teleconferences. Use Skype or chat.
2. No need to order special pens, bags, T-shirts, notepads and
other goodies for those same meetings.
3. No need to order kuih for mid-morning or teatime meetings in
government offices, or nasi briyani lunches for those meetings
that happen to end just at lunchtime.
4. Cancel all trips for government servants to conferences
overseas unless they return with full reports of what they did
there, who they met and what they learnt and how they mean to
apply what they learnt at home. Ask them to do presentations to
colleagues who did not get to go, on the most interesting and
important papers that they read.
5. Scrutinise invoices for contracts to make sure they are
truly reflective of what those projects or supplies cost.
6. Stop elaborate launches for government programmes. In
particular, stop the buying of souvenirs, special batik shirts,
corsages, bouquets and caps.
7. Make all civil servants and politicians travel economy
class. That means really travelling at the back of the plane
and not buying full fare economy class tickets that allow them
to be upgraded to Business Class.
8. Stop having the full complement of police escorts to cut
down on petrol costs. If they need to be somewhere by a certain
time, start earlier like the rest of us. Wouldn't be a bad
thing for them to also experience a traffic jam.
9. Once a week (or more), have ministers use public transport
so they know what everyone else has to suffer. This might
provide them with the incentive to improve them.
10. Once a week, let ministers go to a market to buy food for
their families with instructions to not spend more than RM100.
11. Get ministers to carpool. They might get more work done
just by being able to talk to each other to see what can be
coordinated between their ministries. For instance, the
Ministers of Health and Women could discuss what to do about
women's health issues in the car on the way to work. Maybe have
a secretary to travel in the front seat to take down notes on
what was discussed. By the time they get to their offices,
things can get implemented.
12. Once a month, get civil servants to work with one
disadvantaged group in order to be better able to appreciate
their problems. It could be blind people one month, hearing
disabled people the next, orang asli the following month and
people living with HIV/AIDS after that.
We could start buddy systems which pair one civil servant with
one disadvantaged person and at the end of it, ask each pair to
make recommendations on how to make life better for each other.
This might get rid of the problem of desk jockeys, people who
never stray very far from their desks yet make policies for
people they know nothing about.
13. Have PA systems that shout out the name of the officers who
have to serve people at government offices so that people get
the services they came for and don't have to keep coming back
just because the officer was out having coffee.
No counter should be left unmanned for more than five minutes
before the officer is paged to go back to their stations. This
should cut down waiting time for the public and save them
transport costs in having to keep returning just to get one
thing done.
14. Government officers who lose people's files should be fined
and have their names publicised for being careless and causing
inconvenience to the public. Instead of making the public
travel to their offices several times to deal with their
problems, they should travel to go see their client and deal
with it right there and then.
And every officer who goes out of the office should be given a
reasonable time to get his work done after which he is expected
back in office so he doesn't waste time doing something else.
15. And newspapers should save paper by reporting real news
rather than non-news that they carry, particularly nonsensical
utterances by politicians.
As they say, we need to do this all together in order to make a
difference. So if the Government and politicians make these
lifestyle changes, I will do my part and change mine.
Thank You.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agreed? Definitely! Especially points 8, 9 and 10. Actually, with all lah.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Government wants us to change our lifestyles to cope with
inflation. It is easier said than done since most people were
having it difficult even before the hikes. The Government must
first set an example by doing things it should have done long
ago.
WITH the recent hike in fuel prices and the Government's
exhortations for us to change our lifestyles in order to cope,
may I provide here some suggestions for the Government and
those who work for it to 'share our burden'.
1. Stop having meetings, especially out at resorts, far enough
away to be able to claim transport allowances. Have online
meetings instead or teleconferences. Use Skype or chat.
2. No need to order special pens, bags, T-shirts, notepads and
other goodies for those same meetings.
3. No need to order kuih for mid-morning or teatime meetings in
government offices, or nasi briyani lunches for those meetings
that happen to end just at lunchtime.
4. Cancel all trips for government servants to conferences
overseas unless they return with full reports of what they did
there, who they met and what they learnt and how they mean to
apply what they learnt at home. Ask them to do presentations to
colleagues who did not get to go, on the most interesting and
important papers that they read.
5. Scrutinise invoices for contracts to make sure they are
truly reflective of what those projects or supplies cost.
6. Stop elaborate launches for government programmes. In
particular, stop the buying of souvenirs, special batik shirts,
corsages, bouquets and caps.
7. Make all civil servants and politicians travel economy
class. That means really travelling at the back of the plane
and not buying full fare economy class tickets that allow them
to be upgraded to Business Class.
8. Stop having the full complement of police escorts to cut
down on petrol costs. If they need to be somewhere by a certain
time, start earlier like the rest of us. Wouldn't be a bad
thing for them to also experience a traffic jam.
9. Once a week (or more), have ministers use public transport
so they know what everyone else has to suffer. This might
provide them with the incentive to improve them.
10. Once a week, let ministers go to a market to buy food for
their families with instructions to not spend more than RM100.
11. Get ministers to carpool. They might get more work done
just by being able to talk to each other to see what can be
coordinated between their ministries. For instance, the
Ministers of Health and Women could discuss what to do about
women's health issues in the car on the way to work. Maybe have
a secretary to travel in the front seat to take down notes on
what was discussed. By the time they get to their offices,
things can get implemented.
12. Once a month, get civil servants to work with one
disadvantaged group in order to be better able to appreciate
their problems. It could be blind people one month, hearing
disabled people the next, orang asli the following month and
people living with HIV/AIDS after that.
We could start buddy systems which pair one civil servant with
one disadvantaged person and at the end of it, ask each pair to
make recommendations on how to make life better for each other.
This might get rid of the problem of desk jockeys, people who
never stray very far from their desks yet make policies for
people they know nothing about.
13. Have PA systems that shout out the name of the officers who
have to serve people at government offices so that people get
the services they came for and don't have to keep coming back
just because the officer was out having coffee.
No counter should be left unmanned for more than five minutes
before the officer is paged to go back to their stations. This
should cut down waiting time for the public and save them
transport costs in having to keep returning just to get one
thing done.
14. Government officers who lose people's files should be fined
and have their names publicised for being careless and causing
inconvenience to the public. Instead of making the public
travel to their offices several times to deal with their
problems, they should travel to go see their client and deal
with it right there and then.
And every officer who goes out of the office should be given a
reasonable time to get his work done after which he is expected
back in office so he doesn't waste time doing something else.
15. And newspapers should save paper by reporting real news
rather than non-news that they carry, particularly nonsensical
utterances by politicians.
As they say, we need to do this all together in order to make a
difference. So if the Government and politicians make these
lifestyle changes, I will do my part and change mine.
Thank You.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agreed? Definitely! Especially points 8, 9 and 10. Actually, with all lah.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Tis the season to be lovey dovey
Let me start of with a resounding HMPH.
Bitterness is definitely not becoming... but how can I not be bitter when my two closest friends are in the throes of a new found relationship??
Guess I'll be up to my own shit for awhile. Don't forget me yeah? *Looks pointedly at the other two contributors to this blog.
That said, I am happy for you guys. :)
To Mira - Pace yourself girl ;)
To Karan - I certainly hope the Ikea set held up well.
Batik on betik, over and out.
Bitterness is definitely not becoming... but how can I not be bitter when my two closest friends are in the throes of a new found relationship??
Guess I'll be up to my own shit for awhile. Don't forget me yeah? *Looks pointedly at the other two contributors to this blog.
That said, I am happy for you guys. :)
To Mira - Pace yourself girl ;)
To Karan - I certainly hope the Ikea set held up well.
Batik on betik, over and out.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
A Day in the Life of a Drop of Water
'NO, don't drink me naughty buaya!' the droplets of water squealed, swimming away hurriedly in the churning waters of Sungai Kelang.
The buaya grinned naughtily, 'Hehehe, you can't run away from me lil droplets! I am bigger and faster than you!'
Kimmy swam as fast as she could. Behind her, one by one she heard all her friends shriek as they disappeared inside the buaya's gaping jaw. Just as she felt like she couldn't swim fast enough to escape the naughty buaya, she saw a blurred object crashing into the water ahead of her, and before she knew it she was lifted into the air and plunged into a strange, echoey 'cave'.
Kimmy cowered with fear. Why is this cave moving? she wondered. She could hear leaves crackling, the sound of branches snapping and she could see a sea of green above her. Suddenly, she heard a voice call out, "Mek, bukak pintu! Bah dah balik dengan air tu!' Kimmy was scared. What was happening to her? 'Bagus la tu,' another voice rang, 'Mek nak masak air...'
Kimmy suddenly saw the mouth of the cave tipping to the right. Behind her, the millions of droplets pushed her closer and closer to the mouth. She began crying, asking them not to push her but they wouldn't listen. Almost in an instant, she saw what lay in front of her and fell into a black pool of angry droplets!
Kimmy cried and cried because it was so painful. The angry droplets were screaming and shouting, kicking and pushing. It was becoming very very warm and this irritated Kimmy. And it seemed to irritate all the other droplets too. Everyone was groaning and sighing and they really were a nasty bunch of droplets at that time.
Just as she felt like she couldn't face the discomfort any more, she felt her little body being pulled away into the air. What is happening now? All around her, Kimmy saw little droplet angels pulling her into the sky. 'How is it that you can carry me so easily Angels?' little Kimmy asked. They just smiled and whistled away.
Little Kimmy floated through the air, and saw a few of her naughty friends also being carried by the angels. They seemed so much nicer now, she thought. All happy and smiling. Soon they found themselves going higher than they've ever been before. Kimmy's eyes were wide with amazement, seeing clouds upclose for the very first time. 'Wow!', she thought, 'they really do feel like cotton candy!'
A little angel told her, 'This is you home now Kimmy. Pick a cloud, any cloud!' Kimmy giggled and floated right up to her favourite cloud; a big, puffy, comfy looking one. The cloud spread its arms and welcomed Kimmy, hugging her tight. Kimmy felt tired, and whilst being cradle gently in its arms, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
It seemed like Kimmy slept for such a short time, but when she opened her eyes, everything had changed! The warm, welcoming cloud suddenly seemed dark and scary. It kept on grumbling about how heavy it felt, and how it couldn't stay up in the sky much longer. Kimmy shivered with fear every time it rumbled. Suddenly, she heard the cloud saying....'I'm sorry...'
Lightning flashed and Kimmy found herself diving straight to the green beneath her. She screamed with fear and tried to clutch on to something, anything around her, but there was nothing that she could hang on to. Mile after mile she plunged....
In the river, the buaya smiled.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is this suitable for a 10 year old kids' science project?
The buaya grinned naughtily, 'Hehehe, you can't run away from me lil droplets! I am bigger and faster than you!'
Kimmy swam as fast as she could. Behind her, one by one she heard all her friends shriek as they disappeared inside the buaya's gaping jaw. Just as she felt like she couldn't swim fast enough to escape the naughty buaya, she saw a blurred object crashing into the water ahead of her, and before she knew it she was lifted into the air and plunged into a strange, echoey 'cave'.
Kimmy cowered with fear. Why is this cave moving? she wondered. She could hear leaves crackling, the sound of branches snapping and she could see a sea of green above her. Suddenly, she heard a voice call out, "Mek, bukak pintu! Bah dah balik dengan air tu!' Kimmy was scared. What was happening to her? 'Bagus la tu,' another voice rang, 'Mek nak masak air...'
Kimmy suddenly saw the mouth of the cave tipping to the right. Behind her, the millions of droplets pushed her closer and closer to the mouth. She began crying, asking them not to push her but they wouldn't listen. Almost in an instant, she saw what lay in front of her and fell into a black pool of angry droplets!
Kimmy cried and cried because it was so painful. The angry droplets were screaming and shouting, kicking and pushing. It was becoming very very warm and this irritated Kimmy. And it seemed to irritate all the other droplets too. Everyone was groaning and sighing and they really were a nasty bunch of droplets at that time.
Just as she felt like she couldn't face the discomfort any more, she felt her little body being pulled away into the air. What is happening now? All around her, Kimmy saw little droplet angels pulling her into the sky. 'How is it that you can carry me so easily Angels?' little Kimmy asked. They just smiled and whistled away.
Little Kimmy floated through the air, and saw a few of her naughty friends also being carried by the angels. They seemed so much nicer now, she thought. All happy and smiling. Soon they found themselves going higher than they've ever been before. Kimmy's eyes were wide with amazement, seeing clouds upclose for the very first time. 'Wow!', she thought, 'they really do feel like cotton candy!'
A little angel told her, 'This is you home now Kimmy. Pick a cloud, any cloud!' Kimmy giggled and floated right up to her favourite cloud; a big, puffy, comfy looking one. The cloud spread its arms and welcomed Kimmy, hugging her tight. Kimmy felt tired, and whilst being cradle gently in its arms, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
It seemed like Kimmy slept for such a short time, but when she opened her eyes, everything had changed! The warm, welcoming cloud suddenly seemed dark and scary. It kept on grumbling about how heavy it felt, and how it couldn't stay up in the sky much longer. Kimmy shivered with fear every time it rumbled. Suddenly, she heard the cloud saying....'I'm sorry...'
Lightning flashed and Kimmy found herself diving straight to the green beneath her. She screamed with fear and tried to clutch on to something, anything around her, but there was nothing that she could hang on to. Mile after mile she plunged....
In the river, the buaya smiled.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is this suitable for a 10 year old kids' science project?
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The after effects of the damned petrol price increase.
Ok fine. So they HAD to increase the price of petrol to RM2.70. Urgh.
In order for me not to feel the almighty pinch, I have decided to then cut cost everywhere I can. Am gonna try to list down as much (as this rather fried brain can remember) of my daily / weekly / monthly expenditure and see where I can economise.
Daily expenses:
Noone touches my karaoke fund!
Ok, I suffose the breakfast pt. 2 jazz can be cut out (will be good for my waistline too!), and so can the unnecessary dinners after work. Can always eat at home and catch up with the boys n girls during the weekend. So thats a saving of (RM3 x 5 = RM15, RM10 x 5 = 50) so all in all a RM65 saving per week! In addition to the saving of RM5 from switching gel brands...
I really dread exchanging my Olay Total Effects with a house brand...
RM70 savings to the karaoke fund.
So thats RM70 saved. In a perfect world I would be able to cut out on the cigarettes (RM8.20 x 7 x 4 = RM229. something!).
So, if I add up all the savings done per month... it would come up to RM300! But I'm somewhat realistic, and I know the cutting out of cigarettes will take more than a petrol price increase.
Dunno la. Am a bit tired now, juggling all these figures. Perhaps thats enough for today. Will brood on it and return tomorrow with a fresh set of figures.
In order for me not to feel the almighty pinch, I have decided to then cut cost everywhere I can. Am gonna try to list down as much (as this rather fried brain can remember) of my daily / weekly / monthly expenditure and see where I can economise.
Daily expenses:
- Breakfast pt 2. (can range anywhere between RM2 - Rm3)
- Lunch (between RM6- RM7)
- Fags (RM8.20)
- Dinner (RM5- RM10)
- Petrol (Rm7.50)
- Toll (RM3.20)
- Karaoke - How to estimate? Depending on the number of people who join in, it can range from RM20 - RM50
Noone touches my karaoke fund!
Ok, I suffose the breakfast pt. 2 jazz can be cut out (will be good for my waistline too!), and so can the unnecessary dinners after work. Can always eat at home and catch up with the boys n girls during the weekend. So thats a saving of (RM3 x 5 = RM15, RM10 x 5 = 50) so all in all a RM65 saving per week! In addition to the saving of RM5 from switching gel brands...
I really dread exchanging my Olay Total Effects with a house brand...
RM70 savings to the karaoke fund.
So thats RM70 saved. In a perfect world I would be able to cut out on the cigarettes (RM8.20 x 7 x 4 = RM229. something!).
So, if I add up all the savings done per month... it would come up to RM300! But I'm somewhat realistic, and I know the cutting out of cigarettes will take more than a petrol price increase.
Dunno la. Am a bit tired now, juggling all these figures. Perhaps thats enough for today. Will brood on it and return tomorrow with a fresh set of figures.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
