Love your work...

I never thought that I'd be eventually working at the regional level. I mean, yes, I do program myself towards bigger pictures, but I never thought that it's happening so fast! I mean, BLOODY FAST!!! Not that I regret it! No way! It's just, sometimes I feel, too good to be true in such a short period of work. I feel blessed, though...

I Love my work here. I mean, I DO LOVE IT! It's full of challenges and barriers, but that's the beauty of it! I could never get bored, because I keep continuing to think of solutions. It's a bit frustrating sometimes, especially when I got home and I couldn't talk to anyone about what had happened in the office. I guess I'm just so used to discuss everything with my husband after work.

One thing that makes me worried... I'm not sure if I can discuss anything anymore with him. It seems to be we're speaking in a different language now. He might not be familiar with the issues I'm handling now. But hey...! Worth the try anyway... :)

Well, I Love my work here. I Love having the control of everything that I do. I Love having the control for my own division. And then, what I love most is also that, not only I have the best infra-structure in my office, but also THE MOST GORGEOUS TEAM-mates!!! Sometimes I feel that working in an all-women environment is much better than mixed one.

It's a bit sad that one of the team member is resigning soon. We will have to find a replacement who can work together and be a solid team. And I know things like that ain't fancy and ain't easy.

So, tomorrow is my last day in the office because on Saturday I will be off to my home country for a short holiday. I miss my family... But I'm sure when I get there, I will miss my team here!

Kutemukan Cinta...

Seperti kau bahagiakan aku

Seperti itulah kasihku kepadamu

Sesungguhnya ‘ku merindukan cinta

Sampai kau hadir memberiku harap

‘Ku temukan cinta di palung hatimu

Izinkanlah aku ‘tuk menyelami yang terdalam

Terangi jalanku ‘tuk menggapai cintamu

Untuk melabuhkan separuh jiwaku hanya untukmu

[Samsons] - lagu kenangan kita...

David Cook

I'm not a big fan of singing contest like American Idol, because that is not a talent contest. It's a popularity contest. So, at then end of the day, the winner is not necessarily the best singer. Most of the time, the best singer is stepping down before the final.

But this season's American Idol is different! I really love David Cook. This guy had made the American Idol stage like his own rock concert arena. He made all the songs that he sings as his won songs. He touches up all the songs until it finally has his signature! Even Mariah Carey's "Always be My Baby" had become a fabulous rock ballad. It was so darn good!

David Cook, you rock, man...!

I need my ultimate relaxation!

What is most relaxing thing for women? The answer varied accordingly to the character of women. As for me, pampering myself at the Spa or even just a nice beauty parlor is considered relaxing. I have certain level of relaxation. First and lowest level is just take a nap at home with nice soft music and scented candles. Second level is having a proper either manicure or pedicure. Third level is getting a hair treatment [hair spa, hair mask, creambath... anything related to hair treatment]. Fourth level is having a combo between manicure/pedicure and hair treatment. Fifth level is having and foot spa [means reflexology and pedicure] and hair treatment. The ultimate relaxation for me is a full body massage followed by body scrub, body mask, herbal bath jacuzzi, closed by foot spa+manicure and hair spa which can consume about 5 hours at the beauty parlor.

Since it is most likely impossible to get an affordable ultimate relaxation for myself in KL, last Sunday I decided to had a manicure and hair treatment at Kotaraya. It turned out quite good and I might want to make this as my regular activity. I made the appointment with Jen and spent almost 2 hours in the beauty salon to get my hair treatment and style. I still have to do some huntings for affordable spa in KL. God! I really DO need to go to a spa soon!

Loneliness works best for my performance

I glanced through my task list today. All have the 'check' marks. I was so surprised because it's not even 4 PM and I already accomplished my tasks! I still have 2 hours to go!

I was thinking, since the first time I moved into my apartment, I felt so lonely. Especially when I came home after dark and see the lights in my place was all switched off. The moment I opened the door, the loneliness feeling is grabbing me tightly. There was a chill inside my soul. My place is not so big, but yet it feels so empty.

I guess I always try to avoid the emptiness and loneliness, then I started to work late. Hoping I will be having so little time for myself before I go to bed. But since last month I started to finish my work before time. I have no idea what to do with the rest of the remaining time. I guess loneliness works best for my performance. I've become very much efficient and productive at work. I deliver. I finish everything timely and still have plenty of time to do other thing.

Blank Mind

I don't know why I feel like I'm having some sort of blank mind lately. Maybe my mind is just too exhausted. There are so many works to do and I often felt that 8 hour of work is just not enough. Even though I can still finish my daily duty, but at the end of the day I always feel soooo tired! Maybe it was also because I'm just started to adapt with the work-pace here. This is like my old time works back in the private sector. My work at my previous organization was nothing compared to this. I had so many free time after the hospital duty and sometimes I don't know what to do with my spare time. Here, I have a huge of workload [which I love!] and I'm competing with time everyday in order to accomplish my daily duty.

Maybe I'm just too excited in doing my work, then I forgot about my mental health :)

Bangkok Jam

3 Young Contemporaries

It was my first art encounter since I moved to KL. It was at the Valentine Wille Art Gallery in Bangsar Baru. The title was "3 Young Contemporaries", catering 3 young contemporary artists from Indonesia [Ariadhitya Pramuhendra], Philippines [Patricia Eustaquio] and Thailand [Tawan Wattuya].

I was actually invited by Goro, my long lost friend, because it's always feel good to meet old friends in a strange land. So, we went to have early dinner at the Nirvana Restaurant near the gallery. I've been there once and they serve the best "banana leaf". I never like bitter-cod, but I love their fried bitter-cod. Maybe because it's not so bitter. They really cook it in the right way.

After dinner, we went back to the gallery. It was still empty. So, we took the liberty to take as much pictures as we wanted! I found Hendra's paintings were interesting. He's so narcist laaah... All the models in his paintings were himself. I wonder why... Maybe he couldn't get other people to show perfect expressions that he needs to capture. What I like about Hendra's and Patricia's works were that they came in black and white. Very strong black and white. I think it's magical.

My second trip to Manila [it was only for a ONE and a HALF DAY MEETING]

This is crazy! I was on my way to KLIA by KLIA Express and I was thinking "This is crazy". Why? "Because I have just arrived from Bangkok last night, and now I'm on my way to KLIA again for the trip to Manila. And even crazier because I will be there only for one and half day!"

I have to fly to Manila because I need to discuss my draft of strategic planning with my convener. There's no way that I can do it over the teleconference. So, I was proposing for her to come 2 or 3 days earlier before the Strat Plan Meeting, but she can't. So, I have to make all the efforts to fly. I never like Manila. It's so polluted. And it happened again... Everyone was talking to me in Tagalog. Regardless my apology about not able to speak Tagalog. One lady at the taxi counter was even scolding me for not speaking in Tagalog, "Why are you not speaking Tagalog? You are a Filipina, no?". So, again, they were thinking that I was the obnoxious Filipina who live abroad for quite some time and doesn't want to speak Tagalog anymore. Oh man...

So, since I was so stressed and exhausted, I decided to pamper myself before I went back to KL. Luckily, there was a salon next to my hotel. So, after I checked out, I went there and had pedicure and a nice creambath. The price was mush cheaper than KL. For the whole treatment I only paid around US$10. My goodness! You will never get that in KL. Never!

So, I finished at around 11.30 AM and hailed a taxi to get me to NAIA [Ninoy Aquino International Airport]. It was Sunday. No traffic. I felt so good.... until I saw the line in front of the Malaysia Airlines check in counter.

The line was soooo long. It took me 1,5 hour to get myself checked in. After that I had to queue for the airport tax payment. And after that another long queue for the immigration. So, I was starting to queue in front of MAS counter at 12 PM and finally managed to get myself into the boarding area at 2.45 PM. Can you imagine that? Bloody two and a half hour!!!! That airport does not have a good system at all!

My fifth trip to Bangkok

This is my fifth trip to Bangkok and I'm excited. Not because the venue, but because I'm going to meet a lot of friends. Old friends... Friends from other countries, friends from Indonesia [so, I can ask them to bring home some things for me!].

As usual, the trip I made is never a holiday trip... It's, once again, a working trip. I'm going to attend the IPPF Workshop. They had been changing the venue for several times and finally settled it down in Bangkok.

I took the afternoon flight, around 12 PM and arrived in Svarnabhumi Airport at around 2.30 PM. It's always good to land at some place you're familiar with. However, the weather was sooo hot! Even the taxi driver said that it was too hot for him. It was around 34 degree Celcius outside. Thank God they put us in a nice hotel called Windsor Suites Hotel at Sukhumvit Soi 20.

The first thing that I do after I unpack was finding Rachel's room. She promised me to bring my bangles! And I found out that she actually brought the whole collection of "The Ethical SLut".... my God! So, I ended up getting myself a nice big purple belt. I never like purple. It's not my favorite color. But this purple was soooo nice! I couldn't resist myself! So, I took it anyway....

We went to MBK afterwards. I was trying to get a backpack for myself but I couldn't find a suitable one. Rachel, on the other hand, came back with a bag of 5 tops!!! Hwahahaha! It's always like that. When you said you're just accompanying, you're ended up being the one who shops! After having such a wonderful shopping time, we decided to pamper ourselves with nice Japanese food. I'm not going to save money for myself this time because I don't have to bring home so many souvenirs as usual [Thank GOD!!!!]. I didn't plan to shop for myself either. I have planned to pamper myself with good food and good massage! So, we went to Fuji Restaurant and had some Gyouza, Chirashi Sushi, Enoki Roll, Okonomiyaki and green tea. We were so happy that we can hang out together again.

Isn't it a nice place to eat....? The food was horrible, though... >:P