Going up or coming down?

This is my weight on the 20th of September, after one week of puasa. Hmm, has not been moving up or down that much... maybe my body is adjusting to the fasting month nicely :)

This is my weight on the very next day. Not too bad, but most probably its just the loss of water from my body. Hey, during my international duties a few years back, I can lost 1.5kilos (of water) in a day..

This is taken on the morning of 25th September. I do not expect the numbers to go down that fast due to the fact that I was back in my hometown over the weekend. Can't say no to Mum's food that is, hehe :) ..

Pics taken on 26th September. Apparently it only registers a 50grams reduction in my weight. Hehehe, I do have a viable explanation for this. Yesterday evening, 25th September, I was summoned to a breaking of fast do somewhere near my office. Could not say no, due to the fact that its work related. Hosted by my big, big boss. So, with buffet available, favorite food some more, teh tarik etc, its no wonder I overstayed there, hehehe...

Will catch up soon. BMI is 26.6. Need to go down some more.

Undone

One of the many perks of fasting is (supposedly) weight loss. But, i would beg to differ. For some people, rather than losing weight, they tend to put on weight instead. How? Aren't we supposed to fast and refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk?

That is exactly what happen for the past two years. Each puasa month, instead of losing weight, i ended up gaining some weight. Ceh! Macam mana ini bisa terjadi? The answer is easy. The problem lies not with fasting itself, but rather during breaking of fast.

As I was entering the working world, puasa month (for the past two years at least) has been the chance of sorts to catch up with my ex colleagues, schoolmates, uni mates and old acquaintances (throw in an ex girlfriend or two). And these buka puasa do usually takes places at a hotel or coffee house rather than a mamak stall. And these places have... buffets. Aahhhh...

By nature, i dont like to waste food so as there are food around (endless) I ended up eating more than I should. Hmm, change of tactics... should be taking a bit only of the food on display. That also backfired, due to the fact that there are so many different choices of food available at these places, I ended up taking a little of many, many things... Ceh!

Err, going back to my hometown every weekend also contribute to the weight gain. I just can't say no to Mum's cooking, hehehe... The picture on the left, is the normal spread at Mum's for buka puasa. Under the green tudung saji (bottom left), there are at least 3-4 types of food (2 meat, 1-2 vege)

This year I have refrained from attending any makan-makan do (if I can help it). As of the 14th day of fasting, I have only went to ONE buka puasa do, which is unavoidable actually due to its work related (hosted by my big,big boss). So far so good. Have only set aside one more day for buka puasa, on the 6th for a reunion do with my unimates.

Will keep updating on my weight (loss or gain?)...

Pintu oh Pintu

On Friday evening usually I'd make my way to my hometown, which most of the time would mean a bus ride home. I got the seat numbered 3, right behind the driver. Hmm, not really my preferred seat but well, i cant choose really as it was the last bus out. Luckily, the bus was half full so I got both seat on my row for myself.

Suddenly, up walked a sweet young thing, clad demurely in blue baju kurung with small floral print, seated on the other side. We exchanged glances and polite smile (thats about it actually). Anyway, the journey starts normally and uneventful. Ho-hum... and as usual, the engine drone is quickly drowned by my snoring, hehehe...

Then, somewhere after a small town, the bus slows down, as someone is getting down. As I open my eyes, hey, its that beautiful girl getting down. She catches me glancing at her, and we again exchanged smiles. As she was standing up ready to step down, lo and behold, the bus door refuse to open. The driver tries again and again, releasing the hydraulic/pneumatic pressure and all, but still the door refuse to budge.

The driver was stumped. According to him, the door has already been fixed. The girl was unsure of how to get down. The driver moved the bus a little bit more on the side and walked to the back. Everybody has the same question on their mind, how are they getting off the bus if the door is jammed?

From the back of the bus, the driver asks the girl if she could use the emergency exit to get off. Mind you, an express bus is quite high from the ground and the girl is clad in baju kurung. I can only wonder how she got down from the bus. Once she got down (somehow) we continue with our journey, but its evident the question on everyone's head, how are we getting off then? Are we going down the emergency exit too?

Not long after that, another guy wants to get off. The driver tried to open the door again. To everyone's delight, it works this time. The driver quips, 'Memang saje je la, nak jadi cerita tadi tu...'

Torn

I heard some disturbing news at work a few days back. Its regarding one of my colleague and his boss. Actually, i have been hearing that he has been given the cold shoulder by his boss due to some misunderstanding at work. Well, to be fair, he has his own share of fault in the incident which leads to the deterioration of their professional relationship.

Their professional relationship has always been a bit strained. The boss has always been a slave driver and both of them are strong personalities in their own right. This friend of mine is no mere pushover too. If he saw something that not right, he would not hesitate to point it out, which at times put him at a loggerhead with his boss.

Well, unfortunately today, someone told me that the rumours that he heard is that the boss has actually gone up to higher ups and demand that the staff be sacked. Now, thats shocking. I would never thought that the relationship would deteriorate to that level.

If that is the case, it would be a sad thing. Knowing both of them personally, i do think that the matter has been blown out of porportion. I do hope what I've been told is just that, mere rumours. Hope that their professional relationship will be for the better...

Sights of Kuching

This is a stitched up view of Kuching Airport. Taken as we landed there on the 10th September. Not a bad job eh? (Click if you want to see the full view)

Looking East

This year i have not being traveling a lot, unlike last year which sees me in Australia, China, twice in Europe and most of the state in Peninsular Malaysia. This year has been a quiet one even though a planned trip to Brazil has to be scrapped off due to a few reason (personal, professional etc)

So, the recent development (and expansion of service) in office has seen me supposed to travel to Penang and Kuching in recent weeks, back to back. I have been to Penang at least twice a year since 2005 so to give the trip a miss was a foregone conclusion. But Kuching? Haven't been to Kuching so-oo, here we go...

The Kucing trip was for the same reason as Penang (which is work related) but unlike Penang, the travel and hotel arrangement were already been taken care of by the Secretariat, and to make it a sweeter deal, we are considered 'guests' rather than as member of the organizing committee...

All is set and as the airport is near to my place, so I drive there rather than driving to the office and taking a ride on the company transport with the others (a good thing too, I don't think i'd make it in time with the massive jam on the way to office). Make good time, and met the rest of the crew at around 9am. Unfortunately the flight was delayed so we got in to Kuching International a quarter to 1pm.. nice timing :)

Being picked up and ferried to the hotel which coincidentally also houses (is that the correct word?) the King, for the independence celebration in Sarawak. Hehe, am finally in Sarawak... Freshen up and went out for lunch.. Ceh, mana nak makan ni? Walking around with friends makes it harder to make decision. We ended up walking all the way to the wet market and plunked down for some food somewhere around there. At least we're trying some of the local delicacies, unlike some friend who ate at KFC. All the way to Sarawak to eat KFC? Sheesh...

Living on the edge

I agree with the notion that we are bound to make mistakes, sooner or later. After all, we are only human, and with our limited resources and knowledge, making mistake is one of the way that we'll ever learn something. Remember how do we first learn that hot is really 'HOT'? We wont heed our parents advise that the kettle is hot until we accidentally touched the surface... Ouch!

Once, someone said to me that its perfectly normal to make mistakes as long as we stand to learn, correct AND do not repeat the same mistake. And yeah, those who DON'T DO anything, makes NO mistake...

A new start perhaps?

I use to say to people that rainbow is one of the most beautiful thing. Come to think of it, it was not even a real thing, merely an illusion of a band of colours struck by sunshine after the rain (it might not be the most scientific of explanation though, hehe) and its rarely seen. But, i love it anyway.

What I love about rainbow is that for me, it signaled that after the rain (usually its the heavy, dark thunderstormy type), sunshine is just around the corner and it will shine brightly. That for me personally, signifies HOPE after the cold and darkness of rain. And hope is the thing that keep us going in the first place...

In the past few months, things has not been going smoothly in the office. The current re-organizational exercise has taken a wee bit longer than it should and the battle for the important division has been dragging even longer. It has caused, unfortunately, quite a certain amount of uncertainty and uneasiness among staffs. The lack of direction and information only serves to fuel the imagination, and calls of abandoning ship echoes in the background.

We (me and my colleagues) are only interested in doing our work and office politics is the last thing on our mind. But, if the politics interferes with operational issues and items such as equipment, budget and staffing continues to be out of reach, it frustrates us. And frustrations do leads to a lot of things which have a negative impact on morale and productivity to say the least.

Recently, we have a new person in office and hopefully all of us could work together toward the betterment of the organization and population in general. We would be looking forward to that.

WELCOME ABOARD, SIR!