Occupied

Currently, I am being entrusted to make this building completed before third quarter of next year. It's not any normal square box type structure which doesn't requires much imagination. Well, this makes me currently occupied for a while. I am trying new approach in executing this job, bringing in my years of collective experiences. Surprisingly, I met some old old friends along the way. One in partical was as long as my pre-college days where the our whole life was still open wide for us to explore back then. It was the time of Thundercats.

Wisecracking

My daily routine has started to set in. I am having a regular exercise every morning and evening by taking a 400m walk to and fro. Not forgetting going down flight of stairs from the elevated monorail platform (well, going up is via escalator!). Added to this setup a daily dosage of being packed into a small moving coach and being meshed further along the 5 station stops.

I missed being in command of several staff, executives and engineers. Instead, I am practically back where I was started almost 17 years ago, but with a difference. I am more experienced and well rounded this time around. Admittedly a bit rusty in original ideas but made it up via the ability to see potential pitfalls that normally comes with raw and unbridled designs.

Beam Me Up Scotty!

I have been transported into a different time zone. It's a rather new environment even though I am doing things which have been nearly forgotten for quite a while. It is rusty for now and it shows. Making the best of the situation.

Admittedly, I am longing for the constant pressure cooker environment that requires me to always be on guard, on toes and 'updated'.

Till the next report, I have a 'monorail' to catch.

Promotion

As I walked into the boardroom, 7 pairs of eyes followed my every footsteps. Dang! I was partially nervous that I even kicked the side gypsum wall as I was about to pull the chair by the end of the long table.

The chairman mumbled something about finally having found the right person to be given greater responsibilities (read 'sucker'). My short reply was that I have been performing almost the same level of responsibilities since the start (it was supposed to be a sarcastic remark but I guess they were so engrossed in finding surrogates that they didn't pretty much noticed it)

Further explanations of what an ideal organization chart should be and how to manage bigger staff didn't fuelled me at all. My mind just wandered to my colleagues and subordinates whom in reality has became unmotivated, depressed, clueless and disillusioned with the journey taken and the direction heading.

I was awaken by the sudden silence in the boardroom. 3 pairs of eyes looking directly at me, 2 pairs looking at the lints on the squeaking clean table, and another 2 pairs looking lost at each other. A long pause ( I am sorry, I have to rewind quickly to figure out what was the question) as the 2 pairs of eyes from the original 3 started to find more lints on their area of the table. The only safe phrase I could come up with (no matter what the question might have been) "I will have to sit down with new boss and figure out the details and strategies" (?)

You are excused and hope you will be more motivated now with the new responsibilities.

I guess they won't ever get it at all.

Management Boot Camps

I just got back from a Team building Session organized by my present company. It was a 4 days affair where approximately 40 personnel from several construction sites were sequestered and given a systematic dressing down of team building concept and implementation. It was conducted by Malaysian outfit of trainers and facilitators from CEDC.

Suffice to say the general objective was met and everyone seemed to have learned something about what it takes to be a team player. As for me, I re-learned and unlearned few things. Most and foremost - that senior managers are human too. Where else you can get a chance to really participate and beat up your senior managers fairly in a company sanctioned event, and don't have to worry about the repercussion later?

I came out impressed with the personnel we are having right now (accept for one or two blokes) despite the initial cultural differences (Iraqis, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Indians, Sri Lankans, Philippines, Malaysians, Brits and Irish) making me nostalgic if and when the time eventually comes for me to make a career move. The time has long gone since being shouted at in the phone and labelled as not a team player and too emotional by trying to question along the chain of management abyss on procedural matters. Paying the price of cold storage simply because I asked too much.

Oh by the way, our group won the overall first place in the team category. Even though we found out eventually that the other teams all get the same contents of snacks and chocolates, I would never trade places with the tacit acknowledgement of winning.

Montage

Just a montage of works I personally had had a hand in constructing.

My Dearest Father

11:27am 23 April 2007 I lost my father. I thought I could make it and met him while he was still breathing. It was not meant to be. I was on the plane somewhere above the sub-continent when he left me. I only got to know about it upon touching down in KLIA at 2:40pm as I turn on my handphone and the a short sms from my wife; Innalillah, your dad passed away at half past 11 in HTAR.

I sat down on my 23K seat oblivious to the people around me but the whole thing didn't downed on me yet. I only made it out of KLIA after 3:45pm (the usual delay in the luggage carousel). I raced to make the journey back directly to my parent's house (hitting 140kmh!) in order not to miss the burial.

I only began to cry quietly as I made the last turn into the road leading to the house. As I stopped the car and made the way through the onlooking crowds gathering by the house compound (I could made out some familiar faces among them), my sister waited for me by the entrance. I think I heard her saying something but my eyes were only fixed beyond the wide door while trying my level best to calm her down.

There he was, laying in the middle of the house, the place he used to take his nap in the evening breeze, but this time around fully wrapped in white cotton pieces except for the face. I saw my mum sitting a few feet away, being consoled by the ladies. She was surprisingly quite.

I sat by my father's side, looking at his unshaven face (I can't hardly recall him having so much beard or moustache) and fulfill my promise of whispering to his ears for the last time.

Fast Forward

I am on my way home at this moment. Just received the news on the condition of my dearest father. He has slipped into deep coma after second stroke attack this morning. He was recuperating from his first mild stroke attack on 10th April.

As my family members gather around him in the hospital bed, I am struggling to find the earliest possible flight to KLIA. Hang on dear dad. Let you hear me whisper in your ears again.

Blacksburg vs Ijok

During my elapsed work time this last few days, I can't help but search for the latest news coming from between these two places. One made world headlines and the other, well sort of deserves another headline category. Tragic news from Blacksburg a plenty! So does Ijok (tragic?). I am not going to add more to any of those news nor comment, but merely my reminiscent of that word Ijok.

His name is Ashadi (I think that's what I could recall, its been nearly 27 years). We called him Ijok, simply because he is from that town. We were in boarding hostel operated by Yayasan Selangor. A very affable fellow with wide grin. Although he has a slight gait to his steps (I was told he has polio when he was small toddler), he beats me in pingpong, times and times. Not just pingpong, he also beats me in carrom. Luckily I can match him at badminton - well obviously thats not a fair game to him! Oh by the way he is a Javanese descent (can't doubt that!)
Each time the name Ijok crops up, he is the first thing that came to my mind. Funny how we tend to associate names to places. Sometimes I wonder if I had to acquire another acquiantance from Ijok later on would Ashadi's face be replaced from my subconscious memory pages?
To Ashadi from Ijok, if you still live there, wherever you are, don't forget to vote.
ps.
BTW, I almost forgot, Badrulhisham from Batang Berjuntai - well this one deserve another story. And also Annuar from Sg Choh, who introduced me to Rubik Cubes solutions.

Condolences to the Hokies

Somehow, upon hearing this tragic news yesterday, I was truly disturbed. Apparently the troubled signs were there. A few noticed him and his anti-social personality disorder tendencies but as usual, people hope that the problem would just go away or someone else would take on the responsibility later.

I hope his 'disturbing' scripting class assignment below wouldn't be made into movies by some demented, cash hungry and selfish Hollywood directors/producers.

Richard McBeef
Mr Brownstone

Univ Texas 1996, Columbine in 1999, Beltway Sniper 2002, Amish School 2006, Vtech 2007 - its a sign a society gone wrong.