One after another…

I’ve been lazy, I knowwww….  So, what motivates me to blog today? I have always had this habit you see. At school when I had to study for an exam (like the next day) or I had to prepare a presentation or submit my assignment (which due the day before),  I always found myself doing things I didn’t have to do… like rearrange my books on the bookshelves or  the sudden urge to press all my clothes or reposition every furniture in the room but end up doing them halfway… So what would be the thing that I would rather not do and choose to blog instead? …. PMP laa…. erkhhh…

So, I sent a text to Zarrafat  a.k.a Zack a.ka Afad a.k.a Apad to send me a “gambar sakit” so that I have something to write here.  Good old Apad sent three!

OK This one is a bit scary, fren …  But he did this with a message like iklan kerajaan gituh “Berhati-hatilah di jalan raya. Tp kdg2,kita da hati2 pun,org lain yg xhati2. So,it’s down 2 luck n fate. Aku pelik,camne kete bleh terbabas kt tpt ade org. Sepanjang2 north-south highway tu,nape dia xterbabas tepi
ladang kelapa sawit ke,jatuh gaung ke.Kan? Kan? Kan?”

He’s at his hometown now recuperating after an accident. I couldn’t really get a good picture of how it actually happened. I always need graphic aids,  so I request him to send me a snail mail of the incident together with lakaran  since he is also complaining how boring life is now without internet and games (he’s starting to watch Upik Abu dan Laura, you know.. GoD!!). Besides, it would be thrilling to receive a snail mail for a change 🙂 I forgot when and what was the last one I had…  Jokes aside, pls doa he gets better soon.

One tragedy after another… Sharon a.k.a Cha’s hubby passed away recently, not long after David Wong’s father and Musaini’s father-in-law. Then our friend Apad got battered in the accident, and who could forget the worst nightmare with Arwah Fify… and myself, I got a shoulder injury…. minor as it is in comparisons, it hurts like *beep* when it hurts, and it has been going on for few months now. So Jamil will be doing a kenduri doa selamat and tahlil for arwah on 2nd August. I won’t be around unfortunately but I hope the rest could go.

Botak a.k.a Adrian Saw left the company to pursue his childhood dream. I hope he’ll keep in touch so that we know which airline not to fly with…hehe.. peace Botak! We had a farewell dinner at Restoran Nelayan and of coz I took some pictures.

The rest of the pictures from the nite.

 Just before he left we got him to clean up the office as part of the ATB spring cleaning event.

He even licked some furniture clean… perve

We had another sad farewell. Chris left to work in Hong Kong, another competitor. A surprise farewell party was held recently and the theme was Doraemon, his favourite cartoon character… dun ask me. I thought he’s more of a spongebob guy. Everyone was sad to see him go… I think he’s the best leader we had during my years here. He’s goofy and funny but people remember that he’s the boss and jobs get done. No replacement yet so far. Let’s pray for a good one. Maybe this one would love spongebob.

More PICTURES

OK, it’s very late. PMP is out of question tonite…

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30th Anniversary

30anniv 051, originally uploaded by operatorotai.

So our little branch we call hub in Malaysia celebrates 30th Anniversary this year. Chris assigned me to take a group photo for the event we had last Wednesday. Nerve wrecking… coz I had never shot a big group before. I wouldn’t have time to rearrange the little people coz we couldn’t afford to have our special guests waiting. Thank god everybody looked good in those multicoloured costumes. If everyone wore black that, I’m screwed. They were dressed in cross culture… well, almost everybody…

And did I mention I got to stand on Secret Recipe’s chair to take the shot? Yeah, Chris read my mind when I was looking around after some shots (with muka tak puas hati on my face, coz the angle shots were crappy). He grabbed one of the chairs, muttering with his not-so-thick NZ accent “Oh, they wouldn’t mind”, answering my silent question which was “Secret Recipe tak marah ke ni?”. So again, he read my mind. I’m beginning to suspect that he really is a mind reader and understands malay :)). So you guys watch out around him.

For a memento, the snapshot is good enough, but quality wise, I need to learn more of course. Much more. If a teacher is marking this pic, it would have red inks all over it.

The rest of the pictures from that day are here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/meknjong/sets/72157617158729223/

So, Happy 30th Anniversary everyone. Will we be here to witness the 40th? Or even the 31st? It won’t matter. We are already part of the company history. We made it this far, cewwah…. pigiidahh…

Arwah

All bloggers in the office or those that had an association with this office in the past, would definitely have a topic in common this week…. Arwah Fify….. I just started using the word arwah on Sunday. It didn’t seem right before. It is still hard to swallow the fact that she’s gone but I am blessed that God surrounds me with good friends and family who keep reminding me that we have to accept what’s written for everyone. And I am also blessed that God sent me a dream, on Thursday night, the night before the news was out. In the dream, Arwah and I took a picture together in the office. Normally I would be the one taking pictures even in dreams. At the time, when we all didn’t know of her whereabouts, I took it as a bad sign, that it was a goodbye, and I shared this with Jeehan and Jennifer. But now that I think of it, it was not a sign. She was already gone when I had the dream. I would like to think it as a gift by God to me, a chance to say goodbye for the last time.

 

What angers me a bit is the rumours that are spreading about her death. So, I feel obliged to clear this up. The cause of death is not identified. No findings whatsoever as to who did it. So people, stop telling other people that she was stabbed MANY times. There was only a small cut or stab wound on her chest that may not cause death at all. NO, there was no report of kidnap, or rape. And her hands were not bound when they found her! I hope they are still investigating this so until they could conclude anything, PLEASE, do not add any of your own spice to the story. I don’t want any of these wild rumours to reach her family members. They had enough.

It’s strange how little things could remind us of her. Arwah always had her table full of sweets, chocolates and whatnot to offer to everyone. She refilled them without fail. I was her regular customer and my favourite was Choki2. Then I saw a Choki2 ad on TV, yesterday. It was odd coz the last time I saw it was when I was in school. It was good being reminded of good things like this and it somehow brightened my mood that day. Maybe that is what we all should do. Instead of stressing ourselves with the questions like “why is this happening”, “how did it happen?”, “what did she go through?” etc etc, and make yourself sick, we should think of little things like….. Choki2 🙂

Hmm… I just realised I’m now short one member. Once in a while, Arwah and I, sometimes together with Jeehan would gang up and pick on some people. They were not planned, just naturally happened 🙂 . The usual victims would be Shira, sometimes Aidil and Jamil, Adrian botak, Adrian Hee. You know, easy targets :)) …. Yeah, memory like that helps.

 

I notice that her picture in my flickr hit some views this week. I dunno if they are people who just miss her and decide to take a look, or it is pure curiousity by other colleagues who just got to know her over the phone at work. Whatever it is and whoever you are, if you are a muslim, please offer Al-Fatihah and intend the reward for her. InsyaAllah.

 

Season Two

OK, the lazy bone is back, updating stuff. I know, I know, I’ve been missing. Wish I could say I was away in an adventure in some exotic country where blogging is impossible. But the truth is simply laziness… I mean, I get moments when I thought to myself, “Oh yes, I’d definitely blog this and that later” but… but by the time I parked my butt in front of the PC, I got nothing to tell… I’m amazed with the capability of some ppl who devoted their time every single day in front of the pc blogging away their life…. How do their minds work? Every second of the day when every single thing that happens, they must be thinking, “Ooh, I must blog this!”. Do they blog right away? Son got sick-Blog! (Doctor later). Lecturer gave tough assignment- Blog! (forget the assignment!), Boss gave tough time and irrelevant projects – Blog! (get some other staff to do the projects). Politician made remarks – Blog! (coz “all politicians are stupid and I’m always right”). Nothing happened that day – Blog anyway! (with all the *sighs* and wishes). Boyfriend cheated – Blog! (do the crying and listen to Unbreak My Heart all at the same time). Cheated on wife- Blog! (about anything but that).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making fun of these people (maybe a bit). I really do want to be able to write every day like that. Well, some people just have the talent to write…. and in my case, it’s seasonal… So, welcome to season two of Operatorotai Blog. After a short season 1, pls anticipate season 2 is going to be even shorter.

So, first of all, some updates of what’s going on in the department. We conquered another market. Bravo. Our job security is extended. With dire global economic situation like now, I am thankful for the additional job when there are others who totally lost theirs. But of course being human at the same time I’d rather not do this one. Unlike other existing markets during the beginning phase, the challenges were more towards the differences in systems and some other little differences (which makes it all the more confusing) we call market specific but we gradually and eventually and STILL learn.. (mostly from mistakes)…. But this latest addition has a different set of challenges. Let’s just say it can’t be “learned” but we just have to learn how to live with those challenges. If I may propose to the company, I’d definitely suggest that we have a blood pressure machine for health monitoring purposes. Oh well….. we shall live through this together..

Jamil and Afad have been actively organising badminton sessions for two months now. Twice a week.The regulars are Jamil, Afad, Aidil, Shahid, Azwan and Shamsul and Larry. Phobe, Allan, Alvin, Ah Kong, Boo, Cat, Shanky and Mr.Director joined once or twice so far. I joined a few more than that and I am still keeping the record of no win whoever I paired up with. An “almost win” was with Afad (match point) but I screwed it up. I got really bummed over this. So, may I announce, when I win, yes I use the word “when” here not “if”, I will present a trophy to him/her. It would say “I GOT JO’S FIRST WIN”. Here are the links to some pictures on the first day I joined the session at Cheras. http://www.flickr.com/photos/meknjong/sets/72157612961675175/

You can also check some other pictures that I took for ATB Christmas party and some pictures for Insider’s last issue on Aini’s column for watches here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/meknjong/sets/72157611665804036/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meknjong/sets/72157613403994463/

Insider Q4 issue is a bit behind its dateline. I’ll include the pics once Madam Editor publishes it.

 

Some other news (old and new) that I never got my lazy self to update before were;

Aidil won second place Canon Photomarathon which I also joined but didn’t win anything (maybe this year I will).

Mawi left. Now with RHB. And his wife gave birth to a boy (If memory serves right).

We have newhires and Jagraj is Jamil’s new team member. Jamil will organise a makan2 session soon I hope *hint hint*.

One newhire cried while buddying with me and I got famous for that and it was believed to be the cause for her decision to quit after 3 days on the floor. I AM LEGEND!

Naziah gave birth to a girl, Ameena. Big sister Khadeeja is very possessive. Went to visit her with Amy and Emmyza. A little regret for not bringing my camera. Her kids were just so adorable!!!!

KakRoy is getting slimmer 🙂

Went to watch PGL with Jeehan, Aini and my friend. Absolutely fab and fan!

On a more subdued note, Joy, an ex-staff from TSC passed away last month.

I guess that’s about it for now. You will hear more from me. I promise….

 

Page and post mishap

I’m totally new on this blogsite. I had just posted another entry but I got that on the ‘page’ instead of ‘post’. I dunno how to fix that so pls click on Ragam Puasa under Pages category. Or here’s the link https://operatorotai.wordpress.com/ragam-puasa/.

Insider lunch

I’m not part of the Insider group (department magazine), but I was invited to join the second session of lunch date with them because I took some of the photos for the magazine. Some hobbies have their  perks after all… The head of the group is Olive. And we had lunch at Menara Hap Seng, known as Mui Plaza before. Since we ate at Old Town, I’m going for the ‘old’ look here…. just something I explored recently…

This is where we ate. Nice place to hang out with friends and lovely ambience… a bit hot at noon though.

The staring contest when Olive’s coffee arrived. It was disappointing that nobody broke the cup. 🙂

Kita minum dulu.

Gerald, I took off someth from your nose… hehehehehe… Was going to do magic with your mole too… tempted but no laaa… maybe next time, K?

Shira, the footballer who apparently writes for a magazine too…  

Sorry Aini,  can’t delete your pictures… 🙂

Lepas makan….  

Only Olive and I ate ‘real lunch’. The rest already had their lunch prior to the outing… So what did we have? 

The famous white coffee of course…

Gerald’s choice

Olive and I had the same thing. Yummmm..

The gals’ choice

The one who paid for the lunch…. Thank you Olive!!!

  

Oh well… we merdeka almost 51 years now… so, let me end this blog with something in colour and with jalur gemilangs as the background…

some other photos are on this link… same pasword guys…

http://s271.photobucket.com/albums/jj124/insiderphotos/Old%20Town/

Too bad we couln’t do this lunch in one session with the rest of the gang… but that’s the culture we have to live with when we work in a call centre.  

Again, thank you Insider for the lovely lunch.

ATB makan-makan

ATB organised a small makan2 last Thursday… Other than welcoming Jamie back to the tribe, we celebrated months of birtdays at once, and also the penyampaian hadiah for the foosball champion and the winner of the EURO cup competition… The ‘You Are Special’ certificates were also distributed to all, siap laminated.. So everyone got all the nice words from everybody…. I got a few nice words too. Well, some ending with “but sarcastic”. I dunno how they got that kind of impression. Seriously people, don’t believe all the rumours…

I’ll let the pixels do the talking now, from Adrian’s camera:

 

 

 

Trust Jamil to shop for clothes… kecik…  sian Aidil

Adrian menang apa tah ni… mesti main tipu..

He doesn’t look that happy reading his “You Are Special”.

Whatever it says on Jamil’s piece of paper, he doesn’t seem to care… makan duluu…

Naziah jemput diri…hehehe… she’s always welcome.

More pictures here http://s328.photobucket.com/albums/l327/operatorotai/ATB%202008/24July/?start=all

 

 

 

 

Futsal pulak

Sports club organised a futsal match last Saturday. I’m in the team called Victorious Secret. I’m sure to those who just heard this for the first time would go ‘WHATT???’ ….No, it was not my idea, I was never warm to the idea and I wasn’t part of the majority who voted for it. Idea Jamil la nii…. ahak ahak. But then, I never gave any ideas for the name. So fair enough, I’ll live with it for another 6 months. Thank God nobody had any crazy idea for the jersey…..  So, sorry to disappoint some of you who wish to see rough actions from tough men in sexy swimwear and lingerie. THAT would never happen here… I mean ‘tough’ men, not men in lingerie… hehehehe…

Jamil is also in the same team and he was part of the player line-up, along with Aidil and Sham and also Jason David. The team HEROES won, bringing home RM250. Here are some pictures I took. Pardon the quality. I’m yet to learn the tricks to shoot with low light.

 

That’s Shira, my favourite player. The only girl in the game.  

 

 Tengok la muka Farah…. merayu gitu… Caterer datang bukak 2 table gituh.

 

 Awal2 dah injured dah.

 

 Jamil nak cakap apa tah ni…. Or was this your best pose boss?

 

 Para penonton dan pom pom girls

 

 Sian Rizman, siap pegang perut tengok Rina makan ABC. (tatau anak staff mana sebenarnye)

 

Our dinner from Mama’s Kitchen, was it? Mummy’s Kitchen? Dapur Mak laa..

 

 Alvin cramp sorang-sorang

 

Victorious Secret’s Advertisement : “Hair is in. Say no to wax”.

 

 Victorious? or  Notorious?

 

Pose manja- that’s our captain Pradeep.  

 

 Jangan kutuk…. dosa! Cute pe…

 

More pictures from the link below. If password is prompted, it’s the usual one… If you don’t remember, e-mail me. Sokay, I’ll email you guys. For the staff, the pics are also in the TEMP FILE, 2008 Sports Club folder.

 

 http://s328.photobucket.com/albums/l327/operatorotai/Sports%20Club%202008/Futsal/

 

 

Foosball Fever

Ini lah aksi2 melampau pemain foosball semi-finalists Sham and Aidil a.k.a Eddie.

Jamil was the appointed pengadil, so you can imagine that the situation was always kept under control. He even had a wheelchair ready for any injury.

 Check out Jamil’s pose.

Hmmm… maybe someday ppl will design foosball tables for taller people, Sham.

 Gaya Aidil  

Dah nak kalah dah ni.

 Goallll!!! (tunggu goal shot kat belah aidil berkurun).

Gaya encik sham kita. Nak menang kene buat camni la

 Ini lah dinamakn kalah nonggeng

 I think you can guess who won….

 Final nanti between Sham and Adrian or was it Alvin?… Dunno..

For more pictures click on the link below:

http://s328.photobucket.com/albums/l327/operatorotai/Foosball/?start=all

My worst goalie.

First of all, can someone congratulate me for posting the second entry within the same year as the first one? I’m so proud of myself.

Actually, I got no specific topic except to announce what most people might already know. Our little Jamie is now the Director of the department. Rabin must be very proud of him. Who’s Rabin? Well….to answer that, I need a separate long blog entry dedicated for him alone. In a sentence, he used to be Jamie’s partner in crime when they were still green in this department. I wish I had a picture of him to share with those who don’t get the privilege to know him.
So, I was assigned by Olive to take pictures of him for the magazine. Here’s the face of the new director. 

 

 

 

Then I got carried away with my camera.

 

The new look of the breakout room. Well, it doesn’t look that much different.TV is bigger and there’s a foosball table now. Ramai yang tengah demam foosball and some competition is going on but I’m not taking part. Apparently, I yelp too much when I play this game.

 

 

May I introduce you to my best players. I always play blue. Beckham, Beckham Jr, and Abdullah Beckham. It’s not that I like Beckham. Just lack of football knowledge.

 

 

 

And here’s the worst goalie in the entire history of sports that involve…. balls. I never won a single game so far because of this lousy goalie (3 games against Jamil and 2 against Boo).

Jamil, PMP dah siap ni, jom lawan!