Too many blogs pending... New Hairstyle!

I realised I have not been blogging as frequently as I used to... thanks again to the packed schedule I have. Haha...

Anyways... if u wanna know about wat has been happening? Just check out my photo albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/jordan222! I might not have ALL the events in my life captured on camera... but... the photos there are more than enough to keep you busy...

Oh ya... I got myself a new haircut... here u go!!! I love this new hairstyle of mine... it's short and it fits my character more... my dear sis sasa who gave me the inspiration to cut my hair short. Thanks sasa! hehe...

Relax = Sofa+Dinner+TV

It has been a really bz day.. as usual... ever since I started my new role... hehe...

Slept quite late las9 cuz has been working till mid9... had a tele con call then continued with work. Doze off after that and woke up quite early this morning to send out some emails for the early morning meeting.

Drove to work today.. cuz had to be at office early to take the tele con call early.

Speaking of driving to work... I have not been driving to work for quite some time d... partly cuz I have been car pooling, partly oso cuz my dad's car(my ex-hubby) has not been behaving good... 'He'' has been mis-behaving and sometimes juz does not want to start up! It has been 'torturing' us for quite some time... and last weekend, after numerous car hospital visits, 'he' is finally fixed.

'He' has been behaving quite well for the past few days. But today, roughly b4 lunch time, dad called me and told me that 'he' juz didn't want to start up again!!! And dad mentioned that if 30mins later he still fails to start 'him' up again, then I would need to drive home so that dad can use my car for his work.

'Oh no, driving home? Hmm... means I work from home after that whe dad uses the car? But I have so many things that need face to face discussion with my colleagues!!!'

Many things juz came into my mind... and later in the evening, I need to present during tele-con meeting.

Tension... tension...

Immediately... i whispered a prayer to ask God to work things out and not let anything spoil my day.

Looking at the clock, I was about to call dad after 30mins. When I was about to pick up the phone, a sms came in. It was from dad, my ex-hubby behaved and started up!!!

Praise God!!! God is GOOD!!!

I was still stressed out cuz of the work loads... but, I still accepted my friends' invitation and we went for the makan makan at the Deepa-Raya celebration at the Arena for the free lunch.

The queue was long... as expected, cuz who would miss a FREE lunch? haha...

The food was ok... edible la.. what do you expect for FREE stuffs eh? hehe...

After lunch, went back to continue with my work. It's non-stop... meeting after meeting and files after files to finish up.

Left office quite late cuz of the evening meeting with the US, UK and ppl juz around the globe. Thats the priviledge when you're in a global role... multi-nationals, time zone in the same meeting with the help of technology, conference call. =P

Right after meeting, got a call from a friend. Chatted for a while... my friend asked whether I wanna meet up for supper or drink.

Left for home... when I arrived home, everyone was out. I saw food on the dining table waiting for me. That's really heart warming when you know that food is ready when you have had a hard day's work. Thanks to dad & mum for tat.. Love ya lots! =P

I freshen up b4 dinner. Then, took the plate of food into the TV room and the I juz sat on the sofa and turned on TV to continue watching 'Bones'. Yeah... I had borrowed teh series from my friend, so, I have been in the 'Bones' marathon lately.. hehe...

Sofa+Dinner+TV = relax

This is such a GREAT equation... after finishing my dinner and 1 episode of the series... I really felt good. Totally relaxed... hehe...

Hmm... speaking about how to de-stress... reminds me I must find time to go swimming. It's been a few days since I last swim, thanks to my packed work schedule... hehe...

11pm... hmmm.... maybe another 1 or 2 episodes of 'Bones' before I call it a day.. hehe..

Here I Am

'Here I Am', was the title of last Sunday's sermon, which I've missed cuz went for a getaway at Taiping with friends(will blog about it when I have time to sort out the photos... haha...)

We discussed about this during cell 2nite... 1 of the challenge was - Are you available? Or are you too busy with your own life?

When I saw this question on the cell notes... I really hit me hard... How timely...

Lately... especially after I've started my new role... my time has been even more packed. Previously, my schedule was already full with activities, now, my already packed schedule has to accommodate work and the night tele-cons. Taking a look at mthe calendar on my HP, not surprisingly, EVERYDAY is scheduled with something, whether it's work, dinner, sports, movie... u name it, I have it on the list.

Busyness...

What's the cost of busyness. My relationship with God, family, friends, and even myself!

God
I haven't been spending time with God... very honestly. Due to busyness or unwillingness?

Family
I make it a point to come home for dinner whenever I can. That's the only time during weekdays when I can spend quality time with family. Catching up on each other's lives... the happenings... It's also a place where I felt safe, comfortable.

Friends
I have been catching up a lot with friends, different group of friends, friends whom I do not normally hang out with(ie not my usual kakis). What about my usual kakis? Only God knows what stopped me...

MYSELF
Am I being harsh to myself? Am I trying to get away from something? God knows...

Initially... I did not intend to blog when I came online to log on to my office network to finish up my work for the next day's meeting. But... something just prompted me to blog.

BUSYNESS... what's the meaning of it?

2nd day...

I felt like I'm journaling on my new job... haha...

Drove to work today... didn't car pool cuz there's team dinner after work. =)

9am... staff engagement with manager's manager... big big boss lah! Haha... Went into the hall... hmmm.... didn't see any familiar faces. So, just greeted a few 'ang moh' (mat salleh) and introduced myself. Sat down and the session started, taken by the big big boss.

Then, when it comes to organisation chart and he was introducing the team I am in currently, he asked my manager to introduce the team. I saw my name on the org chart, but the photo section was empty cuz they prepared the slides before I joined the team.. hehe.

'That's Marianne, she just joined us yesterday.', my manager pointed to me as she introduced me to the crowd.

The presentation continued by the big big boss... and as usual... I was blur with some of the terminologies used... and the information shared. I guess most newbies to the team felt the same as I am.. =)

Q&A time... some folks asked questions... then, he mention. '1 last question before we break for tea.'

My manager turned around and asked(loud enough to be heard by the whole crowd, 'Marianne, you being the newest in the team, you have any questions?'.

Oh no! I was taken by surprised. Before I could speak, someone from the crowd spoke, 'Aww... she's only 2 days old in the team, give her a break.'

Everyone laughed. And it ended the meeting. Phew! =P

During the tea break session, managed to speak to quite a few people and get to know their role in the team. It was a good session.

Then, back to work. Lots of readings to be done, and my team lead has been sending emails to me for my assignments(though she's supposed to be out of office cuz away training in the place where this year's Olympics has just concluded in style... =) Hardworking lady... hehe

530pm... time to leave, cuz need to be at KL Tower for the team dinner. Traffic was good, though some minor jam(which was normal in KL).

Team dinner is at the Revolving Restaurant at KL Tower.

It's my 2nd visit to the restaurant, the 1st one was with my previous team. Lucky me eh? Hehe... FOC meals at a 'chun' place with breath-taking nite view of KL city.

Food was so-so only.. but the view was awesome!

There were about 20+ people at the dinner. Took the opportunity to chat with these people again. Most of them consist of 'ang mor' from the US, Europe, Brazil and Australia.

The guy sitting next to me was from the UK. Got to know that he's from Manchester. So, very naturally, I asked him about Manchester United. He told me about the season pass to Old Trafford(if you dunno... it's Manchester United's home stadium). We chatted from fooball to Formula 1 racing to our work.

Chatted with another lady from Australia. She told us about her country and the culture. And we discussed on the cultural differences as people in Shell work across continents. So, we are exposed to various cultures from various countries. It was fun chatting with these people.

There's still alot for me to learn and get adjusted to in the new team. Very honestly, I felt the stress already. But stress motivates me to work harder and to improve on the areas which I'm weak in.

Lots of challenges ahead... but I'm looking forward to it! =P

Sand dunes

'Friendships are like sand dunes'

This was a remark made by a friend, a very good friend of mine.

Sand dunes... What???

U see this picture? This is it!

Why used sand dunes to describe friendships? Hmm... sand dunes changed their shape as the wind blow, and you wouldn't know what will be their next shape. Same goes to friendship... UNPREDICTABLE at times.

People change... circumstances change... friendships change. There's no guarantee that you're the best of friends today, you would be the same 10yrs, 20yrs, or even 50yrs down the road.

CHANGE. I dun like this word. But this is part of life! Without it, life is not INTERESTING!

1st Day =P

Hmmm.... I juz realised I haven't blogged about me getting this role at Shell.. hehe...

Anyways... today is my 1st day at work in the new role.

As usual... my car pool mate picked me up for work. Arrived at office about 830am, and like all Shell staff/vendors(after the outsourcing), we need to use our smart card to access to the building. Mine wasnt working, so I had to get my mate to help me flash the card twice to let me in to the building.

Went to the securities at ground floor, explained to them the situation and got the guards to re-enable my access to the building.

Walked across the bridge back to Wisma 2, why 'back'? It's cuz less than 3 weeks ago, my ex-team were seated at Wisma 2, but cuz of the outsourcing program and our team were part of the teams being outsourced to 1 of the 3 vendors, we had to move to Wisma 4, which is allocated for 1 of the vendors.

So, since now my new contract is back to Shell, so, I moved back to Wisma 2 where the Shell retained organisation sits lah! Like nomad eh? Moved office twice in less than 1 month.. haha.

I went to see the Admin Assistant to get my laptop(yeah, I got to use a laptop in this new role..hehe..), it was a loaned unit and she told me that she has placed order for a new laptop for me... so... I should be expecting to get to use a brand new laptop soon..hehehe....

Settled down at my new cubicle and realised that the network cable was missing. So, as usual... called helpdesk to request for one. Didn't know the extension number to my phone line... called helpdesk. Cover to the side of the cubicle dropped off, called helpdesk. Didn't have any drawers to put my stuff, again, called helpdesk. Whole morning.. I was practically on the phone getting things done. Haha...

Then, started to read my mails. Got some mails from my new team lead and a 30-min meeting invite from her scheduled after lunch. Got some stuff to read up prior to the meeting. So... excels, word, powerpoints... all sorts of documents to read and familiarize myself with.

Lunch... had my usual 'yum yum' home-cooked meal. My mum cooked my favourite fried kuey teow-mee last nite, but I didn't get to eat it cuz was invited for dinner at a friend's house after badminton. So, asked her to leave some of my favourite dish for me for lunch today. =P

After lunch... continued with my reading. Then, the meet up with my team lead. It was a very short and compact session. She actually squeezed 30mins of her time and in between this 30mins, she has back to back tele-cons. Busy lady. =)

She brief me on my 1st assignment(3 action items), which is... hmmm... not tat easy. 'I know this is quite tough for a 1st assignment, but try your best ok?', was what she said to me. Hehe... I wasn't treated as a newbie at work, I was given quite a big task on my 1st day at work.. Hehe.. Not bad!

After the meeting, I went to Wisma 4(the building where I worked at for the last 2-3 weeks cuz of the office move...), went back to meet my old team mates, and also to get my earphone, cuz I left it at my PC. I need that to plug it to my laptop to listen to some music at work.. hehe... I need some 'noise' to concentrate... haha.

Then, it's work work work. In between, managed to chat a few liners with my usual chat kakis, but, it was short.

'The person most free is now a busy person' was their remark about me...hehe.. I used to be the 'MOST FREE' person available to chat. But, with this new role, NO WAY I'm gonna have time to chat during office hours! Hehe...

About 545pm, car pool mate buzz me. Time to go home! That's my 1st day at work... in this new role. =)

Emptiness

It's holiday season. I have been very busy for the past 2 days of the 5-day holiday for me... Lots of laughters... lots of joy... lots of sweat... but... WHY??? I still feel the emptiness within me.

Today... I actually have plans to go out... but... moments ago(or maybe I've decided long ago), I've decided to cancel all my plans for the day and instead... just stay home... do what? I dunno...

Maybe just laze around.. watch DVD... blogging.. surfing the net... listening to music... house chores...

WHY? WHAT HAPPENED? HOW? I dunno...