Journey of Hope...

“There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness...”- Friedrich Nietzsche

With Iwan and Sara went to Tanglin to have nasi lemak breakfast. This morning we will be attending MAKNA's 9th Anniversary Periwinkle day celebration at Menara Kuala Lumpur. I had a car park reserved for me. We were ushered up the lift to the function room where I was seated at the VIP table together with Dato Farid, the Chairman of MAKNA and Tan Sri Aziz and wife.

There were presentation of gifts to cancer patients and cultural performance by the Menara KL cultural group. We had brunch while being entertained by Saiful and Adibah Noor. The function ended at noon with each of us was given a goody bag full of souvenirs from the cancer patients. At night we had dinner at Laksa Shack at 1-Utama and missed watching the movie, as the queue was long.

Received a late call from a friend and slept very late listening to the hill tribe music.

Thailand: Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai - Rose of the North...

"A traveler's life is one that includes much pain amidst its enjoyments…”

Chiang Mai is the second-largest city in Thailand, with cool mountain climate. This small city offers a much more pleasant atmosphere than Bangkok, but still has all the modern amenities. The location of the city lends itself to excellent trekking and exploration of the lush surrounding nature areas. The heart of Chiang Mai is its old city, circled by ancient walls and moats and offers an old-world feel, despite the heavy traffic circling it.

(AA visit to the souvenir shop)

(A local cottage industry outlet) 

My Travelogue: Chiang Mai/ Chiang Rai 2005

The way we were...

'“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony...” - Gandhi

'

It was like we were 30 odd years ago. We have a lot to talk about and we feel as if we never grow old and never got separated from each other.

We woke up early and got ready to go gallivanting. We had breakfast at Devi in Bangsar and went to Mala’s at Bandar Utama. Went to Low Yat and met up with Ani's sons and cousins. With their assistance, Senator Ubai managed to purchase her laptop. I had the opportunity to apply for a phone line and Streamix for our Sri Putramas Apartment.

In the afternoon, we said goodbyes with heavy hearts. On the way to send Bee, we stopped at Section 14 to have lunch at chicken rice house. Detoured to Kak Nora's house to say hello. After sending Bee home, drove to Taman Melewar to send Senator Ubai.

Back at our Bidara house, I had pizza with the three stooges.

The gang’s reunion...

“Silence make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying, but the never needing to say that counts...” - Margaret Lee Runbeck

(SMKB girls)

At 4.30 a.m. Airah called from Putra Bus Station. Their bus was early. Still feeling groggy from lack of sleep, drove with U to fetch them. Airah’s hubby and children went their separate ways and they promised to meet up after our reunion. At the apartment we had early breakfast and started to prepare some quick simple gourmet for lunch. We cooked sup tulang, daging masak kicap, sayur campur, ayam goreng and sambal belacan. Nik Aminah will be bringing sambal udang petai and daging dengdeng. The gang started arriving before lunch. Adilah came early, followed by Rozimah. Nik Aminah came with the extra nasi and lauk pauk. While we were busy preparing food, received distress calls from Nik Fauziah and Nik Fatimah. Both cars ended up at Masjid Wilayah. Nasidah and Tik with their 2 kids were with Nik Fatimah. Mala and Sara came later. We had so much to talk about and ended up splitting into a few groups to manage conversations. The apartment was full with excitement. Food was abundance and we had a lot of photo taking to capture the moments.

In the evening we said goodbyes to most of the friends. In two cars, went to Nik Aminah's house. The house was in a mess as she was in the mist of packing to move to their new house soon. Later we stopped at Kak Jon's house to say hai. Later Nik Aminah sent Airah and Rozimah to KL Central. The rest followed me back to the apartment. Iwan came from Setiawan with Ella, her mum, dad, sister and baby. We prepared dinner for them and after that they drove to our Bidara house to stay a night there. Tomorrow they are going to Kuching for a holiday.

The rest of us had late dinner and slept late again tonight.

p.s.
To Kid in Wellington, We wished you were here with us.
To all the hubbies, thank you for letting the wives time off to be with the Big 5…'

Old girls gathering...

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one...” - Dr. Seuss

(Senator Ubai and Bee at my Putramas Apartment...)

'''
I received a huge fruit basket from a close friend. And Linda ordered a 2 kg carrot and walnut cake for our party tomorrow. Senator Ubai was at Bee's house early. After Maghrib went to fetch both of them and we had nasi goring dinner at my Putramas Apartment. We updated each other on happenings while relaxing and watching TV and ended up sleeping very late.
'
In Kota Bharu, Anie and her sister, Inah, Nik Airah and family boarded the bus at 9.30 p.m. ETA KL at around 5.00 a.m. tomorrow morning.''

Sri Kijang in Langkawi

“There is no unhappiness like the misery of sighting land again after a cheerful, careless voyage...” - Mark Twain

Our new resort in Pantai Chenang, Langakawi is ready for occupancy and staff can start making their booking starting from December.

Strategic Leadership...

“I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself...” - Rita Mae Brown

9th Senior Management Conference

Putrajaya Marriott Hotel

3 – 4 December 2005'

The Senior Management Conference is an annual forum for senior management to enhance teamwork, develop greater awareness of activities outside our respective functional areas and to contribute collectively towards capacity and capability enhancement within the organization.

For the 9th SMC the theme is ‘ Strategic Leadership and Alignment for Greater Organisational Effectiveness’. The forum was conducted at the Putrajaya Marriott Hotel, a retreat environment, away from the office. For these 2 days we were divided into groups and engaged in strategic conversations and discussions to discuss on our strategic results. 7 Strategic Results were presented during the plenary session on the second day. Because of time constraint, the remaining Strategic Results will have to be presented at another session.

Anticipated key outcomes of the SMC will be translated into initiatives and actions, bringing direct benefits to the organization.

Bonus time...

“Deadlines just aren't real to me until I'm staring one in the face…” - Rick Riordan

I have sent out a short memo to all my Managers including those at the branches

Dear All,

It was announced in the Senior Officer Meeting this morning that the bank-wide Performance Evaluation moderation has been completed. It was also mentioned that the overall bell curve has shifted to the left compared to last year indicating that the performance bar has been raised. The Director and I have made necessary amendments to the PRIME ratings of some affected staff in accordance with the decision of the Management during the bank-wide moderation sessions.

I will be distributing the PRIME forms to Branch Managers and Section Heads on Friday. Would appreciate if all supervisors could communicate the ratings as well as development plans to all staff and have the forms signed.

I will discuss with Director on the bonus allocation for all staff based on the quantum stated in the KA.

Regards.

Deputy Director

The announcement has created excitement among all staff and I have been receiving inquiries about the bonus. As stated in the KA, the budget allocated for each department is 3 months but the bonus quantum between the range of 0 – 5 months will be allocated for each staff, subject to their performance ratings. On top of that, for those with a rating of 4.7 – 5.0 are also eligible for standard merit bonus of 1 month.

I have prepared a preliminary list on the bonus allocation and will be discussing the list with the Director. Looking at the bell curve of the department and branches, safely I could confirm that none of us will get below 2.65 month bonus. And we have a few who deserve 4-6 months.

Alhamdulillah… Yeay!…

Year-end holiday...

“I must be traveling on now, ’cause there’s too many places I’ve got to see.” ~Lynard Skynyrd

My court case in Bentong was postponed again. And I have a few more court cases pending before the end of year.

Next week, hubby will be flying to Dhaka on some consulting assignment. I wish I could join him for a few days there but with our special project coming to the end of the window period, heavy commitment is needed to monitor market situation.

And as the Project Owner, I am expected to be around. The Director is on leave for 2 days. Most of the Managers are also on leave to clear their annual allocation. My teams have been working very hard this year and have no time to take time off. Most are worried that they may have to forgo some. I have 18 more days to clear minus the 10 days that can be converted into cash, most probably I could only take a few days off and the rest will be hangus.

Our flight for our Chiangmai trip is still on the waiting list. I will have to ask Linda to book other dates if the flight is not confirmed by next week.

My Overseas Travelogue: musmun.blogspot.com