A Busy Week

Its been a very busy week for me. This is clearly indicated my sudden absense from blogging, a obvious detoriation in my posting as compared to previous weeks. Work have suddenly shot up the roof. Request are coming in like no body business like a typhoon or tsunami coming in without any warning. It could be due to month end but it is indeed not a pleasant feeling having to continuously stare at the computer and fingers kept busy with replying mails and logging tickets. No matter how fast I try to do, backlog are eminent. Today figure stands at 130++ in the Profile folder. Man, what a rollercoaster ride.

Here are some of the things that I managed to sneak in a few hours my time.

Appreciation Dinner at Shangrila Putrajaya

A few of us were invited for a dinner as a sign of appreciation of the work we had done in making sure we pass quarter 3 signoff of being SOx compliance. Yes, it sucks...I mean SOx. The profile team in which I am apart off had managed to achieve a feet that some may have thought to be a great success. Indeed it was as failure to comply would result in failure to have a license to operate. Simply put as, we be out of a job if we ain't doing anything about compliance. SOx have become apart of our daily life. Work that is to be done need to be complied to this standard. Despite the complexity that it entails, the solution was quite simple. Make sure that the request receive is inputted correctly into SAP and there is evidence recorded in the form of ticket. By making sure we adhere to it, we had to be extra cautious. In the end with some QA process in place, we manage to pull it off and thus awarded a VP recognition in the form of a dinner.

We were allowed to choose the place of dinner. In my mind, I wanted the most expensive that I could get my hands on. Indeed there was no budget attached to it and I wanted a place where I wouldn't afford to go unless I made a few Gs a day. Shook. Jogoya. Fine Dining. KL City where all the cuisine can be found. It would be nice. Unfortunately, I had to put that dream aside and face reality by going somewhere nearby, Putrajaya. Shangrila to be precise.

I have never been there before. It was quite a nice place from outside except the entrance where there is a road that leads to a basement where trucks unload goods for the hotel. However, the view inside was magnificient. We headed to the Coffee Terrace to have our dinner. Menu was brought to us. First thing that came to mind, "Why so little choice wan?". Yeh, you could count the hairs on your leg and it be more than what was on the menu. I decided to go all our by having a complete meal. A starters of seafood salad, a bowl of freshly made mushroom soup, a main meal of a medium well done rib eye steak and a dessert of tiramisu top with a cup of mocktail called "Brightness" and a cup of coffee to end. Quite a lot to eat I must say. Well, I wanted to take a pic of the complete set but gave away the though as soon as my tummy began calling out to eat. Yet, I manage to snap a picture of the rib eye that I had.

Overall, food was just alright though I wish it could be better. I guess that what you get when going to a hotel to eat, a place I never did fancy eating.

After dinner and having some extra, I did a quick tour around the place. It was breathtaking to see the interior and architecture of the place. A great idea to bring the outdoor, indoor. The high walls and curve foyer where the rooms were gave an illusion that it an open air concept finish with a garden in the middle. Even the lounge where the conference room were had trees aligned aside it giving an illusion of being in a forest setting. Here are some of the pics that I managed to snap to give you a wanting to visit this beautiful hotel if you are around Putrajaya.

A Visit by the VP of Downstream Finance

It was quite an interesting engagement session. This was mainly attributed to a D&I (Diversity & Inclusiveness) presentation that we did prior to the engagement that encapture the year. Projects such as SOx and ISIP were some of the highlights coupled with the many festivities that Malaysia had or will be having in the year. I was roped in to be the MC of the event, my second attempt of doing so as well as the voice over for the presentation. The idea came about a day before and with a few hours practice, we had managed to come up with a colourful presentation. I was quite puzzled with the initiative taken and after thinking about it, probably it was because he was the Finance guy. Impressions are always important for future benefits.

Frankenstein in Love

Macha Kelvin had been all excited about this play. Having sent many mails to remind us about it and to get us going for this. It was a play that I wanted to see mainly for the cast line up for this theatre show. It would be a debut directorship for Gavin Yap as well as a debut theatre performance for Melissa Maureen (Gol & Gincu, Table for Two, Realiti). I for one was keen to see Ari Ratos, one of my favourite theatre actor. There were all together 11 of us; the machas, my sisters, Terry's bro and friends and a couple of my friends to. It was always good to bring people for theatre. There would be more if not for those who couldn't make it or some I had in mind to call.

I totally enjoyed the play thoroughly. The lighting was magnificient, a great effort by Ling And Swee especially the opening scene where the lights went from left to right giving an impression of a ghostly setting. Yes, it was about frankestein. Not really. Humans that have joined up by various human parts of other half dead human. Zombies in short. Based on the summary, it was suppose to be a love story. However, I did not get any of the "love" from the entire show. What I got was a very political plot, great lines, superb acting and most of all, comedy. It was rather interesting also to be in an audience where most of them were theatre junkies themselves. It was sad to see the place half filled despite the great performance.

Met up with my theatre guru, Mano Maniam where Don, Terry, Kelvin and myself were under his guidance. It was great to meet him again and see all well despite going through a unhealthy period. It really did bring back good memories of my theatre days. Wish I could have a sense of it in future. Many artiste came to where we were mainly to thank Mano for his support, his second time viewing it. Douglas Lim, Rashid Salleh, Melissa Maureen, Gavin Yap. They all came to where we were yet none were appreciative for us coming to support theatre. I was hoping for, "Thanks for coming. Hope you enjoyed the show!" but we were practically ignored though I tried to share a smile with them. It give me an impression that theatre people are arrogant. A far different perception when meeting senior theatre actors who were more inviting. It is sad how theatre are perceived or how being artistic is related to homosexuality. Why can't art be friendly? Why can't art be ART? An expression of creativity and talent rather than a character that feels it exuberates art.

Too bad I did not take more pics as I was caught up with Mr. Mano conversation.