b3 b0rn.. c0nf0rm, b3 si|3nt .. di3

all this while i have been in the project, i keep getting exasperated with users which keep complaining about the unreliability/unfriendliness/slowness of the our system. i have normally responded to those complaints with placating remarks and whatnot while seething beneath the surface (sometimes the seething bubbles above the surface - but then that’s another story)

now i am placed in a user’s perspective.

currently attempting to submit my timesheet using our new time reporting module for this billing period. there’s no love lost between me and the old module that was made available via our company intranet, but now the old module seems like a walk in the park.

i am close to reaching the last straw with this microsoft product - that is supposed to make life easier for the finance department (which i am all for so long they process our expense claims and attend to my requests for those tax receipts a.s.a.p) - but for goodness sake, can it be even more tedious than the previous module?

as i am typing this, i have already attempted to create this period’s timesheet for the umpteenth time!

don’t want to complain too much as the persons who are to field any issues/complaints re: this ms product are my friends he he. bet they already have a lot of issues to deal with on their plates. i will figure this out by myself. i will .. i will..

this was news i heard yesterday while driving to work and now it’s in thestar

the relevant excerpt from the article

Government babysits nursery issue

PRIVATE sector employers have been reminded to voluntarily set up crèches or child-care centres at their premises by December.

If this advice is not heeded, the Government will come out with rulings to compel the companies, especially those with many women staff, to do so, reported Kosmo!.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil gave this ultimatum, as many employers were still reluctant to set up their own crèches despite being offered Government incentives.

Shahrizat said this stubbornness showed that employers do not appreciate the role of women, who make up half the country’s workforce.

“The policy to compel employers to set up crèches at the workplace will be the Government’s last resort,” she said.

Shahrizat said the Government wanted to prevent women from quitting their jobs, merely to be with their children, as this would not benefit the country.

She said Government persuasion and encouragement had received lukewarm response as employers often cited financial constraints or fear of losses as their excuse.

Shahrizat said it was their own reluctance to set up the crèches that had caused their companies’ productivity to decline.

source : the star online

am not sure about the public sector - whether or not they have nurseries for their staff - but i can vouch for at least two private companies. one that is my company’s client - has a taska (daycare centre) - situated quite a distance from the office buildings and only for toddlers (above 2 yrs old). my own company, in the past methinks it’s because there weren’t that many employees but now that we’ve grown in numbers, there might be some justification there for a nursery to be set up.

would i place kya in somebody else’s care if a nursery is set up for my company?

pros (if in the same building) :

• able to check up on my child (children nyehnyeh) ever so often
• if still breastfeeding, can make visits 3 times during working hours
• don’t have to worry about having to stay back slightly later

cons:

• we (amir and i) have this phobia of leaving kya with non-relatives
• all those stories about babysitters / day care providers causing hurt to kids (intentionally or unintentionally)
• nurseries/day care centres charge extra for the extra hours they have to care for our kids
• there’s also the issue if these premises are actually suitable for housing a day care centre

personally, i think there won’t be any nursery set up any time soon. unless it is made compulsory by the govt. so if shahrizat is true to her word, we’ll probably hear about plans of having one earliest in 2006.

kya would be nearly 3 yrs old by then.. and time to think about another baby

ponder…

last tuesday went to get kya’s stock of soy formula. she goes through 1 kg worth of formula in an average of 5 days. since i didn’t want to make a stop at the atm, bought only 4 of these (which translates to 20 days worth of formula).

the story i wanted to tell is more on what happened when we left our driveway to head to the singseh’s (chinese traditional medicine man).

the residents on my row normally have a minimum of two cars per household. now if you are familiar with malaysian residential areas, especially those built 10 yrs ago, they only provide a porch that can fit one car. so for those with 2 or more cars would either have to park on the roadside or would renovate their compound into an additional car porch.

but even with that, the road is filled with cars parked left and right and at its tightest spot, there would only be enough space for one car - there’s a lot of give and take that has to happen when two cars from opposite directions are trying to pass through.

so that night was one of those nights where there were more than 1 car plying the road. we were about to drive off when a car came from the opposite direction. i stopped my car to allow the driver through ( near where i was waiting there was enough space for 2 cars to squeeze through if driven with caution whilst over where the other driver was only fit for 1 1/2 car)

and we waited. and s/he waited. and we waited. and s/he waited.

obviously there was no way i can drive through this and it’s also obvious this bugger ain’t budging. if s/he really wanted to allow me to pass through, surely s/he could see that there ain’t enough space and would reverse the car a bit. since i was in a hurry, decided that i would have to make MORE space so i reversed back into my parking spot and only then did the other driver made his/her move. d’uh!

as i was already slightly pissed by then, i muttered a ‘bodoh nye driver‘ (translated: stupid driver) without thinking. to which a tiny voice chirped and repeated bodoh!!!

OUCHHHH!! i totally forgot that kya was in the car with me.

i quickly told her ‘takde kya.. pandaiii… ‘ (no kya!.. smart driver!)

and she happily repeated ‘pandaiiiii‘

phew.. that was close…

but then on the road, i accidently let loose more ‘bodoh’s on the road and would have to quickly cover it up with another pandai (used to say f**k a lot but then i had kya so i toned it down, that’s a relief)

couldn’t help but relate this to a scene in ‘meet the fockers’ where jake jr said ‘asssss-hoooolllleeee’ after hearing greg accidently saying it while babysitting for his future in-laws.

recited this incident to mama. she just shook her head and solemnly said ‘it’s time you start teaching her muqaddam and a bit of english/malay words’

which i was planning to do anyways, if only i could get hold of the right books.

update:
found a photo of my street during hari raya exodus. this is definitely not how it looks like on normal days

she’s as girlish as can be. according to mama, kya acts exactly like the toddler me when dressed up.

• she flicks her bangs back ever so often
• she likes putting whatever i happen to put on - talc, moisteriser, perfume
• she likes to twirl around when dressed in a dress/skirt
• always.. alwayss.. alwaysss need to check out the mirror!

oh.. last weekend we went shopping for kya - bought a coupla new outfits - one of them is a bright red cheongsam. the outfit is supposedly for 3-4 yr olds but considering that kya is a tad bit taller than her peers at 1 yrs & 8 mths, she could comfortably carry off the dress.

will put up pics of her parading in her gong xi getup.. complete with woolly hair bands and lipstick (for the lipstick will have to make use of mama’s .. since i’ve misplaced my lip gloss - and you wouldn’t find a lipstick anywhere in my boudoir :razz:)

going back to the topic, here’s two photos of her during the last eid ul-adha. we finally did end up heading back to mama’s hometown in perak after weighing all the pros and cons. too bad though i forgot to consider this one thing that everybody on the mass exodus to their kampungs experienced.

extremely baaaaaadddddd traffic!

since the last time i experienced this was labor day 2004, my brain seemed to have neglected in conjuring that memory when i was deciding whether or not to raya in perak. anyhow, we happily started out from kl at 9.30pm, was pleasantly surprised to see that the roads leading to the highway are clear. happiness shortlived as soon as we passed through jln duta toll. i could see the tail lights of cars blinking all the way to the horizon.

in the chaos that ensued after making the decision to balik kampung at 7.30pm on thursday (had to pack my stuff, kya’s stuff, bathe her, bathe me, feed kya) .. i neglected to feed myself. and that fact made itself known while we were inching along the highway near the rawang r & r. i felt nauseous and ended up having to pull over in the emergency lane to either barf up whatever lunch i had or to take a few deep breaths. (padan muka to those who blatantly ignored rmp instructions not to misuse the lane - they had to crawl back into the actual lanes when they figured out this car ain’t movin’ anywhere).

needless to say, we arrived at atuk & nenek’s place at 1 am (approx. 3 1/2 hrs). can distinctly recall me telling my brothers and cousin that once we arrive, all i wanna do is dump all our stuff and go to sleep. well, was i wrong about that! kya - who had spent the whole journey blissfully asleep - decided that she wanted to play with her aunts/uncles/grandaunts/granduncles up to 2am, then when everybody else has settled down for the night - didn’t want to sleep until 4.30am. to say i was tired was an understatement. that beatles’ song kept ringing in my ears.

am definitely not going to balik kampung for CNY (regardless of how guilty i feel)

well, things are looking mighty well with the cold. fever’s completely gone, throat no longer scratchy (tend to be a bit dry in air-conditioned spaces) but i hab a sduffed dose.

tomorrow’s eid al-adha - the celebration to remember the sacrifice made by prophet ibrahim as a sign of obedience to ALLAH. HR just sent us an email today to inform us about how to treat the public holiday (since we now have personnel in the east coast - which observe fridays and saturdays as their weekend)

i am torn on whether or not to tag along with the rest of the family to celebrate back in mama’s hometown in perak.

on one hand, amir’s on night shift starting tonight and will only end his shift tomorrow at 8 am (when ppl are getting ready to go for prayers). i don’t feel like leaving him to celebrate raya by himself.

on the other, mama mentioned that my aunts actually tried to persuade her to kidnap kya to celebrate raya with them. also the fact that the last i actually visited nenek & atuk was in dec when they were staying at my aunt’s in pj (not that long ago but to mama that’s long enough)

there is a compromise here - i could do what i did last labor day - drive to perak with kya (with either brother as a backup), celebrate raya tomorrow and drive back to kl in the afternoon. amir wouldn’t even notice we’ve gone (well, apart from the fact that when he arrives home tomorrow morn - no kya will be jumping up and down excitedly to herald his homecoming)

still considering this… emm

unrelated,

• a colleague, in trying to explain the absence of another, said that ’she said her body is not that delicious’.. huh??? translated into malay it should read ‘rasa tak sedap badan’ (re-translated into english - feeling a bit under the weather)
• in observing the somber mood since the tsunami, our company’s annual dinner has been postponed to march. mayhaps i can make it then this time. need to check my schedule (and amir’s shift)
• citibank sent me the renewal card for my visa - when i have already sent my letter of cancellation. called up their customer careline to receive a promise that their card cancellation center will follow up with me (how long would that one take?)

Update:
papa returned my call and when presented with my compromise for the balik kampung dilemma, his response was ‘what a waste of time/effort/money! just for an overnight?‘ . i explained that this is just so my aunts (and mama included) won’t be disappointed - to that he said ‘we’ll just take kya with us then! you can stay here and keep amir company‘

my first thought was ‘woooo hooooo!!!‘

it’ll give us a chance to go out (after amir’s had his sleep, of course).

am really really tempted to say yes. have done this before - albeit only for half a day - the family left with kya early in the morning, we headed back only at night after amir ended his shift.

but this time it will be minimum 2 days (could even go up to 3 days *gasp!!*)

should i?