Start of the long weekend

The long weekend starts today for most people working a 5-day work week. For them, the long weekend is a highly anticipated breather granting 3 days of break from the gruelling work life that these poor unfortunate souls of this country suffer from due to weak labour unions and an entrenched work culture of staying back late. Hey, after all, we are still a developing nation where wages are depressed, employers' expectations are stupendously high and hours are long. In Malaysia, unless you work for the public sector, nobody leaves work on time. It's just the work culture here. Leave on time and your peers will perceive you to be lazy. Leave on time and your superiors will think that you do not have enough work and will burden you with additional workload and expect you to finish it within a ridiculously unreasonable time frame. Perhaps it's an Asian thing where the worker who stays back the latest is perceived to be the most hardworking. I remember when I was in Tokyo earlier this year, from my hotel room window I saw a considerable number of people still in the office even at 11pm, and there was still a busy sea of people who had just left the office walking to the subway station to go home.

Does work-life balance really exist in this world or is it only a utopian paradigm?

A Wedding in August

On a beautiful Saturday morning in August, I attended a wedding. Not just any wedding, but the wedding of a close friend from high school. In fact, it was the first wedding within the small circle of high school friends whom I still keep in touch with. Some of us have not seen each other in person for almost 10 years since we last left high school, and so it was really exciting to see one another again. Apart from the main event (i.e. the wedding), it also felt like a mini high school reunion.

The wedding ceremony was held in a church. At a quarter past 10, the ceremony commenced and the congregration stood to honour the wedding procession making its way down the centre aisle. As the wedding march was played, the first to appear were two little flower girls looking so dainty in a white frock. This was followed by an older flower girl in a similar ensemble. Then came the handmaidens in matching peach dresses. Finally the bride appeared, accompanied by the groom, looking ever so elegant in her white wedding gown with a long train, her face shrouded beneath a veil.

Next up, a praise and worship session was scheduled. This was followed by a reading of the scripture and then a sermon which would serve as a very handy guide to people considering marriage, as well as couples who are already married. After the message had been delivered, it was time to officiate the marriage with the exchange of vows and the exchange of rings. A funny incident occured during the exchange of rings - one which would be unforgettable in years to come. As the bride attempted to place the ring on the groom, the ring got stuck and she struggled to twist it onto his finger. The whole congregration burst out in laughter and the poor groom's face was red with embarassment. After a few more twists, the ring finally went into place and all turned out well.

There was a special presentation to the newly married couple that morning. A relative of the bride who flew in all the way from Melbourne took to the stage to sing "The Prayer". His resonating baritone voice astounded the crowd who gave a thundering applause. After a closing prayer by the pastor, the ceremony officially ended and a light buffet lunch was waiting outside.

Crowded around a small table, there were 8 of us chatting animatedly while eating. To be honest, there was probably more talking than eating. Sitting together at lunch had that nostalgic feeling when we used to eat lunch in the canteen together. It just feels as if nothing has changed since then. Some of us still have not changed a bit exhibiting the same clumsiness and deafness as before. Ahh the good old days!

In the evening, there was a wedding dinner at a resort and spa in the outskirts of the city. It's a large resort surrounded by lots of palm trees and water. There was a pre-wedding cocktail reception in the garden outside the ballroom under a lovely sunset sky. A stepping stone path littered with colourful petals on both sides led to the entrance of the ballroom. The beautiful setting of a decorated garden somehow reminded me of a scene from an Alice in Wonderland tea party.

We made our way to the ballroom for dinner and were pleasantly surprised to find personalised thank you cards with our names printed on them placed on top of the napkins. At approximately a quarter to 8, dinner was served. There were some speeches, toasting and lots of merry making at this joyous occasion. We must have chatted the whole night away for even the night was not enough to catch up as it was time to say goodbye. As we parted ways again, the enjoyable day would forever be a good memory and we pleaded not to let this be the last time we meet up, but the first of many more gatherings. After all the excitement of the day, I retired to my bed and finally had my first good night's sleep in 44 nights.

Day 41 of being unemployed

I just realised that it's been 1 month since my last update on this blog. The reason why I have not posted anything is because there really isn't anything to post. My life these days revolves around waking at 10.00am, checking emails, reading the newspaper, browsing job ads and submitting applications, playing some online games, monitoring Facebook status updates, flicking TV channels, watching the occasional movie worth watching on satellite TV, playing with the iPad and sleeping at 2am.

All good things must come to an end

All good things must come to an end. Even the online game Restaurant City is not spared. It's sad to see one of my favourite online games shutting down. I was first introduced to this game in early 2009 from observing my friends' and colleagues' facebook activities and have been hooked since then. Back then, it seemed like a race to be at the very top of the leaderboard.

Every now and then, I would look forward to the release of a brand new theme with new recipes, challenges and decorational and functional items. This is especially so nearing any major festive season such as Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas. I remember on the day of my Taxation paper, while waiting to be admitted into the exam hall, my colleague and I were chatting animatedly about Restaurant City instead of seriously discussing complex tax issues. We still managed to obtain our Distinctions.

I've gone from a Middle East-inspired theme with moorish archways, to a minimalist approach, then a goth with spikes and candles, an Egyptian pyramid with sarcophagi and statues of Anubis, a gingerbread house complete with sugar and icing windows, a Spanish patio, a nightclub, a spa resort with a swimming pool, sunning deck, jacuzzi and sauna, a haunted house with ghouls, ghosts, vampires and mummies, and finally a cabaret lounge. Below are the final moments of  my very own restaurant in Restaurant City before it closed down on 29 June 2012.

One week after...

One week has passed since the office closed and we lost our jobs. On the first night, we were still in shock. The mere thought of looking for a job again was too much to bear. Lost in thought thinking about what went wrong, high and drunk on a potent concoction of emotions ranging from sad to angry and anxious and afraid, I found it hard to sleep that night. The next morning, it seemed I wasn't the only one who could not get a good night's sleep as we came in groggy and a little dishevelled.

We have still been coming into the office this week - not to work (there isn't any!) but to clear out our work stations and to apply for jobs while enjoying all the comforts and amenities of the office such as free air-conditioning, high-speed broadband, coffee and tea. And not to miss any last opportunities to be together, we have been going out for lunch as a team On Wednesday, we made a daytrip to a small village and surrounding towns in the state of Pahang just to get away from it all in the city to find some solace in the peace and quiet of isolation in the central part of the country, still unspoilt with the main ranges and lush tropical forests. Some lush greenery is soothing for sad, sore eyes.

On Thursday we even managed to squeeze in a karaoke session together, enjoying the food and great company and belting it out, releasing all the pent up emotions. Today was officially the last day in the office as we had to empty out all the paper files in storage to be properly disposed of, door access cards and season parking passes to be returned. However, it won't be the last we see of each other yet as we will have an official farewell lunch next week, courtesy of the director who is also our manager and friend. Although we will be parting ways, our friendship will forever be cherished. We have gone through thick and thin, from the inception of the business idea to making it happen 2.5 years ago, and now observing the last rites at its funeral. In some ways, I see us as more than just friends - comrades would better describe our relationship. In unsettling times like this, faced with such calamity, we have been encouraging to the apprehensive and keeping spirits high for those on the brink of a breakdown, all the while assisting with resume writing, job vacancy opportunities and job referrals. We were, are and will be, the best for always and forever!

Redundancy v2.0

And so, it was announced today. It's what I had expected. I did not know how long it was going to last. It seemed highly unlikely to be a "going concern" at the rate that we were operating since the takeover last year. Call me crazy for returning here, but it is a risk I took. I was well aware of the risks, given the corporate tsunami that struck roughly 3 years ago. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Resilience is the key to survival. Yet, I still feel highly jaded about my occupation. It's time for a change. Perhaps this time I will finally have the courage to move on to something different for once in my life. Some change is good once in a while otherwise life will get too boring.

Of birthday cakes (and calorie bombs!)

Last week, we celebrated a birthday for one of the guys in the office. I was given the task of buying his 28th birthday cake. And so, I went hunting around for the perfect birthday cake. The pop-up fondant cakes were at the top of my list. Aesthetically pleasing as they are, they weren't pleasing at all to my budget. Next on the list was a cut-out shape cake. But these were rather ordinary (except for the cut-out shapes) and were covered in lots of fattening cream. Most if not all of us in the office are watching our burgeoning waistlines and should I buy the cake, it will go to waste. My next option was fancy cupcakes in different flavours adorned like a Christmas tree with colourful butter icing and sprinkled with variations of hundreds and thousands. They too, were beyond my budget. Call it sheer coincidence or plain luck, there just happened to be a fine looking bakery bustling with people across from where I stood pondering, deep in thought. I popped in to take a look at their ware and instantly found what I was looking for. Sitting in a brightly lit refrigerated display counter was a pink square cake with a somewhat unusual dotty appearance. It looked fantastic and fitted well within my budget. Taking a gamble since I had never patronised this bakery before, I made the purchase and crossed my fingers that the cake would taste every bit as good as it pleased the eye.

I am glad to say that after the birthday song was sung, a birthday wish made and the candle blown out, the cake did not disappoint at all. It was a vanilla sponge cake with a top layer of raspberry mousse decorated with dollops of the pink mousse neatly arranged on top. Somewhere along the middle of the cake was a layer of cold, cream custard that fused the two halves of cake together. And finally towards the bottom was another layer of the same raspberry mousse again. It is a pleasantly light cake without all that heavy cream that most traditional cakes have. I am not a cake person and usually cringe at the thought of having to eat a slice of birthday cake almost every month, but I gleefully downed two slices during morning tea, plus a third later in the afternoon. Each spoonful of cake was pleasantly delightful down until the last bite!