So when I heard him say he has tendered his resignation, it was expected. I just didn't think it would be that fast. The fact is, the IT industry is too competitive right now, and loyalty is a quality that is seldom seen in this industry. The golden rule used to be 2 years to build up a repo and gain some experience. A figure you can proudly put in your resume to show that you did stay there more than the minimum period, but not long enough to limit your experience to 1 particular field.
Anyway, back to the story. It seems that most people around me are just waiting for the better opportunity to jump on to. The obvious reason would be money. Unless its someone who has a chance to get from a local company to a multinational one, the reason is always better pay.
Inflation here seems to be the major factor when it comes to leaving your job for better pay. As was noted, the increment given was below the inflation rate, and with the recent petrol hike, I see the reason why a person would choose to jump ship. The fact that its all the way in Cyberjaya doesnt make things any better. The hike in fuel prices is really going to take a toll on those who commute to Cyberjaya to work.
I like working at Monster. They treat the staff like actual people and not just hired drones who churn out code 8 hours a day. I love the environment and facilities there. Best of all, I enjoy working with my colleagues. I have to wonder though, just how long I can sustain this feeling before the cost of living becomes a factor in me having to decide if i want to stay here, or jump to another place for a big leap in pay. I guess only time will tell.
Till then, I'll wish those who move to a better job all the best in what they do, and as usual, keep in touch.
10. My tendencies to want to kill people at a whim would result in the death of 90% of the population.
9. I'd spend half the world's resources trying to genetically engineer sharks with freakin' laser beams on their freakin' heads.
8. I can't decide what a Supreme Overlord should wear on a daily basis. General Zod's leather suit can only do so much for my image..
7. Unlike in games, pressing the reset button doesn't work in life when you royally screw up.
6. The thought of being classified as omnipotent, similar to how Micheal Jackson and Cher are kinda freaks me out.
5. Whats the point of having all the world's culinary dishes available to you when all you want to eat is just a slice of bread?
4. I doubt Monster.com would be able to supply me a fresh batch of henchmen/elite death squads on a weekly basis.
3. The little angel and devil on my shoulders would drive me crazy long before I could decide which annoying country to nuke first.
2. It would be quite counter productive to be the Supreme Overlord while keeping a day job as a Personal Assistant. To make things harder to decide, being a PA does have its perks.
1. I'd get bored after a week since theres no more challenges for me. Mars hasn't been conquered yet has it?
This past month has been an emotional roller coaster ride for me in many ways. At times I felt like my world was tumbling out of control with me having little to no control over it. And yet at times it feels like a perfect calm, serene, but just like in the movies, that exact moment where you just now something big is about to happen the next second, yet as you wait for it, nothing does..
My decision to return to studying has proven to be both a blessing and a curse at the same time. What initially started off as a partially forced act turned out to be something I see a future in, even if I don't immediately or complete put myself into the field I'm studying for. This past year has made me realize just how tough it can be to balance and working and studying life, and just how little time that affords me to enjoy my other routines. Law is not something that anyone can just pick up and do.
I got through most of the year with pretty much no conflicts between the two fields. To say my internal clock keeping a check and balance so to speak of how much effort I put into either field would be an overstatement. Its been mostly a mad rush after work to get to college, and vice versa when it comes to getting enough sleep before work. Like I said, somehow things settled into a routine. This past month however has shown me to never get comfortable with a routine, cause things have a way of totally crashing down.
I guess the one thing I'll never forget is having to turn down a request to go to the US for a pretty important project as it clashed with my revision + exam time. It was a pretty tough decision and I'll definitely thank those who were around to stop me from freaking out that day. To make things worse, I'm about to miss out on 2 company events as they also kinda clash with the exams. Oh well, nothing that cant be replaced I hope. Looking at the bright side, it just gives me more motivation to do better in the exams as my subconscious mind has to justify skipping those events.
Balance seems to be a keyword that I've been using a lot in my head lately other than just for studies. As clear as it would seem for anyone out there how important it is to balance everything, when it dawns upon you just how little you can actually do to keep things balanced, thats when you realize just how much you depend on that very balance. Ok.. enough saying balance..
With more and more time going towards work and studies, I found myself putting in less and less time on my family and friends. Promises made months before have all but virtually been forgotten. Although for me, virtually means it goes and hides in that corner of my brain responsible for scheduling.. As some of my friends knows, I have this uncanny ability to never forget schedules, especially if it involves constantly prodding them to fulfill their schedules. That mental checklist in my brain is gonna start ringing on June 2nd and hopefully I'll still be standing once I've fulfilled all my TODO items :)
Anyway, since some people are on a strict schedule, I have to stop here and get this out to the world, or else i'll be DOTTED to death.. More on life's balances once I have more time..
June 2nd. Thats the day I'm waiting for. I'll finally have some time to get focussed back on blogging. Something to look forward to. Till then..
To be honest, I wasn't planning on going. Cyberview Lodge, the place where I work, was having a cocktail party, and everyone from Monster was invited. Problem is, it was to be held in the evening, and I just dont like staying back at Cyberjaya.
So, it came as a bit of a surprise when my boss informed us that we had to get our work done by today as the deadline was close. I pretty much forgot about the cocktail the whole day until my colleagues who were still in the office reminded me that it was about to begin.
Decided to go have a look since i've never actually been inside Cyberview Lodge. Firstly, that place is BEAUTIFUL. No wonder they can afford to throw such parties. They must be making tonnes of money from tourists. So after a brief walk around the place, we went to the venue of the party.
Cozy little corner, with platters of food distributed all around the room. The idea was, you walk up to 1 platter, take whatever was in there and move onto the next one. So, for you to fill up your plate with the tiny snacks, you'd have to walk pretty much around the whole room.
The food was great. From the bits of lamb and prawn and chicken and oyster and so on, each was unique in its own way. Then came the deserts.. Boy those stuff can really mess up your sweet tooth. One noticeable dish had to be the pudding. Never tasted anything like it before.
Anyway, after having several servings of the food, it was time to get back to work. So in a twisted way, having to stay back today turned out to be rather fun.
I guess I have Warcraft to thank for that. In the first week of getting to know him, we realized that each of us was into the most famous online role playing game there is. Needless to say, most of our conversations involved warcraft and anything related to it.
But thats not what made him a close friend. It was certainly a breath of fresh air to talk to someone who doesnt behave like a Malaysian, I guess thats technically pointless since he's Lebanese. I mean more of the way he acts. None of the typical Malaysian butt kissing, hypocrisy, or the plain ol pointing fingers at others mentality.
Kinda sad, yet expected that such an attitude has no place in a Malaysian run company which demands that you pucker up every chance you get in order to keep the rulers happily oblivious while they sit comfortably in their air conditioned room.
Wasn't hard to predict that a no-nonsense guy like him wouldnt stay long under such conditions, and as expected, he quit (with much added drama), and moved overseas. Warcraft kept us together in the virtual world. So hearing that he was back for a visit for the new year was definitely something to look forward to.
After some quick planning, we decided to meet up at Subang Parade, and I invited some of the buddies that worked with him in Cargill. Only Hazman turned up as the others were occupied.
Hazman, now theres another one I can proudly label as an outcast like me and Shadi. I guess working in the US all those years made him incapable of behaving like a typical Malaysian employee anymore. While not as outspoken as Shadi, he just like me, never tolerated any of the BS that was constantly flung at us.
Perhaps thats what makes it easy for us to get along. Being open about what we think, and sticking to our principles no matter the consequences. If I had to rank, I'd be a distant third where it came to speaking our mind. Perhaps not actually working overseas and being conditioned the Malaysian way has put a bit of restriction on my part. But as diplomatic as I am, a No will always be a No as far as I'm concerned.
So back to the gathering.. We decided to go to Swensons for some western food.For some reason I chose to eat one of the weirdest combinations they had.. Cheese Baked Salmon Rice. Had a salty twist to it, but I guess thats expected from seafood.
After that, and a deliciously long overdue chocolate ice cream desert, Hazman had the insane idea to challenge Shadi to arm wrestling. Mind you, this guy's built like a truck, and pretty much effortlessly took the double handed Haz out while posing for the camera. I guess you would think I'd have the common sense not to challenge him, but challenge him was what I did.
Suffice to say, it felt like all the energy I channeled into moving my hand forward was vaporized by the Lebanese truck. Oh well, more motivation for me to work out anyway.
Won't bore you with the details since I promised the hostess not to publish her dark secrets (just kidding), but today a few of my college buddies got together for a post-christmas (i guess) dinner.
The food was great. not the usual nasi lemak im used to eating. I even took seconds without having to be forced to.. that's definitely not normal for me. Or maybe its cause of the extra waiting time I had to undergo to get that food :D hmmmm.
But most of all the best part of the night was enjoying some simple card games with my friends.. and watching the kids playing a totally different variation of chess..
Step 1: march all your pawns to the center of the board
Step 2: start massacring everything in sight.. (just reminded me of the show 'the patriot' where the british and US generals marched their troops into battle and gave the order to open fire on each other)
Definitely had me wondering if I've been playing the correct type of chess all this while :)
With new years day just a couple of days away, it does feel nice to let all your worries disappear even if its just for a few hours and behaving like the kids.. who my friend so accurately put it.. '... main concern in life is about who won the card game...'. So with 2008 just around the corner, and lots of responsibilities looming over the horizon, all I have to say is... UNO.. GAME!
