A quitter? Hmm...

There are times when I really regret sweet-talking my hubby to migrate here. Yesterday was one of those moments. I had a really tough time at work. My superior seemed to be expecting too much from me when the fact is I am not entirely ready to take up a job that I am never passionate of. I can foresee that the post may promise a good career prospect but what I fail to see is myself fitting into the job. I’ve always longed for a career within the line of study that I did for my post-graduate degree. I should admit that Operation Management was not my favourite subject, and the post he’s offering is very similar to what I’d learned in the course. He spent about 10 minutes to discuss what he planned to do to help me grab hold and grasp the essence of my new role. During this discussion, I started thinking that may be it will be best if I dismiss myself from the organisation before he spares his precious time at work to further explain something that I’m not entirely ready to commit to.

So, yesterday as I was walking home, I thought of it thoroughly and decided that I don’t fit into the post offered and tender my resignation notice today. But my superior is not in today as he’s attending a very important conference in the City. I’d hand him my notice first thing tomorrow and explain why I did so. Some people may think that I am a quitter for quitting before the real hard work even begins. The truth is I’ve attempted to play my new role for the past couple of weeks without proper training and using only the very brief description of the job given. I thought to myself that before my superior or the people around me started to judge me as not contributing to the organisation, it’s better for me to leave.

Rutin harian di rantauan

Dah lame sangat rasanya tidak mengemaskini (update) blog dalam Bahasa Melayu. Sebelum BM saya bertambah karat, molek lah kiranya saya menulis sedikit di dalam bahasa ibunda saya. Semenjak saya menetap di rantauan, saya telah belajar menjadi manusia yang lebih berjimat. Misalnya, saya pergi keje dengan hanye berjalan kaki (maklumlah, saya masih belum memiliki kenderaan sendiri), dan saya bawa bekal untuk makan tengahari. Kalau dahulu semasa saya menetap di tanahair, setiap hari saya perlu memandu untuk ke tempat kerja, dan waktu makan pula, sudah menjadi kewajiban membeli di kedai makan sahaja. Pada ketika itu, langsung tidak terlintas untuk membawa bekal. Bukan setakat makan tengahari yang saya beli di gerai, malah boleh dikatakan untuk setiap sajian (meal) sehari-hari, dibeli di gerai. Sungguh jarang sekali saya memasak di rumah. Tapi sekarang, amat jarang sekali saya membeli makanan dari gerai, sebaliknya saya lebih selesa makan makanan yang saya masak sendiri. Bukan sahaja boleh berjimat, tetapi juga lebih yakin dengan tahap kebersihan penyediaaan makanan tersebut.

p/s: seksanya nak siapkan satu perenggan yang betul tatabahasanya (grammartically correct) dalam bahasa ibunda sendiri. I should be ashamed of myself.

My cheeky lil' boys

Last week was my youngest son's 5th birthday. The infamous quotation about time; "time waits for no men nor women" is truly true. I sometimes find it hard to convince myself that the active little boy whom I gave birth to five years ago is already in school. It felt like it was only yesterday that I cradled him in my arms (I still do though), and watched his progressive growth daily. He never fails to amaze me everyday with every little new things that he learns in school. Though this youngest boy of mine takes after most of his father's facial appearance, his linguistic abilities and physical feature are inhereted maternally. He picks up language very quickly and easily makes friends. Being born as a big baby, he is always thought to be the same age as his older brother. He may be physically big, but at times he still behaves like a small baby.
His older brother, my eldest son, contradicts my youngest in every way. Despite inhereting most of my facial features, this nearly 7-year-old boy takes after most of my hubby's artistic attributes. Has the love to draw and invent things, Han's set back is linguistic. As a baby, he developed his linguistic skill at a later age compared to boys of the same age. Being a practical person like his father, my eldest tends to learn language better when he could apply the words in his daily conversation.
Even though both of my boys are unique from one to another, when it comes to play time, they share the same interest. Both of them really enjoy building their Lego bricks, play computer games, and read story books before they go to bed. And they're also very cheeky whenever they're asked to pose for the camera. But most important of all, I love them both very much and they'll always be my babies no matter how big they grow!

A belated 'surprise'

Last weekend was my beloved hubby’s birthday. We only bought a cake to commemorate that special day in his life. As we indulged ourselves into the heavenly chocolate cake, I started thinking to myself, “When was the last time I threw him a surprise for his birthday? Never! And when was the last time I’ve bought him something valuable besides clothes? Never!” I’ve been married to him for seven years yet not once have I ever arranged for a surprise for his special day. So, I started to layout a secret plan in my head. I had it all figured out; as soon as I finished work on Friday, I’d take the boys to our little town and buy everything needed to surprise him. Last Thursday night, as I was preparing dinner, I revealed my secret plans to my two boys and warned them not to disclose it to their daddy.

Friday set in. It was the day to finally execute my surprise project. Once I finished work at noon, I dashed home to fetch my sons and get them dress for our outing. As we walked towards town, I told them again that we were going to buy daddy’s birthday present and they suggested a few brilliant ideas to further complement the plan. Our first stop was a shop that sells cards. The boys picked a card from daddy’s section and I selected one that said ‘husband’ on it. After purchasing the cards, we headed to another shop since the other thing that we needed was not sold there. We roamed around the shop for a bit and came across a lovely frame with beautiful wishes on it. I grasped it and went to find ‘blow-outs’ and party hat. According to my eldest son, a birthday party wouldn’t be complete without those two items. With all the accessories in hand, we went to a music shop to get the present that I’d been eyeing for the past couple of weeks ever since I heard my husband saying that he would want to have one someday. We went into the shop and as I looked around I saw ‘it’, the perfect gift! Before we finally head home, we made one last stop to buy a pizza since the week before we’d already had a cake.

When we got home, my sons and I tidied up our little room, wrote our well-wishes in the cards, set up the table, wrapped the gift, lit the candle, turned off the lights and the telly, and waited for him to return from work. I had his camera ready in my hand to snap photos while my sons put on the party hat and grabbed their Postman Pat blow-out. As we waited in the dark, the boys kept telling me how excited they were. I could clearly see the excitement portrayed in their cheerful smiles. A few minutes went by before we finally heard him unlocked the door and turned the knob. As soon as he stepped into the room, we stood up from our hiding place and shouted ‘surprise’, my youngest son even blew his blow-out. My hubby was indeed surprised. He was even more surprised when we presented his birthday ‘gift’.

I’m really pleased that he loves the gift even though it wasn’t given on the exact date of his special day. Dragging my sons into my plan was the best part of the little project. Their genius thought of the little things like blow-outs and party hats made the small event even more special. Their little inputs had not only perfected my plan but eventually made them members of the project.

p/s: Happy Belatedy Birthday, Abg Syg