MY: Ramadhan....

Ramadhan Kareem to all readers!

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Merdeka Eve

BH got a voucher at Crown Princess Kuala Lumpur. So, since tonite is a Merdeka eve, we grabbed a chance to stay at the hotel. The hotel is a bit run down compare to other hotels that I have stayed around Kuala Lumpur.

At night, had dinner at Cosy House Ampang Park adn had a strolled at KLCC. The Merdeka eve concert was held nearby Famil's office. Watched the show for a short while before it starts drizzling. This is my first time ever going out on the Merdeka eve. Hoping to see patriotic Malaysians on the street, but what I saw were couples "dating" and lots of non-Malaysians... :-)

~MT @ Malaysia
~~Crown Princess, Kuala Lumpur

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: A Friend From Far Away

Received a call from my ex-colleague in BearingPoint Doha. He is now in Kuala Lumpur with his wife. I took this opportunity to meet him at The Curve. Had a light lunch at Marche.












Nazar left BearingPoint few months earlier than me and went back to Chicago for a year. He later get married to soon-to-be-dentist, Sarah. Right now, they settle down in Abu Dhabi - another favourite city of mine.

Thanks Nazar for the gift!

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Mutiara Damansara, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Priority

This week, I am supposed to be in London for a week. I declined to attend the training there due to my MBA classes and also too short notice to plan for a trip. Another reason to decline is to give a chance for my colleague to go. If I take this slot, she has to attend a session in Sydney in September. Unfortunately she is unable to travel next month due to her husband prior travel plan. 

So I kira baik lah ni.. bagi "can" kat kawan... :-)

And last Friday, I declined another offer to be in London for two months - part of the methodology development team. Again, the reason is my class. What to do.. I have to be objective here, especially when the reason I came back from Middle East is to continue my study. I cannot deviate from my original intention - just not fair for myself. 

Priority.. priority.. priority....

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

TH: The Meeting

Today is the last day of he meeting. It has been a tiring four days for me. The meeting starts at 8.30am in the morning and finish just before lunch and in the afternoon, it's my turn to be one of the trainers for the staff. 

Luckily I have been to Bangkok before, hence, I don't have much grievance if I didn't manage to discover the city. On the second night of the meeting day, I joined my office mates at Lebua Hotel (State Tower if I am not mistaken), at its open bar on 64th floor. Nice view of Bangkok. The fact that I went at night, I just see buildings with lights, without knowing much what I am looking at. 

Overall, it was an eye opener for most of the staff since this is the first time ever the office fly them out of the country for a meeting. They also have a chance to meet their counter part from other Far East area offices. 

Some people left today and most will leave tomorrow morning. As for me, I will be leaving on Sunday. Extend one more night since Izam is coming to join me for a weekend. 

~ MT @ Thailand

~~ Plaza Athenee, Bangkok

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: KUL - BKK

This is my first time flying Thai Airways. Am going to Bangkok for my firm's Far East Area meeting. This is our first meeting since the area integration on July 1 this year.

The flight was so-so with turbulence after one hour took-off from KUL. The flight was pretty empty, so I opted for last row in that TG heavy, hoping that I can relax a bit. However I was wrong. There was one Arab family with three kids. One of them crying as loud as she can 15 mins before landing.

Overall flight was not that bad. Food was great compare to MH meal box (TG still serve hot meal). But the crew was not as I expected, meaning, what you see in the advert is not what you see in flight :-) Well, I guess same goes to other airlines as well......

Landed on time in BKK and was greeted by the hotel representative. There are four of us and we are driven in a luxury Toyota MPV to the hotel, Royal Meridien Plaza Athenee, a place to call home for the next six nights......

~ MT @ Thailand

~~ Plaza Athenee, Bangkok

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Another One..

H a P p Y b I r T H d A y I Z A M....

May you have prosperous year ahead....

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: It's Out!

Today is the day my semester result is out. And praise to Allah.. grade for both subjects are beyond than I expected...

Two subjects completed and this weekend is a start of semester two. The next two subjects to take are Business Economics and Marketing Management. Let see how "good" the two new lecturers :-) hehehe...

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ UIA, Gombak

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Happy Birthday

Happy 60th. Birthday Mama.....

Yup.. today is my mum's birthday. Since I am back in KL and she also here visiting me, I brought her out for dinner. My dad was around as well. Knowing my parents are not into "outside" dining, I figured out the best place would be any Thai restaurant. Chakri Palace KLCC was our target. 

My dad, as usual, is the hardest to please with outside food. He has warned me "makanan mesti sedap dan memuaskan kalau harga mahal"... a real challenge for me. Although he tasted whatever I ordered, he still could not finished his food. Different from my mum....

Anyway, happy birthday from your son.... :-)

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Little Army

Today, my brother had an aqiqah and birthday for his kids. 2 in 1 events for 3 kids' birthdays combined together.

Happy 3rd. birthday Raouf

Happy 2nd . birthday Sophia

and "selamat beraqiqah" Harith...

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ TTDI, Kuala Lumpur

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Labour...

Labour Day was assignment day for me. Need to complete two accounting assignments. How I hate assignments! Luckily for the final exam, only managerial accounting will be covered. Pre mid term module, Financial accounting will not be part of the final exam. A relief to me....

Management mid term result is out tomorrow. I know I didn't do well. I wrongly answered one essay question and got mix up on the BeeCeeGee matrix. What to do, too late already... Hope I can cover my marks from the term paper and final exam.. insyaAllah.

On Sunday, there will be aqiqah for my nephew. My brother and his family are moving to our neighbor country for at least a year. A chance for me to visit the country more often... not that expansive these days considering the choices of airlines plying the route. 

Got to go back to my assignments... costing..costing... any management accountant out there can give me private tuition? :-p

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself  ~

MY: The Mid....

Today was my mid term paper for Financial Accounting. Was not really prepared. Altogether there are 11 chapters to cover. The class finished all the chapters in 5 days - with each day 3 hours lecture. 

Not really confident with myself in answering the question. As usual, since I started learning accounting, my Balance Sheet never balance :-)) And it seemed like the rule of exam, the more you read the question, the more you are not confident with your answer..  or is it just me? 

It was a 2-hour exam and there supposed to be a lecture for another one hour. Majority rules.. the student decided not to continue with the lecture. All were exhausted..

This mid term carries 20% of the final mark for the subject. I need to get overall 70% to graduate (total for all 6 semesters). InsyaAllah I will finish my MBA with good result.....

Next weekend, mid term exam for Management, submission of Accounting term paper and a summary for an article review... and also next week will be another hectic day with my client.. (actually I am thinking of giving up this job with this particular client...)...

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Life so far

Since I joined this company and been put in charge of this system implementation project, my life has never been the same. Adding to my hectic weekdays is lectures during the weekend. There goes my (social) life and the whole week.

The project is demanding with client who does not know how to appreciate system implementation project. Apparently I just found out today, out of ten senior management in the Steering Committee, more than half do not know why they are in the meeting. Lousy!

Everyday, the minimum working hours are 12 hours for the team. Pity my team... well, why should I pity my team... they never done system implementation before and I have to train them.. but it is a good investment. Hopefully they will learn something for themselves.

This weekend would my Accounting mid term exam. Aaarrghhhhh... have not done any revision yet. In 5 weeks, we covered the whole financial accounting. After the exam, Managerial Accounting lectures to start and it will take another 5 weeks before the final exam. Time flies.....

Got to pen off... need ot finish my accounting term paper... yup... this weekend is a mid term exam and a term paper is due.....

wish me luck...

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Semester 1 Plan

Starting from next week, there will be more assignments due in addition to mid-term exam. Thought that being part time student, the home work/assignments are also "part time". But I was wrong. 

I hope I can cope with this.... Anybody wants to polish their accounting knowledge? Do contact me.. maybe can assist me in reviewing some articles :-))

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Hmmm...

Hmmmm.. too long have not update my blog... Currently, I become student again.. yup.. a part time student or rather weekend student :-)

This is my fourth week of lecture and in two weeks time, my mid term exam.. tough to be a student again after more than a decade leaving that life...

Too bad my Sony cyber-shot broken. Else, I can share some photos... so, for time being, the entries will be photo-less...

~ MT @ Ampang

~~ Selangor, Malaysia

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Tuesdays with Morrie (II)...

Here are more points to ponder... :-))

We Talk about How Love Goes On

"I believe in being fully present," Morrie said. That means you should be with the person you're wih. When I'm talking to you now Mitch, I try to keep focused only on what is going on between us. I am not thinking about something we said last week. I am not thinking of what's coming up this Friday. I am not thinking about doing another Koppel show, or about what medications I'm taking.

"Part of the problem, Mitch, is that everyone is in such a hurry," Morrie said. People haven't found meaning in their lives, so they're running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. Then they find those things are empty, too, and they keep running." Once you start running, I said, it's too hard to slow yourself down.

We Talk about Marriage

"there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage; If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.

"And the biggest one of those values, Mitch?"

Yes?

"Your belief in the importance of your marriage."

We Talk about Our Culture

"People are only mean when they're threatened," he said later that day, "and that's what our culture does. Even people who have jobs in our economy are threatened, because they worry about losing them. And when you get threatened, because they worry about losing them. And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture."

"Invest in the human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and who love you."

We Talk about Forgiveness

"There is no point in keeping vengeance or stubbornness. These things" - he sighed - "thee things I so regret in my life. Pride. Vanity. Why do we do the things we do?"

"It's not just other people we need to forgive, Mitch," he finally whispered. We also need to forgive ourselves."

Ourselves?

"Yes. For all the things we didn't do. All the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened. That doesn't help you when you get to where I am.

We Talk about the Perfect Day

"As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here."

"In business, people negotiate to win. They negotiate to get what they want. Maybe you're too used to that. Love is different. Love is when you are as concerned about someone else's situation as you are about your own".

I heard a nice little story the other day," Morrie says. He closes his eyes for a moment and I wait. 

"Okay. The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He's enjoying the wind and the fresh air - until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.

' "My God, this is terrible," the wave says. "Look what's going to happen to me!"

"Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, "Why do you look so sad?"

"The first wave says, "You don't understand We're all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn't it terrible?"

"The second wave says, "No, you don't understand. You're not a wave, you're part of the ocean." '

I smile. Morrie closes his eyes again.

"Part of the ocean," he says, "part of the ocean." I watch him breathe, in and out, in and out.

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Tuesdays with Morrie (I)...

Although I have been back in Malaysia for quite sometimes, I still keep in touch with my friends in Doha. I normally chat with Zal via Skype (if he is not chatting with his other half ... muahahhaha) and emailing with others. Really hope they will contact me whenever they are back in KL. Really miss them.

There was one day when Zal suggested me to read this book.. "Tuesdays with Morrie". Morrie was a teacher for the writer. This book is like Mitch's (Mitch Albom is the ex-student) thesis - thesis about life.

What I like most about this book are the wonderful points to ponder. Reflecting our daily activities and events as well as feelings. Here are some of them.

We Talk about Regrets
'On the plane ride home that day, I made a small list on a yellow legal pad, issuese and questions that we all grapple with, from happinessto aging to having children to death... But there still seemed to be no clear answers. Do you take care of others or take care of your "inner child"? Return to traditional values or reject tradition as useless? Seek success or seek simplicity? Just Say No or Just Do It?'

We Talk about Death
' "Everyone knows they're going to die," he said again, "but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently." '

We Talk about Family
' "This is part of what a family is about, not just love, but letting others know there's someone who is watchinf out for them..... knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame." '

We Talk about the Fear of Aging
.. I'm wondering how you don't envy younger, healthy people. "Oh, I guess I do." ... "I envy them being able to.... But envy comes to me, I feel it, and then I let it go. Remember what I said about detachment? Let it go. Tell yourself, "That's envy. I'm going to separate from it now." And walk away."

We Talk about Money
"We put our values in the wrong things.And it leads to ver disillusined lives..."

"These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship."

"Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you, as I'm sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have. "

"There's a big confusion in this country over what we want versus what we need." " You need food, you want a chocolate sundae. You have to be honest with yourself." "The truth is, you don't get satisfaction from those things. You know what really gives you satisfactions?" - Offering others what you have to give.

"Remember what I said about finding a meaningful life? - Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose adn meaning."

... to be continued...

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: After a Hiatus

I know I have not updating my blog as frequent as I used to be. For this long weekend in KL, I was occupied in managing the system "go live" for one of the financial institutions. It was a tiring with limited number of staff and client users who refused to understand the importance and the urgency of the project.

Alhamdulillah, last night was a cut over and this morning, no major hiccups. Hope to stay that way. A week after Chinese New Year, another cut over for another product. 

I have been working long hours with unofficial over time. It is so unfortunate that the more senior you are, you lose the benefits of overtime :-( Anyway, I was blessed with three good staff who strive to make it happen. 

Will update more frequently from now on. This coming Chinese New Year holiday, I am going back to my hometown.

Selamat Hari Wilayah!

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Welcome to the World

Today, officially I have three "anak buah". The latest is a "giant" boy... Borne at 12.05PM.. 4.78kg..

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Getting wiser each day...

Happy Birthday to me!


:-))

Thank you to all the wishes and presents :-) 

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~