Five minutes of blab…

I have been reading a couple of blogs, and since I really have nothing to write about, I shall just spend the next five minutes writing about nothing. It has been a rather good Monday, and as a result I am expecting a lousy Tuesday. That is just the kind of person I am. A pessimist? Not really, it is just that due to what I do for a living (which is basically running IT Projects and being an IT Consultant) I get to see a lot of what I keep advising people not to do, being done, and when all hell breaks loose, I get to say I told you so – and end up cleaning up their mess.

Right now, I am seriously looking for two to three good people. They should be around 26 to 28, have a degree in IT, a very good command of English, very hungry and willing to work hard to make a lot of money, and inquisitive in nature – always willing to learn and invest in themselves. Know anyone? Email me.

Okay, my five minutes are up. Happy Monday to all.

Welcome back!

Congratulations for not being a statistic in Ops Sikap XIII, and Selamat Hari Raya to you too.

For me, Aidilfitri has begun to lose its appeal. Perhaps I used to have lots to celebrate about, and the reasons are simply getting less nowadays. We used to have a “kampung”. Used to. Back in Ipoh. Kampung Manjoi. Jalan Menteri to be exact. Anyone from Ipoh will know where this is. It used to be a big affair. Uncles, aunties, cousins, second cousins the full monty. We were not so traditional, hence no dodol making and our last attempt at actually making lemang ourselves was probably back in 1985. After that, my uncles found it easier to just buy the lemang and spend all the extra time lazing around gossiping about each other. And for the ones that just bought a new car, they usually spend this time washing the car. Sometimes twice a day! I guess it gives them an opportunity to tell their brothers and me all about their car. Twice a day!

Then there was Maktok’s cooking, which was a whole different story. In my family only my grandma and mom could cook. The rest of the clan just kinda became kitchen helpers. Kitchen helpers and noisemakers. Gossips of the year - talks about divorces, divorces to be, and in-laws who should be outlaws are often very hot and juicy. Amidst all this hoopla, the kitchen unleashes its delightful aroma. One so recognizable I could be blind and still know exactly where I am and why I am there.

Maktok would make her rending tok, ketupat, and the usual Raya affair with an addition of her ayam masak merah, and this is made just for me. She knows I like her ayam masak merah a lot and she will make it for me, every year. In the morning, every morning we were there Maktok will make me my lempeng pisang. It’s like pancakes and I have at least five of them. This is a woman who raised me, so she knows how to get me. I looked forward to Raya. Every year.

Maktok passed away two years ago.

Top ten reasons to hate Mondays

10. It comes right after Sundays… two days of bliss interrupted by no other then? Yup, you guessed it… Monday

9. It is the longest working days distance to Friday… Yes, I know we have 5 days to go to Friday!

8. Monday morning meetings… guys come on, my brain is barely functioning and we are having a meeting?

7. Monday is when you have to plan for the week, realizing that you are simply repeating last week’s work this week.

6. For some unknown cosmic reason, the traffic on Mondays are worst then other days. This is even worst when you are finally calling it a day, and on your way home it simply just takes forever.

5. Monday sitcoms just don’t seem that funny anymore, all the jokes predictable, the casts look desperate, and it is full of reruns anyway.

4. Monday seems like a longer day, and it crawls to an end. I swear there is something wrong with the clock! I have been watching it and it barely moves 5 minutes in the last one hour!

3. Everyone and everything seems to move slower on Monday.

2. No blogs get updated on Mondays; usually bloggers use Mondays to write blogs!

1. Monday is the day, when customers usually calls and ask you if you have finished their work for them, and guess when they asked for it? Yup, last Friday! And they have the cheek to say, I asked for it since last week, why is it taking you so long? God damn…