sayiwon't

:( Sigh …Snow Petrol refused to release me…and now I ended up doing D31-F portfolio and handover my D33 Bicycle, Camping, Sports & Nautism and D34 portfolio to the newcomer; Edward instead. What happen was…Abby resigned with immediate effect from the HardLine Team because Courts Mammoth was so generous & willing to pay out for the 3 month’s notice compensation. Thus, leaving the Small Appliance category vacant and with urgency, Stewart ask me whether I want to take over the position or not. If I want, Stewart will quickly arrange for an interview session with the HardLine Director and then proceed to get me transferred out soon. I considered and said Yes. I mean, it’s the same level of position as what I am currently doing right now and the position has 2 assistants…why not right? Better than doing D33 & D34. Doing D33 is still ok, still manageable but when you add on D34, it’s really killing me. For D34; where got fire, I just put out the fire. The job is just too much that I can't focus both on the same time. Quantity, but no quality. Besides, my job title glorifies what I do. The position is called Manager. I only manage myself, the suppliers and the store team. What manager is that? So I see it as an opportunity to try a new category and stepping up to learn about managing my own staffs. I know it’s embarrassing to show to my boss that I am weak, but in order for me to survive long, it makes me re-assess my current situation and I decide to speak up. Yes, it makes me realize with my capabilities & resources, I know what I CAN and CANNOT do. It makes me choose. And cull. I’m so sorry but I tried. I just wasn’t as good as they are or as they expected.

Then the dilemma starts. The HardLine Team & the SoftLine Team are neighbors. Snow Petrol and the HardLine Director…both of them looks ok on the surface but in actual fact, the both of them are very competitive; always competing with each other. I know that I need to handle the situation well. I respect Snow Petrol. I seek for Snow Petrol's permission for me to meet up with the HardLine Director. I want Snow Petrol to hear it from my own mouth, instead of hearing it from other people. The latter will not be good. So Snow Petrol firmly said no and I ended up doing Patrick’s portfolio. I am shock. I thought Snow Petrol will retain me in my current position but with additional manpower such as an assistant or a management trainee. Or worst come to worst, if I do not have any additional helper, I will choose to leave once I got my year-end bonus and a new job. D31-F is a very big department, no doubt less suppliers compare to D33 & D34. The hugeness of it…it’s very weighty. I’m in the spotlight right now. I have to re-learn and start from scratch. And like other department, there is a set of problems that I need to solve, there are areas that needs to be improve and there is the assortment review that needs to be done. I have to start from the bottom again; to learn about the items, to understand the nature of the business, to get back the suppliers & the store support.

It has been a very trying time for me. One day harder than the next. My shoulder feels heavy. My steps are slow. My mind fogs. Sometimes I want to scream. Yeah, I know that just like playing football, sometimes I will missed games, sometimes I will have better games.

The Great Adventurer

Work Tales - C________ to stay in Malaysia, Singapore.

French retail giant said on Thursday that it had abandoned the planned sale of its Malaysia and Singapore stores, pledging instead to build up its market share in the Asian nations. The world's second-biggest retailer behind US colossus Wal-Mart; had said this week it was offloading its 42 stores in Thailand and was also looking to sell its 23 Malaysian and two Singaporean outlets. But the firm decided to retain its presence in Malaysia and Singapore following a "strategic review", chief executive Lars Olofsson said in a statement issued in Malaysia. "We have decided not to sell our operations in Malaysia and Singapore because their market position and their growth prospect are consistent with our strategy," Olofsson said. Reports emerged in July that Carrefour was planning to sell its businesses in all three Southeast Asian countries in an apparent bid to consolidate and shift resources to the booming Indian market.
(Source: By Agence France-Presse)

Whew…what a relief…when the news broke out in July…memories of the 2006 take-over starts to come back to me. It was the year where the English have bought over M13. I cannot be that lucky right! Second time take-over? Lighting does not strike twice on the same place. Scientifically & technically. Even though the sales is being put on hold; but it’s for this year, it can’t guarantee what will happen next year right? Besides, I think that the planned auction did not attract high enough bids to convince the French. They are the most calculative race ever :)

going from noise to silence

Whether we realise it or not, we receive GOD’s grace and countless blessings every single day. Our health. Our food. The air we breathe. Security at home and where we live. Our family. Our friends. And that is just to name a few. The problem is, when we receive such blessings (often, too easily as we receive them almost automatically), there’s always a strong tendency for us to take them for granted. After a while, we feel as if things are just meant to be. That we are supposed to receive these blessings. That we deserve GOD’s grace. We EXPECT to continually be given these blessings by GOD.

The Bible tells us about what happened to the city of Jericho and Ai (in Joshua 6 and 7). The city of Jericho was given by GOD to the Israelites. The Israelites did what GOD asked them to do, which is to walked around the city for seven days, and the wall of Jericho collapsed. The Israelites won the war, but they then took GOD’s grace and presence for granted. The Israelites were used to receiving GOD’s grace and mercy, and they felt defeating the small city of Ai would be a piece of cake (especially since the city of Jericho was defeated so easily just earlier on). They did not relied on their own strength, and worse; a man named Achan went against GOD and took the possessions that weren’t his. The Israelites in the end were badly defeated by the people of Ai.

A man can lose his fame and wealth overnight.
A person who eats well and exercises regularly can lose his health in a split second.
A great kingdom can lose its power and dignity in a matter of days.
Yes, a person’s downfall may not always mean he / she has done wrong things that are against GOD. But, let the story of Jericho and Ai reminds us today to always be thankful to GOD for His blessings and presence in our lives.

If we are healthy today, then let’s remember that it is purely GOD’s grace.
If we’re blessed with wealth and material comfort, let’s remember that it is also because of GOD’s grace. Let’s learn to always be thankful for everything that we have.
Let’s learn to be responsible and accountable for all of the blessings that we receive every single day.

(source: Leonny; Our Everyday Things)

To watch. To breath. To smile.

It was so nice to be away from the hustle 'n' bustle of the big city & the big smoke. I took 4 days off from work and went up to Setiawan to visit Troy & the both of us make a trip up to Cameron Highlands together. There’s just something intoxicating about waking up at sunrise in a small town and breathing in the fresh morning air of the bush. It is heavy, dewy, cold, and rich with the smells of wet wood, damp earth and grass. Kampung life. Most of the time I consider myself a city girl. I enjoy crowds, tall buildings, air conditioning, wireless internet connection and hairdryers! :)

2 days with Troy – between the 2 of us, there was tons of laughter, tons of good food (of course!), tons of quality time together. These are the moments in my life that I will always cherish. The both of us Eat, Play & Live. All up we spent many hours on our feet – I was out with Troy sightseeing the town of Setiawan, eating seafood, paying a visit to Troy’s family shipping port (the dock is just terrific, i can see the sea & being surrounded by these huge and luxurious ships. i feel so small. unfortunately the weather has not been that kind to us; or not we would have taken a smaller ship out and sail towards the sea), visit all the strawberries, flowers & veggie farms in Cameron Highlands, bought many potted plants, flowers & cactus, getting our facial and foot massage done & we keep on talking and gossiping which makes me laugh a lot. It was a very good holiday indeed.

It’s a nice feeling that I feel so calm and peaceful every time I’m on a holiday. It helps me to find my happy place. I think living simply brings about a certain kind of happiness and contentment. I should really do it more often. And I should at least try a little harder to bring some of that contented simplicity back into my normal life :)

1% extra

Prince William to marry next year :( So sad…this eligible chap is no longer available in the market. Among all of the pictures that have been taken on William over the past 28 years, I think this self-portrait is still the best. I really like the way he looks when he was only 17 years old at Eton – boyish, charming, fresh-face and cute. Now, still ok-lah, but his hairline is getting thinner, like going to be bold. Never mind, there is still Harry around :)

Ink & Drink

I'm not here to please the whole world, so I'm perfectly all right with the knowledge that for every 10 people who love me for who I am, there will be 100 others who will hate me for the same reason the other people love me for. Like it or not, we're all like that - you can please all, and certainly you're not here to please all!

A wise man once said, that when you start to have people hating you, then you must have done something really impactful. Great people usually have legions of haters :) I do what I have to do. The decisions that I have made is what I deemed as correct & viable at that moment. Only time will tell if it is right or wrong. People will not fully understand this; unless they are in my position today. They can only second-guess.

divider

I don’t get it…it doesn’t make any sense to me…why must the government make History a compulsory pass subject for SPM? Why not English, Maths or Science? Don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying that History is not important, it’s just seems unnecessary. Of course, we must learn the past of our forefathers…but I feel History will only drive the students to learn the subject by memorizing the dates, personalities & events instead of generating creative, critical, logical & reasonable thinking. Besides, our history syllabus is not inclusive enough…it tends to favor a particular religious civilization. If it’s gonna be 1Malaysia, then it should be all-encompassing.

On another hand; we have to improve the standard of our English language among our younger generation. If we are to be globally competitive, then we can't run away from the need for a higher standard of English. That's not saying we should not also be fluent in our very own mother tongues. How I wish I could speak other languages as well. Imagine if all of our kids today could fluently converse in English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil or Hindi or even Arabic! How powerful that would be! But we must be masters at English. How strong we would be! What a work force we would be able to present to the globalised world. This is so important for us to prosper as a nation and to enhance our competitive work force that is taken seriously around the world.