PHASE OF LIFE WHICH IS MORE CALM

These pictures were taken on my last day at Lembaga Peperiksaan. It was 30 August 2016 - my last day in the civil service. It was kind of mixed feelings that I felt. Excited to end my career with the Ministry of Education, also eager to know what waits ahead.

In the first picture, beside me are Soo and Ros.
Soo - my good friend since Textbook Division (BBT) days. I admire Soo becuase she is a lady full of energy. She does everything fast! That is the way Soo! Do not tolerate slow coaches haaa....
Ros - we worked together as liaison officer committee for a few international conferences. Also I will remember Ros as the officer who is always seated infront of me during MPLP (I will not be spelling this out for security reasons). Also I gave Ros a special sample of a letter. Well only Ros knows the content of this letter :)
At the left end is another friend of mine from my BBT days. This petite lady holds a PhD - Dr Habibah! I address her by her nickname Bib or Bibah. She has her roots in Kedah and also Pahang. By the way, she is staying in the same suburb as I am, ie Bandar Baru Bangi a.k.a. Bandar Ilmu.

The second picture is another PhD graduate! Wow! Dr Murni. We have something in common (not that I hold a PhD qualification), but rather our husbands are cousins. Orang Kedah lagi :) Murni's office is at Block E14 while mine is at Block E11, Parcel E, Putrajaya. We became close professionally - my unit generates money for the organisation and Murni's unit keep the financial records in very good order.

The third picture is me with the head of HR Unit. She is another petite lady who is very hardworking. Nurzaini takes care of her children during the weekdays and get to see her husband only on weekends. I salute you Zaini!

The last picture is of course me ... smiling for the whole day knowing that I do not have to be in the civil service anymore after 1 September 2016 :) This does not imply that I hate working, it only means that it is a chance for me to enter into a new phase of life. As someone puts it - a phase of life which is more calm.

REVISITING MY azianma.blogspot

After almost 7 years of silence, I suddenly have this urge to revisit my blog. I plan to retire soon and I have this strong urge to get back to blogging. Not that I was a consistent blogger anyway :)
Having worked in the civil service for like 30 years, i decided to call it a day. That was last year. Filled up the application form for early retirement and got it approved by my Director and submitted the form peacefully. But you know in the government sector in Malaysia, that simple to fill-up form will go through umpteen 'approvals'....hmmm...yes that is very common!

I have chosen 31 August 2016 for my last day in service. For non-Malaysian readers who stumble upon this entry, 31 August 1957 marks the day that the Federation of Malaya obtained its independence from British colonization, forming what is known to this day as MALAYSIA. Hence, 31 August is a National Public Holiday (Hari Kebangsaan) to commemorate the freedom and independence gained. This day is also known as Hari Merdeka in the Malay language. Hence 31 August is not complete without shouts of "MERDEKA"!

OK, back to my application to retire... actually my compulsory retirement date will be in May 2018 but I decided to retire 1 year and 9 months earlier! I pray that I have made the right choice. Well one has to have a blue print in life. And this is my plan. Frankly, I enjoyed working very much. And I do feel some guilt if I am away from the office, even when I am out on official duties. After all being out of the office means more work the next minute that you are back, right?

Just to share in this first entry after 7 years, I was in Taiwan from 11 - 17 March 2016. My husband attended a conference there and since I have never been to Taiwan - I decided that I should accompany him.

We went to Taipei 101. TAIPEI 101 Observatory’s elevators are high-speed pressurized elevators with a speed of 1010 meters per minute. Can you imagine that in about 35 seconds we were on the 89th floor! That is the highest floor for which visitors are allowed. Unfortunately it was a foggy spring that day :( But if postponed our plan to be up on TAIPEI 10, we will not have another opportunity since we already booked our high speed rail ticket to Kaohsiung later in the evening. Although it was foggy, I could still see (barely) vehicles moving on the streets down below. It was a great experience. My next high rise building visit --- KL Twin Towers!

I have forgotten many tips and shortcuts to use blogspot. Huh! Spent a long time to write this short entry. See you again :)

DO NOT LITTER!

I just want to write a simple entry today.

I get very irritated when I see people throwing rubbish just anywhere they like. I guess many of us share this opinion too.

I also get very irritated when I see people smoking at prohibited places. This very simple rule of NO SMOKING IN ENCLOSED PUBLIC PLACES is very difficult to follow by most Malaysian smokers. These group of irresponsible people (the smokers, I mean) do not seem to understand that non-smokers have the right to breath fresh, healthy, tobacco-smell free air. Smokers do not know that people who smoke smell bad to nonsmokers. The World Health Organization points out that diseases linked to smoking kill at least three million people each year, one every six seconds.

Actually, what I wanted to write is that a few days ago, while driving to work, I had to stop at a traffic light. It was quite a long stop, and I had time to notice that the driver in front of me was smoking. I was not very irritated because since my windows were shut, naturally I can't smell the 'bad odor' from this particular driver in front of me. But I vowed to myself that if this driver should throw his cigarette bud out of his car, I will definitely honk my car. True enough, he did throw his cigarette bud to the ground even before the traffic light turns green! Of course, I honked my car!

You see, to smoke is already bad. To throw the cigarette bud simply anywhere at one's whimps and fancies is even worse!

Do you know the owner of the car in this entry? This person shouldn't get emotionally upset if he/she happens to read my blog. I am just sharing my morning experience, what is important is the values that one gets by reading my entry.

WHY THE STUPIDITY

I would like to share this email that I received from a friend.

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY?

Why do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Why do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

Why do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

Why do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

Why do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

Why do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?

Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do 'practice'?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dish washing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

TELL ME WHY

Sorry, I should have made this acknowledgement.
The previous post is lyrics of a song by Declan Galbraith.