Third Raya

Day 3 and life is pretty much back to normal.

Bags that needed unpacking.. and a house to be cleaned.. and my endless string of assignments to be marked.. and my boss tells me to manage (I wish she would step in my shoes for JUST ONE DAY and feel what I feel).

How do I manage/ cope? I don't know because now I feel slightly overwhelmed.

How fun it would be to have a PA handle all my stuff. #DreamOn

Outlet

A particular friend of mine has been wanting (itching) to join this particular group. On the outset this group appeared to be hip & happening, but in fact we are the ones that do the work for events in our alumni group (in fact, some of us are both the brains and brawns of some events).

One particular night she happened to join a dinner with this "hip" group. A day after the dinner & for reasons known only to him, another member added her in the whatsapp group (because we have all been assigned as "Admin"). 

The tricky thing is: she is also in another personal whatsapp group with me & a few others, that we created long ago to help us cope with the challenges of being single parents. 

To simplify this gossip-laced entry, I will refer to the respective groups as "WOH Group" [WOH = Working, but Outwardly Hip] and  "SM Group" [SM = Single Moms].

What has happened now is: she has updated more stuff in WOH rather than SM. Maybe SM is too small for her perhaps? Why am I bothered? I don't know but I don't feel comfortable. Why? Maybe because now I see her as an attention seeker (I hope she is not really). Anyway she is on my watch-out list and I fear that one day we may just drift off as she seeks better, more influential friends. I hope she doesn't, but in case she does I will know how to recover. (Why am I always like this?)

I have to keep reminding myself that she is in the WOH group, as the dynamics is rather different from the SM group which she seems to have ignored. So maybe my approach now is to compartmentalise things and not chat in the WOH group, as it contains a lot of planning stuff that I no longer want to get involved in. All's good. Let's focus on MY OWN LIFE.

Space Jungle Board Game

The current fad with No. 4 & No. 5 is a Korean-made animation series called "Space Jungle". Essentially the plot is about 4 tiny aliens who landed on earth & got into various trouble/ mischief as they to understand the human (alien) world.

Once we got home from Hari Raya in Batu Pahat, No. 4 announced that she will do a "Space Jungle"-themed board game.

Version 1 looks like this

After the boardgame was finished, No. 4 and 5 had a bit of fun playing it upstairs. 20 steps in all to complete the game. Basically it works like snakes & ladders, hence it is quite easy/ instinctive to play. Dedicated to Space Jungle fans, it seems relatable enough & contains some physical activities like "dance" and "laugh". Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, after spending 3 hours in the car.

Being Human(e)

Yesterday we got a reminder to submit the workload report that is due every end of the month.

This was my bone of contention during the past meetings (long ago when I was in power, haha..)

granted that we are now owned by a VC (and previously an investment arm/ equity company)

hence each of us are seen as units of production: how many hours taught, how many exam papers submitted on time, how many students supervised, how many students progressed.

YES I AGREE that these are economic measures to gauge how well we're doing

YES we have to comply with the minimum standards of performance/ expectation

however, we are all only humans

some EQ is in order (if at all possible)

an occasional THANK YOU may be nice once in a while, although we have come to not expect anything

a reward or some bonus may be nice too, but we have stopped expecting it

YET we are persuaded (mildly threatened?) ever-so-seriously to submit the appraisal forms (that have become pointless in some minds, if no increments or bonuses are given out)

I remain positive & will unfortunately stay on, for I have vested interest. The office is close by to my house & I get reasonable flexibility with work & I am unashamedly in my comfort zone, refusing to explore other jobs (and perceived to be at the age that companies may not want to hire, too high a salary & perhaps too set in my ways to change)

SO HERE I AM, too 'comfortable' to leave yet not terribly happy to stay- the hygiene factors have caused a few irritations nudging me to move on (or rather slowly wiggle out of 'this', whatever 'this' may be)

unfortunately I do not have many skills & may have to resign to the fact that this salary is almost my ceiling in this profession (sadly enough)

how I wish I could have stayed on as a lowly lawyer and push through the crap AND be a good mother AND excel in my profession AND earn enough to help other people... but now I have accepted this is my life, and I have made my choices that I will willingly live with..

NO MORE COMPLAINTS

so.. this office thing.. will we be successful in marrying (some) humanity with economic production measures.. and live our lives a little bit happier that we now are?

OR AT LEAST can the managers just buffer and absorb the stress without transferring it downwards, and not have the audacity to tell us how strongly they have fought for us (in management meetings) when in fact in her mind, we are just so useless?

We are not that bad actually (I think & I know), we do our own thing and the office is a reasonably friendly place to be in because we have nice people in it.

hence I will remain laying low and rant in silence.. and pray for the day when it becomes enjoyable again to come to work (with any luck it will be really soon!)

Making Malaysia Great Again

After the announcement of RM1 Trillion debt owing to the IMF, Malaysia has taken steps to cancel some mega projects and proceed frugally with government expenses, and at the same try to encourage spending by removing GST.

A "Tabung Harapan" was launched 3 days ago (translated as (the) "Hope Fund"), to invite any willing Malaysian to contribute any amount that could help pay back some of the debt our country is riddled with. Funds may be remitted via this Maybank account numbered 5660-1062-6452 (please do check that the recipient should be named as "Tabung Harapan Malaysia" before confirming the transaction).

As a Malaysian, I honestly would like to believe that the politicians running the country this time is in it for truth, transparency, justice... and all things good (although as usual my views are too ultra-rosy and not terribly realistic). This time, for the children of Malaysia, for the citizens of Malaysia and for the future of the country we will do the right thing. Because we can and we should.

That's my take anyways. There will be opportunists here and there, but I do hope that there are more good people than opportunists this time around. Even if they merely are a simple majority or even one-third of the ruling government, I have faith that we can make something of this country of ours.