Good anime

It has been a long time since I last watched something good... Came across The Secret World of Arrietty just now and spent some time on it. It was simple and sweet.

Life have been very busy and targetless. Anime like this reminded me of those research days. Things are so simple and I only need to focus on the research, my mind was clear as the water, my life was satisfying and fulfilling as the ripen fruits.

Never had I felt so empty and busy like now, yet feeling tired and having my mind fogged up so badly. I couldn't see my future.

I was awarded a silver star the other day. The face of it was for my contribution to the South Korea market, but the fact was for the MD to shut my mouth and to make me sound stupid complaining about the unfair stuffs going on in the office, and about his bias thoughts on me.

I helped the IT consultant recently in the Windows 7 system upgrade and came across a confidential document from the MD's backup files. It was an evaluation and 5 years plan for this office. I was unfortunately identified as the most problematic employee, least chance for career advancement. I was also identified as emotional when taking up multiple tasks, which was an unfair claim without taking into consideration of the scenario for saying the truth under the threat of losing my job.

I don't come to work fighting for names and power, I work for self improvements and professional growth. I raised questions to things that doesn't sound right, and make noise to get things done. I guess I learned my lesson seeing the dirty tricks from these people not wanting to do their jobs, yet yearning for credits and attentions.

I know I shouldn't have read that document, but I also start to feel that honesty and sincerity is merely a relative term. It is only worthwhile in front of people who can appreciate it.

The dark vinegar is brewing... I hope I won't loose myself in this strange world.

A day in Setia Mall

Went to Setia Mall last Saturday, I was disappointed by the lack of preparation of the mall. If it weren't due to the Parkson 5x Bonuslink and its location (close to my side of the town), I wouldn't be there.

The map on the newspaper advertisement is amazingly simple, without road sign and landmarks.

There weren't a single sign board from highway/main road etc. leading to Setia Mall.
There weren't even a road sign around the mall.

Lots of illegal parking around the peripheral access road. (that's how we identified the entrance...)

The carpark floor was not epoxy coated, very dusty and still have the concrete cement smell.
Signage in the carpark was poor, lack of floor directories.

The glass panels were not cleaned, there were still some construction smudges all over the place.
The wood handles were not polished.

The mall was not properly lit, the air conditioning broken down, dusty floor, some shops still had those chemical smell of new renovation -- so strong it made me tear. Most shops had no internet line, phone line, as a result, they couldn't take credit card.

Parkson was one of the better prepared shop in the mall, but the brands in Parkson wasn't as complete as other Parkson in town. I visited the Ladies department, the clothing taste and brand location was disorganised -- you don't know if they are targeting youngsters, young adults, or mature adults.

I have to say Padini concept store has better fashion jewelleries than Parkson.

I didn't get to visit Uniqlo though, from the outside, they look well organised and prepared to do business in this new location.

I was glad that Setia Mall management decided to give out free parking for that day due to the dysfunctional air conditioning.

It has been a while

I have not been able to access to this blog for a long while. Just got back from a long postponed honeymoon to Cambodia. Loaded some photos to Facebook.

Cambodia is generally poor, Siem Reap is considered their pretty good town,but it is about 30-50 year behind some of our South East Asian countries. Nonetheless I love Cambodia for its people, they still have some basic human trusts among the crowd. They aren still some very precious human interactions and instinct that will soon be lost as the country advances.

Things are not cheap in Siem Reap, everythings starts from USD1, from fridge magnets to a pencil. Otherwise, it would be USD 20....nothing in between. But it is relatively easy to haggle compared to China.

Perhaps we visited the market pretty early (around noon) so they are superstitious about getting the first deal than making good profits.

Food and drinks are considered expensive, judging from the average local income (USD 140 a month.). A meal in local hawker stall next to the road, not by any tourist hot spot cost about USD5.

We went to Angkor Wat, entrance is USD 20 per person for 1 day and USD40 for 3 days. Most of the attractive stuffs are in the small circuit. The grand circuit consists mainly small temples and barriered archeology sites.

The main attractions are Angkor Wat, Bayon temple and Ta Phorm, which means main temple in local language. Those huge trees that grow in between the temple structures are impressive, it shows the age of the temples, but it also destroys the temple through time. It somehow shows the Buddhist believe - nothing stays or gone forever.

In the trip to Tonle Sap lake, we witnessed some poor lives,but it made me wonder if they would be any happier if they were richer.... We lost many things to get rich and developed, but in the end all we asked for are the same old basic things.

I am sure there are a lot more pitiful stuffs happening in Cambodia, especially with their rich mineral-precious gems. I hope they will learn to protect themselves better.

Illegal stuff

I have been receiving orders in my sales countries these days, things are starting to pay off.
But despite trying to sell standard products with very little specials, we have problems meeting the delivery time -- for almost all the orders.

One of the project was so desperate and urgent, that I had to place the order prior to receiving PO.

It is illegal.

With lots of sales, meaning I am also having a lot more enquiry.
Decamouth assigned me a few larger enquiries that require a lot of focus in reading the spec, quoting the product, and liaising with our global team. Well, his style of assigning things is always one-liner.

One of our rep. asked me to jack up the price for 200% in order for him to get a better commission, and asked me to whink some figure out for things that have no clear supply scope.

I refused to comply, but had nonetheless jacked up the price for 50% to satisfy his persistance.

I feel that I am doing something illegal.

I raised my work load concern to Decamouth (he is now my boss), and suggested that we could share our work among the team. But I was told that I should learn to manage my work. I mentioned that no one else could attend to those request due to the technical contents of the job, he insisted that I should learn to manage my work and stop complaining. I felt insulted when I am struggling badly and approached him after trying all I have, and even given him a suggestion on how to overcome this.

I guess I should start pushing some of the things that come my way to him. I tried that before on some small cases, and he couldn't attend to them at all (and made lots of noise). So I guess I understand his resistance to my suggestion.

On top of that, I think Decamouth is jealous over my salary. He mentioned to me that I should feel content over the recent 5% increment, because he has none. I laughed, did he think I was naive or stupid, when he made such comment?

Cataract removal

My mum just went through her cataract removal procedures. Both her eyes had the new lenses now.

I have been on annual leave since first day of her operation. Today will be the last day after staying with my parents for a week. I feel sad that I have to return to my husband's house tomorrow, while he will be away for business trip, leaving me and my mother in law at home.

The cataract removal is a simple procedure, but it takes a lot of post-operation care. My brother helped with the cooking most of the time, while I have been the driver. I don't enjoy the kitchen work, and don't have much passion on food. I much prefer stucked in the traffic than stucked in the kitchen.

I am pretty depressed now.

Bits and pieces

I have been busy travelling between my husband's house and my own home recently.
My mum just removed the cataract from her right eye today, she will do the same for her left eye coming Monday. So I am staying at home during this time.

After the visit to Korea, our agent had placed their first order, which is also my first order today. Not much, but was pretty pleased. Despite all the quality issue we have recently on our China product, and the discouragement from our MD, I am still feeling rather pleased... may be some hint of disappointment, because now that Korean market has showed some potentials, the MD said that he will take it away from me, and let some other sales person handling it.

There are still a lot of work to follow up for the order. So I shouldn't slack too much.

In fact, I should actually start looking actively for jobs, instead of letting the workload pouring over me. I am too tired covering Decamouth's work due to his incompetency, trying to open a road for myself by keep requesting to be in the sales team, and trying very hard to adapt myself to this new life after marriage.

I think I deserve a better treatment for my contributions.