THE END OF THE YEAR - 2009

We have come to the end of 2009. It's time to reflect. So... what have I done in the 12 months of 2009 that I can be proud of? WOW... I really have to pause (for a long time) to think of the answer to that question... And that just shows... hahhhaaaaa...

But I want to reflect in many ways... professionally and personally, socially and financially, and of course... spiritually... What have I done and achieved in 2009?

Professionally, I think I'm doing quite well. With the responsibilities given at work and what I have delivered, I've been rated as above average. With the recognitions from the top management, I think I am quite established.

On the personal aspect... I have Hubby and 2 adorable boys that I would die and do anything for. Another one is coming in April, which I forgot to announce to the whole world that it would be a girl :) Finally, I have somebody to gang up with. And not to forget, friends and family whom I can't live without.

Socially, I've managed to go to a few gatherings with close friends, of whom I considered friends for life. I have known these people for a long long time and if any one of them asks me for help, I would do everything I can to help him/her. I hope they feel the same way...

Financially, alhamdulillah, I have managed live my life according to my means. And alhamdulillah I can enjoy things that I love without having to have second thoughts. I can shop for the things that I want without having to feel guilty, but of course with some considerations to Hubby's comments :) That's how I keep check of my spendings...

And lastly, spiritually, I am immensely embarrassed to admit that I still need to do a lot of work on this aspect of my life. I shall make it my 2010 resolution to improve this. Insyallah...

Happy 2010 to me and all...

ieja

SNIPPETS

OF ABANG IQIE

Hubby's office had their 10th anniversary celebration very recently. They had a grand celebration in one of the old bungalows on Jalan Gurney. It was a blast with great food and entertainment. They even had a dance floor. We brought Iqie there and from the time we arrived, the dance floor was the thing that interested him the most. The music was playing, so he was on the dance floor even when the party had not even started yet.

Later, with the arrival of the other guests with kids, he began to attarct them. So he had a group of children dancing on the floor. The other guests said that he was a natural (I wonder where he gets it from... Definitely not from me and I don't think from Hubby too..). But he really killed every one there.

Even when the other kids had left, he was still on the dance floor, only to be surrounded, this time by the adults. They made a circle around him and he danced in the middle. OMG, he just didn't want to stop...

And BTW, he even got the chance to sing his version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on the karaoke machine..!!! TWICE...!!

He was the star of that night!

I think I'll upload his video later...

MY PREGNANCY

I'm in my fifth month now. But I work and act like I was not pregnant. I still travel almost everyday to Putrajaya, starting my day very early and coming back very late. Sometimes I had to burn the mid night oil to finish some work.

I am tired and my body hurts. I just wish that someone would be an angel and massage my neck and back. I really need that. But it seems that I'm in this pregnancy alone...!!

I'm pregnant, so I'm supposed to be emotional about a lot of things...!! Go ahead and shoot me...!!

OF AFEEQ

Afeeq has really grown up without me realising it. He can sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (his way of course!) with his little fingers making opening and closing gestures. Whenever we sing "Tepuk Amai Amai" to him, he will clap his hands and try to sing along. He can now say "Daddy" very clearly and "Mummy" not so clearly. I just can't kiss him enough.

But with my pregnancy, he seems to sense that he may not get that kind of attention anymore. He has started to be clingly... wanting me all the time. He has not been well these past few days, waking in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to sleep and has been crying the whole time. So I have to hold him almost all night. He falls asleep only when it is morning.

All that holding hurts my back... And I wish even more for someone to massage my neck and back, and just be there for me... And yes... I'm being emotional again... So, sue me...!!

ieja

OF BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES

I have come to believe that the older you get, which is equavilent to a bigger the number in age, the less you pay attention to birthdays and anniversaries. I'm over generalised here, but at least this is true in my case.

When I was in my 20s, birthdays and anniversaries were very important. Forgetting the dates, or even to wish at the right time would cause fights. Of course this is true only in my relationships. But I had kept that sacred ritual for so many years, and it indeed had been established and cherised.

But recently, my birthday and my wedding anniversary were not being hyped. Wishes were given, celebrations were done, but the sacred ritual was missing. I still have not got any of my presents... Not even a card anymore (don't get me started on that one!!). I tried to shake away this feeling of incompleteness. But even after months, I still keep on thinking about them. I've asked, but my questions were not taken seriously. And I think today, I have stopped asking for them. But the feeling is still there. I don't want to impose, but... it's that feeling again... it just won't go away.

I'm not sure whether it is because we are so busy with things, like work and the children, that we tend to take these things for granted. Or is it because we think that the other party is just not taking it seriously... BUT I DO...!!! It does matter to me...!! Unfortunately, that message just doesn't get through...

I can't be asking every other day. I'm getting tired of asking... But efforts to find the presents and to surprise me are just not apparent anymore. The lack of interest is... And the results... of course... retribution on my part!!

ieja

SOMETHING TO SHARE ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

I have been one of the implementers of knowledge management (KM) in my organisation. We have the system up and running and put the change management in place. We had also formally launched the system sometime in June this year. Apar from that, I sometimes give presentations on KM to other organisations. Interestingly, I am also part of the project team who is implementing KM in the Malaysian Government as a pilot project in 2 ministries and 1 central agency. Another 1 central agency is queueing to particpate in this pilot project, making it 2 central agencies piloting this.

But, what is interesting to note is that as an organisation that claims to be the advocate of KM, we sure don't practise what we preach to the fullest. We told our KM clients that leadership is important. That the top management buy-in and support are crucial in the success of the KM implementation in their organisation. We have also been stressing to the clients that there should be a proper KM governance in place. There should be a dedicated internal team managing the implementation and change management to ensure the success of their KM initiative. Let's not start with changing the working culture, putting the right process, etc. ect. etc. And of course, a whole lot of other things as well... All in the name of successful implementation of KM.

But preaching is easier than practising... In reality, what happens in my organisation is that... YES there is huge top management buy-in, but very little support in terms of putting the proper KM governance in place. There is no full time KM Manager being hired. There are no clear and defined roles and responsibilities of those who are supposed to be the implementers of KM in the organisation. The KM KPIs are in place, but they are not properly measured in terms of ensuring that knowledge sharing, application and dissemination are taking place effectively. In short, the implementer team was pulled out of the project before we could see and measure the success of the implementation in our own organisation. Yet, we preach KM so vigirously to our clients on so many things...

Another interesting thing to note and observe is the project team that is implementing KM in the Government. You would think that these people would be the experts and be the SMEs on KM since we have our own KM implemented and since we are the KM consultants to these organisations. They are so confident when presenting their KM cases to our clients starting from the KM Strategic Blueprint, KM system and now the change management to ensure the success of the KM initiative in the respective ministry/agency. But the truth is... these people DON'T EVEN WALK THE TALK. They don't share at all... There are no knowledge sharing sessions take place, there are no documents being passed around to avoid the team members from re-inventing the wheels. There are no lessons learnt being initiated and shared to ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated. Everyone is working in silos. I don't even know what the other team members are doing in the other ministry/agency. These people don't even access to our own company's knowledge management system.

And we call ourselves the experts and the advocates of KM...

ieja

BEING AWAY

I'm in Singapore at the moment. I'm supposed to be on a Knowledge Management's "crusade". I'm here for a KM conference at Suntec Convention Centre. It starts tomorrow and the day after that. I was actually looking forward to it.

The thing is, I have to be away from my family for 3 days. I had this thugging feeling as I was leaving Iqie and Afeeq this morning. Well for god's sake... it isn't going to be that long and it isn't that far... But still... there was this feeling...

And now, I'm sitting in the hotel room waiting for Hubby to skype me. Where is he?

I just want to talk to my sons...

ieja

SNIPPETS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABANG IQIE- 01 NOVEMBER 09

Abang Iqie celebrated his 3rd birthday on 01 November this year with just a small gathering of us and Ayah Chik's family. We bought him a cake (his favourite mud cake) and we sang him the birthday song, and away he blew all the candles on the cake. Earlier that day, we took him for a feastive lunch in KLCC, but he was too sleepy and moody to enjoy his meal. But he sure enjoyed himself (tremendously..!!) when we took him to Toys 'R' Us after that. We spent quite a while choosing his present. At the end, Daddy decided on another remote control car (bigger and more stylish... so-called!). It was a Skyline GTR. I suspect that it was Daddy's obsession rather than Iqie's wish that made Daddy pay for it.

Happy birthday Abang Iqie. Mummy, Daddy and Afeeq love you so much!

OUR ANNIVERSARY - 12 NOVEMBER 09

Hubby and I celebrated our anniversary on that day. It was just a simple one as we didn't have the chance to go for a fine dining in any fancy restaurant. We still don't have a nanny and finding a babysitter is close to impossible. So, we went for our "anniversary lunch". What I got for our anniversary? And what did I give Hubby for our anniversary? Well... let's just say that we are still waiting for a surprise from each other... and I have specified my surprise to him ;)

But we got a surprise of our own on that day actually. Our car (my SuperEK) was scratched by a stupid, reckless driver!! We did say that we wanted to repaint the car, but THAT was a bit too much. Luckily, that didn't spoil our anniversary mood...

Happy anniversary Sayang... Love you too much..!!

MY PREGNANCY

I'm in my second trimester already. So the second worst thing has passed. We were quite surprised when our gynea said that my expected due date was in April. We were like... "WHAT..?? That soon..??" hehehheee.. we thought it would be much later than April. But we're happy with any date. I'm now bloating, unlike when I was in my first trimester where my tummy couldn't be seen at all. I now have to dig out my old maternity clothes, and worse... buy some new ones. All I need to do now is to look for the right shoes... hehhehe...

ieja

AVENGED SEVENFOLD - DEAR GOD

Hubby gave me this song when he went to Jakarta-Bandung. I think it was mid of this year.

ieja

ALMOST THE WHOLE FAMILY IS SICK

Hubby and I have been infected... We suffer from an eye infection. I got hit the worse, my eyes are swollen, all puffy and viciously red. And we got it all from Abang Iqie...

3 days back Iqie's left eye was a bit swollen and we could see some discharge in his eye. We went to the pharmacy and bought him an ointment. That worked fine for him and he was OK the next day. 2 days ago, Hubby and I were complaining to each other that our left eyes were ichy and that there were some discharge. And *poooof* it was only a few hours after that that our left eyes were all red and mine swollen. Funny that we were infected on the left eye first only, then the other one.

So, yesterday morning, we dropped both Abang Iqie and Afeeq at "school" and off we went to the clinic. We were positively identified infected by the doctor. She prescribed us with the medication although mine is a bit different from Hubby as I told her that I'm pregnant. She gave us an eye drop, eye cream and some pills for my swollen eye and ichiness for Hubby. We were given a 2-day sick leave each and if our eyes are still red on the third day, we would still need to be inspected by her again and... more days of sick leave... hmmm... a movie would be nice...

One thing I admire about Hubby is that he is very discipline when it comes to medicine taking. Unlike me, I will try to avoid consuming anything that is labeled as medicine or tablets or pills or whatever! Anyone who knows me well knows that I have this "phobia" thingy about medicines especially tablets/pills. My best friend once had to cut a paracetamol into four and put each piece in a banana for me to swallow when I had a fever! I love her for that...!!!

So, this time around, Hubby is the one monitoring my medication. I just have to lie down on the sofa or the bed, and he does the eye drops for me. I love you sayang...!!

ieja

IT'S OFFICIAL... WE'RE EXPECTING..!!

Yes... you read it right...!! It's official... from the horse's mouth... we're expecting..!!

God... it feels good to finally be able to announce it to the whole world!! The new addition to the family is expected to arrive in June 2010. And how do we take it? At first, we were in the denial ;0 We were like... "I don't think I'm ready for this", "What would other people think?" and "OMG!!". BUT who cares whether you are ready or not... it's coming! You can't just dismiss something like this. I got through Ramadhan and celebrated Eid ul Fitr just fine with the exception of 'occassional' urges to puke. But I managed to conceal them with food, food and more food.

We are now in the phase of accepting it... Like announcing it to the whole world (almost) after 3 months. We have even started arguing about whose car we should sell in order for us to get a Stream. In the case of Antique VS. Cult Status... the winner is... of course my SuperEK!!! So, we're getting a Stream insyaallah and selling the SuperEF.

ieja

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AFEEQ

Today Afeeeq is 1 year old. Happy birthday Afeeq...!!!

Afeeq is now walking. He has been for almost a month. Although he is not as talkative as his big brother, he seems to understand us when we ask him to do some things. When we sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to him, he usually makes noises that sound like "Twinkle Twinkle". When we say "Ta' Tih" whenever we walk him around the house, he would make almost the same sound.

His favourite show is Mickey Mouse of Playhouse Disney. He never fails to smile when he sees Mickey walks and greets on the telly. Another one is "Danny & Daddy". He would stop whatever he is doing when the show is on.

We have bought a cake last night for him. That is to be sent to the "school" where Abang Iqie and his friends would enjoy most of it. I hope they will sing "Happy Birthday" to Afeeq. Although I doubt he understands why the whole commotion... but I know Abang Iqie would be the happiest kid there and would fuss around Afeeq.

Happy Birthday Afeeq... Mummy, Daddy and Abang Iqie love you so much...!!!

Mummy

SNIPPETS

OF ABANG IQIE

Abang Iqie can now converse quite well. He understands what we tell him most of the time. Having a conversation with him nowadays is a fun thing for me and hubby. The way he expresses himself with the limited words that he can utter sometimes make us laugh.

"What dat Mummy?"

"Mummy play wit Iqie, pleassssss"

"WOW... Daddy car fast..."

He can even sing all his favourite rhymes, like "Old McDonald Had a Farm", "Ba Ba Black Sheep", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "The Wheels on the Bus", "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and many more. We sometimes hear him humming while playing. He can even sing Barney's "I Love You, You Love Me" song. And that's the funny part...

When Hubby and I speak to him, we always say "YOU" - referring to him. He takes it that "YOU" means "IQIE". Whenever we say "Mummy / Daddy carry YOU", he takes it as "Mummy / Daddy carry IQIE". So, when he wants us to carry him, he says "Mummy, carry YOU, pleasss..." hehehheeee... Funny how kids perceive things that are said to them. Another one is the word "park". We always reverse park the car. So we say, "Mummy park the car". So when Iqie is on his electric bike and he wants to reverse it, he says, "Iqie park bike". Even when we reverse the car he would say, "Mummy park car".

The case with the word "YOU" extends to Iqie's singing. Sometimes when he wants to close his eyes to sleep, he would hug either Hubby or me and sing Barney's "I Love You, You Love Me" song. But in his case, he cleverly changes the lyric to this:

I love you...

YOU love MUMMY... -> which means IQIE love Mummy :)

We are happy family...

With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you -> funny how this is not changed ;)

Won't you say you love me too...

Another development that we see in Iqie is that he now can recite his ABC and his doa whenever he wants to eat (ever so loudly...). And most importantly, he seems to be connecting with Afeeq more. He plays with him and involves him more in his activities at home.

OF AFEEQ

Afeeq is now 11 months old. He has 4 teeth so far, 2 upper and 2 lower. He's very active and just can't sit still. He crawls everywhere. He's now beginning to take a step or two whenever we're around him. But he's still a little bit scared.

In the house, he is the one who makes a lot of mess. He knows where the toys and the CDs are. So, whenever we leave him alone, he would crawl to the toy box and the CD box and BANG... the whole floor is covered with toys, CDs, books, etc.

Hmmmm... I am still amazed at how fast these 2 have grown...

ieja

COMPLACENCY

It's such a big word... But I have fallen into its trap. I have written a number of entries in this blog, but unfortunately they all are unfinished and now are growing in number in my draft folder.

It's very hard to find time nowadays to even read a book (I don't read mainstream newspapers, just in case you have forgotten). It's even harder to sit down and relax my strained muscles. Well... unless if you are up at 4 or 5 am doing work... and serving as a distraction, here I am, typing an entry to my blog.

I wish I had more time... I wish I had more money ;)... I wish I had a lot of other things... hehhee. Don't we all...?

ieja

FIRST DAY AT "SCHOOL"

After we terminated our helper, we decided to send Iqie and Afeeq to a nursery. There are a few in our neighbourhood, but not all are suitable for us. We would prefer to send both of them to an Islamic taska with an English medium (I would prefer to be with them all the time, but of course that's not an option at this moment). But that can only be found in areas like Kajang and Cheras. Other nurseries in our neighbourhood either don't take toddlers like Afeeq, or too expensive and don't match our "odd" working hours.

So, we decided to try one taska which is very near to our place - about 1 minute drive from our condo to be exact ;) The day before, we had sort of prepared Iqie for this transition. We kept telling him that he would go to "school" soon. So he kept on repeating "Iqie go skool" all day long. So, when the morning came, it was quite easy to coax him to go with us to his "school". Well... he can't actually hear the words "go out" anyway... hehehhe.

When we arrived at the "school", the principal was there waiting for us. While I was filling up the forms, Hubby was observing Iqie. Afeeq was easy... he blended in immediately, crawling to the boxes of toys and minded his own business ;) Iqie, on the contrary, needed some time. So, they let him walk around the place and play for a while. Then, when we say "Mummy go to work and Daddy go to work. Iqie stay at school", Iqie started to look worried... "No Daddy... Daddy no work...!!! Iqie go work with Daddy..." I was almost in tears, but the principal took Iqie away and distracted him with the playground. But he was already in tears and screaming for us. We had to quickly drive away.

At the end of the day, when we collected them back, Iqie was engrossed playing. The supervisor said that he had a good time playing and making new friends. He looked happy too. Now, I can't predict what the second day at "school" would be like. Hopefully, Iqie would adjust quickly and develop good social skills there.

ieja

DAYS WITHOUT MAID

As of 09 June 2009, I am officially maid-less. We terminated our "super-efficient" helper for the reasons that are just too painful to elaborate heheheh... Did I manage to make it sound so dramatic? We actually terminated her at the end of May. So reinforcement had to be called to watch over Iqie and Afeeq. Thank god for Mums...

My Mum came for the first shift... taking care of Iqie and Afeeq for 3 days. Then the second shift reported for duty from Thursday onwards. We sent my Mum-in-law back yesterday.

I was a bit skeptical about not having any helper at all after being pampered by the luxury of not having to do anything much around the house. Well... except for the weekends where the helper didn't come and I had to do everything. My worst fear was the cleanliness of the household. I now have developed the "allergy" to messy and dirty house... hehehe. See... I told you I was pampered!

To make things worst, my vacuum cleaner was broken. I don't know what was wrong with it but it refused to work at all. So, almost immediately after terminating our helper, I practically dashed to Carrefour and bought one, plus a new mop (the one that uses sponges). So, I was like slaving myself at 8 am hovering and mopping the whole house while Iqie and Afeeq was watching in amazement.

Then, my attempt to have the whole wardrobe pressed was cut short because the iron refused to be slaved by me after 2 shirts. It short circuited the whole house!! Again, I dashed to (this time not Carrefour anymore) Best Denki in KLCC during work to buy a new one. I ended up with an iron and a new hair dryer (they call it hair styler!) that uses hair brush to dry and style your hair ;)

Today, after feeding Afeeq dinner, I hovered the whole house again. My feet just can't stand the dust on the floor (Hubby said that I'm a freak, but what does he know about all these!). And at 2 am, I took out the mop and did the whole house! The feeling of clean floor under your feet and the fresh smell of it are priceless... I wonder how long I can actually stand doing all these at odd hours ;)

MY NEW REGIME OF DIET

I am so glad that Hubby is not the kind of person who would (either once a while or always) insinuate that I have actually put on "a little" weight. I am so fortunate that he doesn't mind how light or how heavy I am. Although he is concerned with what I put on - as in my dresses - when I go out. But as much as I like that about him, I have my own self-conscious about my own weight. The lighter I am compared to him the better ;)

I used to fit into size 'M' or '8' whenever I bought clothes. I can also fit into size '28' or '29' whenever I bought pants (how long ago was it?). But lately, I (sort of) was smacked in the face by the fact that my wardrobe now contains 'XLs' only. I can barely put on an 'L' size shirt. What actually went wrong?

So, to satisfy my super-ego (for not being able to fit into my old and very old clothes), I have decided to go on a diet. I call it my Smart Diet Programme... hehehhee... well.. i don't know about the smart part, but it is my diet programme. So... since I'm too lazy to run and I haven't bought a new swimming suit (the size could be the main reason), I now run up and down the stairs in my condo... hehehee...

The first two rounds were horrible. I couldn't move my feet the next day, and I couldn't even walk properly. So I had to stop for a few days, then resume the exercise. Thereafter was easy. As for the diet... I know it's going to be very hard for me to stop my bad eating habit - I eat all the time! So, I have decided that I will not stop eating, but I shall control what I eat. Hence - only veggie soup for dinner.

I'm not sure how long I can keep this up, but I will sure try my best to achieve size 'L' first! Then, I'll see what I can do to get to 'M'... heheheh...

ieja

SNIPPETS

I have been lagging in terms of blogging my thoughts and what I feel. I do have a lot to say, but so little time to express them. So, I'm going to summarise them instead ;)

1. It's our duty to be happy
I had a hair cut (after trying to find time for it for a few months now!!) today. While my hair was steamed, I read something interesting - a poet (or was it a philosopher?) said something like "being happy is not just an emotion, but a duty that has been bestowed upon us..." Well... something of that sort... but the meaning is very clear... we owe it to ourselves to be happy... not just to make other people happy. So, what have we done so far to make ourselves happy? I had a hair cut ;)

2. A son buying his father's 1 hour of attention
Today as well I read an email sent to my Yahoo! Group mail by one of my ex-MPIK mates. It was a story that I had read a few times before. Every time (without fail!) I read the story, I would feel my eyes getting watery. The story touches my heart in a big way that I always share it (again and again) with Hubby. It was about a son who asked his father for $25 after asking his agitated father how much he earned for an hour. When given the money, the son took out his own money and asked his father if he could buy 1 hour of his father's time. All he wanted was for his father to spend 1 quality hour with him. What does that teach me? How much time do I have for my sons in a day? How do I treat my sons after a long day at work? Do I appreciate the time I have with them?

3. To be a good leader is to be a good listener
Today (again... hehehe) I had a training on a KM system that we use in one of our projects. Throughout this training, I try to put myself in the actual users' shoes (which are our clients). But it was funny how most of my questions being brushed aside. Not just today, but for the past few months I think that my inputs were not being taken into considerations when plans were being made for this project. Those frustrate me a lot since I am the one interfacing with the clients a lot. What do I learn? When you work in a team, listen hard. Don't dismiss their inputs however useless they may sound. Take into considerations the inputs given when you make plans. This applies in life as well. Listen hard!

ieja

THE MOVIES I LIKE

I haven't been to the cinema a lot. Well.. considering internal factors... But thanks to the advancement of modern technology and (of course) in the name of knowledge sharing, I was able to catch up with quite a number of movies.

So far, I've watched Slumdog Millionaire, Twilight, Shopaholic, Sex Drive, Six Pounds, Australia and a few other more which I can't quite remember the titles. WOW.. looking at the list, that is quite an achievement for me... hehehe... Anyhow, among those listed, only 3 that I consider worth mentioning.

Slumdog Millionnaire - i think the movie earned the award. I like it the first moment the storyline started. It was so engaging that I didn't even wait for Hubby to sit and watch with me.

Twilight - OMG!! I loOOOoOoOooooVe it. I love it so much that I actually watched it twice (2 days in a row!). It was a simple movie. The storyline was very clear and simple as well. But what made me love it so much was simple. It made me smile till the end. It gave me the jittery feelings that I used to have when someone notices you and pays attention to you. That feeling as if your heart is going to burst with anticipation and happiness. Well... the actor of course helped a lot in bringing out those feelings... hehehhee...

Australia - Again it has something to do with issues that I can relate to. The passions (for a lot of things... if you know what i mean...) were very apparent. I even wished I was Nicole Kidman at one point... hahahhaa...

Now I'm on a mission to complete my other movie collection as well as TV series. I'm looking forward to watching Desprate Housewives Season 4 & 5, and Gossip Girls (XOXO) Season 1 & 2. Well... not that I don't have a life OK...

ieja

EARTH HOUR 2009

I'm a proud participant of this year's Earth Hour. Not just me, but Iqie and Afeeq too. It was on Saturday, 28 March 2009. The Sun reported the event. The response was overwhelming actually.

On that day, Hubby was not home (car fixing-related job), so there were just us - Mummy and sons. As usual after his bath, Iqie had his dinner. So did Afeeq. So all of us were mentally prepared for the black-out hour (well... maybe I was the only one!). A little before 8.30 pm, I already switched off all lights in the house. Iqie was confused for a while... "Oh no!" Then... "Mummy, light no? Mummy, no light?" How do you explain to a 2-year-old that Mummy was voting for Earth ;)

The telly was on, so that was fine with Iqie. Afeeq was cool. Instead of switching off the lights for an hour, we ended up being in the dark for 2 hours. We didn't mind. It was kinda fun for me and Iqie.

You know what, I think we're going to do this Earth Hour on a regular basis. Iqie and I don't have to wait for a year for another Earth Hour. I think we can do this bi-monthly. I guess that's just a little thing that I can do to contribute to this good cause. But as Hubby jokingly pointed out in his email when I sent him the details of this event - what's the difference with the lights off when we have the fridge, washing machine, telly, air-cond, etc. on?? Heheheheheee... how to answer that??

ieja

VOTE EARTH - LIGHTS OFF PLEASE!!

Dear all,
I'm voting for our Earth. Please switch off your lights for 1 hour (only) to show your support. We need this!! Please spread the words.

ieja

The Use of English in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics and Science

I have to say that I'm very disappointed with what had happened over the weekend. The Star published the news. I am not being bias here and I am not judging. Don't say that because I was educated overseas I would definitely agree that English should be used. That is definitely not the case. I agree that English should be used because of many reasons.

Firstly, to use English to teach and to learn Maths and the science subjects would definitely not dethrone Bahasa Melayu (or is it Bahasa Malaysia now - I just can't keep track of the correct term used as it had changed so many times!!). You can't "mertabatkan" the Malay language by using it to teach those subjects. How can u do that if the terms used in Maths, Biology, Physics and Chemistry are taken from English. It's not like we have all the words in Malay... duuhhh...

If you want to "mertabatkan" the Malay language, start at home and the media. Those are the biggest influencers. If you can tackle those two - half of the language problem solved!

To me, the whole point of using English to teach and learn Maths and the science subjects is for us to be able to conquer the wealth of information that contains in those subjects. It's totally not because of the language - it has never been because we want the students to master the language. Mastering the language is just the secondary aim. If you can, hey it's good for you.

I think I've addressed this enough in my previous entry here.

ieja

A DAY OF FUN

Last Wednesday, Hubby and I purposely took a day off. We had promised to date as much as possible, even if it means taking a day or two off ;) So far the plan went well...

Anyway, that Wednesday we woke up a bit late leaving Iqie and Afeeq under the care of our super-efficient helper. After breakfast cum a hearty lunch, we made our way to Flamingo Hotel on Jalan Ampang. No... it's not what you're thinking!! We actually went bowling instead of going for a movie. Why...? Why not... like watching movies, it's been ages. So we thought... why not.

And you know what... we had the best time of our lives. After so many years... we giggled, we laughed, we teased each other. Hubby is still bad at spares, and I'm still bad at strikes... heheheh we really had fun - reliving our courting days.

It is something that we would definitely do again and again... I wonder what is next in our list.

ieja

OF ABANG IQIE

My eldest son - Iqie is 2 years and 3 months old. He's very active and likes to play with his toy cars a lot. He's quite talkative... well... compared to his cousin sister who is 3 weeks older then him.

So far, we managed to use English (I would say 95%) when we talk to him. And he understands us very well. We also managed to chart his progress in terms of his speech development on videos. Looking back at how he grows from one-word speech to two-word speech and now three-word speech or more - he amazes us. It's amazing how children pick up when we put effort in teaching them things.

At one stage, Iqie would just point his finger and say "there... there..." if he wanted to go to the living room or if he wanted me to go somewhere. After some time he acquired more words and would say "Mummy... there...". Then "Mummy... there... telly". Then "Iqie watch telly". He would also say things like "Mummy go there eat", "Daddy vroom car". But my all time favourite - "Afeeq... no..." when Afeeq puts his fingers in his mouth, and "Good boy Afeeq..." when Afeeq takes out his fingers out of his mouth. He says it ever so lovingly... it makes me melt...

With his understanding of his Mummy and Daddy's conversation, we can't actually say "go out" sparingly. He will pick it up and will quickly reply "Iqie go out... there" pointing at the front door and immediately taking off his pants and shirt (expecting us to change him). Hubby and I really have to use those two words carefully. Otherwise, we'll end up walking him around the house...

ieja

EMOTIONALLY TIRED

I've been working hard for the past two months. One of the reasons was because I had to organise and conduct a 3-day workshop for a client that my company considers as a tough one. Subsequently, I have to present the outcome of the workshop and write a blueprint for the client.

I haven't been sleeping well as my time was consumed mostly preparing for the workshop. Great detail and thought were put in the design of the workshop (the itinerary, the content and the activities), the templates and the worksheets provided. The quality of those was also our major priority. Alhamdulillah, the workshop went very well with the Deputy Director commented that she was happy with it. What made me more proud was the fact that the CEO of my company recognised this and had asked all future workshops to be benchmarked against ours.

But, I haven't got the chance to catch up on my sleep. A few weeks before the workshop and during the workshop, I only slept for about 3 hours every night. I still feel tired and my back still hurts. After the workshop, the writing part began, and I was also assigned with other things. My sleep is being sacrificed again. I just don't know when I would be able to sleep peacefully again - going to bed without having to think about work.

I also notice that I frown more than before. That is not a good sign to me - I rarely frown. I really need to sort out my professional life, or else it will affect my personal life. My personal life is too precious for me to be disturbed. I really have to do something...

ieja

ABANG IQIE AND ADIK AFEEQ (2)

Afeeq is now 4 months old. How time files. After going back to work, I have been kept busy with all the work and deliverables for the project I'm in. Sometimes, I feel guilty for not paying enough attention to both Iqie and Afeeq... and to Hubby too. But somehow, I try my best to make it up to them. I have my ways ;)

But what I want to record here is how surprise I am with Iqie. His love for his little brother is very obvious. Every night before he goes to sleep, he will lie beside Afeeq and kiss him on his cheek. And that is not enough to him. He then will "salam" his little brother's hand (not once, but many many times I tell you!) and kiss him again on the face (not just the cheek anymore). He will then place his face really near to Afeeq, before going to sleep - holding Afeeq's hand. I am touched at his display of love towards his little brother.

Learning for my son, I make it a routine to kiss both Abang and Adik before they go to sleep. I also pray that this display of love and affection will not stop and that it will continue until both of them grow up.

ieja

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

I am in Avillion, Port Dickson doing a workshop on knowledge management. My team and I arrived yesterday afternoon, and we're going to stay till tomorrow. I've mentioned knowledge management a lot in my previous entries and we are now developing a blueprint for an oganisation. The workhop is to present their current state - KM maturity level, as well as to get a consensus on their KM processes, KM governance structure and finally the strategic initiatives that need to be undertaken to ensure the KM journey is a successful one.

Today, I actually learn a lot of things. Things that we face every day but are not being recorded. I would like to record that for I am now an advocate of knowledge sharing ;)

I always believe that change is something that is very hard to do. I am not excluded. Once I am comfortable with a way of doing things, it's very hard for me to try a new way - regardless whether the new way is a lot easier than my old one. I learned today that when we face changes we first would deny them. We close our eyes to their benefits. Then we resist the changes. Without having any choice, we then explore the changes and discover the benefits they offer. The final stage of it is commitment - where we actually can't perform well if the new way of doing things is not part of our daily routine. A simple example, mobile phone - 10 years ago i didn't even have one. Today, I can't live without one. But how did I manage back then? How life is a lot easier by having one today!

Coming back to change management in knowledge management, the denial and resistance in the organisation that I'm dealing with are still very high, but of course not every one feels that way. There is still quite a number of people in this workshop who actually look forward to the KM system that we proposed. Those who resist are the ones who fear that it's going to burden them. they fail to see its benefits. They fail to realise that you have to put extra effort in the first phase of the project first to gain the benefits later. Well, I guess that is the first rule of having good things - pain first, then gain.

What I'm trying to say here is that in every initiative, every project, even in our every day life, change is constant. How we manage the change and how we culturalise and institutionalise the change would determine the success of the initiave, project or our quality of life. If you see the benefits of the change, why resist? Just live with it and manage it well. Once it is institutionalised in you, your transformation would be the best thing that happens to you.

ieja