Phy Does A Jig..

Hi there,
I was supremely happy that I was selected to got to a talk at Mes IPK this Friday. Unless you're new to my blog, you would know how much I loath my work and that I would be the first to sign up to go anywhere out of the office.

This morning however, Fate intervened. I was sitting at my CC's office and he was on the phone when he suddenly turned to me and said urgently "Can you replace 'N' to go for a course at the Imperial tomorrow?". What he meant by the Imperial is the Imperial International Hotel. Yup, the one I stayed at just last month.

Of course I jumped at the chance but I sincerely thought that it was a 1-day thing because he said 'tomorrow' and not 'starting tomorrow for 3 days' or something along those lines. I really was itching to break into a jig as that would mean I wouldn't have to be at the office for 2 days.

Turns out the course was held for 3 days just like the one before and my 'jig' slowed down a bit when it dawned on me that it would end on Saturday. My weekend has been cut short. Argh!  Oh well, you get some and lose some I guess. And I couldn't say no either as I was the only one eligible to go since I'm a woman and they have already set the quota for male and female participants.

It wouldn't be so bad since I'm not doing much on a Saturday anyway (I mean, duh, isn't that what Saturday's all about?).  I'll be staying in a spacious air-conditioned room with hopefully, a nice roommate if I get one and eating free, albeit crappy, food 6 times a day. So yeah, despite the Saturday thingy, I'm still doing a jig.

This course is organized by Bukit Aman and not KDN like all the previous overnight courses that I had ever attended so I'm not sure what to expect. Let's hope that they are not too strict with dress codes for our night classes. I also hope that the speakers make the course interesting and are not a stuffy lot. And lets just hope that classes finish early on Friday night. Hehe.. Fingers crossed. 

May Updates.. Super Long Post..

Gee.. I've taken another long hiatus haven't I? Between having a tug of war with boo over who gets to use the lappy and not having a lot of pictures of each event, I felt like I have a lot of events to cover but not a lot to say or show about each event so I wasn't sure if I wanted blog about it or not.

Then again, I miss blogging so much that I decided to write about each event briefly, kind of like a mini update. So here goes, with minimal (if any) pictures and all:

5th May 2011
I was selected to got to the Perhimpunan Khas Pegawai Awam PDRM. To be honest I didn't know what it was about until I got there. It turned out to be a pretty big event. 1st of it's kind actually and was done in grand style. 200 Police Administration Civilian Staff from West Malaysia were flown to Kota Kinabalu for it as Sabah is the host for this year's assembly.

Basically it was a gathering of said Administration Staff working under the Police Department. The TKPN was there instead of the KPN. The President of QUEPACS as well. They were kind of telling us that they have our interest at heart and PDRM is the best place to work because everyone is like family. Yeah right.

Notice the theme of the assembly? "Setia Bersama PDRM".. I'm guessing the fact that lots of civilian staff (from NKRA) applying for transfer and some even willing to quit from working in the Government rather than having to  keep working for the Police has something to do with it.. Anyway, more pictures...

 Farina and moi..

The Police Band.. We made the mistake of sitting too close to them..

Sabah Police Administrations Civilian Staff Union (SPACSU) Logo

7th May 2011

Our Majlis Perpisahan was held on this day at Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort here in Tuaran. As part of the entertainment there was supposed to be a Karaoke session. Turns out there wasn't much time due to mismanagement on the organizing committee's part but they did squeeze in 1 person to sing.. Me.

Being my first time ever singing in front of 200 people on top of a stage, I nearly peed in my pants. The only thing that saved me from THAT embarrassment was the fact that I had gone to the loo only minutes before. I wanted to sing Dan Sebenarnya by Yuna but they didn't have it (seriously? and that song is quite 'old') so I sang Lagenda by Sheila Majid instead. 

So, yeah, as I'm sure my dear friend Amanda would say, I broke my Singing-In-Front-Of-200-People-On-The-Stage virginity with unfortunately zero entertainment aspects as my eyes were quite glued to the screen and did no actions in conjunction to the lyrics. If Ogy was in front of me she would definitely be screaming at me and demonstrating how I should have done it with her non-awe inspiring rendition.  But I did lived to tell the tale so that's something.

Kak Diah and Kak B

 Yours truly

The stage... And people doing the Poco-Poco on the floor in front of the stage..

13 May 2011

Okay, I'm kind of embarrassed to share this because it just occurred to me that there may be a lot of girls out there who are no stranger to doing this. Nevertheless I feel that I have achieved something that I never thought that I could, or rather, would have to do in my life and that is I managed to put on a chain bolt to my bedroom door all by myself! My mum has been pestering for me to do it for months as I am unfortunately renting with a man as one of my house mates. 

Now, before you judge me you should know that in a small district like Tuaran you are left with not much choice for a place to rent especially when you don't have your own transport like in my case. I have to rent above shop lots and as most of the shops in Tuaran are pretty old, the rooms can be less than desirable. This one however, male house mate and expensive rent aside, is perfect in terms of location and it's on one of the newer shop lots.

Anyway, there hasn't been the need for me to put a bolt on the door before. The press lock was sufficient enough. Unfortunately something happened that made me pissed off at having my privacy invaded even if that person felt they had a valid reason to do what that person did. Thus, I decided to just bite the bullet and put up a bolt.  

The outcome of my perseverance. I'm so proud of myself.. Haha..

I must say I almost gave up after 2 screws. My arm was screaming in agony and I was sweating profusely. The door was made of thick hardwood okay.. The only thing that kept me going was the rewards of feeling safe and having my privacy back. It became easier eventually. Who knows, I might be the next DIY Queen. Okay, so I'm getting ahead of myself. Whatever it is, I rock! Oh yeah!

First 2 Weeks of May 2011

 I've been really been tuning to my 'bookwormness' and reading books like there's no tomorrow. I've completed 2 books so far.. I'm the type who can read several books at  a time (I'm impatient that way) so in a previous post I had told you that I was reading the Ivy Chronicles by Karen Quinn which became quite interesting in the end. Before I completed it though, I laid off it for a while and started to read I Heart New York by Lindsey Kelk which is the first of the I Heart Series.

I must say that I heart "I Heart New York"! Pardon the pun.. Hehe.. It's a chick lit obviously and a very light and easy read. Nothing serious, deep or meaningful but it did kept me guessing till almost the end. I highly recommend it for those of you who are looking for a light and entertaining read.

Needless to say, I completed it in 2 days (would have been sooner if I didn't have to work). I am looking forward to buying the next 2 books in the series which is I Heart Hollywood and I Heart Paris. The main character, Angela, is a blogger (which I must admit is why I picked it up in the first place) by the way and if you go to the website here, you will be able to read her blog.

 The site..

Angela's blog..

I'm currently reading Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love. As before she manages to reel me into her story with little effort and I find that it's one of those books that I can't put down. This time it's about her research on marriage including the history, the customs, the changes in the purpose of marriage throughout the century and the factors that change them.

There is a part that she touched in the book which is about infidelity that I think everyone should read especially married couples and those in a serious relationship. InsyaAllah I will be posting that excerpt in my future, if not next post.

Wow, for someone who doesn't have much to say, I certainly said a lot didn't I? Hehe.. Well, it has been a long time. What with blogger. com having problems the past few days, I'm just glad to be blogging again. Until the next post peeps. Cheers!  

Let's Be Honest: Hotel Room Freebies..

Now, lets be honest. When you stay at a hotel, do you take home all the free coffee 3-in-1's, tea, sugar, and toiletries? What about the drinking glasses ans towels?

The first thing that my mum would do when she goes into a hotel room is collect all the hotel complimentary thingys. She would even have 2 small plastic bags handy; one for the 3-in-1's and the other for the toiletries. I kid you not. Whenever she does that me and my elder sister would be like, "Oh God, mum's 'harvesting' again". Mum would always say,"What? It's not like I'm stealing or anything. It's free anyway and I want to get my money's worth".

As you guys know, I've had the opportunity to stay at the Imperial International Hotel recently. I notice that while I do not 'harvest' the freebies like my dear old mum does, I do have the tendency to try them out at least once. It's not bad though and I'm not OCD about it.

For example, I wouldn't make 3-in-1 Nescafe even though I'm not a coffee person just for the sake of getting my money's worth. Since I prefer tea I would make tea at least once in the room just so I feel like I'm actually a resident in the room. Sounds weird? Or does it sounds familiar?

I also know that some people who don't normally have nimble fingers would suddenly seem to magically  acquire them when they are staying in a hotel. These people don't just take the freebies, they take things that they are not supposed to either, such as drinking glasses, ash trays, etc.

My elder sister who used to work at a 5 star resort here in Tuaran once told me a horror story where this one local family were not able to check out because the Housekeeping staff  discovered that the pillows, sheets and towels were missing from the room.

When the Duty Manager (blushing furiously and delicately) told the family that he is unable to allow them to check out because they, ah, 'unwittingly' took a few items with them and do they want to purchase the items since they liked it so much?

Upon hearing that they opened their luggage, extracted the items and returned them. Just like that. No shame, no stuttering explanations, no blushing, no high-pitched nervous laughter. Cool as ice they were. In, fact, the DM blushed enough for all of them combined. Hm, me thinks that family are no virgins to pillow and towel harvesting.

Anyway, what do YOU usually do with the hotel's complimentary items when you're staying in one? Do you harvest it for another day? Do you finish everything within your stay? Do you try everything at least once? Or do you leave them untouched?

Very Important Note:
If you're the farmer type (harvesting = farmer, get it?) and you're travelling overseas, do NOT harvest until you have looked for a note in the room that says the items are complimentary or otherwise. It will save you a lot of awkwardness and embarrassment later, believe me. Most hotels overseas are not as generous as the ones in Malaysia so the toiletries are not complimentary. Neither are the laundry bags. Or the face towels. Or the ash trays. You get my drift.

Imperial International Hotel

Hi all,
Last week I was given the opportunity to attend a work-related course which was held at the Imperial International Hotel for three days and two nights.

I'm not sure what type of room we were provided with but I find my room to be really spacious. You can practically dance and tumble without hitting the furniture and fixtures. The way the beds were arranged helped to make the room look that way I suppose. The overuse of mirrors too. Hehe.. Seriously, there were mirrors everywhere! I'll let the pics do the talking..

From the room door..

The tiny, doorless closet

 The room has a safe, which is opposite the teeny tiny closet

 Can you see me?  

 And another mirror.. Hello!

 The doorless shower area.. 

I do like the shower despite it not having a door. Surprisingly, the water didn't really flood to the outside of the stall. At least, not too badly. The jet is strong and it has one huge shower head that's fixed over head (especially great for washing hair) and another small hand-held one with a unique design for when you don't want to get your hair wet.

The loo's mirrored sliding door.. Told ya there were lotsa mirrors..

The flat screen tv. Has 9 channels including the mandatory local channels, AXN, ESPN, etc.  

 A 360 on the room.. 1st corner: The beds..

 2nd corner: The huge space, coffee table (which looks really lonely) and desk..

 3rd corner.

4th corner

I have nothing to complain about the room except for 2 things. As I as walking to my room, some of the other rooms had the doors open and I saw that they had this really big, red, comfy lazy chair. When I entered my room I saw that my room didn't have it. 

The 2nd thing is that each room doesn't have it's on iron and ironing board. We had to borrow it in turns which was really inconvenient. I noticed some of the course participants from Sarawak going into the conference rooms with creased baju kurungs. Imagine the impression that they would bring with them about hotels in Sabah (even though they only stayed at one hotel, the impression would effect their view in general).

That's about the room. Now let's talk about the food. I must say that the food was really crappy. I've never ever had such a bad experience with hotel food before. It as so low quality that it's embarrassing. The food is almost the same for lunch everyday and they have the tendency to mix the vegetable (which is most of the time, kangkung) with ikan bilis.

As a Sabahan, we all know that the smaller the ikan bilis, the higher the grade and the more expensive it is. The ikan bilis used at the Rooftop Restaurant at the Imperial Hotel were massive! I think it as the lowest grade possible. C'mon, even the poor mak ciks selling Nasi Lemak at the road side use medium sized ikan bilis. They also left the head on which shows laziness in my opinion. The desserts ere divine though, especially the puddings. 

My most unpleasant meal was the last day's breakfast. Now, I must say that the breakfast is okay although a bit repetitive (no one wants to see sausages swimming, yes swimming, in tomato sauce every day no do they?) . I had made up my mind that I was going to try out the porridge. After putting on the condiments (sesame oil,  peanuts, fried onions and black soy sauce) I tried it and I cannot stomach it. It was runny and tasteless despite  the soy sauce. I ditched the porridge for cereal instead.

Big mistake because I had my first experience consuming fake food Koko Krunch. Yup, Koko Krunch 'palsu'. You know, the one with the humongous bag and a tiger in front of it instead of a cute koala. I felt like expiring on the spot. If you want to cut budget, isn't it better to provide fewer high quality options rather than have it all minus the quality? Needless to say, I passed that over too.  

I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures of the food but most of the participants were not the age group that would understand the reason of one's endless clicking pictures of one's food. Or blogs. Or the Internet.. Okay, only joking. About the Internet part that is.

Anyway, in a nutshell, I love the room and the positioning of the hotel which is near to the Filipino Market Handicraft Market, Warisan Square, Center Point and within walking distance to the Wawasan Plaza and the Wawasan Plaza Bus Terminal. The food? I'd rather eat somewhere else. There are a lot of good eating places around the area anyway.

That's all for now. Cheers!

Phy's Food Crave List: The Offside (Healthy Eating Down The Drain)

If you know me you'd know by heart what I'd be craving when the time comes to be craving something. Sushi, Yoyo Milky Tea with small pearls, Cadbury Time Out, Sour Cream and Onions potato chips, Starbucks Hazelnut Hot Chocolate and Daily Fresh peanut butter + chocolate waffles. Those are the things that I would crave at any one time, NOT all at once (for which I am truly, truly grateful).

Yesterday for some reason I did a total turn around and had the urge to eat something that was not on my food 'Crave List' which was KFC Hot and Spicy chicken with Colonel Rice. Yup, I actually craved the oily, greasy combo. I tried to be good by getting the Jom Jimat set which is Colonel rice 1 pc chicken and soft drink. Should have been enough right?

Here's where it gets weird. When I crave something, it's very rare that I would want it again on the same day or even the next day. This time I wanted another set right after! I would have loved to tell you that I had gotten on my feet and walked away but I didn't. Instead I ordered Colonel Rice and 2 pc chicken to go. And ate it at 3.30PM.

If that wasn't bad enough, today I still wanted it! Argh!!!!!! So just now I got the same order as yesterday, only this time I added Cheezy Wedges.. Kamikaze! However, I am happy (albeit still shame-faced) to say that after having it 3 times in a span of 2 days, I am finally cured. I am not happy that I had to go through that amount but at least now I'm so sick of it I feel like throwing up everytime I see a picture of a chicken. Or rice. Or a certain old Colonel in the colors of red, white and black..

Into the mouth and straight to the hips they always say. Looks like I owe me a looooootttttt of walking for the next few days and a double, if not triple dose of prune consentrate to cleanse me up. Eww... Get it outta me! Get it outta me! I feel so sluggish (small wonder).

Such a crazy thing had never, ever happened to me before and I hope that I never, ever, ever, ever have to go throught that again. What about you dear readers, have you ever experienced crazy cravings like that before?

Post Hiatus: Travelling, Packing And Laundry

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted a blog post and it's not due to a depression-induced hiatus or lack of topic. It's just that I haven't had the chance to sit down and write (or type, if you'd rather). First, I went back to Keningau last Friday to take advantage of the long weekend and came back on that Sunday.

On Monday I participated in a work-related course for 3 days and 2 nights (will blog about that soon!) at Imperial Hotel, Kota Kinabalu. Then yesterday morning I was told that I was selected to go to an Islamic-related course at PLI Kundasang..

Wow, I really feel like I am living in a luggage. The amount of laundry I've accumulated has grown into astronomic proportions. I've had to pack different clothes for the different reasons I'm traveling. For going back home obviously it's casual all round.

For my first course it's formal and 'stylish' semi formal (call me kampung but I still have this mind-set that I have to dress nicely when I go to KK. No track pants and t-shirts for me!) and for this trip to Kundasang formal and conservative casual.

I've already told my boss that I would prefer NOT to have to go to this Kundasang thingy simply because I'm not joking about my huge laundry. I don't have any clothes to wear! If it was spaced out to next week I would have accepted it immediately, if only just to get away from the office doldrums.. The place seemed nice thought..

PLI Kundasang.. Courtesy of Google..

Today will be the moment of truth, whether my boss will say I have to go or allow me to be excused from it. Keeping my fingers crossed.. Huhu..

Phy's Boys Are Back..

I have been experiencing Empty Nest (or rather, Office) Syndrome for the past 3 weeks. All of my boys (that's what I call my Traffic Policemen) were send to Sarawak to aid the election during the duration of that time. We were shocked that all of them were sent but orders are orders so they had to follow.

Source

It was so quiet at the office without their laughter, teasing and lewd jokes. I never thought that I would actually miss them but I did. Yesterday they were finally back and I must say that I'm very happy. One of them actually bought me the famous Kek Lapis Sarawak. Thank you Mon Mon Cat (bukan nama sebenar. I repeat, bukan nama sebenar).

Courtesy of Mon Mon Cat..

'Touching' kunu kena beli kek. Sekali sy tanya (dengan mata berkaca no less) "Perisa apa kek yang ko beli sy ni Mon?". The response? "Antah, sy pun nda tau tu. Sy amik2 jak tu, jan la ko tanya sy." Hmft, typical male in uniform response. Baru sy mo terharu pun trus x jadi. Haha.. They may be gruff but they have a heart of gold, these guys.

Unfortunately 2 of them are being sent to Semporna again today, including Mon Mon Cat. When I found out sy pula lebih2 upset. Sy kesian anak bini diorang bah. They only get one day with their husband after 3 weeks of separation then they'll have to be alone again for another 3 days.

Bukan senang mau jadi bini polis ni, kena tabah, patient, understanding and very independent. That's why I don't want to marry a Policeman or anyone who works in uniform such as the Army, Fire Brigade, etc. I'm not sure if I would be able to handle their line of work.

Anyway, I'm digressing. Again, I'm very happy that my boys are back even if two of them will have to be out of my sight again so soon. I didn't even mind when they teased me mercilessly upon setting eyes on me, especially Bapak Mentua (again, bukan nama sebenar mahupun status sebenar). Who knows, it might be their way of expressing that they had missed me too (pedahal entah2 lepas gian. Ya lah, 3 minggu inda ijik sy kan.. Lol..)

Now I can resume my tasks with a smile. I won't have to be alone with Mr. Forever-Ada-Urusan-Penting-Jadi-Terpaksa-Setengah-Hari-Kerja or Mrs. I'm-Pregnant-So-I-Have-The-Right-To-Be-Nasty-And-Boss-People-Around. Lalala... Haha.. That's all for now peeps.. Cheers!