Quick Life Update 1

Salam w.b.t and hello everyone.

How are you guys doing? I am doing great. Salam Ramadhan dear readers, and I hope we fully utilise this blessed month to do many good deeds and consequently increase our faith to Allah S.W.T.

I think, from now on, I will put "Quick Life Update #" for any entries related to myself development. Workloads, responsibilities, and pressure at work have started swamping myself since few weeks ago. Thus, I do not think I will have much time to babble here. Haha…

Everyday, except Sunday, I go to work around 7 am, and go home around 5 pm. On Saturday, it is half day. Sometimes, I need to stay back a little late to settle things and so far, there was one time I go home around 8 pm. Then, normally after Isyak, around 9.30 pm, I go to sleep.

Apart from one project I am handling before, I got another project to in charge. Also got 4 tanks, but much, much bigger vessels. Therefore, two projects ongoing under my care. The second project is at procurement stage, I need to do calculations, planning, and everything in order to buy materials for the tank fabrication. Actually, this project is behind the schedule and I was not even started working at the company when the project should have started. When everything behind the schedule, everyone is panic, chase everyone to expedite everything, and I am the person in charge will be chased by everybody. Besides, I need to communicate and deal with the client. I don’t say I do not do mistakes at work, I do mistakes. I do mistakes, and I learn from it. Otherwise, we will never learn anything, right?

Despite of many challenges, yes, I am still doing fine and under control :)

Below is the picture of Spray Dryer, Miss Lau's project. The biggest project ever taken by the company and this spray dryer was on its way to be delivered to client's site. I feel honoured to see its fabrication process and being delivered to client.

Part of the team

The spray dryer installed at Palmamide, the client

What else?

Some of you might be wondering why I do not update about myself at FB or IG, why writing at Blog.

I think I want to slowly distance myself from FB and IG. And maybe, maybe, on one fine day, I will deactivate them or delete them. I want to reduce any updates on social media because it might hurt others. For instance, when you proudly post on FB/IG like, "Alhamdulillah, finally I got job at ***. My dream comes true, finally", "Yey, I am pregnant!", "Yes, I am going to London for vacation", etc. etc.

When people read this, they might also feel happy for you. But, if misfortunate person read this, I can feel that they will start to compare others achievement with their self. You know what, it feels really bad when you keep comparing yourself with other's life, and without you realise, you will start blaming yourself, "Why not me, why he/she?", "They are very lucky, I am cursed", etc. etc. And I can confidently say that living everyday in the situation where you keep beating up yourself is absolutely AWFUL. I experience it first hand.

I have decided to stop comparing my life with others' life and to start live my life. In the meantime, I do not want to make others feel awful. Apart from that, I want to avoid myself from feeling riak or proud when post something on social media.

That’s why I write here. If people want to know about me, they can always find me here. The blog here, is my long term commitment. So, I will try my best to keep update and be sincere in every entry. Probably, when I have kids, they can read here and somehow, inspire them. Hahahahaha….I am laughing out loud.

I think that’s all for now, folks. Take care and lets crank up our Ibadah in this holly month.

Salam w.b.t and bye.

P/S -No P/S for now.

Soalan Koman yang Sentap

Salam w.b.t dan hello semua.

Kaifa haluki? Bil khair? Ana bilkhair, Alhamdulillah. Hahaha….Macam makwe Arab tak? Ahaks!!!

Tajuk kali ini adalah, "Soalan Koman yang Sentap". Entry kali ini akan menjadi agak kontroversi dan panazz!! Hahaha…Sebelum tu, nak kasi kredit dulu pada pencetus idea untuk entry kali ini, Cik Ecah kita a.k.a Cik Aisyah, meskipun dah berzaman. Hehehe…

Rasanya, dah ramai orang kongsi kisah sebegini di laman-laman sosial. Kalau google, bersepah je mana-mana. Hal ini kerana pada pandangan kita, telah ramai yang mengalami peristiwa ditanyakan soalan-soalan panas ni. Kali ini, nak kongsi antara soalan yang telah ditanya bila kita habis belajar dan balik ke Malaysia. Berikut adalah antara soalan/ayat kontroversi yang pernah ditanyakan pada diri.

Bila nak dapat kerja?

Nanti kerja mana?

Gaji berapa?

Bila nak fly/pergi?

Dah ada calon ke belum?

Dah ada boyfriend ke belum?

Bila nak kahwin?

Dah kahwin? Dah ada anak?

Dah ada bunyik-bunyik ke belum?

Ni datang rumah ni nak jemput datang sambut menantu ke?

Nanti jangan kahwin dengan orang mata biru pulak.

Kahwin dengan orang putih nanti, anak jadi belang lah nanti.

Terdapat satu persamaan dalam setiap soalan ini, iaitu mereka bersifat futuristik. Masa mula orang tujukan soalan ini pada kita, jawapan kita macam apa yang terlintas dalam kepala otak. So, tak sempat nak tapis-tapis ke ape.

Contohnya, kalau gi mana-mana majlis tu,

Orang: Bila nak dapat kerja?

Kita: Entahlah, kita bukan Tuhan.

Orang: Haa! Nanti jangan kahwin dengan orang mata biru pula (Foreigner)

Kita: Apa salahnya kan.

Bila kita kongsi jawapan ni pada mak, mak tanya dengan muka cuak, "Eh, akak cakap macam tu ke?".

Kita dengan derk nya, "A'a. Kenapa mak?".

Termenung je mak lepas tu.

Dari situ kita fikir, 'Eh, ada skema jawapan ke?'. Kita ni jenis, tak amik kisah apa pandangan orang pada kita, lantaklah. Janji kita tak susahkan orang tu, dan orang tu tak menyusahkan kita. Settle!

Tapi, biasalah kan, bila dealing dengan sedara-mara, kaum kerabat, dan jiran-jiran ini, macam-macam lah. Jawapan kena halus, cantik, tak sentap, dan sedap untuk telinga dengar. So, boleh lah dorang kompang semasa mesyuarat tingkap dorang. Kalau jawapan sentap, mau dikatanya macam-macam.

Contohnya,

"Ko tau tak Bedah, anak Si A tu kata, ape salahnya kahwin dengan orang mata biru. Salah didikan agama anak dia tu. Habes..", sambil dimuncung-muncungkan mulutnya.

Ha! Nampak tak permainannya di situ? Dia bukan sebut nama kita sendiri, sebaliknya nama mak bapak kita. Anak Si A, Anak Si B. Mak bapak pula disalahkan padahal mak bapak kita tengah sedap makan nasi minyak time majlis kawin. Oleh itu, memang patutlah mak kita risau bila kita jawab soalan orang dengan selamba lengkap dengan muka toya.

Oleh itu, mak kita ada ajar beberapa jawapan pada kita dan adik-beradik kita.

SITUASI 1

Kalau orang tanya, "Bila nak kerja?".

Jawapannya, "Tengah berusaha, doalah yang terbaik untuk kita ya", sambil senyum.

SITUASI 2

Kalau orang tanya, "Dah ada calon ke belum?".

Jawapannya, "Doalah yang terbaik. InsyaAllah, bila tiba masanya, akan dimaklumkan".

SITUASI 3

Orang cakap, "Owh, dah dapat kerja lah ya. Berapa gaji bulan-bulan?".

Jawapannya, "Alhamdulillah, bolehlah hidup dan bayar hutang-hutang".

SITUASI 4

Orang cakap, "Wah, senanglah mak awak nanti, anak dah kaya".

Jawapannya, "Ameen….Semoga Allah makbulkan doa mak cik (dengan nada panjang, sambil tadah tangan dan raup muka).

Yang paling kita ingat, Situasi 4. Masa tu, kita dan mak tengah basuh kereta kat luar rumah. Jiran sorang ni pun datang, dah borak-borak, terkeluar lah Situasi 4. Memang masa tu, kita dan mak serentak jawab dengan lantangnya. Pastu, terdiam orang tu. Keh keh keh...Yelah kan, setiap kata-kata yang baik tu kan doa.

Sejak itu, memang inilah jawapan skema yang mak, kita, dan adik-adik kita gunakan. Kalau diorang tanya lebih-lebih, kitorang pun senyum dan perlahan-lahan blah dari situ. Takde faedahnya layan lama-lama. Jawapan-jawapan ni bukan digunakan untuk orang luar je, even kita adik-beradik pun guna sesama kitorang.

Pastu, kita ada terbaca artikel ini, nukilan Imam Muda ape tah namanya. Tak ingat, tapi dari bahagian Harian Metro. Kita kongsi kan kat sini ye. Bacalah.

Diambil dari Harian Metro

Pengajarannya, memang rutinlah untuk orang tanya soalan berkisar topik-topik gini. Kebanyakan masanya, bukan nak tahu sangat pun. Dorang just nak cari jalan nak berborak. Ragam manusia. So, kita-kita yang diajukan soalan-soalan sebegini, jangan lekas melatah, sabarlah, dan jawab yang mana daya. Tak larat nak jawab, just leave the scene swiftly.

Dan, ingat. Akan tiba satu hari nanti, diizinkan Allah SWT untuk kita semua hidup lagi, kita juga pasti akan jadi seorang ibu, ayah, mak cik, pak cik, nenek, atok, atau sesiapalah. Kita usahakanlah untuk tidak bertanya soalan-soalan sentap begini pada orang lain. Kita sendiri sepatutnya lebih tahu dan faham betapa susahnya nak jawab soalan sebegini, maka janganlah bebankan mereka.

Cukuplah tu...tanya lah soalan yang senang, misalnya, "Pandai masak nasi tak? Anak laki mak cik yang bujang tu suka makan nasi". Kalau macam tu, memang kita angguk kepala laju-laju. Hehehe…

Alright, tu je lah setakat ini. Harap bermanfaat untuk semua. Jaga diri dan see you in the next entry.

Salam w.b.t dan chow!

P/S - Perut tengah berzapin, tapi mata dah macam terkelip-kelip tahan mengantuk. Ape-ape pun publish post ni dulu. And, Alhamdulillah, mission accomplished! Wahahaha...

I am engaged!

Surprise! Yes, I am engaged. Hahaha...Pardon me. I forgot to mention, I am engaged but it is in a dream. Haha…

Please do not misunderstand the above statement.

Before I go any further, first of all, Salam w.b.t. and hello folks.

All of you must be wondering, what on earth has happened to me. In my previous entries, I always shared the updates that already past. In a simple way, the mode most of my entries are in "past tense". Right in this entry, I want to share the current updates about myself. In another word, this entry will be in "present tense". Well, nobody cares Atiqah. So, screw you.

At this moment, I am at the living room writing the post.

About health, Alhamdulillah, I am doing fine. Healthy mind and body, Alhamdulillah.

I have start working. Of course, not with Slb. I will never decline the opportunity to work with Slb, but for now it is better for me to start building my life from scratch. As a start, find a job and work. I got another company in Rawang and I work as a project engineer. I have been working there for three weeks now. The company is dealing with pressure vessels fabrication and tanks with various sizes and functions.

As a new comer, a lot of things need to learn and do. Most of the things went well, so far. The engineer I tag along known as Viki. He is nice and really helpful. Although I asked a lot of stupid questions, he still answer and teach me. Haha…Alhamdulillah, I am grateful because the people there treat me nicely. You know, some people even get cursed on the first day of their working. I am fortunate because I did not experience that. Well, if it happens in the future, it will be a whole different story.

For a start, Viki gives me the opportunity to take charge one project that has 4 pressure vessels. 4 vessels project is considered as a small project, because other engineers like Viki is in charge of 39 pressure vessels. Imagine that.. 

During the introduction, the male staffs asked me what my status is. I know they are just fooling around and I understand that really well. Since I will be dealing with men and working in the environment dominated by men, I don’t want to mix personal matters and work. I would prefer to keep it formal. Thus, I have decided to put a clear boundary to differentiate this and I had my answer prepare beforehand. 

So, when they asked, "Are you married or single?". I answered, "I am already engaged", in the meantime behave like I am reluctant to reveal my status. They just nodded and said, "Oh man". So, end the story about my status. Otherwise, if I said "single", they might ask a lot of questions and the story will be much longer. I am afraid things could go wrong in a long term. In my point of view, this is also like a self defense mechanism. I don't want people particularly men to pay 'extra' attention to me like what happened during my internship. I don't want the history to repeat itself.

Besides, I am inexperienced in handling this matter and I am not yet ready to take this kind of risks. Frankly, I don't really like to discuss this matter in public and I am not ready to jump into this situation. So, if a new person or strangers ask me this, I will gladly say, "I am engaged". I think this question is typically asked by Malaysian, not others. Back in Australia, no strangers asked me. Thus, I did not have to do anything to hide my status.

My mother also advised me, "If you want to hide about your marital status, that is fine by me. However, make sure you do not go overboard".

"Alright mother, I got it".

Well, my mother also used to do similar what I do. After my father passed away, we always moved from one house to another. One residential area to another, from one state to another, and kept changing schools. Then, whenever the neighbours asked my mother questions like, "Where is the husband?", "What your husband do for a living?", my mother's answers was, "He is outstation. Seldom come home". Yeah, something like that. At first, as a kid, I do not understand why my mother did that. After some time, I got it. She wanted to protect us as well as herself. For instance, when we settle down in a new housing area, we sure got a lot of attentions from people, good and bad people. If bad people like robbers know there was no male in our house, and all are girls, anything could happen. Besides, my mother was also working and none to take care of us after we got back from schools. Thus, this was a method to defense our family.

Apart from I am already working, not much going on right now. Oh, I forgot. My youngest sister, Adek came back for a study break last week. She stayed for less than a week, and go back to her Uni. last Thursday. Currently, she is facing a trouble to find a place to stay for the next semester despite many extra activities she involved. She also did not see this coming, and she need to find a place to rent and money is the limiting factor right now. I cannot do much for her as I also just start working and yeah, money. I am sure you can imagine my situation right now.

Angah is also trying her best to get money from everywhere. She joins the online contests, competition, radio ads, and many more. She also apply assistance from Lembaga Zakat Selangor. However, not much luck now as we are not pure Selangor heritance. My mother is a Malaccan, my father was from Pahang and all three of us were born in Kuala Lumpur. So, too many "No" in this circumstance. Hopefully, there will be rezki for us somewhere, in a new future.

In terms of social, not much happen. I met Fakrul in person for the first time. He is also another Slb-new-hired. We used to contact through Fb only and last week we met face-to-face. I can say, although it was the first time meeting, it is like we understand each other quite well as we go through similar shit together. Also, Kamel, new hire also contacted me. I am quite relieved as he also know what type of shit I go through as he also experience similar. What we are doing is, we are trying to support each other at the moment. It does helps me to overcome negative feelings that appear in myself once in a while. I know I will just have to keep holding on and sure Allah S.W.T is preparing a great present for me. I am confident His  gift will be unveiled in the near future. Aisyah also contacted me once in a while and I really appreciate that, Aisyah. Thank you!

Erm, what else…

I don’t think I have any more to share. I think that's all for now. Take care of yourself and be nice to others. As we never know what kind of struggles other people is going through, thus never make it worse by treating them badly. Be kind and gentle.

Kak Daeng and I at Rottnest Island back in 2011

Salam w.b.t and chow.

P/S - Keep holding on folks.