Finally.....

Really busy this few weeks!!! God, help me. My schedule is so tight since my co-partner @ office is still under maternity leave. Yeah! We take turn, hehehehe!!! Now is the semester break for the students but then, we are under-going a non-stop meetings and going to continue with the short semester enrolment.

This week is already busy with the enrolment preparation + the Pre-Board Meetings. I just went one this morning. One more will be on Thursday. One more on Monday (next week). Next Wednesday is already the enrolment, so, the whole week is gone!!! After that, the Subject Board & Principal Board. So tight until end of September. September is a short semester, so memang penat. But the best things, the semester break will be longer... Masa tu la nak rehat...

I'm getting a new staff. She is not new, we just transfer her from the Dean's Office to our programme. Why? Dont ask me why. Sometimes, we need to change. Yes, the former staff was not satisfied when we transfer her but we have to.

How do you feel working with someone who always raise her voice to you? She was working under my supervision but, may be because I am younger than her, she take things easily.

I'm being in the education line for almost 8 years. I can say, I am very professional while dealing with people and situations. I always put aside all the personal things. I dont even care what people want to talk about me. Work is work. As long as the work is done and I'm not getting into trouble, its fine...

To be frank, its quite upset when I got to know that this people given us a 'nickname'. They keep talking bad about others in the office. And, what make me feel much more upset, they are Malay. Melayu... Berapa kerat sangat lah Melayu yang ada kat situ. Ok, I still can put it aside. Its personal matter. But then, when an email about WORK was sent to the staff by me, 'this people' emailed each other and talking bad about me. I still remember this sentence 'bilalah agaknya dia nak blah? marilah kita doa'kan dia cepat-cepat blah'.

Excuse me! I'm a permanent staff, getting a good point every year during my appraisal, I was given assignments by assignments due to my experience and qualification. And the people who doing all these nonsense are only contract staff. their contract need to be renewed every year, and every year, we need to discuss, go through a few meetings just to discuss on their performance and to decide TO RENEW or NOT TO RENEW...

God is great! What a co-insidence, we found out about this during their contract renewal time. Allah Maha Adil, kan? In time we need to decide either to renew or not, the evidences came across us. And, we did not need to peningkan our kepala... So, all the evidence (work related) were stappled together with their appraisal form.

We are too KEJAM? I dont think so. How about them? We only taking the evidence of work related, not all the bad things that they did (including talking bad things about our Dean... just imagine when your boss caught you on this?)

Looking at them, I feel so sakit hati actually. These are the people who always forwarded the email about Al-Quran, Perkara2 yang Dimurkai Tuhan (I just received it from one of them this morning) and all the religious things. After all this things happened, what do you think my impression to them?

Entahlah... After making the decision, I can feel my burden memang hilang. Thanks God. For the first time (after having the final meeting on their performance last 2 weeks), I feel so FREE, my mind is so free on the weekend. I dont need this type of people working with me. And for the new staff who just joined me for a week, I really need to handle her properly. Hopefully, pisang tak berbuah 2 kali.

Hey! I'm not that bad. I did promote a few staff who I think can go further. You can ask some of them. This is the first time I requested my bosses to think about MY walfare (hahaha!!) Even my big boss's PA did mentioned this to the bosses, "Herleena thinking of tranfer to other department. She got an offer from upstairs." Our Corporate Offices (President Office, Sr. Management Offices, etc) are located in 4th floor, that's why we called it 'upstairs'. Hahahaha... Thanks 'Jazz' (bukan nama sebenar)...

Ok guys, work smart!

Do I Really Do 'MUMMY's Job?

I always have this question in mind. Do I really do the MUMMY's job? Hahaha... I have to ask Azimin to answer it for me or is it much more better if I ask ANGGUN?

Being a mummy is not an easy job. Working wife + mother, oh my God! Just God know how do I feel... But then, it is a good gift, valuable experience that I will never change with something else. Plus, I'm proud to be a mother of 2 in this age. Not too young la but still not old yet... What I mean is, in the time that some of my friends are still not yet tie the knot.

My work become tough and tougher, busy and busier... In the contition that we are still waiting for the MAID to come over... Oh God, please help us. Azimin is also getting much more busy with his research & studies. We really can't handle our house condition. Sometimes (its actually most of the time), it doesn't look like a designer house. Hahahaha!!!

Azimin and me always want to have the good things for the kids. We want to give them good education, good education insurance plan, good school, good clothes, good shoes, etc... You know that my kids shoes are much more better & expensive than the one Azimin & me had during our childhood... So lucky of them.

We bough for Anggun a lot of pre-school books, CDs, etc... She can write her name, ALAM name, her mummy & daddy name. She can draw her imagination. She even paint on the canvas (I believe she has Azimin's blood & interest). Books? We bought for her ABC books, 123 books, colouring books, sticker books, etc. But then, we face a big huge problem when we have no time to sit down with her and teach her to do this and that.

ANGGUN will spend the day in my mum's house. She will watch TV, drawing, writting. Normally, my sister will coach her (Wieza is working by her own now, actually, she do a lot for Archiforce Invent). Azimin & me will reach there after office (earliest by 6.30pm... latest, you guess la. It doesn't look good if I mention it here). If my mum do cook for that day, that is our rezeki... Makan la kat sana. If not, normally after maghrib we are going for dinner with Anggun and left Alam there. In some occasioan, if you going Jusco (except watching movies), airport (my house just 10 minutes from KLIA and we do eat there quite often... burger king, food garden...) or mana-mana selain makan kat kedai mamak, Sunita Tomyam, Al-Salam Bistro, etc, we will bring Alam together. Selalunya, if we have our dinner quite early or quite late (not at 7pm) at Aunty Aini's, we will take Alam with us. Aunty Aini like to play with him... (Aunty Aini's is very famous in Nilai, kampung cafe with local & western food. Her masak lemak cili padi, fuh!! The cafe did came out in Channel 11 - Travel and Living)..

When we reach home, its already 9 something at night, sometimes, kalau lepak lama sikit at my mum's house, dah pukul 10pm. Sampai rumah, macam-macam kerja rumah nak kena buat. Iron clothes (I never iron all the clothes @ weekend... no, its not me!!!), kemas dapur sikit-sikit (actually more to basuh pinggan semalam), if rajin sikit, basuh baju (washing machine pun). When Alam sleeping, its the time for Azimin & me to start working on our Archiforce Invent matters. Sometimes, my sister, Wieza come over and our meeting & discussion can be hours... Anggun will watching cartoon and sometimes sitting in front of computer studying her pre-school CDs.

I always feel guilty when I cant afford to spend time with her, teach her how to do this and that, how to draw flower and other things (but she always refer her drawing & painting with her daddy... she did mentioned 'mummy lukis tak cantik'). Due to the time constraint, Azimin and me end up buying education CD for her to practice and learn. She can say, draw, count and even sing... She has her own PC (real PC tau). She took over my PC (I just bought last June) and I use Azimin's PC that he just brought from his office (the PC will be with me until he finished his PhD). Azimin, as usual, Mac loyal user. Since his G4 Apple dah berkecai and all the spare part dah masuk ebay, he still has his Mac Desktop. He bought it a few months before his G4 laptop rosak...

Azimin mentioned to me that he amaze with my capability and ability to be a wife, a mother, a worker and also an "amah". But I still feel so pitty to Anggun. I wish to spend more time, teaching her to do this and that before she's going to kindergarden.

Anggun still need to know that is good if we eat vegetables, bread & fruits... Anggun, Mummy will try my best to find a quality time to spend with you. Dont worry my dear, it will happen before you go for kindergarden. And Anggun, thanks for being a good daughter...

What Is My Work All About?

What is my work all about? 'Apa sebenarnya kerja si Herleena nie?', 'Apa kau buat kat office, asyik busy jer?'. That's the comments that I always receive from my surrounding people. Tak dinafikan, bila orang tanya, "Kau kerja kat mana?" and my answer will be, "INTI College," (now known as INTI International University College). And people will ask again, "Mengajar?" and my answer is, "Tak la. Admin."

What people have in mind? Admin? La, KERANI jer ke? Kesiannya semua orang yang kerja kat education institution nie kalau all the ADMIN means KERANI.

I believe that most of the people known the staff / worker of educational institutions as LECTURER. Kalau tak lecture, that's means they are doing all the rubbish work. Its not fair, right? So, I would like to take this oppurtunity to clear up the BAD images that we got for so long!!!

In educational institution (private sector), the ADMIN staff is a person who work starting from Tea Lady, Driver, Office Boy, Admin Assistant (normally with 2-3 grade), Officer (3-4 grade), Sr. Officer (3-4 grade), Executive (3-4 grade), Sr. Executive (3-4 grade), Manager (3-4 grade), Sr. Manager (3-4 grade), Director (3-4 grade), Sr. Director (3-4 grade), Associate Vice President, Vice President, President, Group President, Board Director, CEO, COO. Please slot the Managing Director & General Manager somewhere on the list...

And my position is one in the list. Which one, tekalah sendiri... The same goes to lecturer. the grade for lecturer pun normally ada 3-4 grade, sr. lecturer pun sama. associate professor to professor pun.

Lagi satu, gaji ADMIN staff nie tak la cikai sangat oii... and most of the times lagi banyak dari lecturer. so, be carefull when you try to look down at the ADMIN staff. When we mentioned 'taklah, bukan lecturer, I admin staff', it might be the director / head / etc.

May be orang ramai dah make use dengan local university punya structure. The same goes to Azimin when he joined UKM. So tension. Asal cakap pasal staff sokongan (they call it staff sokongan instead of admin staff), in their mind will be:

1. belajar setakat SPM jer
2. gaji tak sampai ribu
3. kerja lebih kurang macam kerani, data-entry, etc...

One of the incident happened somewhere during raya time. One of my relatives all this while rupanya under estimated me!!! Can you imagine that? Sampai hati dia. May be since Azimin is a lecturer, dia ingat all lecturer is so high position & got high pay.

I was in a long leave for raya (in 2005 if i'm not mistaken)and received a call from my staff. She was asking about the interview for 1 position in my department. And, my relatives (my husband relatives actually) heard my conversation and they straight away asked me after I finished my conversation on the phone.

"besar sangat ke kerja kau (they might mean 'position') sampai orang office kau asyik call aje? Takkan INTI tak boleh kerja sebab seorg pekerja dia tak de?"

I was very shocked but tried to be polite la kan... "tak de la besar sangat, tapi biasalah kan, kalau boss tak de. semua decision pending." sengaja jer I stressed the word BOSS tu but then, they didn't got it la...

May be it was my fault too. I never told people what is my position, how does my work look like? And until now, I still not yet apply the business card from INTI. Of course for my own business, I have it. And every time people do ask me kerja kat mana, my answer is INTI. "Teaching?" My answer is "No. Admin.". A friend of mine do tell me this, "sometimes, we need to show-off." Nampaknya, kalau tak show-off, macam nie la jadinya...

It was happened in some other function as well. And of course, in any kenduri, orang kawin, birthday celebration, Azimin will be the focus. They will ask this & that to him and I will only stand / sit next to him sambil senyum jer. And this is what happned:

"Wife you kerja mana?"
"INTI"
"Oh... sama-sama lecturer la nie."
"Bukanlah, dia admin staff."
"Oh! Kerani ke?"

And you guys know what happened after that? Dengan muka yang 3/4 inci, i just answered them, "tak semestinya admin staff tu kerani jer abang oii... director pun kira admin staff jugak." and that 'abang' sengih2 jer sebab suara aku satu hall boleh dengar... sorry la bang, salah orang kau nak kutuk...

Every year, Anggun punya birthday celebration memang we all buat kat luar. So far, belum pernah lagi buat kat rumah. selalunya, kalau tak A&W, Mc D lah... Ada sekali nie, bila we all buat b'day Anggun kat A&W Seremban, one my Azimin's uncle tanya:

"Banyak duit korang buat b'day anak kat sini? Siapa sponsor?"

Actually, I still didnt get it (until now) why do I need people to sponsor my kids b'day. The kids deserve to be happy! Azimin dah start bengang and jawab, "takkan nak kena tunggu orang sponsor jer baru nak buat b'day."

And his uncle still macam muka tak puas hati, "yelah, kan mahal. korang ada duit ker buat b'day macam nie?"

Azimin dengan muka toya, malas dah nak layan cakap, "Tanya Eleen. Dia yang bayar?"

"Banyak duit kau Leen?"
"Kenapa, abang _ _ _ _ _ ingat kitaorang nie tak mampu ker?"
"Berapa gaji kau sebenarnya?"
And my answer very simple, "Tak la sampai 7 ribu." (guys, dont ask me the actual figure. Even Azimin dont know the exact amount!)

I still remember when I was assigned to London for the UH Collaborative Partner Conference. My boss asked me to get approval from Azimin first before he sending my name to the top management. and Azimin was so shocked when I told him about it. His first impression was..

"Ha, why they sent you? You're not a teaching staff what?"

"Hey, you ingat I nie low-class sangat ke?" But then, dia kata ok...

Yelah, all this while, Azimin yang selalu out-station. And I will go with him if the date is fine with my schedule. And bila I asked my sister-in-law's husband (my biras) about some imigration matters, diaorang semua macam sibuk guessing why and what...

Bila sampai rumah (their house is just next door with mine), terus depa tanya aku,

"Azimin nak pergi out-station mana? Eleen ikut sekali ker?"

Oh my God! nobody pernah terfikir yang ELEEN pun ada potential to go far in her career. I have a good job (even sometimes I feel like I want to quit), I'm running my own small companies, and people are not event notice it.

After the London trip, I can see the changes. Most of the people around me started to respect me. Some of my neighbours start knowing that I'm not just a clerk. Masing-masing barulah.. "Ohhh, besar jugak pangkat dia yer. Kalau tak takkan sampai kena pergi London." All this while, they always commented on me sebab Azimin & me and also my sister-in-law & her husband bukan jenis yang nak lepak2 kat luar rumah sampai maghrib, yang malam2 duduk cerita2 pasal orang tu beli perabot baru, orang nie renovate rumah habis berapa ribu... We have our own commitment... kalau weekend, azimin & me will spent time with the kids if we have no function to attend, if azimin have no training, if I have no appointment & if I have no extra duty @ INTI. Some more with ALAM, we have no time for that lepak-lepak things. Azimin is busy with his research project @ Geopark Langkawi, MEST Toilet & also PhD paper. So, better for us to sort the things carefully.

Back to my job. I'm reporting to the Dean of Faculty Of Business & Accountancy and also Sr. Director of Institutional Development,handling around 10 staff under me + 45 lecturers (teaching my programmes) + more than 500 students for 2 programmes (Accounting & Finance).

Only 500 students? If local university lagi banyak... But please remember, students in local university just following the rules that set by the university, most of the fees is paid by goverment bodies, corporate companies & also with scholarship. In private institution, our salary is from the students fees. so, we take care of the students extra carefull but not over feeding. students has the right to suggest and even to complaint. when you tell them to do this, most of the times they will come to do other things... but, they are very independent...

Enough for now. Seems like I'm giving a lecture on my job... So my advice, be proud of yourself and sometimes please SHOW-OFF.

MOZAC - Sek Men Sains Muzaffar Shah Melaka

Actually I have no idea what to write but after keep thinking and thinking about the IDEA, suddenly the past memories in MOZAC came thru my mind. Somemore, all the Muzaffarians tengah hot dengan cerita Cikgu Nordin yang tengah suffer akibat kanser (stage 4). He now going through cimo processes.

Cikgu Nordin Hamzah antara warden yg garang ya-amat kat MOZAC. Tak percaya? Kalau dia sergah, semua bertempiaran lari. Suara dia, kalau cakap biasa pun satu dewan makan boleh dengar, apakan lagilah kalau dia menjerit. Dia ajar Pendidikan Seni & PJK.

Cikgu Nordin selalu jugak buat kelakar bila time Pen Seni & PJK tapi kalau pasal disiplin & tugas2 yang sewaktu dengannya as a warden, kirim salam banyak-banyak....

Banyak sebenarnya kisah Cikgu Nordin kalau nak dikongsi. 5 tahun kat atas bukit tu betul2 buat hubungan 'kawan-kawan' & 'cikgu-cikgu' begitu kuat. Even masa sekolah dulu sikit punya menyampah, sikit punya tak suka (i'm trying not to use the word BENCI... sound too much!) tapi bila last day dekat MOZAC, semuanya berubah. Betul tak? Tak percaya, boleh tanya mana2 students yang pernah sekolah kat MOZAC dulu...

MOZAC banyak mengajar penghuninya erti kehidupan. Yes! I learnt a lot about life. Be strong and stronger, tough and tougher. And bila habis belajar dekat MOZAC, semuanya boleh jadi ORANG.

Dekat MOZAC, kena marah, kena tengking, kena jerit, kena maki semua perkara biasa. Tu yang buat kita jadi kuat. tak kira la yang marah tu cikgu ke, warden ke, senior ke... As a junior, kita kena 'oriented' (I believe that is the nice word) and bila jadi senior, kita pulak yang meng'oriented'. Normal scenario in any boarding school.

In MOZAC, there are no parents, mama & papa, emak & abah, ibu & ayah, mummy & daddy... we by ourselves and friends. Kalau ramai kawan, alhamdulillah. Kalau ramai orang tak suka, masalah!!!

Yang paling tak boleh lupa masa we all Form 2 in 1992. 3 dorms for our batch (girls). Dorm L,M and N but Dorm N mixed dengan senior (sape ingat Kak Norzam??). Dorm M yang paling ramai & inilah dorm yang jadi tempat berkumpul bebudak Form 2.

Pernah masa Hari Penyampaian Hadiah, ada Asrama Terbuka. This is the only time the girls had a chance to go into Asrama Putera and the guys masuk Asrama Puteri without kena tangkap & masuk Lembaga Disiplin. Apalagi, we spent a lot of time & energy to decorate and clean up our dorm. Guess what? We got DORM TERBERSIH for that event. Punyalah happy!!! Eksyen bukan main kat senior2... I have to admit that our Dorm M members are so creative with the marvellous ideas...

But nasib tak baik. May be sebab riak sangat masa tu, the next day our dorm got another title: DORM TERKOTOR. Dahla tu, siap announce dekat bilik pengunguman lagi. Nasib baik ada lagi dorm lain. And as a punnishment, semua dorm members of DORM TERKOTOR kena berdiri dekat basketball court sepanjang masa riadah. Sejam lebih berdiri kat sana. Malu siot!!! tapi sebab ramai kat situ, tak la rasa malu sangat. Dah jadi seronok pulak...

Have you ever been punnished? Pernah kena berdiri sebelah kaki? :) Ini kerja warden... OCHEE & IJA... I could not recall for what reason but masa tu, we all kena panggil dekat surau aspuri. After the BEBELing session, kitaorang kena berdiri sebelah kaki... Bila ingat balik rasa macam nak tergelak jer. Cuba kalau suruh anak kita sekarang nie berdiri sebelah kaki bila nak punnish diaorang, mahu diaorang kata 'mummy nie out of mind ker?'. Tak sanggup aku!

There were a lots of memories masa dekat MOZAC and I believe, each of us still keep it fresh in mind... Remember about:

1. Temenggung kena boycott dengan rumah lain sebab berebut kipas buruk kat bilik tamu dengan rumah Laksamana. Apalah pasal... sebab kipas buruk tu sampai bergegar aspuri. pakai pun sekejap jer masa sport day 1995. Leng, Win, korang ingat tak?

2. Suhaila & Win pecah masuk dewan makan lepas light-off sebab kebulur. I still couldn't imagine how Swella tried to 'kuruskan' diri sebab nak masuk dapur dewan makan. Guys, just imagine kalau Mona Dewan Makan dapat tahu?

3. Masa akhir tahun F5, junior buat ... actually I really forgot what did we called that night. Its more on all aspuri members having some makan2 kat dewan besar, pakai apa yg kita suka, tak yah pakai tudung, etc.. Masa our time (1995), warden tak approve to have that function but our f4 junior still want to do it for us. so, kita curik2 buat (actually, the whole MOZAC know about it) but bebudak pengawas tak join sebab takut. tengah happy2 kat dalam dewan, suddenly pintu dewan kena ketuk kuat... Rupanya, Md Ngadi, Ustaz Ishak, Ustaz Adnan, Ochee, Ija & segala warden semua serbu. suruh semua orang balik hostel and bebudak yang pakai jeans semua kena panjat pagar kat area ampaian sebab takut kantoi.

4. Batch kita ada buat Konsert Hari Raya kat aspuri, depan dorm B.

5. Rhozen kunci dorm H (dorm pengawas) dengan mangga dari luar? Oh Zen! Bravo!!!

6. 4 Sigma (1994) - Rahmat gaduh dengan Swella and tahu apa yang Rahmat buat? Rahmat lumur kerusi Swella dengan minyak cap kapak. habis satu botol besar minyak cap kapak tu... and bila Swella duduk jer... berangin satu bontot siot!!!

What else? so many things came thru my mind but I cant afford to write it all... I wish it will keep fresh in my mind. Friends... You guys make my life interesting... And i believe, our friendship is strong enough after knowing each other for more than 10 years. Betul tak?