Tipah tertipu...

Semalam over lunch dengan kawan-kawan office, one of our friend start bercerita yang dia sekarang hilang confidence level. Dengan muka frustnya dia buka cerita yang beberapa hari yang lepas, dia terima satu call (fixed line) kononnya dari jabatan kad kredit Bank Rakyat. "Pegawai" di talian tu ingin nak confirmkan application kawan I berkenaan permohonan dia untuk nak increasekan had kad kredit dia. Ofcourse kawan I nie terkejut cos dia tak pernah ada kad kredit dari Bank Rakyat, apatah lagi terkejut bila diberitahu yang kad itu digunakan untuk membuat satu pembayaran sebanyak RM9000 dari Singapura. Kononnya lagi kad itu telah di kealurkan dari cawangan Miri. So bila "pegawai" tu confirmkan nama & no. IC kawan I..semuanya betul. Nampak gaya "pegawai" tu ada butiran kawan I ni. Untuk nak block nama kawan I disalahgunkan "pegawai" nie pun berilah no. Bank Negara untuk dia hubungi. Kawan I nie pun, contact la no. tu. Silapnya dia tak counter check no. yang diberi tu...Bila dia call no. tu, ada pula orang menjawab. Secara professional orang ini melayan aduan kawan I. . Salah satu panggilan yang dia buat, dia ada bercakap dengan seorang lelaki cina yang kononnya pegawau Bank Negara. Yang musykilnya, dia bercakap dalam Bahasa Melayu dengan fasih. Apabila kawan I nie bertanya dalam Bahasa Inggeris, dia minta berbual dalam Bahasa Melayu. Katanya, temu bual ni perlu direkodkan kerana ingin digunakan dalam mahkamah..so nak taknak kawan I yang berbangsa cina nie pun berbual lah dalam bahasa Melayu dengan pegawai ni. Salah satu request bualan mereka, pegawai ni meminta kawan I ni pergi ke ATM untuk menyelaraskan akaun simpanannya...tak tahulah macam mana sampai ke situ...kawan I boleh plak ke ATM machine nak menekan beberapa butang yang telah diarahkan berserta dengan beberapa no. kod yang diberi pada kawan I nie. Tanpa bertanya atau terasa curiga dia buat apa yang di suruh. Siap beri arahan jangan ikut apa arahan yang tertera kat skrin, cuma key in nombor-nombor kod yang diberi. Ntah macam manala dia buat, tapi kawan I cakap..orang dalam phone tu memang smooth giler sampaikan dia tak rasa curiga langsung.Tup tup..satu resit keluar. Time tulah kawan I tersentak bila tersedar duit dalam saving dia kurang 5k. Dah mula rasa cuak dia call balik no "Bank negara" tu...orang tu jawab balik. Bila ditanya apa dah jadi; kenapa duit dia kurang 5k..."pegawai" tu cakap..itu prosedur biasa...duit dikembalikan nanti...But ofcourse dia dah rasa lain macam aje. Bila minta bantuan Bank, ofcourse bank kata dia tak boleh buat apa-apa kerana duit tu ditransfer oleh kawan i sendiri.

So..nak taknak dia terpaksa berulang alik ke balai polis membuat aduan. Malangnya pagawai polis yang nak ambil rekod ni kata kawan I...macam tak tahu apa-apa. Bila ditanya lebih-lebih semuanya tak tahu..Buat polis report pun...polis tu siap suruh kawan I sendiri yang type kan kat computer cos pjg. sgt katanya (laaaaa???)...Walaupun nampak mcm mudah...no. fixed line tu masih aktif...No. akaun yg duit tu ditransfer kan ada...tapi tak tahulah..kenapa polis tak ambil tindakan secepat mungkin. Kata mereka...mereka tgh monitor..Ntah apa yang dipantau? At the end...kawan I sekrg masih menunggu apa yg selanjutnya selepas membuat aduan polis...no. "bank negara" "no. pemanggil dari Bank Rakyat" tu masih aktif..Yang pasti..duit gaji nya lesap RM5000 begitu saje. kesian kawan I ni, dahlah dia sorang aje yang bekerja menampung isteri dan dua anak-anaknya yang masih kecil.

Kita biasa terima email dari kawan-kawan tentang scam mcm ni, tak sangka yang ianya terjadi pada seorang kawan sendiri. Itulah...nasihat pada semua..beringatlah..kalau terima panggilan pelik-pelik macam ni tolong jangan layan. Kalau nak ikutkan, kawan I ni seorang yang cermat & berhati-hati. Tak boleh nak jelaskan kenapa dia boleh terpedaya. Sama ada kes pukau ke, atau secara langsung dia terperangkap kerana perasaan cuak kerana takut nama nya terbabit..dia dah kena tipu dengan sindiket ni...

Apa-apa pun, pergi buat siasatan sendiri ke Bank Negara; betul ke nama kita digunakan oleh orang lain untuk kad kredit yang kita tak apply...Atau buat rujukan sendiri tanpa gunakan sebarang nombor-nombor yang diberi oleh sepemanggil. If it can happen ti my friend here, it can happen to anyone of us. Just be careful!

http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?
1-300-88-5465

SMS to 15888: BNM TANYA [your enquiry]
Email : bnmtelelink@ bnm.gov.my

Why do people cheat?

This topic intrigue me. Over a lunch one day an office colleague of mine simply mentioned that MEN in general are polgamyst in nature; they can't stick to one woman. They may marry one but would they stay true to that person? Who knows? I don't disagree with her. But I do feel that infidelity is not caused by men alone. There are a bunch of women out there probably unhappy with their partner, cheat! They seek for emotional support that they don't get from their spouse. Where else men, on the other hand may fall for physical stuff...(the other new physical stuff which they had enough with their current partner)

So, why do we get married if we know that one way or the other we will get bored with our partner? Or we will realized that the romance won't last? We've seen our friends who had been married for years and jokingly they would say "enjoy your couplehood now, wait till you have a baby...things will be different" then they laughed. And we laughed nervously...thinking "Great! What did I got myself into?"
Or they go "yeah lah..honeymoon now la...come and tell me again after 6 months!" Don't sound promising eh?

Does that mean, married couple WILL get bored with their partner somewhere along the line? And when they got bored, they tend to find other people more interesting and attractive? They practically saw everything they need to see in us right? So what else to expect? Things becoming predicatble, routine and mundane. Nothing could happen...until they carrying this exccessive baggage of boringness and suddenly met this interesting individual that caught the attention. Suddenly he/she felt alive! Appreciated (maybe)...The workplace is one of the biggest temptations to relationships! Trust me, a survey by Durex revealed this!
http://www.datingwebsites.org/2010/06/who-cheats-more-men-or-women/

Some facts about this can be found here:
http://www.infidelityfacts.com/index.html

ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2008) — The probability of someone cheating during the course of a relationship varies between 40% and 76%.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080908185238.htm

Interesting article to ponder....
http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Do-Married-People-Cheat?&id=897406

This is a depressing topic really! With the statistics and all, it seems that we are all doomed to be cheated or maybe cheating on our partner if not today maybe 2-3 years time...Does this give the cheating partner to feel good about themselves that, the infidelity behaviour is a painful acceptance by the society? That falling to temptations are just normal?. OK I am getting sick to my stomach now...is it because this is a bitter topic or I just had a lousy lunch just now?

Pembantu baru

Kita baru dapat pembantu baru, last weekend balik Seremban menghantar pembantu ibu yang kita pinjam 3 bulan. Rasa lega pun ada cos' pembantu yang lama ni susah nak bentuk. tegur lebih-lebih muka dia jadi kelat. Tak tegur pun susah, tapi pasal dia ni kes "pinjam" so tak boleh la nak cerewet sangat. Janji budak-budak OK, rumah berabuk sikit pejam jelah mata sebelah.

Kalau nak citer pasal kes-kes pembantu rumah ni, sampai malam pun tak habis. Sejak zaman tok nun lagi problem ada pembantu rumah lebih kurang sama aje. Tapi tak boleh dinafikan satu dalam seribu ada yang OK sangat-sangat. Pengalaman sendiri pun macam tu. Sejak ada anak pertama 9 tahun yang lepas, kita dah ada pembantu rumah nak masuk 10 orang, termasuk la 2-3 orang kes sementara (in between maid). Dalam 10 orang yang kita dapat, 2 orang betul-betul OK, seorang tu complete contract nya. Yang lain, ada aje ceritanya. Member ofis dok gelar kita "employer from hell" Kononnya terlampau garang. Walhasilnya pembantu yang awal-awalnya kita layan sangat lah baik. Nak amik hati konon, kesian depa jauh dari family...hidup susah. So ingatkan kalau lah kita jaga hati diorang lebih berterima kasih. At least seronok duduk/bekerja dengan kita. Tapi statisknya, yang pertama baru kije 4 bulan dah nak balik..katanya ayah dia nazak. Dah tu? Takkan nak larang ye tak? Yang rugi kita la jugak cos ejen tak nak layan, taknak beri ganti rugi walaupun kita dah belanja beribu-ribu nak dapat kan pembantu. Yang ke2 & ke 3 kes yang sama. Masuk 7-10 bulan dah takde mood nak kijer. Dah mula tengok kijer nak taknak, budak jatuh depan pun amik masa nak kejar..sometime buat tak tahu! Bila ditegur, sedar-sedar dah lari. Yang dilegalizekan permit pun ada, ingat dia berterima kasih, end up...dapat paspot dia berambus cos pacar offer kerja tempat lain. Ada jugak yang masuk tahun ke2, baru renew permit, 2 minggu selepas tu dia lari...Adusss...duit lagi, kena bayar penalty kat imigresen. Kena bayar balik ejen untuk dapat yang baru. Dalam hati dok pikir...kalaulah I can di without them...alangkah baiknya. Pilihan ada tapi pasti ada masalah-masalah lain pulak. Nursery, Babysitter...tak semudah itu.

Kekadang bila compare notes dengan kengkawan yang lain, ada kes yang lagi teruk. Syukur la sebelum ni, takde kes anak-anak dipukul tampar. Sekarang yang dua orang tu dah besar, kuranglah rasa sangsi. Apa-apa hal, diorang dah boleh mengadu. 2 hari yang lepas kita terserempak seorang pembantu jiran menyuap makan anak majikannya di tepi longkang belakang rumah. Lalu kita pun tegur la secara baik...kenapa diberi makan di sini, bukankah tempat ni kotor. Dan kita tanya majikan OK ke beri anak dia makan nasi di kawasan ini. Jawab si pembantu ni dengan nada yang agak keras (marah kot kita dok tegur dia) "Iyelah kalau majikannya tahu, pastilah tak OK". Dengan perasaan pelik kita tanya lagi "Dah tahu tak OK kenapa dibuat?" Selamba aje muka dia, pedulik apa dia dengan kita cos kita bukan bos dia ye tak? Geram rasanya...pengotor sungguh! Tak amanah..cos jaga anak orang ikut sukati dia. Kesimpulannya mereka nie depan kita maybe peluk-peluk anak kita. But the moment kita keluar rumah..tuhan saja yang tahu. Not all genuine & honest with their job. Some may, but not most!

So bermula lah episod baru kita dengan pembantu baru ni. Mintak-mintak dia OK. So far tak banyak mulut. Apa yang disuruh itu yang di buat. Mungkin terlalu awal nak buat penilaian. Kita dah go through the routine, dah beritahu mana yang patut. Sekarang masa yang menentukan...dan kena doa banyak-banyak yang kita dapat pembantu yang baik dan amanah menjaga anak-anak bila kita keluar bekerja.

Quiet time

I cherish my quiet time. The fact that my life all this while is far from being quiet. I have a loud family, I love loud friends...it represent honesty and history you have with them. And when my siblings plus my parents are at our dinner table we talked about anything & everything...loudly. From far bystander would probably think we were all arguing or having some serious debate!!
I am myself considered to be loud (I hope in a good way). And I love it!

When I came for a job interview to the Cyberjaya office, the 2 interviewers asked me "Do I have any questions?"...I simply ask "Why is the office here is too quiet?"...jokingly ofcourse! I'm not quiet sure whether they get my joke, they'd probably think I was being rude. But they hired me anyway. :)

As years passed, I realized my personality took a bit of a twist...oh I'm still loud though but, I hold back some thoughts. Gone those time that sometimes my words gets ahead from my head. I quickly recap my thoughts first and carefully rephrase them and use the proper tones to ensure that it reflects well. My loudness were at time perceived as being impatient & intrusive. Too quick to assume a judgement, too swift to pass a remark and sometime too early to bystand a defence. I guess this is what you call maturity, it comes with self realisation of years that passed you by and the learnings you get from mistakes you have made; intentionally or not.

Do you realized that matured people tend to listen more before giving an opinion? They tend to nod more; not a gesture of agreement but clearly to acknowldege some sort of understanding, or even perhaps a gesture that they are listening.

I hope in years, I grow wiser and more matured in making my life decisions. I still love the loudeness, to me...it brings out the life in me; but once in a while when you have quiet time for yourself (such as now) to do some thinking & self reflections; should be good too. It feed your soul in embracing maturity.

Beautiful Oslo

I had the privilege to be in Oslo during summer this year, took a bit of pictures and managed to cover few attractions in between being there for work. Summer season was the best of time to be there, the local colleagues would tell me. Simply because the day is longer, so you'd be amazed to see that it was still bright outside eventhough the time was 9pm. The first few days I was there the Norwegian summer was not what I expected. It was cold and windy; reminded me UK in autumn. I was told that it rained a day before but a week before I came, the sun was out and it was sunny and bright. OK, so I figured eventually that summer time in Oslo can be pretty unique because it can be sunny today but if it rain it will be as cold as it can be. But then again, when I was there mid June, it was not quite summer yet...more of a transition period of turning summer.

What I love the most about the place was the people. Norwegian really love the nature. They are bunch of outdoor people. They spend quality time with the family doing the outdoor activities. And the weather won't stop them either. If it's winter, snow and cold they would go out and ski. If it's summer or spring they hike and jog. Fantastic!! This is the kind of lifestyle I myself would embrace. I love the fact that you spend quality time doing outdoor activities rather than being stuck in the house most of the time. It's has always been my dream to take my kids for a good camping one day!

The Statue park

Oslo itself is a unique town. The town is a mix of modern art & modern architecture but still retain the natural landscape. Some of the interesting places I have seen in Oslo was:
The Nobel Peace Center (That's right!!)
The Statute Park (Vigelandsparken)

The National Museum

The Opera (a very unique modern building)

Holmenkollen (ski jump tower)

The City Hall
The Palace (only from the outside)
Telenor HQ office (in Fornebu)
...and I discovered one Halal Kebab shop there!

 

the palace

discovered this in the middle of the town

On top of the Opera building

the breakfast

11pm! Believe it or not!

It was a heck of 2 weeks stay and I truly love being there.

Weekend of adventure

I took my Friday off last week to join Haris for an event that he has to attend at Bukit Merah. I was so thrilled that ibu & ayah wanted to join since Haris was driving the Starex. With 3 kids at the back, grandparents and us...it was such a wild & fun ride. The ride was loud as you know with 3 excited kids (macam cuti sekolah la pulak!)..and ibu trying to manage all them. Ayah was so caught up with "Avatar" movie that I played in the car, he hardly said a word except asking me bit & pieces about the movie. We pushed off to Perak in the afternoon and soon enough reached to Bukit Merah slightly by 4pm. We stayed at The Bukit Merah service apartment there. As mentioned in the Trip Advisor, the place wasn't really that good. The pool was OK though, but the rest was pretty much so-so. The so called 2 rooms apartment was not much, Haris wasn't quite happy about it but at least the toilet is clean, they have hot water & air-cond. But you probably wouldn't stay more than 2 days...

Still plenty of time, the kids, ayah & me rushed to the pool with ibu relaxing nearby. Haris dozed quietly...since he had only had few hours of sleep before. That night we went to the nearby lake area. Initially there weren't many people until the FIFA match between Brazil vs Netherlands, we started to see some crowd. Ibu & I decided to take the kids back since it was really late. The men stayed to watch the football game.

We went to the animal park the next day. It was quite a walk but worth the trip. The place was clean and presentable. The kids was having so much fun, and for me to have ibu ayah around was a complete bonus! The place has a great potential, the tropical forest, the natural lake was fantastic but the whole commercialized "tourist" area was not up to the standard. I wish the staff are more professional, I wish the services are more customer friendly, I wish they would have local rate to attract 'working class' people across the nation and I wish they would have senior citizen services and special needed visitors (disabled ones). It is such a waste to have a world class wonderful natural attractions but the services provided are so 2nd class level.

Jalan-jalan cari makan

Our lunch was even more exciting because Haris took us to Sungai 2 in Penang for Mee Udang. We had that and fried crab along with fresh coconut juice. None of us has ever been there, so for all the 1st timers like us, it was an adventurous trip for lunch. And I must say the food was awsome! Later on we headed to the Penang island. Planning to stay in Penang for a night. Even though Haris's colleague had booked us rooms in Berjaya hotel, Haris insisted we tried our luck for a walk in room at a better located Hotel. We drove to some few high rated hotels, unfortunately we couldn't even get any room there. Some are full most are too pricy..at the end resuming to drive to the Berjaya Hotel, Haris took a wrong turn end up we were driving back to the Penang Bridge. 6pm then...at the end spontaneously we decided to head back. Ibu & I was a bit dissappointed because we were talking about having nice Nasi Kandar for dinner. Haris tried to book a last minute room in Lumut Swiss Garden but couldn't even secure any room that evening as well!

10pm, we reached Subang Jaya. Decided to get the nasi Kandar at Pelita SS15. We tapau, headed home and had a nice family dinner at the Sunway Kayangan Hotel; our home instead. I bet all of us slept snoring that night! :)

Obsesiku (rough version) by Aqasha

Obsesiku (rough version) by Aqasha

always admired his talent. But I wish he streamline his music type...I personally like if he goes bit of R&B and Pop. His voice compliment it well...dangdut like? naaaah!

Obsession or motivation?

Last weekend I measured my weight and realized that I gain back 2kg. It took me agonizing months just to sheds that off! Prior to my business trip, I have not been working out as frequent as I should. But I still watch what I eat...enough to make sure I don't overstuffed myself. And for some ironic reason after coming back from 2 weeks of business trip, the weight never seems to change as it was 6 months ago! This is so depressing!

Clearly I am so over the post pregnancy state because Hakeem is 2 now, and I can't use that as an excuse to be "over weight". I was at my worst after my delivery. Ofcourse I didn't feel so bad about it because I was pregnant right? But then I realized its not being fat that bothers me, I don't consider my self to be obsesive in getting slim (though I am inspired to gain back my figure)...I just don't want to be "out of proportion". Buying clothes can be a depressing thing. Most t-shirts that looks good on the mannequin looked awful on me. So I have to settle to baggier clother, mostly men's t-shirt which do not compliment me at all.

My objective is simple, I want to feel good about myself. In doing so I wanted to be healthy and fit. I am already at my late 30s. If I can't look good at this age, what else am I? Looking good is a subjective matter, I can't possible have the super model body, not fancy a flat ab (cos I don't remember ever had one before)...but I want to be in shape, I want to be able to shop for any darn clothes that I want. I want to be able to run up the stairs without having to stop and catch my breath. So I hit the gym again 2 days in a row (took an easy cardio on day 1since it has been a month)...by the 3rd day I took a slow walk with Hakeem in the afternoon. I literally told myself that I will not consume any sugar in my drinks! AT ALL!! By the 4th day, I think (and I hope its not just water retention) that 2kg are gone! IS THIS FOR REAL??? Perhaps because I was seriously monitoring my calorie intake (no more that 1400 calorie per day) + the exercise + the meal portion. The difference is now I started to create a daily diary of my calorin intake. I need to put the data out of my mind and jotted in down...literally. Previously, I was not so into this. I control my portion, had good lunch, skip rice for dinner...however still taking my coffee & tea with sugar.

This time, I am in for real. I need to see results. I can't just walking around thinking that this is impossible. I can't give my age as an excuses. I can't stop motivating myself just because I am tired. I don't need drastic results. I just need to make sure, I eat well, exercise more and stay positive. I cannot fall back to the same weight as I was 6 months ago...the pounds has to go, the fat has to go!! Slowly, gradually but surely...only 1pound a week. Thats all I need!

This post I dedicate to myself as a reminder of what I want now! It is a virtual documentation of my oath. It should validate me and bind me till the end of the year.

my lunch today: miso soup (86 calorie)