EMAILS ARE IMPORTANT

From Ms Quirk
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 7:31 PM

Hi Elaine!

Phew, yeah.. work starts to pile up.. stress level rises everyday like the sun.. I'm learning more processes and more tasks given each day. Not that I'm complaining, I'm actually enjoying it though the pressure of making mistakes are mounting up. Last friday I was given a bulk request at 5pm and I panicked while I was poring over the details, at the same time fingers moving fast across the keyboard, trying to finish them as quick as possible. But by 745pm my mind was sucked dry and I couldn't think straight anymore. I left the office w/o completing it, since a senior said we are allowed a few days to complete the request. I might be asking too much from myself but I dun like to leave my tasks hanging in the middle especially when I'm halfway thru, you should understand that feeling, ya?

Anyway, today's a public holiday but it isn't so for me. Well, to all third-party contract staff, it's normal working day but we have lesser requests as most asian countries are having a day off. And I had lunch with my team lead and some members.. but it wasn't an enjoyable one, because they were so engrossed in chatting about their own stuff (like followups and updating) that both me and another freshie were quiet throughout, putting on a half smile, tried our best to look interested. Thing is, team lead didn't do her best to introduce us to them cuz since there are so many teams on rotating shifts, we weren't introduced to ALL of them during the first day, second day and so forth. We dunno their names and faces yet they know our names. I did tried to talk to some during office hours (esp when i need help) but the ice is still solid.

You know, there are a lot of times my team lead would take out snacks and offer to the people surrounding them, and I, being one of the surrounding members, weren't offered at all. Besides, she would stand menacingly close to me, chatting about her snacks with the team members while chomping on the food, leaving me covered in her shadow. Yucks, I really hate it. My team lead is firm and strict but she is friendly and warm to other members.. except towards the freshies. I call her the ICE QUEEN. And she has sharp tongue. This morning the other freshie came in and greeted her with 'Morning'. She greeted back with same word and added, 'You start work at 8am, not 8:10', tone cold and face looking at monitor. Whoa. So far she never said that to any others, and if she does, she will input some singlish or melayu, "oui, so late ar?" Sigh, I guess there are two explanations: Either TIME will melt her ice coat or I really cant click with her.
(gossip: she's in mid to late thirties yet NOT MARRIED, NO BF. drives a good car, am into sports though she's not athletic)

Oh ya, I just remembered, during lunch just now, one of the team was talking abt getting award in the recent sports events for the dept's glory.. and he told my team lead, "next time when u do interview, u shud ask them whther they are good in sports. if not, dun hire them" She nodded her head with a big yes. Then the guy turned to me and asked with a smile, "did she ask u that qn?". I shook my head and before I could answer, my team lead said, "I didnt interview her." without a smile. GOSH! I was cursing inside (but with the consistant polite half-smile shining at everyone) She must have thought I'm not sporty, and she's very friendly towards ppl who plays sports. Duh. Nmind, I dun care. If one day there's a chance I play badminton with her, I will make sure the shuttlecock hit her face hard >:)
Heh, it's so shiok to tell you abt my team lead now, especially when she is moving around distributing snacks again. Haha, feels so good inside (while am looking serious) :P

Last weekend my sis from Japan came to KL for business meeting, and because of it my mom, sis, her son and her hubby came over for a gathering. It was so NICE to see them again and I miss ALL of them so much! :) My newly rented house has new paint (only undercoat, and tats good enuff) now, and two of us spent an hour rubbing the paint off our face, hair and arms using scotchbrite sponge. Haha! Mid-June, sofa will be coming in. Sigh, it's not cheap man. But can't find anywhere cheaper with average material. Those cheapcheap ones, are really lousy and spoil easily. Luckily my sis gave me a sum of money to be treated as belated birthday gift. We used it to pay for the sofa's deposit :")

I will take some photos of the new house and send it tog with the group photo (in my sis's camera) taken outside the house sometime soon!

Oh ya I heard eITU may MERGE with AVA once ITP are outsourced? How soon will tat be? Is that a bad blow to all of you there? So if the merge is true, who will head the unit?

Luv,
Quirk

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From Elaine C
Received: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 9:22 AM

Hi Quirk, I want to start off my day with you… email looks long but was a friendly one as though you’re just sitting next to me…talking.. Kong hasn’t come over but is starting to pick things up. Yesterday Prof Ng called for a meeting cos there is a feedback that stu wrote to CC and forwarded back to me… Same old story loh.. games playing at night that disturb the other hard working ones… We decided to close all clusters from 5pm next week to monitor the exact usage (rather till we come up with a good solution.. ha ha) All the genuine users will need to write in and ask for 24 hrs using PC1. (we’re expecting less than 30) Marwan wasn’t in the meeting but I would expect Steve to update him. Kong was in but was rather quiet though occasionally did put in his suggestion. I did not comment much as I leave it to Steve to talk.

The last time Kong and I worked on PC4 and PC5 and configured the D and E drives to NTFS just to catch the user’s info when files are created (with FAT can’t do). So today I have the mission to go thru all the PCs and provide a list of stu who installed games. Clever stu will not create game files with meaningful name. I need to perform a search.. that kind of labor work.. very soon I’ll get drained. But I’ll not hold all issues on my own anymore. Under Prof Ang mgt, no complaint is good enough and he doesn’t care much about how things are carried out. With NG, things are different. Anytime she will give a call to chat and check things out… Prof Ng and NG have been inspecting the labs regularly when they are free. Good that they show up to the ppl but no good if they show up at the wrong time.. lesser freedom too.. need to learn balancing with our new mgt…

Have not got a chance to have lunch with new AO. Will do next week to know more about her then I tell you. Your new workplace sounds fun than my end… When coming to maintaining accounts, it may be dull. However, if your workplace has proper standard and rules, it is an organized place. That impressed me most.. As for the ppl that can’t be controlled, will need time. I agreed that ice will be broken once you start to blend in and work with them as a team…I suggest once you start to know your colleagues, cut down your breaks with your boyfriend.. else you’ll never get a chance to know more other than your work responsibilities.. u know what I mean? Excuse me.. Kay Poh.. The pantry esp. you mentioned with the hot drinks dispenser.. enough to get me dreaming about the break time… I believed it is a good company… try to learn as much as you can.. transfer when you’ve mastered the current skills.. I can tell you’ve a lot work to do..

Truly, a house needs to look presentable when ma ma comes.. I wouldn’t invest too much on furniture (except a good bed that I can have good rest after a long tiring day). A cheap set allows me to change to a new set when the old ones give way and not feel ‘heart pain’ – SingLish. I’m not sure your end will need curtain for all windows. If possible, don’t put if not needed. My sitting room curtain is just for show only.. and when it’s time to wash, to remove the hooks take time and washing that big sheet test my poor washing machine.. ended up we sent to laundry shop…

Am looking forward for this long weekend. The same to you… ‘happy shopping’.. Elaine

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From Ms Quirk
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 6:57 PM

Hallo Elaine! Oh yes I was surprised GJ left but I expected XT to resign anytime soon. I dunno why, but I had that feeling when he talked to me during my farewell lunch-cum-Steve's Promotion treat, and I did told LH that the next one to leave might be XT.. and, true enough, he did it right after my departure! (and he left less than a week after offsetting his leave, rite!)

I heard from Marwan that morale is quite low over there, and the recent case of students blatantly playing games in the clusters, resulted in Prof Ng's unhappiness and Steve's panicy moments, yes? Ah, how nostalgic.. I think if I'm there I would be very frustrated but, I believe there's a workaround solution, because this issue was brought up since last time and solutions were offered now and then, just that mgmt didnt take it up.

How's Kong coping with the new knowledge and environment? Does he like it there? Does that mean there's a one person shortage in Unix grp? Oh ya, WY will not be doing smart classroom in order to replace Kong, is it? How you doing over there? Busier? Marwan? Yanti? The MSOs and perky new AO? Any changes in the procedures, decisions, tasks assignments?

Me over here, well the first week was dull. I was given two web-based training (to be done on time on target) and there were tests, quizes and exams after each module studied. If you didnt pass the finals, you won't be given the user id and pwd to login to their ServiceCenter appln - where tasks were 90% done over there. Well I passed, after two days with the utmost urge to doze off. After that I was assigned to learn how the tasks were done by sitting with the seniors. But most of that week was passed with nothing to do. This week, like today and tmrw, I will be attending onboard training cum induction organized by HR. While at the same time, learning and doing the simpler tasks assigned by my team lead. It's an entirely different jobscope, where its very process-driven and procedures are to be followed strictly. Actually, IT knowledge will not be used extensively since all you have to do is to follow the processes. Just that you have to use alot of judgements and experience with Active Directory will make work much easier.

I hope I can tahan there for a year or so, then if things look good, request for transfer. But it's much much too early to say for now! :) (oh the environment for my dept is quite formal, as in, ppl dun chat during wrkg hrs, lunch, teabreak, breakfast hours are restricted with tight discipline. Punctuality is impt - haha tats serves me right huh - since i will be on shifts soon - i am on training for most prob this month, i'm working 830 to 530. but i heard they may implement 3-12am shift soon.. which is bad coz no shift allowance will be given! boohoo!!) Colleagues are okay but ice has not broken yet, most of them clutter among themselves but I managed to find a nice gal to lunch with (tog with my boyfriend since they know each other very well).

As for my team lead, errh, she's nice but not friendly enuff to ask u out for lunch. I guess it takes time bah, they said most of them become good colleagues after working a couple of night shifts.. so I shall see! Oh ya, finally I have a pantry to linger on.. haha! Office is big.. all levels are separated by two wings and pantries are in the middle, connecting the wings. They have expresso/mocha/cappucino/nescafe/milo makers, decent water coolers, large panels of windows to overlook the scene outside (not that its a nice scene anyway), fridge... to me, it's good enuff since I never enjoyed the luxury of using such large pantry. HAHA!

Hmm, let me work for another week and I shall update you on what's on in my working environment! HEEHEE! By the way I have not moved into my new house yet. Hopefully it can be done by this weekend. Yday we painted the room and living room, scrubbed kitchen floor (for arrivals of small fridge and two small kitchen cabinets) till midnight. Goodness, the house is not as new as I thought, with stains on the wall and chipped flooring (paraquet). But well, its roomy and its cheap, so I wont complain much. But what make me heartpain is the furniture.. since the house is totally unfurnished and I have nothing to bring over, I bought a single bed frame with mattress, a water heater, a small fridge, a small dining table. We plan to get cheapcheap sofa too. The stress level is on, cos my sister is coming to KL (for meeting) from Japan this Thurs, my parents gonna visit me in mid June... we dun wan them to see us with nothing to provide them. So right now we are always on the hunt for cheap stuff and good bargains. Kinda tiring...

This is a long mail.. haha, so many things to talk ^_^ Keep in touch ya! Take care Elaine!

Luv, Quirk

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From Elaine C
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 11:49 AM

Hi Quirk I believed Marwan must have updated u when has happened after you left. XT and GJ followed… I just came back from 3 days leave and was told that the SmartClassrm will be returned to AVA. I would think that is a good choice to cut down tasks as our man power is shrinking. Work place is still the same, students are in and out giving ‘problems’. Kong will be taking over your role when WY is ready with Unix.

I hope you’re getting adapted with your new environment. Remember to give yourselves enough time to cope. Things may change as time flies… most importantly, have to face the challenge. No trial no gain. I believed this philosophy is true though I’ve to claim that my ‘religion’ teaches so… Without trial, I can’t experience God’s presence. Think of the good that you’ve gained and bad that you’ve lost… at least you don’t have to worry facing Prof Ko… when I first dealt with him, I wish his class can be over soon.. after that, I got used to it… There is still some long way for you… after settled with job, may have to think of setting up a family, when have time – start to think about knowledge upgrade… just go step by step. It is not easy but with endurance and a strong will, it can be overcome.

Tell me more about your workplace… ha ha.. I always like to know what is happening outside the world whenever I met up with my friends or classmates… always be thankful of what you’ve now… never look back.. talk to your good friend/boyfriend and get over the “blues”.. only monthly “blues” that a boy can’t understand… ok ok… talking like “aunty”

Got to work… really got to work leh.. contactless card guys are here to set up the controllers. Write me when you’re free. Take good care.. Elaine