Work Hard, Play Hard

Today is officially "Work Hard, Play Hard" day in my company....unofficially, it's called "relax & lepak" day for everyone in the office. It falls on the 3rd Friday of every month. So everyone is like working for the first half of the day only.

Wow! This company is really serious when it says that it upholds the "Work-Life Balance" motto.

So there are two activities in the afternoon today, bowling and a woman-networking session on embroidery.

I'm going for the embroidery session...not that I'm such an "embroidery" person, but going more for networking purposes, to meet new people. Besides, apparently, this lady giving the demo on embroidery, has a fantastic sewing machine which can produce professional looking embroideries effortlessly.

Ok, so it's embroidery...

This morning, we had our monthly "team learning" session on work and non-work topics. The non-work related topic this morning was "Will Writing", which was presented by a representative speaker from Rockwills. It was interesting and enlightening as she answered numerous queries from the floor, about the dos and don'ts, about how the distribution of estate works in the absence of a will, and on specific scenarios brought up the audience.

This has been a pretty interesting 2-weeks in Miri so far.

What am I going to spend my time on this weekend? Beats me!

Saving that 2-hours each day travelling on the road makes a heck lot of difference! Those of you who always wish that they could get quality life with more quality time with their families? You don't have to wait so long, or go so far as to migrate to another country...You can get just that right here in Miri! If you are lucky enough to get attached to the right company which pays you well enough?

I rest my case...

The Hunt for October

Right, I meant the hunt for a house, but that didnt sound like an interesting enough title.

It's been more than a month since my last posting...maklum lah, I had no access to internet, being in my barely furnished new home.

This is my 2nd week here in Miri. So far, the weather is hot (so hot!), the colleagues are nice, the boss is demanding but hilarious (thank goodness), the work is new & complicated, and the house hunting was tiring.

All in all, I'd say that my first 2 weeks here have been pretty good generally.

After much effort of looking at a never-ending list of dilapidated houses for rent, or houses in dodgy-looking surroundings, and also dreaming of staying in one of the nicer-looking ones (which fetch freakin' expensive rentals), I finally found a decent-looking one with an affordable rent in a safe enough looking neighbourhood. The owner was even kind enough to agree to renovation on the downstairs bathroom i.e. to change the squatting toilet to a sitting one, and to add a hot water shower.

It's also partly furnished, so I dont have to spend much money buying much furniture, except those which I want or need to make living there more comfortable.

I will be living quite closely to my office, an estimated 5 minutes drive away, and it's about 15 minutes drive to the city center. In Miri, anything is within 10-15 minutes drive. Exceed 15, then it's considered "very far".

I like it that we start work earlier and could go off earlier too if work permits. The sun is up bright & shiny by about 6.15am, and the day is pitch dark by 7.15pm. So the day starts early for everyone here in Miri.

Rise & shine to a hot & sunny day! Hmmm...it really is very hot here.