Dugaan paling besar ialah...

...when your maid keeps breaking your expensive crockery items (and your kitchen appliances). Hadoi.My current one was one of the best until she discovered the internet and candy crush.I notice her mind and heart are no longer on work..the garden is neglected, household chores are like part time job, yada yada yada.

So we will let her go and I'm so okay with it. Saniah was saying usually they are only good for a year.Sometimes I see and had experienced less than that. How do other career women cope? The country has a poor support system for working mothers and aged people. I think the only state that I know which takes this matter seriously is the Tganu state.Their childcare or senior citizen support system is so good...trained local staff who go to private homes to do household chores etc pakai working hours.That way tak perlu stay in.I love this concept.Dulu Tengku and I wanted to write up a proposal and serah kat Kementerian Wanita.Too busy with work that I lost the plot.And his card pun entah ke mana saya letak.Like it's not my place to think about this, kan? Menteri, Perdana Menteri...apa kerja mereka?

Sigh.

Ziarah

ASA decides to visit Tan Sri Prof Kamal in Bangi since he has decided to retire citing health issue.I think secara sopan, ASA should rep the whole population of IIUM academics to say thank you to him.Kita nak buat proper thank you kat luar tapi dia tak mahu (he does not like orang to fuss over him). We are lucky that he says yes to our request to meet him. So 5 of us went since yang lain ada Ibadah Camplah, TIDE lah. Tak sempat nak beli apa2 pun except fruits and Prof Nani brought honey from Uganda since she just got back from Uganda last week but Dr Che Nor as always bawak makanan dari Tganu: satar, lempeng, pulut panggang, kerupok lekor..haha..she's a walking Tganu gerai. Isteri MP tu. :))

And Puan Sri prepared us laksa kelantan and I learned from her how to do it. Senang je rupanya. We all tambah macam takda hidung (tak tau malu). Then ada tapai pulut sebesar penumbuk..oh yum..rezeki Allah memang luas.Alhamdulillah.

Prof Nani and I were talking about our days as Directors at IIUM schools tu. Going down memory lane mmg seronok. And now to pass the baton to our young ones. Prof Fauzan and isteri mmg amazing because usrah dia bermula 2009 lagi and they said the show must go on wpun attendees ada 2 orang je kekadang tu. I attended twice but pagi sgt..8 am. I baru nak bersiap2 di rumah and nak drive another 35 mins...(alasan mmg banyak..)

Prof Kamal's advice to us is this: create your own sheikh (makna kata cari ilmu dan be your own expert).

Semoga Allah beri dia dan isteri dan keluarganya kesihatan dan ketajaman fikiran for a while longer.

The end of a project

Maka tamat lah what had been keeping me busy the last few months (the last 6 months?). Pitch Your Product Competition officially ended this afternoon with two winners whom Naim said were local geniuses. I jokingly told him we all had been had by emotive language of "makcik saya sakit pinggang". Haha but the kids were really geniuseslah. Bdk sekolah boleh offer solution to RISDA on saving time and cutting cost with bag semaian. I hope they will go far. Boleh improve lagi tu (to something fully automated).

Nadhirah and gang won USD200 as one of the 5 consolation prizes and I think one of the judges was keen to help them push up the idea to commercialisation. Farhan didn't win.One of the comments was his creation was over-engineered.I'm sure somewhere in Germany and Italy, he would be so wanted. That's what Prof Zourob said..go outside your country and break a leg cos' sometimes your own people do not appreciate you.I langsung tak qualified to pitch.Sedih tak? Round one dah kalah. Haha.

Next project: Sept mobility prog before the big day in Nov and I'm done for the year.
Cepatlah kau berlari O masa. Aku tak terkejar.

Panta Rei

Only change is constant.

Today saw the departure of 4 long serving colleagues : Assoc Prof Dr Subra, Assoc Prof Haja, Assoc Prof Ismail and Dr Farizah who we celebrated in an elaborate lunch to say all the best to their retirement day. Sedih juga as they went down the memory lane.I had worked closely with Dr Subra when I first joined DELL almost 28 years ago and later with Dr Farizah on my FRGS research and other dept's activities. An era's gone..soon mine pulak and seangkatan will be quite a number: Prof Nuraihan, Dr Nora, Assoc Prof Dr Zahariah, Prof Quayum..wow..kosong dept kalau they don't recruit from now.

And we tried to get a session with Prof kamal and Prof Ismawi so we could say thank you properly but the river flows too fast..tak terkejar.

This week I'll be kept busy with the Prosumer Week and nanti nak tolong beri English workshop to our young guests from Perak, Perlis and Pahang who came all the way to watch Pitch Your Product Competition.

I'm glad it's coming to an end.We worked all semester with a lot of uncertainties.I definitely nak cabut kejap for a break when all's done before the new semester starts again with a vengeance.

Hadoi.

Cerita Rao tu sambung later ke tarikh yang tidak saya tahu. :))