Decisions, decisions, decisions

Am looking forward to my holiday trip back to NZ at the end of May but I have a big decision to make in the next day or so. With my leave being approved, the only thing left is my ticket. As of right now, MAS has an online fare of RM 2965 compared to their usual online fare of RM 3600+. Emirates on the other hand had a fare of RM 2846 at the MATTA fair. Emirates goes via Melbourne with a long transit time - around 6 hours + - while MAS is a direct flight. It may seem to be a straight forward decision to go with MAS; however, I do have frequent flyer miles with Emirates and they occasionally have promo fares to Auckland that see's the price drop to around RM 2600. Also, with the long transit time in Melbourne, I would have the opportunity to exit the airport and have dinner with a couple of friends. Add to that, a couple of friends have said that MAS service is not that great.

Aaaaahhhhhhhh.....Do I want to risk it and hope that Emirates will offer another promo fare to Auckland or do I go ahead with the MAS flight??????????????

New things

Has been a while since I last blogged and a lot has happen in the 1.5 years or so since. Have been trying to look for a job in New Zealand for 2 years plus since I graduated but found none. Didn't help that I came out around the time of the economic downturn. It got to the point where it looked like I had to come back to Malaysia to find a job. My brother had even helped to pass my resume to the sister of one of his friends who works in a media agency to see if she knew anyone who is looking for someone.By God's grace, around mid-October last year, she mentioned to my brother that she was looking for someone and a skype interview was arranged as I was still in New Zealand at that point. About a couple of days or so later, I was offered a job which I accepted. By this point, my dad had already accepted a job offer from a Malaysian company that would see him and my mum move to Papua New Guinea.

However, things didn't work out the way both sides had hoped for. I realised that the media world isn't for me as it required someone who is more extrovert while I was more of an introvert. In April, after a discussion with my manager, I then decided that I would leave at the end of my six months probation period which ended at the end of May. I then started looking for vacancies at market research companies where my background in statistics would be more suited to.

A few days after my last day, my mum arrived back in Malaysia for my brother's wedding in mid-June with my dad arriving back about a couple of weeks later. During a visit to my mum's cousin's place with my mum, we were talking about how I was looking for a job and had applied to some market research agencies. My aunt then asked me which one as she has a friend that knows someone in a couple of agencies. When I mentioned that one of those that I had applied to was Synovate, she said that it was one of the companies that her friend has contact in. About a 2-2.5 weeks after giving my aunt my details, I got a call from Synovate to arrange for an interview and one week after the interview, I was offered the job.

I am truly grateful to God for the doors that he has opened for me and my family over the past few years. I believe that although my first job wasn't the right one for me, it was something that came from God as I believe that He was trying to teach me things that would benefit me in my future jobs. I also believe that God had opened a door for my dad to get a job as he was also looking for a job. God had also provided me with a place to stay upon my return to Malaysia in the form of an offer from my uncle to use one of the spare rooms in his apartment.

God again extended his favour upon me when my mum was helping me look for a place to rent in the newspapers. Having seen a one bedroom apartment near one of my aunt's place in USJ 19, my mum then saw an ad for a studio room in Bangsar for RM 850. The one bedroom apartment in USJ 19 was unfurnished and quite nice but the thought of going through the jam everyday to get to and from work in Midvalley was not very appealing to me. My mum and I then decided to have a look at the room in Bangsar. In the morning that we went to see the room, we got news that the one bedroom apartment had been taken. In hindsight, we went to see the room in Bangsar with a somewhat desperate mindset as my mum was due to leave in about 2.5-3 weeks at that point and I was about to start work and therefore no time to see other places. The room also happened to be near to my workplace. When we saw the place initially, everything looked good and it was fully furnished although there were certain things we didn't quite like. Nevertheless, the agent said that he will arrange for things to be fixed if we decide to take the place. We had also managed to negotiate for the rent to be reduced to RM 800 which was exactly what my budget was. Later that day, we decided to call the agent to arrange to pay a deposit for the place. However, upon closer inspection when we went to the place again to sign the agreement, we found out that things were a little worse off then when we first saw the place. At that point however, we couldn't really back out as we had already paid one month's deposit and we didn't want to lose it. Also, time was running out to find another place that would fit my budget. Having said that, after a little bit of work, the place looks a bit better although I would most likely move on upon the expiry of my one year tenancy agreement.

That's all I have to update for now. Will try to update again in the very near future and not wait for another 1.5 years again

Parachute Music Festival 2010

Just came back from Parachute and I have to say that it has been an awesome
experience. Someone from church decided to organise a big group of over 50 people to head down to the festival since it would give us a cheaper price.

The festival was held in Mystery Creek, Hamilton from 29th Jan until 1st Feb, which happens to be Auckland Anniversary weekend. Amongst the bands that were playing included Rapture Ruckus, Family Force 5, Hillsongs United, Leeland and Parachute Band.

Perhaps the best day was Sunday when it was raining pretty much the whole day yet everyone was out in the mosh pit to listen to Leeland and Hillsongs United. No one was bothered that it was pouring whilst these 2 bands were playing.

Ski trip

Just came back from a ski trip with some ex-ocf'ers....it was a very good trip....left auckland for ohakune on wednesday morning....weather was very good on thursday when we were on the mountains...although it was cold, the snow was fluffy and everyone had fun....praise the Lord that no one suffered major injuries - only some minor bruises from falling.....

headed to rotorua this morning....most of us when for a polynesian spa which was very relaxing...spent about 2-3 hours at the spa before we left for auckland...the trip this time round was very relaxing as we were not rushing to get anywhere at any time....we just took our own time going from one place to another.....

So far.....

It has been about 6 weeks now since I started working at Starbucks....the pay is much better then M'sia and I'm working with quite a nice bunch of people....standards have - perhaps inevitably - changed since I left Starbucks 3+ years ago, which means that I have to adapt to the new standards but that isn't 2 hard since I do know and remember the basics.....

New job

started my new job at starbucks today....

Graduation pictures

I've finally gotten round to posting my graduation pictures....

Me on the red carpet

Me during the march from the university chapel to the city's town hall

My graduation bear and degree

Big day

tomorrow is the big day...my convocation will be in the afternoon, with a procession to start off the day....will try to post some pictures of the big day some time tomorrow or the day after

Woohooo

My results are finally out and I relatively well...got a B and an A-....that means that I'll finally be graduating in the third week of September....

On another note, I got a new toy in the form of a Dell XPS M1530....

It's finally over....

I've sat for and finished what should be my final undergrad exam paper about 4 hours ago....Results will start to come out in about 15 days time but I don't expect my results to be out for around 2 and half to 3 weeks time....More on this to come.....