Quarter-end Madness Again.....

It's quarter end again..... Arghhh...

I kept telling myself that I would like to write more positive stuff instead of whining and complaining about work. Anyways, it's quarter 3 ending this month and I'm going tremendous stress at work again. Everyone at work talks about forecast number, shipment and invoicing or revenue maximization. Big BIG sigh for me....

If only everyone will do their part well, things will not be that difficult towards the end. But I guess everyone will only look out for themselves and do what it takes to get what they want with the least effort spent. It has been more than a month I put myself thru rough patch, just to push my counter part in Philippines to do what they need to do. There have been progress but it has not been easy on my end. I have to go all the way to escalate people, picked fight with people, make tons of noise, just to get things done. This is so not me. I hate putting people thru difficult moments at work but I don't have much choice. It's either I wait for it to explode on me directly or push it thru to make it happen. Sigh....this is what draining me out in this job.

Anyways, I will have a new role to pick up starting August. I hope that slowly I can move out from my current role and focus full time on the new role. Finger cross it won't be anywhere near to what I need to do to perform in this current role....

Pray hard...!!!!

My carrot cake...

It has been a while since I pen down my thoughts here.  I have been pretty busy with my "crazy" work. Things has been rather out of control, not only affecting myself but the whole team itself  a lot of changes are hitting us as I'm writing this. Our WW VP and Regional VP have changed. It's just a matter of time when it finally hit us who is in the working level. Anyways, I'll have another separate posting on this. Now I would like to talk about my first successful masterpiece.

I attended a baking class in Jun, that's where I learnt how to make Carrot cake, Chocolate Larva cake and Oatmeal cookie. Among the 3, personally I prefer carrot cake coz it is the closest to Fruit cake. Yes, I lovessss fruit cake, especially those with a bit of rum and tons of fruits and nuts. Anyways, my first attempt was during mid of Jun when I went back to my hometown to celebrate Father's Day. I made a couple of mistakes as below:

1. I wanted to get orange but I got grapefruit instead. Bummer right???

2. I didn't have time to get mixed fruits and raisins, so the only fruity stuff I put in was cranberry, which its not fruity enough

3. The walnut that I bought was of low quality, hence the heavy smell of oil (not too sure how to describe it)

With the above hiccups, I did manage to craft out a lower-than-average-but-edible carrot cake for my family. At least my brother likes it....:) See for yourself.

1st attempt: Virgin Carrot Cake.....

Well, this week was my second attempt. I made sure I get orange, good quality nuts and tons of sweet raisins and mixed dry fruits. Since it was a holiday on Tuesday (15-Jul), I tried to bake the cake again. It took me 2 - 3 hours to make that cake. But I was quite satisfied with the results. I let a few people try and this is what they commented:

RC and bf: The texture is a bit too moist but acceptable. Taste is pretty fruity and flavorful, however I can still add on more sweetness if I like. The only drawback lies in the frosting. The cream cheese frosting is a bit too strong and it has a strong taste of oil.

AK: Taste like fruit cake. This attempt is much nicer than the first one. Love it !!

Mariah: The texture is delicate, light and moist. It has a very fruity and nutty taste with cranberries, raisins, walnut and almond nuts inside. The layer of cheese is just right, not too overwhelming but managed to gives a creamy smooth flavor to the overall cake. 

My personal opinion: I am quite happy this the result. I like the rich flavor of mixed fruits with raisins and nuts. To top it up, orange zest and a small cup of hand squeeze orange juice just took the whole fruity taste to the next level. Best of all, I think the texture is moist enough but I could make it better....next time *wide smile*

2nd attempt: a more presentable result

Complimentary photo by Mariah.....Thanks for the artistic look....

First Baking Class....

Yesterday I attended a baking class together with a few colleagues. It's a 4 hours class whereby we get to learn how to make "Chocolate Larva Cake", "Carrot Cake" and "Oatmeal Raisins Cookie".

It was indeed my first official baking class that I have ever attended. I have baked a few batch of cookies before but never once I got it the way I want them to be. Sadly...

We were taught the usage of each utensil and the right technique to use for the different task. It was indeed a very informative class for me. So much to learn and so many things that I don't know.

We started with chocolate larva cake, followed by carrot cake and lastly oatmeal raisins cookies. I had so much fun and laughter during the class and the session was indeed very interactive.  You can see the passion and strong interests of other "student" there,  all eager to know more than what was taught. Questions and suggestions were thrown at each other, not only to the chef. Guess this is what my "sister" was telling me the other day - passion. We spoke about the difference between passion and interests, guess I can tell the difference now.

Like they say, time flies when you are having fun. By 5.30 PM, we were done with all 3 recipes. I can see that everyone were very satisfied with their masterpiece and we packed back those pastry we made. By 6 pm, we took a photo with the chef and we went off with a determination to try out what we have learnt, including me. Partly I know what went wrong with the cookie I made before.  I bet the next batch of cookies that I am about to make will turn out to be exactly like how I want them to be......I hope....

Fat Boy Burger....

Yesterday I tried out Fatboy burger for the very first time. Ever since I developed a sudden lactose intolerance,  I have stopped eating cheesey, creamy and milky stuff. That includes burger, pizza, sundae, chocolate and other dairy products. Sad kan....

My "sister", Mariah did mentioned to me before about this burger place. He tried it and he loved it. He commented that the patty is juicy, tender and the taste is just right. I was tempted but whenever i think about the after effect of eating dairy stuff, I scraped away the idea....

As me and my partner was deciding what to eat for dinner, suddenly he suggested this place and I was in the mood to try out something new. So off we go to One City mall at Subang USJ. We ordered one "Whimpy" burger (beef patty with bacon and sunny side up) and one some chilly corn chip (can't recall the exact name). When the food came, I was truly satisfied with the taste and the food texture. The chilly dip thingy was really good, not spicy but flavourful. As for the burger, one bite on the combination of juicy beef patty, bacon and fried egg with black sesame bun immediately send my taste bud up the wall. Yumzzzzzz. ....

It was indeed a great meal and both of us enjoyed the meal very much.  Something inspired me after the meal. I think I wanna try to find some burger recipe and try it out.

Ya ya...lately I have been in the mood to explore cooking and bakery. But one thing for sure, I think I will definitely go back to Fatboy burger place again.

Yumz Yumzzzzzz. ....

Lazy Work Day....

I woke up this morning, feeling dizzy and I nearly fell down a couple of time. I'm pretty sure it is not due to lack of sleep coz I slept around 11 the night before.

I took my shower and I made my way to office. Had team meeting, presented our team initiative and here I am, sitting at my work desk, waiting for the time to go back. Currently, my mind is completely blank. I can't focus on anything at all. I have been staring at the same Excel sheet for the past 35 mins and I'm not able to come up with any simple/basic analysis at all.

Oh well, don't think I would like to further stress out my head. I will just lay low and wait for the time to go home....

Tik tok....tik tok......

Last Day of Quarter End.....

The day has finally come...

Tomorrow will be the last day in Q2 closure day where it's the final opportunity for us to revenue any backlog orders we have in the sales pipeline. Since last week, the pressure cooker has start cooking and both me and colleague (also my partner in crime) had went thru a very tough day at work. Daily review meeting with country MD and his sales folks, periodic updates on numbers and tons of data crunching.

Man.....it is REALLY tough handling questions from people of that level. I would considered myself lucky because personally I felt that they are being tolerance with my inexperience and lack of knowledge performance. Well, all I could do is to try my best and do what I can. Perhaps that is what holding thm back from pressing more out from me....

Frankly, I can't wait for tomorrow to be over. Then I could finally rest in a more peaceful manner. It has been a while since the last time I put myself thru this enormous stress. I know tomorrow ill be very tough but what motivates me is the fact that, I have less than 24 hours of pain and the following day would be a public holiday.... Woo..hoo....can't wait...

It's almost 12AM now and my eyes are so heavy. I took actifed for my nose block and I think the medicine's effect is slowly hitting me. My mind are completely blank (not pretty sure how to construct a proper sentences now....) and my body feel so tired....

I know I have not started to describe what causes my frustration and stress. I think I have to do that other time. Ok folks.... Good night for now.......

Pray for a smooth flowing day for my tomorrow.... Ciao

Staying late in the office.....

Today I was at the office with another colleague till 11pm, crunching numbers and clearing backlog orders that we have in the order management pipeline. Yes, that's my new role when I joined back this company and frankly I'm not enjoying it...totally. I'm grateful to see my colleagues and I'm happy to be back to a MNC which is purely a MNC by nature, not just MNC by name. 

In this new role, we shared the same pain with sales folk, trying to hit month end, quarter end and financial end sales forecast but then, we are not on commission base, even if they hit their forecast target. We are just merely an operation folks who are helping them to achieve their goal. I know, I sounded negative tonight...but what's new?

This morning I had a tough time handling questions from the country MD. No matter what I do, to him it's not good enough or it's not fast enough. It's always not good enough. I knew for a fact the his job is to push people to get what he wants. i respect that and i don't blame him, tho I bitched about him all the time. The truth is, in my honest opinion, the one that i am pissed off would be our management team. i personally think that our management team did not helped us to set the right expectation to our business stakeholders, especially my manager's manager. In front of them, he smiled and agreed to all their request. At the back he told us to push back and managed our stakeholders. Hypocrite right?

Anyways, it's almost 12am now and I'm sitting down on the bed, writing this post while waiting for my hair to dry before I sleep. Deep down I am counting down the last remaining days in April because I'm really looking forward towards May when all ths quarter end craze is over. I'm still wondering how long will I stay in this job? One thing for sure, if my colleague resign, my letter of resignation would be next in the queue. I don't think I can manage this portfolio all by myself. Today, she is fronting and shielding all unnecessary bullets away from hitting me. Otherwise, I would have been long dead.

Guess time to sleep now. 7 more working nightmares to go....

Wish me luck......