Ervan’s Weltanschauung

I like my office. Granted, location wise, it’s not as convenient as KLCC. I have to change lines at Masjid Jamek to go to my office, another addition of 5 minutes of journey time for me. It’s a small price to pay.

Food is better. With more variety, all within walking distance. And cheaper, much cheaper than KLCC.

The air cond could be better though. It can get colder than London in the middle of winter. It’s funny seeing the consultants in the office wearing jackets and yeaps, jumpers! The fellow wearing the jumper would be me….

One thing cool about the office though is the lift. I was in a rush to go down to meet my ex-colleague for lunch. And being a lil inpatient, I kept on pressing on the down button. Fortunately the lift arrived soon after, but the announcement was a lil bit different. The lift (with a lady’s voice) actually apologised for keeping me waiting for the lift.

Hmmm.

How did? I told myself, nevermind, food and lunch is more important.

Later I found out that the lift can be rather intellligent. It seems that if you accidently pressed the wrong floor button, you can actually cancel it by pressing that button twice.

Woah. That is so cool, even the Twin Towers lifts are not that intelligent!

KL is a beautiful city. Despite its chaos, the traffic jams, and the sometimes rude citizens, KL is beautiful.
I was rather pissed at this one lady who choose to jump the line at the Masjid Jamek LRT station. She is pretty, and sweet, and well dressed, but yet, choose to jump the queue. Of course I did not let her, but the person behind me gave in.

It is sad. Some people can be so inconsiderate. So selfish. And think that they can get away with it. Believe me, these people won’t get far in life.

It’s nice though, to be able to see a rainbow as I reached Universiti Station. It’s not as vivid as the one I saw ages ago at the PETRONAS Twin Towers. Today’s rainbow however is the second one I saw in a week. A week earlier, I saw a very beautiful rainbow at Taman Jaya LRT.

A beautiful sight indeed. Reminded me when I was a boy. Always fascinated when I see one, and my astonishment when my sis taught me how to make my own rainbow. Today, I could not resist a rainbow creation every once in a while when I wash my cars. I am still fascinated with rainbows today. How about you?

The company organised a “flyback” dinner tonight. About 80 percent of the company’s Malaysian based employees came back to their nest today. A short speech by the Country Manager, a quick roll call of the new entrants, and can you believe it? When my name was called, the Country Manager informed everyone that I am employee number 100.

Wow, that’s a milestone. So now, everyone will remember me as Employee Number 100 or rather Mr Century… hahaha.

Getting to know everyone is going to be tough. There were some who I could not get to know, yet. But the time will come, when I need their assistance, or when they need mine. The funny thing is,I managed to get to know the mischivieous group. Lovely!

Working in SC certainly has some compressed privileges…..

But after watching the first episode,

I am hooked. The start was interesting enough, Meredith Grey woke up, late for her first day as an intern, and had a one night stand with someone she just met. Naively thinking that will be the last time she meet him. At least they exchanged names, their first name. But since this is television, and life can be so interesting at times.

She drove to work, and immediately it clicked to me. Hold on, the road’s seems familiar. Oh My GOd! She was driving north on Alaskan Way! That’s Seattle! Okay, I got to watch it…..

A quick introduction, all new interns, and the Chief tells them it’s gonna be a long hard journey ahead of them. Especially for the four, Meredith, Cristina Yang (who is obviously the kiasu one), Izzie Stevens (she’s a model! hot!) and George O’Malley got Nazi as their surgical resident. Oh yeah, Nazi’s real name is Miranda Bailey. And yes, the Nazi is a she.

Plenty of aerial shots of Seattle later, Meredith was assigned to a patient who is a beauty pageant. Guess who is attending? Yeah, the person who she had a one night stand with…. and I could not stop laughing. Oh yeah, let me add that he is also technically, her boss..

Like what Meredith said, she’s screwed…

Pleasantly flawed…. and wickedly entertaining, it’s good to know that I got another show to watch apart from CSI….

Is it a sequel of Sepet? You can say so, and it depends on your interpretation which rely on whether you stay back until the end of the credits….

Be warned though, there will be spoilers once you finish reading this sentence.

Gubra started with a cheerful and playful wife of a Muslim cleric preparing breakfast for her husband before he goes to the mosque for the Dawn prayers. Here, Yasmin’s trademark of inserting short stories is apparent when she showed the other side of the Muslim cleric who cared for a stray dog by patting it and instructing the dog to stay away from the road.

I noticed that some of the audience expressed surprise that a Muslim cleric is actually touching a dog. A couple too had a short discussion that it was okay to touch the dog as long it was not wet. I won’t go into details, but beyond the scene, I see Yasmin potraying that as a God fearing human, we should care for all living things. Besides, Allah did not say thou shall not touch a dog. But I am digressing.

The scene moved to the other side of town, a scene between Orked and her husband. After a quick show of affection between husband and wife, we were then informed that Orked’s dad, Pak Atan is dying. As Orked and her hubby rush back home, her hubby pacified Orked that everything will be okay as he will take good care of her. Or so he said….

One thing I liked about Yasmin, she can always put in subtle sneer on Malaysian way of life. And she captures the Malaysian way of life like how Datuk Lat frames it in his cartoons. The grieved family at the hospital, waiting for Pak Atan , the usage of the word “Babi”, and the madman in hospital who actually showed his butt on screen. That’s nothing compared to the number of ladies wearing skimpy clothings that sometimes do not cover her ass well….

As the camera rolls, you noticed that there are two parallel stories running in Gubra. One of Orked and her family. Orked’s marriage seemed happy in the beginning, with a caring and well to do husband who is good with his words. While waiting for her dad in the hospital, she met a piece from her past, Jason’s brother, Alan and Jason’s family. Here, we finally know the truth that Jason died in Sepet. A chance meeting, which later lead Orked to find out of her husband’s infidelity. And like what happened to Jason, it was hard for Orked to forgive her husband for being unfaithful. Even this time, she could not find it in her heart to forgive her husband who has broken his vows.

Orked captured it well in her line “I promised that I’ll stay. My father promised that he will never let anyone hurt me. Jason promised that he will never leave me.” Deep meaning, but It’s all words, and promises, which are easily broken….

Away from the sedate life of Orked is the Muslim cleric and wife. They have a very happy marriage. Although they live on the other side of town, which are full of seedy characters. I enjoyed Yasmin’s potrayal of this couple, who are pious, and yet are non-judgemental of others. Even when they know that their neighbours work as prostitutes. Life is about choices, and yes, these prostitutes are humans. One of them even have a son whom she adores lovingly…

Again, the acting stands out here, and the way the scenes were captured. The playful banter between husband and wife. The daily conversation between neighbours that is sadly lost in the urban jungle we call Kuala Lumpur. Yasmin captured the emotions when the single mother prostitute found out that she’s HIV positive. There were no words, just acting, and clever camera movements.

In the end, Gubra is about having lived life. Life is not easy. Life is about choices. Life is about learning, learning from your and other people’s mistakes Again, it’s your choice whether you want to better yourself or keep repeating the mistakes. The pace might be slow but, Gubra is a film that is best enjoyed like reading a favourite novel on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Gubra speaks in everybody’s language. Especially those who has been touched and hurted by love.

Quoting Albert Einstein

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle”

Wise, he is. And if you stayed on after the credits. Life is full of surprises too…. and miracles.

Well, it seems Ewan been broadcasting to the UCL’s Information Management Alumni about me starting with a new job. Thank you Ewan. And for those ex UCL who happened to surf into this blog, hello ppl! I am Ervan, UCL, Class of 1999.

Two days in the new company….

My first day was great, as I met up with my Country Manager who welcomed me aboard. In a short while, most of the new recruits felt like they are at home in the company. We were briefed about the company, the do’s and don’ts, and a lot of other facts that will help us to adapt in the new environment. And I already know my counselor, well, temporary until further notice.

Slowly but surely, I am adapting to the company’s culture. I did not regret leaving PETRONAS. In fact, I should have done it much earlier. I do miss my PETRONAS colleagues though.

Today we were briefed by one of the longest serving employee. Cool lady, and she has done many projects including one that had her at Paris for two years. Oh la la! And you know what? She’s an ex PETRONAS staff too…

No wonder I kinda feel at home..