Overcoming Obstacles and Others: A Collection

Today I was invited to a luncheon talk by Sir Chris Bonington at The Westin. Yes, one of the perks of the job is getting invitations to the best places and the best events. It was organized by the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce. The talk was called Overcoming Obstacles, where the mountaineer shares his experience when he climbed Mount Everest aged 50 back in 1985, and he drew parallels between his adventures and the challenges that we managers face at the workplace. I find the talk very inspiring. It made me want to find mountains for me to climb as well, on scale with my experience (read: naught) of course. But then, Sir Chris is the type of guy who says things like "I was lucky I only broke some ribs" and "Mount Everest is not the most challenging mountain for me". Let's see, I heard someone mention Gunung Jerai and Gunung Ayam just now after the talk. Are those climbable for office rats like me?

The food was good, for starters we had pastries and mushroom and chicken soup. The main course was baked fish in cream sauce and some greens. Okay, I'm not Anthony Bourdain, so I don't really know what fish or what greens. The desert was passion fruit sorbet with mango sauce and some pastry thing with cream. But of course, someone like me likes his food in sumptous volumes. Haute cuisine is nice, but nasi goreng ayam at the mamak nearby the office is the definitive feel-good food.

The nasi lemak stalls behind Pizza Hut nearby Menara Genesis in Bukit Bintang sells some of the best nasi lemak in town. I feel like dropping by everyday after work now that I've tasted it once last Thursday.

I watched Jangan Pandang Belakang last night at One Utama, with several colleagues. Honestly, the movie hasn't got much of a plot. However, the scenes are quite disturbing on their own. It should have been called Jangan Pandang Belakang: a collection of horror moments. Yes, I think it is worth watching. Pierre Andre is a good actor and Intan Ladyana needs to work harder to make herself appear more natural on screen. Jalaluddin Hassan, well, I think someone should just shoot him. He can't act, he can only do the Dato'/CEO role and a pitiful one at that too. Listen to him giving a financial analysis of his company in the movie. Kejap August in in 3Q, kejap in 4Q, I would quit my job if that's my boss talking incoherently like that.

I am going off tangent very quickly, which I tend to do quite a lot as well.

Anyway, have some more work to do and calls to make. Life goes on as usual in my little corner of the office. What life? This is life, my friend.