Up in the Air....

I nearly missed the flight that morning. Perhaps due to staying late, packing all the stuff and leaving behind anything less useful...Want to travel light. That morning, when I woke up late at 10:30, the panic attack struck me... just frozen don't know what to do first. I want to do everything as fast as possible, ended up nothing done. My heart beating fast and I running around here and there... Luckily, I have packed most of thing earlier. My experience told me, if you ever been hit by panic attack, just relaxed, take deep breath, Istighfar and cool shower...You'll gradually get hold of yourself. And when you don't feel sure you have packed everything and felt something missing... you did leave something. My tiny mobile simcard become Athens permanent resident....Parakalo

I was relieved, I had plenty of time when I reached Eleftherios Venizelos, Athens International Airport. Bought some last minute inexpensive souvenir....

The flight would take about three hours to Doha then another 12 hour to KLIA. Killing the time in between, I open the entertainment display and started playing Sudoku... till I reached level that I couldn't complete... and the touch display was quite irritating...too many people playing with Sudoku probably...

Went through the movie list that was not so latest.... I try "Up in the Air" probably because it's played by George Clooney...Most of you I guessed have watched this movie before and know the story all about... For me, it's the right choice of movie during that moment, even though the headphone does not work very well and jet engine sound most of the time, just overwhelmed the dialog..

A story about Ryan, a professional living his life in suitcase and laptop, flying across US and spend most of his time on air....his job with a resource consultancy company is basically to fire people out of job and deliver the separation package... this movies most likely portraying the current economic situation and job uncertainty in US... You can be working for 10-20 years, hardworking, loyal, productive during your productive age, never commit any misconduct,.. but when the management decide to lay off due low turnover of whatever reason... they will do it, with the shortest notice and hiring consultancy company to convey the execution decree, with professional way of course...

Ryan job in dealing with the peoples the company gonna lay off require him to be calm, professional, in control, empathetic and compassionate... And the two last skills, he need to do it skillfully false...Basically he's interest is only his jet-setter lifestyle, single, non-commitment and air travel mileage prize...And when a young executive try introducing on-line video conferencing method in doing the job, Ryan felt his lifestyle will be threatened...no more air travel mileage and luxury hotel life....So he decide to coach and train the young executive, Natalie, on how things was done in real world.. I don't want to elaborate further.. you can catch up on wiki or just watch the movie...

When we do thing or say thing with false compassion and fake empathetic..... then wait when then will come a time, for retribution to teach you a lesson....

And sadly for Ryan, he has to compassion himself when he found out that the lady he's meeting all this while, is someone not too far different from himself, in term of falsify the perception of others feeling....what goes around will come around...

and after that, Ryan becoming a better man,..less selfish, give thing he want the most to people who really deserved, write good recommendation for his colleague... and still up in the air, but probably with different perspective...

As said earlier, this movies is about the current job uncertainty in US..... and probably want to shed some positive light and enlighten the spectator, so we can better understand and show genuine empathy to anyone who has been unfortunately taken back from their livelihood....

I really don't like the dialog "I am sorry to inform you that your current position is no longer available in this company..."

I prefer (taken from wiki)

"Tonight most people will be welcomed home by jumping dogs & squealing kids. Their spouses will ask about their day. Tonight they'll sleep. The stars will wield forth from their daytime hiding places, and one of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over."

Mogok umum sistem pengangkutan esok ...27/4/10

Hari aku pulang lewat sikit sebab ada banyak yang perlu diselesaikan. Setiba di hotel, masuk pintu yg berpusing2, Mr security say hello. Waktu di dalam lif yg kecil, rasanya muat orang sebesar aku cuma 3 orang, terpampang nota bertulis "Mogok umum sistem pengangkutan di Athens pada hari Selasa 27/4, bermula jam 11 dan berakhir jam 17". Gawat ni, sebelum ni ada jugak mogok, tetapi hanya melibatkan pemandu taksi. Aku tak naik sangat taksi, sebab tambangnya agak mahal... kalau naik hari2.. boleh bankrap aku.

Sewaktu pulang dari Carrefour yg tak jauh dr Hotel, aku bertanya dengan pekerja Hotel, mogok ni akan melibatkan sistem Metro tak (mcm LRT dan Komuter la)? Dia menjawab, mogok ini akan melibatkan semua sistem pengangkutan. Aduh, kacau.... setiap hari aku harus menaiki 3 metro untuk sampai ke ibupejabat pelanggan... Omonia ke Monastiraki... kemudian tukar ke Metro line 2, Monastiraki ke Dukissis Plankentisis... dari situ tukar naik urban railway (yang seperti KLIA rail) ke Kiffisias... dan seterusnya berjalan dlm 200m ke opis customer. Perjalanan mengambil masa 45 minit hingga ke 1 jam. Nampak gaya, aku kene turun awal esok... jam 7 lebih dah kena keluar rasanya. Dan waktu pulang, pasti padat macam sardin.

Minggu lepas waktu aku ke Syntagma (salah satu stesen Metro yg terbesar) ada kesan2 demo dan pendemo yg berkhemah di situ... berhadapan bangunan parlimen. Ekonomi negara ini semakin parah. Dan dengar khabar, pemerintah minta bantuan IMF... dan seperti biasa, IMF akan kenakan pelbagai syarat yg menyusahkan rakyat.....menaikkan kadar cukai, kerja lebih masa, pengurangan perbelanjaan, pemotongan subsidi dan bantuan tertentu.... Rakyat di sini marah kerana pemerintah yg terdahulu berbelanja terlampau boros dan banyak berlaku korupsi, terutama sewaktu projek Olimpik Athens. Wang pinjaman digunakan sewenang2nya dan akhirnya akibat kerajaan yg tak cekap dan amanah, rakyat yg terpaksa menderita. Hutang belanja olimpik sampai sekarang belum selesai.

Jurang antara yg kaya dan miskin keterlaluan... sikaya minum di cafe2 mewah, naik kereta mewah, .. si miskin meminta sedekah di sana sini. Penagih dadah dan org yg tiada rumah ramai... tidur di pinggir2 jalan, di kaki lima bangunan... di malam yg sangat sejuk dan berangin begini. Agaknya kalau Aristotle atau Socrates boleh melihat ini semua, pasti mereka akan sedih.....

Bila aku berbicara dgn org tempatan di sini , mereka sudah cukup muak dan tak ambil kisah lagi tentang siapa nak mentadbir negara......sistem pendidikan mereka merosot, graduan yg keluar tidak mendapat kerja....

Dan esok sistem pengangkutan awam akan mogok... mungkin kerana membantah kenaikan cukai atau pemotongan faedah. Baru2 ini di ibupejabat pelanggan, mereka mengedarkan flyer dr kesatuan... diberi aku ambil, walaupun sepatah haram aku tak faham tulisan berformula matematik. Ada taklimat dari kesatuan, aku dok situ buat2 macam faham, sebab dah tak ada tempat lain. Isikandungannya, majikan akan memotong bonus sebulan sempena Krismas dan sebulan lagi untuk Easter. Lazimnya mereka akan mendapat 12+2 bulan gaji setahun.

Bila memikirkan ini, aku risau... pabila telaga minyak di tanahair kering nanti....

...Foto diperbesarkan dr posting sebelum ini...

Foto ini aku perbesarkan dr posting sebelum ini, nampak jelas anjing putih tu duduk atas tangga, seperti ada kecurigaan terhadap 2 orang asing ni...

Anjing penjaga batu

Salam semua, ... sudah terlalu lama aku tak mencoretkan apa2 di dalam ruangan ini. Seakan2 sudah mati, hilang punca dan kering idea. Sebenarnya, waktu aku ke Vietnam kali kedua tempohari, aku berniat nak menulis.. tapi hangat2 tahi ayam... atau mungkin tanggungjawab tugasan lebih menuntut tumpuan...

Aku sekarang berada di bumi Yunani, kira2 sudah 3 minggu. InsyaAllah hujung bulan ini, aku pulang. Orang kata menarik di sini, memang benar kalau untuk maksima 2 minggu pertama... dan kalau datang untuk hanya melancung atau untuk seronok2. Datang kerana untuk melaksanakan tugasan... ada pahit dan manisnya. Sementara aku kat sini, baik juga guna peluang hari minggu untuk melihat2 bumi yg terkenal hebat dengan mitos dan dongeng dewa-dewa, dan sejarah awal tamaddun manusia.

Hari Sabtu lepas, teman sekerja aku dr UK, mengajak aku untuk jalan2 ke pantai Voula A'. Aku pun tak tahu buat apa kalau hari minggu, asyik jalan ke Plaka je, bosan.. penuh pelancung. Kami pun bertemu jam 10.30 am di stesyen Syntagma.. dari situ kami menaiki tram ke perhentian terakhir... dan harus berjalan kaki lagi sekitar 10 minit utk sampai ke pantai tersebut. Komen aku tentang pengankutan tram ni... ia suatu pengangkutan awam yg sangat bagus, mungkin kurang cepat dari keretapi bawah tanah, tapi cekap dan mampu membawa muatan yg banyak. Kenapa Malaysia tak perkenalkan sistem tram ni? tak perlu buat rel terowong bawah tanah, tak perlu buat rel atas jejambat mcm LRT... tapi menggunakan rel di sebelah jalan biasa. Aku rasa belanja untuk bina sistem tram ni lebih murah dari sistem macam LRT.

Pantainya berbatu2, tak banyak berpasir macam pantai kat tempat kita.... airnya jerneh sekali. Kalau bukan kerana cuaca dingin dan berangin, nak jugak aku mandi sekejap. Ada jugak orang tempatan yg mandi, tapi tak ramai. Mungkin musim panas nanti, ramai la ikan duyung kut.

Masa aku nak turun tangga ke arah satu pantai di mana kawan aku berada, ada seekor anjing putih besar... menaiki tangga dr arah pantai. Aku bagi laluan kat dia, manalah tahu nanti dia nak gesel2 kat kaki aku, kes naya. Aku tengok di mulutnya, ada sebiji batu agak besar. Anjing ni rupanya menggonggong sebijik batu, dan dibawa ke atas. Aku turun bawah, berjumpa kawan aku... dan dia tengah sibuk mencari2 batu yg menarik. Katanya dia nak bawa balik ke UK.

Dia minta aku mengambil fotonya... sementara di duduk di tangga, aku keluarkan kamera dan terus tangkap gambar berlatarkan pemandangan yg cantek....dan ada seekor anjing putih di belakang, merenung kami. Aku rasa anjing tu syak kawan aku curi batu kat pantai tu. Kami beredar menuju ke arah lain. Dan dari jauh, aku lihat anjing putih tadi mencari2 sesuatu di dalam air... dia cari batu yg kawan aku ambil mungkin.