Any Time Now...

Almost everyone I bump into at the office keeps asking me the same question: "So when are you due?"

When I tell them my due date is 13th April, the response is always, "Oh, any time now then."

Seriously, I think they should put in the Project schedule as one of the major milestones: Senior Field Instrument Engineer EDD.

I had estimated that towards the end of March things would have slowed down for me at the office, leaving me with enough time on my hands to blog, and pick up where I left off with 'What to Expect when you're Expecting' (which is somewhere in month 4 or 5, so that's a lot to catch up). At my 36th week check-up the baby's already engaged in the pelvis with an estimated weight of 2.4 kg, much smaller than Nuaim was at that stage, but a good 600g up from the previous two weeks. A week later, the weight hasn't changed but my cervix has already dilated by 1 cm, probably due to the fact that I've been here, there and everywhere, much to the distress of everyone else around me.

Today, despite my resolve to work right up to 'Labour Day', I've decided to stay at home. Correction - Hubby decided I should stay at home and get some rest, so like the good wife I agreed to do his bidding.

It doesn't stop my mind from going into hyperdrive though.

I've realised that lately my body is having a really tough time catching up with my brain, especially with so much mental stimulation on offer. Which is probably the thing that lead me to this state of lethargy.

First of course, there was the yearly appraisal that gripped everyone in high fever. Everyone knows it takes no small amount of brainpower and creativity to make the most mundane task read like a really crucial contribution to the company's growth, just to ensure you get that extra salary increment and performance bonus. Never mind that it causes the real value-adding/ profit-making work to come to a standstill for the whole month of March. Finding the right balance between having multiple objectives (to make it look like you did a lot of work, therefore are indispensible) and having delivered a really outstanding job (after all, too many mediocre results ain't gonna get you an overall rating of 'Exceeding Expectations' in the end) is something I'm still trying to figure out, even after 4 review cycles. The thing is I'm proud of the little short-term things that I did, because I think I did them very well, whereas the longer-term jobs was just a matter of going through the motions for me. Although some may argue that my motions are better than most in my current grade. The only reason of course being that with the new job grade structure, despite two fast-track promotions in the past, I am now no different from a junior engineer who's only left uni a year ago.

Then there was the Project Managers' Forum at Marriott Putrajaya last week. I had already planned since a month ago to attend the Forum, partly via some encouragement from a very senior person who had roped me in to help prepare some speeches for the VIP's (now I know what Rob Lowe's character in 'The West Wing' feels like), and partly because I knew the project wouldn't mind me being absent for a few days, since most if not all my deliverables were already completed. Besides, you don't always get to stay in a really posh hotel on company expenses. What happened in the end though, was that I actually had to stay attentive throughout the Forum to jot down the important points of several speeches and presentations, to be compiled into some report.

Okaylah, whatever.

Anyway, in the week leading up to the Forum, I was assigned at the very last minute to the Technical Evaluation team for a package that I'm not entirely familiar with. Yeah, yeah, I know I helped to write the Evaluation criteria, but that was only because I was standing in for my LE at the time (and I made sure this was recorded in my appraisal) and my colleague who prepared the specs was overburdened with other work. In the end I don't know if my evaluation actually bears any great impact to who gets the job. It still wasn't finished when I left for Putrajaya, and I still have a couple of bids to look at. Plus the evaluation actually takes place in Tower 1.

As I was rushing across the skybridge on Friday 17th, I received an e-mail asking me to be in Subang Jaya for some sort of Management Offsite Session right after the Forum, subject 'to the (Company) President's final approval.' What? I may have to rush from Putrajaya to the other side of town, and you can't even decide whether you really need me to go or not? Add to that, my appraisal form had to be finalised by the very same day, and I was still chasing former Project Managers for a performance rating.

Fortunately, said PM also attended the Forum, so after a so-called 'Networking Dinner' where I sat with all-too-familiar faces, I was able to finalise the appraisal and send it off to the office via Hubby who consented to playing 'Mat Despatch'. Of course, this was after a Saturday which was half-spent playing a waiting game at the hospital for a 10-minute check-up, and ended with a visit to see a relative in Kajang who had to be hospitalised a week before her sister's engagement; and a Sunday when I wanted to relax but for Nuaim who, for some strange reason, stayed awake throughout the day despite waking up at 7 a.m, a Tumble Tots session at 10.30 and a swim around 4 pm after checking in at the Marriott. By Maghrib I was almost screaming my head off for Hubby to take him back to Mak's house like we planned, just so I didn't have to keep picking him up whenever he fell off the armchair after an attempt to play Superman. Hubby, of course, believes in letting Nuaim fall from high places so that he'll learn from consequences. What gives him that idea I'll never know, as he himself has never learnt to put on the seat belt or drive within the speed limit despite the numerous traffic summonses.

Anyway, the Forum itself was very good, there were some really amazing speakers (and even more brilliant session chairmen) but the hotel, I feel, has slackened somewhat.

I received the call on Monday evening confirming my selection for this Offsite workshop in Subang, and please can you attend the briefing on Tuesday afternoon? I tell them, in the politest way possible, that this was impossible, but that I'll see them on Wednesday morning instead since the session itself only starts on Wednesday afternoon.

So I did get to go home on Tuesday night, and despite my best intentions to make it to the office on Wednesday morning just to see how things were getting along without me, I decided to stay back home till 10 a.m. when I had to go off to the Saujana Resort in Subang.

Right, next is the Workshop. My mystery disappearance from the office that led everyone to thinking I had already started my maternity leave. For some reason I feel the need to write down every little detail of what happened while not disclosing several confidential issues, so bear with me. Or stop reading right now. But this is almost one week's worth of blogging so it's a very long post. Oh sod it, I'll just keep it as another entry.