It’s true that I work long hours almost every night. It’s true that I have to deal with a lot of hearings @ trial in a week. It’s true that despite all the hearings & trials, I still have to come back to the office at the end of the day to revert to client’s query in email, to send legal opinion @ advice, to draft agreements, contracts, etc. And it doesn’t help that 1 of my team mate (a very very senior fella) who just joined our team has left the firm after just about 2 weeks & 2 days. *sigh*

Oh well… That’s practising & specializing in Employment Law here, I guess. It does help that the firm that I works in is always trying to find time to play (despite the workload & exploding datelines). Some time soon, our firm is going to have the “Sandwich Making & Sandwich Eating Competition”. That would be fun, I guess. Haha… And of course, I am not going to participate :p

2 weeks backs we had dart competition. That was fun! Surprisingly, my team was among the winning teams. Hee… The losers had to finish drinking 1 glass of beer (only! - Yeah, they should have drank the whole tower! :p)

Oh well… Those are the things that lawyers do to make themselves happy, I guess. Hence, the principle (sort of - the unwritten ones) in the firm - No one works late on Friday night… (Since we’re coming in over the weekends anyway… Hee).

I am on leave tomorrow (10 April 2009) & on Monday (13 April 2009) as well! I think I deserve to go on leave. First, because it is Good Friday tomorrow and it is Easter on Sunday! Second, of course I just need a break from work! *bleh*

On Saturday night, I’m going to have barbeque party (sort of) with my boyfriend and his cousins, aunt and maybe some of their friends. That would be fun! It’s our pre-Easter celebration. I’m really looking forward to that. Which reminds me, I have to go and pre-order that cute jelly cake that my nephew had for his 1st birthday. Hee… Yeah, the difference now is that we want it for a pre-Easter cum someone’s 28th birthday! Hee… A cute jelly cake will do the event just fine! Don’t cha think so? Haha…

No, a lawyer is not all serious and dull… Not all prim and proper. A lawyer always go and have fun in his or her own way too! (As of most normal people would do). It’s just that the idea of fun would differ between individuals, of course.

And guess how does my office desktop looks like? I bet most people would imagine that a lawyer will have the “Windows Wallpaper” on their desktop with a lot of unfiled saved documents there! Well, not mine… *bleh* I do have some unfiled saved documents… Hee… But I never use a default windows wallpaper for mine! Hee… Here’s how my office desktop looks like:

Yes, that’s a picture of a Yorkie!!! A cute Yorkshire Terrier! But no, it’s not mine… *sigh* I wish it is though. But I know I won’t have the time to spend on a Yorkie… And I won’t have the patience as well actually. Hee… But it’s just so cute!!!

So yeah… There you got it, random rambling from me

Yup, I’m so happy because it’s Friday!!! And next week is December! 

I’m going on leave officially from 3rd Dec - 26th Dec. Even then, I still have another 4 days of unused annual leave.

Sounds a little bit ‘alang-alang’ though 3rd - 26th only. Why not 1st and 2nd & 30th and 31st also, right. Well, I could have taken leave on that days as well, because technically I still have 4 more days of unused leave days. But then, these are the 4 days when I will be working full time. So yeah, better don’t lah.

On 1st Dec, there’s a hearing at Federal Court. On 2nd Dec, there’s going to be a full day meeting to discuss Collective Agreement. On 30th & 31st Dec, I have a trial at the Industrial Court. *Imagine doing a trial on New Year’s eve!* *Urgh…*

Oh well… Although I will be coming in to the office & going to Court as well (on & off) between 3rd - 26th, I am of course so happy because “I AM ON LEAVE FOR THE WHOLE OF DECEMBER!!!” (well, almost…) And because I am officially on leave, I can come in to office with casual clothes, at anytime I want & of course to leave at anytime I want as well! Yay!!!

A review of that book here is interesting to note.

After reading Anonymous Lawyer, law school students will worry about what they have signed up for, associates will be amused by the accuracy of it all (assuming, of course, that they have time to read a book at all), and partners will perhaps realize that it wouldn’t hurt them to be nicer to their underlings.

That’s why I want to read that book.

I want to be able to write a book like that. But then, mine will be like this (outline):

Monday (17.11.2008) - Hearing of Non-Compliance at Ind Ct & attending 2 meetings

Tuesday (18.11.2008) - Getting up for trial

Wednesday (19.11.2008) - Trial at Ind Ct & Getting up for Hearing

Thursday (20.11.2008) - Hearing of appeal at SAHC

Friday (21.11.2008) - Getting up for trial

Saturday & Sunday (22 & 23.11.2008) - Getting up for trial

Monday (24.11.2008) - Getting up for trial and drafting 3 agreements

Tuesday & Wednesday (25 & 26.11.2008) - Trial at Ind Ct

Thursday (27.11.2008) - Getting up for hearing

Friday (28.11.2008) - Appointment with Registrar at COA Meeting at BNM Getting up for hearing

Saturday (29.11.2008) - Getting up for hearing REST & RELAX!

Sunday (30.11.2008) - Getting up for hearing Drafting Collective Agreement & to attend Henry’s wedding

Monday (1.12.2008) - Hearing at Fed Ct. Perusing documents for an urgent advice.

And those are all the main things of the day, not inclusive of miscellaneous drafting for other matters, correspodences, administration of files, phone attendances, appraisal of secretaries, etc. My book will be so boring then.

[edited on 30.11.2008]

“This Halloween the most popular mask is the Arnold Schwarzenegger mask.  And the best part?  With a mouth full of candy you will sound just like him.”  ~Conan O’Brien

Fluorescent Halloween

Yup, that’s the theme that LHAG set for Halloween this year! Haha. In conjunction with Halloween and also merely because the LHAG-ians decided to go out and do something fun together (yeah, working is strictly prohibited on Friday night!), we all decided to have a bowling competition on Halloween night!!!

Yay! The venue was Cosmic Bowl @ Mid Valley Megamall. Honestly speaking, I am not good at all in bowling. But it’s the fun that matters, right! Haha.

They were about 10 teams of LHAG-ians last night, with each team having 3 players. I am lucky because my team members are both awesome bowlers!!! Yay! Yup, our Senior Associate, Shanmugam and another Associate, Teck King, both were so good, that their numerous strikes and spares could actually cover my lousy bowling turns. Haha…

Ooo, and coincidentally, there was a bowling tournament of the Melaka State government being held there last night as well. So yeah, in the midst of our game, the Menteri Besar Melaka came to pay a visit. Hehe. The Menteri Besar was there for the tournament, actually. And there were some RTM reporters around, with their big cameras overlooking our part of bowling alleys as well. Hopefully they didn’t mistaken our LHAG-ians bowling teams as part of the tournament thingy… :p

Halloween Cat Bowling Game

To complement this post, here’s a Halloween cat bowling game for you all!!! Enjoy!
Halloween Cat Bowling Game

If the flash player fails to load, you can click HERE to play the Cat Bowling Game. Try it… It’s fun and addictive! Just use the ’space bar’ on your keyboard to bowl. It’s that’s easy!

“Another normal life story of mine… Things like this always happen to me…“

Today, I am supposed to have a hearing at the Melaka High Court. It’s our client’s application under Order 18 rule 19 of the Rules of the High Court, 1980 (to strike out the Defendant’s Defence).

As usual, because of the tight schedule when there are a lot of things urgent in 1 day, I only had the chance to prepare for the hearing on the day before (a.k.a. yesterday). Since half of my day yesterday was gone, stuck in KL High Court, the rest of the day that was left out of yesterday was not enough to finish up the submission and bundle of authorities. Anyway, I stayed back past midnight to do all the getting up for the hearing.

At 1.30 a.m. the Defendant’s solicitor texted me, enquiring whether I’m still awake. I said, “Yup.. Why?” Then he replied that he wanted to talk about the case tomorrow. So I gave him a call. Apparently, his daughter had fallen ill so suddenly and he needed to send her to the hospital. Since his wife was not around, there was no one to look after the daughter. On that basis, he asked me to mention on his behalf today.

Pity him… But that would also mean that all the hard work preparing for the hearing was wasted… -_-” Oh well, at least I can use and improvise on the same when it comes up for hearing again.

And so yeah, I left office at around 2.00 a.m. It was raining so heavily. I only reached home at about 2.30 a.m. After getting ready to bed, I made sure that my alarm was set as early as I am able to wake up. The earliest alarm that I set was at 5.00 a.m. (Semangat what!) Then, the latest was at 6.15 a.m. I planned to leave KL at around 7.00 a.m. to avoid the traffic jam la… So yeah, I went to bed at around 3.30 a.m.

BUT THEN… I woke up in the morning without relying on the alarm. Yup, the alarm went off without me realizing it. And it’s already 7.10 a.m.!!! :S

And to make it worse, the traffic jam was super terrible in my place! When I exited at KESAS, I thought the road will be clear but nope… It’s all bumper to bumper! Cars were going at 10 to 20 km/h only… And this lasted for about 45 - 50 minutes. *sigh* By the 40th minute, I haven’t even reached Bukit Jalil and it was already way past 8 a.m. at that time. How could I make it to the Melaka High Court before 9, in less than 1 hour time??? Bloody impossible.

As soon as I saw the exit to Seremban, I speed up. It was 9.01 a.m. when I saw a signboard that says “Melaka - 79km”. OMG… And just how long will it take me to reach there??? And thinking that things couldn’t get even worse, it started to rain! *sigh* But since I was already so bloody late, I still have to speed up my car despite the rain… (at the same time, I was hoping & wishing that the Court will only start at 10.00 a.m.) :p

By 9.18 a.m. I managed to reach “Sempadan Negeri Melaka”. *Heh, not bad, I thought*… I thought that I would be able to reach Court by 9.30 a.m. then…

But nope! I’m supposed to take the Ayer Keroh exit to be on the way to the Melaka High Court, and from that signboard that says “Sempadan Negeri Melaka”, Ayer Keroh is about 47 km (if I’m not mistaken). *sigh*

Finally, I managed to reach Melaka Court Complex at around 9.35 a.m.

BUT THEN…. There was no parking inside the Court compound (again!!!). It’s either that or the pak guard was just to lazy to open the gate for me!!! And so, yeah. I had to look for parking elsewhere. Found one by the roadside (illegal parking again!) and it was so bloody damn far from the Court!!!

Since there was no other choice left, I quickly parked my car at 1 ‘logical’ spot by the roadside and started to walk as fast as I can to Court.

It was far, I’m telling you. Plus, the Court Complex was a bit on a hill and there were stairs to climb up, and plus of course, I am wearing my heels! *sigh*

And finally, I reached the Registrar’s chamber! And, guess what! Matter hasn’t been called yet! Heh! Lucky!

BUT THEN… When I saw the Court’s list, my matter was not listed as hearing though. It was listed as Case Management. -_-” So even if I come all prepared for hearing, it certainly won’t go on lah, right… *sigh* This is the problem with the Court system in Malaysia. And yes, this is the kind of problem that lawyers in Malaysia always have to face.

Oh well… After waiting for a while, my matter was called up in-chambers before the Deputy Registrar. I informed him that we were notified that it was supposed to be a hearing today. And guess what he said, “Ala, kalau hearing pun I tau apa Dato’ nak buat… Either postpone or suruh U file Written Submission…” -_-”

And yeah, talk about getting rid of all the backlog of cases in Malaysia…

But on the other hand, the Deputy Registrar was SUPER NICE!!! We chat for a while, talking about the new Judge that’s going to be transferred from KL to Melaka. He asked me whether I’ve appeared before that Judge (no mentioning of name, okie). And I said, yes, quite often actually. And so, he asked me how is the Judge like, his style when conducting mention, etc. The Deputy Registrar was really so friendly and nice! I hope he will stay that way ~ ~ ~

Done before 11.00 a.m. Since I got nothing else to do, no where to go to… I decided to head back to KL. See, without the traffic jam and the rain (it was slightly drizzling though), there was no problem reaching KL in around 1 hour & 15 minutes.

(*Note: I was so sleepy when I was driving back from Melaka to KL though… Dozed off a couple of times when driving! Yikes, scary!!!)

(~ I’m eating McDonald Double Cheeseburger while typing this entry now. Hehe. Yup, that’s my dinner for the day. I LOVE the McShakers Fries!!! ~) This is not an advertisment, okie. Yeah, it would be if they’re actually paying me something to advertise them here. :p

Knowing that the open court matter at RKKK1 will usually start sharp at 9.00 a.m. I made it a point to arrive early at Court today. The traffic jam was heavier than usual… Traffic from very slow at Jalan Mahameru until the turning to Jalan Duta. Anyway, I managed to arrive at the Court Complex sharp at 9.00 a.m.

BUT….. The security guards won’t let me park inside!!! Knowing very well that there won’t be any empty parking spaces in the parking compound outside the Court Complex, I wanted to park inside, besides the Sessions Court. That’s where I park my car usually, anyway. Even yesterday when I came I parked inside. There were damn a lot of parkings inside (yeah, compared to outside). But the freaking security guards just won’t let me and other lawyers in!!! The reason was - because we don’t have a foyer sticker! What the hell! There was no notice to us lawyers that we would need some kind of foyer stickers to park in the Court compound, and there is no freaking notice to even say how and where to get those blinking foyer sticker!

So, I ended up driving round & round the parking lot outside Court in the hope of spotting 1 empty parking space. With so many other cars in front of me looking for parking, what’s the hope of finding 1? ZERO!!!

Most of them decided to illegally parked by the dividers… Yeah, with very little space, just enough for another car to squeeze through. Urgh! I hate it so much when they parked like that!!! Some even blocked the access for other cars to pass through!

Without any luck at the public parking space, I decided to go to the parking lots designated for lawyers. It was so damn bloody full as well! I felt like just going to the security guards and telling them that lawyers were already so bloody late for Court! Yeah, if the matter got struck out, who’s going to get the blame? *sigh* But of course, I did not do that.

After nearly 30 minutes driving around the fully packed parking lots, finally… finally… I saw a lawyer entering his car, as if he was about to leave. The car was illegally parked at the end, near the turning around the parking lots though. But I don’t care. As long as there was an empty spot and sufficient place for other cars to pass through, that will do. And so, I waited. But this bloody guy was taking his own sweet time! Already a number of cars were lining up behind me, waiting for me to move! But I don’t care, man. I’m not going to waste this parking spot. And so yeah, I waited… That guy drank a bottle of water, put on his sunglasses, checked his handphone, went in his car, put on his seat belt, started the car engine, checked his handphone again -_-” (I was getting annoyed)… And finally, he zoomed off! Yay!

But then, there’s another problem! I have to parrallel park! And I’m very bad at that. Some more, have to park to ensure just enough space was left for other cars to pass through! I tried, halting the traffic for a while… But it’s not straight and it’s not perfect. And next to me, there was this one bloody impressive & expensive sport car parked nicely, causing me to be extra cautious so that my car would not accidentally bump into that.

Ugh, after a few minutes trying, I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m so stressed up already! It’s already more than half passed nine… I’m bloody late for Court already, so I couldn’t give up this parking space… So, in the end, I left my car ’senget’ like that, and called Conrad. He was in one of the Courts, waiting for his opponent to come. Thankfully he agreed to come and helped me parked my car! :D

So yeah, to cut the story short, I went to RKKK1 after that, and guess what! My matter was actually listed as number 1 on the open court list! Which means, it was already called and I was not there!!!! Bloody hell! The Senior Federal Counsel, for the 1st Respondent in that matter was already there and she said yeah, the matter was already called just now but since I was not there, the Court stood down the matter. After checking with the Interpreter, I was told that the Judge will finish up all the matters in her in-chamber list first before re-calling our case again. *sigh* So, I have to wait… It was around 9.40 a.m. at that time.

And so, I waited… and waited… and waited… Only at around 1.00 p.m. the matter was re-called!!! Around 3 hours and 30 minute of waiting! And I felt so bad because the SFC had to wait for the matter to be re-called as well because of me being late to Court! *sigh* I was so pissed at the security guards who wouldn’t let me park my car inside the Court compound! Yeah, I was complaining to the other lawyers in Court lah…

Ugh, what a waste of time! The time spent waiting at Court could have been spent doing submission & preparing for hearing! Yeah, I got a hearing at the Melaka High Court tomorrow… I am still doing the submission now. *sigh* After that, the Bundle of Authorities have to be prepared… :( So tiring…

*sigh* Wish me luck for the hearing tomorrow!!!

**Note: Apparently, the SFC was telling me that Foyer Sticker is a sticker that needs to be applied for from the Court. Each sticker has it’s own class, i.e. A, B, C, etc. However, I’m still not sure how to get them.

Yup, to all bloggers out there, this forum is open to the public. I’m sure it will be entertaining!

Details of the Forum are as follows -

Date: 23 October 2008 (Thursday)

Time: 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.

Venue: Bar Council Auditorium

List of Speakers -

1. Jeff Ooi - Member of Parliament & Blogger
2. Foong Cheng Leong - Lawyer & Blogger
3. Nizam Bashir - Lawyer & Blogger

More details can be seen from the KL Bar blogspot.