2011 Unveiled

Air Asia regularly announces their new destinations i.e. to South Korea, Paris and now New Zealand. Like any die-hard explorer, these news always sends shock waves through out my body. So I check my calendar for 2011. To my dismay, most of the long public holidays such as Chinese New Year, Hari Gawai (Sarawak only) and Eid'ul Fitr all fall early/end of their respective months.

Managing the small Finance unit focusing especially on hydrocarbon and capital projects means that I have to be around every end and early of the month to ensure the books are closed and reported correctly. In 2011, it means I will not be back in the peninsular for the long holidays.

Furthermore, 2011 will be an exciting year for the company. A brief background, the company I work for refines natural gas (not crude oil) into liquid green products such as naphta, gas oil, light gas oil, etc as well as solid waxes that are used to produce lipstick, plastic wrap, candles, etc. We do not supply our liquid products to Malaysia but mainly to Western countries, but our customers for our solid waxes are from all around the globe. We will be having our biggest plant turnaround where we perform statutory inspection and maintenance without which our operating license will be revoked. Secondly, our new wax plant expansion project will be commissioned a few months prior to the turnaround. The company is embarking on this wax plant project to capture new markets and capitalize on our high-margin products.

The turnaround has recently imposed a No Fly Zone beginning 1st July 2011 until Nov because manpower needs to prepare for this historic event . No Fly Zone literally means No Annual Leave allowed from July until the Turnaround is completed. It also means we have to work 6 days a week beginning July 2011. The turnaround will commence 2 days post Eid'ul Fitr for 56 days.

Having said that, annual leaves have to be planned from Jan-June, and mid-months post year-end statutory audit (Feb-April).

In a nutshell, I have not purchased any flight tickets from Bintulu-KL-Bintulu for 2011. I hope my family & friends understand that I won't be home for the holidays.

For friends who are getting married, I hope you have your reception before July *wink*. If not, please excuse my absence.

My friend suggested that I get my family to fly down to Bintulu for Eid. Knowing my family really well, I told them that would be extremely challenging and highly unlikely. I'll spend all the holidays in Bintulu =)

For the time being, I will have to delay the much awaited holiday plans.

See you later Paris, Seoul, and Christchurch! Wait for me.