Catching up with old colleagues

Wow, a week has already gone by.
It was brilliant catching up with Sudesh and Yen Ping on Monday, we had dinner at a Northern Indian restaurant in Uptown, PJ. Yen Ping is as beautiful as ever, Sudesh is much happier now that Extol business is better and that he has a boss he can actually talk to.

(clockwise: Yen Ping, Me, Sudesh and Boon Long)

On Tuesday, I went to Extol. I had spent five years at Extol as marketing exec but spent most of the time doing projects, like organising conference, training, obtaining the MSC status, setting up procedures for the ISO standard and application to the MASDAQ listing, and finished as project manager for a large security project at Maybank. Justin was always my boss, except in the last six months when Grace was promoted to COO. Grace unfortuntely could not join us for lunch but she looked great, she was tough and I did not always like her, but she inspires respect for her brilliant business skills.

(with Sanusi and Justin)

Sanusi is an engineer, he's been there for the last 8 years, his wife was our customer at Petronas, she is now expecting their second child. Justin, now CEO of the company, well, he looks as happy as ever, and how to say... very prosperous? He's doing great still dating Janet and keeping it stress free.

(with Eng Eng and Sudesh)

Eng Eng has not changed one bit, she is my age and is also in no rush to motherhood. I also caught up with Sally and Soo, Sally has had a second baby and Soo who was getting married when I left is now expecting her second child! Rahayu is as lovely as ever, no changes in her life, but she has earned most of my responsibilities when I left, so she's a busy girl now.

I also spent half an hour with Mrs. Tan, reminiscing about Toastmasters and how it still helps me today, as well as Mr. Tan (who was previously CEO of Extol, now retired).

I had a lovely time and was very moved by the very warm welcome back. I spent a whole 5 hours there. They all wanted me to come back, and I wish I could but I'm fully booked till I fly back. Nevermind, I'll be back in Malaysia.