WHERE IT ALL BEGINS

I promise myself initially to hold myself together and only blog about this in July after i am done with the training program. But then i realized that at that time, i will have million words + memories to jot for my own archive that i know the post would be crazy long including this one. Hence, this post today.

To begin with, last December 2018, i got an email for an interview to be a Statistician at Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM). It was somehow an unforeseen blessing because i don't even remember when was the date i applied for the job (did the checking, i applied the job on March 2018).

I was working at Starbucks at that time. Unlike working at the office, working as a server at F&B doesn't require us to check our email at all. I almost missed the email but Alhamdulillah, i viewed it just right in time which was one month before the interview date. I was really happy because it's unquestionably my dream job. I studied statistics ever since Diploma. The interview date was on 18th January. And i finished and presented my dissertation on the 17th January. The timing was just perfect. 

Funny story: I just realized the night before the interview that i didn't have my original birth certificate with me. I only have the copy. And it said in the form that i need to bring the original one to the interview. I was in Mont Kiara, KL at that time and my birth certificate was at my hometown. I don't want to blow my chance just because of one missing document. So, at 4am in the morning, i drove from KL to Rantau. And went to Putrajaya for the interview right after. Haha. Thank you to my sister for accompanying me for the interview since she happened to be at home on that day.

My group on the 18th January was the last group to be interviewed for this position. The interviewers which were from Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam (SPA) and from DOSM itself told us that they already went to many places and met numbers of candidates before us. And it was supposed to be an individual interview but because of time constraint, we had a group interview instead. 

I was not happy about the group interview at first because i was afraid that i can't do well like others and i had fear of not being good enough that the interviewers might not even see me at all. But thank God, it went really well for me. For one second out of fear, i forgot that i am actually a very competitive person. I want this job so much, i got to do something. So, with the presence of other candidates, i got the see their strengths, flaws during the interview, and me at the same time, adapting and present myself in my best way.

I was pleased with the interview and somehow, very positive that among the 8 candidates in the room, i was the most outstanding one. Like, if the interviewers want to choose only one person from the 8, i believe that i am the first in line. I even went home happy because of my confidence level hahaha. I mean, even if i didn't get the job, at least i knew that i did my best during the interview. 

The interview result came out exactly a month after the interview date. And i still remember i was at Melaka on my way to eat Chicken Rice Ball haha. And the email came in. Instead of getting an email saying that i succeeded or failed the interview, i got this result: Tertakluk Kepada Kelulusan Mesyuarat Suruhanjaya. I was in total blur and had no idea what it was about. I called SPA and DOSM and nobody's giving me the exact result of my interview. All i had to do at that time was wait. 

I have one good friend who is already working as a Statistician at DOSM, Zaidatul Azreen (Reen). I've been in contact with her since day 1 i received the email of my interview. She was actually my classmate during our Degree year and we also went to same the company for intern and was really close back then. She told me not to worry because her interview result was also as mine and she got the job. I was like, okay. But still, my heart was not at ease at all.

The status of my interview remain as an unsolved puzzle until early of March. I logged into my SPA account and it said that i was the number 3 reserved candidate out of 20 candidates. I swear, God knows how devastated i was at that time. I texted Reen, and she said that during her batch, the reserved candidates reported duty after 6 months compared to others. And she told me not to worry because i might have high chance of getting in since i was the number 3 reserved candidates. 

There were total 21156 candidates that applied for the position, only 578 candidates that were called to come for interview, there were only 28 positions to be filled and 20 reserved candidates. Reen being all positive told me that among 28 successful candidates, surely at least few of them will reject the offer. And i will be in. But at the same time, she also told me to seek for other jobs just in case. 

It takes some time for me to move on from my disappointment. I feel like the weight of the world was on my shoulder. Like, i was already jobless for about 2 months since i finished my Master's Degree. I was broke and pathetic. The feeling was awful. Especially because i was really confident and i didn't applied for any other jobs at all. And these days, getting a stable job is not easy at all. 

Two weeks after, i slowly moved on and focus on what's in front of me instead. God knows best. Since i believed that i will not getting any job on March, so i planned with my mom to go to Penang for a makan makan trip. We planned to go on the 27th until 29th March. I already bought the flight tickets and booked the hotel on the 19th March. And suddenly a day after, i got a phone call from DOSM telling me that i am one of the successful candidates to be a Statistician in DOSM. 

The feeling was OMG ONLY GOD KNOWS! I was genuinely happy and feel so blessed. No word can describe the feeling at that time. The officer told me that i will receive an email with offer letters and all. And the officer also told me that i need to attend 4 months training at Institut Latihan Statistik Malaysia (ILSM), Sungkai, Perak. Report duty was on Monday (25th March). The officer just informed me about it on Thursday, and i need to be at Perak on Monday. Which i only have one working day (Friday) to complete my documents, medical check up and whatnot. But Alhamdulillah everything went smoothly. 

And i also had to cancel my trip to Penang with my mom. I did got refund for the hotel. But i didn't managed to get refund for our flight tickets which total of RM490. But i considered the lost as a 'payment' of me getting the job. RM490 is nothing compared to the job that i got. I can refund that for myself with my own salary and i can also take my mom to Penang the next time using my salary. InsyaAllah. 

Both of my parents sent me to Sungkai, Perak. My sister didn't managed to tag along because she was busy with her intern. In a blink of an eye, we've already been here for five weeks for training. 10 weeks to go before the real business. Everything was good. So far so good. I am genuinely happy here meeting great friends, learning and digging more on statistics. This is just a beginning for a long journey. Funny how when i was a kid, i wanted to be a doctor, engineer, even stewardess and whatnot. But Allah knows best. Who would've thought that i finally becoming a Statistician hehe. Praise be to Allah.

There's a lot to learn, more room for growth and improvement. I still lack in everything. But i really hope that i can give my best in this along with my great friends. InsyaAllah. Amin YRA. 

Top left to bottom right: First day at ILSM, one with my interviewer (Chief Data Scientist & Director of International Trade Statistics Division), one with Chief Statistician Malaysia, and a photo of very recent version of myself. Hehe

MOST ANTICIPATED POST (REQUESTED)

Last week, i lost my one and only watch for three effing days. Been searching high and low but the watch was nowhere to be found. It made me crazy sad because i've been with that watch since my degree year. And my sister also have the exact same watch since our mom bought the watches for us together. I mean, it was really the perfect time for me to be sad over a watch (rare occasion). I told my boyfriend about it blablabla. Especially i thought that i left the watch at the surau and i assumed that the janitor took it because the watch is gold in color and somehow looks like a real gold (at least to me). Absurdly, in the end, i found the watch in my handbag. Lol. Idk how but i did the searching in my handbag like three times and the watch was not there at all. But suddenly i found back the watch by accident in the handbag. Bizarre. 

And my boyfriend being a thoughtful lover, he bought me a brand new watch. A pink one! And it's pastel that i love! (Let's skip the part of where two episodes of drama happened between us because of the missing watch hahaha) ... Okay now i am out of words ... I love to break to whoever reading this that it was not initially my plan to write about this. But my boyfriend, who is somehow one of my avid blog followers, he's the one who remind me everyday to blog about this pink watch. Fun fact: he likes to read about himself here especially because i rarely mentioned about him anywhere publicly. So yeah. 

So, to the guy that made love songs even better now that they're about you and me, my perfect distraction, the one that makes me happy (and angry) in ways that no one else can, thank you for the thoughtful gift. I love everything about the watch including the fact that you asked me to blog about it. Hehe. I know it is still too soon to know but from where i'm standing, our future together looks great and i hope that you are the one for me. Our love can be difficult at some point, but it's real. May Allah ease us in the process and grant us contentment in everything that we do. Amin! I love you sayang, AE. 

PRK RANTAU, NEGERI SEMBILAN

The moment i've been waiting for is finally now! (Lol the intro). 

I remember during high school when i said i am from Rantau, nobody knows where on earth Rantau is. That i had to say that i was from Senawang, Seremban, Port Dickson or simply just Negeri Sembilan. Even my teachers thought that i was from Sabah Sarawak. And after high school, people assumed that i am either originally from Selangor or Kelantan hahaha. NOBODY ever guessed it correctly that i am actually from Negeri Sembilan while i am a 100% pure Nogorian. 

As i get older, people from my circle started to directly know where Rantau is without me putting tons of effort to show it on the map. Maybe because of the circle itself. And today, as i am currently at Sungkai, Perak meeting new bunch of great minded friends nationwide, i am glad that i have about 6 friends who are from Negeri Sembilan. I mean, i know most people from other states had already experienced being in the same room with hundreds of their negeri-mate and for me to have only 6 in the same room is not a big deal. But whatever. Just don't burst my bubble. Lol.

And thanks to the Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK), the quiet, slow pace Rantau finally took a different turn. The country finally noticed us hahaha. The atmosphere was also rather festive this time around. I swear the traffic was insane on the day of election like never happened before. And oh, for those who wondering why this PRK was happening, please know that i am not in the right position to write more about why this by-election was happening. Especially because we can simply just Google the info. Plus i am also no politician or pro anything to comment about it. 

But, i know it's plain easy to throw those with 'incoherent' politics believe under the bus. Then we continue with never ending arguments. But in the end, i believe that if we want to see change happening within our communities, we must rise up as a community and come together to help one another in every possible way. Part of me does agree in politics for change, but on top of it, i accept as true that we must first look to ourselves for change. Idk. Just my 2 cents. 

Back to the main topic, so i went from Sungkai to Rantau last Friday and went to vote the next morning. And today, as the usual Sunday morning, i went to Titiwangsa for my regular class that i also regularly love to skip (because it's during Sunday morning hahaha k). And now here i am back in Sungkai for this week onwards. All of my friends here know that i went back to Rantau to vote because i sent them a photo of me with my ink stained finger cause they really need to know about what's happening in the country especially Rantau at the moment (hashtag crucial). And in return, i got photos of them went for gotong-royong during the PRK day and they also went to Lata Kinjang Waterfall. Which they were happier. Lol.

Brb, reading bunch of advice on how to deal with FOMO.