All You Need

Today's my fourth day working at the office. It's been pretty lame, and pretty expensive too. I don't know whether it is a mixed blessing to work amongst rather disinterested youngsters (me included, as the baby of the pack.) The lunches are pretty expensive to start it off with, but luckily Mbak Parni always managed to send me off to work with something to eat. Today she packed me Manadonese rolls, soy sauce tempura, some deep-fried thing, bananas, cheese and watermelon juice. With my tummy conditions right now, I can't finish them.

I've been having a series of upset tummy cases, which usually starts off during office hours. I don't know what sort of jinx this office brings to me but one thing I know is that I take toilet breaks often. It gets quite distractive, especially when I try to sprint off any remaining work before going to lunch or doing something else. Today, after Luvy's birthday lunch treat, it got real bad (even when I barely ate anything there.) I had to skip Budi's birthday cake. My tummy churns whenever I eat something. It looks like I'll need to stock up on po chai pills in case anything bad happens again. This has been going on since probably Thursday or Friday last week... oh, hopefully this ends soon. It's a misery.

There is a desk, a laptop, a cable lock, a drawer with keylock, a phone with a working extension number, and a super-slow internet connection allocated for me in the office. The internet drives me mad (sometimes things have to be downloaded first at home, then transferred with a USB drive before being used for work.) The computer's OK; its only limitation, apart from the connection, is lack of virtual memory power - it freezes occasionally. The desk is strategically placed next to the printer, opposite a huge glass wall and a few steps away from the Bloomberg terminal. Ah, the Bloomberg terminal.

(Who would expect this girl to be a research monkey anyway?)

Oh, yesterday we went to church. We met with some guy my dad happens to know quite well, we had a pep talk, and... one things after another, he asked me about what I am doing here. Here's an excerpt of the conversation:
Batak Old Guy (BOG): So, what are you doing here?
Me (M): I'm on a one-month working experience.
BOG: Whereabouts?
M: PwC.
BOG: Ah... PwC hey? I see. With your mum?
M: (cringes, but tries to smile.) Yup.
BOG: I see. You must be liking it.
M: Yea, it's not bad after all...
BOG: So what exactly do you do there? What kind of things are you assigned to do?
M: Ummm... (thinks) ... (thinks harder) finance researcher.
BOG: Ha, a finance researcher! That is a good job. All the best for your VE, and enjoy it.
M: (smiles, then excuses herself to put her glass away, and whispers to Poink) - I can't find the proper phrase for 'research monkey'...

I'm getting better with Bloomberg. It's not bad after all. I should thank DW for making me do his assignment, because it gave me some head start in using the terminal. The terminal here has got two flat-panel screens! It's so cool ^^ The research work itself is rather vague, I only get assigned to "research these figures", "look up for these descriptions", or "find such-and-such's subsidiaries" - there is very little hint on where these things are heading. The one I'm doing right now (on petrochemical and oil/gas mining companies) is probably for some client meetings, and that's as far as I'm allowed to tell. There is this confidentiality code and stuff... I shouldn't divulge sensitive information or else bla-bla-bla (some hefty penalties)... so I'll stick with it.

Is this sort of life the kind of thing I am here for? For the past four workdays, it seems like there is very little time left (after finishing assigned work tasks) for one's self-development. Sure, I've got work colleagues who comes [at least] half an hour late and leaves two minutes after five, but that's not the kind of attitude I want to have when approaching work. (I still get nightmares of waking up an hour late for my shift at Baku to this day >.<;;) Looking at my mum, well... she's a superwoman of some sort. I don't know whether I'm able to do the job well. Although money from this VE is not on top of my list, it gets somewhat demotivating when you get paid so little for so much work surrendered. And it RUINS your eyes!! .\/. not liking Bloomberg and the laptop much... keeping a vial of eyedrops in the drawer.

Result's out soon as well, and this adds up to the tummy-churning. God knows what kind of marks He's got in store for me ::sigh:: I really hope He gives good marks this time around. To be honest, I'm losing my self-confidence and don't know how I will fare. Just pray!! >.<;;

Lastly, the title of the song might be wrong, but I'll come and correct it once I know what it really is (and if this one turns out to be wrong.) It's a song by PC3, and one that is very very good on the nerves ^^ Here it goes.

Life can get so complicated
You forget what's real, you forget what's good
And they tell you you're educated
If you complicate the simple truth (ow ow ow ow...)
What's it all about? (wow uh uh uh uh!)
Let's break it down...

All you need is a listening ear,
a smiling face,
and a shoulder that you can cry on.
All you need is a listening ear,
a smiling face,
and a shoulder that you can cry on
you can cry on, baby...
(do you like our silly action!)