Mirror Mirror

Just got back from the review meeting away in Puncak. I feel like I was one of the last persons on earth realising the effects of global warming, uncontrolled logging and excessive development in the area. The place was nice and breezy early in the morning and at night, but it was damn hot during the day. So much for the 'resort area' tag. The other funny thing about the meeting was that most of the twenty-six branch heads I came across were just as mischievous as my supervisor (who is just as mischievous, if not more, than me.)

Whew... I'm kinda washed out... for the two days I was there, it was about reviewing various aspects of branch performance. I also had to memorize the face of all branch heads and what branch each of them manages. It started out okay on Day 1... until most of them took a late afternoon shower and changed their clothes. Then I forgot everything >.<

(Marsha, Marsha, remembering only the clothes and not the faces...)

Well, I remember all about the female ones, but didn't quite get to the male ones. Some of these guys' face, who happened to converse with me thoroughly and/or have peculiar coiffure/facial features, still stick in my mind though. Tee hee :p Do I have pictures? Not really. I got this rather ugly-looking shot when everybody were 'locked up' inside the meeting room, but I can't be bothered uploading it. Heh heh heh.

On the other hand, I really want to see pictures from the ICM foodstall celebration. Send it to me, please! It would be even better if you can send it to my office email address... you can ask Ponky or Adhi/malps or anyone else who has it...

I ended up not going to the flag-raising ceremony on Wednesday. The bed proved to be a viable (and highly attractive) alternative on how to spend a non-working day. I then went out with my parents, my mum's siblings and their respective spouse for lunch. I also spent the day reading a book by Paul Coelho, the writer of The Fifth Mountain. The title of the book I read was By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept, which is about a woman in a limbo-like situation. Enough spoilers here, period. I would still like to buy some more of his books though, most likely The Alchemist when my next pay comes ka-ching in.

The last hilarious thing that happened to me during the course of my two-day week was probably... getting a namecard. No, wait a sec. Namecards are normal items. Okay, back to the review meeting in Puncak then. There was this catchphrase/sfx a BoD member made, imitating sfx from some cartoon movies when things went dumbly awry. It was a gawk-wawk-wawk-wawk sound... I don't know if you guys know what I'm talking about. Anyways. I managed to utter a very good imitation of it (or so they thought) it was recorded on one of the department head's mobile phone, and practically passed around to other department/division/branch heads. The next morning I came into the review summary session, the sound that greeted me before I put my bum on the chair was my own gawk-wawk-wawk-wawk from across the room.

Despite all those, I still feel gloomy and dumb from doing some things that are obviously stupid. They aren't related to the meetings in Puncak at all, but still, it's a pretty disheartening thing. Hopefully I'm not getting pessimistic or deeply stressed over it, though.

Tomorrow/today is Sunday... and it's my last chance to catch up on sleep this week. Take care, congratulations to all who made the foodstall celebration happened (miss y'all!), I need to save up for my air tickets next year, and more importantly... I need to find a job over there pronto! ^.^; Or so I thought it would be best for me, for now. Take care :)

Why don't I like the girl I see
The one who's standing right on front of me
Why don't I think before I speak
I should have listened to that voice inside of me
I must be stupid, must be crazy, must be out of my mind
to say the kind of things I said last night

Mirror mirror hanging on the wall
You don't have to tell me who's the biggest fool of all
Mirror mirror I wish you could lie to me
and bring my baby back, bring my baby back to me

Summer Sunshine

You don't know what you have until it is there no longer.

Just sweet beginnings and bitter endings
in coffee city, we borrowed heaven
Don't give it back, I've never felt so wanted
Are you taking me home?

You tell me you have to go...

In the heat of summer sunshine
I miss you, like nobody else
in the heat of summer sunshine
I kiss you, like nobody needs to know.

(Supermi time!)

Glutton at work. I mean... the glutton, at work.

There is this thing with me, hunger at work and instant noodles. The way it was with me, hunger while studying and instant noodles (infamously dubbed 'midnight snack'.) The midnight snacking has stopped largely due to my changing sleep pattern, which implies I am already fast asleep when the midnight hunger strikes.

Alas, it didn't happen so with the mid-afternoon hunger.

I've been trying to cut back on carbs and fat lately... the job consists of very light physical activities (typing and filling up my glass with water amongst other things) which does not need the amount of energy generated by the amount of food I normally consume. To keep eating a lot, I have to reduce the energy yield per volume proportionally... or else I'll be as fat as Bandit! Instant noodles didn't make the cut, so it was [planned] not to be part of my daily diet. Originally.

Looks like now it will be hard to get rid of the habit...

(For those who didn't know, I already bring with me a bagful of food to munch on during the day. When these run out, I resort to noodles. Well, whenever I feel the urge to eat something gluttonish.)

Take care! ^.^;

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Alright, as promised, here's Jarvis' picture. He happened to wear a suit (and be surrounded by rather photogenic colleagues) today:

Alright, now back to the post. The day started okay, with the exception that I left my magnetic tap card at home. This means taking the long way out of the building. It's usually used to record start and end of workday, but since I'm still on one of those insert-me-into-the-clock printout cards, I'm kinda okay.

Secondly, the song Gaudeamus Igitur (what kind of university graduate hasn't heard this song?) somebody sang a couple of days ago. Let's go back to last Friday, when my next-cubicle friend Gogo left. He, along with another AAB 'graduate', sang Garda Oto's punchline Don't Worry, Be Happy in a couple of melodies, one being Gaudeamus Igitur. Now, this song interestingly originated as a students' drinking song. I had a look on the lyrics and found this funny English-equivalent translation of the verses. Uni life a couple of centuries back did not seem much different from what I went through.

(Well, these may be justifications of Dis-O Week's mud wrestling...)

Anyway, back to work. I've got ten reports and two diagrams to finish by tomorrow. Take care!

Home

Got an email from Unimelb today. It was on the topic of volunteering for Discovery Day. Time does really fly... missing the volunteering days already. Uni life is really one of the best experiences in life (as of today, that is.) This opinion may change in the future 6.^;

Actually, I miss the "volunteer's pay", too...

I've got a floor mate by the name of 'Jarvis'. Luckily, he's one of the people who do not hesitate to hold a conversation in English. It turned out that he spent a substantial amount of time in Atlanta, where there is a sizable gay community. Gay or not, he dresses well for the standards of AAB. (I'll make sure I bring a camera tomorrow.) Hehehe... I like guys in suits. I think guys look better in suits. And just for your curiosity, about 70% of guys think they look better in a suit rather than in a swimming suit. 60% commit to the family-man/power-achiever debate, while only 40% readily commit into the metrosexual/retrosexual debate. This is a sign that the typical macho Malboro Man is near extinction nowadays. Guys, this also means that it is socially acceptable to look after yourselves!! Although I do think [at all times] that it is normal for normal guys to look after themselves. I'm yet to see a guy who enjoys pedicure (other than my dad), but I've known at least two guys who are passionate about cooking ^.^

Last weekend I went to Kelapa Gading with my mum. We were afraid of going through another round of food poisoning, so we ate before leaving home (we ended up with a martabak, anyway.) I was also approached by a weird/geeky-looking guy who was [probably] intent at starting a conversation, so I tried to be polite, exchanged my name and... dashed away. So much for purchasing a martabak.

There's also this new type of martabak called tipker. It's similar to crepes; it was thin (instead of spongy) and has the ubiquitous 'martabak crust' around its edges. I'm gonna try it the next time I get a martabak craving ^^; Plus, it's cheaper and more manageable to finish off when one is alone. I was also surprised the pricing is now determined by the type of butter one chooses to use: either the standard Blueband brand or the fancy Wyjsman brand. Being the glutton, I went for Wyjsman.

I also bought books that day; finished reading them yesterday. The first one was "Deception Point". There's been enough talks and reviews on this book so I'm not going to add anything further than: it's an absorbing book to read. The other one was "The Fifth Mountain" by Paulo Coelho. It was not as engaging, but the character development was more complex and realistic in this book. The story is something any person can relate to. Go read it! I can confidently give my word that you will get a worthwhile lesson on life from this book.

Anyway, other than the song lyrics, you better read "The Fifth Mountain". Take care!

Maybe surrounded by
a million people I
still feel all alone
just wanna go home
Oh I miss you, you know

I've been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
"I'm fine, baby, how are you?"
I would send them but I know that it's just not enough
My words were cold and flat
and you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
another sunny place
I'm lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmm, I've got to go home