I
was late a few times in October and last Friday, no thanks to the never-ending
roadwork along Jalan Ampang (aka Bangkok KL) and the discriminating traffic
cops at Jelatek and Renaissance lights. This was despite the school closure
during the haze days. Oh, I used to be late when I first started work (I was a
very reluctant member of the workforce) and once even turned up to work more
than an hour late (and no, it wasn’t because I was out all night partying and
clubbing) because of the horrible road works. You’ll be glad to know that I
have since improved on my discipline since those early days although I still
run late every now and then, especially Fridays for some reason.
I
take the bus to work and I walk a lot: from where I get down in the morning to
the office, from office to the bus stop/LRT station in the evening and home
from the bus stop/LRT station. This means it is necessary for me to slip on a
pair of comfortable flat footwear to work and only change for formal office
footwear when I reach the office. I’d stood on buses in high-heel sandals
before in my early days and they made my legs ache. On Fridays though, I wear
my FitFlop to work in my attempt at casual Fridays.
I’m
not ashamed to admit that I use public transportation to/from work and don’t
contribute directly to the fossil fuel (I’ve been playing my #ChangeClimateChange part for years now!). Why should I
be ashamed? I’m a KL-born and bred girl and I’ve been using public
transportation since I was small as Abah hates driving into the city and being
caught in the jam even back then. And yet an officemate never fails to find
every opportunity he can get to tease me about taking the bus. I mean, get a
life already. I notice among my uni friends, there’s a very small minority of
us who don’t drive (and we happen to be KL-born and bred). Everyone else,
especially those from outside KL, drives. There are benefits to taking the bus:
I get to read on the journey home (not so much on the journey to work as I
usually only get to sit after we’ve reached KLCC) and have finished hundreds of
books on my commute to and from work (I’m on my 101st book of the
year right now, Alhamdulillah). I get to walk a total of at least 4 km each day
which forms my daily exercise - and that excludes the walk in the office when I
don’t carry my hand-phone around. I also get talk to God or recite Quranic
surahs on my walks. When the LRT fare hike comes into effect tomorrow, I’ll
walk to the other LRT station instead of the one I normally use. The pros are I
don’t have to walk up and down the stupid uneven bridge and I get to avoid
having to dodge my way through the stampeding human bodies determined to have
their own way (do they really think the bridge is a one-way bridge?
Inconsiderate idiots!). The cons are that I have to go through two street
crossings to get to this other station and as it’s an interchange station,
there are a lot of fellow passengers about and my chances of getting a seat on
the train are much lower.
I
usually iron my work clothes the week before. So for any one week, I would have
ironed my work clothes the week before plus those tops that I’d had laundered
throughout the week. I find deciding in advance what to wear for the
following week helps as it saves me the daily morning headache of deciding what
to wear. Oh sure, I have been known to switch my outfit at the last minute but
I try not to do this too often. As for scarves, I usually iron them late in the
week as they tend to wrinkle faster. I do not believe in ironing my clothes in
the morning every morning just before going to work. I hate ironing as it is and I’d rather
spend 20 minutes for a maximum of 3 nights in a week pumping iron than 5 minutes
every morning and 20 minutes every weekend. Besides, it is more economical, not
to mention more environmentally friendly, than to iron clothes on a daily basis.
I
have, of late, started to lay out my underclothes and accessories the evening
before (I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing this sooner). I launder my underclothes when I have my evening shower and they are
usually already dry by the following evening. I store them back in my dresser
drawer and take out the underclothes for the following day. I take off my work
accessories for the day to store them and at the same time take out the
accessories I want to wear for the following day. It all takes a minute tops. This
helps save me time trying to decide what to wear in the mornings although of
course I have been known to change my mind again in the morning when donning my
work clothes and work accessories. I love accessories and can’t seem to have
enough of them. My work accessories comprise the following: my trusted watch (I
feel lost and my wrist feels naked despite my bracelets if I forget to wear it),
scarf clip, fashion necklace(s), bracelet(s) and/or bangle(s), brooch(es) (usually flower
brooches), rings and the occasional belt. In addition to these work
accessories, I also wear necklaces and earrings that I change every few months,
and anklets, bracelets and bangles. Except for my anklets, I do not display
these semi-permanent accessories in the open. I prefer to wear my not-for-display
necklaces and earrings all the time and not take them off because when I was
burgled, the effing burglars took all my jewellery away, among many other
things, and I was left with only what I had on me when it happened that
unfortunate weekend when I was visiting my parents (the burglary happened when I
still lived at micasa).
I
use a handbag organiser in my handbag for my wallet, coin-and-tissue pouch, key
case, mobile phone pouch and my office pass. Like the name suggests, it
organises my stuff and makes changing handbags so easy and such a breeze. I no
longer have a messy handbag where I have to dig through to find anything. It
really saves me time when doing my handbag change and finding stuff in my bag! I
change handbags every three weeks although I do carry a different handbag or
tote to the office on Fridays and wear it through the weekend. I carry a
handbag and also another tote bag where I stuff my brolly, novel, a handheld
fan, and canvas shopping bags (one is for those groceries, household items or
stationery that I sometimes buy on my way home. Another is to cover my handbag
when it rains or if I find my Boston or Speedy bags too heavy to tote). I’m
more susceptible to being snatched and pick-pocketed because I walk and use the
public transportation (in fact, I had been both snatched and pick-pocketed
before in KL) and as such, I don’t usually carry my Chanel bags to work (I only do that on Fridays). I do carry
some of them on Fridays especially those in caviar leather but I try not carry lambskin
bags as I have to baby them more and protect them from being brushed and
scratched against.
I
go through my skincare routine after my shower and before sitting down for
breakfast. After breakfast, I don on my work clothes and spray on some perfume
on top of the deodorant and body spray. Then I put on my scarf and work
accessories. I don’t wear a lot of make-up to work, only my lipstick and lip gloss
on top of my lip balm (sometimes when I’m being really absent-minded, I even
forget to apply my lipstick but not to worry, I do have some tubes of lipstick
in the office). All these dressing, spraying on perfume, wearing scarf and
putting on accessories and lipstick take me only four minutes flat on average. Only
then am I ready and confident to face the new day and take on the world.
What
about you? What is your daily pre- and post-work routine? What challenges do
you face getting to/from work? What do you do to save time (apply make-up
and/or wear accessories or catch up on your reading when caught in the traffic jam?)?
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