Bored But Cured

I’m feeling bored out of my skull. Oh sure there are work to be done, all boring stuff of course. Bored, bored, bored. The section I’m in is really running thin: we haven’t got a replacement for someone who resigned with effect from 31 December, nor have we got any replacement for another who left to pursue her Master since end-January. My boss is on MC [hurrah!] and another colleague is on maternity leave [she just delivered her baby a couple of days ago].

Just thinking about the above makes me want to hyperventilate.

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After a poor night on Sunday and a slightly bad night on Saturday [had finished the two sleeping pills doctor gave me], I decided I must absolutely do something about my prolonged insomnia. So I left the office early on Monday as I planned to have an early night. And I did everything I could think of: lit up the aromatherapy with candle, lit up the salt lamp, had the sleep/eye mask handy, drew the curtain, turned on the humidifier/ioniser to drown out the traffic noise [it gets very noisy at times as cars zoom by at the road behind micasa], drank milk an hour before I slept [as opposed to drinking it just before climbing into bed], and even did some light stretching while watching TV. Alhamdulillah, I slept like a baby ‘til just before the alarm woke me up. Woke up Tuesday morning thanking God for the good night had. I repeated the same procedures again on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, just in case.

Let’s hope there will be no more recurring insomnia episodes. Amen.

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It’s been sooo unbearably hot, hot, hot the past few days. Thank God for the rain that came early this morning and that poured during lunch and the dark clouds outside that promise imminent rain.

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The bosses are away and I’m bored. Sorry, have I mentioned that before? It’s supposed to be happy hours but somehow it’s just not as fun as it would have been previously.

I wish for the umpteenth time that I am doing something I really love. And what do I love besides travelling and shopping and eating? I should be the female version of either Anthony Bourdain or Barry Vera [except I’m no chef of course and don’t aspire to be one], or the Asian version of Samantha Brown. Or I could be the real living version of Becky Bloomwood and be a personal shopper.

Instead I am doing something desk-bound with a portfolio of projects that threatens to trigger headaches in a department with a mouthful name. And golly, suddenly it’s already the end of quarter 1 with projects due for completion nowhere near completion and projects due to be started nowhere near commencement. Dang, dang, dang.

The weekend can’t come soon enough.

An Interesting Reflection: Slow Down Culture

I got the following article from a friend and circulated it to a few others.

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It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalised, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalising processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to possess a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

In other words:

1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, neither the second nor third. One morning I asked, 'Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot.' To
which he replied, 'Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think?' Imagine my expression.

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of 'hurry' and 'craziness' generated by globalisation, fueled by the desire of 'having in quantity' (life status) versus 'having with quality', 'life quality' or the 'quality of being'. French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth
the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the 'do it now!'.

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the 'now', present and concrete, versus the 'global', undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, 'I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now'. To which Al responds, 'A life is lived in an instant.' Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time.

We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, 'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans'.

Congratulations for reading 'til the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalised world.

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I like the message of the article. As it is, I've just finished reading a book on Swedish culture and the above article confirms what I read. A few people emailed me their thoughts: 'GruffGaffer would have stopped reading this article at para 2.' Another replied to say that his LadyBoss actually emailed it to her department. As for me, well, I’ve always believed in not working myself to death. Because it’s just not worth it.

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The lunch plan that my mates and I had been looking forward to for weeks didn’t materialise much to our disappointment so after having gone out to do buy some groceries, I returned to fill in my income tax form. I actually thought I’d do it one fine April Friday lunchtime. To my surprise, it’s sooo much easier this time around. And now I’m done. Yeay! Score for Adek!

Have a good weekend all. I’m so going to reward myself. I so deserve it!

Knackered And Totally Knocked Out

I couldn’t sleep for the past three nights; I’d be dozing off by 10 pm but would be wide awake at midnight and stayed awake ‘til dawn. It was just so frustrating and exhausting. All my attempts at getting back precious sleep didn’t work – reciting prayers, turning the pillow over, changing pillows, changing sleeping positions, even dragging myself out of bed to make a cup of hot chocolate. I contemplated taking half day off but that would be pointless as napping in the afternoon would affect my sleeping patterns anyway. It’s as bad as coming back from Haj a couple of years ago and worse than coming back from Europe last May. Heck, it’s so bad that I thought maybe I should consider taking some ‘flu pills, the ones that you have to take at night as they cause drowsiness. Whoever said going to the US would be fun?! I myself was not all looking forward to the trip because I just knew the post-trip Insomnia that would result.

So today, I decided I’ve had enough. I decided that I should go and get some sleeping pills from the clinic. I don’t like the idea of taking sleeping pills as I don’t want to be dependent on sleep-inducing drugs. But heck, I can’t take this involuntary vigil anymore. I can’t keep showing up at The Office looking like a zombie with my bloodshot eyes and yawning like anything during lunchtime and yet having to function like I’ve had an 8-hour good night’s sleep the night before.

Popped over to the clinic only to be told by the nurse that sleeping pills are controlled drugs so that meant I had to see the doctor.

Anyway, the doc assured me the pills she would prescribe me have no side effects whatsoever. I wouldn’t be dependent on them. And more importantly, I wouldn’t have problems waking up the next day. In her words, the pills are supposed to be hypnotic and calming. I needn’t have worried after all about being dependent on sleeping pills.

Phew, what a relief! Alhamdulillah. Let’s hope I can sleep better from tonight onwards. Amen.

The Last Leg Home

Am now back at Tao Yuan International Airport after an endless flight across the Pacific. And because we flew east [or was it west? Or maybe flying west to east, if that makes sense], we lost a day and suddenly it’s already Monday. It’s a short transit here and so this will be a quickie.

Managed to catch only a few moments of precious sleep during the flight. There was this chap who was content to chat to his next-seat neighbour in very loud voices. It was amazing how he managed to talk non-stop for hours. Maybe he just loved to hear himself talk because we hardly heard the other guy’s response.

Just some addendum on my trip:

The student hall we stayed at was very near Dupont Circle. And oh, adjacent to the Iraqi embassy too. We were told the Secret Service occasionally park outside the embassy to watch the place. Didn’t sight them though.

The hotel we stayed at was a charming place, located at Pennsylvania Avenue. No breakfast was provided but there is a Pakistani eatery a block away which sells halal food and that was where we obtained our supply of dinners [and because the portion was big, the leftover was saved for breakfast the following morning].

The conference we attended was unlike any previous conferences we’ve attended before. It was more of a tabling of researchs and studies done, and discussions on the researchs. I was in constant awe of the many genius minds in that room.

The weather was something else. First it was an unusually mild spring weather so much so I could literally walk without my jacket. Then it turned so bloody cold and there I was Blowing Kisses In The Wind.

We didn’t manage to go to any factory outlet but we did manage to locate Filene’s Basement and that was enough for me. I managed to get some bags for Mummy and Akak.

And now, I have to go. I can literally feel someone breathing down my neck impatiently, waiting for his turn to use this terminal. Can’t wait to go home. Darn, that’s another 4.5 hours of flight to be endured. I just miss home so very much. So, so, so very homesick. I miss Mummy very much. I miss Abah badly. I miss home.

Til the next posting back in KL then.

Relaxing @ LAX

Here I am, at LAX, another (not so) foreign airport, waiting to board the plane home. I didn’t manage to blog earlier so here’s a summary of what I’ve been up to for the past few days.

After a seemingly endless but thankfully comfortable flight across the Pacific on board MAS and 11.5 hours later, we landed on LA LA Land [I slept poorly on the flight, despite the reclining seat and ample leg room]. I had been here before many years back and this is my fourth visit to the USA. So, despite the long transit, we decided not to go venture downtown and instead opted to relax at the airport. Well, we could have taken an earlier flight but that’d mean arriving just after midnight at our destination, Washington DC, and we’re not too keen to travel into the city and having to find our accommodation too [not to mention, forking out for an extra night]. DC has a steep lodging tax of 14.5% by the way and even the most economical motel or B&B would still hurt. Also, based on my Internet search, most of the cheaper hotels/motels/B&B are located in rough neighbourhood. So it’s a no-brainer; we’d rather endure a 10-hour transit than the alternative. As for accommodation, I’m thankful for my TKCOGA network – I managed to contact and secure accommodation at a hall catered for Malaysian students in the city, and because it’s catered for students, it cost us only a fraction of what we’d otherwise have to pay.

We arrived at Washington Dulles Airport [located in Virginia] early on Tuesday morning, where a cold, crisp early spring morning greeted us [I had another sleepless night on the plane so I arrived looking like a zombie with my bloodshot eyes]. We were waiting patiently for our bags to make their appearance at the bag carousel when someone came to meet us - it turned out that the chap who I’ve been contacting for help on accommodation had turned up to meet us! How very thoughtful! I was so touched especially because I had earlier assured him a few times not to trouble himself. We were actually planning to take the coach and metro to the city.

He brought us to his home in Vienna, Virginia. It was a very cosy and pleasant family home. His wife cooked breakfast for us and even invited some friends to join us for breakfast. Again, how very thoughtful! The hospitality was touching. We however declined his invitation for us to spend the night there, as we already had booked the students’ accommodation and besides, I just hate to impose on people like that, and especially people I’ve only met too.

After breakfast, we left for downtown, thanks to a free ride from another new acquaintance we just made. Checked into the students’ accommodation, freshened up and after prayers, set off for the National Museum of Natural History. Spent a couple of hours there before walking up to Chinatown. Our hopes of getting some souvenirs there were dashed [as we could not sight any stalls selling any souvenirs] but we did manage to buy some chocolates! Yeay!

Back to the students’s hall and spent the night indoors.

On Wednesday, we checked out of the students’ hall and took a cab to our hotel. After storing our luggage at the luggage room [it was too early to check in], we took the metro and then changed for the bus to the Tyson’s Corner Centre mall. It wasn’t a factory outlet mall as I originally had thought. It was big and sprawling and yet I didn’t spend much. Hurrah to me! It was an unusually mild early spring day so after returning to the hotel and checking in, we ventured out again to the White House and managed to buy some souvenirs too!

Our conference started on Thursday and the good weather lasted til the afternoon. Then it started raining... and it didn't stop until late Friday. The weather turned freezing cold, the wintry showers didn't stop and yet we went out again on Friday evening to find last-minute souvenirs and buy stuff. We were sure glad to return to the comfort of our hotel rooms. I happened to look out of my hotel room at about 9 pm and discovered it was snowing. Oh uh!

This St Patrick’s Day morning [well, it’s still Saturday here], we went out to find yet more last-minute bargains and even took the metro to the Pentagon City mall. We returned to hotel at 1240, having requested a late check-out. The weather had improved, no more rain or snow, but still freezing cold with the temperature struggling to reach 0C! It was cold, even by my standards [I can normally stand cold weather, can tolerate that better to hot weather] and I was clad only in my denim jacket [I refused to bring my winter clothes].

Took the cab to Washington Dulles Airport at 1345. Endured a long queue at checking in and a severe checking in procedure [including removing shoes and storing toiletries in a plastic container]. Our flight was delayed by 1.5 hours and we finally arrived at LAX slightly after 8 pm. Thank God our flight was after midnight. And thank God our flight was today and not yesterday [if I’m not mistaken, some 1400 flights were cancelled yesterday with thousands of travellers stranded]. I was, however, not pleased when I was told that there was no reservation made under my name and it was a good thing that there was an empty seat left in the Golden Club class [earlier, we were told that the particular class was full]. Otherwise, I’d probably have to catch tomorrow’s flight out and check in at an airport hotel... and right now, all I wanna do is just go home.

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Washington DC...
- home to good, fine museums
- home to fine buildings
- home to the White House, where the President resides
- home to a mixed population of residents from diverse backgrounds
- ... and also home to the homeless [yes, believe it or not]. Mr George WW3 Bush has better take a walk to see how some of his fellow city residents live.

My conference observations...
- lack of good-looking eye candies
- loads of genius people [and balding too] - professors, lecturers, economists, researchers... and of course there was the serial shopper from the other side of the globe
- an Adam Sandler doppelganger who was actually a professor at an Ivy League university
- a cute [albeit somewhat balding] bored-looking chap from Harvard Business School with playboy looks became my focus of attention for most of the time [if only to keep me awake].

Other observations and thoughts...
- some people are just loud, talk as if they’re nursing a cold, and while this airport is not unlike most other airports I’ve been to, it all seems different somehow.
- some people are quite friendly and helpful.
- some people act like they have all the authority.
- I don’t think I’ll return to this continent. I can’t stand long flights [I can stand up to 13-hour flights, and that means only Europe in the future] and I don’t like the effect on my body clock. Besides, I’ve been here before; once to the West Coast and three times to the East Coast.

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I have to go now. Oh God, another 24-hour journey to be endured. Let’s hope I can sleep this time around.

Ni Hao Taipei!

I am now at the Dynasty Lounge of the Taipei Taoyuan Airport, having had a light meal. Met up my Taiwanese friend yesterday morning and she drove me around. First we stopped at Taipei Grand Hotel for some Kodak moments. We then drove on to Beitou Hot Springs at the outskirts of the city. I was amazed that these kind of natural places exist so near a city. We dropped by the Beitou Hot Spring Museum before walking on to a hot spring pool where we saw clouds swirling around. Thankfully the sulpur smell wasn’t too strong.

We then drove to Liuhuangku Geothermal Scenic Area where there was a vast land of wasteland-like area with clouds of gas swirling with its strong smell of sulphur.

Next we drove futher north to the coast where the hills meet the sea. And the sea was rough yesterday, very rough and angry indeed. It was pissing rain practically the whole day, a perfect day for relaxing in on a lazy Sunday.

We stopped at Dangshui where the river meets the sea and later had an ice cream lunch at Big Tom [!]. I had two scoops of sinful ice cream flavours, can’t really recall the name now.

We then drove past the towns of Sanshih and Jinshan. I’m afraid I got a bit sleepy then and dozed off a bit [oh no!]. Tiffany was thoughtful and considerate enough not to wake me up.

We drove further along the north coast and round the bend of the north part of the island to Yehliu Scenic Geopark where there were amazing formations of sand and stone sculptures, formed over the centuries by wind and water. It was amazing; there was the mushroom rock group, the Queen’s Head [so called because it resembled a lady’s head], bean curd rock, among many others. We spent some time here admiring the scene and walking along the rocky beach. We even went into a small cave.

Having spent about an hour there, we then left. I bought some seafood produce, fish floss and chilli-fried shrimps. Tiffany also bought some fried seaweed coated in flour and some grilled squid.

We drove on to the mining town of Rueifang, up in the hills but alas, the museum had already closed by then. We the went to Jioufen, to its old street. A charming little place, it was.

We left after a while and this was when I started to feel strange and funny. I started feeling a headache and then felt like I was going to throw up. And Tiffany had already planned for us to have dinner with her friend at Taipei 101, the highest building in the world.

I felt more and more ill the further we drove and could only barely managed to contain myself. Finally, we pulled up at a gas station and I ran to the washroom and threw up. I then had some diarroea and threw up again at Tiffany’s basement carpark washroom. She then took me to a pharmacy where I parted with some Taiwan Dollars purchasing pills [and had another round of throwing up spree].

Felt better after that but badly needed to relax so Tiffany sent me back to the hostel.

My friend who is joining me on the trip sent a text to inform her flight was delayed so I rested first, dozing off in the process. She then texted me again after midnight and I went to meet her at the Zhongsan Metro station. Unfortunately, Taiwanese don’t speak good English and she was instead brought by the cabbie to Longshan Temple. A flurry of text messages was sent between us and finally I told her to take another cab. It was past 1 am this morning when we finally got together and I brought her back to the hostel.

Naturally we woke up a bit late today. Went out to find the Taipei Grand Mosque and made it back in time to perform prayers before finding our way to the Taipei Main Station and catch the bus back to the airport for our afternnon flight to our next destination. The bus stop was quite a walk from the Main Station.

Alright, I have to dash now. The journey continues...

First And Foremost: Formosa

It’s a wet Sunday Morning as I type this.

There were a lot of people at the airport long queues to check-in yeserday [thankfully I’d checked in at KL Sentral] and long queues at the Autogates too. Then I realised, oh yes, school hols have started...

Endured another long queue at the boarding gate - turned out that the security on passengers to the US and Taiwan is stricter. No water bottles or anything of that sort.

After the delay - the flight only took off 45 minutes after the scheduled time, it turned out to be a pleasant flight in the modern plane. The seat was futuristic and my seat was at the upper deck, cool! Was assigned the back seat though, not cool. But I was alone in that row, cool! And was well-fed and well taken care of, cool. Syukur alhamdulilah.

Arrived in hazy Taipei at 3 pm. Yet another queue was endured. Bought a return coach ticket to Taipei Main Station. And, guess what, there was another blinking queue to board the coach. The journey to downtown Taipei took 50 minutes and shortly after arriving at the Main Station, I found myself navigating my way through the maze of underground network of shops and subway station. Finally arrived at Taiwanmex Hostel at 5 pm. Met a friendly, unusually-tanned English chap by the name of Barry and he’s cute too! Quite a friendly chap and we chatted a bit - told him he was the first foreigner I’ds met since leaving the aiport 1.5 hours earlier - before I left as it turned out that my room is at another building.

Took the Taipei Metro to Shilin Night Market after prayers. There was a building with what must be among the largest food courts in this part of the globe. I didn’t feel hungry [and it wasn’t as if I could partake any of the food anyway!] so I made my way to a nearby street. There must be at least half of Taipei there... and I was being jostled and hustled, shoved and pushed aside, elbowed and poked and ran into by the mad shoppers. The narrow street didn’t help and to make things worse, there were peddlars in the middle of the already narrow and congested street. Almost everything was sold from street food to clothes, bags, ties, shoes... everything but souvenirs. Duhhh!

I got fed up of the crowd and having to fight my way through so I decided to return back to the hostel. Besides, fatigue was setting in already.

The hostel is compact but cosy. There’s a cute, frisky [if it’s not curled up on the sofa] tortoiseshell cat in residence [thankfully, not a dog!]. The hostel is situated on the top floor of a building and if not for the haze, I’m sure the view would have been fantastic. Oh well... By the way, the hostel is managed/owned/ran by a Mexican who I think is married to a local and I’m now typing this on a keyboard with both the normal alphabets and Chinese characters. One terminal pops up the Mexican/Spanish version of Blogger.com while the other pops up the Chinese version so I’m relying on memory to sign in, provide password, create posting etc. There’s a local chap with shoulder-length hair who told me he hangs around here on a semi-permanent basis and bunks out on the sofa [poor kitty relegated to elsewhere]. For a Taiwanese, he speaks very good English although he’d make a poor tour guide.

Alright, I’m off to meet my Taiwanese friend shortly, she’s offered to bring me around. I hope to persuade her to bring me to the Taipei Grand Mosque and some halal eatery, among other things. See you later!

Off To LA LA Land

I’m now at the MAS Golden Lounge, having some light breakfast while blogging and having a sense of déjà vu as I type this.

It has been a Crazy week alright, both at work and at micasa. It was juggling workloads during the day and cleaning micasa in the evenings, ironing, more ironing, packing, last-minute packing... and I was just knackered by the time I climbed into bed.

And hopefully it’ll all be worth it, this delaying gratification bit.

I’m flying off soon to a new city and new country. No, not to migrate [not just yet!] but transiting there en route to another destination.

Abah and Mummy came over this morning to send me to KL Sentral. Yes, at my age, they still don't trust me to take cabs all by my little self.

Anyway, I intend to enjoy myself thoroughly. Heck, any Escape away from The Office is Always welcomed.

See You Later, Alligator!

It's Tough To Be A Baby

This is Jordy who sang Dur dur d'être bébé (It’s Tough To Be A Baby) when he was 4.5 years old. He’s listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest singer ever to have a number 1 charted single.

… well, in my case, it’s tough being a ditsy [although I can be a big baby at times].

I believe I can do what most girls can do – multi-tasking. So I can be checking my email while munching on a chocolate bar and talking on the phone. Or I could be doing house-cleaning and planning the day ahead. And I suppose if I drive, I’d be fiddling with the CD player while reversing and nibbling on some munchies and checking my lipstick on the mirror.

So there I was yesterday with two pieces of work in front of me, talking on the phone with someone from another department and jotting down the points of the conversation. I wanted to call another person but the phone rang unanswered so I finished writing a note to BigBoss on another piece of work [A] and handed it over on my way out to the washroom.

Came back and frantically searched for the notes I had scribbled down. Only to realise... duh uh, I had actually scribbled the info I gathered for the other piece of work [B] down on A which I just handed over to my BigBoss.

I quickly made my way to his room to try retrieving my hastily written scribbles for B, copying it elsewhere and erasing my scribbles off A. But BigBoss had already seen A, and cleared it.

The poor man must be wondering and puzzling over my almost illegibly scribble [did I mention my handwriting is atrocious even when I attempt to write nicely? So you can imagine how bad it is when I try to write quickly].

Oh the headache I must have caused him!

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Went out during lunch yesterday to run an errand and accompany my mate to buy some scarves. Ended up buying two myself - in exactly the same shades and colours and motives as my mate [one blue and the other green]. Well, it seems we share the same taste then. Anyway, she said she didn’t mind.

Showed them to a colleague later in the evening and only then realised, duh uh, but for the colour, the motives of the two scarves I just bought are the same, similar, identical.

Sheesh!

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I thought I was running late for my 3 pm meeting yesterday and so was rushing and practically running in my haste. It was originally scheduled for 4.30 pm and then the PA emailed to inform that it had been rescheduled to 3. Only to realise at five to 3 that while the meeting was indeed rescheduled to 3 pm, it is to take place today. Not yesterday. There was a change in both the time and date and I only noticed the change in time, not the date.

Duh uh!

And this morning, I had to photocopy some P&C documents for another colleague. Our photocopier was in need of a new toner so I popped over next door only to discover the photocopier there was faulty and couldn’t do double-sided printing. So I went down two flights of stairs to do my photocopying there.

Dropped by to chat with some mates and as we were in the midst of bantering, a colleague came up to me and said I left a letter at the photocopier. Duh uh!

And that’s not all... when I returned to my place, I realised that I had overlooked photocopying an addendum. Thankfully the photocopier here has been fixed or I’d have to go down two floors again.

Duh uh!

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I think it’s about time I resign from the work force. A ditsy person should not be allowed to work. It should be illegal to hire ditsy people like me. I should just stay home and read and watch TV and nap and eat [not necessarily in that order]. That way, I do the least damage.

Or maybe I need a break from The Office. Pronto.

Love Of The Common People

‘Cause she’s living in the love of the common people
Smile’s from the heart of a family man.
Daddy’s gonna buy you a dream to cling to,
Mama’s gonna love you just as much as she can
And she can.

Dr Peck defines love as ‘the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth’.

I have been amazed, made pleasantly aware of, reminded and touched by my parents’ love many times recently. And sometimes I wonder if I’m worth the love. With all my stubbornness, moodiness, faults, rebellion, well, I think it’d need anyone who loves me lots of patience, tolerance, consideration and understanding, to say the least. And only my parents can give me that unconditional love which unfortunately I tend to take for granted.

Oh yes, growing up, I occasionally had issues with them. They insisted [and still insist] on knowing where I am going, who I’m meeting, how long the meeting will take, how I’m getting there etc, etc, etc. I resented these questions but now I understand; it’s because they love me and care enough for me to want to know where I am. It’s better any day than to be treated indifferently, or worse, to be ignored altogether. And it’s certainly not easy raising a child these days, especially if she is difficult, rebellious and stubborn. Oh dearie me.

Now you’d better go home where it’s warm
Where you can live in a love of the common people,
Smile from the heart of a family man.
Daddy’s gonna buy you a dream to cling to
Mama’s gonna love you just as much as she can
And she can.

Living on a dream ain’t easy
But the closer the knit the tighter the fit
And the chills stay away.
You take ’em in stride for family pride.
You know that faith is in your foundation
And with a whole lot of love and a warm conversation
But don't forget to pray.
Making it strong where you belong

And we’re living in the love of the common people
Smile’s from the heart of a family man.
Daddy’s gonna buy you a dream to cling to
Mama’s gonna love you just as much as she can
And she can.

Yes, we’re living in the love of the common people
Smile’s from the heart of a family man.
Daddy’s gonna buy you a dream to cling to
Mama’s gonna love you just as much as she can.

~~~~~~~~

Dammit. My left palm is itching. Not a good sign. Itchy left palm means money will leave my hands; itchy right palm means money will flow in. Superstition or not, it has somehow been true for me. No, it’s not superstition but premonition.

Oh dearie me!

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My heart goes out to the poor baby elephant, Amid, which lost its mother’s love at only three months of age. Poor, poor baby.

The Traits That Maketh Me

Here We Go again, back to the lists galore... of the (less than desirable) traits that maketh me me. I’m sure you’ve already known some of them through my past ramblings but at the risk of repeating myself, let’s just revisit them shall we.

1. I’m a ditsy donna. Scatterbrain. Absent-minded. That’s why I rely on lists. Although lists can only help so much as they can’t help me recover/find things I lose/misplace.

2. I have emotional ups and downs. Emo yoyo is what I call it. This means I’m broody and moody and crabby and crappy at times. Watch out! The next mood swing will be right about any minute now [actually, unfortunately, most of the time, I cannot predict when my next mood swing will be]. I can also be emotionally insecure at times.

3. I’m also a very sensitive person. I’m touchy. I cry easily. Well, apparently Cancerians are supposed to be sensitive folks, despite the hard shell they supposedly have around themselves.

4. I’m a fussy puss. Sometimes I prefer doing things myself because I want things done in a certain way [all together now, I Want It That Way...]. This also explains why I don’t want any housemates.

5. I have OCD. I double-check, triple-check, heck, multiple-check windows and shutters and doors before going to sleep and/or leaving the house. And also because I am ditsy, I check things again and again.

6. I’m a very stubborn, hard-headed girl. But I am never stubborn enough to admit it!

7. I have a short fuse. I am hot-tempered and ill-tempered. Believe me, I used to be a lot worse. People who don’t know me would likely dismiss me as a spoilt brat with a mood to match.

8. I’m actually a coward. I’m afraid of creeping things. This includes anything from lizards and cockroaches to rodents. I cringe when I watch horror or thriller movies or avert my face away from the screen or simply shut my eyes.

9. I’m a clumsy klutz. I bump into things, walk into doors, stumble when I walk.

10. I get easily stressed, distressed and depressed. I don’t handle stress well. Unlike the old Tag Heuer advert, Don’t Crack Under Pressure, I crack [and sometimes cry] at the slightest provocation. I’m not strong enough at times to endure life’s challenges. So I seek help and solace and comfort from God, family and friends.

11. I think too much, ever since I was a kid. There were times when I couldn’t sleep, thinking and worrying about something. My parents used to tease me about this. Yeah, it is silly because a lot of things are outside my circle of influence. But I can’t help it; sometimes I even think of work when cleaning micasa - somehow it helps because I always have those ‘Aha!’ moments.

12. I act like a (spoilt) brat at times. I huff and puff when I’m not pleased, stamp my feet and stomp around when things don’t go my way, and sulk and pout when people tease me. Well, I think most youngest child behave this way. I’m just being normal!

13. I can be fickle-minded and indecisive. I change my mind, rethink, reconsider, reevaluate things. Maybe I should just stop thinking about things too much.

Cor blimey! it looks like I am a true Cancerian after all.

So... What Are You Made Of?

Mad As A March Hare

... well, not quite, but close to it.

The last few days had been mad hectic. Mad crazy. Mad stressful.

The next few days promise to be mad too.

And I think I’m Going Slightly Mad.

Help, SOS!!! Mad days ahead! And it’s only Monday!

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Saw the moon eclipse yesterday morning after Suboh prayers. It was quite surreal in a way.

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I feel like murdering a colleague lately. Now that would be the Ides of March. But seriously, another colleague and I have been hopping mad lately because of this individual.