「 12:05 PM 」

How weird is it when the time shows 12.25pm and 45 minutes later, when you check again, it shows 11.57am. It is damn VEIRD and I feel muddled.

In other not-so-muddling news, I have been reminiscing about Perth every single day.

10 reasons why I miss Perth (in random order):

10. The climate and pure air
9. The beaches
8. The super duper yummy boys from USA who arrive each semester for overseas exchange programmes
7. Shopping. For some reason, every shop is enticing and all apparel/shoes/bags appealing.
6. The city. It is extremely serene yet bustling and has amazing colours
5. Little Creatures. A brewery that serves beer and food. I still crave for the frites and pesto pizzas. And the Little Creatures' Amber ale is.the.best. Makes beer drinking feel like an event.
4. King's Park. It is quaint, green and unpretentious.
3. Perth Bell Tower. Mesmerising, tall structure that never fails to brighten my day with the wide array of colours and captivating design.
2. Fremantle. The busy market that has treats for all ages, ranging from milky honey, sweet buttered corn, face painting, dream catchers, honey comb, antiques, incense, fruity tea, art, classic lamps, fresh fruit & veg, mince pies and various other knick knacks and cosy cafes that serve the most amazing coffee and cakes.
1. Autumn. It is the most perfect season in Perth with fallen leaves, cosy climate and perfect temperature. It is heartwarming, nostalgic and completely calms the senses.


It doesn't help that friends who enjoyed Perth with me, talk about migrating there or are currently pursuing their Masters or contemplating to, or have not even returned home in the last two years.

I am tempted to pack and leave, but there is the dreaded factor of emotional attachment. The attachment to this wretched city, friends and family who refuse to budge from this country.

I could be naive and wrong, not realising the sheer joy of being enveloped in familiar surroundings and comfort.

However, I could also be clinging onto blind faith, failing to seek my true calling or desire.

Let's see what God has in store.....shall we....

「 9:34 AM 」

Working:

You receive an email about work and you start on it. As you're working on it, another email comes in claiming to be urgent and you rush to work on that. When you're almost done, you receive a phone call about another account. You lose your train of thoughts here but still focus on the phone call.

You hang up and continue your work. Your boss calls out to you to join in a conference call, for a potential new business. You participate in the call, leaving behind the other work that is incomplete.

You return to your desk only to be distracted by a colleague who asks for opinions on a completely separate account. You tweak your brain to answer his questions and continue with your work. By this time, you almost forget what is required for that particular project. You do some additional reading quickly to get into the momentum. It takes a while, but you get into it. You channel all your attention to it and you get yet another phone call or sms from a client who thinks the world is ending.

You painstakingly get through all of this and eventually resume work on the project and casually glance towards the clock.

And the clock reads : 18.12

You realise you've passed the stated/standard/expected working hours but still have at least 17 windows open seeking your attention before you head home.

You constantly check the time..argue with yourself, check the time again and then resign to fate and slump back in your chair to continue working till your eyes are dry, your back feels strained and your stomach is growling and you sense the gastric attack coming your way.

And they say this is presumably the typical scenario : 9-5 till you are 95. Well at least 65 then.

Reality - Yes, we have 41 such years ahead...

「 9:42 AM 」

I met one of the most condescending people in the industry yesterday. She's a Director with a prominent outlet and I was there to coordinate a session plus introduce our client. She attended with her chief editor.

As I saw them walk in, I formally introduced myself and shook hands with her, to which she looked so displeased.

I did the same with the chief editor and he was extremely warm and friendly. I brushed aside the annoying chinese (may I add) woman's bad manners and began the session.

The whole time, she REFUSED to look at me or even acknowledge my presence. This led me to think only two things.
1. She could be racist. Perhaps a violent Indian person like we are all perceived to be, burnt her entire family alive when she was 7. Or perhaps the family was poisoned to death after eating Indian curry. Who knows.
2. She thought I was a kid who just joined the industry and knew nothing about why I was there.

Most likely, option 2.

During the session, she shot me dirty looks, to show her displeasure. She just couldn't accept that the company she was dying to interview, was being managed by us, or rather me.

Apart from her bad manners, she was also a complete yes-man to her boss, which is utterly disgusting for a woman her age.

She also kept trying to steal the limelight from the client by speaking about herself and her previous designations and constantly kept dropping prominent names to show off how closely linked she is with celebrities/millionaires and business magnets. Like.my.client.or.anyone.in.the.room.cares.

This went on for 30 mins until my client got bored and started flipping a magazine as she carried on talking. Bad manners on his part too, but she totally asked for it. I just sat there, completely amused and baffled that an intelligent, high flying woman would stoop so low to be..what? Accepted perhaps? Who knows.

The torturous session finally came to an end when everyone had had enough of her. As she left, she refused to thank me for setting up the session or even look my way. Her boss however, thanked us for our time and the opportunity.

It just amazes me, the difference between them.

So, why was she so snooty, and only towards me? Because I look young and inexperienced?

I do agree I must be inexperienced compared to her, but she never even gave me the chance to prove myself, having judged me the instance she saw me. Tsk tsk.

Amazing how the work force is so unkind to those below the age of 30.

Having said that, I look very young meh?

「 10:08 AM 」

I'm mother pissed.

And I thought I should never let my most common Indian trait get the better of me. Violence.

Perhaps I should dig deep into my Indian roots and wield out an ancient weapon or some form of martial art to brutally hurt the person annoying me.

He is nothing but a prick. A lazy cockroach of a prick.

Have you ever wondered how lazy one can get? I have..and you know, the level surprises me each day.

Lets name the prick, prick. Yes, I'm very original I know.

So here's the story...

Prick is lazy. Smart though, but lazy.

He uses people to do work that is meant to be shared.
He instructs others, and does no work on his part.
He is always, always engaging in idle chatter or surfing the web instead of working.
He claims to be busy and buried in a pile of work
He thinks others don't do their jobs well
He deliberately sends emails at 1.14am to act like he is always doing/thinking of work
He is always on MC
He is always leaving work halfway in the day (with no prior warning)
He goes for 4 hour long meetings (half of it I bet, spent on coffee and meeting with friends)
He forgets deadlines
He blames others for his mistakes
He does not keep track of work flow
He interferes with others' work (unnecessarily)
He doesn't do his own work
He doesn't do his own work
He doesn't do his own work

Nuf' said.

「 9:49 AM 」

Why am I blogging at 9.45am in the office when I have numerous deadlines to meet?

Well, because my email is hanging. Who in the world uses Groupwise? Well, I do..and let me inform that it is awfully primitive and takes a quarter of a century to forward an email or upload a file larger than 120kb. (Not sure if that's an exaggeration, but it sure feels that way) Due to this, ALL my work gets put on hold for at least 10 minutes each time. So what better way to spend it, than to blog yea?

Anyhoo, this morning, I realise I have the ability to fall asleep while standing. Yes, I am so proud of myself. I actually dozed off completely while standing in the MRT. When the train came to a stop, I woke up with a jolt and only then realised I had fallen asleep...STANDING! It was pretty embarrassing really.

I am not sure what I am tired about though. Could be the mountain of work on my desk each day I step into the office or of course could be the brain-wrecking process of new blogging topics. Haha. But seriously, these days, I am even afraid to check my email for fear of more work. SIGH. Somebody helpppppp!

Of course, it doesn't help as I wake each day envisioning a nice long holiday in Malibu, at a clear blue beach with soft sand and a pinacoloda in hand, sitting back and watching pretty boys surf.

*gazes dreamily*

Hey, I can fantasize, can't I?!

「 2:54 PM 」

The striped thrill.

My morning train ride this morning was a striped thrill. Literally.

All thanks to the hot Indian dude, the first person I happened to see when I boarded the train at Tanah Merah. (He looked so yummy, clad in black pants and a tight, crisp white and blue striped shirt)

The first that thing that struck me was his suave, good looks and built. Of course I immediately dabbed at my mouth to prevent salivating and gingerly stepped forward to stand at a spot behind him. I casually whipped out my book to read but gave up as I couldn't fight back the urge to steal glances at him. About 5-6 minutes later, he moved all the way back to stand right next to me. Yes, next to me! * cue school- girl giggles*

I kept calm and continued to try to read. So there we were, both of us with book in hand, my heart fluttering. Eh, quite exciting to stand next to hot, yummy guy ok, trust me.

And as we entered underground at Kallang, I lost my balance and looked up to hold on for dear life, and I was pleasantly startled. I SAW HIM LOOKING AT ME! ME ME ME ME ME!

I couldn't help but blush and look away. I then decided to look over my shoulder and saw that he was still looking at me. By this time, I was seriously worried that my zip was undone or something. I cautiously did a quick check and all seemed fine. And then I couldn't help but gloat as HE tried to peek. Hurhur.

Hang on, it gets better....

Actually, throughout the whole ride, we were being harassed by this skinny Chinese girl who had very long hair. Her hair kept brushing past our arms and it was uber annoying. Both of us kept pulling our arm away from her direction but it was a futile effort as she kept leaning closer. I then let out a loud sigh as I couldn't tolerate her no more. And here's when he turned to look at me knowingly and shook his head. He even looked like he wanted to ask me a question.

By this time, I was convinced he was in love with me and wanted to marry me. HAHA!

Okay, I kid I kid. Oh well, and then we arrived at City Hall and he squeezed his way through to get to the door. And that's when I lost all my happiness, joy, twinkle in the eyes and excitement. Life felt so meaningless at that point. Yes, truly.

I stood there helplessly and watched him walk out the door. I felt the blood drain from my face.

And then, he looked back. A quick, furtive glance..but he definitely looked back and our eyes met very briefly. And then he walked away, almost looking shy.

And at that very moment, I felt like dancing around coconut trees. Yes, truly.

And then, 2 stops later, I returned to reality...

Oh no, I am actually lusting after some Indian dude. What happened to my principle of only referring to them as ah-neh men? Oh no...I think, I think...I think...I'm in love.

Can't help it leh..gorgeous you know!