Like, Meow

Eversince I returned to corporate ratdom, I have not found anything remotely interesting to write about. Well, there was the cat show over the weekend where I got to see persian cats in all their 'Kenna Langa' face glory on Sunday which made my week.

Like Christine said, another day, another dollar.

Something just doesn't fit in the picture.
I wonder how much longer I'll go on like this.

Are we all destined to be worker bees?

At the end of the day...

...what do you look forward to coming home to?

A loved one
A pet
TV
Family
Alone time
A phone conversation
A home cooked meal
The internet
A new novel
A hot shower
Computer games
Online shopping

Ending the day on a good note is integral to starting the next on a good one.
But if it doesn't, we still plod on.
Humans.
Resilient fighters aren't we.

I feel like I have been thrown in the deep end.
But I suppose starting out is always the worst, and everyone has to go thought the fire of initiation.
I must remind myself, fight not flight, which is my natural instinct.

Breathe and think.

Random

First go at felt art. It was rather enjoyable, but I got a bit impatient with the monkey and the sides as I was stitching past my bedtime hence explaining the horrendous stitching.

The great thing with boyfriends is that they'll appreciate your craft no matter how rubbish. Heh.

First day was alright, the culture and people seem nice, work sounds daunting and I suspect its going to get more overwhelming when my immediate boss returns from her 3 week holiday tomorrow. But all things considering, it really marries my diverse interests and work experiences so its all good. In any case, I am very glad the work week is a short one.

Weird Unnecessary Words of Standardized Testing

This is the title neatly written on the top part of my brother's A4 sheet of words to learn for his GRE exam for entry into Masters in the good ol' US of A. I personally think the verbal portion of the test is flawed (this is my own personal view, and I am not setting out to discredit the GREs) as a great majority of the words tested are completely random and its a case of either you know it or don't.

Ok an example would be the word Maladroit. One can possibly deduce the meaning of the word if one knew the meaning of the word adroit. According to dictionary.com:

Adroit:
1. Dexterous; deft.
2. Skillful and adept under pressing conditions

So, logically, MALadroit would possibly mean lacking or devoid of adroitness. Personally I feel a word like that would test vocabulary as well as verbal logic, something that would perhaps give examinees a fighting chance.

Now, take the word Martinet, which loosely means:
1. Disciplinarian
2. Strict adherance

According to dictionary.com Martinet was named after General Jean Martinet, the French inventor of a system of drill, who, according to Joshua, was known to be a strict disciplinarian. How far fetched is that? I mean, its virtually impossible to make some sort of logical verbal deduction of the word.

PS: My favourite word from his list is FETID, which means: A heavy offensive smell. Wah Lau! That Belachan Si Beh Fetid!

Money Matters (Written when high on PMS Hormones)

Over the last few days, I had to do some research about wealth management, investments, stock broking, shares, bonds, unit trusts... all very foreign to me. I remember my brother being quite exasperated when he tried explaining the concept of bonds to me 2 years ago as I have always been adverse to economics, finance and anything business and commerce related, no thanks to an academically useless 2 month stint in the now defunct Outrum Institute.

The research got me further interested in the workings of private banking and the world of investments, which was sparked off when I met Cheryl and Sharon a month ago when they were going on about investments and buying properties. Then I met Gary yesterday and he told me of Jan's big promotion (Congratulations Jan! All I can say is, YOU DA WOMAN!) and then I thought, SHIT, I'm 27, I'm as old as Jan, but I'm just starting on a new job, having to climb ranks all over again and that leaves me, what.... 2 years 4 months 9 days before I hit 30 and I'm no where near how I envisioned myself at 30 at aged 25.

So honestly, is all this altruistic nonsense worth it? Unfortunately, I bloomed late, was a screw up up till age 25 and didn't manage to hitchhike my way to speedy medical success. This bendy road rubbish is really getting to me, and frankly, I somehow think it is all going to go to shits. So if it really goes to shits, what's my fall back plan? I don't have one. Simply because I did not set out to fail. Cocky you say? Yes, perhaps it might seem that way. Lump likes to call it 'Burning all Bridges, and not giving oneself and excuse to fail'. However, I'm beginning to realise, that getting into medical school is a very dirty game if you are not part of the elite or have a perfect GPA.

So what happens to the in betweens like myself if we do end up slipping through the admission gap?

Well, we might mope for a bit, then we might say, Screw altruism...

I JUST WANT TO MAKE ALOT OF MONEY

Skimmed through an old episode featuring our country's garbage solution company's ex CEO today. Very prominently placed in her office was a throw around cushion with the phrase 'Behind every successful man is an exhausted woman' printed on it. She even picked it up and proudly showed it off to the camera mid interview.

It got me thinking, we women generally really get the shorter end of the stick in a marriage, don't we?

Women are in charge of taking care of and nurturing their families on top of jobs. Ok, one might argue that women are more empowered these days and chores are shared, rights are fair and equal, and running a household is a shared responsibilty. But ask any man at work if they're worrying about the shortage of groceries in the fridge or the laundry that needs to be done, I can assure you they've got their head so far up their client's asses they forget their domestic obligations.

Not only that.

Child bearing? Our responsibility
Sorting out holidays? Our responsibility
Placating the husband when he returns from work regardless of how bad a day we've had? Our responsibilty
Ensuring hot meals are placed on the table? Our responsibility.
Remembering birthdays? Our responsibility
Arranging family functions? Our responsibility
Buying gifts? Our responsibility
Dealing with utility bills? Our responsibility
Ensuring Husband's ego is stroked? Our Very Big responsibility

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure men have to worry about providing for their family in monetary terms, but seriously, more and more I appreciate and respect the many many different hats a woman has to wear every day. I have always remembered what my mother said to me in a moment of frustration...

"When your father is sick, it's like the children are sick, when the children are sick the whole family is sick, when mummy is sick, well no one really knows when mummy is sick"

Bees

Busy Busy Busy since we touched down almost 2 weeks ago. In between we managed a 1 hour coffeshop catch up a week ago and 2 hours on Thursday and a family thing yesterday. It going to be busy for a while more.

We just want to go back to De La Paix where we can wake up to this... instead of jobsEggs benedict + cheese + swine + muffin
Gratuitous sexy yolk shot

The next chapter

Been out of action since I resturned from Cambodia. Now if it was food poisoning from the various coconut laden Fish Amok I stuffed my face with in Siem Reap I can accept, it was however the putrid tuna foccacia I had at the airport pre budget airline flight that did me in, coupled with mild flu, which resulted in the bastard marriage of food poisioning + flu. Not fun at all. Anyway that's all over and done with, finally.

Moving on.

In 2 weeks, after a 19 month hiatus, I will rejoin the work force proper. I am just very happy to once again be a CPF contributing citizen, paying taxes, playing my part in building the nation. Ah! Bullshit! I just want to buy shoes, hangbags, clothes, buy my family nice meals, buy lump and friends nice things, be able to pay bills via GIRO once again and not have to live on a meager and irregular freelancer's pay. It has been a humbling experience, one that forces you to learn and grow as a person, but as anyone who has up and left to study in the midst of a career climb can attest, it is not the most financially and lifestyle friendly of situations. Those days are over, for now, bye bye 3 O'clock cat naps, you were really one of my greatest pleasures.