moons and junes and ferriswheels » 9to5

Things I will miss about work

may — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:40:00 +0000

1. My colleagues’ childish banter which I’ve come to really enjoy. Some recurring lunchtime conversation topics: “What I would do if I won RM16,000,000 in a lottery draw”, “How to make a fortune from filing lawsuits against Accenture”, “Why it is better to marry a rich man’s daughter and live off her fortune than to make your own living”, “How to trick your Thai colleague into believing that pork intestine sausages are in fact dog meat”, and many others.

2. Hawker food. Glorious hawker food. Today I discovered some really yummy Sarawak handmade noodles, but I won’t get to eat it anymore cos tomorrow is my last day and we’re going to a Chinese restaurant for my farewell lunch.

3. Playing Scrabulous on Facebook.

4. Er… free Internet?.. I think that’s about it. Lol.

I am a lean mean phlegm-producing machine

may — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:03:00 +0000

Is it true that if you block your nostrils while sneezing, the pressure build-up inside your head is large enough to puncture your eardrums? I am getting Happy Tree Friends images in my head right now..

Auntie says I’m to pay the doctor a visit tonight after work. About time, really. I’d put off going to see the doctor for my cold and cough for almost a week now but Tuesday I could no longer ignore the symptoms so I excused myself from work during lunchtime, went home and hit the sack. Yesterday I took the entire day off. My regret is not going to see the doctor earlier, cos then I’d be able to officially take a few days of sick leave rather than look like I’m skiving. What’s the point of going to see the doctor now when it’s the beginning of the long weekend and I won’t be getting an MC? )= Anyhoo. I’ve been drugging myself to sleep with some very potent flu pills and expectorant which my cousin Darren didn’t finish when he fell ill last month, but the medication’s making me feel even weaker. This flu is really really tiresome.

Won’t you sail home soon?

A long hiatus

may — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 07:14:00 +0000

Can’t quite put my finger on the reason why I stopped writing here. I suppose it was really a combination of many things, not least the fact that for the longest time I just felt plain fed up of thinking up ‘clever’ witty things to say. This blog had become somewhat like a thorn in my flesh – at some point I told people I was just going to get rid of it forever or at least take it off the net even if I don’t delete the blogposts. Yet at the same time it’d become my comfort zone, deleting it would be like throwing away an old blanket or my favourite (grubby) pair of gloves. And at the same time, too, I didn’t want to leave it dormant for so long. Having a blog can be tiresome that way.

But what do you know? -here I am writing again. Because I am bored and jobless at work, for lack of a better reason.

Since I’m still struggling to recover from this prolonged writer’s block, a quick update will do: I’m now back in Malaysia, interning with Accenture but based in ACNielsen in PJ, whiling away the hours til my conscience deems it “okay” to leave the office. We watched Transformers yesterday, me, Eng and Jin. It was good fun, because/in spite of the fact that there was sooo much profligate destruction! Oh and last Sunday we saw Vacancy, you know, that thriller starring Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson. I actually screamed twice in the cinema, can you believe that? After all the training I’d gotten watching Korean/Japanese/HK ‘horror’ flicks with Barathy and Justine, you’d think I’d be able to take a few scares but nooo… Apparently I was squeezing Eng’s hand so much the blood couldn’t circulate properly, haha. But anyhoo. Tomorrow I will be going back to Bentong for the weekend, I foresee more couch potato (in)activity. Channel 76 here I coooooome!

For lack of a better title..

may — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 07:59:00 +0000

So I got my first paycheck today, albeit minus RM19 X 3 for the three days of leave I took after my LASIK surgery. Oh and it wasn’t actually a check cos like my brother says, they probably pay me out of the Petty Cash account or something like that, lol. This being my first real work experience (helping Miss Lim teach theory to the kids every Saturday during my Form 5 days does not count, though I actually earned a great deal more per hour than I am earning right now, hmmm), I have to say it feels quite satisfying to finally be earning my own wages, modest though they may be. *pats self on the back*

Recently I have discovered that there are a few questions that I am repeatedly asked, by different people, and which I’ve grown most tired of answering.

FAQ about May:

1. “Why are you so skinny?” has got to be the ULTIMATE eye-roll-ughh-not-again-oh-just-kill-me-bleargh-inducing question of all time and I suspect will continue to be so for quite a while.

As the cute little Korean auntie (we call her ‘Ajima’; incidentally, I only just found out that ‘Ajima’ isn’t her name, it’s Korean for ‘auntie’) who regularly drops by my aunt’s place, ever so eloquently and animatedly puts it: “Many many rice! No fat! Very gooood!!!!” Unfortunately the average auntie/grandmother/distant female relative/envious female friend often fails to see this incredible phenomena the way dear Ajima does. Instead of being impressed at my apparent ultra-high metabolic rate and my ability to dig in without putting on, they tsk-tsk and shake their head with disapproval at what they perceive to be my unhealthy appetite and/or obsession with staying thin. And this does not even exclude people who are close to me, who ought to know that I have no such tendencies! I mean… Hello?? Do you not SEE the amount of FOOD on my plate?!?! For the last time, I love my chow and I. Am. Not. On. A. Diet.!

2. “So you know how to make Panadol then?” (referring to my work attachment at GSK). Answer: No.

3. “How many years are you bonded to serve the government, you poor girl?”. Okay I know this is actually a very valid question but I’ve been asked it one too many times and am getting tired of repeating the whole lengthy explanation on the differences between a Biasiswa Penuh and a Pinjaman Boleh Ubah. So people, I am not bonded to the government because mine is the latter scholarship (convertible loan) and at the end of my studies, I need only pay back a certain percentage (interest free instalments) of whatever the government has spent on my education, depending on how well I do. Okay? Okay.

4. “Eh how come you celebrate Chinese New Year? Aren’t you Christian?”. Not to be racist but most of this kind of questions come from my Malay friends.

5. “Which town did you say you’re from again?” (often accompanied by a snigger). Bentong. And that’s in Pahang, not Johor, not Sarawak, and most certainly nowhere near Timbuktu, nor anything like it!

girl with the bulging wallet,

-may-

Hanging on in there

may — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 05:21:00 +0000

..if only by a thread.

My working days at GSK have in the recent weeks slowed down to an excruciatingly painful crawl. Today, in particular, has got to be one of the absolute slowest days I have experienced in a long long time, even the 3 hours of cold-sweat-panicking-and-trying-to-recover-from-my-black-out-during-Separations-Processes-paper-experience pales in comparison. My immediate supervisor is having training from 9 to 5, and the rest of the office is either on leave or away on training too. There’s no one here to give me any work to do. I hate the idleness. I hate it with a passion. (notice I didn’t say “I hate my work” or “I hate GSK”) Being idle is one thing, having to pretend to be busy and useful is another. It feels almost demeaning.

If anything, this ‘practical training’ experience has helped me discover what are the criteria I seek most in a job – work satisfaction, motivation, and a friendly, conducive working environment. Which is something to be thankful about because last year when I did a Graduate Employment Survey and was posed this question, I had absolutely no idea at all. It’s funny how sometimes going through an experience teaches you something other than what you were looking to learn, but is just as useful and valuable.

At this juncture I feel I should mention though, that I have lots of other things to be thankful for, regarding this work attachment at GSK. Perhaps just a little putting-into-perspective needs to be done. (=

The past one week for me has been nothing short of hectic. My last thought before drifting off into a much-needed reposeful sleep last night was that since last Monday, I have gone out every single night of the week bar none. Very unlike me, if you know me well enough. Everything chose to just… happen.. last week. Birthdays, farewells, lunches, dinners, visits from friends, even a memorial service. And alleged terror plots. But it was a good weekend. I have finally put Bentong on the map for my Singaporean friends, nevermind if it ranks lowest in Yuyong’s atas-ity survey, lol.

at work?

-may-

5:55

may — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 02:23:00 +0000

5:55 am is the time I set my alarm clock to ring at every morning. Not because I actually want to get up at 5:55 but because it takes on average about 5 snoozes for me to actually get up. Each snooze lasts 9 minutes, so by the end of the fifth snooze it’s exactly 6:40 am. And I reluctantly (but a little less reluctant than I was 45 minutes ago) drag myself up out of bed.

And yes, Jenny, I SO agree with you that thinking of titles for blogposts can be quite tiresome.

yours groggily,
-may-

Sigh.

may — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:26:00 +0000

Perched on the toilet bowl early this morning with my eyes still semi-open, I made a dreadful discovery: I have five more weeks to go at GSK and not four weeks as I had initially calculated. Lesson learnt: Two months does not equal 8 weeks. )=

conned by her own self,
-may-

back-bending heaviness in my head

may — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 05:07:00 +0000

oh that i might drift off to sleep on my bed while getting a good back massage, and not have to bother setting my alarm clock to go to work the next morning

deskbound and dreading it,
-may-

Nothing much to say but

may — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 03:24:00 +0000

I thought it’d only be good courtesy to leave a (long overdue) post just to say that I am back in Malaysia, safe and sound and ever so glad to be home… (= And the reason for my apparent disappearance from the blog-o-sphere is because I am now doing an 8-week attachment at GlaxoSmithKline in KL, and I don’t go online at my aunt’s place in Ampang where I am tumpang-ing. Oh, another quick update: I finally did my eyes and am now seeing with near-perfect 20-20 vision through my naked eyes! I thank God for a safe surgery and no post-op complications, thanks also to everyone who prayed for me. (=

Yours truly, in her sunnies,
-may-