Monday, February 16, 2009

Bad vs Bad

Ah, such irony.

Today's headlines scream that SQ is cutting capacity due to the slowdown in air travel.

The subsequent fallout has been that employee's pay will be cut, people have been asked to take voluntary no-pay leave, and the whole gamut of cost-cutting measures.

I was offered a job at SIA. I turned it down despite being promised 6 to 9 months of bonus. I felt the starting pay was too low and seriously, getting a job in Changi when I stay in Bukit Batok?

Anyway, now that I'm at MC, my pay has also been cut.

So, either way, life would still have stank.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Happy Anniversary


Today marks exactly one year since I stepped into MC, forever propelling me down the rabbit hole.


Have I grown a lot since a year ago? I suppose the eager-eye, optimistic newbie is more or less gone.


In her place is an eye-rolling, tongue clucking, take-no-nonsense journo who still has no idea what she's doing half the time.


HAHA!


Fadz tried to convince me that I actually like my job. I dunno whether I agree or disagree.


Part of me is happy that I went down a path I never thought about, because it appeals to my capricious nature. And I suppose I do like certain components of my job.


And yet, there's part of me that just wants to cross my arms, rest my forehead and cower in despair.

Monday, February 09, 2009

The Folly of Youth

So, after I've been suffering from an insufferable cold the whole week.... what do I do over the weekend?

Instead of acting like a sensible young lady....

.

.

.

I party till 4am on Saturday. No wonder my body gave out on me on Sunday.

Anyway, I met up with some of the volleyball peeps at The Pump Room. Let me just say, this is the right place if... YOU ARE AN OLD PERSON. Yup, Jia Ling and I looked at each other and both agreed, we'd come back in another 10 years time.

The band that was playing sang songs like Guns N Roses and Bon Jovi and songs I didn't recognise but songs that the older crowd went wild for. I'm not saying they're bad. Heck, I love a Bon Jovi song or too. When I'm chilling. Not when I'm looking for some dancy music.

And when the DJ did spin, the old crowd was just basically bobbing around in old people fashion. Gaah. I hate to sound ageist, but but but.... Jia Ling and I gave up grooving after 10 minutes cos we were moving at 100 beats per second, and the crowd was like... 50 beats per second.
And it was Ang Moh heaven, which meant all the SPGs/maids on their day offs were out in full force. If I had to watch one more dirty ugly ang moh grope a skanky foreigner, who's obviously not foreign talent/professional (trust me, there's no mistakenly the cheap clothing, cheap makeup), I might gag.

But alas, the boys mentioned "we have half a bottle of whisky and need to finish it". I couldn't ignore that now, could I?

So after finishing work at 11, I hightailed down to Clark Quay. Nothing like half a bottle of whisky to blast the cold right out of me.


And Happy Birthday again, Ms Aw!

Yes, yes, crappy photo quality. I took it with my handphone cam.

So yeah, back to the weekend. After stumbling home on Sunday morning, I woke up with a parched throat, only to find a message from Fadz asking about movie plans. Feeling thoroughly dishevelled, I mumbled something about watching Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Great movie. Only thing is, my cold started acting up, and in between the crying and the sniffling, I couldn't breathe to save my life.

We went home for dinner, and along the way, I got an eye infection. My family had company over, but at this point, I gave up all thoughts about civility. I just lay down on my mum's bed and promptly dozed off.

After they left, I went back to my room, and poor Fadz was just watching me, looking at me at my more ghastly moment. Of course I milked it for all it was worth, making him get me cold compresses for my swollen eyes. Sigh, I'm sorry baby.

Monday morning, I regain some semblance of normalcy. Decide to break out a brand new toy to play with (god bless irregular off days).

Isn't she lovely in her pristine whiteness? Yes yes, I know it's plain and white and certainly not...

But one's $699 and the other $59. Go figure out which is which.

Made banana muffins from a recipe I've been meaning to try from ChubbyHubby
Love the website.

Doesn't look like much, but I can tell you, it's moist, chewy and banana-goo great.

Sigh, if only I didn't have to work...

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

An Uncontrollable Rage

Seriously, I need to start controlling my crazy temper and violent nature, before someone gets hurt. Badly.

At work, I'm super high strung and can fly into an uncontrollable rage in a moment. Just like that, without warning, I literally see red and want to draw blood.

Exhibit A:

a few months back, just before I left for Japan, my boss decided to pile on the work. Coupled with the articles I had to write from my Cologne trip, I was stretched to the limit.

At my breaking point, my colleague, let's call this person Z, saw that I was doing a phone interview. So Z saunters over to my terminal, and casually says, "Wah, so serious ah?"

I chose to ignore this person and continued with my work. Not satisfied with my silence, she picked up a notebook and tossed it at me, hitting my shoulder.

That's when I went into Hulk mode and turned into a raging bull. I picked up the notebook, and FLUNG IT HARD at Z, hitting Z in the stomach.

Not happy, I even yelled at her and told her off for being childish and annoying and always picking the wrong moment to irritate people.

Yeah, that's what I did. In the office. With all my colleagues in full view.

Exhibit B:

Two days ago, my boss came over because he wanted to clarify my use of "percentage point", as opposed to "percent".

Turns out, I got it wrong, and he explained it again.

Suddenly, this other colleague, whom we'd call X, chimed up and started saying very loudly, "Wah! I thought Joanne was from a business school! Like that also dunno ah!"

This came just five minutes after X was insulting me and calling me short cos X was bored, not doing any work, and annoyingly rude.

So anyway, back to the percentage point bit. My boss and I ignored X the first time. Not happy, X repeated it several times.

Really pissed off now, I snapped, "And which school did you graduate from, the BITCH school?"

Hearing this, my boss raised his hands, said he didn't want to get involved, and scooted to the other side of the room.

I know, I know, I'm very unprofessional. And there were a million other retorts, less violent, less crude, that I could have come up with. But at that very moment, I just wanted X to shut up so badly, I was REALLY annoyed with X's holier than thou attitude, that I wanted to say something equivalent to slashing X with a literary knife.

I think I've a very violent nature. Volleyball used to be my therapy for working out my anger issues. But now, I'm left with nothing.

Sigh, yoga anyone?

And as a side note, X, Z and I are usually good friends. Haha, or so I thought. Dunno lah! How friendly does one get with one's colleagues anyway?