RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

The day begins. A brand new day, you tell yourself as you prepare to get to work. You hear a bit of an interesting conversation on the radio before more important things drag you away forcefully and you leave not knowing how the topic was concluded. You make a mental note to download the podcast with your new superspeed internet connection and almost brand new laptop when you get back home later that night. Life goes on. The hours you spend solving problems you didn't create in the first place vanish with almost the blink of an eye. Soon, it's time to face the superspeed internet and your new laptop, but the mental note you made earlier stubbornly stays a mental note. So you lie down on the floor with the laptop and play Tetris Battle until you spend all your energy. Literally. Repeat the cycle the next day. *Edit: Mark mentioned something about being stuck in a rut in the comments below, so I thought I'd just add this video by one of my favourite 'current' ba...

I keep asking myself the same question

The heat rolls in waves, marking would be lazy days - for those of us who can be lazy, that is. In a small part of the world, specifically where I exist, hazy days may be something quite usual, but not lazy days. Not at this period in time, anyways. While I love a good challenging mystery every now and then, the fact that quite a few mysteries decided to drop by together like unexpected relatives passing through your area en route to some other place is a mystery in itself. Questions like 'how?' and 'why the hell?' never seem like good enough questions to get to the rootcause of the problem. And then, suddenly and unexpectedly the answer reveals itself. It's July. The lousiest month of the year! Aside: Apparently, July was once known as Quintilis in Latin (source: wikipedia) Imagine using 'Qui' instead of Jul to indicate July in cramped writing spaces. And talking about cramped spaces, my mind is one right now. Hence the deviation from the previous topic....

Porridge is bubbling Porridge is bubbling, bubbling hot, Stir it round And round in the pot. The bubbles plip! The bubbles plop! It's ready to eat All bubbling hot Traditional We were eight years old, and a classmate of mine actually cried as he struggled when he was made to recite the poem above during English class when our English teacher was auditioning for those who were talented in reciting poetry to represent our class in one of the many competitions held during the English Language Week. But then, this post is not about porridge, nor is it about the unfortunate classmate of mine. Instead, it's sort of connected with the insane heat we've been having of late. And how is porridge precisely connected with the heat wave? They're both Hot. Well, mostly. In fact, it's been so hot that at some point I imagined that the witch from Hansel and Gretel had put in the whole earth into her oven to slowly cook us and eventually eat us up.

I hope

How often do you find yourself being faced with a situation so ridiculous that you are torn between giving out one of those mad guffaws while one hand violently and repeatedly hits the thigh of the person sitting next to you or crying into your pillow like there is no tomorrow, or doing both at the same time? It must have been over a week ago when I was involuntarily held against my will at a short meeting, in which I and another colleague were informed that we were chosen to give training to a bunch of middle aged men who belonged to the most exclusive club in the automotive industry (the < insert name of notoriously popular car maker here> supplier's club) If you asked anyone in the industry, they'd tell you that it is indeed a big honour... especially me and my colleague (lets call him Ace, shall we?) being 'young guns' and all... I'm almost 30, and he's around 35. What they can't possibly imagine is how intimidating it would be for the likes...

Ok. The word "quality" probably stretches it a bit too far, akin to bestowing yourself the nickname Rapunzel when your hair barely surpasses your scapula, but I'm sure you get my drift... a lower frequency of posting inadvertently assumed to be well thought out and crafted posts. How far it is from the truth... Sigh. So here I am, taking the blogging bull by it's proverbial horns, doing the best I can to get back to somewhat regular posting - preferably every other day, training my mind to view things from the left hand side of a tightly closed box (whatever that means), appreciating the amusing stuff that happens on a daily basis and documenting them no matter how daft. I will try to avoid rants as much as I possibly can, though... unless they're in the form of haiku. Therefore, while we may lack quality, which I am fervently hoping will not be the case for too long, here's to a tad bit more quantity (does a crazy toast with a giant blue water bottle and...

So, it's been 5 days since I took an unofficial, unannounced break from blogging, which when you come to think of it, wasn't that much of a break seeing that I had actually written about 2 unpublished posts (because I never completed them) and that I kept visiting to stalk other blogs, as well as to reply to comments. The only way I would totally disappear from this world which I have become so dependent on for the sake of my sanity is if I were totally disconnected from the internet like I was somewhere around this time last year. I had some sort of minor withdrawal symptom back then. Anyway, just to get back into the groove (this is all for the added drama effect, but then since I had missed out on 5 days events - not that my life is eventful in any way, in fact it is so dead boring that I am sometimes amazed at the fact that I can spew out so many things here on the blog... some that I'm okay with, and some that I regret putting up a few days later...) I thought that I...

Alarm bells should have sounded some warning this morning, preferably with those flashy red lights that make you believe that you were stuck in some *seedy disco from the past. I suppose I could say it all began with a certain degree of reluctance to wake up (on my part), I could hear my brain protesting... "we need to sleep" it said. I ignored the protests and trudged on with my morning routine despite yet another protest from my tummy, which had a strange sort of pain. I could have listened to Chiquita's radiator as well, when it said that there was a problem. Possibly minor... but no. I didn't listen. So that is how I, upon insisting on leaving the house anyway, ended up reaching the workplace late because there was a bloody accident halfway through the journey. There was no blood, though, but broken glass everywhere and ogling onlookers, and a terribly damaged car. It would have been alright if I was respectably late (for instance if I was 15 minutes late or ...

She was walking along a somewhat familiar path, well known and well worn, one she's been using for the past 6 months or so without fail. Suddenly, an arrow, unseen and unheard swishes swiftly by her right ear, narrowly missing her by a fraction of an inch and lands neatly into a pile of wood, quivering slightly due to inertia. She turns, surprised, and sees a familiar face. "Why are you using that path? he asks. Eyebrows raised slightly, she answers "This is the path. I've been using it all this while" "Well, it's wrong" he says. "You're supposed to use that path" he continues, pointing towards a different path. To her it looked like what once used to be a path. It was now all covered in brambles. He walks away, slowly. Before he disappears completely from view, he turns to her and says. "Remember, use this path the next time" She nods her head acknowledging agreement despite somewhat skeptically. Why does *life...

It is indeed awkward leaving the blog idle for a few days, and although there are a few things which need to be put up, I just couldn't find the time and opportunity to make them 'sound nice' (in print at least) Therefore, I have decided to bring up something which I posted in December 2006 as my very first Thursday 13 post (credit goes to Travis for this idea), and it discusses 13 things about me in the old days (before 2006, that is) 1. She played table tennis in school 2. She dyed her hair purple once, but since her original hair was very dark, it didn't show except under bright lights. 3. When she was 11 she had a fight with another kid over a green colour pencil. 4. At age 6, she created an imaginary sister whom she fondly named Malboro . She then shared the imaginary sister story with her real sister who believed every single word. 5. She had single handedly destroyed a vacuum cleaner 6. Her interest in caring for the environment started with a book by Dav...

The kids are back to school, I guess they don't think it's cool, After a month of playing the fool, Now it's back to the whirlpool. Today was the first day of school and after about a month of being able to leave the house a little later, and still avoid the traffic jam, everything is back to like what it was before. Cars with the parents and their little first day to school kids with their smartly pressed uniforms, clean shoes and new bags walking into the school grounds while their cars are parked along the road. To avoid getting annoyed unneccesarily, I left the house 10 minutes earlier as I had to pass by three primary schools on my way to work. Secondary schools wouldn't have been so bad as the kids are older and will not necessarily have their parents in tow. I escaped the jam in the first two schools, but was slightly delayed in the third school as by then the parents cars had happily illegally parked at the side of the road reducing our two lane road to ...

Dear 2009, Hey there, I believe we haven't met just yet, though we most probably will in a few hours. To be honest, this is the very first time I'm writing a letter to a year. I suppose you should know that I along with a few others have not made any resolutions to celebrate your arrival, but that's beside the point. The thing is, I was kind of hoping to catch you before you descended upon us. It's just hours away where people will be ushering you in with fireworks, countdowns and laughter induced by champagne bubbles... So before anything happens, I'd like to request just one thing. Be nice. Just that. I'm not hoping for anything spectacular, but it would be nice if 2009 (that is you, if you've forgotten) could leave out unnecessary pain from your list of things to do. So many people have a lot of hopes on you, you know. I'm sure that at the end, you don't want to be rated the same as 2008 - unpredictable and only getting a five out of ten.....

November ended with a local blackout. Really... I had just finished ironing my clothes for the work week and sat down with the laptop on the floor, a cushion on my lap and was contemplating on putting up yet another complaint post, throw a couple of comments here and there but even before anything could happen, the lights went off with a bang. It was about 7:15 pm and it was already dark. Using the light from my laptop which was running on battery, I looked for my mobile phone as a temporary torchlight until I found a real one (by the way, mobile phone lights are lousy for situations like this) The first torchlight that I picked did not work and neither did the second one... so I traipsed into the kitchen and found matches, but no candles. A few phone calls later, I found a torchlight after rummaging in the dark, and also found some candles. I took a tin, the candles and the matches to the hall and lit it. Then I turned off the laptop. Since there was nothing else to do, I decide...

It's Sunday evening, and I'm still at work. This has been the longest week ever, career wise (If you can call it that.. Ha! Ha!) Just finished a report about half an hour ago, and was about to head back until I saw the condition outside. It's pouring. Like there is no tomorrow. So here I am, waiting for the sky to clear up a bit as I highly doubt it's possible to drive back in that. Sigh...

It must have all begun with the strange weather we've been having lately. Rain, either in the form of sheets so thick you can hardly see 10 meters in front of you, or in droplets that somehow manage to wet you even if you're exposed to it just a bit, extra cold temperatures from the air conditioning units, as well as too much talking led to a scratchy throat, and perhaps an overdose of Fisherman's Friends, and eventually the infamous influenza, which sort of hovered for only a day or so. I was supposed to get back to work today after a short break earlier in the week, but I was a bit weakened from the fact that I had not eaten any solid food from the night before due to a situation whereby eating/drinking anything would have led to worse consequences. A visit to the doctor confirmed one particular suspicion of food poisoning (I beg to differ, though), but how, where and why remains unanswered. Others who have been eating the same meals as me seem to be in the pink of heal...

Firstly, I should make it clear that in the actual process of conducting the activities listed below, no one's hair stood on ends, no one suffered from static electricity shock per se, and the best part of all, it was not necessary to get any firemen involved (although I personally am of the opinion that they have one hell of a cool job despite the heat they have to face) Now that all wild ideas have been put aside, we shall continue. A couple of days ago, I found myself in front of an audience of about twenty per session (we had to split it into three sessions) which makes it about 60 guys where I attempted to make them understand the shaky concepts behind static electricity, why we give such a damn about it and what we can all do to reduce the effects of static electricity even though I was completely unprepared for it (mentally, that is... because we're supposed to kick off these marathon training sessions, and this topic was selected to be the first and so there I was - d...