Day 1 of Year 2015

Today I learned that the "sengkuang" we have been eating for years is not called turnip in English. It's called jicama (or yambean)! All these years I've been misled! And I found this out through googling for parsnip...

Photo credit: foodfacts.mercola.com

The Last Day of 2014

The last day of 2014, first thing in the morning when I arrived at office, setting up my laptop to start the day and suddenly I felt watched.

Not turning my head, I shifted my eyes to the left towards the window and saw a blackbird staring back at me with one eye at an angle, through the small gap left between the drawn down blinds and my desk.

It was probably less than a few seconds and he promptly flew away from his perch when he saw me returning his stare.

I got eyeballed by a blackbird on the final day of the year. There's always a first to everything, I guess.

A Different Kind of Christmas

Christmas had come darting around the corner this year. Somehow there wasn't enough time (as always) for gift exchange shopping for the office as well as the annual family reunion. It's a pity when these tasks which were meant to be joyous becomes a chore and a headache. The spirit of Christmas is lost, albeit the celebration has become very much secular.

Gift exchange for office - amazing that I could keep to the budget

A Hair Cut Means More Than A Haircut?

Over the Merdeka weekend (many moons ago) I had a haircut. Cutting off quite a length, deviating from my usual trim. I'd planned to cut it short for some time but procrastination and lack of time had hindered my resolve to carry through.

So finally I did it. And strange feedback I had received. Not from a bad haircut but from the implication of a drastic change in hairstyle.

LK had commented before that he could tell from Facebook photos when a girl had broken up - a drastic change in image. A colleague had said a similar thing - cutting hair short as a sign of a new life.

In a way it was. A new start (at that point in time). A new hairstyle for a new rebranding and new opportunities. Forgetting the past and moving on. It is hard to actually forget, especially in the mind, but it is an outward effort to close the book. And right in so doing.

Well, actually... cutting my hair was to lessen the shock of finding so much hair dropping everyday! ;) Nevertheless, it can serve for both purposes.

Tom what?

For the past few weeks, I have been hearing some weird sounding term being used occasionally by my workmates. I had asked "what?" a few times but it was reiterated so matter-of-fact-ly that I did not dare seek further clarification on the term. Maybe something was wrong with my hearing or I was just bad at interpreting pronunciation of a common term.

I didn't give much thought on it (and didn't have much time to do so honestly) until today when I heard it again. And I finally found out what it was.

LPD

Funny how today I felt for the first time that I was contributing to the project by being able to explain to a legal colleague what LPD was. Just shows that I wasn't the only one clueless with all the abbreviations and neverending sentences. Legal language is really getting to me.

By the way, LPD is 'latest practicable date'.

Yoyo

First you surprise me by pushing me into the sea.
And when I'm just about to find equilibrium, you take it all away from me.
Then you give me a chance or more like an ultimatum to take up a challenge.
I said ok.
And now you want to cut my wings again.
Pushing me back to the situation I was so miserable in (although it was only for 3 months).
I really don't understand what is the purpose of dangling a carrot in front of me and then taking it all away in less than a month's span.
Either I've made an enemy somewhere.
Or it's time to move on.
Tired.

A Crime in Being Different?

Something happened today. Which taught me that maybe it isn't such a good idea to mix personal with professional.

I've never really thought of what the word "weird" could imply, until today when someone close was labelled such by a person who barely spent one week in contact with this someone. I'll be honest, I've used the term a thousand times on strangers and acquaintances, and I AM guilty of this frivolity.

But what makes a person seem "weird"? Is it because the person is different from you? Thinks differently? Looks different? Doesn't agree with your ethos? What? If it is any of the aforementioned, then you are "weird" for you are unable to adapt to diversity. No two individuals are identical in this world. Even the so-called identical twins have different fingerprints, DNA make up and appearance (result of environmental interactions).

So if cookie cutter human who needs to be in the "in crowd" all the time is what constitutes being a "normal" person, I'd rather be weird.

Officially in the Challenge

Today marks day 1. Got to beat this resistance to change. Only three months since losing my freedom (to a certain extent) and already I am uncertain of gaining back this freedom. See how the mind warps back to the comfort zone.

I have to buck up. Read up (a lot) to know what's going on in the ddwg meetings. And start learning to delegate and plan ahead. I really hope it won't be as bad as what some have been telling me. But if the task is too easy, then it won't be a worthy achievement.

So sm needs to press on, at least for the next few months.

Rubber Band Me

Work life has been all topsy turvy since May with two unwanted portfolio reshuffles and another one (or two) more underway. It has come to a point where my business units would call to ask who was in charge of such and such a company and I would scramble through my printed list just to discover that it was the wrong version I was looking at. I can't even remember which companies I am in charge of and honestly, it doesn't matter anymore.