Katrina's mischief

These few days, I've been following hurricane news rather feverously. It's tough thinking about the homes destroyed or personal articles lost in the floods and winds. And even harder hearing from friends who'd left much of their lives behind when they were evacuated, waiting to return to normalcy, if it were possible to begin with.

This paragraph from The New York Times, offered temporary reprieve from the sadness.

Vonda Simmons, 39, fled New Orleans with relatives on Saturday afternoon to stay with friends in Baton Rouge. When she saw footage of the hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward, where she lived, she assumed she had lost everything but she accepted fate's hand.

"We have the most prized possession," Ms. Simmons said. "We have each other."

My thoughts and prayers are with each and everyone of you.

Things that don't belong on television

Trailers for horror movies and television features.

For fuck's sake, have some compassion. How many sleepless nights must I go through?

Way to end the week

The nastiest bit of writing financial brochures is missing out a miscalculation.

I looked at my copy sheet and I got the numbers right. In the initial artwork, the numbers were right. But on the final artwork, different numbers showed for a certain row. See, after proofreading a 6 panel brochure over and over, with a myriad changes from the client, there are some things that I'm bound to miss. And since I'm the wordist, and the client, the product manager, they should be picking those things up instead of fucking around with the words, which they always do.

They requested for this correction. But it didn't come out properly on the fax. And I asked the suit to clarify. But while she was taking her time to clarify, I picked up on a miscalculation in that spot. Then when she finally showed up, I asked her if that was it. She said yeah.

Long story short. The error was in the row above it. And the brochures had gone for express printing with the client's printers. I never saw a colourproof. They would have.

So now that they need to reprint the brochure, we're bearing half of the loss.

But I'm feeling double the crumminess.

I feel so, so bad.

I don't want to go to school, Mummy.

At 8.30 this morning, I have to climb up to the boardroom for a brainstorm. That I have difficulty sleeping at night adds on to the pain of trying to be out of the house by 7 (I live up north).

I rolled out of bed at the last possible second and flash-showered and clothed myself. Then discovered that I still wouldn't have time to put on my shoes. So there I was, sneakers in hand, making my way to the train station.

People stare at me often enough. Today, they took out their secret pair of eyes and gave me more attention than needed.

What's so strange really? If some women can apply their make-up on their commute, why I can't I put on my sneakers on the train?

Off to meeting.

Gobstopped

I can't stop munching on these chewy gobstoppers. I'm not sure what they put in there but I feel a little trippy. Not that I know what that's like.

>_>

<_<

>_>

What?

Daily Wisdom

I've got two this morning.

While I'm pretty sure Singaporean taxi drivers don't read this page, I thought I'd share this nugget of information anyway so I won't find myself repeating it.

DDB are the initials of our founders, Doyle, Dane and Bernbach. I don't know much about both Doyle and Dane but Bill Bernbach is probably the greatest ad man that the world ever saw.

And, I was sure it needn't be said but when someone smiles at you, smile. If you don't have the energy to stretch your cheeks, put on your best poker face. Whatever you do, don't scowl.

Have a lovely day now.

The phone is safe. The girl too.

I'm uncertain about the callers who came a-calling and messaging though. Funny numbers but that could just be you lot making sure it was vibrating so I could detect it.

This evening, I met up with Carmen and Emily for dinner. Carmen is off to Paris for her MBA - luxury brand management... nice! We worked together over 5 years ago and I haven't seen them in over a year, except for the random "Hey! I'm on the bus, look up!" or "Hey! I'm at the bus stop, look over!" moments. Reminisced and talked... good stuff.

There are many thoughts floating in my head which I'd like to talk about but I can't construct proper sentences now. Been a long day. I'll just summarise them so I'll remember what I was going to blah blah about.

Tim, you'll be disappointed in me but after seeing my trashy magazine habits, this'll probably be a soft blow but I find myself with Big Brother fascination. (Horrors! I just Googled to see who finally won Big Brother Australia.) I can explain this one. See, I've been listening to Virgin Radio UK podcasts of the Pete & Geoff Breakfast show. And they talk about Big Brother a lot. And yeah... *hangs head in shame* (Fucking hell! Greg won?)

If I ever punched anyone in the face, it'll be all those bastards I face everyday who think they're better than everybody else and don't give you an ounce of decent respect. Fucker.

My mom never greets me with any positivities when I come home from work with a bruised mind. And you wonder why my morale is this way.

I think I'll just curl up under the covers and call it a day. <3

P.S. It rained in the evening and a lovely man asked if I would share my umbrella with him while we were waiting at the junction. I said yes in a heartbeat. Not because he was lovely. It was just the right thing to do. This is a good anecdote because for a second there, I felt there was some natural camaraderie between us humans and there's hope for a future and sense of unity, get what I mean?

Oh noes!

On the train, I realised the stylus on my Nintendo DS was missing. Then, when I saw a Kim Jong Il lookalike (down to the suit et al) and wanted to take a photo of her/him with my camera phone, I couldn't find it in my bag.

Then I thought, it might be on my desk at work. But I distinctly remember unplugging it from the charger last night.

It could be on my bed but I don't remember taking it out of my bag!

And I'm bloody worried about it possibly dropping out of my bag on my way home and someone making IDD calls with it. I can't deal with financial damage now!

I should stop worrying but I can't. Sigh. It's at home. It's at home. It's at home.

The first dance

If I ever get a special first dance, I hope it'll be to "Can't Help Myself".

Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch
You know that I love you
I can't help myself
I love you and nobody else

That song evokes so many emotions, it's ace. Here's hoping my knees don't fail on me in the years between then and now.

Two hours too early

My body's still operating on Sydney time. Which means I get up at 5am.

Which would be alright if it didn't mean I'd get tired way too early in my work day. Sigh.

Have you ever...

felt a smile?

It's a bloody good one. Especially the ones that catch you off-guard. And those you're trying to surpress because you can't be seen enjoying yourself at work because that's a sure sign you're slacking but they get out anyway because they're genuine, heart-felt and super.

Yeah. Try it. 8-)

The customer has rights

I was at the local Mcdonald's tonight trying to get an ice-cream and I found myself apologising for a mistake the cashier made.

Which pissed me off big time. It's one thing to chastise your customer. It's another to shamelessly think that you did nothing wrong just because the customer can't do without the ice-cream while you can make up for your loss with the next guy.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!

Then again, what was I doing saying sorry?

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!

How does it feel?

I was asked if I felt 25 after my recent birthday. And I answered it as honestly as I could. It doesn't feel any different. And how is a 25-year-old supposed to feel? I didn't find out until today.



It's strange. I'm filling out a survey and I no longer check the "Under 25" belt for my age. Now I'm a 25-30. And before I know it, I'll be moving to "30-40". Then horrors, "Above 45"!

As much as I'm glad to be getting older, hopefully wiser, being 25 will take some getting used to after all.


On other news, my nails haven't been clean since I got back to work. They're doing some renovation work here and there's dust everywhere!


Oh, wherever you are and whatever you're doing, I hope you're safe and well.

Hurts so bad

I think my back is failing on me. It could just be cramping from the crimson wave but this is a horrid, horrible, awful, insane pain on my lower spine.

Or maybe there's an alien breeding in there. :-O

Dear Tim...

Thank you.

8-)