Bye Bye Polly

A few days ago, we celebrated Paul's birthday as well as his farewell lunch, for he has decided to leave our department to pursue his career in another department.

I am sure Paul, or more affectionally headmaster Polly, has his reasons for leaving our bestest department. I am guessing the Wii and games room of his new department must have been the weighing factors.

Shame that we no longer have our "headmaster" patrolling the aisle and doing spot checks on us. Who would take photographs of Nelson sleeping in the office now (which reminds me, I haven't posted those)? Who would stop the Bowling Queen from playing with her virtual pet in Facebook now?

Surely our department will fall into disarray now that Polly is gone. Oh no!

Okay, not really. Just wanted to let Polly thinks he is important, give face lar.

Hope you find what you seek in the new department Polly.

If not, don't come back, we don't want you anymore you deserter!

=P

Down Time

Router died on me three days ago.

Took me so many days to get the new router to talk to the computers in LAN and the modem at the same time without them giving each others cold shoulders, silent treatments, or slammed doors.

Computer savvy I am not. Me da caveman.

Trial and error is the way to go! =P

Anyway, finally back online at home, booyah!

State of Mind

Happiness, like sadness, is a state of mind.

There is nothing wrong being sad, for it's through sadness we appreciate happiness. Prolonged sadness though, is not a healthy state to dwell on.

I know, because I have been depressed for a long period of time. During which sparks of happiness were short-lived, never sustained, and I stayed in my cave wasting away my life.

Depression is a psychological illness, so in other words I was mentally imbalanced, a psycho. I never denied I am a little crazy, ever read what I wrote on my office white board? =P

There came a point when I didn't want to be depressed no more. I really, really wanted to be normal again. After all, there are only so many years I will live, I don't want to waste them in sadness.

I didn't really know what to do to be happy, so I told myself to stop being depressed. It's an inner battle of telling myself repeatedly that I want to be normal again.

Saying is always easier than actually doing it, however I also know that we won't get anywhere if we do nothing. First step is always the hardest, persist and it becomes a habit.

Smile, for I believe the physical affects the mental and vice versa. By making myself smile, I hope to lead my mind into happiness. Nothing to lose trying, since smiling makes one look better anyway.

It took time, and I still suffer bouts of depression every now and then, but that's okay, it's normal. Although a teeny-weeny insane, I am generally happy nowadays, because I chose to be.

Happiness is a choice.

Happy Birthday, Brother

Here's wishing you much happiness that will increase many-fold with the coming of your bundle of joy!

Happy last birthday before parenthood!

p/s: sleep now while you can =P

My Colleagues

My colleagues come in various shapes and sizes, different personalities and behaviours, there are...

...those who do all the grunt works but say very little

...those who don't do much or at all but speak a lot and loudly

...those who are in love with their own voice, who will speak up given half the chance, no matter if it's relevant or not

...those who really know their stuff and command respect when they speak

...those who pretend that they know their stuff which ended up sounding mildly amusing or outright foolish

...those who suffer role ambiguity (self confusion really) and act as if they are managers instead of just mere engineers

...those who you can rely on to brighten your day

...those who you avoid as much as possible

...those who are good to bounce ideas with

...those who are only good if you feel like banging your head on a brick wall

...those who you laugh with

...those who you get laughed at

...those who you bring out of work life

...those who you limit strictly to work life only

...those who write, read, AND leave comments on blog

...those who read but not bothered to leave comments on blog

...those who don't read (anything)

...those who say the data is testiclely significant instead of statistically significant (data has balls too, I guess...)

While I might only be thinking of a certain colleague when I wrote a sentence, I used "they" to avoid specifying the gender.

Happy BCYD!

To those who believe in, and celebrate Businessmen-Con-You-Day Valentine's Day, here's wishing you am amorous and romantic day!

My personal view hasn't changed, so I won't repeat what I said, the article I linked to in the comment of that post is a great read.

Today, I...

...woke up tired (His Royal Highness King Baby Hsiang woke up crying in the middle of the night)

...couldn't finish my breakfast (it's too spicy!)

...went around bugging colleagues to do their jobs (me no likey! Am not integrator)

...pretended as if I knew what I was doing and sorted out a friend's IT query by sheer dumb luck (trial and error is the way to go!)

...tidied up my drawers and filed the documents accordingly (geez, I have a lot of junks)

...witnessed the two colleagues who had gone to the pink side "at it" again, sitting side by side, singing the YMCA song, and more (My eyes! My eyes!)

...found another avid reader to share the joys of reading (yippie!)

...spent some quality time with my baby (he actually sat beside me and watched the whole episode of Thomas and Friends without fidgeting, record!)

...am happy.

Reading is Good (Feb 09)

If my memory served me right, which is not saying much really there are only two novels that I started reading but never got to the end.

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien (edited by his son Christopher Tolkien) was the first, it's just too deep and heavy. I am shallow and light I guess.

The Babes in the Wood by Ruth Rendell was the second, this I gave up because I read for leisure, and this novel is anything but leisure for me. The writing style, the storyline and pace were simply not my cup of tea. Too bad, I didn't get to see any babes.

I almost gave up on Dead Man Riding by Gillian Linscott too.

image source

Almost, but didn't, and I am mightily glad I persisted.

What started out (to me) as an artsy-fartsy outing of a group of Oxford students with too much flowery and linguistic stuff thrown in by the author was quickly turning me off. I am a simple man of average English standard, I like simple and easy to read stuff.

But it got excited before I quit, so I read on, and got hooked by the twists and plots the author weaved for what essentially is a murder investigation.

Big thumbs up for the misdirections the author masterfully constructed, I usually know the real killer for murder investigation stories but this one got me completely off balance.

Perhaps a normal person like me would never have guessed, due to the normal way of life and preference, I wonder if those special friends and colleagues of mine would have guessed the real killer?

The whole storyline is intriguing but just for the big twist at the end that surprised me, I am rating this as a fantastic read.

Quotes from the novel:

"You didn't say yes. You just stopped saying no."

"Either something had happened or it hadn't. If it had happened, then happenings leave evidence. They wouldn't be happenings otherwise. And if there's evidence, it's simply a question of finding it or not finding it."

Currently reading: Dragon Ball comics! 42 books for the series, probably won't be a book review for a while. =P

Home Alone

While I do enjoy the peace and quiet, reading without being disturbed, gaming with volumn on full blast, the total freedom...

... it does get a bit lonely being home alone.

Eating by myself sure is el sucko big timeo.

Maybe I should do something crazy, like walk around naked.

Me is Honest one ler

Gotta say it's disheartening to be doubted on my previous entry. Some people thought I made up all those things to make fun of Nelson.

The only thing not from Nelson was the statement "Nelson is actually Mary" he is Nancy lar!, since, well, that's my conclusion, sure I had to make that up lar. Ah boh then?

All those things in bullet points are genuinely what Nelson had said or done ler.

Go and ask the people Nelson hangs out with, his lunch budies, they would have heard or experienced some or all I have listed. If you want a fresh victim, go ask Polly, he is the latest victim of Nelson's chest molestation (happened today!).

I hope Polly's nipple survived the ordeal.

Don't know why there are people who think I was lying, me is honest one ler!

If you want to see me telling wild stories, look in the "fiction" category, that's where I made oh-my-goodness-my-eyes'-bleeding-brain's-freezing-dead-boring things up.

that's the category with made up stuff

There's Something About Nelson

If the title of this entry is somehow familiar, it's no coincidence. Remember the comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller? You know, the one with Cameron's hair standing up after she applied some "hair gel"?


the MAN-made "hair gel" scene

Oh, remember that zipper incident? Muncho ouchy! >_<

If these meant nothing to you, then I recommend you a movie called There's Something About Mary. Good laugh.

But let's not talk about Mary, it's all about Nelson here!


original image source

Having the misfortune luck of sitting opposite Nelson at work, there are so many tidbits that Nelson made known about himself over the years that I simply don't know where to start.

I guess if I have to put it in one sentence, then this is it:

Nelson is actually Mary.

No he is not Cameron Diaz (thank goodness!). I didn't mean he had a sex change operation either (actually I am not sure...). What I meant with that statement is that Nelson is actually a woman trapped in a man's body.

Okay, Nelson didn't tell us that, I just I drew that conclusion from all the things he did or told us. I am going to let you make your own conclusion by giving you facts.

Behold! The things that you may or may not know about Nelson...

• his toilet time is similar to the ladies', we (the guys) always have to wait for him, and yes, he has to check his hair everytime
• Nelson told us his mom once mistaken him for a lady
• Nelson (and The Pink Master) likes the Y.M.C.A. song (for your information, Y.M.C.A. song is associated with the gay culture)
• Nelson likes to touch a male colleague's shoulder or suggests they hold hands when walking down the corridor
• Nelson likes to molest other male colleagues' chest, especially the nipple region
• When teased about him and a lady colleague (someone to do with sailor and moon), he told us not to spread rumour about him, saying that he still wants to get a BOYfriend
• This one makes more sense in Mandarin. In Mandarin, the male and the female use different word to mean marrying someone, a guy would use 娶 while a lady would use 嫁. Nelson once told us he wants to marry a rich person, and he said it using 嫁
• After one of his male friends went on a date with a lady friend last Christmas, Nelson felt betrayed, he told us that male friend is among his gang of male friends that vowed to be gay forever!

I didn't make any of these up, they are really what Nelson had said or done, I may not remember the exact words but the essence of his statements are captured here.

So, for all the things listed above (and some more), I came to my conclusion above. Or what I say more commonly: Nelson has gone to the pink side.

But there's hope!

Miss Money (a lady) has been seen around Nelson recently and she seems to be pulling Nelson away from the pink side. Let us all wish that she succeeds so Nelson will stop molesting us.

Okay, I have a little confession here, I lied about Nelson is actually Mary.

He is actually Nancy.