Mood: Sore throat coming on...
Currently listening to: German opera on my ma's TV - sounds like Wagner's Ring

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! May 2004 be an auspicious year for you all! (and may you also receive many ang pows during this period) ;)

Yeah, haven't updated for what seems like forever - it was actually only two days - but i've been busy with work and the various family engagements...

Well, nothing too much has happened in the last three days... worked on Tuesday and Wednesday as per usual, although i've really been clocking up on the overtime. We're now at the Maybank Finance and Securities building in Bangsar and going through the incredibly error-prone auditing process for that branch of the bank - two floors down, 18 to go *groan*. Its good to finally be doing something productive! ;)

A few things i've noticed from working these last two days:

- My pay is pretty shit. But, i can buy mucho beer with it! 'Nuff said.
- Although its all pretty simple, the main interest to me in this job is in watching the managerial process! On Tuesday morning i bore witness to the big kahuna dude ripping everyone a new one in the meeting room, which was then proceeded by a gigantic argument amongst them with a few walking out and swearing... Bright side is, the managers for this company (representing CSC and its reputation) doesn't seem to know what the hell they're doing, which makes me glad to realise that i could actually be doing it better! The down side is that i have to currently work under these incumbents and try and reach their deadlines... argh! Ah well, ya live ya learn... hrmm... and perhaps even shine? Time for some imaginative planning... ;p
- I'm actually pretty motivated about the whole working thing, what with me waking up at 6:30am to get to work on time and putting in all that overtime... Must be the money or... dare i say that i actually enjoy working more than studying? Or maybe its just the sense of purpose, however small...

Other than this, i've pretty much just been hanging out with my brother (note: i've got Thursday and Friday off) and mainly playing Generals, exercising and just basically bumming around... Spent most of today travelling with the rest of my family visiting the various relatives around KL and Selangor - it was DAMN HOT, and the less said about it the better. Food was good though... Hrm, also had a drink with a (very bored) Joa as well a few days back.

*yawn* No social events these last few days... seems like everyone is busy with family or just otherwise out of the country. :(

On the bright side nothing too strange or flukey has happened to me, which can only be a good thing (and another reasona s to why i enjoy working!). Either that or i just can't remember... geez, happens a lot to me when i write my blog - its like i go through the whole day thinking of things i might write or note down here, but the very minute i log in it goes straight out of my head...

Oh wait, there is this one from the large Tuesday night family gathering...

Pat (at dinner table): Hey ma! Are we doing anything on Saturday night?

Ma (non-chalantly): I don't think so... Why? Going out with your friend's girlfriend again?

*Awkward silence from the twenty or so family members around the table. Patrick holds head in hands. Slightly tipsy mother smiles on innocently.*

Cousin Stanley (who is trying to get back at Pat for making crude 'jokes' all night long about his relationship with his pet [female] dog): Sweeeeet...

Notch up another one to my 'embarassing things said out loud by mother at VERY wrong moments' album (and NO, i will NOT provide you all with a previous history of even worse awkward moments). *argh*

Bleh! Me sleep now.

Today's Links:

Martin Luther King: Terrorist? - "Let's not mince words. Were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. alive today, he would be at risk for being imprisoned indefinitely, without charges or access to legal counsel, as an "enemy combatant." He would be decried, by powerful figures inside and outside government, as at worst a domestic terrorist, at best a publicity seeking menace whose criticisms of America gave comfort to our unseen enemies." Ain't that the truth...

How to tell if you're Canadian - "You might not even know the words to the National Anthem (in either language). You like that beer commercial though." This one's for Boon... ;p

"The Gnostic Bible," edited by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer - "I was very excited to see all of these radical, anti-Yahweh religious texts assembled in one volume, some of them in English for the first time. I had never seen actual Manichaean or Cathar prayers and was particularly breathless to see work by the Bogomils, a Cathar group who allegedly permitted adherents to practice only homosexual sex in order to avoid procreating more beings enslaved to the evil God. (The word "bugger" supposedly comes from their name.)" Interesting... ok, sure its a book review but i though it gave out some interesting points on gnostism...

If English was written like Chinese - COOL!

25 Themes on Porn in Architecture - “The emergence of Porn Architecture (IA) as a formal discipline has gathered key areas of expertise together to provide a framework for the rational design of content-rich sites. IA provides the glue that allows content and services to work in tandem to satisfy user requirements, and the structure necessary to evaluate success in meeting those needs. Without IA, both users and creators of porn-intensive applications are likely to suffer from wasted resources, time and effort; even worse, they won't know where to start to make things better the next time.” From the Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture...

We Know You're Innocent Mp3 - The new song for Michael Jackson from his fans... please. Let it end. *blearg*