A Poor & Forced Attempt At Recounting My Day

Alert: Poor attempt at writing today. Too many distractions, mentally drained and not well-fed - those are my excuses.

My multi-tasking skills were put to test today. The morning started off pretty simple. I didn't have to pack my lunch box or get my Krav gear in order. All I had to do was shower, grab my bag, my keys and take the train to arrive at work in time. I spent my free 3 hours reading a book. Ah, it was lovely. I knew I could've gone for a run but lying on the couch with a cuppa, reading a sweet Scottish romance novel was more enjoyable.

The book was intriguing (read: the knight without his shining armour was really sexy and the poor maid was finally falling in love with him), so once again I found myself running for the train at the last minute. Yet again, the train arrived seconds after I did. Lucky two days in a row. Howzzat! I arrived at work, hoping to sign in and duck out to grab a quick brekkie at maccas before I started my day. It was a slow day, by the looks of the way it started, and weekend was almost here. 

The moment I stepped in at work, fifty things landed on me at once! Missed calls on my landline, a missing person at the desk next to me and too many emails in the team mailbox. This was going to be a fun day. Not! I could feel it in my bones, even before I switched over from my mailbox to the team's common inbox. From the issues I had been trying to resolve yesterday to the work items to be implemented next week and everything in between (which included a sever production problem), there was a load of work to be done and no other team member. Well, not a worry. How long has it been since I've run on adrenalin? I shook with excitement. This should be good, I think, as I start mentally assigning priorities to the tasks at hand. Tackle them one at a time and all should be well. That's the me of recent times, multi-tasking go to hell. Well, that's what seems to work here. We have all the spare time in the world.

This was not one of those days. My multi-tasking skills were being tested. Bring it on! I'm the queen of multi-tasking. I started working on task 1, when I saw an email that I had to address right away. Re-shuffle priorities. Write email and back to task 1, which was sort of running in the background partly. While I'm doing 1 & 2, someone related to task 3 drops by for an update. Shuffle shuffle. The priorities were clear, that couldn't be changed except they were now 1a, 1b and 1c. Juggle juggle juggle. More people, more emails, phone calls and IMs, it was non-stop.  When finally, I took a moment out to make my own phone call to check on some instructions, my bird had flown the nest. Fortunately, it was headed my way, so I had to wait for it to find it's way back and I was all set.

Multi-tasking can either be simple or complicated, depending on the situation. If I made my priority list & started juggling my tasks in such a manner that I operated on one while I was waiting on the other, it works marvellously. Try aligning my priorities with someone else's and hell happens to my multi-tasking abilities. To complicate it further, chuck a few more people with their own priority lists into the mush. Make sure there are a couple of jokers in there and a dick or three. Get a little adventurous. Bring in managers banging the table and co-workers with secret recipes they won't share. All set.

That's how it was nearly 3 'O' clock before I managed to find my way into the kitchen and stick my lunch box in the microwave. I snuck out to check on something while the food warmed and only remembered the stuff in the oven a good hour later. I had to warm the food again. Shit happens. This time, I waited by the oven. By 5:30, I had eaten and managed to take a loo break. A lot of work had gotten done today. All loose ends were tied. I had crossed off every single item on my tasks and some sub-items that added themselves to the list. I had wiped clean every crumb of work from my table top and was ready to head home. 

The plan for the evening was to spend it in exactly the same way as the morning. Which meant that I had to finish my writing before I left work. So here I am. I managed my last 2 days without any distractions. Today, there have been a few. Multi-tasking never works when I'm writing, so this one's going to be a shit piece. At least I wrote. I'm drained. Maybe I'll buy myself a McFlurry on the way home. I should try something different today but I am drained. My brain cannot process any more data. Thinking is beyond me. Tomorrow will be better. If not, there is always alcohol. 

Failed Lists

When you wake up in the morning and know you have 4 hours to go before the day actually starts, it is supposed to feel good. At 5.10AM this morning, I woke up feeling hungry. A coffee, that's what I needed. Once I've had that cuppa, I would go for a run and then make a list of other things I could do to kill the four hours. The rest of the day would go smoothly, till 5PM, when it was time for some Krav Maga groin kicks. Kick on home after that, pie for dinner and a well-deserved sleep. 

Yes, that would have been nice. What happened instead was that the coffee stretched on for 3 out of the 4 hours, during which I didn't achieve any of the things I mentioned above. I think I checked some emails, watched a few videos, mucked about sniffing into other people's lives on Facebook and checked if my pay had been debited into my bank account. I was on my last $5 last night, when I went to buy a spicy chicken cashew rice that cost me $8.50, so I was on -$3.50 as of this morning. Soon, I was running around the house like a headless chook, packing my lunch, stuffing all sorts of things I might need for the martial arts class in the evening and wondering if I needed just a shower or I had not brushed my teeth yet. In the end, I decided to brush (just in case) and shower. 

I grabbed everything nearest to the door, hoping that it was all the stuff I need to get to work and back home, and ran to the train station fervently hoping that my train was late by however minutes it would take me to get to the train station. I was only halfway to the station, when a train passed by. It was a train in the other direction. Phew! Holding my breath, I ran, knowing fully well that I had missed the last train that would take me to work in time before the morning meeting. As I entered, I heard a train pull in. Yes! My train was late, by 3 minutes. Exactly how late I was to arrive at the train station! What are the odds of that happening? Forgetting my manners, I swiped my card on the machine, even as a young man was staring at the screen after he had swiped his, probably trying to figure out the balance on his card. Then some more running. I was ready to roll down the ramp, if that's what it took to get in that train. Luckily, the QR representative was one of the nicer guys that waits for hapless morning runners with hair flying and shabby clothes, so he waited until I entered the train.  

Normally, I would read a book and most people around me wouldn't even notice. I hadn't noticed anyone notice me to date. Today, I pulled out a book and the nosey old lady sitting in front of me was slyly checking out the title. Damn you, woman! Nobody looks when I'm reading a Lee Child or Paulo Coelho or Matthew Connelly. One of those times, I decide to pick up a short cheesy romance novel in order to tear through a couple of books quickly and make up my reading target for this year and she notices. She smirks. Yeah sure, like you've never read one of those before! That did it. No reading in the train today. The journey seemed endlessly long and I was getting late.

I made it to the meeting - late by 3 minutes - but it started 3 minutes later, so I was in time. What are the chances of that happening twice in the same morning?! Somehow the rest of the day has continued to be a roller coaster ride. I make a list and nothing gets done. I thrash about and hit the mark on one random shot taken in desperation. 

In continuation of the day's trend of things on the list not getting crossed, I missed my Krav classes for the second time this week and I'm kicking myself right now. It would have been better to kick groin and pummel chests in class but this is what I chose. There was no good reason. I just wasn't upto it. 

For the rest of the day, this is the plan. Go home. Read. Eat. Sleep. Can't go wrong there now, can I? I sure hope not!

Moving Houses

Moving houses can be a daunting task. When you’re in a different country, away from family and friends, even the modern technologies of developed countries do not make the task any more fun.

Two of my friends were in various stages of the moving process. One family has been looking for a house in various suburbs, without any luck. I cannot help but wonder why someone would be rejected for tenancy but they have been unlucky enough to experience that. The other family found their dream home within weeks of starting their search. Last Sunday was going to be their big move day. The husband decided that, between him and the wife, they would be able to manage just fine. They booked a trailer and a tri-wheel climbing hand trolley with wheels for the day. A couple of us friends decided to help them, in spite of protests that they would be able to manage by themselves.

I was picked up from my unit at 10 in the morning and we headed to Kennards to pick up the rentals. The first hurdle was getting the agency to accept a non-Aussie driving license as id and providing acceptable identification documents to supplement it. We had to drive home to bring some of the required documents. One of the guys at the store helped join the trailer to the car. Driving the trailer was supposed to be fairly simple, as long as you took long turns at the corners. Yeah sure, until you started to reverse! The trailer moved in the exact opposite direction of the car, swinging by the hinge. Considering how tricky parking a car in the reverse can get (for some of us, it is!), attempting that with a trailer was a near-impossible task. Eventually, we decided to leave the car + trailer parked across the street so we did not have to reverse park.

The boxes and some of the reasonably heavy stuff were easy to manage. The tri-wheel hand trolley was a marvel, in so far as bringing the washing machine, drier and some furniture were concerned. The refrigerator gave the guys a hard time but we eventually managed it all. Three trips and the move was complete, save for the little bits and pieces that they were going to move the next day. In some ways, it was fun. We reminisced about the times we have all had to move in the past. The new house was, obviously, a much nicer place than the old. We walked around, exploring the complex and sharing excitement over the various facilities it accorded.

The best part of day activities like this one, apart from the beer and pizza, are the aches and stains that remain at the end of the day, to speak of the hard work that has been put in. One of our friends, who was baby-sitting the couple’s kid, invited us over for dinner that night. Thank God for that! We exploded a few party poppers, listened to the stories of the kids’ days and chattered incessantly over a delicious South Indian dinner of peas fried rice, chicken curry and beer. Every one of us slept soundly that night. Either tired from the day’s hard work, from handling two hyperactive five-year old boys or, in the case of the boys, from playing all day long, we all had our reasons. 

Of course, the act of physically moving stuff we friends helped with, was only half the job done. The arduous task of packing and unpacking still remained to be done. The excitement of moving and the thrill of starting over should take care of any pain points in that area. I bet having a 5-year old helper makes a difference too!

I cannot wait to see their house once it has been set up. They have the loveliest balcony, huge and perfectly suited for a barbecue or a dinner-and-drinks party. Which, I bet, they will have. I need to make sure I have a free night on my calendar when that happens.

It's Raining FML

The first thing I did when I got home from work today was this.

suholla suholla 

Fuck YOU! And you, you, you and you too! #fb

13 minutes ago Favorite Reply Delete

Seriously, it's unbelievable how many things can go bugger all in one day. 

My new sunscreen. It claimed 4 hours of protection, water-proof, sweat-resistance. All I did was run 20 mins in cloudy weather and when I walked into the lady's room at work, there was someone else in the mirror. Someone who resembled me but a couple of tans darker. Bloody hell! A day at the beach, playing in the water had not given me a tan last week! That's how my day started. 

Spent hours trying to find answers for a client who won't understand that if he doesn't tell me what he wants, I cannot give it to him. @#%@$^#&$#&

Decided to call it a day and get some personal work done. Spent an hour making phone calls. Here goes.

Beauty parlour for a hair appointment. After keeping me on hold for... let's be kind to them, I won't mention how long... the friggin' machine finally comes alive and says to me, "All our executives are currently handling other calls. Please leave your name and number, we will call you back" and hangs up on me. Hello? Wait! When do I leave my name & number with you? After you hung up on me or before you tell me to do so?

Insurance company. This call didn't keep me on hold for too long. The guy who answered was very apologetic. Why? As part of my employee benefits, I'm eligible for a good discount on international travel insurance with his company. Nice, eh? Yeah, right. That is if his fucking company will give me a fucking insurance, in the first place. Excuse: I am not a permanent resident of the country. Yay!

Bank1. Sorry we can't give you a credit card because you don't have sufficient credit history. Oh really? You trust me enough to give me a job with access to the credit card information of every customer of the bank but you can't trust me enough to give me a card, for which I will pay you fees and charges? Brilliant!

Bank2. Remember how they say if something is too good to be true, it probably is? They offer credit cards with no annual fees. Five phone calls so far. At every alternate call, the girl on the other line tells me that they haven't received my documents. The girls on the other alternate calls say they've received my documents and will forward it to the appropriate department for verification. And oh, they have a mailbox that can receive email but not respond. None of the girls have a fucking email account they can use to respond. If I need confirmation that they've received my email, I have to call. And wait to talk to a new person each time. And the next person after the current one has a different story to tell each time. How cool is that?

It rained on my way back home, could not run. The real rain, I mean. With water and all that shit.

Gold Coast @ $30

My meticulous calculation had ended in at least a couple of hundred dollars for the trip. The actuals were $30. Yes, that's right. Talk about savings!

Of course, we decided not to do the Theme Parks this time. Then the husband had a brainwave (uh-oh). We took the gorgeous beast sitting in our garage for a second outing. The "poor man's Harley Davidson", as the owner calls it, licked the roads of Surfers' Paradise. Quite an adventure it was, riding the cruiser at 100 to 110kph, on the highway. As cruisers are not quite built for that speed or such a journey, the beast protested by gently swaying occasionally but was generous enough not to cause more fuss than that. No doubt, it was the husband's uncanny 'auto skills' at display. Even when the wind threatened to blow my helmet away and had me clutching at it with one hand, he drove single-mindedly like there was nothing bothering him.  

To give myself some credit here, my navigator skills were put to test when we forgot to pick up the directions I'd meticulously observed on google maps and written down on a piece of paper. I did well, I must say, we never got lost. Once we arrived, it was the herculean task of finding parking. Not a single bike in sight. Where do we park? We decided that a car park was as good as any. Not too sure of that, we cruised about until we reached what looked like a residential area, with parking allowed on both sides. Free parking, woohoo! 

The beach was one of the best I have seen. White sheets of sand, cool against our feet and a cool breeze all the while. The sun was out, just enough for light but not too hot. It was the first time I've been at the beach in a not sunny weather. It is nice. The water was beautiful. The white waves looked picturesque against the two shades of green and a shade of dark blue of the water. I've never seen a single beach with water of different colours before. The natural shades were simply fantastic. 

After a quick lunch of beef steak sandwich, fish & chips, we walked around the Centro mall. It was interesting in a funny way. The husband almost got caught by a group of girls in blue cheerleading dress with pom-poms participating in some sort of a competition that required him to buy something at the condom store in the mall. This, just as we nearly crossed the road to avoid the group in red & black, then continued on, not finding them around. Little did we know that group was on to the next phase of their 'treasure hunt' and the pom-pom girls were hunting their prey.

After over half an hour of trying to master the art of shooting a boomerang and have it fly back to us, we packed up. The best we could do was make it fly with a swoosh and turn around a wee bit. The fun was in watching the sea-gulls swoop down each time the boomerang fell to the ground, and flying away just as quickly as we approached. Pretty birds!! Reminded me of one of my favourite books. 

Soon, dark clouds formed in the sky and we decided to get home before the storm got us. We never found out if the stormed came crashing down in Gold Coast because all we felt was a light drizzle as we circled a bit, looking for an exit to the highway. Once we found it, it was another adventure at 100kph, flying down the Pacific Motorway. This time, the bike shook less, in spite of the strong wind because I had shifted my seating position and let the husband get better control of the beast. My bums never stopped talking long after I got home. I think they hate me now. 

To celebrate taking a day trip at less than 1/4th of the estimated price, the husband and I decided to treat ourselves to a movie. Suffice to say we spent more on those 2.5hrs of 'Inception' than we did on our little beach outing. We deserved it, that is our excuse. 

Sunday Morning - 03.01.10

Woke up at 5.30AM and read my morning email, as always. I usually have an alarm to read it at 4.30AM but it's a Sunday. Just caught the husband leaving for an offroading on his bike and went right back to sleep, after asking him to take care. 


At 6.30AM, the maid ringing the bell woke me up. I went around, moving things off the floor so that the maid wouldn't miss a spot, left Lucky at mom's and made tea for the maid. I watered the plants and left Lucky on the terrace for a pee.

The maid left at 7.30AM and I logged in to reply to the morning's email. That done, a quick blog and some tweets later, I logged off to get started on some household chores. I've been sick for the last couple of days and the husband has turned the house into a junkyard. 

At 8.40AM, I fed the fishes, fed Lucky and set about to make breakfast for the husband, who was yet to return from his ride. For the first time in my life, the dosas turned out perfect. The first dosa made me squeal in delight. This has never happened to me before! While the dosas were being made, I arranged the washed dishes in their drawers and wrote some quick notes for this blog. Not to mention the running around to find the right lid for the 'hot box' where the dosas were being transferred to. Lucky occasionally paid me a visit in the kitchen and I had to make small talk to keep her happy. Thank God for multi-tasking!!

As is practice when I make dosas, I am always tempted to make a little design out of the dosa batter. For lack of creativity, I simply end up adding little circles around the regular central big round dosa. When that was done, there was just one little spoon of batter left. I made a kutti dosa (little dosa) for Lucky. 

 

That done, I set about tackling the dishes in the sink. All nice & clean, returned mum's vessels to her and sat down for another quick email. 

I'm trying to scrimp on ISD text messages, so the emails happen fairly frequently these days. The husband walked in while I was in the middle of my email, tired and hungry. I quickly brought the chutney from mum's place, fixed it and served him dosas. The husband wanted tea. I made a cup of tea for him and sat down to finish my email.

The husband finished his breakfast and refused to take mom to the bank or walk Lucky when asked. Mum won't drive with me and would rather cancel her plans instead, which she did. As I was beginning to log out, What A Girl Wants was playing on TV and it was too tempting to let pass but I had to. I had things to get done. The husband went to sleep and refused to move, no matter how many times I called him. Annoyed and needing a break, I sat down to watch the movie.

I got carried away by the internet and telly, as I expected to happen and hoped I would avoid today. Three hours later, I'm sitting here, writing this blog, another email and a few tweets, watching re-runs of FRIENDS. The afternoon has passed.

I need to get about a do my hour-long cycle ride and make my resume today. If I don't move now, I never will.