Chronicle 77 - Break

Finally, a post at the end of a month and on time. And to think it had to be during my reservist. Reservist is tiring in its own right, but is nothing compared to work. Talk about a break! Going by the regular shift duty system, I somehow ended up doing all the night shifts. I am going to have some trouble adjusting back my biological clock after this.

This reservist didn't start that well. The leather in my boots decided that it was time to dry up and started cracking (literally). Bits and pieces of my boots fell apart with every step I took. By the time I reached camp, I have lost both the soles of the boots. Had to fork out a sum to purchase a new pair. For some reason, my proficiency in weapons handling had to leave me just when I had to do a demonstration in front of the men. I was sure I knew how to do it up till I touched the rifle. Wonder what happened there when I suddenly blanked out and forgot everything. Looked like a total idiot then. The usual excuse of "ICT ma, sure rusty one" saved me some face but still... Heck! I was once the recipient of the Outstanding Serviceman Award.

Anyway, in Chronicle 47, I complained about being fined for something which wasn't my fault. Now 2 years later, MINDEF suddenly decided to inform me that payment was not received. It's been 2 freaking years! Where on earth would I be able to dig up the records? It's only a $100 but then it is really frustrating and I do not wish to be reminded time and again of that incident. It seems I'll end up paying another time, but this time I'll be sure to have them issue me a form of official receipt.

Since most of my batch mates deferred the reservist due to travel / study commitments, I ended up with a bunch of people that I've never met in my life. Thank God they are quite amiable and reasonable. A few of them were a couple of years my senior and just had to lecture me about "life". By "life", I mean things like keeping a girlfriend / wife happy, financial planning for a family, investment tips, career planning etc. What's interesting is that everyone seemed to assume that at my age, I'm supposed to be undergoing a crisis in life where I should be making a ton of life-changing decisions. I appreciate the advice, but can't seem to see the applicability as yet. Don't we all mature when the need arises? For me...not yet...

At work, we've a new intern that just joined us for a week. We've had not-so-great experiences with an intern before, but this one at least seems to be quite capable. Her being cheerful (and pleasant on the eyes) really helps during such busy times. A new consultant is due to join us next week. Having another consultant will really change the dynamics of the whole office. We've always enjoyed a relatively flat structure since there were the unofficial "teams" that were formed due to coincidental pairing of accounts. I suppose as we expand, a shift towards a more hierarchical system cannot be avoided. It remains to be seen if it will be a pleasant change. 

The analysts initially decided on a badminton outing next weekend, but we were unable to book a court as the courts were reserved for an event on the day. What a disappointment. Was really looking forward to playing badminton again.

There will be two Christmas dinners this year, one with my university mates and the other with my colleagues. For the latter, I am still struggling with ideas to give my big boss.

My phone has been spoilt for several months. The past few months, I have managed to get by by not using the phone for more than a minute. Any usage that exceeds a minute of result in the phone hanging and restarting endlessly. It has since degenerated to only 10 sec of usage. I'll need to wait till February for my contract to be up. Not sure if I can tahan till then; in fact, I'm mighty surprised I have managed to do so up till this point.

[Quotes]
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.” - Mahatma Gandhi

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein

"Pride blinds, but so does contentment." - Self