Chronicle 97 - The legend continues

The curse is very real. When I was in reservist, LT decided to tender her resignation. This is something I can never understand. Why do people always decide such things when I am away? I am beginning to suspect there is some kind of conspiracy to give me a heart attack. LT is one of the Analysts that I have kind of grown close to, so it is rather sad. It seems the other Analysts that I am close to, LAB and AS, are also considering other opportunities at the moment.

As for myself, I have agreed to meet a headhunter to discuss potential prospects. I have also gone on an interview (with a competitor) on the back of the meeting. I actually quite liked the interviewer (the boss) but I am unsure if this the "ang mo effect", which gives you a good first impression only to disappoint as time goes by. We'll just take this one step at at time.

For the short-term, I am really dreading going back to work.

I am currently writing this post from Finland. I just concluded a 11-day trip with C and F. F was an exceptional B&B (budget and burden) during the trip. His budgeting skills ensured that we were left with plenty of euros and his burdensome skills made the trip a lot more tiresome. I will not elaborate but he seriously needs to learn to not let price tags scare him too much and also learn to be more independent. Those are necessary prerequisites to properly enjoy a trip.

All in all, the trip was very fun although our main reason for going to Finland, which was to visit the Santa Park, could not be met because it was bloody closed. Maybe if the operators were kind enough to put the closure on their website, it might not have come as such a shock. !@#$%

However, it seems that that bad fortune was balanced out by us being able to catch the Northern Lights twice. Apparently, it is very rare to be able to witness the Lights towards the end of Summer. I'll have to thank our Airbnb host who texted me while we were out in the city having dinner. We cycled like mad in the freaking cold back just to catch those Lights. They were indeed beautiful although they don't seem to like having their pictures taken very much.

We also tried various activities that became more thrilling with the cold weather: river rafting and abseiling. C was unlucky enough to fall into the river and smashed his hand against the rocks. I highly suspect the culprit was F (aka. "the burden") who refused to pedal when we were navigating the rapids. His reason: "I need to balance". WTF?! The rest of us including the guide had to pedal extra hard just to make up for his burdensome load.

Apparently, F doesn't know how luggage tags work either. He pasted the reference tag onto the luggage itself. Talk about facepalm! He also once refused to enter a restaurant because of the price tags and went around searching for cheaper alternatives. He eventually decided on Mexican food (which was much cheaper) and complained that ur was roo spicy. He told the waitress that he does not want chilli but when the waitress asked if he would like "HOT SALSA SAUCE", he bloody said yes... WTF?!

These were just some of the many items that made us both pek cek and humoured at the same time. He was lucky that all his burdensome antics can be balanced out with a funny element. If not, I would have killed him many times already. This sounds like another person I know...

There are many issues that I will have to address when I get back, and it's not just work either. I guess I will just have to summon the courage to move things forward. And if I manage to do so, the next step will be to deal with the repercussions, whatever they may be.

[Quotes]

"It is easy to tell the toiler
how best he can carry his pack
But no one can rate a burden's weight
Until it has been on his back" - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"It has always seemed that a fear of judgment is the mark of guilt and the burden of insecurity." - Criss Jami 

"Hard is trying to rebuild yourself, piece by piece, with no instruction book, and no clue as to where all the important bits are supposed to go." - Nick Hornby