Cheat Work Thursday

So I spent the afternoon with Jones today. She took a half day off (our occasional Day Out ™ ) and we had a long lunch at TL Pavilion, followed by a little shopping and an hour and a half of reflexology massage. I've never tried this type of massage before. And while the person in the next bed could fall asleep peacefully by the fifth minute and snore too, I was in pain and thisclose to yanking my foot away. And I'd actually warned the therapist earlier that I would prefer not to be abused . After all, this is supposed to be relaxing or rejuvenating or something, right? And don't get me wrong, I actually love massages and spas. Apparently, my body is functioning pretty good , except that I should pay more attention to my back and blood circulation. And I shouldn't think too much . Also, the therapist mentioned that I seemed to have problem sleeping, and it seemed that most of the pain was coming from the points connected to my back. O-kay. I'm just going to...

I love The Sixth Sense a lot that I had to watch all of M Night Shyamalan's following movies. But Unbreakable  bored me to no end, I could fall asleep by the fifth minute*. Then Signs and The Village freaked me out. I don't care if the latter received a lot of negative reviews. That scene where Ivy Walker was in the woods, chased by 'Those We Don't Speak Of' -- Shyamalan makes me believe that ghosts and scary creatures do come out during the day too. And, of course, two other things that I like about The Village are the brilliant acting by Adrien Brody and the eerie, hair-raising score by James Newton Howard. (*Ok, I'm also embarrassed to admit that I watched  Lady in the Water .) So I watched Shyamalan's latest movie,  The Happening , today. Again, whatever the reviews say, this one creeps me out too.

21) I subscribe to Personal Money, though I find Harper's Bazaar more informative. 22) I'm a light traveller. 23) Except for those used in daily life, I don't like Maths, and I'm not very good at it either, especially Additional Maths. I have yet to find out when to use differentiation and integration. 24) I prefer flats and flip-flops over heels. 25) I have a shelf where I keep travel souvenirs -- my own or gifts from family and friends. If you've given me any, even way back seven years ago, and I like you, chances are you can still find them on the shelf. Nah... I keep all of them anyway . 26) I used to draw portraits. I thought I had the talent -- it turned out to be a false alarm. 27) But I'm good at wrapping gifts. 28) 29) 30) 31) Friends make fun of me -- apparently, I arrange my old magazines colour-coded. No, they aren't colour-coded. They are arranged by alphabet name, then date. (I also feel the need to explain that I don'...

Photo by Mosa Moseneke on Unsplash I have (a plan) to watch the following group matches. So I'm putting the schedule here as a reminder. (As at today, 10 June, I've already only missed three out of the three matches so far.) Group A 1) 8 June - Portugal - Turkey . Missed . 2) 12 June - Czech Republic - Portugal . Watched , kind of. (1-3). I missed the first 1-1 goals. 3) 16 June - Switzerland - Portugal . Watched , I think. (2-0). It must be that boring that I could watch CSI NY, Koffee With Karan and the final minutes of Turkey-Czech (3-2) match (that I should be watching instead) at the same time. So I saw Turkey's two late goals, the goalkeeper's red card, a midfielder who looked funny in goal wearing a goalkeeper's jersey, and one player sitting on the bench receiving a yellow card. And Turkey was even down 0-2 until the 75th minute! Watched the wrong match. Quarter Finals: Portugal, Turkey Group B Err, I passed. BUT, but, if I knew Croatia ...

I always wonder how life is like for the average working people like me in the other parts of the world. What kind of property does an average 30+ year old own in Tokyo? How many hours do they normally work in a week in South Africa? Or if they, too, all looovve Starbucks like we Malaysians these days do? Then I turned on the news and saw the reports on climate change, Cyclone Nargis, Sichuan earthquake, food crisis and oil price hike. We could use some good news right now, like England somehow making it to Euro '08, replacing the Netherlands* (sorry) at the very last minute. That right leg pain hit again last night. At times, it moved up to my back and neck. So I was tossing and turning almost the whole night in pain. I checked my bank account balance from every possible angle, like front, back and upside down earlier today. I accepted the conclusion a bit later. I mean, even the first few smaller things on my to-do list have not been ticked off yet. Until I can actuall...

The self-esteem Ever heard of this advice, "Take this as a short break from your career. Do something less demanding for a little while," followed by, "You can always get a temporary job to pay the bills. Take your time to figure things out," first thing when you quit your job without another one waiting? I thought they sounded as comforting as "Enjoy your vacation" ie not at all. Here's (could be) the reality. When you are unemployed, it should be no surprise to you that you'd lose your bargaining power (extent varies), even for a temporary job, let alone anything permanent or better than your previous one. I once attended an interview for a data entry temp, and the interviewer made fun of my former employer, the Hell House -- THE giant O&G company. Some nerve. I probably have about a total of zero emotional connection to my former employer, but I've already cursed the guy enough (in my head). And this one, I thought, was funni...