Pressure

I used to work for a software development company. My old boss then has always referred to me as one of the coolers. A cooler is someone who gets thrown to irate customers to try to pacify them and hopefully get them to continue dealing with the company. We always call this the pressure cooker just because of the volatility of the situation.

I used to not get it. I've been known to lose my cool on personal situations but I've always maintained professionalism on company situations. It felt horrible knowing I was maintaining two standards on dealing with these issues. At least I have made the change to handle things the same way.

Now, I am more subtle though I still do have my episodes every now and then. And I don't have to deal with a pressure cooker situation anymore. I still get thrown on sensitive projects though and I wouldn't want it any other way.

What can I say.. I thrive under pressure. Besides, I always tell my boss that pressure means nothing to me.

He gives me pressure, I give him nothing.

A Cup Of Joe

I'm a coffee drinker. Not that there's anything wrong with it. I share the same addiction with almost 3/4 of the world's population. And I have switched to the unleaded version just because the other one has caused me some jitters.

It wasn't obvious at first. But then I noticed I was getting antsy a lot and not being able to concentrate on my things to do. So I sat down and began some analysis. What was going on? And I saw one thing that was constant. It was my coffee. I've been drinking at least 10 cups a day of pure leaded evil. So I stopped. I switched to drinking 10 cups of the lesser known gaining popularity unleaded evil.

And it worked too. I don't get as jittery anymore and I got my stuff done. No complaints there. Though every now and then, I would take a cup of the leaded one. Just as a reminder that at one time I was addicted to it.

I wonder what other things I can get away with.

Spell Checker

One nice thing about word processors nowadays is that they come with a utility that checks for spelling. That is just great. Now, there is no more excuse for having misspelled words. You'd think everyone would make use of this utility right? Wrong!

I, for one, am guilty of this. Just check my previous blogs and you'll understand what I'm talking about. I guess some people are just resistant to change or rather just oblivious to the fact that help is just a keystroke away. They say you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Whoever coined that must have been an old dog himself. And I don't blame him. People have always been known to fear the unfamiliar. Why rock the boat when you can sail on calm waters?

And where does it stop? In order to communicate effectively, I need to learn basic sentence construction as well as correct grammar and proper punctuations. I may still be an old dog but it is my responsibility to learn new tricks. Even if it meant barking until the shock collar quites me. When all is said and done, anything that comes out of me reflects me.

And every little bit helps.

Needles

Plain and simple, I hate needles. I can't stand looking at them without feeling nervous and cringing just being close to one. I think it's because I know these things can hurt. I should know. I'm a regular at the hospital's laboratory for my quarterly blood checkup.

I went there this morning for my regular checkup. I came in 5 minutes before 7:00 am and I have fasted since 7:00 pm the night before. That meant nothing passed between my lips for almost 12 hours now. I'm a bit thirsty and hungry. The receptionist finally called my name around 7:35 and told me that my name was not on the list for those scheduled on that day.

Now this caused me some dilemma. For one, I fasted and am getting hungry and I really wanted to get something to eat. But I also have to be back by Friday for the actual doctor's visit to interpret the results. So after she informed me that I can wait for the scheduling nurse who was due to arrive by 8:00 am to accomodate my request, I decided to wait against my better judgement.

8:15 came and went and still no sign of the nurse and since I've already informed the office that I would be in a bit late, I continued to wait. I was getting really POed and it showed. I was snapping at the receptionist for not giving me some alternatives considering I've been starving for the last couple of hours. And to top that, I was anxiously waiting to get poked by a needle.

The nurse finally came in at 9:00 which was way past the expected time. I did let her know how this whole experience sucked. Hopefully she won't make the same mistake next time.

Maybe my doctor will reschedule my checkups into bi-annual events.

Scammers

I got an email today from the widow of the deposed ex-president of Nigeria. She mentioned in her email that her husband had some money in the billions left in a bank based in Nigeria and they can't get it out without the help of someone from another country.

That's where I come in. I'm suppose to contact her secretary who would be sending me a check for $10,000 US dollars - $8,000 of which will be for me for all the troubles I have to go through and the $2,000 is supposed to be deposited to the said bank. That would allow me to make transactions for them in that bank and thus transfer those billions somewhere else. The only catch though is that while waiting for the $10,000 check to come to me, I'm suppose to deposit the $2,000 in advance since there is some waiting time attached to this whole process.

Sounds really tempting, doesn't it? Well.. it's just wrong in so many areas. First, if you're a deposed ex-president from a starving nation, you probably dont have that much money and two, you don't deserve it. Third, I'm poor so I can't really afford to give $2,000 out of my pocket so that's not even an option.

But just to give them the benefit of the doubt, I sent the so called widow an email asking her to contact my secretary and do business with her. Maybe she'd get lucky finding her.

Considering I don't have one.

Friends

"Friends dont have to prove anything to anyone... much more to each other." - Mr. Blue (The Drifters)

I like this book. It was one of those obscure ones that you won't readily see anywhere. In fact, I haven't seen a copy for a very long time. All I know is that I've read this book when I was 13. And I'm now 35. That's 22 years ago yet I can still remember that particular line in that book. Just because it makes sense.

A true friendship exists outside of time and place. We can be far away from friends but knew that you have a friend in a specific place. You may not communicate regularly but knew that if one needs the other, there will always be an ear ready to listen and a hand to help one out. That's true friendship.

Friends will never get in your way unless you're on your way down.

Of Vegetables and Meat

I worked in a government institution in Singapore way back 1995. The people in my team were Indians and Malays and are practically hands off to pork. Having lunch with these people means having the option of eating either a vegan cuisine or a chicken dish. Since I was with them, we always end up going somewhere where there's meat.

One day, they thought I should try doing their diet since they haven't seen me eat a pure vegetarian meal. I agreed and they ordered a bunch of food from a vegan restaurant to be delivered to our floor for lunch. Lunch time came and they had all these vegan food in front of me.. mostly with yogurt and some stuff that I can't even pronounced.

They were so proud of themselves as I sat among them. They pointed at each dish and described to me what's in it and I would nod my head and ask what's in the next dish. Finally, I settled on something which looks a lot less scary. Okay, I'm exaggerating. I did pick on a dish which I thought would somehow be palatable for me.

I was wrong. That was the worst 10 minutes of my life. All of them were gorging on these dishes which I honestly think looks absolutely fabulous. I'm sure they were tasty too. But not for me. I went down to the cafeteria and got myself some lemon chicken to go and brought it up to our floor so I can eat with them. They laughed and so did I.

I'll never do something like that again. I didn't fight my way on top of the food chain just to eat grass.

4th of July

I find it interesting talking about the 4th of July. First and foremost, I am an immigrant to the United States but I was born and raised from a foreign land. I moved here at the onslaught of my adult life. 26 years old to be exact. I didn't know what to expect. All I know was that is was a new life. One for me to explore and to shape.

It was scary and it wasn't easy. They say America is the land of milk and honey. What they didn't realize is that in order to get milk, you may get kicked by the cow and to get honey, you will have to be stung by the bees. That's how it was and how it will be. One has to work hard to reap some rewards. Anything that's a product by the sweat of your brows is always sweet. There's no other way I would have wanted it.

Which brings me back to the 4th of July. I will celebrate it. I will honor the men who bravely fought for this country. I hope the future generation will always remember what this date stands for and not just because of the fireworks.

Happy Independence Day!!!