don’t panic!
31/10/2007
It was only a 5.6 earthquake. The epicenter was like, 9 miles NE of San Jose. Nothing fell of the walls or rumbled. No cracks on buildings or pendulating chandeliers.
In fact, KF and I felt nothing. At the time of the quake, we were trotting back to the car after a lovely udon at Kuishinbo. We heard it on the news, by which time it was over. Didn’t feel no aftershocks either.
So just in case you were wondering, here’re some earthquake safety tips:
- Drop, cover and hold on! Drop to the floor, take cover under a sturdy table and hold on firmly. If you can’t find a table, you should move to a clear side of a wall away from tall shelves or hanging thingeymajigs and just sit at the corner until it’s over.
- If you’re outside, drop to the ground and get to someplace out in the open where nothing can fall on you. Get away from power lines, wires, etc.
- If you’re in a car, drive to the side of the road and stop. Do not get out of the car until it stops.
- Check for injuries straight after.
Here are more steps to earthquake safety.
Had a long week.
28/10/2007
Had a long week. I feel fatigued. I need space of my own.
Driving lessons. Retail hours. Dinner. Research. Chores. Home.
BLAH.
beeeeeeepppp!!!
21/10/2007
Had my second driving lesson yesterday. And this time, I drove on the freeway.
The driving instructor picked me up bright and early at 9am. Bleary eyed and sleepy, I adjusted my seat and mirrors and headed down to the Great Highway. We headed South and before I knew it, we were on our way down to Pacifica.
View Larger Map
The drive was really nice, and when your senses are maxed out trying to process all the information available: cars on the street in front of you, cars on the road behind you, instructions from the driving instructor, an hour goes by with the blink of an eye. Time flies when you’re behind the wheel. Fruit flies like a banana.
After a short drive to Pacifica, which by the way is really pleasant because we took the Ocean Route, we headed back towards Chinatown.
Driving on the freeway was a tad scary, but if I psyche myself to pretend it’s some driving game, it’s ok again. Also comforting to know that if I bash the car, the instructor’s car is insured.
Traffic downtown was crazy, and it was raining. It slowed to a crawl, but I stuck in there and managed to get there in 1 piece. Car intact as well.
It was fun. I get to drive again on Tuesday. Yay!
vrooooommmm
18/10/2007
The streets of San Francisco are no longer safe!!! I had my first driving lesson today and I enjoyed it so much I don’t think I’m going to stop!
Vrrroooommmm…
seven
16/10/2007
On 16 October 2000, I started work on my dream job at my dream company. I considered myself a lucky ducky, and I begrudgingly accede that I have an ex- to thank for pushing me to apply (repeatedly, continuously, and rather shamelessly) for the job to begin with. But karma has been good to him, we broke up about five months later and he got married, umm, I guess a year or so later and is now a father of two. I’d congratulate him, but thankfully he doesn’t read this blog.
My last interview for the job took place on my birthday. I was antsy all day.
My first day was pretty exciting; I showed up at 10am – my new boss said he doesn’t get in earlier so it wouldn’t make a difference – and tried to fly in under the radar. Everyone was friendly and accommodating, and I didn’t break, kill, or frighten anyone yet. I sat next to the door.
My boss turned up in a white linen shirt (I can’t remember if it’s the one with the big red flowers) and man-pris. And sandals.
My mothership was in his usual black. He was left to babysit me throughout his time there.
The engineers, only the two dudes then – dudette was OOTO, probably meeting my significant-other-to-be – were as different as night and day. They still are.
My first piece of equipment was a Sony Vaio PCG 505CR sub-notebook. I loved it. It served me well, although it was not my MP3 player. I still curse the IT fella who fried it when I think about it and the lengths I took to look after it. I still have the harddisk, bad sectors and all.
Sharkie came and said hello. I forgot we went to JC together until she mentioned it. But she did look highly familiar. She looked different in JC, to be fair.
I tried to stay out of the way of the GM. She was scary. She’s probably lonely.
I don’t think I saw any Singapore Inland Revenue Tax fugitives that day, although I think I did see it last week in San Francisco, on a street corner near the Stockton tunnel. I yelled “pay your taxes back in Singapore” over evening peak hour traffic to deaf ears.
I asked what the dress code was – and was told that as long as I wore something, it would be ok. Just to be safe, on day one I wore a jumper (sans cardigan), dress pants and loafers. I’ve not worn that combination to any job since then.
Throughout my time there, I never interviewed for another job.
There were around 35 employees at that time. I think I was the last person hired that year.
I guess I didn’t figure that seven years on, I’d be in a different continent, doing something completely different. But at least I’ve regained some of that loving start-up feeling.
snooze
14/10/2007
Old habits die hard. Even if you’re on the other end of the earth.
Typical morning in SG:
- half awake when the room starts getting bright
- awake by the time the alarm clock rings (~ 8.30am)
- roll over, turn the clock on snooze, go back for another 10 minutes of sleep
- repeat thrice
- decide to turn the damn alarm clock off
- wake up in a tizzy at 9.30am
- super-quick shower and clean-up ensues
- dash out of the house at 10.15am
- get to work at 10.30am (on a good day)
Same as a typical morning in SF, except it takes me half hour by car, 1 hr by bus to the office.
I had a pretty good week. Having a day off feels good, and we had a pretty productive day off, so that made me feel even better the rest of the week.
Ordered a couple pairs of jeans and scarves as gifts from Bluefly and they arrived yesterday. Am now waiting for the weather to turn cold to be able to have fun with the purchases. Ah, the wonders of cashmere have eluded me, but no longer.
Can’t wait to use my new loot.
more repetitous
10/10/2007
It’s nice to be back working in a start-up environment. Not that I didn’t treat my time at the Big Why with the same irreverence reserved for a start-up, but things are always different in a small outfit where everyone has a direct and vested interest in making things happen. Things at the Big Why circa 2007 is certainly different from life at the Big Why circa 2001.
What I did love at the Big Why was the fact that it didn’t matter whether you were some unhappy dead-beat engineer (probably called Harry) working on a small cog in a periphery and unimportant big wheel. If you have been lucky enough to be hired at the right time, you would probably have enough money in the bank to tell your recently-hired-probably-spineless-definitely-clueless boss to f**k off and pretty much do what you want (or not do anything), since he probably needs to pay off his mortgage while you bought your house with cold hard cash after exercising your gazillions of options. It always kept things interesting. And real. And funny.
I try to carry on that tradition, where-ever I am, but it’s hard when:
1. My name isn’t the slightest bit close to Harry
2. Unfortunately, I wasn’t hired at quite the right time
3. Unfortunately, I didn’t get gazillions of options
4. I can’t even buy a car with cold hard cash
I will try to make do with just snapping at my current boss when I’m feeling particularly adventurous.
In other news: it’s raining tonight. Another first for me in this new land. According to the weather widget on my browser, it should be 15°C outside, but it feels a lot lower than that. The room, however, is toasty, thanks to the lights and my laptop. Tomorrow looks to be a 19°C sunny day, so perhaps I don’t need a sweater.
repetition
08/10/2007
It’s finally getting to me. Repeating myself all day long. Telling different people the same thing with the same smile.
BLAH!!!
Otherwise, we had a fairly good weekend, and managed to cope fairly well despite being down by two resources over the weekend. The part timers flaked on us, and Ms A was still on vacation, and for a while we were a little afraid that the crowd might be overwhelming, this being Columbus Day weekend and all, but it was manageable, so I’m happy about that. I had a fairly good week and for the most part I had everything pretty much under control, even though retail isn’t my favourite activity in the www. I love being on the other end of the retail spectrum – but unfortunately I don’t quite enjoy being on the selling side of things.
In other news, the cold snap has passed and it’s warmed up a little bit in SF. Which is good, because I was about to freeze my ass off. Met Jet for a nice burger + nice fries down by the Slow Club on Friday. We also shared a scharffen berger dark chocolate mousse cake, and it was as good as it sounds. One of these days I want to go there for brunch.
the purple why hates me
06/10/2007
Ok. First we have to establish that, I was at the Big Why for a damn long time. I mean, internet years are like dog years – so in that sense I spent close to half a century at the Big Why.
I even forgave them when Jerry showed up at the SG office a few months before I joined them.
But hey, when Filo shows up a few months after I leave, I think it’s a sign.
What? Can’t have more than one Supreme Commander in the house? I’m a care and share sorta person! I’m willing to share the limelight on occasion!
Anyway.
drip, drip, drip
01/10/2007
Most everyone knows I haven’t a personality cut out for customer service nor retail. If not for the thinly guised smile/smirk I managed every so often, and perhaps the benefit of the doubt that English might not be a language I’m used to, I would probably have been beaten up at the store by now.
Know what makes an even worse retail qoomonster? One that’s ill.
I don’t know if my patience is wearing thin because I’ve to incessantly clear my sinuses, or if there are just more annoyances than usual, but this weekend was a killer for me. The constant throbbing in my head, overflowing mucus, and the worst of all, having to make tea while feeling all that and still maintaining a decent level of hygiene. Mind you it’s not like I’ve a running tap next to me, so each time I blow my nose I’ve to run up 2 floors, wash my hands and come right back down into an unending crowd, the majority of which keep asking for free tastings.
I guess Singaporeans aren’t the only ones with a penchant for freebies.
It’s hard to say, in a nice way, that free tastings are worthless. You don’t know what you want, and you won’t get any wiser out of one. Random free tastings are even worse. That’s like throwing random crap into the pond just to lure the fish. Some places do that, and then when the greedy little fish come around they throw in a piece of dynamite. I see those blasted fat fish, with their XX brand bags, and smirk inside knowing they paid a lot more for a lot less.
What you really want, is someone to walk you through the different types of tea, and tell you what the difference is. You then decide what kind you’d like to try, sit down and actually pay friggin attention when that someone explains the process to you. Then again that’s not me either.
But this is retail. And this is the job. I don’t have to love it. So I try to see how much I can get away with.
Today I discovered that some people think lychees are nuts. Those folks are nuts. They should try eating the lychee nut themselves.
