Surrealism - Escape
“Time to take a rest…”And so I thought… it has been almost nine months since I started working at this company. Frankly I don’t exactly love the work I do, but for a living, I fine with it so far. I had stepped into the lab today with a memo reminding us of our technical report data.
‘Dear associates, the date of submission for the technical report is scheduled at 17th of March. All drafts must be submitted on the 5th of March. Raw data are to be processed and presentation of results will be done on the 1st of March.’
How exciting it seems. I have around ten days to process my data. Not that I have a mountain of them, but I have enough to work me to death. Frankly I would love to go on a holiday after all this work. I was discussing with ZJ on the possibility of going to Hong Kong with the rest of the chums. Seems like he felt that either Thailand or Hong Kong would be great budget destinations. Maybe we can grab TS, Weng, Mr. Tang and JR along as well. Six guys over going should save us some hotel fees too I reckon. Mulling over the budget airlines fees as well. And we wonder when is a good time that we can go over. The department will be going on a lull around May and June period as there are a few new guys coming in and most of our facilities and machines are going to be undergoing major revamp and maintenance. I suppose that’s the good thing about being in the research department. We get these periodic lull periods, and with basic pay. Not bad huh? Maybe around late May would be a good time. That’s where they start all the changes, and later in June we can all come back and prepare for the new work year. Frankly I’ve never been to Hong Kong before. Heard it’s a pretty great place to shop and eat. I’m not much of a shopper, but I’m a pretty good eater though. Surely that would be a reason good enough for me to fly over for a short trip. Ha… food, glorious food! I would love to go down under to Australia as well. It’s a beautiful place, with great beaches, serene rivers, beautiful ocean line, great variety of food… there’s just so many reasons to go to Australia. Of course, the point is to go occasionally… if not the novelty will also die off. Pat had told me about how much she had want to sky dive, bungee jump and hop onto a hot air balloon for a trip five hundred feet above ground. But the one thing about Australia would be to be the high expenditures. I’ve got to plan more for this trip if we are going over. And probably get a week off, and head off in one of those off peak periods like September or October. That would be great isn’t it, since it would be spring/summer over there. I’ll think about it, and probably ask my cousin what are the great bargains to travel over there, and getting the best deals.
Well… back to the current situation. Frankly work had been seen slight retardation due to my over-bloated stomach these days. Haven’t seen a doctor yet for the ailment since the work schedule had been way too crazy. TS is giving up on getting more data for his current project. Like what he had said to me, ‘Work is never ending, especially in research. So the smart thing to do is to get just the right amount of data, sufficient to write your report or paper, and stop there. Leave the extra work for the next paper.’ That’s somewhat true in our research field. I had finished my last set of testing as well on the new material. My personal views had been echoed by Patrick, but somehow our boss had not been too agreeable on our views. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about what could have been the implications these days, and seeing him rejecting the idea is a bit unfortunate. Patrick had seen my disappointment and gave me a brotherly and encouraging pat on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry about pal, just write whatever you feel on the paper, and let the reviewing committee decide on the rest. If they don’t want some parts, just take them out.’ He said with all the experiences he had behind those words. Slowly I sipped my hell of a concoction and proceed on to work on the report.
I stepped out of office during lunch to retrieve my cell which I had forgotten in the morning. My goodness, it has to be the hottest spring we ever had over here. Winter’s over only for 5 weeks and the sun is already blazing like summer. We have the occasional rain, and that adds to the humidity that is killing everyone. I am seeing people all around me falling sick like flies. I saw Angeline sick yesterday too. Complaining of a sore throat… and the poor girl can only eat porridge. Initially had wanted to joke about her, but she don’t seem to be in the mood. Then TS was complaining on the increase in mosquitoes in his apartment. The heat and occasional rain had really got the mosquito season all accelerated. I have my fair share of night raids as well these days. The next victim is ZJ. He seems like a zombie these days at work. Even today too… despite being the weekends. And its only today did he tell me it’s the mosquito problem. He started in the oddest manner. ‘Hey, what’s price of mosquito coils?’ he inquired. ‘And mosquito coils just keep mossies away and not kill them right?’ I was working on a complex calculation at that moment, with those entirely crazy electric field induced breakdown phenomenon… I supposed I was pretty relieved and happy about the break of concentration, since I wasn’t really gaining any ground on that. ‘Hmmm… coils are really cheap. And if they kill mossies, you are probably poisoned by now as well.’ I replied with the most –matter-of-fact tone. And he started his repertoire of mosquito attacks and how they had kept him up all night long. I had those nights as well, just that he had five, and I have one. But the effect is still the same of course… sleepless nights. I emphathised with him and recommended a mosquito net. It’s pretty useful actually, just with a slight trouble on the setting up. But that, of course, is just a five minutes work. Anyway… not that mosquito is the main issue here. It’s the blistering hot weather! I could just perspire like a waterfall just by the trip to the lab. Its crazy man… and the pestilence! I better start posting up ‘take good care’ signs all around the lab.
I shall drown myself in vitamin Cs and herbal teas these days. Sleep will always be deprived… Mich had fallen into the ‘overworked and fell sick’ category. I better do my protection well…
Take care…
posted by luxy @ 10:10 PM
<< Home