what was that again?

For those who are familar with attending training courses, you would probably agree with the observation that it takes minimally a couple of gallons of pure-grade "this puts hair on your chest" coffee to keep you awake through the boring stuff.

However, when the physical conditions are not exactly ideal for learning (lots of background noises, lots of people stuck in a small room, no fresh air) no amount of coffee will keep us from doze land.

That was the situation I had to endure for most of the week. The fight to stay awake was a heroic effort - with a great assortments of "stay awake" techniques being demonstrated. Some drank coffee, others chewed on candy, some went to the washroom at every break (presumably to refresh themselves with cold water) , and yet others found various ways and means to keep awake (finger exercises that required some brain coordination, tooth picks to prop up the eyelids)..

Desperate situations called for desperate measures, i suppose.

Thankfully, i was forced to stay awake: the course trainer was a true-blooded Municher -> i.e. he speaks german with the munich accent, munich grammar and way of thinking. Since my ear was more attuned to the local german ("standard pronounciation"), I had to concentrate hard in order to understand what was being taught.

.. how does that version of german sound like? ... well.. the best comparison i have would be braveheart speaking german..

all work and no play makes me a dull boy

seems like there are days when life is just about work. Of course, work gives you dough to buy bread and that isn't all too bad, but bearing in mind that I have simple needs, how much dough do i actually need anyway?

I do enjoy work, however - not because of the financial power it provides, but because it allows me a chance to do something which i really enjoy: the act of creation, resolving issues and interaction with other (somewhat) like-minded people. We lab rats hang together. ;)

am approaching somewhat a confused mix of emotions: on one hand, i am sick of a life in which only work brings any meaning, I am reluctant to trade my current job for a lesser job. I fail to see how the introduction of boredom would help make me happier..

The first day back at .. work..?

Well. After 2 weeks of pining away, I'm finally back at work. Apart from the delightful fact that my table has not been outsourced to india, I'm back to wrestling with problems.

Wonder why i missed work in the first place.

Anyway, like any long break, this return was not without embarassing incidents: I forgot how to code some things, and also, i forgot how in awe i was of my boss. When asking him about a working trip to another company office, he mentioned that "there were lots of pretty girls". Being fresh from "vacation" and not being able to sleep the night before, i responded without thinking "oh dear. please don't make me excited: I'm still single you know".

His reply was unexpected: "exactly. that's why you should be there"

that was embarassing.

back from lost

Lost stands for "Loads of stupid things" of course.

The past 2 weeks were spent in high stress, high adrenaline, heart pounding moments. Things would have continued so, if not for the mess-up in my stay permit.

For those who don't know it yet, I'm singaporean. i.e. I belong to some sunny island way out in south-east asia, where temperatures never drop below 27 degrees, and where it is unheard of to have heating in the house. ("are you nuts?" was the first comment I got from my parents when I described heating in Germany. It was also rather apparent then that I had no idea how to survive my first winter in a temperate land) The fact that I'm working in Germany means simply that I'm an expat here. And despite the qualifications which I (claim to) have, I still require a work permit to continue my miserable existence here.

The mess-up in the paper work was a typical snafu - "Department A sent a message to Department B, but no one heard anything". As usual, all liabilities were denied and everything was disavowed.

which meant.. i was theoretically not allowed to work until it was resolved.

This might have been a bad thing, except that in the days leading to this event, I had managed to catch some sort of a virus. And it was one of those serious things that led to pain, grief, tears, sleeplessness and also, fever. (no. serious. I didn't overdo my partying. in fact, I hardly party. check the rest of my blog for consistency).

So despite having an enforced holiday, I was stuck at home on my back, in bed, trying to stay alive. After the fever and bug disappeared, I was stuck with a "have job, can't work" situation. Friends were largely uncontactable and unavailable.

In such times, the agony of being alone stinks. :( .. I'll never crack a joke about how "being attached is not worth it" again..

I've just gotten a call that my permit will be processed this coming friday. i.e. I will have wednesday and thursday to endure. I'll figure out what to do on friday - might just decide to go down to work just so to make sure that my desk is still there...