Matchbox

Last week my shoe box of an office (which I shared with like a hundred other people) got flooded because the soda pop machine in the kitchen, right next door, practically exploded.
So, the carpet and even the wall dividing my desk and the kitchen were all wet, and they had to move me out of the area to an even smaller room, which, still, I have to share with 3 other people.
So now, I sit in a room which is less big than the restroom on my floor, with 3 other people and they are all Indians who just freely talk and chat in Hindi. Loudly. Regardless if I have a phone call with the users, or if I was just plainly thinking, trying to debug some codes.

I just hope one day that soda machine finally dies. Forever. And people will have to start drinking water.
How's that?

Anyway, not only that I had to move, from a shoe box to a matchbox and share it with screaming foreigners shouting foreign language, it is ironically much closer to my boss cubicle. And we all know how much I 'love' my boss.
Words can't express.
And it took him only a few hours to finally find me, then he stuck his head into the matchbox and said, "Oh, there you are, I've been looking for you" with his signature idiotic smile.
And since he's closer, I can hear him, all day, when he does his stupid, ass kissing laugh. I want to throw a stapler to his head and let him slip to a coma.

And talking about slipping to a coma, I do wonder if I am going to slip into a coma due to the lack of oxygen in the room. Too much nostrils and not enough O2. And I also wonder what would a fire marshal say if he is to inspect the room. I bet this violates about 100 fire safety regulation. Although, believe me, once I hear a fire alarm, I'll knock everyone out of my way to the exit.

So, then lunch time arrived, and people started heating up their food and start eating, and mind you that I came from a country which was being invaded for 3 and a half centuries because of our spices. But, oh boooy there was a lot of smell during lunch time.
If I don't slip to a coma due to lack of oxygen, I might slip to a coma because of spice overdose.

Then the next day, when I arrived, a girl was using my phone, which I was cool about, but when I started to sit at my desk, she did not move. She was inches away from me and I could feel her body heat. She might be fine with the barely none distance between us, but I wasn't. So, the first chance I got, I grabbed the phone and put it far away to the next desk, while she said, oh oh, that's okay, I can still just use the phone over here. So, ever so nicely, I smiled to her and said: I move it so I have more room.

Was I being rude? But I did it with a smile.

Well, anyway, they are changing the carpet, and inspecting the mold in the wall. So I'll be there for another precious week.

Ah, office life is just peachy.

Naked Cat

I got this from bitchphd.blogspot.com.
That porno cat made my day.
It's hilarious.
Disgusting,...
But hilarious.

key people

As my coworker said today, maybe only in this company that none of us want to be the 'key people'.
As they all paid their condolences to me because, I, as one of the key people, will have to join the upper management and clients for a very fancy dinner sometime next week. Started with cocktail and dinner following.
Mind you, I am a very ambitious person, and I have this OCD which makes me painfully try to always do things perfectly. Some kind of ailment, like chasing the end of the rainbow. Think of me at work like Monica in Friends trying to out-do herself making the Thanksgiving dinner.

But, I for once, don't wanna be one of the key people in the company. I just hate the fact that my boss is an idiot who needs me to go to difficult meetings in fear that he cannot answer the clients' questions by himself. Who said that I am great but then asked me to figure out the menu for the next team lunch (bluecactus the secretary).
And that idiot got the praises from the big bosses while he plays hooky almost daily and when got caught sneaking out with his lunch box at 2 in the afternoon, made stupid excuses like, uh,... I just need to put this in the car. But then we did not see him for the rest of the day.
Where did he park anyway? Ohio?

And so, I also hate the upper management for their blatant ignorance of the mental welfare of the bottom feeders, like me and the team, and for keeping a jack ass like my boss around because he's so good in ass kissing.

But, anyway, when the boss of your boss sent the invitation, it is an order that you come, even though it was masked in words like, let me know if you can make it.

So I will.
Cursing at heart, but I will.

A Buddhist in Disguise

An interesting comment someone made about me made me ponder about a lot of things.
She said: You could be a very good Christian, the way you carry your attitude shows like you are a very good Christian.
It blew me off rather unexpectedly.
Because I am not one.

Religion.

Something somewhat like a taboo topic I barely ever want to convey in a conversation. I would slyly change the subject, talk about something else lighter, like, the weather, my dog, gas price, food. Anything.
I would, with the best of my ability, twist the topic around.

The thing is, my boyfriend and I, even though we share a lot of similar interests, we are totally different fundamentally, on religion. He is, of all Christians, he's a Seventh Day Adventist. He doesn't eat pork, shrimp, calamari, eel. He worships on Saturdays. He doesn't even watch TV on Saturdays.

And me...
I am a Buddhist.
Well, actually and officially, I am a Catholic, because I was baptized when I was a baby and spent 16 years of my education life in a private Catholic school. But, really, after I was done with high school, I didn't feel even the most remorse calling to, with my own most sincere conscience, pursue being a good Catholic. Go to church and do all that penitence thing.

Anyway, an Adventist and a Buddhist couple might not exist in this segmented world, except us. I even think that it is virtually impossible and I won't even go to the details.

Yet, we are surviving. And we work hard to make it work.
I totally support him and his calling and I go to church with him. Not to worship, but to support him.
I join the church's potluck, every week, to support him.
I bare with his pastor who always tries to coax me to have bible study.
I joined his church activities, like going a softball game, and got hit by the ball, knocked my ankle with the bat, chased balls, ran to bases, burnt by the sun and became unwillingly tan, to support him. And let's not even start with wally ball (yes, wally, not volley) and ping pong.
Went to the retirement homes to entertain. Mind you, I sang, clapped hands, hugged the elderly, handed out flowers, smiled, be cheerful for hours. For him.
Well... for this particular one, actually because I have a soft spot for old grandmas and grandpas too.

I struggle right now on how to articulate what was bothering me when that person from my boyfriend's church said that I could be a good Christian.

I guess because that happened right after I said: I'm not a Seventh Day Adventist. I'm a Buddhist.
Then she was perplexed, not because she did not expect a Buddhist to be in a Christian church potluck. But apparently, because I would have made a good Christian, and she was surprise that I was,... well, something else.

She asked too if I am going to be an Adventist. It was really awkward. Because I just said one word. No. Then looked her straight in the eyes and smile.

Has it occurred to anyone, that everything I did, I did because I am a GOOD Buddhist? Is it true that only Christians are able to do good things?
I tolerate and I don't impose. I love all kinds of people and I really wish for world peace (no pun intended to Miss Congeniality). That the hugs I gave to the elderly were the sincere compassion of a Buddhist.

It sadden me that people cannot see through their own bubble. Because in this case, I will always be on outside the bubble.
An outcast.
An outsider.

But if that is what it takes, then I guess that will have to be.
I am accepting the fact that I'll always be on the outside.
And I feel fine and at peace where I am now.