Location: Client office, Brunei
Time: 5pm ish
Feeling: de-motivated and burnt out

In need of a holiday. I think I feel this way whenever I don't get enough sleep. Everything pisses me off and I keep thinking the worst of people whenever they say something that could be interpreted in more than one way. Keep hearing snide remarks from other team members, keep thinking they are ignoring me. Keep wanting to whinge.
I think I need a good nap.

lunchtime ponder

I was just browsing the headlines on Google news whilst eating lunch. There is yet another article about fat-busting pills and obesity with pictures of fat people walking on the street, taking a dip in a bikini which fits them like a string around a ham, eating a fast food item in such a manner which makes you think "you should not be eating that".
I began to wonder whether these are just random shots of people on the street? Did these people consent to having their picture taken with an article about overweight people in mind? Will they open the paper one day or log onto google news and think "gee, that person kind of looks familiar".
I mean, how peeved would you be? And yet, what fat person in WOULD consent to having their picture taken for an obesity article?
Anyway, I was just wondering. And not for the first time...

and more addtions

Location: back in 406 at Riviera, KB, Brunei
Time: nearly 11pm
Feeling: tired

Bottom 3+ list:
6) Cancellation of my flight from Miri to Kota Kinabalu on Friday night. Got to the airport from Brunei, looked at the screen, spent 10 minutes in denial, then went to seriously hassle Malaysian Air officials. Had to spend the night in a hotel in Miri and get on the 8am flight in the morning.

7) The one night that I did get to spend in the resort that I booked in Kota Kinabalu - freaking fire alarm went off 3 times in the middle of the night. Around 2-3am. There was no farking fire. It was "technical difficulties".

Mini review: Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia = kind of sucks. Even if it wasn't for the fire alarm, I still wouldn't come back on the account of crappy service. Staff have NO idea. I ask for American Breakfast and get only half the items in the description. I ask for tea, they forget hot water. I ask for pedicure, I only get half the treatment. What the hell....? I thought I was back at Riviera. I was pretty narky when I arrived 12 hours late and it did nothing to brighten my mood when I had to spend 10 minutes logging around my luggage in order to find the farken hotel transfer. What the hell am I paying them >5 times the taxi fare? It would've been less stressful to hitchhike. Grrr.

Top 3+ list:
5) Kota Kinabalu is very pretty. Great for beachy holidays - lots of little islands around. Great scenery. I would love to come back and actually visit the national parks and Mt Kinabalu. Would need more time. And would not be staying at Shangri-La...

PS additions to weekly wrap

Location: HQ, Seria, Brunei
Time: 6ish, Friday, 27th April

Top 3 addition (top 4 now I suppose)
4) Got promoted to Snr consultant. Which is nice. But if I didn't get promoted then they would've had to fire me. And they are very unlikely to fire anyone at this time.

Bottom 3 addition (bottom 4 now I suppose)
4) Farken hives. I woke up with swollen neck and wrists this morning. I looked like a freak. Went to the doctor who gave me some kicks-arse drugs that killed the hives within an hour. At the expense of my mental and coordination faculties. I am not confident even walking at this stage. Basic tasks take up ridiculous amount of time. It's very amusing but also very disturbing. Hm

5) Did I mention firm knocked my leave back. Grrr. I put in a formal request since they don't appreciate the flexibility that I was giving them. Farken. That's it, no more "Ms Nice Employee". If they don't give me leave at the end of notice time I'm going to kick and scream.

Weekly Wrap: Top 3 and bottom 3

Date: 26th April (I think), 7:30pm, Thursday night

Location: Rm 406, Riviera Hotel, Kuala Belait, Brunei Durassalam (I think half the population here is related to the Sultan...)

Top 3 List:

1) Seeing a crocodile in the river that is outside my hotel (thus “Riviera”). It was a little one – only 3m – with bright yellow markings on the tail. The crocodile wasn’t actually seen right outside the hotel – we went on a boat ride up the river and saw it lazing around approx. 5km from the hotel. It was probably just a baby – parents must be around somewhere though… Hmm

2) Went onto an onshore drilling rig today. Very cool. Not literally however – we had to wear some serious protective clothing (i.e. hardhat, boots, goggles, bright orange jumpsuit, gloves) on top of our normal clothing (i.e. shirt and pants) in freaking 35+ degree heat. It was quite gross. I also think I have heatstroke.

3) Surprisingly, Anzac day celebration. We didn’t get a day off (being in Brunei), but we did end up celebrating due to 2 army guys being on the team. So we ended up going up to the beach to watch the dawn and have a little ceremony at 5am on Wed morning. And after work, ate lamb chops, drank beer and watched Gallipolli until midnight. A bit masochistic but a new experience. I really knew nothing about it before.

Bottom 3 List:

1) Company knocking back my request for leave to go to Romania without adequate explanation (I feel anyway)

2) Allergic reactions to Brunei basically. I’ve managed to get hives (despite already being on anti-histamines) and scratch my way through the trip to Singapore. NOT impressed. I’m still randomly breaking out in spots and rashes and occasional swells. Right now my left wrist is swollen and itchy and I have a hives spot on my right side. Farken.

3) Men being patronising and condescending. Generally, everyone is very lovely and perfectly nice. But there are a few here and there who have this undercurrent of condescension (eg telling me women should wear skirts, that I could do with curly hair, that I shouldn’t work so hard or I’ll end up with pimples, talking over me when I try to answer their questions). Farken shits me. But it’s only this week where it’s been a couple of incidents and because I’m tired, it’s getting to me. Overall it’s not really a big issue. But today, as the quote from Gallipoli goes “those bastards!”

Rant: children, planes and parachutes

27 years of age. A long time. Practically an old maid really. Back in the old days, I’d be living alone in a tower, writing children’s books and knitting cutsey clothing items for my two cats. Instead, where I find myself today is in business class of a Royal Brunei flight contemplating throwing 2 children out of the plane. If my maternal instincts don’t catch up with me by the time I’m in a position to dictate laws for Australia, you can rely on me to de-criminalise at least parachuting screaming children out of aircraft.

Whatever happened to instilling manners into children and making them aware of the fact that they are not alone in this flight, and other people, shock horror, do NOT enjoy either singing, yelling or jumping up and down on their seat. Between you and me, I suspect these are not coming with high Mensa potential – they keep yelling at each other whilst wearing headphones… Hmmm.

Anyway, all I was trying to say was that my maternal instincts seem to retreat more and more as I am exposed to screaming brats.

Other than that, had a good weekend at home. Too short. Really not looking forward to work. I am a bit over it. I could really use a break.

Location: (written on flight BI194 Sydney to Bandar Seri Begawan; posted Rm 502 Riviera Hotel, Kuala Belait)
Time: 7:30pm
Feeling: tense, a bit peeved, could use a massage, also not very happy to be here - I wanted to stay home :/

my pet hates

A person once asked me what I judge people on when I make snap judgments ... I gave him an answer that was slightly different to the below. But I've spent a bit of time contemplating it and decided to refine it.

Thus - the key criteria: not necessarily in order of importance:
1) ignorance
2) arrogance
3) incompetence

I am torn as to whether include stupidity on it. I don't think it's something that bothers me by itself, but i find it problematic when it is paired off with one of the above...


Location: Client office, Kuala Belait, Brunei Darussalam
Time: 7ish pm (it doesn't sound late, but when I think about it, we start work at 7am so this is a 12 hour day. Sigh)
Feeling: headachey. which is making me grumpy. thus the contemplation of 'un-zen' subjects...

Thought of the day ... for me anyway

Location: Atrium Cafe, The Empire Hotel and Country Club, Brunei Darussalam
Feeling: full (man I ate too much. bloody buffet dinners)

Oh man this hotel is FANTASTIC. It is soooo nice (service is still pretty crap by international standards, amazing by Brunei standards) but the actual hotel with 8 pools has everything you could possibly want - there's a cinema, all the water activities (jetski, boats, parasailing, etc), lagoon pool plus 7 others, beach area, shops, theatre, spa, gym, indoor lap pool, jacuzzis, golf courses, badminton, tennis, volleyball, aerobics, sauna, etc.... Life here is NOT BAD. It also made me turn into a Japanese tourist - I took pictures of everything, including my bathroom (with 2 toilets). By the way, the bathroom was bigger than my room back home...

Anyway, this had me reflecting, as I lay by the pool, sipping on a fruit juice, that overall my life doesn't suck THAT much. Sure, my job is hard and lots of travel and long hours and difficult people sometimes, but overall, I've had some experiences that I really would not have had otherwise.
So sometimes it sucks, sometimes it's difficult, but it's always different...
Hmmm.
Now that I've made that statement, lets sit back and watch life go out of it's way to make me regret saying that...

draft

Came across a review of a very cool bar...

Il Duce Si Diventa Cafe Bar

farken... the font just won't shrink...

Miri Miri Miri

Location: Lush bar, Marriott Resort in Miri (Malaysia)
Time: 9pm, Sunday, 1 April, 2007

Yes. It is that time of the year again. And what is a more sad way of spending it than in a tacky bar in a random resort in Malaysia by oneself. Granted, I can think of sadder ways to spend it but that does little to cheer me up... Actually, I didn't even really realise that it was my birthday - the only telling thing was my phone starting to beep with messages starting 6am in the morning :)
So yeah, I felt loved :))
But I do feel I should be at least mildly dissatisfied with this manner of celebration...

Miri is ok. The resort is full of children. Despite my increasing age, I really can't feel any maternal instincts waking up.
It is also full of super-sized bugs. My god, I've never seen bugs this big - not even in Australia. Last night was actually pretty shit - I swear, everything that could creep, crawl or fly in did do that with the sole purpose of biting me. I itch, I scratch and I look blotchily unattractive in the bikini with freaking red spots everywhere. There was also a huge-ass spider in the bathroom. NOT happy. I need a strategy for tonight - I've gotta hunt everyone of those little suckers before I go to bed.

God, the live music in this bar presumes that you're stinking drunk. It could just be bad accoustics as I've heard that same chick sing downstairs at the restaurant an hour earlier...