Sunday, July 23, 2006
I'm at a nice cafe, enjoying a nice quiet afternoon of solitude. I find such afternoons quite restful. A time to gather strength, plan and strategise for the near future. Thresh out any outstanding issues in my head. Whether it be a new theory I have about something, deciding my attitude or what I feel towards person or persons. Day dreaming.
The quiet has just been ruined by the arrival of a large noisy family. Fully equipped with spoilt bratty kids and a doting grandmother. A perfect excuse to arrange my face into an annoyed one and retreat further into my thoughts.
So if you'll excuse me Deron Clouse's afternoon adventure is about to start.
The quiet has just been ruined by the arrival of a large noisy family. Fully equipped with spoilt bratty kids and a doting grandmother. A perfect excuse to arrange my face into an annoyed one and retreat further into my thoughts.
So if you'll excuse me Deron Clouse's afternoon adventure is about to start.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Everyone has taboo lines; areas or things that we are particularly sensitive about. That's why husbands and wives can so deeply cut and hurt each other. Having spent so much time together and having known one another for so long they would have instinctively picked out each other's push buttons. I have push buttons, my closer friends know what they are, the various degrees of enmity they invoke.
One particular person in camp has been crossing one such taboo line, or rather a few taboo lines, often enough to warrant a post.
For one, I love to prepare meals for myself, the more extravagant the better. I also love to cook for people. These two desires do not often clash but they do have different reasons for being there. When I prepare a meal for myself it's to pamper myself, a way of de-stressing. When I prepare a meal for other's it's one of my ways of showing affection. They do not intersect in any matter. In other words people that mistake a meal that I prepare for myself for one that's meant to be prostitute to the whole world and it's aunt, are in for hell.
Incident one
This individual had alittle bit to drink. This individual pulled open my curtain. The same curtains that protect my last shred of privacy I have in Taiwan. This individual then proceeded to sit and snuggle onto my bed. This individual closed the curtains. This individual saw that I had prepared supper for myself. This individual asked if he could try some of my supper. I said yes to this individual.
This individual had a fork full of my supper. This individual had another fork full of my supper. This individual had yet another fork full of my supper. This individual slurpped up my soup. This individual repeated above mentioned process. This individual proudly declared that he had finished half of my supper. This declaration was not unlike, when a small kid drags his parents by the sleeve to show them that he "went potty".
Incident two
As everyone now knows I'll be coming home soon. So in a bid to clear my stockpile of pre-packed Singaporean foods, I've been have some stupendous suppers, much to the dismay of my waist line.
On this particular night, I have packeted tofu and mushrooms from the town to served up with a satay sauce over noodles. Needless to say, I put in loads of time and effort preparing the food. Just as I settled into the snug confines of the bed to sink into my most excellent supper, this character came along pulled open the curtains and there after proceeded to lift a fork full of noodles to his mouth. It was only then that he asked me if he could some, seeing as he's a person in authority over me. That was not very different from arm twisting me into letting getting some of that supper. Not only that after he had had several fork-fulls he still had the cheek to ask if he could try my mushrooms. My mushrooms for crying out loud!!! Think of all the epic wars that have been started over the request for mushrooms! Such base boorish behavior!
So I adopted a passive aggressive posture. One that has been nurtured and mastered under the harshest conditions and cruelest of environments, my family.
His next request was even more provoking. He had turned around and had started towards the door declaring that he was going to share this with everyone at the smoking point. My patience at that point had reached drum skin tension. Doing my best to maintain my temper, I changed tactic; a whining tone. " Don't lah ______ people put in alot of effort to make that thing."
Before I type about the third incident. Let me make know another push button of mine. I'm a hard worker, I put in alot of effort into what projects I have been assigned. In fact i take alot of pride in the work I do. Given that I'm not perfect and that I do make ridiculous mistakes at times. But as some one once said, " Excellence doesn't demand perfection." On to the third incident.
Incident three.
I had recently decided to go back onto the ground to work. Namely because there were two other people in the office learning the administrative ropes. This basically translates to alot more people being in the office than needed. As such I thought a little ground work would be good for the organisation. Myself too. I like ground work, it's uncomplicated, doesn't require great oodles of foresight or brain juice. Clockwise tighten, anti-clockwise un-tighten.
So I was on the ground for a day (after that day they asked me to go back in, something required my immediate attention, but i digress) getting all nice and greasy, a little dirtier than I would like to, but it was nice being a grease monkey for a day.
This individual came up to me while I was washing up, and told me; " Just because a person is dirty doesn't mean, he's worked hard." A cunningly calculated statement, the sort you can't get mad over for fear of being "too sensitive". Of course I had like 3 things I wanted to say in response to that. But as I mentioned this person is in authority over me, meaning that I have to show some respect or self restraint towards this person even if he doesn't seem to show the same courtesy towards anyone else.
Further it's statements like this that really inspire me to go the extra mile in my work. My gosh with such encouraging words it's little wonder he's so popular amongst the general population. Why with such a high level of people skills, what's to stop this person from starting his own political party and with a little luck, who knows? One day he just might be able to find one supporter that isn't directly related to him or under death threat.
It's times like this I wish certainly leaders in this organisation would get it into their heads that whilst they desire their underlings to be proactive and go the extra mile for the organisation it all starts with that crucial commodity; energy.
Energy to say to one self "Hey this shouldn't be like this, I should do something about this". Rather than " Hey this shouldn't be like this. Aren't I smart to notice? I'd better get out of here before someone else tells me to work on this."
This closely ties in with getting people to do things. The only way to get a person to do something is if they want to. You can force me to do something by pointing a gun to my head, but i hard ball what else is there to threaten.
So this is were energy comes into play, when people are doing something that THEY want to do, energy is created. When people are doing something that THEY don't want to do, and are coerced into doing energy is lost. The good leader changes the perspective of the people such that they follow in the direction of the organisation because they WANT to and they see the benefit of it. Rather than because YOU want them to and what you'll want to do to them.
Need I mention that people will naturally shun people that they feel are draining their energy and gravitate towards people that inspire and energise them.
That's all I have for now on this theory I'll flesh it out abit more when I have little more time.
Now I am praying that the Lord will teach me to be understanding of this person, perhaps he's just feeling insecure or lonely or feeling power through anal retention. Lord help me, but currently most of thoughts and opinions I have towards this person tend to end in a very "happy tree friends" manner.
Jonathan's gem for today: "The older I get the more it seems that people refuse to believe in Christ simply because they are in love with what they want an inward looking self-absorbed perspective and don't want to play within the rules and confines that the Lord has set. The first sin."
That is all
Jon.P™
P.S To Chris, I've finally figured out my magic system! I must say I've VERY satisfied with it.
One particular person in camp has been crossing one such taboo line, or rather a few taboo lines, often enough to warrant a post.
For one, I love to prepare meals for myself, the more extravagant the better. I also love to cook for people. These two desires do not often clash but they do have different reasons for being there. When I prepare a meal for myself it's to pamper myself, a way of de-stressing. When I prepare a meal for other's it's one of my ways of showing affection. They do not intersect in any matter. In other words people that mistake a meal that I prepare for myself for one that's meant to be prostitute to the whole world and it's aunt, are in for hell.
Incident one
This individual had alittle bit to drink. This individual pulled open my curtain. The same curtains that protect my last shred of privacy I have in Taiwan. This individual then proceeded to sit and snuggle onto my bed. This individual closed the curtains. This individual saw that I had prepared supper for myself. This individual asked if he could try some of my supper. I said yes to this individual.
This individual had a fork full of my supper. This individual had another fork full of my supper. This individual had yet another fork full of my supper. This individual slurpped up my soup. This individual repeated above mentioned process. This individual proudly declared that he had finished half of my supper. This declaration was not unlike, when a small kid drags his parents by the sleeve to show them that he "went potty".
Incident two
As everyone now knows I'll be coming home soon. So in a bid to clear my stockpile of pre-packed Singaporean foods, I've been have some stupendous suppers, much to the dismay of my waist line.
On this particular night, I have packeted tofu and mushrooms from the town to served up with a satay sauce over noodles. Needless to say, I put in loads of time and effort preparing the food. Just as I settled into the snug confines of the bed to sink into my most excellent supper, this character came along pulled open the curtains and there after proceeded to lift a fork full of noodles to his mouth. It was only then that he asked me if he could some, seeing as he's a person in authority over me. That was not very different from arm twisting me into letting getting some of that supper. Not only that after he had had several fork-fulls he still had the cheek to ask if he could try my mushrooms. My mushrooms for crying out loud!!! Think of all the epic wars that have been started over the request for mushrooms! Such base boorish behavior!
So I adopted a passive aggressive posture. One that has been nurtured and mastered under the harshest conditions and cruelest of environments, my family.
His next request was even more provoking. He had turned around and had started towards the door declaring that he was going to share this with everyone at the smoking point. My patience at that point had reached drum skin tension. Doing my best to maintain my temper, I changed tactic; a whining tone. " Don't lah ______ people put in alot of effort to make that thing."
Before I type about the third incident. Let me make know another push button of mine. I'm a hard worker, I put in alot of effort into what projects I have been assigned. In fact i take alot of pride in the work I do. Given that I'm not perfect and that I do make ridiculous mistakes at times. But as some one once said, " Excellence doesn't demand perfection." On to the third incident.
Incident three.
I had recently decided to go back onto the ground to work. Namely because there were two other people in the office learning the administrative ropes. This basically translates to alot more people being in the office than needed. As such I thought a little ground work would be good for the organisation. Myself too. I like ground work, it's uncomplicated, doesn't require great oodles of foresight or brain juice. Clockwise tighten, anti-clockwise un-tighten.
So I was on the ground for a day (after that day they asked me to go back in, something required my immediate attention, but i digress) getting all nice and greasy, a little dirtier than I would like to, but it was nice being a grease monkey for a day.
This individual came up to me while I was washing up, and told me; " Just because a person is dirty doesn't mean, he's worked hard." A cunningly calculated statement, the sort you can't get mad over for fear of being "too sensitive". Of course I had like 3 things I wanted to say in response to that. But as I mentioned this person is in authority over me, meaning that I have to show some respect or self restraint towards this person even if he doesn't seem to show the same courtesy towards anyone else.
Further it's statements like this that really inspire me to go the extra mile in my work. My gosh with such encouraging words it's little wonder he's so popular amongst the general population. Why with such a high level of people skills, what's to stop this person from starting his own political party and with a little luck, who knows? One day he just might be able to find one supporter that isn't directly related to him or under death threat.
It's times like this I wish certainly leaders in this organisation would get it into their heads that whilst they desire their underlings to be proactive and go the extra mile for the organisation it all starts with that crucial commodity; energy.
Energy to say to one self "Hey this shouldn't be like this, I should do something about this". Rather than " Hey this shouldn't be like this. Aren't I smart to notice? I'd better get out of here before someone else tells me to work on this."
This closely ties in with getting people to do things. The only way to get a person to do something is if they want to. You can force me to do something by pointing a gun to my head, but i hard ball what else is there to threaten.
So this is were energy comes into play, when people are doing something that THEY want to do, energy is created. When people are doing something that THEY don't want to do, and are coerced into doing energy is lost. The good leader changes the perspective of the people such that they follow in the direction of the organisation because they WANT to and they see the benefit of it. Rather than because YOU want them to and what you'll want to do to them.
Need I mention that people will naturally shun people that they feel are draining their energy and gravitate towards people that inspire and energise them.
That's all I have for now on this theory I'll flesh it out abit more when I have little more time.
Now I am praying that the Lord will teach me to be understanding of this person, perhaps he's just feeling insecure or lonely or feeling power through anal retention. Lord help me, but currently most of thoughts and opinions I have towards this person tend to end in a very "happy tree friends" manner.
Jonathan's gem for today: "The older I get the more it seems that people refuse to believe in Christ simply because they are in love with what they want an inward looking self-absorbed perspective and don't want to play within the rules and confines that the Lord has set. The first sin."
That is all
Jon.P™
P.S To Chris, I've finally figured out my magic system! I must say I've VERY satisfied with it.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
I HAD typed out a glorious post of happend to me recently and my opinions of a certain individual in my camp.
But my laptop's batt died on me. So you'll have to wait for me to type it out again.
And seeing as how my bunk no longer has any internet you'll have to wait till i go to an internet cafe again. Until then know that I'm alive and may the be forbes be with you.
That is all
Jon.P™
But my laptop's batt died on me. So you'll have to wait for me to type it out again.
And seeing as how my bunk no longer has any internet you'll have to wait till i go to an internet cafe again. Until then know that I'm alive and may the be forbes be with you.
That is all
Jon.P™
Monday, July 17, 2006
Oh and I've gotten THAT phone gosh I LOVE THAT phone... You'll get to see it soon enough I'm sure none of you all will have seen THAT phone, at least I hope not, I bought that phone to be unique...
Gosh I love THAT phone...
Just had to say I love THAT phone.
Gosh I love THAT phone...
Just had to say I love THAT phone.
I'm colour blind. Personally I consider it to be an advanced bloodline (advanced as in special and special as in "special Olympics"). Just one of the many genetic advancements I did not ask for and hope do not pass on to my children. So far I've gotten used to the idea that I can't tell between red and green, it's not really a problem that I waste nights on.
Then there was what happened today. I went to the Christian Hospital to get a medical check up for my motorcycle exam. Yes, a motorcycle exam, I thought about it and having a ridiculously cheap motorcycle license (SGD$25) would be a good thing to have lying around. Yes I know I've spoken how motorcycles have negatively impacted our society (wrecked homes, increased juvenile delinquent rates, raised taxes, raised levels of drug abuse, contributed to the extinction of the rare Mongolian three-toed frog and corruption in high levels of government).
But I digress.
So I've decided to go for a motorcycle license here in Taiwan.
Step one the medical checkup
I consider this to be the most tedious part; you have to fill in the forms in MANDRIN. Needless to say, I was a source of entertainment for a fair number of hospital staff this afternoon.
Then you head into one of those intimidating hospital rooms for an eye sight examination. I forgot to bring my glasses so the genius of a nurse (think Mrs twit but without shred of manners and charm) asked me to use my friend's. Of course I had known before hand that she did have glasses for loan just in case people didn't bring theirs(A friend had taken an exam before hand). Plus she had left the drawer with those glasses open, with an exposed view of those glasses. Something I was quick to point out to her. She was a little peeved and seemed to think I had gone through her things. No matter, with those glasses I passed the eye sight exam.
The next portion involved staring some pages littered with polka dots of various sizes and colour, which were in theory are supposed to align to display some numerical value of sorts. I took one look at the two pages placed in front of me and saw: Polka dots. Took a second glance and saw: Polka dots. A third and... ... Polka dots!
The next thirty minutes was spent staring at a number of other pages trying to figure out what on Henry's brown warts those polka dots are supposed to mean.
Of course I tried a scientific approach to this problem. After still staring at those dots from an assortment of angles, poses and a wide range of emotions (curiosity, annoyance, frustration, mild depression and finally quiet desperation). I still couldn't get it. The nurse who by now, either pitied me or found this highly amusing told me to get a refund and try another day.
I'm in abit of a conundrum now. I can either go back on another day when the nurse is not there and under some other nurse just fake through the test (the first two answers are always 6 and 45), or that the test and continue telling Melvyn that motorcycles are from the devil. I just don't know.
On the bright side I went to see a dermatologist today and he said my skin was quite good. Just that I need to use less abrasive cleansers and get rid of some acne scars. Now that's something you don't hear every day. Compared to two other friends that required injections. I don't think I did very badly.
Anyway I think It's time I released the date of my return, Now I WAS going to do a math riddle that involved prime and imaginary numbers, but I don't think Joshua would appreciate that. And considering I was hoping for it to be a middle to big sized affair, I shouldn't make it too hard. So I've decided to have all the clues summed up in two simple statements with more details out in the next post.
Here they are:
1. The day I return is the same day THE KING died.
2. " The house that Ruth built" he died too...
That is all.
Jon.P™
P.S Did you know that the genes for colour blindness is passed on through the mother?
Then there was what happened today. I went to the Christian Hospital to get a medical check up for my motorcycle exam. Yes, a motorcycle exam, I thought about it and having a ridiculously cheap motorcycle license (SGD$25) would be a good thing to have lying around. Yes I know I've spoken how motorcycles have negatively impacted our society (wrecked homes, increased juvenile delinquent rates, raised taxes, raised levels of drug abuse, contributed to the extinction of the rare Mongolian three-toed frog and corruption in high levels of government).
But I digress.
So I've decided to go for a motorcycle license here in Taiwan.
Step one the medical checkup
I consider this to be the most tedious part; you have to fill in the forms in MANDRIN. Needless to say, I was a source of entertainment for a fair number of hospital staff this afternoon.
Then you head into one of those intimidating hospital rooms for an eye sight examination. I forgot to bring my glasses so the genius of a nurse (think Mrs twit but without shred of manners and charm) asked me to use my friend's. Of course I had known before hand that she did have glasses for loan just in case people didn't bring theirs(A friend had taken an exam before hand). Plus she had left the drawer with those glasses open, with an exposed view of those glasses. Something I was quick to point out to her. She was a little peeved and seemed to think I had gone through her things. No matter, with those glasses I passed the eye sight exam.
The next portion involved staring some pages littered with polka dots of various sizes and colour, which were in theory are supposed to align to display some numerical value of sorts. I took one look at the two pages placed in front of me and saw: Polka dots. Took a second glance and saw: Polka dots. A third and... ... Polka dots!
The next thirty minutes was spent staring at a number of other pages trying to figure out what on Henry's brown warts those polka dots are supposed to mean.
Of course I tried a scientific approach to this problem. After still staring at those dots from an assortment of angles, poses and a wide range of emotions (curiosity, annoyance, frustration, mild depression and finally quiet desperation). I still couldn't get it. The nurse who by now, either pitied me or found this highly amusing told me to get a refund and try another day.
I'm in abit of a conundrum now. I can either go back on another day when the nurse is not there and under some other nurse just fake through the test (the first two answers are always 6 and 45), or that the test and continue telling Melvyn that motorcycles are from the devil. I just don't know.
On the bright side I went to see a dermatologist today and he said my skin was quite good. Just that I need to use less abrasive cleansers and get rid of some acne scars. Now that's something you don't hear every day. Compared to two other friends that required injections. I don't think I did very badly.
Anyway I think It's time I released the date of my return, Now I WAS going to do a math riddle that involved prime and imaginary numbers, but I don't think Joshua would appreciate that. And considering I was hoping for it to be a middle to big sized affair, I shouldn't make it too hard. So I've decided to have all the clues summed up in two simple statements with more details out in the next post.
Here they are:
1. The day I return is the same day THE KING died.
2. " The house that Ruth built" he died too...
That is all.
Jon.P™
P.S Did you know that the genes for colour blindness is passed on through the mother?
Monday, July 10, 2006
Well then, I've settled into my work, my understudy seems to be coping quite well with his training. Apart for a few things he hasn't grappled with yet (Like the administrative side of the Job) he's doing fine.
But today wasn't so great for me or rather the day before today. See I was the BOS for that day and the OCS training frame had just arrive. With my typical luck with duties this was going to be a busy one for me. I'm not keen to go into details but let's just say cadets are a troublesome bunch.
I could be wrong but whenever there's a OCS frame in town there's bound to be loads to breakdowns throughout the camps and ridiculous requests. Accidents seem to thrive in this environment like some radioactive bacteria.
For instance a Cadet broke the window (get this), while attempting to open the window. How he ever achieved that is beyond me (though there is the possibility that he tried to open it by delicately pushing it outwards with a sledge hammer). So the mess had to be cleaned up and the contractor contacted. It's the typhoon season now, and me being the occasionally nice person that I am decided to help them by giving them some trash bags, tape and a pen knife. At least with that they would have some protection from the rain.
When I handed them the items they looked at me with their doe like Cadet eyes that spoke on volume, namely " Aren't YOU going to fix this for me?". I smiled my infuriatingly orichimaru type grin and left them at that.
Came back in the afternoon to check on how they've done and found to my utter disgust some very shoddy work. Unceremoniously taped to the window was the trash bag and the window had been shifted ( it's a sliding one if you haven't realised this by now) such that the beds would still get wet. The geniuses. So I got another trash bag to seal it off properly and shifted the window so that the bed wouldn't get wet when it rains.
Of course alot of other things happened throughout the day that aggravated me but it's alright, I've recently re-adopted the motto :" What doesn't kill me can only make me stronger". The same motto that nearly drove me insane but with a little tweaking in perspective I think it's quite a good motto to adhere to.
Bad night to be doing duty because it was the world finals. Which basically translates to keeping the mess open till the everyone is sick of watching full grown men chase a modernised inflated bladder (See previous posts regarding lack of soccer interest), you'd be surprised at how long that takes. So in other words with no mess boys or mess aunties, the mess had to be checked on occasionally which leaves me with very little sleep after such a hectic day.
But that's not so bad, apart from being woken up in the morning by extraordinarily anal retentive and not to mention dumb (like BMT dumb) sentries.
BSM was pretty understanding in that he wasn't his usual "this must be done" mode which was good, the BOS taking over was also nice because he said he would take care of most of the nitty gritties that the BSM had told as to do. That left me with just ONE task; Reminding the MT WO ( See previous posts to gauge my opinion of him) to put on certain vehicles a pass to facilitate access control. Here's a rough highly bias, fairly inaccurate sample of what our conversation was like:
Me: Sir, Bsm told me to remind that the stickers for the vehic
MT Wo: !$$@!#$!@#$!#$!@#$!!!!
Me (turn and walks away)
(Background: !@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$)
Me (Looks at Don (a colleague) who is at the smoking point, with a tired
look. Turns to look at MT Wo one last time before walking back to bunk to nurse sore eye and lack of sleep)
(Background: !#$!#$^!%^&!$ (reference to duration spent in army)
Me ( Heads back to bunk, only to be awakened another 1 hr later by understudy to fill in a form)
So I walked away, which was against my policy of dealing these kinds of people head on and in greater volume. But with 20/20 hindsight i think it was the better solution. Namely because I really didn't have the energy to deal or care for confrontation, and even if I did confront him on his rude and unprofessional behavior, it would be infront of the training troops and it would have reflected badly on the institution. Not only that making him look bad in front of so many people (worse still considering alot of officers and strangers) would just be courting trouble with a bruised ego.
So today wasn't a fantastic day, but it certainly wasn't my worse. For that matter, any day that doesn't break that record is fine with me.
Also today we went out for an excellent dinner, at this very nice restaurant where (this is the most exciting part) you can order in English. Is that great of what?!? I don't know about you but I love being able to order in English. The food is excellent AND they serve it in HUGE portions. Plus they serve brownies the size of Yugoslavia. Though something happened at the restaurant that i'm not too happy about, the involved parties apologized and I'm decided to let it go rather the adopt a passive aggressive stance or go into hiding. No doubt a mark that I've grow, especially with such a sensitive issue. I won't say what it is but my closer friends should know what it's about. The type of false accusations or line of questions that can send me into a homicidal rampage. On hindsight I don't really blame them, the circumstantial evidence does point towards these allegations false as they are. Though a little more subtle sensitive probing (gosh that came out wrong) would reveal a more satisfactory answer.
Okay I'm tired
That is all
Jon.P™
But today wasn't so great for me or rather the day before today. See I was the BOS for that day and the OCS training frame had just arrive. With my typical luck with duties this was going to be a busy one for me. I'm not keen to go into details but let's just say cadets are a troublesome bunch.
I could be wrong but whenever there's a OCS frame in town there's bound to be loads to breakdowns throughout the camps and ridiculous requests. Accidents seem to thrive in this environment like some radioactive bacteria.
For instance a Cadet broke the window (get this), while attempting to open the window. How he ever achieved that is beyond me (though there is the possibility that he tried to open it by delicately pushing it outwards with a sledge hammer). So the mess had to be cleaned up and the contractor contacted. It's the typhoon season now, and me being the occasionally nice person that I am decided to help them by giving them some trash bags, tape and a pen knife. At least with that they would have some protection from the rain.
When I handed them the items they looked at me with their doe like Cadet eyes that spoke on volume, namely " Aren't YOU going to fix this for me?". I smiled my infuriatingly orichimaru type grin and left them at that.
Came back in the afternoon to check on how they've done and found to my utter disgust some very shoddy work. Unceremoniously taped to the window was the trash bag and the window had been shifted ( it's a sliding one if you haven't realised this by now) such that the beds would still get wet. The geniuses. So I got another trash bag to seal it off properly and shifted the window so that the bed wouldn't get wet when it rains.
Of course alot of other things happened throughout the day that aggravated me but it's alright, I've recently re-adopted the motto :" What doesn't kill me can only make me stronger". The same motto that nearly drove me insane but with a little tweaking in perspective I think it's quite a good motto to adhere to.
Bad night to be doing duty because it was the world finals. Which basically translates to keeping the mess open till the everyone is sick of watching full grown men chase a modernised inflated bladder (See previous posts regarding lack of soccer interest), you'd be surprised at how long that takes. So in other words with no mess boys or mess aunties, the mess had to be checked on occasionally which leaves me with very little sleep after such a hectic day.
But that's not so bad, apart from being woken up in the morning by extraordinarily anal retentive and not to mention dumb (like BMT dumb) sentries.
BSM was pretty understanding in that he wasn't his usual "this must be done" mode which was good, the BOS taking over was also nice because he said he would take care of most of the nitty gritties that the BSM had told as to do. That left me with just ONE task; Reminding the MT WO ( See previous posts to gauge my opinion of him) to put on certain vehicles a pass to facilitate access control. Here's a rough highly bias, fairly inaccurate sample of what our conversation was like:
Me: Sir, Bsm told me to remind that the stickers for the vehic
MT Wo: !$$@!#$!@#$!#$!@#$!!!!
Me (turn and walks away)
(Background: !@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$)
Me (Looks at Don (a colleague) who is at the smoking point, with a tired
look. Turns to look at MT Wo one last time before walking back to bunk to nurse sore eye and lack of sleep)
(Background: !#$!#$^!%^&!$ (reference to duration spent in army)
Me ( Heads back to bunk, only to be awakened another 1 hr later by understudy to fill in a form)
So I walked away, which was against my policy of dealing these kinds of people head on and in greater volume. But with 20/20 hindsight i think it was the better solution. Namely because I really didn't have the energy to deal or care for confrontation, and even if I did confront him on his rude and unprofessional behavior, it would be infront of the training troops and it would have reflected badly on the institution. Not only that making him look bad in front of so many people (worse still considering alot of officers and strangers) would just be courting trouble with a bruised ego.
So today wasn't a fantastic day, but it certainly wasn't my worse. For that matter, any day that doesn't break that record is fine with me.
Also today we went out for an excellent dinner, at this very nice restaurant where (this is the most exciting part) you can order in English. Is that great of what?!? I don't know about you but I love being able to order in English. The food is excellent AND they serve it in HUGE portions. Plus they serve brownies the size of Yugoslavia. Though something happened at the restaurant that i'm not too happy about, the involved parties apologized and I'm decided to let it go rather the adopt a passive aggressive stance or go into hiding. No doubt a mark that I've grow, especially with such a sensitive issue. I won't say what it is but my closer friends should know what it's about. The type of false accusations or line of questions that can send me into a homicidal rampage. On hindsight I don't really blame them, the circumstantial evidence does point towards these allegations false as they are. Though a little more subtle sensitive probing (gosh that came out wrong) would reveal a more satisfactory answer.
Okay I'm tired
That is all
Jon.P™
This is an update...
