Archive for March, 2007
Camp bunny I am not
Posted on March 30, 2007, by soph, under It's a Girl's Life.
[Author's note: This is how productive I have been at work - I started this three days ago and only now have had a chance to finish it...]
So apparently I am going away for Easter this year. Not to Adelaide, Sydney or the very enviable U.S. of A. like my good neighbours, but to camp. For the first time since 2001, I am going to Easter camp. And for the first time since 2003 (I think), I will be packing toiletries, warm clothes and sleeping bag for the world of bunk beds and mess halls. Which reminds me, I don’t have a sleeping bag, yet.
I am not a camp person. I do not consider myself particularly spoilt, but I really like my own bed and bathroom. Tenting in the open is different (I am open to trying that at least once in my life and who knows, I might even do it over and over again), as is staying in backpacker motels in the name of seeing the world, but to drive three hours into the cold countryside just so I can sleep with a dozen other people and shower with two dozen other people… okay, now I just sound like a spoilt brat, which I assure you I am not. I just love my home, that’s all. I like staying at home, I do.
But camp has proven to be one of those things that you drag yourself to, but leave feeling glad that you dragged yourself there in the first place. Well, most (not all) times anyway. And there is a certain excitement in road trips and stopping for Macca’s along the way that appeals to the world-seer in me. I’m quite looking forward to the games as well, and like I said, this one just might turn out to be one of those I look back on and say I’m glad I went.
We’ll see. For now it’s too late to back out and I’m all for giving everything and everyone at least one chance. I could always give it a miss next year I suppose.
No Comments
Starring Tommy
Posted on March 26, 2007, by soph, under Creatures.
Last weekend saw Tommy… make his film debut!
Life has been busy busy busy of late, and one of the things I was up to on Saturday morning was trying to get Tommy to cooperate as we filmed a clip for church. I must admit he wasn’t quite the model cast member. A little grumpy from being picked up and held way too many times, we got our footage and he finally climbed into my lap for a curl-up and nap at half-past twelve. Despite being over twice the size since we first got him, this avowed kitten-only lover has been forced to change her stand and admit that she still thinks the much-bigger Tommy the cutest thing ever.
Other things I’ve been up to: watching my first ever movie in Gold Class - the choc tops were fantastic, The Illusionist was slow, predictable and deceivingly meatless; attending a graduation (congratulations Winnie!) and bumping unexpectedly into old friends which was nice; doing work, work, work.
Today I woke up not feeling like a headless chook.
No Comments
Tales from the workplace
Posted on March 21, 2007, by soph, under Career.
Working in customer service - talking to people on the phone is a major part of my everyday work life (replying emails comes a close second and no, that’s not all I do, we’re multi-tasking geniuses in here - or not), I - or should I say, we - come across all kinds of (weird) people. Naturally.I have trouble explaining what it is that my company does in a clear, concise sentence. Well, I can, but then people invariably ask, what? And then I have to launch into this length explanation about corporate performance incentives and what that fancy phrase actually means. And that’s only 1/3 of what we actually do in here as a whole.
So instead, I shall indulge in a little tale-telling, and share little titbits about the in-te-res-ting people we deal with here.
I’ve just realised I can’t do that without first explaining a little bit about what I do. Damn. Well, bascially - and I will try to make this as short as I can - one of the things we do here is run reward and recognition programs for employees of our clients. Participants earn points for sales performance, long service etc, and they get to spend those points on a range of rewards. That’s where my department comes in. Once a reward is redeemed, it falls into our hands to process it through a variety of channels and get said order out to them. We also run half a dozen helplines because when rewards and/or money is concerned, everyone always has a dozen extremely urgent questions. (There, told you it was long.)
There are the people who call up on the day they redeem their points, and expect to see their reward delivered the following day. You know, like we’re Santa Claus or something - showing up in the middle of the night to drop things down their chimney. Except I doubt even Santa would be able to get them what they want that quickly. We have a set timeframe for reward delivery but obviously no one ever reads the terms and conditions, and even if they do, they figure it’s always worth a try to call us up and bug us anyway. Personally, I reckon it’s all about managing their expectations. If we give them what we want too quickly, they’ll always want it even faster. So maybe we should take more coffee breaks, slack off a little, give them their stuff a little later, and then they’ll stop ringing us. But of course we’re too efficient/nice/professional/___ (insert complimentary term here) to do that.
Then there are those who think we are the be all and end all - like god, which is rather flattering but no, we’re not - and their problem is our problem because we can (in their heads) move mountains and ford oceans to get them what they want. These are the people who: a) think the world revolves around them; b) didn’t read the terms and conditions and think the world revolves around them. Like it’s our fault they didn’t plan ahead or something.
And then there are those who think if they pretend that they are your best friend, you’ll be more inclined to give them special treatment. These are funny. They ask to speak to particular people and refer to them by their first name. They greet you enthusiastically, ask how you’re doing… the whole works. Some of them even try to make conversation and ask about our background, hobbies, etc.
Once in a sunny day, we get the really nice aunties and uncles who don’t quite know how to work the system but because they’re nice and patient and self-deprecating and call us ‘love’ and ‘darls’, I do everything I can to help them. Okay, so I have a soft spot for the elderly or those that sound old enough to pass off as elderly (it’s not because I like being called ‘love’ and ‘darls’, I swear). Everyone is entitled to their little biases, and if they’re nice, I don’t see why I shouldn’t be (extra) nice to them.
Part of our job also requires us to ask people for their names and email addresses for processing, cross referencing, whatever, purpose, which interestingly has resulted in several conversations such as the following (note: entirely fictional) account:
Me: Can I have your name please?
Fictional caller: Wendy Wu.
Me: Your name doesn’t seem to be on our records. Could I get you to spell Wendy for me, please?
Fictional caller: X-i-a…
?!?!!!!!
Having spent those formative, identity-seeking primary and secondary school years in a Chinese-medium school, I’m all too familiar with the Asian love of giving oneself first names - Pinky and Fish immediately come to mind - but for my poor non-Asian colleagues, it’s just baffling. I have absolutely no problem with people who give themselves Christian names if it facilitates name-calling and referencing and if they simply want to be known as Tom, Dick or Mary; I have a slight problem with people who give themselves Christian names and then change it every other fortnight because they’ve decided something else sounds cooler; but as for people who call themselves one thing and then spell their name something completely different when asked… now that’s just downright weird.
My poor flabbergasted workmates.
No Comments
I am not old.
Posted on March 20, 2007, by soph, under It's a Girl's Life.
If I had to name one of the most oft-heard phrases in my past months, it would almost certainly have to be ‘I feel so old!’.At a time when weddings are aplenty and everyone around me is lamenting the swift passing of time and/or how old they feel, I can’t help but wonder if the two are co-related somehow. Especially when the people who mourn their age the most are those who are single.
Maybe it’s just my friends, but I swear I am hearing a lot of this and they all come from singles. Mostly women, the occasional man. Which makes me wonder if perhaps, despite our feminist ramblings and wannabe 21st century independence, women are still, subconsciously admittedly, judging their achievements (and age) by whether or not they are attached/engaged/married.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of women out there who are single and loving the independence singlehood brings, and there is something extremely admirable in a woman who refuses to be told she needs a boyfriend or husband to ‘get there’ in life. But right down the other end of the spectrum are those who still consider marriage to be one of life’s foremost goals, and until that is achieved, each passing second, minute, day, month or year is simply another trickle of sand down the hourglass. And the sand ain’t stopping.
The nagging parents and overly-inquisitive/meddling relatives also don’t help matters one bit. If it were not for those red packets, available only to the lucky unmarried, all the harrassed singles in the world should embark on a mystery cruise to an undisclosed location every Chinese New Year to escape the barrage. Heck, they might even hook up en route, which would surely be enough to pacify family and relatives furious that they have given Chinese New Year a miss.
Isn’t it ironic that the one time in the year when Chinese singles are most privileged (i.e. they get red packets when the married only get to give them out), they are also subjected to the worst pressure to get hitched?
I wonder how I would feel if I were unattached today, but having tied the knot just before my 23rd birthday, I’m in a little too deep now to imagine what could have been. I still believe however, that I am not old, and no matter how many of my peers think they are, I don’t think they’re old either.
It’s one thing to yearn for the companionship and connection of a soulmate (I believe that to be one of God’s original intents for marriage but that is a totally different discussion/story), but to rue your age in your 20s - which are supposed to be the best years of your life depending on the age of the person you are talking to, that’s almost a pity. I’m not old -
and neither are you.
No Comments
I don’t do domestic.
Posted on March 13, 2007, by soph, under It's a Girl's Life.
My baking urges are very few and even further in between, housework does not work its alleged therapeutic charm on me, cooking everyday for four days is enough to make me want to eat out the next three, and I simply cannot imagine giving up watching television, posting on my blog, doing freelance writing work, reading, doing nothing… to lift a finger around the house. (That doesn’t mean I don’t. I still do, obivously, because if you think I am bad you should see the people I live with.) In other words, I just don’t do domestic.
I know I’m old enough to take responsibility for my choices and abilities and stop pushing things onto psychobabble effects of my childhood, but I really do believe the fact that my mother has never played stay-home mum a day in her life, or the fact that she makes me look like housewife la fantastica and chef extraordinaire, has had a role to play in this. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame her or anything, I’m just a little different from the domestic goddesses that seemingly surround me, that’s all. My genetic make up is simply missing that little bit of DNA and god knows why it took me so long, but I’m finally accepting it.
I’m not giving up the kitchen though I would love to give up the vacuum cleaner, kitty duties and especially the ironing board, but I’m done wondering if I should try harder or be a little more domesticated. And just because I choose tennis or blogging or reading or watching television or going to the movies or eating out or being a general bum over cooking the perfect 8 course meal doesn’t mean I give up my right to ask to stay at home. After all, as a freelance writer I’m perfectly able to work from home anyway. And to think they told me my degree would never be good for anything…
No Comments
sunshine blue skies white clouds pretty flowers… you get the idea
Posted on March 6, 2007, by soph, under Uncategorized.
It’s been so long since I woke up chirpy at 7.25am it’s rather unnerving. But this happy camper had her a really, really good night’s sleep so the world is looking all sunflowers and blue skies today.I’ve decided that if I have to work five out of seven days, I’m jolly well going to enjoy every single one of them because I absolutely cannot only revel in two-sevenths of my life. And because it doesn’t look like we’ll be switching to a two-day work week anytime ever, time is passing much too quickly for me to be wishing any more of it away.
And so, fueled by a good old-fashioned snooze (y would say I ’slept like a pig’) and a determination boosted by aforementioned zzzs, I came in to work almost jolly today. Now that’s even more unnerving. I’m reasonably sunny generally, but that usually only kicks in at about half past nine or ten. For me to feel this way at eight-fifteen… let’s just say my grandma would have bought a lottery ticket.
Don’t get me wrong, work’s not bad at all. I just like weekends better. Much better. But no more of that silly single-minded, wholeheartedly-focused anticipation. I am going to embrace life right here right now! [think Hiro from Heroes standing in the middle of Times Square] The weeks are bounding past and I am completely mortified at how my life is going to flash past my eyes (not ‘before’ because ‘before’ implies it actually pauses) and I have to do something about it besides watch television serials every chance I get.
I should be watching more movies too.
Oh yeah and do that whole happy, embracing life thing.
No Comments
Midnight quirks
Posted on March 5, 2007, by soph, under Uncategorized.
I remember sitting up in bed last night looking for my phone. And I remember not being able to find it and realising that Y has taken it. But before that I remember debating whether or not to set my alarm for later and show up late to work. And I remember deciding on it.When the alarm rang this morning at a very unchirpy 7.05am, I let it ring because it’s on Y’s side of the bed and he could jolly well turn it off because that’s what you get for taking my phone in the middle of the night and not putting it back thank you very much. Except I soon realised he wasn’t turning anything off and the phone was on my side of the bed - on the floor.
Now I’m confused. Did I dream everything? Did I really sit up in bed looking for my phone but dreamt the rest? My alarm had not been set back, but I could have sworn I really did sit up in bed.
I’m told I’m not an easy person to sleep with. I pull / kick / hog the doona, mumble incorrigible hocus pocus and occasionally hold mini conversations that very quickly - and not surprisingly - do not make sense. The other night I even did my mumbo-jumbo in Mandarin! (There you go, I’m bilingual in my sleep.) But when wakey-wakey is T minus 6 hours and counting, the last thing I need, really, is a compulsive urge to seek out my mobile in the wee hours.
To top it all off, I woke up with slightly swollen-looking eyes today. That stuff my mother gave me better be some miracle-worker. What a start, hey.
No Comments
I love this Friday feeling.
Posted on March 2, 2007, by soph, under Uncategorized.
Enough said. For now.
No Comments
