Feel the love....

MSN conversation with my brother earlier. I couldn't hold off on this one....

K:  my suggestion for product name is in the finals.
K:  Between "Presto" and "Forerunner"
N:  yay! ahaha

Knowing that his dragonboating team before was called the Waverunners, it was obvious which name was his suggestion....

N:  Forerunner sounds better ;)
K:  if Presto gets chosen, I win an iPod. if not... I don't.
K:  damn YOU!!
N:  doh!!
K:  Presto has more MEANING
K:  it's about speed.
N:  Presto sounds cliche!
...
N:  presto sounds kinda cheezy...
K:  man, if I could send you a middle finger right now. :P
N:  you'd get it right back. :)

Practically twins

Some of my coworkers were trying to squeeze my birthdate out of me. I didn't mind telling them my birth year - not a big deal: I've rather accepted the fact that I am - yes - getting old. Just a little bit. I know, it's okay; I've dealt with it.

Fifteen minutes later (yes, they were still trying), the one coworker who knew my approximate birthdate decided, "Hmm, I think I'll blurt out her Zodiac sign, even though she seems adamant about not telling them, and it's completely not my place to give it up", and thus the month that witnessed my world debut came to light.

I drafted a multitude of Ally McBeal scenes in my head as I glared a hole through her, right between the eyes. I do believe that it was served with a liquid nitrogen smile.

One coworker in particular kept hounding me for the exact date, later that day, the next day, night, morning.... He was absolutely relentless. He finally realised that it just wasn't going to happen unless he told me his birth year and month first. Turns out they're the same as mine.

We jostled some more before getting the exact dates out. His birthdate was the day after mine.

But wait ! I was born in the evening... in North America! Which meant that we were actually born within hours of each other! And it turns out that he was born in the wee hours of the morning, making him older than me! MuahAHHAhaha.

Kind of a cool coinkidink, though. :)

Pretty Woman

I'm reminded of an MSN conversation with a coworker, not long after the GND had started at our company. Having slipped my mind that he had been one of her interviewers, I offered to introduce him to the pretty girl.

"Hey, just lookin' out for you. I mean, if you don't even meet her, how will you even have a chance with a pretty girl!"

"You say she's pretty, too?" he asked, somewhat surprised.

"Well... yeah. She is. So... why wouldn't I?"

"That's the first time I've heard a girl call another girl 'pretty'."

"Really...? Why's that??"

"Because women get jealous! They never call one another pretty."

Hmm, now that's silly. I don't know.... Maybe I just hang out with women who are very secure.

Or very pretty. :)

V is for...

Just a quickie:

CompanyM runs about 10 events each year - mostly atheletic (though there was a Big 2 event last month) - where the 4 business units are pitted against each other. All in good fun, of course. This is the third year of activities.

Today was the softball event. Round-robin style, 6 innings per game, and modified rules for women. (Interestingly enough, their co-ed events only need one girl - but apparently recruiting that one girl is hard enough!)

Our business unit has been runner-up the past 2 years, but this morning, under 30-degree weather, we ended the back-to-back champions' streak with a 3-0 record.

V... is for sweet sweet victory. Yay! :D

"Licence and registration, please."

I'd been waiting all day for 18:00 to roll around. Last night was going to be my first time go-karting.

I was just a coatrack the last time, watching from the sidelines in dress shirt, dress pants and heels. I was amazed at the control while my coworkers tore around the track at breakneck speeds, darting in and out at giant slalom speeds, taking the turns as if tethered to an elastic band. Exciting stuff.

We piled into my coworker's car. I was getting anxious. They chattered on about the last race (which I missed altogether): how So-and-So lapped What's-Their-Name twice, and how Who-Was-It-Again ended up in the grassy divide, and how That-Other-Person did a 360 spinout.

As we walked up to the race course and watched another group zip around hairpin turns, the excitement quickly fizzled into nerves. Completely flat soda. But I'd said I was going to race this time, so I wasn't about to bail. No way, no "weaker sex" here.... (Okay, so I was still jittery, but whatever!)

Once I was seated in the go-kart, fitted with a cushy helmet (that actually did fit!), I was in my element. Right, gas; left, break. No sweat.

They came by and started up the go-kart engines one by one, and one by one the karts peeled away from the pit stop. The steering wheel was stiff and suspension was minimal, but it was thrilling. I hoped my forearms wouldn't tire before the 10 minutes were up!

Cars behind were already passing me on the first lap. I rounded onto the straightaway and accelerated. I noticed a bunch of karts along the side. That was the last fleeting thought as I plowed straight into my coworker, propelling him forward 2 meters.

Oh. my. God.

No doubt there was a collective gasp from everyone (save the person I'd just rear-ended), but I didn't hear it. I froze. General bewilderment, lots of looking around, everyone must've been in shock. I'm sure my coworker's first thought was "WTF??", and not the "How did that happen??" that he told us after the race.

See, I didn't realise that we were supposed to do just one lap of the course and line up Indy-style. :(

The race track staff didn't know what else to do but to wave the flag and start the race.

I managed to pull it together for the race, but guilt and mortification were the theme words of the night. My coworkers joked about me caring for the victim for the rest of his life. I was completely laden with guilt and stricken with fear for any injury I may have caused. And I must've gone red whenever he was near, later back at the office. Couldn't even look him in the eye.

Today, he's been unavailable for comment. And so guilt continues to eat away at my innards.

Which is just as well, because the pre-race weigh-in claimed that Taiwanese food is too oily.

Hark now hear the angels sing....

Lay's Original! Hallelujah! :D

Almost thought they didn't have any normal flavours....

Need a new oil lamp....

We had a four-day weekend. The last longer weekend for a while to come. I went up to Taipei for a day, but was back in Hsinchu in the office after dinner on the Saturday.

And there I stayed.

I spent virtually all of it in the office, burning the midnight oil. With few people in the office, I found the quiet - yet not dead silent - environment conducive to documenting.

What really made the difference was the presence of my coworker. We would work work work, go out to fill our bellies with good food and good conversation, and then come back and toil away again. Work hard, play hard. Play and eat hard, that is. :)

And so working late into the night wasn't even taxing. I was totally "in the zone": the right music, the right darkness, the right entertainment (as needed).... Tunnel vision. It was almost exhilarating (in a demented sort of way), reminiscent of the university days, when I would bang away at a project until the wee hours (and sometimes not so "wee" hours) of the morning.

But the progress and the [demented] exhilaration left me actually enjoying work again. And for the first time in weeks - maybe months, I came into work yesterday and today in the best of moods, "energized" and ready to be productive, despite 13 hours' sleep over 3 nights.

I am a tad tired today, but only mildly; my body - rather amazingly - has been quite content to return to a regular schedule, without collecting on my sleep debt.

Unfortunately I've reaffirmed that my most productive hours are still 22:00 to 03:00.

D'oh.

Take a hike!

About a month ago, my coworker suggested I join the 2-day trip up Yushan (Mount Jade). Yushan is the highest peak in NE Asia (nearly 4km in altitude), and in recent years has become a popular mountain for hikers. I figured the group trip would be a good opportunity to meet people in my company's Hiking Club and to see some of Taiwan. I wouldn't have to pack my own sleeping bag even.

The last time I hiked Stawamus Chief back home was probably close to 2 years ago. So in terms of hiking, I was a little rusty. And thus without too much resistance, I let my coworker talk me into another 2-day hike in Guguan at the end of March. The first day was an easy hike, and the second day would be a tougher one.

That "easy" hike is the most gruelling thing I've ever done! Sure beats out my first day playing ultimate frisbee. Our group of 19 ended up as a leading group and a "lagging" group. And while I was in the lead group, I was in the latter half (back!) of the group and still needed 4 hours to reach the top. My brain literally shut down as I shuffled my lead feet inches at a time - any progress just as long as I didn't stop.

I barely ate lunch at the top. Even though fog had covered the distant mountain peaks, leaving us with not much scenary to photograph, I still felt a sense of accomplishment. (And fatigue, of course.)

As I'd anticipated, my knees were my downfall. While taking only half the time, coming down the mountain was twice as painful as going up. That's when I graciously accepted a hiking stick from my fellow hiker. Hopping into the bus afterward was one of most rewarding things ever!

Day 2, of course, was not going to go away. Being that the entire reason for joining this trip was to prepare myself for Yushan, I decided that I would go hiking the next day, too, despite being in serious pain. A fellow hiker lent me a knee sleeve, which helped immensely, and I was able to borrow a hiking stick from someone who turned back early. The scenary was much nicer and the hike more leisurely (we all decided to hike at our own pace since we didn't have enough time to reach the peak, and to just meet back at the bus at a rendez-vous time). The knees still gave me trouble, but now I had the option of slowing down or stopping as I needed, and so I also took more photographs.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and got to know some coworkers better, including some from other departments whom I would not meet otherwise. The exercise felt great, that rewarding soreness in the days after. And I have something exciting - a shared experience - for my Taiwan scrapbook. (Just as soon as I make one.)

Now I just need to figure out where to post pictures. :)