Dying of stress

I didn't think stress could literally kill you... a friend forwarded an email the other day. Now normally it'd go straight to deleted items but the subject caught my eye. *To all you workaholics out there* it said. It was about a girl from Singapore called May Leong. She worked in a fortune 500 company (search and you'll find it) spending long hours at work and then taking home more work just to catch up. Sounds familiar...I pratically spent everyday for the past 4 years at my previous company staying in the office and working. I went home every 3-4 days to sleep in my own bed. Except in her case, she formed blood clot in her legs that led to her demise. I googled her blog...and kept on rereading it. Something about her words struck me...it was very very sad. She sounded so confused...on whether she was doing the right thing with spending so much time from work. It just struck me as really sad...how she was only trying to work to give her mom the best things in life. I can probably relate that's why it had such an impact on me.

Public Transport

I've been going home fairly early for the past few weeks. We've finally been able to sort out stuff at work to allow us to get home at a respectable hour. Don't get me wrong....there's still loads more to do. I'm estimating another year of hard labor and then things will be back to normal...with major improvements. I've been wondering lately why I keep on getting jobs where I have to go through so much in my first year. A friend commented that I seem to be getting jobs where there's a lot of fixing involved. Well, better I fix it than cause it eh?

Yesterday I left work at 8pm. Yeah...that's respectable for us. I got on the bus at half past and had the worst ride to date. Usually it's just a matter of the bus driver revving and putting on the brakes too hard at every stop. That I've gotten myself used to. What made this one particularly bad was the constant beeping. Every corner turn and stop the sensors would beep. I understand that it's for the visually impaired, but really...the whole trip was just one constant beep. *Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep* It'd start as soon as the signal to turn right or left was activated and stop 3 seconds after the turn was completed. As you can see I had loads of time on my hands...plus it annoyed the hell out of me. Add to that the beeping each time the doors opened. The guy sitting in front of me actually started tapping his fingers to the rhythm of the beep. Ten minutes on I saw him put his hands over his ears and left it like that for the rest of the journey. At the stop before I got off the bus we had a bit of a crisis. The back doors jammed. The driver tried closing the doors once....twice...three times...four...five.... WTF?! I counted...a total of 12 tries before he finally gave up and realized that any more attempts and he'd get himself killed by the passengers. Luckily there was a bus driver hitching a ride on the same bus and pressed a button and voila... beep gone, doors closed....crisis over. We actually thought there was a respite from the beeping...2 minutes and no beep. The guy in front of me put down his hands and gave a huge sigh of relief...and then the beeping started again. What fun.

I am no politician

I now remember the one thing I hated about working in a corporate environment...politics. People who have a hidden agenda will always make themselves look good while shirking the responsibilities that come with the job. I don't play well in this type of setting. I say it as it is...my mom always told me that it'll get me in trouble. The thing is if you don't say it as it is someone who has ulterior motives will always try to get the upper hand. A simple yes or no will do.