Munchies

The count down to India is in "full bloom" and finally things are finally falling into place. I have my colleague's family's address and a friend of D-Tea's has been helping me out with the train ticket reservations. I'll head up north by train and then fly down from New Delhi to Goa... Very excited!

I've also started planning my next trip - Portugal later this spring. I'll definitely need to have something to look forward to once I'm back from India and it's good that it's not too far off time wise (about nine weeks after my return). My Aussie friend who's currently in Toronto, Katie, will be joining me on this trip and I've also put the work out to Marty and T. I'm looking forward to brushing up on my Portuguese and meeting my friends back there. Italy will hopefully be next!

Learning...

Big thumbs up for the person who first said that you learn something new every day... Here're my lastest insights:

Friday

No matter how dumb someone is, they will get ahead in life if a person with power will somehow miss out on noticing it. I got an e-mail on Friday from a manager of another department that my intern will be filling in for me while I'm away. The intern who instead of copying a song onto 30 CDs, copied a shortcut to her desktop on those 30 CDs. The intern who even after three weeks working with a task is still asking the same questions as she did day 1. The intern that doesn't know how to address an envelope properly. I can teach, but I'm not a brain surgeon.

Saturday

Do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT cut a chilli fruit on Friday night and try to put on lenses Saturday morning. Just take my word for it.

Sunday

The iron I have so long waited for is not the blessing I expected it to be. I mean, now I have to start ironing again!!!

Pulling Strings

I got a pat on the back from the company CFO yesterday. So little could mean so much and at the same time so little. It's about time they sent someone remotely more credible than my boss for a change. Won't last for long, but temporarily it's just fine. Don't underestimate your opponent - just because I pretend not to know, doesn't mean that I don't.

Yellow

It's been a while, but things have not calmed down in any significant way since... since this summer to be honest! I teach less classes this semester (not entirely voluntarily, but now that I think about it - it's a blessing) but work just not becoming less. As soon as I got back from the awesome trip to NY (more about that later), I was met by the great news that I was to register all of my boss' packages for 2008. We're talking a five-digit number in SEKs. So instead of having a relatively calm January, as opposed to the period Aug-Dec and Mar/Apr-Jun, I put in 14 hours of work this weekend. This is on top of what I tend to do normally and having a semi-smart intern whom I have to double check every step of the way. Lovely!

Since I'm spilling it, I'll spill a little more. My boss has promised me an Xmas gift before I went to Warsaw in mid-December - not a sign of it yet! I was promised something for the extra work I put into his changing apartments this autumn - nada! And I'm still seeing no follow up on my development talk, which, among other signs, brings me to believe that I'm a s.c. submarine. I don't know why they're called that, but it's the people my boss lures into believing that there are opportunities at the company just to stay or come to exceptionally good terms with them. Yeah...

Anyhooo, you don't mess with me. You just don't. And you don't send an angry woman shopping.