Paper Wall
Wednesday, 7 March
I wonder why everybody wants to know what I've been learning from my work. At least, everybody around me who is adult. (And right now, since I'm in an office, that means everybody.) So far I've been saying inane stuff like "Don't forget the paperwork when you use a cheque" or "The KTM sends its trains 'round once every fifteen minutes and still charges exorbitantly" or other weird little things. [edit: Meow just asked me that too. /edit]
At any rate the job is going well, far better than that horrible experience at the Mart anyway. For one thing, here I'm in an office with working air-conditioning, and for another I've got a computer in front of me. Granted, it's a laptop whose useful life expired three years ago, and will need another RM600 or so worth of spare parts before it will be anything like what I really want, and the "i" key on the keyboard has lost a lot of its sensitivity and sometimes needs to be tapped twice, and there's no Internet connection, but the point of the whole thing is I have a laptop in front of me, as opposed to a trolley. Plus here my food is taken care of by my uncle and aunt (who also happen to be my bosses AND my landlords at the moment. Go ahead, sweatdrop).
And I might as well add that the house is very comfortable, plus it's got a working piano downstairs and a couple books of pieces to play. (Well, one of them is a book of this year's Grade 2 exam pieces and the other is a compilation of Disney's classics... but do you know, 'Cruella de Vil' is a lovely blues piece! And I really like the lyrics to 'How D'you Do and Shake Hands', and 'Unbirthday'. The tunes are pretty good too, quite unlike the more recent movies (which perhaps are a little too much comedy and too little brain). I'm trying to get 'Higitus Figitus', but so far I've only got midi files... no score. It's nice to be able to practice my scales again. (Ten years ago, I would NEVER have said that.)
I guess the only downside to this job (well, every job has downsides, mine just happens to have more perks at the moment) is the astounding amount of paperwork I deal with. The company is a consultancy dealing mostly with small companies' taxes, EPF and other such financial stuff, and so we have to worry about the cheques that they use and then forget to record, or worse, the ones they record twice; their employees' EPF payments and the due dates; the forms they use to record every single transaction... I've even begun memorising the various forms and their uses, which probably is a good thing since everything indicates that I'll be here for the next few months...
But even so, it's amazing the sheer weight of some of the files. Some of them are so old and heavy, I almost expect the files to rupture under their own weight when on a flat surface. No wonder people are longing for a paperless society: for one thing, the computer people would profit by the millions, and for another the environmental craze would finally die down somewhat. Not that they're irrelevant, but it is that they're getting a little over the top... because, of course, if you allow yourself to assume nature to be on the same standard as (or on a higher standard than) humanity, it's only a matter of time before you really do start worshipping stones and trees and stuff.
(In fact I think some people already do that. Shamans, I think, is the technical term for them. I read a book on their practices once and found it to be... well, either very disturbing or vastly too optimistic about the human condition.)
[Thursday]
I think, since I'm doing this weird post-once-a-week thing, that I might as well simply indicate the day at the top of each section and keep typing on. At least I'm only going to have to keep this up 'til the wireless gets installed, probably sometime next month. Keep your fingers crossed.
Last night I took the laptop back to the house, and it reminded me forcibly why I don't like little kids much. Playing with them, I can handle. You basically give 'em a set of simple instructions, set 'em loose, and pick up the broken furniture afterwards. Teaching them is a whole different thing--and in that I include "teaching them manners". Like how to take turns on the laptop... the guy who last reformatted the laptop put in about 20 or 30 games, which in itself is dubious at best. Apparently he does this to every computer that passes through his hands. He remarked that some guy got so hooked on those games that he stayed on for unpaid overtime, every day, for a few months, at the office. And that guy broke the little red joystick/button on his IBM.
...anyway... I have little cousins in the house. Three of 'em. Two of 'em are in primary school, which is bad enough. The youngest one is 5 this year, and still going through the Power Rangers obsession phase. And... well, he's hooked on the laptop. So last night, when I and the laptop got back home, he hugged the laptop. I went to bathe, and when I came down, the laptop was already turned on and he had opened his favourite game.
(It's a version of Arkanoids... the kind where evil aliens come at you in neatly arranged rows and you shoot them down, upon which they're so pleased with your shooting that they drop nice new weapons for you to pick up, and sometimes they even pay you extra.)
Don't forget he's still 5 years old. When I was that age I didn't even know a monitor had an on/off switch. And here he is, using a touchpad, to play... Arkanoids. Plus he knows how to connect the power cord, how to fix the volume, how to throw a tantrum when it's my turn to play... Look, don't you glare at me. The focus is on him here, 'kay? That's right. On my little 5-year-old cousin. Anyway, it was eventually my turn to play. And the nice thing about being 20 years old is you have significantly more hand-eye coordination than a 5-year-old, so you don't lose the game quite so fast.
Unfortunately, I didn't lose the game for the first five levels. (He generally died by level 3.) By level 6, he was fidgeting and wailing for his turn. Halfway through that, he began hitting the keys for me. Then he began spitting on the screen, on my face, and on my hair. Then he turned the volume up on the wailing. And by level 7, I was calmly trying to get him to stop it (because his interference had lost me two "lives" and I was on the last one). He didn't stop it. I grabbed him by the chin, which forced him to look upwards. (That way, his spit would return to him. Reduce, reuse, recycle.) He complained of a sore neck and let him go.
He developed 6 extra hands and began pushing every key on the board in an attempt to find the one that would cause me instant death. (Yes, I was playing all through this. What?) So I grabbed his arm, and I think maybe I shouldn't have twisted it quite so much. Because the next thing you know, he was bawling like... a 5-year-old.
(And so he got his wish, because I let him have the laptop after that. Anything in order to preserve my sanity and my eardrums.)
I am so, so, so thankful I turned down the opportunity to teach at a primary school.
...you know what's rather surprising? I've turned into a Good Example myself. Because I voluntarily play the piano, read books by the dozen, and eat like a pig. O.o Apparently that's the dream of every parent for their little kids. (I have a niggling fear that this job is going to make me gain even MORE weight. Oh well, I'll work it off on the weekends.) Because I've heard the Why-can't-you-be-more-like-him phrase several tmes already... in reference to me! It's positvely scary. At this rate it's possible that I'll wake up sometime tomorrow with a tie wrapped around my neck and looking down on everybody else--in other words, I'll have achieved Maturity. It's a scary prospect. Is it possible to become Mature without knowing it?
...I've got the flu. I blame myself for not eating more fruits... but then, the house is packed with leftover CNY food and how can you not eat them before they go bad? Nothing must go to waste... *cough* *sneeze* That's it, fruits for dinner tonight.
[Friday]
I'm amazed how fast the working week has finished... well, really, I'm not getting guilt about typing this during work at all. Because my scheduled tasks are 95% finished (I keep a running count just to amuse myself) and the remaining 5% can't be done without further information, which I need from my boss/es, who are out... so really, any work I do right now counts as kind-of overtime. *grin* And so I can pursue the novella I've been thinking of writing for the last few months. It's probably going to come out very fan-fic-ish, since I read too much manga and fantasy stuff to not be influenced. Quite likely Bleach is going to be a heavy influence on me. But back to the point: I'd better get it done before the peak season starts and we all get stuck on overtime. Of course, overtime has little or no effect on me since I have to go back with my bosses anyway.
What else is there to mention?... I like the piano. I very much like it. But I can only practice it 4 nights a week, so I expect to progress very slowly. It's a pity the electric piano at the Gorillas' isn't repaired yet, because then I could practise there too. But as it is, I have 4 nights of practice a week coming up for the next few months... (but I'm not telling my mom because then she'll start sending over crates of my old scores and stuff to practise, and really I don't want to have a couple hundred MORE things to pack up when I shove off.)
...oh, and I really like having a laptop to use. Because these days, I've started bringing my thumbdrive to work everyday, firstly for the files I keep on it (like this blog post), and secondly for the 830 MB of mp3 files on it. Soon I'll be adding good-quality midi files, if I can find them. And there're always more anime OSTs out there just waiting to be gotten. I still want It's Gonna Rain, One Half, and Heart of Sword from Rurouni Kenshin and OverSoul from Shaman King. Don't ask me where these artistes get their song titles from. Quite possibly it's perfectly good Japanese grammar... after all, I know they don't have a word for 'the', so we could actually be asking for 'the Heart of the Sword'... without the 'the's. Yes, I know I'm rambling. Yes, I'll stop it. No, I don't know when. Yes, I know I'm still rambling...
Tomorrow is going to be a shoppng day! I'm taking my sister to go hunt a pair of sports shoes (hers got stolen last week) and I'll probably pick up a pair of cargoes myself. One of my current cargoes has developed a hole the exact diameter of my index finger (I have no idea how) halfway up the front of my right thigh. Apparently it's a very attractive hole indeed, because people notice it and try to stick THEIR index finger in to see whether it really is a hole or a kind-of-brownish patch on the pants. (And in case you don't know, the thigh happens to be one of the more ticklish spots on the average human body.) I realised this at the first RBS reunion I attended, when Pale Beet saw it, commented on my pants being 'cute' (another word without any fixed meaning!) and stuck his finger into it. OK, he didn't stick his finger in it, mostly because I was sitting at the time. So it didn't technically go 'in', but you get the idea.
That was also when I realised that it was ticklish. Or maybe it was just that the finger was cold.
And then earlier last week, my 5-year-old cousin noticed it. And since I was standing at the time, his finger did go in... Anyway, I'm getting new pants. I bought one pair last week, but since they're having sales this week I'm going to buy another pair. And maybe I'll get another pair of shorts, because one of my current ones (it's at least 4 years old now) has developed a hole too. Nobody has noticed it yet--or commented on it yet-- which is a very good thing so far. But I'm still getting new pants before people start sticking their finger in that hole too.
And the Coconut is planning a study session because she's worried about the exams... and maybe I'll go along. Strictly as an unpaid tutor, you understand. Purely altruistic motives. Probably I'll even bring my sister along. *cough* *cough* Drat, should've remembered to eat some fruit last night.
My uncle and aunt are planning a family trip to Low Yat sometime to get stuff for the laptop. So far the list includes a wireless receiver, a new processor (the guy who reformatted began spouting numbers when I asked about it, and no doubt I looked like a fool just nodding and saying Mmm Oh OK every two or three sentences to look as if I knew anything), more RAM (currently it has a grand total of 5 GB!), a USB mouse, and (my addition) a USB keyboard. That last is very important to me since I'm going to need the little numpad very soon.
Yes, I know I can use the Function key to turn the letters into numbers. But just you try holding that key down for the next 2 or 3 hours and see how you like it.
Well, basically it's because I'm learning accounting here. The shock! the horror! but it's not so bad as I thought, mostly because of a little thing called software. If they'd let us use these in school, I wouldn't have needed to drop Accounting for SPM... it's got much easier, all you need is a mouse and a keyboard and the program and the numbers balance themselves. No bulky ledgers or whatever, too. So nice. But the only thing is that I need a number pad. As it is I'm using the little row at the top of the keyboard, which is rather inconvenient (although it's stretching out my fingers beautifully). And I'm getting typist's elbow these days since the chair is rather lower than the table, which means that I have to bend my elbows at a most inconvenient abgle to type. As it is I have to stretch every half hour or so...
Anyway, I'm going to run up quite a little bill for this laptop's outfitting... and I'm not even going to get to keep it when I leave. (One month before that happens, I shall ask my dad for a laptop and tell him I'm going to put accounting stuff on it, which will quite likely be perfect truth, since I shall want to try to manage my own finances while off at college or something.) I shall, of course, try to get myself a keyboard and mouse for (my) laptop. My aunt's sister sells hardware so I'd better get 'em cheap while I can.
(My aunt got a 2GB thumbdrive, pre-installed with games, for RM60, for example.)
So... here I am, a Science student, learning Accounting... and quite enjoying it. What's happening to my brain?!
[Later]
It's a good thing I always save my stuff. That 5-year-old cousin of mine must've climbed up to the keyboard while I was having lunch or something, because he nearly turned my last three days' blogging into a Morse code of asterisks and number 8s. But in future I'm also closing my files before leaving the laptop unattended in his vicinity. Not that I dislike him: he's sweet and chubby and his cheeks are huge enough to be handles for his head. But he is loud and has too many hands where electronics are concerned. Also he seems to like typing asterisks disturbingly much.
I wonder why everybody wants to know what I've been learning from my work. At least, everybody around me who is adult. (And right now, since I'm in an office, that means everybody.) So far I've been saying inane stuff like "Don't forget the paperwork when you use a cheque" or "The KTM sends its trains 'round once every fifteen minutes and still charges exorbitantly" or other weird little things. [edit: Meow just asked me that too. /edit]
At any rate the job is going well, far better than that horrible experience at the Mart anyway. For one thing, here I'm in an office with working air-conditioning, and for another I've got a computer in front of me. Granted, it's a laptop whose useful life expired three years ago, and will need another RM600 or so worth of spare parts before it will be anything like what I really want, and the "i" key on the keyboard has lost a lot of its sensitivity and sometimes needs to be tapped twice, and there's no Internet connection, but the point of the whole thing is I have a laptop in front of me, as opposed to a trolley. Plus here my food is taken care of by my uncle and aunt (who also happen to be my bosses AND my landlords at the moment. Go ahead, sweatdrop).
And I might as well add that the house is very comfortable, plus it's got a working piano downstairs and a couple books of pieces to play. (Well, one of them is a book of this year's Grade 2 exam pieces and the other is a compilation of Disney's classics... but do you know, 'Cruella de Vil' is a lovely blues piece! And I really like the lyrics to 'How D'you Do and Shake Hands', and 'Unbirthday'. The tunes are pretty good too, quite unlike the more recent movies (which perhaps are a little too much comedy and too little brain). I'm trying to get 'Higitus Figitus', but so far I've only got midi files... no score. It's nice to be able to practice my scales again. (Ten years ago, I would NEVER have said that.)
I guess the only downside to this job (well, every job has downsides, mine just happens to have more perks at the moment) is the astounding amount of paperwork I deal with. The company is a consultancy dealing mostly with small companies' taxes, EPF and other such financial stuff, and so we have to worry about the cheques that they use and then forget to record, or worse, the ones they record twice; their employees' EPF payments and the due dates; the forms they use to record every single transaction... I've even begun memorising the various forms and their uses, which probably is a good thing since everything indicates that I'll be here for the next few months...
But even so, it's amazing the sheer weight of some of the files. Some of them are so old and heavy, I almost expect the files to rupture under their own weight when on a flat surface. No wonder people are longing for a paperless society: for one thing, the computer people would profit by the millions, and for another the environmental craze would finally die down somewhat. Not that they're irrelevant, but it is that they're getting a little over the top... because, of course, if you allow yourself to assume nature to be on the same standard as (or on a higher standard than) humanity, it's only a matter of time before you really do start worshipping stones and trees and stuff.
(In fact I think some people already do that. Shamans, I think, is the technical term for them. I read a book on their practices once and found it to be... well, either very disturbing or vastly too optimistic about the human condition.)
[Thursday]
I think, since I'm doing this weird post-once-a-week thing, that I might as well simply indicate the day at the top of each section and keep typing on. At least I'm only going to have to keep this up 'til the wireless gets installed, probably sometime next month. Keep your fingers crossed.
Last night I took the laptop back to the house, and it reminded me forcibly why I don't like little kids much. Playing with them, I can handle. You basically give 'em a set of simple instructions, set 'em loose, and pick up the broken furniture afterwards. Teaching them is a whole different thing--and in that I include "teaching them manners". Like how to take turns on the laptop... the guy who last reformatted the laptop put in about 20 or 30 games, which in itself is dubious at best. Apparently he does this to every computer that passes through his hands. He remarked that some guy got so hooked on those games that he stayed on for unpaid overtime, every day, for a few months, at the office. And that guy broke the little red joystick/button on his IBM.
...anyway... I have little cousins in the house. Three of 'em. Two of 'em are in primary school, which is bad enough. The youngest one is 5 this year, and still going through the Power Rangers obsession phase. And... well, he's hooked on the laptop. So last night, when I and the laptop got back home, he hugged the laptop. I went to bathe, and when I came down, the laptop was already turned on and he had opened his favourite game.
(It's a version of Arkanoids... the kind where evil aliens come at you in neatly arranged rows and you shoot them down, upon which they're so pleased with your shooting that they drop nice new weapons for you to pick up, and sometimes they even pay you extra.)
Don't forget he's still 5 years old. When I was that age I didn't even know a monitor had an on/off switch. And here he is, using a touchpad, to play... Arkanoids. Plus he knows how to connect the power cord, how to fix the volume, how to throw a tantrum when it's my turn to play... Look, don't you glare at me. The focus is on him here, 'kay? That's right. On my little 5-year-old cousin. Anyway, it was eventually my turn to play. And the nice thing about being 20 years old is you have significantly more hand-eye coordination than a 5-year-old, so you don't lose the game quite so fast.
Unfortunately, I didn't lose the game for the first five levels. (He generally died by level 3.) By level 6, he was fidgeting and wailing for his turn. Halfway through that, he began hitting the keys for me. Then he began spitting on the screen, on my face, and on my hair. Then he turned the volume up on the wailing. And by level 7, I was calmly trying to get him to stop it (because his interference had lost me two "lives" and I was on the last one). He didn't stop it. I grabbed him by the chin, which forced him to look upwards. (That way, his spit would return to him. Reduce, reuse, recycle.) He complained of a sore neck and let him go.
He developed 6 extra hands and began pushing every key on the board in an attempt to find the one that would cause me instant death. (Yes, I was playing all through this. What?) So I grabbed his arm, and I think maybe I shouldn't have twisted it quite so much. Because the next thing you know, he was bawling like... a 5-year-old.
(And so he got his wish, because I let him have the laptop after that. Anything in order to preserve my sanity and my eardrums.)
I am so, so, so thankful I turned down the opportunity to teach at a primary school.
...you know what's rather surprising? I've turned into a Good Example myself. Because I voluntarily play the piano, read books by the dozen, and eat like a pig. O.o Apparently that's the dream of every parent for their little kids. (I have a niggling fear that this job is going to make me gain even MORE weight. Oh well, I'll work it off on the weekends.) Because I've heard the Why-can't-you-be-more-like-him phrase several tmes already... in reference to me! It's positvely scary. At this rate it's possible that I'll wake up sometime tomorrow with a tie wrapped around my neck and looking down on everybody else--in other words, I'll have achieved Maturity. It's a scary prospect. Is it possible to become Mature without knowing it?
...I've got the flu. I blame myself for not eating more fruits... but then, the house is packed with leftover CNY food and how can you not eat them before they go bad? Nothing must go to waste... *cough* *sneeze* That's it, fruits for dinner tonight.
[Friday]
I'm amazed how fast the working week has finished... well, really, I'm not getting guilt about typing this during work at all. Because my scheduled tasks are 95% finished (I keep a running count just to amuse myself) and the remaining 5% can't be done without further information, which I need from my boss/es, who are out... so really, any work I do right now counts as kind-of overtime. *grin* And so I can pursue the novella I've been thinking of writing for the last few months. It's probably going to come out very fan-fic-ish, since I read too much manga and fantasy stuff to not be influenced. Quite likely Bleach is going to be a heavy influence on me. But back to the point: I'd better get it done before the peak season starts and we all get stuck on overtime. Of course, overtime has little or no effect on me since I have to go back with my bosses anyway.
What else is there to mention?... I like the piano. I very much like it. But I can only practice it 4 nights a week, so I expect to progress very slowly. It's a pity the electric piano at the Gorillas' isn't repaired yet, because then I could practise there too. But as it is, I have 4 nights of practice a week coming up for the next few months... (but I'm not telling my mom because then she'll start sending over crates of my old scores and stuff to practise, and really I don't want to have a couple hundred MORE things to pack up when I shove off.)
...oh, and I really like having a laptop to use. Because these days, I've started bringing my thumbdrive to work everyday, firstly for the files I keep on it (like this blog post), and secondly for the 830 MB of mp3 files on it. Soon I'll be adding good-quality midi files, if I can find them. And there're always more anime OSTs out there just waiting to be gotten. I still want It's Gonna Rain, One Half, and Heart of Sword from Rurouni Kenshin and OverSoul from Shaman King. Don't ask me where these artistes get their song titles from. Quite possibly it's perfectly good Japanese grammar... after all, I know they don't have a word for 'the', so we could actually be asking for 'the Heart of the Sword'... without the 'the's. Yes, I know I'm rambling. Yes, I'll stop it. No, I don't know when. Yes, I know I'm still rambling...
Tomorrow is going to be a shoppng day! I'm taking my sister to go hunt a pair of sports shoes (hers got stolen last week) and I'll probably pick up a pair of cargoes myself. One of my current cargoes has developed a hole the exact diameter of my index finger (I have no idea how) halfway up the front of my right thigh. Apparently it's a very attractive hole indeed, because people notice it and try to stick THEIR index finger in to see whether it really is a hole or a kind-of-brownish patch on the pants. (And in case you don't know, the thigh happens to be one of the more ticklish spots on the average human body.) I realised this at the first RBS reunion I attended, when Pale Beet saw it, commented on my pants being 'cute' (another word without any fixed meaning!) and stuck his finger into it. OK, he didn't stick his finger in it, mostly because I was sitting at the time. So it didn't technically go 'in', but you get the idea.
That was also when I realised that it was ticklish. Or maybe it was just that the finger was cold.
And then earlier last week, my 5-year-old cousin noticed it. And since I was standing at the time, his finger did go in... Anyway, I'm getting new pants. I bought one pair last week, but since they're having sales this week I'm going to buy another pair. And maybe I'll get another pair of shorts, because one of my current ones (it's at least 4 years old now) has developed a hole too. Nobody has noticed it yet--or commented on it yet-- which is a very good thing so far. But I'm still getting new pants before people start sticking their finger in that hole too.
And the Coconut is planning a study session because she's worried about the exams... and maybe I'll go along. Strictly as an unpaid tutor, you understand. Purely altruistic motives. Probably I'll even bring my sister along. *cough* *cough* Drat, should've remembered to eat some fruit last night.
My uncle and aunt are planning a family trip to Low Yat sometime to get stuff for the laptop. So far the list includes a wireless receiver, a new processor (the guy who reformatted began spouting numbers when I asked about it, and no doubt I looked like a fool just nodding and saying Mmm Oh OK every two or three sentences to look as if I knew anything), more RAM (currently it has a grand total of 5 GB!), a USB mouse, and (my addition) a USB keyboard. That last is very important to me since I'm going to need the little numpad very soon.
Yes, I know I can use the Function key to turn the letters into numbers. But just you try holding that key down for the next 2 or 3 hours and see how you like it.
Well, basically it's because I'm learning accounting here. The shock! the horror! but it's not so bad as I thought, mostly because of a little thing called software. If they'd let us use these in school, I wouldn't have needed to drop Accounting for SPM... it's got much easier, all you need is a mouse and a keyboard and the program and the numbers balance themselves. No bulky ledgers or whatever, too. So nice. But the only thing is that I need a number pad. As it is I'm using the little row at the top of the keyboard, which is rather inconvenient (although it's stretching out my fingers beautifully). And I'm getting typist's elbow these days since the chair is rather lower than the table, which means that I have to bend my elbows at a most inconvenient abgle to type. As it is I have to stretch every half hour or so...
Anyway, I'm going to run up quite a little bill for this laptop's outfitting... and I'm not even going to get to keep it when I leave. (One month before that happens, I shall ask my dad for a laptop and tell him I'm going to put accounting stuff on it, which will quite likely be perfect truth, since I shall want to try to manage my own finances while off at college or something.) I shall, of course, try to get myself a keyboard and mouse for (my) laptop. My aunt's sister sells hardware so I'd better get 'em cheap while I can.
(My aunt got a 2GB thumbdrive, pre-installed with games, for RM60, for example.)
So... here I am, a Science student, learning Accounting... and quite enjoying it. What's happening to my brain?!
[Later]
It's a good thing I always save my stuff. That 5-year-old cousin of mine must've climbed up to the keyboard while I was having lunch or something, because he nearly turned my last three days' blogging into a Morse code of asterisks and number 8s. But in future I'm also closing my files before leaving the laptop unattended in his vicinity. Not that I dislike him: he's sweet and chubby and his cheeks are huge enough to be handles for his head. But he is loud and has too many hands where electronics are concerned. Also he seems to like typing asterisks disturbingly much.
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