US elections
i was in my freshman year when bush junior was first elected president. my american roommate was (together with most californians) a stauch democrat. i remember her heading off to vote (for the first time) and being all-aghast when bush junior won. i was a little indifferent at that time, but the past eight years has shown how the foreign policy decisions of a key world power can spark wars that leave countries in shambles and many dead, can breed fear and suspicion among its own people, and can result in chaos in its own backyard. let's hope obama brings about the change he has preached.
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5.8km at 5'55" per km is the most we can usually squeeze in on a weekday evening. 265.1km!
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had a particularly stressful wednesday at work. 3rd day as universal covering officer (yet again), back-to-back meetings and a presentation, information overload and absolutely no time to deal with all the ticking time-bombs that tend to crop up when people are away. got to town after work feeling extra-grumpy, but after ranting to the ever-patient ck, grabbing two big bags of M&S chips which ck paid for and tucking into a sumptious wafu beef gozen meal at ichiban boshi (it was very good!) that ck paid for, i felt all zen again. :D ok, granted that we usually just take turns to pay for meals when we eat out (depending on whose credit card qualifies for any discount), it wasn't really a treat. but still, he went around with rampaging me at 9pm to hunt for japanese food and potato chips that i had to eat / buy in order to de-stress ... SCORE POINTS! ck really knows how to get me off the work-related war-path.
it also helped that the boss came back the day after and made things better. however, he also confirmed what i've been suspecting for awhile now ... he claims it's for our good, so that we can move up and grow in our higher-responsibility roles with much less of a safety net. remember what i told you last time? i ask him. are you sure? he asks, and i say YES! he then tells me we'll have to talk about it further. GAAAH. i have to give it to him though ... he has really given a few of us a lot of autonomy and put a lot of trust in us over the past half-year to make decisions and execute work without clearing him, in order to develop us. really feel like i've grown because of this. of course, it means bearing additional responsibility for the quality of work done by the rest of the team ... but the whole experience has helped me learn along the way as well. it's a good feeling.
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5.8km at 5'55" per km is the most we can usually squeeze in on a weekday evening. 265.1km!
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had a particularly stressful wednesday at work. 3rd day as universal covering officer (yet again), back-to-back meetings and a presentation, information overload and absolutely no time to deal with all the ticking time-bombs that tend to crop up when people are away. got to town after work feeling extra-grumpy, but after ranting to the ever-patient ck, grabbing two big bags of M&S chips which ck paid for and tucking into a sumptious wafu beef gozen meal at ichiban boshi (it was very good!) that ck paid for, i felt all zen again. :D ok, granted that we usually just take turns to pay for meals when we eat out (depending on whose credit card qualifies for any discount), it wasn't really a treat. but still, he went around with rampaging me at 9pm to hunt for japanese food and potato chips that i had to eat / buy in order to de-stress ... SCORE POINTS! ck really knows how to get me off the work-related war-path.
it also helped that the boss came back the day after and made things better. however, he also confirmed what i've been suspecting for awhile now ... he claims it's for our good, so that we can move up and grow in our higher-responsibility roles with much less of a safety net. remember what i told you last time? i ask him. are you sure? he asks, and i say YES! he then tells me we'll have to talk about it further. GAAAH. i have to give it to him though ... he has really given a few of us a lot of autonomy and put a lot of trust in us over the past half-year to make decisions and execute work without clearing him, in order to develop us. really feel like i've grown because of this. of course, it means bearing additional responsibility for the quality of work done by the rest of the team ... but the whole experience has helped me learn along the way as well. it's a good feeling.