Life’s Little Joys
Let’s take a break and let me tell you about something that is much less life-threatening and depressing, has lesser implications on the global stage and practically no significant outcomes on anything important which is my life.
After much procrastinating, I finally went back to my workplace to collect my bag of coffee beans, return my uniform and have a chat with my fellow managers and partners. Boy, it is times like this that reminded me why work was fun! To keep things short (most of them involved IPP by myself or my wonderful colleagues), I walked away with plenty of goodies that I didn’t really expect. If you’re wondering what the heck is IPP, ask me when you get the chance. You’ll be amused. It was one of those spontaneous things that led to another, then another and so on. My only regret of the day was not being able to stay for the regular coffee tasting sessions of the day so I could try out the new goodies. Oh well, at least I managed to enjoy the Javanese chip frappucino. 
Now I’m stuck with two whole bags of coffee beans to finish by Sept! For a coffee junkie, that’s seriously too much beans for me!!! Maybe I should have tried trading off one bag for another bunch of goodies.
As for planning to buy a laptop, I’m still not committed to a particular choice when the deadline is zooming towards me like a missile. See, my problem is I take far longer than the average person before taking a pick. Talk about commitment issues. Before you lob the usual slowcoach remarks, I’ll tell you something. I can take a pick very quickly and be happy with it, but most of the time external factors (read: interference) always come into play and lengthens the time for me to finally get on with it. In this instance, it’s the price tag. I’m terrible at negotiations because I will never give in sufficiently to achieve a compromise. A compromise is always better than an impasse, but I’d rather take my chances elsewhere than concede every single bargaining chip on the table. In the meantime, I’ll just have to live with my pda for my trip to S’pore. Despite my misgivings about our socialist neighbor down South, its facilities are far far better than what you’d get from our beloved homeland. Plenty of WiFi everywhere to ultilise when you need it.
As I was wandering around the net, I came across a set of cartoons on the recent conflagration on the Mediterranean shores. Below are some of the better ones. Click on the link above to see the whole set.
Cartoons from MSNBC
I also stumbled across an unlikely gem today. While digging around in a follow-up to my previous post on the birds and the bees, I came across the Joelogon’s Foolproof Guide to Making Any Woman Your Platonic Friend. Before you go on and have a look at the site, I’ll have some words of caution. Firstly, this is a site that is slightly biased in favour of the guys, so could the ladies please adopt an open minded approach? Secondly, for the guys viewing the site you could end up in the following situations: 1) Get plenty of the best medicine, laughter; 2) Don’t see the whole point of the guide and shake your head at the patheticness of some guys or 3) Be tremendously depressed at the renewed thought of a harrowing experience, ending up in the dumps or suicidal mentality as a worse case scenario. Nevertheless, in the unlikely event that you end up in scenarios 2 and 3, 1 should more than make up for it. Sigh, if only I had found this site in 2004 instead of 2006. 
Never mind, I could always use the humor anytime.
P.S.: I probably have too much time on my hands, but here goes. The guide defines the social definition of platonic friendship as relationships of a purely non-sexual nature. However, the more original term platonic love is defined as the chaste but passionate love, based not on uninterest but virtuous restraint. Therefore, if you define a relationship as platonic you could actually define it as ‘just friends’ (social definition) or signaling the beginning of ‘new level’ (not so social definition). If you’re not getting the point, what I’m saying is that both definitions do not rule out romantic love. I know, it’s pretty stupid arguing about definitions when you know the general intent, but it might help when you’re about to try the second time around? It’s a loophole anyhow, so best to exploit it to its fullest. Just doing my part in defeating the Psychological Warfare Division of the Sisterhood to Destroy All Men.
