Wings over Whiteman 2010

I was ill for the past few days, because I was performing fan balancing in the rain -- the long wire that allows me to stay in the shades was faulty, so I was forced to use the short wire, and stood close to the fan, in the heavy chilly rain. TT_TT

Anyway, I wasn't weak enough to fall sick. So I decided to attend the Wings over Whiteman airshow this morning. Reason being, when I return to Malaysia, it would be hard for me to get the chance to see these amazing air crafts again... though they don't have my favourite SR-71, but the B2, F-18 and A10 is enough to get me there.

The signage was really good along the highway, and the event was really well coordinated, from traffic to food to facilities to shows.

The weather was really hot, I usually can take it, but was feeling rather weak today. I found a seating spot under the sun, all shades were taken, watched the LIMA acrobatic show and Mig-17F fly by, also caught a Thunderbird took off.

I met my colleague and his family in the afternoon, and not long after we met, the air show gone interesting. It was the F-18's turn to fly! It was really good seeing F-18 in actions, I particularly liked the cobra maneuver.

There was others aircraft shows, while I went to get some drinks. When I walked back to our meeting place, the B2 flew by! I was absolutely thrilled seeing it flying so close and quiet.

Then there was the Golden Knight and others, when it was finally the Thunderbird's turn, I was so dizzy, that I couldn't even stand up. I had to borrow my colleague's foldable chair and sit myself down, while there were many other activities prior to the final thunderbird show. Besides, even if I stood up, I can't even see anything, these men and women are so tall in front of me.

I tried to get up to take some photos when the thunderbird flew around, but I was as close as blacking out, so couldn't really see things clearly. It was lucky enough for me to be able to catch some photos of them.

The thunder was moving in when the thunderbirds flew around, so they were forced to cut it short, and we leave at the end of the show.

It took me about 1 hour 15 mins to arrive to the air force base, and it took me 3 hours to come back - 1 hour stuck in the traffic trying to get out of the base, 2 hours on the road, because it was raining hail! The car was hydroplaning, forcing me to drive slower.

Anyway, I am using my last bit of energy to write this down, before I am throwing myself into the bed... my head is aching badly, and my cold is getting worse... No photos, all in facebook.

My thoughts on marriage and having babies

This is just my frank thoughts, it does not aim at anyone. If anyone doesn't like it, we just have to agree to disagree. Let's begin.

Well, may be I am not romantic at all, and I even suspect that I hate babies. Living in the age, when everyone around is getting married and busy having babies, I somehow feel nausea after being bombarded constantly with all the lovey dovey phony wedding photos and kissy huggy sleepy baby photos.

I think I can comprehend that every parents love their children, that's why they just can't help taking every single photos of their babies, since before the child was born.

I don't know how much one must love her man, in order to go through all the pain and suffering to have a baby that takes his surname. I can't understand this because since young I have never found babies to be cute, and never wanted to get close to kids, let alone having it grown in my body, the thought itself is enough to kill me.

I think I can also comprehend that every couple is in fact love their partner, that's why they wanted to take photos of their every steps in every day life.

But I can't put myself into their shoes, and rationalise the behaviour. I don't understand why one would spend so much in the wedding photo albums, instead of a quality honeymoon. I particularly don't like having DVD record of the whole ceremony. I don't find it nice to see a bunch of drunken in my own wedding dinner.

When I say quality honeymoon, I don't mean a trip to overseas capital cities busy buying souvenirs, or a quite time at the beach. I would prefer rock climbing and skiing, otherwise, visiting some museums and historical places, not to take pictures to prove that you were there, but to dig deeper into the roots.

To me, a wedding is just an event in life, just like a university graduation, and man, I didn't even attend my own graduation. Can I choose to skip the marriage?

I was constantly told by all mothers around me, that I would change, once I have babies. I don't know if I would change the thoughts, but I surely would need to change my attitude in order to survive with the child for the rest of my life. And if I ever change my thoughts, I could only think that it would be a very painful change for me. Don't say "oh no, it wasn't as bad as you think." to me, it is such a cliche, it sometimes made me wonder if all other women were gang up to have a conspiracy, trying to get other women to fall into the same bitterness they are tasting, so that it makes them feel better.

I am even constantly pressured by my married friends to get married, without much reasons. Some even tried to say that my life would only be complete with a man and kids. I seriously doubt their words, and this would be the time I think the conspiracy theory is true. It is hard enough to have a housemate, sharing a house with you, let alone a husband, that shares your body with you. It made me feel an invasion of privacy and security.

I never wanted to commit my life to marriage and children, because I think all these things would only ruin my life. I have to give up too many things in order to get married, have babies and live a life that suit everyone's expectation. But I could understand that getting through it would make one to be more mature. I however don't agree that the level of maturity could only be achieved by completing of these tasks.

Nonetheless, all I wanted to say is, I have had enough of all these pressures, and stop bugging me for what I want to do in my life. Judge all you want, but I am not ready yet. Even if I missed my biological clock, it is none of your ovary's problem. And if it is your sperms' problem, go find other ovary that is ready for your sperm. Leave me alone, for now.

Egyptian

Disclaimer: I am not trying to provoke a hatred message here, ok. Just want to share some stupid moments due to the ignorance of Americans, during a casual conversation with some midwesterners. So don't take it to heart.

Stories goes like this... Mr. Techno's new gf is an American, but grew up in Egypt. And she doesn't have the "white" features, she looks more like Spanish.

... and I said, "She is very differnt, unlike any Americans I known so far..." Because she sounded like someone who can embrace differences among cultures.

Mr. Curlhair interupted, "Yeeaapp... I know, we are indifferent and ignorant."

Mr. Cheerful then said, "I thought she was an Egyptian."
Mr. Curlhair was shocked, "What? Egyptian? I thought they extinct? Like the Babylonians."
We were like... huh?
Mr. Cheerful said "What, then how would you call Egypt people?"
Mr. Curlhair, "It just sounded very ancient, they should call themselves with more modern names... like..."
Mr. Cheerful continued, "Egyptians!"
Mr. Techno, "What, you think she is Cleopatra is it? Or you think she doesn't exist, and I am having an imaginary gf?"
Mr. Curlhair, "Cleopatra is Egyptian? I thought she is just a story figure."
I just can't control myself laughing from the moment Mr. Curlhair said "extinct."

It is odd when these Americans are so open minded in many things, yet so close minded at times.

Winds of Change

Since my last update on 29th August until today, there has been a week.

There were lots of things happened this week.

I been to a power plant to witness a performance test of our product, learned some stuffs.

Also tried my attempts to continue balance the fans, failed miserably. Fortunately, both Mr. Techno, and my other colleague, let's call him Mr. Soccer, cause he loves soccer, had the same conclusion as my many attempts. Aparently the fan, when running at full speed, coincide with some sort of a natural frequency of the structure.

We were forced to send out the product without having time to properly dianogse it, because the management wants to recognise the sales revenue for this quarter. Ironically, due to the problems we found, we had to log this product to the warranty department right after releasing it for delivery.

I don't know how the management see their accounts, but I see recognising revenue less important than getting the product properly fixed. Because when the customer do call up the warranty, the things we would be willing to risk, could be much higher than the sales revenue - money and reputations. I guess the account would then no longer falls on the same person's lap by that time...

Anyway, I was pretty busy, splitting myself between answering the service requests that sent to the inboxes, and the fan balancing. So I came back to the office on my way home from the plant one night, trying to call Mr. Porche in Malaysia to answer his request over the phone -- I have no time to reply via email.

As I dialed the number, I also fumbling through my computer, getting into lotus notes etc. I saw a list of unread mails after the replication. And I picked one from our experienced proposal manager downstairs, I always enjoy chatting with him. His email was short: "XX has left, are you surprised?" (XX is the name of our MD in Malaysia office.)

I was rather surprised by the message, and continued clicking another email by other colleague, mentioning that he could introduce me to the new MD. I reckoned by then, what had happened, and was rather disturbed that I didn't know about this news.

Anyway, the phone got through, and Mr. Porche picked up the call by then. I asked if he is alright to talk, he said he was just about to leave the house. I then said I could call back later. He said he could spare a few minutes and wonder if I called because of the news. I said no, I didn't know about the news, and was calling him for his service request.

So I told him the way to go about the service request, and he told me the news, and asked me to read the announcement on the intranet. I clicked into the net, and couldn't find the announcement... apparently, it was the 4th one down from the top of the list -- the news were released on 30th August, while they only announced it to the Malaysia office on 1st Sep (because 31 Aug is a public holiday there), and I only found out on 2nd Sep.

The next thing I found out, was that Decamouth was promoted as a Regional Sales Manager for South East Asia, and he would be joining the corporate talent network training in Europe next week.

The office would be very interesting from now on, because all the so called "allies" that they had been trying to form, had all fallen apart when the MD left. Now everyone needs to start from scratch again. I am getting excited to watch some monkey shows.