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08/28/2007: "Of work and free lunches and hypothetical scenarios"

I've been getting grouchier and grouchier about work since it's been so mundane and repetitive. I think the fact that I'm doing it for free has become the thorn that rankles at my side - whilst I don't actually really WANT to be paid since I'd feel bad for demanding it (although of course getting paid would be a lovely bonus. :p), it's the realisation that I'm really not getting anything useful out of the work I'm doing in terms of learning experience that makes me feel like I'm wasting my time. I suppose I really shouldn't be so selfish and think of it that way, since I AM doing something useful for the lawyer I'm working for, but ugh. Try telling that to yourself after hours on end of nothing but mindless copying and pasting and staring at the computer screen until your eyes water. >_<

But well, as my friends have pointed out, the perks that come with the job are free lunches with my parents! (Not that lunch at home wouldn't be "free", but you know what I mean) Especially today, I met up with my mom at a restaurant called Moomba (always reminds me of the Moombas in Final Fantasy 8) since we were meeting up with a cousin who works in the area too. I haven't been there for years, so the menu's changed, but the food's still as gorgeous as ever. I even got to try some kangaroo meat! Though I can't really describe how it tastes since I don't exactly have a very fine tongue - except that it tastes kind of like a slightly tougher beef. And for dessert I had some vanilla cream custard thingy with a brownie-type base (although they called it an oreo crust, it tasted nothing like oreos) which was topped with the most delicious mango ice-cream I have EVER eaten. Needless to say, I was really stuffed today - so much so that when I went back to office I actually started nodding off (which surprisingly hasn't happened to me even once since I started work, which shocked me since I'm forever falling asleep in class/lectureS) until I had to wash my face to keep myself awake. But just in case everyone starts thinking I eat like a queen every day, let me set you straight by saying that my parents often bring me out to nearby food courts/kopitiams/hawker centres for lunch. :D

Speaking of lunches, I'm suddenly reminded of a related incident which I'm not going to go into detail about - instead, I'm going to paint a hypothetical scenario based on that incident (but somewhat altered) so that I can ask opinions about it.

So let's say you've just finished work, and are walking to the MRT station heading back home with a close friend of yours. On the way, you bump into an acquaintance who works in the same office as you, just in a different department. You ask that acquaintance if she's going to the MRT station as well, and she confirms this. You continue on your way and the acquaintance joins you, since you're both going the same way and since she thinks it would be rude otherwise to keep a distance after you're already aware of her presence. Said acquaintance is rather shy, though, and she doesn't know how to instigate further conversation beyond the perfunctory hellos. So she simply hovers around you and your friend as you make your way to the MRT station.

The question is, what would you do after? Would you continue on your way just chatting with your close friend only and leave said acquaintance alone i n her awkwardness? Or would you attempt to make small talk with her just to be polite or because you feel sorry for her obvious discomfort?

If I get enough points of view on this, maybe I'll explain why I'm asking this in a future entry. But maybe those of you who know me well enough may guess why. :p

And yes, I know this is a very long entry, so although I've got one more thing to talk about, I'll leave that for another entry. Although I've given up on the hope of ever mastering the art of short and concise blog entries, I'm at least aware of the effectiveness of learning to cut my entries off earlier than I want to so that I can post what's already been written so far and thus actually have a real completed entry. :p