What a day (or two)

I think it is only right that a work-week only consists of 4 days.
Like this last extended weekend, I really had the luxury of spreading my time out to rest, go for my physiotherapy for my lower back problem, shop for stuff and get my laundry done!
AND still get to sleep in till late for 3 mornings in a row...way cool.

I went back to work today revitalised.
Not only did I manage to meet my ultimate deadline for today (for my months of hard work), I have also realised amidst all this hectic work, I also managed a 3-hour, weekly seminar of the seminar kind.
This was an in-house training offered by one of my colleagues.
Being a person who loves number-crunching and data interpretation, I couldn't pass up such a golden learning opportunity.
This was in spite of having to cough up the 3 hours for the last 5 weeks.
And I am glad I did.
This will become another skill that I can develop professionally and on the side, since this colleague - an expert in this stats-based area - said that this little island is very much lacking in consultants specialising in this field.
And it could start with our organisation offering such a service!
I am determined to participate on a project for this, so that this project could be written up as a book chapter.
This was offered by the colleague, who wants to build up our organisation's profile.
Isn't that WONDERFUL???

Another work-related thing (kind of), has surfaced in the last week or so.
I have made 2 new acquaintences from my job.
This was at liaising with these 2 people for separate projects that they were hired part-time for.
Since they could conduct their project independently, I had only been able to correspond with them via emails for their submissions of deliverables to me.
I will be meeting up with them separately - one for this Thursday for coffee at work, and another away from my work-place, at a more social setting!
I am excited at the prospect of making new friends, while trying to keep the old.
Come to think of it, there are some friends whom I have been keeping in touch with since 10 years ago.
Considering that I had been away in the UK for a considerable length of time, this is amazing.
But I am glad to be still having these friends, of course!

I also got a call earlier today; this was from a friend whom I didn't think I should bother keeping in touch with.
But he sounded so sincere that I just might give him another shot at our friendship.
Especially when he said he had been away on a boring business trip to Japan in the last few weeks, being right smack in the middle of an industrial area with hardly any sights other than of the grey kind to speak of.
We shall see...

There were 2 other friends who decided to text me on the mobile phone; both either texted me or called me on the mobilephone.
I responded to neither.
Reason is simple: the first one borrowed some money off me several times, took her own sweet time to return me the money using repeated excuses, and then when I tried several times to reassure her that we are still friends despite all this money-borrowing business via texting her, she hadn't responded.
No excuse for being rude, so this time, I am doing the same.
Besides, goodness knows if she is trying to borrow money from me again!

The other is a little weird.
She would call me very late on a weeknight, or send me text messages at ghostly hours of the morning!
I used to meet up with her from time to time, offering my 2 cents'-worth about relationship stuff since she asked for my advice (being the older one).
She also seemed intrigued, but kept telling me she's determined to find a man to marry as soon as possible (and being only 25 this year, the first time she said this was when she turned 23!).
Her objective isn't to find a life-long partner to love, but someone who could pamper her with material-wealth and help her bear children.
And in that kind of order!
She went through a phase of dating olive-skinned men, and then Indian men (she's Chinese).
She is also a party-animal, and always wanted me to join her wild get-togethers.
On one occasion when I invited her to hang out with my friends at a club, she complained that the music was boring!
I wasn't impressed; for a more mature person, it would be the company you keep more than the place that one would appreciate.
She didn't seem to get that idea.
So I'm trying to see her as 'history'.

Oh, I must be rambling, as it's almost 12 midnight.
I have 2 full-day courses away from my work place tomorrow and Wednesday.
I will make sure I learn something out of these 2 courses, as they are expensive for my boss to send me for!
And it's a good break from my BIG deadline earlier today.

Nitey nite...