Semester

Ferrari wins at Imola!

It turns out that I have to start teaching starting Tuesday. A lot of new students are joining us from the matriculation centre, so the boss asked me last week if I could teach one class for the third semester. I really couldn't say no.

Right, before anyone say anything, let me just state here that the university actually uses the term 'third semester'. Semester literally means six months, thus splitting the (academic) year into two. So you cannot have a 'third' semester. I don't know who decided on the term, though I like to think that at least someone at the English Department must have said something.

Now about next week, I don't have the course outline (yet). I don't even have the textbook! The only consolation is that it's Maths. Students should really have no problem at all with Maths; they did it at school, and again at matriculation. First year Maths is really just a review course. So the bad news is I don't get to sit on my ass till the new school year starts in July. The good news I don't have to sit on my ass till the new school year starts in July. It doesn't hurt that I'll get some extra cash too.

And I still have to submit that @#$% promotion form.

Motivation

I
The salesman was back! He knocked on my office door again this morning, and was just about to start at it (again) when I shot back at him, "You were here two weeks ago!"

II
My package from Amazon.com has arrived. I placed the order on March 31 and the package was shipped on the same day. Amazon put the delivery estimate as between April 26 and May 8. The postman brought it to the department office yesterday.

III
The form I need to submit to get myself promoted turns out to be the exact same form I filled in when applying for the job more than three years ago. This means having to again submit a photograph, names of referees, copies of documents, as well as completing the part about understanding of Islamic concepts. All of the stuff are already in my personal file, and I don’t think that my understanding of Islamic concepts now any different from before. So I called and asked them:

Do I have to submit names of referees?
… It shouldn’t be a problem now since you’ve already been working here a while.
What about copies of documents, don’t you have them all in my personal file?
Best if you submit new copies; it would be much easier for us.

Easier for them! So these people are just too lazy to look the stuff up, and I'm supposed to be all happy to accommodate. BLAH!

Old Friends

I've just started reading Anne Rice's Blood and Gold, which I bought ages ago but have not yet read. It is my first book of the Vampire Chronicles. If I like what I read, then there will be at least nine books to follow. In the meantime I am expecting a book I ordered from Amazon.com, Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, to arrive soon.

On Saturday I went to Pertama Complex to pick up the latest edition of AFM (not that men's magazine FHM, but Air Forces Monthly). There is a small bookshop on the ground floor I have been going to since I was little, and the owner knows me well. I think it may be only one of a few businesses to have remained there since the building opened. There was a toy shop there that I had always wanted to go see. Like many others, it has given way to selling mobile phones and mobile phone accessories.

The magazine has not arrived - ARGHH! - so I went down a flight of stairs to Golden Jet, another 'old friend'. During its heyday, the restaurant had two outlets here. The bigger corner outlet has closed down years ago, leaving the smaller outlet operating till this day. I always drop by the restaurant every time I go there for a plate of fried rice. There is nothing really special about it, but it tastes exactly the same as the first time I had it twenty years ago.

From time to time it is nice to know that a bit of the past still survive in the ever-changing landscape of the city.

__________
P/S: When is the third Inheritance book coming out?

The Best Job

Kam sent me a list of Best Jobs in America produced by Money Magazine and Salary.com. PR is at #20, but college professor is #2! While a college professor's pay is not among the highest, the profession ranks highly on the levels of stress, flexibility and creativity. I wonder if there is a similar list of best jobs in Malaysia, though I don't think there is much of a difference. Our public university lecturers do get paid a pittance though compared to American college professors.

At the office, I just realized that I have to fill in a form to apply for a promotion after completing my MA. DUHH! All this while I thought that the promotion was automatic, happily receiving my meager salary every month. It just goes to show that I am not the kind of person who is likely to become a millionaire; I don't care much how much I earn. Teaching is not the kind of work one goes for to get rich anyway.

According to the magazine, the best job in America belongs to Mark Dochtermann, Director of Technology at Electronic Arts. Getting paid to design and play computer and video games is definitely a dream job!

Monday Morning

Exams are finally over, for me at least, having invigilated my last session this morning. [Yay?] I even dozed off for a few seconds, after finishing reading the magazine I brought along in the first hour.

What a boring day to begin a new week after a lost weekend: I had to invigilate on Saturday and then had to come again on Sunday as standby. The boss said that I can take unrecorded leave for having to sacrifice my weekend, as if thirty days of annual leave aren’t enough. Overcast sky greeted the morning when I drove to work, clearly setting the day’s mood. It rained a bit mid-morning; I hoped it rained harder, longer. Quite a few people don’t show up at work today. Perhaps they know something I don’t.

A knock on my door produced a student asking about her practical training arrangement. She only needs to show up at Putrajaya on April 10. "That's it?" she asked. It is unfortunate that our lives has grown so complicated that we view with skepticism things that are simple. A second knock on my door produced a clueless salesman. He tried to make me apply for a credit card. Why would I want a second (or third or fourth…) [credit card] when I am happy with one I have? He left.

Minutes later a third knock on my door saw the salesman again. As he started again I said, “You were here just now”. He forgot. Poor guy lost his mind.