Sometimes, things cross over from the realm of the strange and into that bizarre, psychedelic dimension of the just plain weird. Sometimes, the person you're going out with isn't just an ordinary student. Sometimes, she's a murdered prostitute thrown down a decrepit well. Or a Greek Sea Captain with a penchant for self mutilation.
But fear not, its all for fun and games at the Rocks Ghost Tours. A walking tour based out of The Rocks at Sydney's picturesque Circular Quay, its a great experience for tourists and locals alike to get to know the history of the area, which in turn provides an excellent insight into what the original convict colonies were like. In summary, it can be described as "a wretched hive of scum and villainy". How quaint.
My third time on the trip, I came for a good walk in a pleasant neighborhood and was not disappointed. My sister, her boyfriend Azlan as well as my own stalwart significant other Naomi was also part of the group. Each of us, in typical Ghost Tour fashion, were given a prop to hold as well as a small role to play based on real people and events. The first time I went I was John Joseph Hackett, and was given a capgun to fool around with. The second time around I played a wealthy, flamboyant merchat who was brutally murdered by his French lover and manservant and on my final trip I played as the aforementioned Sea Captain. I think there's no need to elaborate about Naomi's rather racy role in the group hehe.
Go back a few more days and you would find the pair of us getting wet on the deck of a tallship cruising around the harbor for a Valentine's Day dinner. Ah, what fun. The rain kept pouring and did not relent the entire trip. We, being a vastly cleverer pair than most, wisely stayed below deck where we were comfortable, dry, and above all else, close to the food. In fact, we pretty much ate from the same table the excellent spread was laid upon. Convenient!
Curious. Having to work 5 days a week can somehow drain the enjoyment out of a Sunday. Oh well. Things have been progressing decently at the office. The pair of us graduates have been given a monumental task that will probably take months to complete. I take it as a challenge, and will be doing my best to let the higher ups know that they didn't hire a slacker. I can do that from home :P
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
La Vita Continua
Another day and another one bites the dust. Literally.
After work I had to attend a short meeting given by a department head justifying why a person was retrenched. As i'm still unclear as to whether or not I should be talking about things so i'm going to back up a little bit and talk about my day.
In a word, it was enlightening. A lot of work goes into writing what initially appears to be relatively simply knowledgebases. The language has to be clear, written to a certain standard of writing and clearly laid out. Allow me to give an example.
If I were to write "Select the desired option from the menu", the knowledgebase that sentence resides in could eventually be translated into other languages. As this is done largely by a computer program, it might be loosely translated in say Mandarin as "Choose the option that you love from the menu". In the grand scheme of things this probably wouldn't matter as all translations are validated by a native speaker, but its still additional work that should not have to be done in the first place.
As you can imagine, my first KB took some amount of preparation.
After work I gave myself and little 1-UP a quick workout then proceede to purchase a few Monsterpocalypse boosters. I've been having rotten luck! At least I have a bunch of doubles I can trade. Hopefully i'll be able to have a bit more variety in my playstyle. I'm getting tired of playing Terra Khan and Cthugrosh.
Blech....
After work I had to attend a short meeting given by a department head justifying why a person was retrenched. As i'm still unclear as to whether or not I should be talking about things so i'm going to back up a little bit and talk about my day.
In a word, it was enlightening. A lot of work goes into writing what initially appears to be relatively simply knowledgebases. The language has to be clear, written to a certain standard of writing and clearly laid out. Allow me to give an example.
If I were to write "Select the desired option from the menu", the knowledgebase that sentence resides in could eventually be translated into other languages. As this is done largely by a computer program, it might be loosely translated in say Mandarin as "Choose the option that you love from the menu". In the grand scheme of things this probably wouldn't matter as all translations are validated by a native speaker, but its still additional work that should not have to be done in the first place.
As you can imagine, my first KB took some amount of preparation.
After work I gave myself and little 1-UP a quick workout then proceede to purchase a few Monsterpocalypse boosters. I've been having rotten luck! At least I have a bunch of doubles I can trade. Hopefully i'll be able to have a bit more variety in my playstyle. I'm getting tired of playing Terra Khan and Cthugrosh.
Blech....
Sunday, February 8, 2009
eService Associate Publisher
Well that wasn't too hard.
Looks like my streak of good luck continues.
For one thing, I continue to survive (nay, flourish) here in Sydney. Over the past few months i've managed to secure a job at Fuji Xerox Australia, hereafter referred to as FXA as an eService Associate Publisher. I can't be bothered to abbreviate that one but I trust you folks will know what I mean when I say eSAP. Oops, I guess I did. Oh well.
My stint began a week ago, and ever since i've been spending time at the office doing <> to propietary <>. Yup. Really interesting. I'm not sure i'm supposed to be talking about it so for now i'm going to keep a tight lip on it until I find out if my employer is checking blogs and stuff. Scary!
Other than that things have been peachy. I went back to Malaysia briefly before I had to start work and managed to catch up with friends and family which is always a pleasant experience. One of the biggest plans my extended brothers and I had made was a trip to New Zealand at the end of the year. Unfortunately, things are looking shaky right now considering that Ken got laid off rather abruptly this past Friday.
Which brings me to my next point. We are all living in an age of economic uncertainty. People who are good at what they do are all finding themselves out of work for no reason other than companies trying to stay afloat. Granted, some people aren't worth the flesh they're printed on but by and large, good people are getting fired. The funny thing is that in order to get through the slump, people need to spend money. How are they supposed to do that when they aren't earning any!?
Again I highlight the fact that i've been very fortunate. In the midst of this economic shitstorm, I, along with 10 other graduates managed to beat the odds (apparently there were around 600+ applicants to various grad positions in FXA) and are beginning our careers in a time like this. On that note, i've also been emailing the HR people at the office seeing if I can forward Ken's resume to them. Hopefully the value he can provide the company and any others he is currently applying to will not go unnoticed and he'll be employed again soon.
As for everything else that has occured in the past 5 or so months, its been too long and the tale I could write now would likely be a jumbled mess that would be hard to follow. Suffice it to say that i've returned to the realm of blogging and over the next few weeks anything important from the past that continues to vex or amuse me will certainly be brought to light and elaborated on here.
Now to find that little munchkin I call my dear 1-UP.......
Looks like my streak of good luck continues.
For one thing, I continue to survive (nay, flourish) here in Sydney. Over the past few months i've managed to secure a job at Fuji Xerox Australia, hereafter referred to as FXA as an eService Associate Publisher. I can't be bothered to abbreviate that one but I trust you folks will know what I mean when I say eSAP. Oops, I guess I did. Oh well.
My stint began a week ago, and ever since i've been spending time at the office doing <
Other than that things have been peachy. I went back to Malaysia briefly before I had to start work and managed to catch up with friends and family which is always a pleasant experience. One of the biggest plans my extended brothers and I had made was a trip to New Zealand at the end of the year. Unfortunately, things are looking shaky right now considering that Ken got laid off rather abruptly this past Friday.
Which brings me to my next point. We are all living in an age of economic uncertainty. People who are good at what they do are all finding themselves out of work for no reason other than companies trying to stay afloat. Granted, some people aren't worth the flesh they're printed on but by and large, good people are getting fired. The funny thing is that in order to get through the slump, people need to spend money. How are they supposed to do that when they aren't earning any!?
Again I highlight the fact that i've been very fortunate. In the midst of this economic shitstorm, I, along with 10 other graduates managed to beat the odds (apparently there were around 600+ applicants to various grad positions in FXA) and are beginning our careers in a time like this. On that note, i've also been emailing the HR people at the office seeing if I can forward Ken's resume to them. Hopefully the value he can provide the company and any others he is currently applying to will not go unnoticed and he'll be employed again soon.
As for everything else that has occured in the past 5 or so months, its been too long and the tale I could write now would likely be a jumbled mess that would be hard to follow. Suffice it to say that i've returned to the realm of blogging and over the next few weeks anything important from the past that continues to vex or amuse me will certainly be brought to light and elaborated on here.
Now to find that little munchkin I call my dear 1-UP.......
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