This Just In

Ok so I’ll try to stop talking about the view (gorgeous), and the weather (similarly gorgeous) and starting talking about… well, stuff. That’s going on.

Have a friend (Simon) up from Melbourne already, which is pretty cool. I’m not entirely sure where to show him (and his friend) around, but the tourist spots (Manly, Bondi, Darling Harbour) are ticking their own boxes pretty nicely. The weekend however poses a problem, as I’ve realised that I have stuff to take care of (cleaning, washing clothes, cooking dinner for the week – such is the life) but chances are I’ll be out for most of it. Dad’s up on Sunday night too, so a bit of family time is going to be a change from getting home and finding no one else there. In a good way as opposed to unexpectedly finding someone there that you don’t know and think might not have the most honest intentions. So must work out how to manage the weekend.
Breaking news: the QEII has just left the harbour. It was almost as big as the Opera House. But I’m not to mention the view much…

Got my first paycheck! Much sweetness. I’ve worked out that I was actually earning more, hour for hour, back at uni – but that is due to me actually paying tax this time around. I suppose as a contributing member of society now I have some rights to demand (more) from the government.

We’ve met some of the more important people in the organisation, and had conversations prefaced with “This doesn’t leave this room, obviously…” Our second day here we’d been lectured that we’d be exposed to sensitive information that not family nor shrink should be told, so to actually hear things relevant to that lecturing is exciting in a way, and scary in some others. “What if I let slip?”, you ask yourself, and try to find a way to forget. Invariably however your memory finds a way to make exactly that fact prominent.

I’m blogging at work, yes. We’re in a test phase and that means a lot of time spent doing tedious tasks which vary very little. So I figure I’ll take some time out to blog, because at least that’ll keep me awake (although only just). I’ve got a good team of people here, but everyone does stay busy. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that I have 3 screens at work. Two are attached to a linux box, and the other to a Windows box, and it gets very confusing with the peripherals. Sometimes I need to adjust something on the Windows box while I’ve been working on the linux box, and the mouse ends up stopping short before I work out that I have to transfer hands. Same goes for keyboard and copy-pasting.

India’s won its one day series against Pakistan after narrowly loosing the Test series. Winning against Pakistan means as much if not more than the Ashes do to Australia, so we’ll take every win as a boon from the gods.
I’ve finally been writing more of the stuff I wanted to do on my wordpress.com blog. Highly political.
I’ve started exploring a redesign for pushing the sky, but it’s at least a month, probably two, away.

And planning, or at least brainstorming, begins on The Europe Trip. It’ll be at least October before we’re actually able to go on the trip, but already all the discussion amongst the grads is about who/what/when/where. Ideas welcome from anyone that’s been there. Also, being the “baby” of the group, younger than most by about 2 years, discussions are already underway about what to do in London 4 days after landing. It looks like I’ve got fun promised =)

All in all though, missing you peeps. Come on up, y’all.

“Irony”

Delicious, delicious irony on the train this morning:

  • “It annoys me so much these days how all these people are reading all those kiddie novels right after the movie comes out, like Narnia or Harry Potter,” says man with Memoirs of a Geisha (Film Tie-in edition) on his lap.
  • “…ok then Sandy, I’ll see you at work.” Woman hangs up, turns to her friend and says, “She’s such a bitchy slag, always talking about people behind their backs.”

Cruise Ship!

The other day, after going sailing, I was thinking “yeah I’ll be comfortable in a ship with maybe 6 decks,” and lo and behold, yesterday morning the ‘Aurora’ was docked at the Circular Quay international dock, all 7 or 8 decks of it. I still don’t quite concieve how physics can let that thing float. It literally looks like a gigantic hotel that just so happens to be on the water.

Forget floating, I don’t get how that thing moves. With a jumbo jet, you can see the wide wings and gigantic engines, all 4 of them just waiting to get up to speed. It’s big, but it has suggestions of being able to move should there be demand for it. With the boat ship, there’s just a chimney, and cleverly disguised at that, so you’re never quite sure if it actually does. Evidence such as the fact that it isn’t there this morning suggests that clearly, it does move, but I think until I’m actually on a moving one I’ll not quite believe it.

It also made me think of the era when ships were the way to go. If the Aurora looks huge to me, how big was the Queen Mary II, one of the biggest ships out there? Gads, how much engineering goes into one of these things?

Anyway, just thought I’d share that with you.

edit: egads, what replaced it was no other than the QEII. Gigantic doesn’t begin to describe it.

Did you know

Did you know… my ADSL modem has been sitting roughly 10 metres behind me for the last 3 days, and I didn’t even know.

Valentine’s

So today’s the day that is officially designated for romancing and early-stage love (for whatever reasons; explore them further on Wikipedia). And I suppose the expected thing would be for guys to go find some lucky lady and proclaim their love, or somehow do it discretely in a manner that says “I love you (and I don’t want to tell you my name) (possibly from a distance) (please don’t take me to be a stalker)”.

Y’know, guys in Japan got this deal sorted the right way around. Valentine’s, the pressure is on the ladies. The lads simply await in passive contention for the chocolates that the ladies are to offer them. A month later, on “White Day”, if the lads are showing some significant interest in return, they get the ladies chocolates. It’s a very safe bet, I think, because for guys it’s clear as mud who is interested normally (i.e. not clear at all) and for the ladies to sort themselves out and express their interest first means the lads are quite clear as to what they have to live up to. Not to mention that if you don’t get anything, eh, you’re a guy, what are you gonna care.

At least, in theory/anime. I don’t know if Japan really works like that, I’ve just heard it and watched way too many anime. Regardless, I think it a good system that should apply the world over. Only in Japan though, I guess, because they’re quirky like that.

Anyway, I’m going to walk around all day humming Miss Independent by Kelly Clarkson because it is stuck in my head.

edit: Ok so Miss Independent isn’t hummable. The Girl From Ipanema it is.

Rant about my name, #3523

Gods, even when I’m speaking they turn it into “Karen”. I recieved 3 letters in the last week with Karen instead of my carefully spelt name (“Obviously someone screwed up typing it because the a and e keys are like practically next to each other. Oh they screwed up this mister stuff as well.”), and on top of this lazy ass f#$ks at work in the IT Support side of things like to read what they expect.
Sample exchange:

“Is this Karen’s phone?”

“Yes, this is Karan speaking.”

“Oh so can I speak to Karen?”

Next punkass that gets my name wrong makes intimate friends with my knuckles.

Purpose

“Look, there’s a simple reason why you should convert – don’t you want to go to heaven? That’s the whole purpose of life!”

“Ain’t that a bit of a dead-end purpose?”

Yes, my friends, I have had my first visit from a missionary. And a horrendous pun to shut him up =)

You’re working in Sydney when…

Harbour Views? Tick.

Actually, that’s about it for knowing when you’re really working in Sydney. What more can you truly ask for than harbour views from your office when you’re merely a graduate? It’s stunningly gorgeous. I remember those moments of doubt, of questioning myself as to why i went through the hassle to move up to Sydney, and then I look out the window and… bang, there it is. I’m sorry, no other way to put it.

I avoided giving a description yesterday of Sailing because it’s one of those had-to-be-there type of things. I’m not the greatest sailor by any means, and the blowy winds didn’t help what so ever, and while there were some hair-raising moments, the adrenaline rush wiped it out and the whole experience was very positive. Plus it helps that we snatched 2nd place in a field of seven when rounding the first bend we’d been 6th. Come-from-behind? There is no better definition!
Still, I’m your stock land-loving rat, and when all pirate jokes were aside it was real and it was hard and all in all I’d rather be on something a fair bit more sizeable. Say with 6 decks or so.

Today consisted of more presentations introducing us to the bank and its policies. HR, Compliance, and a demonstration of how the whole bank works together. (I asked for policies on dooceability, but beyond the standard privacy policy – god knows there’s enough of them – I’m free to blog. Nothing to specific, obviously.) Thrown in the mix was lunch with the previous year’s grads. Finally the day was capped by cocktails with the Australia-NZ CEO, at which there was an abundance of everything but cocktails, but I’m not one much to mind. Met my manager and worked out roughly what i’m doing. The deep end it truly is.

And thus… it begins. Tomorrow morning, 9am, office, work. Harbour Views though. Don’t know if I’ll actually get work done with that view out the window…

(oh and p.s. I wonder how quickly you can call people friends. I did kinda automatically today, wonder whether the label will stick =D)