It has been exactly one month since my last post. Several things has happened since then, and it would be too long to list every event that might have taken place. In fact, I found myself tired out pretty quickly in the past month and I am rather looking forward to this Chinese New Year break to recuperate and have a good rest.
Working Overtime
A couple of weeks back, my regular routine of work took a turn with meetings that overran into the evening times, and that made me really miserable and unhappy. I am usually not particular about over time work or the extra load of work given me, but most of these late meetings were pretty unreasonable. For instance, just last week I was called to have a meeting off site with my boss and another colleague, and my boss only called me up at 5.57pm, just 3 minutes short of the official knock off timing.
To add to matters, I did not think that it was an important meeting that needed to be convened at such late hour (which ended nearly 8pm). But such is the character of my boss, and we all colleagues knew he can be particularly unreasonable when he calls for a meeting regardless of the time and regardless of our whereabouts--he would want us to be back at the meeting at the time he set. This, particularly, has been everyone's grumblings about him.
There is another nasty side to him in addition. He did not seem to posses the etiquette nor the common sense to know when we are rushing for a particular work to be done. Just two days ago, I had to begin working on the payroll so that we can finish off being the Company's closed for the break today, and usually I take two full days to fully complete the payroll. Yet he could ask me to run an errand for him and attend a meeting with him that wasted three hours of the usual 9-hour work day. It's baffling sometimes.
A Minor Car Hit and Flat Tyres
Some weeks back, as a result of the overtime work and the sleepy head, there was a morning where I reversed my car and I took a hit at the column which result in a broken rear right backlight bracket and visible bumper scratches. It was heart breaking for me as I usually don't commit to such careless mistakes (except for the first year of driving where I sustained a couple of hits on my car).
The remedy was a $150.00 damage repair to my backlight bracket in fear of water retention which could potentially cause a more serious electrical damage.
However, just last Saturday, while on the way to my in-laws place for an early reunion dinner, I ran into a flat tyre. My rear left tyre decided to give up after I had pumped air into all four tyres in the morning. I called up my usual car workshop and they immediately sent a mechanic and a tow truck (just in case) to examine my car.
Curiously, the flat tyre could be inflated and did not show signs of a punctured wound. However, as a measure of safety, the mechanic changed the tyre out to the spare tyre and instructed me to head to their workshop the following day while driving the car at 70km/hr or less. To be pretty honest, I was quite taken shock by this and was hapless for a while.
The following day, I drove the car to the workshop and had all four tyres replaced for $400.00. It was another setback for my wallet but it was needed. Nonetheless, Iris and I were thankfully that we did not had the puncture halfway on the expressway or elsewhere that might inconvenient us. And we were reminded not to take things for granted and especially where evil forces might try us, the more we should be more prayerful.
A Valentine's Gift(s)
Valentine's Day was just four days ago. Now into our third year of marriage, we are not so much into the buzz but presents and gifts we are not often short of giving.
A couple of weeks before Valentine's Day, I surprised Iris with a Samsung Galaxy Tab S LTE which she had been looking at. That was out of the blue and at no special occasion, which made this gift a bit more special. However, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S being an Android, Iris is still trying to familiarize herself with the new toy after being so comfortable with Apple products. So we shall see how it goes in a few weeks more.
Nonetheless, a small present during the special Valentine's Day makes it special, no matter what. One of those days before Valentine's Day, I made a trip down to Lemon Chiffon after work and got for Iris a pearl necklace and surprised her on the Friday evening. I am usually not very good with words and I know Iris' love language is primarily, well, almost everything from words, touch... to gifts. Well, she was quite taken aback and I was silently pleased that my wife enjoyed her present, even though I didn't quite have any present(s) myself saved for an ukulele guitar which I bought the day I discovered my flat tyre.
Sometimes I am reminded not to take things for granted, even in our marriage. Sometimes I find that in a marriage there are many components for it to succeed. You need both parties to trust each other. You need both parties to play their roles and be responsible as matured adults. You need both parties to forgive and let go of the unhappy past. So there are so much more that we can never say we are there already!
No comments:
Post a Comment