In the midst of all the work that I 've been doing, I've come to the dawning realization that I'm losing my first language - English.
I admit that that is at first glance not only ironic but seemingly impossible. I'm losing english because I moved to America? Land where everyone speaks english? Trust me. It is true.
To begin with, land where everyone speaks english is also land where in general people may speak english but their vocabulary is not necessarily that large or gramatically correct. I definitely had a larger exposure to vocab and good grammar back in Singapore (Being in Humanaties might have had something to do with that.)
In addition to that, I work primarily with numbers. I haven't written an essay or played with words in a long time. Lastly, English is now my work language. What I mean by that is in picking up Japanese and such, for fun I play japanese games, listen to Chinese music, and watch Japanese TV so I have no greater exposure to English. Although arguably the media is not the best place to increase my english vocabulary.
There was a time when words came as easily to me as breathing. I need my words back.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
Unrelated list of events
1. I've decided that the best way to blog about multiple things with no real link is in lists... like EE.
2. While walking home yesterday from the grocery store I had to take the long route. And yes I said "had to". The reason was because the wind was too bloody strong. My usual route home from the grocery store involves cutting through the Christian Science Park which is a beautiful park with its primary feature being a huge man made pond/fountain in the middle of it. In other words, its an open area in the middle of a city where the wind is usually blocked by buildings. Yesterday being a windy day, I tried to cut across my usual route but I couldn't move. Having the wind against me meant that I was fighting to take every single step and not fall down in the process. Of course, I'm sure being weighed down by groceries didn't help the walking against the wind part but it definitely prevented me from falling when I was walking with the wind. So in the end I decided it'd be faster to just take the long route. The one with buildings.
3. We're starting a week long training case today. What that means is that the new analysts form a pretend case team and take over a case for a week. What that also means is that all my other case work is going to have to be put on a relative hold while I do this. In addition, I still have to give interviews this week so it would be interesting to see how I manage my time this week. I went back to work for 3 hours on Sunday because I knew this week was going to be hectic and I wanted to clear some of my workload. Oh yeah interviews. I'm on the other side of the recruiting process now, and interviewing candidates. I got to do my first interview on last week. I never realized how much work went into interviews on the company side and not just on the student side but it's been an enjoyable and interesting experience so far and definitely would help me out when I actually interview for stuff next.
4. I think cooking for me goes in batches. Like I cook Asian for a couple of weeks then I get tired of it and decide to cook Western. I don't do too well with long elaborate recipes though, I think my speciality is probably making things off the cuff with what ingredients I have and leftovers in the fridge. Example.. last week I made lemon chicken cream pasta from leftover chicken and soup from having made chicken rice. My weekend also included tomato basil cream with italian sausage pasta, and sweet italian sausage cooked with red wine and sweet onions, and steak with soy sauce, garlic, butter and red wine. :-p Basically my menu usually reflects what was on sale at the supermarket.
2. While walking home yesterday from the grocery store I had to take the long route. And yes I said "had to". The reason was because the wind was too bloody strong. My usual route home from the grocery store involves cutting through the Christian Science Park which is a beautiful park with its primary feature being a huge man made pond/fountain in the middle of it. In other words, its an open area in the middle of a city where the wind is usually blocked by buildings. Yesterday being a windy day, I tried to cut across my usual route but I couldn't move. Having the wind against me meant that I was fighting to take every single step and not fall down in the process. Of course, I'm sure being weighed down by groceries didn't help the walking against the wind part but it definitely prevented me from falling when I was walking with the wind. So in the end I decided it'd be faster to just take the long route. The one with buildings.
3. We're starting a week long training case today. What that means is that the new analysts form a pretend case team and take over a case for a week. What that also means is that all my other case work is going to have to be put on a relative hold while I do this. In addition, I still have to give interviews this week so it would be interesting to see how I manage my time this week. I went back to work for 3 hours on Sunday because I knew this week was going to be hectic and I wanted to clear some of my workload. Oh yeah interviews. I'm on the other side of the recruiting process now, and interviewing candidates. I got to do my first interview on last week. I never realized how much work went into interviews on the company side and not just on the student side but it's been an enjoyable and interesting experience so far and definitely would help me out when I actually interview for stuff next.
4. I think cooking for me goes in batches. Like I cook Asian for a couple of weeks then I get tired of it and decide to cook Western. I don't do too well with long elaborate recipes though, I think my speciality is probably making things off the cuff with what ingredients I have and leftovers in the fridge. Example.. last week I made lemon chicken cream pasta from leftover chicken and soup from having made chicken rice. My weekend also included tomato basil cream with italian sausage pasta, and sweet italian sausage cooked with red wine and sweet onions, and steak with soy sauce, garlic, butter and red wine. :-p Basically my menu usually reflects what was on sale at the supermarket.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Katamari
1. I've been addicted to Katamari very recently. For those not in the know, its a game where the objective is to roll a ball of items as big as possible. In the beginning, when you have a small ball, most items won't stick to your ball and are instead obstacles, but as you go on and it gets bigger, you can roll chairs, desks, people, trees and houses into your ball. Sounds simple but its frighteningly addictive... so much so that my thumbs now ache from the effort.
2. The anime I've been following, Honey & Clover, just came out with the last episode. *quiet sigh* I particuarly liked it because it had real life characters and not anime ones... if you ever watched as much anime as I did you would probably know what I was talking about. And true to real life characters and real life, there are no certainties in this series, no sure happy endings. But like life (another thing that is frighteningly addictive), I want it to carry on just a little longer.
3. At work, I'm in the middle of reading the funniest complaint I've ever read. I nearly started laughing out loud in my cubicle, but caught myself just in time. Wouldn't do for my co-workers to start thinking I'm crazy already. (They can get that when they've known me for a while longer). I love American law. It's just much more entertaining this way. The complaint and the response to it aren't tied down in that much legal language, or at least it makes fun reading. Fun reading? a law document? you ain't read these ones. They sound like Ally McBeal in writing. The lawyers use words like "just plain out ridiculous" and "hemorrhage cash and red ink". Seriously, I always thought Ally McBeal was made up but reading these documents, now I want to see a real court trial.
4. I started the Bloomberg certification program over the weekend, where I get a cert to learn how to use bloomberg. This means that Lady Red and the other J now think I'm weird because I go back to work on Sunday for fun. Am I addicted to work? My friends here seem to think so but then I don't feel like I'm approaching anywhere near the normal Singaporean level of work and learning. I think with the amount of subliminal messages and not so subliminal messages we've gotten telling us that learning is good and that we should work hard, I don't work quite as hard as they're telling me to work. Or maybe it's leftover college guilt. In college, work is never quite done. Playing is always a guilty pleasure because there's always homework, thesis, study to be done outside of classes. All of a sudden, all I have to do outside of work is chores. I'd much rather work than clean. The sad thing is it might be that I'd much rather work than play too. The other J has already thrice offered me a job in his company if he ever has one under the impression that I'd make a great employee. Maybe I should eventually work for myself.
2. The anime I've been following, Honey & Clover, just came out with the last episode. *quiet sigh* I particuarly liked it because it had real life characters and not anime ones... if you ever watched as much anime as I did you would probably know what I was talking about. And true to real life characters and real life, there are no certainties in this series, no sure happy endings. But like life (another thing that is frighteningly addictive), I want it to carry on just a little longer.
3. At work, I'm in the middle of reading the funniest complaint I've ever read. I nearly started laughing out loud in my cubicle, but caught myself just in time. Wouldn't do for my co-workers to start thinking I'm crazy already. (They can get that when they've known me for a while longer). I love American law. It's just much more entertaining this way. The complaint and the response to it aren't tied down in that much legal language, or at least it makes fun reading. Fun reading? a law document? you ain't read these ones. They sound like Ally McBeal in writing. The lawyers use words like "just plain out ridiculous" and "hemorrhage cash and red ink". Seriously, I always thought Ally McBeal was made up but reading these documents, now I want to see a real court trial.
4. I started the Bloomberg certification program over the weekend, where I get a cert to learn how to use bloomberg. This means that Lady Red and the other J now think I'm weird because I go back to work on Sunday for fun. Am I addicted to work? My friends here seem to think so but then I don't feel like I'm approaching anywhere near the normal Singaporean level of work and learning. I think with the amount of subliminal messages and not so subliminal messages we've gotten telling us that learning is good and that we should work hard, I don't work quite as hard as they're telling me to work. Or maybe it's leftover college guilt. In college, work is never quite done. Playing is always a guilty pleasure because there's always homework, thesis, study to be done outside of classes. All of a sudden, all I have to do outside of work is chores. I'd much rather work than clean. The sad thing is it might be that I'd much rather work than play too. The other J has already thrice offered me a job in his company if he ever has one under the impression that I'd make a great employee. Maybe I should eventually work for myself.