Folks with Over Inflated Opinions of themselves

A new term that I have learnt from my boss is "Over Inflated Opinion". He is fond of saying something along the lines of .."His problem is that he has an over inflated opinion of himself". Funnily enough at the same time of me learning this new term, I begin to see it a lot in a couple of people I work with. There are two individuals that particularly stand out. Without giving too much away as to who they are (in case they stumble onto this blog), they are as follows,


Individual A has been around these parts for like..when time began, or so he likes to think. He is also very actively involved in his religious activities and to give credit where it's due, is also very good at his job. However as a result of all this, I feel individual A has been besotted with a certain sense of high handed pride. He is not directly boastful, but he is very good at subtly inserting self praise into his conversations and it doesn't help that he seems to be in love with the sound of his own voice. He is also fiercely protective of what he's supposed to do and what he feels he's not. I guess generally this is a good trait in itself but if you're part of a team, well... if you're deep set in your ways and resistant to change, this means you're probably on your way out already. Just the same, Individual A is already set for retirement soon. He probably expects to be exalted at his going away do and to hear laments that the office will not function as well without him (which is probably true by the way). But when he starts, man he can just verbally squash anyone else's voice with his heavy authoritative, self righteous conviction that borders on a church reading of a squeally voice that all I want to do is to tell him to shut the %&*# up.

Individual B. Individual B probably feels that because he has been giving a great opportunity for advancement amongst his peers, this puts him on an elevated pedestral with given rights to act like a Mister Know It All when he himself requires guidance and correction. With people he feels that are lower in station than himself, he acts like you are inconsequential. Like Indivdual A, Individual B also has a certain self conviction about himself. However unlike individual A, if you can be proven wrong, then this makes it all the more galling! It leaves me smirking on the inside actually to see this happen.

But hey, I get my pay every month so who am I to argue? :)

Transformers 2 - Revenge of the Fallen

It saddens me to say that this movie borders on being one of the WORST movies I have ever seen. They have tried too hard to ride on the same formulas for success that pulled of the first movie so brilliantly. And the equation then was "Hot chicks + Transforming Robots = Movie Success!" But this time around it was generally flogging a dead horse. This time around they must have thought "Let's turn up a few more notches on the hot ass action and cool transforming bots and we'll have the same fanboys drooling a thousand times over!"

If this is ever at all possible I would like provide some word of advice to the Decepticons.

1. Kidnap Sam's parents (as done only to be let free in the desert for no Goddam apparent reason)
2. Kidnap Mikaela
3. Torture all of the above until Sam gives them what they want.

Problem solved.

Oh and as an extra, it wouldnt hurt for them to squish Sam's college room mate who in my opnion was a bloody annoyance more than providing any comic relief.

Sadly Revenge of the Fallen only warrants a 2 out of 5 stars from me.

Life in Dubai - Update

There were times during the last few months that I felt I was moving backwards. Now I feel like I'm standing still. I used to feel all beat up and sorry for myself because I worried about not meeting expectations of my superiors and colleagues and of myself.

Now I feel like I don't really care about it anymore. They just have to deal with me. I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to stay. They have to get used to me as much as I have to get used to them. So in a way, things for me now are much "better" than they were say a couple of months ago and I think I can narrow down the reasons why to two main contributing factors,



1. I started to drive gaining my own mobility (very inportant for living here!)

2. I stopped caring about what other people think of me.



Perhaps now I can finally move forward.

It's Bitchin' time..

I have more or less given up on this damn blog already what with the wonky download settings of photographs and all but alas I need to spew and it's inappropriate to do it on Facebook.

After a long delay I finally got around to getting a HSBC sales officer to come to the office and speak to me about finally opening a local bank account. Now I normally like to think I am a patient person and very forgiving but this sorry excuse of a sales officer from HSBC really takes the cake in setting me off the deep end.

1. He didn't bring his own pen so I had to let him use mine (expensive one you know).
2. He didn't bring his own writing pad so I had to pass him some (which is really no biggie)
3. His mobile phone kept ringing throughout our meetingand he kept taking them. His excuse was that it was a call from India (like I freakin care)
4. He had this annoying facial spasm/bad habit that saw him widely opening his mouth and eyes and sticking tongue out all at the same time! (EEeeaaargh...I know we all have our quirks but this was too much man!)
5. He seemed to rush through his entire "presentation" (using my pen and paper) on what different accounts were available to me.
6. He didn't seem to take the time to fully understand what my needs are.
7. He ended up misunderstanding what my needs are.
8. He called me "Pare" even AFTER checking my Singapore passport. (How stupid can you get man?!)

Ok this was yesterday. Then today.

1. He informs he'll come around 11am, he doesn't but at least he called and said he'll be here at 12 to 12.30pm.
2. Come 1 pm the fat ass still hasn't turned up or called so I said f&*k it I'm going for lunch.
3. During lunch he calls and says he's waiting outside, there isn't any parking so could I please come downstairs. I says I'm out of the office and having my lunch so he says okay then after my lunch then.
4. After lunch I foolishly went down to meet him, got into his grimy vehicle, signed a few more forms, and left. I heard him honking his damn car (apparently he forgot to get another signature) but i ignored him. If he needed something else, he had better get his fat ass up to my office.
Apparently he did have a parking lot but he just didn't want to pay for parking!
5. I went up...let off steam to the accountant.
6. Fats ass sales officer finally comes up and gets my signature. He then broaches the subject again about me transferring all of my salary from Singapore to Dubai (The fat f$&ker has not been listening all along) and I told him "Look, it's not going to happen! I need to maintain my salary in Singapore!"

After this entire episode of no confidence, why on God's green earth would I EVER want to place all my eggs in Dubai HSBC's basket? I would be a freakin' MAD!

Musandam Dive trip 8th May 2009

With the warm weather finally settling in, Heisham and I headed out to Musandam, Oman for a Dhow dive trip with Al Boom dive centre. I was pretty much psyched because this was the first time my Nikon D80 would touch water apart from the swimming pool test a few weeks ago.

After a 2 hour drive we crossed over the border into Oman and arrived at Dibba Port. We found our dhow and waited for the Al Boom people to show up and after about an hour and a half, we finally cast off for Musandam.

The waters around Musandam were a lot calmer than from I last visited last year. The Dhow in itself was nice and very spacious however in my opinion, not exactly built for diving from as it had a very high freeboard ie distance from deck to waterline.

Ok so the following are the first examples from my Nikon D80 and a Nikkor 60mm Micro lens housed in a Nexus housing and lens port. An Inon D2000 was also use. They were shot in RAW and then tweaked in Photoshop Elements and cropped where necessary.

I kept my eyes peeled for them Nudibranchs but there were none!!!!

Still No Nudis! And during the second dive I lost the protective cover of my lens port despite taking Clifford's advise to secure it with a cord. I am absolutely convinced that the sole purpose of that piece of plastic is for it to get lost!

Still no Nudi...sigh..

Have YOU seen any Nudis around?

Well overall it was a pleasant trip and Heisham and I rushed backed to Dubai to meet the gang for some sumptuous Mandi! (Fish of course)

Ramblings..

Its funny how I'm experiencing a different sort of stress right now. Initially I felt the stress of feeling inconsequential and unimportant and of how my efforts had no real effect, which is something I am not used to. I am used to seeing the results of my actions and gaining satisfaction from them.
Over here...satisfaction is eluding me. But now with Babu on leave (which is a sort of a blessing as well) I find I am just swamped and the only way forward is to put in extra hours even if it means working over the weekend, and as always I feel my efforts will have no real outcome.

To sum it up on how its like so far being Marketing Manager for the Dubai office, its a lot of work for almost nil gain. That's if until a boat of ours secures a charter as a result of my actions.

So I've spent a good part of the day going through a mind numbing contract while trying to salvage some form of job satisfaction from it. And the thing that keeps me going are pleasant memories from home that I force my mind to conjure up in between contract clauses.

It'll go something like this...

"Where an invoice is disputed, the Charterers shall in any event pay the undisputed portion of the invoice but shall be entitled to withhold payment of...

...Peninsula Camera shop window shopping...

the disputed portion provided that such portion is reasonably disputed and the Charterers specify such reason. Interest will be chargeable at the rate stated in Box 24 on such disputed..

...dinner and drinks with gf Geraldine or cousin Colin at Timbre/Paulaner Brahaus/Archipelago Brewery/Brewerks..

amounts where resolved in favour of the Owners. Should the Owners prove the validity of the disputed portion of the invoice, balance payment shall be received by the Owners within 5 banking days after the dispute is resolved. Should the...

..Sushi Tei

Charterer's claim be valid, a corrected..

..Bak Kut Teh..

invoice shall be issued by the Owners. In defaultof payment as herein specified, the Owners may..

Mos Burger.

require the Charterers to make payment of the amount due within 5 banking..

***censored**** (it involves the gf)

days of receipt of notification from the Owners"

Yes...something along the lines of the above....

The Doldrums

I used to think it was a real blessing and a great opportunity being sent here. Now I am feeling it is not all as I thought it would be and the obstacles to overcome are much bigger than I expected. These days I am just plain miserable at work. Perhaps I shouldn't have come here.