The second day of work....

It's the second day of work yesterday, and some things just never change. Well, at least in the office where I work. My annoying co-worker is still pretty much annoying, my other workaholic co-worker is still working as if the fate of humankind rests on his finishing our office's proposed budget (as if), and my book aficionado co-worker is, as usual, taking to reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress and Deception Point during office hours.

Me? I was writing this entry to my blog, for lack of anything else to do. I must have read at least a quarter of all the entries posted on Wikipedia out of sheer boredom. I've augmented my stock of useless knowledge in preparation for my participation in some TV quiz show at some indeterminate time in the future. It may never happen, but hell, it's always good to be prepared, right?

Can you blame us? Since early last month, we have already successfully accomplished the main objective of our office. What comes next? Damned if anyone of us really knows with absolute certainty. So, until someone tells us what things to do next, we're stuck in the freezer, so to speak.

There were rumors regarding the possibility of some officer being assigned to our room, after being embroiled in some alleged anomaly currently being investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman. I really don't mind, but somehow its quite disconcerting to think that our particular unit is perceived to be a "holding area" of sorts where employees and officers alike are held in suspended animation.

We drank some leftover Fundador brandy while having a meeting late in the morning, over a strange pulutan of mint-flavored Tic Tacs. A wussy colleague only drank a few shots, but was apparently inebriated enough to punch in and out his time card 17 minutes before he should. :-)

I had a pow-wow with an officemate who somewhat stepped on the ego of one of our more popular managers, you know the type, the one who's popular for all the wrong reasons. I'd like to see him get back at that manager, if for only the sheer number of complaints I've heard about how that manager runs things. Who knows, maybe she'll have her comeuppance this time.

I visited another office, where some girls were still stuck on holiday mode. :-) I was offered some tapuy or rice wine, in a quatro cantos bottle. I took a couple of swigs, but somehow the concotion was treading the fine line between being classified as "wine" and being classified as "vinegar". Well, it was definitely still wine, though I had this urge to find some tuyo (dried herring) to dip in it. :-)

I went to another office, and conferred with a "veteran" officemate about the problems beleaguering our corporation. And, as you might well imagine, as a government agency, there are a lot. As always.

I went up to our floor again, and visited another office close to my own. There, I was offered a drink of San Miguel Pale Pilsen, oddly enough, bottled in a limited release plastic container not unlike the 1.5 liter bottles we buy softdrinks in. While sipping my drink, I listened intently to the lamentations of a colleague who was seemingly nursing a broken heart. Well, I hope things work out for the best for him. Eventually, with the company of two other colleagues, we ended up having several more drinks after work, just to talk about life, things, and what-nots. I ended up going home an hour before midnight.

So lets recap. Made my rounds in a number of offices. Drank a couple of shots of brandy, a couple of swigs of rice wine, and a couple of glasses of beer even before closing time. People are either stuck in holiday mode, tackling problems and/or nursing broken hearts. No, I'm not an alcoholic, and neither am I our office's resident shrink. But that's how the day unfolded.

Now, on the third working day of the year, I'm at home, nursing a hangover. Finishing this post so I can at least have some "output" for the day.

Hmmm. Is it just me, or is the world just normally screwy this way? Probably just me. :-)

Whatever. I'm off to work tomorrow. It's the fourth day of work. :-)

I need a cup of coffee...