Almost

I just started a new job that keeps me on my feet. It takes up most of my time on Mondays to Fridays. Since I'll be here for a while, I've decided to pursue my PhD in law. I'm currently doing the research for my research proposal. I'm training for a half marathon in August of this year. Which means running every other morning plus the weekends. I'm planning to go to Myanmar in October. I have books waiting to be read. Things to do, places to go, people to meet. 

With so many things going on, life is pretty ok. Well. Almost. 

Don't get caught

I got summoned for driving in the bus lane. Ok my bad. I went to pay the summons being the responsible citizen that I am, and was told that I had 5 outstanding summonses. I had received none of the other 4.

The officer at the Petaling Jaya Police Headquarters told me that I could either pay the summons in full, or he could "help" me compound them. By "help" he meant I would pay the compounded summonses plus a "fee" to him. Meaning a bribe, of course.

My offences were all compoundable. And yet I was held at ransom : either I paid the full amount, or the compounded amount with a top-up. I didn't see why I should pay in full so I chose the latter.

This is happening at police headquarters! I might as well have bribed the traffic policeman who issued me the summons in the first place. 

The moral of the story? Follow the rules. If you do break the rules, don't get caught. 

Better to be cunning than intelligent

Monday

Clever-cunning: Hey, whatcha doing?

Clever-intelligent: Boss has asked me to index all the files in Room A. 

Clever-cunning: No kidding. Boss has asked me to do the same for the files in Room B. When's your deadline?

Clever-intelligent: This Friday.

Clever-cunning: Same here. Got any bright ideas?

Clever-intelligent: Well, yes. I've come up with a formula that will enable me to index the files in half the time a normal person would take to do the job. If I stay back for an hour after work I should be able to finish it by the deadline. I can teach you the formula if you want.

Clever-cunning: Sure.

Friday

Boss: Have you both finished your tasks?

Clever-intelligent: Yes, here you go.

Clever-cunning: Boss, I've really tried my best, you've seen me staying back after work, in fact I worked even longer hours than any of my other colleagues. I've worked through lunch, and got home just in time to sleep. And still, I couldn't finish the task. It's just too much. I need just a few more days extra and I'm confident I can complete it.

Boss: So how come the task could be completed by your colleague in time?

Clever-cunning: Well, she came up with this formula and she was kind enough to teach it to me, but you know me Boss, I'm not as clever as her and so I couldn't fully implement it. 

Boss: How much more time do you need?

Clever-cunning: I think one more week. 

Boss: That's too long. It was due today!

Clever-cunning: If that is the case, since Clever-Intelligent has finished her task and performed it well, perhaps she could help me out and then it can be finished by next Tuesday.

Boss: Ok.

Clever-Inellgent: Wait a minute. She gets help because she can't do her work properly, and I get penalised with more work because I can do my work properly? Something's not right here.

Boss: Welcome to working life.

Clever-cunning goes back to her desk and resumes updating her Facebook, playing candy crush, and chatting with her friends, which were the real reasons she was apparently 'working' late.

Death comes as the end

Two people I sort of know have passed away within weeks. There is an Indian belief that death occurs in threes. I’m not superstitious but this is a bit too close for comfort.

Death. The end. But not for those who are left behind. For those who grieve, for those who mourn, for those who are left to pick up the pieces.

I suppose in a way it’s a blessing that I won’t leave anyone behind when I die. No one will suffer or be in grief because of me. It’s also a curse because I will die alone. No one will mourn for me. One of my favourite sayings when I’m especially sad is “I came in this world alone and I shall leave this world alone.” A blessing and a curse at the same time.

I will leave nothing behind. Except this blog. Which will forever be evidence of my existence in this world, once upon a time.

Moscow - Part 8

Saturday, 23 April 2016, 9.30 am

Got off at the right station. All I had to do now was to follow the map and remember the way. Easy. 

I got lost. I walked for about a kilometre before I decided the park can't be that far away. I could see the Moskva river from a distance but I didn't know exactly where to go to cross it. So I stopped at a cafe and asked for directions. I could see people staring at me (dark skin at work again - charm them, Sheila!). I was right. I was on the wrong track. Backtrack the same way until I see a bridge and go across it.

This time I got it right and I was in Gorky Park! The park opened in 1928, situated just across the Moskva River, named after Maxim Gorky, a Russian literary figure. Clean but trees were without leaves which although beautiful, were a bit too bare for me.  

After the park I walked along the Moskva river in the opposite direction, towards the statue of Peter the Great (1682-1725) founder of the Russian fleet, also founded the new capital of Russia - Saint Petersburg. This was when Moscow briefly ceased to be Russia's capital. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the capital was moved back to Moscow by Vladimir Lenin.

And then time to head back. I accomplished this without getting lost. Well done, Sheila!

Packed up and checked out at 2, then had a pint of Russian draft beer at the hotel bar (something Corona) which was good, although I still preferred Baltikan No. 7. 

And then it was 4 pm and time to go to the airport. Ms. Concierge hugged me goodbye and Mr. Doorman shook my hand. See what smiles and cheerfulness can do. 

My taxi driver, Urmud is a guy from Kyrgystan who was working in England and then decided to come back to Russia as his Russian wife wanted to come back home. He is temporarily driving a taxi with the hope of opening his own taxi company. I think he'll make it, too, he sounds extremely enterprising. We were talking about all things Russian, tourism, politics, government etc. 

Somewhere in this conversation I mentioned to him that I am truly myself when I travel. When I'm home I have to be someone else in order to fit in. And he told me, which is probably the best advice anyone could give me, that I should be myself no matter where I am. But this is of course easier said than done. At home, because you have to work with people or meet people you don't like for whatever reason, you have to be, to a certain extent, a hypocrite. And that is not being myself. This requires more thinking - why can't I be myself in my own country?

And then it was time to go home. Till the next adventure!

Moscow - Part 7

Saturday, 23 April 2016, 9 am

My last day in Moscow! My flight was only at 8 pm and I had to leave the hotel at 4 pm. So I could either just relax or go on another excursion. My worry was that since I was alone today, I would get lost somewhere (knowing me) and would not be able to make it back in time.

By now I was already friends not only with Mr. Doorman but also with Ms. Concierge who (wrongly) thought that I was very young, and therefore very brave to come to a foreign country alone. If only she knew. 

Of course I couldn't just sit still in my hotel. This is me, after all. So I did the Scorpions song:

"Follow the Moskva,

Down to Gorky Park..."

First, the horrid metro where everything is in Russian. To match the wordings in the map with the wordings in the metro, I had to literally match the shape of the words as the Russian alphabet is totally different and foreign to any of the alphabets I know. 

Luckily from the map, and from my enquiries at the hotel, the station I needed to get out at was only 3 stations away from the station nearest to my hotel, called Park Kulturi. And it was on the brown line so I didn't need to change lines. Good luck to me.

I went to the machine and the only thing I recognised was numbers so I pressed '1' hoping that it meant I wanted 1 ticket. Thank God that was correct. Next, to find the right train. Which means matching the name of the station I was going to, with the names in the metro. Feel like a kid again matching shapes. Luckily I chose Saturday to explore alone because there wasn't the usual rush hour / work crowd on the metro. 

It costs 50 roubles for a one way ticket anywhere on the metro, which is about RM3. 

Moscow - Part 6

Friday, 22 April 2016, 1 pm

In front of St Basil's Cathedral is a monument known as the Monument to Minin and Pozharsky which is made of bronze.  This monument is a tribute to Prince Dmitry Pozharsky (seated with a shield) and Kuzma Minin, urging the prince to fight on! They gathered an all-Russian volunteer army to defeat the Polish-Lithuanian invaders in 1612. The monument is to commemorate their success, and was unveiled in 1818

St Basil's Cathedral is made up of 9 cathedrals. The biggest is in the middle, surrounded by 4 bigger domes and 4 smaller domes. There is one odd pillar with a green roof, that is where (so it is said) St Vasily (St Basil) is buried. The cathedral was built in 1547-1561, commissioned by Ivan the Terrible. Legend is that he asked his architect whether he could build something more beautiful than the cathedral. The architect said yes, and so was blinded. 

After the Red Square we went to another famous church, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. This church was destroyed by bombs during the Stalin era (apparently only the third bomb destroyed it) but was rebuilt again in the 1990s. Standing at about 103 meters tall, it is the tallest orthodox Christian church in the world. Built to thank Christ the saviour for the retreat of Napoleon by Tsar Alexander I. 

I went in and lit a candle for all the good God does (yes, I'm being sarcastic). For me, it was reminiscent of some of the churches in Italy, although it is both completely different religions - Russian Orthodox vs Roman Catholic. But of course, all of the churches that I have seen so far (including this one and the ones in South America) are much more majestic and grandiose compared to the churches in Malaysia. 

Next stop - Arbat street. This is a street about a kilometre long and has been in existence since the 15th century, but destroyed by fire during the 18th / 19th century and was completely rebuilt in the early 19th century. It's one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russian capital. There used to be a lot of street vendors selling food, souvenirs, knock knacks but cleaned up by the government who was not in favour of street vendors. So now all the shops are in proper buildings along the street. 

There are a lot of souvenir shops here, cheaper than those at the Red Square. I bought some souvenirs, of course - a KGB t-shirt for Philip, matryoshka dolls and smaller stuff for distribution. Also had lunch in a restaurant called My My (pronounced Mu Mu). Some cabbage and chicken wrapped in something like a roll, according to the waiter in broken English is traditional Russian food.

Before heading back to the hotel we stopped at a supermarket and I bought vodka (the locals recommended Beluga or Crystal but I couldn't find those so I bought Kremlin, I've no idea how it tastes and am not a fan of vodka) and Russian beers - Baltikan Nos. 3, 7 and 9 was all I could find.