Rants, Raves & Restless Thoughts

The first week of March is over, it’s as if
seven days just elapsed in an instant. Looking back, the past six weeks since I
returned have been a blur. When one is preoccupied at work, time seems to be
flying even faster than usual. The hours tick like seconds and the days and
weeks slip by in a blink of an eye. However there are certain moments when life
here gets excruciatingly boring, usually that feeling creeps in at the end of each
working day. 

Returning to the company provided
accommodation is quite unlike going to your own home after a hard day’s work. The
Filipino staff in our company number more than 30 but interaction is at a
minimum. At the villa, we usually meet only at mealtimes or when there are
general meetings for the mess hall or some organized event. Every once in a
blue moon there’s a birthday of an officemate to celebrate. Other than that we just keep to ourselves in our cold unsympathetic rooms. Although some of my
workmates have become my friends, the warmth and love of being at home with the
family is incomparable.

In the absence of familial relations, we
resort to different means to distract ourselves from chronic boredom and
loneliness. On regular days the net grants us temporary reprieve from the
uneventful evenings. Seeking out old friends through friendster, posting in
interesting forums, downloading the latest movies, TV show episodes, manga and
utilities along with the occasional chat with family and friends helps to kill
idle time. In the fortunate event that we get a hold of DVD’s, we hold DVD
marathons and engross ourselves in the film to lose track of the time.
Indulging in PC Games has also been an entertaining diversion. In due course
all these activities still prove to be but temporary distractions to fill in
for the lack of kindred interaction, thus I thank the lord for the first week
of the month, coffee and Thursdays.

The months’ first week means we still have
some money left over after sending the bulk of it home. We get a chance for
bosing fredo to spoil us with his generous dinner treats or for spur of the
moment coffee conferences with friends and while away the night with discussion
of wacky subjects and hot seat sessions.

Thursday is the only day we break away from
our daily routine and have get-togethers with friends. Sometimes we play
network games but often we dine, drink and share ideas. A chance to savor mama
gretch’s savory concoction of a meal is a tummy-filling respite from the bland
taste of our mess hall food. The wonderful opportunity for lively and uninhibited
conversations with our handsome, pretty, witty and wacky friends from QA and
Maison under the influence of St.
Michael or some other foreign beverage (which papa pomski likes to try) surely
beats the hell out of the monotony of staring at the laptop. Discussions which
range from the mundane to the solemn and sentimental is a welcome relief to the
technical conversations often held at the office, not to mention a great
opportunity to learn from diverse views and a source of support from friends
who share the same plight.

There are some who misconstrue that Thursday is just another excuse for rowdy drinking sessions. They do not see beyond the facade, the warm bonds of friendship being nurtured or the kinship being forged which gives us even for a brief moment a sense of belonging. This break from the routine which comes but once a week inspires us to soldier on in our jobs, for in the camaraderie of friends we feel we are still alive and not just flesh covered robots following the program hardwired into its circuits.

Thank God for friends and Thank God it’s
Thursday!