I went to a wedding on Saturday night and it was really enjoyable. I got all dolled up and he told me that i looked "pretty"...
*^_^*
Afterwards, we went to the casino and i was talking to a "girlfried" of one of his friends. She happens to know my friends (sisters) from primary school (small world)...and she told me about the fact that they were so close, these sisters are like best friends. And so if they got bfs, their bfs had better get along with eachother!
Which is true.
I was sort of baffled though. I knew they dated and met people frequently. What i was baffled with, is where do they meet these guys?
In your mid 20's...you have your friends...and you have met all of their friends...most friends are getting comfy in their relationships and you tend not to meet that many "new" people anymore...short of hanging at a bar and waiting for a guy to chat you up, where else would you meet a quality guy?
The girlfriend said that our mutual friends had met all of the guys they dated or were seeing through their work friends!
*ding*
Now the thought is foreign to me...I work with engineers who are older than i am...not too old, but are in relationships themselves or married, etc. And most of the time, these guys work weird shifts, all depending on what needs to be done on the project. So, you dont have the Friday night work drinks on a regular basis to hang with them and meet their friends.
But you see, in the finance industry...you can...and so it seems, it is encouraged to date even your workmates!
This is based on what i was told by the girlfriend.
She said that her company, especially when they get new graduates, sort of push two chummy people together in hope that it sparks romance...(starting to sound like a game and the more kablueys you get the better)...
They love the gossip in the company...its not frowned upon...seniors in the company go out with juniors and its not looked upon as weird. Its like a meat market at work...is this why the women who work in the industry always look immaculate and hot in their tight business skirts and blouse and high stilettos?
I understand if you become really good friends with your workmates, that you hang out on Friday nights for drinks and meet some of their friends and the friend gets attracted to you and then you go out with their friend and it snowballs from there...
That sounds okay to me, and i guess its an avenue to look into if you are single...
But dating workmates at work...especially someone superior in the hierarchy is just *ugh* to me.
Although, the girlfriend said that there could be up to 180 in your division and if you go out with someone from another division, its like another world. If you argue with your bf and go to work, i guess with that amount of people you can avoid him...but to me, its icky.
A workmate asked me out at my old workplace and I said no simply because of the whole work thing (not to mention some other stuff, but the work thing was enough for me to say no)...it sounds wrong and it felt wrong to me to go out with him, even though he was in a different department.
I guess i could possibly feel different about the idea if there was a cute single guy at work who was flirting with me and i was single and had been single for a very long time and really wanted to be in a relationship (all hypotheticals)...
But i always thought there were company policies against dating your workmates? And when did these policies just fade to nothing, seeing as their not being put into place in some companies?
At work now, there is an implementation manager going out with a project coordinator and since she started after me, I was able to observe the relationship unfold. It seems like it was love at first sight for the both of them when they met. The relationship works well, he is usually out of the office while she works on another project, but they sit close by and our manager, who oversees all of us doesnt seem to mind it one bit. It doesnt affect their work and i havent witnessed them have any ugly fights...so its not like its impossible to have a relationship with someone, even in a small company.
So, i guess this means that there is potential in the whole "dating your workmate" thing...if your company is cool with it.
You do spend a huge chunk of your life with your workmates...its not surprising that the relationship can change to something more than just friendship.
But i prefer the idea of hanging with your workmates socially and perhaps meeting and dating their friends, as the better option!
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Friday, December 16, 2005
Party/Party/Party/Party
Xmas Party 1 - Overseas Passenger Terminal.
Its funny when everyone gets dressed up like its 1978...and you pretend that this function hall is like Studio 54 from way back when...and then there is the funny man dressed as a woman with an afro as big as Marge Simpson, who happened to wear funky white boots with a pair of dice in the heels! *LoL* There was a project manager dressed as a pimp, in red velour pimp suit and matching red pimp hat! Highlight was when we did the wig swapping between E, L & i...and then L cried out "salt and pepper squid!" and we all spun around and attacked the waiter who was carrying the platter...and my manager who was tipsy, said to us "man, its like you guys havent eaten in ages!"
It was a stroke to the ego that all these people knew me and wanted to see me at the party, including the people who i have worked with, but have never met.
End of Project Party - Sydney by Sail yacht race/treasure hunt!
Awesome day - my team got to dig up the treasure on the beach! In terms of the race, your suppose to navigate and steer the yacht around the harbour working out the clues and answering questions and the first to the finish line with all the correct answers, gets to go down to the beach at the finish line and go find the treasure map and then use the treasure map to find the treasure.
2 other teams used their motors towards the end of the race and some didnt even go to the sites they were suppose to, to get the answer to the questions. Luckily, i was on a yacht with people who played by the rules and all worked together. We sailed towards the finish line coming 1st, but then the other yachts were passing us, and we could hear their engines roaring as they overtook us and since we were just sailing, we knew they couldnt have caught better wind to surpass us. *grr* But since they shortcutted the whole race/hunt, they didnt get all the answers correct. My team answered everything correctly and since the other two teams had mistakes, we were the ones who got the chance to find the treasure.
After the hunt we went to Kingsleys on Lime Street for lunch. I should get use to the fact that when work says "lunch" they mean the whole afternoon...then dinner...then you dont get home until 2am in the morning and therefore you dont arrive to work the next day til sometime in the arvo...*LoL*...whereby you hang around work for a couple hours and head out for more drinks!
Luckily i left when it was 4:30pm...i wanted to go the gym...and im not drinker...so i got to the trainstation before the people traffic started to trawl through Wynyard Station.
While we were on the yacht, the project manager I had been working with told me that she would be needing a coordinator for her new program and she told her director that she had just the "right candidate" for the job, i.e. moi! Basically, this is a huge compliment...as the PM is highly regarded in the company and whoever she needs as resource is usually the best in their field...and to have worked with her for half a year and for her to want to work with me again, it really says something!
Furthermore...since Alcatel won the Telstra contract there are so many projects on the program and one of the PMs that is working on one of these projects happened to be on my team and as i was sitting across him at lunch. He asked me what i did on the project and since its completed, what are my plans in future?
I told him that i was the coordinator and it was funny his response...
He said "you're 'that' coordinator?" *strokestrokestrokeandstroke*
I was like "yes".
I continued saying that i was suppose to start managing a project for my company, but since PM needs a coordinator for her program, i will be doing that.
And then he said "but i have the perfect job for you..."
Taking things as a joke, i replied "you see, im in such high demand, you gotta get in quick for my time!"
=P
Xmas Party 2 - Bondi Social.
Its suprising that you can sit down with a bunch of people in which you dont really belong in their team, cos you have been working on another project...and then all of a sudden you join their team, only to know that in 2 weeks time you start another project and therefore you're no longer in their team, BUT they know you and you fit right in.
All i can say is, if you get a free lunch out of it, its all good! *LoL*
Whats even more good, is when you find they know you by reputation...your "that coordinator"...its funny, i have a reputation for being a great coordinator and i never knew it...to me, i just did my job!
Once again, it was great to sit down with people who stroked my ego, but also to sit down with a bunch of people i never knew in the 6 months i have been here and learn that although we live in different corners of Sydney, we think the same. We hold the same beliefs. We look at relationships in the same perspective. (I was sitting with predominantly women versus men). It was fun chatting about the food (it was bland) and how we could do better although we cant cook!
Xmas Party 3 - Strike Bowl and Bar.
This hasnt happened yet, but I can tell you that it will be fun. We can bowl, obviously and alcohol is involved. We can dress up in Sumo suits and wrestle in the pit. There is karaoke...there will be a fortune teller...and it seems there will be a lot of food. This is booked for next Wednesday...I dont think anyone in the company plans on turning up on Thursday and definitely not on Friday. They will drink at the bars at the Entertainment Quarter after they leave Strike, and continue to drink until the sun shines for the next morning and then crash into bed there after!
Its funny, engineers had a reputation back at Uni for drinking heaps...i mean HEAPS! We use to joke that each engineer had a keg to sit on cos they drank that much. Funny how even though they are 10 years older...they still drink as much or even more and that reputation seems very fitting!
At least you could say that they know how to party hard after working their butts off all year round!
Its funny when everyone gets dressed up like its 1978...and you pretend that this function hall is like Studio 54 from way back when...and then there is the funny man dressed as a woman with an afro as big as Marge Simpson, who happened to wear funky white boots with a pair of dice in the heels! *LoL* There was a project manager dressed as a pimp, in red velour pimp suit and matching red pimp hat! Highlight was when we did the wig swapping between E, L & i...and then L cried out "salt and pepper squid!" and we all spun around and attacked the waiter who was carrying the platter...and my manager who was tipsy, said to us "man, its like you guys havent eaten in ages!"
It was a stroke to the ego that all these people knew me and wanted to see me at the party, including the people who i have worked with, but have never met.
End of Project Party - Sydney by Sail yacht race/treasure hunt!
Awesome day - my team got to dig up the treasure on the beach! In terms of the race, your suppose to navigate and steer the yacht around the harbour working out the clues and answering questions and the first to the finish line with all the correct answers, gets to go down to the beach at the finish line and go find the treasure map and then use the treasure map to find the treasure.
2 other teams used their motors towards the end of the race and some didnt even go to the sites they were suppose to, to get the answer to the questions. Luckily, i was on a yacht with people who played by the rules and all worked together. We sailed towards the finish line coming 1st, but then the other yachts were passing us, and we could hear their engines roaring as they overtook us and since we were just sailing, we knew they couldnt have caught better wind to surpass us. *grr* But since they shortcutted the whole race/hunt, they didnt get all the answers correct. My team answered everything correctly and since the other two teams had mistakes, we were the ones who got the chance to find the treasure.
After the hunt we went to Kingsleys on Lime Street for lunch. I should get use to the fact that when work says "lunch" they mean the whole afternoon...then dinner...then you dont get home until 2am in the morning and therefore you dont arrive to work the next day til sometime in the arvo...*LoL*...whereby you hang around work for a couple hours and head out for more drinks!
Luckily i left when it was 4:30pm...i wanted to go the gym...and im not drinker...so i got to the trainstation before the people traffic started to trawl through Wynyard Station.
While we were on the yacht, the project manager I had been working with told me that she would be needing a coordinator for her new program and she told her director that she had just the "right candidate" for the job, i.e. moi! Basically, this is a huge compliment...as the PM is highly regarded in the company and whoever she needs as resource is usually the best in their field...and to have worked with her for half a year and for her to want to work with me again, it really says something!
Furthermore...since Alcatel won the Telstra contract there are so many projects on the program and one of the PMs that is working on one of these projects happened to be on my team and as i was sitting across him at lunch. He asked me what i did on the project and since its completed, what are my plans in future?
I told him that i was the coordinator and it was funny his response...
He said "you're 'that' coordinator?" *strokestrokestrokeandstroke*
I was like "yes".
I continued saying that i was suppose to start managing a project for my company, but since PM needs a coordinator for her program, i will be doing that.
And then he said "but i have the perfect job for you..."
Taking things as a joke, i replied "you see, im in such high demand, you gotta get in quick for my time!"
=P
Xmas Party 2 - Bondi Social.
Its suprising that you can sit down with a bunch of people in which you dont really belong in their team, cos you have been working on another project...and then all of a sudden you join their team, only to know that in 2 weeks time you start another project and therefore you're no longer in their team, BUT they know you and you fit right in.
All i can say is, if you get a free lunch out of it, its all good! *LoL*
Whats even more good, is when you find they know you by reputation...your "that coordinator"...its funny, i have a reputation for being a great coordinator and i never knew it...to me, i just did my job!
Once again, it was great to sit down with people who stroked my ego, but also to sit down with a bunch of people i never knew in the 6 months i have been here and learn that although we live in different corners of Sydney, we think the same. We hold the same beliefs. We look at relationships in the same perspective. (I was sitting with predominantly women versus men). It was fun chatting about the food (it was bland) and how we could do better although we cant cook!
Xmas Party 3 - Strike Bowl and Bar.
This hasnt happened yet, but I can tell you that it will be fun. We can bowl, obviously and alcohol is involved. We can dress up in Sumo suits and wrestle in the pit. There is karaoke...there will be a fortune teller...and it seems there will be a lot of food. This is booked for next Wednesday...I dont think anyone in the company plans on turning up on Thursday and definitely not on Friday. They will drink at the bars at the Entertainment Quarter after they leave Strike, and continue to drink until the sun shines for the next morning and then crash into bed there after!
Its funny, engineers had a reputation back at Uni for drinking heaps...i mean HEAPS! We use to joke that each engineer had a keg to sit on cos they drank that much. Funny how even though they are 10 years older...they still drink as much or even more and that reputation seems very fitting!
At least you could say that they know how to party hard after working their butts off all year round!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
If I were a man...
I usually go on walks during my lunch breaks...climbing stairs...over the bridge...down to the park...weave thru the park...climb more stairs...do that about 5-6 times...walk to the Opera House and then back to the office. Its about 45-50 minutes and so i need a shower after the walk, and luckily we have a change room with showers in my building! *woohoo* Talk about simple pleasures, or is it a luxury?
On one of my walks, it was an overcast day, yet it was sultry and sticky with a very high humidity...I had ran sections where there were grassy patches (after breaking my ankle, I try to avoid hitting the pavement) and so i was perspiring like there was no tomorrow.
I really needed a towel to wipe my sweat off my face and then i saw inspiration.
I saw a middle aged man about late 40's early 50's jogging past and lifting up his singlet to wipe the sweat off his brow...*light bulb goes off* !ding!
I could lift my tee up and wipe my face! So simple an idea but it was screwed from the start.
I'm female.
I have boobs, which i wouldnt want to show anyone even in its berlei sports bra.
I'm ashamed of lifting up my tee to display the rolls on my tummy.
*enough said*
I told E this one night when we were on the fone.
I said "I sometimes wish i was a guy!"
And before i could tell him anything else or relay my story he said "No you dont!"
And when i think about it...he is right...no i really dont. *LoL*
I will be moving on to another project shortly...and it seems that i will be leading it...what does that mean? I dont really know...sounds like more responsibility though...sounds like i will be managing the project...sounds like i will be managing quite a few people...
Am i ready for this???
I'm not sure...although, the project manager that sits next to me in the cubicle, he thinks i will do fine...fine at being thrown into the deep end! He said its the best way to test someone...you throw them in the deep end, and they will either float or sink...
I should float...well, i hope i do!
The manager of our EMC, he asked what was going to happen next after closing the project that im currently on. I said that i will be moving on to another project but for a different team and it seems that i will be leading it. I also added, "whatever that really means..." He then replied "It could mean you will be a project manager..." I said "I cant really see that..." And with confidence he ended the conversation with "Well I can see you managing a project, you've got it in you!"
At least the people around me think i am capable...and all the managers have said that i am perfectly capable...and they are good at spotting the ones with potential, right? Right???
Lets hope i dont let myself down!
On one of my walks, it was an overcast day, yet it was sultry and sticky with a very high humidity...I had ran sections where there were grassy patches (after breaking my ankle, I try to avoid hitting the pavement) and so i was perspiring like there was no tomorrow.
I really needed a towel to wipe my sweat off my face and then i saw inspiration.
I saw a middle aged man about late 40's early 50's jogging past and lifting up his singlet to wipe the sweat off his brow...*light bulb goes off* !ding!
I could lift my tee up and wipe my face! So simple an idea but it was screwed from the start.
I'm female.
I have boobs, which i wouldnt want to show anyone even in its berlei sports bra.
I'm ashamed of lifting up my tee to display the rolls on my tummy.
*enough said*
I told E this one night when we were on the fone.
I said "I sometimes wish i was a guy!"
And before i could tell him anything else or relay my story he said "No you dont!"
And when i think about it...he is right...no i really dont. *LoL*
I will be moving on to another project shortly...and it seems that i will be leading it...what does that mean? I dont really know...sounds like more responsibility though...sounds like i will be managing the project...sounds like i will be managing quite a few people...
Am i ready for this???
I'm not sure...although, the project manager that sits next to me in the cubicle, he thinks i will do fine...fine at being thrown into the deep end! He said its the best way to test someone...you throw them in the deep end, and they will either float or sink...
I should float...well, i hope i do!
The manager of our EMC, he asked what was going to happen next after closing the project that im currently on. I said that i will be moving on to another project but for a different team and it seems that i will be leading it. I also added, "whatever that really means..." He then replied "It could mean you will be a project manager..." I said "I cant really see that..." And with confidence he ended the conversation with "Well I can see you managing a project, you've got it in you!"
At least the people around me think i am capable...and all the managers have said that i am perfectly capable...and they are good at spotting the ones with potential, right? Right???
Lets hope i dont let myself down!
