She left

She did. Jared was very amused and told me: I didn't know you even had tear ducts.
*Bastard! :)
Have you tried googling her? Try it... full with her last name. You could see her life and her boyfriend and friends as you have never seen them before. Jenita!

What's strange is that you don't know a person for such a long time and yet you get so bloody attached to them. You try to keep your space, cos you know it's not for long and it won't last, but it doesn't bloody help, does it?

Any whoo.... I love your photos and your friendster Jenita! and I really do hope you keep in touch, as it's a rare thing in this world to meet people you really wanted to know... I hate to admit - just like our lunch bunch.


Your Dumbo

Don't cry for us Je-e-nita!!!!!

It won't be easy, you'll think it strange
When we try to explain how we feel
That we still need your love after all that we've done
You won't believe us
All you will see is a bunch you once knew
Although dressed up to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you

We had to let it happen, we had to change
Couldn't stay all our lives down at heel
Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun
So you chose freedom
Running around, trying everything new
But nothing impressed you at all
We never expected it to


Don't cry for us Je-e-nita!
The truth is you never left us
All through our wild days
Our mad existence
We kept our promise
Don't keep your distance


And as for fortune, and as for fame
We never invited them in
Though it seems to the world they were all we desired
They are illusions
They're not the solutions they promised to be
The answer was here all the time
We love you and hope you love us


Don't cry for me Je-e-nita!


Don't cry for us Je-e-nita!
The truth is you never left us
All through our wild days
Our mad existence
We kept our promise
Don't keep your distance

Top Fifteen Signs that Jenita's finally left NZ

15. No more Indonesian food
14. Mark doesn't spend as much time on the 3rd floor anymore ;P
13. One less pair of Converse around the office.
12. You actually see some salads left over in the cafe.
11. You don't hear the latest update from "Heroes"
10. You don't hear anybody saying " It's soooooo cheap living in Auckland. "
9. No more meaningful t-shirts every day
8. Losing their "Most Valuable Customer", Air NZ decides to file for bankruptcy.
7. You don't see a girl run as if she is 'hopping' (yes, Jenita hops when she runs :P)
6. No more emails from admin saying : "We would appreciate your help by not running non-essential queries against the Production environments this afternoon."
5. No one working till 9:00pm in the office
4. Used up all the restaurants in Auckland for her farewells
3. No more emails with links to the nearest pubs
2. More beer left over at Tony's house

AND (*drumroll...)

1. One less party girl around town!

(PS This isn't entirely my idea as Margaret and Rayana also contributed.)

:(

I cant' believe I will be leaving tomorrow... NOOOO !
I think I've become a little bit attached with Auckland *sob sob*
Never in my life I imagine myself mourning for not seeing the Lunch Bunch again ....
Who would've guess that my heart has gone fondly of their antics ??

Here are some of the things that I will miss and how you all will be remembered:

• Rayana's mischievous behaviour, ranging from water gun to writing blogs (she can write deadly blog, ask Chris)
• Waching Margaret eat another cup of noodle (but with different flavours !)
• Listening to Adventure of Jared vol 1 - 50
• Looking at Stephen's distress face which grows darker and darker each day (well that's not happening anymore)
• Tony's parties .. I really should stock up on parties ...
• Marks' pinenuts ! Mark's all but dating stories :)
• ... Did I just see Chris re-filling his coke can with water ???? Perhaps he's gone cold turkey
  

No more 'hot' lunch discussions.
No more abusing Tony with new release requests.
No more out of spool space error.

I dont think I could handle this anymore :(

And the Oscar goes to...

Guess what Jared's been saying all day? "This will be the last Tuesday I'll be having <insert your favorite polite verb here> with Jenita. huhuhu." I'm sure "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" would have done better if they casted Jared instead of Lindsay Lohan.

But it is indeed true. Jenita's last tuesday in NZ was spent lunching with the team at O'Hagans, a local Irish pub down de docks.

How I wish I had a recorder with me as there was a lot content, but to give you an idea, we did talk quite a bit about what Jenita's gonna be doing once she gets back.

Some of these are mentioned but not in the following order:
Jared's car buying techniques (stay tuned as this will come up as another topic!), Mark's Ceroc dancing escapades (his performance with a special partner in front of his parents), Debbie's stylish credit card payment ploy (you've gotta ask her how it works!), how Tony likes his steak (medium rare), Jenita's customised T-Shirt (fast supper - which I was thinking of taking a picture of but thought against it as someone might think I was taking a picture of something else.), also how Rayana apparently hasn't gotten her groove back (which again I think is incorrect as she's already wrecked havoc with the "even Jane" incident), and Vicki (uhmmm didn't quite hear but I'm sure it was about disciplining naughty Rayana).

And my favourite dialogue bit:
Mark (to Jenita) : "So what's the first thing you're planning to do once you get back?"
Jared (to Mark) : "That's not something you ask!!"
I obviously can't remember the rest as I was trying to bite my lower lip to stop from giggling (or whatever manly-macho-men sound like whenever they suppress laughs.)

Two more days until Jenita goes home

FOREVER!!!

This was the last Monday Jared said Hi to Jenita... Why God, Why???

Oh and Chris is away sick, so no one is writing to the blog or giggling to my left. I tried giggling myself, but it's not the same. Come back Chris! Or at least record your giggling at work, so we could listen to it while you are away (which is practically always).

EOB

Jared's leaving for the day while we are all still stuck in the office. Working hard, diligent.

It's Jenita's last day next Wednesday and Jared, the funny guy that he is says: It's the last Thursday I say good bye to you.

Heads roll towards Jared, eyes roll in the opposite way. Jared turns to me: You could see that you are not yet totally back from vacation. You're so quiet. Unusually quiet.
Rayana: I wish I wasn't here.

Silence...

Rayana: And how do you know I haven't actually changed? What if these two weeks on leave have affected me so much and changed my inner soul (I'm not going to talk about the outer one today). What if something life changing happened?

Jenita agrees and keeps nodding, as if she believes it. After all she sits next to me: Yes, what if she has changed?

Chris is looking absolutely bewildered: I'm actually rolling my eyes now. Ghi-hi-hi

Even Jane

Considering I told Jane about this blog, there's a chance she will read this and kill Mr Sanchez. Perhaps that's the intention.

Chris: Tracy came with her lil baby on Tuesday and everyone got a chance to hold him.
Rayana: Did you?
Chris: No, everyone but me. I freaked out. It's been a long time since I've seen one of those. But Gavin, Phil and the rest of the guys did. Even Jane!
Rayana with a slightly amused look and a slightly dropped jaw: What is that supposed to mean?
Chris: Well, you know. Cos she's single.
Rayana growls: She's not single! She's in a happy 10-year-long relationship.
Chris demonstrates with his arms in a ballet move: But she was holding the baby Like THIS.

I could hear Jane sharpenning the cake knife we always look for and cannot find when there's a cake around.

Although I do remember Jane mentioning during coffee this morning that she was quite scared to hold the wobbling baby.
Jane: I kept thinking I may drop it and he kept wobbling (I think these were her actual words).

Too bad I missed it. The baby... not the wobbling.

Tomato Sauce.

Jared's put up a pretty nice feast this morning. Lots of savouries, sausage rolls and a nice carrot cake to boot. But this is nothing compared to the stuff he got last year. Apparently, Jared's grandma cooked up a storm - with all kinds cakes, baked goodies and steaks for his lovely little boy - just like Mr. Hilton spoils his lovely little daughter.

As I stared at the goodies, I could just see the fat rolling down those savouries. My eyes were fixated. I was stunned. Hmmmmmmm-uhummmmmm (sorry, as it's really a bit difficult to phonetically spell that sound. Feel free to ask me for a demonstration when we happen to meet in the hallway.) I feel my hallucination expiring as I grab a roll trying to scamper to the nearest exit.

Oh and the classic way of serving those sausages is , yummm, with tomato sauce. Do you know what the difference between ketchup and tomato sauce is? Nothing! With the exception of how they're pronounced, they're the same thing! Isn't that amazing?

Happy birthday Jared.

Market Research

Jared happened to have a couple of slots open for a doctor conducting an independent research on how awareness and obesity seem to be linked. It seems that people who tend to be more educated on health risks tend to take better care of themselves. It's all very interesting. (nah, not really, we just came here for the food.)

After introducing himself and having a quick chat about what he does, he said: "Okay guys, I'm going to give you $60 bucks each. You could each spend $10.00 on anything you want and the rest is yours for your time."

That was unbelievable, it's like hearing the 3 most beautiful words in the world at the end of a very hot date : "Come on over." (courtesy of Christina & Tower Records).

We were ecstatic, we can't even decide what to order! I mean not only do you get free fast food, you also get paid for the time you eat it. The questions weren't really that hard either, like, "Did your diet change much now compared to when you were a teenager?"
Mark says "A lot.", Jared says "Heaps aye" and I, with the most dignity I could call up, "Not Really.",

"What sort of food do you eat for lunch?"
In which Mark mentions his pine nuts and how he lovingly scatters it on his sandwich.

"Did you change anything on your order at all? Like customise it?"
While munching, I could just hear Jared say (with an accent), "Aw, just needs a bit more tomato sauce aye?!"

After 30 minutes of questions and eating, we happily left the store 50 bucks richer. The easiest half hour of our lives.

Sushi and Sentimentality...

Stephen, the resident db admin, brought in some deliciously looking sushi for lunch yesterday. We were quite impressed as the pieces were really well made and looked quite filling.

Tony and Margaret exclaimed : Wow!
(Seeing it made me realise how pathetic the lunch we bought from a nearby cafe was.)

Chris: So where did you buy them from?
Stephen : Ohhhh, mah wife made them fol me.
(Sorry Stephen, but I just couldn't resist.)

Jenita : Looks good, maybe we could each have one...

Stephen looks at Jenita as if she had just entered and executed "SELECT * FROM ALL_USAGE" from the new production server. He immediately dismisses Jenitas that idea with a wave from his chopsticks. Jenita reminded herself not to get between a DBA and his lunch in the future. (Stephen did let us taste his yummy lunch afterwards).

I shifted my focus to those small-fish-shaped-soy-sauce-dispensers that you get with your sushi takeaway.

Chris : Are you sure you didn't buy them?

Which totally changed the focus of the conversation to how Stephen's wife managed to get those dispensers.

"My wife definitely made them. But I'm not sure where she got these from. I think my wife puts them aside whenever we eat out for sushi. We have a bowl full of them now."

Jared : Your wife might have filled them up again by squeezing and letting the air pull the soy back in.
(a briliant idea, if i may add, which, come to think of it, is the exact same way Jared implements his Buddha technique)

Tony : Or you could use a syringe to fill them up.
(I'm guessing that's where tony uses his spare stash of syringes for. there really are some things you can't take away from rock stars.)

Jenita: Your wife sure is sentimental.
(yep, probably why he married an old man like you Stephen. Hee hee)

As the group changes to yet another topic, I think it's a bit fitting to hear that word as it's Valentines today (well yesterday anyway, when this happened). By the way, in Cantonese, "sentimental" = "gum sing". Thanks Margaret for translating that.

Whistler.

We just had lunch with Vicki who was telling us about the time she spent in Vancouver, Canada. Apparently, Whistler's something worth mentioning as it's got gorgeous ski slopes and generally a great place to hang out. Vicki had the benefit of getting a seasons pass and real cheap accomodation for her family when she worked for a company who manages the resort. The peaks are so high that it takes almost half an hour to reach the top using ski lifts (longer if you decide to walk).

Truth be told, I've never actually touched real snow before. But when you think about it, it's not really suprising as I grew up where you only had 2 seasons : wet and dry. Although, the closest I got to snow was scraping those flaky deposits that you get from those old freezers. =(

Btw, Jared's finally sold his 4 wheel drive to get a more 'practical' one. I can only imagine what Jared's car shopping checklist is gonna be like:

1.Will it pick up chicks?

2.Has the back seat got enough room for the horizontal mambo?

3. Is it a 4 wheel drive?

Rocky VII...

It would have been best for Jared to tell this story but seeing as he hasn't signed in for the blog yet means that I'll have to re-tell his adventures for him. This is more or less my version of what happened as I'm not too great trying to recall the whole story but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

This happened when Jared and Kate visited the mall in one of the popular areas of Sydney. She entered a store while Jared waited patiently for her outside, minding his business.

Suddenly a tall, well dressed man, probably in his fifties said: Why are you following me?
(Jared could tell from his accent that he's not from here, Italian maybe.)
Jared said : What?
Italian Man : Why have you been following me for the last 2 hours?
J : Me? I only got here 15 minutes ago.
Italian Man : Stop following me!
J : I wasn't following you!!
Italian Man : If you don't stop following me, I will call the police
J : Good, that will save me from calling them then.

It was about this time that he became a bit aggressive and pushed Jared, which really got him worked up.
J : Sir! Don't touch me.
Another push came.
"I'm warning you, don't touch me again." Jared says with a snarl (which I coincidentally believe resembled the one on his work picture ID).

The crazy Italian guy apparently did it again and Jared suddenly snapped. He grabbed this guy's collar and slammed him on to the nearby wall. He then kicked the guy's nuts sending him reeling in horrible pain. Jared then sticks his hand to this guy's chest, pulls his beating heart out and hungrily devours it for lunch.

With all this commotion, Jared notices the mall guard approaching. Jared thinks, "Oh no, just what I need, they're probably thinking that this Maori guy's beating up a a senior citizen for spare change."

It's this moment where Kate sees Jared holding an old man up against the wall by his collar.
Kate asks. "What's going on here?".
Me : "This man says that I've been following him for 2 hours."
Kate : "But we haven't been here that long!"

Jared tries to explain in all futility but it's evident that he's going to get in trouble for this. Poor Kate must be thinking, is this the man I'm going to have kids with? Beating up random old men off the street?

Finally, the mall guard takes a closer look at Mr. Italian and says. "Oh, I know this guy. He IS peculiar. Let me sort this out by escorting him out of the premises." As the Italian man is led away, Jared breathes a sigh of relief, thinking he was that close to experiencing another injustice beset by Italy to his people...

DHCP Hack!

OMG! I Frakked up!

I unknowingly installed a service on my machine that disrupted the company's network this morning. That's 3 hours of downtime for half the people on our floor.
Some of the sites I'll be visiting later today:

www.seek.co.nz
www.nzjobs.co.nz
www.monster.com.au
www.dice.com

Very quiet times indeed...

I spent lunch with Jenita and Margaret today, and yup, we spent the good 3 quarters of an hour just staring at each other...

Quiet and peaceful, as majority of the team's away on holiday. We were discussing how much work we could actually do without those annoying team members around. We're actually very very productive. Can't believe how much of our stuff we've managed to do, it's like getting TradeMe blocked from the intranet all over again.

Jenita mentioned that she went out and saw a movie last night.
Marg : There were some good movies that came out during the last couple of months. Not like July where I didn't watch any movies for 3 months.
Me : (I was actually thinking of who Jenita went out with last night, but, decided not to ask. Hmmm...)

And we did discuss what each one's going to do for Valentines day, as it is fast approaching...
Me : I haven't really decided if I'm going to do anything special. What about you?

Marg : I'm not sure either...
J : Well, I won't be back in Sydney during that time so my bf's going to have dinner with someone else.
Marg : hehe...
Me : (I wonder if Jenita keeps backups for her travels as well?)

J : I have booked for Kobe Jones (in Sydney) in time for Chinese New Year though. (Apparently, this restaurant is good place to go for a fusion of Japanese and European dishes in Sydney. You get more meatier portions off your sushi and generally a nice place to visit.)

Me : (I take note of this as I might visit if I ever go to the other side of the Tasman.)

http://www.kobejones.com.au/

Well there you go guys, that's 2 un-married ladies who don't have any plans for valentines yet. I could see a queue forming now...

Let the kids decide

Are you there God?

Rayana and I had a 'heated' discussion about religion during lunch. Here are some of the snippets. Stuff enclosed in "( )" means I was thinking them. Stuff enclosed in "{}" means Rayana thinks what Chris wrote is Bull :).

R : You know I don't eat ham because I'm a muslim right?
Me : (looks shocked as we just bought a ham sandwich a couple of minutes ago to split) You're kidding right?
R : You know I'm muslim right? And muslims don't eat pork!
Me : (looking at her with a wierd face as she's the one who approved buying the sandwich anyway) You ARE kidding right?!
R : I'm kidding. I'm not even religious.
Me : (right, religiously naughty I'd say). Whew.

Which opened up topics about our beliefs...
R : So what religion are you?
Me : Roman Catholic. I was brought up in a catholic school.
R : So did they teach you about Darwin as well? How could they teach you both religion and evolution without contradicting itself. It's like teaching astronomy and astrology?
Me : (Come to think of it, I don't remember evolution partly because I probably slept through class) Uhmm... {that's how you get brainwashed}
R : But how could you believe that Adam and Eve just appeared without having to believe in evolution?
Me : Uhmm... {oh come on!}
R : How can you believe everything in the bible that was written 4 different people out of the 8 who were picked, 400 years after Jesus' death.
Me : (My God Rayana! at least give me some time to think about the answers before the next question!) {you poor soul, if you only thought about it before rather than blindly follow}

Then out we went the elevator which pretty much ended the conversation. That left me like a wimp who couldn't get a word out. =( {Like? Like?}

But to sum up my side of the story. I believe that both religion and evolution can both be taught at schools but let the students decide by themselves what they want to believe in. I believe that the Bible was not meant to be interpreted literally . God only took 1 day to create the universe? A day might have been different before just like the gregorian calendar was different from the hebrew or islamic one. As for Adam and Eve, I honestly don't know. {They were Monkeys, monkeys I tell ya! Why else would they not listen and eat the darn apple?} The fact that nobody's discovered the 'missing link' mean that the evolution theory has its shortcomings as well. {What happened to I Just BELIEVE? why can't you Just believe in Darwin's theory?}

But in a nutshell, I believe in God because I have faith.

But that's my opinion, you're welcome to post your comments which I won't read anyway. hee hee

Firefox 2

O how I love firefox 2....
but why is the the Google country search set to "pages from australia" and how can I set it to New Zealand ??

And is it fundamentally correct for me to use the blogger just to ask software questions?

We will find out if someone flames me...

Dear Diary!

Back from lunch and baffled. Of course, the conversation revolved around Mark's long weekend adventures as usual.

Before Lunch. Walking to a cafe. Chris notices an adult store.
Chris: tee-hee-hee. A porn shop.
Mark all excited: Oh look, a porn shop.
Rayana pretends not to hear.
Mark ever so loudly without taking his eyes of the store: A porn shop.
Chris: tee-hee-hee.
Rayana: I will ask you guys a question and you must answer either Yes or No. Can you do that?
Chris and Mark tear their eyes from the shop and look in wonder.
Rayana: Will you ever grow-up?
Chris: Teee-hee-hee. Yes.
Mark looks at Chris: khe-khe. Eventually.


Jared, Mark and Rayana sitting at the table while others get their lunch.

Mark: I might get invited for a sleep-over (crosses his fingers) and I don't know what to do.
Jared: Let me teach you a lesson.

Rayana rolls her eyes as far back as possible and changes seats.

Mark: yeah-yeah-yeah, baby, give me the details
Jared: All you need is a toothbrush!
Mark: A toothbrush?
Jared: A toothbrush. You know, one of those collapsible ones. *demonstrates how they collapse.
Mark: A toothbrush?
Jared: Yee, everything else you can buy, but you need a toothbrush. With a pinenut toothpaste.

Chris joins the table and quietly says: I'm not even going to ask what the toothbrush is for.

10 minutes later

Margaret: Did you play in the sun?
Mark: Yes, I did. Can you see the sunburn? Or does it look tanned?
Jenita: Is it from yesterday?
Mark: No, this is from a weekend when I went camping. Can you see it?
Chris giggles and smiles knowingly.

Another 10 minutes.

Mark: Got another ten minutes for lunch.
Chris: Oh you'll get there in time
Rayana: Run Forrest, run.

Walking back. Jenita notices someone she knows on the street: Hey, blah-blah.
Blah-blah: Hey, I can't believe I didn't recognize you.
Chris filling in the blanks: After the night we've spent together.
All together: Chri-is!
Chris: I'm sorry I couldn't help it. It's like one of those things, one must finish the sentence.
...

Mark: Look at those girls (points at Jenita and Margaret) walking together hand in hand. How cute!
Rayana: Whatcha guys talking about?
Chris: Me
Jenita: You wish, we were talking about another Chris.
Chris: Isn't he too old for you?
Jenita: Maybe I have a preference for older men.
Mark excited: Aha! Older men!
Rayana speeds up and tries hard to remove images from her head. Margaret giggles quietly. She doesn't say much :).
Jared: Oh not even ow!

Getting into elevator.
Jenita: Jared, did you break the other elevator's handle?
Jared: Are you saying I'm fat?
Mark leaves the elevator on the second floor: Thank you guys for lunch and for a wonderful company!
Margaret leaves the elevator with him.
Everyone: Awwwww!
Everyone else in the elevator shakes their head and pretends not to laugh as the doors close.

Thank you, lord, for ending this lunch relatively painless!

Martyn

For those who don't know him - just write something

Mark

Marky Mark, the gates are open

Jared

Now what shall we call him?

Tony

Tony, Tony, Tony, tsk-tsk-tsk

Jenita

Do write about Jenita

Margaret

Mmmargaret

Rayana

Oh no, did I open a can of worms here?

Chris

Now what can we say about Chris?

Bloggers

Decision is to start posting our little nagging feelings about each other. Be nice and be evil!

Houston, we have a problem!

It all started when Chris was born and his mother named him Chris.

He joined the company and sat across from another Chris. Try to imagine Meercats standing up when they hear a sound. The same thing was hapenning with our Chrisses.

To make matters worse we now have another Jared joining and sitting across from yet another Jared. Oh, did i forget to mention they both have initials JS? so we can't even degrade to THAT! Cos Jenita is ALSO JS and quite conveniently sits right next to other JSes.

We must, simply must differentiate them all, so I propose to call our existing Jared - Buddha, or perhaps we could come up with something less flattering for him. Next thing you know, we'd be meditating with him in mind (god helps us all).

Any whoooo... Please post your comments on "what shall we call him?". "An Avocado chicken bacon tomato lettuce burger with a sweet chilli sauce."

Test Profile

Write profile desc here.

Line 2

Line 3

End.


Rayana wonders why MrGlass would create a test profile starting from her and only add short 3 lines. Is it really enough to describe her?

Static Topic

Static Line 1

Static Line 2

Jane

Line 1

Line 2

Line 3