Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Cold Feet
A flash flood in our office late Friday night caused me to fear for the worst - Losing all my works in the computer! OK, I've not done backing up in the last... 6 months? I quickly got down on all fours, soaking my jeans through and through as I scrambled under the table and began unplugging all the cables behind the CPU. The water level was about 2 inches, and I feared, absolutely FEARED of a CPU casualty.Little did I think about the power supply and the risk of me being electrocuted in all that water with all the cables and extension cords around me. All I could think of was "Proposals! Contract drafts! Invoices! Writings! Everything!" I swear, should there be a leak of electricity somewhere, I was doomed. No wait, I'd be fried for chrissakes!
The flash flood was of course caused by a couple of imbecile contractors who were building a pantry in the adjoining office area, who drilled right through a main pipe causing it to burst. And being the smart asses they were, no one thought of turning off the main water supply / tap before they begin drilling. The most irritating bit of that incident was how these foreign labours just stood there grinning from left to right as they saw the few of us panicking and trudging through water getting our things to higher grounds.
Excuse me, but I'm not biased or prejudiced towards these foreign workers - wherever they are from - but to stand there grinning from ear to ear when you caused this flood? Ridiculous innit?
But thank goodness, all is well now. We managed to rescue 4 CPUs and whatever boxes of files that we have stacked on the floor, with minimum damage. Aahh. That was a Friday night of lumbering around in water and getting my feet wet and cold.
Despite there not being any computer casualty, my dear boss has decided that my old piece of junk is no longer suitable for the works that I've been doing (and WILL be doing, mind you!) and therefore awarded me with a spanking new work station - a P4 with 512MB RAM, compared to the previous machine which takes me approximately 15 minutes to start up every morning. And I've even got a flatscreen monitor to boast about! I feel so blessed!
A friend recently confided to me her apprehension and uncertainty about the whole marriage thing. She and her boyfriend have been planning on marriage for a while now, and both sides of the parents and friends have been informed of their intentions, despite not yet having a fixed wedding date.
I assured her that it is merely cold feet that she is going through. I went on to further cite examples of runaway brides and/or grooms due to pre-wedding jitters, and the best option is to sit back and think it through - what it is she was unhappy / uncertain about, and to find solutions for those.
I don't want her to making a decision which she will later on regret. But neither did I want to make a mistake which I will regret - assuring her that all is OK, when maybe it's just really not the right guy, and not the right time for her yet?
Being inexperienced as I am in this department, I gave her advice best I could pertaining to this matter, which I picked up from soap operas, trashy chic lit, and aunt agony columns.
But pre-wedding jitters are also caused by the fear of the other side of marriage - divorce aren't they? Maybe there really isn't any real uncertainties, just the fear of a failed marriage that causes people to have cold feet? As common as divorces are today, it is still reckoned to be a no-no in many parts of society.
What is getting married truly like? What is being a married person truly like? Things change that's for sure, but how much of a change? How much is there to compromise? Is a pre-nuptial agreement necessary? Isn't a pre-nup almost like saying "Just in case we get divorced, we won't end up tearing each other's hair out at the lawyer's office"?
With so many negative images of "marriage" and "divorces" being portrayed on tele, in magazines, and fiction novels, it is hard to avoid cold feet innit?
Posted by Doreen at 3:45 pm
