Wow although work is still boring, it has never been busier. If at first I thought it was busy enough (updating stuff that dates back to february!), I was wrong. On my second week back there I also had to check through piles of listings for un-updated stuff (you'd be surprised how screwed their system is, almost 80% weren't updated properly!), on top of the updating. At first my personal target was to get through the updating as quickly as possible, hoping that I can stop working as early as possible. Even from the beginning it seemed like an uphill task... lol there are literally hills of listings at the TC corner waiting to be updated! But now it seems almost impossible.

Nowadays I've also had to call up schools that didn't return a form by fax. Oh man, some of them claim not to even have seen the letter and the annex that was supposed to be completed and faxed back to us. And then we have to go through all the trouble to print out another copy (because the letter specifies the school name etc, so we can't use the same copy for every school) and fax it to them. After calling the first few schools I've already become like a sort of recorded voice message. Haha every call I'd find myself saying the same thing lol. It's like their recorded message that goes, "If you know the party's extension, please dial now. Otherwise, press '0' for general office... blah blah" And I've heard Scott Joplin's The Entertainer many times over while waiting to be connected or when put on hold. And some other very waltz-like song that I quite like... it's got that "feel", like the song the choirboys sang when they bid goodbye to their teacher in Le Choristes. But definitely less sad, less brooding, more cheerful and has a kind of lilt to it that cheers me up a little.

Got quite irritated at one point because sometimes there are children running around and screaming on the other end of the receiver, such that the clerk will repeatedly tell you to speak louder. Lol ok I know for sure it's not my soft voice, even other clerks there have complained about this. They always say it's very embarassing to raise their voice in the office because their English is not really standard and most of them speak English that is "chinese-sounding"... you know, like most of the older generation. And seriously, in the mostly-quiet office (when they are not gossiping loudly!) it's quite embarassing to raise your voice, especially since there are those who are English-educated around (meaning those who are higher in rank and draw higher pay than them). It's true to some extent I suppose. Most of the time I feel better if I'm just speaking to someone in the general office, feel ok if they transfer my call to some teacher, but feel nervous when they make me speak to the P or VP.

Left work early today to go collect my visa. Walked past two Starbucks outlets on my way there, was so tempted and was debating whether to stop by on my way back and enjoy my favourite caramel frappucino. Then I realised I was too early (visa collection is only between 4-5pm, and calling to enquire whether the visa is ready is also restricted to the same time, how brainless!) so I decided to indulge in my coffee. Bad decision! Instead of the thick aromatic coffee blended with ice, topped with sinful whipped cream and caramel... I got something that tasted like I was drinking crushed ice with a little taste of coffee on random sips, and a teeny bit of caramel on even fewer sips. Couldn't taste the whipped cream, but then again I only saw a super thin layer of that on top of the coffee in the first place. So much for coffee in Shenton Way huh, they probably try to maximise profits because some office workers just need their coffee break. Hmm was astounded at how free they seemed to be, sitting around leisurely enjoying their coffee, chats, and also what I hate most, they were puffing away! Argh I've never quite gotten used to seeing women smoke. I think it makes them look very ugly, no matter how pretty they may have seemed when they weren't smoking.