"It's not the end of the world. It just feels like it"

This week has been VERY de-motivating, I couldn’t even get half of my work done, I was playing around, fooling around…and Wyatt had out-do me in everything for the last 2 weeks. I have to say that he was very impressive. I’ve got to give him the credits, it’s great to have Wyatt as a competitor because he keeps me on my toes and alert all the time. And next week – I swear I’ll step up my game and bring it to the next level :) The integration process has not been easy for everyone to digest. I should not make comparisons between the old systems with the new systems. Being expose to a new culture should be a good thing. We just need time to adapt. With the old structure, I have so much of free hand in my area of work, open communication, de-centralize decision-making…the new one is just rigid. There are just so much of red tapes, so many levels that I need to go up to just to get one paperwork approve. The only thing that was notable was that the British are very systematic - they look into every details…which is very exhausting. Plus they are so professionals, always having meetings. If they can cut down their meeting hours, I’m sure our work would have been much more productive.

This week – lots of hanging out. First was the Thursday dinner buffet at Grand Blue Wave Hotel with Amadeo, Stavros, Pietro and Torres. Tommy and Nikolai drop out last minute. They have been quite anti-social lately :) It’s actually The Committee Members dinner. The food was so-so, nothing stood out. We had hours to kill. No rush. No agenda.
Yesterday afternoon – Trix, Torres, Damian, Svere Magnus and myself had lessons in Crystal 101. The rocks, the cut, the clarity, the color and its functions. Apparently, this year is the year of the Fire Pig – not a really good year though. Fire pig – roast pig. Chinese has a lot of pantangs; so Torres went and bought a black crystal bracelet – a black beauty that is used to protect against psychic attacks and Trix bought one miniature jade-color dragon that can produce more income for the merchant and helps to maintain the state of wealth :) I wanted to buy a bracelet as some of the rocks cutting was striking but none of the colors really catches my eye. Some were too aunty-color, some were just pale looking…nothing fancy :(

Highlights – I got my hair highlights done today. Whee! I chose a Red Mahogany color and it turn out PERFECT. I went to this stylist based on a friend’s recommendation and he was damn good. All these while, my hair was done by a semi-pro. Today, my hair was in the hands of an expert and he did this so-called technique “Japanese Dry Cut”. It was WOW. Never seen it before. The stylist just takes one look of my hair, touches my hair strands and begins to snip away. Now my hair is perfectly manicured :)