The Initiation

Suffice to say, just one week in the new work environment has left me exhausted, drained and ultimately resigned to the fact that this certainly ain't Kansas anymore. Work here is certainly far more challenging, more taxing on the brains and definitely straining my patience to the utmost ( wouldn't be surprised if I found myself strangling a fellow colleague for informing absolute rubbish in the dead of night ). Fortunately putting some significant weight on the other end of the scale, there's shopping, Charming Calvin and more shopping. Still haven't planted more than a few innocent gropes on the bashful man but let's give it some time, shall we. :) After all those lovely grape eating lips are looking far more tempting by the day.

The lack of a trustworthy broadband connection is still extremely jarring but I'm reasonably sure that this untenable situation shouldn't last longer than two weeks at the most. Certainly fairly distracting when I find myself disconnected. Shocking to find that something as seemingly trivial as a broadband connection can cause such a tremendous impact in one's life - especially when one is as hopelessly addicted as a certain Dr Paul. However feeding my internet addiction at the nearby cafes is severely affecting my diminishing wallet - and also enabling my other addictions to caffeine and shopping. Detrimental to my mental and fiscal health, I'm sure.


Exhausted, drained and resigned after a week... just wanna lay back and sleep...
Happily though, the proximity of the wifi enabled cafes to certain large chain bookstores have led me to discover several new authors to while away my hours. One of which is Poppy Z. Brite. Odd name, I'm sure but her latest fiction on the crime-busting chefs extraodinaire reads like the perfect Creme Brulee. Light, sweet, frothy and yet surprisingly substantial with just the perfect bite. In between running an award-running restaurant based on liquor-drenched entrees in the Big Easy, G-man and Rickey spend their time balancing a committed relationship, their contrasting personalities and the various criminal elements that seem to gravitate invariably towards them. Gonna have to start the hunt for the rest of her books.

He's certainly not going to be pleased with the comparison but can I say that the bad-tempered, intense protagonist Rickey reminds me oddly enough of my ISO? Granted, I'm far from the laid-back G-man of course.

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Last night was of course spent rushing about the hospital trying to keep my patients alive, shaking my head over some of the sillier antics of the students and intimidating junior doctors with my seemingly stern mien. Of course challenging work aside, I still managed to find the time to send naughty messages to my nearest cronies.

Several late night messages to Handsome Hui - as he was returning from his various money-making activities - confirmed the fact that he needs the extra dough not to outrun his zealous creditors with an urge to dismember his pretty limbs but to purchase various forms of entertainment. Still waters certainly run deep in my experience so what that actually means, I shudder to know. Entertainment in the form of chains, whips and melted candles on naked torsos perhaps?

And wonder of wonders, Big Bicep Barry has made his way home to Malaysia at last since I received a call late from him as he exited the gym. Perhaps worried that the hedonistic delicacies of Hong Kong have crept up his trim waist and disturbed the perfection of his abs, Barry found it imperative to worship the demanding God of Gymnasiums the very day he returned before resuming any semblance of daily activities. Even while battling a chesty cough that's clearly audible hundreds of miles away, the man still finds the energy to lift his sacred thousand pound weights. Don't know where he finds the singleminded dedication. Whether he returned successfully with a pair of ceramic lions remains to be seen.