If You Can't Beat 'Em

Being the intrepid traveller-type, I took a stroll around my office block this morning, during my cigarette break.

(I smoke less nowadays, because I have to leave the office to smoke cigarettes, which means I have to abandon my post for the duration. Which means it's bad for me, if people around me look and see that I'm not there, because I'm the New Guy. So, I smoke less.)

It's structured like a cattle pen: four sides of a square with offices facing the inside and there's this huge parking lot in the middle, and on the ground floor, there are stationary shops, restaurants and cafes. The parking lot doesn't have a roof, so if you leave your dog or cat locked in the car all day, it will probably get really dehydrated.

5 storeys of gray, framed by palm trees, the sun streaking shiny windows.

It is within this confine that I work.

People are meant to mingle during lunch but I don't talk to anyone. You're supposed to greet your neighbours, bitch about your employers while they bitch about theirs. I alwasy make it a point to share a smoke with the security guard and smile at the cleaners, though.

All things considered, I think I've been pretty self-involved lately to even say hello to strangers.

Swing! Swing! Swing!

----------

A few doors down from our FHM office is the office of The Malaysian Association of Fire Protection.

I repeat: The Malaysian Association of Fire Protection.

Holy Redundant Organisations, Batman , but what the fuck is that!

Now, why would anyone need something like that? Aren't our firemen any good? Is it some pseudo-government agency that works to protect fine, upstanding citizens from getting accidently immolated? Do they test building materials under intense temparatures to determine their resistance to fire? Do they insulate commercial aircraft for a living?

I wonder, what other organisations do we have in this country?

There must be a Malaysian Association of Lightning Protection. It's impossible to not have one.

What can I say?

I'm a curious bastard.