Winning & Losing

The abalone craving continued to be satiated at dinner at Tatsuya. It's been one a tight week and the pre-scheduled organization-wide shut down of computer systems at 7pm couldn't be a better excuse to get offline and get a life.

When I got to dinner, the friends all toted their Berries and occasionally sent out emails, which was fine by me. It wasn't an interruption of dinner. It gave us a peace of mind. You'll see this phrase crop up all the time. It's important to us that we secure that before we sleep. When things are going on, we sleep very little. But that sleep needs to be deep and undisturbed. The friends have acknowledged that they love their Berries. Strange, but it works well for them. It's become more than a necessary evil. It's corporate slavery and the best part, they love it.

This work-life balance is bullshit. It's about work-life integration. It drives me crazy to have to lug the friggin laptop everywhere. The piece of crap is akin to an unwanted intruder. A BlackBerry would be so much snazzier. I'm on the verge of actually wishing that the organization will authorize the sync of BlackBerry to laptop for us. But, that's wishful thinking (I say this with all irony, sarcasm and seriousness).

Don't sneer at how much we love our jobs. We're very clear about its benefits, relative negative points, as well as future repercussions or positive ripples. A couple of years back, we all had the choice of an alternative lifestyle. But we chose otherwise, and little did we realize that we've fully embraced the full weight of our decisions.

Tonight, I didn't just win the bet with the friends about a job or determination. I also lost my bets placed on other friends. :) In that, it called for a celebratory dinner. Years ago, we made a bet over dinner at Tatsuya when it was in its previous location. Years later, all bets are evened out over dinner at Tatsuya at its current address.