It's cold, it's treacherous to be out there... Oh well... life could be
worse... I could be freezing instead of being in my warm apartment...
Well. It's been 4 weeks since my arrival
here in Cincinnati. And today was the coldest day on record: -12F/-24C.
Bad. I stepped outside, and although I was somewhat bundled up, the exposed
face actually felt pain because of the cold.
What can I say about my American experience
so far? Well... I've already pointed out that this is the one place I have
to hit the Interstate just to get a bottle of milk. Let me tell you about
television: it is the one place were you can have a television with 70
channels, but still have nothing I want to watch. The number of re-runs
that are shown on the hosts of channels are mind-boggling. The Men's
Channel shows lots of Star Trek (not bad), the Women's Channel show lots of
soaps, but there is a nother Soap which shows older soaps. There is a
channel devoted to redecorating your home, and another to black
entertainment... the list goes on. And yes, you can have Buffy on 4
channels in one evening: just need to figure out which is the current,
which are are the re-runs...
Oh - I passed the theory section of the
Ohio driving exam. Now I am in the rather odd situation that if I am
stopped by a cop, I have to be careful which licence I pull out: my Ohio
learner's licence requires me to have a 21 year old beside me. My Malaysian
lets me drive without someone besides me... Hmmm go figure. Well. Time to
take some driving lessons. Company is paying, so might as well...
So far driving has been restricted to
weekend trips to the supermarket for food. Today, I got a bit adventurous
and tried to find a church, which on paper, would have been easy to find.
Well... it didn't turn out that way, but that's another story. As I have
told myself: better stay on the roads that I need to travel on, until the
weather gets better. The rental car isn't an all wheel drive, and with the
amount of ice on some of the roads, one can never be too careful. Having
said that, today I made it to the shops and back without taking a wrong
junction - must coming back to me now...
Have I told you about how dead Downtown
Cincinnati gets? Two Sundays ago, I looked out my window and recalled what
Mini reported her mother said when she was in Cincinnati, "I wish I could
see even a dog on the road - that would be a sign of life!!!" Yes, it can
look that bad! Something to get used to, I suppose. Well, there are parts
of it which are alive. But where I am, it's quiet on the weekends - apart
from when the church in front of me building has services. Other than that
- silence, punctuated by the wail of sirens be they fire engines, ambulances
or police cars. Another occasional hazard of downtown living. But you
know, so far, so good.
Now. Settling in: not really. My things
arrive this week, I think. Up till now, it's been rental furniture, and all
my documents in a pile on the floor. Not good - I like things in nice
files... So all these rental things will disappear: only problem is, I
don't have any sofa etc to replace the rented stuff. Want to see how
things feel before I go shopping - though I think I will have to reconcile
myself to the fact that I am not going to get that much inspiration from the
local shops! They are either too "home-y" or too expensive: antiques. I
don't think I'm ready to invest in some expensive furniture, quality
hardwood dining set etc. I move around too much, and perhaps in not doing
so, I am still clinging on to some vestigial idea of being a young man as
opposed to being - middle age.
WELL, that's said it. I suppose if someone
defines being middle-aged as being half way through life, and the Bible says
we have 70 years allotted to us, then from where I am standing, I've reached
middle age. Someone has also defined middle-age that point in your life
when you shift from seeing the future in terms of your potential and begin
to see it in terms of your limitations. By that definition, I don't think
I'm there yet, but certainly stepping up onto that threshold!
What more can I say about this place? So
far so good. Apart from the work front - although let's no go there. I
somehow think this will be a long drawn affair - well. I was brought in to
fix things, but right now, I'm trying to repair a 747, which is on the apron
of the runway, and unfortunately, the airplane has been given clearance to
take off!!! That will take a lot of my time to fix, but it also has too
many ramifications elsewhere which I have to watch. Oh well... it pays the
bills, right?
Oh one more thing - we (P&G) are one of the
larger brands of coffee in the US - but urrggh - the normal US brew
(Folgers) taste like hot water with a touch of coffee. Now I understand
why one of my colleagues complained that our coffee in Singapore was too
strong. Basically, unless you go for some of the European style stuff (expresso,
cappuccino) the standard brew is one worth avoiding: there truly are more
pleasurable ways to imbibe in caffeine...
I'll update them as I go - but hey, I'm not
a travelogue writer, so it'll happen when it happens... Time to go.
Regards
Darren
***************************************************************************
It is our choices that show what we
truly are, far more than our abilities..."
~ Prof
Dumbledore
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