Tina's wanderings around the world

 There are times when something that should be simple and easy blows up into a big mess. There are toothpaste tube moments, which obviously aren't about the toothpaste tube at all. Then there are times when unnecessary hurdles and obstacles are thrown into paths for various reasons. Which is the variety that seems to plague the acquisition of work laptops here in Singapore. One friend has a laptop that can take up to 30 minutes just to start up. I've watched the screen think for 10-15 minutes as it attempts to bring up one screen. The fact that this laptop hinders this person's productivity in such a major way (this person spends much of their workday typing emails on their phone) would make me think the company would want  to get this person a new laptop. How can they actually do their job with a defunct laptop? But their IT department negates the request time and again. It's not time for the laptop to be replaced yet. Another friend just started a new job and it took ...

It’s a rare occasion that Marcus takes a vacation day. His last out of office message was dated October 2019. Which means it’s kind of a big deal when he does take one. In the past few years, we’ve decided that birthdays are occasions that warrant a vacation day from work, and this year we went big—he took two days off work for his birthday. On his actual birthday, I kept a strict and very packed schedule. Wake up. Presents. Brunch. Massage. Water park. (Yes we did. It was amazing.) Lunch. (A set meal with free flow coffee and ice cream for $8! Unheard of! The value!!) Back home for a 30-minute wash-up and dress-up. Happy hour. Fancy dinner on the 70 th floor of a building downtown. With all the activity, we decided to have a solid sleep-in the next day. Marcus even used earplugs to get maximal sleep-in value. This was a plan. Imagine my surprise to wake up by a pounding on the door. I look around, it’s still dark outside. Maybe I imagined it? Then more, long, unrelentless bangin...