OWA Day 03: A Bout of Acclimatization?
August 15th, 2007 Ahmad Al-MahirI knew something was up when I went to bed with a slight sore throat yesterday. I woke up clammy and my nose was blocked. And the sore throat had gotten worse. I didn’t develop a high temperature though, so I thought if I drank lots and lots and lots and lots of water, whatever it is that’s bugging me will be flushed out of my system. I also didn’t want to give the company the impression that I was trying to get out of work today.
Well, it basically kinda got worse before it got (slightly) better. My nose started running like a tap and I could feel my temperature rising with each passing hour. Raymond (another Singaporean working at the company) handed me one of those Vitamin C tablets, and I managed to get another staff member to donate one of his Panadol. I think they helped alleviate the symptoms some. Also, I continued to chug water throughout the day (and obviously made quite a number of trips to the restroom in between). Coincidentally, there’s a water shortage warning or something on the island recently so that definitely made me feel extra guilty! I can’t imagine what could have caused the bug though. It’s not anything I ate I don’t think. Maybe it’s just me acclimatizing to the environment. I probably just need some good old-fashioned sleep. And more water.
I just hope I’ll recover in time to go home and meet my family tomorrow. They have a public holiday here on Friday so the company’s closed for the long weekend. And I’m expected back at SP for some meetings anyways. I’m really looking forward to that ferry ride relatively speaking. Nothing’s worse than coming home for a short break after some time away, only to be laid flat on the bed all that time recovering from an illness!
And what did I do at the office besides you may ask? I’ve been slowly getting re-acquainted with Softimage XSI via a library of resources they have on the server 
Boy, firing up the software and messing about with all the nifty little features sure bring back memories of my time at Bournemouth…
Of course I’ll find any excuse to remember my experience there. I’m just an old sentimental fool like that! 
OK. Maybe I’ll see ya when I get back to Singapore!
It’s just not feasible to bring my wife and kids over to stay with me during my expected few months here. Batam is not that far from Singapore actually (about an hour by ferry) so it’s not the end of the world. I’m hoping to be able to return every weekend - at least - to spend time with my family. It does kinda remind me of my army days when I had to book in and out on the weekend though. I figure once I get really busy with work the feeling of loneliness won’t be that bad…