Police bean counters

Spent the day running around Suva. I needed to get a police clearance report for Fiji work permit application. So I walked to the police offices beside the central police station in town. When I got there, I was told they weren't doing the reports in town any more. They only accept the requests at the police headquarters four miles out of town. I wasted a trip out in the sun and you know how I hate the sun. I had to go back to the office because I didn't have small notes for taxi fare. Some taxi drivers won't change a $50 dollar note.

Back at the office, I worked on my laptop. Needed to upgrade to a bigger disk. My original 40gb disk was full and very fragmented. Cloning the disk and de-fragmenting it took a lot of time. I still haven't got it installed yet because I'm missing a small jumper switch.

I left the office again after lunch. This time to go to the police headquarters. I don't understand why they moved their services out of town. It is very inconvenient. As far as I'm concerned, 4 miles, Centre Point is the middle of nowhere.

When I got there, there was just one lady in front of me so I thought I didn't have to wait long to lodge my application. That was just wishful thinking. The bean counter at the desk was particularly slow at everything he does. He wrote the cheque numbers down very slowly. He printed the words on the receipt one letter at a time. He took about 3 minutes to take the woman's cheque and give her a receipt. The whole time I was there, he kept up a running conversation with the clerk sitting beside him. Sometimes, pausing whatever he was doing to look directly at his colleague so he can pay more attention to the latest gossip. If that's what they do all day, I don't know how they never run out of things to talk about. I don't think I've ever encountered a slower bean counter. The only redeeming qualities about these guys were that they were polite and friendly.

Finally, with the application lodged, I returned to the office. Processing fee for police clearance is $22.50. The taxi fare to 4miles and back from town was $10.50.

Post Scriptum: In other news, I played squash today. Today's players were of a higher level than Tuesday's. I got many good games. Haven't got any sports scheduled for tomorrow. Thinking of playing squash again.

Guard dog

The following post contains words written in anger and totally one-sided opinions.

Played badminton at 2pm. I did not play the morning session because when I checked my wallet today, I was running low on cash. Badminton is not a cheap hobby and I had blown my budget with the reintroduction of squash into my sports calendar.

Today was a sunny day so I went by bicycle to Yat Sen hall. When I arrived, I was the first one there and the gate to the hall where we usually enter was chained with a padlock. I looked around and found the watchman sitting in the shade about 40 feet from the gate. He had this stereo blasting Hindi music.

The music was really loud but I had confidence in my abilities. You see, I'm known to have the loudest voice at home. I was sure I could shout loud enough to drown out the high decibels of his music. So I give him a really loud "HELLO!!". Drats! No reaction. I let loose with a louder yell and still no reaction. I tried shaking the gate to make a different kind of noise hoping it might get through to no avail. I was getting annoyed with yelling because the people in the houses nearby can hear me making all this noise.

I shouted a few more times getting angrier and angrier with each breath. I was hot and sweaty from the bike ride in the sun. I really wanted to sit in the shade and get off my feet but this fucking deaf watchman was not looking my way! I am sure a few of those HELLOs would have made me champion of those shouting contests the Japanese are famous for and here was this deaf guy sitting in the shade listening to his annoyingly loud music totally ignoring me!

I used some colourful and creative language to vent my anger but it only made me angrier. I'm sure the dude sitting in the shade didn't hear me anyway because I didn't yell those words.

Finally after about 4 minutes of standing around in the sun, the dumb guard happened to look my way. At this point I was all yelled out so I just glared at him and pointed at the locked gate. Every thing he did just made me more angrier and he was dragging his foot walking slowly towards the gate. I was really pissed off. When he got close, I said didn't you hear me yelling? And he didn't say a word. I was beginning to suspect he heard me and just ignored me while I was shouting for him.

I didn't want to say anything any more so I just walked through the gate and ignored him. When the rest of the badminton guys showed up I was still fuming so when they greeted me I didn't say anything. I just sat there trying to calm myself down. Another guy showed up and he asked me what's wrong and I just said "I'm feeling a bit hostile right now".

It took me quite a while to calm down and then I went into the hall to have a good badminton session. On my ride back home, I was climbing up a steep hill and a dog came out of nowhere and started barking at me coming very close to my bike. My usual reaction to these stray dogs is to get angry and to go after them. At that point in time, I think I ran out of anger. I didn't feel anything. It was trying to chase me or scare me and I was just yeah, whatever you dumb dog! I just kept climbing that hill at a steady rate. I guess the dog got bored after getting no reaction from me so it left.

A word to those of you who are afraid of dogs. Don't ever run if a stray dog comes right at you. They would love to chase you and those son-of-a-bitches can run faster than you can. I usually stare them down. If the dog or dogs think you're not scared, they lose confidence and leave you alone. Unless if you're dealing with a mad dog then you may try to get as far away as you can. I've never been bitten but getting shots for dog bite can't be fun.

Anyway, I got home safely on my bicycle. No cars tried to run me over and dogs didn't maul me. Tomorrow, badminton.

My Kryptonite

Just returned from playing badminton with my mom's group. Yeah, she's a badminton addict too. I don't play badminton with my mom's group regularly because they have a lot more beginners than good players. Good thing is they use Feather shuttles and I love playing with feather.

When I play with this group, it's a given that I'll be paired with a weak player, playing against two of their best players. I expect and enjoy this special treatment. I really like the challenge of having to cover both sides of the court. It pushes me to perform better and gives me a good running game.

Occasionally, I find myself paired with an impossible to play with partner. I don't mean someone who's just starting to learn badminton. If it were them, I can handle having to run around them. I mean one of those players who have played for a few years but never improved because of bad habits.

These guys are the bane of my existence. They are my kryptonite.

When I'm doing most of the running in the game, I want my partner to at least give me some space. There are some players who would condone off a huge chunk of the court and would not rotate to give me a better chance. The guys are the worst offenders. The girls give me all the space I want and they really know where to position themselves. That's probably why I prefer the mixed doubles. I can win more doubles games with a weak girl partner than a stupid guy partner.

Today, I met one of those impossible players and he cost me two games. I'm glad I got to play today though. It was a good work out and badminton is always fun.