ITP

People!

ITP: Introduction to a Tiresome Profession. (note that tiresome is another word for DULL or BORED, its in the Thesaurus...)

Yes people, ITP time has come. As boring as it seems, I'm glad for this opportunity as is has opened my eyes to what I do NOT want to be doing as my future career.

The following recount has names and places modified to protect, well, me.
Let me explain a typical day here... I come in around 8.30. My supervisor a Mr. ''K'' doesn't come in until around 9. He told me to come at 8, but after a few days of him not coming on time anyway, I decided ''screw it'' and come at 8. The frst day was a real dud. I didn't do anything and worst still, he left after awhile! He's also in charge of another plant so half the time is not here. I'm not really complaining, as whenever he's not here, I take out my laptop and start watching videos! So on the 2nd day, I was bored as usual, so I asked him what I could do to help or what he wanted me to do. He asked ME what I wanted to do. WTF. He's from a country that's between China and India, so his accent is like a mixture of both countries. The first day, I couldn't understand what he was talking about half the time! I still have problems now, on my 6th day. And he's worked here for 8 months and some people don't know his name! Until I say ''the short, dark guy with the funny accent''. Then they go ''oh...''. That made me feel better, after the 7th person or so, said that he keeps to himself. I thought he disliked me or something! My computer, the very one that i'm typing on right now, is facing his cubicle, and he can so obviously see it! So there goes my evil genius plan of going into other sites when in the office. I can only check mails, reply them, or like right now, post stuff on my blog.

I'm into my second week here, and my assignment, yes assignment, is to do research and understand the different procedures of the water treatment process. Something like that... his accent, I couldn't get what he was saying and I didn't want to ask twice. It was initially quite simple, but I decided to give myself a challenge, a more complicated topic, so that my assignment can be dragged out for 2 weeks or so. Now i'm doing a report on the process and technical aspects of wastewater treatment and NEWater. I basically have the NEWater part down, its the wastewater part that is slowing me down.

On my first couple of days here, I was so bored that I made up this list:

WAYS TO PASS TIME WHEN YOU'RE IN AN EXTREMELY BORING ENVIRONMENT (in no order)
1. Listen in to people's conversations (if any)
2. Wonder why the air con is so cold and how your fingers can turn blue
3. Look at your blue fingers
4. Master the art of staring into space and blanking out (you'll find when your mind is blank, time passes faster)
5. Feign work by turning your back on others (helps if you're in a cubicle like me) and sleeping, but do it so it looks like your reading. Don't forget to wake up once in awhile to turn a page or scroll down
6. Write stories that make fun of people you don't like or like me, about your late ''sims''
7. Read something you actually want to read, like a storybook or your messages
8. Hide your MP4 under your desk and secretly watch a movie or something while pretending to read. Again, don't forget to turn the page or scroll down
9. DON'T count down the time
10. Take extended toilet breaks... frequently
11. Sneak a peak at other people's belongings and hope you find something juicy
12. Observe your surroundings. Carefully. Look out for details
13. Think of what else you could be doing. Allow that wonderful thought to fill your head.
14. Test message as though your life depended on it
15. Make a list of ''ways to pass time in a boring environment''

Hoping all is well,
K.T.