Hui Chu has recently inspired me to update my blog. I am usually too lazy to, but since I am trying to find things to do on an internship with not a lot to do, I shall do so.

For people who wish to know about my internship, this describes a typical day:

9.00 a.m.
Reach office and switch on computer (actually, it is an office provided laptop, but the difference is of no importance). Walk to the pantry and avail myself to a cup of Milo.

9.05 a.m.
Return back to desk. Computer will still be loading. Sip Milo slowly.

9.10 a.m.
A message board will pop up, telling me to press the keys “Ctrl Alt Del”. I do so and type in the password. Then I sit back and pour myself a cup of water, because the Milo is no more.

9.15 a.m.
The computer has finished loading. I double click on the on the Internet Explorer icon. It takes more than one minute to load, but I wait calmly. My internship experience has instilled in me the important value of patience. I also open my office email account, which takes about three to four minutes.

9.20 a.m.
I can finally start my work. I have just been paid $1.20 to do absolutely nothing. (I get paid $700 a month, which works out to about $3.60 per hour for a 42 hour work week). I go on various sites to read about Vietnam.

10.20 a.m.
I am hungry. I eat some Kit Kat and butter biscuits. (Today there I have prawn crackers too.)

11.20 a.m.
I am hungry again, but I am of Disciplined mind and I decide to wait for lunchtime.

12.00 noon
Lunchtime is never going to come. I eat two butter biscuits.

12.20 p.m.
I ready myself for lunch. There is a brief discussion among interns about where to eat.

12.30 p.m.
Lunch!

1.30 p.m.
I am supposed to be back from lunch, but I slack a bit and chat with Wan Jun.

1.45 p.m.
I come back and continue reading about Vietnam.

2.45 p.m.
I am now officially sick of Vietnam. I feel like eating something, but I am still full from lunch. I decide that I do not care, and eat a Kit Kat anyway.

3.45 p.m.
I am so sick of Vietnam that I start checking my email and surfing random websites online. There is a marked rise in the frequency of the trips to the toilet.

4.45 p.m.
The end is never going to come. I have nothing else to surf online, and I have not yet reached the point of surfing porn in the office. I eat another Kit Kat and go back to reading Vietnam.

5.30 p.m.
GAH.

6.20 p.m.
The end is near! I start shutting down my computer, as that takes a while.

6.30 p.m.
My computer is still shutting down. I can leave now, but I potter around for a little while so that I won’t seem too eager.

6.35 p.m.
HOME. LALALA.

This is actually a pretty good place to work. My fellow interns are nice, my colleagues are nice, my bosses are nice and I get my own desk. There is a nice pantry with a nice hot drink dispenser. The department also has occasional welfare activities, like popiah lunch parties (and I happen to like popiah). I’m not sure that a job calling for “independent research work” is for me, though.

I think that a wait loss regime is in order.