A Brief Update

Yep. It's that time again. Time to put things in writing after a long period. A lot happened but unfortunately I could not write sooner. As it seems to be most of the time, I am having this 'writing' break at the airport.

I'm going to Manila again for another round of fun. Well, this is said with some sarcasm I must admit but it would be unfair to say I did not have fun. Work was had for three weeks and during those days, my last visit, when my alleged 'discovery session' became a project in the blink of an eye, I barely had time for myself.

I was working over 12 hours a day. Some days almost 16. Take that out of a 24 hour day and you'll notice time left for sleeping or having fun isn't much.

But as I said, it would be unfair to say I didn't have fun. I was very lucky to be working with a good friend from a previous project. His good moods, funny ways and light-hearted approach to problems helped a lot in maintaining my faith in the project and in myself.

The fact he's a great programmer also helped, of course. Most of the integration effort was pushed to the Agent's Desktop Application, which he developed from scratch in record time. I never saw this before, honestly. And I've been with the company for quite a while now. I wish it was that simple to integrate with Siebel or Onyx (Oooh, talking about Onyx reminds me of RHB - Malaysia... Lets change subject quick!).

The pressure of the work was nevertheless enormous. My good friend and I were bombarded with requests and problems to solve. Things got better when Super Itty Bitty came to rescue, send by the Almighty Powers of Paul.

I was proud that I had everything installed and working before Itty Bitty actually got on site. But of course, he had valuable information and configuration to make things work better, explaining to e, my friend and the end customer the ‘what’s, ‘why’s and ‘when’s of everything. Boy, he's good!

Yulia's messages also helped keeping me sane. She's just adorable. Gotta love the girl, honestly. Things are going pretty ok and the plans of spending Xmas and New Year with her are still valid. As soon as I return from this trip, I should have my VISA to Russia and my flight schedule ready.

She's very excited and so am I. Of course doubts still haunt us both. Will she like me? Will I like her? Can we really get married and live happily ever after?

Statistics say these internet relationships last 6 months. It would be a pity if that was the case. I hope w do not end up as statistics.

Some good friends are really glad we are together. They can see how happy I am and they are happy for me. Others are worried, they care about me and know this is risky business. I know that. But living is risky business, isn't it? The only way you can be really safe is by dying. After that nothing matters anymore. But until that day, a day that is going to come to all of us, isn't it safe - pun intended - to say we're unsafe?

C'mon, think about it. You can hide in a farm, away from traffic, crime, modern age diseases and still die by tripping on a rock or due to a sudden thunder storm. Silly? Funny? Maybe, yes. But true, notwithstanding!

We all heard story of people who survived car crashes and died chocking on a piece of meat or slipping on a banana peel.

If life is so unsafe and death is the ultimate risk what have I to loose to put my cards on this unusual relationship? I risk a broken heart. Yes... I know... But I had many already. By know I can tell you from experience: it hurts but it will heal with time.