: And Then There Were None...

For those of you who know me, and for those of you who visit my website, check the forum, read my mind or generally have anything to do with me, you probably know I've been getting closer and closer to leaving my job at the Berlin Wall.

Well, the time has finally come - tomorrow will be my last day.

It seems to be common knowledge that I've been at the Wall for quite some time, yet I don't think many realise exactly how long I've been there for... For clarification, if I didn't decide to leave, in the next couple of months I would have hit the eight year mark of my employment.

To put that in perspective, I am 21 years old right now.
That means I've spent a third of my life at this company...

Over the years I've experienced a lot and worked with many different people. The list you see to the right is all the people I have worked with over the years, listed in the order that they left the company. (Thanks to Stango for helping with this list.)

With the exception of two or three people listed here (who started before me), for everyone else I've witnessed their entire stay at BWSS. It might've only been for a few months or a few years, but I've seen it all and it makes me feel old.

This list has reminded me that there are a lot of memorable characters in this bunch, and I'd like to bump into some of these people again. I owe Wango a high-five and a gangster handshake if I see him again, I need to get über drunk with Cotton, I owe Jenita and Sunee (several) apologies, Lewie needs to be bitch-slapped, plus I need to replace Stango's girlfriend/fiancee since I never returned the one I borrowed.

Then there's Jimmy & The Hoff who haven't left just yet, but they can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel...

In summary: good times, bad times, good people, bad people, and so on and so forth. Unless I'm mistaken, a wise man once calculated that this equates to a standard deviation of "Meh".

: Sweet Suisse Sweetie

Sport is a funny thing. When it comes to following sports, I'm kind of all over the place - I watch a lot of cricket and a lot of AFL football, partly because they're hard to avoid in this country, and also because I'm well versed in the rules & structure of these games.

I also have a habit of casually following a number of other sports, often just for the spectacle because I have no idea of the exact rules. I don't "get" ice hockey yet I own 5-6 games in EA's NHL series. I religiously watch the Superbowl every year (and I've got a few Maddens) but it's still a foreign concept no matter how many times it's explained to me. I've also been know to play a lot of (real-world) golf but I have this debilitating problem where my club selection always seems to be limited to a 7-iron and maybe a putter (if I'm lucky).

Another sport I can't quite grasp (but still casually follow) is tennis. On average, I would watch exactly one tennis tournament each year and it would appear that everytime this happens, I start ranting about it here on Pants. Well, we're only in January and I've already found my tennis tournament for 2006. Incase you couldn't notice the recurring theme in my 2004 & 2005 posts, I'll give you a subtle hint on what this year's tennis update will be about...:

After three years away from tennis due to injury, my childhood sweetheart Martina Hingis made her return to top-level competitive tennis at the Australian Open this week. It's quite remarkable to watch the Swiss Miss play tennis again - despite being out of action for over three years, Martina has shown in the past few matches that she hasn't lost any of the timing and skill that had won her three Australian Open championship victories from 1997 to 1999.

In my eyes, she is not only a good and very competent player, but she is also incredibly fun to watch. From her graceful serves to her powerful hitting, even when she isn't kicking ass, you'll still see her smiling after she's hit the net or lost a point. She is clearly enjoying her return to the sport she loves, and that makes for great viewing... If you still don't understand that Martina's return is good for tennis, then there's obviously something seriously wrong with you.

Speaking of which (on both the 'good for tennis' and 'something seriously wrong' angles), this year's Australian Open broadcast has been made even more enjoyable by the return of Jim Courier to the commentary team. I applaud Seven's decision to bring him back, because (as I mentioned in last year's update) sections of the media had been very critical of Jim's style.

Although some may call him arrogant (he's American, after all...), his commentary is articulate & informative, plus he has no problem saying exactly what is on his mind. There was the famous incident last year (calling co-host Johanna Griggs a "blonde bimbo" on air) and his regular subtle jabs and sarcasm. He's just being himself, so it's fun to watch him hug the players in the post-match interviews or to ask fellow commentators if they know what the internet is.

He is also somewhat of an enigma for two reasons. Firstly, he is an American but his accent is so soft and smooth, so refreshingly un-American. Secondly, everytime he is on-screen I become mesmerized; my eyes remain fixated on him just trying to figure out whether his hair is 2 sizes too big for his head, or if it's actually the other way around.

: Yappy Hue Near

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm now living in the year 2006. Gone are the good old days of 2005, it's time to look forward to the year ahead and the opportunities that lie in front of us...

I'm normally not the sort of person who makes new year's resolutions, but I half-heartedly set a few challenges for myself at the start of last year. Of the two that I actually remember, one of my goals of 2005 was to start eating better and to try a bit of exercise. The idea was to get a little bit more meat on my skinny frame. Handling the exercise was fine, but I had to step that down a notch because it was leading to problems and the "start eating better" part didn't exactly work. My eating habits have improved over the year, but not as much as I had hoped.

My second new year's resolution was that I would leave my (then-)current job by the end of 2005. Here we are in 2006 and although I'm not out of there just yet, comments have been made and the end is drawing very close indeed. I imagine that within the next month, I will have thrown in the proverbial towel.

Quite possibly taking a leaf out of my book, my long-time colleague Tight decided on a similar new year's resolution for this year. He set himself quite a challenging resolution that he would leave his job before the end of 2006. Considering he put in his two-week's notice a week before Christmas, it comes as little surprise that he has already succeeded in his 2006 new year's resolution. Today was his last day at work.

I've worked with Tight for almost 8 years now, which is a horribly long time considering our ages and the environment we've worked in. Needless to say though, we've been through a lot together and formed a good friendship over the years. It is probably not much of a coincidence that we've both chosen to leave our jobs at similar times as well. This won't be the last I'll see of Tight though - his company will soon become a multi-national set to rival Google, plus I still have plans on stealing his future wife by strategically masquerading myself as an auction on eBay.