Thursday 9 August 2007

Hunger

This is not a food blog.

I make that statement up front because I shall be delving into Food at length. Having been tasked to work on a holiday - yes, I have been given substantial amounts of leave just to make up for this eventuality - and being separated from the rest of my colleagues who were unfortunate enough to share my curse, I find that I have been abandoned to my own devices regarding food. And since I am not permitted to leave my post, I am forced to rely on the goodwill of those about me:

Um, you going to get food? Yes? Good, can get some for me too? What do I want to eat? Dunno. What are you getting for yourself? Same thing, lor.

Yes, when begging for favours, ettiquette demands that you do not make too outrageous demands. Even when you are craving for something happy and festive, to go along with the holiday (WHICH YOU WILL NOT BE ENJOYING!).

Sigh.

What I really want is this as a starter. Followed by perhaps, this. And finally, for desert, a double scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Yes! Vanilla! Got a problem with that?!

I'm not a civil blogger when I'm starved of the things that I crave. Perhaps I am making it worse for myself by surfing all these food blogs. Then again, it is far better that thinking about my current situation:

Being a one-man contingency(!!!) is utterly depressing in itself. Even more depressing is the fact that you are sitting in a bloody windowless room with no-one but your terminal for company, when the rest of the country is having a bloody good time out on the bay. And that the head honchos in the Tech department has blocked all video streaming, so you can't see what the hell is going on out there. Big, bloody hell!

So what is a man to do? Switch off the part of my brain that concerns itself with work, and the near impossibility of something going wrong, for one.

But that brings my attention to another part of my anatomy. The stomach demands attention (since it is not getting food). So I dream about what I would rather be eating, instead of the fried hokkien mee that I am most likely to get in about a half-hour's time.

Sigh again.

So it's off to the food blogs. Hey, if I can't eat it, I can at least think about it. Then there are all those blogs with the wonderful pictures - not only think about it, I can now see what it looks like! BTW, the Traveler's Lunchbox is the bane of anyone on a diet. Take a look. See what I mean? Chocolate & Zucchini isn't very far behind either. Damn! My stomach's growling again.

Worst of all, there's not a beer to be had. Nor whisky. Nor anything vaguely alcoholic. Even my third favourite (and politically acceptable, on the basis of its caffeine content) is unavailable.

This is hell.