“Essien has taken your praise with a pinch of salt. He would much rather prefer to hear it from his manager”, said the disappointing message that had just propped up on my computer screen. I unsuccessfully tried to lure ‘M Essien’ to Man Utd using some fake praise, but this wasn’t the usual Championship Manager that you could buy any goddamn player using your fancy money. This was serious business, this was Football Manager 2007! Boy o boy good is an understatement for this game, it’s just awesome. It’s absolutely remarkable how much the game has improved from the good old days in Gloucester when I used to waste several nights on the ancient Championship Manager. Though my eyes looked swollen every morning in the British Energy office, beating Arsenal in a nail biting match the previous night was always worth it. I must say that FM07 hasn’t lost even a wee-bit of its charm and interest compared to its old competitor, infact it might just have become more addictive! I have been sleeping for 4 hrs every night since I installed it on Saturday and this game has reduced me to a lame introvert with a hobby of yelling my guts out at some random numbered dots on the computer screen. Trust me - if you are remotely interested in saving your career, social circle or sex life, don’t play this game at all. It’s like a sweet poison – you’ll sleep at 7am every day, you’ll lose your job, your girl will leave you but still at the end of the day, you’ll be proud and grinning that you just managed to snap up the hottest prospect in world football the previous night.
Anyway, coming out of the gaming world…I can’t believe it how fast the days are passing by and that it’s already been a month since I returned from my vacation. Mondays go really fast with meetings arranged during the day and football with my work colleagues later in the evening. You come back home tired and the only thing you want is a chilled can of beer and Devinder’s yummy chicken curry. Before you realise it, hands of the clock are striking the smiley 10:10 pm and some weird psycho programmes are on the TV. All my housemates have gone up in their rooms and even Divs is not showing online anymore. I have two choices - clear up the mess in my room or zip into my cosy bed. It’s not rocket science to figure out which one I go for…next thing I know is that my phone alarm is waking the whole neighbourhood up when it’s still dark and gloomy outside! Damn it’s the sad Tuesday again and to make it worse, there is not even any football to look forward to. Though one thing Tuesdays are good for is the pooja night at the local temple.
Ok firstly let me put my hands up, I haven’t been religious in the past few years at all. If you look at my spiritual upbringing and how devoted my mom is, I am kind of a black sheep of the family. But still it’s good to spend the Tuesday nights at the nearby temple with fellow Indians around you. Though the priest has a tendency to go in circles when he’s talking about God or what kind of life we should lead…and the women singing bhajans will be better off at anything but singing, it’s always soothing to sit around for few minutes not worrying about work and thinking about God for a change---and then comes the best part! Honestly I would miss any expensive restaurant dinner for the food we get at the temple every Tuesday. Last week it was ‘curri’ and before that probably the tastiest ‘moong ki daal’ I have ever had. Anyway I go back home after the dinner and crash straightaway, to wake up to another dark morning. “Aaahhh…weekend is not too far now”, I think to myself every Wednesday morning with a feeling of joy.
Actually, last Wednesday night was quite enjoyable. We organised a joint dinner for David and Glenda’s birthday at this Japanese restaurant called ‘Wa’. Still hungover from the Tom Yum in Malaysia, I promptly ordered the Seafood Ramen – the humungous bowl of soup with noodles and seafood that looked excellent on the menu until the point I tasted it. Regardless of the food, the night went really well with us laughing our heads off in a nearby pub afterwards and of course Man Utd beat the shit out of Benfica that evening! But it was a wise decision to go back home early that night as an important meeting was scheduled for the next morning. I said hello to a wet Thursday morning, with Moylesy entertaining me on Radio 1 and the queues of cars greeting me on the motorways. Somehow I braved the traffic jams and managed to reach office just in time for the morning briefing. It was an important day for the project team with a screen wash planned for the water contact tanks at Hampton treatment works. Dressed in my helmet, oversized fluorescent jacket and the heaviest boots available in the market, I started taking notes as the Operator followed the wash procedure around the site, which provides somewhere in the region of 800 million litres of water everyday to the Londoners.
The silly workout continued for the next 4 hours and by the time I had reached home in the evening, I was too shattered to think of anything else but sleep. I quickly ate the yummy grilled fish, which I got from Kebabish on the way and prepared my clothes for office next morning. Friday was right on the horizon, and possible night out in the good old Q Bar was on the cards – again! It was time to waste another few tenners at the bar – lamb shish kebabs on the way back looked almost certain too. “I really ought to try some different club next week, this place has become so damn monotonous”, I cried to myself. “What if Thames Water offered opportunities in Langkawi Islands? What if my office was on the Pantai Cenang beach with a Duty free shop right outside my house!! Now that would be a dream job, wouldn’t it? Instead of discussing valves and PLCs, we would be discussing different types of cocktail recipes in the office.” As I started to delve deeper into these sweet thoughts, I didn’t realise when I nodded off. But who cared – by then I was in dreamland and for a matter of fact, enjoying this delightful Malaysian ride!
Anyway, coming out of the gaming world…I can’t believe it how fast the days are passing by and that it’s already been a month since I returned from my vacation. Mondays go really fast with meetings arranged during the day and football with my work colleagues later in the evening. You come back home tired and the only thing you want is a chilled can of beer and Devinder’s yummy chicken curry. Before you realise it, hands of the clock are striking the smiley 10:10 pm and some weird psycho programmes are on the TV. All my housemates have gone up in their rooms and even Divs is not showing online anymore. I have two choices - clear up the mess in my room or zip into my cosy bed. It’s not rocket science to figure out which one I go for…next thing I know is that my phone alarm is waking the whole neighbourhood up when it’s still dark and gloomy outside! Damn it’s the sad Tuesday again and to make it worse, there is not even any football to look forward to. Though one thing Tuesdays are good for is the pooja night at the local temple.
Ok firstly let me put my hands up, I haven’t been religious in the past few years at all. If you look at my spiritual upbringing and how devoted my mom is, I am kind of a black sheep of the family. But still it’s good to spend the Tuesday nights at the nearby temple with fellow Indians around you. Though the priest has a tendency to go in circles when he’s talking about God or what kind of life we should lead…and the women singing bhajans will be better off at anything but singing, it’s always soothing to sit around for few minutes not worrying about work and thinking about God for a change---and then comes the best part! Honestly I would miss any expensive restaurant dinner for the food we get at the temple every Tuesday. Last week it was ‘curri’ and before that probably the tastiest ‘moong ki daal’ I have ever had. Anyway I go back home after the dinner and crash straightaway, to wake up to another dark morning. “Aaahhh…weekend is not too far now”, I think to myself every Wednesday morning with a feeling of joy.
Actually, last Wednesday night was quite enjoyable. We organised a joint dinner for David and Glenda’s birthday at this Japanese restaurant called ‘Wa’. Still hungover from the Tom Yum in Malaysia, I promptly ordered the Seafood Ramen – the humungous bowl of soup with noodles and seafood that looked excellent on the menu until the point I tasted it. Regardless of the food, the night went really well with us laughing our heads off in a nearby pub afterwards and of course Man Utd beat the shit out of Benfica that evening! But it was a wise decision to go back home early that night as an important meeting was scheduled for the next morning. I said hello to a wet Thursday morning, with Moylesy entertaining me on Radio 1 and the queues of cars greeting me on the motorways. Somehow I braved the traffic jams and managed to reach office just in time for the morning briefing. It was an important day for the project team with a screen wash planned for the water contact tanks at Hampton treatment works. Dressed in my helmet, oversized fluorescent jacket and the heaviest boots available in the market, I started taking notes as the Operator followed the wash procedure around the site, which provides somewhere in the region of 800 million litres of water everyday to the Londoners.
The silly workout continued for the next 4 hours and by the time I had reached home in the evening, I was too shattered to think of anything else but sleep. I quickly ate the yummy grilled fish, which I got from Kebabish on the way and prepared my clothes for office next morning. Friday was right on the horizon, and possible night out in the good old Q Bar was on the cards – again! It was time to waste another few tenners at the bar – lamb shish kebabs on the way back looked almost certain too. “I really ought to try some different club next week, this place has become so damn monotonous”, I cried to myself. “What if Thames Water offered opportunities in Langkawi Islands? What if my office was on the Pantai Cenang beach with a Duty free shop right outside my house!! Now that would be a dream job, wouldn’t it? Instead of discussing valves and PLCs, we would be discussing different types of cocktail recipes in the office.” As I started to delve deeper into these sweet thoughts, I didn’t realise when I nodded off. But who cared – by then I was in dreamland and for a matter of fact, enjoying this delightful Malaysian ride!
A snapshot from the FM 2007: "Do you have what it takes??"....
1 comment:
Bunkr, I know what are you saying. Midway through the season and my table position is nothing to boast about really. Let's hope new year brings some cheer!
Yes btw! I go for pujas!
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