The Long(est) Weekend

Saturday 9th February 2008

This weekend was the longest weekend I've had since I went back to being gainfully employed. 

Not true to form, it was spent at home. With the husband. Late breakfasts on the kitchen island, late nights watching stupid Channel 5 movie reruns (a bone I'd like to pick in the near future) and one really late shopping trip to Mustafa which ended at 6am.

It was so normal. So typical. So cookie-cutter married couple behaviour. But it was nice. I miss that. I miss him. I miss spending that much uninterrupted time with him. The past six or seven months post-Emirates was more or less like that and dammit, I miss it.

I realize now that for three solid years, I took the whole arrangement of him being my colleague for granted. Even a month or so before we actually left Emirates, at the time we tendered and while serving the month-long notice itself, I didn't really savour having him there with me, for me, by me. I guess in the first place, the reality that I was going to leave my beloved Emirates and my lagi beloved Dubai didn't really sink in properly. 

I think when Azim and I made our difficult but necessary decision to bid adieu to Arabland, I went into partial denial. I guess that's why in the weeks and days leading up to my last day of service, I didn't really make an effort to take in the last bits of my life in Dubai. I went about everyday life like I was going to stay in Dubai for the next ten years (ironically....our initial plan!). 

So now, me missing Dubai is a given (here's hoping to me getting a Dubai flight as soon as I graduate...I will lepaskan geram like never before!) but with the realization that he's not with me in the same place anymore doing the same thing, I painfully acknowledge how much I miss him as well. It was not entirely easy working together, I'd be the first to admit. It was good because so much is shared but on the flipside, it can be hard because too much is shared. But for better or worse, he was there, he was around. That's my basic need met. I happy.

Now, I leave him every weekday at 8.15am and have to wait until after training is over, at 5.30pm, to see him. It was a little weird at first but I'm good at detaching myself temporarily from the real problem as a means to the end so I'm pining no more....well, not much more. But then again, it's just training. I'm not sure how well I'm going to handle it when I start flying per se but we'll see how things go. If it gets too bad, I'll force him to apply for and join SIA, like I forced him with Emirates four years ago. Heh. We'll see, we'll see.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not about to lock myself in the toilet in between classes or during flights, tersedu-sedu menangis, wringing my hands and whining for husband. Missing him does not equate to messing-up my mascara. Maintain is the mantra, ladies and gentlemen!

Anyway, I just found that out a friend's sister will be joining the ladies of the Blue Kebaya come April, after she graduates from school, good and proper! And another friend's sister just began training three weeks earlier! As much as I do realize that it's not my friends themselves who are joining but their sisters, I am pleased that there will be some sort of familiarity, a connection that I can call my own, one way or another. I personally feel a network within a new company, and such a huge company at that, is essential. Especially in any airline's cabin crew team. Bottom line is, the more people I know (and like) within SIA's 6000-strong (and growing) team, the better. Superficially, it does seem like I just want to add on to my social sums but basically, it's survival, baby! I'd make Maslow proud, I know. :P

Current situation: exam on Monday and I have hardly touched my notes. It's also not helping that other things suddenly seem more interesting, if not more urgent, like the ingrown toenail on the big toe of my right foot, Phatt's furry ears (getting furrier by the minute, they're starting to look like the ears of one of my JC teachers, Mr Muthu) and oh yeah, this post. If all else fails, cue in mindless humming of dangdut tunes (don't ask), long blank stares at the wall or scratching places on self that were not even itchy to begin with.

"View From The Top" is showing later tonight. Another more urgent matter to attend to. Mind-numbing, yes, but urgent nonetheless.

Guess who is feeling Gwyneth right now?

No, not me. Really.