Category Archives: Dirty Secrets

Two Birds One Stone

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I need to vent and I need to write a new post… I’m having one of those days where you feel like you haven’t done anything all day, didn’t accomplish anything and basically ended up doing everything you’d never planned for. I’ve been on the phone on and off with the hospital, with work, with the IT helpdesk, with the doctor’s assistant. I’ve been trying to solve an issue for two days in a row now and I’m becoming more and more impatient the longer it takes to solve the problem.

I’ve spent most of last week on filling in and sending out expenses claims for public transport and a dinner voucher which I’d received a couple of months ago. It takes at least half a day to sort this out as I have to do this separately for bus and train. It’s extremely time-consuming, not just sorting them but also having to fill in the forms. On top of that I had to take a compliancy test which took forever because I had to watch lots of informational movies and answer about 20+ questions.

I succeeded in the end but it took time… *again*. All of this had to be done before the 15th of this month. I realise it’s still early but I was already taking other things into consideration and in hindsight I’m glad I did. There’s also this evaluation that I need to write, a report about objectives and how and/or if you’ve achieved those. This is done through a web application that you had to fill out at the beginning of this year, back then you needed to set your goals for this year.

At the time I could easily access that tool but ever since I’ve tried to log in again I’m getting errors. Yesterday I had planned for writing this evaluation because I had finished all the chores and tasks that were on my to-do-list ahead of time in case something would go wrong. I didn’t want to find myself having to rush or being all stressed out for not planning this in time. I did… but of course, Murphy -once again- is sitting right next to me keeping me company for the last two days.

As I can’t access that tool, I can’t write the report, so the deadline of the 15th is getting closer each day. You might think ‘why doesn’t she call a helpdesk’… well I did. Our helpdesk is based on foreign grounds and most of the time incompetent, they put your ticket in the system, promise to call you back but never do. Let alone the moment they hear you mention the words ‘Apple Mac’, they instantly refuse help as they are not hired to give support for anything other than company laptops.

I’m a designer, I need my Mac as the company laptops don’t suffice, so I bought my own MacBook Air a while ago particularly for work. I got VPN access, I can access and use the mailserver through my mail client. But I don’t get support because I’m not mainstream thus an exception to the company rules. So far I’ve always managed to solve any (network related) problem even the VPN settings which were a pain to obtain and sort out. It took a while but I got the job done.

Each new policy becomes another drain as I have to deal with a multitude of intranet websites, logins and tools to work with. Ever since the company merged their systems with the global systems, it has been total chaos. I’ve managed to find workarounds or solved issues, just not today… nor yesterday. I’m anxiously waiting for thé phone call whilst day two is slowly ticking away. Pretty sure the problem will be solved next week, one day before the deadline, wanna bet?

Meantime I’m wondering, why am I getting so impatient… At least I’ve finished another post which was scheduled last week ;)

After Shock

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I’m an addict, I’m addicted to tv-series. Not the regular ones and no comedy, the ones that intrigue me, the ones that make me think about subjects. Monday night was the start of a new season of this show I’ve watched for years now. I remember seeing the first episode and I was shocked by the horror of the creatures that are a threat to mankind. I’m talking about The Walking Dead. At first these zombies creeped me out but after watching the show for a while you start to get used to the gore that’s being displayed. Deep down you realise it’s all fake and I must say that the make-up artists did an extremely good job at making things so realistic. Still everyone watching the show is aware of the fact that these creatures aren’t real.

I have a love hate relationship with this show. The storyline is often thrilling and the suspense is killing me just like the cliffhangers. I’m not the faint-hearted type and I enjoy a tacky horror movie at times but it’s different with this show. The people are ‘real’, the situation is ‘real’, it’s a new world with a new enemy, the zombies. Mankind needs to find ways to deal with them and new ways to survive. Through each season the protagonists were able to, made new friends and although there is a constant threat, they would find ways to pick up the pieces, move on and start building again. So far -watching six seasons- it has been shocking at times, people died in horrid ways, but the bad guys were always defeated by the good guys.

Last night I watched the start of the seventh season and was appalled by what was shown. It was not the gore, it was the interaction between the whole group of protagonists and the peronality called ‘Negan’ leader of a gang, who had taken them into captivity. It was the behaviour of this one manipulative, cruel, sadistic and ruthless person, an inhumane dictator, and even that doesn’t cover it. What was shown was some of the most upsetting images I’ve ever watched on TV. Negan hit one of the protagonists on the head with a baseball bat, so hard that his eye pops out. A few moments later he completely bashes his skull until nothing is left but a bloody mess. This was his second victim shown in extreme outrageously grotesque detail.

When the show was over I was left in shock, going over things again and again. I didn’t want to watch this show anymore, they’ve crossed that line to me and I really don’t understand how it’s possible that they show this on TV when other less cruel, less violent images are banned or censored straight away. I’ve looked up reviews to see how other people feel about this -as at first I thought it was just me- but most of them share my sentiments and thoughts. I’m left with a bleak overall feeling not sure what to make of it…