Hung Out to Dry

I was late to work on Monday because I was cleaning up for the cleaners. Turns out it was a good move.

Yesterday I got a call from the landlord. 

The cleaners have banded together and made some decisions on my behalf.

I need to follow a better laundry process.

I shouldn't be using the dryer. Yes, shouldn't. 

In future I will be hanging my clothes outside to dry. Will indeed.

So now I am the proud owner of a contraption which has been placed "Downstairs next to the pool - on the right – the dry side".  I remember the pool as being quite wet on all sides but who am I to argue?

The deal is that I wash my clothes and leave them on top of the washing machine. The cleaners will take the clothes, string them up on this dry side, take them in when they are dry, fold them and put them away.

They love me. 

And I love them.

My next goal is to get them to wash the clothes in the first place. Lazy bitches.

Earth Hour

Last week our company held a competition for Earth Hour. I only caught the tail end of it, meaning I didn't even know about it until Dinh was announced as the winner of the iPod. She was not simply announced as the winner, but “the sole winner for the VOTE EARTH contest” who “shared what thoughts were on her minds and why she cared about our planet.”.

During this hour, competitors were asked to reflect on how they spent this particular hour and what it all means to them. They then emailed their thoughts to some four-eyed administration assistant in Ho Chi Minh City who no doubt wasted a week’s pay ranking them.

When her victory was announced, Dinh’s written entry was published alongside this glorious news. 

What a winner she turned out to be. Here are some highlights:

“This is the first time all the electrical equipment in my house are turned off ...”

[Strong out of the blocks, Dinh.]

“During this dark hour, I feel hungry as the stomach asks me for some foods ...”

[Awww … this is just plain cute …]

“Earth Hour is really a Smart Hour when it seems that I have gone through all the comments of Smarter Food ...”

[Getting hungry, lapsing in and out of consciousness. I start to realise that she won because no one knew what she was talking about. ]

“I turn on my laptop and look for smart food ...”

[Huh? WHAT?? DINH!!! This is supposed to be Earth Hour!!! The No Power Hour!!! What are you doing switching on your laptop and hungrily scouring the net?]

“And I took this photo of my time.”

[Good to see that she lit up the planet with her flash during this symbolic hour of darkness.]

"I wish to have another Earth Hour to go with the rest of Smarters :-)"

[Firstly, this doesn’t make sense. Secondly, under Dinh's definition of an Earth Hour she could have another quite easily.]

All this and Dinh now has a shiny new iPod.

I jumped onto the Earth Hour website to find a loophole through which I could appeal. I expected the Comments section to be crammed with earthy people: mainly with hippies and divorced people. Surely their inspiring words would prove a lack of commitment on Dinh’s part.

This from JennyGoGo:

 “I've NEVER voted on Idol...but if Adam makes top two, I'm throwing down to solicit every vote on Earth for that boy!!”

For one, I get the feeling that  JennyGoGo has voted on Idol many, many times. She also makes Dinh look like Al Gore.