I have to post this, because I think it’s kinda funny. On a very very long SERIOUS guide to giving blood page, this is the last bit:

I weigh less than 45kg. Can I donate?

The amount of blood your body contains is proportional to your weight. If you weigh below 45Kg, a standard blood donation is too high a proportion of your tital blood volume and for this reason you are not eligible to donate.

Is there an upper limit for weight?

Yes there is an upper safe limit as well and this relates to the maximum safe capacity of our chairs, which may vary from site to site.

Something I found somewhere in my PC in a file called “test.txt”. Who knows what I was thinking that time.

a reality chaser a foolish dreamer
a shielded figure, wishes make her weak
a believer, of miracles
a rebel, with obedience
a fighter a tired one

So last Friday was my last day at the company I worked at. Everybody was so nice and the day felt somehow special. I went lunch with a whole bunch of people, including the company’s manager and my project manager. At the end of the day they got me cake (with my name on it!), giant card with everybody’s messages in it (so typical but still nice :), gave me hugs, took team’s pictures, and just hung around for a while. I just realized how I made impact to the company and the people in it. It just looks to me that they tried hard to make me feel that they do value all my hard work during my time there. Whatever bumps that I had was probably just miscommunication. Anyway, we all left things in good note. It was really a good day. During the 1.5 years I worked there, there’s never anybody who got a cake on their last day, so yeah I felt pretty special :D

Oh, I had a cocktail and a tequila at lunch. Now I know how to drink a tequila! Form your hand into a fist, lick the side of your hand, put some salt on it, hold a tequila shot on 1 hand and the lemon slice on the other. The procedure is lick the salt, have the tequila in 1 shot (must be really quick, otherwise it’ll burn and taste horrible), and bite the lemon. For me sounds there’s just too much ritual to drink a small glass of strong alcohol. But o well, it’s all for the fun, hey? Took me long minutes to decide whether I was gonna do it (and my friend took all those minutes with his video camera) . I was just a bit worried that it’s gonna burn so bad and my body react harder that I was prepared for. But it was all cool, nobody died or anything, just a very hot afternoon =9.

They made me had a speech (well I kinda saw that coming). Boy, do I really need to practice speaking in public. I said something like:
“mhh… Well the first time I joined the company, I think I was the first female developer… I felt a bit intimidated… to be the only girl among 50-something guys.. but everybody has been so nice, so over time I got to talk to more people.. mumbles.. well I wish that I got a chance to know more people, but… yeah… Thanks everybody, for being so nice and supportive.. thank you..”

And this is what I actually wanted to say:
“1.5 year ago when I joined the company, I was the first and only female developer. It felt a bit intimidating at first, to work among 50+ guys. That’s why I was a bit quiet at the beginning. Well I still am a bit, but that time it was pretty bad. At my first review, K (the boss) asked me to talk more with people, because I was too quiet. But I found everybody was actually very nice and over the time I got to talk and know quite a lot of people. Then when E (another girl) came, it helped quite a bit. I’m happy to see there were more females in the company (we had 1 programmer - me, 1 QA, 1 artist, and 1 receptionist among 60+ guys just right before I left). The company has been truly a friendly environment for women to work at, that I would recommend girl developers, if I know any, to come and work here. I wish I got chance to know more people here. I do hope to meet or even work again with some of you in the future. I am still in the game industry so we’re still swimming in the same mud. I do think we WILL meet again somewhere down the path. Thanks everyone, for all the cooperation, support, and especially, the friendship.”

It’s not impressive or anything, but it would’ve been better than the short mumbles I had before.

I really should start getting used to being the only girl, especially in this industry. Although I have heaps of guy friends and find it easier to make friends with guys, I still find it a tad difficult to be in all-male environment (Note that it’s not male-dominated. It’s ALL-male environment!). It’s all about the beginning part. After a few months, I wouldn’t find any problem. But the first few weeks could be terrifying. Hopefully I’ll handle it better as I grow.

The last day was both a happy and sad day for me. It just hit me that I would miss so many people in the company. The messages were touching. A few unexpected ones too.

I had dinner with fewer folks later that night and had our last bitching session :D (You know, just the time when you talk about other people in the company). Another ex-colleague is going to leave Melbourne too, so it’s sort of like his goodbye party as well. He gave me his copy of Dreamfall, wrapped in ex-Christmas wrapping paper (how touching :). So excited! I will play it as soon as I have a decent computer to play it on…

I think there’s something about working in a game company.
We had fun. We really did.