It's only Day 2 of the fast but already I feel like crap.
Woke up after a full "ayam a la J" dinner Sunday morning and guzzled two pots of coffee before realizing I'd already broken the rules... so sat with a couple of liters of Acehnese brew burning a hole in my belly for the better part of the day, trying to read, trying to sleep, trying to do anything but think about laying a couple pieces of bread in my gullet to head off the acid. By the time magrib rolled around I was twisted.
I woke today feeling a bit better. It's 5:08 now so only 90 minute or so to go. Gonna send Dede - my driver - out to pick up something to drink and maybe some bananas shortly.
I don't remember it being this hard last year. I think it is accumulated stress from dealing with issues on the home front.
I never got around to explaining the dynamic at Chateau Grinch in earlier posts. Since taking the place in June 2005 I've had to fire several housekeepers and one of the guards - we are required to have guards - for thieving. Most recently one of the roomies had a laptop pinched - what, did you think he wasn't going to notice? - and my ipod has gone missing as well a day before heading to Maldives on R&R. The other roomie reports his water dispenser has vanished from his room.
Turns out the housekeeper took the water dispenser, which only produced hot and scorching hot water, to her husband to be fixed. When he and various members of the extended family couldn't figure out how to fix it I guess they decided it looked good in the corner of their house so she never bothered to return it.
After recriminations and tears she offered to pay for the damn thing and then coughed up that Dyulfan had come into the house while we were on holidays and the place was empty, and walked off with the laptop.
I've been crushing down the desire to take a length of pipe to his head and instead developed an elaborate rus to get his home address. Roomie has some connections to local cops - having been interrogated, threatened and harassed over several years - and later this evening, once the evil one has returned to his home, they'll pounce.
Now the question becomes 'what next?'
What exactly has he stolen and what are the chances of actually getting any of it back? Will he cop to the thefts or end up in cells? Will he turn up at the house with a mob of his friends and family or try and take revenge on the maid? Arrggh.
Its amazing how many people have similar stories though. Just learned a friend had her camera stolen from her bedroom recently, others have had people slip into their homes at night to empty the refrigerator. Ask anyone you find a story.
At the same time I've got all kinds of work-related deadlines to meet over the next 10 days or so, and this after coming out of a pretty rough production cycle that began in late August.
And I wonder why my stomach is in knots.