Going blind

I printed some material for my manager and myself to read yesterday. We were both to take it home and come back the next morning to discuss on it. I was in a rush printing out the materials as I had to head off to another client's place. In my rush, I did not notice how small the fonts were!

This morning, when I came into the office, I quickly put my stuff down and looked for my manager. Phew..I wasn't that late. She was on the phone. So, I sametimed her, "Hey, I'm going to re-print the walkthrough documentations. The one I printed out last night was too small!!" To my not-so surprise, she replied "Yes! I was trying to read the whole night but couldn't!"

Apparently, she had tried to read the walkthroughs till 12 the previous night. She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her so she went to bed. She later woke up at 6 am, attempting to read it again. Then she realised that it wasn't her eyes that were playing tricks on her. It was the font that was too small. For example, try reading the following:

BANGKOK : Senior officials in Thaksin Shinawatra's party have insisted that Thailand's next prime minister would not be his puppet.

"No one would allow themselves to be prime minister in name only. Everyone has dignity, honour and self-esteem. The next prime minister will prove himself through his actions," acting prime minister Chidchai Vanasathidya told reporters amid growing concern over the influence of the outgoing premier.

Thaksin chose his top deputy Chidchai to take the reins of government while he takes a "political break".

Thaksin shocked the nation Tuesday when he announced that he would not take the post of prime minister when the new parliament convenes, even though his party took 56 percent of the vote in last weekend's elections.

Chidchai also dismissed concerns about the power Thaksin would continue to wield as leader of his party and as a parliamentarian.

"He clearly announced that he had withdrawn and will not play any significant role," Chidchai said.

The top candidate to become the new prime minister appears to be Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, a business heavyweight and friend of Thaksin.

Somkid has emerged as the top choice of Bangkok voters and of business leaders, and he has been mentioned by Thaksin as one of the leading contenders to take his place.

Finance Minister Thanong Bidaya urged the public to trust Somkid if he takes the job.

"It would be very hard for him to become anyone's puppet because he's a technocrat and he's very straightforward," Thanong said.

The new prime minister would be charged mainly with overseeing political reforms -- a key demand of the opposition, which boycotted last weekend's polls, leading to a strong protest vote that undermined Thaksin's win, Thanong said.

Anti-Thaksin protesters who led two months of demonstrations against him plan a new rally Friday to demand that he leave politics entirely.

The People's Alliance for Democracy, which led two months of protests to pressure Thaksin to resign, also plans to lay out new demands to minimize his influence at a rally in central Bangkok.

The billionaire turned politician announced Tuesday he would not accept the post of prime minister when a new parliament convenes, even though his party won a majority of votes in last weekend's election.

But he said he would retain his seat in parliament and keep control of the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party, which has led his rivals to fear that he will continue to exert a powerful role in government.

"I think Thaksin has a lot of power in Thailand, especially over the economy," said Suthatip Puangket, a 31-year-old student who supports the protests.

"I don't agree with his politics. Protests are tools for the situation, or else no one could stand up and fight Thaksin.

" Many of the activists that joined together to form the Alliance have already announced a new campaign, ahead of Senate elections on April 19, to urge the public to vote against candidates with links to Thaksin.

They also say they want stronger checks to reign in the powers of the new prime minister.

"Checks and balances mechanisms have been distorted," former senator Jon Ungphakorn told the Bangkok Post in announcing the new campaign.

Polls have shown that Bangkok's population is growing weary of the demonstrations, with some 87 percent in a survey Wednesday saying the protests should stop.

Mass protests against Thaksin began in early February after his family sold 1.9 billion dollars of shares in Shin Corp, the telecoms firm he founded before entering politics, without paying taxes.

The events have left Thailand in uncharted political waters and raised demands for constitutional reform to limit the influence of the prime minister, strengthen the legislature and introduce more checks and balances.

By-elections are scheduled for 39 seats on April 23 and the opposition Democrat Party has also threatened court challenges over election irregularities.

The Democrats have again refused to field candidates in the by-elections, creating a hurdle for Thaksin's party because unopposed candidates must win at least 20 percent of the vote to take office.

The tactic casts doubt on whether the seats will be filled and a parliament will be in place by May 1.

Ok, now imagine you have about 100 pages of that to read. Insane isn't it?

So I was like.."Omg...yes. Sorry, it was so hard to read, I just read 1 or 2 pages and gave up."

But she had already read about 6-7 pages as she did not want to appear unprepared for our meeting.

Oh well..must remember to check my prints before handing it to the manager or anyone else in the future.