I should be working, but I am really grumpy. And not able to see how faith, humility, courage, DEFINITELY not grace nor humour comes into the equation. And if fafalynx can bitch about work all the time on his blog, so can I.
It is Sunday. I am sleep-deprived. I have a job next week - the conditions are not perfect. I know what needs to be done - I am just too bloody blech about the situation to run with it.
It's like there's a call for the brighter, shinier version of me - seems like there always is these days! which is getting harder and harder for me to pick up. Maybe one day I just won't, and see what happens. George Orwell says: You have talked so often on going to the dogs - and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it. It takes off alot of anxiety.
I have always been afraid of the dogs.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
The Evening News
The Taiwanese are angry.
The Muslim are upset.
Living with others has got to be one of the hardest, longest lessons to be learnt in life. When does providing for oneself cross the line to greed? And what happens if upholding your most sacred beliefs means attacking that of another person’s?
I guess the question is, is it really necessary? Truthfully, to you and not for the perception of anybody else, is it really necessary?
Do the family and friends really need to be rolling in money to be considered comfortable? Was the comment on Prophet Muhamad really necessary to put across that wars in the name of God cannot really be in the name of God?
Humans are hopelessly flawed, no matter who we are. For that reason alone, let’s never kid ourselves that any of us are above the other. Tread slowly and listen hard to voices other than your own. Everyone owes each other that much.
The Muslim are upset.
Living with others has got to be one of the hardest, longest lessons to be learnt in life. When does providing for oneself cross the line to greed? And what happens if upholding your most sacred beliefs means attacking that of another person’s?
I guess the question is, is it really necessary? Truthfully, to you and not for the perception of anybody else, is it really necessary?
Do the family and friends really need to be rolling in money to be considered comfortable? Was the comment on Prophet Muhamad really necessary to put across that wars in the name of God cannot really be in the name of God?
Humans are hopelessly flawed, no matter who we are. For that reason alone, let’s never kid ourselves that any of us are above the other. Tread slowly and listen hard to voices other than your own. Everyone owes each other that much.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Lumut to me is one of those places in Malaysia which is rather well-known, yet strangely does not have a proper highway exit. You get here either by getting off the North-South Highway at Bidor, Changkat something, or Gopeng/Batu Gajah and it’s a good 1-2 hours of trunk road journey from there.
Anyway, how to get to Lumut isn’t the point of this entry. What you do once you get here is. Apart from Pulau Pangkor which I bet people here don’t go to everyday, there is well, not much.
Today a colleague and I went to Teluk Batik, a beach about 15-20 minutes from Lumut. In not so many words, it’s like Port Dickson - not as dirty, but just about as enchanting. I think the best thing about our visit was this bunch of guys who were burying two of their friends in the sand, and making a real effort of it. At the end, one guy had sand boobs with pebble nipples and another had a coconut frond in a beer bottle vase stuck by his side. Very entertaining, but rather disturbing as well to watch grown men do this with the fervour of 12-year olds. And the artistry of Martha Stewart.
So what am I doing? Actually with the lack of the very-global Astro, I am watching local channels and learning quite a bit. Like:
1. there's a whole flush of local reality programs apart from Malaysian Idol
2. there are Malaysian teenagers who actually don’t know how many years we’ve been independent
3. there's this program that talks about restoring our old cinemas which I thought nobody cared about
4. the "I'm Not Stupid" series is surprisingly funny and real for something Singaporean, and
5. that there IS an updated version of the Adabi spice mix advertisement
I have another week to go - let's see what else comes my way.
Anyway, how to get to Lumut isn’t the point of this entry. What you do once you get here is. Apart from Pulau Pangkor which I bet people here don’t go to everyday, there is well, not much.
Today a colleague and I went to Teluk Batik, a beach about 15-20 minutes from Lumut. In not so many words, it’s like Port Dickson - not as dirty, but just about as enchanting. I think the best thing about our visit was this bunch of guys who were burying two of their friends in the sand, and making a real effort of it. At the end, one guy had sand boobs with pebble nipples and another had a coconut frond in a beer bottle vase stuck by his side. Very entertaining, but rather disturbing as well to watch grown men do this with the fervour of 12-year olds. And the artistry of Martha Stewart.
So what am I doing? Actually with the lack of the very-global Astro, I am watching local channels and learning quite a bit. Like:
1. there's a whole flush of local reality programs apart from Malaysian Idol
2. there are Malaysian teenagers who actually don’t know how many years we’ve been independent
3. there's this program that talks about restoring our old cinemas which I thought nobody cared about
4. the "I'm Not Stupid" series is surprisingly funny and real for something Singaporean, and
5. that there IS an updated version of the Adabi spice mix advertisement
I have another week to go - let's see what else comes my way.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Attagirl
My favourite women in movies are Kate Hudson playing Penny Lane in Almost Famous and Zhou Xun playing Sun Na in Perhaps Love.
Why are these characters so great? Because although their lives were not perfect, they were fabulous, as my friend Jo would say. They made choices, not excuses and bit all of their own bullets. Right between the teeth, and with a smile too because as a chick lit I once read rightly pointed out - there is nothing more unattractive in this world than bitterness.
After which of course, since it’s a movie (but I do believe in life imitating art and vice-versa), they prevail. Stronger, a bit battered but so much wiser and on their way to the next discovery.
I think that’s a really good way to live.
thanks to http://penny-lane5.livejournal.com/ for the almost famous icon - nice work!
Why are these characters so great? Because although their lives were not perfect, they were fabulous, as my friend Jo would say. They made choices, not excuses and bit all of their own bullets. Right between the teeth, and with a smile too because as a chick lit I once read rightly pointed out - there is nothing more unattractive in this world than bitterness. After which of course, since it’s a movie (but I do believe in life imitating art and vice-versa), they prevail. Stronger, a bit battered but so much wiser and on their way to the next discovery.I think that’s a really good way to live.
thanks to http://penny-lane5.livejournal.com/ for the almost famous icon - nice work!
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Rollercoaster
There are times in life when you fear. I don’t that think anyone has spoken about dealing with it quite as eloquently as Morrie Schwartz, so I will step aside and let him tell you himself:
By throwing yourself into these emotions, allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what fear is. Recognize its’ texture, moisture, the shiver down the back, the quick flash of heat that crosses your brain - then you are able to say, “Okay. This is fear. Step away from it. Step away.”
- adapted from Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom -
For me, fear is when the mind closes in (this usually happens when I find myself in a dentist’s chair or eye-to-eye with a doctor’s syringe). Fingertips turn cold and there are walls everywhere I turn. I want to grasp blindly.
How on earth does one step away? I think as with all other quagmires, you hang on to someone or something and heave. I think that the someone(s) are those who love you enough to somehow will things to work out, and the something is your faith and perspective.
Hold on. It will pass - like rollercoaster rides, waiting IS the worst part. Let's do a day at a time and before you know it, we'll be on the sunny-side-up again. You are one of the most fearless persons I know.
By throwing yourself into these emotions, allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what fear is. Recognize its’ texture, moisture, the shiver down the back, the quick flash of heat that crosses your brain - then you are able to say, “Okay. This is fear. Step away from it. Step away.”
- adapted from Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom -
For me, fear is when the mind closes in (this usually happens when I find myself in a dentist’s chair or eye-to-eye with a doctor’s syringe). Fingertips turn cold and there are walls everywhere I turn. I want to grasp blindly.
How on earth does one step away? I think as with all other quagmires, you hang on to someone or something and heave. I think that the someone(s) are those who love you enough to somehow will things to work out, and the something is your faith and perspective.
Hold on. It will pass - like rollercoaster rides, waiting IS the worst part. Let's do a day at a time and before you know it, we'll be on the sunny-side-up again. You are one of the most fearless persons I know.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Listen
There's just something really great about American country music. The ones I like at least, and I won't pretend that I'm a seasoned listener or whatever.
Maybe it's the bang-on-the-nail lyrics, honest-to-goodness tunes, how it escapes being corny while rhyming or maybe simply because it doesn't try too hard.
Neil Young: When God Made Me. Spot on. All the right questions.
Dixie Chicks: Landslide. Brings back memories, but good ones now from where i'm looking.
Keith Urban: You'll Think of Me. Now that's a real man's breakup song. Nick Lachey, please take whatever's left of you and get some lessons.
Apologies for being technologically-challenged; would've put in some clever links for you peops to sample the music if I knew how to.
Maybe it's the bang-on-the-nail lyrics, honest-to-goodness tunes, how it escapes being corny while rhyming or maybe simply because it doesn't try too hard.
Neil Young: When God Made Me. Spot on. All the right questions.
Dixie Chicks: Landslide. Brings back memories, but good ones now from where i'm looking.
Keith Urban: You'll Think of Me. Now that's a real man's breakup song. Nick Lachey, please take whatever's left of you and get some lessons.
Apologies for being technologically-challenged; would've put in some clever links for you peops to sample the music if I knew how to.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
It Ain't A Party
I work in an accounting firm, a Big 4 if you like. In such a firm, everyone in and out of the business knows that faces change faster than a Chinese Bianlian show.
Having said that, I will give you a first-hand account of what it’s like.
Corny but true and I make no apologies, it’s rather like the America’s Next Top Model lineup on TV - where each week one character fades from the picture until at the end, there is that last one standing. Only in this case, you don’t really know what you’ve won.
The next starry-eyed batch comes along (just like TV the show must go on, you see) and camaraderie has to be rebuilt, jokes retold, and friendships reforged. It gets old, and shockingly after not-quite 4 years of this jazz, I am tired.
Yes, work is just work, but somehow the workplace is not all about work is it? Unless you are from the cold-hearted, single-minded, climb-ladder-at-all-costs kind of school, the people who run the mill with you everyday do matter.
In short; allizdavidsengfunpohsuandilloncharleswaichoongcheliangjusttomentionafew, you are greatly missed. Group trips are not the same without you.
Having said that, I will give you a first-hand account of what it’s like.
Corny but true and I make no apologies, it’s rather like the America’s Next Top Model lineup on TV - where each week one character fades from the picture until at the end, there is that last one standing. Only in this case, you don’t really know what you’ve won.
The next starry-eyed batch comes along (just like TV the show must go on, you see) and camaraderie has to be rebuilt, jokes retold, and friendships reforged. It gets old, and shockingly after not-quite 4 years of this jazz, I am tired.
Yes, work is just work, but somehow the workplace is not all about work is it? Unless you are from the cold-hearted, single-minded, climb-ladder-at-all-costs kind of school, the people who run the mill with you everyday do matter.
In short; allizdavidsengfunpohsuandilloncharleswaichoongcheliangjusttomentionafew, you are greatly missed. Group trips are not the same without you.
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