"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man." -Frederich Nietzche
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thought of the Day
"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man." -Frederich Nietzche
Friday, September 12, 2008
Cloths of Heaven
I love this poem. It's so simple; there is neither flatulence nor bombastic words.
The author uses the same word to form the poem's rhyme- Cloth with cloth, light with light.
Beautiful.
: ) Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do :)
Cloths of Heaven
by William Butler Yeats
Had I the Heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
The author uses the same word to form the poem's rhyme- Cloth with cloth, light with light.
Beautiful.
: ) Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do :)
Cloths of Heaven
by William Butler Yeats
Had I the Heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Strategy of Preeminence
"The strategy of preeminence is quite simply the ability to put your clients' needs always ahead of your own." -Jay Abraham
Have not blogged for quite some time. Some of you may already know that I'm currently working in the sales line at Comics Connection (Causeway Point). Recently a competitor (PlayCraft) has opened just next door to my outlet. Their strategy is to outplay us based on lower prices.
One particular incident today that is of interest to me is my encounter was a couple (in their late 30s) who was looking for a PlayStation Portable (PSP) for a boy residing in America.
They came to my outlet and inquired about the price of the PSP. I replied that our basic set is retailing for 280 dollars. They gave me a friendly feedback that our competitor was retailing for only 268 and asked me what's the difference between our sets. Fortunately, I did my homework and explained to them that although both of our sets are an export set, we provided 1 year warranty whereas PlayCraft only provided 3 months warranty.
In terms of pure monetary comparison, obviously PlayCraft has a better offer since a set brought into America will not be able to benefit from a longer period of Warranty. I advised them that for their needs, it would be better to purchase from PlayCraft instead of ours and joked to them that I had committed a cardinal sin by recommending them to our competitors. They laughed about it, thanked me and left my store.
It was pretty demoralizing for me since I had not made a single console sale today which is my worst day in the 2 month period I have worked here. I was wondering whether it was wise for me to apply Jay Abraham's Strategy of Preeminence- to protect my client's needs above my own.
Just before I ended my day, the couple came back to me with a warm smile and greeted me with a cheerful "I'm back! We're here to buy a PSP from you. *laughter*" I was pleasantly surprised and confused. I had to ask for a reason. "Hi! Was PlayCraft not good enough for you?" Their reply:
"We're back because of what you said before- the cardinal sin part."
I suspect that they purchased from me because I decided to protect their interest over my own. If my hypothesis is true, what Jay Abraham describes as Altruism, makes business sense and works hand in hand with a sound philosophical strategy.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Faith
"There’s no test for the theist that can displace his faith in God. If God fails there must be something wrong with the test or else with the theist’s interpretation of the results. It’s the same with a political ideologue too, a communist or an evangelical free marketer. It’s not ever possible to displace an article of faith." -Elliot Perlman
I recall a story from the series Firefly. For clarity's sake, I'll simplify the story to its' main essence. In the story, a two thieves stole millions of dollars from the safe of the King of country where the people were bound by slavery. As the thieves made his escape on a plane, the plane's wing was shot and was only able to carry the weight of one passenger. In order to survive, one unscrupulous thief (Jack) tossed out his accomplice friend and all of the stolen money out of the plane.
10 years later, Jack returned to the country and to his surprise, he realized that the slave people had enacted a statue modelled to his looks and began worshipping him as a god. He later discovered that, the slaves regarded him as their "Saviour" because according to them, he had stolen the money from their tyrant king and distributed it to them akin to the modern Robin Hood. He accepted their gratitude until he later discovered by his accomplice thief (who had miraculously survived). His accomplice, enraged at the injustice, destroyed his statue and attempted to expose Jack's facade to the slave people. However, the slaves refused to accept any reasonable explanation provided, and accused Jack's accomplice of "blasphemy." To punish Jack's accomplish, they decided to put him to death.
At this point of time, Jack's conscience pricked and felt guilty. Just before Jack's accomplice was killed, Jack admitted that what his accomplice said was true. The slaves were dumbfounded. How could their god be so imperfect, and how could their salvation have been purely a mistake committed by a petty thief? Surely there must have been a mistake somewhere?
I don't want to drag this story any further. However, I find it particularly interesting that a few days later after this incident, these slaves rebuilt the statue of Jack, even while after knowing that their god was not a real one.
Now, extrapolate, this story to the reality of our religious world and the number of people who believes in their religion blindly through the use of faith. It makes a lot of sense. I pondering, what is it that makes these slaves, rebuild the statue of Jack? When I posed this question to a number of my peers, many of them said along these lines that "everyone needs a hero" or "to live, the slaves needed hope. Jack was their hope. To stop hoping is to die."
In the book, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, it narrates the reaction of Albert Einstein's famous article advocating his stand on: "I do not believe in a personal God". The president of a historical society in New Jersey responded to Albert Einsteins' letter:
"We respect your learning, Dr Einstein; but there is one thing you do not seem to have learned: that God is a spirit and cannot be found through the telescope or microscope, no more than a human thought or emotion can be found by analyzing the brain. As everyone knows, religion is based on Faith, not knowledge. Every thinking person, perhaps, is assailed at times with religious doubt. My own faith has wavered many a time. But I never told anyone of my spiritual abberations for two reasons: (1) I feared that I might, by mere suggestion, disturb and damage the life and hopes of some fellow being; (2) because I agree with the writer who said. "There is a mean streak in anyone who will destroy another's faith." . . . I hope, Dr Einstein, that you were misquoted and that you will yet say something more pleasing to the vast number of the American people who delight to do you honor."
When I read this verbatim, I can come a little closer to understanding why Jack's accomplice was attacked- he had damaged the life and hopes of many people.
Throughout history, hundreds of thousands of people have died in the name of religious wars or other forms of bloodshed in the name of their personal god or gods. Because of this, I find it worth doing a little reading up on the reasons of why I should continue being a Christian. It's like opening Pandora's box. Research has proven that conservatism, which includes religious people are statistically happier than liberalism (which includes people who do not believe in a supernatural interventionist). Being a person who cannot be satisfied with blind faith anymore, I have decided to open my personal Pandora's box.
What I have discovered is on the basis of science and reason, there is no rational justification that provides evidence that God does indeed exist. In fact, after reading Richard Dawkin's book, I find it an aberration that many people often have misquoted Albert Einstein's works. I can take one example from a website that I've found:
http://www.heaven.net.nz/answers/answer02.htm
The author tries to prove that the Christian God exists by saying:
"Galileo, Leonardo DaVinci, Albert Einstein and even Stephen Hawking believe in God and many other thinking people."
In any case, even if 2 Billion people believes something is true, it does not necessarily mean it is so. Think. Matrix. There is such a thing as a Jonas Effect.
Another misquoted example is "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
If you however, read Albert Einstein's works, you will realize that he also said this:
"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings."
Misleading don't you think? It just isn't right to use Albert Einstein's God to prove the existence of the Christian God since both entities are mutually exclusive.
Well in any case, my religious faith is shaken entirely. And I'm only on Chapter three of Dawkin's book. If I am to remain a Christian, my sole motivation will be on the grounds of "blind faith".
I recall a story from the series Firefly. For clarity's sake, I'll simplify the story to its' main essence. In the story, a two thieves stole millions of dollars from the safe of the King of country where the people were bound by slavery. As the thieves made his escape on a plane, the plane's wing was shot and was only able to carry the weight of one passenger. In order to survive, one unscrupulous thief (Jack) tossed out his accomplice friend and all of the stolen money out of the plane.
10 years later, Jack returned to the country and to his surprise, he realized that the slave people had enacted a statue modelled to his looks and began worshipping him as a god. He later discovered that, the slaves regarded him as their "Saviour" because according to them, he had stolen the money from their tyrant king and distributed it to them akin to the modern Robin Hood. He accepted their gratitude until he later discovered by his accomplice thief (who had miraculously survived). His accomplice, enraged at the injustice, destroyed his statue and attempted to expose Jack's facade to the slave people. However, the slaves refused to accept any reasonable explanation provided, and accused Jack's accomplice of "blasphemy." To punish Jack's accomplish, they decided to put him to death.
At this point of time, Jack's conscience pricked and felt guilty. Just before Jack's accomplice was killed, Jack admitted that what his accomplice said was true. The slaves were dumbfounded. How could their god be so imperfect, and how could their salvation have been purely a mistake committed by a petty thief? Surely there must have been a mistake somewhere?
I don't want to drag this story any further. However, I find it particularly interesting that a few days later after this incident, these slaves rebuilt the statue of Jack, even while after knowing that their god was not a real one.
Now, extrapolate, this story to the reality of our religious world and the number of people who believes in their religion blindly through the use of faith. It makes a lot of sense. I pondering, what is it that makes these slaves, rebuild the statue of Jack? When I posed this question to a number of my peers, many of them said along these lines that "everyone needs a hero" or "to live, the slaves needed hope. Jack was their hope. To stop hoping is to die."
In the book, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, it narrates the reaction of Albert Einstein's famous article advocating his stand on: "I do not believe in a personal God". The president of a historical society in New Jersey responded to Albert Einsteins' letter:
"We respect your learning, Dr Einstein; but there is one thing you do not seem to have learned: that God is a spirit and cannot be found through the telescope or microscope, no more than a human thought or emotion can be found by analyzing the brain. As everyone knows, religion is based on Faith, not knowledge. Every thinking person, perhaps, is assailed at times with religious doubt. My own faith has wavered many a time. But I never told anyone of my spiritual abberations for two reasons: (1) I feared that I might, by mere suggestion, disturb and damage the life and hopes of some fellow being; (2) because I agree with the writer who said. "There is a mean streak in anyone who will destroy another's faith." . . . I hope, Dr Einstein, that you were misquoted and that you will yet say something more pleasing to the vast number of the American people who delight to do you honor."
When I read this verbatim, I can come a little closer to understanding why Jack's accomplice was attacked- he had damaged the life and hopes of many people.
Throughout history, hundreds of thousands of people have died in the name of religious wars or other forms of bloodshed in the name of their personal god or gods. Because of this, I find it worth doing a little reading up on the reasons of why I should continue being a Christian. It's like opening Pandora's box. Research has proven that conservatism, which includes religious people are statistically happier than liberalism (which includes people who do not believe in a supernatural interventionist). Being a person who cannot be satisfied with blind faith anymore, I have decided to open my personal Pandora's box.
What I have discovered is on the basis of science and reason, there is no rational justification that provides evidence that God does indeed exist. In fact, after reading Richard Dawkin's book, I find it an aberration that many people often have misquoted Albert Einstein's works. I can take one example from a website that I've found:
http://www.heaven.net.nz/answers/answer02.htm
The author tries to prove that the Christian God exists by saying:
"Galileo, Leonardo DaVinci, Albert Einstein and even Stephen Hawking believe in God and many other thinking people."
In any case, even if 2 Billion people believes something is true, it does not necessarily mean it is so. Think. Matrix. There is such a thing as a Jonas Effect.
Another misquoted example is "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
If you however, read Albert Einstein's works, you will realize that he also said this:
"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings."
Misleading don't you think? It just isn't right to use Albert Einstein's God to prove the existence of the Christian God since both entities are mutually exclusive.
Well in any case, my religious faith is shaken entirely. And I'm only on Chapter three of Dawkin's book. If I am to remain a Christian, my sole motivation will be on the grounds of "blind faith".
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Post exam
I usually try to avoid blogging about the opening of a book unless it's awesome. Really Awesome. Just yesterday, I re-borrowed The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera from Qier to re-read. As many of you all know, my final university exams are officially over. This means that Mok is going to be super free from now on and it also means that I'll be able to devote more time on things that really matter. For example, reading books and spending quality time with my friends. This excludes all work related things like, preparing my work resume (yes, believe it. I don't have one yet). As a matter of fact, I'm not exactly excited to working for the sake of keeping my wallet fat.
Back to the super awesome opening of this book. Ready? It goes like this:
Back to the super awesome opening of this book. Ready? It goes like this:
The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum! What does this mad myth signify?
Putting it negatively, the myth of eternal return states that a life which disappears once and for all, which does not return, is like a shadow, without weight, dead in advance, and whether it was horrible, beautiful, or sublime, its horror, sublimity and beauty mean nothing. We need no more note of it than of a war between two African kingdoms in the fourteenth century, a war that altered nothing in the destiny of the world, even if a hundred thousand blacks perished in excruciating torment.
Will the war between two African kingdoms in the fourteenth century itself be altered if it recurs again and again, in eternal return?
It will: it will become a solid mass, permanently protuberant, its inanity irreparable.
If the French Revolution were to recur eternally, French historians would be less proud of Robespierre. But because they deal with something that will not return, the bloody years of the Revolution have turned into mere words, theories, and discussions, have become lighter than feathers, frightening no one. There is an infinite difference between a Robespierre who occurs only once in history and a Robespierre who eternally returns, chopping off French heads.
Let us therefore agree that the idea of eternal return implies a perspective from which things appear other than as we know them: they appear without the mitigating circumstance of their transitory nature. This mitigating circumstance prevents us from coming to a verdict. For how can we condemn something that is ephemeral, in transit? In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia, even the guillotine.
Not long ago, I caught myself experiencing a most incredible sensation. Leafing through a book on Hitler, I was touched by some of his portraits: they reminded me of my childhood. I grew up during the war; several members of my family perished in Hitler's concentration camps; but what were their deaths compared with the memories of a lost period in my life, a period that would never return?
This reconciliation with Hitler reveals the profound moral perversity of a world that rests essentially on the nonexistence of return, for in this world everything is pardoned in advance and therefore everything cynically permitted.
Reading good books like this just makes examinations seem so trivial and insignificant.
Putting it negatively, the myth of eternal return states that a life which disappears once and for all, which does not return, is like a shadow, without weight, dead in advance, and whether it was horrible, beautiful, or sublime, its horror, sublimity and beauty mean nothing. We need no more note of it than of a war between two African kingdoms in the fourteenth century, a war that altered nothing in the destiny of the world, even if a hundred thousand blacks perished in excruciating torment.
Will the war between two African kingdoms in the fourteenth century itself be altered if it recurs again and again, in eternal return?
It will: it will become a solid mass, permanently protuberant, its inanity irreparable.
If the French Revolution were to recur eternally, French historians would be less proud of Robespierre. But because they deal with something that will not return, the bloody years of the Revolution have turned into mere words, theories, and discussions, have become lighter than feathers, frightening no one. There is an infinite difference between a Robespierre who occurs only once in history and a Robespierre who eternally returns, chopping off French heads.
Let us therefore agree that the idea of eternal return implies a perspective from which things appear other than as we know them: they appear without the mitigating circumstance of their transitory nature. This mitigating circumstance prevents us from coming to a verdict. For how can we condemn something that is ephemeral, in transit? In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia, even the guillotine.
Not long ago, I caught myself experiencing a most incredible sensation. Leafing through a book on Hitler, I was touched by some of his portraits: they reminded me of my childhood. I grew up during the war; several members of my family perished in Hitler's concentration camps; but what were their deaths compared with the memories of a lost period in my life, a period that would never return?
This reconciliation with Hitler reveals the profound moral perversity of a world that rests essentially on the nonexistence of return, for in this world everything is pardoned in advance and therefore everything cynically permitted.
Reading good books like this just makes examinations seem so trivial and insignificant.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Elephants
This evening, Lydia and I were on the topic of "stupid questions that people answer wrong" I found this particularly part of the conversation extremely entertaining. It's like, I couldn't prevent myself from convulsing in spasms of laughter. Lydia's quite a sport since she gave me permission to post it up in my blog. =D
mok says (11:13 PM):
O yeah haha i've just remembered something funny
Lydia.Zitz Zitz Go Away says (11:14 PM):
quick one k!
Lydia.Zitz Zitz Go Away says (11:14 PM):
remember..my beauty sleep
mok says (11:14 PM):
lol yeah check this out
mok says (11:14 PM):
its a pic (see below)
Lydia.Zitz Zitz Go Away says (11:14 PM):
ohhh
Lydia.Zitz Zitz Go Away says (11:14 PM):
i tot its the moon?
mok says (11:14 PM):
Duh
mok says (11:15 PM):
o commonnnn
*I'm giving Lydia a chance to redeem herself. Waiting for her next reply*
Lydia.Zitz Zitz Go Away says (11:15 PM):
ohh the FONT issit?!
*I almost fell off my chair at this point*
Although Lydia often emphasizes the relevance of the roles that font play for our academic essays, I'm sorry that I have to point out that font is irrelevant this time round.
Although Lydia often emphasizes the relevance of the roles that font play for our academic essays, I'm sorry that I have to point out that font is irrelevant this time round.
mok says (11:15 PM):
can i kill u
mok says (11:15 PM):
can i can i
mok says (11:15 PM):
and to think that I just praised you (for getting the previous question correct)
Lydia.Zitz Zitz Go Away says (11:15 PM):
serious?!
Lydia.Zitz Zitz Go Away says (11:16 PM):
HAHA
Lydia.Zitz Zitz Go Away says (11:16 PM):
i dun get it
Neither do I.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Quote of the Day
"And If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?"
Monday, April 21, 2008
The Bright Side of Optimism
I found an interesting story today, while browsing through some magazines at my school's library. Its titled The Dark Side of Optimism from The Conference Board Review (Jan/Feb Issue).
In the Indian Epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira goes looking for his missing brothers, who went searching for water. He finds them all dead next to a pond. In despair, but still parched, he is about to drink, but a crane tells him he must answer some questions first. The last and most difficult: "What is the greatest wonder of the world?" Yudhisthira answers:
"Day after day, hour after hour, countless people die, yet the living believe they will live forever."
The crane reveals himself as the Lord of Death and after some further discussion revives the brothers.
In the Indian Epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira goes looking for his missing brothers, who went searching for water. He finds them all dead next to a pond. In despair, but still parched, he is about to drink, but a crane tells him he must answer some questions first. The last and most difficult: "What is the greatest wonder of the world?" Yudhisthira answers:
"Day after day, hour after hour, countless people die, yet the living believe they will live forever."
The crane reveals himself as the Lord of Death and after some further discussion revives the brothers.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Love Revolution
I've to be really thankful that Qier's taste for books, music and dramas run parallel with those of mine. She was the one who introduced me Milan Kundera, who is currently one of my favorite authors of all time. And now it's Love Revolution. I've just started watching it- Finished with episode 1 and 2.
I'm kind of amazed at the firm's choice of music. For the opening, the firm's introduction, the opening lines are (I copied this from Qier's blog which can be savored at http://www.triste-77.blogspot.com):
Love is like a taxi
If you wait for them, they won’t come.
It’s not that the taxi won’t come
There just aren’t any empty cars
This is the worse thing
Maybe I’ll be able to find one on the other street
If I glance back
I just missed another
It won’t come if I just wait
If you look for them, they won’t come either
They just won’t come
Wait
They won’t come to just any person but…
When you give up and start walking
They suddenly all come at once
For the back drop they played Beethovan's Piano Sonata No.8 which, in my opinion is a very apt piece. =D
There are two snippets from the show I found really beautifully done up and I want to share this with you guys. The first came from episode one:
When Esumi was engaging with a conversation a young men she just met, she quoted a piece from a French poet.
Esumi: "Life? Give it to somebody else, and Love someone!"
The guy explains: That's from a French poet in the 19th century.
Esumi: Really?
The guy explains further:
The second came from episode two. It's theme is very similar to the first. Esumi was having an arranged marriage date with another man.
While they were having a walk under the Sakura blossoms, Esumi's date quoted a poem by Ariwara Narihira: "If there were no Cherry Blossoms in this world, how much more tranquil our hearts would be in Spring."
Esumi thought about it and asked: "In other words, without the Cherry Blossoms, we can have peace in our hearts?"
The man replies:
I'm kind of amazed at the firm's choice of music. For the opening, the firm's introduction, the opening lines are (I copied this from Qier's blog which can be savored at http://www.triste-77.blogspot.com):
Love is like a taxi
If you wait for them, they won’t come.
It’s not that the taxi won’t come
There just aren’t any empty cars
This is the worse thing
Maybe I’ll be able to find one on the other street
If I glance back
I just missed another
It won’t come if I just wait
If you look for them, they won’t come either
They just won’t come
Wait
They won’t come to just any person but…
When you give up and start walking
They suddenly all come at once
For the back drop they played Beethovan's Piano Sonata No.8 which, in my opinion is a very apt piece. =D
There are two snippets from the show I found really beautifully done up and I want to share this with you guys. The first came from episode one:
When Esumi was engaging with a conversation a young men she just met, she quoted a piece from a French poet.
Esumi: "Life? Give it to somebody else, and Love someone!"
The guy explains: That's from a French poet in the 19th century.
Esumi: Really?
The guy explains further:
"You have to be prepared to love someone. If you love someone seriously, you don't have time to enjoy life."
The second came from episode two. It's theme is very similar to the first. Esumi was having an arranged marriage date with another man.
While they were having a walk under the Sakura blossoms, Esumi's date quoted a poem by Ariwara Narihira: "If there were no Cherry Blossoms in this world, how much more tranquil our hearts would be in Spring."
Esumi thought about it and asked: "In other words, without the Cherry Blossoms, we can have peace in our hearts?"
The man replies:
"If you are not in love, you don't have to worry about the many problems. I think that's what he is saying. They were really good at putting thoughts into love, back in those days."
What I found really amazing is that despite the huge time disparities and cultural contexts of both peoms- Ariwara Narihira wrote his poem back around 700 A.D. and the French poet's piece, during the 19th century- both poets found something in common, love's weight.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Listen to me whine
Many small but "bad" events has occurred which makes Mok a grouchy person.
Firstly, the constant drilling outside my house. PUB is fixing up the drainage at my place, but I don't like waking up at 9.am. sharp to the sounds of steel against concrete. It's super unpleasant man.
Secondly, the constant drilling has damaged by internet and television cables last night. This means no more internet for me =(. The Starhub guy came and said we have to replace the wire which will probably take a few weeks to settle. I've grown to realize how dependant I am on the internet. It's how I stay connected to my friends and the world. No more MSN, no more Anime/dramas or movies or access to music. This sucks.
3rdly, my aircon started to leak again yesterday. The aircon water rained down onto some of my precious books damaging it. Plus weather's so warm and the mosquitos buzzing around me at night!
Lastly, my mom signed up for me some useless California Fitness membership for me to try out around Janurary 2006. It was supposed to be a one year plan. That's what this guy called Darren told me. Membership's under my name, but it's credited to my mom's card. Well so happens this sales guy fails to inform me that I have to manually stop subscription if I did not like the thing. I assumed that it'll stop after one year. Most amazing thing is that I received no confirmation of my continued subscription to Cali Fitness and they continued to bill my mom for the 2 years after I decided to discontinue the service. Talk about excellent service. Unfortunately for Darren, all these events put in into a really foul mood and I told him off, as in really scolded him over the phone. My mom, being the nice (easily bullied) customer, was like "hey son, don't scold the guy" when I told her I wanted to "speak" to him. Hahha Well at least I kept my vulgarities in check.
All these little annoying events have made me decide to "migrate" to somewhere more conducive for studies - the school library. This is the first time I'm blogging out of home. Despite my initial plans, I'm doing everything except study. My PSP (Crisis Core), Dozing away to Rachmininoff, Chatting away on MSN with Qier, reading up on some investment book (even this is more interesting than our Marcoms TB).
I'm waaaaay too relax when it comes to exams and preparations. Buck up Mok, its 4 more days left toward your grave.
No more bitch ass whining- I've just downloading some Anime Streaming It's time for Naruto! =D
Firstly, the constant drilling outside my house. PUB is fixing up the drainage at my place, but I don't like waking up at 9.am. sharp to the sounds of steel against concrete. It's super unpleasant man.
Secondly, the constant drilling has damaged by internet and television cables last night. This means no more internet for me =(. The Starhub guy came and said we have to replace the wire which will probably take a few weeks to settle. I've grown to realize how dependant I am on the internet. It's how I stay connected to my friends and the world. No more MSN, no more Anime/dramas or movies or access to music. This sucks.
3rdly, my aircon started to leak again yesterday. The aircon water rained down onto some of my precious books damaging it. Plus weather's so warm and the mosquitos buzzing around me at night!
Lastly, my mom signed up for me some useless California Fitness membership for me to try out around Janurary 2006. It was supposed to be a one year plan. That's what this guy called Darren told me. Membership's under my name, but it's credited to my mom's card. Well so happens this sales guy fails to inform me that I have to manually stop subscription if I did not like the thing. I assumed that it'll stop after one year. Most amazing thing is that I received no confirmation of my continued subscription to Cali Fitness and they continued to bill my mom for the 2 years after I decided to discontinue the service. Talk about excellent service. Unfortunately for Darren, all these events put in into a really foul mood and I told him off, as in really scolded him over the phone. My mom, being the nice (easily bullied) customer, was like "hey son, don't scold the guy" when I told her I wanted to "speak" to him. Hahha Well at least I kept my vulgarities in check.
All these little annoying events have made me decide to "migrate" to somewhere more conducive for studies - the school library. This is the first time I'm blogging out of home. Despite my initial plans, I'm doing everything except study. My PSP (Crisis Core), Dozing away to Rachmininoff, Chatting away on MSN with Qier, reading up on some investment book (even this is more interesting than our Marcoms TB).
I'm waaaaay too relax when it comes to exams and preparations. Buck up Mok, its 4 more days left toward your grave.
No more bitch ass whining- I've just downloading some Anime Streaming It's time for Naruto! =D
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Britains Got Talent 2008 - Andrew Johnston
The thing about bullies is that they don't like you for one reason: You've got more talent that they can dream of having. Ever.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
One Piece!
One Piece. I'm up to episode 313 now and it's proven to be a really great anime. There is two particular episodes that touched me greatly. I'll try to describe the episodes and my feelings here to the best of my ability (although it's better to watch it first hand).
They are episode 236: http://www.anilinkz.com/one-piece/one-piece-episode-236/#comment-5156
and episode 312:
http://www.anilinkz.com/one-piece/one-piece-episode-312/
Here's a quick summary of the story- Monkey D. Luffy the captain of the ship and his crew are on a journey to fulfill their dreams. Each of the crew member has a different dream- Luffys' to become the "pirate king", Zoros' to become the greatest swordman in the world, and Usopps' to become a brave sea warrior. It kind of reminds me of the Wizard of Oz.
On their journey, they experienced great adventures and their ship, "Going Merry" underwent heavy damage such as being bombarded by cannons, falling 10,000 feet from the sky. Having their ship's mast fallen apart and so on. After they arrived on an Island that provides repairing and maintenance, Luffy heard from the best shipwright's around the world that Going Merry was too damaged to be repaired. Luffy's crew possessed great feelings for the ship, especially Usopp. When Usopp heard Luffy's decision, to let the ship go (akin to dismantling it and getting a new one), he was furious and refused to accept it.
A great quarrel started and in the heat, Luffy in his anger shouted to Usopp:
"If you don't like my decision, you can leave the ship immediately"
Realizing he said something he shouldn't have, Luffy apologized. But the damage was already done. I'm sure everybody has experienced a quarrel where our emotions got the better of us and even after how much we regret it later, it's too late. T_T
Usopp on hearing those words, juxtaposed his situation with Going Merry's situation. "You just move forward, casting away useless Nakama" Nakama is used to describe a group of really close friends, akin a family.
In a pirate's world, the Captain is the the rightful owner of the ship. Usopp refused to cast Merry aside, and challenged Luffy to a battle to fight between the ownership of the boat. The winner earns the right to the ship.
The outcome was obvious. Usopp, in this story is the the weakest member of the crew. He has no super human strength, is always scared of battling and always the first to run away from the fight. This fight was an exception- Usopp fought till his last ounce of strength. I really admire this Usopp and his determination here although Luffy won.
Luffy in the fight although knowing of Usopps strength limit did not hold back his punches. It's kinda like a pirate honor thing and respect for the opponent. I once was told by my coach while training for competitive canoeing. "Don't slow down, no matter what lead you have over your opponent. Never look back. Just focus on giving your best from the start until past the finish line. To slow down is to insult all the tough training that they endured"
The scene switches from a brutal fight into a melancholic sad solo piano piece. Luffy endured all the emotions he had inside throughout the fight. When he turned around towards his other crew mates, there was a long pause of silence. When Luffy finally spoke, he whispered three words, sotto voce: "It's heavy." It brought tears to my eyes at this point because I've experienced those feelingsbefore and understood what the scriptwriter and Luffy was referring to.
Zoro the cool swordsmans explains to the viewers:
"It's a captain's burden. Don't hesistate. Who can we rely on if you falter?"
John C. Maxwell, understands this too. He says, "A friend once told me, "It's lonely at the top, so you had better know why you're there." It's true that leaders carry a heavy load. When you're out front you can be an easy target. But you don't have to do it alone. That's why I say, "It's lonely at the top, so you'd better take someone with you."
It was in really bad shape after the storm messed it up. It was so bad that the ship spirit was unable to fix it up to become "sailable". So happened the island's best shipwright was around the area, and he heard a hammer knocking against some wood.
When he arrived at the scene, he found nobody there but voice whispered to him "I want to sail. Just once more, I want to sail."
Kind of freaky if you ask me but this shipwright stayed behind and fixed the ship up. This "ghost ship" or angel ship after the repairs set sail by itself and rescued its' crew mates from danger.
The story at this point is kind of fairytaleish. It has a good feel to it though, just like Toy Story. "Treasure those things around that has been good to you and they will take care of you" My room has two monitors, the old one is a 19inch, and the new one is a 26 inch.
After this episode, I was like OMG, I'd totally cast aside my 19 inch monitor after my 26inch one arrived! Well today's an exception- I'm using back my 19 inch and blogging while I'm at it. You can't imagine how happy it is for my monitor that I'm using it again that it actually smiled back at me. Believe it or not =D Some of my friends call me a sucker that I actually act like I believe these inanimate objects have real feelings but you know, that's just me.
O some side notes~ Check out my favorite character in the show. His/it's name is Tony Tony Chopper!
He's name Chopper cause of his antlers. Chop chop and a tree falls down. Strong! He's a reindeer btw. With a blue nose (not red). Don't mess with him he's scary when he gets mad.
My favorite Girl is.... *Drums rolling* TADA!!!!!
Nico Robin! Cause she has really nice eyes and black long hair and that voice! omg... so husky and sexy. Think I can just fall in love with the voice acting itself. If there's such thing as love at first hearing, that's her! =D
They are episode 236: http://www.anilinkz.com/one-piece/one-piece-episode-236/#comment-5156
and episode 312:
http://www.anilinkz.com/one-piece/one-piece-episode-312/
Here's a quick summary of the story- Monkey D. Luffy the captain of the ship and his crew are on a journey to fulfill their dreams. Each of the crew member has a different dream- Luffys' to become the "pirate king", Zoros' to become the greatest swordman in the world, and Usopps' to become a brave sea warrior. It kind of reminds me of the Wizard of Oz.
On their journey, they experienced great adventures and their ship, "Going Merry" underwent heavy damage such as being bombarded by cannons, falling 10,000 feet from the sky. Having their ship's mast fallen apart and so on. After they arrived on an Island that provides repairing and maintenance, Luffy heard from the best shipwright's around the world that Going Merry was too damaged to be repaired. Luffy's crew possessed great feelings for the ship, especially Usopp. When Usopp heard Luffy's decision, to let the ship go (akin to dismantling it and getting a new one), he was furious and refused to accept it.
A great quarrel started and in the heat, Luffy in his anger shouted to Usopp:
"If you don't like my decision, you can leave the ship immediately"
Realizing he said something he shouldn't have, Luffy apologized. But the damage was already done. I'm sure everybody has experienced a quarrel where our emotions got the better of us and even after how much we regret it later, it's too late. T_T
Usopp on hearing those words, juxtaposed his situation with Going Merry's situation. "You just move forward, casting away useless Nakama" Nakama is used to describe a group of really close friends, akin a family.
In a pirate's world, the Captain is the the rightful owner of the ship. Usopp refused to cast Merry aside, and challenged Luffy to a battle to fight between the ownership of the boat. The winner earns the right to the ship.
The outcome was obvious. Usopp, in this story is the the weakest member of the crew. He has no super human strength, is always scared of battling and always the first to run away from the fight. This fight was an exception- Usopp fought till his last ounce of strength. I really admire this Usopp and his determination here although Luffy won.Luffy in the fight although knowing of Usopps strength limit did not hold back his punches. It's kinda like a pirate honor thing and respect for the opponent. I once was told by my coach while training for competitive canoeing. "Don't slow down, no matter what lead you have over your opponent. Never look back. Just focus on giving your best from the start until past the finish line. To slow down is to insult all the tough training that they endured"
The scene switches from a brutal fight into a melancholic sad solo piano piece. Luffy endured all the emotions he had inside throughout the fight. When he turned around towards his other crew mates, there was a long pause of silence. When Luffy finally spoke, he whispered three words, sotto voce: "It's heavy." It brought tears to my eyes at this point because I've experienced those feelingsbefore and understood what the scriptwriter and Luffy was referring to.Zoro the cool swordsmans explains to the viewers:
"It's a captain's burden. Don't hesistate. Who can we rely on if you falter?"
John C. Maxwell, understands this too. He says, "A friend once told me, "It's lonely at the top, so you had better know why you're there." It's true that leaders carry a heavy load. When you're out front you can be an easy target. But you don't have to do it alone. That's why I say, "It's lonely at the top, so you'd better take someone with you."
In the end of this episode, Luffy gave up ownership of Going Merry to Usopp but they went their separate ways.
Usopp went about his "repairs" of Going Merry in his own stubborn and determined way. As the story moves on, Usopp lost Going Merry to a bunch of bad guys who cast the ship out into the sea. I assumed the ship was a goner because of a huge storm outside and also because of the shipwright's prediction that Going Merry wouldn't make it through the next island.
In episode 312, it connects back to the episode (ep236) I just talked about.
Luffy and his crew "battling" it out with another group of bad guys and trying to rescue their "kidnapped" nakama, Nico Robin" Usopp, refusing to join back Luffy's crew, but wanting to save Robin, went undercover as "Sogeking" and manages to conceal his identity from Luffy. (I find that really funny cause it's pretty obvious with his pinochioish (sp)" long nose =D.
Toward's the end the pirates were cornered and trapped on land with nowhere to run and enemy battleships surrounding the sea around them. Just before the pirates were obliterated, they heard a voice come from the sea below them to look down. Guess who they saw?! Going Merry! Well, it was the voice of Going Merry! I like the way this show is designed- Rumor goes that for ships that have been treasured and taken really well care by the crew, they have a life of it's own. And the ship will likewise protect it's crew from harm.
Luffy being an idiot and even after well knowing that he can't swim, jumped down into the sea to board the ship. Luffy's crew mates on seeing their captain jump down, followed his steps. If you notice, in this show, the crew mates have a great deal of trust for each other. They do have their doubts sometimes, but when the need arises, they will trust each other wholeheartedly. I played this team trust game before. It's called "free fall" and basically we have to stand on a very high platform and take a plunge (fall backwards) while expecting your team to catch you. It really feels great to know that there are people you can depend on.
and
Wasn't Going Merry destroyed in the storm? Yes it was!
Usopp went about his "repairs" of Going Merry in his own stubborn and determined way. As the story moves on, Usopp lost Going Merry to a bunch of bad guys who cast the ship out into the sea. I assumed the ship was a goner because of a huge storm outside and also because of the shipwright's prediction that Going Merry wouldn't make it through the next island.
In episode 312, it connects back to the episode (ep236) I just talked about.
Luffy and his crew "battling" it out with another group of bad guys and trying to rescue their "kidnapped" nakama, Nico Robin" Usopp, refusing to join back Luffy's crew, but wanting to save Robin, went undercover as "Sogeking" and manages to conceal his identity from Luffy. (I find that really funny cause it's pretty obvious with his pinochioish (sp)" long nose =D.
Toward's the end the pirates were cornered and trapped on land with nowhere to run and enemy battleships surrounding the sea around them. Just before the pirates were obliterated, they heard a voice come from the sea below them to look down. Guess who they saw?! Going Merry! Well, it was the voice of Going Merry! I like the way this show is designed- Rumor goes that for ships that have been treasured and taken really well care by the crew, they have a life of it's own. And the ship will likewise protect it's crew from harm.
Luffy being an idiot and even after well knowing that he can't swim, jumped down into the sea to board the ship. Luffy's crew mates on seeing their captain jump down, followed his steps. If you notice, in this show, the crew mates have a great deal of trust for each other. They do have their doubts sometimes, but when the need arises, they will trust each other wholeheartedly. I played this team trust game before. It's called "free fall" and basically we have to stand on a very high platform and take a plunge (fall backwards) while expecting your team to catch you. It really feels great to know that there are people you can depend on.
and
Wasn't Going Merry destroyed in the storm? Yes it was!
It was in really bad shape after the storm messed it up. It was so bad that the ship spirit was unable to fix it up to become "sailable". So happened the island's best shipwright was around the area, and he heard a hammer knocking against some wood.
When he arrived at the scene, he found nobody there but voice whispered to him "I want to sail. Just once more, I want to sail."
Kind of freaky if you ask me but this shipwright stayed behind and fixed the ship up. This "ghost ship" or angel ship after the repairs set sail by itself and rescued its' crew mates from danger.The story at this point is kind of fairytaleish. It has a good feel to it though, just like Toy Story. "Treasure those things around that has been good to you and they will take care of you" My room has two monitors, the old one is a 19inch, and the new one is a 26 inch.
After this episode, I was like OMG, I'd totally cast aside my 19 inch monitor after my 26inch one arrived! Well today's an exception- I'm using back my 19 inch and blogging while I'm at it. You can't imagine how happy it is for my monitor that I'm using it again that it actually smiled back at me. Believe it or not =D Some of my friends call me a sucker that I actually act like I believe these inanimate objects have real feelings but you know, that's just me.
O some side notes~ Check out my favorite character in the show. His/it's name is Tony Tony Chopper!
He's name Chopper cause of his antlers. Chop chop and a tree falls down. Strong! He's a reindeer btw. With a blue nose (not red). Don't mess with him he's scary when he gets mad.My favorite Girl is.... *Drums rolling* TADA!!!!!
Nico Robin! Cause she has really nice eyes and black long hair and that voice! omg... so husky and sexy. Think I can just fall in love with the voice acting itself. If there's such thing as love at first hearing, that's her! =DWednesday, April 02, 2008
Just a little side thought, I'm kinda sick of the internet and it's distracting me a lot these days- There's just so many things to do online. . . I'm gonna change my internet habit's a little. To do this I'll have to go MIA for a little while. Maybe a week or two. Maybe a month? Who knows? If you don't see me online, you know where to find me.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
GH THE MAN
last sem of school life is over. After we turn in our DM major project, I'm done with school projects! Can't say this sem has been a breeze like my other sems but at least I've got good team mates.
Of all the teams and team mates I have worked with, I have to admit that I respect GH the most. Great guy here. Takes his work seriously minus scotch taping the CDROM. NO PRIDE AH! Although I've been compiling every single report, GH's the only guy who always asks for my final report so he can help me with it.
GH: "EH mok can I have the final copy plz?"
He reads the report whole, and he tells me on where I could improve it. Nobody else is as proactive as this mate.
Not to mention he's always the most objective guy. Listens from two sides of the coin and gives objective reasons. Not too great at grammar but contributes excellent ideas all the time.
If there's anybody looking for a future team mate, GH's the man!
To GH: Learn how to scotch tape professionally plz.
=D
I caught The Bucket List over the weekend. Really awesome show. Don't know what got into me but I cried like broken fish tank at one particular scene. Fug. Super embarrassing since I was watching her and she was OK. Hahahhaa! Poor girl must have been wonder: "Wwwhat the hell is going on with you, MOK." O weells.
Of all the teams and team mates I have worked with, I have to admit that I respect GH the most. Great guy here. Takes his work seriously minus scotch taping the CDROM. NO PRIDE AH! Although I've been compiling every single report, GH's the only guy who always asks for my final report so he can help me with it.
GH: "EH mok can I have the final copy plz?"
He reads the report whole, and he tells me on where I could improve it. Nobody else is as proactive as this mate.
Not to mention he's always the most objective guy. Listens from two sides of the coin and gives objective reasons. Not too great at grammar but contributes excellent ideas all the time.
If there's anybody looking for a future team mate, GH's the man!
To GH: Learn how to scotch tape professionally plz.
=D
I caught The Bucket List over the weekend. Really awesome show. Don't know what got into me but I cried like broken fish tank at one particular scene. Fug. Super embarrassing since I was watching her and she was OK. Hahahhaa! Poor girl must have been wonder: "Wwwhat the hell is going on with you, MOK." O weells.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Anti-hero
I watched The Shawshank Redemption today for the 4th time. There is this scene where I always inevitably tear at. Today was no exception. It is the scene where Brooks hangs himself after he was on parole from a life-time imprisonment sentence. That scene always gets to me and it makes me wonder why. Was the the music that makes it extra sad, or is it the tone that Brooks narrated his loneliness? Perhaps it's a combination of both.
When I watched that scene play through, I was reminded of a short conversation in again the book Seven types of Ambiguity. I flipped through my book and I found the author's explanation.
In it, Simon is engaging with a conversation with Angel(the prostitute) and Alex (his psychiatrist):
Simon: You read a novel in which the hero or the anti-hero, the one you like, or simply the one whose progress you like to follow, well, this character commits a crime, say, a violent act. Who do you feel sorry for? You should feel sorry for the victim of the crime but you don't. Why don't you? In your normal life you condemn violence of any kind yet you don't condemn this act of violence, even though it's brutal. Perhaps you dislike this victim. Or perhaps you don't actually dislike him but you don't actively like him either. So where will your sympathies lie? Who will you feel sorry for?
Angel: Who? The perpetrator?
Simon: Partly. He has to live with the moral and practical consequences, the guilt, the mess and the fear of detection. But who else?
Angel: I don't know. Who else?
Simon: You, the reader, Angel. The reader will feel sorry for himself."
Alex: Why, because he has been tricked into thinking the violent scene is somehow morally ambiguous when, of course, it isn't really?
Simon: No because he has identified with his preferred character, the perpetrator of the crime, and therefore shares his guilt and his fears.
Is this what empathy is really about?
*Ponder**Ponder**Ponder*
When I watched that scene play through, I was reminded of a short conversation in again the book Seven types of Ambiguity. I flipped through my book and I found the author's explanation.
In it, Simon is engaging with a conversation with Angel(the prostitute) and Alex (his psychiatrist):
Simon: You read a novel in which the hero or the anti-hero, the one you like, or simply the one whose progress you like to follow, well, this character commits a crime, say, a violent act. Who do you feel sorry for? You should feel sorry for the victim of the crime but you don't. Why don't you? In your normal life you condemn violence of any kind yet you don't condemn this act of violence, even though it's brutal. Perhaps you dislike this victim. Or perhaps you don't actually dislike him but you don't actively like him either. So where will your sympathies lie? Who will you feel sorry for?
Angel: Who? The perpetrator?
Simon: Partly. He has to live with the moral and practical consequences, the guilt, the mess and the fear of detection. But who else?
Angel: I don't know. Who else?
Simon: You, the reader, Angel. The reader will feel sorry for himself."
Alex: Why, because he has been tricked into thinking the violent scene is somehow morally ambiguous when, of course, it isn't really?
Simon: No because he has identified with his preferred character, the perpetrator of the crime, and therefore shares his guilt and his fears.
Is this what empathy is really about?
*Ponder**Ponder**Ponder*
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
My silly little dream
Some thoughts ran through my mind today.
Thoughts regarding aspects of my life, both present and the future. Most of you may already know that I'm undergoing a course for business marketing in SIM. In this course, we learn many things- concepts that will generate profits for the organizations that we work for. We learn how to create demand for the goods and services we have; how to make advertisements, how to design promotions. Sometimes the things we learn seem to have a good purpose- societal marketing to cut down on smoking or perhaps environmental awareness on climate change, stuff like this. It may seem attractive at first but therein lies the entire parody.
Milton Friedman once advocated that there is only one social responsibility of a business- to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages open and free competition, without deception or fraud.
Today i engaged in a conversation with Ting. I said to her jokingly:
Me: No girls will like me. I've nothing. No money. Nothing. Except my dreams. Remember the 5Cs, there's a lot of truth in it.
Ting's reply to me was that she never saw the need for her BF to be rich. She told me that many girls has similar thoughts regarding this matter.
Obviously, I agree with her on that matter. I'm not such a pessimist about girls. My point that I wanted to put across here is that society these days is getting more and more materialistic. It wasn't always like this in the past. It's just the way society has been moulded today, by the hands of us marketers. This is the parody that all we marketers face and there is a great need to address this, or at the very least be aware of it.
How ingenious.I'll provide a very simple example of the situation. I cannot imagine anymore without some level of difficulty how the idea of proposing to a lady with a diamond ring came about. Since what time did such a ritual become a norm for men? Ever since diamonds were discovered you say. Perhaps. A guy who loves his girlfriend dearly decides to materialize his eternal love for her in the form of a diamond. Some other guy (the marketer) foresees a demand for this diamond and decides to tell the whole world, or more specifically women that there is no greater prove for a men's love for them than a diamond. We fell for it. Diamond's are now a woman's best friend. So what happens in such a society where a man is unable to afford that diamond ring? Most probably his sphere of women who is attracted to him is significantly reduce. There are of course exceptions to this. It's just that in general, expectations are rising. We expect more of this, or that and when we don't receive it, we don't feel as satisfied as we should have been then.
In the book Seven Types of Ambiguity, Simon was conversing with Angel.
"I have thought people should get involved with the problems of other people. People don't help enough. It's the... it's probably the closest thing I've ever had to a philosophy. A pragmatic philosophy. You see it every day. Most people are too... they're not evil. They're just..."
"Lazy?" I (Angel) volunteered.
"Apathetic."
"You're sure they're not evil?" I asked him.
"Some people are definitely, unequivocally evil, but most people are not. Most people are simply apathetic, unaware and frightened. A lot of bad gets done by people who are not bad people. Maybe it's always been this way but I think it's more so now than ever. I saw a documentary about the sixties on TV the other day. They showed all these people in their twenties and thirties sitting around holding candles singing "We shall overcome". They were protesting against racism and the Vietnam War. It's not that people in their twenties and thirties then were better or smarter than people in their twenties and thirties now."
"So what is it?"
"It's the times. The times, they have changed. Where once people were told that the answers were blowing in the wind, now it's they who are blown by the wind, the wind generated by the market. The ruthless pursuit of the bottom line is the siren song of the times and the song is played over the public address system in banks, in stores and supermarkets. It's played when you are downsized because your company can replace you with somebody in another country for two dollars a day. And it's played whenever you call up anything needing assistance and they put you on hold because they've cut back on staff in other to increase their share price.
"But people have always been obsessed with the bottom line. Why is it any different now? Hasn't money always been the siren song?"
"It has never been so loud. It's never been so ubiquitous. It has never before so routinely, so blatantly, ousted and nullified citizenship and notions of the common good, once was called the common weal. It has never so successfully colonized men's souls"
Back to my life. Whenever a person asks me what I had in mind career wise after I graduate. What industry do I want to work in? Any company I want to work for?
To good friends, I'll say "Maybe work for a small firm first, after that see how." On good days I'll say "Work for myself." and to people I don't feel like talking to, I'll say, "Sell backside lor."
In all instances I'm not telling any lie. Truth is, as much as I want to think I have, I've not really planned a standard path which I'll follow at the moment. I can't imagine myself working in say the slimming industry though. Having to tell women that they're fat, or they don't look good enough in order to achieve greater sales revenue. It's just against the principles that I have. (This is also part of the selfish reason in the disinterest I have in doing the Skinfood project). "You don't look good enough. Buy our product and you will be beautiful." Makes me feel sick.
There's another part of me that wants to run my own company. My friends always say to me "DREAMING AGAIN IS IT?" A little is my reply. Let's just call this company Mok Pte Ltd. My aim however is to create a firm ran by a group of closely knitted friends, and if possible together my wife too. And we'll have a great deal of fun working together just as I did in school. The fuel or passion of it all will not be for the money, but for our common dream of achieving something together. It must benefit society in a positive manner as a whole. We'll have a charitable company to donate 10% of our profits to. It'll be "make a wish", because I always believe in the power of dreaming and wishing and working hard for it (I want as many children to believe in that too). We'll have a great deal of satisfaction together and when I have a family and children myself, I want to be able to tell my kids that this is what dad did and that they can out do daddy as long as you work hard for it. When they start studying and have to select a firm to work on for their project, they can choose dad's firm and I'll give them all the interviews they require. They'll be proud of dad. Same goes for my friend's children.
After my career and family is stable, I want to start a chain of day care centers for children. I want to use my success to tell them when they are still young that:
it is OK to dream BIG.
Nobody ever has the right to trample or say that your dreams
Don't just dream, work hard for it
Never ever work for the money- it's much too small of an objective to aim for
It is possible because WE did it. Together.
Thoughts regarding aspects of my life, both present and the future. Most of you may already know that I'm undergoing a course for business marketing in SIM. In this course, we learn many things- concepts that will generate profits for the organizations that we work for. We learn how to create demand for the goods and services we have; how to make advertisements, how to design promotions. Sometimes the things we learn seem to have a good purpose- societal marketing to cut down on smoking or perhaps environmental awareness on climate change, stuff like this. It may seem attractive at first but therein lies the entire parody.
Milton Friedman once advocated that there is only one social responsibility of a business- to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages open and free competition, without deception or fraud.
Today i engaged in a conversation with Ting. I said to her jokingly:
Me: No girls will like me. I've nothing. No money. Nothing. Except my dreams. Remember the 5Cs, there's a lot of truth in it.
Ting's reply to me was that she never saw the need for her BF to be rich. She told me that many girls has similar thoughts regarding this matter.
Obviously, I agree with her on that matter. I'm not such a pessimist about girls. My point that I wanted to put across here is that society these days is getting more and more materialistic. It wasn't always like this in the past. It's just the way society has been moulded today, by the hands of us marketers. This is the parody that all we marketers face and there is a great need to address this, or at the very least be aware of it.
How ingenious.I'll provide a very simple example of the situation. I cannot imagine anymore without some level of difficulty how the idea of proposing to a lady with a diamond ring came about. Since what time did such a ritual become a norm for men? Ever since diamonds were discovered you say. Perhaps. A guy who loves his girlfriend dearly decides to materialize his eternal love for her in the form of a diamond. Some other guy (the marketer) foresees a demand for this diamond and decides to tell the whole world, or more specifically women that there is no greater prove for a men's love for them than a diamond. We fell for it. Diamond's are now a woman's best friend. So what happens in such a society where a man is unable to afford that diamond ring? Most probably his sphere of women who is attracted to him is significantly reduce. There are of course exceptions to this. It's just that in general, expectations are rising. We expect more of this, or that and when we don't receive it, we don't feel as satisfied as we should have been then.
In the book Seven Types of Ambiguity, Simon was conversing with Angel.
"I have thought people should get involved with the problems of other people. People don't help enough. It's the... it's probably the closest thing I've ever had to a philosophy. A pragmatic philosophy. You see it every day. Most people are too... they're not evil. They're just..."
"Lazy?" I (Angel) volunteered.
"Apathetic."
"You're sure they're not evil?" I asked him.
"Some people are definitely, unequivocally evil, but most people are not. Most people are simply apathetic, unaware and frightened. A lot of bad gets done by people who are not bad people. Maybe it's always been this way but I think it's more so now than ever. I saw a documentary about the sixties on TV the other day. They showed all these people in their twenties and thirties sitting around holding candles singing "We shall overcome". They were protesting against racism and the Vietnam War. It's not that people in their twenties and thirties then were better or smarter than people in their twenties and thirties now."
"So what is it?"
"It's the times. The times, they have changed. Where once people were told that the answers were blowing in the wind, now it's they who are blown by the wind, the wind generated by the market. The ruthless pursuit of the bottom line is the siren song of the times and the song is played over the public address system in banks, in stores and supermarkets. It's played when you are downsized because your company can replace you with somebody in another country for two dollars a day. And it's played whenever you call up anything needing assistance and they put you on hold because they've cut back on staff in other to increase their share price.
"But people have always been obsessed with the bottom line. Why is it any different now? Hasn't money always been the siren song?"
"It has never been so loud. It's never been so ubiquitous. It has never before so routinely, so blatantly, ousted and nullified citizenship and notions of the common good, once was called the common weal. It has never so successfully colonized men's souls"
Back to my life. Whenever a person asks me what I had in mind career wise after I graduate. What industry do I want to work in? Any company I want to work for?
To good friends, I'll say "Maybe work for a small firm first, after that see how." On good days I'll say "Work for myself." and to people I don't feel like talking to, I'll say, "Sell backside lor."
In all instances I'm not telling any lie. Truth is, as much as I want to think I have, I've not really planned a standard path which I'll follow at the moment. I can't imagine myself working in say the slimming industry though. Having to tell women that they're fat, or they don't look good enough in order to achieve greater sales revenue. It's just against the principles that I have. (This is also part of the selfish reason in the disinterest I have in doing the Skinfood project). "You don't look good enough. Buy our product and you will be beautiful." Makes me feel sick.
There's another part of me that wants to run my own company. My friends always say to me "DREAMING AGAIN IS IT?" A little is my reply. Let's just call this company Mok Pte Ltd. My aim however is to create a firm ran by a group of closely knitted friends, and if possible together my wife too. And we'll have a great deal of fun working together just as I did in school. The fuel or passion of it all will not be for the money, but for our common dream of achieving something together. It must benefit society in a positive manner as a whole. We'll have a charitable company to donate 10% of our profits to. It'll be "make a wish", because I always believe in the power of dreaming and wishing and working hard for it (I want as many children to believe in that too). We'll have a great deal of satisfaction together and when I have a family and children myself, I want to be able to tell my kids that this is what dad did and that they can out do daddy as long as you work hard for it. When they start studying and have to select a firm to work on for their project, they can choose dad's firm and I'll give them all the interviews they require. They'll be proud of dad. Same goes for my friend's children.
After my career and family is stable, I want to start a chain of day care centers for children. I want to use my success to tell them when they are still young that:
it is OK to dream BIG.
Nobody ever has the right to trample or say that your dreams
Don't just dream, work hard for it
Never ever work for the money- it's much too small of an objective to aim for
It is possible because WE did it. Together.
Monday, March 17, 2008
The importance of having a good team
Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up...
Though one may be overpowered by another,
two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken
-Ecclesaistes
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up...
Though one may be overpowered by another,
two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken
-Ecclesaistes
Thursday, March 13, 2008
In the Time of the Dinosaur Part 2
Nicholas doesn't remember the chocolate winds. But I remember them. I remember that one too. We came back to our block and before we got to the front hall we heard shouting and a door slamming. Mary Economou ran down the stairs. She shouted "I hate you" in a new voice that sounded like scraping a tin roof. She didn't mean me, though. She didn't mean Dad, either. She hated someone upstairs. I knew Bill Economou would tell me everything the next day so we let her run out into the street and I went to bed really happy and sleepy.
I don't think anyone really knows for sure exactly why the dinosaurs disappeared. I know I don't. The books shirk it a bit really. It seems that about sixty-five million years ago they have just disappeared. I was thinking of maybe being the first dinosaur scientist to know for sure what happened.
It's hard to know where to start trying to figure out something like that. You would probably have to work out a whole new code or way of thinking, maybe something combining maths and the dictionary. Between maths and the dictionary, you've pretty much got it all covered. I was thinking about the dictionary a fair bit. I think there's a trick to it that no one every tells you. When you look up a word, like dinosaur, you get "Reptile (Freq. huge) of Mezozoic era." Where does that get you? More words. So you look them up and you get more words. Well, sooner or later you have to be lucky enough to already know at least one of the words you've looked up or you'll never understand anything. No one ever says anything about this.
One theory says the dinosaurs disappeared because of a great catastrophe which affected the whole world. Perhaps they all choked from dust in their throats as the earth passed through a swarm of comets or from bits of rock and sand from an exploding star. Some people think the earth might have been hit by a giant meteorite. Sometimes I think that might've happened. It's hard to explain these things. A great catastrophe.
I had nearly finished the writing part of my project. Even though it was his idea, Dad kept forgetting to bring home the shoeboxes he'd promised me. I asked him every day and every day he forgot. I had to change my plans. Dad wasn't cooperating. It was about this time that Mrs. Nesbitt and I started having discipline problems. I had told her that she was really going to like my dinosaur project and that she might even think of gold stars when she saw it. (She keeps them in a tin in her desk drawer.) But I had also told her that it was going to be a bit late. She asked me why. I didn't want to tell her. I told her that I couldn't say because it would spoil the surprise. I didn't want to tell her about Dad's box idea. She said that she was already surprised that my project was late. I asked her if she would hang on. She gave me three days. (Bill Economou had asked for three more days, too, and he'd already handed his in. It was on "Fish of the Sea.")
I knew I would just have to change my plan. I tried to explain it all to Dad but I could tell he wasn't listening. He was all silent. He'd been that way for a while. Mum was silent too. She only said what she had to say, about things like washing or peas. On the third day I came to school with my project, but it was different now. I had two sheets of paper with writing about dinosaurs from the books and a big model of a megalosaurus, a two-legged meat-eater. Since the writing was just stuff, all my hopes for the gold pretty much rested on the model megalosaurus. I had taken two wire coat hangers and threaded them through seventeen beer cans Dad had. (They were empty, so I didn't even ask for them.) The can at the head was flattened for a snout and the whole thing could bend so I could show how dinosaurs had walked. (I kept the movement part of the first plan.)
Bill Economou loved it. Mrs. Nesbitt was angry. I was surprised. She was angry in front of the whole class. She asked if I had needed the extra three days to get enough beer cans. The class laughed when she said that. She looked at them and said that she was disappointed with my project. Then she went down the aisles between the desks asking to see other projects. She'd already seen all of them three days before. She was just doing this to make me feel bad. It worked and I felt bad, really sick. I thought maybe I'd caught an epidemic, a throat one.
At lunchtime I went home without asking. I just wanted to get away from school for a while. Mum had given me a pear in my lunch. I'd told her not to but she didn't listen and put it in my bag anyway. When I got to the front door, I felt inside my bag for the door key. I felt the pear all squashed up. The megalosaurus must have done it. I really wanted to be home with a peanut butter sandwich, some milk and maybe some TV. I opened the door and Dad was there. This was my third surprise in half a day if you count the pear. He was watching TV on the couch.
Dad stayed home in the days now and looked after Nicholas. It's what his work had told him to do. He told me that they'd asked him if he could stay home with Nicholas for a while and not make shoes. That's all he said and then he went back to the TV show about hospitals. I wanted to know who was making the shoes now but didn't ask. I had my sandwich and milk. Then I started to scrape the pear off the inside of my bag. Dad forgot to ask why I was home at lunchtime.
After that, everything seemed different. Mum and Dad would be all quiet when I was in the room with them, but then they'd shout when I'd gone. I couldn't hear the Economous. Dad made plenty of cans but I didn't need them. Things were different at school too. It was like Mrs. Nesbitt was always thinking about my Megalosaurus. I just couldn't get back in her goo books and I got sick of trying. Bill Economou got a silver star for "Fish of the Sea." He kept showing that to me.
I suppose that's why I did it. It all happened so fast like it wasn't really me and I got caught. Mrs. Nesbitt caught me at her desk, in her gold-star tin. She shouted. It hung in the air and made my sweat jump. Everyone looked. She held my fingers out and showed the class. There were gold stars on my fingers. My face got very hot. She started writing a note to Mum. It was about me. I didn't let her finish it. I left. I ran all the way home again. It still wasn't me, though, not really. My bad was still on the pegs.
The front door wasn't locked and I pushed it open. Dad was in the lounge room. His shirt was off and he was puffed like I was, out of breath. He said he'd just been for a run. Mary Economou was there too. Her face was red and her hair was messy. I was confused. I stood there looking at them Then I cried, first in yelps. I felt really strange. She'd never seen me cry before.
Dad took my face and pressed it into his chest. He put his fingers in my hair. He told me nothing was wrong and that he and Mary Economou had just been for a run. He kept telling me not to be upset. He asked me to tell him that nothing was wrong. He told me there was nothing wrong with going for a run. Then he squeezed me so hard it hurt. He smelled of sweat. Then he cried and told me nothing was wrong. His chest moved up and down. It slapped me. I couldn't see anything past his chest. He told me he was sorry.
Two days later I came home from school and Mum was there, not Dad. He had gone. He wasn't coming back for a while. They'd swapped again. Mum would be home with Nicholas, and Dad had gone to look for another shoe factory where he could make shoes again. I asked her where he was. She said he was looking for work in a level playing field. I asked her where that was and if I could go there. She said I would never find it. Bill Economou had borrowed an atlas from the library for "Fish of the Sea" and went to the map of Australia to look for Level Playing Field. We couldn't find it. Bill Economou said she must have meant the Souther Tablelands. When I asked her, she said yes, that was it. I tried to imagine Dad living on a huge flat table, making shoes and writing me letters. She said we would get letters.
If the Earth was hit by a giant meteorite it would've made so much dust that the sunlight wouldn't have been able to get through and the dinosaur food chain would've been wrecked. Without the sunlight they would've frozen too. Even the biggest of them would've needed protection from the cold. Everyone does. It's just theory. No one know for sure about the meteorite. If you don't know something for sure, you might as well just dream it.
Bill Economou dreams all the time. He dreamed Dad was outside one night, outside our flats in the wind doing nothing; leaning against the wall of the empty chocolate factory, staring at our flats. At first, he tried to tell me he actually saw it. Mum said there aren't too many letter boxes at the Southern Playing Field.
Nicholas dreams but he doesn't remember. When we shared the same room I could hear some of his dreams. I told him I heard them all. I've got our room to myself now. He's been sleeping in Mum's bed since he started wetting his bed again. He says he doesn't wet the bed. He says it's mum. I wanted to check this out because he lies much more than me now. I went in and checked one night when they were both asleep. I wasn't sure about him, but Mum's side of the bed was wet. Her pillow. Nothing surprises me much anymore, not really. It's because I'm growing up, I suppose. That's my theory.
I don't think anyone really knows for sure exactly why the dinosaurs disappeared. I know I don't. The books shirk it a bit really. It seems that about sixty-five million years ago they have just disappeared. I was thinking of maybe being the first dinosaur scientist to know for sure what happened.
It's hard to know where to start trying to figure out something like that. You would probably have to work out a whole new code or way of thinking, maybe something combining maths and the dictionary. Between maths and the dictionary, you've pretty much got it all covered. I was thinking about the dictionary a fair bit. I think there's a trick to it that no one every tells you. When you look up a word, like dinosaur, you get "Reptile (Freq. huge) of Mezozoic era." Where does that get you? More words. So you look them up and you get more words. Well, sooner or later you have to be lucky enough to already know at least one of the words you've looked up or you'll never understand anything. No one ever says anything about this.
One theory says the dinosaurs disappeared because of a great catastrophe which affected the whole world. Perhaps they all choked from dust in their throats as the earth passed through a swarm of comets or from bits of rock and sand from an exploding star. Some people think the earth might have been hit by a giant meteorite. Sometimes I think that might've happened. It's hard to explain these things. A great catastrophe.
I had nearly finished the writing part of my project. Even though it was his idea, Dad kept forgetting to bring home the shoeboxes he'd promised me. I asked him every day and every day he forgot. I had to change my plans. Dad wasn't cooperating. It was about this time that Mrs. Nesbitt and I started having discipline problems. I had told her that she was really going to like my dinosaur project and that she might even think of gold stars when she saw it. (She keeps them in a tin in her desk drawer.) But I had also told her that it was going to be a bit late. She asked me why. I didn't want to tell her. I told her that I couldn't say because it would spoil the surprise. I didn't want to tell her about Dad's box idea. She said that she was already surprised that my project was late. I asked her if she would hang on. She gave me three days. (Bill Economou had asked for three more days, too, and he'd already handed his in. It was on "Fish of the Sea.")
I knew I would just have to change my plan. I tried to explain it all to Dad but I could tell he wasn't listening. He was all silent. He'd been that way for a while. Mum was silent too. She only said what she had to say, about things like washing or peas. On the third day I came to school with my project, but it was different now. I had two sheets of paper with writing about dinosaurs from the books and a big model of a megalosaurus, a two-legged meat-eater. Since the writing was just stuff, all my hopes for the gold pretty much rested on the model megalosaurus. I had taken two wire coat hangers and threaded them through seventeen beer cans Dad had. (They were empty, so I didn't even ask for them.) The can at the head was flattened for a snout and the whole thing could bend so I could show how dinosaurs had walked. (I kept the movement part of the first plan.)
Bill Economou loved it. Mrs. Nesbitt was angry. I was surprised. She was angry in front of the whole class. She asked if I had needed the extra three days to get enough beer cans. The class laughed when she said that. She looked at them and said that she was disappointed with my project. Then she went down the aisles between the desks asking to see other projects. She'd already seen all of them three days before. She was just doing this to make me feel bad. It worked and I felt bad, really sick. I thought maybe I'd caught an epidemic, a throat one.
At lunchtime I went home without asking. I just wanted to get away from school for a while. Mum had given me a pear in my lunch. I'd told her not to but she didn't listen and put it in my bag anyway. When I got to the front door, I felt inside my bag for the door key. I felt the pear all squashed up. The megalosaurus must have done it. I really wanted to be home with a peanut butter sandwich, some milk and maybe some TV. I opened the door and Dad was there. This was my third surprise in half a day if you count the pear. He was watching TV on the couch.
Dad stayed home in the days now and looked after Nicholas. It's what his work had told him to do. He told me that they'd asked him if he could stay home with Nicholas for a while and not make shoes. That's all he said and then he went back to the TV show about hospitals. I wanted to know who was making the shoes now but didn't ask. I had my sandwich and milk. Then I started to scrape the pear off the inside of my bag. Dad forgot to ask why I was home at lunchtime.
After that, everything seemed different. Mum and Dad would be all quiet when I was in the room with them, but then they'd shout when I'd gone. I couldn't hear the Economous. Dad made plenty of cans but I didn't need them. Things were different at school too. It was like Mrs. Nesbitt was always thinking about my Megalosaurus. I just couldn't get back in her goo books and I got sick of trying. Bill Economou got a silver star for "Fish of the Sea." He kept showing that to me.
I suppose that's why I did it. It all happened so fast like it wasn't really me and I got caught. Mrs. Nesbitt caught me at her desk, in her gold-star tin. She shouted. It hung in the air and made my sweat jump. Everyone looked. She held my fingers out and showed the class. There were gold stars on my fingers. My face got very hot. She started writing a note to Mum. It was about me. I didn't let her finish it. I left. I ran all the way home again. It still wasn't me, though, not really. My bad was still on the pegs.
The front door wasn't locked and I pushed it open. Dad was in the lounge room. His shirt was off and he was puffed like I was, out of breath. He said he'd just been for a run. Mary Economou was there too. Her face was red and her hair was messy. I was confused. I stood there looking at them Then I cried, first in yelps. I felt really strange. She'd never seen me cry before.
Dad took my face and pressed it into his chest. He put his fingers in my hair. He told me nothing was wrong and that he and Mary Economou had just been for a run. He kept telling me not to be upset. He asked me to tell him that nothing was wrong. He told me there was nothing wrong with going for a run. Then he squeezed me so hard it hurt. He smelled of sweat. Then he cried and told me nothing was wrong. His chest moved up and down. It slapped me. I couldn't see anything past his chest. He told me he was sorry.
Two days later I came home from school and Mum was there, not Dad. He had gone. He wasn't coming back for a while. They'd swapped again. Mum would be home with Nicholas, and Dad had gone to look for another shoe factory where he could make shoes again. I asked her where he was. She said he was looking for work in a level playing field. I asked her where that was and if I could go there. She said I would never find it. Bill Economou had borrowed an atlas from the library for "Fish of the Sea" and went to the map of Australia to look for Level Playing Field. We couldn't find it. Bill Economou said she must have meant the Souther Tablelands. When I asked her, she said yes, that was it. I tried to imagine Dad living on a huge flat table, making shoes and writing me letters. She said we would get letters.
If the Earth was hit by a giant meteorite it would've made so much dust that the sunlight wouldn't have been able to get through and the dinosaur food chain would've been wrecked. Without the sunlight they would've frozen too. Even the biggest of them would've needed protection from the cold. Everyone does. It's just theory. No one know for sure about the meteorite. If you don't know something for sure, you might as well just dream it.
Bill Economou dreams all the time. He dreamed Dad was outside one night, outside our flats in the wind doing nothing; leaning against the wall of the empty chocolate factory, staring at our flats. At first, he tried to tell me he actually saw it. Mum said there aren't too many letter boxes at the Southern Playing Field.
Nicholas dreams but he doesn't remember. When we shared the same room I could hear some of his dreams. I told him I heard them all. I've got our room to myself now. He's been sleeping in Mum's bed since he started wetting his bed again. He says he doesn't wet the bed. He says it's mum. I wanted to check this out because he lies much more than me now. I went in and checked one night when they were both asleep. I wasn't sure about him, but Mum's side of the bed was wet. Her pillow. Nothing surprises me much anymore, not really. It's because I'm growing up, I suppose. That's my theory.
In the Time of the Dinosaur Part 1
Read this short story from Elliot Perlman today in class. Liked it a lot and wanna share it with you guys. It has a sad feel to it toward the end. The boy in the story loves dinosaurs (just like me. I like the T-rax most though) Anyway here goes:
Nicholas doesn't remember anything. He was still a baby, really. There's no point even asking him. I have to remember it all myself. Nicholas had just stopped wetting his bed. We lived in the flats near the chocolate factory. Standing in the street at night, you could smell the chocolate cooking. Dad and I would go for a walk while Mum was getting Nicholas ready for bed. Sometimes the wind would take the chocolate into the flats and I could smell it from our room. When I went to bed Dad would read me a story and turn the light out. I'd close my eyes and, with dinosaurs in my head, I would sniff in the chocolate till I was asleep. (I always breath through my nose so that nothing gets into my mouth without my knowing it. Bill Economou from upstairs once swallowed a fly in his sleep. He said his window was open. He was dreaming about chocolate.)
The books dad and I read were always about dinosaurs. I couldn't get enough of them. At that time I wanted to be a dinosaur scientist when I grew up. Dad said he thought it wasn't a bad idea and that i was well on my way already. He said it beats making shoes in a shoe factory, which is what he did. I think he had a fair amount of respect for dinosaurs too.
The first dinosaurs lived on earth more than two hundred million years ago and you can't even imagine how things were for them. I tried to imagine them in Australia, because there were dinosaurs before Captain Cook and the Aborigines or anything you can see around now. They weren't stupid, either, like what people think. Bill Economou said they had to be stupid because they became extinct, but he couldn't come up with another group of backboned animals that lived on Earth for more than a hundred and sixty million years. The facts stared him in the face.
Dad calls me Luke but my full name is Lucas. Once i told Bill Economou that I was named after a dinosaur, the Lukosaurus. I think that shut him up for a while. The Lukosaurus lived in southern China and was two meters long, not counting his horns. A couple of weeks later Bill Economou came downstairs to our flat all of a sudden, knocked on the door and accouned to Mum, Nicholas and me that he was named after a dinosaur too, the Billosaurus. I told him that there was no such dinosaur but he said there was. Mum shirked it the way mums do. She said she hadn't heard of the Billosaurus but there might be a dinosaur called that. I went to Nicholas's and my room to get the books. There was no such dinosaur. I would've known about it if there were.
Bill Economou said it was a Greek dinosaur and that I wouldn't know about it. That's when Mum laughed. Nicholas doesn't remember this of course. Then she said that maybe it was a Greek name for a dinosaur and would he like some cordial. Bill Economou never says no if you offer him something. Mum should've known that. It was probably his sister who told him to say that about a Billosaurus. It didn't sound like something he'd think of on his own.
Bill Economou has two sisters, two brothers and his mum and dad. One sister, Mary is the oldest and the other is almost too young to talk. His brothers, Con and Nick, are older than him too. Nick used to play cricken with us for a while bu then he stopped. I usually keep away from Con. I think Bill Economou does too. Mr Economou likes to get you in a headlock. It's not so bad sometimes. The Economous live directly above us and we hear them. Mum says we don't need to watch TV on one of their good nights. They don't sound like TV. I don't know why she says that.
Mary Economou fights with Mr. Economou. Sometimes Bill Economou invites me up if it's a good one. She's seventeen and still cries. She yells at him in English and he yells back in Greek. I hear a lot of Greek words from Mr. and Mrs. Economou, nearly every day. Never heard Billsaurus, though. Bill Economou says Mary's boyfriend always makes Mr Economou shout in Greek even when he's not there. He can often predict when it will start. The bes tones were when Mary wanted to leave school and when the police came asking for as soon as he saw the police car pull up in front of our block. He did the right thing.
Bill Economou was in the same class as me at school. He had always copied me in lots of things but tried not to let me know. I always knew sooner or later. Earlier in the year we did a couple of projects together, but Mrs. Nesbitt knew that I'd done most of the work. Bill Economou was even a bad colorer. Lines meant nothing to him. I was actually pleased when Mrs. Nesbitt said Bill Economou and I had to do one project each. I don't think he should've asked why. Later he agreed with me about this.
Of course I chose dinosaurs. I had big plans. I knew my project would take days and days, some days just for thinking. There were more than three hundred and forty types of dinosaurs. I knew I couldn't handle them all. I didn't actually like them all. As well as the Lukosaurus, I liked the Tyrannosaurus, the Branchiosaurus and the stegosaurus best. My favorite period was the Cretaceous period. This was the heyday for dinosaurs. There must have been hundreds of different kinds of dinosaurs just roaming around chomping on things during the Cretaceous period. Mum said this was my Cretaceous period. I asked dad when his was. He said it was before he was married. He must've eaten a lot then. Dad's a big man and when he's hungry there's no stopping him. Mum said that before they were married there was no stopping him.
I had figured out that some kids would just do lots of drawings of something and call that their project. Others would copy out slabs from a book and call that their project. These projects would be all right, they might even get two or three red ticks or even a silver star. But I wanted a gold for my dinosaurs. One gold star was my personal best. I wanted to beat it. It had got to where red ticks meant nothing to me. Mrs. Nesbitt was giving them to sucks for behavior and to milky girls for a chart of "The Fruits We Eat." Dad said that dinosaurs would be hard because there were not pictures of them in magazines to cut out. Mum tried to get me to swap my dairy products but I just couldn't. You don't get a gold for pictures of milk. It had to be dinosaurs. Dad said he admired me, which was good I thought. He said, "Luke, I admire you."
I had decided to write out my own theory of why dinosaurs became extinct and to do a drawing of the Lukasaurus. Then Dad gave me a great idea. He suggested making cardboard cutouts of different types of dinosaurs. He said I could fit the dinosaur cutouts into slits in the top of an upside-down box. Then I could move each dinosaur in a different slit to show how slowly they must've moved and which ones came first after the beginning of the Earth. This was a great idea. It could get me a gold. It probably would. Mrs. Nesbitt would never have seen anything like this in her life. Dad said he would bring some shoeboxes and cardboard offcuts for me from work. I asked him not to say anything about it in front of Bill Economou.
*now to end with my favorite paragraph of the story . I'll finish up the story soon :) End of part 1 and Time for work! :)*
Dad gave me the idea on one of our chocolate walks. I was pleased he hadn't tried to talk me out of dinosaurs and into dairy products. He didn't like milk much. I've never seen him drink it. He said he'd drink it if it was on tap. Then he laughed and lifted me up high in the air. I was way above his head in those hands at the end of his thick arms, sort of near the moon. He held me up there for a good while in the chocolate wind and we didn't speak. His arms didn't waver so I was perfectly still in the air. Only the sky moved, just enough to give tiny shakes to the stars. That was the last chocolate walk we had. I don't remember a chocolate wind much after that, either.
Nicholas doesn't remember anything. He was still a baby, really. There's no point even asking him. I have to remember it all myself. Nicholas had just stopped wetting his bed. We lived in the flats near the chocolate factory. Standing in the street at night, you could smell the chocolate cooking. Dad and I would go for a walk while Mum was getting Nicholas ready for bed. Sometimes the wind would take the chocolate into the flats and I could smell it from our room. When I went to bed Dad would read me a story and turn the light out. I'd close my eyes and, with dinosaurs in my head, I would sniff in the chocolate till I was asleep. (I always breath through my nose so that nothing gets into my mouth without my knowing it. Bill Economou from upstairs once swallowed a fly in his sleep. He said his window was open. He was dreaming about chocolate.)
The books dad and I read were always about dinosaurs. I couldn't get enough of them. At that time I wanted to be a dinosaur scientist when I grew up. Dad said he thought it wasn't a bad idea and that i was well on my way already. He said it beats making shoes in a shoe factory, which is what he did. I think he had a fair amount of respect for dinosaurs too.
The first dinosaurs lived on earth more than two hundred million years ago and you can't even imagine how things were for them. I tried to imagine them in Australia, because there were dinosaurs before Captain Cook and the Aborigines or anything you can see around now. They weren't stupid, either, like what people think. Bill Economou said they had to be stupid because they became extinct, but he couldn't come up with another group of backboned animals that lived on Earth for more than a hundred and sixty million years. The facts stared him in the face.
Dad calls me Luke but my full name is Lucas. Once i told Bill Economou that I was named after a dinosaur, the Lukosaurus. I think that shut him up for a while. The Lukosaurus lived in southern China and was two meters long, not counting his horns. A couple of weeks later Bill Economou came downstairs to our flat all of a sudden, knocked on the door and accouned to Mum, Nicholas and me that he was named after a dinosaur too, the Billosaurus. I told him that there was no such dinosaur but he said there was. Mum shirked it the way mums do. She said she hadn't heard of the Billosaurus but there might be a dinosaur called that. I went to Nicholas's and my room to get the books. There was no such dinosaur. I would've known about it if there were.
Bill Economou said it was a Greek dinosaur and that I wouldn't know about it. That's when Mum laughed. Nicholas doesn't remember this of course. Then she said that maybe it was a Greek name for a dinosaur and would he like some cordial. Bill Economou never says no if you offer him something. Mum should've known that. It was probably his sister who told him to say that about a Billosaurus. It didn't sound like something he'd think of on his own.
Bill Economou has two sisters, two brothers and his mum and dad. One sister, Mary is the oldest and the other is almost too young to talk. His brothers, Con and Nick, are older than him too. Nick used to play cricken with us for a while bu then he stopped. I usually keep away from Con. I think Bill Economou does too. Mr Economou likes to get you in a headlock. It's not so bad sometimes. The Economous live directly above us and we hear them. Mum says we don't need to watch TV on one of their good nights. They don't sound like TV. I don't know why she says that.
Mary Economou fights with Mr. Economou. Sometimes Bill Economou invites me up if it's a good one. She's seventeen and still cries. She yells at him in English and he yells back in Greek. I hear a lot of Greek words from Mr. and Mrs. Economou, nearly every day. Never heard Billsaurus, though. Bill Economou says Mary's boyfriend always makes Mr Economou shout in Greek even when he's not there. He can often predict when it will start. The bes tones were when Mary wanted to leave school and when the police came asking for as soon as he saw the police car pull up in front of our block. He did the right thing.
Bill Economou was in the same class as me at school. He had always copied me in lots of things but tried not to let me know. I always knew sooner or later. Earlier in the year we did a couple of projects together, but Mrs. Nesbitt knew that I'd done most of the work. Bill Economou was even a bad colorer. Lines meant nothing to him. I was actually pleased when Mrs. Nesbitt said Bill Economou and I had to do one project each. I don't think he should've asked why. Later he agreed with me about this.
Of course I chose dinosaurs. I had big plans. I knew my project would take days and days, some days just for thinking. There were more than three hundred and forty types of dinosaurs. I knew I couldn't handle them all. I didn't actually like them all. As well as the Lukosaurus, I liked the Tyrannosaurus, the Branchiosaurus and the stegosaurus best. My favorite period was the Cretaceous period. This was the heyday for dinosaurs. There must have been hundreds of different kinds of dinosaurs just roaming around chomping on things during the Cretaceous period. Mum said this was my Cretaceous period. I asked dad when his was. He said it was before he was married. He must've eaten a lot then. Dad's a big man and when he's hungry there's no stopping him. Mum said that before they were married there was no stopping him.
I had figured out that some kids would just do lots of drawings of something and call that their project. Others would copy out slabs from a book and call that their project. These projects would be all right, they might even get two or three red ticks or even a silver star. But I wanted a gold for my dinosaurs. One gold star was my personal best. I wanted to beat it. It had got to where red ticks meant nothing to me. Mrs. Nesbitt was giving them to sucks for behavior and to milky girls for a chart of "The Fruits We Eat." Dad said that dinosaurs would be hard because there were not pictures of them in magazines to cut out. Mum tried to get me to swap my dairy products but I just couldn't. You don't get a gold for pictures of milk. It had to be dinosaurs. Dad said he admired me, which was good I thought. He said, "Luke, I admire you."
I had decided to write out my own theory of why dinosaurs became extinct and to do a drawing of the Lukasaurus. Then Dad gave me a great idea. He suggested making cardboard cutouts of different types of dinosaurs. He said I could fit the dinosaur cutouts into slits in the top of an upside-down box. Then I could move each dinosaur in a different slit to show how slowly they must've moved and which ones came first after the beginning of the Earth. This was a great idea. It could get me a gold. It probably would. Mrs. Nesbitt would never have seen anything like this in her life. Dad said he would bring some shoeboxes and cardboard offcuts for me from work. I asked him not to say anything about it in front of Bill Economou.
*now to end with my favorite paragraph of the story . I'll finish up the story soon :) End of part 1 and Time for work! :)*
Dad gave me the idea on one of our chocolate walks. I was pleased he hadn't tried to talk me out of dinosaurs and into dairy products. He didn't like milk much. I've never seen him drink it. He said he'd drink it if it was on tap. Then he laughed and lifted me up high in the air. I was way above his head in those hands at the end of his thick arms, sort of near the moon. He held me up there for a good while in the chocolate wind and we didn't speak. His arms didn't waver so I was perfectly still in the air. Only the sky moved, just enough to give tiny shakes to the stars. That was the last chocolate walk we had. I don't remember a chocolate wind much after that, either.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
On treasuring the things that have treated you well
We have all heard about the story of the wooden axe and the lumberjack. It goes:
After a hard day of labor, the lumberjack stopped by a nearby spring to rest. As he laid down his axe, it fell into the spring and got lost. Having lost his only tool which he depended on for his livelihood, the lumberjack become distraught and began crying. The fairy of the lake upon hearing his cries, emerged from the pond with a Golden Axe.
"Is this your axe she asked?"
"No." Replied the lumberjack.
Seconds later, the fairy brought out another axe, this time a silver one.
Again, the lumberjack said it wasn't his.
The fairy on her third try surfaced with the woodcutter's wooden axe. She was surprised at the lumberjack's honesty and asked. "Most men would have claimed the Golden Axe for themselves. Why didn't you?"
The lumberjack replied, "though my axe is old, worn out and have little value, it has been good to me through the years. My very own precious wooden axe."
After a hard day of labor, the lumberjack stopped by a nearby spring to rest. As he laid down his axe, it fell into the spring and got lost. Having lost his only tool which he depended on for his livelihood, the lumberjack become distraught and began crying. The fairy of the lake upon hearing his cries, emerged from the pond with a Golden Axe.
"Is this your axe she asked?"
"No." Replied the lumberjack.
Seconds later, the fairy brought out another axe, this time a silver one.
Again, the lumberjack said it wasn't his.
The fairy on her third try surfaced with the woodcutter's wooden axe. She was surprised at the lumberjack's honesty and asked. "Most men would have claimed the Golden Axe for themselves. Why didn't you?"
The lumberjack replied, "though my axe is old, worn out and have little value, it has been good to me through the years. My very own precious wooden axe."
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Learning to let go
This is a recollection from Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being
"He suddenly recalled the famous myth from Plato's Symposium: People were hermaphrodites until God split them in two, and now all the halves wander the world over seeking one another.
Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.
Let us suppose that such it the case, that somewhere in the world each of us has a partner who one formed part of our body. Tomas's other part is the young woman he dreamed about. The trouble is, man does not find the other part of himself. Instead, he is sent Tereza in a bulrush basket. But what happens if he nevertheless later meets the one who was meant for him, the other part of himself? Whom is he to prefer? The woman from the bulrush basket or the woman from Plato's myth?"
We have all heard the story of the hunter and the monkey. To hunt the monkey, the hunter leaves a sturdy tin jar of cookies fixated firmly on the floor. The monkey on-seeing the food reaches his hand in and grabs a handful of these cookies. However when his hand forms the shape of a fist, he is unable to remove his hand from the tin jar. Unwilling to let go even upon seeing the hunter approaching, the monkey is later shot to death.
Sometimes we've just got to let go to move on in life and to let go of the things that are important to us. Often we are too focused on a single important object that we miss out on the other half of ourselves from Plato's Myth.
Sometimes we've just got to let go to move on in life and to let go of the things that are important to us. Often we are too focused on a single important object that we miss out on the other half of ourselves from Plato's Myth.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
SIA= Super SIA LAN.
Chatted with my friend about her job with SIA. I'm calling her Sally. She was telling me how she felt her job degrading and I was telling her to quit ASAP if thats the case. She explains:
Sally says (10:37 PM):
but there's a bond
Sally says (10:37 PM):
15k
Sally says (10:37 PM):
n u know wat the SM told us
Sally says (10:37 PM):
he asked ' do u tink sia needs u or u need sia?'
Sally says (10:38 PM):
den i said interdependent lor
Sally says (10:38 PM):
he said, cmon look at our interviews
Sally says (10:38 PM):
thousands wanna get in
Sally says (10:38 PM):
u can quit today n we can get a replacement immediately
mok says (10:38 PM):
this kind of company, no wonder not no.1 airlines anymore
Sally says (10:38 PM):
i was dumbfounded lor
Sally says (10:38 PM):
like CCB, cant he even give us some encouragement
No way am I ever going to work for such a company. Companies like this make me want to run my own business.
Sally says (10:37 PM):
but there's a bond
Sally says (10:37 PM):
15k
Sally says (10:37 PM):
n u know wat the SM told us
Sally says (10:37 PM):
he asked ' do u tink sia needs u or u need sia?'
Sally says (10:38 PM):
den i said interdependent lor
Sally says (10:38 PM):
he said, cmon look at our interviews
Sally says (10:38 PM):
thousands wanna get in
Sally says (10:38 PM):
u can quit today n we can get a replacement immediately
mok says (10:38 PM):
this kind of company, no wonder not no.1 airlines anymore
Sally says (10:38 PM):
i was dumbfounded lor
Sally says (10:38 PM):
like CCB, cant he even give us some encouragement
No way am I ever going to work for such a company. Companies like this make me want to run my own business.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
You are what you see
I got this following verbatim from John C. Maxwell's, The 24 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. In it, he tells a story from the movie, The Great Outdoors:
In the movie, John Candy plays Chet, a man vacationing with his family at a small lake community in the woods. He is unexpectedly visited by his sister-in-law and her husband, Roman. As the two men sit on the porch of their cabin over-looking the lake and miles of beautiful forest, they start to talk. And Roman, who see himself as a wheeler-dealer, shares his vision with Chet: "I'll tell you what I see when I look out there . . . I see the underdeveloped resources of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. I see a syndicated development consortium exploiting over a billion and a half dollars in forest products. I see a paper mill and- if the strategy metals are there- a mining operation; a green belt between the condos on the lakes and a waste management facility. . . Now I ask you, what do you see?
"I, uh, I just see trees," answers Chet.
Chet saw trees because he was there to enjoy the scenery. Roman saw opportunity because he was a businessman whose desire was to make money. How you see the world around you is determined by who you are.
This reminds me of how Wendy and Jerome from ED once taught us of the importance of opening up our vision. Our teams were sent out to town to look at the advertisements (billboards, posters) from a new perspective.
It was an amazingly difficult experience because most of us have already been grounded and taught to look at the advertisements from the perspective of consumers.
I'll give you an example.
What's the different between two gas stations at opposite corners of a busy intersection? Station A with a big sign:
DISCOUNT FOR PAYING CASH!
Cash- $1.40 per Gallon
Credit- $1.50 per Gallon
and the other, Station B, imposes a surcharge for credit. It says:
Cash- $1.40 per Gallon
Credit- $1.50 per Gallon
If you were a typical consumer, you would most likely enter Station B assuming all conditions are equal. Why? Because people don't like surcharges. If you noticed though, you'll realize that the price structure is exactly the same.
The point here is that, if you look at the opportunities from the perspective of a businessmen, you would never ever have come up with an advertisement like the ones in Station B. When you go out shopping the next time, take a look at the advertisements around you. You'll realize how many mistakes even professional agencies make when they come up with their advertisements- I find it really embarrassing. I once saw an billboard advertisement, they were asking people to call them up now, while stocks last but did not provide any number for follow up. Imagine that!
Another thought that came to mind is how people around you can influence what you see and what not. I was telling my friends a while back that I hated hanging out with pessimistic people because they are like vacuum cleaners- they suck out all the energy from me. When I face a challenge, the only concern I have is on what I must do to overcome it. A pessimistic person on the other hand is only concerned on giving reasons why it can't be done.
Me: "Okay no prob. We can try giving them a call and ask for permission"
Pessimist: "I think it is very difficult because I don't think they will give us permission"
Me: . . .
The whole mindset is different here. I got the below picture from Randy Pausch's last lecture:
The optimist looks for solutions to get over the wall, the pessimist will look at the wall, and use it as a reason to turn back.
Some people tell me that it's good to have a pessimist in a team sometimes. I disagree. Being a pessimist and being prudent are two different matters altogether. You can be an optimist and at the same time still be prudent. It's really just a question of whether your glass is half empty of half full.
Maybe it's just me, but it sure is a lot more fun looking at the sunny side of things. =)
Anyway if you are looking for motivational talks you MUST see the Last Lecture of Randy Pausch. He was diagnosed with cancer but despite all odds, he shared his life's experience and values in this one hour lecture to empower the lives of others. He's one hellava amazing guy. *SALUTE* See below:
In the movie, John Candy plays Chet, a man vacationing with his family at a small lake community in the woods. He is unexpectedly visited by his sister-in-law and her husband, Roman. As the two men sit on the porch of their cabin over-looking the lake and miles of beautiful forest, they start to talk. And Roman, who see himself as a wheeler-dealer, shares his vision with Chet: "I'll tell you what I see when I look out there . . . I see the underdeveloped resources of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. I see a syndicated development consortium exploiting over a billion and a half dollars in forest products. I see a paper mill and- if the strategy metals are there- a mining operation; a green belt between the condos on the lakes and a waste management facility. . . Now I ask you, what do you see?
"I, uh, I just see trees," answers Chet.
Chet saw trees because he was there to enjoy the scenery. Roman saw opportunity because he was a businessman whose desire was to make money. How you see the world around you is determined by who you are.
This reminds me of how Wendy and Jerome from ED once taught us of the importance of opening up our vision. Our teams were sent out to town to look at the advertisements (billboards, posters) from a new perspective.
It was an amazingly difficult experience because most of us have already been grounded and taught to look at the advertisements from the perspective of consumers.
I'll give you an example.
What's the different between two gas stations at opposite corners of a busy intersection? Station A with a big sign:
DISCOUNT FOR PAYING CASH!
Cash- $1.40 per Gallon
Credit- $1.50 per Gallon
and the other, Station B, imposes a surcharge for credit. It says:
Cash- $1.40 per Gallon
Credit- $1.50 per Gallon
If you were a typical consumer, you would most likely enter Station B assuming all conditions are equal. Why? Because people don't like surcharges. If you noticed though, you'll realize that the price structure is exactly the same.
The point here is that, if you look at the opportunities from the perspective of a businessmen, you would never ever have come up with an advertisement like the ones in Station B. When you go out shopping the next time, take a look at the advertisements around you. You'll realize how many mistakes even professional agencies make when they come up with their advertisements- I find it really embarrassing. I once saw an billboard advertisement, they were asking people to call them up now, while stocks last but did not provide any number for follow up. Imagine that!
Another thought that came to mind is how people around you can influence what you see and what not. I was telling my friends a while back that I hated hanging out with pessimistic people because they are like vacuum cleaners- they suck out all the energy from me. When I face a challenge, the only concern I have is on what I must do to overcome it. A pessimistic person on the other hand is only concerned on giving reasons why it can't be done.
Me: "Okay no prob. We can try giving them a call and ask for permission"
Pessimist: "I think it is very difficult because I don't think they will give us permission"
Me: . . .
The whole mindset is different here. I got the below picture from Randy Pausch's last lecture:
The optimist looks for solutions to get over the wall, the pessimist will look at the wall, and use it as a reason to turn back.
Some people tell me that it's good to have a pessimist in a team sometimes. I disagree. Being a pessimist and being prudent are two different matters altogether. You can be an optimist and at the same time still be prudent. It's really just a question of whether your glass is half empty of half full.
Maybe it's just me, but it sure is a lot more fun looking at the sunny side of things. =)
Anyway if you are looking for motivational talks you MUST see the Last Lecture of Randy Pausch. He was diagnosed with cancer but despite all odds, he shared his life's experience and values in this one hour lecture to empower the lives of others. He's one hellava amazing guy. *SALUTE* See below:
Monday, February 25, 2008
I'm an idiot
The lady on the left is Yating. The girl on the right is Yilin.
Repeat that to myself another 10,000 times and I'll never make this mistake again.
When I came home from school today, I told Yilin with great enthusiasm that I called Yating to let off some steam
YiLin Replied:
why you dont' cal me
angry
and then I checked my Gmail and I realized why she was mad
*********************************************************************************
Mok, i feel like killing you la!!!
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:10:01 +0800
From: merky84@gmail.com
To: smiling_sun_@hotmail.com; roxerando@hotmail.com; guo_jing83@hotmail.com; hiroko_21@hotmail.com
Subject: B2B Major (Mok and Yating)
Hi guys,
Here's what yating and I have done for our part. Take a look and feel free to comment on it during our next discussion
Cheers
Mok
What's your problem MOK?! You really hate me man!! After so much discussion online for the proj on my part, you can send an email say you and yating?
Faint la! I see this email and i almost fainted!
Anyways, No more mistake is tolerable! :D
Cheers,
YiLin.
*********************************************************************************
YiLin said to me:
"i wonder if you really can't tell me apart from us
or she's the preference la"
YiLin emphasized again not long after:
"are we really that alike that you can't tell us apart
or isit she's the evoke set of yours
that's why
i'm the unfavourable team mate eh"
Being an idiot, I couldn't totally understand the issue here. I went to consult a girl friend of mine:
mok says (6:19 PM):
her name is yiling
mok says (6:19 PM):
but i spelt it as yating
mok says (6:19 PM):
just a slip man
mok says (6:19 PM):
and her reply was this
mok says (6:19 PM):
What's your problem MOK?! You really hate me man!! After so much discussion online for the proj on my part, you can send an email say you and yating?
Faint la! I see this email and i almost fainted!
Anyways, No more mistake is tolerable!
Cheers,
YiLin.
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
lol
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
eh
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
girls are like that
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
its a name u know
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
impt
*A few seconds later*
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:21 PM):
Cheers,
YiLin.
mok says (6:21 PM):
OOOOOOO
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:21 PM):
her name is yilin ley
mok says (6:21 PM):
=X
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:21 PM):
die
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:21 PM):
what is my name?
If Qier says die, she must be right. I deserve to die. After all, that's the 3rd hate mail that I've received from a girl. =X
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qier sent me For Your Babies by Simply Red.
Really nostalgic. I still remember very vividly when I was in Secondary 3, I heard this song playing on Class 95. Fell in love with this song. Hummed it in school everyday even during my 2.4 run.
9 years later, I'm in love with this song again. Good things never grow old. =)
Repeat that to myself another 10,000 times and I'll never make this mistake again.
When I came home from school today, I told Yilin with great enthusiasm that I called Yating to let off some steam
YiLin Replied:
why you dont' cal me
angry
and then I checked my Gmail and I realized why she was mad
*********************************************************************************
Mok, i feel like killing you la!!!
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:10:01 +0800
From: merky84@gmail.com
To: smiling_sun_@hotmail.com; roxerando@hotmail.com; guo_jing83@hotmail.com; hiroko_21@hotmail.com
Subject: B2B Major (Mok and Yating)
Hi guys,
Here's what yating and I have done for our part. Take a look and feel free to comment on it during our next discussion
Cheers
Mok
What's your problem MOK?! You really hate me man!! After so much discussion online for the proj on my part, you can send an email say you and yating?
Faint la! I see this email and i almost fainted!
Anyways, No more mistake is tolerable! :D
Cheers,
YiLin.
*********************************************************************************
YiLin said to me:
"i wonder if you really can't tell me apart from us
or she's the preference la"
YiLin emphasized again not long after:
"are we really that alike that you can't tell us apart
or isit she's the evoke set of yours
that's why
i'm the unfavourable team mate eh"
Being an idiot, I couldn't totally understand the issue here. I went to consult a girl friend of mine:
mok says (6:19 PM):
her name is yiling
mok says (6:19 PM):
but i spelt it as yating
mok says (6:19 PM):
just a slip man
mok says (6:19 PM):
and her reply was this
mok says (6:19 PM):
What's your problem MOK?! You really hate me man!! After so much discussion online for the proj on my part, you can send an email say you and yating?
Faint la! I see this email and i almost fainted!
Anyways, No more mistake is tolerable!
Cheers,
YiLin.
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
lol
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
eh
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
girls are like that
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
its a name u know
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:20 PM):
impt
*A few seconds later*
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:21 PM):
Cheers,
YiLin.
mok says (6:21 PM):
OOOOOOO
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:21 PM):
her name is yilin ley
mok says (6:21 PM):
=X
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:21 PM):
die
Fly me to the moon.. says (6:21 PM):
what is my name?
If Qier says die, she must be right. I deserve to die. After all, that's the 3rd hate mail that I've received from a girl. =X
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qier sent me For Your Babies by Simply Red.
Really nostalgic. I still remember very vividly when I was in Secondary 3, I heard this song playing on Class 95. Fell in love with this song. Hummed it in school everyday even during my 2.4 run.
9 years later, I'm in love with this song again. Good things never grow old. =)
Kathleens Mystery Shopping Adventures
Yesterday Kath was telling me about her new job working as a mobile consultant in a bank.
Kath says: tell you one funny incident! you know i've been studying for my job so i know all the terms and what not right. we were suppose to go mystery shopping at other banks. AND act stupid , like a customer. but while conversing with the financial manager i used the jargons. not just once but many many times. untill he asked if we were from another banks
O boy, why am I not surprised? This is just so "kathleen" Hah
Kath says: tell you one funny incident! you know i've been studying for my job so i know all the terms and what not right. we were suppose to go mystery shopping at other banks. AND act stupid , like a customer. but while conversing with the financial manager i used the jargons. not just once but many many times. untill he asked if we were from another banks
O boy, why am I not surprised? This is just so "kathleen" Hah
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Guess what this is!
mok says (12:22 AM):
i'm still here
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:22 AM):
..
mok says (12:22 AM):
show u sumthing
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:22 AM):
why
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:22 AM):
ok
mok sends:
mok says (12:22 AM):
i was reading my fren's blog
mok says (12:22 AM):
i found tihs
Transfer of "Traffic Light.jpg" is complete.
mok says (12:22 AM):
guess what is it
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:23 AM):
eh mok
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:23 AM):
lol
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:23 AM):
ur name of the pic says it all
mok says (12:23 AM):
Lol
mok says (12:23 AM):
opps
mok says (12:23 AM):
ahha
mok says (12:23 AM):
=X
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:23 AM):
lol
i'm still here
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:22 AM):
..
mok says (12:22 AM):
show u sumthing
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:22 AM):
why
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:22 AM):
ok
mok sends:
mok says (12:22 AM):
i was reading my fren's blog
mok says (12:22 AM):
i found tihs
Transfer of "Traffic Light.jpg" is complete.
mok says (12:22 AM):
guess what is it
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:23 AM):
eh mok
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:23 AM):
lol
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:23 AM):
ur name of the pic says it all
mok says (12:23 AM):
Lol
mok says (12:23 AM):
opps
mok says (12:23 AM):
ahha
mok says (12:23 AM):
=X
Fly me to the moon.. says (12:23 AM):
lol
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Great friends bring out the best in you
While I was practicing for my PP presentation, I was actually thinking to myself of how lucky I am- To be blessed with such a fun-loving and motivated project group.
Ting's a really good speaker and while listening to her speak, I was really inspired to get better myself. Great friends and optimistic company can really make you feel good and spur you on to improve yourself. Whereas negative or pessimistic friends can have the opposite effect. I was reminded of a book that Qier blogged about and it basically sums up my feelings for today.
A woman is concerned that her lover is going back to his wife.
He explains: 'Marie, let's suppose that two firemen go into a forest to put out a small fire. Afterwards, when they emerge and go over to a stream, the face of one is all smeared with black, while the other man's face is completely clean. My question is this: Which of the two will wash his face?'
'That's a silly question. The one with the dirty face of course.'
'No. The one with the dirty face will look at the other man and assume that he looks like him. And, vice versa, the man with the clean face will see his colleague's grime and say to himself: I must be dirty, too. I'd better have a wash.'
'What are you trying to say?' 'I'm saying that, during the time I spent in hospital, I came to realise that I was always looking for myself in the women I loved. I looked at their lovely, clean faces and saw myself reflected in them. They, on the other hand, looked at me and saw the dirt on my face and, however intelligent or self-confident they were, they ended up seeing themselves reflected in me and thinking that they were worse than they were. Please, don't let that happen to you.'
Nice huh?
Ting's a really good speaker and while listening to her speak, I was really inspired to get better myself. Great friends and optimistic company can really make you feel good and spur you on to improve yourself. Whereas negative or pessimistic friends can have the opposite effect. I was reminded of a book that Qier blogged about and it basically sums up my feelings for today.
A woman is concerned that her lover is going back to his wife.
He explains: 'Marie, let's suppose that two firemen go into a forest to put out a small fire. Afterwards, when they emerge and go over to a stream, the face of one is all smeared with black, while the other man's face is completely clean. My question is this: Which of the two will wash his face?'
'That's a silly question. The one with the dirty face of course.'
'No. The one with the dirty face will look at the other man and assume that he looks like him. And, vice versa, the man with the clean face will see his colleague's grime and say to himself: I must be dirty, too. I'd better have a wash.'
'What are you trying to say?' 'I'm saying that, during the time I spent in hospital, I came to realise that I was always looking for myself in the women I loved. I looked at their lovely, clean faces and saw myself reflected in them. They, on the other hand, looked at me and saw the dirt on my face and, however intelligent or self-confident they were, they ended up seeing themselves reflected in me and thinking that they were worse than they were. Please, don't let that happen to you.'
Nice huh?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Two things that made me happy
O man what a great day yesterday =)
Want to talk about some random event on the bus today. Was riding 173 home, and as usual, the bus is littered with rubbish. There was a bubble tea cup on the floor, and as one passenger was alighting, he stepped on the cup and nearly fell over. An NYGH girl sitting behind him got really shocked, and had a really genuine look of concern. After that passenger alighted, she was really sweet to go over and pick up that tea cup and held on to it until she alighted to throw it away. :)
These kind of girls really super sweet man! Wife material? Maybe.
I went to bed early tonight. Around 11.30 pm and i fell deep into my coma. At 12.30am I received a call from "Unknown location". It was a lady, nice voice and all. She introduced herself as Denise. I was still in the transition between lala land and the land of reality so I couldn't really process what she was saying.
Me: "heelllllo. Whois this?"
Denise: This is Denise Boo, Derrick's sister
Me: huh. . . Denise who?
Denise: Denise Boo the one who recorded the McDonald's Video
Me: *STUNNED*
Any case I think I must have sounded really strange *My friends always tell me that I don't sound right when i'm semi-awake* :D
It was an overseas call and she was really sweet to go through all the trouble of learning how to encode the video and even offered to Fed Ex it to me, who is a complete stranger to her. I guess I really owe her big not forgeting boo too!
Anyway she's the pretty lady in the center from the picture below
These small acts of kindness (for strangers) really makes my day bright :)
Want to talk about some random event on the bus today. Was riding 173 home, and as usual, the bus is littered with rubbish. There was a bubble tea cup on the floor, and as one passenger was alighting, he stepped on the cup and nearly fell over. An NYGH girl sitting behind him got really shocked, and had a really genuine look of concern. After that passenger alighted, she was really sweet to go over and pick up that tea cup and held on to it until she alighted to throw it away. :)
These kind of girls really super sweet man! Wife material? Maybe.
I went to bed early tonight. Around 11.30 pm and i fell deep into my coma. At 12.30am I received a call from "Unknown location". It was a lady, nice voice and all. She introduced herself as Denise. I was still in the transition between lala land and the land of reality so I couldn't really process what she was saying.
Me: "heelllllo. Whois this?"
Denise: This is Denise Boo, Derrick's sister
Me: huh. . . Denise who?
Denise: Denise Boo the one who recorded the McDonald's Video
Me: *STUNNED*
Any case I think I must have sounded really strange *My friends always tell me that I don't sound right when i'm semi-awake* :D
It was an overseas call and she was really sweet to go through all the trouble of learning how to encode the video and even offered to Fed Ex it to me, who is a complete stranger to her. I guess I really owe her big not forgeting boo too!
Anyway she's the pretty lady in the center from the picture below
These small acts of kindness (for strangers) really makes my day bright :)
Monday, February 18, 2008
Class presentation for BMW today! I am really heartened by the level of enthusiasm of my group mates in preparing for it. Honestly, despite the labor we went through making the slides, we had a pretty good time together. :)
I must highlight the fact that for some of us, making a pitch isn't an easy task to go through. I myself, I admit, public speaking isn't my forte. I have to thank my mate Ganghao and Eric, for carrying the extra burden of making the presentation. I would have offered to do so but I don't feel secure without adequate preparations. Eric appeared to have experienced a little stage-fright. Whenever, I fail at something, I always remind myself of President Theodore Roosevelt's quote (which uses a boxing analogy):
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
I sent an SMS to both Eric and Ganghao: "Good job for the presentation! It wasn't perfect, but then again, nothing ever is :)"
Ganghao's reply was, "No problem. I just do what I can, having fun I guess lol."
:)
Everybody is unique in his or her own ways. Some talents are concrete (obvious) while, others are more subtle. In a team, what matters to me is that you give whatever you are better at. If you can't, you've got your friends to carry you through not just literally, but through support and encouragement. Don't matter, it's over. Looking on the bright side, I'm just really motivated to give it my 101% for the other project commitments after today.
On a lighter note, the twins in my group, Yilin and Yating are super adorable/funny. We wanted to print our DM Brief today. After printing everything, we just left the WHOLE FILE in the photocopying room. Can you imagine that! We went to collect it, and after exiting the library, we realized we left our marks allocation slip behind. My jaw literally dropped. We searched the room for it but it was nowhere. Guess where we found it after that? Yating and Yilin stapled them to another copy of the brief we printed for Nee's group! It's seriously drama quality.
Yilin are you reading this? It's payback for your content in your blog :P
I must highlight the fact that for some of us, making a pitch isn't an easy task to go through. I myself, I admit, public speaking isn't my forte. I have to thank my mate Ganghao and Eric, for carrying the extra burden of making the presentation. I would have offered to do so but I don't feel secure without adequate preparations. Eric appeared to have experienced a little stage-fright. Whenever, I fail at something, I always remind myself of President Theodore Roosevelt's quote (which uses a boxing analogy):
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
I sent an SMS to both Eric and Ganghao: "Good job for the presentation! It wasn't perfect, but then again, nothing ever is :)"
Ganghao's reply was, "No problem. I just do what I can, having fun I guess lol."
:)
Everybody is unique in his or her own ways. Some talents are concrete (obvious) while, others are more subtle. In a team, what matters to me is that you give whatever you are better at. If you can't, you've got your friends to carry you through not just literally, but through support and encouragement. Don't matter, it's over. Looking on the bright side, I'm just really motivated to give it my 101% for the other project commitments after today.
On a lighter note, the twins in my group, Yilin and Yating are super adorable/funny. We wanted to print our DM Brief today. After printing everything, we just left the WHOLE FILE in the photocopying room. Can you imagine that! We went to collect it, and after exiting the library, we realized we left our marks allocation slip behind. My jaw literally dropped. We searched the room for it but it was nowhere. Guess where we found it after that? Yating and Yilin stapled them to another copy of the brief we printed for Nee's group! It's seriously drama quality.
Yilin are you reading this? It's payback for your content in your blog :P
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