staff, bosses & leaders

am sure many military persons can understand this...

when a staff writes a paper, he focuses on quality of thoughts and flow to his best knowledge, and sometimes forgets about who the reader is.

when a boss reads the paper, he focuses primarily on who will be reading the paper more that the quality of thoughts. and if queried on the quality of thoughts by his bosses, he will look back at his staff with the "you die!" look (if his staff is there in the first place).

when a leader reads the paper, he focuses on the quality of thought and the flow, guides the staff, then takes ownership of it and manages the people reading it.

agree? and oh, i have yet to submit my paper to my boss.

;-)

good trashing!

was at the food court having my dinner and there was these 2 uni students having their dinner. they must be from the archery club cos they were wearing the uni archery club t-shirt. sitting with these 2 uni guys was a lady. she didn't seem much older than them and seemed foreigner cos altho she spoke reasonably good english (with a hint singlish). i was able to hear a tinge of japanese accent and from the somewhat authoritative way she behaved, i suspected she was their coach. anyway, i didn't pay much attention to them.

and then out of no where i heard the lady said something to one of the guys in a rather stern tone. and the guy replied "i don't care what other people think of me!". he sounded rather indignant. and just as quick as he finished the sentence, she told him off in just as assertive tone "then you have to be prepared to live on an island by yourself! an island with water and food and all you need, but no people!" she continued "if you continue to be this way, you will soon have no one around you!" the guy responded with a laugh, thinking that she was joking. the lady obviously didn't take too well to this response and started to sound angry. "look here! i am serious and i am not joking! you don't behave this way..." 

and the whole micro-atmosphere at the food court turned very serious. the guys stopped laughing. in fact, they stop everything altogether. they placed their cutlery onto their plates, sat upright, kept quiet and simply listened intently to the lady as she gave them a good dressing down. it reminded me of how i behaved when i was chided by my mum or my teacher when i committed mistakes when i was a kid. 

and in my head, i was going "bravo! you go girl! respect!" i have not seen a scene like this nor a young adult submitted himself to another person for a long long while. kids these days seemed to be so totally full of themselves to the point of being selfish, and disrespectful. and the worst part was - their parents let them be! so what i saw was values inculcation in its purest form. it was such a refreshing change! if only we have more parents like that now. and what made this scene all the more impressive to me was the fact that this lady was not much older than the 2 uni guys yet she commanded such respect from them. this society would certainly be a very much nicer place to live in if we have more persons like this lady!

heh...

proposal feedback

i gave him my proposal yesterday as promised. and his response after half a day was that i needed to create an impact in the first 2min but didn't give me any pointers about what this impact should look like and how to scope it. and he speculated how the different board members would react to my paper - not from a quality of thought angle but from nitty gritties like you should not use this word or that word, this person wants this but that person wants that, so you need to reconcile how to manage that.

haha... i was managing the quality of thought and flow and he was managing his bosses.

performance appraisal

i had one of the worst appraisal experience today.

lots of inconsistent things were said that i could not make sense of except to conclude that the appraisal session was about forcing and justifying his agenda and not about my performance. after listening for the initial 5-10 minutes, i simply went through the motion and played along. fundamentally, i don't believe a person who joined the department on the last quarter of the assessment year would be able to really see and appreciate our efforts and quality of our outcomes for the whole year, particularly when all the work was done before he joined the department. after all, the last quarter of any assessment year was always about consolidation and projection for the following year. as for his agenda - to load me with most of the work that one of my colleague couldn't do to meet his expectations (and frankly, i believe he is managing her out) and to lower my pay.

so the conversation started with him going round and round about how i was "overpaid" and "underworked". and once he felt he had sufficiently convinced me of how "overpaid" i was, he went on to share that his impression of me was that i knew my work really well, but quickly went on to gun me down by telling me how he was unimpressed he was with me and that whatever work i did did not meet up to his expectations. he topped it up by sarcastically adding that "some people can do the work but chose not to do".

i asked him to elaborate what he meant with examples and he started going all over the place with examples that i was able to assertively respond and counter his point about my "under-performance". it reflected so clearly that he didn't know my job scope and what i had delivered (probably becos he joined us only during the last quarter of the year but that shouldn't be an excuse). of cos, as he's the boss, i did not embarrass him by simply saying that i should have keep him in the loop of what i did (which in actual fact, i did). to me, he had his agenda and there's nothing i could do to change that. what more when he showed signs of impatience and anger halfway through the conversation. to me, such reactions by an appraiser reflects insincerity and goes again what leaders should be. it reflects badly on him. what was important was the fact that i was given an above average performance bonus although he was quick to add that "i only decided to give you this amount because i know you need the money to take care of your mum". wtf right? give bonus yet devalue it. in saying what he said, he indirectly messaged to me that he had unethically gamed the system. but based on what he said and what i was given, i could only conclude that there were people helping me during the appraisal. and once i sensed anger and impatience from him, i didn't go further. i didn't want to dwell too much on his words. they carry no weight as far as i was concerned. what's important was that i got the bonus.

as for the annual increment, he awarded me with a less-than-1% increase and reiterated his views that i have been "overpaid" and thus, he was using the opportunity to correct this. again, i didn't want to respond further but simply listened to what he wanted to say about his plans with regards my job expansion. i was brought in for a regional role but with focus on local workforce. the restructuring and selling off of regional companies also resulted in a change in my job scope and i had to do more in other areas that i previously didn't have to do. but to him, it didn't mean anything. to him, i was simply "overpaid" and "underworked". period. i walked out of the appraisal with additional business partnering role (full range) on top of what i currently have on my plate. i would have raised my concerns of being overwhelmed cos he didn't have full idea of what my job scope was in the first place had he not gone on to add that he would be allocating an additional headcount to me. and for that i appreciate. this headcount was someone he brought in and i am sure, would be a good source of information to him about me. then again, it didn't bother me. i am so beyond such political play. i just want to earn an honest living.

at the end of the appraisal, he asked me for my comments, i simply told him i didn't want to visit old conversations given that bosses have changed and that expectations are different now. there were so many ways i could have reacted to this appraisal but i remained calm and objective. how should i see this development? half-empty? half-full? i chose to take it as half-full. positively, his allocation of new tasks to me allow me to formally update my resume about what i am capable of. added to that, i now have new learning opportunities and i am able to learn in an environment i am familiar with - that means, less stressful than if i were to do the same role in a new company. give me sometime and my resume will look totally refreshed and my job search frontier will be enlarged.

:-)

hectic weekend

it was a superbly hectic weekend. but a fulfilling one. on top of all the routines of taking care of mum (sunday was my domestic help's off day), writing of a huge proposal for my company (that my boss wanted), groom the dog, and the visits to my brother's place, etc i was also able to play host to a blogger friend who visited singapore over the weekend.

you see, diurnal sharks came over from east malaysia and i hosted him on saturday. had told mum i needed to work and ran off for the day. managed to bring him to the s.e.a. seaworld and the recently opened lee kong chain natural history museum. it was really a great eye opener for me to see the s.e.a. seaworld now that i didn't have my mum with me. thoroughly enjoyed the experience. as for the natural history museum, it was a really good homecoming for me. once i walked in, i felt totally at home. the place and all the exhibits brought me back to my uni days - the times when i went through all the different phylla, the anatomy, the taxonomy, the preparations of specimens for the herbarium, etc etc etc.  

i was totally stretched and exhausted when weekend ended.

but i felt good that it was fulfilling.

:-)

"laid to rest"

well, figuratively that is. these days, with most people opting for cremation instead of burial, we now no longer can say a person had been "laid to rest"... anyway, i have digressed even before i started my post.

my uncle's funeral happened this morning and he was finally cremated. his ashes had been placed at the crematorium as of this evening. was a simple process given that it was a christian funeral. but it was no less emotional. many of our eyes were red during the ceremony. and as for me, i teared somewhat but as i drove to the crematorium, i cried. felt good to just let the tears out. and as i cried, there was this very short moment where i couldn't really pinpoint the real reasons why i cried. that was when everything got mixed altogether... work, stress, pent up, relationship, loss, etc.  

had certainly been a very long, draining and tiring week. it started with my boss returning from his leave followed by news of my uncle's passing. and frankly, with my boss' return, the mood in office sank really really low. all smiles disappeared and everyone started to speak in whispers and stress-levels spike again. as for my uncle's passing, i attended the wake nightly after mum went to bed and had slept at 1-ish for the whole week, yet waking up as per normal for work. thus, as of now, i am totally dead beat, but i cannot rest. i have to rush through writing a paper and give the first draft to my boss by monday. will need to work through the weekend.

challenging times ahead.

push on!

my uncle's passing

my uncle passed away at 3-plus this morning.

may he rest in peace.

:-(

dim sum dollies

went for the dim sum dollies performance yesterday at the esplanade. thought it was not as funny as their previous shows. some observations here...

• age seemed to be catching up with selena tan. added to her large size, she came across many a times that she was breathless and that she couldn't catch up with the rest of the actors. and it showed in her split second slower movements during the dances, her inability to bend her knees, kick high enough etc compared to pam and denise. but she was still the mama dolly and her size, if anything, command a certain presence.

• pam oei was the most natural of all the actors in the show. she really stood out (as usual) when she does her cantonese bits. thoroughly enjoyed her performance! brilliant!

• denise was the youngest of the dollies (in terms of number of years playing the role of a dolly), having filled emma yong's place after the latter passed away 3 years back. and perhaps that was why she came across as trying very hard, too hard at times. but overall, i thought she blended well enough with the team and carried all her roles very competently. good job!

• hossan has always played the supporting roles in all the dolly productions. but he did came across after so many shows as an integral part of it, or for that matter, a fourth dolly. and without sounding a tat too sexist, i thought he would complement them very well for that fact that he was male but it turned out again and again (particularly this time round) where he had to appear in drag. but that would the script writer's problem and not be his. still, he was a really lovely and lively fourth member of the team. great fun!

• as for the loh mai guys... i must say it was a little too much to have them appear again and again in drag. that was one of my key pain points. other than that, they filled the roles of supporting the team of (4) dollies sufficiently well enough.

then again, i enjoyed the production. last but not least, the many old local songs sung during the show reminded me of my childhood days.

:-)

no bak chang, yet

i had bought all the ingredients to make bak chang (dumpling) this year. the dumpling festival fell on yesterday and i had planned to make the bak chang in the morning. i didn't. i ended up spending my day in office. my colleague had arranged for a paint job to be done in office over the day but couldn't stay the whole duration of the painting and i had to cover her. so... anyway, it allowed me to catch up with my work.

my boss had asked me to do some big time framing last month and when i briefed him on what i had done (after adhering to his flow, etc), he told me that was not what he wanted. and he gave all sorts of new requirements to me. and after that, he emailed me a couple sets of slides from his previous company and told me to use that as a reference and to reframe the paper all over again. then he went on 3 weeks leave. sighs.

well, his absence was a good break for me mentally as it allowed me much space to catch up with lots of stuff. but during the last week or so, he started to email my colleagues and i from states (where he was holidaying) and arrowing us to do stuff for him. and added to that, he started to ask us if we had completed what he tasked us to do and reminded us he wants to see our products when he returns yadda yadda yadda... rather unhappy with this but well, he's the boss. 

so, ya... back to the bak chang. well, didn't get to make it yesterday and i ended up with quite a few relatives and friends asking me if i made any this year... heh. will do it next week. let's hope i don't get distracted this time round.

:-)

imminent death

recieved a text from my sis. she forwarded me my cousin's message telling us about his dad's deteriorating condition. doctors had advised that they have exhausted all means to manage my uncle. apparently his heart had stopped twice too. and he ended by saying that they could only pray to god and hope for the impossible. when a logical and highly educated person adopt such a tone and had resorted to leave things in the hands of the divine, you know things are bleak. i decided to find ways to pay my uncle a visit today. it's the right thing to do. 

and i am writing this post after having just walked out of his ward. i had lied to mum that i needed to head to the bank earlier. she had been heavily influenced by my brother who had nothing but bad words for my uncle and i didn't want to create tensions within the family by telling her of my visit. sighs. anyway, it was a very depressing sight. his whole face and body had turned black and he was barely able to respond. he's in the isolation ward and i needed to don the hospital gown and gloves before i was allowed in to see him. otherwise, he seemed comfortable. i didn't stay long. he acknowledged my presence before the nurses had to change his diapers and shift his position. he dozed off after that. i was quite certain this was my last look at him alive.

talking to a person who was facing imminent death was not easy. suddenly the whole topic of death or anything related to his/ her passing become extremely taboo. in my many years talking to people near death, i had only spoken about the actual topic of death to two persons - my cousin and my aunt. it was relatively easier with my cousin as she's buddhist and death was something she had came to terms with. she passed away very peacefully a few days after i spoke with her. as for my aunt, i sensed her hesitance in going and she was struggling when i visited her. seeing her in that state, the urging for her to let go of any attachments and go if she needed became easy. it was almost as though i was helping her go in peace. her heart stopped and she died in front of my very eyes after i assured her everything will be fine.

as for my uncle, i could only ask basic question like whether he was comfortable. i was at a loss for words. let's hope he leaves comfortably. as far as i know, they have removed the machines and my cousin have decided not to keep him hooked up to life support since yesterday.

if he leaves this coming week, it will be a third death for me in as many weeks.

feels like crying

not sure if you've experienced this, but there are times when you feel like you just want to cry, and to cry it out heartily and let go all the pent-up emotions that have been bottled up inside you for the longest time. that's the feeling i get quite often these days, especially when i listen to some songs on the radio. and invariably, these are emo songs from the days when i came out and where there were many personal tensions - all of which were people-related.

but yeah, just got reminded of what francis told me 2 years back - don't listen to these songs especially when you are feeling down!

lol!

catching up with ex-colleagues

my boss has been on leave since 4 jun. he returns next week.

and since then, the stress level was very very manageable. i mean, when he was around, even when he didn't talk to you or task you to do anything, his mere presence itself creates a high degree of stress and discomfort amongst us. it always feels like there's someone watching over you and that every you do is subjected to his approval. very stifling. 

but since his leave started, the whole office environment became a lot more relax. people were able to walk freely without feeling like they're being watched. and as for me, i managed to arrange a lunch for two of my fellow managers with my ex-chief yesterday. it was such a great feeling to be able to meet up and talk. and today, i also met up with my ex-director for lunch. enjoyed the conversation and the catch up thoroughly. 

was thankful to have the opportunity to get to know these people. learned lots from them and enjoyed the teamwork, particularly so because they were so people-oriented. missed those days...

:-)

death of a colleague

i wanted to use the title "even more bad news" for this post as a further iteration to the series of death-related news i got since last week - news that i had earlier framed as "bad news". but i decided otherwise after a quick reflection.

you see, i went to work this morning and it was just after 8.30am when a colleague came to me and broke the news to me: "xxx had just passed away.". my first reaction was "omg", but just as i said that, my mind went "might as well, good that she is at peace now". yes, it was sad that a person that i had known personally had passed away. but given the circumstances of her passing, it was not bad per se but at that very point in time, it was not appropriate to say so.

this colleague had stage 4 cancer since i knew her 2 years back. she had been receiving treatment for quite a while and she had responded relatively well to it. post-chemo, her condition was relatively stable and the cancer showed signs of receding. she suffered a relapse end-last year and doctors gave her a prognosis of 6 months. she lost lots of weight but despite her fraility, she insisted on living life as normally as she could. at one point, she had to be assisted to the toilet at work. about 3 months back, her condition worsened and she was rushed to the a&e where the doctors had to resuscitate and revive her and, in the process, broke a rib. her health deteriorated very quickly after that and it was really tough for her as well as her family.

it was thus in this context that i thought perhaps it was a good thing that her suffering had ended and that she is now at peace. so... yup, that was why i decided not to title this post as "bad". nonetheless, i felt the loss. she was finally laid to rest late afternoon.

may she rest in peace.

jurassic world

caught the show last night. didn't expect much out of it and true enough, the show was much similar compared to previous jurassic-series shows. conceptually, not much can change right? man made some creatures that had gone extinct and that was more suited for a world 65 million years ago, something went awfully wrong, one escaped, created havoc, people got killed, creature got hunted down and eventually killed. end of story.

and as usual, such shows always have a lead man, that always fall in love with the lead woman. throw in a few near death scenes (but as leads, they never die) and wallah! you have movie! heh... but of course, the thing about such shows is that over time, the effects got better and production value is much better. and i give credits to the producer for some new injects that reflect progress in science and knowledge, such as - animals got smarter, animals show ability to communicate and be controlled by humans, humans got smarter and can genetically engineer new creatures... all these added new layers to the show.

and oh, might as well mention some of the things that i thought was a little off, such as... all the pterodons flew out of the aviary, but they never show where they flew to? did they reach cuba? and it was weird to show a woman, who earlier was petrified of dinosaurs, to somehow found the courage to lead the tyrannosaurus rex out of its enclosure (and on high heels some more), and it was rather funny to see the woman sit on the floor like she was posing, as the 2 giants fought and bit each other... but as in all such shows, i had to remind myself not to be too critical. it was after all a movie and i found it an entertaining show. suitable for a brainless weekend.

:-)

bad news, more bad news

bad news had been coming, one after another... and admittedly, it weighs me down a lot. 

first, it was the news about a child's untimely death. and given the fact that is was the child of my childhood friend (brother of a friend to be exact), i felt obliged to head down to the wake on two nights of this week, and for the funeral/ cremation yesterday. it was so unnatural to see a dead child, and to learn about all the not-too-nice stories about how she was discovered, and the state of her body when they found her. didn't feel good about it especially when i had the good opportunity to see how she grew up since she was born.

and immediately after the funeral yesterday, i got a message from my cousin telling me that my uncle (my dad's younger brother), who had been hospitalised since quite a while back, had had a second round of infection. this time, it was a fungal infection and that he is now no longer responsive to medical treatment. he had since been moved from the high dependency ward to the intensive care unit. the next 2-3 days would be critical, i was told. i called my aunt (my dad's youngest sister) last evening and she said he should just go... would have been easier and less of a suffering for him, as well as his family.

and since yesterday afternoon, i had to manage an anxious sis-in-law as her mother's flight to singapore yesterday was delayed. the fight did not take off as the plane had a burst tyre. you see, i had purchased a staff travel ticket for her mother and with this incident, i became the main source of information for her throughout the delay period that dragged more than 30 hours until this evening when her mother finally touched down.

not in too much of a mood to think about other things, not that things have been rosy in the first place. these days i have simply been taking things as they come. at work, i am trying to take things positively and convincing myself that there are things i can learn from my current boss. and as long as i have not gotten a new job, i might as well learn as much as i can. personal life-wise, i think i have lost a sense of self. whatever it is... 

que sera sera... whatever will be, will be.

feeling alone

it is possible to get use to being alone and feeling the same.

unhappy & frustrating day

everything that could possibly make me unhappy and frustrated happened today... in sequence from morning as follows:

• first thing in the morning, got a missed call from the car workshop as i was in a meeting. called back and explained about the car. the guy promised to call me back shortly but didn't do so. but it's ok, it was still early and i had the whole day to wait for his call. but i dislike being kept hanging. 

• then at 9-ish, found out my staff will be on course for the whole week and she did not sound me off. and now that i had launched an online program this week that require close monitoring, she told me she couldn't do it because of the course. this online program had been planned months ahead. was angry with her. but of cos, did not blow up but simply tell her to proceed. she could sense my displeasure though.

• and at 10-ish, a lot of staff had completed the online program and i realised there was a particular question that many got wrong. and then i got an email from the content owner (who had, on last minute changed the question) with a totally unproductive comment - "think we have created a monster". in my mind, i was like "fuck you! you created this monster with your last minute change and i had to manage it!" but of cos, i didn't reply him this way. instead, i suggested a change in the question format, got his ok and went on the correct the online program. idiot! 

• didn't have the mood to work after all these fiasco. felt overwhelmed. and whenever i feel overwhelmed, i will do something else. and i decided to do further research about my end-jun holiday. had earlier decided on melbourne and it is a place that i really wanted to return. had been close to 20 years since i last visited and i wanted to take a drive along the great ocean road. looking forward to the winter weather. but i had so much problems getting the right flight combination as most come with a 20-over hours of transit. called the travel agent but was instead referred to the australian embassy. always happened. frustrating. in the end, decided to unbundle my flights and book single trips. will cost more but it was more straight forward and there's no transit needed. and then...

• at 11-ish, bee told me he couldn't make it for the holiday. we had planned this holiday since last month, something that he promised when he told me he had to make the bkk trip. and i had spend the last 2-3 weeks thinking about and planning for it. went through the research, the daily checking of flight tickets, had prepared mum mentally for it, and finally today, started making visa arrangements. halfway through the visa application, the news came in. it was due to work. all plans were cancelled. i had to cancel my leave and had to write an explanation to my (fucking) boss about why i need to do it, knowing jolly well he is one who dislike changes. thankfully he is on leave and i need not face him until his return later this month. fucking frustrated. his work always take priority and had to come between him and i. i can understand but cannot accept.

• after lunch, managed to do some work, but frankly, i was in a state of daze as i still couldn't get over the cancellation of the trip. was feeling frustrated.

• it was close to 4pm when i started feeling anxious about my car. the car workshop agent had not called me. i had a chiro appointment at 7pm. and given that i needed time to collect my car, return home and fetch mum, i really didn't know if i had enough time to respond. so i decided to call the office girl to page for agent to return my call. that was already slightly past 4pm. i told him that by hook or by crook, i want my car by 5.30pm. and with that call, i decided to leave office early. had to cater for time to travel there. i was in a rush and i didn't like it. it made me anxious.

• and just before i left, i did a progress check of the online program that was launched in the morning. the responses seemed ok, and i did a visual check of the list of emails that was send out to and i saw a couple of wrong addressee. my staff had made repeated the same mistakes made since the last 2 online programs and that i had reminded her not to do it again a couple of times before. arghhh! had to control my temper and simply asked her to go through each and every single one carefully.

• once i sorted out all the details and instructions, i left office. it was already 4.30pm. i had to get to the service centre by 5.30pm and i was already late. thing was, it was difficult to catch a cab from my area. and so i did a brisk walk to the mrt, and guessed what? i missed the train. had to take another train to the next station, and caught a cab. thankfully, i managed to reach the service centre at 5.30pm sharp. collected the car, and as i was travelling, i called mum. reminded her about my chiro and primed her to prepare herself. needed to leave asap. no time to delay i told her. in a state of rush. not nice.

• arrived home and found everything not prepared. asked how was it so, and found out that mum forgot about everything i told her. the maid was in the midst of doing the laundry, the dog has not been brought down, mum was half asleep, etc. damned! rushed them through all these and managed to rush off. managed to reach the chiro in good time nonetheless. my chiro cleared my aches and that was perhaps the only high point of the day. 

• went for dinner and then to the shopping centre for the routine evening walk. my mum was breathless and i reminded her that she needed to slim down. she's grossly overweight. and that was when the maid burst at me - "don't keep telling ah ma she's overweight. she's old and she needed food. nowadays, she either eat very little for lunch or avoid lunch altogether. and she said she's fat. and here you are, telling her she's fat again." damned, now i have a maid that tells me off. needed to put her in place. of cos, i was damned angry by then but i didn't burst, i knew she said all these out of good intentions but i cannot accept the tone she adopted. and i simply told her off in very stern tone - that she is overweight is a fact made by all her doctors, she's 86kg, and i need to get her to drop to 76kg. if she avoids food for a meal a day, i will be most happy... after all, she eats voraciously for dinner and the maid always gives her lots of snacks through the day. i went on for a good 2-3 minutes about how her weight is causing all her ailments. the maid retracted as she sensed my anger. she apologized but i sensed she was indignant with my response.

• got home 9-plus and switched on the tv. the evening news was showing and i got an sms from an old friend. the same one whom i visit every year during chinese new year. "have you seen the news?" he asked. i didn't know where he was coming from and just at about the same time, his brother's face was shown. he was crying. apparently, his daughter was one of the victims of the sabah earthquake. i had watched her grow since she was born and now, she's dead. i was beyond words at that moment. took me a while to get myself composed. called my friend on his mobile, but he cut off my call. i kinda understand he was not in a proper state of mind to answer the call too. we continued conversing via whatsapp. we both didn't know what to say and how to say. my heart bled for the little girl.

that kinda describe how screwed up my whole blooming day went.

damned!

car break down

experienced several pulls when i drove my car on monday. the kind of feeling when you step on your brakes suddenly when the car was moving. it occurred several times and in no time, the "engine" icon started blinking none stop. felt very anxious as i drove and i didn't like the feeling of driving a car that threatened to break down any time. nonetheless, i managed to drive it home. send it to the workshop the next day and was told that one of the ignition coil (out of the 4) and the spark plugs needed to be changed. usual wear and tear, i was told. and that was what i did. 

things seemed to get back to normal after changing the faulty parts but last evening, the pulls started to reappear. had to tow the car to the workshop again today. had expected the car to experience issues given that it is after all a 5.5 year-old car. but this is too fast right?

darned. 

meaning of life

"what's your meaning of life?"

this is an interesting question that was posed to me by a reader via email. have been terribly busy and have not been replying emails (and for that matter, blog). but the question did set me thinking. i will be lying if i said i have not thought about it. i had. many times. i had previously framed my thoughts in different perspectives, such as a biologist (i am an "animal" and thus, my duty as a species is to procreate and contribute to the human species) and later, from a more philosophical perspective. and each time i thought about it, i came to a common conclusion - to be happy as a person, and to help society, to be compassionate. 

you noticed there are two parts to the answer. and to me, the meaning of life lies somewhere between the two. it does not need to be in equal parts but it must be a balance that is meaningful to me, as a person, and as a member of the human kind (or for that matter, as a sentient being, in buddhist terms).

for the first part, it is about me. most of the time, i have lived and conducted myself in life in a very self-centric manner. i do not feel apologetic for it. it is a fact and i believe it is a fact that all of us live our life the same way. that was how i have lived my life since i was born. it was ingrained into me as a person since young and later reinforced in my study, and work life. whatever we do, there is always a "i" in the equation. at some point in life, i felt rather lost and troubled about it. if everyone adopts such a self-centric approach to life, then the society would be a very disturbing one, with lots of conflicts. and as i mature with age, and with my deeper reflections as a buddhist, i have also come to the realisation that there must be an element of the larger society to balance off the concept of "i" or "self". afterall, we are social in nature. but i also came to realise that the "i" can only contribute to the society only when the "i" has taken care of himself/ herself sufficiently well. otherwise, "i" cannot contribute to the larger society/ humankind authentically and selflessly.

and that brings me to the second part, to help society, to be compassionate to my fellow sentient-beings. as a human, as a buddhist, i have grown and matured and i have come to realised that happiness is not about receiving but also in giving, and being compassionate. and when i am able to do so, i will able to connect with sentient-beings around me. and that allowed me to connect with the larger me. not too sure how to explain "the larger me", except to say that i exist only because the cosmos exist and this energy moves around me, an energy that manifested itself in all sorts of things, things that include my fellow human beings, the flora and fauna around me, the world, nature, the space, the universe... i exist because all these exists alongside. it provides the logic to why i exist.

so, there you have it. my meaning of life. 

hmmm... this is the first time i have penned it down, and as i wrote, my thoughts shifted and crystallised. so... thank you yazal for asking me this question and inspiring this reflections.

:-)

a royal night out

although i am not a die-hard fan, i have always followed developments of the british royalty since i was a kid. i guess there's this side of me that has always adored the magic of royalties - the pomp, the colours, the parades, etc. and admittedly, since several years ago, i have been waiting for september this year when queen elizabeth 2 becomes the longest reigning monarch in history of the united kingdom... history in the making! its really exciting right?

but well, before i go on further about the british royalties, i want to capture here some thoughts about the show "a royal night out" that i caught last night. that night out by princesses elizabeth and margaret in cognito to celebrate ve day was documented in the public media but nothing much was written about it. and i can imagine how palace officials would want to keep it as much under wraps as possible as one of the princesses portrayed is none other than the incumbent reigning queen! cannot put the queen in bad light right? kinda explains why even an innocent kissing scene between the future queen-to-be and her subject was not even shown. haha... but the movie gave an interesting perspective about that eventful night.

and if the events that happened that night depicted in the movie were true, that night of events and the interactions between the royalty and the commoners must have greatly influenced princess elizabeth's view and thinking of people outside the palace. but well, i supposed only the queen herself can attest to how much that night have shaped her thinking in real life. but what i thought was interesting was also the fact that the show provided a perspective of princess margaret's conduct during her younger days. it showed the side of her that many had speculated for years.

so admittedly, as i watched the show, i couldn't help but imagine how history would have changed if princess elizabeth went on to fall in love and marry the corporal, or if princess margaret got raped, etc. and as i watched, i kept reminding myself that however the story was to develop, both princesses would still end with them returning to buckingham palace and that princess elizabeth would go on to marry prince philip and crowned as the queen eventually. 

i enjoyed the show thoroughly.

:-)

san andreas

went for this show last weekend. enjoyed the effects but otherwise, there was really nothing great about the show. storyline was also not realistic. imagine having a fireman, who can pilot a helicopter, a plane and boats and manage to find his wife in the midst of a city of rubble; and after that, able to find his daughter amidst all the devastation. then again, as i said, it's not realistic. so, no deep thinking needed. but certainly, it was an entertaining show. the very type of show that one would enjoy when one wants to do nothing but simply blank off after a stressful week.

ps: i still cannot understand how a tsunami could have been triggered if the quake occurred inland... then again, as i said, no need to think too deep. lol!

lower back pull...

experienced a back muscle pull 3 days back for no clear reasons. it cleared after i applied some deep heat onto it. i was subsequently able to go for the 3-step 1-bow ceremony.

and apart from some minor muscle aches, i felt generally ok. but during lunch today, my lower back muscle went into spasms and before i knew it, it developed into a terrible backache. i did some stretching and managed to walk back to my office. but the pain got worse through the afternoon and by about 4-plus, i could hardly stand up straight. it was so totally uncomfortable and debilitating. 

i went to my chiro this evening and he mentioned that my whole back had gone into spasms! took him more than half an our before he managed to loosen the back up a bit. he asked that i ice my back tonight before bed and to head back for another round of treatment in 2 days. 

with all these signs of wear and tear, it looks like my body is really in bad shape. 

sighs...

forgetful mum

i arrived home from the 3-step-1-bow ceremony at 5.45am. brought the dog down to pee, showered and headed off to bed and woke up close to 11.30am after a highly disturbed sleep. i washed up, dressed up and walked into the living room to face a suspicious mum...

"where did you go last night?"

she demanded once she saw me. i could almost hear her unstated question "who were you with?".

"why did you not tell me you had gone for the ceremony?"

she asked curtly after i told her about my participation in the 3-step-1-bow ceremony and that i had returned at 5.45am. she had forgotten everything about it. and she refused to also accept my input that i had told her about it. and when she calmed down, she expressed surprised it was vesak and that she didn't know about it...

i brought her to my bro's place in the afternoon. i felt tired and went to the room to take a nap. she didn't allow me to nap as she kept asking my niece to come into the room to wake me up, insisting that i shouldn't sleep in the afternoon. when i told her i needed the nap as i didn't sleep the night before, she went again...

"where did you go last night? who did you go out with? how come you came home late?"

and the whole process of explaining to her where i went to was repeated. and again, she said she didn't know it was vesak...

i didn't get angry. in fact, i was kinda used to her forgetfulness. but what happened today struck me - her continued suspicions about my movements and who i interact with troubled her more than my participation in vesak activities. it used to be such that she'd remember everything about religion including the god's birthdays, rituals, visits to the temple, etc. but her reactions today suggested otherwise. this realisation scares me quite a large bit. it puts in very clear perspective how her basic instinct of sensing danger took precedence over everything else now that her mind is in it's most basic state of functioning.

day of contemplation & reflections

the following went through my mind over the last 2 days as i commemorated vesak 2559, particularly as i journeyed my way around the temple during the 3-step-1-bow ceremony...

• ruby pan. i was very surprised when i read about her ordination from the papers yesterday. but after reading on, things kinda made sense to me after finding out that she is now based in the states (in an american buddhist temple). i was initially surprised becos i had all along viewed her as very english-educated and i had initially assumed she was ordained as a nun in a local chinese temple... anyway, she was a fellow teacher in the buddhist school that i volunteered in some years back and we co-taught a class for a year. i felt so happy for her after reading about her ordination and...

• i wondered if i should also go the monastic way. yup, that did cross my mind (again) this year - should i also get myself ordained and become a monk? and of cos, my mind weighed the yes's vs the no's. and i wondered if some of the reasons that went through my mind were reasons for my escaping the current lay-world that i currently am disillusioned in or due to my pure intentions of seeking enlightenment...

• i wondered if i should drop my current corporate life and enter a life of volunteerism and/ or social work. this thought also crossed my mind... 

• and many more...

also, a whole lot of emotions went through me during the ceremony. impatience with the long wait, anger as i learned of things i did not know before, irritation with noise and people chatting amidst the wait, topics of conversation that i felt were superficial, or opinionated, etc. but most importantly, i was able to take a third person's perspective, as i stood outside myself and reflected on the reasons why i felt that way. it was indeed a good process of quiet contemplation and reflections.

so... as always, i have walked out of vesak understanding myself better.

a good day indeed.

:-)

vesak 2559

today is vesak 2559. today, we commemorate the birth, enlightenment and the passing of the buddha 2559 years ago. and as per all vesak celebrations, i participated in the 3-step-1-bow ceremony at the temple last night. i had participated in this since 1991 (if i remember correctly, or was it 1992?...). i made a personal commitment to do it if i should do well for my honours year and i had not stopped doing so since. increasingly, i am feeling my age and this year, the worry of my body not being able to take it was very real. this was particularly so over the past 2 days when i had a slight lower back muscle pull. but thankfully, i recovered and made it. 

am feeling rather achy as of now.

:-)