Hey, SCB sent me a cheque for $112+. Now some money came back.... interesting.
As the year is coming to a close now, need to review... and check my bearing once again. Hmm, got a couple of new friends, gadgets, played a new game. Got myself onto some new courses and embarking on a new career plan (hopefully)... many things have happened these 51 weeks.
I hope that my dream will come true in 2008!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Farewell
Today we had a simle farewell makan for a longtime friend and colleague. She has made her choice to join another department. I feel she is heading in the right direction. Sometimes, one may have to deliberate between choices in life but most people do not like to make detours. Everyone wants to head in the right direction all the time and even if there are temporary roadblocks, one would also want to make all the right decisions in life, even if it means standing still.
Anyway, my friend has made a choice for her career. It is hard to let her go because she has been one of the best ones we've had for a long time. Fortunately, she is leaving us, or we will continue to exploit her. Hehe. Phillip was sad too. He tried dissuading her but failed. That has been her choice and I know it has been tough for her to make that choice too. I never blame her and I hope she doesn't feel bad. We just feel as if we had lost an arm or something ....
Wonder who will be leaving next...
Anyway, my friend has made a choice for her career. It is hard to let her go because she has been one of the best ones we've had for a long time. Fortunately, she is leaving us, or we will continue to exploit her. Hehe. Phillip was sad too. He tried dissuading her but failed. That has been her choice and I know it has been tough for her to make that choice too. I never blame her and I hope she doesn't feel bad. We just feel as if we had lost an arm or something ....
Wonder who will be leaving next...
Saturday, December 08, 2007
TEN LAWS of GROWTH - Dr Dan Sullivan
1. Always make your future bigger than your past
2. Always make your learning greater than your experience
3. Always make your contribution bigger than your reward
4. Always make your performance greater than your applause
5. Always make your gratitude greater than your success
6. Always make your enjoyment greater than your effort
7. Always make your cooperation greater than your status
8. Always make your confidence greater than your comfort
9. Always make your purpose greater than your money
10. Always make your questions bigger than your answers
2. Always make your learning greater than your experience
3. Always make your contribution bigger than your reward
4. Always make your performance greater than your applause
5. Always make your gratitude greater than your success
6. Always make your enjoyment greater than your effort
7. Always make your cooperation greater than your status
8. Always make your confidence greater than your comfort
9. Always make your purpose greater than your money
10. Always make your questions bigger than your answers
Human Society
Orca society is a complex one. The males live up to 50 yrs while the females more than 80. This explains why Orca society is a matriachal society. The females are more experienced.
The Orcas are such proficient hunters. They spend only 10% of their time hunting. The rest of the time is spent playing or teaching their young.
Hmm.... how much time we spend on family and our young? It says so much about how proficient we are at "food-finding". Ultimately, human existence in the raw means putting food on the table. But human society has become so complex that in the process of finding food, humans have to go into some form of exchanges ... thereby giving 'food' to another in order to obtain 'food' for one's own table. Complicated huh?
From birth, we spend about 20 years learning how to get and/or stay at a good job. For the most of us, the first 20 years of education we get probably can only equipe us to get a jobs in our own locality/culture. Although my certs and experience may get me a job in another country (thankfully) but certainly, not forever, unless I enrol myself into some kind of Continuing Professional Development. At my department, we often hear about CPD, IDP, PDS, and ROLE EXTENSION. Well, one has to get one's role extended in order to justify for more bread on the table.
Anyway, must check out how much of my time has been invested in finding food on my table vs time I spend with/for my family. But one stark reality (and no debate) is: as we grow up, our idea of what fun is actually gets more and more vague. That's for sure. You may say that adult form of 'fun' will probably get more and more sober.
The other harsh reality is that as one psycho-emotional self matures, one's physical being ages. As the latter provides the bedsoil from which the 'higher self' blossoms, there will also come a point in time when both must diminish over a certain point. Mind you, there is definitely an 'expiry date' fixed for us. Like the butterfly that first emerges from its moult, our capabilities must expand as fast as possible before our physical forms and our will get hardened.
The Orcas are such proficient hunters. They spend only 10% of their time hunting. The rest of the time is spent playing or teaching their young.
Hmm.... how much time we spend on family and our young? It says so much about how proficient we are at "food-finding". Ultimately, human existence in the raw means putting food on the table. But human society has become so complex that in the process of finding food, humans have to go into some form of exchanges ... thereby giving 'food' to another in order to obtain 'food' for one's own table. Complicated huh?
From birth, we spend about 20 years learning how to get and/or stay at a good job. For the most of us, the first 20 years of education we get probably can only equipe us to get a jobs in our own locality/culture. Although my certs and experience may get me a job in another country (thankfully) but certainly, not forever, unless I enrol myself into some kind of Continuing Professional Development. At my department, we often hear about CPD, IDP, PDS, and ROLE EXTENSION. Well, one has to get one's role extended in order to justify for more bread on the table.
Anyway, must check out how much of my time has been invested in finding food on my table vs time I spend with/for my family. But one stark reality (and no debate) is: as we grow up, our idea of what fun is actually gets more and more vague. That's for sure. You may say that adult form of 'fun' will probably get more and more sober.
The other harsh reality is that as one psycho-emotional self matures, one's physical being ages. As the latter provides the bedsoil from which the 'higher self' blossoms, there will also come a point in time when both must diminish over a certain point. Mind you, there is definitely an 'expiry date' fixed for us. Like the butterfly that first emerges from its moult, our capabilities must expand as fast as possible before our physical forms and our will get hardened.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Life is a joke you should try to enjoy while you can
Went for a haircut today, finally. Strange, it seems that now I have been counting the days. Since when I started counting, I can't remember.
Well, Life does seem like a joke sometimes. At least to me. It just seems that way, I don't know and that joke has been on me sometimes. Like I have said, "sometimes". Not everytime. But even when I see that the same joke has befallen somebody else and I see her crying her heart out, I don't think I could enjoy the joke either. Distasteful. Or sick...... Hmm, how do the angels look at it? How does God feel about it?
Sometimes I wish that things would go well for everyone, at least sometimes during the time when he or she will be well enough to enjoy them. What's the use of giving an elderly a 1-million-dollar toto windfall but let him watch his children fighting tooth and nail over the inheritance?
I attended a lesson (a trainer from Dale Carnegie Training Institute) just a week ago. He said that some people are desperately needing a break everynight. "There are 30m people hungry tonight in USA, and possibly every other night." We only remember the images of rich Americans through the TV or movie. 90% of 300 million Americans are the Americans we know of today. They are he "Ok" people, probably the "average American family" type with house, car, and a job. But there are 10% who are jobless, possibly homeless, and hungry. And not insured. They live in squatters, tunnels, and wherever to make ends meet. There are 30 million people hungry. From Winter to Summer. A population 6 times the size of Singapore.
Now, these are the sums. Consider India. 450 million people. 150 million more than that of USA.
Or a population 30times that of Singapore. The rich makes up 10%.
"In the United States at the end of 2001, 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth, and the top 1% controlled 38%. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth."
How would you feel if you had nothing better to do but watch what the poor have to eat everynight? The reality is sad and too harsh that many people do not think about it. Wait until the government decides to raise fuel cost by 500%. In my country, we are probably doing it in a much better way. While I support the slight increase in prices at a pace "we" can cope with, I am beginning to worry about those who can't in the end and they fall out of the average "we". If I split Singapore into 4 parts. 1 million plus have the income means to live the Singapore "shop-till-you-drop" live. 1 million plus are too young or too old, and possible dependent on the 1 million plus who are asset-rich but heavy in recurring debts, waiting for a major catestrophe to wipe out their savings. That's why I am grateful to last 1 million plus foreigners who believe Singapore is a great place to try.
Anyway, maybe I have been working at the same damn place for too long! I have known some good folks who were joking with you at one time and the next thing, they were dead. Before long, I will probably need to apply and pay for a permit to bury myself. Life on earth is no longer a free thing... my thanks to Adam and Eve.
The bible told of the beginning when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden (where everything then was FREE). Subsequently, the land on which Adam toiled with all his life will end up in futility. That was the probably where the free lunch offer ended.
Well, Life does seem like a joke sometimes. At least to me. It just seems that way, I don't know and that joke has been on me sometimes. Like I have said, "sometimes". Not everytime. But even when I see that the same joke has befallen somebody else and I see her crying her heart out, I don't think I could enjoy the joke either. Distasteful. Or sick...... Hmm, how do the angels look at it? How does God feel about it?
Sometimes I wish that things would go well for everyone, at least sometimes during the time when he or she will be well enough to enjoy them. What's the use of giving an elderly a 1-million-dollar toto windfall but let him watch his children fighting tooth and nail over the inheritance?
I attended a lesson (a trainer from Dale Carnegie Training Institute) just a week ago. He said that some people are desperately needing a break everynight. "There are 30m people hungry tonight in USA, and possibly every other night." We only remember the images of rich Americans through the TV or movie. 90% of 300 million Americans are the Americans we know of today. They are he "Ok" people, probably the "average American family" type with house, car, and a job. But there are 10% who are jobless, possibly homeless, and hungry. And not insured. They live in squatters, tunnels, and wherever to make ends meet. There are 30 million people hungry. From Winter to Summer. A population 6 times the size of Singapore.
Now, these are the sums. Consider India. 450 million people. 150 million more than that of USA.
Or a population 30times that of Singapore. The rich makes up 10%.
"In the United States at the end of 2001, 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth, and the top 1% controlled 38%. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth."
How would you feel if you had nothing better to do but watch what the poor have to eat everynight? The reality is sad and too harsh that many people do not think about it. Wait until the government decides to raise fuel cost by 500%. In my country, we are probably doing it in a much better way. While I support the slight increase in prices at a pace "we" can cope with, I am beginning to worry about those who can't in the end and they fall out of the average "we". If I split Singapore into 4 parts. 1 million plus have the income means to live the Singapore "shop-till-you-drop" live. 1 million plus are too young or too old, and possible dependent on the 1 million plus who are asset-rich but heavy in recurring debts, waiting for a major catestrophe to wipe out their savings. That's why I am grateful to last 1 million plus foreigners who believe Singapore is a great place to try.
Anyway, maybe I have been working at the same damn place for too long! I have known some good folks who were joking with you at one time and the next thing, they were dead. Before long, I will probably need to apply and pay for a permit to bury myself. Life on earth is no longer a free thing... my thanks to Adam and Eve.
The bible told of the beginning when Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden (where everything then was FREE). Subsequently, the land on which Adam toiled with all his life will end up in futility. That was the probably where the free lunch offer ended.
Friday, November 30, 2007
I am glad the auditors are finally leaving. Of course they had left out more homework for us all. Some remedial works. But on the whole, I am glad it is all over.
I do not know how others take their problems and stresses in life but well, I always have this feeling that God has been watching over me and my problems aren't actually the biggest. Sometimes I wished I could pinpoint for sure how all these happened over the last decade, but looking back, memories of some of the near-fatal incidences had frightened myself.
I can still recall one incident while I was driving a landrover up a mountain pass during my army stint in Taiwan. When you drive uphill, you cannot see the road in front of your windscreen. You really look into the sky! When you go downslope, you must not brake suddenly. What makes this kind of driving insane is that the mountain routes aren't straight. They can turn left and right even if you are driving in a certain direction and the roads are marked with potholes you have to try avoid driving your wheels over. To make a long story short, the vehicle I drove nearly went down a cliff! It had one of its front wheeel hanging in the air.
I do not know how others take their problems and stresses in life but well, I always have this feeling that God has been watching over me and my problems aren't actually the biggest. Sometimes I wished I could pinpoint for sure how all these happened over the last decade, but looking back, memories of some of the near-fatal incidences had frightened myself.
I can still recall one incident while I was driving a landrover up a mountain pass during my army stint in Taiwan. When you drive uphill, you cannot see the road in front of your windscreen. You really look into the sky! When you go downslope, you must not brake suddenly. What makes this kind of driving insane is that the mountain routes aren't straight. They can turn left and right even if you are driving in a certain direction and the roads are marked with potholes you have to try avoid driving your wheels over. To make a long story short, the vehicle I drove nearly went down a cliff! It had one of its front wheeel hanging in the air.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Circle Game
"Yesterday a child came out to wander
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
Fearful at the falling of a star
And the seasons, they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captives on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game."
My favourite song still. Time really flies so fast. This week, I had been asked to show a few JC students around the department and let them have a glimpse of what radiography/radiology is like. As I walked with them, there was a feeling of nostalgia inside me... Time really flew! When was the last time I was mugging for my exams? A&P, Equipment, KC Clark's Positioning and Radiographic Techniques, and of course, Chesney's book on Processing!! And good o' Mr Chin also.... Thinking back, I must thank him. In a way, I turned out ok partly becos of him. I could have gone in to do Physiotherapy. Or chiro... and maybe living somewhere with an angmoh by now somewhere in US or Canada. Who knows.
Anyway.... I think this is the 49th (???) Saturday that I have both been looking forward to and dreading it at the same time. Same for Christmas. I wish time would stand still someday for me! And I could live all my life within that moment!! If I had that power to hold down Time anytime, I could live my life many times over. Alas, I can't. So, I thought I better do blogs ..... and I think the digital me would last much longer.
How about it, the author could have died many years ago and we could be reading his works and feeling him around as if he is still alive and kicking today.
The only BIG reason I blog today is becos I feel that time is too short. The clock ticks so fast. By the time I am donw iwht this page, it will probably be time to lie down and hopefully, sleep. Can't do much. A few years ago, I would hang out around my favourite places, like JB (Jalan Besar), Sim Lim, Peninsula Plaza. Some years earlier, I would be hanging out around Borders, or Pulau Ubin, or Tampines Mall, or Katong/Parkway. I was never a "Orchard kid" even though I did stay with my cousins who used to live right next to Orchard Cineleisure. Can still remember the poor security officer coming to complain to my aunt concerning her son.... haha. When we were kids the stretch from CK Tang or Scots down to Cathay would be our "playground". Califronia Fitness wasn't around then. We would walk down that road towards the community centre opposite Meridien for our hapkido lessons. During the weekends, we would be playing sliding down the slopes behind the then-known as "Mandarin" Hotel.
We have mellowed down alot by now. Don't know what my cousins and old schoolfriends are all doing now, but here I am, Blogging. But I am blogging mainly for myself, some of my closer friends, and also my family, becos one day, who knows, I might use "opayasom" for my CV upstairs (hopefully). haha.. yea, I am bad. But my friend used to encourage me, "Good kid, bad kid, still a kid." When I was small, I was the kind of kid that needed more caning and knocks on the head. Funny, my teachers liked me. Especially the ones who were known to be fierce... This is still a puzzle to me.
I am blogging from my own recollections for my future recall. Someday, it might be a cure for my amnesia. Or for my good friends who might someday find the time to read. I hope these will last longer than my human existence... and as long as anyone would like to have me remembered by. Basically, I do not mind being stored in someone's CD collections or harddisk. In the near future, I am hoping to include a photoblog site as well so that I could save more words. Still trying to organise my collections. But I guess writing is easier than uploading images... becos, I can write nonsense and post them. With images, one tends to be more picky, as if there is a need to impress or a need to avoid lawsuits .... and so one would choose photos carefully. etc etc. Just my thought.
I am sad because time really pass so fast. Wish I could one day slow the carousel down... I do not wish to live forever... but I do not wish to lose anyone I love. To me, there is no point living forever if you have to live without the ones you love.
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
Fearful at the falling of a star
And the seasons, they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captives on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game."
My favourite song still. Time really flies so fast. This week, I had been asked to show a few JC students around the department and let them have a glimpse of what radiography/radiology is like. As I walked with them, there was a feeling of nostalgia inside me... Time really flew! When was the last time I was mugging for my exams? A&P, Equipment, KC Clark's Positioning and Radiographic Techniques, and of course, Chesney's book on Processing!! And good o' Mr Chin also.... Thinking back, I must thank him. In a way, I turned out ok partly becos of him. I could have gone in to do Physiotherapy. Or chiro... and maybe living somewhere with an angmoh by now somewhere in US or Canada. Who knows.
Anyway.... I think this is the 49th (???) Saturday that I have both been looking forward to and dreading it at the same time. Same for Christmas. I wish time would stand still someday for me! And I could live all my life within that moment!! If I had that power to hold down Time anytime, I could live my life many times over. Alas, I can't. So, I thought I better do blogs ..... and I think the digital me would last much longer.
How about it, the author could have died many years ago and we could be reading his works and feeling him around as if he is still alive and kicking today.
The only BIG reason I blog today is becos I feel that time is too short. The clock ticks so fast. By the time I am donw iwht this page, it will probably be time to lie down and hopefully, sleep. Can't do much. A few years ago, I would hang out around my favourite places, like JB (Jalan Besar), Sim Lim, Peninsula Plaza. Some years earlier, I would be hanging out around Borders, or Pulau Ubin, or Tampines Mall, or Katong/Parkway. I was never a "Orchard kid" even though I did stay with my cousins who used to live right next to Orchard Cineleisure. Can still remember the poor security officer coming to complain to my aunt concerning her son.... haha. When we were kids the stretch from CK Tang or Scots down to Cathay would be our "playground". Califronia Fitness wasn't around then. We would walk down that road towards the community centre opposite Meridien for our hapkido lessons. During the weekends, we would be playing sliding down the slopes behind the then-known as "Mandarin" Hotel.
We have mellowed down alot by now. Don't know what my cousins and old schoolfriends are all doing now, but here I am, Blogging. But I am blogging mainly for myself, some of my closer friends, and also my family, becos one day, who knows, I might use "opayasom" for my CV upstairs (hopefully). haha.. yea, I am bad. But my friend used to encourage me, "Good kid, bad kid, still a kid." When I was small, I was the kind of kid that needed more caning and knocks on the head. Funny, my teachers liked me. Especially the ones who were known to be fierce... This is still a puzzle to me.
I am blogging from my own recollections for my future recall. Someday, it might be a cure for my amnesia. Or for my good friends who might someday find the time to read. I hope these will last longer than my human existence... and as long as anyone would like to have me remembered by. Basically, I do not mind being stored in someone's CD collections or harddisk. In the near future, I am hoping to include a photoblog site as well so that I could save more words. Still trying to organise my collections. But I guess writing is easier than uploading images... becos, I can write nonsense and post them. With images, one tends to be more picky, as if there is a need to impress or a need to avoid lawsuits .... and so one would choose photos carefully. etc etc. Just my thought.
I am sad because time really pass so fast. Wish I could one day slow the carousel down... I do not wish to live forever... but I do not wish to lose anyone I love. To me, there is no point living forever if you have to live without the ones you love.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Nikon D300
Got myself a few CDs this evening. You probably won't understand it but I like Indian/Hindi/Punjabi music. A lot... Asian Club Night, Bumbay Nights, etc. I find percussion and rythmic vocals very interesting... the kind that you would also tend to feel if you stand on the Salsa floor. Used to like new age like Polar Shift, etc.... but strange tho, the music I tend to like now seem to be getting more and more upbeat....
Anyway, my friend has just bought the D300!!! $2700. The gadget is really SOMETHING! Very tempted to sell off all my sets and convert to this one. How much can my D50+lens fetch? How about adding on my Sony DSC828? Still at least $700 short to even get the body. But then, among its features, it can go beyond ISO 3200! Maybe that's for those who would like to shoot in the dark (without flash). Perhaps I should focus on my D50 for a while more and wait till the price drops some more...
Anyway, my friend has just bought the D300!!! $2700. The gadget is really SOMETHING! Very tempted to sell off all my sets and convert to this one. How much can my D50+lens fetch? How about adding on my Sony DSC828? Still at least $700 short to even get the body. But then, among its features, it can go beyond ISO 3200! Maybe that's for those who would like to shoot in the dark (without flash). Perhaps I should focus on my D50 for a while more and wait till the price drops some more...
Saturday, November 17, 2007
dairy of a scattered-brain
Going to take up an exam by the end of this month ... But I haven't had time to really get down to studying yet!! I am grateful to Fenella for her encouragements. Maybe I should just give it a shot and see how it goes. Who knows, this could really be a new me in the making.
Signed up for some courses over the past 2 months on my own. (I do feel bad about lettinng Dr Jurgen down.... but I promise I MUST get back on my feet.) I tend to get drifted away to another project before the first one is really completed. Must handle my time-management very well or else, what actually gives will have to be those that I need to put into practise. So, as the saying goes, "all theories but no practise .... " I am a slow learner. The things taught to me need time to simmer and slowly sink in... I think I do have a good memory (sometimes - haha) but let me explain why I think so about my kind of "memory".
Sometimes, when you look back, you suddenly get to realise some of the old lessons that have been taught to you long ago and now you feel you finally understood them in practical forms. Maybe I could have sort of 4-compartment brain ...:) like the cows. Still, you might think that means I am dumb. Whatever... slow I learn, that is, and you are also entitled to your views about me.
Anyway the sit-in lessons from the gurus have been really great and I can say I have learnt a lot. Now I think I can say that I can comprehend GREEKS if someone would care to teach me more about it!!!
Phillip has just returned from Egypt. Haven't got to see his travel shots. Especially of a weird Kuwaiti man and the 3 German Spice Girls. Wish I could do travel shots one day too. Perhaps next weekend, I shall test out the new lens I got last week. Tamron 2.8. My next one (for Christmas : a telezoom piece with an IS and 2.8 or 3.5). Now, FIND MONEY!
Will have to ask someone to help me with my namecards .. :)
Signed up for some courses over the past 2 months on my own. (I do feel bad about lettinng Dr Jurgen down.... but I promise I MUST get back on my feet.) I tend to get drifted away to another project before the first one is really completed. Must handle my time-management very well or else, what actually gives will have to be those that I need to put into practise. So, as the saying goes, "all theories but no practise .... " I am a slow learner. The things taught to me need time to simmer and slowly sink in... I think I do have a good memory (sometimes - haha) but let me explain why I think so about my kind of "memory".
Sometimes, when you look back, you suddenly get to realise some of the old lessons that have been taught to you long ago and now you feel you finally understood them in practical forms. Maybe I could have sort of 4-compartment brain ...:) like the cows. Still, you might think that means I am dumb. Whatever... slow I learn, that is, and you are also entitled to your views about me.
Anyway the sit-in lessons from the gurus have been really great and I can say I have learnt a lot. Now I think I can say that I can comprehend GREEKS if someone would care to teach me more about it!!!
Phillip has just returned from Egypt. Haven't got to see his travel shots. Especially of a weird Kuwaiti man and the 3 German Spice Girls. Wish I could do travel shots one day too. Perhaps next weekend, I shall test out the new lens I got last week. Tamron 2.8. My next one (for Christmas : a telezoom piece with an IS and 2.8 or 3.5). Now, FIND MONEY!
Will have to ask someone to help me with my namecards .. :)
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Forgiveness
"Forgiveness is the economy of the heart...
Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits."
~ Hannah Moore
Sometimes it is harder to forget than to forgive... that's probably going to be some kind of a dilemma.
Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits."
~ Hannah Moore
Sometimes it is harder to forget than to forgive... that's probably going to be some kind of a dilemma.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
10 Aristotlean Virtues of Leadership
The 10 Aristotlean virtues of leadership (by philosopher and author Tom Morris):
1. Courage
2. Temperance
3. Liberality
4. Magnificence
5. Pride
6. Good temper
7. Friendliness
8. Truthfulness
9. Wittiness
10. Justice
hmmm...
1. Courage
2. Temperance
3. Liberality
4. Magnificence
5. Pride
6. Good temper
7. Friendliness
8. Truthfulness
9. Wittiness
10. Justice
hmmm...
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
A new course is starting next week and I suddenly realised how far behind I am in catching up with my research. :( Better hurry.
Had just heard from a friend that another nursing friend of mine is now critically ill with acute liver failure. Kind of sad for her because she is still young and active. She is kindhearted. Sad it happens to her and her family. I am not comfortable whenever I see people taking chinese medicine. Heard that she had been on it for sometime before she went UK. Now I wonder how...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Life is really full of setbacks and pitfalls.... it is like walking through the forest.
Not everyone can make it through to the other side but the funny thing is that not everyone seems bothered or concerned enough. They go on their ways bitching and backstabbing... but we just don't understand why some good people must suffer and yet some other people seem to have an enjoyable time creating hell for everybody else (people they don't like).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Had just heard from a friend that another nursing friend of mine is now critically ill with acute liver failure. Kind of sad for her because she is still young and active. She is kindhearted. Sad it happens to her and her family. I am not comfortable whenever I see people taking chinese medicine. Heard that she had been on it for sometime before she went UK. Now I wonder how...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Life is really full of setbacks and pitfalls.... it is like walking through the forest.
Not everyone can make it through to the other side but the funny thing is that not everyone seems bothered or concerned enough. They go on their ways bitching and backstabbing... but we just don't understand why some good people must suffer and yet some other people seem to have an enjoyable time creating hell for everybody else (people they don't like).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MC
I'm on MC today. Bodyaches and generalised weaknesss... My fever seemed to have subsided but the cough from post-nasal drip still happens. Neck is stiff and occasional bouts of sneezing caused me to perspire. Probably that's the cause of my bodyache.
I am still working from home. In fact it feels far better this way, because the airconditioning was TERRIBLE! I wonder who designed the systems, providing us with a central airconditioning system that cannot be tuned down.
My good friend is now somewhere in Egypt riding on camels I supposed. Hope he gets good photos. 4 weeks!!!
I am still working from home. In fact it feels far better this way, because the airconditioning was TERRIBLE! I wonder who designed the systems, providing us with a central airconditioning system that cannot be tuned down.
My good friend is now somewhere in Egypt riding on camels I supposed. Hope he gets good photos. 4 weeks!!!
Monday, October 15, 2007
A gifted photographer
Hi, if you would like to see great mastery in photography (especially wildlife and traveloques), go to CSLINGPHOTOGRAPHY.
She is a young but very talented photographer. I believe she has probably already achieved her dream-job. I wish I could do something like this too. But alas, I lack the skills AND the guts.
It's embarrassing if you think about it, why I don't dare give up this career and just pack up and live life on free air and sunshine.
Another person's photoblogs you must see, if you can still find it, used to be named "PANGALLERIES". She was a thai in her early twenties. She had won a few medals at the Thai national photography contests and you have probably seen some of her shots on National Geographic. While she travelled to take those shots, she also used to buy handbags, and perfumes, from different countries and re-sell back home. She told me she was a businesswoman in that respect.
Hope you find her blogs for me because I have not been able to locate her galleries for sometime already. (Probably married.) Hehe!
She is a young but very talented photographer. I believe she has probably already achieved her dream-job. I wish I could do something like this too. But alas, I lack the skills AND the guts.
It's embarrassing if you think about it, why I don't dare give up this career and just pack up and live life on free air and sunshine.
Another person's photoblogs you must see, if you can still find it, used to be named "PANGALLERIES". She was a thai in her early twenties. She had won a few medals at the Thai national photography contests and you have probably seen some of her shots on National Geographic. While she travelled to take those shots, she also used to buy handbags, and perfumes, from different countries and re-sell back home. She told me she was a businesswoman in that respect.
Hope you find her blogs for me because I have not been able to locate her galleries for sometime already. (Probably married.) Hehe!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
My Imagini DNA
Mood: Dreamer
You're a bit of a romantic and like to get back to basics. The expanse of the wilderness is inspiring and you like landscapes that make you feel calm. When it comes to art, you appreciate natural beauty. You take time to soak up the nature, favouring the coastline and countryside to the city galeries. As for music, it's the soundtrack to the world. You've got to grips with downloading and your mp3 is at hand. It gives you focus and concentration - you might find it hard to switch off. Your choice of treat reveals that simple pleasures make your day, there's nothing quite like a cuppa. Easily pleased.
Fun : Conqueror
You love to be far away from your everyday life. You love the sun and like to live life at a slower pace than most - you know how to take things nice and easy! For kicks nothing beats an adrenalin rush. You like to take risk and push limits. You're confident and brave - life is for the living. When it comes to holidays, there's no stopping you once you've got the taste for adventure. You like to be immersed in a completely different world and would be really bored just sitting around on the beach. What grosses you out? You favour the natural look and can't stand a pumped and plumped, plastic appearance.
Habits : Back to Basics
Even if you have a healthy approach to life, you still have your little vices that keep you going through the day. It is all part of the routine, you're a creature of habit. Clean and pure - your choice of drink shows that on the whole you care about your health and make sure you're putting the right stuff in. As for the home, you have very cool and contemporary taste. You have a simple approach to style, but you like things to have their place.
Love : Love Bug
You are a real romantic and a bit of a dreamer. Ok, life may not be a movie, but what's wrong with thinking it is? When you think of freedom - you think of stripping off and getting back to nature. You're comfortable with your body and happy to make the first leap.
You're a bit of a romantic and like to get back to basics. The expanse of the wilderness is inspiring and you like landscapes that make you feel calm. When it comes to art, you appreciate natural beauty. You take time to soak up the nature, favouring the coastline and countryside to the city galeries. As for music, it's the soundtrack to the world. You've got to grips with downloading and your mp3 is at hand. It gives you focus and concentration - you might find it hard to switch off. Your choice of treat reveals that simple pleasures make your day, there's nothing quite like a cuppa. Easily pleased.
Fun : Conqueror
You love to be far away from your everyday life. You love the sun and like to live life at a slower pace than most - you know how to take things nice and easy! For kicks nothing beats an adrenalin rush. You like to take risk and push limits. You're confident and brave - life is for the living. When it comes to holidays, there's no stopping you once you've got the taste for adventure. You like to be immersed in a completely different world and would be really bored just sitting around on the beach. What grosses you out? You favour the natural look and can't stand a pumped and plumped, plastic appearance.
Habits : Back to Basics
Even if you have a healthy approach to life, you still have your little vices that keep you going through the day. It is all part of the routine, you're a creature of habit. Clean and pure - your choice of drink shows that on the whole you care about your health and make sure you're putting the right stuff in. As for the home, you have very cool and contemporary taste. You have a simple approach to style, but you like things to have their place.
Love : Love Bug
You are a real romantic and a bit of a dreamer. Ok, life may not be a movie, but what's wrong with thinking it is? When you think of freedom - you think of stripping off and getting back to nature. You're comfortable with your body and happy to make the first leap.
Some place I long to be
Hi. You know what my dream is?
I would really love to live somewhere abroad where I can be near to nature, feel the wind, the sea, and the warm glow of the setting sunsets. At night I could watch the stars winking a one another because they are so far apart.
I could listen to the secret messages that the breeze carries among the trees.
I do not know how I can do that but maybe if I concentrate and focus really hard enough, I may really find it in my lifetime. But I really have this dream, you know? If only I could be free....
Wish I am the wind ...
Come, walk with me, and I will show you some things I have seen.
I would really love to live somewhere abroad where I can be near to nature, feel the wind, the sea, and the warm glow of the setting sunsets. At night I could watch the stars winking a one another because they are so far apart.
I could listen to the secret messages that the breeze carries among the trees.
I do not know how I can do that but maybe if I concentrate and focus really hard enough, I may really find it in my lifetime. But I really have this dream, you know? If only I could be free....
Wish I am the wind ...
Come, walk with me, and I will show you some things I have seen.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Buddha's Tooth Relic Temple in Chinatown, Singapore
Life can be so unpredictable.
But more often than not, there may be clues ....
"Sow a thought, reap an act.
Sow an act, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny."
Sow an act, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny."
My special thanks to a special few ... Thank God for you.
The Three Monkeys (revised edition)
Imagine that one day, you found a handphone. It must have belonged to somebody. You opened it and see what the owner must have been like.....
Smses fly around as usual. (What's new?) WHOA!!!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Imagine the world that it was before the invention of the mobile phone and smses.
Can you imagine how much effort it would get someone to find his way to your ears just to tell you things that might never have least bothered you at all?
This piece of mobile machine serves a very good recruitment tool for birds of a particular feather. The lure of "vital information" has made many stumble.
It's amazing how much more convenient it is today to pass on your opinions through those little bits and bytes of information that you hope would appear onto someone else's screen. Whatever the outcome from that $0.05 invesment is, there will be some response and probably the response you instinctively know that will come about.
And for that momentary bit of satisfaction ..... you feel the release of a piece of stone from your heart and go to bed each night.
So, let's go back to the days before the handphone was ever invented.
Keep your handphone away from the things that you know you can't say to God.
If you wish to know what kind of a person someone is, you may probably have a good picture by reading through all the smses passing through his/her hp.
Screen through all those smses and read through them as if you were somebody else reading them. Maybe your wife, maybe your sister, your boss, your parents, or Jesus (if you claim to be God-fearing).
Keep your hearts and minds pure and uncorrupted ... avoid the corrupt.
Our life has a history being kept, just like your browsing history cache on your pc. It's a matter of time before someone picks it up and starts learning about you.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Smses fly around as usual. (What's new?) WHOA!!!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Imagine the world that it was before the invention of the mobile phone and smses.
Can you imagine how much effort it would get someone to find his way to your ears just to tell you things that might never have least bothered you at all?
This piece of mobile machine serves a very good recruitment tool for birds of a particular feather. The lure of "vital information" has made many stumble.
It's amazing how much more convenient it is today to pass on your opinions through those little bits and bytes of information that you hope would appear onto someone else's screen. Whatever the outcome from that $0.05 invesment is, there will be some response and probably the response you instinctively know that will come about.
And for that momentary bit of satisfaction ..... you feel the release of a piece of stone from your heart and go to bed each night.
So, let's go back to the days before the handphone was ever invented.
Keep your handphone away from the things that you know you can't say to God.
If you wish to know what kind of a person someone is, you may probably have a good picture by reading through all the smses passing through his/her hp.
Screen through all those smses and read through them as if you were somebody else reading them. Maybe your wife, maybe your sister, your boss, your parents, or Jesus (if you claim to be God-fearing).
Keep your hearts and minds pure and uncorrupted ... avoid the corrupt.
Our life has a history being kept, just like your browsing history cache on your pc. It's a matter of time before someone picks it up and starts learning about you.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
New Lens!!!
Hi, Thanks alot for the comments about my shot.
This evening, I finally got my lens.
It was a very very good price, with assistance from my friends, Phillip and Chan, plus Nelson (from the camera workshop).
I traded in my Nikon kit-lens and bought the 50mm/1.8! All for just $90!!! On top of that, Chan happened to find a lens hood on the table and passed it to me. A previous customer must have left it behind. Nelson and his business partner obliged and so in the end, 3 of us went down Riverwalk so that I could try it out. Not bad.
Will play more with it in future.
This evening, I finally got my lens.
It was a very very good price, with assistance from my friends, Phillip and Chan, plus Nelson (from the camera workshop).
I traded in my Nikon kit-lens and bought the 50mm/1.8! All for just $90!!! On top of that, Chan happened to find a lens hood on the table and passed it to me. A previous customer must have left it behind. Nelson and his business partner obliged and so in the end, 3 of us went down Riverwalk so that I could try it out. Not bad.
Will play more with it in future.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Last week, a few of us went phototaking and exploring the streets of Geylang Serai (Malay Village) before the Hari Raya season ends. I took a shot of this girl who was drying up her hands near a fan after hanna-painting. She was kind to pose for this shot although my technique wasn't good enough yet.
I have been trying to master my portraiture shots...
I am not sure whether I should switch to a Canon system or upgrade my existing Nikon set. Or should I just add an additional lens or two... ?
Phillip has recommended me to try Nikon 50/1.8 AF and I am also considerinng Tamron 90/2.8 AF. Which one is better?
Both should be able to provide 1:1 as well as crisp portraits.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
When you are suddenly elevated to the top, you may feel the growing need for attention, and approval, both from the people higher up because you have arrived a
new kid in the block, and also from the people around and below you.
You speak, act, feel and even think .... a little louder than before. Somehow yourr voices echos and reverbs within the new work environment and among the new work
order your new position has created.
Vacuums, personal space and pecking order need to be renegotiated. Some sounds take more deliberate (and directional) approach> Some possibly need to be delayed opportunistically to time/synchronise with the movements of the herd in general.
Just to make sure everyone knows the emperor has a new gown.
_________________________________________________
This e-mail, including any attachments, is confidential and intended solely
for the named addressee. If you are not the intended recipient , please do
not print, copy, retransmit, disseminate, or otherwise use it. Please
notify the sender by email and immediately delete this e-mail and any
attachments. Thank you.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Sale ! HP Ipaq 5700 Travel Companion
Hi,
I am getting a HTC phone/pda (either a Shift or another P3600i).
So, I would like to sell off my Ipaq5700 Travel Companion. (<6months)
It comes with whatever else that comes together in the box. PLUS the following:-
1. 4Gb Sanyo SD Card (high speed 160x)
2. SDIO WAN WIFI Card
It already has Windows Mobile 5, GPS and Mapking Singapore Map loaded.
Asking Price :- $450/= only.
If you would like to have a look or are keen to buy, please drop me a note. Thanks!
Perhaps you have heard this before.
A group of psychiatrists were attending a convention. Four of them decided to leave, and walked out together.
One said to the other three, "People are always coming to us with their guilt and fears, but we have no one that we can go to when we have problems."
The others agreed.
Then one said, "Since we are all professionals, why don't we take some time right now to hear each other out?" The other three agreed.
The first then confessed, "I have an uncontrollable desire to kill my patients."
The second psychiatrist said, "I love expensive things and so I find ways to cheat my patients out of their money whenever I can so I can buy the things I want."
The third followed with, "I'm involved with selling drugs and often get my patients to sell them for me."
The fourth psychiatrist then confessed, "I know I'm not supposed to, but no matter how hard I try, I can't keep a secret..."
One said to the other three, "People are always coming to us with their guilt and fears, but we have no one that we can go to when we have problems."
The others agreed.
Then one said, "Since we are all professionals, why don't we take some time right now to hear each other out?" The other three agreed.
The first then confessed, "I have an uncontrollable desire to kill my patients."
The second psychiatrist said, "I love expensive things and so I find ways to cheat my patients out of their money whenever I can so I can buy the things I want."
The third followed with, "I'm involved with selling drugs and often get my patients to sell them for me."
The fourth psychiatrist then confessed, "I know I'm not supposed to, but no matter how hard I try, I can't keep a secret..."
The Soap Story by Guest Author - Victoria Abreo
Dear Maid,
Please do not leave any more of those little bars of soap in my bathroom since I have brought my own bath-sized Dial. Please remove the six unopened little bars from the shelf under the medicine chest and another three in the shower soap dish. They are in my way.
Thank you,
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Room 635,
I am not your regular maid. She will be back tomorrow, Thursday, from her day off. I took the 3 hotel soaps out of the shower soap dish as you requested. The 6 bars on your shelf I took out of your way and put on top of your Kleenex dispenser in case you should change your mind. This leaves only the 3 bars I left today which my instructions from the management is to leave 3 soaps daily. I hope this is satisfactory.
Kathy, Relief Maid
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Maid -
I hope you are my regular maid. Apparently Kathy did not tell you about my note to her concerning the little bars of soap. When I got back to my room this evening I found you had added 3 little Camays to the shelf under my medicine cabinet. I am going to be here in the hotel for two weeks and have brought my own bath-size Dial so I won´t need those 6 little Camays which are on the shelf. They are in my way when shaving, brushing teeth, etc. Please remove them.
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
My day off was last Wed. so the relief maid left 3 hotel soaps which we are instructed by the management. I took the 6 soaps which were in your way on the shelf and put them in the soap dish where your Dial was. I put the Dial in the medicine cabinet for your convenience. I didn´t remove the 3 complimentary soaps which are always placed inside the medicine cabinet for all new check-ins and which you did not object to when you checked in last Monday. Please let me know if I can of further assistance.
Your regular maid,
Dotty
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
The assistant manager, Mr. Kensedder, informed me this morning that you called him last evening and said you were unhappy with your maid service. I have assigned a new girl to your room. I hope you will accept my apologies for any past inconvenience. If you have any future complaints please contact me so I can give it my personal attention. Call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM.
Thank you.
Elaine Carmen,
Housekeeper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Miss Carmen,
It is impossible to contact you by phone since I leave the hotel for business at 7:45 AM and don´t get back before 5:30 or 6PM. That´s the reason I called Mr. Kensedder last night. You were already off duty. I only asked Mr. Kensedder if he could do anything about those little bars of soap. The new maid you assigned me must have thought I was a new check-in today, since she left another 3 bars of hotel soap in my medicine cabinet along with her regular delivery of 3 bars on the bath-room shelf. In just 5 days here I have accumulated 24 little bars of soap. Why are you doing this to me?
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
Your maid, Kathy, has been instructed to stop delivering soap to your room and remove the extra soaps. If I can be of further assistance, please call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM.
Thank you,
Elaine Carmen,
Housekeeper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Kensedder,
My bath-size Dial is missing. Every bar of soap was taken from my room including my own bath-size Dial. I came in late last night and had to call the bellhop to bring me 4 little Cashmere Bouquets.
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
I have informed our housekeeper, Elaine Carmen, of your soap problem. I cannot understand why there was no soap in your room since our maids are instructed to leave 3 bars of soap each time they service a room. The situation will be rectified immediately. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.
Martin L. Kensedder
Assistant Manager
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mrs. Carmen,
Who the hell left 54 little bars of Camay in my room? I came in last night and found 54 little bars of soap. I don´t want 54 little bars of Camay. I want my one damn bar of bath-size Dial. Do you realize I have 54 bars of soap in here. All I want is my bath size Dial. Please give me back my bath-size Dial.
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
You complained of too much soap in your room so I had them removed. Then you complained to Mr. Kensedder that all your soap was missing so I personally returned them. The 24 Camays which had been taken and the 3 Camays you are supposed to receive daily. I don´t know anything about the 4 Cashmere Bouquets. Obviously your maid, Kathy, did not know I had returned your soaps so she also brought 24 Camays plus the 3 daily Camays. I don´t know where you got the idea this hotel issues bath-size Dial. I was able to locate some bath-size Ivory which I left in your room.
Elaine Carmen,
Housekeeper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mrs. Carmen,
Just a short note to bring you up-to-date on my latest soap inventory. As of today I possess: On the shelf under medicine cabinet - 18 Camay in 4 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 2.On the Kleenex dispenser - 11 Camay in 2 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 3.On the bedroom dresser - 1 stack of 3 Cashmere Bouquet.1 stack of 4 bath-size Ivory, and 8 Camay in 2 stacks of 4.Inside the medicine cabinet - 14 Camay in 3 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 2.In the shower soap dish - 6 Camay, very moist.On the northeast corner of tub - 1 Cashmere Bouquet, slightly used.On the northwest corner of tub - 6 Camays in 2 stacks of 3. Please ask Kathy when she services my room to make sure the stacks are neatly piled and dusted. Also, please advise her that stacks of more than 4 have a tendency to tip. May I suggest that my bedroom window sill is not in use and will make an excellent spot for future soap deliveries. One more item, I have purchased another bar of bath-sized Dial which I am keeping in the hotel vault in order to avoid further misunderstandings.
S. Berman
Please do not leave any more of those little bars of soap in my bathroom since I have brought my own bath-sized Dial. Please remove the six unopened little bars from the shelf under the medicine chest and another three in the shower soap dish. They are in my way.
Thank you,
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Room 635,
I am not your regular maid. She will be back tomorrow, Thursday, from her day off. I took the 3 hotel soaps out of the shower soap dish as you requested. The 6 bars on your shelf I took out of your way and put on top of your Kleenex dispenser in case you should change your mind. This leaves only the 3 bars I left today which my instructions from the management is to leave 3 soaps daily. I hope this is satisfactory.
Kathy, Relief Maid
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Maid -
I hope you are my regular maid. Apparently Kathy did not tell you about my note to her concerning the little bars of soap. When I got back to my room this evening I found you had added 3 little Camays to the shelf under my medicine cabinet. I am going to be here in the hotel for two weeks and have brought my own bath-size Dial so I won´t need those 6 little Camays which are on the shelf. They are in my way when shaving, brushing teeth, etc. Please remove them.
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
My day off was last Wed. so the relief maid left 3 hotel soaps which we are instructed by the management. I took the 6 soaps which were in your way on the shelf and put them in the soap dish where your Dial was. I put the Dial in the medicine cabinet for your convenience. I didn´t remove the 3 complimentary soaps which are always placed inside the medicine cabinet for all new check-ins and which you did not object to when you checked in last Monday. Please let me know if I can of further assistance.
Your regular maid,
Dotty
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
The assistant manager, Mr. Kensedder, informed me this morning that you called him last evening and said you were unhappy with your maid service. I have assigned a new girl to your room. I hope you will accept my apologies for any past inconvenience. If you have any future complaints please contact me so I can give it my personal attention. Call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM.
Thank you.
Elaine Carmen,
Housekeeper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Miss Carmen,
It is impossible to contact you by phone since I leave the hotel for business at 7:45 AM and don´t get back before 5:30 or 6PM. That´s the reason I called Mr. Kensedder last night. You were already off duty. I only asked Mr. Kensedder if he could do anything about those little bars of soap. The new maid you assigned me must have thought I was a new check-in today, since she left another 3 bars of hotel soap in my medicine cabinet along with her regular delivery of 3 bars on the bath-room shelf. In just 5 days here I have accumulated 24 little bars of soap. Why are you doing this to me?
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
Your maid, Kathy, has been instructed to stop delivering soap to your room and remove the extra soaps. If I can be of further assistance, please call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM.
Thank you,
Elaine Carmen,
Housekeeper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Kensedder,
My bath-size Dial is missing. Every bar of soap was taken from my room including my own bath-size Dial. I came in late last night and had to call the bellhop to bring me 4 little Cashmere Bouquets.
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
I have informed our housekeeper, Elaine Carmen, of your soap problem. I cannot understand why there was no soap in your room since our maids are instructed to leave 3 bars of soap each time they service a room. The situation will be rectified immediately. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.
Martin L. Kensedder
Assistant Manager
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mrs. Carmen,
Who the hell left 54 little bars of Camay in my room? I came in last night and found 54 little bars of soap. I don´t want 54 little bars of Camay. I want my one damn bar of bath-size Dial. Do you realize I have 54 bars of soap in here. All I want is my bath size Dial. Please give me back my bath-size Dial.
S. Berman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Berman,
You complained of too much soap in your room so I had them removed. Then you complained to Mr. Kensedder that all your soap was missing so I personally returned them. The 24 Camays which had been taken and the 3 Camays you are supposed to receive daily. I don´t know anything about the 4 Cashmere Bouquets. Obviously your maid, Kathy, did not know I had returned your soaps so she also brought 24 Camays plus the 3 daily Camays. I don´t know where you got the idea this hotel issues bath-size Dial. I was able to locate some bath-size Ivory which I left in your room.
Elaine Carmen,
Housekeeper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mrs. Carmen,
Just a short note to bring you up-to-date on my latest soap inventory. As of today I possess: On the shelf under medicine cabinet - 18 Camay in 4 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 2.On the Kleenex dispenser - 11 Camay in 2 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 3.On the bedroom dresser - 1 stack of 3 Cashmere Bouquet.1 stack of 4 bath-size Ivory, and 8 Camay in 2 stacks of 4.Inside the medicine cabinet - 14 Camay in 3 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 2.In the shower soap dish - 6 Camay, very moist.On the northeast corner of tub - 1 Cashmere Bouquet, slightly used.On the northwest corner of tub - 6 Camays in 2 stacks of 3. Please ask Kathy when she services my room to make sure the stacks are neatly piled and dusted. Also, please advise her that stacks of more than 4 have a tendency to tip. May I suggest that my bedroom window sill is not in use and will make an excellent spot for future soap deliveries. One more item, I have purchased another bar of bath-sized Dial which I am keeping in the hotel vault in order to avoid further misunderstandings.
S. Berman
Sunday, September 30, 2007
ZEN 101
1. Be kind to others in the game. You will never know what help you will need from them later.
2. Watch yourself. Do not lose your temper. Everyone understands your frustrations because everyone knows that the cards that carry the bad news have been planted in the game to frustrate.
3. Practise the 7 habits (Steven R. Covey) in the game.
4. Learn from each other. Always.
5. The real winner may not be the first one who emerges from the Rat Race.
6. He who overcomes each obstacle he encounters will build the confidence and competence to overcome himself.
7. There are no losers in the game, unless they give up trying.
2. Watch yourself. Do not lose your temper. Everyone understands your frustrations because everyone knows that the cards that carry the bad news have been planted in the game to frustrate.
3. Practise the 7 habits (Steven R. Covey) in the game.
4. Learn from each other. Always.
5. The real winner may not be the first one who emerges from the Rat Race.
6. He who overcomes each obstacle he encounters will build the confidence and competence to overcome himself.
7. There are no losers in the game, unless they give up trying.
Tips from Cashflow 101
20 important tips from Cashflow 101
TIP #1: Never...Ever...Quit.
I believe that there are many things to understand to succeed at the game. But, for me, the most important is: NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER QUIT -- ON YOURSELF! No matter how you feel, NEVER QUIT!– Kathleen M
TIP #2: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone.CASHFLOW 101 is so powerful because it reflects your true behavior and allows you to take risks in a safe environment. Step out of your comfort zone, and do things you may not feel comfortable doing in the “real world.” You’ll be amazed at how it changes your perspective.– Jack N
TIP #3: Celebrate the Joy of Success.The biggest 'tip' I have learned so far is that your way to wealth is the joy- not the wealth- you achieve. This became very clear to me after playing dozens of times and realizing that I would actually SKIP the Dreams on the Fast Track! I was more interested in winning the game than 'golfing around the world.'– Jeff B
TIP #4: Focus on Your Goals.I found that while playing the game, I would focus on the 'negative' spaces – "Baby" or "Downsized" – and hope not to land there. I was focusing specifically on what I didn't want, and, oddly enough, landing on those spaces most often. I began to repeat the numbers I WANTED to have come up, and just as oddly, those numbers seemed to come up more than mere chance would support. The lesson is simple: focus on your goals, not on what may go wrong. – Hugh C
TIP #5: Only Take Advice from Successful People.When the Opportunity Card comes up, some people look to fellow players for guidance. Make sure that those you take advice from are having success and on their way to getting out of the Rat Race!– Cal J
TIP #6: Your words are your reality. Never Say “Can’t.”There is ALWAYS a way. Think outside the box. Find a way to make your “can’t” a “can.” – Grace N
TIP #7: Take Note of Your Overall Habits.After playing the game, take note of your overall habits- good and bad. Evaluate how those habits helped or hindered your game play. In the next game, make a concerted effort to change the habits that may have prevented you from getting out of the Rat Race.– Toni E
TIP #8: Get Rid of Bad Debt.The thing that has expedited my exit from the Rat Race: Paying off ‘bad debt.’– Bridget S
TIP #9: Create Your Own Rules.Creating your own rules (or modifying the game rules) can make CASHFLOW 101 more challenging. For instance, play a game where you and your teammates:
(a) Pass on purchasing $1 & $5 stock deals;
(b) Remove $0 down real estate transactions;
(c) Remove all the doodad cards that are $100 or less.– Dylan B
TIP #10: Don’t Limit Yourself. Along with bad debt, there is good debt. Don’t limit yourself to your cash on-hand. The lower the price of the stock, the more money you should borrow. When you eventually sell your shares, your rate of return will more than make up for any bank payments you have to make. – Roosevelt C
TIP #11: Give Back.Giving back is a necessary step in getting out of the Rat Race. Newton’s law states, “For every action there is a reaction.” Give and you shall receive.– Lisa N
TIP #12: Put Your Ego on the Shelf.The game has showed me some things about myself I never would have guessed- like the fact that my ego gets me in more trouble than anything else. The deals you turn down count just as much as the deals you make. Don't let your ego get you in over your head.– Tami R
TIP #13: Be Able to Make Quick Decisions.As Robert says, “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” When the “Opportunity Card” comes up, you need to be able to determine if it is a good or bad deal quickly. Otherwise, just like in the “real world,” you might miss a great opportunity. – Phil L
TIP #14: Learn From Your Mistakes.Mistakes are opportunities to learn something new. Take risks, make mistakes… and be smarter for it!– George C
TIP #15: Give Feedback to Fellow Players, Not Advice.Feedback occurs after the action, advice happens before the action. Your fellow players will learn more if you tell them what they did and how they might try a different approach next time, rather than telling them what to do and how to do it.– John D
TIP #16: Reinvest Your Cash.Don’t let it sit there doing nothing… get your money working for you so you can get out of the Rat Race!– Jenny M
TIP #17: Learn From Others.Take note of fellow players’ winning game strategies. Next time, test them out for yourself.– Cheridan S
TIP #18: Overcome Fear.Fear isn’t the problem; it’s how you handle fear: specifically, the fear of losing money. Losers are defeated by failure. Winners are inspired by it.– Jorge T
TIP #19: Always Look For Opportunities.No matter where you are in the game… always be on the lookout for opportunities.– Elle J
TIP #20: Reflect on Lessons Learned.Always think about what you can learn from the game you just played. You may not always have time to reflect on the game as it is played (and sometimes it is more interesting NOT to play, but to just observe!), but you should always take time later to think about the game and what it taught you. This is part of the educational process and so it should be savored. You can learn a lot about how investing works, how well your investment strategies pay off, and what it takes to exit the real Rat Race. – Dave G
TIP #1: Never...Ever...Quit.
I believe that there are many things to understand to succeed at the game. But, for me, the most important is: NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER QUIT -- ON YOURSELF! No matter how you feel, NEVER QUIT!– Kathleen M
TIP #2: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone.CASHFLOW 101 is so powerful because it reflects your true behavior and allows you to take risks in a safe environment. Step out of your comfort zone, and do things you may not feel comfortable doing in the “real world.” You’ll be amazed at how it changes your perspective.– Jack N
TIP #3: Celebrate the Joy of Success.The biggest 'tip' I have learned so far is that your way to wealth is the joy- not the wealth- you achieve. This became very clear to me after playing dozens of times and realizing that I would actually SKIP the Dreams on the Fast Track! I was more interested in winning the game than 'golfing around the world.'– Jeff B
TIP #4: Focus on Your Goals.I found that while playing the game, I would focus on the 'negative' spaces – "Baby" or "Downsized" – and hope not to land there. I was focusing specifically on what I didn't want, and, oddly enough, landing on those spaces most often. I began to repeat the numbers I WANTED to have come up, and just as oddly, those numbers seemed to come up more than mere chance would support. The lesson is simple: focus on your goals, not on what may go wrong. – Hugh C
TIP #5: Only Take Advice from Successful People.When the Opportunity Card comes up, some people look to fellow players for guidance. Make sure that those you take advice from are having success and on their way to getting out of the Rat Race!– Cal J
TIP #6: Your words are your reality. Never Say “Can’t.”There is ALWAYS a way. Think outside the box. Find a way to make your “can’t” a “can.” – Grace N
TIP #7: Take Note of Your Overall Habits.After playing the game, take note of your overall habits- good and bad. Evaluate how those habits helped or hindered your game play. In the next game, make a concerted effort to change the habits that may have prevented you from getting out of the Rat Race.– Toni E
TIP #8: Get Rid of Bad Debt.The thing that has expedited my exit from the Rat Race: Paying off ‘bad debt.’– Bridget S
TIP #9: Create Your Own Rules.Creating your own rules (or modifying the game rules) can make CASHFLOW 101 more challenging. For instance, play a game where you and your teammates:
(a) Pass on purchasing $1 & $5 stock deals;
(b) Remove $0 down real estate transactions;
(c) Remove all the doodad cards that are $100 or less.– Dylan B
TIP #10: Don’t Limit Yourself. Along with bad debt, there is good debt. Don’t limit yourself to your cash on-hand. The lower the price of the stock, the more money you should borrow. When you eventually sell your shares, your rate of return will more than make up for any bank payments you have to make. – Roosevelt C
TIP #11: Give Back.Giving back is a necessary step in getting out of the Rat Race. Newton’s law states, “For every action there is a reaction.” Give and you shall receive.– Lisa N
TIP #12: Put Your Ego on the Shelf.The game has showed me some things about myself I never would have guessed- like the fact that my ego gets me in more trouble than anything else. The deals you turn down count just as much as the deals you make. Don't let your ego get you in over your head.– Tami R
TIP #13: Be Able to Make Quick Decisions.As Robert says, “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” When the “Opportunity Card” comes up, you need to be able to determine if it is a good or bad deal quickly. Otherwise, just like in the “real world,” you might miss a great opportunity. – Phil L
TIP #14: Learn From Your Mistakes.Mistakes are opportunities to learn something new. Take risks, make mistakes… and be smarter for it!– George C
TIP #15: Give Feedback to Fellow Players, Not Advice.Feedback occurs after the action, advice happens before the action. Your fellow players will learn more if you tell them what they did and how they might try a different approach next time, rather than telling them what to do and how to do it.– John D
TIP #16: Reinvest Your Cash.Don’t let it sit there doing nothing… get your money working for you so you can get out of the Rat Race!– Jenny M
TIP #17: Learn From Others.Take note of fellow players’ winning game strategies. Next time, test them out for yourself.– Cheridan S
TIP #18: Overcome Fear.Fear isn’t the problem; it’s how you handle fear: specifically, the fear of losing money. Losers are defeated by failure. Winners are inspired by it.– Jorge T
TIP #19: Always Look For Opportunities.No matter where you are in the game… always be on the lookout for opportunities.– Elle J
TIP #20: Reflect on Lessons Learned.Always think about what you can learn from the game you just played. You may not always have time to reflect on the game as it is played (and sometimes it is more interesting NOT to play, but to just observe!), but you should always take time later to think about the game and what it taught you. This is part of the educational process and so it should be savored. You can learn a lot about how investing works, how well your investment strategies pay off, and what it takes to exit the real Rat Race. – Dave G
Boardgame
Summary:
Cashflow 101 has taught me many valuable lessons in real life.
Basically, money is just a figure in your head. It it what you think it is.
Many people think they should not think too much about money because they want to have a healthy attitude towards money. But I feel that most people I know really do not know well enough about money.
Money is a bad master. It lets you feel great about having it in your pocket and makes you crave more because of the excitement you get from your good purchases. At the end of the day, you have made the purchase and very soon after you will probably need to find money to buy something else - either an enhancement, or something else totally new.
I first heard about Cashflow 101 a couple of years ago when I chanced upon an article somewhere and registered for it. The date with destiny was on a Saturday afternoon and at Queenstown CC. There was a sharing session by one of the young guys and somehow, what he said connected with what I had been hearing from some other people before. However, sceptical about money-worldliness as I was before, I dared not think too much into such things. After all, insurance seemed to be more accepted thing to talk about during those times than about making money (for Christians).
Looking back I am still wondering how I could actually go sign up for the game even tho I would be sitting in the midst of total strangers! And playing board-games with them??? To make a long story short, I played the game but I could not emerge out of the rat-race. After the game, I had lived my next few years spending more money and investing in friendships, food and good cameras, handphones, PCs.... and courses. (But if the board had really been cheaper, I would have bought it actually. It's really something nice to have if you have the money of course.)
Anyway, another few years have passed since, and many things have happened. I suddenly woke up with this fear of becoming a burden to the people I love and also realised how much I wish to live freely on fresh air and sunshine, without being a burden to anyone - not even NKF, CCF, Ren Ci or St Luke, etc etc. I signed up for a few more courses and while on my way to a language class, I chanced upon this boardgame again. So I am playing it now. Will probably stop playing after my nieces and friends grow tired of it. Perhaps I will sell it like some others - secondhand - once they think they have mastered it. (Maybe same like Command&Conquer or Red Alert... ) But I would like to introduce this to my friends.... because this is a good chance to mingle around and have fun while you learn things together.
Cashflow 101 has taught me many valuable lessons in real life.
Basically, money is just a figure in your head. It it what you think it is.
Many people think they should not think too much about money because they want to have a healthy attitude towards money. But I feel that most people I know really do not know well enough about money.
Money is a bad master. It lets you feel great about having it in your pocket and makes you crave more because of the excitement you get from your good purchases. At the end of the day, you have made the purchase and very soon after you will probably need to find money to buy something else - either an enhancement, or something else totally new.
I first heard about Cashflow 101 a couple of years ago when I chanced upon an article somewhere and registered for it. The date with destiny was on a Saturday afternoon and at Queenstown CC. There was a sharing session by one of the young guys and somehow, what he said connected with what I had been hearing from some other people before. However, sceptical about money-worldliness as I was before, I dared not think too much into such things. After all, insurance seemed to be more accepted thing to talk about during those times than about making money (for Christians).
Looking back I am still wondering how I could actually go sign up for the game even tho I would be sitting in the midst of total strangers! And playing board-games with them??? To make a long story short, I played the game but I could not emerge out of the rat-race. After the game, I had lived my next few years spending more money and investing in friendships, food and good cameras, handphones, PCs.... and courses. (But if the board had really been cheaper, I would have bought it actually. It's really something nice to have if you have the money of course.)
Anyway, another few years have passed since, and many things have happened. I suddenly woke up with this fear of becoming a burden to the people I love and also realised how much I wish to live freely on fresh air and sunshine, without being a burden to anyone - not even NKF, CCF, Ren Ci or St Luke, etc etc. I signed up for a few more courses and while on my way to a language class, I chanced upon this boardgame again. So I am playing it now. Will probably stop playing after my nieces and friends grow tired of it. Perhaps I will sell it like some others - secondhand - once they think they have mastered it. (Maybe same like Command&Conquer or Red Alert... ) But I would like to introduce this to my friends.... because this is a good chance to mingle around and have fun while you learn things together.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Success is a journey, not a destination.
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Today, I received a very pleasant surprise. I wish my dreams will come true.
In fact, there were 2 pieces of good news I heard this afternoon (abt 5 mins apart).
If I don't mention this again next time (maybe 1 month down the road), guess it isn't good news like I'd thought ok?
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Today, I received a very pleasant surprise. I wish my dreams will come true.
In fact, there were 2 pieces of good news I heard this afternoon (abt 5 mins apart).
If I don't mention this again next time (maybe 1 month down the road), guess it isn't good news like I'd thought ok?
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Homefree
Nothing feels anything like home... being home.
Being home should give some one of the best feelings one can feel... unless for some, home is not the place they want to go back to, everyday after work.
What have you done lately about the place you call "Home"?
Many do not own one. But nevermind if it is not yours for now.. go build one. Or find one. Humans have homes, you know?
It has been built for you... by your parents. It has been your nursery, your secret hideout, your playground, your gym and your school ... This has been the shelter your parents built for you.
Now that you have grown out of it, what else do you wana do?
Being home should give some one of the best feelings one can feel... unless for some, home is not the place they want to go back to, everyday after work.
What have you done lately about the place you call "Home"?
Many do not own one. But nevermind if it is not yours for now.. go build one. Or find one. Humans have homes, you know?
It has been built for you... by your parents. It has been your nursery, your secret hideout, your playground, your gym and your school ... This has been the shelter your parents built for you.
Now that you have grown out of it, what else do you wana do?
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Something in your head?
Stress-level went rather high last week. Surprisingly, I could complete my assignment (only 1 out of 4) in 30 mins but wonder why it took me the whole of last week ....
Anyway, .... :)
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One day, the master asked his disciple a question as they were walking down a street,
"Can you guess a man's thoughts just by looking at the back of his head?" Junior pondered long and hard and finally, shaking his head, asked his teacher if he could.
By that time, the teacher had brought him up to the top floor of an inn.
They walked towards the balcony and gazed down upon the crowd that was moving on the street below.
"Try and see if you can tell where he is heading for."
"How is that so, teacher?"
"Sometimes what lies in front of him will stay awhile at the back of his head."
"If you have problem seeing, perhaps it is is easier if you try to see things from a different angle."
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Anyway, .... :)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One day, the master asked his disciple a question as they were walking down a street,
"Can you guess a man's thoughts just by looking at the back of his head?" Junior pondered long and hard and finally, shaking his head, asked his teacher if he could.
By that time, the teacher had brought him up to the top floor of an inn.
They walked towards the balcony and gazed down upon the crowd that was moving on the street below.
"Try and see if you can tell where he is heading for."
"How is that so, teacher?"
"Sometimes what lies in front of him will stay awhile at the back of his head."
"If you have problem seeing, perhaps it is is easier if you try to see things from a different angle."
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Sunday, September 16, 2007
Recently quite a number of things took place both at home and at work. Ad-hoc ones. Also heard a number of seniors have resigned or relinquished their posts to perform mainly clinical roles.
Anyway, it's been a couple of weeks now since Julie and CK had passed the planes to me. I am now effectively the proud owner of 4 planes, plus plus !! (2 brand new!) Some things are happening rather fast now also. But perhaps so fast that I seem to be having more problems with some people at work lately. Ridiculous. But I guess it happens often to certain character traits who think they know everything.
Really I wish my future will be more pleasant and cheerful. Afterall, why should I bother????
Cloudy days ahead ... and I guess I should be bracing myself for more stormy weathers ahead.
It's such a pity. I will need to take stock again and do a personal revamp. Hey, it's time I should move on.
Mindsets are absolutely powerful. They create mental filters in your minds, eyes, and ears even before right informations could really get to you. Until there is no longer any use having to rethink because, why re-think when your mind is still wired to think the same way???
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If you need to get into some people's good books, don't rely on this - Gossip. It doesn't get you any higher by putting someone else down, does it?
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Why does a chicken wish to cross the road? Curiosity? Fun? Adventure?
Anyway, what are the chances of a chicken getting hit while crossing the road to the other side? Double that probability if the chicken wishes to cross the road twice.
1. It does not know the Rules
2. It probably won't know what is coming down on from the left and right.
3. It isn't meant to cross the road
So, don't cross that road unless the 3 conditions are first met.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anyway, it's been a couple of weeks now since Julie and CK had passed the planes to me. I am now effectively the proud owner of 4 planes, plus plus !! (2 brand new!) Some things are happening rather fast now also. But perhaps so fast that I seem to be having more problems with some people at work lately. Ridiculous. But I guess it happens often to certain character traits who think they know everything.
Really I wish my future will be more pleasant and cheerful. Afterall, why should I bother????
Cloudy days ahead ... and I guess I should be bracing myself for more stormy weathers ahead.
It's such a pity. I will need to take stock again and do a personal revamp. Hey, it's time I should move on.
Mindsets are absolutely powerful. They create mental filters in your minds, eyes, and ears even before right informations could really get to you. Until there is no longer any use having to rethink because, why re-think when your mind is still wired to think the same way???
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you need to get into some people's good books, don't rely on this - Gossip. It doesn't get you any higher by putting someone else down, does it?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Why does a chicken wish to cross the road? Curiosity? Fun? Adventure?
Anyway, what are the chances of a chicken getting hit while crossing the road to the other side? Double that probability if the chicken wishes to cross the road twice.
1. It does not know the Rules
2. It probably won't know what is coming down on from the left and right.
3. It isn't meant to cross the road
So, don't cross that road unless the 3 conditions are first met.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Friday, September 14, 2007
Sunday, September 09, 2007
"A man on a straight road never got lost" - the little book said.
The master looked at his pupils after reading the statement out loud.
"Well, he could have missed a turn," one pupil said.
"What if he was just stationary?" another pupil asked.
"That's barking up the wrong tree!"
We have a problem. Everyone thinks he is right and continues on the same track all the way.
The master looked at his pupils after reading the statement out loud.
"Well, he could have missed a turn," one pupil said.
"What if he was just stationary?" another pupil asked.
"That's barking up the wrong tree!"
We have a problem. Everyone thinks he is right and continues on the same track all the way.
Monday, August 27, 2007
"I had many plans for the future.
As well as the weathers I know I will have to brave.
Many seasons have come and gone.
They had made me strong. But they had taught me fear as well.
I am not afraid for myself. I am only afraid for you.
For you are still young. And you have much more to learn.
You have the world before you and all the happiness that are within reach once you have learnt how to extend your hand and your heart to reach them. But you will first have to learn to master yourself.
I wish I could prepare better things for you.
Yet I fear what many a rich man's son does not know.
I dare not wish for riches nor fame nor power; those precious dreams that their hearts yearn for.
And I wish you would not change even if you should have to labour at the feet of those who have them."
As well as the weathers I know I will have to brave.
Many seasons have come and gone.
They had made me strong. But they had taught me fear as well.
I am not afraid for myself. I am only afraid for you.
For you are still young. And you have much more to learn.
You have the world before you and all the happiness that are within reach once you have learnt how to extend your hand and your heart to reach them. But you will first have to learn to master yourself.
I wish I could prepare better things for you.
Yet I fear what many a rich man's son does not know.
I dare not wish for riches nor fame nor power; those precious dreams that their hearts yearn for.
And I wish you would not change even if you should have to labour at the feet of those who have them."
Sunday, August 26, 2007
When sickness comes
When an epidermic comes, the poor will be stricken hardest. The villages, the province, then the cities.....
Nowadays, epidermic can potential spread faster and further - from modern cities to cities.
Inflation comes... those who can afford, they will buy medicines, things which they would normally let the pharmacies stock up otherwise. Those who cannot afford medicine, they may also lose their means to feed themselves, becos even though they are sick, they will still need to feed ...
Economics..... the study of how humans make choices... limited resources and unlimited wants.
Nowadays, epidermic can potential spread faster and further - from modern cities to cities.
Inflation comes... those who can afford, they will buy medicines, things which they would normally let the pharmacies stock up otherwise. Those who cannot afford medicine, they may also lose their means to feed themselves, becos even though they are sick, they will still need to feed ...
Economics..... the study of how humans make choices... limited resources and unlimited wants.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
hubris -
Read somewhere about Saddam Hussein and Mr Durai. When you think you have the absolute power (authority) to do as you deem fit and when you think that whatever you think, you can' be wrong.... and when you honestly do not feel that there is any need for accountability to anyone, even to the least member in your team ...... (maybe even your wife and children listen to you).
This arrogance may work its way into your character just like a little leak in a pipe in the wall, slowly seeping through the cracks and grooves. It feeds on your self-confidence, and ego. Ultimately, you may feel a growing resentment for people who dare to disagree with your views ... You lose patience. You lose your human touch.... and there can only be one way, and that is your way. I think this is Hubris.
Corporate Paganism / religion-
Where there is a deep faith placed in the system. "It's the way it is," so you speak. The system should be able to "take care" of itself. Those with a stronger sense of patriotism in the "cause" might possibly seek to condition the behaviour/beliefs of the others through "bureaucratic" measures (i.e. "dos and don'ts"). This corporate belief system may not be that bad depending on the character of those who propagate it.
Read somewhere about Saddam Hussein and Mr Durai. When you think you have the absolute power (authority) to do as you deem fit and when you think that whatever you think, you can' be wrong.... and when you honestly do not feel that there is any need for accountability to anyone, even to the least member in your team ...... (maybe even your wife and children listen to you).
This arrogance may work its way into your character just like a little leak in a pipe in the wall, slowly seeping through the cracks and grooves. It feeds on your self-confidence, and ego. Ultimately, you may feel a growing resentment for people who dare to disagree with your views ... You lose patience. You lose your human touch.... and there can only be one way, and that is your way. I think this is Hubris.
Corporate Paganism / religion-
Where there is a deep faith placed in the system. "It's the way it is," so you speak. The system should be able to "take care" of itself. Those with a stronger sense of patriotism in the "cause" might possibly seek to condition the behaviour/beliefs of the others through "bureaucratic" measures (i.e. "dos and don'ts"). This corporate belief system may not be that bad depending on the character of those who propagate it.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Happiness In A Bad Place
Watched CNN about life in war-torn Afghanistan.
There is such a thing as "Happiness in a bad place".
There is such a thing as "Happiness in a bad place".
Friday, August 03, 2007
The Golden Calf
Read a few short articles recently. One of them was about the 6 habits. Six.
I realised that life could have been so much sweeter if only people could grow both in stature and in wisdom proportionately. Ironical but it is true, I have seen an inverse relationship between one's status and one's ability to be cool (which, in my opinion, is in some way related to wisdom). Maybe there is no actual means of measuring one's level of wisdom except by one's own ability to respond rationally to external stimulus. Anyway ... life must move on. There is really very little time left for happiness.
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I remember that as soon as the self-exiled Israelites reached the safety on the other side of the Red Sea, they very quickly erected this huge Golden Calf. Maybe they could not hear God speaking. Maybe they did not happened to be at the front-line watching how God parted the sea. Or maybe as soon as the miracle was over, they were no longer sure whether it was God or Moses. After all, they could not recognise God's Hand at work, except for Mose having lifted up the staff and the sea parted.
As soon as their leader left them temporarily and went up Mt Sinai, there sprouted forth many who claimed to "know what's next". Not surprisingly, this seemed to have endowed them with so much power in return in forms of loyal followers. Humans craved for directions, you see. They had always been looking around for a leader who could lead them. Someone strong. Someone highly visible. Maybe someone who seemed to know a lot more. It could have been easy for the one who could speak louder than anybody else. But Moses was not good at public speaking. They would have easily fallen for anyone who was better a bragging.
In our human lives today, there's this human-installed "golden calf" again.. This symbol of power and control. Wonder why one would crave so much for it. There's his particular deep-seated need to dominate, and to subdue everyone else. or build for himself a sort of a pseudo-empire (or pseudo-harlem, if mostly filled by female followers).
I realised that life could have been so much sweeter if only people could grow both in stature and in wisdom proportionately. Ironical but it is true, I have seen an inverse relationship between one's status and one's ability to be cool (which, in my opinion, is in some way related to wisdom). Maybe there is no actual means of measuring one's level of wisdom except by one's own ability to respond rationally to external stimulus. Anyway ... life must move on. There is really very little time left for happiness.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I remember that as soon as the self-exiled Israelites reached the safety on the other side of the Red Sea, they very quickly erected this huge Golden Calf. Maybe they could not hear God speaking. Maybe they did not happened to be at the front-line watching how God parted the sea. Or maybe as soon as the miracle was over, they were no longer sure whether it was God or Moses. After all, they could not recognise God's Hand at work, except for Mose having lifted up the staff and the sea parted.
As soon as their leader left them temporarily and went up Mt Sinai, there sprouted forth many who claimed to "know what's next". Not surprisingly, this seemed to have endowed them with so much power in return in forms of loyal followers. Humans craved for directions, you see. They had always been looking around for a leader who could lead them. Someone strong. Someone highly visible. Maybe someone who seemed to know a lot more. It could have been easy for the one who could speak louder than anybody else. But Moses was not good at public speaking. They would have easily fallen for anyone who was better a bragging.
In our human lives today, there's this human-installed "golden calf" again.. This symbol of power and control. Wonder why one would crave so much for it. There's his particular deep-seated need to dominate, and to subdue everyone else. or build for himself a sort of a pseudo-empire (or pseudo-harlem, if mostly filled by female followers).
Thursday, August 02, 2007
EPIP - Early Psychosis Intervention Program
A friend mentioned this to me recently and I thought I could publish this for a friend who may read this.
"Psychosis is a medical condition which affects the mind. Like any other
illness, psychosis can be treated.
Feeling sad, irritable, confused and isolated
Feeling like you are being watched
Difficulty sleeping
Difficulty coping with work or study
Talking or smiling to yourself
Neglecting your appearance
Avoiding people
Hearing voices that others cannot hear
"Psychosis is a medical condition which affects the mind. Like any other
illness, psychosis can be treated.
Some of the symptoms of psychosis:
Thinking people are against you or talking about you.
Thinking you have special powers
Seeing things that others cannot seeFeeling sad, irritable, confused and isolated
Feeling like you are being watched
Difficulty sleeping
Difficulty coping with work or study
Talking or smiling to yourself
Neglecting your appearance
Avoiding people
Hearing voices that others cannot hear
The earlier psychosis is treated, the better the recovery.
tel: 63892972 or 9017 8212 (Mon to Fri : 8am - 5pm)"
PS: If you had actually thought I was referring to you, well, just maybe you should consider still .. :P
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Free Advice
"There are many people in this world who have not been able to be where they want to be. There are a few reasons:-
1. They finally decided on something else.
2. There are also many who like to give free advice."
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1. They finally decided on something else.
2. There are also many who like to give free advice."
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Friday, July 27, 2007
Say "Yes"
"Success is a deliberate decision. Unless you make tha choice today, nothing is going to happen."
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Cashflow 101 Game's Day One : Kinda excited over the recent investment: the CF101.
I really hope this will help tune up my inner bearings ... at least away from where I have learnt to dread so much. Got my first pioneer gang of 5!
Anyway, things have changed so much lately. I hope the good changes will last much longer while the bad ones are transient. Hopefully, easy to forget ultimately too. Let's move on ...
I have always felt that most of us would have our left arms chopped off to avoid worse mishaps happening. Shan't elaborate but as I have said, I really hope these are all just part of a bad dream. Meanwhile, "focus on the positive".
Becos, "by focussing always on what you want, you are also indirectly avoiding things you do not want".
Over the weekend, received a few remote planes!!!
Think I shall be rather occupied over the next few months :)
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Cashflow 101 Game's Day One : Kinda excited over the recent investment: the CF101.
I really hope this will help tune up my inner bearings ... at least away from where I have learnt to dread so much. Got my first pioneer gang of 5!
Anyway, things have changed so much lately. I hope the good changes will last much longer while the bad ones are transient. Hopefully, easy to forget ultimately too. Let's move on ...
I have always felt that most of us would have our left arms chopped off to avoid worse mishaps happening. Shan't elaborate but as I have said, I really hope these are all just part of a bad dream. Meanwhile, "focus on the positive".
Becos, "by focussing always on what you want, you are also indirectly avoiding things you do not want".
Over the weekend, received a few remote planes!!!
Think I shall be rather occupied over the next few months :)
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Some things are ...
There are a few loves in my life. It isn't hard to guess what they are.
And on top of all these loves, there is a different kind of warmtth that glows in your heart.
If you know where to find it, go for it and give it what you have got.
If you have already found it, hold it closely to your heart.
Courage
"When a man decides to lay down his life for another, it says something about courage. Love requires that kind of courage, and more. If I live, I will live to protect the one I love. "
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Sunday, July 08, 2007
The Old Man and The Girl
There was once an old man who had found a little basket in the woods. In it was a crying baby girl. For fear that the wolves might soon find her, he brought her home and took good care of her. Soon the little girl grew up into one of the most beautiful girl in world. It was only a pity no other man had set his eyes upon her.
The Magic Raft
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." (Ghandi)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Where do you wish to be going my friend?"
"It depends on where this raft is carrying me."
"If it carries you to land, pls remember me.:
"Sure I will. But if goes over the end, remember me too, ya?"
And so the 2 good friends parted ways with a hug and a few more pats on each other's back.
1 has decided to remain and tend to the others who needed him most at that time. He could not leave them just like that. The other felt the conviction that he should continue their quest and follow the river further north. However, nobody knew where the river would lead to.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Where do you wish to be going my friend?"
"It depends on where this raft is carrying me."
"If it carries you to land, pls remember me.:
"Sure I will. But if goes over the end, remember me too, ya?"
And so the 2 good friends parted ways with a hug and a few more pats on each other's back.
1 has decided to remain and tend to the others who needed him most at that time. He could not leave them just like that. The other felt the conviction that he should continue their quest and follow the river further north. However, nobody knew where the river would lead to.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Notes to myself
Recently, the pace has been getting faster and faster. New students and rotators are coming onboard and apparently, many are coming to my section to replace those who have opted to "advance".
It is not easy to keep a perfect balance on things happening around us. There are simply too many balls to juggle. There are apparently also some people who seem to enjoy dipping their fingers into every soup. This makes matters worse. Sometimes ridiculous. I will steer clear from the yarn that they spin.... don't get entangled but try have a good life and be good.
"The heart is deceitful above all else, deceiving even its own master." sometimes we should really spend enough time with ourselves, for ourselves and by ourselves. Be frank and clear with ourselves. Avoid justifying and rationalising every stupidity we demonstrated. Then soon, we will start to do things right.
It is not easy to keep a perfect balance on things happening around us. There are simply too many balls to juggle. There are apparently also some people who seem to enjoy dipping their fingers into every soup. This makes matters worse. Sometimes ridiculous. I will steer clear from the yarn that they spin.... don't get entangled but try have a good life and be good.
"The heart is deceitful above all else, deceiving even its own master." sometimes we should really spend enough time with ourselves, for ourselves and by ourselves. Be frank and clear with ourselves. Avoid justifying and rationalising every stupidity we demonstrated. Then soon, we will start to do things right.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Saturday Blog
Read something interesting from someone's blog a few days ago.
"Reasons have expiration dates.
Rely on them too long and they harden into excuses."
Ah, another saturday is almost gone! How time flies!
"A folding of the hands, and the day is gone." (Bible)
I had a very nice time with my "coach" today, although it did feel a little awkward and embarassing initially. But I was actually surprise I could focus better than I had thought. I really feel like an old man sometimes. Should consider Tai Chi class maybe.
We will know how things turn out in the end.
"Reasons have expiration dates.
Rely on them too long and they harden into excuses."
Ah, another saturday is almost gone! How time flies!
"A folding of the hands, and the day is gone." (Bible)
I had a very nice time with my "coach" today, although it did feel a little awkward and embarassing initially. But I was actually surprise I could focus better than I had thought. I really feel like an old man sometimes. Should consider Tai Chi class maybe.
We will know how things turn out in the end.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Weekend ranting....
(Picture taken along the streets in HCM)
Went out pretty early on Saturday morning. AAS, Jln Bukit Merah and Alexandra Village for brunch. After that, proceeded to Shineshine Plaza, Peace Centre and then followed by Bras Besar Complex. Unfortunately, that last leg got me photographed by a CISCO officer because I had accidentally filtered into the buslane, I suppose. He seemed rather surprised by my waving to him and saying "sorry". Saw on my rear-view mirror that he actually went to check his camera and turned again to look at my back.. Hopefully, he could not catch my license plate number!!!
Accomplished quite a lot of tasks on Saturday. Also went for late lunch cum dinner with 2 friends on Saturday - Bugis. By that time, one group must have already arrived and settled down into the hotel in HCMC. HY has gotten the nec tickets for all 5 of them. Hope they will have a wonderful trip. (They should be snuggling up at the hotel in Dalat now.)
July's got another group. August, yet another! Should really learn to organise this much better.
HY is very shy, but hope that given time, she will have the courage to speak up more and make friends. She's very concerned about how the trip went and kept asking me to find out.
Today, I packed a lot of stuff and began to hate this little bad habit of mine. Realised that knowledge is a very expensive item to collect but if it isn't applied, it's all but expensive scrap. Mum had given me some boxes to collect them but I think I should've at least tried to sell them away, even if this could be for anything between $2.50 to $15. Mr Koh is willing to help me but half the proceeds will go to charity. Next few days I will be working at breakneck speed I guess. Will need a good cataloging system in place.
Concerning work, it makes me wonder how I've managed to have spent so much time and money into a future no one seems to be interested in. There are right things to do, and there are also things that need to be done right. Sometimes, we get tossed about between the two, which I feel can be comical at times when you look back and realise jus how it is like when 2 guys throw the freesby around and you are the dog. And so I have been, chasing the cheese that gets moved around. Gurus call it "the art of motivation". But I am already a sickly old dog who can't take too much wagging and skipping in the air anymore. It's just hard plastic. At least, the dog must have actually felt that the attention was on him!
Anyway, no more cheeses, which was what the dr advised me. I will work on my 7 habits for the rest of this year. If I can, perhaps the 8th as well.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Childhood memories
Just got a little bag for Yen. Hope she likes it. It is "cheap" but its material is of the Kimono kind. Silky and turquois.. nice.
While doing up my resume, I suddenly realised what my uncles and cousins were trying to teach me when I was young.
Can't really remember the age, but i was probably 9 then. I had to work separating rusty curtain pins from shiny ones. Hated the task because it was too menial and boring. My other cousins my age were having football most of the time. I had to sit at a small table with boxes and boxes of those pins waiting for me to complete. Can't really recalled how I got rid of the "job" or I just ran away each time my aunt called to me. As I got older, they upgraded me to follow them on their job - interior decors. Saw plenty of rich folks' houses. There was this house somewhere in Orchard with a swimming pool and a little farm. It was actually more like two buildings with a swimming pool in-between. And the two buildings were jointed by a little arch- bridging the two - above the pool. Wow...
Had actualy seen a few variations tho. Carpeted stairs and huge cinema-featured rooms.... I can't imagine myself so rich. I have met rich men, except that since I have met them when I was much older than a 10-yr-old boy then, I don't get invited into their homes. Anyway, I have digressed. The fact is, I don't think I will ever be rich. Maybe perhaps, if I get cancer or something and get to see my lumpsum payout before I actually die. Maybe, I will die a rich man after all... perhaps, there are only a few things I could have done right, after all.
It's now all for my mum and Yen.
While doing up my resume, I suddenly realised what my uncles and cousins were trying to teach me when I was young.
Can't really remember the age, but i was probably 9 then. I had to work separating rusty curtain pins from shiny ones. Hated the task because it was too menial and boring. My other cousins my age were having football most of the time. I had to sit at a small table with boxes and boxes of those pins waiting for me to complete. Can't really recalled how I got rid of the "job" or I just ran away each time my aunt called to me. As I got older, they upgraded me to follow them on their job - interior decors. Saw plenty of rich folks' houses. There was this house somewhere in Orchard with a swimming pool and a little farm. It was actually more like two buildings with a swimming pool in-between. And the two buildings were jointed by a little arch- bridging the two - above the pool. Wow...
Had actualy seen a few variations tho. Carpeted stairs and huge cinema-featured rooms.... I can't imagine myself so rich. I have met rich men, except that since I have met them when I was much older than a 10-yr-old boy then, I don't get invited into their homes. Anyway, I have digressed. The fact is, I don't think I will ever be rich. Maybe perhaps, if I get cancer or something and get to see my lumpsum payout before I actually die. Maybe, I will die a rich man after all... perhaps, there are only a few things I could have done right, after all.
It's now all for my mum and Yen.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
a nightmare
The sun did shine bright and red today. That is a sign - of terrible things to come.
There will a black dog appearing from nowhere and it will eat up the moon. This is called the Night of the Saryon. The underworld will arise a huge army. They will rise up from within each city and turn each man upon his neighbour, until the earth is completely deseminated.
Even though it has already been written in the ancient book, most people do not pay heed to such things that they consider myths.
But the book also speaks of a handful of courageous folks among them, who will also rise to the occasion and while everyone runs to the mountains, would gather at the city gates. Others will stay behind and guard the stores. In the end, no one will ever know if it will all be worth it. But in their hearts (and mine too), I guess it's just about honour more than about gains or grains. It has always been about hope.
People speak of the rapture. There should be an escape. But most seem already resigned to be left behind. Other are preparing mentally not to partake of the rapture anyway.
Lucien has shown himself to be wanting more favour than he deserves. He has elevated himself among all the creatures and called on all the creatures of the woods and the seas, to submit to him. Now, he is turning his attention towards the humans and he does have an intensed need to be lord over all the living things. I see his lust has now overtaken him. He has sold his soul to the Darkness.
"We will prepare and wait." The watchmen will wait - resolutely - for the first fight to happen. But there will be none. How silly! The fight has already begun, while the moon appears in the day and while everyone stands mesmerised by the sight, seeds of lust, anger, jealosy and pride have already been sown onto their hearts. They don't get it. The fight is within themselves and each having lost, each will then assasinate the other. That's how it has been written, we do not fight against flesh and blood. It is against principalities of the world and the prince of the air. The great deceiver and the thief.
Many choose to flee to the sea, away from the sad things they could sense coming. But little do they know that the ship is already doomed even before it sets sail. The seas are ready to devour them or toss them all about. But onboard, there is also a more sinister fiend lurking among them unwary ones. There stands another man, in the guise of a good helper of fellow men. He is perhaps the one who harbours the same sickness that has afflicted Lucien. But he is a carrier, you see. Nobody knows he is also not well ..... and he is a great deceptor.
I recognise that man in my dream. His name is Lucas. For the rest of his lifetime, for power and fame and human affection, he willingly trades away his conscience and integrity. It is the same seed for bearing false witnesses and deepens divisions down the line. Soon those on board that ship will still be divided and no longer live like they should. All will be just souless creatures afloat on that piece of drifting wood, wherever it leads.
There will a black dog appearing from nowhere and it will eat up the moon. This is called the Night of the Saryon. The underworld will arise a huge army. They will rise up from within each city and turn each man upon his neighbour, until the earth is completely deseminated.
Even though it has already been written in the ancient book, most people do not pay heed to such things that they consider myths.
But the book also speaks of a handful of courageous folks among them, who will also rise to the occasion and while everyone runs to the mountains, would gather at the city gates. Others will stay behind and guard the stores. In the end, no one will ever know if it will all be worth it. But in their hearts (and mine too), I guess it's just about honour more than about gains or grains. It has always been about hope.
People speak of the rapture. There should be an escape. But most seem already resigned to be left behind. Other are preparing mentally not to partake of the rapture anyway.
Lucien has shown himself to be wanting more favour than he deserves. He has elevated himself among all the creatures and called on all the creatures of the woods and the seas, to submit to him. Now, he is turning his attention towards the humans and he does have an intensed need to be lord over all the living things. I see his lust has now overtaken him. He has sold his soul to the Darkness.
"We will prepare and wait." The watchmen will wait - resolutely - for the first fight to happen. But there will be none. How silly! The fight has already begun, while the moon appears in the day and while everyone stands mesmerised by the sight, seeds of lust, anger, jealosy and pride have already been sown onto their hearts. They don't get it. The fight is within themselves and each having lost, each will then assasinate the other. That's how it has been written, we do not fight against flesh and blood. It is against principalities of the world and the prince of the air. The great deceiver and the thief.
Many choose to flee to the sea, away from the sad things they could sense coming. But little do they know that the ship is already doomed even before it sets sail. The seas are ready to devour them or toss them all about. But onboard, there is also a more sinister fiend lurking among them unwary ones. There stands another man, in the guise of a good helper of fellow men. He is perhaps the one who harbours the same sickness that has afflicted Lucien. But he is a carrier, you see. Nobody knows he is also not well ..... and he is a great deceptor.
I recognise that man in my dream. His name is Lucas. For the rest of his lifetime, for power and fame and human affection, he willingly trades away his conscience and integrity. It is the same seed for bearing false witnesses and deepens divisions down the line. Soon those on board that ship will still be divided and no longer live like they should. All will be just souless creatures afloat on that piece of drifting wood, wherever it leads.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Wonder why it's always a Saturday by the time I realise that time is running too fast?
It's been a week since many things have happened - as usual. But this time, I can feel more happening than before. Maybe it's because I am about to - perhaps - change line. A few months ago, I did seriously consider quitting radiography. Funny right? Used to have so much passion about my profession. Now it seems I have lost that bearing once again. Perhaps, it's midlife crisis.
Anyway, went for management retreat recently. If there was anything I could take home, perhaps it can all be perfectly demonstrated in a ball-game. A game of tossing a couple of balls towards your partner. At the end of the day, as the game master had said, you may have to decide which balls to drop ...
Guess I shall play that game with the undergrads in HCM. Gota prepare lessons.
Meanwhile, here are some nice pics I have brought home too, from Sebana Cove, JB Malaysia.
It's been a week since many things have happened - as usual. But this time, I can feel more happening than before. Maybe it's because I am about to - perhaps - change line. A few months ago, I did seriously consider quitting radiography. Funny right? Used to have so much passion about my profession. Now it seems I have lost that bearing once again. Perhaps, it's midlife crisis.
Anyway, went for management retreat recently. If there was anything I could take home, perhaps it can all be perfectly demonstrated in a ball-game. A game of tossing a couple of balls towards your partner. At the end of the day, as the game master had said, you may have to decide which balls to drop ...
Guess I shall play that game with the undergrads in HCM. Gota prepare lessons.
Meanwhile, here are some nice pics I have brought home too, from Sebana Cove, JB Malaysia.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Magic
"Come, come with me.I want to show you. Something I've seen ..."
Decided to drop a few lines from a favourite song of mine here.
"And we can walk through the fields once again. And we can walk together hand in hand.
And that's when I'd like to hear you say.... that you love me .... "
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Motivation Is Not Enough
I got this from another article.
"It's like the knight back in the Middle Ages. He was returning to the castle one evening after a long, hard day of skirmishes. His armor was dented; his helmet was askew, and his plume was broken off. Even his horse was limping.
The lord of the manor saw him coming and went out to greet him. "What happened? What hath befallen you, Sir Albert?" he asked.
The knight straightened himself up and said, "Oh, Sire, I have been striving in your behalf all day, robbing and pillaging and burning the towns of your enemies to the west. "
"You've been doing what?" asked the astonished nobleman. The knight repeated his statement louder and slower in case his old master couldn't hear well.
"But I haven't any enemies to the west," cried the nobleman.
"Oh?" asked the knight. Then after a pause he said, "Well you do now. "
There's a moral to the story. Motivation is not enough. The knight was motivated, but that wasn't enough. You've also got to know what you should be doing. That's where the learning comes in.
"Learning is increasing one's ability to take effective action. "
But I feel that is where impatience sets in, especially if one sees that effectiveness is being hindered by someone else. Then what happens?
Looking back, most of us have been thru much training and education just to find out that log in another brother's eye?
"It's like the knight back in the Middle Ages. He was returning to the castle one evening after a long, hard day of skirmishes. His armor was dented; his helmet was askew, and his plume was broken off. Even his horse was limping.
The lord of the manor saw him coming and went out to greet him. "What happened? What hath befallen you, Sir Albert?" he asked.
The knight straightened himself up and said, "Oh, Sire, I have been striving in your behalf all day, robbing and pillaging and burning the towns of your enemies to the west. "
"You've been doing what?" asked the astonished nobleman. The knight repeated his statement louder and slower in case his old master couldn't hear well.
"But I haven't any enemies to the west," cried the nobleman.
"Oh?" asked the knight. Then after a pause he said, "Well you do now. "
There's a moral to the story. Motivation is not enough. The knight was motivated, but that wasn't enough. You've also got to know what you should be doing. That's where the learning comes in.
"Learning is increasing one's ability to take effective action. "
But I feel that is where impatience sets in, especially if one sees that effectiveness is being hindered by someone else. Then what happens?
Looking back, most of us have been thru much training and education just to find out that log in another brother's eye?
Cancer Risk from unnecessary CT Scans
CT Scans: A Radioactive Risk
Terry J. Allen argues that CT scans, while effective diagnostic tools, can be dangerous because of the high levels of radiation to which they expose patients.
By Terry J. Allen
Tags medical health technology
Share Digg del.icio.us Reddit Newsvine
My dentist and I have been bickering for decades. Steve advocates diagnostic X-rays; I argue that ionizing radiation, an established cancer risk, is not worth the benefit of catching a cavity early. Every couple of years, he threatens to dump me as a patient and I agree to a few X-rays after factoring in the benefits of his skill and his generous hand with the nitrous oxide.
Our negotiations rest on conjoined principles of Western medicine: risk-benefit analysis and informed consent.
But when it comes to the far greater risk of a “procedure performed more than 150,000 times a day in the United States…most consent forms are silent,” notes Georgetown University’s Adrian Fugh-Berman, in a report for the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institute.
Computed tomography (CT) scans take multiple X-ray images from different angles and link them into cross-sections of body tissues and organs. Researchers at Yale found that only a minority of U.S. academic medical centers inform patients about alternatives to diagnostic CT—including sonograms and MRIs—or about the radiation.
One abdominal CT, says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), exposes a patient to 500 times more radiation than a conventional chest X-ray. Exposure from a single full-body CT scan is within the same range as doses that increased the cancer risk of Japan’s A-bomb survivors. Full-body scans can cause a one in 1,250 increased chance of dying from cancer, Radiology reports. That risk more than doubles for the 2-3 million children scanned, and leaps again for the third of those kids given at least three scans, according to the National Academy of Sciences.
Of course, many CT scans are well worth the risk. They can be superb diagnostic tools that result in more effective treatments and, possibly, cures.
But early diagnosis does not always mean longer survival. “If I pick up a tumor that is one centimeter today and you live five years, or I pick it up four years later and you live one year, it’s the same thing,” Dr. Elliott Fishman, a professor of radiology and oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, told the New York Times.
The risk-benefit equation skews further at facilities touting CT scan screening for apparently healthy people.
“Are you at risk?,” ask the big red letters of a Web pop-up ad. “Find out for only $99” for a heart scan at Pulse Medical Imaging, “located in the White Plains [NY] business district.”
Or “Come to Florida, for a scan and a tan,” flashes a Web ad for HealthTest Scan Center, where a pelvic, abdomen and chest scan will set you back $895, with a heart scan thrown in.
When Tania answered the phone at Boca Raton, Fla., office, I said I wanted information but thought I was healthy. She chuckled, “Everyone thinks that, but it’s just to make sure. Prevention is better than a cure.” What can a scan prevent? “Death,” she replied. And if my doctor refuses to prescribe it? “See our doctor [either Dr. Marc Kaprow or Rohtem Amir]. He’ll give you the OK.”
I asked Tania about radiation danger. “It’s minimal…with this machine,” she reassured. How often should I get one? “Talk to the doctor, but some people have them four to five times in a six-month period.” Why? “Some people are hypochondriacs,” she confided.
Downplaying or ignoring the radiation risks extends to major studies and journals. Researchers at Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center assessed annual CT scans for smokers and former smokers without symptoms and concluded CTs save lives by detecting lung cancer early. The study, published in the October New England Journal of Medicine, never mentions radiation risk. The Center would not release its consent form. David Behrman, head of the Institutional Review Board, could not confirm how, or if, it described the radiation risks, but did say, “I can’t imagine subjects were not informed.”
A New York Times article and editorial pointed out design flaws in the study including the lack of a control group, and noted that CT scans carried risks such as false positives, unnecessary biopsies and “needless surgery to remove tumors that might never have become a problem.” It, too, omitted radiation concerns.
The number of CT scans in the United States is at 60 million a year and rising. The journal of American Society of Radiologic Technologists estimates that “20 percent of radiologic imaging exams are not clinically useful … [and] lapses in safety protocols also are common, unnecessarily increasing radiation exposures.”
Overuse of CT scans “points out a larger problem,” says Fugh-Berman. Relying on information from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, “physicians are more informed about the benefits of therapy than the risks of drugs and procedures; risks related to diagnostics are off the radar screen.” And once hospitals and medical practices invest in expensive equipment such as CT scanners, the more they use them the more they make. “They are a very high profit item,” says Fugh-Berman.
And profitability is one benefit that commercial medicine always factors in.
Contact Terry J. Allen at
tallen@igc.org.More information about Terry J. Allen
Terry J. Allen argues that CT scans, while effective diagnostic tools, can be dangerous because of the high levels of radiation to which they expose patients.
By Terry J. Allen
Tags medical health technology
Share Digg del.icio.us Reddit Newsvine
My dentist and I have been bickering for decades. Steve advocates diagnostic X-rays; I argue that ionizing radiation, an established cancer risk, is not worth the benefit of catching a cavity early. Every couple of years, he threatens to dump me as a patient and I agree to a few X-rays after factoring in the benefits of his skill and his generous hand with the nitrous oxide.
Our negotiations rest on conjoined principles of Western medicine: risk-benefit analysis and informed consent.
But when it comes to the far greater risk of a “procedure performed more than 150,000 times a day in the United States…most consent forms are silent,” notes Georgetown University’s Adrian Fugh-Berman, in a report for the Hastings Center, an independent bioethics research institute.
Computed tomography (CT) scans take multiple X-ray images from different angles and link them into cross-sections of body tissues and organs. Researchers at Yale found that only a minority of U.S. academic medical centers inform patients about alternatives to diagnostic CT—including sonograms and MRIs—or about the radiation.
One abdominal CT, says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), exposes a patient to 500 times more radiation than a conventional chest X-ray. Exposure from a single full-body CT scan is within the same range as doses that increased the cancer risk of Japan’s A-bomb survivors. Full-body scans can cause a one in 1,250 increased chance of dying from cancer, Radiology reports. That risk more than doubles for the 2-3 million children scanned, and leaps again for the third of those kids given at least three scans, according to the National Academy of Sciences.
Of course, many CT scans are well worth the risk. They can be superb diagnostic tools that result in more effective treatments and, possibly, cures.
But early diagnosis does not always mean longer survival. “If I pick up a tumor that is one centimeter today and you live five years, or I pick it up four years later and you live one year, it’s the same thing,” Dr. Elliott Fishman, a professor of radiology and oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, told the New York Times.
The risk-benefit equation skews further at facilities touting CT scan screening for apparently healthy people.
“Are you at risk?,” ask the big red letters of a Web pop-up ad. “Find out for only $99” for a heart scan at Pulse Medical Imaging, “located in the White Plains [NY] business district.”
Or “Come to Florida, for a scan and a tan,” flashes a Web ad for HealthTest Scan Center, where a pelvic, abdomen and chest scan will set you back $895, with a heart scan thrown in.
When Tania answered the phone at Boca Raton, Fla., office, I said I wanted information but thought I was healthy. She chuckled, “Everyone thinks that, but it’s just to make sure. Prevention is better than a cure.” What can a scan prevent? “Death,” she replied. And if my doctor refuses to prescribe it? “See our doctor [either Dr. Marc Kaprow or Rohtem Amir]. He’ll give you the OK.”
I asked Tania about radiation danger. “It’s minimal…with this machine,” she reassured. How often should I get one? “Talk to the doctor, but some people have them four to five times in a six-month period.” Why? “Some people are hypochondriacs,” she confided.
Downplaying or ignoring the radiation risks extends to major studies and journals. Researchers at Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center assessed annual CT scans for smokers and former smokers without symptoms and concluded CTs save lives by detecting lung cancer early. The study, published in the October New England Journal of Medicine, never mentions radiation risk. The Center would not release its consent form. David Behrman, head of the Institutional Review Board, could not confirm how, or if, it described the radiation risks, but did say, “I can’t imagine subjects were not informed.”
A New York Times article and editorial pointed out design flaws in the study including the lack of a control group, and noted that CT scans carried risks such as false positives, unnecessary biopsies and “needless surgery to remove tumors that might never have become a problem.” It, too, omitted radiation concerns.
The number of CT scans in the United States is at 60 million a year and rising. The journal of American Society of Radiologic Technologists estimates that “20 percent of radiologic imaging exams are not clinically useful … [and] lapses in safety protocols also are common, unnecessarily increasing radiation exposures.”
Overuse of CT scans “points out a larger problem,” says Fugh-Berman. Relying on information from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, “physicians are more informed about the benefits of therapy than the risks of drugs and procedures; risks related to diagnostics are off the radar screen.” And once hospitals and medical practices invest in expensive equipment such as CT scanners, the more they use them the more they make. “They are a very high profit item,” says Fugh-Berman.
And profitability is one benefit that commercial medicine always factors in.
Contact Terry J. Allen at
tallen@igc.org.More information about Terry J. Allen
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Parent Adult Child .....
Got this shot at a Pattaya show of Han with one of the ladies. Gota pay for taking the shot for her and Han, ok?
The lady happened to be a man actually, who really looks better being a lady.
.......................................................................................
Anyway, I remember that someone once shared that there is a "family" inside each of us: possibly 2 adults and a child.
The man of Action, the Intuitive lady and the Dreamer child. Sometimes, the man tends to be impulsive and careless, while the lady tends to be guided by her heart and by her impulses - all those subtle signals streaming onto her internal radars. To her, our body gestures and nounces speak louder than actual words being used for explaining a concept. The child is totally helpless with regards to self-control. Interesting sounds, colours and movement will tend to attract its attention, tho for a short while only, most of the time. But this external stimuli are enough to trigger involuntary movements from the limbs and body of the child. I don't know if I am right.... but I suppose this should correspond with TA which refers to PAC during any encounter, whatever the age or mental frame of either party.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
March 2007
Taken in Bangkok, Thailand - The Land of a Thousand Smiles.
People learnt to devote their lives towards selflessness and the virtues of Buddhism from a very young age.
That's one corner in a temple (forgot the name).Friday, March 09, 2007
Home is where the heart is ...
Life has been good, yeah?Sometimes I feel that in each of us, there is this place that we tend to visualise or dream of.
This painting depicts the place where I have always been longing to be. Anyway..
Gurus persuade changes and set the scenes for the way we manage things and affairs in my country. I have come to adapt myself to this place where I live and perhaps I have learnt the set of corporate world behaviours in order to bring bread and butter to my home. I listen, and bow my head. Or I could raise my voice or use my tone of voice or even wave a pen ... Oh boy, have I changed so much? Where was the carefree boy I used to be? The one who once raced down the long corridor with little boy on wheelchairs?
I used to be rather "naughty" and non-conformist. I had a fiery zeal in my heart. I would fight and willingly champion a cause I felt so strongly for. Looking back, I could have offended many of those seniors who are still around today. I could lead and organise and train. I could fall madly in love with a subject and go without food and sleep 36 hours straight just to get it right. I would go far into another country just to search for the things I treasure. I would lie down on the ground and wait for that animal to be in the right place for a snapshot. That used to be me. But I have already learnt to fear and worry. I have learnt to delegate and trust, but I have learnt to worry. A LOT. Alas, I am already very very tired person now. My health is failing and so is my courage and zeal. My sleeps have begun with prayers on my bed as I lied down and asked God numerous times where else I could have been ...
So many years have passed and I had seen so many of my own "heroes" gone before me. I sincerely wished them all the best in wherever they go. They are probably much happier now, while we are still nurturing the next generation. I think the future "heroes" seem to be grown on much better milk and honey, and trained from nintendoes and counterstrike.
Maybe it is the Autumn of my life now, altho many would say it's still a bit too early for me. I have become pessimistic and to some, "negative". I looked at the friends whom I had to let go. And also the ones whom I have to keep till their paths have plateaued. All because of what I have to embrace as my own corporate religion. It is all but a learnt way to keep close to the cheese. But see how these cheeses get dangled and dragged around the corporate world, trailed by a string of mice. Besides, how many would we want to keep? I should find my own. I should depend on God, to place bread and butter. Not processed cheese that we have been conditioned to do acrobats for.
Ultimately, it is God in person, and not tablets and synagogues. I do not believe in clergymen anymore, as much as I would trust businessmen. Unless he comes in the name of God and as a man after God's heart. For me and my household, we shall love the Lord.
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