湯圓

My dinner tonight

Computer Illness

I sprained my neck last week. I think it is due to playing computer for too long. I practically sat in front of a computer for 8-12 hrs everyday. Last week, out of a sudden, I felt that my neck bones eventually quit to put up with my daily torture and just went ‘dislocated’… It affected my left hand too, felt like both of them were trying to detach themselves from my body.

I went to buy some ‘deep heat’ products to put on, hoping to get a quick pain relief but it didn’t work. First one I bought was called ‘Menzza’. Well it’s just a bit cooling but not exactly deep heating. So I went to bought another one called ‘Counterpain’. This one is actually quite good, it gave me some physical ‘burning sensation’ which makes me temporary forgetting about my neck pain…hahaha. However it didn’t manage to heal me too.

The pain last for one whole week and reached its climax yesterday when I was busy working in the office. Basically I can’t really work due to the strong protest from my body parts.

Therefore last night after work, I decided to go pamper myself. So I went to a Face-Body-Spa centre to get a massage. I 乖乖 let the 師父 there check my neck and shoulder. He told me that I have ‘computer illness’ and it’s very common nowadays to those who play computer for too long without moving their body, especially the neck and shoulder. Well, I can only keep quiet, and plead guilty as charged. So I let him do whatever he can to safe my life.

There he started his amazing ‘kong fu’. He 捏and twisted my whole body like a piece of 黏土. While twisting my fat, he actually commented that “Your legs are very fat, you don’t exercise much… now you are too busy working to earn $, but later all your $ will go to doctors… blah blah blah” … Keep cursing me… #$$^#@@....

When it comes to my neck, he asked me to relax, then he went ‘cluck cluck cluck x N times’ and twisted my head left and right, front and back and pulled it up some more…. My goodness, I don’t think I was treated like a human being at all, more like those flour mix before it was turned into noodles or bao at the bakery… damn humiliating but … damn ‘song’ too…

Before I left, he taught me some simple exercise to do after sitting in front of a computer for 0.5 to 1 hr. He advised me to practice often or else my neck, arms and finger joints will eventually become stiff… (started to curse me again)… Ok loh, I took his advice and go home.

Last night, I dug inside my drawer and found myself some ‘Salonpas’ that I bought last time when I accidentally ‘dislocated’ my neck when I went shopping for china pirated DVD displayed on the floor at a street (sounds like my neck wants to ‘leave’ me quite often).

So this is how I look like since last night…


Well this morning when I woke up, I immediately sat up and checked my neck. Guess what, it’s back to normal, just a little bit painful… Amazing! I can actually dance like a teletubby now.

So now the problem is… I can’t be quite sure which was the real cure for my neck pain. Was it that amazing 師父 or ‘Salonpas’ or 師父 + ‘Salonpas’???....

Anyway some experience to share here….

1. ‘Counterpain’ is a better analgesic cream than ‘Menzza’.
2. Though ‘Salonpas’ may seem like 'ah pek/ah mah' patch, but it’s actually quite good for neck pain, considering the fact that both my horrible neck pain experience were gone after sticking the patches.
3. Look for a 師父 who can play the ‘cluck cluck cluck x N times’ kong fu without breaking your neck bones.
4. Do not sit in front of a computer for too long.
5. Do stretching exercise often if you insist to be a computer geek, or else you will spend all your hard earn $ on seeing doctors…. (It’s a curse from that 師父, not me).
6. If your laptop is too low and requires you to lean your neck forward for long hours, try to put something underneath like this:


Well all the best and good luck, my ‘computer geek’ friends! ** evil grin **

Hongkyrella

Do you know how does Hong Kong English & Mandarin sound like?

Below are some of the examples from my HK housemate, Pig Pig:

Beginner level:

File = Fai-lou
Folder = Fou-daa
Computer = Com-piu-taa
Cyber = Sai-ba
Mouse = Moussy
Nice = Lai-si
Like = Lai-ki
Quickly = Quickrrry
Pronounce = Po-lounce
Pretty = Pity
Click = Kick
Cheese = Cheesy
Strawberry = Si-to-be-lei
Banana = Ba-la-la
Omelet = On-lit
Fail = Fei-lou

Here go the more complicated words:

Thank you = Fank-you
Very nice = Way-li-lice
Fry rice = Fai-lice
3.33 = Free porn free-free
Giogio Amani = Jiu-jiu a-ma-lai

Conversation A – Jo vs. Pig Pig:

Jo : “Where are all the pix I took?”
Pig : “You on my com-piu-taa, kick the XXX fou-daa, it’s inside that XXX fai-lou…”

Conversation B - Pig vs. her mum (Cantanese + English) :

Pig’s mum : Ahh, ko Joanne dou gei ‘lai-si’, ying koi yao yang ‘lai-ki’ gua?
Pig Pig : Hai ya, koi way-li-lice.

Conversation C - Pig Pig’s Mandarin:

Pig : 你開 chiea (車), 急急走 (直直走) 就到了…
Pig : Twein 午節快到了, 我men 買棕己七 (我們買棕子吃) …

Conversation D - Pig vs. my colleague (English + Mandarin)

Colleague : My name is XXX.
Pig : Wah, such a lice lame. My lame is 'Pig Pig', lice to meet you.

Colleague : Where do you stay?
Pig : 我以前自隻豬, Joanne 自隻豬, 現在我們一隻豬.
Colleague ??.....

Jo's Evolution Chart

Jo's Evolution Chart (click to zoom in...)

Jo's Happiness Level Monitoring Chart

Click on pic to zoom in...

Shame on you, old arrogant CATS!

Tonight my friend and I represented our club to attend the joint project meetings with many other L clubs. It was again the same shit dumping to our club and we get very little attention to address and solve the issues we raised. Other clubs get to talk all they want but when we were trying to address our concern on a physical issue which may well become a major issue in the upcoming project, we were suppressed and even criticized as ‘You guys don’t demonstrate L spirit. Do you know what L is for??... blah blah blah…’.

Hey come on, we consider our club as a very hard working and committed club. We spent time to attend meetings and to execute tasks, ended up we were regarded like an insignificant no name club in the meeting.

My friend and I were very offended and angry with the way some of these ‘old people’ playing their old shit so we stood up and left before the first meeting adjourned, to protest against their arrogance & ignorance.

There was this membership chairman that everytime talked to people about recruiting more L members. Tonight his attitude made me want to tell him next time when he asks me to recruit new members : “Seeing the way L people do things, I don’t dare to invite my friends to join this organization, and sometimes even myself felt like quiting it.”

The reason I still hang around in my club is because I do feel proud of my own club and what we can achieve as a team. I also have a sense of belonging towards my club after seeing the up and down in this little club throughout the years and how well it has grown, in terms of its character and team work.

However towards certain clubs, those old people, I shake my head, I feel sad. I feel like telling them : “You guys are really the true culprits that stop the L movement from growing. Your action put people’s enthusiasm off and de-motivated many people."

SHAME ON YOU, OLD CATS!

悠長假期該結束了

昨天我收到新老板sent 出來的一份問卷, 上面要求員工填上學歷, current pursue 和 future plan… 我对着那份問卷不禁发了好一会儿呆。。。

基本上，我选择了我的学歷和现状。 但是对于我的current pursue 和 future plan，讲真的, 我不知該填些什么… 彷彿在這段漫長的歲月中, 我已靜靜的接受了命運的安排, 開始過着隨遇而安的日子, 沒再自我鞭策, 也沒再自我增值.

剎那間, 我意識到自己原來是如此的不求上進, 毫無目標.

也許是時候結束我給自己的悠長假期了. 也該是時候再從新出發了.

天凉好个秋

十岁的我不知道什么是生命
二十岁的我认为生命才开始起步， 心里有无限憧憬，问号和期盼
三十岁的我开始认识生命，惊觉人生很无常，可以很精彩，可以很失望， 却有更多的日子过得很麻木
四十岁的我将在哪里？ 做些什么？ 对生命又有何看法？我经常在思考。。。

尤记得中学时期读过这么一首词：

辛弃疾《丑奴儿·少年不识愁滋味》
少年不识愁滋味，爱上层楼。爱上层楼，为赋新词强说愁。
而今识尽愁滋味，欲说还休。欲说还休，却道天凉好个秋。

一言道尽个中滋味。。。

Skype me

Tonight I clicked on ‘skype me’ for fun and suddenly so many people popped up to chat, all are male. The most common questions are:

1. Which country are you from?
2. How old are you?
3. Are you married?
4. Can I see your pic?
5. Can you add me to your contact?
6. Can we talk?

Oh my god, so many questions in one go from N number of strangers. I kept saying ‘Sorry, I gotta go, nice talking to you’ then I ran away… it felt like I accidentally walked into a male toilet or a world of desperados…

There was one guy from Turkey whose pic shown on skype looks like an Al Qaeda member but he kept on saying ‘sorry…sorry…sorry’… which doesn’t match his look at all, very funny really.

The other guy from Sydney displayed a pic with a very grumpy look, with deep deep frown on his face… I was so scared that these people will find and try to kill me later as their look was so full of hatred…haha.

One thing these people have in common was that they were all very eager to see other’s look first before they decided if to continue with the chat. Even though a lot of people keep saying ‘beauty is only skin deep’ but undeniably, look is still a strong determining factor in creating impression. Well, take it or leave it, this world is just an unfair world.

Somehow I think it’s safer for male to chat with female strangers online than female chats with male strangers. You just never know what species these people are… they may sound very nice but who knows…

Anyway, it’s an entertaining but exhausting experience as I was so busy saying goodbye to everyone.

What I must say is that Internet is an amazing invention. It makes the world so much ‘smaller’, so accessible from any corners in this world. I think it is the greatest invention of this century.

My balcony 'garden'...

The balcony 'garden' at my villa paradiso...

新鹹蛋超人 demo ‘挺扁, 倒扁’...

For those who still don’t know the hand signs for Taiwan supporters vs. Taiwan protesters for President 陳水扁, here is a simple demo… by 2 ultraman.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5348830.stm

全球华人歌唱大赛决赛选手——01号陈世安

今晚TVB8 所播出的全球华人歌唱大赛真的很讚! 猜猜谁是这一届新出炉的全球华人金麦克风大奖得主？？ 就是以下这一 位來自马来西亚(槟城) cool cool 的01号陈世安:

姓名：陈世安　 英文名：Tan Say Aun　　
昵称：Andrew 　　
代表城市：马来西亚(槟城)　星座：双子座　　
年龄：22　国藉：马来西亚　　
学历：Diploma in Finance　职业：化妆师　　
能操语言：英语/华语/粤语/马来语/福建语　　
身裁尺码：体高178米 体重60公斤　　
比赛歌曲　　
（首选）你不在（次选）耿耿于怀（第三选）浮夸　　
擅长舞蹈：Hip-pop, Modern Jazz　　
擅长乐器：无　　
偶像：(歌手)滨崎步(非歌手)Angelina Jolie　　
擅长表演风格：唱情歌/劲歌热舞　　
擅长歌唱技巧：假音/沙音/情歌感情　　
嗜好：走秀/摄影/时尚潮流　　
歌唱及舞蹈以外的才能：走秀/摄影　　
擅长模仿那位歌手及歌曲：无　　
最难忘的演唱经验：2006年Astro新秀大赛　　
曾获得的音乐奖项：2006年Astro新秀大赛-亚军　　
参加目标：追求梦想

基本上整場比賽都十分精采, 尤其是最後决赛時只剩下马来西亚的01号陈世安挑戰中国-香港20 号的高遠, 真是令觀眾為之情緒高漲! 我更是為陈世安捏了一把冷汗… 因為他在最後三關挑戰中有兩關唱錯詞… 但是在最後一關的一首YMCA挑戰, 他淋漓盡致的台風恨狠的把高遠給比下去了! YES! 陈世安, 超棒!

http://ent.qq.com/zt/2006/tvb8act/

About Depression

A lot of times when things happened in an unpredicted, unwanted and uncontrollable situation, one can be deeply traumatized. An almost certain impact from a trauma is depression.

I just heard from a friend about another friend’s story. I was told that recently her friend was very quiet, likes to isolate himself, has loss of interest in his usual activities, acts and talks weirdly, very negative about things etc.

That makes me suspect this person is suffering from Major Depression. Some common symptoms of Major Depression are:
- Persistent depressed, sad, anxious, tension, or empty mood
- Feeling worthless, helpless, or experiencing excessive or inappropriate guilt
- Hopeless about the future, excessive pessimistic feelings
- Loss of interest and pleasure in your usual activities, feeling tired despite lack of activity
- Decreased energy and chronic fatigue
- Loss of memory, difficulty making decisions or concentrating
- Irritability or restlessness or agitation
- A change in sleeping patterns, such as difficulty sleeping, waking up early in the morning, or sleeping too much
- Loss of appetite and interest in food, or overeating, with weight gain
- Recurring thoughts of death, or suicidal thoughts or actions

Below is a person’s description of Major Depression that I read online :

“It takes the greatest effort to get out of bed in the morning. I am tired all day, yet when night comes, sleep evades me. I stare at the ceiling, wondering what has happened to my life, and what will become of me. Nothing is getting done at work. I have projects to complete, but I can't think. I try to focus on my work, and I get lost. I keep wondering when the boss will discover how little I have accomplished. My wife does not understand. She keeps telling me to "snap out of it." I'm irritable all the time, and yell at the kids, then I feel terrible later. Nothing is fun any more. I can't read, and the music I used to enjoy so much does nothing for me. I am bored, but I feel like doing nothing. There are times, when I'm alone, that I think that life is hopeless and meaningless, and I can't go on much longer.”

There are many sites online that talk about depression. There are in fact many types of depression but the more severe type is Major Depression. Usually the sites will suggest people suffering from depression to talk to a doctor or other qualified healthcare professional.

Let me think what can help a person to get out from depression:

1. First identify the problem. Visit the depression sites online, checked yourself against all the symptoms. It helps you to understand what is going on with you.

2. You may not necessary need to see a doctor. One thing you can do is to break the daily patterns that keep you depressed.

3. Make changes to your life - change job, move to a new place, join more activities after work and during weekends, start to appreciate little little things in life, visit your family more.

4. Time. Time is the best remedy to cure many pains. As long as you have decided to let go and don’t look back, give yourself some time to recover. You will be fine.

A lot of time, people under Major depression feel that nobody can understand or help them but when they see another vulnerable person, they can understand each other.

Recovering from depression often makes a person have the ability to understand and to have more empathy on people who are at vulnerable condition. One thing for sure is that, no doubt it is painful but it can be cured.

Therefore to those who are traumatized and are having depression, I wish to tell you that you are not alone in this world. There are many others who have been there. What is important is the truth that tomorrow will be better if you want to believe it.

How do I know so much about it? Well, I was there before :) …

Dreams

Recently I read a friend’s blog about dreams. It makes me think of recording some of my weird dreams down …

1. I think I have a fear of confine space. One of my most stressful dreams is like this… I walked into a narrow cave, when I got in deeper, I found that I can’t reverse back. Then it gets narrower and narrower till I have to walk sideway like a crab to ‘slide myself’ thru every step. The worst was that there seems to have no end to this narrow path and it was dark on both ends. When I continued to ‘slide’ with my nose touching the wall, I found myself getting harder and harder to breath, mainly due to my fear as confine space makes me breathless…

2. I had my best dreams just few months ago… when I dreamed that I was learning how to ‘float’ myself up, and eventually I started to fly in the sky and travelled around in any speed I wanted. It felt really real and relaxing even after I woke up. I dreamed of that twice few months ago. In one of the dreams, I was able to float an object to scare away a bad guy who was trying to bully another guy. I practiced my power slowly in the dream from floating objects to floating myself up to the roof of my house. What I enjoyed the most was ‘floating’ in the sky at night and just rest there looking down at the earth. Even though I felt a bit lonely there, I found great peace and felt strong about this great ability of mine. Those 2 days, I felt really great after I woke up. Somehow I believe I should continue to practice till it comes true… haha.

3. When I was a kid, I often dreamed about things that really happened later. Somehow I ceased to have those dreams after I grew up. However 2-3 years ago, there was one night I dreamed about exactly the same thing that happened at the office pantry the next day. I was shocked when I walked into the pantry and saw the exact scene and people that I dreamed about… It’s really kind of spooky after all these years.

These are some of the special dreams that I had. However most of the time, I had dreamless night or I just couldn’t remember the dreams.

9/11

On this day, I just wish to say that the fights for whatever religions are wrong, no matter how noble the believers think they are… We need to have a more peaceful place to live, regardless of which religion dominates. This world is not a performing stage for either the politicians or the terrorists’ leaders to fight for attention, support or sympathy. As no matter who win in the end or who manage to prove that they are right, the hatred and revenge will continue from those who lose their love one, and this world will just become more of a mess. Take this advice and stop thinking that this is what God really wants from you.

Bosses

Since a year ago, I’ve been quite bothered by office politics. The main reason is because of poor management at my department. That makes me think what is considered as a good management. Let me summarize some of my observations based on my past experience working under 12 bosses (wow!! to my own surprise after counting…):

1. Boss#1 :
Race: An American old guy, >50 yrs old.
Strength: Full of experience, strong technically, smart in getting what he wants.
Weakness: Arrogant, bad temper, moody, egoistic, lazy, bossy, like to be pleased.
Management style: He practised favoritism, very bias towards the subordinates that he likes. For those he didn’t like, he didn’t care at all.
Impact: The department was in a mess. Some people tried very hard to please him and it worked. Quiet but hard working workers were suppressed and ignored. A lot of disputes, no harmony.

2. Boss#2 :
Race: An American young guy, >30 yrs old.
Strength: Smart, cunning, talks loud and well, technical wise just average.
Weakness: Very bad temper, egoistic, takes thing personally, always argue/fight with others.
Management style: He practiced favoritism too. Tried hard to suppress and bully subordinates with different opinions. When he was in bad mood, he talked rude to his subordinates. Show little respect to individuals.
Impact: He was disliked by the whole department, other department as well as the management. Eventually got kicked back to U.S..

3. Boss#3 :
Race: An American Indian, middle age, ~40 yrs old.
Strength: Smart, logical thinking, strong technically, full of experience, people oriented, humorous, results oriented, analytical, humble, systematic, get along well with everyone, seldom show temper, flexible.
Weakness: ?? Can’t think of any.
Management style: Respected people, polite. Focused on training and engineers’ development. Provided guidance, good at mentoring. Protective, fair. Stood up for his subordinates, beared the pressure from top management. Never pin point or get angry at the subordinates when mistakes were made, but focused on improvement to prevent reoccurrence. Praised subordinates for job well done. Problem solver, solution provider, decision maker. Made tough things easy, motivating and most importantly, full of sense of humor. Defined job scope for each person clearly, and evaluated the performance according to target set.
Impact: Employees were motivated, results oriented, work both hard and smart. Everyone loved the boss so tried hard not to let him down. The department was very productive yet harmonizing.

4. Boss#4:
Race: A local young guy, <30>Strength: Good temper, obeying to his bosses. Technical wise just average.
Weakness: Quiet, easily bullied by other department. A follower. Incapable and did not protect the subordinates. Likes to shift responsibility and work load to the subordinates.
Management style: Busy on self performance rather than caring about subordinates’. Attended a lot of meetings but seldom gave input or passed info to the subordinates. Continuously took a lot of work from top management and dumped to the subordinates. Stretched the subordinates out, always loaded them with endless tasks. Subordinates have no life at all besides work. When issues arised, push the subordinates out to take all the shit from management while he kept quiet hiding up.
Impact: Department had very high engineers turn over. A lot of engineers quit but he stayed put and let things be, no improvement plan. A lot of issues left unresolved.

5. Boss#5:
Race: A West Malaysian guy, >35 yrs old.
Strength: Fast in action, talkative, good at impressing the top management. Results oriented.
Weakness: Practised favoritism. MCP, prefers to work with males. Big mouth, gossipy. Butt kissing. No strong character. A follower.
Management style: Good at fire fighting, doing corrective action but weak at proper planning. Always went for temporary solutions and patches. No long term planning, lack of vision, aim at achieving fast short term results.
Impact: Subordinates were lack of direction and plans. Just follow instructions where the boss follows his boss’s instructions.

6. Boss#6:
Race: An American guy, ~40 yrs old.
Strength: Smart, logical thinking, strong technically, full of experience, strongly results oriented, analytical, systematic.
Weakness: Arrogant, fussy, temperamental, moody, set high expectations, military style, strict, not people oriented, not very flexible, impatient, workaholic.
Management style: Set very high standards and expectations on his subordinates, stretched them out very much. Dictator style, full of self-confidence, instructive. Practised favoritism. Extremely results oriented and reward the high performers well. Slow or lazy employees got punished.
Impact: Subordinates were very stress up working for him but tend to be trained tougher. Good performers were motivated as he was very results oriented and rewarded them well but still not many can work for him for long as they can’t really have a life. The people were harmonizing in front of him as he dislikes disputes, just likes work, work and work… but at the back, people were competing hard to impress him.

7. Boss#7:
Race: A local lady, ~35 yrs old.
Strength: ??
Weakness: Manipulative, ambitious, moody. Good at abusing power. Likes to shift responsibility and work load to the subordinates. Unpredictable. Self pity, jealous and resentful, selfish.
Management style: Subordinates were like her pawns. Her people and driving skill were not particularly strong, often made both the subordinates and herself angry. Petty in rewarding people.
Impact: Subordinates felt reluctant and demotivated to work for her as work or don’t work make no difference.

8. Boss#8:
Race: A China young guy, ~30 yrs old.
Strength: Clever, good at talking, observant, analytical, mathematical, very flexible. Strategy player.
Weakness: Arrogant, over confident, moody, egoistic, slack.
Management style: Not results oriented but knew how to present the results to impress. Good at pleasing the boss, kept good relationship with subordinates that can help him to deliver results. Good at driving others, persuasive. Subordinates were taught to treat job just like a stepping stone.
Impact: Subordinates treated him more like a colleague than a supervisor. Didn’t really respect him nor were scared of him.

9. Boss#9:
Race: A Korean guy, ~40 yrs old.
Strength: Thoughtful, hard working, friendly, good temper, patient.
Weakness: Full of worries and fear. Often felt helpless. Directionless, low profile. Weak personality and weak communication skill.
Management style: Kept good relationship with subordinates, encouraged team work. As he treated his subordinates like family and was protective, they were willing to work hard for him. However the team was weak in other departments’ eyes under his management as he looked weak and helpless.
Impact: The team felt weak and directionless, but harmonizing.

10. Boss#10:
Race: A West Malaysian guy, ~33 yrs old.
Strength: Flexible, friendly, approachable, clever, good at system implementation, good temper, patient, take things easy, thoughtful.
Weakness: Extremely low profile, weak in personality and communication. Slack, directionless. Quite gossipy. Passive.
Management style: Kept good relationship with subordinates, very flexible. Not protective, stayed away from issues. Subordinates need to fight for themselves and protect themselves. The team was ‘invisible’ in other departments’ eyes as the boss was low profile and preferred to be ‘invisible’ in order to run away from issues and work.
Impact: The team saw no future, just continued to work on their own and see what happen next. The working environment was harmonizing though. Everyone was just happy go lucky.

11. Boss#11:
Race: A Korean guy, <40>Strength: Strong thinker, strategy player, analytical. Strong in driving, good at talking.
Weakness: Conservative, old generation thinking. Take things personally. Manipulative. Rude. Egoistic, arrogant. Talkative but full of rubbish. Technically so so but like to show off. Poor people and communication skill.
Management style: Talked too much rubbish, forced subordinates to stand there and listen. Can be very rude when talking to the subordinates, treated subordinates like dogs sometimes. Always talked about seniority and reminded everyone to respect the boss. Played too much boss / emperor style. Lived in his own world. Gave confusing instructions. Focused on self performance. Practised favoritism, treated subordinates that he dislikes sarcastically. Not open for comments or feedback, one way communication. Took things personally. Apply double standard in the department.
Impact: High employees turn over. Department was full of disputes, not harmonizing. Employees were demoralized and demotivated.

12. Boss#12:
Race: A West Malaysian guy, ~35 yrs old.
Strength: Good temper, flexible, analytical, fast learner, boss pleasing, loud speaker, hard working, good people and communication skill.
Weakness: See everything as difficult issues. No character. No strong integrity, ‘see human talks human language, see ghost talks ghost language’. Surviver. Unpredictable. Weak personality. Technically not strong, works slow.
Management style: Talked too much, too loud. Likes to play one man show. Perceives subordinate’s performance as a threat. Doesn’t protect the subordinates. Too eager to perform and to proof himself, uses subordinates’ results for own performance. Sets own performance as reference.
Impact: Subordinates felt used and reluctant to work for him, as it’s all one-man-show. Irritated by his showmanship at the area as well as by his attitude in not recognizing subordinate’s effort and performance.

Well, so many bosses, so many different management styles but mostly disappointing except 1-2 good bosses or rather good leaders/mentors.

This should serve as a reference for ‘do’ and ‘don’t’ as a boss.

Work Hard vs. Work Smart

A busy day in the office… I spent the whole afternoon in the lab trouble shooting a new device’s failure root cause. Together with me were 3 young engineers. One was my customer’s engineer. He is luckier to get his first job at the customer end. He gets more exposure on a device’s end process and he dealt a lot with the vendor side which is my company. As he is our customer, he gets to talk louder. By the way, he is a very smart guy.

The other female engineer is quite smart and eager to learn but she didn’t lay her hands on the test equipment much. The other guy is my engineer, a happy go lucky guy, not too eager to learn, quite passive, but obeying and patient.

They were there to trouble shoot problem with me. Of course I was the one to use the brain and teach on the equipment. At the same time, I observed how these 3 engineers behaved. Quite interesting…

The customer’s engineer likes to pretend like a master to everything. He is smart and fast to acquire knowledge and skills but once he learned something, he just can’t wait to teach people and show off. The lady listened and observed, trying to figure out everything by querying. My engineer appears to be a strong contrast to the customer’s engineer. He is more reserved, timid, got his hands on the equipment all the time, followed instructions, but a bit less creative.

After teaching them, I just sat there and watched these ‘3 little pigs’ working. Strangely after a while, I observed that a working pattern already formed in a small circle like this. The customer’s engineer was like a boss, kept instructing but never laid his hands on the equipment. The lady was like a mixture of middle management plus worker. She watched, made notes, fed back to the customer’s engineer and corrected my engineer if something was not quite right. My engineer became a quiet worker, buried his head busy on probing and saving the results.

I ended up with a conclusion, i.e. a person’s nature does a lot of time decide his/her role in a team, regardless big or small team. Quite sad but true.

What I’m more interested to know is what will happen to these 3 engineers down their career road. Can smartness win all the way, or hard work can get pay off too??...

Once upon a time a ‘Lepak’ Queen…

Tonight I went out with my frens to ‘lepak’ at downtown. The place we went was crowded, music was loud. Furthermore, one of the pubs has got a live jazz band playing, very happening indeed.


We sat there and started ‘people watching’. The boys and girls all dressed up to impress, some were really cool and sexy, mostly pretended to be… hehe… When I looked at those youngsters, suddenly I recalled about the old days…

I was once upon a time a 'lepak’ queen. When I was young (hehe…gee), I used to go out ‘lepak’ every weekend, either at pubs or cafés. At that time, I could easily name half of the pubs’ or cafés’ name in town. Well of course. ‘lepak’ queen must have a gang of ‘lepak kaki’. They were either my colleagues, club members or some ‘nothing to do’ friends. All were ‘kaki’ with plenty of time to kill.

Those days ‘lepak’ at pubs are one of the ‘in’ things… loud music + pool table + boys & girls + fun & laughters. Besides pubbing, I was once quite crazy about playing pool too... Anyway, those days I was just seldom at home, always having fun somewhere downtown… Now I look back, those were really some wild and carefree days of mine that had.. all gone with the wind…

These few years, pubbing activities have cooled down quite a bit in town but more cafés appeared. May be this is just my impression, as I haven’t been pubbing for quite some time… Somehow I can’t stand loud music and crowded place nowadays… I guess it’s a sign of aging.

However the main reason that has caused me to lose my 'lepak' Queen crown is that lately few years, most of my ‘lepak kaki’ were either married, busy taking care of babies or working/studying oversea. I was left with just a hand full of ‘kaki’… among them some like to laze at home, most have turned into internet/ messenger/ blog geeks and addicts…

Guess it’s time for me to leap forward to another stage of life. As soon or later, there will be NOBODY THERE TO PLAY WITH ME ANYMORE!

Interesting Conversation with a Perfect Stranger

Last night after dinner, my friends and I walked by a pharmacy. We stopped and went in to check out on the supplements. From my queries on few types of supplements, we started an interesting 1 hour+ conversation with a pharmacist in the store.

This pharmacist sounds like a pro to a lot of interesting topics. The conversation flows in the following sequence: EPA -> cholesterol -> analyze potential health problems thru lips & palm study -> character study -> goals setting & realization -> problem solving skill -> religion study etc…. Cover so many topics in 1 hr+… amazing huh!

I found what he shared with us very inspiring. Here are some of the key learning from the conversation:

1. One of the main causes of high LDL (bad cholesterol) is the intake of processed oil that was heated up to >200 degree Celsius, which includes all the cooking oil.
2. High cholesterol may not necessarily cause heart problem.
3. Red and dry lips could be an indicator that a person likes to take hot & spicy food, e.g. chili.
4. Palm study could tell some health problems such as hormonal imbalance, constipation, stress, stomach problem etc.
5. Characters can be divided into 4 types, i.e. DISC (Dominant, Influential, Submissive, Compliant).
6. Dominant or Influential people are extroverts. Indicator : Talk more and talk fast. Main weakness : Anger.
7. Submissive or Compliant people are introverts. Indicator: Talk less and talk slow. Main weakness : Fear.
8. Submissive and Compliant people are task oriented, while Influential and Submissive people are people oriented.
9. How to make dreams come true – set up your goal, visualize, commit, set time line, execute etc.
10. How to know what you are best doing - ask yourself what your interest, passion and strength are.
11. The term ‘problem’ can be perceived differently as challenge, opportunity or growth etc.
12. Problem solving skill – simple way is to apply 4 W and 1 H rule (Who, When, Why, What, How). Then drill down from top level to details by applying the same approach at each level.

In fact, I already knew most of them but still, I find this unexpected interaction with a perfect stranger quite inspiring. It’s an interesting conversation that worth the time.