Category Archives: Runderstandings

Soldiers?

Was just watching tv and a thought came to me.

 

So soldiers risked their life on war field and fighting for the country.

 

 

Then what happens after war?

 

Kinda like they lose their job isnt it?
Is fighting a war for the country really just a job?

Do they really go out of job after the war?

 

Whats left of the skills after that? How are they still relevant to the society?
Martial arts trainers?
Discipline masters?
Body Guards?
Security Officers?
Consultants?

 

Do they then continue on the new “job” with pride, or the broken and with wreck up mind?
All the brain jizz after the war… are they still mentally capable to handle it?

 

What about us then? How do we looked at our job?
Do we risk our life and go all out for our job?
Do what we do requires such dedication?
Who decides it anyway?

 

What if we take our job and really be liken to a soldier on the war field?
What would be left of us?
What would be the outcome of the tasks we uphold?

 

What would it be like?

 

What would it take for one to give everything that one has?

 

i-want-you

 

 

Thanks for coming by

 

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

“lets-clear-the-air-and-speed-things-up-ism”

Was just looking through the books on the shelf while Iris and I was at Popular Bookstore the other day.
I wanted to look for some guide books and assessment books for my students.

Was at the Model Composition section when I overheard a daughter chatting with her mother and the multiple shutter sounds that came from the mother’s camera phone.

Turns out the mother was trying to digitalize pages of the guide book that she was browsing.
It went on for a good 5 clicks, I turned and said:

 “Why dont you put your camera on silent mode, so it is not so obvious?”

okay, so maybe she has no intention of taking more than 10% of the book — which is the bar for infringement.
Guess what she replied:

“You shut the f**k up.” “I can do whatever I like to do.” “This is not the library”.

I didnt respond to that. Or to her for that matter. Cos:

1. She didnt get my point. The shutter sound is not the disturbance, for the matter, the conversation with the daughter was louder than that. 

2. The point is in the infringement. 

3. Your daughter is next to you and you are scolding me in vulgar language? 

It was about the infringement of the intellectual properly.
Then she went on and attempt to educate her daughter saying:

“One kind of rice feeds many kind of people” a chinese proverb that is. Meaning to say there are many kinds of people in the world, some better than the others.
“Come so near to listen to me and scold me.”

and whatever whatever she was saying.

The funny thing was, I am more irritated by the idea that she addressed me; in the presence of someone she should be an example to, in vulgar language, than the infringement.

 

So I began again.

“Its not about the sound, its about the infringement of intellectual property.” — she heard it.

 

I carried on browsing for a good book, suitable for my students.
She carried on taking photos, carried on sharing points with her daughter.

 

Soon after, perhaps she understood or that she has gotten what she needs, they walked away.

 

and then guess what,

She came back on purpose, pretending she was trying to neat-en the stack of books that she was taking photos from; she proceeded to scold me.

 

With glaring eyes, and the face of a ferocious tiger, she said something along the line of:

“Don’t browse too long, that is taking other people’s intellectual too.”
“You are sick in the brain.”
“YOU LEARN A LESSON TODAY OKAY?”

 

I am very upset at that point of time, I was trying to be nice, and you are so mean. and the worst part was showing a bad example in-front of your daughter (the cursing part). Good Lord…

and by the way, my intention was to pick and buy the book. I pay. It goes back to the writer. Whatever little amount it is. :/
not so sure about you.

So me being me, I stood there, look her straight in the face,

“Oh sure”, “Yes”, “okay”.

Then she walk away.
Perhaps because of my body language? 😀
Or that she felt she has made her point and the situation is beyond her? Just like I do? 😀

and thank God I didnt see her again.

😀 yes, I’m pretty sure I learnt a lesson.

I dunno man… haiz.. maybe too much of being “righteous” ba.

Perhaps I can be more tactful next time. 🙂

 

Then, we went to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

The customer on the next counter asked for: something something “MoCha”.

Opps……. the poor server, she repeated “Mocha?” or “Matcha”
Its a coffee+chocolate thing (pronounced as Mo-ca)  or a green tea thing (pronounced as Ma-cha).

and the customer repeated: something something “MoCha”.

My goodness… I wanted to help. But after that incident that happened at Popular bookstore, I decided not to.

 

The server chose Mocha and it went fine.

Has my years of pronouncing Mocha been wrong?

 

I dont know man.

 

But well, perhaps like Iris pointed out, the western would appreciate such facilitation, asians may not. Individualism vs collectivism.

 

 

I say its a “lets-clear-the-air-and-speed-things-up-ism”

 

😀 I love me.
Perhaps my take away should just be to be more tactful rather than not do it at all.

 

One step at a time. 🙂

 

Thanks for coming by

 

 

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

Flamboyance

Got reminded of my past and how I was during my Polytechnic days.

The glory days that I started NYP Pals. 😀

NYPAL04

 

(This isnt the works during my season, picked it up from online).

 

So anyway,

I remember I was in Year 1 and there was this project that we had to do with the Year 3 students.

That season was a time when I was out there, flamboyant as a flamingo.

 

I remember this particular incident when I was helping my classmates to keep the door open.
Standing very close to the door, I kind stretched my hands over my head to keep it open.

That was a season when the manifestation of the flamboyance stamped from the hurt I felt, was recovering from in a defining moment of my life.

 

and the Year 3 students gave me good. This particular female was going “WAh, you see see, see how she holds the door, got style one k!”. It was flat out teasing. not in a nice way.

 

As I revisited the events, I remind myself, dont ever tease people,

Because you dont know what they are going through at that moment of their life. 🙂

 

I am not offended. 🙂 But looking back, this is a good take back.

 

Dont.
If you have nothing good to say, keep your mouth shut.

 

thanks for coming by

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

Long Time

Patience.

James 1:4

 

Wah… I think this is a very long season of learning and understanding Patience.

But I think with the new lessons, comes the new provision to get through.

 

I never use to need to wait at all, I usually get what I want, when I want it. Or I’ll just go out and get it.

But this season, it doesnt seem to be so.
Everything is just long suffering, slow, and refusing to arrive. and as it, its not within my control. 😀

 

I was quite “oky…” with a friend who always tell me, “its okay, slowly, we have a long time to learn that. we have a long time to do this, we have a long time to do that.” I always wanted to pull my hair out.

Cos seriously if we dont treasure now, or make plans for things to happen, what happens when its gone? What happens if someone just pass away, what happens if its a fleeting moment?

Obviously the person is much older than me.
Guess thats the problem with people of my generation. We want it fast, we want it now.

 

My dad’s Class 5 Driver’s license is 34years now.

A country is established by people’s work experiences (and innovations of course), not someone’s 3mins excitement.

A family with children is established based on a relationship of 2 that has lasted and will continue to last.

Knowledge and understanding is gained on years of reading and learning.

The light bulb is invented after not once, twice, thrice or even 4 times of failure, but multiple times, through a long period.

A good broth takes hours to brew.

 

I realize, a lot of things, needs time to prove itself, a lot of things need time to come true.

 

As Pst Phil pointed out in Impatience

BUT, James 1:3 declares that the time to exercise patience is exactly when you dont want to – when you’re under pressure.
If you develop patience and become great at waiting and coping and putting up with … everything … you will be “complete and entire, lacking in nothing’ (verse 4)

 

Thanks for coming by

 

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

 

http://youtu.be/cdygEzfbhqc

Dignity

Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs-of-a-Geisha-memoirs-of-a-geisha-19182137-800-375 

Full movie: http://youtu.be/TBgvjMD5xmM

Rewatched Memoirs of a Geisha the other day (2013), the movie was released in 2005, that makes it 8 years ago.

Its fascinating how watching the movie in 2013 gives a different perspective and helps gained new understanding different as per 8 years ago.

Cant recall and neither (oky wait, let me go search…)
oh, I did blogged abt it back then ( woh, I’ve been blogging for that long)..

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Just watched the movie Memoirs of the Geisha on Monday. You guys watched it yet?

… (text removed for clarity of entry)

It reminds me of life, not in the sense the everyday life that we are living. But rather this life that we have. This breath that in inhale and exhale continuously.

While we do have the freedom of choices, we have already stepped on this journey that is (not) gonna stop for anything or anyone. Not having the opportunity to say “No, time is gonna stop for me.”

You just have to walk on. Like a Geisha, your sole purpose is to live on ..

So, 2013… Aft the disruption of attending to dad after the movie, and the many things that had happened over the years. I had these thoughts written down:

(a) “Dignity is the prideful way of not being negatively persuasive.”

(b) “Dignity is the prideful, quiet rebellion when accused.”

(c) “Dignity is standing tall and having it all although in the slums.”

What is Dignity?
the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect
a sense of pride in oneself; self-respect

What is Pride?
a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from qualities or possessions that are widely admired

 

(a) was about positive persuasion, different perspective, tough language, smart usage of words and qualities to gain one’s objective, without the need to stoop low and attempt to achieve with other means such as threat, manipulation of lust and flowery persuasion. — notice the many times Sayori had verbal exchange with Hazimomo, or moving words with Noburu.

(b) When Sayori was accused of giving up her chastity for a Kimono

(c) Was the post war period when she was working with the Kimono factory, how quick she was in regaining the composure and demeanor of who she was.

 

The change is pretty profound I feel. While the young me captured thoughts of living life and having control over it. The now-me went further in and looked at character development. The need for dignity, the acts of a person, the language it portrays, whats of the left and whats of the right.

 

I wonder whats it like perhaps another 8 years down the road and I watch the show again. Hows it gonna be? 😀

 

Thanks for coming by

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

 

P/S: Are you one of those that has been reading since 8 years ago?

Psychopath .. CEO

Talking about being sick, or in this case being a psychopath.

Was reading an article on knowledge magazine and lucky you it is available online.

Could You Spot A Psychopath?

Source: http://sciencefocus.com/feature/psychology/could-you-spot-psychopath

While he tested their performance and overall potential, Babiak was permitted to use the Hare Psychopathy Checklist – the psychometric test typically used to assess whether criminals have psychopathic tendencies. Babiak discovered that out of the 203 people he tested, one in 25 of them were classified as psychopaths, despite having no criminal background. That’s four times the number he would have expected to find in the general population.

When Hare took a closer look at the data, he discovered something else. “The company’s in-house evaluations of these people often said stuff like ‘this guy/gal is a team leader – innovative, bright, can be trusted, lights up the room when they step in, and so on,’” says Hare. “In fact, the higher they tended to score on the Psychopathy Checklist the better an impression people had of them.

“But when we measured their performance scores, by looking at how effective they were at furthering the company, they went right down as their checklist scores went up. In fact, when you get up at the high levels of the psychopathy scale, their performance was generally unacceptable. They should have been fired, but they weren’t because they were viewed differently by the people – they were great at managing impressions.”

 

 

They’re also thought to control our inhibitions and our attention. So far it seems his scans back this up. Inside the MRI scanner, when an individual classed as a psychopath is asked to weigh up a serious moral dilemma – like whether they should divert an out-of-control tram to hit a bus full of schoolchildren or one headed to a retirement home – their brain doesn’t seem to work as expected. Their amygdala – an almond-shaped brain segment that deals with raw emotions like fear and rage – should reel in horror at this hypothetical disaster. But the scans reveal that it remains relatively sedate in psychopaths. In fact, the more severe their psychopathy the less this part of the limbic system seems to react.

It doesn’t seem to be just one isolated portion of the brain that’s affected either. “The Orbito-Frontal Cortex (OFC) is supposed to attach emotional salience to fear stimuli,” says Kiehl. “In other words, it helps make sense of the basic emotions formed by the amygdala. When the psychopaths were asked to rate moral violations, this circuit also demonstrated much lower levels of activity than non-psychopathic prisoners. Not only were they not picking up on the emotionally charged content, but their brains didn’t seem to be equipped to attach meaning to it either.”

The result of this faulty circuitry is that they either fail to empathise or understand an emotion in the first place, or don’t know the appropriate way to react to it – something Kiehl has witnessed first hand.

 

 

Go read it, its pretty damn cool. 😉

 

Thanks for coming by

 

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

We dont always get what we want

Ultimately, what is the purpose in life? We know it is not the chase for richness, it is not the chase for success, but what is it?
Those are great, if not them, then what?

I dont know it all, but I know, these are by-products of achievements.
And, purpose in life is a by-product of achievement. In my opinion.

Because its only when you achieve then can you have the ability to be more than you, a person.

We know life is unfair.
Was it fair to those that encounters natural disaster? Was it fair for someone else along the roads that was been apportion a sad deck of cards in life (although it is still for them to work around).

Everyday as we go through life, its about the people around us. Its about how we can reach out and facilitate other people’s life. Caring, Sharing, Empowering. Within your abilities, capabilities.

Making it easier for the people around you to get by (but definitely not along the line of letting them take the benefit for granted). Spreading that kindness.

Why, because life is unfair. We dont always get what we want.

Some more equal than others

Foreground:
Was looking through 9gag and this picture came up:

Goofy & Pluto

 

It was captioned “We are all born equal, some more equal than others.” and that strike me. Where did that saying start from? What does it mean? What was the writer to say? Go google “Animal Farm” by George Orwell if you were like me. Its about the abuse of collectivism amongst the common.

While we live in a meritocracy, democratic and fair society, can you see how the “Animal Farm” has quietly creeped in? 🙂

But here here, theres no one to blame except urself, because theres freewill and choice even in the most oppressed of situations.

Here’s a little read that presents another angle of itself. 🙂

Altogether Now, by Cassiestar
(http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Write-Stories/2329917)
I was walking through town, killing time, the other day.

I walked past the sombre church, where three girls in drab uniforms, were sitting on the small, stone wall, eating pasties. They didn’t say much. I caught something about boyfriends, or husbands. Not one of them was smiling.

I went into the mean, colourless, shopping precinct. I passed a couple of empty, vacant shops. One of the windows was boarded up. I went into the bargain shop to waste a few more minutes. There were two pensioners, probably husband and wife, who were looking at, scrutinizing some sleeveless shirts, compairing the different prices.

“I’ll have to wait a couple of weeks,” moaned the podgy man. “You know we’ve got the gas and electricity to pay. That’ll cost us an arm and a leg.””But you’ve got to get something,” argued his wife, pleading more than complaining.

“You’ve been wearing the same shirt for the last three weeks. Every time you go to the old age.”
“I know, but its only once a week,” protested the husband, not raising his voice too loudly, knowing his wife was trying to be helpful.

I left the bargain shop.

I went into the supermarket. It wasn’t much bigger than a postage stamp, but the prices were reasonable, damn reasonable.

I was surprised how many people were in there. It was pretty full. Parents and children. Mothers struggling with nimble kids. People checking the coins in their pockets, their purses, making sure they had enough, for bread, milk, or whatever they fancied but couldn’t really afford.

There was a couple in their late forties, looking at packs of ham, bacon. “It’s either this, or the lottery tickets,” said the man adamantly, waving a pack of gammon in front of the woman.

“All right love,” sighed the woman loudly. They moved slowly away. He placed the gammon firmly, neatly on top of the other packs. She pushed her grey hair away from her tired eyes…

I got to the checkout. There was a lad about seventeen, trying to buy a four-pack of cider.

“Are you old enough?” demanded the fleshy, threatening woman on the till. I noticed the tattoo on her arm. It was a flower or a bird. I glanced at the lad.

“Old enough,” swaggered the lad. “I’ll be twenty-six next birthday.” He grinned a brazen grin.

“Bugger off,” said the woman, waving her tattooed arm. She looked and sounded angry. “Go on, bugger off.” She waved her hand frantically, furiously. She pointed, thrust a finger in the direction of the way out automatic door. “Out!” She stood up, jabbed her finger – like a dagger to the heart. “Get out!” She almost fell back on her chair.

The lad cursed loudly, threw the four-pack back on the conveyor belt, and stormed out of, kicking over a potted plant as he left the supermarket.

I got outside, frowned and shook my head. “Nutter.” I said to myself. I walked along, not noticing much, until i left the shopping precinct.

I could hear raised voices. I stopped, turned around. There was a man and a woman outside the Workingmans Club. They were shouting and ranting. Both were in their late twenties, early thirties. She wore an orange T-shirt and black leggings. I couldn’t honestly say what he was wearing. he was moving backwards, forwards, like a caged tiger. (I think he wore jeans and a polo shirt).
He was cursing like a navvy, his face a blood pressure red. He threw something, it looked like a bunch of keys, at the woman. They hit her hard. They fell, clattering, in the gutter. He kicked, then almost punched the Club door open, still swearing.

She was crying – I could see her wipe the tears away – as she picked the keys up.

I walked away, thinking of the words we are all born equal. Some more equal than others, I mumbled, slowly shaking my head.

Thanks for coming by

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

Self-assurance

From GALLUP Business Journal:

Self-Assurance is similar to self-confidence. In the deepest part of you, you have faith in your strengths. You know that you are able — able to take risks, able to meet new challenges, able to stake claims, and, most important, able to deliver. But Self-Assurance is more than just self-confidence. Blessed with the theme of Self-Assurance, you have confidence not only in your abilities but in your judgment. When you look at the world, you know that your perspective is unique and distinct. And because no one sees exactly what you see, you know that no one can make your decisions for you. No one can tell you what to think. They can guide. They can suggest. But you alone have the authority to form conclusions, make decisions, and act. This authority, this final accountability for the living of your life, does not intimidate you. On the contrary, it feels natural to you. No matter what the situation, you seem to know what the right decision is. This theme lends you an aura of certainty. Unlike many, you are not easily swayed by someone else’s arguments, no matter how persuasive they may be. This Self-Assurance may be quiet or loud, depending on your other themes, but it is solid. It is strong. Like the keel of a ship, it withstands many different pressures and keeps you on your course.

I think…
Ultimately, self-assurance is sexier than sexy. More secure than confidence. Keeps one alone but not necessary lonely. Makes those who possess, attractive to those who dont.

N one ponders, is tt the yardstick of a complete person?
Does that then write off the need for companionship of a person?
Do 2 self-assured person make for a perfect relationship?

 

Was discussing with friends and continued the intellectual debate with myself (yes, my brain is very busy 😀 ) and I kinda gathered something.
I think while we seek companionship, it is not like needing that companion to complete ourselves.

Its more like in every phase, in every societal setting, they are multiple roles that needs to be fulfilled in-order for the phase to be considered as whole, completed.
That being said, you need two whole persons, or self-assured person to be in a relationship.

Aint got no perfect relationship ladies gentleman. Because you can perhaps get a self-assured person to back down and come to an agreement, a compromising situation in-order to be on par with the other self-assured person.

Whatevcr the ho, whatever the hey, it is important to be open, and be whole as a person at the same time.

 

two very thick topics put together. 🙂

 

thanks for coming by

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

 

Leadership Files

The Leadership Files – Ps Phil Pringle

“If you only do what you can do, then you’re only ever going to do what you can do!

But, if you start to do what you cannot do, you’ll find you can do what you cannot do.
And what you absolutely cannot do, God will do, or a team of incredible people will, who are attracted tot he person attempting to do what he cannot do.
Don’t imagine God will ask you to do what you can do!
He asks you to do what you can’t do.
Then you’ll need Him to do it!
But you’re the one who starts the impossible dream.
No one, not even God, gets inspired by the mediocre.
Attempt the impossible, ignore the critics, attract the best and accomplish the unbelievable!”
I found this a helpful thought from a risk-taking leader.
I love it – Now I want to live it!

Source: http://geoffslearningwisdom.blogspot.sg/2009/03/leadership-files-ps-phil-pringle.html