A little bit about what I do

There is a group of people who stay in a small town where temperatures can go up to 40 degree celsius.

Because the weather is hot and dry, it is easy for nearby bushes to catch fire. If left uncontrolled, the fire will spread to the small town and consume the houses and lives of everyone.

Everytime there is a bushfire (and it happens quite frequently), the town folks will get a pail, fill it up with water from the nearest well, and run as fast as they can to the bushfire to put it out.

Because there are so many people, putting the fire out isn't too hard even with pails.

But slowly, some of the people started migrating to the city, and there becomes a shortfall of these firefighters. And there was difficulty attracting more people to the town.

I was created as a support unit. My job is to assist the town folks. If the town folks are the brave warriors at the frontline, then I must be the fragile supporting cleric casting healing spells or protective buffs at my teammates. I collect data and analyse why the fire started. And along the way, I come up with various inventions, like the rubber hose and the fire engine, to replace the time-consuming and inefficient task of carrying buckets of water to and fro.

My glorious inventions are useless if nobody uses them. So education is an important task of mine. I gather the town folks and brief them on how to use it. It helps that the town folks are receptive to my ideas (my charisma and good looks play a great part), unlike the previous town where I worked in, where they call my rubber hose invention a silly rubber snake! =(

I may be the brain, but no one understand the bush fires more than the town folks themselves. So they have been instrumental in giving me feedback on my inventions. My creations were made more practical with their inputs.

My invention tools are not built overnight. Take the fire engine for instance. When I first build it, it doesn't have a steering wheel and the engine can only move linearly, forward and reverse. But I can't wait for the invention to be complete before I let them use it, I will lose my job!

So only during the days when the fire engine were not used, I will add in more features. Subsequently added in the steering wheel, the music set (I gave it a cute name called the Hi Fi), the cool air blower (I call it the Aircon).

And I will color the fire engine red because it is the same color as the fire. Smart, right? I know, I'm a genius!

But as with any invention, there are chances of misuse. One disgruntled town folks drove the fire engine, to be precise, my fire engine, to knock down his love rival. Blood was spilled and stained on my fire engine (I was going to color it red anyway). It really isn't really my fault that accidents happen, because I built it for a noble means. Glad the folks were understanding.

But despite the small setbacks, the benefits outweigh the cons. I derive great satisfaction in seeing the town folks spending lesser time putting out fire, and having more time for themselves with the change in process.

Not for long though, because with the folks spending less time fighting fire, the evil town mayor gave the folks an additional task to start growing crops to sustain the population. Which also means, it's time for some more new inventions. I'm now in the process of inventing something to help their crops grow faster.

And I shall give my ground-breaking new invention a long and impressive name. *ponders*

Ah! I shall call it the Fertiliser.

About the Author: Shingo T is upset that other companies are also using names like "Aircon" and "Hi Fi". Talk about originality!

Slackers, all of you!

Every year, for those working 5-day week,
(1) there are 11 days of national holidays in Singapore.
(2) 52 weeks x 2 = 104 days of Saturday and Sunday.
(3) approximately 14 days of annual leaves.

Add them all up, and most of us are actually not working for 129 days a year.

And that equates to you not working on 129/365 = 35% of the days. It could be even more if you add in MCs, or if your company gives you more annual leaves.

So cheer up, for every 3 days, you get to rest for slightly more than 1 day.

Feel better?

Note: This entry is dedicated to Lily Riani, who is envying her friend for one-day work week. ^_^

Poor Energizer rabbit. =(

In case you haven't hear this.

The Energizer Rabbit was arrested - charged with battery.

Note: For those who didn't get it, "Battery" means unlawfully attacking someone. And for those who still don't get it, you are supposed to chuckle after reading this!

Brownie points

There is this "Focus on the family" section that I follow everyday on the Today newspapers. It is written by the Acadaemy of certified Counsellors, and the articles are short and meaningful.

One of the writers, a psychologist by training, related his experience with a waitress, who seeked his advice on handling a quarrel with her 15-year old daughter.

The little girl wanted to have her legs shaved, but the waitress mum was against it. As a result, they frequently quarreled over this.

The psychologist gave the waitress mum a simple solution "Buy her a shaver". His rationale was simple - there are too bigger things in life that we should be concerned about.

How true. In all aspects of life, we can't always expect to take complete control of everything. By letting the daughter have some "wins", parents earn some goodwill. I call them brownie points, and they serve as a bargaining chip to facilitate them to influence a bigger decision of their child's future.

Do you want to influence small things like your daughter shaving the legs, or bigger things like ensuring she does not stay overnight at the place of her new boyfriend?

Same goes for work. A boss who wants to have the final say and micromanages everything will only get resentment for his workers. Maybe he should get feedback from the men and let them have it their way sometimes (even if deep down inside, the boss may not agree with the suggestions).

And if you know of someone who look for you time and time again only when they need your help, how will you react when they need your help once again, and this time to borrow a few thousand dollars? Well, I will say "No" without hesitation, I have already helped you way too much.

Start accumulating some brownie points with your loved ones, your friends and your colleagues.

You will never know when they will come in handy.

Awards and some random notes

It's been almost 3 weeks since my last post. Still busy busy at work, and seriously, I have got idea how long this hiatus will be.

I always talked about the 3 kinds of people.
(1) People who fail and give up
(2) People who fail, keep trying the SAME method, but continue to fail.
(3) People who fail, embark on a DIFFERENT method, and finally suceed.

When applied to my current situation, (1) will mean quitting the blog. It's the easy way out, because reading people's blogs is always easier. But my blog is a place where I cab be "ME", it's a great avenue to share my self-centered thoughts with the world, and I don't intend to give up any time soon.

(2) means I keep continuing to do the things I do now, and that will mean more postponement, and irregularities to my blog entries.

So I decided to do (3), to change the way I blog. Previously, I always make it a point to reply back on each and every comment on my blog post. And trust me, that can be very time-consuming. So from today, I will continue to read ALL comments, but do selective replying or none at all (instead of replying all). In this case, the time that I saved can be channelled into writing some new posts, or reading your blogs.

I should clarify that I read all your comments, and REALLY appreciate your insight to what I write. Keep the comments coming, so I know that I'm not writing to myself. The least I can do is to drop by your blog to see what you have up your sleeves. ^_^

Wenn and Wenny (sounds like sisters, huh?) recently gave me awards through their blog. To which I humbly thank them and accept. I have put them up at the sidebars.

In my next post, I will write about a story I read from a psychologist, which I thought is quite meaningful. And I will write this soon.

Signing off, gotta spend some time with Wifey watching TV, before another long week ahaead.

Genting and Casinos

I recently came back from Genting Highlands. The hilltop resort was built many many years by Malaysia's famous Uncle Lim (who has since passed away). The main draw is the casino, and the amusement parks to a lesser extent. Well, who would have imagined that a country populated with Malays will have a casino?

The resort was built at the top of treacherous mountains many years ago, when technology was only so-so. Uncle Lim was said to be close to falling to death on a few occassions when he was overseeing the construction.

Despite Singapore having their dual casinos opening in a few months time, I will still go to Genting casino for two reasons - the cool weather, and because I'm Malaysian. Genting always have a special place in my heart.

Casinos are a dual edge sword - it creates lots of employment, generates revenue and tourist dollars, and possibly reduce the need for illegal gambling dens. But on the other hand, casinos are pretty much responsible for more bankrupts, broken families and other social problems.

If a man dies from smoking, do we blame the cigarette? In my view, I blame the man himself for underestimating the power of the addiction. Similarly for gambling, casinos only provide an alternate but legalised venue to gamble. No one can force you to gambling. It's a man's weak and greedy nature that lures his soul to the place.

You do not need to be a Mathematician to know that the odds in gamblings are stacked against you, from the card games to the jackpot machines. I go to the casino for nothing more than this teeny weeny hope that I might just strike something big at the jackpot. But I know as well as anyone that gambling CANNOT make me rich. That's why I play for fun (2 Malaysia cents per line), and to test a little few theories here and there.

Frankly, gambling is a waste of time, as with playing video games. It's just one of those brainless leisures that I crave especially after an extended peak of work.

Genting is mostly frequented by the Chinese, because the Muslims are banned by religion from gambling. I always see gambling as a very Chinese trait, because we tend to be more money-minded and practical (my opinion). We buy 4Ds and Totos (lottery) in the hope of striking a chance to go the shortcut in life. We get emotional in casinos when money is at stake. Naturally so, though not neccessarily needed.

But at the end of a casino trip, winners and losers are made. More precisely, there are more losers than winners. And winners may find themselves returning back Uncle Lim their previous winnings on their next trip back to the casino.

The Gambler's ruin theory states that as long as the money you have is limited, you will eventually go broke at the gambling table as long as you don't stop playing, it's only a matter of time.

To those who have never picked up gambling, refrain from it.

And for those who do gamble, have fun but play with minimal expectations. And NEVER take your losses out on anyone, because a REAL man take responsibilities for his own actions.