Integrity

Hmm..this one is a bit tricky...

Some people say, you must go with the flow if you want to be accepted in the group or community that you are in. They say that it's a must in today's world. If you want to be friends with a snake , you must eat, sleep, think and sxxx like a snake. You can't just wear a snake's skin and pretend that you are one.

However, if you do all that, will you be able to keep to your true self? Won't something inside you change too? Won't the habits and thinking of the snake sticks to you?

Cannot remember who says it but..there's a quote that goes like this:

You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal.
You cannot play with falsehood without forfeiting your right to the truth.
You cannot play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind.
He who wants to keep his garden tidy, doesn't reserve a plot for weeds.

Integrity..a simple word to pronounce, but a harder thing to act on it..

To do it ..or not to do it. That is the question.

Hmm....

Grey Sky

The sky was all grey yesterday.. and so was the office and the ceiling above cat's work desk. Grey, the color that represents the mood of depressed and anxious people.

Grey also was the color of Lion's aura. The darkest grey ever. Yesterday was another day of learning the great wisdom of working life and people management. 'We should all be following Prof Lawrence Kersten's ideology, that is: Treat the Staff like dirt because they certainly are.' Those great words were ringing in our ears and goes like this:
To believe that your staffs are naturally good and productive is stupid. Staffs are basically soft option seeking slackers. We should stop trying to make the staffs happy, motivated and rewarded. We will still get as much good results from them if we make them unmotivated, scared, unhappy and insecure and.. it will cost us a lot less! All those motivational classes will only make the staffs big headed and give them a sense of 'entitlement' that they thought the company owes them.

In the old days, he continued, we were afraid of our bosses. They pushed us to our maximum and we, the juniors also tried our best to get our bosses respect. Nowadays, the motivational industry is making you & them all soft.. no determination, no ideas or intelligence. They are all so filled with self importance, cannot be scolded.. and as a result they all do not have the necessary skills to do this job professionally.

Staffs are not the biggest asset for a company but a liability. They bring their personal problems to work, they get involved in petty politics, they resist changes and complaint about every minor difficulties while demanding more and more from the company. Time for all this to stop! You all must learn how to crack the whip. Learn to create a distance between management and staffs. This will keep them anxious and on their toes. We only need their contributions, the employees who make them are not!

Learn early that you must curb their ego minds. Teach them to be humble. If an ego driven staff offers an idea at a meeting, you slapped them down by cutting his idea mid way and turns to question another staff on another subject. Give also that 'egoistic' staff 'unimportant, demeaning' tasks to teach them to be humble. Create an anxiety in that staff simply by making his/her name the last one to appear in the cc list. The last trick that you all need to practice is : wipe your hands after shaking hands with a staff even by simply wiping your hands on your clothes, just to remind them that they represent a contamination. Go back and please have the time to read this book ' The Art of Demotivation' by Prof Kersten. Remember: Sometimes, the best solutions to morale problems is to fire all the unhappy people.

Lots of gaping mouths in the board room and one very very grey cat sitting there. A sense of deja vu.. the scenes in the examples were exactly what cat experienced previously.

Hmm.. and why is it that cat is still here? Why? Hmm.. cat is also bewildered about this..each time cat decided to try her luck elsewhere, fate always make cat stays. Whether because of sickness or further advancement, there are always things to stop cat on her tracks. Or maybe God just wants cat to stay here and continue being a thorn in the lion's paw. (grin) A hate-hate situation but where we do not have the choice but to be in each other's way. Come what may.. cat is just going to bear and grin it.

Grey is the color of the sky. And Grey is the weather in this animal kingdom. Sigh.. when is cat going to be as wise as the owl who has flown to another lair?

Signing off,
Cat
** P/s: Some people might have the same sense of deja vu reading this post but please note that cat is saying that it certainly has no link with any human dead or alive. It's just a fragment of the animal kingdom (smile)**

Lost In Melaka

Typically one of those days that Cat would have love to fast forward. :) Right.. dream on, Cat. It started badly with the alarm clock not functioning (or it did function but Cat was deeply engrossed in dream land.. grin). Rushing does not help at all but put you in a stress.

Luckily Cat can now drive a car. Speeding along the big road and leaning on the speed pedal, Cat took the right lane (for those who wants to overtake or for speeding. Just when Cat thought that her luck has changed (as all the traffic lights were green colored) Cat saw 3 policemen standing and guiding the traffic. Oppss.. Cat is in the wrong lane. Cat needs to choose the middle one if Cat wants to go straight. The right lane is to move to the right.

** Just for info, this Cat was born without any GPS or any sense of direction built into her mind. It took Cat 2 weeks to memorize the way to the workplace. She remember places and events very well but if anyone asks her to bring them from point A or point B, she would just show a blank face. Complicated short cuts and lots of turns would give her a migraine :p hehehe

So, here was Cat getting panic as the policeman was telling her that there was an accident up ahead and everyone has to make a detour to the right. Err..where does the right road leads to? No signboards and no where to make a U-turn. Now what did the driving instructor told Cat the last time 'If in doubt, follow the crowd'.

Ok.. let's just follow the blue car in front. Seems to be going the same way as Cat. Cat's brain agreed on that too. It's 8.05 am.. surely the majority of the cars were going to go to work. Off we go!

Then Kat saw a signboard with arrows which says 'Turn left to downtown' or 'Go straight' if you want to go to the beach. Guess which one did Cat choose? Grin..
To the beach? Buzz..nope..wrong guess. To work then? Buzz..wrong again. Cat took the road to nowhere. :D No one told Cat that signboards are put there to alert you that 'whatever was written on it is 500 meters ahead!

Kat saw the car in blue took the path to the left turn to town and happily followed it. Oo..the path keeps getting smaller. Kat started frowning. Where's the shop houses? There's nothing but the rice field on the right and a big stream on the left. There wasn't even enough space to U turn. Hmm... maybe this is a shortcut.

Suddenly the blue car turn on his signal and turn right. At last, a light at the end of the tunnel? No such luck.. the blue car turns and parked right in front of his house! And Kat followed him straight back to his home. Talk about being red in the face! Luckily the guy was kind enough to show Cat the way out of the padi fields..miles and miles of nowhere. A Malaccan girl getting lost in her own hometown.

Oh my.. Kat would never hear the end of this if boss gets a hint of this story. :p

Hmm.. A GPS, A GPS.. my kingdom for a GPS. :p hehehe.. luckily Kat still has her sense of humor and can laugh at herself for being silly. Well dear, no one is perfect. The same case applies to a Kat :)

At The Starting Line

Kat was watching the video clip "Quotations from Secrets: Law of Attraction" this morning. One of the clips was 'Set a goal on something big, that when it happens, it will blow away your mind. You become and attract what you think".

What can be so big that it can blow away my mind? Hmm..aha!: Learning to Drive. I know that it's not such a big thing for some..but it is a big step for me. I have this HUGE phobia of driving: each time I start the engine, my hands become cold as ice. The mind goes completely blank when I hear the sound of another car 'honking' at me. Imagine..Just thinking about it, makes the stomach ache and I feel like vomiting.

Okayyy.. Today, I promise myself to give it another try. I have registered at a driving school nearby..(you should see how the hands are shaking (grin)). There's no turning back. It's done. Just to look at the schedule and arrange a time for it.
God! am I really doing this..

Taking a deep breath..
I can do it? I can do it.. I Can do it!
Focusing hard on the end result..
Today registering, Tomorrow, starting the engine again.
Steady Kat.. God bless the me and all the other drivers.

Theory

Today, cat went to the theory Driving Class.
First, the registration part. We were asked to lined up and filled up our name, address, identity card number. This is at 8:15am. After scribbling all the details, cat was given a file and a piece of paper..oo..it;s the colour blind test. In the file, there's 25 photos, you know, with colourful dots against more colourful background.

At first, it was easy..mm..number, 5, number 6, number 3, number 1. Then odd shapes appear..it looks like number 4 but put in a reverse form. Is cat eyesight's really that bad? Then, cat heard a whisper near to cat's ear : "it's a boat. You need to draw a boat in your answer sheet". Was it a voice from heaven? No. It was one of the instructor hinting the answer to cat. "Quick. Draw a sailboat" he whispered again.

"We are supposed to draw too?" Cat looked up at him with astonished eyes. "Don't look at me." he hissed, "Just draw a sailboat".

Ok, you are the boss. So, cat just draw a simple sailboat. Then, odd shapes came into the picture. You are supposed to draw circles and squares and ovals.. isn't it easier if they just gave us an objective paper with the shapes printed on it and we just have to circle the answer only? And aren't instructors not supposed to give answer to us? Hmm.. Cat stop thinking. Use your eyes to see, and your fingers to draw. Not bad for a person who has stop drawing after leaving school. :) At least my square looks like a square.


to be continued....

Constructions

2 Jan 2011:

“ I am not a philosopher who is trying to make a system of thought. I am a mystic who is trying to convey the mysteries that have become available to me. I will confuse you. ”

I am stuck in the traffic jam! 20 minutes and nothing is moving.
Isn't it infuriating when there's no option but to wait in your car, while the clock is ticking away, happily reminding you that that you are going to be late?

It's not the construction workers' fault. Roads have to be enlarged, holes must be filled up and newly tarred road would benefit all of us. But can't the higher authority informed us earlier of their schedule? All the road construction works must have been planned much earlier (of course, you do not decide at the last minute that 'Let's just go and annoy that girl. Let's do a construction work right in the middle of Cheng area!' At least, do provide us with an alternative road, Mr In Charge.

Reached the office at 8.45am.. and I am still the first one to arrive. :p Unbelievable.

Waxed Tyres

The hardest thing in life would be trying to understand people's motives.
The 2nd hardest thing for Cat would be trying to understand her car.

Or maybe.. it's not a question of understanding. Cat guesses it's more to 'pride'. And as the proverb says: 'Pride goes before a fall'.

Boss and the guys at the office were always making remarks such as 'women only know how to drive but do not know how to take care of their cars'. Lack of something better to do, and taking it as a challenge, Cat decided to give it a try. Well, Cat was thinking ..how hard is it to take care of a small car?

Actually, Cat soon finds out that it's not that easy. Wanting to do and experience everything on her own, Cat kept doing silly mistakes. Enough to be in the same group as Mr Bean. Sigh.. at least Cat will remember what to do and what's not to do for the rest of her life. :)

Looking at a colleague's car, Cat was impress and envious with the sparkling tires and rims. After a half an hour of listening to the friend's instruction, off goes Cat happily to do her mission.

First step, getting the wax. That was the easiest part. There was a lot to choose from at the supermarket and all sorts of types: spray and wax. The spray looked a bit too liquid (:p Cat is looking at the substance and not at the ingredient). Not convinced that the spray will do the trick. Instead Cat chose a wax type of tire shine polish.

The instructions seems simple: Put a small amount of wax on a piece of cloth and wipe at the surface of the tire. Ok, here goes. After 2 hours of waxing, Cat was feeling pleased with the result. For 2 days the weather was sunny and Cat was happy with the tires. Cat has certainly forgotten the old idiom: 'Pride comes before A Fall'.

Today, it rains heavily. As you know, Cat loves to drive fast. At the 1st corner going out to the big road, Cat makes a fast turn as usual but the car skidded into the other lane a bit. Weird, as this was the first time it happens. Cat must have not been paying attention.

Then at the 1st traffic light, when Cat push at the brakes, the car did not stop completely. It went a bit more forward. That certainly make Cat's eyes grew bigger. Has Cat imagined what just happened. Cat decided to test the brakes again at the 2nd traffic light. Going fast and then brake. The same thing happened: the car went about 30 cm ahead before stopping.

Then Cat remembered. It must be the wax on the tires!
A call soon confirmed what Cat suspected. But, it was not entirely Cat's fault, isn't it?
'Surface', for Cat would mean : the outer face, outside, or exterior boundary of a thing.
The instruction on the box did say: to wax the surface of the tires. How would Cat know that it means only the part of the tire that can be seen. Cat has waxed the whole exterior of the 4 tires!

Nothing much to do now..except drive slowly and wait till the wax wears off (in a few days hopefully). Maybe Cat is just not made to understand instructions. :) Sigh..