Passionista

Mooch My Books

2008-09-25T14:06:00.001+08:00

Here's how it works:

1. you list the books that you want to give away.

2. 10 listings give you 1 point.

3. you use that point to mooch a free book.

you can check out the books I've put up for adoption here:

http://www.bookmooch.com/inventory/alphalim

note: I just cleared my bookshelves, so these are books I want to give
away because they're no longer relevant to me, or I found duplicates.

these are not necessarily books that I recommend ;).

to read more about BookMooch:

http://www.bookmooch.com/about/overview

A private screening of The Dark Knight

2008-09-24T00:40:00.004+08:00

I finally watched The Dark Knight today.
4 pm show, right, and there are only four people watching it.
Adeline and I were two of the four.
halfway through the show, the other couple walks out.

how about that, ay?
one whole Premiere Class cinema to ourselves.
one whole Premiere Class cinema for 32 bucks! haha...

yea, it's a great show. my favourite part was the sequence with the two ferries.
and Boone--"magic trick with the pencil"--I get it now! aha...

I won't say any more for fear of spoiling the plot surprises for the remaining two or three people in the world who haven't watched it yet.

Yahoo asks staff to dress like yahoos

2008-09-20T23:03:00.002+08:00

Separately, in a bid to shore up morale within a company that has been besieged by competition, a tough advertising market and the so far unwanted takeover gestures of Microsoft, Yahoo has introduced a campaign to encourage employees to dress in purple--the company's primary color--at work.
--ZDNet

You know things are bad when management tells the people to pull "morale building" stunts like this.

hull taking in water? arrange the deckchairs.

it's dark and you have no lights? just start whistling.

predator approaching? bury your head--if you can't see him, he isn't there.

okay, maybe that's a bit harsh--they are trying to rearrange their homepage, after all...

but could you just leave the Barney costumes out of the equation, Yahoo?

in related news, an overdue rant:

have you tried Cuil, the (latest) Google-killer?

apparently, its founders believe that the reason we all left Yahoo is the reason we should now leave Google for Cuil: web page content analysis.

remember the early days in search when Yahoo would try to determine the relevance of a page by examining its contents? and so we ended up with oodles of webpages with paragraphs of text at the top and the bottom that said sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex sex... and the page was about some guy's holiday in the Alps or something.

now, Cuil isn't that dumb, but the Cuil team somehow believes that Google's PageRank tech is "superficial". you know, the tech that changed search forever by ranking pages democratically: pages about holidays rose in relevance the more they were linked to by pages about holidays...

well, the founder of Cuil once poached salmon from the River Boyne in Ireland, where the Salmon of Knowledge was caught. this was a magic fish, see. it knew everything there was to know about everything. so maybe, just maybe, the Cuil folk know something about search that the rest of us don't.

you use Cuil for yourself and be the judge.

Use of the Internal Security Act in Malaysia

2008-09-19T18:26:00.003+08:00

U.S. Department of State
Press Statement
Sean McCormack
Washington, DC
September 18, 2008

The United States views with grave concern recent use by the Government of Malaysia of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the possibility that it might be used again to detain opposition political figures. The statement by a government figure that a leading member of the opposition had become "a threat to the economy and national security" is extremely troubling.

The United States firmly believes that national security laws, such as the ISA, must not be used to curtail or inhibit the exercise of universal democratic liberties or the peaceful expression of political views. The detention of opposition leaders under the ISA would be viewed by the United States and the international community as a fundamental infringement of democratic rights and values.

I hope I'm not labelled an "agent of America" for posting this press release here, heh.

Re: An invitation from a 1-year old

2008-09-13T18:10:00.002+08:00

Dear uncles and aunties (that includes granduncles and grandaunties), thank you for celebrating my first birthday with me.
I had a lot of fun and I hope you did too.

I didn't really know what was going on, being just over 12 months old (and falling asleep midway through the lunch all the way past the cake-cutting ceremony), but what I was aware of was some familiar faces as well as some strange-looking ones.
but I don't judge, because mama and dadada do their best to raise me up social.
I think it's part of their plan to have me be comfortable being carried by as many people as possible, so that they have their hands free at events like this.
maybe.

anyway, thank you for your presence and your presents.
thank you for your ang bao.
I have no idea what money is, but mama and dadada assure me it's useful.

dadada has uploaded a few pictures of the party here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alpha/tags/sethsfirstbirthday/

I think he and mama were a little distracted during the lunch and not doing a very good job being cameramen.
so it would really thrill me if you could email me any photos you have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djpIbg_a7uo
dadada will keep them for me until I am old enough to recognise your face and thank you in person for having been at my first birthday party, which I will likely have no recollection of.

thank you for enjoying the Chinese cuisine with me as I tucked into my generic baby mush.
thank you even if you couldn't make it, because I know you would have loved to have been there...
a special baby shout-out to goong goong for putting the whole thing together, too. one, two, threeeee!

much love,

Seth
(as dictated telepathically to dadada)

--
Are you a writer who doesn't write? http://tinyurl.com/srfsqsig
--
Work is the new Job http://tinyurl.com/3zp4hl
--
Abortion: Two wrongs don't make a right. How about three? http://tinyurl.com/yvt9oy
--

Definitely don't call fox

2008-09-04T14:22:00.006+08:00

I came home one day and announced that I was tired.

my wife said, "you often say you're tired. don't call fox."

of course, what she had meant to say was, "don't cry wolf."

she's cute like that.

God did make haiku

2008-09-02T18:33:00.000+08:00

God did make haiku
so man could wait and worship
and perhaps find wisdom

What compels you to write, really?

2008-09-02T18:16:00.002+08:00

What is reading, really?
it is listening.
he who reads well, listens well.
when reading was first invented, no one read silently. reading was aloud.

what is writing then?
it is thinking aloud.
when we simply think, it all goes on internally.
no one's the wiser.
often, not even the one doing the thinking.
why? well, thoughts get muddled up inside our heads. they need an outlet.

thinking needs to be out loud.
even talking to oneself helps.
but writing helps even more.
it is more precise, and more flowing.

Stephen King says that the whole thing about writing is telepathy.
invisible, unspoken thoughts travel from one mind through time and space, and take residence in another mind.
and once that thought gets in your head, it never leaves, does it?
you might agree with it, disagree with it, even build on it and modify it, but there it is.

and there's the power of writing.
there's your power.
to get your thoughts out into reality and then into other minds.

My amazing last week at Rapp Collins

2008-08-08T22:14:00.011+08:00

Last week was an amazing week.

Monday, admin came up to my desk and quietly asked me if I would mind leaving before my official last day on August 11. would I mind leaving on July 31?
that would've been just Thursday, you know. three days hence.

some people balked when I told them.
but when it comes right down to it, I always value time over money.

besides, I had asked God for two weeks off between this job and the next.

Tuesday was my last time presenting at Rapp.
I decided to share a book review on Purple Cow.
it was unexpectedly well received, with quite a few superlatives thrown around. it's a good feeling, shedding light.

Wednesday, I had lunch with Adrian, the big guy of Malaysia Airlines account servicing.
Vivian and Boone came along for the meal at Delicious (something like Rapp Collins' unofficial supplier for lunches).
it was a splendid meal with good friends. I had duck confit spaghettini and an espresso (what else?).

Thursday, lunch with Fazlee, Carol, Soo Fun, Guay Chin, Boone and Shune.
most of us have been in the same creative team for some time now.
it was good to sit down and eat together for the last time, officially.
we sat down at this humongous 18-seat dinner table at first, before moving to a more appropriate spot when it opened up later.

shortly after we arrived, Guay Chin and Soo Fun disappeared for some time.
when they returned, that's when I discovered that Soo Fun is one of those people who has to step into a bookshop if there's one in the building.
my kind of person.

end of the day, I stepped downstairs to Dragon Head for "a beer" with Martin, Eugene, Pam, Armi, Elaine, June, Elisa, Zak, Adrian... quite a gang.
it was supposed to be "a beer" because I had one last job to finish before I left; a website update for Malaysia Airlines.

I went back upstairs after some time, my face red, and met Shune.
"there's no such thing as 'one beer', eh?" I said.

I had two.

Thursday was a memorable day.
I have grown attached to the folks at Rapp.
the farewell email I wrote was also unexpectedly well received, with more superlatives thrown about.
it's a good feeling to connect, and remember people.

Friday, my iMac was ready for pickup.
I'd ordered it more than a week ago.
so I went to "machines" at The Gardens, with Adeline, to pick it up.

did you know that when you buy an iMac at machines, they have a hot babe in high heels deliver it to your car for you?

well, yes and no. this is what happened.
I asked Eugene, the store manager, if they had a trolley I could use to bring the iMac back to my car.
it's about 9 kg, maybe 10, with the box.
a doable carry, but I always try not to waste energy when I can help it.

anyway, Eugene said he would carry it to the car for me. very nice of him.
when he picked up the box, Janice, a sales assistant, spoke a few words with him and took over.
she carried the iMac box up two levels; along corridors, up an escalator and a lift.
I assume it was because Eugene was supposed to man the store or something.

so here was this slip of a girl in a denim skirt and heels cradling a giant box in her arms followed by a guy in brown corduroy shorts an an iPod shuffle around his neck, in turn followed by a tiny woman holding an Isetan shopping bag with an adorable pink lace top inside.

it was really good service, yea. but a bit hard on the ego.

setting up the iMac was a dream.
plug in the power cable. the keyboard. the mouse.
switch it on.
connect the FireWire cable to the iMac and the old iBook.
click a button, and everything's transferred.

click, click, click, and you have a new computer with all your old files and settings.
it's like I just picked up where I left off, except with a more solid keyboard and a humongous screen.
oh, and much better audio.

of course, real men wrestle with Windows and really real men do it with Linux.
but writers who want to write instead of fiddle endlessly with computers, well...

that was Friday.

Saturday, I went for Life Group at church with John and Su Shen, and Li Shuan.
and guess what I hear?
two close friends are expecting a little one.
apparently he was conceived during their Penang holiday and made his presence known via morning sickness during their Bali holiday.

did I just say he?
they don't know the gender yet, actually. it's still too soon.
but I just feel like he's a he.
I could be wrong, but that's what I feel at the moment anyway.
and a little aside:
I was looking at my two bracelets and realised that I have been wearing them for one and a half years now.
I just thought to God, "it would be nice to have something else to wear".
just like that.

Saturday, John brought a bunch of man-jewelry he'd bought while travelling, heh.
I have two new bracelets now.
nice timing.

it's a small thing, but small things matter too.

so that was my fantastic thrill-a-day week.

update: the following Monday, my next employer called up and asked, "do you mind if we pay you for the whole month of August, instead of just the second half of the month? and you do some work over the phone?"

well, I told him I didn't mind. I didn't mind at all.

some people were concerned that I was not being paid for the days between my previous job and my next job.
now it's all covered.

life isn't always so good, but when it is, I've learned to go with the flow and stock up the joy for days that are less than exhilarating.

Are you a writer who doesn't write?

2008-08-04T18:57:00.011+08:00

Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture?

—Steven Pressfield

Maybe you’re someone with that inexplicable urge to write.
you feel a novel, a screenplay, maybe even a book of poetry, bursting in you, waiting to be born.
you’re pregnant with it.
but you’re afraid it might be stillborn.
because you just can’t get it out.

there are many reasons why.

fear of failure. “will they laugh at me?”
fear of success. “will I even recognise myself?”
fear of starting. “dude, do you know how thick a book is?”
fear of finishing. “nobody’s going to want this.”

I’ve always wanted to help people get published.
always told everyone I knew to keep a journal, write an article of advice, start a blog.
I don’t fully know why—but whatever the reason, my motivation remains.
I want to see you published.

now, before you start thinking Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins, allow me to explain.
you have words inside of you.
you need to get them out.
you want to get paid.
because that’s proof of value in your words.
(and because it’s nice to have money.)

I have with me, a complete guidance system that will walk you through the process of becoming a paid, self-published writer, from ideation to sale.
it’s called Small Reports Fortune.
it’s marketed as a way to make money online.
that might be a turn-off for some people.
but don’t let that fool you.
it’s the most excellent way to “get your word off” that I’ve seen thus far.

Small Reports Fortune includes:

How to Write P.A.G.E.S. of High Demand Content
How to Package, Price and Position Your Small Report
How to S.E.T.U.P. a Web Site to Sell Your Small Report
How to Turn Small Reports into a Six-Figure Business
4 bonuses including: The 7-Day Checklist for Creating a Small Report

what it is, is doable.
now, take something doable, do it, and what have you?
right. your book, novel, expose, whatever—one report (or chapter) at a time.

to get the link to Small Reports Fortune, just enter your name and email address here:

I’ll send you:

the link to Small Reports Fortune
a free report. 30 Writing Tips for eBook Authors: How Anyone Can Become a Better Writer by Following Time-Tested Writing Strategies
very occasional emails on “getting your word off” – writing with pathos and flair

thanks, and watch your inbox!

Consistent hits are hard to do

2008-07-11T11:40:00.001+08:00

When the 2007 Camry first came out, I took one look at its sleek, perfectly proportioned lines and said, "whoa".

a la Neo.

and I continued the conversation with myself stating categorically that Toyota had found their way home (look at the previous Ultraman-inspired Camry).

and then out came the swollen Vios.

and then out came the blistery Altis.

and I realised, sadly, the new Camry's a fluke.

She's beautiful, she sings, and she can laugh at herself

2008-07-11T02:31:00.002+08:00

Natalie Imbruglia and Whatshisname do "Torn".

depression is a small fiend

2008-07-07T18:18:00.001+08:00

depression

is a small fiend

quiet

till its garrote is round your neck
silent suffocating necklace of death

a sweet face from decades ago
emerges from the murk of time
lifts me
with a glimpse of paradise

in a time past and not yet come

The Talking Cure 2.0

2008-07-04T15:25:00.002+08:00

The talking cure?
that's what people call it, when a person hires a shrink or a psych and sits on the couch—real or proverbial—and talks and talks and talks and talks until his problems disappear.

couldn't people do this—for free—with their friends?
in a perfect world, I guess.
fact is, not too many friends are adept at listening, speaking only when it would facilitate more listening—i.e. more talking on the listenee's part.

it's because few friends are good at this, that shrinks and psychs can hire themselves out by the hour or part thereof, simply to listen as mommy did or should have done.

am I oversimplifying? you bet.
but it's for a point to be made.

anyway, for those without listening friends or money for shrinks, there's always blogging.

heh.

It's a blinkin' ad

2008-07-03T22:04:00.002+08:00

Farnee!

Firefox 3: I'm one in 8 million!

2008-07-03T15:05:00.002+08:00

I'm one in 8 million!, originally uploaded by Passionista.

Actually, I'm one of 8 million.

there's a difference.

On the morality of shaving

2008-07-01T21:57:00.004+08:00

I once knew a girl who refused to shave her armpits.
she said it was natural, so why should she shave?

crap.

beards are natural; so are moustaches.
why do men shave them?
(and yet, not their eyebrows?)

for that matter, are not the hairs on that girl's head natural?
why then does she have them cut regularly?

the bottom line is, when we want to do something—or avoid doing something—we can come up with pretty lofty reasons to excuse ourselves.

Dummy text ain't so dumb

2008-06-26T17:04:00.001+08:00

Who knew good ol' lorem ipsum was so profound?

But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?

I still choose espresso

2008-06-04T14:07:00.002+08:00

I guess it does make a difference, where you write.
When I'm writing at home, in my study, with my dhurrie rug underfoot and the night sky outside my window, I feel philosophical.
when I write on my laptop in Starbucks, I feel intellectual or pretentious. or pretentiously intellectual.
now as I sit at my desk in my office (it's lunch time, okay?), I feel like someone's reading over my shoulder.

just checked. both shoulders. no one's there.
but you know what I mean. there's not that sense of solitude that you feel in the comfort of your writing cave.
even in the case of Starbucks, there's a sense of privacy created by the "we're all doing this alone together" ethos of the Wi-Fi cafe subculture.

I heard recently that Starbucks is concerned about the threat posed by Old Town.

"white coffee" is to Old Town as espresso is to Starbucks
Ipoh is to Old Town as Seattle is to Starbucks
kopitiam culture is to Old Town as cafe culture is to Starbucks
the ringgit is to Old Town as the dollar is to Starbucks

therein lies the not-so-jolly green giant's conundrum.
were it not for the fact that this trend also affects San Francisco Coffee (to a lesser extent, but still), I would be a little bit jollier.

you know what I think?
Starbucks ain't goin' away.
the two-tailed mermaid might have some of her seaweed (or whatever else it is mermaids eat--sailors?) taken away from her by Old Town, but she'll live.
unless, of course, the mothership in the US goes down.
(and then we might have a buyout and rebrand of the Malaysian entity. BerjayaBucks anyone?)

did you hear about the latest coffee purveyor that's eating into Starbucks's space in the States?

it's McDonald's.

surprised?

they're serving proper coffee now.
the one in Bangsar's Telawi is.
have you noticed the new coffee menu in any other Malaysian branch? leave a comment--I'd like to know!

yea, yea, there are people who rant and rail that Peet's is so much better than Starbucks, what more McDonald's coffee? the phrase even sounds like a joke--McDonald's coffee? you mean Nescafe?

but they're making amends to coffee lovers by raising their standard of beans.
and with the lifting of a little finger, the global giant is distributing it all over the world through a network that already exists, at a fraction of the other's costs.

still, my favourite remains a single shot of espresso at San Francisco Coffee.

sniff.
quaff.
sigh.

The man with the golden investment

2008-05-30T10:34:00.001+08:00

It's 8:21 now.
I'm wondering how long it takes to write (and edit) a 450-word piece...

I know a man. he's got this sure-thing investment. pays him thousands—a month!
it's got an almost-certain growth rate of between 10% and 15% annually, plus dividends.
this guy's investment is so certain, in fact, that he's bought a car and a house with it and plans to send his kids through college with it.

on just thousands a month? you bet.
see, banks allow this investment as a collateral, so he can get virtually all kinds of loans with it. and pay off the instalments with it.

his investment also comes with its own particular derivative—about 11% of his monthly returns are automatically reinvested, and they in turn earn him about 6% per annum.
quite a cushy deal, innit?

since he was doing so well with this particular investment, I asked him, "why not invest in other things also?
you know, like a 'never mind if the dollar drops, my gold is rising' kind of thing.

he gave me a knowing smile.
"too risky. I could lose money with those. with my single investment, I'm guaranteed of returns as long as I show up at the investment centre every workday."

"what?" I asked him.

"oh yeah, it's great. there's no money down. just show up, get busy, and the money comes rolling in like clockwork."

"have you factored in the opportunity cost?"

he stared blankly at the horizon for awhile. just a moment.

"too complex. not bothered."

he looked at his big shiny watch.
"oops—gotta get to... my investment centre."

"what if it crashes? what if your investment crashes? what if you can't put in the time anymore?" I yelled after him.

but he was gone.
off to maintain his precious investment.

it's 8:34 now. I've finished the first draft.
not exactly 450 words, but I felt that the point was conveyed and I didn't want to belabor the point.

8:44 and I'm done editing.

8:50 and I've finished polishing.
29 minutes in all...

see you next time—when Spider Man says:
uwheeeoo uwhooo!

When you edit, don't write

2008-05-26T20:48:00.002+08:00

Last night, I adopted the intention of writing 450 words a day.
at first, I thought of writing 750—the length of a standard column, about 5 minutes of reading for the average person.
then I thought to myself, what would I like to receive, if it were me on the receiving end and some other slightly narcissistic writer on the other?

I'd tolerate about three minutes of daily reading from the same person, I figured.
so I decided to try for 450 words a day.

lucky you.

that doesn't mean that I actually expect any individual to read every blog post I write (there might be exceptions—I met a "stalker" recently ;) ).
hey, I don't even know what I'll be writing about, exactly.
it's more of an exercise, kind of like walking every day.
some things won't make it into the public arena.
I don't even know if what I'm writing right now will make it out of my Google Docs.
but that's the secondary concern.
the first is to write.

one of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from someone who said:
get two hats.
label one "writer".
label the other "editor".
when you're writing, put on the writer's hat, and don't edit until you're done writing and have put on the editor's hat.

it's really impossible to write and edit at the same time, and produce prose worth reading.
cousin to that is the fact that unedited prose is also usually not worth reading.
(unless you enjoy reading and editing at the same time. but how can you absorb knowledge while being a grammar nazi?)
yes, I know Nazi is spelled with a capital N.
I just don't enjoy using the word, so I left it with a lower case N, hoping to evolve it into a generic descriptor for an obsessive jerk, and dissociate it a little from the proponents of a particular evil ideology.
see, this kind of explanation normally gets edited. I wonder whether I'll edit it out, after I'm done writing this?
one never can tell.
well, I decided to leave it in because

it's "just a blog" and
it's my blog.

I wonder whether I'm weird, sometimes. I think I am, but who can help their weirdness?
we were sharing "highs and lows", as is our custom in my small group at church.
my "high" was the fact that Microsoft has decided to support ODF natively in Office 2007.
that revs my engine, but I wondered whether anyone else even understood where I was coming from.

I just discovered my cousin Joshua's blog—Joshification: the process of becoming me.
I think that's one of the best blog titles I've ever read.
it reminds me of Dupree in You, Me & Dupree and his doctrine of youness.

what do psychiatrists say when they meet each other in the elevator?
"good morning! how am I today?"

a different but related question:
who have you been today?

Here In My Home - Malaysian Artistes For Unity

2008-05-25T17:21:00.002+08:00

Doing my bit ;).

Work is the new Job

2008-05-25T14:11:00.003+08:00

It was 1996 when I started to feel dissatisfied with the irrationality of the workday.
I felt it was silly to clock in and out at set times every day, whether there was work that warranted it or not—whether there was work that could be done during the agreed-upon times of "work" or not.
some things could better be done outside the 9 to 5 window. some things could only be done outside that window.
and yet we slavishly clocked in and out.

I began thinking about the divine order of work as told in the creation story of Genesis: "six days shall you work." (and not necessarily in an air-conditioned box made by human hands.)
taking a "day" to mean twelve hours (because before the invention of the electric light, you really could work only about twelve hours a day—and less in winter), this translates to a 72-hour work week.
into this window I include all manner of work, as Charles Handy categorises, "wage work, fee work, gift work, study work, homework."
and all this work should be done when they're relevant, at the best times to do them.

people looked at me like I was strange.
some said I was lazy, reluctant to "go to the office".
(how many lazy folks do you know, gun for a 72-hour work week?)

of course, I in no way think 72 hours a week at the office is ideal.
72 hours of productive work wherever you are, however, is a different deal...

anyhow, what with "knowledge work" and "outsourcing" and "lifehacks" and "lifestyle design" (and "Getting Things Done") coming not just into vogue but into the public consciousness, the things I used to rant about are gradually no longer strange and fringe but becoming the new work.
so I'm less of a rebel as the days go by.
and more of a bandwagon rider.

sigh.

ah, well.
the important thing is that humanity evolve.
after all, work is what you do with your waking hours.

to get up to speed, check out The 4-Hour Workweek and Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It.
and see these blog posts by Tim Ferriss, on the Results-Only Work Environment.

also read what once upon a time helped form my thoughts on the matter of work unbound by time and place: JobShift; You, Inc. and The Age of Unreason.
(there was also an early book on Telecommuting that I used.)

people like Michael Moore may rant and rail about downsizing, but what's the solution in the face of unavoidable global competition?

have you heard the saying, "the job is dead; long live the work"?
how can a person who has been schooled from preschool to postgraduate studies in becoming a mindless (or in the case of knowledge work, mindful) drone in the organisational machine understand that saying and profit by it?

the job is as dead today as the floppy disk was dead in 1998.
meaning to say that it was not dead at all, but dying.
to the masses it seemed alive and well.
but visionaries like Steve Jobs (hate him or love him) saw it as it really was: obsolete and steadily disappearing.

leave the complaining to someone else.
my friend, how are you going to cope with a steadily disappearing job market?
(Jack Welch said, "we didn't fire people; we fired positions.")
what will you do if your job becomes redundant? if your job is manufractured?

this exercise might help:
"what is my job?
what is my work?
what is the difference?"

the floppy disk did eventually die (if you don't count those in museums and geeks' basements).
but portable storage did not die. quite the opposite—it boomed.

can you see?

How to put more peds on your pedometer

2008-05-24T20:51:00.002+08:00

I’ve achieved my goal of taking a walk every day.
you won’t believe how…

I’d planned to take the stairs every day, up to my 6th floor office.
some days I’d succeed, other days the daunting task would get the better of me.

recently, I’d decided that I would always take the stairs. going down.
heheh.

okay, it’s not as dramatic, but it works. I’m now walking every day!
when I want to go up to my office, I take the elevator to the tenth floor and walk down six floors.
every time I want to leave my office, I walk down seven flights of stairs (six floors plus the plaza).

again, it’s not so dramatic, but it works. I’m walking every day and feeling physically better. even lost a bit of weight!

better less drama but workable than more drama but unworkable, no?

See more progress on: take a walk everyday

Are you ready to be your own corporation?

2008-05-16T11:14:00.001+08:00

With all this fracturing of businesses into different and smaller units, employers can't guarantee jobs anymore because they don't know what their companies will look like next year. Everyone is on their way to becoming an independent contractor. --"What in the World is Going On?"

And every company is on its way to becoming a manufracturing corporation. link thanks to Dr. Alex.

Passionista’s “Getting Your Word Off” – writing with pathos and flair
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your information’s safe with me.

Passionista’s “Getting Your Word Off” - writing with pathos and flair
name:
email:
your information’s safe with me.