Training

The good thing about training in NeiJia is that whenever you don't feel well, be it attributed to sickness, stress, whatever, it's almost certain to give you an instant mood enhancement. Unless, of course, you do the extreme and pulled a muscle, which I did, this morning.

You already know what I did wrong, that is to overdo it. And this is not in adherence to Neijia principles.

It's ironic that whenever you don't feel well, that's when you need to go do something about it. Jog, take a walk, chat with friends, etc. These help a lot. For me, I've been feeling unwell. The hectic nature of my new job coupled with unreasonable demands by myself is taking a toll on me. But it's good, in the sense that I feel like previously hit a plateau and now bordering on crossing it to the next realm. No, I don't mean going to heaven or hell. Previously, it was all drudge and the boring kind of stability.

In retrospect, I should be glad. I'm improving once again!

p.s. minus the pulled muscle.

Inner Strength

Pardon the corny title.

There are a lot of nonsense going on at my workplace. But this one takes the cake. In the morning, a female colleague came to me to explain why she didn't go for her scheduled appointment, which we had arranged for her. When I asked her why, and the subsequent follow up question, "Do you know that you have missed all appointments since June 2007?", was asked. Her eyes swelled and it rained! Boo Hoo Hoo!

Horror of Horrors! What did I do? Or What have I done? Upon asking, she accused me of accusing her. About deliberately not attending her scheduled appointments. Well... looks like the evidence was all against her but still, benefit of the doubt was still given to her. An alternative date, not surprisingly, the last date of the year was arranged. She left and sources say that I have made her cry... all the way to her office and she bawled into the phone... continuously.

A while later, one of the higher ups called me up to discuss an 'issue'. Upon seated, I was asked, guess what? Why did you make XXX cry? Bummer.

OK, so why this post? What is the morale of the story? Actually, the issue wasn't about what or who's done what, but rather the culture of the place is twisted. Crying and all is alright. Especially if it's a grave injustice. I thought it was pretty simple to stand up to the bosses when apparent issues like this surfaces. Not really. All these little things add up. And it's not easy when the bosses don't support you or take an active role in motivating and disciplining staff.

I stood up to it. Not sure what would happen. Don't care either.

Body Language

Check this out.

See his wife's 'almost' inperceptible scorn/smile.
Her facial expressions at 02:22.
Says a lot, doesn't it.

The biggest mistake ever

Mistakes are common enough phenomena. It's all part and parcel of being human i.e. the process of making an ass out of oneself. But have anyone ever thought about making mistakes by omission? Paradoxical eh... but highly viable as a category of mistakes by itself.

"Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted."
Aldous Huxley

I don't believe most are evil or inhuman but rather, through my frequent contacts and conversations with those fallen by the wayside, most people belong to the category above, AKA: lazy bums. Quite recently, I did that. Despite the sincerest of intentions, I took the easy way out and took it for granted.

No garden ever self maintained; the gardener must constantly prune, weed and water the patch. Leave it alone for even 3 days, voila, weeds sprouts from every conceivable corner. Of course, it's not easy. In fact, it's time consuming, tedious and unfortunately necessary. Some might argue that it is fortunately necessary, I would agree too.

My colleague complained about the way his children treated him. Instead of asking him what happened, my boss and I asked him how did he treat them when he was younger. Did he talk with them, showed them concern, love them as they were? In my usual pointed way, I asked him: "Did you ever talk with them, or, did you talk to them?" There is a difference.

Have you made the difference today? Go do it now. Bring your family out, listen to your husband's complaints, do the dishes for your wife automatically, pet your cat, play monopoly with the kids, etc. Do something, and stamp out regrets taking root within you.

Martial Arts for you?

Normally, I don't reveal that I do Chinese Martial Arts such as Taiji and Xingyi. Not that I'm shy or reluctant to share but this kinda falls into the question category where there are no simple answers. Most are not interested to know anyway, why bother? Furthermore when they start probing into my reasons for doing MAs, I know some have kind intentions which is why the intention to get them to bugger off diminishes tremendously. Usually.

The usual repertoire of comments, however well intentioned, makes me cringe. The depth of their understanding is as superficial as the veneer of any used teak furniture.

"Playing tennis is as good as doing MAs." Oh really? I suppose a good forearm could smash the muggler's nose in just as well.

"Martial Arts are very violent! and violent people learn them to beat others up." Go look at parliament sessions of Taiwan. Imagine that one of them would whip up some Karate or any snazzy Kungfu moves and beat the shit out of all of them. Think of all the ratings! People would pay to see these uncensored parliament sparrings. But these same people think that kickboxing matches are violent. Duh! This point is moot.

"Why do MAs?" "Why not play tennis?" ehm... I'm interested to improve myself and through MAs, I learn more about our physiology, emotions and psyche. "Huh? What?" ... Never mind... see what I mean.

Recently, developments at work and pursuing interests have left me with scarce time to practice. While it's a shame, this has also made me realise I have left a treasure trove behind but it's still within reach.

Promotions!!!

Haven't been blogging much. But this is much better than what you've been getting from the rest.

Go check it out. Promotion ends 31 Mar 07.

http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/cb/deposit/esaver_bonus/index.html

The last day of 2006 ...

Somehow, quoting thyself does not seem to be an uber cool thing to do. However these few days spent with friends has led to pause and reflect on this I mentioned previously.

I seriously considered my dark days to be over. At work, I was 'suayness' personified! And the past 4 weeks have been a bliss, no hiccups at work! For this week, I have actually watch more movies than I have for the entire year. My health has improved despite little training. Friends got married, I actually made it to their weddings!

Hardly accurate indicators, I know.

Moving on to 2007! Cheers!!!

Gotta run... am late for countdown at Darren's.