Wednesday, January 28, 2009
I've recently come to know about STOMP, a section in the Strait Times. It reports news that wouldn't usually make your headlines, and the articles are very interesting. But what I notice while reading the articles and their comments, was that most people seem to have some skewed view as to what is right and wrong.
An article reported a couple getting intimate on a SBS bus, and comments were defending the couple asking the person who reported the story to mind his own business. Another article reported a salesman trying to "steal" his customers money by "forcing" them to buy more of his goods, and most comments said that such a person should be jailed. Another of a cabby who walked in and out of his cab in his underwear at ECP, and the comments said he should be reported to the police. Finally, the sale of casino toys in a toys store, and people say that its normal, and we should learn to accept it, otherwise we shouldn't watch TV because there's too much violence.
I don't know whether its just me, but I find that there are some confused people out there. But I guess that's where the world is headed, and how the devil slowly lowers our moral values till anything and everything is alright.
Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. 1 Corinthians 10:23
Dan
7:21 pm
Monday, January 19, 2009
It strange that the little things we do can make a big impact on life changing decisions. I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing, but one thing I know for sure is that we probably won't know that it matters. We won't know what it was we said, or did. I don't know if that's scary, but it sure scares me because it means that I might be making things worse without even knowing it, and I definitely have no intention of it. But I guess that's what the little things are like. This summer has made me more resolute I feel. Which is a good thing because come graduation I have to know what to do.
Do you know the little things you've done?
Dan
3:34 pm
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Everything today is instant. No one wants to wait. We rush from one place to the other, and then we rush back again. Everyone wants to do as much as they can with the little time that they have left. Patience is no longer patient if we have to wait for more than 15 minutes, achievement is no longer feeling, but what we have done. We want everything NOW, and we want it with quality. But we all know that not everything that is instant is of quality, because when we rush to get something done, we don't always give it our best. But for the convenience of getting it now, we settle for a standard lower than before. Slowly, we're satisfied when everything is just OK.
To borrow a saying I heard.
In the end, everything will be OK. If it is not OK, it is not the end.
Dan
5:25 pm
Friday, January 16, 2009
The only thing that is constant in an ever changing society is change.
Change is inevitable.
Change is necessary.
Nobody likes change.
Yet we all want change.
Dan
4:22 am
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
My epiphany has come!! I had it in me all along, but I just needed someone else to point out the obvious. Satisfaction is really hard to find. I know why sitting in that seminar I felt uncomfortable. Not because the speaker was being overly persuasive, but because he kept focusing on the only thing the industry could provide: money. And in his mind, if money doesn't satisfy you, then what will?
Who can put a price on satisfaction? Some people don't need that satisfaction. Some people are wired such that satisfaction is all that matter. Who cares if I receive the lowest pay in town, or I have to work doubly hard to earn the same as some CEO. How many jobs out there give satisfaction. Management has always been teaching me about job satisfaction, it was the answer to everything in the tutorials.
Why to some students hate school, and can't wait to work? Because school isn't satisfying them! Why do some students seem like they can't bear to leave school! Because it's just too satisfying! It was so simple. My satisfaction doesn't have to pay me, I have to pay for my satisfaction. People always think teaching is a dead end job because the pay is so low for the amount of work you do, but teachers are one of the few people who have that satisfaction in life. Some claim they impact young lives, others like interacting with the young ones, but what is the cost of their satisfaction?
So what is my epiphany? Find my satisfaction. And I already know what that is.
Dan
3:18 pm
Life and it's many hurdles. They say that what doesn't break you, makes you who you are. I wonder what situation they were in to have said something like that. I was at a seminar today, and the speaker mentioned that everyone had their price. Some form of remuneration that they were willing to accept so that they would work for the company. In economics we call it the reservation wage. The level of wage that would make you indifferent between working and being unemployed.
It was no surprise to me that his idea of price, as was for many of those sitting in the room, was in terms of dollars and cents. Whatever happened to job satisfaction? And then I started to think if I should be realistic, or idealistic. Realistically speaking, given the credit crunch, I should take any reasonable job I'm offered, furthermore, I'm only doing a part time internship, what's there to lose? Idealistically, it's not really where my utmost interest lies, and since I know what my heart desires I should pursue it.
Idealists are sometimes seen as dreamers when people think that their ideals are not worth it, not in the common frame of others thinking. And sometimes, they are seen as successors, they dream big and they get the big result. Realists are always seen as practical. They know what is within their reach, and they get what is attainable. Why go for the impossible when it is impossible?
I guess after all this ranting what I want ultimately is some kind of epiphany to tip me over the edge. To give me the certainty I need.
Dan
2:02 am
Thursday, January 08, 2009
It's 2009!!! Ok, I'm slow I know, but I guess it just hasn't really sunk in yet that by next year I would reach the donkey years of my life. And we all know how fast a year passes by. I guess what's really killing me is what to do with the future. Work or study. Then if it's study, study what? If it's work, then what job?
The cons seem to be as good as the pros, and it just makes the decision so much harder. Then there's the all important cost factor. Should I pay for to study, for certification, or should I just forget it and take a job that can use what I already have. Life and all it's choices. Life should just be like the board game life. You roll a dice and you're on a plane to Hawaii. Another roll, and you win $10000.
Dan
12:45 pm
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Finished the first paper today. Reminded me so much of the driving test exam. All MCQ, computer screen exam, incredibly high passing mark, and your result flashes before your eyes on the screen immediately after you finish. Thankfully, God willing, I passed both the driving test exams on the first try, and I did so again today. It was so scary. Now I'm preparing for my next paper that's 25 chapters!!! Lucky for me, it's mostly stuff I've learnt before in Uni.
This exam thing is really taking up my time, I can only look forward to the experience I'll gain after this summer. Back to the books for me now. And just when I thought studying was over. This shows that studying is never out of fashion. Bad news to you all who think uni will be the last of it.
Dan
5:25 pm
Thursday, January 01, 2009
The first post of the year.
People always talk about resolutions. New things they want to do, old things they should be doing. Interesting that few talk about what they've done. But who would? since resolutions are forward looking. I don't think that made any sense.
I spent the first day of the new year studying! Can you believe that? Says a lot about what's to come. Especially since this is my final year.
Dan
9:49 pm