The Geek and the Beauty

Actually it should be Beauty and the Geek. Its a strange reality show to begin with - pairing up a really beautiful woman who is "possibly" intellectually challenged, with a man who's likely to be in Mensa but "possibly" socially inept (there's a reason for the possible, I'll explain in a bit), and competing with other teams of the same make up for a 250k USD prize. I've never been a fan of reality television shows, and this definitely won't make a fan out of me, but regardless, I found it pretty fun to watch, minus all the "intrigue" with relationships. It seemed more interesting to me, than, say, watching for a reality tv show that concentrates on becoming models - of which it is something which I totally cannot relate to.

Strangely enough, I was more interested in the "geeks" rather than the "beauties". It's probably because I do have a bias - I like "geeks" a lot compared to the latter - I could never talk to girls in the same way that I talk to guys, and its very difficult to find girls when I was young who would talk about books than gossip about their crushes. These "geeks" would have a plethora of ideas to share, ranging from the extremely intellectual to the totally absurd specializations. Back then, I was the only one interested in computers, Sherlock Holmes, Perry Mason, Big Bang theories, National Geographic, Dungeons and Dragons, Star Trek, Anime, MTG, comics and the like. For a lack of peers of the same sex with the same interests, I would more often than not hang out with these guys than girls. Of course, there's still a fair share of guys who constantly get into sports, basketball and other bravado activities - I'd steer clear of them because they don't spend enough time any of the other stuff I was doing too.

So, that "geek" bias explained and out of the way, I found the entrants of the first season to actually be a bit more normal than most of the people I did hung out with when I was young. In my honest opinion .. they didn't look extremely geeky - they looked normal, if anything else. In my mind, I was thinking "are these really geeks, or what?" I just figured, it IS a reality show, and who knows if they they just plugged in an actor to play the geek part, or an actress to play the beauty part, because as I've said.. some of the geeks didn't seem like your stereotypical geek, and some of the beauties they selected didn't seem like they were intellectually challenged. Actually I found it quite whimsical because during the first season, there were 2 "beauties" in particular that I found were quite smart. Makes you do a double take and wonder if these are paid actors or not.

So, to begin with, there's nothing really wrong with "geeks", they're just a bit more focused on their specializations rather than their physical appearances, compared to the rest of the general population. I mean, take second season's neurobiologist Brandon. He seemed well kempt, but he is obviously not "in" with the current fashion unlike Brad Pitt. Anhur seemed confident of his abilities, despite the fact that one of the girls would like to tweeze his eyebrows "properly". Tyson came across to me as normal looking, but maybe that's because I have a lot of exposure to asian "geeks", I wouldn't know. I'm sure somewhere in the general audience population, people would comment on why in the world he dressed up in red sweats rather than normal shirt, but can you blame someone if he wants to wear something comfortable? Why Karl would like spending his time playing Dungeons and Dragons at his age rather than partying (I mean, what's the deal with partying anyway? you drink booze and get a headache 2 seconds later) and still seemed to look like a real life Napoleon Dynamite, Joe is a champion chessmaster, Wes is a scientist involved in monkey tracking... but really they don't look THAT bad.

Truth to tell, I found their abilities more interesting than their looks. Besides, beauty is only skin deep, and I would say that because I don't really believe that looks should ever be a major factor in judging one's capability in a profession. I've met a lot of guys that could offer potentially more than just looking good and being a trophy friend for other people to see. Most of the times, its these "geeks" that come out with the most interesting things to say... I mean, can you imagine a date where you have nothing in common, and the guy starts talking about... well.. about what? Its more interesting to know about new things than hear general topics being reiterated by their personal preference: I hate McDonalds, I love Kentury Fried Chicken, Usher is great, Madonna is a awesome singer... as compared to: Back in the old days, curvy girls where considered beautiful, for a long time potato wasn't a staple, that is, until the past century, time doesn't exist, there's a caldera (volcano) under Yellowstone park. Why in the world would anyone want to talk about things that you already know, when you can have a better time discovering new things? I mean, at least if you didn't like your date's looks, you still learned something interesting.

Granted, it may be because I could be considered a geek, at least based on the show's definition. I absolutely hate dressing up, because I feel that its not in my nature to dress up at all, and absolutely do not want to play pretend. My social skills are an absolute horror, especially when meeting new people, but they're more or less ok when with long time friends... but I suppose this works out because they tend to accept my social shortcomings more than the new people I meet. (Strangely enoug, I had one person tell me that I have this uncanny way of charming people, particularly guys, but I have no idea when in my past that I've actually done that) I love working on minute details with things that I particularly find interesting, and find it exciting to discover the fundamentals and workings of a topic of complex nature, delving in more and more because I never seemed to be satisfied with "general knowledge".

Does that make me less of a person? No, I don't think so. In fact, it makes me more proud of who I am and what I can do. Its easy to get cut marks and scars and burns physically. People do get old, and youth is only a temporary thing. But knowledge and intellectual capability, I feel, would still be there even when you're in your 60s. Of course, you could probably be senile by then, but it sure will last longer than appearances, despite the trends for facelifts, botox, liposuction and the like.

Regardless, it doesn't mean geeks are stunted. It just means they're far more capable in other areas. For tv watchers out there, despite how "ravishing" 24's Jack Bauer may look, he could still be classified as a geek - I mean, specializing in handling terrorists/national conspiracies? Alias' Sydney Bristow comes off the same thing. So does the recently popular show, Lost, for its characters... I mean, Jack the doctor? Sounds like a geek to me.

I suppose at some point in our lives, we will all end up as geeks. But some are just more aware of the importance of a bit of physical and social attention than others, as a means to get by socially. For most people, geeks may seem strange, but turn the tables around: Most geeks will find socially adept or extremely fashion conscious people to be strange too.

I suppose the Geeks and the Beauties are each of their own breed. We just see it all in a different light. But we're all human.

In any case, I'd classify myself to be a geek, so there.

Kid's Associative and Causal Learning, In Action

Its amazing how fast little kids can learn.

I had the fortunate chance of seeing my nephew (that's Squigly, for those who have tuned in since the start of my blogging days) perform the most amazing associative feat I've seen.

Imagine 14-month old kid, walking around oblivious to everything around him. All he does regularly is walk, point, dash quickly to your room when he sees the your door ajar, then proceed to systematically pull out all your neatly placed books, photoalbums... basically pull out any item that rests in anything that looks remotely like a shelf and under 4 feet in height, and dump everything on the floor. Then when everything is off the shelf, he promptly leaves.

Imagine the same kid, one day, entering your room, and again, starts pulling out the books. Then all of a sudden, he makes a quick detour and towards the stack of DVDs. Knowing that he'll eventually be pulling down everything, you pick a piece of DVD that's already in front of him, and hand it over to him willingly. Normally enough, he grabs the DVD, then for some strange reason, still handling the DVD, starts to walk out of your room, makes his small steps and crosses the short hall to the initial edge of the living room, stops for a heartbeat and looks at you.

You ask him, "Yes, baby, baby... what is it?".

He then gives you a huge smile, and continues his path to the center of the living room. He then again stops, looks at you, raises his very small pair of hands holding the DVD, and then points it at the general direction of the television set and DVD player.

OoooooOOooh. Smart kid. Even if the DVD came from my room, he was smart enough to recognize that the DVD in my room and associate its use to the same DVDs found outside the living room. Take note, its not a DVD with any distinctive features, like Barney or Blues Clues, or Sesame Street. Its just a plain, generic, writable DVD.

Amazed at the feat, I immediately proceeded to talk to him.

"Yes, that's right baby, the DVD is placed there so you can watch your cartoons. Smart boy."

Squigly then gives a big smile, and places the DVD on his hands to the living room table. He then curiously looks around, heads to an opposite direction, and grabs the gray remote control for the DVD player laying nearby!

This time I was really impressed. "Wow baby! that's right! do you want to watch cartoons right now? I'll help you with it, if you like. Give me the remote control and the DVD, I'll help you put it in."

But he doesn't seem to be listening at the moment. While I was still talking to him, he then heads off to the same living room table and rests the gray remote control on it. He then stands about again, looking left and right, as if searching for something.

By this time, my brother was already following the spectacular feat. He suddenly realized something, and grabbed the black remote control on top of the tv... which, likely for a kid, couldn't see it because it was "way up there". My brother then placed it at eye level a little way off, and then watched the events unfold:

And my brother was right; after standing about for a couple of seconds looking left and right, Squigly finally headed off to the direction of the black tv remote control and picked it up. He promptly pressed the button that turns on the tv, replaced it on top of the table and now picked up the gray remote control (for the DVD player) and the DVD disc.

Eventually, we had to ask him if he can give us the DVD disc (since we was having trouble opening the DVD player tray), sneakily replaced it with one of his usual discs, and placed it in. Squigly then immediately pressed the biggest button (the play button) on the DVD remote, and then the show starts.

Then he started grinning and smiling and beaming at us.

Needless to say, so did we.

Amazing kids.

Real, Concrete Improvement

One of the amazing things about blogging is the fact that you can track back to the past and discover how you were then, and compare how you are now.

I actually found it both funny and interesting, after looking back at the past posts. I also found out something very enlightening: It does really seem that I've gone a long way "cardiovascularly" as compared to a little more than a year ago.

I could never imagine panting about on a beginners level class, AND without raisers. These days, I do the whole routine with the raisers as if it were standard practice - although admittedly, I did start to pant recently again - this is right after I restarted gym after my 2 month hiatus - but I only start to pant at the near end of the class.

Still, its nice to realize that you've come a long way, innit? Back then, I wouldn't have imagined it either, but here I am right now. That recent goal I mentioned a few weeks back doesn't seem to be so impossible to imagine now....

Musta Na? Version 2.0

What prompted me to write out my previous post? For the most part, its actually for a sentimental reason. I read this post by one of the three runner ups for this year's Philippine Blog Awards, Kulotski Online, and it struck a cord and sounded so familiar. So let me tell you about my story...

I had a friend. One that I've known since I was very young, going back to the time when I probably didn't know what 23+32 equaled to. We spent our years growing up together... talking over the phone until sunrise, bantering about our crushes, sharing secrets, complaining about teachers, loving to talk about the things we hate. In many ways, its as if we're almost like sisters. We grew up together, sharing and confiding, trusting and helping each other, for more than 10 years.

Then all of a sudden, we parted ways. After that, we lost touch for four, five, six years... she had her own world, and I had mine. I went through depression, undergone load revisions, went through several boyfriends, huge arguments with my mother, relocated, got a job, cried my eyes out. She had her own set of events to think of... but one that I didn't know anything about. As it turns out, we stopped talking for a long while... she had her own life and I respected that, as I'm sure she respected mine. But the fact remains, at a certain point in our lives, we parted ways.

Its not that we didn't want to save our friendship, but our daily lives didn't intertwine anymore.

We tried the best we could, occasionally meeting up every few months. Then the few months became every 4 months, then 6 months, and it got further and further apart... and then finally, it became years, and then, ... it was just silence.

On those rare occasions when we do meet up.. sometimes it was just awkward. We tried to make up by asking each other what's happened since we last met, but there were too many missed things to talk about, too many experiences missed, too many pivotal life points left out, and all those missed points made connecting the dots extremely difficult. Sometimes the spark isn't just there anymore... and sometimes, contrary to how I want things to be... I'd think, ... it could just be dead.

And it would be a great shame.

We would see each other online, and drop the other a quick hello, but it seemed as if nothing could ever save the friendship. I knew both of us were holding our friendship by the thread.. we talked still because we had a history together, but there was no spark now as it was before. She even tried her best, but I was always busy with work... I had no time... there's always something urgent, always something that needed to be done, always something that was so important, ... but she couldn't relate to me anymore. I couldn't relate to her anymore. It felt as if it was a lost cause...


... but then, my story didn't end the way the post did.

Because I put up this blog.

Then she put up hers.


And it has been since, as if it was back then...


Its not perfect.. our friendship still has chips here and there, but I think we're growing back to the way we once were. I know she's reading this. I think she'll agree, even if we've never really talked about it. I'm not sure, she might not think the blogging helped, but I personally think it did. That's why I feel an affinity to blog writing; It's the friendships that it has helped to grow and regrow along the way. I may not have time for certain things when I started blogging; it may be for eccentric or self absorbed reasons, it may still be the reasons now, but I don't deny what it has done for me, as it may also be the case for you.

In any case, I think I'd like keep on blogging, as long as I can. :)

The Dissection of Blogging

I think I'd like to write today about how blogging is not just merely a form of self expression on the net.

Let me introduce the purpose of my blog, for those who haven't been reading this since the day of inception. When I started out with this blog, I had the purpose of writing this blog as an online journal - which also evolved to an area of idea venting soundboard of sorts. I also made this blog so that my friends can keep in touch of the comings and goings in my life, if they were interested in knowing. How it helps? I think my blogging has made my life a bit easier, for me, and also for my friends. It makes relationships a definite free country.

Lets be scientific, specific and rigorous about this, shall we?


#1 For my circle of friends, blogging releases a certain amount of obligation to communicate with me constantly. In a world where people have an increasing number of responsibilities and obligations, adding one more isn't going to help a friend that you do care about, but is simply very busy. For example, if I actually sent out an email to one of my friends, relating to the coming and going ons of my life, lets say, for the past month or week, he is somewhat obligated to reply back. I mean, just the feat of my writing an email means that I'm interested in what he's doing, as well as also wish that he could share what he's doing. If that person didn't reply back, I would be slightly disappointed; I mean, I did spend my time to write out a personal email to my friend. On the other hand, if he replies back, then I'm also obligated to write a personal reply back. No telling how long both of us will delay the turnaround time (goodness, I'm speaking in IT talk) but it will essentially become an obligated waiting game.

#2 Blogging is a tool much similar to the function of emailing is, for work. - as opposed to making a conference call or telephone conversation. By writing this blog and telling my friends about it, I give my friends a free reign and hold on their schedules. If one day friend X decides to see what I've been up to, he simply heads off to this blog, and track back all my posts. If he decides that I'm not worth following up on, he simply ignores my URL and lets it be. The next time we meet, we'll probably not have a lot to talk about, since in the first place, he didn't catch up with whatever it is that I'm doing. If, for example, another friend, friend Y, wants to keep in touch with me, he'll simply log onto this blog, and check out my posts at his leisure - it could be daily, bi-weekly, weekly, monthly - and there would be no obligatory pressure on his part on the frequency of his access to my blog. He retains his freedom to choose whether he wants to update himself on what I've been doing, and in doing so, its easier for him. No pressure.

#3 Blogging gives me the sense of freedom of writing whatever I feel, whenever I feel, anytime, to my liking. It would simply be horrible to all of a sudden write a very long email about, say, the discrimination that I'm facing at my current job (maybe) to a friend whom I haven't kept in touch for several years, but whom I've know to be working in the same line as I am and would understand how I feel. That simply doesn't work.

#4 Blogging gives me the chance to write how I feel, once, and only once. Despite the fact that we have a few selective close friends, relating the same thing over and over to those select people is extremely tiring and time consuming. Imagine telling people you have recently received an award for promotion, or ill news as, you were layed off. Imagine repeating those same things to 10 different people. Doesn't seem as good and you feel like a broken phonograph by the end of the week. Then a few months after, you meet a friend you haven't seen for a while. And you'll have to relate all that happened, all over again, just so both of you can keep up with what's happening.

#5 Consequently, blogging also helps me shift to a lower gear when it comes to (relationship) involvement, lessening the pressure that's already existing for other parts of my life e.g. work, personal ambitions. Its especially true for me since I enjoy a one-on-one conversation more than relating things to a group of friends. One on one dialogue, in my opinion, involves a concentration and dedication towards the person you are communicating with. It has more depth, more meaning, and need for complete acceptance and understanding - in very short words, one simply needs to be fully involved. In this case, blogging actually alleviates me from the pressure I need to exert for one-on-one conversations.

#6 Blogging increases the quality of relationship I have with friends. In actuality, the previous point doesn't lessen the quality of conversations I have with my friends; In fact, it actually makes the relationship far more meaningful this way. Light and day to day happenings are set aside and placed in this blog, and upon meeting, both of us can progress at a more advanced level of inquiry - I don't have to say explain why I've lost weight radically (duh, yeah, right) and I've been doing 20 weeks of gym already and answer inane questions about how I was able to commit to it: for readers of this blog, they simply know that I love doing the aerobics, and love meeting the new people I see at the gym. Face to face, we can simply talk more about these things (or others) in a more detailed level, depending on what the friend I'm with would like to talk about. If she/he wanted to talk about sports and gym, if he read my blog, he would be fairly certain I knew about squats, reps, raisers, latrows. And he will start off from there, instead of explaining me the basics. If he didn't want to talk about sports, he would also know from my blog that I've seen Batman Begins, and I extremely liked it. He could give his opinions without having to explain the whole Batman Begins story before going on to the meat of the conversation.


There's actually lot more, but I think I'll stop at point#6.

I've just reviewed what I've written, and in some ways, the reasons I've elaborated may seem very naive for some. But in any case, I'm quite grateful that I'm blogging, and a few select friends of mine are blogging. I feel and connect with them better, and am very much more aware of what is happening in their daily (thoughts) lives. In fact, I think I know more about them than when I was physically with them way back in the past. I suppose it is also because sometimes when we blog, we speak out more, as compared to when we were together with friends physically. Ideas and thoughts shine the most in your own blog, because eccentric or self absorbed as it may seem, we get to talk and be in the limelight, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365.25 days a year.

Sometimes its when we're alone and given the mic, that we show our true colors - jump on a bed and sing out as if we're the greatest rock stars in the world, or as a kid, we'd pretend we're our greatest heroes - basketball player, wrestler, world breaking marathon runner.

I love blogging, don't you?

Gym Progress Week 24

Yes, ok.. I couldn't stand it again. I never could, anyway.

Strangely enough, there weren't as much people during the Saturday class. Its usually packed, and I get to see the same familiar faces: This nice buffed up guy in glasses, the guy I mentioned last week who also has his own little world, the girl with the long curly hair who started off with Steve's step classes later than me, the trendy lady that had a body you wouldn't believe for a late 30s/early40s age, the funny glass wearing guy that was always one tempo ahead of everyone. Patsy was there though, and we had a quick chat before the class started. It seemed that Steve had a morning class at the Central branch, so a lot of them opted to skip this Causeway Bay afternoon class (the steps are usually the same if that happens).

I think I should start putting names to the faces.

The Sunday class was not as bad as I thought it would be. Suzette started off explaining that she might get into trouble since she was bordering into Step Moves (advanced) instead of Intro Step Moves (Intermediate). Last week someone twisted her ankle doing the steps and all that stuff, so she's going to keep it "easy" for this week, and leave the tempo a bit slower. She'll be talking to Michelle (it seems she's the managing person for these aerobics classes) to change the class to Step Moves instead, since she thought that most of the attendants of the class were pretty good - But that's going to be AFTER the chinese new year.

Didn't have problems with that. In fact, I rather liked it. Its better than halfway trying to figure out if you're doing intermediate or advanced. So, she apologized, and told us she's going to keep it easy for today.

Really.

I'm not complaining though. :) Its always fun with her classes nowadays. Its also rather fun that I see the same faces too every Sunday, albeit a different set of people. Nice looking amiable girl always positioning at the back of the class (I used to ask her to save her spot for me for the following bodypump class a few months back), a friendly looking mature lady at the right hand side corner/back of the class always wearing black, a slightly chubby and tall towering lady at the midsection spot, and lets not forget, the guy who also has his own little world also attends this one.

I swear, I think I should come up names for all these people... haha. In any case..:


Week 24
Sat(ISM): Steve
Sun(ISM): Suzette

Shopping Spree (Winter 2005)

I bought lots of stuff!

I looked about and tried on several coats at the Zara Times Square branch.
I also looked about at my area's humble malls for suits, coats, skirts and slacks at G2000, Bossini, a Bossini Outlet store nearby, Michel Rene, Veeko and a couple of others.
I also took a peek at Marathon sports to see if there were any items worth buying.

Why? Its the sale season, and its the perfect time to expand your wardrobe, especially if your wardrobe only consists of casual and semi casual wear that is not particularly appropriate for a more corporate setting, or appropriate for a V.I.P. interview - thus forcing you to wear outfits that are not really very comfortable... or particularly healthy.

Plus the fact that I might end up spending more if I do get a new job and then try to get the clothes to match the company attire. By then the sale season will be finished, and I'd be faced with ridiculously priced suits that I know in the end would probably go on sale 50% less than what its actually being sold during non sale seasons.

No, no, no, definitely not.

So in the end, before the Chinese New Year ends, I resolved to buy the clothes that I need/may need. And I got a pretty good deal too, particularly for the G2000 brands. Strangely enough, the branch near my place was having a huuuge sale, but other branches of the same brand here in Hong Kong weren't. I initially thought that all G2000 branches were having the same sale, but found out after arriving at the Times Square branch yesterday that it wasn't the case; at the most it was having a 20% discount off regular priced items. I suppose its good enough, but comparatively speaking, the branch near my place was going so far as to have almost 70% off on the regularly priced items - HUGE difference. Of course, its probably because the suits being sold were last season's, but who's really going to mind, as long as you look respectable and decent? Besides, trendy looking suits will eventually go out of style after a year, and I wasn't looking for trendy suits - I was looking for more classic cuts.

So in the end, I got a really great deal: 11 pieces of clothing items all at 60% off. I definitely got a good bargain. And finally, I got a really neat Zara classic winter coat for less than half of the original price - one that's unlikely to go out of style for years and years to come. Its a bit pricey compared to the G2000 suits, but well worth it.

Strangely enough, I've never bought this much clothes when I was vacationing in Hong Kong for shopping sprees when I was young. Just goes to show that life really IS strange.

Incapacitated Feet

Not what you think. Definitely not the knee.

As most of you have read, I've blistered my ankle last week when I tried on my new sports shoes (They're amazing by the way). I have now added a new addition to the blister family. This is care of my amazing first time newly used "corporate" black shoes I used for my recent very important meeting last Friday.

I'm err.. proud to say that I have extremely suppressed my obvious pain at walking around Hong Kong for approximately 6 hours with these new shoes, and I should always bear in mind that I should always leave a bit of time before actual important meetings in case anything as serious as this happens.

And yes, they are serious. All the skin's been peeled off, and you can nicely see the raw flesh. You should've seen the head of my stockings that day. They were drenched with blood. So were the nice little tissues that I "quick-fixed" stuffed into the shoes when the whole feet thing started to sting painfully. That didn't turn out to be as nice, either, as I was left with several pieces of bloody drenched tissue papers - one of them which accidentally slipped off my shoe when I was elegantly dashing about in the city's subway system trying to catch the next train to my destination. I shan't imagine the looks of everyone's faces when they see a bloodied wad of tissue falling out from a desperate looking lady in formidable office pumps. The things we do for fashion, honestly. I should be also thankful that I was lucky, since it was rush hour and no-one attemped to stop and fine me for littering the whole place with my DNA. I would probably scream in frustration... I mean, helpless me, all feet bloodied to the bone, late for an appointment that could possibly be as life altering as the monumental sending off of astronauts to the moon, and you expect me to bend and pick up a bloodied wad of paper? Yes, I'm a dutiful and responsible citizen, but I was also harrassed.

I mean, who could resist being sympathetic after looking at the most abominable, pity-triggering pairs of feet?



Here's a nice little close up of the horrible blister in question... just ignore the bad state of my feet is ok.. just look at the blister. Can you imagine BLOODY right now?



I swear. Its going to take weeks for this to heal...

Very Very Important Meeting

Well, I had to head off for a very important meeting today, and I needed to look good.

I went off in the morning and did a couple of minutes worth of gym (these meetings are turning out to be the reason why I would head off to the gym on weekdays.. maybe I should get more of these) then prepped myself up. Put on nice clothes, new shoes...

... new shoes... new shoes... new shoes...

Fine, I'll tell you more about that later.

Anyways, its very important (notice how many times I've already mentioned the word "important"). There was this little thing about running late, coming exactly on time, and all that stuff. Today's pretty cold by the way, and I don't like cold weather all that much. I had a nice chat, an energized one actually, except for the fact that I had to speak in.. somewhat broken cantonese. I'm not that fluent yet. But I suppose the giddy-ness that I felt during the meeting would probably make up for the broken cantonese. The place was nice. Every one was professional, and looked amiable. We talked lots about Oracle stuff, stuff which I was really good on, and familiar with. Then we wrapped it up and I headed off back.

But I passed by Oracle Grid Workshop today at Conrad first. Get some new stuff on Oracle10g and some trial freebies that I needed to take a look at and do some testing on.

The very very very important meeting actually went to my liking. I'll talk about it in detail some other time. But the main part about it is that its important. Very important.

Ok, I think that's enough "importants" for one day. You'll realize the reason once you'll read about an upcoming post in the future.

Gym Progress Week 23

Hwek hwek hwek... just a bit of free weights, and 2 aero classes. I think I'll leave my schedule like this for now until everything gets better with my knee...

Week 23
Sat(FW,ISM): Steve
Sun(ISM): Suzette

Mentors: A Tribute To An Awesome Manager

There's always a mentor that all of us would like to remember. Sometimes its the grade school teacher who pushed you to your limits and your wits end, and at that point you unknowingly under appreciated him for his efforts to bring out the best in you. Sometimes its a college professor that showed considerable help, support and understanding to your capability and your work, placing the utmost importance in what you do and can do. Sometimes its the invisible man behind someone that,unbeknowest to you, would be putting out all sorts of odd jobs and strange requests that would eventually lead to your success. They're all the same to each and everyone of us: In the end, we realize the great values that they instilled in us, and gave us a different perspective to our life paradigm, and core values.

This is my version of a tribute to one of my many mentors.

I've been lucky to have worked at a company that allows much freedom in what I do. I entered my career oblivious to what I want, or what I can confidently accomplish. In many ways, I was that little person over at the hidden corner typing away with "whatever" her job was. I would eat lunch alone in comfort - I was invisible - and I fine with that setup, given my personality. Constantly, I've always carried a fear of being "found out", even if there was never even anything bad to be found out about me, except that I live in my own little world. I didn't have the confidence to speak out my ideas, despite time and time again, my ideas would be voiced out by another, and high praise would be given to them. During my years in school, I never raised my hands during class to answer a question that baffled every body, but I would know afterwards, when the professor would speak out the answer, that confirmed that I had the right answer in my head.

It was the fear of being wrong - One of the worst fears of its kind, since it will always leave you incapacitated, with no improvement, or feedback, if in case you were wrong. I lived like this for a fair amount of my life, and I would be lying if I said that I do not have that same fear, still residing in me, at this very moment.

But I had one of the best people backing me up when I was working in my current company. In a situation where there was extreme stress and pressure, he's the one person that would calm my nerves and guide me. He'd push me to do things which I extremely hated - bureaucratic, political, high profile, company critical - you name it, I did it. To what end, I didn't know then, but I dreaded these things. I also hated weekly meeting updates, when I have to tell him that I missed my own set deadline. I would squirm and pretend it is not a big deal, but inside, my whole innards where bellowing a huge frustrating defeat. But I'd still move on; He'd still continue to prod me on, as if it were no big deal. Just go ahead and finish it.. if you missed your own deadline, no need to mope. Just keep on doing it; do what you can, the best that you can, push yourself, challenge yourself - no sense in moping at your state now... you'll just be wasting more precious time. Accept what you're facing now, don't stop, just go ahead.. and do it.

I didn't like him the first time I met him. In fact, I avoided coming out to lunch with him and with coworkers, like a plague. He wasn't my superior then, and I was safe to get away from him if I could possibly manage it. He'd blurt out demeaning wisecracks about my inability to speak Cantonese, and all my coworkers would follow suit, leaving me always deflated with defeat. I actually hated him. I didn't want to be anywhere near him, and I sure as heck wasn't going to spend my only personal time within the day - the lunchtime - to be bombarded by comments that seemed more like insults to me than anything else.

Then came a time when I had to answer for something that wasn't my fault, and surprisingly enough, he and another colleague came around, and they both defended my position to my then supervisor. You see, I was the type that would always admit it was my fault, even if a large bulk of the fault wasn't entirely mine. I was the typical easy sacrificial lamb, and the scapegoat anybody could easily manipulate, because back then, I wasn't confident in what I can do. In the end, I was more or less redeemed, and he and another coworker gave me a brief insight on what I can do, and who I was, and what I should stand up for. More surprisingly, despite the fact that he'd constantly throw out all these seemingly meaningless insults back then during one of those rare departmental "lunchtime" hours, I thought he wasn't paying any attention at me. But it seemed he knew far more about me, than what I was willing to admit, or confirm, myself.

It was a great relief: I thought I was alone, but I wasn't, not really.

From then on, a few months later, he took over as my lead supervisor and manager.

There were a lot of things that needed to be done, and there were also things that I personally thought didn't seem so urgent or important, but he still asked me to do them, anyway. In a small to medium company, a lot of things were very much unstructured - a lot of times there were no standard procedures - and a likely lazy, green employee that I was at that time, I didn't think a lot of the stuff I was asked to do was necessary. Why do all these when they won't make a difference? If I did all these wonderful things, no one would know except me. A lot of the things he asked me prompted questions that popped up in my head:

1. What was the point of filling out all these forms?
2. Why all the bureaucracy and red tape?
3. Why do I need to write down the things I have to do, when I have it all memorized on the top of my head?
4. Why do I have to submit them all to you for review? Don't you trust me?
5. Why why Why??

Wasn't me, doing my job well, good enough for him? Why do I have to submit all these proposals, when top management isn't really going to take a look at it - I knew it would just be him? He also knew perfectly what I would be reporting on, so why ask me to make a formal documentation and an accompanying presentation? Why am I wasting so much time on things that top management wouldn't even begin to understand, let alone appreciate?

But did them I did, and back then, I was forced to, yes. I would spend months doing a project, months making analysis on the databases, months on preparing certain procedures, weeks spent to organize testing. In my mind, I just had to do it, because he told me to.

Maybe it was because I was just green back then. But in the end (recently), I realized doing all the things that he asked me to do, it was all for me, and not the company. Sure, it was also good for the company, but it wasn't really necessary for the company - it was more necessary for me. I was a bit surprised, because he didn't have any reason to actually help me out, except that as a supervisor and manager, he made it a point to care about my growth, and cared about expanding my experience as a Oracle DBA.

When there was a problem with live production, it felt safe that he was around, I'd have him on the phone as much as possible because he was the fallback that I've always had. The strange part about it is that he didn't really know in depth about anything that what I was doing, but we'd converse and discuss about what I needed to do: have him around to ask me the questions to which I perfectly know the answers.

He's always told me repeatedly, "You know what? You have a confidence issue. Its not that you don't know; You DO know. You always know. Each and everytime you ask me what you should do, I always bounce you back the same question: 'What SHOULD you do?' and you always have the answer. You DO know the answer. Contrary to what you think, you're actually extremely capable. Its always after that bout of uncertainly that's so characteristic of you that stops you from doing the things you need to do. Because after working with you for so long, I knew that after that bout of doubt and uncertainty, you always would do the right thing; Honestly, you just have this thing with confidence."

Four years down the road, and he's left the company. I felt apprehensive about having no fallback person to talk to if anything "catastrophic" happened. But comically, all the experiences that had happened until before he left, he did train me to handle problem issues by myself. During one of the major production deployments, I had some problems, and I called him up... but he wasn't answering any of my questions. He wasn't prodding me or leading me to do certain things. He was being unhelpful. I thought he was being mean and callous, but I think at the back of my mind, I was thinking "He's already leaving in a few weeks. He's not helping me out. But he's still there. I suppose I just need to learn how to handle these things by myself.... maybe." I did pull through, in the end. It probably took a bit more than I would've liked.. that doubt monster in me did rear its ugly head then, and I wasted a bit of time. But I still made it through the deadline, though.

Then, after he left, almost a few days later, I encountered my first real live production problem, alone, without his support, or his instructions, his prodding, or his "echo back" questions. I crazily wondered if I'm ever going to pull through.

I stayed about and tried to see what things I could do and should do. I had to stay up 40 hours for this, (the actual problem occurred within 12 hours, but I had to stay about to make sure everything was ok) Instead of panicking, all I had was his voice battering in my head, "always come back to a known state", "you've done this before, this should be no problem. The only difference is that you were handling testing databases, and this one is live production. But that doesn't matter, they're both the same thing" or "use your logic, they're always similar case, just of different circumstances", and in the end, I DID push through. Better yet, I found out that even without his help, I can manage. He was right, I did know what to do. There really was no need for all that apprehension, doubt and fear.

In the end, I learned more stuff technically, and professionally, than I would have ever hoped if I was just left to do my own. He parted his professionalism with our small team so effectively, in fact, that I have no doubts whatsover about my capability in the job market place. Despite the fact that I worked in a small company, I'm fully confident that I could cope and handle a career in a large, corporate setting, because that's what he tried to instill in us: Importance of professionalism in whatever circumstances, respect to where it is due, proactive growth, personal responsibility for learning, and self confidence.

It doesn't get any better than that. Either give the man a fish, or teach him how to fish for himself. He's done the latter for me, and that's what's made the huge impact.

Actually, you know what? There's even something better. Its the fact that I realized what he did for me, and I think that's the best thing. Realization, and gratitude.

He's probably not going to read this blog post, since he doesn't really know about it. But to all those people out there, I think its nice to stop a bit, think and try to realize what your direct supervisor/co worker may have done for you, and be grateful and appreciative; There's always going to be someone out there about you who's done the same thing. I'd probably be embarrassed silly if he did read this post, so I would rather that he doesn't read this, but regardless, I do show my appreciation when we all meet up occasionally, in my own way.

Ok, its rather been a longish post, but I think my ex-manager deserved a big space. :) I think I'll stop now. :P

Forced (And Realization of What I Want)

I found it very strange to be forced into a position where I don't think I should be forced.

Not that I'm willing to just accept certain things, but its really more of the other way around. It wasn't even time to be forced to do something - To accept something that hasn't even been offered yet!

What's this all about? Its about looking around for a job. I've recently been looking about to verify my current market value, and so I've been asking around and applying for potential openings... see what I'm worth, after 4 years of being an Oracle DBA.

I encountered a specific job opening through an agent. After much interviewing, I received a call from the agent asking if I'm willing to commit to the job. I asked if there were any offers proposed by the company already, but he didn't really answer my question. In fact, he even asked me if I was interviewed by the IT department... giving me the impression that he wasn't really offered anything (otherwise, if he did talk to the employing company, he'd know that I was already interviewed and they found me satisfactory or not) but he was just getting my commitment.

Since this was the first job interview that I've done, I was a bit hesistant to give me commitment as I was still interested in scouring around for other possible opportunities. Lets face it, I do still have a job at the moment, and I would like to know more about the current job market, and I've only been to one direct company interview.

If anything though, there's a lot to be learned about this bit of job opening. I finally realized a few important things about what I want, in order:

1. A IT manager/supervisor that I respect and look up to.
2. A setting where I'd feel like being in a team.
3. Professionalism.
4. A good culture that I can thrive and have a niche in.
5. A company that will evaluate its employees worth in a periodic basis
6. A company that would actually take care of its employees and listen to their opinions.

I probably have a lot to ask for, but I don't think I really require all these point to be satisfied, but at least I'd like it to be most of them. Well, despite being forced into making a decision, I suppose I should also be thankful; it made me think and consider the things that I really DO want.

Needless to say, I turned this job down, even if there wasn't even any offer yet. Being forced to do something I'm completely not comfortable with isn't really the way to go about as a job agent. Nuff said.

Bad Host, Bad Blog

Yes, I haven't been a proper host lately.

I know I put up a Oracle blog, and I've placed a couple of posts for it, but it hasn't been very energetic lately. Its quite a lot of work to put up technically accurate posts (well, ok, not THAT accurate maybe) but I've set a standard for myself to deliver cohesive, simple to understand posts since my Oracle blog does cater to Oracle newbies in general.

To actually be able to help people with their Oracle problems, I have to layout my posts as simple as possible. Additionally I needed to employ the same tactics that most well known Oracle personalities within the Oracle community out there use - based-by-example walkthroughs - to help make the post quite understandable for neophytes. From experience, I know that their presentation worked for me, so I was hoping to apply the same writing/blogging principles for my own Oracle blog.

Finally, I also have write it so that it should also technically accurate.

Writing about my thoughts is a piece of cake, as they are based on nothing but my thoughts and opinions. Opinion pieces are easy, but writing about something factual is another thing. I'm sure we have all taken up term paper writing during our school studying days, but even up til now it pains me to have to go through all the research motions, despite the fact that I am writing about something that I really love to talk about. (This is further supplemented by my 2 previous posts, this and this)

But since I'm slightly anal by nature, at the end of the day, I'm left with several drafts about good Oracle ideas, but not be able to publish them because they don't hold up to my standard of satisfaction.

This is turning out to be a slightly depressing thing, but this shouldn't stop me from writing up a few posts about one of my favorite topics. I suppose I needed a place to vent out my frustration, and this blog is as good as any. In the mean time, let me compose myself, and start up my Oracle juices again. :)

WOW! (Gloating)

This may seem a little wimpy, but...

My blog got noticed by one of the more prominent Oracle personalities!

I haven't seen surfing lately due to my busy schedule, and just this morning I surfed about at my regular Oracle blogs again to find out that my blog was referred by Lisa Dobson's site, Oracle Newbies Blog.

Even more surprising, she mentioned that my site was referred to her by Tom Kyte! (the person behind Oracle's askTom)

It's like getting noticed by your all time favorite actor, but even better. Coincidentally, I found this strange since I just posted an entry regarding my reaction with actors/actresses and their fans... but I suppose this is an entirely different thing since Tom Kyte's popularity level is based on expertise rather than looks. I mean, you can improve/earn your technical expertise, but you can't improve your looks, which is, in fact, inborn for each person? (Unless you include phyiscal surgical operations, but then again, that's not your hard work, innit?)

In any case, I'm a bit surprised Tom found out about my site. I wasn't exactly advertising it, I just left a comment or two at his blog just to engage in the post conversations and show my appreciation for his big help with the Oracle community. Since he usually have tons of commenters, I didn't exactly expect him to be following around hundreds of blog links. Which is why I'm still very surprised.

Ah well, I'm in a ecstatic mode at the moment, so let me just gloat about and show you proof: Here's the link where my post was linked, and it links to here in my Oracle blog.

How wonderful. I'm going to gloat about for a bit more then. Excuse me.

Sick Again and On Medication

Whatever happened to "exercise will raise your immunity level against viruses" ?

I've been through two bouts of colds in a span of a month. I got my recent one just last Saturday, but it didn't really act up until last Sunday when I was battling against runny nose and a constricted, phlegm filled cough. Today I had an extreme experience of having a blocked ear, a terrible headache, slight runny nose and a very light-headed disposition - it feels like my whole brain/gray matter has been replaced with snot, phlegm and that disgusting dry/sticky matter that forms between your eyes when you wake up early in the morning.

I thought one of the advantages of exercising was working out your body so that you actually become healthier?

How frustrating.

Its not going to stop me from doing trips to the gym, though. Fat chance of that happening.

My doctor gave me a couple of antihistamines to quell the problem, and I'm happy to say that the medication worked pretty well, especially the "drowsy" effect at night. I just got them a couple of minutes ago, I feel so relaxed at the moment, I just want to get some good night's sleep.

I never had drowsy medication before, so this is definitely a first. So strange, feeling so relaxed.. never happened to me before when I was sick. I can foresee a good night's sleep in just about...

... just about...
... just... about....

ZZzzzzZZZz...

Interesting (English) Asian Movie Sites

I was browsing through the web for director Zhang Yi Mou (Raise the Red Lantern, Hero) when I came across these two sites... They seem to have very interesting content, particularly for english-based speakers.

These sites would be nice to refer to when looking for Chinese(Taiwan, Hong Kong, China) movies. Check them out:

http://www.monkeypeaches.com/
http://www.karazen.com

Enjoy!

Out of Whack (A Yearly Personal Assessment)

When was the last time you've reassessed yourself?

I seem to be cut off from the normal going ons of the social world.

You know how some people will listen to a conversation, and then talk and be able to carry a good conversation because they completely understand the conversation even if they've just tuned in for 2 minutes? And you know there are people who totally try to tune in for the same amount of time, and when he starts to talk, he speaks an entirely different topic altogether because he didn't catch on?

Well, my antenna seems to be out of alignment.

For the past week, I've been talking to several different people.. people who don't know who I really know or I am close with, either by appointment or circumstance. And I think I've just been acting like an a$$ because I'm not quick enough to catch on, or merely assumed that they simply can react correctly based on how I am and what kind of personality I have, just from a few minutes of interaction.

I suppose its because I carry on going about within the same familiar circles that I've been with for the past few years - college friends, long time officemates, hong kong barkadas, family - and I don't make friends easily, or do it naturally on a regular basis. This whole circumstantial exchange between three different people last week suddenly make me curious about my personality. So I'd like to do a quick assessment of myself, and also do a bit of quick research, and ended up with the following:

I know I like to be comfortable with my surroundings before doing anything brash or innovative or fancy. I'm a bit eccentric on occasion, and most probably also a bit egocentric. My personality veers more towards dyadic interactions, particularly ones where I can concentrate more on one person rather than having to juggle between knowing a group of new friends. A couple of free online personality tests, particularly Meyer-Briggs personality tests, indicate that I'm a INTJ personality (Introverted Intuitive Thinking Judging), and somewhat slightly hovering also towards INFJ (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging), but not as much. Personally, I feel more complementary towards being an INTJ rather than a INFJ personality, based on my readings.

As a short run down of an INTJ personality, we're characterized as an ideal people, primarily assessing the world with our intuition. We like playing around with possibilities in our heads... thoughts of "what ifs" and "maybe ifs" dominate our minds, and like to always think about the immeasurable possibilities, given the time and resource. We also like specializing and excelling in particular things or areas, so in effect, we may seem very short handed and lacking in other areas where we don't concentrate our thoughts to. Unfortunately, this overall attitude may result in the lack of ability to express our thoughts. In one of the personality websites I've looked into regarding the INTJ personality, it describes this weakness as the following: Unless they[INTJs] complement their intuitive understanding with a well-developed ability to express their insights, they may find themselves frequently misunderstood. In these cases, INTJs tend to blame misunderstandings on the limitations of the other party, rather than on their own difficulty in expressing themselves. This tendency may cause the INTJ to dismiss others input too quickly, and to become generally arrogant and elitist.

I certainly gives a bit of perspective to my personality, especially where it seems to count nowadays - when I simply meet with new people and tend to come out with the wrong types of responses and impressions. Three encounteres this past week, and I personally thought that they seem to come out with a less than desirable outcome than what I would've expected them to be. In some cases I even ended up very frustrated and angry at the opposite party, but now that I think about it, it may also be my deficiency. I suppose it is something that I think I'll have to be looking into and developing in the very near future.

In some ways, this also gives an insight to my current standing at the moment: We tend to become a bit comfortable with our close network of friends, and simply begin to assume that the rest of the world is also as understanding as our long time friends. Friends and loved ones sometimes are taken for granted because of this, and I'd like to give my friends the respect and appreciation that they are due for having me as their friend/relative/loved one for so long.

Little things do count a lot, and regardless, I'm glad that the short encounters I've experienced for the past week have given fruit to a whole slew of insights about myself and my personality. Best of all, I'd like to thank the many people who's put up with my eccentric quirks, just because they've been with me for so long.

I think personal assessments like this are in order, particularly for people who's "stabilized" into a regular routine for some time already. There's nothing better than injecting a new factor into the whole "life" routine equation, one that makes you go "wow", and you come to realize new things, and appreciate others that have been taken for granted. Needless to say, I'm equally thankful, and even though at this point in time, I'm still out of whack, there's no better step than to actually admit and realize the problem itself exists.

So, if you don't mind, my dear readers, being an INTJ personality type, I'd like to contemplate on my problem a bit more. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation :)

And Then There Were Three

I can't seem to remember point three.

Well, if you've followed my previous 2 posts, you're already aware that I've just thought about (1) Marathon training (2) Hong Kong singer/actress Charlene Choi. Actually, there's a third point that suddenly came up to me while riding that bus back home from the gym, and I specifically tried to remember I had three points to write into my blog when I got back home.

Is it just me, or my already failing memory is turning out for the worse.

Let me try my best to remember then.

*ZAP*

Oh, now I remember.

I'll put it in another post then.

A Normal Person's Facination with Actors

In a bus on the way home from the gym, I went to the top deck and sat at the very front of the bus. I always like this seat cause I can see the whole view in front of me... and not some person's head. It pretty fun, especially on a sunny day, where you can get as much sunlight as possible and also get the view your surroundings. Of course, a lot of people don't like this seat because if the bus gets into an accident, you're going to be probably the first one to be literally thrown out of the window.

Well, for today, while sitting on my favorite seat, I was faced with a big poster of Charlene Choi for her "A Chinese Tall Story" movie poster... at least for 10 minutes. The bus up front had this movie poster on its back... and well, I don't really mind it. Comparatively, I like Ah-Sa, compared to her other "twin" counterpart, better, because she looks all nice, and friendly and jolly.

Well, given an estimated 10 minutes face to face with an almost 10-feet Ah-Sa (Charlene Choi) in an angelic getup and with a mock white angel wings protrouding out from her back would definitely get you thinking... at least if not for her looks, then what she is as a person, and what she stands for.

Yes, I suppose I'm going to end up being philosophical about it.

I mean faced with a 10 foot Ah-Sa is about as good as it gets. If you're a fan, you're likely going to like sitting at where I was sitting. But looking at the poster, so close up, all I can think of was: This girl looks like any other girl I see on the normal Hong Kong streets. Except for the fact that she's playing this angelic character, as a part, and as an actor, ... but basically, that's about it. Then I started wondering, what IS actually so exceptional about to her, to have throngs and throngs of fans lining up for her movies, buying her cds, going to her concerts, at this moment in time,... I could not understand.

From a consumer point of view, I've seen some of her movies. She's nice, and she can make a fan out of me.. yet. At some point after going out of the cinema house, maybe because of the role that she's played, I'd feel as if I have some sort of affinity towards her. Actually, it shouldn't be for her, really, but for the character she's played. A lot of people mistake that affinity towards the actors and actresses they idolize - when you think about it, the actors are just playing make believe. A lot of people end up extremely liking soap opera tv actors because of this: The personality of the characters these actors portray extends into the audience's impressions of the actor himself, and this affinity extends all throughout the show.. probably for more than 12 hours, 1 hour each week, or something like that.

I know a couple of people who dislike certain actors, just because the first time they've seen them, is when the actor was playing the bad guy. On the flip side, I know several people who has gone gaga over actors who pay lead roles. You know how lead roles are.. they have some special distinctive characteristic, attitude or value that sets them apart from the rest of the supporting characters. So now, after the TV/Soap/Movie finishes, you have throngs and throngs of fans going goo-goo and gaa-gaa over the actor. But its really a wrong impression of the actor, isn't it? he isn't the part he plays, and the part he plays, isn't him. All of this is just a make believe world.. and the whole entertainment industry, at least a whole lot of them, are making money off merchandises off these actors's popularity, and taking advantage of the fan's impressions.

It doesn't seem right to me. I kept on looking at Charlene Choi.

She really does look simple and normal. I'm sure I've seen a whole slew of other girls who look far more adorable than her. Yes, I know she looks adorable, but I'm sure that are lots of others who look far better.

But for some strange reason, these other prettier girls don't have that zombie following that Charlene has. And its obviously not her looks that grab people's attentions.

What IS with these people? Are they really popular because they're good actors, or is it just that they're good because they're distinctly "beautiful" (I can definitely say that about Takeshi Kaneshiro), a movie/tv/singing crossover popular (like the Twins), soap popular (Korean star, Rain, anyone?) or whatever what not?

Whatever happened to what your capability is would be the factor by which you will be judged? All these "physical" appearances and character-to-actor (misleading) affinities are making me sick.

I looked at Charlene some more. Still she doesn't look too bad, so I suppose I can still continue on looking at her.. its just that she doesn't really look extraordinary. She just looks like someone .. who's been very lucky - someone who's hit the jackpot.

I don't see the point. Where's the virtue in that? ....

But I'll still keep on looking at her poster, I guess. How strange.

Upping the Gym Stakes

Something to look forward to.

That's how it is with life, isn't it? at first, you're forced into something you don't like. Then at the start, your resolve and motivation is to just finish the job as fast as possible. Then afterwards, all of a sudden, you start liking it. Then it suddenly doesn't become a chore anymore, but a challenge. Then you look for new things related to the same thing, but with a larger scope, of the same thing that you simply initially hated in the first place.

That's how I was with my current career as an Oracle DBA, and it seems that the same thing is happening for my gym sessions.

Well, the history for my gym experiences is pretty long. The whole thing started out with me not liking exercising at all.. and that was like back when I was in college. My entire pre-college life was basically a mess of inactivity (except for the occasional sing and dance that was required for choir presentations/concerts). My ex liked working out, so I followed suit. I didn't like the weights much, but I started liking aerobics almost after the first few sessions. That continued on up until my whole college, and then when I came to Hong Kong, and up until now.

When I started out here, I had this crazy goal of making my triceps as toned as possible. That was the goal. Nothing else. Nothing about actually slimming down, losing 10 pounds, or toning my legs. I just wanted to get those unbelievable triceps I once saw on a Caucasian mom who was carrying a baby outside the Wellcome supermarket at Causeway Bay .. her arms where ripped, and her triceps were darn toned, and yes, that was the motivation for the whole 21 weeks that I've been chattering about for the past.. well, 21 weeks.

Well, on the road to that funny tricep goal, I've gotten healthier, more active, better cardiovascularly, more fit, lost 10 pounds... well, everything except getting those toned triceps. But I don't mind anyway. One of my brother has an ripped body now (together with those disgusting protruding nerves you see on professional weightlifters.. really disgusting actually) and it took him 2 years to get where he is now. I'm just at week 21, so I don't think my current state is actually bad. I do have a few defined muscles here and there that I like to (given the chance anyway) showoff.

Now I have this crazy idea of getting those really nice triceps... and also training for a marathon.

Yes, that's right. Marathon.

It would be an interesting experience, wouldn't it? Join in an event where everyone is extremely fit, and see how you fare against them.. meet a few new people, learn a few new tricks, expand your horizons. That would be extremely awesome. I don't expect to win the marathon, but at least I'd like to see if I can brave the length and see if I can finish the whole activity, and also see if at the end of the race I'd already be wishing I was dying , or dead already, or just plain fine and dandy.

There's also thought about wall climbing and mountain climbing, which I've already previously thought of, but didn't really see it as a goal since I didn't really see the connection between mountain climbing and gymming, aside from the fact that I'd be using the gym as a way of getting myself to be fit enough to wall climb pretty well. But that's for another time.

Marathon first. I think that's a pretty modest, and still a big enough goal to look forward to.

Every year there's a Standard Chartered sponsored marathon, usually during February. Since I'm too late to enter this year's marathon, I figured I should prepare for the marathon next year. Should be very very interesting. I think I should revise a plan to achieve that total body conditioning for a race like that. A triathlon would be nice, but I dont know sh*t about biking (I don't know how to bike) or swimming properly (most involve gulping down the whole swimming pool contents). In the meantime...

A marathon sounds like a swell goal! :)

Think in the future I'd be silly enough to prepare and try and climb Mount Everest? How cool.

A Better Sales Tactic

Ok, this is one of the best ever sales tactic that I've ever encountered at California Fitness (that's my gym, for those of you who don't know).

I've already probably mentioned the notoriety of the sales people and physical fitness instructors in California Fitness, at least in Hong Kong. I don't doubt their credibility and experience, but I simply don't like their sales approach. They try as much to crowd you into a corner (in some cases, yes, like 3 or 4 of them trying to convince you to sign up for their personal trainers) and get you to sign something. At that point, you don't really know what you need, and they tell you, "you need this" and then try to convince you... and convince you.. and convince you.

In fact, they probably won't let you go, unless you're as stubborn as they are, or you just flat out be extremely rude towards them. THEN, they MIGHT get the point.

Anyway, as I was saying, today I just experienced one of the best sales tactic I've ever encountered at California Fitness.

I was minding my own business, pre-aeroclass workout, doing my upper body, since I couldn't do my lower body (you know.. THAT knee problem.) at one of the machines. Just minding my own business. I don't really have that much of an experience with machines, especially since there's so much to choose from at each gym branch, but generally I think they're safe to work with since they already provide support for your posture. At least in a general sense.

Of course, there are a couple of advanced looking machines that might have you to end up with wrong positions - and eventually hurting yourself in the process. I was working on one of them when one of the personal trainers actually stopped in his tracks, and looked at me, then tried HELPING me to a better position.

Ok, I know sometimes altruisim is no big deal in this world, but for a gym who's had such an irritating and aggressive sales team, and a somewhat snobby set of personal trainers (I've been through 3 of them, and they've simply ignored me right after I've turned them down in joining their "special limited" offers) this is actually a change. I know my brother said I could always approach whoever and then ask them how machines work, since I'm already paying for the service with my membership anyway, but its still different to ask myself, and actually be offered the help.

And surprisingly, the nice personal trainer gave me several other pointers when using three other machines relating to shoulders and triceps, which was very much appreciated. I was almost expecting him to offer his services as a personal trainer, and also force me to get into the whole personal trainer "package", but he didn't. REALLY. It was amazing.

It was really amazing.

I still can't believe it, even up til now.

Amazing.

So now, I figured, when I actually get the chance (or the money) to afford a personal trainer, or be just be plain nice one of these days, and feel like giving a gift to some of those gym people, I'll make sure I search him out and include him in my list. His name's something like Dick Chan, and works at the Causeway Bay branch. I don't know how good he is as a personal trainer, or how much experience, but I think I'd rather deal with him, than any of the others I've encountered in the past. If there was such a thing as "pogi points" for sales, then this guy just scored a WHOLE lot in my book.

Now, why couldn't those other California Fitness Personal Trainers just employ the same tactic that this guy did? I'm sure they're likely going to get more sales and applications for Personal Trainers that way, than actually cornering a potential applicant, which would probably do one, or all of the following:

(a) irritate the potential applicant
(b) scare the potential applicant
(c) will make the potential applicant avoid the PT area like a plague (I know I do)
(d) give a really really really bad impression to other California Fitness sales and PT teams who may be doing a good job (maybe)

I'm still pretty amazed up until now. California Fitness should employ THAT kind of tactic, rather than just pushing potential applicants around.

Shoes Plus Something Else...

Plus, it seemed that its not only nice shoes that I got out from the New Balance store in Times Square.

Err.

How should I say this.

Well, ok, there's no "other" way to say this, but to say that err.. I've been eyeing guys lately. There. You shouldn't be so shocked, I'm still a lady, you know.

Well, actually, I'm not really eyeing them. I suppose its just a curiosity. I mean, hello, I've been going to the gym for 21 weeks already, and I see this guy every Saturday and Sunday, and I'm sure he knows I'm around, its just that, well, .. we don't really talk. He keeps to himself (with his earphones on) and I keep to myself (with my earphones on)... would you look at that.. its really funny too, because we're the only two people in the whole line (yes, if you remember the Saturday classes that I absolutely love to attend, the lines get really long) that always have earphones plugged in.

I was just a bit surprised finding him at the same New Balance store in Times Square. From what I see, I normally see him lifting weights before the step aerobics class, so I was a bit surprised he was err.. shopping... more than an hour before the actual class, and also at the same shop that I was at. I totally wasn't expecting that.

Well, actually, I wasn't really sure it was him. It would be funny to be looking at people's faces and saying "Hey, aren't you the guy who also attends Steve and Suzette's Saturday and Sunday classes?" I'm not THAT desperate. (or.. errrmm.. ok, maybe I am. I shouldn't have even noticed him in the first place. I'm such a loser. :P) At the end I just peeked a bit, but it'd be a bit stupid to peek and then say hello, and also give away the implication that I've been "noticing" him. So err, nevermind. :P

No I don't plan to change boyfriends. The person just piques my interest, that's all.

Its not just him, there are several others (No, I'm not referring to just guys, but ALL FAMILIAR FACES in general). But its rather easier to talk to the others, than this one I suppose, since he always keeps to himself. Its a bit harder.

A week before I finally got to talk to this girl.. always see her, not as often as the guy, but also often enough. She has this amazing muscled arms that I really really REALLY envy... the existence of those arms in other people is the sole reason why I'm working out at the gym :) Well, anyways, I did get to talk to her for a wee bit. Not much, but its a start.. at least you know you acknowledge each other's existence.

Anyway, fine. I'm probably what other people refer as "stalking". I don't think I'm stalking, but I suppose every one is entitled to their own opinion. For your information, I don't follow people around: I just take note of things more when the opportunity arises, that's all. I don't really go about making the oportunity myself. Puhleeeeaze.

To make this long story short, afterwards, back at the gym and in the aerobics area, I ended up with a less-than-adequate space behind him, (which was my usual spot) and he was nice enough to acknowledge me and move his step a bit up front so he could give me a more room.

Yes, that's the point of this whole post. He smiled at me, acknowledged me, and I smiled, acknowledged and thanked him.

End of story.

This is turning out to be a wuss of a post.

I am soooOOoOOoOOOoooo LAME. *Sheepish* Sorry.

WAaaahh! Ok, no more posts like this in the future! This is embarrassing, pathetic and dreadfully pitiable. The only good thing that came out of this post is that I learned (remembered) how to reference link to a previous post, not only that, but also for the first time, created and placed a bookmark in that previous post, and referenced the link-bookmark combination.

That still sounds pathetic though. Oh well, I guess we all have our days. :P

In With The New, Out With The Old

This may be a bit overdue, but as they always say, its better late than never.

I finally got the chance to get new shoes in place . Its about time too, since I figured its better to get a more stable shoe rather than continue on using the current one, which is fine, but seem very inappropriate for step aerobics. What did my friend say? no lateral support.

So this afternoon, before my Causeway bay gym session, I passed by Times Square to check out the sports shoes... I did pass by a couple, like Nike, Puma, but in the end I still settled on New Balance, for some strange reason.

But first.

As a respectful send off for my old shoe, lets give a chance to see it one last (first) time:



"You have accompanied me for the past few months when I started going back to the gym... all whole 21 continuous weeks of toil and sweat, and 10 pounds of lost fat. Your help has always been appreciated, and will always still be. Not to worry, you will not be forgotten, ... if any further chance of running arises, I will always remember... but for now, I think it its time to think about my own health and stability, and I hope you will understand, and forgive me for retiring you... I'm sure you understand, in the end, you're still... Running shoes. You've been the best I've had..."

Eulogy finished, let's all have a moment of silence.

....
....
....

Ok. That should be enough. :)

So here it is, the new shoe, all 520HKD (on sale) of it, in all its glory:


Check out those nice shoe strings included with the new shoes... pretty interesting design:


Check out the laterals!!! This is why I considered buying a new pair of sports shoes in the first place! Nice, thick and looks very stable, but still doesn't come out looking cheap:


Check out those nice soles, and that funny seal that says "high stability":



Hahaha, I seem so excited huh?

Capital! Eeeekkk! I used it for today's aerobics class!

How did it do? Well actually it was pretty good except for the fact that I was wearing some really stupid socks that won't hold on to my feet, and kept slipping out. I ended up with a blister at the top of my ankle.

Ah, but that's the sock's fault, not the shoe. The shoe was fine, nice, and ok :)

I Can See The Sun...

I didn't realize I was swamped with stuff until yesterday.

I knew I was coming back home from the office "on time" yesterday. I was somewhat excited because of this, after having quite a schedule for the past few weeks. Case in point:

1. Monday : have to meet up with 2 different people after work, one in Central, and one in Wan Chai. Plus I had to go to a friend's house to help her fix her computer... which was all the way in Kowloon (Hang Hau)
2. Tuesday : needed to have my voice lessons, which start at 8:15. Plus its all the way in Prince Edward (also in Kowloon) and I almost always get home sometime after 10pm.
3. Wednesday : had to meet up with a couple of people for ... well, for... you know. Do I need to really say it? Anyway, I finished by 830, so I was home late again.

So yesterday, I came home at 6pm. It was also the first time in quite a long while that I actually saw my home district with the sun still high up in the sky. I can see the sun! I got home quite early in this case, and frankly, didn't know what to do.

But it sure felt good.

I don't know how often people get these kind of crazy schedules, but do you? Its really refreshing , isn't it? I hope days like these come more often, but fat chance though: with prep for OCP coming up, and some other "stuff", I doubt I'm going to have time for the next few months. Hope I finish the OCP soon though, that would clear out a lot of pressure and work. Good luck to me, and have a nice day! :)

What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?

This is a question for everyone, particularly those in the Human Resources, or Psychology majors out there. I hope you can shed some light into this question, as at the moment I can't seem to fanthom the significance and importance of certain "standard" interview questions, and I think I'd like to find out the perspective from where you are coming from. So, here goes, and my question is:

What is the point of asking people their strengths and weaknesses?

Let's setup the picture for a moment. You're interviewing job applicants, most of which you got from job hunters and direct applicants from your website. Most of them aren't internal referrals, so you can't ask for more information about the person from anyone at all. You can't know the person's credibility, personality, work ethics, motivations, ideals and core values up until the point where you come face to face with the applicant.

So why in the world will you be asking the person about his strengths and weaknesses?

You don't know this person. You don't know if the person is a world class liar. You don't know if this person is good at bullsh*tting, and you don't know if this is a type of person who can create flowery words to patronize you without you even noticing. We all know there are THOSE types of people. So why ask a person for his own opinion of himself? If you get someone who is truthful and frank, then its ok, but we all know that's not the case for everyone. People are guided by their own perspective of themselves, or even worse, some people are guided by their skewed motivations - as a result, some become very calculating about the things they say and do, sometimes to the point of deceit.

Lets see, if I were like that, as a job applicant who is in desperate need of a job, what's the best path that I will do?

1. Research extensively on the company, check out what types of people they want.
2. Create a list of positive traits. Use the web to search for positive, pro-active traits that are ideal for the position that you are applying for.
3. Review and rehearse the list of traits, so that the scripted traits will come out smoothly.
4. Use that for the interview.
5. Redo the same procedure for a different job, but change #2 so that it suits the next employer and job. Regardless if its true or not for your personality.

I'm sure this method will come out pretty smoothly... will work with convincing the HR interviewer of your "pleasant" and "proactive" personality...

Ok, I'm assuming here that everyone in the world is most likely a scheming, conniving chameleon. On a more subtle, and subconscious note, studies show that even if the person is perfectly honest, frank and trustworthly, differences in people's relative opinion and world outlook will skew their words as compared to the objective truth. (Is there even an objective truth?) You can read Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, for that. He cites several examples of human perspective that essentially mentions that for most people, what we say does not always coincide with what we do. Its not a conscious fault, but there are things that are definitely happening on the subconscious level.

In the book's example, the initial question was to ask the subject if he considers himself racist or not. Then the subject will be exposed to a series of tests involving immediate reaction against pictures of different races. In a large number of the results, most people graded very poor against this. I actually took the test myself (it is found a Harvard site, and I'll be posting the full path shortly after I refer to my copy of the book)* and found that I graded slightly poor against my own perceptions. Horrible to find out? Yes. Does it answer my question? It seems so.

So the question remains, what is the purpose of directly asking an interviewee a direct question, asking him to elaborate on his personal strengths and weaknesses? Wouldn't a standard, normal conversation/inquiry be more appropriate in this case than directly asking an obvious question such as this?

I hope someone gives me an insight, just because, I'm not a Psychology major, and I really don't understand the significance and perspective. I'd like to know and if someone could kindly enlighten me with their own opinions and reactions, it'd greatly be appreciated.

As for now, I'll still keep on wondering...

*I made a mistake and thought that the test was from an MIT site. Turns out it is a Harvard site instead. The test is called the Implicit Association Test.

Back To Regular Programming

My posts will now be back to regular programming. Thank goodness too, I'd like to start writing more substantial entries rather than a direct blow by blow account of my day, especially after backtracking a whole month's worth of posts :)

Thank you for your continued patronage :)

Hoooray!

Hoooray! My blog posts are now up to date! (I've been back tracking on what happened for the past.. egad, 1 month! Since the start of December, can you imagine that.)

Now that I'm back on track, I can stop trying so hard to remember what happened for the past few days... Pheeew.

Time to celebrate by stopping to think so much. :P

Recreating Yoshinoya Mushroom Congee

Its called Yoshinoya Assorted Mushroom Congee with Ao Nori. You can see more of its pictures at the Hong Kong Yoshinoya Site.

I've been a sucker for this dish since I discovered it late last year. Its been available for its menu for some years now, but its only recently that I had the courage to try it (I was addicted to their beef bowl right before that). I had a craving today, and figured that I might as well try to recreate the dish myself, since I'm so fond of trying to recreate dishes that I've eaten at restaurants.

So in my attempt to accomplish this, I headed to several supermarket chains to gather my ingredients. Cost me quite a bit though, but nevermind that. I didn't really get something particularly expensive, its just that its a bit over my budget, and I don't really allot a big budget for myself to begin with.

So to try and recreate the dish, I put together this recipe:

Assorted Mushroom Congee with Ao Nori

100g Assorted asian mushrooms (Clamshell, oyster, shiitake, enoki)*
4 cups flavored stock, preferably bonito dashi
1 tablespoon Ao Nori Flakes
3 strips of 1x3 seasoned seaweed (those japanese seaweeds that people snack on)
dash of salt
Cooked rice, preferably short or medium grain
1 teaspoon of light colored soy sauce

Serves approximately for 2

Instructions
1. Bring the stock to a boil. If using dashi granules, boil water and add in the granules.
2. shred the seasoned seaweed into small pieces and add them into the boiling stock. Also add in the Ao Nori flakes
3. Add the soy sauce. Then add some salt. Taste. (Should be slightly salty so it would be good stock to add to rice)
4. Add the mushrooms and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.
5. Add the stock to the cooked rice. Serve.

Pre-cooking notes:
*You want to select a wide range of asian mushrooms, and ideally cut (if the mushroom is initially big, like shiitake) or separated(if the mushrooms are in clumps, like enoki or clamshell) to bite size pieces


The whole thing turned out to be nice, but I suppose I added in a bit too little salt so the whole thing tasted a little bland. You should adjust the saltiness of the dish so that when added to the rice, it won't taste as bland. I suppose you can cheat by adding the salt AFTER you've placed everything in the bowl, but its still not nice :) All in all it was interesting.

NOTE: You can also take a look at foodsubs.com, it has an extensive list of mushroom varieties, together with accompanying pictures
NOTE: When I get the time , I'll take a picture of MY version. I seem to have conveniently finished it all up. :)

Gym Progress Week 22

Yes, ok.. I couldn't stand it again.

I just figured, I'd put in less of an effort when jumping around.. maybe that would work. Less jumping around, and lots of stretches in between. It sort of has worked somewhat. What's an addicted girl to do? :P

Week 22
Sat(FW,ISM): Steve
Sun(ISM): Suzette

Oh and the Physiotherapy Session...

I definitely screwed up my knees after going to the gym for step aerobics last weekend.

They're definitely hurting again.. I knew I should've just stuck with working out my upper body and staying on those upper body vs lower body machines at the gym (its a piece of equiptment where you can control the exertion of each side of of your arm and leg combination.. you can exert more effort pushing and pulling with your arms and your legs will just follow, or vice versa, for each side) but then, who could resist the callings of an aerobic class (ok, maybe a lot of people...).
'
So now my knees are sore again.. and I'm consistently working full time to stretch them out and massage my knee caps to avoid THAT kind of problem anymore.

As a personal note to myself, I should avoid the physiotherapist clinic just immediately right after his vacation... His clinic was packed and he didn't have a lot of time to spend with me. So much for quality.

A Bit on the Voice Lessons

I have now been officially awake for more than 40 hours... I came to the voice school early, and promptly doozed off waiting for my scheduled time to come.

I had a new piece today to work on. Previously it was Favorite Things from the Sound of Music musical and I think THAT was ok. For this new piece, I'm sure most of you know it, the piece is also from the Sound of Music, called the GoatHerder. That's the song where the singers burst into a lot of Le-iee-O-de-Le-ieee-O-de-Le-Hiiiii-WHOOoo! :) I'm not quite sure if I could stomach something so high - of course, "high" is a relative word - but it does hit on a very high G at the end - something that I am now not accustomed with. It might've been easy for me before, but not so much now.

So there I was, singing on the top of my diaphragm (its not really the lungs, you know), but I was actually surprised it turned out quite well. Not the High G part though, but there are a lot of high octave notes within the score that might've scared me a few months ago, which at the current moment, I was promptly belting out from my insides. Things are been steadily progressing for the past 2 months for me, and I'm ecstatic to get that gut feel of singing again. Maybe the 40 Hour, no sleep since yesterday helped a bit, since I wasn't a bit conscious with singing as I would normally be when I'm wide awake. I just go ahead and "THROW" my voice.

No, I don't scream out.. I still do it properly, you know.

In any case, it was a nice session.. Maybe I should always stay awake with no sleep prior to my voice lessons....

.... NOT.

Marathon No Sleeping Time

uhoh... Now I'm regretting the fact that I woke up at 6:30am yesterday.

I have now been officially awake for more than 35 hours now. Yes, 35 hours. I'm a bit groggy, and my my head is out of sorts. I still have a few more hours to go, because unfortunately I still have to go through my scheduled physiotherapy today, and my voice lessons at 8:15.. That means I won't be able to get back home and sleep immediately. At the earliest would probably be at 10pm...

I've been doozing off a bit for a while now in the office... It's amazing how much your whole body will progressively get unbearably sore joints after a day of no sleep...