Boss said he “wanted to throw me out of the window” for asking too many questions he didn’t have answers to.  Mentor said I am “now disallowed from asking questions which I don’t have constructive ideas for.”

In Good to Great, Jim Collins writes that a company “shouldn’t put their best people on the biggest problems.  They should put their best people on the biggest opportunities.”

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”
- Lewis Carroll

The staff (or ladies and gentlemen, as they are referred to) at the Ritz-Carlton do not differentiate between internal and external customers.  That means that their interactions between themselves behind the scenes are subject to the same rules as when they interact with clients of the hotel.  Can you imagine the level of discipline it takes to have that level of culture?  Or is it the other way around – imagine the level of culture it takes to have that level of discipline?  I wonder.

A helpful (older) man told me “I grew up in a different time; I don’t believe anything I hear, and only half of what I see.” While my first reaction was to laugh, it later told me that it’s not what we say, and not even what we show others, but what we actually do and who we actually are inside that truly matter.  How many of us can pull it off, though?  At least the ladies and gentlemen in the Ritz-Carlton get paid to do it..

My idea of mutual trust is not necessarily when people can talk about anything and everything with each other, but instead, it’s when they do not need to do so.

Good change.

Rest is temporary.

If you need something permanent to get comfortable with, do not use a human.  Use a pillow.

We are taught fear all our lives.

Be afraid of making mistakes.  Be afraid of being wrong.  Be afraid of making other peoples’ mistakes.  Be afraid of being less than others.  Be afraid of this.  Be afraid of that.

I am sick of this.

However, 22+ years of brainwashing and drilling does not go away so easily.  It will take lots of effort to break free from this paralyzing way of thinking.  To my advantage, I will be living in an environment where I am solely responsible for myself.  This should help somewhat.  Reformat, reboot.

My life is my life; no one else’s.

That is all.

Inside joke for IE's.

Had dinner with an old friend earlier.  Among the things we talked about was about how there wasn’t much black-and-white anymore, but more gray.  Yea, similar to what I’ve been mentioning in my last few posts.

Among the things mentioned was antivirus companies writing and releasing their own viruses into cyberspace to infect computers and thus give those system owners a reason to purchase their software.  How about the possibility of H1N1 being manufactured so a certain company(s) could sell the vaccine(s)?  Doctors and teachers are the so-called noble, self-sacrificial people who literally work to put themselves out of a job.  If everyone was smart and healthy (enough), what would they be left to do?  Is it therefore in their best interest to keep some people less smart and healthy?  How does the effort and reward system apply to these people?

It’s a circle that is simple in terms of cause and effect, but has serious reverberations in terms of the ethics involved.  So where does it begin and where does it end?  Does anyone really know?  All we know is that the golden rule has been in effect since the great industrial revolution of long ago, when the rich took control of industries as well as education.  “The one who has the gold makes the rules.”

I was crushed.  I didn’t have those “feelings” – does that mean I would never be able to properly parallel-park a car?

It seems those “feelings” – things you can’t really describe but you somehow have – are occurring even more to me now for some reason.  As we go further in life, we are given more choices but it is less obvious which the right ones are.

We can then only rely on our foundations, which (hopefully) have been strengthened over time.

It doesn’t matter, I think.  With proper effort, anyone can succeed anywhere.

That said, I am gonna make the best of this opportunity.

This holiday was everything I hoped for and more.

Time with friends.

More time with family.

A few more important people to see, and I wrap up this chapter of my life.

Damn.

Emo sia.

Hard to blog; too much thoughts, too little organization.

Be back soon.

New life, new challenges.

So good to meet up with all old kakis in Malaysia.

Time to be productive again!