Kerr’s Universe

After the unfortunate episode where Kerr has to cancel his precious long leave and go back to fight fire, the situation has finally came under control after one long month of battling. With the return of his brother-in-arms, Kerr can finally return to his much awaited long leave. YEAH!

-

Bring forth the 3 weeks of cancelled leave, I have managed to connect with the leave I have already applied for in Dec to a whopping 5 weeks. So, what am I gonna do for the leave this time round? After some thinking, that’s what I have charted out for myself thus far.

-

The general theme for this time round, as per the last, is to get fit. Thus, would focus mainly on working out, running, swimming, yoga and of course, intensive training for the impending Philippines salsa congress and the many performance that our dear Suman has arranged to prepare us for the trip. Bro love a.k.a. Tseyong, who have left his old job to take on the much challenging financial planning job (of course, more profitable definitely) would also be much more flexible in his hours and we are finally able to train together again. (hahaha…actually, I’am training under his wing…he’s a professional gym instructor and i’am just the occasional fitness enthusiast). Oh ya, forgot to mention that I probably try to pick up inline skating during this period of time. Hmm…I wonder whether I’am overloading myself already.

-

Well, apart from the general theme, there are other smaller tasks on hand to be achieved during this period as well.

1. To complete my Leo’s Jigsaw puzzle which I have bought a long time back. In fact, its a jigsaw puzzle which I have bought with my ex. Hmm…thinking back, it has certainly being quite a while back.

-

2. To borrow a flatbed scanner…so how? Anyone can lend me?

-

3. To use the above flatbed scanner to scan all my photos into softcopy and post them online. Soon, you people will be able to see my baby photos. (haha…as if you guys really want to see it)

-

4. To backup the data on my comp into CDs. This would probably not take as long as the scanning of the photos.

-

5. Giving a shot for a relationship again. (No worries, my bros. I’am just gonna give myself 5 weeks. If it doesn’t work out, I would just leave it as it is. Trust me on this.)

-

6. Start keeping track of my finances once again. I think I might have overspend quite a bit this year. (a bit is actually an understatement, I’am way past overspending, just nearly eating into my previous year savings. jia lat)

-

Well, I guess that’s about it. Seriously think that I’am overloading myself, but then again, that’s the plan, I would just try to achieve them to the best of my abilities. End of the day, its my hols, I should enjoy myself!

-

Oh ya, before I forget, remember to ask me out when yer free between 7th Nov - 11th Dec. Just that I wouldn’t be in town from 1st - 5th Dec and my Sun evening are still out as my Aikido classes would still run as per normal. Cheerios!

Well, there is indeed a lot of things that I should be blogging about even before I come to this, but as usual, my procrastination self have prevented their penning. In fact, I have to blog about stuffs to confirm my actual participation in CLDDS during my 2 years stint in NJC back then. Then, there’s salsa performance practice, Jimmy & Rachael’s competition practice, the performance last saturday, and a couple of other things that I have said I wanted to blog, but I have totally forgotten about it by now. Well, since I’am in such a conversant mood currently (in terms of msning), I shall divert some of that energy and at least finish one blog for this week.

-

Just went to a salsa party earlier, house party in fact. Pretty refreshing and I seriously like the setting. I have always like such parties in a comfy house setting, perhaps due to the influence of western films and drama. But well, it turn out that social dancing can really be very fun. Or at least, up to this point in time, after having dance salsa for nearly 1/1/2 years by now, I still can’t exactly say that i’am enjoying myself everytime that I dance, or should I say, there are even times when I feel frustrated, demoralised, stressed up, angry, dejected and sad to the point that I wonder whether I should continue in it.

-

Have been having numerous conversations with Jimmy and Rachael as well as many other salsa friends of mine over this matter, and especially during this period, due to the increase in frequency of meeting them (to train for the performance).

-

As far as I’am concerned, I feel that I have reached a plateau in my social dancing though I did break some grounds months back. It was indeed a good break back then and it did spur me on to strive for greater heights, but at the moment, I’am stuck once again. The plateau this time round is even flatter and probably more difficult to conquer as the inherent problem is my lack of creativity in the dance and the unability to dance to the music. Indeed, the lack of creativity has always been something that is always on the back of my mind and something that I would always be very conscious about while dancing. Definitely not something that you would like to have at the back of your mind while you are dancing as it is not exactly or rather, it is NOT a good feeling at all. And of course, it definitely not making the current situation easy for me.

-

Lack of creativity leads to stale moves and inability to generate new moves or even to permutate existing moves into seemingly new moves and I guess I’am one who feels bored easily and definitely one who doesn’t like to see people around me bored. Thus, its a double kill for me as stale moves executed by me, not only make myself feel bored, but also makes the gal that i’am dancing with feel bored. Of course, there are encouraging times, but when you are holding someone and you are in the "bored" mood, it would definitely be transmitted to your partner in one way or other, thus affecting the other mood into a more "bored" one. Even if she was not feeling bored initially, my boredom would soon rubbed on to her and she will definitely feel it and start exhibiting it and that, would have an adverse effect on me and the whole vicious cycle start feeding itself and it would just getting bigger and bigger.

-

So, that’s problem one. Problem two, being the inability to listen  and dance to the music. Have you ever wonder why it feels so good to go cheonging and dance. (No offence for those who go there to pick up gals, but seriously, i’am always there to dance.) Simply becos i’am dancing to the music, accenting and flowing together with the changing in beats, be it disco, Pop, techno, trance, house etc. Yesh, there isn’t a fixed step and its more like just stepping here and there, but it feels good when you are moving in sync with the rythmn, doesn’t it? That’s the most impt thing when you are dancing…well, at least socially. That’s why I always feel relax after cheonging…the releasing of energy…the expression of the self, that’s the most impt aspect of dancing…just like playing the piano - Self expression. In short, I’am not getting that kind of feeling with salsa and thus…all the frustration.

-

Problem one and problem two combined together, isn’t a beautiful sight, definitely not. The reason for being too conscious about oneself is definitely visible and the reason for that happening is becos i’am simply not enjoying myself and not going into a state of euphoria that dancing and other music playing is supposed to offer.

-

Well, now is not the time to sulk anymore. If I seriously want to continue with salsa, the above 2 problem must be solved, else, I might as well give it up and try my luck else where. So, since, i’am not in anyway thinking of giving it up at the moment, I might as well channel my energy in solving the problems.

-

Someone asked me tonight how well I would want to become. I guess the yardstick for me is simply, to improve to the point where I can enjoy every dance that I do and to make every person who dance with me enjoy that very dance as well. Its definitely a reachable goal as I am already starting to enjoy every bachiata dance that I do from a state where I totally couldn’t move with that music. This is something that I will start working towards and I believe I have a couple of good friends who can aid me along the way, isn’t that so, Jimmy?

-

Don’t wonder, believe….don’t try…do it.

The following are some classic Qian Bian Wen Da Ti. Let’s see how many of the following do you know. Oh ya, just to make it more Qian Bian, I wouldn’t be posting the answers as of yet.

Q1) Ah Mei’s dad has 7 wives. The 5th and 7th are Africans. Guess a Chinese idiom.

-

Q2) There’s a party in the forest. Who didn’t get to eat the cake!?!

-

Q3) Ah bao was murdered! However, the police quickly found the killer. Who was it?

-

Q4) Xiao Bai and Da Bai are bros. As Xiao Bai grows older, he looks more and more like his bro. Guess a Chinese idiom.

-

Q5) Osama, Bush , Blair and Saddam play mahjong. Who will win first ??

-

Q6) What’s the panda’s 2 biggest wishes?

-

Q7) Who will pick up the dumpling (ba zhang) on the floor ?

-

Q8) There are 3 Male and 1 Female pencils in a box. The Female pencil got pregnant!! Which Male pencil is responsible?

-

Q9) Xiao Ming drinks milk to grow up. What does Da Ming drink?

-

Q10) Which brand of shampoo is the wealthiest?

-

Q11) Fish told Bee Hoon that it is not being truthful, why?

-

Q12) John has a new boat which has everything on earth except for one item. Which item is that?

-

Q13) What did Batman say when he fell down?

My bros, as promised. This one goes out to all of you there

"May you find the brightest star in the sky, that would shine only for you!"

Was talking to a female friend earlier when this topic came into mind.

-

In general, guys are not very good listener as they are more inclined to be problem solvers - meaning, if they perceive a conversation to be a question, an issue or a problem (even though the problem isn’t theirs, not even remotely connected to them), they will attempt to provide an answer to the best of their knowledge.

-

Well, this works pretty well when guys talk to guys, since when guys asked another guy a question or brings up a problem, they are expecting an answer/solution from the other party.

-

However, this become slightly more complicated when a gal is involved. Somehow, a gal will slant/phrase a question into a comment/remark and vice versa, phrase a remark/comment into a question. Thus, most often than not, a guy will provide an answer when it is absolutely not required (since the gal is only making a comment and not even remotely waiting for any answer) and worse, not giving an answer when the gal needs an answer (which was posed in the form of a comment)

-

Perhaps I’am wrong. But looking at the above scenarios. Answer also die, don’t answer also die. So, you, tell me what to do.

A woman comes home and tells her husband, "Remember those headaches I’ve been having all these years? Well, they’re gone."
-
No more headaches?" the husband asks, "What happened?"
-
His wife replies, "Margie referred me to a hypnotist. He told me to stand in front of a mirror, stare at myself and repeat ‘I do not have a headache; I do not have a headache, I do not have a headache.’ It worked! The headaches are all gone."
-
The husband replies, "Well, that is wonderful."
-
His wife then says, "You know, you haven’t been exactly a ball of fire in the bedroom these last few years. Why don’t you go see the hypnotist and see if he can do anything for that?" The husband agrees to try it.
-
Following his appointment, the husband comes home, rips off his clothes, picks up his wife and carries her into the bedroom. He puts her on the bed and says, "Don’t move, I’ll be right back."
-
He goes into the bathroom and comes back a few minutes later and jumps into bed and makes passionate love to his wife like never before.
-

His wife says, "Boy, that was wonderful!"
-
The husband says, "Don’t move! I will be right back."
-
He goes back into the bathroom, comes back and round two was even better than the first time. The wife sits up and her head is spinning.
-
Her husband again says, "Don’t move, I’ll be ! ! right back."
-
With that , he goes back in the bathroom. This time, his wife quietly follows him and there, in the bathroom, she sees him standing at the mirror and saying, "She’s not my wife. She’s not my wife. She’s not my wife!"
-
His funeral services will be held on Monday.

Infosys Narayan Murthy’s speech

This is what I always believe in and sounds like good advice, read

on…..

-

Mr. Narayana Murthy is undoubtedly one of the most famous persons from

Karnataka. He is known not just for building the biggest IT empire in

India but also for his simplicity. Almost every important dignitary

visits Infosys campus. He delivered an interesting speech during an

employee session with another IT company in India. He is incidentally,

one of the top 50 Influencial people of Asia according to an Asiaweek

publication and also the new IT Advisor to the Thailand Prime Minister.

Extract of Mr. Narayana Murthy’s Speech during Mentor Session

……………………

I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a

week, or more. Some people do so because of a work

emergency where the long hours are only temporary.

Other people I know have put in these hours for years.

I don’t know if they are working all these hours, but I do know they are

in the office this long. Others put in long office hours because they

are addicted to the workplace.

-

Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over the

long term is harmful to the person and to the organization. There are

things managers can do to change this for everyone’s benefit. Being in

the office long hours, over long periods of time, makes way for

potential errors. My colleagues who are in the office long hours

frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue.

-

Correcting these mistakes requires their time as well as the time and

energy of others. I have seen people work Tuesday through Friday to

correct mistakes made after 5 PM on Monday. Another problem is that

people who are in the office long hours are not pleasant company.

They often complain about other people (who aren’t working as hard);

they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other people avoid them,

such behaviour poses problems, where work goes much better when people

work together instead of avoiding one another.

-

As Managers, there are things we can do to help people leave the office.

First and foremost is to set the example and go home ourselves. I work

w ith a manager who chides people for working long hours. His words

quickly lose their meaning when he sends these chiding group e-mails

with a time-stamp of 2AM, Sunday.

-

Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives.

For instance, here is a guideline I find helpful:

1) Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.

2) Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.

3) Go home.

4) Read the books/comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt, play

with your kids, etc.

5) Eat well and sleep well.

-

This is called recreating. Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2..

working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts. They are

hard for some of us because that requires ‘personal change’. They are

possible since we all have the power to choose to do them.

-

In considering the issue of overtime, I am reminded of my oldest son.

When he was a toddler, if people were visiting the apartment, he would

not fall asleep no matter how long the visit, and no matter what time of

day it was. He would fight off sleep until the visitors left. It was as

if he was afraid that he would miss something. Once our visitors’ left,

he would go to sleep. By this time, however, he was over tired and would

scream through half the night with nightmares. He, my wife, and I, all

paid the price for his fear of missing out. Perhaps some people put in

such long hours because they don’t want to miss anything when they leave

the office. The trouble with this is that events will never stop

happening.

-

That is life !! Things happen 24 hours a day. Allowing for little rest

is not ultimately practical. So, take a nap. Things will happen while

you are asleep, but you will have the energy to catch up when you wake.

Hence…

-

"LOVE YOUR JOB, BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY"

– Narayana Murthy

It would appear that my constant bloggings is starting, or rather had started to piss people off - reason being: Well, the blog alert will sent an email to all my friends on my friendster whenever i post a new entry. Though I haven’t officially received any hate mail like - "STOP BLOGGING SO OFTEN" or "DON"T YOU GET TIRED OF BLOGGING EVERYDAY?" or "WTF…NOT AGAIN" or perhaps "GET A LIFE, DO SOMETHING ELSE". Yeah, just some possibilities. But still, the feedback hasn’t been too pleasant lately. Some people turned off their blog alert in order to avoid their inbox been "spammed" by friendster "blog alert" and others worried that they can’t receive updates when people msg them on their friendster and thus did not turn the "blog alert" off, but "curse and swear" nonetheless for not being able to do so, until they were "enlightened" by other friends that "msg alert" are different from "blog alert", so turning one off doesn’t affect the other and vice versa. 

-

Well, maybe I should stop blogging. Nah, nothing to do with people’s unhappiness, but somehow, I’ve realised i’ve become much more anti-social after i started blogging. I would refer others to my blog when they prompt me about updates in life, and somehow after blogging certain things down, I would avoid talking about it to another to avoid duplication of info or perhaps, simply becos i’ve already gotten it off my mind by the act of blogging. Well, might actually be good, i dunno. Since I have found the act of repeating update in life repeatedly to be pretty tiring at times in the past as well. Well, maybe not all the time, but there were indeed times when I felt that way.

-

Then again, I seldom have time to meet up with everyone these days, so I guess blogging is still the faster way to get information through…that is, if you read my blog and you haven’t been "turned off" by the alert as yet.

Very common and easily anticipated plot - Boy love to play football, boy grow up with a lousy background but somehow have superb football skills, go through some hardship…blar blar blar…got into a club by twist and turn of events, go through even more shit…blar blar blar…then emerge victorious in the end. Of course, they have also thrown in a gal for him in the end as well…Okay…do I sound bored? Nope, absolutely not. Its still a great show despite its lack of originality…and a must watch for those soccer fans out there, except for liverpool fans and newcastle haters. Oh ya, plus those who hate the shit out of the non-discernable deep English accent. No offence, but I couldn’t understand a word either, just like the lead actor inside the show. Go catch it…its a GOAL!

Entertaining, but nonetheless, a rather crappy show. I believe his previous work "xin jin cha gu shi" was a much better one. Well, i had have my laughs earlier on. I’am not really complaining.

-

Yet another one of the social outing from the salsa clique. As mentioned in my previous posts, we are spending more time chatting, and going about other stuffs like eating, rather than dancing on the whole. I’am really glad its evolving out this way.

-

Well, training for Philippines salsa congress has started and that would account for at least 3 hours of practice per week, so I guess, a little lesser of union these days really doesn’t hurt. Though Rach would probably strongly disagree with this statement of mine.