Can Presents be Passe ? Can Presents be "Useless"?

Was chanel surfing the other day, and chanced upon the news, yes, I don't watch Ch5 news that much.. I did thought all news was switched to Ch6-CNA ? But oh well... now I know.. but I can't remember the time that is telecasted (grammar?) though. Oh, Nevermind.

Anyway, they were interviewing the man on the street, question posted : What Christmas Gifts are out-dated???? Can you believe such a question ??? Mine-oh-mine!

Many people interviewed labelled - Chocolates, Photo Frames, little-cute decorations, towels as passe. Well, I don't mind receiving either of the above.

In fact, I have received my fairshare of photoframes, keychains, candles, candle-holders, cute-little-towels and whatnots. But, I am thankful for each one that I receive. True, we might justify that the giver should have saved up the monies laid out for better causes. But, that person didn't. He/She took the effort to get something for ME. Well, it could be most likely that the giver didn't get much time to do Christmas presents, hence, the not-so-creative gift. But, have we ever stopped and think, we should be thankful as someone on the receiving end. That person did bother, even if he/she probably have made a hurried pick up at the departmental store before meeting up with me. That effort made, though, haphazardly, should not go un-notice by me, the receiver.

At this point of time, I'm sure alot of hands raise to have a take on this. But, hang-on.. without a doubt, can we say that that person didn't put in an ounce of effort ? Even if its those "its-christmas-I-have-to-buy-something" effort. Braving through the crowd while making his/her way there, queueing up to pay.. all those throngs of masses he/she has to endure. That has to mean something ? I hope.

So, I guess, for all those out there who has given me photoframes, keychains, little cute-nothings - a big hearty thank you! Somehow or other, I will find use for them.

For each photoframe given - I thank those who gave; Because, from those, I frame up the happy moments captured. Having them around me, reminds me each day of those who care. Looking at them, reminds me of the wonderful times that I have.

For those keyrings, keychains that I receive, I thank those who gave. With these, I bunch the many keys I have at work. And, those in excess... They make lovely hangings on my desk. Having them around me while I work, adds colour and reminders that I have friends and people who love me, not because of my competence in work, but because of who I am.

For those cute-little-towels that I receive, I thank those who gave. I don't think I would ever spend $15 on a tiny little square towel. Hah! Hah! Having them in my cupboards and coming upon them time and again reminds me of the endless supply of really good quality towels I have. Hehe... okie, that's dumb. But really, I have no qualms about having them.

For those pretty-little-nothings I receive, I thank those who gave. Having it displayed on my room shelves does perk up the room. If it wasn't for these "frivolous" Christmas gifts that I receive, I would have never bought them on my own.

So, to the many people who have given me gifts such as those - I thank thee. Thank you for remembering me while you shop - thank you for the effort taken. And most of all, thank you for being in my life, and my home with so many articles that I can't really use.

Kidding. :)

From chocolates (YUM!) to towels, to those plastic-ky decorations. I'm sure there's use for all of them. If not, well, they will just go into some nook/corner of my room - but all the same, thank you for your presents.

But honestly, I want to thank all of you, for the presents each and every Christmas.


xxx

3rd Day of Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. Yes, it is the 3rd day of christmas today. In case anyone out there who doesn't know that - there's 12-days to Christmas. So, technically, its still Christmas now. Whew!

I love this time of the year. Not just the presents, but rather, the nice thought of the year is winding to an end, and everything in the corporate world somehow slows down for the season. And, its lovely. There's no one, or anything that is able to make our corporate world come to a near stand-still... well, at least for most of us. (the unfortunate few that didn't manage to get into the christmas spirit would probably be NKF's Gerald Yee. With the recent uncovering of how money was spend by their ex-CEO, Mr-Yee has much to do to salvage the situation for NKF)

For the rest of us, work starts today. But, things are slow moving... looks like it that everyone is still very much in the holiday mood. Well, i'm glad that we've got the New Year's celebrations not too far away. Yipee! Don't you just love it !

Thank you Lord, for this time - this time of celebration, this reason for celebration...

Many will wonder why we celebrate Christmas.

No, we don't celebrate Christmas because Santa decides to come out his wood shed in Polar City, down to earth to bring us presents.

We celebrate Christmas because its the birth of Jesus Christ. Son of God - God's son - God' gift to mankind. That's why we celebrate christmas - not because of reindeers and santa claues. I wonder where Elves, sleighbells, Santa clauses came around...

A Spin off From another Blog - Fairy Tales ?

Was reading a blog today, the blogger was sighting that Fairy Tales equate to Airy Tales. Its sad to don on such a perspective about childhood. That it mean nothing. Her childhood's probably fine, but sometimes, certain things happen later in life to cause us to pick on the less-perfect things out of our childhood. Most of us, if not all of us, have certain things in our childhood that has cause some kind of "trauma" or whatsoever. And with that, we stigmatise certain things in life in our later years after childhood. Somehow, this fear that has grown in us ( probably evolving into some other characteristic in our behaviourial trait) and made us into who we are and how we grew up to be.

Was it our parents to be blamed for causing us to grow up in insecurity ? Was it them who has build such an environment for us to grow up in? (note that we are only segregating the less-then-perfect things that are passed down from parents, not the countless marvelous things that we have been blessed by family/parents)

I have no answer to that. I pondered.

Maybe they did. Maybe they didn't.

Even if they did, I reckon that it was something that was done unintentionally. Like the saying goes... all man are flawed. If they would have known that what they do when they are angry could marr our adult life in one way or another, they would have chose to steer clear of what they did. But then again, emotions are something that is difficult to control ... one might say that they wouldn't feel this way or that. But, in the trueness of nature... can one actually say that they don't feel a certain way when certain things are being done? If they manage to, would that be a surpressed feeling??? Much more dangerous when one does that ?

Pondering...

I try to answer the question by putting "Maybe, they didn't"... somehow, it was tough for me to justify that parents have nothing to do with this. Bad experiences in childhood affects the child. Period.

As much good experiences a child goes through in his/her younger years... it doesn't seem to leave that deep an imprint as compared to something "bad"that the child has experienced.

With that statement, it worries me. I wonder what sort of environment that WE - the 20somethings/30somethings, the new mummies/daddies, the potential mummies/daddies - might build for our children. How will the children of Dawn Teo/Yeo, Daphne whatever or that SarongPartyGirl blogger will grow up to be ? The first two are ultra angels (?).. that's what the media tell us, and the other the degenerate. What can we say of them? Whatever they are, angel or demon.. visuallising them as parents are ... well... a scary thought. How about picturing your peer as a mother, or father... scares you doesn't it? Well.. it makes me wonder if my own peers can be called good daddies/mummies. I'm not making the comment or judgement if these people - or rather WE - make bad parents.

I know some really good parents. Parents that are mums and dads to my peers. But yet, it seems that these children of these good parents still harbour fear/trauma/stigma on certain things in life. Sigh.. What does it take to make/ bring up children to be perfect???

I reckon the answer is - None. If one doesn't grow up having fears -- one will never learn on life's trials .. there's be no battles to fight in life. What will that make us ? Social maimes ? We need to fight to be alife. Battles that are healthy - that are challenging us beyond ourselves - that will help us to learn, to see better. I wouldn't want to have ears that do not hear, and eyes that do not see.

Will I make a good parent ? Will you make a good parent? Will Dawn Yeo/Teo, Daphne Whatever or SarongPartyGirl make a good parent?

WHO CARES ???!!!

Its not the parents that make the journey - its the child. It is up to the child to live well and learn well. To know that these fears or airy tales from childhood are indeed .. just.. airy tales... things to overcome..

The Passing of Common Sense

I received tis from an email a couple of weeks back from a friend. I read it, and felt the esscence of truth overwhelming. How the simplistic nature of things turned to a blind eye to many. Common Sense has lost its place in our modern days.. slowly disappearing and fading away. Its a wonder that we, as a society has grew intelligent in science, math and every other subject that has helped us to be what we are today.... but yet, in the midst of our richness and sophistication of our own wisdom, we lost our fundamental intelligence to modernism.

The Sad Passing of Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common sense lived by sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well- intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a six- year old boy being charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student; only worsened his condition.

Common sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer paracetemol, sun lotion, or a sticky plaster to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home, and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to recognise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a large settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three step brothers - I know my Rights; Someone else is to blame; and I'm a Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone.

Its another week again

Hi guys, its another week again. I was on leave on Monday, scouting around town for any worthy purchases that I can make. Alas, there was none. Well, next to none that is. I did get down to buying 3 pairs of shoes. But, it does seems that clothes these days doesn't appeal to me. I honestly can't think why. I use to manage to get heaps of clothes when i go shopping. But not this time. sigh....

I did saw a dress that was really pretty - blue, roman-ish off shoulders. Pretty little number. It wasn't all that little really. Its lovely. But, my lazy arse simply couldn't get itself into the dressing room. Well, i guess, in that way, i do save up on the dole that I've accumalated to a handsome sum over the past months. (",) But Scoorge isn't my name. I'm prudence... HAHAHAHHAHAHAH...

Anyway, the mild rampage of orchard road was an unproductive contribution to the retail economy of singapore. But, it did make my legs ache... too much walking I suppose. Either that, or, I'm getting way too old for my age. Mental Note : Need more exercise.

Reliving The Childhood in Star Dust and Fairy Tales

Its at end of the work week once again.. yipee! *excited* whoopie! I don't really have any exciting activity planned later in the evening, except to catch Harry Potter. I'm a little lagging in catching the "hottest" shows in town, yes. But then again, who cares!

Its a movie booking frenzy today - I booked Harry Potter for tonight, Aeon Flux for tomorrow afternoon and Chronicles of Narnia for the 23rd.

I'm looking forward to Chronicles of Narnia... I've been reading CS Lewis since I was a little. I remembered the hardcover books -- they were red, green and yellow. I think the last is Yellow.. i can't really remember now. And, I am wondering now if they've got a third book on that.. gasp! I can't remember. As far as my memory can reach, I can only remember reading the green and red ones... yes, I sometimes recognise the books by the colour of its covers. Not the clever-est thing to do really. But.. what do you expect for a 6 year old ??? You can't really tell a 6 year old about publications and how mercenary publishing companies stealing money from brilliant writers.

Anyway, I love the Snowqueen... I remembered Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve, I remember the Lion... I remember in one chapter on mirrors, and characters turning into glass (I think its this book). But all of which, I remembered that while reading it, I could see the white, white snow.. as far as I could see... There was alot of snow, but yet, I didn't understand the concept of feeling blue to the boot. I remembered reading page after page, being excited and hoping that I'll reach the end of the book soon, as the pages of un-read portion grew thinner which each frentic flipping... another thought crept in... that means that my enjoyment for the book will end soon too. 2 opposites of a feeling. It was weird. But I kept reading. When I reached to the end of the story, I read them all over again. I enjoy reading CS Lewis. I find fantasy, fairy tales .. talking creatures, gold dust, magic, unicorns, flying creatures, and children who enjoy themselves. The evil, and good was something that I could comprehend, and like every fairy tale, goodness won.

I love Narnia. It is something that I have brought from my childhood... I manage to catch the thriller many moons before, and got really excited that CS Lewis will be made into a movie. I do hope that it'll be as good as the book. Well, even if it isn't, I reckon that its enough for one kid who found her childhood in fairy tales, star dust and unicorns. I am happy. (",)

Coffee & Toast

Coffee and Toast has arrived at the doorstep of my office - ever nearer then before. (",) Wonderful. It has been awhile since I've drunk anything from there. The last time was the time before I embarked on that strenous trip down under. That could be more then 4months ago.

Coffee and Toast has been very much of my daily routine since I started with my current employer, and that was the beginning of this year. A milky, steaming hot cup of teh-ci was much of a delight after lunch. Just right for to slip into a lazy mood of starting off one's engine for the 2nd half of a work day. Its a true booster.

I was a little disappointed, having to "make-do" with coffee bean, Delifrance and some tiny little-sub-standard coffee drinks stall since I shifted to this far off place in the east. But, to my delight, I found Coffee and Toast, set up in a made-shift little kiosk in the open area. As I took the escalator up this morning, there it was, greeting me in full fervour, in the all too familiar Brown and Orange branding, standing proudly. My Oh My -- good morning SIR! Its a good sight in the morning, to see your favourite cofee/tea store turning up at my very doorstep. (",) To think I was just lamenting a couple of months ago, how I wish there would be a little branch over here... And, it really did came! What are the odds! Cool isn't it. :)

I'm glad... Yipee!

Why Did I Bother ?

It seems that for these past entries, there's alot of questions posted -- simple, yet with plenty of repercussions. By choosing another way, I may end up in a very different scenario and situation. Its like the movie, Sliding Doors, that starred Gywneth Paltro.

Oh well - back to the unfortunate decision that I've made some weekends back. Yes, stupidly, I have agreed in helping a fren out in uploading some web pages, simple. Simple enough - just uploading.

But, I should have guessed how things will turn out - as predictable as any screenplay that our National Communications/ Entertainment channels, be it Ch5, Ch8, can come up with -- this simple task of uploading, mortifed itself into something bigger, and more time consuming.

Initials were the simple change of identation in 1 page, and helping to load missing pictures from the site. Not a problem at all, these were really easy task. However, the list doesn't stop there.... there came request to help look into Error messages showing up on the site, to looking into why some functions are not working (you guess it right, their web developer was an amateur) These functions were relatively easy by far, however, that will involve me precious time in looking through the codes and figuring out what's causing all this errors, even if we are looking at the simplest codes. For those of you has done programming, the familiar time send in front of the system, the tedious-ness it is to look through codes done by OTHERS, and trying to figure out what goes where. With an added "delight" - it was without a single documentational tags on the codes. sigh

So, my labourious job begins. Instead of resting and enjoying myself, taking the evening slow, I dragged myself out of a well-deserving rest for this favour that i have agreed upon. I was tired... especially so this week. It was my company's annual forum, and work has been at its peak. Having my regional counterparts visiting all at the same time because of the forum doesn't help either. It hasn't been easy for me - but our dear friend had to "rush" me, though politely, on this piece of work, which she showed me on Sunday afternoon, and giving me a dateline of 1st Dec. Of course, I told her that it was impossible for me to meet that sort of "dateline" - Man! Datelines! Can you believe this ?

Besides dragging myself out of the rest that I badly needed, I had to scramble for tools. Its been awhile since I've done any serious web developing... and most of my tools are left in a konked-out hard drive that I refuse to fix only because I have better things to do in my spare time, rather then further indulge myself in more "computer" related things.

Armed with nothing but a CD of the latest images of the site (so I was told), I went into my task. First things, I needed an IP address - I have no IP address that I can FTP to, I wasn't able to see a THING from the backend, let alone to edit the site. I was only given the domain name to work with. And, about everything else, I have to figure it out on my own.... pings, tracerts, which folder the files/images were kept on the server... But fortunately, I was able to figure that out.. thankfully, my tietary education in Computer Science, and a good grade in Networking helped.

Figuring everything out myself wasn't a fun task, even though I did manage to plulck the correct numbers out of the air. Kidding. It was fortunate that the site wasn't that masked, and there wasn't any PING blocked.. err. okie, getting too technical. I should stop that.

And, having myself armed with a said updated version of the images in a CD doesn't help either. In fact, despite figuring out all the network aspects of it, it became a disastor. Working with wrong information is indeed dangerous.... In the end, I slept at half past 2, went through needless stress. I guess I could handle that... It was part and parcel of working on a site gone haywired. Be it work or doing it as a favour for a fren. I accept it. What I felt indignant about was that very same fren of mine pinned all blame on me, sighting that I was incompetent and wasn't able to take simple instructions.

I was sooooooooooooo so so so so mad - first things first - this is a favour. True. I screw it up - but, in the first place, they should have specify that the contents of the CD was of an older version!!!!! And, I was to take the blame for everything? Honestly, I feel that I could have saved myself from all this by not taking up their request to assist them in their website.

Without proper tools (contents of the site that is), with alot of finger pointing, and having them not telling me how some stuff was being done, without having any vital information or whatsoever - they expect me to help. And, when things fail because I tried to help, they blame everything on me - calling me incompetent and not being able to take instructions. "Kei-Kiang" to that effect.

Armed with my credentials and experience in web application developement, I dont' think I deserve such statements or comments directed at me. You might say I am proud. But I know what I can do, and what I cannot do. I was paid to work with webs and develope webs before, it was once my occupation. I know what I am doing, and I can manage simple instructions..... I manage projects now, and I GIVE instructions and TAKE instructions very well.... Despite all these, she blamed it on ME.... that I couldn't take instructions... in the first place - what instructions were there?

She said she told me that the CD was images, and not the latest. But, as far as I recall, I asked her if the images were ALL inside, as I would be using them to upload to the site. She denies that, and said that it was my fault, because, she has told me that its the older version. There seems to be no logic at all, because, if I was the one who is uploading the files, wouldn't she be giving me the UPDATED copy to be uploaded instead??? Why give me the old copy????? Why would I need an old copy? To upload back-dated-information ??? really, no logic. Her arguments were baseless. She insisted that it was my fault. My fault because I loaded a copy of something she has given me to upload??? I can't really figure this one out - maybe someone can help decipher it for me.

To be fair, I was in some sense at fault, yes, because I should have checked -- knowing that I'm dealing with such unIT savvy people. I should have preempted such a situation. It was just at the back of my mind, a nagging thought to ask me to check, but, i choose to believe what she's told me. I should have taken her like a stupid end user, and verify EVERYTHING first before proceeding. But, I thought : She was, after all, managing the site since the site was up.

The golden question will be : WHY DID I BOTHER ?

The only reason why I didn't take up web developing as a part time job is because, I rather earn a couple of grand lesser and enjoy my time after work. I feel that its well worth it, though many of my friends have encouraged me to take on this side line. But I simply refuse - because, I believe in rest. Rest is my priority. Enjoyment. Not money.

True, money is important, but money, is not everything. A couple of grand for a decent night's rest and enjoyment - why not ? A small price to pay for my priority, really.

And yet, I took on the favour of helping a fren out - the worse equation. No money, no time for rest. Shitty.. and worse - no appreciation. I guess, that's still okie. I dont' need gifts or recognition... In place of this, I get sacarstic remarks, bad relationship, rebuking.. WHY???? WHAT IN THE NAME FOR ?

Should I be upset with this fren of mine - or at myself for getting myself into this ?

Anyway, I have resolved not to help anymore. Favour of this sort, is something one should avoid.