The Tickets

I don’t know if this is a petty thing or what, but I will tell it anyway.

Earlier this day, Jogs invited me to the mall. It’s facial day for her. I am broke so I have to wait for her outside. After finishing a book, I have decided to go to the amusement center and play some games and to kill some time while waiting for her. It’s my first time to play in that place since 2011. I have noticed that the kids and kids-at-heart were “ticket-thirsty”–you know, those tickets you have to collect to get a toy doll. What a rip off! It was fun though. 

After 30 minutes, I went back to the skin clinic to fetch Jogs. We went to Starbucks to meet our friend, Carizza. We spent an hour and a half there and decided to go inside the mall because Jogs needs to buy something. 

While walking, I suddenly saw a dozen of the amusement park ticket on the floor. Then I just realized something:

What the brain thinks…the eyes will see.  Not the other way around. 

If I didn’t go to the amusement park 2 hours ago, I wouldn’t notice the tickets or even give a damn to write a blog post about them. Neither Carizza nor Jogs saw them but we all stepped on the same floor. 

I don’t know why these things happen to us. I’m not a brain doctor so I have no answers. 

Is it safe to say that WE ONLY SEE WHAT WE WANT TO SEE?

Never Look For It

While  drinking my green tea cream frappucino in Starbucks with my friends, I suddenly heard a great music. Probably one of the best sounds I have heard in my life. It’s jazz with a Ravi Shankar-ish twist. It’s very different from the usual Starbucks music.  My friends who were busy doing their doodles and re-writing Mandarin phrases hardly heard it. I’m not even sure if people around me noticed that there’s actually an epic music playing in the background.

I asked my friend to ask the barista the title and the artist of the amazing piece of art. The barista told my friend to wait for the title as they will search for the album cover. After a few minutes of waiting, no one approached us. I realized that I don’t really want to know the artist or the title anyway.  I don’t want to listen to it over and over and over again and outgrow it. I don’t want to spoil its beauty. I am destined to hear that music ONLY for that moment…. The mystery made it more beautiful.

Life is like that. Sometimes, there’s should be a mystery to it. 

Relationships should also be like that. 

We never cling. 

We never get attached. 

We just need to enjoy the moment.

And when it’s gone, never look for it. 

Smile…and never look for it. 

Dear God (or Dear Random Friend), Give me this Cam and I Promise I’ll be Good

End of Drama?

“There is something else in you that wants the drama, wants the conflict” – Eckhart Tolle, New Earth

I have an issue to resolve. It’s about a colleague whose purpose is to make our lives miserable. Well she’s very sensitive, reactive and just fucking irritating. Its an “all against one” fight in the office. I, the most subtle (and perhaps civil) of them all in terms of “returning the favor”, reached the end of my subtleness making me ignore her, her calls and probably everything about her…even though I really have to talk to her because of work, blah blah blah.

I am asking myself these questions:

Is this drama worth my time? 

Why does this drama feels so great?

Then I realized something. Deep inside us, we want drama, we want conflict. It’s always a guilty pleasure. I am under that trap. Most of us do.  And that’s the issue I need to resolve..an issue we all need to resolve. How can we exist in this planet without the need to create these dramas?

 

Sedentary Monday

Ok. After work, I will buy a bag of Lays Barbecue Flavor, a non-alcoholic (or probably alcoholic) wine (or beer), turn my Aircon to the max, and watch reruns of How I Met Your Mother. Nothing can stop me from doing this.

One of the Best Travel Movies I Watched… if you know what I mean.

Damn it Yahoo Mail!

I don’t have the pleasure of time to study your new format! Not now! God, this is stressful! 

Talking is going to change my attitude?

Let me try to document my work in order for me to get the right perspective. I used to write about the exciting things I do at work but I stopped it because it seems that writing about what I do is actually work, or a redundancy thereof.

The Christmas Day in October

Yesterday, I went to do a factory assessment at a Christmas Decor manufacturer. I have been working for 4 years in the department but I just found out about this company recently. They make suncatchers, christmas ornaments and picture frames out of capiz shells. The  products will make you feel proud and say “Yeah, we really are the Christmas capital of the country”

New Driver, Old Car

Last Monday, we welcomed our new company driver who will be driving our very antique company car stuck in the garage since God knows when. The car is way older than I am. So the odds of the car breaking down is high! And guess who’s the lucky guy who will be riding it. Yes you got that right. It was I. Not to mention, the car broke down…twice.

It wasn’t that bad at all. In fact 5 hours of waiting for it to be fixed gave me some time to think about life in general. Cheesy huh? But it was good. It felt like I just traveled. Strangers helping us. People handing us some tools. Eating at cheap cafeterias. Looking for ATM machines. It’s the same.

Ferrero Rocher and a bunch of appreciation

The moment I asked myself if whether I am appreciated or not, this suddenly popped in. This was given by the company where I conducted a productivity improvement seminar 2 weeks ago.

How Entrepreneurs take our services seriously

2 weeks ago we visited a backyard business who manufactures flowers made from corn husks. It’s a very small business but with a huge heart. When we arrived, they served us fresh organic lemonade juice and some crackers. What hit me is the innocently made poster I saw with their target number of flowers before our fair. The same fair which I am stressing out for weeks. My work is never put in vain after all seeing these people so passionate about it.  

What is going on?

I have become a whiner these past days in terms of work. Probably because of the stress of the “ber” months or the punch of the final quarter. I kept on asking myself if this is the job I really want to do forever. The answer is NO if we are talking about forever. But for NOW, I guess I have to bloom where I am planted. 

Am I under-appreciated? I can’t deny the fact that I feel that every now and then.

Or is it because I under appreciate my job? I can answer that with a strong YES.

A few months ago, I have this gung ho over my work. So why am I asking these questions now?  

I don’t even want to think about it. 

The Many Faces of Buddha in Northern Vietnam

I am no Buddhist, but I love Buddhist principles. Deal with it!