JustJack

And so everything seems to be collapsing. Numbers didn’t make sense and stock markets are going down and down. People get laid off and people have no money and people stop spending and more people get laid off and on and on.

It’s easy to understand this.

And suprisingly there are many books out there by famous authors trying to demistify this in a very complicated way. Some use history to explain and some use numbers to explain.

And so some of us “trying” to keep up with this “understanding” keep on digging numbers too. I often shout out to my colleagues how our company shares are doing. Numbers after numbers. I hear my boss talking about indices as if she is so familiar with it. But really, is this just all a meaningless frenzy ?

The amount of information you suck in everyday thru the news papers will render expired just as you grab a new copy. You fill your mind up and empty them and fill it up again. And yes, you get tired at times don’t you. And yes, you  want to stop this at times don’t you.

Stop the number crunching. It is not needed.

I believe it is actually all in front of you. as long as you are true to yourself you will respond to your truest logic and act in the best way for yourself.

The smartest people do not get the best. The simplest  people gets the best. Why do you hear so many success stories from so called “failures”.

They must have followed their simplest logic and acted upon them.

I think this applies to everything. including buying lottery. You have a number and you feel that it will strike. You buy only that and you buy big. Simple.

Why spread out and buy soo many different numbers.

As long as you keep it clean. you get it clean.

So how? crystal ball for 2009 ?

there is no crystal. You need to find it yourself. Which industry will do well? which will not? is it important to know that to earn money? again is it important to earn the money?

Look ard and the answer is clear what makes money what doesn’t.

Today i went to the hawker centre. The longest queue earns. It happened to be the vegetarian stall. The answer is often in front of you . I happen to be in the long long queue. It just striked me that now thats not the queue you want to be in. Duality tells us.. thats the queue you want to serve !

Numbers in the financial market are virtual stuff. If you sweat over it you will be wasting your precious time.

Happy 2009. Make it the best year you have ever have yet.

Sitting at the back of the pick up truck
Enjoying the fruit in the bumpy ride
without caring the stickiness that is left on your hands
Just a cheerful self. nothing else matters.
Only a sorrow soul like mine would feel the greatness of their happiness.
snapped in picture. felt in the heart.

The picture maybe said a thousand words to me

I can only thank that I am honored to have taken this at the right moment

Probably one of my top 10 pictures in my life till now.

Shot in Chiang Rai 1st Jan 2009. The little girl is my friend’s niece. But I always had the impulse to think that she can be my own daugther.

Can’t blame me for her being just too adorable not to consider her my dearest.

With my wife holding her hand in the background it added flavour.

It’s just flavourful. Doesnt mean its a too sweet a picture. its just a flavourful picture.

I touched down back in Singapore after a 2 week holiday. And discovered that my company is doing “restructuring”. I no longer report to my good old work-your-ass-out boss but in place i would report to an american boss in New york. * Thunder Thunder Thunder plus more Thunder *

Now the equation has changed.

So our team of “service delivery ” people ( about 6 of us ) reports not to our good old boss but to a new boss that is REMOTELY monitoring from US and he is from a bank that we ATE up recently.

What does this show ?

Show 1 - Does it mean that the Bank we ate up is MORE POWERFUL ? This is threatening to the “respect” element we needed at work. This is like saying.. hey Reebok .. come .. why not you look after how Nike Shoes are produced. This couldran of mis-political move is just starting to boil.

Show 2 - So now.. my good old boss went from having 15 ka kia’s under her to being a Business Analyst. Or perhaps a Senior Business Analyst. It seems like a downgrade somehow even if my boss is given a dotted line reporting from us. This is disastrous for her ! from a very capable, self sacrificing boss who has build her empire and gave her almost everything to being stripped of her empireship. I sense that there will be some discomfort. Its all the work of the ANG MOH. Ang Moh likes to play this…..

Show 3 - Does restructuring mean head count cut ? Well I will just let it be. in anyway its not gonna please All for sure. So it a roulette game. Only the lucky ones will survive.

I am not fond of “exciting” times already. It seems like all empty promises.

Even the usual wayang wayang that i can put up with i think i have had enough of the usual wayang wayang. Because in unsure times wayang wayang is just disgusting.

So My 2009 seems to have started a little late. it didnt feel that it started because i didnt celebrate new year eve at home counting down to a new year. In fact i was in Thailand going thru this new year transistion.

The vacation camouflaged the year transistion very well and it sort of like extended my 2008 for another 10 days. And enough of the new year resolution stuff which somehow I tend to do yearly even though i didnt really look forward to making them.

Its a bliss in the end.

Like any other good trip i have made to Thailand I have plenty of ideas in my mind that i would like to pen down. Good ones and bad ones and uncertain ones.

In fact even on the plane back to Singapore, i am still in a soft denial that my holiday isnt going to end. This is not a holiday but more of an immersion for me. An immersion into an environment which i find that is very suitable for me to be in. For those who are finding this a little hard to comphrehend, this is actually my desire to want to retire in North Thailand. Especially Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

i had a good 12 day stay this time round and have a greater exposure to the life in North Thailand. Chiang Mai ( which I have visited for 3 times already ) has progressed. Now there are more traffic jams. Chiang Rai is a more watered down version of Chiang Mai thus a slower and casual life there. Nevertheless both are equally conducive for city dwellers like me to take 3 steps back and taste life in a very different light.

I was robbed of a few things when i hit Chiang Mai this time round.

1) No TV

2) No Phone

3) No news/newspaper

4) No internet

This has proven to be good for me. i didnt “started” to live without them. In fact i didnt try at all this time. I just lived without them. There was no need to have them. And yes i left my Ipod touch at home too. So there was no Ipod Touch that i can fiddle with. I stayed in a hotel with TV but i didnt switch it on. I brought poker cards but i didnt played a game with it with my wife ( we always do but we didnt at all this time)

So its all sharper. Senses are shaper. My concentration started to shift towards different things. My mind started to wander. As there are no other distractions (1-4), i am able to try to answer the questions that arised in my mind.

Day in day out. Probably because its all new. Perhaps. Perhaps its all a vacation. It all seemed well to have less city stuff and more down to earth travelling. From the time i touch down back in Singapore till now everything seemed very detached. i have no intention to want to feel part of the city again. My heart starts to shrink till it feels trapped and suffocated. I sigh at the way the life is now in the city.

I am going to get back to work like tomorrow. Oh its just agony perhaps.

Its all not so meaningful anymore. What i do . its just sad that its all an illusion that all are good. but all are not.

In chiangmai people harvest from the earth. Food.

In Singapore… the so call “service” industry is not so meaningful afterall. like air. You can not see it. but yet you need it.

It doesnt make sense but it neednt be. I know perhaps in a weeks time i will get used to this cold city again. But i know i would move to where i need to in a clearer direction sooner.