More Progress....

Weighing last night, the scale read 87.0! Progress. The problem I have is every time I made a little progress, I wanted to slack. Teh halia was what I wanted to celebrate with this morning. So my wife reminded me to stay strong. A simple advice and I followed. I realise with support it is easier to abstain and bear with the deprivation. After a while, it will become the norm and I will not missed it anymore. At least this is what I learned from the motivational books.

To 82, I am coming!

Less is More

Many cooks spoil the broth.
Teach less learn more.
More is less (The Paradox of Choice)

A little perspective on BIG COMPANY Operations

Everyone in the Big Company want to learn about small business. Then they start telling you what to do. No one wants to listen and learn. We are BIG COMPANY and We do not want our partners to control our growth. Big company has big egos. We know best is The Attitude. Simple thing become complicated. Soon We are entangling and tying Ourselves into knots. And soon it will become a complicated situation. Complicated situation become Big problems.

Big company with plenty of resourses. We will solve the Big Complicated Problems by engaging Big Name Consultants. Big Name Consultants mean Big Money that only Big Company can afford. Big Company do business with other Big Companies.

When will Big Company learn again why they grow big? When will Big Company learn size matters, but SPEED matters more. When will Big Company learn More is Less?

Nirvana is when Big Company learned Less is More.

Silence is Golden

Atmosphere was tense for dinner last night. My attempt to loosen up the team was not working. It is like drinking coke with no fizz or bubbles. One girl was upset as I tighten up her ability to spend. It was possible to cut the atmosphere with a knife. Old Town Kopitiam is like Ah Kun in Singapore except it offers meals. The menu is simple - curry mee, ipoh hor fun, nasi lemak and chicken rice. The food is simple and good. The coffee was very good albeit calories laden.

We adjorned to Starbucks in Borders. We orders caramel macchiato - 2 each cold for the girls and hot for me. Sitting quietly, everyone just read or browse through magazine. Later, temperature kind of cool and everyone opens up and talk. Silence has turnaround the atmosphere. We chatted about reading habits of Malaysia. It is hard to get an empty chair or seat in Borders Singapore. In KL, there were plenty. Malaysians on average read only two pages per year. Sad statistics.

One of the girl's boyfriend is in website hosting and is doing well in his career. He is running the operation with two other colleagues. At the same time, he has an idea that he is working on with another partner. Side business! The Way of the Future. The young ones are creating work of the future. The paradigm of working for an organization and subjugating our individuality will be obsolete.

The conversation become enthusiatic. They are game to do book review again. I suggested we should idea generation to get side incomes and the group becomes excited. I may develop this idea further and test it out in my next quarterly meeting.

I wanna to grow Thin, I wanna to grow Thin, I wanna...

Volkov says he(I assume and if my assumption is wrong, apologies...) wakes up every morning saying I wanna to grow fat and he did! With a little help of course.

I will start chanting "I wanna to grow thin" and see if The Secrets works. Ya, ya, I know, I know. I was a disbeliever after trying this method and did not get my desired "O" level results. Hey! time has changed and many years has passed. Who know?! If my weight drops, may be I can credit to this chant method. Of course, I will maintain my food intake reduction, exercise and any other program that may help. If I do the lipo-suction, I will not credit the success to "The Secret" method.

Diet is Discipline

I have a colleague who is working to slim down just like me. She is much more disciplined in her food intake. I can see her food intake has reduced dramatically. She also become member of California Fitness so that she can exercise daily. Another female colleague in HR has slimmed down dramatically and she looked fabulous and absolutely stunning. I am impressed by the results and the willpower of women. They have earned and command my respects.

Seeing the results, I encourage and motivate myself to work toward my set goal. I think I have not done enough to reduce my calories intake. The good change is I have increase my water intake.

Just like writing, after a while it become a habit. Today, I am updating my blog daily. Yeah, I do missed a day or two when I am travelling. I now can write in small time slices.

So 82 kgs here I come!

Zen, the wonderful place for Japanese food

Dinner was at Zen Resturant, Sunway Pyramid. For Monday night, this place is busy. The resturant is full. I counted 4 courting couples. Groups of eights, fours and the long tables were all occupied. Diners talking, waiters and waitresses scurrying around, man! I am surprised by the roaring business it is doing.

Our Korean guests and I ordered beef teppanyaki and another colleague had sashimi. The beef was excellent. We had california maki, unagi and mixed tempura. The unagi was very soft and melts in the mouth. One of the best unagi I every tasted. California maki and mixed tempura is only so-so. Our guests had Japanese shojiu. The total bill is RM380. Pretty expensive meal by my stingy standards. However, for a Japanese Resturant it is should average.

Another Day, Another Million

This is one statement that stick. My classmate say there a guy who makes a million a day. This is what he utters every morning the moment he wakes up.

I was watching CNN in Japan the (only English channel) in the hotel. There is a new book that is just launch. Title is "The Secret" The book prescribes that this is what you have to do repeat something you want to happen like a mantra and miraculously it will happen. CNN show a vignette of a woman who was diagnose with cancer and was later cleared. This woman was repeating "I no longer have cancer" over and over again while she was working in the kitchen.

This was very popular in the motivational books of the 70's. I tried it myself for my GCE "O". Repeating what the ideal result I hope for for more than a million times in writing and verbally. The conclusion I have is if I had spent the time studying and revising, my results would have been better than what I got.

Sons

For the practise of writing, I want to write about Sons.

There are many different ways to write about this topic. I can take a disinterested and clinical approach and write about sons from a third party point of view. I can also do research and get pros and cons on the topic of sons vs daughters. Or even sons view of their parents.

Instead of any of the above, I want to write about the joys of having sons. I have 3 sons. B1, B2 and B3. Their pet call sign is B's! and B's is anyone of them. B 1, 2 or 3 is the brainwave of my wife. Baby no. 1, Baby no. 2 and Baby no. 3 of the family. B3 is the baby and will always be as we stop at three.

Sons are important to the well being of our family. The joy of watching them grow is very rewarding. It is sweet to hear "daddy" every time. Nurturing and caring for them when they are sick is Mom's top priority. Tutoring and sitting patiently with them while they do their homework is Mom's territory. Mom buy clothing, shoes, textbooks, stationery and all other material needs. As I rattle on and on with regards to Mom's responsibilities for our sons, I thought hard about my own.

What do I do? Why I love them so? I could not figure it out. I love them because they are my sons. I love them because they are under my care. I love them because have my blood. It is hard to explain logically. I am a logical person. When it come to describing emotions, I am totally incompetent. Yet, now I am trying to explain why I love my sons. My sons are well-behaved and teachers are quite happy with them. They get their homework done and does well academically. They enjoys computer games, basketball, TV, toys and reading in that order. They get along with each other (not all the time) and do not stress me too much(maybe because I am in only part-time).

I enjoy making them happy within the limits of course! I have my rules. Just like LKY running Singapore:) There are banned items - game cards and computer games(internet make this hard to control), controlled items - candies and french fries and OK items - food or books. I think this is a good system. B1 is a smart kid with high IQ. B2 has strong language skills. B3 is good in art and craft. Different strengths in each of them. It is a joy just to have them around.

Bs I love you all.

Eating and Enjoying Food is my Work!

I have to go to KL because my customer decide to drop by to visit. I will need to go to host him. What does this mean? Eating is part of my job. So how to lose weight?

On reflection, I have this kind of work for many years. I never have weighty issue. At least I am trimming down because I wanted to. Not I have to like the cabin crews in Singapore Airlines. Looking good is part of their responsibilities.

Lifestyle change and age must be catching up. Gaining is easy, losing is hard. How I wish money behave the same way. I just weighs myself and it is 87.5kg. No change. By the way, I skipped dinner tonight.

Will update my weight on Wednesday. Only with the same machine, the weight measured can be consistent.

Water for Health, for Life, for Love

When I have sore throat or headache my fellow blogger will always recommend drinking water. I need to reduce weight. "Drink more water" she advise. When I am out of sort, drink water!

There is this professor in Japan who studies water. Dr. Masaru Emoto studied water crystals. He found a method to photograph water crystal. He experimented with written word on a clear, four sided bottle of water. For example, the word are love in all the different languages. Then he freezes the water samples. He finds that positive words like love, beauty, happy produces beautiful well-formed crystals. Those with negative words like hate, war, bad, weak either no crystal formed or it is deformed.

He also experimented with prayers. He advertised on the papers and managed to get a group of Japanese to come to a polluted pond early one morning to pray. After some time, the pond water became clear and no longer stinks. He now has a website to dedicate and promote his work on water research.

To find out more, go to http://www.gaiachildren.net/

My talk with Chief Steward

I had an interesting conversation with I think the Chief Steward. I am not familiar with the colour coding of SQ uniforms. He wears a grey jacket. From his demeanor, I guess he is senior in rank.

The facts of some of Boh Tong articles were verified. The SVP who have to leave SQ after 35 years due to disagreement with the top mgt. The promotion exercise is highly dependent on the interview whereas before Seniority rules. The position of CCE was eliminated. Weight of cabin crews are monitored - male and female, no sex discrimination here.

I like to share his perspective. It is actually harder for a male crew to get promoted. Turnover for male cabin crews is low. As turnover for female is higher, the chance of getting promoted is much higher. I asked why CCE were "retrenched" rather than offer other jobs in SQ or work as cabin crews. He has quite sound reasoning. CCEs do not have the skills for the office e.g. accounting or IT. CCEs are extremely well-paid. So it will be a demotion to be Crew Chief. The job has also changed. Before all the travellers were well-off. Today, the range of different type of passengers is a lot broader, hence more complex. Crew Chief has to also service passengers nowadays. Historically, Crew Chief just supervises and do not have to perform the duties personally. It will be difficult for them to adapt.

As for the group that train Emirates, he expects the contract ended in a year or two. After that the group has to look for smaller airlines to sell their service. He also felt that the trainers may not be so successful in training crews with more international mix. They are successful in SQ because the majority of the crews are Singaporeans or Malaysia. Culturally, we are aligned and accept the trainers instructions. Whereas foreign crews are professionals and get their job done but will not do more than their scope.

I learn a lot from him!

Guess What is my Weight?

Rushing home from the airport, after hugging and kissing the boys, I hurried to my room and stripped and step on the electronic bath scale. I was eagerly anticipating on the progress of my weight reduction program. The number flash at 87.7. I was disappointed. Maybe I drank too much during the flight. I managed to pee 200 gms off. Now my weight is officially 87.5kg for tonight. While I did not make progress, I did no worse by not gaining any weight.

SL suggests exercise more. I did during this trip. I walk a lot when I can, in-between my meetings and working on emails. Yummy food is hard to work against.

Weighing in back home

I am both excited and a little fearful that I may not have reduce my weight this trip. I planned to eat less by eating seafood. That did not happen. Deep fried pork, deep fried seafood, deep everything. Yes, the oil may be supposed to be healthy. I am sure it is not going to be weight-reducing. Actually, sitting down my jeans feels tight. It was not so on the day of departure. Well, I will work on it during the meal service in the aircraft.

Hopefully, I weighs below 87.5kg. Man! this is hard. Good food and weak will - it is a fattening combination. Stay tuned for my next weigh-in.

My Wife predicted the Stock Market Plunge

For all the skeptics out there, I did not believe myself. Just before CNY, she insist we have sells our stock as she felt the stock market is due for correction. We are very small investor in case anyone think I am trying to show off.

After CNY, the stock market actually continue to go up. I was cynical and she was very stressed and was disappointed with all the "opportunity monies" she could have made. Before the stock market corrections onWednesday, her stockbroker told her a lot of his clients has got out of the market anticipating a drop especially in China. She felt much better there are others who thought the same and acted.

On reflection, I am wondering if why she has this hunch and why others have the same. Is this cosmic energy and wisdom? Or is this just a self fulfilling prophecy that because a few anticipated and started to sell and their brokers spread the news that it actually happen like Wednesday. I am now seriously considering to be more aggressive in investing if she can predict consistently. I can now achieve my dream of retiring early.

In future, I can introduce myself as a "private investor" instead of a sales rep.

Tempura - most famous chain in Tokyo

At least this is what my colleague tells me. This ia branch of a resturant that is very famous in Tokyo. We had tempura for lunch. Usually this resturant is very crowded. Today is Saturday and we are early at 11am. I pick a 9 items set that come with tuna and cuttlefish sashimi. The tempura is excellent. It is served fresh from the deep fryer. The items are cooked individually and served. Only then is the next item is fried so that it arrived fresh. The oil use is sesame oil which is very light and healthy.

The resturant has two other table occupied. So it is very quiet and the background music is traditional Japanese music similar to Chinese Gu-zen. The experience is very "zen". I feel like I am meditating while having my meal. It is a surreal and uplifting at the same time. It is hard to describe. I felt calm, detached and at peace.

The Origins of F U C K

Wandering about bookstores that carry a limited selection of English books, I often come across gems that Kino or Borders does not have in the 200,000+ titles on the shelves. I picked up a book Port Out, Starboard Home or POSH is a collection of facinating stories on the words we use.

Flipping through the pages I find this entry interesting and like to share with you. There several unauthorised versions:

* The origin was in fifteent century, when a married couple had to have permission from the
king to procreate. Hence, Fornication Under the Consent of the King
* During the time of the Puritans, a person imprisoned in the stocks would have his or her crime
displayed on the timebers. Because space is tight, when adultery is involved the acronym
FUCK which represented the words For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
* It originated from medical diagnostic notation relating to soldiers in the British Imperial Army
When a soldier reported sick and found to have VD, the abbreviation FUCK was stamped on
his documents, short for Found Under Carnal Knowledge

The real McCoy is fuck is a Germanic word related to middle Dutch fokken, Norwegian fukka and Swedish focka.

Osaka after dark

Where to dine in ancient city of Osaka where gourmet resturants are everywhere can be a challenging decision. I was treat to a delectable Japanese meal. The flavour is quite unique and we have a good mix of fried chicken, bbq chicken, salad, beef soup, grilled beef rare with one beer and a glass of red wine. I was tired and sleepy after dinner but had to work. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone - walk for exercise and get a Starbuck coffee. Actually, three birds! as I explore all every bookstore around the station.

I like this place. There are more than 5 bookstores. The stores are huge but filled with only Japanese books. Most have a small section for English books. The books are quite similar. Most carry Sherlock Holmes and other classics. The large bookstores carry abridged classics that have graduated levels for readers at different English proficiency. Another observation is the classical titles are different from those commonly available in Singapore bookstores. Han Christian Anderson Fairy Tales is one that our local bookstores do not carry in the low price version.

Other observations about Osaka. There are more pretty girls in Osaka than Tokyo. The buildings are dark at night. This is may be the reason why Japan has lowest consumption of energy in a developed country. To Osaka, With Love.

Central Station Osaka

Hotel Granvia Osaka is right at Central Station of Osaka. There are so many trains lines that the map looks like colourful spaghetti spat on paper. The number of people moving about is like peak hour in Raffles Station except it is all day long. I shudder to think when our population reach 6 millions.

I am on the 24th floor and have a paranomic view of the city. Osaka is quite historical. The buildings are still low and gray. The skyscapers are fewer than Tokyo. I can see the hilly outline at the far end through the dust and smog. This hotel is quite interesting. It occupies top 5 floors of the building. Below the hotel are 3 levels of resturants and department store Daimaru.

On the way from the airport, we past by industrial areas and the factories are rusting and had seen better days. Traffic is actually worst than Tokyo even though the city is much smaller. Probably cost of owning a car is lower here.

Food wise, the resturants here are specialized. Unlike Singapore, a Japanese resturant will have noodles with sushi, sashmi, fried chicken or yakitori in the menu, here if it is tonkatsu, there will be like 10 different tonkatsu. Tempura resturants only tempura in many variant but still tempura. I like varieties so I have to come many times to Osaka to try the different food. There is even a tofu resturant that offer fried tofu, boiled tofu, grilled tofu and more tofu. Nothing else but tofu!

Tokyo - the most crowded city on earth

My good friend and fellow blogger request I give an update on my trip. Everything he links me up, my readership goes up. So here is my tribute to his kindness.

The temperature is Tokyo is cool at around 8 degrees celcius. It is bearable cold. In Japan, the cities are full of man-made structure. Unlike Singapore, there is hardly any green except for tiny patches of grass. The buildings connect from one another seamlessly. It can be very confusing as the floor tile does not change over from one building to another. It is a concrete jungle out here with skyscapers everywhere. To confuse visitors further, the buildings do not have signs on top. Looking for my hotel became a major challenge as there are no identifiable landmark to guide me. The buildings are shaped slightly. All are straight-edge and just like an American who have trouble distinguishing Chinese and Japanese, I have the same trouble trying to notice the minute detail differences between the building. Heading back to my hotel became a chore.

Lunch was a standard Japanese fare. Cost 1,000 yen for 3 slices of pork with finely shredded cabbage, miso soup with taupok, some pickles and a wedge of grapefruit garnish with two tiny strawberry.

I had meeting with a company interested to do business with us. So they asked my colleague and I out for dinner. This is the benefit of travelling - wine and dine. They took us to a yakitori resturant. The resturant name is called "ti chi" in Hanyi or Chinese. Literal translation "ground chicken". I think we order one of every barbeque item in the menu. Chicken meat, chicken wings with a lemon wedge, liver, gizzard, chicken butt(backside), breastbone and a couple other items that I cannot identify. The food was sumptious and delicious. (Shxx! I just remembered I am supposed to be on diet as I write this article). For dessert, I had gluttinous rice balls on a bed of sweet red beans paste. Mmmm! I wish I can tell you how much the meal cost. Unfortunately, my hosts paid for the meal (I really meant it because BT asked me to give you prices.)

Feeling guilty, I decided to walk around the train station to get rid of some calories I just ingested. People everywhere walking purposely from point to point. There were a couple of homeless men wandering about. It is easy to tell. Their hair were unkempt, beard long, clothing dirty and the signature body odour that hit you when you are about five feet away from them.

Tokyo is a very safe city with very little traffic jams. What is missing is nature. I wish it has more nature. This would make great megacity Tokyo greater.

What a coincident!

Met an ex-colleague on the way to Tokyo. Irene is a young woman doing well in her career. She is travelling business class and has acquired her PPS club membership. She fly to Europe frequently on Singapore Air, her favorite airline. Looking at her, you will not believe she is a mother of three. Her svelte figure, long silky hair and smooth skin, she is a gorgeous young woman. Since my colleague came in his car to pick me up, he offerred to send her to her hotel first. This colleague of mine is always doing a good turn for others.

A little history... Irene and I work in the same company 10 years ago. She was doing marketing support and other adminstrative duties. She is a very conscientious worker with a good command of Chinese and a solid "can-do" attitude. I still remember the incident when she came back on a Saturday just to help me get my presentation done in Powerpoint. Until today, my ppt skills has not improved. I know she is doing a great job for the company she is working for.

Irene, continue to do well in your career. I am proud you consider me your mentor.