I’m gonna share some of my experiences and thoughts about my work life since June. I don’t care if people read it or not. I rather them just pumping into this by accident. Hence, I’ve put it in this blog instead.

School and work are completely different. I’ll tell you why. When you work you face people who you deal business with and I don’t mean literally. I meant your relationship with them are merely business-only – nothing more. When you face your family or friends, you’re back to your own self.

But if you are someone like a Financial Planner, you role isn’t just a worker. You’re a social worker, actually. It gets more complicated that way. The way you behave, including how you talk, what your body language is, etc. will affect your reputation. People have a misrepresentation of such profession because they think it’s not for their own good but for the agent’s. It all depends on how you treat others.

I haven’t been in this field for long but long enough to see changes in my life. I have to mature rather quickly than others because you are talking about insurances or retirement planning to people above your age mostly so you got to act professionally, speak professionally.

People say this job takes friends away from you. I disagree. It’s about how you treat them. Most certainly, they may not like it when you try to sell them. It does still depend on the way you approach it. Most agents who screw up most likely approach their friends wrong. It’s not about the service he or she is providing but the attitude or image that is presented to the client.

A few thoughts on death and funerals.

Without going into religions too deeply or stating my own opinion on what exists beyond this world, I will only comment on the science and state some but limited history.

We don’t know how we came to this world – so we won’t know where we will go in the end.

To me, a funeral is but a ‘form’ to finalise thoughts on and remember the particular. One kind of chinese funeral has a lot of different ‘things’ to do. It seems like most people already believe in heaven or hell and that came from way back, obviously from churches. I can only assume that the chinese versions are based on their own ‘religion’ because they believe in the underworld.

Many people would believe in that ‘form’ due to tradition or words of mouth from parents or relatives, if not ancesters. One may not believe in a particular ‘form’, yet he or she will follow whichever ‘form’ was used previously.

Speaking of this ‘form’, I’d want to bring in some physics. In our world, fire burns anything into ashes and hence is destroyed from this world. Obviously there is no scientific proof this goes to another dimension. Even if it does, who can guarantee it retains the form of the object PLUS arrive to the person to be concerned.

Such religious acts still exist because founders or followers strongly believed in its truth. Thus, the cycle continues in spreading it down to the further generations. The strictness in the rulebook maintains this truth. Once there is any adjustment to the rules, it breaks the truth in the ‘form’. In the chinese version, the lower generation eldest son has to fulfill certain tasks in the funeral. If there is no son then another son from the family then the next closest one (regardless if non-direct-blood) takes over.

> But it seems like the newer generations will simplify more of these types of ‘form’ and subsequently weakens the whole tradition/religion etc. This brings up the question of whether following it has any point anymore. Some may say it is always better to do something than nothing. I think personally that if we find out we had been doing the same thing wrong for thousands of years, it would have been one of the greatest mistakes of (wo)mankind. Yet, people don’t care.

Not many people care so much about philosophy. They may know what it is but will not research into it further.

Another problem I have with these kinds of ceremonies is that you don’t do it the minute they pass away. Most likely you have to book and wait for a spot. So unless these ‘religions’ have explanations on what happens when a person dies or where he or she will go, I highly suspect some flaw in it, perhaps in terms of the timing. Presuming that you regain your spirit, who can guarantee that by the time you actually do it, the person in concern actually returns and follows everything? Further presume that there is hell and dead people have to go through it, then how does anyone know in those ‘religions’ even if you clear the ‘road’ for him or her that he or she will have an easier time with the ‘road’.

Finally, if everything is false, then we those guys have ben doing for thousands of years is a waste of time.

~shuu

When one isn’t rational, things don’t go right when you get back to being rational. Relationships are that kind of thing. If you start it off in a messy environment, unless you remain in that condition, the relationship’s gonna break eventually. It’s true that e^x raises like e^x and falls like e^x, ie., the faster it comes the faster it goes. I asked each other if I care about once having it or having it forever. I said I think once having it is meaningful enough because nothing lasts anyway.

Now when it’s over, it seems short but it came quick anyway. I look back… I think yeah, it’s a little too short and it’s a bit disappointing, but the process is really what matters. I just think that next time it’s best not to be somebody else other than yourself, especially when you have a few drinks because when you’re back to your normal self, you see the relationship a little differently, if not a lot.

Lyrics: Kamijo
Music: Teru

Raise!　singing bat!　コウモリが歌う
Rage! a burning rose!　薔薇を燃やし
骨を叩き踊れ!

Raise! a burning bone!　宴が始まる
Laugh!　shadow of death　影が笑う

闇と呪縛の中　松明を掲げ
”消えた少年達”の遊戯は儀式へ
主の下で骨を叩け
コウモリ達の歌に乗せて

Raise!
come here! right now!
come here!

空に墓を造り　太陽を殺せ
闇と少年の戯れは儀式へ

主の下で骨を叩け
コウモリ達の歌に乗せて

Raise!
come here! right now!
come here!

I was at Q1 the other day and I was talking with the boss at the end. He was saying how more girls have come than guys have in this year. Also how many girls come with other girls to find other guys. And so I said I should try to meet them. But he said school’s always a good place.

I thought about that and thought about how I used to ask the girls I have met in class. Yet again every time, maybe I’m just digging a hole for trying on difficult girls, I have trouble getting them out.

Sometimes in these situations I think whether picking some other girl would be easier. Picking someone who you are not interested does not equate to making it easier. Picking someone who you already know a little, if not well, is definitely easier than the former two. Picking a friend, of course, is not a concern whether she rejects you or not.

But, to know one, to befriend one and to begin a relationship with one will take each step. The general way everyone knows is to know the girl, be friends with her, then you can start the relationship if she likes you too.

In any case, to swim one must be in the water first. Many times I experience that I find it hard to even be in the water, nevermind learning how to breathe underwater or float in the deep end of the pool.

Back to Q1… it’s not always true that school’s a good place to find girls – at least not to me… Maybe Q1 is a better place… who knows.

~shu

A short entry tonight due to time constraint.

I was talking about temptation and curiosity due to it and its consequences.

I said consequences if minor then maybe you can proceed.

This time I want to add a few things.

1. If during that temptation period, if you can find an alternative but safe and less satsifactory method of fulfilling part of that temptation then definitely go for it, because you are not running under risk.

2. If at any moment you are uncertain whether you should proceed to that action or not, then save it till later, because it is still not the right time.

2.5 If you continue back and forth to do and undo the temptation, you are contradicting yourself because you have not decided on what to do yet. As a result, you should think about it before you do it or not.

~shuu.

Tonight I learned something pretty meaningful and valuable. It’s ‘reasoning’.

First, I want to say that, nevermind what is ‘right’ or what is ‘wrong’. That is, forget about whether there is God or a neutral ‘personality-less’ governing system (may be called ‘fate’ for some), because most people when talking about ethics and morality, they talk about God or ‘the RIGHT way of acting’. Those are biased. I try not to be.

Regardless of that, I believe there are still things in our existent world that some things can be done better one way than the other because of temptation, curiosity, or consequences.

Temptation. Many who apply the above italic-ed passage to their way of life would say temptation is ‘evil’ or ‘bad’ because it causes us to do things that trail us to some bad result. I treat temptation as something to control, not to avoid. Robbers may be tempted to rob a store; children may be tempted to eat candy before dinner time and get smacked; men and young guys may be tempted to look or stare at attracting women or girls (old enough to avoid the ‘children violation’), etc… These vary in their severeness. The less serious cases are ‘curiosity’… mainly because even if you do it will not lead to legal actions. The more serious cases are ‘conseqential’.

On the one hand, when you are curious, you don’t know what the result is. You may be curious about what’s in this funny-looking box but if you open it you lose something valuable (or gain some unwanted matter), may it be money, health, reputation, horrible memories, etc. Here’s where the control comes in. When it comes to curiosity, it really is a flick of the mind, but many do not realise that. They may go upon unleashing their curiosity and may end up in some negative consequence (and by negative I mean a result that is against you). If you ‘reason, examine, and assess’, there’s a chance that you may not be curious anymore, or you realise that curiosity isn’t so beneficial. There are other times where you go about doing something you are curious about doing that may end up in some consequence. In other words, your body doesn’t want to do it but your mind does. You do it, but you weren’t caught and there’s an option of ‘undoing’ it. Whether you decide to undo it before it hits or not, that time frame is where you reason, examine and assess what’s most beneficial to you. If the consequence is near minimal and you don’t think it’s a big deal, go ahead and leave it. Otherwise, if you reason that you may get into trouble (serious or not) then it is best to undo it.

By undoing, you fulfill some of your curiosity WHILE getting out of trouble. That’s ‘control’.

On the other hand, when something comes up that is serious and the consequences are just too unaffordable, same process ‘reason, examine and assess’ and just think. There are times where it is serious because of surveillance. There may be times where it causes too much unwanted public attention. Those times it’s just better to get away. These are the things that I said are better done one way than the ‘consequential’ way… because chances are you will be prosecuted.

Why do I think about that? Well, same way, by reasoning, examining and assessing what I do a moments before, current position, and future events including results and consequences. It’s just better to stay out of trouble because our world isn’t as friendly due to restrictions by authorities.

Similarly, anything you do now can be the start of a habit. Reason, examine and assess it; determine whether the habit is beneficial or not. Showering in hot water is not great for eczema-infected skin. Temptation may play a role when deciding whether to use hot water AGAIN or try to resist. Additionally, scratching is also a temptation. Its control and consequence may vary depending on the level of infection. Again, process it as usual and it would definitely save you time than if you were to go through the healing and itching and scratching, which makes a loop and your wound will never heal.

(to be continued)

I was training earlier at 12am and normally I would do it at around 11. Last night I only stretched and so did not practise my kicks. I was not persistent or perseverant enough. Tonight, despite already midnight, my will overwhelmed my laziness and went ahead to do the kicks… but, however, not without struggle.

After every kick, in which I do a few times each leg, I wanted to just finish it… Like I would tell myself to like stop on the 5th kick, 7th, 10th, and so on… but after each type of kick I went on. I was determined to finish till the end. And I did. It took persistence and perseverance to do that. Afterwards I sweated like I went for a swim. In my shower, after reasoning, examining and assessing, I realised how vital it is to have a persistent pursuit of tasks such as these trainings or practising tennis, like I have for two days in a row.

That’s it for now.

Remember,

Reason, Examine and Assess.

~shuu

Look at this link: http://shuu.la-gias.com/2010/03/08/future-or-not/ You see two comments with the exact same message. Initially I thought it was not spam, but until I saw the same comment appear twice, and I checked their IPs and are different, I think most if not all of these comments are spam… but they disguise it well.

~shuu.