i try to be mindful of consumption in our wasteful and consumption oriented urban society. no one explains this wastefulness and its damaging effects better than THE STORY OF STUFF. do check it out.

besides being conscious about not hoarding stuff, there is another aspect i’m working on – eating unnecessarily more. no one needs more than their required calorie intake. it cost more, it goes straight to your hips and clogs your arteries. therefore, i shall be very aware that every calorie counts and follow these three mandates to self:

1) no snacking

2) no 2nd helpings, even during festive events.

3) no desserts (will opt for tea as post meal item)

at my recent field trip to the national library with my kids, it was brought to our attention that the red bricks that were used to form the wall of the backdrop of these bronze sculptures were taken from the old national library at stamford road. about 5000 bricks were used. the bronze sculpture were made by chong fah cheong.

incidentally i’m on a book roll. i miss losing myself engross in a book. when i’m reading in transit, i don’t seem to be the one moving, its the scenery that’s moving not me because i am in another place, another time, another person. my journey in that life is interrupted with the change in train lines or mode of transport or the scheduled appointment.

tonight shall be read night.

in some ways edward monkton sums up the whole of my quirks. i have an obsession of putting order into chaos and i couldn’t have put my neat freakiness any better than how edward monkton has.

work is personal fullstop. no matter how you might try and compartmentalise work or rationalise work, it gets to the core of you and will in someway or other shape and define you.

its never “just” work. its personal and it had better be worth it.

i’ve never really spelled it out here that i was going through a change of job.

the job description is the same, the difference is that i’m much happier now because 1) this new place is not pretending to be an intelligent work force, it really is. 2) its mission and vision is not propaganda and it in fact goes against the grain of popular opinion. 3) the management operates on the basis of trust and good faith and people actually respond positively to expectations. 4) they care about you as an individual and your growth in the long run.

i.e. this place is a miracle.

every day i challenge myself to be a better version of myself. these days i feel that i want to read more, think more, process more so that i can be more equipped and worthy of the role i play in organisation.

i did take on that approach under my previous employer, the problem is, they exploited you till there was really nothing else that you could give. add that to the contradictory messaging and what you get is disillusioned depressed people told to make bricks out of straw.

i hope those dark ages are left behind for good. i’ll never want to subject myself to such truma again.

the pace of this year’s mid year exam is good – 4 days of exam max per week because of public holidays and other programmes.

its holiday for us students and teachers today, well more like more-time-to-mug/mark-day.

if all goes well today, i’ll be done with my first batch of scripts before i head out for a massage and movie at cathay. shall update how spa elements is after the (credit card promo discounted) session.

i’m all pyched up for star trek, even lunch bag art likes it.