Quality Control

Currently Listening To :: Quiet Storm :: Smokey Robinson

I've procrastinated so long on this entry that it feels so out of place to me, but...

After about six months with working for the "man", I've finally decided to put my hand up and start making some noise as to my future career progression within the company. Over a 2 hour breakfast with my manager, I basically spelt out the direction I want to be taking, and asking for feedback on how I've been performing. It was great to be able to have this sort of chat; working for such a large company is something new to me, and the level of openness and scope to move is something I'd never dreamed of in my old job. Even in these last few weeks, it's been more and more new and fun experiences.

And as we all know, fun rules.

Last Thursday I spent teaching people how to make kites, drinking ice tea and firing water guns at the annual Camp Quality BBQ, which the Big U has put on this year to help kids with cancer. Helping the little kids out with their kites took me waaay back to my early university days working at Vacation Care. Looking after lil' rascals running rings around me was how I made my small change, while giving piggy-back rides and dishing out tough love in equal doses were the order of the day.

This Friday past I attended an company "X-Factor" conference with our Chairman trying to help us see his vision of a successful 2004. A combination of cool presentations, new product announcements and an African drumming session where we all got to get into the riddim with our own drums was something I've never experienced before. I'll have to admit, just like Big Kev, I was excited, but perhaps not to the point where I was testifying on the wonder and virtue of our company ala a Microsoft employee conference.

State sales conference in two weeks, too.

I need more sleep...

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As I promised my favourite girl in Vietnam, here is some damn good advice and quotes from my favourite mag Esquire (thanks BJimmy for putting me onto this!). If you want more, go buy the magazine you freeloaders!

Robert De Niro [Actor, 60, New York City]

Some people say "New York's a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." I say that about other places.

There's not such thing as not being afraid.


Ice Cube [Rapper, actor, writer, 34, Los Angeles]

Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide.

I was happy O.J. got off. I never believed he killed her. But if he did do it, he used the system how it's supposed to be used. Why should the people who don't believe he was innocent be angry? You set up a system, and when it don't go your way, you get mad at the system? The system is there to bury you. Why can't it be there to save you?


The College Sex Columnists [Teresa Chin & Rachael Klien (U Cal Berkely)]

If you see a bra with a front clasp, it's best not to say "Oh, cool! A front one! I love these!" You sound stupid.

Contrary to popular belief, it takes more than the push of a button or a bottle of Herbal Essences to get a girl to climax. Female orgasm require quite a bit more panache then "lather, rinse, repeat."


Christpoher Reeve [51, Superman]

We all have many more abilities and internal resources than we know. My advice is that you don't need to break your neck to find out about them.

Success is finding satisfaction in giving a little more than you take.


Christie Brinkley [49, Uptown Girl]

Oppenheimer, what were you thinking? Nuclear energy should have been our scientists' deepest, darkest secret, to be taken to the grave.

Children are magicians who make adults smile.


Muhammad Ali [61, Champion]

God will not place a burden on a man's shoulders knowing that he cannot carry it.

I just wish people would love everybody else the way that they love me. It would be a better world.


And finally, some more words from Jack.


Jack Nicholson [66, Movie Star]

My motto is: more good times.

I respect the social graces enormously. How to pass the food. Don't yell from one room to another. Don't go through a closed door without a knock. OPen the doors for the ladies. All these millions of simple household behaviours make for a better life. We can't live in a constant rebellion against our parents - it's just silly. I'm very well mannered. It's not an abstract thing. It's a shared language of expectations.

I think the Greeks invented sports as an antidote to philosophy. In sports there are absolute rules. It's not, What about this? What about that? Either you're safe or you're not. It's ten yards or it's not. It's in the hoop or out of the hoop. It's certain.

I don't think many people have a very good understanding of leisure and the importance it plays in our lives. People today are too competitive about leisure, as if it needs to have some other value in order to be able to fit into our puritanical view of the world. But if you're playing golf to get a loan, it ain't golf, you know what I mean?

The Desire To Inspire

Currently Listening To :: Dwele :: Find A Way

Why does everything have to mean something to you? Can't some things just...be?

Someone asked me this question a little while back, and to be honest, I was a little taken aback. Perhaps she was sick of me talking about how the cranes covering the Shanghai skyline to me are a symbol of growth and change in China, how just the right amount of humidity in the air can bring back memories of summer holidays in Malaysia, or even how watching Scarlett Johannson sit in her hotel window and stare out at the Tokyo skyline takes me back in my own journeys...

I don't think I'm trying to be abstract or look for signs that aren't there. To me...well, everything means something to me, while I'm sure they mean something to you too. Opinion, interpretation, symbolism, inspiration. Like a Friendster connection, these words are all linked in my dictionary through a memory connection unique to me.

Because to me, everything exists for a purpose. Whether that purpose is relevant...that's a question for you to answer.

I'm inspired by those who inspire, and inspiring others is inspiration in itself. Sure, writing this blog (in fact, all my writing) is part ego, but I've never denied wanting peer acclaim. But at the same time, ever since I started writing for others, I've always thought that if I can inspire at least a handful of people to nod their heads and say "I can feel what he's saying", then that's enough for me to keep writing.

When the Def Poets took the stage on Saturday night, I wasn't the only one blown away. Each of the 7 poets brought their own styles, and working either alone or together, the crowd was worked into a frenzy on a mix of impassioned spoken word and urban beats. Love, sex, identity, loss, the evils of the donuts formally known as Kripy Kreme Kroissants; all these topics made me sit up, cheer, laugh and go silent in the breadth of the same poem. Watching these artists work their wordplay was worth every penny, even that overpriced ice-cold Becks.

Listening to my preacher at Church on a Sunday night is inspiring too (when my mind isn't drifting). Just the thought of someone committing their entire life to the service of a higher being and forgoing so many of life's experiences is something to be respected; I know that I couldn't.

I close my eyes, and flashing forward are...

Music:activists:books:risotto:cookingwithmymum:theweather:ethnicity:greentea:adrenaline:andPaulMcGovern.

So if you're just be-ing and are happy to be like a bit of an ant on zombie autopilot right now, then that's cool. But me, I'm trying to take a page from Jack, and I read:

"I love discourse. I'm dying to have my mind changed...I want to know, you understand? This to me is the elixir of life." - Jack.

Murphy's Law

Currently Listening To :: Goin' Back To Cali :: Notorious B.I.G.

I am a bit of a forgetful person. There, I admitted it. In fact, I'm probably forgetting to rant about something as I try to write this blog as fast as I can before the anger generating this stream of conscious writing begins to...um, where was I?

Ah yes.

Over these past few weeks I've managed to drop, break or lose a hella lotta stuff.

Even in this wonderfully advanced world we live in of ever-advancing technology, ever-shrinking gadgets and peripherals and other long connected letter groupings, now more than ever I'm beginning to find myself worrying that somewhere, somehow, at the most crucial of moments (then again, which moment isn't?), something will break down. Or get lost. Or fuck up. Murphy must have been one frustrated mutha.

*Ben steps onto soapbox*

First off, as I type this post, I'm running my 6 month old Athlon XP 2600+ with no CD-R, no floopy drive, and very few fans. The case is off to assist with cooling, and my CPU is being run by my old 230W PSU (Power Supply Unit) until I install my new one. I've owned many computers, but never has a PSU EVER failed on me (unlike Friendster).

Sad as it sounds, I actually felt a little pannicky at the thought that I might have no PC. *eep*

Second, I dropped my Nikon F55 SLR camera on NEW YEARS EVE, shattering the lens housing. Not only did this preclude me from taking happy-snaps on NYE, but it also involved me clutching my head in self-loathing with the image of me torching several hundred dollars with a lighter to get a new lens.

Which, of course, it did.

Third, I've managed to misplace my housekeys. Hmm...misplace isn't quite the word, but I haven't exactly lost them either, so...they're currently "hidden". Just like a great cup of coffee, a local suburban late-night eatery or a woman's g-spot, although mythical you're quite sure they do exist somewhere; you just have to put in the effort to find it.

There, I'm done. It's funny the things that bug you after a day where you get up before the sun does; now I'm going to step down before I fall off this soapbox.

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Def Poetry Jam this Saturday night....w00t!

For those in Australia, Dove Exfoliating Bar has hit shelves...check it out~

The Izness

Currently Listening To :: Stoplayin :: Musiq

Lot's been goin' on, which sadly means a lack of time to think about my resolutions for the year. But to be honest, I think I've got a few nailed down already, so...baby steps, baby steps. But first a lil'-mini-recap.

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Melbourne is a cool city, but then I've always thought that. But as the green grass on the other side would have it, I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed. Granted, you get out what you put in, and spending two and a half days to get to reknow and relearn a city is just plain ambitious. Or setting yourself up for disappointment.

Two great films I've seen lately: Infernal Affairs and Lost In Translation. I don't often watch a film twice, but for the former, there are two sequels, and for the latter, it was a real pleasure to see again (which Bill Murray movie can I honestly say that about?) So while these types of films may be an aquired taste for those, I can't recommend them enough, be your tastes bohemian or not.

Oh, and Scarlett Johannson? Maaaan....



Speaking of movies, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is a loooong movie, so long in fact I had to spell it with four o's. Not to take anything away from the majestic scenery, the oft gripping scenes and the great CGI work, but in my opinion, there was a little too much hobbit frollicking, not enough character development and the ending was waaaay long, so long in fact that...well, you know. But, as Caveh Zahedi said,

Truffaut always said that the best scripts don't make the best films, because they have that kind of literary narrative frame that you're sort of a slave to. The best films are the ones that aren't tied to that slavishly. So I don't know. That whole narrative thing just seems to cinema like time is to music. You don't first think of the story of the song, and then make the song. It has to come out of that moment.

Or, as Caveh calls it, the "Holy Moment".

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In less than about 8 hours, I'll be back at work again. So will most of you; some haven't stopped work, some haven't started, but in the O-Z, 5th of Jan means back to the grindstone.

So...any New Years Resolutions people care to share?

No? Then get back to work you trained monkeys!

P.S. Thousand apogolies for the lack of pictures...but my picture site as decided to go all commercial on me and start charging for hosting; anyone know of any free picture sites with public URLS?