Life as a Console Planner -Part 2

Tough! were the past few weeks. Not bad enough yet for a burnout situation, but nonetheless as tough as any decent intensive training gets. The daily routine of a backend operational role as expected, leaves little slack and no room for anything less than utmost efficiency. Myself am not up to speed yet, no thanks to my lack of experience in this specialized role. Many times I find myself overwhelmed and breathless. Kudos to the Team for being able to juggle comparatively heavier loads and still find the time to reach out and save me every now and then.

Reminisce of my former experience in operations, each day's planning is fraught with uncontrollable factors and unsavory surprises. Definitely not for the faint hearted. Thankfully, the resemblance ends here*.

*** SENSITIVE DATA DELETED *** It is unclear at this point if I might pull through, but the co-operative culture in Expeditors does make the days more encouraging. For now, drastic actions** are not required yet.

*I had a firsthand taste of what the planners in my ex-company had to go through, when major shipping orders get canceled last minute. (Over there, the expected norm was that the planner was entitled to scream and rail at whoever delivered the information. Nevermind if it was beyond that poor coordinator's control.) Sitting in the planning chair now, I somehow do not see the need to get upset. There is always a possible workaround, and if I had to take a beating from the carriers in turn, for a resultant cancellation, it's never personal. Adopting a calm, awkward, zen-like state is better.

** *** SENSITIVE DATA DELETED ***

Bottles & Bottles -Vivo City

Checked out the Vivo City branch with Chunz. Got more seats than the Parkway branch and was more comfortable as the tables were located within the spacious shop space itself. The same rules apply here that allows patrons to take-in foods to go with their wine, as long as they clean up after that*.

Learnt of the newest branch that recently opened at Alexandra, making a total of four shops acorss the island. All are operated under the same ownership.

Today we tried a bottle of Gossips -Merlot nice, in a sweet, fruity way.

*Only the Parkway and Vivo branch allows eating-in. The others are for purchasing/take-aways only.

Have fun bashing on ppl down on their luck

Doing some PC house keeping when I found an old msn log. I kept it around because it irked me so much that, it still burns brightly today.

Quoting my 2005 pissed off of the year,
A screenshot of the message.
Hell! I dare say anyone who knows me well enough will know that's the complete opposite of me and what I stand for. Well, now three years later, here's my bloody reply. YOU (if you're reading this) know who you are. Or might you have simply forgotten? Look where I'm standing now, see how far I've come and how much further I'd go. Then stare hard into the mirror, see what you've become, and whether you can still find a shred of your genuine self. YOU who live your life pretending to be what you are not. YOU who assumed you understand true poverty, while hiding in your dad's suits. To think I once trusted you and sought your advise. To hell with you and all your self-important pretense. Haven't you even noticed that no one is impressed?

I'm turning back to address this for the final time. I've dug it up and spat it out. Now I'm moving on. Feels good to be rid of another old grievance.

"This is SPARTA !! "

Eric Hoffer -The Passionate State Of Mind Part 3

Quote 3.
It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of inadequacy and impotence. They hate not wickedness but weakness. When it is their power to do so, the weak destroy weakness wherever they see it.

Eric Hoffer -The Passionate State Of Mind Part 2

Quote 2.
Pride is a sense of worth derived from something that is not organically part of us, while self-esteem derives from the potentialities and achievements of the self. We are proud when we identify ourselves with an imaginary self, a leader, a holy cause, a collective body or possessions. There is fear and intolerance in pride; it is sensitive and uncompromising. The less promise and potency in the self, the more imperative is the need for pride. The core of pride is self-rejection.
It is true that when pride releases energies and serves as a spur to achievement, it can lead to a reconciliation with the self and the attainment of genuine self-esteem.

Eric Hoffer -The Passionate State Of Mind Part 1

Eric Hoffer (25 July 1902 – 21 May 1983) an American social philosopher, who was known as one of the first few writers to tackle the issue of Self Esteem by analyzing the consequences of the lack of it rather than the positive effects.

Quote from wikiquote:
His first book, The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements (1951) is widely recognized as a classic on mass-movements and the psychological roots of fanaticism.

The above link has a good summary of the best quotes. Somehow, I found myself reflecting deeply, as I read through. In particular, "The Passionate State Of Mind" was motivating. Difficult to describe, and conflicting in its opinions, but strangely motivating.

Quote 1.
A fateful process is set in motion when the individual is released "to the freedom of his own impotence" and left to justify his existence by his own efforts. The autonomous individual, striving to realize himself and prove his worth, has created all that is great in literature, art, music, science and technology. The autonomous individual, also, when he can neither realize himself nor justify his existence by his own efforts, is a breeding call of frustration, and the seed of the convulsions which shake our world to its foundations.
The individual on his own is stable only so long as he is possessed of self-esteem. The maintenance of self-esteem is a continuous task which taxes all of the individual's powers and inner resources. We have to prove our worth and justify our existence anew each day. When, for whatever reason, self-esteem is unattainable, the autonomous individual becomes a highly explosive entity. He turns away from an unpromising self and plunges into the pursuit of pride — the explosive substitute for self-esteem. All social disturbances and upheavals have their roots in crises of individual self-esteem, and the great endeavor in which the masses most readily unite is basically a search for pride.

CAS goes Gold

Unbelievable! This blog now shows up as the no. 1 google result for "Cold Awkward Silence", and top 10 for "Bottles and Bottles Vivo"

To prove I wasn't hallucinating, here is a screenshot as proof.




Notice the 1-10 caption at the top..






I didn't plan it that way, but thats alright. Might as well leave it that way. It's probably because Sherene posted CAS as a link on her own blog. I ought to give her blog some credit by the way, so here it is.

UR Resident Chef

Must say, she's an avid blogger, and throws out great posts. Ur Resident Chef was nominated for Best Food Blog - Bloggers Choice Award. last year.

NOTE: Since just about anyone with an internet access could potentially stumble into my blog, some confidential posts would have to be purged or censored.

Life as a Console Planner

One month into the new department, and about time for a quick look back.

A Quick Background
Now, many had been asking whether I requested for the transfer. To set the record straight. No, I did not ask for this, nor did I resisted. It was CK's idea, and I went along. It's not exactly the best thing that can happen to me, but it does benefit me to some extend. Ultimately, it prevents stagnancy. (See earlier rants)

The plan all along was *** SENSITIVE DATA DELETED *** till then, it'll be the same 'do my best' routine.

The New Environment
Two very prominent differences:

• Team Spirit. A significant culture change for me was the obvious sense of team work and camaraderie* (due to circumstances) which makes the long hours more bearable. Console Planning Team is a closely knitted specialist group. As their responsibilities are completely unique and sometimes exclusive, most of the time they can only relate problems to one another. Furthermore, most tasks were interlinked and mutually dependent. Beyond technical reasons, team rapport and morale was also good. For now the new team appears to have accepted me well.
  
• A totally opposite spectrum. To my surprise, planners primarily function based on estimates, and gut feel. The complete opposite of the perfect click on click precision which I imagined.
  My strengths in 'arcane' system technology tools, were inapplicable in this new environment dominated by experience, quick thinking and on the fly estimates. Indeed, in some situations, even mechanical scripts may be out-performed by dynamic out-of-the-box human ideas.
  
  
  "Precision, without understanding its inherent limitations is useless"
  
  
  I can't think of a more apt term than "Mental Agility". Mine had declined due to over-reliance on technology. Here is a great training camp to re-develope this aspect.
  

*this feeling has gone missing from the CAM team after 老爷left. Although I still enjoyed close bonds among several team mates, the team as a whole was no longer as united as before.