Monday, February 23, 2009

*I Can See Right Through You*

Come on dude, I can see you. I can see right through you. No matter how you try to hide your nice flat screen desktop monitor, I know you’re doing everything else but work. You’re trying to trick a CONsultant here you know.

Unlike many, I came from the bottom of the food-chain and not become a GM of one’s father’s company after graduating. I know (almost) every trick in the book and believe me, you don’t know enough of it and the things that you do know; you’re not even doing a good job practicing it.

Stop it dude I can see right through you. You’re always too slow to switch your screen to your “work” whenever I walk by. I’ve perfected the art of stealthily walking up on my staff. Besides, you should know that it’s always faster to Alt+Tab than to move your mouse.

We have a progress or status update meeting once a week and I’d know if you did your work or not. You can do your best to “tai-chi” your way out of missing a deadline but you forget, you’re trying to “tai-chi” a person who learnt from the best and you’re just clutching at straws.

Dude, you have been given more chances that would make a cat with 9 lives seem to have an even shorter life span. Trust me when I say that my patience with you is thinning by the minute. If I ran this company, you would have gone back to your home town 6 months ago.

Just as how we all laugh now at our antics of trying to cheat our way during our exams in school, I’m having a good laugh at you right now but for professionalism sake and not wanting to look like a retard in the office, I smirk.

You’re not good enough and you conned yourself into a job thanks to your superbly written resume. Too bad I wasn’t the one that interviewed you and don’t think that it means you're safe. I’ve already seen off one staff last year whose resume did not measure up to one’s actual abilities and skill.

It’s a Monday so I understand it gets hard to rev the engines up but then again you seem to take everyday that comes as a Monday. I was looking for something to cheer me up on a slow day but I don’t think I can thank you for that dude.

Cheers!!! :D

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

*Am I Turning Into Him?*

Am I turning into him? I hope not because I despised his style of management in all honesty but the question is, am I turning out to be just like him?

Staff: He requires the laptop so that he can work from home and also over the weekend to catch up on the new tool and also the workload.


Me: That’s not a strong enough justification for it. If he needs to work over the weekend he can come into office and if he can’t finish his work on time, than he should stay back till he is.

“…he should stay back till he is”.

That is the very statement that I despised whenever he uttered it. Does it mean that if he can’t finish the job during office hours means that my resource and schedule planning was poor?

Have I turned into someone so obsessed with deadlines that I hardly care about my staff anymore, just like him? Have I lost regard for the fact that people do have lives outside of work too?

Then again I said to myself, “Wait a minute, I’ve been in this position before. I’ve had my boss tell me the same thing and it turned out for the better”.

The fact of the matter is I’m not like everyone and not everyone is like me. No one is the same with the other. The challenge of leading people is that each one is an individual, no one way of handling one person can be used for the next.

Leading people is a niche, not everyone has what it takes to lead people. I’m not blowing my own trumpet but I think I can do it. I’m still learning though and every time I get a new staff it’s a whole new experience to me.

I was told by the very person that shaped my career once, his words still echoes in me till this very day. “Stop looking at how I manage people, problems and issues. This is my style born out of my personality. You have to figure out what is your way of doing things”.

How true were your words indeed Khai. It took me awhile but I'm beginning to understand what you were trying to drill into my brain all those years ago. Thanks for being patient with what I'm sure the most stubborn of your protege's.

I sure do hope I can be a better leader than him, I really do. He had his strengths I’m sure but maybe I didn’t see it. I hope I could be a leader just like my late dad, he was feared but at the same time respected and loved by his staff.

Am I turning into him? I hope not.

Cheers!!! :D

Monday, February 16, 2009

*Mantera Beradu For ALL Politicians*

In the spirit of the recently concluded Valentine's Day celebrations, Baine's World would like to take this opportunity to dedicate this song to ALL politicians.

If you happen to be one or know one or is a sibling of one or is related to one or even works for one, heed the advise from one of Malaysia’s best lyricist. It applies to both sides of the divide as far as I’m concerned.

Masih belum sempurna..

Gerakkan Hati… Hati gerakkan…

Pandanglah aku.. aku lah dia..


Kulitku tebal.. ku bebal.. ingatku kebal

Banyak berbual makan angin kembung perut mual

Resah dan tidak senang.. hidup tak pernah lenang

Ku schizo paranoia takut pecah tembelang


Pecah tembelang… peta dah hilang

Bangau dah pulang… suara sumbang

Lidahku kaku tak selicin kuku

Teman baikku buku

Bini ku pena.. tak pernah lena

Aku suka mengintai pantang ditenung
Berakhir pertelingkahan dalaman

Pasti belum


Ikut gerak hati.. pena melayang

Dilihat dua layang pandang
Tak lah sekarang

Takat meradang

Tanya.. abang gedang, apa barang?
Badan macam badang

Main acah belakang parang


Kuhunuskan keris musuh ada pistol

Tradisi kekalkan adaptasi harus betul

Tujuh baris keramat tujuh garis penamat

Baik berpada biar jahat asal selamat

Ramai saudaraku yang baik telah dipijak


Awan mendung yang berarak

Bawa tangis bawa resah

Rebah rindu yang terkumpul
Semua birat dan kalimah
Semua janji yang terikat
Lebur disisimu


Yo! ijazah terbaik datangnya dari jalanan

Dari pengalaman bercakap dan bersalaman

Konflik motivasi cuba medatasi

Positif dan benci jadi inspirasi pagi


Peduli itu interpretasi basi pekakkan sebelah

Halang biar keduanya muka cantik
Soalan bodoh yang ditanya
jadi melodinya

Lebih hina dari zina


Lu bikin dosa
ku bikin prosa

Testosterone testarosa

Cita-cita sosa KL KL kosa nostra
Jalan berliku ku harung roller coaster

Gah sentosa tiada penyesalan
Luas pandangan jauh dah berjalan
Tak sempurna masih ada kejanggalan

Gagal merancang, merancang kegagalan


Awan mendung yang berarak

Bawa tangis bawa resah
Rebah rindu yang terkumpul

Semua birat dan kalimah

Semua janji yang terikat

Lebur disisimu


Kucing bawa tidur rimau bawa igau
Masuk tempat orang bawa otak bukan pisau


Naik bukit angkuh cakap ayah jangan risau

Turun bukit pucat dengar tiga miaww
Kucing bawa tidur rimau bawa igau
Masuk tempat orang bawa otak bukan pisau

Tolak pintu gua tiga kerat tenaga

Kosong tak dijaga sampai datang tiga naga

Ingat nak berlaga tapi tak kan boleh menang

Menang dengan otak tak mesti dengan pedang


Sebelum jadi naga, ikan koi renang renang

Kura-kura salah jawab pantun, naik berang

Panggil lima kawan atau biar pergi laju
Risaukan pekara remeh kita tak akan maju

Muka sama hijau hati siapa tahu

Merah dah menyala pasti mati siapa mahu

Gagap tiga kali bercakap benar saja

bulan terang ramai yang keluar buat kerja


Panjat pokok buluh cari tokong air terjun
Naik sampai nampak dah terpegun turun

Tiga ular ikut lompat atau paut
Kalau lari mati jika belok maut


Awan mendung yang berarak

Bawa tangis bawa resah

Rebah rindu yang terkumpul
Semua birat dan kalimah
Semua janji yang terikat

Lebur disisimu


Puisi hati mu… hati mu puisi

Palu hati ku palu hatiku


Kulit tak besalin walau saling ganti baju
Pandang sini pandang sini
s
Ku berbahasa baku kata kata nahu

Himpun jadi satu

Mantera beradu dengan irama dan lagu


Akhirnya sempurna

Song By: Malique ft. M Nasir
Lyrics By: Malique


I apologize for those who may not understand Malay but I don’t think I would be able to do justice by trying to translate something as lyrical as this.

I stand by my stand; politics equate to nothing more than just People Of Little Intelligence Talking Ignorantly Childish Stuff.

Cheers!!! :D

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

*I Have PAWS*

Ladies and gentlemen, on Monday, the 9th of February I suffered from Post Adrenaline-rush Withdrawal Syndrome or in my books, PAWS. If you have been following Baine’s World long enough than you would know that I’m an adrenaline junkie.

Over the weekend the Mrs. and I went to Genting for some R&R and a well deserved break from our hectic KL’ite lives. It was a short trip up that was made difficult no thanks to the ever reliable and wonderful Proton Waja power-window. That is a story for another post.

RM300++ and an hour or so later, we checked into our hotel and began our trip across the theme park’s numerous rides. It was around noon at that time and we did not finish till it was way past midnight. We were so tired that we had thought someone had stolen our car when we got the wrong floor of the basement parking.

During that time between 12pm to 12am I fed my adrenaline deprived body with the following dose to make up for years of neglect:

Flying Coaster – 1x
Pirate Ship – 1x
Spinner – 2x
Cyclone – 1x
Flying Dragon – 1x
Rolling Thunder Mine Train – 1x
Sg. Rejang Flume Ride – 1x
Corkscrew – 1x
GP Fun Kart – 1x
Space Shot – 2x
Matahari – 1x
Euro Express – 1x
Adult Bumper Cars – 1x
4D Motion Master – 1x
Rio Float – 1x
Reindeer Cruiser – 1x

Of course the last four rides in the list above were merely passing time rather than an adrenaline rush in my books. The rides that we took more than justified the all-day pass that we paid for indeed and if Genting had more customers like us, they wont be doing very well indeed.

Since yesterday was a public holiday, I spent the entire day at home, big mistake. PAWS started to come over me and after the high that I had on Saturday, I felt like a zombie. To suddenly go from a 12 hour adrenaline-rush to doing nothing, it is like playing competitive sports without having a proper warm-down session.

Symptoms of PAWS include boredom, laziness, amazing ability to just sleep, brain-freeze, blank-stares into the TV, zombie-like behavior and many other characteristics like other similar withdrawal related symptoms.

If you have PAWS, no need to contact your nearest clinic for a cure. Make sure you do something if you’re not working. Wash your car, clean your house, water the plants or just go out and do something. PAWS can affect anyone and everyone so beware.

Another option to alleviate PAWS includes planning for your next adrenaline-rush fix.

Suggestions anyone?

Cheers!!! :D

Friday, February 06, 2009

*Once Upon An Oath*

Bahawa dengan sesungguhnya, saya berjanji dan bersetia, yang saya dengan seberapa daya upaya, saya akan:

Taat kepada Tuhan, Raja dan Negara;
Menolong orang pada setiap masa;
Menurut undang-undang pengakap

The above translates to the following:

On my honor I promise that I will do my best;

To do my duty to God, King and Country;
To help others at all times;
To obey the scout laws

The laws are:

To be trusted and have self dignity
Loyal towards the King and other Raja’s, scout masters, parents, employers and the people under him
To make myself useful and helpful at all times
To be a friend to all of any States, rank or any other religion
To be good and kind and will always do good
To be good and kind to all animals
To always follow my parents’; Leaders’ orders without any questions
To always be patient during difficulties
To be thrift
To have clean and pure thoughts, words and actions

That was an oath I took a long, extremely long time ago. In fact, I was quite surprised I could still remember some of it. Today, a colleague of mine reminded me of my oath. I guess he was playing up what was going on up north.

I’m sure I’m not the only one that took that oath. There must be hundreds and thousands of us that did it once before. Some may have done it just because they were forced by their parents to do so while others may do it because they felt it was the right thing to do.

So my friend asked me what would I do when I read what’s going on in Perak and I replied rather sneakily that I’d take the paintball marker and defend the Sultan of Perak! We ended up both having a rather big laugh but I know that it is no laughing matter to some.

Politicians take oaths, swear by His name and say so many things before they take up office and such. Yet, those same oaths, especially swearing by His name, are taken so lightly without any fear for His wrath. That to any right thinking Muslim should be enough.

“O Believers! Obey Allah, and obey The Messenger and those entrusted with authority among you. Should you differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to (the Book of) Allah (the Quran) and the (tradition of the) Messenger, if you truly believe in Allah and the Last Day. This will be best (for you) and best in the end.” -An-Nisa:59

I’ve said it all along how I and I believe so many among us yearn for some piece and quiet. There are far too many other pressing issues that need to be addressed and yet, so many of us are still blinded by such petty things.

For now, I’ll keep the paintball marker to myself :P

Cheers!!! :D