I Am Stripped Bare

Salve!
Friends, Shanghaians, Countrymen

Lend me your ears.


I would like to proclaim you fine citizens of Shanghai, jovial men and women of the merry-making kind, of drink and dance.
I am stripped bare in humility by the essence of Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) and Alcohol.

I depart this fine land with your fine company and friendships. The classical music of the 80th decade and songs sung in lyrical praise will forever be etched in my memory.

Individual salutations, I will give now:

Shan - Sister, i truly appreciate your efforts despite your tight schedule and incessant work. The party could not have gone on without your brilliant organization and of course, not to mention, excellent door manning skills of the Canis kind. Please thank the other 3 matronas for their attendance!

Debs - For taking over the reins and creating a major disturbance amongst the plebians with the promise of entertainment at the stroke of midnight. Who would have guessed that most of the stripping was to be done by yours truly? One Night in Shanghai... I indeed left behind much emotions!

Lester - You are the orchestrator of such classical masterpieces - Mars and Venus be praised by the lyrical geniuses of Belinda, Rick and other masters of the past eras.

Bolei - What could have done without your artistic capture of such fine memories? Although I very much would like to witness the glorification of these works of art in the Forum, I think it best for the Republic to remain in our private collections (and re-collections)...

Daniel, Qixin, Jason, Hsien Yang, Simon, Shaoqing, Randy and Dean - Brave men of the Republic, citizens of a model nation. My liver cries out at the mention of your names.

Antoine, Ying and Pierre - Your presence was greatly appreciated.. the others in the Legion shall be whipped for not turning up for this Triumph.

Mellissa and Kathryn (pls forward to her) - You were a great audience as well, yours truly would not have been had a more spectacular performance without the constant rouses and cheering

Jeryl, Bryan & Janice (pls forward to them) - My heartfelt gratitude for your presence and gift, hope we old men and women of Shanghai did not give you too much of a scare

Liping, Jon & Joo - I was honoured to partake with you, the excellent meal of hot pot. Wine and merry might not agree with you but nonetheless, I thank your efforts in attending the dinner.

May I be damned on Jupiter's stone if I had missed out on anyone!
The combination of potions on the night made me see closer the stars that never seem to appear in Shanghai.

Till the next, Vade In Pace!

Benius Maximus.
MMVII

Channels

sneaking some time to blog while waiting for my lunch appointment...

been doing this recruitment recently and a few points that hovered above my thoughts..

mo·ti·va·tion /ˌmoʊtəˈveɪʃən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[moh-tuh-vey-shuhn]

–noun

1. the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior; "we did not understand his motivation"; "he acted with the best of motives"
2. the condition of being motivated; "his motivation was at a high level"
3. the act of motivating; providing incentive

we keep using this word in HR that it becomes kind of a cliché ..

anyhows, we were questioning the guy's motivation as usual... why he wants to leave his current job and join us in what can be best described by an 'experimental' role. The functional boss counter-checked whether if I had checked with the guy if he was able to accept not seeing instant results, that what the materials he researches on and sources for today will only be realised in 2-3 years time, when the product is launched in the market.

that night, I thought again the same question and applied it to my own career. so far, i've spent 4 years with this company and will be leaving in 2 weeks time. It has been a cushioned career with the right opportunities, being in the right places at the right time. Somehow, I would like to think that I made the career switch now because of the opportunity that beckoned and that it had nothing to do with the increasing frustrations I've had at work before I tendered..

Well looking back, the work I had begun in Singapore 4 years ago have indeed blossomed into an formless process. I know everything like the back of my hand but yet these are not rules or procedures that you write down on paper. I found it terribly difficult to handover my work to this Chinese lady that has no inkling of the complications of life in a regional office. While going through the organization chart, she yawned so many times and needed 2 coffee breaks! I bitched about it to a close colleague of mine... Oh beware ambitious one... you might have taken the job but I doubt you will survive... or maybe I'm wrong.. the best way to survive here might be to be inefficient so that people have no expectations of you whatsoever...

the cynic in me speaks... we shall see. Right now, i'll just like to focus all my energies in the right places... like saying goodbyes in different ways to my friends in Shanghai and resting my mental energies to look forward to the new work... so exciting... To Russia with love haha

Lunch is more important now haha..