Dreams

Dreams are about us. They don't lie, they don't explain, they are just honest about our true feelings.

When friends ask me to help them interpret their dreams, I always warn them about unduly letting me into their private lives.

Dreams are the language of our hearts. They are the voice of the subconscious. The subconscious speaks in symbols, and archetypes. Yes, dreams have colors too, and different colors mean differently.

Nightmares are our subconscious screaming at us, telling us that there is something fundamentally wrong in our waking life. Dreams about falling off a cliff is us feeling out of control. Dreams about monsters are about people we are afraid of in our lives.

Try understanding your dreams, they have a lot of stories to tell about yourself.

Manila!

Manila!

I am in Manila! Just so glad, i got the chance again to see some chaos on the road...and get to drive after several months in commuting in trains and cabs and buses, again...

Enjoyed being with loved ones, friends, dear friends, long lost dear friends, former colleagues, and an assorted business contacts who I needed to talk to either for for potential business or for some 'gyan' that i am advocating in behalf of my firm.

Its nostalgic to once again sleep in your own bed and house, be greeted by neighbors who are pleasantly surprised to see you around.

Its such a joyous feeling to be welcomed back by colleagues and given time to be entertained by friends. But most gratifying is being given some quality time and even favors by dear friends, with no explanations asked.

This is Manila! This is home!

me and myself demented

I have not written anything in the past months. I have not read any interesting story at all in a long time. My mind is tired and my body is stressed.

I want to write but i don't know what to write. I have my thoughts and ideas, but the words don't seem to flow.

In the past, I used to turn to my dreams for solace and understanding. Dreams have always afforded me a peek into my real self and a glimpse of what my heart is longing for. But I have not been able to remember any of my dreams at all...

Why is the Philippines Poor? Or is it?

Here is a chain e-mail message i received from friends and fellow Pinoys...one of the thousands of chain mails i believe is worthy of being read, understood, and taken to heart by Filipinos like me.

Why Is The Philippines Poor?

Dear Friends, Here is a good article sent by Dr. Arsenio Martin of Fort Arthur , Texas ..Enjoy reading.

THE DIFFERENCE The difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the age of the country:

This can be shown by countries like India & Egypt , that are more than 2000 years old, but are poor. On the other hand, Canada , Australia & New Zealand , that 150 years ago were inexpressive, today are developed countries, and are rich.

The difference between poor & rich countries does not reside in the available natural resources.

Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second world economy. The country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw materials from the whole world and exporting manufactured products.

Another example is Switzerland, which does not plant cocoa but has the best chocolate in the world. In its little territory they raise animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year. Not enough, they produce dairy products of the best quality! It is a small country that transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the world's strongest, safest place.

Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts in poor countries show that there is no significant intellectual difference. Race or skin color are also not important: immigrants labeled lazy in their countries of origin are the productive power in rich European countries.

What is the difference then? The difference is the attitude of the people, framed along the years by the education & the culture & flawed tradition.

On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich & developed countries, we find that the great majority follow the following principles in their lives:
1. Ethics, as a basic principle.
2. Integrity.
3. Responsibility.
4. Respect to the laws & rules.
5. Respect to the rights of other citizens.
6. Work loving.
7. Strive for savings & investment.
8. Will of super action.
9. Punctuality.
10. and of course...Discipline

In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in their daily life.

The Philippines is not poor because we lack natural resources or because nature was cruel to us. In fact, we are supposedly rich in natural resources. We are poor because we lack the correct attitude.

We lack the will to comply with and teach these functional principles of rich & developed societies.

If you do not forward this message nothing will happen to you. Your pet will not die, you will not be fired, you will not have bad luck for seven years, and also, you will not get sick or go hungry.

But those may happen because of your lack of discipline & laziness, your love for intrigue and politics, your indifference to saving for the future, your stubborn attitude.

If you love your country, let this message circulate so that many Filipinos could reflect about this, & CHANGE, ACT!

Malaysian Airlines rakes in MYR851M net profit : What did they do right?

This morning I read in a Malaysian daily while on a business trip to KL that MAS has raked in MYR851M in net profit for 2007 and is declaring some dividends.

I was wondering whether the right question to ask is.. "what did they do right?" or "how did they do that?"

For almost a year now, I have traveled weekly to KL on a business trip. I have always taken a Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight 95% of the time but only for the reason that it's the only airline i know that has the 10am flight from Singapore to KL.

Other than this very convenient time flight schedule, i have not found any decent reason why I should fly MAS, which for me is a classic example of why big airlines like this are bound to fail once competition steps in. If the flight from Sg to KL takes longer than hour, I don't think i can tolerate the torture of riding MAS planes.

I have many horror stories with MAS, 2 of which I will detail in this space for perspective as to why I believe this airline sucks.

One stressful day in August I missed the last MAS flight to SG from KL, after arriving some 15 minutes before flight time. As any customer who wanted to just come home from a stressful work week, I pleaded to be allowed to board the plane for 2 reasons which were obviously not acceptable to most airline policies, but for me then, was worthy of consideration for someone who has always patronized the airline and desperate to get home.

One reason I had in mind was that the plane had not taken off yet, and i presumed that passengers were still boarding. I knew that for sure as in all the time i have rode MAS flights, 60-70% of these flights were delayed in taking off.

Second reason is that it was the LAST flight for the day, thus I had the feeling that it would be considerate to loyal passengers whose intention is never to be late but to get on to a flight home. In my experience, MAS ground stewards or stewardesses seem to assume the former than the latter.

You know how I was treated as my companion and I pleaded to get to the plane?

We got shouted at by the ground steward and lectured on how we should have checked in 2 hours before flight time etc. etc. I told the steward that we know that, and that was why we were asking for a consideration. (He could have just pretended to try at least to call the pilot if its possible.) But no, he did not flinch at all as he continued lecturing us about our being late as our fault and all the crap.

I thought that was the end of such "hospitality" from MAS that day...

We experienced even far worse situation when we got to the ticketing office for re-booking. As my companion and I were re-booking our tickets, we told the booking teller of how we were late and not allowed in the plane in spite of our pleading. We said we were hoping that we will be allowed as we anyway patronize MAS every week. She discourteously barked at us, saying ..."You should know better, if you go here weekly!" My god, I almost slap the teller for such insensitivity.

I caught myself though. I realize that it may be a culture of "customer service mediocrity" or "customer hatred" would be more appropriate. Indeed it probably is. As I was experiencing this, my companion and I were witnessing another teller berating an elderly couple trying to claim for a ticket for some miles they probably earned, to the embarrassment of the elderly customers. And mind you, the supervisor behind the teller was not even trying to stop the teller. He even joined in to the fray by equally shouting at the couple at the top of his voice, on how they were wrong and that they don't understand what they were doing. My companion and I could only shake our heads.

Another recent event is just a few days ago. For 30 minutes, passengers of MH604 were subjected to extremely hot cabin experience before the pilot turned on the 'airconditioning' 5 minutes before taking off. The pilot did apologize and explained that it was due to a malfunction of some ground engine not working, which got me thinking...why the hell did they allow us into the plane when they exactly know that it is going to happen. And not even one of the flight crew was ever looking sorry or apologetic for what the passengers were experiencing...!

During the flight, passengers kept on asking flight stewards for the immigration cards, which the latter kept on replying that "It's not needed." Apparently, the stewards were correct. Indeed, the immigration authority did not look for any immigration card upon entry to KL, but not without a lot of apprehension for most of the passengers from that flight while lining up to the immigration desk, who kept on asking everyone like..."did you get a landing card?" or "Have you filled up an immigration card?."

The one thing that the MAS flight crew could have done as a basic "customer service" is to at least announce the change in the Malaysian immigration authority's guidelines, having seen that the passengers have been asking left and right for an immigration card.

I really wonder what MAS did Right to rake in generous profits in 2007. Maybe, there were a lot too many customers like me who tolerated their services because they had no other choice with the flight times.

Congratulations MAS!

Self Branding

I remember my days in MBA, when I use to have this professor who is a namesake of my father. He would always say, you need to brand yourself in class. Who do you want to be from the eyes of your discriminating classmates? At the end of the day, you will be graded by professors not just for your performance in class, but also on how they see you.

Are we really conscious in creating a brand of who we are or who we want to be? Do we actually set out the things that we do everyday with conscious intention to project an image, whatever that is?

Of Demented Landlord and Greedy Agents

In less than 24 hours, I have lost $900 to unscrupulous real estate agents due to a demented landlord who led me to a useless exercise of looking for a flat to rent for days, only to agree later that I can stay on for another year!

If you have useless time, read on...

In the first week of January, my demented landlord had advised me that upon expiry of my lease, he will now be charging a $1.8K rental fee, $400 more than my current rate. After a couple of days of hopeless appeal for a lower rental, I finally succumbed to a $1.8K offer. To my surprise, which blew my brains to bits, he said he wanted $2K now as the market rates have gone up. "I am even giving you $400 discount at that rate because a 5 room flat in your area is now renting at $2.4K.", he said is in a monotonous and ruthless tone.

Holly Molly! I could almost see myself going in for a combat Aikido Shihu Nage and pinning my landlord, whom I have never seen except hear his voice, with a San Kyo arm lock. My knees almost gave in.

So what my wife and I did in the ensuing week was to scour the entire Singapore for every flat available for lease and evaluate our options. We finally found one unit almost identical to ours for $1.8K monthly rent and available for 2 year lease, which we want. So we immediately engaged a seemingly (always just seemingly--when will i ever learn!) nice female real agent with a tag-along body-of-a-guard-companion who speaks more like an agent than she does.

The pair asked me to pay "one month advance rental" and "half of the 1.8K" for agent's fee. I was hesitant to sign the LOI to the owner because my wife and I wanted to take a look at the flat again the following day. When we looked at the flat, it was 7pm on a Sunday and was quite unusually dark because of the heavy rains. So we really did not get to take a good look at the place. I said, to show good faith, I can give the $2.7K to the pair but we would like to have the LOI signed with finality once we get to see it again the following day.

The body of a guard agent expectedly insisted. "No, no. Sign it now because nothing's gonna change, right? Everything will be all right and taken care of." So I muttered to myself, "What the hell, if we are really to leave this house, it should not matter what ever the little imperfections of the new house. Even if I will be paying rentals for two houses in February, it is just the way it goes here in Singapore. Otherwise, my kids my find themselves homeless next month." The lease on my flat expires in end February, while the new place is required to be rented start of Feb. With all these in mind, I gave the $1.8K in cash and electronically transferred the "$900 agent's fee and signed the LOI, which did not even bear the name of the owner yet. (Such a dumb ass I am when it comes to things like these. I am ashamed I have dealt with far more complicated transactions and contracts than these in my life as a banker, but I am almost always a careless neophyte when it comes to personal transactions such as these.)

I signed the LOI then. My wife and I assured ourselves, that the new place is for the best, as we have no choice, except if we want to pay the $2K per month rate. Before I sleep, I sent a message to my demented landlord to say that I cannot afford his $2K rate and am willing to leave end of January if he gives me back my deposit and not let me pay the Feb rent.

A day after and upon landing in Thailand, I received a roaming call from my demented landlord. He said, "How much are you willing to pay ha?" I told him, "You already asked me that, and I told you $1.8K. You said ‘CANNOT’." My stomach churned upon his reply, "OK. You can take it for $1.8K. You are a good tenant, paying on time and loyal." What the hell can I say, except to say, "Thank you." This was 1030ish in the morning Sg time.

Now my thoughts we rushing to how I can recover the money from the seemingly nice agent and body-of-a-guard-companion, (who by the way claimed to be Christian upon seeing a statue of Christ in my flat). So I sent an SMS message that I am backing out of the LOI and request my money back. A couple of seconds after, the body-of-a-guard-companion of the agent, called.

"Norman, I cannot give you back the money because we have given it to the owner already. Under the law even if if its one hour or days, once you sign a contract its consummated. Sorry. But we can give up the agent's fee that you advance ($900) as a consideration."

I immediately had an Amygdala hijack, and pointed out that there was no contract at all as the document i signed was a mere LOI and the money I gave was, as he said, "advance rental", and without any contract there is no "advance rental." I told him it was not even 24 hours yet. The next 10 minutes of roaming call became a heated exchange with me realizing that the greedy body-of-a-guard-companion only wanted to take a buck from me. He was "willing to give up the $900 agent's fee" but had his eyes on the "$1.8K" which I had suspected he and his female agent friend have not even given to the owner yet.

So I sent the greedy of a body-of-a-guard-companion of my agent a message. “Hey body-of-a-guard-companion, sorry my attitude. I was just shocked with what you said are the possibilities (of my money). I am willing to compensate you and female agent for your trouble but do consider how much we need that money as a family.”

Well it did the trick. Before the day ended, they returned the $1.8K “advance rental” but not the “$900” agent’s fee, which in the morning conversation, Mr. body-of-a-guard-companion was all too willing to give up.

I would like to believe that I appealed to the pair’s conscience, but I knew that they were also aware that they did not have any legitimate hold on that money. So i surmised they really wanted to earn a buck off a careless and gullible customer like me.

In less than 24 hours, I have lost $900 to unscrupulous agents due to a demented landlord who led me to a useless exercise of looking for a flat to rent for days, only to agree later that I can stay on for another year in his flat.

Demented!

Demented Thoughts in 2008

...will i ever get to do my naughtiest ever thoughts whenever inside an elevator.

Everytime I am inside a crowded elevator, I have this sick and funny thought of making a loud and prolonged farting. I wonder how people will react? Of course, I will pretend to say 'i am sorry' and make a humbling excuse of the act being completely uncontrollable.

Will people be civil enough to just cover their noses or react violently by mauling my ass till kingdom come for inflicting them with an inescapable hell.

Or whenever I am alone in an elevator, I have often thought of taking a sticky and slimy boogger (from my nose of course!) and finger-sling shotting it towards the CCTV camera while gesturing my regards. Will someone do anything? Will a security guard be actually waiting for me once I reach the ground floor?

Does anyone monitor these CCTVs daily as in the movies? Or it is just automatically stored in some terrabyte-capacity hard drive to be accessed only upon a security-breached?

Some sick thoughts to start the year, eh? Happy New Year!