Inside the mind...

I am currently reading a book titled Monet by Himself which is a collection of letters written by the famous painter Monet to his family and friends. From reading his letters, you are able to appreciate his thinking and understand him a little bit more.

I have always admired Monet and his works. His ability to capture the imagery of a moment in time and his perfect depiction of light and darkness in his art always captivates me. You can always experience his emotions when you look at his paintings, as your mind is able to be taken away to the time and place of the image before you. It has been a great discovery for me to acquire this book as I am able to understand this great painter through his communication with others.

If we are able to understand a person through their communications with others, how would our future generations understand us given the lack of communications nowadays. Most of our communications are in the form of SMS, instant messaging, emails or phone conversations, and I doubt any of these will be accessible records after the communicator dies.

Blood and Water?

Is blood thicker than water?

It is argued that family relations last forever, but friendships come and go.

But the opposite may also be true. Family relations may just be an imaginary concept. The concept by itself will not be able to bind a relationship together. You may feel a sense of belonging to a relative because you belong to the same family, but you may not have any relationship with that person. A friend who you have experienced ups and downs with may have a stronger relationship with you than a relative who you have no relationship with.

If we are binded to each other by our encounters and experiences, shouldn't friendship be seen as important as family relations? Isn't it ironic that a person who died without a will may result in a distant relative, who barely knew the person, being entitled to their estate, while that person's friends, who stood by the person during that person's last days, get nothing, not even a memento to remember that person by. A close friend's death would have so much more impact on me than the death of a distant relative in another part of the world, or an evil relative who has harmed me financially and emotionally.

Office tidbits

Some interesting observations about irony from every day life in an office of a large firm:

1. You don't know when your colleague is leaving. Most firms don't send emails anymore about people leaving for the fear of bringing low morale to the workers. A person in another group in the firm whom you have been dealing with for a matter a month ago may no longer be there if you contact them a month later. But the irony is that people coming and leaving is a fact of life in a large firm. Most people leave to go to other firms or overseas. It's just a fact of life. There is no need for a firm to keep things quiet.

2. Most firms nowadays offer a fruit basket for each floor for their employees to enjoy and stay healthy. The irony is that most fruits are gone in the first half an hour by eager secretaries who take three or four pieces of fruits each, while other people like us would never have a chance to get a piece of fruit.

3. Firms offer dinner and taxi rides for employees who work late. The irony is that we would rather do the work quickly than spend time eating in the office. We would rather leave the office and eat outside than being stuck in the office eating dinner while knowing that there are still work to be done after dinner. The taxi is not attractive either, especially if you know how some taxi drivers drive their cabs.

4. Firms offer a variety of functions - drinks, social lunches, etc - but the irony is that your attendance is encouraged but is dependent on your work commitments.

5. A typical office usually has more female than males. But the irony is that office romance is virtually non existent due to a number of factors such as sexual harassment policies, business at work, stress and frustration from work, etc.

What is love?

Alot of people look for love because they wish to escape the feeling of loneliness. Having a partner will allow them to have someone that they can relate to, both physically and emotionally, as well as someone who can care for them in times of need. They think that one can never be happy being alone and there is a need for a partner in their lives.

This is not necessary true for the following reasons:

1. Being alone doesn't mean you have to be lonely. There are so many things you can fill up your lives with, such as hobbies, social activities, etc.

2. Having a partner doesn't necessarily remove your loneliness (if you are lonely) especially if your partner does not understand you truly. The expectation you have of them and the fact that they are not able to meet your expectation may make you more unhappy and distressed.

3. It is true that as you grow older, people around you may have their own families and children and if you are single, you may encounter some sort of loneliness. This will especially be true when you grow old and your parents will no longer be here, and you may feel more alone as you have no immediate family around you. But getting married doesn't guarantee that your partner will be there when you're old. Your partner may die before you do, leaving no offspring, and you end up being in the same state of being alone.


"What is Love? Love is not to be loved, but to love and not expect to be loved." (Gecki, 2006)

Endless tasks

Tasks that I have to do are endless.

Stuff to do for secular work. Stuff to do for church. Stuff to do at home.

So much to do. So little time.

And we still like to procrastinate.

Why??

Rude Boss - Part 2

The continuing saga of the rude boss.

In the last couple of weeks, there is a 180 degree change in him. He is no longer threatening or making reasonable demands. When I told him I was busy with other stuff, he extended the deadlines of my work and even offered to take back some of my work so I wont be too busy or flatout.

He even took me out to lunch at Cafe Sydney as an appreciation of my efforts. During lunch he asked me what type of work I enjoyed doing and we talked about religion. I didn't know that he was also a Christian and he attended some Eastern Orthodox church. It was an interesting discussion about the differences in my religion and his religion.

Today, he took me out to coffee and we just chatted about random stuff, like religion, literature and movies. He seems to be a nice person.

Even though there is a change in him, I still wonder whether this change is permanent, or whether he is treating me nice as he wanted to me to help him and work for him more. Maybe this is his way of trying to win me over to him. I don't know. Maybe I think too much. Anyway, at this point in time, I still do not trust him.

Or maybe he has no friends at work and wants to befriend me. I have heard that everyone knows of his rudeness and the way he acted when he first started, so maybe he is neglected by the other bosses in our firm.

All very interesting.