27/3/08

Expectations and preferences

Everyone have them. We've had some of it since we were kids and others we develop through the years. Some are flexible but some are non-compromising. Some are work-related, some applies to personal life and others apply to both professional and the personal aspects of our life.

Some of mine includes the following:

• Effective communication - expectation.
• Effective feedback - expectation.
• Punctuality - expectation.
• Sitting in the corner as opposed to the center table of a restaurant - preference.
• Wearing black - preference.
• Having a haircut once every two weeks - non-compromising preference.
• Arriving early to watch a movie - expectation and non-compromising preference.
• Sitting on the center seat, 6th row from the screen at the movies - almost non-compromising preference.
• Not eating vegetables - non-compromising preference.haha!
• Play badminton twice a week - really, really strong preference.

I guess the trick is to balance our own expectations and preferences with those of our friends, co-workers and family. Easier said than done, since many of them are ever so conflicting. One possibly effective way, i found, is to remove myself from the scenario of conflict. For example, if you'd rather watch Lang Buana (no judgement!) but i prefer The Lord of the Rings - Return of the King (giteww), we'll just go our separate ways; you go into Hall 1 while i'll enter Hall 6. No hard feelings.

And what if it's a non-compromising preference and it's not about conflicting movie taste? Then i guess all there is to do is this: woooooooosaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.................................................(insert hand gesture). and all will be fine again. Or will it?

26/03/08

Is it really that small?

How many times have we used the term "it's a small world huh.."? Let's see:

"Hi, you may not remember me, but i used to work with ____ and we've met before at ____ where you often visit. We just got off the same flight" "Oh yeah, how nice to see you again!" "what a small world!"

"Hey, i think i know him. We met at the leadership conference in Hawaii last year, he's in Thailand now" "small world!"

"Dude, you know the guy who applied for the position? I think i know of him. He's a cousin of one of my friend, we went to the outlet in Pavilion about a few months back and he was the manager in charge there." "Hmmm....small world huh"

"Hello there?! what are you doing here?? Oh, you live here? in this building? me too!!Wow, what a coincidence" "Yeah, small word eh?"

and of course, the inevitable one -

"Hey, hi.....i'm having a drink with a visiting friend from KL, ______. Yup....oh, really? You do? _______? oh i see.....so you guys know each other too? Owh.....hahhahaa......hmmm.... "it's a small world isn't it?"


Hmm....how small? Apparently very small........and it's getting smaller by the minute.

16/3/08

The Mist vs The Spiderwick Chronicles

(Spoilers alert!)

I saw the two movies back to back the other day and it turned out to be quite an experience. If you haven't seen the movies and you hate spoilers, you should stop reading. But hey, this my blog and very few people read it and so i dun think it's that big of a deal.Hahaha.

The movies, i feel, represent the opposite sides of the human spirit. The Mist (TM) showed the extreme negative side of a human mind and what it's capable of doing when people feel that their very existence is threatened. The Spiderwick Chronicles (TSC), however highlights the more commonly-seen human spirit (or perhaps the more celebrated one) in hollywood land - the triumph of good over evil.

In TM, people turn against each other and even kill, all out of fear of death. Some took solace in religion, one used religion as a mean to take matters into her own hand (one of Marcia Gay Harden's best role that i've seen!). And one man (Thomas Jane) fights for the survival of his son, only to end it himself.

In TSC, yet another teenage boy is given the heavy responsibility to help save the world. and long story short, he overcame all impossible obstacles and achieved victory! Okay, okay.......i liked the movie a lot, fast-paced, action-packed and has that magic wizardry bits.....it's just that it paled in comparison to the impact which TM had onto me.

So back to TM - the plot, which i think is rather original, was given an even more original ending - when survival seems impossible and hope vanishes.........and when people felt that there is only one thing waiting for them - death. And so they chose to do what seemed like the only thing they could choose -how to die. Four bullets in a gun, four shots fired; one for the elderly woman, one for the old man, one for the woman cradling the man's son, and the final one for the son - his son, the very soul he was trying to protect. Now what would that have felt like for him? Ending the life of his own son........ i can't even comprehend. In the movie, feelings of remorse instantly took place, him screaming his own dissapproval upon himself. Mere seconds after, the worst imaginable realization sets in. Tanks and soldiers appears, signaling that the danger is gone. And just seconds after 4 lives were (which in retrospect, now seemed unnecessary) ended.

Maybe that's why i like movies so much. It helps me think. hahaha.