Expectations

Bright and light -- that's what I'd like my year to be and in order to illustrate the quest I chose the photograph on the right that depicts these feelings through a sprig of colours on growing plants and playful feline mischief. A New Year has begun but is it really new or simply a continuation of the previous one. If the latter, then a new year is simply a marker of time akin to a calendar or even a clock and therefore never an instrument of change in life and society. If so, then all this talk about a new year ushering in new hopes is simply a euphemism. Would bright and light be a toss-up?


In reality and in my life, there is unfinished business from last year and has to be pursued and then completed this year much in the same way as the usual business plan bound by actions and timelines. At my disposal, I have expectations of what will happen this year following patterns of previous years. For instance, I already know the number and destinations of overseas travel that I shall undertake in the first six months. Can I change the pattern of events, their chronology, their content, their purpose -- if only to prove that expectations could be turned into surprises or that they could be manipulated. That will be an exciting proposition but the possibility may depend on the desired effect and on other individuals.

Resolutions alight on the turf of the new year. If this isn’t a fad, why should they be raised only at the beginning of the year or am I unaware that this is as well a practice on Valentine’s Day or during Lent. And why not. Or why not evolve resolutions throughout the year. Do we need a timeline of twelve months or is it the containment within a finite twelve-month period that matters when committing to the attainment of specific goals.

Should I view this year as a natural consequence of last year’s, I don’t see how 2011 could be light BUT it may be bright and even brighter than before. A bright expectation. If I needed to tweak that expectation, I have many options BUT why should I want it not to be bright. For it to be light as I had wished, I have accepted that it is in the work-life balance where manipulation should take place. This is real change outside the character of continuation and can be made more specific with time-bound resolutions. But WHY do I want the year to be bright and light in my life. A pertinent question!

What do you want your life this year to be like?

Happy New Year, friends.

A Wish, A Note of Thanks

JINGLE. It is that evening when we typically await Santa Claus with his bag of goodies and tonight I am among those keeping vigil and listening to the patter of reindeer hoofs on our roof. For this one fleeting Christmas eve, I am making myself hostage to the childhood tradition of hanging a sock by a limb on the tinsel tree hoping that the wish contained in it would be telegraphed to Santa and eventually granted. My feelings are beyond excitement; they are almost pleading for Santa's bag bearing the gift I've asked for.

Two weeks ago, I announced that I am feeling 'less happy' this Christmas -- for some good reason then which was related to developments in the workplace. Little did I know that the mild ailment that ma cherie was nursing at that time would develop into something more painful, more remarkable, and prolonged. It is the latter which makes my Christmas definitely 'less happy' than the previous years. While the condition isn't life threatening, it diminishes one's self-confidence particularly in a period when healthy lifestyle had been a theme from day-to-day. Unlike previous holidays, we are staying in-country this time in order to find the appropriate medical remedies until before the frenzy of the incoming year snows us down.

I am certain that we shall eventually overcome this challenge by hedging our bets over time. But the feeling of 'less happy' unfortunately prevails in me preventing those spontaneous smiles and laughter which I know is a temporary state.

Hey it's Christmas, I suddenly remind myself. In two hours, Santa will alight above us with his goodies that include the gift that I wished for.

I realized that I have not been as prolific with my posts, thanks to disturbances such as this on many fronts in my life. Despite that, I have been surprised and gifted this year with friends whose photos/avatars have shown up on this blog space. The experience of this discovery was humbling and numbing. Having met, read, and exchanged with great people like you was a progressive Christmas gift, something that Santa sent well in advance of this day. Thank you to all, may our friendship endure into the next years, and I hope that those bursts of emotions in every post and natural responses from each and everyone continue onwards.

A Joyful Christmas to all.

Choice

Yum. On my way home, I pass by some hole-in-the-wall eateries that are frequented not only by nearby residents but by folks from elsewhere judging from the number of vehicles parked outside. Apparently, the customers are enjoying food and company despite the simple and barren interiors, the seemingly unbearable heat and humidity, and the smell of burnt food from the grill. If only most small establishments in our City were patronized by as many people everyday, I am inclined to believe that an important stage to the distribution of economic prosperity throughout social classes is at hand.

A perennial problem however in developing nations is the stranglehold of the oligarchy on the instruments of wealth creation and accumulation.

Likewise, I am witness to the mushrooming shopping centres and supermarkets owned by one super-wealthy family whose name has literally been transformed into a brand. That's the same story in regard to similar families -- very rich, owners of large industrial empires, in control of huge economic levers, mutually reinforcing, motivated by monopolistic objectives.

I feel very strongly against monopolies or near-monopolies. These practices are undemocratic and seriously undermine the economic health of nations. Furthermore, they rob us of the ability to exercise choices and to benefit from efficiencies (such as lower prices) attendant to a variety of choices in the market. Their presence in effect kills enterprise. In some sense, they are consumer terrorists.

I pray for the end of their era in much the same way that the big US banks have been shuttered on account of uncontrolled greed. I'd like to see flourishing small businesses with authentic products and genuine interests. May that time arrive soon.

Acceptance

Owww. I caught a clip of Ray Kurzweil on television. He ceremoniously informed that in the next decade, man would be able to conquer almost all of life-crippling diseases and therefore to extend his life further. Then I remembered having listened to him once in Lausanne where he gave specific realities to Marshall McLuhan's thought of of a global village. A futurist like Kurweil didn't have to state the obvious result of ongoing advances in biotechnology for us to realize what might again change the face of mankind just as technology itself had radically done in the last decade. At the same time, we've been reading about massive efforts to preserve the present.

It dawned on me that in relation to Kurzweil's crusade, the unraveling changes in this world which include the transformation of mankind is a natural stage in evolution. The slow disappearance of certain animal species which many are trying hard to overturn is one distinct manifestation. Science-fiction in movies leads us to preview the future -- vastly different, somewhat scary, but inevitable.

Human relationships are just as vulnerable to changes. From some recent blog posts elewhere, I've read about personal states such as marriage which led to divorce and more commonly, a current beau ended up as someone else's. Should these even be resisted.

Why should I even raise the possibility of fractures being healed. Regardless, the subsequent state would be different -- some scarred, others deformed, the rest replaced -- from the original form . A more comfortable thought.

With that, the coming holidays won't be too stressful.

Healed?

Chill. It is the Season and my favorite coffee shop trumpets as usual its annual planner which can be had for an equivalent number of coffee cups. But who needs a printed and handwritten planner in this age which is actively searching for a personal digital convergence device. Lugging around and much less opening printed pages to write on in meetings are ancient. I presage this blog with that observation in relation to the immediately preceding post (re Fractures).

Many thanks to those who provided rejoinders by voting for the idea that 'categories' help us 'make sense' of this world.

Yes, categories and planners help us 'make sense' of our presence and that of others in this world. They also enable us to rationalize thoughts and behavior especially if these are different from our expectations. How much and to what extent can we actually predict the behavior of others in order to align our plans with theirs. If you'd ask me if we even need to do that, my answer would be a 'yes'.

Consider an arranged date with someone you've been having the 'hots' for. All's been planned for this auspicious date only to be blindsided by a text message from him asking for a re-schedule due to some 'significant' reason. Did you really think that this wasn't coming? Why were you not able to foresee? Is it  unforeseeable -- maybe not as easy without a previous history. If you had foreseen, what would you have done?

If another situation/event intervened like your winning the US$10 Million Lottery prize, will the plan and the outcome have changed.

There are tell-tale signs that will allow us to spot doubts; however, rationalized plans and categories force us into believing that a fracture just isn't possible. But a fracture hurts. Mendable? Possibly yes. There is hope after all in this world. As another blogger keeps on plugging -- amen to 'world peace'.  

Fractures

Fuzzies. Our nephew Alfred went to a social event of 'beklettes' last weekend eventually ending up at a much larger Halloween party which according to him was dominated by the 'bekies' and 'beklettes'. That was some interesting social division which I first became aware of through reading AC's blog. Over glasses of margarita, I mulled over the existence of such categories particularly as they have been affecting civilizations.

A colleague who lives in Kabul I would imagine has a life fraught with constant danger no matter how much he tries to deny this reality which came about due to divisions in ethnic philosophies. Again concepts of categories among people much like differences between Christianity and Islam. History is replete with the recurrence of emerging categories that are split further into some other categories. Could that be a way of coping with inevitable complexities in this world?

There are meanings attributed to these categories such in the "Left" or the "Right". A high school student today may refer to the "Tea Party" with its meanings in current American politics than its historical origins. With tomorrow's mid-term elections in the USA, I view the combination of certain categories to suit candidates' objectives provided by the convenience and escape inherent in these categories. Consider for example a Democrat who doesn't favor Obama's healthcare reform. 

To make these categories suit certain objectives is ideal if only these can be predicted. It may well be the key to preventing the transport of mail bombs from cargo planes in Yemen or to promoting their successful delivery!  

In a world filled with categories, differences, and fracture after fracture, we could only hope for the best this Sweet November.

Trolley Dolly

Zonked. Four weeks quickly flew by but not seamlessly. To move across time zones and lose sight of time and date bring episodes of anxiety and frustration. Haven't posted anything nor read those of friends - how pathetic. At the end of every day, I couldn't even turn on my laptop due to exhaustion from endless meetings and various social activities. Ironically, the latter could have been relaxing but weren't.

On the way home, I decided to take business class in order to enjoy little comforts that might assuage a tired body. This wasn't company paid nor provided complimentarily by my favorite airline [which has done that before] but purchased from mileage credited to my account. In effect, it was a purchased seat for which I deserved the appropriate treatment, convenience, and peace.

Alas, the expectation wasn't meant to be. The culprit: the trolley-dolly [aka air hostess/stewardess] and there were several of them on the flight. 

They have this bad habit of never leaving you alone -- even serving food is a disruption when you don't need it. Then they serve food like they'd like to announce it to the world by walking up and down the aisle, asking you details about your food preferences, and behaving as if they were in prepetual hurry. Why couldn't airlines simply lay out the food on some table and allow the passengers to pick whatever they wanted.

When they're rung for service, it would take an eternity for them to arrive because [as they said] there were just too many passengers. But hello, that was business class which ought to have an exclusive coterie of servers. Many of the females actually had passive aggression which I must say was borne out of training and attitude fostered on them by helpless passengers and which was manifested in the tone of voice and the smirk on faces. In one flight and as we were about to disembark, one of them had the courage to ask ma cherie if the shawl she had on was one of the airline's [while colours were nearly similar, the materials were different] and it was the seeming arrogance of the woman to venture asking without as much as an apologetic mien [to think that we were also on business class].

Asian airlines are often guilty of these offenses but the aggressive qualities are more often than not found in every flight. It is possible that this is a post 9/11 phenomenon which only contributes to the stress of travel. It is likely that complaints have been aired many times by countless passengers. These characters are ghosts on domestic flights in the USA which don't serve food or sell duty-free goods but they are highly visible on inter-country flights in Europe.

Be warned and be prepared!