First of all, I am sorry I did not count in those who supported me morally over the internet, for my violin lessons.
Thank you for your supports, and I will continue to find a better solutions to the problems.
erm... no, this is not the announcement that I want to talk about. The one that I wanted to talk about, is regarding the April Fool's virus attack.
An email was sent out to us, by our IT department, all the way from China; asking us to beware of this nasty virus. Among those suggestions that was made, this one caught my attention:
- keep yourself away from the internet for several days, especially on the April Fool's day.
It is hard to believe that the email actually came from our IT director, who works for a multinational company.
We celebrated earth day on the 28th of March, by switching off the electricity for an hour. Let's celebrate several days of pre-internet life... until the virus dies.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
4th Violin Lesson
The 4th lesson was about playing the notes D E F# and G, playing it smoothly is a great challenge. The first three fingers on my left hand was numbed since Sunday, it has been very painful to press the strings, and pull the bow. The vibration of the strings made it worse, especially when I played the E note.
We were also taught to differentiate various types of musics, quartet, solo, orchestra, concerto etc. It followed by indentifying the instruments in the music pieces.
I have been struggling to practice the violin, as there is no venue that I could practice.
I have been practising it in my small little car for the past one week or so. 15 - 25 minutes upon arriving to my work place everyday (I arrived office about an hour before the working hour starts), and 10 - 15 minutes during lunch time occasionally (my lunch time varies and sometimes do not left enough time to practice).
No one seems to have any positive things to say towards my venture into music, I guess people have anticipated the amount of noise I would make out of the instrument, and do not want to put up with it.
Even so, practising the violin in the car is a challenge, as I am blocked by many things, to name a few, the steering wheel, the seats and the window. I tried putting down the seats, squatting on the back rest to play. It is still difficult, as the windows are still blocking my movements. Not to mention the stuffy condition in the car, the echo which makes it difficult for the tuner to pick up the right note from the violin. I guess venturing into a foreign arena without any supports is tough at times.
We were also taught to differentiate various types of musics, quartet, solo, orchestra, concerto etc. It followed by indentifying the instruments in the music pieces.
I have been struggling to practice the violin, as there is no venue that I could practice.
I have been practising it in my small little car for the past one week or so. 15 - 25 minutes upon arriving to my work place everyday (I arrived office about an hour before the working hour starts), and 10 - 15 minutes during lunch time occasionally (my lunch time varies and sometimes do not left enough time to practice).
No one seems to have any positive things to say towards my venture into music, I guess people have anticipated the amount of noise I would make out of the instrument, and do not want to put up with it.
Even so, practising the violin in the car is a challenge, as I am blocked by many things, to name a few, the steering wheel, the seats and the window. I tried putting down the seats, squatting on the back rest to play. It is still difficult, as the windows are still blocking my movements. Not to mention the stuffy condition in the car, the echo which makes it difficult for the tuner to pick up the right note from the violin. I guess venturing into a foreign arena without any supports is tough at times.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Changing stories
While most of the people in the office are good in pushing things away, their techniques are considered intermediate, compared to Mr. Bell.
I have several encounters with Mr. Bell recently, whereby his words and email doesn't correspond to each other. He pushed his responsibilities to me, while stating our conversation back to me via email afterwards, with stories totally changed -- sounded as if I am taking initiatives to take those responsibilities. And if those emails were to be sent to me only, it would be instructional email from a boss.
He is also good in planning his act, he knew that I would discuss with my boss before taking action, therefore he would say things to my boss first, so that when I tell my stories to my boss, I would be perceived as "stirring up an issue".
If he founds out in time, that I have spoken something that he did not covered himself for, then he would interupt my speech and cover himself with more stories.
I am very upset to have been continuously portrayed as a lousy fella, but can't do anything about it. Mr. Bell is very good in covering himself so far, it is hard to pick up his nasty things with evidence.
I know what I typed here sounded very vague and trivial, that's because I couldn't find any solid evidence over what he have done. Even with things that he said, he usually says it very soft so that others can't hear it. Besides, his office has sound proof walls, and he hardly walks out of his office... basically you have to talk to him in his office anyway.
Mr. Bell somehow reminds me of the cockroach. You can smell the cockroach when it is around you, damn irritating; it shows itself occasionally when you are least prepared. But it is a challenge to try hitting it, not to mention that it is so hard to get rid of cockroach...
Let's change his name to Mr. Cockroach from now.
I have several encounters with Mr. Bell recently, whereby his words and email doesn't correspond to each other. He pushed his responsibilities to me, while stating our conversation back to me via email afterwards, with stories totally changed -- sounded as if I am taking initiatives to take those responsibilities. And if those emails were to be sent to me only, it would be instructional email from a boss.
He is also good in planning his act, he knew that I would discuss with my boss before taking action, therefore he would say things to my boss first, so that when I tell my stories to my boss, I would be perceived as "stirring up an issue".
If he founds out in time, that I have spoken something that he did not covered himself for, then he would interupt my speech and cover himself with more stories.
I am very upset to have been continuously portrayed as a lousy fella, but can't do anything about it. Mr. Bell is very good in covering himself so far, it is hard to pick up his nasty things with evidence.
I know what I typed here sounded very vague and trivial, that's because I couldn't find any solid evidence over what he have done. Even with things that he said, he usually says it very soft so that others can't hear it. Besides, his office has sound proof walls, and he hardly walks out of his office... basically you have to talk to him in his office anyway.
Mr. Bell somehow reminds me of the cockroach. You can smell the cockroach when it is around you, damn irritating; it shows itself occasionally when you are least prepared. But it is a challenge to try hitting it, not to mention that it is so hard to get rid of cockroach...
Let's change his name to Mr. Cockroach from now.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Sales
This is a prologue...
Would you buy a car from the sales agent, who tells you that they only sell the car, but you have to bring your own petrol to drive that car home?
Would you take a photo of your car, bring it to the mechanics, and ask them to diagnose the problem of your car based on that photo?
Stay tuned... I will update this blog soon...
====================================================
Here I am, routinely updating feeding my blog with tonnes of office weird stories... This is my only way to release my working stress, I hope it won't get found out one day... sigh...
So, who is the main character this time? Mr. Paramount.
The first story goes like this:
So Mr. Paramount get an order from a customer, upon handing over the job, he only produces two pieces of paper... which was those series of meetings that I have mentioned earlier. Then, my boss came into the picture, demanded for some details which sales has agreed to supply to the customer. One of the main joke, well, to me at least, is the gear box.
Well, gear box, like your car, it usually sold by having the supplier topping up the first fill of oil. However, there was a slight misunderstanding over the meeting that, the customer would like to use their own oil. This is perfectly fine, but we do not hold the responsibility of guaranteeing the customer's oil is competible with the gear box we supplied. In other words, when you buy a car, you tell the dealer that you prefer him to use the fuel that you supplied, instead of having him filling up the normal petrol for you. You can't ask the dealer to guarantee that your fuel is competible to the car you bought? Who knows if you supplied the cooking oil instead?
Anyway, it eventually turns out that the customer wants to run the gearbox with their own oil, but the first fill is by us... which is logical. It kinda says that, your dealer will, by default pump sufficient fuel into your car before handing the car to you. And it is purely your personal preference of what fuel to use after that.
What I do not understand is -- why do Mr. Paramount got so worked up by these things, without trying to understand the logic behind it?
Anyway... 2nd story.
An existing customer from other country called up, asking us to pay a visit to their site, to identify those machines and components that needed an upgrade / replacement. They already listed a few problematic ones.
The issue got passed to Mr. Paramount, he then passed it to his subordinates, who let the issue sat quiet for nearly 6 months. Until finally the customer was chasing after our department, that we made noise to the MD... and Mr. Paramount was sent to that country to do a general inspection.
He went there for a week, came back with some photos, no inspection report, and not a clue on how to replace those parts. He sent those photos to the Engineering Department, asking us, who had never been to the tower before, to come out with a quantity of those items that needed replacement. Not only that, some of those complaints from the customer need some careful diagnosis, and we were told that the photos were good enough to tell the full picture. Not to mention that those photos were zoomed-in photos of some machine details.
This is kinda like carrying a photo of a sick child, bring that photo to the clinic, and asked the doctor to diagnose the child through the photo. And the photos taken were zoomed into the tongue, the eyes etc.
============================================================
On a different note, I find that sales is a very important role, because they bring in customers to the company.
It is normal for a person who do not have strong foundations to be careful of what they said. An analogy to this is, when you do not wear your underwear, you will be extra careful when zipping up your trouser.
However, I find that most of the sales person refused to improve their knowledge on the product they sell, and trying to shoot the bull in front of the customer, promising the heaven and hell. It is only when they accidentally zipped their hair / skin... then will they start blaming the design of the zip, the stupidity of wearing trouser etc.
Ah well... I am getting very tired and started talking things off the track... should stop now.
Would you buy a car from the sales agent, who tells you that they only sell the car, but you have to bring your own petrol to drive that car home?
Would you take a photo of your car, bring it to the mechanics, and ask them to diagnose the problem of your car based on that photo?
Stay tuned... I will update this blog soon...
====================================================
Here I am, routinely updating feeding my blog with tonnes of office weird stories... This is my only way to release my working stress, I hope it won't get found out one day... sigh...
So, who is the main character this time? Mr. Paramount.
The first story goes like this:
So Mr. Paramount get an order from a customer, upon handing over the job, he only produces two pieces of paper... which was those series of meetings that I have mentioned earlier. Then, my boss came into the picture, demanded for some details which sales has agreed to supply to the customer. One of the main joke, well, to me at least, is the gear box.
Well, gear box, like your car, it usually sold by having the supplier topping up the first fill of oil. However, there was a slight misunderstanding over the meeting that, the customer would like to use their own oil. This is perfectly fine, but we do not hold the responsibility of guaranteeing the customer's oil is competible with the gear box we supplied. In other words, when you buy a car, you tell the dealer that you prefer him to use the fuel that you supplied, instead of having him filling up the normal petrol for you. You can't ask the dealer to guarantee that your fuel is competible to the car you bought? Who knows if you supplied the cooking oil instead?
Anyway, it eventually turns out that the customer wants to run the gearbox with their own oil, but the first fill is by us... which is logical. It kinda says that, your dealer will, by default pump sufficient fuel into your car before handing the car to you. And it is purely your personal preference of what fuel to use after that.
What I do not understand is -- why do Mr. Paramount got so worked up by these things, without trying to understand the logic behind it?
Anyway... 2nd story.
An existing customer from other country called up, asking us to pay a visit to their site, to identify those machines and components that needed an upgrade / replacement. They already listed a few problematic ones.
The issue got passed to Mr. Paramount, he then passed it to his subordinates, who let the issue sat quiet for nearly 6 months. Until finally the customer was chasing after our department, that we made noise to the MD... and Mr. Paramount was sent to that country to do a general inspection.
He went there for a week, came back with some photos, no inspection report, and not a clue on how to replace those parts. He sent those photos to the Engineering Department, asking us, who had never been to the tower before, to come out with a quantity of those items that needed replacement. Not only that, some of those complaints from the customer need some careful diagnosis, and we were told that the photos were good enough to tell the full picture. Not to mention that those photos were zoomed-in photos of some machine details.
This is kinda like carrying a photo of a sick child, bring that photo to the clinic, and asked the doctor to diagnose the child through the photo. And the photos taken were zoomed into the tongue, the eyes etc.
============================================================
On a different note, I find that sales is a very important role, because they bring in customers to the company.
It is normal for a person who do not have strong foundations to be careful of what they said. An analogy to this is, when you do not wear your underwear, you will be extra careful when zipping up your trouser.
However, I find that most of the sales person refused to improve their knowledge on the product they sell, and trying to shoot the bull in front of the customer, promising the heaven and hell. It is only when they accidentally zipped their hair / skin... then will they start blaming the design of the zip, the stupidity of wearing trouser etc.
Ah well... I am getting very tired and started talking things off the track... should stop now.
Monday, March 23, 2009
2nd & 3rd Violin Lesson Summary
It was my 3rd violin lesson yesterday. We were taught to hold the bow finally.
The week before that, we were told to practise with the metronome to get a good feel of the beats. I didn't have a place to practice, cause the noise from the metronome is rather annoying, and I get a lot of complaints from people around me when I tried practising it.
So for the 3rd lesson, we need to incorporate what we have learned in week 2. We need to play D string in tune with the metronome.
Everyone in the class seems to be able to hold the bow fine, except me. My fingers seem too stiff to do it. I know practice makes perfect, I need to find a place where I can make noise with the violin without upsetting anybody.
Since I arrived to the office early, so I started bringing violin to work today, practising it in the car before the office hour starts. I will try going down the the carpark later during lunch time to practise more.
My first attempt this morning wasn't good, cause my car is rather small, I kept knocking on things around me, and the car seat is no good for holding violin... Nonetheless, until I found the next best place, I will have to survive with this for the moment.
The week before that, we were told to practise with the metronome to get a good feel of the beats. I didn't have a place to practice, cause the noise from the metronome is rather annoying, and I get a lot of complaints from people around me when I tried practising it.
So for the 3rd lesson, we need to incorporate what we have learned in week 2. We need to play D string in tune with the metronome.
Everyone in the class seems to be able to hold the bow fine, except me. My fingers seem too stiff to do it. I know practice makes perfect, I need to find a place where I can make noise with the violin without upsetting anybody.
Since I arrived to the office early, so I started bringing violin to work today, practising it in the car before the office hour starts. I will try going down the the carpark later during lunch time to practise more.
My first attempt this morning wasn't good, cause my car is rather small, I kept knocking on things around me, and the car seat is no good for holding violin... Nonetheless, until I found the next best place, I will have to survive with this for the moment.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Conversation
My boss were out on Friday afternoon to settle some personal stuffs, and asked me to look after the department for a while. Ir. Decamouth came over to look for him, so I asked if there's anything in particular.
Decamouth, "Oh, it is about this Annual Dinner for the IMechE...(Institution of Mechanical Engineering)"
me, "I see..."
"Well, I want to ask if abc (my boss's name) wants to go."
me, "Hmm... that's the annual dinner where I first met him (my boss) last year right? Are you going?"
Decamouth, "Yeah, I will be going. Did you get this invitation letter also?"
Well, I have got it over the email quite a while ago, and it wasn't an invitation, more like a notice. I was thinking of asking my bf if he will be interested to go this year. This was the annual dinner where I first met my current boss last year, a week before my lecturing journey ends -- i.e. a week before my jobless journey starts.
me, "Don't think I got it. Would you mind forwarding me a copy?"
Decamouth, "Oh, aren't you on the mailing list?"
me, "Er... not that I am aware of..." (man, first time I am amazed how much I can pretend...)
Decamouth, "Well, I am the good friend of the xxx (some high ranking post and the person's name; e.g. The President of the USA, Mr. Barack Obama.) of the institution, I told him to add me in the mailing list. I guess you won't know him."
I didn't respond.
"... you should have told me, I will tell him to add you into the mailing list. By the way, have you received this other invitation also? It's for the seminar one..."
me, "Hmm? What's that seminar about?" (Again, I received it quite a while ago, but wasn't interested in that particular seminar.)
Decamouth, "Oh, it is about educated engineers is the way to move forward. I go for every seminars, cause I need to fulfill my Continuous Professional Development* programme (CPD)."
me, "ok, would you mind forward me a copy to have a look?"
Decamouth, "Yeah sure, I need to have your personal email though, cause it is not work related. I will tell the xxx (that high ranking post, and the person's name; e.g. The President of the USA, Mr. Barack Obama.) to add you into the mailing list."
me, "Sure. Oh, by the way, I have not been checking my personal email for a while, let me check if I have received anything..."
Decamouth, "Yeah... check it." (With the look: As if you will get anything.)
me, "Oh! I received it too. It must have been a while since I last checked my email."
Decamouth, "How come you are in the mailing list?"
Actually I was only added into the list since taking part in the speech competition with the IMechE last time. But not many people knew that....
me, "I guess I was added since last year's annual dinner."
Decamouth felt deflated, but quickly switch his gear onto other organisations that he joins, and boast about how good are those annual dinner, and the IMechE one is not as good... bla bla bla...
I so enjoyed seeing him pulling his tricks while knowing fully what the truth is. I am so evil... no wonder my boss calls me Mini Me -- quoted from Dr. Evil from Austin Power.
=========================================================
*CPD -- Continuous Professional Development. It is a practice for all engineers who obtained their title (globally from IMechE etc; or locally from Institution of Engineers Malaysia [IEM] etc) to continue taking part in the engineering related activities. The concept is rather similar to Chartered Accountants or any other professional bodies for various career.
Decamouth has got his Professional Engineer status from the IEM, that's why he gets the Ir. title. If you obtained the recognition from IMechE, you will be called a CEng -- Chartered Engineer.
Decamouth, "Oh, it is about this Annual Dinner for the IMechE...(Institution of Mechanical Engineering)"
me, "I see..."
"Well, I want to ask if abc (my boss's name) wants to go."
me, "Hmm... that's the annual dinner where I first met him (my boss) last year right? Are you going?"
Decamouth, "Yeah, I will be going. Did you get this invitation letter also?"
Well, I have got it over the email quite a while ago, and it wasn't an invitation, more like a notice. I was thinking of asking my bf if he will be interested to go this year. This was the annual dinner where I first met my current boss last year, a week before my lecturing journey ends -- i.e. a week before my jobless journey starts.
me, "Don't think I got it. Would you mind forwarding me a copy?"
Decamouth, "Oh, aren't you on the mailing list?"
me, "Er... not that I am aware of..." (man, first time I am amazed how much I can pretend...)
Decamouth, "Well, I am the good friend of the xxx (some high ranking post and the person's name; e.g. The President of the USA, Mr. Barack Obama.) of the institution, I told him to add me in the mailing list. I guess you won't know him."
I didn't respond.
"... you should have told me, I will tell him to add you into the mailing list. By the way, have you received this other invitation also? It's for the seminar one..."
me, "Hmm? What's that seminar about?" (Again, I received it quite a while ago, but wasn't interested in that particular seminar.)
Decamouth, "Oh, it is about educated engineers is the way to move forward. I go for every seminars, cause I need to fulfill my Continuous Professional Development* programme (CPD)."
me, "ok, would you mind forward me a copy to have a look?"
Decamouth, "Yeah sure, I need to have your personal email though, cause it is not work related. I will tell the xxx (that high ranking post, and the person's name; e.g. The President of the USA, Mr. Barack Obama.) to add you into the mailing list."
me, "Sure. Oh, by the way, I have not been checking my personal email for a while, let me check if I have received anything..."
Decamouth, "Yeah... check it." (With the look: As if you will get anything.)
me, "Oh! I received it too. It must have been a while since I last checked my email."
Decamouth, "How come you are in the mailing list?"
Actually I was only added into the list since taking part in the speech competition with the IMechE last time. But not many people knew that....
me, "I guess I was added since last year's annual dinner."
Decamouth felt deflated, but quickly switch his gear onto other organisations that he joins, and boast about how good are those annual dinner, and the IMechE one is not as good... bla bla bla...
I so enjoyed seeing him pulling his tricks while knowing fully what the truth is. I am so evil... no wonder my boss calls me Mini Me -- quoted from Dr. Evil from Austin Power.
=========================================================
*CPD -- Continuous Professional Development. It is a practice for all engineers who obtained their title (globally from IMechE etc; or locally from Institution of Engineers Malaysia [IEM] etc) to continue taking part in the engineering related activities. The concept is rather similar to Chartered Accountants or any other professional bodies for various career.
Decamouth has got his Professional Engineer status from the IEM, that's why he gets the Ir. title. If you obtained the recognition from IMechE, you will be called a CEng -- Chartered Engineer.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Virgin and men
Mr. Pig went for a dating session arranged by some dating agency. He was matched with a sweet lady, who teaches ballet.
Mr. Pig was attracted by her look, but was put off by her background -- She was once married and divorced. Mr. Pig claimed that she has interests on him, but from what I see, she has the sincerity into giving herself and the potential guy, that was matched to her by the agent, a chance.
Mr. Pig did not want to admit that it was because of the fact where she is not a virgin, until I pinned him down on the topic. Mr. Pig claimed that, "I have not married yet, I deserve someone better. Not to say I don't have a choice that I need to choose a divorced woman or something..."
The way he put it, it sounded as if a non-virgin woman is a second hand item for him.
The second thing I asked was the reason she divorced with her husband. Mr. Pig said that her husband was lazy and relies solely on her income. The husband gets jealous when she achieves higher than him, and the marriage turned sour.
Then I questioned Mr. Pig, if he can take it when a woman achieves higher than him. He gives a sour face, mumbling a "yes" reluctantly.
Well, there is no right or wrong for these two questions. However it triggers some thoughts of mine...
In this part of the world, it is still commonly believed that virginity is important, and a lady are taught that they should feel glad if their husbands can stand the pressure of having a high achiever wife.
To me, all these are WTF. Life is already suffering, I have already given up all I have to be with that man, and I don't want to make myself suffer anymore by trying to feed his ego. As painful as it is, I think men should start thinking of what they want. Because my personal experience until today, most of the men from the East are taking wife and marriage as a collection.
For exampl, in this country, it is common for men to start their carrier by having the goal of earning more. It eventually become -- getting a car, then a fancy car, then a girl friend, then a house, a wife, children... etc... They believed that when all these are achieved, their life will be completed. But the fact is, when you get all these, your life is still empty, you will still feel disatisfied. So, side products come out -- pressure your children to achieve good grades, finding excitement from other ladies, from the pub, from the gamble etc...
I don't understand men at all, I don't know what are they chasing for. When I asked what they want, they said "A nice family." But it sounded like a fancy version of --"A comfy home that allows me to go back and sleep, and don't worry anything else."
I feel that lady in this part of the world, are like a merchandise. While ladies trying to "sell" themselves away, i.e. trying to get a boyfriend and desperately getting married when they are approaching 30s. Men are choosing which lady can become their washing machine, maid, sexual partner and baby making machine.
The attitude of men I have met so far, dating is an investment, the more you are willing to put in, the better investment quality you will get. And the investment will turn into a life long profit after the lady signs the paper to get married.
Anyway, I am off the track too much now, I will stop here. No comments are welcome in this post, as I am sure no men will agree with what I have said.
Mr. Pig was attracted by her look, but was put off by her background -- She was once married and divorced. Mr. Pig claimed that she has interests on him, but from what I see, she has the sincerity into giving herself and the potential guy, that was matched to her by the agent, a chance.
Mr. Pig did not want to admit that it was because of the fact where she is not a virgin, until I pinned him down on the topic. Mr. Pig claimed that, "I have not married yet, I deserve someone better. Not to say I don't have a choice that I need to choose a divorced woman or something..."
The way he put it, it sounded as if a non-virgin woman is a second hand item for him.
The second thing I asked was the reason she divorced with her husband. Mr. Pig said that her husband was lazy and relies solely on her income. The husband gets jealous when she achieves higher than him, and the marriage turned sour.
Then I questioned Mr. Pig, if he can take it when a woman achieves higher than him. He gives a sour face, mumbling a "yes" reluctantly.
Well, there is no right or wrong for these two questions. However it triggers some thoughts of mine...
In this part of the world, it is still commonly believed that virginity is important, and a lady are taught that they should feel glad if their husbands can stand the pressure of having a high achiever wife.
To me, all these are WTF. Life is already suffering, I have already given up all I have to be with that man, and I don't want to make myself suffer anymore by trying to feed his ego. As painful as it is, I think men should start thinking of what they want. Because my personal experience until today, most of the men from the East are taking wife and marriage as a collection.
For exampl, in this country, it is common for men to start their carrier by having the goal of earning more. It eventually become -- getting a car, then a fancy car, then a girl friend, then a house, a wife, children... etc... They believed that when all these are achieved, their life will be completed. But the fact is, when you get all these, your life is still empty, you will still feel disatisfied. So, side products come out -- pressure your children to achieve good grades, finding excitement from other ladies, from the pub, from the gamble etc...
I don't understand men at all, I don't know what are they chasing for. When I asked what they want, they said "A nice family." But it sounded like a fancy version of --"A comfy home that allows me to go back and sleep, and don't worry anything else."
I feel that lady in this part of the world, are like a merchandise. While ladies trying to "sell" themselves away, i.e. trying to get a boyfriend and desperately getting married when they are approaching 30s. Men are choosing which lady can become their washing machine, maid, sexual partner and baby making machine.
The attitude of men I have met so far, dating is an investment, the more you are willing to put in, the better investment quality you will get. And the investment will turn into a life long profit after the lady signs the paper to get married.
Anyway, I am off the track too much now, I will stop here. No comments are welcome in this post, as I am sure no men will agree with what I have said.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Off the beats by miles
Well, my second violin lesson has not started playing it yet.
My teacher has been very strict, he insisted that we should have a strong basic before learning to play it.
So he got us to hold the violin for 3 minutes, which most of us failed after 1 minute. He wants us to make it more than 3 minutes by this coming Sunday.
He also taught us on some basic musics theory, which mainly consists of how to intepret them.
I have always confused why those ABC are read as Do Re Mi, and always thought that they are different things. Well, yesterday was the first time I realised that they are the same. -___-! Yeah, I know, I didn't pay attention to "The Sound of Musics".
The next difficult thing is to get the beats right. It was rather difficult to grasp the feeling of time lapse. We always focus on the moment when the beat hits, but not the time it lapsed. It took me a while to understand this. The teacher wants us to be able to count the beats even when we are sleeping.... >_<" I think if one practises enough, perhaps even with breathing it has a rythm... May be that's why when we see those who knows musics, they seem to give a kind of aura...
My teacher has been very strict, he insisted that we should have a strong basic before learning to play it.
So he got us to hold the violin for 3 minutes, which most of us failed after 1 minute. He wants us to make it more than 3 minutes by this coming Sunday.
He also taught us on some basic musics theory, which mainly consists of how to intepret them.
I have always confused why those ABC are read as Do Re Mi, and always thought that they are different things. Well, yesterday was the first time I realised that they are the same. -___-! Yeah, I know, I didn't pay attention to "The Sound of Musics".
The next difficult thing is to get the beats right. It was rather difficult to grasp the feeling of time lapse. We always focus on the moment when the beat hits, but not the time it lapsed. It took me a while to understand this. The teacher wants us to be able to count the beats even when we are sleeping.... >_<" I think if one practises enough, perhaps even with breathing it has a rythm... May be that's why when we see those who knows musics, they seem to give a kind of aura...
Friday, March 13, 2009
To Kuantan
I will be going to Kuantan together with three other colleagues on Monday.
I did not know where is Kuantan until my boss offered to pick me up along the way, instead of having me meeting up in the office.
But well, after gathering the information, it seems that we all have to meet at the office anyway. Nonetheless, at least I know where is Kuantan now.
I foresee a rather quiet and boring journey, cause my boss doesn't speak much outside work.
We will be there to visit an old job site, we heard that some of the infrastructures on the site are about to collapse, and needed some serious revamp... I wonder...
I did not know where is Kuantan until my boss offered to pick me up along the way, instead of having me meeting up in the office.
But well, after gathering the information, it seems that we all have to meet at the office anyway. Nonetheless, at least I know where is Kuantan now.
I foresee a rather quiet and boring journey, cause my boss doesn't speak much outside work.
We will be there to visit an old job site, we heard that some of the infrastructures on the site are about to collapse, and needed some serious revamp... I wonder...
The touch of nostalgic wind, and the hue of the long missed surrounding
As I walked out the house this morning, a gentle wind blowed at me. That wind, I experienced it a lot when I was going out in the morning during my secondary school. It is soft, rather warm with the right temperature, touch of freshness, with the smell of salt and soil and the scent of the water washed mango tree leaves... it has the scent of rain.
It brought me back to my teenage years, when I was running out of the house under the pouring rain. Whole body wet, waiting for the bus to come in the bus stop.
Those years... all brought back by this nostalgic wind.
As I arrived to the office just now, I was surfing the net before starting to work in 30 mins time. I saw some pictures taken in the UK recently by others.
The hue in the picture, shows the always gloomy days in the North. The sunshine there is always insufficient, no matter what time you get up, there is always a hue in whatever comes before your eyes. Even those pictures with sunshines, it always seems more disperse.
I can practically feel the chill on my face watching those pictures, the warmth of wrapping myself under the jacket and scarf, the cold on my earlobes, the scent of the tar under this kind of weather, the sound when walking on the road under this kind of weather.
I miss those days living in the hue, no wonder I always felt like living in the dream when I was there, that I have always been feeling fear to wake up from it.
It brought me back to my teenage years, when I was running out of the house under the pouring rain. Whole body wet, waiting for the bus to come in the bus stop.
Those years... all brought back by this nostalgic wind.
As I arrived to the office just now, I was surfing the net before starting to work in 30 mins time. I saw some pictures taken in the UK recently by others.
The hue in the picture, shows the always gloomy days in the North. The sunshine there is always insufficient, no matter what time you get up, there is always a hue in whatever comes before your eyes. Even those pictures with sunshines, it always seems more disperse.
I can practically feel the chill on my face watching those pictures, the warmth of wrapping myself under the jacket and scarf, the cold on my earlobes, the scent of the tar under this kind of weather, the sound when walking on the road under this kind of weather.
I miss those days living in the hue, no wonder I always felt like living in the dream when I was there, that I have always been feeling fear to wake up from it.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Mr. Paramount
This to certain extend has some connection with my previous post, regarding me pointing out Mr. Paramount manipulating the computation results... I think.
There was this handover meeting last week, chaired by Mr. Paramount, on project P, right after the day when I argued with him on the matter mentioned above.
Mr. Paramount was trying to vent his anger on me, by interupting every single word that I said. Unfortunately, this is also a usual thing to do for Mr. Bell. So eventually, I couldn't speak what I needed over the meeting, so I made clarifications after the meeting via email to everyone regarding the discussed matters. Nonetheless, I was ignored by Paramount, and was shot by Mr. Bell for no reasons.
First of all, Mr. Paramount did not compile any information for the meeting, but throw every emails, unrelated paperworks onto the public server and asked us to find what we need there, not to mention his naming system was horrible. On top of that, he pushes his responsibilities away, by indicating that it is the engineering department's job to interpret what he has sold to the customer -- which is totally wrong. In fact, he should let us know what he has sold, and agreed with the customer, before handing it over for people like us to try figuring a way to build it.
Anyway, the meeting went down the drain, Mr. Bell was unhappy with the outcome, cause as a project director, he couldn't proceed with the information that was given by Mr. Paramount. So when my boss came into the office earlier this week, Mr. Bell called for another meeting.
This time, with the Managing Director (MD) sits in. The handover was again rubbish, as Mr. Paramount was unable to compile useful information for various departments. Mr. Paramount again tried to focus onto me, saying that I did not read through the files he uploaded onto the server. I did not fight back, as I had seriously went through every single files in order to salvage some useful, yet confusing information from the public server. Eventually the discussion lead to those confusing information, the MD questioned me if I have gone through those files. I said I have gone through every single one, and most of those are payment terms and conditions... before I was able to continue saying what I have found, Mr. Paramount interupted and said "Those payment terms has nothing to do with you, you shouldn't read that."
Oh well, I guess it goes without explantion that Mr. Paramount's filing system is useless, and my claims on the files are mostly irrelevant was validated.
My boss insisted that Mr. Paramount lists out clearly the job scope for every department, and adjourn the meeting yesterday. MD wasn't happy with the outcome of the meeting due to Mr. Paramount's lack of preparation, so he asked Ir. Decamouth to help him. (Note: Ir. Decamouth is good with Mr. Bell, and both of them dislike Mr. Paramount)
So, the meeting is held again, yesterday... Mr. Paramount again didn't do much improvements, and taking every querries from engineering (mainly my boss) personally. To quote a few of his words:
"You all are wasting my time here, I have committed myself to achieve 5 million sales this year, and I don't have time to waste with you all. If I can't achieve it, I will be sacked, and not only me... those people that working under me will be sacked too. You want to bear the responsibilities?"
"Why should I do all these for you? You should advise me what is feasible to be done!" (We engineering has done with the advise stage, but we needed his confirmation on what we have advised -- i.e. is the customer ok with the advise? He simply didn't get it.)
Eventually, Mr. Paramount went out of the meeting room and called MD in. Our MD was mad once found out the reasons behind the conflict, he F*** everyone before going into the details. Mr. Paramount was shocked, as he thought MD would stood by his side.
Furthermore, as the MD was trying to understand the reasons for their disagreement, Mr. Paramount told lies to the MD blatantly in front of all of us and claimed credits for things that he has never done. Well, when it comes to taking credits, Decamouth is never behind. Ir. Decamouth was acting along with Paramount of course. The scenario was like a fox trying to steal a few bites of the fresh kill under the mouth of the lions.
So, the meeting was unsuccessful again... and we all agreed that engineering will review Mr. Paramount's information and get back to him (though we do not have any information to review) tomorrow afternoon.
The peak of the meeting series was when the MD came in, and scolded everyone in the meeting room. Everyone outside the meeting room could hear the voice.
We have now done with the "review", basically writing instructions to Mr. Paramount on how to fill in the handover forms that he has been refusing to do. I hope the meeting tomorrow will go smoothly.
The thing I learned over these meetings -- Well, at first I thought Paramount was mad at me, that's why he kept interupting me when I talked. But after seeing what he has done to my boss, I think it is not me, but his way of communicating is having the problem. I think I need to further analyse his attitude before able to find out an effective way to communicate with him in the future.
Also, I have found quite some similarities between Decamouth and Paramount -- both of them like to show off their importance by telling people how much jobs they have in hand that awaits them to finish.
There was this handover meeting last week, chaired by Mr. Paramount, on project P, right after the day when I argued with him on the matter mentioned above.
Mr. Paramount was trying to vent his anger on me, by interupting every single word that I said. Unfortunately, this is also a usual thing to do for Mr. Bell. So eventually, I couldn't speak what I needed over the meeting, so I made clarifications after the meeting via email to everyone regarding the discussed matters. Nonetheless, I was ignored by Paramount, and was shot by Mr. Bell for no reasons.
First of all, Mr. Paramount did not compile any information for the meeting, but throw every emails, unrelated paperworks onto the public server and asked us to find what we need there, not to mention his naming system was horrible. On top of that, he pushes his responsibilities away, by indicating that it is the engineering department's job to interpret what he has sold to the customer -- which is totally wrong. In fact, he should let us know what he has sold, and agreed with the customer, before handing it over for people like us to try figuring a way to build it.
Anyway, the meeting went down the drain, Mr. Bell was unhappy with the outcome, cause as a project director, he couldn't proceed with the information that was given by Mr. Paramount. So when my boss came into the office earlier this week, Mr. Bell called for another meeting.
This time, with the Managing Director (MD) sits in. The handover was again rubbish, as Mr. Paramount was unable to compile useful information for various departments. Mr. Paramount again tried to focus onto me, saying that I did not read through the files he uploaded onto the server. I did not fight back, as I had seriously went through every single files in order to salvage some useful, yet confusing information from the public server. Eventually the discussion lead to those confusing information, the MD questioned me if I have gone through those files. I said I have gone through every single one, and most of those are payment terms and conditions... before I was able to continue saying what I have found, Mr. Paramount interupted and said "Those payment terms has nothing to do with you, you shouldn't read that."
Oh well, I guess it goes without explantion that Mr. Paramount's filing system is useless, and my claims on the files are mostly irrelevant was validated.
My boss insisted that Mr. Paramount lists out clearly the job scope for every department, and adjourn the meeting yesterday. MD wasn't happy with the outcome of the meeting due to Mr. Paramount's lack of preparation, so he asked Ir. Decamouth to help him. (Note: Ir. Decamouth is good with Mr. Bell, and both of them dislike Mr. Paramount)
So, the meeting is held again, yesterday... Mr. Paramount again didn't do much improvements, and taking every querries from engineering (mainly my boss) personally. To quote a few of his words:
"You all are wasting my time here, I have committed myself to achieve 5 million sales this year, and I don't have time to waste with you all. If I can't achieve it, I will be sacked, and not only me... those people that working under me will be sacked too. You want to bear the responsibilities?"
"Why should I do all these for you? You should advise me what is feasible to be done!" (We engineering has done with the advise stage, but we needed his confirmation on what we have advised -- i.e. is the customer ok with the advise? He simply didn't get it.)
Eventually, Mr. Paramount went out of the meeting room and called MD in. Our MD was mad once found out the reasons behind the conflict, he F*** everyone before going into the details. Mr. Paramount was shocked, as he thought MD would stood by his side.
Furthermore, as the MD was trying to understand the reasons for their disagreement, Mr. Paramount told lies to the MD blatantly in front of all of us and claimed credits for things that he has never done. Well, when it comes to taking credits, Decamouth is never behind. Ir. Decamouth was acting along with Paramount of course. The scenario was like a fox trying to steal a few bites of the fresh kill under the mouth of the lions.
So, the meeting was unsuccessful again... and we all agreed that engineering will review Mr. Paramount's information and get back to him (though we do not have any information to review) tomorrow afternoon.
The peak of the meeting series was when the MD came in, and scolded everyone in the meeting room. Everyone outside the meeting room could hear the voice.
We have now done with the "review", basically writing instructions to Mr. Paramount on how to fill in the handover forms that he has been refusing to do. I hope the meeting tomorrow will go smoothly.
The thing I learned over these meetings -- Well, at first I thought Paramount was mad at me, that's why he kept interupting me when I talked. But after seeing what he has done to my boss, I think it is not me, but his way of communicating is having the problem. I think I need to further analyse his attitude before able to find out an effective way to communicate with him in the future.
Also, I have found quite some similarities between Decamouth and Paramount -- both of them like to show off their importance by telling people how much jobs they have in hand that awaits them to finish.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Bought my first violin
So, after the first lesson on Sunday, I went out to search for a violin on Monday, the public holiday.The teacher has taught us some basic knowledge of how to choose a violin:
- The violin body must be all glued intact, the bridge must be straight, the strings must be smooth, and the violin must not be too heavy.
- The bow must be straight when viewed from the tip. The end screw must be functioning, and the hair must be smooth and flat.
- For beginners, just get a common China machine made violin, with price range between RM250 - RM500. Adults are recommended to use full size (4/4) violin.
Three shops were visited, and I found one in the least likely music shop which sells mainly guitars, in MidValley. Compare to the second shop, the first shop was pretty good actually, but I wasn't satisfied with the bow hair, cause it has some lumpy feel on it, and it was the last one they have in stock. It is the cheapest deal of all three shops, they offer RM200 ++.
The second shop was trying to sell me the more expensive one, which costs about RM800. Their cheaper ones are nearly RM300, which was worse than the first shop -- a large portion of the bow hair was glued together, and the bows they have in stock weren't straight.
The third shop was a guitar shop, I thought they wouldn't have one, but to my surprise, they do keep some stocks. Their violins are in pretty good condition, the bow was straight, the hair was reasonably smooth and straight. The sales person was friendly. It costs me RM450 for the violin with a tuner cum metrometer.
I tried to hold the violin with my chin and shoulder last night... ended up having bruises on my jaw and collarbone today. The teacher said we must at least be able to hold the violin with just the shoulder and chin for up to 3 minutes, while still being able to talk and do things with both hands, before we can start playing it.
I can hardly make it more than 30 seconds, that's with my teeth grinding and neck stiffening...
I think my passion may not be enough to carry me down the road, so I must have more determination...
Sunday, March 8, 2009
My first violin lesson
I called up this charity organisation center on Friday afternoon, asking the violin course advert on their website is still recruiting students. They said yes, it will start on Sunday and I registered myself over the phone.
Today is my first violin lesson, there are 9 of us in the class, age spanning from around 60 years old to 13 years old. Surprisingly, there are two rather tardy guys, they were late, they didn't look like those who will be interested in violin -- sun-grilled skin, dirty finger nails, wearing shorts and slippers, messy hair. But well, you never know... never judge the book my its cover.
The teacher is a very young guy, tall and very soft spoken.
The first lesson was to introduce us to the brief music history, from Baroque period to the Romantic period. A lot of long-curly-white hair, and rather meaty fellas were shown in the slides, I don't recognise any of them... only some of the musics.
None of us has a violin yet, so we need to get one before the next lesson. I am starting to realise the difficulty of this journey... I hope I can endure it, cause I tried picking up guitar before in UK, but didn't manage to pull a tune.
So, here's my current situation, pardon my bad sketch... I did it within 5 mins. (Well, not to say the sketch will get better if I had had spent more time on it...)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Sudoku
There are a few people who spent their remaining lunch time doing sudoku in my office. I have been among those who stood around these people to watch, and sometimes giving suggestions.
However, I have soon been influenced, and have started doing sudoku. I am getting the hang of it now...
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On an other note, I am dying while trying to stay alive.
There are too many constraints to express oneself, eventhough you are doing the right thing; eventhough you are being bullied. This is a country where there is no rules and regulations, relationship with others is the only thing that leads, though often misleading.
I am only expected to live like a brainless and emotionless doll that shows only the smile which pleases everybody.
I am starting to wonder why am I coming back here... who cares? No one.
However, I have soon been influenced, and have started doing sudoku. I am getting the hang of it now...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
On an other note, I am dying while trying to stay alive.
There are too many constraints to express oneself, eventhough you are doing the right thing; eventhough you are being bullied. This is a country where there is no rules and regulations, relationship with others is the only thing that leads, though often misleading.
I am only expected to live like a brainless and emotionless doll that shows only the smile which pleases everybody.
I am starting to wonder why am I coming back here... who cares? No one.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Stupidity is treatable; idiocy is beyond help
Today, first day of the week, I have it by offending three people.
First is Mr. Woodchild, he came into the office unusually early, and came straight to my desk, asked me to give him the source of where I got that powerpoint file, with a condescending tone.
So I sent the source, and indicated that his SMS allegation was inappropriate, as the file is not a personal file. And because I think being alleged twice on the same issue is more than just a plain miscommunication, I also BCC that email to our HR (the first time he accused me, I did not recorded it here). He then fight back saying that I am being too sensitive, and he did not do that, asked me not to get mad at him.
I held on to the principle, and the whole conversation go on and on about him not admitting his mistake, and I held onto my principle. The HR called him regarding this matter, and he eventually said that he is clear about what I said with a very reluctant tone, and ended it with a comment that "You women are so troublesome, I thought you are not a woman."
I intended to just let it pass, until he said that last sentence, "Well, if I weren't a woman, you are no man either." And I decided to walk away from that mad dog Mr. Woodchild.
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The day continues and the second people is Ir. Decamouth.
Ir. Decamouth did not jot down a single word when I was explaning the design of this new job (Project T) on Friday. All the technical explanations gone down to the drain, he did not clarify it with the customer regarding our deviation of the specifications. The customer came back with a list of questions, and this was what Decamouth talked to me:
"Vinegar, the Japanese is coming back with tones of technical questions."
me, "emmhmm?"
"Well, I need you to clarify it with them, and explain to them why we does it this way."
me, "I have explained to you on Friday."
"Yeah, but I want something more formal in written." <-- this is practically saying "you should do my job for me. While I take all the credits by sending that email as my own, and you have to bear all the responsibilities if it turns out badly."
First is Mr. Woodchild, he came into the office unusually early, and came straight to my desk, asked me to give him the source of where I got that powerpoint file, with a condescending tone.
So I sent the source, and indicated that his SMS allegation was inappropriate, as the file is not a personal file. And because I think being alleged twice on the same issue is more than just a plain miscommunication, I also BCC that email to our HR (the first time he accused me, I did not recorded it here). He then fight back saying that I am being too sensitive, and he did not do that, asked me not to get mad at him.
I held on to the principle, and the whole conversation go on and on about him not admitting his mistake, and I held onto my principle. The HR called him regarding this matter, and he eventually said that he is clear about what I said with a very reluctant tone, and ended it with a comment that "You women are so troublesome, I thought you are not a woman."
I intended to just let it pass, until he said that last sentence, "Well, if I weren't a woman, you are no man either." And I decided to walk away from that mad dog Mr. Woodchild.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The day continues and the second people is Ir. Decamouth.
Ir. Decamouth did not jot down a single word when I was explaning the design of this new job (Project T) on Friday. All the technical explanations gone down to the drain, he did not clarify it with the customer regarding our deviation of the specifications. The customer came back with a list of questions, and this was what Decamouth talked to me:
"Vinegar, the Japanese is coming back with tones of technical questions."
me, "emmhmm?"
"Well, I need you to clarify it with them, and explain to them why we does it this way."
me, "I have explained to you on Friday."
"Yeah, but I want something more formal in written." <-- this is practically saying "you should do my job for me. While I take all the credits by sending that email as my own, and you have to bear all the responsibilities if it turns out badly."
So my reply: "Well, you can draft it and I don't mind checking it for you."
Decamouth hung up, no, he slammed the phone.
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Third incident also involves Project T. As project T is only at its quotation stage, the sales team are working on it. Our head of sales Mr. Paramount is in charged of it while Decamouth was doing the proposal for him. The story with Mr. Paramount starts on Friday, when I was interacting with Decamouth regarding the calculations of this Project T.
Ir. Decamouth passed me a set of computer calculation printout, with obvious modification made on the print out. Decamouth wanted me to explain to the customer regarding the difference between my current calculation and that print out (which was done before I joinned this company).
The print out was more than being modified, it was altered, and it is now just a make-up piece of information. I could not duplicate the results shown in that printout! The person who changed the printout, did not change the name of the person who done the calculation -- this means, my boss who made the calculation, has to bear the responsibilities and consequences of those infidel results!
Decamouth indicated that the printout was given to him by Mr. Paramount, I suggested him to obtain a full picture of that print out from Paramount, while I continue working on the calculation based on the latest information he gave me.
Decamouth wrote an email questioning Paramount, Paramount shot at me by saying that I did not do my job, and pushes the responsibilities to Engineering department. I found that rather ironic, the person who puts my boss under the risk of his illegal alteration of the computation printout, is claiming that we are wrong.
I wrote a reply to him today, by stating the fact that I have found out from that print out, and informed him that the latest calculation was done and submitted to the customer. The previous calculation has now been superseded.
Paramount was unhappy of that email, picked a fight with me, claiming that I do not know how to do my job. I told him that the alteration of the technical calculation is as serious as altering the bank statement of one's account. It shows infidelity of the results, and it deletes all the traces for future references. At the same time, he is putting my boss under the risk of that inaccurate, worse still non-achievable results.
He insisted that I do not know how to do my job properly, that I am making things big to scare him, and he knows his job better than I am, and he just wanted to make the results presentable to the customer. I then suggested him to do a separate sales report to the customer based on the original printout, rather than altering it. He then said that those alterations were valid, as it was recommended by my boss. I then challenged him to have this discussion together with me and my boss, and we will try to sort out this misunderstanding. Paramount shuts up.
Later in the afternoon, there was a handover meeting chaired by Paramount, it is Project R. Paramount was picking at me throughout the meeting, whenever I was trying to clarify things. I was not given a chance to speak out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do not know if this is the right way of voicing out my opinions and carrying out my principles. It has been a long while since I last voice out my thoughts so openly. To be frank, I am very scared, that Decamouth, Woodchild and Paramount will take their revenge.
I may not have done the right thing in the right way, but I guess this is a big step for me -- to be able to do voice out. I will continue to improve myself to be more politically correct, and saying things in a more tactful way.
Decamouth indicated that the printout was given to him by Mr. Paramount, I suggested him to obtain a full picture of that print out from Paramount, while I continue working on the calculation based on the latest information he gave me.
Decamouth wrote an email questioning Paramount, Paramount shot at me by saying that I did not do my job, and pushes the responsibilities to Engineering department. I found that rather ironic, the person who puts my boss under the risk of his illegal alteration of the computation printout, is claiming that we are wrong.
I wrote a reply to him today, by stating the fact that I have found out from that print out, and informed him that the latest calculation was done and submitted to the customer. The previous calculation has now been superseded.
Paramount was unhappy of that email, picked a fight with me, claiming that I do not know how to do my job. I told him that the alteration of the technical calculation is as serious as altering the bank statement of one's account. It shows infidelity of the results, and it deletes all the traces for future references. At the same time, he is putting my boss under the risk of that inaccurate, worse still non-achievable results.
He insisted that I do not know how to do my job properly, that I am making things big to scare him, and he knows his job better than I am, and he just wanted to make the results presentable to the customer. I then suggested him to do a separate sales report to the customer based on the original printout, rather than altering it. He then said that those alterations were valid, as it was recommended by my boss. I then challenged him to have this discussion together with me and my boss, and we will try to sort out this misunderstanding. Paramount shuts up.
Later in the afternoon, there was a handover meeting chaired by Paramount, it is Project R. Paramount was picking at me throughout the meeting, whenever I was trying to clarify things. I was not given a chance to speak out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do not know if this is the right way of voicing out my opinions and carrying out my principles. It has been a long while since I last voice out my thoughts so openly. To be frank, I am very scared, that Decamouth, Woodchild and Paramount will take their revenge.
I may not have done the right thing in the right way, but I guess this is a big step for me -- to be able to do voice out. I will continue to improve myself to be more politically correct, and saying things in a more tactful way.
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