Working Styles

So it took me just over a few years to come to this point, but while I was in the shower today (and it would be in the shower, why are all the best ideas are while you are in the shower?) I finally realised what my working style is and why I am beginning to hate my job.

I work best when I can concentrate on projects. In other words, I work best when I have a single project/idea to focus on. Yesterday was a pretty good example of it; I found myself genuinely enjoying the projects I had to do and was very resentful when I had to switch from one task in a project to another on short notice. However, I couldn’t submit the project copy completely error-free; too much switching meant that my attention span was pretty bad and I actually made a very glaring grammatical error that my Project Manager caught it.

Coming back to the point, did I mention that I hate social media? Managing it at least. My current workflow is now:

  • Check FB pages for clients in the morning
    1. Write responses to users if necessary
    2. Post updates manually if no updates were scheduled previously/ alternatively monitor contests we are running
    3. Compile and send back to the client if there are issues (most of my clients are in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods business, aka foodstuff and cosmetics, so we do get enquiries fairly often)
  • Work on copy for other projects
  • Create messaging calendar for clients
  • Research trends
  • See what the competitor is doing

I know my other colleagues have way more stuff to handle than I do, but I am feeling very overwhelmed at works. It’s death by a thousand cuts, because most of the time I am in the middle of writing or conceptualising something and then I get called/asked to check the FB page or I check the FB page before I start on my task and then I get distracted because I have to reply to the user or email comes in and I want to strangle the client who has no respect for other people’s time stuff gets pinged to me and I just lose focus.

It’s that breaking of the flow that often causes my distress, and I suspect, the reason why both my attitude and drive to create has plummeted. The stop and go style of driving often kills your car’s fuel consumption and brakes faster than a smooth, long drive, and I think that is what is happening to me.

Goddess, grant me the strength and wisdom I need to overcome this.

Namae no Nai Kaibutsu

Honestly, Psycho-Pass’ OP and ED is quite weak, but I like the noise of “Namae no Nai Kaibutsu” and “Out of Control” though they are in some ways, rather forgettable. I actually like Psycho-Pass’ background music; the OST is, overall, I think, much better done compared to the singles.

Here, have the Namae no Nai Kaibutsu (Monster without a name) video and lyrics:

Monster Without A Name
Vocals: EGOIST
Lyrics: ryo
Composition: ryo
Arrangement: ryo
Source: Atashi
(more…)

[Politics] Eternal Vigilance

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance” – John Philpot Curran.

There are many good posts and updates on Facebook about yesterday’s results. I will not repeat them here. However, I think everyone should think long and hard about this:

The next five years, my fellow Malaysians, will be the dirtiest we have seen. It will be the ugliest. UMNO, and by extension, Barisan Nasional, will depend on the “us vs them” rhetoric to shore up their support in the rural areas. In fact, Najib, the leader of UMNO, has already fired the first salvo yesterday by claiming it was a “Chinese Tsunami” that threatened its dominance and reduced its majority in Parliament further.

They will attempt to create an emotional response and use that to blind and break us every time we question, resist, or protest their schemes, ideas and projects. Sometimes they will use it even to hide their own shortcomings. It will be one of those “storm in a teacup” moments, where everyone will forget all about the main issue and focus on only that one small thing (anyone remember that “leaking” remark made by Bung Mokhtar which lead to a massive outcry? Yes? Do you remember what prompted it, without referring to Google? No?* I thought so).

Democracy is not just the event of throwing our votes every 5 years. It is a journey of nation-building. It is hard, ongoing, and consistent work. If we want to build a better Malaysia, then we must be prepared to work for it.

Question. Listen. Understand. Agree to disagree.

That is what democracy is.

* If you DO remember what the issue is, I salute you!

[Poem] Paper Ink

Paper ink
Paper pen
Paper write without end

Paper ink
paper pen
Paper my heart will you rend

Paper ink
Paper Pen
Where will my words you send?

Paper ink
Paper pen
Paper paper my skills to mend.

Paper ink
Paper bend
Ok, find, words
Paper paper my writing to be banned?

Throwaway words, throwaway thoughts

Woman is dancing with an umbrella with the words

*Blows dust off journal*

Doing what you like, is freedom. Liking what you do, is happiness. – Frank Tyger

There is a difference in these words. Many of us are thought in this day and age that doing what we love represents the ultimate in happiness, that if we could do what we want and get paid for it, that our lives would be happy.

I’ve come to believe that is no longer the case for me.

As time goes by, doing what you love becomes a chore. We humans are creatures of variety, of the novelty. We look for new sensations, new things. shiny new everything! This shininess though, is not all-encompassing. We look for the new ways our favourites are interpreted, new ways for what we are interested in is expressed, new ways of marrying and joining similar interests. In that way, we go for the same old, same new.

The music fan, who loves listening to music, looks for the new ways in which is expressed. They look for the new ideas in which sound is taken apart, reassembled, and then compiled together to make new notes in new mediums. The book reader looks for stories that are printed on paper, and then are brought to almost life in a movie, in a game, on the radio.

And so forth.

Doing what we like then, is freedom, because it is not something that gives us joy all the time. Sooner or later, unless what we love change, we will find it boring and insipid, drained of pleasure and life. The same task, done over a thousand times, will eventually tire us. Our muscles remember what our brains once fought to master. There are no more challenges left.

Liking what we do, now that is the secret.

What we do changes from day to day. If we have a job, this means the task at hand. If we are starting our own business, then it encompasses all that we are doing.

Liking what we do, I feel, refers to the business of living. What we choose to do every day, how we choose to survive, that is what determines our happiness. It is also the reason why people often ask another, “Why are you stuck doing what makes you unhappy?”

The answer isn’t to say that you are doing what you hate so you have the freedom to do what you love. I think you have to ask yourself, what would you like to do, that you could probably do the rest of your life?

[Copywriter's Chronicles] Dog Planting Bombs

Received over MSN:

High: they used dogs to bomb in the boston marathon?
Eight: before the marathon actually
Eight: but the bombs were planted after
Eight: the security check
High: wait, you’re saying they use dog sniffer to detect explosives or plant bomb? ;)
Eight: yea of course

And then…

Eight: ahhahahahahahaha
Eight: i just read that
Eight: hahahhaha
Eight: PLANT BOMB of course, what else are those paws for!?
Eight: :P

High: serious?
High: i didn’t know dogs know how to plant bomb

Focus, focus focus!

Today was one of those days when I felt really depressed and angry at the world. Not to mention useless and being overall despondent at my ability to cope with work. Basically I feel like I am drowning, and everyone is simply looking at me drown.

However, literally getting out of the office and talking to people I rarely talk to did wonders for my mood. That and a 20 minute run. Didn’t get too far with it, but I’m finding my body responding on a way I did not know it could. That’s always an awesome thing.

Then this appeared in my inbox.

I never thought to look at my working hours that way. The way my current responsibilities go, it feels a lot like death by a thousand paper cuts. I move from one task to another in the hopes I can finish them before the clock runs out, but as I discovered today, that is at best, a futile hope.

So I am going back to basics. I am going back to focusing on one task at a time. One step, one project, at a moment. None of this nonsense of a million places at once. I can multi-task, but only if my brain is not working on it. So a literal step back, and more focused thoughts will work much better.

And because I really need to remind myself:

a. Break everything down into tiny pieces FIRST. One step at a time. Control your panic, and breathe. We can get through this.
b. Work on it chronologically. You know the steps, you always have. Don’t jump from one task to another. We both know your mind doesn’t work that way. Step by step. One feet in front of the other. That is how we have always been.
c. Off time is sacred, but it is not just play. Write, woman. We both feel it when you don’t. *kick*
d. Even if you think it won’t help, exercise. We both know you love the feeling. SO GO AND FEEL, DANGNABIT!
e. Final note: Their choices are not yours. Their stories are not yours. Yours is not their story. So yes, it’s completely ok to feel all those things. Joy, despair, hope, annoyance, everything is normal. Everything is working as it should be. Theirs is not your path. Your path is not theirs, no matter how much they try to make it seem.

My dearest, darling, you know what feels right. How it feels right. No one can take that away from you unless you let them. Release, and breathe. It’s fine. Let go.

And live.

[Poetry] Break

Since it seems to be the American Month of Poetry, thought I’d write something. Have never tried this style before. Yes, deliberate miscaps are deliberate. :D Oh yeah, poem was written to the tune of Psycho Pass’ Namai No Nai Kibutsu: http://vimeo.com/59940316

Title: Break.

bREAK.
BRat.
DarkNEss
l0neliness
Despair

Running running running
Against a foe you cannot see
Desperation, the fight to stay alive
A panicked shot, a cornered victim

Scream.
Shout.
Hoarse your throat. A sinister smile in the darkness.

Falling
Blessed, sweet, darkness

Reaching out to the sunlight
I looked up to see the dawn
Then i turned
Without regret
With my own two feet
Walk back into the darkness.

wITH a sMilE aS twIstED AS mY hArT.

Mengagumkan

Kagum.

Mengagumkan.

In English, as a child, I was taught that the two words above meant “awe” and “awesome” respectively (I am aware that DBP says otherwise, but bear with me here). These days, I feel the word awesome is kinda overused, at least among the net generation like myself. We use the word awesome to admire things that are really respectable and admirable, but they don’t often inspire awe. I don’t feel the word “awesome” has as much punch as the word “awe” does these days, and that is rather sad when “awesome” means so much more than just regular “awe.”

Kagum, and mengagumkan, on the other hand to me, still signifies that awe. It’s that moment of wonderment, that moment of discovery, that moment when you can feel, within your entire being, that the world stops and you simply bask in that awesomeness of the moment. It is that moment that takes your breath away, that moment when you learnt the joy of learning, the moment when you see the sun set and you think, “That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life” and that moment when you feel you have been swept off your feet and the world has simply stopped.

This is in a joyous kind of way, might I add. Kagym inspires a kind of joyful wonder that grows lesser the older we grow.

Kagum can be used in so many different ways too. As the root word, it can also carry the meaning “amazed” if used in the first person perspective.

“Saya kagum,” can mean “I’m amazed/impressed.” Mengagumkan, on the other hand, has just the meanings “Awesome” or “admired.”

“Dia mengagumkan” is “He/she is amazing.” There’s also “Saya mengagumkan dia,” which translates to “I admire him/her.”

Such a simple word that rolls off the tongue. Kagum is pronounced as “KA” as in car with a silent r, and “gun” with a more rolled off M? Not too sure how to describe it, but I’ve always loved the word “kagum” instead of “awesome.” It just… describes things better.

So the next time you see something that’s struck you with awe, try saying “mengagumkan” instead to them, especially if they know Malay. Tell me how it goes.

3200 posts!

I wanted to write something profound, and then I am reminded that God works in mysterious ways. Perhaps not now. But there is something I am going to consider. A secret promise, and a quiet one…

At 32, we shall see.