Random thoughts of a Disturbed Mind: Uncertainty and other things...

Saturday, June 18, 2011

[Uncertainty and other things...]

One of the reasons people give when they change jobs is that they wanted to learn new things.

What exactly are these "new things"? And why do you want to learn them?

I think that things you need to know in order to do your job...These things, you will learn them eventually, whether you want to or not. There is no need to hurry and it doesn't make sense to change jobs to learn this. For practical reasons, it's akin to learning a foreign language of a country that you have no intention of ever visiting.

I think that it is more important to learn things that are more generic in nature. Things that can be applied no matter where you go or where you are. Things that could possibly shape you. These things are usually not about work. These things are about yourself.

For the longest time, I was part of a system whereby there always was a "right answer". As I transitioned to a current phase of my life and the system no longer existed, I was still searching for the right answer. So when I heard someone say that there are no "right answers", just what you are comfortable with, it really stuck with me. From that day on, my perception of life and how I dealt with it changed.

Recently, I learned something else which I think will change my perception and how I deal with things. Something happened at work which made my supervisor go apeshit. I do not know all the specifics, but suffice to say, it really was a big problem and going apeshit seems justified or the very least, a reasonable reaction.

Another colleague did something entirely different. He dived deep into the problem and realised that there was more to it than we thought and we should not be directing our anger, or throwing our shit like apes, at anyone else.

When we spoke about it later, he said he doesn't go "off" immediately until he has checked and double-checked an issue. For one thing, how do we know for sure that a certain party is to blame when things go wrong?

I am not the most patient person in the world and it doesn't take much to make me lose it. So this advice or mindset really gave me something to think about. Especially when immediately before I learned this, something happened that made me want to send a very vindictive email to another colleague when it turns out that the cause of the problem really was under my area (okay, so he didn't know that, but still).

I then wanted to send another email to a person of higher position pointing out a deficiency in her department, which I chose not to in the end because I cannot say for sure it was that.

An important life-lesson, indeed.

DBSS flats in Tampines are going for $880,000. That's a record for HDB flats. Although I am not sure whether to really consider DBSS as "HDB flats". Hell, this is more than twice the amount of my same-number-of-rooms HDB BTO flat.

I can't say for sure, but I think this will result in a generation of people who will be in dire financial straits when they reach retirement. By the time they are done paying for the flat, how old would they be? How much money will they have left? What if someone falls sick? What if they need money desperately for something else?

This is something new which we are seeing in recent years and we do not know what will happen in the future. Flats cost much less during our parents' generation and most have no issues with paying for them. This is the generation of expensive, sub-$1 million flats. I really wonder what will happen to these people 20 or 30 years down the road.

I found out my platoon sergeant during my NSF days is now no longer with the SAF and has started his own events/wedding planning company.

Most of these regulars who are no longer with SAF ended up doing event management, becoming property agents or insurance/financial planner. One joker opened a pet stop, or so I heard.

In any case, it would be hard for me to picture this guy as a wedding planner. Nothing against him and he was always fair when I was an NSF, but I just can't picture him doing this.

All the best to him, though.

^^^ by Locksley @ 5:08 PM. 0 comments.
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