Life advice from a plumber, No, he wasn't SuperMario

So today at work a plumber came to quote a job for a suite and we got talking about just life in general.  He offered me something real and no bs.  He said "Jack, study and work for money, at the end of the day, it'll make or break living a fulfilling life."  Those weren't his exact words but he did say that you as an employee will always just be an employee, all bosses don't give a F about you.  You're either making them money or not.  That's the cold hard fact he told me.

I accepted his position on the subject and wanted to add my piece about how there are some employers out there that reward their workforce but decided against it as our elevator ride was coming to an end.  He did get me thinking though, and he's not wrong.  There are many employers that fail to fully manage and exploit their HR but providing an healthy and positive work environment.  Example would be when I worked my ass off going above and beyond, there was initial recognition of my efforts, say a pat on the back and then a lashing for doing too much, what gives?  I do my job with my 100% and more and rebuked?, and now there are times that another pat on the back once in a while wouldn't hurt to motivate me to do more again.

But anyways, he has his point of view, I have mine.  It's good to share and view things from other people's perspectives.

Onto another topic, got to work on my CC#2.  It's coming along okay but I am having trouble focusing the speech onto a coherent smooth piece tonight.  I will give it a go tomorrow before and after vball.  It's gonna be 101001010% times better than my impromptu icebreaker... as this time I will practice!! yes practice!!

J

Fish + veggies week 3; thoughts

Been 22 days since new years and I can say that I'm hungry a lot so I end up eating many small meals through out the day, which is a good thing.  Although with this cold ass winter in Toronto, I have to bundle up more than when I was eating meat.

Something about eating fat of another animal gives the body extra energy to stay warm, especially right after a meal.  Physically, I've noticed a feeling of being slimmer.  I haven't weighed myself yet, I will do that at the end of January.  Mentally, I feel more alert, even on less sleep, I am able to function through out the day with little need of caffeine, just plenty of water is suffice.

Of course, lack of sleep is never good, so after working the weekend and waking up early Monday for Red Cross.  I sleep like a log until late morning on Tuesdays.  This will have to change once school starts Feb. 5th.  No more staying up late.  Have to really work on sleeping before midnight!

-J

Attack of the Vampire Black Cat!

Had a string of interesting dreams last night, the ones I could remember are quite vivid.  

The one that really stood out is where two cats came up to me and started to purr for my attention.  One was black as night while the other was white as snow.  I was sitting down, possibly on a couch.  The white one hopped up and laid down to my right snuggling up to me.  The black one danced around putting on a show.  

Naturally, I picked up the white one and gave it a hug for it's affection.  To my surprise, the black one then jumped up on my lap and started to insert it's claws into my thighs.... So not cool, so I pick it up by the neck and dumped it back to the floor and returned my attention to the white cat who now is super nice and cuddly.

Slighted by my actions, the black cat jumped up again this time and dug it's claws into my left arm and bit me... and began to suck my blood.  I'm like wtf... this is a dream... no cat is dumb enough to pull this shit on me unless.... duh duh daunnnn... it's a vampire cat!  Ofcourse by that time, I knew it was a dream.  I didn't feel threatened, so I pulled the black one off my bleeding arm and went back to snuggle with the white cat.  At that point, the alarm went off and it was time to pee.

Now thinking about it and about a conversation I had with my colleague from Nepal.  He mentioned how dreams are reflective of current situations in our lives in the sense that a stressful dream will reflect our mind's position on a problem/circumstance that's currently occupying our attention while awake.  Thinking along this line, I come to a few conclusion about my ying/yang cat dream.  I don't know if I'm right but it's a good start.  Stay away from black cats lol and snuggled up to the white ones!  How that translates into my waking life is fodder for more deep thinking on this subject.

-J

Icebroken on the fly :-D

Lastnight at Toastmasters meeting, to my consternation, I was thrown into the deepend of the pool. Due to miscommunication via email with the nights` TM, I was scheduled to deliver my icebreaker speech CC#1 when I thought I had signed up to do it on the 30th.

Taking cue from Erna`s advice when given the opportunity, seize it!  She called it the four S`s.  Stand up, speak, shut up, and sit down.

After the social break, Nancy introduced me and up I went.  I had three tales to share in my prepared speech.  given the circumstances, I improvised the introduction and continued to my three stories about myself. 

My transitions were sloppy as I had not practiced any of it.  Heck, I was going to trim and edit my speech this weekend at work.  But I got to tell the three stories and only went long over my 6 minutes because of two filler bits that wasn't even in my original speech.
This whole experience has taught me that knowing the material is important and some parts can be made up on the spot.  But, that leads to lost of control of the time and transitions.  So preparation is key to nailing that.  Also I was nervous, so practice would removed that. 

This weekend, I will go through my feedback from everyone and go writing my CC#2.  For I was a speech to give on the 30th!  :-)

I am glad I did it, everyone was very suppotive and encouraging.  Also on a side note, next time as table topic master.  Prepare the questions and make them unique so people cannot prepared ahead of time.

J

No Pig/Cow/Chicken Day 3

So it's been 3 days since the new year and having given up on eating my fellow swine, fowl, and bovine (sorry fishies, still eating u guys and gals); I feel pretty good.  I have yet to feel the increase energy and decrease sluggishness in the mornings but that is not suppose to happen until atleast day 90 :O.  So here's to 87+ more days and nights as a fishvegtarian.