via Larry

Re-bleeting (blog/tweeting) Larry's tweet

"Joy! Christ is more faithful and true than faulty feelings and evasive emotions. His salvation is eternal!"

Thanks.

Resource allocation

DEAR MANAGER PLEASE HIRE MORE PEOPLE YOU CANNOT MAKE AN A1 AND A B2 REPRODUCE WHAT WAS DONE BY A B1 AND A B3 LAST YEAR IT IS SIMPLY. NOT. POSSIBLE.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

It is the lack of it, which is the root of the problem.

This race was born without it.

You can beat them, drown them, bury them in mines, make them toil over building a 5500-mile long stone wall, ship them to foreign countries as slaves, conquer them, silence them, shoot them...they will not rise up. They will not protest. They will not make a sound.

And that's why when they take up positions of authority, they will in turn make their own people work 18 hours a day, make you work on weekends, toss you a pile of work and not teach you how to do it and then giving you sh*t for handing in something below their expectations, call you up on a holiday pushing you to hand-in work you said you will hand in.

It's all because they were never given any respect.

And therefore they don't know how to give any. And those underneath don't know how to speak for themselves and speak for their own rights. Because they don't know that they have any.

People here are driven by fear. They don't speak up because of fear. They will toil and slave away to meet expectations because of fear. And those at the top don't realise how suppressed and bitter those below are feeling because they don't let it show, and yet they manage to meet those expectations.

Perhaps it all boils down to history. The centuries of repression and war and hardship and turmoil has produced a tough, hardworking, thick-skinned race. For decades they have been torn apart and colonised by the west. Today, though not used and abused by foreign powers anymore, they suppress their own people.

It's time to rise up. But it probably won't happen. And that is why so many people leave this place eventually. Maybe it's my turn too.

"Sweatshops for the educated"

http://offbeatchina.com/25-year-old-auditor-at-pwc-shanghai-worked-to-death-time-to-rethink-work-life-balance

25 year old auditor at PwC Shanghai worked to death.

What can be a more apt description of the industry than "sweatshop from the educated", quoting one of the comments on this article. Low pay, long hours, high demands, belittling...

Maybe I'm just not 'local' enough to put up with it. I feel significantly different from everyone around me. I feel significantly incompetent for the tasks that are dumped on me. And I feel my English is deteriorating as quick as my Cantonese swear-words vocab is increasing.

How much longer can I put up with this?

The fuse is getting dangerously short.

The switch is about to flip.

Someone jab me with a needle before the pressure gets too much to take...

Switch on, switch off

.....Regret. It nibbles at your subconscious. Then it bites on your hopes and dreams. Then bites big and you're falling down a spiral of despair and self-blame...

.....What the...the woman in front of me has mullet. And a leather jacket. Is she....yeah she's a she.

It's scary how my thoughts fluctuate so radically on one (long) walk home. It's equally scary that I'm sharing them here in public.

.....(Looking at all the white people in the pubs and restaurants on a warm Saturday afternoon) What do they all do? Most of them look quite young. What brought them to HK? What do they do that does not require Chinese language abilities, yet allows them to live in the Soho area and sip drinks on most nights as well as saturday afternoons?

.....I miss the life I had outside of HK.

.....(And then I notice how my thoughts fly from superficial to deep and troubling in a matter of milli-seconds) Am I crazy? Am I crazy for thinking that might be crazy? Am I a hypochondriac? Or is this normal? Do other people ever actually wonder about their own sanity?

.....That girl really shouldn't be eating ice-cream. It might fro-yo, but still. No it's not even fro-yo its McD's sundae. That's even worse. I'm a horrible person. I really should do some exercise when I can find the time.

.....Time. Oh where hath thou gone?! The hours flee like the gusts of wind when the metro arrives, the days like modern day internet speeds. If I have say 50 more years to live, that's 50 times 365...that's...(tapping the buttons on my phone) 18626 days!!! ONLY!!!!! And I'm wasting my time, blogging?!?!

Why!?

Why do we have to change the references that we're all already done with??

Why do we have to work on public holidays??

Why do we have to work OVERTIME on public holidays??

Why do we have to rush all this work that is obviously too much for the amount of time and people available!?

Why are they doing this to us?!

Why am I doing this to myself???????????????

Fly

Listen to my prayer, O God,

do not ignore my plea;

hear me and answer me.

My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught...

"Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest -

I would flee far away

and stay in the desert.

Working in a place at such proximity to the airport really does make that urge to flee ever stronger. All I want is out right now. Out of these habits, out of this city, out of this life.

This morning, on the platform waiting for the MTR..

I asked, "What do I want to do with my life????"

And He said, knowing very well what I'm asking, "Your job is not your life. You're asking the wrong question".

"Right...then what should I do with my career?"

"Anything. Whatever. You're still asking the wrong question. In fact you know very well the answer to the question that you ought to be asking."

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord, not for men,

since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.

3 Philippians 23-24