Review of Relationships

Today was a fairly reflective day. After doing a milk run for the cafe project, I was interviewed by a reporter on site about the motivations behind my "career decisions." Interestingly enough, the reporter said she would not be querying me on my "existential crises," - I wasn't aware that I had existential crises, as my existence seems rather ho-hum to me.

My current job is pursued mostly for its educational potential, as there is limited remuneration of any other sort at the moment. It was initially a viable investment opportunity, but that has not been the case for several months now. It has been almost eight months since I began full-time assignment to this project, most of which have been spent killing time while waiting for other parties to make their decisions.

My social life ex-job during this period has been otherwise mostly confined to computer gaming rituals on weekends, where I socialise with folks whom otherwise have not much in terms of common interest with myself. I have, with a similarly lackadaisical attitude, pursued a brief study of Internet dating applications - with scattered results. My financial position is not highly liquid at this point, and that has shaped my schedule accordingly.

Throughout this period, I have not successfully curated any deeply personal relationships with colleagues or acquaintances. My last lover and close friend stopped enjoying my company about a year ago, and since then I have spent most of my time on my own. I suppose that when one's social relationships are of a low priority, one can only afford to keep few "close," friends. I have usually reserved close friendships for lovers, and therefore whenever I lose a lover, I typically lose my "only friend."

While it bothers me deeply within the realm of social considerations, as a whole the realm of social considerations does not bother me deeply. For example, I do not maintain deeply personal relationships with my parents or siblings - for example, my mother happened to drop by my place of work during the interview this morning, and I welcomed her to look around, but also told her that I was busy and would not be free to speak with her at this time.

Nevertheless, in the interest of being social, all this is good to think about every now and again.

:)

Espresso Online

After 8.7 months, we're finally at the part of the business that I don't know how to do. Making coffee. Yay!

Update 2013-10-01: with the gracious support of industry enthusiasts, we hosted a B2B event (grinder technology seminar) for our beta debut of the premises. So far so good. We're keeping our messaging where we want it to be - we're concerned about delivering a satisfactory customer experience, and so we're media shy for the time being. Meanwhile, I'm busying myself by reaching out to upstream folks to find the right partners for future JVs. ISTP by day, INTP by night. This is how we roll. :P One of these days, I'll find a good medium within which to whip out the E--J...

Trollable Consulting

About this article: 'Non-expert' paid RM20mil to draft Education Blueprint

I don't think there's anything that McK or any other consulting firm is doing wrong here. They're providing a service in the market for services, in the function of providing machinated credibility to governments who outsource their content generation. A lot of "consulting," work, including such organisations as PEMANDU, functions as highly-intellectualised public relations copywriting. That's just what the business is about - you help CEOs, goverments, and other managers to defend their actions about their management of stakeholder resources. Whether there is embezzlement or irresponsibility on the part of the client ("organisational leader") is besides the point - clients often pay for advice, frame the advice, hang it on the wall, and never implement it. Consultants are paid to advise, not to implement. If you want a more effective use of money, fire the government.#trollability

If you're wondering why I'm raising this point, it's in response to a number of comments that others post under articles like this. I'm reacting against those comments because it's job application season again, and I'm trying to talk myself into taking the management consulting industry seriously. 7 years on, I still find it a hard sell... but the money is good!

ICE #

EVERY TIME someone asks me for an emergency contact number:

I would prefer any illness or my passing to be remain a private matter. Is that ok?

I Live in Kuala Lumpur

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I am now a resident of inner-city Kuala Lumpur.

Boring-ish day at work. Cleaned some drains, cleaned some floors, painted some pipes, entertained some visitors, and watched boss debug customised pieces of furniture. Otherwise has superficial but lengthy conversations with two women on a dating site, and I'm just glad that the likes of them still talk to me, or at least, some digital representation of me... whee. Overnighting at the construction site again. Legal training in twelve hours. Trying to update my installation of Haskell Platform and get some old software working, meanwhile.

Fuck. Code still works. It seems I have simply forgotten how to use the Haskell programming environment. :P Damn niche platforms...

Once, I was partially motivated to rent/buy my own place because a girlfriend was uncomfortable visiting a shared residence. 2.5 years later, I'm still waiting for the transaction to go through - EPF financing depends on application for a Facilities Agreement, and application for a Facilities Agreement depends on cash deposit to the tune of whatever I need financed by EPF (ho ho ho)... life truly provides just enough entertainment to make it worth living...

The fun part: mozzies and a roach as bedfellows. The not-so-fun part: waiting for project to get on the road. Zzz.