2023 Wrap up

Every year, I tell myself that I need to get back to writing posts more regularly. Seeing that my last post was from 2020, I don’t think I’ve done a terribly good job. My excuse is usually that I don’t have the time, and that is true, kinda. I have the same amount of time as when I used to write regularly. It’s just prioritising. Although in the back of my mind, there is a nagging thought, what if it’s not just time. What if I just don’t have as much to say anymore? What if I have less rage? What if I’m accepting more of the unacceptable? That is a thought that’s much more scary than the lack of time.

We are now on the other side of the Covid-pandemic. It’s still around, but it seems people have decided to ignore it now. The rates of infection are still high, although the effects are mostly mild for the general population. Everyone is being urged to get back to work, ignoring the trauma that many felt during the last few years from lockdowns, friends and family passings, and the isolation felt by so many during this period. Not only is it back to business as usual, but there’s a huge push to increase productivity as if everyone was just resting the past 2 years. This new push is not going to end well for someone.

This has been quite a year on the professional side. I’ve decided to quit my job to focus on my work in burnout and creating more sustainable workplaces. I really think this is going to be the big struggle in the workplace for the next little while as we make the transition into the next industrial revolution. After the experience of Covid, people had a taste of a more balanced work life and they’re not going to give that up without a fight. At the same time, the dinosaurs in senior management and their out-dated mindsets about work will try all they can to bring everyone back into the office.

Talking to everyone around me and the global research on burnout that I conduct, I know that everyone is exhausted. Everyone knows that work doesn’t work anymore. The problem is that no one has a good solution, or at least, there are few leaders that are brave enough to challenge the status quo. Most people enjoy eating food and having a place to sleep so not working is not really an option. Most companies think people are just resources to exploit and that there will always be someone who wants a job. I think in 2024, something is going to have to give.

To me, it seems that people have been beaten down so much that we have developed a collective learned helplessness. We have normalised stress. We have accepted that surviving is our only mode of living. At the same time, we’ve become more insular from each other and ourselves.

This might just be an age thing, but it seems people have really forgotten how to have fun. This includes talking about anything else other than kids and work. It’s so rare to have conversations about random things anymore. Remember those silly conversations that had everyone cracking up?  There’s none of that anymore. Everyone is so ‘busy’ that we don’t have the headspace to expand on the impossible or the absurd. Instead, the conversations are mundane because everyone’s brains are too full of how busy they are.

One very fun thing that happened this year was that I did my first BBQ pop-up. Cooking the American style BBQ with a menu of Brisket, Pull Pork and some sides. Everything ran smoothly and I learned a lot about running a pop-up. I’m hoping to be able to do it a few more times next year. The idea would be to create a regular event that people look forward to coming to. Something chill with good food, drinks, and some fun. I think that’s really something that’s missing nowadays. People either don’t do anything, or it’s these huge events. What we lose is this community vibe. This space to meet your neighbors, talk to new people, create new experiences. Hopefully this little venture can bring some of that back. 

Generally, when I write these posts, they flow out pretty easily. The difficult is generally with what not to include. With so many things to discuss that’s happened throughout the year, it’s hard to pick just a few. This year, I can tell you that I’m struggling a bit here. It’s not that a lot hasn’t happened this year, it’s just not post worthy. It might be because I’m out of practice writing these posts, or my idea about what to share has changed. Not sure what it is, but it feels different this time.

Looking back at some of my old posts, I rant about politics quite a bit. I still do in real life, but something has changed in the last couple of years. The level of rantings has definitely gone down and I’ve been thinking about why that is. My best answer right now is that I think I have lost the passion because I have fundamentally lost faith in humanity. I don’t see a way back for us. We are losing the war against far-right extremism. We are losing the fight for our planet. We are losing the fight for our humanity.

What I think is the worst part is that most people don’t care to fight for what’s right. Most people are too wrapped in their own world of ‘busyness’ to care about anything else other than their immediate surroundings. They are so distracted by fighting fires in their own lives that they can’t see the real root causes. Even if they do, they don’t care. That’s someone else’s problem.

Most people are struggling financially, and it makes them single minded. It’s hard to care about wars in far away places or what’s happening to the planet when you can’t afford rent or food. This is the dystopia that neo-liberalism has created. This is exactly what they wanted. When people are in this state, they don’t have the time to critically think about problems or solutions. They lean towards easily understandable three-word slogans. They become easily fearful. They become easily controllable.

To be fair, I think there are a lot of people that would care, but can’t. For many of them, they are just hoping to make enough money so they can ignore the problem. World heating up? I’ll make enough to live in a house with AC. Wealth gap increasing? I’ll just be on the right side of that gap. People losing rights? Money can always buy you those rights. I could go on, but you get the message. There is so much stuff going on (there’s actually a word for it called Polycrisis), that seems to have made people switch off completely to these massive issues we all face.

I think that’s why I want to really focus on this work on burnout and reducing the number of hours people spend working. I think if people weren’t so ‘busy’ with work, they would have time to do other things, to think about something other than themselves. The other obsession I have is to get people to have more fun. I really feel like people have forgotten how to enjoy the world and really have fun (myself included). Having fun is a muscle like any other. We need to work at it. It’s hard to just turn it on after it being off for so long.

I know it sounds a bit silly, but that’s the impact I want to make. I want to see people enjoy life again. I want to see people thrive. I want to change the course for humanity. I want to prove to myself that humanity have not gone too far down and that it’s still worth saving. If not, I hope I can make my escape plan a reality and have a nice quiet place in the country somewhere. Maybe then, I’ll start blogging more regularly again.  

 

Have a wonderful year everyone.

2020 Wrap up

Many people have been surprised and unprepared by the events in 2020. If you’ve been reading this blog, you would’ve been fine cause Pup’s been telling you about this for a while now. While Pup’s been known to be overly pessimistic about humans, 2020 has gone a long way in proving him right in a lot of ways. So a few things we’ve learned this year.

There is massive, institutionalised racism in the US (and around the world). Once again it came to a boiling point with the completely unjustified death of several innocent men and women of color. And just like clockwork, there were mass protests and there will be no one held accountable for these murders. The African American community just has to learn to live with it. Just imagine this was happening to white suburb people. Trying to send the message that Black Lives Matter has only been faced with more violence from the police and the state. Think about that for a minute. While a group is pleading with the police to not randomly kill them, the police reacts violently in full riot cosplay gear. 

This stayed on the news for a few weeks, but like before, nothing significant will be done. Those in power will do a few token things and pat themselves on the back, but none will make the hard decisions to do anything that will prevent unnecessary violence by the police to minorities. We will continue to live in a 2-class citizen system in the US.  

While it wasn’t the zombie apocalypse, a global pandemic is probably the next closest thing. At the writing of this post, there are over 19.5 Million cases of Covid-19 in the US and 337k Americans have died. To put it more simply, 1 in 1000 Americans have died and 1 in 30 have Covid-19. When we lost 2606 people during 9/11, we spent trillions of dollars and killed hundreds of thousands of people to quench our thirst for vengeance. We are having a 9/11 event everyday now, and this administration and Republicans still refuses to do anything to help this country. It didn't have to be this bad. We have the resources and we could've been a global leader in not only saving our own citizens, but those around the world. No, we didn't do any of that. We let the virus win. This is what it looks like for conservative man-children to be in power.    

There has always been this notion that even though we disagree, when the chips are down, and American lives are at stakes, the country would pull together. 2020 and Covid-19 has shown that this is no longer the case. There is a large portion of the population who doesn’t care about the country or their fellow Americans anymore. They have been indoctrinated by a conspiracy, fake information, death spiral cult that has become the most destructive force against the US. This is a problem that must be eradicated. There are no middle ground when one side is looking to take the country into fascism.

During the beginning of the pandemic, there was a rally cry that 'we're all in this together'. What utter bullshit. While the majority of people suffered, there are a lot of people that has done really well during this time. Million and Billionaires grew their wealth to obscene levels while lines for food banks drags miles long. Like other recessions, the rich concentrated their wealth further with govt back welfare (i.e. one of the first acts of the govt is to give the rich and major corporations a major $1.3 Trillion blank check). Meanwhile, conservatives are arguing that $600 over the last 6 months is too much.  

It’s been pretty quiet on the personal front this year. There were plans for a European and US trip, but of course that wasn’t possible. There have been a few local trips which has been nice. The lockdown here in Australia has been probably one of the toughest in the world. State borders are closed and even visiting regional areas have been difficult. This tough lockdown might be the reason the Covid-19 rates are so incredibly low. We’ve seen from other countries (e.g., US, UK) who have refused to lock down and what has happened this year.

Now that there are multiple vaccines out there, there is hope that we might be turning the tide. Even if we do, there’s been so much damage done in 2020. There is so much crap to sort out in 2021. It’s not going to be easy and we won’t go back to normal anytime soon. I would also argue that a lot of things shouldn’t go back to normal. We need new ideas and new ways of working. A silver lining from 2020 is that it’s given us an opportunity to try something new, something different, and move on from many of our antiquated ways.

On the positive side of things, I'm very excited about the Zoomer population. These kids (they're prob not kids anymore, but I'm super old) seem to have a fire and sense of urgency to fix this world. I'm really rooting for them as our generation and the millennials have failed miserably to turn back the doomsday clock that the boomers have accelerated. 

Will we step up and make these changes? Or will we simply go back to how we were, living as drones in an aimless world? Time will tell. 

Don’t ask Pup though, you won’t like his answer. 

Rethinking candidate requirements during elections

If we are going to elect a president, PM or a public official that will have power over significant parts of our lives and the country, I think it is reasonable to test how they would respond in certain situations before an election. 

With social media, elections have devolved into nothing more than popularity and PR competitions. There's rarely anything of substance to judge a candidate. It's time to rethink what we need to see from a candidate before an election. 

Instead of listening to prepared speeches or listening to debates full of empty words, we need a way to show these politicians in action. More specifically, what they would do in certain situations, how would they work with their team, how would they lead, how would they think through the situation. 

In the corporate world, assessment centres have been used to assess if a person is ready for a more senior position. An assessment centre is where person go through ‘a day in the life of’ (generally of a position more senior) to see how they handle the situations and issues that are commonly faced by someone in that position. In the military, assessment and running through different scenarios is common in testing the preparedness of an individual. I think it's time we incorporate this for our elections to ensure that we know the capabilities of these candidates.

So this is what it would look like:

Each candidate will assemble small teams based on specific areas that the country wants to see them demonstrate their skills in. For example, the economy, healthcare, education, foreign relations. Candidates will be given scenarios, data, and role players that they can work with to come up with a solution. A possible scenario could be something like a foreign nation just attacked and taken over a US consulate with hostages. Or perhaps like a major bank has collapsed and sending Wall Street in a free fall. Let's see how the candidates would go about handling these issues.

This assessment will let us (voters) see how the candidate work with their teams and the quality of the solution that they come up with. We will see how they during a crisis. We will get to see their leadership qualities (or lack of). With this, voters will be better be able to judge who they should vote for.

One thing that Covid-19 has shown is that all these (usually men) who talks a big game have no clue how to lead during an actual crisis. They’re all mediocre used car salesmen who can charm you with their words, but have no capacity to lead or know what to do.  

What do you think?

The New Covid World

I recently helped someone in the family set up a blog and I was telling him about my experience writing this blog. I can’t believe I started this over 16 years ago. The world sure has changed over these years.

I was looking back at the earlier posts and it puts a smile on my face. Things seem so innocent back then. The posts were light, a few drunken posts and a few rants here and there. As the years went on, there seemed to be more rants, less light and fun posts. I don’t think the drunkenness stopped, but staying up to write about it certainly did.

I’m not sad about the changes. I have been lucky and live an amazing life today. It’s been quite a journey to get here.

So 2020 came and with it a pandemic. Not sure 2004 me would’ve guess that. Although to be fair, I was all about a zombie apocalypse and this is probably the closest it’s going to get (let’s see how well that sentence ages). It was interesting to see how different countries reacted to this crisis. I think there are 3 general groups. Countries that are sensible and listened to health advisors to shut down to stop the spread. Countries that would like to be sensible, but doesn’t have the resources to actually shut down. Finally, there are the countries that are led by incompetent conman who doesn’t lift a finger while the disease destroy its citizens.

The world is about 5 months into this crisis, and the results are starting to show. Viruses doesn’t care about your politics. Viruses certainly doesn’t care if you believe it exists or not. As I type this post, there are 4.4 Million confirm cases with 300k deaths around the world. These figures are probably 30-50% lower than actual numbers with the US leading the way (by a long shot) in both categories.

I might have a separate post dedicated to Covid-19, but for now, I’m expecting a 2^nd wave that should be worst than the first wave as countries are opening up. Just as the infection rates are increasing. People are going to die. A lot of people, but hey, the economy is more important right?

I switch between sad and angry during this period. There is a class of people who have never experienced any type of inconvenience feels as they’re being oppressed. Those who work to comfort this class are being force to go to work, and doing so, endangering their family and their own lives through infections. There’s this spin out there that they are essential workers. They’re not. They’re hostages. You get to work from the comfort of your own home. They have to go out there to work or their family will starve. Face the virus or face starvation. Your choice. Isn’t having freedom in a capitalistic society great?

While we’re in lockdown, I hope to get back into these posts. Maybe I’ll even get a few drunk ones on here.      

Fight

It’s been one year since Trump has taken office. On the anniversary of the inauguration, the US government has been shut down. It’s the only time in history where one party had both houses of congress and the presidency and still managed to shut down the government.

Everyday, Trump and his cronies tears at the democratic fabric of America. What has taken the country over 200 years and the backbone policies of why America has become a superpower and leader in the world, Trump and his cronies are ripping it to pieces.

Scandal after scandal, conservatives seem to care less and less. This supposed ‘value’ voters seems to now be ok with supporting a man who has 5 children with 3 wives (who he cheated on each with), with someone who has affairs and pays hush money to porn stars, and probably the worst, comparing Trump to Jesus. This is the person that the evangelicals looks up to and supports. Never has the Christian faith been in so much trouble.

The stress Trump has caused in this last year has been unwavering. Tweet after Tweet, chaos grows and spreads from his administration. Trump creates conflicts where there were none, Trump creates fear as to feed off the grief from his victims. The spread of his cancerous influence is not only affecting the US, but it’s had a rippling effect all over the world.

With his support of white supremacists, he has given life to a new era of horrors. White supremacists all around the world are embolden, no longer do they need to hide in the dark, they have their savior and they know they will have support from the top. In return, these white supremacist groups does his bidding to bring more fear and chaos around the world.

The world is bleak right now. There’s no sugar coating that fact. The scales are clearly tipped towards the darkness and it’s growing stronger.

It’d be easy to retreat and hide from all the madness that Trump has created. Ignorance does offer a degree of relief from reality, but the escape will only be temporary. Sooner or later, reality will kick in. Sooner or later, they will start coming for you too.

The world has seen this before. We have seen this level of darkness several times around the world. Every time this happens, the good and the brave did not hide, they did not take the easy road. They did not cower. It’s time once again to call on the good and brave once again to roar.

We are the protectors. It is us who will protect those that can’t. It is us who will fight back against the villainy. It is us who will drive the darkness back into the hole and tip the scale once again. It’s not going to be an easy road. There’s no time to waste and there’s much to do.          

It’s up to all of us. Do something, however small, fight back. Fight.

Thank you for screaming

Thank you for screaming

I don’t remember the first time I heard a Linkin Park song, but I remember the exact feeling.

After the death of my mother, I was in a downward spiral. There were so many feelings raging through me and when I wasn’t drinking, I could hardly stand all the emotions. I’ve never been someone who was outwardly emotional. I was raised to keep it inside, not to show or let anything out and that was probably killing me inside. These feelings were growing stronger by the day, feeding off my loss and spreading their control. Unable to control these demons, I felt helpless as they started taking over and leaving me a passenger in my own body.

One day when I was driving, a Linkin park song came on the radio and I heard Chester scream for the first time. I screamed along to the song even though I didn’t know the words. I scream at the top of my lungs for what felt like forever and at the end of the song I felt tired and my throat sore. Then, I felt something I haven’t felt in a while, a sense of relief.

I remember driving straight to a best buy and buying the CD. I listen to that CD over and over till I lost my voice from screaming. Chester and Linkin Park’s lyrics expressed what I couldn’t. I don’t know the story behind their songs, but they gave me the words that I wasn’t able to express. More importantly, Chester showed me how to scream.

The buried emotions were eating me up inside and I didn’t know of a way to bring them out. Inside your mind, these emotions are strong. They feed off the darkness in the corners of your mind, but like most demons, if you can bring them into the light, they often lose their power. These feeling won’t be easy to bring out, there’s not thinking it through or working it out. The only way to bring these feelings out it to scream and keep screaming and when you lose your voice, scream some more in silence.

The songs and the voice of Chester will be forever with me as they saw me through some dark times. Every time they’ve re-raised their heads, I know I had Chester with me to bring them to the light where they would have no power.

I am deeply sadden to hear about your death Chester. I know there are many others like me out there that you’ve helped through your music and the power of your voice. There’s nothing I can say that would truly show my appreciation so I’ll keep it simple.  Thank you.   

Chester, may you finally find peace and escape your demons.

God's religion

It's utterly naive and ignorant to think God 
would have a religion.

Salty Egg Crispy Chicken

Saw this at a food hall the other day and was just thinking. We're going to cut you up and cover you in your young and then fry you.

Yea, a bit morbid and in case you're wondering, yes, it's very delicious.

  

Where to even start

Where to even start

The strategy for Trump, his administration and the GOP is to roll out their hate filled, money grabbing and far right conservative agenda as quickly as possible. They are using blitzkrieg to overwhelm the population and the news media with so much that none of their policies will be properly analysed. Sure, there will be a few major policies that get people riled up, but the majority will slip through the cracks. Even more sinister is that some of these major ones are designed as distractions while they get the others passed.

While Trump and his cronies work at the federal level, the same thing is being done on the state and local level. Using Trump as the distraction / encouragement, so many new anti-choice, discriminatory bills are getting passed every day. You have an administration that just outright lies (e.g., Bowling Green Massacre as a way to defend the Muslim ban? Just outright lie) and no one on the right holds them accountable? Trump and his administration has been beating the drum of 'fake news' so much that when credible news outlets tries to call out these lies, they can easily label them as 'fake news' and the public believes them. 

Trump's administration has started lying about attacks by Iran and China that never happens. To accuse another country of an attack is an attempt to incite a war. That is the end game for this administration as through war they will really concentrate their power. This is a very dangerous game that they're playing. Again, while they distract us with all their horrible internal policies, they are creating the same havoc around the world.

So where do we even start?

To try and keep up with all the damage they’re doing is simply too exhausting. The anger and rage that one feels can’t help but ooze into other aspects of one’s life. I personally feel that the anger I feel is leaking into my personal/social life which is one thing I def don't want. So what’s the solution here? Stay informed and let the anger slowly eat you away? Be uninformed and let the world burn while you ignore the injustices happening? Is there no middle ground?

I would love to say that I have the answers for you, but I don’t. I don’t think there is a silver bullet and more than likely, the answer will be different for each person and will probably change with time.

This is going to be a long and exhausting fight and it’s one we must win. Stay well everyone, remember to take care of yourself. Unplug when you need and come back strong and refreshed. We will remain vigilant while you rest and you can do the same when others need to do the same. 

Together we will turn back this tide.

Resist.  

Now more than ever

Now more than ever

Yesterday, Donald Trump was sworn in as the American president. As he began his swearing in, rain fell as if in solidarity with so many that now live in fear. Trump swore on a bible that he doesn’t read and on a constitution that he doesn’t believe in (and probably haven’t read either). For years, the conservative movement have used anger, fear and lies to manipulate the American public. With the help of Russia to weaponize the fear and ignorance that they have spent the last 8 years breeding, they won the ultimate prize in putting a con man/puppet in the most prestigious and powerful position in the world, and in turn, giving rise to a new era of fear and uncertainty for the world.

For decades, the US and most of the world have been slowing evolving in the progressive values of equality and caring for not only ourselves, but our fellow human beings. We started to care more about the state of the planet, about those without a voice and those under such horrible situations that we can’t ignore. While most of world was working towards these goals, we ignored a dangerous minority growing all over the world. A minority who fears losing power, a minority that has no interest in equality and a minority that seeks to force their hateful views on everyone around them. This minority was cultivating a local and global fear culture, and succeeding.

Hate/fear groups are generally well known by organisations that keeps track of this type of thing (e.g., Southern Poverty law Center). We’ve had too many run ins with these hate groups in the US (and worldwide) to not keep track of these groups, but where we failed was to take action when the canaries were sounding the alarm.  For too long, the general public ignored that these hate groups were growing in numbers and influence (esp in the last 8 years of the Obama administration). Meanwhile there were others who naively tolerated their hate in the hopes that they would somehow change on their own. 

By ignoring or trying to somehow get along with these hate groups and not taking the steps to root them out (or at least a stronger plan to contain their numbers and influence) is how we’ve ended up with a Trump presidency. During the last 9 months (or so) of the presidential election, progressives were not prepared to battle with this level of hate culture. They were well funded, well organised and had the help from a major foreign power. It would’ve taken a major effort to combat them even if we were prepared which we were far from. Even towards the end, too many progressives still believed in the good of people and believe that people will do the right thing.

Never again.

We need to realize and examine the mistakes that we’ve made, but it’s time to move on. Spending too much time looking backwards is not productive. We’ve had a few months now to feel shocked, sad, and drink our misery away. Trump is now the president and he’s bringing in a host of hatred and ignorance to his cabinet to further spread the hate culture in the US and around the world. 

Now, it’s time to get off our asses. It’s time to work. Make no mistake, we are all under attack. Even if you're not being attacked today, you will be tomorrow. If we don't rise up for each other, they will divide and conqure.

This time, we need to be better prepared. We cannot underestimate the strength of hate and fear again. We must be prepared to fight (we can’t bring a drum circle to a gun fight). It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be pretty, it’ll take a lot of time and effort, but it’s something we must do. We must think about the long and short game (the hate groups are extraordinary at the long game). 

Hate groups all around the world have been embolden by a Trump presidency. We must show them that they will never be the norm, we will not accept the hate and fear that they represent and we will drive them back into the dark corners where they came from. They may have caught us unprepared and won this battle, but we will win the war.

Today, as in the times before, we fight not only for ourselves, but those who are powerless, those that will be a target by this hate administration, and for future generations.  Now, more than ever, organise, take action and join the resistance!

Pup’s movie corner

Pup’s movie corner

 If you haven’t seen Star Wars: Rogue One, stop reading. Go see the movie now.

I was pretty stoked to see this movie. After seeing the trailers and finding out what it’s about, I was even more excited. For years, fan have complained about why in the world would you design the ultimate weapon with such a ridiculous flaw. Now we know.

I was amazed by a lot of things in this movie, but probably the biggest thing is how someone went to the Disney movie execs and said ‘hey, we’re going to make a movie where everyone dies. Everyone.’ and then having the execs say ‘sure, go ahead’. How did they manage that? Jedi mind trick?

The movie filled in a lot of holes in the New Hope and added a lot more depth to the Star Wars universe. What I thought was most interesting is getting a better view about the alliance. Like many alliances, this one was hanging on by a thread. Everyone wasn’t in and everyone was certainly not ready to commit to fighting. It took the bravery of a few people to wake up the masses and take on the threat.

While I’m used to these types of endings where the heros die from Asian cinema (pretty much the cornerstone of a good hero – that they die), this was really unexpected from a western movie, especially one made by Disney. It brings a harsh reality that often times gets missed. We have probably never heard of most heros and what they’ve done for the world (or for certain countries/people). Those that win and those that survive gets to tell the tale. The dead does not speak, no matter their heroics. 

This could just be my 2017 mentality, but what also strike me about the movie was about taking action. You don’t just sit by as you watch the world get taken over by bullies and tyrants. If there’s an opportunity, we must do just that. We must stand up for the weak, for those that can’t stand for themselves and for the future of the dream that we are all in this together.

There are so many things against the people right now. So many people without hope and so many being oppressed by those tyrants mad for power. For those of us who can do something, however small, it’s time for us to stand up. It’s time for us to come together, come out of the woodworks, even if we’re just a rag tag band of misfits. We all have a part to play in this and we must fight back the tyranny.

Rating: 4 Paws (out of 5)