generations

I should probably have posted this in my psychology blog but.

Today I started with another company, "Colliers International" in the Province Building in downtown. On the lunchroom bulletin board was posted the following table:

	Traditionalists 1922-1945	Baby Boomers 1946-1964	Generation X'ers 1965-1980	Generation Y 1981-2000
Values	Loyalty, dedication, sacrifice, honor, compliance, hard-working	Personal growth, youthfulness, equality, ambition, collaboration	Independence, pragmatism, results-driven, flexibility and adaptive	Confident, optimistic, civic minded, innovative, diversity focused, techno-savvy
Expectations	Stability, support from the organization during change intiatives	Ambition and hard work will be rewarded, opportunities to climb the corporate ladder	Continuous learning environment, challenging work, work-life balance	Continuous change, rapid career growth, personalized experiences
Behaviors	Respectful to authority, loyal to the organization, linear work style	Challenge authority, loyal to the team, team work	Unimpressed by authority, loyal to the manager, focus on results	Respect given for competency not title, loyal to peers, focus on change using technology
Goal	To build a legacy	To put their stamp on things	To maintain independence in all areas of their lives	To find work and create a life that has meaning

So basically I had it wrong. I always thought a generation was about 20 to 25 years ago. This was because I heard that in elementary school but now I think what they meant were generations between parents and children, not the other type of generation. I knew boomers were born after the war but I thought they extended to 1969. And then X'ers would be from 1970 to 1989. I used to think 1977 was a pretty special year since high school would begin in 1990 and then life after undergrad would begin in 2000. And that I wasn't that late in the Generation X range (meaning there were others younger than me who are still considered Generation X, and that made me feel not as old). But nope! I was actually near the end and that my future wife (assuming I get one) will probably be a Generation Y.

As I look back and try to note similarities and differences between X and Y, it was difficult not to think of technology. If you spent your elementary school years in the 80's, having a computer was almost a luxury. And you don't even know about cellphones and CD's until you got to high school. And of course the computer graphics were just not the same. But if you spent your elementary school years in the 90's (especially the second half), laser discs were like what vinyl discs were to me, mp3's were a given, as was internet, and you probably don't know much if anything at all about pentiums.

Being that I was born quite close to the end of the X'ers range, and that I am somewhat tech-savvy, I don't feel much gap when it comes to technology. For one thing anyway was that I never played much video games to begin with especially portable ones. In other words I may not have gotten a PSP if I was a kid in the 90's because I never got a Gameboy in the 80's. But I may have gotten mp3 players. And maybe even the iPod!!

As for clothing, it's hard to say. I've always dressed really dull. It isn't as if I particularly prefer the more plainer style of the 90's but for some reason I just don't end up getting the more colorful or decorative punk-inspired clothes that has been in style for the past 7 or 8 years. Even my glasses are dull despite getting new ones (or supposedly getting new ones) every few years. Actually in 2006 I had a relatively in-style pair but they got smashed and I never got another pair. Yet.

And finally, the values. Not sure how to say it. I've always had my own ideas which I formulate or change as I see fit so you can't really classify them in any one category according to generation. Being raised by strict parents who came from a different culture and time, I had my thoughts about things that seem quite similar to recent ones. But there are differences. For one thing, recent years stress "openness" to other ways of life, ideas, etc. Ideas that suck no matter what age they are introduced in are ideas that truly suck. I pity those kids who grow up being pulled on all sides about those sort of issues which all so often touch on morality. I feel sorry for the souls who inflict that damage as well as the souls who are on the receiving end of the damage inflicted.

In the recent decade or so, business owners take advantage of society's growing appetite for style that shows the girl's fit body. And the wave would just get bigger. As was the chance to sin. Several years ago, I couldn't believe there are less-than-decent styles for ten-year old girls! It was disgusting! And I really don't think any of this has anything to do with what generation I am in! Not right is still not right.

So now that I know what the generation classifications are and where I stand amongst it all, I wonder what happens to those later Generation Y'ers. And beyond. What will the world be like for them as they grow up?

downgrade

I have been assessed that I am not able to keep up with the volume along side of the other co-workers and so as of Monday, I will not be doing extending and posting anymore. I would just be doing filing and pulling cheques and stuff. This position is an accounts payable and now I have been reduced to not being allowed to do even the little accounting-related stuff. What now? We recently have a new VP of Finance "Darren" who was formerly Controller of Sysco Calgary and I was talking to him one-on-one last week. He said that under him, he had people doing bank recon and financial reports and that he would do the same thing here. And now this thing happened with my position. What are the chances of Jan still paying what I get now just to do filing and stuff? Probably not much. If Darren decides to create new positions, when would this be and would I have a chance? Was Jan being nice and giving me a warning sign that I better prepare for something else so that when the time arrives I would be able to find employment elsewhere before I would have to be terminated? Next week, AT is on vacation and then SF will be off for two weeks. Would this actually buy me three weeks until I find other employment or does it buy them time to create and hire a new position which I would fill?

was not meant to be

I'm talking about my blue 2000 Civic Si-G that I bought almost two years ago on August 21, 2006. Coming back from my World Youth Day trip in Sydney with a cough, I went to see Dr. Lai Do Fahn @ Crystal Mall. After work I had also eaten a sandwich and drank water after. Also went to BCIT to pick up my transcripts before going to Crystal Mall. Now heading home and going down Willingdon, things were fine. I guess I started feeling the sleepiness as I approached Moscrop and it came really fast. So fast that I was already considering to turn into the parking lot to sleep. But then I thought I might get ticketed. The traffic was moving very slowly and my eyes closed a couple of times while I hesitated. Opened my eyes and saw that Rav4 had already moved forward. Thought some more and my eyes ended up closing. They opened only after I heard a bam sound. I was wondering why the car in front of me seemed unusually close. And then I realized that I had rear-ended somebody (the Rav4 owned by a 26 yr-old Taiwanese guy). And that it also made a dent in the Sonata (the girl's bf's dad leased it) in front of him.

Called ICBC, took pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2801888300062912204uZJRlk
exchanged info:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2533643540062912204FqzQkg
firetruck and the guy's brother came:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2503656320062912204EWzfkD
Rav4 and witness leaves:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2719996910062912204BgxSzm
cop comes, and then Mundies:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/fullsize/2084585120062912204aBlWYH
Car goes. Mom and Dad comes to pick me up.

I guess the car really cannot accompany me through the next few important stages in my life as I had hoped it would.

It all ended with that smack. Let my life not end like that as well.

crappy

I'm talking about my struggle with my new job. There seems to be a miscommunication or misunderstanding between us. I suspect that it is because my approach to learning is wholesome and that I seek a theoretical framework with which to understanding the processes involved whereas they just grasp a set of procedures and start doing it. I really find that I have difficulty with this approach. I feel I have to write down step-by-step the processes, add sidenotes and have conceptual explanations. And yet my mind doesn't seem to be able to put it all together and so I end up going to work each day with no clear framework with which to do my work and build upon it adding flesh to it as I continue to practice. In the meantime, I forget many details even as my co-workers have explained several times already. Also, they seem to be quite impatient. Or it could be just because they're women? I don't know what it is. They may be frustated, but I can certainly say that I am at least as frustated as they are.

Food

My Mom always said that food was my luck because I always get to eat everywhere. It's like Dad who's always able to find clothes at descent cost and style. I got a new job where I will get to eat stuff often.

Cuz the company is a large food distribution company.

2 dreams

It seems that I haven't had any creative dreams in a while. So let me celebrate by describing the two that I had before I got up this morning. I will also try to explain how my mind ended up combining things together and resulted in having a dream.

DREAM #1
This one is the longer of the two. I was in a car on a road beside the beach and it was supposed to be a beach in Burnaby. I probably got this because there will be a WCCCLC event coming up next weekend at Fraser Foreshore Park and it's right by the Fraser River. I was imagining there was this really nice beach that wasn't the kind of beach you would find in Hawaii or California - you would never find that in Vancouver. But it was nice because it was family-oriented and there were a number of cabin-like shelters along the beach. The shelters kind of looked like they were made of giant popsicle sticks. Anyways, I was in the car with a few other people from the WCCCLC community and we were heading to a pro-life seminar that a number of youth organized. Of all people, my Dad was participating in the seminar as well!! There were elementary school age children to give speeches and my Dad also volunteered to give a speech. His topic was focused on the life of the unborn. He even got tensed up because I came late. This combination of my Dad talking about the unborn probably came about because of my Dad reciting the Prayer for Life at church on Sundays. Why the school and the children? I don't know.
Anyway I came late partly because of my ride by the beach but I was also late because I had issues with changing my clothes in that building where the seminar was to take place. It was kind of like an old motel and it was only like two floors high with white interiors and narrow halls. I was trying to change my clothes in privacy but there were people everywhere. Somehow I ended up changing my pants somewhere that I thought was safe enough for the time being but then some kids including girls saw me pull down my pants and my butt was showing or something. I think this image just came about because when I change at the SYL school, I get concerned that people may open the door to come in right at the moment when I pull down my pants.

DREAM #2
This one didn't last very long cuz I woke up very soon after. Basically I dreamt that Ayron Howey was doing one of the combos that we at SYL have to do in Level 2: front toe slap, slap hands together above head, crouch down to slap floor with both hands, lunge forward and do an outside crescent kick, spin arms and go into the S-curve (that's what I call it) move (supposedly it's like running along a wall). Ayron was wearing a black t-shirt and a black what-looks-like an army cap and was doing the combo really quickly. I didn't even watch him do the whole thing and I was already starting to do it being amazed at how fast he was doing it. It didn't have the characteristic flow and smoothness of wushu but each move was clear and fast.
Interestingly, Ayron would actually be showing up about 31 hours later for the Saturday class. I haven't seen him for a while.

Ayron is more of a fighter than a demonstrator in contemporary wushu. Actually it was Logan Demmings (a wushu white boy, not being racist by the way) who was in my Level 2 class and I was watching him do the combo, but because I've never seen Ayron do wushu forms, my mind probably replaced Logan with him to do the combo.

But I woke up before I could get to the S-curve thing.

blind eye

No more working at C21.

In fact, from the very beginning (January 2007) until today, somewhere in the back of my head was the thought that my annual salary was quite high for what I was doing. Or rather, I was doing surprisingly little for the salary that I got. I said it. My parents said it. Even though a few weeks ago my co-worker SY asked me to update the Procedure Manual, that thought at the back lingered. He said it was "very good". I even mentioned it to my parents a couple days ago. I explained that I felt somebody may be hired in the near future because I felt a change was coming in regards to human resources. There were a couple of times when I felt like saying (or asking) something about that but I ended up not doing it. Maybe Sheldon meant that the stuff I wrote in the Manual were so clear and helpful that training the new person would be a lot easier. I came across a number of other signs as well. I heard DW mention to SY about "the other person" and I felt something was up. I can pick up that vibration that I was very much in their minds. And all those talks they had in DW's office with the door closed, I'm sure some of it had to do with me. Yesterday, I was chatting with SY and I brought up the idea that maybe we could all get together for a game of golf this summer and he said maybe. Again, there was something about the air surrounding his head when he said that. And I felt like there was something coming from me that I could've said but I couldn't think of what. I think my parents suspected something all along. My Dad warned me from the beginning about this position paying so well that much may be expected of me.

But I had, since the beginning, turned a blind eye on my suspicions. What I should've done was to start looking for work when SY asked me to update the procedural manual. But I was too caught up on other things.


So anyway, I got the notice at about 3pm today.

But then on the other hand it doesn't make sense. Back in March 2007 (my third month), I was told to speed things up. So alright, that happened and I got through my probation periods without any word. And then later, in November (or was it actually December??) possibly due to the pre-Christmas hectic, things were getting kind of screwy again in regards to getting things done on time. So again I was told to catch up on speed. Alright, fair enough. But that was it - no word about there being anything else required in the job position that I did not do. Nothing about them hiring me in the hopes that I can more higher level stuff and help SY and AL out in their work. I even got a raise in January and a remark from CS saying "happy first anniversary"! Now, 16 months later after they hired me (they did, after all, interviewed me and decided to hire me), they said I wasn't fit for the job? Hmmmm.......... makes me wonder if this was their actual reason for not wanting me. Was it simply because I fell asleep and don't look sharp? You gotta be kidding me.

Yet still on the other hand, the Controller left. SY has assumed some of her duties, so if AL does the stuff that SY no longer does, than somebody else has to do AL's stuff. And honestly, I may have a serious struggle trying to do so. In fact, serious enough that I may eventually quit. Because honestly, I'm not ready for it yet. And the industry isn't where I want to develop my experience in anyway. The volume for the first quarter of the year was comparably low to any of the other quarters of the previous year. And maybe there's a shift in focus for Charlwood Pacific with more attention to Uniglobe? Or just downsizing the accounting department by one? I don't know. And besides, the code on my ROE that states the reason for issuing the ROE is "K - other" (as opposed to "M - dismissed") so hopefully that works in my favor. So maybe overall management's been about as fair to me as could be.

music for running

My cell went off while I was jogging up at the SFU track and I felt faster and more upbeat when I heard the music even though it only played for several seconds and wasn't my favorite music (it was just the Mexican hatdance). Indeed, music gives engages the mind with upbeat spirit and helps renew and revive energy within. Should I get an mp3 player just for this, so I can jog faster? Or at least bring my CD player? Kind of heavy though....

music video

I was reading the Metro and 24 hrs (at Granville Stn) and I'm coming across quite a number of words that I've heard of before but don't really know the meaning. All of them appeared in articles relating to music. These include Moby and B-52.

   avant-garde, ballad, flamboyance, vogue, couture, chic, and boogaloo

Gets me excited when I imagine the music videos that I want to be doing in the hopefully not too distant future.

PetrolHead

I decided I should just make a log of all the cars that I used for Facebook's PetrolHead application. I believe I first got it last month (Jan.16?) when I saw it on Derek Chu (met him on the SilverStar trip)'s Facebook. Less than 30 people from my list (out of 407) had PetrolHead and less than 20 of those had a car to race with. I can only have 20 races every 12 hours so I guess I could've gotten points more quickly if I actually stuck to the 12 hours more closely. But work was quite busy... Plus I have my other things to do where I cannot access the net. Anyway, there will probably not be anything after I reach the top, kekeke :-P

CAR #1:
- Quad Bike ATV
- Devon McKenzie raced me before and I didn't even know
- second race is Feb.19
- Michelle Tong also had this vehicle

CAR #2:
- Rally Talbot Sunbeam
- Feb.21
- nobody else on my list has this car
- don't know anything about it
- I think I prefer going with a car that isn't so common but still decent to me. I'm not usually into rally cars, by the way. Which reminds me, last night I went to my buddy's house and he has Sega Rally and Forza 2 (did I get the name right?). The latter listed so many models that it would take quite a while to go through all those different classes the cars were listed under.
When I look at the car, it should give me the feeling that not too many people know about it and yet it is not a wimpy or geeky car. It should be a low-profile looking, silent but powerful car with its own personality, not shiny & sparkly to tell everyone to follow it, but still able to turn heads due to its ability to make people spend more time trying to process it in their heads. It should generate interest and questions in the minds of certain people, people who will not immediately dismiss it if they don't know what to make of it.

CAR #3:
- Rally Lancia 037
- Feb.24
- dunno anything about it
- I didn't realize this earlier, but I was racing people with crappier cars than me (cuz the other people above me have much better cars) and I found myself gaining more points very slowly (200 pts each time). And I'm only allowed to have 10 races every 12 hours. Plus I'm only allowed to send a max of 20 invites each day. I realized that at this rate it would take me a very long time to upgrade. So I decided that I should race the people above me. Beating some of them meant 2000 points at once and that would've been the same as winning 10 races if I raced the others below me (assuming I win all 10 at a time!). So I did that and beat Walter's Aston Martin V8 Vantage for 2000 pts and Dominic's BMW M3 E92 for 2000. I also got 6000 points beating Derek's Koenigsegg. I mean, I get 10 chances each time. So I figured I may be able to hit the jackpot at least once. The same probability exists when I race others below me; that is, I may only win 9 out of 10 times. That means 1800 pts. I, of course, rather take the same odds and get 2000 pts rather than 1800!

CAR #4:
- Ariel Atom
- Feb.28
- I really don't know much about cars because I don't see how some of the cars offered at each level can be equated in performance (assuming that's what gets you through a race). For example, a Golf R32 and a Lotus Elise??! 1937 MG TA vs. a new Corvette?! What, does rarity supposed to factor in too? Haha....

CAR #5:
- Jaguar XJ220
- Mar.03
- Not much other choice I would be interested in. There was the Caterham R300 Superlight that looked interesting but appeared to be orange, so that was kind of a turn-off for me. And besides, the XJ220 was an awesome car that I had interest in 15 years ago or whenever it was when it came out. That being said, why would anybody put the XJ220 in the same race class as the Viper or the Cayenne? And then they placed the Mercedes C350, BMW 650i and the Audi S8 together which didn't make sense,... and then put those up for racing with my XJ220?! Weird....

CAR #6:
- International CXT
- Mar.05
- Gambled a bit to get there that fast. People were gaining quite a bit of 2000 and 6000 points so I could get mine :-P
- At this point, there were quite a number of cars to choose from and it was difficult settling with one. So I finally just said, "Screw it!" and chose something rather different to race my competitors with (the International CXT seems to be a dump truck or something). The other cars that I considered were: Masserati Quattroporte, Audi R8 and the Mercedes C63 AMG. Now there are some fine cars!

CAR #7:
- ??
- Mar.11
- Should I take the Lamborghini Gallardo or Aston Martin V12 Vanguish? How about the Rolls Royce Phantom or Maybach 57?? Or Ferrari F430 vs. Alpha Romeo 8C Competizione? Or I could just go for that General Lee. Despite its orange color and 70's muscle car look, the name is cute. Makes the other cars look bad if it wins :-P

CAR #8:
- Mar.20
- so it was the General Lee that I settled with. Now I have to choose from an even awesomer list. So after removing Derek's Koenigsegg (which I may have otherwise included), Robert's Porsche Carrera GT (which I won't have considered anyway), Ferrari 599, and Ascari KZ1, I still have the following options: Pagani Zonda C12, the Batmobile (it says "Burton" in brackets and I don't know what that means but it looks like the 1989 one), Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead coupe, Saleen S7, SLR McLaren, and the Gumpert Apollo. Which one should I choose?? The Batmobile definitely stands out, but then the other ones are also nice. On the other hand, losing races with the Batmobile somehow doesn't seem right. Hmmm.................

CAR #9:
- Apr.01
- Wow, it's getting tougher and longer to be able to trade up for a new car. Well, it turned out that my Apollo wasn't a bad choice at all. I looked it up and downloaded some pix as well. Better than the other ones listed above... including, arguably, the Derek's Koenigsegg because it was an older model. Haha. Anyways, I think I shall select the McLaren F1 for my "Millionaires Club" car. The choices were few in this section, the others being Lamborghini Reventon, Caparo T1, and CLK GTR. I liked the style of the CLK more, but.