Day at the Office

It isn't always like this, but I guess when the lines between work and play dissolve, other barriers fall too?

6 Ideas on (Not) Having Meetings

1. Never call a meeting simply because it's on the schedule - this is meeting for the sake of meeting. How many times have people wrecked their heads trying to come up with an agenda? Don't. Forego 'regular' meetings altogether because they are by and large point-less (a little overboard? Sure, but not by much)

2. Never call a meeting to discuss operational / admin / departmental issues - got a budget problem? A client issue? Machinery concerns? God wonders why we have heads and managers if we need to call other heads and managers to deliberate on such things.

Only call a meeting for strategic or ground-breaking decisions. Apart from collectively peering and charting the unknown, there's no need to physically get people together to communicate.

3. Never have more than three items on the agenda - anything more and focus/attention goes out the window (together with many a participant's spirit...let's not kid ourselves)

4. Never have an AOB - this is a recipe for disaster and time-wasting (if it's important enough it either gets on the agenda or the next one)

5. Always set a (preferably short) time limit for each agenda item - bring a bell if necessary

6. Float discussions and debates on Wiki prior to the meet

Deconstructing Church & Country

I wrote Deconstruction & the Daring Christian many months back. This may (or may not) be published later but I'm glad at least a dozen folks have even bothered to click on it (smile).

The article looks at one dude's reflection on post-March 8 Malaysia in the (dark?) light of deconstruction and tries to suggest that maybe impossible, irrational, un-real thinking, the kind of thinking from another kingdom (a celestial non-democrary), are worth pondering if not striving towards.

But if it serves as a helpful introduction to an(O)ther way of seeing faith, doctrine and politics, I'd be please. I suspect stuff like critical theory, Derridean analysis (or deconstruction) and post-modernism in general are still very unfamiliar to the Malaysian populace, given our often brash certainties regarding what's "good" or "bad" for the country. We're too sure, IMO, about the way forward, too embracing of 'sides', too judgmental of those who sit on the fence (or forego even that).

God knows we have too many 'positions' and 'stands' in the world.

Art

I always felt there was something fascinating about 'impressionistic' art. But nothing prepared me for the fact that these two were the works of two elephants (painting separately).

Nothing like a good surprise to start the week.

May on Ryoan-Ji

"The Zen rock garden at Ryoan-Ji (is) one of the greatest masterpieces of world art and...the only place on earth where the sacred cannot be abused. Everywhere else where the sacred manifestly lives there is latent power to justify fanaticism, self-righteousness, contempt for those outside the magic circle.

"Who would kill in the name of fiteen irregularly shaped rocks with no agreed - or even definable - meaning? Who would justify a murderous idology on the basis of their enigmatic spatial relationships and their furry tufts of moss? Who would be inspired by a sea of raked white gravel to dehumanize and subdue foreign peoples?...there is nothing here to inspire violence, hubris or condemnation." (Atomic Sushi, Simon May, p.197-198)


I wish I could take my family there. I wish the bosses of the IDF and Hamas and maybe Obama himself could spend some time with the rocks. I'm sure there'll be many lessons learnable, not least that there're alternatives to philosophies like 'Kill (the innocent, if necessary) Or Be Killed.'

Donation Sites for the Gaza Conflict

SavetheChildren.org

Tear Fund

ReliefWeb

RedCrescent (Malaysia)

(The links may not open to an actual donation mechanism, but if you follow them far enough eventually they should).

Christ on the Road

1. Don't use the horn (unless it's life-or-death); say what you want to say with either a kind hand (not a finger!) or a nice smile

2. Look at the faces of the drivers, chances are they're troubled, hurt, disturbed. Say a 3-second prayer for two people every 10 minutes. This takes you out of yourself and makes you a spiritual hero

3. If jams are frequent, you can:

• Leave your house (much) earlier - and discipline your rising time
  
• Leave your house (much) later - and spend the extra time reading/reflecting
  
• Get a walkman or iPod and use the jam time to learn something new or enjoy music - skip the radio unless you've found a great channel

4. Don't cut queues, beat lights or overtake any but the virtually stationary cars (what's the rush?)

5. Let others cut in, give way and smile at them

6. Put the safety of other drivers at a high priority

7. When at the tol, give a big smile to the attendant (who's job is certainly less attractive than yours) and thank God that you've got a car, a job to get to and money to help you along

God of the Average

Health, career, academics, family, housing, crises, addictions: these are the usual items we mention at prayer meets. 

But there are some things we do NOT pray for, period, let alone raise in a prayer meeting or group-chat. I mean, when was the last time we told a friend, "Please pray for my...:

• credit card - it's the third time it's been frauded, very troublesome informing my regular payees, (re)signing and faxing docs, etc. 
• broadband - I need it keep steady, especially during exam weekends
• split hairs, white hairs - yeah I'm vain too, so sue me... 
• pride - I really think I'm the best in my department, can't help fantasizing about being given accolades and awards every now and then, can't help feeling cheated when some other dude gets the unexpected kudos 
  
• mattress - it's a breeding ground for bed bugs (even if they don't bite you, which is rare, they still explode into many tiny black blotches on your bed you wonder if your Mont Blanc was leaking)" 
• time/motivation - to clear my store room, to hit the gym again, to get new shoes, to clean the fridge, etc."

I reckon we've been ingrained with the idea that God only listens to "important-enough-to-be-announced" prayers. Maybe we find the casual and the ordinary embarassing to bring up at prayer meetings or a waste of 'sharing' time.

But tell this to a father whose daughter keeps nudging him to sleep a bit more to the side so she can sleep closer next to him. Or to a mother whose son is wailing because he can't find his beloved red tumbler.

It's not about triviality. It's about intimacy. In this case, ours with God.

Our prayer that mountains be moved is likely more effective only after we're used to praying for that 10-year old car top start after a long drive (or a cold night). 

Our prayer for special doctor-dazzling healing will come more naturally only after we've been praying for the grace to do things like clean the corners of the room ceiling. 

We'd feel more at home praying for spiritual conversions after we've done the time of praying that currency conversions don't hit your overseas credit payments too hard.

Because if we don't pray for the banal which can occupy up to 70-80% of our daily experience, no one else will. God is as much the God of the average and the awkward as He is of the awesome.

Credibility

Tip to ooze (almost instant) credibility when you speak: Don't fidget.

Don't move your fingers. Stop that shaking foot. Keep your eyes stuck on your listener's. Quit the grinning-for-no-reason. If there's discomfort, hold it in. Especially during, but don't limit it to, your critical statements.

Be still. And know that stationary is salutary.

Happy Constructed New Year

We don't celebrate Dec 29 or Dec 30 or Dec 31, but we count down the seconds to Jan 1 and when the clock strikes midnight the fireworks explode, the wine glasses are raised and the wings of song and cheer are freed.

But what sets apart one date from another? What makes 19.5 hours ago more celebration-worthy than, say, 9 hours ago? Society's labels, that's what.

This is the wonder of Man : That we can and are willing to construct arbitrary frameworks of order and shape our lives (and our very emotions) around them.

Time, like much of what else, takes on whatever meaning, genesis and shape we put into it. The "first day of the year" can be whenever and however we choose it to be. So, presumably, can the rest of our lives.

Happy '2009'. Let's have good fun.