The Plants' Protest and The Promises

When I returned from my recent oriental trip, I was sad to see the state of neglect that I had caused to my orchids and the green brothers at my balcony. They have clearly displayed their desire and deprivation of water, nutrients, attention and love that I promised the day I took them home. One of the green brothers had died. The other 3 are surviving and holding on to the few green and yellowish leaves. My orchid Ning has stopped singing and now barely supporting her dried thin structure that used to be the flourishing yellow petals. The great Violet has lost all her glory that once made her firm and proud. Orked has been in the same state - flowerless; but upon a closer check, I was on top of the world again. Orked is expecting! A few green buds are getting greener and visible at the end of her stems. Soon Orked is flowering her white petals again and I am renewing my promises to be a better custodian for the members of my balcony.

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Last year I was assigned to lead a workshop on project handover. The workshop has a great importance since our factory is now expanding. By September 2009, our operational capacity will be increased by 200% to support the forecast utilization and production. There are many kinds of work going on parallelly. We have the recruitment of new associates, learning of new technology, starting the new process, toying with new ingredients and recipe, installing new facilities and equipments, commissioning them and so forth. So this workshop is intended to incorporate all elements, the existing, revised and new, and formulate our own way of managing the change and executing the way forward seamlessly. I have a team members from Engineering, Maintenance, Logistics, Production, Site R&D and New Product Development. It is a team with complex kind of people. The 4-day- workshop started well, then there were arguments over arguments, disagreements, confrontations and finally we found peace and sort out our differences and interests. It was hard for me at certain points as the team leader and being new to the business. I will have to stick with this team even after the workshop to ensure the implementation of the action plan until the end of 2009. Miss Operation Manager commented after our workshop presentation, "the team has shown great maturity in forming, storming and norming their differences in creating a great template for greater results. Well done!". It was great hearing it, a spot-on comment. It was a great feeling that I have the control of the complexities and ambiguities and I am on top of it. I guess it must have been the same feeling a lone ranger must have felt when he is able to tame the wild powerful horses and riding his way to the wild wild west.

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Last Wednesday I read through a work permit. It was a busy day at work and I was trying hard to make sense of the content. Then I signed on a dotted line and put the date under my signature - an ISO compliance in signing on a paper that has been part of my subconsciousness. The date that came by default from my subconscious mind was 17/2/2008. It struck me that my mind still thinks that 2008 is the year it is, when in reality, 2009 is reaching the end of February! Then I realized that the speed of time in the life I'm living now is greater than that of my mental system which is struggling to synchronize. Oh No! Is it an early sign of mental deterioration or plainly, let's face it, mental ageing? I read in an article some time back, when one's mind is busy with new thoughts and experiences, it slows down its natural ageing process. So right now I am seriously thinking of ways to keep my mind busy. I am optimistic about this. This is another promise.