The Lion Show

I read a story about the lion tamer and the lion. 

You always see the lion tamer is able to make the beast stand up on the platform. But how? Is it because of the whip or is it the magical chanting? The truth may be simpler.

Ever notice how you feel uneasy when someone enters your room without knocking? We protect ourselves and our privacy by distancing ourselves and our belongings from others. When in a cramped public transport, we always feel protective to our seats like having an invincible “DO NOT TRESPASS” sign erected in our “territory”. At the same time, we allow people who we are fond of to be close to us. Mom and dad hugging their children, couples sitting close to each other (sometimes I called it butt-kissing). We invite the other parties to come closer to us, and feel comfortable with the intimacy.

The lion tamer will approach the lion slowly, continuously. Once entering its territory, the lion will first back off a little. But if it continues to retreat until it hits the wall, it will start to move forward. Until a distance between the lion and the tamer when the tamer feels right, he will lay the platform in between and the lion will climb up on it. Then the tamer will stop moving forward and retreat. And that's how the show is!

Note: Conversation between the lion and the tamer*

Lion:    Do not come over me.

Tamer: (Approaching) I'm coming...

Lion:    (Retreating) Mai pek gwa (Don't force me!)

Tamer: I don't care...

Lion:    (Hitting the wall) It's enough! (Move forward with the snarl)

Tamer: (Waiting, then place the platform)

When the lion stepped on the platform,

Tamer: Okay kitty, I surrender. I'll retreat.

Lion:    Glad you know it, food! ROAR!

Audience: Clap clap clap! Great show!

Tip

There's one book i read in my holiday that stands out differently from the other books I used to read before. I was holding "The Tipping Point" the other day but just couldn't make myself turn to the other page. Normally this happens on boring textbooks where I can stare at the first page for hours. Engaging books are page turners where I love to read as quickly as possible to get to the next story scene or ideas. However, this one is really different, outstanding I should say. I kept pondering a trivial idea from what I read.

Do you know about the equation y=mx+c? This is the straight-lined slope which always depicting gradual progress on the dependent variable as the independent variable increases. That's how most people view life to be as: Don't you agree that things develop at a gradual pace rather than...

Rather than steadily changes over time, most things in life happens strikingly so that you'd notice them. It's like the story of cooking a frog. A frog is placed on a pan. If hot water is poured into the pan, the frog will most likely jump out of it. Nevertheless, if you heat the pan slowly, the frog will also adapt to the heat until a point when it is totally cooked. Now, most of us are complacent to things happening around us, like it's okay to throw rubbish outside your moving car, it's alright to drink another can of beer at the party. Disaster won't usually happen because people did something radical, instead, it happens because of gradual taken for granted actions that silently lead to chaos. That's how pollution happens, that's how obesity-related illness happen, that's how undesired things happen as a result of continual misdeeds.

Well, think it like a logic karma, when a small good deed is performed over time, it'll lead to fruitful return, and vice versa. Normally people won't be bothered to change a petty but harmful behavior, they're more likely to concern the visible, loud happenings. And yet the silent one normally speaks louder and frightens the hell outta you!

Reading habit

Reading 200 books is better than taking a degree. What do you think?

Reading is important. Reading is important.... However, nobody can bear reading incompetent materials. Reading a book written in a boring repeating fashion is like watching a forgetful old man who reads the newspapers, he forgets where he has read and so he starts from the beginning, again and again. Until the time ends you still couldn't understand what is he trying to say. A good book normally has a catchy beginning (i'm not implying catchy covers are good book because often time it's the other way round). It grabs your attention but not too firmly, and pulling you on and on until you finish turning all the pages. It's called page turner.

However, it's impossible (read: probably cannot) for a rookie to identify which books are good and which aren't. Good books do not show on cover pages, nor does it show on the first page of the content. That's why we cannot judge a book from its cover. Good books appear naturally once you get the feeling of reading, that is, you know what you like to read.

Actually, I come to think that reading books, be it a good one or not, is a win-win situation. That said, reading should be accompanied by thinking. After reading a book, we should think about the things that grab our attention the most and share it with our friends. With a lot of friends reading the same book, it is not necessary that everyone is noticing the same thing. Hence, by taking note of many things, ideas can be generated and so vision is widened. A book, be it bad or otherwise, is written from the soul of the writer. What can you share with your friends친구 ? Agree or not, viewpoints, and things which inspired you are among the many topics to talk about. A bad book can produce critical thinkers, provided that they operated the book in dimensions better than the writer's writing. A good book naturally can inspire readers, but it should not stop on that. Good book sometimes has a debatable point where readers can seek to improve the ideas said. For example, when a book says, management should be open to its employees. You can say, what is openness? How do we do that? What are the limits that should be imposed so that respect would not be trespassed? These a among the least dimensions that I can think about. And I believe readers like you can do better than me.

A friend told me that 19 books a year continually for 5 years you'll be unstoppable. 10 years perhaps you'd be owning people around you. 20 years? I'm sorry, people may be unable to pwn you. Lol. I love the idea that 19 books annually, but I don't think I could do it. 19 books? Not within my capability, unless... I read kindergarten books! But 19 kindergarten books sound absurd, so I read 18 kindergarten books and 1 university book! The next year I read 17 kindergarten books and 2 university book! And the following year 16 kindergarten books and 2 university books plus one book of my favorite. That habit of increment will be marvelous, don't you think so?

My first post - which is gone.

A new piece of paper.
For me to write.
Rather than scribble everything on my exercise book  when the lecturer is giving out (lectures).


I read something just now.
About the 10,000 miles. The 10,000 hours. The 10,000 steps taken.
It was believed that once you took the 10,000 times to practice something (skills), you should be pretty talented on it.
So, for eg. u practiced shooting basketball using your foot, playing piano using your teeth, untying a butterfly knot using your tongues, anythg anythg, for 10,000 hours, good things will happen. By then, u should be pretty skillful at it.
How true is it to you?
Truly, I can hardly remember doing anythg in particular for 10,000 hours (in total).
So, maybe I'm not skillful yet in nothing particular.


What about you?