I remember some time ago I read a newspaper article about the problems a dentist faced at work.

He was unhappy with his job as he felt that people treated dentists as second-class doctors, when they actually have similar qualifications as normal doctors.

He mentioned of customers who went to him for dental checks and yet doubted him when he recommended that they take up certain treatments for their aliments. He was also disgusted with those who tried to bargain down his fees for dental treatment.

I feel that when we engage a person in any profession to help us or work for us, we should show him some respect for his professional opinions and recommendations. If we want to doubt him, then in the first place we don’t even need to seek his help.

Also, paying of competitive prevailing rates is essential to show respect for the person’s skills and expertise. By bargaining down or offering a very low rate, this is as good as insulting the person’s profession. Bear in mind that when engaging a professional, it is not the same as buying fish from the market. It’s alright to bargain the price of a fish down by a lot, but it is disrespectful to bargain professional fees down by as much as 30 to 40 percent. It’s ridiculous and outright insulting.

I am shocked at how some people in this world can make friends with money. They value money above everything else, and can put aside integrity, morals and values in order to make more money.

Ok, so I would like to make lots of money too (who doesn’t?). But at least I am not obsessed with doing so. At least, I am not making and losing friends because of money. That is probably the worst thing that one can do - to make or lose relationships with other people for material gain. That only shows how shallow a person can get.

Worse still, some people think that they should earn as much money as they could while they are young… even if one has to resort to betraying morals. They believe that when they are old and rich, they can make amends by doing more charity. Well, I believe in karma, and what you reap is what you sow.

Actually we need only begin with the end in mind to realise how meaningless to set money-making as one’s goal in life. Think on it - when you die, how much money can you take away with you? Would you need all that money in afterlife? Imagine you are at the point of death. Ask yourself this question: What have I spent the prime of my life doing? If your answer is as shallow as making money, then you are one pathetic piece of shit. You had lived out decades of precious life seeking something that eventually becomes nothing. You had wasted your life and gained nothing but lots of bad karma.

Not saying that making money is wrong. But making money for the sake of money and its derivatives is certainly in my opinion incorrect. At least, if one earns lots of money doing something meaningful, the money can be considered as a bonus to the learning or experience gained.

I had a fitful sleep last night. I was feeling damn tired, so I went to bed earlier. But, I couldn’t fall asleep so I ended up rolling about on the bed for a few hours. Later, I woke up at least two times in the middle of the night and had a nightmare and a strange encounter in between.

Grrrr, I finally woke up for good at 6am, feeling more tired than ever.

I’m contemplating buying a LCD monitor to free up some space on my desk… also because of the glare from the existing one. But it’s so expensive, $400+. I can do a lot with that money.

Alright, I’m officially unemployed again. Not a bad thing though, since I really do need some time off to recuperate from my recent bout of pneumonia. I plan to use the weeks ahead to plan my goals for the year, work on some business plans, bum around a bit and do lots of thinking about life. I’m actually quite serious about making radical changes all round this time… like a total makeover of sorts for myself.

At the very least, so far I am off to a good start on the issue of health. Although I am still under recovery stage, I’m quite happy that I’m able to quit smoking and abstain to a certain extent from unhealthy foods so far.

Probably the next thing that I’ll be looking at will be getting a paradigm shift in my thinking… that will be the basis for further personal improvements and cultivation of better habits in life.

I choose to take things slowly these few weeks, but hopefully not to the extent of procrastinating too much. Need to be more proactive and work in my circle of influence rather than the circle of concern… yea, this will be the first habit to cultivate.

Finally, I’ve gotten rid of Microsoft Windows for good and installed Suse Linux 10. It’s wonderful! No more viruses, spyware and crappy Microsoft software. No more Windows crashes and the need to clog my PC memory with all the anti-spyware, anti-virus and firewall programs that don’t seem to work.

 The installation was easy, and once you iron out some problematic issues like inability to play WMV and MP3 files everything runs so smoothly. Best thing of all… everything on Linux is FREE! Why pay a few hundred bucks for an operating system that gives you tonnes of problems?

 Anyway, I am still recovering from the pneumonia and my asthma makes me feel like I am 73 years old instead of 23. I can’t stand any smoke, smog or even walk around too much without feeling like I’m gonna die.

I just hopeI can recover fast and well over the next couple weeks so I can get on with normal life as soon as possible and start getting my body back in shape. Wish me luck.
 

Aye, I am back after so many weeks. And I’m still alive! Been down with pneumonia and was warded in hospital for a week, just got out only yesterday. I was sick for longer than a week, cos I was sick long before I was hospitalised. So 2005 ended in a screwed up way for me, spending my birthday, xmas, and new year in bed. How’s that for a wonderful festive season?

I just hope I am now well once and for all, and won’t need to spend Chinese New Year in bed too.

Got lots of things to do now that I am back at home… trying to install Linux OS on my PC ‘cos I am sick and tired of having to deal with viruses and all the crap spyware on Windows.