Japanese Zen : Power of mind over matter...

I know that you all have the stereotype impression of Japanese; that they eat sushi everyday, and that everyone practices Zen. While the former is false, the latter is very much true. Japanese from various places and of various ages practices them, from farmers to city folks, from secondary school kids with Nintendo at hand, to old folks with walking stick at hand.

One of the more famous zen practices around is "mind over matter"...the one teaching we've heard over and over, but hand still hurts when punching a brick. However, just because we can't do it doesn't mean it isn't true. With enough dedication and willpower, it's amazing how you can achieve control over your body, enabling you to withstand pain, heat or cold. As far as I know, there's a particular group of people who have been very successful at this.


Having said that, I would especially like to focus on zen practices by young Japanese city girls.

Young city girls here wear the shortest of skirts/pants during autumn and winter. And after living here for 5 years, I have learned to stop asking "Are they not cold??" I've settled for the assumption that they all meditate for half an hour each time before leaving their houses, thus their superhuman ability of extreme cold resistance. If you have any other better explanation, please feel free to enlighten me.



Recently on the news, was a TV special reporting on how young Japanese girls no longer wearing just a mini skirt or hot pants, but paring them with leggings. This trend started only very recently but already with over 60% majority wearing leggings...this means lesser bare legs around, much to the dismay of boys who "appreciates beauty".

On a survey done, they asked these girls...."So, why leggings? Is it because of the cold weather?"

Amazingly, they expressed shock, then answered "Cold? What cold? Leggings are more fashionable..."

Chics and dudes, if only I can express my amusement here other than the usual "hahaha".

I could not help but laugh at their statement...I could swear that everyone in the cafeteria(was eating when I saw this) now thinks that Malaysians are crazy people. No other foreigners would have laughed hysterically at a TV report like that.

Randy is very sorry for causing a wrong perception towards Malaysians by the Japanese.

But how can I not laugh at that? I've known for years that they endure the cold winds just to show off beautiful slim legs, stare angrily at guys who ganders at them, then laugh happily among themselves in secret.
Now that they finally start wearing leggings, I thought that they have finally given in to Mother Nature...who could have known, huh...

On a different note, guys have started wearing leggings too...
Every time I see a guy wearing shorts with leggings underneath, it stupefies me to the point where I actually believed that leggings are meant for guys too....

Japanese Office Ladies...

They are called OL, which stands for...well, the title said it.
This group of workers has always been the "main" topic of conversation amongst Japanese men when they talk the men talk...which is almost always about girls(yeah, as if anything else could interest us...other than sports anyway). And FYI, there's a lot of Japanese pornography that involves OL...

This picture here, was the only picture I found where the girl isn't showing off garter belt or underwear while in a compromising pose.


Warning : This is NOT a real OL...this, is a model dressed up like an OL

Me being ignorant in the pass, I've never gotten curious over this particular group of workers who seem to sow seeds of sexual fantasies in men who are otherwise bored of work. Never made any real effort to truly know what they actually do in an office.

So...what do they do, other than getting sexually harassed(in the fantasy world) all the time??

Well...

They are one of the most important units in the office!!

Yeah, I'm in a R&D department dominated by men...us and our powerful brains researching and discovering things. But god help us when the phone rings...one annoyed plastic receiver with 20 guys staring blankly at it.
And I imagine that the rubbish bin would be full of instant noodles containers after lunch.
Also now that it is cold, who would take the initiative to make a hot pot of tea??
or organize meeting rooms so that there would be no awkward coincidence?

Office ladies know everyone by their names and contact numbers. It always baffles me how they can be that efficient in connecting calls.

Always polite...always smiling...

They are our mothers, always taking care of our well being.

And do you know what I personally think of them?

Nothing much really...I'm just bored again. My test pieces arrived yesterday(finally, I have some real work to do), and while I had a productive day yesterday, the machines got hogged up today. Will have to wait for my turn to play with it. And about yesterday's work...everything went as smooth as I predicted it would be, experiment results ending up just like I thought they would be...and while that is all good, shit, what am I suppose to do during my free time when I don’t have any problem solving to do??

Yes, Randy smiles brightly when he has a problem.
Randy frowns only when he is peaceful.
Randy, is a strange guy.

ANYWAY...
Back to my story about OL.

As far as I know, only Japan have the work-group called "OL". It is a low tier work class whose job is mainly clerical work, serving tea, ordering lunch...everything on that line. For some reason, only women does this kind of job...as if men sucks at making tea and taking down messages.

Japanese stereotype of an OL is that they are mostly attractive, witty, but more often than not, stressed in life, being under constant pressure from their parents. Most of them are unmarried, which is probably the main reason why they appear in pornography so much. Yeah, us men are wolf....and why not? In an office full of balding men with sagging skin, any young clerk can claim to be Cleopatra....

I shamelessly declare that I am under her spell too...

Randy, the restless one.

The English dictionary explains the meaning of "randy" as "boisterous" or "full of sexual lust".

I have always denied that the unfortunate meaning of the word that is my name, have got anything to do with my true nature. I'm sure that parents didn't intend me to be that way either. Which right minded, normal parents would want their kid to be like that?!!
Oh wait, my parents aren't exactly "normal"...
Nonetheless, those who know me, knows that despite the fact that I speak a lot of dirt, I don't soil myself.

But…

Seeing how restless I can be when idle...I may very well be "boisterous". The dict speaks the truth after all...what a dic*.

After my senior destroyed one particular piece, my work was substantially delayed. Long hours to go with nothing to do...where to put all my "energy" to? You all know how randy I can get at times, right? My restlessness always gets the better of me...I need to be doing something at all times.

Well...a delay's a delay. Can't be helped, can't be fixed.

So, I've taken it upon myself to embark on one of my original project.

I've made a few researches on the topic that I was to do. While my internship program dictates that I should recommend which material to use, comparing it using one arbitrary augmentation, I instead research on the augmenting process itself. Now I'm currently reading up on it and drafting a report(written in Japanese...oh gawd translation can be such a pain in the ass!!). Will submit it to my superior and see how he deals with it. So far responses are good...

There you go, always make yourself useful and do beyond what you're told. Appreciation comes along that line.

So, am I proud of myself? Am I happy with what I am capable of?

Nah...I'm not proud, I'm just bored.

And gawd damn the Americans, using inches instead of metric unit...
Can't they agree with the world for once? Use what everyone else is using!! Makes life easier. Even with English they have to do changes to it...coloUr damn it, not color.
And what the hell is with that pound per square inch?? Now I have to convert both pound AND inch...

Sorry, I'm just bored. Do you know of the proverb "An idle mind is the Devil's Playground"? Well, even the devil is starting to feel bored from playing in the same place...

Sigh...word is that my real work will begin next week.

Will stay bored and churning up ridiculous blogs til' then.

The coffee dependent.

Days like these goes on forever...time slows to a crawl when I have nothing to do at work.
I am the traffic wreck and time is slowing down to look at me.

Time flies? Yeah, I'd prefer it walking away from me rather than flying around my head.

It's funny how you will always manage to feel sleepy at places where you not suppose to fall asleep...meetings, classes...for my case, at work. Times like these makes me wish that time machine exists...not to speed up time, but to go back in time to thank that brown person from Ethiopia who invented a drink of the same colour as him. Also, thank god for including caffeine in that drink.

Much wonder can come from a small cup of coffee.

I don't know why I can be this bored when just yesterday I had to stay an extra hour just to finish my day's assignment. Either I'm too efficient(doing too much in a short amount of time, thus having nothing to do later) or I'm just bad in balancing work.

Or maybe they are afraid that I might break another machine if I'm active...

Either case, I badly need a forecast just to let me know how much coffee I'll need to stay awake for that day...

Something like,
Forecast of the day: Cloudy with 75% chance of boredom. Put down the umbrella and grab 2 cans of coffee.

This, my friends, would be of much better help than reading lame, repeating horoscopes. I don't need to know if the love of my life is showing up today...my workplace is full of men anyway, so tell me if I'll have work and stay happy, or will I be bored sitting on my ass all day.

Sigh...actually, I did have a report to write yesterday that I planned to do today knowing that I had nothing else scheduled. But, just before I left, my chief, who had 1 hour left before finishing(he came an hour later than me to work) called me up to discuss plans for some future assignment. We talked, and he asked me to draft up a summary. I said "Ok, will get it for you first thing in the morning". He grunted an "OK" to me.

This morning, I arrived at work to find that report already done!!

Shit!! What the hell? Why did he do my work for me?!!!
Wait, oh right...he had one hour left yesterday. He was bored too.
Damn, he took away my work. Now, I'm bored earlier than I thought I would be.

Sigh...

Scary isn't it? Economy depression can really make people rushing for work to do.

Now, let me take a sip of coffee before I fall asleep and wake up with a keyboard on my face.

Tale of the destroyer

Remember the 1984 film "Conan the Destroyer"?



The one where he goes around destroying big things and human lives? Well, I'm more or less the same...although with significantly less muscle fibers, non-Austrian accent, and destroying smaller things minus the human lives.

To date, everything I've touched (aided by my senior) will go under...you name it I’ve destroyed it.

Band saw machine: used wrong speed setting

Automated polishing/buffing machine: used wrong buff

Water-cooling cutter: Filter got jammed with residues, resulting in water overflowing from the bottom, which in turn results in that machine being put through overhaul...

Micro Vickers indenter: Supporting rod got dislocated, inaccurate indentations

Deep drawing machine: Speed dial got jammed temporarily, and on a different occasion, the punch was operated too fast and it hit the upper dais, deforming both the punch and the dais. Repair cost 130000yen.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that each of those cases was "my fault". And the term "destroy" was a little bit exaggerated…the term "temporarily disabling" might sound better.

Well, when each of those "calamities" happened, I'm told that it wasn't really my fault and that I just had rotten luck of it breaking down with me at helm. BUT, they go on saying that they have never seen it break down in their many years of working with that particular machine...then finishing their sentence by once again saying "It is not your fault".

Gawd damn Japanese ambiguity...

Well, I'm not saying that it's my fault(If I've learned, but forgotten or just plain careless, then only it's my fault). But can't they just say what they really want to say? What the hell do they mean by bad luck? All engineers know luck have no effect on machines!!
Machines are dumb assembled parts, they only do as they are told and break down only when some machine part's lifetime is up, or by the misuse of its handler.

Bad luck my ass...

But, at least they have the guts to tell me what was it that caused that particular mishap and "How I can prevent it in the future".

So anyway, life goes on at TOPY...

And as far as the learning process goes, I've still got a few more machines to destroy...

PS:
While typing this, keyboard suddenly loses function, not responding to anything. Had to unplug and re-plug the cable...thank god it worked. Would have been soooo awkward for me to ask for a new keyboard.

And I guess it is also worth mentioning the one thing I didn't touch that broke down.
The automatic sliding door at my hostel....it stopped being automatic 3 days after I moved in.

Maybe I do have bad luck after all...