of pens and pirates?...

I took the day off to be at home so I could observe my 12 year-old son who had high fever lastnite. It has subsided a bit but still relatively feverish. Even at home, I was still working which only confirms that in today's scenario, there is a grey area separating work and play. You play at work and you work at play..huh? sounds oxymoronic isn't it? hahaha. Ya ya, with blackberry and all, broadband, wimax and what have you...its like there's no sleep. One can really be up 24x7. So much to read, so much to catch up. Just take this week's The edge for example, I started by reading 'frankly speaking' and whoala! very neatly the pressure (subtly sometimes brutally I think at times..hahaha) begins...like asking G to walk the talk and release the PKFZ report; disclose recipients of stimulus package (again citing US examples..ya ya ya); asking G to make KPIs public (eh who's idea izzit aah this KPI tingy? KPI is the fashionable management babble which in the 60s and 70s we call MBO (management by objective), while I have nothing against processes and procedures, it is a necessary evil, but I worry we waste precious time on unproductive problems. Sorrylah I may sound simplistique but the KPI for the PM as far as UMNO is concerned, I was told, a long time ago (hehe) is economic growth. If during the tenure of a PM (sape sape lah tak kire...) the growth is from O to 5%, kire dah hebat sangat dah tuh! (hehe); and finally picking on Proton again...poor Proton hahaha. Dah la susah nak jual kereta! ah kong ah meng maniam osman dok asak cam macam...cam ade jerk yang tak kene dengan the national car make tuh. Kesian depe (hehe). I have been analysing the reports and writings in The Edge for a few years now...it is interesting how some articles are written (in malay we call it yang tersurat dan yang tersirat hehe). Very bold and brave indeed, the way it was crafted I must say...like for instance this one by RB Bhattacharjee (page 8, corporate big money). Just look at the title: "Najib's mission: to save a leaking ship" wow! (can you imagine what the topic suggests or imply?). He ends the article by suggesting that there are still plenty of skepticisms but they will dissipate, he contends, if the new cabinet do not over promise and under deliver. Reiterating that they must walk the talk (quote and unquote).

Which reminds me of walking up a plank on a pirate ship (hehe). Pirates? haaa it conjures many things on one's mind (evil wink..hehe you know what I am getting at don't you? you notti fellow?). Piracy has been around since time immemorial, pirated DVDs, software piracy, pirates of the malacca straits, pirates of the caribbean...and very hot these days are the ones off the Somali coastline. Read here for an interesting candid literary history of pirates by a Cambridge scholar...hahaha.... Pirates are everywhere aren't they? hehehe