Take a breather fellas. 加油!

Tired. The constant sending of resumes, the hopeful-turned-hopeless interviews, the constant rejections we faced. Take a breather, fellas.

加油! I don't know about you, but I find this simple, yet over-used phrase interesting. Just 2 chinese characters and it translates the encouraging message "Endure & keep striving, you can do it!" As effective as it should be, I kinda felt that it really didn't mean much to a person who lives with the constant"rejection in my face" over a period of time.

You know the term "conditioning" ? It spells that a constant practice soon loses its real meaning and turns into a meaningless habit. Throughout my job search, this phrase "加油!" appears in most of my inbox messages from my loving friends. Now, I don't mean to be a "meanie", I appreciate their love, but the conditioning effect really did its trick on me.

And so, I went on to check on the origins of the phrase.

Here is a translation of the real story, according to the all-knowing international network of computers.

Liu2 Bo2 Wen1 (刘伯温) (1311-1375) was a famous Ming Dynasty general. But he always regretted that he did not live in the same era as the cleverest and most famous general of all time, Zhu1 Ge3 Liang4 (诸葛亮) (181-234). Since Zhuge Liang was long dead, there was no way for Liu Bowen to try and match wits with him. One day Liu and his army came upon a plum tree forest. His mouth was dry and he spat on the ground, but when the spit hit the ground, it made a sharp "splat" sound. Perplexed, he ordered his men to cut the grass and brush around the spot to see what was there that would make such a noise. To his surprise, he found a stone monument that read: "Liu Bowen spat here." To his even further surprise, the monument was signed by Zhuge Kongming, the courtesy name of Zhuge Liang.

He was impressed that Zhuge Liang would be that clever as to predict that Liu would spit there one day, but he was still not convinced that Zhuge Liang was smarter than he, so he kept going into the forest. Before long, he came upon a tomb. Taking a closer look, he discovered that it was none other than the grave of Zhuge Liang. He thought to himself, "Not bad, Zhuge Liang. You predicted that I would spit here on this day, but I bet you couldn't predict that I would find your tomb."So Liu had his men open up the tomb, and he walked in by himself. He looked around and finally found Zhuge's sarcophagus. Next to it was a small oil lamp, that was flickering, just on the verge of running out of oil. Liu thought: "Hmph. Everyone says how clever and awesome you were, but here you are today, with your altar lamp about to extinguish itself."But then he noticed next to the lamp was a piece of parchment, so he looked at it more closely.

On the paper was written: "Old Liu, Old Liu, 加油 , 加油." At this, he was dumbfounded, and immediately kowtowed before the sarcophagus three times. He then swept the tomb, out of newfound respect for Zhuge Liang. Henceforth the phrase "加油" has been used to encourage people.

Finally Meet Dixie.

Meet Dixie.
I love her for the fact that she wears the exact same stuff I put on during the blissful age of 18~ 20. Dixie reminds me of the inner child within me- something I strongly feel that we should all preserve it at all cost... something all so precious and fragile...
So the idea of the "Dixie Project" is that Dixie goes everywhere with me, and whenever I see something that triggers a thought, I capture the moment along with Dixie. And hopefully, I can get to observe the world around Dixie or ME a little better.

Take a step back. Now observe.

Anyone who has gone through the job search process would have gone through the usual rejections. There would be times when you felt that the whole sky is falling upon you, questions like "What don't they ever call me up when I suited their job description perfectly?" surface up all the time. We all know how sucky this can be...

Hence, I decided to start my dixie project, which explains my blog's name.

So I got this doll, Dixie to represent me, while the real me gets behind the camera and take snap shots of Dixie's life. The whole idea is to step out from the real me and really take a look at my life like a third party. Hopefully, this will provide new perspectives to how I look at my job search.

Afterall, I always believe that we shouldn't be focusing so much on ourselves. So take a step fellas... observe and open your eyes.

My weak heart cries out.

Nice.

I love its wicked sense of humor! Simple yet effective.
Design is intelligence made visible. – Alina Wheeler

Cold harsh reality

Sometimes it does feel like this. I know.

I'm not gonna pretend that job search is easy or cook up some uplifting words that hypes so much on "waiting for the right one". This ugly truth is job search really sucks. So many atimes, we wait for that phone call which we thought we truly deserve. Days roll into weeks then to months... not a pretty picture; and I'll be truthful that I hv had my fair share of disappointments.

But my dear friends, let the self pity days be over and lets face the music. Now, I am no career coach and this blog is not about "setting your career goals straight", this blog is about giving encouragement to people going through a job search.

Something I reckon which might be useful:

A website called http://www.linkup.com/ - another helpful tool for job searching today. Many employers are still hiring, but they don't post on the main job boards (which is where most of these other aggregate sites search) because they are getting inundated with resumes from tons of people that are not qualified. However, the company is still required to post the job--so they may just post it on their own company website. This website is a search engine that looks at company websites only. It's free and can be very helpful.

Haven't try it. But I am targetting to do so today along with my resume sending regime. Love life.

Great Fashion Website Finds

Check this out, its pretty cool. http://www.polyvore.com/

Job Hunting - Seems like sunset forever

Walk with me on this. Its just like another mundane day, you are at your work desk which you know you so should'nt be in. Sipping on the cheap coffee that your office pantry provides, wondering: "Why am I wasting my time here?" You mouth unknowingly pouts ... as you check those evil emails. An all so familiar setting.

The truth is most of us go through this everyday, and as we work ourselves around the dull tasks, we start to wonder: "Where is that dream job I have been dreaming of since school days?" I admit I'm one of them, in fact, I'm in this job search for 6 months already.

Sure enough there were job offers, but deep down, I knew I had to give a shot at fulfilling my dream- working as a marketing person in the FMCG market. Perhaps it's this stubbornness that keeps me going in this long dreadful process. Others have commented on the unpractical idealistic approach I have taken for this job search. I bet you will hv a fair share of it too.

My point is this - Have you ever asked a 5 year old what would they prefer if they hv to save for 1 week to get a candy or save up for 3 weeks to get a toy of their choice? Most would tell you the latter. We were kids once, were'nt we?

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. ~Albert Einstein"

And as an old fashion cliché: Love life.

Things that really inspire me

Visual art made practical and of cos, overly priced- FASHION.

I love Holly Becker, all things just ooze a simplistic charm all so unirresistible.

" A Pure bliss just looking at her blog" http://decor8blog.com/

Its More than "Once Upon a Time"

Warm Greetings fr Dixie!

The real deal is: I am never out to please anyone, looking like a cutey bunny, living in an all so wonderful world where butterflies and chocolate fill the streets. In fact, I hv experienced some set backs in my life which I know it would'nt really matter few years down the road.

But honey, when life gets you, it gets you face down. You and I know how things can really get you cracking up. But somehow I give thanks that I was given the strength to stand back up again and take things in my own hands. So no more whining, no more stamping on your feet!

I hope to capture this rough period I'm undergoing through a coupled of photo shoots and my " journey" entries and tell those souls out there through this blog that you are not alone in the rain. People do care.

And as an old fashion cliché: Love life.