(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

Already mid February, after the spring break, colleges and universities will be on exam-mode, and pretty soon, a new crop of graduates will be let loose into the cruel real world, facing a bleak future.

Although most of us are too mature to be in this category, but this is for your kids and grand-kids and our younger generation of WYK boys.

Studies showed, there can be long-lasting adverse effects on those who graduate during a recession.

According to an article “I wiil survive”, from McMaster Times, McMaster University of Hamilton, Ontario, new grads should change the way they look at this new reality.

For those having to make drastic changes, beware that during recessions, alcohol abuse, emotional and family tensions register in higher rates of personal and family problems. Professional and personal transitional support, specific career transitional help and learning stress management techniques are key.

People need to change their expectations and be creative about their job hunt. Expert advised, “know who you are, your passions and strengths.” During an interview, “if you understand the environment and have emotional intelligence about it, you’ll blow them away if you can show how structured and forward thinking you are, and if you can demonstrate passions and strenghts that can help them in this downturn.”

Don’t panic. “The economy will recover, but you need to think about new areas of interest and new ways in which the skills that you have can be used somewhere else. Social sciences graduates, for example, end up with a set of very portable skills, such as writing, research, analytics and measurement, but often these grads don’t actually appreciate how portable their skills are, and that they can be applied to multiple settings.”

For those about to graduate, may be their best choice is to stay in school and wait out the recession. Stay in for another year or continue to graduate work. “Or at least have that in your back pocket and if you get a job can always turn down the acceptance or do it part-time.”

Remaining positive and viewing your situation as a platform for next steps will be crucial in this time of upheaval. Increase your chance of getting a job by “having networking cards on hand, with your name, contact information, degree and area of expertise; take advantage of chance meetings and don’t underestimate the power of weak links, because someone you have even a loose connection to has an entirely different set of information and contacts. You don’t necessarily need to be talking to CEOs to get a job, you just need to be trusted by someone they trust and that could be their child, their haridresser or even their neighbours.” “Build a directory of employers to apply to, because you will have a much better chance of getting a job with a company that is not posting a vancancy than with one that is.”

(excerpts from the spring issue of McMaster Times)

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

10. To stop the rain by aiming the flame to the sky at a certain angle (yes,  it worked,  no more rain)

9. To prorogue the Game for more favorable conditions by shutting down the cauldron

8. To contain the Flame to a small area to reduce carbon pollution, in the spirit of the Copenhagen 2009

7. To create an eye-sore, oh, I mean a tourist attraction

6. To create more jobs, in setting up and altering the fences daily; stimulated by the Canada’s Economic Action Plan

5. This is how Vancouver fights crime, put everything under lock and key

4. To boost the spirit of our athletes, VANOC promised the fence will be down once we have 10 Gold medals

3. By placing the Olympic flame behind a fence became a symbol in itself

2. To prevent terrorists attacks and avoid protests at all cost

1. Without the Olympic Flame, some Olympians are already too hot to handle (see picture below)

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

You don’t need to be born in the year of the Tiger to be one. You can just called yourself Tiger, like Mr. Wood or the rock band, Glass Tiger; or simply behave like one.

According to the Chinese Zodiac, a tiger is “Courageous, active, and self-assured. Optimistic, passionate and independent. Rebellious, dynamic, and unpredictable. Quick tempered but considerate. Affectionate but careless. The Tiger is a natural born leader and symbolizes power, passion and daring.” Fit you to a T?

So what type of tiger are you? Here are a few choices.

1. Roaring Tiger — So much have been writen about this fierce and fearsome animal. When a tigress roars (or any tiger for that matter), the world shakes. It is nerve-racking to be under the cold stare of a tiger. It is extremely lucky to survive from the tiger’s mouth. You have to go in the tiger’s cave to catch its cub. But still you can beat up a tiger, 武松(Wu Song) did it.

2. Virile Tiger (Wood) — A tiger in the bed !? Is that the minimum requirement of a politician/celebrity? Included in this streak/ambush of tigers: JFK, Bill Clinton, David Letterman, John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer, Tiger Wood, Mark Sandford ……….. and our Toronto local boy Adam Giambrone. And please don’t forget, Mrs Robinson, a virile tigress no doubt, had joined the streak. What an impressive ambush.

3. Paper Tiger — In a 1956 interview with the American journalist Anna Louise Strong, Mao Zedong used the phrase to describe the United States:

“In appearance it is very powerful but in reality it is nothing to be afraid of; it is a paper tiger. Outwardly a tiger, it is made of paper, unable to withstand the wind and the rain.”

History finally proves him right.

4. Crouching Tiger — Be prepared to run for your life, this is the attack position of a tiger, crouching low, but ready to leap out and strike. This is the moment of calm before the sudden onslaught of a storm. Restraining its hidden power and savageness, the tiger is silently lying low and then, suddenly explodes and leaps, shows off its spectacular colours, bursts into its full glory. A magnificient fighter.

5. Tiger in the Plain — This is a completely different scenario. A tiger that has left his natural mountainous habitat, and wandered onto the grassland, a  flat open plain with nowhere to hide; inevitably attacked and chased by the dogs. A fading star.

Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) actually is a butterfly, also known as the African Monarch.

6. Fox in Tiger’s Terror — One day a tiger was hunting around in a forest. An unlucky fox was met and caught by the tiger. For the fox, the inescapable fate was very clear — death. Despite the danger, the fox thought hard to find a way out. Promptly, the fox declared to the tiger, “How dare you kill me!” On hearing the words the tiger was surprised and asked for the reason” The fox raised his voice a bit higher and declared arrogantly: “To tell you the truth, it’s I who was accredited by God to the forest as the king of all the animals! If you kill me, that will be against the God’s will, you know?” Seeing that the tiger became suspicions, the fox added: “Let’s have a test. Let’s go through the forest. Follow me and you will see HOW THE ANIMALS ARE FRIGHTENED OF ME.” The tiger agreed. So the fox walked ahead of the tiger proudly through the forest. As you can imagine, the animals, seeing the tiger behind, were all terribly frightened and ran away. Then the fox said proudly: “There is no doubt that what I said is true, isn’t it?” The tiger had nothing to say but to acknowledge the result. So the tiger nodded and said: “You are right. You are the king.” An imposter, but a quick thinker.

7. Tony the Tiger vs Exxon Tiger — Put a tiger in your tank, or your cereal. Tony the Tiger is the advertising cartoon mascot for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes breakfast cereal, appearing on its packaging and advertising. The Exxon cartoon tiger was used by the Exxon Mobile Oil company in its advertising campaign, first appeared in 1964. In the 1990’s they were embroiled in a court battle regarding the trademark of the tiger. These tigers are great salesmen. They charmed their ways onto your kitchen table and into your automobiles. Combining the charm of Tony and the virility of Tiger, you can cruise leisurely around town, boosted by the Exxon tiger in your gas tank.

8. Tigger — Tigger is a very bouncy fella. Tigger is amongst the most exuberant creatures in the 100 Acre Wood, of Winnie the Pooh fame. His most stand out and well-known feature is his very springy tail. When Tigger is in a bouncing mood he is actually expressing his zest for life and is a form which he often uses as a technique to share his eagerness and happiness or even fondness amongst his dear friends. He shall act on impulse and will make a dash on being jubilant but that impulsive dash more often than not is jumping around without taking measure of the surroundings. This at times leads to mishaps and causes utter mayhem. What is also regarded to being one of his hobbies is that he will exaggerate the truth. He is quite a free spirit.

9. Hobbes the Tiger — Hobbes is a character in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. He is Calvin’s stuffed tiger, and is depicted with two distinct identities. From the perspective of his owner, Calvin, Hobbes is a real individual with thoughts, feelings and ideas just as every other character. From everyone else’s perspective, Hobbes is seen as Calvin’s stuffed tiger, given personality and action only by Calvin’s active imagination. He is named after 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who had “a dim view of human nature.” (Thomas Hobbes claimed that humans’ natural state is a state of war, where “the life of man: solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”) Hobbes is much more rational and aware of consequences than Calvin, but seldom interferes with Calvin’s troublemaking beyond a few oblique warnings — after all, Calvin will be the one to get in trouble for it, not Hobbes. He is Calvin’s sub-conscious and teacher.

So what type are you? Really?

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

Once upon a time, all species of the Animal Kingdom, gathered every year in a sport meet. They called it the Games. Amateur athletes got together, to compete in all kinds of sport, for fun and friendship. Winners were awarded with medals to commemorate their best effort, well done.

One year, some animals got smart, and started training their athletes all year round, and swept up all the medals. After that, all athletes turned professional. They built their dreams on winning gold. They pushed their physical ability to their limits and perfected their athletic skills. They sacrificed, trained and endured to fulfill their dreams. They broke kingdom records, after records.

They proclaimed the Games spirit,

“The most important thing in the Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

They enjoyed their time together, and looked forward to see each other and the competitions, year after year.

The Games spirit evolved into the national pride and patriotism of all animals of the kingdom. Every year they cheered their teams on, proud and elated in their acheivements, to be part of the Games.

Eventually, all athletes’ physical and skill limits were reached. How were they to break more kingdom records and win medals? To attain new breakthrough, they turned to scientific reserches, to technology advances in designing new sport equipments and facilities, to extend their performances and skills, and break more records. But the unscrupulous ones, turned to cheating, using illegal drugs, steroids, hormones and such to win, at all costs. They also considered to make use of advances in medical science like gene therapy/genetic-manupilation, simply to enhance performances, to win medals.

In the future, will surrogate robotic doubles start appearing in the Games?

Competitions of the Games no longer confined only to the sport events. The opening and closing ceremonies staged by the hosts were getting more and more elaborate and spectacular, they out-did each other, year after year. The events also became photo-ops for politicians.

That’s the end of the Aesop Fable.

Then it happened. The accidental death of an Olympic luger. No matter what its cause is, we know we all are pushing too hard, in the quest of gold. This should be a lightening rod on our head, a warning signal that was long overdued and too late in coming.

We should get back to the root, to the Olympic spirit, winning is not everything. As our past gold medalist Nancy Greene Raine said today in her Toronto Star article, “Ignite a Dream, Create a Winner” :

When the Games are over and we ask “Did we win?”, we shouldn’t measure it simply by the number of medals our athletes take home.

We should ask, “Have we inspired participation in active and healthy lifestyles in people all across Canada? Did we change the way Canadians value excellence in sport? Are more kids interested in pursuing excellence? Did those medals ignite kids to get involved?”

(Through Rose-Coloured Glasses)

You have no choice. You need to come out of your retirement and start working. Every month, you fear to open the envelopes and are reluctant to look at your bank and financial statements. Their values keep going south. You have no choice, you have to come out of your retirement.

You have to start over again.

You look through all the self help retirement guides and articles, but nothing has been specifically written to prepare you for such a sorry state: What to do when forced out of retirement.

You ended up writing your own guideline.

1. Throw away all your pamphlets on vactions, tours and cruises and put your world travel on hold.

2. Say good-bye to all your gym and Tai Chi buddies, and your McDonald morning coffee friends.

3. Decide how much you are short and really need to survive, then decide what type of job: full-time or part-time.

4. Are you going back to your area of expertise or want to explore new career?

5. Re-establish your networking, talk to your friends and old colleagues, hairstylist, barber, shop-keepers, neighbours or anyone who listen.

6. Learn new tools, use the Internet, cell phone, get a Facebook account, gmail address, twitter account.

7. Dye your hair and put on a happy face.

8. Look at those young job-seekers straight in the eyes, yes, your competitors, and don’t feel guilty. We will all survive.

9. Start pouncing the pavement.

10. If nothing works, go back to school. It is never too old to learn new tricks.