Archive for the 'people' Category
November 6th, 2008 -- Posted in people |
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
– Barack Obama
That was precisely what I, with many others in the world, feel America needs most at this time. These were the words spoken by Obama on Super Tuesday back in July, two months before the banking crisis. It was appropriate for the year when we witnessed many bubble bursts, signifying a warning sign the need for changes not just to U.S., but also to the rest of the world. Many old systems, like the deregulated financial/banking system, are in great need of reform. Hopefully some of the partial governmental interventions on the U.S. financial industry will somehow help to curb the crazy speculations in the markets.
Other than the reform on financial system, Obama made many promises that won him the Presidential Election, among which include the Medicare drug benefit program and environmental-friendly energy plans. There is even a $150 billion proposal over 10 years to speed the development of plug-in hybrid cars and “commercial-scale” renewables, such as wind and solar. Let’s see how these promises fall through. With the globally broadcasted American meda and the development of hybrid vehicles by major U.S. automobile manufacturers will help advocate a giant step forward of these hybrid vehicles to the world.
September 24th, 2008 -- Posted in people |
“Greed is such an effective killer” was my first thought when I first read the news. I could not believe anyone could actually add a toxic chemical into milk, the first and primary food source of infants and young children, for profits. Albeit accusations on the corporations involved in this scandal, I would put the blame only on greed, of either the farmer or the trader who sold the milk to Sanlu… whoever was responsible of adding the melamine in the first place.
There’s no excuse for doing such a thing. The only appropriate punishment for these unethical creeps is a taste of their own poison.
May 28th, 2008 -- Posted in people |
... And I thought driving in Singapore was stressful. Driving in Malaysia is worse.
A few observations:
- Pointless to draw the lane markings. Waste of paint. Nobody uses them.
- Speed limits are of little or no use. Every car is either far faster or far slower than the limit anyway.
- Note to car manufacturers: You can save costs by doing without signal lamps.
- Note to car manufacturers: You can do without side windows. Only front visibility is required and used in Malaysia.
- A new highway system is needed in Malaysia. Just like how a separate road is built for motocycles, a separate road should be be designed for micro cars under 1500cc. They are no different from motocycles running at 50km/h.
- Strange but true. Construction tractors and bulldozers are allowed on highways… legally or not.
May 27th, 2008 -- Posted in people |
I don’t like body mass, not even if it’s all muscle. I joined the gym to shed some fatty tissue off my body, especially from my internal organs e.g. liver.
That’s why I joined the gym.
And the trainers, they’re supposed to help members with personalized training programs and specific tips to attain the goals they seek. In a sublimal way, they’re supposed to be motivational figures for members.
I want a body like that…
That’s easy when male members seek hard buffy bodies like most male gym trainers. It’s also easy for female members since most female members look a far fetch from the healthy looking female trainers. It was not the case for the RPM
February 4th, 2007 -- Posted in people |
Call me cynical, but I’m sometimes disgusted by the behavior of the filthy rich…
While shopping for new clothes for CNY today, I browsed into Sincere (a high-end watch retailer) to check out on the latest designs in the market. It was meant to be just a minute browse when I overheard a family of father and 2 sons looking at some IWC watches.
“Is this the latest range?” asked the father.
“Yes. It’s the new XXX range, a popular model…”
“Then this is not what I’m interested in. What I want is the latest limited edition… you know? The rare ones?”
“Ah, I get what you mean… We have one in stock, but it is not the latest. They’re 2005 LE model…”
“Yes, that’s just the one I want… How many piece of this have you got in Singapore since it was launched?”
“Just this one…”
“GOOD!”
“Do you want to see it… It’s not here, but I can bring it in tomor…”
“No need. Just charge it now and I’d come to collect tomorrow.”
HUH? I’ve thought watch appreciation is about the design and the architecture of the movement. This guy just want to get the LE watch just because it’s limited and (most importantly) EXPENSIVE.
WTF???
I don’t argue that Darwin’s theory of Evolution has itself evolved into a modern version, ‘only the rich will survive (comfortably)’... aka the idea of meritocracy… whoever works smarter deserve to be richer. In English… you work hard and smart, you live more comfortably.
So issue is not being rich, but rather how one can get so compelled to show it. Nothing wrong to want to do better than others. But if one has achieved that level, is it really necessary to broadcast it?
“Of course… if not, why work so hard?”
Yeah right. Having the ability to show of doesn’t mean having the right to overdo it.
I pity the two sons. Rich Daddy-O is simply exposing the perception of an illusion that THIS IS HOW YOU SHOW THE WORLD THAT MONEY IS EVERYTHING AND NOTHING. Richie Rich in the real life…
January 23rd, 2007 -- Posted in people |
One sis spoke to me on her worries about the other sis yesterday. She told me about her paranoia which she cannot disregard easily. I wanted to tell her ‘everything is fine, nothing will go wrong’, but I couldn’t.
When I thought of assuring her, it was genuinely based on my personal rollercoaster ride through adolscence and that at such youth, one can get distracted easily and change of passion can happen very quickly. But I hesitated. Why? Because I’m not sure if that other sis will behaved like I did.
So are we all that different? Are there someone out there who stuck on the same passion since they were in their teens and never let go even today? Or are most just like me when change of mind and heart has happened just too many times to remember what that old teenage passion was all about.
Like my passion for the classical arts, poetry and music blew me in flames while I still had it. But having faced with a harder reality of precious time, I now find it more worthwhile spending my free time doing something else. Not really a change of heart in this case, for I still love the visual arts and the music, only in a different light and tone. Only difference is that I no longer have that flame to spark any creation of either in me. Has that flame died off?
No. Again, I would rather use the word ‘changed’.
So I do change my passion since teenage years, but will this happen the same for another person? I doubted so. So I didn’t use the ‘she’s going to change yet again, so don’t worry’ choice of consolation.
July 6th, 2006 -- Posted in people |
The last post brings me back to this thought so I might as well post a blog on it.
Does it help to complain?
The more I ask myself this, the more possible reasons I came up with to why people (esp. Singaporeans) like to complain.
Here’s the list:
- Make displesure known: When someone does something that displeases you, there’s always this awkward worm that has to wriggle out to show itself. You’d just have to announce that you’re not happy.
- Command for power: Slightly different from above. More extreme towards showing off one’s authority. Such complains usually is a demand for immediate attention.
- Asking for solution: When out of your own wits to solve the issue, you complain to make known your problems to others so they might find a possible way out for you.
- Make your problem known: ... so others can learn from it.
- Crying out for help: Not necessarily the same as above. More of asking for empathy from others rather than help… AKA attention seeking method.
- Lazy to think of solution: Also different from asking for solution. This is when one don’t even bother to think of his/her own solution.
- Out of BL-ism: Simply nothing else better to do.
Out of the above reasons I could think of, the only ones that truly help solve the issue of the complain is ‘asking for solution’ reason. The others, though not entirely redundant, are less efficient and sometimes even lead to the expense of other’s time. Unfortunately, these are all evident in the norm of Singapore society today. Parents are teaching their kids to make themselves heard. Since not all of us are actively campaigning for politics, we are resorts to make ourselves heard by complaining on trivial things.
So what’s the line to the definition of ‘trivial’? There is no global standard to how much tolerance we should withstand to understand the word. I have, however, an exercise that can help one understand how much one is complaining and how much of that is really trivial.
Try this: Cut yourself off from the world for a day. Pretend your deaf and dumb. Don’t communicate with anyone verbally. Don’t ask for help in anyway. When you have something you don’t like, write it down. If something gets in your way, find your own way out. Record this.
Think you can do this? Yes? If so, then you don’t need to complain at all, do you?
March 10th, 2006 -- Posted in coffee thoughts, people |
Woke up as usual with an unusual dread for a Friday morning.
While having coffee before dressing up for work, I thought about what I’m doing for a living and what other aspiration not fulfilled.
Here’s my list:
- Get my driving license
- Write a book
- ...
...then I got mind-blocked. I have no idea what else I want (except being a dad, in time to come). All those things which I longed for, either (1) I already got, (2) I have yet to realize that I want, and (3) I have given up wanting.
Most of the things I’ve already gotten, through monetary means or achieved from hard work, are either taken for granted for or forgotten how much I wanted them. Take being an fully independent adult, for example. When I was younger, there was always this thought that I wanted to step out into the working world so as to earn the means to get or do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to.
No money + Lots of time = Nothing to do
However, now that I’m already here, work has become a part of me that I have hardly time to think about what I wanted to get or do.
Some money + No time = Can’t do anything
So it seems that I have gotten over and forgotten how it was like to have free time with nothing to do. So what’s the point of trying so hard to fulfill the anticipation in the first place?
I was told before that I should be working hard to prepare for a kid and the future retirement. I don’t disagree, but is that all there is for life? Is my life all about providing for somebody else who will one day end up like me, providing for my grandchild?
I sipped on my coffee.
To think that I will one day be watching my decendents pondering over the same quesiton of ‘Is this all worth it?’, I can hardly feel the justice to my duties.
But they are my duties… and duties are duties aren’t they?
Who defined these duties anyway? Culturally, we are brought up to think that it is our duties to breed and provide for our offsprings, so that they will be equipped to do just the same as we do. Turning the table around, we are the ones who decide if we accept these duties. Nobody can make us assume our fates against our will.
That’s easier said than done. To
March 3rd, 2006 -- Posted in people |
A conversation went like this not too long ago…
Friend: Why did you get married so early, bro?
Me: Why not?
Friend: Coz once you’re married, we can’t go kao-lui together
Me: Not that we usually do that together…
Friend: Yah… but now no more chance liao loh.
Me: Chance? If not what? Stay bachelor and wait with you?
Friend: Yeah. Look look see see with me mah.
Me: …
Is there a reason to get married?
Is there a reason not to?
There are many common reasons for each way you look at it, and we can never generalize any reason for all. I did not get married just simply because I wanted to be married.
Nor did those individuals choose to stay single because they want to be single. That is only because they have not found the reason to get married. Even those who are single but attached have their personal reason to wait, e.g. bad past experiences hence need more time to be sure.
But how much time is enough to be sure?
One and a half year ago, I was a bachelor myself and would not have imagined myself being married. In fact, I was even thinking of staying a bachelor for good. Marriage was like a high wall I would not give two thoughts to even try.
Then it happened. Within two months after deciding that Ok this is it… I’m getting married, I did a lot of soul searching before I tied the string and married Sunsun. Due to the short notice, many friends and family elders had doubts about the stability of this marriage. To be honest, I was still half unsure at that time if I made the right move.
Many were right.
Only a handful of close ones thought otherwise. They believed in me and in the path I chose to take. Carrying my half ounce of uncertainty, I marched into the hall of harmony with full determination that I will do ok… and this very thought changed immediately to we will do ok.
Suddenly, the whole marriage thing wasn’t about just me anymore. It was about two persons. I am no longer making decisions for my own consequences, and no longer bearing consequences alone. I tried to rationale if this sensation was only an illusion. I started asking myself a lot of what-ifs.
The only conclusion I could come up with was that: as much as I have some doubt about who I’m marrying, my partner will be thinking of the same about me. If I question my partner’s readiness for the marriage, I can also question my own. If I have doubt in myself, my partner would have the same in herself too.
Who doesn’t? By human nature, we will all carry some level of uncertainty when we go through what we have never ventured through before. The uncertainty is no longer about whom I’m marrying or who I am. It is now about how we can get by together.
Naturally the burden of responsibilities now has doubled. I can no longer make wrong decisions and just ‘get-by’ the consequences. I am forced by the incredible forces of marriage to make better decisions, not only for my own benefit or for the benefit of my partner, but for the good of both of us. The good news is that even with the burden doubled, I no longer carrying it alone.
I must admit that I am indeed very lucky to see my marriage this way. Not all marriages were hitched with this feeling of togetherness. There are many who still feel they are struggling through married life alone. When this happens, it only means that there is a gap in both parties’ goals, to begin with.
Without making it all sound too theoretical, we all have our short-term urges to satisfy. We are constantly plagued with thesehumanly needs which by nature’s law come with a wide variety of emotions we can’t comprehend sometimes. Nevertheless, we’d always end up with our minds controlled by these surges.
And so, we should never do without a goal.
So I digress.
It is easy to see if two goals are compatible. Goals can be as simple as I want to be happy, which I apply for myself. While asking ourselves the first question is there a reason to get married, we should first reflect into our goals and determine what we really want. If one has his/her goal which he/she cannot share the fruit of achieving the goal, then perhaps companionship through marriage is not what he/she wants.
If you think you want to look some more, then perhaps you want to ask yourself what you are looking for. If not even clear on this, then perhaps you’d need to reflect more on this fundamental fuel for life… even if you are to get through life alone.
You’d need to set for yourself a goal.
If both share similar goals (goals can NEVER be identical… and are never static) or believe that the goals match, then there is no reason not to get married. This goes for the second question is there a reason not to get married, but does it answer the first? Not exactly.
However, it helps eliminate that question entirely. There is no need for a reason to get married as long as you do not have reason NOT to get married. While there is no reason not to get married, why not get married then? There is more bliss to have somebody there with you for eternity.
So why did I get married? I didn’t do so because I have found a good reason to get married, but because I have failed to find a reason not to. Or rather, I had come to accept that I did not need a reason to get married. All I needed was to know that I have no reason not to.
February 28th, 2006 -- Posted in people |
In my line of work, assumptions are the key to making logical deductions. It is the base for any analysis or forecast I work with. It is my crystal ball.
But this crystal ball has its limitation. Assumptions, being assumed, are limited in its reliability and can only be used in an all-clean situation. Furthermore, we can only assume only the truly logical, or at the most the obvious out of general consensus. Otherwise, we are only pointing in the dark.
Even the obvious out of general consensus seem rather subjective.
A simple illustration:
When I assume that…
most Chinese in the world eat rice
... does not mean I can deduce that…
since you are Chinese therefore you eat rice or
since you eat rice therefore you are Chinese
Sounds logical? Not really the standard of a philo class, but it demonstrates enough. (Pure logic can sound illogical to our humanly senses sometimes.)
Why don’t assumptions always work? This comes to mind the possible ignorance irregardless of how knowledgeable or informed one can be. Even if you are a walking dictionary… or even a walking encyclopedia, there will still be things we can never deduce.
So what’s all these statements about assumptions and deductions?
Sound familiar, don’t they?
Believe it or not, most of us make deductions out of mere assumptions in almost every decision we make. When we do not have definite answers, we assume. This is normal if we are an intelligent bunch.
However, what really irritates me about deducing from assumptions is that there are some who deduce accounts about others based on assumptions they make about them. When the human mind and behavior is the most irrational and less predictable, sometimes devious even, than most other living beings, we are also the creature who assumes more than animals. When most attempts to teach animals understanding of our commands by instilling the idea of assumption from a wave or a vocal command, it takes many repetition of the command before the trained animal can deduce from assuming what they think we want them to do.
Do not mistake this with our power to understand cause and effect. We wouldn’t have come this far without this intuition. It is the other tendency I speak about. The tendency to demonstrate also the power of imagination to transform the little fact known into a wild matrix of twisted assumptions. The experts for this we common know as gossipers.
Why and how such assumptions are derived and how such stories rich of imagination come about? It seems usually compelled by the urge to draw the little short-term attention from others of the their kind… the same kind who also crave for a cheap thrill out of the little spice added to the boring fact. The cheap thrill which requires no production costs like soap opera… only the expense of others they have conveniently placed in the stories they cooked up.
So before you tell a story, be sure to warn your listeners that it is just fictional. Otherwise, avoid speaking of the assumptions you are making. You may have a strong hunch about what is going on with someone. Just keep it to yourself. There is no need to spice up the story. We always have the soap drama that we are also paying for… the same stories we vote for Academy Awards. Please do not waste the profession we have created and so expensively maintained.
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