pedestrian culture

you can more often than not tell the nationality of a person as he crosses the street here in singapore.

most of the time when the person walks across a zebra crossing without a moment’s hesitation, you can be sure he/she’s a singaporean.

i notice that most foreigners pause and look around for cars to slow down before they even step on the zebra crossing.

what does this tell you?

(there’s another type of person, who crosses without hesitation, while all the time looking down at their phones, or busy yapping away. this type of person, regardless of nationality, is a plain idiot. i have many times restrained myself from running them over.)

paradise

Got this picture from a friend’s friend whom i don’t know. I think this is such a great picture.. If only the focus on the eyes were sharper

the civil service

I went to the Singapore consulate in New York on Sunday. There was this PSD (public service division) recruitment event going on. I thought i might as well go and search out other singaporeans and maybe snag an internship.

Turns out that there were only 4 singaporeans who bothered to attend the event and about 8 recruiting directors from various ministries and the permanent secretary of the PSD were there too. We chatted and talked a bit about current affairs and the state of the nation (singapore). They were extremely welcoming and even tried to tempt the 4 to join the civil service.

It felt weird because all my years in sg, the ah beng was never deemed good enough for the government and yet just because i am in a foreign land, i had direct access to the echelons of the civil service. Not that they are sure to take me, but it does give me a better than average shot now because i have interacted with them.

As we were talking, i realized belatedly now that it was very much a situation interview by the permanent secretary but i didn’t care, really. And as we were discussing, i kept taking pot shots at the government policies, in between her declaring that “if you want to be rich don’t join the public service”: a declaration that almost made me “ppooop” out the ha gao (shrimp dumpling) in my mouth (really? what ever happened to our millionaire ministers? and even the administrative service starts at 397,000 package per annum. in a country where the average wage per capita is around 35,000, i think it is more than comfortable).

but anyway, though i was tempted to intern at the Foreign affairs ministry, the more i think about it the more disgusted i become. i cannot answer this question “is it ok to join a government that you despise, run by an administration you only have contempt for because of your love to the country?” it seems too much like a sell out if i join the government and i think in all probability they would be relieved that they didn’t recruit me.

when it ended, i just sat and pondered. nah, civil service is not for me, i am too much of an ah beng to listen to some nerdy (as it happens, the other three encompasses the epitome of the genre) scholars trying to tell me to follow their lead. i would probably shove my foot up their candy ass.

a father in the making

used to be that i would wonder at times what’s the purpose of it all? so what if i did something or if i didn’t do it? what difference would it make? why try so hard? why bother?

but now i spend a little time each day looking into the eyes of my little boy, and i know.

i work hard for his future. so this is what it means to be a father.

i am now part of the cyclical process to keep the wheel spinning.

unbeelievable

today has been an unbelievable on many levels.

first off, it is 5th November 2007 and my son turns 7 month old.

secondly, it has been a great day for me at work, as i raced off to 7 different places in one day and came out looking brilliant at negotiation, showmanship, sales presentation skills and feeling fantastic. it’s just one of those days where the wind blows in the right direction and everything just goes right as rain.

third, Obama won big. wooha. a wind of change sweeps through the world.

fourth, i secured the new office. it was a no-brainer decision. the new office space is almost 6 times bigger than my current one, there’s a free parking spot, the fittings look great, the location is great, and the rent is very reasonable.

the new office will do wonders for my business professionally. i now have a space to grow the business, to recruit more staff, to set up a showroom for customers to come, view and buy. it is a new, exciting direction and a chance for me to develop myself as head of a team.

obamania

lest you stay on Andromeda galaxy, you would know that tonight marks the end of one historic election. though i am not an american, being in NY is enough, the atmosphere is bordering on electric.

also, since my school is a public service school, the students are usually more fervent about stuff like that and tonight my school is hosting an all night election party, i am indeed excited and privileged to be in NY at the right place at the right time.

Can’t wait…

(no prize for guessing who i support)

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update

just came back from my school, raucousness, gregariousness were probably the tamest terms i could use. more soon, as i move to describe one of the most significant result ever

coming of age

when i was younger, i always think of myself as “pa-buey-tou” (hokkien literal translation of ‘beat no down’), never to be defeated or rather, armed with the power of invincibility. I further thought that i had a far superior intellect than many of my peers. Never mind that my scores weren’t the best, it was more like they couldn’t understand the brilliance of my mind.

Yes, i was quite a cocky dude and one with nothing to show for.

As i edge forth towards that 30th birthday, i still think that i am like that but by a far lesser degree with far lesser frequency. I no longer think that my balls are titanium cast and no longer suspect that machiavelli has a protege in me. Rather, my view of myself has been tempered by the failures that i had in my life but at the same time augmented by the resilience and mental fortitude demonstrated.

That everyone goes through the same motions is one thing i am certain, when the skin yellows and age spots pops up, you gradually understand the limits of your psyche and ability. you understand the being that you have been residing in for the past 28 (your age) years and, perhaps, hope that he will accept you finally and vice versa.

And i think it is by knowing my physical and intellectual limits as a human being that makes it more possible for me to exceed them. for truly knowing your own temperament is a very important milestone and only by being comfortable with yourself can you convince your vision to the world.

chai

The disambiguation of the word ‘chai’

The singlish word chai comes of unknown origins and is used primarily by singaporean chinese ah-beng types (and used extensively by yours truly). Suspected to be a hokkien term initially but really chai has no meaning in all forms of spoken language except being phonetically similar to the mandarin word for ‘vegetable’.

So what does chai means? In the broadest sense, chai(s) simply mean pretty chick(s). Examples of usage can be, but not limited to:

“wah, tonight i happening with super a lot of chais sia!” exclaimed Mr. Tee Kou Beh.

“eh, look at that bah-chai, can see her cellrurite sia!!” pointed out by Mr. Barry Ee ber.

However, as with most singlish terms, the meaning has been watered down to include all types of chai(s). If used by itself, it means a pretty chick but if one sticks a pre-fix to it (as highlighted in the second example where “bah” (hokkien for meat) was used before chai) it changes to meaning of the word completely and takes the meaning of the pre-fix.

so while the meaning of the word is not fixed it does have its own rules:

chai (said with raised eyebrows in a most tiko fashion) (A): very pretty chick

chai (said with a dismal sense of fore-brooding) (B): normal or below average chick

bah-chai: fat chick

bui-chai: look at bah-chai

lau-chai (A): potential MILF

lau-chai (B): really just an old hag

my-chai: my girl

No Chai Kid (NCK): pathetic dude with no girlfriend(s)/girl(s)

man-chai: the boyfriend of a chai

Hopefully, this explains fully the meaning of such a versatile term once and for all. If you have any additions or examples, please do feel free to contact me.

nanowrimo. i nowrinomore.

it’s nanowrimo, otherwise known also as national novel writing month. in november, participants attempt to drum out 50,000-words by the end of the month to qualify as having written a novel. 50,000 words is a bit short for a novel, more like a novella, but oh well, it’s a good start for anyone who yearns to expel the next great american novel from within.

i won’t be participating though. when i start to look at a blank page these days, my mind starts clamping up. it’s been a while since i’ve written any stories. i’m waiting for inspiration to strike. or rather that’s what i tell myself.

this week, i throw myself into my work once again. i’ve gotten derailed a bit during the fasting month, when i told myself to take things slow and easy. fasting month has been gone for more than a month since, but i’m still stuck in the ’slow and easy’ mode. so it’s time to break out of that shell and change gears and speed up a bit.

it’s november, and i’ve got less than 2 mths to find a new office space. current landlord is hiking rental by 40%, so that’s unacceptable. i do imagine that with business getting better and better, a new and bigger office space should be in the works.

i am very thankful for the little success i’ve had in this business. the prospect of failure stopped me from starting my own business a hundred times before i finally took the plunge. i know how many startups fail and fail and fail before their owners finally strike gold, so i am thankful to be profitable from day one. perhaps i also owe it to my prudent and cautious nature.

a friend remarked to me last year that in my business techniques, i appear to be swimming backstroke when everyone else is swimming freestyle. when i asked him what he meant by this, he replied that everyone’s zooming past me and everyone’s making fast deals, but i appear to be taking things at my own time.

i got a bit worked up thinking about his remark later, but i realized that i did not have to subscribe to anyone’s ideals. that’s the beauty of being in charge of your own business. you can do it any damn way you like. i didn’t get into this with the sole focus of making a million bucks, but rather i got into this for the freedom and liberation of being my own boss. so there.

it also occurred to me that many people are quick to place judgment and tell you their opinion of how you should run your business, but they themselves have not gotten to where you are, have not travelled that distance or gone down the road like you have. how can they advise you properly?

this applies also to the many self-groomed motivational ‘gurus’ and internet marketing ‘gurus’ that i find in my social network. these individuals are sometimes wet-behind-the-ears youngsters who happened to pick up a Tony Robbins, and all of a sudden, they fashion themselves as ‘gurus’ and want to train you to go from zero to a million dollars. please excuse me if i’m skeptical. no seriously.

oh hell, i think i’ve just written a thousand words. maybe if i keep ranting like this everyday on this blog, i might have a novel at the end of the month. hmm.

Generalists all around us

I was with a friend the other day and i started to notice that throughout our conversation, he’d interject with bits and pieces of trivia, little nuggets of information from diverse topics such as entertainment (mostly), movies, music, Singapore lifestyle, family, etc.

I was able to stomach most of it, but after a while, it started to jar me a little. I realised that I was in the company of a generalist.

And I realised too, that not too long ago, I was one myself.

A generalist is basically a person who absorbs bits and pieces from all around him. This type of person is also your average filial consumer, the one who readily absorbs information from all forms of advertising around him, sucks in media with a straw, with much glee. He hasn’t set up a firewall to keep his intake selective, and thus his head ends up filled with all kinds of nonsense.

I know this sounds a bit harsh.

But in today’s context, we are all sponges. I read somewhere (I can’t remember where now, but this again is another instance of sponging, where you absorb information unwittingly) that we are now steeped in an industrialized and heavily computerized age, humans are increasingly being reduced to consumers. we consume media and expend. we work to spend. And so, if you want to be a good little boy, you sign up for the rat race and join the game, become a loyal consumer, aim for the branded stuff, watch the ads, you are only as good as the brands you don.

something like that.

I also realise that I have shed my generalist nature to some extent. Perhaps I got about it by not reading the papers so much, not watching the news so much, not caring so much about how Brad Pitt is getting on with Angelina Jolie (the worst generalists are those who can’t keep their hands of the Hollywood tabloids…)

I just don’t care so much about all that jazz. Instead, from a generalist I have evolved to a specialist, tuned in to my business and its quirks and fancies. Keeping my mind focused on my trade and industry has turned my brain in another direction, keeping it occupied.

So are you a generalist?

(and is it really such a bad thing?)