One hundred

Today I've reached a new milestone. This is my 100th post. I know, to many people this is not something new, because everyone of them passes this moment at one point. To me, it's something I did not expect to see until a few days ago when the number crept up to the nineties. So it's a happy occasion and I hope to see the next 100.

Anyway, to continue on the last post, the thing about us adults is as we grow older, we lost capability to look at the same things anew every time. We are no longer, for the lack of better word, fresh. I remember a long time ago we were electing a new president for a club, and the person who got elected delivered a speech saying she can bring a new, fresh perspective on how to run the club. It's the same in the corporate world, a new person is seen as being able to bring new changes, to come up with different and presumably, better ways of doing things. And I suppose it's the same with us adults. Children ask the most surprising questions, and reply us with the most honest and creative answers. They are fun to be around, because we are attracted to their freshness. We like to be delighted by their innovativeness, straightforwardness, and their bright-eyed curiosity of the world because we no longer have those qualities.

Now new people on a job may be fresh, but like fruits and vegetables, freshness doesn't last long. In most aspects of life, be it friendships, marriages, careers, people eventually settle and form a habit. It's so very easy to get trapped into assuming we have figured out all our environment and there's nothing left to be explored. It's a tough challenge to look at your friends and think to yourself that perhaps what you have formed in your mind, the "idea" of this particular friend, may not be true at all. That's why people find it easy to open up to complete stranger and talk about their darkest secrets, aspects of their lives that their closest friends or family don't know about. Our friends and family have made up an "idea" of us just like we have made of them and we do not want to jeopardize those "ideas" of us we project consciously or unconsciously.

The same extends to our family and career. I suppose we will never "get" something as a whole. Our assumption of ourselves and our environment makes us resistant to changes and prone to denials. There will always be gaps left unexplored, rooms we overlook. If you look at things differently each time, sometimes the result might disappoint you, sometimes it might delight you, and a lot of times it might surprise you. It's tough, yet I couldn't help but wonder, what if we do that? Would it be tiring? Yes. Would it be overwhelming? Probably. Would it generate more questions? Most definitely. Would it be fun? Let's find out. The kids don't seem to have a problem having fun with it.

Older but none the more creative

We were watching a game show called "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?" and then came the question on English subject: Count how many adjectives there are in this sentence: "After playing in the hot sun, he drank two glasses of cold drinks." Or something like that.

TWO!!! We all screamed with utter confidence. We were so sure, this is a show called "Are you smarter than a 5th Grader?" after all. Alright, the contestant proceeded to answer "three". We were convinced she's going to lose the money she earned. The host revealed that three was indeed the correct number. We were all stunned.

"Two" is an adjective. There are quite a few adults in the room and all are dumbfounded. How could we not know? It's ingrained in the mind that when we say adjectives, we think of word that modifies a noun...words like cold, hot, sunny, red, etc. Little did we know that number is a modifier as well. Two modifies glasses. I am sure this was taught in my primary school. It totally taught me a lesson.

We, grown adults, are not wiser than a 5th grader, or a 3rd grader. We are brainwashed with fixed ideas of our world, presumptions of our environment and of people, rendered inflexible with our social parameters, ingrained with knowledge of things that are supposed to make us more educated yet powerless when confronted with questions a 3rd grader can answer easily.

What makes it so?

More tomorrow...

Changes

I have not been the most low temperature-tolerant person, I love the tropics for its sun, sand, and wind. Though I admit winter has its charms, I have not spent long enough time in very cold weather to really take it all in. Singapore, as you know, is hot all-year round; not as hot as Bangkok or Jakarta, but still, quite hot, with humidity around 94%. That's some sweat on the street. I'd be worried if I couldn't generate a drop of sweat if I walk to subway. There is something amiss if that happens. You would be thinking "eww", but it's true.

Anyway, the temperature for the past month has dropped a bit here, which is unusual. Perhaps it's the rain, perhaps it's the wind, but this wasn't a December Singapore that I remembered for the past years. And today, I keep saying it's getting colder and colder each day. Overseas, people have been saying the weather wasn't what it used to be around the same time of the year. This definitely is global warming in action. Yet I have been ignorant until the signs became too apparent. But are we too late?

Take action now. Simplest things we can all do:
- Use less electricity - unplug your cables from power outlet when not in use
- Use less paper, opt for electronic bills whenever possible
- Recycle your old stuff - clothes, shoes, newspapers, magazines, CDs, DVDs, plastic bottles are some things we can recycle regularly
- Bring your own groceries bag to the supermarket, don't use plastic bag if your purchases can fit into your own bag
- Don't take home unnecessary things. Flyers, free gifts (evaluate whether you really need it) are some of the culprits

Harder one: become a vegetarian. Vegetarianism is the most effective way to fight global warming. To quote this article, "In a groundbreaking 2006 report, the United Nations (U.N.) said that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. " I invite you to read the article for more information. Well, I have also lost some weight since I started, that's the added benefit. Vegetarianism may not be for every one, but with conscious effort, we can eat less meat every day, that will save lives too.

:)

Hello 2008!

So first day is almost over. I am looking forward to the next 365 days. Kind of relieved the holiday season with all its frenzy is coming to an end. I sense things are settling down once again. It's the same isn't it? We are living through cycles, just like the seasons, the months, our lives, all in circles. To break free is to be enlightened. Wahhhh...

Best of 2007

I can feel it! On my way home, I see less crowded trains, people anxious to reach their destinations, cars on the streets rushing by, shoppers doing their last minute shopping, numerous phone calls being made on people's plans for tonight. 2008 is coming and we will be saying our goodbyes to 2007 in a few hours.

I thought it would be fun to do a "Best of" list of my own for 2007. The list may not include things that came out this year, but things I really like that I discovered in 2007.

Best Travel Destination
Bali. It's called the island of the gods for good reason. No matter how many times I've been there (only three) I would always be captivated by its beauty each time and I long to go there again and again and again. I know some people who share the same sentiments, going back once a year even! If you haven't been to Bali, what are you waiting for? Call your travel agent now.

Best Fiction
Kite Runner. It's the first book that made me cry. It's just such a wonderful tale of two friends separated early in their years and how one seeks redemption for his own deeds later in life. Read it if you haven't. I am waiting for Khaled Hosseini's follow-up A Thousand Splendid Suns to come out in the paperback version.

Best Web Application
Picnik. I love Picnik for its simplicity of use and colorful graphic. You don't have to be an expert in navigating the web to use it. Now you can tweak your pictures all you want, anywhere you want, as long as you have internet access. It even lets you link to your Flickr or Facebook account for easy uploads and editing!

Best Soundtrack
Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the film Curious George by Jack Johnson and friends. Jack Johnson always has that soothing quality to his music and voice, and I think kids and adults alike will enjoy this perfect little CD. I found myself listening over and over again to his beautiful lyrics, full of optimism and child-like wonders. I even bought another one for a friend of mine who turned out to love it too! Though I haven't seen the movie itself, I can bet that the songs complement the movie nicely.

Best movie
Ratatouille. This is hard, I don't really have a best of the best this year, as I couldn't recall a title that left a huge impression on me like Before Sunset or The Incredibles did. Among my other choices are The Lives of Others, Freedom Writers, Thank You For Smoking, and Bourne Ultimatum. Ratatouille stands out for its strong story line (however unbelievable, but hey! it's a fantasy), excellent directing, and powerful graphics - I still can't believe the richness of details in this movie, I am a big Brad Bird fan now. So, there you have it.

Best Webmail
Gmail. Nothing beats my good ol' favorite. Hotmail and Yahoo are making a lot of upgrades recently, offering up to 5 GB of storage and sleeker graphics, but Google is still like a dear old friend to me. In my opinion its best features are the conversation-like email grouping, nice simple colors, and the embedded Google Talk application. If you look around the web, most applications are clamoring to include Gmail as extensions for their products due to its popularity. That tells you something right?

Best Mobile Device
Blackberry. Now I'm a little biased because I haven't tried a lot of other phones that could do millions other stuff (I own a chunky Nokia with a round dialpad - beat that). Its wide design may just be its advantage as it allows us to type more comfortably with our fingers, though it may not be so when you're doing calls. Its best feature is of course its push-mail technology; I haven't seen any other devices that push mails as efficiently as the Berry. Another great feature is the Messenger, it saved me a lot of troubles when I'm overseas.

Best Internet Browser
Firefox. Can't live without it. It's the browser that introduced "Tabs" to me, and I've been using it ever since. Plus, a lot of applications on the web such as DivX player, del.icio.us extensions, work perfectly with Firefox.

Best OS Design
Leopard. Sleek, stylish, superior. I'm still getting used to it, though in the beginning I encounter a few hiccups with some of the applications. But design-wise, this is the best in the market. It applies to Apple's hardwares too.

Best Place to Have Your Afternoon Tea in Singapore
Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge. I discovered this little gem tucked in the corner of a major department store some time ago. It serves delightful desserts, great pastas, and high-quality teas in beautifully made Chinas. The ambiance lends a Danish feel to it (at least a friend who stayed there said so) and the setting is lovely. Just be careful not to drop those fragile things.

Okay, there you go. Not only because I am running out of time but if I continue, there is still a long list to go. Most of my "bests" are technology or entertainment-related, that pretty much sums up where I spent a lot of my time on...(alright, I need to pick up a new hobby soon). Hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year 2008!

father & son, morning Danba

I do a post of blog of note from time to time. Today it's Raul Gutierrez's Heading East. A brilliant photographer (check out his portfolio here and here), his pictures are rich in nuances of the subject's environment, taking captures of their lives, their homes, their streets, their emotions. He likes photographing people because they are more exciting...to do it well and to take great pictures of people, now that takes some skills. I love his pictures!

In addition, he's a talented writer, his blog at www.mexicanpictures.com/headingeast tells of his family, especially his two cute sons, other photographers' works, his own experiments with time-shift pictures among many others. It's his family accounts that got me hooked, I just like how he writes stories about his sons (numero uno and numero dos), even putting rich detailed account of each son's birth. I can't help but being touched by those stories. So, enjoy. Have a great Sunday.

Thoughts about charity at the end of the year

I remembered I read a blog post a few months ago about how Bill and Melinda Gates foundation becomes the most successful philanthropy foundation in the world. He has helped more people than most of us claimed to do. Why? They ran it like a business. Exactly how Bill Gates ran his Microsoft to be the biggest software giant in the world. Funds are withdrawn if projects do not achieve the objectives they set out to do. Simple rule of business. This kind of bigger-picture management is what we need to save the world. Help sponsoring a child in Africa is a noble thing to do, yet it is not as effective as thinking how to eradicate AIDS in Africa, or stopping genocide in Darfur. Have a read of Clive Thompson's Wired article I was referring to earlier or click on my shared items. I found myself nodding my head to what it said.

I remembered this because I was present at a charity event very recently (to say involved is a discredit to the hard-working, passionate organizers - big thank you if you are reading this). It was a successful event; great food, games, and presents for all the kids. As first-timers, the organizers did a great job preparing for the event, putting in many hours and ideas into making sure the kids would enjoy it. The amount of money raised was mostly used for the event and the presents, the remainder 20% for the organization the kids are from. Whilst the presents are useful items that would definitely make any kid happy, I wonder if we overspent the money for the rest, or was it simply that we did not raise enough to donate more. What if bigger portion of money is donated to the management, for they are the people who run the place, who would know what the kids need and provide for them. I had no benchmark to measure this against, so my thoughts are probably unjustified. I would love to hear from you if you have experience in this area. However, the event was definitely a good start for future charities, I for one learned a lot as an observer. Congratulations you! I am very proud of you.

Have a wonderful weekend.

2007's acts of kindness and courage

From One Laptop Per Child project which was featured in TED to a would-be mom who trained up until her 9th month of pregnancy, these stories are inspiring and heartwarming. They tell us that with determination, we can achieve anything we set our mind to; with courage, we can overcome everything that comes in our path. From education, child soldier, global warming, to the decrease of infant death rate; they show us the world is still capable of doing a lot of good. The message is clear: the world always needs saving, as long as we're alive. My only wish is, if only this wasn't too Western-centric...It would be great to show stories from heroes around the world as well.

Check out the stories here.

December 25

It's the holiday season, and I wish you and your family all the best in life. I wish you good health and great life with each and every new day. It's so great to wake up in the morning knowing that your life is not so bad after all, you have a wonderful family, some great friends, a roof over your head, and meals three times a day. What more can an ordinary person ask for?

I look forward to 2008. I look forward to exciting new things that I'm going to do, wonderful new lives that are going to be born, great people I am going to meet, and amazing new locations I am going to be.

Whatever your wish may be, if you're reading this, I wish your wish would come true. So, enjoy, have fun, and be happy!

Let me share a little something delightful I found today. Click on My shared items to the right and watch the sweet little video on music and math.

Doing too much

Alright, that's it.

We got to stop. In a culture fueled by the drive for excellence and doing things the efficient way, all occuring the same time, we often times forget exactly why we are doing those things. In a frenzy of tasks, meetings, generating ideas, we get caught up with the busy-ness and forget to question anymore. In the excitement of living in the concrete and steel world, we forget how good it feels to be out in the nature and connect with ourselves (Lost is my inspiration!). Oh! What have I done?

Take me for example, the effect of my own doing is terrible. Things get so piled up I just want to forget they exist and start doing something else, something that would take my mind off it. It's not the first time, but each time it happens I am on the verge of losing sight of what's important. Very dangerous, I might say.

In theory, we all know the solution to our issues. In reality, you know how well it turns out sometimes...

Limiting my choices

I recently turned vegetarian. I also recently bought my first Apple product. I don't have any mp3 player to date whereas my friends have bought their 5th generation iPods. I'm only using my second cell phone after 6 years, and that's because my brother insisted to pass it down to me and took my first cell phone, which was working perfectly alright. I didn't plan this actually. I wanted to try out how being a full-time vegetarian is like, I instantly made that decision one afternoon and that's it. Plus hopefully I'm executing the most effective way to stop global warming and stop killing animals. I feel good about it. Buying Apple is easy, I don't have to compare prices from the various PC vendors and choose from the oh-so-many models out there. I prefer not to spend that much time on the research and decision-making process.

Then I thought, hey, by being a vegetarian or buying a Mac I am limiting my choices! Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing. When I go out, I don't have to fuss about what to eat because there's only so many vegetarian options in one place. I don't upgrade my phone if it's still working. Now I'm starting to think if I can apply this to aspects of my life I would be a happier person than I am now. By limiting our own choices, we are sort of forced to take the very few alternatives that are available to us. Therefore, we stop worrying and start living. Going on with our lives. Once a decision is made and there is no turning back, it's like a burden is lifted off your shoulder. When you know you don't have other choices, you would resign and accept whatever path that lies in front of you. Of course people will say we always have choices, but what if we proactively limit our choices?

We can apply this in almost anything: careers, spending, food, schools, anything you can think of. Start building a habit of limiting our choices and we might just be on our way to be happier individuals.

Racism

Someone wise said: "If we could all laugh off racism jokes in the world, wars wouldn't be started and fights between people wouldn't happen."

Are we taking ourselves too seriously?

Oh human. We are sensitive creatures. Smart as we are, we are so easily manipulated. Mind controls are weak. Words can start a war. Words can also stop wars.

Exercise mind control and non-violence. Let us all be happy and peaceful.

Happy Sunday.

Nice

That's probably the most generic description of a thing out there. Not to mention the most overused of all descriptive words. I have to confess I use it all the time. What can I say?

On someone doing something cool: "That's nice"
On someone going on holiday: "So nice!"
On someone getting something cool: "NICE!"
On someone asking how the food was: "It's nice"

Kinda boring, isn't it? That's as safe an answer as we can get. For all it's worth, it allows us to not say anything else afterwards and the other party will be more or less satisfied with the comment. Genius!

Now I know

What a blue screen of death is like.

Annoying.

I think out of more than a decade of using Windows, I have never seen a real Blue Screen of Death. This isn't exactly sudden too, I kinda expected it, since I innocently put the login executable file in a virus vault due to virus alert! I mean, how stupid could one be?

Anyway, I'm left with no back up, no nothing. This is just perfect.

:D

Hypersensitive

With every heartbeat, I think it's earthquake. Recent years have been the most productive period for mother nature. Aih.

Memory Lapse

I wrote about my rapidly declining memory some time ago. I also wrote about buying the memory exercise book by Tony Buzan around the same time. With sadness I have to report that I have failed to read the book in its entirety. It was already lost in the midst of other abandoned books in my shelf. Why do I thought of this again? Earlier this evening, I was at shower and at one point, I reached out to grab shampoo. Suddenly I was lost on whether I had or hadn't shampooed my hair. I totally couldn't remember! If I had, it must have happened 2 minutes back. If I hadn't, I couldn't be sure. So unaware of my immediate past actions I took that I'm shocked. So unaware of my surroundings that I'm horrified.

I'm not very old. I shouldn't be having memory lapses like this! Why do we forget things? Why do we remember things? Consciously, we tried to remember certain things but can't commit them to memory. Subconsciously, we remember things that come naturally to us. Our subconscious play such an important role in deciding which facts to remember that I believe 99.99% of our memory are controlled subconsciously. I wish I can perfect the ability to control our minds fully. It'll make life so much easier.

Understated numbers

4.5 billion years.

10 to the power of -24 seconds.

60 billion light years.

26 dimensions.

I have to say, these numbers are truly beyond me. Even that is a great understatement. And by that, it's a terribly enormous understatement. And so on...

Human brain is not capable to imagine these things. It took us about 6000 thousand years of civilization to reach here. Yet there are tremendous other things waiting for us to be discovered or understood. I guess learning is never enough. Imagination never has a limit. Who knew this glob of flesh and liquid had the power to think? Great people like Einstein, Newton, and Hawking had the power to think beyond what normal humans can do, and that sets them so far ahead. We need these people, the pioneers who would propel us to (yet to be achieved) golden age. A friend once said, we only use a tiny little fraction of our brains and if we train our minds we could achieve so much more. Our potentials are so great nobody knows what we're capable of yet. In this fast age of communications, few of us really sit down and think each day. All we do is breeze through the day in work and random things. It's no wonder I had such short attention span. There's just so much things to do. Was there ever so little time to think?

Imagine if all 6 billion people sat down and think. Just like the Great Serengeti Migration, over a million animals move at one direction each year and they seem to know where they go when in herds. Leave one alone and it will be lost not knowing its way. Individual can absolutely be great just like the names mentioned earlier. Potentials of collective thoughts must be overwhelmingly greater.

I still can't imagine how long 4.5 billion years were. B I L L I O N years. Nine zeros. Goodness. Enjoy Sunday!

The Beat

One beat, it reverberates through your being.
One beat, you jump up with newfound joy.
One beat, it pounds like your heart.
One beat, you are back in your mother's womb.

Feel it.

For the first time in my life

I cried upon hearing a song.

I was shocked to the core. It sent me sobbing.

Love

What is love, really? Specifically, what interests me is how does a child "understand" the concept of love?

It is often said that all parents in the world love their children. I have no doubt of the truth of that statement. It is then presumable that the parents either say it verbally or say it with actions that we considered 'loving'. Love is a concept. It is - for the lack of better description, as quoted from my favorite source of knowledge Wikipedia - a constellation of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound oneness. I am perplexed by how a child, a young child, if you may, grasp this whole concept of love.

Assume you say, "I love you", to your child every day. They start to develop language skills since 12 months old, but when do they start to understand concepts? I'm sure child expert can easily answer that question. I am not a parent, but let me try. I suppose, in child-rearing, when we say we will do something, it's very important that we do it. In fulfilling our promises, we gain the child's trust. They are observing and mimicking our every action. When we say we love them, they may associate the word 'love' with our every day actions, cuddling them, cooing them, playing with them, caring them (now 'care' is another vague concept), fulfilling our promises. In addition and perhaps most importantly, the intangible emotional connection with the child. I suppose love transmits that way, the accumulation of all our actions and our emotional relationship translate to love.

I may be completely wrong, this is indeed a curious subject to explore...

Happy Sunday.