the joy of reading newspapers

there's a common accusation that youngsters these days would rather spend 24 hours surfing the Internet than spend an hour reading newspapers. something like that.

guilty as charged, much as i would like to make a retort to that comment. not all youngsters, surely, but that bit about Internet preference is true. while newspapers started out serving the purpose of updating the latest affairs to the public, new media has now taken over with the capability of being much more immediate. and so youngsters like us argue, we can still read news on the web, what.

while newspapers are mostly text in black and white, new media exists in all forms, shapes, sizes and colors. in this era of embracing blogging and user-generated content, it's no wonder that traditional print media are going digital and extending a UGC platform for collecting public opinion, big or small.

but obviously print media in Singapore is still going strong. as a PR practitioner, media monitoring is part of my job scope and i am "forced" to read the papers every morning. a year or two ago i would have prefered to do my media monitoring online, but now i look forward to flipping those flimsy pages everyday.

i remember how my parents used to painstakingly nag at us to read the papers every weekend. and as a teenager i hated it. the only stuff i read were text out of my textbooks, martial arts novels, and the then-iWeekly. my parents went to the extend of forcing the paper on us and demanding that we rehash at least 3 news stories to them after they got back from the wet market. so i would scream a little in my head, memorize the first three headlines i see on the front page, ruffle the newspapers violently so it would look like it's been read, and then head for a session with my brick-game or tamagotchi.

and then i always wondered how my dad could poop in the toilet for almost an hour and come out with the papers under his armpit and with a contented (and hence wiser) look on his face.

now i do. perhaps it's a matter of growing older, or perhaps it's just a habit you build. i'm beginning to enjoy the nostalgic feeling of sitting on the couch on a lazy sunday morning, sipping a cup of hot coffee and leisurely taking in the latest updates of the world. that's something new media can't possibily give. if anything, reading off your screen probably damages your eye-sight in the long run.

my favorites are the weekend papers. generally lots of lifestyle news get thrown in. and that serves the purpose of a weekend paper, doesn't it? unless it's earth-shattering, disastrous news, who wants to be bogged down by serious, dreary reports on the two days you get to rest? there are sections that i truly enjoy - local news, commentaries. and then (oops,) there are the sections i always skip: money, sports, finance and investment, and... the obits.

i used to hate having to vacate a large space to accomodate for their sheer size, and disliked the black stains on my fingers after thumbing through a day's edition. when i first started picking up the habit, i would robotically and religiously flip the paper till i get to the last page, congratulate myself for finishing with the papers, and go wash my hands. but i wasn't exactly taking anything in. i was merely very targeted at "being done".

now, "being done" takes on a whole new meaning. i look forward to picking up the huge stack of papers each day; i take good note of the headline news; i cut out articles i would like to read at my own leisure; and i try my best to analyze the straight reports.

my father challenged me once; i knew oil prices are rising, but do i know why? i was stumped. and then he gave his post-blow consolation: maybe you're not that interested in economics, but try your best to understand why things happen.

and then i knew. reading the newspapers is as much of an art as writing those news stories. and understanding what you're reading and why you're reading the papers, is only paying justice to the effort that goes behind a journalist's/editor's work.

and hence, kudos to all youngsters who read the papers, and i salute all parents who make their youngsters read the papers.

on brands and self-branding

while sitting down for a leisurely cup of coffee so hard to come by these days, my colleagues and i were on the topic of "brands".

the word "brand" connotes several different explanations in today's consumer-corporate society.
- the consumer brand -- your Prada wallet, your Gucci handbag, and your apple iPhone.
- the corporate/product brand -- the purest Evian water for the health conscious, the stylish Sony Vaio notebook every modern fashionista must have.
- and the self-branding -- Amicable Amy, Resourceful Randall, Passionate Peter, Confident Connie.

what we so eagerly chirped about were consumer brands, which inevitably leads to the newly embraced obsession towards self-branding.

Colleague W related her experience of shopping together - and separately - with a friend of hers. while she went for 49.90 bags, her friend was trying on 499 clothes. and according to W, her friend "ain't necessarily lookin' shit hot in those 499 clothes".

and those two friends shall never meet. well at least, not in terms of priorities.

is it a matter of salaries and positions? or do these two friends simply possess starkly different priorities? why do some working people not think twice about spending half their paychecks on an LV handbag, while others see no problem with using $10 ones sold at pasar malams or on pushcarts?

some argue that they pursue brands for a better fit with their job nature. wouldn't a 30-year old sales manager look "more pleasing to the client's eye" carrying a Prada tote, a Gucci coin pouch, an LV namecard case and a Givenchy tissue holder? and wouldn't a Marketing Director feel more empowered with a Montblanc pen clipped on his coat's breast pocket?

W went on to illustrate their differences by explaining how she justifies her decision to buy a poorer-quality $20 bag by dividing the price into cost-per-usage units. "If this $20 bag lasts 40 times of usage, that works out to only $0.50 per use. Isn't it more worth it," she quipped rather adorably.

no doubt about that. I stand by this interesting justification method. in fact, instead of splurging $4000 on a Chanel bag, i can own a hundred $40 bags of different designs and functionalities. that's like, having a new bag to carry every 3 days.

now, it may seem i have a personal grievance against expensive brands. that's not true, i just have a problem with peeps who view the wearing of branded goods as the best way of self-branding.

self-branding is now touted as absolutely necessary in order to standout in a workplace, aside from performing well in your job scope. but self-branding does not mean, layering yourself with brands.

certainly, conventionally and typically, only successful people can afford these highly-prized (and highly-priced) possessions. but most of these successful people are termed successful for a reason. they understand the talents and personality traits they possess and they work hard to make it known in their workplace. in other words, they are valued and recognized for their personal brand and not for the physical brands they carry. just as how marketeers brand their products with emotional adjectives to engage a tad of top-of-mind recall in people's minds, surely your CEO would take better notice of a daring, driven manager than a character-less YSL-draped mannequin?

while i'm still working hard to prove myself in a workplace crowded with pools of talents, a once-in-a-while soul-searching is needed to complement the hardwork i put in. Gucci or no Gucci, making your boss sit up and notice you has got to be far more superior than receiving envious stares due to your latest brand-worthy splurge.

the question of value

It's probably not right, but i want to cackle a little at the recent debate on "Running Fan", the teacher who fled his classroom, leaving his students behind on the day of the 512 earthquake in Sichuan.

Running Fan said, "in the fleeting moment of life and death, i could only consider sacrificing myself for my daughter, I would not care about other people, even if it were my mother..."
and then he was bombarded for not upholding the Chinese values as an educator should, amidst the many heroic stories that got to the media, stories celebrating self-sacrificing quake victims who gave no second thought to saving the helpless children.

Is Running Fan immoral? Or simply being honest? To me, his much defensive comment is unsurprising and not new at all. Certainly there are tons of people out there who would behave exactly the same way and say exactly the same words he did.

What's interesting and worth the debate, is in questioning whether the Chinese value of self-sacrifice still holds strong with the country's people, or with the Chinese race.

I'm reminded of a past friend of mine when i was studying in Canada. One of his weird mantras: 人不为己，天诛地灭。or simply put, every man for himself. He's not an unkind man, but he sticks by his views. Although I said nothing to him then, I couldn't bring myself to agreeing with his perspective. And I wonder if it's because I'm a true Chinese at heart, and he's not. He had almost the same family background and upbringing as I had -- Traditional parents who were devout buddhists, family's not filthy rich but able to live comfortably and send their children to study abroad. So why the difference? Is he born that way or is he just being practical and honest? Or, is he just trying to be different?

There are extremely kind people and there are those who live only for themselves. And then there are those out there like me, who will only know when the time comes for us to prove ourselves and the values we so loudly advocate.

What is so important to the economy nowadays - the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility masked under the desire to better brand a corporate image - places considerable doubt on the real value of goodwill and self-sacrifice.

But while society gets shaped by increasing economic wealth, at least we know that millions of Chinese out there are still fighting to uphold the values they have so strongly believed in since the days of Confucius.

when we learn to save and savour

Lee Siew Hua wrote about being financial-saavy in today's ST Insight:
"Learn to be money-savvy the Big Mama way".

Big Mama - the grandmother who was born poor but who managed to live a life of total financial independence. In the now-context, someone who is self-reliant in his/her own financial matters.

This "self-reliance", i feel, is truly thought-provoking and worth a few moments of some serious pondering. Especially to those of my generation - coined the Y-generation who are probably still much-oblivious to the word "independence".

Who needs independence when you obviously have a tight-knit nuclear family catering to your every need -- from cooking you a meal everyday to paying for your handphone bill, and buying you a car just so you don't have to squeeze with fellow "less-fortunate" train commuters every morning and inhale that toxic concoction of Hugo Boss + perspiration?

Of course, to many peeps independence can mean being able to get to one place or another without having your parents drive you around. But when we finally toss our graduation caps into the air and shout "freedom!!", what's next?

We find a job, get paid a few thousand dollars a month and start to work out our daily, monthly, yearly expenditures. Handphone bills, check. Daily travel expenses, check. Food and entertainment, check. Weekly shopping for clothes and shoes, check. The trip to MOS every Friday, check check check. Savings, ch... oh well maybe next time. We'll see how things go next month.

Siew Hua asked, "Do we know how best to stretch our hard-earned dollars each month or for the next three, five, or 10 years?"

Suddenly a disturbing visual popped up in my head. Amongst a plethora of outstanding bills and credit card payments, I eagerly hammar and crash open my huge-ass piggy bank, only to find a year's savings of impulse-Topshop-purchases.

Scary, no doubt. But the real impact might never come. It would never dawn upon us how we can better manage our hard-earned money so we can have the early-retirement we often dreamed of.

I am as clueless about my finances as thousands of counterparts my age. I was pretty horrified at the sky-high number on my latest credit card bill. And then I felt a wave of nauseau and a sudden urge to run to the nearest lottery booth.

Maybe, if we really really think about it, life is mostly about making priorities. Whether or not decision making stems from being emotional or practical -- we splurge $300 at the salon for that dye-job and perm-job, arguing that when we look good we feel good, and hence we do better and get good prospect or opportunities in society.

That, of course, still holds true. At least I still root for the argument above because it has worked for me. But over the years the mountain of desire to look good and feel good has somewhat diminished to a mole-hill of simply wanting to appear pleasant. Other priorities - such as star performance at work and practical self-branding -- has taken over giddy consumerism habits.

I'm still clueless with financial literacy. I think complete financial independence from your family helps somewhat. Somehow when we're thrown in the desert, most of the time we can find our own waterhole.

And then we learn to save, and savour our own findings.

莫名

终于忙完了吗？

感到前所未有的一种。。。莫名的疲累。

继续努力

佳佳努力的第三天.
有了小小的进展.
感觉, 较踏实.

相信不久后, 将能拥有世界.

继续, 继续地努力吧, 好吗?

My Love Language

The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Quality Time
with a secondary love language being
Physical Touch.

Complete set of results

Quality Time:		11
Physical Touch:		7
Acts of Service:		6
Words of Affirmation:		4
Receiving Gifts:		2

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

接下来的人生

我想, 我好象放开了一些些.
虽然还是沉默寡言.
但, 头顶上遍天的乌云好似开始慢慢散开.

感激无尽 -- 很多很多人.
感谢他们在我的身边打转.
为我, 懂我, 劝我, 爱我.

我也该学习爱一爱别人.
如果, 我还爱得不够.

接下来的路, 应该会很坎坷.
但是应该会坎坷地值得.
我会真诚地期待接下来的人生.

成功与幸福,
你们一定要等我.

end of the world

i feel sick. and it's only monday.
every music beat from 987fm rings so loudly in my ears.

deafening.
just like my own heartbeat.

the air in the office is dreary and possibly stale.
and i'm... finding it hard to keep myself alive.
if there were any words to explain for how i feel right now...

... there are no words.

i know it's not, but why do i feel like it's the end of the world?

inner peace

amidst the load of rubbish i dreamt of last night,
i only remember myself going through some intensive swimming training...
... with David Archuleta.

funny huh.
he's a skinny boy in real life and an even skinnier one in my dream.

ugh. i need some inner peace.

喊什么

哭过了，
是不是就可以不当一回事了？

心，还在隐隐作痛。

在没有办法想通的状况下，
我好像败给了身边的人。

开始怀疑这一切的发生是不是因为伤害过他人而得来的报应。
这么一来，正在承受的不都是我应得的吗？

无法停止胡思乱想。
我真的真的不想继续这样下去了。

能用什么办法解决？

真的很心伤。
可是好像没有人可以体谅。
都用着装满自己想法的针，
往我身上拼命地刺。
刺得我无法喊停。

然后他们就会问，
这根本就是小事一宗，你到底在喊什么？

我到底在喊什么。

看来坚强的我,
为什么。。。

太扯太傻

觉得自己挺没用的。
每一次事情发生，
什么都不会说，
就只懂得哭。

还亏自己是 comms 人物。

什么时候才可以有勇气把脑海里所有的想法，
一句一句地说出来？

不懂，自己在害怕些什么。

自己的人生，不是该由自己争取的吗？

拿着小棒槌不断往桌面猛敲。
这好像是我唯一懂得发泄的方法。
可怜地小棒槌给我敲歪了吧。

心情低落的时候，总是有着一些奇怪的想法。
我想到了自己奄奄一息的时候，
事情才总算有个圆满落幕。

这样，太扯，也太傻了吧？

可爱脸蛋

百忙忧郁中,

有小千千的可爱脸蛋陪伴.

感觉, 没那么累了.

远在北京的她, 瘦了一些些.

是好事, 女孩子不该太胖的吧.

呵呵呵.

疯了疯了疯了!

我需要发泄!!!!!!

加油

好忙好忙好忙...
快喘不过气了.

要提醒自己不能停止呼吸.

加油! 加油!

爸妈回来了

:)

for narnians

Prince Caspian was quite a blast.
Entertaining.
And exciting enough for me to hold back my bladder and resist the urge for that much-needed toilet break.

Amidst deciphering the thick inaudible accents of the Telmarine characters, I was mesmerized throughout. But, not as mesmerized as I was with the first flick:
Chronicles of Narnia - the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (which one of my bosses has conveniently named "the animal, the cupboard, and the LKB (try decoding this :P))

Anyway, I read the first book when I was younger. "Stole" it from my cousin's bookshelf.
Back in those days everything just seemed less real and more magical.
I loved Aslan, and often wished I had such a "god" in my life.
And I absolutely hated the White Witch.
And it's so amazing that every fairy tale creature you've read about in Enid Blyton books comes alive all at one enchanting place. Hell, even the trees in Narnia are magical.
Bottomline is, C.S. Lewis is a genius.




Prince Caspian was a little less magical, probably because...
well, the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve are all grown up and oddly, less believable.
(Wait a minute, are grown ups less believable?)

Nonetheless, for those of you who're looking for a less scary version of Lord of the Rings,
Prince Caspian is it. :)