My Asian returnees feature is finally out on Reuters. Picked up by a number of news websites:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/04/AR2009070402687.html
I'm off to Vietnam. See you, whoever you are, one month later.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Pasajero
The last two weeks were fruitful, I think. I went to a few arts exhibitions, but the most memorable one was a photo-video project by Spanish artist Xavi Comas. It was titled Pasajero, which has two meanings -- passenger and ephemeral -- and portrayed the beauty of impermanence through the images of travellers in the Tokyo subway system. Here is the artist's eloquent description of his own artwork:
"During my last night in Tokyo I showed these photos to a melancholic Japanese taking drunken refuge in my hostel. Staring at me he related, in a bitter tone -- you and I 'Ichigo Ichie' -- an expression, he explained, that was quoted from a 16th Century Tea Master and means 'one meeting, one time'.
Every meeting with someone, whether a stranger, or a friend we see often, should be treasured because it will never recur again. The photos taken in these trains are instances in the lives of others, suspended moments trapped in the unstoppable fluidity of time.
We all are Pasajeros, travellers of life, a life which fleeting nature causes us to feel sorrow, however, there are depth and beauty to be found in this impermanence, when at least we recognise it."
"During my last night in Tokyo I showed these photos to a melancholic Japanese taking drunken refuge in my hostel. Staring at me he related, in a bitter tone -- you and I 'Ichigo Ichie' -- an expression, he explained, that was quoted from a 16th Century Tea Master and means 'one meeting, one time'.
Every meeting with someone, whether a stranger, or a friend we see often, should be treasured because it will never recur again. The photos taken in these trains are instances in the lives of others, suspended moments trapped in the unstoppable fluidity of time.
We all are Pasajeros, travellers of life, a life which fleeting nature causes us to feel sorrow, however, there are depth and beauty to be found in this impermanence, when at least we recognise it."
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Making choices
Nowadays I do things at my own whim and fancy, and it's kind of nice. Being the master of my time again, waking up in the morning with no idea what I'm going to do for the rest of the day, booking a concert in the last minute because I'm interested and because I can, going to a dance performance by a virtually unknown group at some far-flung place because my friend asked me out of the blue.
I've decided to go to as many arts performances as I can in the week before I leave for Vietnam. I've been dismissing modern art as pretentious rubbish, but I realised I actually have little understanding of it. If I say something sucks, I want to do it in a more informed way, rather than just brushing it aside based on my personal bias.
I want to be more open to diversity, more tolerant of differences, more inclined to say 'yes' to people. I think the process of being such a person requires some suspension of judgment and greater exposure to things I knew nuts about. Ignorance tends to breed suspicion, and suspicion breeds intolerance, and intolerance breeds frictions. We can do better than that.
If people were to ask me what I believe in, I think I would be hard-pressed to say that I'm pro-this or pro-that. But one thing I can say quite confidently is that I'm against extremism in any form, be it religious intolerance, political far-right/left, bigotry, unrestrained capitalism, etc. I think everyone has his own space in this world, and if one tries to expand his space, another will push back. Every act has a reaction, no matter how subdued.
I can guess what some people will call me: a fence-sitter. But I must say that I've been greatly influenced by Amartya Sen's Identity and Violence - The Illusion of Destiny. He said most of the world's problems stem from how people see others based on a singular identity, which is often along the cultural or religious lines. They tend to overlook the fact that a person can be many things at once. Being moderate is also a form of a stand.
I'm at the stage where I'm not sure what my identities are, and which to assign priorities to. I think a decision is meaningless when it is made in the absence of choices, or the knowledge that there are existing alternatives. So my game plan right now is not to close off any of my options. We'll see where I'll be one year, five years from now.
I've decided to go to as many arts performances as I can in the week before I leave for Vietnam. I've been dismissing modern art as pretentious rubbish, but I realised I actually have little understanding of it. If I say something sucks, I want to do it in a more informed way, rather than just brushing it aside based on my personal bias.
I want to be more open to diversity, more tolerant of differences, more inclined to say 'yes' to people. I think the process of being such a person requires some suspension of judgment and greater exposure to things I knew nuts about. Ignorance tends to breed suspicion, and suspicion breeds intolerance, and intolerance breeds frictions. We can do better than that.
If people were to ask me what I believe in, I think I would be hard-pressed to say that I'm pro-this or pro-that. But one thing I can say quite confidently is that I'm against extremism in any form, be it religious intolerance, political far-right/left, bigotry, unrestrained capitalism, etc. I think everyone has his own space in this world, and if one tries to expand his space, another will push back. Every act has a reaction, no matter how subdued.
I can guess what some people will call me: a fence-sitter. But I must say that I've been greatly influenced by Amartya Sen's Identity and Violence - The Illusion of Destiny. He said most of the world's problems stem from how people see others based on a singular identity, which is often along the cultural or religious lines. They tend to overlook the fact that a person can be many things at once. Being moderate is also a form of a stand.
I'm at the stage where I'm not sure what my identities are, and which to assign priorities to. I think a decision is meaningless when it is made in the absence of choices, or the knowledge that there are existing alternatives. So my game plan right now is not to close off any of my options. We'll see where I'll be one year, five years from now.
Friday, June 19, 2009
It is finished
I'm feeling the same way I did a day after I ended five months at Mizzou and found myself back in Singapore.
Part me of knows too well that something significant is over, but another part is still on suspension mode, as if it's trying to digest the news bit by bit.
Words are suddenly elusive, and feelings hard to pin down.
I don't see the point of listing down the things I've done to prove that the last six months at Reuters have been worth it. But I can rest easy now knowing that I'd done as many things as I can, and the best I could. It's like resting on a pile of hay with peace of mind, knowing that I've fought a good fight.
Next: a month-long school/business trip in Vietnam from 5 Jul to 2 Aug, and then back to school.
Part me of knows too well that something significant is over, but another part is still on suspension mode, as if it's trying to digest the news bit by bit.
Words are suddenly elusive, and feelings hard to pin down.
I don't see the point of listing down the things I've done to prove that the last six months at Reuters have been worth it. But I can rest easy now knowing that I'd done as many things as I can, and the best I could. It's like resting on a pile of hay with peace of mind, knowing that I've fought a good fight.
Next: a month-long school/business trip in Vietnam from 5 Jul to 2 Aug, and then back to school.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Food for thought
Had a great dinner at Food for Thought, this hole in the wall eatery near Bugis where the chefs, the waiters/waitresses and the customers are all equal parts nice people. And very interesting people, at that. A simple question of "What is the Chinese word for tanks?" (Don't ask) to the girl next to me, who is also sitting on a stool facing the chef in a bar-like setting, led to a long conversation about work, the meaning of it and what makes her happy. She's an ER doctor who holds her pork-ribs-cutting knife like she's holding a scalpel, by the way. Proof of how much work can define you.
My friend said something which kind of affected me a lot, because I was struggling with precisely what she said.
"Don't hold on to things that don't last."
I'm like a dog in that once I bite something, I won't let go. This habit had caused me grief a number of times, because holding on to something that doesn't want to be held is both tiring and painful. But I think it's also something that some people like about me, the fact that I'm passionate enough to give 100 percent of myself to things I find worth it. Maybe if I were to change, if I were to be more balanced (that's my buzzword nowadays), I would lose a part of me that is actually likeable. Not that I'm that desperate to be liked, but at least I would want to be liked by people I care about.
Knowing when to put 100 percent of yourself and 50-50 of yourself,
Knowing when to go all out and when to hold back a little,
Knowing when to hold on and when to let go,
Knowing when to say hello and when to say goodbye or see you again someday,
Knowing when to realize you're just not that important to some people,
It's hard, but it needs to be done.
My friend said something which kind of affected me a lot, because I was struggling with precisely what she said.
"Don't hold on to things that don't last."
I'm like a dog in that once I bite something, I won't let go. This habit had caused me grief a number of times, because holding on to something that doesn't want to be held is both tiring and painful. But I think it's also something that some people like about me, the fact that I'm passionate enough to give 100 percent of myself to things I find worth it. Maybe if I were to change, if I were to be more balanced (that's my buzzword nowadays), I would lose a part of me that is actually likeable. Not that I'm that desperate to be liked, but at least I would want to be liked by people I care about.
Knowing when to put 100 percent of yourself and 50-50 of yourself,
Knowing when to go all out and when to hold back a little,
Knowing when to hold on and when to let go,
Knowing when to say hello and when to say goodbye or see you again someday,
Knowing when to realize you're just not that important to some people,
It's hard, but it needs to be done.
Friday, May 22, 2009
What do you live for?
I'm going to Vietnam on a one-month school trip after internship. It'll be quite business-centric - meeting businessmen and economics students, visiting companies, etc. - although it'll be balanced by hopefully fun activities, like going to the Vietnamese pasar malam, silk village and a rice paper workshop.
Other than that, I'm being worked to death nowadays, not by my editor, but on my own volition because I really have to finish my work on time. This week I had two phone interviews with US-based people at 9 pm and 10 pm on consecutive nights for my news feature. It's kind of weird working in an empty office.
Right now work seems endless - I have three company interviews next week, interviews for my news feature, and the whole buro has to work on weekends next week for Shangrila Dialogue, a meeting of regional defense ministers. I'm not complaining because between too much work and no work, I prefer the former, but honestly I'm really looking forward to a day when I can rest all day long, without worrying about unfinished business. I've been having a weekly margarita fix to compensate for the lack of rest days, which is bad news for my wallet because, bloody hell, one glass of the damn thing costs 10-15 bucks. If you want to give me something for my birthday, please give me a margarita-making machine.
Tonight I went for a talk on sex trafficking by Somaly Mam, a Cambodian former child prostitute who has won international recognition for her tireless work in helping sex slaves. Her daughter got kidnapped and raped as a revenge attack, but she pressed on because she said she has hundreds of other daughters to fight for. Some of the girls she rescued out of the brothels in Cambodia are now university graduates, professionals, award-winners.
The golden quote I love so much from her, when someone asked her how she deals with stress:
"How do I deal with my stress? Whisky."
She lives for her girls, wholeheartedly and without regrets. And it makes me wonder, what do I live for?
Other than that, I'm being worked to death nowadays, not by my editor, but on my own volition because I really have to finish my work on time. This week I had two phone interviews with US-based people at 9 pm and 10 pm on consecutive nights for my news feature. It's kind of weird working in an empty office.
Right now work seems endless - I have three company interviews next week, interviews for my news feature, and the whole buro has to work on weekends next week for Shangrila Dialogue, a meeting of regional defense ministers. I'm not complaining because between too much work and no work, I prefer the former, but honestly I'm really looking forward to a day when I can rest all day long, without worrying about unfinished business. I've been having a weekly margarita fix to compensate for the lack of rest days, which is bad news for my wallet because, bloody hell, one glass of the damn thing costs 10-15 bucks. If you want to give me something for my birthday, please give me a margarita-making machine.
Tonight I went for a talk on sex trafficking by Somaly Mam, a Cambodian former child prostitute who has won international recognition for her tireless work in helping sex slaves. Her daughter got kidnapped and raped as a revenge attack, but she pressed on because she said she has hundreds of other daughters to fight for. Some of the girls she rescued out of the brothels in Cambodia are now university graduates, professionals, award-winners.
The golden quote I love so much from her, when someone asked her how she deals with stress:
"How do I deal with my stress? Whisky."
She lives for her girls, wholeheartedly and without regrets. And it makes me wonder, what do I live for?
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Live through this, and you won't look back
Went through hell week:
Fever, flu, bodyaches but NOT swine flu.
Two company interviews in one day with companies dealing in a sector I knew nuts about beforehand.
Everything else went to the sidetrack, or rather got pushed back to next week.
Next week will soon come, and I don't know how I'll get through it.
My work right now is exciting, but maybe a little too exciting.
Every day is like going into a new battlefield.
But I'm still grateful for all these.
Fever, flu, bodyaches but NOT swine flu.
Two company interviews in one day with companies dealing in a sector I knew nuts about beforehand.
Everything else went to the sidetrack, or rather got pushed back to next week.
Next week will soon come, and I don't know how I'll get through it.
My work right now is exciting, but maybe a little too exciting.
Every day is like going into a new battlefield.
But I'm still grateful for all these.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
