que pasa

...the new natural wonders of the world!

Saw this deck of slides of the newest natural wonders of the world.  Some are breathtaking.  (Some were photoshopped a bit too much though)

You know, if we do end up being able to live on Mars, then when we want to introduce where we live with some sort of detail to people living from the other planet, it might end up being quite a mouthful. We'd have to add "Earth" to the end of our address. Like:

Clementi, Singapore, Earth (3 pieces of info)
Drake Street, Vancouver, Canada, Earth (4 pieces of info)
Downtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Earth (5 pieces of info)
Some street, some area, some zone, some region, Mars (5 pieces of info)

Don't ask why I was thinking about this. I don't know either. It just happened.

Just watched a DVD of a Rod Stewart concert. I have to say he can be quite entertaining. Never thought I would say this but I would like to go to his concert with my mom if the opportunity arises.

He dresses well, speaks well, and he knows his stuff. He makes you feel comfortable, like you can trust him, and ideally, he would be an honest reliable person. He leads yet possesses no airs, he shares his knowledge freely so that people around him become better people. Helps if he looks good too.

In case you were wondering, I was talking about Mr. Right as far as work is concerned, although upon reading what I just wrote, it sounds very much like a personal ad. “SAF (single asian female) seeking handsome, pleasant, reliable, knowledgeable man, etc, etc, etc. “Oh well.

What I mean to say is that it has become increasingly clear to me that in order for any project to succeed, you need the right person to lead it. You need someone who knows that industry, knows what smooth running operations should be like, what he (or she) needs to do in order to get things into shape.

I have never considered myself a business person and the 5ok5ok project has proven that. I just could not get it to fly. Recently I found this guy, GOP, who comes from the industry and he joins the team today on a trial period for a month. If he proves to be as good as I think he is, the project will take off. I want GOP to do well, because that means that the company will do well, and then I can move on to other things. At least other things that I am better at.

GOP, despite his very quiet manner, is a breath of fresh air to the team. Simply because he knows how things should be done. Because he has experience and customer resources to fall back on. While he may not be leadership material, I think at this point he fills a big gap in a team. My guys (and myself) have much to learn. Maybe with the right support, he will rise up to really drive business and bring it to great heights.

Anyway, my heart feels much lighter today. On his first day of work GOP already brought in sales, albeit a small amount. But heck, if he keeps this daily sales income going, that is definitely putting us on the right track. Now I hope to be able to recruit more sales people to help push the sales, and then recruit more people to do backend. But most of all, I need Mr. Right (or Ms. Right) to lead this business. Because he will think up a plan, find the right resources to cover all the bases and make things happen. I am not saying that GOP is not the right person, but until he proves to be so, I need to keep looking.

I truly feel that we are on to something. I have such big plans for how this project is going to end up. It is going to be huge! But I also know that I am getting ahead of myself. I am counting my chickens before they hatch. A very real and immediate challenge faces us and I must keep searching for the right people.

Yesterday night we found a fish outside our door. It was from the neighbour's indoor pond located about nine feet from the door. We had no idea how the fish made it that far - the pond wall is about knee high and that little fish definitely was not built to leap out that far.

The poor guy was still breathing, we figured he might not have been out of water for that long. For a moment Melvyn and I were motionless, we just stared at the fish and wondered what we would do. Finally we took one of our small dustbins, washed it, filled it with water, picked up the fish and let it into the water. The fish started swimming and spewing out all the dust and dirt that it had picked up while breathing in air outside. So we had to change its water.

During the course of the fish’s overnighter with us, I would keep checking on it to see if it was still alive. I was not sure if it would make it through the night, but I hoped that it would. We returned the fish today. The neighbors had not discovered its disappearance, thanked us and threw it back into the pond.

Why am I writing about this? Because in spite of my helplessness in my current situation, I saved a life. I know it sounds silly because it was just a fish, and it will never remember me, but I was reminded that that we can always make a difference to somebody’s life. We can touch someone's life in ways we never expect, or we can be a hero to someone without us even realizing how significant our action was to them, or we might really be a hero and save someone’s life seeing as how there seem to be so many disasters and accidents these days.

I guess we just have to be watchful and see how we can make this world a better place.

In the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, Julianne (Julia Roberts) has a pact with her best friend, Michael (Dermot Mulroney), that if they do not get married by 28, they will marry each other.  That was Plan B.  (Plan A, of course, would be that they would find someone before then, although Julianne certainly was not counting on Plan A to come through.)  My friends and I joke about doing that sometimes - making these pacts so that we have a backup plan to eternal singleness. 

I was catching up with Mr. ROTC the other day and he was telling me about him and his Korean ex-es.  He thinks they are really cute but feels that they get too serious too quickly for him.  Talking about marriage and stuff.  So those girls got their hearts broken.  Better sooner than later, I suppose. Meanwhile I was complaining about my love life, or the lack thereof.  About getting no love.  Then he said it - “I’ll marry you.”  Wow.

So apparently, Plan B is, after he finishes his current contract, he plans to be in South East Asia for the next 20 years.  He likes Indonesia, and thinks he will go there to set up a library.  Then he will bring me over and we will get married.  We will have a place with a beach front, lots of sun and sand... lovely...  But we were just joking of course.  Nice to have something to brag about though.  Heh.  :)

My real Plan B is to live with my friends who are still single – it will be like Friends, but we will all be 50+, 60ish I suppose.  I have not issued any invites yet because I do not know yet who will still be single then.  I will just play it by ear.  It will be great because we will have community, the chores get split up, and our overheads will be reduced.  Can you imagine a bunch of old fogies sitting around and laughing our asses off about our rheumatism, back pains, poor eyesight, the impudence of young people, reminiscing our younger and wilder days, trying hard to escape our share of chores for the day, behaving like young punks and paying for it the next morning?  Young spirits in old bodies.  Yup, that will be us.

So, if this blog is still going by the time I call for membership in this Old Fogey community, and you are still single, leave a comment.  You will be contacted regarding the registration and interview process.  We can talk terms after that.  Haha!

Mr. Trees is currently writing his thesis on "Ecological Restoration of Urban Singapore" (or something like that). I think he has got some good ideas brewing and I hope he enjoys writing it. This is my piece to express my support.

They say that Singapore is one of the "greenest" cities in the world - I guess the Boys in White are happy about that. I think we can do better because it is still too hot. Take today for example. It is steamin', man! We are stuck at the equator, and no amount of air-conditioning will ever solve this situation we have. So if I could change one thing to the face of this nation, I would convert the whole Orchard Road into a pedestrian walkway - above ground, not the underground stuff we are so used to here. Then we can start "greening" other parts of the country in a similar way. (There is nothing wrong with shopping in the caverns below - we are afterall land-strapped- but human beings were born to be in the light, and we should make use of the natural abundance available here.)

Imagine a cooler and greener shopping district - how lovely! A cobblestoned or tiled Orchard road means no motor traffic (the subway is underground, and the two roads running parallel to Orchard Road are for motorvehicles). There will be lots of trees - the big rain trees that provide lots of shade, the weeping willows that sway with the wind, and the other type with very big and thick foilage - to provide a thick buffer of leaves between us and the sun. People resting at numerous park benches, or at coffee shops or pubs lining the entire stretch. Big white umbrellas to provide shade where the trees have not reached. Shopfronts that extend far out to reach shoppers milling in and out of the stores. Proper design will ensure good air circulation to keep the place breezy. We do not need fancy flowers that require high maintenance. "Cool, green and clean" done nicely is beautiful!

Yes, there are problems arising from such development. The birds (and their droppings), the disruption in traffic patterns, and maybe even severe implications on businesses. Do not get me wrong - I appreciate driving around the city and the mobility the car provides. But it is time for Orchard Road to revamp itself and distinguish itself from a typical retail area. Something radical like this makes a statement about how we value the world, how we distinguish ourselves and how we prepare a home for the future generation. The money is not in having a better shopping district, but providing the sui generis shopping experience. In our shrinking world, it is not about what we sell and at what price, but about how good it feels to be here.

I can see it already. It is gorgeous. But those trees need about 20 to 30 years to grow. We need to plan for the transformation now in order to keep it as smooth as possible. When other countries want to replicate such an environment, it will be great to give back to the world in such a way. Or, if there are already cities developing such areas, we can learn from them and improve the experience. Would it not be awesome to see more green areas popping up in cities around the world? We are so adept at modifying the natural environment to suit our needs and activities - deforestation in the name of national and economic development - so how is this any different?

We are the generation that excels in living in the "now". When I grow old, that will still hold. I want to be able to sit somewhere cool, sunny, shady, and breezy in a country that is safe, clean, with facilities within easy reach. So do many other people - young and old. Singapore has many things going for it to make it that place; we just need to tweak it a little more. I do not want to be known as "the air-con generation"; or worst still - "Generation X" - what absolute insignificance!

We are so much more, and you know that. I am going to write in to the powers that be. See if I can make a difference and show that I care.

P.S. If you have an opinion on this, please leave a comment!

So I heard that the local news agency was recruiting newscasters, why not give it a shot? You never know how far you will get. Today, I can humbly say I know I will not get very far.

I always thought all newscasters had to do was read the teleprompter. Therefore, all you need to do is be confident, read and speak properly. What is so hard about that? So I sent in my resume. They called me in for an aptitude test this week.

Now you have to understand it has been eons since I took a test for anything. And it was not multiple choice questions. Worse still, it required me to write by hand! (My handwriting is better described as chicken scratches - ! will testify to that) An hour and a half later, I emerged with a somewhat sore ego and three pages of messy scrawls. Not holding my breath for the results.

I do not know. Maybe it was a general aptitude test for anyone who wanted to enter the news media industry. I could have sworn that newscasters do not need to know the answers to some of the questions. Should have studied for the damned thing… oh bother.

Anyways, this is just me trying to figure out what I can or cannot do well. Nice to have such experiences to talk about, to say the least. Who knows, maybe a position for journalists who turn nothings into somethings will emerge. Then I can send them the URL for this blog, and maybe I will make the cut.

So, azzamac invited me to his studio to do some recording of some scripts the other day. Quite an experience.

First, the place. When we think of DJs, the image we see in the movies comes up. The gargantuan headphones, the immense switchboard, the microphone hanging overhead, the big comfy chair, the PC by your side, the big glass window for people to look through. Azzamac's studio was the same, just smaller. It was nice though, a cozy room.

Second, the script. You know the comfortable feeling you get when you tune in to your favorite DJ? I always wonder how they can convey the impression that the listener and him were just picking up from their last conversation, and like they even know your favorite song or color. Yet they actually have no idea of your last crime, whether you are a male or female, or even whether you are listening or not. Gotta give them points for that. So the script that I had were peppered with warm greetings like "Hello friends! I am very glad that you are listening in to the show today" and "I hope you will tune in to the next show, so farewell my friends!" I do not speak like that at all, so I was laughing inside whenever I read those phrases.

Third, the content. These scripts were about countries in Asia, the land, its people, animals, and local food. Something like Discovery Channel in 3 minute segments. The intention was for people learning English to listen to the recording as they read the written script. So I had to speak slowly. I think normal speech is around 250+ words a minute, and DJs probably clock 160-200. But for this audience, I had to do 80-100. I speak pretty fast, so it sounded very odd to me. Actually, I think the word "dopey" is quite an appropriate description. I mean, its one thing to try to be a documentary commentator where you just keep going, but documentary commentators never have to say things like "Wow, that is quite a leap!" or "That is an amazing talent!" or "I would love to have some of that food!" So there I was, trying to sound genteel as a commentator should, and get all excited (but still at the pace of 80 words/min) when these sentences came. Go ahead, you try!

All in all, I thought it was good experience. And for a good cause too. They say that listeners can "hear" expressions even when they cannot see your face. As we replayed the recordings, I began to understand what they meant. I could tell when I had a smile on my face, or if I had a "what-the-heck-is this-word" look even. So, the next time some one calls you on the phone, smile, and say, "Hello friend!" :)

Recording clip on Sri Lanka:
eng_wow_sri_lanka_land.mp3

Recording blooper (the right word should be "Bangladesh"):
wow_blooper.mp3