The Tao of Bejeweled

The Tao of Bejeweled

When the cosmos align in your favour you can reach peaks beyond your imagination, twice as good as your usual ability.

As you set new heights of achievement, you will feel burdened by ever harder targets to meet.

Even when it seems that you are fighting a losing battle, keep fighting and the divine will deliver you. Its gifts are far greater than what you can achieve alone.

Worry only about what is within your influence, any gifts from above are bonuses.

There will be times when it seems that you just busy reacting and making very few decisions. But those few decisions might spell the difference between victory and defeat.

When you find yourself with nowhere to turn to, a fresh new slate will be delivered to you.

Simple acts can move mountains, as log jams are cleared, the dam will be burst.

Every opportunity you take will be another opportunity lost.

Every mistake you make may just lead you to greater glory.

The second worse thing to do is to do nothing.

The worst thing to do is to do nothing because of indecision.

Economic Downturn What?

Interesting article in Media magazine that I thought I would share. It goes a little to describe some symptoms of our current strange economic crisis that seems to hit certain industries very hard but leave other industries benefiting.

Illegal Sex Drugs Kills, apparently.

Saw this horizontal half page two colour ad in the Straits Times last week. Scanned it but never had the time to put it up. I am quite sure this slipped under quite a few people’s radar, so here it is. There are so many interesting things to talk about this ad, I could write a paper about it. The fun never seems to end with this ad, every time I see it I find something new.

At a recent The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) award show, the panel of judges had a casual conversation between themselves and they talked about how the “Ginseng Gives You Power” ad in Geylang Ave 3 was the corniest ad they have ever seen, but at the same time, the best ad placement ever.The ad has been refined with another headline, it has lost its corniness somewhat, but still has pride of place in Geylang.

Flu-like Symptoms Part 2

With two schools announcing closure for a week, the entire 1st year cohort of Republic Polytechnic also staying home, and who knows what the NS guys at Maju camp are doing (I seriously doubt its home quarantine). We need to look at this stage of our fight against H1N1.

Already the disconnect between people who are panicking about H1N1, and people who are blase about it is showing. Someone complained on the Straits Times Forums today that her dad, who went to Maju Camp for IPPT test, and had flu-like symptoms spent $85 going to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and did not get a H1N1 test. Something is seriously wrong with the implementation of the policies.

How about the policies of shutting schools? For the abovementioned schools that are shut for a week, what happens when you have yet another case after this week? Are they going to shut for the whole influenza season? Are parents bringing the virus back home from their workplace? Several companies may already be affected, are we prepared to shut down whole businesses for weeks on end?

The question is this, are our actions to mitigate the effect of H1N1 causing more disruption to our way of life than if we let the illness run its course? Keeping in mind that once a person contracts H1N1, she would be immuned for life and the fact that 1 million Americans have contracted the virus but only 65 has died. Of course, like all medical statistics, it does not matter if the success rate is 99%, if I am to be the 1%. Considering the U.S. relative size and comparatively worse health care system, we stand in better stead to help those who contract the virus recover.

Of course, I would not suggest H1N1 parties, but perhaps keeping our heads level and treating this virus like it is: a treatable influenza virus that kills not any more than your seasonal flu. Let it run its course, let the ill take medical leave and get treatment and not panic about it. Of course, this is not considering the spectre of the virus mutating. Either way, we are wholly unprepared for the virus turning into a deadly strain. How many of us have 3 months worth of food and water stockpiled so we can stay home and avoid all contact for an entire influenza season?

Compared to the deadly H5N1 days, due to the non-deadly nature of the current virus, we are also not having as severe a witch hunt against the people whose irresponsible behaviour has caused infections.

Unfortunately, the reputation of being a virus infected country treats every country differently. While America has the most cases of H1N1 at 1 million, people are more likely to avoid Mexico than the U.S. Largely as an economic necessity. So why is this economic necessity applied to our own society? We are still sending people to Melbourne, the source to many of our H1N1 cases. There is no right way to handle this situation, but besides the saving of lives, maintaining our normal way of life is one of the main reasons why we want to contain viruses in the first place, so if the containment/mitigation effort is causing the disruptions, should it be reviewed? Or have we gone in too deep to backpedal without risking the reputation of the WHO and our MoH?

Fear the Shuffle

I never liked skipping tracks, I never liked shuffling my music. I listen to music one album at a time from start to finish, sometimes the whole discography of a band or artiste in chronological sequence. Old school? Very much so.

I have recently started shuffling some of my music, and have found that it can be quite disturbing at times. I once had a shuffle in Windows Media Player that was nothing but radio friendly hits, I cannot help but wonder if there is a software in there picking out top hits and playing them for some music publisher’s agenda. Not to be trusted.

Then I started shuffling on my MP3 player, I started getting paranoid as well. Knowing a teeny bit about technology, I know that nothing electronic is truly random, they are usually random enough insofar that a human is concerned. But the randomness usually works on some sort of an algorithm. Why are there days when the Gods of Shuffle decide to bestow nothing but depressing music into my playlist? Sure, it was because I had them in my MP3 player, but still the juxtapositioning of songs can be quite mysterious. I began to notice some songs being thrown into the mix more frequently than others. Also two songs by the same band being played in sequence, how in all probability does that happen?

Then there was that occasion a few days ago, when a friend asked if I would like to go see Aimee Mann. I am quite sure I would, but have not confirmed it yet. The bizarre thing was, not one but two Aimee Mann tracks was in my shuffle on the way home from work that day. That kind of sealed the deal for me.

Perhaps I am over thinking this. Surely a cheap MP3 is not possessed by some God of Shuffling that dictates what I listen to. Surely its just pure coincedence…or is it?

*cue Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden

Equality in relationships

I guess everyone knows that relationships built on equality work better. Of course there are no absolutes, and everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. I have always thought about this kinda on a general term.

It was when I have come to know about relationships that some of my 16-19 year old students have that it really hit home. The world of a 16-19 year old is actually quite an equal one. Everyone is a student, regardless of whether they were bright or not, and even if someone is really hot, they would still have their awkwardness from inexperience and youth.

Things change really fast after that age, or rather equality does. Some people make it to university, some people end up in green. Some overseas, some work, some gain extraordinary confidence. And thats when a rather homogenous community of students become a wide ranging diversity of adults. Everything becomes unequal from that point on.

One ends up having to date people quite different from one’s own situation. Different levels of hotness, different education standards (it impacts the sort of conversation one has), different income levels (probably one of the biggest gulfs), different experiences and views, and of course, different ages (and the generation gaps that brings into the picture). Where can the equality be found in all this diversity?

I miss John Peel

After a conversation with a friend recently about needing/wanting to get exposed to new current music, I just realised that I missed John Peel very much. He was my purveyor of good taste in cross-genre music for over a decade, an institution as old as time, but bringing new music of all types to the world. I cannot believe that it has been 5 years since my exploration of new music was under his guidance.

Music on the BBC is not the same anymore without John Peel, no offense to Charlie Gillet and the other music presenters. If any of you out there know any DJ who performs a role similar to what John Peel had done for decades, please let me know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Peel

Save our PILOT Fineliner pens

The PILOT Fineliner pen is getting endangered in Singapore. Previously easily spotted nestling in the shelves of many stationary shops such as Popular Book Shop, it is now driven to extinction and only available at select branches of a particular stationary chain. (Its precise location is concealed to preserve the remaining stock.)

Why is the PILOT Fineliner even worth mentioning? Are there not many other pens out there? One can see a vast range of pens on stationary shelves, too many for the uninitiated to choose from. Its cousin, the PILOT V-series pens for example, are exemplary custodians of the PILOT brand.

A friend in the industry calls the PILOT Fineliner the John Finn pen. The Singapore John Finn, the art director formerly of Beatty Ads, who created the Singapore Girl, and their ads.

I told someone that at $1.10, the PILOT Fineliner is the cheapest orgasm money can buy. Of course, he duely pointed out a cheaper alternative with the five finger discount.

Ink flows like the blood of martyrs from the PILOT Fineliner. The nip rides on paper like a skillful cowboy taming a wild bull. You have no lived until you have sketched million dollar idea on a cafe napkin with a PILOT Fineliner. Simplicity, passion and craftmanship are the hallmarks of a PILOT Fineliner. The only disposable pen that ages well, as its ink reservoirs run dry, the nip develops its unique idiosyncrasies, its signature style. The artist of pens, the pen of artists. (I have no idea what I just wrote, but it sounds great. See how inspiring the PILOT Fineliner is?)

Tell your local stationary shop to stock the PILOT Fineliner. Write to PILOT for them to keep the Fineliner coming to our shores. The pen that witnessed the birth and life of the Singapore creative scene. The creative juices of our fair nation hangs in the balance. SAVE OUR PILOT FINELINER PENS!

PILOT Fineliners are not solitary, at $1.10, they tend to move in packs.

Close-up of the business end of the PILOT Fineliner.

I am not joking. SAVE OUR PILOT FINELINER PENS!

Flu-like Symptoms

Must be a busy few months in the World Health Organisation(WHO) and the various Ministries of Healths(MoH) in countries around the world. They need to juggle between “crying wolf” or letting the ball drop by having H1N1 mutate to a deadly strain and killing a lot of the infected. I have been busy elsewhere too, so have not been blogging much.

The problem with H1N1, the virus formerly known as Swine Flu, is that it just is not deadly enough. Yes, we do have a global pandemic, and the WHO was probably doing the right thing when it kept raising its alert status all the way up to the pandemic level. It did not want the world to be unprepared if the virus became deadly. But this confused all the MoH around the world, they were not seeing people dying in droves, and H1N1 seems like normal seasonal flu to them. With the global media, the people are aware of WHO’s alert levels, so how could MoH not raise their alertness too.

But the MoH and hospitals are on the ground burning resources dealing with what appears to be a normal flu, and running the risk of having a “cry wolf” scenario when the population gets blase about all that high alertness. The issue is that H5N1, the virus formerly known as Bird Flu, was deadly. But there was no pandemic. There is a H1N1 pandemic, but it is not deadly.

Of course, the greatest fear is a pandemic of a deadly flu. That has not happened for many decades, and with global travel the way it is, could kill millions in a matter of weeks. One way an individual can protect themselves against a pandemic of a deadly flu virus is to lock themselves at home, seal all the windows and doors, and have 3 months worth of food and water to ride out the flu season. Does any of us have that? With dispenser bottled water, instant noodles and canned food, it is feasible to have a 3 month supply stored up. People who behave like that are considered insane by the rest of the population, so perhaps the insane would inherit the world.

At this point, H1N1 seems to take only those already weakened by other illnesses. Much like how seasonal flu does. Other medical conditions are commonly written about in the papers. There is a joke going around with the headline “26 year old dies of H1N1 in a traffic accident.” Not in particularly good taste, but it has its pulse on the sentiment of the people on this whole H1N1 situation.

With the Ministry of Education periodically making students in Singapore take their temperature as part of the precaution procedure, I have recently had to deal with a little of this dilemma. They have a little list of questions every student have to answer, such as, Is your temperature >38.5C? Have you traveled to USA, Canada, Mexico, Melbourne Australia, etc.

Of course, the big question is, Are you showing any flu-like symptoms? Uh, half my class is showing flu like symptoms. All through the day, I hear sniffles, coughs, sneezes and the blowing of noses. Should I risk being in charged of a new epi-centre of a local infection, or should I send 12 guys home from school with flu-like symptoms everyone in Singapore gets at some point in the day from sitting to close to an air-conditioner, or coming in from a hot day into a cold office?

Just yesterday I was on a bus and had to sneeze once because the air-conditioning blower was right on my face. Oh shit, what if the lady sitting next to me gets freaked out about H1N1? I stifled my sniffles throughout the bus trip, and when I alighted, I was strangely glad to see that the lady had taken my seat instead, apparently unafraid of infection. Who knows, I might just have spread H1N1 to some stranger on a bus? Who knows, I might already have H1N1? I get flu-like symptoms every day before 9a.m.

Salute to Arsene Wenger

Four years with no silverware, and no apparent successors for Thierry Henry and Patrick Viera. The media and some fans blame it all on Arsene Wenger and his reticence at buying some mature experienced players.

It is obvious that Arsenal has taken a step back from being the top two clubs in the English Premier League to being stuck in the fourth spot. But Arsenal fans still love Monsieur Wenger for what he has brought to the club.

Wenger came to Arsenal to build a squad with English Pound, that he could not in French Francs. He took over the club when their reputation was “1-0 to Arsenal”, which boasted the England back four and keeper. Nigel Winterburn, Lee Dixon, Martin Keown, Tony Adams and David Seaman. Arsenal was never one of the big clubs in England. Even in North London where Tottenham Hotspur is the big club, and it still is today. Newcastle and Everton  probably rank as bigger clubs than Arsenal. Arsenal got big through the vision of Wenger and pure footballing talent, as opposed to a large injection of cash that another London club got.

Wenger signalled his intentions for the club with the first player he bought, Dennis Bergkamp. And what a career Bergkamp had in Arsenal, ending with that 7-0 defeat of Everton in 2005 which demonstrated every reason why people loved Wenger’s Arsenal. But those days are over, and Arsenal went into “transition”.

Youth is the new catchphrase. No one knows if it was born out of Wenger’s own beliefs or the pressures of paying for the Emirates stadium, but it took on a life of its own. So much so that England brought young unproven Walcott to the World Cup, based on Wenger’s belief. Now it has taken over Wenger, who feels that if he had bought older players, he would be letting down the likes of Denilson and Abou Diaby. True enough, so many players matured to become special under his watchful gaze. Matthieu Flamini, was in Cesc Fabregas’ shadow for a year, no one knew what he was doing in top flight football, and then out of nowhere, he grew and matured, to be a holding midfielder to oust Gilberto Silva. Kolo Toure was the most improved player when he went from a stand-in to be a captain quality central defender he is now.

But is that all in the past? Is Wenger past his use by date? He brought Arsenal dreams and glory for a decade, but perhaps it is time someone else had a go? I think more than any other manager in English football, Arsene Wenger is loved for much more than the silverware and the results he delivers. How many of us wish, that in our own lives, that in our youth, we had an Arsene Wenger that gave us a chance? Now I am afraid of Arsenal winning the Champion’s League, because it would mean that Arsene Wenger might deem his job done. His CV filled. He inspires not the love of winning, but the love of football, and the love of dreams and hopes.

Up the Arse!