Saturday, January 24, 2009
el presidente
it wasn't the first time.
in 2001, i went from nobody to president in a matter of minutes. nominated, kicked out of the classroom, votes, went back in. fate sealed. i'd forever be able to claim i was an Editor. the club was a new startup, specially formed to run our school newsletter, thus president = editor. we produced a meagre 8 pages quarterly, played truant to play reporter, and outside of reporting our weekly sessions consisted of sitting around doing jack. i'd say with some confidence it was a popular club.
although popularity is one of the last things on my mind... genuine wtf here...
in 2009, i own the swingers. this dubious name describes a little committee dedicated to the company's recreational welfare. ok, in less suggestive terms: this sexy name belongs to 3 people for a year, suffering the unsexy task of arranging fun events for their traitorous colleagues. now i don't organize. i'm a management critic, but i don't do management. i don't do planning. scheduling. budgeting. pleasing the majority. diplomacy. waking early. scouting and recce. what's good for lunch. halal concerns. entertainment. empathy. phone calls. roll calls. name lists. first-aid kit. seasick pills, even. i never get seasick, and if u know me, u know i pack light for aaaaany trip - only the barest necessities, only for myself.
the selfish called upon to serve.
it's gonna be an interesting challenge.
in 2001, i went from nobody to president in a matter of minutes. nominated, kicked out of the classroom, votes, went back in. fate sealed. i'd forever be able to claim i was an Editor. the club was a new startup, specially formed to run our school newsletter, thus president = editor. we produced a meagre 8 pages quarterly, played truant to play reporter, and outside of reporting our weekly sessions consisted of sitting around doing jack. i'd say with some confidence it was a popular club.
although popularity is one of the last things on my mind... genuine wtf here...
in 2009, i own the swingers. this dubious name describes a little committee dedicated to the company's recreational welfare. ok, in less suggestive terms: this sexy name belongs to 3 people for a year, suffering the unsexy task of arranging fun events for their traitorous colleagues. now i don't organize. i'm a management critic, but i don't do management. i don't do planning. scheduling. budgeting. pleasing the majority. diplomacy. waking early. scouting and recce. what's good for lunch. halal concerns. entertainment. empathy. phone calls. roll calls. name lists. first-aid kit. seasick pills, even. i never get seasick, and if u know me, u know i pack light for aaaaany trip - only the barest necessities, only for myself.
the selfish called upon to serve.
it's gonna be an interesting challenge.
Monday, January 19, 2009
an rhcp analysis
in my email yesterday: "your one sentence story has been approved!" this trivial validation is a great bolster to my confidence. yes we writers are an insecure bunch. go here and click on the thumbs-up. then do it on a different ip. repeat everyday.
anyway last week i'd been reaping juice from rhcp. upbeat tunes for the spirit, always good shit. after a few long and raucous medleys, i finally realized the pepper appeal in a slow number: "under the bridge", 1992.
if u know this song, u'll hear it playing in your head right now. it's a signature peppers' tune. simple riff, simple voice lead, and then - an interplay of the guitar and vocals. like 2 complementing personalities. this is what i think makes the appeal. guitar, vocals, drums, bass - each instrument and each player has his distinct personality. attitude, character, flavour, whatever. and in different songs, these different components shine at their own places.
i reckon if u think about it, u'll realize appeal comes in certain parts of certain songs. and more often than not it's when one instrument takes the spotlight. whether it's the guitar weaving melody and rhythm, or the playful amble of the stout bass, or the drums going loco. these showcases of individual strengths are tautly balanced and never overdone as a whole, which is what makes the dynamism of the red hot chili peppers.
on top of it all are the lyrics that bypass rationale thought, nonsensical yet perfectly intuitive...
anyway last week i'd been reaping juice from rhcp. upbeat tunes for the spirit, always good shit. after a few long and raucous medleys, i finally realized the pepper appeal in a slow number: "under the bridge", 1992.
if u know this song, u'll hear it playing in your head right now. it's a signature peppers' tune. simple riff, simple voice lead, and then - an interplay of the guitar and vocals. like 2 complementing personalities. this is what i think makes the appeal. guitar, vocals, drums, bass - each instrument and each player has his distinct personality. attitude, character, flavour, whatever. and in different songs, these different components shine at their own places.
i reckon if u think about it, u'll realize appeal comes in certain parts of certain songs. and more often than not it's when one instrument takes the spotlight. whether it's the guitar weaving melody and rhythm, or the playful amble of the stout bass, or the drums going loco. these showcases of individual strengths are tautly balanced and never overdone as a whole, which is what makes the dynamism of the red hot chili peppers.
on top of it all are the lyrics that bypass rationale thought, nonsensical yet perfectly intuitive...
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
friends from the north and east
sunday, early evening. i awoke to mom rapping on my door, saying david's on the line.
there's a phone in my room, with the wire unplugged. see, calls to the house number are next to never for me, and i only use my phone when i need it, so otherwise it's disconnected. i never know when it's ringing. that's also how bro methodically ignores house calls. his phone stays connected, but that's just becoz it has a volume control.
like threading a needle, i squinted groggily to clip the wire into the handset. david was in town just for the day, in transit back to penang. i dragged myself out of bed, and went out for dinner with him.
last i saw him in kl was (after much debate) 4 years ago. i'd been using my mom's mobile then, and he was unable to reach me on that number. that's becoz incidentally, my parents use their mobiles with the same disregard i show with my room phone. they make calls, they seldom answer them. it runs in the family - we're all similarly disconnected that way.
david's an old housemate, one of the first people i befriended in melbourne. we talked about old times, recent times, melbourne life. david's also an economics/finance kinda guy. so we also talked about job vs career, car prices, recession, taxes. once in a while he'd give me random statistics, percentages, the big 4 trivia, those kinda things. same old david, same old animated gestures and sudden kangtao's and northern hokkien. and i guess same old me, with my careful sentences in mandarin and being hopeless as a kl tour guide.
monday morning. got another facebook message from elaine. she was in town too, for some meetings. i gladly fled work at 8pm for dinner.
elaine also ranks as one of my first friends in melbourne, having a beautiful jawline and a sweet sabah-an smile. a multimedia design grad working in the dept of environment (yes the freakin government of malaysia!). we talked about her ongoing conservation projects, my current online eco game/site, workworkwork... which then gravitated to life goals, lofty dreams, traveling. elaine's also an enigma, very much the intrepid explorer... with an entrepreneurial spirit... who wants to go back to studying. wtf? then again even back then, she'd always had her own private agenda.
cameras! - i fooled around with her lumix fx50 and kinda got a feel for the panasonic ui (nothing u can't get used to, unlike switching from nokia to sony ericsson). i feel like an lx3. she feels like a dslr.
in reflection, i could be thinking of college friends and college housemates. or the strange way life gives u strange connections in faraway cities. or the stranger way how graduating points everyone's thoughts to financial security. i could be thinking how i ever learnt to hold conversations on such vastly different topics. or the paradox of these social efforts of mine: me, who (over)sleep in on weekends with the phone unplugged.
but i just suddenly feel damn happening.
there's a phone in my room, with the wire unplugged. see, calls to the house number are next to never for me, and i only use my phone when i need it, so otherwise it's disconnected. i never know when it's ringing. that's also how bro methodically ignores house calls. his phone stays connected, but that's just becoz it has a volume control.
like threading a needle, i squinted groggily to clip the wire into the handset. david was in town just for the day, in transit back to penang. i dragged myself out of bed, and went out for dinner with him.
last i saw him in kl was (after much debate) 4 years ago. i'd been using my mom's mobile then, and he was unable to reach me on that number. that's becoz incidentally, my parents use their mobiles with the same disregard i show with my room phone. they make calls, they seldom answer them. it runs in the family - we're all similarly disconnected that way.
david's an old housemate, one of the first people i befriended in melbourne. we talked about old times, recent times, melbourne life. david's also an economics/finance kinda guy. so we also talked about job vs career, car prices, recession, taxes. once in a while he'd give me random statistics, percentages, the big 4 trivia, those kinda things. same old david, same old animated gestures and sudden kangtao's and northern hokkien. and i guess same old me, with my careful sentences in mandarin and being hopeless as a kl tour guide.
monday morning. got another facebook message from elaine. she was in town too, for some meetings. i gladly fled work at 8pm for dinner.
elaine also ranks as one of my first friends in melbourne, having a beautiful jawline and a sweet sabah-an smile. a multimedia design grad working in the dept of environment (yes the freakin government of malaysia!). we talked about her ongoing conservation projects, my current online eco game/site, workworkwork... which then gravitated to life goals, lofty dreams, traveling. elaine's also an enigma, very much the intrepid explorer... with an entrepreneurial spirit... who wants to go back to studying. wtf? then again even back then, she'd always had her own private agenda.
cameras! - i fooled around with her lumix fx50 and kinda got a feel for the panasonic ui (nothing u can't get used to, unlike switching from nokia to sony ericsson). i feel like an lx3. she feels like a dslr.
in reflection, i could be thinking of college friends and college housemates. or the strange way life gives u strange connections in faraway cities. or the stranger way how graduating points everyone's thoughts to financial security. i could be thinking how i ever learnt to hold conversations on such vastly different topics. or the paradox of these social efforts of mine: me, who (over)sleep in on weekends with the phone unplugged.
but i just suddenly feel damn happening.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
09 resolutions
1) do a backflip
