40 posts tagged “observations”

(I just read Magjunkie's post on environmental consciousness and this is my super-belated response)

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We try very hard to be green, but it can get pretty...trying, if you would pardon the pun. For one, I have a low tolerance for clutter, so keeping recyclable items in the house has to be systematic and neat or I'd be sorely tempted to throw them all out. Also, being green comes with an extra workload. Yes, extra workload:

- washing and drying used plastic tubs/glass jars instead of throwing them out

- patiently peeling envelopes open instead of ripping them apart, so that we can recycle them for internal use at our workplaces

- sifting through our junk mail to salvage flyers with only one printed side, so that we can use the blank sides as note paper

- recycling old newspapers, magazines, junk mail

- recycling punched out paper - yes those little paper polka dots can be recycled too!

- sorting old bills and letters and bringing them to the office for shredding

- saving cardboard packaging from products that we buy, and flat-packing them for easy storage (we don't have much space in our home and whilst waiting for collection day we can't just chuck all these in the storeroom  - we have none!)

- saving pretty fashion tags for re-use as bookmarks or gift tags

- sorting our recyclable stash into paper, plastics, fabrics

- bringing our own shopping bags whenever situation or cargo permits

- I also avoid buying products with unnecessary, excessive packaging. Have you seen how much plastic and paper some manufacturers use to box up one thumbdrive? Enough to box up 20! My pet peeve, for sure. To be truly green, we can't just rely on recycling alone - we need to cut waste at its source. Why consume what we don't need in the first place?

I think that's about all. I realise I have not done much in conserving electricity and water though. Gotta work on that.

This isn't meant to be a morbid discussion - but a personal, matter-of-fact reflection on suicidal thoughts.

Many people have pondered upon this question: "Why would a person make plans for tomorrow if he was going to commit suicide today?"  And from this question, suspicions of the circumstances of the death arise.  While I do not dispute that this indeed could be a clue to foul play in some cases, sometimes it may not be that strange for a person to plan for a wonderful life ahead and then suddenly decide to end it all.  Inconsistence and contradictions are part of human nature, are they not? To use a local colloquial term - people can sometimes be like "roti prata" (an Malay Indian pancake),  flipping back and forth between their perceptions and decisions. More so for a deeply troubled soul struggling between sudden bursts of optimism and the quicksands of depression. Who's to say when he crosses the boundary between the two? Haven't you felt on Cloud Nine one day, only to drop into the pits the day right after? The only difference is how long one holds out till the next Cloud Nine. If we manage to hang in there and wait it out, we may get enough "happy fuel"  to top our tanks up with and continue with our journey. Some don't last till their next Cloud Nine, run out of gas midway and thus cut their journeys short. Not that bizarre, in my opinion.

And on the other hand, there are perfectly happy people who live their lives from day to day with nary a plan for the next hour, let alone tomorrow.  In fact I think many happy people fall into this category - they are happy-go-lucky, trust that nature will run its course, and therefore enjoy each day for what it is worth without worrying unduly about tomorrow. Does the absence of future plans mean these people are at a higher risk of suicide than those who plan? I should think not.

My point? Suicidal thoughts and plans for the future are not necessarily inversely correlated.

I noticed this at Chitose Airport, while in a state of extreme boredom in between delayed flights. The Japanese call their airports "空港", a variation from the chinese term "机场". It didn't strike me until then that "机场" was an inaccurate translation of "airport" - it translates into "a venue for aeroplanes". The term is apt in its own right, but it’s a very utilitarian way of defining an airport - a little too flat for my taste."空港", in contrast, is an accurate translation of air-port. There’s a beautiful symmetry too : Sea-port~海港; Air-port~空港. The word "port" (港) is also richer in its symbolism than the word “venue” (场).  港 connotes entry/exit point, and brings to mind images of business/cultural exchange and its associated hustle and bustle - all in all a more vibrant and philosophical representation of the functions of an airport than a mere venue for aeroplanes to land at and take off from.

I like it! I want to call Changi Airport 樟宜国际空港!

 

昨天, 我赏了我的"冰点冷瞪眼儿" 给几个陌生人, 用眼神告诉他们, "你们很没礼貌!"

"没礼貌大奖"的幸运得主如下:

 

• 在我正在过斑马线时, 无视我的存在而继续行驶的货车司机. 你的"没礼貌" 指数很棒喔, 不但没把车子停下来,连减一减车速, 也省了.
  
  
• 在文礼地铁站赶着投胎的朋友们. 乘客还没下车, 车箱是挤得满满的. 你们堵住出口,我们下不了车,你也是上不了车的! 赏你们"没礼貌兼没逻辑大奖".

 

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(奇怪, 怎么都和交通有关...)

Yesterday, after a late lunch with friends, I sat at a bus stop waiting for my ride home. I was about to get up to board my bus, which was approaching the bus stop, when along came this granny, who sat down beside me, and asked me to let her know if  I see Bus #33 on the way. It was apparent that her eyesight's quite poor. I reasoned that since I'm a student currently, time is what I can spare. Certainly spending an extra 15 min with this granny to wait for her bus, was worthier than reaching home 15 min earlier and what...catch 15 more minutes of TV?

And so, began our 15-min journey. I say 15-min journey, rather than a 15-min wait, because the friendly granny took me on a brief tour of her life and family in that short span of time. While we waited at the bus-stop, she spoke fondly of her younger days, how she brought up her four children, how each of them are doing currently, and the achievements of her grandchildren which she is so clearly proud of. Oh yes, there was an element of showing off as she rattled on, but that's how many old folks are, aren't they? Reaching the end of their journey through life, it's only understandable that they want to take stock of their life, of what they have achieved on their own or through their children.

Interjecting her own narrative at times, she would ask about me - how old I am, where I live, how many people I have in my family, etc. On finding out that I'm married, she promptly dished out grandmotherly advice on how to get along with my in-laws, emphasizing that this is the same advice she has given her own grandchildren. It was a curious feeling, to have a stranger shower maternal affection upon me.

When I waved byebye to her as she boarded #33, I realised that in that 15 minutes, the granny had given more to me than what I'd extended to her. Was it friendship? I'll remember this 15 minutes for a long time to come.

近几年, 身边的朋友很多都升为爸爸妈妈级. 与他们闲聊的时候,话题总会围绕在他们的小宝宝身上.

谈及宝宝的未来, 朋友们充满着憧憬. 要存钱让他上某一所大学啊, 培养他在某某方面的天份啊, 等等经典的"怕输" 心态都展露无遗. 这是他们自己也承认的. "我不怕别人说我怕输,只要是为了孩子好, 什么都值得!"

朋友当中, 有些是我在求学时期认识的, 曾一起经历过读书考试的压力, 也曾因达不到父母的期望而一同感到失落, 败挫. 怎么摇身一变, 换了个角色, 唱起了不同的调子?

有的甚至还说, 要把孩子管得严一点, 限制他在外的时间, 交的朋友都要经过一番删选.

我惊讶地问, "啊? 孩子哪有让你管得那么严啊? 你忘了我们自己的童年吗? 最讨厌父母管得太多, 没有自由. 你们的童心跑哪儿去了? 应该站在孩子的立场想想嘛."

朋友回答说, "童心还在, 我没忘记我的童年. 是你还不懂父母心. 将来你有了自己的孩子, 你自然就会理解了."

啊? 是有了孩子后, 生理上有所变化, 所以心态也会随之改变吗? 好奇妙. 不过, 将来若我也当上人家的妈妈, 我想我会尽量在童心与父母心之间找到平衡. 相信偶尔能和孩子一起用童心看这个世界, 是一件很美丽的事.

 

夜间的文礼, 出乎意料的热闹.  晚上下了课,从学校乘车到文礼中心, 一路上都是寂静, 下车前那一刹那总会因眼前突如其来的一片繁华而惊奇.  十点多了, 车站仍是人山人海. 赶着回家, 赶着上夜班, 每个人的脚步都很快.

站在匆匆而过的人群中, 仿佛在看一部加了速的电影.  路人沉默不语, 象黑白电影.  还没打徉的小贩在一旁大声叫卖, 成了黑白电影不协调的配音. 

惊奇过后的下一秒,我也下车了, 从观众席匆匆地走入那黑白电影里.     

An imaginary interview with Art. The interview took place in my head, on my way home from thou-art-too-faraway-Boon Lay earlier on.

 

You are a hit with both the critics and the man-on-the-street. What is your secret to success?
"Please don't judge me based on critical acclaim. I was not intentionally high-brow to impress the panel. I was fortunate they appreciated my perspective. And no, don't judge me based on my mass market appeal either. I did not mean to be commercialised. I just happened to speak their language."

Oh, you mean you don't really care what people think about you?
"Oh no, no, don't get me wrong. It's nice that they liked me, but it's not my measure of artistic success. That will be too contrived, to try so hard to win people (whether arty or auntie) over, and lose my message in the process.  My purpose is this. As long as what I have to say comes from within, it doesn't matter whom I appeal to. What's important is that I said what I wanted to say." 

Would it matter if people _don't_ get what you were trying to say?
"It'd be a pity. I'll keep trying to get my message across. Maybe I'll change the way I express myself, but my message should remain. What came from within shouldn't be sacrificed for the sake of being lucid. After all, some people find Art bordering on insanity at times!"    

Describe yourself in two sentences.
"I am what I am. Art can't be defined in certain terms."

In an earlier post, I talked about the excessive, and more often than not, unnecessary use of plastic and paper in product packaging. Over the weekend, Thomas and I went shopping and our purchases included a couple of these eco-unfriendly examples.

• Vitagen Collagen - each plastic bottle came labelled, a second layer of plastic on which design elements and product information were printed. They could have printed directly onto the bottle (like the normal Vitagens) instead of using the plastic labels, which serve no practical purpose.
  
  
• Seahorse Pillows - we bought two from the neck support series. Each pillow came wrapped in plastic. which we felt was OK in this case, for hygiene reasons. No sense skimping on the necessary. However, each plastic-wrapped pillow was also individually packed in a heavy cardboard box, which was a complete waste of resources in our opinion. The pillows aren't fragile and don't need the protection of an extra box. If the purpose of the box was to carry product information, they could have replaced the box with a simple one-sheet flyer which they can slot under the clear plastic cover.

 

Just some real-life examples which I wanted to highlight. I'll add to the list as I encounter more instances.

Local media has been giving a lot of attention of late to environmental issues, thanks to Mediacorp's Green Campaign, an initiative that kicked off on 7th July 2007 (070707) with the Live Earth Concert. Last night's news carried a segment about the balance of business/consumerism with saving the Earth. Midway through the report, I glanced at the NEA recycling bags sitting in the corner of our living room, and simply had to agree that businesses have a big part to play in our efforts to go green.

Thomas and I are fairly diligent when it comes to conserving and recycling. I sort through old documents regularly - those with both sides printed go into the recycling bag, those with one side blank are set aside as note paper. Junk mail, old magazines, flyers and receipts are collected and stashed into the bag as well, and envelopes are brought to the office for reuse. Since years ago we stopped sending greeting cards altogether, opting to design little e-cards of our own - personalised and environmentally friendly. These are the little green things we do, small efforts which we hope make up the big picture.

But then there are things we realise are out of our hands. The amount of plastic that we end up putting into the recycling bag, for example. Empty shampoo and detergent bottles - some brands just aren't available in foil packets. Shrink wrap from magazines - why can't they simply tape the sides and stick on a mailing label? Loads and loads of plastic packaging to make products look larger than life. Last weekend I bought a canvas case for my Ipod Nano and it came in a hard plastic shell 4 times its size. And last month, a tube of sunscreen that came in a plastic box. Why do I need the box? The sunscreen's sitting securely enough in the tube, thank you.

What's the big deal, some may ask. You send these plastic boxes for recycling, don't you? The thing is, we won't even need to recycle any of these, if these unnecessary trash weren't even generated in the first place. It's a lose-lose situation really. The companies spend extra effort on the packaging in the production line, the consumers pay for the plastic frills in the final price, and then at the end of the day it just happily ends up in the trash, expending more effort as it goes into a recycling factory, or worse, occupying a piece of our Earth while she lasts, its non-biodegradable soul continuing to haunt the galaxy after Earth's destruction...
 
This is a discussion that has been done to death by many others, I shan't go on.
So, yes, businesses out there, hear hear! There are big things to be done for the environment!