Over breakfast, a friend casually mentioned about this book titled 'The Secret'. This wasn't exactly how the conversation went, but if I could have scripted it, it would have gone something like this.
"Do you know about the Secret?"
What secret?
"The Secret."
What exactly is this secret you're talking about?
"It's a secret."
Nonsensical, but I'll defend myself with the excuses of sleeping too little, having too much coffee and staring at my monitor for too many hours. Anyways, like I said, this 'Secret' is a self-help book that talks about these laws of attraction. After a little wikipedia, here's what I found.
'Supporters will hail this New Age self-help book on the law of attraction as a groundbreaking and life-changing work, finding validation in its thesis that one's positive thoughts are powerful magnets that attract wealth, health, happiness... and did we mention wealth? Detractors will be appalled by this as well as when the book argues that fleeting negative thoughts are powerful enough to create terminal illness, poverty and even widespread disasters.'
Sounds like a bunch of spirituality hogwash to me. And I thought it was about finding positivity and channeling that into real effort, real work - and of course with that, comes real success. Oh, wait a minute, that's how people succeed right?
+ Avedon
If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up. - Richard Avedon
Trying to instill this thought into my mind right now. It helps that I've a project deadline for this workshop that I'm taking, and really need to shoot daily to meet it.
Trying to instill this thought into my mind right now. It helps that I've a project deadline for this workshop that I'm taking, and really need to shoot daily to meet it.
+ Commies
Qingming's here and I went to 'sweep graves' of my ancestors in the morning. Not that there's any actual graves for us to sweep at all. In a land-deprived place like Singapore, we house the dead souls like how we house ourselves - in high rise, multi-story gray concrete buildings. I wonder if they've ludicrous 99-year rules. "Oops, sorry. Your soul's been bumming here for 99 years. You need to buy a new slot or get the hell out."
I noticed something funny, not for the first time, but it's just that it amuses me everytime I notice them. Bank notes, comes in denominations of 1000,000,000,000. I guess Heaven and Hell must have pretty inflated economies.
Then we brought the offerings to this huge furnace and waited in line for attendants to collect our offerings and dump them in. If you've been to the crematorium at Bishan, you know how it looks like. Very impersonal. They take and throw, take and throw. If that's the way it is, all those 'money and treasures' we've burnt for our ancestors.. they must have gone to some sort of communal fund for there's no way in hell (or heaven) that they would be able to sort it out. They... must be Commies.
I noticed something funny, not for the first time, but it's just that it amuses me everytime I notice them. Bank notes, comes in denominations of 1000,000,000,000. I guess Heaven and Hell must have pretty inflated economies.
Then we brought the offerings to this huge furnace and waited in line for attendants to collect our offerings and dump them in. If you've been to the crematorium at Bishan, you know how it looks like. Very impersonal. They take and throw, take and throw. If that's the way it is, all those 'money and treasures' we've burnt for our ancestors.. they must have gone to some sort of communal fund for there's no way in hell (or heaven) that they would be able to sort it out. They... must be Commies.
+ How We Fare?
I'm sure a lot of us are feeling like little school children waiting for their exam grades. But in this instance, we're looking forward earnestly to hear about the good we've done for the Earth Hour movement. Some hard facts that will give us a pat in the back and say, 'Good work lads, we've done well!' Some hard facts to let the harder facts slide further into the recesses of our mind.
- In the past three decades, one-third of our planet's resources have been consumed.
- 75% of the global fisheries now are fished at or beyond capacity.
- 80% of the planet's original forests are gone.
- In the Amazon alone, we're losing 2000 trees a minute. That is 7 football fields a minute.
- You can find out more depressing information here.
Right guys, we're all going to die ;)
- In the past three decades, one-third of our planet's resources have been consumed.
- 75% of the global fisheries now are fished at or beyond capacity.
- 80% of the planet's original forests are gone.
- In the Amazon alone, we're losing 2000 trees a minute. That is 7 football fields a minute.
- You can find out more depressing information here.
Right guys, we're all going to die ;)
+ random notes
I sat at mr tea just now and watched people fling frisbees around the SMU garden. I can never get the point of frisbee - be it super frisbee, ultra-hardcore frisbee, ultimate frisbee or whatever other names they use to glorify this 'sport'. Frisbee, only good for dogs bored from scratching their own balls.
Took a train home and eavesdropped on a conversation beside me. These two students were talking about their 'long term plans' and the subjects they enjoy.. chemistry, history etc. And I thought to myself that..
- subject grading and its whole system is terribly flawed. It focuses more on information retention and memory skills than understanding, problem solving and real knowledge. If I'm a teacher, I'll never praise my students to be smart or call them stupid. I'll simply say, "Wow, you can memorise quite a lot of shit."
- I would have paid more attention during Physics classes if I had watched Mythbusters and picked up photography back in secondary school.
- I should have never dropped AEP.
- Chemistry will still be boring for me now.
- And Maths would be a lot worse.
Took a train home and eavesdropped on a conversation beside me. These two students were talking about their 'long term plans' and the subjects they enjoy.. chemistry, history etc. And I thought to myself that..
- subject grading and its whole system is terribly flawed. It focuses more on information retention and memory skills than understanding, problem solving and real knowledge. If I'm a teacher, I'll never praise my students to be smart or call them stupid. I'll simply say, "Wow, you can memorise quite a lot of shit."
- I would have paid more attention during Physics classes if I had watched Mythbusters and picked up photography back in secondary school.
- I should have never dropped AEP.
- Chemistry will still be boring for me now.
- And Maths would be a lot worse.
+ And there was...
Left the book I was browsing on the bed, went to get a drink and came back to find this. The light streaming in was so delicate and beautiful, it actually compelled me to take a few photographs.
+ space macaques
Lately, it feels as though I've lost that little ability I had for writing and the need to express myself that comes along with it. This niggling feeling, its like an invisible giant leech and it is slowly sapping away my energy. Honestly, I think I'm feeling lost. Lost like the rhesus macaques we sent into space.
Poor chap. I wonder who's worse off ? Someone with a rough idea of where he's heading, but not a clue on how to get there. Or one who has his final destination and all the 'getting there' figured out for him. I suppose both are equally bad, but I should at least be thankful that I won't be pissing in my pants this whole while.
Poor chap. I wonder who's worse off ? Someone with a rough idea of where he's heading, but not a clue on how to get there. Or one who has his final destination and all the 'getting there' figured out for him. I suppose both are equally bad, but I should at least be thankful that I won't be pissing in my pants this whole while.
+ all you need is
According to the heavenly chinese divination and fortune telling mambo jambo, I, along with millions of other Ox-year-borned people are suppose to suffer from pretty shitty luck for this entire year. I'm a firm non-believer of horoscopes, fortune telling and their likes, but honestly, all that negativity is just too good to not indulge in. And true enough, my luck had been pretty shitty since the nine replaced the eight. I guess to put it shortly, things are not working out the way I'll like them to.
But I had a strange run of good luck this week. An ex colleague passed on a few jobs to me, I worked a bit and met two photographers that gave me a little bit of encouragement. One told me to just go ahead, dive into the deep end, go overseas and shoot like mad, while the other taught me a simple lesson. She asked what I wanted to do, I told her my story and the thing is, I guess I made my goals sounded a lot more difficult to get to than it already is. So she said: "If things come so easily, no one will cherish them.
I type this out now and it may sound corny, but at that moment and premise, it sounded like a verse of lyrics lifted off from any of the many inspiring Beyond classics. At the end of it all, I can't help but to feel grateful for the little tiny bits of kindness shown to me by this friend and the two photographers that I hardly know.
Things aren't so bad, really. I'm pretty sure everyone of us will get through in due course, economic recession, ridiculous ERP taxes or what not. Like they always say, All You Need Is Love.
But I had a strange run of good luck this week. An ex colleague passed on a few jobs to me, I worked a bit and met two photographers that gave me a little bit of encouragement. One told me to just go ahead, dive into the deep end, go overseas and shoot like mad, while the other taught me a simple lesson. She asked what I wanted to do, I told her my story and the thing is, I guess I made my goals sounded a lot more difficult to get to than it already is. So she said: "If things come so easily, no one will cherish them.
I type this out now and it may sound corny, but at that moment and premise, it sounded like a verse of lyrics lifted off from any of the many inspiring Beyond classics. At the end of it all, I can't help but to feel grateful for the little tiny bits of kindness shown to me by this friend and the two photographers that I hardly know.
Things aren't so bad, really. I'm pretty sure everyone of us will get through in due course, economic recession, ridiculous ERP taxes or what not. Like they always say, All You Need Is Love.
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