Mastering Chinese language

I remembered when I was here in July, I kept my mouth shut most of the time. Not because I didn't want to open it but because I had difficulty understanding and being understood by the Chinese here.

What could easily be understood back home, sounds like a foreign tongue in the benchmark capital of Mandarin. I struggled to pronounce the "zhi chi shi", "zi, ci, si" and so on. I had to consciously enunciate my words and ended up speaking slowly and rather deliberately. Sometimes, I even slip up and use English instead.

That is not all. I could never understand menus that didn't have English descriptions on it. Not that I cannot read, but I was a slow reader, looking at character by character and then piecing the whole phrase together to make sense of it. It was labourious reading Chinese, be in dishes in menus or ads on trains. I didn't like to read and I left all the ordering and all the money handling to my travelling companion.

That is utterly humiliating. For a Chinese to not be able to be understood well in Beijing. And to think that I'm in the media business, serving as a role model for our local Chinese majority audience. I'm ashamed.

Chinese is a difficult language to learn because there does not appear to be a consistent grammatically structure. And words you don't know will remain unknown unless you check it up at the dictionary. Just because you know 爱 is read as "ai" doesn't mean 缓 carries the same hanyu pinyin. Checking up in the dictionary isn't as simple as flipping to page 467 under alphabetical order. You need to first know how the word is formed. Usually there are two parts to the word and you will need to count the number of strokes it takes to write the first part, look it up, go to the relevant page that features all words with the same part. Next you need to count the number of strokes it takes to write the second part, look for the word under the column, before being directed to the actual page where the word is being explained. After knowing how the word is read and it's meaning, one ideally should take a look at how this one single character is paried up with others to form verbs or nouns. There it is a slow and painful process to learn a single new word. For a country like ours, where speed is the prerequisite for everything, it is no wonder people are not interested in the Chinese language.

I can understand why teenagers don't like to read Chinese books, especially if it was a habit not inculcated from young. When you meet so many foreign words in a page, you end up looking up the dictionary (if you do in the first place), which remember, is a very long process (compared to searching a word in English) so often, you lose track of the content. And if you're like me, after knowing how the word is read and what it means, you still need to look word by word and then piece the sentence together to make sense, you'd much rather discard the book and the dictionary along with it.

But unfortunately, this is the only way out to learn Chinese. There's no shortcut to mastering this language because it is precisely the many steps you need to go through that will let the words sink in. In secondary school, we always have plenty of Chinese homework, because for every one story in the textbook, we'll be assigned about 40 words, of which you need to write in an exercise book, the meaning of the word, form a sentence with the word, pair the characters up with others, or even find words that look similar, noting their hanyu pinyin.

All of us had to use those thick hardcover exercise books that the "old school" shophouses use to keep their accounts in check in order not to be carrying many small books around. That was how I learnt Chinese.

Today, as I explore the streets in Beijing, conversing with the Chinese, making notes, I'm glad I had gone through the many hand-breaking nights, growing corns on my middle finger because of excessive writing, to finish my 笔记 which I still keep today。So at least when an uncle tells me his surname, that it is “戴帽子” 的 “戴“，I won't confuse it with "袋鼠" 的 "袋“. Being able to write truly impressed the locals, especially since they do not think Singaporeans speak Mandarin.

I still have trouble understanding and using a lot of Chinese terminology, like how do you refer to megapixel in Mandarin? I still have to pause to think how do you say 10 000 in Mandarin because I have a tendency to say 十千 instead of 一万. And is ５０００万 50 million? I have learnt, from reading the local papers, that "front load washing machines" are called 滚筒洗衣机。And that over here, Aids is “艾滋病” instead of our ”爱之病“.

The stuff I've learnt in school is slowly coming back to me when I am compelled to read and converse in Mandarin. With only Chinese newspapers to read, I am forced to make meaning of the words, and I'm gradually able to read much faster. Most of the time I can understand the words used in the papers, except when they are doing a translation from English, like saying "Manchester" in Mandarin, that I'll take some time to figure where they are talking about. Otherwise, I can still remember a lot of 成语 which is used very widespread in the articles, because they are short and straight to the point hence saving space.

Husband and wife: 伉俪 sounds better than　夫妻
Rest and conserve energy: 养精蓄锐


For me, I'm lucky to have the opportunity to be immersed in a culture that allows me to polish my Mandarin and arouse interest in what used to be a big part in school. Now I only wished I had a chance to do a 笔记 and have all my words corrected by a teacher. Doing all that Chinese homework took up the most time I remember, but at least today, I am proud to say I've not lost all that knowledge. It lies at the last drawer in the bottom file, waiting to be taken out, dusted and used again.

与陈凯歌合作

在酒店非常偶然转到“无极”的幕后拍摄波道。

老实说，无论你拍什么戏，对演员来说，要求是一样的。接吻亲热戏，大家都还会有些尴尬。

每个演员对自己都有一定的期望，无论是我们的本地制作，或是象陈凯歌的武侠片，演员所表演的情感是超越电影的类型。

我非常感兴趣地看了他们的幕后花絮，真的很想有机会拍武侠电影。飞来飞去，消耗的体力肯定比拍时装戏还要多，但就是想要领那个经验。

陈凯歌是个非常温和爸爸型的导演。可以看的出他有很创意的想法，对片子剪出来的效果也都很请楚，所以他的积极，对演员非常有感染力。“无极”里有资深的张柏芝，也有新人，　但我发现演员仍然需要导演的鼓励，有时还得跟演员说应该怎么演。我自己希望每个take 都能够靠我对角色和剧情的了解来演好。所以有时导演让我看playback之后，跟我说我那里做的不够，或是应该怎么演，我就会觉得自己好像不够专业。虽然这样，但却还是感激导演给我机会进步。

跟好的导演合作对每个演员是一个千载难逢的机会。我没有资格评论谁是好导演谁不是，但以我个人的看法，一个好的导演不仅知道自己在每场戏里所要掌握的感觉，也要与演员有沟通，让我们知道他对我们的要求。做的好，给予鼓励，做的不好，耐心地解释怎么进步。一个好的导演能够感动我，能让我在对自己最绝望的时候，让我有感而发，角色真情表露。

记得不久前去试镜了。当时的那一场戏虽短，但是却是个非常感人的一幕。我没法做到，因为对手不在，由一个工作人员代替，真的不容易。可是导演却很温柔地跟我解释那场戏的重点。结果，我也没想那么多，眼泪跟着台词簌簌流了出来。我真的被感动了。

所以当我看到陈凯歌跟“无极”中的演员说同样的话时，我深深的感受到那股激情。难怪柏芝最终也做到了。

与陈凯歌合作拍电影将会是我演艺事业的梦想之一。

Digital divide

There is division everywhere.

A very stark contrast in Beijing, Singapore is not spared either.

If we just talk about siheyuans, simply looking at its facade is a good indicator of the family or families' financial situation.

In the past, hierarchies are differentiated based on the depth from the external walls to the door, the number of "门当", the type of stone slabs sitting outside and the colour of the walls. Today, all, except the colour of the walls, are no longer a good indicator of a family's wealth. Red still remains to be the colour used only by super high ranking officials. The commoners have to contend with grey. Foreigners who flood China paying millions of dollars for an old siheyuan, thinking they can paint the walls a nice bright red are in for a surprise. Sorry man, this is something money cannot buy. And for once, they have to realise that having money is not everything.

Now let's talk about something that money can buy. Today's papers had an article on "It's harder for children without computers", by Chua Hian Hou. My heart goes out to the boy Peng Da, who answers with such innocence of a sensible child contented with the inadequacies of his life. It is not easy, being in the same environment as kids who have the luxury of heading home after school, MSN, email and play Maplestory for hours and hours, without feeling inferior.

There's always this notion that if one is not exposed to the better things in life, he would not be tempted by greed and expectations of a better life, such that he will remain contented with what he's got.

It's like if I don't know that some other people are earning S$20 and hour waitressing halfway across the globe, I won't lament at my miserable S$4.50 per hour pay. Ignorance is bliss, but is it really?

I think the remarkable thing is when you know and yet you are contented with what you've got. Like little Peng Da. He is not ignorant to neopets and msn, but yet he sounds satisfied with using the school's computer and paying to use the one at the public library. With lesser distractions, I'm sure he scores in school through diligence.

Some people I met in Beijing mentioned how our income divide isn't as great as that in China. I don't know what to say. Take our country's population, multiple exponentially to match China's population, I can't be sure the divide isn't comparable. There are still people who are struggling to make ends meet in our country, scrimping and saving. Adolescents taking on 2 part-time jobs to support the family, not indulge in frivolous expenses. It is just perhaps we're not aware, because after all 家丑不能外阳. It's a pride thing too.

So I was thinking, if we can pair up one well-to-do family with one less-well-to-do family, would it probably make things better? Think about it, Family A has a 20 inch-television in working condition which they want to upgrade to a Plasma TV. What do they do with the existing one? They can

1. trade in (I'm not sure if they can really, presuming they can and that they would do it)
2. sell it to the karang guni man (who will pay u peanuts for it and then probably re-sell it)
3. sell it themselves at a garage sale (which is too much of a hassle to organise for one tv)
4. donate it to some community club who will resell these appliances at cheaper prices to the less well-to-do families
5. donate directly to Family B

I think we may already have an organisation that collects old, working electrical appliances, but it is difficult for them to give them away free to families who need them because how do you justify which family needs it more than the other? So the only way is to resell it at lower prices, which would discriminate against those who can't pay for it. But if Family A hands the television over directly to Family B, then even though Family B can't afford a television or would rather not spend that unnecessary money they could still enjoy something which is no longer of use to Family A.

An extra hairdryer, a crockery gift set are all things that Family A might have that would benefit Family B more. It's like a mentoring scheme. So we can all learn to be more accepting and giving in our society. It is non-obligatory, that is, Family A doesn't need to give a certain number of items to Family B in a year, it is more like as and when they find something in the house that they no longer need and is still working and would be of use to Family B, they could donate it out.

I don't ever think there will be a day where everyone is equal and no poverty exist in our country, but at least instead of wasting resources, we can let extravegance be put to good use.

However, there may be one potential problem that could arise.

In a pairing scheme like that, some Families A may have more to give to their paired up Family B. So other Family Bs might feel disgruntled and wish they were paired with a better Family A.

But I think the mentality must be right for a scheme like this to be implemented. Since Family B is on the receiving end of benevolence, such calculations should really be exterminated. Be humble and grateful. For Family A, it is about voluntary giving, spreading wealth, not about superiority or indebtness. There should be no condescension. And Family B is not a junk yard.

That is why we may need someone in between to see the appropriateness of the items. Family A wants to give, Family B must want to take. And if we need someone to do the transaction's paperwork, voluntary retired senior citizens or the unemployed who can write and communicate with both sides, can be roped in to help.

Let us put our resources, both material and human to good use. Make it a win-win for all.

潘家园古货市场

(Clockwise from left)
1.　蝈蝈
2, Old cameras
3. Lanterns (tealight candles)
4. Procelain Chairman Mao figurines
5. Collectors' Clock

Just some of the many knick knacks that can be found at the old antique market.

Faking China

Saw this documentary on National Geographic called "Faking China". The one-hour programme focused mainly on replicas of procelain ware. Now, I'm totally cynical about the so-called antiques found at 潘家圆 and 琉璃厂. All that this vase was found in the room of the No. 4th emperor etc etc and if it's fake you can come back and I'll refund you...are probably fairy tales and empty promises. I'm glad I haven't been cheated bad like someone featured in the documentary was. Millions of dollars the avid collector was cheated of!

It is a battle of the fakers and the experts. Their replication techniques are so good, it has escaped some of the most modern tests experts have put these pieces through. There are so many innovative ways these "fakers" have invented -- putting the finished pieces through x-rays to add a few thousand years to it; submerging it in potassium pomegranate; rubbing it with mashed up soil and dirt and so on. If experts can't even tell the difference, what more an ignorant tourist like me? So I've decided, if I fancy anything there, I shall not pay more than S$20 for it. Haha.

The capital of procelain ware lies in 景德镇, some place in China and over there, they've got like the best soil that is used to make the best clay for pottery. The craftsmen here take pride in making these wares, some of whom try to make them as authentic as possible, not to be passed off as genuine stuff, but as quality replicas. Now I know where to get my crockery if I'm ever going to want a set of Ming-dynasty styled bowls and plates.

Speaking of china, I've never been a great fan of china. Maybe because I haven't seen really delicate ones. Until today.

On the programme they featured one vase that was being auctioned for almost US$40 million dollars. THAT is a gorgeous piece. But it is a gorgeous piece on its own. And I believe it will greatly add value to a living room for instance if it was strategically placed amongst everything else. The problem with a lot of collectors is, they get over-excited and want to display everything they've got, making the house look more like a district museum. Antiques should stand solitary in a display cabinet, spread out evenly, so each piece is given the space and attention it deserves.

Then again, what do I know?

Going green and winning

I wrote an email to Ching after reading his article "Plastic bag charge will do good" telling him how I agree with him, and offered suggestions on possible activities that can be carried out for a Go Green campaign. Today as I read Stephanie's article on "Cut waste and get green label for office", I wonder if Singapore really can do more to save the environment.

In Stephanie's article, her source gave an excellent quote, "It was a headache at first but now employees have gotten used to it."

As with anything else that requires us to break out of our routine or inconvenience our daily lives, we'd always grumble and lament. Like I remembered how when the new HDB blocks had a common garbage disposal outside our flats instead of in the kitchen, there was great discontent with it. But over the years, once we've gotten used to it, it's become part of a habit and we no longer grumble about the extra 2 minutes we have to spend each day walking to the lift lobby.

Offices and schools use the most paper. How many such recycling bins are available in offices and schools I'm not sure. A quick look at mine, hmm...I say, if there was a recycling centre, it wasn't made known to us.

Students may be apathetic about recycling, so it does help to have boxes placed strategically at places where wastage of paper is most likely to occur -- such as next to the printer in our computer labs. Which already do exist. Except I wonder what happens to the papers left there.

Of course, students themselves should make it a habit to bring their unwanted papers to the recycling centre, if there exists one, but then again, we are always rushing for classes and have many other commitments so it may not be THAT practical.

So how?

Hmm...in Beijing, I notice they've got someone for everything. They've got bus-stop officials, who will flag down the buses and yell out the bus number for people, barking at them to let passengers alight first then hustle them up the buses quickly. The same happens at the train station. If you ask me how effective their presence is, I don't think it makes a difference. It's very clear at the train stations. No one will let passengers alight first. Unless of course too many of them are pouring out, but one or two Chinese will still be able to slip their way in while the rest crowds around the door.

Most of these public transport officials are the elderly. Probably 50 years onwards.

As I was touring the hutongs the other day, I noticed some elderly people wearing a red band around their left forearm bearing words like ??????. If there was a daylight robbery, there is no way these people, who patrol the streets for safety and security purposes, will be able to chase after the robber. Yet they are a voluntary group of retirees, men and women, who come together to protect their area, working two shifts, from 8.30a.m.-10.30a.m. and 2.30p.m. - 4.30 p.m.

Having said so much, if we have someone within the school or office to specially go around gathering all these boxes of recycled paper to collect them at a recycling centre, that would solve the problem wouldn't it? It helps promote environmental friendliness and at the same time, create employment for the elderly. It's not a difficult job even. In fact, they don't even need to work the whole day, just maybe 2 hours at the end of the day.

Like most of the elderly people in Beijing who have retired, rather than sit at home doing nothing and let their minds and body waste away, they might as well get their hands moving and do something, even if it means remunerations are minimal. Like the ladies doing crotchet and beaded accessories at ??? and ????. It's the same idea. Let's say for 1 hour, the pay is S$5. For a 5-day, 2-h work week, they get S$50. In a month, that's an extra S$200. In a year that's S$200 x 12=S$2400. In Singapore, that may not be a lot of money, but depending on the sector we are talking about, it is still significant cash. Besides, when you're retired, it's not about the money anymore.

Elderly who live near schools who can easily walk there and back could take up a job like this. Yes, some schools like SJI or Chinese High are built on massive grounds (elderly residents living in these areas may not want to take up jobs like this anyway), so in schools like these, more than 1 person may be employed. Walking up and down steps may be tiring, but elderly citizens should incorporate physical activity in their daily lives too.

I see it as a win-win situation though. It's just a matter of working out the logistics and actually implementing it.

Seeing the people here in Beijing be contented with what little their lives offer, I can't help but wonder if Singapore is too caught up in pursuing wealth that we neglect other non-tangible benefits that we can derive from simple tasks.

A Picture of Love

39 years of marriage.

Zheng Yang’s parents are the objects of my envy.

The man is 71 and the lady is 65.

Auntie was an ex-teacher and her family has produced 4 teachers including her. Zheng Yang told me how when people used to call up the Deng house, (they only had 1 telephone line then) to look for any of the teachers, and it wasn’t enough to say “May I speak to Deng lao shi (teacher in Mandarin)?” You had to be more specific than that.

At 65, she’s a woman of incredible energy, going for walks, dancing, managing everything from the sweeping of the yard to the buying of groceries from the market, to accompanying me throughout the day.

Yesterday, she walked from their house at 新街口 to meet me at　什刹海, which is about a 2 km walk. And after that, we walked from　什刹海, to the wet market and then back home again, which is probably slightly more than 2 km. Already, she’s chalked up 4 km of walk in a single day. Suddenly, our health campaign encouraging people to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day seemed incomparable to a 4km walk.

I remembered in September when I came, I got so fed up with the peak hour traffic, I walked from where I stayed to 景山公园to look for a friend of Zheng Yang. It took me about 30-45 minutes I can’t quite remember. It was probably a 2.something nearly 3 km walk because I didn’t go by any shortcuts. I just looked at the map and followed the right angled-directions.

Unless you’re in the hutongs, it’s not difficult to navigate your way around Beijing.

That aside, she was going to make dumplings for dinner and then bring me to watch some dance. So we went to the market to buy some ingredients. The market at night is quite a different sight from it during the day. It seemed a lot busier maybe because it’s dark and those single bulbs hanging over the produce casts a lot of shadows, creating the illusion of many people. Then again, it was pretty crowded at around 5.30pm in the evening.

After we got home, I had first hand experience of what the husband and wife relationship was like. Uncle seems very good-natured. He has difficulty hearing and indulges in bad habits like smoking and drinking. But he’s not grouchy at all. He does things in a more relaxed manner, and I always hear Auntie asking him to do this and that. She entered the little building which is the dining area where Uncle was watching tv, and immediately “ordered” him to help her with preparing dinner. Then there were a series of instructions like bring this to the kitchen, go boil the water, chop up the cabbage etc etc…and she was speaking very loudly because he’s hard of hearing, so as an outsider, it’s like she’s the one wearing the pants in the house.

But the endearing old man never grumbled or retaliated doing as he’s told. Maybe he’s used to it, or maybe he can’t quite hear the tone of voice to think she’s being demanding. I don’t know, but I felt that it was a scene that had a kind of rustic charm to it. I can’t quite put a finger to it, but it was nice as they collaborated to make dinner. She’s more agile, and she gets the chores done quickly. He takes his own time and is ever ready to take on new tasks.

She told me she and Uncle learnt how to make dumplings from her mom after they got married because none of them knew how to cook before and it was time they stopped depending on her parents to cook for them.

It is doing things like this together that really filled the place with love and warmth.

No, let me correct myself, it is doing things like this together for 39 years.

Last night they truly spread the love and I felt it.

Of hidden p plates & highly tinted windows

A Ms Ling wrote in to ST forum today, complaining about the inconspicuous display of the P-plate which endangers the lives of the motorist behind the wheel and other drivers. She then went on to highlight the increase in the number of cars with tinted windows, so much so that she can't see the traffic ahead.

I remembered vaguely having read an article in the papers where some official came out to justify the laxing of tinted windows, allowing the back and rear windows to be tinted more than the front. Ms Ling must have missed that article.

Sure, I am one guilty owner of tinted windows, but mine isn't that dark you can't see what's ahead of me if you're right by my ass. If the only reason why cars should not have dark tinted rear windows is because drivers behind can't see what's ahead, then I would say, get over it.

First of all, we were all taught to maintain a safe driving distance from the car ahead, so if that has been religiously followed, I don't see why Ms Ling would have had a near-accident. Moreover, being mentally alert is one condition all drivers ought to possess before they even get behind the wheel, so I don't see why the car in front should be blamed for having tinted windows and unprominent display of the p-plate if the driver behind wasn't paying attention and maintaining a safe driving distance.

Besides, does it really make a difference if the driver in front just got his license or not? Does that determine how far you should maintain the safe car driving distance? Ms Ling's complaint seems to suggest so. It seemed to imply, at least to me, that if she knows you're a p-plate driver, she would be extra cautious, or get out of your ass's way, or perhaps, she might consider flashing you to get you out of the way if you were on the first lane on the highway. But shouldn't all these traits hold regardless of who the front driver is?

Anyway, back to the tinted windows issue. If tinted rear windows should be banned because it doesn't allow the back driver to see what's ahead, then perhaps all Prados and Fortuners should stick to the 3rd lane alongside the lorries, buses and massive trucks. Because if there's anything to complain about, it is the sheer size of these vehicles that completely obliterates the field of vision ahead. All I see is their license plate, and no matter how I try to keep a little more to the right, the vehicle is so high and wide it's the only thing you see. Imagine if you drive a tiny MX5 which is not only much smaller but much lower. It isn't just sports cars with lowered suspension that are dwarfed by the huge SUVs, ordinary saloon cars like the Corollas and Sunnys will face the same comparison. If such SUVs should be allowed to travel on the 1st lane, which is the fast lane, then obviously that is dangerous too because as we know, big vehicles like lorries, pick-ups and buses have to stick to a 60 km/h speed limit for some reason.

So, learn to live with it with vigilance and good driving habits.

Maxims

These 2 signs were taken at 国子监 which is the Imperial College of the Yuan/Ming/Qing dynasties.. This is where candidates come to take their exams and the top student is what was known as 状元。

Important maxims to live by.

Entrance fee is about 6 yuan for adults and 3 yuan if you can prove that you're a student. You either have to smoke your way through as a Beijing student but that would mean having to fake a student pass, or show your local student pass and try to pass off as a Hong Kong or Macau student. But for 3 yuan? Unless you're really on a budget.

As I ventured deeper, this was what I saw:



Beijing is probably only good to come in 2008 or after. Because right now, all these tourist attractions are undergoing restoration, so the interesting sights are almost always out of bounds.

30% 2-hr paper

"A lot of things... cannot be developed in the classroom or by focusing on exams" said our education minister Mr Tharman in ST today.

I can't agree any better, but then again we all know that, don't we?

But still, we can't do away with certain exams in our school.

I remembered asking a school mate if SCI is autonomous from NTU. Because we used to have 1-hour exam papers for subjects that were more practical in nature, such as Basic Audio and Video Production, Basic Media Writing and Photojournalism, just to name a few. And then suddenly, all of us are forced to sit for 2-hour papers instead of rightfully doing away with exams because the school said so.

Hmmm?

The school as in SCI or the school as in NTU?

I can't quite remember.

The point is, students of these courses will agree that the work done throughout the semester is justified for the 70% CA assessment and the remaining 30% kind of just gives your lecturer the assurance that you're aware of what has been taught for the course.

Sure it's only 30% but my gripe is for 2 hours, there's more we need to write, which means more we need to study which shouldn't be THAT difficult since we probably should have been very on top of our work with the consistent effort put in for the 70% bit.

WRONG.

Being insecure students, we'd still be mugging away so we won't screw up that 30%.

Now, surely there isn't anything bad about studying.

No, but the time spent studying for a paper that is 2-hours and constitute only 30% could be better invested for other subjects. The brain cells zapped didn't need to be.

But of course having said that, it's not that it's going to change anything now though.

I'm not even sure I'd be sitting for exams anymore next sem.

Still, I am hoping SCI has more autonomy to revise the whole grading system - exams included. Take-home exams, no exams, shorter exams are just some of the possibilities that could replace the rigid minimum 2-hour paper standard.

If only SCI has their own alumni, then maybe something can be done.

Incongruity

What really struck me about this old man is the incongruity of his dressing.

Check out the Nike cap and Nike dunks.

He embodies the hegemony of the west, the fusion of youth and age.

And to top it off, he's playing a traditional game of chess outside the train station next to the main road.

That's Beijing for you.

Free Newspaper

Public noticeboards such as these showcase newspaper articles of two days from various sources. People get to read them for free. It's a bit like JC Deceaux except instead of ads, you have newspaper articles. Hmm..I wonder who comes to change them? Is there an organisation doing it?

I get the Chinese paper everyday in the hotel room and unlike our Straits Times which is thick and packed with news from everywhere, their newspaper consists of 4 sheets of centre fold -- 1 sheet for 1 section -- such as 国内新闻，生活，健康 and of course their front page headlines. And because China is so huge, no two newspapers will carry the same headlines. It appears to me that no news, other than those about the bird flu, seems to be THAT important for a country this massive. For a country that has so many newspapers and television channels, we are spoilt for choice.

Speaking of tv channels, the HBO in my room is consistently playing old movies. The last one I saw, Meg Ryan looked like she was 20 years old! Are the authorities prohibiting the more recent Hollywood movies? Then again, the Chinese would probably have watched the latest Hollywood movies on dvd before we even have them on the big screens in Singapore.

Under-promise, over-deliver

"Under-promise and over-deliver" an all too familiar phrase as I scanned through ST Online.

The government has under-promised and over-delivered, so yay, the economy sparkles.

Hmm...I must have returned all my Economics concepts back to Mr Chan in VJ when I graduate for I can't remember how does a healthy economy affects me, the average Singaporean? Either that or we didn't really place that much emphasis on it then, because I'm sure I'd remember if it was drilled into us a million times. :p

Still, "rosy picture of healthy broad-based economy", "unexpectedly strong growth" and "glad tidings" sounds like good news to me, if not to most reasonable right-thinking members of the society I'm sure.

Does it mean now that it'll be easier for graduates to find jobs? Or that we are all going to have a pay rise and big fat year-end bonus? Does it mean our GST will be lowered? Or things will become cheaper? More sales? Discounts? Smaller income disparity?

I reckon the a healthy economy probably has a macro effect, and will affect some other things which will in turn affect me.

Someone please enlighten me.

As with anything else, I suppose the formula to positive outcomes is to under-promise and over-deliver. It's like saying I can't promise you a diamond ring but subsequently going on your knees with a 3-carat marquis-cut brilliant rose; or I can't cook for nuts, but whipping up Buddha Jump Over the Wall during Chinese New Year.

Which brings me to think if this is the way to happiness?

I hear couples fight and quarrel, (I wonder if it's the season) and at the end of the day, it boils down to the same things -- expectations and the lack of communication. You want something from someone, whether it's emotional security, psychological support, financial stability, material desires or what-not, and in wanting that, we form expectations of how much they should give. To make it worse, we don't tell them how much we want. Maybe we can't even quantify it sometimes. So there's no way they can gauge what we mean. And when it's not enough, or not exactly the way we expected it to turn out, the earth splits.

Under-promise and over-deliver.

It never fails to bring me great joy when someone who can't promise me big pockets of time suddenly sets aside half a day.

Or that Rochor taohuay opens till 12 midnight but I turn up at 12.30 a.m. to find hot steaming taohuay still on sale.

It's hard to find someone who'd think on the same level as me, who'd want to communicate as much as I do, whether it be a family member, a friend or a lover. So I've learned to try and let go of all expectations and just let the under-promising and over-delivering take its effect.

It reduces a lot more emotional baggage.

For me at least.

:)

Public Reading

Wonder what is so intriguing? No it's not the classifieds, nor advertisements seeking employment or garage sales. These public notice boards have got the day's newspapers pinned up, so these people are reading the news for free. Then again there are many many newspapers in China, so this is just one of the many.

I remembered the first time I came to Beijing in June, a man who was selling newspaper on the train kept yelling the headlines out. And the headline read "Hong Kong movie star Andy Lau fell from a building". I didn't buy the paper, but I wondered what happened. This wasground-breaking news. After all, you really never know what these celebrities are up to. A check with other newspapers revealed no such news though. In fact, that particular paper wasn't even sold at the newsstands. Eventually, after checking with other people, it turned out that it was an article talking about a scene he was doing or something like that. So he didn't actually fall to death.

I wonder how reliable these articles on the public noticeboards are.

冰糖葫芦

My latest addiction.

This is available only in winter because otherwise the sugar will melt. I love those that have their seeds removed and inserted with chestnut or sesame. These red fruits have tiny seeds in them which the locals just spit on the road as they are eating it. Of course, being a gracious Singaporean, I collected all the tiny seeds in my hands and dump them in the bin.

Contrary to what some people say, that it is ridiculously sweet, it is not. It's a nice dessert after dinner because it's cold, and sweet and sour all at the same time. Plus, one stick is just a nice amount, not too much that it puts you off, nor too little for you to wish there was more. And it cost only 1 yuan.

From this stall, I had the one which has alternate mandarin oranges with hu lu. YuMmy.

One Night in Beijing

Being in Beijing | FYP travel snippets

Rage

My rage
No sense
No rationale
No logic
I want space
Unfiliality
Arrogance
Accusations
I care
I give
I love
In small ways
Never enough
It seems
You took
Smashed
My heart
Breaks

Shitting Apple

Oh God this is so not happening. My ibook is shitting on me and I can't say if it's a good or bad thing. At least it didn't crap up on me while I'm 5000 miles away from home in a winter "wonderland". Which means if I get it fixed before I leave, it'll be as good as new. Now the only thing is, what if they can't get it fixed before the 16th? Even if they got it done by the 15th, I still have to reinstall the Microsoft Office, along with my Adobe Photoshop, Toast Titanium, Norton Anti-virus, MSN/AOL chat programmes. And are they still going to give me back my iGarage, iMovie, Appleworks (which was bundled free when I first bought my ibook)?

Now I wonder what had caused the sudden lag. I tried to perform a disk cleanup, but no, it isn't as simple as right-clicking and then doing a defragment of the hard disk. I had to go to Apple.com, search for the forums, plough through the many questions people post, to find out that you can do regular maintenance by downloading a software which will clear your caches and cookies and what-not for you. Now, I'm no computer expert, I don't even know my Mac OS X is a Tiger or a Panther, so I'm not sure if I downloaded the wrong damning software that caused this sudden retardness of my ibook.

I am so bloody frustrated! Not exactly in one of my perfect moods today, in fact, I couldn't be anymore irritable than this. I hope she's just throwing a one-day tantrum, because I am gripped with panic (again) at the thought of losing her before/during/after my trip. I hope it's not because I went out to buy a 60Gb external hard disk to store all my precious FYP photos and so she decided to give her 80Gb space a break with this persistence of hanging or not letting programmes run at all. Machines know I tell you.

Like my old trusty Jimny before it got scrapped. It wasn't in the best condition and decided to fail on me even more when he knew I was going to find another companion. So there, I believe machines have some kind of life of their own.

Or maybe it's because someone has been bad mouthing Mac platforms and so she decided to throw a diva bitch fit at me to get back at my very dear but very opinionated friend.


Urgh, as I am typing this and glancing occasionally at the desktop of my ibook, the bloody colour wheel, which indicates "loading" is having hell of a time spinning away. None of my desktop elements are loaded. Other than my dock, nothing else shows. Even then, any attempt to click anything on the dock is futile.

As if I don't have enough things to worry about now...

*miffed to the max*

The Rock

Never thought wrestlers were good-looking. Always thought there was some disproportion between their intellect and their physical size, still, at least Dwayne Johnson doesn't have a squeaky Mickey Mouse voice underneath that machismo, unlike a certain Engish football player we all know.

That is Johnson's saving grace.

I never watched any of his other movies, other than Scorpion King I think, but I have no memory of him whatsoever. This time he really caught my attention when I first spotted the trailer for DOOM, his 2005 movie. He sports a more chiselled face and a less bulky build, so much so that he actually looks "normal sized" now compared to The Rock I knew in the past. Not that I paid him much attention then, but aren't all wrestlers are super big, super bulky and super strong?

I actually thinks he looks quite Asian in the movie. I mean he could have passed off as a Filipino. Or perhaps with a bit of Chinese/American mix. Maybe that's where I find him rather attractive. I don't fancy the typical Caucasian look. Sure, there are many good-looking white men, but none really stand out in my opinion. Sorry, not even Brad Pitt. Ok, maybe the pilot from Flightplan. Even Richard Gere is a little passe. Come to think of it, based purely on looks, I really can't point out a white Hollywood celebrity that rings out to me. Hmm..well, okay, maybe Keanu Reeves. Then again, he looks a bit Chinese mix I think.

As the commanding officer in DOOM, Johnson is incredibly attractive. Although there are hints of something evil towards the end where he displays the stone-cold trait of a soldier engaged in controversial military warfare, the precision of his executions and assertive instructions are typical of a man in control, which is rather sexy in a bizarre way.

But he does seem to tip over the reasonable scale, so although he's eye candy, I really can't imagine getting along with someone like that. I guess his place remains in the bytes of this entry and nowhere else.




Somehow, the other male lead in the show reminds me of my writer/director/actor Playwriting lecturer. It's the facial features, although I can't imagine my Playwriting lecturer shooting away at mutated creatures in a movie.

Oh yes, about the movie, watch it only if you fancy The Rock, or Rosamund Pike or some actor or the other, cos' there is absolutely no storyline and as a girl who's never ever played the game, half the time I have no idea some of the jargon they use.

Then again, if you have good company, any crappy movie is still worth the time.

Lucky me.

| Pictures taken from AllMoviePhoto.com |

In a State of Panic

I don't know what made me thought I had plenty of time between the end of Media Law paper and the start of Photojournalism paper to be settling the trivial trip issues. Either that, or I underestimated the errands I had to run.
I am slipping into a state of panic, evident when I tried to take a 26-minute nap when I got home, but ended up on the computer, emailing people, smsing a couple of important people about my schedule and equipment loan. And when I eventually did lie down in bed, I close my eyes and I get sms replies, jolting me awake, and for the rest of the 25 minutes, I end up thinking about how to sort out my time before I leave, which is less than a week away. And shoot, my interim report for FYP does not even have a single word on it!

Now, my mind is racing ahead of the weekend, and I can't calm my nerves to study for Photojournalism. I'm constantly worried about my to-bring-list, and about settling all the important stuff before I leave that I drift off after one paragraph. I want to wake up and have an entire day to focus on studying, the way I did for Media Law, but counting the days before Monday, I'm only left with Sunday, that is if I don't have to run any errands that day.

Now when I return on the 1st December, I've got about 20 days in Singapore before I fly off again. Now that seemed like a long time, considering I'm hoping to catch a couple of performances during that period, plus possible training for AOH show, getting back results, checking out courses to take next sem, applying for them, as well as sort out any other possible FYP related stuff. My my, reality has hit. This FYP has to be immaculately planned, with stopwatch timing, otherwise, chances of me losing sight of some aspects run high.

*I need to be Zen*

Gladly welcome any suggestions.

Travel bits continued

As I was reading up for tomorrow's Online Journ exam, I stumbled on this wonderful
website, showcasing true stories of brain tumour survivors. It isn't the content of the website that I am raving about but rather the presentation of the stories.

Before I get to my point, here's some background. Yesterday I happened to go to Washington Post's website, clicked on the travel section and got attracted to a write up on one of the three British Virgins - St. Croix. It had a very attractive lead, because it got me interested to click to read more. I was so engaged, anytime I would have booked a flight halfway round the globe, sign up for Open Water and Advanced Diving courses so that I could do "wall diving" at Cane Bay Drop-Off, the North Star wall and Salt River Canyon, which is what the island boasts. For someone, who's a little scared of the sea because of it's potential wrath, and my occasional sea-sickness, there must have been sufficient motivation for me to feel so driven.

There was. Plenty in fact.

Maybe it's the whole idea of scaling the wall. Ask me to climb a rock wall I'm all game, in fact, anything land-based I'm rather keen, but when it comes to the sea, I'll always have second thoughts.

But this is different.

Even as I sit here typing this entry, my heart is pumping with excitement at the thought of ( in the words of a source in the article), "swimming in an enchanted forest, but instead of the animals being lions and tigers and bears, they're sea creatures like sea horses, frogfish, batfish, and squid and octopus that change colors, from red to electric blue, when we shine flashlights on them."

My veins are exploding with adrenalin! Okay, I have decided, this shall go to my list of "Top 10 Honeymoon Destinations".

I did have a little complain about the write up though. First, there is no flight information, not even for the US residents, and since there's obviously no direct flight from Singapore, I have no idea how to get there even if I want to. Second, as much as the descriptions were detailed and vivid, I wished there were more accompanying pictures than just a simple landscape shot of the beach. Which brings me to the point about the wonderful brain-tumour-survivors-website I mentioned in the first paragraph.

In line with my fabulous (haha!) idea of an Asian travel portal, I think it'll be great to present the write ups in the same manner as that website. Yes, the content is different, but the style is pretty much the same.

See, the website is about brain tumour survivors, and their account of their experience. Most of these travel articles are similarly presented in the first person voice.

So now, imagine, the same website presentation, but instead of pictures of the brain tumour survivors, we have pictures of the place of interest, say for example Angkor Wat. The reader who enters the site will be greeted with a high resolution picture of the ancient temple, with accompanying caption. The story begins when the reader clicks on the audio button and the writer will talk about her travel experience at Angkor Wat. As the story progresses, more pictures come on to further validate the writer's account. Of course accompanying text from the verbal account can surface here and there, but they should be kept sharp and crisp. I wouldn't want readers to get too caught up with listening and reading that he or she loses the focus of the story.

I do not advocate doing away with the print article altogether, because information could be derived from quotes of other sources. Ideally, this should come as a link at the end of the story. Other information (also in links) that should be present at the end of the tour: how to get there, cost of airfare, hotel stay, what to pack, climate conditions and so on, that can realistically help a reader plan a holiday to Cambodia during his or her next long weekend.

I think the day I quit showbiz, and have sufficient capital, I am going to start such a travel portal, regardless of whether or not we have an Asian equivalent of NY Times. It will solely be a travel website for avid travellers around the region and foreign visitors looking at using Singapore as a stepping board to other exotic Asian destinations.

Till then, it's back to earth and Online Journalism revision.

*sigh*

What a beautiful Sunday.

Related article:

Rommy, With a View | The Washington Post | Sunday, October 23, 2005

Exam blues

It's been almost a year since I last had to study for an exam, kudos to the 6-month Professional Internship during the first half of this year. For once, I could book a holiday in April while most people were fretting over exam preparation and rushing off final assignments. Not that I did jet set to some place in April this year that is. Not that I thought any of my school mates did. We were all working our asses off.

No wonder studying for exams this time round seems a little alien. Not that I think anyone can forget how to study for exams, but I guess as much as I tried to be consistent in my work and all that beginning of the semester, my problem is I've grown lazy from reading. So even though I did my weekly readings as much as I could, I never did absorb the material that well. My justification: for 6 months earlier this year, other than my acting scripts I don't remember having read much stuff. And even if I did, I mostly scanned through them, because really, I don't need to remember that much details.

Which explains why I'm having difficulty plouging through my readings now. Suddenly, I can't seem to understand English written for academic purposes. On average I need to go through a set of readings 3 times before I can say I understand the gist of the article. So imagine if I need to know it very well?

I'm scaring myself. Time is running out, so instead of sitting here complaining about my incompetent reading skills and inexperience of studying for exams, I should get back to "Freedom of Expression" and make it happen.

*takes a deep breath*

Commercial Break

In the midst of reading Freedom of Speech, I happened to go surfing around for tv commercials. This is one I thought was rather brilliant. Check out the Hansaplast err
condom commercial.

FYP Blues

Now this may seem like a frivolous thing to fret over, especially with terrorist attacks in India, and children in parts of Africa starving, I still can't help but feel the heat. What started out as a really exciting project has turned my palms wet and feet cold. Not that it doesn't interest me anymore, I'm still pumping with adrenalin at the thought of shooting in Beijing all alone in winter. The horrible part about this whole thing is the settling the logistics. Sourcing for sponsors, booking air tickets, accomodation, loaning of equipment, preparing backup list, establishing contacts in Beijing and praying hard that Air China is not going to start charging me for my overweight hand luggage which will consist of a 14 inch ibook, two S3 Pros and 3 lenses, not to mention my wallet, handphone, bottle of water and moisturiser. With all those winter clothing in my check-in luggage, which will carry all my batteries, chargers, tripod, flash, light, I'm getting a bit worried. Well, the pain is not over yet because guess what, I'll have to do this all over again when I return on Dec 1 and leave on Dec 19. Sigh...

Exams may be over for good, but there's still plenty to be done, from sourcing for printers, quotations, getting test prints done, to exhibition location recees, bargaining of rental fees, invitation card designs, press release, food catering, exhibition decor, picture framing, mounting and the putting together of the creative content which includes, choosing the pictures, writing the story, captions, to picture editing, laying out, determining size of prints, number of copies...now have I left anything out?

Just the thought of this daunting feat throws a huge burden on my shoulders. I can't help but scoff when people say "At least you can enjoy after your exams." or worse "So good hor you, don't need to work still get paid." Gee, I think I've covered my yearly commitment in the first half of this year during internship. It's strange how people seem to take it for granted that as public entertainers, it is a given for us to be working 365 days a year and if we don't, we are paid slackers. Well, just a gentle reminder that when we do work, our working hours aren't exactly from 9 to 5pm with Sundays and public holidays off. But of course I'm not saying we are the only ones who're working so hard. Journalists and reporters don't get that fabulous a life too and I'm sure many other occupations that I'm not familiar with at this point. But they aren't exactly the ones having the added pressure of being in public scrutiny. Anyway, I'll probably gripe about that another time. This entry is about my FYP.

This final year is where I know my pain is long suffering. I can't help but wonder which is worse -- studying for exams and yet not do well, or investing so much time and money on my FYP and not get an A.

And by the way, if anyone who's reading this entry is interested to sponsor my final year project, which I believe would be, or at least would like to make it, a one of its kind, culturally rich photo-documentary of the loss of a traditional part of Beijing as they embrace the world and modernise, you are welcome to write to
me. No amount is too little and I will give appropriate credit in my book and exhibition when it takes place next year.

Otherwise, if you'd like to volunteer your service as an assistant for my upcoming trips, which unfortunately, will not be paid for, you are free to send in a full colour 4R facial shot of yourself, with your full resume and contact details before 10 Nov 2005 to
Dreamy Abstractions. Selected candidates will be notified by phone and asked for an interview.

I just remembered, last year I spent my Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year with the cast and crew of A Life of Hope. This year, I'm going to spend Christmas and New Year all alone in the cold winter of Beijing. Oh well, the price to pay for taking up an overseas FYP I guess.

I cross my fingers and hope everything works out, exams, FYP and all.