Books?

Yes, a few books. Not for work but for reading on the flight.

I found out this morning from my good friend, the brilliant producer and news anchor for Channel News Asia, Timothy Go that this annoying habit is called In-Flight Information Deficiency. Tim wrote,

This is someone who, before and during a flight, has a fear of not having enough to read on board a flight, no matter how short or long.

Although I seldom read on board the plane, because I get motion sickness and the pills I take before the flight makes me drowsy and I fall asleep. BUT, I still worry that I do not have  enough things to do on the plane. The flight to Vegas is at least 16 hours and I am already panicking about which books to drag along.

But I think, my problem continues even after the flight. I constantly worry about, “What if I finish reading the books i brought along… and have nothing to do at the hotel?”

It gets worse if I am on holiday, to stop me from worrying, Jon will volunteer to bring more books in his luggage for me.

Ok! Time to go out now to buy luggage.

(left): we all sat in the little theatre -old school style without air con but very excited
(middle): the crowd flooding the entrance of The Substation, eating, mingling and chatting with the film makers
(right): Jacen Tan and Jon

Jon and I went to support Jacen Tan’s latest film, Zo Hee (Hokkien for making movies), under his hosaywood production. Jacen and Jon were ex-colleagues and I was just there to rekindle my old interest in films and the arts. Not many people know that I actually first graduated in designs, spending a year plus studying films and photography. Some ex design school/classmates included the now renowned film maker, Royston Tan (a year, my senior), the highly talented Victric Thng (my ex-classmate) and Randy Ang (ex-classmate – we recently found each other again on Facebook). Well, I moved on to do other stuff and these guys are obviously doing really well and coming up with great, creative works that make Singapore proud.

Back to Jacen. I was really impressed with his latest two short films (Zo Gang, and its sequel, Zo Hee). Definitely not filmed with a huge production budget but they captured local culture, flavour, lots of humour and clever script. Jon also appeared in a short section as the Ang Moh busker. I asked Jacen, when is the next film coming up and he said, “hmm.. need to take a break!”

So, while we wait for Jacen to take his break, enjoy the film I am attaching below. More of Jacen’s work can be found on YouTube and hosaywood.com

From 7 to 10 December, 5 to 10pm, people who are interested to support or take a look at what some of our local film talents had put together, pop down to The Substation, admission is free! You can also show your support by donating (any amount)!

For more interesting local film stuff, check out this real cool site - www.sinema.com or join the facebook group to be updated with the latest news.

Please don’t send me many emails, IM messages or Facebook notes to ask about “insider news” about the company. Champagnes, whiskies, dark Goldiva chocolates are very welcomed though.

Today, I received a big gift box from my one of my dearest friends, Kevin who is currently still stuck in US with his phD program. The content of my gift: a huge book, Revolutionary Wealth, a real cool design magazine, GOOD (anniversary issue), a Sci-Fi series – The Triangle, a nice but very noisy musical card (it says, “you gotta sing the song that’s in your heart… and my song goes Yahooooooooo!!!!!) and a hilarious Elmo (it’s hilarious because it laughs funny when you press the tummy). Alright, no champagnes and chocolates but the thoughts count alot! Thank you, Kevin!

1) MY NEW BOOKS

A quick visit to the bookstore today and I came home with two new books

Think ASEAN! by Philip Kotler, who believes that ASEAN has tremendous untapped potential to become a highly energetic and profitable market and shows case studies on how companies go about penetrating this region.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson – I had originally wanted to find Stephenson’s 1992’s Snow Crash (introduced to me by Kevin), unfortunately, the bookstore ran out of stock so I got The Diamond Age instead. When Stephenson wrote Snow Crash in the early 90s, Second Life was non existence and yet there are alot of similarities between the virtual realistic-cyber world that he described that we can see happening in the web space now. I am going to find the book!

2) Y! MASH – the new Yahoo! Social Network

I am reading with interest, the new social network created by Yahoo called the Y!Mash. Unfortunately, it’s still in its beta stage now and you can only try it if someone sent you an invite. Meantime, here’s the Mash blog to check out the new network!

3) Our First PR Blogger Group Meet-Up

ThePR blogger group finally got together for the first time last evening. Initiated by Walter Lim – a group of us who are in the public relations industry (and blogs!) in Singapore are trying to get together with a simple objective in mind – to have some beer and bitch alot (kidding). We are hoping to share thoughts and insights with one another on relevant issues, topics and “trends” about the industry. Well, we did bitch and have many rounds of beer anyway.

For the first catch up session, Walter, Ben, Melvin, Jason, myself and Derrick (who got stuck somewhere and couldn’t show up) started the ball rolling. There are others in the group who are not able to make it but there’s always next round. So, if you are in public relations/ communications (+ being an active blogger) and would like to join us for some chill-out, drinking/ bitching sessions, feel free to drop Walter or me a note.

4) BLOG ACTION DAY

I first read about the Blog Action Day initiative from my friend, Erwin Oliva, a reporter for the online Philipine news website, Inquirer.net.

Here’s what it is about:

On October 15th – Blog Action Day, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind.

In its inaugural year, Blog Action Day will be co-ordinating bloggers to tackle the issue of the environment.

What Each Blogger Will Do

Bloggers can participate on Blog Action Day in one of two ways:

Publish a post on their blog which relates to an issue of their own choice pertaining to the environment.

For example: A blog about money might write about how to save around the home by using environmentally friendly ideas. Similarly a blog about politics might examine what weight environmental policy holds in the political arena.

I have signed up for it too to show a little support to the organisers for the (although not new but worthy causes) initiative

Saturday with Kevin 

I have been raving about Kevin and that is simply because he is highly entertaining, very intelligent and somehow we “clicked!”. I have been rather anti-social after office hours for a few years now. I  have always rejected invites to parties, events and gatherings, so much so that people stopped asking and I am left alone. 

Anyway, I met Kevin outside Kinokuniya, Takashimaya in the afternoon and we started the day out with lots of walking (again, another unusual thing for me) in high heels, and then alot of food (now, that is common). 

There were many highlights throughout the evening. We talked about almost everything under the sun – from life, work, PR and tech industry, teaching, friends, school, books, boys and girls etc etc. I am trying to record as many things as I can remember about our conversations as Kevin is going back to US to complete his PHD. Booohooooo!! There goes another precious friend. 

What i have to remember about Kevin (beside his very nice eyes, and very smart brain) is his pretty black bagpack that is filled with unbelievable gadgets! Here's a pic to prove. I am sure they all have names but at this point, I am still in my bewildered state and not sure what each of these gadgets does. 

(yap, enough gadgets to fill up the table)

What was supposed to be a drink session ended in a half a day outing with the two of us talking non-stop till midnight. It was definitely very interesting.

The night ended with a very serious discussion about managing people. I've had advices from different people but what Kevin told me is worth thinking about. I was told, my problem lies in that i am too nice to everyone, trying to listen, help and do everything for everyone. I try to do too much and must learn to let go and believe the world will continue to spin even without me. 

You know that someone is a good friend to keep when (1) you have alot to talk about (2) you are happy after meeting the friend and (3) there are positive vibes and encouraging words throughout conversation. 

Sunday with Yen

Yen doesn’t have a blog, so, no hyperlinks. I told Kevin about Yen and then I told Yen about Kevin. I wished we have enough time to all go out together. 

Today is supposed to be our SHOPPING DAY but she just came back from Bali and I slept really late last night, woke up very early this morning for church. We were both struggling to stop yawning. 

We walked in and out of many shops, from Zara to Mango, Isetan to Takashimaya – Yen ended up with a new big bag and many many other bags of new clothes.

I bought a little black bag and an orange top from Zara. Searched high and low for the right pair of black shoes but nothing pops up. 

Lunch at Sun & Moon Japanese restaurant was really lovely!

By 6pm, we were both exhausted, sat at Coffee Club outside Kinokuniya (yes, notice the places I meet my friends, i am boringly consistent that way) and I had an amazing serving of apple crumble with ice-cream. I was too eager to eat and therefore, no pics. 

But here is one of Yen and her new bag! That pretty bag costs only $15. Jon would be pleased that we are not walking into the Gucci and Prada.