天时地利人和

"You're Senior Design Researcher in one of the largest companies in the world." - Someone said that to me, I like it.

The potential of design research in China is simply massive. I can see forever what can be done, and needs to be done, and how big an impact the results will be on the innovation and design process and strategy of any company, especially one like ours.

We're standing on the threshold of contemporary design in China. We're standing on the threshold of strategic branding in China. We're standing on the threshold of an exploding "consumer market" in China.

If we thought China was gulping up all forms of consumerism since its economic reforms in 1979, we have to think again. Those were the baby steps. Now, the true pester power may truly begin. One that is slowly but surely understanding what it means to be a "consumer", demanding the sovereignty of the "consumer" and acquiring a taste for good design that will soon parallel that of consumers in mature economies.

Someone asked me, "Why now? Why China now?" Exactly because of what he (and I) have truly believed - the very fact that the Chinese are only now coming into their own as "consumers".

To be in Shanghai at this turning point is extremely exciting. Professionally, to be a part of the founding team that pioneers China-focused innovation and design for one of the largest companies in the world is a defining stamp on the resume. To surf China's next wave of global dominance - the emergence of a consumer economy and world class design - seriously, talk about first-mover advantage.

And on a more sombre personal note, there are millions in that country whose lives can be made better by design, which of course, could also be adapted for other emerging economies, stretching the value of design across the developing world, a goal that is so close to my heart I hope to achieve in my professional attempt to understand, empathise and solve real problems through good, sustainable design.

All is good - 天时地利人和 - although the original motivator for the move has faded in significance. Perhaps maybe that's what it's for, getting me there, to this exciting city of the future. And nothing more.

世界上最遥远的距离

实际上的距离拉近了
心灵上的距离却远了

真的不知道怎么看待
我努力争取到的机会

对这次的这个机会
抱着什么样的期待

迷糊迷途迷路了吗
但迷路也是走路的
一部分终要走下去

要勇敢的走下去才
会胜利地走出来哦
才可能把距离走近

7 years

Today, seven years ago, grandma passed away at 1.30 pm. I was in the office when my cousin messaged me on MSN. I was stoned. Emotionless. I even went for a meeting at IE. It wasn't till very late that night when I was preparing a bunch of handover materials for all the projects that I was handling so that my colleague could take over while I was on compassionate leave. I cried my heart out. My boss saw me, and he was very kind to offer to drive me all the way back to Melaka. Of course I couldn't make him do that, so I declined, thanking him profusely.

I was especially upset because we had chosen to skip the crowds and jams over National Day weekend to go home and see grandma. We took for granted there would always be a next week. No, there probably won't be. Don't even take for granted there would be a next day, next hour, next minute. What you want to do or say, do it now. But that said, it's easier said than done >.<"'

First couple in office

When I first saw the email, I thought it was a joke, but it's for REAL! :)))) I couldn't be happier. They are 2 really awesome people who deserve each other. Really, really, really. At least there are happy people all around. It's very comforting.

^_^

Bye Taipei, Hi Singapore, and Shanghai

My flight's at 7.40 AM, the driver's coming at 5.10 AM. All packed, now enjoying some early morning peace. A cup of coffee up front, MTV in the back.

I can feel it. This is it. The turning point.

Shanghai. What promises do you hold for me?

坚持。固执。不甘心。

Sometimes, you feel like there is a certain invisible force much larger than yourself pulling you in one direction. The direction of your choice. It's like pieces are beginning to fall into the right places. But just short of the finishing line, or like a pile of beautifully constructed Jenga blocks, before the final few pieces complete the whole, the beautiful formation falls apart. Yet, that strange force still pulls you in the same direction.

And you fall into a vortex of emotional turmoil. You are allowing it. You're still choosing, painfully limping on this road of uncertainty. Do you take a road of persistence, surrender, or refusal to be resigned to the hard facts that fall before your very eyes? Do you (want to) believe in the strange force?

I seek answers. I am getting none. I once said, that is why life is interesting. I guess that is what I will hold to. Like ephemeral sakuras. So precious, enjoy it. Live it, and behold every fold that opens as they float onto my palm. I like pleasant surprises. Throw away the sadness.

Deep passing thoughts

The first thing I saw this morning was an email from a dear friend informing of her father's passing. I could offer her not much but words of comfort through a long SMS, being so far away from Singapore myself. Her words offered me more food for thought, "Do not take your parents for granted." They are actually making me think twice about Shanghai. What exactly am I after?

一年

有许多感触，也写了一篇文章却没有勇气把它放上来，就贴上这篇朋友写的一首很优美的诗来纪念这一年渡过的最高峰和最低点。也该到个段落了。

I thought I saw you in the flicker of a candle

I thought I saw you in the reflection of your tea cup

I'm sure I saw you in the words of my diary

and in the eternal breathless moment that our eyes locked

like a pair of butterflies in tandem

we were locked in the same rainbow

where nightmares die

and dreams fly

I'm letting you go ~ for now

because I have plenty more to live for

and plenty more love to give

I won't forget you and I hope you won't forget me

上海9日.5.28-6.5

上海. 两年多了, 您现在长得怎么样呢? 今天去上海的心情有些复杂, 有点遗憾去年九月份没有过去. 但是, 我还是要玩的很开心的! 都说过去了, 也不要再去想它了, 未来还是掌握在自己手中的!

期待和两位好朋友见面. 一位有六年没有见面了, 哈哈, 实在有点奇怪. 人在新加坡的时候没有想到要见, 反而去了上海我们都说聚一下, 吃吨饭, 聊往事. 要失去了才懂得珍惜吗?

1 more day to World Expo!

Haha, maybe not quite, but it's true, one more day to Shanghai. How 4 months have flown by so quickly! Amazing and terrifying at the same time. Oh crap, this might be my last post for 10 days ... ain't too bad, I went without Blogger, Facebook and Plurk for almost a month last September! Luckily there were those phone calls ... oh well ...

Oh, maybe I can still sneak in one right before I hop on the plane ;)

Life in a series of chapters

I scanned a book on birthdates on Saturday. It said, people born on the 9th of March lead lives comprised of disparate chapters. I think I just closed one. I'm not quite sure how the next one will be written yet, I'm having a sort of a creative block at the moment. I don't know who the characters might be, will they be new or if the old ones I've loved so much may stage a comeback. But I know for sure I need a break, I don't know how long it will take, it will be a while.

And I've started reading Stieg Larsson. There is a sort of morbid romanticism that piqued my interest in this writer. Not so much his books, but his story. You know, this Swedish writer had planned an epic 10-book thriller, only to die halfway through his fourth. I'm on his first: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". So far, so good. I intend to read all three, and if they finally decide to release the fourth, as the original manuscript is or completed by someone else, I'll pick that up too. But I'll never know how the next chapters will be written, or rather, would have been written by Stieg Larsson.

Today, I'm introduced to controversial Iranian director عباس کیارستمی `Abbās Kiyārostamī, who was celebrated at Cannes as the festival closed yesterday, who is a master at visualising Persian poetry so beautifully in his films. In The Wind Will Carry Us, Kiyārostamī reflected on the connection between the past and the present, between continuity and change.

They promise of houries in heaven,

But I would say wine is better,

Take the present to the promises,

A drum sounds melodious from distance

I immediately connect, as I reflect on my own story's crazy chapters, sometimes disjointed, sometimes coherent, but eventually they all come together. This is what I told DA. We talked about our tendency to make up stories for ourselves, and then try our darn best to fulfill them, even to the detriment of our own sanity. What I told him, we do what we think we ought to do at any point in time. The story will work itself out, everything will somehow come together in the end and make sense. It's all part of the journey, right? Only in chapters.

Pacman turns 30, Google celebrates

There's a very nice Pacman GAME as Google's logo, on Google's homepage. Insert coin to play. Here's a still capture.

CD sketched me a panda!

On her iPhone. Amazing. So beautiful, I'm thrilled.

Hah, it's the little things in life that make me really happy :)

走到了最后的十天, 反而已经没有什么感觉了. 我想我期待到累了因为到头来, 可能就只是一场空 ... 不知道呢, 再看看吧, 不抱什么期望的, 那么就不会失望.

The Curious Case of the Pajamas

As a little girl, I loved my pajamas. They were airy and comfortable. They were pretty with lace and sometimes colourful fancy buttons. Above all, they were handmade by my mother.

But I stopped wearing pajamas, I don't remember when. Must be well into my teens. When outfits were an expression of the unique personality of a rebellious teen, who cared what I wore to bed. That must be when I got too lazy to change into the pajamas just for sleeping. Besides, mom had stopped making pajamas for us. I guess they're not so cute to make anymore since we were already big girls, so she stopped. Indeed, all other pajamas we found out there were nowhere near cute, nowhere close to the detailed workmanship that mom had displayed in her pieces, so no way would I spend any precious cent on any of those. So I stopped wearing pajamas.

Then, it became really interesting for me to watch on TV back then and even now, how the Chinese can parade the busiest streets of the city in their pajamas. When my aunt from Beijing visited in the 90s, she had no qualms wearing her pajamas everywhere. Honestly, I was rather flabbergasted.

Only very recently, I understood the significance of the pajamas to a Chinese back in those days, being very poor, when many clothes were hand-me-downs, how could one even think of having special clothes just for sleeping. So the pajamas were a symbol of status (and NYT says, coolness too). Someone who could afford the pajamas was of a certain social stature, especially when communism was at its peak and everyone was supposed to be equal. So it's only natural one would flaunt it at every available chance - out in the neighbourhood, at the market, riding public transport, at the most crowded and visible places of any gritty Chinese neighbourhood. Besides, living in tight communal quarters back in the day, it didn't make much sense changing out of them just to walk a few metres to buy some meat from across the street, did it?

Old habits die hard.

But China has grown so fast and in her race to join the top powers of the world, is also very rapidly shedding ugly old habits. Shanghai wants the pajamas off her streets now that the Expo is in full swing and the city is under tight scrutiny and criticised for every tiny flaw, oh, how many others will delight at seeing the poised Chinese superpower crumble. Like the legs of a pair of soft cotton pajamas.
Of course, people oppose it. Some do so because old habits die hard. Some do so because it's a piece of Shanghainese lifestyle and a chunk of China's past yanked out by force, and nobody likes to be forced to comply to anything that threatens that which is close to the heart. But with progress, they somehow must. Who will want to remember, or for that matter, need to remember, Shanghai by her colourful pajamas parade? Old habits die hard, but die they must. Soon, everyone will forget anyway.

Zocards

Everytime I pass by a café, I always sneak a peek at the Zocard revolving shelf. Over the years, I've collected countless of these cards. To many, they're just advertisements. To me, they are beautiful inspiring works of art. With a date stamp. So that makes them wonderful objects of nostalgia, of immense sentimental value.

They take up valuable real estate in my cramped apartment. Many a times, I mean to throw them out. Like today. But I took one look, and then, took a few pictures, and stuffed them right back where they belong. The logic is simple.

If they're inspiring enough to make me wanna immortalise them on film, how can they be relegated to the trash can?

RE. START.

They say girls with big bags have security issues. What I used to sneer at, I agree now. We want to pile our lives into those bags, we want every unpredictable situation under control as long as we have everything in the bag.

Yet, ironically, we are the least prepared, we do not know how to react to evil twists of fate, or change in heart. So we steel ourselves; we keep our fragile hearts in metal chests that even top grade diamonds cannot cut through. For we are not like them girls who quiver at the diamond's shallow brilliance.

Instead ...

We query the mystery of a volcanic rock thrown up from the depths of her mother's belly 10,000 leagues under the sea, we marvel at the fine grains of sands that hide so many lives but yet so transparent and vulnerable as glass. We dive deep into our own emotional oceans, seeking still waters, craving tranquility, wanting stability.

That's not you, a friend once said to me. You live life on the edge.

A little too much, yes. I sometimes venture foolishly out to embrace the climactic horrors of the emotionsphere. I've been kissed by the breeze on my cheeks and the golden rays of sunlight on my eyes. I've hunched against the assail of hail and been punched out of wind in my stomach. I've burned like a furnace in my chest and chilled to the core of my heart.

I want to retreat to the seabed, where the water runs deep, where the current is still. Where I'd rather not fall into the giddying pleasure of a spinning vortex, so I won't be breathless when I fall out of it.

We have baggages we cannot let go. Yet we must learn to do so.

I need to. I have to. RE. START.

The Panda Series

5.12

Can't believe it's been 2 years since the great Sichuan earthquake. God bless.

Through the fog

I always choose the bus over the train if I'm not pressed for time. I like all the visual stimulants that come with a long bus ride, ears plugged to my favourite playlist, retreating into my own contemplative thoughts and feelings. Like CD said, "making my own MTV" in those hour-long rides.

That was what I did the past Saturday, after the rain. Alas, my window was foggy so I could only get a blurry picture of the scenery outside. Alas, I couldn't quite catch the red Mazda 3s (think their butts are incredibly cute and sexy, aren't they?), which I've got into the habit of counting. So I played with my camera instead. I just got a new all-black pouch and a bright red hand-strap for it. The camera body is all-black too, so the dash of red against all the black is quite beautiful. Well, I digress.

What I meant to say was, I aimed a shot from behind a foggy window, and got pleasantly surprised by this result. Enjoy! :)

Blue skies

Coincidentally, it was also Daniel's birthday. The skies were smiling for him, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And I love Blue Skies by BT, featuring Tori Amos. She didn't actually say the words "Blue Skies" here. Instead, he spliced her vocals from different places to form the words. Genius, though sometimes you wonder why he would go this roundabout way in making music. But the haunting result is well worth it! Attention to details rocks. And BT's nano-tech stutter tricks are worth a patent.