Merrill, Lehman, AIG… what’s next? Pamper yourself while you can. Here’s showing off my new toy. I thought I can never actually find a watch that can be casual, sweat proof, classy yet reasonably priced until I came across this Hydronaut. Well, be nice, I may just let you take a look… 
If you are feeling like that piece of gum on the pavement, try this…
“I am kind of paranoid in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.” – J D Salinger
How would you define civilization? Official definition from dictionaries stated that it’s a refinement of thought, manners, or taste. But then again, who should set that standard of refinement? To me, being civilized is simply being socially responsible and I suspect some Chinese nationals prefer to call it hypocrisy. This topic will step on people’s toes but being ethnically Chinese, I feel this is something my fellow dragon siblings should take a good look at.
What prompted this thought is a recent trip to HK via Macau. As we had booked our flight out of Bangkok late, the only route available to HK is on AirAsia via Macau. I’ve been avoiding China (excluding HK) over the years due to the people’s generally uncivilized behaviour. So, for this trip via Macau, I was all prepared for that extreme rudeness since I’m expecting there will be lots of Chinese tourists on this flight. With that in mind, I paid extras for the Express Boarding option on AirAsia in order to avoid rubbing (literally) shoulders with the Chinese. Thank god I did.
While at the boarding gate, upon seeing the airline staff approaching the announcement stand, the Chinese flocked to the counter like bees to honey. Who cares about the kids and elderly when this is a budget airline and we are Chinese, mind you. Their rule of thumb for queing is DO NOT LEAVE any space in between, row wise and column wise. So you will get to see this really chaotic situation of 3 rows in a line meant for 1 and cheeks pressing on backs. When the Express Boarding (moi) passengers were invited to their designated priority queue, one dissatisfied Chinese actually question me (she sounded fine though while the others look on like I’m a freshly baked Peking Duck).
My unpleasant experiences also include the shouting conversations prior to the plane taking off and squabbling between a teenage girl and a man in his late twenties at the custom. Yes, they are all Chinese nationals. Compared to my flights to China 6 years ago, this is a much improved situation. At least there’s no loud conversations in the sky and no smelly feet or ‘dragons’ blocking the aisle.
I’ve been trying to empathize with their behaviour and can actually sound really open minded and forgiving during conversations with friends. But when I’m surrounded by them, it’s really hard to stomach their obnoxious behaviour and I’m only a guy who survive without hair gel nor cufflinks.
However, I still believe civilization takes time and it sure doesn’t equate to wealth. It has to go through a long stretch of self-criticisms to reach there. Remember those days when we can see the term Kiasu on our (Singapore’s) papers nearly on a daily basis? What about the mountains of food on plates at buffet dinner? Not that we are totally rid of that by now but at least it isn’t as prevalent. To me, that is a progress in civilization. Having been shut out from the rest of the world for so long, it is understandable that the Chinese, with their new found wealth and international exposure, is still trying to fathom why spitting in a museum is disgusting. Hopefully, the Olympics will speed up their effort to become a more civilized nation though I’m quite sure we will need to continue ‘empathizing’ for several more years to come and I will try my best to stay out during this transition period.
Isn’t she? Turn out just the way as I’ve imagined and better. Thanks to friends who had reminded me to post the pic. Actually I did not forget but was just too lazy to even take one pic. After procrastinating for weeks, here it is. I’m very pleased with the new place and fortunately so are our customers. Hope you like it too.
I sat on this vintage salon chair for my S$4.50 haircut. Note the retro pics on the wall. These are real, not replica. Cool. So are my really short hair in sunny Bangkok.
Wonder how a bachelor pad looks like? The one on the left is 3hours before a friend’s visit. The one on the right is, well, 3 hours later.
Problem
This has been happening for about a year now but the simple technology (digital timer for traffic light) I’m going to mention is probably still the latest trumpet blowing effort by the traffic control authority here in Bangkok. Crossing the four lane road in front of my apartment is always a harrowing experience. There was no traffic light and when the traffic is relatively smooth, it’s nearly impossible to get to the other side.
Action Taken
A year back, the authority finally installed the traffic lights with big digital timer display with instantaneous response on the lights when pedestrians press a button like what we have in Singapore. Theoretically this would have significantly improved pedestrians’ safety. However, the results were nothing less than miserable.
Results
Root Cause
Truth is- lack of appropriate education on execution or simply, stupidity. However, for endangering our lives, that root cause wouldn’t show the extent of their (the authorities’) intelligence if I do not elaborate further.
Firstly, wrong priority when installing these white elephants. Solving traffic congestion seems to be the priority, not human life. Therefore, the lights are on when traffic is at crawling speed and off when at cruising speed. Subsequently, this installation becomes redundant since it is off when needed and On when not needed.
Secondly, it is evident from the countdown to redlight (for driver) situation that the authority never actually understand the problem before implementing the solution. Everything is probably planned (if any) on paper. Another proof is when pedestrians either don’t know a button to the traffic lights exist (I personally informed two already) due to lack of prominent sign or they simply have not have a chance to use it like the above example of that poor guy (it’s me at times).
Corrective Action
Education.
It’s time like this that I wish I’m home. That said, Bangkok still has lots of pleasant surprises to be explored and most, if not all, of them are not run by the authorities. For now, how do I get to the other side when the lights are off? Fingers crossed, mind focused, ID card in my wallet.
My cafe is moving! Our current site is at a common area in the mall which has higher visibility. As the landlord wanted the location for marketing events, they’ve offered us an attractive rental for an alternative shop space on the same floor. Since marketing events will bring in more crowds that this mall desperately need and we get to save more, we’ve decided to move for mutual benefits.
While having a conversation about our move with a regular customer (Ms J), she told me at point blank that our cafe lacks a theme and look like a TV repair shop. I was flabbergasted but maintain my composure because my only other option was not going to fit into my cafe’s image.
My patience did pay off. She continued by telling me the reason she has that impression and since she is of Arts background and used to work in a 5* hotel in organizing events and banquet, I allow her to proceed. Subsequently, she told me she is going to give me free advice for my new cafe interior and I accepted with some reservations because I still don’t get the ‘TV repair’ joke and like I had blogged before, we do get compliments from celebrities.
After she left, I spent 2 hours conjuring up a graphical image of what the new cafe could look like with some of her suggestions thrown in. One week later, Ms J voluntarily dropped by again to check on the progress of my design. The seemingly snobbish Ms J was now a gracious and generous lady not because she was pleased with the results but I’ve gotten to know her better as a friend through her actions.
Although the end result only took in about 20% of her proposals, those are the important points like no tall showcases blocking the entrance, find a concept people will instantly come to term with (where ‘concept’ by now is a much more philosophical term), low and high furniture positioning, etc.
At my age (not that old lah, I know), I can indeed appreciate the goodness of a bitter pill. But sometimes my ego will still rush in and choke that pill before it can be swallowed. What if I’ve unleashed my rude rebuttal when Ms J gave me her honest opinion? Surely I would have missed out some valuable lessons on interior designing and possibly a long term impact on my business if I took the wrong bet on the interiors. That said, I still can’t figure out the ‘TV repair’ part.
The final version of my design in low res is attached for your viewing pleasure. This view only covers 3/4 of the space. YOUR COMMENTS are most welcome since renovation will only begin on next Wednesday.
Not that I did but I hope I could, for good reasons.
I was watching the ever entertaining NHK channel. The segment was about a variety of Japanese rice and its unique cooking method. As most would have known, Japanese can go hysterical in the face of good food. In this case, the female host reacted in a bell shape emotional progression. At her first bite of the cooked rice (only rice!), she was silent like the calm before a storm. Within seconds, she leapt into hysteria and blurted out in the distinctively Japanese way: ‘oooooiiiiiiiiiiiiishiiiiiiiii’…… Before one could figure out her sanity, she started weeping (talk about mood swing). Since there isn’t any English subtitles, I can only figure out she was weeping out of an appreciation for nostalgia (maybe her mum use to cook it like that) or it was simply that the rice was so goddamn delicious it warrants the tears.
Overly dramatic was my first cynical response. And then I thought, what if it’s real? What if something can really be so good that it can move me to tears? What will that be? Food? A person’s deed? Yes, I had ever been excited, euphoric, extremely satisfied but never to the extent of weeping. How does that feel? Maybe I will find out when I strike the lottery?? Haha… well…
How often can you get the latest single, free? And how often do you get it from a revered star like Madonna? In conjunction with Live Earth concert, here is her self composition for free download. For limited period only.
http://madonnasthoughts.blogspot.com/search/label/Live%20Earth
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