‘Tis the Season…

In my younger days, I could stride into shops, battle for hours with the crowd to get the best deals and emerge happy and contented.

Gone are those times.

Last Sunday, I went looking for my last Christmas presents. I entered only one mall. One department store, two shops and two hours later, I had bought the necessary, but I was entirely drained out.

To recover, I found a cafe. I sat down, had a cup of green tea and pondered.

On one hand, I was sad: I had to admit I am no longer a spring chicken and I’ve lost my shopping stamina to search for bargains and withstand the frenzy of the crowds.

On the other hand, I wondered whether all my efforts had been worthwhile. Would the people whom I had shopped for really appreciate the gifts that I had bought them? Or would they just nod and smile pleasantly when receiving their presents and then later stuff the things unused into a cupboard to be re-gifted or sent to the Salvation Army later?

Such thoughts then led me to consider how materialistic all of us living in modern society are. Our actual needs aside, we are told by advertising that our lives will not be perfect unless we acquire XYZ, we help fuel the economy by buying what it says we need, we are given stuff that people think we need, we work towards achieving what we desire, we bury ourselves with things that we imagine we need.

When he was still alive, my father was a serial hoarder of junk. He inundated the entire house that my family was living in then with anything from car parts to cheap fourth-hand clothing from Sungei Road. I am not as bad as he. Nevertheless, I still collect certain things: for instance, books. I already possess more books than I will probably read in my lifetime, and I’m still buying and running out of space to store them, despite yearly attempts to cull my collection.

We could all probably exist happily with less. But whether we really desire to live with less and thereby reduce clutter, wastage and our carbon footprint — that is the key. So during this season of giving and gifting, I will mull over the following:

- Throughout history, there have been people, the religious/ascetic types, who have given up material comfort to live simply and focus their lives on meditation and other spiritual pursuits.

- Not long ago, I read online about medical studies in India being done an ancient yogi who is able to survive just on breathing and has not eaten or drunk anything for many years.

- A few years ago, I also read about some Western artist who decided to make a symbolic statement by giving/selling all his material possessions away and burning what he could not to restart life afresh with only the clothes on his back.

Perhaps these examples will inspire me to reduce, reuse, recycle more. Perhaps not… An iPad calls, even though I have two laptops and many notebooks to write on…

Merry Christmas, World…

The ‘F’ Word: Thoughts about Use and Abuse

On Thursday evenings, I have to send my mother to church. About 3 hours later, I have to pick her up. In the interim, I arrange meetings with other people or do stuff on my own (e.g. have dinner, do grocery shopping, sit at a fast food joint and read/mark assignments).

Not so long ago, I was quietly sitting by myself at Subway one such Thursday night, nursing an ice lemon tea and trying desperately to mark exam papers to meet a deadline.

Four young men, all friends in their late teens or early twenties, sat at the next table to eat their sandwiches. With typical exaggerated bravado of that testosterone-filled age group, the four were posturing and chatting away loudly about their respective activities and concerns.

I cannot remember the exact content of their discussion. The main thing that drew my attention to them was not so much the level of the noise they were making, but the words that were coming out, especially from one particular young man.

Practically in every other statement that this young man was making, the ‘f’ word in all its grammatical ramifications would pop out. Every 30 seconds or so, he would say the ‘f’ word as liberally as Singlish speakers can pepper their speech with ‘lahs’.

The prudish matron in me wanted to stand up, confront the young man about his public crudity and demand that he be more careful and courteous to others. Unfortunately, caution stepped in. What impact would a stranger really make on the future behaviour of this young man? So I did what most Singaporeans do: minded my own business.

However, the writer/presentation skills aspect of me was appalled by this young man’s mindless usage of one of the strongest words in the English vocabulary. Please understand: I am not against using the ‘f’ word: in fact, I do use it occasionally, and usually to release some kind of heightened emotion at a particularly vexing moment (and usually muttered to myself). If said so casually like the young man did, the word loses its potency with overuse.

I pitied the poor range of this young man’s vocabulary. Imagine when the occasion warrants genuine swearing, what sort of words could the young man use anymore? “F’… “F, F”… “F, F, F”??? How absolutely bland…

Then my imagination ran wild. If only the caregivers of this youth had exercised discipline when he was younger and literally scrubbed his mouth out with a toilet brush every time he uttered the ‘f’ word, perhaps he would have been instilled with better manners and a higher respect for using words appropriately.

Towards 2012 and beyond

It has been a long time since I have written on this blog. The demands of life has continually interfered with my good intentions to write publicly in this fashion. Nevertheless, as the new year approaches, let’s keep a new year’s resolution to maintain this blog properly with new entries weekly.

Other new year resolutions for 2012 (not necessary in priority order):

- I complete my first book of short stories, entitled Dark Things.

- I reach and maintain my ideal weight.

- I read widely and research deeply for my novels to come.

- I demote Cityville within the priorities of my life.

- I sleep by 11 pm and wake by 6 am.

- I write at least 2 hours a day.

- I control my snacking.

- I take proper care of my sinuses.

- I exercise every day in some form or another.

- I am nicer to everyone in my life.

- I manage my time better.

Hmm… Isn’t that a chunky list already? And I haven’t even reached the juicy bits as yet… How I am going to reach/keep/maintain these goals, and the many others not listed: I guess time will tell.

New year resolutions are a very interesting study of a person’s concerns, interests and aspirations in life–a key insight into his/her thinking. What speaks louder: the things that are on the list, or the things that aren’t? If you are reading this and don’t know me, I wonder what kind of impression I would leave on you and how you would be imagining what sort of person I am… Hmm…