The Rainbow Connection

Just when I thought I was about to give up.
Just when I was losing hope in all that used to be hopeful.

The Little India bus stop gave me a ray of hope, literally.

The interesting thing about rainbows, as Kermit nicely put it, is - what's on the other side?

Just like my current situation... Drats...

Or it may be the stage of heavy downpour now and then the rainbow may appear.

But anyway at that point in time I was really glad I had my trusty K800i with me.

The phone that no one believes can take sharp and clear pictures.

Little India and rainbows - isn't it a nice combination, like, Uniquely Singapore?

Perhaps STB would want to buy this shot of mine...hahaha.....

I know this post is very nondescript and blah... Well you just got to wait for another pow wow one.

Can't expect fireworks all the time.

If you expect fireworks, then believe in me in the first place! Never mind.

Till then, I give you more more pictures of Rainbows in spicy and colourful Little India, with accompanying lyrics of The Rainbow Connection:

Why are there so many songs about rainbows

and what's on the other side

Rainbows are visions, but only illusions

and rainbows have nothing to hide

So we've been told and some choose to believe it

I know they're wrong, wait and see

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection

The lovers, the dreamers and me

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered

when wished on the morning star?

Somebody thought of that and someone believed it

Look what it's done so far

What's so amazing that keeps us star gazing

and what do we think we might see?

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection

The lovers, the dreamers and me

All of us under its spell

We know that it's probably magic

Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices?

I've heard them calling my name

Is this the sweet sound that called the young sailors

The voice might be one and the same

I've heard it too many times to ignore it

It's something that I'm supposed to be

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection

The lovers, the dreamers and me

Kenapa saya sih??

Well well....Akhirnya saya kembali ke industri kesehatan... Senang, tapi sekarang di kantor mungkin ada masalah... Selalu di "atas" ganti-ganti - gue juga selalu tanya sendiri - kenapa ya??

Baru-baru ni, saya ada satu masalahnya - ini lebih akut dari pada yang kantor nya!.... Ngga tau kenapa terlibat dalam itu lho... Kalau ada cowok lebih tua yang senang, gimana lho??

Aduh.... Kenapa kenapa.... Solusi ke mana cari? Siapa mau memecahkan masalah nya? Ia bisa membantu? Hati gue terus gimana juga.... Ribet sih.............ah.

Retaining Loyal Customers in the World of Fiction

In case you're wondering what I have been doing in my non-GDP-contributing days (which has been a week or so - no one wants it to be longer, really), I've been reading a great deal. Which sort of perks me up since I don't get much spare time to even think about personal issues when I am busy at work. You must be a guilty culprit too, right?

Anyway in today's Life!, Maggie Cheung even admits to liking mundane housework to landing herself a fat role in Nanjing! Nanjing!, an upcoming movie to commemorate The Nanking Massacre. Well, I don't blame her - do you? I have spent all GDP-contributing weekends straddling between catching up on work, family time and housework. Now that I have all the time on my hands, I actually experience flow while doing housework! Can you believe it?! No wonder Maggie finds housework more rewarding than acting. Now who's going to be a feminist this time round?

Okay, back to what I am supposed to be talking in this entry. So yes, I am now a regular patron of NLB (NLB must thank me since they have recently lamented a drop in borrowings - and yes, I am a patron of good etiquette; I do not sit nor squat on the carpeted floors, and I do not fall asleep on armchairs with my mouth wide open). I borrow all genres and titles to sooth each need - I go to the business section to hone myself in that arena, I go to the design section to look for new home and interior ideas, and I go to the fiction section to kaypoh on others' lives (being fictional characters, that is). And I chanced upon Freya North and picked this up from the shelf:

I've got to admit the pretty combination of colours did help to catch my attention; so did the slightly embossed, serifs-inclined titled enticed my sense of touch. The power of packaging is just... Underestimated. I flipped through the pages. Seeing that the words were relatively less minute in comparison to others and hence do not pose a threat to my myopic condition (this only refers to my opthalmologic condition - to the rest of my current and future stakeholders, rest assure it is not in reference to my personal belief system nor decision-making skills), and having noticed the intriguing context set in art history, I decided to check it out, together with the other business titles.

Some of the people out there reading must be thinking: "Chey! I read this when I was in secondary school. Now then read, got a bit behind time or not?" Well, then blame it on me for not having to catch up with North during then as I was busy with Steel and Sheldon back in my school days (I know, very typical but... hey! I did learn many things out from there. Real stuff in life).

Fen is a simple story about, well, Fenella (hence Fen) having to choose between 2 men, battling her personal social mores and her obsession with a dead sculptor, Julius Fetherstone (Nope, no real guy in art history by the name of that, I've wiki-ed and google-ed it out). The story was good; North was constantly engaging and had used good vocabulary throughout the entire book - somewhat difficult to find in similar chic fiction titles. Well, saucy bits here and there, but it's ok right? And there were the other 2 McCabe sisters, Cat (Catriona) and Pip (Philippa), who had minor roles in this title (what names, btw). You know, giving the usual sisterly advice and all that. But a peep into North's website gave me greater insight - North had titles on the other 2 McCabe sisters as well!


At that point in time, I thought North was fantastic - she basically used just 1 family (read: one idea), had 3 titles based on the same family, and even reunites the sisters in her latest title!
(Note that the serifs are gone to suit the more pragmatic, less romanticized audience now. Bleah.)

If you rationalise this phenomenon out, North is one true-blue biz whiz. She uses the same family (i.e. one core business idea or intent) and spins each sister into 3 different books (i.e. 3 respective revenue generation points), and reunites them (i.e. strategic alliance) into 1 book! (and hence, a much stronger profit centre) I mean, is this amazing or what?! Who said authors were just airy-fairy people who concentrated on literary wonders and forgot about the rest! Bullshit!

Not only does she uses minimal resources to maximise revenue, by also spinning different tales by capitalising on the McCabe sisters, she has made a connection between her readers and the McCabe family - With each separate title, the reader feels more in touch with the sisters and can only gratiate themselves by borrowing more of North's titles (hence increased revenue). Because the reader wants - demands, even - to find out what happened to the other sister, who would have appeared in the other titles. And whoa, think about the title that reunites the 3 sisters - building on the strength of all the other titles - to dish out the "reunion" thing. Either way you look at it, you can always read the "reunion" title first before reading about each sister, or vice versa.

Talk about customer loyalty! This is one author that knows that it is 6 times more difficult to capture new customers than to retain a loyal customer (reader, in this context).

And now she has got this sucker who is well-ensconced in her sofa, starting to happily lap up the pages of Home Truths. And despite the lack of serifs in the new title.

Ex-schoolmates

Alright, time to listen to my stakeholders, who are mostly more inclined towards the English language. So much for Asian languages and my verbal diarrhoea in Mandarin. FG even had to literally read out my posts in Mandarin, word-by-word, as if it was some oral exam. Tsk.

Yes, I know, it is the age of globalisation (one good thing about Blogspot - no auto spellcheck to AmercaniZe oneself!) and English is the ONLY language you can type for a URL address anyway.

Having read today's newspapers (Well, having no true economic worth currently, I have all the time to read the papers - from main section to Home; Life!; and even the classifieds. And even the complimentary copy of 我報 - Sorry, can't escape typing that unless you want to mistake "wo bao" for Ho Kee's new sub-brand of Pau; whatever), I was flabbergasted with my discovery amidst sipping my instant hot ginger tea. To my horror, I saw my ex-schoolmate fronting the cover of Home section - having been prosecuted in court for being a chronic kleptomaniac (Ironically, it was dear old Mr Chan KY back at primary school who gave us a veritable laundry list of "-mania" words to learn - and I can recall till now - it does include Kleptomania).

My recollection of her was someone who was sweet in nature; one who was meek and demure. We stayed close by during then and commuted together in the same school bus back home. When there was time to chat - if I was not playing childhood games or busy rushing through the latest SVH title - she always had something nice and amiable to chat about. She sometimes morph into a little spitfire though - Anyone who crossed her path would sure to get a good scolding from the girl with big eyes.

It's really sad to know that someone who had such good education (erm, let's just say that she went to a better secondary school than I did. Well, her sec sch just had better brand equity, that's all. Whitley rocks!!) will have such a day. But the root of the (her) problem, it seems, was psychiatric reasons. After all, kleptomonia is classified under OCD-category in IMH (key stakeholder, please verify the preceding statement). It must be some extenuating factors that have caused her to engage in such acts. I empathise with her and hope they will do away with the 1 day jail sentence.

Anyway what is it with ex-schoolmates??
Providence has a way with all of us - You just can't hide when Lady Luck is smiling right at you, brilliantly.
Or if the equivalent of Casper (something more dreadful, I would have thought) is just hampering your every next step. *Choy...*

Ex-schoolmates become singers; almost at an overnight rate.
Ex-schoolmates become brand ambassadors.
Ex-schoolmates and ex-es give you the shock of your life when they turn up right in your face during job interviews (gasp!)

We shall not name-drop here and just move on with our mundane lives.
And to continue seeking GDP-producing activities rather than blogging *Scoff*

原點、終點 - 該如何分？

怎麽世界縂是那麽小；團團轉轉還是回到了原點。

今天，機會來了 - 以各種方式體現出來。
希望我會衆望所歸 - 同時也能對得起大家，包括身邊的人。
也希望能夠在理想的崗位凱旋歸來。

我會記住你曾經叮嚀過的一番話 - “珍惜眼前人”。
這對我理解和分析事物的思維與作風都會是一樣的。

我想；做人，總歸有一個理念吧。。。

誓言與挑戰

<當我進入醫業時>

<我鄭重地保證>

<要奉獻為人類服務>

<憑著良心和尊嚴從事醫業>

<病人的健康為我首要顧念>


這不單單只是《白色巨塔》裏蘇怡華老挂在嘴邊的醫生誓言；其實它真對我而言，是意義非凡的。
以一位從前為新加坡醫療的光榮而奮鬥；一位深相信我們醫生精湛的醫術；一位曾經憑著良心和尊嚴對待每一個醫業夥伴 - 這段話令我反映了我對這行業的興趣與認真。

其實，如果你把誓言的字給改了，任何行業都能派上用場。
不單是行業，個人的人生觀點或理想也可以用得上這段話。

我本身不是醫師，但是在劇裏的錯綜複雜與角色的交互，我都能徹底地理解。
因爲醫業本來就只有真正的勇士才能生存 - 她所需要的是一位堅強、積極、和可靠的人才去栽培她。也就因爲有了這些概念與個人經驗，看這部劇時我感觸很多，也能與各角色共鳴 - 和他們一同哀與樂。

真的感謝蔡岳勳導演把各演員的潛力都給發揮得讓觀衆能夠體會到劇中故事的細膩。
有了這些感觸和劇后的學識，讓我再一次的覺悟，我其實還是深愛著這行業。
請不要誤會 - 我並沒收導演任何的獎賞或慫恿；這只是我心裏的一份真心話。

謝謝《白色巨塔》 - 如即將來的機會將實現的話，我一定義不容辭地再一次接受醫業的挑戰。