I feel (and have often felt) like I should write more like I am storytelling, relaying the details of my life. From the feelings to the specifics of names of places, these are all things that I tend to leave out. I usually write what I did, plain and simple, in my daily journal. I've been making an effort to include more of what I think and feel for a couple years now. It's getting a lot better, but there's still a lot more to be done. Then on the blogging side, I tend to only write about what I think, but not really related to a certain event. Granted, an event may have triggered my idea, but it's usually something that I've been thinking about for awhile or have at least considered before.
Part of the problem is the trade-off between the time spent in using so much detail and the time I could be spending out, living a life to write about! This is a very familiar tug-of-war for me, after thirteen years of keeping a personal journal. I'm afraid that I am slowly drifting away from maintaining it, just because the quality that I want to have takes far too much time to fit into my life. Yet, I still can't quite put it down. After all, I've been faithful for a good twelve years and some with little faltering!
This struck me as I was replying to an e-mail from one of my pledge brothers, asking for advice from anyone who had traveled to Europe before. I can still recall all the places I went and most of things I saw, but what was that website I used to book my hostels? What airline were those cheap flights taken on? These are all details that have started to escape me. Thankfully, a quick search and refresher took me back to the information I wanted, but can things always work out so well? I'd much rather have solid entries I can refer to from that time, with all those details in there for me.
I don't have a very good memory and those are one of the most precious things to me, so it's sad to realize what I have forgotten. It's the very reason why I stubbornly continue to document my life, despite the time that it takes. Between all the things that I have recorded, I think I have a good database of my life. I want to be able to look back on my life and actually know what happened. I don't just have trouble throwing away physical things - memories and knowledge are the same for me! I hate that my French and Chinese language skills have deteriorated so much over the years and that I probably can't remember the way to get from my house to the local library back in Topeka.
So, I love to have all this information. Plus, it will all be very useful for writing my autobiography! :-P I'm going to have to get the nearly 50 volumes of handwritten journals to be transcribed. The benefit of electronic copies is the searchability and accessibility they offer. Though most of my entries aren't very exciting, there are definitely some jewels hidden in there that could be really great material. I'd also need my thousands of pictures and videos to be consolidated and put into some sort of a timeline corresponding to my written entries and life events and experiences. How cool would that be? Then I could virtually relive my life (to some extent)!
For now though, I will take to my friend Ninja's philosophy: live a life worth writing about! (Or, in his case, worth making a movie about.)
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In this line of work, it really feels like creativity is a way of life, not just a skill you have or a thought process you must endure. Being creative consultants for a wide array of clients requires flexible thinking, curiosity, critical analysis, and understanding the market. These skills are all a part of the lifestyle of becoming a creative person who takes everything around them and can draw connections that others may not, be able to adapt quickly based on new developments, and be able to dream in ways that others may not dare. Namecards, or business cards, are one of those things that are really helpful in the business world. Though you can come up with various creative designs to try to stand out, what ultimately matters is a clean look with key (mostly contact) information. It's pretty much a standard to hand someone a business card when you make a contact or find someone interested in learning more about what you or your company can do for them. While you want to get your name out there and encourage follow-ups, you also don't want to throw cards at anyone you come across, especially if you haven't even spent a few minutes to talk to them. My decision to come to Singapore was largely based on feeling. It seems that I am allowing my intuition to guide me far more than I ever allowed before. I don't know if this is my quarter-life crisis, the result of maturing, or just a random epiphany, but it is becoming more pervasive in everything I do. Perhaps in growing up and learning to open your mind to things, you also learn how to trust your instincts. Maybe there really is something to your gut instincts. Whatever the case, I have been paying more attention to what my heart tells me over what my head may want to say. And you know what? It feels good. Today at dinner I was struck my the most fantastical notion of customized menus. See, when the waitress asked me if it was ok that there is pork in my shrimp wontons, I started to imagine a place where the waitress would ask for any food allergies you may have before you order. That idea then developed into having electronic menus that would update according to what items you could or could not eat and keep track of your favorite dishes as well as what you ordered recently. Every first-time customer could then just input their own data and from then on they could be given a membership card to be scanned upon each visit, pulling up their personal data. Cool, no? A low-cost version of this could just be printing menus for people with certain nut allergies, seafood allergies, or vegetarian all the way to vegan preferences. You know, money can become a major inconvenience when you're out of the country. Thankfully, in this day and age it's rather convenient, what with accounts accessible online, but nonetheless I find it difficult to get things done as efficiently. With tax season in full swing, I am getting concerned about filing my own tax returns this time around. There's a form that I need that I don't believe I have, but being away makes it difficult for me to ensure I have it in time for the deadline. Why do people have this aversion to bugs (and amphibians and reptiles)? Generally they are not going to hurt you and if you just let them be, they will not bother you too. Yet, it seems that a dislike for these creatures is widespread, from girls who squeal and hide to guys who rush off in a different direction. Reactions and distaste can range from just avoiding them as much as possible to chasing after them in an attempt to kill them. But for me, it's a completely different story. I spent nearly two hours discussing ideas and philosophies with a coworker today, as he shared with me his thoughts and observations and I expressed some of my own. Though we see things from very different angles, I respect him as a capable person who is good at what he does. However, his motivations and mine are vastly different, so the way we approach and think about things is quite unlike the other. Talk about a powerhouse. I am constantly surprised at all the speeches that I hear overseas that include references to America this, America that. I mean, I know that American culture is infecting other countries, but in every area, from social to political to scientific, I am reminded again and again just how effectively this seems to be occurring. Ok, so they watch American TV dramas and movies, fair enough. Hollywood is the mecca for the entertainment industry after all. But must it also be mentioned when referencing research, political philosophies, or economic analyses? (I'm not talking about the current economy "crisis" here - I can understand how talk of that can stem from the states.) [originally posted March 17, 2009] |
laelene My philosophy is simple: things change. Therefore, we are all on a lifelong journey of discovery. We should be flexible, questioning, learning, adapting, and growing. Always. Archives
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