sophial's Xanga

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:08:53 GMT

Picked up this quote yesterday in the papers which caught my eye:

''Leadership is the ability to think for yourself, to believe in what you have finally figured out to be the truth for yourself, and to act on it'' - Ho Kwon Ping

And another quote I read in a John Cage book I picked up in office:

''There is only one content, which all great men wish to express: the longing of mankind for its future form, for an immortal soul, for dissolution into the universe - the longing of this soul for its God. This alone, though reached by many different roads and detours and expressed by many different means, is the content of the works of the great; and with all their will they yearn for it so long and desire it so intensely until it is accomplished.''
- Arnold Schoenberg, Style and Idea (1950)

Phil told me today that apparently at the new Italian cafe in Raffles City, the bar can concoct up a scroppino for you if you ask for it - it's not on the menu - and it'll cost you $15. Go try it if you can, it's nice...prosecco with lemon sorbet....tried it only once in Venice and have not found it anywhere else in Singapore since.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:04:27 GMT

Our team of three left the office about 6.15 this evening, together with another colleague, and headed down to Crazy Elephant for beer. Beer by the river....it's been a while. After a day of grants processing anyway, it was well-deserved. Exchanged tales of our ex-colleagues...talked about ourselves as well..found out that my colleague actually knows Spanish. Along the way, travelogue tales were traded too...my boss shared his experience crossing the Jordanian border...and said that the best thing to carry along at border passes would actually be the guys' 11B pass...no questions asked apparently. So the lesson here....if you're crossing the border, make sure you're travelling with a guy who still has his pass.

When you look back sometimes, you wonder at all the things you did and experienced, the people you travelled with...America, Germany, Melbourne, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Nottingham, London, Costa Brava, Girona, Venice, Basel, Germany again. Youth is so fleeting....

It was a good summer this year. Changes headed our way, personal paths that we're about to embark on....it's just a matter of time.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:12:13 GMT

And so we've moved back to HQ, back to where I was formerly but now in a different wing, in a different cubicle (much smaller!) - trying to get used to the open concept where the dividers are much lower, hence less storage space as well, and less privacy. But after having moved some of the bookcases to our cubicles, there seems to be a bit more of the latter. Still, it's about re-integrating one department's culture with the rest of the organisation and I'm possibly one of the few who (having come from HQ) seems to be reintegrating better....given that some of them have never worked closely with the rest of the organisation here. I think it's good that we've moved back, more opportunities for interaction with the rest, less running around and delays due to physical distance between buildings. But there's a lot of cynicism at the moment, some of which is beginning to grate on my nerves.

My cube is cosier now, I've put up the old pictures (of travels with friends) so the familiarity is there...I'm slowly getting used to a smaller space, it's a good thing in a way, learning to live with less things around - less for us to pack when we move in a year's time again to Goodman Road!

Halloween and All Saints

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:59:52 GMT

The last time I celebrated Halloween or the Eve of All Hallows was in 2003 in America, when the UNC community dressed up and partied on Franklin Street. Yesterday, our choir celebrated Halloween for the first time, dressed to kill....while not as outrageous as the American version - from witches, wizards, vampires, draculas, royalty to Harry Potter, animals, dark angels and what have you.....dressing up was half the fun, the other half was thanks to the games that all of us had thought of beforehand.

Someone said this yesterday and today...celebrate Life....it takes different forms, and applies in multi-faceted ways across our lives....We're not dead, neither might we be saints yet but in the meantime, enjoy what we can do and our gifts, not deny them, enjoy fellowship...

Some of the night's photos:

The Wizard and The Musketeer

With the Dark Angel and a Victorian Lady

Giving the Horns a hard time...

Politics of Perfection or the Pursuit of Happiness

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:23:29 GMT

Some of what we've been thrashing out over the last few weeks. How to convince MOF??

Why is it important to develop a gracious people appreciative of the arts and culture?

As Singapore joins the league of first-world nations, the pursuit of material success should not be at the price of sacrificing a sense of humility (to prevent complacency), and the strive for betterment.

The strive for individual betterment is an intrinsic need that drives each person in varying degrees in each of the following spheres: Man-Self, Man-Man, Man-World. The success of this has an impact on individual and societal well-being (i.e. broadly described as 'happiness').

Top-Line Outcome: Inherent in Arts and Culture is the striving for betterment and perfection, that is its intrinsic value. The human striving for an understanding of Man's purpose on earth helps us to define ourselves in relation to others and the world, giving us our raison d'etat for our existence. Arts and culture therefore are instructive in helping us to reach that state of awareness/wisdom, contributing towards a fundamental spiritual/philosophical need to make sense of our existence.

Arts and culture, with its intrinsic striving for betterment, dispose Singaporeans towards and enable them to reach for self-fulfillment by igniting their sense of curiosity towards continuous self-learning, empathy with others, being a force of good for the world.

Going round the mulberry bush.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:54:57 GMT

We just got back from an astounding evening of Brahms (Violin Concerto) and Mahler ("Titan" - Symphony No. 1) by the New York Philharmonic, with violin soloist Frank Peter Zimmermann. From the very opening with its clarity of tone and colourful blending of harmony, the orchestra established itself well and clear as an industry leader, under the direction of Alan Gilbert. At various points during the two pieces, the interpretation lent itself to comic moments, shaded nuances and soulful, controlled yet passionate playing that resonated well with the audience.

Pianist Pope Reflects on Power of Music

Says It Invites the Mind and Heart to God

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 18, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says music is a language suited to fostering understanding and union between persons and peoples, and can even become the language for talking with God.

The Pope reflected on the role and power of music Saturday when he attended in the Vatican a piano concert held in his honor.

During the event, Chinese pianist Jin Ju performed music by a variety of composers on pianos from seven different epochs.

"This concert has [...] permitted us to taste the beauty of music, a spiritual and therefore universal language, a vehicle so importantly suited to understanding and union between persons and peoples," the Holy Father said in giving words of thanks at the end.

"Music is a part of all cultures and, we might say, accompanies every human experience, from pain to pleasure, from hatred to love, from sadness to joy, from death to life," he continued. "We see how, over the course of the centuries and millennia, music has always been used to give a form to that which we are not able to speak in words, because it awakens emotions that are difficult to communicate otherwise.

"So it is not by chance that every civilization has placed such importance and value on music in its various forms and expressions."

The Pontiff also reflected on the "vertical" dimension of music -- its power to bring the spirit toward God.

"Music," he said, "great music, gives the spirit repose, awakens profound sentiments and almost naturally invites us to lift up our mind and heart to God in every situation, whether joyous or sad, of human existence. Music can become prayer."

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:21:28 GMT

Why are the arts and culture relevant to the pursuit of happiness?

The Measure of a Man

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:29:19 GMT

So it's official...my director announced to us today that he would be leaving the Council. Some of us teared, in part because of recent not-so-nice events but he seemed to be taking it all in his stride and we really wish him all the best.

He's a real gentleman....takes the hits bravely, doesn't transfer blame....he fought for my transfer last year by highlighting that if I was not transferred to an area that I wanted to work in, I might very well leave at the end of my bond....ironically now it's he who leaves before me.

The measure of someone....depends on how he treats others and deals with change and circumstance. As he said, at the end of the day, it's the relationships that matter, not the work.

________________________

On a happier note, Priscilla, the friend I visited in Nottingham in April, is back in Singapore! Caught up with her today during lunch, surveying the current arts landscape, discussing changes, sharing future plans and what not.

It's a little scary how what you dream of and work towards may or may not be fulfilled one day. But that's the risk we take I suppose.

It's back to the drawing board for some of us.

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:57:53 GMT

At the end of choir practice today, when Brother was leading the night prayer (medley of hymns), he came to the Examination of Conscience section, and said, ''let us remember that in the examination of our conscience, it is not just about looking back on our sins; it is also about where we are headed, where we would like to be, and the values that we choose to live by...that in all things we rely on His strength and grace to see us through.''

Thought it was a timely reminder regarding the spiritual life....oftentimes in the examination of conscience, one dwells on the past but may forget about looking ahead as well...which we may implicitly take for granted.

Another Term

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:17:13 GMT

Turned down a secondment option a few weeks back to EDB, for a performing arts officer...essentially it'd be a role to seek out businesses/investors in the performing arts arena for Singapore.

Then got an interesting call from one of my ex-colleagues this afternoon asking if I'd be interested to work with him in an Asst Director position (Corporate Communications). Conversation went something like this (after the opening friendly banter):

X: Any idea what your ranking is? Somewhere about B+?

Me: Nope, I think it might have been B+ two years back but after I joined Corp Comms, it dropped to C+.

(laughter ensues)

X: Have you had some supervisory experience? This role would involve supervising a team of seven......what are your plans?

It ended eventually with a ''well think about it, application closes end of this week, you could apply first and reject the interview later if you need more time to think''.

Hmmm....sounds attractive and I told him I really appreciated the call but my sense was that I'd still like to stay within the arts industry. He gave some good advice about going for what I want, instead of waiting to see what external factors would be like i.e. the restructuring....guess he's been getting similar responses from some of my colleagues whom he also called. We're all waiting to see what happens with the organisation. Plus I heard that more of us will be exposed to media training under the new management which will be good training to have. Thus far, my one year of corp comms experience....hmmm. Not adequate I think, to effectively lead a team of seven, even if after 4 years of working, it's time to seek out more challenging opportunities.

Who knows....maybe one day far down the road I'll go back to Comms in another capacity. It'd be nice to have a breadth of portfolio experiences....but just how varied and how they build upon one another is something to muse over and handle delicately along the journey.

As for the job offer, I just thought of someone who might be remotely interested....