Hmmm! Deep thought! Hee (plagerism?)

Culture is the by-product of a human race with too much time on its hands. Not required to have to spend all its time contending with survival, the human race devotes time to perfecting craft beyond the requirements for basic existence. Art and culture forms as a result of this 'dallying'. In the same manner, efficiency has the same effect as the need to survive; in the human race's pursuit of speed and economy, time-wasting activities are cast aside in the name of ruthless efficiency. The arts and the culture thus become de-emphasised and people lose sight of the finer things in life.

In countries such as Singapore and Japan where clockwork efficiency is the norm in all aspects of life, every second counts and it becomes unacceptable to waste even 20 seconds on something deemed as non-productive. The subway trains arrive with clockwork efficiency at 3 minute intervals, and in Japan a late freight of train warrants every commuter a letter of apology issued by the train operator. Taking a break from work gets frowned upon; day in and day out life is an endless rat race, each trying to out do the other by finding the swiftest and most succinct way to complete a task. Life becomes an endless cycle of rushing to wait and waiting to rush.

The human mind is a flexible and free entity, and this cycle of efficiency becomes a restrictive cage which the mind tries to break out of. Being late for non-essential functions become a fashion; punctuality and being early is seen as wasting time while one waits for others to arrive. It has become an ingrained part of the society's culture that one accepts it as part and parcel of life and think little about it. Personal time is cherished, chores are shunned and all semblance of regularity is avoided in one's free time. Commuting and living in such a city and environment becomes stressful, and the direct cause is the efficiency.

Word Count

Alright. I 'fess up. I haven't been blogging much for you guys out there. Not that I have a big fan base anyway. It's just that there's nothing really much that is cranking up my angst so I don't really have the impulse to type a lot. No irritating room mates (finally a single room! no more being coerced into taking up a double room simply for the air-conditioning!) and no particular thing that rubbed me the wrong way.

A conversation with a friend just got me thinking that most of my friends are at an age where life is longer carefree, no longer self-centred and determined by personal desires. It is a time when decisions are made circumstantially, or with a 20/20 hindsight; you do things because sometime down the road you want to be able to look back and say, "hey, i did the right thing", instead of doing it because it's something you really loved doing.

Sure being a full time rocker is something everyone aspires to be, and when opportunities come knocking, people go, "hey why think so much? Go ahead!", but deep down you know you don't have what it takes. Or pursuing a career as an artist as opposed to an architect; it's pragmatic calls that one has to make -- whim, fancy and desires have to take a back seat when you're at a point when being irresponsible doesn't simply mean doing yourself an injustice.

There are other people in the equation, people you hold dear, people who matter to you. That is when you realise that you're no longer a child with wanton dreams, but an adult with real-life responsibilities and duties to fulfil.

Now that's what you call quater-life crisis.

Serving the Nation

Just when I thought the Ministry of Defence had forgotten me for good the letter from my reservist unit arrived. Sian. 408 Singapore Armoured Regiment. Haiz. Oh well guys, apparently the loss of my docket didn't do any good for my 'future' in army anyway.