my career. my life.

This has been getting on my nerves for awhile.

I don't go about announcing, if you will, my choice of company to start my career with, and for good reason.

Yes, I studied six years of accounting, first at NP's School of BA, then at NTU's NBS. Along the way, I interned and/or worked at two international banks. Does that mean I will definitely start my career with a bank?

No! Why should I?

There's no written formula saying that once I interned/worked or even once expressed my interest in the banking/finance industry, means that I have to start working in a bank upon graduation, is there?

Granted, I did raise a few eyebrows when I turned down several offers from banks to join one of the Big 4 accounting firms. That is largely among my friends and I don't blame them, and I'd gladly explained my reasons for doing so.

What ticks me off are the acquaintances or people I barely know, past and present, coming around asking me where I'm working upon graduation. When they found out the answer, they express their 'concern', 'surprise' and even 'shock' at why I chose what I did.

Hallo, your career or mine arh? Why should I be taking career advices from people who barely know me? If anything, I have more working experience then most of you jokers. Even if I do end up regretting my career choices (which I highly doubt I will), that's something for me to deal with.

Initially, I did try to explain, trying to reason with these people. After a frustrating conversation, they'll end with "whatever it is, as long as you like it, I'm glad for you" or something along those lines and an awkward smile or laughter.

Eventually, I've grown tired of these meaningless, unimportant conversations that I am now ignoring them altogether.

Now, I have found the perfect response to these people, in the very friendly PSA brought to you by the friendly folks at College Humor.

take things easy

Stumbled upon a travelblog Fluent In 3 Months today. It is set up by globetrotter, Benny Lewis. Basically, it follows Benny's experiences as he travel from city to city, most of the times for 3 months (hence, the name of the site) as he attempts to pick up the local language.

Pretty cool stuff and he has been doing this for 9 years, and most (if not all) of his travels are done completely alone. Do check out more about the site here.

I don't (and certainly can't) claim to be a globetrotter as much as I like traveling and getting lost and immersed in a foreign culture. But I very much aspire (more like dream) to be one, and I really admire Benny's courage and determination to travel into the deep end. Not knowing anyone, not knowing the local language, culture, etc, yet still being able to step out of his comfort zone at a young age of 21 nine years ago and travel all over the world.

About a week ago, he celebrated his 29th birthday and decided to share 29 life lessons he learnt in his travels.

It is a very good read and there were a few that were basically screaming at me, in particular:

2. Deferring your happiness to the future is a terrible idea

16. Take your time (this I must really learn)

21. Stop thinking so much and act

22. Sing and dance whenever possible!

27. People are not alone in being alone (something I know, but must constantly remind myself)

Of course there are others, but I figured if I continue listing them, I'll end up listing out all 29 lessons.

So do check out his post here as a reminder for yourself to take things easy.

missed opportunities and second chances

I first stumbled upon Wong Fu Productions quite some time back.

They are basically a group of three Asian-Americans based in LA that make shorts for the internet. They started off as just three guys with a camera and shooting film shorts that were meaningful to them. They have since expanded (exponentially, got sponsorship deals some more) and their shorts (and films) now cover a wide range of topics. The principal writer and director is Philip Wang.

The ones that really struck a chord are those emotional, relationship, bittersweet and of course, the abstract arty themed shorts. Some of the shorts are actually really low (or no) budget productions that has since garnered millions of views online.

Among those I really could relate to include the following.

The Places We Should Have Gone | 若能再次与你同游

A short about wanting second chances. Sometimes, we want second chances even though we know we were wrong in the first place and probably do not deserve it. I can very much relate to this.

Strangers, again

A short that breaks down the cycle of a relationship and looks at each stage of the relationship as people begin and end up as strangers. The purpose of this short (and blog post) is to remind us that we all go through (or will go through) failed relationships in our lives, and the failure of one does not mean the end of the world. Again, something that I can relate to.

A Peace of Home

This is their entry for a Cannes International Short Film, not sure if it was awarded anything. But it is a short that I can relate too as I felt this way when I went on exchange in London. I've shared this with a close friend who studied in Melbourne for the last 2.5 years and is now preparing for life back in Singapore. She really related to this as well, so I guess this short goes both ways - missing home, and your home away from home.

~~

There are still hundreds (okay, I didn't really count 'em all) of other shorts that you should check out. And if you liked the above three shorts, be sure to read and/or watch the director's commentary and the making-of videos that come along with the video at http://www.wongfuproductions.com.

NDP 2011 Fun Pack song, when Gaga's 'okay' isn't okay.

So yes, I'm a little late to post on this.

The last few days while I was in Melbourne, a certain parody cover of Gaga's Bad Romance has gotten a lot of flank from the online community and people IRL. Though Mother Monster (Gaga) herself has came out saying that the changed lyrics 'were lovely' during a recent stopover in Singapore, she is really just playing the PR card and trying not to make a big deal out of it. So what's the big deal, you might ask? After all, people do parodies and covers of Gaga's songs all the time.

Maybe this was just one mighty publicity stunt by Gaga and NDP organising committee to raise the profile of Gaga's "Born This Way" album and NDP 2011! Scandalous!

But for the NDP organising committee to change the lyrics without obtaining the rights to modify the song seems pretty low on several levels. It has since been yanked off YouTube, and the event organisers has decided to drop the song from this year's parade entirely.

The committee's prudence in obtaining the rights to perform the song is commendable. To have such a song performed at NDP is understandable as it is a (freaking) popular and catchy song that many would have heard of. But it is the local music community that is suffering from such decisions.

Whatever happened to supporting the local talents? We have a ready pool of talented musicians and bands who'd be more than willing to contribute to the NDP cause, not only would they get to showcase their talents, but what better way to raise their profile then on the national stage?

Granted, we had done a lot to support local talents previously, but they were largely already famous stars in the regional stage. Artistes such as Stefanie Sun, JJ Lin, Kaira Gong, Tanya Chua, Kit Chan, etc had all been featured in past NDPs, some more than once. Even the previous efforts to bring in Singapore Idols were commendable.

But there are so many other talents out there. 2009's "What do you see?" by Electrico was a right step.

And it worth mentioning that it has bought about an equally heart-wrenching rendition of "LeKuaSiMi" by mrbrown and his band, Electrician).

Last year's "Song for Singapore" by Corrinne May was also move in the right direction.

This year's "In A Heartbeat" by Slyvia Ratonel further confirms that the organisers are finally looking at other options than using "Home" by Kit Chan as the feature theme song year after year (I mean, seriously, how many times must that song be used over and over?).

This little songbird first came into the mainstream spotlight at last year's NDP covering Stefanie Sun's "One United People".

So how about going beyond getting musicians performing theme songs? I'm sure there will be artistes in a genre that organisers can find to compose catchy songs for the pre- and post-parade performance segments. All it takes is the right level of publicity. There are so many other talented musicians in the local scene to be bought into the mainstream and worth supporting, Jack and Rai and SIXX just to name a few.

Let's stop shamelessly doing rip-offs and start looking after our local talents. NDP is supposed to be for Singaporeans, not international superstars.