Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Drawing life's parallels from my morning drive (Part 3)

It is enlightening at times to see the parallels that one can draw from a morning drive. Take for one, how a driver has to slow down before making a turn, or to filter in into a slip road. Just like life itself, one has to slow down when making that 'turn' in his or her life, or when making major decisions, or when embarking on new endeavours. You just can't drive at the same speed when turning in into that corner, lest your vehicle lose its grip and something unpleasant happens. And sometimes, depending on how sharp the turn is, one has to be sure that at least one hand is on the steering wheel...you are risking an accident if you so decide to let go. Like life itself, you just can't leave everything to fate (by letting go), you have to take control of the steering wheel and manouver your way through, or in this case, around the turn/corner.

And how about the feeling when one feels when cruising along an expressway at 90 km/h. Isn't is nice! Time to view what's on your left and right, perhaps to take in the sights, and sometimes the sound, of what the drive has to offer. I guess sometimes we do need to cruise along to 'smell and see the flowers'. I wonder just how many times have I managed to do that, or how many times my dear readers have done that. Don't let the drive consume you, because you never know when would be the next time you cruise along like that, or move along on that road again. So my advise to all, please do take some time to enjoy the view, to take in the sights and sounds, to just enjoy the drive for what it is, a leisurely journey to your destination.

So how is your morning drive going to be like tomorrow?

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Drawing life's parallels from my morning drive (Part 2)

The basic idea of my second part of this article is that life is just not about you alone. Yup that's right, that egocentricity that most of us is getting used to, and with the pervasiveness of social networking tools, will not get us anywhere if we do not take into account the lives of others. Much like how we would need to be mindful of all our blind spots, and perhaps even considering the way other people are driving, whether they are changing lanes, driving slowly on a fast-moving lane, slowing down to make a turn or to look at an accident scene, or perhaps just trying to be a Type A ('A' for anal here) driver here, all these things would need to be taken into account when one wants to have a safe and comfortable drive on the road. It is indeed wonderful that for live to be more meaningful, we do need to take into account all these other social variables in our lives, much like how we would need to be mindful of all the other users on the road! Drawing parallels here, LIFE is indeed not just about YOU alone!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Drawing life's parallels from my morning drive (Part 1)

It seems strange for me that now, with a higher propensity for me to go on longer drives to and from work, it just gives me more time to reflect about life, not necessarily mine, but interesting enough I guess for me to plan to pen some articles here.

My first one would be to question the need for one to be really in the fast lane of life, so as to move ahead faster. The oxymoronic thing that I have realised for this last few days is that I won't really get to go further and faster if I am driving in the faster lanes! i.e. Lane 1. What would really get me going, at a slow and steady pace of 40 km/h instead, is when I drive on the last lane, the slowest of the lanes, the ones that would be usually be occupied with the larger and slower-moving vehicles! Now why is this so? I guess if you think about it, and just from thinking from a simple logical point of view, when once these long vehicles make their filters and turns to the side roads, they would leave a gap that is large enough for me, the regular car-driver, to be able to move ahead a much longer distance, for the same amount of effort. Drawing life's parallels, I guess it does struck me that even though we are in a slow lane sometimes, but it doesn't really mean that we would be stuck, and won't move as fast as those in the other, faster lanes. Perhaps if we are able to move these larger blocks of vehicles to the sides, we would definitely be able to move, and perhaps even move faster than those in the 'faster lanes'! Funny isn't it, that I am drawing some life's parallels from my morning and evening drives. But I guess that's just me, the ever constant reflector of my own life.

So if you are in your own slow lane, what are the large vehicles in your life?

Saturday, July 11, 2009

When 2 birds in the bushes is better than 1 in your hand

It is all about choices really, about the fact that people over here really love the idea that they are able to satisfy their own inner desires for something different, based on their own customised choices and selections. And more so with the oxymoronic retail idea of mass customisation that has been pushed through into the masses, this concept does seem to take hold everywhere. From the selection of shoes and clothes, right up to even the wide array of food that we have, and are able to eat everyday. All it seems right now is about choices...we do have a wide variety to choose from. But somehow deep inside me I do notice that it is not, at times, just about the mere having of a wide selection of choice that matters more, but it is also about the IDEA of having a wide choice too for the consumers to choose from.

A case in point: How many times have we been bombarded with information telling us that this particular item or product comes in a variety of colours (the IDEA of having choices), but when we go down to the store and actually want to purchase it, there is already a limit to what's available left on the shelves (sorry Sir/Ma'am, but that colour/size is no longer available, it is out of stock!). So the IDEA is the main draw here! Which leaves me to wonder further, if what we want is no longer available, as in it is out of stock, does that mean that what we desire originally is something that most other people would have already wanted, or worst still (gasp), have already owned before us! So technically and logically, if we would want to be different, we would just stick with those that are still available in the shelves, barring the fact that it is totally out of sync with our wardrobe colours! So logically, shouldn't we not lament about the 2 birds that are in the bushes, and just buy the one that is on the shelves, the one that is (almost) in our hands?

Hmmm, and the debate continues! :)

Friday, July 10, 2009

Google, the migrant and the native

Google's recent announcement to create their own OS, I think, is one of those eventualities in life that will eventually unfold itself, very much like death and taxes! But more importantly, the rationale of them doing so is in their belief that the current OS'es were designed in an age where Internet was not THE main tool of communication. Fast forward to the current time and age, it might just be true, but until I get to see their final product, I should hold my comments for another day. But what I do admire most is in their spirit to change and innovate, and perhaps, to hopefully challenge the conventional idea of what an OS should be, or ought to be.

Which brings me to the argument that I have regarding this polarisation of digital natives and migrants. Tying in closely with Google's reasons for coming out with their own OS that would be leveraging on new technologies, shouldn't teaching and learning pedagogies too be also embarking on such a similar journey of change. I mean if we are going to be moulding children that would land jobs that we ourselves are not familiar with, shouldn't the whole scheme of things, of how teaching should be, and how learning is going, or ought to be, also change to take into account these very multi-dimensionality of human's capacity to learn. And perhaps, for arguments' sake, shouldn't the very fibre of assessment too change with the times? And shouldn't we be encouraging a mass migration of digital migrants to digital natives?

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Looking at possibilities...but really who limits them?

It has been a while since I last blogged, and I must say it has been a good month-long hiatus for me. A good time for me to reflect, recollect, reconnect, and perhaps hibernate too. But then again, given the high bar that I have to be expected to perform and deliver in my new role, it is indeed overwhelming at times to reach out and up, and to meet up with that bar! But then again, what is life without bars and standards to meet up to..and I mean that in a good sort of way, not some social standards of sorts that can be little skewed, and perhaps not of the type that I will usually be adhering too.

But it is still a relatively new journey for me...taking small baby steps, but huge ones at that. Perhaps it will take a little while for me to make any significant progress that is visually impactful, but then again, I am willing to wait, explore, experiment. Cos what I am going into is something that is new and exciting. There will be disappointments definitely, but always take the view that there could never be apogees of happiness and satisfactions, without failures and disappointments along the way. Optimistic...yes. Scared...yes. But I guess this is something that I am going into for the long haul.