2011 in Retrospect

As is customary for newspapers to publish editorials on the year in retrospect, I will be penning down my personal perspective of 2011 here.

I liked how 联合早报 did a series of articles using singular words to summarise events of the year, so I shall 东施效颦 and attempt the same today.

水 (Water)

This one is a no-brainer. Throughout the year, I probably spent more time with water than I ever did before. So much so that I have witnessed the gradual transformation of Kallang from a salty, used-condom and dead cat-strewn waterway to an apparently freshwater but still used-condom and dead cat-strewn Marina reservoir, complete with a white-elephant of a fountain that I don't see switched on these days. I was there before the sun rose, and there when the sun set. Sometimes, I would spend my entire weekend there. Gradually, I developed a love-hate relationship with water. The thrill of a catch, the exhilaration of a surge, and the letdown when I just fail to connect with the water on curious days have contributed to my present schizophrenic self. The consolation is being able to do this with people of similar ambitions, so you can share your woes or learn a few tricks to give you an extra oomph while wielding the paddle. Lately, the masochistic part of me has compelled me to learn K, and my high CG, complete with a clumsy demeanour, aren't make things easy. I surmise I capsized more than 30 times in one session alone (as Jerry Tan can attest to), much to the amusement of roaming Banglas along Kallang Park taking a break during the recent Xmas long weekend. But the 抓水的快感 is something you will never forget and would want to experience everyday, so my "It's complicated" relationship with water shall persist.

Still working on it; gotta row more, swim less

速 (Speed)

2011 was all about speed for many reasons. First, I rushed through my long overdue driving lessons in 1 month and got my licence on the second try (damn you KERB!). Second, I acquired an overpriced car that made life much easier, and faster. Going to trainings no longer became a hassle, and ferrying friends around provided great in-car entertainment on the otherwise angst-inducing roads of Singapore. Third, there was the speed on water as we chase the elusive magic figure while trudging our way in Marina Reservoir. In a measured sport like ours, the GPS will validate our hard work, and will similarly shame us with nonchalant candor for shoddy performance. Numbers do not lie, so those digits became our best friend and worst enemy for the entire year. I shall not even begin talking about the ergo panel that mocks you with its dwindling numbers as you fight tenaciously against the equally dogged clutches of lassitude at every single pull. 

Ergometer - The machine we love to hate

友 (Friends)

I promise i will not go melodramatic about this, but i have learnt many things from the people i've met this year, both at training and at work. Whether good or bad, these new friends have helped shaped my perspective on many important issues. Platonic relationships aside, I have been pestered at various ends (friends and family alike) to up the ante and start a romantic exchange. Well to put things upfront, I am one heck of a boring guy with too many things on my mind; so, I'd patiently let nature take its course. I appreciate all who attempted (or are still attempting) to matchmake me, and while these events can be daunting for a timorous person like me, I will take things in my stride. Ok next topic *ahem*

志 (Ambition)

The past year has made me reevaluate what matters to me, and what doesn't. It's always about striking a balance. Thoreau said "To put to rout all that is not life, and not, when I have come to die, realise I have not lived." Yet, in the process of "Living deep and sucking the marrow out of life", I am constantly reminded that "sucking the marrow out of life does not mean choking on the bone". A thin line separates passion and obsession. I wonder if my involvement with rowing (or as purist will say, "paddling") has made me overlook other important things in life, and whether my singular focus on bettering myself on water has been a myopic move. My answer to this, has always been an unequivocal "no". I enjoyed every single bit of training, and I will continue in this pursuit, even if my work has to take a backseat. Sometimes my Type A personality rears its head and shriek at the possibility of me being a nobody when I eventually do "retire" from the sport due to physiological limitations (yes, age); that i'll be a lowly MO while my other friends have risen to be full-fledged specialists. As traditional Chinese wisdom expounds, 鱼与熊掌毋能兼得; so I am still trying to achieve the zen of balancing both work and training in the coming year. Already in Jan 2012 I foresee missing out on quite a number of training sessions, and I am suppressing myself to prevent any displeasure from effervescing while at work. I am not sure how long I can keep this up. There are expectations from both sides and I will persevere to meet them all, and if I ever explode into a fit of exasperation, I will welcome an arm round my shoulder. "I'm only a man looking for a dream"... and it sure ain't easy to be me.

Tim Brabants - Olympic champion + World champion + Doctor

Looking forward,

追 (Pursuit)

I will not mince my words but put it point-blank that 2012 will be a challenging year. Full-time work, almost full-time training, and post-graduate exams will take up the bulk of my time - and I foresee the need to deconflict, rationalise, reschedule, and even beg as I try to allocate the right amount of time that each of these priorities deserve. Nonetheless, the relentless pursuit of happyness shall press on, with my paddle and my buddy and me...

What Drives You?

It’s been more than a month since I started gyrating to the tune of Jazz, and the melody continues to add colour to my otherwise staid life. Much like how Edward in the VW Jetta ad loves keeping his week chockfull of lessons so he can sit in the said car, I like going to training now because I get to drive my Jazz. It might be melodramatic to expound on how the car has completely transformed my life, but that is exactly what has happened, or rather, continues to happen as we speak. No more long MRT journeys where I sometimes fall asleep while standing, or nerve-wrecking experiences where, as Murphy’s Law might have it, cabs just don’t appear at the time you need them most, like during a downpour, or when you are already late. It panders to my control freak nature because I am now in complete charge of my time, not the loud-mouth taxi-driver whose smokes in his vehicle, sneezes into the air-con vent, and rejects your $50 note.

Yet revving a $91K metallic body on the asphalt can be rather stressful, especially when you are fresh out of driving school and have the driving skills of a chimpanzee. I remember sweating buckets just deciding when to filter lanes on an arterial road, and each time I am horned at (either because I’m too slow, or too abrupt), my morale drops. I will say I have improved since, and there are shameful moments which I shall not mention in detail here. Those who have seen my photos will also know that my parking skills remain to be honed. I have had Samaritans waving their hands frantically to tell me I am too close to the adjacent vehicle, only to leave me red-faced and driving off to a far remote corner where I can park slowly and try multiple times without the scrutiny of the public eye. 30 days on and I am still working on it. Those who’ve been in my car will attest to my abysmal parking. Let’s not even begin to mention parallel maneuvering; it’s probably enough to say that the last I did it, was during the practical test.

The fortunate thing about the lack of parking skills is that the deficits can be corrected with repeated practice. I have, however, witnessed irresponsible driving behavior that’ll probably take intense psychotherapy to rectify. Perhaps my luminous green-orange label on the windscreen makes me a perfect bully victim, but taxi drivers (yes, them again) who make a last-minute, close-to-90-degree filter across 3 lanes within 10 meters of the junction, just so he can reach the right-turn lane (and not to mention, blocking my way in the process because the right-turn lane vehicles are not admitting him), make my knuckles crack and hungry for a face to land on. I certainly hope I do not develop these bad habits as I continue on the roads. To balance things up, I have also met drivers who slow down and allow a tentative P-plate vehicle into their lane. Times like this make me want to install some form of LED display at the back so I can flash “Thank you!” at them.

The Jazz has been a great drive thus far, and I am enjoying every single moment in it (minus the road rage ones). In all honesty, I would love to wash it every week. I remember starting off eager, having gone all the way to Marina Square’s Homefix to get the car shampoo, 3M car sponge, microfiber cloth and other branded cleaning essentials. Alas, all these equipment remain untouched in my room. I have never actually got down to clean my Jazz, and I let the occasional torrential rain do the job a water jet would in a car wash. I am ashamed of such nonchalance, yet as an excuse I always quote my car agent who proclaims that the car is meant to serve us, and we should not be slaves to the vehicle, spending hours just to get a showroom-worthy sheen. A part of me thinks that is pure indolence, but a quick survey among other car owners reveal that most of them don’t really bother cleaning the vehicle themselves either. It might therefore be more than a coincidence that every time I pass by a car in the washing bay of my MSCP, I see only a Filipino maid and nobody else within a 10-meter radius. I think my let-the-rain-wash-my-car strategy in our equatorial climate remains pretty sound, thus I do not see the need to invest in a can of car wax or a Leticia counterpart, for now.

Notwithstanding, a bikini-clad lady (who for whatever unfathomable reason decide to coat herself with car shampoo) will be a delicious alternative. =)

Your Vote is Your Voice

This will be the second time I am voting, and the use of digital media has really changed the husting climate this time. Many articles, photos and videos started circulating in my Facebook and email accounts. Friends I knew for years actually became outspoken, fervent campaigners who want to make Singapore a better place to live and work in. I guess those who've always thought youths are generally apathetic towards politics should reconsider their judgement.

Digital media has certainly made information more accessible, and palatable. I no longer have to plow through a thousand-word editorial on The Straits Times or The Economist to understand what is going on. Instead I visit Mr. Brown for his "Gee Gee Gee Gee Ahruh See" video to get a humorous summary of the issues that have been raised thus far. I applaud all parties for engaging us through these varied platforms, and I believe my decision come May 7 will be one that is better-informed, and more carefully considered.

Yet this very advantage of digital media (of being accessible, updated, and more engaging) have led to such an explosion of information, that I sometimes have difficulty keeping up. It also makes separating the wheat from the chaff an arduous task. Politics aside, we all know the perils of the cyber landscape. There is so much information, yet only some of it is true and reliable, some are half-truths, while the remainder is simply made up of blatant lies. The onus is on the reader to verify the information offered in the article.

The picture becomes more muddled when you add politics to the mix. In an attempt to sell different ideologies, an essay with a political agenda often drift away from being a neutral and objective piece, to one that is saturated with emotive words and rhetoric. Such is how the game called politics is played. It will take a mature electorate to read between the lines and censor all theatrics and word play before finally understanding what the article has to offer, if any.

I have to admit that I am concerned with how mature our first-time, Gen Y voters are. Let's be honest. More than 90% of links I see on Facebook for the past week have been unabashedly pro-opposition. The increased interest on the opposition has been phenomenal, and I have taken advantage of this to understand the opposition candidates better. However I am not certain if such a lopsided representation may inadvertently skew our perception of "ground sentiments". I am very curious to know what the Gen Y voters make out of this. In the same vein (and I agree somewhat) that our local papers have been guilty of pro-government propaganda, TOC and TR (the most quoted websites from which FB articles originate) haven't been exactly balanced either. So I urge all voters to study both sources carefully.

I will now attempt to dissect what a good balanced article should be; and since analogies seem to be the in-thing these days, I will give it a shot:

You want to get a phone, which will become an extremely important device in your daily living. You are given the choice of either an iPhone, or a Blackberry. I prefer the iPhone more, so I want to sell you the idea that the iPhone will be a better choice. A responsible, balanced way to do this, while respecting your right of independent decision, is to tell you what the pros and cons of the iPhone are. So I will probably talk to you about its sleek design, comprehensive apps market, iPod, and lament about lack of Java support etc, then tell you that I can still live with not having Java support and the pros outweigh the cons. I might bring up a thing or two about BB while I'm at it, that it has too many buttons, it looks bulky, and the apps don't look as nice. But I will remind you that some BB models are camera-free so you can bring them to army camps. The final decision is up to you, because you will choose what is best for you.

Unfortunately many popular articles that were shared on FB seem to talk more loudly than sensibly. If they were trying to get you to buy the BB, they will first go into a tirade of how lousy the iPhone is. Then they enter into rhetoric like, "do you want a phone that has a death grip problem?" Duh, who does? The article ends pretty much at that, maybe adding a line that the BB will be a good alternative to the iPhone.

I think I am rambling, but all I want to say is, read the online articles with a discerning eye. Listen out for what both the iPhone/BB can do, because ultimately you are going to use the phone for what it is capable of. Don't be taken in by the unscrupulous salesman with an axe to grind.

To make this possible, my suggestion is to attend the rallies. This is where information will be coming from the horses' mouths, and not from middlemen. Hear directly from Steve Jobs and Apple engineers (since you now have the privilege) on what's so good about the iPhone. Hear directly from Research in Motion on what's so good about the BB. Don't believe tech reviews, just as we know movie reviews are hardly reliable sometimes. Hear from the source. Then, do a test drive (ok enough of driving analogies), but you know what I mean. You can't quite "test-drive" candidates, but think about how their proposals will work out if implemented, then see if you like the outcome.

The next point is want to bring up, is that not all phones are created equal. Just because you die-die don't want an iPhone doesn't mean you will just settle for any Motorola or LG model. Unfortunately, not all shops carry all phone models. You may have a tough choice between iPhone and BB at your shop, so choose wisely. But if your shop only has the iPhone versus the Nokia 3310, it would be rather foolish to choose the latter just because you don't want an iPhone, even though an iPhone will obviously be more useful.

GE 2011 is turning out to be an exciting election, and I have my personal favourites in both the incumbent party, and the opposition. I have always been told to consider both sides of an argument before making a decision or passing judgement, and I will continue to exercise this diligently. And I believe the younger segment of the electorate will be able to do the same.

Your vote is your voice. So speak up and be heard.