Harbour City Update
Well I'm back in Sydney for like the 12th time I guess, I've lost count actually... I do like this city a lot, especially at moments when I'm crossing the harbour bridge or walking around in the bustle of the CBD. But it definitely feels different to Melbourne, and not always in a good way. Chena and I lamented the lack of good, cheap Asian food in the city tonight and that's one thing. The main thing, though, is Sydney on a Friday night... it seems to be full of loud, annoying people... kind of makes me think of what London is probably like on a Friday night. I dunno, I guess I just don't dig that vibe...
Been a good day though, caught up with a girl I met in Taiwan 2 years ago at APLCPM... EJ... she's on study exchange at UNSW. We had lunch at Ichiban Boshi and trawled through Kinokuniya, two of my favourite places in Sydney. Went to the MC office after that and hung out with those guys for a while, the SMs are all there having transition. Had coffee with Ralph at Three Bean and then went to the gym, there's a Fitness First there... which is pretty ok except not that well air-conditioned.
Then a bunch of us went down to this Thai place to have dinner... Pad Thai, nice. Then we made tracks to UTS for the AIESEC Sydney awards night, which wasn't to be... we went to karaoke instead. Karaoke was like 30 people crammed into a room fit for about 15 people... and it wasn't the kind of karaoke I'm used to. I guess I prefer karaoke with 6-10 people just singing the songs we like, sometimes together, sometimes individually, sometimes chatting, sometimes listening... i find it more relaxing and a better social experience. This 30-person crazy yelling karaoke (the Italian trainee who's warbling actually caused me physical discomfort didn't help) isn't really my gig. Weirdly, there was another small TV in the room showing this weird sex show on SBS, we would turn our heads and see zoomed-in photos of genitals, nice.
So after 2 hours of this, most of 'em went to Scruffy Murphy's. I elected to go get a kebab with Manny, Dan and Susu and then bus it back to Tilly's place. Thanks heaps Tillz for putting me up!
Thanks to the bus ride, I'm almost finished reading DBC Pierre's "Vernon God Little". I found the book annoying to begin with but it quickly grew on me and I quite like it. Very much reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk type social satire.
And that's where I am now. La casa de la Tilly, with Joachim snoozing peacefully on the floor nearby...
Things that need doin:
- phone chat with Emma
- shop for t-shirts, business shirt, formal shoes (Bondi Junction, Oxford St, TGV, QVB)
- yum cha with MelMel
- IM with Joa
- call mum abt gym payments and broadband plan
- more gymmage
- catch up with various peeps
- sit sipping coffee and reading
- find books for my Spanish essay
- write Spanish essay (argh)
More Wisdom from Haruki Murakami
"I dont know... These days I just can't seem to say what I mean', she said. 'I just can't. Every time I try to say something, it misses the point. Either that or I end up saying the opposite of what I mean. The more I try to get it right the more mixed up it gets. Sometimes I can't even remember what I was trying to say in the first place. It's as though my body's split in two and one of me is chasing the other me around a big pillar. We're running circles around it. The other me has the right words, but I can never catch her."
An excerpt from "Firefly", one of the short stories from Murakami's "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman", one of the few Murakami books I got for my birthday (thanks Jing & Tina!)
Although I've read many of Murakami's novels, this is the first I've read of his short stories. To be honest, the book is a little disappointing, if only because my expectations of Murakami's writing are stellar and some of the short stories are less than perfect. Some of them, however, are fantastic. Such as "Firefly", which was later expanded into a full-length novel, my favourite of Murakami's novels - "Norwegian Wood".
A symbol of mortality... or a big-ass skull?
Yes this is a four-storey size "work of art" on the corner of La Trobe and Queen Streets.
Called Ambassador by German artist Mariele Nuedecker, hopefully it won't cause too many car crashes.
According to Gabriella Coslovich of the Age: "A skull is a loaded image at a time of military conflict and terrorism, and Neudecker's work belongs to the "Vanitas" genre tradition of art, which uses the skull as a symbol of mortality."
The site's curator, Juliana Engberg also said: "Mortality is always confronting, and that's the point of the Vanitas, but, of course, it's also a contemplation of a life lived — have we lived a good enough life?"
Interesting... for the Melburnians among us, what do y'all think of this billboard? Been past it? Did it cause you to drop your lunch?
What do the rest of you think?
Blah?
It's the eve of LCP elections. I wanted to write a long, interesting, introspective blog post but my mind is, bizarrely, blank. I guess sometimes you do so much thinking that you have a mini implosion... or maybe I just need sleep. It is 4.15am after all. Well, instead... here is an interesting quote I found and my introspective post will come later, hehe.
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."
- Terry Pratchett
The wisdom of Amy Chua
Currently reading a book by Amy Chua titled "World on Fire: How exporting free market democracy breeds ethnic hatred and global instability".
It's a fantastic book, as informative as a Chomsky book but far more readable (Chua is in her 40s as opposed to Chomsky who is 70s/80s I think... so her language is a lot more in touch).
Although Chua's book discusses the fallout related to globalisation, she is not your typical anti-globalisation writer. Chua chronicles various situations around the world where an ethnic minority maintains market dominance over a nation and its ethnic majority. Examples of this are the Chinese all over South-East Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Burma), Jews in Russia, "Whites" in Latin America, Lebanese in West Africa, Tutsis in Rwanda, Croats in Yugoslavia, Whites in Southern Africa, The Ibo and Kikuyu in Nigeria, etc.
Chua discusses these situations in the context of America's drive to develop free market democracies and the explosive consequences this can have (ie. the free market furthers the economic dominance of the minority, the political empowerment of democracy gives rise to demogoguery and hijacking by populist leaders who appeal through racism and ethnic scapegoating). The examples of genocide in Rwanda, civil war in Yugoslavia, violent riots in Indonesia, etc, are a harrowing wake-up call to those who live in Western societies where ethnic majorities control the country's wealth (Australia, UK, US, China, Japan, Singapore...), to us this sort of ethnic conflict and violence is unimaginable.
It also makes me think about what impact positive leadership can have on these communities... and what impact negative leadership has had. Especially Africa, is a continent crying out for positive leadership. The impact of leaders like Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Charles Taylor of Liberia and now Moi of Nigeria, that openly promote ethnic hatred, corruption and cronyism, is truly profound... and there are so many more. Post-colonial Africa is a hotbed for these sorts of "leaders". AIESEC's impact is desperately needed here. The AIESEC eXPerience must succeed in developing culturally sensitive, socially responsible leaders in these areas.
The problems in the developing world are second-to-none. Our petty social issues do not compare to 3 weeks of violence in Rwanda that resulted in 800,000 dead and 100,000s more raped, robbed and displaced... and all they needed was one strong person to stand up and unite the country. These people do exist, rather the potential for them does.
The Sun
I'm a person who leads a pretty nocturnal lifestyle. For example, it's 3.36am now, sure I'm going to sleep after this post but this time is pretty typical for me to turn in. Sure, there are some people who are crazier, but my most productive hours for work or study are between 10pm and 2am, which I guess... makes me pretty damn nocturnal.
One contradictory thing I've noticed about myself is, though, that I need the sun. I mean, really need it. There are days when I wake up at 3 or 4pm (pretty rare but still) and I feel like I've cheated myself out of a day. Even though I know that I went to sleep real late the night before and I'll be going to sleep real late again the same night to make up for it... that sheer lack of sun, daylight, real brightness (not artifical) just gets me down.
On days like that, by the time I get out of the house, it's already around 5pm... and in winter-time, I'll be driving under an increasingly darkening sky slowly becoming more and more depressed. I'm not sure what it is about the daylight, the sunlight that I need, but it's something.
It's not just the time factor either. On days when I wake up early, go to work at 10am and spend an entire day cooped up in the call centre, only emerging at 6.30pm when it's already dark. Now, sure, I got up pretty early (like around 8.30am, come on!), but that lack of sunlight... driving back into the city and it's already dark... it still gets me down something hardcore.
Even today, my shift was 10am - 2pm. I drove back into the city and went to study at Heidi's. At around 5pm, I became desperate to get out and enjoy the last 30mins or so of the daylight. A productive day - work and study - but that lack of sunlight never fails to get me down.
I've heard about Circadian Rhythms, the body's natural body clock that programs it to be awake during daylight and asleep during night. The daylight acts as some sort of agent waking something up in the brain and getting it excited and ready to do things (using really scientific language here). When this light is replicated artificially for long periods of time, it can drive a person nuts.
I wonder... does this daylight necessity affect anyone else or is it just my sleep-deprived brain...?
