Life Goes On

The ability of iPhone to do Internet Tethering is awesome, and was finally put to good use this morning when I started writing this while stuck in Ubi Kah Motor waiting for my car to get oiled nicely. They did put down Internet kiosks around, but by forcing you to stand to use it isn’t really as great a value proposition as their car-related offerings.

We the consumers shifts our behavior slowly as more and more technology come to bombard us. I know. I sift through imbX last week only to learn that actually most of the “new stuff” I know aren’t commercially viable yet (or businesses are relatively careful before jumping in) but these things are there, staring at you, waiting to take away another part of you. I’ll soon forget about Wireless@SG if this tethering thing becomes a norm for me. That means more social networks, less human interaction, and some say, more stupid.

And yet, life goes on. I still need a roof over my head. Today will mark the beginning of my “SG house hunt”, to find a 3 dimensional space in the middle of the air where I won’t have to pay RENT anymore, but MORTGAGE. Cool eh, unlocking your CPF is always a great thing – instant wealth attained. But with the prices of residential properties not cooling _way_ off, it still bothers me that I didn’t have the guts to enter pre-boom, and placed bets in Malaysia instead just as RM was floated some 4 years back.

One day every place will be too expensive to live, and most cities spaces will be owned by corporates, and everyone will rent. In fact, just look at the car industry in S’pore – everyone is effectively renting a car, especially until recently when one can take back cold hard cash for selling a car. Education is a loan, or a good number of years working off your scholarship bond. Even as “success” these days is defined as being high in asset and low in liability (ala Rich Dad Poor Dad), who doesn’t get into debt, sans some famous book writers? Getting into another half a million dollar debt when the 1st half a million is still outstanding means more labor, less rest, and some day, no future (工字不出头).

And yet, life goes on. I still need to eat. Can’t borrow money to eat so I’ll still need to earn enough to put food on the table. I literally starved today, since I’ll be spending a bomb in the wedding tonight, I thought maybe I could just clean up the dishes while the rest catch up. I started a routine of having breakfast at home instead of buying expensive Suntec breakfast (nothing wrong with being expensive – we all have to pay rent). And I also plan to start some form of alternate day dinner where I’ll cook instant noodle, the only economically cheaper alternative to hawker food.

Every week, I jog. It’s not regular, it’s a best effort thing, but it still averages to a weekly commitment to dedicate time for exercise. There’s barely time for anything else, blogging, gaming etc. Even meet-ups with friends has decreased drastically, in view of a large number of outstanding projects to deliver to clients after work. I was proud that I made time for my parents when they were here in a previous weekend though. Nevertheless, as my body age, the ever lasting youth in my heart has become very out of sync with the body. I remember I used to run, whatever I’m working on. Time is too precious to be wasted in walking. The knee continues to remind me of an aging body that needs extra attention. Am I fat? Oh dear, do I sound like a girl?

And yet, life goes on. People who wants my resume still wants my resume. People who wants my time still demands my audience. People who ignored me still ignores me. It is this very straight-forward life that has killed the very me that I long to be, because everything made sense, everything has a cause and effect, everything puts you in a position of mediocrity, so that you can be the best. Be the best of the mediocre.

I sleep everyday with a sunk heart. I couldn’t give the people who constantly want to chat with me on MSN all the time of my life. I couldn’t give the blind musician on the street the price of a concert ticket. I couldn’t give my parents the family that they desire. I couldn’t give my customer the impeccable customer service that I set out to give. I couldn’t take in new interesting projects that would build on my passion. Heck, I couldn’t drive regularly to work thanks to ERP, Parking and all those stupid speed cameras. I mean, have you ever seen a driver who drive by actively staring at the ceiling of a road tunnel finding the next “Speed Camera Ahead” sign while leaving all other reactions to road conditions to the sub-conscious part of the brain?

But yet. Life is full of surprises. Looking forward to a good dinner small talk.

Long live Internet Tethering.