~rogbeer's corner

where to buy postcards in Singapore

2021-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

I joined Postcrossing last month, and I’ve since been keeping a look-out for places that sell postcards, on this tiny island in South-east Asia.

I list a few below. Do you know of others? I hope you and I can add to each other’s knowledge! :slight_smile:

the usual suspects: souvenir shops

somewhere in Kampong Glam (near Sultan Mosque)
somewhere in Chinatown
Raffles Hotel
National Museum of Singapore
the shop called Arch, in the shopping mall called Capitol, near City Hall MRT Station

on the art-sy side

National Gallery of Singapore
a pop-up bazaar called Invade, in Esplanade Theatres
Objectifs Centre for Film and Photography
this photographer, Christine Nagel, has been shooting various sights in Singapore, and sells her own photos as postcards.

unexpected postcards

the (alcoholic beverages) bar called No. 5 Emerald Hill provides postcards, and mails them out to international addresses, free of charge. You can buy a drink if you feel paiseh. (Information accurate as of late 2019).

this post first appeared at the forum of Postcrossing

reading up on microfinance (including kiva.org)

2021-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

A few resources:

Eugenia Macchiavello’s book: “Microfinance and financial inclusion: the challenge of regulating alternative forms of finance”.
Hugh Sinclair’s book: “Confessions of a microfinance heretic: how microlending lost ita way and betrayed the poor”.
http://www.microfinancetransparency.com/
Stephanie Strom’s 2009 article: “confusion on where money lent via Kiva goes”. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/business/global/09kiva.html
Neil MacFarquhar’s 2010 article: “banks making big profits from tiny loans”.

about Gitea, or Git, on tilde.town

2021-08-14T00:00:00+00:00

note to self:

run the following command once SSH-ed into tilde.town, if you want an account at https://git.tilde.town

town request-gitea

and for a list of options, run the command:

town

A story of two wolves

2021-06-18T00:00:00+00:00

I saw this story on the Internet.

A village elder told a young child: “There are two wolves in every person. One is loving and gentle, while the other is hateful and brutal. They fight with each other all day and all night.”

The child asked: “Which wolf wins?”

The elder replied: “The one you feed the most.”

Content warning: emotional blackmail

2021-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

Content warning: emotional blackmail.

“If you don’t do what I want you to, I’ll kill myself.”

My mother said that to me when I was ten years old or younger. Yes, my mother. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even think to call the police. My siblings - a younger brother and a younger sister - were there as well.

“Well? Do you want me to jump down from nine storeys high, or not? Shall I do it now?”

My brother and I refused to give in. But my sister rushed to Mummy and said, sobbing: “I love you, Mummy, please don’t jump.”

Fast forward to my fifteen-year-old self: I came in first in my cohort, in academic performance.

At twenty-three years old: I felt unwell (mentally or otherwise). My university class-mates started avoiding me.

Now, at thirty years old: Looking back, it was hardly surprising that I suffered a break-down. I had to attend to my wounds - emotional or otherwise - from my childhood. All those years, I had been avoiding it, pretending everything was fine. Now I feel much better, thanks to a Biblical God. And I wish - and practise - kindness towards my mother, because that’s what my god wants.

If you’re suffering similarly right now, I hope my message encourages you.

hello world, from an Android phone

2021-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

Long story short, I’m using an app called JuiceSSH to connect to tilde.town - and make this post - with a mobile phone (instead of a laptop).

Note to self re. Mastodon

2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

I got an account on the social network called Mastodon because I wanted to say the following to the admin of the Mastodon-server/instance where ~abraxas had ~abraxas’s account:

“since ~abraxas is dead, can you reflect that on his Mastodon-account?”

Mastodon allows accounts to become “In Memoriam”. Kinda like a grave-stone.

I thought it would be easier to reach that admin through Mastodon than the internal mail-system of tilde.town

You can find me on Mastodon, at https://im-in.space/@rogbeer

Till next time.

using Jekyll on tilde.town, circa 7th July 2020

2020-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Running jekyll -v, on the command line, resulted in the following message:

-bash: /usr/local/bin/jekyll: /usr/bin/ruby2.5: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

After some research, I found that I could run the following command:

/usr/bin/jekyll -v

which resulted in the following message:

jekyll 3.8.6

I hope this post saves someone else some time.

Besides the above, I also made changes to my .bashrc , before Jekyll could work.

If you find it helpful, you may add the following two lines to your file located at ~/.bashrc :

export GEM_HOME=/home/your_username/gems

export PATH=”/home/your_username/gems:$PATH”

Replace your_username (in the above two lines) with your user-name, of course.

updates, quickly

2020-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

Not much time on my hands (to make this post).

Started a journal that I’m publishing on Github, intentionally challenging my audience, if any, to be familiar with Git and Github-like websites. https://github.com/phtan/technologist-journal
Experienced, and still experiencing, challenges with connecting to tilde.town. Firewalls and what-not. VPN doesn’t seem to be an option (yet).

Gotta go.

Q and A for me

2020-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

I love reading interviews. Whether it is an interview of Kevin Ma, founder of the magazine known as Hypebeast, or an interview of Derek Sivers, entrepreneur who reportedly said No to selling his business for millions of dollars, I get to find out a bit more about these people.

So, one day, I thought, how about I interview myself? Then others can find out more about me. [chuckles].

But… what would I ever ask myself?

Thankfully, I found some questions that were addressed to the public, on the social-network web-site known as LinkedIn, and guess what, I answered them!

And now, I collect my answers to those questions, in this blog-post! Ta-dah! I have an interview… of myself! (Although others asked those questions).

[clears throat]. Let’s start the interview!

How are you challenging yourself in 2020? - Elisha

My challenge for myself so far, in 2020, is to balance my time on social media - or, more broadly speaking, my time on an electronic computing device - with my time off the Internet. It would be interesting to see how I can do this in the light of a trend towards webinar(s) and work-from-home, set against a background of virus-news, virus-concerns, virus-fretting, virus-worrying and virus-scares.

What has been one project or assignment in which you broke the rules and had fun in the creative process? - Joseph

I once took an undergraduate-course on Composing Music in the Classical Style (for example, in the style of Mozart). For an assignment in that course, I wrote a musical work that appears to be thoroughly twentieth-century, instead of looking eighteenth-century. My course-instructor did not accept my work, but I still had fun. (I’ve realised the importance of surrounding myself with people who value creativity and innovation - which is not everyone, and I certainly don’t really appreciate flattery and/or smooth talk, either).

Tell me what is your oops-boo-hoo moment this week, and what you learnt from it. - Phing

An “oops-boo-hoo” of mine, as you call it? I run a blog where I post photos from my trips to art-galleries in Sg. Art-hunting, if you will. But I got a little lost; something didn’t feel right (about such blogging) anymore. I asked the person known, on LinkedIn.com , as Alin Sneha Abraham, for her perspective on the matter; I said I wasn’t sure if my blogging was adding value to the world. Alin said something to the effect that it is more important that I enjoy myself; that way, at least one person benefits. So my oops-boo-hoo was to overlook my own enjoyment of the activity in question. I concluded that I liked visiting galleries, but posting photos on social media? Not so much.

A challenge I face in pursuing excellence

2020-03-24T00:00:00+00:00

A challenge I face in pursuing excellence is… [drum roll]… finding others who pursue excellence.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t such a surprising revelation. As the saying goes, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man another”.

For me, it is not satisfactory enough to look to my contemporaries - I have looked centuries back, hoping to appreciate greatness.

Without further ado, I share a list - off the top of my head - of works I look up to:

In Classical Music,

Beethoven’s Cello Sonata, Op. 102
Schubert’s Winterreise

In opera,

Bartók’s “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle”

In Russian literature,

Alexander Pushkin’s novel in verse, “Eugene Onegin”

In children’s literature,

Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”

Others:

a fairly modern film, Wong Kar-Wai’s “In the mood for love”
A song by The Beatles, “Come together”

In concluding, I note that if I have a small, puny mind, the world I see is a small, puny world. I wish for a mind that can see greatness in even the smallest thing - eyes that can see beauty and wonder.

For example, can I learn, from a dog, how to be happy, while being held on a leash? Or, from a cat, how to meditate?

I close with a quote from the classic tale, “The little prince”:

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

This post first appeared on LinkedIn.

A brief analysis of the artistic merit of videos made by Peeping Toms/voyeurs

2020-03-12T00:00:00+00:00

Maybe in the past it was more artistic (and consensual between photographer/cameraman and subject)

I refer to Brassaï ‘s 1931 photo, “A suit for two in the magic city”, which features some extent of (the suggestion of) male nudity. in it, clearly there are homosexual themes and there is some expression of intimacy as well

Nowadays, if I were to use a popular expression, people are “going from bad to worse”

And Peeping Toms/voyeurs who arrive later in history, in their “artistic work” - if it could be so termed - seem to demonstrate a clear lack of what the writer Edgar Allan Poe calls the Poetic Principle: their works do not “elevate the soul”, as a poetic work should

An opera; International Women's Day

2020-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

Somewhat belatedly, on the occasion of Women’s Day - it is refreshing for me to encounter, in literature, a wife saving her husband in distress (instead of the other way round).

I’m referring to Beethoven’s only completed opera, “Fidelio”.

Fidelio is the alias of a character named Leonore, who gets employed by the jailer, Rocco - and even cross-dresses as a man - so that she can gain access to the inner-most section of the jail; she wants to see if her husband, Florestan, is indeed imprisoned there.

I think I’ve revealed enough about the plot, so I’ll stop relating the details here.

Let me end with the (German) words from the finale of the opera:

“Nie wird es zu hoch besungen, Retterin des Gatten sein.” (Never can we over-praise a wife who saves her husband.) Translator: Lionel Salter.

Details for lovers of classical music: I listened to a 1995 recording, featuring Nikolaus Harnoncourt as conductor, and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

I believe well-deserved honour goes to National Library Board (of Singapore) for stocking both CD and CD-player at the public library known as Library@Esplanade .

this post first appeared in its original form, on LinkedIn

A selection of five photos I've taken, in the past two years

2020-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

It didn’t seem fun to have to meet the requirements (of Singapore International Photography Festival 2020) to have seven photos in my submission. So, on Tumblr, I present five photos that I do have, instead; they were taken in the past two years (all on the island of Singapore ); I hope you enjoy them.

reading a book on photography

2020-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

Reading a book by David Ulrich, “Zen camera: creative awakening with a daily practice in photography”.

Found words (or the vocabulary) to describe what I spend a significant amount of energy on nowadays: creating the necessary conditions for “the arrival of the muse… - what artists call inspiration and many call the ‘aha’ moment […] the creative intelligence occurring when the artist or seeker is open, taking place through the cracks of the ordinary, rational brain”. (Page 94).

Here I share a photo (I have) taken on 26th December, around the time of a supposed eclipse. It draws me somehow… I stay open to where it calls me.

As Ulrich says (on Page 88), the famous figure in spirituality, Rumi, has a quote/poem:

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray “

recent Art News: artists selling art without dealers

2020-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Just to share, I’ve recently heard of at least two artists who make their works accessible to the public without involving a gallery or a dealer.

William Powhida invites the public to be his Friend; the perks of being such a Friend include free (as in gratis) ownership of his artwork, if you have taken care of it (at your place) for five years. Source: Taylor Dafoe ‘s article on the web-site Artnet, published on 28th Feb 2020: “Artist William Powhida Doesn’t Have Room to Store All His Work—So He Wants You to Borrow It, For Free”. URL: https://lnkd.in/fcyYJRe
Tsuyumi Miwa is having an exhibition at Maduro Jazz Club, Singapore ( http://www.maduro.sg/ ) . Tsuyumi says her paintings will be on sale, at a lower price than usual, because there is no “gallery commission fee”.

Time: 6.30 PM onwards , on 24th April
Price of a ticket: SGD$25
Tsuyumi is contactable at her web-site, ( http://www.heymiwa.com/ )

What’s in the price of a ticket? Her friend, the composer-singer-actor James Flynn ( http://www.flynnjazz.com/ ) has composed songs that interpret Tsuyumi’s paintings , which he is scheduled to perform, with his trio, on the evening of Tsuyumi’s exhibition. Source: my recent chat(s) with Tsuyumi

Pay-off(s) of my little investment of sorts: attending a talk

2020-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

I feel rewarded for getting up earlier than usual today - Helena Wasserman Eriksson ‘s talk was scheduled for 8.30 AM.

Her talk, on the topic “Invest”, began with questions for the audience. Then: “I want you to think how you have invested in yourself, and the great feeling you had when you did that. Then take 5 minutes to share it with your neighbour.”

If I think about it now, attending her talk was an investment in myself, too. And I think this investment has paid off already - at the talk’s venue, I met people, who not only seemed to share similar interests with me, but also seem to be better than myself at it. For example,

Eugene Cheng has done photography at weddings, something I haven’t done (yet), but it’s something which Eugene asserts will provide lots of opportunities to develop photographic skills
Tsuyumi Miwa ‘s name-cards feature her paintings on the reverse side - an idea I can consider if I do start making name-cards for my artistic practice. (Tsuyumi-san’s website: http://heymiwa.com/ )
I met someone who talked about one’s posture, in relation to pain in one’s knees, while running. Now I am thinking about whether my posture, while I use my laptop, is the best for my body.

Lots of food for thought, to say the least!

This post has appeared in a slightly altered form, on LinkedIn

Just watched a recording of Tim Brown 's TED talk, "Tales of creativity and play"

2020-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

I was at a screening that is open to the public, at the co-working space The Hive (Facebook: https://facebook.com/thehivecarpenter/ )

In his talk, Mr. Brown highlighted a number of exercises/techniques, that designers use, and which are modelled on, or inspired by, how little children play:

The technique called “thinking with your hands”. Its analogue among children is so-called “construction play”, such as building towers from little blocks, knocking the towers down, and building them again, over and over. An example of this technique, among designers, is building prototypes of an idea quickly, even if the prototype looks like a crude hotch-potch of everyday objects: plasticine, small bottles of deodorant, and so on.
Role play. How children role-play need not be elaborated, I believe: playing House, playing Tea-time, and so on. From what Mr. Brown says, designers can use role play to switch perspective(s) from the designer (of a service) to the user (of that service).

It seems worth mentioning that Mr. Brown said that play is not anarchy. Play has rules. For example, if little children play Cops & Robbers, they are acting out a socially agreed script.

Definitely interesting to think about - for me, at least. I hope it’s interesting for you, too.

I link to the TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_tales_of_creativity_and_play?language=en

A story I wanted to share on the web-site LinkedIn

2020-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

Years ago, I read a book by Steven D’Souza and Diana Renner, titled “Not knowing: The art of turning uncertainty into opportunity”.

If you want to know more about that book, you can check out its page on Goodreads.com (because the rest of this post is not going to talk much about that book) :

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18210266-not-knowing

After reading the book, I was inspired to write a blog-post, which, generally speaking, was about the impact that the book had on me.

So, fast-forward three years: Steven, who, as you recall, is co-author of the above-mentioned book, leaves a comment on my blog:

Thank you for sharing the impact of our book on you Pheng Heong. Your writing is honest and eloquent. Steven

And I probably have a fan-boy moment: who is Steven in the world, and I - who am I kidding - who am I in the world? that Steven is talking to this me?

But if I view Steven and I as fellow travellers into the unknown, maybe he and I are not that different from each other. Steven (and Diana, his co-author) may have more experience in life than me, but they highlight, in their book, that they do not want to be seen as experts about the unknown - if anything, they encourage one to explore the unknown for oneself. My role, then, is clear: if Steven and Diana are offering wisdom about such an adventure, so to speak, then I can be, and I am, happy to receive that wisdom. (despite the discomfort, and even dread, that encountering the unknown often engenders in me).

It may be that I have my individual, unique, experience of the unknown to undergo, but I am happy to have the wisdom that Steven and Diana have distilled, via their book, to bear in mind, all the while.

You can view my above-mentioned blog-post here:

http://phtan.github.io/blog/post/2016-05-06-not-knowing/

This post was originally intended for publication on the social-media web-site LinkedIn, but what I’ve prepared for that web-site was somehow lost. Now I type a new draft, and post it first on this current Internet-address, with plans to subsequently post, or syndicate, it (back) to LinkedIn.

how to say 'good'

2020-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

A certain Homeless Kodo has said, “we only say something is good when it goes our way”, or something to that effect. I quote,

Sooner or later everyone starts thinking of nothing besides themselves. You say, “That was good!” But what was good? It was only good for you personally, that’s all.

Source: https://antaiji.org/en/services/kodo-to-you/

Be that as it may, I take pleasure and interest in the different ways I can say something is good, whether it is good for me, or for someone else, or whatever.

So, I make the following list, based on words currently in my vocabulary:

excellent
nice
super
amazing
awesome
great
perfect
棒(a Chinese word)
baik (a word in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu, pronouced like baa-eggk)
pona (a word in the constructed language Toki Pona, which has no native speakers)
pleasant
赞(a word that seemed to have been used in Taiwan in the modern past (about 1.5 decades ago?); maybe it isn’t used so much nowadays anymore?)
miraculous
fabulous
nice - oops, I mentioned “nice” already.
fun - I seldom use this word, but I’ve heard others use them within my ear-shot
majestic - usually I use this word to describe God and God’s works

That’s it. I’ve heard a Spanish version of “miraculous” and “fabulous” before, but because I seldom use those Spanish words, I omit it from my above list.

A chat about ethics and technology, with Mr. Sebastian Müeller

2020-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

On 12 December 2019, during the afternoon, Sebastian and I met at the Singapore office of Minglabs, an organisation in which Sebastian is Co-founder and COO. Let me briefly recall the approximately one-hour-long chat, using a format of Question-and-Answer (Q&A) below - I asked most of the questions, as I recall.

Q: “Why are you interested in ethics?”

A: “I do not have [an academic] background in ethics or philosophy. I studied Computer Science in Germany. My thinking changed after I had a son - he is three years old now - and I have done much more reading since.”

Q: “I don’t mean to offend you personally, but if we talk about ethics, there is the danger of being a hypocrite, that is, saying one thing and doing another. How do you ensure you are not a hypocrite?”

A: “Humans are fallible. If someone says something, and does what he says - if he walks the talk - he is an angel. [Having said that,] I try to be better today than I was yesterday.”

Q: “About Andrew Yang… [in the U.S., who proposed a Department of the Attention Economy]”

A: “Algorithm Oversight. Right now, there is a gap: the regulation-authorities have to figure out what is happening in these algorithms. It takes time to come up with regulations, and meanwhile, technology keeps moving on and on and on. They have to be paid well, because they are the best of the best of the best [that is, those who are, or might be, recruited, into The Government, to regulate algorithms that are used in software]. This is one area that I think Singapore does well in: the ministers are well-paid. In the U.S. or in Europe, working in The Government means taking a pay-cut.”

Q: “You mentioned reading. What are some of those books?”

A: “I’ll email you after our chat.” [Later, Sebastian emails hyperlinks:]

Cathy O’Neil. (2016). “Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data increases inequality and threatens democracy”. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28186015-weapons-of-math-destruction
Brad Smith. (2019). “Tools and weapons: The promise and the peril of the Digital Age”. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44334073-tools-and-weapons
Yancey Strickler. (2019). “This could be our future: A manifesto for a more generous world”. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44525559-this-could-be-our-future
Tim O’Reilly. (2017). “WTF?: What’s The Future and why it’s up to us” . https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34017076-wtf

The Q&A above represents only a portion of the entirety of my chat with Sebastian, which concluded with agreeing that (the application of) ethics in technology meant co-operation/collaboration of (highly skilled) people across various fields of expertise, or disciplines. As Sebastian puts it, “I observe; I act within my sphere of influence… [but] I cannot solve the problem on my own.”

However, Sebastian seems optimistic, if not hopeful: “[if I] keep repeating a message [about ethics, to the audience of my various talks], maybe the message will get in.”

Recipe for a (Milo-based) cocktail

2019-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

I got this recipe from a bartender at Bar Stories , located on the island of Singapore.

It is based on Milo, a non-alcoholic beverage which is kinda based on malt. (I am aware, from anecdotal evidence, that Milo is popular, if not well-known, in at least the South-east Asian countries of Malaysia and Singapore).

I didn’t manage to get the name for this cocktail. Nonetheless, the ingredients:

Egg white x 1
Milo, as in the drink, not the powder x 2 oz
Butter-scotch, the liqueur x 0.25 oz
Dark-chocolate liqueur x 0.5 oz
Dark-chocolate bitters x 3 dashes
Black Cow vodka (for a creamy taste) x 1.5 oz

A few print-making techniques, and possibly goodbye

2019-09-12T00:00:00+00:00

Recently, at an Open House at STPI, I learnt - or rather, watched, if not tried my hand at it myself, in some stage of the respective process - the print-making techniques/processes of Intaglio, Linocut and Relief-printing.

By the way, owing to various circumstances, this may or may not be my final post on this blog.

want to feel (even more) cramped (in a cheek-to-jowl way) on the island of Singapore? A few places to check out

2019-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

The title of this post is self-explanatory, I believe. If you’re so inclined, check out:

In the day-time, for instance, around noon on a Sunday: “Mother Dough”, in the area of Sultan Mosque. https://www.motherdough.com.sg/
In clubbing (as in night-life) hours, say, at 1 AM on a Sunday: “Headquarters”, in the area of Boat Quay. https://www.facebook.com/headquarters.sg/

My Lineage of Inspiration

2019-03-29T00:00:00+00:00

I’m working on a career-development course right now, titled ‘Work That Matters’. It’s by Maia Duerr, and in this blog post, I am going to make what Maia calls a Lineage of Inspiration.

Maia herself elaborates on her Lineage of Inspiration at the Internet-address http://maiaduerr.com/lineage-and-liberation-2/.

She writes:

So as way of creating my own personal lineage chart, I want to name some of those people who made a huge impact on me and to whom I feel enormous gratitude. I’m sharing this list as a way for you to get to know me better and it’s also an invitation for you to do the same. It’s a huge gift to realize that our lineage is linked to our liberation. We don’t have to do it alone. There is no way we possibly could do it on our own.

The following is the prompt I am working with, which I reproduce from the afore-mentioned Internet address. ‘Who’s in your personal lineage? Who are the people who have guided you to more freedom in your life, and what gifts have you received from them?’

Masafumi Itokazu (“Matchi”). Matchi has a profile on Couchsurfing.com. He was my room-mate in the autumn of the year 2013 A.D., at a dormitory on the campus of National Taiwan University, until he left our shared room - rather abruptly, I thought - some-time during the wet winter of the same year. He was a sharp dresser, I think. I’ve received the gift of encouragement, unspoken or otherwise, to dress myself as boldly as I would like. A gift of confidence, in other words - perhaps. Now I dress as I dare (or so I would like to think).
Chris Jensen. Chris has a profile on LinkedIn. Chris was my supervisor during my internship at his (now-defunct, I guess) start-up Good For Us. At the point in time that I met him, I was somewhat in the earlier part of what could be conventionally called College Education. I had little to no awareness of inner life or spiritual life, I think, at that time. Chris did not seem afraid to mandate a practice of recalling A Few Things That You’re Grateful For, during lunches together. Chris also extended an invitation for me to visit him during his work at the non-profit organisation Ground-up Initative (G.U.I.). Exposure to Nature that seemed a little less domesticated (at G.U.I.), and the beginnings of a practice of gratitude - I’ve received these gifts.
Emily Dickinson. I read that she withdrew from society, famously becoming recluse-like, and developed a kind of language of her own, which can, maybe, be seen in her now-renown poems. I’ve received encouragement to pursue a path into poetry, regardless of how unconventional a life I may seem to lead.
A manager at my kitchen-workplace, by the name of Lily (transliterated name). I met her while I was a part-time cook at a budget restaurant of sorts. (I still am, for now.) She seemed sensitive enough to refill any sauces (or ingredients) that I’ve run out of, at a time when I was too busy or pre-occupied to refill those myself. I’ve received the gift of an example of service towards my co-workers, or perhaps even humankind. I can strive to emulate her sensitivity to others, I think, if nothing else.

Eateries in Singapore that are not "chains", as far as I am aware

2019-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

The title of this post seems self-explanatory to me. The list below includes eateries that have branches overseas but not in Singapore.

This post was inspired by a question that a member of the Meetup-group ‘Returned Overseas Singaporeans in Singapore (R.O.S.S.)’ has asked. That member said that she found herself eating at the same places, implying that she wanted a change of eateries, hence her question, which was somewhat similar to the title of this post.

I list:

Morton’s Steakhouse
Slow Bakes (which is supposedly under the same umbrella-organisation as the chain of meat-free restaurants, ‘Real Food’)
La Ristrettos
Brunches Cafe
Tong Fong Fatt Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice
Mahota Commune
Il Den
Kemono Healthy Japanese Roast Chicken (it seems delivery-only)
Tolido’s Espresso Nook
MTR Restaurant
Podi & Poriyal
Hj Maimunah

This post was updated on 14th March 2019.

Purchases, approximately at the time of Chinese New Year

2019-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

By no design of my own, both last year (2018 A.D.) and this (2019 A.D.) , I’ve made purchases that are somewhat associated with Indonesia - and specifically, batik - approximately at the time of the respective year’s Chinese New Year.

Last year, it was a button-down shirt from Kiah’s Gallery (https://www.facebook.com/Kiahb4tik/) - where the seller told me, “Batik is a dying art.” (she also effectively said, if I’m not mistaken, something like, “The batik-shirt chooses its owner.”) - and this year, a coin-pouch, from The Green Collective SG (https://www.facebook.com/thegreencollectivesg) - maybe the designer, or maker, of the coin-pouch is from Indonesia.

Now, what do I say about Indonesia? Or about batik?

I just thank my god that I have the luxury of the experience of buying batik, while on the island of Singapore.

'They have certificates, but no flower!'

2019-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

The exclamation in the title of this post came from a street-busker I have met, a number of years ago. He was commenting on the quality of music-playing that came from young musicians nowadays.

“What is ‘flower’?” I asked him.

“Flower? Flower is this!” he replied, before launching into a song, on his guitar, which I couldn’t help but dance to.

So what is flower? I couldn’t help but to want to have a more theoretical, or even academic, perspective on the terminology of this street-busker.

Finally, years later, with glory to my god - and thanks to Him, of course - I found a mention in a book called “Nine gates: Entering the mind of poetry” by Jane Hirshfield.

Hirshfield mentioned the concept of hana in a form of Japanese theatre called Nō. Supposedly, hana - which, interestingly enough, means ‘flower’ in the Japanese language - is the quality by which an actor can move the audience, despite being hidden behind a mask and standing motionless on stage. Supposedly (according to the claims of Hirshfield, who in turn was quoting a practitioner or observer of Nō), hana can be accessed sometimes in youth, but in maturity, hana… - oh, I forget what Hirshfield wrote.

Perhaps this might be interesting enough for me to investigate further.

A DJ said he had a focus on songs from Southeast Asia and Japan

2019-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

Yesterday, I caught a set by the DJ Itch , at Kult Kafé , Singapore. I heard songs with lyrics that sounded like they were in the language Mandarin Chinese, those with Japanese-like lyrics, and (at least) one that Itch said was from Indonesia, when I asked him where that song was from.

Maybe he - and the other DJs who spun - was playing vinyls yesterday.

Artists whom I've met in person and, in my impression, aren't based in Singapore

2019-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

The title of this post is self-explanatory.

Name	Web-site	Details of my meeting with that artist, if any
Sophie Kao	http://www.sophie-kao.com	I met her at an exhibition of her works at Instinc , in the year 2019 A.D.
Levan Songulashvili	http://www.levan.gallery	At an exhibition of his, which was held at Objectifs: Centre for Photography and Film
Kuros Nekouian	https://www.instagram.com/kuros_nekouian/ http://www.kuros.de	First met him on 15th Feb 2019 A.D., at Instinc. Later, saw him at Levan's exhibition at Objectifs (see above, please).

This page was updated 22nd Apr 2019.

Singaporean artists I 'know'

2019-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

I’ve met a Teo Eng Seng (Mister) recently - yesterday afternoon - and when he asked me, “how many Singaporean artists do you know”, with ‘Singaporean’ defined as ‘working in Singapore’, I realised I was stumped for an answer beyond a handful of names (not much more than a couple of them); more names came to me after the moment of interrogation had passed. Well, for the benefit of whoever’s interested, I make a table below, in response to Mr. Teo Eng Seng’s question.

Artist	Website	Have I met that artist in person?
Cheong Soo Pieng	don't know	He was dead, reportedly, by the time I heard of him. So, no, I haven't.
Ng Eng Teng	idk	No
Amanda Heng	idk	A handful of years ago, at NUS Museum, where she was present at the venue of her artwork, during which strangers had tea, ~~dismembered~~ trimmed bean-sprouts and chatted.
Max Kong	http://maxkong.com	In the year 2018, during 'ArtWalk@Wessex'
Frances Alleblas	https://www.francesalleblas.com/	As with Mr. Max Kong
Lin Hsin Hsin	http://lhham.com.sg/	Met at a 'curator dialog' , which took place in the year 2017 A.D., at a co-working space in Singapore.
Mira	http://mira-yoon.format.com	I have had the luxury of her services as an art-therapist.
Of course, Teo Eng Seng	idk	Met him at his gallery at 22 Marshall Road, Singapore
Ng Joon Kiat	http://ngjoonkiat.com/	I've met him at events associated with other artists. Most recently, I've met him at the opening reception of an exhibition at The Private Museum
Yeo Siak Goon	idk	Met him at an exhibition of his works , in the year 2018 A.D., at Articulture
Ben Puah	idk	First met him maybe in the year 2018 A.D., at 22 Marshall Road. By the time I arrived there, he was already with Mr. Teo Eng Seng.

Expensive F and B in Singapore if you want

2019-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

The following are eateries/shops where the offerings have been thought of as ‘expensive’ by others or myself. I list them with an example of the prices (in SGD), which I myself have paid while I was there.

A chicken thigh with rice cost $6.80, at Lam’s. https://www.lamskitchen.com/outlets
A cup of hot chocolate cost $10.67, at Laurent Bernard Chocolatier. https://www.facebook.com/Laurentbernardchocolatier/
A serving (one glass, not a bottle) of whisky cost close to $30, at Quaich. https://www.quaichbar.com.sg/contact-us
A stick of baguette cost $4, at Slow Bakes. https://www.happycow.net/reviews/slow-bakes-central-singapore-118886
A plate of sliced beef, done Korean-style, cost $10, at Kim Dae Mun. https://www.facebook.com/KimDaeMun/
A burger cost approximately $40, after a discount, at Morton’s. https://www.mortons.com/singapore/
A four-course meat-free meal cost between $20 to $30, if I am not mistaken, at Sufood. https://sufood.com.sg/contact-us/

description of a certain kind of coffee in Singapore

2018-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

A certain kind of coffee in Singapore has been described as ‘too bitter and too sweet at the same time’, if I am not mistaken in my recollection.

“When we tail ministers or members of parliaments in their tours of the orderly housing estates, I buy them [the camera crew] little plastic bags of milky tea or coffee. These brews are always too sweet and too bitter at the same time…” - Joanne Leow, 2016. “Journalism and Jiujitsu: The gentle arts of a dictatorship”.

Coffee, when bought in Singapore, is not necessarily in the style of an Americano, espresso, Long Black and the like. In my experience, the ones that cost SGD$0.70 to $1.50 tend to not be espresso-like or even latte-like - the latter cost, maybe, upwards of SGD$3.

This might be an alert to seekers of coffee who are new in Singapore.

Places, in Singapore, where I have had wine for about SGD$10

2018-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

From what I remember, a can of beer, bought from a convenience store, costs more in Singapore than in Taipei, the capital-city of Taiwan, so maybe the price of a glass of wine is more expensive in Singapore than in Taipei, too, if not elsewhere.

Having said that, I have somewhat frequented the following establishments, during so-called ‘happy hours’; the price comes up to SGD$10 to SGD$11 for a glass, at the most. I list the price of a glass of wine, whether it be red or white:

Bruno’s Bistrot/Pizzaria & Grill. $7.50, exclusive of a ‘service charge’ of 10%. All operation-hours are ‘happy hour’, I’ve heard. A plus maybe: bottles of wine are stored openly (that is, visibly) in a chiller for that purpose. 544 Serangoon Road, Singapore 218166
Hej Kitchen & Bar. ‘Happy hours’: 12 PM to 7 PM - it’s not clear to me whether these are for weekdays, weekends, or both. $8, exclusive of service charge (10%) and GST (7%). 180 Orchard Road, Singapore 238846.
The Boiler (at the structure Esplanade). ‘Happy hours’: 5.30 PM to 8.30 PM, daily maybe. $8.50, exclusive of Service Charge and GST. 8 Raffles Ave, #01-13A, Esplanade Mall, Singapore 039802.
Steakout. ‘Happy hours’: Sunday to Thursday, excluding public holidays and their eves. $2 off the regular price of wine - this works out to be approximately $10. 89 Victoria Street, #01-01, Victoria Hotel, Singapore 188017.

Quotes I found on the web-site/blog of an artist

2018-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

I reproduce a few quotes that I found on the web-site ‘Slow Muse: By Deborah Barlow’ (http://www.slowmuse.com/).

What we need more of is slow art: art that holds time as a vase holds water: art that grows out of modes of perception and making whose skill and doggedness make you think and feel; art that isn’t merely sensational, that doesn’t get its message across in ten seconds, that isn’t falsely iconic, that hooks onto something deep-running in our natures. In a word, art that is the very opposite of mass media.

–- Robert Hughes

How to live? A life in the world or a world in the head? To be seen and recognized outside, or to hide and think inside? Actor or hermit? Which is it? She wanted both—to be inside and outside, to ponder and to leap.

– Siri Hustvedt, in the book ‘The Blazing World’

In order to sell art, you had to “create desire,” and “desire,” he said, “cannot be satisfied because then it’s no longer desire.” The thing that is truly wanted must always be missing. “Art dealers have to be magicians of hunger.”

– Siri Hustvedt, in the book ‘The Blazing World’

Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide.

– the writer and psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott

For most of life on the planet, being hidden is the default condition… visibility is a luxury. Rarely are earth-colored tones the symbols of opulence and royal blood. We are most comfortable being hidden but we yearn to be seen.

– Jane Hirschfield, in the book ‘Hiddenness, Uncertainty, Surprise: Three Generative Energies of Poetry’

Many friends have asked me when I will start writing on Slow Muse again. I am not sure how to answer that question. Between intention and action there is an indeterminate gap. Whatever it was that inspired my writing here for 12 years is now going through a transmutation of its own. I have had to be in surrender and to patiently wait for the what and the when to manifest.

– Deborah Barlow, in the blog-post ‘Yet to come’

What I learnt in Computer Science

2018-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

I dropped out from an undergraduate course in Computer Science (CS, for short).

While I was attending CS courses, however, I learnt how to detach myself, or abstract myself, from technological tools, which, as a so-called ‘digital native’ may know, changes ever so frequently.

I learnt that if I have a fundamental skill, or what (one of) my lecturer(s) called ‘first principles’, I can solve a given problem, regardless of how seemingly foreign the problem may be.

Applying this concept in another context, it could be said that if I know the fundamental skills in social dealings, then regardless of which country, or culture, I find myself in, I can thrive (and not merely survive - but that’s a topic for another time, perhaps).

That’s powerful. That’s empowering. (As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him once. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a life-time.”) And it gives one confidence. It certainly gives me confidence.

But of course I credit all these lessons and benefits, or perks, to my god and his kindness and goodness.

A bibliography of sorts, about open-source software (engineers)

2018-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

In no particuar order,

strk. (2016). ‘Wecome to Gitea’. URL: https://blog.gitea.io/2016/12/welcome-to-gitea/. Accessed URL on 22nd Oct 2018.
Lawson, N. (2017). ‘What it feels like to be an open-source maintainer’. URL: https://nolanlawson.com/2017/03/05/what-it-feels-like-to-be-an-open-source-maintainer/ Accessed URL on 22nd Oct 2018.
Raymond, E. S. (2000). ‘Homesteading the Noosphere’. URL: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/homesteading/index.html Accessed URL on 22nd Oct 2018.
Eghbal, N. (2016). ‘Roads and bridges: the unseen labor behind our digital infrastructure’. URL: https://www.fordfoundation.org/about/library/reports-and-studies/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure. Accessed URL on 22nd Oct 2018.

want to eat somewhere cheap in Orchard Road?

2018-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

I list a couple of places where the prices of (cooked) food are cheaper compared to the rest of the eateries that can be found in the area known as Orchard Road (of Singapore).

In the lower floors of the shopping mall Lucky Plaza.
Somewhere near the building Midpoint Orchard, on the side of the road opposite the shopping mall Orchard Central. One level down from street level.

By ‘cheap’ I mean that one perhaps could get something to eat for SGD$3.

Smaller book-stores that I have been to in Singapore

2018-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

By ‘smaller bookstores’ I mean bookstores that, in a sense, aren’t like Kinokuniya, Times, Popular and so on.

I list the bookstores with their brick-and-mortar addresses as well as their web-addresses.

‘The Moon’. 37 Mosque Street. https://www.facebook.com/themoonsg
‘BooksActually’. 9 Yong Siak Street, Singapore 168645. https://www.booksactuallyshop.com/pages/about
‘City Book Room’. 420 North Bridge Road, #03-10, North Bridge Centre, Singapore 188727. https://www.facebook.com/citybookroomsingapore/

Not forgetting a travelling bookstore owned by Anthony:

‘Booktique’. https://www.facebook.com/WriterBooktique/

choice of hot chocolate

2018-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

If I had to spend money on hot chocolate, and I had SGD$20 to do so - and if the money can only be used on hot chocolate - and if I had access to any seller of hot chocolate in Singapore, I would go to Laurent Bernard Chocolatier.

(Hot chocolate, there, starts at $10 approximately.)

Its brick-and-mortar address is as follows:

80 Mohamed Sultan Road, #01-11, Singapore 239013

And the telephone-number:

+65 6235 9007

And of course it is thanks to my god that I had the luxury to imbibe the hot chocolate there.

Even making this post is a luxury my god affords me. So grateful.

spaces of art-exhibitions that I have been to in Singapore

2018-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

Preface

I was a little reluctant to share the locations of these places - since I have begun to regard them as little treasures for me to view quietly - but I am instructed by the teacher Christ Jesus to not stock up on treasures of this world.

In Matthew 6:19-20, he tells us:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And again, in Luke 12:32-34:

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The spaces (that, by the way, seem a little less touristy to me)

So, in the hopes that my god is pleased, I list a number of art-galleries below:

Cape of Good Hope Art Gallery. Address: 231 Bain Street, Bras Basah Complex, #03-17, Singapore 180231.
DLR Gallery. Address: 22 Marshall Road, Singapore 424858. To visit, please call +65 9772 7852 - look for Mister Teo Eng Seng - or +65 9296 0031.
Parkview Museum. Address: 600 North Bridge Road, Parkview Square, Level 3, Singapore 188778.
The Private Museum. Address: 51 Waterloo Street, #02-06, Singapore 187969.

A quick search on an online search-engine would, if G!d is willing, reveal the contact-numbers of these spaces and/or further information.

choice of espresso

2018-10-16T00:00:00+00:00

If there were a situation in which I had to spend money on an espresso, and I had SGD$6 - which could only be spent on espresso - and a choice of espresso from any coffee-shop in Singapore, I would go to La Ristrettos and get theirs, which is sold at $3.

When I was there once, a member of the staff told me he had served me espresso that was single-origin (probably he was referring to the coffee beans - which, on that day, he might have said was from Ethiopia).

The other $3? If I could, I would go back there another day to spend it.

Reviews of that coffee-shop can be found here.

~cel and SecureScuttleButt (SSB)

2018-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

My fellow townie ~cel, whom ~vilmibm has organised a fund-raiser for - that was about eight months ago - has now seemed to jump onto the proverbial bandwagon of Scuttlebutt. I had that impression after visiting the web-page https://git-ssb.celehner.com/@f/6sQ6d2CMxRUhLpspgGIulDxDCwYD7DzFzPNr7u5AU=.ed25519

I had to do a little reading to get a better idea of what he was up to, though.

Perhaps the following reading material may help a new-comer to Scuttlebutt:

Bogost, I. (2017). ‘The Nomad Who’s Exploding the Internet Into Pieces: Could decentralizing online life make it more compatible with human life?’. In The Atlantic. URL: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/meet-the-counterantidisintermediationists/527553/. Accessed URL on 12th Oct 2018.
‘What Is the Difference Between Patchwork and Scuttlebutt?’. In Scuttlebutt: a decent(ralised) secure gossip platform. URL: https://www.scuttlebutt.nz/faq/basics/patchwork-vs-scuttlebutt Accessed URL on 12th October 2018.
‘git ssb’. URL: https://git.scuttlebot.io/%25n92DiQh7ietE%2BR%2BX%2FI403LQoyf2DtR3WQfCkDKlheQU%3D.sha256 Accessed URL on 12th Oct 2018.
‘Scuttlebutt Protocol Guide: How Scuttlebutt peers find and talk to each other’. URL: https://ssbc.github.io/scuttlebutt-protocol-guide/ Accessed URL on 12th Oct 2018.

Charlie's suggestions for music

2018-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Charlie was a visitor whom I met in Singapore (in the past couple of weeks or so). He’s from Melbourne and he wore boots from the brand Blundstone. He was born in the year 1996 A.D.

He suggested that I listen to the following musicians:

Music-gigs I have watched 'live'

2018-10-09T00:00:00+00:00

The following are musicians/bands that I have had the luxury of watching in person. I note the venues where I have caught their performances, in the hopes that a new-comer to the scene may have an idea of where to check out.

I record in the format of Name of musician(s). Name of performance-venue. Country where I caught their gig(s).

In no particular order,

Survive said the prophet. Esplanade. Singapore.
The xx. The Star Performing Arts Centre. Singapore.
88 Balaz. Revolver. Taiwan, in the city of Taipei.
Rangka. Lithe House. Singapore.
Ralegh Long. Artistry. Singapore.

On a related note, for listings of music-events, or so-called ‘gig guides’, the following may be helpful for a new-comer to a city - they certainly were for me:

Singapore: http://singaporegigs.com/
Taipei: http://www.gigguide.tw/

Places where I have used my laptop

2018-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

I have had the luxury and privilege of using my laptop at the following places, where beverages are sold

(I am currently residing in Singapore - which is in South-east Asia, if you are not familiar with her.)

‘Brunches’. URL: https://www.facebook.com/BrunchesCafe/
‘Enchanted’. Have charged my laptop at the power-sockets there. URL: https://www.facebook.com/EnchantedCafeSg/
‘Old Hen’. Have charged my laptop there. URL: https://www.facebook.com/oldhencoffee/
‘Coffeesmith’. https://www.facebook.com/CoffeesmithSG/
‘Kopi & Tarts’, in the shopping mall City Square. Have charged my laptop there. https://kopiandtarts.com.sg/
‘Real Food’, in the shopping mall Orchard Central. https://www.realfoodgrocer.com/

I had the inspiration to post about this after visiting Tania Rascia’s record of cafes that she has visited: https://taniarascia.github.io/coffee/

And of course I can only have such inspiration if my god gives it to me. I thank Him for that.

An update on twenty-first of October, 2018 A.D.

‘Dimbulah Coffee’. https://dimbulahcoffee.com/
‘Symmetry’. http://www.symmetry.com.sg/

I have not used the power-sockets, at the above two places, to charge my laptop, if indeed there are power-sockets available.

A room-mate leaves

2018-10-08T00:00:00+00:00

One of my room-mates - who has just moved in, in the past two weeks or so - said he is leaving tomorrow to reside at his new work-place, a ‘vegetable farm’.

Yes, he said he would be staying on the farm.

And he says that ‘in the beginning’, he would have no pay/salary. Perhaps he would have food and accommodation.

When I asked him for the name of the place, he said it is called ‘Onesimus Garden’, which he claims is in the area of Lim Chu Kang (probably in the north-west region of the island of Singapore).

Setting this up with Jekyll

2018-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

I thought I would post about the resources that I have had the privilege to refer to, in trying out the static-site generator Jekyll and one of the themes for it, Poole.

Resources

In no particular order,

Lande, J. (2014). ‘How I Created a Beautiful and Minimal Blog Using Jekyll, Github Pages, and poole’. URL: http://joshualande.com/jekyll-github-pages-poole. Accessed URL on 4th Oct 2018.
Resi. (2016). ‘Jekyll and tilde.town’. In tilde.town (Issue 2), pp. 5 to 9. URL: https://github.com/tildetown/zine/blob/master/issue_2/zine.pdf. Accessed URL on 4th OCt 2018.
Moore, P. (2014). ‘Clearing Up Confusion Around baseurl – Again’. URL: https://byparker.com/blog/2014/clearing-up-confusion-around-baseurl/. Accessed URL on 4th Oct 2018.

A new way? nineteenth of March 2018: Night

2018-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

When did it become an assumption that I have to have a password on the Internet or even my desktop-computer? I was inspired to think if something has gone wrong, in the design of Internet-and-computer technologies, when I realised that an engineering problem - how to display certain information on a web-site - could possibly be solved by letting users run commands on the server (as opposed as viewing data on a client) Passwords, levels of privilege, ‘admininistrator-rights’ - don’t all these scream ‘I don’t trust you. I don’t trust others’ Now is that what I want in my life, I ask. Do I want to indirectly say ‘I don’t trust others’ every time I use a technology. Or do I want to spend time building (trust in) relationships that arguably are made and broken by (mutual) trust. Does using technology necessarily mean that I have to give up on trust and/or trust-building. Is it possible we could find a new way to use technology so that we find the satisfaction (and intimacy) that comes from a rewarding relationship with a something. A god. A business-partner. So on and so forth.

fifteenth of March 2018: Sunny

2018-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

10th November 2016: Rainy

2016-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

I’m suffering. They are suffering.

How to put an end to suffering? For myself.

Others can try out my methods if they want.

And of course they have to find out their own way.

Kodo Suzuki Roshi said that adults have to become like children, and children have to become like adults, for children to grow. Apparently, he said that.

If I were a foster parent of all these lovable children in the world, my impending death is something I have to deal with. Preparations have to be made for other people to help all these children grow, so that my death will not stop their growth.

Yes, as Jobs said, death means having to tell your children what you thought you would have the rest of your life so tell.

THere is a temple called Antaiji in Japan. The people there practice zazen that is good for nothing.

There is a person who is helping people to find a suitable livelihood. She also practises Zen. Her book is a work-in-progress. It is predicted to be published in Fall 2017. Her name is Maia Duerr.

There are people who teach Zen in Singapore. Their names are Vivienne and Boey Wah Keong.

They will do what I amy not have the time to do. At least, they can do what I may run out of time to do.

Zazen is good for nothing. It is the way to liberate-save suffering people-human. Suzuki Roshi said that.