When one's got a birthday on the 11 November 2011 aka 11.11.11, one can't let the day pass without a bit of a gloat. Let the ego do a bit of a trip after all, a chance like this only happens once in a millennia.

 

The year leading up to today exactly 12 months ago started ceremoniously here in Melbourne after an ordeal of a work stint in Singapore where I suffered greatly under the venomous fangs of characters worthy of the True Blood TV show (the only difference is that these characters don't die that easily but that's another story). I toasted 40 with some friends at Cumulus Restaurant and went onto further celebrations (watching U2 and Sting in concert) in the weeks that followed. Oh and did I mention I met Oprah? Well she was about a hundred feet away but still, same air over Fed Square!

 

Unable to find any work and still stuck in recovery mode, I took the time to heal emotionally through writing and sought out to complete my debut novel Republic Day. As it turned out, this was just one of many highlights that would make 2011 a truly awesome year. So without more waffle, here they are:

 

Republic Day, my debut novel is now soon to see the first round of send-offs in its first proof edition. I had the awesome chance to work with award winning editors the likes of Beau Hillier. Time-permitting, the all-new promo website will be ready soon.

Completed and helped launch the coffee table book project for a photographer friend from Singapore. Arguably the first to dare normalise male nude imagery in puritan Singapore. (More here)

My mornings are not quite the same as my iPhone is usually my alarm clock. It's Day 5 this morning and it appears I'm coping. It helps that your partner gets up about the same time. If not there's my cats to do the rousing in their own funny way. Then there's that need to check the weather. In Melbourne it's pretty much a helpful determinant on what to put on. As expected, no music on the daily commute: uncomfortable. But the worst of all must be to look around and see others reading on their iphones. You never really notice just how many folks are iPhone users until you don't have one yourself. You notice how everyone makes theirs their own, personalising it with their own phone casing. I find myself peering over like a busybody, attempting to spy on the content the other commuters are digging into. Surprisingly, by the time I get through Day 4 I find I'm less annoyed. It might be due to the  fact that I've filled that space with an astonishing book, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby (from which the movie of the same name is based on) and have been blown away by it. Here I was whinging about an accessory I've lost and there he was, paralysed and unable to do anything except the blink of his left eye. His story humbles me.

 

On to Day 5.

 

(Here's the trailer to the movie)

 

The unexpected has happened. Lost my iphone. Technically it's Day 2 of not having it with me and considering that I've never misplaced or lost my phone before (not if count that ONE time where I left my Bang & Olufsen Erikson phone in a taxi in Singapore back in 1992) so I am expecting the withdrawal to get really bad.

Friday night after a lovely evening out with great company, good food and plenty of wine we got home only to realise that it's not with me. When the realisation happens, you do the first instinctive thing: you call yourself and attempt to locate the phone on the 'Find my iPhone' facility. But when you hit straight into voicemail or the locator service fails you know the inevitable has happened: your iPhone's new owner has attempted to make it fully his or her own and got one too many guesses wrong on the passcode, 'wiping' the entire thing. Which is not a bad idea at all considering the kind of sensitive information it holds. Still staggering and drunk I decided to pursue the matter the next morning. After exhausting the 3 possible places where the phone could have been, I made the decision to contact the telco service provider to suspend my phone SIM and "brick" the phone (bricking is when they block the phone entirely using the unique IMEI serial numbers and reducing the gadget's usefulness to that of a paperweight). In the unlikely event that the phone is returned to me, I can always unblock it as its rightful owner. Meanwhile I won't be counting on the honesty of those folks we met on our way home and accept that I will have to pay up the difference left on my contract (14 months) and acquiring a new one (do I hold on until September 2011 for the rumoured release of the iPhone 5?). The iPhone has become such an indispensible part of my day, nay, LIFE that not having it this morning as an alarm clock and watch (I don't wear watches) was the first real rude shock of the day. Let's see how I'm going to cope. Let's hope too, that the new one will come out in a couple of weeks, fingers-crossed, inshallah, etc.

(Below: a shot of the iPhone 5 that some mystery person posted that I found on Google images. The rumour mill says Apple is shipping as many as 15 million pieces "in September". Looks sexy enough and worth the wait methinks. Wouldn't you)

This cemetery in Melbourne will soon unveil a new feature. A columbarium for the dead. After which they will be released. Whichever way you look at it, it seems ill thought. Summon a writer on this ad please, one that is preferably living.

It's now nearly two hours since the power went down and I'm strangely enjoying the quiet that this brings. Sure, I'm anxious about frozen stuff melting in the fridge and I'm hoping it will come on tonight when winter chills seep in through the glass of our top floor apartment. There's a beautiful sense of calm and peace, save for the scurrying of my young cats and their shuffling feet. It might have something about the weakening light of day as evening slowly creeps over. As I type this on my iPhone and make this post wirelessly I feel a weird sense of gratitude. I met a friend for coffee today and learn of her survival from a car crash that although caused injury, spared her life. Mind you, this was the mangled wreck of what's left of a car that was found upside down. Yes, she was indeed very lucky to be alive and in one piece, literally. So if you got some lucky stars to thank, its never too late to look up and smile at them whether and whenever you are. Three hour blackouts included.

It's taking longer now to write my posts now and there's a very good reason for that. I've been gainfully employed (as opposed to ungainfully employed) for over 2 months and happy to say I'm extremely thankful for the role I've been given. Today I write this from the airport as I prepare to fly back to Singapore to attend an important occasion. It has been weeks since the General Elections and Singapore, my birthplace, has been a little different. The Old Guards have stepped down after a watershed turnout in favour of a fresh new way of government. Change is in the air, some have said but I'll be the judge of that. For now the only parts of this country I shall be looking forward to having are my 3 Fs: family, food and friends. In no particular order of course.

On May 7 2011, the countryfolk of my birthplace will go to the polls. If the elections of years past (or even decades, for some of us) was anything to go by, I'd dismiss it all as a showy waste of time and nothing more of a national five year ritual where the ruling stalwart regime would go through the motions (and the people they ruled just the same) to tick the democratic box. It would be the same old speeches, the same old promises and the same old outcomes. In the days that came after the event, life would return to what it was before. So why even bother?

 

But the air is a little different this year. Different enough for hardened skeptics like me, a prodigal citizen living abroad to sit up and take notice.

 

For over a week, my Facebook homepage has been inundated from one post or another, updates upon updates of all the goings-on in Singapore, too numerous to mention. Most came from subscribed political groups, the alternative press and enthusiasts, many that also emerged from friends who felt the need to report on the tide of public opinion from the ground up. I watched as photographs of participants of campaign rallies fill stadiums and open fields to the brim fleck my page. I laughed at videos clipped from big movie blockbusters like Star Wars spoofing real life events and political characters. I teared at speech excerpts and was deeply moved by citizens-turned-writers and commentators through their blogs and their passionate journals and poems. In a dazzling show of creative talent and energy I've seen friends close and far removed baring their souls and speaking their mind. On my computer screen and on my phone, I read, smiled and sighed as my fingers clicked and swiped their way into the dimensions of emotions that streamed from Ground Singapore. I forget the cold autumn winds that blow past me on train station platforms, on board trams or in the cafes of Melbourne. My heart and mind stayed glued to a nation I once called my own, and one that was being transformed with every second, every song and every story before my very eyes.

 

Not so long ago, my own immediate family was a microcosm of the republic. Hopelessly patriarchal, any topic that strayed into politics at the dinner table would turn surely turn ugly. My father, on the side of the regime would end up cursing me as an ingrate ("if you're not happy here then get the hell out!") and my mother would strain to keep the peace, her vote naturally cast in the direction of the place of the least violence. My youngest brother, too little to know or care about whose side to take assumed total apathy and kept silent. My father's stance was clear: while I am in this house, there shall be only one opinion and that opinion is mine. Well fine then dad. Today, in the peace and content of my new life in Melbourne, I look back at how silly those fights had been but how seriously I took my own voice to be worth: I left.

 

Drawing that parallel, how much of Singapore these days was like our dinner table riot from back then? Dad obviously meant well but could only see one way of doing things. I insisted on dialogue and alternative ways while Mum wanted peace and the little one just wanted to know when we'll just get on with it. Like it or not, here we all were, stuck together. We either make this work or we will divide, take your pick. 

 

So here's the crux of it. No more propaganda-agendas and engineered spin from puppet pressmen of the republic. For or against, voices rail and rally, those with the most compelling content receiving the most attention. This is digital democracy at it's most enlightening, so much so that the world's press is calling this year's elections 'votes by viral'. For once it seemed, people are shucking their fear of reprisal and bravely stepping forward and claiming their right to be heard. It is for me, both inspiring and fearful but above all, a feeling so powerful that it can move my soul, a vast distance away. 

 

The question now: will this one be like the elections of years past? I have a sneaking suspicion that maybe this time round we might be expecting a surprise or two. Tomorrow the whole country will go to the polls and put today's thoughts on the future to the test. For the many of us deprived of the opportunity to cast our vote, we'd have no other choice but to watch and wait with baited breath for the results and pray that the future of our brethren will be one where their voices will be heard, not just on Facebook and other internet social network forums but in parliament, on the streets, everywhere on republic land.

(Photo and all copyrights owned by Edwin Koo)

 

It's often said that the creative industry is a reputation industry and this is especially  true if the company you work for is in advertising, graphic design, fashion or interior architecture. It's a harsh reality especially for advertising and design folks where our worth is measured from our "last work" but that might only apply to reputation from an individual level or overall "creative standard" on the collective company creative profile. This is the area that bears the most impact on existing and future clients: the ability to deliver good work on time and on the money. So it goes without saying that this is the part of the firm's reputation that will always be closely guarded.

 

But is there another part? Hell, yes.

 

Oddly enough, this is where many let slip. The inward part of "The Rep", the culture and the attitude towards each and every employee in the team, seem to not get as much attention for some companies. It is the everyday affirmation of a team member's work, or the acknowledgement of the extra few hours put in beyond the call of duty or the compassionate understanding of someone's difficulties. Yes, we're talking about the areas where the human side of the organisation take the reins and shows itself: the part that leads the whole team from one day to the next, or for some, the utter lack of it. The lifeblood of your agency, your people, are now the ones determining the wrap, the REAL wrap on your rep.

 

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting (and working with) some great individuals who've been around the block and have a story or two to share about the places they've been at and suffice to say, I found their stories very interesting. I also found it a relief to have heard from them about this place and that and how, very nearly, I might have ended up working somewhere to my mental and emotional detriment. Whether true or not, one always requires that pinch of salt and why not? For those of us still in the market and looking for that full time role, there is no harm finding out as much about a certain place before committing oneself to spending the average 8 to 10 hours a day with so and so, putting your heart and soul into the work and making sure the bottom-line meets your prospective employer's targets. I say this because a little over a year ago I made the fatal mistake of signing up with an agency before finding out what I could about them.

 

It was truly one of the most horrific times in my career.

 

If I had asked around, I might have heard the warning bells which, as they turned out were loud as air raid sirens. I would have learnt that this agency's reputation was not in the work they produced, but by the sheer number of people that came in and out of its doors. Someone once joked that it was more of a bus depot than a company producing good advertising. I also learnt about the way employees were ill treated with verbal and written abuse by a boss who would not flinch to bully them with threats to sue them for the slightest 'crimes'. I learnt only days into the job how one predecessor was "fired after one month" and the other "walked out on his third day". I saw how production vendors were made to wait almost a year for their dues. The madness and drama was unrelenting. I wondered how this company had any future and how they could keep on existing. I took full advantage of the 24 hour notice on the probation contract and bailed eventually, swearing to do my homework before joining anyone. At least I outlasted the fellows before me. Today, that "agency" has trouble hiring and has their employment ads on perpetual listing and has had to resort to hiring foreigners and fresh graduates and anyone desperate for a job because no one with a functioning brain would sign up for a house of horrors.

 

Here's the thing: people talk. You can't stop them. When enough of people are saying the same thing about you, people add up their findings and make that judgement. And once the good ones stop wanting to work for and with you, you're done for. Forget about the other part of your rep, because short of doing the work yourself, no one's going to buy anything with your name on it. Unless of course you change that name (in which case, someone's going to find out it is still YOU)

 

So imagine what went through my mind after my recent chat. I was THIS CLOSE to repeating history. So my advice to everyone is this: do your homework. It's not hard to add a prospective employer's rep up but do yourself a favour anyway. But it won't be easy if you're in a new town or are starting out. If only there was a website out there, a Wikileaks version for the advertising and design industry, we'd be fortunate. Legal care prevent all intelligent folks from mentioning names for fear of repercussions so your best bet is putting yourself out there and meeting the right folks. You'd be surprised what you can pick up from a social environment. But check before you check in, after all most companies are opting to "try before they buy". In any case, study that contract and make sure the exit sign is well lit, you never know if you need to jump ship.