Tag: Australia

On “Fraction of a Whole”

We are not invited into this dysfunctional family of three generations, all 750 pages of it.

Crime fiction, social commentary and extremely hilarious saga.

I stayed up late last night for its racing conclusion.

A year and a half ago, I read Freedom by Franzen. As engrossing as Fraction of a Whole.

This family questioned everything, but centrally, they wrestle with Death inevitable (committing suicide is to take the wind out of “natural” death’s sail).

From cover to cover, we learn to think and reason like Martin, Terry and Jasper Dean (Father, Uncle and Son), given ample details for contextual understanding. On the way, we learn to like the women in their lives as well. The settings took us from Europe to Australia, to Thailand and back.

I know a few Aussies. But this book took me deep in the woods, where to warn his family of imminent danger, Jasper had to resort to telephathy.

Terry Dean later resurfaced as huge as could be. With the locals taking the law into their own hands (machetes etc…), it reminded me of a scene from Apocalypse Now “horror, horror”.

It’s Jasper Dean who played memory keeper. He had his own set of problems: trying to find as much as possible about his deceased Parisienne mom.

This book  raises an important question: are we 100 per cent ourselves? How about our neighbors? Perhaps we all try to blend in, interacting with the lowest  common denominators (in the age of carefully crafted image on social network). If so, then, let’s turn the page and hear Martin Dean’s speech on the night his grand idea got implemented (making the population of Australia all millionaires).  Even fools sometimes got a point. And for someone whose debut got a finalist vote on Man Booker‘s prize, this is as good a read as can be. For me, it’s a rare treat,to follow the Deans in Vietnamese version. Fraction of a Whole. And that “whole” will soon be 9 Billion souls by 2050.

Each with a story to tell. In Deans’ case, a fraction turned out to be quite a hand full.

The You

It’s like Who is on First, or the Who.

It’s you who is the Who.

You need to get the bugs out to uncover the better version of yourself.

Everything up to this point is payload: family advices (ill or good-will), the institutions (and college loan) and work places.

Some of us found out the hard way: friends at work are not friends, and friends off work cannot work together.

We cater to popular taste (Aviator sunglasses, and soon Google glasses) or the opposite (I dare you wear those tie-dyed 60’s T-shirts).

I am half way through Fraction of the Whole. The Australian writer charges out of the gate with a daring debut, hilarious and deeply philosophical.

Australian fascination with Ed Nelly. But he raises a great point: how can you stay the YOU, when pressure for conformity (credit card approval within 60 seconds, Macy cards etc…) from all directions mold you into a WE (a number).

I realise a striking parallel: in Vietnam, they ask you to buy a lottery ticket every time you sit down (and be a target). In the US, they ask you to open a credit card account every time you step up to a cash register.

Baby boomers had one thing right: they question the system to which they belong. The minute we turned off our brains, we might as well be dead.

We are where we are today because many men and women before us questioned the status quo (yes, wireless can travel the distance and through walls).

Yes, Voice can be delivered over IP. Yes, video as well.

Yes, yes, yes. Don’t tell me No,no,no.

I don’t want to be the YOU. I am the ME. With strength and weakness, with burden to bear, and blessings to bestow (you too).

Please stay the YOU, the better version of YOU. You will see. When everyone does that, we have a better world, if not more interesting.

Humble dreams

Here at UVT, students wear chef uniforms to school.

Dressed up for the part.

They are to finish their last leg in Hospitality and Tourism at one of the Australian Universities.

Humble dreams, yet tangible outcomes.

I respect young people who knew what they want to be when they grow up/old.

At their age, my family and society at large were pushing for doctors, dentists and designers (architects).

Now, everyone is aware of new trends and options.

Pathways to success. Gateways to employment and empowerment.

Dining and touring experience.

The new economy. Nouveau riches.

Chinese shoppers in New York, Milan and Paris.

Shop til they drop. Maybe one day, these shoppers will stop by and be served by our graduates.

A cappucino here, an expresso there. Ring the register.

Count your money, and take it to the bank.

Forget not your humble origins. Forget not time spent here at UVT, conjugating and even copulating.

We turn Vietnamese boys into English-speaking men.

We help turn students into culinary stars.

Don’t doctors, dentists and designers need to eat and travel?

Well, maybe my parents and their friends were too particular and restricted in their choices.

Maybe they stumbled upon the trail of success in their time, but times has changed.

We are better informed and more practical.

We put our money where our mouth is. We eat, love and pray.

Someone needs to be in the kitchen. It’s hot in there. And the training hours are long. They need to log in enough hours to graduate. And while in uniforms, they are reminded of who they will become. A far cry from their humble origins.

Stress and songs

The audience sang along, occasionally to the shared mike.

We will we will rock you.

Tonight gonna be a good good night.

Even Top of the World which was a relic from the 70’s.

A night at Acoustic, Saigon.

A night to release the stress.

A night to see Rock rules in a whole new generation.

The warm-up band was from Australia. “Don’t cry, don’t cry”…

Then the Filipino band who without fail stepped on the stool to elevate themselves (Britney, Gaga numbers).

Last but not least was the House band, mainstay.

I will always love you….

Wonderful tonight (in Vietnamese, can you believe, with ” I give her the car key“, not scooter’s).

We had joy, we had fun last night.

Wholesome and healthy. My young sidekick did not even touch a beer.

He ordered milk.

Young people are health-conscious, environmentally aware (can you put out the cigarette?).

No problem.

So we together decompressed, sang along, shouted along. Soared throat.

Soaring spirit.

That’s what it’s all about.

Partying.

Live a little.

Then come back to work harder.

To get more stress and strain.

I am ready.

Try me.

Hit me.

One more time.

One more song.

One more day in Saigon.

Full of stress, but then, if you know where to look, full of strength.

Strength in unexpected places, in a corner there at the end of the alley.

At Acoustic.

Memory of a flood

I jumped on the divan and sat in the middle of it, as far away from the rising water as possible. For a  3 year-old, the sight of water everywhere must be frightening. Water like what was brought in yesterday by the storm. Saigon was hit direct.

Trees toppled and treasure lost.

The French architect planned this Indochine admin city for less than 100,000. Now it caters to 10 million. Tu Xuong, Hoang Van Thu and Ky Hoa, all saw huge oaks fallen.

These oaks were like heroes of a thousand faces, stood firm to witness the changing of the guards.

I listened to the radio back in 1963. General after general making great claims just to be toppled by another.

Boom, bang.

The city was flooded not with  water, but waves of army men and women. Some from Australia, others Korea. What did they have to gain – showing off their Martial Art and weaponry ?

To lose?

Amerasian children later immigrated to the States.

They were accepted by neither society.

This land is our land, from California to the New York Island.

From sea to shiny sea. America America….?

Can’t even take care of your own, however illegitimate.

Don’t blame it on the controversial war.

When the GI had sex, he was just American as Apple Pie.

When Agent Orange was sprayed, the toxicity was traced back to DOW.

Just as American consumers are blaming Made-in-China dry-wall products.

Have you ever heard of RFID? We got the technology to scan, to search, to ID.

Come on!

Be brave. Clean it up and move on.

Just as people are doing all over this city now. Solve the big problem by divvying it up into smaller pieces. Make for good firewood.

The water is now receding. Life is back to normal i.e. noise, pollution and traffic jam. Yet people are happy to pack away their ponchos. Soldiers during war also packed away their ponchos. I saw them retreat (7th fleet). I saw people toss bags of  currency that were no longer of any value. I saw tears in the rain. Rain like yesterday once more. Rain like when I was growing up. Jumping right into the middle of the divan, hoping to stay clear of the rising water.

Memory of a flood, of rain, of tears and of separation.

Of loss and of despair. Water recedes, rain stops fallen, but tears still flow. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be pain. I know, I know, no pain no gain. But pain of your own choosing is different from imposed pain.

Ask the GI’s who fathered those Amerasians. They would rather forget than be reminded. Yet their Amerasian children are growing up, hopefully married and raising a family of their own. Their grandchildren will surely ask? Why do I look like this?

What event brought my parent here? Who and what did grandpa say if anything when met? How would he react? Shameful? Regretful? Forgetful? Memory of a flood. Memory of a war. Biological memory of humanity in the balance. 

1+1=3

Organizations go through many life cycles before winding down, or absorbed in a M&A.

Here in Vietnam, fluidity is the word that describes the dynamics of organization.

Like organism that evolves with its environment, organization here often bends and changes beyond recognition.

We know the solution is embedded in the problem.

Yet we need to affect change slowly.

Harmony is key.

Disruptive behavior is not encouraged.

Yet to grow, organization has to build disruption into its timeline.

As long as 1+1=3

Synergy.

Organizational change is a microcosm of a larger trend, similar to the rise of  BRICS.

The South-South axis will influence emerging nations much more than North-South Imperialistic past (as of this edit, there is a book out entitled “The End of Power”, in which the author argues that power is more fleeting and transient than ever before).

For instance, students from Vietnam are offered choices to study in Australia, Singapore and US.

Yet for financial reasons, they cannot pick US, their premier destination.

With option A, they come back only know Australia as the outside world.

Yet Australia takes its cue from the UK and North America.

Hence, two-step flow of cultural change.

This trickle-down effect is accelerated by the internet and network effect.

Voila! We got a borderless world, whether we like it or not.

Open U and Open Door.

All we need now is open mind, to welcome change.

Young mind will take in anything.

Just build, and they will come.

Be courageous, and be flexible.

1+1 might equal 4 here in Vietnam.

Middle-Income Trap

The phenomenon known as Middle-Income Trap is alive and well in SouthEast Asia.

Not all boats rise with the water. Contentment sets in and gets in the way of progress.

Countries like the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia are  in this trap.

From a global perspective, they could do better if getting over the hump. Yet people are caught  with false sense of security (just a little bit over the Survival phase). No challenge, no progress.

Entrepreneurs, innovation and R&D? That’s a luxury one cannot afford here.

I went pass a Malaysian Educational Center here in HCMC. Apparently to get to Malaysia nowadays is already a step-up (then Singapore, Australia and/or US).

Vietnam needs to leapfrog to be in the forefront of science and technology, commerce and communication. FDI and Tourist dollars unfortunately landed mostly on infrastructure investment more than talent investment.

Its young people will need more than a dose of legislation. They need role models, encouragement and financial supports (to truly master English for Commerce and not just to pass a required placement test).

Encourage Life-Time-Learning.

Life-Time-Learning leads to Life-Time-Fulfillment. Middle-Income will be de facto results.

My hope and wish is for college students to master life’s skills, and to see the big picture, that of being a global citizen, where Many-to-Many is the new model and Pull, not Push, prevails.

Traffic turns attraction

Crunch time in Ho chi Minh City. A nuisance for many yet a photo-op for tourists.

Millions in ponchos, helmets, dust masks, sunglasses fighting for every inch (centimeter here) to get  home in the pouring rain, while tourists leisurely strolled the colonial side walks in shorts, sandals and Sony cameras trying to record their trips. Who is looking at whom?

These skinny people all wrapped up to protect their skin?

Or these fat people are not afraid of getting sun-burn?

Three years ago, I switched role by playing expat in Hanoi, studying among other expats

from US, UK, Canada, Australia and Ireland. I got a glimpse of how the natives were viewed, perceived and more often than not, judged: English school across from a dog-meat stance, ballroom-dancing in the park and to top it all, a 60’s Berkeley-style stripper family on the streets begging for money to cover health care costs (per recent Yahoo news).

One of our lessons for teachers of English as a foreign language that morning happened to be “soliciting money online from friends to cover shopping debt”.

It struck me that the Western girl in the lesson and the lady out there on the street were doing the same, one with wireless, the other voiceless.

Three years have passed since that morning.

A lot of bank bail outs are now behind us.

Bank buildings got renamed, CEO’s booted.

During the upturn,  people drink and smoke their lives away.

During the downturn, people drink and smoke their lives away even faster.

Always a vicious cycle, a race to the bottom. Vietnam spends 38% of its income on food, Mexico 23%, France 13% while the US a mere 7% (subsidized infrastructure).

I found myself in sudden tears at lunch. This was after I had heard that a friend with cancer would have only six months to live.

What would I do in his shoes?

Dzo (down) the Ken (Heineken)? Visit Yellow Stone Park? Eiffel tower?

My grandmother’s grave? (we’ll meet again soon anyway).

What would you do?

Fighting for another inch in traffic?

Every moment is precious especially towards the end .

“There is a pause in between life and death,” said my friend.

I saw it once with the burning monk. The rising flame was both his baptism by fire and his cremation.

To enter that next ring of eternity, he must and did leave all things behind.

To dance to another drummer’s beat.

After two weeks in country, I have learned to cross the streets without the usual reflex which I found counter-productive. And I definitely resist any impulse to take pictures, because someone else’s stress was not going to be my sensation. Not just Vegas, but also Vietnam, where what happened here, stays here. Traffic is to me, a distraction not attraction.

Camel, container and call center

Each represents a distribution venue in various era.

Now, the man behind “As Seen On TV” wants to do away with call center altogether.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/business/media/30adco.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&hpw=&adxnnlx=1309474819-WalLu/L4Q4AdzzCWZqpw4g

Essentially, he just keeps the container, while relying on the “cloud” and the credit card

to elicit impulse buying.

Welcome to the future, where pundits who blamed off-shored call centers for taking jobs away from Americans all of a sudden gone quiet (can’t blame the blinking lights in co-lo centers which might be residing in one of the trailers’ parks in North Dakota or Wyoming).

I had my experience of “impulse buying” when I called the 800 number to place orders for Time-Life Music of the 70’s (Singers and Songwriters set – ‘you have to call it now, to get the bonus CD‘ etc..). I ended up giving out my credit card numbers to an order taker

who I knew full well was working the night shift, and did not grow up listening to those music.

In a few short years, I won’t even have the privy of talking to a live person at all.

They will just keep the container to ship tangible goods, and have me download the rest (SaaS).

Clean tech, clean transaction. Direct response. No intermediary.

Ford ushered in the model T’s, all in black. This displaced the horse carriage. Now Hyundai overtakes Ford (just behind GM, VW, Toyota and Nissan).

Camel was the thing of the past (Silk Road).

I saw the picture of that bridge just opened in China.

That should facilitate a lot of containers, rushing to the port (for export).

What we used to think of as “long-term solution”, now happens to be middle-term at best, and short-term at worst. Technology with its high velocity compresses our concept of time. But, if anything still holds true, it’s our human nature (social animal) and 24-hr day.

We still are going to buy from people, trust friend’s recommendations and optimize time/value trade-off.

Hence, in taking disintermediation to the extreme, companies end up trading customer satisfaction for operational efficiency. Pushing it, they end up killing the golden goose (conversely, happy customers turn evangelists, the end result of exceptional customer service). It’s what getting the customers to come back and bring their friends that count more than a single impulse buy (exercise equipment, as seen on TV).

Customer Life-time Value.

Facebook’s CEO knows this network effect well when he mentioned that in 5 years, social media will morph into something we won’t recognize . In today’s speed, 5 years is a life time ago, when we were “irrationally exuberant” with housing prices and nobody even saw the coming of the Ipads.

On this, I am willing to revise my long-term planning. Let’s say, 2015 is far out enough into the future, when not even Cambodian college students want to work in call centers. They will be too busy counting the US dollars sub-contracting for Chinese supply chain companies whose containers are full of stuff “as seen on TV”.

Use it

Safeway doesn’t feel safe. Desert is now full of people ( from the media to law enforcement).

Last weekend Arizona shooting reminds me of “Under The Banner of Heaven” which revealed the intersect of religious occult and gun culture in the region.

It also highlights young people’s plight to make a name for themselves (in this case, committed a high-profile act of violence). On the contrary, it brought to mind an already high-profile figure trying to go the way of Buddha.

At least, Prince William tried to go rough even just for one night (to draw our attention to the plight of homelessness a year ago).

http://abcnews.go.com/International/prince-william-sleeps-streets/story?id=9401023

Whatever makes you sleepless at night, use it.

In “Unwanted”, a Vietnamese-American dentist-turned-author recounted his plight as a half-breed coming of age in post-war Vietnam. He turned tragedy into triumph (instead of having the raw stuff floating around day in and day out at his dental practice), rejection to acceptance.

We have heard of constructive criticism, tough love etc….

Now we hear about civilized discourse.

Immediately after a crisis, American went shopping, this time, for the same gun (sales went through the roof).

Hello? we each have our own hangup. Use it!

After being dropped cold-turkey into the 76 winter storm at Penn State, and got added into a Journalism class, I was told I would never make it (thanks prof!). Use it!

The closing shot for “the Social Network” (the movie) shows our protagonist press

“Send request” to friend his own girl friend. He built Facebook hoping to sign up just that person.

With all the energy (boosted by Energy Drink), the cheering at Superbowl

(and toilet Bowl), we as a nation have a lot of pent-up passion. Use it.

And for the 15%, mostly men,  the majority of whom in the now over-saturated construction sector, we can use the muscle. We have read about floods in Haiti, Australia, Vietnam, Brazil … which need infrastructure rebuilding. Can we put 2 and 2 together: we buy your stuff, but you hire our men.

Use them. Was it just me who see dots unconnected, and people unlinked?. I will turn on the TV to hear what President Obama has to say at the memorial service for the victims. I hope to hear his constructive ideas on how to turn tragedy into triumph, hopelessness into helpfulness. Tragedy? Use it.

Edit 1: The President concluded with “in the child’s eyes” inverse pyramid speech structure. He helped the nation to visualize a possible America, a new American Century, worthy of our children’s expectations. For me, it just seemed like yesterday that I watched the Twin Towers collapse live, on TV. Today they are burying a 9/11 baby. What a waste! Unless we all conspire to “use it”.  At least, we had a precedent in Mothers Against Drunk Driving movement (remember exhibition of  what’s left of a DUI car wreck?) That’s the power of visualization. The transforming power of “use it”.