Tag: Facebook

Rain and rhythm

Chewing gum jingle, and it seems to work:  “looking for a brand new start”.

Each day, we woke up to a start. Just like that first day out of our mother’s womb. Not knowing what to expect.

Not knowing who to trust.

Not knowing the future.

Will it rain today? Or same ole sticky heat?

Rain and tears or just tears?

Pain as part of life. No pain no gain, no growth.

People who insulate themselves from challenges and changes will never grow.

They chew the gum over and over.

Same predictable rhythm. Power-saving mode. Auto-pilot.

But no excitement. No surprises. No set back and no break through.

Organization tends to work itself from chaos into predictability, the path of least resistance. The maintenance mode. High maintenance since the beast needs to be fed.

Hence huge bureaucracy.

Yet today’s market asks for agility, flexibility and formless boundaries. Be water.

Shaped according its container.

10,000 hours of  repetition to become a master.

Fear that dedication and determination.

Don’t stop at black belt, or even red belt.

Overcome your own self. That inner resistance, that self-sabotaging tendency:

I don’t deserve happiness, I don’t deserve that espresso, that sweet cake.

Somehow, it’s always someone else’s but not ours.

Yet our Maker has a different script for us.

You can’t drop out of the margins that He has set, no matter how hard you tried. Rebelliousness or religiousness.

It’s indifference that is hard to cure.

So be bad  to the bones. Be good to the bones. Our world needs leaders who are decisive and determined.

Not wishy-washy type. Not opinionated type. Not losers’ type.

I respect people who tried and failed. I despise people who failed to try.

Rain got its rhythm, even when mixed with tears. Tears heal all wounds, from trying really hard. Not indecision and inactivity.

My Saigon

Like Trinh Cong Son‘s Diem Xua, I got my own imprints of what  Saigon was like.

Especially on Sundays, like today.

Shaded streets, short strolls and sweet smiles.

Who needs all the executive shirt with designers’ emblem on it.

Instead of shirt, just smile even when you are not on camera. “Cuoi len di em oi” Just smile.

Le Sourire.

Flowers for the graves, flowers for the grade school teachers.

Lots of laughters, lots of tears “Ta chi can mot nguoi cung voi ta doi chet moi ngay”

Just a person to pass the time with while awaiting death inevitable.

Hence, Saigonese put on their best.

Last night, at a friend’s private birthday party, I sat outside on the balcony, looking into the glass door, taking in the scene, as if it were a movie set. Was I there, or just watching myself being there?

Am I in or in but not of it?

They say you can take a Texan out of Texas, but you cannot take Texas out of a Texan.

Perhaps the same holds true for Saigonese like myself .

Something about the French cafe, the Vespa, the Chinese noodle, and now, the KFC.

Saigon is a synthesis.

We “cao dai (unitarian) every strand of thoughts and expressions.

No one knows or is let in to our core. Double protection.

Suspicious of foreigners yet embrace them all.

Like on LinkedIN.

Like on Facebook.

Like on Twitter.

Just smile.

Le sourire.

Lots of laughter and lots of tears.

Just one life time.

But in mine, I have seen Saigon live multiple lives.Try every dish, every taste: bitter cucumber or  pickled lemon.

We take everything and leave out nothing.

During my entire life interacting and learning about Saigon , I have yet seen Saigon lose out.

It blends and synthesizes everything.

To the point where you could only recognize it by its smile.

Then the younger generation takes over.

You see the resemblance but can’t put a finger on it.

Turns out it’s that smile underneath the facade.

They smile when they are happy and when they are sad (see Understanding Vietnam).

Saigon’s smile is more of a reaction than an expression. “You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows”.

My Saigon. Cuoi len di em oi, du nuoc mat rot chet vanh moi. Smiling while swallowing tears.

Twitter and Twister

The later brought destruction to the Mid_West, but its impact is immediate, albeit regional.

The former more dangerous, simmering and long-tailed.

140 characters are more than enough to assassinate a character, his/her reputation which is built up over a life time.

Be careful.

Social malaise not social media in the wrong hands.

Not enough post, people don’t recognize your brand.

Too much, they are bored and become anesthetized.

We are living in parallel worlds: Twitter‘s and Twister‘s.

Digital and analog.

Both are real, as real as what’s floating and flowing through our heads.

With Twitter, we can edit, and control.

We leave our marks in the world.

140 characters at a time.

( I am at an internet cafe near Tan Son Nhut Airport. A baguette vendor just walked by to take order. Talking about digital and analog!).

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have become part of our digital life. The trinity came on the scene only half a decade ago.

During that time, we have had the housing crisis, and its reverberation.

Nature shed its blood, shakes its fist and shred some fat.

Survival of the fittest (MySpace, Kodak).

I must give it to Levis. During and after the Gold Rush, the unintended consequence was Levis jeans.

Winners and losers, but Levis always wins.

Now, gold diggers and gold traders are wearing them to.

We play the game of Island survival to exercise “forced choices”. Jeans always is a must-pack.

In five years, Facebook and Twitter will still be here.

Twister will come and go.

Still, be careful of both.

Its impact might be long-lasting. More than any of us is now realizing.

Just ask the scribes. They had no idea what they were doing when copying the Bible and later, print them.

A well-placed thought and well-said line becomes a saving line for someone in need and in search of truth, on or off-line. But ill-thought and ungraceful comments stay digitally and eternally.

Unbundled incense

In his year-end Opinion, David Brooks of the NYTimes recited a story about people in Louisiana who had lighted a candle for neighbor’s graves.

This year-end here in Vietnam, I saw just that and more…incense, flowers and fruit.

People are either already home or on the way. They cook, clean and cater to many needs, among them, lighting neighbor’s graves.

A girl still in helmet, with parked scooter by her side, spent a silent moment praying, Then she would visit nearby lots, perhaps people she used to know from her village church.

In life and in death. You are not forgotten. A form of social immortality.

I read about a sinking commercial cruise, with captain and his crew escaped first to safety.

Would you want to ever step on one of those “luxury” cruises?

Living in style, dying solo.

I tried to nap today when neighbor knocked on my door to see if I were OK

(perhaps he was “xin” – beer + heat exhaustion). Then the Lion dance team went around the entire block reminding us this is their year, the year of the Dragon.

Flower Festival proudly displays mighty Dragon in all shapes and sizes, Vietnam’s version of Rose Parade.

Young girls pose for photo-ops, maybe later seen on Facebook or scrap-book.

The Earth seems to rumble.

People chat up with “natives”, knowing that whoever is left in Saigon, is from there (as opposed to workers, students and relatives who have gone home to their respective villages in the countryside).

City folks or country folks, everyone is gearing up to give and receive.

The gift baskets, the flower bouquets and the sticky “banh chung” (rice cake) have been delivered. Water melon (whose inside is red, signifying good luck), blossomed Hoa Mai and kumquat trees are on firesales.

Vietnamese talk about “khong khi Tet” – the taste, texture and ambience of Tet.

A sense of utter confidence that Heaven and Earth are in alignment and agreement to bless the pure of heart.

I can’t find no further evidence than someone who stood silently at an isolated grave, then lighted up incense for neighbor’s graves. Candles or incense, US or VN, we all long to live the rest of our lives the best way we know how and periodically to celebrate it the best way we can. Here, this way, is  familiar to most, but somehow, vaguely strange to me. I, however, found one constant: ABBA‘s Happy New Year played over and over to welcome the  Year of the Dragon. Tung Cheng! Tung Cheng! Tung Cheng!

Pre-Karaoke childhood

We always rushed through dinner to claim our living room space, or call it a stage.

Daddy’s mandolin, brother’s violin, and my guitar.

But we never played with one another, being from three different generations.

So “Du Am”, “Em Toi” and “Le Da” in mandolin.

Then “Serenade”, “Guitare D’Amour” either by violin or guitar.

Finally my turn, with the Beatles, Bee Gee or Bad Fingers.

I had never given any thought to the music of earlier generations.

But having lived in the US for most of my adult life, and now returned to the same place, I finally saw the connection:

music has been the invisible (but audible) links between us. Had there been a karaoke machine in the house, we would have fought over the mike.

But given that pre-karaoke era, the best we could do was to race through dinner to get first crack at the music room.

My Dad’s choice painted a vague but very sentimental pictures of North Vietnam where he used to live before the country got partitioned. Then through my brother’s choice, I had a peek at Johnny Holiday, Sylvie Vartan and Elvis Presley.

To me, those were “uncool” music, but I tolerated them.

My “youthful” music, by today’s standard, would be considered “uncool”.

Performers got wireless mikes, and could move about freely.

On YouTube, one can see how “stuck” the 60’s bands were to the confinement of the studio (lighting, cameras and boom mikes).

You can only do so much with dissolve and editing.

The best we could do in our time was those sound distortion accessories, once plugged into an electric guitar, produces solo material as you would hear from Santana.

I thought the world was already “flat” when Santana rules Woodstock (he recently married his drummer – a she).

A Facebook posting of “Le Da” brought all this back. Memories of yesterday, of rush dinners and spontaneous rehearsals, our secret sauce for survival. Now those survival instincts are returning like a long lost friend, whispering ” you don’t need all the gadget to be happy.”

In fact, overly accessorized society has produced more neuroses. Birds and lilies in the field don’t need to be adorned. They are beauties in their own rights. The funny thing about today’s headline in Yahoo, was that of Facebook founder riding a buffalo in Northern Vietnam.

“Ai bao chan trau la kho” (who said riding a buffalo was a chore). High tech needs high touch, the virtual needs the real. The Japanese knew a thing or two about these instinctual needs when inventing virtual pets, or a karaoke machine (without the band). The question is, with all the gadget for education and entertainment, are we learning more and singing better? I wish we (Dad, brother and me) had at least found one song we all loved to jam together. Ask your teenagers, if they would like to hang out with you or their friends?

Vietnam goes “social”

Mark Zuckerberg is here for Christmas vacation.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/science-technology/16933/facebook-s-ceo-visits-vietnam.html

Perhaps he would find a striking difference between the way people celebrate the Holidays here as opposed to Northern California.

In the US, the joke is “if you got tired of the Turkey, you can always order Chinese”. McDonald’ s and KFC‘s are closed.

One culture withdraws to nuclear-family gathering.

The other (VN) pours out to the street, Buddhists and Catholics both.

Someone mentioned that during the celebration of Buddha’s birthday, the Catholics here reciprocated by joining the throng on the streets as well.

Golden Rule.

I learned in cross-cultural classes that the hardest distance to cross is the last few inches (between two people).

Here in VN, in internet cafe,  people log in to connect via social media to friends far away, but are oblivious to the next person.

We have evolved as species who use technology as a hyphen (send me an in-mail, text me, call  me, drop me a line).

Back in the feudal age, people used accessories and ancestry to class-ify people (Bovary – Gastby).

Now we got algorithms doing the match-making and recommending.

“4 friends in common”, so?.

The Web speculates that Mark is here to “push” Facebook in this untapped market.

True or not, he would find plenty of food stalls to choose from, instead of  Chinese take- out on this very day.

I can’t explain the loneliness single people experience in the States, especially up North (like Maine or Massachusetts).

In fact, America (the band) did try to capture this in “this is for all the single people, thinking that life has passed them by”.

Here, besides having food stalls open at any time, people celebrate Christmas wholeheartedly and wholesomely.

I got back from visiting my cousin on the outskirts of Saigon. The bus began to pull into the station, but the Christmas music was so good that  I  wanted to listen till the end of Sad Hymn… while outside the temperature would put Arizona’s and Austin’s high heat to shame.

People here survived many wars (my cousin’s husband was declared missing-in-action for more than 36 years). But life moves on as shown in her ensemble of  children, grandchildren etc… And yes, people love music, their secret sauce in patience in suffering.

The end of the bus line, normally sweaty and unpleasant, became bearable because of pipe-in music.

Steve McQueen the King of Cool, often portrayed Prison break rebels. The moment he was put back into solitary confinement, his prison mates would toss him a baseball glove and a ball. There, in the dark, he would throw the ball, creating rhythm and routine. Survivors know what it takes to pass the time. That same 24 hours could be an eternity to those who don’t know how, or a brief blip from eternity’s perspective.  Let the clock tick toward year-end. Vietnamese already went out and bought their 2012 calendars.

Now, this came from a people who fought Dien Bien Phu manually, and their “American War” with low tech. Now, social media want to make a splash here. Let the game begin. See who is more connected and how enriching the experience will be for a country bent on education. Facebook might sell, but I doubt that frozen turkeys will even for Christmas (my friend called last night at 3AM thinking I was still up to join him at a noddle stall). Go figure! Merry Christmas Mark. Make sure you post relevant and engaging “Like” about Vietnam.

Customarily Bad Luck

It’s known urban legend here in Vietnam that you do not take a photo with three people. Someone will need to stand in to defy the odds (of bad luck).

It is also bad luck that a person in the photo but was cut out.

I once saw a family picture which had a missing member. Apparently two sisters were either in love or married to the same man. So out of madness and jealousy, one cut out the other’s image from that photo.

Some ancient cultures refused to have their photos taken, for fear that their souls would be captured.

Imprints of expressions.

Frozen moment in time.

Together then separated.

I still remember one elementary classmate whom I later met in Santa Ana.

He must be the oldest friend of my early memory.

Very special indeed.

His face, his smile and his wagging ears.

Another friend who is now dying, also has an unmistakable square jaw.

Later he went on to play “pro” Rock and Roll (wearing a wig).

Another friend/neighbor with pony tail, still playing 8 shows a week.

I just got back from hearing him. His closing number was requested .

“When mama died, Pappa broke out and cried”

A person is nothing but the sum of his memories.

Conversely, a person with complete dementia is just a walking zombie.

Images and music carry us back in time.

Christopher Reeves used to star in “Somewhere in time“, a very soulful and un-American type of movie, which was quite unlike “Back to the Future“, although both centered on time traveling theme.

Last week, I ran into a childhood friend once again.

After the brief chat, I walked away, still couldn’t shake off  the way I had remembered him: the 7th or 8th grade friend I strummed the guitar with (Something in the way, she moves….).

Soon, we will be able to upload our entire history with Facebook‘s Timeline.

The “me” will be among the “we” as we progress through time.

Sharing intimate moments, leaving them in the “cloud”  till infinity.

An insurance against flood and fire, dementia and destruction.

This Christmas will be one of the most memorable ones for me: I get to share it with a cousin whose husband has been missing in action for more than 36 years.  It took her a long time to place his picture on the family altar (reserved for the dead).  When or if we are having our souvenir photo taken, I probably will ask someone to stand in the photo. You see, we could not discount her husband, whose photo is now sitting on the altar, to belong there or not.

Puzzling indeed, and heartbroken in fact.

Something to learn

IT workshops and seminars are happening on a weekly basis here in Saigon.

Monsoon season is almost over. Except for some cigarette vendors, the Sheraton  downtown could trick you into thinking you were somewhere else, like San Francisco.  Lunch was ready for a group of  CSO‘s and Software testers, uniformed attendants mingled with pony-tailed guests.

Something in the way he moves (my friend, that is).

This was his second time organizing software testing conference.

Forever curious, always testing, probing, “jazzing” his way in hope of “bumping” into the unexpected.

How do you debug something you have never used?

Put it through imaginary scenarios.

Use the parameters and practices.

Niche on top of niche.

That’s how one thrives in a “me-too” market (for instance, India now considers to open its retail market to MNC’s). Another “me-too” market with logo, look and label.

India will be the most populous country on Earth in the next century.

Watch out, retailers.

Follow the money.

Something to learn.

The IT talent pool there are unquestionably top-rated.

The question is, who is going to be number 2?

When India itself looks to outsource some lower-value activities so its engineers could focus on McKinsey‘s level, where would it place its chips?

Malaysia seems to “get” this as shown in its laser-focused software parks and tight coordination between academia and corporate entities.

Thailand has realized that more could turn out to be less.

Back to Korea, back to Singapore and Taiwan.

Expensive? Yes.

Quality? Also a Yes.

You get what you  pay for.

Something can’t be manufactured overnight like curiosity, creativity and connectivity.

I read somewhere that the British Intelligence Service made a job offer for who ever could hack into its  system.

Again, why not use the talent that is out there.

In our digital age, anywhere-anytime connectivity opens up tons of opportunities for both the good and the bad.

Never a boring moment.

7 Billion  people in motion.

Key board got tapped.

Cursors blinking and moving, one word at a time.

Thoughts are formed and sentences completed.

New age, new idea.

Something to learn, to test and to share.

Facebook promised to “blow us out of the water” when it unveils the new Facebook. I hope someone inside Facebook did a study on the New Coke.

It’s a historic brand mismanagement.

But then, because of New Coke, we now got Classic Coke.

Coca Cola still rules. Something to learn from. And that is, brand endures even when challenged. When it comes to people, it’s character and not charisma. No wonder companies like SouthWest Airlines just kept growing , methodically and efficiently year after year (per Collins). It would not be far-fetched to say the 10,000 hours that are required for an individual to acquire a new skill set, is also applied to companies as well. Something to learn and learn well, time after time, day in and out to develop second nature.

Art expressions in most unlikely places

You would have never thought of running into people ballroom-dancing in the park. But here in GoVap new park, where the young trees are still being nursed, and the lights barely lit up, people came out and did just that. Young and old, male and female, they came out when the heat started to ease. Reminds me of a line in Saturday in the Park, by Chicago (people dancing, people talking, a man selling ice-cream).

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said 42,000 people still died from unexploded land mines (see Huffington Post).

Perhaps the late Princess Diana would have grieved in her grave.

That’s amount to a lot of dancing feet, had they remained above ground.

Someone was practicing the violin tonight . Last night, I heard a flute (which reminded me of my daughter). It’s soon be time for me to pick up the guitar again.

Survival instruments.

When it’s hot, crowded and polluted, you just don’t go out and buy Friedman’s book.  You learn how to cope with realities.

Young students got used to taking the bus. It saves time and money, although in this culture, or even in the US, when you wait for the bus, you are either homeless or down-and-out on your luck.

Public transit somehow was played down by the likes of Ford and GM, when gas was still cheap and the streets spare of traffic.

Those dynamics have now changed, especially here in Asia.

People had resisted the helmet law for a while, until they became convinced by the saved lives. Brad Pit and Angelina Jolie were here to adopt their Vietnamese child.

They had ridden the streets of Ho Chi Minh City right before the law took effect.

The last of the Mohicans.

f it weren’t for the computers, we would see more youth troubles on the street. As it turns out, they are sitting right next to me, and behind me.

I am staying out of trouble too, even at my age.

Social media, blogging, and gaming.

Some companies (French ones) went ahead and forbade employees from using email. They prefer instant messaging for quick results.

Facebook was prescient on this, when its CEO announced the death of email as we knew it.

Young people communicate instantly without format and formality.

Just a quick question.

Here is a quick answer.

Boom!

Hurry up and get to the park, where people are talking, people are dancing, a man selling ice-cream.

Any day in the park.

A platform, a boombox, a partner and there we go.

One and two, one and two.

Dancing under the stars.

The good Lord rains on the field of both the good and the evil.

He gave each a longing for beauty that transcends place, politics and power of the purse.

Who says poor people are boring? I think the opposite is true.

Modernity and memory

A “xe om” (scooter taxi) guy mentioned a city (Lai Thieu?) where one can find all the abandoned carriages (horse or cow).

Hearing that, I flashed back to those early days when I accompanied my grandmother on her monthly trip to receive pension.

We took a bus, and Lambretta . I always got treated to a good lunch, a special bonding. It made me feel needed albeit just a kid.

At Ben Thanh Central Market, we could still find horse carriages leisurely move about in sparse traffic.

Speaking of the here and now. Vietnam finished some “white elephant” projects recently (Can Tho Bridge, Thu Thiem underwater bridge, Da nang Dragon bridge).

For those people whose livelihood depended on ferrying passengers, modern bridges spelled the end of their earnings.

When Henry Ford tied together two motorbikes to make a four-wheeler, horse carriage operators assumed that his invention would fail (too much smoke and noise, a disruption and distraction).

Yet we all know what has happened since.

A whole industry went down the tube: saddle makers, horse shoes, horse breeding and carriage builders.

In fact, in England, taxis still keep the old sitting arrangement (where two rows of passengers facing each other).

Nostalgia.

Lost cause and lost era.

Many residents of Thu Thiem perhaps feel elated but also puzzled by this change.

People stopped in the middle of the tunnel to take souvenir photos???

Modern memory.

We leave behind our digital fingerprints and carbon footprints.

Future archivists will excavate and learn about our “elementary” approaches to using the Web.

Our kids will look back to find our social graphs quite rudimentary.

What do you mean you only post a class picture on Facebook?

Video chat that can only see your face under poor lighting condition?

Families living across the continent can’t get together over Thanksgiving dinner online?

(MCI commercial was about just that, back in 1993).

Modernity, by definition, never stops reinventing itself.

I will never find horse carriages in the city, but out in the country, cities like Da Lat , tourists can still ride a horse carriage as they do with cyclo today in District 1. Modernity or memory? I miss my grandma already despite the age gap and generational gap.