Tag: New York

Two front teeth

Tom Wolfe in one of his quirky observations mentioned that “New York got knocked out of its two front teeth” (in reference to 9/11).

It was a dark day for all.

Even today, as we remember it.

It jolted us our of our slumber.

Neighbor comforted neighbor. Don Dillon mentioned “the jumpers” in his novel.

I, on the other hand, will never forget Peter Jennings whose death was tied to that event.

We can eulogize, theologize and philosophize to death what actually happened.

But we cannot deny there were all elements of humanity there: hatred and heroism, harmfulness and helpfulness.

From today’s vantage point, we know that revenge exacted and relations strained (mistrust and mishap in the ME).

9/11 was the pinnacle of events. A confluence of technology and terrorism, miscalculation and precision (except for the United 93 flight whose passengers gave their lives to contain the damage).

Yes, two front teeth got knocked out.

But the body still stands.

A bit wobbling, but still on its own feet.

The phoenix shall rise.

And we are all the stronger albeit scarred.

Teeth could be replanted.

But our psyche has yet to heal.

Hence smiling reluctantly, thinking there still were some missing teeth somewhere.

It matures us quickly. All the emotions spent (anger, denial etc..). All that is left is a sense of reluctance, even to start another war. Warring doesn’t bring strategic benefits, even when tactically, it delivers. It’s time to think like a father, a mother, and not tactician or technician i.e. plane to fly on family vacation, and not as weapon, building to shelter from the storm and not tombstone for world memorial. New York, say “cheese”.

Same river twice

This is not about going back to your prom night, or re-entering the job market.

It’s about locality and landscape that have been gentrified and occupied by new comers as time passed. I happened to be by the old neighborhood where I used to live 30 years ago: same Peking Duck restaurant, same Post Office.

Even a bunch of day laborers standing around and trying to keep warm.

My parents however have passed away.

So the scenery and streets evoked warm memories.

What’s new was a French Restaurant which was staffed with recently arrived immigrants (while the speakers played French lessons, naturellement).

The neighborhood has taken on some wrinkles. So have I.

Especially on this first day of March (the worst of winter was now behind), and first day of Sequestration (even the country got some wrinkles).

People refused to break away from winter hibernation and spending spree.

Wish I could turn the clock back, to see myself receive my US citizenship again. That time frame would put me to the time waiting eagerly for my Dad to immigrate and be reunited with us.

That year (1983), I embarked on a long trip, my second one to SEA.  Only years later that I was able to attribute my hidden motivation: atonement. When we had first arrived, we were each man to his own, leaving our Mom behind in the refugee camp. My subsequent trips back to SEA similar camps were for carthasis, a counter-prevailing statement to popular  “habits of the heart”.

No fanfare. Just slipped out and away.

Trying to pay forward.

Among the Best-selling books after Habits of the Heart was, Bowling Alone, the logical next step. People turned inward, each man for himself (Ask  what you can do for yourself).

Conservatism got anointed by televised and telegenic preachers (who later confessed to unfaithfulness and unraveling affairs).

President, Pope and Pop star (j Lennon) all got shot.

Are you talking to me? For I am the only one here! Tony Montana wanted to “go to the top”, starting in Miami (after a brief stop at Indiantown Gap refugee processing center, same place our now scattered families had passed through).

I had blurry memories of the mid-80’s simply because I was concentrating on non-profit work overseas.

When I got back, I seemed to have missed a few beats (Boy George? Cindy Lauper?) and a few friends’ weddings.

So, after three decades, the memory gap is huge. Can’t seem to swim in the same river twice.

I have changed. The place has changed. It’s now colder than I remembered. Perhaps I have turned to be a “tropical species”.

Maybe I should be migrating South to Florida, and joining the “snow birds” .

Maybe a cruise ship, so I don’t need to belong anywhere in particular, or swim in any river per se.

The price of being a global citizen is the loss of one’s local identity.

I will never forget the punch line in Cross-Cultural class: it’s easier to cross the ocean miles away than the neighbor next to you. When I saw the new neighbors in that neighborhood today, the above saying seems to take on new meaning: they did all the ocean-crossing to get here. And to reach out across the aisle seems to be doubly hard, because of rules and signs that say “first comes first served”, “Do not trespass”, or “Do Not Disturb” “Beware of Dogs”. Maybe I should return in the summer, when the community pool is opened to all residents, regardless of color, race and creed. “Swim at your own risks”. Even then, you are lucky to strike a conversation across the lounge chairs. Be quiet! People are reading. Hope they don’t work on “Habits of the Heart” in 2013. Even Tom Wolfe has moved on down to Miami with Back to Blood, away from New York ‘s Bonfire of  the Vanities.

2012 Bookmarking

I used to rely on researchers like the Tofflers (Future Shock) to “see” into the future.

For instance, the pro-sumer trend, the mismatching speeds among various sectors ( IT, Financial, Educational, Governmental…in that order).

Lately, all I came across in Futurism was 2012 prophecy .

Like it or not, this year will have come down as a special year, if not, end of an era.

Let me explain.

We had a bloody closure on a terrible event which Tom Wolfe ably put “New York got knocked out of its two front teeth”. Then, Sandy rinsed through the Big Apple as if to complete this dental procedure.

Up North, we buried school kids died not of their own choices.

In today’s NYT Op-Ed, Father Kevin was quoted as saying “we are God’s presence to extend Mercy incarnate to one another”.

2012 marked a year full of flood and blood.

Dark Night Rises, while  we hardly hear George Harrison‘s Heres Comes the Sun.

I wish I can still rely on the likes of Tofflers to point out where our technological society is heading.

But then, while focusing on I-phone, I-pad and I-pod, we forgot the I-ndividual.

Consumer or Prosumer, the individual loves, laughs and learns.

When the power is out, and the water level keeps rising, people suffer.

Don’t tell me it’s war time (which somehow makes suffering a matter of fate).

It’s peace time. And we can’t handle the truth, still.

The truth is: we are victims of our own progress. We live too long, consume too much and complain far too little (venting does not affect change)

I love technology when it humanizes our society. It carries us to far-away places. But technology makes it too easy for kids to take down kids (compare to No Easy Day – set in Pakistan – Newtown shooting was far too Easy a day).

I know we will soon rid of the keyboard, mouse and monitor. The technology has already been beta-tested. Those are good stuff.

Softwares continue to rule the day.

James Bond already paired up with a much younger whiz, while his boss is nearing retirement. Signs of the time.

What it is ain’t exactly clear.

But if we don’t hear Here Comes the Sun, at least I suggest we click on “It don’t come easy“. Always with a price. Insurance companies are quick to spread the liabilities and costs, but slow to recompense.

Same with everything else. Statement comes due. Rent is up. It don’t come easy. But somehow, being “mercy incarnate” to one another doesn’t come at all. We barely grasp the concept much less putting it into practice. Yet other “right” such as the right to bear arms, has been built-in as second nature. I propose another amendment: next to the right to bear arms is the responsibility to pay for the victims killed by arms.

No Farewell to Arms. Own them, but just realize, like other technologies, everything comes with a price. Why should someone’s kids be your target practice. And why should civilized society be forced to make an U-turn back to Pre-Khan Mongolian era to pamper the rights of a few (9 guns out of every ten Americans). 2012. Something about that number.

Hate it or like it, we still have a few more days before Count Down. Have a “closure” weekend. Remember to plug-in your electronic devices, and while at it, plug yourself in as well. We need to be recharged as much as those things we have created.

On being an influencer

Like it or not, we all are either on the receiving or giving end of Influence.

But few understand what constitute sphere of influence.

A study on the subject, by Cialdini , lists below elements:

– Like (ability). This is self-explanatory. When you like someone or are liked by someone, nothing can go wrong.

This explains the “a priori” principle: we read into a situation or person due to our early imprints (trust that face that resembles mother’s – Oil Olay commercial uses “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face ” to resonate and resurrect that trust). Charismatic personalities, cinematic and telegenic figures all got our vote of confidence (Kennedy-Reagan).

– Social proof. The majority get to decide and have the final say (free election, trial by jury). We took this at face value (in experiment, a decoy looked up to a highrise. After a while, a huge crowd gathered to look up to the sky as well.) Conformity principle is a sub-set of this: pagelink, youtube, McDonald (billions burgers served).

– Consistency. We need that congruence between past choices and new ones. That way, we can live with ourselves.

e.g. membership fees and bulk buying (Costco and other Reward cards). Ultimate antidote to “buyer’s  remorse” (Zappos free-shipping for returned merchandise – relies on people’s resigning to a faith accompli).

– Reciprocity.  “loss leaders“: they first scratched our backs, then, we scratch theirs. Customer life-time value is worth much more than an initial and temporal “loss”. This is where brand and habit buying takes over ( path of least resistance ). Casinos give out VIP free rooms and/or buffet.

– Scarcity. How many times have we seen an ad, then rushed to the store, just to find out the item was no longer available. Then, with a rain-check , we are more convinced (influenced) due to scarcity. Right now, investors are worried that I-phone 5 are in short supplies.

– Authority. The ultimate pair-association in advertising: Angelina Jolie , Sean Connery and the Gucci bags.

We want to identify with and project ourselves onto these icons. After all, 007 has ducked the bullets for 50 years.  What if we can be like them (immortal), in some ways? Well, they travel light and high on Gucci. That purse got cloud.

It got their endorsements. Their “Likes”. After all, 007 must know how to choose his “gadgets” .

Now you know. We influence and be influenced by others. A test: put your parents through this check list. See if each and every single item fits the bill. I bet you they did. Our parents: our ultimate influencers. They first gave us life (reciprocity), then they sustained us (sorry, I have to use the past tense in my case) – commitment and consistency, from cradle to the grave.

Then when they were gone, there are no replacement (scarcity). Of course, they were the authority (I still wanted to buy those sesame-seed cakes my Dad and I used to eat after our weekly noodle  breakfast or mom’s fermented rice for snacks).

And I like them. They liked me. Social proof: everyone likes and loves their parents. Period. Case closed.

Knowing these principles, you can improve your sphere of influence, or be innoculated against unsubstantiated claims of social proof, or build better resistance against those who initiated reciprocity cycle (Hari Khrishna free roses at the airport).

Be the best influencer you can be. It’s a world-wide web in need of good and selfless influencer like yourself. Keep feeding the network, pay forward. When good men just stood by and did nothing, we would end up with the wild wild web.

Speaking one’s mind

She came back today to visit the school, accompanied by her Dad.

Forthcoming, confident and spoke her mind. After all, to her, “time is money”.

Up to 19 AUD per hour, doing what natives wouldn’t otherwise do: taking care of old folks.

Another day at work. Another day of plugging away, but not without occasional joy of seeing others’ dreams come true.

Mine was simple: just to survive, to grow, to learn and to love.

Not even qualified as a dream. Yet it has been difficult, like Scott Peck‘s opening sentence in The Road Less Traveled.

People like myself ardently refuse to accept that the line between A and B is the shortest.

To the end.

Because my “B” has yet been determined. It could be the Omega, or it could be next life. It could be out of space (unobservable, hence unmeasurable), or inner space.

You are welcome to debate.

But then, the practicality of life kicks in and ends all debates. Time out for lunch.

Who is going to pay for it?

Life is easy and difficult at the same time.

Lottery winners found it easy for a while, until they burned it all.

Back to training, to equipping students for the journey.

They found that despite all the inoculation, it still took two months to adjust to a new surrounding (culture shock).

Then, it’s their turn to come home. To speak one’s mind. To tell it all, as returnees from the West should. With freedom comes free thinking, not necessarily clear, but free.

Lay it all out. I can take it. I am gamed . Take a shot. Strength in broken places.

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.

Re-occupy yourself!

When I boarded my flight to Vietnam, Penn State was losing to Nebraska.

And after I landed in Vietnam, I read about New York “tent city” had been re-occupied by the Mayor.

Here in the land of motor scooters, and kids try to conjugate in English, I can put those problems  in perspective. It’s true that I have felt shaken that my University’s reputation was now tarnished.

But the moment I sat down with my Cafe Sua Da, and the first lady who walked around selling lottery tickets (the equivalent of Mexican child peddlers selling “Chicklets) approached me, I knew I was home.

I learned a hard lesson: it’s not the place. It’s the time and how mature we are at handling those curved balls life throws at you.

If Nelson Mandela can rise above the hatred, Khan can get out of jail to restore a nation, and Churchill never gives up, so can we. Those giants weren’t giants as we now know.  They were dirty (in detention), desperate (isolation) and constricted (as in London bombing). But they rose to the occasion, and never lost hope.

Vietnam is playing catch-up (its President thanked President Obama at recent APEC meeting for siding with Vietnam when China acted up on territorial dispute) starting with early school age (mandatory English).

I remembered how my mother, a school teacher herself, paid out a large chunk of her meager salary to send me to English classes. My first lesson “It is raining, isn’t it”. It will soon stop raining here, but the flood water in Thailand has yet to recede.

MNC’s are rethinking where they should place their manufacturing facilities to avoid similar occurrences (delay in part shipment). Perhaps Vietnam could be a viable alternative, provided that its workers are up to task. I know they already are resilient, heroic and resourceful. Now the hard part: get trained up in soft skills and softwares or risk becoming Asian sub-contracting factory due to skill gap.

That easy way out has with it myriads of unintended consequences such as pollution, traffic congestion and wage pressures as happening in China.

The other alternative has long-term benefits but also has its price: invest in its work force and young population.

It’s not just English. They will need a whole new mindset, one which is complimentary to their built-in advantages. Instructors will need to equip students to think, to respect quality (the Japanese way) and not to rely on the flow of FDI with its own unintended consequences.

Right now, its neighbor Korea has just entered WTO. I stopped in Korea for a flight change, and couldn’t help notice the wealth and inflationary level those folks are experiencing (Starbucks and Tiffany). I got a book “23 things they wouldn’t tell you about capitalism” in paper back (it costs me $31.00).  I hope I got a good lesson out of it from this Korean author. But more than that, I wanted to thank my mom for sending me to French school, Vietnamese school and English school. It’s been a long road since “it’s raining , isn’t it” to “23 things they won’t tell you”.

The only thing I have left to tell you is, “re-occupy yourself”. It’s not the park or the campus, New York or Happy Valley.

It’s in your mind. I am sure Mandela and Khan both learned that while in the can.

They didn’t let the outside walls occupy their inner liberated self.

A Jewish author says it best ” they can take my body, but not me who occupies it – I paraphrase”.

Yes, my body as of yesterday’s reading, requires Lipitor. I am not a young English student who can eat any junk food outside the school yard. But inside, I plan to “re-occupy” that 140 lbs of me for the long haul. Don’t even think of trespassing it.

Just the chips, mam!

The speed of microprocessors keeps doubling every 18 months or less. We know that.

But what we don’t know is how things play out, from upending the music industry (Napster) to future mobile payment and games (Amex virtual currency).

When you asked people in New York, wallet or phone?  the answer was they preferred to lose their wallet.

Software apps are built on top of the chips layer to further change our world in multiple flavors (softwares in automobiles, in drones, in medical device, even in the coke machine). The sum of all changes results in a world quiet alien to our grandparents.

No, we can’t stop the train. We just have to rationalize that it’s all in the name of efficiency and progress, worthy of our devotion at the altar of the neon god . Just one more apps, just the chips mam!

Intent ad targeting! Wow!

Before you and I press the keyboard to complete our queries, the algorithm already defaulted our choice by listing a group of educated guesses, based on  past clicks.

I guess we finally meet our match: the machine.

The irony in all this is, as we approach decline (in memory and speed), the machine barely gets going. At some point, I will let M to deal with M.

M2M is more of a match in kind. Between Machine and Me, the difference is between a hockey-stick curve and a bell curve (on the right half of the diagram). It’s time for the digital natives to take the reign. It’s their world to wrestle with, while we got battles of our own, like social security and senior specials bargain hunting. Mam, you want some chips to go with it! They are bringing back the “Here’s the Beef campaign” just to put insult to injury.

two-step back

A laid-off Coca Cola delivery man gave a bank teller a note, demanding one dollar so he could go to jail and get healthcare.

A Florida retiree robbed a bank to pay his mortgage.

New York sex workers told investigative reporters they went on-call to pay back college tuition.

Something is not right with our time: those who are entitled don’t get entitlement, and those who aren’t do. Government grew in size, while big businesses shrunk or off-shorred. One could wait for ever in voice-mail jail hearing occasional “someone will be right with you” (yesterday’s prospect is today’s customer, hence, a lower priority).

What happened to Moore’s law (speed of processing double every 18 months)?

We can’t see the forest for the tree because we did not step back far enough.

Years of instant noodle, fast food drive-in, personalized search and pizza on delivery have lulled our sense and slow down our reaction.

Wind came from the Southwest, but we keep looking into our GPS (which might fail us).

First, the elephant (IBM) can’t walk. Then, it’s voted most innovative company, on the same Dean list with Apple, which had been rejected by investors just a decade ago.

Nokia and Motorola fell behind while RIM couldn’t keept its field advantage.  Google, who got tired of Search and Social, also got into phone, glasses and unmanned vehicles

We now need the Audacity of Austerity, not of Hope.

And please, don’t blame technology for London burning .

(It’s like blaming the Rodney King riot in LA on black and white video footage ).

This blog is my first from a children’s library. I am surrounded by school children playing games. Will they grow up learning how to connect the dots in this vast data-driven world?

Will they be able to step back to see the bubbles coming their ways?

Or many will fall through the cracks, with  few options such as bank robbery and escort service.

These are rhetorical questions which seek solutions to inflationary measures not inspirational messages. We all can see for ourselves, which is the tree, and which is a forest. We have stepped back at least two-steps in the last four years. Now it’s decision makers’ turn to see the forest for themselves.

Buddha was purported to do just that, with his first walk among the commoners. It’s called reality check. It’s called enlightenment.

Summer setback

That summer in Jr High, I experienced a setback: Hapkido went wild, leaving me with a broken arm.

The Kung Fu Hall already had my parents’ release, so even if it had been the fault of the visiting Red-Belt Master (who held up the brick, but moved it unexpectedly when it’s my turn to kick), we couldn’t say a word. All my fault!

So I stayed indoor most of that summer: learning English phrases and reflecting on my class yearbook.

I envisioned life not as a straight line (not like Champ Elyse), but quite twist and turn, hard to see around the bend.

I also knew that my friends and I would make choices we later regret (clearly my attempt at Kung Fu still stared at me, heavy in cast, itchy and with hair ).

I promised myself that whatever happens around the bend, I still see them as they once were: innocent, a bit naive and full of energy.

40 years later, I got to see what’s around the bend.

I ran into some of them: neither innocent, nor full of energy.

Nevertheless, I listen and take in what 4 decades did to a young junior high friend: regime collapse triggered a chain of unintended consequences (for both of us). For him, it meant failed attempt at escape, imprisonment and finally orderly departure with the help of his sister (way to go girl).

Now, we still “ping-pong” in our conversation about deficit and surplus.

I detected hidden intelligence and determination despite my friend’s lack of higher education. After all, we were the selected few for that high school.

The IQ scores are still there. In fact, his setback and mine has strengthened our resolves. For him, it offered such an unmatched springboard and deeper frame of reference. For me, a summer setback (an eternity at that age) which has turned into a lifelong pursuit of learning.

I never look at someone without assuming his/her best intention. If a broken arm caused me a summer setback, it gave me something better in return: the ability to bounce back, to heal and to see in others the pain they might have gone through, albeit not a physical pain.

In retrospect, what one projected into the future was quite powerful.

It’s called visualization. In my case, I knew I couldn’t see around the bend (of time). But I knew then as now, that life is unpredictable. Growing up witnessing the burning monk, starting school late because of Tet 68, only confirmed that someday, when I see my friends again, not only I would greet them with warmest of hearts, but also, rejoice in that we are alive still.

Setbacks make us stronger, just like muscles that got ripped when we exercised. Talking of which, I have stayed away, far away, from the Kung Fu Hall ever since. Instead of muscles, I dwell into higher learning. The body will someday waste away, but a man with clarity of mind and purity of heart remains forever.

Summer setback was my painful lesson in overcoming adversity.

I did not ask for it. But the unintended consequence is the ability to absorb disappointment and bounce back from it. No setback, no success.