Tag: Recreation

Celebrating Love in Saigon

Consumer confidence is up. Spending is up. Cards, chocolate and crocodile (over beer).

I thought it must be Christmas or Tet all over again.

Hunting down a ticket for A House in the Alley took me to two theaters, with the only available seats at 11:20PM.

Way pass my bedtime.

Oh well, I tried.

Supporting Vietnamese arts has its price.

From comments I overheard – on the elevator down- the audience covered their eyes, hence missing out on what they had originally come for.

Vietnamese cover their mouths when laughing, and their eyes when scared.

Live a little.

In English classes, I encouraged folks to over pronounce their consonants,  to compensate for cultural conformity and held-backs.

The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo won’t be shown here due to some skin scenes.

What is suppressed in one area will find release in another.

It’s stressful to live in a collective culture: “why don’t you find your other half?”….

Glad strangers care.

Just don’t walk by like they did in China when a kid got run over twice in public.

Back to love in the Alley.

From the look of it, Dan and his crew probably have scored.

What’s more important is they packaged horror genre with date nights.

Keep it coming.

I know tomorrow night, the theater will be back to its norm: full of empty seats.

But love goes on, and finds its outlet in sidewalk cafes, river-front beer stalls and karaoke halls.

In restless dream I walk alone…

But the idea of love will forever endure.

Or else, 80% of music and movies will go to waste. And humanity will see its sorriest day.

I will celebrate, with one more hour left of my Valentine in Vietnam.

Seasons and symmetry

Traffic in the past few weeks has come from the opposite direction: country side to city streets. Tet is over.

We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun. Now it’s time to ramp up, to deliver.

There are things that can only be understood in hindsight:  a failed marriage, a single parent who hangs on to his now-grown daughter etc…

Never second-guess yourself. If only I could do it over….

You got one shot at life but not blindly, since all the hints and signals were there.

As long as we don’t play “solitaire”, others would be glad to point them out to us.

For years, I have lived with the flow (time and space) i.e. could never come back to the time and place where I was from.

I have been wrong on that count.

Seasons do come around, in symmetry.

Fall aging, Summer fun, Winter loneliness and Spring hope.

There is not a thing that goes to waste under the Sun.

Years ago, I couldn’t understand why my American friend would major in horticulture. Growing up in the city all my life, I found his field of study utterly foreign; it might as well be nuclear physics.

Now we have organic foods, co-op, environmental conservation etc….

(there was a 6.4 earthquake in Peru a few days ago).

We will never be “cooler” than under current ecosystem.

One planet, one shot deal.

Love the ones you’ve got: a crescent moon, blooming flowers, a child’s smile.

Even when you decide to burn the candle from both ends, it still is the only candle you’ve got.

I can understand youthful ambition, false confidence and the illusion of grandeur.

After all, we all work with unchecked assumptions.

Yet, “an unexamined life is not worth living,” says Socrates.

The Aztecs used to run under a very different calendar than ours. So did the Mayans and most Asian countries (Lunar calendar). Circular and cyclical rather than linear or Alpha-Omega .

Because it will come around, people are more conscious of consequences (could be arriving in next life). So Tet is over, but its season of hope has just started.

Traffic is back and workers are turning on the assembly line switches.

Just as they did last year and the year before.

But next year, again with reverse traffic flow,  but the aging mother and father might not be around waiting for them at home. It’s not the unexpected. It is to be expected. We ‘ve only just begun…with seasons in the sun, its symmetry and surprises. Savour it!

Blind in wilderness

Years ago, I took a course in Wilderness Survival.

One of the classmates was a blind Korean guy.  The others all white males.

We were to spend the entire five days in the White Mountain of New Hampshire,

with one solo day. Our “final” was rock repelling.

I kept looking in my teammate’s eyes and wondered how in the world he could survive the course, its obstacles and the rest of his life in urban jungle.

To make a long story short. We all passed eventually, but not without a hitch.

That hitch happened to be me. I repelled down straying from everyone else’s path (of least resistance). My instructor leaned down and gave me personal feedback while I was dangling in mid-air.  This wasn’t  my first time. Later, at an MCI white-water rafting trip, I got bumped out of the inflated raft into the gushing icy-cold Colorado waters. Luckily, my teammates circled the raft and pulled me back in.

Every once in a while, when facing seemingly insurmountable  challenges, I tap into that dormant strength to overcome fear. We all learned about our inner strength from that course, including our blind teammate who said “I see” a lot.

He was an inspiration to us all (at least, he wasn’t afraid of the pitch-dark solo).

People without sight, without limp remind us that fear is an emotion to co-exist with hope.

The fear of losing face is big in societies like Vietnam‘s.

Here it is common that a company employs mostly relatives.

Or vice versa, long-time employees are regarded as families.

Your identity is that of so and so’s cousin, aunt, uncle or nephew.

The  relationship web got more entangled when your ancestors had multiple marriages. Vietnamese language has precise naming for older/younger brothers and sisters (Anh/Em).

And to be on the safe side, just address everyone as if he/she were older.

What does this have to do with wilderness survival?

I am reentering a society built on collective identity.

My atomized self needs some attitude adjustment.

Instinctively, I weighed the way I address people, reading their non-verbal responses.

To survive here, I have to flash back to that “solo”night in the mountain, without light and without human interaction. Just inner noise and inner voice.

In Vietnam, self-mastery is hailed as a core virtue and a corner-stone for leadership (Tu Than, Te Gia, Bnh Quoc, Tri Thien Ha). Super-imposing this on Western leaders today (for instance my Penn State Defense Coach, who decided to go on the offense with young boys), we probably can narrow the field quite a bit.

Every culture has its gem. But if one is blind, it doesn’t matter  wilderness or waterfront, one still can’t see.

I know one thing from that wilderness survival class: my Korean teammate did not judge me by sight e.g the color of my skin or any other outward factors.

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.

The more the merrier

Next week, we welcome Earth’s 7 Billionth baby into our human family.

When I was born, relatives came to the hospital to visit (as commonly observed even today, in Vietnam). B/W photos were taken and sent up North for our extended families to “take notes”. The more the merrier. Nobody cared who Malthus was. If you showed up, one more bowl and a pair of chopsticks were all you need. In fact, the most common greeting was “have you eaten yet”. Memories of those early days came to me, often because of large family gatherings, with meals on the altar, and meals on the table.

We commemorated ancestors’ anniversary more than celebrated newcomers’ birthday.

In fact, I found out that my grandfather used to share lunch with more than a dozen people at a time. Obviously, he didn’t need “Never eat alone” advice.

Fast forward to our digital era with Siri apps and Google unmanned vehicles, we find a world obsessed with pharma instead of farming.

Instead of taking vitamin pills (whose latest studies have shown to be ineffectual), people are taking pain-relieving pills, sleeping pills and birth-control pills.

The Boeing 787 flight between Tokyo and Hong Kong inaugurated the Pacific Century, as much as Lindbergh’s American Century.

Population growth tilts toward BRIC countries. Yet in the US, there is a shortage of skilled workers since the babyboomers are retiring en mass.

BTW, to give credits where they deserve, trusted Sales Representatives are still in demand, despite recent push in productivity and automation.

People still buy from people and have lunch (connecting) with people.

Yet Sales has been and still is considered non-academic, hence it is excluded from the curriculum ( per latest issue of  theEconomist).

Back to 7 Billion of us whose life expectancy will be in the 70’s (hint, larger fonts and slower driving).

Besides strength in numbers, we live in the most open-minded global society ever. Even the cash-rich Kennedys had to face “religion” issue when campaigning back in the 60’s. Now, you can be openly gay, happily married and run for public office. What used to be “alternative” has become “conventional”.

And the new China’s middle class. Boy oh boy! When they shop, they shop till they drop. I happened to witness their Japanese counterparts in the late 80’s half-way to Las Vegas, at an outlet stop. I wonder how much more aggressive Mainland shoppers will act after their wins at the table.

Back in the late 70’s, after the Oil Embargo, many thought we had reached the “limits to growth”.  Somehow, we managed to clean up Alaska and Louisiana, Hiroshima and Fukushima .

The MIT and the MITI, Korean and Vietnamese, all work hard in a race against the Machine. When Malthus predicted that we had reached Earth’s limits, he did not foresee the coming of the Machine. German software engineers help VW propel  pass Toyota, while Samsung pass Sony and Apple in tablet sales. Bring it on, globally.

Long ago, when we commemorated our grandmother’s anniversary, my mom  always planned extra bowls and chopsticks . The more, the merrier; but I can now put away the extra bowl and chopsticks, since proponents of automation argue that machines don’t sleep and eat. Win-win. Will see.

Joy of the season

If you haven’t discovered it by now, then let me remind you that children are the joy of the season.  Each day is a gift, and it is gift-wrapped with giggles and songs. I felt rejuvenated because of teenage tunes that I would otherwise have not known (Firework, Teen- age dream, The only one in the world).

The adult world forces us to take the “play” aspect out of the equation. But “play” is the main ingredient for innovation. It engages us, to spend time instead of “doing” time. Successful people, when interviewed about their secret sauce, always recommend us to follow our passion, then money will come.

Tell that to the Venture Capitalist near you (especially in this post-Recession era).

I admire film makers. These are people who won’t settle for second best. “Just one more take for my mom”.

They kept at it, until it’s perfect.

During post-editing, with the right sound track and cut-aways, they can evoke emotions, and yes, get us teary.

We did, at the closing scene of 24 hour, where Jack Bauer reminded Cloe when they first met (and what a journey they had taken together at CTU).

It’s not the journey, it’s the joy of travel.

If you don’t feel mad then you probably won’t feel happy. They are two sides of the same coin.

Even when our kids drive us crazy sometimes, I’d rather hear my kids singing along to the radio than any other sound on Earth. You bet I did not have to travel far to Concert Hall to feel moved. It’s here at home.

It’s here in my heart. It’s here in me, or to be exact, the extension of myself.

Each day is a gift. Sing it, share it and savor it. When you like something, time goes by fast. I know full well, I will only hear “teenage dream” long enough before another hit  comes along. But it’s OK, every song will have to make space for the one behind it. So is our life, enriched but then replaced by young ones’.

last leaf

Skyline of West VA presents quite a scene and makes a case for Fall foliage. We used to play King of the Hill on top of a heap of dead leaves.

Reminds me of the Last Leaf, a story about a terminally ill patient looking out the window and said “when those leaves all fell away, I too would take my last breath”.

Our hero in the story waited till night fall to climb and paint an autumn leaf on the wall outside the window. “See, there is still hope. That last leaf still hangs in there, so can you”.

The patient eventually recovered. Without delivering the last lecture, he had the last laugh thanks to that last leaf.

The wheel of commerce has got stuck for quite some time. No capital for our capital-driven society, like a deer caught in an incoming headlight.

Terminally ill but still hopeful.

People already coined a new phrase,  “the post-consumerism society” (are we going to recycle old clothes, old styles – 70’s? ).

Like the terminally ill patient,  we as a society needs to hone our will to survive.

If I were the last leaf, I would dance with the wind, even defy gravity to buy me some time. And I refuse to go out with that institutional fluorescent overhead light (by default, it’s our last view while alive).  I would smile, and thank all the kind faces that have smiled at me during my entire life.

I often visited a cousin outside of HCMC. She was said to have visited me when I was born. I must have remembered it well, because I have returned the favor many times over.

In between stimulus and response, there is a pause. That pause of a millisecond could be for good or ill (The Vietnamese revolutionist once said to the French executioner at the gullotine, “let me die looking up so I can see how sharp your blade is”.)

In between Empty and the actual stopping of a car, there is always a reserve.

We have that reserve of good will, resilience, adaptability and untapped resources.

Put it to use now. Make it contagious. Practice leadership skills (Mongolian Khan got out of prison because his wife sold herself to the silk traders to bail him out. We know  the rest of history).

That’s Khan. That’s his-story. Now, it’s our-story. Last leaf or last laugh?

 

Saigon upgrade

In 2000, I was sitting at Cadillac, a semi-enclosed bar, whose band played Hotel California and I Will Survive.

In 2010, I found myself at Rolls Royce, which also played Hotel California and I Will Survive.

2013, at Van’s Cafe, its band plays Bon Jovi’s number lacing with Santana’s classics.

Nouveaux riches, yetl good oldies.

The expats came and went. The FDI-enabled buildings and factories were built then abandoned. Investors fled, yet their dollars and euros stayed.

The spill-overs pay for the infrastructure upgrade and remodeling of multiple entertainment venues in the city. Saigon District 1 is still prime real estate. As a song goes, “Ngua xe nhu nuoc tren duong van qua mau” (Horses and buggies zip by on the streets of Saigon), it’s the kind upgrade once seen in New York of the time of Henry Ford.

Taxi pulled up, dropped off, especially when it was pouring.

And the youth, on motorbikes, couldn’t get enough of drag racing (richer counterparts have moved up to Vespas and Roman Holiday).

They did this during the World Cup. Now they practice for the next World Cup, keeping local police busy.

WIth all its pent-up energy, Saigon is upgrading and up to task. from Cadillac, to Rolls Royce.

Female singers with tattoos and cigarettes waiting for their gigs.

A  sequel of ” the girl with a dragon tatoo” could easily be filmed here.

And at the bus station, film crews were busy at work, with  PA’s in black T-shirts doing crowd control. With only that much space, and limited infrastructure – to get around, young people either have to wait until 2AM to race, or they go online during the day. By-pass bridges can’t be built fast enough to accommodate break-neck speed of urbanization and modernization (tallest high-rises, then, another taller-than-current-tallest is proposed).

Airport proposal and counter-proposals dominate tabloid news.

Digital content are thriving here. So have cosmetic surgery e.g. eye lash clip-on, hair extension, All things for personal-brand reinvention.

Those rock band members are splintering off only to regroup somewhere else. Bar ownership change hands as quickly as the names on the doors.

But “I still survive” if failed the US interview to live in Hotel California (background Karaoke screen often shows Golden Gate Bridge).

Those who were lucky to migrate to the West can’t wait to make enough money to return to the “village”. This time, to their surprise, the place has changed. From Cadillac, to Rolls Royce. And you can take a working elevator up to the joint as well. No more semi-enclosed bar (Cadillac) where rain would disrupt a fashion show in progress as often did.  Siting from the inside, you might think you are in a Vegas joint. Gaming and gambling are pushed to its neighboring Cambodia..

As of this edit, a legislative proposal is on the table to legalize sports betting modeled after Singapore recent successes.

With only eateries and spirits as socially acceptable vices, everyone  “dzo”, eat, drink and be merry. Tomorrow will take care of itself, that is, kicking the can down the road for younger population to step up and take up the torch. That torch might not be the same. This time, new issues have emerged: gay, abortion and single mothering. I hope they don’t carry real burning torches on their next drag race. Arson is a kind of upgrade no one needs. If upset, just go ahead and torch yourself.

Me, I will survive. With or without Hotel California.

 

Smart brand

Given everything that has been going on, recent news that Ford turned the corner on North American market was quite remarkable.

Ford, as American as Coca Cola and apple pie, has done a number of things right:

– it cross-pollinated ideas and markets (Smart in US vs Fiesta in Europe)

– it stuck out while competitors rightfully took the easy way out of bankruptcy (early on, it was the first auto manufacturer to pay high wages for its assembly workers)

– it believed in the intrinsic value of its brand and the resilient consumer market (not without government incentives).

That’s said. Three cheers for Ford, because it’s been a tough fight (Michigan unemployment is at 15%).

The tougher it built its F-series trucks, the longer it takes for people to return to the showroom.

Inadvertently, it creates its own self-victimizing cycle (especially if its customers are not into the latest and greatest).

No more planned obsolescence. Not in this globally connected environment, where a Tata is sold for less than $3000.

Or a Hyundai carries a 100,000 miles warranty.

Yet, somehow, the flag is still flown high at Ford, if not in Detroit, than else where around the world, where people can’t wait to own a Ford (symbol of American prowess). Perhaps the best way to experience this is when you are an expat,

living in China or Vietnam, and can’t wait to get inside of an A/C building, or be driven in a Ford when it’s pouring out.

These days, Made- in- the- USA is hard to find, but Made-in-somewhere-else  quite ubiquitous.

I still remember the feel, popping up sound, and sizzling taste of my Coca Cola in Subic Bay (my first sales reward). There has not been anything quite like it. (Chicago has been known to copy CocaCola font for its CD). Incidentally, CNBC will broadcast a series of report on Coca Cola the brand.

Perhaps the eye-catching sight of Ford’s Smart will slowly erase the negative imprints of those rolled-over Explorers ( its tires controversy).

Last week I believe once again in the power of brand: its consistency which  assures consumers in uncertain time. Forward enough so we don’t feel left behind, yet (emotionally) connected so we can find our anchor. When faced with an array of choices,  one tends to cling onto “the security blanket”: the nearest rock in the stream, an immediately recognized face at Chamber mixers. In social connection, trust is our personal brand. No wonder Ford chose a Ford’s descendant to be its spoke person, to show continuity which began with the Model T. It’s been a smart move that paid off.