This year is the 10th-year after I picked up my paint brushes and pencils again to revive my old interest and hobby in caricatures. Over the years, my drawing skill has improved but its quality is far from the respectable level I’d hoped to achieve. To perfect any skill, one needs to spend time and effort to practice it for at least 10,000 hours. In the past decade, I have probably spent an estimate of 2,500 hours or less.
This explains why my art still cannot sell much. Sigh!
Some fake news look so real one never takes time for second
thought to verify the fact or story before sharing them. This is very dangerous
and akin to trekking on slippery slopes.
Things are either fact or fiction.
When fact is mixed with fiction, what do you call it?
Faction?
Almost everyone everywhere now is bracing the financial storm of a technical recession and gloomy economy. Many plans are disrupted or shelved without any sign of normalcy. The lost of income versus high living cost here is a double whammy for many. I have already added many more holes on my belt and think deep before any big spending. Our big brothers had helped a bit but assistances are non-sustainable and insufficient to wait out the storm to pass. The key to survive in this downturn depends not on push-on (加油) but strong wills (意志力), resilience (弹性深度) and self-endurance (忍耐性).
While Big Brothers come and go, our problem remains the same.
Everyday, I take the risk of walking on narrow footpaths, not
knowing when I would be hit from behind by speeding cyclists. All cyclists
believe they have the right of way on footpaths as they keep ringing their
bells at pedestrians to give way to them. Even those wheelchair users and their
care-givers are not spared. When pedestrians are injured, the cyclist and the
state won’t pay. In most cases, the culprit would likely have sped off to evade
liabilities as they have no insurance cover such accidents.
I hope this new Big Brother can understand and feel the risks and pains of pedestrians and ban cyclists on all footpaths before more pedestrians get injured.
I am not a social media person either.
I don’t know about trends and why many people follow them.
Take the recent #womenempowerment challenge where women post their
black and white, monotone pictures for this challenge. I’m not sure the real
meaning of this challenge.
Black and white pictures are mainly used for obituaries and to announce someone’s passing. It’s better to use them with caution. You may disagree with me, it’s okay. Everyone has their own standard.
I am not a music person.
To me, a good song is the best sound outcome of combining all the elements: tune, lyrics and vocal ability of the singer. This year’s national day’s song is anything but none of these elements. It’s the worst National Day song I’d heard in decades. I wonder who is the Quality Manager who approved its release.
The only thing I could relate to this song is its title: Everything I Am. Yes, of course I
am. In order to survive and endure the current arduous hardship, I have to 包山包海 (cover mountain cover ocean),
to do everything what my boss tells me to do. No further questions asked to
avoid troubles.
This year song’s title should be changed to: Everything I Bao! to reflect our resilience.
Note:
This original artwork was submitted to The Straits Times’ coloring contest. This piece, too did not make it to the next round. Sigh. I’d stopped pondering why and lookout for the next opportunity to come.
