It was a crazy Friday night. Went out with Terry O'Connor, CEO of Courts for his birthday (this is the BIG four OH) boy's night out on Friday and ended up not sleeping the whole night. Slept at 7am, woke up at about 3, then had lunch/dinner then it was drinks with Luke and then I'm back at home trying to think of something that will create a bit of dough in the pocket.
It's crazy, my sleeping patterns have gone utterly nuts and I'll need to restore some equilibrium to my body clock before the next week kicks off. But for now, I guess I'll try and spend it on the net trying to say something witty and intelligent, which is difficult because I'm not as witty or intelligent as I like to think.
Having said that, I guess I'm going to try and be smart at this hour of the day. I've managed to get the guys at Ammado.com, a Facebook for NGOs and Non Profit organisations a radio interview next week. I hope they'll get the publicity bug and I hope they'll want to hire a small little PR consultancy. Being European, they will, Insh Allah, pay in Euros. Am also working with Jean Phillipe, Food and Beverage Manager of the Raffles Hotel an interview on 938 Live. Hopefully there will be something out of this.
It's quite an interesting reverse engineering PR publicity stories. Probably hard to get paid but its an opportunity to build relationships with new businesses more importantly it helps one get closer to the media when you provide them with stories that don't necessarily fulfil your immediate commercial interest - one of my first lessons in media relations from PN Balji.
MediaCorp will be showing my interview on Tuesday 10, June, 2008 at 10pm. Was nice to be on TV. Since this is about my relationship with Gina, it will be under the name of Terrence Ang and my voice will be muffled and my actual image will be pixilated. After this, I will have been accross all mediums in the MediaCorp and SPH stable. Glad I've been able to get the issue of spouse abuse out and about and especially the issue of men being at the sticky end of the Singapore legal system when it comes to gender issues.
Have been watching the Contender Asia, a reality show based on several guys kick boxing their way into a prize. Its very interesting to see how people in certain situations opperate. I'm not normally a fan of "Reality TV" but it is interesting when you can see people act in certain siutations. It's like on the Apprentice, you see all the corporate types stab themselves in the back. On America's Next Top Model you see cat fights as you do on Project Runway (what else do you expect when you get that potent combination of gays and fashion). But the Contender Asia, you see something totally different. You see a group of guys who beat the shit out of each other and but also have mutal respect and admiration for each other.
I don't know what it is but I think harsh conditions have a way of bringing people closer together and guys tend to be able to take things less personally than girls and fags. Put two guys in the ring with the instruction to beat the living crap out of each other and they have a way of remaining friends. Put a couple of girls in room to compare who has bigger firmer breast and they'll kill each other trying to prove their point - and they say guys are competative.
But there we have it. People in easy environments tend to be arseholes. People who grow up in the rougher parts of town tend to be better people. I'm comming to the conclusion that harsh experiences are a necessary part in forming character. I look at who my best friends are and til this day, I'm looking at my army colleagues. I think its because our friendships were formed when we were in situations where we didn't get affected by unnecessary considerations like family, class and wealth - we were just all in a lousy place trying to get by as best we could and somehow we had to make it work. You also found out quickly that the people worth knowing were always from humbler backgrounds. People from Middle Class families are useless. "Oh God, I can't pee with you guys - I got to think of my future" - Yea right - piss off wuss - its not like you're the only prick with a future to think about.
Seriously, when you look at people as they are rather than who they are, it makes life so much easier. It's very funny because one of my business partners has a very different perspective. I remember him speaking the praises of one of the doctors we had to deal with and the very first comment he made was "Oh he's from a RICH family." Yeah, as if that was supposed to be something to be impressed by. On the other hand he would make it a point of complaining about the brand manager of a multi-national who started out as an office boy - "What does he know - Stupid Office Boy." - Prick! An office boy who can pull himself up to becoming a brand manager for a major company is either very smart, very ruthless or a combination of both - he's also far more valueable to society than the guy who grew up from a rich family.
It's funny being part of the DNA lottery. It's amazing how many people put winning that lottery down to their criteria in juding people. I prefer to think that its the people who move on from that lottery that count.
Then again I shouldn't knock the genetic lottery. Much as we may not like it, being born into th e families that we are born into does play an important part in forming our character. My mother, who has had three husbands attributes her ability to survive three marriages from her father who made it a point to educate his daughters and to ensure that they would never be the inferriors of any man (Mind you, Mum credits my Dad's grandmother for giving her the courage to leave Dad). Dad, a poor boy from Chinatown made good, has his father to thank for giving him the attitude that he was no different from people born into better circumstances. My grandfather was also encouraging of art, which definately helped my Dad develop his talents.
So there you have. We try not to rely to much on our families in making us who we are but at the end of the day, they do have a role to play.
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