Interesthink and more!

The past few days have been partially insane. I have come to accept that being in SYINC requires a level of commitment that I have never anticpated, and part of me screams out , 'I never signed up for this'. Meanwhile, Shaun is relishing in all of these, and I'm glad for him in that way. At the same time, there are forces both internal and external that are driving all of us apart. But those things are more personal things and not meant to be shown here.

What I want to talk about are the crazy things that have gone on. Like, having to work on an executive summary in like 8 hours before the deadline. So we came up with something, which was rather... draining and amazing and exhilirating at the same time. So its fun in a way.

I want to talk about Interesthink, and it was a truly marvelous event. It was like being at TED, except its in a Singapore context. And it was truly amazing, for all the people there, and I had a sense of all the passion and excitement that is going on. The speakers were great, and the people were excellent. I kind of sort of need to learn to talk to people with greying hair. Otherwise it was all cool. Picked up a lot of contacts especially a namecard designer, so - hah!

I guess at the Interesthink it was a Shaun-show. Shaun was there making his usual pitches about the webmonster and Pangea Day. So it was all great. And it was inescapable to talk about SYINC, so inevitably, Bernise would come into the picture and everything would be just.. jamming.

So meanwhile, I was covering ground, seeding ideas for TED and for cradle-to-cradle design, get people excited about TED and to talk about how the ideas could be made relevant to Singapore, get people excited and thinking.

The other more memorable things was a filmmaker sharing his life story, and being stuck for 10mins with Leong Sze Hian, who said some rather powerful statements about the situation of Singapore, that eventually, something's gotta give, and then, that the young people will eventually have to do something about it all. So that kinda left an impression on me. And not to forget Grant Pereira and his hippy-antics and for all the things that he has done, about his friends who lost their passion and got 'bought' over by the government, who went on to settle down leaving him alone. So yeah.

And there were people out there who think they can't do anything because they don't know anything. I think its just plain laziness not to go out there and look at life out there in Singapore - which is what I'm trying to do right now. Issues are all over the place actually, and its not just a matter of even looking at the right places, no, its just BOTHERING TO LOOK WITH 2 EYES WIDE OPEN and LOOKING AT THE LIVES OTHERS ARE LIVING. Its just that simple. It takes a different kind of heart, a different pair of eyes and all. And a different pair of hands.

And cheers to Leong Sze Hian, who writes for all the Singaporeans who will be disenfranchised, who will have their future robbed of. Thanks! And keep on writing. And hope others will stand up in his place. I could always try. Haha.

The future. That's what I'm fighting for too.

Sphere: Related Content