Bar Code

Just for the fun of it. This was generated here.

Hurry Sickness

Mari Messer, in her book Pencil Dancing, listed Diane Ulmer's 4 symptoms of hurry sickness.

1. Deterioration of the Personality. Interest becomes narrow ... thoughts become dull and uninteresting.

2. Racing Mind. Anxious thoughts and loss of ability to focus create stress ..

3. Inability to Recollect Pleasant Memories. The mind is riveted on the future or stews about the past.

4. Inability to Experience Inner Contentment. The person has literally given up on savoring life's satisfying experiences.

This certainly gives food for thought about the need to have a balance of both hurriedness and quietness.

Doodles for Sale

Lelong! Lelong! Would anyone buy? No matter, maybe it is just to satisfy the "exhibitionist" in me.

Pencil Dancing

Many of us feel that we cannot draw, but not when we were in kindergarten or younger. There is something about doodling, especially at a boring meeting or lecture, that helps. This is one of the things I enjoy but seem to do much less of.

Some of us need a greater sense of purpose for drawing and here's a list of projects that I think is interesting.

Twittering

Like birds in spring twittering on the branches. Twit tweet. I have been playing around with Twitter and has found it yet another deceptively simple idea that rides so much on how social networking is happening in cyberspace nowadays. In limited number of words, we each answer the question "What are you doing?" and it is fascinating how we sketch ourselves out just doing that. Check out the Twitter badge on the right.

Japanese Cutesy-ness

Ever wonder how the Japanese do it? There is this way they go about with their sense of being cute that seems so unique. I read today about the mascot that they created for their peace keeping force in Iraq.

I also just came across this singing and dancing sushi that is just so overly cutesy.

Rush Rush Tribe

In this morning's My Paper, the section about new phrases was on what I would losely transliterte as "Rush Rush Tribe". Last year, someone in China coined this phrase while refering to those born between 1975 to19 85 as being the ones facing the biggest pressures in life. There is therefore a sense of urgency and a need to rush about with little time to slow down. This resonated so well with many of that person's peers that this phrase became quite popular on the net.

I had 2 recent conversations which were about how the young, especially the students in Singapore, are kept extremely busy. I find it disturbing to hear from these young ones the same lament about the lack of time that used to be commonly heard only among working adults.

Not too long ago, an article about how stress is taking a toll on the people of Hong Kong also caught my attention.

So, it appears that we have all joined the ranks of the Rush Rush Tribe. For better or for worse? To me, this most certainly underscores the need to deliberate take a breather, a pause.

Valentine's

Just a little muse over expressing love, this being Valentine's and all. If the idea behind the languages of love is true, then everyone would express and read love differently. In which case, all this thing about giving roses on Valentine's might not actually work for everyone. There may be a need for a little more (Oh, so this is not an excuse for not buying roses at exhorbitant prices!)

For some, it would have to come with words of love, others it is more important that the lover spends time. Interesting thought is it not? It sure opens up possibilities.

Like the drawing? A momo original.

Take a Pause

A fast-pace of life with a seemingly relentless barrage of changes and demands to keep up can leave us panting and grasping for breath. To stop peddling appears to allow the current to sweep us backwards.

But ...

We do need to take a break; to stop, step back and take time to ponder. It is not just for the sake of our sanity, it is in fact for growth, and to flourish.

I tell myself to build up this ability to pause - to explore pause-ability.