Increase in the Poor?

Image Source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixx0ne/1037963176/

Whilst having dinner with mum a few minutes ago, she shared that for the past few days, she has been asked to ‘donate’ multiple times while she was manning her shop, more than she has ever been asked before. The stark difference between what she had just went through the past week and her past experiences, is that the people asking for donations comprised more of ‘normal’ people like you and I, instead of kids wielding tin cans.

Just this afternoon, she was stopped in her tracks by a middle-aged lady carrying a baby in her arms, who asked her for $2 so she could buy something for her kid to eat. Later on whilst she was sitting around, a man came up to her, started to say some prayers ‘for her’, shoved some prayer materials to her face and ‘forced’ her to pay $2 for his ’services’.

Last week, my brother was approached by a teenager who asked for $2 so he could go home. I myself have encountered people of many different ages asking for donations so that they could ‘go home’, ‘eat’, ‘feed their kids’ or things to that effect.

Image Source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/minebilder/318943587/

My question is…  Are these people really poor? Are times that tough for them that they cannot even get proper jobs to pay for their basic necessities and have to resort to begging? Are they part of a sindicate? Or are they just being choosy about the jobs they apply for, and thus would like the ‘easy’ way out?

After all, I still remember the newspaper article I read a few years back which showed a middle-aged wheelchair bound lady who not only resorted to begging, but managed to have a better than average income of more than SGD $3,000 a month. Her well decorated flat had a flat screen TV and even a helper, things which even MY family cannot afford up till today.

Another question that has also been plaguing me is how does one differentiate the ‘real poor’ and the ‘fake poor’ that has risen in numbers in this time and age? Are we helping any of them by giving in to their $2 requests?

3 More Years.

Three to four more years and I am gone, InsyaAllah. Lord please give me the courage, strength and determination (and Your blessings) for me to be able to do the only thing that I have ever dreamed of doing :)

Have a good Monday everybody!

First attempt at Logo Design.

Still not done tinkering with it yet… feels like something is just not quite right, especially in the colored form… hmm…

Vietnam Part 6 : Back at Saigon!

Around four to five hours of sleeping in Sinh Cafe’s sleeper bus, we were awaken by loud renditions of Vietnamese folk songs through speakers that were resting innocently next to our heads.

Still in a dazed state, we looked out the windows and saw a view that we could not catch of Saigon five days back; one that had a sparring number of people and even lesser numbers of vehicles dashing around.

Grabbing our now spilling backpacks which had been thrown haphazardly onto the gravel pavement, Peah, Ikah and I stood still for a moment, digesting slowly the situation that we are facing right now – Nary a cent in our pockets due to the boy at Mui Ne, on a lonely street at 5am with nowhere to go.

Slinging our backpacks over our shoulders, we walked towards Luan Vu Hostel, the only place we could call home here in Saigon. Sleepy, exhausted and wanting nothing but a place to rest our tired bodies, we began envisioning the comfortable beds that Luan Vu had granted us the first two days in the country.

It came to a shock when we saw Luan Vu’s gates all closed up and locked. Knowing nothing else that we could do, or anywhere else that we could go, we desperately knocked on the metal gate, and let out a sigh of relief when a familiar face (albeit sleepy hehe) pushed the creaking grills open.

Seeing us, she smiled but with a slight dismay on her face, pointed out that they had no rooms left at all since we did not make any reservations. However, upon noticing that we look terribly disappointed and on getting to know that we really had no money left and only needed a place to crash for a few hours or so, she gestured towards the sofa at the lobby where she was sleeping at. Insisting that we sleep there, she gathered her pillow and blanket, and joined the rest of the hotel staff to sleep on the kitchen floor :’)

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Springleap with Team Gimme Gimme!

We’re back from hiatus and this time round we’re bringing to you a Singapore first! Team Gimme Gimme is proud to present Springleap! Springleap is South Africa’s new and improved answer to Threadless. You can now purchase the tees for a low price of SGD$21. Price is inclusive of shipping and handling! You only pay a ONE time payment. No top-ups. EVER! Each tee also comes with awesome loads of street cred and style.

Check out the designs at www.springleap.com and make yer orders! Do check out our webby too for more information and ordering details! We are also currently looking into diversifying our range so do look out for that.

What’s more, to show our thanks to readers of fingersdontfing.com, when you email Team Gimme Gimme with your order, mention the code: faddyrocks and you can get an additional SGD1.50 off for orders of 3 tees! That’s SGD3 off in total!

All text and images brought to you by Team Gimme Gimme.

Must… Find… Self…

Photo by onkel_wart

I don’t have a favourite place.
I don’t have a favourite number.
I don’t have a favourite day.
Nor do I have a favoured color.

I don’t have a favourite friend.
I don’t have a specific hobby.
I don’t know what to do tomorrow.
What do I know of having an identity?

I can do a million and one things.
And I’ve yet to find my calling in one.
I still don’t understand who I am.
And already I am turning twenty one.

What do I like?
Love?
Dislike?
Hate?

Who am I?
Who was I?
Who will I be?
Where will I be?

So many questions…
but I don’t quite know where to find the answers.
sigh.

How does one achieve great things…

… when one doesn’t know what great things one is able to do?

I went for a two day course on Personal Development last Thursday and Friday, one which was subsidized by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and sponsored by my company. Initially I thought I would just bum out the two days in a bid to sleep it over till weekend arrives, but knowing me, I ended up participating fully throughout the 8-hr per day workshop and enjoying myself thoroughly.

From the course, I realized the real importance of constantly upgrading ourselves in this world where change is a constant. Being a settler (one who waits until the situation has been proven safe before doing something ‘new’) is no longer the low risk option that it was before. Low risk, in current times, would actually mean to be a paradigm shifter; one who uses his intuition to spot a good idea, has the courage to pursue it in uncharted territory and understands that time will be an investment he has to make to prove his gut feelings right.

An example of a paradigm shifter would be Ray Kroc, who saw the immense potential in McDonald’s and used the McDonald brothers’ idea to create a whole global franchise of fast food chains. James McLamore, founder of Burger King, and Glen Bell, founder of Taco Bell, were also paradigm shifters who were inspired by the McDonald brothers.

So anyway, at the end of the course, all of us had a chance to speak to the trainer to ask questions, and I asked him of the opinion he got of me from the two days course (since he was very observant and could read body languages rather well), and if he could give me some feedback on how I could improve myself.

I must admit I was rather surprised when he told me the same thing I have heard from a handful of people close to my heart, that he feels I have the capacity to achieve great things, if I would just stop sticking close to the safety net and be a settler. Then he said some other things which made me beam, but I’ll just keep that to myself wakakaka.

The point is, I think I am beginning to believe it when people tell me that I have the capacity to do something huge in life and not be a mere dot in the sea of human beings. I am beginning to believe that I can do it if I want to. I am beginning to believe that I am not someone who has fallen off the road to the rocks down below just because I could not find my way to university like all my other friends. I am beginning to believe that there is a reason why I am in this route.

But the question that still hangs annoyingly over my head, waiting to be answered, is… What great thing am I destined to do?

First attempt at Vector.

My first assignment at NAFA was to vectorize an image of a person, and I have to admit I got over ambitious in choosing the portrait of the Afghan Girl. Seriously, anyone has tips on vectorizing hair? I am losing my own hair in trying to give her hair! Wakakaka…

So anyway, the Afghan Girl, whose real name is Sharbat Gula, was forced to leave her home in Afghanistan during the Soviet war for a refugee camp in Pakistan. There, she was photographed by journalist Steve McCurry, and became recognized worldwide when her portrait was used on the cover of National Geographic on June 1985.

On a related note, as part of Month of Photography Asia 2009, an exhibition of Steve McCurry’s works is currently going on at the Asian Civilizations Museum until the 19th of July. You can check out the above link for other exhibitions happening as well :)

Have a good Sunday everybody!

Vietnam Part 5 : Mui Ne!

I confess. I totally forgot about my remaining Vietnam entries and if it weren’t because of a couple of readers e-mailing to inquire about them, these two coming entries will for sure not see the light of day :P

For those who have not read the past entries, or need a recap, kindly see Part 1 (Saigon), Part 2 (Cu Chi), Part 3 (Mekong Delta) and Part 4 (Nha Thrang). So without further ado, Vietnam Part 5 : Mui Ne :)

* * * * *

We boarded the Sinh Cafe bus to Mui Ne at the lobby of our hotel at Nha Thrang (they fetched all passengers one by one) early in the morning at 7am, and we pretty much dozed off all the way on our seats for the next 5 hours or so (in between vainly attempting to tune in to 89.7 fm for The OShow haha!).

Once the bus rolled into Sinh Cafe’s own resort at Mui Ne, all of us clambered off for a much needed breather and proceeded to the restaurant for some chow. In between gulping down DELICIOUS (not exaggerating) dishes and ogling at the table of hotties next to our table (mixture of British, American, French and Japanese guys – ALL CUTE!), we cohesively decided that since Mui Ne is our last real stop at Vietnam, we would splurge the remnants of our cash here (little did we know we would be spending all of it).

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Where’s Faddy Now?

The new, more ‘personal’ theme, the lack of advertorial spaces (and entries haha) and the overall MIA around the web?

Pretty much explains things doesn’t it? kekeke.

Currently trying to seek the missing writer in me… meanwhile,

Serai bientôt de retour!

(HAHA macam faham. Tu supposed to mean be right back!)