NaNoWriMo 2008!

So I've decided to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo. Short version: it's a group writing exercise, where every participant attempts to write a 50,000 word "novel" within a 1 month timeframe. I found out about it last year through a friend, and gave it a shot. I barely managed to get to 10% of the target word count. Hehe. Quite miserable, I know. But I've decided to give it another go, to try to write freely, and not be so hung up on constructing everything so "perfectly". Wish me luck! :-)

Service with a smile – in Singapore

We – meaning Malaysians – have a long way to go.

I just came back from a week-long trip down to Singapore, and I have to say, I’m impressed. It’s been absolute ages since I’ve been down there, and I can’t really remember much of my previous visit, so I don’t have much to compare to. With nothing to compare progress to, it still bears noting the level of development they have achieved. The bizarre road-markings aside, downtown Singapore looks like any other developed city should. But it’s not the physical development that I’m most impressed with; it’s the human development.

I’m not sure where they picked it up. Maybe it’s part of their school curriculum, or part of their military service training, or their regular government announcements/indoctrination (seriously, look at all the signs, and even the announcements in the MRT!), but wherever they get it from, they’ve mastered the “service with a smile” attitude. At least, they manage a very decent job of projecting it to all tourists.

From the cab drivers, to the MRT staff, to store clerks, to the guys at the foreign exchange counters, to the hotel staff, everyone seems to put on a welcoming face and provide good, friendly service.

One anecdote I’d like to share was an experience at the lobby restaurant at the Hotel Re! (brand new chic hotel, opened just 6-months ago). We knew the hotel was new, cos even the (very friendly!) cab driver didn’t know about it, and we were curious how new it was. So we asked the wait staff, but he didn’t know. So he went to his supervisor, who then came over to our table, and then shared with us the brief history of the hotel (converted from an old school). That’s what I call friendly and helpful service! (Interesting aside: the wait staff was this young Chinese guy, young enough to be a student, and the supervisor was a not-as-young Malay guy, both speaking good English – no surprise – and interacting like normal in a work environment, which, frankly, you don’t see enough of in similarly multicultural Malaysia.)

Even Dubai can’t match this level of service, which seems to permeate every level of society. I don’t have to be some white-guy staying in 5+ star accommodations to get good, friendly service. Imagine that!

Friends...?

A random thought came to me, and it made me pause.

All of a sudden, I’m wondering about friendship. Specifically, about when the last time I could actually – comfortably – say that I had friends. Not someone else’s friends. Not acquaintances. Not co-workers. My own genuine friends. People who wanted to spend time with me, for me, and actually did. People I could talk to about shared interests.

I’m not ungrateful enough to think I’ve never had friends. Of course I have. I remember the times. But I was much younger then. The “world” was smaller.

And maybe I do now. Yet… I’m hard-pressed to think so. I mean, truly believe that I do.

This random thought reminded me of that quote:

”No man is an island.”

Which led me to think of the movie ”About a Boy” (no, it wasn’t Jon Bon Jovi who said that; it was John Donne). And that made me smile.

So not a pointless random thought after all. At least it didn’t leave me completely depressed.