Ray Blake Traveller's Notebook (Review and Set-up)

A while back, I wrote about the beautiful dilemma I have after being introduced to Midori Traveller's Notebook. It has been a year since I started using it and I've been loving it!

Recently, I decided to purchase a notebook from Ray Blake which will be used as a notebook to write my key impressions when I review theatre productions or books.

If you would like to read those reviews, please visit www.isaactanbr.com

Of Two Minds

I am glad that there has been a concerted effort in featuring most of our athletes in the run-up to the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. It gives them the recognition they deserve which would hopefully drum up more support for them.  However, I am puzzled by this feature from Today. 

Any sport requires a combination of athleticism and craft. Excellence is achieved through years of practice and discipline. It is a career in its own right; one that starts rather early. This is why I am puzzled by the need for these netball players to have a day job. It would certainly surprise any athlete from abroad that some of our athletes only train three to four hours a day. More importantly, regardless of how doggedly resilient they are, having little rest would affect their performance in both the sport and their day jobs.

Why would they do this? Three possible reasons come to mind. 

(1) They really want it. 

If that is the case, then props to them. While I personally feel that they should focus on their sport, given that an athlete's career is short and netball has fewer competition opportunities (they are not included in the Olympics yet),  they should be free to pursue their own goals. I am also glad that their employers and coaches are understanding in this regard. 

(2) They want to make ends meet. 

I really hope this is not the case. If it is, then it is a disgrace that a country can spend billions and expedite construction only to have a stadium with a leaky roof, or millions on the opening ceremony and publicity campaigns, but not pay their players well. 

The time and energy invested in training are definitely the same, if not more, than their counterparts in the corporate world. They also risk injuring themselves which might have a permanent effect on their health. 

(3) They are doing this in preparation for a career transition once they retire from the game. 

This is a tricky one. We must not assume that they would necessarily want to stay in sports or be a coach after they hang up their jerseys. Though, as a point of interest, I wonder whether the sports industry is able to absorb all of them should they choose to stay.

While the Singapore Sports Council should be commended for their SPEX education and career scheme, the ideal would be for the athletes to worry about their careers only after they have retired. Of course they should plan for their career transition but they should not have to handle such an arduous juggling act. What little time they have outside of practice should go to spending time with friends and family. 

I wonder if, after the cameras and sound recorders are switched off, the reporter asked why they wanted to juggle two careers.  

What Job Can I Do With A Philosophy Degree?

Being involved with my faculty's open house for the past three years, that is the question—as phrased in our local parlance—that prospective students (or their parents) will always ask. It is so important that a certain ritual is often performed before the question is asked. 

The student or parent would pause as if to consider whether it is the appropriate time to ask. Then, it is occasionally followed by a false start complemented with an obligatory tinge of embarrassment: "Erm... Wha-what job can I (or my son/daughter) do with a philosophy degree?" 

This question, to many, is the million-dollar question; the barometer indicating the worth of pursuing a discipline. This question irks me the most. 

It irks me not because it is a bad question. Far from that; being prudential can be a virtue in certain circumstances. It is the way it is asked. It makes all the previous questions seem banal—chatter that paves the way for the "important" question. 

It makes going to university, which is an absolute privilege, akin to going through a toll booth. One does not care for it and is eager to go through it just to get to a supposedly better destination. Most of all, I get a feeling that the question is asked without much reflection. It is amazing how some students are very frank about why they are asking the question: "What do I tell my mum?" 

In previous years, I was eager to brush the question aside. I would cite a few seniors as examples and list a few other possible jobs which left the student/parent and I equally unsatisfied. With the benefit of having a philosophical education for four years, it is time to address this question properly. 

The Underlying Question

The question that is often asked is far from simple. In fact it is the wrong question to start with. The fact that simply listing various examples is not satisfactory means that there is an underlying need that is not addressed. What could it be?

While there are several reasons which compel one to ask that question, two comes to mind immediately:

(a) You are worried about not being employable. 

(b) You have a desired job or an industry in mind and you wonder whether philosophy will help or hinder you. 

Employability

Granted that—apart from academia or particular teaching jobs—you hardly see "Wanted: Philosophy Graduates" in job advertisements, philosophy graduates are not sleeping under bridges. In fact, the previous two batches of graduates (i.e., the most recent group to enter the workforce) are employed in both public and private sectors. They work in a variety of industries such as Singapore Airlines, customs, human resource, and consultancy.

As such, the major worries in (a) are unfounded. This should also help to answer (b) to some degree.

Assistance or Hindrance?

The whole focus of (b) is problematic. There is an underlying assumption that there is some form of simple correlation between your major and a job or range of jobs. Also, it seems to focus on the paper qualifications itself rather than whether the skills you acquire through philosophy are helpful. 

Firstly, based on the variety of industries my seniors are working in, whatever major you take in the course of getting your B.A. does not matter save for specialised industries such as medicine, law, engineering etc.

More importantly, the paper qualifications play an incredibly small part as to whether you eventually get the job and subsequently thrive in it. A lot has to do with your overall performance in the interview, your attitude, adaptability, and willingness to learn. 

That said, it must be acknowledged that the class of your B.A. (not the major) will determine the career tracks and pay grades in quite a few industries. While NUS has changed its degree classification, it is a cosmetic change and employers will still know whether your degree is a first or second class. 

As such, while your grades are not the be-all and end-all, it is still important. What is the point of pursuing a supposedly more profitable discipline, which does not guarantee anything in the first place, only to obtain mediocre marks because it does not interest you? 

Gone are the days when dogged memorisation and regurgitation will get you good marks. There must be a great deal of inner motivation to see you through a tough ride. Three or four years is a considerable investment of your time, why not do something you enjoy?

The million-dollar question is only worth a hundred dollars.

Nitty-Gritty

Of course, I am not under the illusion that what I have written thus far would convince everyone, especially in the hard-nosed and "practical" culture that I am brought up in. So what "transferable" skills does philosophy equip you with?

An easy answer is to utter the buzz words: critical thinking. But such an answer is unhelpful and ironically shows that one is not even thinking.

Another easy but slightly better answer is that it makes you question all assumptions. I do not think that it is necessarily the case but in the course of tackling philosophical questions, it would at least make you aware of them. This will help define the problem better and it paves the way to solving or at least addressing it. It is no wonder that the quote by Charles Kettering, "A problem well stated is a problem half-solved," is often repeated by peers and professors.

Another skill that is very much in the spirit of Kettering is the clarity of expression. This may seem very surprising to those who have not taken philosophy because there are some philosophers who are utterly impenetrable. However, those philosophers are often of a different era or the original text is not in English. Otherwise, it is expected of us to be able to express the views of others clearly, robustly, charitably, and succinctly.

A close companion of writing would, of course, be reading. In the course of engaging with various thinkers, one will encounter a variety of rhetorical styles; from the systematic and almost scientific presentations to one with literary flourish. One is required not only to read for understanding but for nuance. The choice of words, examples, punctuation, and even italics are incredibly important in identifying the stance of the philosopher.

Additionally, due to the various branches of philosophy, one will be equipped to read papers from other disciplines. For example, in a philosophy of mind class, a couple of my readings were actually psychology papers and we were required to go through them and suss out the philosophically important aspects of the experiments. I have also encountered texts from sociologists, cultural commentators, and even biologists in the course of four years. This is due to the fact we have a faculty that has a wide range of research interests and that various branches of philosophy are inter-disciplinary by nature.

Such skills are useful even at the interview stage. There are some positions within the government sector (unfortunately, I am not at liberty to disclose too much here) that require a few rounds of interviews before a final decision is made. The first couple of rounds are a variety of tests. Some of the questions could be in the form of a logic question (logic is a compulsory module for all majors) or one may be asked to summarise articles. Clearly, the skills mentioned above will put one in good stead.

The Life of the Mind

The one thing that I seldom get to tell students at the open house is the sheer joy of studying philosophy. I once asked one of my professors what do we tell people who ask why they should study philosophy and he said, "For starters, I have not met anyone with a philosophy degree who regretted their decision." While it is not certain if that applies to all philosophy graduates, I for one do not regret my decision.

The life of the mind is the best gift a university education can offer and it has an impact beyond academia. The way we think and the phrases we use are all shaped by the discourses that are circulated in our society. University is a wonderful opportunity to examine, assess, measure, and interrogate these concepts and ideas. It is not merely an intellectual exercise or the domain of the proverbial ivory tower, but a continuous process of seeing yourself in relation to the world. Philosophy thus offers a very broad prism for you to glance into.

In a speech about the legacy of Oscar Wilde, Stephen Fry quotes from Oscar Wilde's De Profundis in which Wilde talks about the "Oxford temper"—the ability to "play gracefully with ideas." This should really be the temperament of any university student. While playing gracefully may have the ostensible implication of frivolity, the qualities Wilde refers to are subtlety, dexterity, kindness, curiosity and open-mindedness. It is also why I think the phrase, "come for the answers, stay for the questions" is very pertinent to philosophy.

The pithy paragraph above does an injustice to Fry and it is rewarding to at least listen to the end of the speech in which he talks about the life of the mind.

It is only in acknowledging this, that one realises—as I mentioned earlier—what a privilege it is in having the opportunity to attend university. An opportunity given that is derived from the toil of others whose children may not necessarily be given the same privilege.

The best way to show gratitude is to revel in this wonderful pursuit and not sully it by treating it as a grimy toll booth. 

Happy St Patrick's Day!

I am writing this post in the final hour of St Patrick's Day. To my Irish readers or those who adore the Irish culture, here's wishing you a very Happy St Patrick's Day.

The idea for this post came to me as I was deciding what I should post on my Facebook to celebrate the occasion. An easy choice would be a clip from Riverdance as it really brought Irish dancing to the world. However, it is a bit of a cliché at best or patronising at worst. But the problem is that I really love the show because, apart from its popular appeal, it is very well conceived. While distinctly Irish, it is intercultural as it showcased cousin art forms such as flamenco and tap dance. It also launched the career of the choir, Anuna, beyond the Irish borders.  After much agony, I decided to post a clip of Colin Dunne (rather than Michael Flatley) and Maria Pages doing a duet; a lesser known number in the show and it reminds you of its intercultural nature.

As I was watching Colin Dunne dance, I was reminded of the time he performed his solo show, Out of Time, in Singapore. It was a rare treat as it was only showing for two nights. I attended the opening night and I sat dead center and was probably three feet away from him. It was an intimate show as Dunne reflected upon his experience as a dancer as well as the roots of the art form. Unfortunately, 10 minutes into the show, he slipped, fell, strained a leg muscle, and had to limp offstage. After another 10 minutes of rest and assessment of his condition, Dunne decided to cancel the show and refunded our tickets. My first impulse was to immediately buy a ticket for the second night even though I was quite busy that day. However, I thought he might not perform the next night and I needed to spend time completing my school assignments anyway. Thankfully, but unfortunately for me, he did not cancel the next night.

I can still remember the shock when I saw him fall right in front of me. Part of me was worried about his career. After all, he pulled a leg muscle and was already in his 40s then. But like any professional, he dust himself off and continued to tour his show. As for me, all I have is this video clip to remember the performance:

Thoughts on Being Hacked

It’s just one of those things which you hardly think about until it happens to you. You know how to minimise the chances of it occurring but you couldn’t be bothered to take precautions; you think, “well if it really happens, I know what to do anyway. No sweat.” Then it happened to me.

A familiar episode of procrastination turned out to be something unexpected. I was just about to close my Facebook app on my phone when the corner of my eye caught something different. Why does that small square picture (i.e. my profile picture on the blue bar) have a different colour scheme? Thinking it was something to do with the app or my dinosaur of a phone, I decided to open my profile page – my jaw dropped. That cold stare of a skull, with its hollow eye socket, put me in a daze for a moment. What does this mean? How did my profile picture became this hideous thing? Thankfully, this stranger indicated what has happened in my cover picture; a guy wearing a hoodie (taken from Shutterstock may I add) and the words “You’ve Been Hacked.”

Scrolling down my timeline, I was really thankful that the hacker (henceforth H) had the courtesy to inform me, and all my connections on Facebook, what had happened. My timeline was littered with three pornographic pictures, including a really distasteful one involving zombies. What would everyone have thought had it not been for the cover picture? On hindsight, I hardly doubt that H was trying to be courteous, he (could be a she but I’ll make this assumption anyway) was mocking me and announcing his achievements.

At that moment, the carelessly thought out contingency plan whenever I dismiss the need for a complicated password could not be summoned. My mind went blank. I was at a complete loss as to what to do; obvious things like deleting all the pictures as the first step of damage control did not occur to me until 10 minutes later. Why would H choose me – a completely easy target by any standards? What satisfaction is there to be gotten from attacking the defenceless?

With these questions unanswered, more questions started to set in. How long has these things been there? It couldn’t be long or a whole army of people would tell me about it. Would they? What would people think? What if they don’t go to my profile page after seeing those pictures? And then, it started. “Oh wow you’ve been hacked real bad.” “Isaac, you better check your FB.”

After some commiserations with friends, acquaintances, and even teachers, I started to assess the damage done. Little did I know that I was soon locked out of my own Facebook account while trying to suspend it. H even went so far as to lock my email so that requesting a recovery password would be useless. I had to recover control of my email before I can do so for my Facebook account.

A few weeks later, I discovered that H even hacked into a blog that is an online portfolio of all my writings – one that prospective employers will see. My profile picture changed, the same pornographic pictures appeared, H even stretched his literary muscles and try to plant the F word strategically in my posts while trying to make sense – he failed. I must say that I’m flattered and sad at the same time about H’s visit to my blog. I’m flattered that he bothered to read my posts in detail and am sad that the only person who pay such attention to my writing is a bored geek who can’t be bothered about grammar or spelling.

As with any ordeal, this incident did shed some interesting insights about myself and the people around me. For one, I’m not a cool cucumber – I couldn’t think straight even though it’s a relatively minor incident of cyber vandalism. Secondly, I’m glad that the first reactions of my friends on Facebook were concern and surprise rather than being appalled – none of them thought that I would be the sort to post such pictures. Lastly, I think our law enforcement infrastructure needs to catch up with the times. I realised that when a friend asked if I reported this incident to the police. I did not do that because the police could not do much especially if H is based overseas. More importantly, there was no direct cybercrime unit that I could report to. By the time the coppers at my local police post redirect my report to a relevant unit, it would have been rather long since the incident occurred.

You may be surprised that I have not drawn up a “cyber security checklist” or some other nifty crime prevention message that we are bombarded with. If you could navigate your way to this article, you are probably technologically savvy enough to know the basic tips (which is what I know anyway) but like me, you’ll overlook it. So if it happens to you, know that it’s not the end of the world, take a deep breath, roll up your sleeves, and try to save your online presence.