Being authentic

One of the key traits I value in a person, be it an ordinary friend or an entrepreneur seeking my assistance would have to be being true to oneself, being authentically you.

In a city state like Singapore, it is not uncommon to see so many people wearing a mask, desperately trying to make themselves appear as someone they are not. It does not take too long before one can witness first-hand the overwhelming number of poseurs putting on their clearly fake american/european slangs, their persistant need of having "westerners" around themselves, both hanging on their arms or in their arms, while putting on a constant show of finding any and every opportunity in putting down their own race or any other asian counterparts.

While being fake doesn't hurt anyone, there is a growing number of a "darker" breed of such individuals. Conmen and confidence tricksters that prowls the internet and neighbourhoods. Some worse than others, some maintaining a facade that can and will fool most people on their authenticity, but that will be another blog post for another time.

People may forget words you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

My Life List

I had a chat with Darrel Lim, an old friend and associate working as an R&D Executive in the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore on 7 July 2008 (Monday) and he shared with me on how he keeps track of his Big Hairy Audacious Goals in his life via a simple "Life List". Summarizing some of the points taken from the very well written Robin Brande's Creating a Life List article, here is the first cut of my own Life List. This article would be updated as-and-when I have something new to add or when I achieved some portions of it.

Skills I would want to learn

8 July - Master the command of the Chinese, Teochew, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese languages.
8 July - Obtain a private pilot license.

Places I want to go if money and time was no object

8 July - Russia, to witness first hand the tenacity of the people.
8 July - Uganda, to visit a Singapore social entrepreneur who made it his home.
8 July - The islands of Micronesia, to finally see the routes of which the M/T Heracles sails.

Experiences I want to have no matter what other people think

8 July - Work on lifting up the lowest in society in the world by the formation of social enterprises within their community.
8 July - Defend helpless civilians from fundamentalist terrorists.
2 August - Establish a comprehensive "green" taxi company powered by Electric cars, with a comprehensive distributed recharging network powered by wind and solar (for urban areas).