Joe Ten turns one!

It's been exactly one year since I start blogging, happy birthday to Joe Ten!!

2 interesting fact about Joe Ten:

1. Joe Ten was originally intended to be some sort of tech blog, initially named "Da Noob Geek". Then I found that my tech knowledge is actually very low and superficial, thus I changed it to a story on my life.
2. "Ten" doesn't actually mean "Perfect Ten" or anything, I took the name "Joe Ten" because it was sort of a (cool?) mis-pronunciation of my name back in NS, when my buddies started calling me Joe Ten, some even added eleven, twelve, thirteen etc.

As I started my blog in the middle of exams one year ago, I am currently having my exams now as expected. And as usual, I'm in pretty deep shit in my academics, if things go on like that, I might end up graduating without the honors.

Anyways, to people (especially friends who know me) who are following my blog, thank you for your support! I'd try to keep my blog updated regularly, with little bits and pieces of my life. I'd also try to make my blog less emo, or else it'd turn into a whining station, hah.

Meaning. Passion. Equipment.

Sometimes, in pursuit of high-end, better, and even better equipment, people forget the original intent of the equipment. Common groups of people are Audiophiles and Photographers.

Audiophiles, by definition are people who seek high-quality audio reproduction via the use of specialized high-end audio electronics; so the group I am referring to is really music appreciators. 

Music is fundamentally a form of communication; a message that the musician wants to convey. Every “ting”, every “oom”, the selection of every single instrument, vocal harmonies and many more; it paints an image the musician wants to show, it shows the hard work put forth by the musician.  Being able to take apart, and appreciate each layer of the harmonics by itself, and then put them back together and enjoy the piece as a whole. That is music appreciation.

I believe that the purpose of high-end audio equipment is to enhance the music appreciation experience. To me, high end audio equipment is about giving credit to the musician, and hearing music as what the musician intended to be. However, when one become obsessed with high-end equipment, music becomes secondary, and equipment takes priority. Music becomes something for one to appreciate his high-end equipment; but the original idea is the other way around.

I feel photographers are quite the same. Tho not a photographer myself, I see some similarity in the pursuit of high-end equipments.

Ever heard of the phrase “A picture paints a thousand words”? Same as music, behind each photograph, is the story the photographer wants to tell; it paints the image (literally) that the photographer wants to show. The purpose of a high-end camera is to enable the photographer to showcase his capabilities, to the photographer to tell his tale fully, and not be restrained by the limitation of his equipment.

And the same problem arises: obsession with high-end equipments. The question is: just by hanging a $4-5k DSLR on your neck, does that make you a photographer? When you shoot for the sake of the equipment, the photograph is hollow; it does not have a meaning. Photographs then become just a showcase of the camera’s capabilities.

The purpose of your equipment is to empowers your passion. When the focus is shifted to the equipment, the meaning in your passion is lost. Simply put, it should be “I want to do this, what equipment can allow me to do that?” not “I have such good equipment, what can I do with it?” If your passion is about flaunting your wealth and getting expensive equipment, then I have nothing to say.

I am. I am ...?

Aha. I figured out what’s the problem with me. Simply put, I’m half-fucked. Stuck halfway between the 乖乖 boy, and the chao ah beng. Tho self declared beng/fucked-up/asshole, I know I’m actually far from it. But I cannot be considered as a good boy either. I figure that I want the posh feel/look of being atas, but yet I want to be punk. The fact is, it’s unlikely that I can be either. Thus, I end up half fucked in between. So in the end, I’m just a childish boy who thinks that he knows about life and experienced it all, yet actually he knows nothing at all.

Money

Singapore. Elitism. Money. In school, it’s your exam results; at work, it’s your monthly income. The more the merrier. There are only 2 groups: [Elites], and [Others].

Principles, Karma, Moral/Ethics. Ideologies for us poor and weak to feel better about our pathetic lives. These are really redundant things which can be easily overwritten by money.

Principles:

These are really just threshold values which can be easily covered by money.

Say a rich man goes to a pub and he wants a particular girl in bed.

He offers $100, she’d prolly say “Are you f**king crazy?!”

He offers $1000, she’d prolly still reject him, abiding by her highly “principles”.

He offers $10 000, she’d be in some hotel, and prolly throw in extra services and sound effects to earn more tips.

Principles? What Principles?

Karma

This one is even easier to explain. There is no logic to it at all.

Say 2 person David and Kenny. David is a high flyer, getting up the ranks by unscrupulous means. Kenny is a lowly subordinate of David. So David keep exploiting  Kenny, claiming all the credits, gets promoted, earns even more money. Kenny believes in karma, and believe that being a nice person, he’ll get rewarded.

Guess what? In the end, David lives in luxury, have a beautiful wife, has almost everything one would ever want. Kenny? He leads a pathetic life, struggling to make ends meet, can’t get a wife, die alone.

Morals/Ethics

Well, there’s nothing much needed to say, the previous 2 examples already shown that morals/ethics are redundant.

Why are such redundant things still so popular then? Simple, because people seek comfort in such ideas, and the media always show stories which glorifies such ideologies.

Taking a common scenario which always occur on TV. Say David has a girlfriend Penny, and Kenny also like Penny. David is a jerk, betrays Penny and have many other girls than Penny. Penny knows that. Kenny treats Penny really nice, and he really loves her, Penny also have some feelings for Kenny.

In the TV, Penny get sick of David, and marry Kenny instead.

In real life, Penny marrys David, David still fools around. Kenny? Well sucks to be him.

Money is not the most important thing, it is the only thing which matters.

[PS. In case you're thinking I'm some elite laughing at losers, my life is more like Kenny's (sadly), and it's not remotely possible that I can win David.]