Kopi writing

A flavourful cup of caffeine never fails to inspire.

 

That’s just some of the copywriting I did for our eDMs for our F&B outlet promotions. Artwork and layout are done by our designer.

Never underestimate the power of coffee!

Modern versus Olden

The other day I was walking around Carrefour and it suddenly it hit me that there were so many varieties of technology and equipment being sold. It got me wondering how modern humans like us have evolved to be so much more reliant on technology.

Is it a good thing? Would we be able to survive without these equipment to aid us in our daily lives? Are we really considered independent beings if we are actually dependent on our technology and equipment?

I think not.

Our ancestors from olden times must have been way more independent than we are. They found discovered natural ways to carry on their daily lives, for example, creating fire by rubbing two stones against each other so that they could cook.

Looking at the modern us: with the ongoing flushes of technology and equipment, we have gotten more dependent and lazier than ever. Does that mean that in the future there is no need for an actual library because all the information in the world will be on the Internet? Will there still be parks and wildlife, or will they be reduced to mere images on the Internet?

If we were thrown back in time; if the earth dies, will we still be able to sustain ourselves or will we die along with the technology?

Michael Learns To (soft) Rock

Friday was a day full of surprises.

Our GM decided to donate his MLTR concert tickets to HR so that they could give them to one of the staff. HR sent out an email to say whoever got back to them first would get the tickets. Someone got the tickets – but it wasn’t me. Obviously I had no clue what went on since I was out of the office at the time.

When I got back to my desk, I found a note on my desk saying:

“Dear Cheryl, are you free tonight? Uncle Matt would like to date you to go Fort Canning Park.”

I screamed… Because I knew that MLTR would be playing at Fort Canning Park that evening. (By the way, ‘Uncle Matt’ is our graphic designer)

I found out a while later that while I was out, my other colleague had replied to HR saying I (as in me, Cheryl) wanted the tickets because she knows I like MLTR. But she was a few seconds too late. Someone else got the tickets. So she and ‘Uncle Matt’ stormed over to this person’s department and demanded he gave up the tickets to me and ‘Uncle Matt’ (‘cos he likes MLTR too).

We were so excited for the whole time after that. I even literally hopped around the department like an energiser bunny ‘cos I couldn’t stop being excitable.

Well, later on we reached Fort Canning Park, but realised to our dismay that we entered by the wrong area (the cordoned off VIP area) – we looked to the far front and realised that people were starting to stream in. Just then, we caught sight of another colleague (she was in charge of the catering for VIPs) who was wearing a crew member pass. So we called out to her and explained our predicament – and the guards let us through without checking our tickets at all! So we ran all across the field… and managed to get a place right in front of the stage!

In case you were wondering, the music and singing were awesome. Obviously. I had expected lesser, but to my surprise, MLTR seriously rocked… And I mean, they rocked so hard that the speakers, the barricades and even the ground were shaking! They turned out to be more talented musicians than I thought they were. Anyway, my experience at the MLTR would not have been complete without photos (and the boasting rights):-

Click HERE to watch the videos I took at the concert!

Alright, seeing MLTR on stage in concert was one thing. But the better thing is I actually got to be at their press conference (in my hotel’s club lounge) while they were walking past me like nobody’s business (glee!), and they even stood what felt like a hair’s breadth away from me… (well alright, 50cm okay?) I was star struck!

The funny thing about Jascha (lead singer/keyboardist) was that he’s really quiet and stoned in real life, but he’s so cheery and chatty on stage (and he has a paunch)! Mikkel (guitarist) was gorgeous (and chatty) and he had such stunning blue eyes… Oh, and I think he shaved his chest for the concert -  I remember seeing a whole lot of chest hair in their Eternity Tour poster. Kare (drummer) looked serious but he was friendly… And he kept LOOKING at me during the press interview. I felt so awkward.

Our club lounge.

With the interviewer from Razor TV – yes, it was a live video recording!

From left: Kare (drummer), Mikkel (guitarist) and Jascha (lead singer/keyboardist).

Online Social Media Platforms aka Educational Tool?

The newspapers today carried reports of Twitter being used as a platform for teaching our youngsters the importance of speaking good English.

Would it work? I don’t think so.

My personal belief is that good spoken (and written) English is a deep-rooted affair which is imbued in our individual person. All this starts from when a person is young – and there is, of course, influence from his/her family and peers to speak good English. If a person grows up in an environment where his/her family and peers pay little heed to speaking good English, he/she will be imbued with the idea that speaking good English is unimportant, and thus there is no need to speak it well as long as his/her family and friends can understand him/her in poor English or any other language he/she speaks.

As such, online social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook will end up serving only as an experiment. The youngsters who have been targeted will only end up as clueless human lab rats.

If our authorities decide to target youngsters with such modern platforms, then how does one reach out to the middle aged folks in society? They too need to be educated – how not to fall into robbery traps, and even how to be courteous to others.

From my personal experiences travelling to work on the MRT, I am convinced that our society needs a lot of improvement on our social behaviour and manners, especially the older folks (whom I do not completely fault due to perhaps their lack of education). The courtesy campaign should be revived and it should always remain. Sticking life-sized Phua Chu Kang stickers around the MRT stations do not help.

I’m wondering: If the usage of online social media platforms is synonymous with youths, then what types of platforms are synonymous with middle aged people? Newspapers and magazines? How else can we reach out to educate older folks?

Any thoughts or ideas? If so, leave a comment. All comments are welcome.