Sunday, January 06, 2008
Yes to Yoga
The first day at ACNielsen made me realize something extremely terrible.
We all have to spend approximately 35 years of our lives working. Which means for5/7 (assuming that I have a 5-day work week) of the 35 years, I am supposed to spend my time staring into the monitor, processing data, analyzing data... to find out how to make a (consumer/media) product sell better, and to earn a living.
So how am I contributing to the society? Is promoting consumerism & materialism something to be proud about? Am I making the society a better place by doing what I'm doing? Am I a happier person because I manage to find out how certain TV channels appeal to particular audience? Am I enlightened... spiritually? Is anyone... save the media owners and co... enlightened?
I guess not. And it's so tragic that I'm supposed to spend 35 years of my live doing something I personally think is so meaningless.
Wtf lah. Industry research is so unlike academic research. And I detest it. But don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that the job sucks, in fact, processing data and secretly arriving at conclusions on my own is fun, but you see, I don't see myself progressing as a person doing that. Because, if you get what I mean, you don't see "results" doing research of this sort. You can do all the research you want, come up with 1000 findings and suggest 1000 solutions... but ultimately, it's your client who decides what to do with what you have found. And also, I don't see alot of freedom in industry research... you don't get to decide on the research topic... and it's so not exciting.
Plus, sitting at the office desk from 9 to 5 is stiffling, irritating, frustrating, disgusting.
You know after the 1st day of work, I immediately rushed home to do something to calm my nerves - Yoga.
And, as absurd as it may sound to many of you, I cannot suppress the urge to want to become a yoga instructor. It keeps people healthy in body and in mind... very progressive... unlike bloody research.
Visiting my yoga instructor's house on Friday inspired me even more. He is obviously not wealthy... he lives in a 3-room flat, he cycles instead of drive, and claims that he doesn't want kids because he cannot afford to have one. But the quality of his live is amazing... he's the happiest person I've ever come to know & I aspire to be just like him.
His flat is beautiful (he designed the flat himself). He knocked down all the pillars which resulted in a huge living room... where he conducts yoga classes. There is no TV in his flat (how much more spiritual & unworldly can a person get???). And he has only one set of furniture - a wooden table with an electronic stove embedded in it, and 4 chairs under the table. That's his kitchen cum dining table. The rest of the flat is empty... totally empty save a few beautiful lamps and light tubes & pebbles along the parameter of the apartment.
You can tell how much effort he put into doing up his flat. And you can tell he's very proud about it, and rightly so.
(Oh, did I mention that his flat has an amazing view too... on the left you see the entire Shenton Way and on the right you see Chinatown. Suburb + Urban at your feet... what else can one ask for?)
It's also easy to see how happy he is with his job. Yoga is a hobby, a sport, a form of meditation. And he makes a living doing what he loves so much.
Better still for him, his wife is a yoga instructor too.
My god I am really jealous of him.
So... since I'm not smart enough to be an academic, maybe I should really go take a CPR cert, then a BEC cert, and finally a yoga instructor cert. Living the life of my yoga instructor is really my current goal.
And he's the 2nd person who inspired me so much in my life. The first person taught me the concept of basic human rights.
unclaimedpropertyofthecounts
5:37 AM
Yes to Yoga
The first day at ACNielsen made me realize something extremely terrible.
We all have to spend approximately 35 years of our lives working. Which means for5/7 (assuming that I have a 5-day work week) of the 35 years, I am supposed to spend my time staring into the monitor, processing data, analyzing data... to find out how to make a (consumer/media) product sell better, and to earn a living.
So how am I contributing to the society? Is promoting consumerism & materialism something to be proud about? Am I making the society a better place by doing what I'm doing? Am I a happier person because I manage to find out how certain TV channels appeal to particular audience? Am I enlightened... spiritually? Is anyone... save the media owners and co... enlightened?
I guess not. And it's so tragic that I'm supposed to spend 35 years of my live doing something I personally think is so meaningless.
Wtf lah. Industry research is so unlike academic research. And I detest it. But don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that the job sucks, in fact, processing data and secretly arriving at conclusions on my own is fun, but you see, I don't see myself progressing as a person doing that. Because, if you get what I mean, you don't see "results" doing research of this sort. You can do all the research you want, come up with 1000 findings and suggest 1000 solutions... but ultimately, it's your client who decides what to do with what you have found. And also, I don't see alot of freedom in industry research... you don't get to decide on the research topic... and it's so not exciting.
Plus, sitting at the office desk from 9 to 5 is stiffling, irritating, frustrating, disgusting.
You know after the 1st day of work, I immediately rushed home to do something to calm my nerves - Yoga.
And, as absurd as it may sound to many of you, I cannot suppress the urge to want to become a yoga instructor. It keeps people healthy in body and in mind... very progressive... unlike bloody research.
Visiting my yoga instructor's house on Friday inspired me even more. He is obviously not wealthy... he lives in a 3-room flat, he cycles instead of drive, and claims that he doesn't want kids because he cannot afford to have one. But the quality of his live is amazing... he's the happiest person I've ever come to know & I aspire to be just like him.
His flat is beautiful (he designed the flat himself). He knocked down all the pillars which resulted in a huge living room... where he conducts yoga classes. There is no TV in his flat (how much more spiritual & unworldly can a person get???). And he has only one set of furniture - a wooden table with an electronic stove embedded in it, and 4 chairs under the table. That's his kitchen cum dining table. The rest of the flat is empty... totally empty save a few beautiful lamps and light tubes & pebbles along the parameter of the apartment.
You can tell how much effort he put into doing up his flat. And you can tell he's very proud about it, and rightly so.
(Oh, did I mention that his flat has an amazing view too... on the left you see the entire Shenton Way and on the right you see Chinatown. Suburb + Urban at your feet... what else can one ask for?)
It's also easy to see how happy he is with his job. Yoga is a hobby, a sport, a form of meditation. And he makes a living doing what he loves so much.
Better still for him, his wife is a yoga instructor too.
My god I am really jealous of him.
So... since I'm not smart enough to be an academic, maybe I should really go take a CPR cert, then a BEC cert, and finally a yoga instructor cert. Living the life of my yoga instructor is really my current goal.
And he's the 2nd person who inspired me so much in my life. The first person taught me the concept of basic human rights.
unclaimedpropertyofthecounts
5:37 AM