The new blings

I love them all quite a bit. Going to retire the Pelikans in lieu of these new developments. Off now for I have 2 essays and 3000 words to write before the end of the week. *sigh*

Email and Lies

Directed from Fountainpen network to New York Times

October 2, 2008, 12:26 pm
E-Mails and Lies

E-mail has become one of the dominant forms of workplace communication, but new research suggests it also may be the most deceptive.

Researchers at Rutgers and DePaul Universities studied how e-mail influenced communication among 48 graduate students. In the study, they told students they had $89. Each student could then divide the money any way he or she liked and give a portion to another person whom they didn’t know.

The students used e-mail or pen and paper to divvy the pot. In describing the amount of money to be divided, students using e-mail lied more than 92 percent of the time. In comparison, about 64 percent of the students using pen and paper lied about the pot size.

Among those students who lied about the size of the pot, the students using pen and paper were more generous. On average, students using e-mail claimed the pot was $56, and they offered the other person $29. Pen-and-paper students said they had $67 to share and offered the other person $34.

“There is a growing concern in the workplace over e-mail communications, and it comes down to trust,” said Liuba Belkin, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor of management at Lehigh University, in a press release. “You’re not afforded the luxury of seeing nonverbal and behavioral cues over e-mail. And in an organizational context, that leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation and, as we saw in our study, intentional deception.”

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management in August and reported in a Lehigh University press release.

Researchers noted that something changes when a person puts their fingers on a keyboard, rather than putting something in their own handwriting.

“E-mail communication decreases the amount of trust and cooperation we see in professional group work, and increases the negativity in performance evaluations,” said co-author Terri Kurtzberg of Rutgers. “People seem to feel more justified in acting in self-serving ways when typing as opposed to writing.”

This morning

Trying quite very hard to shake off the flu, listening to Yoyo Ma's cello playing the dulcet tones of Morriccone's repertoire, trying to finish up on a term paper which is turning into a grand old ranty tanty piece (I most likely come off like a deranged washerwoman thumping hard on her washing board), waiting for a call.

Just waiting.

Off tomorrow to Hongkers to see friends and not do anything. Yes, that will be the aim. To stay away from art and people. Rest for the soul perhaps

The dearth of text and writings over the last fortnight resulted mainly from the ending of two projects and being sick for the last week or so. Flu will always be my Achilles heel... two days of staring up at the ceiling and feeling my grey matter have been packed in nothing but cotton wool; another three days of trying to make it through before going to seek consultation with the medical professional for the third time this week to get the prescription right. (The first did not understand the extent of my sickness and prescribed me with something I would have given myself on a slightly off day, the second gave me stronger meds but thought it would be better to leave out the antibiotics - boy was he wrong; the third finally caved in and gave me stronger medication and the anti biotic)

Amidst my agony and nasal voice, I did manage to catch a bit of the Biennale at City Hall and South Beach encampment. Hopefully I will be well enough to catch the other sites later on. Of the two sites, I have to say that South Beach seemed to work best - a derelict building but yet the works selected for the space seemed consistent with the theme and edgy enough to allow the audience to be flexible in their interpretation of "wonder" - granted it wasn't such a wonder-ful theme after all.

Bound For Glory: Wong Hoy Cheong

"Of the ambitions and desires of empires, nations, cities and individuals, Bound for Glory articulates the pursuit of recognition, presented through five works by the Malaysian contemporary artist Wong Hoy Cheong. Revealed in the works are reflections on aspirations for fame and glory sought through notoriety, geographical and imagined occupation, and nationalistic fervor; as well as the dilemmas and conflicts that a rapacious appetite for a place in history, influence and honour entails. Artworks presented in the exhibition include: Re:Looking (2002-3), Chronicles of Crime (2006), Suburbia:Bukit Beruntung, Subang Jaya (2006), Anthem (2006) and Aman Sulukule, Canim Sulukule / Oh Sulukule, Darling Sulukule (2007).

Coming from Georgetown, Penang, the internationally-recognised artist’s practice is inter-disciplinary, involving areas such as drawing, installation, theatre, performance and video. Recent exhibitions he has been invited to present his work at include the Taipei Biennale (2008) and Istanbul Biennale (2007). A publication, Shifts: Wong Hoy Cheong 2002 – 2007, documenting the artist’s work since 2002, is produced in conjunction with the exhibition."

Date: 11 September - 23 November 2008
Location: NUS Museum

Roll out the geekery

If you watch Battlestar Galactica....

This has been doing it's rounds since McCain announced his running mate

Tizzy

This week - absolutely has me wishing that there was a catholicon for everything resembling an art exhibition.

The hair is a tizzy and if not, even out of control. I feel like a single person going in a million directions at one go and with a huge breakout.

Just have to breath and focus on the eventual.

The obsession

I never realized exactly how many pens I actually have - since they come to me individually until someone asked me over a meal one day.

"How many pens do you have?"

"8."

And an elliptical silence descends on the topic.

Really. Is it that scary.

"You only have one hand to write with, ya know, not 8."

Well.. I rotate them. I use about 3 in a day - depending on the inks I filled them with. And perhaps, the particular mood that would define the use between a medium and a fine.



The paltry line up form Bottom up
Hero 616, Hero 336, Pelikan M100, Waterman Expert, Lamy 2000 (A personal favourite at this point of time), Pelikan M250 (got it as a steak and introduction to Pelikan pens and the ubiquitous Lamy Safari (Still one of my everyday pens)

Unlike my other collections, there seemed quite a high possibility that I will be expanding on this soon and quick. I'm just looking for a good way to store these babes and perhaps throw in a few more different bottles of ink.

There's strange euphoria in the air, I guess. Considering that many things are done and getting done. What a strange way to start the week.

One of the reasons why I will never want to use a glue binded book for a journal again.
Oh hai - the pink paper that still bears such faint scent of perfume after all these years!
A sheer reminder to years 1993-2001.

---

There are certain dates and birthdays that seemed to be synonymous to me with certain personality traits in certain people I care about. Hogwash - one might say of the whole coincidence - that two people of the same birthdays but years apart would share that rather alarming trait that threatens to cause much damage to their lives. At the same time, I orbit like a comet around the outer realms of their lives, not too sure if I have the right to intercede or even interfere only because I care.

---

The search for the perfect lecture notebook that would take fountain pen ink has ended and the results shall be published soon. A stray thought comes to mind that if an epicure is defined as

"1. a person who cultivates a refined taste, esp. in food and wine; connoisseur.
2. Archaic. a person dedicated to sensual enjoyment. "

and a sybarite as

1. (usually lowercase) a person devoted to luxury and pleasure.
2. an inhabitant of Sybaris.

What would best describe a person who has too much respect for her daily writing tools to let it all go?

In the spirit of Resilence.

2008 is too fricking long...

In the spirit of "hey! Let's see how many things Q can juggle at one time", here's another addition to the list. Grad school classes starts next week on top of the full time job and the part time consultancy services.

If I survive this year - with all the biennale and all, I'll be mighty thankful.

Every now and then, I try to convince myself that while other girls have handbags and shoes, I have my tools of trade and how I enjoy using them each day. The new additions - Waterman Expert F nib and Lamy 2000 XF nib (Oh my god! Its mine at last)

It was a bit of a game going around through the various shops to see where a better deal can be found but I'm very happy that I manage to get it at a price that is slightly less than what is marked on the Lamy USA website.

Lest we forget

One of the richest countries in Asia is seeing a dramatic rise in the number of people turning up for free meals.

For the third straight month inflation in Singapore is at a 26 year high at 7 and a half percent.

That along with soaring food costs and wages staying the same is forcing many Singaporeans to tighten their belts.

Al Jazeera's Laura Kyle reports.

Been really stressed at work. I must get back to writing again.

Should really hang one of these up one day

I really need/want a beer this evening.

Scribbles.

Permanence, however, is not one of beauty's more obvious attributes; and the contemplation of beauty, when it is expert, may be wreathed in pathos, the drama on which Shakespeare elaborates in many of the sonnets. traditional celebrations of beauty in Japan, like the annual rite of cherry-blossom viewing, are keenly elegiac; the most stirring beauty is the most evanescent.
-Susan Sontag, "An Argument About Beauty"-

In the midst of it all

Reading list for July 2008

1. Readings - Michael Dirda


2. The Stone Gods - Jeanette Winterson


3. Enduring Love - Ian McEwan


4. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks


5. The Unbearable Lightness of being - Milan Kundera


6. Bound to Please - Michael Dirda