Come Come Paradise

What happens when you send a piece of artwork to the printer is that multiple pages are planned for print onto each sheet of stock paper; with several objectives in mind:

1. To minimise the number of plates required to be made for print. x number of colours = x number of plates. Plates are used to transfer colours onto your print.

2. To minimise the number of times the paper has to be printed at a time, depending on how many colours are used in the artwork, and which colours appear on which side(s) of the paper. Most machines owned by local printers can only produce 2-4 colours at one go.

3. To minimise time required to prepare the machine for print. The reason why offset printers will tell you to fuck off when you tell them you want to print 500 pieces of something is because they require several hours just to make sure that the colours (usually just Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) are well-registered; meaning to say they're printed in maximum precision to produce a sharp image. To print 500 pieces of a poster design will likely take less than 3 minutes in total AFTER the several hours long set-up. They can just take on a much bigger job, and let the machine run for a much longer time without needing to set up the machine too many times. They've literally got better things to do with their time. The best alternative is to go digital printing, which can cost you RM10 per piece.

4. To minimise wastage of paper. When a paper stock is sent to the printer, the paper is NOT sent in your regular A4/A3 sizes. In fact, they come in huge sizes like 1090mm x 787mm or 939mm x 635mm. A regular stock will allow 8 pieces of A4 posters to be printed, or 16 pages of a booklet to be printed (front and back).

All of the above are essential when you decide on a size of an artwork. If you decide on a 5th colour (like say... gold or silver), what you're doing is you're telling the printer to produce a 5th plate, possibly doubling the time for print (because most machines can only process 2-4 colours at a time, so the 5th colour can only be produced by letting it pass through the machine another time). If you decide to print less than 3,000 pieces through offset printers, I'd tell you to fuck off too. And if you decide to print anything even just slightly bigger than the regular size, chances are, you're wasting 50% of the paper that was purchased for your project, hence doubling your paper cost.

So if you want to print something, maximise your money's worth, and save trees (or rather kill less trees), come to me >....

Friends and Family
I've never really had any problems making friends, and I don't have any problems with anyone in my family. I have made very few enemies (Actually I can only think of one lunatic who would consider me an enemy, and having bumped into him 2 days ago left me cursing that he hasn't died already). All the way up till I started working in Singapore, I took all that for granted.

I've recently spent 10 days in my hometown, with my family, relatives and friends for Chinese New Year celebrations. I've come to regret not cherishing my previous Chinese New Year celebrations as much as I wish I did. People were all around me, but not everyone. Some are far away, busy with their new lives and jobs. Some are close, just a little busier. And some are gone forever. I didn't lose anyone particularly close to me; at least not yet. But for those who did, I felt their emptiness. My grandfather is no longer around. My cousin succumbed to cancer. My friend's grandmother passed away recently. My girlfriend's old friend died in his sleep. An acquaintance of mine passed away, and I regret not getting to know him better.

I know that this post isn't about life and death, but I think it's too important to leave out in a post about family and friends. There are many reasons for me to fear death for myself, such as the fact that out of the 5 people whose death I learned, 3 of them were people whom I considered my peers, age-wise, and that I do not believe in the afterlife (seriously, sometimes I wish I wasn't such a skeptic).

Most of the important people in my life are in my hometown. And if anything happens to them, it is highly likely that I will not be able to make it back on time to say goodbye to them simply because I work in Singapore. Which is ironic because I originally told myself to get my ass on that island so that I could earn a better living and make everything better for the people I care. I consider myself quite lucky to have become aware this before anyone significantly close to me passes away, but anything can happen to a person without warning. How much longer can I tell myself, "It's okay, there's still time"? Like I mentioned earlier, most of the people whose death I learned of were of my age group. What if tragedy strikes someone I really care about? What if tragedy strikes me?

I'm spending my 10th day in my hometown for the Chinese New Year holidays. I've worked in Singapore for over 3 years now. Yet I've had more fun in these 10 days than the 3 years I've spent working in Singapore. Just moments ago I updated my Twitter, Facebook, and IM status messages: "I work in Singapore, and I live in Malaysia".

I've been told all kinds of things by the people around me.

"Good that you're in Singapore, don't come back". "Come back-lah, you always bitch about having no life in Singapore". "With this kind of government, I don't think we (the minority) can ever feel at home (in Malaysia)". "Wah earning Sing Dollars still want to complain". "You should just be wherever you feel happier". "Earn your money and start on your own".

They all make sense to me. They're all right. In a way, it really is good to be in Singapore. And I do bitch about having no life in Singapore. The current Malaysian government is fucked up, and so is the opposition. I do earn Sing Dollars, and I do complain, because it's so fucking difficult to cope with rising costs of living and a salary that never seems sufficient. I probably should be somewhere I feel happy. And yes, I would like to earn my money and eventually start something on my own; it's the only real future that I can see myself in.

But the decision isn't such an easy one. It seems impossible to weigh between remaining in Singapore to earn my buck and secure a place to run away to when Malaysia is fubar, and to remain in Malaysia and attempt to live life to the fullest and start on my own with what little I have to spare. In terms of money, having a job in Singapore feels more secure than trying on my own and risking failure (yes, yes I know I have to risk failure in order to succeed). But in terms of actually being around friends and family, I'd say living here, in tiny old Melaka is undeniably better. I've also considered going overseas, but let's not go there for now; I've said too much that is irrelevant already.

I've been fighting with myself in my head for a very long time, to decide what's best and what's next. What I should do, and what I risk by doing so. To me, it is a problem that I cannot solve, and a problem that will continue to linger until I make the ultimate decision, whatever that may be.

So what can I do? I really don't know. But the best thing I could think of is to continue doing what I'm doing until something magical (or grievous) hits me. So friends and family, thank you for everything that you've done, and thank you for being here with me. You've all been extremely supportive and patient with me, but I'm afraid that I must ask for a little more time...

There's no overtime pay. You can't claim for a cab until it's way past dinner time; sometimes bedtime. There's no dinner. There's a ridiculous expectation for you to meet all deadlines, even if multiple projects are due the next morning on short notice. There's no gratitude. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, there's yelling.

So my girlfriend's family came to Singapore for her ACCA convocation, and both her brothers were into games. Naturally, we went around hunting for game shops. Her elder brother bought Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and The Orange Box for XBox 360 and her younger brother was looking for Kingdom Hearts for the Nintendo DS; it took us quite some time before we chanced upon it. My girlfriend wanted to get Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for the DS. I, on the other hand, was looking for a few games that were becoming rare; namely Okami and No More Heroes for the Wii. My girlfriend helped to purchase the last copy of Okami at a local game store, but we had absolutely no luck finding No More Heroes. I went online to check and apparently, according to a forum discussion at Gamespot, the game was banned in Singapore >_>.... I got desperate and bought it off Play-Asia. All I have to do now is wait for it to arrive...

Sometimes I really wonder if this stupid island is a good idea at all. Not that home is a perfect place; not that there's a Utopia anywhere at all.

But in a world where the system is so powerful, so systematic, so objective, success from sheer creativity or innovation is generally achievable only by the rich, or the really fortunate who happen to be at the right place at the right time. The education system is broken. But because the elite want to keep their children in power, the broken education system is allowed to persist. Money can buy a total dumbass this magical piece of paper called a degree which will typically lead to a bright future, and there lack of can cause an intelligent, gifted individual to lead a dreadful, miserable life.

It's a very careful island. A very smart island, that recognises this system, and exploits it remarkably well. So well that seemingly, there is no form of corruption, no flaw, no problem. And even if there is any, it's done legally and slowly and invisibly, like many other parts of the world. It's legalised. And because it is legal, nobody questions it. Incentives instead of bribes, taxes instead of robbery, salary raises that do not cope with inflation instead of slavery, branding and marketing instead of telling people "I'm ripping you off and you know it and you buy it anyway" and publishing really scary news about things that happen in the rest of the world to make people believe that they're in a safe and happy place; so much so that the scariest local news that I've seen published here is that of a cat torturer and what he did to the poor cats, which actually made the front page! All these to allow the system to continue; all these to keep the invisible social caste thingie going on for many generations to come.

Back home, it's all that and more! Sodomy accusations for political gain, throwing people out the window and calling it a suicide to cover a dark secret, and blowing people up to keep their husbands' penises in their pants. Our dear leaders are generally stupider and less subtle. The opposition is sadly incompetent. Yet I prefer home. /facepalm