another plain day for plain Clare and when books are called products....

I have been trying to settle into the daily grind of a day job and off-hours spent researching and writing up my dissertation. Hence the lack of posts. However, I am please to announce that I have gotten at least half of my dissertation done, with another half to go. Phew. I must say that having to discipline myself for work has helped in disciplining me when it comes to writing. I have never worked as fast in the past 6 months, since July last year, when it comes to anything to do with my dissertation. This could perhaps stem from the desire to get it done with and to move on with my life.

There isn't much to blog about work since I am still under training, with another 6 days to go. Perhaps I will have more interesting stories about work-place antics, deadlines, schedules and the various people I work with once I actually start working properly. When I look back, I realise that my life has changed so much from the time I was a pre-University students, doing things I never thought I would end up doing. I haven't achieved my dreams completely, but I do intend to head towards that direction. The only difficulty is in determining which dream I want to achieve, since I have so many different ambitions that go down so different routes. :P


On a different note, I am glad that I have done of the things I chose to do, though I sometimes regret the things I did not do. Yet, it has been a great life, challenging and always giving me something different, and many exciting things had happened to me these past few years . I am sure not everyone has the privilege to say that about themselves, since most complain that their lives are so dull. But I believe that it is up to you to make or break your own life.

Even though I am working in publishing now, it is not the kind of publishing that I see myself doing long-term. Firstly, this is quite entry-level (even if they do hire some more senior members of the press for this position), the products are of little interest to me (beyond the need to know a few things in order to get my life in order), and the work, from the sound of it, is pretty repetitious, mechanical and almost lifeless. Not only that, we are basically hired to put some poor souls from the first world out of work, as part of the cost-cutting enterprise. I doubt I need to expound on the merits of 'cheap' labour. But, I see it as a way of breaking into what I plan to do in the long run, as well as giving myself work experience. At least I can say that I have worked a number of years (inclusive of freelance, part-time and full-time positions) by the time I get my MA. (;

On a lighter note, reading this guy's blog reminds me so much of the work I am 'trained' to do. Welcome to the publishing sweatshop! Basically, my end of publishing would be the 'sharks' referred to.

http://11d.typepad.com/blog/2004/12/publishing.html

Cheerios

A day at work

This is officially my third day at work. While the first day (Monday) saw me at the new office in Cyberjaya, we (the new people) were asked to go to Raja Chulan as part of our training between Tues to Thurs, so here I am, in the heart of a very congested city. This is going to be my first time going to work on public transport (a bus and a monorail service).

So far, training has been just ok, with a lot of emphasis on the company's products. While I am not all that gungho about what they produce, it is nevertheless an interesting insight into what a non-traditional publishing business does. My nights at home are very boring, as one usually feels drained by the end of the day and at this point, I am still trying to get use to waking up so early everyday and being at work between 0900-1730 everyday. While not engaged in anything too taxing at the moment (beyond stealing time to complete my dissertation), being forced into a certain environment 5 days in a week can be depressing. I know that I will start appreciating the weekend more, especially after having had everyday a weekend for the past 2 1/2.

Anyway, I better go check what is in for today. If I feel like it or have time, I will blog later today. (:

To donate or not To donate

When disaster strikes and relief funds are set up all over calling for donations for those affected, you sometimes wonder how many of these are done genuinely to help the people and not a scam to reap money off gullible people. Perhaps the best thing to do is to give directly to the victims themselves, but sometimes it is not possible to do so, and even if you happen to be there, conditions is such that one would find oneself in a state of chaos and there will be difficulties separating between victims and quacks.

Perhaps it is in human nature to take advantage of others, that being the law of the jungle. Why should we be surprise to hear reports of criminal activities and malice whenever a disaster of massive scale happens, whether natural or man-made?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4145591.stm

I pray that the victims of trauma would be able to rebuild their lives and look forward to better things, though life is very bleak at the moment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4145359.stm

Anyone with the expertise and ability to render help should give a hand as lots of hands are needed.

And hurray for the debt relief
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4147277.stm

Back in Malaysia

Looking back at my previous posts, I am struck by their insipidness, especially in view of the subject I was writing about. For the past two weeks, I have been lacking in inspiration and slack in my writing, hence the dearth of imagination and scintillating arguments. Nevertheless, I will stem the tide of such unwarranted mediocrity and will spur myself on to provide my readers with more delectable semantics, that is if I still have any more readers. (:

I came back the week before, and took 4-5 days to recover from my jetlag (exacerbated by my lousy personal habits). In between trying to sleep and being extremely irritable, I managed to complete reading Georges Battaile's On Sensuality and Eroticism as well as Jacques Lacan's On Feminine Sexuality, the former being a book i borrowed and the latter bought from London. These two are required readings for myself since my dissertation utilises ideas from these two thinkers, and I believe that Malaysians too should read them, even if they do not agree with some of the ideas propounded, for in reading them, I could see bits and pieces of the Malaysian psyche and attitude within the extremities of some of the views. I know that it would be difficult to just walk into a bookstore to get them (after all, these aren't easily obtainable stuff even in the so-called enlighten nations), so I will suggest paying Amazon.com or Kinokuniya a visit and order them. As I do not have much time, I will not venture to review these books for you, though at a latter date, I will discuss some of the ideas in my blog. Suffice to say that Battaile is known for his obssessive interest in human sexuality and eroticism (having written fictional materials that seem to border on pornography for the less exposed or more uptight), with a unhealthy interest in the Marquis de Sade (from which the word sado-masochism is derived) whereas Lacan is much pre-occupied with his conceptualisation of jouissance, which suspiciously is about sexual pleasure. For more on them, don't be lazy and try Google.

Next week, I start work, so I better enjoy all that is left of my holidays, while trying to work on two chapters of my dissertation and start on the third. I wouldn't have much time for anything after this week *sob*. Last week, I posted a piece on the Tsunami under the News and Updates section (perhaps I should have posted it here instead) so if you haven't read it, go check it out here

That's all for now folks.