A bout of intellectual inertia has hit me of late – my reading of “The Truth about Markets” has been mostly stop-start. I don’t know if the problem lies with the dour content of the book or the mental slobbery that I’ve been predisposed to in recent weeks. So, to kick start my neural engine, I’ve taken to blog surfing in the hope of finding some thought-provoking articles. I managed to find them in some economics blogs – or econologs, as some of them would have it - and they’re a breath of fresh air from the run-of-the-mill commentaries you see in the finance section of newspapers – and definitely more intriguing than the ‘A’ Level texts I faced back in school. Having said that, I’m still resolute about not pursuing economics in university. The philosophical side of economics is fairly easy to grasp once you run through the logical steps of the theories in your head a few times, but the mathematical aspect of it just baffles me. The arcane mathematical formulas and symbols are just beyond my mortal brain; every time I come across them, my plebian mind just blanks out. Sometimes, I really wonder if all that mathematical hocus-pocus is just to conceal the ineptitude of the economists to come up with a foolproof theory. Perhaps the saying really is true, “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.” . (I know, accusations of cowardice and challenge-phobia are probably gonna be directed towards me, but I’ll address them another day - and yeah, I know delaying my defence now only serves to vindicate those accusations, but stop being so anal ok.)

Truth be told, my indolent brain wasn’t accustomed to the sudden influx of neural processing; thus, I decided to switch to surfing personal blogs to ease the strain. I’d a hard time searching for an intriguing local (read: Singapore not Brunei) blog; the ones publicized in the newspapers were pretty good in their own way, but just not my cup of tea – at least at the time of my search. However, I did realize (or rather, reaffirmed) something in the midst of my search: Singapore is one small Friendster network. I was skimming through this person’s blog, and she was talking about how she picked up a shagadelic dude at some club. A picture of him was posted on the blog, but because of my sloth-like Brunei dial-up connection, it took eons to load. So there I was waiting, expecting to see some anonymous hunk, but lo and behold! It was a picture of my friend! I was shocked to say the least – not because my friend isn’t good-looking or what; in fact, he’s pretty suave – but at the inter-connectedness of our community. It really makes you think twice about having anonymous one-night stands (with locals) in Singapore, because it probably won’t be anonymous. Sooner or later, you’re gonna be screwing someone without realizing that he/she is your 3^rd or 4^th degree friend, and that’s going to be awkward. (Just in case I wasn’t clear enough, the abovementioned blogger stated that my friend was shagadelic, but there wasn’t any exchange of bodily fluids – at least from what I interpreted from the blog.) Of course, I’m making the giant leap in assumption that sex is a sacrosanct act. If you’re one who pursues a libertine lifestyle, it’s probably not such a big deal. Anyway, case in point: never do something that you’re not proud of with or against someone in Singapore, because the people, whose opinions of you which matter (to you), are going to find out about it somehow someday through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend…

The search for an intriguing personal blog ended after I came across this blog by an expat-loving local girl – otherwise known as Sarong Party Girl (SPG). Its content is probably too prurient for the more puritanical ones amongst us, but if you were to wade through the less than salubrious prose, you’d find that the blogger does raise a pertinent issue: that of living in the moment versus planning for a better future, hedonism versus pragmatism.

I’m not going to delve into a cost-benefit analysis of the two, as it’ll just be the usual rhetoric. Nevertheless, what I will say is that at the end of the day, none of us would adhere strictly to either lifestyle, because it’s neither practical nor possible. Most of us would lead a lifestyle that’s a hybrid of both modes, of which the ratio of hedonism to pragmatism is subject to one’s personal preferences and values. And even then, the ratio doesn’t remain constant throughout one’s life, but shifts as our priorities in life change through the years.

It is easy peasy to say that reaching a balance between hedonism and pragmatism is crucial for sustainable pleasure. So how do we determine what’s the precise equilibrium point for ourselves? What are the indicators that point towards the attainment of such an equilibrium?

Questions and more questions, to which I’ve nary a good answer to. I guess all I can say is that the attainment of the said equilibrium can only be done through trial and error, and even then, we’re not assured of finding the right mix. And I guess there aren’t any clear cut signs as to whether or not your equilibrium has been reached; if you’ve got your life together, you’ve got your life together. (Yeah, I know this is not helping much.) Then again, this is the beauty of life: There’s no formula to a successful and fulfilling life, and no clear definitions of success and fulfillment.

Your life is what you make it out to be.


(After note: Bah…the last part sounds so ”beauty-queenish” that I wanna puke!)