odds and ends

So... let's see now, let's see... what's going on in the rag-and-bone-shop of my heart?
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1) The Tuition Centre is being put up for sale. Brokered by Credit Suisse, the deal apparently carries the sweet sweet asking price of S$350 million. With alleged annual profits of S$20 million, that's a multiple of 17.5 -- and apparently there are still more than 5 bidders interested in buying. Amazing. This explains so much of what's been going on in the workplace this year......
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2) Enrique Martinez Celaya. My newest artistic idol. (Actually, possibly my first artistic idol. i've never been so taken by the work and philosophy of any other visual artist before.)
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3) So i've discovered what the common thread is, the thing that turns me on in art, the thing that i care about: aesthetics engaging with ethics. Thanks to Celaya, really -- his musings on his work and what drives him to make art. Now i know why my writing has been feeling so uninspired for the last year or so: because i've been trying to make work that i don't care about, that does not carry an ethical charge. Trying to write about issues like cultural identity, space -- all worthy issues, i'm sure, and very intellectually fascinating (which is why i was quite enamoured of them for some time...), but nothing to do with what i truly care about. No more. Let this be a change of direction, or rather, a re-routing, a re-orientation, back to what really matters.
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4) Lesson learned this year: i can't do anything i don't believe in. i can't do anything that goes against my values. And even if i try to rationalise and convince myself that i should, it just ain't gonna happen, the attempt is doomed to failure from the outset. Sigh. Talk about the cost of being pure in heart.
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