Watch Value

Some narrow minded professor made a comment about automatic watches. I love how Watch Snob's response to his article (although I admit the name does not reflect a good impression *cough*).

But lets take another look from a different point of view. The average monthly wage in Switzerland after tax was 4948 CHF (2011). With gross salary about 6000 Swiss francs and a low end automatic watch costing 2000 francs. I would estimate an average employee need to produce 7 to 8 piece per month for the maker to break even and make small profit, if you account for the overhead like factory building, machines, etc. Now.. depending on the automation level of the production process, some watchmaker like Rolex can produce up to 30 watches per month per employee, so if you buy a Rolex, yeah.. you are conned. But for other watches which requires high level of finish and polishing for the dial, its less. Some boutique manufacturer also build their own movement, which can take even longer (and more expensive) to finish a watch.

In contrast, a quartz watch production can probably utilize full automation. Plus circuit boards and battery  produce hazardous chemicals as by product. I think all the important points has been mentioned by Snob. But for me its down to whether you want to pay for machines (and its owners) which churns out cheap, ugly watches. Or pay real artisans for their skill.

Well.. I'm supposed to be working today. Instead I work on other things.. oh.. wait.. that mean I have worked. In fact, I'm quite productive today.. mopping the floor and cleaning the toilet. Anyway.. I want to write something while I still remember it.

The rise of charismatic Christian irks me a lot. I'd say ninety percent of them preached about blessing and prosperity. My problem with that is that it focus on receiving, and often becoming the sole purpose of people coming to church. Plus.. all other verses are ignored or left unexplained.
I quote a comment from one of the prominent contemporary charismatic pastor:

"You can be a businessman here in St. Louis, and people think the more you have, the more wonderful it is...but if you’re a preacher, then all of a sudden it becomes a problem."

Helloo?! The problem is precisely because you are a preacher. What happened to "sell your possession and give the money to the poor" ? There are some people who wants little change in their life when they become Christians, with an exception of being richer because of all those blessings that God pour on them abundantly and freely.

Last Sunday, the message preached from my church pulpit coincidentally touch on the same verse. Its about a rich young ruler, some commentary state the possibility that he was a ruler of a synagogue. We can see the parallel here. A religious leader who was rich, and have followed every legal requirement of the Torah. The only problem he had was that money as his idol.

Memories

I always wonder how people write their own memoirs or biography. I seem to have a short term memory. I already forgot past distant travels. I'm not sure if this is common, or that I'm the only one with this shortcoming. Some people seems to be able to recall old memories vividly, just like it was yesterday.
I envy them. Maybe this is partly why I became a photographer, and writing this blog. To record fleeting moments.

Immortality

Some are like water, some are like the heat
Some are a melody and some are the beat
Sooner or later they all will be gone
Why don't they stay young
It's so hard to get old without a cause
I don't want to perish like a fading horse
Youth is like diamonds in the sun
And diamonds are forever
So many adventures couldn't happen today
So many songs we forgot to play
So many dreams are swinging out of the blue
We let them come true

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever

Forever Young - Alphaville

There are so many things a person can do, and could never do in their lifetime. I always wonder why people run out of things to do. I personally need more than 24 hours in a day. There are so much to learn, to read, to do, places to visit. The thought that you can learn about everything in this world is both ridiculous and arrogant.


Meanwhile, I want to share a good testimony from the late dr. Richard Teo

Five years is long enough to call a place home.. sometimes I just miss it.

Random fact #278

Do you know my blog is visited by a porn site?
Out of curiosity, I click the link to my visitor's page. In office no less.

Enjoying Things

The present generation, at least from Gen X (interestingly, the term coined by Robert Capa, co-founder of Magnum Photos) onwards, suffers from lack of concentration and short attention span. Thanks to the various electronic gadgets like radio, TV, iPod, iPad, and the advent of internet.People tend to multi task, thus dividing their concentration to several things at the same time.

I have this bad habit of eating and doing something else.. usually reading, be it a comic book, newspaper, or a magazine. The drawback of course, is that I cannot fully appreciate the taste of my food. Although, in my defence, its not haute cuisine either (sorry mom).

I thought about writing this post when reading Petite Anglaise's blog posts regarding food. Its dormant now but the archives are there and its highly entertaining especially if you have nothing to do in office. Hopefully I won't get dooced.. which is highly unlikely since I have tendered my resignation last month.. hee hee
The blog world seems to be much more colourful back then, before the advent of facebook, which some female teenagers mistook for a diary of their lives. But honestly, who ever wrote 'I'm in the toilet' or 'I'm going to sleep' in their diary?

Back to the topic, I think the French had it right, the take their food very seriously. They even stare at people eating their food in the streets. Good thing I didn't do that while I was in Paris. The French sit and enjoy their food properly and slowly, they only take proper meals, and don't like to eat snacks in between.
In the years of living abroad, I get to taste some of the better food available, albeit for a price. Don't worry, I still have my arms and legs. I have come to appreciate the taste of pork soup ramen (tonkotsu), local fish soup (yes.. fish! believe it or not), and the delight of a cod sushi, and occasional Subway sandwich.

To some extent... I cannot fully enjoy a beautiful scenery when I'm with a gorgeous girl for example (or vice versa, in case some gorgeous girl reading this post gets offended, I wouldn't want that would I?). And also, enjoying music or radio when I'm doing something else (internet browsing, photo editing, book reading etc) which requires some level of concentration, so now I just turn off the music.