山木自寇也，
膏火自煎也。
桂可食，故伐之；
漆可用，故割之。
人皆知有用之用，
而莫知無用之用也。
Mountain trees self-destruct,
Lamp tallow self-immolates.
Cinnamon is edible, so it is cleaved;
Varnish is useful, so it is cut.
All men know the advantage of being useful,
but none know the advantage of being useless.
— 莊子 [Zhuang Zi], Zhuang Zi, “Transactions in the World of Men” (“人間世”).
Tag - life
My first column in Esquire Singapore!
Confronting Non-Confrontation in Singapore
Singaporeans bitch too much. Or so the saying I’m loosely paraphrasing goes.
Case in point: how often do you see updates like this from your Singaporean friends on your social media networks?
“Get your daughter’s head out of my vagina, bitch.”
(Context: It was a crowded bus; the mother was seated and holding her baby girl in her arms. Unbeknownst to the mother, her baby’s head was pressing against someone else’s crotch.)
“Just boarded an empty train when a lady pushed me from behind and let out a loud ‘TSK’. So impatient for what? Bitch, right!”
Indeed. And that’s one of the reasons why I term such posts “bitch-rants”.
But before the feminists get on my case, let me further clarify that:
- The epithet “bitch” is usually – but not always – bandied about in a bitch-rant, because the rants are about bitchy people, regardless of gender; and
- The people ranting do so in order to bitch i.e. to get something off their chests.
Bitch-rants are so common nowadays that when I wake up and I don’t see any bitch-rants in my social networks, I actually start worrying and searching for one…
I can’t post the full text because of copyright reasons so please get a copy of the February issue of Esquire Singapore from newsstands today!
My first column in Her World!
Dear, Can I Go Out With The Guys?
Why should men ask for permission to have a boys’ night out? LAREMY LEE learns the answer – along with why guys need alibis.
Recently, two trends have emerged in my life:
- More and more of my engaged or married guy friends need to ask their fiancées or spouses for permission to hang out.
- More and more of said guy friends use me as their “alibi” when getting said permission.
No, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Let me explain…
I can’t post the full text because of copyright reasons so please get a copy of the February issue of Her World from newsstands today!