Letters from the Equator

Sunset walk…
Originally uploaded by pamee.

I am soon approaching 30. My life is becoming more and more dependent on tiny little decisions which I make every single minute of my waking life. As I begin to think about the future, the onset of a potential decision making moment swims around and endless cosmos of intertwined circumstances, possibilities, needs and desires.

A friend-couple of mine recently became parents. I think of them in particular because they, like me, am part of this thing we call “generation”, albeit the fact that they are a few years older than I am. When we do get the chance to meet up, I look to them for insight and direction.

Understanding the “generation” thing is all about living our life out in its proper context to the world around us. These days it’s not common to exchange words over IM. I do it with my dad, who was once a professed BC (before computer) operate.

Even conventional media has taken a new turn – major publications “Wired” and “Business 2.0″ have both made purposeful redesigns to their layout as well as its article focus. It’s hard not to imply that Web 2.0 is affecting a World 2.0, where services are becoming increasingly more open, shared, and complementary.

In short, the world is decentralizing.

This means several things – a “home” could mean anything from the apartment you bought, or your mom’s house, or the office. Activities are becoming more multi-faceted – almost everything is becoming a lifestyle, from gyms to restaurants to petrol stations.

Even travel is becoming more widespread (at least in Malaysia, it is). Who would have thought budget airlines would be such a booming industry? People now have the choice to pay for the extras, which were originally included by airlines as part of the package to improve service.

For someone like me, who spends 50% of his life in his thoughts, this can be a problem. Mainly because no matter how services change or how people change the way they do things, doing things still take time.

Taking out the trash, for example, takes roughly 1.5 minutes. Traveling to and from my office takes 30 minutes. Planning out a new project can take up a few weeks, depending on past experience.

Even starting up Windows takes up the same amount of time taken to use the restroom, make coffee, and browse the major headlines. And it gets worse as new upgrades and releases are introduced.

Other things which involve making a decision regarding the future – can take months, or years – like what color should we paint this wall, or “specific” questions like “how about kids?”

This is why I really appreciate good advice from bloggers like Penelope Trunk, and folks who have had their first kid born in the past year or so (and are not “just married”).

These folks know what it’s like to spend countless hours on the internet proclaiming that it’s a tool that saves time and increases productivity, and at the same time will herald the coming of a new age citing references to Facebook and YouTube – both of which have absolutely nothing to do with saving time or increasing productivity.

As we find our comfortable spots in the new era, we will lose some ground of past ways. And learning to tread forward is that extremely valuable skill I’m looking for.

Because when it’s time for my child to be born – that child will begin to manifest the ethos of the next generation, and I don’t want to be a has-been when that happens.