In Continuum.

Light Bulb Man

It was a cold night,i remember.It was colder than usual,and i had my arms tucked inside my Coldplay t-shirt,as i sat at the playground downstairs with her,unwilling to go and unwilling to stay.It was a couple of days before Christmas,and already the Christmas spirit was already in the air.The lights wrapped the barks of the trees lining the roads,the residences of my estate rising up from three directions all around us,soft murmurs of gatherings and television all around.The peace of Christmas is here...

The inspiration of this entry came in a pair,as they paced the circumference of the playground where i was at.With a torchlight in their hands,chattering in soft rhythms,i almost felt sorry for them and their occupations.The way their white uniforms disappeared into the gloom of the coconut trees all around reminded me of the way,a similar security guard disappeared into the crowd of commuters at Dhoby Ghaut MRT only days earlier.They were all so enthusiastic about their dead end job,still undaunted by the rising brick wall before their path.Or perhaps they are unwilling to realise the fact that their jobs werent going to get them anywhere?It was hard to say,but it saddened me a little how there are so many people stuck with such occupations.

The worst thing is how somebody has to do that kind of job,and not to have robots or something replace them.Somebody has to do the security checks around the condominium.Somebody has to wash the dried urine from the tiles in the public toilet.Somebody has to sweep up vomit from the dance floor in pubs,and somebody has to clear the blockage in a public drain.Somebody,always somebody.It saddens me that it takes people like them to do it,people with real enthusiasim.But who else?Who else?

There was a book that i briefly flipped through before.It was a book about the worst jobs in the world,and one of them was actually the light bulb man.Of course,it wasnt the name given to him,just how i labelled him as.It's not exactly the worst job in the world of course,but if you have some problems with going togreat heights - literally - in an occupation,you should think twice about this one despite the salary.

The light bulb man deals with the blinking lights on top of all skyscrapers.You know,when you look out into the horizon and see the decoration of man-made stars?Those were all fixed by a dedicated group of people,the light bulb changing ones.There was a picture taken from the top of the Empire State Building,a bird's eye view with the rest of New York falling away four hundred metres below.At the pinnacle of the building hangs a man with a leather strap around his waist.That is the light bulb man,the man in charge of changing the light bulb at the top of the building when it blows,since every light bulb does.The importance of such an occupation is great,because of the nature of the light bulbs.They tell low flying aircrafts where the top of the skyscrapers are.So the light bulb man has a important and highly dangerous job nobody knows about.Not just the danger,but how fucked up it is.

There is another occupation that i read in the FHM magazine that is both interesting and screwed up.Of course,from such a men's magazine,you should expect the article to stay close to its roots: Sex.

America is actually the biggest porn industry in the world,with Japan following swiftly behind.And during all movie shoots,like any other movie shoots,it takes time for the technicians to prepare the set.The lighting,the cameras and a lot of other aspects.So in between shoots,the actors and actresses cannot stay excited forever.I mean,you cannot expect them to be excited when your partner is merely pretending for the camera and the perverted uncles out there in front of their computers,armed with Kleenex and lubricants.So there is a job on the set,and the job is to excite the actors and actresses.The means,i'm not going to go into detail as i am sure the readers have enough imaginations to conjure up sinful thoughts.But there you go,another screwed up job.

I'm not saying that i might wind up with such a job,as there arent a lot of skyscrapers in Singapore,and a lot of pornstars(In Singapore they are usually home-made,and a very private industry).But looking at the security guards,pacing the perimeters of the estate,i feared for my own future,my place in the society.I mean,there are only so many 'okay' occupations for me out there,and everything else is the unwanted,the dirty and the truly undesired.

I remember i was in camp one day,having the exact same thoughts as i am having now.I was thinking about the nature of my future career then,and how it is going to affect me as a person if i turns out the most undesirable way.I am hoping of course,to have a job that's going to challenge me as a person,and not have it dominate my life with utter boredom.You know,like the average office worker,waking up,go to work,back from work,fall to sleep.Repeat process,endlessly till the day you retire or die.I wouldnt want that,wouldnt want that at all.

I want a job,and the rules is that it doesnt have any rules.Like a free-lance writer,or a author of a book,a columnist.My father asked me before,if i am interested to tour China with him on his business trips.But i wasnt interested in his money making oil business at all.Sure,he attempted and tried to convince me that the artistry route is a tough one,and that in terms of the monetary profit it is only going to be this much if you are not particularly exceptional or different from anyone else.But i guess for me,like any other trips i take overseas,it is never the monetary profit but the spirital and mental satisfaction i obtain.It is never about how much cheaper the goods are in this country as compared to the one i came from,or how a certain shopping mall here is having a year-end sale,slicing the prices down to a fifty percent.For me,it has always been the sights and the sounds,and the scenary and the beauty.

I guess what i want to say is that,i wouldnt want to end up like a light bulb man and think that it is okay for me to be in that job.I truly believe that i am made for something so much more than filling up the job nobody wants.Isnt it sad,o acknowledge that fact and at the same time,accept it as your fate and life?I dont know,as much as i dont expect myself to be changing light bulbs on top of the OUB building anytime soon,i wouldnt want - like i said - to be in a job like any other crap jobs.Even if the route as a writer - a writer of any kind - might be tough and rough,i guess the satisfaction derives from the challenges involved,unlike the patrol routines they have as security guards.What's the worst that could happen?Think about it,then think about you in that white and black uniform,black shiny leather shoes,and doing that your whole bloody life.

It is frightening,at least for me.