Creativity is just connecting (and remixing) things
Everything Is A Remix (Full Video)Â [30 mins+] How To Steal Like An Artist, by Austin Kleon (Google him for Twitter). P
Motivation is anything that compels you to take action
Hello, World Finished Not Perfect [1:30] Why Do We Fall [6:13] Unbroken [5:57] Dream [6:20] Les Brown: You Gott
Stuff I’ve written about writing
Stuff  I’ve written about writing: Minimum Viable Content Copywriting Content Anxiety “Do you have any writing ad
An oral history of the games I’ve played
What’s the first video game you ever played? I’m not entirely sure. I recall watching my brothers play games on th
boredom is a 4-part bug of the mind; it can be resolved
2023 update: I ended up writing Introspect in part because of my obsession with this question. I feel like I have a good han
Quotes I’d like to be reminded of
2023 update: This feels like a very dated post now. I think my goal moving forward is to weave all my favorite quotes into my
“What are you passionate about” might be better framed as “what are you willing to suffer for?”
A younger friend told me that he gets asked this question a lot, and that he doesn’t know how to answer. So he asked me how
ambition
Jayne asked on facebook, “what are your dreams and ambitions?” I could talk to you for hours about this because th
Cebu [2015]
I went to Cebu in March 2015. It was a pleasant experience. Hung out in Ayala Mall. Bought some books. Ate Lechon. It was real
Annual Checkups
Jan 1 2010: Inflated sense of self-worth Nov 18 2010: Resolutions for 2011 Jan 1 2011:Â Mandatory New Year Post July 5 2011: W
todo
(feb2015 draft of a page from @1000wordvomits) I think one of the things that keeps me procrastinating is the fact that I have
ev williams, xoxo 2013
A journey on the information superhighway – evan williams Hello friends. I want to talk to you today about the Internet, jus
Tweets from 2010
run was totally worth it. body is a furnace. ear drums are pounding. fresh night air tastes so good. cut 2 minutes off my 3.6k
My Answers To Mark Manson’s Life Purpose Questions
http://markmanson.net/life-purpose 1: What is your favorite flavor of shit sandwich and does it come with an olive? (What pain
Why I Am A Marketer
This is a quick and dirty draft I wrote while at work. There’s this Italian guy on TED- Ernesto Sirolli who said there are t
Why should we blog?
It’s always been self-evident to me, but let me try to spell it out. A blog is the intersection of conversations and boo
The Tao of YungSnuggie
I loved YungSnuggie so much that I pulled out his best answers, formatted them a little (tried to make it easier to read witho
words that are pretty and useful
puerile magnate marquis credo quasar savant vehement ostensible irrevocable celestial sobriqueted veritable pervasive eviscera
A year of content marketing.
I started work at ReferralCandy in February 2013. It’s easily been the most interesting, exciting and challenging year o
seth godin
CHOOSING COLOR: People desperately want to believe stories. Even if that story is just a few drops of ink on a plastic sheet.
Notes from Seth Godin’s talk at Google
I was watching a talk that Seth Godin gave at Google in 2007. It was uploaded on jul 16, about 3 weeks after the first generat
notes from Anthony Robbins TED talk
Immersion why, what is your motivation today? invisible force of internal drive emotion is the force of life effective people/
notes from 4 hour body
Ginger & Sauerkraut for muscle experimentalists keep theoreticians honest- Michio Kaku Separation of expertise means both
The Mundanity of Excellence, by Daniel Chambliss
(Visa: Full text available here. I edited this one a little for readability. Left out the footnotes.) “Olympic sports an
Notes from “The Story of Your Enslavement”
Fear of death and future loss. Threats only work on humans. Farming of humans = most profitable and destructive. Reaching its
“thinking about future”, february 2007
“My father is now bugging me to get a scholarship with the RSAF. It does not interest me at all. I have no interest in t
Stuff I wrote down while watching A Conversation With Elon Musk (and Salman Khan)
I wrote this while watching Salman Khan having a conversation with Elon Musk, this is what stood out to me. Thought I’d
Bum-a-cigarette app idea
Here’s an idea I had as a person with a problem that’s not being solved efficiently. I who started out as a veheme
bach, reddit
[–]Rhapsodie 26 points 4 days ago Bach is ANYTHING but mechanical. In fact his music is so emotional sometimes it makes C
What makes a story great, by Marcus Geduld
Originally posted on Quora. Marcus is a Shakespearean director and one of my absolute favourite people I’ve had the priv
How to survive NS
Here is something I’ve wanted to write for a long long time but have been procrastinating on because I visualized someth
“See you when I’m forty years old”, by Xavier Koh
“Rule of Thumb: When you find yourself carelessly engaging in envy of people who seem to be ‘living the life’
revolution, on reddit
[–]avaslash 2046 points 17 days ago* The thing is revolution requires once special thing. Actual problems. What is an act
on drugs, from reddit
beathau5 What is the worst permanent life decision that you’ve ever made? from AskReddit Drugs (in particular coke) prov
self-development is self-destruction, by xavier koh
“There’s a particular self-development paradox I’ve consistently encountered, but haven’t managed to g
Fun with INTJs: Constructive Criticism
Q: I have a small pet peeve that is perhaps indicative of my INTJ personality type. Whenever I engage in constructive criticis
Book Review: Best of Quora 2010-2012
I received this book in the mail as a part of my “Top Writer 2012” package (along with a sweet t-shirt). I only ju
independent thinking will be the new literacy
I sometimes run into people who call themselves realists and say “Look, Visa, some people are just stupid- MOST people a
we should at least know who we’re killing
I’m not a big fan of the death penalty. That said, if we DO practice the death penalty, I’m against it being so hu
Links useful to me when studying as a Private A Level Candidate
(This post is incomplete but I just gotta put it out there) Once you’ve picked your subjects, I think the most important
unsorted-thoughts-2
RELATIONSHIP HACKS: 1: It is remarkably difficult to have an unproductive argument while you’re walking together, and/or
unsorted thoughts
PRACTICAL EVERYDAY LOGIC: I’ve been thinking that there ought to be a universal “practical everyday logic” e
RE: The future of education
Prediction: education will be disrupted from without before it is reformed from within. Bureaucracy and legacy will keep exist
Richard Branson Quotes
From True Grit, Opinion piece in some business magazine: The ability to tap into your determination and grit… you can te
Summary of Thinking, Fast and Slow
PART 1: TWO SYSTEMS 1: The Characters of the story (System 1 & 2) 2: Attention and Effort 3: The Lazy Controller 4: The As
sia girls makeup
Wait, why is a Perspective writer writing about fashion stuff? Well, fashion can be pretty serious business, ya know.&nbs
systems must adapt.
“I am certainly not an advocate for for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfe
how you find yourself ah
that time you in NS. coz you say after you ORD you lost how you find yourself ah go back to the basics and make sure to keep
On Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers
Outliers was the first Malcolm Gladwell book that I read and enjoyed from cover to cover. I believe the central idea of the bo
Building Blocks of Storytelling (Ira Glass)
Building blocks of storytelling: 1: Anecdote. Sequence of actions- what is a story in its purest form? The plot. It has a mome
Revolutionize Education, make learning fun
I’ve been watching more TED Talks recently- and I’ve stumbled upon a few gems. I’ve decided I’m going
Starting work – excited to be among thoughtful, kind, high-functioning people [2013]
2014 EDIT: Just to avoid confusion; this was written at the start of 2013! I’m still working here and having loads of fu
Buying a HDB flat [2013]
He sits in an empty house with the woman of his dreams nestled in his lap like a kitten, only bigger, more beautiful and more
10 Facets of Gamification
Achievement: A badge, a level, a reward, or points given to a person for accomplishing something. Levels: Breaking a storyline
career guidance
Ever considered teaching writing skills? Or even being a consultant for social media / training? PR is a possibility but you m
education, woodshedding
though if i take things in perspective i am being nitpicky and missing the larger point of education what is the larger point
conversating about conversation
Dear Visakan, On your Quora profile and in your blog I read that you are interested in conversations. I’m curious about
Decluttering my bookmarks
First I’m listing them all out. With reasons. No good reason, delete. Quora: Quora: What could a 20 year old do to impro
just another cockanathan
XK Just want to muse with you have you ever felt VV your cock? no XK that as you attain more experience it’s almost as i
NS Memories
I remember my enlistment day, April 19th 2010. It was over 15 months ago. (Now over 2 years ago!) I remember going to Pasir Ri
Penang 2012
This is an old post that was sitting around unfinished for a long time. It’s still unfinished. Posting it anyway. I’m
No, I Won’t Be Going To University [2012]
I wrote this in December 2012. I have been thinking about the University question for some time, and I decided to get some inp
Thoughts on reading Mastery, by Robert Greene
I deeply enjoyed Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power. It’s not like he’s saying anything new, but something
How do atheists cope with the moments of despair and loss in their lives?
This is an answer I posted on Quora.com which I am particularly proud of. Atheism:Â How do atheists cope with the moments of d
Ray Bradbury – The Martian Chronicles
I bought The Martian Chronicles at a library book sale. I’ve been to 3 sales so far. I believe I bought it in either th
building the story
an idea has been tossing around my head for years and years and I plan to get started on it after my a’s- which is to wr
October 2012
I have many thoughts on my mind, and sometimes they immobilize me. So I should start by writing them down. 1: I’d like t
flies
so few people left on livejournal sticking around is vastly underrated as a competitive strategy
Write Till You Drop, by Annie Dillard
Write Till You Drop By ANNIE DILLARD People love pretty much the same things best. A writer looking for subjects inquires not
Standard Deviation
Standard deviation is a measure of statistical dispersion. It’s the square root of variance. We take the square root bec
Why is there nothing in A Level Economics about commercial banks?
Here’s something I’ve been quite frustrated about. As I’ve revisited “A” Level Economics, I stil
contemplating the universe
One of the most amazing things that the human mind is able to do is to contemplate the Universe. Now, few of us are reall
On Jealousy
By “Anon User” When does love make one miserable and jealous? It does not. You misread your own feelings. The buzz
Obama
“In White House jargon this was a meeting of “the principals,” which is to say the big shots. In addition to Biden a
on recurring dreams, guilt and free will
I woke up today feeling fresh and recharged and ready to take on the world- which I will, in a short while, but I want to get
How I’m studying as an ‘A’ Levels Private Candidate
After choosing my subjects, the first thing I wanted to do was to get very intimately acquainted with my syllabus. It’s
Studying H2 Literature as a Private Candidate, pt 1
First of all, after making the decision to do H2 Literature, I have to pick my texts. Here are my choices: Section B: Prose *
Dear Guitar: You matter to me
This isn’t to any particular guitar. I’ve had a few guitars over the years. Interestingly, I’ve never actual
Productivity: Set aside sacred time for Work
2024 update: the interesting thing about this post is that it’s an unintentionally great representation of my worldview
Freakonomics
Freakonomics- Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner I first read Freakonomics when I was still in secondary school, and I t
Spiritual Atheism: What is life?
What is life? Most of us think of it in terms of biology- plants, animals, fungi and bacteria. By such strict definitions, con
Vision: To contribute to human welfare by diminishing ignorance
I want to contribute to human knowledge and welfare. How does one do that? There’s a central structure at the root of it
Bill O’Reilly makes me sick.
Have not felt this angry in a while. Jan2025: original video’s account was deleted, but I believe it’s this: https
My Mass Effect Experience
I want to talk about Mass Effect. I first started when I played Mass Effect 2 on my friend’s Playstation 2. As with Drag
Thinking about Pete Wentz
I’m thinking about Pete Wentz before I go to bed. I follow him on Twitter. Why? I suppose because he was the bassist and
Get off social media for a month and you realize how little it matters.
I went to bed at 1030pm or so, and I woke up at about 1230 am, presumably because I needed to pee. (It wasn’t a strong u
Meeting Dr. Bruce Hood
I had the wonderful honour of having an “interview” with Dr. Bruce Hood today, courtesy of Campus Magazine. (It wa
W17D2- a teacher’s passion
I’ve decided to make it a point to start writing something every day. This is not a new decision but it’s another
My Goals as a Tutor
I intend to be a tutor and mentor to Singaporean teenagers once I’m done re-taking my A-levels. There are many tutors ou
Sam Harris, on Free Will
Wherever you stand on the matter, this was a good watch. Sam Harris, on free will. — The New York Times – Why Afgh
Education Reform & Disruption: To what extent will online education replace brick-and-mortar education in the next 10 years?
Bob Scott: If it’s not a revolution, online education is certainly an upheaval that’s going to replace a big chunk of wha
The Impossible List
Inspired by Joel and Steve. What’s on this list? Stuff you want to do with your life. Stuff you want to do, but have told y
Your frustration is valid, but your response isn’t helping you.
Visakan Veerasamy’s answer to: If you could write a 10 note to your younger self, what would you say? Your frustration i