“Sometimes I see myself as a child in a rain storm, running around trying to catch all the drops in her mouth. I long for your adventures to be like the raindrops the child saves and not those which crash to the ground.”

A rainy day in Singapore. Standing by my window. Watching the rain. Letting it wash my heart, sing a lullaby to my soul…

Preparing for a workshop on Video Production as a Presentation Tool for Accountants this month in Singapore.

I have been wrestling with some grief and loss in my personal life. A crisis, that is. Too deep and real I find myself so lost and failing. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Sorrow makes us all children again – destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing.”

Oh, how true!

I was in a digital storytelling workshop few days ago and one of the participants mentioned Steve Job’s speech. I never bothered to watch it before, but now I found myself watching it again and again. Obviously, it struck a chord with me.

“…you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

“I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did…I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

“It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.“

“When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first to stand up and join in.” – Derek Sivers

Yes, you have a story to keep and to tell. And yes, you can make it. Sign  up for our next Digital Storytelling Workshop, 28-30 September 2011, The Training Room, #B1-08 Kembangan Plaza, Singapore. Jointly organized by the Digital Storytelling Asia and the National Book Development Council of Singapore.

Register Now/More Info

I was cleaning my room last night and found some cassette tapes in one of my boxes. What in the world am I keeping them for? I was curious.  Good thing my housemate still has a cassette player. So I borrowed it to check what’s on the tapes anyway.

I was surprised. I was tickled. For the next few minutes, I did nothing but listen to it. My thoughts travelled back home. One of the tapes has my family’s best wishes and songs they sang and recorded for me when I first left for Singapore in 2006. They cracked me up. Some songs they did so well with the guitar. Some…hmm…so out of tune yet so fun and sweet. Haha.

The old songs…the familiar noise – my father’s loud voice, my mother’s ramblings and singing, my sisters’ laughter, my nephews and niece’s cute, little voices… Sweet. Home, that is.

I’m glad I wasn’t quick to put the tapes to the recycle bin.

Here’s another treat of an evening of digital stories. Please come and join us at The Arts House, 25 August 2011, 7:30 pm, Living Room.  

“When a digital story is finished it should be remembered for its soul, not the bells and whistles of the technology tools.” -  Bernajean Porter, author, DigiTales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories

Digital storytelling is about stories and the telling of stories using multi-media tools. New Word Order brings you An Evening of Digital Stories in August, where graphic designer, author, and now, digital storyteller, Angeline Koh, will show how people are discovering the timeless delight of storytelling in this digital age.

New Word Order is an initiative of The Arts House.

It wasn’t my cup of my coffee that woke me up yesterday morning and gave me a good start. It was a story that I’ve read from Today newspaper.

“Home means you must have some memories, you must have shared experiences and you must have some sense of where we came from, why we are here what it means to us… we will tell the stories about it to the younger ones and the next generation…we will connect to one another, connect to our parents and past, and to our children and future.”

The article quoted Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his speech at the launch of this year’s HeritageFest, a community trail project by the National Heritage Board.

Wow. How timely and significant that is for me, for Digital Storytelling Asia, and for everyone who believe in the power and necessity of stories.

I thought, “Yes, that’s it. That’s what we do. That’s what we’re trying to bring to society, to schools, to individuals, to various groups…”

Digital storytelling founder Dana Atchley said, “The stories and anecdotes we share with one another are the ways we let each other know who we are, what we care about, where we come from, and where we are going.”

In the midst of all the confusing roads before us, the challenges, the thrill, and the ups and downs any pioneering work faces, what PM Lee said was like water to a dry land. A beacon of light to a traveller.

“Stories are like fairy gold, the more you give away, the more you have.”

Come for a three-day digital storytelling workshop, 17-19  August 2011. Write your story. Record your audio narrative. Learn how to put your audio and images together. Go home with your two-minute digital story done and ready for use. Meet new friends. Share your stories. For more info, please visit www.digitalstorytellingasia.com.

I should try and aim for this!

“The National Book Development Council of Singapore and Scholastic Asia are jointly launching the 2012 Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA). The award will recognise Asians and writers in Asia who are taking the experiences of life, spirit and thinking in different parts of Asia to the world at large. SABA is awarded to an unpublished manuscript (original or translation) targeted at children of ages 6 to 12 years. Deadline: 17 October 2011, 5pm (Singapore time).”

Are you also interested? Visit SABA for more info. All the best!