THIRDEYEJ[0]EL

I bought two books at the second hand store yesterday: one on Aristotle and the other, a comic-like introductory book to Sigmund Freud. As I was reading the “Sigi” book, I stumbled upon a quote that I would truly like to share with all of you. It is a Sigi quote and it reads:

“A man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a conqueror, that confidence of success that often induces real success.”

Those words really inspired me even at first sight and it beckoned several re-readings as the words would traverse deeper into my brain lobes, find the correct cerebral enzymes that would break them down into smaller and smaller digestible pieces until a profound understanding is revealed.

The way I see it, the phrase applies not only to “Mummy’s Boys” but rather, to anybody at all that has within their capacity, the ability to understand and perceive themselves as Unique. Sigmund had written the quote because he was indeed his mother’s favorite but that Conqueror his mother’s favoritism made out of him was not entirely developed on how she fed him more than his other 7 siblings or how she hugged him more, but instead, it was how it made him feel more Special than the others. That sense of individual uniqueness thus made him feel distinct – set apart and different from the other siblings – Special. And through this facade, the instilled confidence of being Special, even though he was only special to his mother and not to anyone else, becomes the stepping stone in which his confidence as a Conqueror develops.

I believe it is important to understand this truth, that confidence, cannot be nurtured unless one feels self-worth – that sense of individual uniqueness that allows you to look into impossible tasks, things that others fail to accomplish, and say, “I’ll do it and I’ll get it to work. Why? Cus I’m not everyone else!”. Take the Jews for example, probably the best reason why they are so god damn good in everything is simply because on and on in the Bible, God keeps assuring them that they are his chosen people. No? 

In my opinion, and I do strongly agree with the quote, success will only come if one has the confidence required of it. And as long as you can feel self-worth, feel unique, different, special… then you can face the world, face the scorns, face the laughters and do whatever you’re born to do, no matter how impossible they say it is, you will do it – and your ark, just like Noah’s, will float! I guess that’s why some churches stress on the verse “you’re the apple of my eye” so that by feeling special, the congregation will be a strong front of heads and not tails. Not sure if your pastor ever put it that way but if you ask me, I think that’s the sole purpose of that verse – it’s not for you to just feel loved and then shed superfluous ‘hallelujah’ tears over it!

Here’s a lil’ something I read today. The economic thinking (ones we learn in A level at least) stresses the fact that so long as something is in high demand (popular), the price will generally be high. Note that if you’re thinking about price elasticity, it has nothing to do with it. ‘Popularity’s a non-price factor, hence, causing shifts instead of movement along the demand curves. Still, if you insist on knowing the PED. It ought to be extremely inelastic as Intellectual Property goods have no perfect substitutes. Anyways, what I read and I thought it was interesting is this:

How come popular CDs are cheaper than not so popular ones? Try and find a TOOL or Dream Theater CD/DVD and the price is definitely higher than the new Britney Spears CD/DVD. But then, when it comes to movie tickets, there sure as hell wont be discounts for popular movies – sometimes, prices even go up! How come? 

Firstly, GSC or TGV’s profits are limited by the amount of seats available in each theater room and not the quantity of customers. Even if there are a thousand customers in line for Dark Knight, the theater could seat probably only 200. Given a scenario as such, the only way to maximize (or in other words, exploit the customers willingness to pay more i.e. ‘Consumer Surplus’)is to never give discounts – probably even increase the price. But when it comes to old movies or not so popular ones, they give discounts just so they could probably fill up the seats.

Yet when it comes to CDs, that conventional pattern of ‘increase in popularity means increase in prices’ doesn’t seem to apply. Instead, a reverse pattern is noted. Why is that? Well, one of the reasons is because of competition. Just about any retail store can purchase the latest Britney Spears CD/DVD and sell ’em. That being the case, bigger retail stores (who can afford to buy in huge bulks and hence offer larger discounts) will do so just to attract more customers (and of course, grab those immediate profits, even if they are small). Another reason why they don’t mind selling it cheap is because the cost of rental (keeping the CD/DVD on the shelf) is relatively low since the CD/DVD is popular. A CD/DVD would probably be on the shelf for lest than 2 days (depending on popularity) and therefore, the cost of storing it is extremely low. By doing that, not only does the store make small profits, there’s also a probability that those customer might buy an additional CD/DVD! (Just like chewing gums in sundry stores. Did you know that selling chewing gums would barely make you any profit? Yet, sundry stalls sell them simply because they hope to attract customers to buy other candies!)

But when it comes to unpopular CD/DVD like Dream Theater, not many stores sell them. Hence if you desperately want one (in Malaysia, I think only Rock Corner sells them), you’ll have to pay whatever price they set. Not only that, CD/DVDs like this often stay on the shelves for an extended period of time, sometimes for months! Thus, the rental cost for each CD/DVD is also very high. You must also bear in mind that the shopkeeper would need to hire some Metal Dude with knowledge of unconventional bands just so he would know what to order. Since Metal Dudes are low in supply, the cost of hiring one is relatively higher. Hence, that cost will too be incorporated into that Dream Theater CD/DVD!

Interesting isn’t how economics work? Unfortunately, Emerson College doesn’t offer Economics… I was hoping I could tutor but Oh, well… And by the way, go get The Economic Naturalist if you want to read more about stuff like these. It covers a lot and refers primarily from Adam Smith’s theories. I’ve been reading it for months and am only half way through. I guess I’m a slow reader. Takes forever for me to absorb things!

“You still got nice people around you know,” was what he said.

After breakfast at the City Place (today, we had Mexicano~), Xiao and I headed to AMC (cinema) to catch ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’. AMC’s situated approximately 100 meters from Emerson College’s main building and shares a same block with the Ritz Carlton Hotel (you can imagine how bloody expensive this area is… plus Hyatt Regency’s just in front of it). Anyways, we kinda got there 15 minutes ere the cinema opens and thus had little options but to withstand the harsh, cold winds outside with made in Malaysia skin and bones. It was there where Xiao and I met a most amiable lad who not only cared to give us a brief guide around Boston (his directions covered a much larger scope of Boston and included little Italy somewhere north and some beaches somewhere east), he even gave me a packet hand warmers for free!

I didn’t quite get it at first when he took it out of his bag and handed it to me. “Here, take it.” Perhaps due to my brain’s overdose of skepticism, I took the packet thinking he meant that I should have a closer look at it so that I know what it is and where to get it (I didn’t know what hand warmers were prior to this) but after a while, it kinda got awkward with me holding the packet and both his hands sealed tight behind his pockets. Not knowing what to do (‘Is he giving this to me? or is he just showing it to me?’), I blurted what would be a most pride-risking question (cus ‘No’ would mean Ignominy and Devastation) and it sounded like this: “Erm, this thing… I don’t really get it.. erm… so sorry… just to clarify… erm… are you giving it to me?”

That simple-made-complicated question with those strings of ‘Erm’ and eclipses (which in real life meant fucking awkward pauses) was barely comprehensible at first. He looked at me and I could see in his now squinted eyes that he’s trying hard to process it. But I was not going to repeat it. No way was I going to repeat that question. It only seemed apt to me at that moment to raise my eyebrows, tilt them and give him a confused puppy face – and wait. 

He understood it though. Eventually. And what I meant by ‘it’ is that bloody confusion of getting something F.O.C. from a total stranger. I mean, it happened to me once when I was in Japan but things like this, they don’t happen twice. You usually live long enough to have it happen to you once and be fucking thankful of it and that’s that. They don’t happen twice. Not especially when you’re in a city! *gearing up skepticism*

So anyways, what followed was a chuckle and several repetitions of the word ‘Yeah’ -some soft, some trying to be heard and some caught between the chuckle. Of course from my point it was that relieve and the releasing of tension cus a question that beckons a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer’s always like flipping a coin – binary possibilities with two extreme polars (often if one is desired, the other would be otherwise). From his part though it must have been hilarious. Seeing this China man’s Chinese eyes enlarged in disbelief and that load of saccharine ‘Thank You’s that flooded forth from his mouth thereafter, what a way to witness blessings that truly bless!

As for me, I won’t forget what Benevolent said. Quoting from the movie: “It’s funny how sometimes the people we remember the least make the greatest impression on us.” I don’t know Benevolent’s name and neither do I know where he lives or what he does. Truth be told, I ain’t known nothing about him. But Benevolent said: “You still got nice people around you know.” And I was truly blessed.