we’ve come too far
To give up who we are
So let’s raise the bar
And our cups to the stars

Longevity of songs

One of my favorite little things is pudding.cool’s depiction of the longevity of songs. Some songs last much longer than others in public consciousness. It’s difficult to know for sure what exactly makes a timeless song, otherwise they’d be made much more regularly. I think a lot about how Mariah Carey is arguably the only person to have successfully introduced a new Christmas song. Some of this seems to boil down to a certain timeless quality in the writing of the song itself. 

An important thing to note is that we can meme things into existence. It’s not easy but if we repeat ourselves often enough and we’re dynamic enough we can make things happen. One of the ways songs- and also authors, thinkers, ideas, anything really – get a new lease of life is, they’re honored or celebrated in some other piece of media.

Will I single-handedly be able to boost the profile of the Daft Punk song just by mentioning it in a title of an essay? In the short run, unlikely. 

This is a belief I have rather than something I know for sure. I know that things are possible. I don’t know that things are certain. I feel that some things are as good as certain. I’ve gotten lucky in some ways…

There’s a quote where Steve jobs is complaining about Microsoft, I have it filed in my mind as the “no taste” quote. He points out that Microsoft was aided by a Saturn 5 rocket called IBM, and they’re opportunists

I’ve had a few major lucky events in my life. The biggest one is probably imperceptible. I’m lucky to be born in 1990, in Singapore, with access to libraries and television and computers. This is access that billions of people don’t have. In retrospect if and when people write mythic narratives about me, it might be noted that it’s especially lucky that I’m Singaporean, rather than say, American or Indian (citizen). It gives me a relatively rare perspective and positioning. Singapore is small and well-positioned in the global scheme of things. For a few years now, when smart people are visiting Singapore, and they tweet “I’m in Singapore next week what should I do”, a lot of people reply with “you should meet @visakanv”. This is such a sick advantage.

L

I was lucky to have a series of unpleasant things happen to me that made me reconsider reality but not get depressed and despondent to function. My father lost a daughter to a motor accident and my mother witnessed my older brother convulse in fits from a high fever, both events I think contributing a moderate amount to my parents having a somewhat distanced relationship with me. I was raised by domestic helpers, and it took me a long time to realize that 

I was lucky to get into Singapore’s Gifted Education Program, which something like 0.1% of people get into. I was luckier still to flunk out of it. My teachers said I was irresponsible and disruptive (true, I’m sorry. I was too busy being lucky to be blessed with excellent media like MTV and video games. I’d do it again. I’m sorry I made anything difficult for anybody else, but.) I remember one of of the education officers saying that me flunking was a disappointment to the local Indian community, which was an anxiety I was lucky to be anointed with. 

Every bad thing that has ever happened to me made me stronger. So far. There’s always a chance that the next bad thing might kill me, but so far I’ve been pretty good at avoiding death. A lot of Singaporean guys will grumble and complain about how having to do National Service – 2 years of mandatory conscription – was a waste of time for them. A part of me relates, of course, but I also did the best I could to make the most of that experience. I got some of my best reading done during that time. And a bunch of writing too. I spent a lot of my time reflecting and meditating about life and I think I grew wiser from it. If you have the right attitude, it seems like you can grow wiser from almost any experience. 

I got lucky with my bands in local music. I got kicked out of my first band, the second one fell apart, and I’m not sure if there were other attempts in between, but third time was the charm and my band Armchair Critic got to play the Esplanade Powerhouse Stage, which was a dream of mine. When I decided to start organizing gigs, I got lucky on my second gig, where we… fire fight. I got lucky on the last gig, where we lost all our money and it made me determined to never X again 

The thing that wows most people is that I met my wife when we were 9 years old. We started dating when we were 14. We married at 22, and celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last year. I’m lucky for all the ways 

Address survivor bias / don’t die frustration