How science enabled our columnist to pursue the arts.

Through my secondary school years as a science student, I always suspected that I was more the arty type than lab geek.

This niggling doubt didn’t stop me from picking the science stream when it came to the crunch, though. The science stream was supposedly the preserve of the intellectual elite. Ignoring my screaming instincts, I resolutely frogmarched into Science, little knowing I would soon pay for my kiasu-ness in academic hell.

From straight A’s, my results fell off the cliff. For a family bloodline of academic achievers who would do Amy Chua proud, my five A’s and three C3’s in SPM amounted to an unqualified disaster. That spiralling downtrend should have been the clearest sign to steer clear of science when it came to Form Six.

Nuu-oh. Still kiasu, I decided to dice my way though Bio-Maths.

We know what happens when optimists bet against the odds. I did so badly in Form Six that I had no choice but to pick a course with a lower entry threshold for my tertiary education. I decided to listen to my heart and go for something I liked instead — English Literature and Language Studies.

Reactions ranged from cautiously curious to openly sceptical, to downright hysterical.

“You mean, the English subject can qualify as an entire course, ah?”

“Can find job meh, after graduation?”

“Are you mad? Artists only become famous after they’re dead!”

As it were, that leap of faith turned out to be the best decision I’ve made in my life. While my envious future boffin friends clinked test tubes and slaved sleepless nights over scientific formulae, I had a ball.

“Studying” meant reading storybooks, err, I mean analysing classical texts like Grapes of Wrath.

“Tutorials” meant arguing and debating with opinionated lecturers who were not only passionate about what they thought, but were absolute hams. Which meant, “attending lectures” could mean anything from gawking at Steve Thorn doing a ballet split in class to illustrate a point, laughing in delight while Chris Carleton impersonated The Terminator, or listening wide-eyed while resident grandfather Professor Syed Nasir turned his lectures into campfire storytelling sessions.

The best upshot of being in the arts was a healthier, more balanced campus life. Since I wasn’t mugging my books 24/7, I had time to date, participate in extra curricular activities to my heart’s content, run for student election and get entrepreneurial.

In my final year, mum bought me a computer to help me finish my assignments faster as the battered old typewriter was trusty but slow. With time to spare, my latent entrepreneurial streak jumped to the fore. Years ago, mother had armtwisted me into learning QWERTY typing, and now, those lessons finally came in handy. For one ringgit per page, Room 018 in Desasiswa Bakti doubled as a typing service centre. While far from a fortune, the pocket money was enough to buy me several dresses a month!

Okayyyy, science and technology may not be so evil after all.

Armed with my English Lit degree, I fully intended to write for a living after graduation, but life had other plans. My first job as a writer didn’t turn out so well and desperate to get out, I accepted the next job that came along: selling computers for a living.

Apparently, Science and Technology were fated to dog me forevermore.

After seven years of hawking desktops, laptops, thumb drives, servers, storage products, the impossible happened. I actually, grudgingly, grew to like gadgets!

When I struck out to be a freelancer, I immediately invested in an Internet-enabled handphone, the cheapest mobile Internet service available and an ultralight laptop, so that I could work out of anywhere while I decided whether to base myself in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh or Penang.

The modern working landscape has changed in the blink of an eye. The traditional trappings of a home office are fast becoming optional rather than mandatory. I’m not just talking about working on the go. Take thumbdrives, for instance. Why shell out RM50-RM100 for a measly 8GB when an account on Skydrive can get you 25GBs, gratis? Ever heard of cloud computing?

Printers? Sure, I can get one cheap, but lugging one around cramps my lifestyle and I am a staunch believer in going paperless. On the rare occasion a client demands hard copies, I simply go to a print-on-demand station at KL Sentral for 30 sen per black-and-white page.

I believe hard copies are on their way out, if the trend among my own clients is any bellwether. Some magazine clients don’t even send me hard copies of their publication anymore; they simply mail me the pdf. Further proof that the advent of the Internet is transforming the face of work: the bulk of my communication with clients takes place entirely on the Internet.

True story: a US-based publisher discovered me on a writer’s directory, then wrote to me expressing an interest in commissioning me for a writing assignment. We agreed on the fee, the editor sent me a contract, I did the job, sent in the story via e-mail and ka-ching, the money was wired into my account. Welcome to 21st century mobile networking!

I’m typing all these whilst hurtling past buffalos, grassy patches of greening rice fields and majestic stands of oil palms, somewhere between Batu Gajah and Kampar. How? Because my pro-tem office, the Ipoh-bound doubletrack electric train, comes with a power socket, so that workaholics like me won’t experience downtime when battery juice runs out.

Out of the corner of my eye, a little kid from across the aisle is peering curiously at me. I imagine having this conversation with her:

“What are you doing, Auntie?”

“I am working, dear.”

“Working? But you are wearing a mini-skirt and baby T. How come you don’t wear a suit like my mum?”

“That’s one way of working, dear. I’m my own boss, so I don’t have to follow a dress code. Most importantly, modern tools have made a lot of things possible. When Auntie has the chance, Auntie will introduce you to a book called The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. It talks about how technology has created a level playing field.”

“What is a level playing field, Auntie?”

“Uh . . . it is how people will work in the future; we are valued for what we can deliver rather than how we look or even where we worked.”

“Hmm . . . are you talking about my future, Auntie?”

“Our future, dear, our future.”

o Now that her third Windows-based laptop has gone kaput, Alexandra Wong (bunnysprints.blogspot.com) is wondering if she should finally defect to the Steve Jobs camp.

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