Project 1983 Eagle Ivan 與鷹艾文的83杯咖啡
Initially, it was purely a project inspired by a Taiwan friend.
Her aim was to have 100 cups of coffee with 100 strangers.
I tweeted my project a little by aiming for 83 cups of coffee with individual friends, both old and new.
It was started without giving much thought to it and not knowing what to expect.
I was not someone who was born sociable.
In fact, I was even mild autistic when I was in Primary School.
My teachers had a hard time making me open up.
Thus, it was indeed a HUGE challenge for myself to do this project.
However, as time goes by, more people got to know of my project and saw the photos I've posted on IG and Facebook, I received volunteers' requests.
In the beginning, I was finding people to have coffee with.
Ended up, I have more than I expect on the list.
What have I gained or learnt from this experience?
We humans are in fact, pretty lonely.
Unless you are working from home or have a SOHO, more than likely you are surrounded by humans day in day out.
However, they may just be physical living being around us.
There was no heart to heart talks.
Even when we talk to our family members, friends, colleagues, we are afraid what we said would be leaked out to people we didn't want them to know.
Trust, communication, open-mindedness was missing big time.
There are also many of us who longed for a nice good chat for the longest time.
In today's world where even babies were being "pacified" through IT gadgets, it's not hard to spot a person busy staring at their mobile phones, tablets, etc.
Our eyes were glued to it, we are oblivious to the surrounding.
We are physically there for our close and loved ones but not really there emotionally or spiritually.
Thus, mentally, I make it a point not to check my mobile phone when I'm having the coffee session with my participants.
I feel that I should be giving them 100% of my time and attention since they are willing to take their time to help me accomplish my mission.
We cannot deny the fact that technology has provided us a lot but at the same time it is starting to take away things which were once unique and important to us as humans.
The presence, emotions, human touch and many more.
Fortunately, this is purely up to us.
We have a choice, it's up to us to make a wise decision.
I have had a great time catching up with my friends, got back in touch with long lost friends and even make new friends through doing this project.
I have definitely gained a lot from everybody who I met.
What I have learnt from them make me a better person and there are stories I have learnt from some which I didn't know before.
Some were even very close friends for more than half my life.
I strongly encourage everyone to try doing this just once.
It need not be as much as 83 cups of coffee.
You can just do 5 or 10.
But who knows, don't say I didn't warn you, you may get hooked on doing it.
Before I complete my 83 cups of coffee, I already have participants checking on my next project.
That was definitely not what I have planned for.
However, since the responses are over-whelming and I still have quite a couple of friends I have yet to meet this time round, I am preparing for my 2nd project.
A similar concept of 1-to-1 meetup but in a different style.
Stay tuned to find out how is it different.
The first person would be Mee Mee, my dearest classmate from my Xiao Han's basic lyrics composing class whom inspired the idea for my 2nd project.
I sincerely express my deepest gratitude to the below list of friends who helped to make this project a success!
From Singapore to Malaysia and finally Taiwan!
為甚麼我會開始我的“與鷹艾文的83杯咖啡”？
起初，這純粹只是被一名台灣朋友激發的計畫。
她的目標是與100個陌生人喝咖啡。
我稍微改了我的計畫，就是與83獨立人士喝咖啡。
剛開始，我沒期待甚麼，就這樣懵懵懂懂地開始了這計畫。
我從來不是個健談的人。
甚至小學的我還蠻自閉的。
老師們好不容易才讓我釋懷。
因此，這對我真的是項很大的自我挑戰。
但是，過不久後，當越來越多人獲知了我的計畫並看到我放在臉書與IG 的照片，我收到不少的自願邀請。
一开始，我需要找人約喝咖啡。
但是，到了最後我的名單比預料的還要多。
執行這計畫，我到底從中獲得或學到了甚麼？
我們好多人大多數時候都蠻孤獨寂寞的。
除非你的公司就是你的住家，每一天你都應該會被很多人圍繞。
但是，他們或許只是在你身邊出現的人體。
根本沒有交心的時候。
甚至，偶爾我們與家人，好友，同事交談時我們都深怕我們所說的會傳到不該知道的人耳中。
信任，溝通與敞開自我的心態早已不存在。
我們太久沒有好好地與另一個人交談了。
現今社會，連小朋友都是以電子產品來安撫，我們不難發現忙著盯著手機，平板電子儀器等等的人。
我們時刻盯著它們，毫不留意周遭的事。
我們的身體是陪著我們至親最愛的人，但心靈與精神上，我們是否還在？
所以，當我決定施行此計畫時，我對自己承諾在與參與者喝咖啡時絕對不查看手機。
我認為他們願意花時間來幫我完成我的計畫，我應該把100%的時間與專注力給予他們。
無可否認，科技的確給予我們很多，但是它也同時把專屬於人類的東西奪走。
存在感，情感，人與人的交集等等。
慶幸的是，這完全取決於我們。
我們是有選擇的，明智的選擇在自己的手上。
有機會與朋友們敘舊，在實行計畫時結交了新朋友，這種感覺的確很棒。
我從每個人的身上都學到很多。
學到的事讓自己成為了更好的人，也發現有些朋友的故事原來我從不曉得。
甚至一些是我已相識大半輩子的朋友。
我強烈推薦每個人都至少嘗試此計畫一次。
不需要83杯那麼多。
可以是5或10杯。
但是別說我沒有預先告知你，這可能會上癮的。
在我完成83杯之前，已經有參與者向我查問是否會有下個計劃。
這也絕對不在我的預料之內。
不過，看到大家那麼踴躍的反應與回饋，而我本身也有好多朋友還沒機會面談的，我開始籌備下個計劃。
同樣是一對一，不過稍微改了點模式。
大家敬請期待這下一個計畫會有什麼不同。
第一位參與者將會是激發我展開第二項計畫，與我一同上小寒老師作詞班的同學，咪咪姊。
我誠心感謝以下所有幫我完成此計畫的朋友們！
從新加坡到馬來西亞最終台灣！
1) 20/05/16 - Xiuyi and Yanting
(Because my first cups, I tried out on a 1 to 2 coffee session. 因為是第一杯，我嘗試先以一對二的方式。)
2) 25/05/16 - Jerry Cai
3) 26/05/16 - James Char
4) 27/05/16 - Celine Cheong
5) 30/05/16 - Ming Long
6) 31/05/16 - Sean Lau
7) 01/06/16 - Jaslyn Khoo
8) 01/06/16 - Tyl
9) 02/06/16 - Crystal Liew
10) 02/06/16 - Dave Ho
11) 03/06/16 - Scott Chue
12) 13/06/16 - Liu Fang
13) 13/06/16 - Eileen Tan (Sec Sch friend)
14) 15/06/16 - Amy Yeo
15) 16/06/16 - Marbel Chew
16) 16/06/16 - Lynette Qiu
17) 18/06/16 - Catherine Tan
18) 18/06/16 - Sing Lin and 5th Aunt
(Because both of them need to come out together with my nephew and god daughter)
19) 19/06/16 - Small Aunt
20) 19/06/16 - Mum
21) 20/06/16 - John Lee
22) 21/06/16 - Joanne Chua
23) 22/06/16 - Agnes Lee
24) 22/06/16 - Huiwen
25) 23/06/16 - Gladys Toh
26) 25/06/16 - Qiqi
27) 01/07/16 - Shannon
28) 02/07/16 - Eugene Loh
29) 02/07/16 - Jiaxiu
30) 03/07/16 - Devi
31) 04/07/16 - Helen Quah
32) 07/07/16 - Eileen Tan (NTU colleague)
33) 09/07/16 - Benson Tan
34) 09/07/16 - Henry Eng
35) 11/07/16 - Joanne Quek
36) 11/07/16 - Krist Toh
37) 12/07/16 - Alice Kou
38) 13/07/16 - Mr Liang
39) 15/07/16 - Fransisca
40) 20/07/16 - Yenzhi
41) 24/07/16 - Jacques
42) 25/07/16 - Shermaine Chong
43) 26/07/16 - Juliette
44) 27/07/16 - Cynthia Pang
45) 29/07/16 - Christine Shang
46) 31/07/16 - Maggie Low
47) 05/08/16 - Karen Tay
48) 06/08/16 - Adam Asth
49) 08/08/16 - Mee Mee
50) 10/08/16 - Hanting
51) 12/08/16 - Lai Sim
52) 17/08/16 - Ashley Lim
53) 18/08/16 - Cindy Loo
54) 21/08/16 - Ping
55) 22/08/16 - Fathila
56) 29/08/16 - Diane Lee
57) 30/08/16 - Johnie Goh
58) 01/09/16 - Agnes Tan
59) 05/09/16 - Shaiful
60) 07/09/16 - Ed
61) 11/09/16 - Elena Hoon
62) 19/09/16 - Lynn Yew
63) 19/09/16 - Rochelle Fu
64) 21/09/16 - Esther Loh
65) 22/09/16 - Wik Ak
66) 23/09/16 - Shi Yun
67) 24/09/16 - Shi Ting
68) 26/09/16 - Teresa Yang
69) 26/09/16 - Nathaniel
70) 29/09/16 - Siew Ping
71) 12/10/16 - Jaime Ong
72) 14/10/16 - Angeline Ang
73) 14/10/16 - Christabel Kek
74) 17/10/16 - Cindy Lim
75) 17/10/16 - Xu Yan
76) 19/10/16 - Alexius Lim
77) 22/10/16 - Vera Cai
78) 22/10/16 - Aeris Quek
79) 24/10/16 - Mei Fang
80) 24/10/16 - Jonathan Foo
81) 26/10/16 - Taron Chong
82) 31/10/16 - Charlene
83) 04/11/16 - Noel Chien
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