Anything but personal

With all my life!

2007-06-10T18:46:00.000+08:00

A sense of deja vu decend upon me on Friday as i witnessed one of my close friend, Qiu Qiang take the Oath as he was enlisted into NS. When i sat in the auditorium, flashbacks of the time where i was there, taking the oath play out in front of me. I can connect with QQ on this. As you recite the Oath, suddenly you feel that the responsibility of protecting your country, your loved ones rest on your shoulder and that you must discharge your duty with full allegiance and if possible, defend the soil with your life. Yet on the other side, you feel you are going to leave them as you embark on an unfamiliar journey all on your own and you will have this fear on the unexpected.

I feel proud of my friend as i look at him take the oath. As you began to recite it, slowly and surely, you are flush with the sense of responsibility you must have and as you end it, you realise you are already, not a boy but a man. I can see the kind of determined look on his face as i pondered over the meaning of the oath once again.

Of course, the first meal there always taste good as that is also the "last" you have with your family or friends. Hopefully for him, other subsequent do taste as well.

Little john beats Giant

2007-05-31T16:25:00.000+08:00

I was roaming around marina square a couple of days ago when i realised the space that Giant used to occpy was replaced by John Little. I find it amusing because a little john could defeat a giant. ha ha ha.

Ok its lame.

unsw

2007-05-27T11:04:00.000+08:00

I applied for UNSW too, in september last year. When i reached the fair organised by IDP Australia, UNSW booth was filled with people. However, the booth for their sydney campus only. As for the Asia campus, only 2 to 3 were seen enquiring on the course of studies. The reason was simple for me to apply to the sydney campus and not the singapore campus, the cost and the opportunity to study in an overseas institution.

The cost is of the same as the asia campus, i see value added should i go to australia and study. There, i will gain new insights, perhaps opportunities that can't be found in Singapore. Though foreigners may prefer coming to Singapore for its bilingual or bicultural expierences, but as i am born here, i do not value it as much as gaining exposure in another country. I have this notion that if i mix too much with my fellow people, i will be sterotyping alot of stuffs. Therefore, going overseas will be like a fresh breath of air sniffed.

It kind of sad that UNSW flopped barely months after it started. As to how much damage it inflicted to both the university and Singapore, i would say more on the university. In a newspaper article, it says that the new vice chancellor wants to focus more on research and therefore, axed many of its non academic staff. In research, one has to constantly pick himself up after failure and also be determined no matter how ardous or tedious the task may become. The insignificant enrollment for its pioneer batch is just a minor setback. Which business doesn't need months to break even? Giving it up when it doesn't even try hard give me the impression that the university isn't ready nor have the stamina for long haul research which rewards can only be evident in years or even decades.

For Singapore, this is definitely a setback for the vision and aim to be a world class educational hub. People do not remember how successful you are but should you fail, that one failure will be forever etech in people's mind. This is definitely not just a blip but should be asked some real deep questions. Are the government set too high a standard which it may be doing so in order to give a good value for taxpayers' money. Secondly, why the government doesn't seems to enthusiastic in defending the move of letting unsw go? Most importantly, is it the case of trying to sink into oblivion once things go awry? I remembered once we were trying to set up some techo -IT centre or something, but after the dot com bubble burst, none was heard from it.

If unsw is an insolated case, then at least we can seek consolation in it. However what if the pertinent flaw is the negotiation and the projecting of figures that lead to the miscalculation of such ventures? Is it because our officers from EDB are a bunch of quitters that didn't aggressively seeking a compromise with the unsw officials or that our EDB people are forever rigid in not making any compromise? Or is it a case of government scholars miscalculated the projected number of students or returns and end up with an unrealistic figures that ended up in a doom venture? This is of the most concern because these are fundamental flaws. I shudder to think that our Integrated resorts or F1 would end up in such a way as of unsw.

Lastly, my consolation to the students. But a word of advice: go to australia for that different perspective.

(by the way, i was accepted but i rejected the offer of going to sydney as they didn't offer me golden jubilee and so, my finance couldn't make it)

Anything whatever

2007-05-22T20:28:00.000+08:00

This is the latest marketing fad/ gimmick by some drink company. It aim to prick on the consumer sense of curiosity so that they will try them out. However i think it didn't manage to convince me to part with my dollar as i am a skeptic who won't try it out unless they tell me what is inside first.

But a trip to the supermarket make me wonder something. Supposedly such drinks were spiked or something went wrong during the manufacturing process with a particular flavour. How are they going to recall back that flavour given it may be anything or whatever things?

Here come the loophole of getting the flavour you want. I suspect there is a manufacturing code or something that differentiate what flavour it is. If we know what is the code for that particular flavour, we are able to get what flavour we want and the marketing gimmick fails!

If they didn't have any form of differentiation, then bless them should something went wrong because they need to recall every single can. Imagine they need a particular flavour of batch xxx manufacture on date yyy, huge logistics problem!

Man in Pink

2007-05-22T19:54:00.000+08:00

I have just read my cousin post on gays. This debate (sort of) was brought up again during an interview with the young PAP where MM Lee spoke of that its genetics or something that cause gay to be gay. When debating about gays issue, i have a question. Should we separate physical with mental.

I supposed when MM Lee says that, he meant mental. But what about physical? Does a gay consitute a gay should he engage in anal sex, engage in anal sex but his mind was not on it, or engage in it and his mind was on it. In another word, should a man engage in that but believe he is not a gay, then is he a gay? Sorry if this is sound stupid because i really is confuse at this point.

My "brush" with gay was quite a happy one, definitely not like my cousin who i supposed, spooked by the "sliding tackle". Happy in a sense there is mutual respect between my friends in pink and me. Personal encounter with them was that there are as human as we are. They didn't appear feminine or "gayish". Rather, they are humourous, intelligent and definitely matured. Perhaps their long time persecution by the society shaped how they look at life itself.

Socially speaking, in Singapore context, we aren't accepting them, not ready. Even if we did, its a case of " it doesn't happen to me" syndrome that we are accepting them. I believe no matter how matured a society is, acceptance will happen, albeit at face value as we can't separate the mental with the physical. I think one can accept that gay is a gay in term of his way of thinking, as in, he think he is a gay. However we aren't ready to accept when the physical part comes into play. That is the reason why people cringe when men kiss men or other actions.

Of course you may ask, then what is it that people are more willing to accept lesbian and not gays? I believe this is due to gender. Female has longed been view as a fairer, weaker sex. Therefore, they are dismissed or view with less disdain compared with males who have traditionally been associated with propagating , protecting.

Economically, the presence of gays will spice things up. The latest GDP figures suggest service take the lead. They are really more creative and they generate ideas. As Singapore opts to be a service and creative hub, we cannot afford to misplace the man in pink.

I have read a post on why men have nipples, which is vestigial on men. The reason is still unkown. It is still in question on whether do our ancestors breast feed the offspring and hence, the nipples. Perhaps this can shed light on whether gay can be able to procreate babies in the future, with the aid of technology and advancement in medicine.

Maybe until then, with this new found ability, humans are more willing to accept gays as who they are, regardless of mental or physical.

Well, some plants and insects are known to be single sex, so nothing is impossible.

$30

2006-10-22T11:05:00.000+08:00

How much do you have? How much pocket money does your parents gave you? I have been pondering over this 2 qns ever since i flipped the wanbao, a local tabloid which trives on sex or sensational murder stories for its circulation digits, and i read the story of the man who jumped into the MRT track at Chinese garden Station, the place where he met his current wife.

His whole entire fortune was a measly 30 dollars. For some of us, 30 dollars perhaps was a day's pocket money or the cost of a meal we have eaten at crystal jade. But for him, his 30 dollars need to be stretched to fill up not only a day, a week but maybe a month. I can understand his anguish, his anxiety and his worries. Two teen sons, a loving wife who unfortunately, striked with polio, a 3 room flat which perhaps, mortgage has not been fully paid. In a society like Singapore where a plate of chicken rice cost $2, he can either sacrifice his whole fortune for 15 plates, or to divided it equally to paying utilities, food, transport and health care.

So what went into his mind when he decided to take the plunge? Does he not care about his family? Is he suffering from depression? Does he regret the moment his life flashed in front of him? Sadly, no one can answer these question.

To the society as a whole, the government has been reassuring that Singapore must be an inclusive society. Then, this inclusive society as it is called, does it include the poor as well? If it does, then why has he got to die? Sure, there are alot of measures and avenues presented to the poor like the progress package. However, fingers has been pointed to the poor themselves for not accepting these help due to "face saving".

But thats not forget, the poor usually has little or no education. For him, he only had a primary three education. So shall we just play the blame game and say :" oh the help are there, but blame yourself for not wanting it". I feel its not they not wanting it but they do not know how to get it?

Should we set up a unit to track these poor people, offer them help instead of them coming to get help, to ask for help. Even we do not want to build a social welfare system in singapore, but sometimes, too rigid to one policy may blind us from seeing the big picture.

On a personal note: After i read his story i realised that compared to my silly problem, his is the one which indeed, constitute a problem. I also felt that actually i am still considered lucky for the fact i do not have to worry how to feed my family with just $30. I think i will do volunteer work after i graduate.

IMF

2006-09-16T21:12:00.000+08:00

i am horrified by the barriers, cages to be exact that are erect all in our town areas for the IMF meeting. Well i kept my comments reserved for the banning of some activist, but i feel that by erecting those barriers seems abit out of scope, absurd.

By erecting those, it seems our police, army are incompetent to deal with any clashes or riot and we need those artificial steels to keep them out.

If i am a delegate, i will feel like entering a prison. True, keeping them safe is the most paramount thing to do, but why other country can keep them safe while allowing activist, minus away the barriers but we can't?

Are we telling the whole world we are too pananoid, too insecure or just plain lack of confidence?

2006-07-21T16:41:00.000+08:00

Politics is not about shouting slogan, hunger strike, bold and rude questioning, selling twisted ideas to singapore, collaborate with foreigners, having a questionable agenda.

I don't understand why he support( morally i think. In Sg, we support morally) that chee guy.

Barriers to keep you safe, and you are complaining

2006-07-21T16:17:00.000+08:00

I read one entry by a blogger about the north eastern side of Singapore, being fitted with green barriers that divide the road and of course, stop any jaywalkers from performing their act of potential death. The blogger said he overheard an conversation of an old lady, presuming to another old lady, complaining that she couldn't jaywalk and had to walk all the way to the nearest traffic light to cross the road. The blogger pondered why there is a need for the barriers if the area is deserted and it is okay to jaywalk. Such warp idea.

Now before we argue whether people ought to jaywalk or not. Let see why humans jaywalk. The question here is why human want to cross the road, not the chicken but human. There are many reasons why human want to cross the road. He may cross the road for fun, for school, for walk, for recreational,etc. Yes, crossing the road is a goal to be achieved. Now that is established, then why do they need to jaywalk? I think this is the same as asking, why do you want to cram up studying everything before exam, why you want to cheat during exam. Why you need that 3 in 1 coffee mix instead of manually adding milk and coffee powder. Exactly, human prefer to take the shortest avenue to achieve the same thing. So the reason for jaywalking is obvious, we want to save time. So human will jaywalk! its an inate behaviour!

So in order to save time, we jaywalk. But do you realise nobody jaywalks on an expressway? Well, because when human jaywalk, they exercise their brain to judge and to weigh the pros and cons. Risking their lives to jaywalk there isn't the most intelligent thing to do.

But, does that means jaywalking in deserted road, safer? On the contrary. Precisely it is deserted, vehicles will move faster. And when vehicles move faster, there is a need to set up the barriers because time is not on the driver's side and as human reaction time is pretty slow, slower if he is occupied with something else. Accident happen in this way because one party want to cut time, another party think its alright to speed up. All this are connected to the idea that the road is deserted.

So we should even more put up barriers in deserted road. However i assume the blogger main idea of questioning the viability of barriers is the expense that was spent in erecting up a stretch. He questioned that if the contract to erect one was given to a singapore company, then its alright as money flows back to the economy. However if given to a foreign one, money flows out.

Well, i feel that even if its given to a foreign company, it doesn't matter. Firstly, the cost of putting up one is not that great. Secondly, i believe that such national development projects may be undertaken by HDB surbana or some local satutory affiliated companies. Lastly and more importantly, what is money spent if we can save lives?

The blogger also says that its a sign of nanny-ism because of the barriers as it reflect the political, society atmosphere of Singapore. But to quote a man:" the sg govt is like an open book, but you need to find the answer yourself" And in this barrier incident, if singaporean can think for themselves and do not jaywalk, i believe the barriers won't be set up in the first place. We seek the answer ourselves and the answer here is Barriers to the Jaywalk Question.

Lastly, the blogger think that if the related ministry didn't put up the barriers and the jaywalker died from any accident, his own fault and nobody should care, i think he is missing the bigger picture that a good govt is one where take care of its people and in this case, value human lives.

Going for the Extra Mile for service

2006-06-30T20:51:00.000+08:00

After 35 years of courtesy campaign, some began to question whether those campaign are a waste of tax payers' money as there seems to be no improvement in service here. Hongkong once below singapore in service standard, meteor rise to quite a lot of notches infront of singapore.

To a country desperate and pananoid of not being first, this has call for a national inquiry on what we should do. Therefore, GEMS, another acronym is formed with the intend of "propaganding" the people to be more courteous and more polite.

Recently, a magazine conducted another survey to see how each country perform in politeness and kindness and all that. Singapore took the 35th place and once again send the whole country in chaos. Well not so much of a chaos because " i never say thank you when you hold the door for me is because i am busy smsing what".

I think the flaw or the answer to the question is, our campaign is not good because we never treat our own countrymen like VIP. Singapore is going to host the IMF meeting and viola! our expressways are given a fresh coat of paint, we began to collect 4 million smile, advertisement reminding us that we must be courteous because they are going to book our hotels, raid our shopping malls, dump millions of dollars at our mint.

Is money interconnected to courtesy? If our own countrymen can afford to splurge millions of dollars in a short span of days, would our campaign focus on our own people, will we paint our expressways for our own people?

A little of everything

2006-06-13T09:05:00.000+08:00

Elections
Yes. I can vote. I always believe that voting is sacred and that it mark my coming of age. About receiving keys or seeing RA movies when one hit 21? Forget It! Voting is the ultimate prize. Why is this so? Well, even if one is eligible to vote, he may not be able to vote if its a walkover. The feeling was kind of surreal. Having accompanied my parents to voting booth twice, i can't believe i was standing at the booth beside them, striking the X and drop the ballot in the box. Who i cast for? Sorry i can't tell. 66.6% of the votes are cast for the incumbent. Triple 6...does that means doom is coming? I think its all superstitious. But i must put here, my 2 cent worth of analysis and proposal in the election.

I think why the incumbent lost yet again, hougang and Potong Pasir was that the upgrading cards was play too much. Everybody pay taxes so why those two constituents can't get their upgrading done? I think the main reason is that they are not close to any of our major expressway. If there is any expressway that link our Changi Airport to the city, you jolly well seen plants, shrubs, coconut trees lining along. To show good impression and how unique Singapore is to the tourist that is! Secondly, the opposition do have a point there. What is the reason for co-pay when we are actually paying for upgrading( by the tax monies)?

Japan
I am quite worried about the changes in the consitution changes made to the defence force of Japan. If you realise, Japan is slowly taking the step to have their armed forces fully operational, instead of just a defence force as it claimed. First the sending of security forces to conflict areas like Iraq, Afganistan. Together with billions of aid poor in. I think the aids is to ease people heart and hoping no one realise what it is doing, step by step.
After that, establish a need for the change in the defence force. In this case, China was used by them i think. China always react violently or aggressively to the visiting of the shrine. Japan is trying to play victim here. Why do i say so? Look, Japan invest in china, give them monetary aids and even issue statement of regret of the atrocracies done during the war. Yet China was seen as a petty fella, unwilling to forgive. So here we have it, another reason for the build up of force.
Thirdly, US and japan are quite friendly nowadays as US are wary of the China miitary build up. And if Korea take back the land lease to US, US pacific fleet may not be operational in the North-west Asia area, the Korea base is of extremely important to US as it can keep a close watch on pyongyang and China.
Fourth, what has taiwan got to do with Japan? Japan said it aim to protect Taiwan in case of any conflict but i think it is not their problem anyway, its a Chinese problem.
Japan need to be under tight scrutinising. I think it is trying to be funny again.

Learning Malay and Arabic
If i got the time, i will learn melayu and arabic. Melayu for the reason that we are surrounded by Malay states. Its of purely economic reasoning that i should learn it. Actually i forsee Malaysia and Indonesia as the next emerging market. I think those 2 market haven't reach their potential yet. Forget about China and India, focus on this 2 turfs closer to home. Natural resources, human resources, geographical locations, malaysia have them all.
For Arabic, if one realise, the MAS has allow a islamic financial product to be launch in Singapore. Our ministers has made the prilgrimage to mecca, qatar, dubai, etc, the middle east countries. Both MMs went there. I think we are trying to invest there, or bringing investments from there.
If let say..20 years are left before oil was use up. The middle east, having rely on Oil so many years, will decided to build up their economies based on other stuff other than oil. Well, don't say 20 yrs, they are slowly doing that now. Their population are young, fulll of energy. So learning arabic is profitable.

笨人歌

2006-05-01T22:15:00.000+08:00

(from http://www.zaobao.com/yl/yl060426_510.html)

被人说笨心不甘，真要学笨不简单;

拾金不昧笨不笨，你若不笨便是贪。

大智若愚人称憨，卧虎藏龙在深山；

笨字拆开本是竹，清风傲骨腰不弯。

铁杵磨针不怕难，愚公移山为谁忙；

神农若不尝百草，后人那来千金方。

名嘴出口能成章，一时口误惹祸端；

原本一颗小红点，越描越黑越肮脏。

不奸不坏不是笨，知足常乐又何妨；

政府既然委贤良，奉公守法也应当。

虽然没有大革命，家家丰衣有米粮；

虽然没有大河川，车水马龙国富强。

On over protectionalism

2005-10-24T16:31:00.000+08:00

( the following piece is taken from another blogger by the name of erik. http://www.xanga.com/erikhagen . ALL GUYS should read it and i mean ALL GUYS)

When you're overly controlling, it gives off the impression that you don't trust her. If she really wants to go to a club, she'll go, but she'll just lie to you about it reaffirming your lack of trust, and it's kind of a cycle. The more you don't trust her and feel the need to control her, the more she has to lie to do the things she wants causing you to mistrust her even more when you find out. And it's so dumb to think that holding her back from going to a few parties is going to help her not cheat on you. If the girl really wants to cheat, she isn't dumb, she would find a way.

Also, when you're over protective, it really makes you look insecure and pathetic. Deep inside, you know that girls like confident guys, and that being a pussy will make her like you less. And that might be part of the reason why you feel like you need to be controlling, is that because girls cheat on pussies with confident manly men, and you don't want that to happen to you. Why don't you just be a better boyfriend; If you were a manly man, they wouldn't cheat on you with a pussy, you'd be everything they are looking for.

It seems like the only good thing that comes from being a controlling boyfriend is that you show you really care about her, or at least about not loosing her. Unfortunately, there are much better ways to show her that you care. And everyone including her knows this. Instead of showing her you care by getting mad at her when other guys smile at her, why not buy her flowers or take her on a picnic.

I'm not saying to act like you don't care if she's obviously taking the first steps to cheat on you. I'm just saying that if you know she loves you, then be confident in that and trust her more instead of being a pussy ass bitch.

What is your saddest moment?

2005-10-17T16:39:00.000+08:00

Today i was at the hospital, helping my dad to do the discharged procedure for his discharge. As i walked passed the rows of bed, i heard this buddhist hymn. Yes, that song u heard when u visit a buddhist columbarium or at a wake. That hymn where it just repeat itself. So i turned and looked, i saw this frail old man, lying there, with an oxtgen mask strapped over his face. That look on his face, i know his lungs is failing him. His time on Earth is getting shorter and shorter. That same face, remind me of my grandfather.

When i was young, i often thought the saddest moment of my life is when i get caned for something i do wrongly. It was painful and most importantly, scars were left on my thigh and hands and i would worried that how could i face those sneering laugher when i get to school.

When i reached secondary school and when the mind began to be even more concious of the environment, the saddest part of my life is when i couldn't get into triple science class or double science. Its kind of stupid, now that i think back as to why teachers discourage students of going into the arts classes when they set up the class? But it spur me to work even harder, although i couldn't qualified for a science class.

When i failed my A level, thats it, the end of the world. My future was left hanging, suspended in the air. That is the first time i actually shed tears over results and the first time my mum never scold me for my results.

Just as i thought that getting trashy results was my saddest part, my grandpa passed away on 2001, near christmas time. The first time i witnessed a life, slowing ebbing away on the hospital bed, and when he acknowledge me as i greet him, he was in a semi-coma stage. At 7.30pm, he went. I remembered i cry buckets of tears during his wake and especially so when the coffin was being pushed into the furnace.

The saddest part of my life, is not about trashy results, is not about failing to go into a relationship with a girl i like for a very very long time, is not about arguing with your lecturers or getting frustrated with somebody else. The saddest part for me, is that your love ones departed, never to be returned, alive in your memories only.

For me, it has such an impact, the witnessing of my grandad demise, prove to be such a source of energy for me. For once, i truly understand the saying:" life is short".
Life is so short that you can't have time for small matters.
Life is short that you want the person you liked to be happy and not be bothered by you and thats why you stop wooing her.
Life is so short that you mustn't let your loved one down, especially your parents, that you must stop living a frivolous life but start to plan for your well-being and theirs.

And at the end of the day, you won't know whether you can say to yourself" i am alive!" tomorrow.

The saddest part of it all, is not to treasure and make full use of life.

Misplaced sympathy?

2005-10-08T20:45:00.000+08:00

Today (08/10/05) if u have read the straits time forum section, you would noticed an entry by a mdm named assoc prof lee weiling. To those ignorant of who she is, she is the daughter of MM lee and some big shot in neuroscience. Neuroscience i think is those docs who specialised in the brains. The entry seems to see that the public donations to the siamese twins, huang na, the yishun siblings and some other unfortunate kids are being "unwisely" donated.

Why is this so? Well take for instance the nepal siamese twins case. Although their body is separated, yet they seems to be worse off as one is in a semi vegetable state and the other is sort of have a less than average IQ. For the yishun twins, they went all the way to taiwan for the separation which they could be done in singapore at a lesser cost. But it seems the yishun twins ability to walk with clutches are only temporary and now they are mostly bedridden. As for huang na, the money donated to her is of no use as she is dead.

After reading this entry, it set me thinking. Its true that singaporean love to donate to whatever cause. However, our kindness, has it really been misplaced? I don't know really.

For instance, the nepalese twins. To the public, seeing such cases, which are rare in singapore, bring about astonishment and sadness. Perhaps because in singapore there is practically no siamese twins, thats why people are anxious when they arrived here. And seeing them in that state, we donate money hoping them to be separated as a perfectly human has only 2 sets of limbs, 1 head and a torso. I don't think the public is aware or think about the implication of how are they going to survive when they are separated. I don't think the public know that they will become like that after separated.

The public donate out of goodwill. Although singaporean love to complain, but we donate out of goodwill really. So i don't think its misplaced sympathy or whatever. Perhaps the only people to blame for the predicement is the doctors. They are know their stuff, yet they performed the operation. I don't think its for the money but rather for the limelight for themselves and the hospital.

No matter what, public donation are a form of empathy for the less fortunate in this country. They musn't be discouraged.

scrutinised

2005-09-27T22:42:00.000+08:00

Its been long since i blog. Sometimes i think, why do i blog? There aren't people who come visit my blog anyway except maybe myself and 1 or 2 occassional passerby who press the " next blog" button. There aren't any nice skins, dry topic, no scandalous juicy gossips or rumours, only boring personaly thoughts and political- themed posts. No pictures of myself or women either. But thats not the goal, the aim of why i blog. I think i blog as i want to preserve these thoughts, i want to capture a still of what is happening now. And when i am old, if i still manage to remember this address, i can view this blog, reflect on myself, laugh at my thinking when i am young. And if i have some serious concussion or suffering from senile dementia, i could perhaps, see this blog but have no attactment to it.

The difference between blogs and personal diary are only a thin line separating them. Blogs are sort of a more advanced ways to record a person's daily happenings, his feeling and his thoughts to be exact. However the catch is, the blog isn't private anymore. A blogger is exposing himself to the world, everything.

Yet, as the intent of the bloggers and the view of people are still, blogs are a reflection of the blogger's feeling and should be allowed. But as a blog is exposed, so should bloggers practise self censorship?

On a blogger view, i am opposed to self censorship. If the intention of blog is for the ease of writing a diary, then a blog should be seen as a private thing. And things being private, if someone pry about it, he or she could not accused the blogger of the content in his blog since the one who pry commit a sin, a mistake already by intruding other people privacy. This goes to people who view others blog and people who hold bloggers responsible for the bloggers view. It is just like the pot calling the kettle black. You are the one willingly to come and see my blog and yet you are accusing me of posting my inner most feeling which in the first place, you come to see my blog because you want to see my inner most feeling. Irony isn't it?

People may argue that since you want to keep the blog, you must be responsible for anything that you wrote. I think the act of publishing each entry is an act of responsibility and that the blogger is already being responsible.

However if we want to see the society as a whole. This thing call blog is seen as the modern day propaganda and revolutionary tool. Ancient people pass messenges to overthrow the Yuan dynasty by stuffing strips of paper in the mooncake, while modern people can rally people using blog.

Racist remarks, insults hurl at teachers. These bloggers are taken to court or disciplinary deal with. But, the action of doing that, aren't painting the picture abit too rosy, sweeping the dirt under the carpet? Racism will always present in the modern day society, students will always be frustrated with the teachers.

Perhaps the idea behind is not racism or hurling insult itself, the idea behind is that for racism,it is inflammatory. That will depend on the tone of the blogger and whether it is just purely a personal thoughts or is there any inflammatory hint inside his post.

But nevertheless, the recent episode of blog-induced trouble certainly make the blogging scene in singapore shaky. Bloggers now do not know what to blog or what not to blog. Since that is the case, has it been steer off the original road, which is preserving of an individual thoughts by keeping it using a more advanced diary?

tan weilian: Abled or Disabled?

2005-09-03T18:59:00.000+08:00

Project superstar had just ended. It was one of the nicest shows i ever watched, given that i only watch two shows. The first is tian long ba bu and the second is of course project superstar.

Perhaps why i watch superstar in the first place is because my mom told me there is a blind busker who went for the audition. And from that onward, i followed practically every episodes. Although it was the blind busker, weilian who induced me to watch the show, but gradually, it were the pretty contestant that followed be through the whole show.

While i am watching this age old question surfaced again in front of me. Should we treat those who are disabled as disabled or abled body. And, are the disabled themseleves want us to treat them as abled or as disabled.

The meaning of disabled i think, is one who can't perform what an abled bodied person can do. The definition of an abled bodied is a wide subject. An impotent man may be classified as disabled by his wife but if he still can walk around unaided by a walking stick, then he is abled.

I keep on thinking that if i bump into a disabled guy, should i see him as being abled. I think sometimes, the disabled hope people to view them as abled bodies but yet, they would want to reserved those special rights that a disabled bodied usually have.

Take for instance the MRT lift. My rationale to the lift is that, how many disabled people actually use the lift in such a way that it would fully maximise the lift potential passengers carrying capabilities. I believe the lift is almost underutilised if we only allow people who are disabled to use it.

However, you could see in the forum of the papers, that disabled people complained that abled body are vying with them, are fighting with them for the lift. So, if they want people, in practical to view them as abled bodied, why go put a tag on themselves by themselves that they are in theory, disabled? I find this totally absurd.

Another piece of article that caught my eye is this disabled guy who said abled bodied guy are hogging the disabled toilet cubicle. I mean, where is the level playing field?

As an abled bodied, i need to wait for my turn to pee, so why can't you?

Back to the person in limelight, tan weilian. The critics says people vote due to sympathy. So do they and can you blame them? It is this tag of disabled that will always remain disabled enable the disabled to truly have the benefits of their own cubicle and their own elevators.

p/s: i may sound crude. but isn't it true? I only want to pass across a message that if you want people to treat you of what you want people to treat you as, then you must treat yourself of what you want people to treat you as first. No more, no less.

Education is just like investing

2005-06-01T11:58:00.000+08:00

To me, education is a long term investment where you cant see the gains in short term.

Study is like how you manage your portfolio. Both need time and discipline.

Good grades is like when the company you invest in, pay out dividend. The feeling is great.

Why settle for something less instead of more?

Is it His money?

2005-05-27T11:28:00.000+08:00

Yesterday while waiting, supposedly waiting for a client( who fly kite without even informing), i witness an act of kindness.

I was sitting down at the Mac donald, opposite, adjacent, beside bedok interchange where this shabbily looking guy, holding some charity ticket approached me. He did not know i have the hate-charity-for-their-ever-thirsty-thirst-for-money-syndrome.

So i signalled with my hand, i waved to him that buzz off. So he stand there still, looking pathetically at me while i still, wave my hand.

So he have no choice but to approach other people. The next person is a malay woman with her kid, she too can't be bothered as she was on the handphone.

So the man approach this cute girl. Initially this girl shake her head. But the man use the same old trick of standing there for a few more second, looking with that meek eyes of his.

Then horrors! The girl craved in for that trick and took out a $2 note for the ticket. She must be one who is soft hearted, easily succumb( means easy to jio? hahaha, nah i didn't okay!)

But instead of taking the ticket, she don't want the ticket!

Hm...yeah its a charitable act of kindness but i saw the man, put the $2 note in his pocket. So...what does that means?

Mirror mirror on the wall

2005-05-25T23:42:00.000+08:00

I was reading a blog entry by one of my sec sch friend. Rarely contact now. Cracks appear between us since jc for no apparent reason. I heard from one of my sec sch buddy that he find me lame and love to talk cock very much. After i heard i paused and ponder for a moment. Hey, aren't i always like that?! So why suddenly he dislike me?!

So back to this entry. We were having chalet couple of weeks back. One of my friend birthday. So i think he stay back or whatever while i go home because meeting client the following day. He seems unhappy by some remarks made by one of the friends.

The first unhappiness is about the chivas he brought. He is unhappy that he absorbed most of the cost. I feel that you didn't ask people to pay, of course people take it for granted. Ask and you shall receive isn't it? Thats sad being unhappy over the slightest thing.

Oh well, i am too lazy to type.

Can friends ever be truthful to one another? Telling them how you feel, speak out instead of bottling up and pretend here pretend there. Another vicious cycle as people like to hear good things and not the bad one, even suggestions.

Then what is the word friendship means?

Does going out everyday, talking lame jokes, orgling at girls, talk about good things, everything on the surface means you got good friends? Or friends who dare to give you advice, dare to tell you whats wrong, dare to be your mirror consider good friends?

In the past i used to ask my friends for a real survey on myself. Of course the truth hurts. My flaws i think are lame, too happy go lucky that i am seems to offer no security to people especially girls. Sometimes cocky and always surprise people, stupid surprises that will make people paiseh, too pragmatic, selfish sometimes.

Leopard never change its spot but i am glad i am mindful of my flaws now.

Hm...think i should ask my friends to evalute me again.

How Attitude Affects Us

2005-05-25T23:09:00.000+08:00

HOW ATTITUDE AFFECTS US

Our attitude at the beginning of a job will affect the outcome of the job more than anything else.

Our attitude toward life determine their attitude towards us.

Our attitude towards others will determine their attitudes towards us.

Before we can achieve the kind of life we want, we must think, act, walk, talk, and conduct ourselves in ways characteristics of who we ultimately wish to become.

The higher we go in any organization of value, the better the attitude we’ll find.

Holding successful, positive thoughts in our minds will make all the difference in the world.

If we always make a person feel needed, important, and appreciated, he or she will return this attitude to us.

Part of good attitude is to look for the best in new ideas. So look for good ideas everywhere. We will find them in the most wonderful places:

On the bumpers of cars, on restaurant menus, in books, in travel, out of the innocent mouths of children.

Don’t broadcast personal problems.

It probably won’t help you, and it cannot help others.

Radiate the attitude of well-being

Don’t be embarrassed to share visions, desires, and goals.

Treat everyone with whom you come in contact as a fellow member of the human race-with all the rights, duties, and privileges thereof.

The Golden Rule still applies:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

-TED W. ENGSTROM FROM ‘MOTIVATION TO LAST A LIFETIME’

Get this from Denise Keller's moblog. They have those kind of shit for Eye for a Guy. I think she read alot. Her english is definitely better than average Singaporean.

Yepp..don't broadcast personal problems. Thats what i feel is critical and that is why i never mentioned or show my problems, emotional frequently. Because nobody can solve for you, even if u said or shown. But on the other hand, you will make others feel sad.

So peeps, i may be a joker but like all flesh and blood human, i got my problems, desire, ambition,etc.

I only choose not to show the sad, moody, angst part always but doesn't mean i don't have all that.

The original recipe for success. Its finger lickin good.

2005-05-24T22:34:00.000+08:00

"And it all began with a 65-year-old gentleman who used his $105 Social Security check to start a business"

That 65 yr old grandfather is colonel Sanders. The founder of KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken. He started it when he is at the age of 65. Senior citizen age. How many grandfathers actually do work when they are aged 65? Not many. Even if they work, its for the sake of killing time or perhaps as the birth rates take a nose dive, no many grandchildren for them to carry and that is why they went to work.

But who really at the age of 65 go out to create his own business? Many i can count them in a hand.

Compared to the west, perhaps in asia countries, grandfathers, the patriach of the family, are expected to rest, play with the caged birds, occassionally playing chess in the coffeeshops. Sometimes change diapers or cradle the grandchildren. Not many are like Colonel Sanders, Meredith and Gretchen of Amazing Race 7, who dare to make their dreams become reality.

Singapore need to reshaped itself. Our economy is expierencing a structural change. I think our mindset need that too. Start from young.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing that the government is full of nannies? We are so used to be taken care of. We are so used in this sheltered environment that we forgot, we will forgot how to fend for ourselves if we are freed into the wild. Like a captive rabbit, once we are out, we will get bitten and left to die, something we won't even give a thought when we are in the cage, safe and sound.

Talk to alot of youngsters nowadays and you would realised, many complain and yet can't seem to find solutions. Talk to the old and sentences like " i have faith in the government", " the government can take care of it" came out.

In order to be more entrepreneurial, we need to really be more focus and especially, don't think time and money is a big issue.

I realised what hold us back is money. Dreams failed because the bank account is not fat. I think its kind of sad. I believe we should be like the businessman who Ngiam Tong Dow mentioned. said:" get the business first, how to build, decide later".

A drug addict has no money. Yet when the craving came in, money will strangely came. I think if we have the desire, money is just another typical objection. And like all other objections, there is a way to answer them.

Another thing that singaporean obsessed with is time. I think real entreprenuers, in order to follow their passion, in order to build up their business, spend endless time. They are willing to spend, or some said " waste time".

"You want to do that" What for, don't waste time lah" Yes we all love to say that. We said that to ourselves, we tell others that.

Pathetic.

Of course negative obsession with time and money are not enough. Other ingredient include not daring to be different, not daring to take risk.

I admire that friend of mine who in the end quit nus. He dare to follow his dream, he dare to take risk. Salute.

Taking risk with money, taking risk with life, taking risk for the rest of your life do not gurantee you success. But without taking risk, don't even mention success or returns.

Anyway, what thing is gurantee in this world? Your wife isn't your wife until the day she die. Yes, you can't even gurantee your wife won't run away one day.

http://www.kfc.com/about/colonel.htm

p/s: the "wise proverb" "Your wife isn't your wife until the day she die" is said by lau hong lian, a slack SP lecturer who although slack, is good in his work and jokes, political and dirty jokes. Sorry, can't mentioned here.

Myself

2005-05-19T11:43:00.000+08:00

Primary school teachers always like to ask us to write about ourseleves. A typical composition essay title. And we as students would gleefully write about myself. Then stand in front of the class, say it with pride what is our ambitions, our family and basically, ourselves.

Moving on to secondary school, the cross junction of breaking free from the old shell, the topic of myself was often scorned by students. The title was seems to be the old cultural backwater topic and no one should write about it. Cultural revolution at play. Teachers too would rather students to focus on more challenging topics instead. They too don't want to be seen as a primary school teacher inside.

But i feel its ironical that as we grow older, when more things, more temptations influence us, we seems to lost ourselves to the distant space. Gone are the firm answers when quizzed by teachers about ourselves during primary school.

And as we grow older we are often detached of what we actually want to do. Some says because when we are young, we do not really know much of the world and that the choices we make are childish.

I beg to differ. I think kids are alot smarter. They are innocent so they see things clearly. When a kid says he want to be a president, inside him, he know that a president weld a substantial amount of power. He is the head of state. When a kid says he want to be a teacher, to him, teaching is holy and he aspires to be a great teacher.

Perhaps as we grow older, true enough, everything we tend to measure by monetary, i myself included. That is why you see scholars breaking their bonds in order as what they put in, to seek more opportunity. Why they don't just admit because they can earn more money?

But happy to say, there are some people who gave up on high paying job to pursue their childhood dreams or to work as a much more well paid job, psychologically.

To me, i also belong to the vast number of people who are not in sync with their childhood dreams anymore.

I also lost myself to the society.
Not a single one is Neo Anderson.

Goodbye Mr Wee Kim Wee

2005-05-03T22:27:00.000+08:00

I remembered him as this old man who stand in front of the padang every national day parade. And when i was small, my parents used to praise him for being a nice president, who cares for the people. To me, i sort of couldn't understand why his surname is also his last name and vice versa, thinking both Wee meant the same thing in chinese. Only when i grew older, then i know it better.

Due to prostrate Cancer, he passed away on 1st may 2005. But i think having lived for nearly a century, he is contented already. Afterall, he was a simple man. A man whom only a few could reach out to, enable so many to pay tribute and condolences is no small feat. It clearly shown he has shine and really reach out to those he reached. He touched the bottom of their heart.

I think looking at so many presidents of yester years, including S R Nathan now, i have came to a conclusion. While the government are the people's parents, the presidents are the nannies, always on the lookout, and always care for their grand children.

Reading the news and seeing him on TV reminded myself of my maternal grandfather who passed away on 2001, 20th of dec. It was him that once, memories flooded.

And it was my grandfather wake and funeral, and seeing the coffin being pushed into the cremation pit that jolted me out of my aimless life. Life is short. No matter whether you live to a hundred or fifty, compared to the vastness and the age old universe, you are just insignificant.

There is so much to accomplish but so little time. So many hands to reach out for, but ultimately, only a few are reached.

But nevertheless, i believed, touch the heart whom you have reached, just like our late president.

Goodbye Mr Wee.

Happy birthday Mattew

2005-04-30T00:31:00.000+08:00

I was so touched that Mattew, remembered me and invite me to his 21th birthday party. To think i don't even save his hp number. Sorry.

I was quite on close term with the drivers. Yes alot are uneducated or lowly educated. However, i find them to be endearing too. They have that kind of humility, the determination never to say die that i think will do them good.

People might say, one should make friends with those who are on par with you or higher. Then you will soar also. True, i believe in that. In terms of value, those friends certainly has much more value. You can learn more from them. And making more of these friends are beneficial.

However, if you are always too occupied with those friends, you will feel sooner or later, you will detact youself with other level of the society and think full of yourself as a high and mighty king.

So while you make friends of high value, making friends of those lower, perhaps in education, will tie you to your roots that one can fail just as easy as one can succeed.

Thats why you see those entreprenuer, they may not have a title, professor, next to their name, but they can still make their mark. Similarly, i believe those uneducated people or lowly educated, as long as you still have that one mouthful of breath, you will also make it.

I am happy for another friend, stephen. I mentioned about him earlier. NUS has grant himself an interview for industrial design. This is a highly sought after course. If stephen has been granted an interview, it means half of the battle is won. And mind you, he is not even a design student as the course name suggest. He is just a poly grad who make good. If a normal engineering student can be granted an interview, it shows that nothing is impossible. You may be good in something, but often, this world always surprises you for in this world, it is the world, the people other than you that dictate you and not vice versa.

Ordinary people can also succeed.

Type of people

2005-04-26T10:19:00.000+08:00

Barely 6 mth into my job, i have come into contact with alot of people. Different clients different days. Like our thumbprints, not a single person is alike in terms of thinking, acting and doing things. But i have come to the conclusion that if a person want to avoid you, he can gives all sorts of arguement and excuses which will force a dog to jump over the wall and the pigs will fly. No forgetting, sun will rise from the west.

However i do much love this challenges. Every job has its challenge. When i was a mechanics, my challenge was how to troubleshoot the vehicles, the machines to make it work. Ocassionally still have to beat the time in order to get things done. But dealing with people is yet another story. When you thought you have troubleshoot his worries and queries, he will come up with more questions to worry you! Sometimes these questions are asked to satisfy their inner curosity. But most of the time, the questions are asked in oder to make you stumble and lost your tongue which will they then, say "i am sorry you are not competent". But then, how to answer a questions which you yourself can't even answer?

Sometimes in the line, i wonder, do i really have to con or confuse in order to get the deal? I am not a story teller. Whatever i present is based on 3rd parties facts. Newspapers clippings, report from major independent financial firms, whatever whatever. I have display them as my arsenal. They do pack a potent punch but people still, denied them. Look like Straits Times is not all that convincing in its news reporting! Ha!

Back to the people. Like i say, alot of people i met. I am going to list them below and you all can have a good read.

Overly polite type
Once, at pasir ris while doing a road show, i met this overly polite guy.
"Hi sir"
"thank you thank you"
"would u like.."
"thank you than you"
?? " but i haven't do anything to help you"
"thank you thank you"
"but.."
"thank you thank you"
and he just walked faster and faster with each thank you thank you.

Lie in front of you type
I saw this macik and i approach her.
"sorry lah, busyyy"
And after saying busyyy, she walk slowly to the atm machine, withdraw her cash, and walk past me, very slowly.

Sue you type
I approach this man smoking near a dustbin. He don't look like that kind who could afford the lawyer's fee based on his dressing.
"Hi sir could i do a survey with you"
" go away"
Since you are rude, then lets play
"why sir, i haven't done anything"
"look i am not interested"
"of course you aren't, because i haven't show you anything"
"if you bother me, i am going to sue you"
hm..i should hand my friend name card to him to let him engage him to sue me.

Conspiracy type
Once i was talking to this bus driver at bedok. It was him that i verbal diarrhoea and get a somehow sarcastic talk by my friend boss. Apparently, he is my friend's client. We are talking about unit trust and i was telling him nothing is bound to go up. It will go down. And he actually know why it go down!

"You know why go down?!!"
" i know"
"why?"
" because hor, those stockholders hor, they eat the company money ah!"

i peng.

Merry go round type
This type is what you damn pissed with especially you know your plans are in fact, much superior. When you say A, he will say B. But his B will contridict his A. So you mention about the contridiction in B. He will say back A!

"see, prudential plan is much better"
"but then a difference of 10k is no difference, you know. I can easily earn back" ( This is A)

Here, he sound rather generous with his money. But wait,

"so your worries is about the premium? but then $20 dollar difference is no higher" ( my premium is higher than $20)

"No. $20 is alot of difference" (This is B. He contridict his A)

"but what you put in is what you get. And if 10k is no difference, then what does $20 make any difference. You put in how much, you will get how much" (I show his contridiction)

"10 k is really no difference" ( he go back to A. So here, we have a merry go round)

Alot of other cases also but i am too lazy to type. Ha ha. But i think doing sales, you really need to know the psychological mindset of people. I think this job will prepare me for other jobs in the outside world, for everyday, i am receiving the baptism of fire.

Investment Linked and the financial advisory Industry

2005-04-24T11:05:00.000+08:00

Recently there have been some controversies and debates surrounded investment linked products and insurance as a whole. Propositions and oppositions have been fighting like no one else business and mainly the propositions are people who are in the financial advisory industry while as usual, the oppositions are the people who need financial planning and often, the vanguards of this battle are they one whose financial planning go haywire due to the incompetency of their financial advisors.

What is Investment linked policy? Simply put, it is a financial plan where one could have both insurance coverage and also investment at the same time. Invest what? Invest in unit trusts. Here is where lies the problem as the allocation of the investment funds, or premium become murky as investors and perhaps even the advisor do not know how much is being allocated to which and hence it spark off a wide range of issues regarding the financial advisory industry.

For an ILP, usually the first few years, returns can't be seen. As with most investments, you will need a have a period in order to get your capital beef up and earn returns or incur loses. However it doesn't boil down too well with the average Singaporean who do not have the slightest hint of what investment should be. TV program showing fast bucks do not help the situation either.

I have met with several clients who ask me whether can they put in less but generate alot, in a short span of time. They saw investment as the Singapore Mint which can produce notes at an astronomical speed.

But who can blame them as Schools, parents do not teach them the way to safeguard and let their money grow?

ILP work in a way that once premium is received, they are allocated immediately. It mean, they will be converted to units( and hence the name unit trust). The cost and the insurance coverage will be also converted to units after which the premium unit will deduct the cost unit and the remaining unit will be put to work.

The quotation of each plan shows 5 and 9% returns generated. However this is not guranteed. There is no short cut or magic involved. Even if you deposit in a bank, there is no guranteed that the interest rate will stays at the prevailing rate and not rise nor fall.

Some may argue that the fault lies with advisors who failed to mention or show the clients how do this work, how do the cost is being deducted, so on and so forth.

To this question, there are two side of the story. True some advisors are incompetent. They do not bother to keep abreast with the current affairs, especially with the financial news. They do not highlight the cost or do not even know how to calculate it even after being taught how to, to the clients. Worse, they spun fairylike tales to clients like telling them those 5 and 9% returns are guranteed. Yes, we should weed out these advisors.

However being said, i also discovered that it is just a vicious cycle. I tried once to explain to a bus driver, my friend's client actually, on what is a unit trust, how do it work, how is the cost calculated, only to have the bus driver confused and the deal just fall off. Me? I became a thousand year guilty guy who get a bit of sarcasm from my friend's boss.

You see, explaining to a group of people who don't even have the slightest idea of what is financial planning can be a big hurdle. For a start, they are already risk adverse psychologically. They treat all investments are losing money vehicle, especially in higher risk instruments such as stocks. So even before you start to spread your gospel of how the things work, they already have this mindset that it won't work for them and money is sure to be lost.

It is this mindset which prevent them from getting comfortable financially. It is also this group which the government are most worried about, seeing that they won't be retiring comfortably in their old age. And this is the group which the insurers and companies are trying to reach out to. And so, a vicious cycle just keep on repeating.

The delimma surfaced. If i become too technical, the client may be confused and everything just flopped. Yet this is my career, the source of my bread and butter. So should i just make things simple, just illustrate the benefits and forgo the cost and potential lost aspect? I badly need this deal you know. Go figure ladies and gentlemen.

Ever since CPF rates are fixed at 2.5%, government has been hinting and hinting that one need to plan for himself. We are not a welfare state, we can't expect the government to give handouts. And since that the government has been talking about personal financial planning, i speculated that the cut on CPF contribution are going to get more and more and the interest rate may be adjust to even lower than 2.5%( 2.5% is a requirement stated in some sort of law that it is the lowest and couldn't go anymore low in order to protect the people. But law can be change don't they?)

The situation could get worse.

Another aspect of things which i think can be improved is the image of financial advisors. You see them at the bus stop stopping you with surveys form. You treat them as if they are begging you. But if they don't do that, will you be the one to look for them instead? Absolutely not! Assuming that you know financial planning is vital. Yet Singaporean favourite excuse is " not enough time" Yes! You do not even have time to visit the toilet, so what make you have time to visit the financial planning companies?

So instead of you come forward, we come to you.

But having said, why do people are so afraid to visit the planners?

To me, i came up with a conclusion. Uneducated.

Schools never teach us. Worse, everybody say keep cash in your pocket or in your bank is the most sensible way.

You could see the obsession of Singaporean with cash. When ERS is announced, people queue up, to cash out their ERS.

$500 only, yet people are in a hurry to cash them out. If you cash them out and spend, i think its stupid. If you cash them out and deposit in bank, thats even more stupid.

You forgo the potential interest rate of 3 to 5% but rather earn a pittance of 0.125 to 0.25% in the bank. Isn't that stupid?

Last year, the ecoomy soar to 8.4%. As ERS interest is pegged to our GDP plus if i am not wrong, 3% more. So last year, the interest rate of ERS is 11.4%. 11.4% is about $50++. But if you put your ERS inside the bank, u earn only 0.25% which is i think, a few cents?

I think, in order to make people plan for their finances early. We should start educating them. Merely publish books like money sense and all that are no use, no one will listen. Start off in schools with the kids, after which they go home, they can teach their parents and so on.

After 5 to 10 years of successful education where everybody will know cash isn't king.

They won't be so scared when advisors approach them. And 15 years later, advisors need not to go into the streets and hawk their wares. Instead, people will come and look for them.

That should be the real and truthful image of financial advisors.

Know your strength and look ahead

2005-04-21T16:53:00.000+08:00

People are the most negatively charged creatures in this world. In my 2 decades of live, i think positively charged people are only a handful. People that can make themselves shine in this world and inspiring other people are so few in the world, they are gems.

I don't understand why actually. People usually feel bad about others, the world, their parents, their friends, siblings and of course themselves. I feel that feeling bad about oneself is really unfortunate. In a world where people snub one another, look down on one another, the last thing is you look down on yourself.

I think in order to succeed in life, one should take note of his own strength, and push forward. Like if you are strong in math, go and do math. If you are strong in arts, pursue it. Perhaps why lots of people feel bad about themselves is they are going on a path which they themselves has no clue, no strength in it. It is just not their forte.

But once said, once you took on the path where you are more well equipped. There are pitfalls, potholes too.

The pitfalls is, one tend to bask in their old glory and never move forward. The earth is continuing turning, everybody grow old day by day. Time and tide wait for no man but you can always see people, still living in their own world, the golden era, the world where they excel and things like that.

I believe to be successful in the future, you must look at the past but not live in the past. Thats my mantra.

Integrated Resort

2005-04-21T10:31:00.000+08:00

Applauds Applauds! The cat has been let out of the bag, we are going to build, not one, not one and a half but two integrated resorts. Personally i welcome the move to make Singapore into a Vice city where boozes, sex, gambling rules.

The geylang situation has gone out of hand, so much so that cameras need to be installed at every nook of the streets. But the hookers just fled to the opposite side and continue to do their soliciting, or prospecting. HIV on the rise so much so the government is thinking of testing the pregnant ladies whether they have HIV and of course test the babies as well. And if the babies have, i think they will be aborted and made into "kun-man-tong" ( kun man tong is a thai word for...baby spirit?)

And bars, watering holes open all around singapore. Joo Chiat, a nice peranakan neighbourhood was the copycat of m.sultan road. Teens sex rises, party drugs rules while all are still goody good shoes in their parents eyes.

And now, beside 4D, Score, Toto, Sweepstakes, lottery, underground bookies, cruise boat, batam, we have casino. Indulge in vices Singaporean, do not call NKF anymore but let your money roll!!

Ok serious now. Integrated resorts is build to, like Lim Boon Heng said, 35 000 jobs is at stake and we couldn't say no. However there is a lack of people working in the entertainment and gambling industry. So the question is, are these 35 000 jobs going to be filled by foreigners, again?! I got this feeling that when it is built, Johorean or genting highland people will come here in the doves and filled up all the space available. So i think the best thing is, send a core group of people to be attatched to las vegas or macau or even genting to learn the art of card distributing.

Next, the resorts. Definitely a shopping mall is to be build. But what kind of shops are going to be filled inside? Would it be giordano, bossini, hang ten, bata, bread talk, taka jewellery, SK jewellery, food junction, etc? Or would it be something different, something which the name i never heard of.

I think basically, why Singapore can't attract tourists is because of the usual shops found in Singapore. Go around orchard road and count how many Giordano it has. Aplently. Count how many coffee bean, starbucks it has, alot. So where ever the tourists walk, he is greeted by the same shops over and over again. Its definitely boring.

With plans to make Orchard road a shopping hub, please for whoever sake, don't let those same old shops took up almost 3/4 spaces again!

Can Men and Women Be Friends?

2005-04-19T23:50:00.000+08:00

Came across this: "

Once in a while, I run across a blog entry that reignites the perennial When Harry Met Sally debate on whether a guy and a girl can ever be just friends.

To settle it, here's the rule, as I see it:

If there's attraction with hope = can't be friends.

If there's attraction with no hope = can be friends

If there's attraction and a respect for boundaries = can be friends, so long as boundaries exist.

If there's no attraction = can be friends.

PS. Guys always hope. "

I agree with it...

Want to say, just say it

2005-04-06T15:24:00.000+08:00

I really don't understand. When you read those blog and the writer want to express his frustration but can't find any words to use, due to his limited vocabulary, he will often type the F word. But then, he won't type it as it is. Word like fcuk, fish, frup,etc would come out.

I mean, want to type, just type it lah. Whats the big deal? It just like you want to do it, yet scared. Since you have the intention, then just do it. Still pretend to be gracious, civilised for what?! When you type the letter F plus 4 other letters which when pronounced sound like the real mc coy, then type the real thing lah!

Don't act civilised when you aren't one.

Cuiwen

2005-04-03T21:32:00.000+08:00

This name..i believe is the hottest in NUS now. Why? Because she is sort of embarassed by a guy who professed his love for her during one of the maths lectures. And how do i know, because my NUS peeps told me.

Well, i think, if you are reading this cuiwen. Don't feel sad anymore. See, at least you know that there is always people who care about you. Thats important ain't not? Also, you are sort of lucky because there are millions of singles out there like me, who don't even know whether got people like us or not. So don't feel sad anymore ya? And perhaps if you are not talking to him, give him another chance. He use use a wrong method to woo a girl. I don't think he deliberately trying to humiliate you or whatever

Terri schiavo

2005-04-01T15:11:00.000+08:00

Exactly 2 weeks as predicted, terri schiavo is with her creator now. If like a true Desperate housewives fashion , what would she say while looking down at mother Earth? This 2 week has been gut wrenching for both Michael Schiavo, terri's family and terri alone. Humans in a persistant vegetarian state may lose their senses but their innate sense of going to die i believe, is not dead. They too can feel that they are going to die, not by the hand of god, but by the hand of human.

Theorically, old age death then, is considered dead by natural courses. However, terri's death is not even old age death, it is inflicted by the wills of the judical systems of america, her husband and her family, indirectly. So can we prosecute the parties which put a foot in for contributing her death? This is still a very complex issue.

Isn't it ironical that America, the country which advocate itself as a world of freedom and human rights, killed terri just in broad daylight. Don't tell me terri do not have a right to live and a freedom to stay alive.

Has the great american theory of freedom, human rights, supremacy of uncle sam went too far into its own head that it began to assume the duties of grim ripper and god? Invading sadaam backyard, accusing iran and north korea without any real evidences, getting itself out of the Kyoto treaty while condemning china for emitting too much carbon dioxide and now, killing its own citizen.

Back to terri's case. Michael Schiavo may seems to be the villian in this whole drama that span 15 yrs. But who know the agony of seeing your love one half dead, while still need to care for her. Human are creatures that need appreciation and reciprocation. He has care so much for his vegetarian state wife but the wife didn't even, or can't even give a loving touch to him. Such one way traffic i believe is what has make Michael on the path to pluck out the tube.

This case also point out to the flaws of the judical system of america. How come Michael is the guardian but not her parents? Is it due to that she adopt Michael surname and thats why the lawful guardian is Michael alone?

Also, i thought with Bush intervention, terri feeding tube could be re-inserted into her. Yet, to no avail. So it means the government is no more like a speck of dust? A figure that could start a war with just merely few sentences, are being drawfed by the judical system? Absurd.

If America still stuck up to its american dreams, i think it is on its way to destruction. Not by terrorist forces or china, but self destruct.

Trading

2005-04-01T15:00:00.000+08:00

Long time ago, i have formed a theory in my head. I believe no matter how true and loyal a friendship is, it is based on the basis that either party can get something out of the other party and like a magnet, if they both have the same agenda, then a friendship is formed.

Friendship do not merely form out of nothing. There need to have a corner stone for it. A lot of cases actually do back up my theory. I have came to know this trio of friends whom are close and good friends sometime back. However, as they went on for their individual endearvours, the friendship seems easy to crack. Upon closer look at their friendship, one could notice that the corner stone of it was shopping, gossip and boys.

Therefore, such a weak foundation certainly doesn't build up a solid friendship.

When ever human make friend with another human, it is usually hoping to "fleece" the other party for something. When you are sad, you hope for a shoulder. And if the elements permit, a soul came by and you "fleece" him of his care and concern which he shower onto you.

That is my theory.

Now recently i read my friend post on how in NUS, those top students would form their own clusters and just build an invisible wall around themselves, perhaps even branding themselves as elite. I scoff off the idea that they are really friends. The corner stone i believe is hopping to "fleece" the intelligence. Behind every smile there surely be a knife.

My poor friend, who seems to be belittled by those self elite, find that no one is willing to do a barter trade with him. He, looking for some lifeline to his poor schoolwork. But in a true barter trade sense, one hope to gain from trading. Therefore, no one in Singapore premier school is willing except perhaps for the lecturers.

I do wish i could engage in a trade with him but me too, is on a lower frequency than required.

See.....

2005-04-01T08:35:00.000+08:00

See....if you read newspapers recently, suddenly alot of govt men keep saying how people agree to casino, casino ok if can this can that....even MM say youngsters don't really care whether casino build here or not....i tell you...april 18...the ans will be a yes..like what i have predicted in my early entry.

p/s: if not...then this entry...i delete lo...ahha

Table 17

2005-03-18T20:54:00.000+08:00

On 27th March, i will sit at table 17 with all my army friends, toasting yum seng for steven, another army friend. Its his wedding day and i had just received his wedding invitation card.

The feeling of having an invitation card is quite strange. When you flipped open, the usually childish( boys in army are all like that), boorish, un-goodlooking( the stupid army garb) friend of yours suddenly turned into a sauve young man. When you stare at the eyes of the groom in the wedding picture, you can sense that " ah...he is now a man, responsible young fella" and of course, the happiness in him. You look at the bride, yes, woman indeed look their best in their gown.

I have enter this decade called the young and swinging 20s. In another word, it means a decade of receiving wedding invitations. I think, before my turn of giving out invitation comes, i will countless ang bao already. Suddenly it all felt so strange. When i was young and was about to attend wedding dinners with my parents, they would keep pondering how much to put inside the red packet. Too much you hurt your own pocket but too little you are telling the whole world you are going for a cheap meal at a fancy restaurant.

Now, it become my turn to sratch my head and think what amount is the right amount.

But before i do it, yum seng, steven!

We are all dead people

2005-03-13T11:01:00.000+08:00

"I see dead people". Yes....the sixth sense. I watched it yesterday. An amazing movie by M night shyamalan. The story revolve around this kid who say he can see dead people and this doctor who cure it. The ulitmate twister is at the end of the show, when the doc himself realise he is dead already for over 1 year.

Anyway, i think this movie is rather philosophical. On the surface, it seems the doc help to cure the kid, but rather, it is the kid who help the doc instead. The doctor told the kid:" hear what those dead people want to say, they need help". Actually, the kid has been doing that, although to only one person and that is the doctor. The doctor need to sort of atone for his sin of mis diagnosing the guy who killed him. And here come the kid who is similiar to that guy whom killed malcom, the doc.

So in another word, the kid help the doc by letting the doc diagnose him.

Another part of which i like is how the kid says:" everybody just want to see what they want to see". Certainly, we are the one who really want to see what we want to see. We are the one to set the rules and regulation. Sometimes truth don't present itself very much as truth. Sad.

Biggest joke in parliment

2005-03-08T19:34:00.000+08:00

Today i read the newspapers. NCMP Steve Chia asked a question which i think is damn stupid. He suggest that the allowance of MP to be tied to the number of questions each MP asked. Then one minister, forgot who he is, said if the allowance is to be cut, the first to be cut is the NCMP, which i think...hm...true.

Hai~...how come whenever the opposition ask a question, they always get shot down. It so paiseh. Our opposition still at its infant stage i think. Just too bad....just to bad. Anyway, i believe like i mentioned earlier, elections are coming. Perhaps after national day or the release of 3rd quarter economy forecast. It should be around november. I think so.

2005-03-02T08:17:00.000+08:00

"A worthy failure is better than a mediocre success."

~~ Kuo Pao Kun, playwright, threatre doyen, ex- political detainee

A case of paradox

2005-03-01T22:57:00.000+08:00

Structural economy changes has swept Singapore. From a traditionally strong manufacturing and perhaps textile industry, we have slowly morph into one which is strong in bio-medical sciences and other higher end technology. However it means some workers has to be displaced in order to fulfill the majority.

"Lactura paucourm serva multos", meaning sacrifice a few for the sake of the others, was clearly adhered here. Education need alot of time and patience. Re-skilling our workers definitely need some time changing. The problem is, does our society allow for this to take place? Time and tide wait for no man, especially in a society in Singapore, a little fish constantly moving around in order to survive, such time can be a bane and a huge cost. However if we don't allocate this time for our workers, workers being the fuel for our economy engine, will instead, hinder the engine. Such is the delimma of changing the economy.

Recently, news makers start to talk about how we can retrain the old folks, raising retirement age or even be more protectionist by reserving some jobs for the old folks. Again, this time paradox came into place. I realise alot of people miss out the larger picture. The small picture is, when you start applying the protectionist idea of reserving jobs for old folks, you are not letting the market function by the invisible hand( read: Adam Smith). Market or economy could just be unstable and it won't show the true side to the demand and supply of workers for that kind of jobs catered, or should i say, protected. Wages too is affected. Health insurance, a huge cost, would also be incurred as the mortality charges of old people are higher. When company do that , they would need to find alternative way to make up for that incurred expenses and consumers durable prices may just increase.

However to me is, do Singapore really can allocate time for retraining, for patiences and for seeing results. Hardware wise, the government is doing a good job, setting up WDA in CDCs to help workers so that they can help themselves to retrain themselves. But as we grow older for which our level of comprehension slows, time taken to really learned is definitely longer than the youg workers.

Similarly in the old folks context, structural economy bring about changes. To retrain and re learn. One need time, the older, the more. But as i mentioned earlier that Singapore is a small fish which time must be grabbed fast, can we just slow down our pace for the changes to take place?

Recently one of my ex- colleague received his O level result. His score is dissapointing, to his own standard. But can he be blamed? Self personal time is making way for company expansion, for hitting deadline. Try telling to your boss that your own personal re-learning is crucial to Singapore' total growth and he will tell you one cow less doesn't make any changes to New Zealand milk production.

Even if this colleague of mine take up the daring path and quit his job in order to concentrate fully on studies for which he will get good result, can the society promised him with a job upon graduation or a pay that is on par to his educational level? I afraid at this present stituation, it is hard to satisfy.

Upgrade has been the word for us after HDB flats. But i would like to mention, this doesn't work if we ourselves are willing but our superiors doesn't believe in that. I rather milk dry this worker rather than him after getting higher education, leave the company or ask for higher pay.

If our workers do not re train to have the skills needed for the new economy, ultimately, our economy is the one which is going to suffer as human is the fuel for the growth. We need a core group make up of Singaporean in order to continue the running of our engines. Do you use lubricant to run your engine totally? No! Foreign talent are just like lubricants, they make it smoother only.

Singapore, beside encouraging its people to train, also need to see whether it really support wholeheartedly, and i mean, by slowing down the pace, giving time. But at that stituation, can we still catch up and survive?

Finding a balance between pay and low prices

2005-03-01T22:23:00.000+08:00

(This article was written by US secretary of labor from 1993 to 1997. He is the author of Reason: Why Liberals will win the battle for America. Copy write: New York Times Syndicate)

By Robert Reich

Bowing to intense pressure from neighborhood and labor groups, a real estate developer has just given up plans to include a Wal-Mart store in a mall in Queens, thereby blocking Wal-Mart's plan to open its first store in New York City. In the eyes of Wal0Mart's detractors, the chain embodies the worst kind of economic exploitation: It pays its 1.2 million American workers an average of only US $9.68 an hour, does not provide most of them with health insurance, keeps out unions and has a checkered history on labor law.

But isn't Wal-Mart really being punished for our sins? After all, it is not as if it created the world's largest retailer by putting a gun to our heads and forcing us to shop there. Instead, Wal- Mart has lured customers with low prices.

Wal-Mart may have perfected this technique, but you can find it almost everywhere these days. Corporations are in fierce competition to get and keep customers, so they pass the bulk of their cost cuts through to consumers as lower prices. Products are made in China at a fraction of the cost of making them here, and American consumers get great deals. Back- office work, along with computer programming and data crunching, is ‘’off shored’’ to India, so our dollars go even further.

Meanwhile, we pressure companies to give us even better bargains.

The fact is, today’s economy offers us a Faustian bargain: it can give consumers deals because it hammers workers and communities.

We can blame big corporations, but we are mostly making this bargain with ourselves. The easier it is for us to get great deals, the stronger the downward pressure on wages and benefits. Last year, the real wages of hourly workers, who make up about 80% of the workforce, dropped for the first time in more than a decade. The easier it is for us to find better professional services, the harder professionals have to hustle to attract and keep client. The more efficiently we can buy products worldwide, the more stress we put on our own communities.

But we are not just consumers. We are also workers and citizens. How do we strike the right balance? To claim that people should not go to Wal-Mart or look for cut-rate airfares or services or shop on the Internet is paternalistic tripe. No one is a better judge of what people want than they themselves.

The problem is, the choices we make in the market do not fully reflect our values as workers or as citizens. I did not want our community bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to close (as it did) yet I still bought books from Amazon.com. We may not see the larger bargain when our own job is not directly affected. I do not like what is happening to airline workers, but I still try for the cheapest fare I can get.

The only way for the workers or citizens in us to trump the consumers in us is through laws and regulations that make our purchases a social choice as well as a personal one.

A requirement that companies with more than 50 employees offer their workers affordable health insurance, for example, might increase slightly the price of their goods and services. My inner consumer will not like that very much, but the worker in me thinks it a fair price to pay. Same with a rise in the minimum wage or a change in labor laws making it easier for employees to negotiate better terms.

I would not go so far as to re-regulate the airline industry or hobble free trade with China and India, but I would like the government to offer wage insurance to ease the pain of sudden losses of pay. And I would support labor standards that make trade agreements a bit fairer.

These provisions might end up costing me some money, but the citizen in me thinks they are worth the price. You might think differently, but as a nation we are not even having this sort of discussion. Instead, our debates about economic change take place between two warring camps: Those who want the best consumer deals, and those who want to preserve jobs and communities much as they are. Indeed finding ways to soften the blows, compensate the losers or slow the pace of change- so the consumers in us can enjoy lower prices and better products without wreaking too much damage on us in our role as workers- we go to battle.
I do not know if Wal- Mart will ever make it into New York. I do know that New Yorkers, like most other American, want the great deals that can be had in a globalising high-tech economy. Yet the prices on sales tags do not reflect the full prices we have to pay as workers and citizens. A sensible public debate would focus on how to make that total price as low as possible.

Published in Straits Times, march 1st, 2005

I don't believe in Democracy

2005-02-28T22:59:00.000+08:00

Ok this is an entry is for me to let of steam. I was so pissed today by one of my group members. Perhaps i need to evaluate my tone of speech also. I sincerely and firmly believe there shouldn't be any democracy in a group project. The leader should dictate all, dish out roles. When you are choosing a leader, you are not choosing a puppet. You are the other half of the hand which respond when the hand wants to clap. You take down order from the leader, and do it efficiently. Deadline is tight, there is definitely no time for you to engage in some parlimentary debate. Autocratic system should be practice here, not democracy.

I discussed with my leader and we come up with jobs that are going to be allocated to the members. Everything is based on the individual's ability. For instance, if your maths is lousy and your economics is good, you would definitely be placed doing some economics related stuff instead of perhaps, doing some calculation for your project. So what do you do when one of your members decides he is better in maths than economics and want to do the maths part which his result doesn't justify it? What would you do?

I really don't know. For the betterment of the group, i feel like forcing the bitter pill inside the throat. You may call my authoritative but i do it with a reason. When i allocate, of course i allocate based on your forte. Why would i jeapordise the group's performance and allocate you some job which i know you are not up to the task? If i do that, i am a fatatous leader!

Like Minster Mentor said once:" a good policy may not be a popular one". I totally agree. You may not agree with what i do but i certainly know its for the good of everybody.

Swallow it.

Casino

2005-02-23T16:11:00.000+08:00

The debate on Casino has been going on quite a while. It bring back memories when "score", the football betting system was being mooted in the parliment. The same old story goes that a lot of Singaporean are going overseas, internet bet placing site to place their football bet. So why not we ourselves start one? The government heed to this chinese idiom that is literally translated as fertelised water shouldn't let outsiders use. It mean be selfish actually. So instead of letting illegal bookies or whoever to accept bet, the government accept it.

I remembered alot of controversy was stirred in the football betting parlimentary discussion. Some pragmatic or should i called them money minded MP put a tick to the idea. Some moralist or so-called say no to it. Religion bodies throw their weight behind those moralist. The main leads, the punters were less concerned. Question them they would tell you:" oh the garment sure got way", an ideal and typical Singaporean reply. They are sitting on the fence.

Feedback collected, provided yours didn't cross the OB markers. But no matter how many petitions were signed, the idea was still passed. The lame reason i think is that it can revive the S-league with the betting system as the punters need to support their team as they stake their family fortunes on it. But well well, just peer at the stadium in front of your home while reading this article, look at the numbers of people who turned up, watching S league. They could never matched the numbers that supported Singapore during the M cup heyday.

Slowly slowly, Score began to accept bet for overseas match, i believe, because it was more "profitable". What an irony for a system that is set up supposedly to support local footballing scene.

I think history is going to repeats itself again with the casino debate. If it is just a simple debate which was being assured as just only a debate now, can attract so many investors with plans on how to set up a casino here and run them well? It isn't just building sand castle in thin air but building casino in marina bay!

I think casino is here to come, whether you like it or not, looking at the past history. Alot of people actually want it thinking it will reduce taxes and what have you. However looking at Score again, i would like to remind people that the 3% of GST has risen to 5%. So do you think it will lower any taxes?

On the other hand, some want to keep casino out in order to keep out the undesirable socially diseases like vice. But aren't you just building a house without windows because you scared the fly may come in? If Singaporean can't even exercise their own curb, draw their own boundary and remain sheltered and give that "Govt will take good care of it" reply, have we really matured as a society? I don't think so.

While the good side of me want to keep casino out, the other side of me tell me i should support the idea, thinking i haven't pull any trigger of any jackpot machine before.

sleeping in various places

2005-02-23T15:58:00.000+08:00

I love sleeping. I really do. Everyday i slept at 10.30pm, or 2230hrs in army term. However i started to sleep at 10.30pm way before i was enlisted. My mum forced me to sleep early as she was afraid i might be listless during classes on the next day. I guess over the years, it becomes my sleeping habit. If i do not sleep at 10.30, i can feel my brain stop functioning. It become evident when i am doing maths questions( another of my past time). Whenever the clock strike 12, the questions in front of me suddenly become so unfamiliar. Acute and immediate dementia sets in and i would feel like a zombie, restrained by some supernatural forces which prevent me from conquering differentiation.

But of course i am not going to go into details of sleeping. But rather places where i will sleep. I enjoyed sleeping on my bed. Its actually my parent matrimonial bed. But i siphoned to my room. A king size bed for myself. When i was young, i began to sleep on that bed when my parents just place me there and cajole me to sleep. I am a kind of person who need to be in a familiar environment in order to sleep. The bed was my comfort and my hypnotiser. Without it, i can't sleep. But i sort of grow out of it and return the bed to my parents when i was around primary 6. Occassionally, i would still steal a nap on it. Although the bed was quite old, as old as me, but i refuses to let my parent change to a new one. I am not the kind of person to ditch the old for new.

Beside home, the next most comfy place is the MRT seats. I just love sleeping in the MRT. The habit was formed when i was travelling from Tampines to ayer rajah camp. Woke up at 5.30am, so its kind of tired and i would just sleep on the train. I would start sleeping from Red Hill station, after reading the straits times and alighted at Chinese Garden. Yes you guessed it, i overshot my station. But to me it was great to just rest your head on the glass panel, and doze off. Of course not every seats on the MRT is for sleeping. I recommand the seats near the door, with the glass panel. First they are sheltered from the sunlight, next, don't you think the seats at the size are more spacious? The glass panels are good for resting your head. But do make sure the panels are clean. Sometimes you can find nasal mucus on it, be it dried or wet.

I just love sleeping. I do not know why. Perhaps my zodiac sign, Pig, has to do with my indulgence with sleeping.

Shallow Hal

2005-02-13T21:48:00.000+08:00

I have just watched Shallow Hal on tv. Let me give a brief summary on what is the show all about. There is this guy call hal, who always wanted to date pretty hot babe. However, he failed miserably because practically all the women in the world feel that he is so shallow, based on looks and date people. One day in a lift, he met Anthony Robbins, the guru who wrote countless books and charge per person thousand plus for his seminar. This guru then sort of hypnotise him so that Hal, instead of viewing girls and judging them by their looks, he will look at them differently, by looking at their inner beauty. So this Hal guy met Rosemary, a little overweight girl. But in his eyes, she is a georgeous babe( thats y thet ask paltrow to act, bodoh!). The went out and fall in love. But one day, Hal best friend, de-hypnotise Hal and Hal began to wake up. But in the end, he still accept Rosemary as he finally know what true love is all about.

Now i am going to give my 2-cent worth on the story. I think everybody has alittle bit of Hal inside us. When is the time where we do not give a second look to things that are beautiful? I have read a book that says, guys like woman to be buxomy not because of anything, but because it signify the good ability of pro-creation and of course, the badge of that she is a true woman. It is, i can say, a human basic instinct that we always will give good lookers, good looking object more credits than they should have.

If our moms goes to the grocers, they would also choose the orange base on the skin, perhaps, the more orange the orange look like , the sweeter? Try telling your mom that " hey, the worm hole suggest that it is sweet thats why the worm will blah blah blah" and i bet she will tell you to buzz off.

Although there is a bit of Hal in everyone of us, i think we do need to reflect on ourselves is that, is your bit of Hal bigger than my bit? When you see couple, each of them blessed with good looks, can you straight away jump to the conclusion that they each are Hal and when you see a couple, who perhaps, the male is not too good looking but the female is pretty, say that yes, thats not a Hal couple.

I do not really have the answer to that because the person i like is pretty and like i said, i like her. So do that make me a shallow person also?

But what i do know is that like what Robbins said in the movie:" we are all hypnotised by the society, by the world. The movies, magazines, tvs are telling you what is beauty and what is not. But is that a real answer to what beauty is all about?"

A couple of months back, i read in one of the blogs available by this girl. She wrote:" all of you chasing xxx should back off, take a good look in the mirror..." When she wrote about the mirror part, i feel that, she is based on looks and thats all. True perhaps she want the best for her friend and that "take a good look in the mirror" is just a sentence meaning undeserving guys should just back off.

But the ultimate feeling of this girl just based on looks keep creeping on me. I hope her friend is not like her.

finished another dan brown book

2005-02-09T20:43:00.000+08:00

Yup, after da vinci code, angel and demons, i had finished deception point. Unlike the other two, which is mainly base on christianity, the holy grail, the deception point is more of a scientific thriller.

I have always amazed by how dan brown wrote. Hi story or rather his style you can really guess by the time you read another book of his. Its always this main lead who will on the course of investigating, come to know this another second lead who will always be the god-send kind of guy/gal to the main lead. This second lead will also be the life saver of the first lead, saving him/her always from the danger. The the baddy will be someone close to the lead always.

The story will end, with the 2 lead making love( although it isn't a erotic book, but one could guess by his use of words and descriptive sentences)

What intrigue my mind is his research. This author really go and research everything he wrote. So i don't mind reading his book although i know his style.

Dan Brown is my kind of author who treat readers with respect by his research. Way to go!

Oh yah, today is CNY day 1, selamat tahun baru cina to everyone and gong hei fuck choi! haha

Don't make the same mistake of abolishing Singlish altogether

2005-02-08T11:47:00.000+08:00

In the early sisties and seventies, our grandparents and parents grew up to shows helm by Wang Sa and ye Fong, the duo were the hottest comedy stars in Singapore, i can say they can be comparable to Jack Neo and Moses Lim. The reason of why the duo can reached to the masses easily and successfully perhaps is the usage of dialects. Dialects were spoken by many of the Chinese in Singapore. The early immrigants usually herd together like flocks of Sheeps determined by the dialect that they spoken. Clans were set up for each respective dialect group.

However the government decided to abolish dialect shows altogether to suits the Speak Mandarin Campaign. Wang Sa and Ye Fong were forced to retire prematurely. The Speak Mandarin Campaign were quite successful to a certain extent. Now, except for vulgarities, none of the chinese speak Dialect. Throw them some dialect words and they can't dicepher what is the meaning. Communication with their dialect speaking grandparents were thus lost and one way or another, the abolishment of speaking dialect contributed to the generation gap between grandchildren and grandparents.

Recently, the government i believe, decided to revive dialect speaking bit by bit, discreetly. They can't really do it openly as it would mean backtracking. We can see the opening up by speaking of dialect in movies like The best bet, Money no enough and tv sitcom like Don't worry be happy. Majority is Chinese entertainment shows that have dialects.

So in what comparison do it have with Singlish? Plenty.

Speak good english campaign was started in the late 90s when the then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong signalled Phua Chu Kang, the sitcom, as a rather bad influence to the youngsters for its overly use of singlish. Immediately, the producers of Phua chu Kang changed the sitcom to suits the government agenda.

I firmly believe, the abolishment of Singlish is too big a mistake and perhaps costly. What really bind people together is not their skin color, not the way the dress, but their religion and language.

Religion like i said previously, is a powerful tool to mankind. I believe anyone can see that when a fellow muslim see another muslim, he will walk up to him and shake his hand. Such is the binding force of religion to the individuals. Osama has an important tool to dispose of, that is religion. We can see how fast and widely spread the Al Queda speads its tenticles. Around the world not only the Arabs are muslim, but also the Malays, the indonesian, a few handful of chinese decent and caucasian. The fact that a non arab is willing to blow up himself on a plane proves that religion has surpass the skin factor and culture.

Langugage is the most crucial form of communication. Whenever we are of same race, we tend to speak in our mother tongue. Even if we have one or two friends of different races with us, we still tend to speak in our mother tongue as it just come out naturally. It is of such cases that our friends of different races can pick up our mother tongue fast.

Singapore is make up of a very diverse array of people, each with his own religion, culture and language. The chinese alone have embraced christianity, taoism, buddhist and what have you. The malay have Islam as their religion with some embracing other religons. Same goes to Indian.

We can't really force everyone to have a single religion as it will be a breech of human rights and disregard and disrespect to the religions that were not chosen to be the forced religion of Singapore.

What i want to say is that racial harmony is more than having school performance on july 21th every year. It is not just reciting the pledge, affirming racial harmony either. It goes beyond that.

Racial harmony can never exist flawlessly as there are just too many factors to be considered. What we can do is to make it near flawless.

Therefore, imposing the same religion to make the people homogeneous at least, in their faith is out of the question. Same goes to changing the skin color or even each individual culture.

Therefore, Singlish is needed actually to bind us together. If the Anglo Saxon can import french word, latin, spanish or even chinese word and phrases into English, i see why we can't import our Lah Lor Leh into our unique brand of English.

Singlish in this era, doesn't serve the purpose of communicating anymore. It serve a more divine and practical purpose, to bind the races together. It is an language which every Singaporean have with him, inborn. It is an language which set us at ease when we communicate. It is a language which we can converse easily without any miscommunication and most importantly, it is a language which is made in Singapore.

In this country where everything is imported, from ideas to food to cultures, we badly need a unique entity which we can really call it our own. I see no other things except Singlish.

To abolish Singlish is a grave mistake not to be repeated like abolishing dialects. No singlish could mean racial ties are in fact, weaken. English is the language of business, Malay is the offical Language and i think Singlish is the racial harmony language.

The ali baba bag

2005-01-27T19:39:00.000+08:00

What happen to our SAF?!!!!!! Why has pasir ris interchange become another changi airport? Why has all the recruits have a trolley and look exactly like SIA stewardess?! ARGH!!!!

I am PROUD..yes i am PROUD that i belong to the old batch(i think the last) where we get $240 for recruit pay, we long for long weekend because we serve right up to saturday noon, we leave tekong with our green fieldpack, we have the strong boots, whole part make of leather and most importanly, we have that ALI BABA BAG where we just dump all our barang barang and carry it like a coolie, with attitude of course.

Hai~...ALI BABA Bag is a lifestyle representation. It shows you are a true blue soldier. Regrets regrets...recruits nowadays pull their trolley proudly.

I think turkey leg would agree with me, because we STILL have our ALI BABA BAG.

Eunice Olsen very "sway"

2005-01-23T10:58:00.000+08:00

Pretty is still associated with Bimbo. Look at Eunice Olsen, she is being blasted for not attending the swearing in ceremony and people kind of say:" does she know her priority? I bet she doesn't . Pretty don't know how to think the importance of blah blah blah".

She said she can't "siam" the korea performance as it can't be re-scheduled. Therefore if looking at things in another way, i would prefer her not to re-schedule the performance. It is a promise to those who are going to watch her perform and since she sort of agree to that first, she should attend to that first. Now thats professionalism. It is just a normal ceremony. Beside, i can bet with you $1 million dollars that those who blasted her, don't even bother to switch on the Tvee to watch the parlimentary thingy. Who does anyway, definitely not me! haha.

Singaporean are a funny lot. Nothing can seems to satisfy them. When Mark lee do some crazy antic like some minor stripping, people complain. When he stop someone from stripping another time round, people complain he is over-reactive.

I think we just got something to say whatever is the stituation don't we?

Will the real malaysian police please stand up

2005-01-19T22:44:00.000+08:00

Hey guess what, i believe the summons collected by the malaysian ROYAL police force account for perhaps 80% of malaysia GDP. Fuck, real business don't want to go and do, but collecting summons the most enthu.

Look at the rape crimes, sodomy, rape young children, the tsunami, robberies, murders, aren't all these important than the summons? That IBM executive murder until now haven't been solved, yet they still can find the time to go arrange for media to go and "paparazzied" this man who owe thousands of summons.

Also, reports says they are going to apply for a court order here, sg court, to hurl those singaporean people who owe summons to them.

Please man, could someone tell the policia of malaysia that they are employed to solve those urgent cases and not be like the parking aunties of Singapore.

Sometimes it doesn't make sense, the summons collected will go into government budget. Then part of the budget definitely will go towards financing the police force and the police force do nothing!

But come to think of it, they are really doing something. They go collect summons which inturn go to the government and then go back to the police force which the police force pay them salary. HEY!! They are literally earning their own money!

passion

2005-01-19T17:38:00.000+08:00

I read my dear friend blog just now. Who is that friend of mine? Oh it is turkey leg. He said he want to be perhaps an electrical engineer or an aerospace engineer. However when he think again, he feel guilty because he is steering away from his original path of becoming an artist who is capable of visualizing human anatomy, which i believe he is trying to say he can x-ray a woman off her clothes, or a man's. haha.

Ok, here we are talking about passion. I believe my generation and of course the generation before us are always controlled. We do not want to be a doctor simply because a doctor is that evil twin who give us medicine, bitter medicine, so be a doctor is going against ourselves. The other evil twins is perhaps, our parents who forced us to study or work in a course or profession what we do not like, like, medicine.

But what can we do but to follow our parents idea in the end? Therefore alot of us go and be in some profession like doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. But hey, when we become those, we actually like it, because as we are in great demand, our payroll rises also!

So we toil and sweat for half a century until our initial passion creep onto us. But by now, we couldn't even fulfilled our passions.

What is the thing that separate us from our passion? Is it because that our parents told us not to follow it? Or is it cash hypnotised us until we couldn't follow that original path? Or because we ourselves afraid of losing, afraid of uncertainties, in one word, afraid is the word that forbade us from pursuing our passion?

I believe with much regret, it is the last option. We are afraid of losing that 100k paycheck, the kind of respect, the kind of level and perhaps, the kind of society which we are associate with. True you will say those unsought after profession like artist have a certain degree of respect associate with them, but don't you realise those respect come posthumusly?

To me i am at the crossroad also together with my buddy. What is passion to us except a very distant word?

Are you trying to impose your views onto your friend?

2005-01-14T14:30:00.000+08:00

I am peeved two days ago when my friend, whom i introduced to my boss told me something. "He told me not to join your line, because it is like MLM. You won't get anything out of it." I wonder whether he said that to my friend because he is envy or he is jealous that i didn't extend my invitation to him to join the financial advisory line.

To me, whenever i state my own views, i would said in advanced it is my view and you should just listen and take it as a guide because i believe beside you, yourself can only make the decision for yourself and nobody else could make decision for you, including your parents. I may sound unfilial when i said that but isn't it true? Who know better of you than you yourself? Therefore i am very pissed when that guy, whom happens to be my friend also, told that to my army pal.

One would argue that, well it is a small matter. But to me, he has just block the potential of my pal to make money and who know, he may just succeed in this line, but because of the "good" imposing advice, he just screw it up.

The future has many uncertainties, you need to try in order to know what path you are taking. If our forefathers didn't come here to seek fortune because their compatriots told them don't go and they really did, do you think there will be Singapore and us?

You are entitled to your views, thats should i say, basic human rights. However, it doesn't give you the tyranntical behaviour of imposing your myopic views onto your friend. Are you his dad trying to make decision for him?

Back to that friend, Pang, i hope you do not try to influence Eugene. I am sure Eugene, as a soon- can-vote young adult can make his own decision. Beside, do you know anything about the financial advisory line and MLM line? If not, i hope you could do some research on these two entirely different industries before coming up with your own theory.

Beside, whats wrong with being a financial adviser? True there are black sheeps in the industry, but which industry doesn't have? Even police, the supposedly god-send people to help to ensure law and order can be bribed.

Alot of people think one need to set up his own private limited in order to be called an entreprenuer, but i beg to differ. If you do not have the capital to set up your own business, are you deprived of being an entreprenuer? I don't think so.

Being an financial adviser is a good way to be an entreprenuer and yet, do not really clash with your studies unless you do not know what is time management. You are free to work when and where you like, you constantly meet up with people and people are the real challenges compare to blueprints or accounts. Your brain are constantly stimulated with the verbal and communication sparing with your prospects. You get paid for your effort.

I do not try to impose my views on eugene. I do not discourage or encourage him to join a particular line because i respect him as a friend, i believe his making decision function is still alive and kicking. I told him my expierences, my views, presented the pros and cons from my perspect. Although the ultimate decision lies with him, but as a true friend, i think i should provide him with an opportunity, a potential of making changes in his life.

Yes, changes is what keeps us alive. Some changes is irreversible but some do not. However, without changes, we can be sure that we will never move. Opportunity comes and goes. Open up the door for your friend, but whether he wants to enter into the room or not is his own decision. However, you can be sure you are good when you open the door and not drag him in.

One has two legs, he can walk on his own.

Why i can't save

2005-01-12T21:16:00.000+08:00

When you are 18 to 25 yrs old:
" I really CAN'T SAVE lor. You know why or not? Cos hor...i just started working mah. I have limited income. Then my expenses high cos hor...i go zouk...and i really like that prada bag alot. Young better enjoy first, before i grow old cos if old, how to enjoy! Enjoy finding dentures only can? Then now COE drop, i need to save for a car, then i can cut down on travelling. Yah i agree car is ex lah, but then downpayment i pay little, other month i installment i pay bit by bit lah. When my income higher, then i will start saving lah oki?"

But when you hit 25 to 35:
"That time i tell you i get a car right? Now i got road tax, instalments, maintence, etc. I really CAN'T SAVE lah. I barely can breathe leh. Recently i get married. My children just born yet. I need to spend on those nappies, milk because my wife say no to breast-feeding, she said she rather leave it to the cows. I promise you, wait until i am older when my burden is lesser, then i will start to save."

And the golden age of 35-50:
"Its been 20 years since we first met. My children are all grown up. The elder one going to SMU and the younger one to NUS. They really need my financial support. This is the most crucial. I need to do my best to provide for them. So very sorry, i don't have money to SAVE. In fact i am quite broke nowadays. This is the worst period of my life financially. You know the mercedes ad which says:" when you are in your prime, you get a benz" I always wonder how come i can't get it. "

Twilight zone 50-60:
" I can't save. I know i should have saved when i am young but i can't make it. My age, who, other than mc donald, will hire me? Old and useless lah. CPF? every month they give me a payout of $200. So small, eat also got problem. You know the chicken rice cost $2 that time? Now..its $20!! I know inflation, yet i can't do anything. Save? Cannot lah...can't even eat how to save?"

Soon to hand over ic, above 65:
"Save?! Are you kidding? hohoho. I soon give IC already leh. Save also give Government in the end. Ask my children burn more hell bank notes lah. I try to save below."

Wet Ending

2005-01-05T11:52:00.000+08:00

It was swift and fierce like the Tsunami. The aftermath was potent, hundreds of Megabyte lost with no backup to fall on. No warning system installed either. Hey what are you thinking of ?! I am talking about my pc which has crashed on the following day of boxing day. Although i didn't expierence the onslaught of tsunami, but however, i could feel its impact on a smaller scale, The demise of my pc. I had just upgrade my PC at Sim Lim Square before i entered SP. I thought it will be reliable. But i was proven wrong. Just as i am reaching the climax of the Incredibles , my PC crash. I was devastated. All the data in my hard disk are gone as a result of formatting my PC.

The story is the same. Everybody just take things for granted. Just because Tsunami never occur in the Indian Ocean doesn't mean it won't happen. Similarly, a newly upgraded pc doesn't mean it won't fail you when you least expected it to do so. No warning system installed in my pc doesn't mean i do not need one.

Although this episode has happened to me for the first time due to my usage of pirated stuff, which i believe contributed to the demise of my PC, but i don't think i would ever learn my lesson.

I believe the Tsunami haven't let us learn the lesson of being danger-concious either for natural disasters have and had occured throught the history of time, yet, time after time, it happened still.

Don't feel left out..

2004-12-26T23:16:00.000+08:00

Whenever you are in a group or gathered with your friends, you can be sure you can find a person who will stand out, and that is the socializer. The socializer is practically the one who will crack lame jokes, joke about almost everything or anything under the sun and poke fun at you. Often to the ire of the other members. However they will have a love hate relationship with him because without that socializer, that group will become very boring. So, everything actually everyone know that the socializer will poke fun at them, yet they still will invite him to any gathering because precisely of the reason that without him, the group will be bored.

A love-hate relationship was thus formed. However, the socializer actually has a very sacred job which perhaps, he himself do not even know. Usually, in a group, one or two will definitely be left out. So in this case, it is the socializer who is actually gelling up those left out personnel with the rest. Such is the sacred and important job of that of a socializer.

Why am i so vocal about giving kudos to socializer? Because i am one! hahaha. Sometimes i think without me, people will feel left out. However today i failed to complete my mission, one of my friends felt left out and i feel so much emotional.

I was have gathering with my army pals. 6 of us but only 5 of us were from JC( I am a JCIAN who downgrade to poly. You should know the answer of why). So there is this guy call Stephen who was from poly but he graduated. Initially, he was as noisy as the rest of us. However after that, he was mostly quiet.

So i gave him a call and he told me:" Aw, i felt so left out." Immediately i could understand why he felt this way. When i was in my secondary school, this guy call Han Cheong was downgraded from express to normal. And since that case happened, he dare not join us in any gatherings, even if he did, it was often after much coaxing. At that time, i thought:" hm...we didn't look down on you what, how come you think we are?"

It was after years later when i couldn't get into an University that i have the same feeling as what Han Cheong felt. This sense of self-depreciating feeling was actually, partly self invented. However as to stop thinking that way is, hard.

In a society where practically if you are a failure, you are labelled and sterotyped, it is very hard to shake off that social stigma of that a Poly graduates are much better than University graduates. That is why i can understand how Stephen felt. Although you may say:" whats the big deal?" But in a group where everybody is talking about the same thing which you have nothing to offer, you could feel that the society have been proven correct.

I don't really know what remedy to offer in this case. But everyone who will go out with friends, try to notice those who are quiet, especially those who suddenly turn quiet. They need your support and affirmation.

As for Stephen all i can told him is that:" Hey! Don't think you are lousy lah. You diploma Grad you say you lousy, then me this Half baked- downgrade to Poly 1 how sia?!!"

Stephen let out a loud graffaw.

Yes, the socializer always save the day.

Christmas

2004-12-26T11:57:00.000+08:00

I have come to realise how time pass so fast ever since i went for my national Service. Although memories of my childhood are still fresh in the back of my mind, but somehow, i am quite sad that i cannot relieve those happy moments once again. Those moments where i am practically the tryant in the house. Being an only child has his perks you know. Those carefree moments where i would play with a ball and zoom past one room or another. Or leave my marks on the altar. That letter 'M' which i wrote is still visable.

Do you realised that when you are young, you hope that you could grow up faster and faster. During primary 1, you wished that you can be called Senior of the school and you wondered how many exams you need to pass in order to become primary sixters. But as you cross that hurdle, you come face to face with another hurdle, secondary school. And once again, you are a "oners" and u cross your fingers that you would be a "fourers" soon. Is the Theory of relativity coming into force? When you are in that time frame, you feel so slow but however if you are actually looking at that time-frame, this whole thing actually turn out to process and proceed at an alarming light speed.

When i am in that time frame, i was lamenting how slow the time is and that can i be off to NS and to University faster? Is there a faster route towards the end? But actually, i do not really want to reach the end. I want to enjoy the moment of what i am expierencing now. I am contridicting myself as usual.

But as though i have escape from the vicious cycle of karmic cause and effect, i find myself suddenly, worrying on how time have pass so fast. Perhaps is the rate at which things happened.

Countless of Christmas have pass by in my puny length of 21 yrs. Some i have been oblivious to, some i know the existence. As i am still engaging in a sure-lose battle to keep time off its fences, i wonder how many more christmas are left for me to savor.

Even iron bowl can be smelted down...

2004-12-11T20:25:00.000+08:00

"Ok meng, tell us what you want to be when you grow up."

"Chi-cher, i want to be like my daddy and mummy, study very hard, get very good result, study until i can get a good job. I want to be an engineer because daddy and mummy say Singapore lack of engineers. I want to work for the civil service. Then rise up to be the president."

"Urm...rise to be president? But..Singapore's man of power is prime minister..."

"I don't care! I don't care! Daddy and mummy say must be president...Miss Wee i want to be the president!!"

"Oh okok Meng, don't cry. Thanks, sit down. So class...."

20 yrs later.......

"The Thai baht has just slide against the Greenback. Speculator are selling asian currency. A crisis is looming..Shankar, Channel News Asia"

" Suharto has just stepped down, indonesia is in chaos now. Looters are pratically combing all shops..."

"We got to bite the bullet."

"Unemployment rate has gone up again, economist predict a worse senario next year.....Glenda Chong, Channel News Asia."

"The government has just released our 3rd quarter growth, it has shunk. No more double digit."

"We want to distribute the wealth of the nation, to the people."

"We are expierencing a structural change in our economy."

"Singapore is just a little red dot...."

"Mr Goh! Where is the 70million!!"

"Mary has a little lamb...little lamb..."
"Sir, something happened..."
"Powell, can't you see i am reading to the children?"
"But sir...."
"Fuck off "

peep peep!! peep peep!
"Eh world trade centre kena hit "
peep peep!! peep peep!
"Sentosa gt kena or nt"
peep peep!! peep peep!
"Dunno leh"

"Oh my god!!!"

BOOM!!!

"Jesus!!!"

BOOM!!!

"Mr president, something really happen to our world trade centre...they are hit"
"They are hit......are what?!!!!"
"Its best we stop reading and hurry back, air force one is waiting"
"Holy shit!Powell, why didn't you tell me earlier on....jesus...."
"I did but you...."
"Whatever colin..."

"My fellow america, this is the biggest crisis we have, terrorism has reached our doorstep. Islam is a religion of peace..."
"....its either you are with us, or against us..."

"We have detained 12 JI members under the internal security act..."

" and this blah blah blah..terrorist..blah blah blah"

"terrorist blah blah blah blah blah"

"iraq blah blah blah blah"

"budget deficit blah blah blah blah"

"PSA has just retrenched another 100 odd workers..."

"HDB retrenched workers......."

"GST will be raise to 5%......"

"阿扁说，我们是台湾国......."

"我们一再强调，只有一个中国，我们觉不容忍拆散祖国，台湾是中国的一部分"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ok meng, tell us what you want to be when you grow up."

"Chi-cher, I really don't know. Civil job not safe, go out also scared bomb hit me....i think i just want to go China or India and work."

"Why you have this thoughts? China is a communist country..everyone still ride a bike!"

"Yes chi-cher, but it will be powerful..."

"Oh really?"

"Yes chi-cher, becos everything changes.."

Yes....Everything has changed.

Merger

2004-12-09T20:38:00.000+08:00

4 yrs ago they split, 4 yrs later they merged. I am talking about the two media entities. Hm....40 years ago we seperated from Malaysia, 40 years later....will we merged?

Biased voting show is over...finally

2004-12-03T23:24:00.000+08:00

Finally we bid adieu to Singapore Idol, where pratically every Singaporean become Singtel Most Preferred Customer. Imagine the millions of calls that pour inside since the start of the show. No wonder Singtel Shares always rise whenever there is any charity shows or Singapore Idol coming up.

Of course without saying, any most watched show will have some controversies surrounding it. The most recent one is of course, why Sly never be number one and Taufik number two and also secondly, how come both also have recording contracts.

Let me tackle the first controversy. Personally speaking, sly should be crown number one. Stop hurling the abuses Taufik fans, when i say that, of course i am saying it on the basis of some hardfacts. I am not a sly fan nor a taufik one, i am not even a Singapore Idol fan and avid, staunch watcher to be exact. But all i know is, how come this hokkien accent k-box ah beng crooner can from day one of the audition right up to now, manage to be alive and even at the last moment, ousted Olinda, a rather powerful female vocalist. Why was he able to do that? It must be all those votes and smses.

Actually like i have said in my previous post, you are voted due to your popularity, not because of your talent. This trend of only whom the Asian have, is clearly shown when even joseph escada(sorry for the wrong spelling), could even be Philipines president, not to mention the countless Indian ministers who are voted because they are movie stars.

Some reports have said, oh when on the crunch, Singaporean know how to vote for the talented one. I beg to differ. If they are ever so logical, they won't be Singtel Most preferred Customer in the first place! And those star award voting? If let say Fann Wong could just give me a room in her posh private landed property, maybe i would consider typing countless smses till blisters formed on my thumb. Those idol chasers may be logical, fair enough, but are they rational? If they are rational enough, they won't throw money like that.

But due to the "irrationalism" of the idolising trend, that is why, it is justifiable of me to say sly should win, Taufik shouldn't.

Next consiracy i think it is the judge. To me, those four person are merely for show. They are worth only during the audition period and thats it, period! After the audition, mainly it is the audiences who has the final say, because everybody can vote.

Ok perhaps those four are there to sort of give constructive comment but is it necessary, absolutely not! Their comment won't determine who and who is going to get kicked out. They are merely there to spice things up but contributing those seemly profound but actually shallow comment.

But wait a minute! They appear to be puppet, but actually, i believe, those four are the one who propelled Taufik to the top spot. I believe in the last episode, it was those four, and not those smses which determine taufik to get the crown. So there you have it, consipracy.

And guys out there, no use lamenting that sly also get a contract. Don't behave like a child. Who on earth say that being second, you can't have a contract? Taufik didn't lose anything, in fact, he will be remembered down history as the FIRST singapore idol. Will sly ever be the FIRST idol, no way!

Although breaking the english pop scene is hard, but i am sure Taufik has already know that, and so do countless of people. Sly may break into the mandarin market. He may succeed, but i think its a matter of time before he is forgotten. We look at F4, tension and mainly those singers with looks or popularity. Their popularity waned after 2 yrs or so. I believe sly will also be that. Is he a writer? Not do i know of. He is a Jay Chou type 2? Too bad, Jay is a singer who is there, at the right place at the right time, plus alittle bit of talent.

The market of mandarin pop scene is big, with China. However, given the nature and appetite of idolisers out there, sly won't survive long. On the other hand, i do believe Taufik could survive, if properly marketed to Indonesia and Malaysia.

He could be marketed to mandarin pop scene too. Those idolisers down there will feel he is exotic and therefore, accept him

Chill out idolisers, it is just another show, another marketing scheme of mediacorp and of course, Singtel.....not forgetting frementle

Any Upsize?

2004-11-28T22:00:00.000+08:00

Today one convict get his sentence, upped by a few more years. It remind me of when i am at mc donalds.

Judge:" Good Morning welcome to Mccourt".
Convict:" I need to have a 6 years sentence for rehabilitation".
Judge:" Any upsize to go along?"
Convict:" NO THANKS"

After 1 min.....
Judge:" heres your sentence, have a nice term!"
Convict:" How come so much?!!!"
Judge:" I UPPED FOR YOU".

HAHAHAHA..in this case..it is not the customer(convict) who want an upsize, its the waiter( Judge) who up for him!

I don't understand lah...I mean...ok u do wrong..u sent to jail..bad enough....how come some still so stupid go and plead or appeal? Every cases the outcome is more or less, upsized jail term. What for??? I think the judges also feel pissed. Maybe in the long long time during the colonial days, they had a meeting.

judge 1:" eh this can't go along doesn't it. Every cases people come and appeal. I have no time for my wife, my mistress, pratically everything!"

Judge2:"(bow to her masjesty portrait and speaking in a THICK Queen's english accent) I think...we need to have some measures...hm......"

Judge3:" Why don't we lengthen(the word upsized was not invented in those days) their sentence?"

Judge1:" But...doesn't it seems too cruel?"

Judge2:" Precisely!! It serve as an deterrance for crimes. And beside they done wrong and still have the cheek to appeal and hoping for a reduction? Fat Hope!!"

Judge3:" But the real reason is.........."

All judges in unison:" So that it will deter future convicts of bothering us and lighten our work again!!!"

Then 1 smart alerc pointed out:" But then....Singaporean got so smart meh?"

"Got lah"
"Eh you don't spoil mood leh"
" @$@#%$"
"School for fuck?"

but then 40 yrs later........

"..........Another convicted get his jail sentence upped to 4 more good years again when he appeal to the high court for a reduction in term" Cheryl Coke, Channel News Asia.

The smart aleck judge got it all right.

Huang Na

2004-11-26T12:46:00.000+08:00

It is a really a phenomenon that the killing of Huang Na can caused so much attention from all walks of life in Singapore. Certainly Singapore as a safe place with low crime rate doesn't seems too good a bargin. People often relate low crime rate as no crime rate. This is a good reminder to us, the forever complacent Singaporean who often take things for granted that, low doesn't mean no.

Beside opening our very own blurred eyes to the reality that crime will and forever exist in our modern society, this sensation also tell us something, the efficiency of our immigration and custom authority. Very often now and then, we are shown at how efficient our Customs people are. Pictures of the illegal immigrant caught at the causeway custom were splashed on the front page of the newspapers. Statistics were reported. However, the case where Took Leng How can and able to escaped to Penang when his passport has been compounded by the police raise a serious security loophole which no newspapers has really ever questioned on why he is able to escape.

Without a passport, without any proper documentation. Yet, he is able to escape to Malaysia. Isn't this amazing? So for the past one month or so where he is caught and keep in custody, none of the officers spoke anything to clarify on why and how he is able to escape. Usually, when some trafficking was spotted or illegal immigrants were caught, the spokesman, usually a top brass with neatly pressed uniform will stand in front of the camera, deliver what was suspected as a pre-scripted comment to the citizen. A smuggly smile can be seen and it is translated as pay rise is on the card. But how come when Took Leng How escaped, no spokesman came onto the camera and spoke on why he escaped.

So everybody, anxiously waited when yes, a minister cleared the air during a parlimentary proceeding. However, instead of answering or perhaps, allocating more time to describe on how Took was able to escape, he stressed alot on how the custom is efficient and etc. One sentence was mentioned about Took and to me that is rather unnecessary. He mentioned that, if i am not wrong, Took was still in custody and that the police are still investigating. Everybody know that, so why bother to bring that out? First part of the speech you said that custom is efficient, then later, it was sort of refuted invisibly when you mentioned about Took and everybody think back on his escape to Malaysia. So in the end, Customs was not really safe afterall.

To highlight the importance of security, i was going to one army camp which i don't want to mention here last monday. Two RP was sitted in front of the guard house, their impressive SAR21 by their side. So after obtaining my camp pass, i put my bag on the table in front of them, asking them whether they want to check my bag. Housing the most elite troops of the SAF, i thought security was super tight but i was wrong. After discussing among themselves, one of the RP said:" we are told to check cars..bag...." So i said:" that means don't need to check bag?" That RP actually say yes! Imagine inside my bag was some TNT and i can just went in and blow the whole hell out of it. Imagine that!

Security needs time, need manpower and most importanly, need vigilant. There is absolutely no use if you have one guard standing one metre away from another of the whole orchard road if those guard are not vigilant enough.

Beside the breach of security and those loopholes which i mentioned, Huang Na case brought me to my attention that Singaporean are really paparazzis, each and every one. How much bereavement Huang Na parents received, how are they going to spend, what are they going to spend, etc, need to be reported to the Singaporean, by the order of the Singaporean.

I am sure everyone, in his or her conciousness, will remember how he or she felt when their loved one passed away. The amount of bereavement money or pek ghim is the last thing on our mind because we are all filled with grief. Isn't that same for Huang Na parents? The demised of their beloved daughter has brought them much greive. Adding to the fact that their one year old son has his birthday date near to his elder sister cremation date. Yet, unsympathising Singaporean pressed to know how much bereavement money they had, how are they going to spend it.

If we are going to control how they are going to spend the money, isn't that defeating the purpose of giving the money in the first place? Pek Ghim is given to alleviate the grief of the family of the deceased. True we can't pacify the psychological and emotional aspect of the family members, but what we can do, physically, is to help them through the giving of bereavement cash. If the parents of Huang think buying a benz with the money will give them relieve, then so be it, go ahead and purchase one i will say.

Also, its amazing when we don't question those dubious charitable organisation who every year pressed for donations 3 to 4 times a year, with each session having millions donated to them, for their balanced sheet? Yet we are being cruel to the parents of the deceased by asking them how much they received. If it is rude to ask people about their pay and salary, isn't it untolerable by God sake that we ask how much is their bereavement money?

Stop invading into other people privacy and disturbed them dear fellow intrusive Singaporean. If you think that because you give( the bereavement money) and that you shall receive( know how much in total), then i think Huang's parents would rather you not donating.

The stone age has gone and so do the bronze and ice age. Singapore has many firsts, but are we merely first in term of hardware? How about software, the people's minds? I am not surprised if one day, our UOB tower get hit by 2 budget airline planes as our security is actually, easily pregnable. Hope everyone remembers how the british boast that Singapore is an inpregnable fortress. I am sad that 60 years on, nothing has ever changed.

yay!!! 1 A and 6D

2004-11-24T18:04:00.000+08:00

yup i got the result i aimed for, 1A and 6D. A big thank you to all my lecturers. Your enriching lesson make this happened. Thanks. To my friends who didn't score what they expected, do not give up. Like my Napoleon Hill says:" Any man who can conceive and believe in, he shall achieved". This sentence boils down to one of the bosses of Everest Associates( representing Prudential assc), my boss, Foo Cheong Yong, who told me this when i was in my lowest spirit and due to that sentence, it waken me up to face the world of failures. Thanks Boss!!

Singaporean and their excuses

2004-11-20T23:10:00.000+08:00

Finally i am contracted and is a financial adviser with prudential. My engine is all heated up, waiting for the flag down before i dash towards the bright future of no finish line. In our business, there can be no finished line. Having cross the finishing line means we are, well, finished.

Are Singaporen creative? Definitely! Singaporean are creative in coming up with excuses. I was having my roadshow at pasir ris. A small satelite town, but full of creative people. There are alot of distinct people. Once i tried to approach this malay lady. She told me:" oh cannot, i was in a rush". In a rush when she is like strolling? Never mind, i look at her with my eyes wide as she strolled to the ATM 50 metres away from where i am standing. After withdrawing her money, she stroll again to where she need to go! In a rush indeed!

Another guy was smoking at the dustbin where i approached him trying to do a survey. He told me he is not interested. Hm, how could you not be interested when you didn't even know what i am going to ask you! So i ask him why he is not interested and he said if i disturbed him he is going to sue me for harassment! Then should i sue him for threatening me using Law? Anyway he don't have the lawyer look.

This guy is even more powerful. He can't think of an excuse on the spot! He keep pointing to his watch and haw and ham. I know he is trying to tell me he is in a rush also so i said:" oh you are in a rush am i right?" And he give me a smile which means i have just spoke to him.

Well well, excuses and excuses. Why can't they just say no? The art of excuse is not saying one hundred and one excuses but just say a firm No. This lady, whom i was to met last friday, suddenly sprang a surprise meeting with boss excuse. I was willing to go down, from paya lebar to NUS just to have a talk of 15min with no selling, no presentation. Yet she offered me an excuse which is too powerful, she use her boss.

So i msn her today. Well suddenly she typed so many excuses that i can't keep count of. A merely 15min of lunch meeting and she can't make it, yet she got so many time for so many activities. Unbelievable.

Well, you may say we financial adviser are cheaters, are high class beggars are this are that but ultimately, who is the one who benefits from the policies, it is the policy holder. Are we the beneficiaries of your policies? Do we earn millions from you, do you have millions to spare first? We have to abide by MAS guideline, meet our agency targets and of course not to let ourselves down, we go so many miles hoping to achieve all that and also to satisfy your needs.

So please people next time you see a fiancial adviser trying to talk to you, grant him that 15min. It could be very well change your life. If you are afraid that you will buy something in the end which you do not want to initially, then you should really blame on your own because you can't stand on firm ground. The money is in your pocket, it is you wil take it out not the advisers who fish it out.

(sorry for this entry, i was pissed by this lady who give me hundred and one excuses.)

徐志摩

2004-11-14T23:00:00.000+08:00

"我将于茫茫人海中访我唯一灵魂之伴侣，得之，我幸。不得，我命，如此而已."

---徐志摩 1897～1931

"I will seek, in the wilderness of this world, the only one that i love. Have, i am lucky. Not, thats just my life"

---Xu ZhiMou, 1897～1931, Chinese modern poet.

Voting ...not for Sylvester..

2004-10-30T23:30:00.000+08:00

I believe the time is near. What time you would ask? Oh the time for election to come. I look with excitement when Goh Chok Tong hand over the baton to Lee Hsien Loong. So i waited and waited for election to come. But it seems lukewarm. Nobody breathe anything. When Badawi ascend the throne, immediately we have the Malaysian Election. It is quite normal isn't it. Because when the baton was given to Badawi, only one person in Malaysia has given his nod and that is Tun Mathathir. Then what about the people? The tribal council of millions haven't spoken, haven't cast their vote! So it is natural that general election is held quite fast after Badawi became the Prime minister.

Recently, if you have noticed, the ministers start to wake up from their hibernation, out of their burrows, start their walkabouts and all that. Okay stop that defamation or libel suits first, i am not saying ministers do not interact with the people if there is no elections but i am saying that i feel that now, the walkabouts have become more, interviews, appearance have become intensified.

Of course i am worried and excited. I am 21 and of a legal age to vote! Voting for your countries leader is unlike voting for Sylvester Sim for the Singapore Idol. Sylvester may, if lucky, cut 1 or 2 albums for 1 or 2 years after which he may go back to his interior design arena but ministers or policitian leaders are here to stay for 4 to 5 years. And anything can happen in these years. So they are given a very heavy burden and responsibilities. That is why, we don't use SMS, emails to vote. Neither are we allowed to vote multiple times for our country's "steerer". Everybody only have 1 chance and you better make full use of it. So, hm...Singapore Idol voting system is rather unfair and not just enough.

I am quite worried by the youngsters, particularly people of my age. What is their basis for voting? I recalled in class, my lecturer asked us to vote for that someone who we think best to deserve an A. So the classmates voted. However, what disturbed me is that, the attitude is, if i like you, i will vote for you. I don't really care whether you deserve that A or not. If i like you, you are in.

This attitude is quite similiar to people who say:" oh i may vote for the opposition because they can counter-check the government" or " oh to bring in some excitement to the local politics, PAP has dominated for too long". So are they saying they vote for the sake of adding more colours to the political arena, are they voting for the sake of the appearance merely of Chee or JBJ in the parliment, or, do they vote because they want to see Singapore grow to a greater height? It really worry me.

Ok perhaps having some oppositions to check the government is good. However, looking at our local oppositions candidates, i find it hard for them to convinced me that they will bring Singapore to greater height. Look at Tang Liang Hong, he was being accused of a Chinese Chauvanist. Of course he denied, however i feel, as a man, as a person, he should really come back and clear the air, instead of airing his woes in Australia. Chee Soon Juan, an avant garde attention seeker. Who could forget his $7million( pardon me if the figure is wrong) question to Goh Chok Tong. Is is appropriate asking such question to Goh Chok Tong in a wet market? What is his motive when he seek so many foreign organisations' support for his libel suits? He oused Chiam See Tong from SDP rumours have said, so can i predict that he will perhaps..oused the whole cabinet and start his dictatorship? Its scary isn't it. I do hope our opposition can really have some good new blood. And of course, stop asking some nitty gritty, petty questions in the parliment.

Perhaps Singapore is small, i don't see the need of having so many parties. We have PAP, SDP,SDA,NSP,etc. Over 10 odd big and small parties. If we have a land mass like Indonesia, ok its justifiable. But look, even America, a huge country only has, basically 2 parties, the Democrats and Republican. England we have Labour party and the Conservaties. In China we have only the CCP. Erm...okay China is exceptional.

Perhaps it is time the opposition have a coalition under one umbrella. Of course the people inside must have the same agenda or else fraction and friction will occur and it isn't good. Also, pooling of resources can have larger economy of scales, haha. And since there isn't any good candidates, at least the pooling will get stronger even without 1 or 2 strong candidates.

So, until PM Lee dissolves the Cabinet, the electoral Committee start to redraw the GRC boundaries, i guess i just have to sit back and watch Singapore Idol and curse at the unfair, biased system of voting of the show.

complacency

2004-10-29T14:06:00.000+08:00

I think i am getting complacent for over such trivial results which i have achieved so far. OH NO!!! Why do i say that, because i just blew away 10 marks for my electrical technology semestral exam for nothing!!! The formula was right under my nose and yet i try to be funny by subsituting a value for one of the unknowns in the formula with another value which i thought was correct, even though the formula state so i was wrong! So whats wrong? Complacency man!!

The 3 greatest sin of a student is complacency, laziness and procrastination, in order. When a student get complacent, he would think that he is some guru or whatever and so he will be lazy and don't study. So he become lazy. And when he is lazy, he will procrastinate.

Although i do not have the last 2, the complacency part is slowly surfacing in me. Argh!! I must curb it, control it, i cannot let a small slipshot thrawed my plan of getting a scholarship? hahahaha.

I also feel my motivation start to fizzle in all aspect. My studies, my financial adviser job,etc. I just hope i can quickly get my license to practice and start finding people to strike a deal with. Also, hope that my motivation would be increase back to the same old time high level during this coming holiday.

Fear is crippling me. I hope i can muster the courage and approach. Yet i can't, because the ghost of the past keep haunting me....

It ain't what it is

2004-10-28T14:01:00.000+08:00

I read with regret of what has happened in the southern part of thailand. Now i can understand why alot of our young "able" males are going to bintan, not britian mind you!
Thailand used to be the place where cheap food, cheap imitation goods and cheap hookers roam in the streets. Apart from being questioned by your wife when she found that strawberry flavoured condom in your pocket, the last thing in your mind is that your hotel room is stormed by masked commandos, welding some automatic machine gun that can fire more rounds than you do with your brother down under, while you are in the moment of achieving the climax of the whole process.
Therefore, you have it, destination Bintan.
But apart from coming up with that reason on why bintan became such hot spot for singaporean looking for some fun, cheap, sastifying trills, another thing set me thinking: Are religion good or bad?
On one end ,the clerics teaches Islam as the religion of peace, while on the other, numerous heads are cut by a oh so blunt knife by some muslim extremists while verses are chanted in the background.
Christianity teaches peace also, yet the crusades kills so many people during the struggle of teritories( if i am not wrong) with the muslim.

And Dalai Lama, go around saying that tibet should be autonomous and rumours have said that he has some private armies, hm, so much so for a religion that advocate everything is "empty and emptiness is everything".

Beside all that, who else can forget our dear joachim kang, some other sexually and monetary deprived priests, brothers, fathers, monk, abbort, who either have sex with underaged girls or steal temple money for that Mecedes Benz SLK

It is really sad actually because all these happenings are man made. Thailand turn out to be like this because people are using violent, in the name of religion to create havoc for their own agenda. Same goes with Osama, the crusaders and others.

Religion, a power who can binds people, have been the scapegoat of humans own advancement, either bad or good.

Its sad.

ammendment

2004-10-24T22:26:00.000+08:00

My last post got problem. Go re-read it. i changed something

Code of honour

2004-10-23T11:44:00.000+08:00

Ok this entry is abit hackneyed( not sure of the usage of the word). My friend and i was talking about liking another person or something like that. And we both agreed on something. We both believe as guys, we should abide by some rules and regulation when wooing, jioing, chasing a girl.

1) Don't go after 有夫之妇. meaning, DON'T go after someone who is married or in the sense of single, someone who already have a boyfriend. It is rather unethical to be the 3rd party. True one may say:" oh we should go after what we want". But to me i think that is a rather selfish way and self centred way of doing things.

2)Give up when you know that the girl you like, like someone else although the girl haven't hitch up with the guy she like. This is rather practical and helpful. Practical in the sense that save yourself with the agony of heartbreaking when suddenly 1 day you caught both of them holding hands, which literally means, you have lost the battle lah. Helpful in the sense that, give the poor girl the break. Since you got the slightest hint that she like someone, spare her the agony of embarassment when she see you or whatever.
But, if one day, the girl no longer like that guy whom she liked last time or perhaps that guy got a gf which means the chances of the girl you like hitching up with that guy she like who now got a girlfriend is near zero, then its okay for you to start unrolling your battle plan.

Remember:" Like someone means making her happy and respecting her choice without influencing her making of decision."

p/s: i know this entry is sort of un scholarly compared to my other entries( ahem ahem) but i am bored bah and the code of honour is really what i abide to with my friends. We are all chivalrous gentlemen.

色己是空，空己是色

(everything is empty and emptiness is everything)

Spendthrift

2004-10-15T19:12:00.000+08:00

The value of money is not actually in the denomination of what is printed at the top right hand corner of the notes, it is actually in its purchasing power, any economist can tell you that. For example if a deuter bag can be brought with a $100 note, while when tomorrow come, you need to pay for it with an extra 10cent,then the $100 purchasing power actually decrease.

However to me,the value of money is not in its purchasing power. It is of how i come to possess it. If all else doesn't seem to be benefited from serving NS, one thing for sure, is that i truly know what is the value of my money.

I have done my maths. During my recruit time, i earn a measly $240 per month. I woke up to the tune of Majulah Singapura at 5.30am and sleep at 10.30pm. That work out to be about 17 hrs per day. Multiply it by 30 days, you will get 510 hours per month. So 1 hour i actually earn $0.47. Can you imagine that?

So i have started to be a little bit more frugal when i go out with friends, when i go to school, etc. However frugal doesn't mean i am stingy. When needed, alittle bit more to be fork out, i will do it.

Being frugal is when your old bag is still useable, haven't go out of fashion, has a acceptable capacity and you do not go and acquire another bag, which has the function as your old one except that it has a new pricetag and that it decrease your purchasing power.

Something is worth only when you yourself go and earn it yourself, this is more than the truth. Looking back, i can't imagine how i could spend my parents hard earned money just like burning hell bank notes into the bin. Perhaps it is the maturity that i bring with me after collecting my Pink IC, i felt ashamed and guilty of my spending power.

So on one hand, i could understand why youngsters spend money as if the Singapore Mint endorse them to do it. However on the other hand, i can't but felt that, doesn't they feel their parents toil everyday, getting scoldings from their bosses, just like me getting it from my sergeant. Swallowing their pride, just to earn that paltry sum of money for the survival of the family. Parents love are unmeasurable, but does it give us the excuse to spend the money, to ask for more money, just on some consumer durables which only is a replica of what we have?

So it really ire me when i read in some blogs, which says:" oo i wanna get that shoes" " ooo i wanna get that accessories" " ooo blah blah get blah blah blah spend blah blah blah get blah blah blah spend" and the list is endless.

Yup, being vain is something quite natural, but, don't live like a princess when you just live in a HDB flat and not some castle and that your dad is just a plain kopitiam guy and not prince charles.

How to tell whether a person is lying

2004-10-10T10:29:00.000+08:00

Yup, i have read the Sunday Times today. I think Sunday times is the best out of all straits times from mon to fri. Don't you feel that from monday to friday, the news are pretty much the same? Presidential votings, Al qaeda, Israel, Palestine, Taiwan Straits affairs, Iraq, blah blah blah. Ever since 2 ill fated plane rammed into the very symbol of american capitalism, news from that day on, are all the same, revolving around the same theme! Boring i said! So Sunday times is rather refreshing. Okay it does still revolve around the themes which i have mentioned, but hey, its on a lesser dosage. The best part of Sunday times is of 'cos the second section of the first section. All the food, lifestyle, comics really brighten my day. The main section also not bad, i especially love to read the invest portion.

Talking about today Sunday Times second section, there is this article call "What Lies Beneath". The title suggest perhaps that the article is going to be very chim but how chim can a national newspaper, read by all walks of life be?

Well its about how you can spot someone who lied or catch him with his pants down. It give some suggestion like "its easier to catch a liar if you come from acultural background similar to the liar's" or " every lie can be caught if you study the clues hard enough" blah blah blah.

I tell you what. The sure foolproof way to catch a liar is, to know the lie that the liar is going to say! Isn't it simple? If you know already the lie, and when this liar come up to you and said the lie that you know is already a lie, then you have already caught him! There is no need for him and you to be culturally same or whatever.

The Sunday Times has just wasted a page just to tell people how to spot a lie, while i have done it in one sentence.

searching for novelty in the MRT

2004-10-09T14:05:00.000+08:00

Although my assets account for less than 10K or even lesser, but i can afford to go to school, meet my friends or anywhere i like in a mercedes Benz. How can i do that? Well, all it need is a tap of my EZ-link card onto the card reader. As Simple as ABC. From the buses that runs on electrical cable and taxis that r helm by tryanical drivers who they themselves are the meters, to now, a world class transportation. Singapore transport systems has really been through alot of changes.

I still can remembered when i have my first magnetic card where i will slot into the gantry in order to gain access to the platform of the train. However now, all we need is just a tap from our EZ link card and that it. Although to me i feel the time saving attribute lauded by those who introduce this is miserably small, but okay for the sake of gaining yet another first, i and other fellow countrymen unanimously support the idea of using the EZ link. However i must say old habits still stay. People use to use some blunt edges of coins or other thing to scrape off the print on the magnetic card. The idea of course is to perhaps draw something onto it, write the owners' name perhaps all in the name of creativity. Although the authorities on one hand promote creative thinking, but on the other, frown upon drawing on those card. They even put some little sentence which says:" Government property" and it often lead me to think, how come this card, which i use my own money to buy, still belong to the government instead of it belong to me? The spirit of Singaporean as an creative lot do not just fizzed out. EZ link too can be scrape off. I came upon 2 pieces to be exact with the green colored coating being scrape to its underlying white. So this whole thing about Singaporean being creative are re-assessed by me. Do they have nimble minds or just possess itchy fingers?

Sometimes, things which appear insignificant actually weld high power. As i arrived at the platform, this striking yellow line gaze at me with such stern power. Like a fierce mother guarding her daughter, the track, she silently and invisibly warn me not to get close to her daughter or else dire consequences would happened. So my focus is thrust at the tall buildings opposite the station. For people seeking an early audience with GOD, free falling from a height of 10 storey is the ticket to rise to heaven early. That is what happened to people that is old fashioned. In this new era, many ways has been paved and founded by people with an overflow creative juices. As trains approach, people leap off, ignoring the stern yellow line, onto the tracks, only to be maimed to death by the father of the track, the train. Another novelty. I really pitied the train driver, especially the north south bound one. Bishan alone has about 3 such isolated incidents. And about 2 cases the leapers die.

As the train approaches, i step in. The sticker which says:" no food and drinks" serves as a warning that if i do that, i need to pay a fine. Blame it on my timid nature, no matter how hungry i am, i will still with all my might, resist the temptations of sinking my teeth into some hot char siew bun in the train. But this young undergraduate just did that. She was sitting infront of me, half a char siew bao gone! I was amazed. And since the driver never announce and shame her through the PA system, it shows yet another loophole in the system, after the no-record function CCTV. Why bother to paste about 100 odd stickers in a fleet of train, warning people no eating and drinking is allow, but fail to have any measures to catch those people when they flout the rules. How i know the char siew bao nimbling girl is an undergraduate is because she mention about psychology classes that she was going to. So that determine she is an undergrad. Soon after, she sat beside a young man when the seat beside the young man is available. The young man, i presume is her classmate or schoolmate, began to open a packet of what it seems to be like biscuts and he too start to nimble on it! Atrocious being when he decided to swept the crumbs off his bag to the floor of the cabin!.

In another desperate attempt to make a statement about themselves, the girl offer the guy a chocolate coated biscut. In between bites and countless questions of " is it nice?" by the girl, she offer the guy some mineral water and he gamely drink it. Undergrad should have some civics and moral education too i think.

As i alight and walk to the school, i am most glad that i can, every morning, view the reflexes of Singapore society in just a cabin with 30 odd people.

paper qualification- necessity or alternative?

2004-10-05T21:17:00.000+08:00

So which certificate you will show to your prospective employer? The PSLE, O Lvl, A Lvl , Diploma or degree? If on your degree was writen a four letter word, PASS but your Diploma got the word: Certificate of Merit writen on it, will you be at the cross road of which certificate to show? I wonder how the employer will react, if he see my Diploma is more "powerful" than my Degree. So will he still accept me? Will i get a less pay or what? And also, do where the degree come from matter? I mean, if you got a pass from let say....NUS compare to you getting a First Class honour from some 3rd division overseas University, which paper do you think will your employer like the best? I think the only answer is wait for him to use it after the toilet bowl is flushed!

Our parents, teachers, man on the street, the taxi uncles keep telling us:" ah boy ah, paper qualification is very important in Singapore ah". And you ask them why, the typical answer is:" with a degree or just a piece of thick paper that is laminated, you can get a job plus good pay". So you ask another question:" Sim Wong Hoo leh?" Most likely he will know the answer but he will ask you back:" whos Hoo?"
We have seen Bill gates dropping out of college, our very own Sim Wong Hoo not getting a degree, but are elite in their own area. The chairman or the big shot of DZT Tie Leung( pardon for the spelling if wrong) is also a poly grad. So is getting a paper qualification, especially a degree all that important? Or receiving some valuable knocks from the school of hard knocks more important? I can only quote my lecturer Mr Teng:" It depends".

Having a paper qualification is like an safety net. It ensure you that while you fail in the school of hard knocks, when you can't own the masterplan, you can, well, still be part of your master's plan. It is a safety net that your parents rather, cast over your bum to cushion you when you fall from being an entruprenuer.

However it did lead to one thing which luckily our government discover it early, people are studying for the sake of scoring in examinations, people thus are lacking of creativity due to blindly studying which thus they lack the courage to go and enrol themselves in the School of Hard Knocks.

But, can we blame the students and the teachers who indirectly cast the net for them? Absolutely not! This is because getting a paper qualification is a necessary thing to do. And the more you score good results, the bigger you will weave your safety net and the bigger your safety net is, the more you will be safe, not necessary feel safe. Giving the economy now, having a standard retangular shaped net over your bum may not work. You will need different shapes, colors and sizes of your net, which means constant upgrading, constant improving.

However as a safety net is, well, to cushion any impact, obviously if you throw a tennis ball, it won't bounce! To those who strike it out without a safety net like Bill gates, it get the tennis ball inside them to bounce for so many times such that for once, they can bounce to such infinity that it is impossible for them to hit the ground again! But for someone who has been cushioned by paper qualification, if their net suddenly got a hole and if they are lucky enough to fallen from that hole, it is very very less likely they will bounce as they have loss the touch.

So is paper qualification a necessity or alternative, i have not quite answer the question isn't it? This is because instead of preparing a net, i am packing my own parachute which in case after i bounce, and fall, my parachute can open up and slow down the impact.

burn which flag?

2004-10-03T10:58:00.000+08:00

Taiwan burn our flag, so to reciprocate their goodwill(礼尚往来), we should burn theirs also. But then, which flag to burn?

If we burn taiwan flag with the Kuomingtang(KMT) logo on it, then we are indirectly telling the whole world that we recongise taiwan as a separate entity, a sorverign country. Then i think instead of being angry, Chen Shui Bian would encourage Singaporean to burn more of Taiwan flag. US perhaps would even smile secretly behind the thick walls of pentagon. Beside that, Singapore would have created another new topic, after PM Lee Visit, after BG yeo speech, for Bush and Kerry to debate on. China on the other hand, would start to boycott Singapore goods, pop stars as it means Singapore has violated the one china policy.

Ok so instead of burning Taiwan flag, we burn china flag to show we abide the one china policy. But when we burn that, will Hu Jingtao praise us and tell us to burn more? Chinese has always been very sensative about national pride. The unglamourous history of China didn't help in this case either. Since the manchus, China has always been bullied. In world war 2, both the land and the women are tormented. Chairman Mao miss the bull's eye by having The great Leap and The cultural Revolution. Even China paramount leader deng xiao ping has a black stain when he is the alleged leader to give the go ahead of using military force against the Tiananmen ignorant commoners. So it is until recently China can hold its head high again and national pride has been an all time high for this moment.

So if we burn their flag, instead of positioning their Dong feng missle at taiwan presidential building, Mr S R Nathan may need to operate somewhere else.

It is surprising that a small country will create so many shockwaves in the whole world. From the memories in my brain, our flag was burn when this maid call flo from philipines were sentenced to death. Then indonesia also burn our flag before, also due to the sentencing of a maid. Malaysia burn one also when some israellies came to Singapore. Perhaps some Amercian use it to stop the BBQ fire behind their courtyard when Michael Faye was caned.

The irony thing perhaps is, if we reciprocate Taiwan "Little prince" goodwill by burning their flag, we ourselves may be prosecuted instead! Ha! Talking about national pride!

Singaporeans care only for themselves. Do you agree?

2004-10-01T20:44:00.000+08:00

"We have received donations way pass the mark! yay!" Sharon Au, a mediacorp artiste cry in exuberant as the number of calls of donations are being flashed on the television screen. Yes Singapore are a generous lot. Every year without fail, charity organizations would like patients to doctor, queue up for that TV slot so that they can take the opportunity to " fleece" Singaporean for their monies by hanging a carrot of attractive prizes to tempt them. While one's tv is being shown the program, the newspaper on the coffeetable paint another picture. Articles like 'Members ignored injured man( Sunday times 26 2004)" appear in the newspapers here and there. An infotainment program by Channel News Asia, Get Real, recently found out Singaporean do not really care enough for the less fortunate. So the good old question, buried whenever charity shows are staged, are back on everyone mind again. Do Singaporean care only for themselves?

Every year without failure, Singaporean pour in calls by the thousands, hoping that their insignificant sum of money could alleviate the suffering of the cancer patients, kidney patients or whoever charity organization that plead for help on national TV. With the rising utilities bills, GST taxes and a increase in transport fees looming around, Singaporean still find that spare cash to donate to the charity. Okay perhaps its the prizes that they are drooling for and do not mind parting with $50 for a hundred thousand condo, but still, appaluse should be given for that they really did donate! The new paper, a local tabloid, often have articles which point out the familes in some dire straits. Whenever after articles of such genre have been published, cheques would be send to the newspaper for the family on annoynomity. The very fact of the cash or cheques send in annoynomity signalled the fact that Singaporean not only care for themselves, but also, wish no publicity on such kind act.

However negative articles like " Members ignored injured man" tinted the images of Singaporean. In that article, a man slipped, fell down, immortalised due to the pain, but no one came to render help except the country club's staff. Yes indeed, some Singaporean, bogged by supertitious and skeptism, would make a complete U-turn upon seeing people in need. Supertitious as they are afraid that the person would die during the trip to hospital or whatever and that the soul would come and haunt them. Skeptism is due to the fact that the society make Singapore to be a place where people are often vary to one another. So we can expect that helping another person, when a medium like mails or TV is used as a catalyse, we can never very well expect the average Singaporean to help one another.

So in my own opinion, to a certain extent, Singaporean do not really only care for themselves. We should always rejoiced every year that our charitable organisation can still sustain until now, our patients are still living and that we can still afford to provide monetary benefits for the needy.

do you see it as half full or half empty?

2004-09-30T20:05:00.000+08:00

Dedicated to my dear friend Kartik
As we watch our glass being filled with water, do you look at it as being half empty or half full?
I believe when you say it is being half empty, you are having negative thoughts all the time. I think human are being born persismistic as the majority will say it is half empty. I myself is such person. One day, i was getting my hair cut at some salon which promised that a haircut will be done in 10 min and professionally finished. So i went there to cut my hair. The barber, i think desperate of a topic, start to converse with me on job. I commented that he is lucky as he has a stable job with a steady flow of income. And the fact that hairstyling itself is a skill, he can be sure of jobs in near future.
However he told me he rather be someone who earn by commissions. I laugh it off as i shrugged at the idea of not having a steady income. But what the barber said next joltted me. "Look, if today i cut 10 head, i will still be earning $1000. If tomorrow i cut 20 head, i will still be earning $1000. So what is the point of having a fixed income? But if i am a housing agent or salesman. If i can close 10 deals, i earn a certain amount of money. But if i close 20 deals, i will be earning a higher amount of money and the crux is, i will be earning more!"
This enlightened me. This guy has just make me see my glass of water as half full instead of half empty. And i should say he is this person who aided me indirectly into shaping my ideas and goals.
So friend, when the act which you perceive as mocking you. Actually we aren't You see, when you begin to feel for somebody and treat him as a friend, first your attention will be closely fix to him. That is when you will notice his every little move. Just like when a boy like a girl, he will be extra attentive to her every moves.
Often, you do not focus your attention to someone whom you do not know and worse, you do not like. So when we began to tease someone of their perhaps habits or anything, this is the excellent testimonial that your friends have notice you long enough in order to make that judgement. Of cos you will fee perhaps resentful as you might be feeling uncomfy and wish this to stop. A good thing is to shrug it off and instead, laugh with the others! This is a good way to make yourself happy and embrace in the loving arm of your friends.
The aboved is when you see the glass as being half full. But when you see the glass as half empty, you will be sad, angry or worse, blow your top. And when you are sad, your cells die faster, which in turn you age faster. You will be full of vengence. When you blow your top and when the dust settled, you will feel your friends will start to guard against you and do not treat you like before, not as friendly, not as cheerful.
This is because when you blow your top, you are making your friends feel uncomfy and embarrassed. Soon, you will feel they would joke with you less, would not share things with you.

So my friends, view everything as half full rather as half empty.

My idea of a full life

2004-09-30T19:32:00.000+08:00

So what would make your life full? <<< my CRS teacher, sabrina wong ask me about this.

Ok here goes. I have divided my life into 2 part. The 1st is my holistic, feeling part, the other is the achievement part which is backed by monetary terms.

Ok i will talk about the achievement part first. I am a guy who view whether i have had a full life by the achievement i have made. We exist in this earth, i believe, to serve and be served. We serve the society and the society served us by paying for our service. I also feel that since life is short and while you are here, one must definitely stretch his life to the fullest and it means achieve some ambitions or results. Results are the gauge to your worth. In this pragmatic society, everything is being viewed by its worth. A human too is being view by how much he is worth by the result that he has achieve. This is my mantra of life.

I have divided this phase into 2 part, one of achieving short term goals, the other achieving long term goals. The short term goal is extremely important because they are the cornerstone, the foundation for the long term goals. I have decided to dedicate the next 10 years in education and earning $$.

Education is the most sought after commonity in this world. Everybody is knowledge hungry not because they want to seek knowledge alone, but because knowledge is the ticket to eradicating poverty. If only north Korea could allocate its reserve more on education instead of armamant, i believe it can solve its famine problem and all other nitty-gritty stuff. All great leaders believe in the power of education and books.

Therefore, for me is to achieve an A in every subject. There could be no compromise as getting the best result allow you to move freely and not confine you to any spaces. I e-mailed to NTU 2 weeks ago on the choices of course i could study if i manage to qualify for a place. The administrator told me only if i am a Cert. of merit holder then i could choose other faculty's course. If not, i have to just stick to engineering.

So tell me, isn't result is the basis of everything? They are the immeasurable proof of one ability. Kartik my friend say:" i believe with a good testimonial(about the cca, character, blah blah blah but not so much on result) i can get around this world". I agree to a certent extend that with good EQ is a boost to your applicability of work, but without a good result record, do you think you can ever secure a job? The reason is the one who hire you has to account for one thousand or even more odd number of people of the company. A miss judgement of hiring a wrong person could mean the livelihood of that one thousand people is shaken. Okay you can argue that the company could just try it out. But the element of risk involved is not to be ignored. And the best remedy to the illness call risk, is your certificate.

So i already set my mind to achieve good result in school. Then some will say you are giving yourself too much stress. For me, i believe stress can only arises when you are doing something which you are being forced to do, forced to achieve and yet you do not like to do. As a typical leo, the happiest thing is when i saw my papers upon return, with the word " very good" written on red ink. There are absolutely no stress in going out to achieve what you believe in and are happy during the course of achieving it.

The next part of my short term goal is linked monetarily. Receiving education in the institution we call school is good as i have said earlier. But now is the time i believe also to receive education in the school of hard knocks. I have been thinking about the decision of working part time while still schooling since i have come out of the army. The sudden feeling of not having a montly allowance make me feel uneasy. The only thing which can make you feel good is the fact that when you put your hand into your pocket, you can feel the feature of the face of our first president.

So i have decided to be a financial advisor. My aim is to earn at least a decent sum of money which i can invest in a liability call car, and still have spare for me to go to an overseas university in case i do not have the capability to go into the local one. A modest car will do. One that can bring me from point A to point B. As car are depreciating commonity once the key is in your hand, so it make no point to buy a luxurious car or anything big. My ideal one is actually an evo 8 but a hatchback from hyundai will work just fine.

But i say a car is an investment as it can save time. Anything that can save time is an investment. Time is worth a thousand gold, but with a thousand gold, you can't buy time.Being a financial advisor enable me to be equipped with the skills of PR, the analytical skill and most importantly, i am doing a good deed by helping others.

So i also take this opportunity to tell Firjudeen, hey mate, if you want to go into Network marketing, go ahead if you believe you can do it. As Napoleon Hill says:" Anything that a human mind can conceive and believe in, he will achieve".

So the 2 component of my short term goal contribute to my long term goal. My long term go is to go fully into the arena of education for children and also to operate child care centres in Asia pacific countries, especially india and China. Human himself is valuable for his ability to think and intelligence.

I believe child care centres have its potential. The market is promising. When birth rate climb up, the huge influx of babies could mean good revenue for the care centre. Even when birth rate decline, child care centre will still be viable as this mean an individual child is worth much more to the society and so the rates of staying with a care centre can rise. China and India has huge population and it is this huge population which will bring light to the child care industry. Yup, my aim is to be a boss.

The next part has to deal with my feeling and about leading a holistic life. I have sort comfort in Buddhism as its doctrine and teaching suits me. I hope to be a more tolerant guy with a big heart for anything. My ultimate aim is not to be affected by hostilities or negative comment but see everything as being part and parcel of life. I truly believe in karma and retribution so i have cut down eating meat although i feast them everyday. Ok lah, i haven't really achieve that part. Hahahah.

And lastly, oh gosh, hope that the girl i like can just give me a chance for me to prove my worth. But sadly....oh well.....So i guess my life could never be full at this instance.

Anyway, like i say, a life is full when you think it is, a life is not full when you think it is not. It is all in a person's mind.

In the name of charity

2004-09-27T17:19:00.000+08:00

When i was young, the only charitable thing i did perhaps is to read those sharity elephant monthly newsletters. That is the only action, to a primary school kid, which constitute a charitable act.

So when i am older by a few years, the action of putting a coin into a tin can buffled me. I was thinking:" how come reading sharity elephant newsletter do not need to pay but still is considered a charitable act, but now, i need to really put my 10cent in order to be counted as a charity act." However i did put my 10cent inside though as i saw it as a way to get that round sticker which then i can paste on my chest and show proudly that this sticker is only for a charitable person. This is a reward of my meritocracy effort. So when i am somemore older then i realised, that damn newsletter is actually a gimmick to attract young nubile kid to donate, well rather, pestering their parents to donate, perhaps, for a reward which is meeting the overly stuffed elephant.

So from young, one has been exposed to various method which are to induced people to donate. Donations always grow proportionally with our GDP. Sometimes, it grow inversely also, when our GDP fall, it continue to rise still. Such is the action of good hearted and goodwill singaporean. Kudos to all of them.

The gimmick varies from that damn newsletter which i told you all about, to the tin can, to some donation booklet which to me. As Singapore itself is a incorporated organisation, charity organization also need to come out with new ideas in order to magnetise people to donate. So the old tin can, although still useable by some small time organisation ,is slowly taking a back seat while a new form of donation tool is use, such as selling novelty pen or stuff toys.

But i think the most powerful gimmick is in the form of using media as a tool to plead people to donate. Some smart alec come up with the idea of using actors to perform some stupid stunts in order to ask for more donation, in the name of charity.

So in the early nineties, the first charity show was staged in caldecott. Soon, other organisation jump onto the bandwagon. From one show per year, to now, about 5 to 6 shows. From donating for those kidney patients, now, heart, cancer, children critical illness, hospital and so on and so forth. Soon, every weekend we will have one charity show and soon, it will be part and parcel to part with around 0.05% or more of our salary to support the unfortunate. Shows after shows, each with the common agenda, flooded our little silver screen.

Singaporean, being as, erm, singaporean, do not make any noise, comments. The reason is because everybody has this heart of gold. True, condos, cars do make excellent carrot for the people to donate, but nevertheless, appalude should be given as they do donate don't they?

So Singaporean donate rigiously. From calling the 1900 lines, to parting with our coins when those puppy-eyed children approach us with their tin cans. Sometimes, we also drop some notes to that uncle who sing like nat king cole, albeit he is blind. And who else can say he didn't buy before from that tissue aunty who went table to table to sell her wares, 3 packet of tissue for one dollar.

True the GST has risen to 5%, true we can actually use the money that we donated to buy eggs. Yes the ultilities bills, miscellaneous bills, transport expenses, housing cost, school fees, food expenses and other expenses has risen, but Singaporen donate relentlessly.

Then suddenly, yet another smart alec, this time, the Action for Aids executive director, Benedict Jacob Thambiah said:" It's fine to reveal our pay to the authorities, but why do we need to tell it to any Tom, Dick or Harry?"(published on mon,sept 27, 2004. Home section page 1, straits times).

Any Tom Dick or Harry?! Hello! Without these Tom Dick and Harry, where they hell do you think the organisation got the pay, where the hell do you think your pay come from? The Tom Dick and Harry are the one who religiously dialled those stupid 1900 numbers, they are the one who part with their coins, they are the source of your donations, the income of the organisation and bloody fool, your pay check!

When the ministers had their pay rise, i remember they published how they got that pay and etc. So even the ministers need to answer to the people, why you, a mere executive do not need or do not feel to disclose your pay? Afraid of comparison or afraid of scrutiny?

Also by the way, those Tom Dick and Harry each have a name, all live in one place and each make up the 4 million population of a country call Singapore.

What does it mean to live a full life?

2004-09-23T17:50:00.000+08:00

A full life. There are alot of intepretation on what is 'life' alone, let alone living a full life. The meaning of a full life can be seem as a very abstract topic. If we are talking about hunger, we can be sure that when we are full, it means we are not hungry anymore. In that case, we can easily define what is full and what is not as hunger alone is constricted by a boundary where upon arriving at that boundary, we know that we have already reach the point where we are not hungry and that is full. However for life itself, it seems life, there is no boundary, perhaps the only boundary is death itself. But as one's life is a huge universe which have limitless spaces for us to continue to expand, the question then is, how can you live it in such a way you will inflate it to a extent that we call it full and maintain the fullness until death.

Some people feel that they have achieve almost everything to make their life full. The only thing is that they lack of spiritual support in order to live their live to the fullest. That is the reason why people practice in both pagan and non-pagan religions. The mystic of religion lies in its way of using formless method to control and guide people. When we talk about a supreme being, usually that is sort of invincible and invisible. Some feel that in engaging in a spiritual religion, they will be cleanse off their troubles and sins which these troubles and sins are the problem to living life to the fullest. Some even take it to the extent of being a religious leader himself. But what is most crucial in this aspect is i think religion are almost controlled by people.For example, muslim believe their clerics, buddhist believe the abbot and christian believe the priest. How much is the accuracy of their intepretation of the respective religion, we do not exactly know. Then the interesting thing is, if one can control the ideology of religion, then instead of using religion as a catalyse to bring about to live to the fullest, they are already living life to the fullest as human are the one controlling the religion! So the answer is actually that when one believe he himself is leading a full life, then he must be leading a full life.

Another type of people gauge how life is to be lived is by results and grades. Now this is different from religion in the sense that it is more controllable by the individual than religion. This is because once an individual has a pre-determined set of gauge in his mind, others would not be able to influence him so easily unlike religion where different doctrines can originated from the same religion. Our world is constantly being assess by results and grades. Synonym such as GDP,GPA are all indicators of how well the country, community and individual has done. To the echelon of the society, perhaps living life to the fullest is equal to achieving good results. Because the fruits of getting good result such as happiness, a boost of confidence is bitter sweet. So here, living live to the full can be interpreted as clearing all the hurdles and enjoying the fruits afterwards.

As said earlier, the only boundary to living life to the fullest is death. Therefore, some engage in some heart storming sports or activities in order to expierence how they should live life to the fullest. Who dare say they dare to jump airborne or engage in some extreme sports which death is easily assessible. Perhaps for those who has tried out all that, they can proudly say that they already live life to the fullest by venturing into areas which the commons do not dare to venture.

Anyway, life as it is, can be interpreted by different methods. If one think he himself has already live life to the fullest, then he really did for nobody is a good judge on who and whom has live a full life.

I don't want to be a loser all the time.

2004-09-19T22:23:00.000+08:00

Suddenly this strange tinge of sadness overwhelmed me again. I thought i already throw and forget away my pass but it seems history can never be distored. The fact that i fuck up my A level will never and ever be erased. Perhaps i really need a yellow ribbon to remind the world that people do and can change. And i won't be a loser forever.

Actually stress do not come from the schwork, your boyfriend or girlfriend, peers, teachers. The stress actually come from the parents. Has one ever think back that when you do well, your parents, your uncle and aunties are like the paparazzi, trying to capture that every moment of you doing well. Whipping out their digi cams and capture that priceless moment that no visa can buy with it when you are standing at the stage, receiving some prizes from your principals or better, some minister. Those who can't attend will call you such that on that day, you receive more calls than you usually do.

The most fascinating thing is that, they will do to your bidding! No matter its that new nokia engage or that new palm top that your friend dicky has his dad brought for him, those gifts will be neatly wrapped and placed on your bed and when you woke up, you thought santa grandpa has just visited you in advanced. And maybe really he did visit you, because you do well.

Doing well and getting good result is perhaps the best spell that is casted. Bomoh's potion do not work as much powerful as it does. The result, heap of praises, prizes both from school and your relatives. You will be able to raise your chin high, when you walk, the wind will trail behind you. Everybody will sort of bow at your presence. Such is the powerful result of getting good result.

But what if you do not get good result? It means the clock has strike 12. The cinderella moment that you have been enjoying is over. The first indication is that how teacher frown at you upon giving you your result. The spell casted on your parents and relatives do not work anymore. The call do not pour in. Those encouraging and praises like :" woah ah boi/girl, so clever ah" become " aiyo, how come you so stupid, i not even score so low before".

Praise charles darwin for his theory of evolution. It really has been proven time and time again when one has fall from grace. You are not the centre of attraction and topic during family functions. This is the cruelty of the world.

That is why i told myself time and time again. I can't afford to do poorly again. I want the wind to catch up with me and trail behind my back again. I want to hold my chin high. I want the spell to work again. I want to be the centre of attraction. I do not want to drop into the darkness of the abyss.

Laugh at all you want. Mock me please. Because you won't have the chance again.

Because i don't want to be a loser all the time

And

I won't be the loser ever.

"Anything that the human mind can conceive and believe in, he will achieve"

----Think and grow rich, Napoleon Hill

Those chao recruit days...

2004-09-18T03:11:00.000+08:00

Chao recruit is what all newly enlisted fresh soldiers are being labelled. The origin of this label is not known but i guess it is due to their body odour. Almost spending three quarters of the time(with the remaining one quarter visiting medical centre, sleeping, chao geng, do pumping, do push up) under the hot sun doing some warfare training, its of no wonder that those recruit smell badly.

The most funny thing is that once you put on the green camo uniform, smell and dirt almost become non existance to you. Upon reminiscing those good old days, i wonder how i could stand the stench coming out of my uniform which has not been washed for 1 week. And everybody seems to develop a fetish for their smelly uniform. I mean, when you wash your clothes, it is natural for you, after hanging the clothes out in the sun, to smell the freshness that are emitted out from the clothes. But, i realised in the army, after we hang out the SOILED clothing out to dry( dry our sweat), we still smell those clothes, as though it has been freshly washed. And this action is repeated everytime a soldier go take his clothes from the laundry line.

Also, like i said, we sort of become oblivious to the smell and dirt when we wear those fighting garb. We can sleep anywhere, any place, any time. If you ask me, to sleep anywhere, at any place and at any time with me wearing my t-shirt and jeans, i don't think i could do that.

The army is just like a huge boy school. The official language spoke inside is hokkien, singlish with lots of vulgarities spew added into our speech. No one to mind our Ps and Qs,we can dig our nose everywhere, we can appear half naked and walk from bunk to bunk. No one to tell us to speak proper english also. It's a totally carefree life. We did study inside the army like what we do in school. However the 2 most favourite subject are mathematics and geography. Often, we would discuss the vital stats of those bikini babes featured on the front cover of the magazines. The recommanded text book, or should i say, text mag is FHM. Fight or quarrels could be resolved with just a FHM in hand.It's power is undisputable.

As for geography, we can now navigate the winding lorongs of geylang without any difficulties. No GPS system needed.

In the army, every month is the seventh month. I often wonder why those spirits or ghosts or whatever do not stake out innocent and clueless young men of age 18 at their HDB flats, on the dancefloor of Zouk or in the toilet. Of all places, they must shout Boo at them in the army. And i think those spirit is omnipresent. The sergeant from Jurong camp will tell you that he saw fatimah sitting at the top of the jackob ladder of their camp. But when you ask that sentry guard in Nee Soon, he will tell you he saw fatimah sitting at the top of the jackob ladder also. Best of all, her presence has even been sighted in Pulau Tekong, Singapore off shore training isle. The ability of being sighted at different places at the same time is, interesting.

We do not usually walk in the army, we run. From place to place, we are being told to "double up". When we run, we would always feel oxygen is lacking. But this is not the case in those army adverts you saw in the tv. Those soldiers can run, without opening their mouth and breathe! I mean this is unbelievable. Either they breathe through their nose or they didn't breathe at all! But when you run at that pace and you breathe using your nose, the oxygen intake will not be enough for your body. So the question is, how do those soldiers in the advert manage to do it? Is that a real protrayal? When you sign on, are you those hopefuls who think you can run along the uneven terrain for 1 hour or so at a speed of completing 2.4km in under 10 min with the 10kg bag behind you, plus your wife and yet you do not need to breathe and can still achieve that feat?

Yesterday i was envious and jealous. When i am waiting for the MRT , i saw 2 chao recruits in the first cabin. Thinking that they must have book out for having fever or something, i do not feel anything. But when the second cabin , the third and all right up to the last, i saw recruits after recuits. So many of them! And suddenly it occur to me that now, they only need to train for 5 days. But booking out in the afternoon?! It mean they only train for 4 and a half days! I was jealous. Why the 2 yrs deduction, the 5 working days scheme did not start when i was a recruit?

However soon my anger and jealousy were appeased when i discover that there is this pretty, young sexy thing sitted opposite me, has such nice pair of legs and i quickly rekindled with the maths skills that i learned in the army. But, that is another story......

I am such nice guy!! hahaha

2004-09-17T20:21:00.000+08:00

This is what i found in my friendster bulletin: http://www.stwing.upenn.edu/~jenf/writing/rant04.html

Ode to the Nice Guys

This rant was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!” And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!).

But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.
Fu-zu Jen, SEAS/WH, 2003

The film 12 storeys presents real slices of life. It is so truthful that it hurts. Do you agree?

2004-09-17T09:08:00.000+08:00

12 storeys is a home-produced film by Eric Koo. The show basically is satirical one, i feel. This is because normally, films regarding Singapore tend to show her people to be very happy, without problems, live well and eat well. However this film depict the true Singporean behind that wonderful facade.
The true view about Singaporean is watched by this spirit of this man who has jumped down from the building. The show try to show a very accurate portrayal of the average Singaporean. I do agree to a certain extent.

The first scene is of this man who jumped down from the twelveth storeys. It may seems insignificant at first but actually it is not. What make is siginificant is how the people, the residents' attitude toward his death. We could see a group of people crowding around his body and they look very helplessly, do not know what to do. This to me is an excellent portrayal of the average Singaporean. Seldom you will see people render help to someone in need. I recalled about this article in the newspaper which says the commuter in the cabin of the MRT just sat there as though nothing has happened when a boy was beaten up by a group of thugs. The film's portrayal of Singaporean as being cold hearted, generally is quite true. However to say that all Singaporean are cold hearted may seems to be a sweeping statement, given that some do went up to help when others are in need of help, for example the foreman who went back to the rubble to help his worker to escape from the nicole highway collapse but he himself perished as he went back to the rubble. But i must say such people are still a handful and most Singaporean are cold hearted. Therefore , i do agree with what the film is trying to say.

Secondly, the focus is changed to this man who marry a China Wife. The China wife is being depicted as a money greedy woman who marry a Singaporean for his money. Perhaps there is a handful in Singapore who marry for the sake of money but then i do not quite agree to that. My uncle married a China girl. They live happily for about 10 years now with a daughter. My uncle is not rich so the question of my aunty marrying him for the sake of money is out. Therefore i do not agree with what the movie is trying to say. Beside, how could the movie portray women from China to be so bad?

Lastly, i want to touch on the part where the character, the yong tau foo seller, try to have sex with his wife. The wife mentioned that he already have it for 3 times in a week and he want it againThis is bullshit. The annual survey by Durex says Singaporean man are the least interested in sex. So what is the film trying to do?! Hello! Singaporean man are not sex crazed, although we often search for britney spears in the internet but that is another story.

Although 12 storeys try to depicted the true Singaporean life, but i think it only succeed halfway. Nevertheless, it is a great film where there is alot of hidden messages where you need to read between the scene in order to understand what the producer is trying to convey to the audiences.

I hate blog!!!

2004-09-17T08:23:00.000+08:00

i hate blog and i still maintain that stand. I do not know y girls lurve to set up blog, its a waste of time!!! But then, in order to 三脚 my teacher who insist everybody must have, so here i am. Pathetic me sia, i always maintain that blog are bo liao and here i am, having 1!!!
But no choice,
for the sake of getting A in critical reasoning skills module,
for the sake of distinction,
for the sake of getting Cert of merit,
for the sake of going to a good Uni,
for the sake of graduating with first class honour,
for the sake of filing for income tax when i start working,
for the sake of paying, hm....10% GST?

for the sake of paying fines if i ever need to(Sg is a fine city mah),
for the sake of living in a big house, have a big car,
for the sake of that pack of durex condom if i ever need,
for the sake of calling 1900 to NKF and add to their reserves,
for the sake of yet another charity show in the name of the president,
for the sake of another charity show over at channel U( they must fight with mediacorp mah.so die die also must have charity shows)
for the sake of yet another school children holding that tin can and looking at me with that sad- filled- puppy -for- the -sake -of-charity pair of-eyes,

for the sake of buying that rolex that my father always wanted,
for the sake of my mum who want that poh heng jewellry,
for the sake of my future wife, her gown, her ring, her...aiyah her everything lah!!

for the sake of the birth of my future children,
for the sake of their milk powder money,
for the sake of their nappy money,
for the sake of their education,
for the sake of the countless ang bao i have to give after i married,
for the sake of giving Bigger ang bao to my own children,
for the sake of having a good retirement nest after that,
for the sake of the doctor fees when i grow old and become sickly,
for the sake of my coffin, the funeral procession, the urn charge, the cremation charge, embalmer charge, the gim jua moneys, the sai kong fees, the monk fees,
and lastly, for the sake of giving my children each a bigger share of inheritance so that they won't fight over their dead old dad money.

So Miss Sabrina Wong( i use Miss), u must give me an A!!!! its for the sake of everything in my whole wretched life!!! argh!!!!!!!