Another Calamatic Episode

Bo-Chap And Simply Don't Care
As I told the Maxicab driver the other day, I was a simply 'bo-chap" dude, to the point that people have been maligning me behind my back and to the detriment of my job and my credibility.

Only because I wasn't bothering about what people were gossiping behind my back and didn't seek to defend myself.

Whenever someone says something or scolds me, it is simply one ear in and one ear out. That is how I survive my brother at home. It was just "er bian feng" (wind by the side of your ear).

But things are different now. If I don't, there is a Cantonese saying which sums it up "Argh sei gai" (shove a dead chicken down your throat).

Everything is YOU. YOU did this and that. I am the HOLY GOD who can do no wrong. The gays, the workplace, the home, wherever.

Why don't you examine your holy selves, your work processes, your reasonability of logic to see where the stupidity and flaws lie in the first place.

It must have begun at home with Bro. Sometimes Ma and 2nd Sis.

Bro is a bi (who prolly marry because he couldn't take the heat and yes, there are just too many things working against a gay relationship, but hey is he happy? I don't think so) and he is about the kinda "guan jia bo" (household matron) that gets close to any woman can be.

I am sure his colleagues can attest to that.

Ma, of course will be the restrictor, for god knows what reasons of hers, keeping us in, prohibiting this and that.

2nd Sis is the bimbo and the instigator who breaks us all apart.

Hey what can I say about a family like this? Just my good fortune?

Alas! What Do I Make Of All These?
And this brings me to my second point. When I noticed the discrepancies and the real estate agent highlighted them to me, I have no choice but to run my own check today.

That is what I mean. When things happen, then I have to act, right?

Only armed with correct and good information can I make an informed decision.

What Kinda Information Can This Tell You? Not Very Much
So I make a call to ICA Singapore Identity Card Section. I learnt that there is an I-Check facility online to check on the validity of a Singapore ID and so when I ran a check on Chris, it was all valid.

But this can't confirm that he is the legitimate holder of the identity card in question. Only the original can but Chris can't provide this, citing that his mom has safe-kept it.

To top it all, I have seen his EZ-link student card once before he promptly lost it (but imagine quitting school and he is still using this student pass), with the exact particulars but a completely different photograph of him: fatter, nerdier and with thick black glasses.

But then again, this must be a mugshot of him in his primary school days as the pass is issued upon entering Secondary 1. A person does change in appearance at different phases of his life : from primary to secondary to young adult and older adult to senior citizen and so on.

Besides Checks On Foreigners, Now There Are Checks On Locals
There were also info on its webby on all those safety and security features which were all missing on Chris' ID. The merlion hologram, the coat-of-arms behind the ID and the additional photograph hologram.

The blood group can be explained because it isn't included in the ID anymore since 2002.

What I was pissed about was that the receptionist couldn't divulge information on what digits would prefix the newborns from the year 2000 onwards. This she deemed top secret.

Already there is info telling us that from year 2000 on, there will be an alphabetical T prefix, so how TOP SECRET can the digit prefixes be?

Wouldn't transparent info made available to the public make it more informed and thus save on confusion and suspicion among the people at the ground level when they run their own checks on tenants or landlords?

And the tenancy agreement only runs checks on tenants. What about tenants running checks that the people residing in the flats are the legitimate owners?

How about that? It is lop-sided isn't it?

Self-Dial Mobile Pressing On Its Casing
This new hard-case pouch I just bought, if I don't lock the buttons of the mobile, do press on them and dial numbers on its own. In fact my previous soft fabric pouch had made some download connection to the "Gee" function and I have tote up quite a bit for the bill.

Gay Sluts
While on my room hunt before I got this place, I came across two old ads in the gay classifieds.

They were the same units that I have viewed about a year ago or so. It shows how many tenants must have moved in and out of the place due most likely on the part of the owners.

One I distinctly remember as an old run-down private apartment block with many foreign workers as neighbors. It was a small dinghy room going for SGD600 (which I could prolly get a better HDB room) and I know the owner isn't particularly a nice person.

Another made it sound like I was renting a room to fuck around with all the other tenants in the flat. He had said something like "play around but don't kiss-and-tell".

Both were foreigners or PRs or naturalised citizens by the way.

2nd Time Consulting The Doc
I went to see a doctor yesterday because my cough got worse and I was sneezing like anything. This was exacerbated because I hadn't really been watching what I eat.

It is especially trying when I am subjected to the air-conditioner, something inescapable at the urban malls and about any indoor venue save the great outdoors .

This time, the doc was in (it wasn't the locum) and he didn't prescribe me antibiotics (which I thought was a wise move, given my stand about all the resistance that can be built up against a drug over time).

In fact he told me I should consult a TCM practitoner as he diagnosed that I had dry lungs. Something which I did and was duly prescribed three doses of a two-pack medication for cold and hot cough. The bird's nest and luo-han guo will have to wait after I get better.

And of course the usual refrainment from cold drinks and spicy and chilli food.

I got better this morning after a bout of coughing my lungs out yesterday.

Discrepancies
Yes the real estate agent had pointed this out to me. In fact I had noticed it myself. There wasn't a merlion hologram on Chris' ID, there wasn't a blood grouping and the coat-of-arms of the lion and tiger were missing too.

I tried out an experiment where I photocopied my ID at two photocopying shops in the neighborhood. At all times, my merlion hologram appeared but the coat-of-arms didn't after a second photocopy. And it prolly didn't help that the ink on the photocopier must have been set to a very light tone.

I can only conclude (though this is a small sample for a test) that (a) Chris' ID is a fake or (b) he has been repeatedly photocopying from one original photocopy that all the finer details of the hologram and coat-of-arms had slowly but surely faded away.

Our First Big Fight
I must have spoken too soon. We immediately quarrelled on Sunday.

Chris told me his aunt (I can't confirm this as I can't be sure it is a aunt or a lover or someone) has told his mom about his move out and apparently his mom wants him to move back (again this is unsubstantiated).

He was already dragging his feet about moving in and I have sought his confirmation before signing the papers. So he is leaving me in a fix now if he moves out.

This comes just after I have settled matters with Mabel and her auntie agent and they have confirmed the 6-month tenancy. Things just got better here but things got worse with Chris.

And I have told Chris that there are many ads but few suitable places and few responses. Not least because the hike in rental has spilled over to the HDB arena and everyone wants a higher return for their rent.

It is true I have been grumbling to Chris and that was because "The Woman" (aka as Mabel) was in turn grumbling to me as you would remember my one day of washing was a virtual nightmare with her hovering about, the full-time home-maker that she was.

Talk about what goes around comes around.

What Has Been Cooking With Chris Lately And How Is He Really Like
It doesn't help that Chris has been paying his share of the rent in instalments. The third and last bit of SGD80 which I got just yesterday. He had promised the 5th or 6th of every month but this has dragged on till yesterday. And he has been shopping.

He spent part of a morning doing up his cockster hair, putting on foundation cream, spraying Adidas cologne on his hair and a whole array of beauty products.

He cussed when the wind blows which messes it up.

When I accidentally step on his shoes, he would scold me and when I am late to meet him, he would scold again (it isn't exactly as if he wasn't late himself and I had patiently waited without a single utterance of annoyance - a whole half an hour or more)

He started hurling vulgarities and I ain't exactly taking it sitting down.

Who he lived with after shifting out from his family house and before shifting in with me isn't clear. All I do know is that that unit had its utilities' supply dis-connected after owing the provider arrears.

He claims to be attached (but it was all with people of different ages) but why is he still wanting to do it with moi? I have kept away from him after his attempts to bj moi.

I have overlooked all these and just gone on.

I pity the next guy or gal who should wanna take him in.

A Real Estate Sham
At least Mabel has the benefit of her auntie agent who would accordingly counsel her properly on the ethics of a tenancy agreement.

When I first started out, I didn't. Not that an agent matters really.

Just look at the tenancy agreement (or even an employment contract), it is usually on favorable terms for the letter or employer. In fact the one I signed looks a lot like one for a whole-unit rental. The terms are all so out of step with a room rental.

If push comes to shove, I question the validity of the tenancy agreement (which is just a sheet of paper with print on it minus the letterhead of the company Winnie claims to hail from). And I question if she is even licensed and if she is even from the company so claimed.

So wouldn't they be collaborating to fleece tenants.

All these have only bolstered my low opinion of real estate agents in general, gays and guys who cheat on their wives (to be either with a guy or a gal).