Hey People, More To Chew On Here!

Hitting The Books Again?
When I visited the webbies of our purported 4th university (until other plans to set up another are firmed up), there were two. One, it appears, has a list of its university-conferred status of academic courses while the other largely remains to be its former self.

It is this "former self" that my hopes and aspirations lie in pursuing a Business Management Bachelor's at an affordable course fees and a speedy pathway of a year or more.

I would love doing my studies at SMU but the academic calendar is too long and I don't think I qualify for any advanced standing and fees are runaway.

I don't see myself qualifying for any scholarships. Hey, I thought a Claire Chiang Economics scholarship would help defray some of the costs but I don't think I will do her justice!

I just don't have the head for too many theoretical economic models or economic mathematics.

After all, my end is just to flash a piece of paper (useless as it seems) when I graduate to help me grab a job.

A Hybrid - Liberal Arts Cum Technical/Life Skills University
So the fourth university could perhaps be a hybrid between a liberal arts and technical/life skills kinda college.

This Is Yet Another Laugh
While I was sitting across from a junior college dude, I couldn't help noticing the title of his handouts: "Market Failure, Government Intervention".

When we chatted, I found out that the syllabi had remained largely unchanged, despite indications to the contrary. They were still studying those BIG PARABOLAS enveloping SMALLER PARABOLAS and yes, the economists among their teachers haven't told them how they can apply this in the REAL WORLD.

I wanted to laugh out so loud, GOD would be tickled pink if he could hear me.

How about changing the handouts to "Market Lucrativeness And Opportunities, Government Intervention "?

The Same Few Shenanigans Over And Over Again
To me, shenanigans are the same few people or corporations that seem to dominate civil, public and corporate life.

We have seem them at work in our retail businesses - the fashion houses, the sporting houses and the food industry. To the virtual exclusion of upstarts or newstarts, which can't be a good thing for neither competitive nor "new economy" reasons.

Again shenanigans (usually pro-estab players) monopolise public and civil lives then muscle in onto private corporations going public (meaning a public listing).

They sometimes hold independent or alternate directorships and that means private/public companies are effectively pro-estab instituted shenanigan types.

Another Small Reunion
Yesterday marked another small reunion between my three sisters and me. This time it was held at my second sister's home. It has been a good two years since I have visited anyone. In fact my brother-in-law had remarked that I must have gone missing in person.

My niece is indeed in junior college. She is all grown up too and she isn't doing too well for her first year, no thanks to the kinda subject-combi stipulation that she has to take up to fulfill a minimum number of H1 and H2 subjects to make up for a pass in her promos.

As I see it, my eldest sister needs dentures, almost all of us need some form of dentitional reworking and we need a a long overdue and thorough medical check-up. In fact both my second sis and I need our eyes checked. So many things, so little money and so long a wait in time.

Everything remains about the same. There are still those suspicions and misgivings about one another and I know it is gonna be a minefield trying to steer myself clear in this sea of human dynamics.

A New Discovery - A New Town With New Facilities And A Better Lay-Out
After finishing my visit, I took a cab back home. It was late and I was tired and I had on me, a loadful of barang barang I had to cart home.

This cab took me on a straight and narrow road from Sengkang East Road to BuangKok Green and finally along the whole stretch of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 which would see me getting "home".

Somehow this journey scuttled my plans to settle for the very old neighborhood I thought I would make my final abode.

Because right here, I found that I was sorta at the epicentre of various towns and a bus ride away to a natural reserve. Even within walking distance of many planned new facilities like a dammed up reservoir and sporting amenities.

It is a new neighborhood (thus a better layout design) but prices are sky-high. Let's see if my funds can afford me this!

The Old Ang Mo Kio
It is as if life has stood still here. Parts of Ang Mo Kio Old New Town are just like that.

There are all those very old neighborhood shops here, still running businesses the way they were and the people dressing and behaving in exactly the same period.

Neighbors still burn their joss and paper outside the five-foot-way and with flat windows facing out to the corridors, the rest of us have to bear the brunt of this onslaught.

The New Serangoon
My third sis' home has also undergone a major upgrading. One of its two lifts have been shut down and instead, the remaining one stops on every floor and another has been erected at the other end of the block.

Its corridors are so wide, too wide in fact that they have perhaps eaten into grounds which could have gone into bigger spaces for the flats' interior, as contrasted to the narrow ones at Sin Ming Road.

I can't make anything out of what our administrators are thinking about here, can you?

Both Parents Are Alive And 5 Long Years Is As Good As Being Permanent Residents Here
I ran into a China dude the other day and we chatted each other up.

I found out that a long-term pass (not those reserved for the mother or grandmother of a foreigner studying here on a student pass which is only valid for about six months) for a visitor visiting a naturalised citizen or SPR is actually 5 years.

5 years people! And when you compare the Orphan (meaning both father and mother must be long dead, you mean you can't even provide for one dead and one alive?) Citizen Scheme reserved for locals to the Citizen/SPR Siblings Scheme for a naturalised citizen or SPR, that means the Citizen/SPRs' parents (who are both alive) can visit for 5 long years!

This is twice as good if not better a deal than the Orphan Citizen Scheme. One, both sets of our parents must die and two, the Citizen/SPR Scheme can have their pair of parents visiting for 5 long years which is as good as being permanent residents.

Hey, administrators, what about cutting a better deal for your own citizens?