I am not sure what the deferred payment has to do with providing affordable public housing for ALL.
It seems like nothing is done to mitigate the sky-high prices of HDB apartments while the flaming red-hot private property is now being extinguished.
Talk about more stupidity.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
So That Is What Is Wrong Here! Why Didn't You Say So Earlier?
No Ethnic Quotas For Lessees But Ethnic Quotas For Lessors! How Do You Expect Your Ethnic Integration Policy To Work?
It goes without telling, of course, that the ethnic enclaves that are slowly but surely building up in our neighborhoods, are not because our ethinc quotas and ethinc integration policies aren't working anymore.
It is because, the lessors have been indiscriminately leasing out their places to all and sundry which because of our foreign talent attraction schemes, seems to be attracting disproportionately one or two kinds of nationals.
In fact, disproportionate is just not the word. The more accurate and reflective word is "overwhelmingly".
So it isn't my imagination nor my hallucination that I am seeing who I am seeing in this estate where I am holed up.
Who Speaks And Cares For Them?
Who speaks for my Dad who went blind from cataract and glaucoma? Who speaks for my mute sister? Who cares for my uneducated third sister? What about my two nephews when they were in technical and vocational schools, especially one who was in the EM3 stream and another who got posted to the Normal Technical (EM3) at secondary level?
It goes without telling, of course, that the ethnic enclaves that are slowly but surely building up in our neighborhoods, are not because our ethinc quotas and ethinc integration policies aren't working anymore.
It is because, the lessors have been indiscriminately leasing out their places to all and sundry which because of our foreign talent attraction schemes, seems to be attracting disproportionately one or two kinds of nationals.
In fact, disproportionate is just not the word. The more accurate and reflective word is "overwhelmingly".
So it isn't my imagination nor my hallucination that I am seeing who I am seeing in this estate where I am holed up.
Who Speaks And Cares For Them?
Who speaks for my Dad who went blind from cataract and glaucoma? Who speaks for my mute sister? Who cares for my uneducated third sister? What about my two nephews when they were in technical and vocational schools, especially one who was in the EM3 stream and another who got posted to the Normal Technical (EM3) at secondary level?
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Much Need Air Fresheners
A Much-Needed Breath Of Air Fresheners
I have never spent so much money on air-fresheners alone in a single month. Not that I ever had.
It all started at Doray's at the beginning of the new year, no doubt.
It started with just four simple satchets of various Glades' flower scents that I hung up in the wardrobe. These same four satchets were to be reused again and again, first at Galen's, then at Andy's, even continuing at Aunt Sally's and now at Rhemi's.
However by this time, the scents have all but dissipated. Therefore I have chosen to buy three replacement satchets which are now exuding its cool fragrance all over my clothes in place of that rotten mothball smell of old.
At Aunt Sally's, I have bought a small stand-up and slide-open mug of scented gel. That was to kill the even worse odor permeating the whole bugs-ridden room.
Now at Rhemi's, I have taken to additionally hang up two lavender-scented gel in the bath, an orange-blossom scented pack clipped to the stand-fan and an AirWick container of scented beads in the wardrobe.
I think it is time I threw away the four Glades flower-scented satchets. They have outlived their uses and their scents.
Ah, Yes, This Reminds Me Of This First-Time Foray Into A Stock Investment
While working a stint at a reinsurance company, staff were alloted an iota of their special entitlement. If I remember correctly, it was one lot and at a price of SGD$1.80 and accorded a trustee stock status, you would expect that that was what it means exactly - a stock to be trusted, a stock held in trust for you and therefore safe, secure and sound and all set to boom.
But no siree. Once a natural disaster hit the States where it had reinsurance exposure, its price tumbled down to half its worth and before you can say "Whose CCB was it that made this so", it was suspended and there went my first-time foray in a thousand over dollar stock investment.
It could have been more! I couldn't exactly remember.
I have never spent so much money on air-fresheners alone in a single month. Not that I ever had.
It all started at Doray's at the beginning of the new year, no doubt.
It started with just four simple satchets of various Glades' flower scents that I hung up in the wardrobe. These same four satchets were to be reused again and again, first at Galen's, then at Andy's, even continuing at Aunt Sally's and now at Rhemi's.
However by this time, the scents have all but dissipated. Therefore I have chosen to buy three replacement satchets which are now exuding its cool fragrance all over my clothes in place of that rotten mothball smell of old.
At Aunt Sally's, I have bought a small stand-up and slide-open mug of scented gel. That was to kill the even worse odor permeating the whole bugs-ridden room.
Now at Rhemi's, I have taken to additionally hang up two lavender-scented gel in the bath, an orange-blossom scented pack clipped to the stand-fan and an AirWick container of scented beads in the wardrobe.
I think it is time I threw away the four Glades flower-scented satchets. They have outlived their uses and their scents.
Ah, Yes, This Reminds Me Of This First-Time Foray Into A Stock Investment
While working a stint at a reinsurance company, staff were alloted an iota of their special entitlement. If I remember correctly, it was one lot and at a price of SGD$1.80 and accorded a trustee stock status, you would expect that that was what it means exactly - a stock to be trusted, a stock held in trust for you and therefore safe, secure and sound and all set to boom.
But no siree. Once a natural disaster hit the States where it had reinsurance exposure, its price tumbled down to half its worth and before you can say "Whose CCB was it that made this so", it was suspended and there went my first-time foray in a thousand over dollar stock investment.
It could have been more! I couldn't exactly remember.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Repeal 377A
What Is She Babbling About?
Well I am so sorry if my one signature didn't add on to the already long list of names on what is termed a "Parliamentary Petition", tabled for debate and for the repeal of 377A under what is termed unnatural offences?
I wasn't exactly throwing a party to celebrate WORLD AIDS DAY, nor was I holed up with a sex partner and indulging in erotic sexual pleasures, the kind 377A deems unnatural and repulsive?
Apparently the 2000 odd signatures aren't many enough when compared to the 4000 odd signatures garnered on the other side of the picket line - the appeal to keep 377A.
Gosh..ununatural....that word doesn't sound quite right does it? I have pointed out many other abnormalcies that should be addressed first before we say what is and what isn't unnatural.
For one, it was never natural for women to be both working and bearing babies. And second the natural order of things back then was that the earth was flat and that the earth was at the centre of the universe and yes, even now, the mistaken notion that Singapore is the hub of everything, including funeral parlors.
Now I must hand it to the woman NMP who stood up to speak against sodomy. But it seems that that and oral sex have been repealed for the heteros' coupling.
I suppose her arguments equally apply here then, doesn't it? So what qualms does she have against the rectum and its main function as a waste disposal outlet? Isn't the penis or vagina also a vessel for urea discharge?
Plus don't forget frequent periodic and monthly menstrual waste, menses and OO, blood in the case of the vagina?
Aren't these even more horrific? And a man's mouth or genitalia touches this. YUCKS!
So what exactly is she talking about?
Well I am so sorry if my one signature didn't add on to the already long list of names on what is termed a "Parliamentary Petition", tabled for debate and for the repeal of 377A under what is termed unnatural offences?
I wasn't exactly throwing a party to celebrate WORLD AIDS DAY, nor was I holed up with a sex partner and indulging in erotic sexual pleasures, the kind 377A deems unnatural and repulsive?
Apparently the 2000 odd signatures aren't many enough when compared to the 4000 odd signatures garnered on the other side of the picket line - the appeal to keep 377A.
Gosh..ununatural....that word doesn't sound quite right does it? I have pointed out many other abnormalcies that should be addressed first before we say what is and what isn't unnatural.
For one, it was never natural for women to be both working and bearing babies. And second the natural order of things back then was that the earth was flat and that the earth was at the centre of the universe and yes, even now, the mistaken notion that Singapore is the hub of everything, including funeral parlors.
Now I must hand it to the woman NMP who stood up to speak against sodomy. But it seems that that and oral sex have been repealed for the heteros' coupling.
I suppose her arguments equally apply here then, doesn't it? So what qualms does she have against the rectum and its main function as a waste disposal outlet? Isn't the penis or vagina also a vessel for urea discharge?
Plus don't forget frequent periodic and monthly menstrual waste, menses and OO, blood in the case of the vagina?
Aren't these even more horrific? And a man's mouth or genitalia touches this. YUCKS!
So what exactly is she talking about?
Monday, October 22, 2007
Happy Days And Happy Reworking
Happy Days And Happy Meals Are Here Again
It was only when I put up at "The Woman's" and because of Ashley, of course, that I came to know of all those ingenious toys that MacDonalds has invented.
There were all those flash-screen images that could be projected on a wall or changeover slide pictures encrypted within a video cam.
And yes, all those toy cars, cars that harness potential energy when you glide them over and over again on the ground, just to rev them up for the kinetic energy that is released once you let go.
Certainly amazing and innovative.
An International Game Set
Yesterday I bought my 2nd Happy Meal in my whole entire lifetime and was duly rewarded with an electronic drum FUN GAME .
One of those hand-held, battery operated, screen game where at the press of two front buttons, you maneovure half or a full drum set to its rightful central position. That is what I thought, anyway.
Outside its package, there were cautionary notes about it being a health hazard (if swallowed I guess) for kids under 3 in 8 languages. I counted Korean, Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Bahasa Malaysia and Indonesia, Arabic and Tamil among them.
It was made in Hongkong, aka as China.
I tip my hat to McDonalds for the really inventive and creative game sets it has been whizzing off its toy factory.
Reworking The Whole Place - A Home Of Possibilities
The Bedrooms And Study Room
Rhemi's master bedroom looks pretty small to me.
If I have to rework the whole place, the wall separating the two bedrooms will have to go (if this is physically feasible and if the housing authority permits this, that is).
This way, two beds can straddle the space (maybe not if space is too much of a squeeze), arranged in a longitudinal fashion, and both sharing a timber-stripped partition at their foot for hanging up wall-mounted television sets.
The headboard of one will double up as storage cabinets and sheves adjoining a study table and computer work desk.
One bedroom door will be sealed up and this section of the wall will be lined with a wall-to-wall built in storage wardrobe.
Two Baths Made Into One
The two bathrooms will join (but seriously looking at all the sewage pipes, I am not even sure they can be repositioned), so that one can lead into the other.
Living And Dining Areas
The store-room will be broken down and in its place, another timber-stripped wall for a mounted television set for the hallway. The space will be a dining area that has a self-cleaning fish tank on its other side that faces the kitchen area.
An L-shaped sofa set lining the living area and near the windows, a display and storage cabinet plus a shoe cabinet.
The Kitchen Area
A gas clothes dryer juxtaposed with a washer below it and storage cabinet for toilet rolls and toiletries in the kitchen.
It was only when I put up at "The Woman's" and because of Ashley, of course, that I came to know of all those ingenious toys that MacDonalds has invented.
There were all those flash-screen images that could be projected on a wall or changeover slide pictures encrypted within a video cam.
And yes, all those toy cars, cars that harness potential energy when you glide them over and over again on the ground, just to rev them up for the kinetic energy that is released once you let go.
Certainly amazing and innovative.
An International Game Set
Yesterday I bought my 2nd Happy Meal in my whole entire lifetime and was duly rewarded with an electronic drum FUN GAME .
One of those hand-held, battery operated, screen game where at the press of two front buttons, you maneovure half or a full drum set to its rightful central position. That is what I thought, anyway.
Outside its package, there were cautionary notes about it being a health hazard (if swallowed I guess) for kids under 3 in 8 languages. I counted Korean, Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Bahasa Malaysia and Indonesia, Arabic and Tamil among them.
It was made in Hongkong, aka as China.
I tip my hat to McDonalds for the really inventive and creative game sets it has been whizzing off its toy factory.
Reworking The Whole Place - A Home Of Possibilities
The Bedrooms And Study Room
Rhemi's master bedroom looks pretty small to me.
If I have to rework the whole place, the wall separating the two bedrooms will have to go (if this is physically feasible and if the housing authority permits this, that is).
This way, two beds can straddle the space (maybe not if space is too much of a squeeze), arranged in a longitudinal fashion, and both sharing a timber-stripped partition at their foot for hanging up wall-mounted television sets.
The headboard of one will double up as storage cabinets and sheves adjoining a study table and computer work desk.
One bedroom door will be sealed up and this section of the wall will be lined with a wall-to-wall built in storage wardrobe.
Two Baths Made Into One
The two bathrooms will join (but seriously looking at all the sewage pipes, I am not even sure they can be repositioned), so that one can lead into the other.
Living And Dining Areas
The store-room will be broken down and in its place, another timber-stripped wall for a mounted television set for the hallway. The space will be a dining area that has a self-cleaning fish tank on its other side that faces the kitchen area.
An L-shaped sofa set lining the living area and near the windows, a display and storage cabinet plus a shoe cabinet.
The Kitchen Area
A gas clothes dryer juxtaposed with a washer below it and storage cabinet for toilet rolls and toiletries in the kitchen.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Sabbath
Penal Code 468
Forgery for the purpose of cheating.
Interesting. But let us suppose someone forged some documents to obtain a credit card facility.
All of us know the exorbitantly high interest rate of 24% or more most banks charge.
Gosh isn't the criminal already paying his dues for his crime?
Good And Bad Upgrading Sense
This must surely be a very sensible kinda upgrading for this estate.
Firstly, the apartment blocks are all given a new coat of paint, with a nice color scheme to match. In my case, beige mixed with grey.
The central courtyard is aesthetically laid out and well furbished with greenery and facilities. There are nice wooden benches and some parts of the pavement are cobbled or tiled for that new look effect.
The elevators are supersonic fast. Corridor windows are on elevated ground and the way the main entrances face, afford occupants considerable privacy.
Nothing opulent or expensive, just good old plain common sense that works.
In the case of Rhemi's, his interior fixtures are still the old world kind - swing iron wrought toilet door, pull-cord water cistern and squat pan. Bedrooms are small and can just fit one king or queen-size bed and wall to wall wardrobe, leaving room for nothing more.
A few setbacks though.
Windows are small and let in only so much light and breeze. Blocks are clustered which face into one another, blocking any real view and wind channels.
Old unsightly lightning rods sit atop roofs. Some parts of the concrete are badly chipped and jagged on its edges and there is still old litter clinging to window ledges.
And yes I have to cope with the somewhat overwhelming demographics of a few dominant ethnicity, age group and nationalities.
How Are We Like For The Services We Offer Here - A Matter Of A Massage Service
While speaking with someone on the telephone the other day, we compared notes on how Singapore and Bangkok fared in the touristy attractions both offered.
I have written about our shopping and dining experiences here. Now let us compare massage services.
I have massages here in Singapore only twice and this coming right after my short trip to Bangkok during the Chinese New year festivities.
The first masseur was Thai and though the price was reasonable, he wasn't exactly the same as the Thais back in Bangkok. I mean a full body massage (which was hard and painful in some instances) but no dick massage.
The second time I was duped into believing that the massseur was Taiwanese even though he was really Chinese. He must have thought I wasn't in for the full works of a body and dick massage, only wanting sex. He couldn't provide the former two and could only offer a blow-job and nothing else.
In fact, I had to wrangle a lot with his agent before I got him. It was a profit, body-part driven kinda price package, making our massage services totally mercenary.
That is how we are here. Even for the kinda price we are willing to fork out, we aren't exactly getting the kinda quality or service.
Forgery for the purpose of cheating.
Interesting. But let us suppose someone forged some documents to obtain a credit card facility.
All of us know the exorbitantly high interest rate of 24% or more most banks charge.
Gosh isn't the criminal already paying his dues for his crime?
Good And Bad Upgrading Sense
This must surely be a very sensible kinda upgrading for this estate.
Firstly, the apartment blocks are all given a new coat of paint, with a nice color scheme to match. In my case, beige mixed with grey.
The central courtyard is aesthetically laid out and well furbished with greenery and facilities. There are nice wooden benches and some parts of the pavement are cobbled or tiled for that new look effect.
The elevators are supersonic fast. Corridor windows are on elevated ground and the way the main entrances face, afford occupants considerable privacy.
Nothing opulent or expensive, just good old plain common sense that works.
In the case of Rhemi's, his interior fixtures are still the old world kind - swing iron wrought toilet door, pull-cord water cistern and squat pan. Bedrooms are small and can just fit one king or queen-size bed and wall to wall wardrobe, leaving room for nothing more.
A few setbacks though.
Windows are small and let in only so much light and breeze. Blocks are clustered which face into one another, blocking any real view and wind channels.
Old unsightly lightning rods sit atop roofs. Some parts of the concrete are badly chipped and jagged on its edges and there is still old litter clinging to window ledges.
And yes I have to cope with the somewhat overwhelming demographics of a few dominant ethnicity, age group and nationalities.
How Are We Like For The Services We Offer Here - A Matter Of A Massage Service
While speaking with someone on the telephone the other day, we compared notes on how Singapore and Bangkok fared in the touristy attractions both offered.
I have written about our shopping and dining experiences here. Now let us compare massage services.
I have massages here in Singapore only twice and this coming right after my short trip to Bangkok during the Chinese New year festivities.
The first masseur was Thai and though the price was reasonable, he wasn't exactly the same as the Thais back in Bangkok. I mean a full body massage (which was hard and painful in some instances) but no dick massage.
The second time I was duped into believing that the massseur was Taiwanese even though he was really Chinese. He must have thought I wasn't in for the full works of a body and dick massage, only wanting sex. He couldn't provide the former two and could only offer a blow-job and nothing else.
In fact, I had to wrangle a lot with his agent before I got him. It was a profit, body-part driven kinda price package, making our massage services totally mercenary.
That is how we are here. Even for the kinda price we are willing to fork out, we aren't exactly getting the kinda quality or service.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
We Love Preaching, Don't We? Let us Get Our Sums Right First
Other Basic Rights Not Constituted, If I Dare Venture
Well, as I have blogged before, I think Singapore citizens could be privileged with some basic education (which is covered by the constitutional rights with respect to education), basic healthcare, basic employment and basic housing with its attendant essentials.
Not forgetting non-discriminatory practices on other bases like sexual orientation, marital and monetary status, among others.
No person shall be required to receive instruction in or to take part in any ceremony or act of worship of a religion other than his own.
This clause by itself, not only spells out how people of different religious faiths should be accorded the proper respect but also how an atheist or agnostic should likewise be treated.
A non-religion that is.
A Certain Minimum Level Of Statehood For The Public Good And For The Public Interest
Increasingly we are seeing many more of the basic functions of public housing, public healthcare, public retirement savings kitty and now the provision of public utilities being devolved to the private sector.
Public housing is now being developed by private sector companies.
So is the case with concessionary interest-rate loans being devolved to private banks which usually charge higher interest rates and there is that less accomodating, less sympathetic, profit-driven ethos especially in cases of arears leading to repossesion.
Our Medishield, Eldershield and Dependants' Schemes are now in the hands of private insurance companies. So will the compulsory annuity scheme when it kicks in later.
Now even the energy market will be in the hands of private companies. It used to be state-owned and provided, then privatised and now being contemplated to be sold to a suit of energy retailers.
It is good as long as there are the perceived benefits of competition, choices and price-competitiveness.
We are not asking for opulence or frills.
As long as prices remain affordable, maybe even declining and not sky-rocket, consumers welcome these moves in the spirit of innovation and betterment.
Land Scarcity Isn't An Excuse Anymore, It Is Now A Matter Of Better Planning For More Control Areas
In fact, come to think of it, control areas sited further away from residences don't just apply to places of worship or to living quarters of foreign guest workers. Funeral parlors, columbariums, parks, gardens, reserves, commerce, industries (like automotive garages for one or granite quarries for another) and highways. The whole works in other words.
It goes to show how far off the mark, to put it mildly, our development planners must be in their urban planning and design. It isn't a matter of land scarcity anymore. I think it boils down to better planning in terms of a seamless integration and flow of housing, exercise and recreation, spirituality, essential services , infrastructure, commerce and industries.
Gosh, Am I Seeing What I Think I Am Seeing
I am also beginning to doubt the ethnic integration policies of our housing authority. Because, right here at this part of Yishun, I really bump into one or two predominant types all the time. In higher probability than usual.
At what must be the smallest of its community libraries, I see so many of our foreign guest workers here, again predominantly of one type.
I hope we have seriously dismantled ethnic enclaves like we have our SAP schools?
Freedom Of Speech, Assembly And Association Do Not Apply Here
It seems that the above solely applies to curbing political opponents and agitators.
Now if they can't gather to address a crowd and speak about policies that impact everyone, how else can such information be disseminated? Apart from the Speaker's Corner and applying for a permit, which as most cases have shown, are usually turned down, there aren't as many other avenues available, are there?
Well, ok in the Information Age, this prolly is now an option. But how widely propagated is it?
Don't forget peaceful demonstrations and marches. That can't be had, can it, under the freedom of assembly?
Even gays who assemble to associate for some recreational fun (a jogathon, in this case) seem to be harassed and driven off by our blue squad.
What political agenda is there here except for a certain sexual affiliation?
Freedom Of Vulgar, Loud And Chatterous Speech Plus Unruly Assembly To Disturb The Peace And Quiet Of The Night And Deprive Us Of Our Rightful Rest And Sleep
Now what about those groupies such as our foreign guest workers, our gangsta students and our local loutish thugs. Those who gather and create a din, drink, chatter loudly and spout profanities. Sometimes right into the wee hours of the morning?
Yesterday night, right here at the central courtyard, smack in the middle of this upgraded estate where moi leases a room, there was a din going on and profanities spouted by our local louts.
Right throughout the night while I was lying in bed getting to sleep.
No action taken here? Freedom of vulgar, loud speech and unruly assembly to kick up the noise decibel a few notches higher especially in the dead of the night?
Ironical And Outrageous
I read this morning how our Singapore Cooperation Program with our Asean neighbors see us extending technical assistance and human resource development in health-care and environmental management.
Whoa! I have blogged about how appalling the fact is that our Infectious Diseases Act doesn't cover bed bugs and the fact that there can be no health nor environmental enforcement on this matter.
Wag, Wag, Point, Point, Preach, Preach
How we still have our very own backyard collection of old, run down, sometimes pest-infested, dilapidated, mildewy (thus health-hazardous) and almost antique fixtures in some of our public housing projects. All the while scrambling to pay to travel to our Asean neighbors to see theirs?
Not to mention siting of food courts near multi-storeyed car parking lots in Punggol and the kinda kitchen preparation area laid out in some of our eateries and its attendant ventilation system without and within air-conditioned or non-air conditioned confines.
Can you imagine, we now wanna preach healthcare and environmental management to our Asean neighbors when we haven't exactly kept our own little backyard sparkling clean and tidy?
Well, as I have blogged before, I think Singapore citizens could be privileged with some basic education (which is covered by the constitutional rights with respect to education), basic healthcare, basic employment and basic housing with its attendant essentials.
Not forgetting non-discriminatory practices on other bases like sexual orientation, marital and monetary status, among others.
No person shall be required to receive instruction in or to take part in any ceremony or act of worship of a religion other than his own.
This clause by itself, not only spells out how people of different religious faiths should be accorded the proper respect but also how an atheist or agnostic should likewise be treated.
A non-religion that is.
A Certain Minimum Level Of Statehood For The Public Good And For The Public Interest
Increasingly we are seeing many more of the basic functions of public housing, public healthcare, public retirement savings kitty and now the provision of public utilities being devolved to the private sector.
Public housing is now being developed by private sector companies.
So is the case with concessionary interest-rate loans being devolved to private banks which usually charge higher interest rates and there is that less accomodating, less sympathetic, profit-driven ethos especially in cases of arears leading to repossesion.
Our Medishield, Eldershield and Dependants' Schemes are now in the hands of private insurance companies. So will the compulsory annuity scheme when it kicks in later.
Now even the energy market will be in the hands of private companies. It used to be state-owned and provided, then privatised and now being contemplated to be sold to a suit of energy retailers.
It is good as long as there are the perceived benefits of competition, choices and price-competitiveness.
We are not asking for opulence or frills.
As long as prices remain affordable, maybe even declining and not sky-rocket, consumers welcome these moves in the spirit of innovation and betterment.
Land Scarcity Isn't An Excuse Anymore, It Is Now A Matter Of Better Planning For More Control Areas
In fact, come to think of it, control areas sited further away from residences don't just apply to places of worship or to living quarters of foreign guest workers. Funeral parlors, columbariums, parks, gardens, reserves, commerce, industries (like automotive garages for one or granite quarries for another) and highways. The whole works in other words.
It goes to show how far off the mark, to put it mildly, our development planners must be in their urban planning and design. It isn't a matter of land scarcity anymore. I think it boils down to better planning in terms of a seamless integration and flow of housing, exercise and recreation, spirituality, essential services , infrastructure, commerce and industries.
Gosh, Am I Seeing What I Think I Am Seeing
I am also beginning to doubt the ethnic integration policies of our housing authority. Because, right here at this part of Yishun, I really bump into one or two predominant types all the time. In higher probability than usual.
At what must be the smallest of its community libraries, I see so many of our foreign guest workers here, again predominantly of one type.
I hope we have seriously dismantled ethnic enclaves like we have our SAP schools?
Freedom Of Speech, Assembly And Association Do Not Apply Here
It seems that the above solely applies to curbing political opponents and agitators.
Now if they can't gather to address a crowd and speak about policies that impact everyone, how else can such information be disseminated? Apart from the Speaker's Corner and applying for a permit, which as most cases have shown, are usually turned down, there aren't as many other avenues available, are there?
Well, ok in the Information Age, this prolly is now an option. But how widely propagated is it?
Don't forget peaceful demonstrations and marches. That can't be had, can it, under the freedom of assembly?
Even gays who assemble to associate for some recreational fun (a jogathon, in this case) seem to be harassed and driven off by our blue squad.
What political agenda is there here except for a certain sexual affiliation?
Freedom Of Vulgar, Loud And Chatterous Speech Plus Unruly Assembly To Disturb The Peace And Quiet Of The Night And Deprive Us Of Our Rightful Rest And Sleep
Now what about those groupies such as our foreign guest workers, our gangsta students and our local loutish thugs. Those who gather and create a din, drink, chatter loudly and spout profanities. Sometimes right into the wee hours of the morning?
Yesterday night, right here at the central courtyard, smack in the middle of this upgraded estate where moi leases a room, there was a din going on and profanities spouted by our local louts.
Right throughout the night while I was lying in bed getting to sleep.
No action taken here? Freedom of vulgar, loud speech and unruly assembly to kick up the noise decibel a few notches higher especially in the dead of the night?
Ironical And Outrageous
I read this morning how our Singapore Cooperation Program with our Asean neighbors see us extending technical assistance and human resource development in health-care and environmental management.
Whoa! I have blogged about how appalling the fact is that our Infectious Diseases Act doesn't cover bed bugs and the fact that there can be no health nor environmental enforcement on this matter.
Wag, Wag, Point, Point, Preach, Preach
How we still have our very own backyard collection of old, run down, sometimes pest-infested, dilapidated, mildewy (thus health-hazardous) and almost antique fixtures in some of our public housing projects. All the while scrambling to pay to travel to our Asean neighbors to see theirs?
Not to mention siting of food courts near multi-storeyed car parking lots in Punggol and the kinda kitchen preparation area laid out in some of our eateries and its attendant ventilation system without and within air-conditioned or non-air conditioned confines.
Can you imagine, we now wanna preach healthcare and environmental management to our Asean neighbors when we haven't exactly kept our own little backyard sparkling clean and tidy?
Friday, October 19, 2007
Constitutional Documents
The Constitution Of The Republic Of Singapore
Liberty Of The Person
Very, very good. There appears to be fundamental liberties accorded a person except where he is deemed an enemy alien or on grounds of contempt of Parliament. Well, this applies to political agitators or opponents, no doubt.
This then calls for a whole slew of measures like an arrest warrant issued under the hand of the Speaker and detention, sometimes with non-releases and so on.
Now, I am not sure what an enemy alien means. Perhaps it means a foreigner but a local could, under the circumstances, turn into an enemy alien too, can't he? Circumstances like the whole works of nonsensical and anti-citizen or groups of citizens' policies?
Equal Protection
All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law.
Accorded only on the ground of religion and race while descent and place of birth cannot be discriminated against. What about age, gender and sexuality? Plus other thingies I can't think of right now.
And only with regard to employment, establishing and carrying on of businesses and or of property ownership, it seems.
Smacks of our pro-businesses and pro-foreigner-turn-citizen ethos. Nothing wrong with that but what kinda people are we getting in?
People who come here to run businesses (sounds a lot like workers' exploitation in many cases and I have worked for Indonesian, Chinese and Malaysian bosses before, and of course our very own native bigshots), care two hoots about the place here, make their fortune and then they scoot off. Or they luxuriate in their own little wealthy kindgom here.
What limited scope, the Constitution!
Prohibition of banishment and freedom of movement
Subject to some provisos, every citizen of Singapore has the right to move freely throughout Singapore and to reside in any part thereof.
Now why does a police officer who conducted a check on moi eons ago, then tells moi I have no right to be in this part of Singapore as I reside somewhere else.
According to his logic, if you live in Sengkang, you must work, play, eat, shit and masturbate in Sengkang. You can't be anywhere else.
So shouldn't they be restricting foreigners more?
Freedom of speech, assembly and association
Subject to the interest of the security of the state, public order, morality and incitement to any offence among others.
Again the provisos seek to curb any political agitators and opponents.
Freedom of religion
Every person has the right to profess and practise his religion and to propagate it.
So it should be for agnostics and atheists.
Agnostics and atheists have every right as religious devouts do to practise their non-religion and to propagate it. Their own personal space, at home or in public, should not be intruded upon.
There is a place for worship and it seems like these are churches, mosques and temples. Religious practitioners can joss, burn, incense, chant or pray as loud, as much or as fiery as they want to. In fact such places of worship are best sited further away from residential places.
Just as foreign guest workers (and these are usually big groupies) should have their own living quarters (especially those in the construction and heavy technical service industries) located further away from residences.
Security can be better maintained that way in controlled areas like these. Not to mention, noise and smoke pollution.
Many religious practitioners worry about the funeral of an atheist or agnostic. I say, once you close your eyes upon death, you don't care or worry anymore about what happens or what ceremonies are performed.
I will just have a few pop songs sung at mine, my body inspected in a glass coffin and thereafter, my body cremated and the ashes in an urn taken home to rest.
No need for any religious ceremonies or rituals.
Rights in respect of education
I will write about this some other time.
Liberty Of The Person
Very, very good. There appears to be fundamental liberties accorded a person except where he is deemed an enemy alien or on grounds of contempt of Parliament. Well, this applies to political agitators or opponents, no doubt.
This then calls for a whole slew of measures like an arrest warrant issued under the hand of the Speaker and detention, sometimes with non-releases and so on.
Now, I am not sure what an enemy alien means. Perhaps it means a foreigner but a local could, under the circumstances, turn into an enemy alien too, can't he? Circumstances like the whole works of nonsensical and anti-citizen or groups of citizens' policies?
Equal Protection
All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law.
Accorded only on the ground of religion and race while descent and place of birth cannot be discriminated against. What about age, gender and sexuality? Plus other thingies I can't think of right now.
And only with regard to employment, establishing and carrying on of businesses and or of property ownership, it seems.
Smacks of our pro-businesses and pro-foreigner-turn-citizen ethos. Nothing wrong with that but what kinda people are we getting in?
People who come here to run businesses (sounds a lot like workers' exploitation in many cases and I have worked for Indonesian, Chinese and Malaysian bosses before, and of course our very own native bigshots), care two hoots about the place here, make their fortune and then they scoot off. Or they luxuriate in their own little wealthy kindgom here.
What limited scope, the Constitution!
Prohibition of banishment and freedom of movement
Subject to some provisos, every citizen of Singapore has the right to move freely throughout Singapore and to reside in any part thereof.
Now why does a police officer who conducted a check on moi eons ago, then tells moi I have no right to be in this part of Singapore as I reside somewhere else.
According to his logic, if you live in Sengkang, you must work, play, eat, shit and masturbate in Sengkang. You can't be anywhere else.
So shouldn't they be restricting foreigners more?
Freedom of speech, assembly and association
Subject to the interest of the security of the state, public order, morality and incitement to any offence among others.
Again the provisos seek to curb any political agitators and opponents.
Freedom of religion
Every person has the right to profess and practise his religion and to propagate it.
So it should be for agnostics and atheists.
Agnostics and atheists have every right as religious devouts do to practise their non-religion and to propagate it. Their own personal space, at home or in public, should not be intruded upon.
There is a place for worship and it seems like these are churches, mosques and temples. Religious practitioners can joss, burn, incense, chant or pray as loud, as much or as fiery as they want to. In fact such places of worship are best sited further away from residential places.
Just as foreign guest workers (and these are usually big groupies) should have their own living quarters (especially those in the construction and heavy technical service industries) located further away from residences.
Security can be better maintained that way in controlled areas like these. Not to mention, noise and smoke pollution.
Many religious practitioners worry about the funeral of an atheist or agnostic. I say, once you close your eyes upon death, you don't care or worry anymore about what happens or what ceremonies are performed.
I will just have a few pop songs sung at mine, my body inspected in a glass coffin and thereafter, my body cremated and the ashes in an urn taken home to rest.
No need for any religious ceremonies or rituals.
Rights in respect of education
I will write about this some other time.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Big Clean-Up (Literally And Metaphorically)
All That Re-Circulated, Stale, Food Odorous Air Within Four Walls
Today, I walk along the aisle flanked by many eating establishments at Novena Square.
It was a very quiet late morning with not many patrons and guess what, I could smell the lingering food odor all over, within the confines of an air-conditioned mall.
Makes one wonder how this is contained within its four walls. Smells exactly like the fumy, oily leftover of the kitchen of Aunt Sally's and that of Rhemi's hallway whose windows remain shut most of the time only because they open out to his next-door neighbor's main entrance.
Busting Dust Mites At Rhemi's
Speaking of which, I have taken to wiping out all that dust off Rhemi's wardrobe top. An exposed top. In fact this was Rhemi's job as I wanted him to clean up the room before I move in. It appears he didn't.
I dusted off the top only because I need to put up one of my luggages. I am pretty sure dust mites lurk here and this was what Aunt Sally's daughter insisted my bed bugs were.
But excuse me, dust mites are micro-organisms that are invisible. On the other hand, baby bed bugs are those whitish crawlies I had seen at Psycho's and they turn brown or black when they grow. I spotted three at Aunt Sally's.
And I display white swells and rashes, symptomatic reactions to bed bugs' bites.
Store Away Storage Spaces (Minimalism) To Reduce Clutter, Dust And Dirt
My future home will have wall-to-wall and ceiling-to-ceiling storage space to reduce open shelving exposure to flying debris, dust and dustballs. With no nooks and crannies for them to hide in either.
Plus I am NOT putting up wall pictures or any other open display paraphernalia as these accumulate dust over time. Most stuff will be stored away as far as possible.
Busting Cobwebs And DustBalls
When I opened up Rhemi's hallway windows, just to test and see how much sunlight can filter through (not very much as the windows were kinda small), cobwebs and untold dirt and dustballs had already accumulated on the sills.
I promptly swept them off.
Busting Gunk Clinging To The Toilet Walls
I had also scrubbed off the bathroom walls as I am gonna bathe here for the next quarter of a year.
Good thing he has some sorta scrub resembling much like the car windshield wiper that cleans off pretty good.
Wild, Wild ,Wet And Slippery Soapy Wash Areas
The vanity basin is situated outside the bathroom and this is where I brush my teeth and shave as it has a mirror, so the whole floor is really wet.
This reminds me of Doray's and Aunt Sally's where the washer's drainage pipe has to snake its way into the bath for the dirty water to drain away. This means the bathroom's doors can't be closed if you need a shower or bath and the floor is one slippery soapy area.
Untold Freaking Dirty Grimy Antiques That Should Be Thrown Away
Geez, even my old place can't boast of such horrendous dirt and dust.
Worse, he has an old stove and oven which previous tenants must have cooked and baked in so many times, they didn't bother to clean up. That is the result of most kinda cooking.
And tenants do not usually help landlords to keep the place clean. Because most tenants are simply bo-chap ("tidak apa" and lackadaisical) as the stuff do not belong to them.
I have the same experience before with my ex-tenants. If I don't maintain the condition of the whole place myself, it is going to the dogs like Aunt Sally's and Rhemi's.
And I am living there and I still wanna lease out the place, so it has to be in tenable condition.
How Does Each Of These Living Quarters Compare - Psycho's, Aunt Sally's And Rhemi's
I suppose Psycho's is a two-storey landed terrace.
The whole place is big and airy.My bedroom is spacy and it faces out to a balcony. Light and air do enter. And I have made it a habit to turn on the fan when I leave the room, even here at Rhemi's. Just so that air circulates.
I open up all windows at Rhemi's. And as I mentioned his place isn't so dirty .Therefore my itching and rashing are not as bad as at Aunt Sally's.
Small, closed up and warm living confines that can only exacerbate the already bad living condition. God knows if the previous tenants were also carriers.
A GallFren (Fiancee) Is For What Again?
Then there is that rusty peeling clothes rack and an old cycle machine
If that fat gall is his fiancee, she should be helping him clean out the whole place and replace those old grimy table wipes.
Because I certainly AM NOT.
That Is Final
I am not gonna be caught in any Home Improvement or Estate Upgrdaing programs with all their attendant noise, debris and other inconveniences (shutting down of water, gas and electrical supplies for example).
I am not gonna be caught with mildewy, algaed, broken down, dilapidated, leaky, grimy, gunky, pest-infested aging estates either. God knows how our health is gonna suffer.
In short, I am NOT moving to a public housing project that is more than 5 years old. Period.
The First Schedule Of The Infectious Diseases Act
Gosh, doesn't cover bed bugs.
And perhaps it doesn't cover other infectious skin diseases that we may not have come across.
I don't know, let those people who have suffered it, bring this up and the experts think about it.
To me HIV deals with an infected person while bed-bugs deal with infected articles. Either way, both are infectious, infecting person to person.
The Deposit - A Cheat's Instrument For Financial Gain?
What about ruling a law on this?
What happens to the mandatory deposit all buyers or tenants put down to secure a place of stay (either on a purchase or lease basis)? Remember this is a different scenario from having lived in a place and the forfeiture of a deposit on many bases like in lieu of a month's notice.
What protects them from being fleeced by cheats? Cheats who renegade on the deal and do not return the deposit and the potential buyer or tenant is left without a home to stay in?
Can the police intervene?
Or does it justify a court of law action just to get back a $300 deposit in the case of a room rental?
Even if summonses are issued, what if the defendant just doesn't respond? An arrest warrant?
Today, I walk along the aisle flanked by many eating establishments at Novena Square.
It was a very quiet late morning with not many patrons and guess what, I could smell the lingering food odor all over, within the confines of an air-conditioned mall.
Makes one wonder how this is contained within its four walls. Smells exactly like the fumy, oily leftover of the kitchen of Aunt Sally's and that of Rhemi's hallway whose windows remain shut most of the time only because they open out to his next-door neighbor's main entrance.
Busting Dust Mites At Rhemi's
Speaking of which, I have taken to wiping out all that dust off Rhemi's wardrobe top. An exposed top. In fact this was Rhemi's job as I wanted him to clean up the room before I move in. It appears he didn't.
I dusted off the top only because I need to put up one of my luggages. I am pretty sure dust mites lurk here and this was what Aunt Sally's daughter insisted my bed bugs were.
But excuse me, dust mites are micro-organisms that are invisible. On the other hand, baby bed bugs are those whitish crawlies I had seen at Psycho's and they turn brown or black when they grow. I spotted three at Aunt Sally's.
And I display white swells and rashes, symptomatic reactions to bed bugs' bites.
Store Away Storage Spaces (Minimalism) To Reduce Clutter, Dust And Dirt
My future home will have wall-to-wall and ceiling-to-ceiling storage space to reduce open shelving exposure to flying debris, dust and dustballs. With no nooks and crannies for them to hide in either.
Plus I am NOT putting up wall pictures or any other open display paraphernalia as these accumulate dust over time. Most stuff will be stored away as far as possible.
Busting Cobwebs And DustBalls
When I opened up Rhemi's hallway windows, just to test and see how much sunlight can filter through (not very much as the windows were kinda small), cobwebs and untold dirt and dustballs had already accumulated on the sills.
I promptly swept them off.
Busting Gunk Clinging To The Toilet Walls
I had also scrubbed off the bathroom walls as I am gonna bathe here for the next quarter of a year.
Good thing he has some sorta scrub resembling much like the car windshield wiper that cleans off pretty good.
Wild, Wild ,Wet And Slippery Soapy Wash Areas
The vanity basin is situated outside the bathroom and this is where I brush my teeth and shave as it has a mirror, so the whole floor is really wet.
This reminds me of Doray's and Aunt Sally's where the washer's drainage pipe has to snake its way into the bath for the dirty water to drain away. This means the bathroom's doors can't be closed if you need a shower or bath and the floor is one slippery soapy area.
Untold Freaking Dirty Grimy Antiques That Should Be Thrown Away
Geez, even my old place can't boast of such horrendous dirt and dust.
Worse, he has an old stove and oven which previous tenants must have cooked and baked in so many times, they didn't bother to clean up. That is the result of most kinda cooking.
And tenants do not usually help landlords to keep the place clean. Because most tenants are simply bo-chap ("tidak apa" and lackadaisical) as the stuff do not belong to them.
I have the same experience before with my ex-tenants. If I don't maintain the condition of the whole place myself, it is going to the dogs like Aunt Sally's and Rhemi's.
And I am living there and I still wanna lease out the place, so it has to be in tenable condition.
How Does Each Of These Living Quarters Compare - Psycho's, Aunt Sally's And Rhemi's
I suppose Psycho's is a two-storey landed terrace.
The whole place is big and airy.My bedroom is spacy and it faces out to a balcony. Light and air do enter. And I have made it a habit to turn on the fan when I leave the room, even here at Rhemi's. Just so that air circulates.
I open up all windows at Rhemi's. And as I mentioned his place isn't so dirty .Therefore my itching and rashing are not as bad as at Aunt Sally's.
Small, closed up and warm living confines that can only exacerbate the already bad living condition. God knows if the previous tenants were also carriers.
A GallFren (Fiancee) Is For What Again?
Then there is that rusty peeling clothes rack and an old cycle machine
If that fat gall is his fiancee, she should be helping him clean out the whole place and replace those old grimy table wipes.
Because I certainly AM NOT.
That Is Final
I am not gonna be caught in any Home Improvement or Estate Upgrdaing programs with all their attendant noise, debris and other inconveniences (shutting down of water, gas and electrical supplies for example).
I am not gonna be caught with mildewy, algaed, broken down, dilapidated, leaky, grimy, gunky, pest-infested aging estates either. God knows how our health is gonna suffer.
In short, I am NOT moving to a public housing project that is more than 5 years old. Period.
The First Schedule Of The Infectious Diseases Act
Gosh, doesn't cover bed bugs.
And perhaps it doesn't cover other infectious skin diseases that we may not have come across.
I don't know, let those people who have suffered it, bring this up and the experts think about it.
To me HIV deals with an infected person while bed-bugs deal with infected articles. Either way, both are infectious, infecting person to person.
The Deposit - A Cheat's Instrument For Financial Gain?
What about ruling a law on this?
What happens to the mandatory deposit all buyers or tenants put down to secure a place of stay (either on a purchase or lease basis)? Remember this is a different scenario from having lived in a place and the forfeiture of a deposit on many bases like in lieu of a month's notice.
What protects them from being fleeced by cheats? Cheats who renegade on the deal and do not return the deposit and the potential buyer or tenant is left without a home to stay in?
Can the police intervene?
Or does it justify a court of law action just to get back a $300 deposit in the case of a room rental?
Even if summonses are issued, what if the defendant just doesn't respond? An arrest warrant?
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
A Restful And Energy-Rejuvenating WeekDay Rest
A Rest Day
For all the frayed nerves the past couple of days, today is a day I have decided shall be my COMPLETE REST DAY.
That Is All That I Am Trying To Impress Upon : How Religious Rituals And For That Matter, How Any Personal Habits Should Not Impose Themselves On Public Space That Is Shared By All
I will say it again.
Religion has a big role to play in urging its people to do good and to be compassionate. Let us all hope this urging suceeds most of the time. Other than that, it can't discriminate against groups of people. Like it is doing in some quarters.
To live in or near a religious practitioner's abode, like I did, is a totally different ball-game altogether. If you choose to live with one, it is your personal choice. If you choose to live near one, it is again a matter of personal choice.
Jossing and incensing are best not done in common areas shared by neighbors. Much like other personal habits that intrude on another's privacy and space.
That is all I am trying to impress upon.
The Old Gays Are Here Too
Like always, I am beginning to believe this is BIG BLATHER's idea. I am always holing up and running into certain kinds of his people. This I am positively sure.
In fact I noticed this oldie at the running tracks and today I see him with a woman and a little gall. And an oldie just plonked himself on my table seat without asking me at the kopitiam today.
My theory is that these are chao lao guas who were of that generation who missed out on a gay life and this is how they end up - either in hiding in some faked relationships (while on the side yearning and sometimes getting in on the gay act) or all alone.
Because they can't, they want others to end up like them. A jealous streak, if to put it mildly.
And many should be Big Blubber's people, the SAKA kings. At the void decks, the garden areas and so on. Keeping watch.
Hey, What Hit Me? Typhoon Caboodle Banga?
That is absolutely true.
Many of the older set who are now wallowing in some sorta misery, probably don't even know what had hit them and made them wallow in the state they are in now.
Some probably won't know, taking their ignorance with them to their graves. Some will and by then it may be too late. Some know but they have chosen to keep quiet.
Whatever it is, THEY ARE HIT BIG TIME!
It is gonna be the same with the younger ones. They do not realise the impact of how some current policies will affect them in the near future.
Everyone PLEASE WAKE UP!
Who Rhemi Has For His Neighbors And So In Turn, Who I Have For Mine
Two each of a different kinda racial composition - Indians, Malays and Chinese. Except that the Malay neighbor next to Rhemi has long vacated their unit for whatever reasons and it stands desolated and locked up with chains and padlocks.
Rhemi, like Aunt Sally, doesn't seem to live here. He must have a place somewhere else and this house is dedicated for a long-term leaseout. That explains the appalling physical interior condition in both cases.
I wouldn't lease out a place like that if I don't at least keep it to a minimal level of cleanliness and good order.
That shows how mercenary all these landlords are.
The Estate
The estate has undergone a renewal, is generally aesthetically pleasing and well-kept. I am not sure if I can cope with the ethnic and foreign diversity here however, which is disproportionately more of one or two types.
It helps that it is bounded by Sembawang Road, Yishun Avenue 7, Yishun Avenue 5 and Yishun Ring Road which offer some sorta variety of buses for transportation.
But bus routes are replicated in most cases and the few seem to go proportionally more to ONE destination, namely Woodlands. And not anywhere else much.
But the kinda clustering of its houses and the fact that a columbarium lurks, together with many, many, many temples a stone's throw away should depress property prices in most instances and keep potential buyers away.
Another Sin Ming estate.
Just How Stagnant Are Wages?
For citation purposes, back in 2001/2002 commercial schools were offering me a full-time teaching job at SGD$2000 (imagine this measly amount which buys you nothing much nor help you save towards your retirement kitty).
Yesterday (in the year of our Lord AD2007), a commercial school offered exactly the same wage.
A good 5 years or more and despite all the spiralling costs and expenses (GST, price hikes of most services and commodities)!
The Sony Ericsson 550i Versus The Nokia 5200
Even though the latter came out of the production line much later than the former, the Sony Ericsson 550i is a far more superior model than the latter.
For one, it doesn't has any of the lag in its searching function like the Nokia 5200. You know, that wave of a signal that signifies that a search is in progress together with Nokia's trademark tick or letter "i".
The Sony Ericsson gets straight to its function once you press the menu button like "delete" for example. Its phone directory can store up to two or more contacts under a same name and there are provisions for company as well as individuals' entries.
The Nokia 5200 can only store individual names sorting them out by first and last names. When its FM radio is played, it can only be heard via its earpiece and there seems not to be a speaker option.
I think I am repicking a Sony Ericsson for my next buy.
There You Have It, More Thrash
Winnie, the "real estate agent" acting for "The Woman", couldn't tell the difference between a pigeon and a crow. I put this question to her when moi sighted a dead bird on the ground.
She must have assumed that just because our gunner boys were deployed to shoot crows most of the time that the dead bird must be one. Another assumption! Aren't Singaporeans (or otherwise) all like that?
But it was a pigeon, on closer inspection, its unmistakable white spots and distinct features, unseen in crows.
Uncle Goh, Aunt Sally's whoever, chides me for being unreasonable. Thus he wants moi to lay on a bug-ridden bed and have a good night's sleep.
How Is Singapore A Haven For Some Of Our Foreign Guest Workers
I have seen how the public loos at the East Coast Park are perfect bathing and toilet facilities for them. Really sparkling clean when in comparison to back home! Litter of toilet rolls filling the bins to the brim.
Our pavillions and park benches are good eating and drinking places. Beer bottles and food wrappers and yes, I have seen some foreign GALL guest workers spitting out stuff all over the floor while chatting loudly at our fast-food cafes.
Singapore, a haven for foreign workers! You mean I am supposed to keep the place clean and tidy?
The Panel Doesn't Even Know And Oral Skills Matter More Here
During the course of my last interview, if you care to recall, I put the question to the panel on what kinda PSLE aggregate scores the students were obtaining that have seen them enrolled in the school.
Remember that these are students who has attempted the PSLE more than once and their scores apparently haven't gotten them anywhere near a secondary school, not even the lowest-ranked neighborhood school.
The panel couldn't answer moi.
Today I found the answer in one of MOE's Secondary School Posting Guidebook. It should be below 55 as I have seen students scoring as low as 58 being admitted into the Normal Technical (EM3) stream of neighborhood schools.
I am glad I postured myself as kinda reluctant to teach here. Because these kids aren't stupid, they are just not cut out for the academic route. They are more suited for the technical or vocational skills in the hospitality, culinary, sales and marketing or services industries.
So teaching the English language and expecting them to score on a written examination will be more than an impossible task.
Perhaps a verbal or oral kinda test with a written score to trump up would suffice.
It is the same with learning a Higher MTL or a 3rd or foreign language. The insistence on an A- star grade or a top 30 percent of the cohort. Do we need to write as much as we need to speak the language? Which is more important?
No Connection Here
You would have thought that being near a cyber hub that you would get an INTERNET connection.
It didn't happen and now that this MacDonald cafe hasn't got any power point, I only have a hour and a half of battery usage time.
Termites' Infestation In A HDB Flat?
Maybe termites isn't so far off when Mabel's hole in the wall thingy was diagnosed as such. It seems they attack paper, cloth, fabrics and most silicone materials used as construction products.
Infestious Diseases Act
When glance through the Act, I can't help being impressed by all the carefully thought out administration and control measures. From its treatment of the affected premises to its control of the isolation area.
Too bad it doesn't seem to be so in practice, especially in the case of bed bugs.
The Constituition Of The Republic Of Singapore
I glanced through it like I did the Infectious Diseases Act.
High-sounding precepts like the liberty of the person and the accord of equal protection. Freedom of speech, assembly and association.
Let me delve deeper and really analyse how it all translates into real life.
For all the frayed nerves the past couple of days, today is a day I have decided shall be my COMPLETE REST DAY.
That Is All That I Am Trying To Impress Upon : How Religious Rituals And For That Matter, How Any Personal Habits Should Not Impose Themselves On Public Space That Is Shared By All
I will say it again.
Religion has a big role to play in urging its people to do good and to be compassionate. Let us all hope this urging suceeds most of the time. Other than that, it can't discriminate against groups of people. Like it is doing in some quarters.
To live in or near a religious practitioner's abode, like I did, is a totally different ball-game altogether. If you choose to live with one, it is your personal choice. If you choose to live near one, it is again a matter of personal choice.
Jossing and incensing are best not done in common areas shared by neighbors. Much like other personal habits that intrude on another's privacy and space.
That is all I am trying to impress upon.
The Old Gays Are Here Too
Like always, I am beginning to believe this is BIG BLATHER's idea. I am always holing up and running into certain kinds of his people. This I am positively sure.
In fact I noticed this oldie at the running tracks and today I see him with a woman and a little gall. And an oldie just plonked himself on my table seat without asking me at the kopitiam today.
My theory is that these are chao lao guas who were of that generation who missed out on a gay life and this is how they end up - either in hiding in some faked relationships (while on the side yearning and sometimes getting in on the gay act) or all alone.
Because they can't, they want others to end up like them. A jealous streak, if to put it mildly.
And many should be Big Blubber's people, the SAKA kings. At the void decks, the garden areas and so on. Keeping watch.
Hey, What Hit Me? Typhoon Caboodle Banga?
That is absolutely true.
Many of the older set who are now wallowing in some sorta misery, probably don't even know what had hit them and made them wallow in the state they are in now.
Some probably won't know, taking their ignorance with them to their graves. Some will and by then it may be too late. Some know but they have chosen to keep quiet.
Whatever it is, THEY ARE HIT BIG TIME!
It is gonna be the same with the younger ones. They do not realise the impact of how some current policies will affect them in the near future.
Everyone PLEASE WAKE UP!
Who Rhemi Has For His Neighbors And So In Turn, Who I Have For Mine
Two each of a different kinda racial composition - Indians, Malays and Chinese. Except that the Malay neighbor next to Rhemi has long vacated their unit for whatever reasons and it stands desolated and locked up with chains and padlocks.
Rhemi, like Aunt Sally, doesn't seem to live here. He must have a place somewhere else and this house is dedicated for a long-term leaseout. That explains the appalling physical interior condition in both cases.
I wouldn't lease out a place like that if I don't at least keep it to a minimal level of cleanliness and good order.
That shows how mercenary all these landlords are.
The Estate
The estate has undergone a renewal, is generally aesthetically pleasing and well-kept. I am not sure if I can cope with the ethnic and foreign diversity here however, which is disproportionately more of one or two types.
It helps that it is bounded by Sembawang Road, Yishun Avenue 7, Yishun Avenue 5 and Yishun Ring Road which offer some sorta variety of buses for transportation.
But bus routes are replicated in most cases and the few seem to go proportionally more to ONE destination, namely Woodlands. And not anywhere else much.
But the kinda clustering of its houses and the fact that a columbarium lurks, together with many, many, many temples a stone's throw away should depress property prices in most instances and keep potential buyers away.
Another Sin Ming estate.
Just How Stagnant Are Wages?
For citation purposes, back in 2001/2002 commercial schools were offering me a full-time teaching job at SGD$2000 (imagine this measly amount which buys you nothing much nor help you save towards your retirement kitty).
Yesterday (in the year of our Lord AD2007), a commercial school offered exactly the same wage.
A good 5 years or more and despite all the spiralling costs and expenses (GST, price hikes of most services and commodities)!
The Sony Ericsson 550i Versus The Nokia 5200
Even though the latter came out of the production line much later than the former, the Sony Ericsson 550i is a far more superior model than the latter.
For one, it doesn't has any of the lag in its searching function like the Nokia 5200. You know, that wave of a signal that signifies that a search is in progress together with Nokia's trademark tick or letter "i".
The Sony Ericsson gets straight to its function once you press the menu button like "delete" for example. Its phone directory can store up to two or more contacts under a same name and there are provisions for company as well as individuals' entries.
The Nokia 5200 can only store individual names sorting them out by first and last names. When its FM radio is played, it can only be heard via its earpiece and there seems not to be a speaker option.
I think I am repicking a Sony Ericsson for my next buy.
There You Have It, More Thrash
Winnie, the "real estate agent" acting for "The Woman", couldn't tell the difference between a pigeon and a crow. I put this question to her when moi sighted a dead bird on the ground.
She must have assumed that just because our gunner boys were deployed to shoot crows most of the time that the dead bird must be one. Another assumption! Aren't Singaporeans (or otherwise) all like that?
But it was a pigeon, on closer inspection, its unmistakable white spots and distinct features, unseen in crows.
Uncle Goh, Aunt Sally's whoever, chides me for being unreasonable. Thus he wants moi to lay on a bug-ridden bed and have a good night's sleep.
How Is Singapore A Haven For Some Of Our Foreign Guest Workers
I have seen how the public loos at the East Coast Park are perfect bathing and toilet facilities for them. Really sparkling clean when in comparison to back home! Litter of toilet rolls filling the bins to the brim.
Our pavillions and park benches are good eating and drinking places. Beer bottles and food wrappers and yes, I have seen some foreign GALL guest workers spitting out stuff all over the floor while chatting loudly at our fast-food cafes.
Singapore, a haven for foreign workers! You mean I am supposed to keep the place clean and tidy?
The Panel Doesn't Even Know And Oral Skills Matter More Here
During the course of my last interview, if you care to recall, I put the question to the panel on what kinda PSLE aggregate scores the students were obtaining that have seen them enrolled in the school.
Remember that these are students who has attempted the PSLE more than once and their scores apparently haven't gotten them anywhere near a secondary school, not even the lowest-ranked neighborhood school.
The panel couldn't answer moi.
Today I found the answer in one of MOE's Secondary School Posting Guidebook. It should be below 55 as I have seen students scoring as low as 58 being admitted into the Normal Technical (EM3) stream of neighborhood schools.
I am glad I postured myself as kinda reluctant to teach here. Because these kids aren't stupid, they are just not cut out for the academic route. They are more suited for the technical or vocational skills in the hospitality, culinary, sales and marketing or services industries.
So teaching the English language and expecting them to score on a written examination will be more than an impossible task.
Perhaps a verbal or oral kinda test with a written score to trump up would suffice.
It is the same with learning a Higher MTL or a 3rd or foreign language. The insistence on an A- star grade or a top 30 percent of the cohort. Do we need to write as much as we need to speak the language? Which is more important?
No Connection Here
You would have thought that being near a cyber hub that you would get an INTERNET connection.
It didn't happen and now that this MacDonald cafe hasn't got any power point, I only have a hour and a half of battery usage time.
Termites' Infestation In A HDB Flat?
Maybe termites isn't so far off when Mabel's hole in the wall thingy was diagnosed as such. It seems they attack paper, cloth, fabrics and most silicone materials used as construction products.
Infestious Diseases Act
When glance through the Act, I can't help being impressed by all the carefully thought out administration and control measures. From its treatment of the affected premises to its control of the isolation area.
Too bad it doesn't seem to be so in practice, especially in the case of bed bugs.
The Constituition Of The Republic Of Singapore
I glanced through it like I did the Infectious Diseases Act.
High-sounding precepts like the liberty of the person and the accord of equal protection. Freedom of speech, assembly and association.
Let me delve deeper and really analyse how it all translates into real life.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Rule Of Law This - The HDB Room/Unit Rental Market Seems Highly Unregulated And Free For All
You Voted And This Is What You Deserve, Not Moi And I Ain't Migrating - Get The Scums Out, You Know Who You Are (And That Includes You)
Get this really straight! If the community is nudging me to see what is happening, let me say that this is none of my business!
You can't criticise and agitate the ground (like I know many of the pro-estab people are) at the same time, while not saying it with your vote (when there are no walkovers, that is, and half the parliamentary seats were open the last General Election).
That just means you are a conniving two-timing hypocrite like the rest of them!
For me, I SAY IT LOUD AND CLEAR WITH MY VOTE! It is just too bad that in my entire life, I only got to vote twice .
One was for the GE but soon after, the ward got subsumed under a bigger and a ministerial GRC at that, and it has been a walkover eversince.
Another time it was for the Elected Presidency.
I just wish I will exercise this right very soon again at the next GE, wherever I may be.
Ma Own Kinship - Another Example Of Instant Gain But Short-Lived Alliance
When we spoke among ourselves (my two sisters, one is mute remember, and I), I found out several things.
It is so obvious now, isn't it that since Big Bro broke with Third Sis , she is now spewing all those bad things about him. She is now showing me off to all around her and naming me as her brother! After she and Big Bro have maligned us enough.
That CERTAINLY shows.
Anyway can you imagine! Big Bro thinks I am so well off (coz I bought my own place the last tme) and he actually wanna make things difficult for me and without asking, just shoves Mom into a first-class hospital ward (at the urging of second sis of course - a real BIMBO and behind-the-scene agitator), assuming we can all pay for the hospital bill.
That just shows! Jealous of a sibling and this is what he does! I thought a kin would urge one's loved one to save and invest and NOT SPEND UNNECESSARILY!
I have made up my mind. We will all spend the occasional reunion together, going out for eats and so on.
I am committed more to looking after my mute eldest sister and to her various needs. Period.
Yet Other Inconsistencies, Technical And Computer Software Glitches
When I logged on at the McDonalds here at Yishun, the opening page displays a slightly diferent menu of service providers.
Today while logging on to my mobile service provider on its webby to view my bill information, I couldn't log on the usual way.
I usually do so using my Account Manager but today, I have to log on using the HUB ID as instructed to by the call operator over the phone.
If you remember the glitch-laden online application form of MOE, they have informed me that works is still in progress.
Much like how our escalators or elevators are.
Blimps, Bimbs And Wimps
I am NEVER superstitious but eversince Chris walked into my life, I must admit that many, many, many bad things have happened. He is like the Dark Angel that he calls himself on MSN chat. And yes, I am keeping to my word to BASH HIS FACE IN should I ever run into him anywhere.
Not that Mabel's was a good stay either. And I mean we all know how the oldies are. I ran into the same blimp at the gym (the who who stoutly defends everything and look at the kinda state he is in now) and at the library, that same blimp was always there as well.
Ironical that he reads to research on China while all around him, there were all these China galls and people.
Just don't get too close to moi when I am in one of those moods, I will smash your faces if you do or say the wrong things.
And the bitches are everywhere in their scantily-clad attires! Foreign and local trash! Wimps! Gosh...the whole works and they are everywhere. Both young and old. Preoccupied as they were with themselves and their small world. Materialities and so on.
Not the major issues impacting all of us
Of Maxicab Movers
For one, another BIG move (and paying all those Maxicab movers and "real estate agent" cheats repeatedly) and of all places, I move to the bugs-infested home of Aunt Sally.
Then within a short space of time, I dropped my mobile phone twice (had never happened and if it did, there wasn't as serious a damage as now).
A Case Of A Sony Ericsson 550i Gone Berserk
The swivel came loose, my battery runs low all the time, the screen discolors and fades away and it is now a dim view of its former self.
A Case Of A Nokia 5200 That Doesn't Measure Up As Well As To My Former Mobile Phone
I just had to replace it and I did. My new Nokia 5200 is nothing like my former Sony Ericsson 550i. The latter comes loaded with features and menus but best of all, they are laid out neatly where I can manage a variety of files like my pictures ablbum.
A Case Of "Real Estate Cheater Bugs" Agents
Again, I did not get to see my real estate agent for Rhemi's place. Instead I saw his partner, a Malay gall. And again, it was a non-letter-headed tenancy agreement and there were no name cards. Even if there were, how could one verify the agent's status to be authentic.
Anyone who is a friend or relative of a house owner could purport to be a "real estate agent" and tenants wannabe like me have to pay them their commissions.
Something has to be done to weed out this practice and that only bona-fide agents serve wannabe tenants and that terms and conditions are fair. In cases of dispute, there is someone both parties can turn to. And action can be enforced and it is binding.
I don't see any of these happening just yet!
Get this really straight! If the community is nudging me to see what is happening, let me say that this is none of my business!
You can't criticise and agitate the ground (like I know many of the pro-estab people are) at the same time, while not saying it with your vote (when there are no walkovers, that is, and half the parliamentary seats were open the last General Election).
That just means you are a conniving two-timing hypocrite like the rest of them!
For me, I SAY IT LOUD AND CLEAR WITH MY VOTE! It is just too bad that in my entire life, I only got to vote twice .
One was for the GE but soon after, the ward got subsumed under a bigger and a ministerial GRC at that, and it has been a walkover eversince.
Another time it was for the Elected Presidency.
I just wish I will exercise this right very soon again at the next GE, wherever I may be.
Ma Own Kinship - Another Example Of Instant Gain But Short-Lived Alliance
When we spoke among ourselves (my two sisters, one is mute remember, and I), I found out several things.
It is so obvious now, isn't it that since Big Bro broke with Third Sis , she is now spewing all those bad things about him. She is now showing me off to all around her and naming me as her brother! After she and Big Bro have maligned us enough.
That CERTAINLY shows.
Anyway can you imagine! Big Bro thinks I am so well off (coz I bought my own place the last tme) and he actually wanna make things difficult for me and without asking, just shoves Mom into a first-class hospital ward (at the urging of second sis of course - a real BIMBO and behind-the-scene agitator), assuming we can all pay for the hospital bill.
That just shows! Jealous of a sibling and this is what he does! I thought a kin would urge one's loved one to save and invest and NOT SPEND UNNECESSARILY!
I have made up my mind. We will all spend the occasional reunion together, going out for eats and so on.
I am committed more to looking after my mute eldest sister and to her various needs. Period.
Yet Other Inconsistencies, Technical And Computer Software Glitches
When I logged on at the McDonalds here at Yishun, the opening page displays a slightly diferent menu of service providers.
Today while logging on to my mobile service provider on its webby to view my bill information, I couldn't log on the usual way.
I usually do so using my Account Manager but today, I have to log on using the HUB ID as instructed to by the call operator over the phone.
If you remember the glitch-laden online application form of MOE, they have informed me that works is still in progress.
Much like how our escalators or elevators are.
Blimps, Bimbs And Wimps
I am NEVER superstitious but eversince Chris walked into my life, I must admit that many, many, many bad things have happened. He is like the Dark Angel that he calls himself on MSN chat. And yes, I am keeping to my word to BASH HIS FACE IN should I ever run into him anywhere.
Not that Mabel's was a good stay either. And I mean we all know how the oldies are. I ran into the same blimp at the gym (the who who stoutly defends everything and look at the kinda state he is in now) and at the library, that same blimp was always there as well.
Ironical that he reads to research on China while all around him, there were all these China galls and people.
Just don't get too close to moi when I am in one of those moods, I will smash your faces if you do or say the wrong things.
And the bitches are everywhere in their scantily-clad attires! Foreign and local trash! Wimps! Gosh...the whole works and they are everywhere. Both young and old. Preoccupied as they were with themselves and their small world. Materialities and so on.
Not the major issues impacting all of us
Of Maxicab Movers
For one, another BIG move (and paying all those Maxicab movers and "real estate agent" cheats repeatedly) and of all places, I move to the bugs-infested home of Aunt Sally.
Then within a short space of time, I dropped my mobile phone twice (had never happened and if it did, there wasn't as serious a damage as now).
A Case Of A Sony Ericsson 550i Gone Berserk
The swivel came loose, my battery runs low all the time, the screen discolors and fades away and it is now a dim view of its former self.
A Case Of A Nokia 5200 That Doesn't Measure Up As Well As To My Former Mobile Phone
I just had to replace it and I did. My new Nokia 5200 is nothing like my former Sony Ericsson 550i. The latter comes loaded with features and menus but best of all, they are laid out neatly where I can manage a variety of files like my pictures ablbum.
A Case Of "Real Estate Cheater Bugs" Agents
Again, I did not get to see my real estate agent for Rhemi's place. Instead I saw his partner, a Malay gall. And again, it was a non-letter-headed tenancy agreement and there were no name cards. Even if there were, how could one verify the agent's status to be authentic.
Anyone who is a friend or relative of a house owner could purport to be a "real estate agent" and tenants wannabe like me have to pay them their commissions.
Something has to be done to weed out this practice and that only bona-fide agents serve wannabe tenants and that terms and conditions are fair. In cases of dispute, there is someone both parties can turn to. And action can be enforced and it is binding.
I don't see any of these happening just yet!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
I Can't Remember Where I Stay, If Only For A Moment
Profile Of Rhemi And His Flat
Rhemi is a non-practising Moslem. That means he doesn't fast, he smokes and he just about does nothing a devout Moslem does.
For a day, I haven't seen his fiancee around. Even if he claimed that the flat was bought under the fiance-fiancee scheme, when the three months grace period is up, he has to produce his marriage certificate.
I suspect that is just his beau who visits occasionally. I wanna keep my distance away from her as much as I can and the same goes for Rhemi. Just a hi-bye kinda relation and the occasional chit-chat. Period.
The flat is really old and dirty. But not as dirty and bugs-infested as Aunt Sally's, that is for sure. I do scratch and rash but not for as long a period as I did at Aunt Sally's. I have to hose down the shelf in the bath which holds his old bird-cages and change the bathing scoop mug and the water hose which were so old and dirty.
Apart from that, the place is generally liveable.
Renting A Flat Direct From HDB Is A No-Go For Moi For The Following Reasons
Time and again, I have been asked to rent a 1 or 2-room unit from the HDB direct. This is open to Singapore citizens and whose monthly income is about $1500 or less. I probably qualify if for just these two conditions alone.
But its string of other pre-qualifiers exempt me from ever hoping to come under the scheme.
Usually the units are in outlying areas. It is usually a 5 to 9-month wait and yes there is a daily selection scheme. Just you queue, wait and compete for the handful of units available (normally less than 10).
You need another occupier and yes, if you are oprhaned or widowed, you must be at least 21 years old.
But if you are single, you need to be 35 and you need another single of about the same age too to qualify for the Joint Singles Scheme.
And you can't own private property.
TADA! I don't qualify yet again! And you can see how shabbily singles are being treated here in Singapore. It is as if singlehood is more than a dirty word!
Singaporean singles and the rest of Singapore, if you don't revolt, it is just gonna be your turn next!
Too Many Addresses And Too Many Moves In Too Short A Time
You can imagine how bad it must be if I had to pause for an unusually long time when the cabby asked me for my destination the other night.
I mean I have shifted from Ang Mo Kio to Sing Ming Avenue and now to Yishun. Sure each part of Singapore has opened up my eyes a little to the kinda living conditions of both the estate and the apartment.
But I just got back from viewing a unit at Punggol and for a long moment I froze, not remembering where I was staying.
Was it still 109, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 ("The Woman" stays here and I refrain from calling her names because she is the mother of Ashley) or 403, Sin Ming Avenue or was it 116 Yishun Ring Road or 115 Edgefield Plains, Punggol, both units which I had just viewed?
In fact, I had mistaken the apartment block number at Punggol and had given the cabby wrong directions.
Right here at this remoter albeit upgraded part of Yishun, I had trouble heading in the right direction to get to the various major roads that encircle the estate. Yishun Ring Road (yes, we have a beltway here but this is on a micro-scale), Sembawang Road, Yishun Avenue 5 or Yishun Avenue 7.
Things couldn't get any worse when I waited on the wrong side of the road at Orchard Road, Ang Mo Kio and Serangoon Gardens for my destination buses.
I had to check with passengers on board and a bus driver helped me out when he pointed the route to me. A school gal reminded me I was on the wrong track when she in turn ask me for directions.
Gosh, I am just so disoriented and very, very tired from the past couple of days' looking for a place, shifting, unpacking, cleaning and so on.
I have to get myself oriented to this place real soon.
The People I Ran Into
That cute young Myanmese boy has returned home after a stint of intership at a local cafe here. He was studying at one of our local culinary and hospitality colleges here. This was before I could even grab hold of his contact.
Instead I ran into an even cuter and younger-looking look-alike of a local well known playwright here. Not too bad a catch.
Of course I miss out on all those sportsboys at the track and field. I just wasn't in the mood and they do seem distant and stuck-up and can't they strike up something instead?
I have not the slightest qualm that travel agencies can just go bust should student travel tours to the Third World diminish. That is because I ran into this travel agent gay dude twice and he holes up at The Bayhshore.
Imagine the rest of us feeding his lifestyle (like He-Ape) by paying him to go to suffer in a Third World or while we are living in Third World homes here and he is living in cool, comfy and luxurious condos?
More than ironical, it is preposterous!
Rhemi is a non-practising Moslem. That means he doesn't fast, he smokes and he just about does nothing a devout Moslem does.
For a day, I haven't seen his fiancee around. Even if he claimed that the flat was bought under the fiance-fiancee scheme, when the three months grace period is up, he has to produce his marriage certificate.
I suspect that is just his beau who visits occasionally. I wanna keep my distance away from her as much as I can and the same goes for Rhemi. Just a hi-bye kinda relation and the occasional chit-chat. Period.
The flat is really old and dirty. But not as dirty and bugs-infested as Aunt Sally's, that is for sure. I do scratch and rash but not for as long a period as I did at Aunt Sally's. I have to hose down the shelf in the bath which holds his old bird-cages and change the bathing scoop mug and the water hose which were so old and dirty.
Apart from that, the place is generally liveable.
Renting A Flat Direct From HDB Is A No-Go For Moi For The Following Reasons
Time and again, I have been asked to rent a 1 or 2-room unit from the HDB direct. This is open to Singapore citizens and whose monthly income is about $1500 or less. I probably qualify if for just these two conditions alone.
But its string of other pre-qualifiers exempt me from ever hoping to come under the scheme.
Usually the units are in outlying areas. It is usually a 5 to 9-month wait and yes there is a daily selection scheme. Just you queue, wait and compete for the handful of units available (normally less than 10).
You need another occupier and yes, if you are oprhaned or widowed, you must be at least 21 years old.
But if you are single, you need to be 35 and you need another single of about the same age too to qualify for the Joint Singles Scheme.
And you can't own private property.
TADA! I don't qualify yet again! And you can see how shabbily singles are being treated here in Singapore. It is as if singlehood is more than a dirty word!
Singaporean singles and the rest of Singapore, if you don't revolt, it is just gonna be your turn next!
Too Many Addresses And Too Many Moves In Too Short A Time
You can imagine how bad it must be if I had to pause for an unusually long time when the cabby asked me for my destination the other night.
I mean I have shifted from Ang Mo Kio to Sing Ming Avenue and now to Yishun. Sure each part of Singapore has opened up my eyes a little to the kinda living conditions of both the estate and the apartment.
But I just got back from viewing a unit at Punggol and for a long moment I froze, not remembering where I was staying.
Was it still 109, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 ("The Woman" stays here and I refrain from calling her names because she is the mother of Ashley) or 403, Sin Ming Avenue or was it 116 Yishun Ring Road or 115 Edgefield Plains, Punggol, both units which I had just viewed?
In fact, I had mistaken the apartment block number at Punggol and had given the cabby wrong directions.
Right here at this remoter albeit upgraded part of Yishun, I had trouble heading in the right direction to get to the various major roads that encircle the estate. Yishun Ring Road (yes, we have a beltway here but this is on a micro-scale), Sembawang Road, Yishun Avenue 5 or Yishun Avenue 7.
Things couldn't get any worse when I waited on the wrong side of the road at Orchard Road, Ang Mo Kio and Serangoon Gardens for my destination buses.
I had to check with passengers on board and a bus driver helped me out when he pointed the route to me. A school gal reminded me I was on the wrong track when she in turn ask me for directions.
Gosh, I am just so disoriented and very, very tired from the past couple of days' looking for a place, shifting, unpacking, cleaning and so on.
I have to get myself oriented to this place real soon.
The People I Ran Into
That cute young Myanmese boy has returned home after a stint of intership at a local cafe here. He was studying at one of our local culinary and hospitality colleges here. This was before I could even grab hold of his contact.
Instead I ran into an even cuter and younger-looking look-alike of a local well known playwright here. Not too bad a catch.
Of course I miss out on all those sportsboys at the track and field. I just wasn't in the mood and they do seem distant and stuck-up and can't they strike up something instead?
I have not the slightest qualm that travel agencies can just go bust should student travel tours to the Third World diminish. That is because I ran into this travel agent gay dude twice and he holes up at The Bayhshore.
Imagine the rest of us feeding his lifestyle (like He-Ape) by paying him to go to suffer in a Third World or while we are living in Third World homes here and he is living in cool, comfy and luxurious condos?
More than ironical, it is preposterous!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Another School Interview
Another School Job Interview
Yes I got another call for an interview to teach at a school.
This time, it was for a school that teaches all those kids who didn't make it for their PSLE because their aggregate scores were ungraded. Therefore they don't qualify for a secondary school posting.
The actual fact is that I was kinda apprehensive. First, because I feel they needed more specialised teachers together with the attendant attention because of a certain element of severe intellectual disablement. I may not be able to cope with that.
Second, they were probably not at all academically inclined and more practical-oriented. Meaning they do better at sports, arts, drama, music, technical education with lots of hands-on and therefore they were headed for the technical schools.
Third, they may not have that deeper power of understanding and reasoning and I may not be able to reach out as effectively that way. Of course if I lapse into a string of profanities, I may just gel in right with them.
Fourth, far and few would measure up to the kinda language ability to grapple with some of the issues confronting them
It is more the first reason that I fear.
And seriously I was gearing myself up to teach the intellectually or academically-inclined students because I feel that they need that BIG REALITY DOSE.
So that they can cope with practical issues more AND as they are more likely to be the future administrators, the policy-setters, the movers and shakers, they have to know how they are impacting the rest of us with their UNREAL imposition at times.
Now I wasn't very fond of the kinda questions thrown at me by a panel member (who looks and sounds a lot like a wimp - you know , meaning "gay") which were all so intellectual and remote from reality.
And I suppose they were waiting for me to press the right buttons and say the things they wanna hear . I AIN'T. AND I AM NOT AT ALL SORRY!
Anyway I was reeling from the past few days' events and I wasn'ty exactly HAPPY from Snow White's Seven Dwarfs.
Deep down in my heart, I wished I wouldn't get this job and I think I prolly got my wish.
Oo Foreigners Get To Teach At Premier Schools
As I remarked to Uncle Cabby, here I am invited for a job interview at this school while the foreigners and our highly intellectual academicians get to teach at premier schools.
If I do see and feel a BIG DIFFERENCE in their teaching, maybe I will just kow-tow 1000 times. But hey, I don't see much difference.
What a lousy fucking treatment of us all!
Another Dose Of Real Education For The Real World
What do you do when you encounter bed bugs?
(A) You loll on the bed together with them, kiss, have sex and reproduce together
(B) You spray insecticide over and over again until the infested article begins to look and smell like the insecticide
(C) You call the environment and health inspector and risk not being attended to
(D) You toss the affected article into a bonfire and have it eternally burned in flames
(E) You just ignore the infested article and wish the bugs away
(F) You move it away and pray that it becomes someone's else problem like your neighbors
(G) You sun it so the bugs get a golden tan
What is your answer?
Useless Fucking Education
And yes, education is still overtlyu preoccupied about turn-out and physical appearance like hair-back style (slope or unslope) and hair length.
Gosh, shouldn't this already change and we turn our attention to more important things that touch on life and its practicalities? And yes behvaior and attitude.
But hey, I can't blame the kids sometimes. I will lapse into the same rebellion and attitudinal behavior given all the stupidities that surround us. Please read all my previous blogs.
Mid-Career Professionals Count Their Experience For Nothing In The Way Of Useless And Yet More Academic Skills Training At Our Teaching Academy
I have to contemplate what my next career move will be, within the education industry.
I certainly dread going to our teaching academy and practically picking up all those irrelevant skills. Not to mention the kinda time duration and the costs (money or otherwise) involved.
It is more people skills after all. And dealing with people and humans, no? More reasoning and thinking, more than anything else?
Even the mid-career professionals have to go the same training route where their practical experience counts for nothing. Shouldn't age and more count towards this? How can a 45 year old go on until 47 or 49 and then start teaching?
How stupid can this be?
An Americana Can Think But Can We?
I spoke with an American dude the other day and he was so articulate. Not only that, he speaks really clearly which shows that he was seriously thinking about issues.
But when I chatted with him on MSN, it was a different matter altogether. He wrote stuff like "I have to submit a written essay buy Monday".
Well, there you have it folks! That is our foreigners teaching English should he decide to. But at least he has pieced together his thoughts (and how well thought out) and articulated it!
Big Blather, I Hope This Isn't Another One Of Your Hare-Brained Schemes
As I mentioned, almost everywhere I go, I get greeted by foreigners especially of several particular types. And I am seemingly pursued by their grassroots. I sense this when I was at Aunt Sally's and I sense it here too.
The next-door neighbor is also one of these particular types - albeit a local one. The moment they burn their incense, I have to shut my windows tight. And the other neighbor to my right sees the place locked up with chains and a padlock and nobody occupies it.
Strange lot this!
Trained To Be First World And I Ain't No Moving Back To The Third World - So No To Living In Old Estates
By now I am positively sure, I will move into a newer housing development of 5 years or more!
Already 20 year-old or more/less estates pose a host of issues with their age like their ramshackled condition, mildew, algae, structural integrity (Mabel's room which I was staying in has one of its walls seeping rainwater and yes her bathroom floor also leak water to the unit below and the ceiling seeps water through too) and pests infestation, among others.
Not to mention old fixtures like squat pans, pull-string WCs that sit above, iron-cast toilet swing doors, latch locks and various other awkard layout design such as corridor-facing windows. Exactly like our old old old house at Toa Payoh.
Replacement is gonna cost money and compared to a newer estate, costs are just gonna be about equal or more.
Third World Right In Our Own BackYard, So Why Are We Organising Third World Tours Abroad And Not Save The Money For Improving These Places While Keeping A Few As A Viewing Gallery Or As A Museum
It surprises me that we are organising tours to Third World countries for our NEXT GENERATION just so that they feel lucky.
I suggest tours be made to our own backyard collection of such places instead. That way the money saved goes into some other more worthy causes like what I have suggested above.
Yes I got another call for an interview to teach at a school.
This time, it was for a school that teaches all those kids who didn't make it for their PSLE because their aggregate scores were ungraded. Therefore they don't qualify for a secondary school posting.
The actual fact is that I was kinda apprehensive. First, because I feel they needed more specialised teachers together with the attendant attention because of a certain element of severe intellectual disablement. I may not be able to cope with that.
Second, they were probably not at all academically inclined and more practical-oriented. Meaning they do better at sports, arts, drama, music, technical education with lots of hands-on and therefore they were headed for the technical schools.
Third, they may not have that deeper power of understanding and reasoning and I may not be able to reach out as effectively that way. Of course if I lapse into a string of profanities, I may just gel in right with them.
Fourth, far and few would measure up to the kinda language ability to grapple with some of the issues confronting them
It is more the first reason that I fear.
And seriously I was gearing myself up to teach the intellectually or academically-inclined students because I feel that they need that BIG REALITY DOSE.
So that they can cope with practical issues more AND as they are more likely to be the future administrators, the policy-setters, the movers and shakers, they have to know how they are impacting the rest of us with their UNREAL imposition at times.
Now I wasn't very fond of the kinda questions thrown at me by a panel member (who looks and sounds a lot like a wimp - you know , meaning "gay") which were all so intellectual and remote from reality.
And I suppose they were waiting for me to press the right buttons and say the things they wanna hear . I AIN'T. AND I AM NOT AT ALL SORRY!
Anyway I was reeling from the past few days' events and I wasn'ty exactly HAPPY from Snow White's Seven Dwarfs.
Deep down in my heart, I wished I wouldn't get this job and I think I prolly got my wish.
Oo Foreigners Get To Teach At Premier Schools
As I remarked to Uncle Cabby, here I am invited for a job interview at this school while the foreigners and our highly intellectual academicians get to teach at premier schools.
If I do see and feel a BIG DIFFERENCE in their teaching, maybe I will just kow-tow 1000 times. But hey, I don't see much difference.
What a lousy fucking treatment of us all!
Another Dose Of Real Education For The Real World
What do you do when you encounter bed bugs?
(A) You loll on the bed together with them, kiss, have sex and reproduce together
(B) You spray insecticide over and over again until the infested article begins to look and smell like the insecticide
(C) You call the environment and health inspector and risk not being attended to
(D) You toss the affected article into a bonfire and have it eternally burned in flames
(E) You just ignore the infested article and wish the bugs away
(F) You move it away and pray that it becomes someone's else problem like your neighbors
(G) You sun it so the bugs get a golden tan
What is your answer?
Useless Fucking Education
And yes, education is still overtlyu preoccupied about turn-out and physical appearance like hair-back style (slope or unslope) and hair length.
Gosh, shouldn't this already change and we turn our attention to more important things that touch on life and its practicalities? And yes behvaior and attitude.
But hey, I can't blame the kids sometimes. I will lapse into the same rebellion and attitudinal behavior given all the stupidities that surround us. Please read all my previous blogs.
Mid-Career Professionals Count Their Experience For Nothing In The Way Of Useless And Yet More Academic Skills Training At Our Teaching Academy
I have to contemplate what my next career move will be, within the education industry.
I certainly dread going to our teaching academy and practically picking up all those irrelevant skills. Not to mention the kinda time duration and the costs (money or otherwise) involved.
It is more people skills after all. And dealing with people and humans, no? More reasoning and thinking, more than anything else?
Even the mid-career professionals have to go the same training route where their practical experience counts for nothing. Shouldn't age and more count towards this? How can a 45 year old go on until 47 or 49 and then start teaching?
How stupid can this be?
An Americana Can Think But Can We?
I spoke with an American dude the other day and he was so articulate. Not only that, he speaks really clearly which shows that he was seriously thinking about issues.
But when I chatted with him on MSN, it was a different matter altogether. He wrote stuff like "I have to submit a written essay buy Monday".
Well, there you have it folks! That is our foreigners teaching English should he decide to. But at least he has pieced together his thoughts (and how well thought out) and articulated it!
Big Blather, I Hope This Isn't Another One Of Your Hare-Brained Schemes
As I mentioned, almost everywhere I go, I get greeted by foreigners especially of several particular types. And I am seemingly pursued by their grassroots. I sense this when I was at Aunt Sally's and I sense it here too.
The next-door neighbor is also one of these particular types - albeit a local one. The moment they burn their incense, I have to shut my windows tight. And the other neighbor to my right sees the place locked up with chains and a padlock and nobody occupies it.
Strange lot this!
Trained To Be First World And I Ain't No Moving Back To The Third World - So No To Living In Old Estates
By now I am positively sure, I will move into a newer housing development of 5 years or more!
Already 20 year-old or more/less estates pose a host of issues with their age like their ramshackled condition, mildew, algae, structural integrity (Mabel's room which I was staying in has one of its walls seeping rainwater and yes her bathroom floor also leak water to the unit below and the ceiling seeps water through too) and pests infestation, among others.
Not to mention old fixtures like squat pans, pull-string WCs that sit above, iron-cast toilet swing doors, latch locks and various other awkard layout design such as corridor-facing windows. Exactly like our old old old house at Toa Payoh.
Replacement is gonna cost money and compared to a newer estate, costs are just gonna be about equal or more.
Third World Right In Our Own BackYard, So Why Are We Organising Third World Tours Abroad And Not Save The Money For Improving These Places While Keeping A Few As A Viewing Gallery Or As A Museum
It surprises me that we are organising tours to Third World countries for our NEXT GENERATION just so that they feel lucky.
I suggest tours be made to our own backyard collection of such places instead. That way the money saved goes into some other more worthy causes like what I have suggested above.
Don't Overdo It And How Come Living Out One's Sexuality And Being Your TrueSelf Ain't Character Building
Unfamiliar "Familial Configurations"
I am right now settled down at Rhemi's. Packing up and leaving was easy. All you really needed to do was to scoop up all your barang barang and dump them into luggages or cartons. Unpacking however takes a lot more effort and time.
If you remember, I have blogged before about the whole myriad of complicated familial configurations that exist today. Rhemi's exemplifies this. In fact Aunt Sally's would too.
In her case, she is probably the single owner of the place but she had used the identity of a property agent and flashed this as her very own, a cover-up like so many others that I have observed and suspected. Uncle Goh may be her beau.
Don't forget step and foster relationships too.
There is of course a third postulate: Aunt Sally is a lesbo and that sweet, younger sounding gall voice at the other end of the phone in Malaysia where they both run a goldsmith shop (claiming mother-daughter relationship) is really her fellow lesbo beau.
Hey I don't know! Who really knows right?
Anyway, just to digress further, her "daughter" was downright unreasonable. She claimed that I was giving them problems. WHOA! You mean I need to loll in a bed-bug ridden mattress and I have no right to complain and ask for a new one?
Ok, so much for digression. Back to my main theme.
More Unfamilial Configurations
So many unmarried singles (and you can remember how loaded this "single" word can be, all puns intended) are so afraid of revealing their singlehood (especially the women and yes gay men too) that it sounds almost like a dirty word. Aunt Sally's case is worse only because she is single and unmarried but that does not mean she has no beau.
Things just go from bad to worse if the beau is a married beau and I do know Uncle Goh stays somewhere close by.
Gay men have it not much better. Some fake sham marriages. Some fake divorces. Some fake bgrs. Some fake brother-brother relationship. And uncle-nephew, father-son, wateva. The whole wide web of deceit.
Deceit breeds mistrust. Mistrust in turn leads to more mistrust and before you know it, you become the government of the day! TADA!
If society and policies (especially for gays) frown less on such "illicit" relationships (but if you are two-timing, then you prolly deserve the attention you get)and are more accomodating, this would not have occured.
A Little About Moslem Culture Though It Does Need Verification
Rhemi is divorced with two young kids and he is now holed up with his new beau. They are unmarried and Rhemi is the single owner.
When I spoke with the 7-11 Moslem gal, it is a common practice Moslems include both wife and husband (this has to be further verified)as co-applicants in owning a house.
Daughters are excluded while sons are in, so in a way, women are treated as second-class citizens.
That being the case, he is a no-go for me, even though he is kinda cute. Like Andy. But hey you choose your life and I mine.
An Issue Of A Housing Inconvenience
I just hope Rhemi keeps to his word about fixing the bathroom lights and I am requesting that something be done about the small rack for drying our laundry. Simply not enough space for drying and what if I wash my bedlinens. No bamboo poles and the ceiling racks have one end missing, so you can't hang them there either.
Of course I can always buy what is needed and charge it to my next month's rental due. By deducting from it, that is.
In Rhemi's case I can as I haven't paid up the advance rental yet. But noty in Aunt Sally's case. I have paid the 1+1 upfront and the bugs were already killing me so I can't possibly stay on and wait another month to do that.
"The Woman" aka as Mabel hoards a few of those nice silver ones in her second bedroom (yes people, she stores her plastic bags full of stuff here and nobody occupies it) and refuses to utilise them for whatever personal reasons of hers. To top it all, she does her washing virtually everyday. All that drying space on the ceiling racks just go to waste.
Sado Machoism Can Only Go So Far
Let us be done with the sado-macho stuff, people. Yes some toughness, resilience and character development is good.
That is why I said that something as fundamental (with regard to happiness and long term mental health) as one's sexuality, there are no two ways about it. You have to live out your true self. Period. Character development for you.
Let us not overdo toughness. Rhemi's toilet has no shower head and I have to bath from a pail with a scoop mug. In fact I bought myself a new one. That is quite ok. There is also no water heater. Daytime fine but night-time, it can be cold.
I hope nobody catches chills or something that way.
Infectious Diseases Act
The reason don't wanna buy so many things is because after the stay at "The Woman's", I have gotten new pillows and a shoe rack which add to the bulkage and to moving costs, not to mention the sweaty, huffy, puffy work of lugging them up and down several flights of stairs)
Now as for bugs, that is a different thing. It should be reclassified as an infectious disease. Like mozzies, bugs can travel and globalise (muahahahaha) and they follow you from place to place.
I am surprised HIV-infected victims now come under the Infectious Diseases Act but bugs haven't. I think it is high time our environmental and health agencies look into this and take some charge.
You don't want someone scratching himself to death, do you? Pus and wounds and bleeds from skin outbreaks just like eczema could do to you. If you wait till this happens, that is just so sad and pathetic.
Even our foreign guests deserve better. You can't compromise on anybody's basic health or safety and lay their lives on the line like that.
UnCompromising Safety And Health Standards
Like He-Ape's tutorial commercial school. There are sockets unhinged and electrical wires dangling.
It is strange I bump into him and his "beautiful, fair-maiden and young-looking" wife at a shopping mall.
Were they supervising the mall as well, on top of the five or more branches they operate?
Make Sure You Have Checked On Every Safety Aspect, Then Users Have Only Themselves To Blame For Improper Usage
It is just like those fitness corners that disclaim responsibilities for users' injuries or death.
Sure, if they have taken reasonable care to ensure that the equipment were safe for use (no unhinged whatever), then of course users have only themselves to blame for not properly using the equipment.
I am right now settled down at Rhemi's. Packing up and leaving was easy. All you really needed to do was to scoop up all your barang barang and dump them into luggages or cartons. Unpacking however takes a lot more effort and time.
If you remember, I have blogged before about the whole myriad of complicated familial configurations that exist today. Rhemi's exemplifies this. In fact Aunt Sally's would too.
In her case, she is probably the single owner of the place but she had used the identity of a property agent and flashed this as her very own, a cover-up like so many others that I have observed and suspected. Uncle Goh may be her beau.
Don't forget step and foster relationships too.
There is of course a third postulate: Aunt Sally is a lesbo and that sweet, younger sounding gall voice at the other end of the phone in Malaysia where they both run a goldsmith shop (claiming mother-daughter relationship) is really her fellow lesbo beau.
Hey I don't know! Who really knows right?
Anyway, just to digress further, her "daughter" was downright unreasonable. She claimed that I was giving them problems. WHOA! You mean I need to loll in a bed-bug ridden mattress and I have no right to complain and ask for a new one?
Ok, so much for digression. Back to my main theme.
More Unfamilial Configurations
So many unmarried singles (and you can remember how loaded this "single" word can be, all puns intended) are so afraid of revealing their singlehood (especially the women and yes gay men too) that it sounds almost like a dirty word. Aunt Sally's case is worse only because she is single and unmarried but that does not mean she has no beau.
Things just go from bad to worse if the beau is a married beau and I do know Uncle Goh stays somewhere close by.
Gay men have it not much better. Some fake sham marriages. Some fake divorces. Some fake bgrs. Some fake brother-brother relationship. And uncle-nephew, father-son, wateva. The whole wide web of deceit.
Deceit breeds mistrust. Mistrust in turn leads to more mistrust and before you know it, you become the government of the day! TADA!
If society and policies (especially for gays) frown less on such "illicit" relationships (but if you are two-timing, then you prolly deserve the attention you get)and are more accomodating, this would not have occured.
A Little About Moslem Culture Though It Does Need Verification
Rhemi is divorced with two young kids and he is now holed up with his new beau. They are unmarried and Rhemi is the single owner.
When I spoke with the 7-11 Moslem gal, it is a common practice Moslems include both wife and husband (this has to be further verified)as co-applicants in owning a house.
Daughters are excluded while sons are in, so in a way, women are treated as second-class citizens.
That being the case, he is a no-go for me, even though he is kinda cute. Like Andy. But hey you choose your life and I mine.
An Issue Of A Housing Inconvenience
I just hope Rhemi keeps to his word about fixing the bathroom lights and I am requesting that something be done about the small rack for drying our laundry. Simply not enough space for drying and what if I wash my bedlinens. No bamboo poles and the ceiling racks have one end missing, so you can't hang them there either.
Of course I can always buy what is needed and charge it to my next month's rental due. By deducting from it, that is.
In Rhemi's case I can as I haven't paid up the advance rental yet. But noty in Aunt Sally's case. I have paid the 1+1 upfront and the bugs were already killing me so I can't possibly stay on and wait another month to do that.
"The Woman" aka as Mabel hoards a few of those nice silver ones in her second bedroom (yes people, she stores her plastic bags full of stuff here and nobody occupies it) and refuses to utilise them for whatever personal reasons of hers. To top it all, she does her washing virtually everyday. All that drying space on the ceiling racks just go to waste.
Sado Machoism Can Only Go So Far
Let us be done with the sado-macho stuff, people. Yes some toughness, resilience and character development is good.
That is why I said that something as fundamental (with regard to happiness and long term mental health) as one's sexuality, there are no two ways about it. You have to live out your true self. Period. Character development for you.
Let us not overdo toughness. Rhemi's toilet has no shower head and I have to bath from a pail with a scoop mug. In fact I bought myself a new one. That is quite ok. There is also no water heater. Daytime fine but night-time, it can be cold.
I hope nobody catches chills or something that way.
Infectious Diseases Act
The reason don't wanna buy so many things is because after the stay at "The Woman's", I have gotten new pillows and a shoe rack which add to the bulkage and to moving costs, not to mention the sweaty, huffy, puffy work of lugging them up and down several flights of stairs)
Now as for bugs, that is a different thing. It should be reclassified as an infectious disease. Like mozzies, bugs can travel and globalise (muahahahaha) and they follow you from place to place.
I am surprised HIV-infected victims now come under the Infectious Diseases Act but bugs haven't. I think it is high time our environmental and health agencies look into this and take some charge.
You don't want someone scratching himself to death, do you? Pus and wounds and bleeds from skin outbreaks just like eczema could do to you. If you wait till this happens, that is just so sad and pathetic.
Even our foreign guests deserve better. You can't compromise on anybody's basic health or safety and lay their lives on the line like that.
UnCompromising Safety And Health Standards
Like He-Ape's tutorial commercial school. There are sockets unhinged and electrical wires dangling.
It is strange I bump into him and his "beautiful, fair-maiden and young-looking" wife at a shopping mall.
Were they supervising the mall as well, on top of the five or more branches they operate?
Make Sure You Have Checked On Every Safety Aspect, Then Users Have Only Themselves To Blame For Improper Usage
It is just like those fitness corners that disclaim responsibilities for users' injuries or death.
Sure, if they have taken reasonable care to ensure that the equipment were safe for use (no unhinged whatever), then of course users have only themselves to blame for not properly using the equipment.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
An OverNight Stay-Out
So I have viewed two places and I think I have settled for one.
Finally. The itching had gotten quite bad. So bad that by this morning, I actually had to discard the blanket I was lying on because it had already become infested.
Then I just couldn't sleep anymore! I mean who could if you itched everywhere AND THAT INCLUDES YOUR GROIN AREA!. In fact the groin area was so bad an itch, I wanted to strip and just run naked all the way to any men's club in town to rid myself of the itch!
I could have when I hit the showers this morning at the sports club, what with all the hot young bods stripped to the buff. But oh well, I guess I just didn't seize the chance.
So I hatched the PERFECT IDEA! I would trot down 9 floors (only because the administrators staggered the elevator so badly - prolly because they failed Maths - tweety bird couldn't have hop three steps on one leg even if it wanted to) to THE ONLY AIR-CONDITIONED 24-hour convenience store that offered the MUCH NEEDED RESPITE from the heat and the itch.
And there was just this lone 20 year old Moslem gal manning the store and surprisingly, she offered up a very good chat.
I mean we chatted about everything and I learnt so much in just one-sixth of a day we spent together.
After all I was shifting into a Moslem residence and badly needed more information on how I should conduct myself. Like if I should squeeze my dick several times after I peed and washed it down with water every time I finished my uric business.
Or if a Moslem man could have sex with a Chinese dude like me if he cared to. Who knows what the mish-mash of different semen would throw up, right? A little imp that is born out of our cum?
Anyway I unloaded more of my housing woes on her and found out more about Moslem ways than I would have if Muiz didn't desert me.
My eyes can barely open now but hey that is the price you pay for fighting bed bugs that just won't go away!
Finally. The itching had gotten quite bad. So bad that by this morning, I actually had to discard the blanket I was lying on because it had already become infested.
Then I just couldn't sleep anymore! I mean who could if you itched everywhere AND THAT INCLUDES YOUR GROIN AREA!. In fact the groin area was so bad an itch, I wanted to strip and just run naked all the way to any men's club in town to rid myself of the itch!
I could have when I hit the showers this morning at the sports club, what with all the hot young bods stripped to the buff. But oh well, I guess I just didn't seize the chance.
So I hatched the PERFECT IDEA! I would trot down 9 floors (only because the administrators staggered the elevator so badly - prolly because they failed Maths - tweety bird couldn't have hop three steps on one leg even if it wanted to) to THE ONLY AIR-CONDITIONED 24-hour convenience store that offered the MUCH NEEDED RESPITE from the heat and the itch.
And there was just this lone 20 year old Moslem gal manning the store and surprisingly, she offered up a very good chat.
I mean we chatted about everything and I learnt so much in just one-sixth of a day we spent together.
After all I was shifting into a Moslem residence and badly needed more information on how I should conduct myself. Like if I should squeeze my dick several times after I peed and washed it down with water every time I finished my uric business.
Or if a Moslem man could have sex with a Chinese dude like me if he cared to. Who knows what the mish-mash of different semen would throw up, right? A little imp that is born out of our cum?
Anyway I unloaded more of my housing woes on her and found out more about Moslem ways than I would have if Muiz didn't desert me.
My eyes can barely open now but hey that is the price you pay for fighting bed bugs that just won't go away!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Rule Of Law
Rules Bound But Not Where It Matters
That is exactly the kinda point I wanna slam home.
Sure, Singapore seems to be rules-bound. But let us look to see if these rules are rational and reasonable and if they are targetted at what they are supposed to do. Who wouldn't abide if they were right, right?
But do we? Stupid, silly, trivial checks and rules like inconsistent security checks because of the fear of TERRORISM. I seriously think TERRORISM has been overblown in this part of our world. There are more pressing issues to tackle like homeland security which I have but highlighted two in my previous blog.
That means the theft of someone's identity for criminal wrongdoings. When there are issues that matter, we ain't have no rule of law, do we?
I mean the NEA environmental officer can only look out for vector-borne causing diseases carried by mozzies but they can't enforce any rules on stuff like bed bugs, which are equally health-hazardous.
Hey the next morning when I visited the library, there was this dude with all these rashes on him. When I asked, he told me he had eczema but in his case it was hereditary. I have read this up on the Internet and it seems that inheritance isn't the only way one gets eczema.
You can get it by from the environment because of allergens and I do not wanna end up like him.
I know Aunt Sally's place is filthy and grimy but the window sill and in fact most of all the walls in the kitchen and toilet just have these spots of black thingy stuck to them. I really do not know what they are. Dust and dustballs are to be expected anywhere but this takes the cake.
Looks like gunk accumulated over the years and the whole place has not been cleaned out for a really long time. Too long a time.
I mean I start to rash and itch the moment I step into the house and make my way around the place. To shower, to do my laundry, etc, etc. When I sleep on the bed, I itch, rash and scratch away the entire night before I fall asleep and it starts all over again when I wake up.
It must be VERY BAD if that happens.
Of course my opinion and impression of Aunt Sally has diminished considerably. She travels to KL to help out her "daughter" at her goldsmith shop. I don't think she is doing too badly. She doesn't really stay here and I think she and Uncle Goh owns another unit somewhere nearby.
Above all, I am positively sure she had flashed an agent's ID the other time and the particulars filled up in the tenancy were the agent's too. And the unit belongs to a single lady whom she claims to be her daughter. So if Aunt Sally signs on her behalf, shouldn't there be a proxy authorisation letter, if you wanna play by the rules?
This must be a serious penal offence of false identity, impersonation and woefully false representation.
It is just so sad that some minimum standard of health isn't enforceable. In fact the whole apartment block sees my entire floor leasing out to quite a few foreigners.There is a unit rented out to a single lady, another to a groupie of foreign Indian nationals and yet another to 5 Filipinas and Filipinos.
I have also seen more Indian nationals roaming other floors. I know this estate is old but seriously now.
Guess this isn't the Singapore we know anymore.....
That is exactly the kinda point I wanna slam home.
Sure, Singapore seems to be rules-bound. But let us look to see if these rules are rational and reasonable and if they are targetted at what they are supposed to do. Who wouldn't abide if they were right, right?
But do we? Stupid, silly, trivial checks and rules like inconsistent security checks because of the fear of TERRORISM. I seriously think TERRORISM has been overblown in this part of our world. There are more pressing issues to tackle like homeland security which I have but highlighted two in my previous blog.
That means the theft of someone's identity for criminal wrongdoings. When there are issues that matter, we ain't have no rule of law, do we?
I mean the NEA environmental officer can only look out for vector-borne causing diseases carried by mozzies but they can't enforce any rules on stuff like bed bugs, which are equally health-hazardous.
Hey the next morning when I visited the library, there was this dude with all these rashes on him. When I asked, he told me he had eczema but in his case it was hereditary. I have read this up on the Internet and it seems that inheritance isn't the only way one gets eczema.
You can get it by from the environment because of allergens and I do not wanna end up like him.
I know Aunt Sally's place is filthy and grimy but the window sill and in fact most of all the walls in the kitchen and toilet just have these spots of black thingy stuck to them. I really do not know what they are. Dust and dustballs are to be expected anywhere but this takes the cake.
Looks like gunk accumulated over the years and the whole place has not been cleaned out for a really long time. Too long a time.
I mean I start to rash and itch the moment I step into the house and make my way around the place. To shower, to do my laundry, etc, etc. When I sleep on the bed, I itch, rash and scratch away the entire night before I fall asleep and it starts all over again when I wake up.
It must be VERY BAD if that happens.
Of course my opinion and impression of Aunt Sally has diminished considerably. She travels to KL to help out her "daughter" at her goldsmith shop. I don't think she is doing too badly. She doesn't really stay here and I think she and Uncle Goh owns another unit somewhere nearby.
Above all, I am positively sure she had flashed an agent's ID the other time and the particulars filled up in the tenancy were the agent's too. And the unit belongs to a single lady whom she claims to be her daughter. So if Aunt Sally signs on her behalf, shouldn't there be a proxy authorisation letter, if you wanna play by the rules?
This must be a serious penal offence of false identity, impersonation and woefully false representation.
It is just so sad that some minimum standard of health isn't enforceable. In fact the whole apartment block sees my entire floor leasing out to quite a few foreigners.There is a unit rented out to a single lady, another to a groupie of foreign Indian nationals and yet another to 5 Filipinas and Filipinos.
I have also seen more Indian nationals roaming other floors. I know this estate is old but seriously now.
Guess this isn't the Singapore we know anymore.....
Monday, October 08, 2007
Environmental And Health Inspection
An Environmental Inspection On A Third World Squalor In A First World
The NEA inspector officer came a-calling.
And that was only because I had dropped a hint to the call-centre operator that there could be mozzies breeding as well. That can't be very far off as there were all these upturned pails and tubs in the toilet but Aunt Sally had the "Malaysian" tenant remove them.
I know coz I heard him doing this from the bathroom. And seriously what is the kinda relationship they have anyway. Son and mother? Or something else. Maybe he is not even Malaysian right? A friend. Who knows?
Anyway, I was glad the environment officer visited.
Methodically he checked the place out.
He pointed out to all the debris and dirt on the window sill and how that was a sure breeding ground for bugs. Coupled with the perpetually closed up hallway windows, the humidity, warmth and serious lack of ventilation, if megabugs don't kiss and have sex, the whole place wouldn't be CALLED BUGSDOM!
Remember that all the windows face out to the corridor, so virtually all neighbors have them shut tight for obvious privacy issues.
Then he stared at all the old furniture in the house which was another sure sign of ideal breeding ground for bugs.
In fact, there were all these old marble table top panels, a mirror, yellowed newspapers and cardboard under my bed at that time, attracting dust, gunk and grime.
I had Uncle Goh and his pal removed them on the Sunday they came to spray Shieldtox on the mattress. Which didn't help and left that distinct pertoleum stench everywhere even though it is supposed to be odorless.
Next he inspected the metallic kitchen cabinets and as sure as FILTHY SEX IS BEST FOR SCUMS, there were roaches' eggs and little roach nymphs running about the place.
I wanted to puke at the sight of all these which I hadn't noticed before.
I think I REALLY NEED TO MOVE!
The NEA inspector officer came a-calling.
And that was only because I had dropped a hint to the call-centre operator that there could be mozzies breeding as well. That can't be very far off as there were all these upturned pails and tubs in the toilet but Aunt Sally had the "Malaysian" tenant remove them.
I know coz I heard him doing this from the bathroom. And seriously what is the kinda relationship they have anyway. Son and mother? Or something else. Maybe he is not even Malaysian right? A friend. Who knows?
Anyway, I was glad the environment officer visited.
Methodically he checked the place out.
He pointed out to all the debris and dirt on the window sill and how that was a sure breeding ground for bugs. Coupled with the perpetually closed up hallway windows, the humidity, warmth and serious lack of ventilation, if megabugs don't kiss and have sex, the whole place wouldn't be CALLED BUGSDOM!
Remember that all the windows face out to the corridor, so virtually all neighbors have them shut tight for obvious privacy issues.
Then he stared at all the old furniture in the house which was another sure sign of ideal breeding ground for bugs.
In fact, there were all these old marble table top panels, a mirror, yellowed newspapers and cardboard under my bed at that time, attracting dust, gunk and grime.
I had Uncle Goh and his pal removed them on the Sunday they came to spray Shieldtox on the mattress. Which didn't help and left that distinct pertoleum stench everywhere even though it is supposed to be odorless.
Next he inspected the metallic kitchen cabinets and as sure as FILTHY SEX IS BEST FOR SCUMS, there were roaches' eggs and little roach nymphs running about the place.
I wanted to puke at the sight of all these which I hadn't noticed before.
I think I REALLY NEED TO MOVE!
Third World Squalor
Final Rectification Of Web Glitches
You have read about my troubles filling up the online application form with MOE's RT registration webby.
So I paid a visit to the Customer Service Centre on Thursday morning (I had to submit my Uni application at the campus anyway which was just round the corner).
I showed the officer on hand my troubles. He saw the troubles and the computer department had to talk to me over the phone to troubleshoot the glitches before I could successfully fill in the form.
Half a day went just like that!
Mercenaries
My last shift-out day at Andy and Mabel's wasn't exactly a pleasant sent-off. That is only because being the GALL she is, and I know what sorta GALL she is, like I do so many of them out there, she WAS JUST HELL-BENT on kicking up SHITASS.
And so can I.
First she wilfully went out for a "short while" (in her exact words) with Ashley even though I have informed her LONG BEFORE that I am moving out at 4pm on SHIFT-OUT day.
She only returned 15 minutes before CUT-OFF time.
By then my first pre-arranged MaxiCab mover (yes, besides the $16 for an advance booking, like a day or hours before, plus the meter fare, you can pay extra for him to help move your barang-barang and today I had a change of three and I had to fork out $70 for 5 luggages, 3 big, 2 small, 3 cartons, one laundry basket plus a couple of other items) had arrived and I had to terminate his services as she wasn't home yet.
I called for the second and we agreed on $70. When he arrived, he wanted more and walked off. So I called for the third and he was more accomodating.
Meanwhile "The Woman" was checking out my room and still holding on to my $480 deposit.
In hanging up my luggages in her topmost wardrobe compartments, the cheap and probably undurable laminate had chipped off in small corners. Seriously it must be the quality of it all more than anything.
She proceeded to deduct from my deposit my 3 extra days of stay though she had previously agreed to a free extension if it wasn't unduly long. All in all, that shaved off 80 bucks from my deposit.
There you have it, A WOMAN CAN NEVER BE TRUSTED TO KEEP TO HER WORD!
More Troubles At Ma New Old Place
A ramshackled place, run down and old. The whole kitchen and toilet are ONE HUGE MESS - slime, grime and gunk.
The moment I tried closing the windows to my bedroom, one pane dropped off and broke into pieces.
Then, as if on cue, Aunt Sally had to change the padlock because the previous Indian couple tenant had apparently not returned her the house keys.
The equally new Malaysian tenant in the other room had plugged in an INTERNET wire to a wall socket which ran across my bedroom entrance. He could unplug it before he went to work in the morning but chose not to .
He even shoved my shampoo bottle to the soap holder without even asking me.
Worse of all, the toilet bowl had smudges of turds lining its insides and all round the rim of the bowl were urine and stains. So I scrubbed it real clean because for the next 6 months, I am gonna plonk my arse on it.
So I blew up and told him off. After I had poured half his bottle of shampoo down the toilet bowl just to wash it clean as I couldn't fnd any other cleaning detergent. Ok I admit I AM NOT THE HOLY HOST!
The last straw came when I discovered and killed three bed bugs (hey I have enough experience with them at Psycho's). I was itching and rashing the whole night I slept on the bed.
I rang Aunt Sally up and Uncle Goh (gosh, look at all the divergent surnames - mother, father and daughter : Lim, Goh and Leong - how can they be related unless Aunt Sally is divorced or were they just chief tenants subletting and Uncle Goh as a place of his own somewhere near the place because he can always hop over in doublequick time) came over and sprayed with an odorless insecticide.
It didn't help as I was still itching and rashing. She refused to replace with a new one so the RASH-perpetrating mattress and its protector is now out in the hallway and I am sleeping myself on the floor of the bedroom.
I have called in the National Environment Agency and I am gonna leave it to them to search out what other unsavouries lurk in the house. Some skin-outbreak causing organisms perhaps or other infectious disease-causing pests?
All the time, I had YELLED AND YELPED to all who traverse past my bedroom window (yes, you hear footsteps and all kinda noise here because this is a lift-level floor and you know what, the lift stops at 1, 5, 9 and 12 - what ridiculous numbers and can you imagine cargo that has to go up or down so many flights of steps?).
By now, most neighbors and that include the shop downstairs, must know of my plight.
Now I am on the search for another ROOM.
Another shift-out just 4 days after a BIG SHIFT-IN.
You have read about my troubles filling up the online application form with MOE's RT registration webby.
So I paid a visit to the Customer Service Centre on Thursday morning (I had to submit my Uni application at the campus anyway which was just round the corner).
I showed the officer on hand my troubles. He saw the troubles and the computer department had to talk to me over the phone to troubleshoot the glitches before I could successfully fill in the form.
Half a day went just like that!
Mercenaries
My last shift-out day at Andy and Mabel's wasn't exactly a pleasant sent-off. That is only because being the GALL she is, and I know what sorta GALL she is, like I do so many of them out there, she WAS JUST HELL-BENT on kicking up SHITASS.
And so can I.
First she wilfully went out for a "short while" (in her exact words) with Ashley even though I have informed her LONG BEFORE that I am moving out at 4pm on SHIFT-OUT day.
She only returned 15 minutes before CUT-OFF time.
By then my first pre-arranged MaxiCab mover (yes, besides the $16 for an advance booking, like a day or hours before, plus the meter fare, you can pay extra for him to help move your barang-barang and today I had a change of three and I had to fork out $70 for 5 luggages, 3 big, 2 small, 3 cartons, one laundry basket plus a couple of other items) had arrived and I had to terminate his services as she wasn't home yet.
I called for the second and we agreed on $70. When he arrived, he wanted more and walked off. So I called for the third and he was more accomodating.
Meanwhile "The Woman" was checking out my room and still holding on to my $480 deposit.
In hanging up my luggages in her topmost wardrobe compartments, the cheap and probably undurable laminate had chipped off in small corners. Seriously it must be the quality of it all more than anything.
She proceeded to deduct from my deposit my 3 extra days of stay though she had previously agreed to a free extension if it wasn't unduly long. All in all, that shaved off 80 bucks from my deposit.
There you have it, A WOMAN CAN NEVER BE TRUSTED TO KEEP TO HER WORD!
More Troubles At Ma New Old Place
A ramshackled place, run down and old. The whole kitchen and toilet are ONE HUGE MESS - slime, grime and gunk.
The moment I tried closing the windows to my bedroom, one pane dropped off and broke into pieces.
Then, as if on cue, Aunt Sally had to change the padlock because the previous Indian couple tenant had apparently not returned her the house keys.
The equally new Malaysian tenant in the other room had plugged in an INTERNET wire to a wall socket which ran across my bedroom entrance. He could unplug it before he went to work in the morning but chose not to .
He even shoved my shampoo bottle to the soap holder without even asking me.
Worse of all, the toilet bowl had smudges of turds lining its insides and all round the rim of the bowl were urine and stains. So I scrubbed it real clean because for the next 6 months, I am gonna plonk my arse on it.
So I blew up and told him off. After I had poured half his bottle of shampoo down the toilet bowl just to wash it clean as I couldn't fnd any other cleaning detergent. Ok I admit I AM NOT THE HOLY HOST!
The last straw came when I discovered and killed three bed bugs (hey I have enough experience with them at Psycho's). I was itching and rashing the whole night I slept on the bed.
I rang Aunt Sally up and Uncle Goh (gosh, look at all the divergent surnames - mother, father and daughter : Lim, Goh and Leong - how can they be related unless Aunt Sally is divorced or were they just chief tenants subletting and Uncle Goh as a place of his own somewhere near the place because he can always hop over in doublequick time) came over and sprayed with an odorless insecticide.
It didn't help as I was still itching and rashing. She refused to replace with a new one so the RASH-perpetrating mattress and its protector is now out in the hallway and I am sleeping myself on the floor of the bedroom.
I have called in the National Environment Agency and I am gonna leave it to them to search out what other unsavouries lurk in the house. Some skin-outbreak causing organisms perhaps or other infectious disease-causing pests?
All the time, I had YELLED AND YELPED to all who traverse past my bedroom window (yes, you hear footsteps and all kinda noise here because this is a lift-level floor and you know what, the lift stops at 1, 5, 9 and 12 - what ridiculous numbers and can you imagine cargo that has to go up or down so many flights of steps?).
By now, most neighbors and that include the shop downstairs, must know of my plight.
Now I am on the search for another ROOM.
Another shift-out just 4 days after a BIG SHIFT-IN.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
More Bites Of The Forbidden Cherry In The Garden Of Eden
Singaporeans, Here Are More Cherries For Foreigners To Chew On But Not Us
When I visited the webby for registration as a Relief Teacher, I stumbled across one admission criterion which was reserved for Expatriates and Foreign Nationals.
Just look at some of their benefits.
Remuneration
They are offered a contract of between 2 to 3 years, a variable non-pensionable annual allowance equal to 1 month's gross salary and when their contract ends, a tax-liable gratuity is paid out in lieu of CPF contributions.
Hey look, the contract teaching period is as good as securing a permanent job here while look at me, I can't even get to teach anywhere!
Isn't the gratuity as good as CPF contributions and they don't have to wait till 55 or 62 to withdraw? Wait, isn't this gonna be 65 very soon. All our money tied up like that when we can better invest it in some other forms of instruments yielding higher returns!
Here they are one up on the variable non-pensionable annual allowance (NPAA) while we are on par with them for the usual annual variable component (AVC) and performance bonus.
Allowances
Return air passage upon contract expiration for named applicant, spouse and 2 dependent children.
Whoa! The whole family gets on board too! What about us? Some free holiday perks for ourselves and our families? How about that?
Interim boarding/lodging allowance before permanently settling in and for some, housing allowance and education allowance for their children plus home leave thereafter.
Plus a settling-in INTEREST-FREE loan!!!!!!
Wah! So many kinda allowances and loans for them!
Look at what we fork out every month for our home loan (usually a bank loan) and the HDB concessionary (NOT EVEN FREE LEH) interest-rate loan has so many conditions attached!
Got education allowance for their children some more! How about some for us....
And home leave. We only get our ten plus days of public holidays and the usualy school holidays but they get more!
Preposterous! Singaporeans, if you don't revolt, we are all gonna suffer more INDIGNATION
Look Out, Nancy Drew Could Be Nearer You Than You Think
I just realised I committed some linguistic errors. So please look out for those words which should have been replaced with these words: "plum"....."regard"......."hark"......
Play the gall detective Nancy Drew if you must, ok?
She Is The Exceptional Gal
I am talking to my niece only because she is my niece. Period. Geddit?
The UnHoly Trinity Is EveryWhere
My loathing of the UnHoly Trinity remains. There are always some blimps sauntering past moi, usually at some sporting facilities. Yes, there are always the bimbs and wimps ........almost everyhwere...... You know how I have defined wimps. So I won't do it again.
I avoid them like the bubonic plaque.
Yeah, They Run Checks On Us, Even On Our Overseas Portfolios But Not The Foreigners, the SPRs And Naturalised Citizens
When I had a light banter with Mabel, she tossed up the exchange that perhaps the housing authority couldn't really have absolute control over overseas properties with respect to their ownership by foreigners.
But take note, the authority checks on us to see if we own either local or overseas private residential properties.
When I visited the webby for registration as a Relief Teacher, I stumbled across one admission criterion which was reserved for Expatriates and Foreign Nationals.
Just look at some of their benefits.
Remuneration
They are offered a contract of between 2 to 3 years, a variable non-pensionable annual allowance equal to 1 month's gross salary and when their contract ends, a tax-liable gratuity is paid out in lieu of CPF contributions.
Hey look, the contract teaching period is as good as securing a permanent job here while look at me, I can't even get to teach anywhere!
Isn't the gratuity as good as CPF contributions and they don't have to wait till 55 or 62 to withdraw? Wait, isn't this gonna be 65 very soon. All our money tied up like that when we can better invest it in some other forms of instruments yielding higher returns!
Here they are one up on the variable non-pensionable annual allowance (NPAA) while we are on par with them for the usual annual variable component (AVC) and performance bonus.
Allowances
Return air passage upon contract expiration for named applicant, spouse and 2 dependent children.
Whoa! The whole family gets on board too! What about us? Some free holiday perks for ourselves and our families? How about that?
Interim boarding/lodging allowance before permanently settling in and for some, housing allowance and education allowance for their children plus home leave thereafter.
Plus a settling-in INTEREST-FREE loan!!!!!!
Wah! So many kinda allowances and loans for them!
Look at what we fork out every month for our home loan (usually a bank loan) and the HDB concessionary (NOT EVEN FREE LEH) interest-rate loan has so many conditions attached!
Got education allowance for their children some more! How about some for us....
And home leave. We only get our ten plus days of public holidays and the usualy school holidays but they get more!
Preposterous! Singaporeans, if you don't revolt, we are all gonna suffer more INDIGNATION
Look Out, Nancy Drew Could Be Nearer You Than You Think
I just realised I committed some linguistic errors. So please look out for those words which should have been replaced with these words: "plum"....."regard"......."hark"......
Play the gall detective Nancy Drew if you must, ok?
She Is The Exceptional Gal
I am talking to my niece only because she is my niece. Period. Geddit?
The UnHoly Trinity Is EveryWhere
My loathing of the UnHoly Trinity remains. There are always some blimps sauntering past moi, usually at some sporting facilities. Yes, there are always the bimbs and wimps ........almost everyhwere...... You know how I have defined wimps. So I won't do it again.
I avoid them like the bubonic plaque.
Yeah, They Run Checks On Us, Even On Our Overseas Portfolios But Not The Foreigners, the SPRs And Naturalised Citizens
When I had a light banter with Mabel, she tossed up the exchange that perhaps the housing authority couldn't really have absolute control over overseas properties with respect to their ownership by foreigners.
But take note, the authority checks on us to see if we own either local or overseas private residential properties.
OnLine Data Entry Glitches
Have you ever tried filling in an online data entry form? Like a job application form for example?
An interactive form where you could actually fill in online and mail back to the sender?
A form which can move its margins and be misaligned? In fact most online forms are like that. That is only because it is interactive.
A form which you spent hours filling up, only to be prompted that the data has not been filled and when you next log on, it is empty of some of its contents?
And despite filling in many, many times, the form JUST doesn't fill up?
Not only that, you should see some of the default fields where the end dates are listed as X.X.9999 and you can't redefine this field to show the start and end dates.
Well, try the RT reigistration webby and see if it happens to you!
Monday, October 01, 2007
Educational Certificates And Higher Education
A Matter Of Getting My Educational Certificates
I woke up extra early today. I was able to only because I had turned in earlier than usual yesterday. The moment I opened my eyes, I swung into quick action.
First stop was the McDonalds cafe where I ordered breakfast and blogged my heart away. The end result is what you see here and below.
When I ended, I took the train to MOE HQ where a security guard scanned in my ID particulars before I could actually step into their Customer Service Department.
Here, I waited my turn.
When it came, I asked foa prir ntout of my GCE O and A level statements of results. Mind you, these were not replacement copies of the originals at all. As you remember, I had inadvertently thrown away all my certificates when I sprang cleant my home before selling it off.
The statements of results didn't come cheap. At $10 a piece for the A4 paper that they were, it could have been my day's spending money and more. I laminated them at a zapping machine shop later in the day, fearful that the flimsy paper quality would crumple under a weight load.
I woke up extra early today. I was able to only because I had turned in earlier than usual yesterday. The moment I opened my eyes, I swung into quick action.
First stop was the McDonalds cafe where I ordered breakfast and blogged my heart away. The end result is what you see here and below.
When I ended, I took the train to MOE HQ where a security guard scanned in my ID particulars before I could actually step into their Customer Service Department.
Here, I waited my turn.
When it came, I asked foa prir ntout of my GCE O and A level statements of results. Mind you, these were not replacement copies of the originals at all. As you remember, I had inadvertently thrown away all my certificates when I sprang cleant my home before selling it off.
The statements of results didn't come cheap. At $10 a piece for the A4 paper that they were, it could have been my day's spending money and more. I laminated them at a zapping machine shop later in the day, fearful that the flimsy paper quality would crumple under a weight load.
In The Pursuit Of A Higher Education
With my results in hand and their photocopies, I headed for UniSIM. The Uni campus was much further down the road right after where the Singapore Polytechnic is and just beside the Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
There was a direct bus service from MOE HQ to UniSIM so I boarded it.
When UniSIM came into sight, I got off and joined the multitude of students, some in their fashion togs, almost all young and a fair number of foreigners. A few dudes were smoking under its "Smoke Free Campus" banner and I knew that this was a street-smart uni for street-smart kids.
Real Uni education for the Real World, I thought.
I found my way to the Student Recruitment Office and looked at its two buttons on the number queue machine. One read : "SIM University" and listed its faculties while the other read: "SIM Global Education" and listed its foreign university partners.
I hit the first button, only to be told that I should have pressed the second. The print-out read "Partnership Program". Yes this was it. I was gonna do a BBM with RMIT, an Australian university that is celebrating its 120 years.
My queue number lighted and sounded and an education consultant attended to me. I asked a couple of questions, was handed a brochure and she certified a few of my documents.
Looks like this is gonna be a BIG STEP for me in acquiring a higher education and now I have to convince the university that I should be placed on a full-time accelerated program of 1 to 1.5 years, with no exemptions and at the cost of a same duration part-time degree program.
Anyway, this is all the time and money I can afford. Period.
Wish me luck!
More To Chew On - And I Fear For Us, Our Livelihoods And Our Everything
ReCap: Is The "One Bite Of The Public Housing Cherry" For Citizens Fair?
Let me reiterate how bad a deal true blue indigenous citizens are getting in the public housing department. In fact we are beginning to look and feel like the Red Indians of the Americas and we all know what happened to their lot and to their fate. They got booted out and gradually died out.
First, almost every single housing scheme is extended to SPRs and in many cases, the citizen named could actually be a naturalised citizen.
Even Non-citizens can partake of our public housing project in the resale (otherwise known as the secondary) market.
Then to make matters worse, even the HDB concessionary interesr-rate loans benefit our SPRs or Non-Citizens should one of their ranks eventually become a naturalised citizen.
Single Citizens do not have many choices and as far as policies go, they have only three recourses : the Single Citizen Scheme, the Joint Singles Scheme and the Orphan Citizen Scheme.
But wait till you get hold of this: the Orphan Citizen Scheme needs both our sets of parents to die while the Citizen(meaning naturalised citizen)/SPR Siblings Scheme allows theirs to be alive and they can visit for 5 long years. Almost as good as a permanent residency.
Now for the BIGGEST CABOODLE BANGA our housing authority slaps into our face.
When they permit this ruling, that means the Citizen/SPR siblings own one set of housing asset here while their parents own another back home in their own native land. Be it China, Indonesia or Malaysia. Not to mention, how our very rich SPRs probably own multiple housing assets all over the world.
And here we are, our housing authority questioning the kind of assets (private residential, commercial and industrial) and the number of such assets we own before allowing us to own a slice of the public housing pie and extending a concessionary interest-rate loan.
I can't see how the logic of the "one bite of the cherry" goes, can you? And we probably have to relook the same chanted-to-death mantra in every other educational, healthcare and employment policy our administrators have espoused.
Foreigners/SPRs/Naturalised Citizens Can But Native Citizens Can't
The Sunday times yesterday featured a rich Delhi-born, US-educated and green-card holder who eventually became our naturalised citizen.
I know of many such foreigners, SPRs or naturalised citizens among us, engaging in some sort of entrepreneurial work or activity. And it seems, usually with almost complete ease. Mind you, some are just operating out of a base here and they travel the world.
Whether they are creating job opportunities for locals or not remains a myth but
my guess is that the numbers are so small, it is probably a figure to be sniffed at.
You have proof how we citizens are being increasingly marginalised.
Do you need more?
When In Singapore, Do Not Do As The Singaporeans Do (A Short Reflection On What A Sunday Times Reporter Wrote And Of The Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum)
Hymns Of Praises Or A Room For A Lot More Improvement?
That is precisely how that diversity is gonna help us progress.
A foreign pair of eyes probably sees things here very differently. Sometimes for good, sometimes not so good.
Sure show respect for the host but constructive criticisms help. And especially if they are true.
I don't think our urban planning and design have been that fantastic as we have bragged about time and again but then it is comparatively better than some others.
Yes, let us not outdo ourselves on the topic of food either. Food can be just as lousy here. We can boast of a great variety of food, and ethnic food at that. But as to whether they measure up, that is quite another issue altogether.
Why Can't Gays Set The Tone For Society? How Do You Term Openness Anyway?
Are we any different from you? Only sexual preferences and sexual likes are different.
In fact, gays like myself, are advocating a better kind of society.
An open society. Not a society that is open to moral decline but one who is open with communication. Open to one true self. Above all, open to the truth. Open to what is REALLY happening out there. Not some of your ivory-tower, figment of imagination living. Because you live in charmed circles, that is why.
Our open-ness here has been associated to bar-top dancing, men's clubs and topless dance shows. What I will term the sleazeball openess.
But we are closed when it comes to so many matters of greater importance and good. Like allowing stable but different kinda family configurations. That of gay domicile partnerships or marriages.
Just Another Different Kinda Family Configuration
Let us face it, there are already many kinda different family configurations these days.
Divorcess or separatees living in with their new-found mates, thus creating step relationships. Older and younger copulations. Even foreign ones. We have chosen to sweep all these under the carpet and not talk about them
Is This Education Or A Prison Sentence?
We are as closed when enforcing discipline, rules and regulations in schools. We are so preoccupied with looks and appearances while overlooking the real function of education - opening up the heart, mind and soul.
Decency, no doubt, is called for but seriously, look at some of the kinda enforcements. Totally ridiculous.
Let Us Hope The Test Is Comprehensive And Suss Out And Tests What It Should
With all due respect, I cannot help but not concur with a reporter here. Maybe she was writing the exact opposite of what she really thinks.
Yes, certainly a short test of sorts about Singapore will help determine if a foreigner is worthy of being one of us. Let us just hope the test covers a lot more about the kinda life and expectations here. And it is just a test, nonetheless.
Maybe a writing test at a more profund level, closer to the Singapore heart topic would be more in order on top of short MCQs that should cover almost all of our history, culture, food and lifestyle.
Standard English, Singlish And National Integration
There is at least one thing I can agree with to some extent.
We can all lapse into our Singlish among our friends or among ourselves. There is no SIN to that. That does distinguishes us in some respects.
But to consistently do that especially when the occasion doesn't justify its use, is JUST putting ourselves at a HUGE disadvantage. During schooltime and when dealing with foreigners would be such occasions.
That is when it calls for some command of Standard English.
And yes, the new immigrants need to integrate and not live in enclaves of their own. That is a surety.
What We Can Be Thankful For, I Can Only Think Of One At The Moment, So Blow Me Down
An almost paperless society, everything going online or cashless. A true Computer and Information Age.
I will get back to you on the rest.
Shenanigans Revisited
Not only do the same few staid shenanigans dominate public, civil and corporate lives, they monopolise public discourse as well.
It is just like our media. The same few oft-repeated and safe topics have been reported so many times, Donald Trump's marriages and remarriages probably couldn't keep up.
And yet again, the same few angles and views are espoused and the same few ideas tossed around. Nothing new, nothing note-worthy, nothing incisive and worse, NOTHING TO HELP US PROGRESS away from the dark ages.
Shenanigans are everywhere.
I can name you the same few "popular" white-based ones dominating the English-language programs here in schools or in private. When I look at some of their handouts, it is certainly nothing much to crow about.
And yes, ex-teachers/educators/co-stewards and stewards of schools, who now run their own little private consultancies and companies, are favored too.
Shenanigans move from one public life to another. Then they plonk their fat asses onto boards of public-listed companies either as independent or alternate directors or some such appointments, even in active management roles.
Need I say more?
A Brainwashed And Psychoed Population That Can Only Mean Harm To Ourselves
That is what we have all become.
A nation psychoed and brainwashed into thinking we are not what we really are.
All the bigwigs (the state, religion, the media and schools) of our times have helped shaped this.
40 years on and I have not really seen a shred of change for the better among us, have you?
Kampung Days Are Here To Stay, So It Seems
I remarked to my sister how the pathways we were treading on were so awashed with puddles and sand and soil, it was almost like living in a kampung all over again.
I thought the one sole reason why we had chosen to live in an urbanised environment was precisely because of this but HOLY COW, aren't we like living this all over again?
Maybe Foreigners? Ok So I Don't Really Know But Hey Ain't Exactly First World People I See Here
And I commented to her how I don't see a shred of change in mannerisms or behavior or language spoken here when I look at the people around us. This is 40 years of "evolution".
Has education changed anything?
What Of A HIP Or NRP
Noise, dust and debris. Blockaded hot and stuffy living quarters, pathways, intrusion into our living spaces and contending with foreigners in our midst.
Water, gas and electricity shut-downs.
Can you blame me if I rather pick a new town? 5 years or more that is.
Let me reiterate how bad a deal true blue indigenous citizens are getting in the public housing department. In fact we are beginning to look and feel like the Red Indians of the Americas and we all know what happened to their lot and to their fate. They got booted out and gradually died out.
First, almost every single housing scheme is extended to SPRs and in many cases, the citizen named could actually be a naturalised citizen.
Even Non-citizens can partake of our public housing project in the resale (otherwise known as the secondary) market.
Then to make matters worse, even the HDB concessionary interesr-rate loans benefit our SPRs or Non-Citizens should one of their ranks eventually become a naturalised citizen.
Single Citizens do not have many choices and as far as policies go, they have only three recourses : the Single Citizen Scheme, the Joint Singles Scheme and the Orphan Citizen Scheme.
But wait till you get hold of this: the Orphan Citizen Scheme needs both our sets of parents to die while the Citizen(meaning naturalised citizen)/SPR Siblings Scheme allows theirs to be alive and they can visit for 5 long years. Almost as good as a permanent residency.
Now for the BIGGEST CABOODLE BANGA our housing authority slaps into our face.
When they permit this ruling, that means the Citizen/SPR siblings own one set of housing asset here while their parents own another back home in their own native land. Be it China, Indonesia or Malaysia. Not to mention, how our very rich SPRs probably own multiple housing assets all over the world.
And here we are, our housing authority questioning the kind of assets (private residential, commercial and industrial) and the number of such assets we own before allowing us to own a slice of the public housing pie and extending a concessionary interest-rate loan.
I can't see how the logic of the "one bite of the cherry" goes, can you? And we probably have to relook the same chanted-to-death mantra in every other educational, healthcare and employment policy our administrators have espoused.
Foreigners/SPRs/Naturalised Citizens Can But Native Citizens Can't
The Sunday times yesterday featured a rich Delhi-born, US-educated and green-card holder who eventually became our naturalised citizen.
I know of many such foreigners, SPRs or naturalised citizens among us, engaging in some sort of entrepreneurial work or activity. And it seems, usually with almost complete ease. Mind you, some are just operating out of a base here and they travel the world.
Whether they are creating job opportunities for locals or not remains a myth but
my guess is that the numbers are so small, it is probably a figure to be sniffed at.
You have proof how we citizens are being increasingly marginalised.
Do you need more?
When In Singapore, Do Not Do As The Singaporeans Do (A Short Reflection On What A Sunday Times Reporter Wrote And Of The Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum)
Hymns Of Praises Or A Room For A Lot More Improvement?
That is precisely how that diversity is gonna help us progress.
A foreign pair of eyes probably sees things here very differently. Sometimes for good, sometimes not so good.
Sure show respect for the host but constructive criticisms help. And especially if they are true.
I don't think our urban planning and design have been that fantastic as we have bragged about time and again but then it is comparatively better than some others.
Yes, let us not outdo ourselves on the topic of food either. Food can be just as lousy here. We can boast of a great variety of food, and ethnic food at that. But as to whether they measure up, that is quite another issue altogether.
Why Can't Gays Set The Tone For Society? How Do You Term Openness Anyway?
Are we any different from you? Only sexual preferences and sexual likes are different.
In fact, gays like myself, are advocating a better kind of society.
An open society. Not a society that is open to moral decline but one who is open with communication. Open to one true self. Above all, open to the truth. Open to what is REALLY happening out there. Not some of your ivory-tower, figment of imagination living. Because you live in charmed circles, that is why.
Our open-ness here has been associated to bar-top dancing, men's clubs and topless dance shows. What I will term the sleazeball openess.
But we are closed when it comes to so many matters of greater importance and good. Like allowing stable but different kinda family configurations. That of gay domicile partnerships or marriages.
Just Another Different Kinda Family Configuration
Let us face it, there are already many kinda different family configurations these days.
Divorcess or separatees living in with their new-found mates, thus creating step relationships. Older and younger copulations. Even foreign ones. We have chosen to sweep all these under the carpet and not talk about them
Is This Education Or A Prison Sentence?
We are as closed when enforcing discipline, rules and regulations in schools. We are so preoccupied with looks and appearances while overlooking the real function of education - opening up the heart, mind and soul.
Decency, no doubt, is called for but seriously, look at some of the kinda enforcements. Totally ridiculous.
Let Us Hope The Test Is Comprehensive And Suss Out And Tests What It Should
With all due respect, I cannot help but not concur with a reporter here. Maybe she was writing the exact opposite of what she really thinks.
Yes, certainly a short test of sorts about Singapore will help determine if a foreigner is worthy of being one of us. Let us just hope the test covers a lot more about the kinda life and expectations here. And it is just a test, nonetheless.
Maybe a writing test at a more profund level, closer to the Singapore heart topic would be more in order on top of short MCQs that should cover almost all of our history, culture, food and lifestyle.
Standard English, Singlish And National Integration
There is at least one thing I can agree with to some extent.
We can all lapse into our Singlish among our friends or among ourselves. There is no SIN to that. That does distinguishes us in some respects.
But to consistently do that especially when the occasion doesn't justify its use, is JUST putting ourselves at a HUGE disadvantage. During schooltime and when dealing with foreigners would be such occasions.
That is when it calls for some command of Standard English.
And yes, the new immigrants need to integrate and not live in enclaves of their own. That is a surety.
What We Can Be Thankful For, I Can Only Think Of One At The Moment, So Blow Me Down
An almost paperless society, everything going online or cashless. A true Computer and Information Age.
I will get back to you on the rest.
Shenanigans Revisited
Not only do the same few staid shenanigans dominate public, civil and corporate lives, they monopolise public discourse as well.
It is just like our media. The same few oft-repeated and safe topics have been reported so many times, Donald Trump's marriages and remarriages probably couldn't keep up.
And yet again, the same few angles and views are espoused and the same few ideas tossed around. Nothing new, nothing note-worthy, nothing incisive and worse, NOTHING TO HELP US PROGRESS away from the dark ages.
Shenanigans are everywhere.
I can name you the same few "popular" white-based ones dominating the English-language programs here in schools or in private. When I look at some of their handouts, it is certainly nothing much to crow about.
And yes, ex-teachers/educators/co-stewards and stewards of schools, who now run their own little private consultancies and companies, are favored too.
Shenanigans move from one public life to another. Then they plonk their fat asses onto boards of public-listed companies either as independent or alternate directors or some such appointments, even in active management roles.
Need I say more?
A Brainwashed And Psychoed Population That Can Only Mean Harm To Ourselves
That is what we have all become.
A nation psychoed and brainwashed into thinking we are not what we really are.
All the bigwigs (the state, religion, the media and schools) of our times have helped shaped this.
40 years on and I have not really seen a shred of change for the better among us, have you?
Kampung Days Are Here To Stay, So It Seems
I remarked to my sister how the pathways we were treading on were so awashed with puddles and sand and soil, it was almost like living in a kampung all over again.
I thought the one sole reason why we had chosen to live in an urbanised environment was precisely because of this but HOLY COW, aren't we like living this all over again?
Maybe Foreigners? Ok So I Don't Really Know But Hey Ain't Exactly First World People I See Here
And I commented to her how I don't see a shred of change in mannerisms or behavior or language spoken here when I look at the people around us. This is 40 years of "evolution".
Has education changed anything?
What Of A HIP Or NRP
Noise, dust and debris. Blockaded hot and stuffy living quarters, pathways, intrusion into our living spaces and contending with foreigners in our midst.
Water, gas and electricity shut-downs.
Can you blame me if I rather pick a new town? 5 years or more that is.
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