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.
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