The Great Financial And Emotional Depression And Distress (Updated)

Move To The Rear Where You Are Rear To Rear With Another Passenger (For Standing Passengers Only)
This is what all bus commuters are urged to do. I certainly applaud this move. The whole idea is to create space for more passengers to get on board and that standing passengers are evenly spread out .

However should standing passengers be even allowed on moving buses? And I suppose the same goes for trains.

There is the whole issue of sustaining injuries or even death should the bus jerk or brake or be involved in an accident. As it is, there are no safety belts to hold a seated passenger in place, much less a standing passenger.

And that narrow aisle in a bus has enough room for only one rear, not rear to rear with another fellow commuter which makes it look like a cheap way for posterior frottage fun that in most cases of non-consent amount to sexual molestation under the Penal Code.

So passengers please remember to exercise your judgement in moving to the rear. Don't squeeze into a small space next to another passenger and poke or jab your handbags or elbows into him. And yes please try not to block the entry/exit points as much as possible

Wait, We Can't Be Sure Your Products Are As Safe As They Claim To Be Now, Can We?
For sure, China is as guilty as hell of contaminating milk with melamine to gain an economic advantage.

But why pick on China alone?

Why don't we send more food, health and beauty product samples that not only originate from the Third World but also from the First World for evaluation and analyses.

But then again since the economic superpowers hold the invention rights plus the processing technology in some of these food, health and beauty products and all those corroborative scientific literature emanates from they and they alone, how are the rest of us able to analyse, substantiate or refute their safety and efficacy as they claim?

If even their Food And Drug Administration agency has not evaluated their claims, where do we stand and what can we say? Adios? Goodbye? Good luck? Can your own people first and then get to the rest of us?

Think genetically modified food, health supplements and beauty products and you begin to get the picture.

Oo, Yes, And All Those Equipment We Use
Extend that to medical appliances and medical apparatus that are used on us humans. And oh, don't forget, all the other equipment we humans use in the course of our daily life. Mobile technology, wireless technology and so on.

What kinda harm can they do on the side? Unintended cellular damage from UV emission and the like for example.

Silent And Noiseless Technology Next?
Maybe silent hair dryers and vacuum cleaners should be invented so that noise pollution isn't so much of an intrusion into our lives?

For that matter, anything from the ear-shattering whiz of aeroplanes or fighter planes to grass-cutting blades and motors?

The US Presidential And Vice-Presidential Debates
Obama got one thing absolutely right.

We all wanna see fundamental change and reform. In the way we live, work and play. That means a complete overhaul if it must, of the whole environmental, financial, social , political and whatever system we have now running in place.

We are not remotely interested in track records or battle scars. We wanna see change and change for the better and to move forward.

Not only do I think that the US's clean energy agenda (if it suceeds) is one of the key to world stability and sustanability, I think food sufficiency and defence technology are other areas too.

Obama came across as honest, direct and straight forward, none of the bambling about past glories, skirting issues, beating around the Bush (pun intended), promoting oneself, contrived or faked theatrics and the like.

Whether his term in office will oversee real change is another issue as was the case with past presidencies.

GDP And First World Measurement Indicators
If GDP is now deemed a deficient tool in measuring standards of living, maybe a relook and redefinition of the term "First World" is much needed?

Perhaps the construction component of GDP would be better received if it were the homes we live in or the places we work and play, not some places of worships?

And again there is no need for opulence. Bright, airy places with matching color schemes. Functional, well laid out and designed. Well maintained. Most importantly clean?

If moi has his way, a home should have as many balconies as possible. One each for the bedrooms, one for the living hall , one for washing and drying your laundry and yes another for cooking and washing.

When will the designers of homes ever get it right?

The Great Financial And Emotional Depression And Distress
Not only was the financial turmoil taking a toil on moi's financial and property investments, it was also sending moi spiralling into another depression of sorts, the Great Emotional Depression .

Room rentals are not cheap and even if you try to pay more for the sake of cleanliness, hygiene and comfort, you don't really get what you pay for.

First The Surrounds - The Estate, The Community And The Neighbors
Take this estate for example. Save for the newer blocks, moi is holed up in one of the few older, un-upgraded ones. It is dirty, has a lousy choice of color that makes it look dull and run-down and mostly uncouth old folks milling around. Even the kindergarten school is closed, perhaps a sign of this "ageing" estate.

It is a rough and tough neighborhood with all the old men behaving and talking like gangsters in their respctive dialects.

I can hear the grandma next door scolding her grandson in loud, crude and coarse Hokkien dialect and she has on an occasion threatened to pull out his teeth if he plays with his saliva or to beat him up. She talks loudly and aggressively with her friends over the telephone.

This is what I mean by that older generation. Totally uncouth and crude in their dialectical ways, steeped in their old habits, living in their own old world and folklore and old wives' tales whom I will not entrust my child for grandparenting

Her visitors saunter in and out of the home all the time and late into the night. All these are within earshot of my bedroom next to her home.

Then My "Home"
The porcelain squat pan has a V-shaped crack on its dish and it must be this crack which is holding the faeces (since it can't be flushed away) that makes it stink.

The flush hole is clogged with faeces that have accumulated because Ah Yong doesn't maintain it and his previous tenants or the former owner (who is a foreigner as Ah Yong tells me) didn't. It looks blackened and dirty and can't be washed off.

This reminds moi of my previous foregn tenants who do not scrub the flush hole or the insides of the toilet bowl after they defecate. They could at least use the showerhead to power-spray (in the absence of a scrub brush) away the faecal smudges that cake the sides but they don't.

Moi has to clean up after them. For the little money or even more money, it isn't worth the while to have quarrels, unhappiness and all that kinda trouble or problems.

Moi does not apologize for the way he treats those younger tenants, especially the school-age or younger adult ones. I am old enough to be a brother or father or uncle and they deserve everything they got from me.

Then the pipes are rusting and Ah Yong (the owner) has chosen a type of kitchen and toilet floor tiles that make it look dirty with the kinda design and color.

He hangs two big greasy and grimy towels blocking the toilet's entrance and exit and everytime moi walks into this loo, his face runs smack into them. So moi has taken to push them to a far side of the pole they are are hanging on.

The table and floor rugs are dirty and filthy. My washed laundry gets soiled and dirtied from GOD KNOWS WHAT lurking on the hang-laundry potholes or from GOD-KNOWS WHERE.

You Love Dogs? But Do You Have Time For Them? Rumours Are Ah Yong Isn't Working And He Goes To Stay With His Beau In Kampong Arang
He keeps two dogs and they run free and they shit on the rugs and floor. Then when moi complains, he caged them and this cage sits in the hallway and the stink of urine and faeces littered inside and around this cage waff around.

The manner of confinement for two bigger than usual hybrid Chihuahuas in one cage is just begging for the Animals And Birds Act to have Ah Yong arrested for inflicting unnecessary pain, distress and suffering (not to mention my own emotional distress and depression) on the dogs.

They yelp and whine in their cage when he goes off.

Ah Yong loves dogs. But he is not home all the time so I cannot imagine why he wanna keep them. He hid them away when moi came viewing the room and only reveal this when I have put down a deposit.

He says he is working but I suspect and as a neighbor confirms, he isn't.

Get This Right - No Kids Or Pets At This Stage Of My Life And First And Foremost A Roof Over My Head To Stay In - Not Sex With Anyone Indiscriminately
I am at this stage of life where kids or pets do not figure. I am practically a nomad and how can I take care or love dogs or kids when I have other issues to grapple with?

You must have time, energy and be in the proper mindframe to love and take care of another being right? When you are stressed and emotionally distressed, you can't.

One major life event at a time. That I can handle.

When I pick a place to stay, it is to stay. Not sex with anyone indiscriminately in the household. I am fed up with having to move for the 14th time now.

Assumptive Assumptions
There is perhaps an assumption that I will clean up the dogs, have them for company, stay home and look after them and take them out for walks. Pure presumption!

Furthermore the Chihuahuas may not be the kinda temperament for me and so on. I pick my breed and type and temperament. At the appropriate time.

People assume that X and Y persons are best beaus for you! X and Y things are good for you. You will be happy, etc, etc

Fuck your mother-asses!

My Own System For Coping And Mine Alone
One more thing! Ah Yong is not my beau. His beau is a Malaysian PR. He can take care of the dog for him and they both can fuck each other and do whatever.

Second, I have my own system. If my beau is a cleaner, a waiter, a technician or a cook, and if moi has his own place and I love him to death (Oo, yeah, China boy, I am into you), I have a system for coping with him.

If it is my kid or my pet, I am ready to take them on and have my system to cope with. Not someone else's kid or pet or beau. Not at this time.

I can't be coping with so many people with so many different systems and all under ONE ROOF!

Do you get it?

Air-Conditioning - I Have No Choice
Windows and doors have to be shut tight here because they face out to the corridor and to a block of flats opposite looking into yours and you can imagine the ill-ventilation and stuffiness and the smell.

I sweat inside my bedroom and it is the air-conditoner for me all the time. No choice.

Yes I am usually clad in underwear or with a bath towel wrapped around my waist. So?

My bedroom is really small and stacked with cartons and my luggages and there isn't space for a stand fan anymore without compromising on my other space.

This opposite block overshadows Ah Yong's block and you can imagine the gloominess and darkness of the whole place and the lack of wind.

Ah Yong initially agrees to include utilities in the rent but when moi moves in, he wants moi to foot the rest of the bill after a certain set quantum.

I WILL KILL YOU, AH YONG!

Finally The Neighborhood - Open Prostitution
An overhead pedestrain bridge is all that separates this residential estate fronting Guillemard Road from prostitution sleaze that is Geylang Lorong 24 opposite.

In fact some of the other lorongs are no better. Don't forget that Geylang in itself is a residence. That means families and people who live there, not engage in commercial sex.

How can sleaze co-exist with residence is beyond me.

In the daytime, you see Indian customers and a slew of either Filipinas or Indonesian streetwalkers. At night you see more of them and throw in Chinese nationals and you have a hotch potch of an international community.

The street walkers spill onto the bus stops, prostituting themselves and even at the eateries. It is crowded and on weekends it gets worse. Read: obstruction, danger and compromising on safety.

And The Sheer Numbers Of Foreign Workers
The foreign workers are let off their vehicular transport along the road or they are picked up. They crowd the bus-stops at night and moi is forced out onto the road to avoid them and it is a major road artery which has high traffic.

They sit and sleep and loiter anywhere and everywhere. The benches, the bridge, the pavillions, the parks, the void decks. It doesn't help that over at Old Airport Road which backs this estate, there is the construction of the Circle Line station Dakota and the foreign workers lounge around the pavillions when they take their breaks.

Building Our Economy For Free?
The foreign workers are building our economy all right. After they remit their money back home or when their countries start to develop, they go right down to build their own home country economies.

Question is, are they building our economy for FREE? Don't they get paid a fair wage?

So?

Environmental Public Health Act? Let The Public Places Lead And The Rest Will Follow?
Moi has taken to running at a track near the National Stadium which is closed.

Before that, it was the Jalan Besar stadium and this was carpet grass with strips of different green hues that makes it look like the Wembley stadium. It was soft and easy on the feet to run on.

But the footballers chased moi away until I fought back that since I was running on its perimeter, I ain't disturbing no-one. They can continue their training session and I will do mine while looking out for their soccer ball coming my way.

The people who run at this track here are mostly from the Sports Disability Centre. Now I am fully aware of whose ward I am staying at and of what I had said in an earlier blog. Does that mean I can't be honest and blog politically incorrectly?

You should see the state of the loo here before I complained. I am sure the Environmental Public Health Act would be put to shame once I send the NEA an email, aside from a protest appeal against a conviction for cigarette butting. It is a $200 fine and moi has good reasons to back him up that this isn't fair and the Act corroborates this.

When moi finishes his runs, he walks home and he has to bypass the contruction mess of soil, mud, puddles and dodge trailers carrying cement-mixers because of the Circle line construction. He has to clean his shoes after that.

Then fringing this estate is another Circle Line station Mountbatten. There is a foreign workers' dormitory and they utilise the unused buildings there too. You should see them filing past via a side-pathway here in sheer numbers.

Distinguish Between Visitation And Living
If you are just visiting a public place or a country for days or weeks or months and the whole place reeks of bugs, stink, filth, gunk and grime, you just tolerate and put up with it.

It is like a chalet, a holiday camp, a camp, a hotel, whatever.

To actually stay in one for long-term as a resident, day in and day out, is another matter altogether.

Fuck You, Urban Planners!
This estate is an epi-centre which is centrally located and brings you to any part of Singapore quite conveniently.

The two stalls still worth patronising at the old hawker centre are the Hougang famous wanton noodles and the hokkien mee.

Over at Tanjong Katong Road, the Punggol Nasi Lemak is worth an eat too.

But look how our urban planners have MESSED IT UP!

My Other Room Hunts
A three room flat with four bedrooms (yes a utility room and another room carved out of the hallway) and in total squalor housing foreigners. The owner didn't bother and of course the nature of the work of these foreigners just stack up to contribute to the filth inside.

Exercise Keeps Me Sane And The Blues At Bay
I have no control over the financial turmoil making its way around the globe.

But I have control over my health and body. That is something I am working on.

That means wide open spaces outdoors where I can run and breathe and I can only hope to train and scuplt my body as best as I can in the gym.

It is to keep sane and the blues at bay.

None of the indoor office politicking, bitching , endless coporate games one has to play, business wheeling and dealing, networking , business development, marketing, lying, deceit and the ruthless corporate ladder to climb!

Define "Long And Excessive"
Two medical history questionaires moi filled up for dental health consultations have a stumping question.

It asked if there was excessive and long period bleeding. I could guess that it was trying to determine haemophilia but seriously, how long or excessive is long and excessive?

When moi had his four teeth extracted, they bled profusely and "long". When moi had his forefinger slammed and cut into by a swinging heavy glass door, it bled "long" and profusely too. In fact a whole bath towel was soaked in my blood.

The latter case saw a long open wound that took a week and more to heal. I am glad to pronounce my forefinger can now bend normally and I didn't see a doc for that.

So how long is long?

Swinging Between Extremes
First we were highly Westernised and Americanised in most of our ways and now we wanna swing to the other end of the spectrum to make us more Chinese.

How is that gonna impact another generation, I wonder.

It is like talking to my obviously and confirmed gay ex-college mate who now probably stewards a school. We ask for practical designs for a school uniform and he oscillates to the other end, suggesting engaging a designer for that.