The DPS And The Singapore Flyer (Updated)

An Auto Opt-In Dependants Protection Scheme - Is It Necessary Coverage When The CPF Money Already Has An Intestacy Law And A Nomination Scheme To Back It Up?
Guess what! When the renewal notice came up again this year, I took a really good look and asked myself why in the world have I been paying for the DPS for 20 good years of my life?

First, any CPF money which is usually tied up in our HDB asset, already comes with a nomination. If you don't nominate, it gets distributed according to the law of intestacy anyway.

So why is there this additional DPS coverage and is it necessary? It stops once you reach 60 and that to me is a critical year. This is the time you need it more than ever but somehow, this has eluded our policy-makers.

With these thoughts in mind, I decided to terminate my DPS there and then on the spot.

The Singapore Flyer
Not bad. It offered quite a unique experience. But of course , I soon learnt from a Chinese friend that they already have this ferris wheel back home in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China, god-knows-back-when.

However, I thought that as it stands now, the Singapore Flyer wasn't very accessible especially to people who do not drive or wanna take the shuttle bus. I had to get off the City Hall MRT station, exit the Esplanade gateway and walk all the way to the Singapore Flyer. Past concrete pavement and construction works-in-progress.

It was much like the Marina Barrage, a beautifully completed piece of sculpture but stranded out in no-man's land with all the surrounding dust, dirt, fumes and noise from construction works-in-progress.

There were more dining places here at the Singapore Flyer than there were retail shops. So there really wasn't very much to do except to eat save for the branded eye-wear and crocodile skin shops.

The gift shop was excellent. It had a colorful facade that attracted me from far and I was drawn to visit it at first sight because it was lighted up at night with various assorted colors. The gifts and souvenirs sold were also very uniquely us and the Singapore Flyer attraction.

I am sure in the day, the Flyer offers a good view of the deep blue sea and the surrounding skyline save for that blob of soil that is the Marina South Gardens By The Bay.

But in the night, it was one dark black blob and one black waterway. The view fronting the Marina Centre was of course a delight with all the city lights such as The Fullerton, the durianed Esplanade and the domed former Supreme Court now dubbed the Arts House.

As it rained earlier, some glass panels gathered mist and I wasn't able to look out through them. True, once the Flyer hit its peak, it was certainly a "Top Of The World" feeling (lyrics of a song popularised by The Carpenters) and I almost broke out into the song at that moment.

However boarding and alighting the Flyer while it was inching its way forward was a tad dangerous I thought though there were safety nets.

With the Flyer already in operation since March 2008, I am sure this night view can be further improved and enhanced with more city lights or street lights and lights lighting up the beautiful waterways.

Or do we still have to wait some more?

Yore, Whore, Core, Who Cares! (Updated)

Days Of Whore, I Mean Yore!
It first began with a little discomfiture in the throat. One or two coughs here and there before it spiralled into a whole massive physical display of bodily aches on a Sunday. My forehead was furrowed in pain .

There were intense moments of searing heat passing through my body followed by a shivering cold. Once in a while, I had to visit the loo to let go of my watery faeces.

I didn't wanna visit the doctor, what with the swine flu and the H1N1 viruses making a sweep of the globe. What if they played safe and decided to send me for the screening? I would be stuck in a hospital and a simple case of the cold and flu with fever could be mistakenly misdiagnosed and tornadoed into an infectious disease.

This went on and on throughout Sunday until it finally subsided on Monday morning. I was physically weak and yearned for sustenance. Nice plain good old porridge, what else! Nothing oily, nothing spicy, something bland for the sick taste-buds.

I thought it was all over. But heaven forbids, it wasn't the end. Still nursing a sneezy stuffy and runny nose, I started throwing up all that I ate Tuesday morning . I felt giddy. It was just one throw-up after another.

Again I told myself it will be all over soon and it finally did on Wednesday. I was glad I was alive and that I pulled through though at one point I wished I had sucuumbed and maybe then all my physical and other pains would end.

I went out for a whiff of fresh air in a neighboring mall and bought a table lamp because my eyes have been straining over the laptop and my assignment and reading in the gloomy and dimly-lit room.

Thank You For Making My Day
Meanwhile during the whole of my ordeal, I have been hounded for my property investment or should I rephrase that as my little mis-investment. There were threats of re-possession, forefeiture (leaving poor old me with zilch roof over his head) and worse still in the red, that have been going on for months.

On top of that, the Old Lady is also hounding me about work (as if it is any of her business and she is still getting her rent) and pulling a long face if she sees me at home. How come she doesn't look at her own son and what he is doing? Serial playboy and Ben does have Rick as a beau who stays with him and helps Ben look after his business.

She never asks about our well-being. To her it is just the tenancy that matters and the other day, I overheard her asking Raffy to pay up his rent. They used to lease out four rooms. Now it is five of the six bedrooms. Three bedrooms partitioned out of the hallway. Illegal for sure. And making big money. Foreign PR talent for you!

Ben's older brother has taken over their coffee-shop business in Malaysia, Ben has also leased out his shop-house and he has people running his tutorial services while he is doing god-knows-what. I pay rent and I give him my co-tenants. Money and sex!

Profile Of A Foreign Talent
Ben graduated from NTU in 1999 and it has been a good 10 years now. He probably worked a couple of years, bought this place (I am sure his rich parents or relatives chipped in), collect rent, bought another place and collect some more rent and went into the tutorial services.

He is only 36 and possesses a business degree on top of his teaching certifications. He has people running the businesses for him. People like his beau Rick and he is gonna retire rich when he reaps a windfall from the upcoming en-bloc sale of his place.

Just like my ex-roomie who is 26. The son of government officials and I hear from the Chinese, that such wealth is probably corruption-tainted.

He worked for 2 years in the booming property sector, struck it rich and is now pursuing "higher education". I am sure he has intentions of turning to the education sector now, perhaps as a testimonial himself for other wannabe prospective students. And we know agents earn like MONKEYS ON CANNABIS!

They are young, have many years ahead of them and they are already striking it very rich.

We Pay And Pay, They Take And Take And Grow Richer And Richer
Poor me isn't that young and I was denied my chances at this education field over and over again. Now that I am almost half dead with an eye-condition (and the other is set for an operation as well) and a bad back, I am going back to school to co-teach.

A hell-hole of screaming, noisy, loud young people at work or play. Usually.

They put me out here for the last three years (correction, this year begins my fourth year)without a roof over my head and I have been subjected to all kinds of indignity to the extent my health has never had it so bad before.

I have never thrown up or ran such high extreme temperatures before.

Like Ben and his 5 bedrooms, my school is doing well too. They have 50 classrooms in all, a spanking new city campus, they sign me on, take my money, I dunno if my cert is really recognised and I can't get a teaching job with them?

Everyone takes money from you, feed on you, they grow richer, you grow poorer.

I wanted to slap the writer hard who wrote of personal businesses for retirees in the national newspaper. Greying and with a foot in the grave , the money is probably good for tending to life's health issues than pleasure pursuits.

More Greed, More Money, More Wealth To Buy Her A Stately Tombstone And As For Ben...More PlayBoying?
Eversince Ben has moved out, the Old Lady has taken to renting out her room as well. I was at first harassed by this not-very-young couple and as I am not into blimps, I have clearly signalled that I wasn't interested and to steer clear of me.

I had helped the Old Lady dismantle the queen bed and she was kinda covetous in asking me for my orthopaedic mattress while taking away the queen mattress. This should be the job of Ben and Rick and they. The collectors of rent not me, a tenant.

I rolled over to the other side while asleep one night and the two thin mattresses triggered my back pain.

And these days, I have fucked care of the loo the foreigners have been soiling all this while.

Greedy old slutty dirty foreign talent for you!

More Give And Take - Seems More Like Take, Take, Take
I am also trying to avoid eating at this food mall downstairs.

I know they are the same owners of Ben's place and they are the same people leasing out the building to the KTVs. There you have it, they control all the primary physiological needs of shelter, sex and food.

I don't particularly like the stall-holders and the posturing of the smiling Old Fart who is the BIG BOSS! He must be RICH! Is he one of us or another foreign talent?

What? I give again?

Fuck you, you MotherFuckers!