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.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
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.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Parochialism And Bigotry - We Are All Of Them And More
Here Is The Whole Clan Of The Next Generation
In chatting up my niece the other day, I couldn't help thinking she was the coolest cucumber in town. In fact if there should ever be a Nancy Drew detective sequel, I would pick her for the plump role.
She is one gal who distinguishes herself from the other galls I know.
I have even higher regards for my nephew, who is now working as a social worker for our prisons department after completing his Arts honours degree. The kinda low-paying, lowly status, looked down upon job but which he is slogging at because he is answering his calling.
My two other nephews are variously pursuing culinary and tourism studies, while another older nephew is actually working in the F&B trade. Both have been featured in the press.
I am sure they have done my sister proud and I am equally proud of them.
Another Wake-Up Call - Are Citizens Seriously Disadvantaged Here?
I am not sure what statehood means these days or how it has been redefined.
To me it means a certain amount of responsibility assumed by the state for ALL its citizens with regard to basics such as education, health, housing and jobs.
Increasingly, this seems to have been devolved to various private organisations. CPF monies(Medisave, Medishield and compulsory annuities) for one (it seems that the onus of healthcare have now passed to insurance companies) and even HDB concessionary interest-rate loan-outs are being outsourced to private banks.
It used to be that the HDB concessionary interest-rate loans are virtually extended to almost every citizen but now it comes with a slew of restrictions and eligibility criteria. Chief among which are the number of times you have taken such a loan and the housing subsidy, the size of your current or next flat purchased or sold, income and if you own a private, industrial or commercial property and if so, how many and do you run it yourself.
One bite of the cherry, as they always defend themselves with but as I have time and again highlighted, our SPRs (and Non-Citizens only in the resale market) seem to have multiple gos at almost every "single" (oops, pun unintended) spousal scheme we have in which they can jointly apply for a flat with a SC (Singapore Citizen) in various tenancy arrangements in both the primary and secondary market.
I am growing tired so I will not blog about the other basic responsibilities though I have briefly touched on health and jobs earlier.
Someone do the thinking and critique them.
School Rankings Based On Schools' Achievements
Yes the rankings have changed and now schools with similar "O" or "N" level academic aggregates (the L1B5 and L1B4) are banded together right along their other achievements in the various categories of best practices, academic value-add plus a host of others.
Each is graded with stars, the more boldened stars, the higher the ranking. But what each EXACTLY entails isn't really clear-cut because by just stating processes and outcomes or academic value-add simply do not define what they are.
I feel that the ranking should not have been necessary in the first place. Neither do getting the students into a flurry of signing up for various compulsory arts, sports or cca activities just to pull up the schools' rankings or gain credits.
In fact,half the 10 secondary schools who bested the table were all-girls while only 2 all-boys' schools did well enough. The rest were co-educational ones. What this means is that girls are probably better at this kinda airy-fairy, purely academic stuff and the boys' schools featured were probably wimps.
Unsound Premises On Which Are Predicated Some Of Our Policies And Thinking And This Will Bring On Long Term Disastrous Effects
It is precisely because that so many of our policies and thinking have been predicated on unsound premises and values that they signal confusion, loathe and kiasuism. The above citation is one fine example. Scoring points.
I envisage no ranking at all. But what I do envision is this: half the curriculum time being alloted to a dose of realism. That means getting students to experience, think about, write and espouse their stance and criticsms on various issues that will impact their lives even more.
Starting from schools, their schools' policies, to their jobs (part-time vacational ones for instance), the community they live in, at home, their interactions with the community and the state and its agencies and so on.
Real education for the real world
Bottoms Up - The Community Is The Devil And So You Will Deserve All That You Are Getting Now
By now I am positively sure it is the community who is at work here. They are the ones who because of various jealous streaks have agitated for what we are now beginning to see as a slew of prohibitions that are killing us the citizens and bringing in the foreigners.
If I do agitate, it will be for improvements and betterment but this does not seem to be what the rest is advocating.
Good for you people! You deserve everything you are getting now!
I Trust Myself And To Several Gods Higher Than Me
As I have warned my sisters, I will not listen to most of the coffee-shop talk that goes on. The falsities, the half truths and the untruths. The mis-information. The bad advice. The fuel to the fire.
The spirits and the gods. The superstitions. The uncles and aunties, the bengs and the lians. And a whole lot more.
Education and wealth measure nothing. Even among them, the educated and the highly educated and the rich and famous, things can be just as bad.
In myself I trust and in the God of The Information Age, The God Of Research and Of The God Of True Science And Of Logic And Good Reasoning.
Blogging Presents A Different Medium For Espousing Views That Traditional Media Shuns Or Are Afraid To Espouse
Blogs are written straight from the heart and good bloggers check their facts to ensure accuracy and up-to-dateness.
They write from experience from the ground. Usually something that journalists do not have first hand experience or knowledge of. Bloggers also write without fear and espouse viewpoints the mainstream media would not even dare think about, let alone write.
There is that element of political correctness which journalists have to observe while bloggers carry with them the "to hell with it" attitude
Bloggers can also come up with that 360 degree radical idea or proposition as opposed to the same few safe and tried standpoints that the traditionalists and conservationalists would toss around. Almost like flogging the same dead horse to its ultimate death.
So blogs play an important role if you wanna hear the true side to a story or a different, often radical but correct viewpoint or stand on an issue.
Not the same parrot parroting the same lines over and over again.
The Penal Code : Sexual Grooming
If I were to go by a reporter's article on sexual grooming, I have much to fear.
I mean I have caressed Ashley's hair more than a dozen times and ribbed him on so many occasions. I have blown into his face and variously expressed mock disgust when he mentions "galls", only to watch him squeal in delight and cracking up in laughter.
I have given him the purported gall's half of a McDonald's "Hello Kitty" toy and enunciated words in a high-pitch voice just for laughs.
Oh gosh, so is it just child's play or am I guilty of sexual grooming? Perhaps the mother would groom him worse, wouldn't she? Wouldn't Ashley pick up more of her traits than he would from me? All those women's traits?
I guess I am just carried away and being way off the mark. After all, sexual grooming is more like grooming someone for sexual exploitation like molest or rape, isn't it?
In chatting up my niece the other day, I couldn't help thinking she was the coolest cucumber in town. In fact if there should ever be a Nancy Drew detective sequel, I would pick her for the plump role.
She is one gal who distinguishes herself from the other galls I know.
I have even higher regards for my nephew, who is now working as a social worker for our prisons department after completing his Arts honours degree. The kinda low-paying, lowly status, looked down upon job but which he is slogging at because he is answering his calling.
My two other nephews are variously pursuing culinary and tourism studies, while another older nephew is actually working in the F&B trade. Both have been featured in the press.
I am sure they have done my sister proud and I am equally proud of them.
Another Wake-Up Call - Are Citizens Seriously Disadvantaged Here?
I am not sure what statehood means these days or how it has been redefined.
To me it means a certain amount of responsibility assumed by the state for ALL its citizens with regard to basics such as education, health, housing and jobs.
Increasingly, this seems to have been devolved to various private organisations. CPF monies(Medisave, Medishield and compulsory annuities) for one (it seems that the onus of healthcare have now passed to insurance companies) and even HDB concessionary interest-rate loan-outs are being outsourced to private banks.
It used to be that the HDB concessionary interest-rate loans are virtually extended to almost every citizen but now it comes with a slew of restrictions and eligibility criteria. Chief among which are the number of times you have taken such a loan and the housing subsidy, the size of your current or next flat purchased or sold, income and if you own a private, industrial or commercial property and if so, how many and do you run it yourself.
One bite of the cherry, as they always defend themselves with but as I have time and again highlighted, our SPRs (and Non-Citizens only in the resale market) seem to have multiple gos at almost every "single" (oops, pun unintended) spousal scheme we have in which they can jointly apply for a flat with a SC (Singapore Citizen) in various tenancy arrangements in both the primary and secondary market.
I am growing tired so I will not blog about the other basic responsibilities though I have briefly touched on health and jobs earlier.
Someone do the thinking and critique them.
School Rankings Based On Schools' Achievements
Yes the rankings have changed and now schools with similar "O" or "N" level academic aggregates (the L1B5 and L1B4) are banded together right along their other achievements in the various categories of best practices, academic value-add plus a host of others.
Each is graded with stars, the more boldened stars, the higher the ranking. But what each EXACTLY entails isn't really clear-cut because by just stating processes and outcomes or academic value-add simply do not define what they are.
I feel that the ranking should not have been necessary in the first place. Neither do getting the students into a flurry of signing up for various compulsory arts, sports or cca activities just to pull up the schools' rankings or gain credits.
In fact,half the 10 secondary schools who bested the table were all-girls while only 2 all-boys' schools did well enough. The rest were co-educational ones. What this means is that girls are probably better at this kinda airy-fairy, purely academic stuff and the boys' schools featured were probably wimps.
Unsound Premises On Which Are Predicated Some Of Our Policies And Thinking And This Will Bring On Long Term Disastrous Effects
It is precisely because that so many of our policies and thinking have been predicated on unsound premises and values that they signal confusion, loathe and kiasuism. The above citation is one fine example. Scoring points.
I envisage no ranking at all. But what I do envision is this: half the curriculum time being alloted to a dose of realism. That means getting students to experience, think about, write and espouse their stance and criticsms on various issues that will impact their lives even more.
Starting from schools, their schools' policies, to their jobs (part-time vacational ones for instance), the community they live in, at home, their interactions with the community and the state and its agencies and so on.
Real education for the real world
Bottoms Up - The Community Is The Devil And So You Will Deserve All That You Are Getting Now
By now I am positively sure it is the community who is at work here. They are the ones who because of various jealous streaks have agitated for what we are now beginning to see as a slew of prohibitions that are killing us the citizens and bringing in the foreigners.
If I do agitate, it will be for improvements and betterment but this does not seem to be what the rest is advocating.
Good for you people! You deserve everything you are getting now!
I Trust Myself And To Several Gods Higher Than Me
As I have warned my sisters, I will not listen to most of the coffee-shop talk that goes on. The falsities, the half truths and the untruths. The mis-information. The bad advice. The fuel to the fire.
The spirits and the gods. The superstitions. The uncles and aunties, the bengs and the lians. And a whole lot more.
Education and wealth measure nothing. Even among them, the educated and the highly educated and the rich and famous, things can be just as bad.
In myself I trust and in the God of The Information Age, The God Of Research and Of The God Of True Science And Of Logic And Good Reasoning.
Blogging Presents A Different Medium For Espousing Views That Traditional Media Shuns Or Are Afraid To Espouse
Blogs are written straight from the heart and good bloggers check their facts to ensure accuracy and up-to-dateness.
They write from experience from the ground. Usually something that journalists do not have first hand experience or knowledge of. Bloggers also write without fear and espouse viewpoints the mainstream media would not even dare think about, let alone write.
There is that element of political correctness which journalists have to observe while bloggers carry with them the "to hell with it" attitude
Bloggers can also come up with that 360 degree radical idea or proposition as opposed to the same few safe and tried standpoints that the traditionalists and conservationalists would toss around. Almost like flogging the same dead horse to its ultimate death.
So blogs play an important role if you wanna hear the true side to a story or a different, often radical but correct viewpoint or stand on an issue.
Not the same parrot parroting the same lines over and over again.
The Penal Code : Sexual Grooming
If I were to go by a reporter's article on sexual grooming, I have much to fear.
I mean I have caressed Ashley's hair more than a dozen times and ribbed him on so many occasions. I have blown into his face and variously expressed mock disgust when he mentions "galls", only to watch him squeal in delight and cracking up in laughter.
I have given him the purported gall's half of a McDonald's "Hello Kitty" toy and enunciated words in a high-pitch voice just for laughs.
Oh gosh, so is it just child's play or am I guilty of sexual grooming? Perhaps the mother would groom him worse, wouldn't she? Wouldn't Ashley pick up more of her traits than he would from me? All those women's traits?
I guess I am just carried away and being way off the mark. After all, sexual grooming is more like grooming someone for sexual exploitation like molest or rape, isn't it?
Friday, September 28, 2007
Hey People, More To Chew On Here!
Hitting The Books Again?
When I visited the webbies of our purported 4th university (until other plans to set up another are firmed up), there were two. One, it appears, has a list of its university-conferred status of academic courses while the other largely remains to be its former self.
It is this "former self" that my hopes and aspirations lie in pursuing a Business Management Bachelor's at an affordable course fees and a speedy pathway of a year or more.
I would love doing my studies at SMU but the academic calendar is too long and I don't think I qualify for any advanced standing and fees are runaway.
I don't see myself qualifying for any scholarships. Hey, I thought a Claire Chiang Economics scholarship would help defray some of the costs but I don't think I will do her justice!
I just don't have the head for too many theoretical economic models or economic mathematics.
After all, my end is just to flash a piece of paper (useless as it seems) when I graduate to help me grab a job.
A Hybrid - Liberal Arts Cum Technical/Life Skills University
So the fourth university could perhaps be a hybrid between a liberal arts and technical/life skills kinda college.
This Is Yet Another Laugh
While I was sitting across from a junior college dude, I couldn't help noticing the title of his handouts: "Market Failure, Government Intervention".
When we chatted, I found out that the syllabi had remained largely unchanged, despite indications to the contrary. They were still studying those BIG PARABOLAS enveloping SMALLER PARABOLAS and yes, the economists among their teachers haven't told them how they can apply this in the REAL WORLD.
I wanted to laugh out so loud, GOD would be tickled pink if he could hear me.
How about changing the handouts to "Market Lucrativeness And Opportunities, Government Intervention "?
The Same Few Shenanigans Over And Over Again
To me, shenanigans are the same few people or corporations that seem to dominate civil, public and corporate life.
We have seem them at work in our retail businesses - the fashion houses, the sporting houses and the food industry. To the virtual exclusion of upstarts or newstarts, which can't be a good thing for neither competitive nor "new economy" reasons.
Again shenanigans (usually pro-estab players) monopolise public and civil lives then muscle in onto private corporations going public (meaning a public listing).
They sometimes hold independent or alternate directorships and that means private/public companies are effectively pro-estab instituted shenanigan types.
Another Small Reunion
Yesterday marked another small reunion between my three sisters and me. This time it was held at my second sister's home. It has been a good two years since I have visited anyone. In fact my brother-in-law had remarked that I must have gone missing in person.
My niece is indeed in junior college. She is all grown up too and she isn't doing too well for her first year, no thanks to the kinda subject-combi stipulation that she has to take up to fulfill a minimum number of H1 and H2 subjects to make up for a pass in her promos.
As I see it, my eldest sister needs dentures, almost all of us need some form of dentitional reworking and we need a a long overdue and thorough medical check-up. In fact both my second sis and I need our eyes checked. So many things, so little money and so long a wait in time.
Everything remains about the same. There are still those suspicions and misgivings about one another and I know it is gonna be a minefield trying to steer myself clear in this sea of human dynamics.
A New Discovery - A New Town With New Facilities And A Better Lay-Out
After finishing my visit, I took a cab back home. It was late and I was tired and I had on me, a loadful of barang barang I had to cart home.
This cab took me on a straight and narrow road from Sengkang East Road to BuangKok Green and finally along the whole stretch of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 which would see me getting "home".
Somehow this journey scuttled my plans to settle for the very old neighborhood I thought I would make my final abode.
Because right here, I found that I was sorta at the epicentre of various towns and a bus ride away to a natural reserve. Even within walking distance of many planned new facilities like a dammed up reservoir and sporting amenities.
It is a new neighborhood (thus a better layout design) but prices are sky-high. Let's see if my funds can afford me this!
The Old Ang Mo Kio
It is as if life has stood still here. Parts of Ang Mo Kio Old New Town are just like that.
There are all those very old neighborhood shops here, still running businesses the way they were and the people dressing and behaving in exactly the same period.
Neighbors still burn their joss and paper outside the five-foot-way and with flat windows facing out to the corridors, the rest of us have to bear the brunt of this onslaught.
The New Serangoon
My third sis' home has also undergone a major upgrading. One of its two lifts have been shut down and instead, the remaining one stops on every floor and another has been erected at the other end of the block.
Its corridors are so wide, too wide in fact that they have perhaps eaten into grounds which could have gone into bigger spaces for the flats' interior, as contrasted to the narrow ones at Sin Ming Road.
I can't make anything out of what our administrators are thinking about here, can you?
Both Parents Are Alive And 5 Long Years Is As Good As Being Permanent Residents Here
I ran into a China dude the other day and we chatted each other up.
I found out that a long-term pass (not those reserved for the mother or grandmother of a foreigner studying here on a student pass which is only valid for about six months) for a visitor visiting a naturalised citizen or SPR is actually 5 years.
5 years people! And when you compare the Orphan (meaning both father and mother must be long dead, you mean you can't even provide for one dead and one alive?) Citizen Scheme reserved for locals to the Citizen/SPR Siblings Scheme for a naturalised citizen or SPR, that means the Citizen/SPRs' parents (who are both alive) can visit for 5 long years!
This is twice as good if not better a deal than the Orphan Citizen Scheme. One, both sets of our parents must die and two, the Citizen/SPR Scheme can have their pair of parents visiting for 5 long years which is as good as being permanent residents.
Hey, administrators, what about cutting a better deal for your own citizens?
When I visited the webbies of our purported 4th university (until other plans to set up another are firmed up), there were two. One, it appears, has a list of its university-conferred status of academic courses while the other largely remains to be its former self.
It is this "former self" that my hopes and aspirations lie in pursuing a Business Management Bachelor's at an affordable course fees and a speedy pathway of a year or more.
I would love doing my studies at SMU but the academic calendar is too long and I don't think I qualify for any advanced standing and fees are runaway.
I don't see myself qualifying for any scholarships. Hey, I thought a Claire Chiang Economics scholarship would help defray some of the costs but I don't think I will do her justice!
I just don't have the head for too many theoretical economic models or economic mathematics.
After all, my end is just to flash a piece of paper (useless as it seems) when I graduate to help me grab a job.
A Hybrid - Liberal Arts Cum Technical/Life Skills University
So the fourth university could perhaps be a hybrid between a liberal arts and technical/life skills kinda college.
This Is Yet Another Laugh
While I was sitting across from a junior college dude, I couldn't help noticing the title of his handouts: "Market Failure, Government Intervention".
When we chatted, I found out that the syllabi had remained largely unchanged, despite indications to the contrary. They were still studying those BIG PARABOLAS enveloping SMALLER PARABOLAS and yes, the economists among their teachers haven't told them how they can apply this in the REAL WORLD.
I wanted to laugh out so loud, GOD would be tickled pink if he could hear me.
How about changing the handouts to "Market Lucrativeness And Opportunities, Government Intervention "?
The Same Few Shenanigans Over And Over Again
To me, shenanigans are the same few people or corporations that seem to dominate civil, public and corporate life.
We have seem them at work in our retail businesses - the fashion houses, the sporting houses and the food industry. To the virtual exclusion of upstarts or newstarts, which can't be a good thing for neither competitive nor "new economy" reasons.
Again shenanigans (usually pro-estab players) monopolise public and civil lives then muscle in onto private corporations going public (meaning a public listing).
They sometimes hold independent or alternate directorships and that means private/public companies are effectively pro-estab instituted shenanigan types.
Another Small Reunion
Yesterday marked another small reunion between my three sisters and me. This time it was held at my second sister's home. It has been a good two years since I have visited anyone. In fact my brother-in-law had remarked that I must have gone missing in person.
My niece is indeed in junior college. She is all grown up too and she isn't doing too well for her first year, no thanks to the kinda subject-combi stipulation that she has to take up to fulfill a minimum number of H1 and H2 subjects to make up for a pass in her promos.
As I see it, my eldest sister needs dentures, almost all of us need some form of dentitional reworking and we need a a long overdue and thorough medical check-up. In fact both my second sis and I need our eyes checked. So many things, so little money and so long a wait in time.
Everything remains about the same. There are still those suspicions and misgivings about one another and I know it is gonna be a minefield trying to steer myself clear in this sea of human dynamics.
A New Discovery - A New Town With New Facilities And A Better Lay-Out
After finishing my visit, I took a cab back home. It was late and I was tired and I had on me, a loadful of barang barang I had to cart home.
This cab took me on a straight and narrow road from Sengkang East Road to BuangKok Green and finally along the whole stretch of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 which would see me getting "home".
Somehow this journey scuttled my plans to settle for the very old neighborhood I thought I would make my final abode.
Because right here, I found that I was sorta at the epicentre of various towns and a bus ride away to a natural reserve. Even within walking distance of many planned new facilities like a dammed up reservoir and sporting amenities.
It is a new neighborhood (thus a better layout design) but prices are sky-high. Let's see if my funds can afford me this!
The Old Ang Mo Kio
It is as if life has stood still here. Parts of Ang Mo Kio Old New Town are just like that.
There are all those very old neighborhood shops here, still running businesses the way they were and the people dressing and behaving in exactly the same period.
Neighbors still burn their joss and paper outside the five-foot-way and with flat windows facing out to the corridors, the rest of us have to bear the brunt of this onslaught.
The New Serangoon
My third sis' home has also undergone a major upgrading. One of its two lifts have been shut down and instead, the remaining one stops on every floor and another has been erected at the other end of the block.
Its corridors are so wide, too wide in fact that they have perhaps eaten into grounds which could have gone into bigger spaces for the flats' interior, as contrasted to the narrow ones at Sin Ming Road.
I can't make anything out of what our administrators are thinking about here, can you?
Both Parents Are Alive And 5 Long Years Is As Good As Being Permanent Residents Here
I ran into a China dude the other day and we chatted each other up.
I found out that a long-term pass (not those reserved for the mother or grandmother of a foreigner studying here on a student pass which is only valid for about six months) for a visitor visiting a naturalised citizen or SPR is actually 5 years.
5 years people! And when you compare the Orphan (meaning both father and mother must be long dead, you mean you can't even provide for one dead and one alive?) Citizen Scheme reserved for locals to the Citizen/SPR Siblings Scheme for a naturalised citizen or SPR, that means the Citizen/SPRs' parents (who are both alive) can visit for 5 long years!
This is twice as good if not better a deal than the Orphan Citizen Scheme. One, both sets of our parents must die and two, the Citizen/SPR Scheme can have their pair of parents visiting for 5 long years which is as good as being permanent residents.
Hey, administrators, what about cutting a better deal for your own citizens?
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Reality Check
A Happy Meal Only Because Of A Mental Paradigm Shift
I had always asked after 4 pieces of McNuggets rather than the 6 or more that is in a "standard Adult" meal but was invariably told that that came in a Kids' Happy Meal package.
When Mabel told me that it is ok if I bought one and Ashley had, at various times flashed his free toy gifts, I decided that I should buy one today. And I did.
It was much cheaper at $4.60 and I wasn't ravenous enough to wolf down 6 or more pieces, so 4 was just nice. The drink was a smaller cup but the fries wasn't any much lesser.
On top of that I get a free toy gift that changes every week.
What a paradigm shift can do for one, don't you think? And I am a kid all over again!
A Matter Of A Rights Issue
My stock pick had yielded a rights issue. Two kinds of issue in fact.
One a board lot while another is an odd-lot or so it seems. If you ask me, the odd-lot (which to me would be an odd number, thus odd lots divisble by odd numbers that is) sounds no different from a board lot.
Given my free entitlement, I would have thought it qualified to be traded under either lot and after a few checks, I confirmed that it could.
I found out about the rights issue's impending listing online, a few days before what is termed "the trading of its nil-paid rights issue", a really short window period of just 10 days.
I frantically made a few calls to find out what it is all about and what I had to do. Along the way, I was informed as well as misinformed, and I miscalculated my sums too.
It was a 1 for 4 rights issue and from my mothershare holdings, I was able to determine my entitlement. And it was a kind of free giveaway shares too. I was told the subscription was compulsory when the truth of the matter is that I could let the offer lapse.
I wasn't the least bit interested to subscribe for them, as I feel I have more than sufficient of its main stock, but I was certainly keen to dispose of my free entitlement which will yield me some profit for nothing.
More information came to light when I picked up its rights offering prospectus and this was made available only after the trading period started.
So much for all the hassle the past ten days because the whole exercise came to nought when there were no buyers for my lots.
You Aint The Owner, Aunt Sally, So Wassup?
I paid Aunt Sally a deposit for a room, a room I will occupy only in the first week of October.
We flashed our IDs and she is obviously a Singaporean.
She claims ownership of the flat but she travels to KL to help her daughter look after their shop and she is only in Singapore two days every month.
Thus I had to be extra careful . I mean she could just disappear with my money and so what if she had given me her two Singapore mobile numbers and a Malaysian one? They can keep ringing or get answered by an answering machine and how am I to even trace her to her Malaysian shop and residence.
After we signed the lease agreement (and she had no copy for me to take away), she remained mostly uncontactable once she was in KL.
When I checked and found out that the house belonged to a single woman, I had to stop payment on the deposit cheque, just as a precautionary measure.
She rang to say that the cheque did not go through, I excused myself on the grounds that there must be some discrepancy in writing out the cheque and reconfirmed my tenancy.
She told me she needed the money to buy an electric iron and prompted me to purchase one for her as it is now within the promotional period. I checked and found out that it is out of stock.
Let us see what happens in the days ahead.
Security LoopHole No 1 - A Question Of Real Identity
Yes people, we can now check on who owns a public flat. It is an online thingy. Unfortunately the information can be misleading.
For example, a married couple owner should rightfully be addressed with the salutations Mr and Madam. I am not sure what is the criterion our tax people use but couples have been variously labelled Mr and Miss or Mr and Madam.
Single females have been duly salutated as Miss and there is no confusion here.
After we got that right, we now have to verify that the people occupying the places are who they claim to be. One way is examine their identity cards but seriously folks, some of the photographs may look so different from the person standing right in front of you.
I mean a person can change his appearances because of a change of hairstyle or hair color or hair length or of a matter of being with or without glasses or of weight or of age.
So who can tell?
But if it is a fake, meaning that another person's photograph has been superimposed on another person's identity card, you have no way of telling them apart, can you? You just have two persons running around with the exact same personal particulars.
Remember the case of Chris the last time? That could well be what has transpired, couldn't it?
Matters get worse if we only have duplicates because so many things can be altered.
Security LoopHole No 2 - A Matter Of Keying In Or Signing Off Once You Get Hold Of Someone's Visa Card's Particulars Or ChequeBook
Once you get hold of someone's visa card's particulars (and you don't even need the original, just copy and write down or photocopy), you just have to key in all the personal and visa card information presented on it to pay for almost any online transactions.
The same goes for a chequebook if you can forge the owner's signature.
Praise God For Higher Gods - The God Of The Internet And Of The God Of The Computer Age
Seriously, it is to the Internet and in part to the Information/Computer Age and our national efforts to fully computerise and go online (e-government as they termed it) that I owe the debt of receiving the gift of easily accessible and available electronic databases.
If I want to read up on our statutes or learn about a certain policy, I had to buy them or telephone or call on a government officer back then. Sometimes you could be mislead or misinformed if an officer is not well-versed, trained or well-informed.
Nowadays, we have, on hand, most information we need, like say haematuria or urinary incontinence. Of course nothing beats experience and that is exactly the knda reality dosage I am being hit with time and again these days.
It was in trying to hunt down a public flat for myself that I came across a string of discriminatory policies that discriminate on the bases of marital status, parentage and nationality.
Experience is the mother of all learning, as the sages would tell you.
It used to be when I board a taxi that the uncle cabby would be the one whinging but NOW, from the moment I board to the moment I alight, I would be the one furiously spitting bile and vile.
A Small Reunion
Yesterday I met up with my three sisters.
It was a small reunion of sorts. The sorta returning to the fold as I have blogged about. Except that big brother isn't there. He is the outcast for the moment.
My third sis still keeps her 19 cats. My two nephews are fully-grown. My second sister and eldest mute sister have aged and put on weight quite a bit but apart from all that, we seem to be in relatively good health and condition.
We went for lunch at a nearby coffee-shop, had a feast and cabbed down to Ya Kun Kaya Toast much later for tea and chatted mostly about how we were keeping and about Big Brother.
It is a beginning and we will probably have many more of these small reunions.
I had always asked after 4 pieces of McNuggets rather than the 6 or more that is in a "standard Adult" meal but was invariably told that that came in a Kids' Happy Meal package.
When Mabel told me that it is ok if I bought one and Ashley had, at various times flashed his free toy gifts, I decided that I should buy one today. And I did.
It was much cheaper at $4.60 and I wasn't ravenous enough to wolf down 6 or more pieces, so 4 was just nice. The drink was a smaller cup but the fries wasn't any much lesser.
On top of that I get a free toy gift that changes every week.
What a paradigm shift can do for one, don't you think? And I am a kid all over again!
A Matter Of A Rights Issue
My stock pick had yielded a rights issue. Two kinds of issue in fact.
One a board lot while another is an odd-lot or so it seems. If you ask me, the odd-lot (which to me would be an odd number, thus odd lots divisble by odd numbers that is) sounds no different from a board lot.
Given my free entitlement, I would have thought it qualified to be traded under either lot and after a few checks, I confirmed that it could.
I found out about the rights issue's impending listing online, a few days before what is termed "the trading of its nil-paid rights issue", a really short window period of just 10 days.
I frantically made a few calls to find out what it is all about and what I had to do. Along the way, I was informed as well as misinformed, and I miscalculated my sums too.
It was a 1 for 4 rights issue and from my mothershare holdings, I was able to determine my entitlement. And it was a kind of free giveaway shares too. I was told the subscription was compulsory when the truth of the matter is that I could let the offer lapse.
I wasn't the least bit interested to subscribe for them, as I feel I have more than sufficient of its main stock, but I was certainly keen to dispose of my free entitlement which will yield me some profit for nothing.
More information came to light when I picked up its rights offering prospectus and this was made available only after the trading period started.
So much for all the hassle the past ten days because the whole exercise came to nought when there were no buyers for my lots.
You Aint The Owner, Aunt Sally, So Wassup?
I paid Aunt Sally a deposit for a room, a room I will occupy only in the first week of October.
We flashed our IDs and she is obviously a Singaporean.
She claims ownership of the flat but she travels to KL to help her daughter look after their shop and she is only in Singapore two days every month.
Thus I had to be extra careful . I mean she could just disappear with my money and so what if she had given me her two Singapore mobile numbers and a Malaysian one? They can keep ringing or get answered by an answering machine and how am I to even trace her to her Malaysian shop and residence.
After we signed the lease agreement (and she had no copy for me to take away), she remained mostly uncontactable once she was in KL.
When I checked and found out that the house belonged to a single woman, I had to stop payment on the deposit cheque, just as a precautionary measure.
She rang to say that the cheque did not go through, I excused myself on the grounds that there must be some discrepancy in writing out the cheque and reconfirmed my tenancy.
She told me she needed the money to buy an electric iron and prompted me to purchase one for her as it is now within the promotional period. I checked and found out that it is out of stock.
Let us see what happens in the days ahead.
Security LoopHole No 1 - A Question Of Real Identity
Yes people, we can now check on who owns a public flat. It is an online thingy. Unfortunately the information can be misleading.
For example, a married couple owner should rightfully be addressed with the salutations Mr and Madam. I am not sure what is the criterion our tax people use but couples have been variously labelled Mr and Miss or Mr and Madam.
Single females have been duly salutated as Miss and there is no confusion here.
After we got that right, we now have to verify that the people occupying the places are who they claim to be. One way is examine their identity cards but seriously folks, some of the photographs may look so different from the person standing right in front of you.
I mean a person can change his appearances because of a change of hairstyle or hair color or hair length or of a matter of being with or without glasses or of weight or of age.
So who can tell?
But if it is a fake, meaning that another person's photograph has been superimposed on another person's identity card, you have no way of telling them apart, can you? You just have two persons running around with the exact same personal particulars.
Remember the case of Chris the last time? That could well be what has transpired, couldn't it?
Matters get worse if we only have duplicates because so many things can be altered.
Security LoopHole No 2 - A Matter Of Keying In Or Signing Off Once You Get Hold Of Someone's Visa Card's Particulars Or ChequeBook
Once you get hold of someone's visa card's particulars (and you don't even need the original, just copy and write down or photocopy), you just have to key in all the personal and visa card information presented on it to pay for almost any online transactions.
The same goes for a chequebook if you can forge the owner's signature.
Praise God For Higher Gods - The God Of The Internet And Of The God Of The Computer Age
Seriously, it is to the Internet and in part to the Information/Computer Age and our national efforts to fully computerise and go online (e-government as they termed it) that I owe the debt of receiving the gift of easily accessible and available electronic databases.
If I want to read up on our statutes or learn about a certain policy, I had to buy them or telephone or call on a government officer back then. Sometimes you could be mislead or misinformed if an officer is not well-versed, trained or well-informed.
Nowadays, we have, on hand, most information we need, like say haematuria or urinary incontinence. Of course nothing beats experience and that is exactly the knda reality dosage I am being hit with time and again these days.
It was in trying to hunt down a public flat for myself that I came across a string of discriminatory policies that discriminate on the bases of marital status, parentage and nationality.
Experience is the mother of all learning, as the sages would tell you.
It used to be when I board a taxi that the uncle cabby would be the one whinging but NOW, from the moment I board to the moment I alight, I would be the one furiously spitting bile and vile.
A Small Reunion
Yesterday I met up with my three sisters.
It was a small reunion of sorts. The sorta returning to the fold as I have blogged about. Except that big brother isn't there. He is the outcast for the moment.
My third sis still keeps her 19 cats. My two nephews are fully-grown. My second sister and eldest mute sister have aged and put on weight quite a bit but apart from all that, we seem to be in relatively good health and condition.
We went for lunch at a nearby coffee-shop, had a feast and cabbed down to Ya Kun Kaya Toast much later for tea and chatted mostly about how we were keeping and about Big Brother.
It is a beginning and we will probably have many more of these small reunions.
Monday, September 24, 2007
More Thoughts
More Notes On Uproot, Marginalise And Replace
I am all for good foreign talent. Or replacement. But are we getting this?
For instance, the beng at BlueHeaven should be replaced. He should be kicked out of Singapore, deported to Siberia and sentenced to hard labor there. But will he ever?
It is precisely people like him - the low-life, despicable and dastardly henchies and commies (meaning working capitalist pigs and commercial fascists), the old, bad, traditionalists, the ritualists, the illogicians, the wicked reasoners, the superstitious - that should be replaced.
Throw in all the rest of the gang : Psycho, Bulldog, He-Ape, fake 'educators' and so on.
But they are not.
The Two-Prong Electoral Strategy Of Big Blather
I think they sense the resistance and revolt brewing on the ground.
So on one hand, they take in the low-skilled Third Worlders and on another hand, the high-end, highly skilled and rich overseas visitiors.
In between there will be those middle-end ones, like us, on top of our foreign guest brethen, sandwiched and trapped.
At both ends of the spectrum, the lowest tailend, will find here a haven when they compare the deal they have back home while at the highest topmost end, they find themselves in paradise too.
Slowly but surely, they go from permanent residents to naturalised citizens and they have voting rights.
Guess what, these will form the pillar of support for BIG BLATHER's general election win, again and again.
An Open Letter To Generation X Y And Z
When I see you mugging your heart out for exams, I cannot but feel for you.
I know it is all so academic and exam-focussed here but hey, you will be sorely disappointed when you get out there in the REAL world. It doesn't operate on a single shred of academic work.
For one, if you have only a GCE O, N, A or even a vocational certificate and all kinds of diplomas will find yourself at a serious disadvantage. Even if you boast a basic degree or a masters, you will find that you are just ONE among the many these days. Simply put, there just aren't enough jobs for everybody.
For the kinda money you spent on your education, you may find your starting pay varying from one industry to another. So the return may not be what you expect. In other words, you are not earning the kinda wages you expect for the kinda investment you put in.
Then there is the question of landing a job upon graduation. The waiting time varies and you will be the lucky few if you clinch a job before or immediately upon graduation.
You may not work in the industry you studied for, nor the job you studied for or covet. They are usually in short supply or even non-existent.
After you are settled in for a couple of years, you may find your job in danger of being snatched away from a younger or foreign competitor, at a much lower wage.
You are just one of a batch that will be used and abandoned after a certain time frame. The next batch barges in and you are out. And so the whole cycle repeats itself.
My heart goes out to you. It is time you wake up, kiddos!
First World Prices And Costs, Second World Living Standards, Third World Wages
Yesterday's Sunday Times featured several articles on some families who either squandered or depleted their CPF savings.
There is no need to dwell on the fritterers but the ones who spent theirs on just basic necessities and so on, paints a clear picture how insufficient the CPF is as a savings kitty for retirement.
Simply put - wages (thus savings) are not keeping up with costs (cost of food, transport - bus fares are going up again in October - houses, taxes and so on) and worse, any investment these days are not yielding sufficient returns to hedge against inflation.
Unless these are resolved, the problem remains unsolved.
I am all for good foreign talent. Or replacement. But are we getting this?
For instance, the beng at BlueHeaven should be replaced. He should be kicked out of Singapore, deported to Siberia and sentenced to hard labor there. But will he ever?
It is precisely people like him - the low-life, despicable and dastardly henchies and commies (meaning working capitalist pigs and commercial fascists), the old, bad, traditionalists, the ritualists, the illogicians, the wicked reasoners, the superstitious - that should be replaced.
Throw in all the rest of the gang : Psycho, Bulldog, He-Ape, fake 'educators' and so on.
But they are not.
The Two-Prong Electoral Strategy Of Big Blather
I think they sense the resistance and revolt brewing on the ground.
So on one hand, they take in the low-skilled Third Worlders and on another hand, the high-end, highly skilled and rich overseas visitiors.
In between there will be those middle-end ones, like us, on top of our foreign guest brethen, sandwiched and trapped.
At both ends of the spectrum, the lowest tailend, will find here a haven when they compare the deal they have back home while at the highest topmost end, they find themselves in paradise too.
Slowly but surely, they go from permanent residents to naturalised citizens and they have voting rights.
Guess what, these will form the pillar of support for BIG BLATHER's general election win, again and again.
An Open Letter To Generation X Y And Z
When I see you mugging your heart out for exams, I cannot but feel for you.
I know it is all so academic and exam-focussed here but hey, you will be sorely disappointed when you get out there in the REAL world. It doesn't operate on a single shred of academic work.
For one, if you have only a GCE O, N, A or even a vocational certificate and all kinds of diplomas will find yourself at a serious disadvantage. Even if you boast a basic degree or a masters, you will find that you are just ONE among the many these days. Simply put, there just aren't enough jobs for everybody.
For the kinda money you spent on your education, you may find your starting pay varying from one industry to another. So the return may not be what you expect. In other words, you are not earning the kinda wages you expect for the kinda investment you put in.
Then there is the question of landing a job upon graduation. The waiting time varies and you will be the lucky few if you clinch a job before or immediately upon graduation.
You may not work in the industry you studied for, nor the job you studied for or covet. They are usually in short supply or even non-existent.
After you are settled in for a couple of years, you may find your job in danger of being snatched away from a younger or foreign competitor, at a much lower wage.
You are just one of a batch that will be used and abandoned after a certain time frame. The next batch barges in and you are out. And so the whole cycle repeats itself.
My heart goes out to you. It is time you wake up, kiddos!
First World Prices And Costs, Second World Living Standards, Third World Wages
Yesterday's Sunday Times featured several articles on some families who either squandered or depleted their CPF savings.
There is no need to dwell on the fritterers but the ones who spent theirs on just basic necessities and so on, paints a clear picture how insufficient the CPF is as a savings kitty for retirement.
Simply put - wages (thus savings) are not keeping up with costs (cost of food, transport - bus fares are going up again in October - houses, taxes and so on) and worse, any investment these days are not yielding sufficient returns to hedge against inflation.
Unless these are resolved, the problem remains unsolved.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
What A Mess - Some Solutions?
Kiddos, Wake Up, Will You?
I have spoken to a couple of kiddos and yes, they sound like those squeaky-voiced, foolish, little twirps living in a useless, academic-laden and exam-oriented world of their own, seeing no further than the distance between the bridge of their noses and the textbooks and ten-year series they are holding up.
First they are totally oblivious of what is happening around them. Second I had one citing how everyone else is doing it so we should follow suit.
So if I must use an old childish rebuff my teachers used to scold us with, then it must be this: If somebody eats shit, so you eat shit also har?
Half The Time Set Aside For Real Education (Somewhere Towards The Middle To High School Stages Of Education)
And as I am advocating, sure let us teach academic subjects like Maths and Science but the curriculum has to be tempered with perhaps half its time set aside for a dose of realism like getting in touch with the real world?
Near Perfect PSLE Scores, Ain't This? Anything Above 90% And Yes, Those 9A1s?
Well it is a near perfect or almost perfect PSLE aggregate score, isn't this? I mean I had asked around and someone told me he scored 274 (that is 91% out of a perfect 300) and I believe a high of 286 had ever been had in the PSLE exams.
Oo, don't forget the 9A1s?
Here Is More Proof Of "Foreigners" (True-Blue Foreigners And Permanent Residents -Naturalised Citizens Are Already One Of Us) Buying Up Our Public Flats And I Am Only Talking About The Resale Market
The Non-Citizen, Non-Citizen Family and the Orphans Scheme. Wait, in fact ALL schemes are extended to SPRs (whoa, aren't they just getting more than not one, not two but a manifold bites of the cherry).
Now contrast the Orphan scheme with the Citizen/SPR siblings scheme (which as its name implies extends to SPRs but of course).
You have to be an orphaned and unmarried citizen along with another similarly unmarried sibling to qualify for the Orphans Scheme while the Citizen/SPR siblings scheme has both their parents (who are non-citizens and non-permanent residents) alive. And two SPR siblings can apply!
What a poor and bad deal we single citizens are getting? Our parents have to be dead first before we can buy under this scheme.
So what privileges are citizens (single or married) getting?
Strangely they allow miscegenation between citizens/non-citizens and SPRs for all their spousal schemes (which is almost like very "single' scheme - oops double entendred) but there isn't any for a single citizen and a single SPR/or single non-citizen.
We only have Single Citizen and Joint Single Citizens.
How about extending those same schemes to singles?
Now For The Primary Market New Flats
Again the SPRs are included in all the schemes here.
But wait, orphaned single Citizens can jointly buy up flats here. Ok, so we are one up here.
Even More Proof How Foreigners Find It So Easy To Visit Or To Be Employed Here
A long term social visit pass for visitors (meaning foreigners) to find employment here.
And the same long term social visit pass for the parents, the spouse and the children of a SPR or citizen (meaning naturalised citizen) who is either studying or working here.
I am trying to determine the period of long term stay but I guess it is 6 months or more.
And now, there is even a personalised employment pass (or a working holiday pass as it is popularly known) issued for 6 months to foreigners who graduate from our local tertiary institutions in between jobs here.
Ombuddy, O Bloody, O Bladda (Part Of An Old Song) And An Independent Council Of Wise Men I have advocated an ombudsman in the light of the many policy grievances and misgivings the public and even corporations may have or have suffered.
It could be a kinda independent Council (and please enough of pro-estab shenigans, we want totally neutral, fresh-faced, new and all perspectived, holistic, able and analytical people here) who will establish the facts and then put right the wrongs and impose a penalty on the said agencies or whateva.
In fact I am not sure if such an independent Council (on top of our legislative assembly?) should not be put in place right at the start to scrutinise policies, correct or veto them if found wrong and so on before they even come onto the market to impact the rest of us.
Someone just isn't doing their job well or well enough, I feel.
Have We Really Learnt From Our Mistakes And Why Administrators Can't Commit Too Many Mistakes
Well judging by some of our public housing projects, even today the same kinda design flaws are being repeated, it seems.
So have we learnt?
And we can't afford too many mistakes because we, at the ground level, have to bear with and suffer the consequences of your mistakes and we suffer.
More Proof Of Sensors And Circuitry Going Awry
I dropped my mobile phone the other day and guess what, it isn't running very well anymore. The day I dropped it, its swivel had come loose and there were all this flashing of lights on the buttons which had since subsided.
Now the battery goes flat very quickly and usually within a day and it shows different percentages of its battery life (from low to high and back to low again sometimes) all the time.
In other words it had short-circuited, much like what I had mentioned about sensors going awry.
Vagaries Of A Log On Even Today
And yes, even today, at different branches of Mcdonalds, they turn up a different set of log on problems. Like at CCK, I can't connect at all on the one occasion I visited.
Even at my regular spot, I sometimes get back that Certificate Security Error Page and if you remember my earlier blogs, I have to click the "not recommended" option to get to the logon page.
Make It A Short-Term Optional Annuity That Can Be Bought Anytime
The final word on the CPF compulsory annuity for those aged below 50 is this: You can't force the people to buy one at age 55 and then expect them to wait out 30 years before they can withdraw a monthly stipend at age 85.
That is too long a time and yes, you may claim that that is what a pooling of resources is all about - a longer period to justify a certain return and payout sum.
But truth is: that is just too long and there is now the question of inflation eating into the returns (as if the cost of living outstripping wages and savings haven't proven time and again) and of people not living beyond age 85, only to see their retirement money dissipate JUST like that.
A more equitable way is to have a 5 year (preferably much lesser) kinda annuity which the retiree can buy at any point he deems necessary in the course of his lifespan.
And one suspects this will be when he can safely determine the state of his continued good health (and the state of his savings) and which will prolly occur at the very very late ages, not any earlier.
Uproot, Marginalise And Replace The Natives Because We Have No Local Talent
Just in case Singaporeans don't already know, let me remind them a Minister once remarked how someone whinged about competition for the local girls from "men from overseas" (perhaps a rather veiled kinda poser).
He had then said that if the whole character of the population has to change, so be it.
To me that is the strongest statement yet from a higher-up authority that there will be some uprooting, marginalisation and replacement of some of our indigenous population.
We all know that Singaporeans who do not fit in with various national exhortations -produce 3 or more if you can afford it, aim well at urinals, please do not spit or litter, do not sport long hair or colored hair - could well be the targetted ones.
But What Caused These In The First Place
Unfortunately these could just be the same groups of people who could have started up some new economy which are at the moment absent.
And there were neither opportunities nor incentives to create them precisely because of the few dominant shenigans here controlling the economy or in the event that they were started up, muscling in, thus disincentivising any real wannabe creative or original entrepreneurs.
Furthermore if we examine the various policies (stop-at-two, feminism and equal rights for women) and the "system" (education which beats down the boys a lot, the exam-focus which seems to favor galls and what I wrote just before) , we find that these were partly responsible for producing and resulting in the state that we are in now.
Contrast The Galls And The Guys And See Who Has The Upper Hand Here In Our Society
Don't forget, galls can grow up very naturally. They have not very many prohibitions or restrictions. Hey, two galls can hold hands and walk along a street all lovey-dovey. They can be bold, rude and totally uninhibited (look at the way these galls sitting beside me here at the library - TOTALLY uninhibited, legs up on the chair, talking into their mobiles, chattering among themselves).
But the poor dudes are under such tremendous pressure to conform to many, many, societal-imposed standards of behavior and protocol. They have to be the strong silent types but the galls are ok being vocal.
Don't forget National Service also does a disservice sometimes. Aren't they supposed to obey more rules and regulations so that they are disciplined?
That doesn't do very well for their mental state nor their mental health, does it?
There are of course other factors.
Well, well, well, you have only yourselves to blame for the mess. What can I say?
Updates On This Entrepreneur
Yes, the WYWY group is still here and they are one of the "exclusive" retailers for SINGTEL. \
But gosh, my heart goes out to you. You have all that competition and so many of them. You must be overwhelmed, poor soul!
M1, Starhub and so many other SINGTEL retailer shops.
What Use These Mathematical Data
As I sit here blogging at the Bishan Branch library, I notice all these students here at the study tables, head and shoulders stooped over their books. Some were nerds with their thick glasses or their awkward mannerisms.
But the overwhelming impression I had was the kinda studiousness and perhaps a tad too serious immersion iin academic pursuits (at the expense of social skills or some other life skills) that may well turn out to be very useless and inapplicable in everyday life.
Gosh, really. Some of the mathematical stuff they were doing were stuff I had done before. Like the plotting of graphs and a logarithm graph at that.
Well I mean the analysis of graphs would be useful as they tell us trends or something but what is the use of some of the other kinds of graphs?
What About The Use Of This Other Science That Is Not Taught
Our biology lessons focus on anatomy and biological processes (among others) but not so much on the physiology of diseases, their treatment and cure.
How many of us are actually gearing up for a medical career (but maybe now that things have loosened up, many more would consider this a choice option?) before we need to know this?
So when my Dad had benign prostatic hyperplasia or his cataracts or his glaucoma and Mom had her hypertension or congestive heart failure, I had to look this up in magazines or books (not found in schools' prescribed texts).
Like the Readers' Digest for example and do remember that this was in the pre-Internet days.
This Is Real Education In A Real World - A Medical World That Is
And it also explains my choice of another career path late in life. A medical representative marketing and selling pharmaceutical and medical products to the medical industry.
I wanted to learn how if a loved one were to be stricken by diseases, that I would be in a better position to understand the diseases (know the medical terms and the whole workings of the diseases and their treatment), pick a best course of medical action (know what kinda medication would be prescribed and what exactly it is for) and know who the medical practitioners I could consult.
Apart from that, I learn other stuff. The kinda intricate working relationship between doctors and drug manufacturers. The kinda drug patent and its shelf life. The generics. The indications and contraindications for a drug and its side effects (if any).
At The Expense Of Real Patient Care - OverReaction, Over-Diagnoses And Over-Prescription
Now the last is something I wanna elaborate.
But before that, I just hope science doesn't turn into another false science much like all that have gone on before it.
I mean we read about over-diagnoses, overprescription and above all, over-reaction on the part of people like you and me. All these in the name of creating a medical industry and a cottage industry growing up around it.
Create jobs, generate revenue and thus level up economic growth. More precisely, medical economic growth.
On the part of the medical practitioners : a state of sadness treated as mental depression, shyness treated as social anxiety disorder and treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
On the part of patients: seeking treatment for food-related diarrhea (not food-poisoning) and a case of the simple flu and cold (not the virulent kind). Perhaps letting them run their course over a fair bit of time does the trick and there is no need for medical action?
More Information Please - Therefore Real Education
All these come at a price because there could be side-effects to taking these drugs when they alter your biological chemistry like when they perhaps increase your appetite and then you balloon in your weight.
Hopefully these are made known to the patients and the patients have access to the prescription phamplets or full prescription label (and yes, general science education should help you dissect this) that usually comes with the medication.
Unfortunately these do not come with the medicine because the medicine have been repacked into different packages at the various retail clinical or hospital outlets.
That means you don't usually know what you are taking (as in a full prescription phamplet with listed pharmaceutical contents, indications, contraindications, side-effects, the whole works)except for what has been verbally instructed and the perfunctory daily dosage label and the name of the medicine on the package front and what it is for.
How can you ever make an informed decision like that people? Aren't we disadvantaged and placed at the mercy of someone else if we have no available information? Shouldn't we know what we are orally taking? Can someone else have full control over us or shouldn't we ourselves have some say too?
I have spoken to a couple of kiddos and yes, they sound like those squeaky-voiced, foolish, little twirps living in a useless, academic-laden and exam-oriented world of their own, seeing no further than the distance between the bridge of their noses and the textbooks and ten-year series they are holding up.
First they are totally oblivious of what is happening around them. Second I had one citing how everyone else is doing it so we should follow suit.
So if I must use an old childish rebuff my teachers used to scold us with, then it must be this: If somebody eats shit, so you eat shit also har?
Half The Time Set Aside For Real Education (Somewhere Towards The Middle To High School Stages Of Education)
And as I am advocating, sure let us teach academic subjects like Maths and Science but the curriculum has to be tempered with perhaps half its time set aside for a dose of realism like getting in touch with the real world?
Near Perfect PSLE Scores, Ain't This? Anything Above 90% And Yes, Those 9A1s?
Well it is a near perfect or almost perfect PSLE aggregate score, isn't this? I mean I had asked around and someone told me he scored 274 (that is 91% out of a perfect 300) and I believe a high of 286 had ever been had in the PSLE exams.
Oo, don't forget the 9A1s?
Here Is More Proof Of "Foreigners" (True-Blue Foreigners And Permanent Residents -Naturalised Citizens Are Already One Of Us) Buying Up Our Public Flats And I Am Only Talking About The Resale Market
The Non-Citizen, Non-Citizen Family and the Orphans Scheme. Wait, in fact ALL schemes are extended to SPRs (whoa, aren't they just getting more than not one, not two but a manifold bites of the cherry).
Now contrast the Orphan scheme with the Citizen/SPR siblings scheme (which as its name implies extends to SPRs but of course).
You have to be an orphaned and unmarried citizen along with another similarly unmarried sibling to qualify for the Orphans Scheme while the Citizen/SPR siblings scheme has both their parents (who are non-citizens and non-permanent residents) alive. And two SPR siblings can apply!
What a poor and bad deal we single citizens are getting? Our parents have to be dead first before we can buy under this scheme.
So what privileges are citizens (single or married) getting?
Strangely they allow miscegenation between citizens/non-citizens and SPRs for all their spousal schemes (which is almost like very "single' scheme - oops double entendred) but there isn't any for a single citizen and a single SPR/or single non-citizen.
We only have Single Citizen and Joint Single Citizens.
How about extending those same schemes to singles?
Now For The Primary Market New Flats
Again the SPRs are included in all the schemes here.
But wait, orphaned single Citizens can jointly buy up flats here. Ok, so we are one up here.
Even More Proof How Foreigners Find It So Easy To Visit Or To Be Employed Here
A long term social visit pass for visitors (meaning foreigners) to find employment here.
And the same long term social visit pass for the parents, the spouse and the children of a SPR or citizen (meaning naturalised citizen) who is either studying or working here.
I am trying to determine the period of long term stay but I guess it is 6 months or more.
And now, there is even a personalised employment pass (or a working holiday pass as it is popularly known) issued for 6 months to foreigners who graduate from our local tertiary institutions in between jobs here.
Ombuddy, O Bloody, O Bladda (Part Of An Old Song) And An Independent Council Of Wise Men I have advocated an ombudsman in the light of the many policy grievances and misgivings the public and even corporations may have or have suffered.
It could be a kinda independent Council (and please enough of pro-estab shenigans, we want totally neutral, fresh-faced, new and all perspectived, holistic, able and analytical people here) who will establish the facts and then put right the wrongs and impose a penalty on the said agencies or whateva.
In fact I am not sure if such an independent Council (on top of our legislative assembly?) should not be put in place right at the start to scrutinise policies, correct or veto them if found wrong and so on before they even come onto the market to impact the rest of us.
Someone just isn't doing their job well or well enough, I feel.
Have We Really Learnt From Our Mistakes And Why Administrators Can't Commit Too Many Mistakes
Well judging by some of our public housing projects, even today the same kinda design flaws are being repeated, it seems.
So have we learnt?
And we can't afford too many mistakes because we, at the ground level, have to bear with and suffer the consequences of your mistakes and we suffer.
More Proof Of Sensors And Circuitry Going Awry
I dropped my mobile phone the other day and guess what, it isn't running very well anymore. The day I dropped it, its swivel had come loose and there were all this flashing of lights on the buttons which had since subsided.
Now the battery goes flat very quickly and usually within a day and it shows different percentages of its battery life (from low to high and back to low again sometimes) all the time.
In other words it had short-circuited, much like what I had mentioned about sensors going awry.
Vagaries Of A Log On Even Today
And yes, even today, at different branches of Mcdonalds, they turn up a different set of log on problems. Like at CCK, I can't connect at all on the one occasion I visited.
Even at my regular spot, I sometimes get back that Certificate Security Error Page and if you remember my earlier blogs, I have to click the "not recommended" option to get to the logon page.
Make It A Short-Term Optional Annuity That Can Be Bought Anytime
The final word on the CPF compulsory annuity for those aged below 50 is this: You can't force the people to buy one at age 55 and then expect them to wait out 30 years before they can withdraw a monthly stipend at age 85.
That is too long a time and yes, you may claim that that is what a pooling of resources is all about - a longer period to justify a certain return and payout sum.
But truth is: that is just too long and there is now the question of inflation eating into the returns (as if the cost of living outstripping wages and savings haven't proven time and again) and of people not living beyond age 85, only to see their retirement money dissipate JUST like that.
A more equitable way is to have a 5 year (preferably much lesser) kinda annuity which the retiree can buy at any point he deems necessary in the course of his lifespan.
And one suspects this will be when he can safely determine the state of his continued good health (and the state of his savings) and which will prolly occur at the very very late ages, not any earlier.
Uproot, Marginalise And Replace The Natives Because We Have No Local Talent
Just in case Singaporeans don't already know, let me remind them a Minister once remarked how someone whinged about competition for the local girls from "men from overseas" (perhaps a rather veiled kinda poser).
He had then said that if the whole character of the population has to change, so be it.
To me that is the strongest statement yet from a higher-up authority that there will be some uprooting, marginalisation and replacement of some of our indigenous population.
We all know that Singaporeans who do not fit in with various national exhortations -produce 3 or more if you can afford it, aim well at urinals, please do not spit or litter, do not sport long hair or colored hair - could well be the targetted ones.
But What Caused These In The First Place
Unfortunately these could just be the same groups of people who could have started up some new economy which are at the moment absent.
And there were neither opportunities nor incentives to create them precisely because of the few dominant shenigans here controlling the economy or in the event that they were started up, muscling in, thus disincentivising any real wannabe creative or original entrepreneurs.
Furthermore if we examine the various policies (stop-at-two, feminism and equal rights for women) and the "system" (education which beats down the boys a lot, the exam-focus which seems to favor galls and what I wrote just before) , we find that these were partly responsible for producing and resulting in the state that we are in now.
Contrast The Galls And The Guys And See Who Has The Upper Hand Here In Our Society
Don't forget, galls can grow up very naturally. They have not very many prohibitions or restrictions. Hey, two galls can hold hands and walk along a street all lovey-dovey. They can be bold, rude and totally uninhibited (look at the way these galls sitting beside me here at the library - TOTALLY uninhibited, legs up on the chair, talking into their mobiles, chattering among themselves).
But the poor dudes are under such tremendous pressure to conform to many, many, societal-imposed standards of behavior and protocol. They have to be the strong silent types but the galls are ok being vocal.
Don't forget National Service also does a disservice sometimes. Aren't they supposed to obey more rules and regulations so that they are disciplined?
That doesn't do very well for their mental state nor their mental health, does it?
There are of course other factors.
Well, well, well, you have only yourselves to blame for the mess. What can I say?
Updates On This Entrepreneur
Yes, the WYWY group is still here and they are one of the "exclusive" retailers for SINGTEL. \
But gosh, my heart goes out to you. You have all that competition and so many of them. You must be overwhelmed, poor soul!
M1, Starhub and so many other SINGTEL retailer shops.
What Use These Mathematical Data
As I sit here blogging at the Bishan Branch library, I notice all these students here at the study tables, head and shoulders stooped over their books. Some were nerds with their thick glasses or their awkward mannerisms.
But the overwhelming impression I had was the kinda studiousness and perhaps a tad too serious immersion iin academic pursuits (at the expense of social skills or some other life skills) that may well turn out to be very useless and inapplicable in everyday life.
Gosh, really. Some of the mathematical stuff they were doing were stuff I had done before. Like the plotting of graphs and a logarithm graph at that.
Well I mean the analysis of graphs would be useful as they tell us trends or something but what is the use of some of the other kinds of graphs?
What About The Use Of This Other Science That Is Not Taught
Our biology lessons focus on anatomy and biological processes (among others) but not so much on the physiology of diseases, their treatment and cure.
How many of us are actually gearing up for a medical career (but maybe now that things have loosened up, many more would consider this a choice option?) before we need to know this?
So when my Dad had benign prostatic hyperplasia or his cataracts or his glaucoma and Mom had her hypertension or congestive heart failure, I had to look this up in magazines or books (not found in schools' prescribed texts).
Like the Readers' Digest for example and do remember that this was in the pre-Internet days.
This Is Real Education In A Real World - A Medical World That Is
And it also explains my choice of another career path late in life. A medical representative marketing and selling pharmaceutical and medical products to the medical industry.
I wanted to learn how if a loved one were to be stricken by diseases, that I would be in a better position to understand the diseases (know the medical terms and the whole workings of the diseases and their treatment), pick a best course of medical action (know what kinda medication would be prescribed and what exactly it is for) and know who the medical practitioners I could consult.
Apart from that, I learn other stuff. The kinda intricate working relationship between doctors and drug manufacturers. The kinda drug patent and its shelf life. The generics. The indications and contraindications for a drug and its side effects (if any).
At The Expense Of Real Patient Care - OverReaction, Over-Diagnoses And Over-Prescription
Now the last is something I wanna elaborate.
But before that, I just hope science doesn't turn into another false science much like all that have gone on before it.
I mean we read about over-diagnoses, overprescription and above all, over-reaction on the part of people like you and me. All these in the name of creating a medical industry and a cottage industry growing up around it.
Create jobs, generate revenue and thus level up economic growth. More precisely, medical economic growth.
On the part of the medical practitioners : a state of sadness treated as mental depression, shyness treated as social anxiety disorder and treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
On the part of patients: seeking treatment for food-related diarrhea (not food-poisoning) and a case of the simple flu and cold (not the virulent kind). Perhaps letting them run their course over a fair bit of time does the trick and there is no need for medical action?
More Information Please - Therefore Real Education
All these come at a price because there could be side-effects to taking these drugs when they alter your biological chemistry like when they perhaps increase your appetite and then you balloon in your weight.
Hopefully these are made known to the patients and the patients have access to the prescription phamplets or full prescription label (and yes, general science education should help you dissect this) that usually comes with the medication.
Unfortunately these do not come with the medicine because the medicine have been repacked into different packages at the various retail clinical or hospital outlets.
That means you don't usually know what you are taking (as in a full prescription phamplet with listed pharmaceutical contents, indications, contraindications, side-effects, the whole works)except for what has been verbally instructed and the perfunctory daily dosage label and the name of the medicine on the package front and what it is for.
How can you ever make an informed decision like that people? Aren't we disadvantaged and placed at the mercy of someone else if we have no available information? Shouldn't we know what we are orally taking? Can someone else have full control over us or shouldn't we ourselves have some say too?
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