The Way Forward

Before I get too far ahead in posting, just wanted to clarify the way forward for the blog. After being around so many years, it would be best to leave this blog as something more timeless in the sense that people can read any article at random regardless of chronology and not feel like it's a waste of their time. This is consistent with the original intent of the blog - to present simple anecdotes about life. There was a period in the blog that shared Youtube videos especially on songs with meaningful lyrics which seem to appeal to many readers. However, looking back at some of these posts, they seem to lack more of an original reflection as the music becomes a distraction. I may edit and delete away the "distracting" parts or for now, let them be. That's the way with this blog, I have edited old posts before to keep them "updated"; something new about the old. Whatever the case, as mentioned about maintaining this blog for posterity sake, the subsequent posts shall be as far as possible original random thoughts; some simple and short; some with artistic fluff; some probably more like a rant. Read if it appeals to you, ditch it if it doesn't; don't go making yourself upset over it. This is not a blog that makes money from reads, neither is it one that is out with an agenda to influence others. Everyone is entitled to their own views.

Should I further my studies?

Recently as the economy doesn't look too positive, several of my friends in their 30s have considered whether or not to further their studies. Most people would have considered it too at some point in their career life and even fret upon what course to take. Personally I have done a masters degree and understand that it is not an easy decision to make - I mulled on it for 3 years before embarking on it!

Before you plunge right back into studies, you need to understand why do you want to further your education? Most people do it in a hope that they can get a better job or to command a higher salary - yet most don't realise that most masters programmes have a very low ROI (Return on Investment). Masters programmes typically cost between $30k to $50k and upon graduation, most people find themselves getting back similar salaries as their peers who just have a normal degree (albeit the advantage of sometimes edging fellow candidates out during interviews). There are only a few prestigious masters programmes out there, namely certain branded MBAs, that can command a whole different level salary due to their strong alumnus network. Assuming one does get lucky and gets $500 more a month than before the masters, it would still take 100 months or 8+ years to make back the $50k which was invested. With the time and effort spent on the masters (~2 years), you could have done something else to enhance yourself to get that pay increment you wanted in the first place (could be taking on a challenging project or gaining exposure by helping out another department). So you really need to be very practical and manage your own expectations.

After being clear on why you want to further your studies, the next tough question is what course should you take? Depending on why you wanted to further your education, that reason should be the key determinant to the field of study to choose. If you feel you have stagnated in your career and want to try out a totally new industry or field, then the masters is a good entry method. Choose the course that grants you the best chance to land you the job you desire but also bear in mind that the amount of determination required to learn something totally new is going to be immense -  be prepared, it's going to be a struggle! If you're looking for something to enhance your position within your career, then look for a course that can complement your core strength or current field, in other words, look for something that can target important skills that you may be lacking or weak in, in order to progress to the next level. Don't ever rush into a masters, you should take time to figure what courses are available out there and whether they are worthwhile and suit your needs.

Part of your consideration would also be the when and how to go about it. Whether to do your studies part-time or full-time really depends firstly on how you can finance the course. Being without salary for a period of 2 years can be painful, but trying to do part-time and juggle your daily job and studies can be nightmarish too - been there, done that. Being without employment for a period of time also breeds the fear of whether you can find gainful employment upon graduation. There's no easy way whichever way you choose, so be mentally prepared. If you're a fresh graduate and want to pursue your masters immediately, then it's probably not advisable as the value of a masters education comes with certain amount of work experience. Imagine what little value can you bring to the table when the rest of your fellow classmates present their wealth of experience during class, then you would be so left out. There are certain masters that you do straight after your degree but typically those are catered for folks pursuing the life of an academic or a researcher. Yet on the other hand, wait till too late in your career, then the inertia to get back to studies may be too great. As it is, a good benchmark would be around the age of 30 for a masters. Whatever it is, you should never rush into a decision and it is especially silly to embark on one just because some of your friends are also doing so.

If you're reading this but actually considering to get your first degree instead of getting a masters as discussed above, then please do it the soonest you can. Not trying to advocate any form of elitism but the way modern Singapore society has been shaped, it would be difficult to survive without a degree which has become a prerequisite to open good opportunities for your career. Above are hopefully some handy tips if you're considering to further your education - good luck!

Hiatus

Yes, it's almost a 3-year break since the last blog and it was deliberate. In the course of maintaining the blog, a revamp of the overall looks as well as revisit of old posts had been performed. One of the goals was to organise the old posts better and make them more age-less; what that means is to make minor tweaks in old posts - as far as possible to remove dead links (which can be highly irritating) and even edit some text to remove stuff that could make them irrelevant when reading them today. The whole idea was simply such that the blog could be read in random chronological order and each post is a self-encapsulating story (even if they are news related). It is a time-consuming process and will continue to be a work in progress.

Without digressing much further, the explanation of why the hiatus > is during the process of re-reading of the old posts, it was clear that the thoughts from many of the old posts were still relevant even till this day. Some days just prior to the break, a thought would come to mind, and hey, the realisation that it has been blogged before, though it could have been further added upon on and linked back (like a #throwback). But after careful deliberation, it was felt that better to leave it as it is, like some work of art preserved for posterity. That doesn't mean inspiration had run out - how is that even possible when one has so much experiences in the course of life? The decision was simply not to clutter (remember the goal to be organised?).

With that break also came another side-goal to reduce the exposure to electronic devices and to experience the physical world more. It really makes one wonder in this modern society how people have been so glued to their electronic devices; living so deeply in a cyber world that some appear so distanced from their immediate physical surroundings. Nonetheless, the key to any situation is moderation. Random thoughts will just pop up on this blog after the deliberate break.

With the amount of overflowing information on the web (including lots of garbage), you have the choice to read if it appeals to you; and if it doesn't, no need to get flustered, it's just a click away to leave. We were all made a little different and have experienced our lives differently. It has never been the goal of this blog to spew sensational stuff especially if it may be objectionable. In fact, as far as possible, the basic respect of a fellow being is what is being preached here - yet it will be inevitable that certain thoughts wouldn't sit well with certain people. You have the power to decide that for yourself.

Modern Prose

Who is to determine what makes good poetry?
Some meaningful lyrics of songs that do not rhyme seem to sound poetic,
especially when it sings to and from the heart.
Yes, maybe in literature we need rules to govern what defines a poem.
But for a layman who has not studied literature,
who is to say that one cannot appreciate the literary art?
The written word was never meant to be exclusive, and majority of this world are the lay people audience.
Words when expressed in its various forms begs to reach out and find appeal to those who could resonate with it.
The writer knows that one's time will come to end but one's work once released could continue to reach out beyond one's time.
If a work was meant to reach out as far as time could carry it,
who is to know if it could stand the test of evolution of human tastes and understanding?
Nonetheless, let it be released!
There's no benefit in damming the floods inspiration in when it's bursting to get out.
Who cares if someone else gets it?
Yet usually somewhere, somehow another soul resonates.
These sentences may not be considered as poetry;
nobody knows if they could even inspire a song;
yet it could sing like a poem to one whom it flows with.

If the love fits

Many singles fret over love relationship and many of them wonder if perhaps what they are asking for is wrong? It is not uncommon to see how some relationships can turn out to be so disastrous these days and perhaps it is this worrisome trend that is putting them off? Just recently I read that going on dates to meet that special someone is like shopping for shoes. You may find a shoe with an attractive design that catches your eye - or maybe even one that you feel is like a match made in heaven, but lo and behold, the salesperson informs you that it is not available in your size. So what do you do? Do you try on the smaller size and hope that it grows on you - that is like what some people have done being in a relationship that hurts constantly - some are able to endure it (maybe it doesn't hurt that much?) while others call it quits after some time and discard the shoe, no matter how good it looks in the beginning. Or perhaps after being informed by the salesperson, you would just continue to "shop" and hoping that maybe you might stumble upon something better? What if you decided on something less attractive but fits comfortably? Would you still have lingering thoughts about how that shoe that caught your eye would have been perfect if it had your size? Would you say to yourself, okay no choice I will just "settle" for this which is something less? Or would you be happy that it is still something you like and better still it fits perfectly? Or maybe as a last possibility, say hey there's no perfect shoe for you and settle for none?

Maybe that is what Leslie Pearl was trying to say in her song,
If the love fits, wear it baby
And if it feels good, put it on
And if it looks right then just maybe
This love we have is where you belong

Whatever it is, it is your choice, but don't forget that being in a relationship takes two to tango.

Right frequency

While attending a close friend's wedding dinner, I was seated with one of my friend's colleague who works in an aircraft radio workshop (which does repair and maintenance on aircraft radio and communications components). He was telling us that amongst the entire aircraft maintenance facility, the radio workshop was the most "productive" when it came to love relationships as there were already five married couples from the workshop alone. So inevitably he and his colleagues would gossip (oops, I meant "discuss") over lunch in the canteen to explain this phenomenon. They came to the conclusion that it was due to the nature of the job - as while fixing up aircraft radio components, the staff had to sit at workbenches beside each other all day long, thus giving Cupid (the mythical God of love, often depicted as a baby-like angel with a bow and arrow) the chance to aim his arrow properly and bring the couple together! In other workshops and other job functions, the staff would be so busy running around the facility, rushing to meet unhumanly deadlines that Cupid would find it hard to get a good aim. In some cases, Cupid misses and even hit the wrong targets, ha! So the moral of the story turns out to be if you want to find love, don't always be rushing around as in the worst case, Cupid might miss and you might end up loving the wrong person! All of us at the dinner table felt enlightened after the story as it all seemed to make sense... in any case, it does have some logic to it.

Hammie

There is this special bond between humans and animals (yes, some people regard humans as animals as well); this can be seen especially when one keeps pets. My parents are opposed to having pets in the house but life is full of twists and one pet made its way to my home - this is the story of that special pet:

I used to help look after hamsters in the bunk during my National Service together with another of my bunk mate. We were the ones who bought all the stuff and gave them the care. After National Service, that bunk mate continued to look after a couple of hamsters in his university hostel room while I had that no-pet-rule in my home. However, when it came to graduation, my bunk mate had to vacate his hostel room and bring his hamsters back to his home. At that time, he had 3 hamsters, of which one was perpetually being bullied by the other 2 and thus he had to frequently separate that poor hamster into a separate small container while the other 2 enjoyed a huge cage he had bought. Knowing that hamsters recognise each other by smell, he tried all means including bathing all of them and returning them back into the cage - but it didn't work. Now that he had to bring them home, he realised he had only enough space in his room for that one big cage for the 2 and no place for that ostracised hamster. So he asked around who could adopt but there were no takers. I had helped him move his stuff from his hostel room back to his home in batches and being quite desperate he asked if I could look after the poor hamster for a week while he looked for someone to adopt. Despite the taboo at home, I somehow agreed and carried the small container with that little innocent looking hamster back to my home.

It was no surprise for me when my mother exclaimed at the sight of the hamster but I explained to my mother that it was only for a week and already I too was asking around for someone to adopt the hamster. Being rather unimaginative, I just called that little pearl white hamster Hammie. I couldn't stand seeing him in such a tiny container and took a large unused cardboard box converted it into his temporary home, put his food in a little dish in a corner, hung his water bottle at one end. Hammie was a very gentle and shy hamster who was rather curious. When I carried him into his new temporary home, he did not struggle nor attempt to bite me. He was so happy to explore his spacious abode. Whenever my parents peered into the box, he would stand on his hind legs and peer back with his cute beady eyes - my parents immediately fell in love with him. Before I knew it when I was not around, my parents bought food and stuff for him and when I told them it was only temporary, they simply replied that the stuff could be handed over to the new owner. Anyone who knows hamsters would know they bite but Hammie was very friendly and would let my parents pat and stroke him - maybe his meek nature was the reason why he was bullied in the first place.

One week passed without any luck and I wondered how I would break the news to my parents. Surprisingly, there wasn't any resistance at all when I told them I needed another week. The only condition was to get a proper cage for him which I gladly did over the weekend and shopped for a nice big cage (bigger than his other 2 friends) with a cool wheel and even a mezzanine sleeping level. Gosh I even bought nice sleeping hay to line the cage. My parents bought him some treats and a new water bottle. In the day, he would play in the box in the living room and at night, I would carry him into his new cage which I brought to my room. Despite sometimes being quite poofed after work, I would religiously clean his home, top up his food and water - sometimes my dad would help. Hammie was quite clean and hardly made a mess. He was fussy too with food and soon I knew what he loved to eat including his favourite plump sunflower seeds which sometimes he ate out of my fingers. Hammie was like a perfect child and despite the additional work to do, he brought immense joy to my family. After that week, we decided not to look for new owners and from a somewhat originally orphaned status, Hammie now emerged to be the prince of my household and as time went by, he was showered with more stuff and gifts from my family.

When Hammie passed away a little more than 3 years later, my mother was so upset and the no-pet-rule was restored again as she could not bear another heartache. Having a pet is like looking after a child, and it takes commitment - so I do agree how organisations like SPCA are trying to reach out to would-be owners to mindful of the obligations before irresponsibly abandoning their pets. The only consolation my parents and I had was at least we gave Hammie all we could while he was in this world, and he passed away peacefully from old age.

Of Form and Substance

When I was serving my National Service, our Officer-in-Command (OC) shared with us about "form" and "substance". Form referred to one's outward appearance to others or simply how others perceive oneself. It includes one's dressing (e.g. if one dresses sloppily or too casual, then others will not treat one seriously) as well as one's behaviour (e.g. if one sulks most of the time, then others will perceive one as a negative person). Substance, on the other hand, refers to one's innate ability including one's skill and knowledge. The way our society seems to generally work or actually how most companies seem to operate is people with high form usually get promoted and rise up the ranks fast. These people usually do not have much substance but due to how the bosses perhaps perceive them. It could possibly be because they are more vocal and visible to management that there is some form of recognition as compared to perhaps a hard but silent worker who toils away in the background without being noticed by the higher-ups. Such is the reality of life that perhaps someone reading this would immediately jump onto the bandwagon of developing form rather than useless substance. And there are so many avenues for that - most of the so-called self-help gurus out there can't wait to get you on their "life-changing" programmes that tell you how to be more confident, how to network and the list goes on. The media promotes such people too and make celebrities of people who are on the fast-track - headlines like the youngest CEO, etc have become so attractive. But wait - is substance really that useless and form is really what gets you through life? The truth is hardly anyone tells you that if one only has form or rise up the ranks mainly through form alone, then the cliche "the higher you climb, the harder you fall" applies. Without the necessary substance to back one up, a person with high form but little or no substance will have to rely on people with the substance - but people with the substance can one day bite back.

If the above is true, then it may be quite a dilemma. Having more than a decade of working experience, whenever young people ask me for career advice, I would share with them this: In life, we need to have a balance of both form and substance. For certain careers like marketing and sales, then perhaps more form is required. However for technical trades, then perhaps more substance is required. The tendency for those pursuing technical trades is that they may become too engrossed in developing substance that sometimes they may neglect the communication with others and for some, even neglecting their outward appearance (by dressing too unprofessional) and even behaviour. Some behave very reclusive but truly it is not beneficial to be too extreme as it will not hurt to every now and then, come out their shells (or cave for that matter) and mingle with colleagues and bosses. Of course some people may outright proclaim it is not in their character to be a social butterfly but the idea is not to be too extreme in this aspect either - don't do something that is totally out of one's character, everyone has an innate ability to make friends, it doesn't have to be fancy, start with a simple "how are you doing?" - a lot of people forget there is a lot of learning too by interacting with others. When one is fresh in their careers, in fact, one should focus more on developing substance especially for those in the technical field - I'll explain more in a bit. Young people these days who under the influence of the media or their peers (or even their educators) have a tendency to want to pursue the fast-track in life. However this kind of thinking is detrimental to the long term career growth. Imagine someone who has probably fast-track into, let's say, a senior engineer position but for example, when a junior engineer asks a lower-level question but because this person has not managed to gain the relevant experience to answer; being in a senior position would be too embarassed to admit not to know the answer but then again too embarassed to ask even someone else to try to learn. I've seen it happen all too often - people who rise fast but didn't have the necessary time to gain the necessary knowledge and exposure (or simply known as experience), have become stuck as there is practically no way for them to go back in time to pick up such skills or knowledge due to their current level and people's expectations of them. A lot of junior people forget that there is an advantage of being junior - one can afford to make mistakes and be forgiven. As such it is pointless to pursue higher level sounding job titles in a hurry and thereby should focus on developing the necessary skills and experience so that when actually in the higher position, one would have already been well-prepared to handle the obligations. While I can't dictate what are their ultimate choices in life, I guess it should be some useful food for thought for the young people - hopefully they can make better informed decisions for their careers.

The Story of Motorcycles and Cars

This is the story of motorcycles and how I got my driving license:

When I was studying in the university, I decided I should learn how to ride a motorcycle as I found a good deal for a cheap secondhand scooter. What strongly inspired me to do that was if I rode to university from home, the journey would probably take me a little more than 15 minutes given the proximity of my home - however, if I took the public transport, it would take me at least an hour - sometimes it even takes me an hour and a half due to the crowd going into the school during peak periods! Yes, I know some will wonder how that is possible given that Singapore claims to have a world-class transport system but I guess most Singaporeans already know how true that claim is - nonetheless this topic will not be discussed here. So I got about enquiring and even picked up a registration form and brochure from the driving school. By some strange fate the very next day, my mum found the form and brochure on my desk (despite being stashed under some books) and gave me hell. She would scream at me every day from then on for me to give up the notion of getting a motorcycle license, and I would just silently oblige with the hidden intention to learn without her knowledge after the screaming phase had blown over. She somehow knew my intention and after 2 weeks, she directed her screaming to my dad, urging him to sponsor me to learn driving instead. I lamented that it was pointless for me to learn driving as there was no way I could afford a car (even a secondhand one). However, both my dad and I could sense how determined she was and eventually both of us relented - that I was how I ended up learning to drive instead.

Since I was sponsored by my dad, I decided to get a good instructor from the driving school but unfortunately I didn't pass on my first attempt despite not getting any demerit points from driving in the circuit. During my first driving test, I was on a filter lane waiting to drive off and it was all because some scooter decided to beat the red traffic light at that junction that the tester stepped on the brake of the car and in an instant, the test was deemed an immediate failure. It was already a red traffic light and the junction was clear, so I was about the drive off after waiting near the mouth of the filter lane but some law-breaking scooter decided to beat the red traffic light, making a high speed wide right turn at the junction towards the mouth of the filter lane where I had already been forced to stop as the tester had his foot on the brake. There was at least a good half a minute before the scooter would pass the bonnet of my car and the deep rage within me almost tempted me to press the car horn real hard when the scooter passed me by - that should really jolt that irresponsible dangerous bugger and probably even cause him to crash horribly! Like a predator I waited... heck what did it matter after all the fate of the test was sealed... yet I really had to suppress my burning rage and let that law-breaker passed me by without event before grudgingly driving back to the centre and accepting the results unwillingly. I felt miserable after spending my father's money and failing in such a manner. So after picking myself up (I prayed that for his own sake that scooter rider better not ride so dangerously in future or one day his dangerous riding will catch up with him), I informed my dad that I would pay for the additional driving lessons as well as for my second driving test attempt. The second test went by pretty uneventful and I passed the entire test with only a mere 3 demerit points for failing to check one of the blind spots.

So I continued to take the less-than-efficient public transport for my entire university life. It wasn't till after some years of working before I could eventually afford a car. It was only after I had really started driving before I realised how right my mum was - about how dangerous it was to ride a motorcycle. All my friends who rode motorcycles (yes, every single one) at some point in time, have gotten into an accident before (but of varying severity). When I was in junior college, one of my classmates almost lost his life after slamming face-first into a lorry. His whole body and face were so badly injured, he couldn't take his A-levels examinations that year and had to take it the subsequent year. Recently a colleague of mine didn't know what had happened as the next thing he could remember, he had already woken up in a hospital - apparently according to the traffic police report, some witnesses said his motorcycle had skidded, rendering him unconscious and someone called the ambulance. He was probably lucky that he is still alive though suffering from multiple minor injuries. When I drive, I can see how easy it is for a motorcycle to get into an accident, especially with all dangerous weaving in and out and between vehicles. Recently a lot of bad driving behaviour on the roads is not helping the situation at all. There is very limited protection when riding and risk of having severe injuries is high. Now looking back I guess my mum had the best of intentions and a valid concern.

Addiction & Science Fiction

A zoologist friend was on the train with me some time ago and was explaining the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin. The theory and its numerous variations by other scientists, which is still being debated upon till today, suggests that humans evolved through natural selection - or commonly known as survival of the fittest. Back then, good hunting skills was essential for survival but now as both of us were staring at the other commuters on the train, it would probably be good online skills? The most apt chinese term to describe that scene was "低头族" (which directly translates to "lowered head generation") as almost everyone was peering down, busy on their mobile devices (some on their mobile phones, while others on their tablet devices), seemingly quite detached from their immediate surroundings, engaged in some online world. Just like the way aliens have been depicted in many science fiction novels and movies, my friend postulated that the future generation of humans will evolve such that the head will be bigger than the body (due to more use of the brain and less use of the physical body). Thus perhaps all those alien sightings could be a glimpse into the future or the future human visiting the present which has already past via some time machine? With the way so many of us, especially the future generation, are so addicted to their mobile devices and the online world, who can really tell? Both my friend and I had a good chuckle while having that conversation, as the other commuters on board seemed unaware of us.

quod scripsi, scripsi

The title is the famous latin quote (meaning what I have written, I have written) from the Bible (John 19:22) of Pontius Pilate when the chief priests protested when he wrote "iesus nazarenus rex iudaeorum" (which meant Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews) before Jesus was brought out to be crucified. I was going through some of the past blog entries since the beginning - at a time when the idea of blogging was new and slowly as time passed, new platforms of social media were introduced. Up to the point when I had taken a deliberate break from blogging, I have been contemplating the fate of this blog. Some years before 2011, I had experimented embedding Youtube videos but in case, you were wondering, I have begun removing the videos from past entries as some led to dead links and simply because I decided that for the blog to continue its existence, it shall return to its roots of just being pure words. Just prior to the break, I had experimented with Twitter but it definitely didn't suit my style as it's really just random anecdotes that do not qualify themselves well enough i.e. giving a somewhat incomplete picture.

So why the sudden revival of the blog? What has happened since then? It makes more chronological sense to answer the second question first: I took a break off blogging as I was pursuing a Masters degree. Though I had graduated long ago, it seemed more appropriate to observe the evolution of social media especially in Singapore - many companies began engaging customers on social media platforms, many customers similarly responded on this same media, some people formed organisations on these platforms too (there are those that are full time Youtube content providers and bloggers too!). So much had evolved and indeed the Internet has become an essential part of modern day people. There are friends who tell me sometimes all they hope to look for are a few nice articles about life that they can relate to instead of all the popularised virtual insanity out there. Recently a close friend even shared with me about how the power of story-telling is making its way to be a must-have course for executive leadership. It's no surprise how the art of story-telling is powerful tool of communicating ideas or concepts and has been the way Jesus and even Buddha shared the knowledge of the world via such methodology. As I age through life, many younger people have approached me for advice and whenever I shared my own life experience, they could better relate and understand. Maybe if I shared them on this blog, someone else could relate to them too? Okay, in case if you haven't noticed I have answered the first question as well. Thank you for reading!

Meaning of Life

One of the old wive's tales you get to hear from old folks especially when you volunteer at an old folks' home like I do is that to know the age that you will die naturally by observing how old before your grandparents expired (of natural causes). For example, my grandfather passed away (peacefully) shortly after crossing age 70 and thus by now, I have crossed my mid-way mark in my journey of life (so I guess that means I'm going through a mid-life crisis?!). Some of my friends have grandparents that live beyond 90 and thus would have to plan for a longer journey, ha! Yet the truth is life is more fragile than we know it. Just today, my colleague was sharing about how her cousin who was in her mid-30s was diagnosed with lung cancer, passed away suddenly leaving behind 3 kids to her distraught husband, although she didn't smoke nor had any history of poor health (or at least not to the knowledge of my colleague). To put in a morbid blunt manner, there are so many ways to die or one could end up dead, be it via some freak accident or illness or God knows what. Where there is life, there will be death. While many of us can acknowledge this fact, how many of us actually realise the brevity of it all?

Being rather inquisitive since young, I have long pondered about the meaning of life - but that doesn't mean I have a definite answer; just like you who are reading now, we're probably still figuring it out as we journey in this mortal life. Yet here I am sharing what I know - any believer in God or a higher being will typically accept that life is a gift. I often wonder as many people get caught up to be "successful" in life, what does "being successful in life" mean? So does that mean you can possibly be a "failure" in life? Even more curious is who is the judge of it all if that is the case? If we acknowledge the first paragraph of this blog entry, then life in itself is uncertain, so despite all that we can plan, perhaps there could some divine will or destiny already laid out for us? Not to be fatalistic but these are all questions that probably crossed our mind at some point in time as we ponder the meaning of our mortal existence. So do we go on pondering deeper and deeper like what some of the ancient Greek philosophers did - will we eventualy get a definite answer? Probably at some point, we might just accept that life is indeed a gift and it is what we make of it - probably more meaningful to focus on making the best of it (whilst it lasts!); just like a common saying goes, "life is not a destination but a journey". As I make my own journey in life, I have discovered that perhaps everyone's meaning in life could be different; I feel I have been giving meaning to my own existence in my own way through the things I do (and choose not to do) - maybe that principle also applies to everyone else? Who knows?

Stressful Singapore?

Has Singapore really become such a stressful place to live in?

The following are the news reports:
Nov 5: Body of a Chinese man was found in Bedok Reservoir on Saturday morning. This is the 6th body to be found in Bedok Reservoir since June this year.
Nov 2: A 26-year-old Vietnamese woman (Truong Thi Ngoh Anh) was found dead at the foot of a block in Woodlands early Wednesday morning, nearly 6 months after a corpse was discovered in a water tank of the same block. She is believed to have fallen to her death from the 6th story of block 686B Woodlands Street 73.
Oct 25: Body of a Chinese woman in her late 50s dressed in a red was found floating in Bedok Reservoir on Tuesday morning.
Oct 10: Body of a 33-year-old Indian construction worker was found in Bedok Reservoir on Monday morning.
Sep 22: The bodies of a 32-year-old young woman and her 3-year-old son (Tan Sze Sze and her son Jerald Chin Le Hui) were found by the shoreline of Bedok Reservoir on Thursday morning. Both were dressed in red.
Jun 20: The decomposed lower body of a 23-year-old Chinese national (Lin Xiao) was found in Bedok Reservoir.

If you're stressed, have desserts! As desserts are spelt the reverse of 'stressed’.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Don't you feel as if every now and then, life seems to get you down; and sometimes you feel as if you have hit rock bottom that you fear you'll never get out of it? Well at times like this, since it can't possibly get any worse, there's nothing to lose when you look on the bright side of life.

From the film Monty Python's Life of Brian, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle and this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life ~whistle~
Always look on the light side of life ~whistle~

If life seems jolly rotten, there's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps, don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

For life is quite absurd and death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show, keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

(See also: Donkey)

Happiness is...?

According to Minister for National Development, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, in his Parliamentary speech, "happiness is an affordable first home for all newlyweds". Indeed, the high prices and difficulty in bidding for a HDB (Housing Development Board) apartment has delayed wedding plans or even setting up a family for several newlyweds in Singapore, which would inevitably affect the already low birth rate that we are experiencing.

Yet in a recent study called "The Happiness Report", it was found that Singaporeans most unhappy about insufficient savings with 46.5% of those polled reported a lack of sufficient savings in the last 6 months, especially prevalent among those aged between 30 and 44-years-old. The report also predicted this number to rise in view of stagnant wages, inflation and higher costs of living that may occur in the wake of a possible recession. Indeed the latest figures from the Department of Statistics show Singapore's inflation up 5.5% in September. Singapore's consumer price index (CPI) rose by 5.5% compared to a year ago, due to higher costs of accommodation, private road transport and food. The average working Singaporean gets an annual wage increase of about 3% and with bank savings interest rates at only about 0.05%, it can only mean real income is getting smaller for the average Singaporean.

I guess happiness means different things to different people at different times. So what is happiness to you now?

Opposition who?

For starters, my blog has always been non-political and will continue to be that way. It is just a blog for random thoughts and from time to time I also share the thoughts of those around me. Recently, the parliamentary speeches has been the hot topic in the pantry. Worth noting was the speech by MP for Aljunied GRC, Mr Chen Show Mao, who clarified the position of the opposition party was not to create division and quote "It is the intolerance of differences that will be divisive." In his speech, he also quoted from former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr George Yeo, "In a newspaper interview, former Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo related what a Roman Catholic cardinal told him about the late Pope John Paul the Second. The cardinal had drafted, “Even though we’re all different because we speak different languages, we are one”. The Pope corrected him. “No, it is not even though we’re different, we are one. It is because we are different, we are one.” Mr Yeo then said, “I thought that was so profound and beautiful. In my first speech to the United Nations, I repeated that story because in the UN, it is also because we are different that we are one. To be a human being is to be different."

Fellow MP for Aljunied GRC, Mr Low Thia Khiang, reinforced this idea in his speech and warned that "We should also be on guard against viewing trade-offs only from the Government’s perspective. We should always assess trade-offs from the people’s perspective, especially those who are severely affected by the policy." And also, "urge the PAP to step out of the shadow of the doom and gloom of certain pitfalls of western liberal democracy and work towards a First World Parliament in our own way."

While the above speeches by the Worker's Party (also known as the "opposition party") had drawn criticisms from ruling party (PAP) bench, there were those who were more positive like MP for Sengkang West, Dr Lam Pin Min, who in his speech sums it up by saying, "it is clear that all of us can agree on one fundamental tenet that we, as parliamentarians, will strive to make Singapore a better home for all Singaporeans" Indeed the ministers and members of parliament (MPs) should view themselves as serving the common good of all Singaporeans and not as separate political parties. Perhaps the term "opposition party" is partly the cause of the mis-perception that it is one that opposes the ruling government. But let's just say if the ruling party were to concede power to the other party, then won't that make the ruling party into the opposition party now?

Maybe it would be a good idea to just scrap using the term "opposition party" and just address a person by the appointment e.g. MP or call the party's name as it is when required. Unlike a school debate where there is a proposition team and an opposition team to a particular motion / topic, different parties will experience times when they have different opinions as well as times when they are in agreement on various issues that affect our nation - but the eventual objective of the discussion is to work towards creating a better Singapore for Singaporeans.

Tweet

2015: I have deleted the Twitter account

After much deliberation, I've decided to sign up for a Twitter account and this would be used to replace the Shoutbox which was originally on the right hand column of my blog. With Twitter, I would have the option of dropping short snippets of updates of my blog as well as some short random thoughts. You can follow me on Twitter via: http://twitter.com/zanmyblog

Also if you were wondering about the strange profile pictures, those are QR codes and you can use your smart mobile device to scan the codes of links to my blog quickly. I've also decided to remove the Flickr photostream from my blog. For feedback, you can always reply me via Twitter or post a comment to the blog posts.

Public | Transport

There seems to be a disconnect between the public and the transport system in Singapore. Since my earlier blog entry about the transport woes in Singapore, where it was reported 26,600 passengers were affected in the Circle Line downtime, SMRT has repeatedly appeared in the news especially the past week, here's a quick compilation:

1. After 10 years, the Circle Line now fully opened on Oct 8 (Sat). However by Oct 13 (Thu), it was reported that unexpected demand creates human jams at Circle Line where higher-than-expected ridership during peak hours at the newly opened Circle Line caught train operator SMRT by surprise.

2. On Oct 13 (Thu), it was reported that Thai teen to ask SMRT for S$4m in compensation. Nitcharee Peneakchanasak who lost both her legs in a train accident at Ang Mo Kio MRT station in April will be asking SMRT for at least S$4 million in compensation.

3. 6,500 MRT commuters affected by train breakdown on Oct 14 (Fri) afternoon, resulting in a human jam at Tanjong Pagar MRT station, where fare gates had to be temporarily closed due to the platforms becoming congested with commuters unable to board a train.

4. Oct 18 (Tue), SMRT fined $200,000 for Bishan depot security breach for an incident that happened earlier this year on Aug 17, when graffiti was found on a northbound MRT train. SMRT had been previously fined $50,000 for a similar incident that took place in May 2010 at its Changi facility. The fine collected will be donated to the Public Transport Fund to help needy families with transport fares.

It is apparent from above that SMRT's service standards is appalling and has continually dropped. It seems that fines may not be the solution as it's possible that the burden of higher operating costs may be passed on to passengers in the form of higher fares. Being a public transport provider, which means there's practically no alternatives, it is no wonder that the people in Singapore are turning to the government to step in and clear up the mess.

Hot Air

It's the weekend already and just to share a joke from a professor who was teaching me:

There were once 3 CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) travelling in a hot air balloon and seemed to be lost. They saw a wise-looking man below and decided to ask him for directions, "Excuse me, could you tell us where are we?" The guy was a professor and he replied, "You are in a hot air balloon." The 3 CEOs were rather cheesed off with the response and one of them told him, "You must be a professor." And the professor looking pleasantly surprised, replied, "How did you know?" "What you said is correct, but not useful."

Now the professor was very cheesed and he said, "You must be CEOs." The 3 CEOs were very surprised that the professor could arrive at such an analysis and were curious, "How did you know?" "The only students I've taught who are so high up but don't where they are, are CEOs."

A tribute to Steve Jobs

I don't claim to fan of Apple products but there's something about the visionary leadership of the founder & previous CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs. Steven Paul Jobs (family name following his adopted parents) who was born 24 February 1955 left this world on 5 October 2011 at age 56 after battling with pancreatic cancer, with the world mourning for him. There's probably a lot of tributes going around but here's a brief summary about this great man:

In the late 1970s, Steve Jobs with co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Apple Lisa and, one year later, the Macintosh. However after losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd, which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios, that made blockbuster computer animation movies like Toy Story. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1% until its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2006, making Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder at 7% and a member of Disney's Board of Directors. Apple's 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served as its interim CEO from 1997, then becoming permanent CEO from 2000 onwards, spearheading the creation of world-changing products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad. To sum up his attitude, he once quoted ice hockey player, Wayne Gretzky, "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."

Below is his Stanford commencement address in 2005:


Farewell, Steve Jobs!