Updates - Mid 2013 - 5 years on...

I guess I owe all of you some updates over the last 3 years.

 Work 

Work has been largely the same. Some restructuring in the company, some retrenchments,some people leaving. But largely business as usual.

My territory has changed and it is a shame I am not going to Perth anymore. However, I get to travel to Brisbane and New Zealand now. Hope to be able to enjoy that.

Still been able to travel around regional areas in NSW and ACT. Visiting sleepy country towns and all. Always is nice to drive around a bit and get out of the office.

Also been trying to do side-lines... See how it goes.


Life

I have bought my own 3 bedroom townhouse, in a nice suburban complex. Nice and friendly neighbours with lots of get-together and parties.

More friends and more events and things to do on the weekends - Birthday parties, catch up sessions, etc.

Haven't been going to the beach a lot in the last year. Been staying home more. Not sure why, maybe just being lazy.



Car

Sold my old car (Ford Focus) and bought a new one (Hyundai ix35) about 3 years ago. I think my previous LS experience took place when I already have my new car.

Haven't done any 4WD or much off road with it though.

I am now sitting in the service centre while my car is being serviced. Doing my work, enjoying free coffee and blogging.. It is a Friday after all..



To Do List

In the short future, looking at getting a better paid job. Getting an investment property. Though in no particular order. Maybe also starting a little side business of some sort.

But I guess, most of the plans is to build a financially secure future and get to enjoy life a little more.

Maybe pick up more sporting activities.

Our Credible News

Am sitting at Perth domestic airport lounge and reading through Singapore news.

First one is this :

First, take note of the headline.

Then, notice the 3rd paragraph, how it says "This also shows an increase from March 31, 2009, when Temasek's portfolio value stood at $130 billion by market value, which is up from $90 billion five years ago."











Now look at this :

See how this article says "Its portfolio value for the financial year to March 2009 fell 30 per cent on-year to S$130 billion. This means the portfolio has shrunk back to levels seen three years ago when its value was worth S$129 billion. "

Haven't had time to see what other international journalist wrote, because I am boarding the plane soon..

I will attempt to compare my own (now inactive) investment portfolio to their performance. 

Coincidence & Power of the Internet

Few months ago, I was shopping for grocery and saw someone that looked like an old friend of mine - my junior in Uni, who was Malaysian, that I got to know in hostel.

I looked at him, but he didn't seem to see me. Sounded like him too, but I didn't dare approach as I thought it would be highly unlikely that I would meet someone there.

Fast forward to 3 days ago.

I finished work at about 5.30pm and was crossing the road to my car. The same guy was crossing the road the other way. We saw each other in the middle. I looked at him and he looked at me. But he didn't show visible signs of recognition.

The next morning at work, I received an email that he has added me to his network. Yes, the person I thought I recognized. So I was right afterall !

What a small world, to be working 2 buildings away. He has migrated to Sydney too, a few months earlier than I. He told his wife about seeing me and his wife thought he was mistaken too.

And he found me through a social networking site, even without my photo shown on that site.

Interesting how we meet old acquaintances and the ways to get in touch with someone.

Melbourne Cup...

Yeah. Never heard of it ?

Neither have I until recently. Today is Melbourne Cup.

It is touted as the event that stops Australia.

Many companies close after lunch. For those who are still open, more than half are glued to TVs and not really working.

Me, I was working at a school today. Was walking around a high school and at about 2-3pm and noticed some interesting things.

There were a few classes where the teachers showed races at the cup, while having lessons.

And there was one teacher who was trying to conduct a class while showing the race on the project - How does she expect the kids to pay attention to her ?

Anyway, I am not a horse racing punter - Hope I have better luck in winning the lotteries...

3 Months and holding

Its been just over 3 months since I came over. Haven't been out to many social events. But still I guess I would like to comment on what I felt so far, and see how my opinion change over time.

(1) Work Culture

Most of the guys here are quite ok. I think its about the same most places. But most of the people leave on the dot. Except for some guys/gals who probably don't want to waste time in the traffic.


(2) Social Issues

Not much to talk about yet, as I wouldn't consider myself immersed into it at the moment. However, based on current affairs programs on TV and the news, recent events stand out :
- Rising cost of living,
- Rising costs of petrol (and the subsequent cut in petrol tax to help a little),
- Pensioners trying to cope with rising cost of rental and living,
- Rising property prices and mortgage rates,
- Putting paedophiles away in jail for life,
- Over-reaction to people taking photographs of children (worrying that the photos will be used by paedophiles)

And if any campaigns were to be used to gauge what is the latest issues, it would be :
- Speeding and Drink Driving
- Pedestrians not using proper railway crossings


(3) TV/Radio/IT

Internet here is not as cheap as Singapore, definitely. And they all have a monthly limit. Even those plans where I don't have to pay extra, anything over the limit most probably will be throttled.

I am probably not one for very heavy downloading. So far, I haven't been really able to exceed the 150GB per month that I have been allocated. Even the 40GB during peak hours (anytime except 3am to 9am) is just about fully utilised.

Free-to-air TV programs are about the same quality as in Singapore. Though it is all DVB and almost all channels have an HD counterpart.

All programs carry a rating warning, and more adult-themed ads and TV shows are late at night (like after 9pm).

TV and Radio programs have openly gay hosts and it is not the end of the world...


(4) Traffic

Peak hour traffic is bad on major roads. Probably not as bad as in Singapore. But comparing peak hour traffic at my previous workplace in Singapore and my current work place, it looks the same - faster to walk out of the business park.

Though Sydney is probably the most expensive in tolls compared to the rest of Australia.

And yeah, the roads are not as well maintained as Singapore roads during the IMF/World Bank Conference 2006.


(5) Neighbourhood

Very quiet. Probably if you visited the city and lived in hotels in the city, it would be more lively. But out in the suburbs, anytime of the day it is usually quiet. How quiet ?

On average, I meet 3 cars per week on my way in and out of my garage and the main service road outside my house.

On the average, I get to say 'hi' to ALL my neighbours (not just the next door) in the whole area once or twice every weekend.


(6) Finances

Interest rates are high, good for savings. Since income tax are withheld at source, don't really feel the pinch other than reading payslips. What I get in my bank is what I can spend.

It's probably too early to estimate yet, but probably I can achieve the same savings at the moment.

Total amount I spend on food is about the same, in real dollars, as I had spent in Singapore. Of course, I get to make my own food more, but I think I am eating a more healthy diet. More juice, milk and veges.

Oh, and I will probably be getting some amount back every year on tax rebates. Just have to pay a little more attention to these details.


(7) Medical

Can't say, as I haven't used any of the medical services yet. But I think I will still pay a bit more for private health insurance.

According to colleagues, some went through things like child-birth and cancer treatments for their relatives - all on public health. Free and not too bad. But of course, that also means you are not able to find the best of the specialist if you want.

Some would prefer taking up the private option, so that they can have elective surgeries done by the doctors of their choice and at a date of their choice, instead of waiting in queue.

Of course, there are horror stories in public hospitals but isn't it the same in Singapore ?


(8) Overall

Overall, I would say it might have been better if I came over earlier. Been hearing comparisons by various people on how they are glad they bought their houses years ago.

As early as 5 years ago, a house probably costs a third of what they costs now. Even with mortgage rates of 18% pa, its much better off than it is today. Mortgage servicing takes up less share of their take home pay.

As global inflation/recession is on the horizon, there's no escaping. I think I wouldn't live in Sydney forever. But for now, I think I am not too much better off (yet) , but I am no worse off either.

Yeah, had to spend a lot initially, but I think that will last me quite a while.

At least, I can still see my net-worth chart (in my MS Money) growing the last few months.

Its all the same...

Seen on the morning show that there are talks on public display of affection and how much is too much, etc.

Just brings back the memories that not too long ago, there was a period in the Singapore media and public about the very same topic.

And here I am, hearing from Australians that holding hands and quick pecks on the cheeks and short kisses are ok, but anything more makes many uncomfortable.

And I recall that the 'conservative' Singaporeans saying that they are still Asian and asking youngsters not to be too influenced by 'western' values, etc. Makes me think, why is it that it is always the decadent west ? There are conservative people all over the world !

Ok ok, so technically, Australia is not the west but the east... But you get what I mean ?

What's in a name ?

Was watching the news this morning about a report of a cyclone in Burma...

Wait, I thought they are called Myanmar ? I have been using and hearing that name for a long time now. I thought they had changed it eons ago...

So I checked this morning. According to Wikipedia :

On 18 June 1989, the military junta passed the 'Adaptation of Expressions Law' that officially changed the English version of the country's name from Burma to Myanmar, and changed the English versions of many place names in the country along with it, such as its former capital city from Rangoon to Yangon (which represents its pronunciation more accurately in Burmese though not in Arakanese). This prompted one scholar to coin the term 'Myanmarification' to refer to the top-down programme of political and cultural reform that led to and followed in the wake of this renaming.[6] This decision has, however, not been subject to independent legislation and no national referendum was held to decide this change by the people.[1] The official name of the country in the Burmese language was Myanmar, and the official name of the country in English was Burma ever since the country gained independence from Britain in 1948. Within the Burmese language, Myanmar is the written, literary name of the country, while Bama or Bamar (from which "Burma" derives) is the oral, colloquial name. In spoken Burmese, the distinction is less clear than the English transliteration suggests.

The renaming proved to be politically controversial.[7] Opposition groups continue to use the name "Burma," since they do not recognize the legitimacy of the ruling military government nor its authority to rename the country in English. This name change was recognized by the United Nations, China, India, Singapore, Thailand, Lao, Vietnam, Bangladesh, ASEAN, and Russia. However it was not recognized by many western governments such as the United States, Australia, Canada or the United Kingdom, which continue to use "Burma," while the European Union uses "Burma/Myanmar" as an alternative.

And according to CIA Factbook :

Country name:
conventional long form: Union of Burma
conventional short form: Burma
local long form: Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw (translated by the US Government as Union of Myanma and by the Burmese as Union of Myanmar)
local short form: Myanma Naingngandaw
former: Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma
note: since 1989 the military authorities in Burma have promoted the name Myanmar as a conventional name for their state; this decision was not approved by any sitting legislature in Burma, and the US Government did not adopt the name, which is a derivative of the Burmese short-form name Myanma Naingngandaw

So what does it show when you see this :



And this :



Can't see the subtle difference ?

Hint : Note the country name and the city name...

This is a WTF Moment....

Complaints that Traffic Police, while setting up speed cameras, are hiding on bridges.

See Stomp Here.

I really do not understand the rationale. Yes, the purpose of putting warnings is to "force" motorists to slow down and prevent accident, rather than issue a speeding ticket.

But come on, this is like a drug dealer complaining about an under-cover police. CNB officers should all wear uniform, so that drug dealers will see them around and not commit crimes...

Oh, some might say that drug dealing is a serious crime, it hurts people, etc, and thus warrants a stronger policing tactic.

So a speedster thinking he is superman doesn't hurt anyone when his car crashes ?

Put in another way, drug dealers only sell to "willing victims". Someone gives you heroin, you can say "No, sorry. I don't do drugs."

When a speedster crashes into YOU, you can't say "No. Sorry, I don't speed."

Concept, Ideas, but Laziness rules

They did it in the USA. An idea that myself and KOP once thought of. Slightly different, as wi-fi wasn't that common few years ago. But I am sure we would have thought of using it as a supplement.

What am I talking about ? Using Cell-phones signals to triagulate locations for commercial purposes. The technology has been used by police and telcos - but they all rely on telcos to PROVIDE the location via their own reverse-triangulation method (using multiple base stations find where the phone is).

We weren't depending on Telcos to provide such information, but to war-drive out there to collect such data.

Now its commercially available in USA - SkyHook

I heard another company is doing the same for Singapore and Malaysia. Tapping on end users with GPS-enabled phones. Download application that records GPS locations + GSM + Wi-Fi Signals. Sends the data back to them and they compile into a database. Of course, users are paid for such data - Navizon.

Oh well, ideas are just ideas until you have the capability, time and money to make it a reality...

A Receipient of Malaysia Healthcare

Went to Malaysia to visit a family friend yesterday. He is a middle class man of about 77 years of age. Children grow up, running businesses and some working in Singapore. Living in a 2-level house built on a land that they own, in a middle class section of some parts of Johor.

Went up to visit him cos my father heard that he was involved in a motorcycle accident a while back..

I shall skip the details and come to the crux of this post. Basically fell off his bike and landed in a deep drain. Sent to a govt hospital.

Hospitalized for 3 days. In that 3 days, he had x-ray or MRI (he don't know what it was but he had to lie down for like half an hour for them to "scan" his head injuries) and then sat down and took what was most likely an x-ray for his kneecap.

Total bill for the entire episode - RM$15.

They took deposit of RM$30 at the beginning and when he was discharged, refunded RM$15.

We even asked again - EVERYTHING ? Including all the x-rays and stuff ? He said yes.
I am assuming all the medication, glucosamine, etc that he has to take AFTER being discharged as a separate payment. Even then, it is pretty surprising.

Another Appeal

I know my readership isn't that big. But I guess this is just a little bit of effort that I cannot spare.

Please read this : http://newlifeoutreach.blogspot.com/

The person who is writing this blog is a personal friend of mine. I know trust is not transitive, but whatever amount you guys are willing to contribute, please do not hesitate.

If you have no paypal accounts, please let me know. I am willing to collect money personally and pass it over.

You can also help me spread the word far and wide.

Thank you.

Typical Millionaire of Singapore

Yes, its here : http://www.salary.sg/2007/typical-millionaire/

The report went on to estimate that in 2006 “approximately 19,000 HNWIs of Indonesian origin resided in Singapore and held approximately US$93 billion in financial wealth.”

In other words, close to 30% of the high net worth wealth here belong to Indonesians. I’m sure many of us are not surprised.

Wow. I know rich Indonesians come here.. and park their money here.. But.. 30%...

The night I was molested...and almost blinded

Went to St James Power Station club last night with my colleagues. It was my first time there. Looks quite interesting. But I think I still prefer MOS. Haha..

Movida's music was good. Then I went to get a drink. On my way back from the bar counter to where my colleagues were, that is where I was violated.

I was carrying a glass of drink in my hand. The other hand was used to weave my way through the crowd. While walking near some tables, there was this couple who were slightly high and dancing.

The guy was behind the girl and I think he was sort of hugging/dancing with her to the music. I walked in front of them. That area happened to be just a bit sparse and while I was walking towards them, the girl was grooving to the music and saw me coming.

Just as I was walking past her, she reached out and pulled my my shirt, caressing my stomach. I was surprised as I thought her hands were just part of her dance. In that instant that I realized it, I sucked in my stomach (well, I am already quite flabby) trying to impress her... Hahaha..

Then I saw the look of disappointment in her face as she removed her hands and continued dancing while I walked past. All without missing a step nor losing my stride.

Ha ha.. Never thought I would still get such attention. Or maybe she was too drunk ? Too bad I didn't get a closer look at her boyfriend to see if there is any reason for her to be molesting other guys...

:)

P/S : Yes, it is "To walk past", not "To walk passed".


Oh and yes, nearly blinded. Was just squeezing through the crowd and this girl (I thought is a she) with spikey hair was moving her head about while I was squeezing behind her.

Yes, her hair poked into my right eye. I thought I was going to be blind...

Now I know where the money came from...

Oh, I almost wanted to rejoice on the additional 1% I am going to get from my CPF accounts.
1% more, for the first 20k in my Ordinary Account.
1% more, for my Special Account & Medisave Account. I figure up to first 40k, since I already have 20k in my OA.

Then I read that instead of having a fixed 4% interest rate for SA and MA as it is right now. It will be "re-pegged to an appropriate long-term bond rate".

According to a news report :
Private sector economists said the rates could be pegged to government-issued bonds.

"If we peg it to a SGS bond, it will definitely be below the target 4 percent rate. Our thoughts are that, they might be looking at a bond issued by say, Temasek, which has typically in previous years averaged returns more than 4 percent. So we can probably enjoy higher returns in that way," said Alvin Liew, economist at UOB Treasury Research.

So, if the govt decides to peg to SGS bond, I will not be getting the 5% in my SA & MA as I thought. It will be lower...


Oh and last night, the news came out. ERP rates increased. More ERP Gantries.

Damn, I knew there isn't going to be free money....

For me to do something meaningful...

Contributions of money here and there to charities are not really that meaningful to me anymore.

A friend is now deeply involved in helping the Hmong refugee camps in Thailand.
http://newlifeoutreach.blogspot.com/


I am now asking for all your assistance. As individuals, I think I am not in any power to change the situation.

But I can contribute a little to their living and making it more comfortable : Winter is coming soon. And many will die in the refugee camp.

If you have any blankets and winter clothes to donate, please let me know.
If you feel like making monetary donations, please let me know too.
Or you can contact the site author directly.

This is going to be totally trust-based, though I am sure the author (my friend) will do his utmost to ensure that donations and trusts are not abused. But we have to know, he has no money to hire accountants.

Traffic Accidents and being 'Kaypoh'...

I have been stuck in traffic jams, especially those caused by traffic accidents.

And the usual complaints are always "People slow down to gawk", causing the traffic to be slow even AFTER the vehicles were moved away.

Though I would usually grumble when I am stuck in such jams, I know sometimes, things just happen in this manner. With everyone thinking for themselves and reacting to situations which will feed itself.. Self-organized events, I think..

http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200404/backpage.cfm

Sometimes, even without and accident, one person in a dense traffic flow, not paying attention to the road will cause a jam too..

Just imagine.. all around, everyone is travelling at 90km/h. One guy decides to jam brake, for 2 seconds.. Either not paying attention to a slowing vehicle in front, or a piece of debris falling in front of his path.. And then accelerated back to 90km/h after that brief 2 seconds..

The guy behind him hits the brakes hard too, but this time, he will take more than 2 seconds.. maybe 3 or 4 seconds.. cos of shock.. and he has to make sure that the first guy did accelerate before he will press his accelerator again..

Imagine the guy behind THIS guy, will take another 1 or 2 seconds longer than HIM. And it goes on.. and about 10 minutes later.. that stretch of road has slowed to a crawl to 30km/h...


Oh, and how about accident vehicles ? Is it that bad to take a look ? Why not ? Let those who drive recklessly take a close look and hope they do not do that.. Let the kids who just got their license know how their cars will look like should they decide to test the laws of physics..

But then those who will heed such "warnings" will not need to SEE these accidents.. looking at newspaper photos will be sufficient.. Those die-hard racers and people who think they are immortal, no amount of gore is going to scare them.

So perhaps being kaypoh is good, perhaps it is useless too.. I will never know..

Another step in becoming a seasoned traveller...

I have been travelling, for work and for holiday, for the past 10 years.

Yesterday, I have another point to clock into my season traveller mileage - I missed my first flight.

I arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on time. I checked in with almost 2 hours to spare. I proceeded past immigration, where I had to consume all my drinks.

(I couldn't remember whether they had another layer of security check at the gate and have taken the decision to go in rather than stay outside. I tried to finish my can of coke, a bottle of H2O and a bottle of mineral water. I can't and had to dump whatever I couldn't finish.)

In I went, then up to the next level and settled for a cup of latte and a croissant for lunch. Light, since I will be having another round of late lunch on the flight.

Then I took out my laptop to play my game (no points for guessing what game I was playing, ha ha.)

I didn't double check my flight time. I kept on thinking it was 2.40pm. So I played until about 2.25, turned it off, and proceeded to the gate. I know SQ closed the gate 10 min before departure. I could make it on time.

As I was walking into the gate, I looked at the signboard and it said the flight time was 2.20pm! I ran down. Nobody was sitting at any of the chairs. One of the staff saw me walking down and apparently know my name. Wow ! How did he know ?

So the plane had just left the gate, and my luggage was in it.

Anyway, to cut the long story short, they arranged me to get on the next flight. Gave me my boarding pass and I have another 4 hours to kill. This time, I found a comfy sofa, sat down and read my novel.

When I arrived in Singapore, my luggage was sitting on a trolley waiting for me already. Nice SQ service.

*~*~*~*~*

So, I have had close-call connections where I had ran from one end of the airport to the other. I have had flight delayed for hours due to weather (though it wasn't snow nor typhoon). I have had stand-by for 4 days at the airport waiting for empty seats on full flight season. I have had incredible flood that didn't stop me from getting back home on time.

Now I missed my flight trying conquer the world in a chair... :)

Only experiences left that I haven't had are lost luggages, missed connections, air accidents and hijacks. I really hope I will never have to live through any of it. Missing a flight is enough excitement. Excitement that did no harm except my kill my time and my mood.

*yawn*... tired... had a whole week of work and late night partying. Going to sleep early so that I can enjoy my weekend.

More Jobs taken from Older Singaporeans ?

I'd learnt about this small bit of information from my course of work.

You know those small kiosk at bus/MRT interchanges, where you have the uncles and aunties sellnig drinks, newspapers and magazines ?

Well, seems like SPH will be buying them over on phases, and franchising out to youngsters. Why youngsters ? So that they can also start to sell technology products (like mobile phones, etc) as they want to showcase wireless hotspot as well (allowing people to surf the web while waiting for buses/MRTs).

So, another small group of jobs taken away...

I know I should not talk about politics, but....

Saw this just now :

http://youngpapblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/bill-gatesgeorge-sorosmother-theresa.html

I am not going to argue for or against the pay rise for ministers or civil service. But I probably just want to have some thoughts in my blog. Afterall, I am not paid peanuts, I am paid calamari (thus the blog title, hahaha)....

Similarly, if we want Singapore to stay on the “Best Of” world list for a lot of things, we jolly well got to pay top dollar for the best people who can keep us right up there.

Oh really, so being ministers now is just plain mercenary ? Political power, loyalty, recognition and connections for future business potentials, etc, are useless ?

Let me see, it was long ago in China, where there are commoners who are willing to PAY to be a court official... But those were the times of long ago...

Spore isn’t like many other economies like the States, Britain or even Hong Kong where their economies can still remain alive even if their politicians are not making the best decisions.

and

In many of these first world nations (whose Ministers’ pays have been “pegged” to ours), their economic engines are matured and almost self-piloting. These governments have inherited the fruits of their political forefathers and are now able to concentrate on improving the social and non-economic welfares of its peoples and say, spend time to build international relations with countries like us.

Wow ! Self running economies created by their forefathers... a mature, self-running economic engines that does not require high-paying ministers and geniuses running at the top...

Is she saying our forefathers (aka founding father) is incapable of creating such economies ?

I am just wondering, were the forefathers of these nations among the best paid in their nation ?

This government put Singapore, a country with no resources, with no historical ties or allies to begin with, on the world map in less than half a century. But will this last forever?

Were our founding fathers lured to improve Singapore by high-pay ?
Why aren't the attributes, found in our leaders of yesterday, found in our people today ? What does this even prove ?

Today, we have the PAP with a number of good men. Will we have the same people tomorrow and always? I’m not sure. I find it rather myopic and sadly presumptuous for so many of these forumers to assume that Singapore is forever going to be where it is, and that we will forever have exceptional geniuses willing to throw their lives to keep Singapore on its feet.

I think the writer has (maybe unintentionally) brought up a very interesting view. Why is it that we need "a few good men" to run our country, while others do not ?

All that matters to me is for Singapore to stay ahead of the game becuase I choose to stay here. We sorely need more than a few Good Men to continue serving at the top so that our economy will continue its bull run. With a flourishing economy, Ministerial pay increments will pale in comparison to the prosperities and fortunes Singapore will be able to bring to its people. Because then, the man on their street will get his pay raise too.

Oh, we have, for the past few years, grown the economy. We have seen those whose pay raised with the growing economy. Have we also just recently seen the group where their pay has not risen ? So when it comes to raising the economy, we put the responsibilities on those few good men at the top. When it comes to stagnant poor, we blame them for not helping themselves, or improving themselves...

But every job requires certain attributes. Civil service should be for those who feel for the country, who feel for their countrymen.

I am not saying that the civil servants have to live a life of poverty to serve the country.
We, as recipients of these public services, must make sure that civil servants are well-fed and worry-free to serve the public, but not make them top earners in the country.

Is there a perfect formula ? I probably can't propose one...

But another calamari for you to think about :

Being opposition doesn't pay, doesn't do good for their reputation, but why are so many ? Why are they opposing a party that is paying their ministers so much ? Why not just join them ?

We may or may not agree with their (opposition) ideas. It may or may not work. Some may seem like lunatics. Some maybe short sighted. But they do it out of passion for their countrymen and most probably loyalty to Singapore. Probably even for their ideals. Heck, they sure are not doing it for the money.

Now if this bunch of not-so-good-men have these attributes, why aren't there more better, smarter geniuses with these attributes ? Why must they be mercenaries ?

Or is the author saying that loyalty, passion, and ideals are only for the poor and stupid ?

The life of a Minister is not attractive. How many are willing to sacrifice every evening either at Meet the People Sessions, chairing Review Committees and carrying another baby in a HDB kopitiam even on precious weekends?

Hey, then we should be paying top dollar to those road sweepers, construction workers, 24-hour call centre agents, retail shop assistants, etc...

They have to work odd and long hours, many a times hazardous locations... They are sacrificing...


Lastly,

I’m not sure. I find it rather myopic and sadly presumptuous for so many of these forumers to assume that Singapore is forever going to be where it is, and that we will forever have exceptional geniuses willing to throw their lives to keep Singapore on its feet.

Oh, Abraham Lincoln is an exceptional genius, and America till today still has all the geniuses running the country, that is how US is now still the worlds #1 super power....

Australia is founded by exceptional.... er... geniuses..... and their economy is also matured....*scratch head*

Which is a better genius ? A genius who creates a car that only other geniuses can drive and use, or one who creates a car that any competent person is able to use it well ?

Why do I raise this question ?

"Because we are a unique country, and our system works"

Just my "questions". I am not going to debate this.

*~*~*~*~*

On another note, should I justify to my boss why I should be paid more, or is it his job to justify to me why I shouldn't be getting double my current pay ?

Nice but not so nice...

For the past few Sundays, I have been going for morning walks along the tracks of MacRitchie reservoir. (An attempt to lead a more healthy lifestyle.)

It has been nice to have breakfast and then a brisk walk along those tracks, seeing monkeys, lizards and fish.

For the last 3 walks, I have had nice encounters - people who greeted "Good Morning" or "Hello". I have counted that these nice smiles and greetings are from Caucasian (about 4 or 5), Chinese (1 or 2) and Indian (1).

As a comparison, the majority of people that I have come across are Chinese (probably about 60%), followed by Caucasians (about 30%) and others (I don't seem to have noticed many Malays... Probably not that different from darker Chinese. Afterall, I am just basing these statistics on my memory. I didn't pay special attention to counting them.)

Of course, I also have not-so-nice encounters - people who inconsiderately hog the tracks.
Yes, the couple (Chines- Chinese man with Singapore-Chinese girl) who was holding hands walking side-by-side and forced a Caucasian jogger to stop in his track and squeeze by the them.

And the bunch of Singapore-Chinese aunties who were chatting among themselves and taking more than half the track, oblivious to the walking and jogging traffic around them.

Parents who brought children and not teaching them to keep to one side to let others pass, instead letting them run amok amongst the legs of other users of the park.