Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day for 30 September 2005:
If you ain't living on the edge, you are taking up too much space...

[From www.miamivalleytrails.org]

Latest Work for SMUBE

My latest work for SMUBE Campus Radio Weekly Updates Email

Reforms for Taxis - Burn 'em or limit the number on the roads!

[Crash and burn!]
I hate to bitch (although it looks like it's my hobby to bitch =p), but i have to do it this time. The fucking taxis on the roads are really pissing me off big time...

Have you ever cross a road, and when u are going to pass in front of a taxi that is stopping at the side kerb, the driver attempts to speed off? Have you driven on the road, and when you are trying to switch lanes, a taxi comes accelerating past you, preventing you from switching lanes? Or, have you ever had to brake suddenly because a taxi suddenly stop right in front of your car to pick up a passenger?

Some people might say that it might be the passengers' fault. Maybe that is true for the last example, but what about the rest of the examples?

Maybe it's karma. The drivers do too many of such bad things and end up having lesser customers as retribution. It's all karma.

Whatever...

Mid-Autumn Festival - A time for the family to get together?

[Purple Moon - from Galactic Images]
Mid-Autumn Festival - Came and gone by. Traditionally, it had meant to be a day when families will get together to view the moon, sip tea and eat mooncakes. However, it seems that lesser and lesser people are doing such things nowadays. It's quite sad to know this. Maybe people still do it, but in Singapore, it just seemed like everyone is too caught up to even bother.

Is this an implication of the loss of traditional values about family? Or simply an evolution of values about family over time? Some people choose to go out with friends. Some people choose to watch TV. There are so many other things to do. Who really bothers?

How long have you not talked to your father or mother? When was the last time you hugged them? When was the last time you even bothered to address them 'pa' and 'ma'?

Shouldn't we let every single day be Mid-Autumn Festival? Treat everyday as if it is the last. Treat everyone around you better. Doesn't that make you happier?

The Importance of Reading Widely

[Operation Black Vote UK Local Elections Ad Campaign]
Knowledge is power. This phrase is overused. We hear it all the time. However, if we sit back and ponder about it, how often are we guilty of not wanting to gain knowledge because we are lazy? For instance, I always wanted to catch up on my academic readings, but I'm always feeling lazy and I always think that I can get by because someone else would probably have done the readings and probably be kind enough to share the gist of the readings with me. Sounds familiar?

Recently, I realised that as a successful businessman, one needs to be a Jack of all trades. More often than not, business is about 'faking it', but to be able to 'fake it' successfully, you still need to get your basic facts right! For example, your client loves cars. Maybe you don't really like cars, but hey, a deal is in the making. What I might have done would be to do a bit of reading up on cars, perhaps on Porsche Boxster. If this client were to start talking about his love for cars, how many cars he's got, at least I can still carry on a conversation. True, I might not know much about cars, but at least I know one car, and that's actually more than sufficient to keep the conversation going. If i'm out of stuff to talk about the car, I can move on to other topics that are related, like, public transport. It could spark a discussion on whether fare increases are justified. The possibilities are endless.

That means, one should probably read widely. There are so many things we can read on. Maybe everyone has got their own interests, but it is still inportant to read outside of your interests. You will probably realise the importance of that when you are put in a totally unfamiliar environment, with no friendly faces you can turn to. How are you going to start a conversation? Let's say you are at a wedding dinner, and you do not know the rest of the people sitting at the same table with you. It is basic social grace to at least strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you. Maybe you could start off by asking how is his/her day, but that's probably not going to be enough. Who doesn't like a varied and diverse conversation? So where's that content going to come from? They could be your personal experiences, but I presume the bulk of it would most probably come from the stuff you read. My friend called me this afternoon to say that she's at a wedding dinner dish-tasting session and the members from the bride's and bridegroom's side are not talking and the whole situation was tense. My answer to her was to start the ball rolling by commenting on the weather, or maybe comment of the bride-to-be's dressing or makeup, or maybe share on where is the best or cheapest places to get a pedicure or manicure done. Naturally, one thing will lead to another and everything will just fall in place. Her immediate reply to me was 'As if I know...' What can I say...

The moral of the story is: Knowledge is power. If she bothered to find out more, either through reading or direct interaction, I'm sure it would provide lots of juices for conversational ideas. Therefore, start reading today!

Begging by choice?

[The Little Beggar by Bouguereau, Adolphe-William(1825-1905)]
Some weeks ago, I was on my way to the gym from school and I was rushing for time. All of a sudden, a young woman came up to me. Here's the conversation that transpired between us:

Women: 我现在jobless. 我要买porridge给我的妈妈跟弟弟...
Me: Ah-uh...
Women: 我现在jobless. 我要买porridge给我的妈妈跟弟弟...
Me: Yah...
Women: 我现在jobless. 我要买porridge给我的妈妈跟弟弟...
Me: 你去买啦。。。
Women: 可是我现在jobless...

Well, apparently, she wanted money from me, but I'm not stupid. Point number 1, she should not have waited till she had no money before she start to look for a job. Obviously, she look very healthy, so it should not be that difficult for her to get a job if she had really wanted to. Point number 2, her funky mom was in shades. Wow, funky eh? Point number 3, if she had chose to beg, she should have been more direct, instead of wasting my time and her time by beating around the bush.

In the end, she didn't get a single cent from me. I told her I don't have any cash with me then as I was in school the whole day and didn't have the chance to draw money (This is the whole god damn truth...). Guess what she did? She rolled her eyes and turned away. How rude can people get nowadays? I hope she stays there for ten years and not get a single cent. Bloody bitch...

Out there, there are many people who still have the ability to work. However, due to an assortment of reasons, they refuse to seek employment and choose to beg on the streets. Actually, I think it's perfectly alright to beg, but choosing this path doesn't mean that you can forget about your manners! Like the bloody bitch in the above example, I think she deserved it if she were to starve on the streets. I would have given her the money if she had been more credible, even if I have to walk ten miles to the nearest ATM. Such parasites of society should probably just go face a wall and reflect upon themselves...

Maybe I should have told her that she could have gotten free food from the Buddhist Lodge, but then again, she probably don't deserve the food, that ill-bred bitch...

Vulgarities or art?

[Fuck off, dude!]
Recently, it seems like many bloggers have turned to swearing to attract attention. Although I'm not exactly a newbie to blogging (I did have a nonsensical blog ages ago!), it was interesting to know how much I didn't know about the blogger's world.

I visited several 'famous' (or infamous, does it really matter?) blogs and I was appalled by the language used in a certain local female blogger's blog. The language used was coarse and there was poor sentence logic. There were uncalled for use of vulgarities and the whole package was distasteful. I'm not trying to say that I don't swear or what, but undeniably, some people carry off that kind of behaviour better than others. I mean, people who know me would remember me as being vulgar, and well, at least if I were to swear, people would not see it as 'weird'. However, if someone were to portray a cutie-pie image but subsequently, he or she start swearing on his/her blog, doesn't that seem weird?

Besides, it seems that people will tend to associate bloggers to certain communities or organisations. The point here is, each and everyone of us represents not just ourselves, but also, our communities and affiliations. What we say should reflect thought rather than making insensitive or insensible remarks which might otherwise tarnished the image or reputation of the 'bigger picture' that we might be in.

Back to the point on vulgarities. Vulgarities can be an art, if used tastefully (like how I use them sparingly to emphasize a point). But then again, the point about vulgarities is that who really defines the definition of vulgarities? I mean, words like 'vagina' or 'penis' are often used as 'vulgarities' in dialect languages, but by themselves, aren't they just names of human reproductive organs?

Something for everyone to ponder about...

The Fat Bitch on the Bus

[The Jonquil - Species of small daffodil, with yellow flowers. It is native to Spain and Portugal, and is cultivated in other countries. (Narcissus jonquilla, family Amaryllidaceae.) Flower for 12 September, symbolises: Longings]
This morning was terrible. The bus stop at my place was packed with people. Didn't the fares just increased not too long ago? How come there's still so many people? Not enough buses? Shouldn't fare increases bring about better service, such as increased frequency? The transport operators should face the wall and reflect on this...

Anyway, if that didn't seem like a shitty start to my day, what happen next was worse... As usual, when the bus came, the shuffling and jostling began. There was this fat bitch who got up the bus in front of me. Apparently, either he's dumb, or he's dumb... There were still passengers trying to get on the bus and the least he could do was to move in, but he was a roadblock himself already and he refused to move in despite the fact that there was people wanting to get on the fucking bus! I was so irritated by him that I just tried to squeeze through the small space that he left behind his big fat ass so that more people could get on the bus. If that wasn't bad enough, read on.

When the bus reach Tampines Interchange, as usual, people are rushing to get off the bus. He was nearer to the front exit and yet, in spite of his big fat ass, he decided to use the rear exit instead. And apparently, I was going to alight from the front exit since it was nearer, but for him to get to the rear exit, it would have meant that he had to squeezed his big fat ass past me again! Is he mother-fucking retarded or what? Not that I want to bitch or what, but this is so nonsense...

Such people should lock themselves at home, since they think the whole world revolves around them and their actions, without considering how they might potentially affect others through their seemingly insignificant actions. But wait, maybe their brains are as big as green peas to begin with...

Please let passengers alight first!!

I can't emphasize this further: Many Singaporeans don't have the slightest idea what basic social grace or courtesy is all about! Just today alone, I've encountered 3 instances where I really feel like stopping someone and say 'Hey, don't you fucking know what basic courtesy is!', and all that happen in half a day!

The first incident happen when I went to gym today. There was no one at the reception when I arrived, so I waited patiently for the counter staff. This guy who came after me went right to the front of the 'queue' (there was really no queue, just that everyone seemed to form up in an orderly manner in front of the horizontal counter, until this bugger 'jumped queue'). Seeing that that idiot was in front of me, the counter staff naturally served him first when she got back into the counter. This conversation between me and my friend followed:

E: Wow! People nowadays have no social grace or courtesy.
J: Hmm, they just don't care anyway. Even if you say too much, you are just wasting your efforts.

Whatever...

Now for the 2nd incident. Nothing too serious, but I guess that could be improved. I was on my way to the train station from Suntec City. All of a sudden, this couple froze in their track right in front of me, then started pointing at a shop, and started commenting. Yea, I know that's a nice ring, but hey, thank God I'm not an elephant or what, or else you would have been flattened, dumb asses... Many times, we see this happening: People just stop right in their track, without considering how other behind would be inconvenienced by such a small action. Some people just don't fucking give a damn...

Last incident. I was so happy when the train I was on finally reached Tampines. There were quite a bit of people alighting from the train exit I was alighting from. There was this group of 2 buggers standing outside that exit. Obviously, they wanted to board the train, but, they didn't even fucking let the rest of the passengers alight first! Did they leave their manners at home or did some dogs chew it off already? My God... Can't stand such behaviour...

When will Singaporeans reach 'that' level of cultivation... Ever? Never?

If you can't control 'em, keep 'em at home!

(My condolences to useless parents...)
It seems that a lot of parents don't really know how to take control of their kids nowadays. All the screaming and shouting on MRT and buses is taking it's toll on me. Spare the rod and spoil the child. Look, I'm not suggesting that they should whip or beat up their kids, but, there has got to be some form on command and control.

If a kid is wailing non-stop, give him the required attention. Pacify thy king (or devil, or wateva, you chose to give birth to him anyway)! If all else fails, you have a few options:

1. Get off the train and pacify him and stop being a nuisance to others
2. Silence your kid...

Singaporeans in general lack the required social graces. Not just in this instance. We see it all the time! Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, if you can't control your kids, please put them at home. Thank you!