Happy Birthday to Me!!!

It's the time of the year again. The day which I grow up, no not grow old, GROW UP.

Today, I am supposed to nua at home and relax all day (I took leave today). Ended up changing new taps for my kitchen sink and changing my wardrobe cabinet hinges. So on my birthday at least I accomplished 2 things which had been pending for many weeks. Oh, I also pan fried 2 fishes for lunch with my new HappyCall Pan.

Pan Fried Fish using HappyCall Pan

Yesterday, my sis even asked to go for acupunture, choy choy choy, birthday go see doctor.

I am going to nua again at night. Maybe go Sheng Siong to buy tidbits and drinks, relax and watch movies on my laptop.

Woo hoo... Happy Birthday, PlainwaterLeo!!!

May I be HEALTHY, LUCKY and HAPPY always.

Oh ya, and HUAT HUAT HUAT to me too.
4D, TOTO all I win.

:D

What's happening in December?

Well, first of all, my birthday. It coming in a few days time.  :-)

Next, it will be the end of 2011 and coming of 2012.

On the impersonal side, the most major incident will be the breakdown of our "World Class Transport System", the MRT.  Oops, it is not only 1 incidents, there are many incidents happening within weeks.  I am not very affected because I took the bus to work, and my workplace is out of town area.  However, a lot of my friends were affected and the inconveniences were really frustrated, on top of having no idea what is happening while they are trapped (whether on trains or in the stations).

LTA, SMRT, the Transport Minister, even the Prime Minister wanted an inquiry of what happened, how did it happen and why it happened?  Fine, go ahead and engage some experts in this area to diagnose and rectify the problems, I have no issue, but please do not use the tax payers money on these investigation.  It should be borned by the relevant company, authorities who did not do their jobs properly in the first place.  The Board of Directors in SMRT even gave a press statement and wanted their CEO (which was being criticised for doing a bad job) to be accountable.  Well, I am all for making the CEO accountable but I felt that the Board of Directors should also be responsible, you are the ones who employed her and approved her salary, bonuses and increments.

The other major happening is that our taxi companies had decided to increase their fares.  However, they termed it as a fare restructuring.  The surcharge hours had now increase to 16 hours a day, which means, either you pay for the peak hours or the midnight hours surcharge.  If peak hours is going to last 10 hours, I would suggest the taxi companies stop using the term "peak", because it is meaningless.  I seldom take taxi, if I take it, I am able to afford it.  But what about those who need it but cannot afford it, like the disabled, the old people who have no families to take care of them?

Well, things in December don't look good to ordinary citizens.  Let's hope the new year will bring some reliefs to people on the ground.

P/S: I read with interest that the SMRT is engaging an independent director, who is also the Assistant Secretary-General of NTUC (our national trade union) to lead the investigation.  Hmm ... he is listed as director on the SMRT website, don't know why for this investigation, he became an independent director.  Isn't there a conflict of interest on his positions?  So who will he side during negotiation with unions, the company or the unions?  Maybe someone or something will enlightened me...

无限风光在险峰

13个华乐爱好者、4个国家、1个旅途。

8天的行程，辛苦、寒冷再加上高山症。我还是成功的翻越高爾寺山、剪子山、卡子拉山、波瓦山等高山，游览毛亚大草原、亚丁风景区，观赏了海子山风光。

十月中与香港、澳大利亚、马来西亚的乐团团友一起到四川的稻城、康定、雅江和日瓦旅游。虽然旅途因为高山症加上寒冷的天气搞到自己很辛苦，可是那美丽的风景、辽阔的山脉、一层层的山景却抵消的一切的辛劳。

正所谓“无限风光在险峰”，美丽的风景是要经过辛苦的旅程才能看得到。山也有灵性，它只有在人少的时候才会展现它最美的面貌。


卡子拉山风景

雪山景色



在康定大唱“康定情歌”



Got myself a new laptop

Yeah!!! The Comex 2011 is here.  Just got myself a new laptop because the old one knonk off.  Err ... itz Asus again, I can't help it cos' it is cheapest during the show.

8GB RAM, i5 intel processor, 500GB harddisk, Nvivda 1GB dedicated video - damage done $799.

Finally, I can browse the web at night.  No more boring nights for me.  :)

I am disappointed!!!

We just had our Presidential Election (EP) yesterday. The result was announced this morning.  Frankly speaking, I am disappointed with the election result.

We had chosen a President who are closely related to the garment. A President

- who is a rich man, who will not understand the plight of poor Singaporeans
- who is a person with no fantastic track records helping ordinary Singaporeans
- who always agree with the garment
- one who never has any views on his own
- whose sons receive special treatments during their NS and he kept quiet and would not clarified when questioned
- who made stupid investment decisions during his days in GIC buying up unprofitable banks that went busted after the crisis
- who thinks it is foolish to build a MRT system (proposed by our 1st Elected President, Mr Ong Teng Cheong, when he is the Minister of Communication) during the 80s
- who thinks that Singapore should not have too many graduates but allows masses of foreign students taking up university education in Singapore.

Now we are expecting him to protect our reserves!!!  Will he make stupid decisions again with our $$$???  I don't know.  Hopefully, for the next 6 years, there is no need to touch on our reserves or our CPF money, otherwise I dread the decisions he will be making.

Sign ... why him of all people.

Come to think of it, he only won in name only.  The hearts of more than 60% Singaporeans rejected him.  Maybe I should think of it this way, then I won't be that disappointed.

I am bored!!!

Yes!!! I am bored!!!  My laptop left me last month and I have been trying to survive nights without access to my laptop and Internet.  I am now using my sister's laptop while she is dreaming away in her sleep. :)

Initially, I picked up some story books to kill the nights away, but I finished them too fast.  Now I am too lazy to go to the library to search for more books. I even read kid's stuff like Famous Five, to revive my childhood.  Now you can see I am really bored.

Frightening isn't it. In modern times, man cannot do without Internet and electronic devices.  Actually, I am a bit scared.  Scared that I will never get used to life that have no luxuries like handphone, computers and television.  What am I going to do to while away the time???  Sit down and stare at the wall???  Hear the clock ticking 1 second by 1 second???? It is a horrible feeling.

My boredom will end soon. There will be a PC show next week, and I am going to get myself a new laptop.  Ha ha ha ...  But I really need to discipline myself and make sure I don't sit down in front of the new laptop every night.  I need to read, exercise or doing something that is not related to electronic devices.

Or maybe I should just sit down and stare at the wall ...

Now I am getting sleepy.... :P

Post Election Thoughts

It is over.  Evey dust had settled.  The garment is back in power, but hor, hee hee, they lost 6 seats to the opposition.  The opposition conquer a single seat and a GRC, which is quite a feat considering the GRCs have always being the stronghold of the garment and allowing them to bring in retired army officers, civil servants or ex-personal secretaries of Prime Minister.

However, we lost 2 well-liked and respected veterans politicians and gain a "ginna" young lady who cannot react properly to interviews and talk without thinking. 

Sign ... that is life, you win some you lose some.  2 sides to life or things.  Whatever that has helped you previously, has now come back and harm you.  For the opposition, whatever that has harm or deter you previously, has now become your booster and assist you.

For the next 5 years, with more oppositions in the parliament and the garment's promises before the election, let's hope the garment will keep their promises, tone down their arrogance and take care of ordinary Singaporeans like us.  Like I mentioned before, there are 2 sides to life, the garment will either really take care of us or make us repent and regret for bring down the % during the elections.  Hopefully it will not be the later, otherwise, for the next 5 years we will still suffer.

I hope with more oppositions, with the garment keeping their promises, the following will come true: -

1. Price of flats and resale flats (pls resale flats should also be included) should be lower, COV should be scrapped so that flat are sold @ valuation and not some mark up prices. 

2. Transportation should be improved.  The trains are too packed.  Either have more buses plying into the estates and towns even for those routes that are not profitable or increase the frequencies of the trains.  This should be done without increasing the fares as it will burden ordinary Singaporeans especially the poor.

3. Restrict the number of foreigners and PRs.  Please, not all foreigners are talent, some are just shit.  And please do not give our PRs so ready so that these foreigners can buy HDB flats to speculate.  There are enough local talents to provide the workforce you need, you just need to pay these local talent respected salary.

4. Increase our wages.  Because of your foreign talent (trash) policies, the wages has been stagnant for quite a while.  It is time for you to restrict the foreigners and get companies to recruits locals at respected pay.  Not cheap labour from other countries.  We need to move up and be more competitive in terms of quality not in terms of cost.

5. Lower the ministers' and civil servants' pay.  It is not justifiable that you have 22% increment while the rest of the workforce who are paying your salary is having only 2% or no increment at all.  You are simply too expensive, otherwise, can we employ foreign talents to replace you?

6. Please take care of our senior citizens.  These are the people who slog and work hard to build what Singapore is today.  LKY and his friends did a lot, but our ah gong, ah ma, uncles and aunties work equally hard too.  Please lower their medical bills and their daily expenses and don't ever suggest that senior citizens should go to JB nursing homes because it is cheaper.  The garment should help to take care of these senior citizens.

Before I end this note, I would like to thank an veteran opposition for his dedication to Singaporeans' lives and our political democracy.  Mr Chiam See Tong.

Mr Chiam, kudos to you.  Even though you did not win this election, but you won the hearts of all Singaporeans.  You had worked hard for us and we are in-debted to you.  It is time for you to take care of yourself, take care of your health and enjoy your life.  Thank You.

Antics of ... ee .... a boy's behavior

1. sniff sniff ...
2. grrrrr ... you will regret one
3. bawww ....
4. sooooorrrryyyy

Sound familiar? You can go ahead and wonder, but this is a boy's reaction when he is trying to get what he wants.

==================================
Boy: buy for me lah ... sniff sniff please pleaseeeee
Adult: no you did not do your homework. cannot!!!
Boy: GRrrrr .... U better buy for me, or else u will regret one ... I will make u regret.
Adult: u try lah ... threaten me. **ignore boy**
Boy: Bawwww ..... I want I want ...
Adult: where is my cane? **got hold of cane** cry some more cry more
Boy: no no no ... sorry sorry ... I sorry sorry ..
Adult: GO AND DO YOUR HOMEWORK NOW!!!
==================================

According to dictionary.com: Antics (noun),
1. a playful trick or prank; caper
2. a grotesque, fantastic, or ludicrous gesture, act, or posture.

I got the inspiration for this note, when I read about the behaviors of our election's nominees and hearing my colleagues complaining about their sons. It occur to me, the antics is typical whenever people want to get something.
There is a Chinese proverb for this, 一哭二闹三上吊(the last description doesn't really match though).

Very highly paid servants

I read with amusement on PAP's manifesto for 2011 election and the PM's speech for the Young PAP 25th anniversary.

Why with amusement?  Well, let's talk about the manifesto. 

The manifesto's six key objectives are:

1) Create opportunities for higher incomes

2) Improve the lives of lower-income Singaporeans

3) Bring out the best in every child

4) Develop a vibrant city and an endearing home

5) Help the elderly stay active, healthy and engaged

6) Involve all Singaporeans in shaping the future.

The garment has been claiming that they are not out-of-touch with the ordinary people, they know the problems Singaporeans are facing, etc, etc.  But in their manifesto for the election, I can't find a point that address the problems and suffering of ordinary people.  Instead, it is liken to a airy fairy kind of statements, u know, like promises that marketing and sales people always tell you, but in reality there is nothing solid about it.

Ordinary people are getting poorer, things are getting expensive, flats have been so out of reach, jobs are harder to find, Singapore is getting more and more crowded, the public transport infrastructure is not able to accomodate the sudden influx of foreigners.  Yet these are not being addressed by the garment.  I did not see any point that says helping Singaporeans to cope with the inflation, addressing the overcrowding issues on public transport and housing, how to create more jobs for Singaporeans (for SG only not foreigners). Helping the elderly stay active??? Sure, I will see more and more ah-ma and ah-gong cleaners getting more active and engaged in foodcourts and toilets.  Create more opportunities for higher incomes, sure, for the elites, the army officers, scholars and the rich, but sorry nothing left for the poor or middle income hor, I will have to continue to slog.

Next on PM's statement : - "Never forget we are servants of the people, not their masters."

The first thought I have when I read this is: I have very highly paid servants lor, my servants' salaries are so many times higher than me and yet they did not do anything that help me much wor.  I am still slogging away earning peanuts.

His father had once mentioned that "if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys".  Their pay are not peanuts, but how come I am still getting monkeys???  He also once said that Singaporeans are draft, well, he is surrounded by elites most of the time and not ordinary Singaporeans, so does that mean his scholars and elites are draft???? 

So I pay high salaries to draft elites to run my country, no wonder I am getting monkey's problems like flood in Orchard Road.  Ooopss, it show our selection of scholars is a bit ahem .... not that good??

Sign ... life in Singapore is getting harder.  Too bad, my area most likely will have a walkover, and I am going to be overwhelmed by the garment for another 4-5 years.

P/S: I have nothing against PM and MM, I just don't like the policies they and their elites came up with.

General Election is coming … let’s summarize what YOU have done

The signs are there. The media reported that our economy has improved and our lives will become better. The GDP is higher even though inflation is at all time high. The ministers have came out and made a lot of promises. But will my life really become better? I doubt so; let’s see what some of their promises are and how they affect me.

1. Public transport will be improved. New MRT lines and stations will be opened in phases.

Me: So MRT will get more crowded with new lines and stations; so in future I may not be able to squeeze into 1.

2. Transport fare review will be deferred.

Me: Ya I know, it will be deferred till after the election. Then you will announce another round of fare increment. It happened before so I am sure it will happen again.

3. More new flats will be built.

Me: But single still cannot buy directly from HDB. I still need to get a resale flat which is so so much more expensive. Now that there are more PRs fighting the limited flats, it will be soon out of my reach. I may have to sleep under the expressway when I am old.

4. To encourage productivity and efficiently, and encourage recruitment of locals, foreign levies will be increase for foreign workers.

Me: I am not affected by foreign workers because they normally do work that are so lowly paid that it is not worthwhile for a Singaporean to do. I am not affected by foreign talent who are really talented, can work and contribute because I am confident of my capabilities. I am sure my talent is on par with these people even though my pay is much lesser than them. I am pissed off with the fake talents that you welcome with open arms, who talk big but cannot work and left all the shit for me to clear.

5. We will help to grow the income of Singaporeans.

Me: Oh yeah, you will help to grow the income of ministers and elites, not the commoner like me.

So with the improved economy, now you are going to dig into the reserves and give yourself a round of increment again. But you have not finish you work; you have not solved the inflation problem. What about reducing your pay for not completing your work? Huh??? How about that???

BTW, I am sure there are a lot of foreign “talents” that can do your job at a lower pay right, can we outsource LTA, HDB and MOM?

Go and think about it and let me know...

I am allergic to spring cleaning

85% done.  Now left with parents' room window, the fridge, toilet, wash and mop the floor, which will be done tomorrow.

Today before washing my car, one of the tyres pong chek.  I took about 1 hour just to change the tyre with the spare one, and another 1/2 hour to the workshop to 补一个 tyre 洞。

So my car washing regime took longer than usual.  I normally settle everything within 2 hours, this time round I took more than 3 hours.  Sign ... the longest spring cleaning job this season.

The rest of the spring cleaning was done in super quick and efficient but not so clean manner.  So I took only few hours to settle the windows, the bedroom, the living room and the computer table.  Super duper right?

Another new year is coming, in the midst of munching new year goodies (yeap open house le), here is my wishes for all

Happy Lunar New Year

新年快乐、万事如意、身体健康、财源广进。发啊！！！

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