CNY came and went

This was a strange Lunar New Year. Never in my life have I seen a more quiet year of celebrations. The roads were more or less empty, the temples were too. Usually there would be a lot of people walking up and down the blocks to visit their friends or relatives, but I did not see many of them. The number of people at the temples were down by almost half and the offerings they give to be burnt was also a small fraction of previous years. What has the world come to? Is it doom? Is it gloom?? Well seriously, the doom and the gloom is upon us. I have been screaming that for the past donkey years.

But strangely enough, there is always a silver lining in a storm cloud and for me, the cloud is actually the birth of my baby. I am looking forward to it. Excited?? Yea, I guess so. But then I was just telling my ex that I am really also not too excited about bringing "little moo moo" into this world. Especially not at this time. The weather is crazy, the economy is bad and also my little energizer rabbit is indeed getting worse. She of course still refuses to listen or to accept my words of advice. Her tunnel vision is also getting pretty bad and of course her need to show face is still as bad. So what else has changed?? I do not know, but I do feel that she is slipping ever so slowly and so deeply into the abyss of Alzheimer's Dementia... and in so doing, is actually pulling us all into the deep hole of depression. We cannot help her, but we cannot be angry. We pity her, but then in a way, it is also her own doing. So that is where the depression comes in.

Then of course, little moo moo will need to be looked after and yet the big problem is that if I push too hard to have my eldest aunt look after moo moo, (for those of you who are still wondering who or what the hell "little moo moo" is... it is my kid lah) And I still do not know if the moo moo has horns or udders.... Well, that is the fun of things I guess.

But back to little moo moo. Udders or horns aside, it will need someone to look after it when my wife is doing the housework and cooking. Of course energizer rabbit can come and do the job, but if that were the case, little moo moo will be lost to the dark side forever. The problem being that energizer rabbit cannot be trusted to make a good decision. Making a decision is already a hard job for her. Just take the example of my second nephew Julian, he wants to sleep with her. But she will not ensure that Julian sleeps promptly at 11 or before. She does not realize that he has school the next day and does not want to be the bad guy. So it is the same with moo moo. And the big problem is that she does things without really thinking too. Just do it... and sometimes in doing it screws it up too.... That is why my private fear is that one day she will go to my front door, want to go downstairs, but not take the lift... After all, going down by lift or by jumping is still the same mah.... Man I tell you, the life I have at home is really not good.

Anyway... back to CNY. I guess like the hungry ghosts who visited me, they must have visited almost everyone. It is only a few idiotics ding dongs who still think that they are having a great year. Most of us smart ones want to hunker down and hope that when the sky falls, the shit does not hit us. There was another guy who wrote on a forum asking how much bonus others received and he was really literally blown off the map.... In times, when times are bad... we gotta keep quiet lah... Imagine... it will also attract unwanted attention hor...If people know that you got a bonus when other either lost their jobs and or took a pay cut... So those who lost out will be your very very good frens man.....

And talking about Ding Dongs... what's this about the stupid nude couple in Holland V? nothing else better to do is it??? Some more if they had great bods and great looks, I would think most people do not mind, but looking at the pics on the news, they were pretty normal looking people.... Want to show off also don do it here lah... we already have enough show off liao lah. Some more with the prudish laws in Sillypore.... they will be arrested and when they are in the slammer... they will be very well accepted by their fellow in-mates man.... heheheheheh

Well gotta go for now... be nice and be good.

CNY coming.... bah!! Humbug!!!

Do you guys remember Scrooge? The guy who was visited by the Christmas spirits and shown his future and so on and how he changed to be a better person???

Well, we are chinese.... and for me especially, I do not really find anything special about Christmas....(Sori to Christians out there hor) But for me, Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year is a bigger event. The big problem is that it is also a costly event... Imagine all the red packets.. (I remember complaining about it last year) and all the special goodies we gotta buy and so on.... and also I gotta wash and polish my car... which will cost me $400!!! (bloody rip off man!!!) So I was really feeling very miserable and also very stingy....

But I got visited.... no lah... u wish ah.... My case was 3 hungry ghosts who showed me my past, my future and my present.... and it did not change me in anyway whatsoever!!! Hahahahahahahaahaha.....

But seriously, my child... who I still do not know if is a boy or girl.... will be born this June.... And "it" will be costing me plenty of money.... Then my energizer rabbit... who is definitely showing signs of being dangerously demented already (she was actually very happy and jumping around saying "my son so tired" last night...??!!?? WTF???)So that is my present.... not very glam huh??

Then the hungry ghost of my lunar new year future showed me what will happen.... deep in debt.... having to pay off my bills.... energizer rabbit still bouncing around....... WTholyF!!! and the hungry ghost of my past showed me..... nothing.... because for me I try not to have a past.... hehehehehehe......

So in all... the 3 ghosts showed me everything and it still made me more than ever certain that we have to keep our money... be careful about the spending and just do our jobs.... We do not know what the future will hold for us and cash is still the best... I plan to save about 100k this year so that I can start to move to buy an apartment in Japan. This is because I am paying rental every month and it is not bringing the home anywhere closer to being mine... But lucky for me... I am a nobody... so when I say such things, no one will have any right to say anything.

Which brings me to the topic of the senior civil servant who bragged about his 45k cooking lesson in a posh school... At least he is doing what the gahmen have been asking us to do and that is to spend time with the family.... But then of course, personally, I do see a tinge of boastfullness in his prose and because of that... I am a bit reticent about condoning his act fully.... It is his damn money and he can spend it however he chooses mah.... hey wait.... it is actually our damn money hor... since we pay taxes and taxes are used to pay his wages... but that is another topic for another day.

The thing is that when people say that he is out of touch with society... I feel that it is a valid rebuke..... The reason being that the higher echelons of our civil service is made up of ranks of people who are scholars and have their career paths mapped out for them... Imagine... in my case, when I was in the army doing my NS, officers who were scholars came in and they would be promoted within six months or a year of their entry to senior levels..... And as I have said so many times before... being a brainiac does not promise that this person will have a high EQ... and this may rub some the wrong way..... It is okay if they are eggheads who laugh like the old Beavis and Butthead of the MTV cartoon fame, but many of them are actually not very simple people. They know that they will rise in the ranks of whatever service arm they are in.... Even X, my ex (no pun intended hor) is only 30 and she is going to be an Assistant Director.... for me... I still have a long way to go before the name Dir, let alone Director, comes my way.....

So these eggheads who may have had the ability to apply what they learnt from the boring text books run senior roles in the lives we lead.... We non eggheads have to learn to live with them lor.... It actually is interesting.... those who studied hard were mostly bullied in school.... Now it is their turn to bully us back liao.... oh sh*t......Well, like they all say.... we live our lives and they live their lor.... don bother lah....I have already seen the hungry ghost of my CNY past, present and future and nothing has changed from the shitty life I already have.... so I'm just gonna shut it and f*ck it.....

Cheers and peace out!

"It won't happen to me"

Most people in Sillypore have this attitude, "it will not happen to me". If it does not, then the "it has nothing to do with me" attitude comes in. Hello!!! We live in the same world and in the same society, so what can happen to others can also happen to youuuuuu.... and even if it does not happen to youuuuuu..... it still has something to do with youuuuuuuuu!!!

The reason why I chose this topic today is because we are... the 30 somethings and the 40 somethings... facing one of the worst financial times and economic times in our lives..... Since it is so short... I am wondering if that is the reason... hehehehehe

But then seriously though... There was a news report that many people still think that they are safe... Those who have the shivers and a tingle of fear are the banking industry... the property industry and the manufacturing industry.... hmmmmmmm... thats already a lot of industries man... and people are still unafraid??? Think that is where the "It can't happen to me" attitude comes in... But lets face it, if we maintain this attitude, then when the shit really hits the fan... we will all be screwed...(please excuse the French)

In the beginning, we will be numb (not dumb hor).... the reality sets in and we get angry.... "why does it have to be me!!??" then the blame game starts... "Who was the little s**t who chose me to be axed???!!!??" Well my little padawan...Tough luck babe!!!

The signs were there... this company let go of so many staff.... that company went bust.... and so on... So how many people have lost jobs and because of this.... how will they survive without being able to get jobs??? So they will eat away at their saving.. if they have any... and then when they have none... they will cry mother and cry father.... A news poll asked how far down the food chain people whill go? And many said that they would not go too far.... "No face lah!" For me, I have spoken to my wife and being a MacDonald's driver delivering Big Macs may be a huge step down for me... but it puts the money and most importantly the food on the table.... Pride and Prejudice are two faults of a Sillypore person....

Even though we are all gonna do badly for the next few years.... the government of course will not say it... added to the fact that we are in a meritocratic society, that only means that if we do not have the "merit", then we do not deserve anything from them..... fume fume...

But seriously though... through this rather long rant... I can only say one thing.... no one owes us anything for a living.... and we should not owe anyone for our living too....

Cheers and peace out...

Man its been a wierd 2009

Remember my second last post, where I said that my lymph node was swollen?? That was my left side... then on last Fri, my right side swelled up too.. Damn... did I not take an anti-biotic that would have killed a horse? So how come it came back? And the left side was still a bit swollen... So I had a pretty crummy... and I mean really pretty crummy weekend. I did not even want to go anywhere.

But then I had to clear some small problems that my little energizer rabbit created.... The first being the stupid air con.... The vendor came and gave me the remote control which cost me 100 bloody bucks......!!! And then when he opened the air con to try and fix the motor.... the clip was broken and I had to get another one..... How much more man???? How come old rabbit cannot just do things using her brains a bit? And still wanna how lien and say she got nothing wrong???? She beat a puppy because it was lonely and wailing!! So what about my baby man??

So that brings me to the second mess she has created.... She called up my first aunt and just said that we will all not be going to her place for reunion dinner this year.... It has been a family thing for so many years... So I went to my aunt's place to see what was happening and to see if there was any damage control needed to be done. We as a Chinese family do have to follow certain rankings and so on... So I was afraid that mom would have stepped on some toes inadvertantly. Well she did not really step on Aunty's toes, but aunty did feel kinda odd. Furthermore, we always bring aunty for New Year's visit every year and nothing was arranged with her this year. Mom is also claiming that she will cook some things and everyone will come on the second day of new year, but seems like no one was informed.... Man if she is flying.... she has just flown all the way to the moon....

But Alzheimer's is like that... You forget, you change and you also neglect... When I was in Japan, I saw this documentary about how people with Alz can use glue to annoint their toes because the tube of glue looks like a tube of ointment and they just think it is ok. Seems like the most affected part of the brain is the fore-brain which handles higher thinking, eg ettiqutte and so on... And so when a person has Alz... he or she does not know if he or she is doing something wrong... And further to this, they will not know if what they are doing is right or wrong!!

So now comes my precious baby.... I do not think that it is safe to leave it to my energizer rabbit's care.... Of course wifey will be there to look after it too... However, it is cries, instead of trying to find out why... mom might just strike out at it... It can happen to a puppy... it can happen to my baby.... After all, people with Alz cannot really be trusted to be thinking.... And she may also have some wierd way of caring that may be totally unsafe. Imagine... she can place my mugs in the place for sauces... spoil my air con, and so on... how can she be trusted to care for a baby when she cannot even care for herself. Some more, she does like to tell lies to cover herself nowadays and the lies are pretty damn weak... She will say that her friends did it or someone else... The big problem is that she has to take responsibility so that she can be allowed the responsibility.

I do not know which stage of Alzheimer's she is in, but it is surely pretty bad now...But it sure as hell is getting to be harder on the caregiver... In Sillypore, it does not matter whether you are rich or poor... But sickness hits all... The big problem is whether the sickness is chronic and whether something can be done to it.... The government does not really care.... It just says that rooms are subsidised... medication is subsidised and so on... However, it is not free and we still have to pay for it... even if it means drawing on our CPF and or medisave and whatever medi you have.... This of course means that if you cannot afford it... you better not fall sick or else.... For me... I do not really care lah... my life can come to and end after my child is born.Some people say that it is not fair... Well sorry my friends... in this world... nothing is fair.... hehehehe

Son of Singapore

This article is in tribute to my dad who passed away over 6 years ago. It seems like yesterday and yet and eternity has passed. My dad was a true son of Singapore, having gone through the war and being one of the first Singapore citizens. He lived a frugal life, and a simple life though he rose to high ranks in the corporate world. He saved and saved and sent me and my sister through uni and even worked part time as a cab driver to make ends meet. Now my energizer rabbit is wasting it all away... But I am sorry for my dad not being around. I would love to have him see me now, to see my wife and perhaps to even see my child.... I would love to hear his advice, to speak long hours with him and to keep him company. For my dad is me and I am my dad. This may sound wierd, but ultimately, we all become our fathers. Though we try to break the trend and try to be someone else, we will be like them. Especially the eldest son of the family.

Being the eldest, the responsibility of ensuring that the whole family pulls through is great. There is not only my own family, but my remaining parent, the energizer rabbit and also my sibling. It is a complete sort of package and because of this I also have to take that responsiblity. We cannot choose our children, likewise, children cannot choose the families they are born to.

My father a son of Singapore was a good Singaporean and a good father. All that he has left now is just the memory of him by his family. He got nothing from the State and asked for nothing from the state.

Sick again

2009 has indeed not been a great year for me, but I am not being pessimistic and neither will I say that we are doomed... As a matter of fact, I am having fun suffering.. hehehehhee

What happened was that wifey gave me a cold.... I was actually sick free for almost 3 weeks while I was in Japan. Then towards the last weeks, she got a cold... and gave it to me... Thanks... but I guess that is what love is!!!??!! Hmmmm if this is called love... no thanks man....

Anyway, so I came back with a bad cough... agian... I had one for over 3 mths before and it got worst.... My lymph node on the throat swelled up... It was the size of a golf ball and I thought I was having the mumps!!!! I could not swallow and even enjoy my smoke because the stupid lump was in the way....!!!

So I went to the doc and asked him to knock me up.... A lot of people ask me why I keep going to the doc because he does give very very strong meds and one of the meds actually nearly killed my sis... But I am comfortable with the meds and am happy taking them... So he wanted to put me on antibiotics.. which was fine and dandy, but I had an itchy butt... So I asked him for a really strong one... The strongest he had was a single dose antibio.... Dear frens.... imagine this.... antibiotics is supposed to be taken as a course over a few days... so if you ask for one that is single dose... take one time and you are done.... you are asking for trouble... trust me on this... How strong must this be???? Pretty damn strong...... !!!

So I wanted to take it when I got home.. but sis was going crazy so I decided to take it in the office and if anything happened to me, at least there would be people who could call for an ambulance for me.... Luckily nothing much happened, but I did feel pretty shitty for the whole day.... Stomach was saying..."no more please.... I am going to resign as being your stomach!!" and my head was spinning... but after I got home.... things slowly were getting better.... Even today... I am still not 100%, but at least the pain is slowly going away....

People will ask... why do I do the things I do... I look at them and just tell them that what has to be done has to be done... no matter how you feel about it. Just like wifey has to go for a walk everyday to ensure that she gets enough exercise and not put on too much weight.... It is cold and she is having a cold... but the consequence of not moving around is that she will be weak and she may gain weight...

It is also the same with the way I do things in the house.... I still have to fix the aircon and remote that my little energizer rabbit spoilt... But I will only do so when I have spare cash and I do not care if she does not have any air con while she is playing mahjong...

Life is hard and so are people. There are no lords and queens... only people who use or are used... So we have to be hard and realize that no one owes us anything and we should not owe anyone anything too.

Well that is all for today.... Peace out brothers and sisters.

The Start of 2009

My luck has been pretty bad since the year started... I do hope that this is not the precurser to a bad luck year. I've been having shitloads of that for the past few years and am pretty tired of it all.

What do I mean by bad luck.... well let me just tell you... I was on my way to my dad's temple to pray to him... being a filial son I guess. I saw a Shell station and pulled in to top up my gas.... Then I saw a "hand wash" car wash.... So I went in... It was a bit more expensive than the one I always go to in Tampines, but then the service was better and most importantly... There were no lines....

After the wash.... I went to Tamp Mart and doom!!! It rained!!! So that was the start... the next scene was when I went to buy a pair of sandals.... Even that I had problems because my feet is size 5 and the smallest they had in the cheapo corner was 6!!! I had to settle for a slightly more expensive one, which I did not really like the look or the colour!!!! After that came the next dooom... which was KFC.... I was standing behind and old uncle and in front of him was a young kid and sister.... There were 2 registers but the other had a guy in front who did not seem like he was taking customers.... I was standing there for almost 5 minutes, I saw him fiddling with his register and thought he was either closing up or tallying the accounts.... Then the uncle in front of me asked me to go to the next register... I asked him..."Are you sure uncle"? I have been standing here for 5 minutes and that ding dong did not even ask me to go!!" We asked the ding dong and he said that he was manning the bloody register and can take orders???? WTF??? Thats service standards for you my frens... wait till the casinos... oops I mean IR's open.

So I ordered 3 piece meal... change the mashed potato to cheese fry and also an extra zinger burger .... just the burger only hor. Sp paid for the thing and went home and guess what... Instead of taking out the mash potato... he took out the coleslaw and he forgot the zinger burger... man did I ever curse and swear... but in the end decided not to complain..... Complain oso no use lah.

So as you can see.... luck wise has not been overly wonderful.... I am just wondering though.... How much worse can it get.... For me I am the type who faces my troubles and shouts "Is this all you have"? So I guess I have a challenger spirrit.... But then of course if you get struck by too many lightnings... the wise choice will be to put your tail between your legs and to crawl away quietly hoping not the get another strike.... hehehehehehehehehe

2009

Happy New Year!!!

I spent the last month of 2008 in Osaka taking care of my wife. In the first few weeks, she was still having trouble with her morning sickness which was not in the morning... She could wake up in the middle of the night to puke, or feel queesy in the middle of the day.. I think the word comes because most moms do feel very puky in the mornings, but it should b called "maternal nausea" or something like dat... Imagine if you have to throw up in the middle of the day and you make the excuse of "morning sickness"???

Well 2009 has come and my child.... still not sure if it is a boy or girl... will be born in less den 5mths... or there abouts lah... June 13th is the expected delivery date.... hmmmm.... must get wifey to bear the kid on any other day man.... sekali the baby really born on 13th and ever so often Friday comes along... he or she will have his or her birthday on a very unlucky day man....

But seriously though, most guys do not like the number 13... even if they are not Christian.... For me, I do like the number because I choose it for whatever team sports I join.... the reason being that my birthday is First of March...1...3.. so using 13... it is easier to remember my brithday.... hint hint...

As for other things... I came back with the impression that nowadays parents every where, do not really know how to look after their children... This is not a joke...I saw so many moms just allowing their children to be perfect idiots and terrors. There was a news story that a little girl fell to her death because her mom was at work and her dad who was supposed to be looking after her went to the shops for a while... While he was gone, the girl went outside, stood on a small chair to play on the verandah and fell.... WTF??? I also saw a mom allowing her son to play around on the train station platform almost unsupervised... What happens of a train comes in and he was close to the edge of the platform.... The birth rates of Japan is similar to Singapore at 1.2 per couple... This is very similar to our numbers.... which means that we are not even able to make half a couple for each couple!!! That is why I insist on a spare tire for myself man.... I plan to make and have my next kid in 3 years time and this is even before the first one is born!!!

But no matter how many spare tires you have, you must really look after all your children.... Please do be careful... I said look after and not SPOIL hor.... But then hor... I am also really pretty scared of old people looking after babies too.

Take for example my Energizer Rabit.... She is really living in the twighlight zone now... She was playing mahjong.... as always lah... and I asked her who she was playing with and right in front of her frens, she gave the wrong name.... Uh.... I do understand if you haven't seen the fren for a long time and or the fren is not with you and you get a little confused, but in front of the fren??? She even called my wife by the wrong name too.... I am wondering how far down the slope of Alzheimer's she is already.... and to top ot all off, when I got back... I found that she had put 2 of my mugs in places where no human would... I have a shelf for cups and also a tray for washed utensils and also plates... If she put them there... I would not even complain.... but she put the in the shelf I keep all my sauces and condiments!!!! Even an idiot would do a chotto matte and think.."why am I putting mugs into a place where there are no mugs?" She even proudly said that she beat a puppy because it was crying last night.... Uuhhhhhh... babies no matter of which type... human... dog or cat only know one thing.... to cry!!! Don't tell me she will beat my baby when he or she cries when bring it over here??? They express their discomfort by crying...

So seriously speaking.... what can I do about this? She will want to come and "look" after the baby... she will claim that she has all the experience looking after babies and how can I say no??? And how will she look after the baby??? I have no idea... but I do have an idea that it will not be very effectively.... She does not use her mind for minor things and cannot use her mind for greater things.... So I do not know man.... The only other alternative will be to split my family apart till the time when my energizer rabit is no more... or at least in a home where she cannot cause and problems...

This will be a problem for other families too... With families becoming more nuclear... grandparents try to be more soft and complaint to their grandchildren and this spoils them. Spoiling a child will only do it no good.... I am saying to be mean to your child, but lets be realistic... if the child has everything his own way... or is allowed to do anything under the sun.... then how will you be able to rein this child in when it is time to?

Well gotta go for now.... cheers and byesssss... PEACE!