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Month: July 2002

A Consistency in my Life….

A Consistency in my Life….

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There you have it, another little snip of my life.

Life is full of novelty stuff and excitement, after I have moved out of Singapore on my own. Well, not that my life in Singapore was boring, but it was too patterned. So here I am, looking for new and different things. On the whole, I am still looking forward to every day in this new life, in which, I am away from familiar faces, places and I can do whatever I want.

But no matter what, once in a while, I do get a bad hair day and do want to have some form of resemblance of life to home. No matter how well I cook my Chinese dishes, they will never taste the same as my Grandmother’s. Everything is different here, the short hours of shopping, closed shops on Sundays, different languages, not-so-yummy food (except for the ice creams), well practically, nothing is similar to life in good ole Singapore.

You will be surprised with the little things that I am happy with. I have never professed that I myself am a Macdonalds’ kid. I mean I do eat fast food now and then in Singapore, and yes I do like its french fries but that is about all I like about fast food. Ever since I arrived here, I look forward to eating the Macs’ Fries. Surprise surprise! Now, that is the good thing about franchaises, the management, marketing, sales, products are almost similar. No matter where I go, MacDonalds’ Fries taste the same everywhere. I am contented with this little constitency in my life. =)

~~~My One Cent Worth of Thought!~~~

Falls or Mountains?

Falls or Mountains?

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Niagara Falls, touted as the highest waterfall in the world. Since I was, and still am, in the USA and only 7 hours away (well, not THAT near, I realised later. But that is another story altogether.), I thought, I might as well drop by and take a look. Big Mistake! That was referring to my decision on picking 4th July to catch a sight of the great falls. I saw great floods of people more than any water element.

Well, the Niagara Falls was definitely one of the most majestic waterfall that I have seen in my whole life. But the roar of the water had been drowned by the chattering of the tourists. And it was really hard to appreciate this wonder of nature when you were jostling to catch a view or snap a shot. At night, the waterfall was lit up with a myriad of colours. This only further increased the perception of how man-made the waterfall was.

When I compare the feeling of being on top of the waterfall and standing in the middle of the mountains (and they are not even considered to be the tallest mountains in the world! ) in Nepal, they are 2 totally different set of emotions. The great waterfall didn’t excite me, I just took photographs for the sake of taking them and proving that I have been there. When I was standing in the middle of the snow capped mountains of Anapurna, it struck me that I was so very insignificant, as compared to them. The grandeur, the tranquility and the breathtaking scenery. From where I stood, I could only see the sky, the beautiful sky, set against the white mountains. Well, usually people would describe the sky as the background. But the mountains took up most of the composition of the view that I have seen. Everything was simple in the mountains, but complicated at the falls. THe mountain has been let alone as much as possible, while the falls had been capitalised as well as they could. A town and various tourist traps had sprung up around the falls, destroying the natural beauty of it.

Give me the mountains anytime! Mt Everest base camp in year 2004, is anybody interested?

A Message to the Bum Kissers

A Message to the Bum Kissers

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I am just wondering, what is so attractive about my bum, (oops I am sorry) I mean, my bumper that every car and truck just can not resist trying to kiss it. I hate it when vehicles tailgate me. If they think that this is a way to make me go faster, well, they are certainly very very unsuccessful. These situations usually arise, when there is a car crawling slowly before me. Well, I can’t go any faster even if I want to, unless I ram into it, hoping that it will fly off and clear my way?? It is not my fault that it is a roadhog??!!

In times when I am genuinely slower than the cars behind me, but faster than the ones in the lane beside mine, I would usually swing into the slower lane after I have finished my share of overtaking. However tailgating me, just makes things worse. I will suddenly lose my ability to step hard on the accelerator, probably due to nervousness. You just can’t blame me for that. Not only that, it will be impossible to try to overtake me from the slower lane, because at that very instant, my foot will recover its reaction and stamped down on the accelerator. What a wierd reaction. I really should get the doctor to examine me. Well, I am so sorry if your blood boils and rises to an unhealthy level. Please do forgive me and stop tailgating me!

3 Minutes Club

3 Minutes Club

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A Chinese saying “3 Minutes Passion”

This describes a person, discovers or start a new project, he or she will work on it passionately and intensively for 3 minutes (figuratively speaking of course!) and abandon it, moving on to a new thing. Yes this is me. When I start on a new hobby, I will dig into it with abandon, forgetting everything around me while I am at it, but the enthusiasm never lasts. I have tonnes of new hobbies, most of them unfinished, sad to say.

Well, Blogger is my latest project. I have written 3 articles in a breath, on the very same day, that I have set it up. I think I better stop posting stuff, or I will run out of ideas and this will be another of my unfinished projects. Wish me luck and pray for my endurance! *grin*

P.S. I have some members in this 5 minutes Club. Thank goodness, I am not the President yet. I can only claim the position of a Vice President or something. Mr. President has more hobbies, most of them more expensive than mine, and of course a lot of unfinished ones too (more than what I have). Therefore, he has earned that position. Nobody had any objections to that. He shall not be named, else I won’t live to see the sun rise tomorrow!

Ruled by Technology!!

Ruled by Technology!!

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I keep pressing the refresh button for my email. Sigh…. no mails. Somehow, in a way that I have never ever imagined before, my feelings and emotions are greatly harnassed by the power of my emails. The anticipation, turning into joy when a personal mail (this excludes junk mails and problematic work mails) comes in, then I would eagerly reply it at the click of my mouse. Or the disappointment when it turns up nothing. Worse, when work mails screaming of problems appear in the inbox.

The wonders of the email. In the early days, to correspond with your loved ones and friends would take months and months to arrive on the steamship or the rail, then air transport evolved and the waiting time is cut down to 1 week, assuming that the parties stay on the opposite ends of the earth. Then courier services evolved, more expensive, but the waiting time is tremendously shortened. But the most amazing thing would be the Email now. The opposite party receives news from you in a matter of seconds after you sent it (This is provided that the Service provider doesn’t let you down, as it is letting me down right now!).

I love the speed that email provides but ultimately, I am still a very traditional person. I like letters, handwritten, (mind you, not typed, of course). Sheets and sheets of handwritten notes, scribbling, pictures, even the envelope with the stamp and my address on it delights me. Is it more personal, it contains more thoughts than the typical email in which, people report the superficial element of issues. Emails are too fast, there isn’t enough time to think and put your thoughts down coherently.

But still, I salute the technology which keeps me in touch with my family and friends, because I am indeed at one end of the Earth and they at the other.

~~~~~My One Cent Worth of Thoughts~~~~~

Fine Living in Singapore, That’s What They THINK!

Fine Living in Singapore, That’s What They THINK!

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Johannes Festival in Germany. Now, what does this festival have to do with Singapore??

Frankfurt central was full of food carts, not forgetting the beer stalls, loud music and yes, a lot of jostling people. Food is really big in my life, and I get hungry all the time. So, I headed to an Indian stall (which looked rather authentic) and stood around its front, waiting for the stallkeeper to take my order. Someone tapped me on my shoulder… A tall cute guy. *slurp*

“Hey! The queue is right over here!” He gestured to a few people standing around behind him.

Oops. “I am so sorry, I didn’t know that there is a queue.” and I moved to join the supposed queue line.

“Nah! I am just kidding, there is no queue. It is ok, I will let you order first.” He grinned.

Hmm.. not bad, cute and gentlemanly.

“So where do you come from?”

“Singapore. What about you?”

“Germany. Hey! Really?! I heard that in Singapore if you jump a queue, you have to pay 20 dollars for a fine! I heard that everyone is fined for everything in Singapore!” His voice was dripping with sarcarsm. I didn’t think that his grin was cute anymore.

“For your information, that is totally untrue.” I gave him a polite smile and resolved not to talk to him again.

Gosh, I am just wondering, what do people out there in the world think about Singapore and us Singaporeans?!

Well, he was not the only one who thought that way. I have met a couple of Americans and Europeans during my travelling, staying in hostels, in the cafes etc.

One common opinion they have of Singapore is that it is totally rigid, the people are governed by some autocratic government, no minds, no free will, living in fear everyday. I just wonder. Why is this so?! Is it because of the media in their countries? So who said that Singapore’s media is full of propaganda and lies?! Well, I do not deny it, but I think this fairly happens in every single country as well. As for the claims, they are only picking at the surface of it. So much for their self righteousness.

They have questions like,

“Oh they cane you for chewing gum?” Obviously because of the much publicised Michael Fay incident many donkey years ago. And yes, they still remember. *roll eyes*

“They fine you for spitting?” “They fine you for littering?”

Oh please, give me a break. Yes, they do fine us for all this. And I do admit that there are some rules in Singapore, well, probably more than the European countries and America. But so what? While we throw rubbish into the bins, spit into tissues and not on the floors, you have a deplorable amount of trash and spit and yes, dog poo on your streets. So what are wrong with these rules.

Well, some people who come across this blog will probably think, gosh this person has been thoroughly brainwashed by the Singapore Government. *Laugh* So what? I am proud of being a Singaporean, I don’t make sarcastic and snide remarks about your country, so spare mine!

P.S. Some Americans I have met in the youth hostels, nodded, giving me a patronizing look, when they heard that I came from Singapore. Guess what was their next question?

“Oh the Singapore which is somewhere in China, right?!” with a smug grin. DOH! GIVE ME A BREAK!

Glad to say, I have met more Americans who are more knowledgeable.

~~~~~ My One Cent Worth of Thoughts~~~~~