My One Cent Worth of Thoughts

The Tu Xin Cult

There are many different kinds of religion in the world – Buddhism, Christianity, Catholism, Islam, Hindu etc. However, none of these believers are more devout than the ones from the Tu Xin Cult. This cult is so ultrapowerful, that some of their disciples do not even realise that they are part of it and at times, fervently deny any connections with it.

Some of the symptoms include :

1. Take 1 hour to wake up (calculated from the minute the alarm clock rings) Take note : waking up meaning the opening of the eyes.

2. Take 1 hour to walk from the living room to the main door (usually the distance is less than 50m)‘

3. Take 1 hour to get to the car from the nearby shop. (incurring a fine because of it.)

4. Leaving a place 5 hours later than planned. (The Tu Xins usually have some unfinished last minute stuff or last minute change of plans.)

E.g. Planned time to leave the house 8am. Actual event : slept til 10am. Tried to get out of the house at 11am. Found that the front door was locked by the neighbours staying in the house. The self locking door back to the apartment was locked as well. Stuck at the stairway for 2 hours, before some good soul unlocked the front door for them. How come I have never had such excitement in my life? Sigh.

There are more of these, but I cannot recall them right now . However, worry not, as I will update the list as I go along.

* Tu = Taking your own sweet time, dragging your legs.

Xin = Shen, god.

Tu Xin = Slow poke

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

I have come to realised something about fast food, besides the fact, that they provide us with extra unwanted calories and cholestral. They reflect the standard of living of a country, far better than the economists!

Forget about reading sheets and sheets of reports on a country. Just trot down to a McDonald’s outlet and stare hard at the figures on the menus.

Prices (in S$) (Based on the cheapest menu, not taking into account, the Happy Meals. Therefore, please do not email me for comparisions on those. Thank you!)

Switzerland……….$14 (Believe it or not, this is the cheapest meal in Swiss.)

Austria…………….$10

USA………………..$8.50 (Probably because of the internationl debt this country has chalked up. And afterall, it is only patriotic to price the meals in your homeland cheaper.)

Germany………….$8 (This is the cheapest meal you can get in Germany. I rather save the money and poison myself with my own cooking!!)

Singapore…………$6

Malaysia………….$4

Italy………………..$4

Not only that, Macs‘ meal reflect the affluence of a place, down to the microscopic view!!

With reference to Singapore :

Changi Airport……………………….$6.50 (Our worldclass airport)

Orchard Road……………………….$6.00 (The street that never sleeps)

Bedok & other neighbourhoods….$5.00 (Where the normal people live)

Therefore, discard your newspapers and financial magazines, just make your way to the nearest Macs outlet.

Disclaimer : I have not received a single cent from McDonald’s (though I wish I will!!) and am certainly not their marketing manager. Although, I admit that they have one of the best marketing campaigns in the world! Argh! There I go again!

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

It is surprising, to see the number of clubs I am in! However, not everyone can join this exclusive club.

1. Study 1/2 year work within the one night before the exams.

2. Tutorials and homework : done on the bus trip to school.

3. Pack the luggage (whether it is for a year or a week) beginning from 10pm before the day of departure.

4. Book accomodation on the previous day of stay (thus risk sleeping on the streets.)

5. Iron clothes one hour before work.

6. Finish up a presentation 2 hours before the actual thing.

Therefore, you have to perform the above feats before you can qualify for entry of this club. I am so proud to announce that I am the chairman of it. Nobody can beat me in my last minute stunts. Life is too boring without the excitement (or stress!) from these activities! I hope my heart doesn’t give up on me after too many a times of last minutes.

I have just finished my last minute presentation this morning. It was really harrowing indeed, I had the fear that this time, I am not going to pull through it. I have had many close encounters during my last minute stints, but so far, I have been truly blessed and lucky and have always struggled through them narrowly and sometimes, the results were rather surprisingly adequate to the point of good! Someone must have been looking out for me up there. Incredible! I have told myself umpteen times after each experience, that I would start way before time, and finish with ample time to relax…. But it never happens. Probably I have been born with this complacency and I am stuck with it for life? Some DNA experiment would probably cure me of this defect. Anyway, I am a person who can work only under stressful conditions. Quite a masochist eh?! I do so love torturing myself!!

They showed me a thumbs up for the presentation this morning. Phew! I wonder when my luck will be running out….. I think I better send some thank you letters to Lady Luck to replenish it. Now, where is the address….

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!~~~

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!

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!

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~~~~~