ls xmas special

or biting the hand that used to feed me. See how I spill the dirt on how degenerate the Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society is ermmm right after I finish my physiology and molecular biology homework.

Before that, feast on this letter from the ST Forum.

"Society aims to serve Singaporeans of all backgrounds
I REFER to Ms Grace Chua's article, 'DBS' charity tie-up draws flak' (Dec 5). The article mentioned Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society. Kindly allow us to clarify our position.

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society provides a holistic range of services to meet the needs of Singaporeans. Indeed, our welfare homes and centres have been serving people in need for the past 30 years - regardless of their ethnicity, religion or class.

We are happy that people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds feel comfortable using our services.

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society values and respects every individual. We aim to provide culturally-sensitive services that respect our clients' values and beliefs. For instance, our meal services for the needy include food prepared in accordance with the strictest religious requirements, depending on clients' needs. Our counselling services aim to help clients find solutions that best fit their situations. Our staff come from different countries, creeds, language groups, race and religions.

Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society seeks to promote social cohesion. All our Centres and Homes observe equally the festivals of Christmas, Hari Raya, Deepavali, Confucius' birthday, Vesak Day and Lao Zi's birthday. Our agencies have also partnered with other organisations, servicing different ethnic and religious groups. The Society itself has been partnering the Inter-Religious Organisation (which has 10 religious groups as its members) and the four self-help groups - Mendaki, Eurasian Association, Chinese Development Assistance Council and the Singapore Indian Development Association - to organise the annual Inter-Racial Inter Religious Harmony Night since 2004.

We hope this helps explain Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society's position.

Dr Lee Ngak Siang
Chief Executive Officer
Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society"

again

I know I've said this before but I'm gonna say this again: Governments are the biggest terrorists; terrorism is beyond the singular act of terror; terrorism is that memory of that singular act of terror and that lingering possibility of its recurrence. Governments make this memory and this possibility very real and concrete by their omnipresent security measures, which are ultimately useless in what they are supposed to do.

-

For those who are wagering, here is the revised list of the likely ways I'm gonna die, in decreased order of likeliness:

1. Shot to death by airport security
2. heart giving way
3. Shot to death in the midst of a killing spree

I totally cannot understand the airport liquids policy. It's obviously a knee jerk reaction after some terrorist brought some combustible liquids onto the plane but what good does it actually serve?

Let's see. So the rule is you can't bring liquids in those big opaque containers which shampoos and what nots generally come in: all your liquids have to be packed in a clear plastic bag and in bottles not more than 100 ml each and not totaling 1 litres or something like that.

From personal experience, it's totally not ok to bring a bottle of branded shampoo in but you can take the shampoo back out, empty all its contents into transparent containers conveniently available cheaply at the stores outside, and whiz right past security.

So what if you can see the liquid? Do the security guards have bionic stoichometric eyes that can tell that the whitish milkish liquid is liuid sarin? I suppose you should ban all liquids. Oneday some terrorist dude is gonna invent combustible blood and I'd love to see what security measures we are gonna take.

-

Closer to home, we have our ever-vigilant MRT security, either the omnipresent middle-aged uncles/aunties stationed after the gates on the Concourse, or our very dependable SWAT-ish cops making their rounds around the station and on the train.

Of course those SWAT-ish cops are different from those that let Mas Selamat go, nor were they involved in any of the recent escapes. Very dependable and reliable people. They travel in teams of 4 and walk around MRT stations carrying their really mean looking guns, watching and watching. Each MRT station must be about 3-4 football fields big, and they open for like at least 16 hours a day. I know I can count on them to keep me safe at every square inch of the station, all 16 hours of the day, or at least when they start work, which is generally after morning peak hours because we all know that terrorists work 9 to 5.

The auntie/uncle security guards are even braver. I'm not sure what they could do if I actually turned violent and a couple of them acknowledged that to me too but yet they hold their ground. And they really hold their ground. The entire MRT concourse must be at least 100 metres across and I'm sure everyone that passes by the gates is profiled and screened, and not just the unfortunate few that happen to walk infront of them. And they have bionic eyes too! I carry really big bags and within my bag is usually always another bag and I've been checked a few times and I always marvel how someone can open my bag, see another bag and decide that it's not a bomb. Genius.

Where do we find all these people I wonder? Probably from the same places our ministers crawled out from.

all i ask of you

sigh

Perfectest wedding vow. Ever.

my god

So I was approached by some Christian missionary dude. Maybe he thinks I need some God in my Godless life but most likely he must have been really that desperate to approach a Godless One as me. He did have a new approach though: he presented the God of that Holy Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the paraclete as the God the Mother for did the Holy Bible not say that God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, ...' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:26-27). Is it also not said, in the Old Testament in hebrew, that God is Elohim, or Gods.

All I see in Elohim is a big 'Hello Him'. It's a refreshing new trick these missionary types are doing: gender-typing their messages; probably the females will get the God the Father message although personally I prefer that too. God can be a frickin unicorn, I wouldn't be blerdy interested [only slightly].

I do have an issue with the Church though; the House of God wallows in abject luxury while the People of God get to indulge in the glow of poverty. Good one there.

So I just wanted to move on politely and not hurt anyone's feelings so I nicely told the guy I believed in Science and that blerdy nutmeg have the cheek to say 'do you noe that alot of scientists are now turning to God?'. No I did not know that, and I don't really care.

I know maybe in religion, you believe whatever your pastor/priest/church/monk/PAP MP tells you. Believing whatever a scientist says is not Science just because a supposed person of Science is involved. Believing what anyone tells you after evaluation of what has been said: that is Science. Science is really the religion of experiencing something and then expanding this experience to possibly probably stand for something else. Alot of people hold Science strictly to the empirical senses but I give myself more leeway, as long as it's an experience, emprical or otherworldly, discrete or intangible, then it's an experience and I'm gonna believe in it probably-ly until the next best experience/evidence comes along. In short, the only way I'd believe in God is a cold day in Hell and I'm there without my winter wear or God is screaming at my face and hurling megawattic thunderbolts of doom or LKY and his clan drop dead suddenly. [God, if you're listening, personally I prefer the third one.]

gotta be somebody - nickelback

So true [to me, at least].

noise

world of pain

This is the life.

I have a paper at 10 and I am at the gym now doing some general chest
work.

It's abit weird. I'm walking around the gym carrying a thick stack of
notes and alternating between reading them and the weights but it's
not too bad cuz there's only 3 other ppl at the moment: one guy who's
jus loitering around and one auntie with her personal trainer.

Was at the gym yesterday too, for combat and another class called
sculpt abs. Sculpt abs ytd was a whole new world of pain: in the first
14 minutes of warm up, I sweated more than I did for the preceding hr
of combat. The class is called sculpt abs but you only actually do the
abs in the last 15 mins. The rest of the time is spent moving all your
body parts at once. With weights. On a board.

Recently my gym was bought over by another not so reputable place and
already you can see the beginnings of a class action suit. They are
turning all the floor in all the branches to a hideous purple, their
corporate colour apparently. There's less machines, and more people.
They upped their membership consultants to 800%; I already am a member
and I was approached twice, once when I was leaving the gym. Duhz.

The gym used to be my happy place, this place I can go to and leave
all my free radical thoughts and issues at the door. And I hope it
stays this way.

work ethic

Ok, am typing this on the iPhone so you will forgive the typos and the
general prissiness.

Today's the second day since I was kinda sacked and I am still kinda
pissed. General summary: tendered at the start of last mth, the
director spoke to us a week later and promised a whole slew of changes
to better help our clients, none of them happened in the days to come
and maybe I got kinda exceedingly rambunctious about it, on Thursday I
was informed they would be honoring the letter, making my last day
Friday. Effectively I was blind sided and told it's for the best.
Technically it wasn't a sack: I'm told it's a 'small industry' and my
career is still fledgling. I'd rather they sack me though, at least
I'd get some compensation and my conscience is clear; small industry
or not, a black mark by this org counts for nothing. They had the gall
to ask if I wanted a testimonial. Any number of my clients would be
glad to write a testimonial for me(if they were literate) and I could
not be more honored. Clients are always the most important not because
of awards or recgonition but because you have chosen to be in this
industry, that's the least you can do. And this is not something I can
say about the org.

I am rising above. On Monday I stayed the whole day to finish some
paperwork, which couldn't be finished in such short notice despite
snide comments from the manager like 'have I found a job yet?'(I dun
have any brothers who run any coy so no) and we're all fated to get
together( yeah very tragic karma at work) and so forth. And despite
asking if I would come back to visit, I learnt there are explicit
instructions diseminated to my ex colleagues that I have no right to
be in the office. I am rising above.

it runs in the family

Founding father of Singapore, our first Prime Minister, revered Minister Mentor and now professor in Genetics explains:

“That is the way the world is. I have explained this. I think I lost votes after I explained the awful truth. Nobody believed it, but slowly it dawned on them – especially the graduates – that yes, you marry a non-graduate, then you worry about whether or not your son or daughter is going to make it to the university!”

Paraphrasing,

Graduate + Graduate = Graduate
Graduate + Non-Graduate = Poly Grad
Non-Graduate + Non-Graduate = CDC client

Graduate + Graduate + Non-Graduate = ??

Of course the old guy knows what he's talking about. Prime ministering runs in the family.

pregnant

where being right is wrong

The other day I was at Clarke Quay there were this lovely string trio [?], in both looks and skills, performing to an oblivious audience, performing in spite of an oblivious audience, bravely soldiering on. The show must go on I suppose.

-

So I had a letter published in the ST today [big big somemore]:

NCSS should focus more on its clients

I REFER to Ms Ang Bee Lian's letter 'Govt benchmarking social workers' pay' on Sept 26.
I have been a social worker for almost two years. While I am not seeing the kind of salary that Ms Ang refers to, I acknowledge that there has been some positive movement in that regard.

However, I feel that the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) can do more for the people.

The biggest issue is the structural way NCSS divides the services of a population within distinct demographical categories, like age or physical condition. Each group is further divided into specific needs and services, like home nursing, meals delivery, family counselling and so on. Such a model is not comprehensive, as considering how diverse people are, there inadvertently will be needs an individual faces that existing formal services do not provide.

A corollary for such a framework is that social service organisations are set up around these services that NCSS has earmarked due to the funding. This inadvertently results in agencies becoming very specific and not going beyond a certain duty to fill up any possible service loophole, either because they lack the resources or, for whatever other reasons, because it is not 'in the service guideline'. While specificity often leads to specialisation and efficiency, the precursor is economies of scale, which most social service agencies are unable to achieve.

A third offshoot is a duplication of assessment that results from a client being referred from one agency to another. Each agency requires its own separate assessment. While a specific service will assess a client differently, there are common facets like financial and background information that can be better shared. For example, multiple financial testing requires multiple collection of financial documents from the client and the family.

While NCSS has gone some way to supporting social workers, I feel we can be better supported by focusing on the clients.

Chen Lingshen

As with all things online, there will always be idiots and as of now, here's the only idiotic comment:

I think the writer, being a rookie, does not understand how the sector works.

Such embarrassment, hearing these comments from these young social workers who are passionate but don't go deeper into what they see or hear on the surface.

My next question to these rookies are: so what are you going to do to facilitate change in your position?

The idiocy of this idiot screams so loudly I don't think I even need to speak for him.

Edit. Apparently someone replied that idiot:

what embarrassment about these comments? quite sensible perceptive observations made by Chen Lingshen.

(1)"the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) can do more for the people"
nothing embarrassing about this fact.

(2)"the structural way NCSS divides the services...inadvertently will be needs an individual faces that existing formal services do not provide". correct again. such rigid divisions means this is not in my service guideline, not my area, so results in multiple referrals which hamper the efficiency of the system.

(3) clients `referred from one agency to another. Each agency requires its own separate assessment' - waste of resources and hassle for people requiring fast help.
Rookies? - better than fossilised veterans who are moulded to the old rigid inflexible system. we need more such refrshing views.

I'm embarrassed actually; he says it much better than i could ever hope to.

-

On a relatively unrelated note,

The general consensus is that the letter was 'very well written', that I was very brave to have written it. My bosses were livid. [Edit. I have since been cleared cuz I didn't mention the company name] Tomorrow, all these will be forgotten until NCSS replies, which will go along these lines: they'll denounce me as a wet behind the ears rookie, full of passion but ultimately myopic and misguided, list down their accomplishments probably in terms of how many people have benefitted from their services and the high percentage of positive evaluations, and mention how NCSS strives to keep ahead and relevant and pretend it never happened.

I'm not actually say anything new or brilliant, or made up; these are things everyone has been saying but not to NCSS, or they're not listening, or something. [Edit. I've just been informed that Case Management communicates with NCSS directly and they're able to implement changes every 3 months. Power to Case Management I say; You can be a Case Management too if you're above 60, lack social support and have one chronic medical condition]. I'm just saying what alot of people are saying but not saying to NCSS. Which is what irks. Things didn't just suddenly become like that overnight; it should have taken a hell lot of indifference for things to become what they are today.

Abit of clarification: NCSS doesn't actually provide the service or set up the agencies that do; what they do is demarcate the specific services by deciding what gets funding and what not, divide it into geographic regions and you kinda tender for it; you're free to set up your own agency providing any service you want but obviously why do something for free when funding is just a soul's sale away. You get this nice groovy service manual to follow and are required to submit stats every once in awhile purporting to the efficacy of your service but actually meaning nothing; you also have to provide any other stats, colour coded in technicolour, that the great powers at NCSS needs to set policy. I must have missed the fine print somewhere because you are also required to get your comments and observations ignored and you can't speak to someone higher ranked [at NCSS] than you directly. [I don't know where this notion of rank came about actually: technically the politicians appoint the civil servants and the power of politicians comes from the people; therefore politicians are the lowest ranked and therefore civil servants, and psuedo civil servants aren't that far off too?]

Years ago, I attended a meeting where the SINDA-FSC director was present. He was rather quite disdainful of education and prided himself on his years of experience. He was particularly proud of his 'experienced' corp of volunteers in this service implemented, boasting that they were able to make thorough and complete assessments with just an hour. How this is related to the current mess I don't know but I just think that experience or education, neither one is more important than the other. You need a theoretical basis as a guide how to proceed; yet a guide will never cover every possible situation that you will encounter. Experience and education to me are just the same facets of probably-knowing something; I say probably-knowing because I don't think we can really ever know anything [and even this I don't know for sure]. I think the day I do know anything for sure is the day life ends.

Yet another common comment is so 'why am I not doing anything about it' or 'what solution do i have to offer'. I don't know? I wrote a letter didn't I? And I did give up the pursuit of a discipline [psychology] that I am thoroughly in love with for one [medicine/genetics] that is no doubt just as exciting but with a much longer, more uncertain and onerous journey because I believe it's for the best. I did design a database to store client records; I spent and am still spending droplets of time I manage to squeeze out from my laden schedule of work and school learning from scratch computer languages like MYSQL, PHP and HTML in the hopes that I can bridge at least a few services together. My system is not perfect, but it will be eventually. I really really would like to think I did and am still trying to do something about it. I actually don't quite understand the logic that when you criticize, you must have an answer. Afterall, I'm not the one that's being paid an obnoxious amount of money here.

But I actually do have an answer, and it doesn't involve raising taxes or implementing surcharges. I suggest, rather than a service-centric model, we should adopt a client or geography-centric model: that is a social worker is assigned to an area, and the entire gamut of needs of persons in that area is the responsibility of that social worker [TM]. When the social worker feels that the client requires services that the social worker is unable to render, he/she can refer to an organization providing that specific need.

One of the complaints in the social services is there's not enough resources, which is actually the same complaint in every other industry. I don't think there's not enough resources; it's just that everyone, every organization, every industry demands their own set of resources. I call this the Food Court Rice Theory [TM]. When I go to the food court near closing time, there's alot of stores who have run out of rice and have to close for the day yet there are also many other stores who still have lots of rice left. Or or or how mornings, the roads are practically jammed but if you look inside each car, you'll see there's most likely only one, at most two persons in each car that sits five people. Or you see the roads going towards the city is clogged yet the roads coming from the city is empty. Or you can never get a taxi when you need one yet taxi drivers spend a good part of their jobs waiting at taxi stands. Obviously resources are not being used all that well. And coming from my Food Court Rice Theory is the final piece of my solution: where possible, the social services should not set up a specialized service but utilize existing commercial sources [TM]. Why do we have to send food all the way from Henderson to Beach Road when there's so many eateries littering the area? Why can't we use taxi drivers who are free to send clients for medical appointments? Of course, my idealism requires alot of micro planning, coordination, and a quid of human kindness and initiative, which is the bit where it will all come apart.

-

Actually I don't know I struggle so much for what. If I just shut up and do my job, receive my [relatively] obnoxious pay, spend my pay, and live happily ever after, I would be living happily ever after instead of this mess I'm in: feeling pissed, feeling pissed that I'm pissed, career's in limbo, all plans derailed. Nothing's gonna change, moone else cares, and it doesn't matter that I care, and noone cares that I care.

-

I kinda think at the end of the day ideals are important. Sure, they don't put food on the table, and power to you if your ideal happens to be the same as putting food on the table, but ideals, even if you never meet them, make you you.

jbj

Crappiest crap:

"
CONDOLENCE LETTER FROM PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG ON DEMISE OF JB JEYARETNAM
30 September 2008
Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam
Mr Philip Jeyaretnam

Dear Kenneth and Philip Jeyaretnam
I was sad to learn that your father, Mr Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, has passed away.
Mr JB Jeyaretnam was a Member of Parliament for Anson constituency from 1981 till 1986, and a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament from 1997 till 2001. He used to engage in heated debates in the House. Perhaps it was because he and the PAP never saw eye to eye on any major political issue and he sought by all means to demolish the PAP and our system of government. Unfortunately, this helped neither to build up a constructive opposition nor our Parliamentary tradition. Nevertheless, one had to respect Mr JB Jeyaretnam’s dogged tenacity to be active in politics at his age.

However, our differences were not personal. In 1993, one of you (Kenneth) wrote to Mr Goh Chok Tong, who was then Prime Minister, to say that you found employers in Singapore reluctant to offer you a job, and your only explanation was that the employers felt the authorities would not welcome your employment because of your name. Mr Goh replied with a letter which could be shown to prospective employers, to say that the government did not hold anything against you, and that employers should evaluate you fairly on your own merits, like any other candidate, because Singapore needed every talented person that it could find. Mr Goh had previously made the same point to your brother Philip, whom he had invited to lunch. I am therefore happy that both of you have established yourselves in Singapore.
Please accept my deepest condolences.

Yours sincerely
Lee Hsien Loong
"

Obnoxious main points in the letter:

1. the PAP is always right.
2. Good riddance, loser.
3. Kenneth and Philip, you are not like their father. Keep it up.

-

Wah, our president is even more power:



I suddenly very proud he is social work trained lor. In 2 sentences, he can draw more blood than other people's 2 paragraphs. Who knew the old guy had it in him?

ebook reader

Uber cool ebook reader [it's the thinnest one on the top].



Yar, obviously I want one too.

[Yes, although I quite like the smell and feel of physical books, I quite prefer my shoulders not giving way from carrying like 2000 books plus the laptop.]

new camera

The Olympus Micro four-thirds digital SLR.



Uber hotness. I want one!

david foster wallace [1962-2008]

Everyone is saying he's such a fucking brilliant writer, and I think so too. I only ever read one of his books, but I am making that up as of yesterday [borrowed 2 of his books from the library].

Anyways, I came across this commencement speech he made a few years back, and not only is it very well given, I totally agree with his interpretation of the purpose of an arts education [which is not about helicopter views btw].

The whole speech is damn brilliant and everyone should read it, but the bit that struck me most:

As I'm sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head (may be happening right now). Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed. Think of the old cliché about quote the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master.

This, like many clichés, so lame and unexciting on the surface, actually expresses a great and terrible truth. It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger.

and this:

This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship.

Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship -- be it JC or Allah, bet it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles -- is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.

Morbid stuff. But so true.

betrayed

My manager:

Dear Mr Anjan Ghosh,

My sincere apologies for the misunderstanding that arose from the previous
email.

The email was sent to you without authority or consultation from either Mr
Lee or me. I fully understand the need for additional data by MCYS or NCSS,
and we will gladly provide the information as requested.

I will compile and submit the data before the submission deadline.

Once again, I apologise for the misunderstanding, and seek to continue the
cooperation and partnership between MCYS, NCSS and Home Help Service
(West).

-

Reply:

Dear Ms Lee,

Thank you for clarifying, we had similar impression too. We have great working relationship with THKMS and I look forward towards continuous support and mutual understanding as we help the needy and disadvantage population.

Regards
Anjan K GHOSH | Director
Service Management Division | National Council of Social Service
170 Ghim Moh Road #01-02 S 279621 · DID: 62102622 · Fax: 64624608 · http://www.ncss.org.sg/

-

Mutual masturbation at its best. Disgusting.

censorship

I actually drafted this in reply to the previous email, but Wendy says the tone not only burns bridges, it decimates the surrounding area and renders it uninhabitable. Without further ado, my drafted reply to Anjash:

"
To note: '...if the statements made in the email is...', 'is' should be replace with 'are' as the subject preceding it is plural.

I'm also not sure about the point you are making about Mr Lee concurring with you. Is he concurring because he has seen the research questions or is he concurring because of the prior funding agreement? So as per the funding agreement, if NCSS requires the number of left handed clients with one pimple on the right cheek, we are required to give that to you? I'm not sure about you, but usually in my arguments, I like to use logic and science.

Allow me one nuance of fallacy: despite my learnings and qualifications in mass communications, social work, psychology, sociology and philosophy, I fail to see the point of these and previous and current stats NCSS requires of us. Perhaps you can enlighten my feeble mind?

Lastly, I want to add that meeting after meeting, networking session after session, various Home Help providers have voiced out the same opinions after observations, some rather passionately, and each time, their voices are ignored and nothing has changed. The stats we have contributed over the time all seems to meet the same fate. Is that in the funding agreement too?

"

the empire strikes back

Dear Lingshen,

I wonder if you have consulted Ms Lee or Mr Lee before replying to NCSS. I also wonder if the statements made in the email is your personal view or that of Moral Home Help (West).

We have spoken to Mr Lee and he concurred with the need for such data to be made available to assist in the review of Home Help Service. We would also like to highlight that the funding agreement requires all service provider to provide additional information beyond PES, where necessary for service review and planning purposes.

My colleague Peng Peng will be of help if you need any further clarification.

Thank you
Anjan K GHOSH | Director
Service Management Division | National Council of Social Service
170 Ghim Moh Road #01-02 S 279621 · DID: 62102622 · Fax: 64624608 · http://www.ncss.org.sg/
Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this message. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately

resigned

Dear Ms Lee

I hereby tender my resignation and give 2 months notice with effect from Sep 11 2008.

In recent months, I have been finding my position increasingly untenable.

I have not been making a difference in anyone's life, other than NCSS/MCYS, and their course, I feel, often sprints the other direction from serving mankind.

I also feel that in its current structure and organization, Moral Home Help West is not fully appreciating and developing my skills.

I have come to this decision with a very heavy heart. I am very grateful for the patience and understanding you have shown me, and I know that I have been a rather difficult subordinate to manage.

I wish you and Moral Home Help West all the best in years to come and I regret that I will not be part of this.

ls last stand

Dear Peng peng

We thank you for graciously getting an extension of the deadline for us.

However, Home Help West will not be providing that figures you need this time around.

We cannot continuously provide you with the incessant and unnecessary stats that you and your organization needs.

We can however, provide you with our database and you can sieve through it for the stats that you need.

Cheers

Lingshen Chen
Moral Home Help West

PS. When you mention Home Help's comsumption patterns and direction, I believe all the various Home Help organizations have been making very excellent points and suggestions, seeing how they are on the ground much more than NCSS or MCYS combined.

eat shit

From: TANG_Peng_Peng@ncss.gov.sg

Dear Home Help Service Providers

As part of the Eldercare Masterplan Review conducted by Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), the Ministry is currently reviewing the Home Help Service (HHS).

MCYS has requested for data on the consumption patterns of HHS clients in FY07/08 (1 Apr 07 - 31 Mar 08). This data is not part of the PES data that NCSS has requested you to track and monitor. Hence, we understand that it would be tedious for you to gather the information. We have requested MCYS to give a duration of 2 weeks for you to provide the information. We seek your assistance to provide the information as it would ultimately help to chart the future directions of Home Help Service.

A) Information Required
There are 2 areas:
1) Overview of the Consumption Pattern - How many clients are using 1/2/3/4/5 HHS service components
2) Breakdown of Consumption Patterns - Number of clients who are using the follow service combination(s)/ type:

Meals + Escort + Housekeeping
Meals + Escort
Meals + Housekeeping
Housekeeping + Escort
Meals only
Escort only
Housekeeping only
Personal Care Hygiene only
Laundry only

Impt: There should be NO duplication of client across the various categories.

Pls use the template below to submit the information:


B) Suggested Steps and Pointers
List out the clients the agency had served as at 1 Apr 2007, note down the service component(s) that they had utilised
Add in the new clients who joined the service and had activated the service(s) over the next 11 months (ie: May 07 - Mar 08). We are not looking at clients who had only been registered, they must have used the service in FY07/08.
Even if the client had only used a particular service once in the FY, pls count the person in
Pls include closed cases whom you have served during the FY

Here is a suggested template for those of you who may need one:
Fill up the template, put "1" under the service component(s) that had been utilised by individual client
Eg (1): To find out the number of clients who uses "meals + escort", click "1" on the drop-down arrow for "meals" and "escort", click "blank" for the rest of the services. You would then get the name of clients who use these 2 services, do an auto-sum on the number of clients.
Eg (2): To find out the number of clients who use 1/2/3/4/5 HHS service component(s), click "1/2/3/4/5" on the drop-down arrow for "Total no. of services"

We would require the information latest by Wednesday, 24 Sept 08.

Regards
TANG Peng Peng (Ms) | Service Management Manager | Eldercare Services
Service Management Division | National Council of Social Service
170 Ghim Moh Road #01-02 S 279621 · DID: 6210 2453 · Fax: 6462 4609 · www.ncss.org.sg

oh what fun

So this morning Apple released yet more new iPod products: a blah iPod Nano that looks like a zune, brighter iPod shuffles, and a new uber-cool iPod Touch which is even thinner than its already very thin predecessor and comes with all the goodness of the apps store and even a built in Nike running sensor. My resolve not to buy the iPhone momentarily weakened and once again I was engulfed by all those alluring demons of desire. I think not even Plato would have withstood such temptations but I have since momentarily suppressed it with the demon of 'everyone who has an iphone 3G looks like they need one to look human'.

iTunes 8 also came out. Besides a layout which I think is improved, despite not having explored it much [note: everything Apple does is an improvement; everything Microsoft does is something they should have/could have did the first time round], the newest feature is the Genius feature. What the Genius does is you choose a song in your library, and the Genus creates a playlist of songs that are similar to the choosen song. Cool shit.

Apparently since I heard it on Prince Caspian, the song sung at the end [the calling by regina spektor] seems to have become popular. Geniusing that, better matches included 'Say it's possible' by Terra Naomi, 'When she loved me' by Sarah McLachlan and 'The Heart never lies' by McFly. Strangely, also included 'Hips don't lie' by Shakira, and really dubiously, 'We're going to ibiza'. Not cool.

I did Kit Chan's Home and I ended up with believable matches like 'To build a home', Kaira Gong's 'My Island Home' and very weirdly, my podcasts on homeostasis on the digestion & nutrition, circulation, respiration, the immune, and osmoregulation systems.

I tried Majulah Singapura [don't ask] next and I got interesting matches like the Darth Vader Imperial march, 'Beyond the wasteland' from Final Fantasy and very fittingly, 'The Plagues' from the Prince of Egypt. I like the new iTunes already.

chronicles of narnia: prince caspian

Yah, I know the dvd has already been released, but it's only on the SQ flight yesterday that I managed to catch The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, or otherwise known as 'that darn lion saves the day again', which is supremely ironic given the premise of the whole show hinges on that darn lion refusing to save the day in the first place like he did in the first movie, or as he himself so succinctly puts it, twice in fact, that 'nothing ever happens twice'.

The movie is alot like Growing Pains meet The Lord of the Ring. Besides the requisite epic battles, which are rendered quite competently, although a tad too much in the flavour of the good guys, there's also the other requisite items: i.e.

Mean melee arrow using dude, usually lanky and feminish [i.e. Legolas]. Check.
Cute small little furry creature who's really deadly [Shrek 3]. Check.
Marauding treefolk [Ents]. Check.
A variation of Gandalf's 'You shalt not pass' scene. Check.
Rushing river slamming onto enemy troops. Check.

And the list goes on.

While the Lord of the Ring had the suicidal wisdom of Gandalf, the anguished valour of Aragon, the boorish chivalry of Gimli or the reluctant responsibility of Frodo as centre pieces, what we get in this movie is teenage angst, just as suicidal, or anguished or boorish or reluctant, but teenage angst nonetheless; rebellion immature adolescence deciding the fate of thousands and thousands amidst the intricacies of acne, identity confusion, crushes, sibling rivalry, and fatherly acceptance [from the lion].

The movie ends like your typical secondary school essay; like it's all a dream and everything's back to square one and nothing really happens, which is really crappy when used in the essays, but actually meaningful and believable coming at the end of the mindless slugfest.

In the end you realize the movie is about letting go: as tempting as integral as something is to you, it's not you and you have to let it go and stop doing silly silly things.

I have to let go too.

Guru Pitka says:

Why do you hurt yourself?

Why do you hurt yourself?

Why are you still hurting yourself?

the love guru

damn :)

new round of mac ads

Called the M1 tech support yesterday and was berated by him for trashing the program folder in Vista to remove the program ['how can you do that? do you know you can't do that?!!!]. Not my fault the program didn't show in the applications list, the uninstaller doesn't work and plus us mac users have been dragging programs off to the trash to uninstall programs for like I don't know, since the mac was born?

Here's Apple's latest round of mac ads, to quell the rage in me:

Throne:


Off the air:


Note that I don't think the apple stores here do the 'transfer your files for free' thingy mentioned in the ads since they are just shitty apple franchisees who can't make it selling windows stuff although you can try the Mac Shop at Funan; they have very nice people there who actually knows their mac [not the apple store].

Pizza box:


Calming teas:

wad the hell 2

It's actually kinda fun when for once, the object of complaint is not me:

From the ST online forum:

MY MOTHER lives in Block 31 Toa Payoh East in a flat meant for senior citizens under the administration of the Thye Hua Kwan welfare organisation. I understand caretakers posted to the centre on the ground floor are meant to ensure the welfare and safety of the elderly residents, as well as distribute public donations fairly to those in need, but I regret this superior care is not what my mother has experienced.

First, on the issue of welfare. On one occasion, a drunken stranger parked himself right outside my mother's door. She asked management to call the police, but they insisted she settle the matter herself and insisted she went back up to use her own phone. While it was eventually resolved, this not the way a charity should function. That is only one of numerous occasions on which the elderly were made to feel neglected. The operator also criticised my mother to her face, in English (which she does not understand), and we found out only later from the maid who understood.

On the issue of donations, I hope resources will be allocated equitably to those in need. However, my mother often tells me donations in kind, such as food, are distributed according to the whim and fancy of the centre's operators, with leftovers discarded, which leads me to wonder if those in need actually get them. Furthermore, my mother has also witnessed the centre throwing away an item of donation, new and unused, in a spurt of temper.

Those are only a few incidents, and isolated ones. Perhaps we should re-examine how charities are run to ensure, if nothing else, the hours our children spend fund-raising do not go to waste.

Hopefully with my rich complaint-rebutting experience, I won't be called upon to rebut this. I'm not very good at arguing; I just always happen to be right. Don't think I can argue this.

what the hell

Probably I will not be long for this job, and hopefully this world too, so I won't hold back on the names.

Background: When I joined this job more than a year ago, I actually joined Tanjong Pagar FSC. On the first day of work, I was seconded out to where I am currently. I was to learn a good half year later that the TPFSC actually earned money from this arrangement: my salary and CPF contribution came from them, but apparently they charged Home Help that amount plus plus. My Home Help manager said TPFSC claimed the plus plus was for training me; that's a load of bull. I only ever saw the TPFSC boss three times: once because I requested a meeting, the second time when he came to do the exit interview with Odie, and the last time at some Moral event. I have since left TPFSC and come under the payroll of Home Help. The Home Help boss is in charge of many many things other than Home Help, so the other time I have seen him is, once again, at official functions. But all's good until this week.

Some time ago I rejected a client on the grounds that he wasn't very homebound, to put it mildly. The client was referred by Moral Case Management, and the person who did the referral, let's call her SL, wasn't too pleased. She called the office repeatedly to request for a review. Now, usually I'm not in the office, so my colleague handles such calls and queries for me. My stance was clear: at his current functioning, the client is not eligible for home help services and any further assessment would be fruitless. My colleague communicated this to SL all the times that she called. Oneday SL called and demanded a written explanation.

I seethed. But I wrote the letter. And it was polite. And I thought that was the end of it.

But I was wrong. She wrote another letter, requesting for service on the grounds that client has COPD and some other heart conditions. And cc-ed to our boss. I called her to clarify with her, but apparently nothing got through her thick skull. She followed up with the following email to our boss:


"
Dear Boss,

Good morning. I have received a phone call from MSW Ling Shen (Moral Home Help West) at 12.14hrs while i was on home visit yesterday.

Ling Shen claimed that he has repeated many times to me that he has already discharged client Mr XXX and he would not consider opening the case. Reasons being client is not a home bound patient. When i checked with him that how come some cases who are also not home bound could receive the home help service such as escort service but he claimed that he did not know the previous cases as it was approved by other MSW as he only came 1 year ago. For him, he would not accept cases that are not approved by him. I requested him to consider escort services in view of client's medical condition but Ling Shen claimed that he would only consider re-opening the case if i could provide him with medical report and proved that client's condition has deteriorated. I have requested him to tell me the date of his review with client but he refused and said that he has seen him 2 to 3 weeks ago. Lastly, i requested Ling Shen to reply me with a letter again on the reasons but he claimed that he did not have such practice all along and also did not have the habit of reply since he has done once previously.

I have called the client later and client claimed that he had asked his friend to help him buy food sometimes and he could manage his laundry so far.

Please advice me on the whether i should refer client to home medical and home nursing services since the escort service from Moral Home Help West has been rejected?
"

-


The boss emailed me and my manager asking for an explanation so it's obvious whose side he's on. My manager is the easily ruffled sort so she decided to just offer the client our escort services anyway. I went down to see him, and here's my email reply:

"
1. Client was initially rejected because he was not homebound; Client himself mentions that he is always running around. I understand that he has a whole litany of heart problems; however, these are simply medical labels that say nothing about functional status.

2. Out of goodwill, I was instructed by my manager to offer him our escort services. That I did, but client was not home. I called him and learnt from him that he was at Potong Pasir, and he indicated that he did not need our services.

3. My manager has also called him this morning to offer him our food and escort services. Client rejected them as he indicated that our food usually comes at around 1 pm and he can't wait so long as he has to go out. He also indicated that he has a direct bus he can take from his home to the hospital.

4. I stand by my assessment. I am actually bewildered why client is even a candidate for home services.

5. With regards to written exposes detailing rejection, I hope you can understand that it is not practical or logical for me to have to answer to every rejection. I see so many clients every week it's hardly enough for me to catch my breath. Rejection is always hard for me, and already I am very liberal in my interpretation of home boundness, so you can be assured that rejections are not made wantonly.

6. With regards to approval, all cases need to be approved by me to be accepted into the service as I am the only social worker here. SL mentions a discrepancy where certain clients that seems to match disputed client's status were accepted into the service while Mr XXX was not. Indeed, those clients were assessed and approved by me, and I apologize for that, as I was lax in my assessment.

I wish to assure you and SL and the Moral Case Management team that I shall strive to be more rigid and stringent in my assessments.

Sincerely
Lingshen Chen

[addendum]
1. If SL would read the letter carefully, it states 'repeated numerously', which in no way implies I spoke to SL directly. What it does imply is my stand was made clear to her quite a few times.

2. I would also like to clarify if I have the right to reject clients.
"

-


Summary: Someone made a lousy referral, and was not willing to accept the subsequent and expected outcome which is actually kinda disrespectful to me, expects me to play by her mangly rules, and kicks up a ruckus about it.

sad song

back from manila

Back from the Philippines, as the title implies. Will post more tomorrow as it is late and it seems that my eyesight deteoriates with the time of the day.

Nothing against the Philippines, but I am utterly and really disgusted in myself for going there.

It's like you can be educated lots which means you are supposedly intelligent and you still do silly silly things, silly self destructive things, and seeking the thrill of the solace from the brief occasional respite of repeated head-bangings. Blerdy stoopid fool.

the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs

I recently heard this song and I only listen to this song now.

A quick aside. One of the comments says

The littlest birds do sing the prettiest songs, as they are small they have to sing pretty songs to attract mates!

Not sure what that means. Is the guy saying small birds need to sing nice nice to attract mates from say big birds? Like maybe finches are in direct competition with eagles? I like eagles btw.

sex education

I lost count of all the euphemisms for the 'raised scepter of love' Uncle Andy used.

PS. This is the first time I've seen the banana trick.

PPS. The above scene was from Weeds, which is a great show, which means you'll never ever see it in Singapore.

little boxes

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes, little boxes
Little boxes all the same

There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

And the people in the houses all went to the university
Where they all were put in boxes, little boxes all the same
And there's doctors and there's lawyers and business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same

And they all play on the golf course and drink their martini dry
And they all have pretty children and the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp and then to the university
Where they all got put in boxes, and they all came out the same

And the boys go into business and marry and raise a family
In boxes, little boxes, little boxes all the same
There's a green one, and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same

LS' news in brief

MM Lee says one freak election results and 5 years is all it takes to ruin Singapore.

He worries needlessly seriously. We survived 40 years of his PAP's rule, we can survive 500 years of anything, even a worst case scenario where we orang utans become our ministers and they plan policy by deciphering the way thrown banana peels land on the floor which introspect may actually be a better form of government than what we are having now. At the very least, bananas are cheap.

-

After the guy passed through at least 3 rounds of passport checks with his son's passport at the Budget Terminal, the latest precaution is to have a guy stationed beside every automated clearing machine.

I would think since the automated clearing machine was the only one that did his job on that fateful day, the extra guy should be stationed beside the checkpoints people instead.

Or use orang utans.

-

MOH to probe possible lapses in living donor transplant programme

My money's on Yes.

-

S$2.8m Active Ageing Centre to be built at Ang Mo Kio

Rumor has it it will be built on the Dragon's Vein which will harness the energy there and distribute it around the centre via the air-con.

-

MM Lee's wife in critical condition.

Good riddance [although it's the wrong one].

manila: overall impressions

Generally I get that my travel logs always denigrate into anti-Singaporean expressionism. I promise I'll keep that in, right after I bash Tiger Airways.

Lousy, deceptive, fradulent airline that sent me to Manila (Clark), which is 2 hours away by hot bumpy bus ride from Manila, and which the locals don't consider to be part of Manila. I know, I know, buyer beware, but when you go to some airline webby and choose Singapore to Manila, you really expect them to take you to Manila, that Manila (Clark) is part of Manila. I know I know, I should have done some research, but I'm complacent, as is the trend here: I'm a seasoned traveler afterall, not the sort that carries a Lonely Planet around and reads up on every detail, but the sort that trusts the airline to keep their word, and that for everything else there's Mastercard. I've not even started on the ride experience: I can do hardship, but you cannot separate me and my hand carry bag which is what Tiger did by insisting I put my bag in the stowaway compartment and not block the passage way at the emergency exit. Like, wei? My hand carry bag is literally a handbag the size of my hand. If it blocks anyone at the exit, it means that person is really obese and probably deserves to be blocked. And ok i get that no outside food is allowed on the plane. But you don't have to constantly announce it like we are dogs who deserve no better because we can only afford to fly Tiger [and can't afford your overpriced food]. In any case, if people are still flouting the rules despite your multiple announcements, it's probably because your guy needs to go back to language school. And what's with the spastic announcement: please switch off and keep off all handphones, including those handphones with airplane mode. Why else do we call it airplane mode? In any case, said Tiger staff with language impairment should also learn how to differentiate iPhones with iPod Touches if he wants to enforce the rule.


In any case, this was the nice airport I landed in: DMIA. The temp looking structure with alot of people waiting under is a very permanent waiting area for people waiting to check in. Apparently, DMIA won some airport of the year award last year and rightly so too; all airports should seriously be like this.


Very straightforward. No need to waste time waiting for the plane to berth properly, or for the tunnel thingy to attach itself to the door, or for the feeder bus and the people slowly streaming into it and once in the airport, there's none of the convoluted twisty cavernous labyrinths to actually get to somewhere.

Ok, the truth is I went to Manila for surgery, so most of the time I was confined to my room so I didn't see much, so this post is quite limited.

The people here seems quite friendly though, like naturally from the bottom of the heart friendly. On the strange bus from Clark to Manila, I started appearing all touristy by taking out by map and staring at it. Immediately 2 locals sitting opposite came to my aid and even came me their numbers. After we got off the bus, they helped me get a cab and even told the cab driver not to cheat my money, which he actually totally disregarded, but which a very helpful security guard helped settle. My doctor and his wife brought us to a nice local restaurant where we were pleasantly entertained by a live band with a singer who sounded better than Norah Jones; when she was tired, the waiter filled in for her with a rambunctious song and dance item.

Being a tourist gives us the leeway to look like idiots. Obviously common ones like wearing the ethnic but inappropriate garb and lugging around a mean looking camera I avoid but we end up committing all new ones. Like frantically looking for our seats in the cinema. I never stopped to think 'FS' is a weird way to label your seat numbers, that both stubs had FS. In the end, FS = free seating. Or how not being able to squeeze into the MRT the 3rd train in as many minutes, I noticed the first few cabins were consistently almost empty, so promptly headed for it the fourth time only to feel chilly daggers at me throughout the whole ride. Looking around the cabin I had some weird suspicious something was terribly wrong; checking a rather concealed signboard after getting off confirmed it: the first few cabins were reserved for women, children and elderly folks. If anything, I was ready with the excuse 'we all like the same things'.

So I watched Fillipino TV most of the time. Channel selection was great: so many great movies like Narnia, Mr Bean's Holiday, 21, Mission Impossible, and drama series as well as talk shows. For example, I managed to catch Grey's Anatomy Desperate Housewives and it seems in Manila, they're almost through with latest seasons of both series [season 4]. I think in Singapore, we're still seeing Drs Burke and Addison. They also had some nice cartoons that I've never seen before, like one called the Avatar, about a world made up of common people and people who can command the elements. But 4 days gets boring: I saw Aladdin and Hercules twice, and there was the Kung Fu fighting MTV trailer for Kung Fu Panda that played in between every show. I even turned to Sellavision for long periods of time; it was somewhat refreshing: they sold products that would take you to the ends of the earth and more in the backdrop of very cheesy acting and even cheesier selection of music. For example, they had a drink that would make you grow taller and they interviewed lots of people unhappy about their heights, or this drink that increases your bust size, or this drink that grows hair back to the song 'here now, there now'. And wait, there's always more of course.

The only place we really went to was Glorietta, on the first day pre-op and last day when I snuck out.



It's not so much a shopping centre, but 4 shopping centres joined together in the middle by a vast concourse and interlinked to one another. Like I'm pretty sure you can find everything here; in case you can't, there's 2 departmental stores nearby, one shopping centre at the Shangri-La hotel, and one more series of mega shopping centres just across. We never got to exploring the whole area. What I did find fascinating was this bookstore [what's with bookstore chains and the colour red?]. They had shelves and shelves of medical, nursing, and psychology textbooks just going for $20 SGD. The interesting thing is many of them are printed in Singapore.

And so I want to end my limited exposure to Manila by talking about the food: simply fabulous.


This is hallo-hallo, a simple dessert consisting of yam ice cream on top of yam paste filled with fried fruits and lots of red bean and atapchee. Very nice.


I forgot the fillipino name of this dish but it's simply a big juicy chunk of pork that's deep fried, then you slice off abit and eat it with some savory soy sauce. Besides that there was also kare-kare, which is some fish in peanut stew you eat with prawn sauce and a beef broth dish which I'm rather ashamed at forgetting the name and not taking any pics because it was best dish I had in Manila. At Glorietta we ate at the foodcourt where I had this rice with sotong stuffed with diced vegetables served with pork bits at the side. Another day I had adobo, which is simply meat marinated in some sauce served with rice, brought to me. How do I know I really liked the food in Manila? The Krispy Kreme test - out of the dozen krispy kreme bought on the first day, there were still 3 left at the end of the trip.

It's really quite a pity that I didn't get to see more of Manila. I would have loved to have gone to the university belt, which is a district filled with universities, quite possibly the birthplace of Fillipino excellence. I'm quite sure it wasn't just nationalistic sentiment when my doctor bemoaned the fact that the Phillippines has so much talent but all of it is either not nurtured, or those that are nurtured are taken by other countries. There's also the night life, which judging by the day life, I'm sure would be excellent too. And the Bay Walk. And all the many many offshore islands and their natural wonders.

I think I should have to go back again. And definitely not by Tiger.

general youtubing

The iPhone really is a wonderous device: for all its supposed flaws and lack of high end tech features everyone else is cramming into their phones these days, it does the one thing it's supposed to do very simply and very nicely: it squeezes in my laptop, iPod and handphone into one device and just works. True, I won't be spreadsheeting or photoshopping or dreamweaving or garagebanding with it, but I can IM, check email, surf the web and even youtube

While I was stuck in Manila recuperating after my surgery, my trusty iPhone saved the day against boredom.

Some notable youtube things I saw:

-



Very cool very hot pair of contestants from this reality show Britain's Got Talent. I'd be darn happy if I can be half as good as them.

-



Manila's got talent too!

This is their take on promoting Kung Fu Panda. shown on local Manila TV after every show. I quite like his rendition of the song. In terms of effectiveness, I risked sepsis and certain reprimanding when I sneaked out of recuperating on the last day to catch the movie. I also bought the soundtrack [limited Manila edition for 350 pesos or $10SGD].

I just saw the Singaporean attempt at promoting the show: Gurmit Singh [yet again] attempting to appear witty as he interviews the voice actors of the show. Singapore's only got gurmit singh? And what's with the Ch 5 is the official channel for Kung Fu Panda. Is there any chance Vasantham Central could be the official channel?

I'm particularly reminded by something my doctor in Manila said: that the Philippines is simply teaming with talent and it's very very sad the government is not able to harness it. As if on cue, the waiter who was serving us broke into a rapacious song and dance item; his performance easily can win any one of our [un]talent shows here.

-



Very catchy lyrics:
There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
And the vermin of the world inhabit it
And its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit
And it goes by the name of London

At the top of the hole sit a privileged few
Making mock of the vermin in the lower zoo
Turning beauty into filth and greed

I find this stuck in my head and repeating itself quite constantly, with the word 'London' replaced with 'Singapore', usually during morning rush hour, and reaching a climax in a meeting with employees of NCSS [note that I don't see people who work for NCSS or any government organization as dignified human beings; these top few who turn beauty into filth].

manila: first impressions

Like SAF-style, my overseas trips seem to have settled into some kind of formulaic pattern: in-processing, training, exercise, out processing. No exception now, other than a very grumpy first day.

This time, thought I would go budget and try Tiger Airways, so I got to experience the Budget Terminal as well. I didn't like the place, even if they had 3 for $10 watches, which is really a very touristy price; I suspect it's $10 for at least 5 elsewhere. It feels very artificial and contrite, like a person trying to be nice by following a checklist of niceness - smile, tone of voice, eye contact, body posture- etc. and the result is niceness alright, but the person seems to have gone elsewhere.

Flying Tiger Airways was also one of my biggest mistake. My past 2 trips were on SIA,and I felt I was becoming abit too pampered for my taste, so for $200 savings from SIA and $100 savings by Jetstar, I choose the Tiger. Big bad mistake. I didn't mind that their seats were like made of wood but because I was sitting next to the exit, the stewardness refused to let me have my handbag by my side and insisted it be stashed in the compartment. I need my handbag for peace of mind; incase the plane goes down I have it with me. I think I was so pissed I forgot to off my phone as it was taking off.

And even though I got the lowest price from Tiger, the end result was not cost effective. I will even go so far to say that I was deceived into flying Tiger. The plane dropped us off at Clark Airport, which on one hand I don't think counts as being in Manila because it is a 2 hours bus ride away; including the waiting time and what not, we touched down at 1 pm, cleared customs by 130 pm and reached Manila at 5.

And taking a taxi to the hotel, the driver decided to do abit of deception of his own. At the end of the journey, he demanded 1200 pesos, which is like $36SGD. We argued, and the good thing was the locals was on our side.

Traffic in Manila is really scary though. There doesn't seem to be any sound sets of signals for anyone to stop. People and cars just go; crossing the road is like a dance, driving/walking and taking turns to stop except at a very frantic pace. In Manila, I think boasting of a 100% safely crossing road record is an achievement. Followed locals mostly, but when they're not present, knowing how bad my timing is, I just dash across the road.

The nice bits: Manila is a really nice city. It's not as clean as Singapore is but it's definitely alot more real, so real that currently I have no pictures because nothing really stands out.

The people are really really friendly. The people on the bus, all locals, approached us when they realized I was local, with the map and all and 2 of them even left their contact number in case. Walking along streets and shopping centres, I don't feel the tendency for onrushing crowd behind breathing down your neck.

There are guards everywhere. Armed guards. In every store, every corner, every underpass. They do everything. They handle queries, they are walking directories, they open doors, they are the store's frontline PR, they count how many customers come into the store, they help settle disputes. Let's just say if our guys were half as talented as these people, a certain someone wouldn't have escaped.

The cost of living really is really really cheap! Just a comparison, for 100 pesos [about $3SGD, you get a Big Mac meal]. For dinner, I had a set meal for 86 pesos [$2.50SGD] which consisted of a big pile of rice, a big pile of vegetables, a mutant sotong stuffed with more vegetables and a pile of pork. For 8 pesos [almost nothing in SGD], I hopped onto one of those jeepneys that took me around the country. For 3 more pesos you can take the MRT. And there's krispy kreme! I bought a dozen yesterday, to last us the whole trip, and because Krispy Kreme seemed to be a little far from the hotel, and it's really cheap. One dozen costs like 250 pesos, which is about 20 pesos each. There's like less than a dollar SGD per dollar. Good thing Tiger didn't kill me because I think I just died and went to Heaven.

Ending on a sad note though: well those expecting Krispy Kreme can kinda forget about it because I don't think the donuts would last the 3 hour bus ride plus 4 hour plane ride. If it did, I don't think the horrible people at Tiger will let it onto the plane.

Thank you Tiger.

horrible govt stuff

On the train earlier today, a troupe of kids trooped into the MRT and duly occupied the whole portion of empty walkway between any 2 doors on the train. They then proceeded to do what kids do best: make lots of noise, laugh loudly, and generally attract gawking stares from everyone around which they so effortlessly ignore.


A few minutes later, these 2 police ger ger come by and stopped about 3 poles away from the kids and they stayed in the area the whole time the kids were there. I'm not sure what they were doing, but they looked very awkward and sheepish about it; they occasionally glanced kids-side.


At this point the Mas Selamat bad joke machine starts working: seriously if our guards were watching the kids half as hard as they did Mas, he wouldn't have escaped.

Seriously also, I'm not sure what kind of security risk a whole bunch of kids can pose: possibly they might be explosive considering how energetic they all, but that's about all.

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A sms conversation with a friend reminded me of something that happened about last year.

Apparently South West CDC and Akira teamed up to introduce this program where Akira provided households identified by SWCDC with a plethora of household appliances that were low in resource consumption. This Akira team-up was part of SWCDC's holistic client approach; it was just one of many programs that SWCDC tied up with, eg. house keeping from us, financial help from them and so forth.

So there was a launch planned at the open area infront of Blk 45 Henderson Road. They erected a tentage, set up a stage, and invited elderly residents from around the area, as well as elderly inmates from various homes. I'm not sure how long everyone started waiting, but I know most of the elderly folks were already there at around 1 pm, sitting under the tentage in the sweltering sun waiting for the launch to happen.

I reached at around 1:45 being the petulant anti-establishment person that I am, and I and my manager, together with all sorts of other grassroots people, other SWCDC people, Akira people, and various other people went to the multi-storey carpark to await the Guest of Honor, the SW mayor, Amy Khor.

She arrived at about 2 pm and I remember how she looked that day. She looked pristine, resplendent even, with that immaculate make-up and wearing that purple-onyx-ish flowy dress. She stopped her car infront of us, her too big car that is obviously not designed for HDB carparks, made a bad joke about how she will take forever to park if she had to do it herself, had a grassroots fella do the parking for her, and we proceeded.

She bypassed the tentage and went straight for Blk 45, where certain units had been earmarked for her to visit, to illustrate the holistic approach SWCDC takes towards clients. I remember there was this fat SWCDC fella, some kind of sycophant, who was some sort of harbinger, informing the people ahead of Amy Khor's impending arrival, and their respective duties.

3 or so flats were selected in that block. At the first flat, before Amy Khor arrived, our housekeepers were instructed to pretend to be doing some housekeeping. After Amy Khor arrived for awhile, they were redeployed to the next unit to await her visit. The ironic thing is, 2 out of the 3 units earmarked were not even our clients.

The event was also for Akira, so at each unit, the members of the household demonstrated to Amy Khor how they were putting the appliances to good use, while she expressed interest. I liked the part where she begun stirring this curry in the Akira electric cooker.

At 3 pm, she was finally done home-visiting. The sun did not let up all this while, and all the elderly folks were still waiting under the tentage. I remembered what was particularly ironic: they were playing the Hokkien songs from 881, and the one about dying and SGH kept repeating alot.

Amy Khor came, and gave the usual speech. It was a mostly good PR speech, made the Akira people happy and so forth other than the small fact that the audience, the elderly residents, probably did not understand half a word that was said. She did attempt the same speech in Chinese though. Let's just say she makes me look good.

At the end of it all, after waiting more than 2 hours in the sun listening to morbid songs, all the elderly residents got was a meal. What irks more is to many of them, this was a chance to get out of the Home; to the CDC and Amy Khor, they were used to fill up the seats and make themselves look good.

SAW

When you find someone, be sure he complements you.



Meet Alfie: fearless Cockroach Crusader.

In case anyone is wondering: the crude-looking contraption the cockroach is stuck in is not a temporary solution until dad comes back because noone dares to go one on one with the roach; it's a sophisticated device where the weight of the brick is slowly pressing down on the plastic container as it slowly flattens it, allowing the cockroach the chance to slowly experience his life steadily diminishing away as he resigns, reflects and repents on all the foul deeds he and his kind have committed. And, if for some strange reason our friend roach manages to escape, well, i'm not sure he'd prefer that; the last cockroach Alfie played with didn't die, he just didn't have any legs to live with.

Yeah. It sucks to piss me off.

i'm an mrt cheat!

I go home from Cityhall alot, usually after gym. To get myself a seat, I usually take the train 2 stations back to Marina Bay to get back to Woodlands.

According to a A.Raviprakash, I am a MRT cheat. Choice excerpt: "These are the ones who board the train at the station before the last one on the route. They do not alight at the last station, but remain in the trains and continue their journey when the train starts again."

Oh dear. I hope the Judge, when she's done with CSJ and sister, will have enough reason and logic to show leniency to me.

I just don't have what it takes to get a seat. After gymming, I'm just so tired I just wanna crash in the train for the too long journey back home because I probably have at least 3-5 hours of studying. I'm not cut out to get a seat. I lack the single-mindedness to focus on an empty seat as the train is pulling up. I lack the grit to jostle through the outgoing crowd. I lack the skill to push the competition aside. I mean, you ask me to get straight As, no problem. The problem is they don't teach how to get seats in books. Except maybe in the Muay Thai book.

Anyway, getting a seat is really not as hyped out as it is.

People are getting fatter and fatter, it's really quite hard to get your own seat all to yourself. I mean, I can deal with people who open their legs big big to air their crotch cuz I can leg press ALOT of weights. But fat people there's no pushing them back; they win just by existing.

Once, despite the train being really empty, I choose to seat beside this really slender female. She looked at me like I was a psychopath, and I replied with my 'it's for the best' look. It really was for the best, till she got off at Somerset.

There was another time I sat beside this seat which had a stain that looked suspiciously like blood. Singaporeans avoided the seat like poison and I was left alone for awhile. I was happy. Beware, however, of the one gross enough who dares to sit on blood-like stains.

another me

There is a Me inside of me.

It is a very very angry Me.

This Me flings hot soup at unreasonable meepok aunties, threatens obnoxiously eager commuters pushing from behind with death, snarls at civil servants as the default mode of communication, sinks his butt firmly onto his seat when it's time to 'All rise and welcome the President' and blocks ministerial entourages and jeers at the object of the entourage [LHL]. This is the Me that gives people what they deserve.

I tell Me we must rise above, move on, move forward and be happy for the people who let us down, played us out, and still continuously rubbing it in our faces. Rising above.

This Me hates. He destroys. He taints.

I tell Me that there are bigger things to fight for, that there is a bigger picture: the poor, disenfranchised and the miserable, wretched as they are partly from continuing life mis-choices, but mostly the way they are from that big miasma called Life in Society.

This Me will gladly let the world burn; global warming, nuclear meltdowns and institutional poverty all seem trivial compared to personal affairs.

I fight Me sometimes. I tell him you are just what Dr Freud calls Id, the Thanatos, the unconscious result of unfortunate parenting.

I preoccupy Me, going to muay thai and willingly getting beaten, going to the gym every other day, running during the others, and practically doing something vigorous after and before sleep. No body should have to take that much punishment but mine does.

I pamper Me. With the unfailing security of the latest gadgets - the iPhone, the slr, the iPod and hiding behind the comfort of a laptop.

This Me sees through such deception and sees the ultimate fallibility of all things human and material. This is the Me that killed my mac, almost like tearing a human being and all the falsehoods such a small bundle of skin holds into shreds.

This is Me.

god help the outcast

This song randomly came up on my iTunes and I started feeling things.

This song came from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. I remembered it's the last Disney cartoon feature song and dance which is kinda sad. It's interesting though: the irony is I never watched the movie when it came out then; in fact, I only watched the movie last year when I bought the DVD. I didn't really need to though; when the movie first came out, I bought the soundtrack. I listened to it so many times I could practically see the whole movie in my head.

As everyone who knows me knows, I think that religion is a tool of social control used by the few to control the many. I also think that under the name of religion, under the protection of most national constitutions, no other institution propagates more hatred and discrimination. In this fair country where I live, it seems that there is more possibility of a female PM than a female priest. Once upon a time, we hunted witches for sport; today we hunt homosexuals, albeit in a different way because gays have lots of money they can hide behind.

But for all my talk of science and empiricism, I really do believe there is a higher power. And on this fine Vesak Day, I pray that God help us outcasts.

tissue paper

When I was younger — primary schoolish — I used to try to stimulate fevers on exam-eves: cold showers with clothes on and then sitting infront of the fan. I learnt in the army there's a much simpler method: ingesting toothpaste, though the timing and the amount seems to be a refined art that eludes me.

It used to be a fever used to be a fever. Today you get a fever and it could be any one of these things — SARS, bird flu, dengue, HFMD, shingles etc. It's so weird.

And I've been dreadfully quite sick the past few days; I was perfectly fine on Monday, and I woke up on Tuesday with a sorethroat, which progressively evolved into fever, weakness and body aches. I was gamely dolled up for the night too, for a sumptious meal at the Meritus Mandarain to mark Social Worker's Day [well that's what the SASW is only good for it seems] but alas, the illness took it's toil as the day wore on and I was forced to miss the dinner. On hindsight, it was probably a good thing. There is no telling what I would have done to that useless president. That night I had difficulty sleeping. My body ached and the night was spent not tossing and turning cuz i didn't have the energy for that, but in slight shifts of the body which brought much valued respite, if only for seconds. I discovered my mum's bed took more kindly to mine; the hardness must be the factor.

Day 2 was much better but I was still feeling weak so I stayed home. The fever resided, but the cough, sore throat and headache started stealing the limelight.

Day 3 today was the worst. I thought I felt better in the morning, but the lull was probably just an uneasy truce as fever, cough, headache, sorethroat and weakness discussed how to work together. In the afternoon, they did; coughing makes the headache worse, the fever came back and it made me weak so I can't control my coughs. touching my crown sends pain down my head and spine, and they brought along blisters.

Dengue would have killed me, plus my lymph nodes are still not swollen so that rules dengue out. HFMD is something only the young children get; i'm pretty sure the unsanitary years in PAP nursery education would have immuned me against it. It could be shingles. Or maybe some new-fangled bad-assed disease that spreads via the internet.

Interestingly, the symptons for the above conditions all involve loss of appetite; while I have lost my sense of smell and taste, I totally feel hungry all the time. In fact, as I type this, I am craving for the nasi lemak downstairs or the mee pok at North Plaze.

In whatever the case, whatever happens, it's been a good life and I won't miss much.

cheers

Seoul: Food

Interrupt the usual dose of flaming with something nice: more belated pics of Seoul, this time of all the yummy yummy food we had there.

Our very first meal in Seoul.

Assorted grilled stuff. Got egg, got pork, got chicken, got beans. Very nice.

The food in Seoul is really nice; in fact, it is the second fave thing I look forward to everyday, after bed time in our nice cosy hotel. Sadly though, it is quite challenging to find food, or at least, local food.

On the first morning we woke up and started exploring the hotel vicinity. Just outside the hotel, we bypassed a whole street of food stores without eating anything cuz we weren't hungry yet. Big mistake. We got hungry awhile later and could not find a single food store after walking a few blocks. Thanks to some form of convoluted central planning, it seems the streets in Seoul are arranged thematically. We passed by whole streets selling handicrafts, jackets, plants but no luck with food. Eventually we reached the subway station and discovered we had walked 3 subway stops from our hotel.

We found a food store eventually and we encountered the next problem: language. We target stores that have english wordings on the outside [and thus an english menu], but these are few, especially for local local food. This store that we found had english words [yay!] but it seems they were only for show [boo!]. The shop auntie didn't understand a single bit of english. She did understand some Chinese though, so we managed to order some food in the end.


Yummy pork knuckle soup. The pork was really tender and juicy and it literally melts in your mouth. The soup base was flavourful and thick like gravy. This was easily the best dish I had for the whole journey. KM wasn't too impressed though; I think it's because he's a very conservative eater.


KM's cold noodle. He wasn't so lucky. Apparently auntie's chinese was even worse than mine; she understood noodle in chinese, but she ended up serving cold noodles. It's really quite nice but I think being up so early in the morning, walking an hour plus in the spiteful cold kinda makes appreciating cold noodles abit hard.

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Language would continue to haunt us in our neverending quest for local food. There was this time we went into this local store out of desperation. We resorted to using Lonely Planet: pointing at the korean words in this food glossary section. It worked quite well: I got a nice stewed beef rice while KM finally got the hot noodles he craved for.

The irony is where English failed us, we can count of Chinese. Apparently alot of Korean food stores employ Chinese help, abit like how we employ Fillipinos, so on a couple of occasions, we could order through them.

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We did capitulate once or twice. We had Burger King once. And Vietnamese food.


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Another morning we had breakfast at this atas cafe. After we ordered the food at the counter, they gave us this coaster looking thing to bring back to the table.

KM hypothesized that it was just an elaborate token we use to collect our food from the counter when it is done. I felt that it would fly to the counter when our food was ready. Reality was a compromise: it started playing a monophonic tune and flashing lights.


KM had this weird alien-y green tea concoction. He lived to say it tasted weird.

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I can't talk about Seoul food without talking about the donuts. The Seoul people love their donuts! Just beside our hotel was this three storey donut cafe: Doughnut Plant.

The donuts here are so-so lar. I think they appeal to a health-conscious crowd, using whole wheat bread for the donut so generally I think the place sucks.

Just a block away is a 3-storey Krispy Kreme and opposite that is Dunkin Donuts.

Basically hor, I think Dunkin Donuts and the Doughnut Plant live on the leftover crowd from Krispy Kreme. At any one time from 10 am to 10 pm, the queue at Krispy Kreme is super duper long; the only reason I am able to get my daily KK fix is because I live next to it. For some reason, after a certain time, they start giving out donuts. I haven't figured out the exact formula yet [it's not a simple buy one get one free concept], but on average I get at least one extra donut, and there was once I ended up buying 2 donuts and leaving the place with 5. Coolness.

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Another bit of funny-ness. We were at this ginseng chicken restaurant. Seriously, you know you are allergic to alcohol, people put one small cup of clear yellow-ish liquid that is cold, you gulp it down in one second before anyone can react: you are asking for a very bad allergy reaction.

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Last meal:

From Seoul: Food

Option T.