MEL

I’ve got a feeling this might end up very long. Seems I have many things to say, and I also have a sneaking suspicion I might not be able to remember everything I had to say by the time I complete this.

First up, friendship. I have come to the realisation that there are essentially two types of friends. No, I did not pick this off some article or whatever, but it came from my own meditations, ala Descartes haha.

A case in point to illustrate the two kinds of friends. Just a case in point! No reference to anyone in particular. Just a case that one of my buddies (I would put her under Type A) and I were using as an example. Scenario is planning a project meeting, when you are not around to influence the situation. Here goes:

Good friend Type A will be the one who fights for your rights. He will try to avoid suggesting those days you will prefer to be left alone, for example your free days when you have no lessons and do not have to turn up in school. If someone does suggest one the day you are free, he will speak up for you and remind them it’s your free day and get everyone to avoid picking that day if possible. If in the end that day still gets picked you will know your good friend had really tried his best to fight for your rights but it was really a situation in which if he had insisted on your rights it might have bordered on unreasonable behaviour. Well you don’t want you and your good friend to look like unreasonable people don’t you?

Well the other type, the Type B "good friend". He will be very understanding when the others say things like they have to finish up their individual work or go to work or do tuition on their free days. He then feels you are more capable of planning your time and even though you have got to do all of the above as well, he shows the greatest empathy for the other people and assure them that he will be able to persuade you to give up your free day so that they can spend their free days doing their own time. After all he is your "buddy" and can convince you very easily! He doesn’t even bother to mention to them you told him when he offered to represent you at the decision making that you have got stuff to do on your free day.

So, what type are you according to my definition? What type are your friends? I can’t help feeling that while 1 type makes you feel pampered and protected, the other makes you feel suckered and exploited. Quite similar to those China girls we see on TV who play the emotion card and tell their "prey" that "if you loved me you would give me the money". I think it feels the worst when you are trying your best to be the Type A and your "buddy" turns out time and again to display the Type B characteristics!

OK enough of that. Moral of the story: Choose your friends wisely and don’t be a sucker!

Next up, I think we have all heard our Prime Minister’s recent speech. That touching part about how his family and relatives rallied around him when he was down with cancer and tried to provide support in every possible way, especially that relative of his who visited him daily with was it bird’s nest soup or something?. It was really a heartwarming story, and I really mean that. No sarcasm here. I agree with him that support from the family could work wonders, even better than anything a welfare state can offer.

However I sort of think it was abit too simplistic, the story that is. I seriously think it is one thing to be diagnosed with cancer and have all your relatives rallying around you when you are the son of a Prime Minister vs when you are the son of a $2000-a-month civil servant for example. I am not saying his relative had ulterior motives or that I doubt her character. There definitely are undoubtedly very kind and caring people around, and that relative of his may have just been one of those. However I am just raising the issue that not everyone may be as lucky as him. There are relatives who avoid you like anything when you fall ill and have nothing in your medisave and your father is barely making ends meet. I can claim to have seen my fair share of these fair-weathered relatives and friends!

So what’s the point here? I think his intention was definitely good. No doubt about that. Telling a story about how a family banded together to ride out a crisis united. he probably wanted to motivate people and also bring across the point that a warm and united family is better than anything the state can offer.

However, and this is a big however, maybe he had failed to recognise that he could be putting himself kinda out of touch with us common people on the ground without influential and/or rich families. That the manner in which he had grown up and the "privileges" that he had always enjoyed might not be applicable to all of us. He may even have touched a couple of raw nerves among those people lying in hospital with the same condition as he had, and whose relatives would not touch them even with the proverbial ten-foot pole, aimply because they are penniless and who did not have similarly protected upbringing.

OK I think you all get what I’m trying to say. That’s why I seriously believe our government needs to learn better PR skills. Many of their policies I believe started off with good intentions (and may even derive positive consequences), but because of the way they communicate it they end up making people unhappy instead.

Hmm… I forgot what else I had to say already. So guess I shall stop here till I remember and when I have got free time again when I do not have to spend my free time accomodating others so that they can spend their free time doing their own stuff.

Whatever it is, I shall end by saying that despite all these, there has been a wonderful person who has always stood by me and encouraged and supported me and who really makes life alot more bearable for me. Without her I may have given up on many things a long time ago and I might also not be so tolerant towards those jerks and bitches hanging around me! She knows who she is, and she probably also knows how thankful I am that I have her in my life…

Well it’s Budget Day again… So here I am doing this while listening to the Budget Day announcements at the same time. Before I continue, Happy Budget Day, Happy Total Defence Day, Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy Chinese New Year Day, Happy Thurs Day!   :P

As most of my friends would probably have already found out, I sprained my ankle while playing soccer on Sunday. Still walking around with it bandaged up. Think must be retribution for having sinned terribly on Saturday. On Saturday:

I was at the community centre near my place to donate blood. While queueing up to register, someone approached me and asked if I could do them a favour by wearing a T-Shirt that was normally worn by the members of one of the clubs. The reason: The guest of honour (someone pretty senior in our government, that is all I would say) was coming and the journalists would be here to take pictures of him chatting with the donors. The idea was that in the pictures of the journalists, most of the blood donors would APPEAR to be members of the commmunity club. In short, I was involved in government propaganda and wayang.

So why did I agree to do something so sinful and bluff potentially an entire nation (or rather people who will happen to be looking at those pictures)? Simple. The person who approached me said that the guest of honour was arriving soon, and I would be allowed to cut queue so that I could be lying there with the needle in my arm when he arrived. I saved 1 hour of waiting time…

OK enough of that sinful thing. Not too much details also. After all everything will be my word against theirs and we all know what will happen if I kena sue by a government representative…

Anyway, so I broke my ankle the very next day. Got swollen and I had to bandage it up. Still can’t walk properly now. But the best part was what happened on my way to school today.

While I was on my way up the NUS internal shuttle bus at the Central Library to get to Business School (I don’t ordinarily take the bus, but I guess I had to, for these couple of weeks at least). Before I got on the bus, there was this girl who kept staring at my ankle like I was some kinda medical exhibit or something. OK nevermind, ignore…

Then while I was getting on the bus, with one foot (the injured one) on the first step, the very same girl literally shoved me aside so she could get on the bus first! That was not the end. After we had both got on the bus, she spotted her friend who was seated right in front of where I was standing and shoved me AGAIN so that she could stand beside her friend and talk to her LOUDLY… At the next stop, the someone seated near where I was stood up to get off the bus and that very same girl again pushed me aside to get to the vacated seat before I could! 3 times very rudely shoved, by a person who had been staring at my ankle like I was some medical exhibit and therefore could not have been unaware that I had an injured ankle. And the way she talked (LOUDLY, with a very strong Cheena accent) simply gave away where she was from. My impression of PRCs has definitely not changed for the better after this incident!

OK enough of this complaining. Going off soon. Think our Finance Minister is almost done with his speech. So almost time for me to pack up ad go. Anyway some interesting links, first one for people who, like me, do not believe in Valentine’s Day. The other might be interesting for those who do know the significance of the Super Bowl ads…

Oh yes, I have also uploaded some pictures in a newly-created photo album in my blog (no prizes for guessing which one). By the way, please do make use of my chat box if you are reading this k? Anyone and everyone is welcome! Don’t let this one die like the previous one, please…

myblackvalentine.com

http://www.ifilm.com/superbowl/18373?sublisting=editorPicks

During today’s Labour Law lesson:

Prof: An employee who is unhappy with his employer sets fire to his premises. Is there a breach of contract?
Class: Yes
Prof: Is this a civil or criminal case?
Class: Both
Prof: What can the employer do about him with regards the contract?
Smart Alec: Fire him!

~~~

Wonderful poetic justice I would say. He sets fire to your shop, you fire him in return. Hehe. No wonder we all think law lessons are interesting…

Anyway something totally unrelated. Has anyone else taken the new SBS single-deck buses? That which has a couple of steps up after the exit door?

Was on one sometime last week. Happened to be sitting on the outside seat at that row just behind the exit door. The top of those two steps were just beside me. Then the bus started getting crowded and people started standing along the aisle since there were no more seats. Got pretty crowded.

Just then, it happened. Something which got Qin all cracked up again (she was on the same bus as me as our destinations were along the same way, after class). This lady stood just at the top of those two steps and it was really awkward- her crotch was literally just beside my face! No joke! I dared not fall asleep during that ride and I was damn afraid the bus driver would take a sudden turn or something.

I wonder who designed those buses…

Talking aout buses, has anyone also realised that the SMRT (formerly of TIBS fame) buses are getting infested with cockroaches nowadays? In the past couple of weeks I have made at least 5 trips on buses which had cockroaches (note: not cockroach, but cockroachES) running around avoiding passengers’ footsteps. And the 5 trips during which it happened were on at least 3 different routes so I don’t htink they were the same bus.

Well maybe that is what the first-world public transport is all about. You get the zoo (or whatever else you wanna call it) literally brought to your footstep, and with the demise of the Crazy Horse you get similar entertainment in another form on the buses too! Remind me never to sit/stand right behind the door on a new SBS bus again…

Hehe looong time no blog. No time + starting 2 lose interest I guess. Interest has been lost among my "readers" as well since nobody responds, except for Judy who was the last one in a long time to do so.

Anyway, we have successfully defended the ASEAN Cup! Abit of luck in the process, must be admitted, but must also give credit to the team too! Many of them worked really hard for the title. Well worth the numerous trips I made to the stadium to watch the matches in the past few weeks, right from the very first match against Vietnam! However was quite disappointed that I did not manage to get the tickets to the finals against Thailand. The many fair-weathered fans gto there before I did.

Anyway this morning was an experience that I felt I die-die must blog about. Went with John to eat brunch at the kopitiam where the Punggol Nasi Lemak is at. Near Kovan MRT for those who are not sure where. Anyway nasi lemak stall closed, so we had to settle for the bak chor mee, which was the only stall open at that time. It was only after we had got our food that we realised why the whole coffeeshop was so empty when the bak chor mee stall is the only one open.

Anyway I think it was called the AMK Bak Chor Mee stall or something like that. Can’t really remember. Anyway John made his order first. Then he took out a $50-dollar note to pay for his noodles because he did not have small change with him. Next thing he knew, the uncle started asking after his ancestors up to the 18th generation and started literally throwing the food on his tray.

Next, the uncle just turned to me and shouted," Stand in the queue keep quiet, don’t wanna order ah? Eat what?" That was in Hokkien, and what came after it may not be a nice thing to say here, and I am not sure how I had infuriated him. Well I just had been thinking I would let him finish throwing all the food on John’s tray first before I tell him about my order of bak chor mee without ter kwa (any resemblance to persons or things, whether living or dead, is PURELY coincidental, sumpa!), especially when the bowl of soup was coming up next. I just thought he might need to concentrate on getting it nicely on the tray, preferably with abit less force.

Anyway after that I deliberately returned my 4 x $1 coins into my wallet and took out a piece of paper currency, just to make him dig for more change and ask after my ancestors too. Just for the heck of pissing him further. Just for the record, I think some 40-cents instant noodles dipped in sea water at room temperature might have tasted a tad better than his cooking.

So, if you are looking for a good way to get a great start to your morning and wake yourself up and get your engine all warm and running, please take your breakfast at the AMK Bak Chor Mee stall at the Punggol Nasi Lemak coffeeshop. You will not be disappointed. For an enhanced experience bring along your $50 and $100 notes!

Anyway another thing that i got from John. Source of info not verified but sounds pretty convincing. He said that he recently discovered that on top of the torture that the PRC government metes out to the Falungong members (who are caught and upgraded to the status of prisoner), they literally sell their organs to buyers/patients and dig the organs out for an immediate transplant when required and leave the poor fellows there to die. For more details kindly refer to John.

Well that’s enough for now. Till when I have more time. Happy Chinese New Year in advance to my friends!   ;)