Category: Singapore

PM’s National Day Rally Speech – 16 August 2009

Post author By holeybaloney
Post date August 17, 2009

The full transcript in this link. Uploaded to my own server as a pdf file –> PM National Day Rally Speech 2009

A few thoughts…

I am very encouraged because with a growing economy, companies are hiring and maybe they have no choice, maybe they are getting the message, but they are hiring more older workers. And if you look at the employment rates, the percentage of older people working, the men, aged 55 and above, say 55 to 64 years old, the group who are most vulnerable and at risk of being retired early, their employment rates have gone up dramatically this year.

Have they considered that the biggest reason is that their children are being retrenched from their jobs and no longer able to support their elderly parents? Have they considered that another reason could be that the cost of living is rising way above their family income that the amount they get is no longer sufficient? Have they considered that they do not have the money from the CPF because they need increasingly more money in their retirement fund?

If you look around us in Asean, while overall things are good, we also see problems which already are in front of us.

The speech talks about almost everyone in Asean, except Burma. Why? Are they doing well? Not at all. Why neglect to mention the hottest country recently? Steering clear of the tricky issue of having to talk about Aung Sang Suu Kyi? Having to talk about our stand with respect to such topics? Haven’t we already made a stand? To laud the Burmese government for being able to wield their power and yet show some graciousness by convicting Aung Sang Suu Kyi, but allow her to be ‘imprisoned’ in her own home instead?

Such an act by a fellow Asean member affects the entire organisation directly, our actions and opinion will directly reflect the entire country’s reputation in the eyes of the entire world. While everyone else is talking about equality, fairness, justice and democracy, we are supporting a military junta. What a joke.

So let’s work together to make it the best meeting they have had and let’s do it, all of us. We said four million smiles, but it’s actually also four million pairs of hands and hard work. It’s not just smiles to welcome guests but it’s also service from the heart. Not just being nice to them but knowing what to do and knowing your job and being able to take care of them and leave them with a clear impression that this is a special place and that what they can do in S’pore, they can’t do in many other places in the world. And if you impress them, if S’poreans impress them, that means the taxi-drivers, the immigration officials, the counter staff, the shop girls, the officials organising the meetings, the liaison officers bringing the people from place to place, getting them to the right place at the right time, you will do a greater favour to S’pore and be more effective than any EDB or Tourism Board advertising campaign, because this will be the real thing and not just a glossy picture.

Do they actually know that all these propaganda-ish talk is making us a laughing stock everywhere in the world? Ever since I started to have friends from all over the world (thanks to internet) I’ve constantly been embarrassed by the fact that we need to be told to smile, be told to be kind, be told to give way to the needy etc.. Sad.

First of all, overseas Singaporeans. We’ve got to keep in touch with our network overseas. We’ve been doing it in various ways, ad hoc. We’ve set up now an Overseas Singaporean Unit, an OSU in PMO. Wong Kan Seng is supervising this. And the ideal of the OSU is to engage Singaporeans overseas, keep them updated, make sure that they know what’s happening in Singapore, keep them part of our global family. And we want to do this not just as the government taking the initiative but also to have the students or the overseas Singaporeans take the initiative, organise and link up with Singapore.

I read this paragraph 3 times, and still unable to understand why we need this.. unit. Why do you need a unit to keep overseas Singaporeans updated about happenings in Singapore? That’s what the internet is for. If it is to organise events and meetings, then why do you need a government unit to do that? This unit (even the choice of word is military) will likely be official endorsing division that essentially does nothing but gives the Official stamp.

Besides the population issue, another thing which is happening to us right now and is going to have a big impact on us is the digital age. The new technologies, the Internet, handphones, PDAs, all kinds of things which beep, which vibrate, which communicate, which connect us to cyberspace, not in heaven but somewhere on earth. It’s a completely different world. We haven’t talked about it but you just think back one generation how things have changed.

Whoever wrote this speech is a moron, or needs a good lesson in humour… This paragraph didn’t make me laugh, it made me sneer and roll my eyes.

But now young people they are making friends on the Internet. They never meet one another, exchange photographs on MySpace. What is MySpace? It’s a place where you paste your photographs and the photographs can make friends with each other. And I’m told some young people even get married on the Internet! I don’t recommend it.

I know this is not supposed to be a joke, but I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at this. It simply shows off the ignorance.

We cannot have a digital divide splitting Singaporeans, those who know and have computers from those who don’t know and don’t have.

But we can have a monetary divide splitting Singaporeans, those who earn peanuts from those who earn the crumbs.

The Government has to adapt to the digital age. First of all, we need to find leaders who are of that age group, and that’s what we have been doing, that’s why in this election we fielded a lot of people who are below 40 years old and we call them the P65 generation.

Did they really consider why it is so hard to find good calibre leaders who wish to serve the country? That’s because they are all disillusioned by everything that the PAP is doing, their actions, their half-truths etc… Good people are not drawn by money or power. The best people have to be found through passion.

In America, I told you about MySpace where you post your pictures. The US Marine Corps have a picture in MySpace. They are making friends, hoping to get recruits. I think the Singapore Armed Forces maybe should also have, Singapore Police Force too in MySpace. Maybe the PAP should be in MySpace because this is one of the mediums you are reaching out to.

FYI Mr Lee, MySpace isn’t popular in Singapore. You missed the Friendster era, you missed the Yahoo Groups era, so you better catch the Facebook era, before you’re left in the dust again.

The rest of the English speech alternates between boring and a joke.. To prevent myself from being bombarded by too much nonsense, I’ll save the Mandarin version to be read tomorrow.

Tags national day, prime minister, rally, speech

Musings Singapore

And people want to know why S’poreans are not having kids

Post author By holeybaloney
Post date August 7, 2009

When there are people, and potential employers, who think like Mr Yeh Siang Hui.

[Straits Times Interactive]

Pregnancy no guarantee against job loss

I REFER to Ms Chin Hwee Chin’s Forum Online letter on Monday, ‘Provide better protection for pregnant women in workforce’.

Ms Chin did not say if she falls into a category of people expressly excluded from receiving maternity leave benefits by the Employment Act (Cap 91).

For instance, she may be in an executive position and thus is not an employee by definition under the Act – even if she may be an employee by her company’s definition. She was correct that the Act provides that maternity benefits are payable even if the pregnant employee is retrenched in the last three months of pregnancy.

However, she was five, and not six, months pregnant when her letter was written, and thus, she was not in the last three months of her pregnancy.

Accordingly, nothing in the Act, or in law, prevents her employer from retrenching her. Her letter gives the impression that there is a blanket prohibition on the dismissal of any pregnant employee per se. This is not so. A pregnant employee may be dismissed at any time as long as there is sufficient cause legally. In her letter, she did not shed any light on whether her employer may have terminated her services on justifiable grounds, such as misconduct or poor performance on her part.

In all, her employer acted within the law. The Government’s encouragement of couples to procreate should not be misinterpreted as an implied licence to do so at an employer’s expense.

Birth rates were much higher three or four decades ago than now, yet couples willingly procreated and raised children in the absence of the comprehensive set of incentives in place today. Ms Chin – and other like-minded pregnant women in employment – fails to understand the damage and loss caused to an employer (especially small and medium-sized enterprises) by having to maintain on its payroll an employee who, throughout her maternity leave, saddles her colleagues with heavier workloads, does not contribute to the company’s revenue and causes loss to the company by continuing to draw pay.

In the light of the counter-balancing needs and interests of employers, the law more than adequately protects pregnant employees, and thus needs no review.

Yeh Siang Hui

Apparently this is not his first attempt at blasting the Maternity leave issue. The original letter on ST Forum is gone, but simplyjean has a copy, aptly titled “Like that how to have kids“…

Beware what you say about him though, he’s a lawyer… Maybe EQ & social intelligence is inversely related to the ability to study.

Tags employability, forum, letter, maternity

Singapore

So now army boys are to be banned from taking the bus?

Post author By holeybaloney
Post date July 21, 2009

Troll or not, this JusticeLegal is seriously amusing.

She basically thinks that all NS boys should shun public transport cos they stink and spread germs to her daughters, and scare them so much that they will get nightmares about “smelly green monsters”. She suggests that they should all take taxis or get their parents to fetch them instead of fouling the public with their stench.

How….. Naive and narrow-minded she is.

I agree some of them stink. But that’s because they had been working out not too long ago. I used to be in the NPCC when I was in secondary school, and I bet I stunk after my 4 long ECA hours on Saturdays. Though I doubt I knew that, cos all of us stunk big time so my sense of smell is, rather fortunately, accustomed to it. Of course it would be very nice if they could have avoided stinking so much, but often, they are just so tired that they want to get home as fast as they could, and take a nice long and good shower, instead of a 5-min rinse. Furthermore, even non-NS men have body odour at the end of a long day. Much as I might not like it, I understand and just either bear with it or try to make myself feel a bit better by discreetly covering my nose or something. Keyword: discreetly.

However, she fails to see one aspect. NS is compulsory. That means you have to be conscripted whether you like it or not. We do have a good percentage of Singaporeans who are not well off, and the money that the NS men get from the army is so precious to their family income. How can we expect them to take the taxi, when they sometimes book out at 11pm at night? What if those who are allowed to book out every day? Are they to take a cab 5 nights a week?

And even if the army boy is rich enough to take a cab all the time, wouldn’t it be good to instill triftyness, and teach them how to wisely manage their finances, rather than giving them free reign to spend any way they want? Don’t forget, these boys are Singaporeans, and they form us, and our economy, and maybe even our government.

Of course it would be really nice if they could put some deodorant to minimise the smell, but do they always have a choice? The last ferry out of Tekong leaves at 11pm. If they had to do some corporal punishment etc and only managed to catch the last ferry, I hardly think they’d have time to spruce up. Don’t forget that they have to wait at the Changi jetty for the shuttle bus to reach Pasir Ris.. By the time they reached Pasir Ris interchange, they’d probably be dashing to catch their last buses / trains back home.

I don’t understand why we can’t all be a bit more understanding? And a little bit more intelligent… And abit more open-minded… I think all these prejudices & discrimination stems from one thing. Ignorance.

The thread is a whopping 35 pages long, so please read it only when you have enough free time and want some laughs.

Edit: Oops, I forgot to add the link in. So please click here for laughs.

Tags army, buses, forum, public transport, sgforums

Singapore

John’s mega-flaming blog post on ST Blogs

Post author By holeybaloney
Post date May 13, 2009

As title, this is for MY entertainment & MY personal records. I love to read a good flame-fest. And nobody can ignite one better than Mr John Lui. *rolleyes*

So much flaming had gone to his recent post at ST Blogs that it was TAKEN DOWN (oh the horrors). But it’s okay. Google cached it. HERE.

And I’m reproducing the original article below. The fun begins at the comments section though, all 177 of it. Fun fun fun……

Get your values out of my face (May 08, 2009 Friday, 11:42 AM)
– John Lui shares his views on the Aware saga.

GET your values out of my elite uncaring face.

If there is one lesson that the Aware saga has proven yet again, it is that parents have an inflated sense of their own worth in society.

I am not married and do not have children and it has irritated me for a long time that mothers and fathers like to excuse their incredibly selfish behaviour by saying “it’s for the sake of the kids”.

The group of pro-values parents who object to a factual and comprehensive sex eduation programme should be reminded that their little darlings belong to the same society that I do.

If these little angels as a result of ignorant fornication foist little bundles of joy on society and its taxpayers, I for one will be more than a little displeased.

In my eyes, having teenagers with fully functioning reproductive organs and not being able to control them is similar to owning a pit bull with big teeth and not putting it on a leash. Both creatures are hazards to other people.

If you tell me that your pit bull’s fondness for sinking his fangs into people is “a private matter between a dog and his owner”, I would tell you to grow a brain, you selfish, ignorant fool.

And if you campaign to keep leashes off dangerous dogs, then you are more than a fool, you are a menace to society.

Your right to keep your pet unrestrained ends where the skin of my leg begins.

Your rights to keep your child ignorant about sex ends where my tax dollars start to fund public medical programmes for STDs, juvenile delinquency schemes and prisons for people screwed up by being born to poor teenage mothers.

In the pages of The Straits Times over the last four weeks, we have seen upper-middle class professionals, driven by private religious impulses, strive to change public education policy.

People from well-off, educated families are the ones who are statistically the least likely to suffer from the problems of teen pregnancy and STDs. Yet they feel driven to restrict sex education for the people who need it most: Teens from lower-income families.

But it makes sense. After all, the harm that these well-meaning people could cause will never affect them directly. They get to feel holy but will never experience the misery born of their actions.

Singapore was born of pragmatism. Legalised prostitution protects women in the sex trade from pimps. No-one likes prostitution but greater misery comes from driving it underground.

Teenage sexual behaviour is a public health issue, like swine flu or dengue fever.

The next time someone tells me that sex education is a private matter between a parent and his child, I will tell him that in return, I will make open containers filled with stagnant water a private matter between myself and the stuff I keep on my property.

Tags AWARE, journalism

Singapore

MP rejects letter of apology

Post author By holeybaloney
Post date May 8, 2009

There are many things happening in Singapore recently that I did not really touch on in my blog.. But I read in The Online Citizen today that MP Lim Hwee Hua apparently declined to accept the written apology made by the 17-year-old boy who threw a chair at the door after a disappointing Meet-The-People session..

For the still uninitiated, this situation happened recently at a Meet-The-People session with MP Cynthia Phua (standing in for MP Lim Hwee Hua) of Aljunied GRC. The boy and his mother had made a 2nd visit to the session, in an attempt to get proper aid. The mother earns only $400 a month working as a part-time cleaner; and the boy is intellectually challenged. The father disappeared in 2004, leaving them with no extra maintenance money. Early this year, she fell from a chair and broke her wrist, making things worse. HDB then wanted to repossess their flat, as they were unable to pay the dues, and give them a rental unit; but the mother was unable to fork out the money. So backed with such misfortune, the mother went to the MTP session to ask the MP to sign a letter of appeal to HDB.

Though Mdm Phua did eventually sign the letter, the boy felt that she was condescending, and scolded them for not working, not giving the mother the chance to explain why her son was not working. Frustrated and feeling insulted, the boy vented it by picking up a foldable aluminum chair and threw it against a glass door. The door didn’t break but the police appeared at their flat later that night to arrest the boy. He was released on bail at 1am that night. Much as the act is not right, is it serious enough to warrant an arrest? Was the MP in any danger? She was in the room while he was venting on the door, so unless she’s standing right behind the door, it’s not possible. And I don’t think the MP will be gracious enough to walk them to the door.

The boy later handwrote an apology letter to Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, which she promptly declined to accept. Last told The New Paper that she “made it very clear to (the mother) that this is unacceptable behavīor. It is not justifiable in any circumstance. There is no excuse to be violent.” WTF! The gracious thing would have to be accepting it on behalf of Mdm Phua and find out what can be done to help them get back on their feet..

Violence is definitely not acceptable, but there’s always 2 sides to every coin. If our MPs cannot look past themselves and seriously look into the real reason why people behave as they do behave, then maybe we can really progress as a country. I think our ministers need a serious lesson in empathy, an another in opening their eyes to look at the real situation, not one they conjure up in their elite brains.

Tags meet-the-people, minister

Food Review Singapore

Pho Hoa

Post author By holeybaloney
Post date September 25, 2008

Now that I’m back working in Suntec, there’re some lunch joints that I quite liked that I can go again. One of it is Pho Hoa. It’s simple & casual Vietnamese noodles, Pho.

And it’s Healthy! Relatively healthy I mean. It has no MSG (at least I don’t get thirsty after a meal here) and it really does serve tasty stuff.

This is a selection of your normal Pho. Nothing fancy, just simple steak, brisket & meat balls combination. This time round, I ordered the Pho Tai Bo Vien, or the steak & meat balls combi.

pho-hoa-2

While waiting for my order, I read a book. =) My Vivienne Westwood wallet has been complaining that she has no screen time on my blog so here it is.. Hope she’s satisfied.

pho-hoa-3

Decor at the place is really very simple, but because it’s got large windows, it’s nice and bright, which is a trait I like when I eat. I prefer to see what I’m eating thank you very much.

pho-hoa-4

Look closely and you can see the steam from the soup. I love hot soup especially when you’ve spent half the day in a freezing cold office. Always a huge welcome. I also like that they have kept the steak half-raw, because the hot soup will cook the meat just nice in no time. Giving fully cooked meat with the soup would make it overcooked by the time we actually eat it.

pho-hoa-5

Close up of the soup. Look at the steam! And the thinly sliced beef! The meat balls are quite big too!

pho-hoa-6

The real good stuff is this side plate, where there are bean sprouts and chili. I love the chili paste. It’s not too spicy yet gives a real good flavour to the meat. The chopped chili has too many seeds though. Small complaint there. And because I LOVE BEANSPROUTS!!! (Okay I know I’m a little whacked) So I requested for more beansprouts and my noodle turned out like this:

pho-hoa-7 pho-hoa-8

Where’s the main dish? Haha.

There’s another dish I really like here, which is the Carrot Beef Stew. The stew is thick and the beef chunks are tender and just nicely cooked. You could get the stew with bread or pho. I’ll take pictures the next time I visit Pho Hoa!

Tags beef, beef balls, lunch, meat balls, pho, pho hoa, Pho Tai Bo Vien, sliced beef, suntec

Singapore

Why can’t they understand?

Post author By holeybaloney
Post date September 9, 2008

In the case of the Repeal of Section 377A, homosexuals are NOT campaigning for the rights to rule the country. They are not campaigning for the right to have same-sex marriages. They are just campaigning for the right to maintain privacy behind doors, and the right to do what they please without breaking the law.

When I read Mr Ho Kwon Ping’s article on TODAYonline yesterday, I was pleased to see the Chairman of Mediacorp stand up for what he believes in, to the extent of putting it up on national papers, though it isn’t The Straits Times. I applaud but honestly, I don’t think anyone in the rainbow club will believe that it will change anything.

Today, however, I came across this other article written in response to Mr Ho’s commentary. And with all due respect, I’m afraid I have to say, this is something about Christianity I don’t understand. I thought God teaches us to love all brothers and sisters unconditionally? That was what I was taught in 10 years of convent education. Of course, my education is far from the tip of the iceberg. But that was one consistent teaching I was given for 10 whole years of my primary to secondary life. Isn’t this prejudice & discriminatory? I don’t remember the Ten Commandments having anti-homosexuality in it. But of course, I have only wikipedia and the movie to guide me. Please, correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not well versed in Bible studies. Anyway, before I digress further, the point of this post is NOT about Christianity & homosexuality.

Mr Anton Chan has it all wrong. And I’m sure he’s not alone. Singaporeans have become so paranoid that they seem to think that everything that goes against their perception of normal is dangerous. Then again, philosophically speaking, what is normality? The Merriam Webster dictionary explains normal as b: conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern. Normality is relative.

What’s next? Same sex marriages?
Letter from Anton Chan

MR HO Kwon Ping is wrong to propose the acceptance of gays into Singapore society because accepting a gay lifestyle would have a tremendous impact on society as a whole in terms of religious beliefs, social well-being and families.

Being homosexual isn’t a lifestyle. Taking on a certain lifestyle means you have a choice. You pick & choose what type of actions you’d like to adopt. Being sporty is a lifestyle; clubbing is a lifestyle. Homosexuality is not. It’s a sexual orientation. You don’t pick & choose who you decide to fall in love with. Not unless you live in the past where nobody marries for love, only convenience. Yes, there are choices made. A choice of accepting yourself or not. That is the only choice to be made.

As a Christian, I oppose legalising a gay lifestyle in Singapore because it’s against my beliefs. As a father of three teenagers, I care because I don’t want my children to be affected by such a lifestyle.

Honestly, if your kid is gay, he’s gay. No matter whether you expose him to such a ‘lifestyle’ or not. If he is being oppressed to be straight, he’s going to suffer real pain inside. Furthermore you are opposing ‘legalising a gay lifestyle’ but we are for the legalising of an act, which is mutally consented between two adult males.

Imagine if we allow the acceptance of such a lifestyle in Singapore. What next? Legalise same sex marriages? Legalise adoption of children for gays?

Ah… I dont understand this line of thought. So, Belgium, Canada, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Massachusetts and California are all what.. beneath everyone else? Just because they legalise same-sex marriages? The last I know, Canada is a great place to live in.

Where are we as a socially-conservative society heading towards?

Erm… Acceptance of all as one? Liberalisation?

Soon gays will claim the right for social acceptance in all areas including education, welfare et cetera. What effect will this have on the next generation of children and parents who wish that their children will grow up normally and produce children in the normal course of their being?

In the first place, all Singapore citizens have the right in all areas such as education, welfare etc. So if I read this right, you’re suggesting that homosexuals are not supposed to be entitled to benefits that are given to ALL citizens? So they are, in your books, third-class ‘citizens’? Now I’m starting to get the picture. Also, your point of ‘produce children in the normal course of their being’ isn’t standing much. Heterosexuals are not having kids anyway, so what’s the fuss? If heterosexuals aren’t having kids and homosexuals would love to adopt one, hey! Good for the country’s population growth! 1 for the gays!

The only strong contention in Mr Ho’s proposal is the so-called gay leading edge in the “creative class”. Doesn’t our society have many other people to develop and nurture? Why are we so eager to promote creative class talent in Singapore? So that we can become a more tolerant society to accept whatever lifestyle these bring? Definitely no.

‘Why are we so eager to promote creative class talent in Singapore?’ I think that’s because if otherwise, Singaporeans will be nothing but robots toiling away at work. Your national day parade won’t look so grand & well put together, you won’t have performances to watch, no designers, no artists, no musicians. No Dick Lee! Oh then again, we could always import foreign talent, to put together our national day parade.

I would like to borrow a similar argument by Attorney-General Walter Woon regarding the Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota). In “None above the law” (Sept 8), he said: “If Dr Lee (Wei Ling) disagrees with Hota, she is at perfect liberty to campaign to have it amended … But until Parliament amends or repeals the Hota and the Oaths and Declarations Act, they remain the law of Singapore.”

If anyone disagrees with the law for gays as enacted by Parliament, he/she is at perfect liberty to campaign to have it amended … But until Parliament amends or repeals the law of Singapore for gays, it remains the law of Singapore.

The thing is, the law is quite ridiculous if you don’t enforce it. What’s the point of having a law that is in black & white, yet you tell everyone in the country that you will not be prosecuting the offenders? It’s like saying rape is illegal yet people are free to do it. So why is it illegal in the first place?

It’s hypocritical to have a law to make conservatives happy, and turn around and tell those affect that they will not be prosecuted, so please continue to bring back glory for the country. Please continue to make waves in the international scene. Singapore wants to be number 1 in everything, but no, we will not repeal Section 377a. As the government, they should be doing what they preach. Singapore is conservative? Okay fine. Then prosecute all who do not abide by the law and stick to it. Don’t want to encroach on their privacy so will not prosecute? Then don’t even have this law in the first place. What a cognitively dissonant country we live in. *Sigh*

Tags 377A, gay, homosexuality, homosexuals, legal, lesbian, love, marriage, mediacorp, penal code, same-sex, sex, sexual orientation, TODAY, TODAYonline

Singapore

Why we are not getting married

Post author By holeybaloney
Post date August 18, 2008

Though I object the idea of pre-arranged marriages, I do share the viewpoint of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long on the connection between falling birth-rates in Singapore and the independence of women here. With reference to the National Day Rally last night and the article found on TODAYonline.

Being one of the “modern-day woman”, I get equally pissed off when some men are still harbouring that primitive thought of women having to be submissive and latch on to the every word of men, as if they are words of God. Unfortunately, times have changed and quite a bit it has. Though such women still exist, it is small in percentage and such wonderful women would have been snapped up in an instant. I personally believe that due to such mentality, marriages nowadays hardly last. It’s a fundamental dissonance in the essence of marriage in the eyes of the 2 most important parties, the husband and wife. If this dissonance is not addressed right from the beginning, no marriage will last. And when everybody else sees that marriages doesn’t last anyway, why would anyone jump into something that is, to them, bound to fall apart?

Marriage, to me, is like closing a deal. Both parties have to list out what they want through this marriage and what is their ‘motive’ for wanting to get married. No lofty ideals, no romantic notions. Cold, hard realistic views. If a match is found possible, then the marriage can happen and will last. Of course, such calculating behaviour is not going to be how it will happen. In relationships, we think using our hearts, never our heads. Unfortunately.

Of course, independence and career is not the only deterent for me in terms of getting married, and having kids for that matter. It is also the cost involved in all of these actions. Imagine, to get married, you’ve got to throw a proper Chinese wedding DINNER. That in itself will set you back tens of thousands dollars. Don’t even think about depending on the ang paos you get in return. I’ve seen Singaporeans who prepare a S$80 ang pao and bring a family of four. So distasteful. Worse still, these people are usually your relatives. Or distant relatives. Or friends of your parents. So unless you hold a dinner solely for your friends, it’s not going to cover. And the money spent is not just on F&B, there’s the gowns, the cake, the gifts, the tea ceremony, the bridesmaids gowns etc etc etc. On top of that, planning such an event is a major pain in the neck, having to really co-ordinate small minute details. If you hire a wedding planner, that’s another wad of cash down the drain. And there’s going to be the issue of both parties’ expectations of a wedding. That’s another headache to handle. And if not handled well, it’s the beginning of the end………

Kids, although cute at times, are a major cash suckers. During the 9 months that you carry them in you, there are already expenses incurred for medical fees as well as wardrobe costs… For the next 20 years after you give birth to them, you need thousands of dollars every single year to upkeep their well-being. Parents of older generations can still depend on their kids to take care of them when they get old, but in the future, I think this situation will change, ever so slightly. Old Folk’s Homes are increasingly being more accepted by my current generation, where more people have the mentality that they rather be in an old folk’s home than inconveniencing their kids. What with globalisation bringing the concept of privacy and personal space within the family closer to us, it won’t be surprising to me if there be an increasing number of people who’d prefer to check into an old folk’s home in future, me included. If I’m all alone that is. This probably sounds a little callous, but really, it’s not all about keeping the family line going. There are material concerns and realistic issues to deal with. So unless I have Victoria Beckham’s money, I don’t want a soccer team of kids.

That’s only touching on the ACTIONS of getting married & having babies. Another issue is FINDING the right person. With the competitiveness in the society now, it is not as easy as it seems to get to know new people. On paper and in theory, all one has to do is get out more often and engage in social activities. However, do not forget that meeting new people and socialising does sap energy out of you, and after a week of hard work, all you want to do is to meet your familiar circle of friends to hang out for drinks or a meal. Meeting new people and getting to know them from the beginning is something we do all the time at work, and after office hours, do we really want to expend some more energy to meet even more new people? Furthermore, it’s difficult to get close to, or intimate with co-workers. Office gossip is something that can potentially break any relationship, and where else do we spend most of our time? In the office of course. Not to mention, being in such a competitive environment, getting ahead in work can really take up quite a bit of your time, what with possible overtime and working on weekends.

Of course, all I have is my mouth and thoughts and no real solution. That’s why I’m a commoner and not a Member of Parliament… They are supposed to do the problem solving for us no? XD

Tags marriage, TODAY, TODAYonline

Food Review Singapore

No Signboard Seafood Restaurant

Post author By holeybaloney
Post date July 6, 2008

New Year’s dinner with current + ex-colleagues was at Geylang’s No Signboard seafood restaurant.

While we were waiting for our food to arrive, playing around with taking photos of the appetizers.

They are best known for their white pepper crab which is usually cooked to the right mixture of spice and yet not lose the freshness of the crab.

Also very generous with their serving of green onions, thus enhancing the fresh sea taste of crabs yet killing any smell it might have.

Also quite tasty is their chilli crab. This dish, of course, has to be served with piping hot and crispy man tou. Dipping the man tou in the not-very-spicy-but-slightly-sweet gravy and letting the man tou soak it all up, is pure heaven.

Other than the signature crabs, we had to have some sides to go with it.

I love Achar. I think it’s the greatest thing in the world next to bread.

However, the achar at No Signboard was not sour enough to whet your appetite and it’s not crunchy enough to feel like a good ol’ salad-ish dish.

One good thing about their food, which is very apparent in this stir-fry kailan dish, is that it does not threaten to kill us with salt.

The baby squid that day was a disappointment. Not crispy enough. Personally I find that it is coated with too much honey. It’s sweet but lacks the crispiness of it. Sad fact, cos the distinct crunch is the best part of eating fried baby squids. Other than a mug of beer in the other hand.

They are known for seafood and for a reason. The prawns are succulent and fresh and huge. Cereals are spiced with the right amount of basil & chilli so as to bring out the taste yet not overpower it.