[please be informed that this is my last posting till March; unless my blogger itch comes on rapidly]
1. Good health, for myself and my loved ones.
2. Happiness and peace for myself and my loved ones.
3. Happily ever after, with him.
4. To know that you care for me (whomever you are, something thoughtful, like a smile or an sms, would be very nice indeed)
5. Hoping that I'm never in dire lack of money (been lucky so far).
6. Good grades for exams.
7. I wish JX and I could be friends again. Sigh.
8. Catch-up with the girls of my life (secondary, jc, church)
9. That I've the courage to go back to [where my heart had been for the longest while]
10. That I could have more courage to face up to the world and to myself, and not having to avoid people, to do what I desire, without thinking so much
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Is Singapore degenerating?
Some has written that Singapore is getting from first-world to third-world with the MRT power outage, flooding, ministerial scandals.
The government says this is normal in other countries. We face a huge percentage of migrant workers, because Singapore is unable to support itself. And the citizens are blamed for the falling birth rate.
On birth rate: The government was the one who introduced the stop-at-two campaign. It was overwhelmingly successful, because of many reasons. The three-or-more campaign started did not work because:
1. not enough effort is put into it - in publicity, incentives, etc
2. the primary incentive of having a child is gone - mothers have to work and take care of the child, worry about his/her grades, send him/her to tuition and a range of whatnot classes, from ballet to arithmetic
3. it's too stressful to live in Singapore, so why create a human to suffer with you?
4. (most important) It's too costly to support a child while having to support a house, (car), bills (utilities, phone/internet), parents (father and mother). It's actually more dystopic than this, because one cannot afford to be ill because healthcare is so expensive it wipes out all your savings. And if one is on long-term healthcare support, then... Who's even thinking about getting married, which costs?
It all boils down to money. And society.
If conditions favour having children, why not have them? It's precisely because the structural support isn't there. Very strangely, it's far more favourable to have children in India (esp boys), because all one has to think of is to send the child to a public school, and ensure that the child gets married, work, and support his parents. And not be a wife-beater. There aren't so many considerations - if the child fails in school, then too bad; he's not cut out for it, God has a way for him.
In Singapore, everywhere you go, it shouts, "If you've no certificate, you're dead." No, you aren't. You just have to find out what you're good at. But wait a minute, everyone else has a certificate, whether it's a good or lousy one. There comes the big problem. You're not ahead of others if you have a cert, you're behind everyone else if you don't (C.Seow, 9/2/2012).
Is Singapore degenerating?
What about the poor people in Singapore? Arguably, the poorest of poor isn't the foreign labourers. It's fellow Singaporeans, those who are at the bottom of the Gini coefficient. And it's quite apparent that these Singaporeans are either old, or do not have a good qualification, or for some reason are unable to give as much manual labour (arthritis, deformed backbone, or anything else). Such Singaporeans have to compete with the much cheaper foreign labour. There aren't any incentives to hire Singaporeans in this case, unless the person is willing to be paid as much as the foreign labour. The pay difference, if I'm not wrong, is around $21 (foreign) vs $50 (local) per day in a construction site. It's about the same in factories.
So what now? The progress which was much celebrated around the world has created a vicious cycle, and only the government can help, by either giving more incentives to employers for hiring locals (eg in tax-relief), or disincentives (not preferable, but quite a Singaporean method). This is important because this affects how we see our leaders of the country. This is exceptionally important because from 1965 to 2007, Singapore has been progressing linearly, save for the 1998 Asian financial crisis, and it's a consensus amongst the public that life is unhappier as compared to yester-years.
The government says we shouldn't compare ourselves with US president, or even other Asian ministers, regarding pay. Should we compare ourselves against ourselves, and strive to be the utopia of the world again, for a greater Singaporean population?
And every sound politician knows this: you can't afford to do worse; you can only do better. Better than other countries, or preserve status quo in the country's standing against the world. And even Machiavelli knows this: you keep the people happy, well-clothed and well-fed, and you as the leader won't be questioned.
That was why Lee Kuan Yew was such a great man. He gave the poor a real chance, and real help, to stay in HDB, have a toilet of their own, schooling opportunities for everyone, and made sure the entire island had affordable and comfortable transport, when there was nothing except debris and riots to begin with (post-WWII). Hell-yeah, there was no free press, no free-and-fair election, high ministerial pay. But few made noise.
We're losing our transparency, efficiency, accountability, and social security for the poor. We're slowly losing our friendliness as well. The world looks and feels treacherous, we can't get married, we don't want children, and we want to migrate to a less stressful place, after years spent on this island. Unless something can be done asap, politics is going downhill from now on.
The government says this is normal in other countries. We face a huge percentage of migrant workers, because Singapore is unable to support itself. And the citizens are blamed for the falling birth rate.
On birth rate: The government was the one who introduced the stop-at-two campaign. It was overwhelmingly successful, because of many reasons. The three-or-more campaign started did not work because:
1. not enough effort is put into it - in publicity, incentives, etc
2. the primary incentive of having a child is gone - mothers have to work and take care of the child, worry about his/her grades, send him/her to tuition and a range of whatnot classes, from ballet to arithmetic
3. it's too stressful to live in Singapore, so why create a human to suffer with you?
4. (most important) It's too costly to support a child while having to support a house, (car), bills (utilities, phone/internet), parents (father and mother). It's actually more dystopic than this, because one cannot afford to be ill because healthcare is so expensive it wipes out all your savings. And if one is on long-term healthcare support, then... Who's even thinking about getting married, which costs?
It all boils down to money. And society.
If conditions favour having children, why not have them? It's precisely because the structural support isn't there. Very strangely, it's far more favourable to have children in India (esp boys), because all one has to think of is to send the child to a public school, and ensure that the child gets married, work, and support his parents. And not be a wife-beater. There aren't so many considerations - if the child fails in school, then too bad; he's not cut out for it, God has a way for him.
In Singapore, everywhere you go, it shouts, "If you've no certificate, you're dead." No, you aren't. You just have to find out what you're good at. But wait a minute, everyone else has a certificate, whether it's a good or lousy one. There comes the big problem. You're not ahead of others if you have a cert, you're behind everyone else if you don't (C.Seow, 9/2/2012).
Is Singapore degenerating?
What about the poor people in Singapore? Arguably, the poorest of poor isn't the foreign labourers. It's fellow Singaporeans, those who are at the bottom of the Gini coefficient. And it's quite apparent that these Singaporeans are either old, or do not have a good qualification, or for some reason are unable to give as much manual labour (arthritis, deformed backbone, or anything else). Such Singaporeans have to compete with the much cheaper foreign labour. There aren't any incentives to hire Singaporeans in this case, unless the person is willing to be paid as much as the foreign labour. The pay difference, if I'm not wrong, is around $21 (foreign) vs $50 (local) per day in a construction site. It's about the same in factories.
So what now? The progress which was much celebrated around the world has created a vicious cycle, and only the government can help, by either giving more incentives to employers for hiring locals (eg in tax-relief), or disincentives (not preferable, but quite a Singaporean method). This is important because this affects how we see our leaders of the country. This is exceptionally important because from 1965 to 2007, Singapore has been progressing linearly, save for the 1998 Asian financial crisis, and it's a consensus amongst the public that life is unhappier as compared to yester-years.
The government says we shouldn't compare ourselves with US president, or even other Asian ministers, regarding pay. Should we compare ourselves against ourselves, and strive to be the utopia of the world again, for a greater Singaporean population?
And every sound politician knows this: you can't afford to do worse; you can only do better. Better than other countries, or preserve status quo in the country's standing against the world. And even Machiavelli knows this: you keep the people happy, well-clothed and well-fed, and you as the leader won't be questioned.
That was why Lee Kuan Yew was such a great man. He gave the poor a real chance, and real help, to stay in HDB, have a toilet of their own, schooling opportunities for everyone, and made sure the entire island had affordable and comfortable transport, when there was nothing except debris and riots to begin with (post-WWII). Hell-yeah, there was no free press, no free-and-fair election, high ministerial pay. But few made noise.
We're losing our transparency, efficiency, accountability, and social security for the poor. We're slowly losing our friendliness as well. The world looks and feels treacherous, we can't get married, we don't want children, and we want to migrate to a less stressful place, after years spent on this island. Unless something can be done asap, politics is going downhill from now on.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
lifestory: biologist turned historian turned biologist
Ok, i'm joking. How can one change path so many times?
I was a student of biology in my high school. It was the love of my life. I had abandoned it for History. And now I'm back, with something incredulous. Microfluidics. Gee, you might ask, what the heaven is that?
It's something i cannot yet describe. Very complex. I'm studying deterministic lateral displacement, cytoskeletal structures, cell/nucleus deformity, all of which falls under mechanobiology. It doesn't help that i hate physics.
What I read about in 4 days and still couldn't understand (all of that crazy stuff above), I undestood in 2 minutes of youtube. Quite cool, eh?
Maybe that's the reason why Watson and Crick was SO SUCCESSFUL. They used the kid's way of learning - toys, some call it - models. Perhaps, as a historian, I could imagine the impact of the entire audience when they saw the DNA structure. Sounds dumb, clamps and wooden sticks. But hey, for the first time, scientists in the molecular field SAW the structure.
woohoo~
http://pre.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v83/i5/e056301
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmgP8fBfcJU (i watched it without the music first time, it's irritating i know)
really looking forward to interviewing that A*Star senior research scientist, Dr Keng-Hwee Chiam. Sounds beyond me. Lucky, I'm doing it with Syaheed, quite a genius in his own ways, who knew what IHPC was and exclaimed "Cool!" at the sound of mechanobiology.
I was a student of biology in my high school. It was the love of my life. I had abandoned it for History. And now I'm back, with something incredulous. Microfluidics. Gee, you might ask, what the heaven is that?
It's something i cannot yet describe. Very complex. I'm studying deterministic lateral displacement, cytoskeletal structures, cell/nucleus deformity, all of which falls under mechanobiology. It doesn't help that i hate physics.
What I read about in 4 days and still couldn't understand (all of that crazy stuff above), I undestood in 2 minutes of youtube. Quite cool, eh?
Maybe that's the reason why Watson and Crick was SO SUCCESSFUL. They used the kid's way of learning - toys, some call it - models. Perhaps, as a historian, I could imagine the impact of the entire audience when they saw the DNA structure. Sounds dumb, clamps and wooden sticks. But hey, for the first time, scientists in the molecular field SAW the structure.
woohoo~
http://pre.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v83/i5/e056301
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmgP8fBfcJU (i watched it without the music first time, it's irritating i know)
really looking forward to interviewing that A*Star senior research scientist, Dr Keng-Hwee Chiam. Sounds beyond me. Lucky, I'm doing it with Syaheed, quite a genius in his own ways, who knew what IHPC was and exclaimed "Cool!" at the sound of mechanobiology.
does having many interests mean one is unfaithful?
having many interests doesn't mean you won't be faithful to your soulmate. here's why. I initially titled the post "it's the caffeine thing".
i have too many interests. uncountable. if i narrow it down, it's probably reading, and music. that's what i never get sick of. but ah, i don't like to read the same thing again and again, and neither do i stay in the 80s, or 90s, for the same ole' music forever. but wait a minute, I do like some music forever. In my early days when taiwanese boyband "5566" was in, i listened to all their music. i liked Sun Yanzi (Stephanie Sun), S.H.E, and JJ Lin Jun Jie. Perhaps they aren't cool now, but every time I hear them over the radio, my heart pounds, and I feel like I'm in another world. My later discoveries, Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, and Lady Gaga, has been my favourites for god knows how many years. But I still like variation. And history has proven I can never quite find something better than them easily.
I claim I do reading as an obligation, but I do enjoy the process of reading, and getting to know stuff. I read anything from the shampoo bottle ingredients to nutritional fact labels to facebook updates to academic journals. And of course, news (but I get so bored sometimes because they seldom report things i'm interested in). My interests span from biology/chemistry to history. BUT, ask me, and I will tell you that George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four remains my favourite; Dan Brown, Alex Shearer and Roald Dahl have won my support through the years.
This post is inspired by coffee. I've been getting headaches very often through my holidays and I didn't know why. Today, I got the dreaded headache again. I thought it was migrane. I thought I was going to die.
Here's what: I realised I missed my coffee.
Now, it's strange, because coffee CAUSES headaches. I've never heard of coffee alleviating headaches. Ever. Whenever I get the dreaded headache, I avoid coffee. And I never get well. In fact, even after sleeping, it still bugs me. So here's faithfulness.
There are just some things in life we cannot live without. Some people, too. These people have become so normal in our lives, we only notice their absence, with a bugging headache. And sometimes, without luck, we wouldn't even know what's bugging us.
Spend more time with your loved ones. And yes, the person(s) is our caffeine. I started drinking since 17 and I haven't left it. I live on black coffee without sugar (bitter hell YES), but it keeps me going. The nastiest thing in life could be the antidote to greater pain in life. And once you start, it's so hard to quit, even if you quit it, you'll miss it.
Love is like caffeine. It keeps me going, it becomes less obvious with time as THE FACTOR that keeps me going. While some cannot get enough of it, some just need a minimum dosage (like myself). That doesn't mean it's unimportant.
i have too many interests. uncountable. if i narrow it down, it's probably reading, and music. that's what i never get sick of. but ah, i don't like to read the same thing again and again, and neither do i stay in the 80s, or 90s, for the same ole' music forever. but wait a minute, I do like some music forever. In my early days when taiwanese boyband "5566" was in, i listened to all their music. i liked Sun Yanzi (Stephanie Sun), S.H.E, and JJ Lin Jun Jie. Perhaps they aren't cool now, but every time I hear them over the radio, my heart pounds, and I feel like I'm in another world. My later discoveries, Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, and Lady Gaga, has been my favourites for god knows how many years. But I still like variation. And history has proven I can never quite find something better than them easily.
I claim I do reading as an obligation, but I do enjoy the process of reading, and getting to know stuff. I read anything from the shampoo bottle ingredients to nutritional fact labels to facebook updates to academic journals. And of course, news (but I get so bored sometimes because they seldom report things i'm interested in). My interests span from biology/chemistry to history. BUT, ask me, and I will tell you that George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four remains my favourite; Dan Brown, Alex Shearer and Roald Dahl have won my support through the years.
This post is inspired by coffee. I've been getting headaches very often through my holidays and I didn't know why. Today, I got the dreaded headache again. I thought it was migrane. I thought I was going to die.
Here's what: I realised I missed my coffee.
Now, it's strange, because coffee CAUSES headaches. I've never heard of coffee alleviating headaches. Ever. Whenever I get the dreaded headache, I avoid coffee. And I never get well. In fact, even after sleeping, it still bugs me. So here's faithfulness.
There are just some things in life we cannot live without. Some people, too. These people have become so normal in our lives, we only notice their absence, with a bugging headache. And sometimes, without luck, we wouldn't even know what's bugging us.
Spend more time with your loved ones. And yes, the person(s) is our caffeine. I started drinking since 17 and I haven't left it. I live on black coffee without sugar (bitter hell YES), but it keeps me going. The nastiest thing in life could be the antidote to greater pain in life. And once you start, it's so hard to quit, even if you quit it, you'll miss it.
Love is like caffeine. It keeps me going, it becomes less obvious with time as THE FACTOR that keeps me going. While some cannot get enough of it, some just need a minimum dosage (like myself). That doesn't mean it's unimportant.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Long Distance Relationship: A Brave New World
Check this youtube clip out if you've the time. I didn't feel very much for it. What fascinates me was:
1. He's from Singapore - Ah! We've a champion over here! :) In love too!
2. They were together for 2 years without having met - Respect to the guy (and the girl) for being faithful despite all that
3. THE COMMENTS - it's amazing; I never knew there were so many LDRs around!
As a person who have seen too much melodramas of life, I don't believe in LDRs. For a long time, not even in "happily ever after". And there's been a global problem, especially amongst first world countries:
People are spending less time with humans than with computers, this really could be the new norm. This threatens one of the longest traditions humans have - love. It's quite exciting to know that human behaviours are evolving with technology, even in this respect. Wasn't love supposed to be spending quality time, buying gifts, doing sweet things for each other, other than the obvious hand-holding? Human behaviors are evolving so quickly that children are typing faster and faster, processing stuff in their mind like computers, but ah, they're less able to interact with other children, especially in Singapore, for the lesser half of the society.
I do wonder if it's possible to father a child over Skype, assuming that nobody cheats. With the entering of credit card details, one can so easily buy gifts for the other party. My friend's friend in Australia bought my friend in India FLOWERS and got it delivered to her doorstep.
Perhaps one day, all our spouses would be online, since it's so much easier to live with someone when the person isn't around 24/7 to create situations with high tension or generate conflict. Perhaps life in reality is all work, from 3 years old when one gets into kindergarten to 23 years old when one is in university, and then work, and work, and work some more.
Perhaps the definition of family would be challenged, or redefined within the next 20 years. Maybe there would be creation of platforms where families can all come together in one single portal, like WhatsApp, and share their lives. Yeah, with the mobile phone, your family is just a call away.
Perhaps people could and would love more, with the rise of modern technology.
Perhaps cheating would be accepted in the near future - men cheating physically, women cheating emotionally, whatever. Perhaps computer skills and how one designs his/her facebook is more important than how one dresses up. Apparently, there are nice people desperately looking for "soul mates" and partners to date, but to no avail.
Whatever, I'm glad I found someone I really love, someone whom I wish (for now) to spend my life with.
1. He's from Singapore - Ah! We've a champion over here! :) In love too!
2. They were together for 2 years without having met - Respect to the guy (and the girl) for being faithful despite all that
3. THE COMMENTS - it's amazing; I never knew there were so many LDRs around!
As a person who have seen too much melodramas of life, I don't believe in LDRs. For a long time, not even in "happily ever after". And there's been a global problem, especially amongst first world countries:
People are spending less time with humans than with computers, this really could be the new norm. This threatens one of the longest traditions humans have - love. It's quite exciting to know that human behaviours are evolving with technology, even in this respect. Wasn't love supposed to be spending quality time, buying gifts, doing sweet things for each other, other than the obvious hand-holding? Human behaviors are evolving so quickly that children are typing faster and faster, processing stuff in their mind like computers, but ah, they're less able to interact with other children, especially in Singapore, for the lesser half of the society.
I do wonder if it's possible to father a child over Skype, assuming that nobody cheats. With the entering of credit card details, one can so easily buy gifts for the other party. My friend's friend in Australia bought my friend in India FLOWERS and got it delivered to her doorstep.
Perhaps one day, all our spouses would be online, since it's so much easier to live with someone when the person isn't around 24/7 to create situations with high tension or generate conflict. Perhaps life in reality is all work, from 3 years old when one gets into kindergarten to 23 years old when one is in university, and then work, and work, and work some more.
Perhaps the definition of family would be challenged, or redefined within the next 20 years. Maybe there would be creation of platforms where families can all come together in one single portal, like WhatsApp, and share their lives. Yeah, with the mobile phone, your family is just a call away.
Perhaps people could and would love more, with the rise of modern technology.
Perhaps cheating would be accepted in the near future - men cheating physically, women cheating emotionally, whatever. Perhaps computer skills and how one designs his/her facebook is more important than how one dresses up. Apparently, there are nice people desperately looking for "soul mates" and partners to date, but to no avail.
Whatever, I'm glad I found someone I really love, someone whom I wish (for now) to spend my life with.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)