Observing, Reading And Seeing No Hope.

I am been staying in Singapore for sometimes and have seen its' developments, physical, political, social and all.

Reading almost all the social-political blogs since they started, there is only one conclusion that the people of Singapore never and could not be cohesive in any endeavors. They are all for themselves. Even the social-political netizens have never worked with one another.

There has never been any attempt by bloggers, their readers and commenters to gather themselves to forge a stronger, better alliance to make their activism more potent and more effective. The Cyber communities are carbon copy of the Opposition Political parties, splitted, individualistic even within their own parties and communities.

Some bloggers are obviously highly intellectual, professionally qualified and successful in their careers and lives. One cannot help sometimes to suspect that within their successes they are still looking for fames that they have yet to achieve. So here they are in Blogoland to get some of that.

Putting up discourses in the Net to get the limelights without showing the ability to work with fellow netizens expose the sincerities of these bloggers to work for the holistic improvements in the livings of the people.

Another observation is that, in whichever blogsites, there are always another group of participants as well endowed as the bloggers singing discording tunes.

All considered, Singaporeans are all out of place with their own people. They should not blame foreigners.

Observing, Reading And Seeing No Hope.

live life to the fullest

Personal experience: easy come easy go, hard come hard go. I'm 4 yr to 50 yr old. $ is just like a gust of wind, comes and goes from and to nowhere, makes one wondering "what's going on".

Willing to share my "history":
- I earned $2/hr during poly's holiday, many many yr back.
- "Earned" $90/mnth as CPL as fulltime national service.
- Starting pay $650/mnth, after ROD from army
- 3 months before ROD, bought a 2nd hand "Honda Rider" for 2k. Minor accidents here & there. Gave up motorcycle after being sent to hospital by ambulan 2yrs later.
- $1064 in 1984 while joining MRTC....
-Married in 1993, borrowed 18K from granny's "coffin money" for reno & some stuff. Earned and cleared within a yr.
- Got a 5rm hdb in Sept 1992, for 124K, cleared loan 6 yrs later, all cpf. Sold for 450k in 2007.
-First boy come to world in 1995, now in RI sec 3.
- Bought my 1st 2nd hand "Toyata Starlet" for 21k in 1996.
- Girl come to world in 1997, same day she came, first time car accident - knock by ppl. She now in sec 1, Bedok Green.
- Cars keep changing from Mitshibishi Lancer/Kia 7 seater/Mitshibishi/now Toyota.
- Bought a 3 bedrm in Baywater, cleared loan within a yr. Stayed for 3.2 yr. Bought at 616k in 2005July, sold for 850k in Sept 2009.
- Business travel......."take plane like taking bus" - wife quoted, > 20 countries. See snow, sun rise/set on offshore platforms, sand storm in Egype, warded in Korean hospital, housefly bigger than thumb in Brazil jungle, swimming in yellow sea,......many many unforgetteble...
- Enough is enough, switched job.....no more travel! That was 7 yrs ago.
- Now as a small & humble manager, 6K+/mnth salary.
- 80k loan ,out of 528k, yet to clear, after another 10 months.
- Car loan 24k, can clear anytime, but do not wish to.
- Abt 200K in stock mkt "in" and "out". Average can "make" 2k~3k/mnth. Last yr recorded 36k income from Feb to Sept. Stopped from end Sept 2009 ~ feb 2010, for resale house & reno.
- Back to market again Mar 2010, till now already made abt 14K.
- Enjoy hobbies whenever has time, with wife & children.

$ comes & goes like gust of wind, be contented. No start & no end. But we come from dust & will go to dust. Get wisdom - $ cannot but, worth to spend time & efforts to "chase after".

Technically possible.
- Car is sure "wasting money"- need not to be big & branded, so long as to transport u here & there can already. Petrol/insurance/parts replacement are going upwards, roadtax heads east for a few years.
- Condo, paying $370/mnth for maintenance fee, bbq, swimming, carpark, tennis, security...Personally concluded "not worth" after staying 3 years in Baywater. Higher living standard always need to pay more, this rule applies to all.
- Learnt 1 important rule/fact here to make more $$$: make your first $100k cash first, whether by saving, selling....
- "Learn" to invest yourself, test your judgement....be prepared to pay "expensive school fee".
- My experience :coverted SGD to USD, earned interests every 3 months, rate kept dropping (loss $), convert USD to SGD then to NZD, earned high interest and gained capital gain! But now no more such lobangs. Waiting for RMB to float.
-Standby for rainy days - get a taxi license or swimming instructor cert, be a part time real estate agent to gain experence....Insurance agent needs to talks a lot, right segment.......
- Need financial planning, best equip with spreadsheet knowledge. Calculate yr annual income vs expense. Set target. Explore new income sources, always start from part time then full time...
- Must know the rule of breakeven, then u know where u stand..

Murphy Law

Recently, DBS, Singapore's biggest bank and the one with the widest network of ATMs, suffered a system outage that brought their ATMs and Internet banking to a grinding halt island-wide.

From around 3am Monday morning till about 10am that same day, folks could not do Internet and phone banking, draw cash from ATM machines, or pay with their debit cards.


The first thing that i do is to check the account whether it has increased to another zero or several zeros, but dang,it was the still same.


like Singapore Power where we had power failure not long ago.
Like PUB, where we had floods in orchard road.
like SMRT, trains are disrupted due to maintainance vehicle breakdown,also not long ago

just like Murphy's Laws:

* If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

* If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.

* If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.

* If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

* Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

* Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.

* Every solution breeds new problems.

* Enough research will tend to support your theory.

* When there is a very long road upon which there is a one-way bridge placed at random, and there are only two cars on that road, it follows that: (1) the two cars are going in opposite directions, and (2) they will always meet at the bridge.

* Smile... tomorrow will be worse.

* Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

* You never run out of things that can go wrong.


so, just smile as tomorrow will be worse

CHC: a New Chapter

i believe after the latest saga, City Harvest Church will take a different path,a new direction.
and a new chapter.

flood in orchard road:back to future?welcome the sixties

remember the sixties?
where we have floods often and the monsoon drains would flood to knee-high level.
i recalled seeing one person mistaken the drain as a pavement and fell.
he was totally wet.

forty years later, we still see the same thing.
this time in orchard road.
it is like seeing our past.

welcome to the sixties..

durian seasons

i have jogged this morning and since it was still early, i went to the forest to check the durians trees.
i am thinking that the durians maybe ripe next month, but i am wrong.
they have already started to drop.
it is a surprise as i have assumed it will take sometime and also the weather was erratic for the past few weeks.

however, for the first batch that the durians dropped, i did not expected too much as i knew that they are not ripe yet, but dropped.
so, for the next few weeks i will be going there often.

許冠傑 - 浪子心聲

one of favourite songs of all times

4 months later

at first, i do speak to her.
but as days passed, i came to realize that we have a great difference in our character.
we have arguments, and i decided that i should end the relationship once and for all.
in the beginning, i have an awful feelings as i found out more and more about her.

thus, i quickly pulled myself out from the relationship.
it has been painful and i just could not figure out the reasons.

then came the real truth.
the cold hard truth.

that my trusted colleagues betrayed me in the end.
i have been too trusting.
alas.

at present, i do not like to see her at all, and do not talk to her for a long, long time.
it is good, though.

1st World Country, 3rd World Wage Structure

1st World Country, 3rd World Wage Structure?
"For years, companies have creamed off a larger share of economic gains - larger than those in other developed countries or industrialising economies in Asia.

As a result, workers get a slice of Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) that is considered unusually

tiny

compared with their counterparts' share in those countries.


many people have asked: how come we have economic growth of 10%, but we cannot feel the goodness?
where all the money have gone to?

we knew that 80% of the company profit goes to 20% of the top management whilst 20% of the rest is for 80% of the workers.

so, we can see the clearer picture from here.
we the workers worked like shit, had minimum increments over the past few years.
our CPF cut when there is a crisis and when good times have come, it is the same as ever.

For years, companies have creamed off a larger share of economic gains.

it really make us feel bad when you know the truth.

I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow

I am the man of constant sorrow
I've seen trouble all my days
I bid farewell to ol' Kentucky
The place where I was born and raised.

The place where he was born and raised

For six long years I've been in trouble,
no pleasure here on earth I've found
For in this world, I'm bound to ramble,
I have no friends to help me now.

He has no friends to help him now

It's fair thee well, my old true lover,
I never expect to see you again.
For I'm bound to ride that Northern Railroad,
perhaps I'll die upon this train

Perhaps he'll die upon this train

You can bury me in some deep valley,
For many years where I may lay.
And you may learn to love another
while I am sleeping in my grave.

While he is sleeping in his grave

Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger
My face you never will see no more
But there is one promise that is given,
I'll meet you on Gods golden shore

He'll meet you on God's golden shore

talk less do more

i have learnt from my mistakes in the past.
luckily friends told me and advised me.
Talk less and do more.

i have been too trusting in others, and in the end, i have fallen, hard.

calm

i will be calm.
i will be still.
in quietness and silence.

bad blood

Hong Kong comedy and drama actor, Richard Ng said this.

He told once he witnessed with his own eyes a China man pulling a woman out of a cab just because he wanted to have the cab for himself first.

He also commented on the huge influx of China immigrants into Singapore.

He said in time to come, Singapore's crime rate would go up because of these immigrants.

He added the Singapore government was importing bad blood.

Welcome To Next Great Depression

it is coming.
for every success came the greatest failure.

the nature

sometimes, i have time, i will go to the forest.
to smell the fragrance, feel its greatest, and sleep on the grass patch, glancing at the bright green leaves..

it is like heaven, there's no need to travel far.
it is just nearby.

marathon

i have hoped that one day i will run my 1st marathon.
of course, i have to train myself to run at least 50km.
now my average jog is about 6km.

still a long, long way to go.
still, i have to give my ever best effort to fullfill my wish.
Oh, Yes!

still alive

i am still much alive.
much alive than what you have think.
it is good that i am still alive.
oh, Yes!

world economy

long u shaped

let them win

no money for retirement in singapore

you have to work until you are dead.
life's tough in singapore where our leaders did not tell you that.
they only care for themselves.