home

there are so many things in life that you have wanted, but you knew that it will be difficult to get it.
and you went far away to search for the things you have been hunting for.
years after years, you have found none.

until you have reached your home and finally found the things you have looking is all the while in your home.

cared for the old, aged and the ugly

whether the political system tilted a bit or changed slightly, the bottom line is the care for the old, aged and the ugly was still much desired for improvement.

Things such as free ride for buses and MRT for the old as a respect to their contribution to the economy when they are young, but we did not see it coming soon, not now or this year.

when do they get 50% discount for the food or necessities for those who still can worked but lower wage? but they cannot get the subsidy as their wage was deemed too high.

for those who earned ten thousand dollars a month, a bread that cost S$2 is the same as those who salary of S$700 a month.

Full knee replacement operation

My mother went for knee replacement operation at NUH by one of the ambitious and young orthopedic doctor. He was also the head of the department. Since then, he has left NUH for private practice.
as he was new to the position and did not have much practical experience, he called for full knee replacement operation.
i was opposed to the operation, but he has persuaded our mother to do it. and she agreed to do it.

i should have asked for second opinion, but did not. i asked sister and she also agreed mother to do the operation.

few years, our mother found her operated leg was much longer than the normal one and she walked with a limp.

trust

my sister told me that you just cannot trust certain type of people.
i did not believe her and challenge her instead.
in the end, i lost the bet and have to take back my words instead.

yes, certain type of people whom you trusted will ended up betrayed by them.

i have no doubts about it and since then, have changed my perception on them.

they can't be trusted, no matter how good they are

the success of singapore

Taemasek on BOA (bank of America):
It was a long-term investment.
The sold them at the loss in 1Q2009.

The Singapore flyer’s breakdown for month in 2009.
They said, “It was good so that more people will know and come for the flyer.
What rubbish they are talking!

Town council invested on exotic structured products such Lehman brother and made a loss.
They said, “Overall, we are still earning profit for the past 10 years.
A loss is a loss, just admit it.

screening

A H1NI flu virus originated from the swine, surprising.
WHO has raised the level to 5, signaling a long draw battle and we estimated it will last for at least one year before MOH to lift the code yellow.
it was not like SARS, more like influenza, where it will infected many, but the casualty low.

still, it will be sometime before code yellow turn to green

change

change is everything.
last time we heard:
foreigners create jobs for us, singaporean and we owed them our livings to them.
instead, it was one singaporean supervisor and 40-50 foreign workers. a few years later, the singaporean supervisor got retrenched due to restructuring.

now, integration with new foreign-born singaporean. they sure changed the things fast. black become white and white turn black.

why the need of integration? because they are huge: roughly 1 million of them. you can imagine the social impact by their sheer numbers.

already 60-70% of the singaporean to be retrenched first.. they are not spared.
now they do regret taking up citizenship and should stay at permanent resident.

passed away

we have not seen our neighbour for sometime.
then we heard from other neighbour that he has passe away two weeks ago.

he has been staying at the same block as us for 20 years.
and he likes to drink beer.
when we saw him, we always greeted him and he also greeted back.
his wife divorced with him and his sons and daughters left him too.

he rented his rooms to foreign workers for S$150 each.

we are surprised to hear the news

Manchester United through the final:Rome

with 1-3 win over Arsenal on the second leg, Manchester cruised to the final of the Champions league to face either Chelsea or Barcelona.
Cheers!

MANCHESTER UNITED 1-0 ARSENAL

John O'Shea's close-range strike in the 17th minute was all the defending champions had to show for their efforts on a night when Almunia was in inspired form.

The Arsenal goalkeeper had set the tone for the night with a fine reaction save to deny Wayne Rooney in the opening moments, before also denying Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo.

each day passed is each day earned

one of our colleague was diagnosed with stomach cancer.
she had her whole stomach removed few months ago.
Her gut was directly connected to the small intestines.
But the cancer cells have spread to lymph nodes and she has to go for radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

it was the most uncomfortable periods for her.

she was the person who likes to eat. now she has to chew properly before swallowing. she also complained the connection points between her gut and intestines was the painful when she ate her food.

we met her cousin and she told us her story.
we told her that each day she live is each day she earned.

she used to be such a humorous person whom everyone likes and she has changed completely after she knew she had cancer.

beautiful things never last.

And we told ourselves that we should treat each day as our last so that we can value life and cherish the wonderful moments, which changed eternally.

what comes around goes around

Mr Wang Says So in his 25th April's blog told us something about AWARE.
he said:

Founder member and former nominated member of parliament Kanwaljit Soin said: 'It is not just a woman's issue but the whole issue of how civil society actors behave in Singapore.

'If the new members do not agree with Aware's issues, then they should not join. There is plenty of room to start another organisation.'

He agree fully with her. In his opinion, the new Aware ExCo has no credibility. They deserve no respect.

Yes, the new ExCo team employed a certain strategy and they won the Aware election. And yes, their strategy was constitutional and legally "correct".
But it merely reminds him of the

PAP's gerrymandering tactics - the way they brazenly redrew the maps, changed the electoral boundaries to their own advantage, and forced their way to election victories.

Those PAP tactics were also constitutional and legally "correct". But those tactics carry no sense of integrity and deserve no respect. At any rate, they won't gain his respect.

He feel exactly the same way about how the new ExCo members have invaded Aware. Their tactics are as honorable as a terrorist attack.

As you probably know by now, the new ExCo chairperson is Josie Lau. She works at DBS, marketing credit cards. Today, for what it's worth, Mr Wang is going to make a small, symbolic gesture as a DBS customer.

He will call DBS and terminate his credit cards. The DBS person on the line will ask me why (they always ask for that kind of customer feedback). And he will say that it's because of their Head of Marketing, Josie Lau.

He will say that he have a very poor opinion of her behaviour in the Aware saga, and that for that reason, he has decided to stop using DBS credit cards. Furthermore he will request for his feedback to be given to DBS's senior management.

what comes around goes around

the sweetest win: 2 goals down to roar back 5-2

Manchester United moved a step closer to the Premier League title after coming from two goals behind to beat Tottenham 5-2 in a superlative second-half performance at Old Trafford on Saturday.
But it was the half-time introduction of substitute Carlos Tevez, the Argentine international who was quoted this week in his homeland bemoaning his lack of first-team opportunities, which was the catalyst for the crucial victory

family

when you are feeling down,
when you are out of job,
when you take bus, MRT, or drive to home,

family matters most

they are there to help you,
and it is the place where you feel most relaxed,
and you speak everything under the sun or moon,

and when you faced difficulties and have no one to turn to,

you family will standby you, no matter how or come what may.

family

Retrenched: Singaporean first to go

according to the press release by MOM on 24th April 2009,

Redundancies in 2008 rose faster in percentage terms for foreigners (153%) than locals (72%).

Although locals formed the majority for 61% of the redundancies in 2008, their share came down from 70% in 2007.

Correspondingly, the foreign share of total redundancies rose to a new high of 39% in 2008, slightly more than the proportion of foreigners in our workforce which was 36% as at December 2008.

it meant in 2007, singaporean formed 70% of the retrenched while foreigners only 30%.
in 2008, singaporean still occupied 61% while foreigners 39%

face the truth.

food poisoning

down with food posioning this morning.
it has been a long time since we have that pain and fever.
no appetite too.
just like to lay on the bed and rest.

still not recovered until the late evening that we took the anti-food poisoning medication that our fever subsided.

seen the doctor and took the chacoal plus lot of salt water..

recovered..thanks God.

during this traumatic period, thought of many things and also realized many things as well.

alas..

Weather

is Hot...!

Manchester United through the last 4

Manchester United's Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo shoots to score a goal against Porto during their Champions League quarter-final second leg at the Dragao Stadium in Porto. Manchester earned a 1-0 win on the night, 3-2 on aggregate, to set up an all-English semi-final tie with Arsenal.

maid

happycitizen on his article on maid, posted his blog:

Before I discuss this topic further, I have to clarify that I've employed 3 maids in the past 10 years.

There were all very different in terms of character, work attitude, honesty and intelligence. I was quite hesistant at first to hire a maid because I was worried about having a stranger in the house whom I wasn't very sure if I could trust but the household chores were getting harder to do as I got older. I got a few tips (mostly warnings and advice on how to 'control your maid') from my colleagues and found what I was told was a 'responsible' maid agency to employ the maid.

My first trip to the maid agency was a bit of an eye opener - the owner of the agency was quarrelling with a couple....I could hear bits and pieces : "If you don't like the maid, just bring her back ....you don't HAVE TO TREAT HER LIKE THAT...I really don't want your business". The maid agency owner spoke to me later apologising profusely for keeping me waiting ...she explained that the couple had struck one of the maids on the head for making a mistake and that made her angry. She told me if there was any reason I didn't like the maid I was assigned, I can just bring her back and she would assign me another one.

The first maid I hired was highly competent....not just competent, she was more intelligent than most Singaporeans - spoke 4 languages (Malay, English, Chinese and Korean). The only reason she was working as my maid was because she was retrenched from a S. Korean factory that paid her 2.5 times the salary she was getting from me. She had very high EQ and was very well liked by parents. All my fears and reservations about hiring a maid were totally unfounded. I almost never had to give the maid instructions - she was full of initiative and seemed to know what to do. I felt that she was completely underpaid and made up for it by giving her ang pows during Chinese New Year and a lump sum when she completed her contract. The day I sent her off at the airport, my mom had tears in her eyes....that was how much she was part of my family. I hired my 2nd maid from the same agency but things were quite different this time round. The first day I hired her, I found her eating on the floor of my kitchen floor...I knew I had to reset my expectations.

The 2nd maid spoke little English, didn't know to operate common appliances and didn't know how to do many things that maids were supposed to be trained to do. Still I decided not to send her back to the agency and let her complete her contract. It took some time to train her and I encourage her to learn some English after she completed her chores. It took some time but she did get to the point when she was quite helpful around the house....along the way, she broke my computer speakers, washing machine, many dishes, etc ...I did tell her firmly to be more careful but did not deduct her pay or punish her further ...over time she did improve and was quite helpful around the house. When she completed her contract and was ready to go home, she had this happy look on her face because she would be bringing back what would be a substantial amount of money to help her family - I hope that she has good things say about her experience in Singapore.

My 3rd maid who is still with me is average and sort of in between the other 2.
.
Maids are paid about $300 per month yet some Singaporeans have high expectations of them - some even expect the maid not to make mistakes and punish them severely when they do. How would you like to be treated if you're paid $300 a month to do a job? Lets put it this way, there are people who make millions and get away with mistakes simply by calling them 'honest mistakes' or blaming others for their mistakes.

I've heard of people deducting their maid's pay when the maid breaks something....you have to remember how painful it is for the maid when you deduct her pay ...she gets only $300 a month.

Others are very suspicious of their maids after reading those dramatised juicy stories on the New Paper about maids bringing men to the house or maids having boy friends outside. For this reason many still refuse to give their maids one day off per week. I'm sure many of these stories are true because maids are also human beings - they can go astray just as married men, married women and teenagers go and do things they are not suppose to do....but how many of you lock up your husbands, wives and teenage children for the same reasons. You can't just jail people in your house because you think they might do something wrong. However, all these can be considered minor compared with the cases of maid abuse we read about so frequently in the newspapers....

Why are there so many maid abuse cases in Singapore??? I had coffeeshop discussions with a number of people and these were the reasons cited....

1. High Levels of Stress. I believe we have the highest number of massage chairs sold per capita in the world ....hmm we frequently rank the highest in surveys on stress levels. There are not too many outlets for people's frustrations and stress...hey they can't just go out on the streets to protest and let go. So things can happen when they get home all stressed up and find that their maid has broken something at home ....they might just explode.

2. High Expectations. Some people expect their maids who are paid $300 to operate at the same level of efficiency as themselves (who are paid $8k?). They become terribly disappointed and upset when their maids does something they think is 'stupid'...

3. High Levy. The govt takes a chunk (40%?) of what is paid to hire a maid. Our govt takes in one month for each maid what the Malaysian govt takes in one year as maid levy...and they don't have maid levy in Hong Kong. What the maid levy does is to accentuate the expectations gap - the employer pays a total of $600...but gets an inexperienced maid who is paid $300. This gap causes many problems.

4. Lack of Respect for Human Rights. We are taught to read and count in school...but how many have been taught what human rights are? I remember moral education in my day was about Confucian ethics - respect leaders, respect elders...nothing about human rights. Given that human rights seems a 'dirty phrase' and respect for human rights seen as religious fanaticism [Link] in Singapore, it is not inconceivable a small number people have no clue that people coming from 3rd world who are less educated and poorer than us have basic rights as human beings....they may not hit another Singaporeans but they think nothing of physically punishing their maids.

Our maids earn the lowest pay in the world and suffer from high cases of abuse....what does that say about Singapore as a society?
A failure or success after 40 over years of nation building?

you should know the answer..?

cats

i loves cats.
they are adorable.
they like to clean themselves whenever they have the time.
that's why they looked the same.

unemployment 1Q 2009

we expected a rise from 3.7 for resident of 73, 2000 to rise to 4.0 to 90,4000.
they are interested in numbers but for us, we are more interested in every each of the individuals.

They tell us the 'big lie' that "the figures don't lie", as they treat us as categories and not as individuals.

However, category is not truth, but merely an act of choice driven by hidden agendas and prejudged priorities.

Categories are intrinsically ambiguous.

They can be distorted so that most of the data is 'on message', while awkward numbers are ignored.

Reduced to statistics, both human problems and problem humans are made anonymous.

Brutally insensitive decisions and actions are reduced to bookkeeping.

As a paper exercise, otherwise unpleasant acts are purified.

Treated as mere statistics, the unemployed, homeless, hospital waiting lists, alcoholics and other drug addicts, the mentally ill are all made invisible.

Through statistics, society becomes well-behaved, tidy, controllable.

fake kidnapping

on 6th April 2009, at around 1030hrs, we received an overseas phone call.
at that time, my mother and i were at home, she was resting on the bed. we picked up the phone, and wondered who was the caller.
we said,"hello" and the caller was surprised to hear a man's voice and quickly passed the handset to his accomplice, who faked,"i has been kidnapped" in heavy China's Mandarin accent.
we kept our calm and said,"bye bye." and hung up the phone.

we could hear the caller was not our dearest brother. his voice sounded vastly different. if our mother heard this, she will be panicked.

i have a feeling somebody (we don't know) knows about mum's mental situation and is trying a scheme to get some money out of mum.

i believe this will not be the first time you will receive such call.

if I ever receive such a call, i will mention to the caller in mandarin that i have contacted the police and the call is currently under monitor by the police

we have seen and heard on TV and radio that this things occurred and never thought that they would call us one day.

never take things for granted and do not give phone numbers to anyone.

laughter-don't live life without it

priceless win for Manchester United

Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and a last-gasp winner from Federico Macheda put Manchester United back on top.
Pressure back to Liverpool.

Liverpool back to the top of the Barclays Premier League.

he Merseysiders left it late but thoroughly deserved the victory which puts them two points clear of Manchester United who have two matches in hand.

they won 1-0 against Fulham.

More pressure on Manchester untied who faced home for visitors, Aston Villa.

Canton Wok closed down

we have read that chef-owner Ang Song Kang, popularly known as Chef Kang, has had to file for bankruptcy after a failed business venture in China.

he invested in a Guangzhou motor and machine oil plant in 2005 with two Chinese nationals. He had known one of them for about three years.

his partners asked him to pump in more money as the recession had affected business. he did so for six months, until the plant supervisor called him one day that the workers have not been paid.

he flied to the plant and found out the factory was empty. his partners have ran off and he has to pay the worker three months' pay from his restaurant's account.

in the end, he has cashflow problems and has to close down.

all because he trusted his partners which led to his downfall.

THERE IS LOVE (Paul Stookey) - Wedding Song

He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts.
Rest assured this troubador is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits here has caused Him to remain,
for whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name,
There is love. There is love.

Oh, a man shall leave his mother, and a woman leave her home.
They will travel on to where the two will be as one.
As it was in the beginning, is now until the end,
woman draws her life from man
and gives it back again and there is love.
Oh, there's love.

Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here or love that brings you life?
For is loving is the answer then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
Oh, there's love. There is love.

He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts.
Rest assured this troubador is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
for whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
there is love. Oh, there is love.

the North Star

no matter how, you always tell us the direction: north

Leaving On A Jet Plane

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now, they don't mean a thing
Every place I go, I'll think of you
Every song I sing, I'll sing for you
When I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Close your eyes I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the times, I won't have to say

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

500 Miles

If you miss the train I'm on,
You will know that I am gone,
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.
A hundred miles, a hundred miles,
A hundred miles, a hundred miles,
you can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

Lord, I'm one, Lord, I'm two, Lord,
I'm three, Lord, I'm four, Lord,
I'm five hundred miles a way from home.
Away from home, away from home,
Away from home, away from home,
Lord, I'm five hundred miles away from home.

Not a shirt on my back,
Not a penny to my name.
Lord, I can't go back home this-a way.
This-a way, this-a way,
This-a way, this-a way,
Lord, I can't go back home this-a way.

If you miss the train I'm on,
You will know that I am gone,
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.
A hundred miles, a hundred miles,
A hundred miles, a hundred miles,
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

the greatest love: mother's love

durians seasons

when you can feel the weather beginning to warm and down with flu, you know that the durian seasons will be on the way.

Predictitions: red devils to win 5 cups

the hand that gave Fulham the first win in so many years

Singapore’s future : foreign talent

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew speaking to an audience of about 500 students, alumni and invited guests at a National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) lecture on the topic of "Singapore and Singaporeans — Quarter Century From Now"...

..that

Singapore’s future might have a different ethnic and demographic composition as many immigrants become new citizens and permanent residents.

Mr Lee said: "We are caught in a bind — we’ve got to decide this is our country, our society and we must remain the majority. Yes, we will take immigrants; yes, we will take talented people, but we must be the majority.

"

Otherwise, they will change us if they are the majority

. So I think 25 years from now, Singapore will be more cosmopolitan because we’ve got many people from China, India, Malaysia and from the region.


so called "foreign talent" is here to stay, no matter how was the economy doing..how you may do not like it..cheers

economic recession:back to school

when you are retreenched by the company which you have been working for many years and found yourselves over 40s, do upgrade, retraining and refocusing:one way to beat recession and save yourself and your family.
or
take out taxi-licence course and drive taxi in 2 months' time or even lesser.
at least you have some income rather than staying at home or at the park doing nothing.
be active and not wait for the sky to fall.
you have to take the initiatie. do not depend on the employment agencies. they are just a lousy as you can think of when you are over 40s.

and most importantly of all: trust yourself in finding a position, just anything to start with.

also also widen your networking you have better chances.
and when you found the job, thanks them and repaid them in future when they seek you.

just not to take it seriously but an experience in your career.
instead of thinking it negatively, placed them at the bright side.

and most of all:

Live life to the fullest.

nepal

American Charles "Chip" Goodyear

The wife of Singapore's prime minister will step down after five years as chief executive of Temasek Holdings, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, the firm said Friday.


Ho Ching, the wife of Lee Hsien Loong, will be replaced by American Charles "Chip" Goodyear, 51, former chief of Anglo-Australian giant BHP Billiton, the world's largest miner, a Temasek press release said.

She also will no longer serve on the company's board.

Now, Mr. Charles Goodyear has a tremendous task of cleaning up a lot of "shit" what his former CEO has done.
and also a lot of "time bomb" along the way too, not to mention.

it was a tough job to handle.

luckily for him, she will be on until october 2009, during which she has to hand over her duties to him and a lot of explanations of her decision on major issues.

tough act, and brave soul for Mr Goodyear.

ERA: Price fixing?

Judge slams unethical agents who 'flip' properties for profit

'When a property agent is engaged to sell or buy property, he has a responsibility to act in the interests of the person who appointed him - not his own, or his friends', or his relatives' or his boss', said the judge. 'This responsibility that the agent bears is the foundation of the ethical rules and contractual principles that prohibit an agent from acting in conflict of interests and reaping secret profits for himself or his friends.'

Two ERA agents were slammed by High Court Judge Choo Han Teck for their unethical behaviour in the transaction of a two-bedroom downtown flat.


Mr Yuen Chow Hin, an IT company vice-president, and his wife, Madam Wong Wai Fan, a housewife, had let go of their two-bedroom downtown flat at $688,000. They took their ERA agent's word that this was the best price they could get.

What they did not know was that the buyer of their Riverside Piazza unit was the wife of their agent's boss, and that she re-sold it almost immediately for $945,000, making a hefty profit.

On Thursday, Justice Choo ruled in favour of the Yuens, who had sued ERA for the 'secret profit' made in the second deal.

The judge found that the conduct of agent Jeremy Ang and his boss, Mr Mike Parikh, senior group division director at ERA, amounted to breach of duty and fraud. He also had a stern reminder for the industry of its ethical responsibilities, as it had emerged in court that such practices were common.

The judge concluded that it was Mr Parikh who wanted to buy the flat in order to make a quick profit during the property boom. To distance himself from the deal, he used his wife, Madam Natassha Sadiq, as the buyer and Mr Ang as the seller's agent, the judge found.

Mr Ang was the link but Mr Parikh was the person behind the scheme, and his position made his subordinate's breach of contract even more reprehensible. The misconduct was of such magnitude that the judge said he felt bound to make the reasons clear in his judgment so that no property agent could now claim ignorance.

commments:

Mr Ang, an ERA agent used the brand name, ERA to secure trust from his clients, Mr. and Mrs Yuen, who believed in him in selling their house.

but he abused their trust by telling them the lies that their house was not thta good and let his boss and him earned a tidy profit and commission.

that showed how truth the man's is, under every circumstances.

in the end, he has all to lose and nothing to win.

Trust no more.

85,000 jobs lost in a single day

just after 7 days of our 2008/2009 budget and on the second day of our Lunar New Year 2009, we saw the greatest number of jobs being lost in just one day,across Europe.

and we expect many more to come in later days and months

.

It was all gloom and doom.

and we are not spare either.

we also expected many more to retrench after Lunar New Year.

new year new beginning

it was a brand new new year.
already there are so many problems last year, yet unsolved.
still,

it will be the best year yet.

no matter what has happen, smile, let it go and move on.

there are many things we have to do, don't just sit there and grumbled.
it was useless to just do the talk.
walk the talk instead.

and most important, you must made the correct decision at that time.

remember not to dwell in the past, but place hope in the future.

the past is behind you and the future was right in front.

cherish the present for which it determined your future, your life and everything.

we tended to forget the people who cares about us as they scolded us. but they meant well. they do think of you.

loved them as always..

CNY 2009

Have a Joyful Lunar New Year

LKY on Financial crisis

Nobody knows how long this recession will last, or when the America, UK, EU and Japan economies will stabilise and recover.

Meantime, all feel poorer with the loss in asset values of their shares, properties and other assets

This downturn is just beginning.

No one can say how long it will last and how deep the downturn will be.
Recovery will come when the property market in America reaches bottom and begins to rise.

That may not be for many months or even years.

the government will be ready to decide on assistance programmes for the lower-income earners.
But to return to where we were before the crisis and enjoy the same standard of living, we have to wait until the recovery of the world economy.
We all have to accept some sacrifices and cut-backs.

mother and child

the greatest love of all: mother.
treasure it.
cherish it.
be contented.
and
share your joys and sorrows with her,always.

smile when times are bad

laughter

Love story III

Some Town Councils collected our S&C fee and invested in structured products like DBS high Notes, Lehman’s brother minibond, Jubilees notes and Morgan Stanley Pinnacles notes.

It was S$16 millions in total. (Another S$3 million in Pinnacles notes in danger of losing all)

And they were all worthless.

Zero.

It was this sum of money that we could not earn in our lifetime

And they just told us it was gone.

They went in with their eyes opened.

They have excellent learning, unlike the 62-year-old retirees with no primary education. They just like to have safe fixed deposit but were told to buy complex products that they were told it was principle-guarantee.

They did not know, but these people knew.

They knew what they were doing.

They also knew that high returns high risk too.

They read the fine print too.

And it was not just one person but many people involved.

But still they went in.

When things happened as it always, they blamed on others like our 158-year-old Lehman’s brother and low fixed deposits interest rate could not offset high inflation. But not themselves.

They told us that they did not expect it to collapse as it has AAA+ rating.

Like our trusted banks, they told you beautiful stories and sidetracked you the main point that they have made wrong decision and pushed all the blame.


When you owed them money, you will get fine for not paying.

When they lose your money, they needed not pay anything at all.

Not even a single cent.


Trust no more.

Love story II

Benchmark crude oil futures rose to almost US$155 per barrel in July but have since fallen to below US$60 four months later.


Back before July 2008, companies which expected oil prices to continue rising locked in three-month futures contract so that they can protect themselves.


They hedged their fuel cost by buying contracts for fuel at a predetermined price for future delivery and it helps them save millions when oil prices climb.


But when price drop, they have to book the unrealised losses on their account.


But not SP Services Ltd.

They have made the mistakes in locking the three-month future contracts in July for a price of US$155. They have bet the oil would continue on its upward climb.
However, oil began to plunge to US$100, and then US$60.

It was 100-120% drastic drop.

And they have made the wrong bet.

Instead of the helping consumer paying less for the electricity bills, we have to pay even higher bills for the wrong bet made by SP Powergrid.

They should book the unrealised losses and reported in their books.

But unfortunately it was not the case; they passed on the losses.

On the other hand, they book record profits.
And the top management got their fat bonuses, with our money.

Just like the Lehman brother’s minibonds.

They told you beautiful stories, showed the wonderful charts after charts, and explain points by points but did not mentioned that they have made a grave mistakes and this mistake will be undone by us, the consumers.

Trust no more.

a lover's story

An investment bank had betrayed customer’s trust and cause financial tsunami.

And other banks and reminiscing films followed their unscrupulous ways and sold their products to vulnerable ordinary people like 62 years, primary school education retirees.

Like any other lovers, they swept your feet away with sweet words promising fantastic interest returns.

They spoke honey-words, brought you candle-light dinners, best French wines, good food, shopped for exquisite and expensive jewelries, stayed in luxurious hotels.

You signed the applications form blindly without perceives the tiniest fine print that anything happened; you will lose despite the capital guarantees.

Likes other profit-greedy companies, our most-trusted banks followed their footsteps.

Like any exotic things it comes fast and goes fast as well.
Like exotic names as minibonds, High five notes series.

When they collapsed, they placed their blame on other but themselves.
Like any lovers whom they made the girls pregnant, they told them the child was not theirs.

Like any lovers, they have betrayed their trust and caused you miserable, sorrow and heartbreaking.

Like any lovers, they ditched you with unborn child.

In this case, the child was a worthless paper.

Like any other pregnant mother, you have to fight on, bring justice to light and let the world see through his filthy, unclean and foul soul.


Trust no more.

gloomy days ahead

already retrenchment has happened fast and furious.
watch out:

Gloomy days just started.

space

the tide has turned

wolf rain

smile: the best medicine

our blue planet: Earth

Our dearest planet; Earth

time machine

how i wish to have the time machine, where we can roam through the past, present and future..

Unemployment rate

Geed

the first sins: greed

more to come,this is just the beginning

Lehman Bros to sell off assets after 3.9 billion dollar loss

most beautiful words

a loving couple just has a child.
both have to work but they did not employ a maid.
when they worked in he day, they brought their child to their mother, and brought back in the evening.
when the child woke up and cried in the wee hours of morning, the husband would tell his wife," you rest, i get up."
it happened many times but each time,

the husband would say,"you rest, i get up."

when the child grew up and asked his mother what was the most beautiful words in the world, she told him, "you rest, i get up."

one life

One life.
Live it to the fullest.