Paying the Price

Too many reports of students doing stupid things and losing their lives as a result of their stupidity. What's so fascinating about "tau pok" that drives a group of students to render their classmate in a coma. And what makes the students think they can beat the flow of the fast moving waters in the canal given none of them are actually strong swimmers to begin with.

My mom asked me if I did all those things when I was a student. Frankly speaking, no. However, I do recall my classmate from pharmacy school asking the freshmen to do the "tau pok" thingie. Sure it has it's danger, but I think it is not so when you were given time to plan who goes at the bottom of the pile and how to go about executing it so the whole group was part of the "tau pok" without flattening the one at the bottom.

Then, my mom asked why students do such stupid things nowadays, and I just shrugged my shoulders and said, "It is the price we pay for propelling the country's economy forward." Dual income families are now the norm. Both parents have to be working in order to afford luxury goods for the whole family. Both parents have to work in order to pay for the bills and daily expenses. Both parents have to work because both want to have a career. Both parents are working because our government is encouraging housewives to return to the workforce. Whatever the reasons, we are seeing more and more family with both parents working.

If both parents are at work, then who is there to guide the children? Teachers? Teachers are not with the students 24/7. Besides, they have 30-40 students to look after, the best they can do is give general guidance. It is not right to expect teachers to give individualised guidance. After all, teachers have a life outside school, they cannot be expected to sell their life and time to the education system what with the puny pay they are drawing.

Parents should still be the ones to guide the younger generation, but of course commonsense tells us if the parents are at work they cannot be home looking after the kids. You might, argue that there are bosses who allow their staff to work from home, but pray, tell me just how many bosses are that open-minded? Or for that matter, just how many workers are that motivated that they can discipline themselves to work without a physical driving force?

Whatever is the case, if parents do not have the time to look after their children, then they SHOULD NOT have any children. Children need time and care, they need love and concern. They need people to guide them as they grow. Just don't burden the society.

Sweat!

Yah, caused the bus driver to sweat big time this morning. He was in the process of closing the front door, but at that very moment I took my first step through the door. Knowing that the door was about to close onto me, I sort of panicked for a second before I instinctively followed through with the motion of boarding the bus albeit completing the action in a shorter amount of time.

Well, I was not the only one who panicked. The bus driver opened his eyes and started shouting, "No! No! Wait!" But of course it was too late. I was already on the bus and I had already scanned my EZ-link card. ^.^!

Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech massacre. Despite what has happened, American leaders are still divided in their opinions on firearms sale. Many continue to support the stupid notion of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms", but of course the underlying agenda is because these leaders were elected in due to their support for firearms sales. To turn tail now, and say they support the ban on sale of guns would rock their political seats, I guess. So they chose politics over human lives.

However, in a desperate bid to still appear pro-life, they distorted logic; it is precisely due to incidents such as that on Virginia Tech campus that all the more people should be given easy access to guns to protect themselves. A stupid idea that I am sure many would swallow hook, line, sinker and all. It seemed like sound logic, but guess what, as Mr Blaine Rummel from Virginians for Public Safety aptly put it, "If easy availability was a solution, Virginia Tech would not be in mourning today."

Those pro-gun leaders either lack the guts to admit they made a wrong judgement, or they are simply too stupid to see the dangers of allowing any Tom, Dick or Harry to bear arms. Then again, you cannot blame them. After all, they are just following the footsteps of Mr GW Bush; never admit you made a wrong judgement in fighting the Iraqi war even when the rest of the world can see that you had made a serious judgement error.

And We're Still At It

This is my 200th post on this blog. Didn't think this blog will last this long considering I never had the habit of keeping a diary for long.

Saw my brother's Time magazine lying around this morning and I saw this title "Why America's Army Is At the Breaking Point". First thing that came to mind is, "You mean we are still on this issue?" Did we not establish this point long time ago? Even if the army can take the mental and physical toll, I am sure the US economy can no longer continue to support the army financially.

To say I do not care what's going on at the other side of the world is to lie. Do you not care when you read of 16-17 years old boys who died fighting the war of men. What's worse is instead of the usual 4-week intense training, they only get some 10-day weapons use, first aid and Iraqi culture training because US desperately need to send more forces to the front line. I'm not a military person, but that sure does not sound like much preparation to me.

Coming back to Singapore, the most discussed issue now is of course regarding our ministers' pay. Again, I do not understand why this discussion went on for this long, and has to draw so much flak. Time to just put a stop to it and just give the ministers more pay. Honestly speaking, if I earn more in the private sector and I do not have to make the personal sacrifices a minster has to make, why on earth would I want to join politics and be a minister? Would you?

Inactivity

Have not been very active on my blog. Have been spending most of my free time playing the piano instead. Used to dislike Bach when I was taking piano lessons. His pieces look simple but technically not simple because you have to take into consideration Bach played the harpsichord not the piano, so in order to play the pieces as Bach played, you have to hone your fingering techniques in order to make the sound produce by the piano to decay as close as possible to the harpsichord.

Anyway, I am still doing my fugue in C major. There's some improvement. At least I've gotten past the first page. *sweatz* I'll be out of action for quite some time, but I'll try to get in a short post at least once a week.

神奇的 Charcoal

Had this Oolong water bottle that started smelling funny when my mom put ginseng water into it. Kind of puts me off reusing it, but I liked the bottle so I came up with this bright idea of using charcoal tablets to remove the smell. Anyway, charcoal's also used in stoma bags to help remove the smell of waste products from the body so I am just riding on the same principle.

Although I know the principles, I am still amazed to find out that all the funny smell is gone. Then I wondered if it was an overkill to use 2 tablets instead of one. Anyway, I just wonder why people always say to use teabags to remove odours or humidity. I think charcoal worked so much better. :P

Fugues

Why do fugues have to be so d*** difficult?! Been stuck playing Bach's Well-tempered Clavier Fugue in C major. And I really mean stuck. Was not able to get past bar 6 without distorting the whole piece... and I was so looking forward to completing the fugue so I can move on to Prelude and Fugue in C minor...

This is Goodbye

Had a farewell dinner with my tech on Thursday. Although there were only 8 of us, we were a rowdy bunch. I correct myself, only 7 of us were rowdy. My senior was his usual quiet self. Had a great time. I took more candid photos. Even had one which my senior was not having a constipated smile. Lol

Anyway, this is really goodbye. I know my tech says she has a flat here in Singapore so she will be back, but nobody knows the future. Plans can change and she may just want to settle down elsewhere. Life goes on.

My Wallet!

Lost my wallet again. No not the one that I use in Singapore, the one I brought with me twice to Japan. The first time I lost it was soon after I came back from my Jap trip in 2003. Tried looking for it for 3 years, but fate brought it back to me only last year, slightly more than a month before I left for Hokkaido. I took that as a sign for me to go Japan. Then again, with or without that wallet, I would still go Hokkaido. Haha... so much for the sign.

It's just that there is still S$100+ worth of Jap yen in that wallet! I can buy tons of Pocky stick and aluminium canned Qoo with that! (T_T)

AMK Hub

Went there yesterday to get a present for my tech who is leaving for Canada. Commented to Tytianne that the name "AMK Hub" reminds me of Bangkok's MBK without the word "hub". So much for creativity in naming a shopping complex just by abbreviating the name of the area it is located in.

Candid Shots

Haha... got candid shots of my senior and tech the other day. Was suppose to take a group photo of the staff in my section, unfortunately 心有余力不足. Whenever we tried taking a group photo, some patient would come. Working shifts also meant my other tech and I left earlier than the other two. Oh well...