A Mind of My Own

It will be my last if possible. I was so looking forward to it but when we arrived, there was a major anti-climax. Party World at Oriental Plaza was a disappointment. We had problems trying to select songs due to the remote issue. It took us 15 minutes trying to get it to work each time.

I felt disappointed that when I called for booking, I was greeting in Mandarin. So, only Chinese go for KTV sessions? Apparently so. We did manage to select quite a number of songs to last throughout 4 hours. I doubt that we’ll go back there unless there are no other places.

Party World near Maxwell Road wasn’t selected due to the weird timings. I mean, who on earth sings from 7pm to 11pm? Or 11pm to 3am? Don’t people have to have dinner before that? Maybe I am wrong about 11pm to 3am but 7pm is too early since most people knock off at 6pm. I don’t like packages that fix the time slots.

I truly wonder how the current economy in Singapore. My attempts to find jobs of similar positions have failed. Not that I am surprised. They prefer certified professionals rather than the supposedly degree. Sadly, that’s the case for IT. A degree just help you get that first step. It’s the IT certifications that help you broaden your prospects.

I can whine about their lack of experience. However, I was inexperienced once. I can whine about being unable to climb up the corporate ladder. However, I have never thought of climbing up such a ladder. I like what I was doing until I slowed down. I have never ventured out to seek other areas despite my ability to pick up skills fast.

I have been too comfortable in my zone that I like the stability and yet hate the routine. I got bored. I got angry at how bad life is and how stuck in the rut I was. I was blaming everything else but myself. I stopped learning. I wonder why. Was it because of the chase for that degree I was so desperate to get that time 4 years ago?

Was it because I was no longer studying that my brain cells have stopped functioning? Was I just obsessed with something else, that money can’t solve everything? I’m not so sure but I am sure of one thing now. I am finding my purpose in life.

During the chase and the aftermath of it, I lost my energy for everything. I just wanted to be out of that routine. I wanted to be my own boss and dreamed of it ever since I realised that the corporate world is cruel. Even if I have dealt with it.

I want too many things but I have yet to start on it except now. Now I am tired of trying to send out my resumes as I know I am not ready to go back to a 9-to-6 work. I want to slog it out. I want to force myself to take up the things I have been meaning to take instead of saying “I don’t think I am up to it.”

I am still learning how to take such challenges and changes. It’s a huge change from my previous roles. Something that not everyone will agree with.

So, how is the current situation with the economy in Singapore?

Image via Wikipedia

Friday nights are for partying. Thus, ES called for a last minute night out. We had dinner at Sakae Sushi. My craving, apologies. After dinner, the four of us went to Ink Bar but it was closed off for a private function till 9.30pm. Since it was just an hour’s wait, we made ourselves comfortably at the entrance.

The lady serving the drinks didn’t even give us a menu or asked if we would like to drink anything. Within 2 minutes after JC had returned from the restroom, we went to Introbar. Goodbye to poor service. We made ourselves comfortable at one corner of the club, the door where ES attempted to open but failed to try the other unlocked door. A really face palm moment.

We ordered our drinks and enjoyed the ambiance at the place. Poured our work woes and about the cruel world of why working and looking for jobs can be horrible for women at certain ages. The obnoxious people who refused to understand a problem at work and people who sing different tunes in meetings when a problem is still unresolved and why budget seems to be bugging everyone.

Mainly, we shared our stories of how to overcome them and releasing the stress. CD arrived nearly 10pm. This was where the fun started because she was all raring to go dancing her heart out. She spoke of her dancing experience in Boat Quay or was it Clarke Quay; this guy is a dancing instructor and asked her for a dance. She agreed after the bar owner said he is a dancing instructor. She twirled around in Salsa style half the night. Getting giddy was the end result.

Since she wanted to dance her stress away, HF accompanied her and they went to Equinox. At 12.30am, they returned to the table and spoke of this guy dancing near CD and unbuttoning his jeans. He was dancing very close and was really excited about CD. His friend started to dance in front of CD and got pushed away.

I didn’t realise that guys just got hot under while dancing and needed to strip. I would have crushed the balls so that he can’t use them to bang any more. CD said her hands would have been dirtied. How unfortunate, it would have been good to crush those balls.

It is unfortunate that discos and dance clubs can’t screen people for stripping-compulsive-disorders-in-public. If anyone can come up with a clamp device for crushing balls, do share.

It has come to my attention that Mr Amit Nagpal has incurred the wrath of Singaporeans by demanding for equal rights to buy a flat even when he is just a PR. In addition, he further provoked the HWZ members, many of which are also Singaporeans by asking the admins to close down some threads that were of a threat to his reputation.

Finally, he posted in a thread that he would be calling the police at the advice of the admins to handle such threads in the forms. Oh my. This reminds me of Odex all over again.

Have I told you that HWZ CSI members are very good yet? They had dug out his personal bio and posted all over the forums and including his innocent family members too. That, I feel is too much. The guy may be a haughty world-wisely and useful to his employers but the root cause of the anger should be directed at his haughtiness. The same thing can happen to those who dig out such information and place it in full glory. It’s called karma.

I feel angry that as a citizen of Singapore, I have to wait in line for balloting a flat. I have 2 friends who have tried to more than 6 times. While others have been known to try for 2 years, theirs may be just a small case. Have you tried to ballot for a flat in your parent’s home estate because of the flat rules yet? Priority is for married child but for both my friends, they failed to get even a decent slot for their home estates.

Can you imagine the horror at receiving a queue number of 234 out of 342? You are balloting for your home estate and your parents are just living across the street from the new flats that will be built in 2013. In the end, my friends ended up trying for ballots in further estates that are far from either set of parents. They both got better queue number by doing that.

A challenge has been sent to Amit Nagpal. If you have the guts to call the police for a HWZ thread in a forum, you should have the guts to reply to this challenge.

The letter that angered many Singaporeans who have trouble getting their own flats:

I REFER to the lively Forum discussion about home ownership in Singapore. As a new Singapore permanent resident (PR) from India, let me respond this way.

First, Singapore is the only country with such a high percentage of home owners. Trust me, your home will never be repossessed because of a sub-prime-like crisis.

In New Delhi, where I came from, government housing is a luxury. Once in two years, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) releases land and builds basic, two- and three-bedroom homes.

A lottery decides who gets to own the flats. Snaking queues, with hundreds of required documents, no salary or income cap and no cap on the number of flats applied for are a few of the scheme’s characteristics. The balloting is fraught with irregularities. Most successful applicants sell the flats almost immediately in the open market for a huge premium.

My parents in India still live in a rented apartment because they have not been successful in getting a DDA flat and cannot afford expensive private housing. These things happen in India because it does not have a system like the Housing and Development Board’s.

Second, I am 33 years old and live here with my wife and two children. I consider myself well educated, worldly wise and useful to my employers.

What am I doing in Singapore, leaving my parents, family, friends and comfort zone back home? Why did I strive to become a Singapore PR, and perhaps a citizen in future? I did it because Singapore is safe, dynamic, modern and conducive to a decent livelihood. Most important, the Government promotes harmonious living and equality for all. Many Singaporeans take these virtues for granted. I don’t blame them because they probably don’t know what it is like elsewhere, including a country like India which may have the world’s fastest growing economy, but is fraught with corruption and an unsafe environment and does not have what Singapore has.

So it pains me when I read letters which say that PRs like me should not be treated well enough. I know we cannot be given the same rights as citizens, but why demand no rights at all?

Now, this is my country too. There is no turning back. So why can’t I buy a flat directly from the HDB? And although I came as a permanent settler, why treat me like an enemy?

Amit Nagpal

I know a PR. She has to rent a flat with 2 other PRs. She doesn’t complain about buying a flat here because she can buy a bigger house in her home country. Singapore is a harmonious country but with the likes of you demanding to buy a flat of your own as a PR, what harmony are you promoting?

What I know about Singapore

1. Singapore isn’t a big country like India where space is limited. That is why even Singaporeans have to queue up and hope to be given a good slot.
2. Singapore is a place where she welcomes everyone into the land without being prejudiced. That is why there are many expatriates and foreigners here.
3. Singapore is a place where any strike or riot that the police catches wind of will be immediately brought to the police station within 5 minutes of the congregation. That is why Singapore is harmonious.
4. Singapore is a place where any discrepancies in the charities are brought known to the citizens and where many days of auditing the accounts are spent. They are often in the first page so that the everyone is aware of what is going on. That is why there isn’t much corruption issue here.
5. HDB has rules and regulations. I have linked to the ones that Mr Amit Nagpal has missed out. Citizenship, Priority Scheme, Housing Loan from HDB. I would be very surprised if one PR is able to change that ruling in the Citizenship section with just one letter to the Straits Times. It goes to show how much I know Singapore, no?

Mr Amit Nagpal, what do you really know about Singapore after x years here? Do you prefer to be a Singaporean or a PR?

Sources: SgForums, Endoh’s Dungeons, Darth Grievous

I have been freed from the routine job. Perhaps I have reached my ends of the what one might call the boredom of routine job. It hadn’t been that routine but I needed a change of scope that I craved for. I wanted to do something else but there just wasn’t any slot for me at the time.

I was in my first job for 4 years. Hanging on because I was still studying for a degree that isn’t recognised in the end. I had the chance to shift my scope there. I had a chance to expand my knowledge at my second job. There I was so focused in that I got so wounded up due to the demands there. There wasn’t any change of job scope that was possible as there were more talents in the HQ.

After all these years, I am realising that I am looking for an ideal job. My criteria is:

• Allowing me to work from any time as long as I can produce results.
• Allowing me to work from anywhere.
• Paying me enough for my bills and insurance and enough to save up for retirement.

Perhaps what I need isn’t a job. All I need is to have a few roles or skills to juggle with so that I won’t be looking around every 18 months.

Since my last day at work was on a Thursday, I had an event to attend on Friday, the bag competition. On Saturday, I stayed at home scheduling my posts for my blogs. Sunday, I went out. Monday, I stayed at home to source for more money making schemes and I went to watch Hellboy 2 with DD on Tuesday.

Today, I will pick up the cosmetics from Pure Luxe from HY. I have activities on Friday and Saturday although I’m wondering if I have any activities on Thursday.

I have been thinking about the bags I have just bought. I think I would like to sell the black bag. It looks so odd when I hold it. The photo was taken by me, the background has been photoshopped out.

There have been too many things going on. I’m quite confused as to where I should be starting. It’s hazy and yet I have so many things to do. Such as finding ways to earn money without resorting to working in an office. Unfortunately, Singapore isn’t really a good place to start. Or any other country for that matter.

Image via Wikipedia

I still need a day job. Unless I can work 4 hours a week. It will be a dream come true. I haven’t gotten over Latte’s demise yet. It is a traumatic experience if you witness your beloved pet grasping his last breath in front of you despite all the efforts to save him. It was really unfortunate that Latte died as a virgin.

I haven’t been sleeping well since. Some of you may scoff at the idea of losing sleep over some guinea pig. However, any pet owner will be upset at the lost of their pets because they have been spending time bonding together and gotten to love each other. Imagine living together with your Labrador for 15 years. It passed away due to sickness or old age. You have been walking around the neighbourhood every day and the loss has changed the routine. How does that feel?

I have been thinking about life. It’s so short that I just want to spend more time with my family rather than spending so much time at work earning more money but it’s useless when you can’t be there when your family needs you.

I have been thinking of starting my own business but it isn’t going to be easy since I have absolutely no idea where to begin. I do know there is someone who wishes to help. That’s so sweet. At this moment, I would like to think about the business type and strategies before jumping into the bandwagon.

What the future holds I’m not sure. I just want to be sure about something and yet afraid to do it. It’s my first step towards something. I have tried to work towards another goal, getting a writing job but unfortunately, been rejected twice. It isn’t as much as some who may have been rejected 10 times.

I find that in Singapore, if you want to work towards your dreams, it isn’t that easy. Various factors include:

• Your own flat.
• You lack the reputation such as being featured in magazines for photography, writing, etc.
• Your own car.
• You have been doing what you hope will help you but unfortunately, your face needs to be plastered all over the net and your name must be found all over the net before anyone will want to feature you.

I will be facing the unknown and I think I may have to plaster my name all over the net and write my name all over the net so that the idea that I have in mind will take off. I don’t know how long it’ll take but I hope that it’ll pay off well.

Life here has been good. I can walk home after 7pm without much worries except for that time when I saw that flasher. That memory wasn’t good because that wanker hasn’t been caught and I don’t know why the police never did call me for a photo fit. Oh wait, Mas Salamat was/is more important than some penis attention. Sorry.

While I have some complains about the public transport, I will not say that I don’t love my country. I just love my country only. However, life has become stressful in some ways because if you are not promoted at work, you are screwed when you reached your 30s for a woman and 40s for a man. It isn’t written but it’s all in the mindset.

The future is scary because I know what I don’t want. However, I don’t know what I want. My elimination list is rather long at this moment and I hope that by the time I have eliminated 70%, I know what I want.

Family outings used to be great fun for us. We looked forward to Genting Highland trips as we would get to ride the bumper cars by ourselves. My mother would announce that next week, we will be going to Genting and I would pack my bag happily.

A family trip in the long car ride was not the highlight was we would get car sick. We have serious motion sickness. However, the thought of enjoying the cool weather and the theme parks was enough to be excited about a non-exotic place for a holiday.

Over the years, my family trips reduced as we had different schedules due to CCAs and meeting with friends for shopping or projects. The family favourite routine is to arrange for a trip on the go. Once the decision to visit the zoo was made, the very morning, as long as the sun was shining brightly, we were off to the zoo.

It is so much easier to just go out as a family upon the decision was made as any other days would have resulted in one missing family member. Take the Singapore Flyer ride, it was made in the evening and when I reached home, I had to go out after dinner for the ride.

There was no time to think too much. The weather was just perfect and the traffic was fine. It isn’t much of a routine but something that is tradition in my family. The fastest way to have a family trip, decide on the day to go anywhere in Singapore as long as weather permits.

Apparently, my English isn’t as I thought it is supposed to be. The following is the email I sent for an enquiry.

To Whom it May Concern,

I would like to know if there is a package for a group of 5 girls for a makeover as I can’t find it in your website.

Thanks.

Simple, right? WRONG! Look at the reply below.

Hi,

Thank you for your interest in our services.
Please go to our web site www.themakeoverinc.com.sg for more information.
All pictures are taken in digital format and there is no negative or soft copy or CD provided. CD are additional charges.

Image in CD:
(list of the pricing for the images to be burnt into the CD)

False eyelashes are available at $20 per pair. And please bring ur own outfit thank you!

There is an image for a package for one female. That certainly wasn’t what I asked for. So, I scanned through the email again trying to see if there was anything wrong with my eyes or my language. I am seriously wondering if that is the standard reply. I asked for GROUP, didn’t I?

I shall have to think of why some one thought of the idea of meme. It’s freaking scary because of the huge numbers of ways they can come up with just to get to know the inner you. *shudders* Thanks to modobs, my love thinker, I have one strange meme to do. Not as if it’s the first time though.

My roommate and I once … what roommate?

Never in my life have I done a bungee jump.

High school was full of distractions like boys and competition of who got the highest marks.

When I am nervous I pee, a lot.

My hair is a mix of light and dark brown.

When I was 5 I was punched on the chest by this guy who dislike me, a lot.

By this time next year I will be doing something I really want to try.

I have a hard time understanding … maps.

You know I like you if I sit/stand close to you.

My ideal breakfast is waffles and scrambled eggs by DD.

If you visit my hometown you’ll be playing pool, watching movies and some shopping.

If you spend the night at my house, you have to be sleeping in the living room. There isn’t any more space.

My favourite blond is Cameron Diaz.

[via Flickr]

My favourite brunette is Donny Yen. That chiseled chest of his.

[via Flickr]

The animal I would like to see flying is a cat.

I shouldn’t potato chips.

Last night I was playing games.

I’ve been told I look like my mother. A photocopy of her when she was my age.

If I could have any car it would be a limousine. It feels spacious and I love spacious cars.

Tags are meant to be passed. So, Sentosa Girl, Xinyun, Miss Loi and DK, your turn.