November 25, 2008 at 6:37 am · Filed under General
I was reading the papers in the crapper this morning and this caught my eye. The caption below the photo says, “Food is left on a table at Zion Road Hawker Centre, despite a sign nearby clearly indicating where people should put their used trays. This will change is the NEA’s efforts pay off.”
Well, the problem is not with the people. It is with the signage! The signage says “Tray Return”. Notice that there are no trays at the table? Perhaps the tray was returned?
Try changing the signage to “Used Utensils Return HERE! FINE S$1,000″. Sure table clean one.
October 25, 2008 at 2:58 am · Filed under General
I was reading about what our grand old man has to say about the world economy on the Channel News Asia Website when I came across this:
On a lighter note, the Minister Mentor touched on what he calls assortative mating, that is, finding a spouse at your level – something he strongly believes in.
He said: “I have explained this. I think I lost votes after I explained the awful truth. Nobody believed it, but slowly it dawned on them, especially the graduates, that yes, you marry a non-graduate, then you worry about whether or not your son or daughter is going to make it to the university.”
Okay, I guess I’m not too well read and I usually don’t give much thought about this topic anyway. For a person who is still resisting contributing to the gene pool, this is seriously the last thing I would bother about ya?
But, assortative mating… that somehow caught my eye today. I think this term has a pretty catchy feel to it. I needed to know more. I did the next best thing and wiki’d “assortative mating” while googling “lee kuan yew assortative mating“. (don’t you just love tab browsing?)
I got to know what assortative mating meant, but I couldn’t find much material on the Minister Mentor’s view. Instead, I found a lot of people in the blogosphere flaming his idea.
I think I get his idea, and I think he has a point. I think I like it. But I don’t think his colleagues in the gahmen gets it. Otherwise, why would they put a foreign dormitory in a middle class residential area like Serangoon Gardens? Don’t they know that there are plenty of graduates and would-be graduates living in this type of housing estate?
I mean picture this… innocent ‘ol me, single and available hanging out in my cosy middle class estate when the ass of this cute female foreign worker catches my eye. I think I’m in love. I marry her. *poof* my valuable graduate genes is suddenly no longer available to a local blue blooded female graduate.
I want to be assortatively mated. A foreign worker dorm next to my house is not going to make it easy for me. I mean, sometimes dunno why ah, but when the planets are aligned and the moon is full, I think with me other head lor…
(Before I get flamed, I wish to make clear that this does not mean I think other housing estate don’t have graduates… I just wanted to point out that Serangoon Gardens have.)
October 24, 2008 at 9:17 am · Filed under General
Research on lab rats has shown that fart reduces blood pressure. Or so says this BBC article. So the next time you get a dirty look after off gasing in the elevator, just tell your fellow occupants that they should thank you instead.
October 3, 2008 at 6:51 am · Filed under Serangoon Gardens
Why postmen? Well, they said they would submit the letter and they did. The Minister for National Development said he received it. But I guess that was all huh?
It is so obvious that plans were already made to convert the former Serangoon Garden Technical School when the residents of Serangoon Garden got the wind of the news.
The access road to AMK Ave 1 was already being constructed as our leaders blatantly insist that no decision has yet been made. (Well, the road is now pretending to be a construction access for the CTE widening project.)
It is really one thing to be forthcoming with information and another to secretly make decisions to convert the former Serangoon Garden Technical School into a dormitory while pretending that it might not happen.
Our MPs could have just come out and say sorry suckers! Your votes are peanuts! Better you than me and get it over with. I think I would have felt slightly better.
Preemptive defence, saying that it is not up to them just makes things worse because it kept the hopes of the residents up. The the news today just dropped everyone’s hopes like a lead baloon.
They should have just said, ‘I’m afraid it’s gonna happen.’ and then go on to provide a timeline and road map. I think the residents in the vicinity should have at least been given a chance to work with the authorities.
My immediate question to the powers that be now are:
- How long will the location be used as a dormitory?
- Since the Government has been so secretive about the whole thing? Who do we turn to if there are problems?
- What do I do if I see a foreign worker masturbating at my nearby neighbourhood park when I go for my run in the evenings? (This would not have been a question 2 weeks ago, but I just saw one doing it in Sembawang Park.)
- Do I report a foreign worker if I see him having sex with a maid in the park? (I saw a FW and a maid behaving intimately just yesterday.)
- What if my dog goes missing? (It hasn’t.)
- There will be financial benefits being enjoyed from the lease of the facility. Will the residents benefit from this in return for such a sacrifice?
- Will the dorm operator be decided via an open tender?
- If so, when will the tender for the dorm operator be posted?
- Will Serangoon Gardens residents be given preference if they take part in the tender? I believe residents will be able to run the place better since they have local knowledge.
I’ve been getting best wishes SMSes from my friends since the news broke to the tune of…
- *** fuck serangoon gardens alr…
- yr estate gona b workers’ dorm. Siow liao. Move to sembawang b my neighbour la. Haha
Let’s see what else I receive.
September 12, 2008 at 5:02 am · Filed under Serangoon Gardens
When Malaysia in 2003, made noise over the effects of land reclamation off Pulau Tekong on their fishing grounds and shipping lanes, I must say I was all for Singapore
I mean, I settle my side you settle yours lor… why come and disturb me when I sprucing up my land right?
I mean, we need more space what… Malaysia got so much land, won’t understand one. I guess I was wrong and I am beginning to see the folly of my rationalization at that time.
Malaysia has every right to complain. Especially so since it affects the livelihood of her people.
Singapore was being an inconsiderate neighbour. The courteous thing would have been to inform our neighbours and work together right from the start to minimise any possible impact. Perhaps even to cancel the whole plan if studies show that there negative effects that affect the livelihood of thousands.
Without the slightest courtesy, they went ahead on land reclamation works. Malaysia had to go to ITLOS to get an interim stop work order before Singapore halted the works.
With regards to this, I sincerely apologise to our neighbours. Perhaps, to make the South Johoreans feel better, they might want to know that Singaporeans are not spared such inconsideration too.
I live in Serangoon Gardens. There is an unused school building 500 meters from where I live. It belongs to the Government. So my Government is also my neighbour. They have chose to employ the same approach on us as they did in the Pulau Tekong case.
They secretly study the feasibility of converting this school building into a foreign workers dormitory without seeking inputs from residents living in the vicinity, their neighbours. As I type this, plans are probably being made to proceed with the conversion. They say it is still in the feasibility studies stage, but I have my doubts.
I guess it is always when it starts happening to you that you see things from the other side.
Our neighbours in South Johor have it better. They can still go to ICJ and ITLOS to get stop work order and make some noise. At least they all managed to force Singapore to work with them for a resolution. I think we all in Serangoon Gardens lan lan. No where to go. Even our members of parliament say can help submit our pettition but this one not their department to decide.
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