void of existence

I was near HDB office today.  Out of curiousity, I went in to ask about the available units and my eligibility to purchase.

One can buy direct from them if:

-  They are single and above 35

-  They are married

-  The total household income is below $8,000

-  They do not hold any private property in last 2.5 years

I am sure there are a lot more regulations.  But looking through the list, there is just no way for me to purchase a HDB apartment directly.  Its frustrating.

The reunion dinners are great.  I had 2 this year.

The first one was at my grandma.  This is the old fashion way with all kinds of meat.  Baby X behaved himself for the 2 hours we were there.

The second one was at my in-laws.  Steamboat.

Personally, I love steamboat.  Contrary to people (who did not do the preparing) beliefs, steamboats are not easy to prepare.  Even though the cooking is all done at the dinner table, the preparation of the food takes a lot of time.  I never like the idea of a steamboat at reunion dinners.  I like the whole fish, the stir fried prawns, the stewed pork, the abacus and the slowly cooked soup.

I am not a person who have a high tolerance for nonsense.  Not much for patience either.  But I do entertain serious questions about what others did not know.  If I do not know something, I will just admit that I do not know.  There is really no shame in it.  I find myself explaining things frequently.  My darling will be one of them.  I am glad that I did coz it really let people get on with social settings, making small talk and holding a conversation at a decent level.  This is something that I never had when I was younger.  My elders tend to brush me off as being too young to understand.

As a parent now, I feel that I should be the one who show my kid the ways of the world.  Be it good or bad things in the world.

Its good to see my cousin Ben being happy once more.  In his own words, he has been floundering around for the past 29 years of his life without aim.  Now, he has finally found his calling and his sunshine.

Many of us are like that.  We go through life without a goal.  Then we found ourselves helpless when we realise it.  It happened to me again.  This is a necessary period.  What can’t kill us will make us stronger..after all.

He is now embarking on a new journey in life.  He is reborn.  I am so happy for him.

I reminded him not to forget the feeling and the moment.

We are our own biggest enemy.  We need to remember how we got ourselves out.  Also, allow others who are near to help us.  Only we can allow that to happen.

The other thing is to pay attention to our love ones.  Now that he has his focus on his career, it is necessary to pay attention to things closer to home.  Lots of time, we neglect our partners, family and/or friends.  We let an aspect of life to take too much of our time.  Remember that there is only 24 hours each day in our lives.  We need to give the ‘prime time’ to every aspect of our lives.  In TV programming, the most expensive slots are the prime time, that is 6pm to 9pm every day.  Spending after prime time spots is not quality time with an aspect of life.

I was changing the address on my NRIC when the police officer asked me if I would like to indicate my religion.  I told him to just leave it as it is complicated.  So he said ‘Its indicated here that you are a free thinker’.  I told him that he does not understand the term free thinker.   He looked at me blankly.  With all respect, he is a good fellow.  But this term is so misuse here.

I am not a free thinker.

I used to think that I am a free thinker when I did not know what it means.  But now that I do know.  I am telling you that I am not a free thinker.

Free thinker is defined by many sources as one who does not believe in a higher being.  Namely God.  Atheists, agnostics and rationalists are free thinkers.  I will not go into the details of those.  They are tedious to explain.  And its non-conclusive.

I admit that I do lean towards some theory of Freethinkers.  But only some.

Respect for each individual’s beliefs.  Thats my policy.

‘Feel the spirit in me whenever I bottom up.’

I was pissed off big time a couple of days ago by the security supervisor of Subaru showroom at Leng Kee.

I wanted to do a collection of car decals for road tax and season parking from the sales guy who sold me the car.  On arrival, I found that there are no lots after driving around the showroom building.  So I exited and stopped after the gantry.  This should take no more than 2 minutes.  The supervisor of the security guards at the gate started shouting over the talkie that I should not be allowed to park there.

So I asked to talk to him…

To sum it up, I gave him hell and he resorted to ‘I am just doing my duty.’.

Well, there is nothing wrong with doing a duty.  But one must define what is THAT duty.  His duty is to ensure safety to all persons going into the building.  It is also to ensure that no obstruction is caused to the traffic around the building.  He is not supposed to act as a higher being over the talkie to blindly force a customer to go away.  Since the car park is full, it is also his Duty to see how he can facilitate customers to go about their business in the building.

I am moody every morning when I wake up for work.  I am not a morning person.  God knows how much I hate the period of BMT when I have to wake up before the sun.  I think it should be a crime to have to wake up on a regular basis before the sun comes up.  Its a total waste of electricity.

So this morning, I got up and went to get some breakfast.  I usually can’t eat breakfast in the same hour that I woke up as my stomach will start acting up.  But today, I felt like having some Tau Hua.

As anyone who ever been to Bedok Central, you will know how freaking crowded that place is.  So one must always share the table with someone else.  I approach a table where a guy just got up and leave while the other 2 men remained.  A clear sign that they are not together.  So I asked ‘May I?’.  One guy stared at me while still sucking in his noodles and the other guy waving his hand to indicate that no one is there.  Well, so much for answering the question with the correct answer.  Thats not unusual…I am pretty used to it.  But just thought I will say it here again.  These 2 guys will not be appearing in any game show in any time soon…I hope.

So I finished my breakfast quickly, got up, took the empty bowl and went towards the tray collection area.  Now, here’s the story.  As I was putting the bowl on the collection shelf, a cleaner was staring at me before demanding why am I putting the bowl there.  No ‘thank you’ and no ’smile’.  I thought to myself…isnt the garment promoting that we should do this?  Or am I getting it wrong?  Maybe the cleaner is thinking ‘Damn…you are going to get me fired if everyone started to return their own trays and plates’.  Maybe I am missing something.  That’s the real reason why I cannot be bothered to return trays anymore.  I used to do that all the time when I was studying overseas.  To me, its the norm.  Maybe I am really missing something.

This incident brings back memory of an old lady being offered a seat on the train.  She adamantly refused to take the seat.  In the end, the guy who offered was left standing there, looking like a fool.

Some people said that chivalry is dead.  I say ‘mai bo liao la..give me my tau hua’.

Lurve is the word that I learn from Evie and Ah Zhi.

We lurrvveeee you.

I lurrvveeee my darling.

I lurrvveeee my X.

The world does not revolve around you.  It revolves around me.  Go ahead and say it… ‘The World revolves around me.  We lurrvveeee you but the world revolves around me.’

I have lots of fun hanging out with Evie and Ah Zhi.  These 2 are really party poppers.  They bring life to a party.  You really should think about inviting them to your party.  Remember to feed them alcohol after midnight.  It adds the fun factor…No, it multiplies.

Have you heard the dear speech from the new US President?

Its full of charm.  People are so excited about him.  He is such a darling.  I am sure this Superpresident will solve the world’s problem starting from USA.

What I am not so sure since day 1 of his fight for the Democrat place if he has enough of what it takes to overcome the problems.  He seem to have underestimate the problems that he is facing.  People are overestimating his ability.

Foreign policies …Gaza is going to give him a strip of problem throughout.  If not, Korea or the Middle east probably will.  No wonder he is letting Clinton do the job.

Home front.  He will have fun being the banker of a monopoly game.  I guess he will use the car as his token.  Health care is taking a chance card.  For every point that he threw at Bush, he has better come up at least on the equal footing.  His biggest enemy is the weather.

Err..  Ok, just guess what he is going to be called 4 years later.  My take is….