99000

I read in an article that it is expected to have 99000 people who will lost their job. Its getting very real. At first, one would think that it'll not affect us, Singaporeans I mean. But if the numbers do come true, imagine how it must feel like for those involved. Some may be lucky to have saving to tide them over, but for how long? What will happen then? And imagine the stress people are feeling now, thinking that they may lose their livlihood.
I have friends, who are zipping around, travelling to overseas destinations, talking about buying new cars and all, all painting a rosy picture to their aquitances. But it is not that rosy. The person sitting next to you on the bus, is probably thiniking as to how to feed his or her children in the coming weeks! Its that bad.
I have friends who resigned from jobs, because they don't like the environment. Who does? If you like your environment, then its not work. But in this times, there are mouth to feed and bills to pay.
I'm sitting here, on my bed, listening to the sound of tyres splashing on the wet road. I wonder, will it affect me? And if it does, am I fully ready?
I guess the answer will be yes, it has already affected me, and no I can never be ready. People close to me have their lives changed because of this recession. A relative had to spend time away from her son just so she could work and bring $1.5k back home. Another close friend, has fallen sick thinking as to where is he going to get the money to pay for his house instalments.
Many of my colleagues or ex colleagues seems to be living in this bubble, sterile inside, translucent to see through. They see what they want to see. They see misbehavior, they see dirty unwashed uniforms, they see borrowing and lending of money to buy food for luch. Its what they don't see that makes me wonder. I'm not one to judge, but I want to know, what is it that makes them unable to see, or empathise. Perhaps, its their lot. Perhaps they can't do anything about it. Perhaps they don't bother. I don't want to judge. I want to know.
I want to know what will happen to my neighbour who has two kids and husband only earning 1k per month. I want to what what will happen to another neighbour who owes a bank 1.4k a month on car instalments. Sheesh!
All I'm saying, it time one be prepared. Spend some time in putting some away. It might just come in handy.

TMAs

Been sometime since I last log in. Been busy finishing my TMAs and now I've got three more to hand in a couple of weeks. As to what I've been up to, well, its what I've not been up thats interesting. My leg was hurting real bad last week that I've to used a wheelchair. I felt so useless; I cried myself to sleep. Took me three days to be able to stand up without support. As a result, I missed my tutorials and a lecture. It won't be so bad except the TMAs could do a lot of help.

Because of a lack of driving, my Jet FC went down. So went to JB once a week for the past two weeks instead of my normal twice a week routine. Just went in last Wenesday in the afternoon. Left the house at 11am and reach back home by 1,40pm. Managed to catch Adam as he was walking home. Heh heh. Spent some RM$100 on groceries too!

Now as I sat here watching and Adam practising his piano, I can smell the pizza baking in the oven. I made a half and half. What I mean is, I used Ranch dressing as a base on half of the pizza and a traditional tomato, garlic and olive base on the other half. Just a few minutes more for me to see if it'll taste nice.

Actually, me and the whole family seems to be doing fine. Athough I've yet to be broke, there are some belt tightening that needs to be done. Its o.k, I'm living well with $150 dollars in my bank account. Su is doing well with $800 and Adam hmm, lets say he has a long way to go in understanding the concept of savings.

Still hoping for the GST credits to come in and Su's pb to come in. It'll be really useful I bet. Anyway, my job is to study and I better do it well. Else, why would I need to tighten up my belt for. I need to make this worth it. Its not a nice feeling not to be able to buy new stuff, especially Cds, DVDs and er...oh yeah, car stuf. But hey, if a friend of mine can do it, I's sure I can.

stopped...

This is so funny, that I'd stuff it all the way in the "why are there stupid things happening to me" category.

Today, as usual I had my Unisim lecture on Science (not really on the science subject but I'll talk about it in a bit). As usual, I went to JB to top up my petrol. As usual, I had easiest of time going in and going out. But, it was the going back part which made me wanted to cry out.

I was stopped, at the police check point, just after I had my car inspected my customs in the Singapore side of the causeway. This young officer, told me to wind down the window and asked for my passport. No sweat right, I mean he is doing his job. So he took my passport and began looking at the pages. From my rear view mirror, I can see another officer, looking through the windows and so on and so forth. But this guy, the passport holding officer started to make small talk. He looked through it and then asked, "Where are you going?" I mean hey, where does he think I'm going. "Home." I replied. Appearing to be shocked, he asked me if have a house in Singapore. I mean, I so wanted to say, "No, actually I'm a Filipina. I don't leave here, I got lost on the way to Cambodia!" What the f?
He continue looking at my passport and noted that I went in once a week. Seriously, if he had paid attention in math class, he would have known I went in twice a week.
An awkward silence then developed. The other officer was still checking my car, (I especially like the rims) and the guy was still flipping through my passport. I know he was trying to stall for time but hey, he could just put the passport down and waited. Suddenly, I heard an all clear and he awkwardly gave me back my passport.

I felt stupid being stupidly asked those questions by stupid people who does not know what stupid is. Just wasting my time.

Anyway, today's lecture has something to do with a Darwin and a Wallace. They focus on why Darwin is highly acknowledge while Wallace is not. It also boils down to the boundaries set by science by the scientists themselves. For example, as in it is difficult to actually have a definition as to what is religion, what actually is Science. If science belives in the material world, then what about the study of paranormal. If that is included, would that not be in the realm of being religious? Definition is important and in this case, we could be having scientist studying religion, but then again, what is religion? Is islam a religion? Why is it so? Is Buddhism a religion? Is Islam like Buddhism? What are the similar characteritics of Buddhism and Islam, Would football hooliganism have the same characteristics? What about scientology? Is that religion?

We studied Darwin's inabiliity to publish what he found out during his trip on HMS Beagle. We studied as to why Wallace, was not accepted as a professional scientist but then maybe he was ahead of his time.

Its half past midnight. Let me re read this post again tomorrow and post more stuff to make this post clearer.

Routine

I changed my routine today, abit, not much. After I've send my wife to work, I went to East Coast Park. Thought of giving my 20mm a good workout. But the day was gloomy and the light was flat. So I ended up walking briskly to the jetty and back. Not a bad workout for myself if I do say so myself. At least I didn't find myself limping.
Looking at the flatness of the light, I was quite excited as I made my way to the jetty. Only to find that it's closed for renovation. Nparks are replacing the railings, I think. The sign states that it should be ready in feb 09, but duh, its feb 09 now!. As I walked back towards the car, I realised that the park has changed significantly. There were constructions going on nearer to the jetty. I hope it'll do the park good... like more green space rather than grey.
Pictures below were taken on the way back.



I want to go to Tiong Bahru and do some street shooting. Anybody interested in joining me?

seasonal

There must be a reason!
My dad was readmitted to CGH, last Sunday (discharged yesterday). While he was there, my cousin was admitted for stroke (she is still there) and yesterday night, got a call saying that another cousin had passed away. Heard he had a fall in the bathroom. Sigh. Very depressing.
I guess, I should be grateful that my dad is still around and both he and my mum are in very good spirits. My mom, was diagnosed with nose cancer a few months back by the way. And I'm worried for not being able to buy a new phone!

Journal

My new tutor, Chitra, suggested to us to start journal writing. She said it could provide the spark needed to complete the assignments. I say, Yeah! We should all do it. Its a great stress reliever.
Anyway, just came back from M5 tutorial class by Manulife. Met some interesting characters there. It sure made the class more meaningful.
Anyway Citra is my Az 1031 tutor. The topic was about religeon or more importantly the study of religeon. Don't know if it made any sense to you guys but the study of religeon differs from religeon study. One is a formal undertaking to learn more about the why of religeon while the other would be a forma or informal way to know more about a particular religeon.
The topic begins by understanding the difficulty in defining religeon. As to why one needs to define religeon would be the fact that defining it would make it easier for one to study it. Definitions are clear precise but flexible enough to preclude others which are not religeon. But then, how does one define religeon. Ninian Smart model of dimensional characteristics could also include fervent soccer fever as being a religeon.
Anyway, it 11.45 pm now and I'm suppose to wake up early tomorrow.
Thus I am tired.The picture below was taken when I went to Batam.

Car-ed

No go, that's what they said. I exceeded the mileage by 500km and they said they won't be honouring the waranty. Screw them. I'll do my own service.
Damn, long day tomorrow.