am i a patriotic singaporean? maybe i am, maybe i am not. i know the singapore pledge by heart. both the english and the chinese version. and i can rattle off the national anthem any given time of the day. but how is that so? it is because, correct me if i'm wrong, it's mandatory to recite the pledge and sing the national anthem in sch. yes, 6 years in primary school and 4 years in secondary school to say the least. so that 10 yrs of drilling us with the pladge with the national anthem.
but sometimes maybe i have to ask this question. what does singapore hold, so as to make me patriotic to her? the country have provided me with 22 years of shelter and education along the way. relatively cheap school fees, and cheaper if i had not chose to study in an independent school in my secondary education.
it is a very safe place to live in. crime rates are low. we dun have to worry about our kids taking drugs in school. we dun have to worry about anybody pulling a gun out in school and killing everyone. alchohol and cigrattes are so frigging expensive that it makes ppl more apprehensive when trying to destroy their body.
we have nice shopping malls to shop at, so when you feel that you have that bit of disposable income, you can just walk into any gucci and prada to splurge using that retail therapy of urs. retail therapy jus makes it sound nicer. its buying what we like. and for those with less disposable income, there's always the giordano or friendly neighbourhood shops to get ur stuffs. and buses which comes at a much frequet rate then in certain parts of europe.
and also all sort of food from all kinds of places. 24hr food joints littered all over the country, and a certain popular fast food outles just expanded their delivery services to 24hrs, we can say that we might not need to worry about going hungry either.
sounds pretty much like a wonderful place to stay aint it? but till now, it's only one side of the story. of cos people say everyone have got their own set of problems. so does singapore.
Recently, there have been quite alot of emphasised placed on foreign talents. singapore wants more foreign talents to come in, to do whatever they are good at. they are urging them to come. letting them know that they are important.
allow me to put forward an analogy. The mother have been treating her daughter quite well, but she have just given birth to a new child. and this new child is a boy. as of every traditonal chinese family, the son is held as the more important member of the family as he carries on the family name. hence the daughter is now being neglected and everyone is taking immense care of the son.
maybe singaporeans are feeling like the daughter now. i've been part of the family for so long, but this person just came, and now nobody gives a damn about me all of a sudden.
so are singaporeans now 3rd class citizens?
1st class - Expats 2nd class - Foreign Talents 3rd class - Local Singaporeans
So we are this low in ranking in our own native nation. you might argue that this may not be true. but take a walk into the shopping mall, or restuarant and be more alert when there are foreigners, or to put it Singlish 'angmohs' around, just take notice at how the shopkeepers, salesperson, or the waiter takes care of all their needs.
enough about foreign talents. there are still other issues that we have yet to tackle. issues like the restriction in media. just yesterday, Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) have been banned in Singapore due to an interview that they have carried out with Chee Soon Juan. Now nobody is allowed to bring any issues of FEER into singapore to be sold or distributed. and we are also not allowed to subscribe to it anymore.
i feel kinda sorry for the business students who have been following FEER so religiously for their extra readings. but let's hope that this will not be the last we see of FEER.
still on the media issue, a few months back, blogger mrbrown created quite a hype when he wrote in an article in TODAY, that somehow criticised the singaporean government tongue in cheek. but the authority was less then happy with his sense of humour and came down very harshly on him calling him a 'partisan player' and even causing him to stop submitting articles to TODAY. so you can tell, we are unable to truly voice out what we feel. but we can if we are able to propose a way to correct the problem that we are not happy with as far as i understand.
to think about it another way, we are somewhat being terrorised into submission. instead of being protected by the them.
the cost of public transport is gonna go up tomorrow. and amongst other things (including hot air) that are raising, only salary and wages are not raising. well, to this point, i'm a little worried about getting a lawsuit which i fear i might not have any $$ to fight, so i guess it is to my best interest that i stop typing. till next time.
We've all heard betrayal stories: The husband discovers an e-mail between his wife and her boyfriend, the boss catches an employee at lunch with a competitor, the politician lies about, well, everything.
From love to business to politics, trust matters. There's no magic formula to building a trusting relationship. But there are a couple tricks to help you gain trust in a hurry--even if you don't deserve it.
The first step is simple: Seem like someone people trust. Harvard Business School negotiations professor Deepak Malhotra suggests giving references, which can serve as live testimonials to your abilities. Just be sure that your references trust you first.
If you're short on friends, propose setting milestones, says Malhotra. For example, if a client is reluctant to sign an exclusive contract, offer a short-term nonexclusive deal first. After you've proved your competency, your partner will feel more comfortable committing to the exclusive agreement.
Going slowly also helps earn trust in romantic relationships, says dating coach Patty Feinstein, who often advises her clients to keep things casual until they get to know each other better.
Credentials are useless if not backed up with know-how. Philip Reed, consumer advice editor for the automobile shopping Web site Edmonds.com, spent six months undercover as a car salesman at two different dealerships. During his training, the salesmen told him to always have a response to every question. And if you don't know the answer? "Either tap dance around it or make up what you believe to be true," Reed says.
Of course, if the customer discovers you are lying, all trust will be broken. "Car salesmen and real estate agents sometimes overdo it," says Malhotra. In her 2004 study on deception, University of California, Santa Barbara, psychology professor Bella DePaulo found that liars rarely admit mistakes. So, if you want to seem truthful, confess your ignorance. (This tactic didn't work for Reed, who came clean when he couldn't answer a customer's question. The writer-turned-salesman sold only five cars in six months.)
Maybe he should have worn a short-sleeved shirt. Feinstein encourages her clients to bare their forearms and show their palms. Flashing some skin indicates openness and availability. Eye contact is also key. If you're looking away, she says, you seem shifty.
But body language isn't universal: In some African countries, looking your boss in the eye is considered disrespectful. Conscious of these kinds of cultural differences, intelligence agents are trained in local cultural mores before they take a post abroad, says Peter Earnest, director of the Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. Earnest, a 20-year veteran of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service, believes that trust happens on a subliminal level, so niceties matter.
"They may not know why they don't trust you, but they'll know something is not sitting well with them," he says.
The same idea applies in different business cultures, which often have their own lingo, says Malhotra. Several years ago, an airline invited a bunch of consulting firms to bid on a contract to build a new, high-tech ticketing system, he recalls. Everyone at the meeting was using the word "lifts." Feeling lost, a representative of one firm asked for a definition. The room fell into silent shock. A lift, it turned out, was the standard industry term for a paper ticket. The firm obviously didn't get hired. If you don't understand industry terms and acronyms, says Malhotra, you won't seem trustworthy.
Old-fashioned kissing up can also encourage trust. Feinstein advises her clients to make the object of their affection feel at ease by doing favors, giving compliments and being accommodating.
The key to establishing a long-term connection is consistency. A key part of espionage, says Earnest, is making local informants feel safe in every situation and with everyone in the agency. "If someone else is sloppy," he says, "the source fades away."
Or, to put it more simply: If you want someone's trust, call when you say you're going to call, and show up when you say you're going to show up.
So you think you can tell apart Chinese, Japanese and Koreans? are you really that confident?
Some say it's easy to see. Others think it's difficult-maybe even impossible. Who can really tell? That's what they want to find out. They'll show you a series of 18 pictures of CJKs. Select which country each is from and see your score. *And if you're wondering whether or not to take offense, remember: alllooksame is not a statement. It's a question.
By Constance Holden ScienceNOW Daily News 21 September 2006
Ever wondered whether the classical music aficionado next door has had a bit more schooling than the guy blasting rap from his car? New research suggests you may be on to something. A lot of the stereotypes concerning musical taste and socioeconomic status appear to be true.
Psychologist Adrian North of the University of Leicester, U.K., wanted to test musical stereotypes. So he and David Hargreaves of the Open University in Milton Keynes, U.K., conducted an extensive survey in the United Kingdom. The researchers buttonholed more than 2000 fans of 35 different musical styles in various places such as campuses, shopping malls, and train stations and asked them to fill out a questionnaire detailing their jobs, relationships, beliefs, and consumer habits.
As stereotypes might suggest, those with the most education were also the main fans of opera, classical music, and jazz. For example, 8.5% of the classical music lovers had Ph.D.s, compared with 1.4% of those who favored disco music. And classical music lovers' incomes averaged $66,000 compared to $44,000 for lovers of popular dance music. Classical music buffs were also inclined toward intellectual fare, such as current-affairs magazines, whereas the rap/pop crowd favored magazines about cars, women, or celebrities. (bobby pua - ok, so i do listen to classical music from time to time, but where's my $66,000?? so it means i gotta lay off those popular dance music if i wan to earn more huh.. and i prefer classical to dance, but i favor cars, women and celebs rather den current affairs magazines)
One "clear pattern" to emerge was a clustering of antisocial tendencies among young fans of pop, rap, and rock. For example, 53% of hip-hop fans admitted to having committed a criminal act, compared to 18% of fans of musicals. (Not all survey results conformed easily to stereotypes: Opera buffs were least likely to take showers and wash their hair, for example, whereas fans of "DJ-based music" were frequent shampooers.) The findings are described in three papers in press in the journal Psychology of Music. (bobby pua - all you hip hop fans!!!! 1 out of 2 of you guys committed a criminal act!! but we can choose to look at the bright side and think that hip hoppers are more honest and would rather admit to watever they have done as compared to musical fans)
"Music has been underrated in what it can tell us about societies and individuals," says musicologist John Shepherd of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. And because music preference is "easy to report reliably," adds psychologist Vladimir Konecni of the University of California, San Diego, researchers may be able to someday infer characteristics of certain groups of people based simply on their stated listening habits.
In the meantime, North is expanding his quest. He's looking for 10,000 people to answer an online survey and "paint the first worldwide picture of who likes what" to see whether generalizations emerging from the U.K. study will resonate around the globe.
*i have no idea why the alignment for this post is so screwed up. i'll try to fix it... somehow...
back here again. how many of us are guilty of placing work,self-interest and money in front of living a life? but then again, are we capable of living a life if we do not place work, self-interest and money in front of living a life? how do we define living a life? having a big house, with a nice ride being the envy of everyone? or jus spending quality time with family, friends and your partner?
this is quite a fucked up issue to discuss. thinking about this issue set me back a couple of headaches. i'm sure many others feel the same way as me.. do you worry about money and work? i think this is part and parcel of every singaporean.
maybe sometimes we have to work backwards. why do we work? issit because everybody does that when they have finished their course of study? or do we work because we need to earn money to ensure our survival, to be useful to the society and giving us the capacity to live a life? i think for 99% of us, its the latter. 1% being those born with a more then shiny silvery spoon up their arse, or rather i mean in their mouth. ok. now that we have settled this... we have to think of why we want to survive, to be useful, and to live the life.
this question is way too big i feel. for those feeling rather religious... you would happily say that because some greater force out there gave us this life and we would have to treasure it and live it to the fullest. and to the less optimistic people around, they would probably cry out that they want to survive because not working would mean no money, and no money would mean starving to death... something that does not really appeal as a particularly nice way to leave this earth. maybe to those civil servants potentials they might feel that after receiving much help from the gahmen, its finally time for them to repay back and serve the nation with much pride, thus also living their life.
so why do we want to continue living? morbid as it may sound, but it's a question we have to ask ourselves. to find the purpose, the goal, the movtivation and the drive. but you might tell me,
akeelah : 'hey bob, i've got a goal, but i will never reach that goal, so i might as well go and die rite?'
bobby : 'wat's that goal of urs that you can't achieve akeelah?'
akeelah : 'i want to be the 1st person to stand on the moon'
bobby : *lands a left hook and punches the shit out of akeelah*
i used akeelah cos macdonalds keep playing this stupid advertisement of akeelah and the spelling bee or whatever movie. this is just a good way of venting my frustrations out on akeelah.
yes, so when we set goals, we need to combine it with a little bit of common sense. and if the goal seems unattainable at a certain stage in life. we also need to learn to be abit flexible and adjust our goal accordingly. we aint talking einstein here.. jus some common sense. i'm sure you can do it.
wanted to blog for a long time. but i couldn't find a good time to sit down and really spend some quality time to put my thoughts into words.
something irritating has been going on in taiwan. the citizens are pissed off with ah bien. and 2 jokers are leading the rebellion. ok, they might not be jokers. they are people you cannot find in singapore. they managed to publicise their campaign to gather everyone to sit down in front of the taiwanese 'white house' or 'Istana' and show their dissactisfaction against ah bien. their aim is for ah bien to step down as the president of taiwan. so these taiwanese citizens gather by the tens of thousands to sit down there quietly and rebel against the president.
imagine if these 2 jokers were in singapore. i wonder what would have happened to them...
Badminton is a good game. been a long time since i had such a good workout. ytd's sesssion puts all my previous attempts to exercise to shame. haha. but i woke up this morning, with aches all over my body, including my ass.... reminds me of ns days. waking up with aches in the morning when i've just enlisted. lol..
the last time i played a competitive soccer match was like the beginning of the year? omg... that's like almost a year ago. so thanks to my badminton kakis for providing me the motivation and chance to work my ass off... wooohoo! i feel so healthy all of a sudden.
this is a bad thing when u decide to proscratinate and not blog when u feel like it. cos you forget whatever u want to blog about. all ur thoughts disappear. ooohh, anyway, i made a trip back to SJI on teachers' day eve. visited a couple of teachers. it's a pleasent surprise tat my chinese teacher still remember my name despite her age. lol~ and of cos also to visit my much respected Mr Dominic Ang. he's still the same. no gf i guess. he's dedicated his whole youth to teaching. so anybody who's abt 30, 30 odd? wants to know a very dedicated, caring and fillial teacher leave me a note and i'll try to do the rest ya?
always feels good to go back to a place where holds much memories. SJI has not changed much cosmetic wise, and the value of the school will not change. there's gonna be a new SJI. haha. SJI International School.
SINGAPORE : The Education Ministry has given its approval for a third privately-funded school, St Joseph's Institution International, to be set up. It joins ACS International and Hwa Chong International School, both of which opened in 2005. The proposal was submitted jointly by the De La Salle Brothers Singapore, SJI Board of Governors and SJI Old Boys' Association. It was approved based on the strength of its management team, the coherence of its curriculum offerings and the quality of education it can potentially offer its students. Eight proposals by other organisations were turned down. SJI International plans to begin next January and principal-designate Andrew Bennett is busy recruiting teachers. Parents interested to enrol their children can go for information sessions on September 16 (at 10am and 3pm) at St Joseph's Institution on Malcolm Road. - CNA/ms Yea so go enrol your kids there for a bright future!! okie, so till i can remember what's the issue i wanna blog about, i'm off for the merseyside derby.. take care guys...
got my freaking pay. but i realised i've got so many wants, the money from my pay aint even enough to get everything. wat do i want?
1) my pair of onitsuka tigers....... 2) and also a new pair of leather shoes. (yes yes, i know i say very long already n haven buy yet) 3) badminton racket (my old one's already kinda rusty) 4) wallet 5) 4Gb memory stick for my psp 6) new shirts 7) new jeans
i better stop here. my freaking birthday is still so damn far away. haha. sianzz.
