The week in recap

Unfortunately, I have to start with the most frustrating encounter.

Today, I tried to take tomorrow off (I also requested for next Thursday and Friday off). I have some time off owed to me due to time I had spent conducting other activities outside of my regular work hours. First, just so this is clear, when I was with Citi, I never calculated all the extra time I worked because there was a lot of give and take while I was there. However, coming back here, I have been told to be more calculative. I don't enjoy doing so. Well, when I first requested time off in the early part of this week, I was told to "account" for it. I was not too happy but I did so. There was no reply to my request and I reminded my boss today. He told me he would check as we had a "important" meeting tomorrow. This "important" meeting is a complete waste of 3-4 hours of my precious life where 120-150 staff sit in a lecture theater discussing exam results. 50-60% of the staff are not directly involved and wouldn't be missed if they missed this meeting. However, it is a stupid f**king "compulsory" (btw, I am beginning to detest that word with a vengeance) meeting that everyone has to attend unless they are on medical leave. There are 2 of these meetings per semester, one after the main exams (finals) and the other after the supplementary papers. This is the one is the latter... which makes it even more meaningless to me. Anyway, the answer is obvious... in case you are still wondering, it's a big fat "no" because of this stupid f**king compulsory meeting.

Well, here is where my dissatisfaction lies. I am not a position holder. I am NOT directly responsible for any kids taking ANY of the supplementary papers. I am not a subject leader for any of the subjects with supplementary papers. I am a NOBODY. Would I be missed at this meeting if I died tonight?NO. Would I be missed if I skipped tomorrow's "important" meeting? NO. Seriously, I would have added nothing positive nor negative to this meeting. So, why? why the f**k will my bosses not just let me have the day off and stand by their decision. Because they have no f**king balls... that's why. The working culture is one of fear of superiors and that's about all I have to say about this. BULL-F**KING-CRAP. That's how this day ended.

But, on a more interesting note.

Here are some other things that happened this week.

Overheard on the radio.

On the way to work earlier this week, the DJs had some poll going on whereby the listeners were encouraged to text the station with what the FINE Singapore government should FINE (summons) their citizens for, in addition to what already exists. There were good suggestions as well as bad ones, however, the one that captured my attention the most was this one.

"There should be a fine for people who choose to have pets instead of children." The DJ went on to say something more about this person's text saying that the population was down because people were not having children. If they had stopped right there. I would have had nothing to comment about. It's not particularly wise as having pets and having children are really not comparing apples to apples. But, like I said, the person was entitled to that opinion. 

BUT, there was more on the text and when the DJ continued reading, I almost died. The DJ said that the texter went on to say that why have pets when there is a baby bonus but no pet bonus. Now, that's a truly misinformed and delusional person, not to mention completely idiotic. You base your decision to have kids because of a baby bonus? I don't know how much this damn baby bonus is, but it's a one time bonus, definitely not more than $20,000-30,000. And what happens financially when that BABY grows up? I think that was completely idiotic. But, I don't think that that person was alone when making such decisions... and that is scary... considering that there are so many kids running around without direction, love, care, etc, etc, etc... 

And lastly, we attended the Coldplay concert on Monday evening. When I have more time, I will post up some pictures.

Time to run....

Your God or my God?

I have tried to stay away from religion and politics (more so local than anywhere else) as much as possible on this blog. This blog was not intended to create controversy. I know religion is a very sensitive matter to some and therefore, I have a huge disclaimer to the story I am about to write.

DISCLAIMER: This is MY opinion. This is NOT a discussion board and I WILL NOT be drawn into a discussion with anyone who might disagree with MY opinion. You are more than welcome to post your comments on this issue, but you will NOT be hearing from me, regardless of whether I agree or disagree with your point of view. You are entitled to you point of view and I will agree to disagree. Please have the same level of respect if you decide to post a comment. Please keep in mind that I am not "attacking" religion, I am not "attacking" any one person. I am commenting on a philosophy of thought.

Early this morning, shortly after I had gotten in to work, I received an e-mail from a co-worker. It had some comments from the sender about why this e-mail was being sent to the receipients. There were 2 comments from the sender. The e-mail was being sent because the receipients were Christian. And the person concerned in this e-mail was the co-worker's friend's mother who was in the 4th stage of cancer. It was a forwarded e-mail and the original e-mail had the following content.

"93% won't forward, but I'm sure you will....
A small request... just one line...
Dear God, I pray for the cure of cancer. Amen.

(this was followed by a picture of a candle then the following script)

All you are asked to do is keep this circulating.
Even if it's only to one more person.
In memory of anyone you know who has been struck down by cancer or is still living with it.
A Candle Loses Nothing by Lighting Another Candle..
Please Keep This Candle Going

END QUOTE.

After reading this e-mail, I prayed the one line prayer and unfortunately, due to the work load I have, proceeded to the tasks I had in hand. I did not do anything more.

I had lunch with this co-worker that sent the e-mail and I said that I had a suggestion in mind. But before I was going to make the suggestion, I requested that she find out 2 things for me.

(1) What Christian denomination her friend and mother were?

(2) Would they be ok if a different denomination came and prayed with her (if the answer to question (1) was different than who I had thought of to go pray with her)?

My co-worker made the phone call immediately. I will not reveal the answer to question (1) because it is truly inconsequential. BUT, the answer to question (1) made question (2) all the more important... ie, the family of the cancer patient was of a different Christian denomination that the person(s) I was going to get to pray with them. The answer to question (2) then became of the utmost importance and to my extreme disappointment, it was a flat out "No". "No" as in, the cancer patient's family did not want a different Christian denomination coming to pray with them.

These were the occurences up to lunch time today and when I had a chance to reflect over these occurences, I came up with this opinion and felt compelled to post this on the blog immediately.

It puzzles me, how one can send out an e-mail to random people (by the way, my co-worker who forwarded the e-mail to me is NOT a Christian and basically has no religion even though Buddhism is primarily practiced in her home) to request them to say a prayer, even to non Christians, but when the offer for prayers with the patient, by Christians of a different denomination is offered, it is completely rejected. I have not even ventured outside of the Christian faith. I can possibly take this further but I am not going to because it is pointless. When the perception is already so myopic, it does me no good to even bring up other faiths outside of the Christian faith. Is YOUR God really different from MINE?

(Please do not interpret the next thoughts as being mean. It is not, it is just me being extremely realistic.)
As a stage 4 cancer patient, prayers are usually not to be saved/cured but rather for peace and acceptance (of death and everything else associated with it). Sure, I have also heard of stories of how some have been saved. Whether I believe those stories or not, it's irrelevant. But, what's relevant is that prayers will bring peace to the patient and to those around the patient, if they believe it will. My thoughts were that if I was at this stage of cancer, anyone and everyone can come pray for me. And because I had been a receipient of the earlier e-mail, I honestly thought that that was the intention. To be surprised at the rejection was wildly shocking because I would think you would need all the prayers in the world to be at peace, let alone be cured. Is one really a believer of God if they just rejected MY God (which by the way, in my opinion is the same God)? Is one really ready to be saved/cured because of these actions? Is there really a difference between YOUR God and MY God? Which Christian denomination is teaching their followers that there is a difference and should they still be termed as Christians if what they teach is not about love but rather about separation? I know how I feel about those questions above. I hope this cancer patient and her family eventually will too.

I am not a mean person. I do not know this cancer patient personally. There is no reason for me to dislike her. I have no idea what ideology she was brought up with. I do not know if this is the wish of her family or herself. So, I will just continue to say a prayer for her. I hope you will too when you read this post. I also pray that one day, from a Christian stand point (one step at a time), we will all see that there is no difference between YOUR God and MY God.

It's been a long week...

Last Sunday, I had what I would describe as a "close to perfect" day. I had almost no contact with the outside world. Yes, and that is what I consider perfect... 'cos after dealing with people day in and day out, not having to even speak to another person causes less grief.

Then I had to get up and go to work on Monday... sigh...

(1) Mitsubishi ad on radio.

Mitsubishi has an ad on radio where their tag line is "investment with long term value".

There we are, trying to teach our kids about what an investment is... and there these stupid fools are, trying to unteach what we teach by deception. A automobile is NEVER an investment unless it is a collector's item. A Mitsubishi will never ever be a f**king collector's item. Yes, it may be a reliable Japanese made vehicle but as far as I know (and I have personal experience with one such vehicle), it does not even fetch very good resale value. 

The statement may be true that it does have a long term value... as in, at the end of 10 years here, you may be able to sell the damn thing for a couple of bucks... but IT IS NOT AN INVESTMENT!!!

(2) Dumbass government servants.

In particular, my boss. Last week our final exams got done. As usual, there were some kids that failed one, maybe more, subjects. They are now set to sit for a supplementary paper. So, there will be revision for them. I was assigned to "coach" a bunch of 10 kids who had failed a certain subject. Their supplementary paper is in 10 days. I have NEVER taught the subject. It is not even a subject offered by my department.... but it's ok, a certain someone things I can learn the subject in 3 days and then present it to the kids and help them pass in 10 days... interesting. Either she must have super great confidence in me... or (and this is my favored choice) things just don't pass through what she calls a brain before assigning.

(3) And then I had to attend a class.

Which only served to reinforce the idea that everything is lip service.

Again, in the class, which is a follow up of classes I had attended when I first started work here, the focus is on our audience... the students. The class was about how to make learning more interesting and effective for our students. It is being drilled into our styles of facilitating education... but it is NOT practiced when we returned to the real world by people we are calling our "mentors"... it is a complete waste of time.

(4) And is all ended yesterday, how ironically, Friday, with a stupid annoying incident.

A couple of coworkers and I had gone out to lunch. The parking lot was packed but we managed to find a spot. It started raining, very heavily, while we were having lunch. When we were walking back to the car, we realized that the car had been blocked in, by a vehicle that was illegally parked. Being that it was raining hard and that this parking lot was just way over crowded, I decided to be patient. I honked a couple of time, but not excessively and waited. After about 10 minutes (yes, I did wait a whole 10 minutes), I decided to call the cops. Interestingly enough, the illegally parked vehicle was blocking 2 cars, mine and the one next to me, and both vehicle's occupants were in their cars ready to depart. The first call to the cops drew a very passive response. They said they would come by. This not being an emergency, I was ok with the idea they would not be there in 5 mins or less. My coworker decides she is also going to call, just so the cops gets a sense of urgency. Another luke warm response. The cops finally show up after about 15 minutes. We have now waited 25 minutes. They DO NOT acknowledge anyone in the 2 cars waiting. They look at the illegally parked vehicle and then run off behind us. When they come back, about 5 minutes later, they said they had gone to look for the owner... YEAH RIGHT!! IF IT WAS SO F**KING EASY TO LOCATE THE OWNER, I WOULD HAVE DONE IT MYSELF... OR THE OWNER WOULD HAVE KNOWN WE WERE HONKING AT HIM/HER SINCE HE/SHE WAS ILLEGALLY PARKED!!!! 

I asked if they could tow the vehicle so we could get out and they said no. I asked why and here are the 2 reasons they gave... hold on to your seats.

REASON 1: THEY DID NOT STEAL THE CAR.

REASON 2: IT'S IN A HDB LOT, THEY DON'T TAKE CARE OF THAT.

(HDB = Housing Development Board, the people that are technically in charge of these parking lots)

My coworkers and I were really speechless. 

No, the car was not a stolen vehicle, but it was illegally parked, blocking in 2 cars. It may not be a crime, but it is still an offense.

AND, I thought the police had overall jurisdiction over EVERYTHING. So, if I murdered someone in a HDB parking lot, they would leave it HDB to prosecute me? WHAT THE F**K? Has this country downgraded it's police to playing hide and seek? All they could do for us was to LOCATE the owner??? All in all, we wasted almost an hour in the parking lot and we only managed to leave when the other car to my other side left and I had to do a 12 point turn to go round this illegally parked vehicle. It's a f**king joke. 

It's finally the weekend again. And hopefully, like last Sunday, I can deal with as few annoyances as possible. Plus, I have to study by this weekend (2 whole days) a class that lasted an entire semester (18 weeks) so I can help them pass their supplementary paper... Superman at work this weekend!!!

The decay of society

caused by the cellphone (or mobile phone or handphone or whatever you want to call it).

I owned my first cellphone in 1991. I was still in college at that point but thought it would be a convenient possession, not to mention cool. I have since treated the cellphone like an American Express card, I don't leave home without it. In fact, I am not more then 10 ft away from it even at home. Ok, sometimes I forget it and sometimes it's more of a bother than not. Jessica complains that I am too dependent on my cellphone. I agree.

With my cellphone, my biggest fault is... I talk too loudly on the phone, at times. However, that isn't something I can really help. I am a little hard of hearing and I think the deafness causes me to over compensate when I speak, especially on the phone. I am very conscious of the phone and my surroundings and have NEVER forgotten to turn it off in class, theaters, church, pretty much anywhere it is considered rude to have your phone ring.

When I first got into "learning and development" (training), one of the early things I was warned about was the use of the cellphone during classes by the participants. That was in 2003. While cellphone usage had already become mainstream in Asia, the US was just beginning to see the wave. Text messaging (or sms, or whatever you want to call it) was just only starting to become popular, particularly among the Gen Y population. Up until 2006, I still had co-workers who did not own a cellphone. And I rarely communicated with anyone in the US thru text messaging. Most of the people I text are either Gen Y people or Singaporeans living in the US. 

As a trainer, one of our concerns when conducting a class was texting during class. Many of my fellow trainers, myself included, had very strict rules regarding texting during class. I would set my ground rules at the beginning of each class and some of those rules dealt with the use of the cellphone. 

All cellphones and noisemakers to be turned off or to mute.

No texting during class. If you are caught texting, your cellphone sits at the instructor's desk for the rest of the day and if it was a class that was longer than 1 day, you would "check in" your phone with me every morning and it sat on the instructor's desk.

If you needed to take a urgent phone call, inform me, excuse yourself and step out of the classroom to take the call.

I NEVER had a problem with cellphone use during any of my classes. NEVER. 

My biggest problem with cellphone use in the US was idiotic drivers on their cellphones. Driving at 40mph on the freeway on the fast lane, because they were on their cellphones, completely annoyed the living daylights out of me. 

Coming back to Singapore, I knew cellphone usage was definitely more widespread. However, Singapore had very strict cellphone laws when driving and thus I assumed that cellphone etiquette was going to be better. Sadly, I was very, very wrong.

The lack of cellphone etiquette is driving me completely crazy. It has probably become my biggest pet peeve.

(1) Bicyclists using cellphones.

Why are they any different from auto drivers using cellphones. Just because what they are operating is not motorized, does not change anything. The laws against usage of cellphones while driving are because the driver gets distracted. The same applies to a bicyclist. He/she gets distracted too. In fact, they are worse. They do not have all that metal to protect them when they crash.

(2) Cellphones in meetings.

In the last 5 meetings I have attended, at least one dumb ass has answered a call during the meeting. I am serious. I thought it was bad enough the phone rang during the meeting. I was shocked when they actually answered the call. In 3 out of the last 5 meetings, my boss actually PLACED A FREAKING PHONE CALL during the meeting. She picks up he phone, dials and speaks to the person on the other end... in a whisper. What happened to common sense, manners and RESPECT???? I am not the most polite person on earth, but this definitely shocks the hell out of me. This takes the cake.

(3) Cellphones in class.

I have not (Thank God) had this problem with any of my classes in Singapore. Maybe it's because I have set my ground rules too. Who knows? However, I am attending a class (as a participant) at the moment and in the last 2 lessons, at least 2 people in each lesson have answered their phones, AT THEIR SEAT, and they not once attempted to leave the room. In fact, yesterday in class, the girl behind me took a call and was on the phone for at least 2-3 mins. Unless someone is dying, I think that was totally uncalled for. It was rude. But obviously not to her. It is driving me nuts. To be amongst a people who have no common sense... and no respect for the people around them.

(4) Cellphones in church or at functions.

I hear the phone ring almost every time I go to church... God help you.

Last night, Jessica and I attended a wedding. It was a solemnization and wedding dinner all at one location. The irony of the phone ringing during this event was... the MC reminded everyone to turn their phone to silent/mute (due to the solemnization event, which was religious based) right at the beginning of the event and that the phone went off as the pastor was preaching. God help that soul too.

I would also complain about the decibel level, but I am not sure if these people are like me, hard of hearing. People talk at the top of their voices in the bus, in the train, along the road, every-freaking-where. I hear people chewing out their maids, spouses, children, whomever all the time... 

Alright, I got this off my chest. I am going to sleep better tonight. NOT. The cellphone is going to be the death of manners and respect in today's society and will lead to the complete decay of social structure.

San Francisco rent

Yes, I have been busy on the blog today...

SF to try to introduce 3 new rent laws.
Chris Daly is a super f**k head.

He has always been a super f**k head.

When will there be enough rent laws in SF?
What happened to "free economy"?
If you cannot afford to live in a $1,000/mth rent home, then move the hell out to one that you can afford. How on earth does it make sense for the city of SF to keep governing what a private property owner can or cannot do with their home??
Listen up Chris Daly... if I wanted to rent my one bedroom home out for $5,000 in the Bay View district, do you think I would get a tenant? Rent is driven by the laws of demand and supply too.

The example given in the Chronicle article above just does not make sense. The person living in the Western Addition is earning $800/mth. Her rent is $1,000/mth. Errrr, do the f**king math idiot. If your stupid new law goes into effect, the landlord can only charge her ONE THIRD OF $1,000... $333.33. Where, in the bay area, can you find rent for $333.33 for a one bedroom home (assumption, since the article did not state the size)???? And then the landlord cannot evict this person because of the previous laws put in place by the same f**k head about the removal of seniors. Doesn't the city of SF then control a private individual's PRIVATE real estate? Is this what America has become? This person who draws a monthly income of $800, shouldn't even be living by herself in a place where rent is $1,000. She should go get a room mate or something. I don't know. It's not my f**king problem... it's not my f**king business... it's plain economic sense.

When I first rented after graduating from college. I did not move into a place BY MYSELF for $1,000. I lived in a house with 3 other room mates for $1,200. We each paid $300. Why do you have to have laws to teach common sense? The problem is not with the economics of the situation. The problem is with the f**k heads like Chris Daly who keep trying to manipulate the situation as if it is one that the city should be controlling. It is not. A $60 increase in rent for a place that rents for $1,000 DOES NOT even keep up with inflation. Just imagine that that was your salary increase... you would be screaming bloody murder. This is income to some other soul too. Yes, he/she may be swimming in wealth, but he/she damn well earned it... and has the right to do it.

Chris Daly... instead of trying to do things like that, maybe you should spend your time going after places like ParkMerced who constantly cheat and deceive their renters. Or are they too big for you to deal with? Coward!!
Who on earth keeps voting this f**k head in anyway?

Octomom

I wouldn't usually want to comment on something like this. It is a non-issue. If someone wants to screw up their lifes, so be it. However, on further thought, this person is not only screwing up her life, she is also screwing up an additional 14 lifes.
By now, we all know she is just a money and fame grubbing bitch... but, in the process, she is hurting the 14 living things she brought to this earth. How fair is that to the 14 innocent victims?
I am not going to recap everything that has happened since she gave birth to the octoplets... you wanna know more, google either "octomom" or "Nadya Suleman". you will get pages enough to keep you occupied for the next few hours.

I am going to comment on 2 things.

(1) Media - STOP FEEDING HER DESIRES!!!! It is the freaking media that is keeping this alive. Imagine if this were to have happened 20 years ago. I doubt anyone outside of the LA area would have heard about it. And even if it were in the national news (or for that matter, international news), it would have been gone after a few days. It's been over a month since the birth of the octuplets and we are still hearing about it. The paparazzi are chasing her all over the place, and every form of media, new and old are feeding to her desire to be famous. STOP! Leave her alone, unemployed, homeless, whatever. Stop offering big money, good (like interviews on the networks) or bad (like the porn film offer). Stop pandering to her greed.

(2) And this is the main reason why I commented on this issue. Today, it was reported that octomom (and I am refraining so hard from calling her a whole bunch of names) turned down an offer from Angels in Waiting, a non-profit group for (prepare for this) (i) round the clock nursing care for her 14 children and (ii) a rent free home for the next 6 months. If you don't know, her home is in foreclosure.
SHE TURNED DOWN THE OFFER BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO DO A REALITY SHOW. She went on to tell Angels in Waiting that if they wanted to help her, then help her get a reality show. All this while she has been publically asking for $2.5mil to be on Oprah.

What is wrong with this woman?
Is she the product of the system? To be specific, considering where she is from... is she the product of Hollywood?
What about the offspring? Will they be like her? It would be really scary to think that there are 14 young things about to turn into this one same person when they grow up.

Sign?

Could this be the sign of things to come?
Right now, I would monitor for unusual reactions and if the puking STOPS, I would be really worried...

Merlion injured