Is the World Ending in 2012?

I dunno why, but many people are mouthing that the world is gonna end in 2012.

I'm cool with the world ending in 2012 or not, because I am surrounded by beings I love and who love me.

What about you?

Overheard in a women's hospital ward

Wife was going through labour to expel an unfortunate stillbirth, and had been experiencing extreme pain for more than 2 hours at the break of dawn.

Husband appeared in the ward, with freshly-shampoo-ed hair, in t-shirt, bermudas and slippers. He was shocked to witness the scene, where his sweaty wife, with disheveled hair and legs spread open, was trembling, crying, and sometimes screaming in discomfort.

In his helplessness, he managed to say the following first words,

"Erm... Heh Heh... You look like you are shitting."

Everyone, including the nurses, patients in the next beds, and even the wife, went quiet.
...................................................................

Does one have to wait till a time like this to realise that one has married an idiot?

It is much easier to start a revolution than to finish it.

I was watching Eric Schmidt deliver a keynote speech at the LeWeb conference in Paris, when he warned that in the digital age, it is “much easier to start a revolution than to finish it”.

It is a worrying thought.

It is always easier to be destructive, than to be constructive.
From big world phenomena such as war, pollution etc, to every day behaviour such as passing caustic remarks to your loved ones, friends and colleagues.

With incessant complaints about the ruling party in Singapore, and some people displaying 'anything/one but the ruling party' behaviour, I wonder if we, as the Singaporean collective, are starting something we do not know how to end well.

This is not to say 'let's not do anything' then.
But I worry about how 'doing something in a highly emotional manner' can go very wrong.

We need a leadership which can unite Singapore once again.
Unfortunately, I don't believe that money can buy us such a leadership.

Singlehood is Your Own Doing

I posted this on my Facebook accounts, and the discussion was intense.

"There are more than 7 billion people in the world.
It's impossible not to find a soulmate and more.
If you claim you cannot, it's all because of you."

What struck me most was that while some singles supported the statement, all of those who vehemently had rebutted it, all are singles.

Their arguments range as follows:

• This statement is condescending - Sounds like the elites telling the poor that it's all their fault for not working hard enough.
• There is a supply and demand imbalance.
• It's not that people do not try, but there are impediments such as geography, language, internet access, immigration policies, gender imbalance, family obligations etc.
• People have too high expectations of their future partners.
• Some people just need help - Hence, the existence of marriage agencies, snake heads and human smugglers etc.

I am liking this discussion.
Not for the personal attacks, but because this is definitely a sensitive topic. And precisely because it is sensitive, many avoid talking/debating about in-depth, limiting the understanding of the problem.

I must say through this discussion, I have gained much insight of these singles' psyche.

The starting point is whether any (single) person wants to seek a partner to begin with. We must agree that there are people who are perfectly happy being single. There are also people who don't mind finding a partner, but in view of the trouble one has to go through to find a partner, rationally decide against it anyway. I do not refer to these 2 groups of singles in my statement.

The premise of my statement is limited those who WANT to find a partner, but yet like to blame every one/thing else for their inability to do so. As such, the problem really lies with themselves.

These people like to claim that their failure to find a soulmate, in this world of unprecedented 7 billion population, is a result of every one/thing else's fault.

There is No Supply-side Problem
What supply and demand imbalance?
There are 7 billion human beings in this world, even if gender distribution is not perfectly 50-50, show me a society where all of the available 'minority' gender is entirely exhausted, to prove the point of supply-side problem.

Laziness & Cowardice
Many people like to give excuses for refusing to learn how to get to know others, choose a partner who is suitable for themselves (and not fit some perverted self-image or fantasy), and sustain + manage a relationship.

If one needs help for the 1st step, i.e. even to find a partner, then what happens later? Does he need help to sustain + manage the relationship?

You can only get teachers and tutors to equip you with the skills/knowledge for the big test, but you have to take the test on your own. Only then, will you truly own the results.
If you cheat and/or avoid the learning process, you will forever be ignorant.

Or in other words, since you are too lazy and/or cowardly to open your mouth, why don't you get others to eat your lunch for you too?

Yes, My Statement is Condescending
But it is only condescending to people who refuse to admit that this is indeed their own doing.

One rebutted that my statement "is 'elitist' in a kind of way, almost in the same spirit of saying, there are millions of ways to 'make it' in this world, if you can't, it's because of you"

I think there is a huge difference between 'making it' versus 'finding a soulmate'. It's much easier to find a soulmate.

Simply because the definition of 'making it' is always only pegged to rarity, e.g. top 1% of any community, population, field etc.

Meanwhile the definition of 'soulmate' is entirely up to how crazily difficult you make it out to be for yourself.

Love is neither Rare, nor a Pre-Requisite
One claimed that through the history of time, there are so many examples of people who have failed to find love, especially presented by famous philosophers and poets. I guess she is alluding that, as such, 'love' must be something difficult to find.

While it's an unpleasant fact to deal with, however, the fact remains that 也有很多条件"差"的人，找得到伴侣。也可以幸福。

'爱' is not really an essential ingredient to start a partnership. That misguided understanding is one of the many impediments which the single individual has created for himself. We have been sold too much bullshite and misconceptions about '爱'. So much that we have become addicted to the romantic 'feel good' misconception, refusing to let it go even though it's detrimental to our lives.

'爱' is really an outcome of the partnership, not a pre-requisite.
You will only really find love if you try to go through the process.

殷离练千蛛万毒手

殷离 Yin Li is a character created by 金庸 Jin Yong in 倚天屠龙记 The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.

The story goes that Yin Li's mother regretted not having learnt the deadly skill named 千蛛万毒手 "Thousand Spiders Venom Hand" thoroughly, because it involved ingesting poison from spiders which would lead to horrible disfigurement. Yin Li's mother believed that if she had practised the deadly skill well, she would have been able to 'protect herself', mainly from the threat of her husband's second wife. Her husband took a concubine, who bore him 2 sons, because she had been somewhat disfigured by the Thousand Spiders Venom Hand and had later become infertile.

Eventually, the second wife bullied Yin Li's mother and was stabbed to death by the tiny Yin Li. To protect her child, Yin Li's mother entrusted Yin Li to a random old lady, and committed suicide. Yeah... That's sort of how it went.

Of course, her traumatic childhood gave rise to a rather insecure and emotionally-unstable Yin Li who started to practise the Thousand Spiders Venom Hand, as advised by her dead mother. All that effort, to 'protect herself'.

Why do I bother with this somewhat plain character in the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber?

Because I see Yin Li and her practice of the Thousand Spiders Venom Hand as a metaphor.

It's akin to how many females think they must have 'career' to protect themselves, make themselves independent etc because men cannot be trusted, other women are competition etc.

In the process, they make themselves 'ugly' and suspicious of others (men and women alike).

I'm not saying being able to carve out a career for oneself is not a good thing. Just like learning a wugong is not a bad thing. However, one has to sort out the intention for doing so.

What's worse was that Yin Li, given her limited 悟性 'potential', could not master her chosen Thousand Spiders Venom Hand well, while it turned her into an ugly girl anyway. She became even more insecure. She was a sweet and pretty girl to begin with.
何必呢？What for?

殷离懵练千蛛万毒手, 毁了自己.

Gabriel is a formulated Genius

Overheard:

"Gabriel's parents have sent him to ABC classes, bought him the DEF children's book series and the GHI IQ toys series, fed him with JKL supplements, gotten him in MNO primary school, and make him sleep on PQR special mattress and oxygenated air at night.

This is why he has done so well, i.e. gotten into GEP and aced his PSLE. 

I am gonna do just all of the above for my kid(s)."

Seriously, the reason why Gabriel has done so well is because of Gabriel's parents.
Because of their genes, their upbringing, their values, their priorities in life, their personalities, their commitment to and influence on Gabriel etc.

You can't replicate that, even if you had all the money in the world.

Not especially when you believe you can outsource parenting and educating of your kid(s) to school teachers and enrichment course providers.

Time to Review COE Categories & Priorities

RE: Singapore to become a premium car market?

"High-end names such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are expected to make up for more than half of new cars sales next year, according to a Straits Times report today. 

This is due to the lower number of certificates of entitlement available next year, which predetermines the number of cars sold."

There is a limited number of COEs sold each year. There are currently 2 main categories of COEs for private cars, i.e.

Cat A = 1600cc and below
Cat B = Above 1600cc




There are 2 glaring problems with the current categories.

(1) Cat A includes Taxis, which are basically commercial vehicles.

(2) Cat B is for a family sedan to a ultra noisy and powerful sports/luxury car.

If you are a potential owner of your only family car, you are up against 2 formidable competitors in both categories, i.e. the taxi-owner and the luxury car owner.

Both can outbid you easily coz the former uses the taxi for business, while the latter has a lot money than you'd ever imagine. Some (foreigners) buying their cars in this category are sponsored by their companies.


Questions to ask are:

How many families (households) are there in Singapore?
Break down according to Singaporean, PR and others (e.g foreigners), then again by Household Income.

How many Singaporean families own at least 1 car? At which Household Income level?
Create a distribution map using the family categories above.

Shouldn't the Government's objective to work towards say at least say 60% of all Singaporean families own at least 1 car? And help to spread this across household income levels?

The Singaporean family, headed by a hot-blooded Singaporean who has served National Service, ought to be the Government's first priority, isn't it?

Or does the Government NOT operate based on such criteria at all?

The more rare a commodity is, the more it ought to be shared amongst Singaporeans First. That is the point of a nation, isn't it?
..................................................................

PROPOSED: The Singaporean Family Master Plan

MCYS, or whichever ministry/portfolio that has enough clout, ought to study the Singaporean family/household holistically, in terms of its needs and aspirations.

If the family unit is the basic building block of the Singaporean society, then there must be a Singaporean Family Master Plan that charts out the quality of life this family unit is projected to enjoy in the years and decades to come, in addition to simply collecting 'hard data' such marriage/divorce rates, total fertility rate, household income etc.

And the gap between the level at which the Singaporean Family can perform in terms of economic contribution, social contribution, civic contribution, and even... political contribution, versus what the Government expects of the Singaporean Family to keep up with other priorities such as economic growth. Today, the Singaporean Family is just silently expected to keep up with the Government's plans in other areas.

Once the Government and the Singaporean Family starts to explore the Singaporean Family from this perspective, it will then be able to highlight the contradictions with other master plans that the Government draw up. Only then will meaningful discussions and debate take place to prioritise the different objectives and iteratively make amendments to all policies and plans, and to manage expectations for all.

(Acting) Minister Chan Chun Sing ought to take this opportunity to make a difference to his portfolio and his political appeal. Maybe I should write to him.