I hate being woken up at 9am during holidays by British Indians in the corridor.
Especially when I just had a good dream. Not a very coherent dream. But to summarise I had a really nice time chilling out with a chio bu and then a few days later my friend discovered a note which drop out from the chio bu's wallet which said that she likes me. Haha.
If only some others in this world can wake up and discover it was all a bad dream after all. And life goes on as per normal.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Please don't get angry at me after reading this
Been deliberating for very long whether to write about the following subject. Not sure if it is very wrong or heartless but I thought that by writing down I might figure out why I feel the way I feel.
Yes its about the tsunamis.
And no I have to admit I am not badly affected emotionally by it. As much as I would like to feel sad, after searching my heart, I can't find that I am badly affected by it. When I first heard the news, it was on the way to London from Manchester and I managed to catch some of the places which were affected and I was what the fuck? So many places affected? Singapore all right or not? The earthquake itself should at worst result in tremors, but the tsunamis? When I reached my room and saw that Singapore was not affected, that was it; "heng ah".
Is there something wrong with me? Perhaps it's because I don't read the news regularly anymore. I don't have a tv in my room and so I don't catch British news either. Staying in my room all day has a sheltering effect on me. Not being exposed to any negative images means I don't know anything. It wasn't until my friend sent me some links to dl some videos of the tsunamis (apparently one of those who took the videos did not survive) that I was like "oh shit", it really is very jia lat. I started reading more from the Straits Times website, but still I can't say that I feel as sad and troubled as I SHOULD be whenever a disaster happens. I feel relief that Singapore is not hit, and thankful when I found out my friend actually visited Penang and left on 24th before the tsunamis hit. But beyond that, my life still went normally. I still went shopping during the post-Christmas sales; I was still in a dilemma about spending on that cheap pair of pants; I was as usual scrapping around for tickets for United matches; my life went on as per normal.
Am I a heartless person? I think I am in general. Beggars on the streets of London disgust and irritate me more than I feel pity for them. But have I always felt heartless whenever disasters strike? I don't think so leh. I felt very sad during 911, felt very sad during the Madrid bombings and also the Bali bombings. Sometimes those stories about soldiers who died or were ijured in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also make me rather sad. I felt more terrible then than I do about this tsunami episode. Ironically since this time it is so much closer to home than most of the other incidents that I had listed. And also because the death toll from the tsunamis is much much higher than those terrorist attacks/wars?
Perhaps the amount of media coverage I am exposed to makes a difference. But I think more importantly, I feel anger more than I feel sadness/sympathy. And to put it crudely, there is nothing for me to be angry about in this tsunami disaster. Who am I supposed to get angry at? The tectonic plates? The sea? The geography experts for not warning us earlier? God or Buddha or whoever up there who let people die? I can't. It's a natural disaster. It happens. I feel some sadness and sympathy but not a lot because I am a heartless person. I get angry more easily but there is nothing for me to be angry about here.
When it comes to those terrorist bombings and wars and to a certain extent epidemics like Sars and bird flus, I feel much much more strongly about them. I feel du lan, I feel anger. Unlike natural disasters, they don't just happen for no reason. They happen because some of us humans feel stupid enough to believe that we will go to heaven because we kill another fellow human being. They happen because some of us feel stupid enough to support a dictator and to carry on the war, delaying much needed development in our country. They happen because some bastards somewhere decided it was good to eat weird animals instead of just eating normal food and thus introducing more funny diseases into the human chain. In short, they can be avoided, if only some of us can take our head out of our asses to assess the options. (Perhaps my view is too simple and stupid as I don't understand all the issues at hand but as far as I can understand, they can be avoided) I feel anger at why humans are still finding 1001 ways to kill each other when Mother Nature has already more than enough ways to kill us. (Ironic because I supported the war on Iraq because I want Saddam to be removed. Perhaps I am a hypocrite.)
For example, after reading the tsunami reports, I found an article a few days ago about how China will go to war to crush any Taiwanese independence. Today there were reports about suicide car bombings in Saudi Arabia. It's these incidents that get me more riled up than natural disasters. I am not undermining the significance of the efforts of the people who are helping the victims or saying that they need not bother just because it's a natural disaster. Just that I don't feel as sad as I should be because it really can't be helped, unlike terrorist bombings and wars.
I am heartless.
Yes its about the tsunamis.
And no I have to admit I am not badly affected emotionally by it. As much as I would like to feel sad, after searching my heart, I can't find that I am badly affected by it. When I first heard the news, it was on the way to London from Manchester and I managed to catch some of the places which were affected and I was what the fuck? So many places affected? Singapore all right or not? The earthquake itself should at worst result in tremors, but the tsunamis? When I reached my room and saw that Singapore was not affected, that was it; "heng ah".
Is there something wrong with me? Perhaps it's because I don't read the news regularly anymore. I don't have a tv in my room and so I don't catch British news either. Staying in my room all day has a sheltering effect on me. Not being exposed to any negative images means I don't know anything. It wasn't until my friend sent me some links to dl some videos of the tsunamis (apparently one of those who took the videos did not survive) that I was like "oh shit", it really is very jia lat. I started reading more from the Straits Times website, but still I can't say that I feel as sad and troubled as I SHOULD be whenever a disaster happens. I feel relief that Singapore is not hit, and thankful when I found out my friend actually visited Penang and left on 24th before the tsunamis hit. But beyond that, my life still went normally. I still went shopping during the post-Christmas sales; I was still in a dilemma about spending on that cheap pair of pants; I was as usual scrapping around for tickets for United matches; my life went on as per normal.
Am I a heartless person? I think I am in general. Beggars on the streets of London disgust and irritate me more than I feel pity for them. But have I always felt heartless whenever disasters strike? I don't think so leh. I felt very sad during 911, felt very sad during the Madrid bombings and also the Bali bombings. Sometimes those stories about soldiers who died or were ijured in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also make me rather sad. I felt more terrible then than I do about this tsunami episode. Ironically since this time it is so much closer to home than most of the other incidents that I had listed. And also because the death toll from the tsunamis is much much higher than those terrorist attacks/wars?
Perhaps the amount of media coverage I am exposed to makes a difference. But I think more importantly, I feel anger more than I feel sadness/sympathy. And to put it crudely, there is nothing for me to be angry about in this tsunami disaster. Who am I supposed to get angry at? The tectonic plates? The sea? The geography experts for not warning us earlier? God or Buddha or whoever up there who let people die? I can't. It's a natural disaster. It happens. I feel some sadness and sympathy but not a lot because I am a heartless person. I get angry more easily but there is nothing for me to be angry about here.
When it comes to those terrorist bombings and wars and to a certain extent epidemics like Sars and bird flus, I feel much much more strongly about them. I feel du lan, I feel anger. Unlike natural disasters, they don't just happen for no reason. They happen because some of us humans feel stupid enough to believe that we will go to heaven because we kill another fellow human being. They happen because some of us feel stupid enough to support a dictator and to carry on the war, delaying much needed development in our country. They happen because some bastards somewhere decided it was good to eat weird animals instead of just eating normal food and thus introducing more funny diseases into the human chain. In short, they can be avoided, if only some of us can take our head out of our asses to assess the options. (Perhaps my view is too simple and stupid as I don't understand all the issues at hand but as far as I can understand, they can be avoided) I feel anger at why humans are still finding 1001 ways to kill each other when Mother Nature has already more than enough ways to kill us. (Ironic because I supported the war on Iraq because I want Saddam to be removed. Perhaps I am a hypocrite.)
For example, after reading the tsunami reports, I found an article a few days ago about how China will go to war to crush any Taiwanese independence. Today there were reports about suicide car bombings in Saudi Arabia. It's these incidents that get me more riled up than natural disasters. I am not undermining the significance of the efforts of the people who are helping the victims or saying that they need not bother just because it's a natural disaster. Just that I don't feel as sad as I should be because it really can't be helped, unlike terrorist bombings and wars.
I am heartless.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Always look on the bright side of life....
Not all was doom and gloom about the Boxing Day trip (even though I would have preferred to watch the game instead). I knew before I made the trip that I would have a lot of time left after the game before catching the coach back to London and so I had decided to stay behind and hope to get some players' signatures. I had hoped to get some signatures on the match programme, but I could not get my hands on a copy even after running to a few shops I know which sells them. In addition, by the time I reached the stadium, Ruud had already gone, Giggs had already signed until the end of the line and I was mightily close to getting Rio's signature but he left very soon after I joined the line :(. Other big names which passed me by were Ronaldo (very very close :( ) and Keane (rare that he even signed any, I guess he was feeling the festive mood or were touched by the crowd waiting in the cold for him...).
But I still managed to get some autographs from Bellion, O'Shea, Smith, Fletcher and *drum rolls* Sir Alex!!! Here are some pictures:
I was THAT close to getting his signature. Close, but no cigar :(
Alan Smith, one of my favourite players. I think I am turning gay. His smile is damn cute. And I also like his dress sense. There were 2 very pretty girls in the crowd who talked for a bit with him. They thanked Smith for helping them get tickets. Damn, I wish I was half as cute as Alan Smith. What a life, driving a BMW, playing for Man United AND helping pretty girls get tickets. (Interesting trivia, Fletcher left in Smith's car, probably live close together or are rather close friends)
The 2 pretty friends of Alan Smith, I think the one behind with long hair is more chio. I also want to be a footballer!!!
Smithy's signature on my United scarf, priceless!!! Should have got him to sign on something better, but I didn't have a match programme :( and I forgot I still had my ticket. Must try again next time!
A little girl with a very loud and cute voice, sitting on his daddy's back had caught O'Shea's attention. I think she said "I love you Johnny" or something which was quite funny.
O'Shea's signature on the left, Fletcher's signature on the right. As you all can see, the right side of the ticket is still intact, meaning it was never used. Most expensive ticket ever for me in more ways than 1. (I only remembered I had my ticket after I saw someone ask Smith to sign his ticket)
Sir Alex's Audi parked outside the Directors' Entrance in the South Stand.
Sir Alex Ferguson right before my eyes!! After he signed for me, I shouted out "Sir Alex, bring back the title" and he gave a calm and monotonous reply "We'll do our best." I guess loads of people must have said that to him, but to me it also indicated that he had lost none of his hunger and winning the title is still very much on his mind. (Or am I kidding myself :P)
Sir Alex signed my copy of his autobiography!! Woo hoo!!! I mentioned earlier that I had already decided to wait for signatures after the game and so I had brought this book along (this is also the reason I bought it from Amazon after having read it from Toa Payoh library) and I am certainly glad the book had not made a wasted trip!
Sir Alex's signature at the back of my (unused) match ticket.
I must must must get signatures of Giggs, Ronaldo, Keane, Ruud, Scholes and Ferdinand. Actually in fact, everybody's signature. Although given a choice, I would much rather have watched the game and not get signatures but they certainly alleviated the dulanness that I had felt.
If only I had gotten the Spurs ticket....
But I still managed to get some autographs from Bellion, O'Shea, Smith, Fletcher and *drum rolls* Sir Alex!!! Here are some pictures:
I was THAT close to getting his signature. Close, but no cigar :(
Alan Smith, one of my favourite players. I think I am turning gay. His smile is damn cute. And I also like his dress sense. There were 2 very pretty girls in the crowd who talked for a bit with him. They thanked Smith for helping them get tickets. Damn, I wish I was half as cute as Alan Smith. What a life, driving a BMW, playing for Man United AND helping pretty girls get tickets. (Interesting trivia, Fletcher left in Smith's car, probably live close together or are rather close friends)
The 2 pretty friends of Alan Smith, I think the one behind with long hair is more chio. I also want to be a footballer!!!
Smithy's signature on my United scarf, priceless!!! Should have got him to sign on something better, but I didn't have a match programme :( and I forgot I still had my ticket. Must try again next time!
A little girl with a very loud and cute voice, sitting on his daddy's back had caught O'Shea's attention. I think she said "I love you Johnny" or something which was quite funny.
O'Shea's signature on the left, Fletcher's signature on the right. As you all can see, the right side of the ticket is still intact, meaning it was never used. Most expensive ticket ever for me in more ways than 1. (I only remembered I had my ticket after I saw someone ask Smith to sign his ticket)
Sir Alex's Audi parked outside the Directors' Entrance in the South Stand.
Sir Alex Ferguson right before my eyes!! After he signed for me, I shouted out "Sir Alex, bring back the title" and he gave a calm and monotonous reply "We'll do our best." I guess loads of people must have said that to him, but to me it also indicated that he had lost none of his hunger and winning the title is still very much on his mind. (Or am I kidding myself :P)
Sir Alex signed my copy of his autobiography!! Woo hoo!!! I mentioned earlier that I had already decided to wait for signatures after the game and so I had brought this book along (this is also the reason I bought it from Amazon after having read it from Toa Payoh library) and I am certainly glad the book had not made a wasted trip!
Sir Alex's signature at the back of my (unused) match ticket.
I must must must get signatures of Giggs, Ronaldo, Keane, Ruud, Scholes and Ferdinand. Actually in fact, everybody's signature. Although given a choice, I would much rather have watched the game and not get signatures but they certainly alleviated the dulanness that I had felt.
If only I had gotten the Spurs ticket....
Showdown
Sometimes your words can come back and haunt you...
Remember that I said that what can be worse than missing the only goal of the match in this post?
Remember me complaining about 515pm kickoffs in this post?
Those words have been shafted back into my mouth one by word on Boxing Day.
To get to the point more quickly, I missed the Man United vs Bolton game TOTALLY because I was caught in a traffic jam.
*$&#^$^#&&@!?:"***##@
Why am I so suey? Getting stuck in TWO jams in a month out of FOUR matches? That must be some kind of record! As if missing the only goal of the match last time wasn't enough, this time I fucking hell missed the entire game! When I finally got to the stadium, the usual queue at the metro station made up of people getting back to the city centre had already disappeared. Even the mega store, the mega money making machine of United was also closed by the time I got there. I reached about an hour after the match had ended. That was how late I was.
And the mega store closing means I could not even buy the fucking match programme.
*$&#^$^#&&@!?:"***##@
As a side thought, if any of you thought the jams in JB are jia lat, you all should have seen the situation yesterday. The oh-so-helpful information boards above the motorway actually said the M6 was CLOSED (yes CLOSED) at junction 16. And it was no exaggeration. There were long intervals in which the bus actually DID NOT move at all. All there was to do was to look at the endless line of vehicles stretching far into the horizon as far as you can see. Perhaps I should not have been a cheapo, perhaps I should have just travelled on Xmas eve and stayed in Manchester for one night. But a jam of this magnitude, when vehicles hardly moved at all was terribly hard to imagine. There were countless vehicle recovery trucks, 1 ambulance and a number of police cars which zoomed past on the road shoulder but they did not seem to alleviate the situation at all. All in all, I was caught in the jam for around 4 hours.
And you know what? The-one-up-there (whoever it is) nearly won while I was on the bus. While the bus was stuck in the jam refusing to move an inch, I found myself questioning why I am doing all this. What have I done to deserve all this? I paid for the match ticket and the travel (50 pounds in total) with my own money. I was willing to endure 5 hour coach rides back and forth to watch Untied live. I just wanted to arrive in time and enjoy the match comfortably. Is that too much to ask? I had not been in the best of moods for the past 2 weeks, and had looked forward to this Boxing Day game in particular as it was a local derby. Other people enjoyed Christmas dinners and all. I only wanted to enjoy my Boxing Day game. Am I asking too much just to enjoy something which I paid for?
I found myself questioning why I had to go through so much shit. And I actually told myself I am not going to go through such shit again. I won't apply for anymore tickets.
But when I reached the stadium (there weren't any earlier coaches back to London anyway...), my thinking changed again. Just looking at the stadium gave me a small sense of joy. The gates were long closed and denied me the chance to even go inside for a moment. However, the feeling of being shut out merely increased my resolved to be inside there the next time. The more you keep me out, the more I want it.
I am going to apply for all tickets for matches that I can possibly go for.
It's going to take more than a couple of traffic jams to stop me.
Its showdown time.
P.S : The saying "you only appreciate things that you have lost" had never been so true for me...
Remember that I said that what can be worse than missing the only goal of the match in this post?
Remember me complaining about 515pm kickoffs in this post?
Those words have been shafted back into my mouth one by word on Boxing Day.
To get to the point more quickly, I missed the Man United vs Bolton game TOTALLY because I was caught in a traffic jam.
*$&#^$^#&&@!?:"***##@
Why am I so suey? Getting stuck in TWO jams in a month out of FOUR matches? That must be some kind of record! As if missing the only goal of the match last time wasn't enough, this time I fucking hell missed the entire game! When I finally got to the stadium, the usual queue at the metro station made up of people getting back to the city centre had already disappeared. Even the mega store, the mega money making machine of United was also closed by the time I got there. I reached about an hour after the match had ended. That was how late I was.
And the mega store closing means I could not even buy the fucking match programme.
*$&#^$^#&&@!?:"***##@
As a side thought, if any of you thought the jams in JB are jia lat, you all should have seen the situation yesterday. The oh-so-helpful information boards above the motorway actually said the M6 was CLOSED (yes CLOSED) at junction 16. And it was no exaggeration. There were long intervals in which the bus actually DID NOT move at all. All there was to do was to look at the endless line of vehicles stretching far into the horizon as far as you can see. Perhaps I should not have been a cheapo, perhaps I should have just travelled on Xmas eve and stayed in Manchester for one night. But a jam of this magnitude, when vehicles hardly moved at all was terribly hard to imagine. There were countless vehicle recovery trucks, 1 ambulance and a number of police cars which zoomed past on the road shoulder but they did not seem to alleviate the situation at all. All in all, I was caught in the jam for around 4 hours.
And you know what? The-one-up-there (whoever it is) nearly won while I was on the bus. While the bus was stuck in the jam refusing to move an inch, I found myself questioning why I am doing all this. What have I done to deserve all this? I paid for the match ticket and the travel (50 pounds in total) with my own money. I was willing to endure 5 hour coach rides back and forth to watch Untied live. I just wanted to arrive in time and enjoy the match comfortably. Is that too much to ask? I had not been in the best of moods for the past 2 weeks, and had looked forward to this Boxing Day game in particular as it was a local derby. Other people enjoyed Christmas dinners and all. I only wanted to enjoy my Boxing Day game. Am I asking too much just to enjoy something which I paid for?
I found myself questioning why I had to go through so much shit. And I actually told myself I am not going to go through such shit again. I won't apply for anymore tickets.
But when I reached the stadium (there weren't any earlier coaches back to London anyway...), my thinking changed again. Just looking at the stadium gave me a small sense of joy. The gates were long closed and denied me the chance to even go inside for a moment. However, the feeling of being shut out merely increased my resolved to be inside there the next time. The more you keep me out, the more I want it.
I am going to apply for all tickets for matches that I can possibly go for.
It's going to take more than a couple of traffic jams to stop me.
Its showdown time.
P.S : The saying "you only appreciate things that you have lost" had never been so true for me...
Friday, December 24, 2004
Job search/Frictional unemployment Theory
In line with MOE's initiative to make learning come alive for students, this is yet another part of the series by TosH on applying economic theory to real life situations.
I was reading my Labour Economics textbook just now (Yes, I am mugging even during holidays...scary eh?) and came across this theory on unemployment which is called the job search theory, which helps to explain the existence of frictional unemployment.
In this theory, the average worker faces a range of different jobs. These jobs differ in the wages they offer. However, each worker doesn't know the exact wage of the next job offer he/she will get due to uncertainty or lack of information. He/she only gets one job offer per period and he or she has to decide whether to take it. If the worker refuses the job, he or she loses the offer and continues to search the next period for a new job. How does the worker decide whether to take the job or not? He or she will decide by comparing the wage on offer and his/her (from now on I shall use just the male version) asking wage. The asking wage is the minimum wage that he would be willing to take on the job. This asking wage is hence determined by the marginal benefit and marginal cost of an extra search (which I shall not elaborate on further because I can sense some of you sleeping by this point....)
So of course if the asking wage is set too high, there are fewer wage offers which exceed the asking wage, so the worker will have a higher probability of rejecting the offer and thus remaining unemployed. If the asking wage is set very low, there are more jobs out there which offer wages higher than this asking wage and the worker will be more likely to find a job which he will accept and thus become employed again.
Because it is unlikely that for every worker, the first offer he gets exceeds his asking wage, there will be some form of frictional unemployment. The worker will spend some time being unemployed to find a BETTER job. However, if he is unemployed for too long, he might lower his asking wage as the costs of his unemployment becomes larger and larger (for example he might have used up his savings....). In the end, he might end up with a job that has a lower wage than the job offers that he had rejected last time. In short, he might be better off if he had been less picky (having a lower asking wage) initially.
So how can we apply this to everyday life? Let's consider shopping shall we?
Suppose TosH wants to buy an iPod. So off he goes to Sim Lim Square to buy an iPod. Now it is well known that TosH is a scrooge. He hates being ripped off. He wants to buy the iPod at the lowest LOWEST price possible. Thus he sets an unrealistically low maximum price that he is willing to pay. But there are a lot of shops selling iPods there and he doesn't know the range of possible prices he can get from the shops there beforehand. So he has to go around asking for the price, bargain with shopkeepers until the lowest possible price from each shop is reached. However, he is not sure whether the store next door can give him a lower price or not, so he politely excuses himself after bargaining and off he goes to the next store to start the process all over again.
However, after he leaves the store, the same offer might not come back again. The shopkeeper might be du lan at him for not buying after bargaining for so long and so he doesn't give TosH the bargained price the next time he goes back. Or the shop might have so coincidentally sold its last iPod and cannot sell it to TosH anymore. The shop might have been raided by police for pirated VCDs etc etc. So at each shop, TosH has to compare the bargained price and the maximum price he is willing to pay and decide if he can get a lower price next door.
If he sets his expectations too high (ie the maximum price he is willing to pay is too low), he might not be able to buy an iPod even after going through all the stores. When he decides to go back to the lowest priced store, the store might not sell it to him anymore. By this time, he is tired, du lan or the person he had dragged along to help him bargain might be pissed off. So he lowers his expectation (sets the maximum price higher) and in the end manages to get an iPod. But he could have done better if he had set a more realistic maximum price initially and accepted the price from the lowest priced store.
The implications are clear: if you continue to search, you might find a lower price; but if you continue to search, you might not get back the offer which in the end turn out to be the lowest.
Humans are always fuelled by a never ending desire to do better. We are always looking for the lowest price, the highest paying job (we can possibly get...), the quietest room and of course, the best life partner we can get. Thus, we search. However, some people are able to set a more realistic target than others, and thus they end up with the item (that they want to buy), job, home or life partner more quickly than others.
Others, however, set very high targets initially. They want the prettiest, slimmest, richest, smartest, hottest, most caring, with the nicest hair girl out there. When they meet someone, they feel that they can do better, and so they continue searching. But alas, days, months, years and even decades go by without them meeting someone who meets their "asking wage", even if some of the people they meet are already VERY good.
As time passes by, they realise they are not getting younger. Their belly is showing. Their hair is dropping. Their wrinkles are appearing. They are getting less fertile. They start to lower their expectations. And they might or might not end up with someone in the end. Eventually, they might even lower their expectations so much so as to marry anyone just to carry on the family line. However, need this be the case? It definitely need not be if they had not been so picky in the first place. If they had realised that the person they had met in school or at work was actually quite good, they needn't have ended up with a China bride who just wants their money when they die.
So what is the moral of the story? Some form of searching/time spent searching is inevitable, just like some job search is inevitable. Nobody takes the first job/person that comes along. However, setting too high an asking wage/expectation is definitely unhealthy. It lengthens your unemployment spell, and you might not get anything better at the end of it all.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing, however they are about as useful as the backside.
After note: somehow this piece didn't quite achieve the high hopes that I had before I started writing it. Something seems to be missing. Can anybody help me?
I was reading my Labour Economics textbook just now (Yes, I am mugging even during holidays...scary eh?) and came across this theory on unemployment which is called the job search theory, which helps to explain the existence of frictional unemployment.
In this theory, the average worker faces a range of different jobs. These jobs differ in the wages they offer. However, each worker doesn't know the exact wage of the next job offer he/she will get due to uncertainty or lack of information. He/she only gets one job offer per period and he or she has to decide whether to take it. If the worker refuses the job, he or she loses the offer and continues to search the next period for a new job. How does the worker decide whether to take the job or not? He or she will decide by comparing the wage on offer and his/her (from now on I shall use just the male version) asking wage. The asking wage is the minimum wage that he would be willing to take on the job. This asking wage is hence determined by the marginal benefit and marginal cost of an extra search (which I shall not elaborate on further because I can sense some of you sleeping by this point....)
So of course if the asking wage is set too high, there are fewer wage offers which exceed the asking wage, so the worker will have a higher probability of rejecting the offer and thus remaining unemployed. If the asking wage is set very low, there are more jobs out there which offer wages higher than this asking wage and the worker will be more likely to find a job which he will accept and thus become employed again.
Because it is unlikely that for every worker, the first offer he gets exceeds his asking wage, there will be some form of frictional unemployment. The worker will spend some time being unemployed to find a BETTER job. However, if he is unemployed for too long, he might lower his asking wage as the costs of his unemployment becomes larger and larger (for example he might have used up his savings....). In the end, he might end up with a job that has a lower wage than the job offers that he had rejected last time. In short, he might be better off if he had been less picky (having a lower asking wage) initially.
So how can we apply this to everyday life? Let's consider shopping shall we?
Suppose TosH wants to buy an iPod. So off he goes to Sim Lim Square to buy an iPod. Now it is well known that TosH is a scrooge. He hates being ripped off. He wants to buy the iPod at the lowest LOWEST price possible. Thus he sets an unrealistically low maximum price that he is willing to pay. But there are a lot of shops selling iPods there and he doesn't know the range of possible prices he can get from the shops there beforehand. So he has to go around asking for the price, bargain with shopkeepers until the lowest possible price from each shop is reached. However, he is not sure whether the store next door can give him a lower price or not, so he politely excuses himself after bargaining and off he goes to the next store to start the process all over again.
However, after he leaves the store, the same offer might not come back again. The shopkeeper might be du lan at him for not buying after bargaining for so long and so he doesn't give TosH the bargained price the next time he goes back. Or the shop might have so coincidentally sold its last iPod and cannot sell it to TosH anymore. The shop might have been raided by police for pirated VCDs etc etc. So at each shop, TosH has to compare the bargained price and the maximum price he is willing to pay and decide if he can get a lower price next door.
If he sets his expectations too high (ie the maximum price he is willing to pay is too low), he might not be able to buy an iPod even after going through all the stores. When he decides to go back to the lowest priced store, the store might not sell it to him anymore. By this time, he is tired, du lan or the person he had dragged along to help him bargain might be pissed off. So he lowers his expectation (sets the maximum price higher) and in the end manages to get an iPod. But he could have done better if he had set a more realistic maximum price initially and accepted the price from the lowest priced store.
The implications are clear: if you continue to search, you might find a lower price; but if you continue to search, you might not get back the offer which in the end turn out to be the lowest.
Humans are always fuelled by a never ending desire to do better. We are always looking for the lowest price, the highest paying job (we can possibly get...), the quietest room and of course, the best life partner we can get. Thus, we search. However, some people are able to set a more realistic target than others, and thus they end up with the item (that they want to buy), job, home or life partner more quickly than others.
Others, however, set very high targets initially. They want the prettiest, slimmest, richest, smartest, hottest, most caring, with the nicest hair girl out there. When they meet someone, they feel that they can do better, and so they continue searching. But alas, days, months, years and even decades go by without them meeting someone who meets their "asking wage", even if some of the people they meet are already VERY good.
As time passes by, they realise they are not getting younger. Their belly is showing. Their hair is dropping. Their wrinkles are appearing. They are getting less fertile. They start to lower their expectations. And they might or might not end up with someone in the end. Eventually, they might even lower their expectations so much so as to marry anyone just to carry on the family line. However, need this be the case? It definitely need not be if they had not been so picky in the first place. If they had realised that the person they had met in school or at work was actually quite good, they needn't have ended up with a China bride who just wants their money when they die.
So what is the moral of the story? Some form of searching/time spent searching is inevitable, just like some job search is inevitable. Nobody takes the first job/person that comes along. However, setting too high an asking wage/expectation is definitely unhealthy. It lengthens your unemployment spell, and you might not get anything better at the end of it all.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing, however they are about as useful as the backside.
After note: somehow this piece didn't quite achieve the high hopes that I had before I started writing it. Something seems to be missing. Can anybody help me?
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
I want to go back to Singapore!!
Whiny Tosh is back in action again!!
I want to go back to Singapore!! It's so damn bloody cold here that I can't stand it! My tolerance for cold weather had gone down dramatically in the past year and somehow this year feels much colder than the past 2 years. And I hate it. But again I am just being whiny of course because all I had to do a couple of months back was to ask my parents for money and I would be back in sunny Singapore (and complaining about the expensive air ticket, 13 hour long flight, too hot weather etc etc)
But the following REALLY made me wish I was back in Singapore.
From The Straits Times:
Dec 22, 2004
More than 500 Lions fans make KL plans
THE Tiger Cup will come to Singapore only on Jan 2, but football fever has already hit a group of die-hard Lions fans.
At least 500 of them are set to make the trip to Kuala Lumpur for next Wednesday's semi-final first leg between Singapore and Myanmar at the 18,000-capacity Cheras Stadium.
Myanmar have chosen to play their home matches in Malaysia as there is a lack of proper facilities in their country.
Singapore and Myanmar will meet again at the National Stadium for the second leg on Jan 2. But fans such as Tampines Rovers director of operations R. Vengadasalam will not be waiting that long before watching the Lions.
He said: 'It's not every day that we make it to the Tiger Cup semi-finals.
'I was brought up on Malaysia Cup football, when travelling across the Causeway to watch a game was a regular thing.
'It was always a wonderful experience and it will be nice to relive this with the Tiger Cup.'
He has already booked five buses and expects to fill them by the end of the week for the U-turn trip - leave Singapore in the afternoon, watch the match and return the same night.
William Lee, who runs Wilpat Transporter Agency, is working with the Football Association of Singapore to organise packages.
A one-night stay at the Grand Continental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, transportation and match ticket, will cost $110.
Lee is also considering having a U-turn option.
Said Lee, who used to organise trips to watch Malaysia Cup matches in the early 1990s: 'It will be just like the good old days.
'I already managed to fill three buses with my old football buddies. I have been getting calls every day and I am quite confident we can get about six buses.'
Lee is not the only veteran tour organiser crossing the Causeway.
Walter Koh, a prominent name in the 1990s, is offering a two-day/one-night package at $119, while a U-turn trip cost $69. Also included is an insurance coverage of $10,000.
The FAS will be selling tickets for the semi-final first leg to the public.
The dates and times of the ticket sales will be announced shortly. -- MARC LIM
GOD DAMN IT!! I WANT TO GO AND WATCH SINGAPORE TOO!!!
I was too young to catch the Malaysia Cup fever (i.e. going to National Stadium to watch...) and this is such a perfect chance to go travel AND watch Singapore and it isn't held in some ulu ulu Southeast Asian country which I wouldn't dare to step on without having written my will. If I was in Singapore this time, I would be really really gian to go for this game (hoping parents' agree of course...). And its pretty cheap to go too, about the same price as what I pay when I go to Manchester, with a night in a hotel thrown in.
But its useless to cry over spilt milk. I will still be hoping for the best all the same. GO LIONS!
P.S.: Anybody thinks I should start a part time career actually organising trips to Old Trafford and making some profits from it? *ponders*
I want to go back to Singapore!! It's so damn bloody cold here that I can't stand it! My tolerance for cold weather had gone down dramatically in the past year and somehow this year feels much colder than the past 2 years. And I hate it. But again I am just being whiny of course because all I had to do a couple of months back was to ask my parents for money and I would be back in sunny Singapore (and complaining about the expensive air ticket, 13 hour long flight, too hot weather etc etc)
But the following REALLY made me wish I was back in Singapore.
From The Straits Times:
Dec 22, 2004
More than 500 Lions fans make KL plans
THE Tiger Cup will come to Singapore only on Jan 2, but football fever has already hit a group of die-hard Lions fans.
At least 500 of them are set to make the trip to Kuala Lumpur for next Wednesday's semi-final first leg between Singapore and Myanmar at the 18,000-capacity Cheras Stadium.
Myanmar have chosen to play their home matches in Malaysia as there is a lack of proper facilities in their country.
Singapore and Myanmar will meet again at the National Stadium for the second leg on Jan 2. But fans such as Tampines Rovers director of operations R. Vengadasalam will not be waiting that long before watching the Lions.
He said: 'It's not every day that we make it to the Tiger Cup semi-finals.
'I was brought up on Malaysia Cup football, when travelling across the Causeway to watch a game was a regular thing.
'It was always a wonderful experience and it will be nice to relive this with the Tiger Cup.'
He has already booked five buses and expects to fill them by the end of the week for the U-turn trip - leave Singapore in the afternoon, watch the match and return the same night.
William Lee, who runs Wilpat Transporter Agency, is working with the Football Association of Singapore to organise packages.
A one-night stay at the Grand Continental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, transportation and match ticket, will cost $110.
Lee is also considering having a U-turn option.
Said Lee, who used to organise trips to watch Malaysia Cup matches in the early 1990s: 'It will be just like the good old days.
'I already managed to fill three buses with my old football buddies. I have been getting calls every day and I am quite confident we can get about six buses.'
Lee is not the only veteran tour organiser crossing the Causeway.
Walter Koh, a prominent name in the 1990s, is offering a two-day/one-night package at $119, while a U-turn trip cost $69. Also included is an insurance coverage of $10,000.
The FAS will be selling tickets for the semi-final first leg to the public.
The dates and times of the ticket sales will be announced shortly. -- MARC LIM
GOD DAMN IT!! I WANT TO GO AND WATCH SINGAPORE TOO!!!
I was too young to catch the Malaysia Cup fever (i.e. going to National Stadium to watch...) and this is such a perfect chance to go travel AND watch Singapore and it isn't held in some ulu ulu Southeast Asian country which I wouldn't dare to step on without having written my will. If I was in Singapore this time, I would be really really gian to go for this game (hoping parents' agree of course...). And its pretty cheap to go too, about the same price as what I pay when I go to Manchester, with a night in a hotel thrown in.
But its useless to cry over spilt milk. I will still be hoping for the best all the same. GO LIONS!
P.S.: Anybody thinks I should start a part time career actually organising trips to Old Trafford and making some profits from it? *ponders*
Monday, December 20, 2004
Holidays, or is it?
Damn it, second entry in a day, I must be getting damn bored.
First of all, I am a very LPPL person. Give me good results and I will say it means nothing (and I DO mean it). But lower my marks and I will get all jittery and nervous. Throw too many tickets my way and I will complain about the travelling. Send me rejection emails and I will get pissed off again. So it is perhaps no surprise that sometimes holidays make me sad, after complaining early last week that I CAN'T wait for the holidays to come.
There's just something about holidays and end of terms that makes me extremely extremely nostalgic. The feeling was sparked off last week when I downloaded a lot of old Emil Chow (Zhou Hua Jian) songs. Some of the songs which I downloaded:
First of all, I am a very LPPL person. Give me good results and I will say it means nothing (and I DO mean it). But lower my marks and I will get all jittery and nervous. Throw too many tickets my way and I will complain about the travelling. Send me rejection emails and I will get pissed off again. So it is perhaps no surprise that sometimes holidays make me sad, after complaining early last week that I CAN'T wait for the holidays to come.
There's just something about holidays and end of terms that makes me extremely extremely nostalgic. The feeling was sparked off last week when I downloaded a lot of old Emil Chow (Zhou Hua Jian) songs. Some of the songs which I downloaded:
- Ai Xiang Sui
- Feng Yu Wu Zu
- Hai Kuo Tian Kong
- Hua Xin
- Qi Shi Bu Xiang Zou
- Wo Shi Zhen De Fu Chu Wo De Ai
Some of these songs are really old, and they reminded me of the days when I finished my PSLE in Poi Ching. I remember we had no lessons for about 1 month, but still had to go to school. And we had some really enjoyable times playing those "caps" where you had a striker to flip the caps over. We read comics. And one of the other things we did was to listen to Emil Chow songs. I forgot whether we had any mini KTVs or not. Any of you Poi Ching people remember? And when the December holidays came, the results came out, and we were all off to new secondary schools.
Then it was the end of the O levels, but this wasn't that bad, because I knew that most of us, or at least the people I really treasured were all going to be at VJC, so I was going to see them in school one way or another. Some things would change, but going to the same school would make things seem that bit easier.
Then it was the end of A levels. That was very sad. It would spell the end of the days whereby you can see your friends everyday in school. No effort was needed during term time, everybody just went to the same place everyday and catching up was easy (if there was anything to catch up on in the first place that is). Everybody's schedule was more or less similar too, and planning outings was so much simpler. However, with the end of the A levels, everybody had different schedules. Guys went to NS (with the associated weekend duties and confinements) and girls went to unis and gave tuitions on weekends. Time became a valuable commodity.
One thing that I really did not like for the past 4 years had been the constant change of environment that I had to face. 2 years of JC life were gone in a flash. Then it was 3 months in BMT, then another 5 months in OCS. Then the constant jetting between Singapore and UK and the constant moving of places where I called home for the last 2 years. Even the changing of terms brought entirely new timetables and I had to readjust my pattern. Some people are always on the move, others find it difficult to adjust to new surroundings, I believe I belong in the latter category. I take a significant period of time before I can get rid of the nostalgic feeling and the irritability which comes with moving/going to a new place every few months. And this situation would not change for the foreseeable (or is it spelled forseeable?) 8 years (changing of NS posting, teaching postings etc). Perhaps I should really get rid of this melancholy streak in me.
There are too many things that I have let go and missed. There are too many things that I HAD TO let go but still miss nonetheless. But what is worst is that
there will continue to be things that I have to let go against my wishes....
I miss....
Dear Santa...
From The Straits Times
Dec 19, 2004
Dad gave him a Ferrari when he turned 21
Some parents are spending lavishly on gifts for their children
By Carolyn Quek
WHEN Darren Teo turned 21 in June this year, his father, 53-year-old businessman David Teo, marked his rite of passage by giving him a key for a spanking new, bright red Ferrari 360 Modena.
And Darren isn't the only one getting lavish gifts from mum and dad. When it comes to their children, more parents these days are sparing no expense.
They are giving them expensive presents or monetary rewards when they hit milestones in their lives such as birthdays and when they do well in their exams.
Some parents say they do so because they love their children, others want to motivate them to study harder.
For Darren, a first-year engineering undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, the $750,000 Ferrari was a surprise gift from dad.
He said of his father: 'He just brought me down to the showroom one day and asked me if I liked the car. I said yes, of course and then he told me that it was actually a birthday gift for me and that he had already ordered it.'
Although he admitted that he is 'pampered' by his parents, the youngest and only son of three children remains down-to-earth and wants to work hard so that he can buy a car of his own in the future.
'I guess I want to earn my own Ferrari, I want to earn my own car,' he said. After he graduates, he plans to work for a few years before helping out with his father's food manufacturing business.
'I think the satisfaction you get from getting the car from your parents is very different from earning one yourself.'
Lionel Kong, 20, got a bright yellow Mini Cooper that cost about $96,000 from his father, Mr Kong Eng Teck, 5O, a businessman. It was a trade-off for staying in Singapore for his university education instead of furthering his studies abroad.
Said Lionel: 'Although I wanted to go to the US to study, my father wanted me to stay here to do my basic degree first, and spend more time with my grandparents, who are getting old. But when I further my studies in the future, I can go abroad.'
The elder of two sons is now a full-time national serviceman, and his father insists that he pays for his own petrol and car parking fees.
This is a win-win situation, said Mr Kong, 50, who is in the IT services industry, and a fan of the Mini Cooper.
'I'm not only teaching him about being responsible by taking ownership over his car - it was also an excuse for me to get it,' he said with a laugh. He drives the car occasionally.
On a smaller scale, Victoria Tan, 19, got $1,000 after getting her A level results this March, for scoring an A for geography, B for English literature and B for theatre studies and drama.
This was a deal that her dad, Mr Tan Chek Sian, had made with her before the exams. She would get $400 for every A she scored, and $300 for every B.
Now a law undergraduate at the University of Nottingham, she said the deal was an incentive for her to study harder. She also said she has been getting monetary awards for doing well in exams since she was young.
Mr Tan, an external affairs consultant with Shell Singapore, said: 'An incentive is a strong motivation that encourages people to do better.'
He plans to continue giving them to Victoria for her university examinations. He also expects her to spend the money wisely.
Ms Evelyn Khong, a family life educator at Fei Yue Counselling Services, thinks that parents giving expensive gifts to their children is not an issue, if they can afford it.
But she said: 'What message is that child receiving? What is the parent trying to tell the child in this simple, yet powerful act of giving?'
She said that some parents may go overboard in compensating their kids with expensive gifts because they feel guilty about spending little or no time with their kids, and having no personal involvement in their kids' lives.
'True giving has nothing to do with the size and the cost. The material things will eventually be gone, but the memory of being loved and accepted for who they are and who they are not will always remain in the heart of the child,' she said.
And that is why Madam Su Wan Ru takes the practical view when rewarding her daughter.
When her daughter Zeng Jing- yin, 12, scored 283 in this year's PSLE exams, the second highest in all of Singapore, she took her to Kinokuniya book store, where they spent about $300 on books.
Madam Su, 39, a housewife, says she does not believe in giving Jingyin money when she does well: 'I tell her that she studies for a good life and a bright future next time. If she studies for the reward, what will happen when there is no reward?'
And then there's Mrs Anna Lin, whose daughter Nicole, 13, from Xinmin Secondary, topped the Normal Academic stream in her school this year. The only reward Nicole got was a little extra pocket money.
Said the bank administrative officer: 'I guess some parents do so because they can afford it and it does motivate the kid. But it's generally not a good virtue, it's like a bribe and may encourage the child to become materialistic.'
God damn it....how is it possible? A god damn Ferrari for your 21st birthday present? Imagine all the babes you will be able to pull with that lean, mean red machine! Oh well, even if I had a Ferrari babes will not come to me. There will always be a fitter hunk WITH a Ferrari.
Not that I want my parents to buy me lavish gifts anyway. I already feel bad enough for living off my parents when I am in Singapore, so to have them buy me stuff is even worse (see what a sensible guy I am? :P). But of course that is not to say I am going to push that red Ferrari, silver Mercedes or white Lancer Evolution away if one is presented to me (just don't mention the lack of driving licence god damn it!). But I am certainly not jealous, if I want to hook chicks with wheels, I want to make god damn sure its my OWN wheels, not from my dad's pockets.
So what is my purpose in pasting this article? It's the following line:
Madam Su, 39, a housewife, says she does not believe in giving Jingyin money when she does well: 'I tell her that she studies for a good life and a bright future next time. If she studies for the reward, what will happen when there is no reward?'
At first glance, "wah!", imparting correct values eh? But then if you look at the statement closely, its a contradiction. Isn't studying for a good life and a bright future next time a reward in itself? And not the true meaning of education? Going by the Madam's own statement, what would happen if her daughter DID NOT have a good future next time even if she had a decent education? Classic LPPL.
So face it, studying to earn a fatter pay cheque 10 years down the road is a reward in itself, not the true meaning of education. Nobody actually cares if you say you study because you want higher pay, much less condemn you. So please don't make people cringe by making supposedly noble statements, only for the statement to stink of mud.
As for the title of this post,
Dear Santa,
I wish for the computers at the Ticketing Office at Man United to be my good friends. Thank you.
Dec 19, 2004
Dad gave him a Ferrari when he turned 21
Some parents are spending lavishly on gifts for their children
By Carolyn Quek
WHEN Darren Teo turned 21 in June this year, his father, 53-year-old businessman David Teo, marked his rite of passage by giving him a key for a spanking new, bright red Ferrari 360 Modena.
And Darren isn't the only one getting lavish gifts from mum and dad. When it comes to their children, more parents these days are sparing no expense.
They are giving them expensive presents or monetary rewards when they hit milestones in their lives such as birthdays and when they do well in their exams.
Some parents say they do so because they love their children, others want to motivate them to study harder.
For Darren, a first-year engineering undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, the $750,000 Ferrari was a surprise gift from dad.
He said of his father: 'He just brought me down to the showroom one day and asked me if I liked the car. I said yes, of course and then he told me that it was actually a birthday gift for me and that he had already ordered it.'
Although he admitted that he is 'pampered' by his parents, the youngest and only son of three children remains down-to-earth and wants to work hard so that he can buy a car of his own in the future.
'I guess I want to earn my own Ferrari, I want to earn my own car,' he said. After he graduates, he plans to work for a few years before helping out with his father's food manufacturing business.
'I think the satisfaction you get from getting the car from your parents is very different from earning one yourself.'
Lionel Kong, 20, got a bright yellow Mini Cooper that cost about $96,000 from his father, Mr Kong Eng Teck, 5O, a businessman. It was a trade-off for staying in Singapore for his university education instead of furthering his studies abroad.
Said Lionel: 'Although I wanted to go to the US to study, my father wanted me to stay here to do my basic degree first, and spend more time with my grandparents, who are getting old. But when I further my studies in the future, I can go abroad.'
The elder of two sons is now a full-time national serviceman, and his father insists that he pays for his own petrol and car parking fees.
This is a win-win situation, said Mr Kong, 50, who is in the IT services industry, and a fan of the Mini Cooper.
'I'm not only teaching him about being responsible by taking ownership over his car - it was also an excuse for me to get it,' he said with a laugh. He drives the car occasionally.
On a smaller scale, Victoria Tan, 19, got $1,000 after getting her A level results this March, for scoring an A for geography, B for English literature and B for theatre studies and drama.
This was a deal that her dad, Mr Tan Chek Sian, had made with her before the exams. She would get $400 for every A she scored, and $300 for every B.
Now a law undergraduate at the University of Nottingham, she said the deal was an incentive for her to study harder. She also said she has been getting monetary awards for doing well in exams since she was young.
Mr Tan, an external affairs consultant with Shell Singapore, said: 'An incentive is a strong motivation that encourages people to do better.'
He plans to continue giving them to Victoria for her university examinations. He also expects her to spend the money wisely.
Ms Evelyn Khong, a family life educator at Fei Yue Counselling Services, thinks that parents giving expensive gifts to their children is not an issue, if they can afford it.
But she said: 'What message is that child receiving? What is the parent trying to tell the child in this simple, yet powerful act of giving?'
She said that some parents may go overboard in compensating their kids with expensive gifts because they feel guilty about spending little or no time with their kids, and having no personal involvement in their kids' lives.
'True giving has nothing to do with the size and the cost. The material things will eventually be gone, but the memory of being loved and accepted for who they are and who they are not will always remain in the heart of the child,' she said.
And that is why Madam Su Wan Ru takes the practical view when rewarding her daughter.
When her daughter Zeng Jing- yin, 12, scored 283 in this year's PSLE exams, the second highest in all of Singapore, she took her to Kinokuniya book store, where they spent about $300 on books.
Madam Su, 39, a housewife, says she does not believe in giving Jingyin money when she does well: 'I tell her that she studies for a good life and a bright future next time. If she studies for the reward, what will happen when there is no reward?'
And then there's Mrs Anna Lin, whose daughter Nicole, 13, from Xinmin Secondary, topped the Normal Academic stream in her school this year. The only reward Nicole got was a little extra pocket money.
Said the bank administrative officer: 'I guess some parents do so because they can afford it and it does motivate the kid. But it's generally not a good virtue, it's like a bribe and may encourage the child to become materialistic.'
God damn it....how is it possible? A god damn Ferrari for your 21st birthday present? Imagine all the babes you will be able to pull with that lean, mean red machine! Oh well, even if I had a Ferrari babes will not come to me. There will always be a fitter hunk WITH a Ferrari.
Not that I want my parents to buy me lavish gifts anyway. I already feel bad enough for living off my parents when I am in Singapore, so to have them buy me stuff is even worse (see what a sensible guy I am? :P). But of course that is not to say I am going to push that red Ferrari, silver Mercedes or white Lancer Evolution away if one is presented to me (just don't mention the lack of driving licence god damn it!). But I am certainly not jealous, if I want to hook chicks with wheels, I want to make god damn sure its my OWN wheels, not from my dad's pockets.
So what is my purpose in pasting this article? It's the following line:
Madam Su, 39, a housewife, says she does not believe in giving Jingyin money when she does well: 'I tell her that she studies for a good life and a bright future next time. If she studies for the reward, what will happen when there is no reward?'
At first glance, "wah!", imparting correct values eh? But then if you look at the statement closely, its a contradiction. Isn't studying for a good life and a bright future next time a reward in itself? And not the true meaning of education? Going by the Madam's own statement, what would happen if her daughter DID NOT have a good future next time even if she had a decent education? Classic LPPL.
So face it, studying to earn a fatter pay cheque 10 years down the road is a reward in itself, not the true meaning of education. Nobody actually cares if you say you study because you want higher pay, much less condemn you. So please don't make people cringe by making supposedly noble statements, only for the statement to stink of mud.
As for the title of this post,
Dear Santa,
I wish for the computers at the Ticketing Office at Man United to be my good friends. Thank you.
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Forza United!
Champions League 2nd Round draw
Its AC Milan!! Damn I should be a prophet right Elvin? Seriously, these ties are what dreams are made of. Now please.................*cross fingers*
Its AC Milan!! Damn I should be a prophet right Elvin? Seriously, these ties are what dreams are made of. Now please.................*cross fingers*
Friday, December 17, 2004
Go Lions!
From The Straits Times:
Dec 17, 2004
SOCCER
S'pore look to avenge 2001 defeat
Beaten by Myanmar in SEA Games, Lions want to turn the tables in Tiger Cup semi-finals
By Marc Lim
THREE years ago, Indra Sahdan Daud predicted a place in the final of the 2001 South-east Asia Games in Malaysia for his Singapore Under-23 team.
TOP OF THEIR GROUP: The players from Myanmar are predictably happy with their progress to the semi-finals of the Tiger Cup, at Thailand's expense.
The captain had to eat his words after unfancied Myanmar beat his side 2-1 for a place in the semi-finals.
Come Dec 29, the class of 2001 are set to be reunited on Malaysian soil - this time, to vie for a berth in the Tiger Cup final after Myanmar beat Timor Leste 3-1 yesterday to top Group B and set up a showdown with the Lions in Kuala Lumpur.
Though both sides will include familiar faces from 2001, much has changed in three years.
Then, Myanmar were an inexperienced squad, up against the Singapore Goal 2010 side, who were to have formed the backbone of a Singapore dream team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals.
Today, Goal 2010 has been shelved and the erstwhile underdogs from Myanmar are among the favourites to lift their first Tiger Cup.
'It was one of the worst nights of my career,' said Indra yesterday, recalling that night three years ago.
'It would be good to exact revenge. It'll be a different game, we have better players this time.'
Indra though, will have to hope for revenge from the sidelines - at least for the first leg on Dec 29 as he will be serving a one-match suspension for picking up his second yellow card in the tournament.
He said: 'I will be cheering the boys, because I can foresee it will be an intimidating atmosphere.'
Another who will be rooting for the team is Football Association of Singapore president Ho Peng Kee.
The Senior Minister of State (Law and Home Affairs) sent them a congratulatory message for meeting their semi-final target, before calling for greater consistency.
He added: 'We must improve as a cohesive fighting unit if we want to win the Tiger Cup.'
While the suspension of Indra, the team's top scorer with three goals, is seen as a blow to Singapore's hopes, it will at least force national coach Raddy Avramovic to re-look his strike force.
Singapore have been fortunate to progress to the last four without a potent attack. Indra and strike partner Agu Casmir may have scored five times but four were against minnows Laos.
With Indra out, Avramovic must decide whether to keep faith with Agu, move left-winger Itimi Dickson up front, or turn to substitutes Noh Alam Shah or Khairul Amri.
Finally!! SOME semblance of progress after years of not even making it to the semis of the SEA Games or Tiger Cup. And even better, Thailand is now out of the way. Pity I can't watch the game over here. But still I will be keenly waiting for good news.
Altogether now:
We are Singapore,
we are Singapore.
We will stand together,
hear the Lion roar!
Dec 17, 2004
SOCCER
S'pore look to avenge 2001 defeat
Beaten by Myanmar in SEA Games, Lions want to turn the tables in Tiger Cup semi-finals
By Marc Lim
THREE years ago, Indra Sahdan Daud predicted a place in the final of the 2001 South-east Asia Games in Malaysia for his Singapore Under-23 team.
TOP OF THEIR GROUP: The players from Myanmar are predictably happy with their progress to the semi-finals of the Tiger Cup, at Thailand's expense.
The captain had to eat his words after unfancied Myanmar beat his side 2-1 for a place in the semi-finals.
Come Dec 29, the class of 2001 are set to be reunited on Malaysian soil - this time, to vie for a berth in the Tiger Cup final after Myanmar beat Timor Leste 3-1 yesterday to top Group B and set up a showdown with the Lions in Kuala Lumpur.
Though both sides will include familiar faces from 2001, much has changed in three years.
Then, Myanmar were an inexperienced squad, up against the Singapore Goal 2010 side, who were to have formed the backbone of a Singapore dream team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals.
Today, Goal 2010 has been shelved and the erstwhile underdogs from Myanmar are among the favourites to lift their first Tiger Cup.
'It was one of the worst nights of my career,' said Indra yesterday, recalling that night three years ago.
'It would be good to exact revenge. It'll be a different game, we have better players this time.'
Indra though, will have to hope for revenge from the sidelines - at least for the first leg on Dec 29 as he will be serving a one-match suspension for picking up his second yellow card in the tournament.
He said: 'I will be cheering the boys, because I can foresee it will be an intimidating atmosphere.'
Another who will be rooting for the team is Football Association of Singapore president Ho Peng Kee.
The Senior Minister of State (Law and Home Affairs) sent them a congratulatory message for meeting their semi-final target, before calling for greater consistency.
He added: 'We must improve as a cohesive fighting unit if we want to win the Tiger Cup.'
While the suspension of Indra, the team's top scorer with three goals, is seen as a blow to Singapore's hopes, it will at least force national coach Raddy Avramovic to re-look his strike force.
Singapore have been fortunate to progress to the last four without a potent attack. Indra and strike partner Agu Casmir may have scored five times but four were against minnows Laos.
With Indra out, Avramovic must decide whether to keep faith with Agu, move left-winger Itimi Dickson up front, or turn to substitutes Noh Alam Shah or Khairul Amri.
Finally!! SOME semblance of progress after years of not even making it to the semis of the SEA Games or Tiger Cup. And even better, Thailand is now out of the way. Pity I can't watch the game over here. But still I will be keenly waiting for good news.
Altogether now:
We are Singapore,
we are Singapore.
We will stand together,
hear the Lion roar!
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Yet another football musing
Saw this speech a long time ago and chanced upon it again a couple of days ago on MUFCUSA website. This speech was made at the AGM this year in around October/November I think.
STEVE DONOGHUE'S SPEECH AT THE AGM - A MUST READ!!!!...
Mr Chairman, please give me a minute or two to explain my point before my question.
Back in 1991 we fans had four trips to Wembley and a final in Rotterdam to pay for, our then chairman, put this club on the stock market just at the time when he knew that most fans would be at their lowest financial point of the season, leaving the board and its corporate friends to make a killing on the stock exchange. You once couldn’t do enough for the fans, but now some are looked upon with disdain, why? Because, we dare to question the boards actions. The board are so fond of quoting statistics, and pointing out to us how much it spends, it seems you’ve forgotten the true meaning of what running a football club should be all about, its about doing the best on and off the pitch for the community of supporters that come to be entertained by the players on a Saturday…err Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday whatever day SKY wants it to be, and you can’t blame the media vultures for grabbing what they can, No, it seems you were that busy grabbing their TV money, somebody forgot to check the small print that allows them to change fixtures at a whim, which I am sure everyone here, including the manager and players are fed up with. I’ll give you a few statistics, in my 47 years of following United I have travelled 264,000 miles to 16 different countries (pity, the club don’t do air miles eh!) at an approximate cost of £45,000. That’s about 14% of my 32 years adult earning salary. A weeks wages for some players nowadays. This, is my 1960’s scarf (held up) it has taken 40 odd years to build this collection into a fine work of art, it has character, it provokes memories and emotions, it is part of the fabric and history of what being a red is all about. All those years, all those emotions, all that money was spent willingly, because of the love and loyalty to my Club. Asking nothing in return, except honest toil from my team on the pitch. Before you think these are just inane ramblings, all of you present, just ask yourselves how much have YOU spent following United over the years, go on, do a few quick sums And then multiply that by 60,000 and you will see that we, YES we have invested hundreds of millions of pounds into OUR club. And you lot get it all for free. - - - - - When you needed us, when the club wasn’t doing so well, we were there, when you had no sponsors, we were there, when you begged us to help the Development Associations we dug deep and helped to build parts of Old Trafford, buy shares you said, One United its your Club you said, buy a brick for the walk of fame be part of the dream…well you made us what we are today, Fanatics 40 odd years of brainwashing us into thinking yes this IS our Club, we love it as one of our own family, look at what WE the fans did for the respect of Sir Matt, we stood for hours in the pouring rain to honour him. We came to the Munich memorial game because we knew the club did too little too late, WE paid that money to the surviving relatives, and WE have stood by Sir Alex Ferguson when some influential shareholders wanted him out. So, your to blame for our obsession, yet you expect fans to just hand it all over to the next fat cat who comes along, to maybe one day, asset strip us like our feeder club down the road in Yorkshire > ….I don’t think so.
We are not the ones who have sold our soul, Mr Edwards, Mr Kenyon and Mr Watkins could all have sold their offloading shares to fans but chose not to. By all means invest in things, but not at OUR expense with extortionate prices. There is a regulated, lawful point to all this, at these shareholders meetings which in the past YOU have decided what questions YOU will answer and when the meeting will close, I’m sorry Mr Chairman but at other democratic PLC institutions ALL questions are answered, mikes are not cut off and they run until the shareholders, who are YOUR benefactors, decide when they’ve asked enough questions. Each year these AGM’s get shorter and shorter, and you all get an easy ride. Can’t you see the way you treat us is why the fans feel let down by you. THIS, scarf is true commitment, fans re-investing all their hard earned wages, this is OUR long term investment, in OUR club. Without OUR support you would have no revenue, no sponsors, no TV contracts. “Don’t forget, its not just the fans who will be affected by a takeover, all your jobs will be on the line as well. But hey, you’ll all be very rich men, the people of Manchester & Salford won’t forget what you’ve done, you will be in the clubs folklore, but for all the wrong reasons. Don’t let that happen. Now, my question to the board is, Will you make a commitment to us, the 18% of small shareholder fans by actively encouraging all the other significant shareholders and fans, NOT just the 2,500 here today bot to the millions of reds all over the world via the clubs website, match programme and Mutv etc’ who do own the 7% or more shares needed to join the fans and take up the challenge to make the stake up to the 25% needed to build a “Supporters Trust” ? There’s been a lot of talk of “civil war” in the media just lately, none of us want that, but please Mr Chairman, don’t underestimate the fans feelings on this issue. If the board really do want to do what’s best for this club and its fans, show us your true colours you could help put a stop to all this nonsense once and for all. This, is our Alamo , the line has been drawn. It’s ironic that if Glazier wants to vote you lot off the board, you’ll have to come to the small shareholder fans to keep your jobs, SO, to coin a phrase, “your either with us or against us”… which shall it be?
In addition, had been following this very interesting thread:
Part time supporters?
Given United's worldwide following, this is a very contentious issue. Last time I used to be perplexed at the level of "animosity" towards so called day trippers to Old Trafford from the locals. Generally they are all right, but there are some who outwardly express their disdain for Asians who don't sing and shout during matches, go into the megastore to shop blah blah. But slowly and slowly I began to understand a little bit of the reasons why.
Let me draw an analogy.
You used to have a very close bunch of friends in secondary school. You did well in O levels and went to RJ. There you meet a whole new bunch of people, and made friends with some of the coolest people around..or so you thought. As you hang out with these new friends, somewhere along the line, you inevitably shunt your old friends out of the way. Schedules clash, too busy, or just plain can't be bothered. Yet the relationship which had took years to build up sometimes still withstand the test of time. As you find yourself in trouble, perhaps in school or relationships, most of the new friends would not go out of their way to help you or comfort you. Your old friends will. But yet they are the very ones which you had shafted in the attempt to mix with cool new people.
The local supporters who had followed United all these years feel like those old secondary school friends. Do you still remember Premiere 12 times? English Premier League matches then used to be at unearthly hours. (11pm was unearthly for a 11/12 year old kid...) Then somewhere along the line, matches started appearing at 7/8pm. And inevitably they were the big ones like United vs Liverpool. Somewhere further, matches started appearing on Sunday nights, Monday nights blah blah. And now there is a ridiculous 115am Sunday morning kickoff ala Man United vs Norwich earlier this season. Ever wondered why? For television audiences that is. For the Far East, 7/8pm matches are much better than 11pm. (Not for me though...I hate to have to be back so early to catch the matches at home...). That translates to 1230pm kickoffs in the UK and it totally screws up some fans routines. Some love to hang out at pubs around the stadium to drink and warm up before going for matches. If the match starts at 1230pm, they would have to wake up extra early if they want to go to the pub etc...and somehow or rather you can't help but feel this is one of the reasons why atmosphere in 1230pm matches are shit. The situation is even worse for away fans. For example, United had an away match at Portsmouth at 1230pm last season. Thus the away fans had to wake up at unearthly hours (you are looking at approximately 6 hours of travelling by car) to make the trip down to the southern tip of England to catch a normal league game. Another case in point is Newcastle had an away game against Chelsea at Stamford bridge recently, again the away fans had to get up early to make the trip to London. But 3000 away fans is hardly going to bother the television companies whose sole concern is the audience in front of TVs.
The same things can be applied to Monday night matches, where fans have to take time off work just to travel and watch a league game. And 515pm kickoffs (which results in 115am kickoffs in Singapore) are shit for the Far East and people like me who get back to London at 3am after the match, but great for the growing US market.
To cater to the bigger number of television audiences, Sky shifts United's matches around to fit their schedules, and inevitably its the match going fans who suffer from the inconveniences and also the loss of the traditional Saturday 3pm kickoffs at Old Trafford. However, matchday revenue such as ticketing and merchandising are still the most important sources of revenue for United. Match going fans are still the most important to United. If *touchwood* one day United become unsuccessful, the television audience will undoubtedly shrink, but the match going fans who have supported United throughout the years will still be there. But yet they are being continually pushed around, so you can understand why perhaps some of them are not too happy about it.
As for the topic in the thread, it gets even more touchy. There are 101 ways why people can't go for matches. Living in another country. The travelling is too much. Can't afford it etc etc. And it is true that doesn't make them any less of a fan. However, what some people do in that thread is to say "If I were rich enough, live close enough blah blah, I would go to every match". That is what I feel is not right. It is a general and unqualified statement. Until you have actually been allowed to be in those circumstances you have described, and you actually did that, then you can make those kind of statements. Because simply put, it is too easy to make those kind of statements and then when crunch time comes around, hide behind those same reasons like not enough money, too many commitments etc. You never know when you will actually do something under certain circumstances until you actually encounter those circumstances. It's like if you say you will help run after a murderer if you ever saw one, but when the time comes, will you? Would the fear of being stabbed yourself deter you? You never know.
And let me just add that I am not having a holier than thou attitude against many of you in Singapore or in UK. I do not think I am a die hard fan. It's just that it's my last year here, and I am not spending my parents' money, which allows me to go for matches. But perhaps more importantly, it is my way of justifying to myself why I should have had that Arsenal or Man City or Spurs ticket and makes me all the more pissed that I never get it *grrrrrr* (Yes I am still sore about that...)
STEVE DONOGHUE'S SPEECH AT THE AGM - A MUST READ!!!!...
Mr Chairman, please give me a minute or two to explain my point before my question.
Back in 1991 we fans had four trips to Wembley and a final in Rotterdam to pay for, our then chairman, put this club on the stock market just at the time when he knew that most fans would be at their lowest financial point of the season, leaving the board and its corporate friends to make a killing on the stock exchange. You once couldn’t do enough for the fans, but now some are looked upon with disdain, why? Because, we dare to question the boards actions. The board are so fond of quoting statistics, and pointing out to us how much it spends, it seems you’ve forgotten the true meaning of what running a football club should be all about, its about doing the best on and off the pitch for the community of supporters that come to be entertained by the players on a Saturday…err Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday whatever day SKY wants it to be, and you can’t blame the media vultures for grabbing what they can, No, it seems you were that busy grabbing their TV money, somebody forgot to check the small print that allows them to change fixtures at a whim, which I am sure everyone here, including the manager and players are fed up with. I’ll give you a few statistics, in my 47 years of following United I have travelled 264,000 miles to 16 different countries (pity, the club don’t do air miles eh!) at an approximate cost of £45,000. That’s about 14% of my 32 years adult earning salary. A weeks wages for some players nowadays. This, is my 1960’s scarf (held up) it has taken 40 odd years to build this collection into a fine work of art, it has character, it provokes memories and emotions, it is part of the fabric and history of what being a red is all about. All those years, all those emotions, all that money was spent willingly, because of the love and loyalty to my Club. Asking nothing in return, except honest toil from my team on the pitch. Before you think these are just inane ramblings, all of you present, just ask yourselves how much have YOU spent following United over the years, go on, do a few quick sums And then multiply that by 60,000 and you will see that we, YES we have invested hundreds of millions of pounds into OUR club. And you lot get it all for free. - - - - - When you needed us, when the club wasn’t doing so well, we were there, when you had no sponsors, we were there, when you begged us to help the Development Associations we dug deep and helped to build parts of Old Trafford, buy shares you said, One United its your Club you said, buy a brick for the walk of fame be part of the dream…well you made us what we are today, Fanatics 40 odd years of brainwashing us into thinking yes this IS our Club, we love it as one of our own family, look at what WE the fans did for the respect of Sir Matt, we stood for hours in the pouring rain to honour him. We came to the Munich memorial game because we knew the club did too little too late, WE paid that money to the surviving relatives, and WE have stood by Sir Alex Ferguson when some influential shareholders wanted him out. So, your to blame for our obsession, yet you expect fans to just hand it all over to the next fat cat who comes along, to maybe one day, asset strip us like our feeder club down the road in Yorkshire > ….I don’t think so.
We are not the ones who have sold our soul, Mr Edwards, Mr Kenyon and Mr Watkins could all have sold their offloading shares to fans but chose not to. By all means invest in things, but not at OUR expense with extortionate prices. There is a regulated, lawful point to all this, at these shareholders meetings which in the past YOU have decided what questions YOU will answer and when the meeting will close, I’m sorry Mr Chairman but at other democratic PLC institutions ALL questions are answered, mikes are not cut off and they run until the shareholders, who are YOUR benefactors, decide when they’ve asked enough questions. Each year these AGM’s get shorter and shorter, and you all get an easy ride. Can’t you see the way you treat us is why the fans feel let down by you. THIS, scarf is true commitment, fans re-investing all their hard earned wages, this is OUR long term investment, in OUR club. Without OUR support you would have no revenue, no sponsors, no TV contracts. “Don’t forget, its not just the fans who will be affected by a takeover, all your jobs will be on the line as well. But hey, you’ll all be very rich men, the people of Manchester & Salford won’t forget what you’ve done, you will be in the clubs folklore, but for all the wrong reasons. Don’t let that happen. Now, my question to the board is, Will you make a commitment to us, the 18% of small shareholder fans by actively encouraging all the other significant shareholders and fans, NOT just the 2,500 here today bot to the millions of reds all over the world via the clubs website, match programme and Mutv etc’ who do own the 7% or more shares needed to join the fans and take up the challenge to make the stake up to the 25% needed to build a “Supporters Trust” ? There’s been a lot of talk of “civil war” in the media just lately, none of us want that, but please Mr Chairman, don’t underestimate the fans feelings on this issue. If the board really do want to do what’s best for this club and its fans, show us your true colours you could help put a stop to all this nonsense once and for all. This, is our Alamo , the line has been drawn. It’s ironic that if Glazier wants to vote you lot off the board, you’ll have to come to the small shareholder fans to keep your jobs, SO, to coin a phrase, “your either with us or against us”… which shall it be?
In addition, had been following this very interesting thread:
Part time supporters?
Given United's worldwide following, this is a very contentious issue. Last time I used to be perplexed at the level of "animosity" towards so called day trippers to Old Trafford from the locals. Generally they are all right, but there are some who outwardly express their disdain for Asians who don't sing and shout during matches, go into the megastore to shop blah blah. But slowly and slowly I began to understand a little bit of the reasons why.
Let me draw an analogy.
You used to have a very close bunch of friends in secondary school. You did well in O levels and went to RJ. There you meet a whole new bunch of people, and made friends with some of the coolest people around..or so you thought. As you hang out with these new friends, somewhere along the line, you inevitably shunt your old friends out of the way. Schedules clash, too busy, or just plain can't be bothered. Yet the relationship which had took years to build up sometimes still withstand the test of time. As you find yourself in trouble, perhaps in school or relationships, most of the new friends would not go out of their way to help you or comfort you. Your old friends will. But yet they are the very ones which you had shafted in the attempt to mix with cool new people.
The local supporters who had followed United all these years feel like those old secondary school friends. Do you still remember Premiere 12 times? English Premier League matches then used to be at unearthly hours. (11pm was unearthly for a 11/12 year old kid...) Then somewhere along the line, matches started appearing at 7/8pm. And inevitably they were the big ones like United vs Liverpool. Somewhere further, matches started appearing on Sunday nights, Monday nights blah blah. And now there is a ridiculous 115am Sunday morning kickoff ala Man United vs Norwich earlier this season. Ever wondered why? For television audiences that is. For the Far East, 7/8pm matches are much better than 11pm. (Not for me though...I hate to have to be back so early to catch the matches at home...). That translates to 1230pm kickoffs in the UK and it totally screws up some fans routines. Some love to hang out at pubs around the stadium to drink and warm up before going for matches. If the match starts at 1230pm, they would have to wake up extra early if they want to go to the pub etc...and somehow or rather you can't help but feel this is one of the reasons why atmosphere in 1230pm matches are shit. The situation is even worse for away fans. For example, United had an away match at Portsmouth at 1230pm last season. Thus the away fans had to wake up at unearthly hours (you are looking at approximately 6 hours of travelling by car) to make the trip down to the southern tip of England to catch a normal league game. Another case in point is Newcastle had an away game against Chelsea at Stamford bridge recently, again the away fans had to get up early to make the trip to London. But 3000 away fans is hardly going to bother the television companies whose sole concern is the audience in front of TVs.
The same things can be applied to Monday night matches, where fans have to take time off work just to travel and watch a league game. And 515pm kickoffs (which results in 115am kickoffs in Singapore) are shit for the Far East and people like me who get back to London at 3am after the match, but great for the growing US market.
To cater to the bigger number of television audiences, Sky shifts United's matches around to fit their schedules, and inevitably its the match going fans who suffer from the inconveniences and also the loss of the traditional Saturday 3pm kickoffs at Old Trafford. However, matchday revenue such as ticketing and merchandising are still the most important sources of revenue for United. Match going fans are still the most important to United. If *touchwood* one day United become unsuccessful, the television audience will undoubtedly shrink, but the match going fans who have supported United throughout the years will still be there. But yet they are being continually pushed around, so you can understand why perhaps some of them are not too happy about it.
As for the topic in the thread, it gets even more touchy. There are 101 ways why people can't go for matches. Living in another country. The travelling is too much. Can't afford it etc etc. And it is true that doesn't make them any less of a fan. However, what some people do in that thread is to say "If I were rich enough, live close enough blah blah, I would go to every match". That is what I feel is not right. It is a general and unqualified statement. Until you have actually been allowed to be in those circumstances you have described, and you actually did that, then you can make those kind of statements. Because simply put, it is too easy to make those kind of statements and then when crunch time comes around, hide behind those same reasons like not enough money, too many commitments etc. You never know when you will actually do something under certain circumstances until you actually encounter those circumstances. It's like if you say you will help run after a murderer if you ever saw one, but when the time comes, will you? Would the fear of being stabbed yourself deter you? You never know.
And let me just add that I am not having a holier than thou attitude against many of you in Singapore or in UK. I do not think I am a die hard fan. It's just that it's my last year here, and I am not spending my parents' money, which allows me to go for matches. But perhaps more importantly, it is my way of justifying to myself why I should have had that Arsenal or Man City or Spurs ticket and makes me all the more pissed that I never get it *grrrrrr* (Yes I am still sore about that...)
Which footballer are you?
Which footballer are you?
You are Wayne Rooney.
You're a precocious natural talent and have a bright future ahead of you. Advice - don't let this early success go to your head, and turn down offers to go on Richard & Judy.
You are Wayne Rooney.
You're a precocious natural talent and have a bright future ahead of you. Advice - don't let this early success go to your head, and turn down offers to go on Richard & Judy.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Tu Xi Gan (Hokkien for wasting time)
I never cease to be amazed at the limitless potential of Mankind. Allow me to explain.
I had never been a procrastinator. My work had always been done way in advance, often pretty much right after the lecturer had taught the relevant material, sometimes even faster than that if I had learned the stuff in JC before. I never believed in last minute work, didn't want to give myself stress. In a perverse kind of way, its fun to watch others struggle to meet deadlines while I am able to idle my time away because I had finished my work. Kind of like watching ants and centipedes drowning in water. They take an awfully long time to die, and you always had the option of lifting them out and they would crawl away immediately like nothing had ever happened. This is kind of like I can enjoy watching other people struggle against the deadline, yet act hao ren by lending them my homework (lifting them out of the water) and after a while everything would be fine. But I digress.
All that changed this academic year. I am now a full-time member of the Procrastination Society. This had its roots during my summer attachment at Bendemeer. I only finished my project presentation 5am on the morning I was supposed to hand in the thing. (And only had 30 minutes of sleep before going to school). Same thing for my MOE report, only finished it the morning before I was going to hand it to Selina. Suddenly, I found that I could procrastinate, and perhaps more importantly, I could get away with it.
The significance of this realisation cannot be underestimated. I have to say that almost 90% of my work this term had been last minute. So much so that I don't even know that my low marks this term (60s most of the time...fucking hell, why the bloody 70 is so hard to get nowadays) are a result of my last minute work, or an increase in difficulty in the material, or my lack on interest in studies or watching excessive number of matches in November. And more worryingly, I find that I don't really care now. They are just tutorials and do not count towards the final mark. Its a bad bad attitude to have. I have always been an advocate of consistent work. But gradually I find myself unable to keep up with this ethic. I hope I am not punished in May 2005 :S
So what is there to be amazed at? The possibility of producing something whenever the deadline looms closer and closer that is. I have a wonderful example today. For a huge part of the last 3 or 4 weeks, I am supposed to be working on this presentation on one of my courses (about Europe, the interesting but a lot of work one). I have to read, underline, highlight, understand, structure it, then do my presentation on Powerpoint blah blah. However, a combination of coursework, matches and procrastination meant that I had not got beyond the reading and underline stage as of last weekend. Throughout the weekend, with the meeting for the presentation discussion looming near, I could only finish typing the notes of my presentation. The tangible sign that I had done my work (the Powerpoint slides) were nowhere to be seen. I had not even opened Powerpoint, let alone done the slides. I simply procrastinated. But amazingly, during the 1.5 hours of meeting with my group members, I finished the damn slides. All 22 slides. (Ok granted I still need to actually REDUCE the number of slides and also read a book which one of my members had passed to me but....) And I wondered to myself what is so damn bloody difficult about creating those slides. I am telling you, there is just something mystical about the power of deadlines that increase your productivity by quantum amounts such that you can finish your work.
Procrastination appears in every facet of our lives. Taking the amount of time you have with someone for granted is also a form of procrastination. How many times have we (ok only me actually...) been too "busy" to meet up with someone, thinking that there were other opportunities, only to suddenly find that the time we have is actually limited. And then we realise it and frantically start making up for lost time? TV dramas always show the rebellious son realising the error of his ways (and vice versa) when the father/mother is about to die. Perhaps not so drama mama, but you get my idea. I am always guilty of that kind of procrastination. And unfortunately there is nothing to be proud of for this kind of "increased productivity". Unlike schoolwork, this is much much more important. Lost time with family, close friends are forever, not like coursework when you can hand in slipshod work or ask for time extension and hand in late.
I just hope the deadlines for those sort of "work" are not anytime soon....and that I still have a chance to hand in my "work".....
(Damn what is it with me and Scottish stuff? I just can't resist Scottish shortbread....)
I had never been a procrastinator. My work had always been done way in advance, often pretty much right after the lecturer had taught the relevant material, sometimes even faster than that if I had learned the stuff in JC before. I never believed in last minute work, didn't want to give myself stress. In a perverse kind of way, its fun to watch others struggle to meet deadlines while I am able to idle my time away because I had finished my work. Kind of like watching ants and centipedes drowning in water. They take an awfully long time to die, and you always had the option of lifting them out and they would crawl away immediately like nothing had ever happened. This is kind of like I can enjoy watching other people struggle against the deadline, yet act hao ren by lending them my homework (lifting them out of the water) and after a while everything would be fine. But I digress.
All that changed this academic year. I am now a full-time member of the Procrastination Society. This had its roots during my summer attachment at Bendemeer. I only finished my project presentation 5am on the morning I was supposed to hand in the thing. (And only had 30 minutes of sleep before going to school). Same thing for my MOE report, only finished it the morning before I was going to hand it to Selina. Suddenly, I found that I could procrastinate, and perhaps more importantly, I could get away with it.
The significance of this realisation cannot be underestimated. I have to say that almost 90% of my work this term had been last minute. So much so that I don't even know that my low marks this term (60s most of the time...fucking hell, why the bloody 70 is so hard to get nowadays) are a result of my last minute work, or an increase in difficulty in the material, or my lack on interest in studies or watching excessive number of matches in November. And more worryingly, I find that I don't really care now. They are just tutorials and do not count towards the final mark. Its a bad bad attitude to have. I have always been an advocate of consistent work. But gradually I find myself unable to keep up with this ethic. I hope I am not punished in May 2005 :S
So what is there to be amazed at? The possibility of producing something whenever the deadline looms closer and closer that is. I have a wonderful example today. For a huge part of the last 3 or 4 weeks, I am supposed to be working on this presentation on one of my courses (about Europe, the interesting but a lot of work one). I have to read, underline, highlight, understand, structure it, then do my presentation on Powerpoint blah blah. However, a combination of coursework, matches and procrastination meant that I had not got beyond the reading and underline stage as of last weekend. Throughout the weekend, with the meeting for the presentation discussion looming near, I could only finish typing the notes of my presentation. The tangible sign that I had done my work (the Powerpoint slides) were nowhere to be seen. I had not even opened Powerpoint, let alone done the slides. I simply procrastinated. But amazingly, during the 1.5 hours of meeting with my group members, I finished the damn slides. All 22 slides. (Ok granted I still need to actually REDUCE the number of slides and also read a book which one of my members had passed to me but....) And I wondered to myself what is so damn bloody difficult about creating those slides. I am telling you, there is just something mystical about the power of deadlines that increase your productivity by quantum amounts such that you can finish your work.
Procrastination appears in every facet of our lives. Taking the amount of time you have with someone for granted is also a form of procrastination. How many times have we (ok only me actually...) been too "busy" to meet up with someone, thinking that there were other opportunities, only to suddenly find that the time we have is actually limited. And then we realise it and frantically start making up for lost time? TV dramas always show the rebellious son realising the error of his ways (and vice versa) when the father/mother is about to die. Perhaps not so drama mama, but you get my idea. I am always guilty of that kind of procrastination. And unfortunately there is nothing to be proud of for this kind of "increased productivity". Unlike schoolwork, this is much much more important. Lost time with family, close friends are forever, not like coursework when you can hand in slipshod work or ask for time extension and hand in late.
I just hope the deadlines for those sort of "work" are not anytime soon....and that I still have a chance to hand in my "work".....
(Damn what is it with me and Scottish stuff? I just can't resist Scottish shortbread....)
Saturday, December 11, 2004
The ball is indeed fucking round
I can't believe my ears.
Everton had just beaten Liverpool 1-0. Through a goal by Lee Carsley - a player I had not rated at all. Everton remains in third place. 6 points in front of United. :s
How did they do it? It absolutely defies football logic. Their main striker is Bent, so inept at Leicester last season. Their defence consists of Stubbs and Weir, too slow and aging defenders. Their midfield is full of endeavour but on paper sorely lacking in creativity.
Perhaps I have answered my own question.
Football has NO logic.
Now David Moyes will go out and buy 3 players in January, disrupt the team spirit and they will plummet down the table. You heard it here first, prophet TosH has spoken
Everton had just beaten Liverpool 1-0. Through a goal by Lee Carsley - a player I had not rated at all. Everton remains in third place. 6 points in front of United. :s
How did they do it? It absolutely defies football logic. Their main striker is Bent, so inept at Leicester last season. Their defence consists of Stubbs and Weir, too slow and aging defenders. Their midfield is full of endeavour but on paper sorely lacking in creativity.
Perhaps I have answered my own question.
Football has NO logic.
Now David Moyes will go out and buy 3 players in January, disrupt the team spirit and they will plummet down the table. You heard it here first, prophet TosH has spoken
Friday, December 10, 2004
Stressed...
About 1 week more to go, I need to get my CV (strictly speaking some semblance of CV) in order and hand the reference letter and the CV to the tutors who have to write the recommendation letters for my Masters application. I also have to prepare for my Europe presentation and I still don't really have a clear idea of what I am going to talk about. I also need to finish up on my trade essay. I am so stressed...
My level of stress also came from the fact that I had a very busy weekend. On Friday it was Xinhui's birthday and we went to this absolutely brilliant Spanish restaurant and had the best ever ang moh food I ever had in London. I absolutely love seafood and also Spanish paella. Yum yum. And of course it helps that one doesn't have to pay for it. Thanks a lot Miss Guo!
Glorious food!
Group photo
It's Miss Guo's 21st!
We were wondering if he really did come to this restaurant
Then on Saturday, I once again headed up to Manchester for the Southampton game. This trip was so much better. The bus arrived earlier than expected (though for 1 reason or another I still only made it to my seat like 5 minutes before kickoff). The result was good and the atmosphere picked up very well after the first goal went in. And I made it back to London at 11 plus at night. Believe it or not this is only the second proper 3 pm Saturday kickoff I have attended at Old Trafford up till now. Ridiculous considering how many matches I had gone for. Perhaps I shall write a piece on television scheduling of matches one day...
On Sunday, I had to go for the LSE 11s, which is an 11-a-side football tournament for Singaporeans. Once again, we won 1 game and lost the other in our group, reached the semis and lost, and once again self-proclaimed ourselves third in the tournament (since there wasnt any 3rd 4th playoff). And once again I played like shit but what is new is that I nearly ended up being sent off. I wished I had properly taught that fucker a lesson because he went on to stamp on my keeper after pushing me. That fucker is a Malaysian Chinese. I told you I hate Malaysian Chinese. That mouse-faced bastard had better watch out the next time he plays against me.
The team on Sunday
We had only 11 guys for the whole of the tournament while other teams had much more players. The fuckers from Kings imported nearly half their team and left like 5 or 6 Singaporeans on the bench when they realised that they could not beat us with a pure Singaporean team. I can understand if you do not have enough players and you import. I can also understand if you bring in imports so that you can rotate and rest your players. But when they realise they could not make it, they put in all their ang mohs and I have no respect for them whatsoever. Kings can go fuck off in my opinion, shitty school with shitty people. You know they are fucked up when their captain tries to speak with an accent but its so fucked up that you know he is phony.
With that came the end of what is probably my last LSE 11s. Time passes by so quickly and yet another term is going to end. One suspects that when I go back to army, I will remember about my various trips and matches and stuff like that and I may miss the life here. But when I think about my pathetic day to day life now, perhaps it isn't such a bad idea to go back and wear green. At least it is my land, my home. It IS different over here; I do not belong to this land....
My level of stress also came from the fact that I had a very busy weekend. On Friday it was Xinhui's birthday and we went to this absolutely brilliant Spanish restaurant and had the best ever ang moh food I ever had in London. I absolutely love seafood and also Spanish paella. Yum yum. And of course it helps that one doesn't have to pay for it. Thanks a lot Miss Guo!
Glorious food!
Group photo
It's Miss Guo's 21st!
We were wondering if he really did come to this restaurant
Then on Saturday, I once again headed up to Manchester for the Southampton game. This trip was so much better. The bus arrived earlier than expected (though for 1 reason or another I still only made it to my seat like 5 minutes before kickoff). The result was good and the atmosphere picked up very well after the first goal went in. And I made it back to London at 11 plus at night. Believe it or not this is only the second proper 3 pm Saturday kickoff I have attended at Old Trafford up till now. Ridiculous considering how many matches I had gone for. Perhaps I shall write a piece on television scheduling of matches one day...
On Sunday, I had to go for the LSE 11s, which is an 11-a-side football tournament for Singaporeans. Once again, we won 1 game and lost the other in our group, reached the semis and lost, and once again self-proclaimed ourselves third in the tournament (since there wasnt any 3rd 4th playoff). And once again I played like shit but what is new is that I nearly ended up being sent off. I wished I had properly taught that fucker a lesson because he went on to stamp on my keeper after pushing me. That fucker is a Malaysian Chinese. I told you I hate Malaysian Chinese. That mouse-faced bastard had better watch out the next time he plays against me.
The team on Sunday
We had only 11 guys for the whole of the tournament while other teams had much more players. The fuckers from Kings imported nearly half their team and left like 5 or 6 Singaporeans on the bench when they realised that they could not beat us with a pure Singaporean team. I can understand if you do not have enough players and you import. I can also understand if you bring in imports so that you can rotate and rest your players. But when they realise they could not make it, they put in all their ang mohs and I have no respect for them whatsoever. Kings can go fuck off in my opinion, shitty school with shitty people. You know they are fucked up when their captain tries to speak with an accent but its so fucked up that you know he is phony.
With that came the end of what is probably my last LSE 11s. Time passes by so quickly and yet another term is going to end. One suspects that when I go back to army, I will remember about my various trips and matches and stuff like that and I may miss the life here. But when I think about my pathetic day to day life now, perhaps it isn't such a bad idea to go back and wear green. At least it is my land, my home. It IS different over here; I do not belong to this land....
Friday, December 03, 2004
God of Misfortune
Sometimes in life, some things happen to you and you just feel that its a sign of things to come. Be it good or bad, you just feel it in your bones. If you are lucky enough, you can still try to amend it if its bad. But at other times, you can only hope for the best.
It all happened on Tuesday, when I took out my ticket for the Arsenal Carling Cup game and noticed that the kickoff time was 745pm and not the usual 8pm for midweek domestic games. I was wondering whether that would make any difference to me. But I came to the conclusion that it was better since it gave me a better chance of making my return coach to London if the game had stretched to extra time or penalties. How wrong I was.
Then on Wednesday, the actual day of the game itself, I had set off on my bike at 1130am for Victoria coach station. My usual route involved cycling along the Mall which is the long straight road leading directly to the front gate of Buckingham Palace. But today the road was closed to vehicles. Gigantic South Korean and UK flags hung from flag posts along the entire stretch. I was forced to get down my bike and push and walk along briskly on the pavement. I wasn't flustered, but slightly disturbed. God knows how long the road closure was and if I were to walk all the way I might not be able to make my coach. As it is, after passing the Palace after 10 minutes of walking, I was able to continue cycling. I reached the coach station with 15-20 minutes to spare, about 10-15 minutes longer than usual.
When people started boarding the coach, that was when things started to go horribly horribly wrong. Since there were a lot of people, there were 2 coaches for that time slot. The driver of the National Express coach parked in front said passengers who are going to Manchester should board the coach behind. I glanced and it was a yellow Silverdale coach, i.e. the driver was probably not a National Express driver. Given the bad experiences I had with non-National Express drivers thus far (remember about not knowing how to drive to Stoke or Liverpool coach station?), alarm bells rang in my head. But the obedient Singaporean in me decided not to ask any questions and board the coach. After all what could go VERY wrong right? The coach is supposed to reach Manchester at 5pm, even if the coach was late by 1 hour, I would still have 1 hour 45 minutes. Plenty of time. Again very very very wrong.
There was a small commotion on my coach before it was supposed to depart. A black and fat (somehow this is the standard description, not being racist here but black women who take coaches all do seem fat. Perils of fast food diets...) woman was one of the last few to board the coach I think. She was going to take the inner seat and I think she took too long and the ang moh guy (also fat) who was taking the outer seat told her to hurry up or something. The woman got pissed and started shouting back at the guy. Even after sitting down, the 2 of them were still arguing. they were telling each other "You shut up." "your mother something something ( I can't hear)" The black woman also kept saying "you smelly pig". And she suddenly got so pissed that she got off the coach. In the process, she mistakenly took another lady's coat and when she discovered it was not hers, she threw it onto the seat. How rude!! And presumably she went to the National Express coach in front to take that coach because after a while, a guy boarded my coach. From his pattern I think he was also going for the match. How he will rue his decision to be a hao ren and change seats with the black woman. If only I knew at that time too....
The 2 coaches set off at the same time. Since Victoria station was around the Buckingham Palace area also, the closure of certain roads made the traffic in the surrounding area heavier than usual. This is when the feeling of foreboding in me began to work overtime. The niggly feeling of something is going to go horribly wrong. The coach took like 10 minutes longer than usual just to move about 1km and then to go onto the main road out of London. And just when we had got out of London itself, the driver took a sudden and unexpected stop at some service station. Apparently the toilet door of the coach could not be opened and the driver was goingto try and open it. As soon as it became clear that even he could not open it, people started getting off to use the toilets in the service station. A 5 minute instruction became more like 15 minutes, and so my journey was delayed yet again.
Yet this wasn't the crucial blow. At about 345pm, the driver made another stop. This was also unexpected because during all my experiences in taking the 1230pm coach, there isn't supposed to be any breaks at all. Yet the driver gave us a break of about 20 minutes. And he proudly proclaimed that the journey to Manchester would take only about 1.5 hours more after that. Which kind of made me pissed off because that would mean we would reach at about 545pm. He knew we would be late, and he still stopped for a break. I would like to add that he had been driving really slowly as well along the way even when traffic was clear. There might be a regulation that the driver can't drive for how many hours straight without a break, but those drivers taking night coaches don't seem to bother with that ruling if there is one. But complaining was useless, and I could only hope that nothing else would delay my journey. Fat hope as it turned out to be.
After we passed the toll booth for the M6 highway, we were soon caught in heavy traffic. A few times the coach accelerated, raising my hopes that the jam was a minor one, only to break heavily a few seconds later. And this carried on all the way to Manchester. Phones on the coach started to rang as 5pm came, then 530pm, 545pm and so on... The old man sitting quite near to me had to postpone the meeting time he had with someone else from 545pm to 615pm to 630pm......Guess what was the eventual time that I reached? 720pm. The entire journey took about 7 hours! Can you imagine a 4.5 hour ride stretching to 7 hours??!?!!? I was fuming mad on the coach, not about the jam, but the driver. Remember I mention the National Express coach in front of mine at Victoria? That coach reached at 515pm. I knew because some of my friends were on that coach instead. Good thing they never took mine.
As it is, I had a slim chance of making the game on time. I fast marched to the tram station, but the well know phenomenon of public transport occurred yet again.
Tosh's phenomenon of public transport states that public transport ALWAYS takes a longer time than usual to arrive whenever you are in a hurry.
The tram must have took like 10 minutes to arrive. Before that, there was this Malaysian guy and Malaysian girl who were also on the same coach as me. They were also waiting for the tram and they and their friends were talking about which stop and which line to take. Seeing that the Malaysian girl was quite cute, I kindly told them that they could also take the Eccles line and stop at Exchange Quay (the other one was Altrincham line and stopping at Old Trafford). I told them the distance from either stops to the ground was about the same. The guy said ok and we proceeded with some bo liao introductions (bo liao because it was the guy who answered not the girl *knnbccb*) and that's when I knew that they were Malaysians studying in IC. Then came the best part, the Eccles service came and I told them can take this one. After realising its Eccles line and not Altrincham line, the guy questioned me and asked "You sure you taking this?"
Immediately my bullshit detector went on high alert. Kan ni na be, I fake you will earn money meh? I see at first you look like Singaporean then want to offer some help one (admittedly the cute girl swayed the decision too but that's another matter...) then you come back and question me? I was more bemused than du lan actually. No offence to my Malaysian cousins, but this is yet another reason why I do not like Malaysians in general, be they Malays or Chinese. They are simply damn xia lan. (Don't give me the argument that I only just met them and don't know them well enough etc etc, everybody have their good points if you know them well enough, even serial rapists and murderers. First impressions is paradoxically one of the most accurate forms of judgement for me.) If somebody offers me advice willingly, (and they look as cute, harmless and handsome as me...) I would be very grateful, and not question them back in a xia lan manner. Anyway I told the guy yeah I am boarding and went off to squeeze into the tram. I am not about to waste any more time with shit from the north.
As usual, public transport just seems to cruise along at painfully low speeds whenever you are in a rush, and it soon became clear that I wasn't going to make it on time. My only hope was for them to delay the kickoff, but some locals on the tram discussed it and said it would not be possible.
Know about the saying it never rains but pours? TosH had confirmed the accuracy of that statement. Just as the tram reached Exchange Quay station, one of the locals' mobile phone rang and he said, "We missed a goal." I was like WTF?!?! REALLY so suey?? And began to break into a sprint for the stadium. I had not jogged since like February early this year and this was akin to killing myself. I ran for like 3 or 4 minutes before I reached the stadium, but by then I had already missed about 10 minutes of the action. Was pretty flustered, and du lan for the remaining period of the first half. The game itself never lived up to my own expectations, but at least the atmosphere made up for it for a little bit.
Half time came and I realised I had not bought the match programme yet. So I went to the concourse to find the booth where they were selling programmes. I was at the centre of the exit and had a choice of trying to turn left or turn right. I chose left and began moving through the crowd but I soon came to an end without finding the booth. I went to the toilet and then began moving in the opposite direction and came to the other end and I found the booth! BUT it was empty. I couldn't believe that they were sold out and soon noticed a set of doors leading to the next concourse. I went through it and on the other side I found another booth selling programmes! I walked towards it and when I was literally 5 steps from the booth I saw a guy buying a copy of the programme. BUT just as I whipped my wallet out, the guy at the booth said "Sorry sold out"
5 fucking steps faster and I would have gotten that last copy, but no I can't buy it. I can't even begin to describe the mixture of amazement, du lan-ness, and most of all helplessness that I felt at that point. Most of you would know that I like to buy match programmes of matches I go to to keep as mementoes. And this was fucking Arsenal and obviously I wasn't going to miss out on it. But I just can't help feeling that someone or something up there had a few pints too much to drink and was pissing down on me big time, big style. I could have chosen to turn right at the exit, I could have chosen not to go to the toilet, I could have walked FIVE steps faster, but no. I am now stuck with no match programme (it would have been helpful for me to identify who the Arsenal youngsters were...) and I had also missed a goal.
I trudged back to my seat dejectedly, wondering why I had bothered to come at all. After all this was nothing more than a meaningless reserve game and I had to go without one night's proper sleep for it. But as the second half went on, I began to relax more and enjoyed the atmosphere a bit more. The match itself was nothing to comment about. I thought that Eagles and Miller looked good. Djemba Djemba as usual was so shit that I began to think that maybe I can play better than him (at least I think I can sell more jerseys than him right?). For Arsenal, Robin Van Persie and Flamini caught my eye for being skillful and steady respectively. But Arsenal players have this irritating habit of dropping like flies at the slightest contact and rolling about feigning injury before getting up 10 seconds later and sprinting away again. Van Persie was one such bastard. And he brought the most chants of
"Same old Arsenal...always cheating"
Increasingly the game itself was boring me to sleep. Arsenal tried to pass their way back into the game, but the physically superior United never looked like being threatened at all. My attention was diverted more and more by the anti-Arsenal songs. Some of which were
Vieira wo-oh-oh,
Vieira wo-oh-oh.
He gave Giggsy the ball,
and Arsenal won fuck all.
Vieira wo-oh-oh,
Vieira wo-oh-oh
(In memory of 99 FA Cup semis)
Have you ever won the treble have you fuck? *clap clap*
Have you ever won the treble have you fuck? *clap clap*
have you ever won the treble,
ever won the treble,
ever won the treble have you fuck?
Who put the ball in the Arsenal net?
Who put the ball in the Arsenal net?
Who put the ball in the Arsenal net?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
( I couldn't make out the last sentence, sounded like Lauren, but didnt make sense to me...)
Sit down paedophile,
sit down paedophile.
sit down paedophile,
sit down paedophile
(Arsene Wenger has a nickname called paedophile, don't ask me why...I don't know!)
The final whistle came and United were through to the semi finals. But in truth this was nothing to get too excited about. This was practically achieved against an under-20 side. Pats on the back for an efficient job, but nothing more than that. But oh well, at least I can add Arsenal to the list of clubs that I have watched before. I went into the mega store and finally managed to grab one of the last few copies of the match programme and at last felt that something was going right. The coach back to London was another Silverdale coach, and it took only 4 hours 15 minutes to reach London, about 2 hours faster than expected. Good, but not enough to compensate me for whatever I had missed. I reached back home feeling dis-satisfied and just wanting to sleep everything away. Ming tian hui geng hao rite? WRONG.
At about 4pm, I received the dreaded email again.
From : Ticketing Administrator
Sent : Thursday, December 02, 2004 3:59:01 PM
To : "tosh_christ@hotmail.com" tosh_christ@hotmail.com
Subject : REGRET EMAIL
Dear Mr Shihua Toh,
MANCHESTER UNITED V Tottenham Hotspur
OLD TRAFFORD, 04/01/2005
KICK OFF 20:00
Further to your application in respect of the above game, we have to advise
that, because we were oversubscribed, a ballot was held and unfortunately you
were unsuccessful on this occasion.
Please accept our apologies for the disappointment our response will inevitably
cause but trust you understand the difficulties we are faced with when demand
far exceeds supply.
If you would like information on future games, please contact the Ticket and
Match Information line on +44 (0) 870 442 1968. If you would like to apply for
tickets for another match simply visit the website at:
http://www.manutd.com/tickets
If you would like to be reminded by SMS text message when tickets go on sale for
home games then simply register your mobile by calling 0870 451 7442, each text
costs 25p inc VAT. This service is currently only available to supporters on UK
mobile networks only.
Thank you for your continued support which is very much appreciated.
Yours sincerely
Steven Hall
Venue Operations Manager
I was incredibly pissed at this email. Spurs was one of the last 2 clubs that I desperately wants to watch, with Aston Villa being the other one. Last year I got rejected, and this year the same thing happens yet again. This was compounded by the fact that I was trying to get tickets for this match for someone else too. Doubly disappointed and super du lan. I had got tickets for all the small games, but when it came to the really important games that I really want to go like Arsenal in the league, Man City and Spurs, I had been rejected for every single one thus far this season. Why why why????
Dejected, disappointed, du lan, angry, tired and poor are useful words to describe me right now...
It all happened on Tuesday, when I took out my ticket for the Arsenal Carling Cup game and noticed that the kickoff time was 745pm and not the usual 8pm for midweek domestic games. I was wondering whether that would make any difference to me. But I came to the conclusion that it was better since it gave me a better chance of making my return coach to London if the game had stretched to extra time or penalties. How wrong I was.
Then on Wednesday, the actual day of the game itself, I had set off on my bike at 1130am for Victoria coach station. My usual route involved cycling along the Mall which is the long straight road leading directly to the front gate of Buckingham Palace. But today the road was closed to vehicles. Gigantic South Korean and UK flags hung from flag posts along the entire stretch. I was forced to get down my bike and push and walk along briskly on the pavement. I wasn't flustered, but slightly disturbed. God knows how long the road closure was and if I were to walk all the way I might not be able to make my coach. As it is, after passing the Palace after 10 minutes of walking, I was able to continue cycling. I reached the coach station with 15-20 minutes to spare, about 10-15 minutes longer than usual.
When people started boarding the coach, that was when things started to go horribly horribly wrong. Since there were a lot of people, there were 2 coaches for that time slot. The driver of the National Express coach parked in front said passengers who are going to Manchester should board the coach behind. I glanced and it was a yellow Silverdale coach, i.e. the driver was probably not a National Express driver. Given the bad experiences I had with non-National Express drivers thus far (remember about not knowing how to drive to Stoke or Liverpool coach station?), alarm bells rang in my head. But the obedient Singaporean in me decided not to ask any questions and board the coach. After all what could go VERY wrong right? The coach is supposed to reach Manchester at 5pm, even if the coach was late by 1 hour, I would still have 1 hour 45 minutes. Plenty of time. Again very very very wrong.
There was a small commotion on my coach before it was supposed to depart. A black and fat (somehow this is the standard description, not being racist here but black women who take coaches all do seem fat. Perils of fast food diets...) woman was one of the last few to board the coach I think. She was going to take the inner seat and I think she took too long and the ang moh guy (also fat) who was taking the outer seat told her to hurry up or something. The woman got pissed and started shouting back at the guy. Even after sitting down, the 2 of them were still arguing. they were telling each other "You shut up." "your mother something something ( I can't hear)" The black woman also kept saying "you smelly pig". And she suddenly got so pissed that she got off the coach. In the process, she mistakenly took another lady's coat and when she discovered it was not hers, she threw it onto the seat. How rude!! And presumably she went to the National Express coach in front to take that coach because after a while, a guy boarded my coach. From his pattern I think he was also going for the match. How he will rue his decision to be a hao ren and change seats with the black woman. If only I knew at that time too....
The 2 coaches set off at the same time. Since Victoria station was around the Buckingham Palace area also, the closure of certain roads made the traffic in the surrounding area heavier than usual. This is when the feeling of foreboding in me began to work overtime. The niggly feeling of something is going to go horribly wrong. The coach took like 10 minutes longer than usual just to move about 1km and then to go onto the main road out of London. And just when we had got out of London itself, the driver took a sudden and unexpected stop at some service station. Apparently the toilet door of the coach could not be opened and the driver was goingto try and open it. As soon as it became clear that even he could not open it, people started getting off to use the toilets in the service station. A 5 minute instruction became more like 15 minutes, and so my journey was delayed yet again.
Yet this wasn't the crucial blow. At about 345pm, the driver made another stop. This was also unexpected because during all my experiences in taking the 1230pm coach, there isn't supposed to be any breaks at all. Yet the driver gave us a break of about 20 minutes. And he proudly proclaimed that the journey to Manchester would take only about 1.5 hours more after that. Which kind of made me pissed off because that would mean we would reach at about 545pm. He knew we would be late, and he still stopped for a break. I would like to add that he had been driving really slowly as well along the way even when traffic was clear. There might be a regulation that the driver can't drive for how many hours straight without a break, but those drivers taking night coaches don't seem to bother with that ruling if there is one. But complaining was useless, and I could only hope that nothing else would delay my journey. Fat hope as it turned out to be.
After we passed the toll booth for the M6 highway, we were soon caught in heavy traffic. A few times the coach accelerated, raising my hopes that the jam was a minor one, only to break heavily a few seconds later. And this carried on all the way to Manchester. Phones on the coach started to rang as 5pm came, then 530pm, 545pm and so on... The old man sitting quite near to me had to postpone the meeting time he had with someone else from 545pm to 615pm to 630pm......Guess what was the eventual time that I reached? 720pm. The entire journey took about 7 hours! Can you imagine a 4.5 hour ride stretching to 7 hours??!?!!? I was fuming mad on the coach, not about the jam, but the driver. Remember I mention the National Express coach in front of mine at Victoria? That coach reached at 515pm. I knew because some of my friends were on that coach instead. Good thing they never took mine.
As it is, I had a slim chance of making the game on time. I fast marched to the tram station, but the well know phenomenon of public transport occurred yet again.
Tosh's phenomenon of public transport states that public transport ALWAYS takes a longer time than usual to arrive whenever you are in a hurry.
The tram must have took like 10 minutes to arrive. Before that, there was this Malaysian guy and Malaysian girl who were also on the same coach as me. They were also waiting for the tram and they and their friends were talking about which stop and which line to take. Seeing that the Malaysian girl was quite cute, I kindly told them that they could also take the Eccles line and stop at Exchange Quay (the other one was Altrincham line and stopping at Old Trafford). I told them the distance from either stops to the ground was about the same. The guy said ok and we proceeded with some bo liao introductions (bo liao because it was the guy who answered not the girl *knnbccb*) and that's when I knew that they were Malaysians studying in IC. Then came the best part, the Eccles service came and I told them can take this one. After realising its Eccles line and not Altrincham line, the guy questioned me and asked "You sure you taking this?"
Immediately my bullshit detector went on high alert. Kan ni na be, I fake you will earn money meh? I see at first you look like Singaporean then want to offer some help one (admittedly the cute girl swayed the decision too but that's another matter...) then you come back and question me? I was more bemused than du lan actually. No offence to my Malaysian cousins, but this is yet another reason why I do not like Malaysians in general, be they Malays or Chinese. They are simply damn xia lan. (Don't give me the argument that I only just met them and don't know them well enough etc etc, everybody have their good points if you know them well enough, even serial rapists and murderers. First impressions is paradoxically one of the most accurate forms of judgement for me.) If somebody offers me advice willingly, (and they look as cute, harmless and handsome as me...) I would be very grateful, and not question them back in a xia lan manner. Anyway I told the guy yeah I am boarding and went off to squeeze into the tram. I am not about to waste any more time with shit from the north.
As usual, public transport just seems to cruise along at painfully low speeds whenever you are in a rush, and it soon became clear that I wasn't going to make it on time. My only hope was for them to delay the kickoff, but some locals on the tram discussed it and said it would not be possible.
Know about the saying it never rains but pours? TosH had confirmed the accuracy of that statement. Just as the tram reached Exchange Quay station, one of the locals' mobile phone rang and he said, "We missed a goal." I was like WTF?!?! REALLY so suey?? And began to break into a sprint for the stadium. I had not jogged since like February early this year and this was akin to killing myself. I ran for like 3 or 4 minutes before I reached the stadium, but by then I had already missed about 10 minutes of the action. Was pretty flustered, and du lan for the remaining period of the first half. The game itself never lived up to my own expectations, but at least the atmosphere made up for it for a little bit.
Half time came and I realised I had not bought the match programme yet. So I went to the concourse to find the booth where they were selling programmes. I was at the centre of the exit and had a choice of trying to turn left or turn right. I chose left and began moving through the crowd but I soon came to an end without finding the booth. I went to the toilet and then began moving in the opposite direction and came to the other end and I found the booth! BUT it was empty. I couldn't believe that they were sold out and soon noticed a set of doors leading to the next concourse. I went through it and on the other side I found another booth selling programmes! I walked towards it and when I was literally 5 steps from the booth I saw a guy buying a copy of the programme. BUT just as I whipped my wallet out, the guy at the booth said "Sorry sold out"
5 fucking steps faster and I would have gotten that last copy, but no I can't buy it. I can't even begin to describe the mixture of amazement, du lan-ness, and most of all helplessness that I felt at that point. Most of you would know that I like to buy match programmes of matches I go to to keep as mementoes. And this was fucking Arsenal and obviously I wasn't going to miss out on it. But I just can't help feeling that someone or something up there had a few pints too much to drink and was pissing down on me big time, big style. I could have chosen to turn right at the exit, I could have chosen not to go to the toilet, I could have walked FIVE steps faster, but no. I am now stuck with no match programme (it would have been helpful for me to identify who the Arsenal youngsters were...) and I had also missed a goal.
I trudged back to my seat dejectedly, wondering why I had bothered to come at all. After all this was nothing more than a meaningless reserve game and I had to go without one night's proper sleep for it. But as the second half went on, I began to relax more and enjoyed the atmosphere a bit more. The match itself was nothing to comment about. I thought that Eagles and Miller looked good. Djemba Djemba as usual was so shit that I began to think that maybe I can play better than him (at least I think I can sell more jerseys than him right?). For Arsenal, Robin Van Persie and Flamini caught my eye for being skillful and steady respectively. But Arsenal players have this irritating habit of dropping like flies at the slightest contact and rolling about feigning injury before getting up 10 seconds later and sprinting away again. Van Persie was one such bastard. And he brought the most chants of
"Same old Arsenal...always cheating"
Increasingly the game itself was boring me to sleep. Arsenal tried to pass their way back into the game, but the physically superior United never looked like being threatened at all. My attention was diverted more and more by the anti-Arsenal songs. Some of which were
Vieira wo-oh-oh,
Vieira wo-oh-oh.
He gave Giggsy the ball,
and Arsenal won fuck all.
Vieira wo-oh-oh,
Vieira wo-oh-oh
(In memory of 99 FA Cup semis)
Have you ever won the treble have you fuck? *clap clap*
Have you ever won the treble have you fuck? *clap clap*
have you ever won the treble,
ever won the treble,
ever won the treble have you fuck?
Who put the ball in the Arsenal net?
Who put the ball in the Arsenal net?
Who put the ball in the Arsenal net?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
( I couldn't make out the last sentence, sounded like Lauren, but didnt make sense to me...)
Sit down paedophile,
sit down paedophile.
sit down paedophile,
sit down paedophile
(Arsene Wenger has a nickname called paedophile, don't ask me why...I don't know!)
The final whistle came and United were through to the semi finals. But in truth this was nothing to get too excited about. This was practically achieved against an under-20 side. Pats on the back for an efficient job, but nothing more than that. But oh well, at least I can add Arsenal to the list of clubs that I have watched before. I went into the mega store and finally managed to grab one of the last few copies of the match programme and at last felt that something was going right. The coach back to London was another Silverdale coach, and it took only 4 hours 15 minutes to reach London, about 2 hours faster than expected. Good, but not enough to compensate me for whatever I had missed. I reached back home feeling dis-satisfied and just wanting to sleep everything away. Ming tian hui geng hao rite? WRONG.
At about 4pm, I received the dreaded email again.
From : Ticketing Administrator
Sent : Thursday, December 02, 2004 3:59:01 PM
To : "tosh_christ@hotmail.com"
Subject : REGRET EMAIL
Dear Mr Shihua Toh,
MANCHESTER UNITED V Tottenham Hotspur
OLD TRAFFORD, 04/01/2005
KICK OFF 20:00
Further to your application in respect of the above game, we have to advise
that, because we were oversubscribed, a ballot was held and unfortunately you
were unsuccessful on this occasion.
Please accept our apologies for the disappointment our response will inevitably
cause but trust you understand the difficulties we are faced with when demand
far exceeds supply.
If you would like information on future games, please contact the Ticket and
Match Information line on +44 (0) 870 442 1968. If you would like to apply for
tickets for another match simply visit the website at:
http://www.manutd.com/tickets
If you would like to be reminded by SMS text message when tickets go on sale for
home games then simply register your mobile by calling 0870 451 7442, each text
costs 25p inc VAT. This service is currently only available to supporters on UK
mobile networks only.
Thank you for your continued support which is very much appreciated.
Yours sincerely
Steven Hall
Venue Operations Manager
I was incredibly pissed at this email. Spurs was one of the last 2 clubs that I desperately wants to watch, with Aston Villa being the other one. Last year I got rejected, and this year the same thing happens yet again. This was compounded by the fact that I was trying to get tickets for this match for someone else too. Doubly disappointed and super du lan. I had got tickets for all the small games, but when it came to the really important games that I really want to go like Arsenal in the league, Man City and Spurs, I had been rejected for every single one thus far this season. Why why why????
Dejected, disappointed, du lan, angry, tired and poor are useful words to describe me right now...
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Chicken soup for the hawker centre soul
From Straits Times Forum:
Nov 30, 2004
Roaches in food, unhygienic hawkers
IN THE last few weeks, I found a baby cockroach in my food on two occasions. In the first incident, the cockroach was dead while, in the second, it was alive.
Lest anyone thinks that dead was better than alive, it was not. The live cockroach scurried out from the food when I opened the plastic bag and I threw the whole packet away. I discovered the dead one only after I had eaten half of the food.
Last Monday, I had a late dinner at Lau Pa Sat when I saw the woman at a drinks stall stick one of her fingers into a cup of ice. The woman at a carrot-cake stall was cutting her nails.
Lau Pa Sat serves not only the office crowd in the area but also tourists wanting a bite of local food.
I had previously reported another hawker at Lau Pa Sat for handling money and then using the same hand to grab onions to garnish a plate of fried rice, but was subsequently informed that checks did not reveal such errant practices.
Would it help if members of the public take pictures?
Lee Liang Fan
First of all, let me just say that I absolutely detest cockroaches. I wish they were all dead. I can't wait to kill every cockroach whenever I see one. Slippers, newspapers, even textbooks had been used by me to kill cockroaches before. So you can imagine the uproar if I were to find cockroaches in my food. Therefore I absolutely do not condone having cockroaches in food. (Who does anyway?)
But having said that however, I am slightly bemused and disturbed by the above writer. One suspects that the writer is unfairly trying to portray hawkers in a bad light. The Straits Times forum had through the years degenerated from an avenue for high quality debate to a written version of coffeeshop complains. The recent debates about the advantages and disadvantages quite rightly had a high level of exposure in the forum because it concerns the whole nation. But the above issue? Everybody has their fair share of experiences with dirty food and dirty hawkers. Does the above experience add anything of value to other readers? Hardly. Does the above incident of such utmost importance that our continual survival and welfare is affected by it? I don't think so. So why use the forum to express such issues in the first place?
Secondly, it paints a very bad impression of hawkers in general. Firstly, the writer mentioned that he found 2 cockroaches inside his food in the past few weeks without any further explanation. How many weeks? Was it from the same stall? If it was the same stall, why did he or she go back again? Did she tell the hawker? If (as is more likely) it wasn't from the same stall, then lumping them together without any further explanation is unfair to hawkers in general because they may be mere coincidences. If they were stalls in the same area, there might be cause for concern as there may be lots of cockroaches in that area, but again this letter does not help anything at all.
The writer also wrote the following: Lau Pa Sat serves not only the office crowd in the area but also tourists wanting a bite of local food. Why mention that line at all? Are we supposed to maintain cleanliness only if tourists are around? The hygiene level of food for locals is less important than that for tourists? Obviously not! If the writer had been so genuinely concerned about the level of hygiene, it should have been for everyone and there is no need to include that line.
The writer also said that the woman at the drinks stall stuck one of her fingers into a cup of ice. Again there was no further explanation. Was it deliberate? Was it the way she held the cup or what? I can find no reason why a normal person would deliberately stick her finger into a cup of ice. Indeed, I don't think I had ever seen a person stick his finger into a cup deliberately. Again, there being no further explanation by the writer paints a very unfair picture of hawkers in general.
The writer also said that he saw a lady cutting her nails at a carrot cake stall. What the fuck is wrong with that? Without further explanation or description, who the fuck will know what is wrong with that? If it was at a table outside the stall, what is wrong if she washes her hands later? If it was done inside the stall and she was for example standing over a rubbish bin, what is wrong with that? The only problem is if she was standing next to the wok or over the food and some of her nails got into the food. But without further explanation, this again puts hawkers in general in a bad light.
Being a hawker's son, I can fully understand the difficulties with the whole issue of hygiene. That is not to say I condone unhygienic practises. It is of course good to be able to put on gloves (plastic, or rubber or whatever) to handle foodstuffs and then take off gloves to handle cash and coins. In an ideal world, that is what it should be.
However, one must understand that using such practises involves - to use an economic term - transaction cost. Or in lay man's terms, it is too leh-ceh. Firstly, there are 2 main types of gloves. One type is those transparent plastic type which is tight but when u put it on it pretty much feels like not having gloves on at all as it still allows you to be rather flexible. Unfortunately, it being tight means that it takes a hell lot of effort and a significant amount of time to put it on or off. Another type is those big rubber kind which allows you to take it on or off very easily. However, putting on the rubber gloves also mean that you are not very flexible and handling food with it takes a bit more time and inconvenience. Either way, this increases the time to handle your orders. If patrons are willing to wait, everything is fine. However, from my parent's experiences, the niao ones who mind hawkers handling money and food with bare hands are very often the ones who complain when you take time to serve them and bring them their orders and all. They are also the ones who complain about a slight bit of dirt here and there. If you want hawkers to use gloves, you have to be prepared to sacrifice a bit more time here and there. Hawkers are not machines who are able to put on gloves in a split second.
Similarly, if you want to eat at a popular hawker centre, you have to be prepared to put up with a bit of dirt and also sacrifice a bit of time waiting for seats. The high turnover of people unfortunately means that a bit of food or drink will be spilt somewhere somehow. Insisting on a high standard of hygiene is admirable but ultimately unrealistic. Something to work towards, but not be too harsh upon. If you can't stand a bit of dirt here and there, go and eat at fastfood restaurants. You might just be served food which had dropped onto the floor.
Hawkers are also sometimes being unfairly screwed left, right and centre. Remember Sars? Was there any proof that Sars were spread through hawker centres? As far as I know no (please correct me if I am wrong). But did you all know what happened? Hawker centres were made to close entirely for one day every now and then during the Sars period to carry out "spring cleaning". Even up till now, my parents' food centre will close for one day every other month for spring cleaning. On paper it sounds good, maintaining cleanliness and hygiene and all. But on the ground, what are the implications? Every now and then, a hawker would have to close his stall. He has to inform his suppliers he would not want any supplies for that day. More importantly, he would have to lose a day's earnings. I think I am lucky that my parents are able to handle not having earnings for a day every other month, but is it so for everyone? I don't think so. It also unfairly penalises those who make genuine attempts to clean their stall everyday after they stop selling. By forcing everyone to stop business for a day to clean, you are just decreasing the incentives for someone to clean the stall everyday. Why bother? You would still be forced to stop business for a day to clean. Of course if the guys on the left or right of your store are cleaning, you selling your food also doesn't make sense as say the cleaning liquid may get into yur store and worse still your food blah blah, but it still doesn't change the fact that it is unfair. Especially so when you clean your stop on the mandatory rest day, the person owning the stall besides yours comes late, sits there drink coffee and read newspaper and leaves 2 hours earlier than you and in the end the inspector never even come to check who had been cleaning and who had not been cleaning.
And remember when the food centre near your block underwent upgrading and after that you were impressed with the cleaner and brighter look? But then you were not too impressed with the prices? Fishball noodles which sold for 2 bucks suddenly became 3 bucks? Well for all of you out there who don't know, rents for the stalls generally increase after renovation. And before you complain about the price, spare a thought for the poor hawker whom you think is trying to cheat you out of your hard earned money. They either had to stop work for 6-9 months while the hawker centre was undergoing renovation (meaning no income) or they have to temporarily move to another location, having to compete all over again for new customers. When they come back, they find that their rents had been substantially increased, to earn a decent amount, of course they have to increase prices. They would also have to once again try to win back their old regular customers who in the meantime might have found other places to shop and eat. Note that I am not saying that you can't complain about the prices, but think of the flip side as well. Development comes at a price. And the price can be nasty at times. But it's not nasty to you only most of the time.
Yeah so after so much ranting, what IS my point? My point is I hope Singaporeans can be more responsible when they pen letters to the Straits Times forum. Poorly written letters with no proper description only serves to paint a biased and unfair picture of the subject. The majority may not be like that at all. More generally, whenever you eat or shop at any place (not just hawker centres but fastfood restaurants, high class restaurants too) don't complain at the slightest thing. (That's a lot coming from me the ultimate complain king :P) If food or drink is spilt, it's most likely to be an accident. If your order is wrong, think about whether you had made yourself clear while you were ordering. If it doesn't really matter, why not just accept it? You might just find another delicious dish! If the service is slow, don't be pissed at the waiter first. If the cook in the restaurant is over worked because the owner refuses to hire more cooks, hardly the fault of the cook and waiter isn't it?
Now that's what I call food for thought.
Nov 30, 2004
Roaches in food, unhygienic hawkers
IN THE last few weeks, I found a baby cockroach in my food on two occasions. In the first incident, the cockroach was dead while, in the second, it was alive.
Lest anyone thinks that dead was better than alive, it was not. The live cockroach scurried out from the food when I opened the plastic bag and I threw the whole packet away. I discovered the dead one only after I had eaten half of the food.
Last Monday, I had a late dinner at Lau Pa Sat when I saw the woman at a drinks stall stick one of her fingers into a cup of ice. The woman at a carrot-cake stall was cutting her nails.
Lau Pa Sat serves not only the office crowd in the area but also tourists wanting a bite of local food.
I had previously reported another hawker at Lau Pa Sat for handling money and then using the same hand to grab onions to garnish a plate of fried rice, but was subsequently informed that checks did not reveal such errant practices.
Would it help if members of the public take pictures?
Lee Liang Fan
First of all, let me just say that I absolutely detest cockroaches. I wish they were all dead. I can't wait to kill every cockroach whenever I see one. Slippers, newspapers, even textbooks had been used by me to kill cockroaches before. So you can imagine the uproar if I were to find cockroaches in my food. Therefore I absolutely do not condone having cockroaches in food. (Who does anyway?)
But having said that however, I am slightly bemused and disturbed by the above writer. One suspects that the writer is unfairly trying to portray hawkers in a bad light. The Straits Times forum had through the years degenerated from an avenue for high quality debate to a written version of coffeeshop complains. The recent debates about the advantages and disadvantages quite rightly had a high level of exposure in the forum because it concerns the whole nation. But the above issue? Everybody has their fair share of experiences with dirty food and dirty hawkers. Does the above experience add anything of value to other readers? Hardly. Does the above incident of such utmost importance that our continual survival and welfare is affected by it? I don't think so. So why use the forum to express such issues in the first place?
Secondly, it paints a very bad impression of hawkers in general. Firstly, the writer mentioned that he found 2 cockroaches inside his food in the past few weeks without any further explanation. How many weeks? Was it from the same stall? If it was the same stall, why did he or she go back again? Did she tell the hawker? If (as is more likely) it wasn't from the same stall, then lumping them together without any further explanation is unfair to hawkers in general because they may be mere coincidences. If they were stalls in the same area, there might be cause for concern as there may be lots of cockroaches in that area, but again this letter does not help anything at all.
The writer also wrote the following: Lau Pa Sat serves not only the office crowd in the area but also tourists wanting a bite of local food. Why mention that line at all? Are we supposed to maintain cleanliness only if tourists are around? The hygiene level of food for locals is less important than that for tourists? Obviously not! If the writer had been so genuinely concerned about the level of hygiene, it should have been for everyone and there is no need to include that line.
The writer also said that the woman at the drinks stall stuck one of her fingers into a cup of ice. Again there was no further explanation. Was it deliberate? Was it the way she held the cup or what? I can find no reason why a normal person would deliberately stick her finger into a cup of ice. Indeed, I don't think I had ever seen a person stick his finger into a cup deliberately. Again, there being no further explanation by the writer paints a very unfair picture of hawkers in general.
The writer also said that he saw a lady cutting her nails at a carrot cake stall. What the fuck is wrong with that? Without further explanation or description, who the fuck will know what is wrong with that? If it was at a table outside the stall, what is wrong if she washes her hands later? If it was done inside the stall and she was for example standing over a rubbish bin, what is wrong with that? The only problem is if she was standing next to the wok or over the food and some of her nails got into the food. But without further explanation, this again puts hawkers in general in a bad light.
Being a hawker's son, I can fully understand the difficulties with the whole issue of hygiene. That is not to say I condone unhygienic practises. It is of course good to be able to put on gloves (plastic, or rubber or whatever) to handle foodstuffs and then take off gloves to handle cash and coins. In an ideal world, that is what it should be.
However, one must understand that using such practises involves - to use an economic term - transaction cost. Or in lay man's terms, it is too leh-ceh. Firstly, there are 2 main types of gloves. One type is those transparent plastic type which is tight but when u put it on it pretty much feels like not having gloves on at all as it still allows you to be rather flexible. Unfortunately, it being tight means that it takes a hell lot of effort and a significant amount of time to put it on or off. Another type is those big rubber kind which allows you to take it on or off very easily. However, putting on the rubber gloves also mean that you are not very flexible and handling food with it takes a bit more time and inconvenience. Either way, this increases the time to handle your orders. If patrons are willing to wait, everything is fine. However, from my parent's experiences, the niao ones who mind hawkers handling money and food with bare hands are very often the ones who complain when you take time to serve them and bring them their orders and all. They are also the ones who complain about a slight bit of dirt here and there. If you want hawkers to use gloves, you have to be prepared to sacrifice a bit more time here and there. Hawkers are not machines who are able to put on gloves in a split second.
Similarly, if you want to eat at a popular hawker centre, you have to be prepared to put up with a bit of dirt and also sacrifice a bit of time waiting for seats. The high turnover of people unfortunately means that a bit of food or drink will be spilt somewhere somehow. Insisting on a high standard of hygiene is admirable but ultimately unrealistic. Something to work towards, but not be too harsh upon. If you can't stand a bit of dirt here and there, go and eat at fastfood restaurants. You might just be served food which had dropped onto the floor.
Hawkers are also sometimes being unfairly screwed left, right and centre. Remember Sars? Was there any proof that Sars were spread through hawker centres? As far as I know no (please correct me if I am wrong). But did you all know what happened? Hawker centres were made to close entirely for one day every now and then during the Sars period to carry out "spring cleaning". Even up till now, my parents' food centre will close for one day every other month for spring cleaning. On paper it sounds good, maintaining cleanliness and hygiene and all. But on the ground, what are the implications? Every now and then, a hawker would have to close his stall. He has to inform his suppliers he would not want any supplies for that day. More importantly, he would have to lose a day's earnings. I think I am lucky that my parents are able to handle not having earnings for a day every other month, but is it so for everyone? I don't think so. It also unfairly penalises those who make genuine attempts to clean their stall everyday after they stop selling. By forcing everyone to stop business for a day to clean, you are just decreasing the incentives for someone to clean the stall everyday. Why bother? You would still be forced to stop business for a day to clean. Of course if the guys on the left or right of your store are cleaning, you selling your food also doesn't make sense as say the cleaning liquid may get into yur store and worse still your food blah blah, but it still doesn't change the fact that it is unfair. Especially so when you clean your stop on the mandatory rest day, the person owning the stall besides yours comes late, sits there drink coffee and read newspaper and leaves 2 hours earlier than you and in the end the inspector never even come to check who had been cleaning and who had not been cleaning.
And remember when the food centre near your block underwent upgrading and after that you were impressed with the cleaner and brighter look? But then you were not too impressed with the prices? Fishball noodles which sold for 2 bucks suddenly became 3 bucks? Well for all of you out there who don't know, rents for the stalls generally increase after renovation. And before you complain about the price, spare a thought for the poor hawker whom you think is trying to cheat you out of your hard earned money. They either had to stop work for 6-9 months while the hawker centre was undergoing renovation (meaning no income) or they have to temporarily move to another location, having to compete all over again for new customers. When they come back, they find that their rents had been substantially increased, to earn a decent amount, of course they have to increase prices. They would also have to once again try to win back their old regular customers who in the meantime might have found other places to shop and eat. Note that I am not saying that you can't complain about the prices, but think of the flip side as well. Development comes at a price. And the price can be nasty at times. But it's not nasty to you only most of the time.
Yeah so after so much ranting, what IS my point? My point is I hope Singaporeans can be more responsible when they pen letters to the Straits Times forum. Poorly written letters with no proper description only serves to paint a biased and unfair picture of the subject. The majority may not be like that at all. More generally, whenever you eat or shop at any place (not just hawker centres but fastfood restaurants, high class restaurants too) don't complain at the slightest thing. (That's a lot coming from me the ultimate complain king :P) If food or drink is spilt, it's most likely to be an accident. If your order is wrong, think about whether you had made yourself clear while you were ordering. If it doesn't really matter, why not just accept it? You might just find another delicious dish! If the service is slow, don't be pissed at the waiter first. If the cook in the restaurant is over worked because the owner refuses to hire more cooks, hardly the fault of the cook and waiter isn't it?
Now that's what I call food for thought.
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