flamboyancy and functionality.

met up with a good friend of mine last night and did the usual - chatting over coffee (or tea?) and a little munching.

the topic drifted to blogs. we both have our own blogs, though mine - in her opinion - is rather filled with day-to-day events.

i don't really remember blogging often about daily events. i probably do, once in a while, if the stuff is worth writing about. most of the time, i touch on issues which are not really the everyday type, but you can expect some... spite between the lines. the online medium is the channel for my complaints, and i don't complain very often in real life.

in any case, since both of us are tuition teachers (albeit for different levels) it was quite natural that we moved to the subject on how we tutor our students. i'm not going to talk much about the methods, because this isn't really the time.

then we started comparing our language competencies. at this stage, it doesn't really matter not because we have passed the necessary exams, but we already have a reasonable command of the language to get us through our daily lives and work requirements. there was this comment that my posts were written in a style and level that do not reflect accurately my competency in the english language - and i have a reason for this.

the days of writing compositions and argumentative essays are long over. the only kind of things i write in university are largely fact-based, objective and neutral reports that pertain to a particular issue at hand. therefore, it is imperative that my report be easily understood and conveys what the words used are supposed to - no second guessing. yes, you can say it's a very thesis-style of writing.

so i have in fact substituted flamboyancy with functionality. not that i cannot write the former - i do have some flowery passages and language of my own, and that kind of stuff is more apparent in my essays in secondary school and JC. it is just that i am not required, nor have the necessary platform, to write in extremely expressive and "flowery" sentences.

perhaps i should write one of such these days in my blog, but i don't really have a topic yet. furthermore, i don't think i'll write any of such - it no longer is a true representation of my abilities since there's spellcheck and what-nots; they seem to elevate a person's standard of writing, but in actual fact is nothing more than a smokescreen and fraudulent portrayal of one's command of the language.

i might write one during tuition, but...

yeah, i'm just lazy.

goondo dickheads series eps. 2

here comes episode 2. however, i think this series is inappropriately named - it should be called pet peeves series. but most of the time my pet peeves have to do with goondo dickheads, so... i admit the relationship is rather forced.

today's goondo dickheads... no, it should be pet peeves... center around the favorite topic of many singaporeans: public transport.

public transport does not, in my opinion, include taxis. this is because they are nothing more than paid chauffeurs engaged by time-pressed people who have the necessary economic power to purchase their services but are largely still susceptible to jams and the phenomenon where "taxis are always around when you don't need them, but always not around when you need them the most."

we have heard of calls for raising the service standards and bus / train frequencies in the press. furthermore, with the spike in oil and thus, petrol prices (perhaps a little more "help" from COE), the authorities have been asking citizens to switch to public transport in order to help them cut down on the costs of living amidst rising inflation and a slowing economy.

i have no problem with rising inflation, but i have my doubts about a slowing economy. that is, if you look at it from a very broad perspective, singapore seems to be still doing ok - with the financial crises plaguing so many renowned financial institutions stealing the limelight in the headlines and all - moderate, steady GDP growth, with a rise in jobs available. wait - you ain't seen it all.

i was drafting a post on reading behind the numbers and statistics a few months back, but apparently the connection went bonkers on me and my draft was gone. i wasn't exactly excited to go back and complete it, but the main ideas would be reiterated here.

the latest figures show that there is a rise in the number of vacancies available in the private sector, but another report stated that an approximate 100 people are fighting for 87 jobs. that's right - a rise in jobs, but just not enough to go around. i'm pretty sure i'm in the 13 who happen to not receive part of the pie. so, i'm still frictionally unemployed (if you have no idea what this is, it simply means that i'm still unemployed, but i'm still looking for a job, so i form part of the "natural rate of unemployment." that's really "encouraging" because it means that my skill set is still relevant and i have not become depressed yet. i'm part of a statistic).

in any case, i should get back to the main topic before i drift to the pacific ocean. so what does the government's call for switching to public transport mean? from the corporations' point of view, it's more profits. from the consumers' - and therefore mine - it means congestion.

i would not even begin to say how congested it can get, because i think you know it pretty well. it's still endurable if you are traveling for short distances, need only a straight bus / change only once - the time waiting and the congestion, if any, are still bearable. however, it does not make any sense when frequencies are supposedly increased, then you still have to fight your way into a carriage, and realize that the time you need to travel to a place by MRT takes the same time if you take a straight bus - WTF is that?!

switching to public transport does have its benefits - you save on petrol, it's reliable, *quite* comfortable, and green (that's the buzzword). however, these benefits go poof! when you are stuck like canned sardines. then you have idiots shoving their large asses into the train and a lingering "aroma" in the trains - luckily for me, i am tall enough to tower above the others and hence, have the opportunity of getting some fresh air at the top. yes, the air up there is better. sometimes, there'll be air-con blowing in your face, too.

and when these benefits dissipate into the air like smoke, you contemplate if switching is a smart choice after all. i'm sure i'm speaking for many in the trains who do not yet own a car but would get one immediately once they have the means to do so... never mind the high petrol prices and steep COE. i'm getting a car and escaping from this BS the minute i can.

so it seems, it has come full circle. people switch to public transport, current users switch to private. i suppose the authorities have already taken this into account, and i speculate that their assumption is that, at the end of the day, the net change in public transport users would be positive - that is, there is more people switching to public than people switching to private.

i for one, is going to switch to private at first available opportunity. but i do not know much about cars, though i have a friend who does. at present, i'm thinking of a second-hand manual transmission - i just have not much idea how it costs, what i should be looking out for, and how i should go about acquiring one. the resale value is not exactly my top priority.

and now you ask, what's the goondo dickhead thing about this post? there isn't much actually, i merely thought that we are simply values in a numbers game - at least to the corporations and authorities - who excel, as usual, in calculation. i suppose the corporations would, like, estimate how many people there are at a given time at a given station, and decide how frequent the trains should come in order to maximize revenue. the whole process ought to be pretty complicated, with stats and linear programming and what-not.

which isn't really my concern... i'm still a user of public transport until the day comes when i don't really have to. that day, i get to choose if i want to take it.

no wonder many singaporeans aspire to having their own transport... it not only is a sign of success and accomplishment (prestige perhaps), but also signals the fact that they don't have to endure so much of that public transport BS.

goondo dickheads series eps. 1

ok, this is a hate post. or rather, a series of it.

each episode in this series talks about one of my pet peeves. although i regard myself to be a pretty amicable person and tolerant of many things, i do have a list of things i hate that people do. and the good news (because each post will make the world a better place?) is that i will be blogging about these peeves.

today i will talk about one of them. human traffic impediments.

and these impediments are of course, people. the following examples illustrate how these people go about committing this pet peeve of mine.

you are walking down a cramped and crowded street / aisle / corridor / any type of walkway. the reasons for it being cramped and crowded can be many and are not listed here. you may or may not be in a hurry, but you will like to get past this crowd asap.

there may be merchandise / shops along this particular walkway and people are stopping by to browse through. ok, fine... there's no problem with that. the problem arises when you are so immersed with the merchandise that you start to forget that thisisaverycrampedwalkway and other people need to pass through, and you happen to choose such a strategic position that you are positioned in the middle of the walkway. it's worse when you have another person who's also browsing the stuff and taking up the side of the walkway.

well, so what's the big deal, you say. there's still space to walk through. yeah, there sure is, enough to let a cat stroll through. how bad is that? it wouldn't have been a problem if you are conscious that other people will like to pass through as well, but well, you don't. you're so immersed and so in-your-own-world that you forget other people exist. you need an impatient grunt of an "excuse-me" to wake up your idea. that's just great... than you scowl and roll eyes at the person who just needed your "kind" excuse and make a dumb comment.

alright, suppose now you are not in a hurry and so does the one in front of you. it's understandable if you are carrying a lot of stuff, pushing a trolley / baby cart, or slightly slower. that's ok. but please, be conscious (and courteous) to keep to the side. why do you have to make everybody slow down and pissed just because of your situation? people should exist not to trouble one another, but this world - there's just so many goondos around.

another example occurs frequently on escalators. there is an unspoken rule that you should keep to the left if you are not in a hurry, and keep the right side free for people who are in a rush. if you really want to stand on the right side, at least be kind enough (oh my, we even have to BEG these kind of people and endure their stupid nonsense) to make sure there's a free space between you and the immediate person behind you, who is so kind enough to be standing on the LEFT. give people a chance to move forward! again, the world's having too many goondos.

to quote a friend of mine (you know who you are) - and it goes something like this - there's only two things that's infinite: the universe and stupidity. yes, the latter especially - it is destructive enough to engulf the entire universe.

now, here comes both the good and bad news. let's start with the bad, since everybody likes it in that order. so here goes.

let's face it. you probably are one of those goondos who did these kinds of goondo-ish things before. or, even worse, you are still doing them now, just that you are not conscious of it. that's great, and perhaps i shall enlighten you, that you are in other people's eyes a goondo. that's a fascinating revelation, don't you think!

you are ignorant of what is happening around you, you do not give a shit about the environment, and you are just plain conscious only of your existence. that's cool, because you can do whatever you want, and nobody will say - they will just think - that you are downright a pure goondo. nobody's gonna point out to you that you are one, and you're lucky - because you can't really take the truth that you are actually dumb.

the good news? well, i've said it in my opening paragraph that this world is going to be a better place, only because you have read this post and are lucky enough to know that i will tell you how to stop behaving like a goondo. that's gonna add some points to you, and the better thing is, you don't have to pay or thank me for it. reducing this world by one goondo day by day is the most gratifying thing for me.

be alert of what is happening around you! be considerate. be conscious. know the unspoken rules. don't do unto others what you don't want others to do to you. are all these very hard things to do?

start practicing these stuff by telling yourself: i'm a goondo, i did all these stuff that used to piss people off, i'm not going to do them again. then follow the advice as laid out in the previous paragraph. TADA! don't you feel good now that you are making the world a better place than it was yesterday! well done!

just yesterday, i was on my way to my students' place at woodlands. in order to get there, i must change trains at jurong east station. people who need to change there know how ass-sucking it is to change trains at 6pm. that's the time when you actually have to squeeze in the train and fight to get into the slot.

fight is perhaps overrated. you need to move fast, that's what it is. however, i was already in that carriage and it was pretty packed - like 95% packed, so the remaining 5% is reserved for some breathing space between each passenger. if you take that and divide by 50 (average number of people in the carriage) you don't have much room for yourself.

now, the train door was about to close when someone - in fact, three of them - decided to maximize the use of the carriage's remaining space. so they decided to take that 5% for themselves and SHOVED their way into that carriage.

shoved is underrated. trampled is good.

whoa, thanks for helping SMRT to maximize the available space. you are not shareholders of that company, i hope. i certainly hope it is not because of your fortes - which is widely known in the world - that you can calculate at the speed of light the amount of space available and that you judge that there's sufficient space for you to get in. and just because singaporeans are *largely* polite people, they decide not to make a noise when you shoved your way in. thanks for "giving me a push" in the process.

i don't know if that's the way you did things in your hometown / country, but please, some things are best left at home. you are not culturally sensitive. heck, this is not even related to culture... this is basic courtesy. can't you wait for the next train or at least, politely ask to be excused. or perhaps you don't, because you speak a form of english that nobody really understands.

yeah, this is the result of an influx of foreign talent. today, we are talking about townships. what about tomorrow? of course, i'm not discounting the fact that singapore was once an immigrant country, but please... know your basic manners. i wonder if you are even properly educated - i suppose you did receive formal education (judging from your attire), which in your country is a bloody lucky thing to get, but apparently you fail terribly in the etiquette section.

goondo dickhead.

PS. there's no need to understand what goondo means, the-guy-who-shoved-me, no sir. you only need to understand the meaning of dickhead. which is pretty appropriate because you have a part of your body which isn't supposed to be at where it should be.

and when you start substituting your brains with your balls - good luck.

[no title]

after weeks of neglect, and thanks to DK for reminding me that i still have a blog, here i am, ready to blog.

as you may have realized, most of my posts are pretty long, perhaps yawn-inducing, because i don't really talk about very random things. some of these things include stuff such as:

"i'm tired. going to sleep."

"what a shitty day. fuck."

one-liners and so on... you get the idea.

whenever i post, it usually contains stuff that i deem to have *some* interest - not to anyone in particular, just myself. it would often concern a recent issue in which i have several perspectives of my own to share. the issue could range from anything to everything - there's no "fixed" interest for me.

the point of blogging is to write something of interest and of sufficient value. that said, i would hardly blog for the sake of blogging, and i do know that people actually read my blog (as they reflect to me personally).

on top of that, there isn't anything major in my life right now that warrants a blog - i don't usually pen achievements or challenging situations, simply because i don't feel the need to. furthermore, life is pretty ok now except that it could do better with a job - that's my key gripe for this post, if you ask me.

plus, whenever i post, i would include it in my msn to state that there's a new post. saves the trouble of having to check all the time for updates.

and since blogger does not send notification emails to my friend list to tell them of a new post, which i know that multiply does, i thought that this is a subtle, non-intrusive way of telling people. the overt, bash-your-way through method of telling people is blasting.

anyone who has at least one email account knows of blasting. yeah - really irritating... a waste of bytes. blasted emails go into my deleted / junk folders anyway.

especially when you get blast / junk emails about the following:

1) there's a secret admirer in your neighborhood!
2) suffering from dysfunctional sex? click to get the latest drug!
3) you have won $100,000!
4) FWD: FWD: FWD: RE: RE: RE: RE: read this... touching.
5) FWD: FWD: FWD: RE: RE: RE: RE: Microsoft is giving out cash for beta-testers!

especially items 4 and 5. what kind of nonsense is circulating over the internet? bullshit!

for (4): the email usually ends with, "send this to as many people as you can! you must forward this email immediately to be blessed! if you send to 4 people, you will experience 1 blessing today, to 8 people, 2 blessings..." blah blah. *really*... i didn't know forwarding such emails will ensure me a blessing. the things people believe... or click... jeez.

for (5): the origin of this email is suspect. it dates back to 2005 or even earlier (WTF)? and people actually still forward it today and think they will get a fat cheque from Microsoft for beta-testing Windows XP???!!! it's VISTA already, dudes!

you know, all these kinds of emails just get more and more people to perpetuate false-truths and create junk emails, jamming up inboxes, devouring bandwidths and creating a whole world of BS.

i don't even know what to say anymore.