3 things I learned today

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

posted by zyn :: 2:07 AM :: 3 Comments :: permalink

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Chennai

Monday, August 28, 2006

is - as I observed to my colleagues today - a bit like the Singapore of the most distant depths of my memory. Roadside stalls, steaming heat, dust on everything, and malls that remind me of City Plaza back when it could legitimately be called a shopping centre.

Chennai was also - as I told someone else - sweltering, smelly, and splendid.

I'd never been so aware of my own racism as when I landed at the Chennai airport, cleared customs, and headed for the glass doors that slid open to reveal more Indians in one place than along Serangoon Road on a Sunday evening. Yes, okay, I'm extremely race-conscious - perhaps even bigoted, as the above-mentioned someone forced me to admit - but only when it comes to Indians. I don't really know why. And this doesn't apply to every single Indian, or even Indians on a personal level, but just Indians as a concept, as a sort of warped racial heuristic. I don't buy the arguments of people who insist on "racialism" instead of "racism" and who profess to be completely colour-blind. We all judge on superficialities to some extent; some of us are just better at hiding it than others.

Anyway I'm only racist in theory; I'd pour boiling oil on my new Furla bag before I ever put it in practice. Or so I thought until the whole Amsterdam flight debacle, when I realised that if I'd been on that flight, I'd probably have reacted the same way the other passengers did - alarmed by the antics of some dark-skinned kids to a degree that would never have been incited by white trash. Which also means I finally understood the other side of Arthur Miller's Crucible, the side that genuinely believed it would be better to eliminate all potential witches than run the risk of your chickens being cursed.

So, as is my usual conclusion - I don't know lah.

In any case, I have Chennai photos. 'Tis very possible that I'm worse at taking photos than I am at driving, and I can't photoshop because I don't have photoshop, but here they are anyway.

(Hmmm. For some reason the photos are much better on my computer. They look really awful on flickr. Oh well, whatever.)



Indian version of McEwan's Dead as They Come



Bollywood billboards



Silk shop



Awesomely sketchy roadside stalls



The only mall in Chennai worth the description, City Centre



Chennaian tuk tuk taxis = autos



Room service. Heehee.

posted by zyn :: 11:31 PM :: 1 Comments :: permalink

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back in sg

Saturday, August 26, 2006

A real entry will follow soon, after sleep and food, but for now I'd be much obliged if people would pander to my narcissism. Thanks! Hee.

posted by zyn :: 1:15 PM :: 3 Comments :: permalink

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things you learn from the news

Friday, August 25, 2006

Pluto is no longer a planet! I don't know why but this makes me oddly sad; perhaps this is how people felt when they discovered the earth wasn't flat after all.

Sales assistants at Virgin earn more than I do. I know exactly why this makes me sad.

Malaysian laptop thieves are using some mystery device to figure out which cars have laptops and are therefore worth breaking into. Such genius of efficiency! Respect.

posted by zyn :: 1:31 AM :: 0 Comments :: permalink

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"you can put their biodata in a thumbdrive"

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Talk is cheap; these quotes are priceless. Excerpted from Singapore Election Watch:

"Retrenchment is good for Singapore. If there is no retrenchments at all, then I worry for Singapore."
- SM Goh

"Contrary to public perception, the White Horse classification is not to ensure that sons of influential men get preferential treatment. Instead it is to ensure that they do not get preferential treatment."
- Cedric Foo, former Minister of State for Defence and National development

"If you sing Jailhouse Rock with your electric guitar when others are playing Beethoven, you are out of order. The whip must be used on you."
- SM Goh

"We must encourage those who earn less than $200 per month and cannot afford to nurture and educate many children never to have more than two... We will regret the time lost if we do not now take the first tentative steps towards correcting a trend which can leave our society with a large number of the physically, intellecually and culturally anaemic."
- MM Lee

"If you don't include your women graduates in your breeding pool and leave them on the shelf, you would end up a more stupid society...So what happens? There will be less bright people to support dumb people in the next generation. That's a problem."
- MM Lee again.

I think actually MM Lee and I would get along; we appear to have similar views about stupid people, although I dare say mine are more extreme.

And my personal favourite, by far:

"If you want to dance on a bar top, some of us will fall off the bar top. Some people will die as a result of liberalising bar top dancing... a young girl with a short skirt dancing on it may attract some insults from some other men, the boyfriend will start fighting and some people will die."
- Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports

Very big caveat: the accuracy of these quotes has not been verified, and I suspect that parts of them could be either taken out of context or completely made up. Will update.

posted by zyn :: 12:55 AM :: 0 Comments :: permalink

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of prime ministers and non sequiturs

Sunday, August 20, 2006

I haven't been blogging about politics lately, partly because I thought it a bit unwise, given the narrowly-defined sensitivities of my job, and partly because I just got bored. There's only so much politics you can talk about, after all.

But I'm now watching Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech and he again made the point that you can say things on blogs that you can't in the mainstream media, so anything I post here should enjoy immunity as long as (1) it isn't racist (2) I make sure I say it's frivolous and not serious at all. That is, more TalkingCock and less mrbrown.

So I want to talk about mrbrown. (Not seriously, of course.) I don't understand the logical leap PM made when he said (not verbatim): people should feel free to criticise the government, but when they do so, they must be prepared to stand by their views, and they must expect a response. We must give a harsh response when necessary. This is how we are being more open and more candid. We are moving forward.

I'd like to know (not seriously, of course) - how does an immediate clampdown on columnists translate into open discussion? And how exactly does the government expect to conduct "open discussions" with Singaporeans anyway? Surely they cannot honestly believe that government-regulated "forum sessions" with the public - apparently the only sanctioned (and carefully-controlled) means of such interaction - constitute adequate engagement with the people?

Or that judiciously-worded commentaries and opinions in the seldom-read political section of the newspapers (apologies to all political journalists who may be reading this) are truly representative of public thought? Because obviously any column in so-called mainstream media that is less artfully crafted (and perhaps more in tune with what Singaporeans really think) is fair game for MICA wrath and prompt suspension, as we've seen.

But - still in all frivolity - blogs are okay. And, as someone once advised me, blogs by young people are especially okay, because you can later blame your "mistakes" on being carried away by ardent inexperience and a misguided - and English-educated, of course - radicalism. So we should all blog about politics as much as possible. After all, none of us bloggers will ever be held up to the same rigid standards as mainstream media, right? MICA has said so. Even though their response to mrbrown addressed none of the issues that he brought up and instead dedicated several paragraphs to his "sarcastic" tone and clear intention to stir up public discontent so as to achieve - what? Must be his ultimate aim of overthrowing the government and replacing them with bak chor mee sellers, because surely that's the only possible goal of anyone who criticises the government.

Andy Ho and his recent, characteristically so-fallaciously-asinine-I-can't-think-of-a-suitable-adjective column on how bloggers will never replace the mainstream media completely misses the point, as usual. Of course bloggers will never be able to cover news - especially political news that is issued only through government press releases - in the same way as accredited journalists. But how important, really, is news? Particularly Singaporean news? What most politically-aware Singaporeans are interested in are genuinely critical news analyses, which they're never going to get in papers like The Straits Times, despite having highly-credentialed journalists like the above-mentioned Andy "I have a PhD and an MBA so I am all-knowing and no one else on earth is qualified to argue with me" Ho.

I mean none of this seriously, of course.

And if I'm ever called on it, I shall plead temporary insanity - youthful, English-educated temporary insanity - due to the pro-Singapore fervour stirred up in me by the National Day Rally speech.

Today I watched a movie and went shopping. See, this is actually a frivolous entry.

posted by zyn :: 9:24 PM :: 4 Comments :: permalink

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you put the boom-boom into my heart

Friday, August 18, 2006

How can you not love a song that starts with "Jitterbug"?

posted by zyn :: 8:03 PM :: 4 Comments :: permalink

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the preposterously long ice cream essay

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

I'm going through an ice cream phase right now, which is very not timely because I'm putting on weight like siao. My BMI has shot up from 15.1 to 15.8 in a month, which may not seem like much, but which my calculator tells me is, like, five whole per cent.

(In many ways my fixation on not gaining weight is like c7676's obsession with not losing weight - unnecessary but incontrovertible. I should try to be more understanding.)

Anyway so ice cream. I don't like to think of myself as an atas person, because I eat hawker food and wear slippers and sometimes sit very chor lor, but I'm completely spoiled when it comes to ice cream. I can't stomach the Walls or Kings or Magnolia stuff, and I only eat Paddle Pop out of misdirected nostalgia. Which is the same lousy reason I eat ice cream bread sandwiches from those pushcarts in Orchard Road. Man, those are vile.

Anyway so ice cream. When I was in college, paddychicken and I had a pact to put on as much weight as quickly as we could, so we would plant ourselves at the freezer section of Freshgrocer (ah, Freshgrocer) and meticulously examine each flavour of ice cream to see which had the most fat content. (Yeah we were losers but we were skinny losers, so there.) Godiva took the honours, if I recall correctly, which led to me spending many an idle hour dementedly attacking pint after pint of Belgian Chocolate (ah, Belgian Chocolate) while chain-watching Will & Grace (ah, Will & Grace). It's a wonder I got fat only in Harvard rather than during those cushy calorie-filled winters in Penn, although at that time I was going to the gym like three times a week too. I was crazy. Life was good.

ANYWAY so ice cream. In Boston I was obsessed with Haagen Dazs mint chocolate chip, and between that and the Godiva and the Ben and Jerry's outings I had in my senior year at Penn, I was totally ruined for cheapo Singaporean ice cream for life. Some of my best recent memories involve the new Haagen Dazs melon flavour at D's house, which has an endless supply of melon ice cream and chilled bowls to go along with it. Chilled bowls, I tell you. Melon and chilled bowls and wine and a big soft penguin - what more can a girl ask for?

ANYWAY SO ICE CREAM. I hold milky ice cream in contempt, and don't give me any of that sorbet/frozen yogurt/no fat shit. I also hate those with chunks of hard stuff in them, like candy and chocolate pieces and cookie bits and especially nuts. I hate nuts, they exist only to annoy me by getting stuck in my braces. (That and to make squirrels look extraterrestially adorable.) So most Ben and Jerry's stuff is out of the question for me, although Oatmeal Cookie Chunk is inspired and Phish Food is creative genius and both deserve honorable ice cream mentions for addictive superiority. Godiva's Belgian Chocolate holds a special place in my heart and I cannot pass a gelato stand without spending four bucks on one bloody scoop of hazelnut (four bucks. one scoop. i ask you.) - but the best ice cream award has to go to Haagen Dazs. There's mint chocolate chip, and there's melon, and there's green tea, and I've never tried any of the other flavours because I've never had to.

All I have in my freezer right now is B&J's New York Super Fudge Chunk, which I don't really like but am trying to finish because my dad went out to buy it specially for me after I dramatically swooned in the dining room yesterday upon realising that there was no more ice cream left in the freezer.

I am such a brat. But I didn't ask him to go, he went secretly when my back was turned. I am still a brat.

Who loves ice cream.

The end.

posted by zyn :: 1:21 AM :: 8 Comments :: permalink

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what a day

Sunday, August 13, 2006

So Singapore has no wide open areas, no freedom, and no sense of history. But all you have to do, really, is find little pockets of new space, colonise them, and create your own memories.

Long, lazy nights when conversation flows more easily and more sparklingly than the alcohol; adventure treks into the heartlands and hidden alleys where sleazy karaoke pubs alternate with whimsical European cafes; spontaneous drives to the beach with nothing and no one except a bottle of wine and a sense of discovery.

I unearthed an old, secret blog yesterday and this was an entry from December 2003:

"Thinking about the next six months I have left in college, there's so much I still want to do. I want to have more choc shrooms. I want to get drunk more. I want to make out with someone new. I want to have long midnight conversations, to have insights, to flirt without feeling guilty. Everything I thought was my ultimate ambition has been turned on its head."

And, awkward writing aside, I wish I knew back then what I know now - that complacent malcontent will never be enough. I wish I could go back and tell my bewilderedly unhappy self that there was a reason for that restlessness and that life has a way of springing you out of your rut when you least expect it, as long as you have the reflexes and the strength to seize your chances.

I don't think I ever realised how unhappy I was all those years, until now.

I also wish I could tell my old self that pink really doesn't go with green. Urgh.

posted by zyn :: 4:18 AM :: 6 Comments :: permalink

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ironic, seeing that i haven't played for a week

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Sometimes it helps to think of life in terms of WoW analogies.

You know when you decide to take on two mobs, then just as you've killed the second one and you're down to like one quarter health, you accidentally aggro a pat that's walking around, and you have to pull out every single trick you have - all the 30-min cooldown ones including retaliation and shield wall - and you finally manage to kill it with just 26 hp left? And if another mob (or worse, a bloody undead rogue) happens to pass by and hits you just one time, you'll die?

That's kind of how I feel right now.

And I see Horde in the distance.

posted by zyn :: 11:54 PM :: 2 Comments :: permalink

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wake me up when september ends

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

(Usual blog disclaimer: self-indulgent stream-of-consciousness entry)

I try not to blog about work, but lately I think I've been spending way too much time at the office. It's gotten to a point where my days blend into each other - I work on weekends so I have to play on weekdays; I go drinking on Friday nights so I leave my laptop at work and come into the office to pick it up on Saturdays; I've worked the last two Sundays so by the time Wednesday rolls around it feels like the weekend should follow immediately.

Now it's Tuesday (right?) and the only reason I know is because the WoW server is down. Haha. Not that I would have the energy to play; last night we ran Stratholme until 3am and I think that's my quota for the week. (Even though I'm very out of practice in runs and I really should play more.)

(I use too many parentheses.)

I shouldn't even have left work at 11pm today. I was going to leave at 10 to head home and sleep but a colleague needed help on his assignment so I stayed a while longer. I'm not complaining (I love helping people, it's an unexpected perk of wanting to be a know-it-all), but that's another example of why I'm spending more hours in the office than at home.

Usually I have more stamina than this. I think all the vices and late nights and gastric ulcers from dealing with PR people are starting to catch up with me. I don't get sick easily - must be the liberal doses of Vitamin C - but over the last two days I haven't been feeling very well. Must take more Vitamin C.

And then in September got another big event, which I'm actually quite looking forward to despite my whining because it sounds humongous and exciting (no cracks about US grads here, Zinne). I need a break before that though. Still have five days of leave to clear before the end of August. Maybe I should take the last week of August off to lie in bed and watch DVDs.

Speaking of Zinne, just now we were talking about the hikes in public transport fares, and she said: "How much does it cost to take a bus ah?"

To which I replied: "Har? How would I know?"

'Tis sad, our ignorances. But also kind of hilarious.

This is why I'd like, at some point, to move out and live in an HDB flat for a while. There's this huge gap in my knowledge about Singapore and my life is way too comfortable for me to understand a lot of the things I write about. It always makes me feel like a fraud.

Okay try to look on the bright side. (I don't believe in telling the truth, so this is as close to adopting a life philosophy as I get.)

Had a very good lunch today. Haven't had much time for contact lunches recently; must start again once J gets back. Meeting people is one of my favourite things about this job - you pick up all kinds of random trivia that can turn out to be very useful.

My sister is back in town so now I have another person to fetch me from the office when I call home, half-dead, for a lift at 11pm.

Caught up with Aaron over coffee, which was fun. I can't believe it's already been two years since we were interns together; now we're all jaded and shit and there's still five years left to go. Argh.

Okay bright side, bright side.

Life is good, I'm eating chicken soup, we're planning a major party, and I'm going to watch Grey's Anatomy.

That almost rhymes! Now if only I had more time. (Okay, I know, that was low. Hahahaha.)

* * * * * *

summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when september ends

ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when september ends

-- wake me up when september ends, green day

posted by zyn :: 12:39 AM :: 8 Comments :: permalink

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speaks

without thinking

stores

without purpose

stalks

without malice

steals

without offense