Perceptions are the truth

Im so busy at work that im starting to feel im inefficient again.

Between 8am - 8pm today, i didnt have a single moment of isolation... In fact, i have an endless stream of people pestering me to meet deadlines...
Yes, deadline. Not dateline. Nevertheless, i digress.

Back to the blogging proper.
In my previous post, i said im never going to blog on political issues again because its never going to get me anywhere... well, i lied.

Let me do everyone a favour by speaking the truth..
These truths came directly from the kopitiam uncle selling kopi below my flat... and since the kopitiam uncle knows just about next to nothing, he must have heard it from a reliable source...and as of this moment, im not ruling out the possibility of a certain high ranking member of parliament.

1) The 7.1billion difference in the projection of 2007 budget (-0.7billion deficit vs 6.4 billion surplus

In 2006, in an attempt to make the good people of Singapore believe that the govt is a worthy and caring one... the govt decided to give budget surplus to the general public.
By 2007, it become apparent that the govt didnt give enough. In fact, every time a minister made a statement like
i ) the poor stands to offset up to 20% of their monthly expenses...
ii) most applicants can get up to 80K in subsidies for flat application..
the govt really is focusing on about 0.0000000063626362510300302182 % of the population.

Lets be frank... did u or any of ur friends fall into the above category? Naaa....

2) Budget Debate.

I asked kopitiam uncle if hes aware of the ongoing budget debate.... his candid reply was..

'AH BOY, dont be silly. They talk and talk but nothing ever gets changed or overrued. UNCLE here knows the meaning of debate hor! Every thing that the F minister says will be passed and are already casted in stone..'

oh well...i guess the kopitiam uncle does know a thing or two..

Regards
Ah Boy.

p/s : F minister refers to 'Finance' minister.

Dear readers..

I apologies for indulging in too many political related entries recently.. Its frustrating when i read stupid articles I promise to keep my entries to my presonal life from now on and that i would only post entries that affects me and no one else.

Regards
True Blue PAP supporter.

"MP Low queries gap between expected budget deficit and final surplus
By Chio Su Mei, Channel NewsAsia
Posted: 25 February 2008 2110 hrs

SINGAPORE: Opposition MP Low Thia Khiang questioned the gap between the initial projection of a budget deficit of S$0.7 billion and the final reported surplus of S$6.4 billion in Parliament on Monday.
.
.
But now that there is a surplus, Mr Low argued that the government should use the funds to counter rising costs, and also lower the GST to help the lower income group.

Responding to Mr Low, the MP for Yio Chu Kang, Seng Han Thong, said the government has always exercised prudence, and any budget surplus, is always good news.

Mr Seng rebutted Mr Low's view that not enough has been done to help the needy. He pointed out that a low-income family could receive as much as S$3,200 in subsidies under the 2008 Budget. "- CNA

Something tells me that someday, i might just be a opposition MP.
Hmmm...

'Singapore will do well in 2008, will end the year with 10billion surplus and along the way, our soccer team will qualify for 2010 World Cup' - Me.

Going by this article...who's going to fault me for being wrong? Talk is sooo cheap.

And can somone stop my country's leaders from making statements that is almost irrelevant to most of us... Sigh..

Regards
Really another Opposition Supporter.

After struggling for 1 hour on the 1st chap...
I thought i didnt do too badly...
=p

But something tells me that it will only get harder...sigh..

I hate studying for things that doesnt make sense to me..

Regards
Buku Cacing

I was reading the papers when i stumble upon this..



I just got one thing to say...
'I hope my future wife send someone who is pretty , has big breasts, leggy, slutty and smart...'

Regards
Faithful Husband

Sigh..

Its over.. the fight is over.

I've tried my best to make my intentions known... but it was in vain.

sigh..





Regards
The other F.B.

NEWS FLASH!

We've got the rights to hold the youth olympics in 2010!!!

More traffic jams. More destruction of the enviroment by building numerous temporary structures. More human traffic at downtown. Increased risk of trouble at nitespots. Spike in profiteering disguise as inflation and last but not least, a possible target for terrorists who would love to get attention by disrupting the games...

So why are we so happy?
This is definately not the first time that Spore got it all wrong..

Regards
Myopic..

=(

A friend of mine read my blog last evening and reminded me that i have yet to pay her for the wantons...

This sucks.

Regards
Needs new friends.

Hi all,

Im awake and all ready for work again.
The morning started disturbing enough again... I strongly believe i should stop reading the papers. I cant seem to grasp what my dearest leaders are thinking and it definately didnt help that their words are captured and publish in just about every major newspaper. I hope the circulation of the papers remains locally.


"HDB flat still very affordable for average S'porean
Some get up to $88k in subsidies, says Mah Bow Tan; also flats still cheap enough for families to use CPF for full mortgage payments
.
.
And flats are still cheap enough for families to be able to fund their mortgage instalments entirely from Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions - without the need to stump up cash
.
.
Mr Mah said: 'A recent Ministry of Finance simulation estimated that the typical young low-income household could enjoy housing subsidies worth about $88,000.'
.
By Alvin Foo " - ST

Anyone knows just how much subsidies does the majorityrest of the population gets? There are 2 sides of the coin...i think alot of us would appreciate measures that directly affects the general population...

And really....reporting news that affects 5% of the population is definately a waste of space/time.

Regards
Disappointed..

Selamat Malam!

Q: Whats worse than working and coming home to find your entire family already in dream land?
A: To miss dinner while u are at work.

Q: Whats the worse than working and coming home to find your entire family already in dreamland and miss dinner at the same time during work?
A: To have my friend whom im chatting with MSN tell me about his MOS Buger dinner...

and soo... i decided to take matters into my own hands..



Its suppose to be good..



It definately doesnt loook good..



Only one way to fnd out.... BTW, its rather expensive. Each wanton cost 50cents...hahah...
=(



Almost there...



Wheres my spring onions?



Actually...it didnt taste very bad. In fact, it was rather good.
Hahaha...

Now...

Q: Whats the worse than working and coming home to find your entire family already in dreamland and miss dinner at the same time during work and subsequently come home to have someone talk about his MOS Burger dinner???

A:



Im so unsatisfied...i need more wantons..

Regards
Hungry...

"SM Goh says growing the economy is important for the future
By May Wong,
Channel NewsAsia Posted: 17 February 2008 1852 hrs

SINGAPORE : Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said on Sunday Singaporeans should reflect on how to grow the country's economy and build on its reserves for future Budgets instead of just asking for more assistance now.

He also described this year's Budget, announced on Friday, as a "compassionate, comprehensive and far-sighted one. " - CNA

I've the upmost respect for my leaders...especially those that have been in service for a long time and had acquire a wealth of experience..

But recently, i've become increasing aware that with these experiences away from the general public, my leaders has grown distinctively 'disconnected' with the ground sentiments.

I stumble upon the above article by CNA this morning and its an obvious case that SM Goh has not walked the ground or have been listening to v.bias opinions by his aids..

In fact, News Radio delicated an entire hour this morning for people to call in and comment on the budget this morning and i didnt hear a single comment that they felt satidfied with the budget.

As such, it has lead me to the following conlcusion....(obviously my very own opinion)

1) My govt's years of easy handouts has left everyone reliant on govt to provide increasng more to satisfy our selfish needs.. Nobody cares about maintaining a surplus anymore. hahaha... thats really your own doing... neh ne neh ne bu bu! IM POOR, SO I DESERVE MONEY FROM THE GOVT!

2) The truth is but a perception. SM Goh obviously is under the impression that the Budget is suffice... i think i need to call him soon to realign him with the notion.

Regards
People of Singapore

Selamat Tengah Hari!

That really means...good noon! And that represents all that i have learned this morning. Hahaha..

Im starting to realise that as i aged, im no longer very keen in learning new things, i.e Malay. And thats really partly the reason why i never got around furthering my studies.

Anyway, I was out for CNY visit to a friend's house yesterday... (incidentally, he agreed to let me go his house after i let him come my house... so much for CNY spirit) and we were just hanging around talking when we chance upon a certain problem faced by another friend of ours.

After much discussion and reflection on our lives... we decided to adopt the following and i though i'll just share with everyone who reads my blog..

' Why choose to suffer at length when the suffering can be shorten..
Why choose to suffer when liberation is but a step away? '

Lau Yu sheng is in 2 days time....i hope my friend feels better by then. =)

Selamat Siang!

Regards
'Wisemen'

Dear all..

Im surprise by our Budget 2008. Thats nice until u realise that the reason why im surprise is that

1) the govt did not make any attempt to deviate from previous years theme of 'Old, Poor & Needy' gets more money.

"Mr Tharman said a larger portion of the benefits will be distributed to older Singaporeans and the lower and middle income groups, with certain top-ups directed towards helping Singaporeans with their education and healthcare needs. " - CNA

2) my minister still thinks that a car is a disposable item which one can just dispose of without due consideration and switch to public transport akin to youngsters changing handphones nowadays.

"Mr Lim also said the overhaul of the public transport network should be an incentive to car drivers to make the switch from private to public transport. " -CNA

Has Mr Lim even taken the public transport recently?

There are really better ways to make use of our time than to spend 2 hours listening to my leaders talk..

Regards
Disconnected from the ground & Left out in the cold again.

Dear all...

I had the privilege of previewing the highlight of this year's Singapore Airshow...up close and personal, no less...



In fact, prior to the show,i was made to sworn that i will not publish any photos (because of my privilege position of flying with the black knights) taken during the preview flight to the public prior to the show next week.

But while i was on my way home, a friend of mine msg me after she got wind that i went to preview the Black Knights and requested that i show her my exclusive photos...

And since i hate to disappoint my friends...i will publish these exclusive photos here on my blog.

Readers, pls do not tell your friends that im publishing exclusive photos of the Black Knights as

1) im a very private person
2) i do not want to get into trouble with the organisers

And for the very first time... not available anywhere else (until next weekend, at least)... the pictures of the SINGAPORE BLACK KNGHTS in action...



This shot was taken while i was in another F16 infront of the black knights as they enter the airspace over Changi..



This shot is immediately after they flew past the F16 that i was on...



Check this out, i was right beside them...as black knight #5 (flew b Zoe's husband) start to peel off for the chevron roll...



Omg...for this shot, the F16 that i was in was directly above them flying inverted... akin like the mirror pass that Maverick did in Top Gun...



Time to go home after the preview...

As you can see, my shots aint very clear...thats becoz i was using my trusty Nikon 4100... it would have been better if someone would have brought me a Nikon SLR D40... =(

Oh... 2 hours after i got home, my other friend who was at the air show but wasnt lucky enough like me to be flying with the black knights...he called me and lamented that he didnt get a single good shot because of the low clouds today...

In fact, he sent me a shot of what he took...



Sometimes...i think im the luckiest guy in the world.

I'll be attending the Singapore Airshow 08 next week to get goodies and check out some up close and personal photos of the static displays... watch this space next week... =)

Regards
Lucky

- okie, i didnt really took those photos. Those photos are avail on www.mindef.gov.sg/rsaf/blackknights . To really see them in action(pride of Spore),pls go buy tickets. You definately wont be able to catch the show for free this year from changi coast because the place has shifted. =)

Are we all ready for Budget 2008?!?!?!

I hope they dont keep digging at the same hole and keep focusing on the old, poor and sickly. Theres more to Singapore than the old, poor and sickly.
And stop stupid handouts... Most of us think its useless anyway...

I want surprises..

Regards
Hopeful.

"Budget to mitigate high food prices and inflation
By Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia
Posted: 11 February 2008 2043 hrs

SINGAPORE: The upcoming Budget will include measures to mitigate high oil and food prices, as well as inflation, on a long term basis."
Adopted from CNA Website

This friday is Budget day!
This is a time when alot of good ministers sit down and cheer on our finance minister on each and every single goodie he proposes for the good people of Singapore. Subsequently, my dearest finance minister would take these proposal and debate with everyone else in the parliament before these goodies eventually trickling down to the masses..

But frankly... its really not neccessary. WHY? In fact, i think they should just info everyone on how much money has been set aside for these goodies and get on with the distribution.

For as long as i can remember, the govt has a tendency to cater to the 'poor' and aged. Even though that these 'poor' singaporeans are supposedly to be much more thrifty than the 'rich' singaporeans.
As such,

1) alot of subsidies would be given to this group of people.
2) less subsidies would be gievn to the other group of people (i.e the supposedly 'rich' ones)

And since its a well known fact that Singapore has a decent majority of 'rich' people...

then would there be a high possibility that the amount of subsidies given to the 'poor' category and 'rich' category is a zero sum game and thus render this entire debate 'uneccessary'?

i.e
Conservation charges for 1/2 room flats ~ 30 dollars.
Conservation charges for 4/5 room flats ~ 60 dollars.

% of 'poor' Singaporeans ~ 20%
% of 'rich' Singaporeans ~ 60%
% of 'SUPER RICH Singaporeans ~ 20% <---does not qualify / qualify for min subsidies.

Subsidies for 'poor' Singaporean ~ 12 months
Subsidies for 'rich' Singaporean ~ 2 months

As such
$30 x 0.2 x 12 months ~ 60 x 0.6 x 2 months

I seriously think we should use our time more meaningfully.

Regards
Supposedly Rich Singaporean

Dear all..

Im not working.
WHY?
Because im working this sat again? Darn. They should really pay me more OT during CNY. Im missing out on all the angpaos and goodies.

Anyway, was suppose to meet up with my friends this sat to eat some authentic homecooked food.. obviously, its not going to happen now. Sigh..

Since we are on the topic of homecooked food... this was my reunion dinner.



Yummy...



Im sure all of you would know by now that i have a weakness for steamboat. Hahah... Its strange becoz i get all hot and sweaty after the meal but i would still choose steamboat over some lousy fastfood meal any day.

Maybe i just enjoy making a mess out of the soup... like i did so sometime back...



But i've come to realise that the messier the soup, the tastier it would be...



My mum's soup obviously wasnt very messy... hahah...she should really have requested for my help when she was preparing the soup at 6am in the morning... =p But strangely, it was much better than the one we had at AMK.

Hmmm...Speaking of Fast food... Look what used to come with Fastfood loooong looong time back...



Before transformers becomes sophisticated cars and aeroplanes....


They were just little packets of fries... hahah...


If i were a transformer.... i would be a steamboat in diguise..

Okie, i need to get some work done now. See you guys in awhile..

Regards
Steamboat lover.

Dear all,

After 1 week away, im finally going back to work. Darn...im going to be miss home.
Im so apprehensive about opening my mailbox later. Sigh.
For the rest of you who are enjoying your holidays, pls think of me often throughout the day.

Love
Wanna stay at home.

Over the past few days, there were a series of vehicle break-ins in numerous MSCP all over Singapore.

Pity these people as their CNY outings must have been disrupted by those shattered windscreen. They really should have gotten V-Kool as its film offers anti-shatter properties.


Adopted from 'The Straits Time'

The Singapore Police force has advise car owners to

1) Park their cars in well lit areas
2) Remove all valuables from their car

These are sound advises and i believe all car owners would do good to heel them.

BUT.... to really prevent cashcard theft? i only have the following to offer..

1) REMOVE ERP.

Regards
Hates ERP, because its so useless.

Dear all,
My new year got off to a really good start.

Why?
Becoz i had an accident.



Contrary to what everyone is thinking (i.e im very sad)... im actually quite happy.
Because

1) The car was paid by installment so i didnt pay the full million on it.
2) I had insurance to cover my loss.

And now that i had the accident of the year (by virtue, its most prob will be the most expensive car crash this year) , i can now pester my papa to buy me another car.

Im feeling so lucky.

Regards
Ah-sia Kia

P/s: For all you 'commoners' who cannot afford a car as expensive as mine... pls drive carefully. I really could have died and all those Jap racecar wannabes wont protect you like my 1 million dollar car will.. Life is precious. =)

Dear all...

Im sick of Mindjoltz games..
But im addicted to street racing. Check out my Dodge panel... No.13 in all of facebook.





Yipppeee...yes, im a man of little talents. As such, i get high when i achieve all these crappy records.

Im going to get the title of no.1 dodge panel and then subsequently conquer Facebook!!
Oh yes, im that free. =p

Regards
Record holder soon

Gong Xi Gong Xi!

May all your wildest dreams come true and the year be filled with wonderful things.

Regards
100% Chinese Singaporean

Dear all,

Okie, the CNY rally didnt happen.

But im sure theres lots of other reasons to look forward to the new Chinese Year of the Rat.
Happy Rat Year, everyone!
May the coming year be filled with wonderful wonderful stuffs.

Regards
100% chinese.

Sigh...

Im too distaught to tell mama that we have to eat reunion dinner at home.

Regards
Bitten

Hey all,

Its CNY eve and im very excited.

WHY?

Because every year, without fail, there will be a CNY equity rally which happens just before CNY and thus far, we have not see it yet.

Yesterday, the STI actually went down about 1%. In fact, its been a somewhat rough year for everyone in the financial market.

As such, this is the last day for the CNY rally to happen! Dont be surprise if STI surge to 8000 points later.
Being a very smart arse gambler investor, i've formulated a plan.

"I will buy in BIG when the market opens and Sell everything when the market closes at lunch time. "

Im so confident that i told my mama that i will bring her out for sumptuous reunion dinner tonite.
Hee hee..

Im so excited. 4 more hours before i become a millionaire.

Regards
Smart Investor

While doing spring cleaning recently, i came across the following...
It was like a trip back to the past..



New balance shoes. These were hardy shoes. They were fantastic for anything...from soccer to jogging... to whacking people.



Omg...i believe this is mother of all Discman. Show me a model that is older. hahaha....



Before LCDs, there were WATCHMAN for those who need to catch their fav shows on the go...
It only had black and white pictures... hahaha....



Oh yes, i was once a APPLE fan. Or rather, my dad was. Im not sure about this but until recently, something like this is now call a PDA. i wonder what they call this back then.



Omg....i wonder where i kept the rest of my 'Primary English'. I kept this particular one becoz i like the color...
I've checked. The exercises in the book remains incomplete.



Color pencils!! HAhaha.... Btw, I hate Art & Craft.

My childhood must have been wonderful...

Regards
Old School boy

Dear all..

I just woke up. Despite that, my mind has been working overtime since last evening. WHY?

I cant stop thinking how to help better the flow along the Sentosa and Harbour front road.
Yes, i can be very civil minded sometimes..

As such, im proud to come up with the new solution.

"PUT UP 2 x ERP GANTRIES instead of ONE!!!"

Regards
Very very smart.

This is turning out to be a very tramatising evening..
Im getting very very disturbed as the evening goes by.

"Roads leading to Sentosa and Harbourfront to be upgraded
By Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia
Posted: 04 February 2008 1254 hrs

SINGAPORE: Roads leading to Sentosa and the area around Harbourfront will be upgraded this year. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said this is to prepare for an expected increase in traffic when the integrated resort at Sentosa – Resorts World at Sentosa – is completed in 2010.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said this is to prepare for an expected increase in traffic when the integrated resort at Sentosa – Resorts World at Sentosa – is completed in 2010. When fully upgraded in two years' time, the roads can accommodate 30 percent more traffic. "
Adopted again from CNA website.

I must applaud LTA's great foresight. Its definately difficult to do any worse than what they did over the past few years.. they definately played a huge part in letting our car population spiral out of control before deciding that they would now punish all of us for owning cars.... To foresee possible increase in the amount of traffic and start remedy work now...is indeed what i expect of my govt. Great job!

BTW, just some food for thought...

Why cant we just add a ERP gantry like everywhere else??

Regards
tinkling thoughts..

I was rather disturbed when i read CNA's website the other day...
One of the hot news item was...

"Singapore News
SM Goh meets world's top golfer Tiger Woods
By Patwant Singh, Channel NewsAsia
Posted: 03 February 2008 2357 hrs "

Shouldnt it be 'Top golfer Tiger Woods meet SM Goh'?? How do i determine who visits who?
Im troubled. When will SM Goh come and visit me?

Regards
Waiting patiently.

Its that time of the year when we clean up our rooms and bring in the new goodies..

Yes, its gonna be CNY in a few days.. n i cant wait t start eating my Baw Kwas and Keuy bulus..

For a start, Mama n i thought its time to repaint the house. And being a very pampered child, there was no way i was going to get my hands dirty since both Mama and i didnt exactly have time to do it, we decided to employ the professional painters..



Check out what 5 years of neglect can do to your ceiling.
Hahaha...i swear it was pure white 5 years ago.



Work in progress..
I had headache for a week when they came to repaint the house and i couldnt even call in sick because i was on leave. =(



More work in progress, More headache.



The thing about employing professional painters is that they STILL DONT help you clear out the rubbish that clutter up your home! =( And obviouly, the mess didnt help my headache. I hate messy house...



Hmmm...thats better. Hahaha....



TADA!!! White again! Just like 19 years ago! Yes, i have been living in the same house for 19 years now. And CCK isnt exactly a old estate...



TADA! The painters gave us a surprise at the end of the job...they provided us with new furniture becoz we were their 10000000000th customer!! Omg..



Yippeeee....



And the best part of it all..... i got to paint my room in my favourite shade of pink and purple. hahaha...yes, im gay. im so sure that my neighbours living opposite would be dying to know who lives in this cute pink room. hahahahah....

Regards
Gay lover..

Dear all,

Another of my primary school friend got married last thursday. Omg..that really means both Shujie and i are either very eligible obviouly unwanted by the general female population. hahah...

Oh well, nvm..i'll save that for discussion another day.

Nevertheless, I was again brother for my dearest Jianhong on his wedding day. Fact is, this wedding was put together within a shorter time than the previous record of 2 months. Thus, imagine the amout of prep work behind the scene. Im so glad, i only had to participate on the actual day.

Readers, just in case you think this belongs to one of those soap opera in which the female lead is preg and as such, requires a hastily put together wedding, you are wrong. The reason is more of a 'Get married now or wait till much later'...

okie, heres the photos.. enjoy.



Tada! The wedding couple.



Tada! I really wanted to show some nice wedding cars but sadly...i dont have that. However, feast your eyes on the very clean red vios. hahaha..



Check this out from Jianhong's house! hahaha... would love to have this as my house.



Demanding the bride...also at jianhong's house. the other one..



Check this out! I even went for the photo shoot. =)
Notice how tired the couple look... frankly, i couldnt ascertain if its deliberate...



The best kept secret for all photoshoots.... the bride wears slippers!



Told you....it wasnt fun liao.



ahahah...typical wedding shots huh!



Moment of truth.

Im proud to announce that the day went on without much glitches. In fact, i can count all the booboos with my 5 fingers. My dearest jianhong was really relying alot on the couple of us since he didnt have a wedding coordinator...and his entire wedding entourage comprises of a married man, 2 married ladies, 2 bachalors, and his brother as the photographer.

Im seriously considering becoming a coordinator myself. hahahaha.... Theres so much money to be made from this...

Regards
Brother again.