Sundown 2011

Wootz! En route to my 1st night marathon... ;) on cab to expo to catch the shuttlebus. Hope it ain't packed!



Getting ready the barang barang..




Hope I'll make it the old 4:30 goal. Else pretty much happy that I beat my previous 5:05 record. ;)

Had not run with company before... Lol hope the guys will pace me on! ;)

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Camelised...

Task for the day...


1 litre within an hour and half

Time for the second bottle....And third? ;)
Camel-ised...

Slept 1.5 hrs ... Cuz was uploading the Naples pix... The influx of water helps... ;)
I hope I won't fall asleep during movie to tonite... Eggcited! Going to the new Lido but the tix is twice the norm!!! ;)

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Sleepy

Out of no apparent reason, decided to upload pictures day 1 of 12 of my recent europe trip.. Began really early like 12am after watching 3 episodes of Glee2 on Mio's video on demand..

Ended up only completing day one at @ 5am!

Was darned reluctant to wake up at 7+ this morning.. but i don't have much of a choice here ... Limited annual leave left! ;(
Hence, headed to work via fave mode of transport (for the past two weeks) - I need to rest my legs for sundown rite? :) I really don't want to end up like Jacob permanently! ;(



Always can't resist snapping away at our singapore Flyer. ;) this morning, the backdrop is kinda sleepy & dreamy... or perhaps cuz I'm lacking snooze hours? ;)


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Highly distracted

One word to describe my state of mind today : pre-occupied !!!


At least I managed to squirm my way round and came up with a piece of technical advice - not that it's that complex.

Decided finally to enroll for the professional membership after like eternity! (never thought will sustain so long!) Will go find out silly precise dates such as when my last NTU exam was dated! Actually I remembered which module though - advanced audit cuz it was the last exam of all exams but clueless of the date! (who will?!) don't know if the transcript will be dated though ...

Anyway that took away some distraction but soon mind wandered again..

Maybe it time to do something new? Like learning an instrument? Guitar is still a painful experience for me... The keyboard should be easier right? At least I sight read a lil and play with one hand! ;)

Ooo the camping guy has deferred his prediction by another 5 months! Like mr brown's comment on this - " I think God may have postponed Rapture just to see Manchester United lift their 19th title. But that's just my theory. "

Oh well.. To quote my friend, 'I still want to do my standchart at year end!'

Oh well to quote Deuteronomy 29:29 “The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions."

I believe I will still be celebrating my 23rd birthday in November! ;) [i'm forever 22! ;)]

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Pinky Monday!

I reckon I must be on the wrong side of the planet, cuz I'm more productive towards the end of the day, regardless of the hours of snooze hours I'd.

It was ghost town in my department today cuz for one reason or another, only 1/3 of us were in the office.. Though the cat is away, lil mouse left office later than usual... Oh well, at least finished off a couple of cases. ;)

Must have been watching too much glee.. That one song in the 'Furt' episode kept playing in loops for the whole of today! Wonder why .. ;0

Not exactly a blue Monday, just sore from the Sat's run and over-active mind that kept spinning weird correlations..

Anyway, it's a pinky Monday today!!
Wore the dusty pink Lilypirates dress which I bought a couple weeks ago. Cutesy name it had - Remember my darling! Paired it with the lovely pink juicy couture watch bought recently and a mini longchamp Le Pliage ‘Arbre de Vie’ that I 'adopted' in Geneva DFS.




It's kinda out of focus cuz I'm trying to snap the rubbish bin out of the pix.




this watch cuz it's so pink & intrigue watch face! And the second hand is found in the middle of the silver flower (which is now the tierra. Justified purchase cuz I didn't get any pricey timepieces in Swiss! ;) not that this is very pricey anyway. ;)



Was attracted by the oriental motif while walking pass the DFS at the Geneva airport en route checking in.. Didn't know it was limited edition till I googled about it moments ago! Name is translated as 'tree of life'. Nice. ;) Though mini in size, I could still pack my huge notebook into it! ;)

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The limping run

Almost wanted to give this run a miss cuz I wad supposed to be refrain from vigorous activities and certainly not running. I reckon I was doing ok and hence, went ahead nonetheless .. Without much training for the last two weeks!

It was jammed pack and I made it to the first wave ( cuz I wanted to start & end my misery ASAP!) think the long distance runs mainly attract male participants and I found myself stuck behind sweaty men! ;(




Oh mr Yam Ah Mee was there for the flag off too! Lol! But he did the 'parliamentary-announcement' for the flag off only for the later wave..

It was a uber slow start at the starting point due to the narrow path that resulted a bottleneck..

As I've not been conditioning the legs for the long haul, i was almost hoping that the 'judgement prophesy @ 6pm' would come to pass when I crossed the 13-14 km marker .. The route was different from last year and the route along Changi Coastal Rd seem to be never ending!

So I entertained myself with a quick snap in case I was rapture and went to my mansion before I finish the race




I had already started crawling at this stage and it's pretty amazing that I made it back to angsana green in one piece, limbs intact and blister free! ;)

But haha was 20min slower than previous year! Considering walking for perhaps 10-15% the distance and crawling at snail pace (guesstimate should be 8-9km/h), and cramping abs -it was the bloody time of the month!!, 3:06 seemed reasonable .. Better than a nil time rite!

Oh well hopefully the sundown this sat will be a much better experience ... At least, have running companion so haha someone to drag me back should I really collapse halfway !

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砂锅未破。。。

真的想打破砂锅问到底，网上所搜寻的有关答案令我更困恼。

或许智商简单些，不钻牛角尖，生活将简单许多。

耐心等待答案在适当时间揭晓，的确不易。

To qoute a smart saying: 'I want patience and I want it now.'

Perhaps it's not '丁面' I'm looking for, or is it? :)

Reading too much??

Received a text message in the afternoon ... Wasn't expecting it at all but then again I did lamented last evening regarding this (sorta). Hesitated, oh well, why not?

It went alright, kinda awkward during the empty pockets cuz not that familiar... In the short span of less than 2 hours, many storylines ran thru my head... I wonder if I am reading or thinking too much... Oh well...if so, will be continued.. ;)If not, who knows..:)

Art vs Gadget

Toyed with the idea of getting the IPad 2 (cuz got wind that it's in stock again) for a really long while... Yet the sight of bengs & uncles poking at the display pieces at the various apple resellers i went on Friday evening deterred me from getting one...

This acrylic painting caught my eye last evening ... :) got it autographed too! ;)

Art won over gadget! Sort of! Decided that iPad is just a good to have, cuz still love my pens n quirky stationery..n paperbacks! And so many peeps are using it! :(

Cuz decided to get 'air' instead of 'pro' cuz pro despite of its specs, is darn heavy!! But that would be somewhere later this year cuz no good promo at this juncture..

Poltical politics

10 years ago, I was residing in the block which fall into the highly contested Aljunied GRC. If I'm still there, the vote that I'd casted today will be one that was highly contested. Coincidentally, my childhood neighborhood - MP ,was another hot ward for contention..

Sad to learn of the results ... Over the twitter though not announced on TV yet...

Didn't manage to strike

The alternatives challenged - if you don't choose us, the best of the best alternatives are fielded, there will be no one to keep the ruling one in check. So they stragetically put all their eggs into this basket, yet not in another (such as Tampines), whereby another minister is there but not in the good books of a lot of men on street.. Perhaps winning there is not as sweet a victory than making their opponents lose a well-liked able minister. 贱招.

Sigh.. Politics are indeed political. Wonder if the overseas voters will make a difference to the aljunied result.

Sorry I'm superficial (not). I just don't like the term 工人. Sounds dated to me. And I don't wish to fall within the '工人'阶层.

On another note, Kate spade rules in MP! I was unpleasantly surprised at she who claimed to be inspired to make a difference by the conditions of the poor andneedy rejected the reporter request to translate her viewpoint made in English to mandarin cuz she couldn't ! Thought mandarin is an essential language to reach out to elderly?!

Anyway, ms Kate spade may be in trouble over the fb comment. Sigh... Or is she another victim that's heavily persecuted cuz to date, no cutie pie had dabbled in politics before her? On the basis that we shared the same alma mater,so Kate spades rules!

Polling Day!!

Voting is compulsory and your vote is secret.. Have you voted yet? ;)

Catch phrase from my friend ... 'vote wisely!'

the flawed manifesto

It's the last day of the various rallies to be held in view of the upcoming GE.  Friend was asking me if I had read the manifesto of "Caltex-Audi"(one of the political party vying for the votes of residents in my GRC ).  I had been reading on the excerpts of their rallies and my conclusion was – crappy.  Googled their manifesto .. and found it flawed, with my limited A-level economics knowledge (but I got an "A"!).  Or perhaps, if you take all things at face-value, they sounded plausible.

Back to the manifesto..

Extracted from their introduction…

"Singapore essentially comprised of Singaporeans. When we speak of the future it is the future of Singaporeans that is of primary concern to us – not the city state, not the infrastructure, and not the systems that make Singapore work. These are important but they exist to serve people, the citizens of Singapore and others who chose to live here or visit us. There is a very real danger that we are building Singapore as an entity, as a showcase of excellence, and forgetting that it is ordinary people that make up Singapore.  Does the average Singaporean care if Singapore wins international acclaim? Has he or she benefited from staging of major events here like the Youth Olympic Games? How has he or she been affected by the influx of foreigners?"

Then again, if you don't promote SG with excellent infrastructure, will the overseas MNC choose SG over say HK as its regional HQ? How can SG remains as an attractive location for foreign investments – which provides job opportunities for us, Singaporeans. Alright, I'm not an average Singaporean. I really appreciate the fact that Changi Airport won numerous accolades.  And I'm proud that SG Flyer is taller than the London Eye. (My opinion – Night View from SG Flyer is better than the London Eye . Love the CDB skyline.)

Back to manifesto. They identified five burning issues with their proposed initiatives. Nice touch. But then if you give some (casual) thought to them, some of the proposed initiatives no doubt will intensify the flame factor of the identified issues.

For example, it was cited "Cost of living is going up while wages of lower & middle income earners stagnate." One of the proposed initiative were: " tie-ups with neighborhood merchants for cost savings through collective bulk purchases of daily necessities."

Question – If you do bulk purchases of daily necessities – it may be cost savings to the residents – how about the neighbourhood merchants? This will strip their profit margins right?

The other initiative to solve this: "financial literacy programmes and consumer advisory services to educate, advise and assist with specific financial issues and problems." – So ambiguous.

And they advocate to " limit inflationary price increases in public services and taxes, GST in particular." – okay, GST reduced, then counter-measure will be increase say – corporate tax? Then companies decided to shift operations out of SG to cut cost – so existing workers face the possibility of being laid off.

 

Burning Issue (B ) – HDB Prices: Prices have skyrocketed and affordability is now a major problem.  It was proposed:-  'Rental leading to ownership' schemes for young couples and other Singaporeans not able to put down the deposit for purchase.   ~ What if they still can't afford to own the HDB flat eventually? Rental flat is still not an asset to your name!

 

Burning Issue (C) – "While worker wages stagnate ministers enjoy massive pay hikes.
Target to reduce Singapore's Gini Coefficient of 0.45 to 0.35 within 10 years, the latter figure being representative of most of the developed countries."

Their initiatives were : (a) Public sector and government-linked organizations (GLCs) to lead the way by substantially raising salary-scales for lower & middle income salaries; and (b) substantially raise pay of 'unattractive' jobs so that Singapore can reduce its dependence on foreign labour for these jobs.

Comment – Which job will you choose - $2,500 as a office administrator or $4,000 as a toilet cleaner/ construction worker. Faced it – the younger generation are pampered lot. How many are actually willing to clean toilet bowls, scrub the basins/ urinals? And do you think the private sector will emulate the salary structure of public sector?

 
Burning Issue (D) Job Security: Severely threatened by foreign influx of both workers and S-Pass holders.
One of the initiatives was "identify long-term unemployed Singaporeans and provide counseling, training and priority job placement."  Thought SG has one of the lowest unemployment rate in world? How many Singaporeans are actually unemployed due to ill-matched job skills – or are they too picky in terms of career choices?

 

Burning Issue (E) Medical Expenses

They unveiled their shadow health plan during a recent rally .

It was proposed to increase healthcare funding and " the funding will be drawn from the reserves and perhaps also taken from the "defence budget". The monies will be spent on building hospitals and increasing hospital beds."

However, it will take time before hospitals can be built and more wards are created. So in the interim, ... proposes to use the void decks in HDB flats as allocated healthcare facilities. Dr Gomez said that was an interim measure while Singaporeans "wait for the hardware".

Dr Gomez said to alleviate stress levels of healthcare professionals,  .... will increase the number of doctors, nurses, and physiotherapists. He said they will also increase the number of public health care administrators."

As far as I can remember, during the recent few visits to hospital to visit friends' new born, at least 20-30% of the nurses were non-local, particularly Filipino. So, with SDP's new plan, does it mean – more foreign talents need to be recruited? Then it will further intensify the existing pressing problems highlighted in their manifesto – job security that is severely threatened by influx of non-SG workers.

That said, I not exactly perfectly pleased with the current situation in my neighbourhood. I'm darned unhappy with the new block that's being erected up next to the empty plot to mine (and will voting for the Caltex-audi halt the construction process or get it demolished? NO.) I dislike the NOSIY PRCs that make their presence felt even in the wee hours of the night when they walked passed my unit. I'm not pleased with the inconsiderate disposal of unwanted furniture that seemed to increase recently – but think that has to do with the civic-mindedness of the residents (but can Caltex-audi change that? I doubt so). I dislike the loitering youths in my void deck area – likely a spillover from the entertainment hub/chalets nearby.

Then again, weigh the above grievances and the proposed initiatives to address the identified "pressing issues", it is not too difficult to decide which box to cross come this Saturday.

Lower GST, online wet market, satay club !?

One of the debatable issues in GE - reduction of GST. Matter of fact, the rate of tax of Singapore's value-added tax (VAT) otherwise known as Goods & Services Tax (GST) is among one of those lowest in the world at flat rate of 7% , should a supply of goods / services be triggered in Singapore. Note: not every single service provider charges GST, but only the traders who register themselves with IRAS can levy the 7% on the value of goods services provided. And SG has a relatively low income tax rate for individual & corporate bodies ( low to the extent that we're considered by some nations as 'tax haven' at some point in time.

Read that the opposition party contesting for my vote had called for lower GST - and to review the 'simplictic GST' structure.. Uhm, easier said than done .. Wa.. If it's as easy as what Mr Lim has proposed - maybe to the man on street - low or no tax is good news .

Taxes - direct & indirect provide source of revenue for a country. Question - if indirect tax is reduced, by what measure will the government maintain/ sustain its revenue? Increase direct tax - lower rate of GST may lead to increase in income tax rate... Won't that be worse? Also changes in rate of tax will bring about another set of business costs - changes to the invoicing/ ticketing system to track the different rates to be applied to different category of goods; educating the staff on the tax treatment of different category of goods and services.. Risk of wrong treatment - penalty from Iras. Trust me, GST, in the eyes of Mr Lim may be'simplistic' but if that's really the case, quite a number of people here in SG doing GST advisory work will be out of job ( yours truly included). i can imagine the extra work (and potential errors) should our GST system emulate that of UK - in which SG's GST was modelled under. But then again, my market value will increase .. (and so will my workload!)

Also higher corporate tax means higher business cost, which affects SG's attractiveness to investors.. If the corporations decided to pull out, won't that affect our jobs? Also, we have to pay more tax!!! ;(


Compared to the VAT rate in european countries, Japan or Australia, 7% ain't that high! Even malaysia's GST is 10%! VAT rates per wikipedia

sigh.. What other promises that the Caltex-audi is offering? I don't need a 'online wet market' or satay club, which Mr Desmond lim promised to Punggol East, Mr Sydney indicated that the Punggol East plan will be replicated here too.. huh!!?
Online 'wet' market? I can poke at the gills of the fish thru my pc's screen to ascertain freshness? Ooh the MP elected will be my personal grocery shopper! But then again, won't such 'fresh produce spree' jeopardize the hawkers' business n thereby reducing their income and hence add to the income disparity?

Tsk tsk tsk...

Oh, it was mentioned that in my GRC, the sercurity is very lax ... But I feel safe & my lil act of crossing the road at inappropriate timing of the traffic light can get picked up shows that the TP is working rite? Oo and I often see the patrol car roaming in pasir Ris park during my evening weekend runs to check on the crowd. Please don't depict my neighbourhood as a gangster paradise . ;(

I like xx's post on GE. Despite her colorful language, it certainly resonate my irritation with the "pressing issues" brought up by the opposition as well as the disgruntled people . Sweet!

Nothing political

Last month, while I was in Naples, my buttery hands didn't manage to hold on to my iPhone while I was snapping away the evening costal view whereby the phone, encasted in the pink 'whatever it takes' plastic casing bought barely a month ago, and the phone nose-dived onto the hard tar ground..

The casing covered the phone partially, exposing the top & bottom portion.. But thankfully, the glass screen didn't shattered and the fall left a 1 cm long jagged edge on the glass screen near to the on/off button..

Henceforth, upon return to Geneva the following day, I headed to the apple shop - original intent was to get the iPad 2 but was out of stock & a protective cover that will clad my phone from 'head to toe'.

Contemplated in getting the same white silicon piece - the phone's first protective gear - but think it's silly to pay that amount for an identical cover - ( was either . So chose the polka dotty one instead.. Hot pink on the side with polka dotty back.. And it's a designer brand too.. ;) and it protects front / back / top / bottom.

But it has proven to be controversial to use it.. Cuz of ms tin's infamous picture.. Indicative of the vote to be casted on Sat? Hmmmm... ;)