National Day

Ok. For those worried that I'd ended up at Whitley "Holiday Resort" enjoying the "Ice cube Spa package," fret not. I was just relaxing over the National Day holiday. Taking a break over the hustle and bustle of life, that kind of deal.

Birthdays area time for reflection, and I think this is a good time for some soul searching. So once again we had a successful dog and pony show, with fireworks and overworked students and National Slaves. Oh, and we should not forget the gullible masses. For 364 days of the year, they b%#&h and moan about their lives and how it sucks, but come one August day and suddenly everyone loves the country. Seriously, you can love your country and still say bad things about it and its government. Furthermore these celebrations are a waste of time and money. Students and soldiers have better things to do (at least the students). The Americans usually just have fireworks, not much else. I understand that we're a young nation and still unsure of our national identity and place in the world, but I think at 39, we don't really need a huge party with clowns (a.k.a SAF top brass), magicians and a huge birthday cake. I mean my 24th is coming up and all I'm doing is a BBQ with 7 friends. Not much else. So why can't we move from the bread and circuses model, to something more simple to reflect our maturity and out self-confidence?

Talking about National Day... There's always the National Day awards, and Jack Neo won the Public Service Medal. Make a few inoffensive films and suddenly you're deemed to have done commendable public service. C'mon! Seriously. I didn't even get Home Run. How is it a metaphor for Singapore and Malaysia? Besides references to "we're all from the same kampung," I really don't see the connection. Of course his other movies try to reflect the Singaporean side of life, but seriously he's too preachy and there's always a happy ending, unlike the Singaporean side of life. A rose by any other name... Can you all say propaganda, children? I think I should make some agitprop (without the agit) movies and get myself a PSM.

Metasis made a good national day post, and I think he shares many ideas with the rest of us. I know too many people who are whiners and complain about how Singapore sucks. I seriously have a thing with those people (some of my friends included). They always seem to think the grass is greener on the other side. I don't think so. People always ask me if Singapore or the USA is better, and I always like the say the grass is equally green on both sides. We win some, we lose some. I have nothing against "quitters," since it does help rid us of whiners. I do have something against whiners though. To quote Arnie in Kindergarten Cop: "Stop Whining!" Seriously. STOP WHINING!

If you have a problem, try to fix it. Don't keep crying about it. I think Singapore is a good place to live in, not the best, but good enough. I don't know where I'll end up working, since I might not be able to find a job here in Singapore (one of those things, where I'm more highly prized and paid elsewhere). Things definitely need to change, and if I am home, or if I am needed back here, I'm more than happy to try and fix things.

Enough of whiner bashing. Moving on to other interesting news. I think we should be glad that our government didn't hit on this brilliant idea of taxation. It'll be like the tobacco tax, since most of us are hooked on SMS.

So it's 10.30am Singapore time. Which means the Dragon Prince has been summoned to the Istana, and has been "invited" (nice way to put it) to form the new government. Yay! (Not!) Well Old man Goh has gone up the mountain to join Old man Lee. I wonder if after 14 years of Young Man Lee, will Singaporeans still cheer like they did yesterday? Or will the cheering be because it's finally over? We can only wait and see...

By the way, this was not reported in local presses, because of official policy. But the Nation'04 is not the first, since they've been doing this for a while now. Hopefully in time, people will come to accept homosexuality (I'm still against encouraging the lifestyle, but I think GLBTs should be treated as equal fellow human beings).

It seems researchers have made a link between mentally demanding jobs and Alzheimers'. Before you go thinking that you should do less thinking work, it turns out that scientists have made the tentative link that if you're in a mentally demanding job, you're chances of getting the disease are much lower. So that would explain why professors don't usually get Alzheimers'.

More war of words over China and Taiwan. I think this might lead to war in less than 10 years. Which means more unstable times for Southeast Asia and our little island home. All because of some p#$&ks in Taiwan refuse to read the writing on the wall.

Well that's it for this long weekend special. Catch all of you soon.