Little Red Dot Press - Pork Ribs no more 15 July 2006

A visit to Punggol yielded much joy. Pork Ribs or more affectionately known as 排骨仔 has grown and put on weight since he was fostered at Punggol.

A slight history of 排骨仔:
A stray orange tabby came slithering to where I was sitting in the kopi-tiam, waiting for my dinner one evening.

Being the cat lover, I ordered some food for him but he merely sniffed.
This fella was all but bones when I stroked him and his eyes suffering from conjuctivites.

I arranged with Vincent, the pet-taxi driver, to pick up the next day.
He was sent to vet and diagnosed suffering from feline immunodeficiency virus, the feline strain of the human HIV.

After discharge he was sent to Punggol under the care of a foster mum and living there since.

Recent complains - gangsterism streak in this 'son' of mine. Theortically he should be my adopted 'grandpa' for he is 10 human years old, roughly around 70 cat years.

Two other felines, Shadow and Kelly are under his protection from another bully, I-Mo who happens to 'beat up' Shadow and Kelly. Aha! I-mo have met her match with my little furry kid.

So much for my kiddo...

Little Red Dot Press - A millionaire dream 12 July 2006

A recent documentary on the application of Sun Tzu Art of War in modern society was screened on the local television channel.

The interviewee - Adam Khoo
A millionaire by the age of 26

Once he was a failure in school but soon he made his mark and achieved his million. A full time consultant giving pep talks and making money out of it, he commented in local media papers, that he was looking forward to his next million.

A faint glint of smile rose from the corner of my mouth. There was no fireworks or sarcarsm, nothing but the smirk on my face.

Under Stephen Covey, author of the well-known book 'Seven habits of highly effectively people'
categorised such behaviour as money-centred personality.

Reminds me of a Zen antecode - to keep it short, please excuse the grammer involved.

Rich man saw fisherman resting.
ask him, how long to catch a load of fish
fisherman replied.
rich man asked why he dont catch more
fisherman asked why must he catch more.
rich man went on to explain...
more fish, more money, can buy more boat, then a fleet, then a company, then list on stock exchange, then retire early then can sing song, drink beer with friends
fisherman said, am i not doing these things now

Taking cue from the antecode above, I have seen how the rich lived in SG. a Venture-capitalist whose family I waited upon during a CNY moonlighting job I took up years ago.
He owns a total of 13 vehicles. Yes indeed, 13! From THE Porsche 911 to the flaming Ferrari 512, Ferrari F40, Volvo, BMW, Rolls Royce, Harley Davidson and even a sleek Lambogini

The house was a all-in-one establishment, sauna, jacuzzi, pool room, games room, movie room, drinks bar, gym and hmm, I must have missed out much more.

The monthly electrical bills as reported by my section head captain was a cool $4,000 *whistles* Not too bad for a VC to live his life.

Of course, this is mere PEANUTS... what is $4,000 compared to a millionaire who have no qualms blowing off a couple of quarter millions on the luxury sports cars.

I do not suffer from rich-envy... instead I long for the freedom of the grasslands, the cool mist of forest forming upon the lake early in the morning. Life, can be simple and yet fufilling.

The nostagic days of me bumming on a crowded dusty bus on a even more dusty road towards the edge of the Thai-Myanmar border, makes me yearn even more for such days of simple bliss.

Life, is more than the pursuit of money, or the accumulation of figures increasing in size inside the bank accounts.

Little Red Dot Press - The Language Dilemma

Speak Good English... Speak Mandarin, it's cool...

I pondered over the ironic campaigns among the many mindless ones that sprung up over the years..

So, what am I to speak now? Jiang Hua Yu or speak English?

Thankfully I have already gone through the routine of sitting in classrooms, my only classroom is the world that we humans live in.

What contradicting messages that the two campaign has against each other in general.
Of course THEY can say whatever they want in defence. But the more they try to explain only make it seem SO lame.

Someone commented that China is booming and hence learn Chinese well, when speaking to the younger generation.

It was a good approach, but sad to say... the methodology used is SO crude.

To the young students who are more interested who will be the next Singapore Idol or whichever is the existing one, would they take any heed over such authoritian advice?

To use the metaphor - Rice can be cooked in many ways - likewise, the approach to cultivate the nature in the younger generation could be done in a more subtle way.

It is high time that Someone wake up his idea.