Redneck central

I totally understand how the good residents of Gardens feel about the prospect of having a thousand foreign workers suddenly settling into their neighbourhood. There are too many dichotomies to resolve before we can expect a harmonious coexistence.

"Foreign" in the sense that the workers hail from another country is only a surface issue. What's more scary about the situation is that Gardens, a peaceful, sleepy, family-based neighbourhood now has to deal with a new tribe of settlers that are anything but traditional Gardens residents -- alien in so many ways. The biggest problem is that all the 1000 potential new neighbours are young males who have absolutely no testosterone curbs at all in the form of wives, or at least long-term girlfriends, and the biggest testosterone damper of all, children.

This is a legitimate fear as the families of Gardens have more prosperity than ba**s while the reverse is true of their new neighbours.

To expand this argument, our tiny nation faces the exact same problem when we relocated to this region. All around us are young, disenfranchised males living in our neighbouring countries, while we are the only bright spot, dripping (at least in their eyes) with cash and playing virgin princess to all of ASEAN. That, for some reason, is something we haven't learned to fear. Or perhaps we haven't opened our eyes yet to the precarious position we're in?

This must be true of the commenters in the ST discussion board regarding an FT's letter asking for better treatment. Despite what they claim, their display is certainly not exemplary of S'porean solidarity. It's bullying, plain and simple.

I'm amazed at the depth of vitriol these people harbour and are willing to let fly at the slightest provocation. Excuse me, but when we made the choice to go cosmopolitan and open our doors to the world, it was irreversible. The world you guys are hankering for, the sleepy village with the slower pace of life, mama cooking kampong chicken for dinner while you work an honest day's wage in the padi fields is gone. We didn't have to entertain strangers then, because we had nothing to attract them here.

But now, everything's different. We wanted to be the gateway to the world, and so the world is here. And what shall we do with our invited guests? Shall we wring them dry of their hopes and dreams, and whatever little they have in their wallets and send them back from whence they came -- which is really what you are proposing -- or shall we treat them with the hospitality that we promised, and help them fulfil their dreams like we fulfilled ours a generation or so ago? And what stories of us do you want them to take back home? That we are honourable friends and solid neighbours, or that we are a bunch of gangsters who know not in whose turf we have set ourselves up?

Look, all the girl wants is to be treated fairly. Stop behaving like there isn't enough to go around because there is. Goodness... if ever there was a redneck central in the S'pore...!

Youth Entrepreneurship Conference 2008

Spent the day at RP, participating in the Youth Entrepreneurship Conference. First, I have to say that if I were 16 years old today, I'd pick a poly over a JC anytime. Sounds like heresy, but at least based on first impressions, the difference between the two institutions is quite stark.

I suppose there are reasons why there should be such a gap. The poly is a direct route to working life, whereas the JC is only a stepping stone to a uni campus so a JC can afford to provide two extra years of childhood for its students before they proceed to the next level of... not work but further study.

No uniforms, just a dress code. Poly students express themselves by the products they purchase directly from the market. Whether it's hoodies, funky Ts, trendy jeans, or whatever else, they dress like how people of their age are supposed to look like. That puts them directly into the real world 'cos they are making their own choices as to how they wish to fit in. Every poly student is an individual. There's a confidence about them, and they carry themselves with dignity that comes from the knowledge of having attained a measure of adulthood.

That's so unlike our JC kids who continue to wear a uniform that they've been wearing since kindergarten, made to stand in rows, and there's always some adult who's directly responsible for their work, discipline and well-being. So wide is the gap between them and the world. 16-18 are formative years for a young adult, and I'm worried the JC approach may be teaching them to simply conform to external norms and pressures, rather than guiding them to find themselves and create the niche that they will occupy in society in time to come.

Kids who go to JC are supposed to be the cream of their crop. They deserve better.

The Conference made me rethink the model for our future economy that I've been envisioning in the last couple of entries. My initial concept had a serious flaw: it was inherently selfish, overly competitive, and ultimately unsustainable.

There also has to be a measure of social responsibility -- people doing things to benefit people. Catering to just the better-off will only enrich the already-rich, while everyone else continues to be exploited. That's about the kind of economic model the Roman Empire had just before it fell. Let's not go there. I missed a step so let's backtrack a bit.

For the first time, I paid attention to what Elim said about channeling profits back into the community through Social Enterpreneurship. That's not just a cynical PR exercise by big business, they really do look at methods to pick the downtrodden up by their bootstraps and put them on an even footing as the rest of society. It's not just the segment that have traditionally been lacking in cultural capital, but also the disabled ("disability is only a matter of context"), the psychologically afflicted, and the elderly poor that can benefit from Social Entrepreneurship initiatives. Basically we help them discover what they are good at, and what they like to do, put a value on it and help them find a market that will pay for it. Again, customization is the key. Now, that's a sustainable business.

So a major correction in my economic theory. How our country will survive is by creating opportunities that will raise the competitiveness of the traditionally non-competitive -- that's a huge market indeed, especially in our immediate region -- so that the overall wealth of the region increases and everyone will have the means to obtain whatever they need or want, and there'll always be someone who can anticipate and supply the demand. And, you know what, that's a much more wholesome enterprise to get into.

And on a separate note, M2 has come home at last! In biological terms, it seems he had the equivalent of a bad sprain, and thankfully nothing worse. He had his dents beaten out and resprayed, tires rebalanced, wheels and steering realigned, and he's running again. Now I'll just have to deal with the insurance company. >.<

Ubin... almost

So much for our plans to cycle at Ubin. Our fears of rain washed out the strongest of resolves, and so for the second time in a row, Ubin got taken off our holiday schedule.

Dinner went on as usual, though -- even without paying the penance of sweat, huffing up and down the slopes on bicycles beforehand. Nothing comes between us and our steaming dishes of black pepper and chilli crab, cereal prawns and steamed fish. That plus a couple of other side dishes and a large bowl of potent tom yam soup. Nine around the table: Amy, Mo-jo, B-lo, Ton_y, Mel, June, me, Wayne, NBS.

Changi Village may have been a bit far, but our meal at Qi Feng was good value for money. $25 a head, and the black pepper crab was one of the juciest I've had, ever.

Total commute time: 3 hours. Honestly, if we're aiming to wean our people off their cars and take public transport everywhere, we've got to get used to a much slower pace of life. Can you say, "shaka shaka, no wiki wiki"? That's what it's probably going to boil down to.

Domesticating the male: Tip 47

I'm sure there's a biblical verse that supports this truism. Husbands 4:13, or somesuch.

Whiny haiku of an unrepentant driver

Time taken to campus by car: 20 minutes
Time by public bus: 1 hour 5 minutes (including transit time)

Haiku follows:
I don't want to commute, I want to live.
Friend, M2, please get well soon!

I now await some smart alec's comment that I CAN read a book while I'm on the bus. Or provide some other equally astute tree-hugging advice.

Speakers Corner is now open

Speaker's Corner is now open for outdoor demonstrations! Our first legal demonstration lasted a whopping 10 minutes! With no overturned cars and burning effigies! Well, it's a start.

All we've ever heard about since before the lifting of the ban is how quickly and easily protests degenerate out of hand, resulting in injury and arrests for people, damage and destruction to property... like the madness in Thailand in the last couple of days.

So, how are we going to create a peaceful demonstration that can make people sit up and take notice? If nothing else, we S'poreans understand (believe it or not) the power of tongue-in-cheek humour in making our displeasure palpable to the powers-that-be. Case in point: the Buangkok "white elephant" incident. It's because of the previous ban that we've become so clever at demonstrations aimed at the brain and the heart, rather than the fist and random throwing objects.

Think when I have time again, I'll ask the kids to consider what issues they'd want to protest, and maybe get them to design the form their protest is likely to take. It's their world that's opening up to them, and I am curious as to how they see it. Or perhaps they are too contented to raise any protests at all? I wonder.

Grounded

Poor M2 has gone through a lot with me, but this latest mishap is by far the worst. The impact bent in my right front wheel which took the brunt, and the steering has gone out of alignment as a result.

I felt very sorry for him as he stood by the roadside, hazard lights blinking, and as he sat at the IDAC impound awaiting attention. What he must be thinking about his hopeless owner who seems to be treating him like a bumper car!

He'll be one battle-scarred veteran of the Highway Wars once he gets out of the shop. Yes, he's finally getting treatment today after a day and a half of administrative ping-pong.

Apparently, my insurance coverage does not entitle me to a temporary set of replacement wheels, so for the next week or so I'll be reorienting myself with public transport. So far it's been expensive. Cab rides cost a lot these days, while the bus-MRT connections mean allowing for more lead time to get to where I'm going.

Still, I'm thinking I'm lucky that neither of us was going at speed when we collided. If we had, I probably wouldn't be around to keep posting entries. Glass half full view.

Ideas, passion and the new economy

Check out this ST report entitled "Passion comes first for Gen Y". That's what I meant about our new economy thriving on new ideas that appeal to those who are willing to pay for them (see entry of 26/8/08). Notice that not all the ideas are particularly "innovative" as such, but they do address the needs of people -- vendors and clientele -- who want more out of life than just the daily grind.

These enterprises tend to be rather project-based: short-term, flexible, mobile, and promises some development potential, though few are likely to ever grow into empires. The preparation for such a dynamic economy begins now for our kids. Wonder if the experience of PW is sufficient?

M2 in the shop

This is just a journal entry to record that M2 had to go into the shop today. All I will say about the matter is that M2 is limping quite badly though fortunately, there were no human injuries. Beyond that, I'm too upset to discuss it further. :(

Wall-E, survivor generalist

Recalling a tutorial I had a couple of days ago with x17. They don't much like the emphasis the industry is putting on their all-roundedness. It's too much pressure, they say, meeting their expectations in academics, plus other areas like sports, community involvement, leadership initiative, and the million and forty-seven other items they have to juggle per 24-hour cycle. If only they could specialize, they say, then they'd become the best athletes, or artists, or scientists, or whatever [and then we wouldn't have to import FT to help us win silver medals... mutter... grumble...].

Silly children. Knowledge is an interconnected web of the same basic ideas chain-linking in a myriad different combinations. Areas of specialism arise from certain configurations of knowledge that don't exist in isolation of one another. An athlete trains his muscles, but to succeed he must also be able to coordinate his muscles in concert to deal with the ever-changing competitive environment he will constantly be tested in. That movement is at the same time aesthetic, scientific and mathematical; and when we consider teamwork and crowd support there's an element of the social as well. Likewise, any other area of specialism might emphasise a particular type of knowledge, but all other areas will also come into play at some point or another.

Our mistake was to draw the boundaries between the different "knowledges" so squarely that studying five subjects now takes five hours because each one has to be studied separately from the others. Sadly, that's the strategy firmly subscribed to by most parents and educators, and so it becomes the strategy that most kids are harnessed to too. I believe the top students are the few who know how to use only one hour to study five subjects, then they have the time to excel at all the other stuff outside of curriculum time as well.

I bring this up because I watched Wall-E today. How does a little trash-compactor robot become the last survivor on the planet? It isn't that he abandons his programming -- his specialism, if you will -- in fact, his "directive" the only reason that gives him the drive to keep on going when all his fellow Wall-Es have finally succumbed to the elements and now rust by the wayside.

What makes Wall-E a survivor is that he has learned how to learn. While he is a highly competent trash-compactor, he's also become accomplished in repair and maintenance tasks, and has developed a sense of the aesthetic, hence his attempts at interior decoration. He's constantly assessing the utility or beauty of the odd things that he finds in the garbage, bringing them home with him when they pass muster. He doesn't always get things "right", but perhaps his learning is mainly facilitated by the fact that that there isn't any around to tell him that he's "wrong" either.

It's a little disturbing to see him cannibalizing his inert fellows for spare parts, but he can't be faulted. They're not going to need their parts any more, anyway. After all, they never learned anything more than their programming and so they lived and died doing the one thing they were meant to do: compact trash. And that's the way many people live their lives today too.

Trust me, the above is no spoiler for the movie. That's merely the preamble, which we should sort of have already grasped from the trailers. So you can still go watch what's probably the cutest (without being saccharine-sweet) movie of the year.

Teachers' Day 08

Edit 01:
The gift left in my pigeonhole was from NYeDC. I missed seeing them too. Thanks actors and crew!

---

Teachers' Day is an opportunity for staff to receive some affirmation for what we've been doing with our kids through the year. I'm especially appreciative of the short notes, like from YY, and even the offline Twitters collated into greeting card form that may or may not come with attached knicknacks or snacks. Which is why I may have committed a little social faux pas by not being personally available to receive x23's pretty hand-made card and gift that I discovered in my pigeonhole later.

So where was I? Thinking the festivities on campus were over, I headed off home to rest for a couple of reasons. I was tired out after the week's exertions and the dinner the night before. I had to gather my wits so that I could return to campus that afternoon and have a difficult consultation session regarding an essay topic I had very little knowledge about.

And, I had to stock up as much sleep as possible because at 0400, I and June were at the airport with Amy, B-lo, Mel, and Sha: HP's immediate posse which attempted to give her surprise #2 by seeing her off at her point of embarkation. Turned out we were surprised that she was ready for us with her own hand-written notes of affirmation to us when we arrived. Seems she was tipped off by Jxxh's slip of tongue at some point.

So anyway, my thanks to everyone for their words, thoughts and well-wishes this Teachers' Day. :)

'Live' at the Park Royal

At the risk of being killed by Mel and Bernard, I caught their performance last night on video and posted it online to share. The vid starts out quite shaky 'cos their item started before I could get to a good vantage point, but the shakes and sound quality do get better somewhat once we're past the introductions.

Presenting Mel & Bernard unplugged with the songs, "Rainbow Connection" and "What's Up"! Take it away, Mel!

Table behind the pillar

We're having our annual combined dinner with our feeder schools. It's an opportunity let our hair down a bit and generally behave in ways we don't often show our kids. Must set good example, you know?

Anyway, this year's theme is "Retro-F1", so of course Sha dressed for the occasion in this stunning gold jumpsuit. Won't she be the cause of several nosebleeds on the grid?

Sha's outfit would probably take the award for being most relevant to the theme, but Wayne's should take the award for being most last-minute creative. He wore a red polo to which he adhered the labels of well-known F1 sponsors, making him look like, I dunno, pit crew or something.

Yay! The most happenin' table in the entire ballroom. With Mel, our resident lounge singer and Wayne, the purveyor of contraband liquid refreshment which he kept hidden under the drapery, our table was noisy and ridiculous.

That we were positioned behind a large pillar that completely obscured us from the stage and the VIPs added to the merriment. And there was much to make merry about. The MC, for one, did not connect with us well. He used the wrong language for the occasion, and the entertainment he brought with him put Amy's eyeballs in danger of rolling out of her head. The little getai girl singer with the bare midriff and butterfly tattoo on her waist was more uh, eye popping, though. She could sing, too.

And speaking of singing, Mel and Bernard had a whale of a time, belting out two numbers as the College's contribution to the evening's entertainment. Singing along to Mel's unplugged rendition of "Rainbow Connection" and "What's Up" and being her raucous, adoring groupies confirmed that hiding us behind that huge pillar for most of the night was probably the right thing to do.

Fallow field

It's over. NBS and I have had our last class as joint instructors pioneering what was "the new subject" from two years ago. I'm not absolutely sure about the reasons for discontinuing the course apart from the fact that NBS is moving on at the end of the year, and I haven't the confidence to take the whole job on alone. The classes I've had have been stimulating and we've had many fun discussions, so it's disappointing that it's come to an end. But perhaps it's the best move for me too, 'cos I've felt diffused with too many different subjects to plan for and I need to refocus myself.

As for the new subject, it'll lie fallow for now. A cultivated field needs to replace its nutrients after a couple of harvests. I'll be looking for a new farm hand in the meantime.

Cross my palm with silver...

Had a consultation with ZH who is thinking about taking philo at the uni. He was wondering what philo majors ate after they graduate. At first glance, philo doesn't appear to be a practical subject that lends itself to too many job openings for work that actually pays money. I told him to clear his JC hurdle with the best grades he can get for all his current subjects first, then if he still wants philo at the uni, go for it. Simple cause-effect: flunk 'A' levels, no uni. No uni, no philo. A nicer tutor might have given him the glass-half-full view instead. Whatever.

As I continued to discuss The Future with him, my crystal ball predictions for the job market and the economy overall looked something like the following:

In our region, it's clear that there's no way we can compete along the industrial manufacturing line any longer. Even in high-tech manufacturing, we're going to be hard-pressed. Anything we can make, our neighbours can make cheaper. They have the materials, lots of hungry human resources, and the desire to match us in economic success and prosperity. They are already moving into their own industrial age and they'll easily edge us out of the game if we're not paying attention.

Fortunately, we are. We know our neighbours are aiming for self-sufficient bread-and-butter issues, and so we have to move on to a new niche -- the "knowledge-based economy". In other words, we're in the business of selling ideas. Hence, our job market will need thinkers and creatives, and probably creative thinkers plus those who can manage and channel the right brain-power to the areas that need them the most.

We'll be developing in areas like education, the arts, entertainment, industries that can produce unique -- and therefore valuable -- objects and/or experiences. We'll also be brokers for thoughts and ideas, perhaps in technology transfers or political-social-ethical theory, like Athens might have been to the ancient Greeks. ZH, philo may not be such a bad choice after all.

For us, mass production has taken us as far as it can go. Our clientele can no longer be the mass market because our industry can never expand large enough to supply the demand from a growing mass of newly affluent peoples from our neighbouring countries, not to mention India and China. They can more than adequately mass manufacture for their own people anyway, so they don't need us for that. Where they are becoming competent in providing the necessities of life for their people, we will be providing quality of life.

We have to target a clientele further up the value chain from the ordinary masses. Customization is the way to go, ideas and designs that distinguish the better off from the riff raff. We're talking about smaller value-added industries creating [whatevers] in exclusive quantities that a higher class of people are willing to pay a premium for.

It's the only strategy that'll help tiny us survive in a world that is slowly but surely growing overwhelmingly humongous day by day. We will survive by creating, then making peoples' dreams come true. While the world learns how to live longer and better through their increasing capabilities, we'll survive by giving the people something to live for.

The reality is, our competitive arena is never going to be a level playing field for us. We are too small, too weak, and too helpless to compete head-to-head with any of our neighbours. So we have to ask ourselves what game we are playing so as to take our best advantage. I propose that we are at the dog races. All the thoroughbred greyhounds lined up, whichever crosses the finish line wins.

However, in this game, we're not any of the greyhounds. If we were, out of the starting gate, they'll eat us for breakfast. No. We're the hare -- a tiny, defenceless, fuzzy thing mounted on a track that the dogs chase in order to motivate them to run faster. The hare represents to the dogs the possibilities that could be, and is always moving faster than the pack. It cannot afford to be caught because it will be torn to shreds, but that also means that the race is over and everybody loses.

In case you haven't noticed, life here is already like that. If our future progresses along rational lines, our future promises to be quite exciting. It's up to us to convince ourselves that in the next 10, 15, 20 years, this is the place to be and make it happen.

Film Fest 08

Stayed late on campus to support Sha's film fest. Basically, it's the official launch of her kids' self-shot, self-edited movie. Won't say too much about the movie itself 'cos considering the kids put it together without much experience and advice, it wasn't too bad a job. Yes, there were the usual jump cuts, odd camera placement, continuity gaffes, occasional gaps in the plot and a couple of the perennial voice-over blackouts (they never learn year after year); at least the storyline was generally coherent, and the talent took personal risks playing in uncomfortable situations and the performances, though cliched, were mostly believable.

But the film fest was also an excuse for a handful of us to take some time off work and have some great laughs over dinner and a quick supper at the AMK garden McD's (free parking for the first hour!) where we analyzed Sha's movie to shreds in her presence. HP, though officially no longer fellow staff continues to spend her last few days here with us before her departure towards the West and the Grand Adventure that awaits her. B-lo and Wayne rounded up our little group tonight.

Bolt or blot?

Usain Bolt wants to have fun. Bolt runs for a living, and as of the now-concluded Beijing Olympics, he's the fastest man in the world.

To be able to accomplish a feat no other human being has been able to makes his exuberant claim to be "number one" a statement of fact, though he may have made a bit too much of a meal of it on international television. As fellow human beings, we can take some pride in the physical proof that our frail design has broken yet another seemingly impossible limitation; but to see Bolt's index-finger waving in-your-face celebration on a 50+" LCD HDTV must have pushed IOC Pres, Jacques Rogge's I-so-want-to-smack-his-face button.

Rogge's job is to keep the good image of the Olympics. Scenes like Michael Phelps celebrating with family and loved ones after yet another record-breaking achievement are heart-warming and represent the spirit of sportsmanship that the Games upholds. That makes for nice family entertainment, and Rogge isn't about let his beloved Olympics degenerate into a quad-annual WWE-fest any time soon.

Though Bolt got his smack, he still remains unrepentant. To him, that display was just about him being himself, having fun, enjoying a great day at the office and entertaining the crowds the way they want to be entertained. And it was great for the ratings too! So what's the old man's problem?

Two guys on opposite ends of a tug-of-war rope. Traditional idealist vs Media-savvy punk. But if Phelps, a guy with more reason to be proud of himself, can behave himself in front of the international media, Bolt's excesses put a blot on his achievement. Grow up, boy!

Shopping spree

Put out another wad of cash for fixtures and fittings for our new place. Sinks, taps, crappers, showers, and a water heater for our two bathrooms, and a hob and hood set for the kitchen.

Seems we got a good deal from this lobang of Tong's. We got varying discounts on each item, depending on the branding, and a small overall discount if we paid cash outright.

It was funny to see all of us us emptying our wallets and counting all the cash we had brought with us to qualify for that last discount. May helped out a lot with her own cash in hand while the store accepted the balance via NETS payment.

So, slowly, painfully, our new premises are coming together.

Farewell, HP!

Full shots viewable here: HP’s Farewell

We played a dreadful trick on HP. We arranged to throw her a going-away dinner at Josh's place, then at the last minute this afternoon, a significant number of us either called, SMS'ed or personally conveyed our apologies for not being able to attend due to some pretext or other. It was a little heartbreaking to make her feel so disappointed, but there was no other way to pull off the surprise we planned for her.

So when we seemingly popped out of nowhere while Josh was giving her the grand tour of his house we gave her quite a shock, and she couldn't stop laughing for a while.

While we ate, we watched Li crash out of the Olympics third place match in table-tennis. Almost a repeat performance from Athens, last time around. The Chinese are just too good.

And, as efficient as I knew them to be, Amy & Co pulled out a cake with a candle on it for me. It was a rich chocolate/white chocolate confection from Bengawan Solo. I'd already blown out a candle at M-i-L's last night, but I guessed my pals opted for surprising me today 'cos there really wasn't any time to do it yesterday. Thanks ppl!

Now, back to HP: anyone fancy an early morning drive to the airport?

Bloodsuckers Top 10

more graph humor and song chart memes

Consider today's ST report on the S'pore's Top Ten absconders of other people's moolah. Out of ten, SIX represent the legal profession. You draw your own conclusions.