my ajumma notes

There was an article in the ST last week about how some Pakistani MPs legally evaded paying taxes. The simple method they use is registering their assets under their relatives' names. As a result of this, legally: L More than 80 MPs do not own houses. L About 100 MPs do not own cars. (These 2 groups include several ministers) L Two former PMs also have no cars. L One minister owns a tractor but not a car. L Two MPs, in fact, have NO assets to speak of. L One has only 2 beds, 2 tables and 6 chairs. Ha ha, the lengths to which people will go. I'm not sure how the relatives cope with the taxes, though. On the French Open front, too bad Safin and Roddick are out, Safin still sporting that awful hairdo. (pic from French Open website ) Anyway, I was wrong about the Chinese ladies. Not all got through round 1. Maybe 3 of them -- good enough. But Akiko Morigami beat 3rd seed Nadia Petrova and is in to the second round! In her post-match interview, Akiko gamely said something l...

Now that the French Open has opened, I have decided to try very hard to stop myself from recording quotes from people with the habit of praising themselves and people who cannot bring themselves to say something positive about their opponents. Instead, I will try very hard to just stick to positive stuff. So, Nadal won his first round match and has surpassed Vilas' 53-match clay court winning streak. Of this, he said: 'It is very difficult. Very, very difficult. A lot of tournaments, a lot of matches. It is not normal because one day you can have bad luck, anything. I am very happy for that.' Nadal and Vilas, pic taken from Nadal's website Marat Safin is back in action, after being out with injury. He also used the word 'difficult' when talking about getting back into the thick of things after laying off for months. It's good to see him back. I think it's just him, Nalbandian and Nadal who can offer any real challenge to Mr Federer . Lleyton Hewitt is a...

Two unrelated pieces of news. First, Mr Federer again . The French Open starts in less than a week. Yay! And I came across this article, 'Federer confident ahead of Paris' . Of course, Mr Federer is always confident. After all, he is world #1, what. Here is how a confident man speaks: 'I don't think I need to do much more (to beat Nadal)...' 'I win so much I can handle a defeat (to Nadal) every now and again... Nadal's a very good player, and still young, and I think it will be between the two of us at the French Open.' Right, he will be in the final. Do note that the tournament hasn't started yet. Well, at least he did concede that 'Nadal's a very good player'. Now, the other article, 'Madonna blasted for concert crucifixion' . Singing with a crown of thorns while 'crucified'?? What's the big idea? It's sad that talented people are sometimes so wrapped up in themselves that they forget about the other beings who l...

TODAY reported today that NTU lecturers get offered the Associate Professorial Fellowship when they turn 55. Wow, Associate Professorial Fellowship (APF). Sounds impressive, doesn't it? Ah, but the APF is actually a 'half-time, half-pay' scheme (i.e. half your current workload and salary) that is offered, from what I understand, on a 'take it or leave it' basis. That is, take up the scheme or leave the uni. Now, I'm not a HR person, nor do I know anything about labour laws, but I just feel this is pretty heartless. The lecturer who was interviewed said he was shocked to get this 'offer' after serving there for 25 years. Worse, it's not just about being downsized as a lecturer in terms of time and pay. Here's what else comes along with the 'offer': e move out of your old office and share one with another above-55 colleague e teach the same number of hours; in other words, you work the same number of hours and days as before The HR VP of ...

Fellow stay-at-home females, the bad news is we are more likely to become obese than working, 'juggling' females. Working ladies, you are much safer. So says a British study. Saw the article in the papers last week and Sharon Loh wrote about it in her editorial in yesterday's Mind Your Body . Here are the main findings: (The study tracked 1,200 ladies from age 15 to 54) 1. At 54, those who had been 'partners, parents and employees' had the best health, i.e., you have to have been all three. 2. 38% of those who were housewives were obese as compared to less than 25% of jugglers. Ooops... Actually, I always thought those who had desk-bound, indoor jobs were the worst off. You know, not enough exercise, fresh air and sunlight, etc. And I thought housework was good for calorie-burning . Especially when you look at the size of British houses compared to ours. Anyway, I'm also worried about the health of my brain. I read somewhere that if you've spent a good part ...

Lessons on graciousness and humility. Or at least sounding gracious and humble. What do players say after they win/lose? 19-year-old Rafael Nadal beat world #1 Roger Federer in the finals of the ATP Masters in Rome on Sunday. Here's what he said: I think Federer was maybe tougher to beat. He's more aggressive and serves very well. If he hits a good serve and he comes in with his forehand, there is nothing you can do. In fact, I was lucky when he had match point he made a mistake with two forehands. I was lucky , says Nadal. Nadal who, with that win, equalled the great Guillermo Vilas' record 53-match winning streak on clay (done in 1977). Nadal who, with that win, equalled the rather great Bjorn Borg's record of 16 championship titles won as a teenager. Nadal's post-match interview here . As for Federer, this is what he says: I should have won. He caught me right at the finish line... He hardly passed me today, which was a good feeling. Wah, cannot tahan. Don't...

[Surprise! I've decided, on a whim, to have a change of scenes. Ha ha, you can change your look overnight. Literally. Just with a few clicks and some copying and pasting. I realise that some of the colours I used previously don't work with this new template, but I don't think I'll bother changing them. No time for that...] In today's ST, there was an article about how rich, famous and addicted athletes spend - and lose - tons of money gambling. Charles Barkley, once the NBA's Most Valuable Player, lost US$10 million (S$16 million) gambling. Golfer John Daly has lost US$55 to US$60 million over the last 10 years. Etc. Here's what Mr Barkley says about his 'habit': 'It's not a problem. If you're a drug addict or an alcoholic, those are problems. I've got to a point where I don't gamble as much. I'm not going to quit gambling as it's my life and it's my money. Let's get this straight: losing millions of dollars at t...

And what departments would they be but elections departments? You will know already that the recent Thai election has been nulled and they have to call a new one. And who is in trouble for it? The Election Commission (EC). From what I gather, the judges declared the election unconstitutional because of: (a) too short notice (i.e. from the time when the election was called to polling day) (b) lack of secrecy in voting (poll booth design problem). People are also calling for the EC to resign. Then, of course, there's our Elections Department... Interestingly, the WP manifesto calls for an independent election commission reporting to the President or Chief Justice. I wonder how this will work out, if it's ever implemented. Will it run into trouble, too, like the Thai EC did (from the looks of it, the Thai EC is independent)? Actually, I'm very curious about our department's system of form dispensing and collecting. I'm NOT out to blacken their (nor anyone else's) ...

Like many (I think), I turned a lot to the 'alternative media' throughout the election period. Same reasons as other people's. Mainstream media reports need to be supplemented with additional reading about what was under- or un-reported. It's not that I'm all out to look for closet rebels or anything. I just like to get as complete a picture as I can of things, and to get different perspectives . So I really must thank all those (and there were many!) brave souls out there who gave faithful accounts of things that were not reported. The mainstream journalists were getting whacked a lot in cyberspace during this period. Actually, I think they were just doing their job, lah, just following orders like the traffic policeman. Can't get the info you want, just go to another source lor. I sensed, though, that there has been a little change starting from the last couple of days or so before Polling Day, when the yawning bread-type photo finally got printed. The Chinese...

Wah, good thing I didn't argue with that traffic policeman at Serangoon Stadium. Alright, alright, already going out of point at the beginning of the post. The man whose praises I want to sing is none other than Mr Chiam See Tong, who is getting quite an unprecedented avalanche of accolades coming his way, even from SM GCT, the mainstream media, etc. So much has been said already and I just want to add this little anecdote: Once upon a time, I was passing by Parliament House and it happened to be the end of a Parliament sitting. I watched as the cars came out one by one, many big, expensive cars, some with chauffeurs. Then, I saw him. Mr Chiam in his little beetle. No chauffeur. That image has stuck in my mind. A regular, low-key guy in his little car. Regular and low-key like the rest of us. Okay, most of us regular, low-key people don't own beetles but we all know he drives an old car, and at that time, many car owners were also driving their 'old faithfuls'. I myself...

If I were from the ruling party, I would be worried about the many times people were quoted saying the following kinds of things ( not quoted verbatim because I don't have the articles anymore): r I want upgrading because I don't want my estate to be left behind, like Potong Pasir. r I want upgrading because it will increase the value of my flat. Me-first. I-want. Well, I'm not from the ruling party but I do think that such sentiments don't fall in line with that exhortation about staying together , moving ahead . On the other hand, I was amused to read comments rebuffing the upgrading offers, such as the following (again not quoted verbatim; read these in TNP): U I don't want a sitting toilet. I'm happy with my squatting toilet. U I don't need the lift to stop at my floor. I'm 63 and I can climb the stairs. Well, it just shows that you can find whatever quotes you need to support the point you want to make. By the way, did anyone talk about lifts ...

Heh heh... no lah, I didn’t attend any rally this year. Since I wasn’t able to go to any, the next best thing was to get info from the mainstream and 'alternative' media. And the next next best thing I could do for myself was to go on a trail of rally sites, as they were being prepared. A phrase I read in Mr Brown’s post had somehow stuck in my mind: ‘this kind of photo op does not come every day (once every four years, actually)’ . I thought to myself, it's the eve of Polling Day, and a day like this, in fact, will not come by again . So I took off for a bit to get my share of alternative media-ing. Serangoon Stadium, the evening of 4 May (pictures taken the day before) . Preparations underway for the PAP rally. Wonder why the stage was angled to face just the grandstand. Flags all round the Stadium. As you can see, some people are very well situated. No need to step out of their house to hear what's going on. Potong Pasir, the evening of 5 May , i.e. eve of Polling ...

Heh heh... I have nothing to say at this point about the truth behind you-know-what. This post is on The Truth about Abortion , a leaflet produced by the Health Promotion Board . I'm a fairly regular visitor of hospitals and on a recent trip, I picked this leaflet up because I'd never seen it before and I wanted to see what the HPB had to say about the truth about abortion . Also, with all the hoo-ha earlier this year about the sexuality education programmes students were getting in JCs, I was curious to see what the 'official', secular stand would be with regard to this emotional, emotive, etc... topic. I remember one student complained that an abortion video screened at his school had hard-to-stomach visual images. And I remember thinking, sorry, dude, that's the truth about abortion . So what does the HPB say? The leaflet does indeed list basic info about abortion - what it is, methods of abortion (featuring, though, only 2 main methods), risks related to havin...

According to my Collins Cobuild, success = the achievement of something that you have been trying to do . And according to the article 'Screening a succ ess ', found in yesterday's (3 May) Mind Your Body ST supplement, 'Singapore has had success in thal screening' . This article came after a much longer one featuring this teenager who has thalassaemia (thal) major. In short, if you are a thal minor, i.e. a 'carrier', and you marry another thal minor, each child you conceive has a 25% chance of being thal major, 50% of being thal minor, 25% chance of being 'normal' . Thal minors are actually also 'normal', i.e. they don't experience any symptoms; it's just that they are carriers. Thal majors require blood transfusions their whole life because the haemoglobin they produce is defective. On top of that, they need medication to remove the excess iron that accumulates because of the transfusions. This is done through a nightly injection. ...

Not political again. What with Totto-chan at the window , busy children, reminders to be understanding and encouraging and all the talk about factory-style education and class size, I was inspired to pen the following. Please forgive the amateurish endeavour. I must admit that although I did lit from Sec 1 right through uni, I paid little attention to the lessons on poetry because I found it hard to appreciate. (Some exceptions of course, e.g. Blake , one of our A level poets) But I do hope that you will still understand what I'm saying in it. Here goes: Look Look at your books, the teacher said. Are the grapes heavier or the apples? How many grams are the grapes? How many grams are the apples? The girl looked at her book. The grapes are 450g, The apples... she looked up. The boy and the girl in front of her were making faces at each other. She giggled to herself and looked out the window. The girl in front liked her new seat by the window and beside the boy. He was funny, like he...

Heh heh... this is not a political post. Just experimenting with the art of using slightly misleading titles. I'm writing today about an article in the weekend edition of the International Herald Tribune . Wah, you might be thinking, suddenly so high-class, ah? From TODAY to IHT. Hee hee... I'm not so high-class, lah. Can't remember the last time I even went near a copy of IHT. It just so happened that this copy landed near me, and I glanced through it, glazing over articles like 'Gas pump geopolitics' by Thomas L. Friedman , which I knew I should read but didn't. Then I saw this: 'For Japanese children, little time to daydream' by Kumiko Makihara (Sorry no link, can't find the IHT archive on their website). Now, this is the kind of article that I will read. Kumiko Makihara writes about her 2nd grade son's packed after-school schedule: Thursday - soccer practice, then abacus class, then homework and piano practice Friday - swimming and abacus ...