my ajumma notes

I saw in the news last night this feature about the yu sang / yu sheng /raw fish dish being a 'tradition' for the 7th day ('Day For Human Beings') of the Lunar New Year. However, over the past few years, my very unscientific survey of a handful of people from the PRC and HK shows that it isn't a Chinese 'tradition' because these people never heard of it until they came to Singapore. Of course, I draw this conclusion based on the assumption that Lunar New Year 'traditions' must be 'Chinese' in nature. Then again, what does it mean to be 'Chinese'... In fact, many of our new year 'traditions' are pretty much localised ones and since we still consider ourselves 'Chinese', I guess they do qualify as 'traditions'. After all, we are not from China anyway, what. So who says there is no Singapore culture? FOOD! Raw fish I found this in Khoo Joo Ee's The Straits Chinese : 'The Cantonese in particular celebrate t...

Hmm... I know this is the Internet age but are people getting carried away with all this posting of pictures of this or that person here and there for all to see? There are the Edison pictures, the Manhunt contestants' pictures and, as reported on last night's news, a youtube video of a maid abusing a baby. This private/public domain thing is so easily blurred these days (not least by blogs also, of course). Perhaps sometimes unintentionally, I suppose. Well, I shall not comment on why one would post such a video but, about those pictures that have somehow found their way to the Internet, wouldn't common sense tell us not to have pictures taken of ourselves in our birthday suits (or similar)? After all, this is also the age of technological crime. You know, you may lose your mobile phone, send your computer to an unscrupulous shop for servicing, etc... In other words, have your pictures taken at your own peril.