my ajumma notes

I was just thinking that it must be such an experience for all those fresh-faced and earnest 20-somethings and 30-somethings to have to spar with the national bigwigs, even if indirectly. Win or lose, I hope all this will go into making them men and women - citizens - of substance. Yes, sure, we should examine motivations and all that (and I do think that we should examine the motivations of everyone, not just a select few), but I think we should also salute these young people for having the courage and conviction to step up and step forward. I also note that their 20-something and 30-something counterparts from the white team are not having the privilege of this experience.

Today, I did my own 'feeling the ground' (= snooping) and talked to a total of -- just one person. This uncle is a sole breadwinner, taking home less than $1,000 a month. He has four kids who are still studying. Every day, he is concerned about his job and the cost of everything. After all, people who don't earn a lot also buy food, take transport, fall sick, go to school, etc. I think I don't need to do much more snooping to conclude that life is really tough for many of our fellow countrymen and women. And it's not like he is not trying to do what he can for the family. Would I blame him if he felt bitter about things? Are the people out there getting this same feel when they go around the ground too?

Here I am giving Nicole Seah the place of honour for today's GE post, ha ha. Nicole Seah's CNN interview Actually, I was getting really sad thinking about the GRC situation. It is the main, major, mighty reason why I have not voted in past elections. It was only in recent days that I realised how disgruntled I feel about this. To think that I will be a first-time voter (i.e. if things happen as we think they will) only this year. At my age... hmmph... As we know, there are many people in this 21st century world, who do not have the privilege of voting. Some will still never get a sniff at it, even though this is the 21st century, and some are right now going out to the streets, risking their lives and even losing their lives, to fight for this privilege. To think that here in - ahem - First World S'pore, so many of us have not had this privilege for so many years. But things are looking up. The colour and feel of this year's GE make me remember the colour and f...

My, my, doesn't he look so 'spring fashion trends 2011'? Like so (Miu Miu!): And so: Even the other Spaniards are in rather 'safe' colours. Like so: And some other people who really, badly need a haircut!

The start of the clay court season is not as exciting as I thought it was going to be, after all. Djokovic is not playing at Monte Carlo so we'll have to wait till I don't know when to see Djokovic versus Nadal on clay. To get back into the tennis mood, let's look at what some dudes have been doing off court, while, obviously, also watching their bank accounts grow. Nadal in Bacardi's don't-drink-and-drive ad. Ferrer in Bovet's intellectual ad. I don't know why but I find his Bovet pictures slightly amusing. But he doesn't look too bad, does he? Lu Yen-hsun appeared with Rainie Yang for an Adidas thing. The 'Adidas is all in' pictures are nice. Andy Murray is there. And, although they aren't dudes, so are Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki.

And here we are, at another of my favourite topics - voters and all things related! As in previous elections, I find myself saying to myself 'Oh my word' and 'Aiyoh' a lot these days. There is a lot not happening out there that makes me rather uneasy about what the future will hold. First, it is worrying that many people are growing up knowing only a GRC system and believing it to be a normal thing. I'm not saying here that it is a good or bad system or whatever, but that people living in the 21st century should really have some basic knowledge about the basics of democracies and such. Second, and this is very likely the cause of point 1, young people are not caring enough about their lives to know things they should know. There are many people who complain that we only have controlled forms of the media here. Even if they have a valid complaint, the thing is, not enough young people are even bothering to know about things happening around them through these li...

So, here we are at one of my favourite topics - bags! First bag, the NS backpack. Rather expectedly, ST ran an article linking the maid-NS backpack thing to the daily maid-schoolbag scenario we see all over Singapore. I would like to suggest that the root of it goes a little deeper than just the expectations of many parents and children that their maids should carry their bags. The start of all this, as I see it, is the fact that schoolbags are too heavy ( that used to be one of my favourite topics). If the schoolbags were a reasonable weight, nobody would see the need for maids, parents or grandparents to carry them. I will shamelessly declare that I shamelessly carried the boy's bag for him when he was in lower primary. If you compare the weight of the bag with the size (and weight) of the child, it would be the logical thing to do. So then, when and how you wean the child off this bag-carrying business is another story altogether. Obviously, if weaning is not done succes...