my ajumma notes

I won't be caring about serials and the like for a while because tomorrow, the Davis Cup final starts and so does the action in Doha . Will be offline for a couple of weeks or so. Should be back on the blog around Christmas. Meanwhile, don't forget to support Team Singapore ! Oh, and don't forget also, the National Museum of Singapore opens this weekend!

Looks like we didn't have to wait long for another one to add to the list of reasons why Singaporeans aren't having more children. This letter appeared on Monday in TODAY. A short excerpt: I am wondering if the higher GST will discourage people from producing babies? ... Could the Government consider waiving the GST for products and services that are related to babies? Whatever next? (By the way, I've nothing to say about the other letter that somehow got merged with this GST one.)

Recently finished watching (started watching only from somewhere in the later half of the stories) two clever stories with unlikely endings. Clever story #1: Goong/Princess Hours Clever interplay of a fictitious present-day Korean royal family and high school romance. I think the modern royal family idea is a novel one. I don't recall any TVB, Japanese or TCS drama using this idea. I really like the palace setting. What also worked well was the pairing of the Snow Prince (the Snow Queen-like Crown Prince) and the cute girl, both roles played by newbies in the acting scene. Unlikely ending: The Crown Prince and cute girl marry for the second time (why did they have to when they didn't even divorce?) in a Catholic church (in all likelihood, though I don't remember any mention of religion, the couple wasn't Catholic)! Also, the unfortunate cousin-prince became so 'poor thing' when he lost everything that could have been his and his mother 'conveniently' h...

I guess you would have read 'Littering is no big deal, say many' in today's ST by now. The simple word 'disgusting' describes some people's attitudes. Check these out: U 'Somtimes, I accidentally throw litter on the ground.' (Got such thing as 'accidentally litter' meh?) U 'If I leave small things like tissue on the table, I don't consider it littering because cleaners will clear it anyway.' U 'I am more likely to litter when people are not looking at me.' U '... others blamed the lack of rubbish bins.' (as a reason for littering) Then, there is that toilet story which I will not repeat here. Are these people living on a different planet or what?? One thing that is clear is that it's not the fault of schools. I'm sure all schools frown upon littering and expect people to clear canteen tables, etc. And if it's not the fault of schools, guess whose fault it is... (clue: not the government's either) S...

No need to pay 50 cents or go to any void deck, just click here to vote for the new 7 wonders of the world. Actually, when I looked at the list of candidates, it seemed to me like it was a case of (some) giants versus (some) dwarfs. Anyhow, just 'play your part in making history' if you are interested. Wonder why Borobudur didn't make it to the list.

Of all the reasons put forward to explain why Singaporeans are not having more children, I don't think I've come across one that beats this . The letter writer feels that HDB and private apartments are too small for people to have more children. Although the argument does concede that '... the size of an apartment is not the main reason for couples not having more children, but I am quite sure it plays a part', the point of the letter is that the apartments are too small and therefore they restrict the size of the family. I know that HDB flats today are smaller than those built, say, 20 years ago. As pointed out in the letter, people do decide to sell their smaller, newer flats and buy older, bigger ones. I'm sure it's a big hassle doing so, and then there are also financial and other considerations, but those aside, what's wrong with staying in an older but bigger flat? And as for the argument that siblings who share bedrooms get on each other's nerves...

When you hear children asking to play with the computer at a house warming party, you know for sure that the sands of time have really left life-as-we-knew-it-in-our-childhood-days awash. Even if there had been computer games in those days, I don't think most of us would have dared to open our mouths to ask! I suppose the older you get, the more acutely you are aware of the sands and hands of time. I don't think I've ever wished for them to slow down (futile anyway!) but there have been many times in my life when I wished that I had used time better. I wonder what I would be wishing when I look back at today in, say, 5 or 10 years' time. Would I wish that I hadn't left the working world? Would I wish that I had chosen instead to work towards promotions and take on higher appointments? I hope not. Just last week, I bumped into 2 people from my past. First, I ran into a former colleague and she said, 'You look just like how you did before you got married!' Lat...

Guess some of you would have read the article in yesterday's ST: '24 strokes: Unusual but not surprising', about this 16-year-old boy who was sentenced to 5 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane for armed (knife) robbery. The boy has a litany of crimes to his name and has been running afoul of the law since he was 10 or so. According to the article, he was deemed 'unsuitable for reformative training' (i.e. sentenced to RTC, which his partners in crime were) and the judge had 'no choice but to give him at least the minimum sentence' (5 years + 12 strokes). How was it concluded that he was 'unsuitable' for RTC. A report by the prison psychiatrist said he was '"intellectually dull" and therefore unlikely to be able to follow the programme'. Why? Is the programme so complicated? Can't it be modified to cater to people of different intellectual abilities? Interestingly, the psychiatrist said the boy 'was capable of distingui...

I'm looking forward to A Good Year . Read the book sometime last year, I think, and enjoyed it very much, though A Year in Provence remains the best of Peter Mayle . If you like this kind of Englishman-in-idyllic-French-countryside kind of tale, gastronomic-adventures-in-the-south-of-France, etc, read his books! I haven't read all of them but the Provence ones are good, including A Dog's Life , which is the Provence story from his dog's point of view. Russell Crowe should be interesting as Max. I read that this is his first humorous role. Well, I wouldn't know. I hardly watch movies and I don't follow Crowe's career. So, I really hope I will be able to catch the film, with the exams out of the way and term coming to an end. There must be some time somewhere to watch this!! I think the last time I was at the cinema was for Pooh's Heffalump Movie. I'm trying very hard to recall what I've watched since then but I can't remember anything except...

A report in today's ST entitled 'Guess who has the most sex?' reports the findings of the 'first comprehensive global (59 countries) study of sexual behaviour.' The 'surprise findings': 1. 'Married people have most sex.' 2. 'People aren't losing their virginity at ever younger ages. Mid- to late teens is when both sees become sexually active.' 3. 'No firm link between promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases.' I will not bother to say much about findings #1 and #2 except that, depending on how you look at them , you might or might not be surprised. However, I do find the reasoning for #3 - no firm link between promiscuity and STDs - rather weird. This Professor who was involved in the study said that: 'they had expected to find the most promiscuous behaviour in regions like Africa with the highest rates of STDs. That was not the case, as multiple partners were more commonly reported in industrialised countries where t...

With public transport getting a very public airing recently, here are some of my thoughts. Bus campaigns First, I noticed, as some of you must have too, these ads painted on buses telling us that there are reasons why two buses might arrive at the same time. Then, there is this campaign exhorting passengers to flag the bus early. I don't mean to be rude or to trivialise the plight of passengers or drivers but I couldn't help laughing. I mean, do these two issues warrant campaigns? I'm sure (most) people know there are reasons why two buses might arrive at the same time. Wouldn't the effort be better spent reducing the incidence of buses arriving at the same time? I'm also sure (most) people know they should flag the bus early and, although I no longer take the bus regularly, I'm pretty sure most people do flag the bus early. Why would anyone want to flag the bus late? I mean flag the bus late deliberately ? Youthink articles I read the youth contributions to y...

In contrast to the article which my last post was about, I enjoyed reading Tay Yek Keak's two-pager on Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth in yesterday's ST. It was a rare interesting and 'light' article on the sombre topic of global warming. Then again, it wasn't actually about global warming, but about the film , which is about global warming. Having said that, I'm not sure if I'll be rushing out to watch it. From what I understand, most of the show is Al Gore doing his multimedia presentation on the topic, which sounds to me like a rather glorified GP lecture. No offence to any GP lecturers, for whom I have high regard. I just mean that it sounds like it's a glorified GP lecture. You know what I mean... I have a high regard, in fact, for both GP lecturers and the discussion about global warming. It's just that I'm not sure if I want to spend the time and money in a cinema watching Al Gore doing the lecture. No offence to Al Gore either. As...

Something else to rant about. If you read the Sunday Times the other day, you most probably would have seen that 'brilliant' piece on page 3 and 4 about our top shuttler and paddler. A two-page spread, no less, a pseudo -analysis of their relationship based on comments and stories from anonymous 'close' friends. At least that old story we read sometime back about the top actor who had to sleep overnight at the bus stop came (purportedly anyway) from his own mother. Ya, great work, Sunday Times ... such a newsworthy bit of journalism, don't you think, especially after the two said persons requested to be left alone to concentrate on training... What was the big idea?? Incidentally, this was the same paper that brought us that tongue-in-cheek nonsense about IJ girls ... and which I once complimented ... sigh... Well, with Doha less than 2 months away, the rest of us should just continue giving our moral support to our athletes , whatever our papers choose to wr...

Are there rules for or against the use of handbags by schoolgirls? You know, like how there are rules against multiple earrings, coloured hair, nail polish, and, in my time, pom-pom socks - which I'm sure trendy young ladies nowadays wouldn't dream of using -, and other such 'fashionable' things? I recently noticed some girls around here carrying handbags to school. For example, one girl carried a small handbag and a bigger bag for her school stuff. Then, there was this girl who had a small sling one and carried her files and books in her hand. And then, there was this girl who carried a (not very big) hobo type bag and I don't know where her books and files were. Maybe she rolled them and stuffed them into her bag or something. Is it the fashion these days? I have nothing against bags, of course. Actually, I love bags. In fact, I think about clothes bags shoes very, very often. And in fact, there are days when I think I'm obsessed with clothes bags shoes . Ju...

I just have to get a few more things about Full House off my chest. 1. Why do Song Hae Gyo and Charming Man, both twentysomethings, need reading glasses? 2. I love the huge fridges found in both Rain/SHG's and Charming Man's houses. 3. What exactly is an Internet novelist? SHG is one at the start of the story. Does one make any money as an Internet novelist? How exactly does it work? 4. Why does Charming Man take her on as a scriptwriter when she is supposedly a third-rate Internet writer? Does anyone know of any lobang of this kind? Please let me know. He doesn't even need to be charming or whatever or in love with me. As long as can make money legally, can already. 5. The two girls have such lovely earrings. SHG also has some rather pretty dresses towar ds the end of the show, after her hair suddenly straightens. 6. I liked Rain's dad. He is so kind to SHG when he meets her at the wedding, quite unlike some of the dads in other K shows who beat their sons up ...

Some of you will be bored out of your mind with this post but I’ll write it anyway. On the whole, I enjoyed Full House though it definitely wasn’t as good as Sam Soon . Hop on the merry-go-round with the love quadrangle. First, the rich and talented trio (childhood pals) with their amazing blend of complexes and hang-ups: Rain , popular actor, leftmost (sorry if that picture is rather unflattering!) Pretty Girl , fashion stylist, 3rd from left Charming Man (played by this guy called Kim Sung Soo), big shot in the media industry, right Last player in the quartet: Song Hae Gyo (henceforth SHG), aspiring writer, ‘ordinary’, kind-hearted girl, 2nd from left At the start of the show, Rain is secretly in love with Pretty Girl (has been since they were nine!). Pretty Girl is (not secretly) in love with Charming Man (but apparently he’s the last to know it). Charming Man is not in love with anyone. SHG tumbles into their lives. Eventually, Rain and Charming Man are struck with the Mark Darc...

I do know the ending of Full House but I will write some thoughts about it only after I watch the last episode. In the meantime, just for fun, if you had to choose one of these two guys, who would it be? Mr Left or Mr Right? Based purely on how they look to you.

Yesterday, one of our friends wondered if our children were truly 'lucky' to 'escape' the streaming business. That was the first time in recent days that I've heard anything vaguely positive in relation to streaming. It made me ask myself if the whole thing could have worked out well. After all, there is educational basis for 'streaming' - children learn at a comfortable pace, differentiated curriculum for different abilities, etc. And, realistically, how were teachers supposed to manage the range of abilities, talents, interests and behaviour of 40 children in each class? It is done, I believe, in most educational contexts all over the world - 'talent identification', 'placement tests', what have you... Unfortunately,we can't run away from the problem of 'labelling'. People will associate certain ideas with specific labels. Singapore is so small, competitive, achievement-oriented and class conscious. The term 'foundation'...

In yesterday's ST article, "More saying 'I do' and 'I do... away with you'" , we are told that there are two encouraging signs in last year's marriage statistics: While divorce rates were at an 'all-time high', the 'silver lining' is that the number of marriages also went up, 'Heartening, too, is the fact that remarriages have become increasingly common...' Sorry to be a wet blanket but here are a couple of (negative) thoughts on the above points: Will the increased number of marriages mean even more divorces some years later? I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that people in their second, third,... marriage are at higher risk of divorce, so it isn't always 'heartening' to know that people are getting re-married. I also have a question about the second point: what do they mean that remarriages have become 'increasingly common'? What is 'common'? Is it like 50% of divorcees get married again or som...

As in the General Election, I am not voting for anyone. I'm not wasting 60 cents per vote. Cheapskate me... I spotted Brother Paul Rogers sitting among the SJI-like all-white supporters of the underdog. So nice of him to turn up to cheer for the old boy. Like I said before, it's a good thing we were spared a horrible final and I must say last night's show was entertaining. Somehow it seemed better than the previous final. (But my memories of that one are vague) However, there is obviously a great big generation gap here because when they talk about Snow Patrol and Dreamz FM and Energy and all these singers, I really have no idea who they are. Although I do know George Michael and Chaka Khan. So... one guy is obviously the better singer, while the other has got 'personality', not that the better singer doesn't have 'personality'. You know what I mean... Wonder how people will vote this final time.