Monday, February 28, 2005

New Love

I found a new love for big old trees. I mean, raintrees, angsanas and any other of equivilent majesty. They are born to be big, tall and strong, withstanding the harsh environmental hazards and what we, selfish human beings, inflict on them. It takes years for a tree to grow that tall, but alas..selfish people, when trees have to go, they have to go, even if they could have lived out another 100 over years.

THREE mature rain trees between 60 and 80 years old at the junction of Holland Road and Holland Avenue will be chopped down to make way for the MRT station there. The trees are growing directly above the site for Holland Station, one of 29 underground stops being built on the MRT Circle Line, due to be operational in 2010. But 11 other rain trees and angsanas between 30 and 40 years old outside shophouses have been untouched, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) pointed out. The LTA, which is building the station, said it ensured that a new slip road it constructed went around the trees. Asked about the trees' removal, the National Parks Board said that it worked closely with the LTA to retain 45 out of the 90 trees that would have had to go in the original station design.

I hear the cries of the trees.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 2:17 PM with 1 comments

Instructions for Life

  1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
  2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
  3. Follow the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for other’s; Responsibility for all your actions.
  4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
  5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
  6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
  7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
  8. Spend some time alone every day.
  9. Open arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
  10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
  11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
  12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
  13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
  14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
  15. Be gentle with the earth.
  16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
  17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
  18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
  19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 11:08 AM with 0 comments

Friday, February 25, 2005

How to help falling birth rates?

I read another pc of news online just now, about Zoe Tay, who just gave birth to a healthy baby boy. The very same article speaks of how she (Zoe Tay) is joining the reigns of many other celebrity mums and dads. Proud parents. Anyway, my congrats to Zoe...

Say, it just occurred to me that this could be the government's way of "advertising" for "family life"? Its just a weird idea that struck me anyway. Instead of dumb ads, it's at least a "proactive" measure? Or is it really just coincidence?

*ponders*

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 5:14 PM with 0 comments

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

The Donkey & The Carrot

The donkey, or the mule, is a stubborn animal. Strongheaded like me.
Known to be stupid, it moves only upon seeing a carrot.

I cannot see the carrot.

I'm not playing any games. It ain't a good feeling being blindfolded and being led by the nose.

I'm not tolerating any of these nonsense further.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 10:23 AM with 0 comments

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Antibiotics

What are antibiotics? Antibiotics are powerful drugs used for treating many serious and life-threatening infectious diseases. Most infections result from either bacteria or viruses.

Bacteria are responsible for:

Viruses are responsible for:

Antibiotics can help you get better if a bacterial infection causes your illness, but they'll have no effect at all if you have a virus. What's more, taking antibiotics when you don't need them can lead to germs that are antibiotic-resistant.

Frequent and inappropriate antibiotic use leads to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. When bacteria outsmart standard antibiotics, you need stronger and more costly medications to treat infections. Because bacteria mutate much more quickly than researchers can develop new antibiotics, the possibility exists that one day soon highly lethal strains of resistant bacteria will evolve — and there won't be effective drugs to kill them.

I'm convinced the doctor I saw recently, was out to make money. :P

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 10:42 AM with 0 comments

The Doctor

I haven't fallen sick in ages. Each time I visited the doctor, it was for some physical injury *bleah*

Then I fell sick recently. I had to follow the stupid company policy of having to visit a company appointed clinic. It took me 20 mins to reach the clinic.

It's quite sickening. You are expected to travel 20 mins by bus to the clinic, register, wait another x mins before seeing the doctor, wait for medicine, then take another 20mins to travel back home. You actually need 2 hours to see the doctor!? For most people, the company appointed doctor is usually not 5 mins walk away.

I cannot imagine if I were seriously sick and in need of medical attention. I would probably have died trying to make my way there. *Touch wood* but thats the way policies are formulated here. It is not as though visiting a doctor on the company's panels of doctors come free. It is not.
Not free and no freedom of choice. It sucks.

More often than not, these clinics are there more to make a penny out of you (or your company), by prescribing the expensive medication that you do not really require or medication that do have cheaper alternatives.

I had the common cold. But was prescribed with a course of antihistamines and antibiotics. A cough mixture which was not really necessary. Well, its not the first time I'm having a cold for sure. My normal doctor wouldn't have given me all these medication and definitely not antibiotics. Surely I'm not so ill I require antibiotics?

As with all common colds, what you really need, is rest. Medication? A visit to the doctor is your passport for an MC, that's as far as it goes. OK, medication does help you get better, faster. But what we really need is, rest. The medication makes you sleepy and you sleep. That's rest too.

Antibiotics? I didn't touch them.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 10:20 AM with 0 comments

Monday, February 21, 2005

CNY

Sometimes, I wonder what is the significance of the new year.
Do non married people actually give out these little red packets?

I visited some ex-colleauges this year. Of course, they are mostly married and they distrbute the ang pows to the little children around. Then I also see non-marrieds giving out ang pows.

Confused.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 11:34 AM with 0 comments

Monday, February 14, 2005

Happy Valentine's Day!

The History of Saint Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.


St. Valentine's Story

Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.

Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!

Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.

One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death.

I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.

One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."

I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten!

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 2:24 PM with 0 comments

Involvement (or the lack of) & Engagement

Need help? Ask.
Need help. No ask. Means no need.
So don't grumble when no one helps.

Sometimes, its like that. Like, semaphores.
It works both ways. And sometimes deadlock occurs.

Not getting somewhat involved in something.
Means, you probably don't feel the ownership or engagement.
You don't feel you want to do it. Much less to say, feel committed.

Many people take many things for granted.
All I know is, don't know, don't care.

This is the lackadaisical attitude many people today.
That includes me.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 2:10 PM with 0 comments

Elastic Time

What is elastic time?

Elastic time is being late, ridiculously.
It is forgivable when you're a little late.
It's ok if you have said you will be late.
It's ok if you said you will arrive 60mins later.

But expecting the world to wait for your arrival shows the lack of manners,
lack of discipline and sense of urgency in the individual.

It is ok to waste your own time but to waste the time of others?

The Queen is never late, the rest are early. Are we all born Queens then?

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 11:40 AM with 0 comments

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Dumbass

What a failure...I mean, the orientation. What? Did I hear correctly? 2 entire weeks of sitting in a "classroom" listening to old men and women deliver their "sermon"? Come on, there has to be a better way of spending time that wasting it away like that.

Ok, it was not all that bad, given that I had the opportunity to go home early. Opps. Not "early" but rather "on time". Made a few new friends, had some chit chat sessions and ya, that was about it.

Sometimes, I don't get it. Why are there old fogies who simply revel in being a pain in where the sun don't shine. Someone who sends in complains about every batch of orientation-ees. Either there's a problem with you or with everyone else. Complaining to "teacher" about being late? Haha. And, one does not have to be rude to get your point across isn't it? I rest my case. Besides, what's with giving a powerpoint presentation with text all typed out in CAPS? Do you really need to shout to get your point heard?

And, I wonder how they go about organising things. Putting different groups of people with a different objective to meet in a same orientation group? Ack... Poor directions given, lousy assumptions....

There's certainly plenty of room for improvement.

Posted by LiTTle-FooT at 5:00 PM with 0 comments