Ticking Clocks

The Kiterunner

I just finished reading the novel ‘The Kiterunner’ by Khaled Hosseini in a record 2.5 hours. I can’t remember when the last time an author managed to enthrall me to the point where i simply couldn’t put a book down, even while travelling down the escalators. The story was so devastatingly sad that reading it once is enough for me.

I tried reading the novel again but i just couldn’t seem to do it. I felt depressed when i know what was going to happen. I wanted to scream at the book, at the character; to let him know what was going to happen and what he should have done. Damn the emotional side of me.

Had fun last weekend. Met up with some friends of mine. Met up with Eliana for lunch and coffee at Starbucks. Realised something about her. Such a petite girl and yet such a healthy appetite. I swear i will challenge her to a eating contest one of these days.

City life is starting to bore me. Shopping incessantly is starting to take its toll on me. I find myself staring at expensive designer goods, counting in my head whether i have enough cash to spare. This is not how i intend to spend my life, wasting it with shopping, eating and drinking.

I am starting to miss the days where its just nature and me. Miss the smell of salty sea breeze and the moistness of morning dew upon my skin. Miss the rustling of leaves and chirping of crickets. Miss the stillness of the night where the scent of burning wood assails my nose.

And most of all, i miss the pleasure of drinking warm coffee and having a cigarette in the cold dampness of a rainy night.

Its sad when a colleague whom you are close with decides to go After months of enduring hard work and incessant scoldings, Shienny has finally decided that enough is enough. Today she tenders her resignation.

Looking through my holiday photos, i spot an interesting photo which showed me and Chloe wearing black while Shienny and Nirun wore white. It got me thinking as me and Chloe was the darker of the four. We had vicious tempers and often got into heated arguments with our boss. We were hard drinkers and smokers.

Nirun and Shienny on the other hand were our balances. They represented the light. Patient and ever smiling, they expressed anger only on rare occasions. They didn’t smoke or behave badly in public. I felt that was the key to our sustained close relationships. Together, we were a perfect balance of yin and yang, black and white, good and evil.

Its just too bad this cannot last.

Its been said that fishing is all about luck. And all the expensive equipment in the world cannot guarantee you a prized catch. Well, nearly a thousand dollars worth of angling equipment proved that saying right.

Our planned trip Tioman had all the right ingredients to a disaster. No hotel reservations on a busy public holiday, no information on whether we could even go shore casting on Tioman etc.

Well 3 days later and poorer by $300-, i return home, my cooler box empty with only ‘keropok lekor’ purchased from Mersing inside. Only Marko and Boy Bahan caught fish. A black tip shark and 2 nurse sharks. Still, it’s a pretty dismal tally considering that Tioman  is pretty much a place where there’s supposed to be plenty of barracudas, rays and pelagic sealife roaming the seabed in search of food.

Angling aside, it was pretty much a reasonable trip with us downing copious quantities of Malibu Mango, Jack Daniels and a bottle of Moet and Chandon Brut Imperial. Hey, after all, what’s a holiday without the fun stuff?!

More than 500 years ago, the first Portuguese colonizers stepped onto Asian soil and declared it a part of the Portuguese colony. Fast forwarding to the present era, most Asian societies are still mentally colonized, their mindsets still fixed on the belief that Europeans and Americans are far superior to themselves.

The author attempts to make the audience understand the reasons why many Asian societies have this belief and whether the Asians can regard themselves as equal to their European and American counterparts.

More interesting to me is the book’s underlying theme of questioning of democracy and free press.

The Western civilization has long promoted democracy and its many foundations globally. The author openly questions democracy and free press as prerequisites for the general advancement of a country or society which supposedly enables the society’s population to equal the Europeans and Americans level of thinking. He rejects the romantic notion of democracy and all its trappings as necessary for a country or society’s success.

The author states, ‘A free press does not lead to a well ordered society’. I support his statement. There are many examples in the book that illustrates his viewpoint. Since the book was printed in 1998, some of the examples are outdated and irrelevant.

A still relevant example is the difference between

India

and

China

.

“

India

and

China

provide two massive social laboratories to judge what prescriptions would help a society develop and prosper. Each has taken a very different political road. The West approves the freedom of press in

India

, frowns on the lack of it in

China

. Yet which society is developing faster today, and which society is likely to modernize first?’

Obviously the answer is

China

, also dubbed the Iron Dragon of Asia. Of course one can argue what free press has to do with a country’s development. Free press can lead to problems as I further researched this topic on the internet.

In 1992, foreign channels, widely available throughout

India

, broadcasted videos of the destruction of the 16^th century Babri mosque. This led to widespread violence throughout the country that resulted in over 2000 deaths.

Compare this to the

Tiananmen Square

crackdown where limited press coverage and government censorship helped prevent further rioting and deaths in the other Chinese cities.

Singapore

is another example. Although not mentioned by the author, who is a Singaporean, it is worthy to note that

Singapore

achieved prosperity and success without the benefits of having a free press or a Western defined democracy. In fact, we are ranked 147^th out of 167 in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index, astoundingly just above

Iraq

.

Therefore the author concluded that the Western civilization was over-idealistic in thinking that democracy is the only path to a well ordered and prosperous society. His conclusion is in line with my personal research and puts my personal political beliefs into a different perspective.

A usual day in town, one will usually encounter the Mat and Minahs of Singapore, henceforth referred to as ‘M&M’. Usually found aimlessly walking the streets, clad in their tapered pants and truckers cap, M&M’s congregrate in a number of places, namely Orchard Road, Esplanade and many places where entry is free.

M&Ms are a highly social group, one rung higher in hierarchy than their Bangladeshi cousins who are more content to congregrate in little India. Their social nature allows them to come up to a potential mate and spew a number of rehearsed openers, namely, ‘Hello, leh berkenalan?’

These groups usually have a high number of male Mats compared to female Minahs. These groups usually have high unemployment rates due to their lack of working attitude and low education. Always short on cash, they resort to selling illegal cigarettes or working as pizza delivery boys on a motorcycle paid in instalments.

To end my observation on M&Ms lives, let me relate their highly predictable lives:

age -9 months: 15 year old Mom’s first sexual encounter in cheap Geylang hotel

age -3 months: 16 year old Father goes to jail when pregnancy test  positive

age from 1 to 10 : All signs of ADD goes unnoticed

age 12: Learn their first expletive, usually ‘butoh’

age 14: Dreamed of being a Mat Rempit, smoked first cigarette

age 16: Wears first tapered pants and truckers cap. Fails N’levels. Go ITE

age 20: Gets first ‘kapcai’ motorcycle

age 20+1 day: First motorcycle accident

age 20+3 months: Motorcycle gets pulled back by company due to non payment.

age 21: Becomes father

age21+3 months: Shotgun marriage.

age 30: Buys first 3 rm HDB. Gets first red plate car.

age 63: CPF money comes in. Renovates house.

age 65: CPF money finishes. Sells otak otak near MRT.

Notes:

Life details may vary from case to case. At 21 +1 day, a high number of M&Ms usually die.

Disclaimer:

The author is merely an observor of M&Ms. He does in no way participate in their activities and maintains neutrality in his detailed observations.

Lately, i received e-mails and messages like this,

Berita ini mengenai kartunis yg lukis karikatur Rasulullah kita yg tercinta.. Tlg sebar2kan kpd sumer yg beragama Islam mahupun bkan.. The artist who drew the pictures of the Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W) has died in afire. He was burned alive. Denmark government is hiding the news from the public and everyone has to know.. Pls spread this…. (Its the price one must pay 4 the insult of Allah’s Prophet) Forward this to as many people as you can…Are you going to forward this or delete it? Just remember Allah is watching you if you love Allah then send this to every one on your list because you have opened this…

There is not a single shred of evidence in this message. No facts, not a single piece of proof that this truly happened. Wake up and smell the coffee… Without proof, its not a story. Its a path to a lawsuit. Stop sending crap like this unless you can at the very least provide something to back it up.

Party, Party and more parties! Been partying through National Day Eve til Sunday. Thanks to all the people in Singapore and Indonesia who really made my week! Love you guys!

Decided to pursue my Bachelor’s this year rather than waiting any longer. The longer i work, the less opportunities open up to me. Having only a diploma is pathetic.

Previously, i had quietly rejected an NUS offer to study Architecture. 6 years of slogging in school plus 2 years interning for a company to be an Architect.. Its not worth my precious time.

Anyway, a few months in this industry has discouraged me from ever working as an architect. Long hours, lousy pay, critical deadlines, strict regulatories…. i think Technical officers and Architects die young.

Its time to do what i truly love.

WARNING…. CONTROVERSIAL CONTENT

I was discussing about the BGR among Malay couples in Singapore when i realise more Malay guys i know are attached to Chinese girls. I think i know why. Lets make an example.

Malay Boy meets Malay Girl and fall in Love.
Malay Girl family say not nice to go around together if not married.
Malay Girl family pushes for marriage.
Malay Boy feels pressured and needs more time to study/work/gather money.
Break up…
Malay Guy meets Chinese girl.
No pressure on him to marry.
When he finally reaches a stable point in his life, he marries her.

It’s the Malay tradition that break up relationships. The tradition and culture that emphasizes on family than career. Guess what old folks, times have changed. Now, career comes first. With career comes the money to live comfortably and settle down.

_____________________________________________________________________

Sometimes, traditions and cultures become obsolete. Such as trying to promote abstinence among Malay teenagers. Its like preaching the virtues of turning vegetarian to a pride of lions. Sex is rampant among the teenagers. Its more ideal to promote protection and safe sex to address the issues of STDs and unwanted pregnancies.

People are still going to engage in pre-marital sex no matter what and i believe that the campaign to abstain from pre marital sex is a miserable failure. Its a fact.

Almost half of all teenagers infected with sexually transmitted diseases were
Malay, and more than half of the 417 teens who gave birth in 2004 were Malay.

Go think..

Been nearly 6 months working for iX Architects. I’ve grown fond of TS and Chloe. They have been really nice to me, with TS like a teacher to me and Chloe always fussing over me, buying coffee, giving panadol when i’m sick.. BTW Chloe, you’re not my mummy… Ur only a few years older. Lol.

I’m pretty sad that TS is leaving us only after 2 months. I can understand why. The stress is getting to me too. Drafting 5 bungalows, 2 entire condominiums, countless school renovations and keeping track of the progress between the 2 technical officers in a 1 month period is too much strain.

Tomorrow’s Saturday and i still need to go to a meeting with the developers. I dunno the drawings will pass their analysis but i dun care anymore. Even when i had a splitting headache, a runny nose like a tap and a temperature, i dragged myself to work so i could at least complete the drawing for a URA Provisional Permission submission.

One day, my mind will tell me enough is enough. I will probably snap and start throwing a fit, a tantrum or simply break down into depression.