A Slow Dismembering of Life

I think I've pretty much lost control. While aspects of my life is blurring into focus, the important ones just spins out of control, out of reach.

I can't get what I want, each day at work saps the life out of me because I am so disinterested and I try so hard to remain professional. Incompetent superiors and amazingly narrow-minded peers.

I can't get to where I want to be, every weekend is an escape but each time it is rudely interrupted by professional needs that will not be compensated, even if so, inadequately.

That's not life actually. That's a job. I can't choose how I die, well, not unless I commit suicide - an impossible preposition, but I sure as hell can choose how I should live. Not like this. Not like this one bit.

What happened to my ability to deceive myself? I guess we do grow wiser with age. Which is not a good thing because you stop believing yourself even. Not so easy to delude but so easily jaded.


doing the unnecessary of the unintelligent for the ungrateful. cheesepie.

What to wear?

James Lavelle is coming to town. Zouk 14 September 2007. That's the coming Friday. Surrender Session #12.

Was shooting shit with Mongster when she said we MUST go for this gig. Well, the last time he was here for his birthday at Velvet, it was such a random mishmash of stuff I wandered around to Zouk.

I said the main thing would be to go check the fashion crowd that will surely dress up for the night. No, unlikely to see Gucci or Prada, more likely to be the Bizzare Beyond Belief t-shirts, DITA x Surrender sunglasses and if we are all very lucky, the Surrender x Base Control Skull Swarovski T-shirt with Black Swarovski crystals and a very limited edition release of 5 t-shirts each costing USD560.

All sold out by the way.

Well, we can always get creative and make our own House Of Holland inspired t-shirts!!!

This is for UNKLE. Bearing the British influence. Features the Pound symbol - £.


And for the other half of Surrender, Earn Chen, I added the local equivalent, $ and ¢.


So fun. Who wants to make?

Mixed Martial Arts

Mixed Martial Arts or MMA as an idea of fighting is to combine any martial arts form in order to defeat the opponent. Lots of videos available on YouTube. Just search for "MMA".

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu with its emphasis on joint-locks, ground wrestling and a variety of grapples forms the basis on which most MMA fighters can establish him/herself. Muay Thai with its ferocious precision kicks, usage of knees in a clinch and lightning-fast fist strikes serves as a foundation as well. Judo, with the throws, holds and grapples is also effective.

These martial arts are particularly effective in an MMA bout because fights often resemble brawls and in close contact, a foundation in the above forms of martial arts have proven to be vital to winning a match.

Will a Renaissance man be particularly attracted to the idea of MMA?

It's The Way It Shatters That Matters

Thank goodness for Candy Empire. How else can I get my Violet Crumble?

This was my one of three sweets that I constantly wanted when I was still young like in primary school. The honeycomb centre that cracks in a way that only a Violet Crumble can. It was imported from Australia and hence rather expensive. Not many places sold it. I remember my aunt buying a bar from Cold Storage and placing it in the fridge at my grandma's. The though of an unopened bar of Violet Crumble in the fridge almost drove me mad.

Another favourite was Arctic Roll from Walls.

My eldest uncle had an ice-cream-man friend. The ice-cream man sold his ice-creams from a motor-powered tricycle and had an oil lamp and a hand-held bell. Every kid in the neighbourhood will know when he is around because of the bell. So on certain evenings, he might buy ice cream for us. But it was always the few flavours. Coco Bobo - red bean, Paddle Pop - assorted, which I hated though the melody of the advertisement was really catchy, ~ Paddle Pop, Paddle Pop!~ Super Duper Yummy! ~ , Rosicle - bandung flavoured, super nice but cannot have too often and Lion's Cup - vanilla flavoured ice-cream in a cup. I don't really like vanilla because it seemed like ice-cream that is unflavoured. I did not have a Magnum or a Cornetto till I was in my late teens actually. Wait, I don't think I have ever had a Magnum. I can remember tasting the Arctic Roll once in my life. It was somebody's birthday and an impromptu birthday cake had to be sourced so a slice of Arctic Roll was used. I think my second taste of Arctic Roll will be special. Yet I dare not anticipate it too much else the magic will be lost when it doesn't live up to my imagined expectations.

There was one childhood dessert that I really like and had it more than a few times. Sara Lee Pound Cake.

I didn't really like the chocolate or Sultana Pound. The All Purpose was the best. I would pinch it when it is left in the fridge leaving behind obvious holes and later get a scolding. The advertisement song was memorable too. 谢谢你 Sara Lee.....

And that's why I like Economics

There is an excellent article written by Willie Cheng who is the director of The Lien Foundation. The Lien Foundation Centre for Social Innovation is under the foundation and the article was first published in the Jul/Aug 2007 issue of SALT, a publication of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre. The founder, is Dr Lien Ying Chow, founder of OUB. Margaret Lien, widow of the late Dr Lien is head of the foundation. She is #23 on the Forbes Singapore 40 Richest 2007 with $330million.

You pay income tax?
If you pay taxes in Singapore, congratulations! You are one of three in the working population with enough chargeable income to pay taxes. I remember I was first told of this figure by fleet commander when I was his staff officer to a trip to sattahip. Kinda just popped into the conversation.

Anyway, a few excerpts from the article:

Charity is meant to help rebalance this uneven status between rich and poor. Yet even in the charity world, there are similar forces that favour the better-heeled over those less so. This applies to both the supply (donors) and demand (charities and their beneficiaries) side of the equation.

Why is this so?

Most tax systems favour the rich when it comes to charity. In Singapore, there is a generous double income tax deduction for charitable donations. The wealthier the individual, the bigger the benefit. Take the example of a taxpayer in the top income bracket of 20 per cent. For every $100 donation he makes, he actually pays only $60.

What about the poorest at the bottom 20 percent?

However, more than two- thirds of Singapore's working population are wage-earners who do not make enough to have any chargeable income, so they would have to fork out the full $100 donation. So a $100 donation actually sets the person back by $100.

So why is this so?

The same situation is repeated in most countries where income tax systems are progressive in nature and donations are tax-deductible. The difference in Singapore is that our income tax rates are generally lower, but then the tax deduction is doubled.

And this difference is not fully returned to the poorest 20 percent.

According to the NVPC study, the social service sector in Singapore gets about 25 per cent of tax-exempt donations, education gets 39 per cent and health care gets 20 per cent. For non-tax exempt giving from individuals, the bulk goes to religious causes.

So, the majority of charitable giving does not go towards benefiting the poor but to other community causes. Which kinda makes me want to ask why is education enjoying such huge slice of the pie. Primarily because education is "generic" in scope? Because education is seen to be a social-equaliser? Because people can name libraries after themselves?

Of course this is repeated in countries all over the world. Our Gini coefficient is getting worse with out widening income gap. We just increased our GST which, the government decided that it will be across the board and no provisions will be made for healthcare, public transport, education, essential foods (rice, oil, etc) and we all know a consumption tax like GST is regressive. Why? Because a person with a $100 weekly income is likely to use more of his disposable income for consumption but not a person with a $1000 weekly income. Sure, in absolute terms the latter consumes more but as a percentage, the skew is obvious and disadvantageous to the former.

P.S. Talking about regressive, I was highlighting to somebody that road accidents are regressive in nature. Because in a most countries, Singapore included (Singapore Police Force Annual Traffic Statistics), deaths that occur within road accidents are most likely to be 1) motorcyclists and pillion riders 2) pedestrians and 3) pedal cyclists.

I am sure many will be able to cite the rich friend who rides a Harley Davidson, the wealthy neighbour who refuses to buy a car and the rich angmohs that ride in their carbon fibre and magnesium alloy bikes around Thomson area. But your initial impression that the people who die in a road accident are more likely to be poor is not at all far from the truth.