In the name of Democracy

Singapore has just witnessed one of the most epic failure of the GRC system. Widely recognised as one of the best in the current minister rank, ex-Foreign Minister George Yeo is now officially unemployed. At least he won't be serving the Singapore for the next 5 years as a minister. This happened while the most incompetent candidate, judging from the level of backlash from her comments, actions, (bimbotic) media replies and (act cute) picture, was elected as a MP all in the name of Democracy.

Hours after the election results, petitions were set up to replace Ms TPL with Mr GY. This was the public consensus and desire. However, it is unlikely this would be achieve as this is definitely unconstitutional.

As it has been proven that opposition can win GRC (Aljunied) and Minority candidates can win SMC (Punggol East). Maybe it's high time that the election board think harder about the GRC system. It may have been absolutely necessary in the past but the results today showed that the society has progressed beyond the fears of the 1980s.

Singapore shall make do with a TPL for the next 5 years. Maybe I am overly critical, but odds are against her to appease the public displeasure. If she doesn't, I hope that there is a stronger WP next election.

What I love about December

December is my favourite month of the year. It has always been so since my memories beings. When I was young, it was the long holidays that I was always yearning for. Now, it is the lack of school kids and the substantial time saving from commuting to work that I adore. Thoughts of crowded buses, the need of squeezing through the bus aisle to alight, non stop giggling and chatters scares me now. I will definitely miss my peaceful bus journey where I could really sleep soundly throughout.

I dread January.....

Changes is the only constance

Lying in the midst of changing to a new appointment, there are so many people asking me which appointment do I prefer more. I really can't give them a definite answer because I haven't really warm my new office chair. I did ponder deeper with the minuscule knowledge about the new job that I have gathered so far. As with all things, changes occur at different stages of pondering. More changes when I think about it on different days. Even more changes when I think about it when there are major events in my life. Well..... I rolled down a bus. That's a rather major event in my life :) Thus, my only conclusion is, there are cycles where I hate my old jobs, love the tasks, loathe the work, ..... that feeling isn't constant. It exist sort of in a cycle, with ups and downs.

Moving on to other aspects of life. The notion of studying hard never exist during my entire primary school life, (my mentality then was, just make sure my teachers don't want to meet my parents). Playing mahjong 3 days a week in uni seemed like an impossibility when I was in JC. On the other hand, teachers seemed to suffered the most with the terror kids of this generation. Kids seem to be more tech savvy than most "senior engineers" I know. Snail mail and convention television is facing a slow death from the development of internet. If there is one constant, it is changes. Why not embrace it?

Soccer and Video technology

We are living in the age where you can view yourself using your computer through the lens of a satellite hovering above you. Yet, simple video replay and goal line technology just scare the shit out of the soccer community. In a 90 plus minutes game, offering a few seconds for the referee to get a confirmation from another trained official sitting infront of a screen with replay capability isn't too much to ask for, is it? With that, no one can argue about stupid decision because there won't be. Won't the quality of game play improve because the players don't need to waste effort trying to argue with referee? Secretly, I believe a few second delay for each important decision will actually allow the more game time in the 90 min because players will spend less time debating with the referee.

So what's stopping video technology from being adopted? IMHO, the are:

1) bad refereeing is absolutely necessary for bookies to win money

2) they are afraid of changes

3) they secretly wish referees suffer unnecessary distress from making bad decision and fan abusing them.

Actually after typing them out, I only believe in no. 1.

Being a Gen Y

These are some of quotes on Gen Y that I got from the net.

Generation Y is not like the baby boomers who live to work or Generation Xers who work to live. Instead, this generation—born between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s—“values work, but they also really value life beyond work,”

Here are some quirky behaviours that will define Generation Y. They are wired, connected to virtual social sites, salivate for information, empowered, able to multi task, independent and the lists goes on and on. These are functional behaviours that will excite any HR recruiter. They too, carry a “dark side”. They can be easily bored, and demand instant gratification.

st701 has a wonderful article which explain 90% of my take on Gen Y.

asiaone has an article on why gen Y is difficult to work with.

Being a Gen Y, I can really relate to these articles. With that being said, I can't comprehend how Singapore's push to increase productivity will be successful. In the fantasy job I conjured up in my head, I have already given up hope of my workplace being tech savvy, well connected nor cutting edge. However, I didn't the ultimate barrier to increase productivity is human. Sometime, a minor change in mindset can increase productivity by many many folds but most rather stick with the old, tried and tested ways. Why take the risk? Although they claimed that they they are not sticking to old ways and actually re-rationalised the plans but these are just self engineered reasons to satisfy their own need to proclaim they are progressive. I am not against rationalising through everything. The thinking process helps me to think through things better. What I am against is when the outcome is clearly indicating a change is needed, they refuse to listen anymore.

Beside self deceiving, some even resort to "wayangness". I don't know what better word to use other than this colloquial term. Out come the bombastic new appointment names, nice sounding titles, exciting plans to revamp the system. What remain behind is everything else. I know a paradigm change takes time but in today's context, time is exactly what you don't have. One fine day, every shit that had piled up till now will eventually collapse onto you.

Somethings i really hate: hierarchy of stupidity. It is both stupid and unproductive. When a technical presentation on a not so simple topic has to be presented on a not so motivated nor educated audience, they demand that they comprehend somewhat abstract concepts in a rather short time frame. Furthermore, they add to the misery by dwelling on the really unimportant details. End result: stupid questions and impossible to answer questions. If I am going to conduct all these lessons, I might as well be a lecturer at least I know am speaking to a bunch of motivated audience. And they are not all trying to be smart alecs. Is it so hard to ask intelligent questions? Somehow, the higher they climb the more absurd the stupidity manifest. It is as if the higher you climb, you are allowed to ask stupider questions. Well, luckily there are always exceptions. Without those, life will suck really big time.

FlashFoward?

US drama and Manga are getting really complicated nowadays. It is no longer good vs evil but always something deeper, more thought provoking. Flashforward is so thought provoking that it triggered my lazy self to write a post: "if I want a flashforward?"

As insignificant as 2min 17 sec our our future compared to the millions of seconds in our lives may seem, it changes just everything. Knowing that I will be alive 6 months later will make me a daredevil to try everything humanly possible or not. Who wouldn't?

Then, I succumb to greed. Plans of making big bucks started popping up in my heads. I just have to simply copy down the 4d/toto/big sweep number and take them out during my flashforward, which would make me a tidy sum enough for me to live in luxury for the rest of my life. That was when I realised that flashforward is an impossible phenomenon. I am not a genius, just an average guy you see out in the street. If I can think of this in about 5 min, so can 99.99% of the world. If that's the case, wouldn't the flashforward just be the whole world reading and memorising numbers?

Time progresses in a linear path but it is definitely not a linear function. In fact, I see time as a human construct to simplify, quantify and track a value I don't know how to otherwise to describe other than time. Just as the past affects the present, the future influences the present too. A cycle will be more appropriate to describe the relationship between past, present and future instead of a linear one. Sadly, the world we live don't allow us to change the past nor see the future; present is the only thing we hold. Instead of dwelling on the unsurmountable feat of going back or forward in time, we should treasure the now we live in.

Myopic

On the last day of 2009, I made a sudden discovery. It's not really sudden per se; it is just that the realisation happened really suddenly. In an instance, I suddenly realised that the as the world grows richer, the people tend to look at the shorter term gains. Failing to consider or even choose to ignore the longer term vested interest. It is happening on all level and it's scary. One fine day, "The Age of Stupid" may be a real life event instead of a film. Financial crisis will occur again and again. And looking at history, you will know that history always repeats itself. If human race can't stop looking only at the short term goals, benefits, profits.... Fast pace of life, quick results (look at the number of EPL managers sacked) and the ever competitive world just make things worse. With that being said, I can offer no solutions at all. Maybe someone out there has one and has the will, power and motivation to materialise it. I hope it will be soon.

The Day I Almost Cried

People cry for many reasons. Although guys are not supposed to cry while females have all the rights in the world to do so, this social norm seem to get more blurred as the society progresses. Guys who cry nowadays are sensitive, understanding and everything nice while those who did in the the past are emotional, weak and everything bad. Today, the tears in my tear glands almost overflowed but that was the furthest it went. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't especially sad, angry or happy; I went to see a sensei regarding my nagging ankle problems. Disclaimer first, I didn't not cry because my auspicious 49 days excuse from running ended; I almost cried because of the pain, something I thought I could handle. I dare say it was one of my most painful experience ever. The thought of carrying out an Adebayor celebration did come across my mind but i simply can't run nor even walk half the pitch. No pain no gain. I do feel better after the earthshaking pain inflicting session. Hopefully, I will get to jog pain free soon.