The final year of my twenties!

Holy shit! It's nearing end of July. As a result of not blogging regularly, be warned I'm probably going to burst in this blog.

I rushed home to get all of it out as much as possible, so I can make some extra space in my head to maintain a hypothetical vacuum.

10 years ago on July 19th, I landed in Singapore for the first time. What a saga it's been! So what's different between Shu now and the Shu who landed here 10 years ago? Summing up in a few words, I'd say the now-Shu is richer, more confident, wiser, more positive, more comfortable in her skin, happier and more out-spoken than that shy, timid 19-year girl who left home alone for the first time. It hasn't been a journey without adversity, but I've surfaced and I am doing alright. *Pats self on the back*

For all I know, the Shu of 10 years from now may find now-Shu to be highly conceited.

Sir Little John is away on vacation for 3 weeks! I was given a long list of to-dos in his absence but to be honest, without his actual presence, I drift to day dream mode too much. Actually, it's terrible. Left to myself, my hyperactive brain drives me crazy with mind chatter. I foresee more blog posts in the next few weeks.

We are bombarded these days with disturbing news of the second Malaysian passenger plane MH17 that met with an unfortunate disaster resulting in the loss of 298 precious lives. Not only that, there's more unrest and violence going around all over the world. I wish people would just stop trying to hurt and kill each other. In other curious news, the local library board has come under fire for planning to destroy three children's titles after it received e-mail complaints that the books are not "pro-family". Following public criticism, two of the remaining books have been moved to the adults section, where parents can opt to let their children read it under supervision.

And Tango Makes Three (based on a real zoo story) features two male penguins who behave as though they are a couple and raise a chick.

Shu thought to herself "Let's eat some non-Asian-ish dinner tonight - you know, food that hasn't been boiled beyond recognition or bathed in a sea of spices". So a cup of home made (and home grown) avocado milkshake, with raw tomatoes and a fat mushroom bun it was.

I went to a spa today. Who knew a simple bookworm can get rewarded with a complimentary spa on their birthday month for being loyal member of a particular book store chain! I double checked with trusted friend/ bookworm Katy Kat to make sure it wasn't some prank because it sounded too good to be true. I went anyway. And it was a good call. I explored a new area of Singapore and just like they promised, I relaxed my tensed muscles, reduced water retention and enhanced my blood circulation. Look at me blogging away!

After the "aromatherapy wellness treatment" and as I expected, I was enticed to sign up for an attractive 10-session package deal at $680 ("Interest free installments for credit card payment!! Get 2 additional sessions for free!! Get 12 body scrub sessions also for free if you sign up today!! Let me talk to my manager to get you a special 7-session package at a students' rate!!" Why, I'm not even a student). 

I guess I've become better at politely declining persuasive sales people. When faced with such situations, I now picture myself to be a brick wall and watch them attempt to walk past it after I've nicely said "No, Thank you." *evil grin* 

It took many years to develop this skill. I remember an occasion when as a student, I responded to quiz on TV and was notified I was the winner of a free facial and skin consultation session with a leading skin care company. I was a beggarly student back then and willing to pounce on any free lunches that came my way (Really Shu?? Didn't you go claim a free spa session just today??). So I went feeling like a real winner and after a pampering facial session, two aggressive saleswomen cornered me in a room and coerced me to sign up for a package deal. I desperately refused many times saying I only had a couple of hundreds left in my account to live through an entire vacation month and spending $180 was not an option, but they didn't let it go. In the end (very nearly in tears), I signed up just to get away from there, wasted a precious $180 and never even went to claim those paid facial treatments. I ended up borrowing cash from a friend to live through that semester break.

Another one of my housemates is leaving the country next month and we're down to two in a big house. Very unwillingly and with the intention of retaining our comfortable apartment, we advertised our master room to potential tenants. Day before yesterday, our new flatmates moved in. To protect their anonymity, I shall call them Brother Bear and Goldilocks. Sharing a living space with other humans is not always fun (they could be serial killers, for example) so I drafted a lengthy list of terms of conditions in case we end up with a bad experience. Also if problems escalate, a nitpicky and passive aggressive Shu is not pleasant to deal with.

Dear Brother Bear and Goldilocks,

We are happy to welcome you both as our flatmates! [Well, sort of.] 

Here's a re-cap of what we agreed on before you moved in and a few other things (that we may have failed to mention that day) which is better agreed upon as early as possible. If you have any concerns on any of the items below or want to add in any other conditions, we can discuss further.

1. The Contract
Your agreement with us is for the use of the master room from 19 July 2014 to 31 December 2014.
The monthly rent for the master room should be paid no later than the 28th of every month.
You will have to pay a little excess for the utilities in case you have family members visiting and the monthly bills go above average.
You will receive 1 copy of the keys for the master room, front door, gate and mailbox.

2. Utilities Usage
Your rental amount includes water, electricity and Internet (wi-fi).
Air conditioning is not included in your rental amount, but if you need it, we can arrange it at an additional charge since our monthly utility costs will then increase and there will be regular AC unit servicing charges.
You are free to use the Cable TV service while it is available and this will be considered as "complimentary".
We also hope that you will exercise good judgement in conserving water and electricity.

3. Use of common areas, appliances and other items
All common areas in the house can be used freely without restrictions.
Common appliances such as the washing machine, kettle, toaster, rice cooker, microwave, oven, TV and iron are for everyone's use with no restrictions.
Common expenses like the gas cylinder for cooking, toilet paper, kitchen towels, dishwashing liquid, cleaning fluids, small repairs not covered by the landlord, etc will be charged to the common house account to be shared by all of us.
Normally anyone can buy common items required, retain the receipt and claim it later.
Please buy your own laundry detergent.

[We missed to mention not to leave the toilet seat up. Grrr.]

4. Food
We have no restrictions on your cooking schedules.
You can use any of the utensils (saucepans, cups, dishware, etc) available in the kitchen.
For convenience, let's manage our accounts separately for food items such as vegetables, rice, bread, tea, milk powder, sugar, other groceries, etc.

5. Visitors
As a gesture of courtesy, please inform us in advance if you are expecting any visitors.
For the comfort of everyone, we try to entertain our visitors with minimal disturbances to the main tenants.

6. Keeping our living space clean
As agreed, we will take turns to clean the common areas in the house (hall, toilet upstairs, kitchen + toilet downstairs + laundry area) within the agreed dates.
Cleaning will be done at least once a month or more if required .
General cleanliness of common areas and courtesy is expected for the comfort of all tenants e.g. not leaving dirty dishes in the sink for too long, emptying dustbins regularly to keep away cockroaches, keeping the fridge clean and free of old food, cleaning any spills, removing laundry from the clothsline when dry, etc.

7. Renewal of contract
Subject to agreement from you and us, we can consider renewing the contract for another term of 6-months or 1-year. This can be finalised around Oct-Nov 2014. Note that the final approval lies with the landlord and the Housing Development Board.

8. Termination of the contract
As this is a 6-month contract and our ability to keep the house depends on us having enough people to share the total rent, we hope you will understand that and not terminate the contract early so we won't have to go through the trouble of looking for new tenants once again or end up paying more individually till our contract ends.

9. Conflicts of interest
Let's agree to communicate openly and directly on any concerns so we can resolve them early and avoid any unpleasant situations. 

Please review all of the above and let us know if you have any concerns. Otherwise, drop us a reply to confirm your acceptance of our conditions. [WE HAVEN'T SEEN AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT YET.]

Thanks and we hope you will have a comfortable stay in your new home in Singapore.


It's late, and I should probably blog about my holiday in Sri Lanka another time. 

PS: I turned 29 this month! 

The Hobbit

In preparation for the movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in December this year, I just finished reading The Hobbit! I felt like I read a brand new story all over again (I had forgotten most of it!) and loved it even more than I did two years back.

The Smaug I pictured was more pink and less-evil looking!

The style of narration and the vivid descriptions of Tolkein are EPIC, for lack of a better deserving word in my limited vocabulary. And he didn't forget to add in a good dose of humour here and there for chuckles! For the whole book, I felt like a child very eager to keep on reading to see how the story unfolded. The voice in the book takes his time with the narration too, so that I was able to picture all the mountains, the rivers, Gollum, the dwarves, the elves, Gandalf, the eagles and of course Smaug the dragon in full colour while 'listening'. I suppose watching the Lord of the Rings movies helped with the imagination of scenes and characters. Fantasy elements aside, this heart-warming story shows so much courage in the face of odds, friendship among the main characters and even some darker sides of 'human' nature. I can't wait to see how the movie (or movies, rather) turns out! I am glad they decided to make more than one movie to try and cover all the details in this book, or justice will not be served in one rushed movie. The price to pay is having to wait till 2014 to see the third concluding movie.

December, I look forward to you!

Just one blog post ago, I was harping about practicing equality and tolerance towards differences so when I saw it, I couldn't resist the urge to pick on an article like this one! I suspect bad translation skills also played a part in addition to narrow minded views, bad research and poorly planned content behind this article.

Quote (in black)-

The Education Ministry had endorsed "guidelines" to help parents to identify gay and lesbian "symptoms" in their children so they can take early corrective measurements. 

Translate: The highest government authority that represents intelligence and knowledge has called upon parents with immediate urgency to identify any symptoms in their children relating to this horrifying disease of homosexuality so that together, they may avoid an epidermic of catastrophic proportions and possibly eradicate it like small pox.

The guidelines list four symptoms each of gays and lesbians:

Why stick to four, is it a magic number?

Symptoms of gays:
Have a muscular body and like to show their body by wearing V-neck (the key letter here is "V" shaped, no, not "U" shaped or "W" shaped) and sleeveless clothes; Prefer tight and light-coloured clothes (that is such an over-sized generalisation, but that's okay, light-coloured clothes still make up 50% of all clothes, compared to dark-coloured clothes); Attracted to men (notice how this is symptom number 3); and Like to bring big handbags, similar to those used by women, when hanging out. (if he is carrying a sporty bag when hanging out, then relax, he's definitely not gay) 

Symptoms of lesbians:
Attracted to women; Besides their female companions, they will distance themselves from other women (wow, these lesbians are so anti-social); Like to hang out (who doesn't luurve to hang out?), have meals (Oh, they like food too!) and sleep in the company of women (wait, isn't that duplicating symptom 1?); and Have no affection for men (no affection even for male friends, male teachers, fathers or brothers? So depressing. Tsk Tsk)

"Once the children have these symptoms, immediate attention should be given," the guidelines warn.

Translate: RUN. TO THE NEAREST MENTAL HEALTH INSTITUTION/ POLICE STATION/ EXORCIST. GET THEM CURED AND PLEASE HURRY. IT MIGHT BE CONTAGIOUS.

-Unquote

Give me a freaking break, Education Ministry of Malaysia.

A grey matter

Religion is another unique set of belief systems that people choose to embrace for one reason or another. Some fall into a particular religion merely by circumstance of birth or geographical location, others voluntarily take up a religion because it may appeal to them more than others and some others convert by obligation of marriage or in exchange for support received by other religious affiliations. And then there are those who refuse to be identified as belonging to a particular organised religion. Labels to describe different types of belief systems or lack of any, can be found in abundance, so I am not going to list them out here. But whatever the individual belief may be, most people are willing to bet their lives to defend their belief, while usually putting down or denying other belief systems. Not only that, religious debates can go on (often inconclusively) for a long, long time!

Looking through an objective standpoint, organised religions are many-faceted. They all have more than one of the following general characteristics;

• It has moral guidelines for happiness and harmony
• It can be philosophical and appeals to the intellect
• It gives people a sense of comfort, security and purpose
• It has larger-than-life explanations to explain the un-explainable
• It controls by fear of punishment, the notion of the after-life and by discouraging the questioning of the teachings
• It is sometimes driven by political agendas
• It unites people under one purpose to achieve feats (both good and bad) that one individual simply cannot accomplish alone
• Religious texts often reflect various inequalities that were predominant in societies thousands of years ago during the times when these texts were written. Examples include: believer-non believer, male-female, master-slave, man-animal, heterosexual-homosexual, high caste-low caste, etc

The list is not exhaustive.

Why does a religion appeal so much? Reasons are varied from receiving guidance on how best to live a good life, finding strength or inspiration when it is much needed, finding inner peace, maintaining law and order in a community, securing a good after-life, receiving divine favours or miracles, tapping into higher states of mental consciousness or even finding answers to some of life's burning questions like our origins and purpose. Man's primary intention to seek refuge in religion is mostly for positive reasons rather than negative ones. Based on this need, religions have thrived for centuries and many try to keep up with changing times to maintain the appeal.

Not all religions survive the test of time - depicted here are the Olympian Gods of ancient Greece

Organised religions of today may have evolved from the time our ancestors tried to explain mysterious natural occurrences around them that went beyond their understanding. It is not hard to imagine that people instinctively respected and feared these powerful forces which had the power to destroy and create our existence. Then there were various religious figures who rose to prominence for their realisations, teachings, causes and impact. Crowds gathered around them for the same reasons that people still seek out religions - for answers, for happiness, for comfort, for peace. Over time, various religions were born and spread geographically. They were handed down from generation to generation with the aid of religious texts, devout followers, strict rules and their fusion with cultural elements. Not surprisingly, religions in the past have heavily influenced everything in a society from culture, traditions, attitudes, education, art, music, dance, literature, drama, philosophy, architecture, sport, food, politics, terrorism to wars. Some of these are slowly changing with growing knowledge of Science, globalisation, the Internet, advancement of human rights movements for equality, etc.

A great piece of Western classical music inspired by strong religious faith, no doubt

As much as religious influences have potential for much good in the world, sometimes it can take a bad turn to bring about much misery and imbalance to the world. The world has seen some of the best forms of expressions in the arts, music and expression arising from the profound connection that man has with his spiritual side. Religion can also be a strong driving factor for people to overcome their weaknesses and help others in need. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some teachings have been taught or interpreted in extreme ways and people have found themselves deluded to the point that they choose violence and mental manipulation in spreading their dogmatic views. I think, somewhere in between these two extremes lie a majority of the world's population consisting of people with moderate, little or no religious beliefs.

It's amazing what love, riches and a vision combined can achieve. That aside, the architecture of Taj Mahal showcases religious influence

What prompted me to write this post was seeing a religious post on my Facebook feed. A person from religion X warned others of deceitful ways that followers were converted to other religions by organised groups. Out of curiosity, I dug for more information. Using the details of a case where authorities cracked down on a ring of offenders, he went on to use references from the country's ancient history to state why religion X earned superior status in the country and had to be protected. To me, it reeked of extremist religious views. His opinions gathered passionate support from a group of followers of religion X who felt the same. Of course, people who abuse the law by bribery, disrupt religious harmony or use forceful or deceitful ways to coerce people into conversions in faith have to be dealt with seriously by the authorities. I believe there are laws in multi-religious countries for such offences.

Is there a need to be so insecure over losing followers if they were considered as people who were capable of thinking for themselves and were at liberty to embrace whatever religion or philosophy that made sense to them? If a religious community feels forced to protect its people like sheep out of fear that they'll be taken away or if a religious community feels driven to resort to forceful or deceitful ways to subscribe new followers, then clearly the motives in both cases are more political than moral. Also, acting out in this way reveals that something is not fundamentally right either in a religion's teachings or in the way that it is preached and practiced. This is just one example and this type of insecurity is not uncommon in most religions.

Anyway, this post was not written with malice towards any particular religion, rather it was a neutral standpoint to touch on all the general aspects that I thought revolved around the concept. Growing up in a multi-cultural school that didn't offer any religion as a subject (now I see how that was perhaps a clever idea to foster unity), growing up with friends from various religions, living in households with people practising different faiths and living in countries with varied religious influences have made me indifferent over the years to what others decide to embrace as their religion. It only bothers me when they try to justify and get away with something immoral, unethical, irrational or ignorant using their religion as an excuse.

Regardless of our differences in religious labels, what would be nice to have in the world are people who exercise their intellect and better judgement to respect all living things, make ethical choices that benefit everyone and practice tolerance towards the differences in race, religion, gender, species, sexual orientation, etc, that exist among us today.

Is it too much to ask?