Wow two years since my last post.  How time just zipped by - with the Covid lockdown and changing measures for the community, it's surprising.  

The thing about life I guess is, to take it by the horns and just deal with it, the best way we can.

I have been very fortunate.  My life hardly suffered drastically.  In fact, this lockdown even gave me the opportunity to dabble in things I otherwise might not have thought about.  Likewise for a lot of my friends, who took up cooking, baking and we kept ourselves on this new schedule by being food testers for one another - and now, we are finally emerging from the pandemic and moving on to managing the Omicron even as life starts to revert to a new normal.

We were blessed to never have had to lose our jobs, take compulsory leave or anything of that sort.  Life just went on and we still had time to dine out, albeit in much smaller groups.  Perhaps we all had the same mindset, live every day purposefully and manage the disruptions positively.  

CNY is just a week away and we have planned reunion lunches, spaced out of course but nevertheless, we collectively do believe there is something to celebrate.  So from next week, we will celebrate the new year, masks on, hand sanitisers in hand and keeping to our little groups.  But celebrate we will, after holding back for 2 years, actually just one, because covid hit just after the CNY years ago.  

As confused as we were, we did not protest or whatever.  We are all thinking individuals and whether we agree or not, to how this pandemic is being handled, we did what was put in place for the recovery of our community.

The great thing is, our environment is recovering from the no fly zones. That is the biggest joke of all.  But isn't that reality?  Planes simply burn holes in our ozone layer and this pandemic actually bought Earth some recovery time as well.  Many people say, this is the great reset.  Well, I agree that our climate needed this.  

As the CNY draws closer, I do look forward to new challenges and smiles for all.

almost bye bye 2019

Two days and we are done with 2019.  I have no regrets about 2019 - overall I have had a good year.  I am blessed.

Moving forward, I believe there will be changes for me on the cards, so to speak.  After all, the Year of the Rat is the start of a new cycle for everyone.

There were no surprises in 2019 thus far and I am grateful for that.  I was never into surprises.  I prefer schedules and plans.  I wish I did have time to travel a bit more but my schedules just was too tight.  Hopefully, I will be able to squeeze in a trip in Feb.

I hope that with 2019 going and soon to be 'gone', it just might have been that the slate has been wiped clean - I can really move forward and be subconsciously free.

Everyone makes mistakes. Question should be, to what degree?

I read with interest, a few commentaries about how people should ideally understand that 'people make mistakes, and perhaps even served time for their crime'.  I also know that terrible outbursts to scare another person or threaten, is NOT a socially accepted behaviour, anywhere in the civilised world.  Now why would anyone want to commit a crime punishable by the laws of the land?  Something is obviously wrong there.

For the victim or their families, the punishment delivered will never be enough. 

So how does one move on from a life of wrecking havoc on others?  Frankly, I do not know because it's unthinkable for me, to want to cause that degree of damage.  Words can be exchanged but that should be it.  Agree to disagree loudly.  I draw the line at physical harm because, that is just taking full advantage of the aggressor's position ie physically stronger, larger, with nothing to loose except their online reputation.

I am familiar with stories of people who moved on from their childhood issues and transited into adulthood well.  That's because, no matter what they did, they never wanted to physically hurt anyone but to for their less eloquent grasp of language, may have been verbally aggressive. We see that in our schools today.  Children who do no more than use bad language, insults and throwing tantrums, at teachers.  Yet, a lot of them grow out of it, with intervention and parental involvement.

To be an adult who mindlessly breaks civil law by disrupting the peace among the people there is not something an adult should even have as an option in his book.

Yet here are articles about people who are the aggressor, whining about why they are not being forgiven by the online community.
This is clearly, them, not understanding that if society is soft, we do not get to walk about here safe and with peace of mind. 

If anyone gave a thought about their future, they won't be in that situation already.
So if one is a late starter and now an ex-convict, well, work hard then.  Work hard to prove that you can be as responsible.  Whining isn't going to get you anywhere.

Make your bed, lie on it.

Seems harsh.  Perhaps.  After all, I do want to believe that this place I call home, is safe and for everyone who deems her our home.

Keep in line and don't be a pest to others.  Be helpful.  Be useful.
Life isn't fair.  It never was.  We are all dealt cards.  Some by choice, mostly not.  So who should be shouting louder?  The family whose loved ones was robbed of their tomorrows by a hot-head? Or the family who lost loved ones in a horrible natural disaster.

It's not that I don't have empathy.  I just am rather particular where my empathy goes to.

Spend SGD in SGD

Singaporeans cancel CNY shopping trips to Johor

http://www.asiaone.com/malaysia/singaporeans-cancel-cny-shopping-trips-johor

Wow, I'm glad to hear that at least I'm not alone.  I started going over to JB to buy the famous Eureka popcorn last year.  But once the nonsense started, I stopped.  I don't spend much there, but still, I felt that I should support our economy and grow a thin skin.  Why should I rush there, get stuck in the massive traffic jam, only to have them look at us as if we are HARDUP.

Yes, it's way cheaper to buy the popcorn there, but you know what, I can always buy something else for the household.  We could just revert to DORITOS.

This annoying issue with the powerhouse across the causeway is really OLD.  Don't people move on?  If their idea of building a neighbourly relationship means bullying us, then sorry, why should we spend our SGD there?

Of course there are Singaporeans who still cross over to fill up petrol in their cars - to which I have this to say:  If you wanna be so petty about money you spend on your car, perhaps it is time to take public transportation.

Some others live and study here....but they rent out their HDB flat.  To them it's a win-win.
Well, money is and always will be hard-earned...easy money never lasts - but I guess if people choose to wake up very early in the morning for school and work here, then it's their 'quality of life' in question.  If they can live with that, then that's not my problem.  I still get my full 8 hours of sleep and zero stress when shuttling between work and home. 

Difficult to question loyalty - since if we start this up, some people may think we are meddling in politics.
The truth of the matter is not politics.
It's about pride.

The other side has obviously taken our SGD spending there for granted. 
They threaten our water supply, they intrude our waters and they keep re-drawing their map.

Sound familiar?

All I know is, Malaysia will no longer be my destination of choice for even holidays now.  I rather just fly to Thailand. 
I'm just glad, I'm not the only Singaporean who feel that we should and must stand with our government and the law.

It's either that, or we get taken for a long wild ride.

Life Choices - stick to it!

What I find most annoying is when people decide on a course, after causing a tsunami, and then back track because it suits them better.

This is not about 'hey I made a mistake'.  Such people NEVER will admit it's their mistake, that's the problem.  They will turn and point fingers to anyone else, who isn't in their line of vision. 

I had to learn things the hard way - simply because my parents, never bothered to be parents.  They don't talk to us children, neither do they have conversations with us.  Yet, my generation grew up well.  In fact, we tended to do better - in terms of our ability to survive the toils. Perhaps we did not have the distraction of IT to set us off the tangent.  All we had was time....time to think about the best solution....time to think about how to fix a problem.  We did not believe in hand-outs. 

Today, I see children, just waiting at the sidelines for some.  Doesn't matter how much...ten dollars, ten thousand dollars....they are so into freebies that they don't care about their moral conduct.

Nways, lucky me, I'm past this.  I don't have to actually deal with it.  I hear about it.  I see it.  BUT it isn't something that I have to manage.  These are not my adult children.

My bottom line, at this start of the new year, is simple.

Have some pride.
Make a choice, stick to it.  If it doesn't work out, re-draw the path and try another.
By that I do not mean, find another scapegoat.
I mean, learn from what didn't work and work on what has a better possibility of succeeding.

Be your own person.  It's a lot to ask.  To ask people to HAVE SOME PRIDE, SAVE SOME FACE.

Do that so that when you are dying, you know you have lived your life well.

Audacity of it all

What's up with people who keep trying to merge past and present?

For starters, SOME people are able to move on, without tripping over baggage....I am one of the SOME. 
It's probably called 'heartless', 'heart of stone', 'inhuman' (not inhumane) - whatever people like to label it, that's me - a person who is able to store all the bitterness, anger in some abyss with no gps locator, and continue living my life.

Now, for all my bad choices in life, I have had to start, re-start life, several times.
Do I regret - NO. 
Why - coz I know re-starting is just an accelerated busy which will just ease out. Plus, that gives me first-hand experience to boot.

What people don't expect is for me to always come out on top.
What people don't think about is why I don't get affected.

Firstly, because I earn my own keep, money is secondary.  It always is.  How much I want to have, is determined by me, not anyone else.  I never ever have to worry about getting too much because of this reason or that.  For years now, I'm semi-retired.  If I retire now, I'll be too bored.

I don't have huge trust funds, nor did I bother to hang around my ageing parents to get some money before they passed.  I can stand tall today and any day, that I AM A SELF-MADE PERSON.  I never married anyone who supported me financially.  Never forced child maintenance upon them.  NEVER asked for shares in the HDB flat after divorce.

These are the reasons why, I can just walk OUT and OFF.

Favours I do, comes with a karmic price-tag.
If people don't know that then well, they are obviously not very bright.

This is also why, I don't bother.  When people fail me, I move on and accept the next challenge.

I knew my purpose in life, long time ago - and I live my life with pride.

What disgusts me is when outsiders try to poke into my business because they expect that I have emotions like them....want to preserve family ties, etc.

BOTTOM LINE
If one has lived life independently, free from noisy useless inputs of others, & is at one's best, one will not desire to introduce variables into this balanced construct. 

If it's not your business, stay out of it.
If it's supposed to be your business, it would never have been an issue for starters.

If someone hasn't bothered to locate you, it's because you're of no value to them - and by that I'm not talking about DOLLARS. 

In any case, 2019 is starting out well and if this momentum continues, it will be over faster than 2018.

Faster is better for everyone.  Tribulation can't arrive quicker.

Ready, Set, Go

Finally, we are in the year 2019.

I think and believe that MANY people were waiting for 2019, simply because, the past two years at least, were so full of 'turmoil' i.e. messy world.
I don't think people believe that the world will 'clear' the mess up in 2019, but rather believe that after generations of mess, something has gotta give.

For Christians, it's the TRIBULATION.  Everywhere you look on the internet, there is 'talk' about the 3 days of darkness etc.  Yes, I do agree, that in my lifetime, there has been such talk before, not once but several times.  BUT this time, it is different, because this time, BIBLE geeks have actually looked into the Holy text and transcribed them for us lay people.

Now, I may not be a 'born again Christian'....or a practising Catholic, I'm not a Christian with a set of rules I follow.
BUT I believe in GOD, the Father Almighty.

I believe He, made me.
I believe that He, gave me shelter.
I believe that He, saved me.

I don't like to label anything, or anyone, when it comes to the 'christian GOD' because the concept of GOD i grew up with is Judaism.

If I am going to get into all that, then it's just going to confuse things and the end result is, I will miss the big picture.

SO, with the world being so uncertain, in terms of where it's going, better leave the confusion and get to the point.

DO we believe in the good, or the evil?

Just make a choice.

Is killing another good?  If it's not, then it's evil.
If people cannot tell that apart, then go back to societal codes for justice.  Does the justice system say we are allowed to take a life?  If not, then that's evil.

Blood Moon is coming.
Yes, many have come and gone.
BUT this coming one, is apparently coming with baggage.

Let's prepare to head back home....lest we miss the boat.