Monday, April 30, 2007
Architects must...
Create like a God,
Command like a king,
Work like a slave.
... From my lecture notes.
jOhn thought at 4:58 AM
Monday, April 16, 2007
Balik Kampung
Back, safe, sound, and happy.
With almost 40kg of lugguage.
Wa.
Sheeeeet la.
Singapore is HOT la.
That's an understatement.
Can we tow our island to beside HK, please?
=/
jOhn thought at 11:47 AM
Friday, April 06, 2007
Born a Singaporean, always a Singaporean.
I've seen people spitting on floors within air-conditioned underground subway platforms, talking excessively loud in first class train carriages, clearing mucus from one's nose, and then flinging from finger to ground, and many, many more mortifying behaviours. (UPDATE: 2 more things i saw: a middle-aged man peeing on the road with his disgusting 'free willy', and people eating out of dustbins. I heard that some people plant the food there and eat it to gain the pity of passer-bys.)
The built environment in China may rival that of a developed country, with its flashy steel and glass, marble and granite. But the people are what matters, and nope, culture and refinement in mainland China is not just decades, but centuries behind the rest of the world. People who grow up in villages retain their behaviours even in cities, and it will be generations before 'social development' in China catches up with the West.
We Singaporeans, we are a distinguished bunch. We don't all realise it, but compared to a large chunk of Asia, we are far more privileged, and much more refined than many an Asian. Although many of us complain about 'oppresive' (rubbish) censorship and so-called 'stifling', we do not realise that this control has led to a prosperous, polished standard of life and discipline; habits and values which will go with us everywhere around the world, and keeps us ahead of those who are not yet taught at our level. It has earned the respect of the world, a privilege that we would not now enjoy had our government not been in charge for 40 straight years. 'Sold our soul for the world', you say? Well, if 'having a soul' means enduring a life of worry and crisis, then it is a surely erroneous definition.
No matter where we settle down in our later years, no matter which green pasture tempts us to pack up and leave, Home, with a capital 'H', will always be a little red dot, with its unmistakable streets of polish and politeness, with authority that actually has control over its charges. Freedom is found in self-expression, and not in the fostering of rebellious tendencies against all and any form of authority.
jOhn thought at 4:27 PM
Monday, April 02, 2007
Camwh_re
What do two interns in Hong Kong do on weekends?
RETAIL THERAPY!
Duh.
jOhn thought at 12:30 PM