Evolution

There was a group discussion about evolution recently and that night, I went home feeling unsettled and bothered. Having been in the science stream for half my life and having taken up tertiary units on genetics and biochemistry did little prod me to question about creation and evolution. I read of scientists who have become fierce atheists in the course of their research and work, case in point would be Richard Dawkins and others who manage to marry the concept of christianity and science. What is my stand? Well I've always believed that there is a God. There exists loopholes in science regarding evolution and the creation of earth/the universe, it still cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt that God and the concept of christianity is a fallacy. I believe that certain roman catholic traditions have been fabricated by men and that through history, christianity was politicized by leaders in order to gain control and power over their people. I've been force fed Roman Catholic dogma since I was a child (not that I paid any attention, really) and have not questioned my faith much, and like the majority of most born catholics, do not know the bible well. I've been on a journey of discovery trying to understand my faith and take a stand on what I truly believe in. I'm not sure if I'm ready to read any of Dawkin's or Darwin's books but I am very tempted. Perhaps it is imperative to really hunker down and read and understand the bible first and foremost before I even touch on things that try and debunk it.

My mother often tells me of local doctors that are a permanent fixture in the "socialite" circuit and many a luxury watch brand launch events. And I'm sure everyone would have recently read about a local doctor who threw an extremely lavish and expensive dinner for friends. It all just seems extravagant and wrong, to me. To be spending more than a thousand dollars on hair and nails, gowns/suits specially flown in from overseas for every event. Copious amounts of money lavished on primping, and luxury. All this, done with their patient's money. Money that could have come from a heavy loan for that needed heart bypass surgery, or from one's retirement fund for a cataract operation. The reality is, heathcare is still a business afterall, isn't it?

Thorn

One of the indulgences when I get the paycheck for the month, or two or three, is to head down to the florist near home to pick up some flowers. I am too much of a scrooge to pay for lilies and hence often end up with a bunch of affordable roses. Beggars can't be choosers. As much as I love roses, it completely astounds me how something of such immense beauty has, through evolution, crafted such a vicious defence mechanism. And yet, the rose is often symbolic of the profession of love for most.

It seems like love and pain have some sort of a symbiotic relationship, even in nature.

Thoughts

1) We recently caught The Phantom of the Opera and I must say more and more Singaporeans are actually dressing appropriately for the theatre! There were of course those that wore jeans! sandles! bermudas! but all in all we are definately improving. I wonder if it would help if sistic actually puts down a dress code on the tickets. I will always remember attending a Russian Opera at the Sydney Opera House with my German housemate and he made it a point to put on a suit even though he was a poor student. The caucasian man who sat next to me at the Phantom wore a suit as well. It isn't even about dressing with style or donning expensive outfits, it is simply dressing for the occassion. I hope things will keep on improving now that the residents of Singapore are becoming even more international.

2) I had to watch through an old episode of blogtv at work featuring food bloggers, where they invited KF Seetoh onto the show. He is loud and crass but I do admire his honesty. He was saying how food bloggers these days seem to constitute the yuppie crowd and are people that choose to use fancy phrases like "Oh it was SUBLIME" to describe their food, which makes it seems somewhat pretentious and "Chi Chi". He also made a very good point about blogs becoming too commercialized, which struck a cord with me.

I used to visit this rather popular food blogger's website very frequently because the writing is good, pictures are gorgeous and the site often features hole in the wall eating places. However, of late, the site has become cluttered with ads, even tagging words in the body of the post itself. As innovative and lucrative as it is, it has really put me off visiting the site these days. I suppose it is because I am beginning to find the food reviews suspect and one wonders if it is actually a genuine post or one that is plugging the place in return for protfit. So has the original goal of setting up the blog been corrupted along the way? I suppose one can argue that there's nothing wrong with turning one's interest and passion into a money generating platform right? Interesting. Don't you just love the digital age :p

Renewal

Today someone stopped believing and is looking for a renewal of sorts, for redemption, and so ticks the clock.
Today I realised I've gone through a slow and painful renewal process and started believing all over again.
Someone dies, someone is born.

This is our land

If the brother makes it through interviews, he will be staying on in London over summer for his internship at a foreign think tank. All of us were looking forward to his return, but we support his decision nonetheless. It has been a very uphill battle for him, trying to secure a good internship in Singapore. Most of the local ministries reserve a large portion of their internship positions for scholars who are required to do complusory internships during their vacations. And even with his illustrious CV, he has had so many disappointments with his applications, with none even granting him an interview. Speaking to him last week just broke my heart, because he works very hard and I know that anyone who takes him in will stand to benefit from his astute analytical mind and dilligence. Having said that, is it really imperative to have scholars as a majority to paper push over summer? What happened to unadulterated meritocracy and a level playing field? Bah.

Choices

The choices you make affect you and the people around you

From the everyday things like: choosing what the wear for work, choosing what you would like for lunch, choosing if you should meet up friends for dinner for the evening or do something else, choosing if you should paint your nails red or black, choosing between buying 2 outfits, books, bags.
To personal things like: I choose to be happy today, I choose to take my new job in my stride and face the challenges, I choose not to wallow, I choose to make good of the situation at hand, I choose to be a moral upright person, I choose not to be judgemental, I choose not to be lazy, I choose to keep on top of things.
To relational issues like: I choose to accept my friend for the way he/she is, I choose to love my family even though they have hurt me, I choose not to sleep with another person out of respect and love for my partner, I choose to communicate, I choose to forgive and let go.

What have your choices been so far?

Put into action

Making a promise, making plans to do something, making plans for change etc... just takes a little momentary excitement and some insipration/motivation for one to verbalize a decision or a plan of action, what I call the initial projectile force.

Setting the wheels in motion takes more effort after the initial grand plan/decision/promise making, and most times, we fail to get out of our inertia. However, once the initial push is administered, the force generated sustains the motion for X amount of time. This force will however fizzle out if self-sustaining momentum has not been achieved.

Self-sustaining momentum is one of life's most difficult tasks. Many of us often fail to see things from begining right through to the very end, and what often starts out promises/plans/decisions of good intentions often never materializes or fails halfway. This often results in broken promises, failed projects, forgotten dreams and eventual dissapointment.

I personally feel that there are 2 ways around this:

1) Perhaps if one only says things or make plans for things that one really means to and are truly committed in doing. This is difficult because we are all eager to please. Be it superiors/friends/loved ones, the reality is that we DO CARE what people we care about think about us (Well apart from the minority that really do not give a rats ass about what anyone else thinks).
2) Decisions that one makes that is visible and that one is answerable to others, I feel, should really be seen through right to the end, because that reflects on your dependability as a person/friend/collegue/partner/loved one. As for personal goals or change or dreams that one has managed to set into motion, good for you I say! Now, the tough part would be to find your own self sustaining momentum. You are, answerable to yourself, and disspointment will be with yourself, but at least this is contained and you are not answerable to anyone else.

Gosh, I'm really rattling on.
This is quite enough for now.

Plans to tag along this week on a trip to Pattaya kindly sponsored by Dezzo fell through, which is a shame because I was really looking forward to reading by the beach, and of course, indulging in massages and food while Dezzo did his thing. In any case I told myself that mopping was not an option and so, decided to arrange for a massage, and proceeded to ask my mother for the number of her regular masseuse. She told me that she had been given a voucher for complimentary full body massage at a spa at one of our local hotels for her birthday and told me to use that instead. Elated, I thanked her and told her to go ahead to make the arrangements to transfer the voucher to my name.

Fast forward to today, a week after the intial bookings and transfer had been finalized. I called the spa to change my appointment. The receptionist, probably a lady her early 20's answered my call with the standard pleasantries. I then gave her my name and appointement time and requested for a change of date. I could hear her flipping through the big appointment book and finger my name under said date and time.

"Orrrr you using XXX bank voucher one is it?"
"Yes that's right, could you change my appointment please"
"Have you been to our Spa before?"
"No I have not"
Taps pen on appointment book takes a deep breath and says "Ok Lah Ok Lah" in an indignant tone.
Before I could even say THANK YOU and GOODBYE, she put down the phone.

I'm not sure i my sensitivity radar was in overdrive but I distinctly felt a change of attitude and air when she realised that I was utilizing a voucher for my massage. I had initially wanted to enquire about their pedicure service as I thought it would be nice to actually pay for one of their services after using the voucher. Unfortunately, in her haste to end the call she had lost her company some business. It really cheeses me off when companies who give out vouchers, in an effort to market their business treat customers who utilize these vouchers like free loaders trying to sponge off on their freebies. They have to realise that we still deserve the same respect as and at the very least the same amout of courtesy just like any other paying client. If this is indeed a marketing tool then they should be doing their very best to promote and provide excellent service to the users of their vouchers. Only then would the purpose of the voucher marketing strategy be met. I may sign up for a package, I may tell my friends about the wonderful experience I had at their outfit, I may go back there to try out their other services.

I don't usually exploit free vouchers or discount coupons just to get a good deal, so this is all very dissapointing. Well, let's see how the massage goes. If the service is going to be equally shabby, I'm going to write in to XXX bank and ask them to reconsider their partnership with said spa, it is afterall, bad representation for the bank as well.

This is our Land

I am very happy with the direction that the Singapore government is taking in terms of education, as Singapore gears up for a population of 6 million and beyond. I was very impressed with their decision to start up a small culinary school to train up chefs as the majority of our talented ones are being shanghaied overseas with better career advancement and pay prospects. Yes I suppose one could argue that this is purely a consequence of the lack of a well rounded, all encompassing education system, one that purely focused on academia and the honing of specific occupations (like the oversaturation of engineers in the market now). Yes we may have been that way for many many years, but I am glad that they are doing something about it. Better late than never.

What I would give to be a child of the 21st century, with the assortment of various courses available, the 2 big local design outfits, the 3 major universities, the plethora of distance learning institutions and renowned offshore universities like UNSW and DUKE setting up shop on our tiny island. This is truly becoming a land of opportunities, and I used to think that one could not make it big in Singapore simply by working hard. I am begining to see that that may no longer be the case. With programmes to help people upgrade their skills, and opportunities to return to school if you so choose to, our options are limitless.

Let us stop winging about the lack of opportunities and how life is difficult on our island and fully exploit the choices that have been laid before us. Never take no for an answer, never look back with regret and excel to your fullest potential. Because honestly, this is the one shot we have at living (well, that's if you don't believe in reincarnation, if not one could pray to lead the perfect life as a cat in the next life) the one shot at leaving your mark, at changing the world/people around you. If you are like me and are in your late twenties, we have another good 30 odd years to work, live and learn. Think about it. Would you want to lie on your death bed and say... I was mediocre?