2010...19 days on

I have...

...started typing using proper casing in my blog posts and tweets (omg, when did that happen!).

...completed 2 football matches in the last 2 weeks. Really nice to finally get back on the field again after more than a year...slowly working myself back into fitness. Also heard from Minjie that we may take part in the Church League again!

...sung with the Trinity choir for their Christmas and Watchnight services. Even though I missed out on the New Year's Eve fireworks, the choir created our own "fireworks" during the Watchnight service and it was really such a blessed experience to have served with them.

...thought about changing my blog skin. Any volunteers? :P

There are other stuff on my mind and that have happened over the last 19 days of course. But I guess, as insignificant as they seem, these things just happen to be at the top of my mind (not in terms of priorities).

refreshed!

it's been two and a half weeks at national health group (nhg) and i'm quite enjoying my time. it's been a long time since i've said that, also noticed by wong, whom i've known since my poly days. besides my close group, wong is the probably the other person whom i was really close with during my poly days. all the hours spent in his cd shop - when i've skipped class (which is nearly all the time) - just talking about music, girls and about life in general. after my ill-fated stint with the people's association (pa), i'm determined that i will never again step into the civil service again. for those six months, i felt stupid, useless and strangled. but all that's in the past now and all i can say is that some people are cut out for the government sector and others (like me) are just not.

now at nhg, i'm regularly leaving office at least one hour after official hours but not once has it felt enforced upon me. in fact, it's been such a smooth transition, it feels like i've been here much longer than the two and a half weeks. in fact i've not felt so refreshed and challenged since the first time i was at manpower.

on a separate note, i will be part of the choir singing at my church's christmas services! i seriously don't know what got into me to make me sign up (dragging jana along). in fact, the last time i've taken to the stage was during the manpower's dinner and dance when i had jack, alvin, eric, sheena and alex along. even then, it was to an audience which was familiar to me and one that was less than a hundred. come christmas, i will be singing alongside unfamiliar faces, facing a packed auditorium made up of thousands of strangers. a nerve wrecking thought but...i'm really looking forward to it (especially when jana is also in the choir...i mean how cool is that!). :) can't wait for the first rehearsal this sunday!

hyper boleh!

felix's sessions on writing have been a real eye-opener. not just because he is a journalist or a writer or a lecturer or a critic, but because he is all that. while i thought that it was a most useful session, my fellow attendees spoke about getting felix to "adapt" to the civil service style of writing or how they were trying to stay awake. i will save my comments about their typical civil servant attitudes for another time.

much as i have enjoyed the sessions, i do not agree with everything no matter how correct they are (yes, i disagree with the "correctness" of some of them). probably my biggest disagreement was the use of "hyperboles" in writing. (a hyperbole is an exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect; an extravagant statement).

according to him, hyperboles serve no purpose other than take up more space. here are some of his examples:

"freak accident" - every accident is freakish in nature. which accident was planned?
"innocent bystander" - "innocent" is redundant because a bystander is always innocent.
"latest update" - updates are meant to be the latest news.
"significant milestone" - milestones are all significant.

while i agree that hyperboles are redundant in writing, my bone of contention is from the readers' point of view. with so much information available to us these days, how do you capture a reader with just "accident" or "milestone" or "update" - there are accidents everywhere and everyday, and there are updates ALL the time.

despite his insistence that it is poor writing, i stand firm on this (sorry felix). as a reader i do not want to read about ALL accidents and ALL updates. boring boring boring. what will catch my attention is if (in felix's own words) the "accident was freakishly out of this world"! poor writing, sure. but strong appeal.

i am not saying that hyperboles be used all the time and everything needs to be exaggerated to capture readers - over-exaggeration too is a sin. but no matter how redundant hyperboles are to a "proper sentence", the fact is, it is a "redundancy" which can (if used appropriately) capture readers' attention and imagination.

so now, would you rather watch "a comedy which is so damn hilariously funny, it will numb your funny bones" or "a comedy"? you decide.

why civil servants are happier than private sector workers

amazed by the results of a survey conducted by jobscentral - which reported that "civil servants (were) happier compared to those in private sector" - i thought i'd come up with 10 reasons how that could be possible.

1. a civil servant's work does not require that much thinking (if applicable at all).

2. the world's biggest companies are either in trouble, folding or folded. but organisations in "good company" won't.

3. they were provided a step-by-step guide for the survey so that they will not "go wrong".

4. they were given only two choices - it was either happy or ecstatic.

5. it is the recession now leh. a safe place is a happy place.

6. as with all civil service procedures, the subordinates "drafted" the survey answers (pending their superior's approval).

7. a civil servant's job is very specialised - they just need to do their parts. the rest pass on to the "appropriate party". private sector workers need to bao ka liao (everything also must do!) or they will liao liao (say bye bye!).

8. there was a happiness audit.

9. the surveyees were arrowed. but promised full anonymity.

10. isn't jobscentral a job board (where people look for jobs)? you mean they have that many civil servants in its database!

sudden

i suddenly got the inspiration to blog..like read sudden. problem was that i was at the bus-stop when it came and i had no laptop nor internet access. what i did then was started this entry on my itouch (yep, i got myself one since my last entry!)...thinking i could complete my entry back home.

at this point, addy got on the bus, turned off his itouch and got some rest.

now back home, just when i finally got on to blogger, the server is down. so much for finally getting the inspiration to blog. wah piangs oei!

i only managed to post this one hour later. guess my next proper post will have to wait just a bit longer.

Deflation of $ing Dollar

There has been much hype for $ing Dollar with its aggressive marketing and its star studded cast.

While the first half was fast paced, it was too much of a mish-mash of scenes that it became quite a drag. It was like Selena Tan had too much to say that everything was thrown in like "rojak".

The second half however was much improved. The story was more coherent and each character became more clearly defined as the show progressed. The songs were also much better after the interval.

For those who have been following the Dim Sum Dollies, you will be disappointed at how deflated $ing Dollar is. This is also probably the poorest performance I've seen from the trio of Emma Yong, Pam Oei and Selena Tan. One of the show's few highlights is the highly charged Michael Jackson parody, which drew the loudest cheers from the audience.

Ultimately, the exact things which are appealing about $ing Dollar are the ones which let it down. A case of too many cooks and ingredients spoiling the broth.

it's all a matter of mindset

rather than talking about my bad back and my extended absence from work due to a malfunctioning immune system..i would like to recall an incident which kind of summarises the things that are still malfunctioning in the gahmen sector...

as my initial profile (see previous entry) was rejected for lacking focus and i fervently rejected the ideas to focus on my 1) poetry writing (because i have not written anything decent in years!) and 2) my knack of wanting things neat and tidy (honestly, it's like boring isn't it?), i settled finally on writing about my collection of over 2000 CDs. even though i was reluctant to write about it initially, i thought i did an ok job of it in the end. i submitted it and my colleague and supervisor liked it. then...

...my supervisor asked me why i was still collecting CDs. i was contemplating between 1) it was a (really bad) habit, 2) CDs come with pretty booklets (which makes my room look impressive..which it does by the way!), 3) i had too much spare cash (which is not true!) or 4) "you might as well ask any girl why does she buy so many pairs of shoes, more than half of which she probably does not wear and has no intention to wear anyway!" in the end i settled on the politically correct answer (or so i thought), which was that i preferred CDs to mp3s for its better sound quality. to which she replied...

..."in that case, why don't you collect records? you know the ones that can play on a gramophone?" i was like "oh my gosh! you dimwitted moron!" (being polite, i did not say it out loud of course..though i hope my facial expression conveyed it clearly enough!) firstly, i said "preferred" in comparison with mp3s (apparently, her english not that powerful for someone working in communications) and secondly, "simi era already, still gramophone, even my grandma watches her dramas on dee wee dee ar!"

well, if the gahmen sector wants to reach out to the new generation but continues to be headed by such "gramophone" thinkers, how do they expect to accomplish it? in my short 2 weeks, i have realised 2 things - the gahmen sector is still headed by lots of people who 1) just "do", don't think so much, just "do" because it is what they (their bosses) want (so they ask you to eat shit you eat shit la?) and 2) are promoted to heads of departments just because "they have been there for quite some time already". the gahmen constantly emphasises the importance of capturing and changing the mindset of the new generation..well i think that maybe the changing of mindset should start first and foremost from within.