Archive for March 2012

It is not a good 2 weeks for us. I burnt myself and had myself a stingy wound that is slow to heal. My mum hurt her back, my dad's couldn't walk again, my dog died and now the other dog, the apple of my eye is in intensive care at the vet.

I called back during my 11pm break. Mum cried during the whole conversation. She never cried that much in my memory, not even when dad used violence on her. But the late events have taken a toil on her. Our beloved stall will be handed over to the new operator soon. In our hearts we both felt sad but we never said that. The stall was both our birth child and represented one of the finest bonding experience as mother and son. Along with the stall, she lost the company of her son's as well as her daughter-in-law whom she gets along so well with.

Chocolate is not eating. It is cruel to have her carrying and sending him to the vet with the memory of the death of her favourite dog, Tramp, still fresh. I'm not sure if she was incoherent, a miscommunication between the vet and her or it was that bad. The vet found several problems with Chocolate such as low blood pressure, liver problems, internal bleeding and so on. Facing the possibility of death of her 2nd dog and nursing a flu, she finally broke. She always have been a strong woman. Still, she's just a woman. Just a human.

I cheered her up by changing the topic. I told her I am confident that Chocolate will be fine. He has always been a tough one and I can feel that his time is not up yet. Not till his master is back by his side. I told mum how pleasing Albany is. I shared with her how Albany will smile at me and babble continuously every afternoon before I go to work, making me yearning to come back the second I stepped out of house. Mum audibly burst into tears over the phone and cried, "I really feel like seeing her."

My heart sank. I couldn't concentrate at work after that. At one instance, the pencil grinder snapped out from the hole I was dressing and stung my masterhand. I wasn't hurt but the temporary pain was strong enough for me to take one minute of break, hunched on my work stool. At that point I remember telling myself, let's fuck this and return home.

Home.

Home is where the heart is. It is not a physical space or a specific location nor it is a fixed entity. Like water it changes as it flows, taking shape where it is, taking shape where the heart is.

Worse, sister Angela is in Perth right now, having a short tour with the intention of paying me a visit. After meeting her family and her on Monday when she touched down, she have gone for her road trip down south. Elder sister is left to hold the fort. I hope she keeps her cool and not start any blaming game.

I have underestimated my importance to my family and am responsible for how things crumbled. It wasn't happening as how it was planned. We wanted it to be fluid and flexible. We are both independent adults. Either of us can come back for a certain period so long we fulfilled the requirements of the re-entry permit. The coming of Albany totally surprised us and thew us into the mix. Not only the timing of the move was brought forward and left underprepared on both sides, Jen could not work as well.

Albany is a blessing as well as a test. A test that we embrace without question despite what is happening. She shall undoubtedly bring joy to her grandmother who love her so much. She'll be back to her father's land soon.

And I, am already missing both Jen and Albany with the thought of the temporary separation. I've done this before and I'll cope.

"Yeah. I have a bank account now"

Albany has received a number of Ang Baos from well wishers such as Patrick and Ryan. Remember Ryan, the mysterious Singaporean who dropped by Perth to hand Joanna an Ang Bao for Albany?

I promised Ryan that I'll do a short write up on what I'll do with all the money I've received for Albany, including his and this is it:

I'm making Albany a millionairess

Here is the rough plan:

I will contribute $1 a day until Albany is 14 years old. That will be $5110 in total. This is a loan, not a gift and Albany will repay the loan when she is around 30 years old or so, when her investment account has gained a sizable amount so that $5110 will not put a dent to it.

Albany will take over contributing $1 a day from then on and she will be actively involved in the fund management of account with my guidance from 14 years old. No money is supposed to be withdrawn from the account at all times, she shall have a separate savings account for that purpose. By 50 years old, Albany will be a millionairess. How? $1 a day for 50 years is only $18,250 and that is nowhere near a million bucks, especially if we are gunning for 1 million in future value 50 years later, which is around 3.4 million dollars in today's value. We'll talk about that later.

First, I want to share about why I decided to do this. The aim to give her a bucketful of cash at retirement age is not to let her be a spoilt brat and so whatever she want. She needs to go to school, get a proper education, work or start her or business if she wants to and face the problems of societal life just as any of her peers. The difference is for her to live a more purposeful life instead of making ends meet.

From this plan, I want to:

1) Give Albany a chance to live a life of financial freedom that none of her family members for generations have managed to achieved. I want her to know how unimportant money is and how she can spend her time focusing on choosing her job that she has passion in and have the time to help others.

2) Let Albany realise the impact of every $1 could make when it is given enough time. Through this, I hope she will cultivate wisdom, patience, analytical skills and responsibility.

3) Allow her to see through materialism and commercialism traps that was laid out for us from our childhood to the death beds early so that she can make calculated expenditure for a more fulfilling life instead of living a enslaved life without realising it.

4) Let her know the difference between cost and value, which majority of adults today still doesn't understand.

******

Back to the plan. The rules of the game are:

1) Make regular contributions. It is not practical to actually deposit $1 a day so a regular contribution should be set up for simplicity purposes. Eg. $31 a month.

2) Invest the money and let the concept of compounding work its magic through 50-60 years.

3) Reinvest all investment earnings into the fund.

4) Never spend it.

With $1 a day contribution at a annual compounded rate of 12%, we are looking at these figures:

Note that the figures are in today's value so more have to be done if the aim is to make Albany a millionairess in future value. I'll not go into that, because that is intricate enough for me a write a whole book on it. Not that I'm learned enough to do that too, I'm learning as I go along.

There is nothing special about this. Compounding is something that everyone knows. The key for compounding to work magic is time. If you can read this article, you don't have the luxury of the kind of time we are talking about. But our children do. If you start as early as the child is born, he/she can easily afford 50 to 60 years for compounding interests to perform its magic. You wish your parents had done it for you, so if you are a parent do it for your child.

Do it for your child at no cost - as I mentioned earlier, it is a loan and not a gift. When the investment account reached 6 figures around age 30-35, you can claim back your $5110 as goodwill interest-free loan.

For a start, Bankwest has offered a child account until the child is 15 years old. They are giving a 10% interest for the special account but there is a catch - you can only deposit a maximum of $250 a month. After which, the money will be transfered to her normal account annually where the accumulated amount gets an interest of 1-4% depending on the deposited amount.

Well I am depositing $250 a month for Albany at the moment, to max out what the bank allows instead of $1 a day. I am aiming to achieve a million bucks in the future value so the extra money deposited is to counter inflation and years where I am unable to achieve a yield of 10-12%. Her first deposit include all the money that her well wishers gave in the form of Ang Baos. Well wishers, you can rest assured that I didn't not makan her money. This $250 a month is much higher than the $31 a month plan. So I hope I am giving her a good start.

For her first account, I will be able to generate $300 as interests for Albany in a year's time. The total contribution I will have to fork out will be $250 x 12 = $3000. On the 10% interests that the bank offers, that is where the $300 interests come from. Don't underestimate this small sum, it is slightly more than 1 month's worth of contribution. Over time, it adds up.

I can stick to this, doing nothing for the first 5 -10 years. Then I will have to find a better investment vehicle for that accumulated account that offers only 1-4%. Meanwhile the special 10% account will last till Albany is 15, thereafter she will be ineligible for the account. So that's where the action begins. Albany and I will be working together finding a better way to invest her money. From my calculations, we will be handling a sum of $53,120 by then, with $8,120 as compounded interests over 15 years in both accounts.

Now, I'll hand over to my wife to audit my figures. ;)

Remember MJ? Well I'm glad to announce that MJ is still alive at this point of time. In fact from his messages via whatsapp, he has safely reached Margaret River and is probably snoring happily in a farm stay now.

We met up about thrice and had a meal together with everyone else. Though his job hunt seems to be heading nowhere at the moment, he decided to keep his chin up, rented a car and headed for the adventure of his life by driving down south ALONE. His destination is Esperance. Never judge a man by his looks. MJ is scholarly-looking but he has balls of steel. We await with abated breathe to hear his Esperance tales. Sad to say, none of us made it there before. We hope to see him back alive, preferably with a wife - as that will solve a big part of his problem.

Shockingly after I blogged about MJ, another Singaporean son emailed. He contacted me because he found his situation similar to MJ's. Upon sharing his story, I realised another gila Singaporean son has joined the brotherhood. Brotherhood of Steel Balls.

With his permission I attach his email here, introducing J:

Hi,

I have been following your blog since the start of this year. Chance upon your blog while I'm searching for more political blogs by Singaporeans. And shortly after I found your blog, my friend introduce your blog to me too.

It was a pleasant surprise to find you and the blog chronicling your journey to migration as I was planning for my move too. While mine was decided last year August, I kept things close to myself, with only family and a few close friends knowing my decision. Unlike you, I didn't kept a blog to record my journey until recently.

Your blog posts and reflections really help me a lot, guiding me along my path as well as further cement my decision to take this big step for my future. Similarly, I have lost my faith in PAP during my uni days, when I see and experienced first hand, the stupidity and uselessness of the foreign scholarships system and it had grown since then.

Last year elections was a big disappointment for me as I thought Singaporeans had enough and were really to let PAP know but alas, it wasn't and I believe we lost the chance to help our country. In fact, I don't know if Singapore can still afford the 5 years before the next elections.

Lots of factors affect my decision which I hope to think through it before putting it down on my blog in the future.

For me, I resigned from my job in Feb, flew to New Zealand on 14 March on a work holiday visa, when I'm now currently looking for a job in order to get a permanent visa under their skilled migrant category. Very big leap for me, at the age of 27, going 28 soon, alone in Auckland, first time being away from home alone and for a long period of time.

I do hope this will end up well though it's hard to predict the future. Just want to let you know that you are an inspiration for me and I like your blog very much.

Cheers,

******

Hi J,

Oh dear, you meant to say you went to NZ without a PR and is looking for a job?

I just met MJ today from Singapore and he is in Perth doing the exact thing as you. He's around your age group as well

What's happening to Singapore and the young?

I wonder should I be publishing your incredible leap. Tell me if you are comfortable with it.

I wish you all the best in your adventures. Let's keep in contact and share our experiences.

******

Hi Nix,

Yup, I did exactly the same thing as MJ. I took almost all my savings from my 2 years of work after graduation to come NZ. Although I differ from u & MJ, as I hire the services of a immigration agent to help me through the paperwork and process last August. Been planning for a move since then though now that I seen your journey, I would say your path would be the better one, as I can take on any job compared to now where I need to get a job in their skilled migrant category.

In fact, I was very surprised to read abt MJ situation on your blog just before I fly off as it's quite similar to mine. Help me wish him all the best.

My exact situation now is that I'm in NZ on a 6 months working holiday visa, during this time, i need to find a job to qualify me for their work visa under their skilled migrant category. The working holiday visa is meant for employer to give me a contract job first while the application for the work visa is processed, so that meant that I can in fact start work right away instead of waiting. If by 6 months, I still cannot find a job to qualify for their skilled migrant visa, I would have to return to Singapore and plan again, maybe searching for a different path.

As for what's happening to Singapore and the young, I have my personal view on it and it could be quite extreme for most people. Personally, I think it's too late for Singapore liao. We lost the chance to get back our country from the PAP in last year election. Our country is going down the path of no return and she will be lost in maybe 50 years, either collapse internally, or taken over from the inside by China or India. Quite extreme I must say.

As for the young, I think after they go through the education system (seeing the foreign scholarship crap) or out working (seeing the FT matter), they would lose their sense of belonging. In fact, I know of a lot of my friends planning to retire in other places, not in Singapore. They see Singapore as the place to earn money only. Some even want to migrate but because of family, friends, other issues stopping them, they didn't go about to take that big step.

I'm ok with u publishing my leap of faith for I hope it may aspire more ppl to share their experiences though I like to keep my name private for now. Just use J to describe me can liao.

Yeah, let's keep in contact and share our experiences. In fact, I think I have a lot to learn from u and others who came before us. For me, I just finding my way around Auckland after arriving here on the 15th March. Tomorrow I'll be starting my job search, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Cheers,

******

Hi J,

I've read your blog and found it more exciting than reading my own.

NZ is indeed a beautiful place, admittedly nicer than Perth.

I'll be looking forward to introduce your blog to whoever who reads mine when you are ready.

Before that I'll probably share your story the way you prefer, with your name as J only.

I'm just wonder why do you have these 'extreme' views about the future of Singapore and how do peers around your age view your sentiments?

******

*J has since replied.*

My comments:

Firstly, to address J if you are reading my blog. I have yet to reply your latest email which I am hesitant to publish for now. The content of your reply made me sad. Some sentiments reminded me of what MJ shared with me. It also reminded me of NS's story about her struggles in the teaching arena which I hope to share upon granted the permission to. NS has packed up her bag a few weeks ago and is currently in Newcastle, Australia. The last one in my mind is I.S, an active commentor in my blog in the earlier days, currently residing in Adelaide.

Though all 4 of you have different stories, the common factor of the 4 of you is your youth. This is alarming because Singapore cannot afford to lose people who have not even reached the peak of their careers like that. I am not sure how representative this is. Perhaps amount of brain drain is too small to worry the government. Only they know.

Within a month we get to know 2 gila Singaporean sons trying their luck in foreign lands without obtaining a working visa. What drove these chaps to this extents? Many answers lies in J's latest reply. I wonder how many more young Singaporeans are attempting to leave the country.

Wonder if anyone is concern about this sad state of things?

Click to Read Updates from J

AnonymousMar 24, 2012 09:46 PM

Hi,

Currently, i am a secondary school teacher with only a degree. Used to be an auditor and is registered with institute of certified accountant.

Migration to aust is always on my mind. When I read your post, i got so discouraged. It seems that the quality of life would be compromised.... As if sgp is better... No white collar job anymore? No opportunity at all....?

In sgp, toil all day regardless what job I hold. Worked non
Stop as an auditor, as financial analyst, always meeting deadlines and reporting, now always preparing for lessons, exam papers, admin stuffs often doing during weekends.

In Australia, will there be work life balance?
Which is the real
Motivation in you all when you migrate?

Why are u all willing to take blue collar jobs? Isn't quality of life compromised compared to in sgp?

******

Hi Secondary School Teacher with only a degree,

You are the 5th known teacher or ex teacher who reads my blog. The first girl NS, has just landed in Newcastle pursuing furthering her studies and plan apply for a permanent visa after her graduation. The second, E, also a lady, is currently in Melbourne looking for teaching jobs. Alan Heah, a regular commenter in this blog, was an ex-teacher. The last one is my personal friend. For some reason, you reminded me of E because she was as discouraged as you when she wrote to me, albeit on different demotivation.

I have gotten to know a lot of new people since I started writing. Some are well wishers while the rest of them contacted me with a common factor - migration. Most members of this group are Singaporeans. Many of them are living in Perth and other parts of Australia, some are in Singapore but will be migrating to Australia while the rest of them are playing with the thought of migration.

None of the folks in the above mentioned is working as a blue collared worker. I stuck out among them like a sore thumb. For this fact alone, I am not sure if you want to use me as a representation of what generally happen to Singaporeans who made the leap of faith.

I'm not sure how much you have read about my story in this blog. If you have read the last few posts, I would have attended an interview for a white collared supervisory role. This is my 2nd interview in Australia. Again, if you read the blog you would have noticed I have been hardly active in job searching though I am still looking. There are many opportunities here if one keeps his head up and not giving up easily. For the past week, my new friends Micky and Denise have secured their permanent jobs in the field they relish. With that, all new migrants I know personally in Perth have landed jobs. All except myself are in white collared roles.

I'll like to share with you that I was offered the job that I was interviewed for - and I have rejected it. The job is not bad. Office hours is from 8am - 4.20pm, 5 days week. OT pay is available if I work any additional hour beyond the stated hours. Do you think one can achieve a work/life balance with this set of working hours? I'll leave it to you to decide because everyone has a different definition of work/life balance.

As an unwilling compliant to current societal rules, we work 8 hours, sleep 8 hours and play 8 hours. This trinity is the commonly known so-call work/life balance. Any tilt towards the dis-favour of rest or play when work encroaches into our life such as attending to clients after office hours, answering the boss's call during my shower, having argument with contractors while driving, the quality of life is compromised.

As you can see based on my definition above, I do not agree with your notion of

blue collared job = quality of life compromised

My workplace is a 10 minutes drive away. I encountered not a single traffic jam commuting to work since I started on this jobs 5 months ago. I knock off on time every single day and I get paid for every minute of overtime that I decided to do. None of the overtime is made compulsory or even requested. After work, no calls from work whatsoever. No work to bring home.

So long as I am not under distress from my job so much so that it fails to isolate from my personal time the way it should be, and that it pays the bills; the job fulfills its purpose, whatever the colour of the collar. I do not and have never aspire to use my job to perform any self actualisation purposes.

We Singaporeans have a very skewed impression of blue collar jobs because somebody decided that these people are not worth the salt and suppressed their salary to inhumane levels. Over time, a culture of snobbishness and elitism is built up by the doctrine. The story over here in Australia is not quite the same. Consider a rubbish truck driver potentially earning more than a tax accountant, for example, you get a better picture.

At the end of the day, it is up to you to choose what you want to work as. If blue collar jobs are really not your kind of thing, you can always overlook them. It's a personal choice.

With that aside, we can finally talk about the quality of life. My idea of quality of life has little to do with work. It is called quality of life not for no reason. It's about the way we live, not the way to work.

I do not enjoy traveling an hour on public transport nor trapped in my car in a traffic jam everyday to-and-fro work. I know most Singapore can live with it but not me. Again, it's a personal thing. I enjoy fresh air and wide open spaces where I can be left alone with my loved ones if I choose to. I appreciate the fact that we can choose to live life in many different ways in a single country. If you are the city dwelling kind you can always move to Sydney. Even in Sydney, you can have a quiet simple style of living by opting to stay in semi-rural regions. You can choose to stay in a much colder place like Tasmania or a warmer place like Perth if weather is your top consideration in choosing your place.

In short, you have options in Australia. And I equate having options as a better quality of life because I value the freedom of choices. Not everyone values the same thing. You'll be surprised that some people do not value alternatives or do not really want more choices. They just want a better condition on what life they are already living.

One of the most important thing you have to do in the migration decision making is to examine yourself and find out what you truly value. You might see a clearer picture after that. Good luck and hope to hear from you again.

I received emails from bloggers telling me they envied me because I seemed to be immune to Writer's Block, the curse of all writers. Lately I received another asking me if I am suffering from it because of the lack of updates in the blog.

This made me google the term and read about it. I stopped with a few sentences of it. No, I didn't suffer from Writer's Block and I doubt I will ever. For a start, I'm not even a writer and I have never viewed myself as one. This is probably the reason why more often than not, I ran out of time to write rather than things to write. Nothing has changed.

I was just observing 3 days of silence for our family member, Tramp the Schnauzer's passing.

Not regarding myself as a writer, I have nothing to prove. I have no pressure in impressing any audience. I don't give a damn it gets published in websites or shared and it brings me neither joy or annoyance if it does. I don't care about quality; a blogger friend always correct my mistakes for me. By now, he would have realised I don't even re-read what I wrote to check for errors.

Much as I love to be a writer, I'm nothing close to one. If you want to know what is a real writer, you can follow this link and be enlightened. I call myself a thrash blogger, writing what comes to my mind. I may be thrash now but I can and am always committed to improving. Perhaps I shall start correcting my grammar and spelling. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow.

Let me close the post by offering something useful for once. This is for bloggers who regard themselves as writers. Strange to be offering tips to writers from a thrash blogger but here goes anyway.

1) Take a warm shower

Instead of singing or giving your master hand a workout, spend some time thinking with your eyes closed. You'll be surprised how your mind tends to conjure some awesomeness during the bath.

2) Do repetitive activities

Sex is not one of them, unless you are one of those who can sustain the activity non stop for hours. I'm referring to things like long distance jogging, cycling or even chores. Once your mind gets bored, it'll choose interesting alternatives. If you work as a grinder like me, you'll have plenty of things coming to your mind while you grind never-ending work for hours. Usually the stories come on fast and furious, because it's more interesting for the brain to generate them than to watch metal sparks flying around.

3) Plagiarise

If you have no ideas what to write, look for someone who does and allow you to lift information without permission. You can choose to be a gentleman by just copying the title or topic and rewriting based on your own views. Or simply cut and paste. Temasek Times did that anyway.

4) Masochism

Slap yourself in the face hard every 60 seconds until you think of something to write. If that doesn't work, write about how you got your swollen cheek.

5) Plant a tree

Each time you get the block, plant a green. I guarantee you have something to write when you planted that 10 trees in 7 days. (your condition must be serious heh heh) It could be on how the first tree died of insect infestation due to your negligence or that orange sapling that grows much slower than the watermelon creepers. Else perhaps something philosophical about trees such as trees vs life, trees vs work, trees vs fuck-up employers whatever. If that doesn't work, at least your block benefits the environment with new trees. Environmentalist hippies will pray for your permanent block.

6) Don't prejudge your materials

It really depends on what are your expectations on your article. Is the success based on quality debates in the comment section, appreciation from fellow bloggers or simply on page views. The most read post of this blog, which generated 125k of views to date, got me lambasted by geeks with no sense of humor. That post is considered a failure if you are seeking professional lauding but probably a success for a nobody blogger.

Now the revelation. When I wrote that article in a lazy Spring morning in Perth, I placed no expectations on the post at all. If I were instructed to publish the best article I could come out with - akin to taking an examination - I would not have allow myself to post that article. If this isn't adequate, the other top 5 read posts in packing order surprised me the same way. None of them are among my favourite posts.

In short, you are just a message creator. The readers are your judge. Never try to take on both roles. If the post went viral because everyone wants to get everyone to see how stupid you are, learn from there and improve. You don't lose a limb.

7) Write with no audience in mind

Think a stage actor giving a display of his life, oblivious of the audience in the stands. Try not to write with any particular reader or group in mind. As confusing as it sounds, it is the right and the only way to write.

8) Write with your conscience

If you throw in a bit of conscience with your writing. It usually produces good refreshing stuff that people are willing to waste a few minutes of their lives reading. That's something basic everyone can do unless you are a Straits Times' journalist. But these days 'writing with the heart' is over-used, even Saw Phaik Hwa claims she does that. Maybe hypocrisy works too.

9) Write down ideas

If you are male, this analogy explains it all. Too frequently, you get an erection with no woman in sight and when you finally get one in bed, you can't get it up. Fortunately for writing ideas, you can 'save and load'. Do it.

10) Don't write

If you can't think of anything to write that day, don't. What's the big deal? Well if you work as a journalist in the 154th ranked media and must produce something as work, then go on eat your conscience, write thrash or plagiarise. With a retard handicap, whatever you spurt will be accepted nonetheless.

V, a Singaporean lady, contacted me this week to ask me what kind of job experienced I used to have. I'm not sure if she can help me in anything. Not that I am not expecting help, I am grateful enough for friendship but you can see things happening once you set your mind to do things.

I read from somewhere the universe will be for or against you if your mind is set. When you decide on a goal hard enough, the magnetic fields around you attract like-minded people or entities into your life. These combined may be able to inspire you and help you achieve your mission one way or another.

Thus if you think you are a jinx and think of it often enough, hard enough, you may get more than you wish for. Self fulfilling prophecy.

I went over to Micky's to get my resume printed for tomorrow's interview. Where did this come from? Alvin's friend. And then one thing leads to another and I'm meeting the MD of the company to have a chat. While we were chatting outside Micky's house, Micky introduced his neighbour to me who happened to be a project manager who specialised in windows and doors construction. He asked for my number and said he will call if there are any known vacancies in relevant roles. Another example of things magically happen. If you want something hard enough and make yourself be there, doing that, the universe will back you up.

Oh before I forget, Micky got a job as a Field Service Engineer after 9 months of grueling search. It is a smashing one, rather well paid and we are very happy for him. I hope future new migrants never give up like Patrick, Micky and (maybe) I. It is pointless to go back to Singapore citing the wanton mee sucks here (that was what V told me someone she knew said) as the reason if you are unwilling to walk the path every Singaporean migrant before you did.

I did a search on the net about the job. The company advertised a month ago and failed to find their man. I am not surprised. It is a Singapore company and their style of writing the job advertisement makes it apparent. The role I am going for is for 'higher secondary' (not even 'O' levels) as stated and they are paying A$36k for it. No offense but with the suggested remuneration after tax, Albany and I will be begging on Barrack Street after work for a side income.

Mind you, I am not despising any job opportunities. I treat each one with the same respect and I am going to meet the interviewer in my best wear and attitude. It is a valuable experience for me. With luck, I may get an offer. With better luck, the job advertisement may be a misprint. With uber luck, I could get the MD drunk and offer me a decent pay with it.

If luck isn't with me, I get some good experience in interview. If I have to fail some interviews to be good enough and ace one eventually, it is probably better to be sooner than later. Besides, I cannot let Alvin down for sounding a job link for me.

I thank everyone for helping me out all these while. Job or no job, I'm really glad how things turn out so far. The support (online and offline) have been overwhelming. I felt loved. When one feel loved, he can even see the beauty in a pile of shit.

Just look at how I appreciate the ray of light in my ugly workshop. Remember, with hope in your heart, there will be a ray of light in many bad situations you may land yourself in.

My workplace

Serpentine Dam

The impending death of one of my dogs weighed heavily in my heart. Tramp isn't walking and feeding well and is getting blind. Though Tramp wasn't my favourite dog, he was part of our family. Non dog-lovers would never understand the complex bond a man could have with a dog.

Eugene's dad simply told me to 'put them down' or 'give them away' when I told him my mum's hesitation to join me in Perth due to the dogs. As far as I could remember, we were dog owners since I was a very young child. I have lived with a dog 10 times longer than my marriage and fatherhood added up. My personality, beliefs and values were partly influenced by my interaction with my furry friends.

I have a dream and I told Chocolate, the Jack Russell Terrier before. One day, I'll live in a house with a yard and he'll be able to run and play in the garden the way he truly deserves. As my impulsive and hot blooded years came to a closing end towards my 30s, I lost the will firepower to achieve feats. I almost gave up and resigned to having made another broken promise.

As fate twisted, I'm in Perth. I cannot imagine that a few years back things will turn out this way. As a result, the winds that threatened to put out the last of the flickering flames of the little dream that both Chocolate and I shared have ceased. But I have to decide if I want to risk putting Chocolate through the anguish of being quarantined for a month here in order for us to be reunited. At his age of 11, as an old dog, it'll be a tough call though he is still currently healthy and fit.

Chocolate will die by my side. With me being apart from him since my departure, a bit of me dies everyday. I miss him so badly that I had to force him out of my mind. If I couldn't be with him in

demise, it'll be one of my biggest regret ever. He's not just a dog to me, he's a fiercely loyal friend that witnessed an important part of my life from NS, to my working life, marriage and finally migration. He never took a single day off to share my weals and woes.

Most people will tell me he's just a dog. But undying loyalty, compassion and love have no bounds. If one cannot appreciate these because of the class of subject, he deserves none from any.

As I reached the 6 months mark of my departure, I am very well aware by now how much my friends, family and pets meant to me. Being brought up in an environment where I wasn't taught to express myself verbally and physically I continue to struggle in telling them so or giving them a hug. But I could write, that is the only way I can relay my thoughts clearly.

Eventually I'll rent a place of my own here in Perth, with a garden. If I could get Chocolate here with me before it is too late, we could fulfill our dreams. Close enough. I'll have no regrets while my buddy eventually will run his last days in contentment with me by his side and wait for me in hell. By then, hopefully I will have instill Albany with the compassion for little animals.

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Milestone: Breaking Even

Month 4

Month 5

Sometime back she resigned from SMRT to 'pursue personal interest' remember? Time seemed to zoom pass here in Perth but it's probably a time warp in SMRT. Holly molly, she's still there!

It doesn't matter when is her last day of service in SMRT. Ah Saw can't wait and is already pursuing her personal interest before that - to blog like me. Not only that, she ~~copied~~ shared my blog motto - "to write from the heart." It's a bit annoying because that was the advice Siggi left for me. I may have to change my motto because Ah Saw don't really make me feel like her friend.

You see, bloggers make friends by commenting on one another's blog. It is a protocol. The latest blogger who left a comment on my blog is Limpeh Is Foreign Talent aka LIFT. There, I have a new friend. That's how it works. I left a comment on Ah Saw's blog on her grand opening when she got the prostitute press to advertise her blog. Till today, my comment was not approved. In its place were some praises about her management skills lah, comments about she shouldn't be blame lah, she did her job well lah. Is she a PAP politician or what? Only hear the good things (and delete the rest). Birds of the same feather.

Wouldn't it be nice if Ah Saw gets her friend Ho Ching to pursue her personal interest too. I presume they may share the same kind of personal interest. I'll be eager to leave her first blog comment if she does so. It will be a good day for Singapore.

Ah Saw's first post in her blog was entitled "Looking back". I wondered what she was reflecting on. Perhaps she could remember her grand promise in during her first company Dinner 'N' Dance as SMRT CEO, that she would not retrench any staff. What followed after were retrenchment of yardmasters at their Bishan, Changi and Ulu Pandan depots as well as maintenance staff across the board.

I wonder if Saw looked back to recall her promise.

I wonder if Saw could recall the tears of the retrenched staff and their pleads to have their services retained by accepting a pay cut.

I wonder if Saw could see blood on her dollars from the fat bonuses she received by ruthlessly maximising profits while she buried the hopes of staff shown the door.

Obviously not. Her first blog post reminded me of her foreword in the annual report sent to my house each year. Her future blog posts will be about how she spearheaded glorious initiates such as the Dhoby Ghaut Xchange. How she fought LTA for the company's interests and how she led SMRT to hold the fort as commuters grew exponentially in numbers over the years. You know, the grand story kind.

I don't normally write about someone's blog because I like to mind my own business. If my memory serves me right, this is the first time I do that. Can someone tell her I dedicated a post just for her? Maybe Ah Saw will appreciate me better after reading this and add my blog link in her blog.

I am looking forward.

As a grinder, I am fast. Rather fast. By now I am as good as the best South Korean in my company and twice as quick as the other one. Not bad for someone only 5 months into the job - and the trade - as compared to the others who are years into it.

This is not a post to blow a trumpet. During my toilet-ing, I reviewed my situation and recalled my stint in Singapore. By now, none of my ex-workers can hold a candle to my skills with a grinder. If you think about it, it's kinda sad. Someone who hasn't took on physical work in his life to be better and faster than who is considered 'skilled workers' in Singapore in 5 months of training. The sadder part, I am not considered as a skilled worker in Australia as it is.

We used to have skilled workers in Singapore. The real-deal kind. Many of our fathers used to work as one. Electricians, plumbers, carpenters, fitters, mechanics you name it. Our government's insistence to rely on cheap labour has unconsciously caused Singapore to lose their skills.

Let me elaborate more.

You could see the mentality of the bosses in Singapore. Hire a graduate and an 'uneducated' experienced uncle and team them up. The uncle will lead the Bangadeshi workers and the graduate will settle the paper work related to the project. As time goes on, the graduate will learn about the nitty gritty technical things on site and be an experienced engineer himself.

That's the perfect scenario. Only that it doesn't work.

In the long run, we lose our skills. Why? Have you ever wondered why the graduate that walked the sites for years cannot even handle any machine for a second? The answer is obvious. He hasn't touched the machines before. No matter how many books you have read about swimming or how many videos you have watched, you can't swim until you swim.

The question is, does our project managers need to be hands-on to be good project managers? It depends on your definition of a good project manager. I daresay no project manager in Singapore truly knows how to bring value to his project by cutting costs by providing his workers the correct tools. When I mean correct tools, it doesn't mean the more expensive tools. He couldn't cut manpower costs by teaching his workers the safer and faster method to perform their tasks because he doesn't know how. Using me as an example, I have revised my working methods at least 3 times. By today I am using an entirely different set of working methods to the Koreans to be able to match up to their fine work standard and speed with very much reduced physical demands on myself.

A graduate project manager will never be able to innovate this way. Worse, they think they can and are doing it. The project will end up with a lot of material wastage, tools wastage and work doesn't get completed fast enough. The project manager will then spam workers on the job. 20 men, 50 men on some simple job. Money is inconsequential. They don't cost much anyway, because the labour laws in Singapore allows us to exploit and pay them $20-$24 for a full day's work. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Singapore ended up with projects full of defects and imperfection costing the economy more with longer project duration.

In the long run, these experienced uncles who know half a bucket of work will retire and Singapore will be left with these graduate managers. By then, our skill drain will be truly completed. We are already experiencing it. Workers telling the manager how work should be done, what tools to buy and how much time is required. This is incredulous. A project manager could have saved the company heaps of cash if the project finishes earlier and he is likely to be able to achieve that if he knows his work better. This cheap labour strategy is short sighted. At the end of the day, the savings do not add up.

We have already seen a classic example of this phenomenon. The Youth Olympics. Over thrice over budgeted even with free labour of the SAF and school children behind them. Enough said. The government refused to learn a lesson from this and Vivian "the snake" Balakrishnan insisted it was a 'budget mis-calculation'. In truth, project mis-management. Another moving on, another precious lesson not learnt.

What we will be left is a cheap labour force asking for more. This is not new. In the past, we had workers from Thailand, Malaysia, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan and Indonesia. They are now 'too expensive' to be brought in by today. So we have Bangladesh, India and China workers on the streets now. These group too, complained about low wages during my time managing projects.

When the older generation of China skilled workers retire, China will be in a great shortage of skilled labours as never seen before. Most of their precious offspring, the product of their One Child Policy have been groomed to be a graduate. China will be recalling their skilled workers or importing them the same way as Singapore did. It will happen. In less than a decade or two, PRC labour will not be coming to Singapore. In fact, it is already slowly happening as we speak. What do we do from there? Hire Nigerians?

The government has successfully disarmed vital skills from Singapore with their shallow cheap labour strategy. In the future, the government will realise their mistake, but not admitting it of course and then quietly spend a lot of money to re-train the population for skills. Not surprisingly, they will over-train them numerically and left many with no jobs. And a little too late.

I am not a believer of getting a graduate to take over top roles. It is how nature works. A tree which is planted and groomed will always be sturdier than a transplanted tree. Ask any horticulturist. Everyone has to work from the bottom up so that they can be truly technically competent and possibly innovative. You cannot innovate unless you know the basics.

Only by doing this, Singapore can continue to offer the world excellent human resource that we used to be renown for. We need to offer the kind of quality that people are willing to pay irrational prices for. (think the way iPhone attracts iDiots buyers) At this rate we are going, Singapore is going into the gutter. With no able workforce to support the country in the near future, the rich will eventually leave the country, exposing the hollow shell behind that glamourous cladding.

A Singaporean In Australia

Past Rants