Archive for October 2012

When Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong declared that 100 million of its taxpayers' money will be spent, no one batted an eyelid, let alone question the decision. Some even called it a 'nice gesture'. I am not talking about how much or how little money each NS personnel will receive. $50-$100 isn't a small sum of money to me. I question not the amount of money, but the motive behind the action. For one, it bears a sick resembling of electoral carrots. Never mind on that, let's move on.

The bigger question is: Who truly benefits from this $100 million bucks from our national coffers? Bear in mind these $100,000,000 of cash will be converted into vouchers before dissemination. Why the need to do this if the purpose is to reward Singaporean men who served their nation? With $50-$100 cash in hand, each Singaporean man can spend it any food of any joint of their choice which will pay the hawker's salary or that taxi driver, the kind who doesn't earn $7,000 per month, and so on. With $100,000 cash going around the economy, it ought to benefit more of the population.

Vouchers. I pray that we are talking about e-vouchers than physical vouchers here. If it isn't an e-copy, or something facilitated existing technologies, such as the scanning of our pink ICs, I would like to know which company is printing these vouchers and how fairly does this company wins the tender. Mind you, we are talking about 2 million copies of $50 vouchers here, not 200 vouchers. That contract value could be worth a year's of revenue for many SME printing companies. We can really do with killing more trees with unnecessary printing of vouchers as well.

Vouchers. So can I use the voucher to buy my groceries at Econ Minimart or use it to offset my Singapore Power bills? No, I can't do that. I can only spend it on SAFRA facilities and the SAF E-MART and a few other selected companies (not revealed at this time). I question why the restriction to spend it on very specific entities. We are spending tax-payers' money but heavily channeling the money into a selected few companies? Why?

You know, life provides ironic coincidences sometimes. Yesterday evening, I saw a TOLL van parked in my vicinity. I couldn't help but shrug helplessly. This morning I drove pass the same van. This time, the driver was on board and even gave me a 'thumbs up' gesture when I stopped to give way to him. You're welcome mate. I'm from Singapore. If only the driver knows that he'll be benefiting from the $100,000,000 spending from my government. He'll probably give me a hug.

After all, Toll Holdings Limited of Australia owns Toll Asia Pte Ltd (Toll Asia), which has a 100% owned subsidiary called ST Logistics Pte Ltd (STL), which runs and fully supplies the SAF EMART where much of our vouchers will be spent at.

I can't help but envy the directors and CEO of ST Logistics in their cushy seats, who can expect a large portion of the $100 million vouchers in revenue to boost up their financial statement in the coming work year. I'm sure SME owners wouldn't mind deals like that come knocking on the doors. Too bad for them this one probably isn't. My question is, why are we spending $100 million of taxpayers' money to benefit a selected few companies instead of paying out in cash, which can potentially benefit many more sectors?

Training to be soldiers

to fight for our land.

Once in our lives.

Two years of our time.

Have you ever wondered?

Why must we serve

'Cause we love our land.

and we want it to be free, to be free...

Who understands the plight of the Singaporean son? Right from the birth, every Singaporean son is earmarked to give away 2 years of our lives to the country. It doesn't matter which unit we are posted to and what vocation we are assigned. We are all conscripts. Even for the safest, least physically demanding vocation, no Singaporean son escapes the humiliation of conforming to ridiculously stupid best practices and complying to incompetent, unproven scholar paper-leaders.

Our women think we tie knots and frolic around the campfire during weekdays and practice chemical welfare on public transport with body odour, during the weekends. We are a laughing stock to our women, who largely regard us as whiners.

2 years of National Service, joining the workforce later than our women translates to indisputable economic and career advancement opportunities cost. 10 years of ICT condemns the Singaporean son in terms of employment attractiveness. We are regarded not as committable to foreigners the same way employers discriminate pregnant ladies. Our government term our call of duty as National Service Liability, deems it an absolutely necessity but refuses to acknowledge the accursed Singaporean son seeking the non existent level playing field in his career. The foreigners scorn the Singaporean son and used these handicaps to their advantage. With the NS liablities and without giving more than 100% in work all the time, we are not even seen as equals to our foreign friends, who also have a higher salary margin to negotiate with due to having currency exchange rates to their advantage.

Despite these, we serve. Because we love the land which we believe belongs to each and every Singaporean. When the time times, we fight. Not because there is nowhere to run from, nowhere to go to, but we want to protect our loved ones, our people, the land and memories we treasure.

Our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong decided to hand out $50-$100 vouchers to National Service men last week. It is an insult to every Singapore son's personal sacrifices to the country. We are soldiers of Singapore, not beggars. The PM's distasteful decision to give handouts has cheapen our commitment. We want a stake in the country we serve with pride, our voice to be heard, respected and having a say in national decisions. Dishing out vouchers suggests that the PM takes the Singaporean son for granted and his loyalty can be bought by monetary tidbits the way voters bite the PAP's electoral carrots during every General Election.

Anonymous23 October 2012 21:26

Oh pls... The rain here isn't torrential like the monsoon rain you get in Singapore. It comes in patchy drizzles and doesn't last all day. Why lament about the petrol expended when you have spent airfares to fly your folks over?

What is this term "the father" and not "my father"?

******

When someone anonymous use the word 'here', I assume he or she is living in Perth with me. Let's call this anonymous commenter R. Obviously most people that live in Perth longer knows the weather better than me. For example when I experienced a hail storm at the end of Autumn, little ice balls the size of M&M chocolates pelting down my car, my friend Angel laughed it off. 5 minutes later, she sent some photos over, sharing what she got sometime ago - a backyard fully covered with hail debris, golf ball size.

When someone 'oh pls' me, it meant that I must be wrong. Reflection is required. I got to be hallucinating when my car aqua planed kilometres of ROE highway that few nights. If that wasn't enough, I must an unconvincing fabricator when I shared my story about the storm sweeping past my suburb the other day. Torrential rain must be a gross overstatement for the storm. In fact, it was probably the neighbour's faulty washing machine and I should actually be in bed with my teddy bear instead of paying attention to that.

Granted, rain does come in 'patchy drizzles' in Perth on regular basis but I will never tell anyone the rain 'isn't torrential like the monsoon rain in Singapore'. Folks who spent adequate time outdoors in Perth know that when it comes, it is much worse than anything you can get in Singapore. I am not even talking about destructive rating storms, just rain. It rained almost every consecutive night for a span of 2 weeks last Spring, hitting my colleagues and I on the way home at 0300 hrs. I mean, I don't want to be a weather expert here. Let's just agree that I don't know what a torrential monsoon rain in Singapore is supposed to be, spending my 30 odd years in a test tube. In that case, I'll call those rainy nights in Perth artificial extremely mobile car washes, without soap.

Context for asingaporeanson. Fair enough, the rain mentioned in the blog post were patchy drizzles that weekend. And yes, these drizzles don't last all day. Context for R. I don't have all day to wait for patchy drizzles to stop. I don't have access to accurate information when patchy drizzles 30 km away will stop. Do I use some common sense to stay at home to spend quality time or subject them to shivering in the rain under a gloomy sky watching rough currents in the ocean with a bag of chips each if those trolling drizzles decided to be larger patches that you thought they would be? Yes I do.

Why lament about me lamenting about inconsequential items when you probably have spent half your life reading a shitty rag like The Strait Times?

James24 October 2012 15:34

Hi there, actually I am curious, why would any professionals, like a Consultant in Singapore would be a supermarket packer in Aussie? When you move to Aussie, should you already got a position there waiting for your arrival in a nice office somewhere?

******

Hi James,

I don't have an answer for this question. Firstly, would you consider a Project Engineer or Regulations Manager as professionals? If not, I am not in a position to answer this question and I'll leave it open for others to fill you in.

Personally, I got to know stories of Singaporeans via email. There was a businessman who was in business all his life. When he moved to Perth, he took up a job as a car washer. According to him, this is his first job as an employee. Why would he do this? Perhaps he made his fortune and wanted to experience a dose of mundane life as a worker? Maybe he relished his freedom earning a day's wage for an honest day's work? Another who confided she was an ex-lawyer but would not mind to pick up menial jobs like one you mentioned, a supermarket packer if she manages to get her work visa to Australia. She specifically insisted to keep her information and story confidential so I would reveal no more.

The examples show there were and will continue to be people who walk this curious path. As for why, it is difficult to answer. Ultimately it has to be somewhat a choice to let it all go. After all, the idea of a professional is a mere status. Over here, I am tasked to dictate the pace of the entire factory here. I make decisions about what product to manufacture and their sequence. I am assigned to set up the entire quality assurance procedures and given the authority as the only person to stamp the QC clearance here. I control what goes out of the factory on daily basis down to every bolt and nut, keeps the integrity of quantity of stocks in check and is consulted for stock ordering forecasts. I purchase all essential equipment required to run the business. What does that makes me if I work in Singapore? A Purchaser, a QC manager, a Process Engineer?

You can call me a factory supervisor. Some prefer to call me a delivery man. What gives, its just a name. Money isn't the key in life but we need a minimum to keep things going. If I am called an Oracle of Ages or even the CEO but paid a dollar a day, you can bet that status isn't going to go well on me for too long. Neither would it on you. The thing about achieved status is that it is a mental concept denoting a social position on the basis of merit. It is either earned, chosen or in some cases in Singapore, passed on. The problem with migration is that many expect their statuses to be migrated along with their physical belongings and bank account but the hard truth is, in a new land, we have to re-earn the societal place that we think we deserve. Nothing is a given.

Thus ideally, when a Singaporean moves to Australia, there will be a red carpet all rolled out leading him to the seat of that nice office where he takes on his cushy job and live happily ever after. The even harder truth is, even Lee Hsien Loong will be probably be rejected for almost every job application the secretary in the PMO spammed in seek.com.au. On the basis he does not have local experience. Of course there are always exceptions, nothing is absolute in life. We've heard of cases of Singapore migrants securing good jobs before they leave the sunny island. We even heard of some headhunted, very probable though only if they have a special skill. Such as a specialist in a special type of security.

Having said that, there is nothing to stop you from doing what you love in Australia. Glass ceilings may exists but I'm not in a position to comment on that because I've never got my head bumped against one so that doesn't bother me at all. If you are persistent enough in a certain career path, it is likely you'll find yourself landing on a suitable job eventually. The question is before that happens, what are you willing to take up in order to kick-start your life here?

Anonymous24 October 2012 20:09

It is no wonder you drive around in your company's ute doing deliveries.

Make better use of your time with your daughter rather than typing up something that doesn't help your friend with the CPA.

Like what many would say... If you think you are smart, just stay that way... Don't act smart

*****.

I don't normally reply to idiots. While this one deceptively appeared as one, it was just an ignorant child under the guise of stupidity. So that deserves a post of its own. Never mind Penny thanked me on the spot when she picked me up and gave me a lift home after her CPA exams on Tuesday. I'm not going into that today.

Instead, let's look at this golden words

"It is no wonder you drive around in your company's ute doing deliveries." - Anonymous wise man

It could be loosely interpreted as making deliveries is a low-end, embarrassing job that reflects the doer's intelligence, educational level and social class. Let me just help out this guy and add more to the job description. A delivery driver must be prudish, stupid and speaks incoherently. He must not be able to express this thoughts in a logical manner than the average population. In fact, delivery drivers shouldn't dine outdoors. In the case of essentiality, a delivery driver should be confined in having his meal in a toilet of a fast food restaurant in a third world country.

Tell that to DHL or FedEx. Tell that to Ah Teck, the truck driver of the construction company I used to work with in Singapore. The man who kept the entire company's operations running. To every project manager or engineer in the company, he was the spine of the business. The fool who did not recognise the intrinsic value of a good truck driver would live to see his project going down to the dumps. A good driver makes or breaks any business.

Apparently, the nationality who slap stigma on jobs tends to be Singaporeans. That is a paradox, judging by how often a Singaporean judge people by their income levels. A truck driver has very high income potential. Ah Teck was the only staff in the company outside the bosses who could afford to run his family on a single-income basis, providing his wife a consistent $2,000 of "Housekeeping fee" every month and could afford a better car than most of the young engineers in the company. Very often, Ah Teck would share with me his record income of $8,500, his highest monthly intake. He averaged a $4-5k easily on quiet months. What's the catch? He drives a class 5 truck. Obviously, that commands a higher salary to the drivers starting out with smaller trucks.

I brought up this to satisfy the population who go soft at the knees when they meet someone with a higher income than their own. Not me. His income did not impressed me the slightest. It was an open secret as each of us sign Ah Teck's job cards and knew exactly how much he yielded that month if we bothered to make a quick mental count. Whenever I hear someone talking about this topic in the company and hearing statements like "Not bad for a driver", I looked at them in a new way. New snobs added to the list.

You can be still an asshole, whatever your job or income

Granted, to many, Ah Teck's income wasn't even considered 'high' to these snobs. They masturbated to their bosses' pay cheque and got orgasms from featured people in the Investment Section of Sunday Times each week. So how much you earn or what job you do defines the person you are these days? Ever heard of John Terry or Mah Bow Tan? Rich, but not exactly people I would tip my hat towards. More of a boot in groin if I am allowed to, especially for the latter.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have a problem against rich people, even the assholes among them. They live their lives and I live mine. The focus of this is the smart anonymous guy who attempts to paint me based on what he reads in the blog. In my humble opinion, he should get a life and start something more exciting than telling a blogger whom he doesn't know in person who he is and what he should be doing in his spare time. He can even pretend he knows me better than my wife do. In fact, he'll be telling me I should be dyeing my graying pubic hair in the next few comments.Would I be surprised? Not the slightest. Perhaps, hanging himself by his eyelids to a pair of fishing rods on top of Rialto Towers sounds like a better past time more suited to someone of his psychological condition.

No. I am not being ironical here by dictating someone's life. The above was highly recommended but not compulsory. Perhaps it isn't obvious enough to me that reading my blog IS life. Perhaps my blog is a life-support system that may send these critters to chasms of oblivion if I delete the blog or block all comments. I respect all forms of lives, including the pathetic ones so I must be self sacrificial and continue to blog.

For the ignorant chap who spewed that sentence that defines his intelligence, listen up.

A delivery man is a man on mission every single day. He is responsible and reliable enough to be trusted to operate arguably the most expensive assets of many companies. Every delivery trip represents the reputation of his company, as well as their survival. No delivery, no revenue. A delivery man has to be highly knowledgeable and resourceful, being alone on the job most of the time to handle weather conditions and the most unexpected challenges on route. A delivery man has to be focused during work for mere seconds of a lack concentration means damages to properties and the risk of taking lives, including his own. Most importantly, common sense is required, which you seem urgently lacking.

A successful delivery very often, brings heave of reliefs and breathless thank yous while an unsuccessful one could begets huge disappointments down the chain. A delivery man does his jobs in casual wear, unlike folks in clown suits trying to breathe through their choking ties in their uncomfortable air conditioned office. He listens to music and screams during work if he feels like it.

The average Singaporean seems to have no clue, let alone appreciation of, how important delivery is to the function of Australia and even Singapore, as a nation. If any of these wheels stop turning, folks in their clown suits will be the first to notice it with core industries such as healthcare and FnB paralysed. Forget about withdrawing money either for ATMs would run out of cash and all businesses will came to a standstill within days.

Delivery men are the lifeblood of a nation, akin the blood in a human body delivering oxygen to every nook and crevice that functions. You can be ignorant before, but there isn't an excuse now. Say this in the face of an Australian truckie, "No wonder you do deliveries." I hope you say it like you are having an orgasm when you meet someone holding a 'respectable job', with your hands clasped with wet watery eyes. If you are doing that instead with the cowardly sneer behind internet anonymity, I sincerely wish you getting a free fisting in your sorry ass.

Prior to this, they were amazing but this required special mention. I have to thank Sham and Rob, who had been our chefs, caterer, tour guides, information counter and logistics support for several occasions during the last 3 weeks. If sending us off wasn't enough, receiving us with 2 cars was overwhelming. They have been great hosts to my parents and even made sure they didn't leave empty handed. We received too much kindness that Jen and I had to chant, 'Paiseh, paiseh, paiseh'.

Sham and Rob burnt their Sunday to take us for a tour around Swan Valley. It was an efficient trip, for they knew the place like the back of their hands. There was hardly any time wasted between our stops and we managed to cover all the locations that we planned to visit. Perhaps one day I would share the little things I saw during the trip. If I could get the visual aids, I would.

Pat, if you are reading, thanks for the home-cooked dinner a few weeks back. Prior to this, my parents probably didn't get to speak to anyone except us. The conversations in Cantonese did help, a lot. The folks started to relax and continued to discuss about the topics over dinner on the way home in the car that night. It was also fortunate that Steph and Joni dropped by last mid week to have dinner. Sorry to take up your time till almost midnight. Needless to say, my mum enjoyed her reminiscing of the Singapore past. She will be back to do char-mee for you, I'll see to that. Hopefully it'll be soon. Thanks Edmund for offering help to send my parents back.

Grace came over for dinner today. She was adapting well into new life, specially mentioning she now required 40 minutes to reach her work place. By tomorrow, her whole family will be in Perth for a visit and she was over the moon about it. She would be bringing them over for dinner soon. It will be nice to see Auntie again. It wasn't too comfortable hosting her over at Eugene's back then, as a single room tenant. This time round, it will be much better and we can chat as long as we want in a relaxing setting. This time round, I'll flip the chocolate cake the right way. Promise.

Soon I will take a rest, go back to routine and plan the next step. Before that, the final project beckons. The Singaporean mum, M, will be making her grand move to Perth in the upcoming week. The requested 'refugee room' had been vacated and made ready, waiting. It's my turn to be logistic assistant, defects checker and refugee shelter to pay it forward another round. Send me a signal to confirm if you are still alive, M.

Gently, I turned the knob of the door of my room leading to the en suite, where I thought I left my work clothes in. Absentmindedly, I expected to see my dad snoring on the bed and mum still in bed but sitting up, taking a quick glance off her newspapers to give me a smile as I take my quick strides in. What greeted me was a dead silence in an unoccupied room, with bedding neatly tucked on the bed.

That spelled the end of our 5 weeks reunion, 2 spent in Singapore and the later 3 in Perth. Jen dropped me a message sharing that she enjoyed the company of her in-laws and was grateful for their help in looking after Albany. I must be visibly sad upon their departure during the send off that night. I wasn't too sure about being sad but I could recall feeling very, very tired and helpless. All I did during the final hour at the airport was to observe the interaction between Albany and mum. Like what I have doing very often for the past 3 weeks.

There was a genuine affinity between grandma and grandchild. They enjoyed each other's company tremendously. Albany was delighting mum at every move and kept mum laughing even when she wailed her lungs out for a nappy change. It had been a long while since I saw my mother so carefree and happy, with the absence of the toils and botheration of running the stall and other responsibilities of the woman of the household. The selected 5 weeks was good timing. Grandma managed to watch Albany learn how to sit up straight without support, stand with support, mutter her first word and her 2nd word during the last hour of their stay and learning how to operate a few of her toys.

Their absence was glaring last evening. No one was waiting to tell me the cute antics of my daughter that day. There was no ecstatic shrieks from Albany throughout the night, previously from a daily play routine between mum and Albany at the far corner of the living room.

After returning the company ute at South Perth last evening, I made a call back to check how were things. It was a good 30 minutes chat as I strolled up and down the street in the sunset, with the last of the Spring breeze chilling my ears. Mum joked about how she had to remove her sweaters the moment she stepped out of Changi Airport, even in the reasonably cool Singapore dawn. She was happy that they made their way past the Australian custom, board the right plane, collected their baggage without drama and got home on their own. It was the first time of their lives they traveled alone this way. She groaned a bit about missing Albany. I bet Albany misses my mum too, like how her mum and dad already do.

I was asked to share some of my observations and feelings from my return to Singapore. It has been a month since and I've posted nothing yet. I will, in time, I promise. Despite my short stay and my hectic schedule to complete what I tasked myself to do, I had adequate time to reflect on various issues during my multiple travels on the MRT trains. I might have traveled on one operated by my friend Gintai for all I know, the famous MRT blogger who announced his temporary retirement from blogging. I know this gentleman for almost a year. It was quite an amazing experience to converse with a total stranger so far away on regular basis.

We communicated almost daily at some point, during my tough times working as a steel tradie from 1500hrs to 0200hrs. Because of Gintai's odd working hours, often he would be the only one awake to reply my messages when my exhausted hands were finally freed for a rest. We have a slight generation gap but there wasn't a moment where I felt alienated in our conversations. We had our disagreements for sure and exchanged opinions without restrains as individuals, as Singaporeans. There were never hard feelings on my side and I hope it was mutual. From Gintai, I've learnt a lot more about life, Singapore, Singaporeans.

Nevermind that asingaporeanson.blogspot.com is the only blog by a true born and breed Singaporean that is not listed on Gintai's blog. I must be special. There isn't anything to hide though, that can be hidden in the first place from those who are actually seeking. Thus, there isn't a need to be discreet. That, of course, is my own opinion and I expect everyone else to have his own.

I'm still the sullen, cranky, moody, average Singaporean guy you wouldn't recognise on the streets. I am reactive, rarely proactive, especially in friendships and relationships. The fact that an unlikely friendship could blossom would be therefore be attributed to Gintai himself only. It isn't difficult to see why. Gintai is a people's person. A folklore hero with humble roots. Over a mere year, Gintai made friends from all walks of life. He met up with a minister for coffee for a political discussion behind closed doors and was invited by NTU to give a speech regarding his amazing debut blogging years and made friends with the big guns in Singapore blogosphere, including the main aggregators. By now Gintai has a swarm of fans who turned up not for entertainment, but truly care and discuss in seriousness about his content. Everything else aside, for the last aspect, there isn't much else a writer could ask for.

Why do I say Gintai's retirement is temporary when he clearly spelled out an 'indefinite break'? Everyone needs a break and clearly there are so many bloggers who stopped for good in the past. But Gintai is not some blogger. Something in me says once you blog with your heart, you can never turn back.

After his well deserved break, expect Gintai.

It has been almost a decade since I graduated from school. I'm definitely rusty, not that I was even good in the first place. I was those who slept throughout the years and barely made it through. Somehow I managed to pass every module, mainly motivated by the unwillingness to incur more cost in money and time if I fail to pass every exam which came my way. I was lucky to get away.

Penny must be desperate to pass her CPA module to ask me for 'help'. I was an Information System student, not Accounting. Little did she know that accounts was the only subject I flunked in my GCE 'O' Levels. Ha. Rather bad luck to find someone for help in his worst field. Anyway, if I can help, I will. At least I try.

I was tasked to read Virgin Blue's new strategy of rebranding and reinventing itself as a premium carrier to save its sorry ass after Jetstar poached much of its market share of the low cost, no frills air carrier model. In short, after Jetstar successfully tried to be Virgin Blue, Virgin Blue is now trying to be a successful Qantas. That was the gist of what I gathered after 1-2 hours of sleepy reading.

So how can an IS student answer a business question? Easy. Anyhow answer. After all I am not going to the exam hall, so use this material at your own risk. The reason why I decided to blog this was that my time for blogging was used up, so I might as well tell you why. Most importantly Penny need not re-type these (if she find any useful at all) to discuss the topic with her friends. I might as well save her some precious time. Discuss? Apparently, there are a few of them in Singapore in her 'team' to tackle this exam module together. I don't know how it really works. I've heard of long distance study programs. So this is long distance discussion (copying) program? heh heh.

Anyway, the question I was asked to help out was:-

"Has the organisation considered any misalignments with all the interconnected '7-S' aspects of the implementation plan?"

So what the heck is 7-S? Sounds like some crap Lim Swee Say would come up with. Those better, betterer, betterest nonsense. I wasn't too far wrong. They represent:

Strategy
Structure
Systems
Style
Staff
Shared Values
Skills

More or less the Lim Swee Say shit.

My answer:

Virgin's Game Change program is strategy that requires a reinvention of its brand from a low cost, no frills model to a full service one to take market share from Qantas. Virgin's logical strategic move is to implement the Game Change, as Jetstar has been eroding Virgin Blue's market capacity in a market segment with a slim profit margin that leaves Virgin little room to further lower cost for consumer to regain a competitive advantage over Jetstar.

Virgin's new CEO Borgetti (Spaghetti haha) immediately made changes to Virgin's organisational chart by establishing a new management team to rival the Qantas team, specifically in competition for business class travellers, by recruiting ex-Qantas veterans in key appointments. This move was evident that Virgin was aware of a possible misalignment of its previous company structure to perform according to their new business needs.

To align a new business system to its new goals, a major brand restructuring will take place. Virgin Blue will consolidate their 4 airlines into 1, collectively known as Virgin Australia thereafter. Other significant changes include its website, ticketing, fleet rebranding, a new advertising campaign, signage change, introducing a premium valet service, developing new lounges fore premium class travellers and a new frequent flyer program, developing new uniforms (fuck, does these ever end?) ETC. (I'll probably "Stop at two" if I was taking this exam)

A radical change in the company management threatens the iconic Virgin Blue's service style, having to establish itself a reputation as a fun, funky and "renegade" air carrier over the years. To address losing its Virgin Blue culture, the airline spent a lot of resources to recruit the right people to preserve their identity and style.

These major changes bring a possible risk that the reformed organisation do not build a sufficient understanding of the new business ideals among different levels of people who make operational decisions across the company. To minimise the effects of this risk, Borghetti sent a message to new employees and highlighted the repositioned focus of Virgin and the different needs it would require in achieving its Game Change program goals.

However, it remains a challenge for Virgin Australia for service staff to impress the business class consumers with their attributes specifically cultivated to service their core leisure market. If Virgin Australia were to reposition and transform itself in this aspect, it risks losing existing customers loyal to their 'renegade' approach if it fails to keep their balancing act precisely tuned.

We reached Grace's at 0930 hrs. Sham n Rob were already there. We were told that Grace (another) n her husband Clement would be there to help as well as Dawn n Alex, another Singaporean couple. From a glance, Grace didn't have more than 20 large boxes, all neatly packed for the move. With 9 pairs of hands, that wouldn't be much of a chore.

The ute managed to hold most of the boxes and the rest went into the passenger's car. I managed to spend a few minutes playing with Dawn's dog, a 9 year old Dachshund. The little dog was much lighter than Chocolate was. Her fur was kept in tip-tip condition and her nails neatly cut. Before long, the little dog started licking my mouth and face. They always do. I'm a friend, it's coded.

Jen asked me to say good bye to Grace's grandaunt, Auntie Lucy. Grace had been staying with her for the past 6 years. She has always been a good host whenever we visit Grace, the type of smiley granny who'll read to her great-grand daughter on her rocking chair by the fireplace. Auntie Lucy came to Perth when she was 50 and has stayed here for 4 decades. Her command of English was basic and her hearing by now isn't perfect.

Grace confided in us that she wanted to tell her Auntie Lucy how grateful she was to her for accommodating her where nobody seemed to welcome her at that point back then. Over the 6 years, she cooked every day without fail for Grace whether or not she was coming back home to dine, just in case she came back with an empty stomach. Alas, Grace lamented that she found it hard to express her gratitude because she was unable to converse in Teochew and her grandaunt's understanding of English was limited. No doubt, she left her home of 6 years with a heavy heart. When Jen asked me to say goodbye to Auntie Lucy, I declined and stayed outside to finish my final few tie-downs on the ute. I will be looking forward to the next hello instead.

Auntie Lucy's forlorn figure was noticeable when I went there to dismantle Grace's bed the night before. She had a mixed expression between a cheerful 'thank you for coming to help my grand-daugther' and a helpless 'oh, the day is finally here...' It reminded me of my own impending parting with mum. The bad feeling in the stomach had me deciding to focus on the move today instead of observing people. Inside, Jen took a picture of Auntie Lucy and Grace. As I expected, there tears flowed between grandaunt and grand-daughter. That was the reason why I didn't want to be there. The least outsiders around during these private moments, the better.

We met Thusara's family at Grace's new house. His daughter was at work, having found her part time job on the 2nd day of arrival, I was told. His son Gavin was a handsome young man, aged 9. He was bright and very sociable, exactly like what Thus' described that night where we had a long chat after we helped Thus move. Like Edmund, Thus has been always cheerful but it was more evident recently after both of them reunite with their spouse and children. I have been lucky that I did not have to be apart from Jen and Albany all these while. After a short visit to Alvin's to say hello and return his extension cord, Grace joined us for home-cooked lunch and dinner for the rest of the day. I had Grace to taste 'black sesame paste' that I made for desserts for the first time in her life. Jen packed a couple of 'goodie bags' (as she called them) for Grace. I took a quick glance and found crockery, utensils and many types of food among them. I remembered V doing the same for us when we first moved in and was sure Grace would appreciate Jen's gesture the same way as we felt.

By now, Grace would have spent a night alone in her new place. She will have to drive more than 30 minutes to her work from Monday onwards, instead of 10 minutes prior to her move. Every corner of the house will be under her care, be in maintenance or repair. She has a lot to do from unpacking, furnishing and either paving or turfing her unfinished exterior. She will have to start learning how to cook her own meals. In no time, she'll undoubtedly come out stronger, more independent and confident, just like Joanna. We look forward to future visits where she will gleefully take us around to show what additions to the house she has done herself.

All set for the big move tomorrow

Being able to feel pure happiness for a friend without the slightest tinge of jealousy or envy is a liberating feeling. Steph has finally obtained his permanent residency. After years of struggles, his perseverance has been paid off. With that, together with Joni, their search for their cosy home begins. It will not be too long till rental days are over. Congratulations bro.

Grace is moving into her new house early tomorrow morning. Time really flies. When we arrived, I could recall days where Grace would ask Jen (then pregnant with Albany) to tag along with her to meet her builders because she knew 'next to nothing' about house building. One thing led to another, before long construction began. With a turn of the eye, Grace will be spending her first night in her new house in less than 24 hours' time. Congratulations Grace.

It was a long Friday night. Back in my Singapore days, I hardly reach home before 2100hrs. It was either work (which sucks) or chatting with buddies in kopitiams (which were great). These days, I was so accustomed to returning home straight after work that a few hours spent outside felt pretty straining. It could be age. After all I will be mid-30s in less than half a year's time.

The extra hours were well spent and enjoyable. I was requested to dismantle Grace's bed frame. It was a solid wood frame, sturdy and heavy. Fortunately Thusara came along or else I would have a really hard time. Together with him, we formed that 'pay-it-forward' team and chatted throughout our tasks. The bed frame dismantling wasn't a hinder and was completed without much fuss. Moving all the parts up to the ute was the challenging part because the corridor was narrow, cluttered with neatly packed boxes containing the rest of Grace's treasures. That was why Thusara's turning up saved my back from an ordeal. I am happy to share that Thusara has found a transitional full time job and started working this week. Congratulations Thus.

Fortunately Alvin was living nearby or we would have to leave the parts of Grace's bed frames unassembled until tomorrow. I forgot to bring an extension cord along. It must be aging ... Fortunately Jen and Grace managed to borrow one from Alvin while Thus and I fixed up whatever else we could. Within minutes we got the bed back up and the girls were bouncing on the thick King Koil mattress to 'test my work'. Nothing collapsed and no butts ended on the ground, so we packed up. Big day tomorrow for Grace.

Araluen Botanic Park

"But me being me, I need to go all out (or all in). Cannot just put in the tip only."
- CK,18 October 2012 13:14

"i will be one of those who will come back to sg for the "right price""
- ibitemynails, 9 October 2012, 11:01

Contrasting attitudes

When we have no choice but to succeed, we will do everything we can possibly do not to fail. We will work our asses off to not fail because failing means dire consequences. We will do what we think we cannot do because there isn't an importance about who we really are anymore. When one's mind is perfectly aligned with a unmovable goal embedded in groove, there is no second-guessing of decisions.

Because there isn't room to unmake any.

It is either do or die. Being completely one minded, we have the forces of the universe behind us to give us the additional inch, that extra inch to tide us over tougher times. When all our energies are focussed on an objective and the mind truly one, there is happiness found during rougher periods never before remotely thought possible. With a different mentality under the same circumstance, we experience suffering not bliss. Such is the importance of a firm commitment to a choice.

A committed decision means we rarely regret the choices we made, even if they don't turn out well. Each of these are opportunities for us to realise who we really are, the real self that we chose to veil due to societal pressure. Nobody can ever turn back time yet often we have a false sense of reality, that our lives are full of decision forks when it is merely a straight line. A short straight line that last mere decades before we burn out like a spent candle in the wind.

Every single of us is a unique story in the book of life. We live the way we want, the best we think we can under our unique constraints. Thus under circumstances, even a committed decision to be indecisive can brings happiness. That is the fickle nature of life.

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Milestone: Breaking Even

Milestone: Renting a House

Milestone: Landing a Permanent Job

Month 8

Month 9

Month 10

Month 11
End of Year 1

A Singaporean In Australia

Past Rants