I have no idea how to break the ice on my first blog entry, though its not my premier blog... I have been creating many blogs since blogging becomes popular, only to leave virtual trash later on in blog-spot. Well, creating blogs and discarding them seems to be another way for me to see how my blogs evolve through this years, my content and my thoughts. I shall see how long would I keep this blog ongoing, afterall, this would be the blog of me after being to other continents of the Earth and of me living in the red tiny dot on Earth.
Its the 2nd day of the Chinese new year, and seemingly there are more shops opened compared to previous years. I can see most of the shops are either operated by the Indians and the Malays, or the people from Malaysia and China who did not return to their homeland during this festive season. Well, Singapore is getting more populated with more immigrants these past few years, so its not really surprising to find more people from overseas stationed in Singapore. I have to admit though that most of the immigrants are from developing countries, and it is not a wonder to find a food court with all non locals serving you.
Every CNY seems to be the same , visiting relatives and getting an "ang pao" or red packet from them. This has somehow to be of less meaningful then when I was little, as receiving red packets and happy having to get more cash seems to be of little concern to me now. I am 25 this year. Is my biological clock ticking? Is it time for me to get another half so I would be the one giving "ang pao"? I met my nephew and niece whom I have not seen for quite some time. They are like myself when I was young, being a brat sometimes. They don't really recognize me on first meet and were pretty shock to know me as their uncle...
It seems daunting to join in the elders' talks every year and to me, dutch courage is something I would need to hold a conversation with them a few years back. I would not talk to them unless they talk to me (talk about sticking my nose in the air)...This time round however, I joined in their chats and living standards are the main topic of our talk. They are not really interested in what I do in detail, and some of my cousins don't really bother of what I have been doing these years. Money, work, HDB (housing development board) flats and marriage in Singapore are the gist, to summarize.
I find that CNY every year in Singapore is a festival where most of us gets a break from our hectic lifestyle. In Singapore, almost everything is going at a fast pace, like in Japan. There's simply no time to just come to a stand still and be nostalgic or sentimental. Even after work, the packed MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) would leave one breathless if one is not used to it. Our MRTs seems overly packed (not comparing to Japan of course) and there is definitely still room for improvement for the projected time of arrival of the trains. This goes the same for our buses. Well, some ways have been adopted by SMRT to reduce the crowd. One of them would be to reduce the number of seats in the train. Everyone would have to stand, making it possible to ferry more people at one time, and at the same time making the train more disabled friendly as handles are fixed on the train for those in wheelchairs to hold. Our fares just keep increasing and with that, we get to stand in trains... Our population has to increasing to maintain our economy, but its a pity that our transport system technology and the trains' frequency is not going at the same pace with the growth. Standing in the MRT one can feel the heavy vibrations as the MRT swift through the tracks. Talk about reading a book without feeling the "vibes".
More than 80% of our population lives in HDB flats. Our facilities are fairly good as I shall say, compared to other countries, but I feel they are being too closed packed. Getting lost in trying to find a block is common as all the blocks look the same everywhere. But this is not a choice for us as we are a small nation, and land is scarce. What I have to say on HDBs is with their lift upgrading/building program. Previously lifts only goes to certain floors and one may have to climb a few floors to reach their house unit. This lift project aims to built lifts to reach every floor of the flats. The lift building project has been ongoing for many years since 2006, but I must say they have only been building lifts on flats with existing lifts. How about flats with no lifts? Isn't it ironic that flats with lifts get new lifts while flats with no lifts have to wait? I live in a 4 storey flat, though its only 4 storey, my flat has quite a few elderly living on the 3rd and 4th floor. However there is no lift building for my block at this moment and they have said that if there are lifts to be built, it will only start on the 2nd floor. Now isn't this a waste of resources to start from the second floor? This definitely breaks the purpose of having to convenience us when we still have to climb a storey to get to the lift. How would the people living in the second floor then pay for the lift. (Our lifts are basically charged as our amenities to pay for servicing). It has already been 4 years since this scheme is introduced, I just hope that the program comes to my flat soon to benefit those who has difficulty in climbing staircases...
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