Life’s like that.

My favourite section of The New Paper happens to be the Speakup column. Why? Because I get to read about the latest complaints about life in Singapore.

On 2 Aug, the issue of tissue pack reservation has been brought up again. This time by a Singaporean who has been away for 6 years. It must have been a big culture shock for him to realize that to secure a seat during lunchtime, you have to carry a packet of tissue, umbrella or even a screwdriver (this is definitely new to me). I used to work in the CBD area so I know what it is like as well, especially when you do not follow the practice. I mean, how difficult is it to get one of your colleagues to “chope” the seats while the rest go and buy their food?

I have on many occasions spotted empty tables only to rush there and realize that it was reserved with tissue packs. Yea, I do feel kind of silly but I usually just move on and look for diners (is there a word to describe people having lunch?? lunchers??) that have almost finished their food and park myself beside their table. In order not to pressure them into finishing their lunch quickly, I do not look at them directly but instead pretend to look far away or pretend to send sms on my mobile. All this while, keeping a close watch on their progress through the corner of my eye. If any ‘competition’ tries to linger around for the same table, I’ll give them a “I was here first” kind of look. Talking about this, there was a reply to the tissue pack article by a Ms Carson on 4 Aug.

She agreed with Mr Chan’s views on the tissue packs and went on about inconsiderate people who won’t leave their seats and “lurking vultures” who are “inconsiderate while waiting for the tables, especially when you are halfway through your food”.

People who won’t leave their seats I understand but I am trying to imagine how to be inconsiderate while waiting for tables. (was he staring at you? standing too close? digging his nose?) I guess if you are not done with your food, someone has got to wait. And where else to wait but beside the tables… You can choose to gulp down your food if you pity the person waiting or you can eat at your own pace and let him wait (which by the way is the norm in Singapore).

While both Mr Chan and Ms Carson questioned Singaporeans’ ability of being a gracious society, Mr Chan did offer suggestions for Singaporeans to improve the tissue paper and seat hogging situation. Ms Carson merely urged Singaporeans to have a “sense of social duty”. And proceeds to lambast Singaporeans for being rude, inconsiderate and being expectant of the Government to address “this problem” (was she referring to being gracious, the tissue pack or the lurking vulture syndrome? hmm…),

All this over her one visit to the Lau Pa Sat for lunch, one year ago…

I was in a lift when I overhead one guy, with a very serious look on his face, telling his colleague

“Either it is a success or….(long pause, looks as if he is trying to find the right word)… it will not be successful.”

The other guy nodded in agreement and they continued to discuss in detail the two outcomes of their important project.

It was tough trying to keep a straight face in the lift.

Here are some photos from the S.H.E mini concert. Pity we were seated way behind cos we didn’t want to go early to queue, but it was an entertaining show overall. Ryan definitely enjoyed it.

I read an interesting article in the Straits Times on 27th July, that based on some study conducted, researchers have found that obesity is ’socially contagious’.

“Obesity is socially contagious and the risk is highest among friends: Study”

So this means that if you are getting fat, blame it on your (bigger) friends for passing it on to you… Why is this so? The article quoted a Prof Christakis as saying

‘You change your idea of what is an acceptable body type by looking at the people around you’.

Does it mean that if you want to lose weight, you should start hanging around with skinny people? Maybe spending more time with them, seeing them everyday, may change your idea of an ‘acceptable body type’ and you will start to lose weight and look like them.

But the article also mentioned :

‘We were stunned to find that friends who are miles away have just as much impact on a person’s weight status as friends who are right next door,’ said co-author James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego.

Which gave me an idea.

Maybe, as a skinny person, I should start a slimming program based on this. Here’s how the ad will look like :

Guaranteed weight loss program.
No supplements, no exercising, no dieting, no nothing!
You don’t have to do anything, just pay me to be YOUR friend!
In no time, you will look like me.

What you get:
I will acknowledge you as a friend.
You will receive a life sized poster of me.

What you need to do:
Look at my life sized poster for an hour everyday. (You can talk to it if you want)
Once a week, give me a call to ask me for my weight. (Should not last more than a minute)

*Note : You DO NOT need to see me at all, it works remotely!

The article also mentioned that ‘Gender also had a strong influence. In same-sex friendships, a person’s obesity risk increased by 71 per cent if a friend gained weight’.So if you want to reduce your obesity risk, you may want to consider getting into a ’same-sex friendship’ with a skinny person after the slimming program.

But no, I won’t be offering that service…

With the EPL starting soon next month, and Starhub’s announcement that they will be launching a new Football Channel with Goal TV and Ten Sports, there still isn’t any news of what subscribers can expect from it.

Based on this recent announcement, it seems like the current sports group (ESPN, Star Sports, Super Sports) is no longer worth paying for especially to those who subscribe just to watch the EPL matches. And since they are launching a new channel solely for football, it will only be fair if we can subscribe to this channel separately. But the biggest question now is how Starhub will price its new sports packages and the new football channel.

That remains to be seen and will eventually decide if I will continue with the subscription or start hunting for a nearby coffeeshop that screens EPL matches.

Daddy, get out of my way or I’ll stomp on you…

Me wifey just won tickets for the coming S.H.E concert! Whoopee!

Ryan, who is a BIG fan of S.H.E, can’t wait for the day to come. He’s already listening to their latest album “Play”. Although I’m not a fan, I must say that some of the songs are quite good (except for the cheesy london bridge song).

Come to think of it, I better start practicing how to shout “S.H.E! 我永遠永遠支持你!” convincingly.

All together now! “S.H.E! 我永遠永遠支持你!”

Don’t mess with my mama cos she’ll whoop your ass!

I was going through my old photos and came across this picture taken during a trip to Shanghai.

Two strangers, one from the United States and the other from Singapore (me of course), happen to be partying at the same club in Shanghai wearing almost identical tops. What are the odds of that happening? Weird man… It was so amusing we took a picture for keepsake.

By the way, that guy’s got great fashion sense. hehe.