I will always have fond memories of Island Creamery. My gf and I first discovered the place when it was just a little corner shop in Serene Center. We had just started dating at that time or in the lingo of this generation, we had just gotten attached. The first flavor I tried from Island Creamery was Apple Crumble and I was hooked. Hooked!
But liking the ice-cream was just one reason why I used to like the place. I would even say it was the least important reason.
The main reason was it fitted into a nice narrative that I told myself about my relationship with the gf and that period of our lives. We had just made the decision to date officially and were starting to learn more about each other as individuals. We were in an exploratory phase and had stumbled across a small growing store which had delicious ice-cream. It was our little secret (not really, but at that time, not many people knew about the place so … ), a place far from the madding crowd where we could share an ice-cream, talk and at least on my part, gaze at her with dopey puppy eyes.
Then they moved to occupy a bigger space.
Things didn’t immediately change. The place was still quiet, still felt like our little secret.
Then, for want of a better phrase, the tipping point came.
Students flocked there. Families descended on it. Couples drove down to get ice-cream.
I knew it was over once a NUS friend who stayed in the East said she had gone there with other course-mates and it was one of their favorite hang-out places.
Island Creamery was no longer a little secret that just belonged to us and to the people who lived around the area.
Recently, another place I like feels like it is changing. This place is slightly different. I haven’t been going there until recently but in the space of 7 months, there seems to be a change in the demographics of the patrons.
This time I have contributed to the ‘problem’. I’ve been inviting my friends to go down to that place.
I know it is silly. It is so conflicting. You want a place to do well. You like a place so much that you want to share its food and the experience with your friends. Yet you still don’t want it to be so mainstream.
You want it to stay the way it was - cosy, intimate and not have it become some place where every time you go, it is a ‘reunion’ with other people.
You don’t want people you hate to be associated with or those who you loathe to find any similarities with to start identifying with a treasured haunt.
The Innocence Project’s groundbreaking use of DNA technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable proof that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events but instead arise from systemic defects.
I wonder…. How many people have been falsely convicted in Singapore. Do these individuals have any sort of recourse to right the wrongs done against them? Do we have such rights as stated in the video?
Anyway, back to the videos. I was wondering about what we write on our blogs as well as the information we sprinkle all across the different online services and whether we will ever see a case where the stuff we put online is used as evidence against us.
I’m not talking about a racist writing a seditious blog post. I’m talking about twittering an innocuous message at 10.15am saying that you are at Raffles MRT waiting for a friend and that is used as evidence that you were around the vicinity of a certain crime.
Or you write a Wall Post talking about how much you hate someone and then something happens to that someone. Motive?
I wonder….
We don’t exactly put everything online. And when we do, it isn’t always the truth - there are times when there are embellishments to the story we tell. What is truth anyway? Is it what actually happened or the way we remembered what happened?
Hmmm… Just saying that our online bread crumbs might lead people down the wrong path about who we really are.
I wonder if one day it can be used against us in court.
A reader left a comment (quoted below) after my last post about not canceling our National Day Parade. I disagree with the people who say that only authoritarian and semi-authoritarian states have parades like ours. His comment:
Just a bit of trivia. The only other countries that have “National Day Celebrations” like ours is North Korea and China.
No other democratic, first-world country does it.
xizor2000:
What is the point of a flypast and all that military display? Are we a communist nation like… North Korea?
Two links to help you realize that maybe we shouldn’t be so hung up on our Parade and use it as a marker of how undemocratic, not first-world our country is.
I have never actually seen any of those parades. What I know is from what I’ve read and the photos I’ve seen. To be honest, they don’t look much difference. There is parade and there is military display - two things that seem to be held against Singapore.
Of course we can always argue about how a certain political party seems to take center-stage and I think there might be fair criticisms against that. If you tell me the marker is that in each of these countries mentioned, the ruling party and leaders take center-stage in the National Day celebrations then I would be willing to concede that it could be a hallmark of authoritarian and semi-authoritarian states.
Yet, I wonder. I do not think it would be too presumptuous to say that the government, leaders and the monarchy of other countries, even the democratic ones, do get certain amount of spotlight during their respective nation’s National Day and its celebrations.
To a certain extent, it is really same difference.
I read this post by xizor2000 about canceling NDP and I cannot help but think it is way off the mark. We should not cancel nor ever considering canceling our National Day Parade.
In fact, I was saying, just do away with the NDP entirely. What is the point of a flypast and all that military display? Are we a communist nation like… North Korea?
Firstly, celebrating National Day with parades, even military ones are not unique to authoritarian or semi-authoritarian states.
I understand the grievances that xizor2000 posted on his blog. I share many of them. But canceling NDP will not make those problems go away.
Maybe it seems there is nothing to celebrate but I think that’s not true. Each year, there are many things about Singapore worth celebrating and we as a nation should celebrate.
I find it ironic that we accuse our leaders of just making decisions based solely on hard, cold, logical reasoning that are usually economically motivated and then one of the reasons we give for canceling the NDP is founded on economic considerations.
Of course, people asking for the NDP to be canceled might be pointing out the hypocrisy in wasting resources for a parade at a time when the government is asking us not to waste. I think if that is the intention, then there might be some merit.
However, do note consuming resources is different from wasting resources. NDP consumes resources but is it necessarily wasting resources? I believe that question is still open to debate and not an open-shut-chopped-stamped-signed-sealed-with-model-answer question.
Of course the cynic will always wonder what good a National Day Parade does. To be honest, I don’t think it does any lasting good for the rest of the year after the parade. Our hearts may be stirred by the proceedings of the day but once the we get back to the daily grind, a lot of the goodwill is lost as we fight for survival or the quest to make sure it is our foot stomping on another person’s face.
Yet without it, what it means is we don’t even have one day, one pivotal event on the calendar to stop and think what it means to be Singaporean and yes, feel Singaporean. We don’t even have that once chance to generate goodwill in some of us that hopefully last through the year.
I agree it is pretty pathetic to accord one day so much power to make things slightly better. And National Day shouldn’t be such a day. It should be part of many days. No. It should be the bookends to a year filled with many such days. A day when we celebrate the progress made in the past year, and look forward to greater heights as a society the next year. An Annual General Meeting for the citizens and Auditing of the nation’s conscience and consciousness.
The National Day Parade isn’t the complete solution as we try to make Singapore a better place and develop our identity as a nation. Yet, while it is not a sufficient condition, it is to me, a necessary one.
Note: If you have reached the end, you will probably come to a certain little thought - National Day and National Day Parade are two different things. We can cancel the National Day Parade and still keep our National Day - just find different ways to celebrate it. I agree. I think that is a viable direction we could, or possibly should, head towards. There might be more meaningful ways to celebrate our National Day.
When I wrote this post, I wrote it from the Singaporean view that in most of our consciousness, the National Day Parade has been indelibly linked with National Day. Canceling one seems like canceling the other.
I self-invited myself to an event organized by Ogilvy to showcase the latest short film commissioned by MCYS (i.e. Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports). Brian (who should never be hired as a door-bitch because he is just too welcoming) was gracious enough to let me attend the event.
I am glad I did.
We got to watch a selection from the body of work by director Yasmin Ahmad (who has a blog here) and I understand why she is an award-winning director.
Films aren’t just meant to saturate our senses with sights and sounds or impress us with special effects. Correction. Good and memorable films (which is different from blockbuster entertaining) don’t just saturate our senses with sights and sounds and impress us with special effects. Good and memorable films lead us on an emotional journey - they remind us what it means to be human and evoke strong emotions that help us cope, appreciate and understand our lives on earth.
I got all the good stuff from her work.
My favorite is this commercial ‘Tan Hon Ming in Love’.
I really like this kid - the innocent, authentic, unbridled expressions and responses were a joy to watch. It reminded me of what it was like to be young and untarnished by the expectations and ‘rules’ of society.
The final message was a powerful one phrased in a simple question.
The film that was commissioned is embedded below.
I really like this short film.
For one thing, it didn’t seem like the typical family campaign commercial. I haven’t seen all the commercials ever put out by my government but my impression has always been that the government likes to showcase only the idealized version of a family - 2 parents, 2.something siblings and 1 dog.
The film doesn’t have such a family. It just consists of a father and a daughter. The family seems incomplete and thus imperfect and the girl a little spoiled yet I think it captures the way we experience our family relations for most, if not all, of us.
For one thing, the way we experience our relationships with the members of our family isn’t a one-to-many thing. It is still very much a one-to-one thing. How I feel about my father is largely based on what happens between me and him and not how he has been an awesome husband to my mom or how he has also been a long-suffering dad to my sis (and me). When we talk about love in the family, it isn’t always a group-hug experience. In this film, the mother has been removed such that only one relationship is in focus and in this one relationship I am able to see a little of my relationship with my dad, a little of my relationship with my mom and ultimately the love that is in my family.
Yasmin Ahmad said that a lot of times when we like something, we find reasons to justify why we like it. That might be the case with this film however I feel that Yasmin choosing that flat to be the family’s home was an inspired choice which allowed us to easier frame our perspectives and hang our own emotions. I don’t think she chose the setting to target at any particular demographic or thug any particular heartstrings but I really like the flat chosen and I think my peers will too.
I don’t think it would be presumptuous to say that for most in my generation and our parents, that flat was very much the setting for our early family experience. We were the generation that grew into prosperity on the back of the efforts of those before us. It is my generation that are the ones who are now at the age of getting married and starting a family and I think this film has the potential to speak to a lot of us.
It did for me.
The film reminded me of the most poignant memory I have of my parents and their love for me.
The first major purchase my parents got when we moved to our first home was an encyclopedia set. I can still remember sitting on the sparse living room floor with the salesperson showing the World Book set of encyclopedias. We had nothing and out of the so many things my parents could have bought for themselves or to make the house nicer, they chose instead to buy a World Book encyclopedia set. We think nothing of buying an item that costs a few thousand dollars now but I can only imagine the sacrifice that was made to ensure they could buy that set of books in the hope that my future would be better.
At that time, our home had next to nothing. Yet in its emptiness, the hope that filled the flat was tangible. We believed life was good and could be better.
Things have changed for a lot of us in my generation. The focus has shifted. Looking at this film, I believe it can be a good starting point, if not a valuable addition, to the conversation each of us have within ourselves as we grapple with our, for some of us strained, relationships with our parents and find the direction for the rest of our lives.
The informal Q&A session was a hoot. Yasmin Ahmad is definitely the sort of person you want at any party.
Her advice to be a good film-maker - don’t try to control everything, produce a good script and have excellent casting.
She also can be counted as a member of the unofficial Vivian Balakrishnan fan club which my sis and mom are part of. Cute and cool are words that have been used to describe him.
My comment to this post was flagged as spam so I’m putting it here for me to remember. I have more to write about his post.
If the medical screening is done properly, we can intensify training because we know these dudes can handle it. I agree with you. Too much time is wasted only because there is two years to waste it. I think schedule can be cut to 1 to 1.5 years. I think training also can be harder. One thing I have lost after NS but at times can retrieve is the ability to dig down, suck it up and push past what I think are my limits. This was something that I got from a period of tough training. Sadly, that officer who was in-charge at that time is the kind that doesn’t get promoted to high up.
Anyway, a lot of time, screening is about money. More money, higher chance of downgrading. Or if you play sports, you confirm can get an easier life. Sad that the priorities of National Service can get muddled up so easily.
Last night was the game between Singapore and Uzbekistan. I went to watch the match alone. When I reached there at 7.45pm, this was the sight that awaited me:
I was not to be discouraged and decided to join the queue.
There was great atmosphere among those of us queuing to watch the match. We knew there was little chance of us getting in before half time but we didn’t care. Some people were keeping track of the score by calling or messaging those in the stadium or those watching from home. We cheered when we heard Singapore equalized to make the score 2-2.
I had hope we could pull an upset. I also thought that the stadium must have been packed.
After 30 minutes of queuing, I finally got my ticket. Guess what..the tickets were being sold by young kids. I think that’s so wrong. I know they are earning their keep but somehow it just felt exploitative.
Anyway, when i was walking up to the seats, this was the queue that remained:
When I got in, two things greeted me which left me deeply disappointed. The first was that we were now down 4-2. What happened!!!! I called my Uncle and he told me we let in two soft goals. Then I saw us let in what was a really cheap goal from a corner kick. Sigh.
The second thing that greeted me was the half empty stadium.
Only one side was anywhere near full.
I know I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again - I miss the days of the Malaysian Cup and League.
What I don’t get is this. Why were we playing so many long balls that night. I mean, let’s face it, if we want to go to the World Cup Finals, then we must know we will be facing teams with individuals bigger and taller than us. Long balls doesn’t seem to be the optimal strategy against such opponents. Sure, we could hope our players get bigger or maybe, just maybe we could work on another style of play.
Anyway, last night, three English guys sat behind me and made disparaging remarks about the team’s fitness and skills. I felt like turning around to say, “Your England not so much better. They didn’t qualify for Euro”. But I didn’t. I realized why what they said hurt so much was because there was truth in what they said.
We weren’t on par with the players from Uzbekistan in terms of fitness and skill. We also didn’t have the gamemanship that those players had. I mean, come on lah ref, how kayu are you? Those guys can easily muscle any of our players off the ball, but when one of ours touch them a bit, those jokers fall to the ground in the kind of agony that is only warranted if they had been knocked down by a bus.
The performance didn’t even deserve a Golden Globe nomination. It was that bad.
Sigh.
This loss didn’t hurt as bad as the one against Malaysia. Maybe it was because there was a certain resignation that this team was way better. Or maybe I’ve lowered my expectations.
But I think last night, the team had a little bit of fight in them. Despite the soft goals, they did play with a certain amount of pride.
Anyway, I need some help here. Can anyone remember when the Singapore World Cup 2010 initiative was started?
Just finished a rather heated discussion with a colleague about the US Presidential Elections. Actually, more specifically, about the Democratic Party’s nomination for candidate. And I realized why the PAP might just want the ordinary people to stay out of the way.
We (i.e. a lot of the people desiring change in our current system) assume that people have the desire to be informed, and if not, have the ability to seek out information and the facility to take that information, digest it, analyze it, interpret it and then make informed, well reasoned decisions.
But is that really the case?
Is the average Singaporean, or for that matter, is the average individual in the world like that. We all have our bias, we all have our preferences and a lot of us, if not all of us, are susceptible to let emotions overrule our logical facilities.
More importantly, none of us will ever have the complete view of the world, nor ever understand what we see even if it is everything.
And if there is one thing about people, we like to experience instant gratification as opposed to strive for long term satisfaction. This is a problem when a group, society, organization or country needs to solve problems - a lot of the times, the right solution is not obvious and if it is, it is usually painful for those involved.
So politicians pander to the worse in human nature - fear and greed. Give the people their regular goodies. Throw gold off the wagon. Make people fearful they will lose out to others, that their estate will not be upgraded and they lose out in the race. Play to the lowest common denominator, stay in power and then do what’s needed to fix the problem.
Of course, power tends to corrupt and good intentions is never a justification for bad actions, and sometimes the best laid plans of man fail.
But do we want to trust the average individual?
Are the average individual even willing to accept that arguments for any issue are nuanced - there never ever is a clear line between one side and the other. Are they willing to invest time and effort to understand every aspects of the issues that concern them. Or are they just ever too willing to just look for convenient signposts.
Or is it just plain arrogance to think that one group of people, while having themselves an incomplete view of the world and with that a incomplete understanding of the world, might just have a better view and the rest should stay out of the way.
Do we dare trust our fellow citizens?
Or is that too much to ask.
Which demands the greater price? Which gives the greater rewards?
To trust and maybe fail. Or not to trust and maybe fail.
Knowing human nature, which choice has the greater probability of failure?
Knowing human nature, is failure an inevitability in either choice?
And if failure is always an inevitability, which gives us a better chance of renewal.
I remember how my father and uncle would talk about the legendary Quah Kim Song and his generational of exceptional footballers. I never got the chance to watch these players but managed to experience a little bit of the Kallang magic growing up. The highlight was when we did the double - that season I would watch the matches on TV and for the occasional game go to the stadium. The nights of the Kallang roar were unforgettable experiences.
Then came an equally unforgettable night though I wish I could remove its stain from my memories. The night that Singapore was trashed 4-0 by Malaysia. I think I left the stadium almost in tears.
It is one thing to lose. It is another thing to lose to a bitter soccer rival. BUT the greatest pain was watching our national players collapse in cramps. Some people would say it is because they gave their all, I say they didn’t prepare enough to play for the team. I’m not sure what anyone else will remember about that night, but that was the night I saw a team of players wearing the Singapore flag over their chest with no respect at all to what that means.
That flag means something. The right to wear that flag means something.
Anyway, like any love affair, I’m going to allow myself to be hurt again. So tonight, I’ll be heading down to the National Stadium to watch Singapore play Uzbekistan.
Last Friday, FO, Aaron, Aaron’s wife and me went to L’estaminet at Greenwood where we have an amazingly large family sized pizza for dinner. The pizza as usual was delicious.
After dinner, FO took out his set of Arkham Horror and started teaching us how to play the game. The game has an extremely rich storyline and gameplay. I’m a big fan of Buffy and the game allowed my inner slayer to roam free. I’m pretty sure we didn’t get to appreciate the full texture of the game that night. If only we had more time, and more experience in playing the game, we could have invested more in the storytelling elements - the lighting where we sat suited the game. No matter. The game was still terribly enjoyable.
I was probably the most useless player on the team. Notwithstanding the fact I was a bit distracted what with the beer and chatting with the staff, the character I chose, while in theory should have been a mighty slayer of monsters and seasoned sealer of portals, was a nun who pretty much didn’t contribute the whole night. I’m pretty sure I played the character wrongly. Should have focused more on spells.
Only managed to vanquish like two monsters and sealed one portal. Terrible.
I can imagine Asha Gill pointing at me and proclaiming I was the weakest link.
My character card for Sister Mary below:
Somehow this photo turned out wrong yet seemed so suited to the theme of the game:
FO and Aaron’s wife stuck in another dimension:
Aaron’s sexy psychologist stuck in another dimension:
