Letter to Founding Father
When I awoke on that Sunday wee hours amid a thunderstorm and realised that you have left, I was at a loss for words. I told Shu Fang that it was a piece of news that we were anticipating, and told her to go back to sleep. But both of us knew that going back to sleep would not be possible, for we were too deeply saddened by the news.
How do I explain this loss, when I have never even seen you before? How could one shed tears everyday to a stranger, whom he has only seen and heard on TV. But sob I did, for through the books and documentaries, I felt that I knew you - your commitment to Singapore and the sacrifices you have made. I felt I knew you more than I knew my own father. You have taught me a lot through the books and documentaries, and I will remember your teachings for the rest of my life
You mentioned you didn't believe in heaven, as you said that if there were one, it would probably be overcrowded. After witnessing the rain today, I am certain the heavens were crying, for it is too much of a coincidence. I hope that you would be in heaven with your wife, and you would be able to read this message. It will help ease the pain in my heart for not having seen you in person. I can only repay my gratitude to you by being hardworking the way you have always wanted us to be, and to contribute back to society.
Goodbye Mr Lee, and once again thank you.
Farewell to PoPo
The first time I met Popo, it was at Sf's home. She was a cheerful and lively lady. I remember her asking Sf's mum, "Is this Ah Fang's boyfriend?" To which Sf's mum nodded and PoPo started chatting to me in Hainanese - a dialect I could not understand as it bore no resemblance to Hokkien. However the language barrier did not prove to be an impedance to developing fondness for this old granny.
The illness never took away her spirits away. She continued to do the things she loved. I looked forward to the mahjong sessions where we often ended up amazed by her ability to win us. The hospital visits were never a dread as she made conversations easily.
In those moments when we were driving back from sending PoPo to her nursing home, Sf's mum shared with me stories that allowed a peak into the life of a woman who was strong and hardworking. Popo picked up English from helping out at a Swiss School, and had the foresight to make a HDB purchase that would later on secure the future of her family. She enjoyed games of mahjong and 4 color cards and was hospitable to friends who would come to her place to have the gaming sessions.
Time is not a critical factor in determining the bond in a friendship. In the short 2 years that I knew PoPo, I grew to like this granny who was always chatty, fun and cheeky. Our acquaintance is short-lived, but I am glad that it exist at all. PoPo also managed to witness me and Fang's ROM. I should take solace in this, and that PoPo is finally relieved of the pain, but at this moment in time our hearts are heavy with sadness.
I will cherish the sweet memories.
A Tribute to Dad
A while ago I was informed by my HR that the company was going to send another person to NY for internship. I could understand the new guy would have a lot of queries in his mind--after all I had a terrible time feeling lost for my trip--so I offered help by meeting him over lunch and giving him some tips.
He appeared to be streetwise and outgoing so it wasn't much of a surprise that he was an active diver and sailor. I was impressed. We had a hearty chat and expenses were a huge problem to him, it seemed.
"I would suggest you borrow 20k from your dad first. “I wouldn't expect the company to transfer you the money any time soon." I said and added,” At least not until the 2nd month."
"I would probably have to borrow first. My father doesn't have that kind of money to lend me." he replied.
It then dawned on me that not every family has that kind of cash. In a way, I have taken my dad for granted. Considering the ease of which he had lent me the money, it was a remarkable feat taking into account that he was a taxi driver, not some english-educated manager or director. It was upon realising this that I felt the impulse to type this blog entry.
To be honest I used to dislike my dad. He didn't bother to celebrate birthdays, much less know how to communicate with children. Toys were also non-existent. To him, the rules were simply "I provide your rudimentary needs. You study hard. There was no need for anything else". This kind of character was typical of a father from a traditional Chinese educated family. However, there was a day he brought home a toy jackpot. My Brother and I were elated, only to find out that he conveniently brought it back after it was left behind by a customer in his cab. There was only one word to describe him---stingy.
When I grew older I realised there are always two perspectives you can look at things. Stinginess was thriftiness; strict was discipline. It all boils down to how you count your blessings I guess. I had a dad who paid for my education, provided me a comfortable house and I know I don’t have to worry for his finances and I am really appreciative of this fact.
The way history is written has been changed by technology. Where in the past archeologists had to dig for evidence beneath tons of sediments, the rise of internet has made information easily accessible for future generations. In fact, I would like to think that I am leaving behind digital footprints on this blog, and my grandchildren and great grandchildren, if any, can take a peek into what my world was like and how I perceived this. I am treating this blog as a time capsule and I hope it works.
The Last Entry
Even though I still have a few weeks left in NY I feel that this is the right time to end this blog. Therefore this shall be my last entry. I would probably not blog again when I go back to Singapore. I am using “probably” because you can never be certain with things. Nonetheless I would like thank you for reading, and those who have been commenting.
How do I feel right now? Mixed feelings actually. When I first came I mentioned that this is like a fairyland to me because there are so many things that are so different--- the people, the colossal architecture, the culture. 6 months later it still feels like a fairyland. I am certain that when I reach Singapore and lay in my bed for the first time, it would seem as if I have woken up from a dream and that I never truly left. And it would be a good dream. I know that I am going to miss all these guys I have worked with.
To Scott, I have said that I can never imagine you as a teacher. You are so funny when you are angry and you are angry all the time.
To Santiago, I admire you because you are the badboy I have always wanted to be but I know I can never be.
To Ning, someday I am going to come back and beat you in one of the sports. I will wait till you are old. That is evil but it’s the only way I would win you.
To Jeff, you never fail to light up my spirits haha. It’s terrific to have someone who can appreciate soccer as much as me, especially in this country. See you in England for Arsenal Vs Liverpool!
To Brett, why do you hate soccer?
To Joe, all the best for your campaign to trim down. I would swap places with you. Anytime. Sometimes I feel that I am getting so thin I would become smaller and smaller and suddenly disappear from this world.
To Ellen, once again I have to say that you are the probably the grandmother with the most knowledge in IT.
To Govind, how come I don’t see you regularly at the Toastmasters? Hahaha, just kidding.
To Ajay, it’s nice to meet someone who topped the schools in India. You are one of the smartest guys I have met. You would make a good project manager.
To Brian, any moments with you is never boring. You are funny when you are relaxed and you are funny when you are stressed too. You earned my respect because I know you have the toughest job in this department.
To David, I can’t think of having a better manager to start my career with. You are a passionate manager who is articulate, driven and conscientious. Sometimes I think you have Confucian values but it’s probably due to your upbringing than the influence of Yuan. You could have easily said no to having foreign interns because no one would want to manage people who would complain to you about the weather, the food and their landlords. But you didn’t. Thanks for giving Weng Chew and me the chance to work here and I hope you can continue extending that invite to more young Singaporeans.
May all the nice memories, never go fuzzy with this blog.
American English
Here is a lesson or two in American English
1) The "ti" in anti-social, multi-language is commonly pronounced "tie".
2) When someone tells you to "sleep on it", it means give yourself some time to think about the issue.
3) They pretty much use past tense for every sentence. "Do you want to have lunch" becomes "Did you want to have lunch" and that often made me ponder whether I wanted to have lunch before. "Can you do this for me" becomes "Could you do this for me", which isn't exactly wrong because 'could' is used here for politeness.
4) Some people say "take it easy" when bidding farewell. When they say that to you it doesn't mean that they think you have a big problem you can't get around with. "Take it easy" is almost like a "bye bye".
5) "My folks" refers to parents. I will try calling my parents that when I get home.
6) "If I was.." is used instead of "If I were...".
I think I will still stick to British English.
Staying Connected
When Aunt Jenny came here almost 20 years ago it wasn’t easy, for the only source of information she had was the embassy itself. Calls to US were also costly. She somewhat survived through all of that. In comparison technology advancements allowed me to gather information via ways which would have been unthinkable in Aunt Jenny’s days. I booked my flight ticket online, mapped my route from the JFK to the Grand Central and then to my house and workplace through various websites and even had a bird’s eye view of the locations via satellite images. I knew beforehand that the bus would only be one block away, and that there would be eateries and barber around the corner. I could also see the pictures of the house and the room that I would be living in. The bottom-line: there were absolutely no question marks in my passage here. Auto-roaming makes me reachable at all times and I can call my family and friends at anytime and talk to them for as long as I want because VOIP is so inexpensive.
With all these technology in place one would have thought that it would be easy to stay in touch with Singapore. I realized that it is not. First and foremost, when I tried to listen to Mediacorp’s radio channels via the web browser, it detected that I have a foreign IP (for the non-tech pple, an IP is like an address) and it wouldn’t allow me to stream the radio. Disappointed, I registered with Mobtv. I was willing to pay a subscription fee to download the local drama series, yet again it slammed the door on me with a “We are sorry to inform you that we do not provide the service to foreign IP at this point in time. Thank you for your interest.”
I was desperate to get anything on Singapore and I could by reading the news from the web, but The Straits Times required a subscription fee to read the news and their feeds as well. (A news feed is brief textual news which you can subscribe to very much like you do for a magazine). The Straits Times implemented that a few years ago after realizing that people used its online news as a free substitute for the physical paper. I disapprove of such practice because online news should be provided to anyone, even if they are brief ones like feeds. By keeping all its internet news strictly to a subscription based model, The Straits Times is effectively shutting out traffic of netizens, and I have no doubt that this impacts its revenue from online advertisements too. It is, therefore, not surprising that ChannelNewsAsia and Zaobao are able to garner awards for being the websites with the most hits. Perhaps it is time that The Straits Times revises its business model and offers bits and pieces of news for free again. Every newspaper has a social responsibility to keep its citizens well-informed. A subscription fee only serves to divert netizens to other news sites and it doesn’t help that netizens are used to having free things (think Gmail, Blogger, Yahoo Photos, Wikipedia and YouTube). Having said that, poor Singaporeans do not have that many newspapers to turn to (I wouldn’t consider The New Paper to be one).
In April, the Singapore Government is collaborating with NYSA to host a Singapore Day in Bryant Park in NYC. The Singaporeans in New York can catch up with their homeland while enjoying Singapore’s entertainment and food. In order to reach out to everyone here the website awards an air ticket to New York for those who provide contacts of Singaporeans here. I provided my own contact on their website and I wonder whether that makes me eligible for that air ticket? Allow me to daydream a little bit. Anyhow the country recognizes the problem of Singaporeans forgetting their roots after working for a few years abroad and they have also set up a website for overseas Singaporeans. Thumbs up for their efforts but I think more can be done. If you want Singaporeans to desire to come back an annual one day event wouldn’t do. More needs to be done to evoke their feelings and it is easier to do that today with technology. The web portal for Singaporeans is more of a pull strategy so those who bother to browse the website are those who bother to come back so it is, in fact, still not reaching out to the “quitters”. In my opinion these are what OSU can do:
• Obtain the emails of all Singaporeans who would be going away for 6 months or more, this on a voluntarily basis of course.
• Sign them up automatically for newsletters from the respective overseas Singapore Association.
• Email each of them a “Goodie Bag” which contains a free subscription to Mobtv, Straits Times Interactive and a
Singapore Widget sitting pretty on their desktop pushing news and radio content to them.
• Have a web service that streams news in video
• Remove all foreign IP restrictions. Rave up the server bandwidth and make them sign in with their Sing pass if necessary.
It is time to truly stay connected.
(uploaded album "Niagara Falls")
People on the Bus
As time passes by the many faces on the bus becomes increasingly familiar. These people take the same good old 14 as me everyday at 8:37 and there are many interesting characters. There is the Justin Timberlake lookalike who reads everyday. The book he carries look more or less to me every time. Maybe it's part of a long series or maybe he is just reading too slowly. There is a black man who is always dressed in a hood and sits right at the back, gesturing and mouthing the lyrics from the songs of his PSP. He seems to enjoy his music a lot. He might be the next Eminem. Then there is the beautiful Hispanic lady who gets off 2 stops after I board the bus. Whenever she alights every guy would be looking at her butt and I bet she must have felt tremendously uncomfortable with her butt being threatened. Later I found out that she works at the supermarket as a cashier. There is an Indian couple who are always bundled up during the winter and I always wonder why they do not speak to each other during the entire bus trips. Most intriguing is the young lady who is always dressed in a Gothic style and her make up is Gothic as well and if she is going to college in that dressing how do the professors possibly put up with that? Sometimes at the bus stop an old lady called Sue would appear and preach to me about the goodness of Jehovah Witness. She passed me these books and articles which I hardly read but I still placed them on my shelf to show my appreciation for her efforts even though they ultimately ended up in the dustbins. What a waste of trees. I told her that my name is Wayne but somehow she always insisted on calling my Chinese name and I would have liked to tell her that calling my Chinese name doesn't make her any closer to me although she had an impeccable pronunciation. I would also like to tell her about the concept of 彼岸 and 此岸 but I didn't want to risk having an argument about religion.
And then there are the weird people. The grumpy lady who wouldn't let me sit next to her because she feels more comfortable with more space. Oh yeah I feel more comfortable with more space too and who doesn't? Another grumpy lady would shout at anyone who speaks too loudly and she would go in a squeaky voice,"The whole bus doesn't have to hear your conversations." There is a guy who has a long face and he intimidated me the most in the beginning because he was always trying to talk to me. Later I realised he talks to everyone, waves to every passing vehicle and has the intelligence of a 7 year old.
"It is a nice weather today ya? Not so cold." he would say,"I woke up late this morning you know. Brushed my teeth and then I saw the time and I knew I was late!"
I replied, "Oh is it."
"The bus is late today. Always late. You know why? It's the school buses!" he would say.
I replied, "Oh is it."
"Looking at the bus! Haha. Haha. Look at the bus!" he would say.
I replied. "Oh ok."
He might be irritating and restless but at least he doesn't hurt anyone.
Sometimes I would sit next to the intern who is doing his PHD and would be here for only 3 months. He is an extremely thin fellow with a thick facial hair that made him look so much older than he actually is. There was once I saw him run through the woods at an amazing speed and I asked him whether he did that because the cold was too much for him and he was eager to get to shelter. He said, "Well, I see it this way. If I can run from one place to another. Why should I walk?"
A long pause. My mouth wide opened.
I was too dumbfounded to reply to that.
There was another time I asked him about the things he did in the weekends. He said, "Do you know about quantum cryptography? It is cryptography using the quantum phenomena of quantum entanglement to detect eavesdropping." He added ,"That is my interest and I hope to make a breakthrough in this field. I also looking at formulating everyday problems in mathematical formulas because once we can do that, we can input them into the computers and computers would churn out software solutions that are absolutely free of bugs and other human errors."
A long pause. My mouth wide opened again.
He asked,"So what is your hobby?"
I didn't know what to reply. Any hobby would have seemed childish next to quantum cryptography. I said finally,"I read."
In a way I respect these kind of guys. They are not exactly equipped with social skills but they are focused and highly intelligent and they make a difference to this world. I could have been talking to the next Einstein for all I know.
(upload album "Saint Patrick's Parade")
