The Adventure.

Renovation in Progress

Sorry guys - renovation in progress... Hence the old skin...

posted by Hiu Yeung @ 2:39 AM Comments: 0

Both sides now -

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's clouds' illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Which are the illusions, and what is reality? Is the dichotomy meaningful -

I was at The Sail@Marina Bay today looking at the units and the facilities.

It is surrounded by construction sites. The sound of machines at work is deafening. It completely dwarfs the noise from the MRT line next to our house.

I had a lot of questions. I will not afford an apartment there in the near future, but I was intrigued by the development I saw around it. Looking down from the club house, those construction sites resemble a SimCity landscape when your city has abundant resources and a booming population.

The skyline changes every year I come back; the flyer is already turning, the hotels in the IR are already growing, and there are a couple of other office and residential buildings starting to grow around that area as well. It will be F1 next month; next year when I come back both IRs are going to be ready, and in 2010 the youth Olympics will be here.

The Circle Line will be done soon, with stations at Fusionopolis (another new thing that is going to be ready) and NUH to be opened 2010/2011. T3 had started its operations for quite some time; I was pretty amazed at the shopping mall at the basement. No idea how the Changi experience is like at T3 because I did not fly SQ or UA this time, but even T1, the terminal which I am the most familiar with, is also going to be revamped.

Singapore's development is amazing. Outwardly the country is leaping forward; there seems to be a lot of potential, hope and opportunities everywhere. All these are indeed exciting. I am pretty impressed by SICS's GDM programme as well; the planning and the vision is brilliantly done but whether or not the operation concept will work well here remains something that I need to closely monitor.

All these things that I see this time - will have to work out for us. If they don't, it would be difficult to redefine ourselves after that. We are basically filling niches that other people in our region have not filled yet; this is basically what sustains both the IRs and the GDM programme. They will work - I will try to contribute to make sure it works.

There is another set of things that I saw today - the backward side of things. The side of things that remained constantly backward despite the rapid developments that are happening outside.

Mum had been working for KWSH for some years and I have never seen her at work before. So I went there to see what she usually does for work...

I wouldn't use the word 'appalling' to describe what I saw, but I was seriously pretty surprised at how 'basic' the level of care was for the elders who live there.

Mum says that a lot of new people who joined their volunteering team decided to quit after a while because they cannot bear to see the physical conditions of the people living there. I am not too much affected by that, because well it is our job to make them feel better - but well, as a hospice/hospital, the living conditions should be better than an army bunk? But in fact I would think my bunk in the army is better. At least there is a fridge and a PS2 console.

If not for these volunteers who bring a bit more life to the wards, that place is just a forgotten corner of our country. Not in a good sense as in those forgotten Kampongs with happy villagers but physically handicapped elders eating from metal trays and sleeping on soiled bedsheets.

Luckily there are still people who cared, because I really doubt who would actually care about these people in a society like ours except these volunteers. I do not see any sense of duty, let alone passion, in the supposedly trained staff who works there full-time. I don't suppose the hospital will be allocated any high quality staff because seriously, if you take away sentiments, it is not worth the investment. I know how to do this kind cost-benefit analysis as well...

How do we reconcile these two extremes - the leading edge of our high-speed development and the forgotten corners? We can let the forgotten corners to keep being forgotten, and provide them with the minimum for sustainability because that isn't going to matter too much to the leading edge. There isn't anything they can complain about anyway - this seems like our strategy.

Though would it be better if some of us can have a stronger sense of social responsibility - just like the group of volunteers - and bring some joy and fruits of our country's development to these forgotten corners?

We want to be a place where everyone can call home. This idea of 'everyone' does and should include everyone that lives here; no one should be forgotten, no one should be deemed worthless of attention. They might not have any economic value but, they once have; and they serve to remind people like us - we are not being put in this world to only take, but most importantly, to give and to serve.

Labels: Life

posted by Hiu Yeung @ 1:30 AM Comments: 2

Year 3

New academic year - this blog is entering its third year.

I will give it a new skin. It needs to be freshened up for the new year!

Before the new academic year starts, I would like to say -

There have been a lot of realisations in the past year! And I hope I know what to do now for my next year...

It is more or less set. Finish up my coursework (1 year German, Biology + History of Science), lab, MCAT, SSA, HCF, tuition; medical tutorial, voluntary work.

I will complain less.

I will need to talk to people and keep the contacts. I used to have the tendency to not do it and now this is a mistake...

Very well, back to work in 10 days!

Labels: Life

posted by Hiu Yeung @ 2:26 AM Comments: 1

極危險!

當自己EQ不高, 處理事情不當, 問題就會產生...

'極危險'是港式誇張, 但不管怎樣, 產生了問題之後一定要妥善解決, 不然就可能真的極危險...

因為你不知道那個人會如何反應! 若十年後你赫然發現他變成你的上司, 他還記著舊仇, 而你又有老婆孩子要養, 辭職又不知道能跑那裡, 那你怎麼辦?!

如果你不甘心如此死掉, 一是小心一點別得罪人, 二就是出了事別迴避好好解決!

尤其別得罪同行... 新加坡如此小, 大家都認識彼此, 得罪一人等於得罪一票, 一定死掉.
____________________________________
靈感源自非常可憐的一個男子...


思覺失調 - 劉浩龍


仍好嗎 重會每天失眠到 天光嗎
大頭蝦 沒帶門匙也許很勞氣吧 仍關心你願每天問
最後也明白角色時已不相襯 還由他去代我為你緊

問太多根本不會講 束縛不來如人馬座
亦因愛你令你不安 才離開不再講

願明天 能不再為你癡纏 明白改不變
你亦離開很遠 就算花光心機守每一個諾言
最後誰又會可憐

極危險 連思覺像也失調
無辦法接受現實 自製假想能延續故事
你的聲線還仍言猶在耳 已分不清楚我位置

問太多根本不會講 束縛不來如人馬座
亦因愛你令你不安 才離開不再講

願明天 能不再為你癡纏 明白改不變
你亦離開很遠 就算花光心機守每一個諾言
最後誰又會可憐

極危險 連思覺像也失調
還是我太犯賤或是我太介意 太過膚淺
百篇短訊留言徒然又試
始終得不到你在意

留低即使很多的透支 如今已做錯
記下的只有缺點 太心痛是我的一手包辦令你心變酸
彌補如何還是太遲

若然你 如果有日說婚期 我這生福氣
也用來祝福你 仍收起曾同渡過每一齣戲飛
而這票尾 還應否捨棄

Labels: Random, Sharing

posted by Hiu Yeung @ 9:55 PM Comments: 0

Sushi.

One more ticket left in my passport pouch.

Between the last post and this Sushi and me had visited Marseilles, eaten traditional bouillabaisse (which cost me a bomb), swum in the Mediterranean, eaten lunch/dinner with 3 different groups of relatives, eaten A LOT of good HK food...

As usual jeering is a major component of our communication. Now she will never forget what '鳳爪排骨牛百葉奶皇包' means :D

We talked a lot. About life, future, work, relationships, friends, parents, relatives...

Our busy schedules will commence soon - we won't see each other until next July. This year, all members of my family met each other one way or another, but we were never all together at the same place at the same time. That will only happen next July.

We are very close to one another as a family. It is difficult to get used to the fact that we will not be always together like we used to be. That makes it even more heartening when, as we get together again after a long time, we can still be what we used to be even though we might not have time to talk or MSN each other during term time.

Like Kenneth said, these are things that we should treasure and not take for granted.

Sushi and I are entirely different; we do not react to similar situations in the same way. I think we do nicely complement each other though, such that although I might not be happy with the way she does things and vice versa it never bothers me because in a way she always have good suggestions for me (and I hope the adverse is true too).

She always claims that someone like her is getting harder and harder to find. It is true that I have not met someone like her yet - it is even harder to make her annoyed at someone than to make me annoyed at someone, she very easily senses how you feel towards something and because of that very accommodating, can be both crazy and childish (i.e. enjoys things ranging from long hikes as well as Disneyland), and at the same time logical, passionate about what she is doing, and the thing that I am the most happy about, independent.

Because of my own limitations I probably won't know her as well as she knows me. Well, like we both know, to some people things that I like about her might probably make them upset one way or another.

Haha if you have not realised, I hope to find someone like her or better. She says she wants to find someone like me or better too, and - this is part of a private joke - she is 'almost there'. Best wishes - LOL!

Labels: Relationships, Values

posted by Hiu Yeung @ 1:08 AM Comments: 0

Holiday...

Classic:

Me: What do you want to eat for dinner?
Sushi: I dunno.
Me: Kebab.
Sushi: Yesterday eat already.
Me: Sandwich.
Sushi: Again?
Me: McDonald's?
Sushi: In 5 days you can eat all you want.
Me: Pub in front of hotel?
Sushi: Might be expensive.
Me: Restaurant?
Sushi: Expensive.
Me: Then what you want to eat?
Sushi: I dunno.

Wah lao. Luckily there is this hot food stall that sells roasted chicken and smoked ribs in front of a supermarket and we bought those and bread and apples in the end. Both Sushi and me happy.

Anyway,

I can't believe that I won't be going back to England to stay for at least 2 years. I like it there, quite a lot in fact. I am going to miss the people I met there...


(Wanted to watch The Winter's Tale, but it rained very heavily at exactly 7:30pm, they didn't start the show - but was rewarded by this rainbow instead!)

Food-wise,

List of good food in Cambridge / England that I discovered:
1) Chocolate puddle pudding at Henry's
2) Burgers at Barons of Beef
3) Breaded scampi at Eagle's
4) Duck confit at The Mitre (ask for more sauce...!)
5) Asian food at Dojo
6) Millie's Cookies
7) Fudge Kitchen

Fish and Chips - I have not eaten terrible ones, though the free chips refill at Harry Ramsden will turn you off chips for a while - no matter how good they are :P

And England is not just about fish and chips. By the way, traditionally it shouldn't be eaten with tartar sauce...

Actually England does have quite a lot of good traditional food. I used to think that England is barren in terms of food but I am completely convinced now that this is not true...

Now that we are in France, France photos!





No more sunflowers - they have all withered :( There is still a lot of lavender though!

We flew down to Marseille from Gatwick Saturday morning, and had been staying in Avignon since. Other than Avignon itself (the town centre can be mostly covered in 1.5 days) we have gone for a half-day tour to Gordes (the town perched on top of a hill) and Sault (where the lavender is), and a day trip to Arles (where the Roman arena is). The weather was bad when we were in Arles - luckily we decided to go to the lavender fields on Sunday! It was hot and humid and raining intermittently... Getting ready for Singapore weather :P

Will be heading down to Marseille tomorrow and will be staying there for the next two days!

Labels: Life, Travel

posted by Hiu Yeung @ 4:33 AM Comments: 0

The Singapore Song - Rony Tan

Personally I find this song better than the NDP theme song!

Pastor Rony Tan dedicated this song to Mr and Mrs Lee Kwan Yew and 'our protective and caring government'. Agree - we indeed owe a lot to MM Lee and his team who led our country towards independence and from then on towards success.

(That said, as I highly respect and am very grateful to MM Lee and the founding fathers, I can't accept the praise 'a protective and caring government' and gratitude towards the current government in the continuous tense. The loss of the ability to critique will be harmful to us in the long run.)

However, as to how Singaporeans feel towards Singapore - well, there is definitely one camp of people, who always leave comments like 'don't ask me to be patriotic when 1) everything also have to pay and I have no money to pay 2) more and more FTs filling up jobs, all they do is wayang and they get more money 3) you FT stop telling me how good Singapore is, I have served NS and you haven't etc. etc.' on ST Forum online. And from those comments there are ones from the middle class who are really struggling with their jobs and lives.

I have served NS - have dug holes in places ranging from Tekong to Peng Kang, walked through the forest of Lim Chu Kang in pouring rain, slept with ants and millipedes and spiders through the night, nearly got struck by lightning - alright I think I can comment.

NS is an eye-opener. Some people agree with me while some don't - it highly depends on your NS experience. For me, living, working and playing with people whose idea of getting a part-time job is selling nasi lemak but still insist in maintaining and modifying his car, people who have to take off from work because he has to go to court for his brother, and people who insist in leaving early because he has to be around when a medium is chasing spirits out of his sister's body - is really an experience.

(One of the most interesting encounters I had was, there was this guy accompanied by his friend who ran to me (I was in one of the company stores trying to get stuff for my medics) shouting, 'Medic! Medic! Help me!!' When I asked him what is the matter, he pulled down his pants, and showed me his, hmms you know what, painted in BLUE. I resisted my urge to laugh and well, asked him to go and show it to MO (or threatened to stick an IV needle inside, I can't remember exactly...).)

Thus, I know that to those people who made the ST Forum comments, it is not very fair to preach to them the standard JFK 'ask not what your country can do for you' thing and ask them to be thankful of what they have. They themselves do not feel that they are being fairly treated; and this is a pretty subjective thing especially when these people do not see a lot of stuff that the government people see.

There is a difference between actively, willingly sacrificing for one's country and being passively sacrificed by one's country. These Singaporeans - there is a substantial number - feel that they are being sacrificed by their country and worse, they don't know what they are being sacrificed for. And they are not happy - very.

My main dissension against an elitist education system is not that of social class exclusion, neither is it problems with social mobility, but the lack of diversity in social experiences (STA Travel: Experience is Everything :P). Officers and politicians lacking in diversity in social experiences will not form a good team, certainly not one comparable to the 'protective and caring' one described by Pastor Tan. They would have the tendency to sacrifice citizens using 'national interest' as a reason without giving those sacrificed people a cause. They won't be 'protective and caring' because they lack the experiences that enable them to look down, and in; they will be pure technical bureaucrats who serve the abstract notion of 'national interest' and not the nation's people.

(As I am writing this, I can't help but link this also to medicine... In this case, people = patients, national interest = curing the disease. It takes an awful lot to be a good leader and a good doctor; a good leader and a good doctor must both have a genuine interest towards people, not just national interest, not just the science...)

(Grace said: That's why there are so many lousy doctors in Singapore :P)

(Actually, after talking to James and then Grace that day, I was thinking whether I actually have an interest towards people. I have been saying that I did not want to practise because I don't think I can be a good doctor... I am still not too sure now, but I think I can see myself changing. When Prof. Anne said that they might be able to structure some clinical stuff for me to do if I can join SICS in the end, my immediate reaction was excitement...)

As National Day draws near, as we celebrate the 43rd birthday of our country, we should always remind ourselves - while looking up and out, we should also look down and in; open up our minds, listen to what others have to say, and gain more experiences; and while benefiting from the system, think of how we can use our experiences and skills to benefit our people as much as we can.

Despite my identity crisis, I know which team to cheer for in the upcoming Olympic Games - hahaha I am sure you do too!

Labels: Policy and Politics

posted by Hiu Yeung @ 4:49 AM Comments: 1