Season to Burgeon

It is finally Chinese New Year once again and time for our (singles only) pockets to instantly overflow with money and our tummies to secretly expand.  This year it was pretty much the same routine for me.  I planned to start bathing and change into my new pyjamas at 11.45pm on CNY eve so that I could make it just in time for 12am, but I realised that I hadn’t changed my bedsheet.  I was in a frenzy to get everything done in time for the BIG day.  My family has this belief that whatever happens on the first day of CNY will happen throughout the entire year.  Thus, I had to automatically wake up early in the past to study, but I mostly pretended to do so.  Anyway, I did everything just in time.

At around 10am (it was supposed to be 10am but my mum woke up late), we went to the temple (莲山双林寺) at Toa Payoh after having abalone mee suah for breakfast.  There are two temples with the temple ground.  One is the peaceful and serene Buddhist temple and the other is the chaotic and smoky Taoist temple.  I dread the Taoist temple because my clothes will end up stinking of incense and my eyes will tear as the smoke gets in my eyes.  Luckily I wore contacts this year to protect my eyes.  It was a success.  On the contrary, I simply adore the Buddhist temple, albeit the slightly bigger crowd there this year.  It has lovely lotus plants and bonsai trees that complements the calm expression  adorning the faces of the Buddha statues.  The best thing is that incense burning is not allowed within the temple. Enough about the temple.  There was a slight change of plans this year.  We went home first to change out of our sandalwood-scented clothes instead of heading directly to my grandparents’ house.

We had lunch at my grandparents’ house and I collected the biggest angpows that I’ll ever get this whole CNY.  Later, a few of my aunts and uncles came over to my house and we went to my aunt’s house after that.  I took a few photos with my primary one cousin.  Haha.  We were practically camwhoring.  

Lastly, I went clubbing with Fabian and Terence!  Oh such fun we had.  Haha.  It was so bloody crowded, I felt like I was at chinatown.  I concluded that I should not regularly use the Bvlgari Aqva cologne that I bought a while ago, if not I’ll smell like a commoner.  I smelt the scent everywhere in the club yesterday.  It was like the club’s unofficial air freshener.  I put on my new cologne yestersday, so I’m glad I wasn’t smelling like everybody else.

Alright I’ll end here.  Good luck to Terence for tmr!  (you know what I’m talking abt. that dreaded thing.)

PS:  I hope everyone won’t see too much of a drop in their angpow collections!

Sick Before Chinese New Year

I just slept 17 hours and luckily, the fever has vanished but my throat hurts.  I can’t believe that I was unfortunate enough to fall ill on the day that I was to take the SAT.  I think I did alright, but definitely not fantastic.  My essay seem to contain a lot of anti-American sentiments, even though I didn’t intend to make it that way.  I was blabbering on about the CCP and their Long March and how the Vietnamese defeated the supposedly indomitable Americans.  I did mention that I’m not an advocate of communism though.  I’m most worried for my essay marks.  The Math was simple as usual.  After the SAT, I gave Shanti the birthday present I made for her, had lunch and left.  When I reached home, I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until just awhile ago.  This sucks!  I won’t be able to eat all the delicious unhealthy food with my hindering sore throat.  Reunion lunch is in 2 hours time and I’ll have to eat something soupy instead of the roasted stuff.  Sigh.

The Beach

I did many physical activities today.  I went cycling with Yishuang, my primary school friend, from East Coast Park to Changi Village and then back.  I think that’s about 20km.  The wind was really strong today, it felt like there was an impending typhoon.  You can see from my pictures how turbulent the waves were and the manner the waves splashed against the edge of the beach provided me some faith that Singapore might not be such a bore.  I got sprayed by some of the seawater.   

 

We had nasi lemak and I had an additional sugarcane drink and carrot cake at Changi Village.  I saw something grotesque by the beach.  There was an old malay guy masturbating while lying behind a piece of cardboard at one of the huts along the beach.  I quickly walked away.  Luckily, Yishuang didn’t see it.  Her memory would have been polluted with such disturbing visual imagery.  Anyway, we sat on one of the benches for lunch and we did some camwhoring too.  

     

 

After that, we hung around at Macs to enjoy the aircon and went our separate ways.  My mum sent me a text asking me to sweep the dead leaves on the car porch into a plastic bag for disposal.  It was such an immensely annoying chore to sweep those damned leaves.  Furthermore, she asked me to cook dinner since I was the one with the most time to spare.  I should get a job so that she’ll quit bugging me to do housework.  I jogged 3km today too.  I’m extremely contented with the fact that I’ve burnt a lot of calories today.

Sagacity

Fabian prodded my brains a little today.  He claimed that it doesn’t matter which end of the middle class spectrum a person is and he sees no point in somebody belonging to the upper middle class rather than the middle and lower echelons of that class.  He believes they are the same.  However, I beg to differ.  It does matter.  Afterall, the middle class is a wide range especially in Singapore.  I didn’t quite get what he meant when he mentioned happiness because I do not regard wealth as having much involvement in one’s fufilment and happiness.  Certainly, it plays a part if one has insufficient wealth in his coffers but generally it does not affect Singaporeans as the majority of us have more than enough to provide for our sustenance.  Happiness has to be derived from one’s inner self whether he is contented with who he is, the things he has done and the achievements he has gained (though they might be small) that brims with gratification.  There I shall put an end to my discussion on happiness since the main topic I am supposed to be droning on about is the difference between the various segments of the middle class.

The middle class is definitely not comparable with the upper class and our poorer fellow citizens below as these classes are separate due to their vast disparities.  The upper class are generally thought of as the uber-rich with chauffeur-driven cars, mansions and butlers like the fictional character Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl (which Fabian suggested).  They are deemed as untouchable, but that is untrue as a person’s wealth can rise and fall similarly to the tides of the pacific ocean.  Furthermore, Singapore is indeed meritocratic even though the rich or the richer inevitably have the upperhand.  Thus it is not inconceivable for a fishmonger’s child to become a multi-millionaire.  I have once again deviated from the discussion about the middle class, but it is important to first envision the contrariety of the classes.  

Now I must come to depict the differences between the upper middle class and the rest of that class.  The income of the people in these two groups are visibly far apart.  One from the upper middle class can earn twice or more than another from the remaining of that class.  If a man from the upper middle class marries a woman of the same stature, their income would double, whereas if a man from the other group marries (in the worst case scenario) a woman with negligible earning capacity, their income would be substantially less than the aforementioned couple.  Let me portray the results simply and clearly.  The former would be able to stay in a landed property, drive an expensive car, own country club memberships, buy luxurious items (depends on how spendthrift he is, though I would recommend a more frugal lifestyle if one is to maintain his finances) and provide his children with an overseas education.  The latter, on the other hand, would be staying in a HDB flat (nothing wrong with that, there are upper middle class people who stay in hdb flats and rent out their other properties and hdb units are usually bigger than condominium units), might not be able to afford a car, own no country club membership, have to avoid buying luxurious items (some use credit and end up getting burnt) and most likely unable to afford their children an education abroad.  These are the harsh facts of life.  One can be born in the upper middle class but that does not assure his status will remain throughout his life.  Therefore, everyone has to strive to achieve what they desire and I affirm that happiness does not lie in a person’s financial worth.

I think I bore some of you with such posts, but I haven’t blogged in quite a while so I think that’s reasonable enough to be excused.  I shall make this post a little longer and more enjoyable with this “Meme” that I copied from Xiuru’s blog.

List of the top 100 grossing movies of all time.  Bold the ones you’ve seen.

Titanic (1997)
The Dark Knight [2008]
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
Shrek 2 (2004)
E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Spider-Man (2002)
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Jurassic Park (1993)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Finding Nemo (2003)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Forrest Gump (1994)
The Lion King (1994)
Shrek the Third (2007)
Transformers (2007)
Iron Man [2008]
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [2008]
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
Independence Day (1996)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Home Alone (1990)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Meet the Fockers (2004)
Shrek (2001)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
The Incredibles (2004)
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Jaws (1975)
I Am Legend (2007)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Batman (1989)
Night at the Museum (2006)
Men in Black (1997)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Cars (2006)
Bruce Almighty (2003)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Twister (1996)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Cast Away (2000)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Signs (2002)
Hancock [2008]
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Rush Hour 2 (2001)
WALL•E [2008]
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
King Kong (2005)
Ghost (1990)
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Aladdin (1992)
Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007)
Saving Private Ryan [1998]
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Kung Fu Panda [2008]
X2: X-Men United (2003)
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) 
Back to the Future (1985)
300 (2006)
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Ratatouille (2007)
Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Batman Begins (2005)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 
The Exorcist (1973)
The Mummy Returns (2001)
Armageddon [1998]
Superman Returns (2006)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Happy Feet (2006)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
Madagascar (2005)
Toy Story (1995)
Men in Black II (2002)
Gladiator (2000) 
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

Try this “Meme” if you have time.  See if you have watched everything on this list.