My Zodiac and me

Chanced upon the chinese horoscope while browsing at the popular bookstore looking at econs textbooks for my part time uni. Anyway to cut it short, this year i'm screwed big time. Rat and Horse are like Superman and Lex Luthor, they can't wait to see each other dead :) all the bad stars are aligned this year so i think i'm fucked :)

so what got me into zodiac readings anyway? it's just curiosity and wanting to connect with my heritage. well, to put things in perspective, for a guy who's born in Sept'78, I'm both a Earth Horse and a Virgin, oops Virgo and guess what, the lady is a earth sign too so i'm destined to eat mud...

In english terms,
I'm modest and shy, meticulous and reliable, practical and diligent, intelligent and analytical

However,
I'm also a fussy and a worrier, overcritical and harsh, perfectionist and conservative

In chinese terms,
People born in the Year of the Horse are popular. They are cheerful, skillful with money, and perceptive, although they sometimes talk too much. The are wise, talented, good with their hands, and sometimes have a weakness for members of the opposite sex. They are impatient and hot-blooded about everything except their daily work. They like entertainment and large crowds. They are very independent and rarely listen to advice.

since i'm educated in both, my character is more like the combi of both. I've read that Virgo usually suffers from colds, flu, allergies, problems with intestines and constipation which is damn right. this week, i got a bloody cough, flu and after a hearty meal of botak jones, my intestines are bloated and i just can't bloody shit, damned!!!

well, cut to the crap, i'm more interested in my love horoscope. it says that things are looking good as time goes by but in reality, it's like the feeling of shit is there and u reach for a toilet and all it does is just a poop sound from the arse, a false alarm...

according to my horsey, i'm better off with those born in the tiger, dog or sheep which makes them born in the year of 74, 86, 70, 82, 79, 91 respectively. if i combine with my english horoscope, it'll be even more ultimate as the choices will be even more narrowed, not only they have to be born in the above mentioned year, they got to be a Leo, Capricorn, Cancer, Taurus and Virgo or rather July-Aug, Dec-Jan, Jun-Jul, Apr-May and Sep-Oct. Wah, that will be Earth, Sky and Human stars all aligned "sui sui".

with the horoscope settled, i still got to suss out the slim build from the fat ones, the sexy body from the need-to-be-surgically-enhanced, the pleasant looking from the fugly (from my point of view), the good natured from the bad, non smokers from puffers, stay homers from the cheongsters, english cum cantonese speaking from the chinese ones... and there's so much things to list...

all i know is that i'm fucked...

and in all sense,
when love knocks on your door,
the list just flies out of the window...
I'm better off leaving it to God :)




the sites for reference:
http://www.astrologycom.com/virgo.html
http://www.astrology-online.com/virgo.htm
http://www.gotohoroscope.com/virgo-compatibility.html
http://www.rainfall.com/horoscop/horse.htm
http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Horse.html
http://www.tuvy.com/entertainment/horoscope/earth_horse.htm
http://chinese.astrology.com/horse.aspx

Government's definition of what increases inflation

Hmmm, let's just say i've learned something new from the government in it's definition of what factor actually increases inflation that i didn't learn from my economics and finance classes.

the latest headlines to shock singaporeans out of it's morning sickness:

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has warned that Singapore could face another round of inflation if companies increase wages to help workers cope with the higher cost of living today.

and the rest of the earlier headlines...

Minister Mah says cutting petrol taxes not the way to cushion rising oil prices.

NTUC Chief warns that stagflation is the worst case scenario S’pore could face.

Analysts favour new fare formula as inflation is taken into account.


so the signals that it's sending out is that:
raising ERP = not increasing inflation, controls traffic congestion
raising transport fares = not increasing inflation, increase operation cost
raising utility bills = not increasing inflation, due to higher oil prices
raising food prices = not increasing inflation, due to shortage of food worldwide
raising GST = not increasing inflation, government need additional income.
raising house prices = not increasing inflation, due to market valuation

so what increases inflation?
according to minister of finance, it's increasing wages.

and best of all, PM Lee urges more Singaporeans to donate while everything is increasing except our salaries. i nearly fell off my chair.

how much have prices increase? my nearby coffeeshop's char siew rice:
before GST increase to 7% = $2
GST 7% = $2.5
food prices increase + utility + rental increase = $3.2
simple calculation will tell u that it's a increase of 60% (hey, it's a coincidence, maybe that's why minister's pay increase by 60% too!)

i'm okay if they recommend companies not to increase my wages to battle inflation if every prices dun increase by so much but when everything is increasing by a huge amount, i dun think it's gonna find any favours with singaporeans. to many of us, it's a huge slap in the face especially when ministers have a pay increase earlier this yr by up to 60%... are they losing out of touch? if they hold an election now, i can confirm they're gonna lose lots of votes and when election comes, somehow, the economy will be doing well and the government have spare freebies to give to everybody.

i mean u can only use this trick so many times by as people gets more educated, we can count and learn the simple logic behind it. the cycles goes like this:

1st yr after election - freebies and good news fades and prices will slowly increase
2nd yr - price increase starts to pick up pace and bad news start flowing in
3rd yr - price increase at full steam and Armageddon message at full steam
4th yr - price increase freezes and good news start coming in
5th yr election - freebies galore and singapore's economy miraculously is doing very well

i can sustain comfortably by cutting out some simple pleasures but what about the poor? their pay is low and still have to compete with FT! that's really uniquely singapore!

water up to nose - mindless rants

the funny thing about life is how ironic it can be.

i take bus A to work but occasionally, i also take bus B to other sites but when i waited for bus A, bus B always comes first but when i waited for bus B, bus A always comes first... piss me off...

and taxi is never there when u needed one, arrrrgggg!!!!

the thing about my work is that when it's low key period, there really isn't work to do but when tasks come, it's fast and furious that almost land a sucker punch on me and now the water is up to my nose and i'm treading water to survive. haha.

best of all, my exams are due next weekend and lots of work is piling up.
when it don't rain, it's on drought but when it does, it really pours.
really, hope to have more time to study and not resort to last minute cramping work, as i grow older, i realised that the earlier i study, the better i score as i can grasp the concept better so dun have to mentally photocopy the text and memorise so much compared to last minute cramping, can't remember clearly, can't explained clearly as it's all regurgitated from brain.

i know that I'm good at studying, and i'm good at maths/science especially but i'm just plain lazy to memorise those subjects that requires warehouse space to store facts which doesn't need much thinking but i know that if i put some effort, i can really score, hahahaha

really miss those days where i'm a full time student, no pressure, not much worries.

when you're young, u have lots of time and dreams but no money but when you grow old, u have money (whether alot is another issue) but no time and dreams are just dreams.


dang enuff of ranting to release steam for the day...

Taxi meters in private car

was reading an article on ERP on Yahoo news which was reprinted from Today's papers.

Any intelligent or logical person will be able to tell the amount of bullshit that came from the LTA.

Quoted from the article:
"From July 7, family life in Singapore should improve, at least for those who pass through traffic gantries. Businesses, too, will become more competitive as the cost of crossing these gantries goes up, leading to faster travel times, which should then lead to lower transport costs overall.

So said Land Transport Authority chief executive Yam Ah Mee in a recent media interview: "Faster travel times lead to overall lower transport costs and ultimately, help businesses to remain competitive. Congestion also adversely impacts family life, as people spend more time on the roads."

What i didn't know is that having more ERP and higher charges actually increases family life and businesses becomes more competitive

what i know is that my colleagues who drove actually waited till the erp timing's over to avoid the hefty charges and the jams too and businesses who are worth their salt will avoid the erp timing to do delivery etc and furthermore, the erp gantries are mostly active during peak hours except CBD areas; the timing when people knock off...

the second part by the writer actually makes sense:
"And if the authorities want you to switch to public transport, why do buses and taxis also have to pay ERP charges?

Last year, SBS Transit had to pay $2.9 million (same as the previous year) in ERP charges, $5.8 million in road taxes ($5.4 million previously) and absorbed almost $37 million in output GST (up from $28.5 million). Figures for ERP charges paid by taxis were unavailable. After all, the LTA claims that the ERP system is not a revenue—raising exercise."

why charge buses erp when the government knows that the cost will eventually pass on to the passengers? First theoretically, they reduces the amount of cars on the road and entices people to switch to public transport and second, thou it uses the roads but it's function is different from a private car.

i've always ask taxis drivers on why do gahment charges ERP on taxis, they mostly said the same thing "cause gahment only talk about money". Taxis forms part of the transportation network together with buses and trains. by having different charges levied on them, firstly, it raises the overheads of driving taxis and secondly, why would taxis rather roam about in the suburbs then driving into town? cause with the increase in the taxi charges, they got to pay everything upfront when they enter into town without the guarantee of getting passengers so mostly revert to waiting for calls. talk about LTA slapping themselves and everyone else.

by increasing the erp charges, they inadvertently raises the inflation and the cost of living when everything is going thru the roof now couple with GST, it's putting a strain of people's life.

The purpose of COE have lost it's objective. COE is meant to control the amount of cars entering the roads every year. On paper, it's stated at 3% but reality, ever since the election, it's off the scale when gahment said it will switch to usage based and that's why we've seen the huge increase in gantries and more are coming up.

The whole thing is a sham, car population increase by 7-8% since the election instead of the stated 3% and even thou transport minister said the optimal increase is 1.5%, this yr's not much changes too. it's all paying lips service to public. by not staying to the optimum 1.5%-3%, cars ownership will only increase which will lead to more erp gantries regardless whether it's peak hours or not. soon, erp will cover every nook and cranny of singapore and then to save cost of installing one, we will be installing taxi meters in our cars to charge us for usage of our own cars to save the trouble.

the state of singapore's public transport will only drive people who can afford car to drive instead of taking a bus. as i had lamented, mrt is the lifeline of any city and any city worth it's salt would have a highly integrated network of train station but not singapore, the investment in mrt have always peg on whether the station can generate profits but as an important infrastructure, it should be based on the whole line instead. thou the gahment have change it's stance now, we have lost a minimum of 5yrs of lead time to solve the problem. at the recent white paper by the transport minister, it's only in 2020 will we see an fully integrated network and the question is why only now then we see the potential problems? despite the praise lavish on MoT in wikipedia, if you have travel to major cities like HK, Taipei and even london, it really pales in comparision in the wait time, no of station per kilometer and efficiency.

up to now, the actions taken by LTA is not consistent with it's mission and objectives and it's policies are giving public confusing signals and intentions. Somebody got to take a stand within the ministry or the government will be paying a high price when the next election comes.

MM Lee says all it takes is 5yrs to unravel the whole jigsaw puzzle but the ruling government have to give people the reason for our continuing support instead of blind loyalty. They are paid millions to do it's job and if their performance is not up to the "millions" standard, who can they put the blame on?

The bucket to regret list

caught the show "the bucket list" when i was on a plane back from dubai. instead of a bucket list for me, i shall rename it as the "Things-to-be-done-else-i'll-regret-list" or in short "The Regret List"

simple isn't it. list the things u want to do/accomplish/dreams/goals in the Regret List and every time u look at it and if it's not strike off, u know that u'll regret, hahaha

I've pasted a "things that i love to do" list on my wardrobe last year but i think i'll change it to my "Regret List". After some thoughts and separating those To-Do that are realistic and those simply better stay at dreams like "want to win toto" hahahaha, things that thru drive and passion that are achievable, i came out wif these in no order of priority:

• Be a full time investor
• Learn photography
• Travel the world, at least 50 countries and 150 cities
• Buy a jumbo flat and fulfill the decor that is pasted on my wardrobe
• Relearn guitar to play my favourite songs like Luna Sea's Up to You with a fender stratocaster
• Go parachuting then progress to freefalling


we should all have list like this so that when we expire we know that we have already done all the things that we wanted to and we had live a life of no regrets. of course, the list is flexible and subject to changes when u find something that falls into or out of the regret category but it should not be taken as an excuse for not trying. why would we want to cheat ourselves? it's our life and our regrets,

hmmmm, maybe got to add "do not cheat on the list" hahahaha