POL - Investments

I am in my mid-50s.

When I was a kid, I was taught to always save for the future. And the more you save, the better your future will be. If you have money, put them into the bank, earn interest and your money will grow. And when you are old, you can take out the money to enjoy your old age. So the saying went, back then. That, I supposed, was the very simplistic mindset of my parent's generation. Now, that thinking, simplistic as it might be, was not wrong per se. In fact, there's a lot of wisdom in it. But now, such logic doesn't hold anymore as unstated assumptions have changed. Interest rates cannot, and do not, keep up with inflation rates. But that was how I was brought up. And, I believe, shaped my attitudes towards investments. When it comes to investments, my preference is to do a purchase and leave it for the long term. I do not actively monitor the fluctuations in the value, assuming that over time it will appreciate. And this is what I have done with my current condominium. I had purchased it in 1996, with the view to live in it and to sell it and move into public housing when I am near retirement. The logic behind this approach is that the asset would have appreciate significantly and that I will be able to liquidate it to sustain my quality of life, until I am 70, or 75 (when I expect to expire). The "near retirement" age where I had plan sell my property would be 55-60 years old.

On hindsight, this thinking was a tat naive. The price of my property happened to be on the high side when I first purchased it in 1996 before the financial crisis hit. That was when there was a huge frenzy in purchasing properties cos everyone had expected the property market to spin out of control. When the property bubbles burst and in the depth of the financial crisis that subsequently happened, many got suffered heavy losses as they had to sell their property after losing their jobs. The price of my property dropped to half the price I bought. If i had sold it at that time, I would have been burned terribly badly - even if it was what people called - paper money. Thankfully, I had a stable job that allowed me to tide over the crisis. Things stabilised eventually. With time, the markets recovered, and property prices had gradually increased over time. I have since cleared my housing loans. The price of my property is some 20% higher than when I had bought it (in 1996). But objectively, if I were to include inflation, interests, etc, I will still be making a loss. But well, I started off naively in the 90s when I was in my 20s. I have learned much about the basics of investments but it is still not really my cup of tea. 

Today, I need to review my plans to downgrade when nearer to my retirement age of 55 - 60 years old. I am, once again, reminded of other factors such as increase in life expectancy, improvements in medical science, increase in health costs, retirement age, etc. And just like how I need to rethink/ reframe my retirement, I have to do the same with how I can manage my property (or my assets in general). So, whether I can, or want to sell my current property and to move into public housing, or to purchase another property to create passive income in future, etc, needs rethinking. This medium to longer term thinking will definitely impact my immediate plans for my current house - should I renovate it, how much to renovate, or a simple refresh... hmmm, such thoughts is confusing, especially when you don't know when you are going to expire. I certainly don't want to end up as a person who focus on saving for the future and, in the process, fail to live a good life. But where do I start? Frankly, I don't even want to start. 

Life was so much simpler when you are younger. Agree?

Or am I just thinking too much?

Hmmm...

POL - Retirement

I am in my mid-50s.

When I was a kid, I was told that a person will have to work and slog up to 55 years old and he will retire. When that happens, he can no longer work because the law doesn't allow him to do so. And once he retires, he will be able to enjoy his golden years relaxing, go for holidays, relax and so on. That was the dream of many of my parent's generation. And that was how many of lived their lives. Many things have changes since then. For a start, we do not legally retire (stop work) at 55 now. Today, the legal retirement age is 62, and in a couple of years, it will be increased to 65. I will not go into the reasons why this is being done. There are many reasons, all of which are valid and important. And I believe amongst these includes reasons such as a lower birth rate and a longer lifespan. And so, the legislation have been adjusted to allow people the option to work longer. And with this change, many lament that their dream of retiring early is no longer possible. And many blamed the government on all the possible reasons they can think of. Fair or not, it doesn't matter. For me personally, I have my own views and I am glad I can work longer actually.

You see, my life's financial planning has always been based on my assumption that I will die in my mid-70s. This may not be so true now. These days, people talk about living to 90, or even 100! If this holds true, all my assumptions of the resources I need to live a comfortable life (till the day I die at 75) are no longer valid. Instead, I have to now plan for a later death (ya, it sounds morbid, but that's the very practical angle to it). And that is serious. I means I have to now look towards how I can stretch my dollars for another 15-25 years. It also means I cannot retire at 55. And this means I may need to even work till I am 70 or even longer - way past my legal retirement age of 65. This is a very practical approach to retirement - retirement as a function of planning for life. But given the way things are changing, the thoughts of having to keep reinventing to remain relevant in order to survive the rat race. Sighs, just thinking of it makes me feel very tired.

But on the other hand, I also frankly cannot see myself not working after 55 or for that matter, 65. People have been known to wilt and suffer all sorts of issues once they retire. Work allows me to continuously sustain a certain level of mental engagement and that keeps me alive. And because I have years of head start and have sufficient resources saved, I would want to continue working to sustain myself rather than work to build a reserve. And with this in mind, I tell myself I want to continue working for as long as I can. The "I want to" is important. My previous definition of retirement - where one will have to stop working (becos of legislation) and go enjoy life, go on holidays, sleep late, etc - was simply too naive. Retirement is, to me now, a state of mind. I can be working but I can choose to or not to partake in the rat race, choose to do what I want to do, enjoy my work life and yet be able to do it at a pace that suits my lifestyle. With the reframed definition of retirement, a clear end date of my work life becomes irrelevant.

And certainly, with this reframing of the definition, it does provide me a better position to remind myself to not take things so seriously and live a better balanced life. Work will never end. Agree?

Hmmm...

Perspectives of life...

I have all my life planned to transition to public housing when I'm in my fifties. This is on the assumption that with the monetisation of the condo, and the resources I have build, it should allow me to live reasonably ok and comfortably until I die. And of cos, the biggest assumption of it all is that I will die in my mid-70s.

Thing is, life doesn't always happen the way you have planned it. There are many variables that change over time and these changes will screw up your plans. These include inflation, advances in medical care, improved live expectancy, etc. And certainly, looking at where I am now, I am certainly very far from what I have envisioned. I need to review my plans.

I will spend a bit of time reflecting about this in my next couple of posts...

No travelling 2020

Given the current pandemic that is still flaring up all over the world, it really looks like there will be no overseas travels until next year at least. Also, I came to understand that the cost of future air travels are going to be exorbitantly high. And if accommodation cost, assuming will be cheaper, is not able to compensate for the increased air fare, I will certainly think twice before I travel. So, all in, it seems like traveling for me will not occur anytime soon...

Sighs... I really miss travelling.

The Rise of the Dragon

You cannot stop it and you see it coming. And truth is, the re-emergence of China as a world power has been greatly enhanced by Trump.

Trump has been a huge catalyst for the destruction of the current world order as we know it and after 4 years of his (lack of) leadership, America is a lot weaker in the eyes of the world. The chaos Trump had created, domestically and globally, is unprecedented in modern history post-WWII. So much for his MAGA war cry, his promise to drain the swamp, his self-proclamation (and delusion) that only he alone can solve all of Americans problems. America used to be seen as the dream country, land of opportunities, and highly respected and acknowledged as the leader of the world in many fields. All these are have eroded and no longer true now.  

China, on the other hand, has held steady and calm amidst the chaos of international politics. She has held consistent her policies and against all the negatives the western world had framed against her. XJP has consolidated and solidify his position in China and China’s position in the world. The firmness and oneness in how China has managed the pandemic allowed the pandemic to be controlled quickly. And in quietly reaching out to assist the different countries during this period, China has quietly strengthened its position as a world leader. 

Ok, this post is a tat random...

Getting bored

Truth be told - I find myself getting a little bored with working from home.

No, it's not that I do not like working from home. I do. Working from home allows me a lot a lot of flexibility in managing my time and gives me a lot of space to do what I want whenever I want. I need not be stuck in my office to attend meetings etc. But I do feel the pressure to be visible - both to my bosses as well as to my team. Anyone feel the same?

Or am I thinking too much? I am one who loves to be free yet thrive in an environment where I am constantly challenged and performing. Contradicting? And much as I love to be free, I get uncomfortable if I feel I am not sufficiently challenged and visible. Or is it a simple case of me having too much time to myself currently? 

Hmmm...

Half Year Check-in

It's July and it's amazing how time simply fly pass without us realising. Maybe it is an age thing cos when I was a little boy, time always seemed to be at a stand still - Chinese New Year takes forever to come by, so did Christmas, and major festivals, etc... anyway, we are now in the second half of 2020 and I think it is useful to take a quick look at how I have been since 2020 started. Let's see...

Health-wise, I certainly have had many things going on. Heart's ok and stabilising, kidneys ok and to review in a year's time, done my dental check-up (it is a big deal for me cos after my heart stenting and ablation, I had been a little more careful about such checks), prostate cancer check - cleared, backaches lessened, etc... so in short, kinda stable and good. And I would want to attribute this, in a huge way, to the increased walking that I did over the last couple of months. It had kept my weight down, provided me a lot of space to reflect and in doing so upkeep my mental well-being. I sleep a lot better too.

Ironically, my overall well-being improved because of COVID-19. You see, with the COVID-19, all of us had been forced to work from home. And this brings me to the topic of work. This year, since Feb, we had started to organize ourselves into smaller teams and work in different sites. And since Apr, we were asked to work from home. The initial weeks were stressful but we eventually adapted to it. Now, I find myself having a lot more flexibility to manage my time and my stress levels. And as a company, we are now more used to working remotely and many systems and infrastructure are now better placed to support us. We are now rather adept in using technology to interact, collaborate and to work. So yeah, it's good from the work front.

On the family and friends front, things had come to a stand still of sorts due to the circuit breaker (or the limited lock down). There's reduction in face-to-face interactions but as adaptable human beings, my sister and I as well as my friends are I are getting used to interacting over digital platforms. My friends and I do interact via zoom once a while and this helped us maintain a certain sense of normalcy even as we stay apart. I have, since the opening up in mid-June, met up with most people closest to me. We are still limited to no more than 5 pax per meet up, but positively, it allowed the meet ups to be more personal and intimate.

I started off this year with a desire to "keep things simple, be happy, and keep my health in check". And so, I would want to say, YES, indeed, things are a lot simpler, and my health is in a good state, all thanks - ironically - to COVID-19.

:-)

Weight Management

I have increased my walking intensity over the last 2-3 months and I have thus far lost almost 7-8kg. But lately, I have also noticed my weight loss has plateaued off. I don't seemed to see a dip even as I have increased the distance walked daily. Anyway, will continue at it. I might need to consider doing some other exercises. And oh, lately the whether has been hovering about 26C and it is really pleasant to walk in this cool weather. 

Perfect.

Election is OVER!

With the election over, things are cooling down and life is getting back to normal. It doesn't matter to me the fact that the opposition won another GRC or that they have increased their voter base. It matters to me that I can get on with my life.  Here're a few things that I am very aware of, and had been confirmed again, whenever election season comes about:

• Long lost friends would suddenly remember you and spam you with all sorts of messages (most of which are fake and emotional) to discredit some politicians or political parties (esp the ruling party) and to try to get you to vote for the opposition. Doesn't matter for the fact that many of the messages are fake and had been forwarded umpteen times.

• Old flames will appear and chat with you about how things would be if we were to be together, etc and then very quickly, the conversation would turn to discrediting some politicians and/ or political parties (esp the ruling party) and idolising about the opposition.

• Uncles, aunties and cousins would text you with emotional stories about how the politicians from the incumbent government are "lying" about dishing out monies to people and keeping monies for themselves. One of my cousin said an MP was lying when she said the average amount of money spend per capita for COVID-19 is 23K cos she (my cousin) only received $600. She obviously didn't take into consideration the context of when the speech was made and she obviously and conveniently forgot about the thousands of support schemes put in place to ensure Singaporeans are protected during this period.

• And needless to say, all the alternative voices / media, etc will go on non-stop about all sorts of news, including lots of old news (politician's pay, CPF, education, succession, etc) to discredit the current ruling party, while glorifying everything and anything about the opposition parties and politicians, regardless of the many instances where these oppositions have fallen short of expectations.

And with elections over, everything has suddenly gone quiet. Friends, ex-lovers, relatives all somehow start to disappear again. It's like as though we just woke up from a dream. But of cos, the alternative media will continue to go on and on and on... like a broken radio. And oh, I forgot to mention, amidst all these, gay men in social media will talk about which MPs are cuter than who, who is more charming, who has a larger bulge, etc...

Roll eyes.

Scam

I strongly believe some one wanted to cheat me and that I would have been scammed had I not been observant. Here's the story...

Couple of days back, somebody texted me in Grindr. Now, I don’t usually reply people as my main reason to be in Grindr is to know who’s around me. But for some reasons, I replied him. He seemed like a friendly enough guy. And that’s how the conversation with this person started. He’s a very decent person, sane, sorted and friendly. He said he's Korean, grew up alone in S Korea after his both parents passed away. He was brought up by his grandmother and had a happy childhood etc... he said he was educated in NYU and is now working in Singapore on a 2-year contract. He added he works in Tuas (western end of Singapore) and is an engineer in the oil rig industry etc. He then requested for my whatsapp number, which I gave. I got a text from him using a US number with a 917 area code. I thought it was weird that he didn’t use a local number since he’s been working for over a year here but didn’t asked further.

The conversation went along well. He would text me in the morning, disappear for the day and text me again in the evenings. And each time he text, he would send me his pics. Thought this behavior was weird. Two days into the conversation, his profile in my Grindr disappeared. I asked him about it but he didn’t answer. And the next morning, he said he might be activated to Dubai as they had some issues there. A few hours later, he texted me with a pic of him, saying he had just arrived at Dubai and was gonna take a shower. Now, this was when I started to suspect this chap. Firstly, traveling during this lockdown period is almost never heard of. I google about travel arrangements into Dubai and noted that although they are out of the lockdown period, they are still very restrictive to international biz travelers. And because I had been Dubai before, I know exactly the challenges of making traveling arrangements to get there. My suspicion started to grow but I didn’t pursue further.

The next day (yesterday) he send me a text in the morning saying he will be going out to do some site survey. It was weird cos in Dubai's time, it would be 4-ish in the morning and doing site survey at 4-5am doesn’t make sense. And a couple of hours later, he send me quite a few pics of his boat trips. The pics was quite a surprise frankly, and I entertained him and continued chatting with him. Still feeling suspicious, I asked which hotel he is staying in and he said Grand Hyatt. It was weird that a person would be put up in a 5-star hotel during a company trip. Anyway, the conversation has started getting a little uncomfortable for me as he had started addressing me Baby, Honey and what have you. I wanted to test this guy further and asked him for his last name. He said it was Cheung. And this was a total giveaway. Cheung is a cantonese surname. Koreans don't use Cheung. Koreans use Jung. But well, I kept quiet. 

Today, he texted me again and tell he bought some gifts for me and asked me for my address. I rejected him and told him if he is keen on being friends, I would prefer for it not to involve any gifts. He said I made him look stupid. In response, I told him I expect him to respect me and my wishes to keep things simple and with no gifts involved. He pressed hard but I refused. In the end, he relented. I knew how this conversation is gonna go and was ready for it. I went on to google his area code 917 in NYC and learned that it's an old area code started in the 90s. It is not issued to new applicants. He claimed to be 35 years old and it would not be possible for him to have studied there in the 90s. Some minutes later, he send me another text, asking me to purchase iTunes USD500 Apple e-Card or something and send it to him... so yeah, this is the final straw.

I blocked him.

Preventing COVID-19

One key principle, Four key practices:

- Be responsible

- Wash your hands

- Wear a mask

- Avoid crowded places

- Practice physical distancing

It's as simple as that! Now, what's so political about that?

Mental well-being

Working from home can make a person feel very isolated and detached given the lack of personal face-to-face contacts with people and teams. This feeling can be reinforced especially when people live alone or away from families.

So if you know someone who is in such situations, please reach out to him/ her, even if it's just a simple "hi", “all ok?” or "how are you?". Such check ins may be simple, but you never know how much it means to those who are living alone, or worst, living with others, but feeling lonely.

Go on, do a simple check in.

Do magic!

Stomach scope

I did a scope of my stomach yesterday. It was an interesting experience not much different from my colonoscopy procedure some time back, except that this time I didn't have to clear my bowels over 3-4 days.

Anyway, it was a day procedure and everything was settled within the day. Apparently, the doctors found something abnormal and they have extracted a small bit of my stomach tissue for biopsy. Will know the result in a month's time.

And oh, I did a cancer marker test during a urologist visit recently and was told that if they find anything nasty, they will contact me, usually within 24 hours. Well, I didn't get a follow on call from the hospital. I guess I must be ok. Let's see how this go and hope for the best.

Que sera sera.

Horrifying developments

I've been following news from US, UK and China lately (in my attempt to avoid local news due to elections) and it's really worrisome to see how the COVID-19 is spiking in the Americas. The trend of new cases recorded daily is scary. And this morning I woke up to a sudden jump of more than 51k cases in the US.

I wish my friends in US all the best. Please stay safe, wear a mask, keep your social distance and continue to practice highest levels of personal hygiene.

Black Spots

Went for my eye review 2 days ago and was told my left eye (that had bad conjunctivitis) needs further treatment as there are spots seen on the cornea. This probably explained why the vision of my left eye was bad... for now, had to administer steroids as well as antibiotics for the next 3 weeks.

Reading Foreign News

Have recently downloaded foreign news apps including those of CNN, BBC, New York Times, South China Morning Post, etc. Interesting to see the different focus of news coverage and the perspectives being shared. And in a huge way, it help me better appreciate the calmness I see in Singapore.

Saving & Protecting People

Just thought I'd capture some ways the government is doing to protect people/ jobs from the effects of the Covid-19 during the period - Singapore style. I will just type what comes to mind and so this post may sound a little incoherent... but here goes:

• Implementing schemes to cover a certain % of citizen's pay so that companies do not retrench citizens
• Implementing schemes to help companies employ and retrain new staff (e.g. retrenched staff, older citizens)
• Implementing placement programes to assist citizens find jobs 
• Implementing programs to place new university graduates into companies to ensure we do not end up having a "lost" generation 
• Facilitate temporary mass-job placements for those affected (e.g. many in the aviation industry such as cabin crew and ground staff are now working as caregiver in hospitals and social distancing ambassadors at public places to ensure social distancing)
• Setting up job coaching/ placement offices across the different estates
• Implementing schemes to help Companies/ SMEs mitigate losses (including rental reimbursement, staff costs, etc)
• Providing citizens & households with top ups/ financial support to mitigate livelihood-related expenses (e.g. utilities, transport)
• Distributing masks (at least 3 rounds executed over last 3 months) to the populace 
• Increase capacity in contact tracing, conduct test for all vulnerable groups and personnel involved in frontline/ critical functions & eventually expanding testing to the larger populace
• Reinforcing public education about the pandemic and how to stay safe
• Encouraging those with symptoms to get tested
• Covering the cost of testing as well as the quarantine for those found infected 
• Keeping communications open and transparent; and clamping down on fake news quickly 
• the list just go on and on.

Lots of programs being put in place both at the national and at the local levels, and the co-ordination between the public and corporate sectors has been very tight and very co-ordinated. The current unemployment rate has increased but I am sure this number has been heavily mitigated due to the programs implemented. I don't think things will get worst, but well, you will never know. Let's keep our fingers crossed. For now, just have to don our mask, keep our distance, practice personal hygiene and let the government do the rest. 

Transition to New Norm?

We have ended the circuit breaker (CB) (Singapore's limited lockdown) period since 19 Jun and things are getting seemingly back to what we saw pre-CB. The markets and hawker centers are getting busy again, same for the roads, the parks, etc. But there are certain distinct differences now - most of us are now working from home, we have to don the mask when outside, we have to observe physical distancing, etc. 

The numbers of daily new infections have decreased to single digits amongst the community now. Even the number of daily new infections amongst the foreign workers have dwindled from mover a thousand daily to the low hundreds. The numbers certainly look very encouraging. And I can also see the many measures the government has put in place to protect citizens, to save jobs, and for those retrenched, to put in place schemes to retrain people. The mood, from my sensing, is still quite positive, thankfully.

As for me personally, the last week since the reopening had been somewhat uneasy too. And oddly, it was because I had gotten used to the CB routines - for work and for my personal life. So, the end of CB meant "new" routines, "new" arrangements, etc. I guess habits once established will need time to change. Have to constantly tell myself to keep my mind open and embrace change as it comes along - retain what's good for me (such as exercise routines), and to learn new skills wherever possible. That, perhaps, is the only way to keep myself sane, and sorted.

:-)

Upcoming Elections

And so it’s finally announced that the Writ of Election had been issued and Parliament dissolved. We will head to the polls on 10 July. It’s unprecedented to do an elections in the midst of a pandemic but thankfully the situation is very much in control and many measures have been put in place to ensure everyone’s safety as we head to the polls.

This upcoming 2 weeks will be challenging for me. I don’t like election period cos there are many very emotional voices that are often very personal and illogical, and behaviours that are downright unpalatable and ugly amongst many voters and politicians alike. And I find these very stressful.

So... I’m gonna totally switch off, stay away from anything and anyone that discusses politics. Will return after elections is over.

Grindr & Confidence

Today, I felt the power of confidence. And I decided to translate this confidence into an opportunity to put someone rude in place. I would not do such things usually as I’m not a confrontational person by nature. But I decided I should do it this time round. And I felt good doing so. Attractive, even. Here’s the story. 

You see, I had gone for a walk in the park near my estate and as always I took off my singlet and walked topless. I turned on my Grindr to check who's around me and I saw a couple of familiar profiles but I didn't really gave a hoot about their presence. I went on to do some static exercises and a message came in. I thought it was weird cos I don't usually get messages as it wasn't my habit to communicate with people in Grindr. I took a read and it went... 

"So fat still go topless" 

My first thoughts were - That’s so rude - and I replied: 

"Well as long as I'm comfortable, who cares if I'm fat or thin" 

I continued my exercise after wishing him well. But I thought my response didn’t feel right and I decided to indicate my displeasure. I added: 

"I hope this is not an attempt to humiliate me" 

And a little while later, I decided to go one step further to put him in place and added: 

"You have to learn some manners young man" 

I thought he had stepped over the line and at his age (he is 34 yrs old according to his profile), he should jolly well know how to be respectful. By using the term "young man", it allowed me, in a way, to express and exert my dominance over him. I feel very good. In no time, his message and profile disappeared from my screen - He blocked me. 

Lol! Never mess with this uncle.

PS: often, as gay men, we tend to be more conscious about how we present ourselves. We want to look good and project ourselves as attractive, at times even to the point of allowing people to step onto us (esp if the person is desirable). This is particularly so when we have the belief that we are inferior in certain aspects (eg physique, age, looks, etc). Not a good thing but well, that’s a fact. We just need to learn and to grow our confidence. Agree?

Grease

OMG! Turned on Spotify and it went on and on with songs from Grease! I literally became a little secondary boy all over again!

• Great Lightning
• Sandy
• You're the One that I Want...

It just went on and on! I was literally screaming away and boogieing to the songs as it played! And I was brought back to the days of Grease, Saturday Night Fever, YMCA, etc etc etc... what a way to start my Sunday!

Lol!

Funny Moments

I had had a procedure done on my right eye a week ago. And now my left eye is badly infected and swollen. My eye sight is badly compromised currently and here're 2 funny incidents to share.

Emailed wrongly

• I happily sent out an email for a meeting to a whole lot of colleagues. And within minutes, I got a reply from an unfamiliar name asking if she was required for the meeting. I then realised I had send the mail to a Mayee instead of Mayble. Thankfully, there was no classified information in the email. Got it corrected quickly.

Straining Mee Sua

• Before heading to the A&E yesterday, I decided to make myself a plate of dry fried mee sua (rice noodle). You see, just like spaghetti, you have to boil the mee sua for a couple of minutes before straining (sieve) it through a strainer. And as I did so, I wondered why the mee sua dropped into the sink instead of into the strainer. To my horrors, I realised that I had held the strainer upside down!

These incidents were funny, yet a little distressing. No? LOL! Anyway, I quickly went to the doctor after my lunch. For now, just have to rest my eye and hope the medication works.

:-)

Conjunctivitis & the young eye doctor

My left eye started having discharges 4-5 days ago. And the itch started after that. Three days ago, it started getting red and I got a little worried. This happened a couple of days after I had a procedure done on my right eye and it was not the best time to have this developing on my left eye. To make matters worst, more floaters started to appear in my right eye. It's a very unsettling feeling.

Yesterday, I decided to head to my family GP and he refused to treat me. He asked me to head to the hospital A&E immediately. Thankfully, it was nothing serious but a very bad case of conjunctivitis. Was given an antibiotic eye drop, a cleanser and moisturiser. Hopefully the viral infection can clear off soon. For now, it’s swollen and red and I am walking around using mainly my right eye.

Let me also share a bit about the eye doctor. He was the one who saw me last week. He's young, and well, very cute. But well, that is another story altogether. When he saw me again yesterday, the first impression he gave me was that of a grumpy person and that my visit was an inconvenience to him. And as he signalled me to enter his consultation room, his first words were: "come in, so what's the problem with you now?" I really thought this was totally off. But I simply smiled and did what he asked me to do.

As an ex-customer service trainer, I would have advised him to consider using a nicer tone and, perhaps, rephrased his greeting to "Hi Mr Sim, how have you been? So sorry to have to see you again (in context, this is a hospital). How can I help you this time?" Regardless of how familiar you may be with a customer, never assume he/ she appreciates you treating him/ her so casually. He/ She pays you your salary and the least you can do is to give him/ her the respect a customer should deserve. Secondly, never ever suggest a customer has a/ is the "problem". He/ She may have an issue that you can help, but never a problem.

So... yeah, I guess our medical staff, especially the younger ones, may need some customer service training. But yeah, let's hope he picks up some basic EQ/ customer service skills as he matures in his line.

PS: There was another young cutie doctor next door who kept staring me at even as he treated his patient. I have a very strong suspicion he is gay. Anyway, if I were a drama queen and any younger, I would probably be so head-over-heel with him. LOL.. Seemed like I am getting on with age, considering the fact that most of the medical staff seemed to look very young these days.

End of Lockdown

We have started the process of gradually opening up and this week marked the first week we are allowed back to work. Rather, back to clean our desk and then to head back home. We will continue to work indefinitely from home.

It was an interesting experience, heading back to office and chancing upon one or two of my colleagues. We all had to continue to don our face masks as we did so. And surprisingly, the office was really clean. Looked like the cleaning staff had done an exceptional job keeping the place spic and span. It was also really nice to be able to see the cleaning staff. And the lady that I always spoke with came up to me and greeted me enthusiastically. You can sense and see her enthusiasm even though she had her mask on.

"Hello Sir! How are you!. Haven't seen you for a while" that were her first words. I spared no time to return her greetings and also to wish her Selamat Hari Raya. She's Muslim and would have had her raya celebrations at home this year. I spoke with her for a while before heading to clean my desk. It was not long before several of the other support staff came to my office to say hello. Nice and warm. That is how I would describe my return to my office, even if it was for a short moment. For now, we are all back to to working from home. 

It would be perhaps another 6 to 9 months at least before we can head back to "the new norm".

I wish you Peace

I'm not sure what the f*** Trump is doing, adding oil to the fire, and I am concerned with how things are panning out in the US. 

Perhaps this is what you can expect for voting into office such a person although I believe his base will disagree with me. Sighs. I really hope some sense would prevail come Nov 20. For now, I shall reserve any further comments and watch from afar.

I sincerely wish my American friends peace.

Weight loss

There is a clear distinct difference between losing weight and slimming down.

Since the start of the circuit breaker, I had been doing my daily walks and observing my food intake. And I have lost about 6-7kg. And for a first time in a very long while, my weight has dropped into the 70s range. But regrettably, this does not mean I've gotten any slimmer! I continue to look just as fat! Sighs. Then again, and objective speaking, I am enjoying this new "lightness". These days, I have lesser backaches. 

And I am more comfortable doing my walks topless these days. I am one helluva vain uncle!

LOL!

Lawyer's Letter

And so, the lawyer's letter finally arrived. It was addressed to my car insurance company and I was in the cc. The taxi driver had claimed against me for medical cost amounting to about S$12,000. He claimed that he suffered injuries and that it was a direct result of my indiscriminate driving. It's easy to get emotional and upset over such allegations. But I kept calm, knowing that I had video evidence of the circumstances that led to the accident. 

Told myself this is the process that I must go through.

Let's see how matters pan out.

Fine?

I went to the central catchment area for a hike two weeks ago and as this is the lockdown period, all public car parks were closed. I decided to park by the road as a result. I came back to my car after a 3-4hr hike and found a notice of summon on my windscreen. It stated that I had parked at a "No Waiting" zone and that the LTA (Land Transport Authority) will send me the summon soon.

Two weeks passed and I finally received the letter over the weekend. I had expected a S$70 fine but to me surprise, it simply told me that "due to my good driving records", they will not be taking further actions against me and that I should take this as a friendly warning. Of course, LTA, being LTA, will always end off with "... we will not hesitate to la la la... if you were found to repeat this..." in future.

Well, what matters most is I didn't get the fine. And yes, I will make sure I do not park at the same spot in future. 

:-)

Lasering the Eye

It was indeed an interesting experience, and a little scary too. Was brought into the cubicle, asked to place my head on the chin rest and the next few steps was crazy...

The doctor placed a concave shaped probe that stuck onto the whole eyeball. And then he moved the probe and it felt it he was grabbing and in control of the eyeball. Was asked to look at different directions as he looked for the hole. It was rather uncomfortable as the probe had a blinding bright light that shone through it into my eye. Once he found the hole, he zapped it with laser. All in all about 6-8 zaps were applied. As he zapped, the eye felt like it was gonna explode. Scary shit.

But in no time, it was done. Initially, I couldn't see anything with my eye. But soon enough, the opaqueness cleared off and everything appeared red. Within 5 min, I regained full clarity of my vision. All done. Was told the floaters will still be there but the issue of the hole have been addressed.

Well, it was an interesting Saturday for me alright!

Housefly in Vision

One black speck appeared in my right vision 3 days ago. I had initially thought it was a housefly that refused to go away and constantly stayed at a specific corner of my eye. More specks appeared over last 2 days. Went to see CGH A&E this morning and was referred immediately to eye specialist.

After some investigations, the specialist found a small 0.5mm hole in my right retina. Have been scheduled for a laser treatment to close the hole this afternoon at 3pm.

It's hard not to admit my body is aging.

CB-"achievements"

We are into the sixth (?) week of the circuit breaker period (limited lockdown of the country) and during this period, I have made keeping fit one of the focus of my daily routines. I did not start off with this as an aim. Rather, walking is a mean to keep myself from getting bored and getting cabin fever.

I started walking around my neighbourhood in the evenings. I have alternate between brisk and leisurely walks so as to give my body the rest it needs in between. Soon enough, I started to made it a point to walk at least 10,000 steps a day. And on days where I did not manage to clock the 10,000 steps via my evening walks, I will make it up by going grocery shopping and walking around the mall just to fulfil the 10,000-step "target". Setting a target is such a motivator. With time, I started to walk further and further. And since a couple of weeks ago, I started to clock 11,000, 12,000 steps or more a day. 

Two days ago, I decided to see how far I can go. I left my place at 2-ish in the afternoon and walked till about 6pm. When I ended, I had clocked over 25,000 steps. And for the duration of the whole day, I managed to close slightly more than 29,000 steps, equivalent to 20-over km. Felt good about it. The last time I clocked 31,000 steps was about 3-4 years ago and I suffered body aches for a couple of days after that. This time round, I was surprised I didn't suffer the pains like I did previously. I supposed the regular walking helped condition my body.

Over the course of the last 5-6 weeks, I have also shed slightly more than 5kg off my body weight. It's nice to be able to do it. My belly is less pronounced now. It's good. But more importantly, I have less backaches these days. Maybe I should challenge myself to lose another 5kg? lol... Walking is a good way to lose weight, minimise backaches and put less stress on my back and my knees. And I sleep better. So yeah, what's more important is to be able to keep healthy.

I shall work hard to keep up with this routine.

PS: I shall attempt to go further than 29,000 steps today...

Lawyer’s letter - wtf

Ok, I didn’t actually get a lawyer’s letter. But it’s close enough...

I got an email from my car insurance agent asking if I had been injured. She was referring to my recent accident where a taxi crashed into my car head on while I was stationary. She explained that the taxi driver had engaged a lawyer (or his insurance agent) to make claims against me as he has suffered some bodily injury. Of cos I told my agent I didn’t suffered any injury nor made any police report (we didn’t have to if no injuries or public properties are involved). I re-explained the circumstances of the accident and asked her to refer to my dashboard video instead.

Wtf... it’s interesting how people can twist stories to their favour.

Thankfully there’s the video.

Let’s see how things go. 

Car Repaired

Finally gotten my car back. 

The total cost of the repairs amounted to close to S$7K. The repair man had replaced the front bumper, the front right panel, and several other parts. Also, as they had also disconnected the battery in the course of the repair, all the settings in the car had been affected. It felt totally different when I got into the car. And I had to get to know the car all over again...

Positively, the car looked almost brand new.

:-)

Politicising a Pandemic

Totally not a good idea...

But this is what I see in some countries. It is very sickening. But above all, it is very sad to see the lack of leadership, and the lack of unity in the want to manage the pandemic. I strongly believe that if we want to win this battle against the virus, we need to be united. And I say so cos we are so intertwined in all aspects as a human race. But sadly, united is the last thing that is happening now. And so, as the pandemic drags on, people continue to fall ill by the thousands and lives continue to be lost.

Looks like it's gonna be a long drawn pandemic for the world.

Sighs. 

Vesak 2020

Happy Vesak Day 

everyone!

Wishing all good health, peace, wisdom and happiness.

Me

Decided to take public transport instead of Grab (our regional equivalent to Uber). It was quite an interesting experience, considering how everyone was masked up, and how the bus and train were decked with all sorts of signages asking people to space out. It’s actually quite nice to able to experience public transport during this period.

And quite surreal too.

Head on car collision

Just my luck to get into a head on collision with a taxi this afternoon. 

Was leaving the car park after purchasing lunch when I saw a taxi speeding towards me. There was absolutely nothing I could do except to hold on tight to my steering wheel, pressed my brake hard and await the head on crash. It sped towards me and didn’t even stop or slow down. Everything happened in a split second and next thing I knew, the taxi crashed into my front right.

Was glad no one was injured. Came out and we exchanged our particulars, took some videos and photos before I drove off. Noted the driver was trembling when he went about taking pictures. He must have been in quite a shock. Wondered why the hell he was speeding in the car park. As for the taxi, it was quite badly hit and the driver had to call for a tow truck. 

Thankfully, my car dashboard video cam managed to record the whole incident. Will certainly aid the reporting and claims. Gonna be a busy day tomorrow. And yes, I had been advised to do a medical check too, just in case.

Be grateful

This period of time, it's useful to remind oneself of what we should be grateful about, and doing so does lots to keep us sorted and sane... here's my list of what I am grateful for:

- family

- friends

- people who care about me

- food when I needed it

- freedom of choice

- relatively ok health

- mobility

- freedom of movement

- peaceful life

- peace of mind

- having my job

- keeping my job

- having someone to keep me company

- doing grocery shopping daily

- cooking what I want

- filling my stomach

- having my little indulgences when I needed it

- netflix

- ...

The list goes on. The bar seems low, but it's these little and simple things that make life so much meaningful for me.

Grieving the loss of normalcy

I read someone's sharing this morning that we are all grieving. Grieving over the loss of normalcy and having been forced to embrace a new lifestyle we are probably not totally prepared for.

I like this idea and I agree with the author of that post. I am a trained grief counselor and it didn't strike me that indeed we are all going through different stages of grief. Just look at the many LinkedIn posts sharing about difficulties in adapting, challenges, stress, etc especially 2-3 weeks ago. The sharing that we are all going through different stages of grief helped me connect the dots.

In grief counselling, we acknowledge that people grief differently. Some take a longer time to grief compared to others. It is in this context that I understand why many still show signs of anger or denial when it comes to WFH and embracing a new normal. Even until now. Thus, I appreciate the latest move by the authorities that counseling are categorized as essential services.

With time, we will come to terms and accept this new norm. Some will take days, some weeks, and some longer. This process is no different from how we grief when someone dear passed on. Agree? It is a time to empathize, to support and to be there to listen.

Be safe and be well.

Disappearing Sex Drive

Is it just me and aging, or is it an effect of the current Covid-19 pandemic? Or perhaps it's a combination of both. I do not seem to feel horny these days! 

Hmmm...

Ironing Board Work Desk

This is one creative way to create a work desk if you don't have one, or if you want something different - Use your ironing board as a work desk! I mean, its height is adjustable, and you are not gonna use it anytime soon too right?

Lol... and yes, I do have colleagues working with their laptops on the ironing board and doing stretches and work-outs at the same time. You just need to adjust the height to knee level (or lower) and you can do your stretches on your yoga mat at the same time!

And that is what I will do! Have been working with my laptop placed on my dining table for the last 2 weeks and it gets a little messy when I need to have my meals. So yeah! Let's have a change.

Stay home, stay safe, and while at it, be creative and have some fun!

Nonsense

Chloroquine, ultraviolet, bleach... 

What’s next?

Sighs.

Irresponsible.

Embarrassing.

Fourth Lunar Month

It's the start of the 4th lunar month and it's a significant day for many Muslims and Buddhists. For Buddhists, it marks the countdown to Vesak Day that will occur on the 15th day, and for Muslims, it also marks the start of the holy Ramadan. Here're my wishes;

To all my Muslim friends,

Selamat Berpuasa! Blessed fasting month to you and all your loved ones! It's a challenging time for all but do take the opportunity to spend quality time with family and to connect with your faith in the blessed sanctuary of your home. Please stay safe and well 🙏🏻

And to all my Buddhist friends,

Have a blessed countdown to Vesak Day. For those who are observing your pre-Vesak fasting and rituals, do it with right mindfulness, right thoughts, and right actions. May you achieve wisdom and calm as you observe your practices.

And to everyone else, be safe, be healthy and be happy.

WFH routines

I started working from home since 6 Apr and my initial weeks were terrible and highly stressful. And the following are what I have learned to do since to maintain a certain level of sanity in my schedule during this WFH period:

• I block my calendar to prevent people from sending me meeting invites at unreasonable times eg during lunch or in the evenings.

• I block my calendar to make sure I have time to do my work, engage my staff, as a team and one on one. Its crazy how some people assume you are always free just because your schedule has an innocent looking unblocked slot.

• I block my time to give myself the me time to rest mentally. This may be to catch up with rest, to cook my lunch, to do my personal admin, etc. Come to think of it, when I work from office, we planned for travel time to meetings, meeting breaks etc. These gives us the mental breaks we need.

WFH does not mean all my time are open for meetings ALL the time. I will of course be professional to ensure I prioritise my time correctly, do what I need to do to earn my pay, and deliver my performance as expected of me.

Agree?

Respecting others

I cooked curry two days ago. It’s part of my Peranakan heritage. And since young, I’ve donned the sarong, ate with my hands and speak Peranakan Malay. I still do many things including eating with my hands these days. Trust me, food are more fragrant and tastes much better. It is a culture I identify with and proud of.

I made these points because I read that someone commented in the papers about the “dirty” habits of our foreign workers, and attribute this dirtiness to their cultural habits such as eating with their hands. This, to me, showed a lack of understanding of other people’s culture, or worst still, a lack of respect of their culture.

Have we not realized that we owe much of our quality of life, environment and infrastructure to these foreign workers? Just look at the unkept and overgrown weeds along the roads, and open spaces, the many construction projects, etc and you will see where we will be without these silent heroes. These workers are here to earn a living for their families. Sadly, they are often housed in dormitories, hidden away from the mainstream. 

This is a time to come together, to empathize, to support and to be one. We owe them much, and the least we can do is to accept their presence and contributions, respect them and their culture, appreciate their contributions and make sure they return safely to their families when their contract ends.

We in Singapore are definitely much more than that.

Netflix

Netflix is my best friend during this period and it's been a non-stop overdose of Korean drama, sitcoms, movies, etc.

• Crash Landing onto You
• Sky Castle
• Kingdom
• Friends
• Kim's Convenience
• Ossan's Love in the Sky
• Crown
• Happy Together

The list goes on. It’s also just as fun to rewatch many shows, especially those from Ghibli. The creativity of the animation never fail to blow me away!

• Ponyo
• Spirited Away
• Howl’s Moving Castle

Super nice!

Not a time for politics

This is the time for solidarity and not for politics. It's not the time to ridicule people and definitely not the time to cut funding. Perhaps the purpose of the corona virus is to wake our ideas, see the truth and get rid of all these people.

Wtf...

Lemak

Here's a recipe of something I enjoyed as a kid. It's a Peranakan (straits-born Chinese) vegetable stew recipe that I cannot find anywhere. The closest I can describe it is that is similar to sayur lodeh (an Indonesian vegetable stew). Managed to reproduce earlier this week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Nothing beats being brought back to the good old days of mum's cooking. The smell and the taste of childhood!

Here's the recipe:

Vegetables

Ladies finger - 4-5 (cut slanted) can consider fry first to remove the sticky secretions and put aside

Long beans - 5-6 (cut into 3cm lengths)

Brinjal - 1 (sliced)

Cabbage - half a cabbage (choose Chinese Beijing cabbage as it cooks and soften better)

Tempeh (fermented soya bean slabs) - 2 pieces( sliced into 3cm width, fry first and put aside)

Taukwa (soya bean slabs) - 2 pieces (cut into 4 pieces diagonally - sprinkle with a bit of salt and fry till golden brown), then set aside

Others (depends on own taste) - 1 carrot

Rempah (Spice mix)

Dried chilli - 7-8 pieces (soaked and cut up)

Fresh red chilli - 5-6 pieces (cut up)

Buah keras (candle nut) - 3-4 nuts

Kunyit (turmeric) 1 small piece

Onions/ shallots - 8-9 pieces

Belachan (fermented dried shrimp slabs) - one small piece (toast it over fire to make it more fragrant)

Heh bee (dried prawns) - 1-2 tablespoon (soaked in water to make it soft)

Others

Fresh prawns - 8-9 prawns

Heh bee (dried prawns) 2 tablespoons (soaked in water to make it soft and then drained off)

Water (or chicken stock) - enough to fill pot - should be about 2 litres at least

Coconut milk - 1 sachet (can also squeeze from one coconut or use 1 packet ready made coconut milk)

Salt to taste (or if preferred 1 cube of Chicken stock)

Cooking Oil (can mix with a bit of sesame oil if desired, but I prefer not)

Preparation of Rempah

Put everything into grinder, add a little water and grind. You have a choice to decide how fine you want to grind it. For me, I like it fine.

Cooking

Heat oil, fry the dried prawns to draw out the taste. Should take about 15-30sec. Then put in rempah when hot and stir fry till it dries up. This is also to caramelize the shallots. Add in the hard vegetables (eg cabbage, ladies fingers and long beans) and continue frying before adding water/ chicken stock. Bring to boil, add the softer vegetables, tempeh, prawns, taukwa (basically add everything else) and let it simmer. Finally, add the coconut milk, bring to boil and prepare to serve. Add salt or soya sauce to taste.

Tip 1: if using fresh coconut, use the thin second round coconut extract first, bring to boil, add the first round thick extract, bring to boil and then serve.

Tip 2: If you want to have the flexibility to adjust the spiciness, you can consider removing a small portion (say 1/4) of the rempah after frying it. Continue with the cooking and add/ adjust accordingly to suit your liking after you have added the coconut milk.

Be well

I do hope my blog reader friends are keeping well during this challenging period.

It’s an interesting time for humanity. I happened to check in with a friend from San Francisco and he said he had been working from home since Mar 20. And he added that positively, he liked the more empty roads but have to get used to longer working hours and the long grocery queues at the supermarkets. And it hit me that all over the world, we are all experiencing the same thing. It is perhaps a once a life time thing to have this happening. And it's created by one single virus!

Hope my friends the world over are keeping safe and well!

Fake News Singapore Style 2

Yesterday PM Lee made a statement on air updating us about the latest situation of the Covid 2019 locally and the additional measures the government will be taking. The live telecast was scheduled at 4pm, which is different from the usual 8pm telecasts of all his previous public telecasts. And the amount of fake news that was circulated through the day was crazy...

These fake news came from people who claimed they have credible sources. Here's one from a guy call "Vincent" that made me superbly irritated. And to make this piece of trash look more authentic, the message carries the PM Office Facebook background and the state crest.  I cannot recall the exact words but it went something like this:

"Dear all,

PM Lee will be making a statement later at 4pm. This was brought forward to 8pm because it's very urgent.

Singapore will be locked down to control the spread of the covid 2019 virus. And to control and contain the virus, the police and the SAF will be deployed to control movement. The locked down will be by regions. There will be four regions - West, East, North and Central. This will help to ensure any virus spread will be contained within the different regions... ... ...

This news is from an insider source and is highly credible. Please watch PM Lee's speech later."

It doesn't take much to know that this is fake news and contains a huge load of bullshit. It serves nothing other generate and spread fear. Bloody irresponsible. I do seriously urge my fellow Singaporeans to avoid sending and spreading such messages. Forwarding any news, even if it is well intentioned, may end up creating unnecessary fear.

Please act responsibly.