My mother has been frequenting a religious centre where she takes religious lessons and attends prayer sessions. She spends a considerable amount of time there. There are 2 other regular attendees who take the lessons with her. For some reason, my mom tells me that they have been giving her the cold shoulder lately.

My mom spent lots of time thinking about whether she had offended them unknowingly and what are the reasons they were treating her this way. She firmly believes that they look down on her because she is not rich like them.

She regularly tells me about how left out and unhappy she feels, and I always tell her not to bother with them. If other people looks down on her for superficial issues like (lack of) wealth, then they are not learning from their religious lessons. There is no need to feel unhappy about that, because it only reflects badly on them.

Today, I told my mom that instead of feeling unhappy and bear grudges against them for being unkind to her, she should start being kind to them. I told her, everytime they frown at her, return them a smile. Everytime they walk in or leaves, smile and greet them, wish them a nice day.

I believe that if my mom do all these, in time to come, they will finally realise how unkind they have been and will change for the better. Either that or other people who frequent the centre will realise how petty they are (if my mom greets them and they ignore her).

We should thank our enemies or people who treat us unkindly and return them with kindness. We should thank these people for giving us opportunities to reflect on our thinking and behavior, as well as the opportunities to practice forgiveness, benevolence and kindness. This way, we will feel happier (it’s always better to have less enemies, right?), and we can help others realise their mistakes and improve themselves. Through this process, we will also become better people.

This is never easy to do. In fact, I have problems achieving this myself. I hope my mom can pull it off and give everybody a chance to become better people.

My exam results came out this morning. I was quite surprised at the results.

I scored well for modules that I thought I’d fare badly in, while scoring badly for a module that I thought would push my grades up.

This isn’t the first time such things have happened. Along the semester similar things also happened (doing well for tests I thought I won’t perform in, while scoring for the opposite).

It’s quite strange. Don’t know why it’s so. Maybe it’s the nature of studying in NUS? Everything is so unpredictable.

I got a CAP of 4.5. On the upper scale of my estimations but still I am quite dazed at what happened to me for the module I thought I’d do well in.

Hope I can continue to maintain such standards in the coming semester.

I’m stuck in a dilemma and I don’t have much time left to think through it.

I have a choice between taking Information Systems or E-Commerce as my major. To sum it up, IS can provide me with more useful knowledge/skills for a job in the IT Industry while EC is a seemingly easy way out for me through NUS.

Pros of EC as a major

• No need to take any more math modules
• More subjects in my areas of interest (Business, Marketing, etc)
• No need to do an 8-MC project (compared to IS)
• Probably less programming involved

Cons of EC

• Interest may not = apitude
• May lose out to Business students when I take their faculty’s modules
• Less useful knowledge/skills in the IT Industry compared to IS
• Have to do group work with Business students (if not assigned groups, then problem of finding a good group)

Pros of IS as a major

• More useful and specialised knowledge/skills for a career as a professional in the IT Industry
• May be easier to compete with home faculty students

Cons of IS

• Need to take 1 x Discrete Math module, 1 x Probability & Stats module, 1 x Calculus module
• Need to do an 8-MC project that seems quite tough
• Probably more programming involved

Need to think fast and rationally… sigh.

If you noticed, I used past tense ‘got’ in the title. Yeah, this means that I will go travelling less often from now. Because I am not able to sustain such expenditure anymore. Over the past year, although I no longer enjoy the income that I had in the past, I was still able to go on overseas trips rather often (compared to the average student I guess).

I had a friend who messaged me this morning suddenly claiming that I was lying about being a poor student. He said I can’t be a poor student if I get to travel overseas often.

Well, first of all, I got to say that I didn’t meant ‘poor student’ as in I don’t have savings. I mean poor as in I do not currently have any viable income nor receive any pocket money from my mom. In other words, I am surviving entirely on the savings that I got from my past business and jobs, plus a ~$3000 annual stipend for a scholarship. I wouldn’t be studying now if not for the scholarship, because I cannot afford to fund myself through (even though I can get a loan for school fees, I still need to fund 3 years of daily expenses).

In case some people are curious, since I left the business about 1 year ago, my savings have dipped about 30%. In other words, unless I find a part time job or some form of regular income, I will go broke by the end of my undergraduate studies. That’s also why I will not be travelling as often anymore because I cannot afford to continue in this manner.
So how DID (note the past tense I manage to go travelling often?

• First of all, I don’t go to places I cannot afford (i.e., Australia, New Zealand, USA, Europe, etc). I avoid places where I need to spend more than what I do in Singapore. This confines my trips to less expensive nations in Asia like Vietnam, China, Thailand and Malaysia.
• On my trips, I don’t frequent posh hotels, restaurants and spas. I eat at roadside stalls, stay in guesthouses and take public transportation. In fact, I spend less money in those countries than I would have spent in Singapore.
• If possible, I try to look out for things to buy and sell on Ebay during my trips. With the target of earning back my trip expenses. (I have since dropped this idea because it is too much of a hassle).
• I save on daily expenses in Singapore to save for my trips. I don’t buy clothes as often as counterparts of my age (my youngest pair of jeans is about 2 years old). I seldom eat at restaurants. I don’t go partying and clubbing. I seldom spend on entertainment. My entertainment comes in the form of watching TV with family, reading and surfing the net. This is just like any other person who will save on other expenses for their passions. In my case, my passion is travelling.

I was pretty offended by my friend’s remarks. He is earning about 2k a month, a rather comfortable pay for a diploma holder compared to the 1.8k some of my graduate friends are earning. As far as I understand, the last that I know of him is that he comes from a middle-class family with a businessman father. If he saves up a few months of his pay, he will be more well-to-do than me.

There is nothing to be envious about me. I earned every single cent in my bank account. My father passed away with debts, my mother is currently retired and living on the maintenance she gets from my sister. In fact, I am envious of those people my age who can afford a lot of things because they get their funding from Daddy-Mommy Bank.

I’m disgusted at those people who think they are poor (when in reality they have household income of a few thousand a month) and never spare a thought for the millions of people out there who are worse off. I donated $30 of rice to Sharity Gift Box a few days ago, because I know that at least I still got some savings compared to lots of people out there who have problems with their next meal.

My message to these people: Stop feeling sorry for yourselves and start thinking about how lucky you are. You all ought to visit Vietnam or Cambodia one day to see how well-off you are in every aspect.

One last note on my travels. Going to poor countries have certainly opened up my mind and made me realise that I am very lucky compared to youngsters there. I never spared a thought for others in the past. Now at least I try to do so more often.

I just upgraded from SuSE 10.0 to 10.2. It’s quite a big difference despite the small increment in version number. Linux is getting more user-friendly by the day, and in my opinion, is a wonderful alternative to Micro$ Windoze.

Contrary to popular beliefs, there are lots of stable alternatives to popular Windoze applications on the Linux platform. For example, OpenOffice offers a full suite of office productivity applications (exactly the same stuff that you can find in MS Office). You can even work with MS Office file formats from OpenOffice. For image editing, there is GIMP - a lightweight yet powerful app that is comparable to Adobe Photoshop. For instant messaging, there are half a dozen apps out there that can combine your MSN, AOL, Yahoo, etc IM accounts into one single window.
The best part of Linux is - everything’s free. Why buy MS Office for a few hundred bucks when you can get OpenOffice for free? Why pay thousands of dollars for a web publishing suite when you can get them all on Linux for nothing? And it’s all perfectly legal, as Linux is an open-source platform. Furthermore, you get only 1 CD worth of crap for Windoze while for any Linux distributions out there you can easily get more than 5 or 6 CDs worth of goodness.
More reasons to give up on Micro$ and switch to Linux:

1. Better security - being open source, this means that any potential security lapses in the applications can be discovered and rectified faster. Compare this to Windoze XP that’s been around for years and still have ongoing security concerns.
2. Better flexibility - with Linux, you can control how you want your operating system to behave (and not the other way round). The possibilites are limitless, especially if you can do your own programming. With Windoze, you pay $$$ for an OS that limits what you can do.
3. No nag screens - One thing I hate about software on Micro$ platform - nag screens. Install any free/trial/shareware applications and you are bound to get nag screens asking you to register/purchase/click something. And guess what. The geniuses at Micro$ now treats all of us as potential criminals - If you do not register your Windoze within XX days of purchase, you will not get software updates… even though you’ve already paid them the $$$. On top of that they’ll serve you with free nag screens and friendly messages on how software piracy is a crime.
4. Lots of software updates - SuSE 10.2 has a ZEN updater program that will check for software updates for all the applications currently installed on your system daily. I love the idea of having a system with software that’s up to date with the latest available software. Compare this to the long turnaround time for application updates on Micro$ platform.
5. Practically no viruses - Since Linux is a lot less prevalent, virus creators don’t usually want to bother creating viruses for Linux. Why bother attacking less than 5% of the population? Micro$ is the perfect target with over 95％ of computer users on it.
6. Better performance - Your Windoze OS comes with loads of things that you probably never use/want (like your nag screens) - and they all take up space and memory usage. And you can’t remove them cos they don’t give you a choice to. With Linux you choose what you want and the application footprints (the amount of memory space required) is usually not as high.

With all these reasons and many more, it wasn’t hard to make the decision to switch.

Had dim sum high-tea buffet at Goodwoodpark Hotel’s Min Jiang Restaurant yesterday. The food standard had gone down by leaps and bounds since I last tried it (Ok, the last time was like 3 years ago?). It used to be a cosy affair with aunties pushing dim sum carts around the traditional way. Now it’s standard hotel buffet service with all the food in one corner.

We went at 4pm (buffet starts at 3pm) and by then some food were already down to the last few pieces and many were cold. Really lousy. Service was inexistent. We stood at the reception counter for 5 minutes and nobody came to serve us until I walked right in and asked for a table from a waitress.

The only consolation was the durian pudding, which was excellent as before. However, for some unknown reason each diner was given only 1 serving. I wouldn’t go back there again. At $18.80+++, it’s not expensive for a 5 stars hotel but the standard is at most 3 stars.

I think Singaporeans need some education on the purpose of Low Cost Carriers/Budget Airlines such as Tiger Airways, Jetstar Asia and AirAsia.

The reason that these carriers are able to keep prices low is that they cut operational costs where possible. That is, no meals and drinks, no early check-in, lower baggage allowances, no special assistance for anyone, lesser leg space and lean ground operations. They also earn a little extra from higher cancellation and amendment fees for travellers who want to change their plans.

I realised that many stupid Singaporeans just can’t grasp this concept. We are well-educated and well-traveled people generally, but somehow this doesn’t translate into intelligence and wisdom.

Last week while waiting to check-in for my AirAsia flight back from Bangkok, I encountered a seemingly well-heeled Indian who was queuing in front of me. He was looking pissed and kept on bugging the ground staff on when he can check-in. I was at the airport early, as it was my first time flying from the new Bangkok airport. For those who are not aware, check-in for budget flights normally begins only 2 hours before the scheduled take off. Not knowing this fact is not an excuse, because it is usually stated in the airlines’ terms & conditions of carriage.

This particular guy with his branded bags and briefcase, obviously looked like he could well afford a full-service air ticket but here he is with a ticket for a budget flight and complaining about something that is stated clearly when he purchased the ticket. Making Singaporeans look ugly overseas.

These few days, there have been news of Jetstar and Tiger Airways having long flight delays and only compensating with a $100 voucher and full refund respectively. People were complaining that it was not enough. Personally, I agree that the compensation is not sufficient for the length of delay involved. However, bearing in mind how good a deal the air tickets were (sometimes a flight to Vietnam costs less that $30 before taxes), it somehow seems rather reasonable that no comprehensive compensation packages were given.

Look at it this way. All airlines have the same type of expenses and costs. For budget airlines to cut costs so as to provide low prices to passengers and yet still be able to make a profit at the end of the day, they obviously have to exclude lots of stuff on all fronts. This includes compensation for flight delays.

By refunding the full ticket price (in Tiger’s case), the airline is already making a 100% or even higher loss on the flight. If it has to compensate a few hundred dollars more per person, multiply by about 200 passengers… that would translate into a greatly higher cost. The airline is already providing more than it should, given that the terms & conditions usually states that the airlines will not be liable for losses due to delays.

If budget carriers have to factor in such risks in future, it is almost guaranteed that ticket prices will go up significantly. Perhaps after all the hoo-ha these few weeks by stupid Singaporeans, the airline executives are already working on a new pricing scale to include costs of such risks into ticket prices. Sigh. When will Singaporeans ever learn?
I read about one blogger’s plight about having to reschedule his connecting flights. I think he’s quite dumb. And showing that he’s proud about it by blogging his complaints for the whole world to see. How cheapskate can Singaporeans get? If I have a connecting flight to catch, I wouldn’t risk my $1000 investment on the connecting flights by taking a budget flight just to save $100 or so. Penny-wise but pound foolish. Serves him right.

I’ve taken lots of budget flights ever since they were launched. I generally have nothing much to complain about other than the sometimes rather awkward flight timings (such as 6am in the morning). But I understand they have to do this to maximise their profits and continue to provide low fares. I only encountered delays perhaps 3 or 4 times and the worst was 2 hours. But I tell myself that it’s just my luck and I’m already getting good value on the air fare.
If one is afraid of flight delays, then a travel insurance that costs $30 - $50 is well worth the money. Afterall, you never know when things can go wrong. Hmmm, maybe cheapskate Singaporeans just don’t want to pay for anything extra even if it’s to protect themselves… then blame it on everybody else other than themselves.

Having said all this, I hope those people who can well-afford full service airlines and cannot tolerate the no-frills service of LCCs will stop taking up space on budget flights and leave more space for poor students like me =)

It’s a cold evening with nothing much to do and I don’t feel like sleeping yet… perfect setting for the mind to wander again…

I was just browsing through my list of friends on friendster… and realised that I’m no longer in touch with more than 90% of them.

Thinking about the past, I feel glad that I had them as my friends at some point in my life. At the same time, it’s quite sad to realise that I am using past tense to describe them now. Now that we’re all busy with our own lives and have made new friends, we’ve practically forgotten about those people who used to hang out with us, sharing bits of their lives with us.

Of course, these people are in fact just an SMS or email away from us, and we can always try to organise outings again. But wouldn’t it feel strange to suddenly have somebody who never spoken to you in years contact you? If an ex-chum suddenly contacts me after years of silence, I’d probably be wondering whether he is now working in the insurance or MLM business and is just trying to sell me something (Unfortunately this is true most of the time). Furthermore, based on my experience it’s usually quite difficult to organise an outing without half the people failing to turn up at the last moment.

Even if it’s possible to organise and get people to attend a get-together, it wouldn’t be the same anymore. After years of non-contact, conversations seldom manage to go beyond the usual “How are you?”, “What are you doing nowadays?”, “How’s life?”, “Are you married or still single?”. And then that will probably be the last outing, at least for a very long time to come.

I remember in my secondary school and polytechnic years, I used to hang around once in a while with a fun group of friends who frequented the same Internet Relay Chat channel. There were probably nearly 20 of us regulars who met up for drinks and movies. After a while, all of us went our own ways… some went overseas for studies, some entered working life, and others just lost contact. The next time the entire group met was at a friend’s funeral. And after that, we never really met as a group again, except for outings of 4 or 5 people once in a blue moon. Even so, it’s probably been at least 2 years since the last such outing.

Friends come and go… Nowadays, it’s really hard to find some who can really grow old with us. Not like in the good old days of our parents, many who still keep in contact with their childhood friends. Sigh.

… and it’ll be goodbye to NUS for 4.5 weeks!!!!!!!

Hmmm, come to think of it… these couple of months I’ve been lamenting about not being able to go travelling due to studies… but I did a count just now and if I include this upcoming Thailand trip, I’d have spent 34 days of my life in 2006 travelling. That’s more than a month. If I didn’t really give it a thought I wouldn’t have realised it’s that much.
8 days in China, 14 days in Thailand, 2 in Malaysia and 10 in Vietnam.

OK, I admit I am quite lucky compared to many other people.