Cogito Ergo Sum ~ Descartes

 Our deepest and most valuable thinking requires a calm and attentive mind. If you exist in a perpetual state of distractedness, you'll never tap into the deepest sources of human insight and creativity - Nicholas Carr

Everyday Heroes

Hero as defined on Dictionary.com:

 

he·ro

 /ˈhɪəroʊ/ Show Spelled[heer-oh]

–noun,plural-roes; for 5 also -ros.

1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. 
2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child. 
3. the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc. 
4. Classical Mythology.

a. a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.

b.(in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability.

c. (in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.

Since young, the concept of heroes would refer to superheroes of the animated nature. It started from Superman, Spiderman of the Marvel and DC Comics family to Teenage mutant ninja turtles and Power rangers and Pokemon?!

My favourite would be Charlie’s angels, very much like Powerpuff girls eh? Kickass hot babes that could take on 10 men and still manage to look fabulous in a skin-tight suit.

Robin Hood from the medieval times wouldn’t have thought that being an outlaw just doesn’t cut it in this day and age anymore. You need to be a superhero with supernatural powers or super weapons.

 

Isn’t this just the remedy for what’s lacking in humanity right now? A Superhero of sorts, to remind us that there is hope and man is not selfish by nature.

Even if someone were to just rob from the rich to give to the poor, I’d applaud and admire him. But we have this reality check called the Law. Defiance will put you behind bars and might even cost you your life and no intervention will save you, there’s no Sherwood forest where you can thrive with your Merrymen and live happily ever after.

 

That might the reason that (if) Robin Hood existed then, because anarchy and corruption was rampant.

So what purpose does the Law serve? Whose interests does it protect? The people? Or the State?

The Law justifies punishments for wrongdoings, morally and ethically. Yikes… it is not my place to state an argument on this.

 

Back to heroes, I’m inspired because of a simple gesture by Sebastian, which I believe that every average Singaporean would have faced during their daily commute.

He told a passenger on the train to give up his seat for a pregnant lady.

I think the common scenario during peak hours is everyone crowding at the train doors and when it arrives, everyone rushes to alight and to board, simultaneously.

Once in the train, the competitive ones zoom in for the empty seat and aunties are the best at this, they are ruthless.

I think it is only in this country that there are designated seats for the elderly, disabled or pregnant ladies.

There’s even the latest jingle by the dim sum dollies, train is coming, which was cute at first but it started to get grating when they blasted it way above comfortable volume.

The give-up your seat jingle is worse, I actually felt embarrassed listening to that, what has our society come to? That we need these constant reminders to be more gracious and considerate. Isn’t this within our inate ethical framework that need not be part of public education?

 

Back to Sebastian, most selfish brats would just feign sleep to claim ownership of their seat when obviously someone needs it more than their fat butts.

Many a times I did want to just tell them off, especially foreigners. But I did not.....

Sebastian did the right thing, most Singaporeans are just afraid and selfish, afraid of getting into trouble, afraid of inconvenience, afraid of looking you in the eye, afraid of being noticed, afraid of losing out to others, afraid of everything.

 

There seems to be this personal bubble of space, I think, that everyone creates to surround and exclude themselves from the environment.

If you come too close to someone's personal bubble, he/she might just move away and they carry their bubble along. So they're not affected, as long as nothing happens within their (tiny) bubble, they'll get on with their life.

In our society where fear is a deciding determinant in the way we conduct our life, standing out from the masses and just pointing out something which isn’t right, even when it means inconveniencing ourselves. That is an everyday hero, we need more of that.

 

Aloysius told me about Meng Hua, who witnessed a dirty old man harassing a young helpless girl on the train, yes it was in public on a crowded train, such audacity! The girl was too afraid to retaliate and the perpetrator just took advantage of her weakness. Meng Hua saved the girl and ran after the molester who tried to get away and dragged him to the authorities. Meng Hua might be petite but she's an impressive lady.

 

Everyday heroes don’t need superpowers or a costume, they just need to believe in what is right and what is wrong and that something needs to be done.

 

David Bowie sang ... We can be heroes.. (even if it’s) just for one day...

 

 

Market Liquidity

MIT vs GLP

 

Let’s do a little number crunch here…

 

$0.93 vs $1.96

 

$1.19mil* vs $3.9mil* (funds to be raised)

 

38 times vs 12 times oversubscribed

 

$20.1bil vs $2.2bil application monies

 

Temasek Holdings vs Government Investment Corp.

 

High market liquidity with low interest rates results in cash-flow from banks to greener pastures.

“ The balloting results of the GLP applications also threw up some startling numbers. It showed that there were 22 successful applicants from the public who had initially applied for at least one million shares, coughing up at least $1.96 million upfront.
They were eventually allotted 10,000 shares each. “

Funny story, I applied for GIC but I didn’t have my CDP number while at the ATM.

Then I realized I could have done in the comfort of my home via ibanking duh?!

But I was afraid that I would have to sell the shares on trading day 18^th Oct, luck has it that I didn’t have my CDP online account activated, thus I wouldn’t be in time to receive my statement from CDP on my allocation results *holding my breath*

So 14^th Oct 10 am came and went….

Time to focus on MIT then, I gleefully applied 20 lots (CPF and CASH) but I was afraid to hit the submit button.

So I upped it to 30 lots, but it got rejected twice, stating an error with my CDP account number.

I even checked with my broker, I can’t be that bad with numbers right?

I tried again for 15lots in CPF and it went through. Yay I thought, then I tried again with Cash, apparently everyone is allowed 1 application…

Coincidentally, I figured out that I could have checked my application results thru ibanking as well, so much for missing out on GLP.

What about the fears of the recession rebound you say? Be damned! All that worries these folks is where to park their cash! 

Anyway MIT was hotcakes, obviously I got zilch out of this whole fiasco……. *grumble

Lesson learned on how to apply IPOs, and to just go straight for it, you only live once! You'll get refunded anyway..

Memories from my mischievious sweetheart birthday bash

Just a couple of choice shots from the night of the perfect feet =D

Hahaha we all know why this is hilarious!

Groupies!

My masterpiece tadaa!

Jacuzzi Deck view..wooo

Groupies again!

EVANGELION "FLY ME TO THE MOON"

This is how my love-affair with jazz and bossa nova started, from the manga Evangelion's ending credits, which I can hardly recall watching though haha

balmy bartley

The air became still
Passing vehicles send the fallen leaves crackling against the tarmac
Merciless beacons of heat beat against any exposed surface

Across the road from me is a jungle (with a tombstone or 2)
Surrounded by old houses...on my right
a new christian church... behind me
a catholic high school (with chinese rooftops) ... on my left (and SPCA beyond that)
and an indian missionary institute further down the road with sprawling grounds that looks pretty surreal amidst the vicinity...
There was hardly any commotion save for 2 pooping puppies dragging their poor babysitter along...

This is a strange spot which you can scarcely find in our metropolis. Sandwiched between the rural and industrial, it's familiarity is only due to those that often passed through to get to the highway.

How did I get myself in such an unhip location?

Kitty kitty kitty!

Ahhhh, how could I have missed this when it was launched in July?
It was the pairing of my best-loved cat and favourite mascara!
I could give myself a kick right now! (  I strangely feel that I've let HK down somehow..ermm haha)

Any good samaritan willing to help me?