This year is going to be the year of the Rat for the Chinese lunar calendar. As with past Chinese new years, Chinatown will be dolled up to mimick what's done to Orchard Road in Christmas.

This year, they decided to use Mickey Mouse to represent Rats. So, there's lots of Mickey Mouse pictures and statues in Chinatown. I feel this is alright, but this receives a lot of complaints. People are not happy that something overseas is borrowed to represent something that is very much tradditional Chinese.

I thought this is silly. I am all for keeping our tradditional culture. I like to have my reunion dinner every CNY eve. I like to stay up till morning on CNY eve. I like to use Mandarin in my conversation. I would have typed this blog in Mandarin if my command of Chinese words are better. Maybe future posts should be in Mandarin, but my last attempt in writing articles in Mandarin did go well. But I don't see the harm in importing characters in our celebrations. The world is not getting smaller. Singapore is quite globalized. We shouldn't be too quick to change our culture to embrace new influences, but we shouldn't be too quick to dismiss them either. Change is needed for progress. If external influence is reasonable enough, we should embrace it. Blindly dismissing or accepting new things will be wrong. We should think objectively the implications of change, and embrace it if it's good.

Singtel organised a mahjong competition today, and I took part in it. As Singapore gambling laws are quite tight, it's not a normal mahjong game.

The registration fee is $35. Inclusive of lunch and a tea break. The food is quite decent. Everyone will play 3 rounds with $400 chips value. There is no limit in the number of game doubles. Each round, our chips balance is recorded. There is a price for the person with the most chips for each round and also for the person with the most total chips of all 3 rounds. There are also prizes for the person who recorded the biggest game double. At the end of it all, there is also a lucky draw of some insignificant prize.

There are close to 20 tables, so there should be close to 80 participants. Even though we play in a table of 4, we are actually competitng against all participants as the 1 with the most chips overall win. In a normal mahjong game, it's always a balance of defensive play where you try not to throw tiles that your opponent may want, and of attacking play where you try to make your tiles as nice as possible. In this competition, it's better to just go for the high double. Forget about being defensive. If you win big, it's worth the lose.

And since there's onli 1 prize per table, and no matter how badly I lost the chips, I only lost $35 in cash, I lost interest in the game after some time when things are not looking good. I become just looking to past the time and have no interest in my tiles at all. This just isn't how I like to play my mahjong.

I prefer to play with a rate that can lose me $100 or more if I play badly. Some of my friends is against that. Some people label it as a gambler mentality. I can honestly say that it's not true. Mahjong is a game that requires a lot of concentration. And fear of lose + the exhilaration of winning can moltivate you to maintain that concentration for a long time. If what you lost can't hurt, and what you win can't bring you joy, you lose interest in the game pretty fast. After that you are just wishing that time passes quickly and the game can end. Might as well not play if that's the case.

Link

Taxi fare increased quite significantly recently. They say it's to help the taxi drivers earn more. But I see longer queues at taxi stands nowadays. And it's much easier to flag a taxi now. I hear a lot of friends telling me they are now less willing to take taxis than before. So is it really good for the taxi drivers? I was told Comfort claimed that 90% of their drivers earn more than before the hike. I wonder if this has anything to do with the price hike happening at around the Christmas season. A friend told me that there's 1 night where he took a taxi at 12mn. The driver told him that he's supposed to be driving the morning shift, ending work at 5pm. But as the earning is not enough, he has to do OT.

Anyway, the link above is to a article that say sales of cars has increased since the price hike. There are people who claimed that their monthly taxi costs is now > $300. And the installments for a cheap car is about $300+ monthly. I thought it's a silly thing to do. Not that I am against buying cars, but it seems like the wrong reason to buy a car. The parking fees, the petrol costs and the ERP will about double the amount to maintain the car every month. And the car is likely a 10 year loan. A 10 year commitment. And the ERP cost is likely to increase. There is also going to be more ERP gantries. Petrol cost is ever rising. Parking fees should also rise if everything else rises. 1 year later, they may find that taking taxis is going to be the cheaper alternatives again, but this time, with the non-existent 2nd hand car market, they can't switch to taking taxis.

Another reason they give is that the convenience of the car is worth the extra they have to pay now. The place where they take taxis are quite difficult as not many taxis go there. Wait till they they pay thru their nose for the parking fees, or not able to find parking lots at all. In the end, they have to park far away and walk over.

In the end, my conclusion is that these people had long wanted to get a car. The taxi price hike is just a convenient excuse for them.

This is a very old saying taught to me since I am very young. In case you do not understand, it means don't do things to people that you would not want to be done to you. If you don't like to be slapped, don't slap others. If you don't like to be called a bitch, don't call others bitches. If you don't want other people to sleep with your wife, don't sleep with others' wife.

I find something wrong with this saying. If I don't mind people calling me bitch, does that mean I can call others bitch? I don't mind friends take my things without asking as long as they return it in good condition. Does that mean I can take their things without asking? I don't mind friends not returning me money owed to me, does that mean I don't have return money owed to them? IF I don't mind people sleep with my wife, does it mean I can sleep with others' wife?

But he can do the same to me, I won't mind

I have heard this many a time. I used to think it's a reasonable excuse. Now I am not so sure. Especially that when the person heard this excuse, it's too late, the damage is done.

There's also a twisted version of this saying. "Do unto others what they do unto you." Revenge. He's always slow in replying my sms, I shall also delay in replying his sms. He always say mean things about me, so I don't want to see him ever again. He spread rumours about me, I also spread rumours of him. He steal my girlfriend last time, so I fool around with his this time. There's no hope for the human race.

There is this belief in Singapore that plastic bottles are not reuseable. When we buy a bottle of water, we are not supposed to use it to store drinking water after we finish the water inside the bottle. It supposedly will release some cancer causing chemical into our drinks when the bottle is used too many times.

This is not true. We can reuse the bottle aAs long as we clean the bottle carefully when we reuse. Please refer to the following 2 links for more information.

Link 1
Link 2

You Act Like You Are 24 Years Old

You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel like an adult, and you're optimistic about life. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. You're still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up. The world is full of possibilities, and you can't wait to explore many of them.

What Age Do You Act?

I played mahjong today with Sharon, Thierry and Sharon's mum at Sharon's place. I remember I don't usually win when I play there. This time I win $114 in terms of chips value. I gave the small change, $14. to Sharon, the big loser. Then we agreed before we played that we are to half the chips value when the game is over. So it's only $50 I won. And I paid $30 to Thierry for dinner which cost $48, supposed to be shared by 4. So that left $20 to bring home. It's already quite good. There are many a time where people win more and still left nothing to bring home home cost it all went to dinner. That's the bad thing about gambling. When you lose, you lose. When you win, u use what you win to treat people. So you never get to see your winnings but you will feel the effects of losing.

Morale of the story, don't gamble. Unless it's Mahjong, cause Mahjong rulez.

"It's not a nice game to watch, Liverpool Trailing 1-0"

I did not say it. My friend was asking me if I am watching, and I said no. Then he said this statement.

I find this a very stupid statement and I can't even bother to rebuke. 1st thing, it's only midway through the 1st half. There's still plenty of time left. And 2nd, even if Liverpool lost, it's still worth watching too me. Yes, I would very much prefer that they win, but the more important thing is just to watch. Cheer when a nice move is excuted. Celebrate when there's a goal. Curse when they played badly. Swear when something unpleasant happen. Bite nails if the opponent is running all over them. This is all part of being a supporter. You don't shy away from a loved 1 just because he/she is going through a hard patch, do you?

My friend Chiron has finally created a blog. He can write well. Let's see how his blog fare from now. If he really become famous, remember, you first found out about him here. :)

So poor thing. Partner kena run over by car, and no one bothered to help...

8 glasses of water everyday

I just bought this mini water dispenser to put on my desk. It supposed to store the daily water requirement, so I have to fill it up and finish it everyday.

Then I found this link...