Christmas Story 2008

Today, 23rd December, I went to visit my Orthopaedic doctor, a Dr. Khong at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre for a nagging knee injury which had been bothering me on and off for several months now. Turns out it may be a tear on the cartilage or ligaments on the side of my knee. Upon his recommendation, I went for an MRI or Magnetic Resonance Interferometry on the knee at the Paragon Shopping Center and Medical Suites along Orchard Road.

So here I was, at 3.30pm in the afternoon, just waiting my turn for the X-ray and then the MRI at the MedLab (for those X-rays and MRI images). I was feeling pretty pleased with myself and having taken a leisurely half-day to check on my
leg and hopefully get a quick recovery.On top of that,I was in Paragon Shopping Centre and could go and do some last minute Christmas shopping for myself and was lost in thoughts about what I would reward myself for this 'hard' year.

Sitting in the waiting room, I couldn't help it but overhear one man who was obviously a doctor, talk to a couple who had a baby no more than 2 months old. She was being bottle-fed by the young father and by the looks of it, the doctor was telling them that there was a tumor and there could be the possibility of it being cancerous. He was detailing the various options the couple would have to take.

One minute, I was feeling quite good and cheery and next minute, I felt absolutely helpless and disappointed with myself.Helpless, because I could not do anything nor interrupt the couple who were facing an extremely serious situation.
Disappointed with myself because I was falling into the trap of the "Christmassy Spirit".

I mentally wished the couple the very best for their baby but can you imagine, that their only HOPE AND JOY is FIGHTING FOR HER DEAR LIFE and during Christmas? What is the meaning of living when all your hopes and dreams are shattered by something you cannot understand, especially to YOUR OWN CHILD WHEN SHE IS SO YOUNG?

I was called away at that point to go for my MRI scan.



There are MANY people who don't know the true meaning of Christmas. Even if they did, they are actually too busy performing retail therapy or shopping on themselves and their partners and colleagues to bother finding out. Its been going on around ever since the creation of the Television, Advertisements magnified by and those damn Sellavision people (I didn't say USA).

Christians believe that Jesus Christ was born roughly around this date 2008 years ago and that his birth was long anticipated and predicted. 3 kings followed the star to where the baby Jesus was born in Bethleham and presented the family of Joseph,Mary and Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.Magnificent gifts to pay homage and respect to the Son of God.

Marketeers and Advertising Teams have then perveted the concept of this gift giving and made it a totally pagan and fairy-tale affair with the :

a) Mega Christmas Sales at ALL the top Boutique outlets and Deparyment Stores
b) Santa Claus (fat White Man with white beard),
c) Snowing scenes,santarinas, reindeer,Santa movies
d) Office Christmas parties,and presents to give to everyone,
from your CEO,CFO right down to your cleaning aunty and petrol pump attendant.
e) Loads and Loads of Parties, Presents, Log Cakes, Christmas Ham and Alcohol
f) Visits to the doctor for overeating or drinking (Ho Ho Ho).

What has all of the above got to do with the birth of Jesus ? NOTHING.

What has the above got to do with the pursuit of profits,money and self-indulgence ? EVERYTHING.

In this day and age, everyone just wants an excuse to practise Retail Therapy, because spending makes one Feel Good and Handsome,Beautiful and get into the 'Christmas spirit'.

THIS IS CRAP ! YOU WANT TO SHOP AND FEEL THE 'CHRISTMASSY' SPIRIT, DO IT ANY DAY,MONDAY IS BEST.CAUSE YOU FEEL GOOD THE REST OF THE WEEK.BETTER DO IT EVERYDAY THEN THE ECONOMY WILL GET A BOOST AND MAYBE THIS RECESSION WONT LAST LIKE FOREVER.

My humble 3 wishes to everyone if they could come true for this Christmas and ideally the whole year round :

1. HEALING - Too many angsty people with short fuses everywhere
Many have been burned inthe stock market, property, business failues and
overwhelmed by the magnitude and severity of the economic crisis.

2. COMPASSION (or EMPATHY) - to the less fortunate

3. UNDERSTANDING AN ACCEPTANCE - This is the tougest and hardest wish to achieve
but everyone will fall down someday.We all ask "WHY ME ?" Its how we get up
and deal with it that counts. Else accept it gracefully.

Have a Happy and Thoughtful Christmas.

Mark, Ian and Tibor went up to the Castle with Dracula

                                         The Brothers - Me, Ian and Tibor (Hungary Agent)

Last March, during my annual visits to Germany to visit our principal supplier, Weiss Technik, the Australian agent, Ian Firth,myself and the Slovenian agent, Alex (formerly part of Yugoslavia) got along pretty well. We had meetings and seminars during the day and merrymaking with loads of alcohol in the evenings.One Wednesday evening, it was snowing lightly and we had been drinking alot at the factory cafetaeria and after dinner, we headed back to our hotel which is in Wettenberg, a small village,situated northeast about 120 km of Frankfurt. We were getting pretty rowdy in the bus leading us to the hotel with the usual swearing and mild drunkedness typical of many German parties.

Anyway, things were getting a bit out of hand and upon reaching the hotel, some of our agent friends opted to go to bed, while the rest checked emails and other recreational activities at the bar in the hotel. Ian, myself and Alex then decided to walk-run up to the nearby castle, we guys tend to do STUPID things when we have WAY too much alcohol and time on our hands, which was like 3km uphill all the way. So, we set of at a brisk walk in our trenchcoats and jackets.


Lynne (Taiwan Agent), Me and Alex (Slovenia Agent)

THIS IS THE LATE WINTER NIGHT WITH SNOW AND WIND BLOWING INCESSANTLY AND AN 8 AM START TOMORROW OF NEW ROUND OF SEMINARS AND MEETINGS.

It was cold,damp and windy. Alex told us he knew the route well and decided to cut through some cabbage patch through some farm area. We made our way up hugging our jackets and trencoats and slipping a little through the soft ground. Alex had a sinister look on his face and he was very quiet, intent on reaching the objective. Ian and I followed him. I knew I had my GREAT chance to spook Ian.

I casually poked Ian in the ribs,and said, "Ian, our friend Alex.Do you know his surname ??"
Ian : " No"
Me : "Alex, whats your surname huh ??"
Alex : " Dracula(ris), !! My name is Alex Dracula !"

THE WIND WAS HOWLING AND THE CAPE FROM ALEX'S TRENCHCOAT FLEW. I half expected bats to fly out from his trenchcoat and the vines from the ground come up and grab our ankles !

Ian's face turned white and he actually grabbed me. We both practically RAN up to the top of the hill where the castle was. Later, Alex and me went all the way to the top of the belfry (top of the tower) and had a magnificent view of the entire town.


                                           At the Top of the Castle overlooking Wettenberg

We later went in to the Mexican bar at the castle to have a couple of schnapps to chill out. Oh yes and swopped our backgrounds and life stories.Turns out we are all about the same age then - 44. But more of that in a later blog.

Treu Stories to entertain our Grandchildren.

Hong Kong Hols in Pictures

Cold Crab Teochew Style


In Lam Kwai Fong


In Tomorrowland Disneyland


May, Betty (long time friend) and Andrew

A short holiday is better than none, so we all set out for a 4 nights
4 days short trip to Hong Kong. I hadn't visited the place in like 9 years or so
and was taken aback when my long time friend based there,Betty told me that it was
populated by 8.5 million residents and citizens. The first impressions are normally the lasting ones so here they are in order of sequence of impression and rating :

1. Crowded and Cramped (-)
2. Small Time Disneyland (the roller coasters are for 4 - 5 year olds) (-)
3. GREAT food and Shopping for anything branded (+++)
4. Sloping streets full of people, no FASHIONABLE people (depends)
5. Fast Pace of Living (depends)
6. Excellent MTR EXCEPT why they can't link Tsim Sha Tsui to East Tsim Sha Tsui is
a mystery to me. (+++)
7. First Class airport and probably Seaport too (+++)
8. Service standard ; slightly lower than Singapore's - which is AWFUL ! (---)

I Like Hong Kong.Its so in your face,so brazenly materialistic,fashionable and with an attitude to living life.

United Sinking of America

Cartoon Courtesy of Non- Sequitor Cartoon Strip

Question for the Day
1.How do you get a small fortune (Say S$ 1 Million) in this Uncertain Economic
Market ?

2. First you start with a Big Fortune. (S$ 10 Million).

Loo Kwong - 1st Marathon in 5 hr 20 minutes

My long time friend and running khaki, Loo Kwong completed the Standard Chartered Marathon on December 7th, his 1st, in 5 hours and 20 minutes.

Congratulations !

Detroits' Big 3 in Big Trouble Again - a Case of Too Little Too Late ?

The CEOs of Chrysler, Ford and General Motors during the grilling by Congressmen


Production Operator


One of the Hundreds of Suppliers to the Big 3 - Seaway Bolt Company


One of GM's Basic Cars


Chevy Volt - GM's first Electric Car


Chevy Camarro, Hoping to be a Bestseller Again ?

Everybody and his mother has an opinion on whether the Federal Government's bailout loan of US$ 25B
to the Big Three car companies will really make a difference to them surviving this Global Financial Crisis. One camp is the compassionate one which says " Save them, look at the downside, if they go, they will cause a total of 1 million jobs lost and maybe hundreds if not thousands of co-related companies from direct vendors to indirect suppliers like the towns and cities where the Big 3 have their factories, the shops,restaurants,newspaper vendors, ice-cream parlors etc. etc. will all take a hit, as far as business is concerned"

The opposing view held by several economists and which I favour (right or wrong) is this ; let the capitalist forces decide. If businesses all follow the rules of revenue generation and profit creation then those companies which suffer years after years of losses and always requiring money to shore up capital are firstly not taking care of their shareholders and key investors.To make matters worse, the big 3 car companies were known mainly for making petrol guzzling SUVs, huge MPVs and were very slow to focus on the future trends of Green manufacturing such as the EURO standards of carbon monoxide emissions (EURO IV and now V),something which the European makes were onto since signing the Kyoto Protocol in 1992 to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions (3 gases are carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and CFC gases like R13 and R23). The US has always rejected the implementing of the protocol citing China's increase in Carbon emissions as the reason. The point here is that the US is the biggest emitter of Greenhouse Gases on a per country basis since the 2nd world War,2 x times more than any developing country !. Another key point is that China has signed and ratified the Kyoto Treaty while the US of A has NOT! One need look no further than the current US President to realise that the whole issue is about oil and a country overly dependent on oil for energy and the President whose family is in the oil business is a symbiotic relationship.

"You buy the big gas guzzlers, I ensure the gas stays cheap, everyone is happy, XXXrew.. the rest of the world "

Then came 2008 and the oil prices spiked tremendously to a high of almost US$ 150 per barrel.So what happened, everybody and their mother started switching to smaller, greener (hybrids like the Toyota Prius) and even taking public transport. The Big 3 saw their sales plumment, along with the collapse of their SUV and MPV markets.So they go cap in hand, to plead the US Congress for a bailout of US$ 35 B. The same old story and excuses abound.

The reason that, the failure of these companies will result in x numbers of jobs and lives in jeopardy due to the financial fallout. OK, now Congress has approved US$ 25 Billion to give them an extension,again for how long ? One certainly hopes they have the products for the new generation and expectations of car owners which is so obvious :

a) Fuel Economy - We owners don't want to be highjacked by the oil barons again and again
b) Greener Cars - Lower CO emissions which pass the latest EURO V standards
c) Reliable Cars - People still prefer Japanese cars due to their perceived reliability

My only viewpoint is that THE BIG 3 HAD IT COMING. If they had difficulties making consistent profits during the so called boom years after September 11 2001, they will have even more difficulties NOW. Good Luck to Them !! If they go under, so be it. BITE THE BULLET.

Goodbye ACS (J) Building

Time to Say Goodbye, pic shows Andrew.

The ACS (Junior) Building at Peck Hay Road (off Clemeceau Avenue North) will be torn down as part of the Ministry of Environment's and the School's efforts to revitalise all school's facilities and amenities. Although it is an improvement for the better, I am saddened that the building where many of my 2 Boys happiest memories from 2000 to 2008 will be gone forever, and that the Old Boys 'collective experiences' will forever be remembered in old photos and in digital blogs and cyberspace.


Banner at the Entrance

The relentless pursuit of 'Development' and in the name of 'Progress'has yet again claimed another victim. I am not an Old Boy of Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) but I always feel a tinge of nostalgia and pride whenever I pass by Upper Serangoon Road and Woodsville Road, where my Alma Mater, St. Andrew's School still is standing with all its dimpled pink walls (yes) and clock tower still standing.



The grand Old Lady

I will one day bring my Boys to St Andrew's School and will beam with pride and possibly some mischieviousness say, "I had my schooling experience here, this is MY school ! I had alot of fun and caning here !!"


View from the Playground



The foyer where the principals used to give his/her briefings


Some last postings in the canteen