Casino Story - Another One bites the Dust

View from Marina Boulevard

Last week there was a newspaper article relating how a businessman went to the casino as a high roller and lost a total of S$ 26 million in a matter of 3 days. There is a joke about the casino, "how does one leave the casino with a small fortune (big some of money) ?, enter it with a BIG fortune (huge some of money)."

The issue with legalised gambling at our doorsteps is that it reduces the inconvenience one needs to take in order to gamble, previously Singaporeans had to travel to Genting highlands, a trip which normally takes about 3 hours, our take a cruise ship from our Harbour Front to 'nowhere' or international waters between Singapore and Sumatra and one can then gamble to one's heart or wallet's consent.

This is another story of a scion (son of a wealthy business founder) who gambled away his inheritance in 3 days. He will be making a legal case against the casinos whereby the casinos were supposed to check on his background on his credit limit before extending further credit to him. Apparently according to newspaper reports, he lost up to $ 11 million in one sittint alone. The legal case, in my humble opinion is weak because it is like taking a case against your favourite Mutton Soup hawker who served you Mutton Soup you ordered for say 10 years and you knowingly had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Is the service / food provider to be blamed for your stroke ?

There should be more safeguards for people, like higher entrance fees ($500 perhaps) to deter all and sundry from entering to 'have a go'. It may and already spells financial disaster or even a slow financial meltdown for many thousands of people who go and play each week losing say hundreds per trip.

Bottom line is this, the casino has many tricks and rules of the gambling game to ensure that it has an 'unfair' advantage, take blackjack for example, if you score 17 and the house scores 17, the house wins. There is no 'draw' game.

Slot machines can be tuned to give better payouts in the starting months to lure bored housewives and once they are 'hooked' the slot machines are one of the biggest money generators for the casino, or many a social, swimming or glof club. I should know, I have seen the annual audited reports of 4 clubs and even was on the Management Committee for one for several years.

 
Perhaps the MBS is a nice venue to have an exhibition but its just not my cup of tea.

Gym with a View - Bangkok

View from the Gym

On the 25th floor of the Ratchatewi Tower in Central Bangkok, there is a gym with a fantastic view of the city. My friend Michael Lim and I were fortunate to gain access to use it. My Thai colleague's friend was able to get us to use the gym and as we had an afternoon free, decided to try it out.



Cycling Machine


There were cycling machines and 2 running machines on and a small range of gym equipment ranging from shoulder press, lateral and deltoid machines and the ubiquitous barbells. To top off the exercise, we also had the free use of the sauna,jacuzzi and steam room. Imagine having the entire gym, sauna and jacuzzi all to ourselves! These pictures were taken around end of March 2010, just before the situation between the red shirt protestors and the Government soldiers got out of hand, and all hell broke loose, leading to fighting at the Ratchaprasong intersection which is very close to this area. The casualties and death toll was almost a hundred with over a thousand wounded.



Michael sweating it out

I'll be heading back to Thailand again next week, this time for a new venture which hopefully will yield results for the investors in the coming months. Keeping my fingers crossed !

Passing the Values from One Generation to Another

Andrew and I

When I was young,I was self centered and egotisitical,expecting to reap the most material benefits from the world. Now that I am in my 40s and with 2 teenage children, I have encountered a paradigm shift whereby material things do not matter as much. This is because I have come to realise that life is fragile and people indeed have spiritual and compassionate sides to their lives which they should accept and discover more.

So what has this got to do with the passing of values to the next generation, well, one can pass one money to the next generation but, far more than that, I think it is my purpose in life to teach the next generation, my children and their children, the values which I have been taught by my father and mother.

1. Honour your parents (one of the 10 commandments in the Bible)
2. Work hard for your place in society. Nothing comes for free or on a silver platter
3. Be true to your word and honest in your dealings
4. Stand up for your country, family and friends
5. Respect for your colleagues, business associates and people you come across everyday.
6. Thrift, Generosity, Tenacity and Resilience are learned and earned

A passage from the Bible is very apt.Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will never stray from it".

Farewell to a truly wonderful Lady

Terri (in wheelchair) was 95 this year

My aunty Terri passed away last Friday 13th August 2010, on the day of her 95th birthday. She was a wonderful lady who lived her life first as a teacher and then during her retirement years, enjoyed them doing by singing in the St. Andrew's Cathedral choir (at least for close to 20 years), touring the world, spending alot of quality time with her grandchildren and great grandchildren in Australia. Married for 73 years to my eldest uncle Paul (who is 96 this year), she was his soulmate and confidante.I recall her shrill voice calling me during the old days in her bungalow in Pasir Panjang, and made it a point to remember my wedding anniversary and birthday every year including this year 2010 without fail !

We had some very lovely memories of celebrating my uncle Paul's and her birthdays when I was a young boy and teenager. Although, my cousins Ruth,Shanta and Elizabeth were easily 15 or more years older, we were always welcome to their house and enjoying family and fellowship, singing Christian hymns and songs with prayers and praise. She always gave me advice on family and spousal matters and was truly a special person.

Friends are the 'external family' which we choose

Wing Sun, Andrew, Noel and Yen Sun in Egypt

This post is dedicated to all the friends, long time and new ones, I salute you. As I have experienced in the past 10 days from my mother's hospitalisation, at the end of the day, its the love from your family and close friends that matter. Life is very complex, as we come into this world with nothing and although people want to hoard up the riches on earth, all the riches on this earth will not be able to heal your body or your soul.

The family is one of the institutions which has been around for thousands of years. Unfortunately, divorces are more commonplace and families are being broken apart due to the complexities of modern day life. This is a sad facet of our developed world.

When we are sick and need nourishment, we turn to God, family and friends in that order. Sometimes, unfortunately, our family may not be able to provide the emotional or even the financial support and that is where the friends can come in and keep our spirits up.

True friends stand by you in good times and bad and in times of crisis, that is where we will know who our true friends are. Choose them wisely.

Charity Begins at Home

National Day Run at MacRitchie

My mud soaked Kayanos 16

This year's National Day falls on a Monday and I have been especially challenged this year. The reason is personal with my parents not in good health, so I had for the last 10 days or so been running back and forth to visit my Mum, who had an operation, in hospital. So some of the more pressing work commitments as well as personal time for my running had been set aside for my family.

Today's run at Macritchie was prompted by my almost 3 week layoff from running. I had caught the 'flu virus about 2 weeks ago, recovered after one week, decided to take things easy for another week, and then this last week I had to make all the arrangements for my Mother,checking her in, and then ensuring that after the operation was over, the family could see her as often as possible. I am thankful to supportive company staff and to my wife, who made chicken soups and helped supervise the cooked food for the last 4 days now.

With the Singapore Bay Run about a month away, I need to step up my game and take my training up a notch, clocking about 50 km per week for 1 month to be ready for the 21K half marathon which I have run consecutively (except 2006) for 5 years now. The Singapore Bay Run Half Marathon is 12 September 2010.

2006 was the year when I had my collapse and I was struggling to get back to fitness for the rest of the year. Since 2006 I have run 1 more marathon (in 2007) and done 3 half marathons, a treadmill race (came in 3rd) and a 25K run (in May 2010). A good comeback, to use the term, and I hope to top this by running 1 or maybe 2 marathons before year's end.

The run at Macritchie started at 6.00 pm sharp, it was bright and sunny when I started, on a fast clip and was determined to set a decent time. At the startpoint, the route traverses into the jungle and I overtook the walkers and some slower runners.
My pace was even and I was feeling strong given that I had full rest this long weekend. At the top of the first hill (there are 4), I noticed that the ground was very muddy. So here I was running at a fast pace (to me) and swerving left and right to avoid the other oncoming walkers and runners and also avoiding the muddy portions which covered the entire width of the trail ! Too late,
my 3rd encounter and my left foot plonked deep into the mudbath, due to my strong momentum I managed to pull out the soggy shoe and continued my run with my left leg caked in mud. (See picture).

Coming down the second hill, it was slippery and people were blocking the pathway, instead of calling out "excuse me", which is the norm, I had no time but to clap loudly and the youngish woman jumped (yes jumped) out of my way. I could almost visualise a nasty accident where I was barreling down the hill at a fast pace and slamming straight into the woman. Nasty accident avoided !

The rest of the route was quite refreshing and the reservoir area probably had rained in the late morning judging from the many muddy sections along the route. I was going at about 5 minutes 30 secs per km pace and was only overtaken at the Lornie road section by a couple of young runners in their 20s (I have come to accept that I am no more a spring chicken) who looked like they from some running club judging from their uniform orange T shirts.

Hitting the 3 hills on Lornie Road and back to the start point, I was feeling pretty ecstatic that I was finishing my first 5 K run in 3 weeks in a pretty decent time of 27 minutes 20 seconds.

- Onward Mr. Mark !

- Majulah Singapura !