Nyotaimori: eating sushi on a naked woman?

The recent controversy over a dinner organized by the Secret Cooks Club seems overwhelming..

Acording to Wikipedia, this is sometimes practice as a art, whereby a woman is usually laid on the table (usually naked) and food is served from it.

Okie, promoters of this activity deem it as nothing more than a art, where like-minder dinners can come together to have a unique dinning experience.

However, opposers of this activity see it as demeaning to woman, because it probably project the woman (in this case, as an object i.e a serving tray).

Personally, this is not something I would try (either as the server or a dinner) and eating sushi (delicious ones) off a normal plate in the company of good friends and family seems more enticing to me. In fact, I would think that it be awakward plus a tab too hygiene to even think of eating it off someone elses' body!

Competitive streak?

I read Sumiko Tan's article today saying that she is not competitive by nature and I feel like her too. Mostly, I do not have a competitive streak in me although I always seek to do things to the best of my ability.

Is it right or wrong to lack a competitive streak? Well, I think that there is not answer here because everyone is different.

Sportsman and woman plays games to win, no doubt about is as winning is ultimately the goal in all competitive sports and who will take part just to be second best? Perhaps for this group of people, winning spurs them on to greater heights of success.

However, for those of us who lack this competitive streak, we may not be worse off. Personally, I do not mind lossing to anyone....because so long as I have done my best, I will be at peace with myself.

Appaling caretaking service

I was appalled, shocked and flabbergasted by the recent news of an ederly being mistreat in a nursing home by its staff.

The old woman was left naked (for abt 30 mins) and thereafter was being thrown onto the bed like a "thing" that someone can just throw around. After that, she was beaten on the mouth (presumably because she has made some noise?

I think the authority needs to met out a stiffer sentence to the nursing home as well as the staff who has committed such atrocities. As Singapore aged population increased, we are often face with a dilemma of how to take care of the elderly while maintaining the pressure of working hard to earn a living. For those who opt to send their parents to a nursing home, I'm sure that they would wish for someone to take care of the elderly professionally in a humane way. It sadden me to hear of this case and I wondered if more cases are left unreported...

Divorce and the attractive woman

It seems to me an irelevant question to ask if the woman (in a divorce case) is more attraction, has better character in taking into account the amount of monthly maintenance or lump sum maintenance that she may be taking.

Although character and physical appearances are important, but shouldn't the maintenance amount be determined more on the time the couple had used to spent together, the effort taken to look after the household etc etc...rather than based on the assumption if one is more attractive or has better character (therefore, better chance of remarry?)

One in a million?

I use to think that it hard to be a millionaire....like its really one in a million type.

Wow...when I read that 15.5% of the households or 170,000 people in Singapore has more than US1 million, it bought to mind the fact that indeed, the rich in Singapore seems to be getting richer and hence, the income gap is widening more so in Singapore than in any other place in the world.

Saddly, I wonder what it would take and how long it would take the average Singaporeans to achieve that goal.

On another note, we probably need at least a million to retire on with rising inflation etc but sad to say, probably the 84.5% of us would not be able to retire comfortably. And the end result? Working endlessly to reach the minimum sum in our CPF ( a chunk of it is in our housing loan)...
and hoping that the minimum sum does not increase so much that we lose sight of the time it will take to reach.

In addition, it is always important that we have our own saving & investment and hopefully, keep our fingers cross that when we reach our retirement, we can still be able to manage a decent standard of living.

Crystal Mark

Was pleasantly happy to see that OCBC has managed to clich a "Crystal" mark for its effort in transforming "Bank-English" to "Plain-English" text for its customers.

Everytime, whenever I read technical jargons which put people off reading letters that they received from financial institution, I cringed as so much more can be done to simplfy the words used. Thus, I applaud OCBC's latest effort and hope that more financial insitutions will follow suit.

Home alone in Singapore

The Straits times reported that about 6 elderly die alone every month (ST, 30 May 2011). When I read the article, I wondered how the statistics will increased as the aged population increase and what can we do more for these old folks who may or may not have family but are left alone in their old age. Apparently, after their death, some are left in the morturary for about three weeks if no one turns up to claim them and give them a decent funneral. Some are said to be used for further medical advancement?

What a sad story...couldn't much more be done to contact these old folks when they are alive and ask how they would like to be treated after death? Social workers or even volunteers via community outreach could do more for them, I sincerely hope so before the number increase drastically.

Everyone should be treated with dignity, whether alive or dead.

The Wizard of Ox

I was inspired to read this book after hearing so much about having a head like the scarecrow, having a heart like the Tinman and finally, have some courage like the cowardly lion.

Never thought that we can actually learn so much from a storybook. I was especially touched by how Dorothy tried all means to return home, even though home was a "grey" place as she had described. I guess there is really no place like home deep down in our heart, no matter how far away we are from it.

In another aspect, it seems that all of us does possessed a brain, a heart and some courage though we thought that we may be lacking in these area. Really, sometimes, all it takes is for us to look within ourselves and maybe we can surprise ourselves with whom we really are or are make of.

Personally, there had been times or circumstances when I have to make a choice; and sometimes, I do wonder if I should use my head or my heart. Sometimes, my head tells me to go this way while my heart says go the other way. I wonder how best to reconcile the both. Could courage been the missing factor for me? Hmm..I'm still pondering over it. How to decide using my head, heart and courage together....

You can read this story here : http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/L_Frank_Baum/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz/index.html

GDP versus Happiness Index

Recently, there have been articles in the newspaper that Gross Domestic Productivity (GDP) alone is not a clear indication of the progress of a nation, leading to call for a Happiness Index to measure the quality of life.

It reminds me of an economic essay I did back in JC as an economics student. The essay is "Is GDP the sole indicator of how developed a nation is?". My answer is a "NO". This is because while GDP can measure the quantity of life, it can never measure our standard of living because it fails to take into account the quality of life. While the economy has been growing as seem in data such as GDP growth, falling unemployment rate, higher inflation rate, our standard of living may not have improve as much as we have hoped for. Sometimes, I wondered if the average pay increase is about 2 to 3 percentage, while inflation has climbed to 4 to 5 %, are we effectively getting a pay "reduction" instead?

Furthermore, most of here may not necessarily feel better off, even if it seems that the economy is growing. Inconvenience such as trying to get into the train every morning, having a mad rush to get to work on time every day etc really put people off living in a small country which is trying to contain as many people as it can in its pursuit of economic growth.

Leong Soon Chow

A 12 year old boy, Leong Soon Chow, who was featured in the news recently when he went to MP Chen Show Mao's first Meet-the-People session on 23 May 2011. The little boy said, "For the past 6 years, I've been a very normal kid. After I hear his rallies, he inspired me a lot and I've been working very hard on my studies. Next time, I've decided to be like him." When I saw the news being reported, I was simply bowed over by how touched he had been by Chen Show Mao.

Frankly speaking, if I could nominate the most inspiring speaking for the election rallies, Chen Show Mao will get my vote. From his ability to connect with simple stories like Wizzard of Ox, to his ability to tug at the commoners' heart with his unassuming character and humbleness, no one can resist his charm.

I believe as much as Soon Chow has been inspired by MP Chen Show Mao, he has also inspired the MP himself who penned a letter to Soon Chow. You can read it here

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/notes/chen-show-mao/letter-to-soon-chow/156667194398549

I personally touched by his letter, which shown his ability to connect with the young, using simple language to make us understand that we all have the ability to make a difference in our future, based on the decision on how we choose to live our lives. Indeed, it is a load of responsibility haha I like how he played on the word "load"..not a load of something but a load in itself..shows his humorous side too. Ultimately, so long as we make decision rationally and with empathy, we will be able to do the right thing to impact our future positively.

Meet-The-People session

When I personally witnessed one of the Worker Party’s MP holding his Meet-the-People session at a void deck, my heart actually aches for them. Despite the economic success that we enjoy, we still have MPs and their volunteers meeting their citizens in void deck in such humid weather. I was only there for 10 minutes and could barely stand the heat. Imagine the fact that they were there for the whole night.

But my heartache was indeed smooth by the residents who render so much support to them. As taken from MP Mr Chen Show Mao’s Facebook post on his First meet the MP session on 23 May 2011 “some even brought flowers, banners, pictures, chrysanthemum tea and kindly-thought-of flax oil’.

Truly, the Worker Party’s MP determination to serve the citizens was not hinder by the lack of proper facilities and basic infrastructure. Instead, it was enhanced by the fact the many citizens kindly offer whatever they could think of in the hope that such gestures, no matter how small, would perhaps make the MP more comfortable during the session. Such is the active citizenry participation that we have previously envisioned.

And the ache from my heart was actually replaced by heartfelt warmth instead.