The Speech that Made me Blog


Haven't blogged for almost a month!

well it has been a really long month.
from jetting off to chiang mai, and then coming back for chinese new year, and then the madness of changing jobs, it all seemed so quick and yet so long.

I actually have a lot to write about this job changing experience,
but i won't bore myself or anyone else with it.

but let's just say that it's a traumatic experience and very draining both mentally and physically.
leaving is difficult and so is starting fresh. (especially if you're starting in something quite unrelated from your previous experience)

now i understand why pple stay at one job for decades.

i'm not sure if the pain of being stagnant is any less than the pain of moving though.

when you do something new, you get to experience, learn and feel new things.
Usually it's worth all the initial pain in the butt.
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anyway so i've been putting off blogging for weeks.
time flies by so quick!
and i have so many things i want to do in my "free" time.
i'm not that busy but i never seem to have "free" time.

but i just read something online that i just have to include on my blog.

This is a speech by one of our NMPs in Parliament, and it resonates with what I, and hopefully a lot of others as well, feel too.

http://siewkumhong.blogspot.com/2008/02/budget-2008-speech-on-budget-statement.html

Excerpts (bold emphasis mine):


"
Who benefits from GDP growth?

Sir, the Minister has attributed this massive surplus to an active property market and better-than-expected economic growth. But despite last year’s impressive real GDP growth of 7.7%, many Singaporeans still do not feel better off. Instead, in the face of the worst inflation experienced in 25 years, there is an extremely strong sense of being worse off amongst many Singaporeans. Why is that so?

..........

10. Indeed, there is a view amongst some Singaporeans, that our stunning headline growth numbers do not tell the full picture. We are told that Singapore has done well, is doing well, and will continue to do well. Our blistering GDP growth in recent years supports this view. Even with the imminent slowdown, we are still expected to grow by between 4 and 6 percent this year – healthy by any standards.

11. And yet, some questions persist. Who exactly has benefited from all this growth? How much have Singaporeans benefited from it?

.........................

....it all shows that there are some very legitimate questions that can be asked, that need to be asked, about the true extent to which Singaporeans are benefiting from all this economic growth.

22. I do not think it is enough to merely say that our economic growth has created jobs for Singaporeans, that the low resident unemployment rate serves as a proxy indicator of the benefits from growth. That is a purely quantitative measure. Quite apart from the point that the statistics available group both Singaporeans and permanent residents together, those figures do not shed any light whatsoever on the quality of jobs going to residents, on the extent to which residents have benefited.

23. Sir, I do not mean to be xenophobic, or to argue against having foreigners here. I work in a US MNC, mostly with foreigners, and certainly I appreciate the many important contributions they make to our economy. But surely, Singapore’s economic growth should benefit Singaporeans more than others.

.................

What does it mean to be Singaporean?

46. Many Singaporeans ask why the Government does not do more to help Singaporeans. Why doesn’t the Government help Singaporeans, when it has the resources to do so? I would rephrase the question like this: what does it mean to be Singaporean?

47. The Government consistently emphasizes the importance of individual responsibility, of ensuring that people do not abdicate responsibility for their lives to the Government. As a result, we provide the bare minimum level of assistance so that Singaporeans will not starve.

48. Yes, we are all responsible for our lives. We have to be. But that is not the full story. It cannot be.

49. The point is not about judging those who made mistakes or wrong choices somewhere along the line, of finding them undeserving. To cast the question in terms of whether a person deserves aid, is to miss the point.

50. The point is to help our fellow Singaporeans in their times in need. The point is to be compassionate, because there, but for the grace of God, go I. The point is to assure Singaporeans, that if, touch wood, they fall on hard times, they will be taken care of. Simply because they are Singaporeans, and Singapore will take care of its own.

.........

Conclusion

58. Sir, I want to live in a country that cares for its people first and foremost, not a country that prioritises GDP growth for its own sake. I want to see a nation where Singaporeans are valued for everything that we are, not just the economic contribution we can make. I want to grow old in a state that places a higher premium on helping citizens, than on ensuring that there is no wastage. I want to be part of a generous society that helps its most vulnerable members, instead of counting the pennies and tightening the purse strings.

59. I do not think that I live in such a country yet. And that disheartens me. I sometimes question what it means to be a Singaporean, and I consider myself one of the lucky ones. This bodes ill for us in this era of global mobility, if other Singaporeans are similarly disenchanted. And those who leave, those who are able to leave, the 1000 Singaporeans who leave every year and never come back, are exactly the ones that we need to stay.

-----------------------

"

what a great speech. i wish i heard or read it in the media. i didn't.

doesn't the last line just keep ringing in your head?

New Beginning

Lots of things happened since i last blogged.


1. The Performance

the D&D is over. The stage lights were blinding and i couldn't see the clubs so i dropped a lot. Felt quite disappointed but on reviewing the video, didn't look as bad as i thought.

the whole feel was there, and i did get comments that this was more artistic than the one i did last year. Still, felt a tad disappointed at how it went. it would have been the best to date if not for the drops. Need to work on the technical side more.

I still won't compromise performance ideals for technical showcasing though.

That, and with all the things going on, meant that i haven't juggled for weeks.

Got an Apple ipod shuffle for my efforts. I can't get the blardy thing to work.
it's quite a big pain in the butt.
can't charge it without a PC, can't see my folders, need to have iTunes, only 1 GB.....

and i thought Apple was supposed to be the king of mp3 players.


2. I Quit

Yup yup.
the bond has finally run itself out, and it's time for me to move on.

After i handed in my resignation letter, i became even busier.
On top of the regular things to do, I had to clear up my stuff and hand over information to my replacement.

My replacement looks like a nice guy, but he has this completely expressionless face and i didn't know if i was going too fast or slow. Oh well.

to be fair, he can't possibly absorb 3 years of information in a week. It continues to frustrate me that i couldn't hand over all the knowledge i've obtained over the years to my project partners simply because they didn't want to know.

it seems an awful waste to bring it all away with me. Anyway, life will still move on. There have been pple in the team before that were wonderful and they've since left. Their absence were felt but life still goes on. No one is indispensable.

I can't believe i've spent 3 years on my current project. I've been through it from its turbulent beginnings to the somewhat more stable current state. I remember the pain of the beginning (most of which is recorded in this blog), the fights i've had with the other engineers and the mutual respect we've gained for each other after the fight.

One of them i've come to regard as a pseudo mentor. He was very smart, but cranky with age and fought with everyone but we've come to respect and like each other. He even tried to introduce me to his son in boston. He has since left the project and became director of engineering somewhere else, and we still keep in touch.

The project continues to fascinate me, but the learning curve has plateau-ed out and i had to go, amongst other things. From Alabama to 2 different offices in singapore (the paperwork and red tape involved to move equipment is hell, trust me), what a ride.


And as i move on to a new beginning, i know the ride will be bumpy again. i will start from scratch and there will be pain, but there'll be so many fascinating things to learn. The best thing is, i'll be working on products directly sold to the consumer, so i have intimate knowldege of the things pple buy and what i do has direct market impact. Imagine the day my chicken backside programs appear on handphones. I'm not doing software and handphones so it's unlikely, but you get the gist.


3. Fresh Back from Chiang Mai

Weips and i went for a quick retreat to chiang mai last week.
Must say that place has many grand buddhist temples, quite different from the ones in singapore.

We went to ride elephants, ox carts and did some bamboo rafting. the latter was so long that i almost felt asleep. I couldn't otherwise i would have rolled off the raft, but i stayed so still i got sun burnt.

Also went to a thai massage. Weips found it throughly relaxing, while i laughed my head off cos the leg massage was so ticklish. My masseuse and weips got tickled by my laughter, while weips' masseuse said with a straight face "you're very relaxed, that's good. some pple can't take massage. they find it ticklish."

like so fei4 hua4 lor.

I got really tired from all the laughing. The arm massage gave me muscle aches, and the back massage almost suffocated me. I'm really not one for massages.

Another highlight of the trip was driving an All Terrain Vehicle. the group was a rugged bunch of caucasians (whom i later learnt did things like trekking and dirt biking), so i didn't quite belong there.

More so when we drove on the trial circuit and i was crashing the side cushions every 2 metres i moved. In the end they decided the only way to stop me driving off the mountains was to put a guide as my passenger.

It was really kind of fun. I thought the guide was fierce cos he got quite frustrated unlocking me from the side cushions on the trial circuit, but he was very patient as my passenger.

Every time i drove crazy he would grab the handlebars and respond to my "WHOOOAAA" with a calm "don't worry". Sometimes he would grab the bars just to hang on for dear life since i was bumping around so much.

And then there was the "Insect on your leg"
"where" i asked, turning my head to look at my knee.
"WHOOOOAAAAA" i exclaimed as i looked up and saw a bend right ahead.

i swore the ATV lifted as we swerved round the bend.

"don't worry," i heard my guide say, as we both laughed nervously.

He actually asked for my number at the end of the ride. :)


I'll post some pics soon.

On our flight back, i think the pilot landed at the wrong airport. As we descended down, i was looking out the window and asking weips, "Is this singapore?" cos it sure didn't look like it.

then just as it was abt to land the plane took off again. like what the hell was that?
in the end the pilot said he aborted landing due to bad weather, and we had to land at johor to refuel.

the flight ended up being 6 hours, and weips and i started composing songs ("i'm stuck on a plane in Johor....and i can't take it no more hore") and eyeing the can of Mr Potatos the flight attendants were munching on.

"ask her whether we can have some Mr Potatos"
"ask her if we'll make it back by chinese new year"
"tell the pilot we know he went to the wrong airport, and we forgive him"
"tell her we could be watching the Ellen DeGeneres show on channel 5 right now"
"tell her we want fresh orange juice and she has plenty of time to squeeze some"


oh oh, time to watch football.