I always thought I'd be blogging more with an iPhone. It would have been instant and frequent I thought. But I've been fascinated and occupied with other things that the mobile Internet has allowed me to do. I check my emails, talk to fellow iPhoners on Whatsapp (I figured out today that the creator of the app couldn't name it Whatsup for whatever reason and decided to tweak the spelling), check the news, read feeds and catch up on my favourite bloggers, photographers and news providers on the go and last but certainly not the least time consuming, play games. Yes, the one with two left hands with computer games, is using sways and jerks to play Dark Nebula, and tiny finger flicks to play SG Mahjong.
Both of these games like many others are addictive. Dark Nebula is awesomely loaded with space, sci-fi graphics all you need to do is bring a ball to the end of an obstacle-laden course, and not plummet to life minus one. Bounce, avoid and roll. SG Mahjong is well mahjong plain and simple. The cool thing is that the thrown tiles are neatly arranged before you and the app prompts you to pong or hu when the appropriate tile appears. The bad thing is that I have throw away important tiles because my flicking finger is too big and it locked on to the wrong tile. Still it's loads of fun and there's no money to pay out. Woof.
Not that I am constantly on my iPhone. Just when there's nothing much else to do.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Monday, 25 January 2010
Keeping Eyes Open
I'm at the Singapore National Eye Centre writing this. My mum's gone into the operating theatre for her second cataract operation and I have been assigned by the family to spend my afternoon here. This gives me the rare opportunity to take stock of the situation 'live' and like all duitiful Singaporeans, complain. I pay taxes what.
Number one, after we went up to level 2 and waited 5 minutes at the big sign that read 'Registration', the nice lady inside the room came told us "Operation ah? Go through the glass door and turn left." Did it look like we were tourists? Why can't they simply put up a simple sign and not waste my half-day's leave? Goodness.
Number two. My mum's got an appoinment for her surgery. So one would expect a more logical system in handling the crowd waiting to be served.
(break) A guy just came up to me to ask if this was the Heart Centre. (end break)
There is a box instead. Drop your appointment card in but we have a list of scheduled appointments, so don't expect to be called first, or something like that. If there's a list of scheduled appointments, why have a box for cards? Shouldn't there be a list of names to be called out or displayed instead? A nurse came to retrieve the cards, opened the box and failed to take my mum's card at the bottom of the translucent box. It was the only other card in the box. Goodness.
Number three. These nurses are a little too nice. In the midst of taking my mum's blood sugar reading, a 'concerned' relative of one of the waiting patients came to ask why the wait was so long. The nurse then stepped away from my mum to explain in quite an extensive degree about the appointment schedule and the doctors on staff, blah blah. What she should have done is ask "Were you here too early? That's what appointments are for. And by the way, you're too young to be taking up space while the elderly are standing around." Goodness.
And last but not least, as I sit here at the ground on a nice, hard wooden bench below the shiny staircase, I realist problem 4. No one really knows where to go. People don't get their eyes fixed regularly so most visitors here aren't quite familiar with the SNEC. 80% of the folks here are old and many don't quite speak English or read signs. But there's no one really helping. People are asking the cleaners where to go. There are also way too many counters that read 'Registration'. One old man has been walking around with too much pride to ask for directions. Couldn't they simply get student volunteers to sit here and tell people where to go? And with all these old folks, why aren't there more wheelchairs around, and people offering them to those with walking sticks? Goodness.
What's worse is that there a huge display in the foyer that showcases the technological advancements the SNEC has introduced to make work for efficient here, like a 'digital boardroom'. Oh my god, people come here to fix their vision, not apply for a job! Get over yourselves, please.
Number one, after we went up to level 2 and waited 5 minutes at the big sign that read 'Registration', the nice lady inside the room came told us "Operation ah? Go through the glass door and turn left." Did it look like we were tourists? Why can't they simply put up a simple sign and not waste my half-day's leave? Goodness.
Number two. My mum's got an appoinment for her surgery. So one would expect a more logical system in handling the crowd waiting to be served.
(break) A guy just came up to me to ask if this was the Heart Centre. (end break)
There is a box instead. Drop your appointment card in but we have a list of scheduled appointments, so don't expect to be called first, or something like that. If there's a list of scheduled appointments, why have a box for cards? Shouldn't there be a list of names to be called out or displayed instead? A nurse came to retrieve the cards, opened the box and failed to take my mum's card at the bottom of the translucent box. It was the only other card in the box. Goodness.
Number three. These nurses are a little too nice. In the midst of taking my mum's blood sugar reading, a 'concerned' relative of one of the waiting patients came to ask why the wait was so long. The nurse then stepped away from my mum to explain in quite an extensive degree about the appointment schedule and the doctors on staff, blah blah. What she should have done is ask "Were you here too early? That's what appointments are for. And by the way, you're too young to be taking up space while the elderly are standing around." Goodness.
And last but not least, as I sit here at the ground on a nice, hard wooden bench below the shiny staircase, I realist problem 4. No one really knows where to go. People don't get their eyes fixed regularly so most visitors here aren't quite familiar with the SNEC. 80% of the folks here are old and many don't quite speak English or read signs. But there's no one really helping. People are asking the cleaners where to go. There are also way too many counters that read 'Registration'. One old man has been walking around with too much pride to ask for directions. Couldn't they simply get student volunteers to sit here and tell people where to go? And with all these old folks, why aren't there more wheelchairs around, and people offering them to those with walking sticks? Goodness.
What's worse is that there a huge display in the foyer that showcases the technological advancements the SNEC has introduced to make work for efficient here, like a 'digital boardroom'. Oh my god, people come here to fix their vision, not apply for a job! Get over yourselves, please.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Heartbreak Warfare - John Mayer
One of my current favourites. Simply awesome, smart-straight shooter lyrics. How can you beat "If you want more love, why don't you just say so?" and "How come the only way to see how high you get me is to see how far I fall?". This is good, real good.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Word
Word up. One of the big things most people learn as they leap from kidhood to grownuphood is how important one's word become. By 'word' I mean promise or expression of commitment, and by grownuphood I mean how mature we become whatever age it may happen. As kids in school we make promises to get good grades, be nice and do out homework on time. We generally break all these promises without much worry. Carefree and fancyfree, we may have been (some of us still are). As we grow up, more responsibilities we take on and our promises mean a lot more. Like with school at higher levels. We get more serious about things and life. Commitments become more focused and in some cases, profound and less tangible. Like with commitments to loved ones and better halves. As we work, we are held to our simple promise of the terms of our employment, between worker and boss, between colleagues, between clients and vendors. "I'll send you the files later" means exactly that. Yet so often nothing holds true. Promise broken. We move on.
What I've come to believe at this ripe old age, is that the most important promises one can make are to oneself and to a child. Oneself because when you break a commitment to yourself, it is a regret that you bear. Rectifying it should be easy but hardly we think about how we may have let ourselves down. A simple example is the commitment to exercise, a promise that's simple to ignore. When the doc later prescribes the cholesterol meds, it'll be "damn I wished I had started running last year".
To a child because that's how they learn about keeping commitments. I told my sis if she's announced to her son, my nephew, that they're going to the beach on the weekend, they'd better go. I don't want him to miss out because some parent decides he/she is feeling lazy and takes a rain check on a commtment. Not good for the kid. I enforce the idea of a promise when I let the little tyke run around the house, if he 'promises' not to make a mess. Else it's a time out in the cradle.
A good resolution for the year is to stop feeling like crap and keep your word, to family, friends and to yourself.
What I've come to believe at this ripe old age, is that the most important promises one can make are to oneself and to a child. Oneself because when you break a commitment to yourself, it is a regret that you bear. Rectifying it should be easy but hardly we think about how we may have let ourselves down. A simple example is the commitment to exercise, a promise that's simple to ignore. When the doc later prescribes the cholesterol meds, it'll be "damn I wished I had started running last year".
To a child because that's how they learn about keeping commitments. I told my sis if she's announced to her son, my nephew, that they're going to the beach on the weekend, they'd better go. I don't want him to miss out because some parent decides he/she is feeling lazy and takes a rain check on a commtment. Not good for the kid. I enforce the idea of a promise when I let the little tyke run around the house, if he 'promises' not to make a mess. Else it's a time out in the cradle.
A good resolution for the year is to stop feeling like crap and keep your word, to family, friends and to yourself.
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