What Games Are Our Children Playing Nowadays?

Just below the HDB block where I am living, there is a playground. There are the usual playground equipment for climbing and swinging, as well as kiddy rides.


As can be expected, many young children can be found playing there during the late afternoon when the weather is cooler.

I usually have to pass by this playground on the way to the neighbourhood market or food centre.

Yesterday, I was cycling to the market when I saw a little box on the ramp (arrowed):


It looked quite new. At first I thought it was a box of toothbrushes which someone had dropped. I took a closer look:


Even closer:


Closer still:


Alamak! The immediate thoughts that ran through my mind were: What was a pregnancy test kit doing near a children's playground? Could it have been used by an underaged but over-developed girl who also frequented the playground for other more innocuous games?

I looked around and found this thermometer-like thingy on the grass patch nearby:


I checked the results:


What a relief! She was not pregnant. However, she might not be so lucky next time.

But wait a minute! What if she was a married woman trying to get pregnant? If that is the case, I offer her my sincere apologies even though I am in no way responsible for the test results, whether positive or negative. Whatever the case, how could the user discard the used test kit so carelessly? What if an innocent child picks it up and thinking that it is a thermometer, puts it in his/her mouth? Yucks!!!

Stories about unwed teenage mums abound in Singapore. (Read one here.) In this age of the Internet, bored young girls can find attention in chatrooms where there are no shortage of predators.

So parents, please pay more attention to the games that your children play, lest they end up carrying the baby, literally.


Don't laugh, okay? It has happened here more than once before - the parents didn't know that their unwed daughter was pregnant even AFTER she had given birth!

On that solemn note, Happy New Year everyone!

Ways Of Making A Living (1)

Yesterday late afternoon, I saw a woman in the vicinity of Geylang. (It's NOT what you're thinking. Take your mind out of the gutter, will you?)


The woman I saw was about 80-year-old. She was rummaging through the rubbish bin behind her in Lorong 37 Geylang. She was taking out the neatly tied-up trash bags from the bin. She laid them on the floor and then untied them one by one. It seemed like she was looking for something. (Hmm... could she have lost one of her contact lenses? Nah, silly me, it can't possibly be that, can it?)

At first, I thought that she was looking for some old but still useful stuff that she could re-sell at Sungei Road for some money. Oh man, how wrong I was!

I took a glance at the shop which generated the rubbish. It was a coffeeshop that sold Teochew porridge. At that moment, a coffeeshop worker came out and deposited yet another trash bag into the bin. Then horror struck me! I realised that the old lady was probably looking for some food to satisfy her hunger, the most basic human need. (You certainly don't need renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow to tell you that, do you?)

To the old lady, any discarded food would do. However, I figure that Maslow would probably have listed her hierarchy of needs preference as follows:

(1) Surplus food which could not be sold;

(2) Leftovers of customers who ordered too much food; and

(3) Food that has gone bad (and unfit for human consumption).

I could not bear to see what the old lady's "choice" of dinner was. (I am aware that my use of the word "choice" here is insensitive and maybe even cruel because the old lady really had no choice at all in such dire circumstances.) It was indeed a very sad and depressing sight. I quickly took the above photo and hurriedly continued with my life. I was rushing home to pick up my wife and then together, go and pick up my younger son who was attending badminton lesson at Tao Nan School. In my haste, I have forgotten to give the woman a little money to buy a decent meal. Damn, I should have done that! Now my conscience is pricking me.

I wonder if this old lady got any social assistance from the authorities. If not, why not? Maybe the authorities didn't know she existed? Now that I have a photo of how she looks like and where she hangs around, hopefully the authorities could locate her more easily and render her some assistance. One more thing - did the old lady know that she could have claimed the GST Offset Package? Damn, I should have asked her myself!

So no matter what the official statistics say, there are still people in Singapore who live way below the poverty line - people who fall between the cracks. I believe that most of these people are old and unemployed. Unlike the old lady, some of them may even be too sick to go out to rummage through rubbish bins. Hence, the old lady may still be luckier than some other people.

Finally, I hope that no one will waste food after reading this article. It is also a timely reminder for us to spend our money wisely and save early for our retirement.

A Slice Of Life - Eulogy (Death Of A Friend)

Last week, I bought a CD which was produced and presented by Mr Eugene Loh, Senior Producer/Presenter and Music Director of 938Live Station of MediaCorp Radio (S) Pte Ltd. It was titled "A Slice Of Life - Vol. 1".

Eugene has a very calming, soothing and therapeutic voice. His stories are still being broadcast 3 times a day, I think. I usually listen to the 7.55 am broadcast while driving to work. For the CD, I find Track No. 19 particularly meaningful. It is called "Eulogy (Death Of A Friend)" and below is its transcription:

A friend of mine passed away recently. And once again, I am reminded of the fragility of life. Somehow we don't think that the people around us - our colleagues, our family members, our friends - can actually die. Sure we all know that death is very much a part of life. But it's only when misfortune strikes that we are violently jolted out of our comfort zone, where we were nestling comfortably, thinking that we will all live to a ripe old age. But our lives can indeed be taken from us at any time regardless of how young or healthy we are. And the point is not to huddle in a dark corner fearing it but to make full use of every opportunity to love and appreciate the people around us. So that when they do pass on, we can be comforted by the fact that we have given all the love we had to give. And that the time has come now for someone else to hold the hands of the ones we have lost.

Funny how a heart beats
It finds its own rhythm

Amidst the cacophony of life
We're raised

Then suddenly take a fall
In a moment we're as dizzy

As the tight-rope artiste
Suddenly without a parasol

Paths cross haphazardly
And no one sees beyond the bend

We always choose to make our enemies
But we never choose to make our friends

Our plans were never grand
The visions we pursued were never really realised

We never packed the house
And the house has mostly sent us packing

But while the music played
The world became small and simple

And our hearts were dancing
So this is where you have gone and this is where you will wait

With the ones who left early
For the ones who will arrive late

We all have tickets for the same destination
Just different dates

Thanks for the ride my friend
Now we must ride on our own

There are many things I can't be certain of
But I'm sure you're not alone

In our darkest hours
You'll be in our hearts

Music brought us together
And through it, our souls will never part

So Many Questions, So Few Answers

Life could be so unpredictable
Events could make unexpected turns
One moment it was a walk in the park
Next you could be pinned under a tree

You could be playing football
When a bolt came out of the blue
The blue blue sky that is
You died playing your favorite sport

You could be waiting for a bus
Along came a less than sober driver
Made a stop before your bus did
But not before ploughing you down

You cycled the same path
At the break of each dawn
A barrier was erected overnight
Paralysed by it was the least you expected

A minor accident occurred
Whose fault was it anyway?
Did that really matter?
Was it actually worth dying for?

So you broke up with your sweetheart
Whatever the reason given
Why throw away your future and double-degree?
Worse still, put her life in real danger?

He called off a relationship
Maybe it was lust and not love?
Was that so hard to accept?
That you had to throw his little child down?

Yes you might have been tormented
And you could have suffered discrimination
By hedonists or charlatans, who cares?
You've no bloody right to take innocent lives

He might have cheated you of money
Couldn't make a report as the money was dirty
Did that mean that you could gun him down
And then claim that you've had one too many?

You were deep in debt even before IRs were mooted
All because of a gambling addiction
Couldn't be repaid with a meagre salary
But was snuffing out your whole family a solution?

Work stress might be getting to you
Asked for a transfer but got rejected
Were you proving a point by jumping down
Leaving your poor wife to suffer after you?

Happy family you didn't treasure
China woman you went after
Even if a suicide pact failed
Did you have to chop her into 7 pieces?

Why do some babies die
Before they've a chance to live?
Why do some children have fatal diseases?
While others simply die in their sleep?

For some who could live
Everyday is a new challenge
Is that supposed to make them stronger
Or a test of love for their care-givers?

Does everything happen for a reason?
Must events follow a season?
So many questions, so few answers
Especially for us mere mortals

Sometimes it's hard to understand
Are things really in God's hands?
Why does He make it so difficult sometimes?
Could He be putting us through a trial?