A Time To Reflect

Some time back, on a lazy Sunday, I had the honour of making the acquaintance of a karang guni man. Yes, a karang guni man; and yes, a big honour.

Instead of just selling off my stash of old papers, we engaged in a conversation. It started off by me asking for a better price for 2months worth of Straits Times. Have you ever felt you'd been fleeced by such men, who however high your pile is, will end up giving you $1 after customarily weighing the stack?

Well, he offered me $2 and asked if I had any old handphones or appliances to sell. It turned out that he is a Chinese Indonesian who lives on an island off Batam. An industrious young man whose main trade is to buy unwanted or broken stuff here and unloads them back home. Collecting papers is only a way of networking and reimbursing the lorry driver when he needs to send his stuff for shipping.

I was impressed, and deeply embarrassed. His spirit and actions were truly admirable but sorely lacking in me. As we spoke, I found out that he converted part of his home to house birds which spit out those precious birds' nest. Half a kilo of saliva he harvests each month, worth a couple of thousands.

Honestly, the longer we spoke, the smaller I felt. Poor, humble, hardworking and generous - a virtous young man.

He left me his contact and invited me to come over his island, where he'll fry me some "Mar Gow Hei" (which I figured was Mantis Prawn), an aphrodisiac we Singaporeans willingly pay $50 each but costs less than 10cents there.

Maybe I will go there one day and learn a lesson or two from him.


redcocoon

I Work For A Big Shot. Therefore, I Am?

Well..... wake up your bloody idea!

Over the long holiday weekend, I had a chance to visit my friend's club and take some shots with my clubs. Nice club, pretty range and excellent green.

After the good session, noticed that some big shot was in the club too. Don't know, don't care. Just don't stop me in my tracks so that that big f@#* can make his grand entrance.

So there I went about my own business, getting ready for a deserving shower, and I notice a stodgy, spiky haired man loitering in the changing room, staring menacingly at anybody who glances his way. Now, I get a lot of these weirdos in the changing area of a gym in town, but here, in a rather exclusive club? Well, different strokes, I thought.

Venturing out to the cafe after freshening up, I notice more of such species pacing the lobby. Pink Nation Convention? Well, it was a mighty hot day out, so admittedly I was rather slow. Think, think and then think... Ahhhh, bodyguards of that big shot. That explains the suspicious actions of those guys looking out for suspicious characters.

Now, I have no qualms about paranoid elites bringing a platoon of bodyguards out for a relaxing game of golf. The irony of it, eh??? But please, please don't come around treating everyone as suspects. We are all on our relaxing day out too. And no, we are not interested in taking your life. We just want to take a shower ... in peace.

Has anyone been unfortunate enough to have been stopped by the almighty traffic police on the road, just because some VIP in his big Merc wants to pass through without having to stop at traffic lights? Have you seen the number of TP's required to stop traffic for 1 length of road? Like I said, I don't give a hoot where you're going, but please, do not bother me. I pay road tax too. What if I had an emergency?

So back to the rather unfit looking posse, who after much ado about nothing, ended up standing around and cleaning the couple of Mercs. I wonder where their source of pride comes from, to treat fellow innocent Singaporeans the way they do. Just cos' you're working for a big shot, you think you're great too? Nah, I don't think so - you're just there to take a bullet. It's like how I feel about fanatic soccer fans. You think those soccer stars care about you singing their team songs at pubs? Sad to say, they're only interested in your wives and daughters, and of course your money, to pay for the exclusive hotels.

So, my point is - it's your life, live it the way you want. But please, do not treat us as offenders. In the end, we're all humans. We eat. We shit. We fart...