Ranting

Yesterday was a day for ranting.

My exercise started in the morning, when I talked to the Lass about the girl she wrote about on her blog. Infuriated at the cunt’s elitist and condescending attitude, I lambasted her. Surely, being the daughter of an overpaid politician does not give her the right to shoot her cunt off like her father’s prick depends on it. The Lass had to tell me to stop, such was my vehemence.

The Shite Times reported that a man was arrested for scribbling ‘Harry, I love you.’ on the wall outside the Parliament House. Somebody should have told him that Valentine’s Day is on the 14th of February; there was no need to be so desperate. It was a man who professed his love for Harry. Will we see a repeal of Section 377A?

The year 2009 is going to be a catastrophic but interesting year, if we judge by the early signs. The Gaza war and the economic crisis have spilled over to the new year. A local politician landed in hospital after a 70 year-old man mistook him for a candle. Then some hero openly stated his love for our despot. More jobs are expected to be lost after the Chinese New Year. Analysts say the worst of the recession will hit us during June. The Singapore Flyer, lauded by the authorities as the biggest in the world, is still inoperative after it stopped and left its passengers steaming in their cabins for six hours. In fact, there is an air of quiet desperation in the streets. The gulf between rich and poor is as wide as the footballing standards between Iran and Singapore (the ‘Lions’ were trashed 6:0 in Tehran). Laws are more draconian. Foreigners will overtake locals soon and one day, over 90% of our newborn babies will be born to couples whom one or both are foreigners. The aging population will balloon, medical expenses will skyrocket and our basic wages, stagnant and their numbers cast in stone will drive more people to remain single, or at least, to refrain from procreating. Transportation, education and living costs will make life unbearable. The rich will become richer faster; the poor will be poorer faster. Soon, the merchandise in GL, on the streets and fish tanks will comprise locals, many of whom are pursuing their studies.

I think I’m too far ahead. Damn.

Chicken and I had our dinner in GL after my job interview. He told me that they are tightening laws on littering. A piece of tissue carelessly flung to the ground can land you an appearance in court. Previously, people who are over 50 – 60 were let off with a warning if they were caught littering. Now it’s straight away $200 in the regime’s pocket. I ranted that the law should have compassion. With times as bad as they are now, tightening the noose around the citizenry’s necks with tougher laws and increasing ERP and other transportation costs will inflict more misery on the people. Chicken just shrugged. Two middle-aged women tried to sell us tissue papers while we were eating. This is what a FIRST CLASS COUNTRY is all about. Instead of comparing ourselves with fucked-up countries like Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia, why don’t we compare ourselves to truly first world countries like Canada and Sweden? You heard of any Canadian reduced to peddling overpriced tissue papers just to survive in their old age?!

Here, I am ranting again.

When I logged on my university website to access my course materials, I was aghast to find that I couldn’t print my seminar notes. I got some fancy interactive program in place of notes for one of my Law modules, and I could find only e-copies of the guidebooks used in my three main modules. I cursed and swore at my computer, viciously lambasting my bloody university. Goddamn it! Just give me some notes to fucking study! I CAN PAY!

My timetable consoled me somewhat. Most of my lectures will be held in SP. I’d rather they don’t use the university compound for my next two years of study. It will make life so much easier for me. I can get off at the Dover station instead of taking the train to Clementi and then take another bus to UniShit. Moreover, I shall have no difficulty navigating our way around my alma mater. I will be back in SP after graduating a decade ago. I never expected it.

My university is taking in so many students that it has to expand its operations. The management must be rolling in dough. I regret not pursuing a career in education. The money is free and easy, and most importantly, from an egoistic point of view, people are paying to hear me speak.

I talked to Pearl afterwards. My ranting continued. I started off by saying how engineering sucks, followed by a discourse (I’m putting it a bit too nicely) about my troubled teen years and my suffering in my *career*. I also said I was wrong in not living my life when I was younger, instead falling into the fallacy of long term planning and responsibility. The Israelis can teach us a good lesson about what life should be, and what it’s all about. They face the threat of death and war every day but the sword hanging over their heads has not stopped them from daring to live, to express, to love, to seek, to dream and to fight. Indeed, why should I buy some fucking insurance/investment policies so that I can retire comfortably thirty years down the road and deprive myself from spending the money on doing what I like in the meantime? For all I know I may die in a car crash tomorrow. Why not enjoy life as much as you can when you are young and able, instead of hoping you will be able to ravish life just as keenly in your dotage? I remember a section of the ‘Good Book’ making a similar point, about the need to enjoy your youth, for death may come unannounced. I should have studied the book a bit closer when I was younger.

Pearl said that I belong to the ‘Strawberry’ generation. I’m not sure exactly what she meant but I agreed with her on her views that I am somewhere between Xers and Nexters. The Generations X and Y believe in striking a balance between work and play. They value material things and careers but also cherish relationships. Maybe I had been thinking like a baby-boomer for much of my existence and paid the price for it. Chicken told me after watching Jim Carrey’s Yes Man that we should live like we have only a fortnight left. I think he is right. Why wait until you are balding, unable to see without reading glasses, weak of hearing, slowed of reflexes and struggling to maintain healthy? You can give me a Ferrari but the thrill will not be the same. You can offer me the most gorgeous hussies, but will I be up to the task?

I read Miao’s blog after I talked to Pearl. She posted a rather touching story about a man who talked about education in a very hopeful and optimistic way. The feel-good spirit in the article stirred my cynicism and I left some comments. I couldn’t help myself. It was all I could do not to rant, rave and berate the writer of the article for being a moralistic, hypocritical and sanctimonious bastard who is now WTM-ing in some ministry and earning tons of money for his perceived efforts in promoting education and learning.

Jianyue talked to me online about his faculty and asked me some questions about football and sports in ASEAN. He said over half of his newsroom(?) members are Xtians and I told him that it is inexplicable that Art students can be so dumb. They should replace the idiots in his faculty with engineering students who are suffering in theirs. It should raise the general intelligence and standards in his faculty. Or maybe there’s not a good idea. The stronger competition will mean that it is harder for my friend to get at least an Upper in his Honours degree.

Moving on, I narrated to him about the conversation I had with a cab driver who once worked as an engineer and used it as a platform to rant at the way we treat engineers in this crap cuntry. About sports, I ranted about the state of the footballing standards in the ASEAN region, and the lack of quality of any sporting tournament run by the morons heading ASEAN sporting federations. What else did I rant about? I think that’s about it.

I’m going to stop my drivel now. Break.