The arrival of vaccines doesn’t mean the departure or disappearance of the coronavirus overnight. According to Dr.LEE (李医师), these vaccines could only suppress the symptoms but not stop the infected person from infecting others. Personal vigilance on hygiene and social distancing are key to survival in this pandemic. I’ll be watching closely what actions our politicians would be taking on vaccination before deciding on my next course of action even though it’s free.
The pandemic is far from over. Yet many people are rushing to get
out to somewhere or do something, gathering in mass crowds everywhere. Some people
even have their face-masks off! This is irresponsible and putting others at
risk. The key to survival is to avoid mass crowds and endure and abstain during
this dark moment. In Chinese, it’s called 忍. I cannot control others. I
can only control myself. This Christmas is not so merry after all.
Take care, my friend. Be safe during this festive season.
As the year is coming to an end, I reflect a bit and look back on
past happenings. The darkest moment this year should be the 2 months lock-down
(circuit-breaker) from 7April to 1June. There was no HOPE at all. All avenues
to HOPE were shutdown. It was a HOPELESS situation. When HOPE reappeared after
the lockdown, there were surprisingly no crowds. People probably have given up
HOPE due to prolonged stay-at-home and their mental health got affected. Now,
they are back with a vengeance as long queues are formed everywhere!
Let’s HOPE for the best in the coming months!
This year is like a year of disruptions and destructions. It’s a
PAUSE-year!
Everything and everyone are disrupted and cannot move forward as planned. It’s like standing still. Many have even moved backwards or dropped to the bottom and have gave up for good. Any lesson learned from this calamity? Yes, do not concede defeat, no matter what!
Big mega movies are now delayed and delayed for their release as
many cinemas were closed. Movie producers wanted to re-coup their investments
and wait for the tide to turn. Just when our cinemas were allowed to open here,
one cinema’s aircon-ducting collapsed and injured some patrons! This is totally unimaginable. So be Safe.
Avoid crowded places. At least for now. Movies can wait!
Artists and artistes are the most negatively affected in this
pandemic as they are labelled as the least essential workers. Most activities
have stopped or moved online with little or no income. Only those with deep pockets
or other income sources can survive this prolong hardship. Sadly I have none of
these advantages so I have to sell some of my artworks and non-essential possessions
to meet my basic expense needs. Endurance is key at this moment! It’s still not
the time to smile yet. Now, its kikikukiki (自己顾自己)
I grew up with some of these big departmental stores. They were my
hunting grounds for bargains and also the cause for my impulsive buying
disorder (now I’ve fully recovered!). I shopped mostly at both John Little and
Robinson because they always gave me additional 5% discount even for sales
items!
But these stores started to leave one by one due to bad economic times.
I guess all good things must come to an end. And they won’t be back. Sigh!
Hasta-la vista, baby.
At the beginning of this coronavirus, people hunted desperately for
face-masks and hand-sanitizers. Now, despite all the restrictions and
inconveniences, people are desperately hunting for places to go and activities
to do on this tiny island. Every corners and places are now stormed by people
with some ignoring safety distancing and guidelines. Sigh!
Many scientists are now racing against time to launch their vaccines into market. Many countries cannot wait or ‘tahan’ (bear) any longer the prolong lockdowns. To speed up, vaccines are now being developed using new technology to hack into human cells to turn them into “vaccine-making factories”. No vaccine based on this platform has ever been approved. Traditional virus vaccines used actual viruses and the process could take years to develop and be approved for human use. This is very scary news. Nobody knows the real side-effects of these new vaccines on our human cells and bodies. Worst, these new vaccines only treat the symptoms and not to eradicate the COVID-19 virus.
Many people here have this strange behaviour of leaving a mess after having their meals at hawker centres. They expect someone to clean up after them. But when they need the table, they would clean up the mess before occupying it. If everyone could wake up one day and do it in reverse order, hawker centres would be cleaner and a more pleasant place for cheaper meals. It’s easier to change the mountain than to change behaviour. Please keep dreaming!
Climate Change is a back-burner in most politicians’ minds. World
leaders (with a few exceptions) have limited times in office and this topic is of
least concern to them. The current pandemic has brought the globe to a halt and
stopped many human activities. This brings some reliefs to earth and allows nature
to heal a bit. But it won’t be for long as many nations are now trying to
reopen their borders and resume many human activities to revive their economies.
On the downside, this pandemic also creates more wastes from single-use items
as more people are stuck at home. This is bad news for the environment and
counter-productive to reverse climate change, if any. So, it’s back to square-one!
It can only get worse.
 |
| Yesterday, 14Nov2020 was
World’s Diabetes Day. I took part in this inaugural 5km virtual run but ended
up running >6km as I ‘agar-agar’ (estimate) the distance. |
There are no more mass running events during this pandemic. Virtual
runs are now the new norm these days.
Pro: you can run at your own pace and time, no need to rush and jostle with other sweaty runners in close proximities. Some runs even allow you to accumulate your distance clocked over a period of time. Such runs are more eco-friendly with no wastes and zero environmental impact. Also, they cost much less to join.
Con: no fixed route and you wouldn’t know the final distance unless you measure it before your actual run. It’s needed to download and use an app to record your runs. This means you have to carry your bulky phone with you with GPS and data-roaming turned-on throughout your runs. You’re mainly running alone so self-motivation is key to endure the whole workout. Lastly, it’s so easy to cheat-you can ask someone to run for you! Nobody would know. Who really cares!!!
In politics, when people like you, you win.
Age is just mind over matter.
At work, you win only when your boss likes
you.
Age doesn’t really matter.
If you are old and unemployed, age is the crux
of the matter. It’s very tough for these people to secure decent employment that
pays decent wages to meet the minimum living standard here. It was reported
there are 52,000 full-time workers holding jobs that pay $1300 or less. No
breakdown on age group of these low-wage workers was released. I believe they are
mostly seniors.
The tide is over for this fellow?
He still has less than 2 months to create more havocs and chaos
before he steps down.
It’s time to put his paintings down and prepare the next subject!
 |
| This cartoon was inspired by real events. |
We are proud to declare we’re a first-world nation.
Yet, many residents here have a mentality of a third-world people. Their behaviours and habits are totally different when they are at home and outdoors. With a very diverse and rojak population here, it very tough to change mindsets here from think-for-self to think-for-others. Until there is pain, there won’t be any change. No Pain No Change!
To maximize profits, train operators refuse to run public bus
services parallel and along all train routes unlike HK where there are many
public transport services along train routes. Here, commuters have to take it
or leave it. No choice. Our policy makers don’t feel the hardships of commuters
as they don’t have to use this service for their daily commutes. Worst, if
there is any major breakdown and disruption.
Last wednesday‘s power failure and breakdowns of our 3 lines during peak-hours is another reminder to provoke ‘big brother’ thinking why the need to run parallel public transport services. Strangely, there has been no major breakdown during circuit-breaker period and off peak-hours or during weekends. Does this ring a bell?
Sometimes, I admire this breed of people.
They don’t have to do any real work, just talk only and enjoy
great successes. I keep wondering what and how they made their bosses and
co-workers to like them and support them. They must have done something right!
For years, I’ve been studying and trying to learn from them but with zero
success. No choice, I’ve to stick to old school to do real work to make a
living. If not, it’d be ‘hand stops, mouth stops’ (手停口停)
After months of lockdowns and isolation, people are hungry for travel. But we are such an small island, it’s really can go nowhere. It’s also a waste of resources to launch flight to nowhere and cruise to nowhere. Instead, we should focus all our resources to create something new to lure the tourists back when our borders re-open. Many people are eager to travel again when this pandemic is over. Why do they choose to come here?
People from this country are tough or seem to act tough.
They often assert their beliefs and shaft their demands on others’
throats. They are at times snobbish and they never listen to opinions and
feedbacks. This is my own conclusion drawn after working for people from this
country many years ago.
Today, they seem to have changed little or not at all!
You can call me stereotyping, it’s ok.
Some games are one-sided.
The game creator always win. It’s impossible and rare that one could win against those rich and powerful who abuse their power against the weak and helpless. For some personal reason(s), the victims could not just leave the ‘game’ to suffer even more loses. Many has chosen to keep silent and endure the hardship. I feel sad for them.
It’s entertaining to see our neighbours playing games.
We may just laugh at them because the outcomes never affect us.
If you are also “playing game’ in your own yard, then it’s a different context altogether. If you are still playing ‘games’, you must calculate your moves carefully because any wrong move means doom. If your boss is playing games, then you must know what are the “forces in play” and where and when to move. If your subordinates are playing games, you have to be alert all the time. Otherwise, you may be ‘stabbed’ or moved unless of course, you’re the big boss in your yard.
Sometimes, our journey in life is not really that smooth sailing.
Somehow, somewhere, our lives are disrupted by unexpected events. Things do not always go according to our plans. If your journey so far has been really smooth, congratulations to you! I envy you. If you are having a rough ride right now, hang-on tight as you are being tested for your resilience and endurance. For sure, one journey that never gets disrupted or stopped is the path of ageing and growing old.
Someone once told me life is like riding a bicycle.
One can only continue to paddle to move forward or risk falling off
at standstill or when the paddling stops.
The road ahead is very rough and tough now and many have to no choice but to endure this undulating rough patch for the moment till the smooth path comes. For now, this smooth path is nowhere in sight!
This pandemic causes many activities to a standstill. Almost all
work and business activities come to a halt.
Looking at it from a third perspective, it does some good too,
globally: reduce carbon emissions, allowing nature and the environment to heal,
temporally stopped some unrests in some countries, streamline work processes, more
time to reflect, etc.
Overall, my view is it does more harm than good. It’s a chain effect. No business means no income which causes jobs to be lost and more hardships for many workers. More wastes are now generated due to food delivery and disposal PPE used by health care workers and hospitals to treat those infected. Sigh!
As we are still not out from this pandemic, I’m fearful of touching those high touch-point surfaces on public machines. But I have no choice as I need to withdraw money, update my bank books and pay for my groceries at supermarkets. Now I have to carry my hand sanitizer everywhere I go and always remember to wash my hands frequently.
We should be moving towards a contactless transaction world. Can
someone change something or invent something to convert my mobile device into a
remote controller that could control and interact with these public machines? Communication
technologies are already available: NFC, Bluetooth, infra-red, wireless
networks, 5G, etc. We are a smart nation, surely this can be done easily.
If I know how to do this, I’d be rich 😊
Life used to be simple until technology makes it complicated.
Now many digital solutions are in the form of apps workable only in
smart devices with network-function turned-on. Some apps cannot even work on low-end
devices. What the ***k.
Many new technologies are causing more pain than gain for non-savvy
senior consumers and users.
It’s a bane for users but a boom for regulators because digital solutions=everything can now be tracked or tagged. There is no more escape route to avoid paying taxes or to hide critical data!
This year is the 10th-year after I picked up my paint brushes and pencils again to revive my old interest and hobby in caricatures. Over the years, my drawing skill has improved but its quality is far from the respectable level I’d hoped to achieve. To perfect any skill, one needs to spend time and effort to practice it for at least 10,000 hours. In the past decade, I have probably spent an estimate of 2,500 hours or less.
This explains why my art still cannot sell much. Sigh!
Some fake news look so real one never takes time for second
thought to verify the fact or story before sharing them. This is very dangerous
and akin to trekking on slippery slopes.
Things are either fact or fiction.
When fact is mixed with fiction, what do you call it?
Faction?
Almost everyone everywhere now is bracing the financial storm of a technical recession and gloomy economy. Many plans are disrupted or shelved without any sign of normalcy. The lost of income versus high living cost here is a double whammy for many. I have already added many more holes on my belt and think deep before any big spending. Our big brothers had helped a bit but assistances are non-sustainable and insufficient to wait out the storm to pass. The key to survive in this downturn depends not on push-on (加油) but strong wills (意志力), resilience (弹性深度) and self-endurance (忍耐性).
While Big Brothers come and go, our problem remains the same.
Everyday, I take the risk of walking on narrow footpaths, not
knowing when I would be hit from behind by speeding cyclists. All cyclists
believe they have the right of way on footpaths as they keep ringing their
bells at pedestrians to give way to them. Even those wheelchair users and their
care-givers are not spared. When pedestrians are injured, the cyclist and the
state won’t pay. In most cases, the culprit would likely have sped off to evade
liabilities as they have no insurance cover such accidents.
I hope this new Big Brother can understand and feel the risks and pains of pedestrians and ban cyclists on all footpaths before more pedestrians get injured.
I am not a social media person either.
I don’t know about trends and why many people follow them.
Take the recent #womenempowerment challenge where women post their
black and white, monotone pictures for this challenge. I’m not sure the real
meaning of this challenge.
Black and white pictures are mainly used for obituaries and to announce someone’s passing. It’s better to use them with caution. You may disagree with me, it’s okay. Everyone has their own standard.
I am not a music person.
To me, a good song is the best sound outcome of combining all the elements: tune, lyrics and vocal ability of the singer. This year’s national day’s song is anything but none of these elements. It’s the worst National Day song I’d heard in decades. I wonder who is the Quality Manager who approved its release.
The only thing I could relate to this song is its title: Everything I Am. Yes, of course I
am. In order to survive and endure the current arduous hardship, I have to 包山包海 (cover mountain cover ocean),
to do everything what my boss tells me to do. No further questions asked to
avoid troubles.
This year song’s title should be changed to: Everything I Bao! to reflect our resilience.
Note:
This original artwork was submitted to The Straits Times’ coloring contest. This piece, too did not make it to the next round. Sigh. I’d stopped pondering why and lookout for the next opportunity to come.
