The Working Lady Issue - Part 1

This is long overdue, suppose to be a fulll post but due to time constraints.  I decided to spilt it into 2 parts. 

I actually received quite a few emails (over the years) and actually met a couple once in Maesai with the similar issue and they are a lot of rumours and uncomfirmed answers to this question.

Thanks to another friend and reader Mr K which went through the whole ordeal, he is able to provide some clear resolutions to this troubling issues.  Here's the scenario.

A Singaporean guy met a working lady in Geylang(I don't need to be specific here but you should know what's a working lady right?).  They really fall in love and decided to be together.  The thing is our dear Gahment  Anti-Vice warned the lady verbally when she starts work in Geylang.  Here's the list.

1. She is not allowed to get into any relationship with a Singaporean Guy.

2. She is not allowed to return to Singapore at any time after her work.

3. She is not allowed to get married to a Singpaorean guy even after their 2 year course of "duty". (The most ridiculous rule of all)

If they are to break any of the rules above,  they will be jailed, fined and deported back to their country.  (Seems like SG have no human rights at all)

So here's the truth.  Its all BULLSHIT!  According to Mr K who sparred with our ICA.

It was never a problem that she worked in sg before, although it wasnt a glorious issue, but it isnt an offence! The purpose of this verbal threat is just to instill fear and caution into the girls before they leave. Hoping that they do not try to hook some dumb SG guy and cheat his money away. (looks like our gahment really like to protect us SG males... :P)

So, according to Mr K, if your partner or gf works in sg with a valid passport, she can enter anytime. (but  after giving a window of 2 yrs upon leaving).  So there is a 2 year ban for a working lady. 

Sounds good right.  But what if she is not using a valid passport??  That will be covered in Part 2.....

(TBC)

Little Photographer

They always say start training them when they are young and so I followed the advice and got my girl a Diana Mini.  Reason is its easy to use and its small and cute.  So it will attract her attention.  Indeed it was so when I pass her the camera and she started snapping away even before I gave her the complete instruction... :P  lots of shots gone on the first few frames.

Anyway, during the 3 weeks stay, she shot 2 rolls of film.  The camera was also in her little backpack when we went for our Chiang Mai trip.  I intended to use the half frame as it allows 72 shots, which means she have more shots to whack.  I develop the film at the local shop and they gave me a wierd look when they return the negs and some prints.  I think its because they are not used to seeing overlapping frames and square format and had no idea wat type of camera I'm using.

Still, I plan to look for another half frame camera for her (Golden half maybe?) as she does not like the "See Dam Dam" (colour black black in Thai) cam.  She want "Shampoo" (Pink, her favourite colour)... Wonder golden half got pink one anot.. :P

Here are the results of the shots.  Got some shots are  taken by me though... heheh I oso itchy hand....

My 36 Frames Project - "It Ends With ~y"

Inspired from Fuzzy Eyeball's own 36 frames project.  I decided to have my own little 36 frames project.  As the above title suggests.  All 36 frames title will end with the letter 'y'.  Thanks to my friend and photo buddy, Mr Dog, we managed to come up with 36 titles.

For those not sure about how the project works.  Here are the rules.

1) This photo assignment is for film shooter only (thus 36 frames on a roll of film).

2) You can use any type of film.  Slides, colour negs or even black and white. 

3) You can use mulitple exposures on a single frame to acheive your final results.  No PS allowed!!

4) The frames on the original film must be in accordance to the list.  For eg.  Frame 1 is Busy and Frame 2 is Lazy.  You can't swap them like take Lazy first then follow by Busy.  You must stick to the current frame and its theme.

5) Completed roll needs to be scanned and uploaded.  With the original negative on hand for inspection on cheat! :P

Sounds challenging right.  Anyway this is a close project and only open to those photographers that I know.  If you are interested you could try and maybe post it somewhere.  Since I can't inspect your negatives so I trust you are not cheating :P

Anyway date line is on Chirstmas eve 2009 at 0000hrs.   Hope I can complete this assignment too.

Here are the respective Frame number and their titles.

Frame	Title
1	Busy
2	Lazy
3	Clumsy
4	Funny
5	Happy
6	Grumpy
7	Lumpy
8	Crazy
9	Lousy
10	Fishy
11	Bully
12	Horny
13	Scary
14	Stingy
15	Slowly
16	Speedy
17	Dreamy
18	Bossy
19	Groovy
20	Smelly
21	Furry
22	Sunny
23	Dirty
24	Plenty
25	Bumpy
26	Moody
27	Lucky
28	Choosy
29	Funky
30	Spotty
31	Chubby
32	Chewy
33	Girly
34	Sticky
35	Floppy
36	Crunchy

 

More photos in slides and some great news from a friend.

I shot more slides on my recent trip to Thailand and I just got them developed and scanned yesterday.

You could view some of the shots over at my facebook album.  I will try to post some higher res shots on flickr or picasa later.

Another good news to point out (although I received it a week before) is another fellow Singaporean who has almost the same predicament as me is finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We actually never met in person but he is a frequent visitor of my blog and we actually get to know each other through facebook. 

Recently, his wife's permit to come to Singapore is finally approved by our dear ICA and she would be coming over in a few days time.  My best wishes to them and I do hope my turn will come soon too. 

Its instinct?

I was posting some photos to facebook of my recent Chiang Mai outing when I noticed this photo featured in this post.  Its one of my favourite grabs at the hotel as they are napping and girl girl suddenly turned over, saw her little brother and proceed to wrap her arms around him in a hug and went back to sleep.

It also reminds me on something highly unusal.  Ah boy is normally very mellow.  But on a few occassions,  He seems to be in a foul mood and start to complain (cry lah) loudly for no apparent reasons.  We try to comfort him by singing and talking to him.  Or even my wife tries to feed him (thinking he might be hungry) but to no avail. 

Then Wify had the smartest idea.  Asking girl girl to called out "Didi Didi" (my little brother in Chinese).  And ah boy will definitely stop his tantrum and calm down and start looking at his edler sister.

Its also funny that every morning when we send girl girl to pre-school.  The trip to the school on the car was peaceful.  Boy boy normally also sends her sister as she requested it.  And each time when we are returning back from the school.  Ah boy will definitely make some noises or cry in the car.  Seems like he knows his sister is not around and not happy with it.

Xinhui adores her little brother and her first thing everytime she steps into the house (either coming back from school or from playing outside), she would start hunting for his little brother and give him a kiss or hug.  I think she will be a great sister to Jing Yong. :) 

Its crawling in again....

Depression symptoms -> 

Unable to sleep at night.  Not  much appetite.  Feel lethargic and slow in response.  Unable to concentrate.  Moody and bad tempered.

Yup, I'm falling into that trap again and I need to do something to wake up.  This nornally happens for a week or so when I just came back from Thailand.  It does not help at all when I'm stuck at work too.  My mind is drifting everywhere while I work.  Need to set things straight asap.

Recently there are some financial issues that I need to settle and its has been bothering me for quite some time.  With a new family member on board.  My current pay is a bit stretching.  In order to continue to providie a comfortable lifestyle for them over there, I need to work more OTs and look for other source of income.  I can, of course, choose to go back to my old job which has a much higher pay (and responsibilites) but I shall be loosing the number of off days and leaves that I could get in this current job (Its so flexible that it allows me to go back to Thailand at least once per 2 month period),

So this current predicament is also bogging me too.  I need to choose between money and time with my family.  I've talked to my wife and she of course wants more money lah... So still thinking hard on this....

 

Back to SG and (fast fast) back to work!

Just a quick post.  Just came back from Thailand this early morning at 1200AM and now back in office slaving.  It will be another few sleepless nights for the next few days as I need some time to adjust to the fast pace lifestyle here.  Sometimes I wonder why Singapore can't slow down a bit.  Why can't we learn from our surrounding neighbours to slow down a bit.  Do we need to chase for the top all the time?  And some sikohlar (scholar) argue that if we slow down a bit, we are actually getting lazy?? (Our gahment likes to stress this all the time).  So now I'm back in office and still clearing my email (got moren than 10k...)while I took a break to jot this down.  2009 is going to end soon and 2010 will be around the corner.  Hopefully the year will ends well... 

Still have errands to run.  Need to collect my lens, send my slides for development, pp my photos, scan my daughter's photos and ....... I need more TIME!!! :P

Loy Loy Krathong Redux 2009 version

Think I explained about this festival before in 2006 over here and here

This year the event was on 2nd Nov (every year is different as it follows the buddhist calender).  This year since my mum was around.  We spent more time on this festival rather than the usual.  We went to the market to buy the materials necessary for making the Krathong and spent a day making them.  Those smaller one were made for the kids. 

Its also a happy occassion too as my mother in law and my sister in law came too.  Girl girl very happy got her 2 cousins to come celebrate with her :) .  On 2nd Nov night, we took the car out and placed all the Krathong in the boot of the car and head off to the nearest river canal at Meung Daeng.  Less than a 5 min ride in car, we reached the place and it was filled with people.  I was smart enough of not bringing my DSLR as I had no more hands holding the Krathong and catching my girl's hands.  I scared she run away and get lost in the crowd. 

After saying a small prayer, we set the Krathong off and we proceed to the funfair just next to the river.  Nothing special just normal rides as usual.  You can see more photos here taken with my Fuji FD30 compact. 

 

HE just have to spoil everything.

We just came back from Chiang Mai today and it was quite an interesting and somewhat enjoyable trip.   All was well until we hit the Ran Stop (Police Checkpoint) at Mae Chan.  As usual, the "police"man there checked my wife and ask her why she never apply for permit again and requested my wife to get out of the bus. 

So the kids and I plus my mum got out and the "police"  got a little surprised that I was getting down as I actually do not need to.  I explained since if he needs to verify with my wife.  My kids especially my boy needs her attention as he needs to be fed by her.  And I can't leave my mum alone on the bus as she's over 60 and can't  speak a word of Thai. I can't possibly left my wife alone with you.

The "police" man a bit reluctant and was a bit surprised by my bold statements as I guess he rarely encounters someone as "experienced" as I am.  I muttered to my wife that he might want "kopi" (bribe) money and he got a bit agitated.  And he kept asking me what I said just now.  After we got down the bus and the bus left.  He kept explaining that only my wife needs to get down while the rest could continue as the bus could not wait.  I coldly tell him I got all the time to "entertain" him and I spoke to him in English.  He got a bit lost with my words and asked his colleague to explain things to me.

Seems like my wife's Work permit is not allowed beyond the point of Mae Chan (first time I heard of that as I clearly understood we could go to Chiang Rai hospital multiple times without issues) and he say my wife needs to get a permit from the Amphue to continue.  ( I know all about this but normally the policeman will let us go as we have children on board)

So I explained to his colleague in plain English.  This is more or less of what I have said.

"I understand you are doing your job and I undestand that you need to explain to me about the restrictions imposed on my wife's status.  We are just simple people going for a simple holiday.  I am bringing my kids, especially my girl to visit the Chiang Mai zoo and we are going back home now.  If there is an issue with us going out.  Then you should have stop us when we are going OUT!  Why are you asking her to get out of the bus when we are going back?  We could have save all this hassle if you did not allow us to go out at all." 

With this explanation, the "police"man seems to understand he is on the loosing side and decided to let us go.  I tried to get his name but all of them started to ignore my queries and ask us to wait for the next bus.  

In total, we spent almost an hour on this total ordeal before we got onto the next bus(those cheap public buses that we need to squeeze) to Maesai.   Not to mention we have 2 huge luggages and other bags we have to carry when we got out.  I'm not sure whether he truthfully wants to explain the situation to my wife or he wants "kopi" money or he just wants to be an arsehole.  But I can safely say this.  Ever since my daughter is born or even when my wife was pregant with her in her belly.  We had NEVER ever been asked to get out of the bus.  Normally they just reprimanded my wife and let us go.  Its common sense and decency as they are kids involved and asking them to get out and get stranded is a big no no themselves too.

No logic at all.  I'm still unhappy over this little incident and I hope I get to meet that "police"man again to get his name....  

Sleepy Headz

The weather here in Maesai now is great.  Especially in the morning and late evening.  However, noon is dry and hot.  Temp can go up to 30 degrees celcius and all activities seems to stop during this period as its really too hot to go out.  (The direct sun is pretty strong with a cloudless sky).

So at this period.  Its the best time for a Siesta.  Secretly took one photo of wife and the children sleeping... hehehe... All sleepy headz..

Was proud of my work and show it to wife.  She not very happy with the photo but I like it very much and laughed at her. 

 

So I was sleeping with Ah boy the other day and she seems to have her revenge......