The definition of Progress

Warning! Politcal and social post.  Ignore if not interested :P.

I have an interesting debate and dicussion recently with a friend on the definition of "progress" in humanity.  It's a word we often hear in our state progaganda and in our national pledge.  The last line of our Singapore's pledge actually goes "To achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation."  Do take note that happiness is placed before prosperity and progress.  And I deliberately underlined prosperity as this seems to be the only thing our current gahment has their mind to achieve the most.  That's my understanding and do feel free to disagree but it just seems so.

Their(Gahment and most Singaporeans) understanding of humanity progress is to have good clothes to wear, people well educated to have a PMET job, latest mobile phone and other gadgets, buying fancy cars and a private property.   Maybe I am wrong to judge them this way but from the recent White paper incident and their policies so far, it seems that this is how they think progress to a nation is.   More money, more prosperity which leads to more happiness (to certain minority of course)

I'm not going to touch too much on happiness as each individuals have different thresholds and definition on happiness.  But to progress as a nation.  That's the point I am having issues with the gahment.  Their arguments they always put forward is that in order to progress our nation furthur, to become a country worth looking up by others.  We need to grow GDPs at all costs and money is solution to all our problems.  Just looked at how our gahment solves certain issues, and you know its all about money.

Which is quite sad actually.  Because some of us do know that certain aspects of life can't be rationaled or solved by money. What about things like spiritual and intellectual progress?  I'm not saying Singaporeans are not intellectual or spiritual but frankly, look around us, most Singaporeans are just chasing the 5 Cs and busy with making more money to make ends meet and did not have or choose not to have the time to spend on reflecting their own personal behaviour or social graciousness.  It became a dog eats dog world of who has the best 5 Cs among our peers.   So can we call this progress?

Just look at how we treat our foreign labourers who worked in our construction business and our home helpers (I hated the term "maids").  It's just plain fucking ugly.

I don't see it in the near future and my fears were true when I decided to leave 10 years ago and I'm so glad I met my wife in Thailand.  It's one of the best way out of this system and frankly, I'm a bit worried for all my friends and relatives who are stuck here in Singapore.  Their lives will be much more tougher down the road if our gahment continues this path of "progress".    

1st Kill of the year 2013

Not really killing something or someone but buying something new.  Yes.  Another lens to the arsenal:P  Some might asked how many lenses I really need but its just that this one is something I have been waiting for quite some time.

It's the new Sony 35mm 1.8 OSS!  OSS stands for Optical Steady Shot which means like Canon's IS and Nikon's VR lenses.  Sony A mount bodies has built in body AS system but their NEX doesn't (which is a pain in the ass for me!)I'm getting old and I like to have some anti shake system for some low shutter handheld shots.

Previously, I was using the 24mm Zeiss  which at 1200 2nd hand price tag does not even have OSS and I don't actually really like the fov of a focal length of 35mm.  I am more into 40mm to 50mm for a street camera so it was pretty awkward shooting with it.   I do like it's sharpness and contrasty colours but I have a tendency to crop the photos later as I was not in the correct position.  Moreover, the lens is sticking too far out from the body and its just make it very difficult for me to take it out or put it back into my camera bag.  That's a minor thing but the fov and OSS is the deal breaker. It was an impulse purchase and my gut feelings is that I will sell it some time later and I did to get back my money to fund this lens hehe.

After selling my 24mm, I do have a 35mm CV L39 lens and was using it as my default lens most of the time.  But it register a magenta cast on the corners of the photos whenever I shoot wide.  However, while using the CV, it constantly makes me more convinced to get this lens as I enjoy the fov of the 35mm.  The new lens was bought via a Bro Jame of LBJQK which I met in facebook and I received it just last saturday when it was finally released in Malaysia.  Immediately after collecting the lens I went to Garden by the bay to test it out and the inital results were very positive.  You can view the 1st series here.

I went out today on a street test with my friend Callan for a 2nd round and yes, I totally enjoyed it and it will definitely be a keeper!  Great way to start a year! :)

Some people really needs to be shouted at.

Here's a little secret. I actually made a resolution last year in 2012 to post less negative things in my blog. Therefore, I actually wrote very little.. hahahaha.. So actually I guess I have a lot of negative posts in my blog. I think most of those negative things I wrote was about our Singapore ghament or some people I met or etc. I remember I read something about being negative constantly (talk or write) about bad things is pretty unhealthy for the mind and body so I tried my best to keep my cool and stop writing about bad things for a year. I did ranted on my facebook once in a while, if not I will go Ki Xiao (crazy in Hokkien). And to my shock, there isn't much good things to write last year. There are, of course, some very good magical moments with my wife and kids while I was back at home in Thailand but most of them are pretty personal and I prefer to keep it to myself. But it's not working well for me blog :P. So this year I throw away that silly thought and will start writing more complain letters and post.

First one is a recent incident on the plane back. We boarded the plane early and my mum was sitting in the middle of a 3 column seat while I was next to her at the aisle. Sometime later, some Chinaman (I'm sorry but it's true, I have lots of negative Chinaman stories) folks boarded the plane and started to shout here and there, looking for their bloody seats. One China woman was at our window seat but she was reluctant to sit at her designated spot. Apparently its because her dear hubby is 2 rows at the front and they wished to seat together. The husband was being pushy, standing up in his seat the front asking here and there and giving ideas on their little seating arrangement while the whole queue were blocked by these inconsiderate jokers. The stewardess tried to direct them to their seats but you know Thai people, they never shout or give assertion. So these jokers continued their little party while the poor stewardesses were hapless. My mum lost here cool and shouted at them to give way to the rest of the people. hehe. Old lady with all white hair dun play play. The Chinaman stopped and the lady finally moved into our seats after we stood up and let her in. The Q finally starts moving and just when I thought the worst is over when all the passengers had boarded. The idiotic husband stood up again and say the lady next to him (think is their relative) is ok to swap with his wife and screamed for the lady seating beside us to come over. I shouted back at the joker in perfect Chinese, saying no way you are going to let my 70 year old mum stand up again and let your wife go out. He was a bit shocked when I boomed. And I added that this is not your father's plane and please be considerate. My mum, at the same time, scolded the the woman next to us, asking her why they never sort these things out before they board the plane. The joker sat down and both kept mum afterwards.

After the little incident, I did noticed a little smile on the stewardess and I smiled back at her, shaking my head. She acknowledged back with a bigger grin and a slight nod.

Some people really needs to be shouted at.

A bloody short week.

It's has been a week and now I'm on my way back to Land of Slavery to slave again. I was just getting used to the weather in Maesai. It's 25 during the day and about 19 degrees at night. Damn I will miss the weather.

The kids are great and they are happy I was back. I managed to teach my girl some string games I used to play with my sister when we were young and boy boy was getting better everyday in using the computer mouse... :P hunting down zombies in Plant vs Zombies. I also somehow managed to complete their own bedroom. Yup, finally bought a pair of beds and setup their little kingdom. I still need to fix the AC and maybe a table for them to study or draw but from the way the jump on their beds I know they loved it... :P One thing bad is that boy boy still sticky with mummy so my wife still accompanies them in their room while I slept alone in our own bedroom :(

I was also busy sorting out some slides I took last time and managed to copied them this time using my a900. It's actually about half a year of backlog negatives and transparencies I cleared while the kids were in school. I also managed to finish 2 rolls on my Fuji 690 and will be looking forward to develop it back in SG. I have found a new home based lab via Chiff and he did a fantastic job on my last roll. For those interested in shooting and developing slides in Singapore, do search for Lo Sheng of Analog Film Lab in facebook. Just mail in the rolls and he will work his magic. And its bloody affordable too!

Interesting way to start a year

I'm typing this on the plane. I'm on my way back to Chiang Rai for a short break. Just only a week prior to my break, I actually tendered my resignation letter over matters of a deduction in our department's OT pay. It was actually quite dramatic. We received our pay last month just after Chirstmas and my colleague spotted the err in payment. Initially I thought it was just an individual mistake in the Finance department but later I found out the deduction was across the board. Furious with the sudden changes without any notification. I wrote a very strong worded email to my immediate superior and manager. Their response was pitiful in the sense that they don't see anything wrong in the whole fiasco. So furious was I that I decided to quit.

My immediate boss (who is also a good friend of mine) managed to persuade me to hold my letter and requested to have an emergency team meeting with the ops manager. For a very long time, all our team members came to the meeting that day and the ops manager explained that there were no changes the OT formulae. However, there was a special component that he has been giving to us discreetly ever since we joined the company. And our dear ops manager was questioned recently why he gave the special component so he has to enforced the rule.

I smell bullshit. Anyway, I cut straight to the point that we don't see it that way. A cut is a cut and if you wish to enforce this rule, at least have the courtesy to inform us before hand. This is to allow us to judge if its rational for us to do the extra OT. Not like we had done it in December and then undercut us this way.

So after some haggling, they gave in and return us the special component for the time being. For how long this will last? I really don't know but at least they promised to inform us next time if they play such stunts.

So actually I was going to be free and jobless in Feb 2013 but I guess I will stick around for the moment. Since the ops manager did personally asked me to withdraw my resignation letter (actually money is still the factor ... :P) So just this once, my principle was set aside.

2012 - A boring year.

Technically we have not reached the end of 2012 but by the counts of my post this year.  It's actually quite a boring year for me.  The year never ended on 21-12-2012 as predicted and nothing really major happened (aside to the scandals in Singapore politics and the SMRT strikes).  Maybe only the first half of the year when I came back to Singapore to work and resumed my shift job.  Other than that, it's just work, sleep, buy stuff, fly back to Thailand to spend time with the kids and etc.  Nothing eventful in my personal life.

Which brings to one point, how long can I last in such a situation.  Again, I have managed to save up some money and gained some through our stock exchange in lovely Singapore.   So 2013 will be an interesting year for me again.  I have that option to leave my job in Singapore (for good this time) and return back to Thailand to work on something.   I also have some plans that involved in a room of stuff left by my late father that I promised my mother that I will sort them out eons ago.  Initially I planned to sort them out when I'm on my day offs but I just do not have the energy to do so when I came back from work.

And recently, I just feel "old". hahaha.  Being physically of course and I do have to admit, once you hit 35 and above, its going to be downhill all the way.....  

So Happy Holidays and see you all in 2013.

More Camera Porn - Rollei 35 SE

I was looking around on (E)vil bay for my "Texas" Leica 690 when I bumped into someone selling a used Rollei 35 SE.  I have been dreaming of getting one just for collection sake.  Yes.. you heard me right.  First time I say I buy a camera just for "collection" but I just want to get one because I already know about its quirky designs.  I wanted it because it kinds of reminds me the old Singapore, when Singapore is part of the camera manufacturing business in the 70s and 80s.   Rollei 35 was an engineering feat as it's the smallest compact fully mechanical camera ever build.  So I want to get it for its historical value.  

I started bidding for it and set aside a target.  Nothing over 300 SGD including shipping.  Shipping was $10 USD so I set $250USD as my MAX bid.  It still has 9 days to go and I expected to loose the bid as this little piece of gem could still command a pretty high price in pristine conditions.  Come end of Nov.  I received an email from (e)vil-bay saying I won it and need to pay it asap... HOLY Shit!  I WON.  And the price is just ............

Anyway, happily paid for it and received it today!  I was on MC these 2 days and it was the best gift I could have.  Early Christmas pressie from Santa?? :P heheheh    Here are the rest of the photos of this little camera.

The beautiful Sonnar 40mm 2.8 with Rollei HFT coating

MADE IN SINGAPORE!!

Size Comparison