Short Fuse

By now most of us would have seen the video of the spitting guy, the cyclists, the many buses and mrt spats and many similar "behaviour". Nowadays, it seems like every other day there are some public spats, violent acts and mostly captured in all its undignified glory on You Tube and Stomp. 

I have my own theory especially after being on the receiving end of one of this freak last week.

Last week I was at the East Coast Park taking photographs of an event. Where I was, it was a long stretch of open ground. I was sitting on my little stool on the grass patch next to the bicycle and jogging path and taking photo of the runners running. Next to me was a man playing with his granddaughter. Later, a woman who I believe is the man's daughter came by. She walked in front of me while I was shooting. I think they were having a picnic and she was transferring items from her car. She walked in front of me again on the way back to the car. This time, I let out a small sound of irritation. Then the guy and his granddaughter walked across my path to go to the car. I was getting rather pissed off. The area was so wide open, I am sure he could see I was taking photographs. But anyway, I let it go. Then he came back with his granddaughter and daughter and again they cut right in front of me. This time I looked up at the guy and stared at him. And he was staring at me back and he shot "What?". I told him, "Look, can't you see I am taking photos, must you keep walking in front of me?". His reply shocked me. He said "I know. This is a public park. Why I cannot walk? And I deliberately walked in front of you because you 'tsk' at my daughter". I told him back I knew it was a public park but surely he could see I was doing something and must he and his family need to walk right in front of me. That was when he started throwing all sort of vulgarities and right in front of his granddaughter!. I was stunned. I let go a few choice words of my own before realising that arguing with this type of idiots doesn't work. So I left it at that and continued with my shooting.

Some experts said it is because of our hectic lifestyle and over crowding that causes stress and hence the need to let go steam. But that incident set me thinking. Is it really the over crowding? After all, it was a beautiful morning at East Coast Park, there were very few people. The guy with his family was there obviously for a picnic and a nice time and the stress level at that point should be pretty low. 

I think it has more to do with the new society and "face". In the old days, people were not so rich, live in kampungs and small houses. Not everybody was educated. Generally, the poor and the rich do not mix. Graciousness prevails because everybody was more concerned about eking out a living and has no time for petty quarrels. Also the less educated are not so assertive because they "know their place in society". But now it is different. Everybody is now more affluent and more educated. With that comes a "I am smarter/richer than you attitude and hence the need to assert that position. Like the guy I met. He spoke very good English, obviously a sign of being educated. Drives a car. So he lost it when he felt that he/his family was being insulted when I made the "tsk" sound and he had to defend his family's honour. My actions caused him to lose face so he had to do something. Just like the spitting guy. He lost face when he was told not to jump queue. Same with the cyclist. Here he is an upper class angmoh and probably quite high up in his career and some chinks dared to horn at him and another didn't stop for him? 

So at the end of the day, its all about face. Not so much over crowding. Losing face to some lower life form who dares to stand up to him/her. It will only get worse. Be prepared.....

The Sad Story of Tammy the Puppy

What if Tammy is not a dog but a little child, a toddler? Will we see a statement like that one day?

"Doctors have a responsibility to consider not just the welfare of the patient, but also the concerns and circumstances of the caregivers. Doctors will provide medical advice and administer the necessary treatment to patients, and may at times be called upon to euthanize a patient for various reasons, such as to alleviate their suffering, or if they are aggressive. This is also the practice of the medical profession in the [insert name of countries]

All doctors are trained on the ethics and techniques of euthanasia using the most humane method that is internationally accepted. Before euthanizing a patient, the doctor will conduct the necessary professional assessment and satisfy himself that euthanasia is a reasonable option considering the circumstances. The doctor will ascertain ownership of the patient and discuss with the caregiver the various options available so that the caregiver can make the final informed decision. The decision, however, is ultimately the responsibility and right of caregiver.

In advising the caregiver, the doctor, has to also be mindful of the implications of not acceding to a request for an aggressive child to be euthanized, such as the client's potential distress and safety threats to the caregiver, his/her family, another unknowing adopter or the general public.

MOH has looked into the facts of the case in the media reports. The caregiver had considered alternatives such as putting the child up for adoption before deciding to have her euthanized. The clinic, The [insert name of Clinic], had followed protocol before putting down the child, including discussing with the caregiver the alternatives.

The clinic experienced first-hand the aggressiveness of the patient. Prior to the euthanasia of the child on 7 Oct 2013, other doctors in The Clinic, who examined her also found her behaviour to be hostile, and in subsequent visits the degree of her aggressiveness escalated. On her last visit to the clinic on 7 Oct 2013, she could not be pacified by clinic staff and needed sedation for procedures that required more handling.

While the arrangement between the Orphanage and the adopter is a private matter, MOH would like to stress that only children of suitable temperament and health should be re-homed.

MOH urges calm by all parties concerned, and advises the Orphange to recognise the adopter's good intentions when adopting the child in the first instance and to settle the matter amicably."

Where is our soul, our compassion? Must we cull and kill everything that gets in our way? Monkey, wild boars, dogs, cats... the old and frail? the people of no value to our society? God forbids that we will ever see these days when our society become so callous but sadly I think it will happen. Hopefully, I won't live to see or be one of those who had to be euthanized because I had become "too aggressive" in my demented old age!

Ramen Kagetsu Arashi

I like Ramen and whenever a new outlet from some famous chain in Japan opens, I try to go sample the food.  So one evening, the kid recommended the Ramen Kagetsu Arashi at Tampines One. He has not dine there himself but seen the queue so the thinking must be - it must be good, right?

Ramen Kagetsu Arashi as the restaurant proudly proclaims in its menu is one of the largest chain in Japan and is famed for its Tonkatsu based soup. 

We ordered 3 different type of ramen:

Arashi Genkotsu Ramen

Arashi Toripaitan Ramen

Arashi Genkotsu Barikara Ramen 

And I must say I am rather disappointed. They used hard boiled egg instead of soft boiled eggs. I can live with that if that is the way they serve the eggs in all their outlets but what I did not like was the noodle itself. The noodle were soggy and overcooked. The broth was just average and not as favorful as I expected. 

I remarked to the others that I am pretty sure the chefs are not Japanese but students and true enough when we looked into the open concept kitchen, all we could see was a few young kids dishing out the food. And that is obviously the problem with most food chain outlets here. Everything is pre-defined and the young part timers just need to follow a pre-determined timing pour in the prepacked ingredients, dump in the noodles and volia - food is served. So what we get is a mechanically sound food cooked without passion. Which is fine if I get to pay fast food type of prices but unfortunately, this is not the case.

New Ubin Seafood

The name Ubin naturally brings to mind Pulau Ubin, the island but this little place called New Ubin Seafood is nowhere near Pulau Ubin. It is not even remotely near any sea or island. It fact it is tucked away in the heart of an industrial park in Sin Ming somewhere in the north. And its most famous dish is not seafood but beef!

But to us that was not a problem. Seafood and beef - 2 of our favourite food! So off we went. Luckily we had the foresight to make a reservation cause it was so packed that those without reservation had to be turned away. Absolutely no waiting.

There was a crab promotion  going on - order 2 crabs and get 1 free so naturally we went with that.

We had the salted egg crab (pardon the blur picture). I still haven't master the art of taking photos with the phone.

Pepper salt crab

 Bee hoon crab

Verdict on the crabs? The typical coffee shop zhi zhar standard. Nothing specially to shout about but really value for money.

Then we had the beef. The serving comes with fried rice and potato wedges and was supposed to be enough for 4.

How to describe the beef? Certainly it wasn't restaurant standard. Neither was it those kopi tiam western food standard. It was a little bit overdone or maybe we left it on the table for too long while we tackle the crabs and it got over cooked.

I liked the fried rice though. Traditional dark soya sauce type of fried rice that nowadays we cannot find outside. Apparently, it is fried with the fats from the above mentioned steak.

Would I go back there again. Probably so since it is not really that expensive but then again the hassle of going all the way there and having to make reservation.........