Sombre thoughts…

A sombre post this time. 

We got quite a rude shock the other day. A few days earlier, we were driving towards the carpark at home in the evening, but we couldn’t go on any further as there was a police van and ambulance parked in the middle of the road. The officers had set up a small tent-like thing on the road in front of the “bridges” connecting the different levels of the block to the carpark. Our immediate thought was that someone had been knocked down by a car and that it must’ve been fatal (the tent covering the body). That would have been sad, for sure, but unfortunately that’s not what happened.

From what I hear, one of the Chinese dailies ran a story that an 18-year old girl had jumped from the 24th floor.

An 18 years old Singaporean Chinese girl fell to her death from the 24th storey of Blk 533 Bukit Panjang Ring Rd on Friday 03 July at 7.25 pm, she was pronounced dead 20 minutes later.

She had left her shoes and purse at the bridge on the 24th floor (not sure why but this fact sticks in my mind and will not go away). Not being selfish, but imagine if we’d arrived home a little bit earlier. Makes me shudder to think about it. But, more importantly, this poor girl. 18 years old! What would have pushed her to that final, fatal decision? What must have been going through her head at the time? Very saddening and very troubling, too.

Singapore is certainly not alone in the sad situation of teens taking their lives. But put it together with a seemingly serious – and rising – incidence here of kids being overly stressed and seeking counselling for depression and anxiety and so on, the pipeline for future such tragic ends appears to be well-stocked. Why are these kids so stressed or depressed or anxious? Schooling? Money problems? Dysfunctional families? Broken hearts? Apparently, school and exams are the biggest reason for teen suicide, followed by relationship issues. WTF?? Some serious prioritisation issues happening behind the scenes here, and not necessarily a problem with the kids, either.

Of course, everyone in such a situation presumably still has that final decision to make, so it may not be a foregone conclusion. But, do these kids know of alternatives or do they have access to trusted forums for talking their problems out? Unless its a sad, sad case of these kids being ignorant of these things, then you’d have to assume that they do not have these alternatives. This is a sorry state of affairs – as we sadly discovered a few days ago inside our own estate and so near to our own house. God speed we find a way to reverse the trend. Peace.

Gwilym Davies (UK) – 2009 WBC Finals

Nice comments on the pursuit of the so-called “perfect espresso”. Must keep these in mind…and I love his tweed!

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30/6/09 – Forever in our hearts…

Baby girl, you are not forgotten. You are forever in our hearts.

Love, Mummy and Papa

Weekend happenings…

The weekend that has just been was pretty darn good.  Saturday we all trundled around to Surej’ house for Arjun’s 4th birthday party. A nice time, not too riotous at all (unexpected).  I didn’t get any photos this time, but will see if we can get some from Surej.  Kyle got all upset about something (god knows) at the cake-cutting time and refused to put in an appearance. He wouldn’t even come out to EAT some cake!! So anyway, later, after a nice spread (thai green curry, pineapple rice, mee goreng, tandoori chicken, naan and a selection of kueh), we decided to get the kids to sleep so we (the adults) could watch some movies. 

First up was Superhero Movie or some such name.  Forgettable parody of various superhero flicks a la Scary Movie et al.  Quite funny but nothing that would stick in the memory or leave much of an impression.

Next flick was a Thai “horror” film called House of Haunted.  Yes, I confirm no typo. It was a very odd movie, indeed.  Storyline in a nutshell: youngish playboy-type Thai man and his girlfriend/wife discover they they own an old deserted house (maybe it was willed to them) out of Bangkok, on a canal and pretty ulu / they plan to renovate and turn it into a summer house with all the mod-cons, very nice nice / house is unfortunately haunted by the spirit of the previous owner / workmen get spooked and ultimately go to the nearby temple where the buddhist priest (monk?) tells them the story of what happened.  So, it seems that the former owner was a woman, a classical Thai dance teacher who ran a dance school at the house.  She passes away and hands the house and the school to her very talented daughter to manage, along with an oath that the daughter will continue to run the school and continue to love Thai culture and history (the cultural themes run strong in this movie!!). The daughter is unfortunate in love and marries a bad man who drinks and smokes away all their money. He then sells most of their furnishings, the school loses its reputation and parents pull their daughters out of the school, which is then left with only 3 students, who are orphans and have nowhere else to go. Meanwhile, the husband borrows money from the local bigwig to support his habits. And borrows more money and more…The bigwig wants to buy the land from the daughter but she is honour-bound to fulfil her mother’s wishes and continue the dance school, so she refuses his offer, which pisses him off intensely. He puts the screws on the husband, and ultimately the husband agrees to let the bigwig sleep with his wife (i.e. the daughter) in lieu of repayment of debts. After this happens, the daughter hangs herself and the 3 orphans (hugely devoted to the daughter) take their lives by poison. The husband goes mad but stays in the house as a caretaker-of-sorts.  The daughter and the 3 orhpans’ spirits remain in the house and scare the crap out of anyone who subsequently bought the house or tried to change it in anyway.  So, back to the current day, the playboy-type and his girl ultimately decide to convert the house into a museum of Thai dance and culture and the spirits are presumably happy. 

Seems it is even on YouTube (part 1 is here): 

 

Not a bad movie by any means. Not at all scary though, so avoid if you’re into scare-fests. But, man, is it slow-moving! The dance scenes are long. Very long. Unnecessarily LONG!! Sumathi timed it at one point and there was an unbroken 10 minute sequence of the daughter and the 3 orphans dancing with no other dialogue or anything. Just slow music and the very intricate dancing with lots of hand gestures and head/hip shifts. 10 minutes!!! Haha crazy.  And plenty of blatant pushes for Thai culture (I expect that the film received some funding from the Thai Culture Ministry or something like that!). Anyway, not a bad movie, just very meandering and slow.

Sunday was Theini’s birthday and she bought us all lunch at Breeks Cafe in Woodlands. Western menu mostly. Big portions, nice food. Ate too much. Nice time all round.

In the evening, Shanthi and I went to the movies and saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner). Very forgettable movie. Predictable story- line of playboy-type guy (hey, there’s a theme here) being made to reconcile with his previous ill-treatment if women in general, and of Jennifer Garner’s character specifically. Quite funny but overall forgettable.  There was one nice scene though, where the young brother defends his playboy brother. Now that was a touching dialogue.

That’s all for now. Peace.

Long Weekend – Labour Day

Always nice to have a long weekend! This time, Friday was the day off work. Thursday ended on a sour note at work but I won’t go into that.

Friday morning we packed up the ratbags and went with the whole gang to Sembawang Park so they could play in the playground. Was a hot and sunny day and the boys had a ball. Shanthi and I went for a look-see at the new terrace houses being sold there by Fragrance Homes (yep the same group that brought us the Fragrance hotel chain!) The houses are really lovely. 4-storeys, 6 bedrooms (incl guest room on ground floor), 5 of which have attached ensuites. Even has a lift (yes a lift), such an extravagance. Priced around S$1.3-1.5m but it’s a buyer’s market so they’re taking offers. Only 99 years leaseholds though.

Saturday was the boys playschool in the morning followed by roti prata for the 4 of us next door. Then we dropped the boys he to rest and Shanthi and I wentut for a couple hours alone.

Sunday is 2/3 over now. Shanthi met her friend for an early breakfast with Keith in tow (Kyle was still sleeping). I was taxi driver and enjoyed a nice coffee and breakfast by myself at Borders while waiting, followed by a little bit of clothes shopping at M&S! Then we went home, I did a few small things that needed doing and now a loaf of herbed bread is in the breadmaker and I can hear my Silvia calling me to take her for a spin with a shots or two of fine Highlander supremo blend.

Soon it will me Monday, and that’s something else I won’t go into much here (lest I bring dark clouds to an otherwise fine Sunday). The Straits Times says the new Aware exco was itself ousted after failing a no-confidence vote at EGM yesterday. Reads like a very poorly managed takeover from where I sit.

Peace.

Heartbreaking Dad moments

It really is heartbreaking to see your child obviously feeling sad but for some reason trying not to break into tears. His eyes all big and imploring. The corners of his mouth quivering. This was Keith at his new drama class at Julia Gabriel this morning. He is ok at first, quiet but ok. then his eyes start to water and he will not let go of my hand. After some gentle persuasion he will go inside then turn back with those big, sad eyes. Sigh. In fact he still looks a little sad most mornings at his regular kindergarten class. Very heartbreaking. And takes effort not to go in and give him a hug.

But he has to learn, I guess. In fact I am typing this while sitting in the car after his drama teacher basically shooed me away as Keith kept looking at me at the window. Need to let him adjust to me not being there. Chalk this up to one of those parenting challenges, I suppose…Sob sob!

(Updated) Moments like that, of course, pass. Later in the day, Keith throws a big tantrum after I return from the supermarket with some groceries but prominently without the pet cat that he was, for some unknown reason, expecting! From the supermarket! A strange moment in parenting.

8 Mar ‘09 – Lex (FT) on Quantitative Easing

Interesting read, this one.

From the Lex column in Monday’s FT:

“…Everyone knows a shiny new bridge when they see one. Quantitative easing, on the other hand, has been a mystery to all but hardened anoraks until zero interest rates started to loom late last year. Policymakers worldwide now pin their hopes on quantitative easing’s ability to complement traditional fiscal stimuli as a means of boosting demand. Even if they feel boosting money supply worth a try, few have a genuine conviction that it will work. There are three big problems with central banks buying unsterilised financial assets. The first is signalling. The normal process of tinkering with interest rates is based on eons of data on the effect on growth and inflation. That in turn provides a framework round which future rate moves can be forecast. Quantitative easing, however, is messy. That calls for clear targets. But based on what? Targeting particular measures of money supply, bank lending (as Japan did) or long-dated gilt yields is tricky.

Even with targets, the second problem is working out exactly how much quantitative easing is enough. Very simply, whether raising the money in circulation boosts incomes depends also on what economists call the “velocity” of money. If those selling assets to the central bank simply put their spoils on deposit, for example, the potential boost from the increase in money will be tempered. Knowing the velocity of money therefore is crucial. Yet this number is hard to pin down.

The final headache lies in selecting which assets to buy. As the Bank of England showed last week, most central banks go for government bonds. But these tend to be owned by financial institutions, not the ailing companies and households that need the money most. Besides, government bonds are already super liquid. It would be preferable for central banks to swap cash for harder-to-shift assets such as commercial paper. Another plus would be that purchases of such assets would remove their liquidity discount, giving the likes of the Bank at least a fighting chance of recovering their money when things finally recover enough to sell again.”

Interesting articles and charts and so on…

(1)  The US in 2009 by the numbers (WSJ)

(2)  Wines for the times (WSJ, 16/1/09)

(3)  Plain vanilla (on shirts) (WSJ, 16/1/09)

(4)  10 years of the Euro

(5)  Obama’s inaugration speech

(6)  The end of Wall Street’s boom (pdf)

(7)  BCA Rsch comments on NZ economy (pdf)

(8)  World Resources Map (by country) (gif)

Jan ‘09 – Keith starts school

(Jan 2009) Keith took his first step towards manhood this month, with his first day of school.  Well, a half-day session at pre-school, but it’s still school and it’s still the start of a very very long road of having a schedule imposed and having to wake early in the morning!  Grumpy?  Perhaps I am a little, yes.  But, anyway, he took it like a man and faced his first day at school like a true trooper.  No tears, no crying, nothing.  What a champion.  Then came Day Two and with it came the tears and misery.  He wouldn’t let us leave and we had to pry him away and leave him with the teacher.  Next day was similar as was most of the first week.  Week two, however, and he’s had a change of heart.  Now, when we bring him to school, he is happy chappy, all eager and rearing to go.  He will tell us to go after walking through the gate with him.  Must be some cool toys inside there that he just can’t wait to get in and play with.  Anyway, all power to him.  His school day is from around 730am when we drop him to school (school starts at 8am so he can play for half an hour) and lasts until around 12pm and then 30 mins for lunch, so 12.30pm he will be picked up by Shanthi’s mum and Kyle with Manita and they’ll all head off back home. Looks like he is having a good time, which is a major relief and it is nice seeing him playing with the other kids and developing a little bit of independence!  We’re thinking about having his 4th birthday party (in March) at his school and to invite all his classmates (he says there are 10 but the number is a bit dubious). Should be fun, eh?

Now we just need to get him more happy about sleeping in his own room (he will come through to our room during the night), then things will be all good.

[Photos will be added soon]

15 Jan ‘09 – New blog pages

I have just created a couple of mini blogs, ostensibly for work purposes, to keep track of developments in the oil and shipping sectors, for which I am (either partly or totally) responsible now.  Also another one is just a bunch of news reports that I have posted for my own reference and for subsequent reading at home at night (an attempt to save paper as I would normally print out all these and read them later).  So, anyways, the links are:

Oil – http://oilpoints.wordpress.com

BDI and Shipping – http://bdipoints.wordpress.com

Today’s news - http://bensnews.wordpress.com

Also these links are at the top right of this page in the Blogroll thing.  The Oil page is up-to-date but the Shipping one is not yet.  I will be getting onto transferring the notes I have from my laptop onto the blog soon. I must say I am becoming quite enamoured with this blogging idea. [17/2] Yes, I am still enamoured and the Oil and BDI pages have proven to be a handy reference.