"The problem was that in trying to be someone else, I neglected to concentrate on the person I could be. That idea was too frightening to contemplate at the time. I was going along with the conventions of the time, measuring success in terms of money and position, climbing ladders which others placed in my way, collecting things and contacts rather than giving expression to my own beliefs and personality." - Charles Handy

i can certainly identify with this man. aren't there famous ladders in our lives: the psle, 'o' levels, 'a' levels, college degree, phd, career, getting elected for important positions, earning a million bucks before turning 30/40/50, and clocking in the most hours on our company time reports.....and how many of us can honestly say that most of them weren't thrust in our paths by others for us to climb to their satisfaction? i mean, if there was a global 500 ranking for countries with the highest proportion of people pursuing careers they didn't like, singapore would probably come out tops - in first or second place...

not that i think it could have totally avoided; our beloved country has such unique geopolitical and physical constraints that most of us who aspire to become farmers, poets or artists find that our primary passions usually have to give way to more pragmatic considerations. singapore is like a capital without a country - in that the entire country is the capital of singapore. this means that while stressed-out bankers and lawyers in the city of london, for example, can retreat to the countryside to enjoy nature or to visit their relatives, singaporeans have no where else to go - except to their local cinema or hawker food centre. if one wishes to pursue a less materialistic and slower-paced lifestyle, he would have to migrate to another country where his artistic passions can be pursued with more encouragement and recognition (say, australia for swimming and italy for fine art). but instead of simplifying this phenomenon into a black-and-white issue of "stayers and quitters", perhaps our government should ask themelves why the city of singapore could not be more like the city of manhattan new york, which "is smaller than Singapore, yet there is space for both Wall Street Wizards and Alphabet City Shamans to coexist." (http://www.colingoh.com/paved_with_good_intentions.htm)

and so, as a daughter of singapore, i mechanically fulfilled all my duties like a filial child...ascending every rung of every ladder that was placed before me by parents, teachers, the government and even friends. but at the end of it, even after scoring 'a's and 'a's for extra-curricuar activities and subjects like physics, geography, mathematics and chemistry, how much satisfaction did these give me in terms of propelling me towards becoming the person i wanted to become? not much.................

 
Here, froggie froggie

i can't wait to show my husband this quote from Richard Turney, a 21-year-old student at his alma mater who was barred from contesting the election for the presidency of Cambridge University's Union Society:

"I wanted to dress like Kermit because he's a Muppet, just like the people running this election."

(Richard had filed his candidacy using the name Kermit and went to the elections dressed as a frog!)

Rating: MAMBO!

 
Okay, who is the clever sod who would know this......why do athletes run anticlockwise on the track?

 
hah. Was very traumatised when I found this out but......baby carrots don't exist...apparently some years back some joker at a food processing factory cut out a very carrot-like shape from a live sized carrot and ever since then, they have been mass produced for our dinner plates. *shudder*...mini-me syndrome....