> i heart my country
the temptation to wax lyrical about the nation's birthday today; is basically non-existent. for when i dig thru my mindbile and rummage thru the wastes within, i find myself wanting; when it comes to superfluous words to describe my joy of the nation's 40th.
for sure i heart my country. no doubt.
tho to be totally fair, it hadn't always been the smoothest of relationships (and believe me i've been thru quite a few in my wretched lovelife), but in the end we embrace each other in silent understanding ... and it is for this love i remember the various peeps who've passed thru my life, who've hated singapore.
and they say it, out loud ... even if they don't mean it. but i am not them, so i do not know for sure if they truly hate their mother-country. and they happen to be all women! well-educated-women, who want more than what this lil' island can afford or provide ...
singapore is too boring
singapore is too stifling
singapore is too expensive
there is no future in singapore
there are no good men in singapore heh.
and to be fair, i would agree with them on all fronts!
is there nothing else to do at night except partying and get pissed drunk? is there is nothing else besides the cafe-alfresco-life we all suddenly seem to lead? and of coz it's fcuking expensive = tis becoz we make it so, innit? "development" ALWAYS has it's price ... and the only thing that seperates us from others are geography and ideologically? we be spoilt brats who wallow in the comforts of a wannabe firstworld country, innit? while trying to crawl out of the 3rdworld mentality that we refuse to acknowledge the existence of and we wave our fists in indignity, not realizing too that other firstworld-ideologies are not as "cutting edge" as they seem to be in the first place? for development at most times, ignores the human aspect of the world and begs for "advancement" for the sake of humanity, whildst leaving the basic core values behind?
screw culture, screw tradition, embrace money?
becoz sure as heck as culture and tradition CAN be bought and paid for now, with a hipper, newer re-imaging, with an edgier slant and spin, happenin' soundtrack thumpin' fromn the sideline-subconsciousness and we're all set for the new millennium, aren't we? aren't we all so rich?
we are so muthafcuking poor we have no idea.
but of coz i might just be a sourgrapes gripping til one day when crisp-50-dollar-bills come raining down on me and me alone = I WISH AH!
(and i ain't talking religion here, so dun start pls. thanx)
for we are no different than anyone else geographically, or ideologically, aren't we? or that our lives are what we see on teevee and read in the newspapers and online blogs? the irony being, peeps outside of singapore seem to think so ... but is it so? ... perception is in the eye of the perceiver, most times ...
but then again, that's just me rant, innit?
and this oft said amongst the older-folk: "its better to just die, than to get sick in singapore"
and dun get me started on the "no-good-men"-part ... becoz imagine the footsteps swung the other way around? (and i dun mean "batting for the home team" yah?) dare we men say: "there are no good women around for us"? ... of coz we dare not! becoz we are but silent-pussy-whipped manwhores wallowing in a corner where the womenfolk had left us, innit? HAH!
i have long sinced stopped asking myself why i am still single at this virile age ... and tis not becoz i refuse to "change" (as all peeps can ever HOPE), but rather peeps refusing to see BEYOND just what they "see" and everyone "judges" dun they? don't YOU? and the benefit goes beyond not that of physical appearance and monetary status ... but then again, it's all about "tolerance" as well, innit? (and it sure as hell ain't about me, innit? HAH *bleh*) ... the threshold in which all our judgements are based on ...
and hence the "tolerance" of all things singapore, when we proceed to describe "the singapore way of life and how we live it everyday". and i ain't speaking for anyone else besides myself. obviously not for the folks sat down in the national day parade and partaking of the festivities right now; as telecast on the telly ... for which i'd rather be watching depeche mode live in paris on dvd (which i am now, actually :p) instead. but does that mean i dun heart my country any lesser?
as for the "no future in singapore", i too am begining to believe and slowly but surely wholely support this opinion ... but that is another entire entry for another time ...
and so on this day of the nation's birthday, i can only look back at what i have "achieved" (as surely as the television programs and newspapers would do too, waxing lyrical and all) and look at what i have now ... and as sure as it ain't fantabulous (in the big scheme of normality), i can only but smile a simple smile of (current) contentment and realize that i and my family are still breathing and am laughing at the parade going on on the telly ... and mayhap, that is what is enuff? mayhap that is what the nation's b-day means to me = the seeming comfort that the country has provided for me/us and that we ain't actually that bad off ... so that's all good, innit?
for as sure as i cringe at the celebrations going on now (and know that i've never partaked of any on-location celebrations in my entire life), i too smile another silent smile, for we are "celebrating" and not "mourning" the state of the world; as it is now ... even if that "world" is just this small island on which we live in ... innit?
and the crowd goes wild
:)
for sure i heart my country. no doubt.
tho to be totally fair, it hadn't always been the smoothest of relationships (and believe me i've been thru quite a few in my wretched lovelife), but in the end we embrace each other in silent understanding ... and it is for this love i remember the various peeps who've passed thru my life, who've hated singapore.
and they say it, out loud ... even if they don't mean it. but i am not them, so i do not know for sure if they truly hate their mother-country. and they happen to be all women! well-educated-women, who want more than what this lil' island can afford or provide ...
singapore is too boring
singapore is too stifling
singapore is too expensive
there is no future in singapore
and to be fair, i would agree with them on all fronts!
is there nothing else to do at night except partying and get pissed drunk? is there is nothing else besides the cafe-alfresco-life we all suddenly seem to lead? and of coz it's fcuking expensive = tis becoz we make it so, innit? "development" ALWAYS has it's price ... and the only thing that seperates us from others are geography and ideologically? we be spoilt brats who wallow in the comforts of a wannabe firstworld country, innit? while trying to crawl out of the 3rdworld mentality that we refuse to acknowledge the existence of and we wave our fists in indignity, not realizing too that other firstworld-ideologies are not as "cutting edge" as they seem to be in the first place? for development at most times, ignores the human aspect of the world and begs for "advancement" for the sake of humanity, whildst leaving the basic core values behind?
screw culture, screw tradition, embrace money?
becoz sure as heck as culture and tradition CAN be bought and paid for now, with a hipper, newer re-imaging, with an edgier slant and spin, happenin' soundtrack thumpin' fromn the sideline-subconsciousness and we're all set for the new millennium, aren't we? aren't we all so rich?
we are so muthafcuking poor we have no idea.
but of coz i might just be a sourgrapes gripping til one day when crisp-50-dollar-bills come raining down on me and me alone = I WISH AH!
(and i ain't talking religion here, so dun start pls. thanx)
for we are no different than anyone else geographically, or ideologically, aren't we? or that our lives are what we see on teevee and read in the newspapers and online blogs? the irony being, peeps outside of singapore seem to think so ... but is it so? ... perception is in the eye of the perceiver, most times ...
but then again, that's just me rant, innit?
and this oft said amongst the older-folk: "its better to just die, than to get sick in singapore"
and dun get me started on the "no-good-men"-part ... becoz imagine the footsteps swung the other way around? (and i dun mean "batting for the home team" yah?) dare we men say: "there are no good women around for us"? ... of coz we dare not! becoz we are but silent-pussy-whipped manwhores wallowing in a corner where the womenfolk had left us, innit? HAH!
i have long sinced stopped asking myself why i am still single at this virile age ... and tis not becoz i refuse to "change" (as all peeps can ever HOPE), but rather peeps refusing to see BEYOND just what they "see" and everyone "judges" dun they? don't YOU? and the benefit goes beyond not that of physical appearance and monetary status ... but then again, it's all about "tolerance" as well, innit? (and it sure as hell ain't about me, innit? HAH *bleh*) ... the threshold in which all our judgements are based on ...
and hence the "tolerance" of all things singapore, when we proceed to describe "the singapore way of life and how we live it everyday". and i ain't speaking for anyone else besides myself. obviously not for the folks sat down in the national day parade and partaking of the festivities right now; as telecast on the telly ... for which i'd rather be watching depeche mode live in paris on dvd (which i am now, actually :p) instead. but does that mean i dun heart my country any lesser?
as for the "no future in singapore", i too am begining to believe and slowly but surely wholely support this opinion ... but that is another entire entry for another time ...
and so on this day of the nation's birthday, i can only look back at what i have "achieved" (as surely as the television programs and newspapers would do too, waxing lyrical and all) and look at what i have now ... and as sure as it ain't fantabulous (in the big scheme of normality), i can only but smile a simple smile of (current) contentment and realize that i and my family are still breathing and am laughing at the parade going on on the telly ... and mayhap, that is what is enuff? mayhap that is what the nation's b-day means to me = the seeming comfort that the country has provided for me/us and that we ain't actually that bad off ... so that's all good, innit?
for as sure as i cringe at the celebrations going on now (and know that i've never partaked of any on-location celebrations in my entire life), i too smile another silent smile, for we are "celebrating" and not "mourning" the state of the world; as it is now ... even if that "world" is just this small island on which we live in ... innit?
and the crowd goes wild
:)
