on a roll....

yes i realize this is post two in one day but technically it is two days where you are so whateves... i attempted to take an 'of the moment' pic of myself to share with you -- but as per usual blogger isnt letting me upload it.. which is too bad, i thought it really captured what i'm doing here (aka nothing)

i may or may not have mentionned to some of you that recently i have been feeling a little 'fed up' of singapore- i will elaborate on this when i write my bit on 'singaporisms' but for now i will recount a bit of my day that i found redeeming

i went to the pool this afternoon to swim my painfully short distance (450m- laugh if you will, but it gets me tired enough that sometimes i try to breathe underwater - which, for the record is quite uncomfortable not to mention impracticable!) when i was leaving one of the peeps at the gate brought to my attention that my front crawl happens to be "all wrong" (i suppose i shouldnt be surprised) anyway, after giving me several tips on my stroke, 'Ken' and i had quite a little chat about life, love and work.... here are some gems from ken

1. true love is hard to find - if you find it once, no matter how long it is, you should consider yourself lucky
2. life is like a train - you get off at different points, decide which path to take and this repeats itself over and over - there is no use dwelling on things- just accept them as part of your journey
3. ideally, do a job that could double as a hobby
4. this being said, divorce lawyers in singapore make some serious coin, read: up to 38,000 per month (his advice - that i relocate here! ... too bad i never took family law!)
5. plan to be independent and able to support yourself
6. society owes poor old people basic necessities - like drugs, for example, they've paid their dues already
7. 13 year old girls are hard to raise
8. you decide whether or not to be happy in your life, and you get just one life, so confront your emotions and decide to be happy - no excuses!!!

not bad from a 3o minute conversation at the side of the pool, eh? (my friendly face does it again)

after my pool jaunt i headed accross the street to a canteen - while i was eating 'Umar' came up to me and introduced himself-- from Ghana, he was interested to know where i was from (not too many of us africans running around NUS) ... turns out hes an economics phd student who just finished writing and submitting his phd in economic models for business and monetary policy... we had a most interesting conversation about economics, development and democracy - here's what we reflected on:

1. whether there is hope for africa ... given the lack of infrastructure or a foundation of honest politicians or informed citizenry, Umar fears that there is not
2. is democracy the be all and end all? democratic ideals might work well in the west where most people at least have 3 regular meals - but does it matter if you can demonstrate if nothing compels your government to action? the answer might just be no....
3. this leads to ideas that governments much like singapore's (i.e. strong 'dictators' with rigid policies and little room for political dissent) might be a better model for african countries ... some have began to study this -- he used the term 'looking to the east'

this discussion interfaced nicely with a documentary i watched this morning on singapore (loving this internet tv thing) which discussed the social policies of the government here... i found myself wondering about how bad it is that people here dont have much of a say against their government... and maybe for singapore the time has come for people to challenge the status quo... but i hadnt considered that maybe for other countries in the world, this place could serve as an example, at least a more relevant one in terms of lifting people out of poverty....

so my trip to the pool led to some very interesting conversations, quite different from the crazies that are typically the only people who approach me at home... nice work, singapore!