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Two excellent articles from Yawning Bread

Street work ain't for us - no wonder it always seems so much more fun and relaxed walking along the streets of many of our neighbouring countries as well as places like Hong Kong and Taiwan... on these streets, interesting stuff can be discovered at every nook and cranny and usually, at great prices too.. but what to do... most of our civil servants are kiasi people and would much rather not approve something seemingly "different" or "alternative" (no matter how harmless it actually looks or is) than to risk allowing it and then get into any type of trouble or "inconvenience"... apologies if i don't seem grateful to live in this wonderful country.. i love Singapore.. its a great place that allows me to earn enough so i can get away to see my more interesting neighbours ever so often.. :) hahaha.. whee... anyway, if you're here reading my views, trust me (cos i think i've jetted around the world a fair bit in the three decades plus years of my life so far).... go out into the world, with an open-mind and a willingness to really 'see'... don't ignore the smiles of the people you come across, especially if it makes you wonder what makes many of them so happy and cheerful despite not having as much materially as we do here in our little island... their lifts and amenities may not work as well.. their streets may have more litter.. crime rate may not be so low.. they may even have occasional electricity outages... but many of them have more joy and contentment and tolerance in their hearts.. and so many are infinitely more patient and adaptable and daring and creative than many of us here..

Sex is all around, get over it - the kind of parents that annoy me 'cos they are forever overreacting and blaming the world around them (teachers, peers, media, society etc) and never looking at their own child or the way they've brought them up... the joke's back on her anyway.. for goodness sake, if i'm a parent, i'll grab the opportunity to educate my child than try to shield them forever! oh well, maybe people "become" like that once they turn into parents? who knows? anyway, i love the line that goes "(the claim that the) young (will be) bewildered would only be true if parents imprisoned their children in world of disinformation.".. in response to this ST forum letter from another guy who felt that showing "alternative" lifestyles on TV will "shock" children.. seriously, as an educator, I would much rather acknowledge that the young of today are exposed to a lot more, be it from the media, from their peers etc, than to pretend they are still blank slates, fresh and innocent like the day they were born! i think it's time the parents themselves wake up instead!