Equatorial Musings

I'm not sure if everyone knows about this, but it's about what the US Feds is doing to kick-start the American economy. For those who know, yes again. In case you would like to know what it really means, here's a hilarious version . Suffice to say, it's tantamount to printing money at the end of the day, with all the negative implications that come with it. If you recall your basic economics, more money means lower interest rate. This makes it easier for companies to borrow and less attractive for consumers to save. All in, it's meant to keep everyone spending more so that the economy continues to be buoyant. While the first round of QE had done wonders, the questions is whether resorting to it again spells trouble. As we all know, too much of a good thing is never good for you. And QE is not even unequivocably good, so go figure.

Last Sunday, I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5.30 am. And the reason was I had to drive down to Suntec City, park my car and get ready for a 10 km run. Yup, you guessed it. I was one of the thousands of participants at the Singapore Bay Run. For sacrificing sleep and sleeping early on a Saturday night, I get to be one of those to run across the Marina Bay. For those who read my earlier posts, you would know that I like to run (as well as read and reminisce). In recent years, my running has been intermittent at best. Before my personal crisis, I had run a lot more. In fact, I used to run up to 5 times a week. At one point, I lost so much weight people asked if I was sick. But I digress. Truth be told, I love running. But this was not always the case. It was something that grew on me. When I was young, I tried running but didn't get very far, both distance and determination wise. But after I persevered and continued running, I was able to run longer. And I started enjoying it so

Last Sunday, I was driving along Choa Chu Kang North 7 ( CCKN 7) after taking a look at Barang Barang's pre -renovation sale at its Sungei Kadut showroom. For those who know of this high-end furnishing chain, it was recently in financial woes and has been sold off to its more mainstream competitor, Novena Furnishing. Anyways, I had just passed Regent Grove, a condominium near the corner of CCKN 7, and saw that a car had stopped by the side of the road to alight a passenger. I immediately applied the brakes and my car stopped half a car's length before the front car. But alas, the car behind me obviously was not paying attention. Because it slammed into the back of my Ford Focus about 4 seconds after I stopped my car. My car, of course, hit the back of the car in front. As neither my friend and I were aware that there was a car behind us, the impact caught us off-guard and we suffered whiplash consequently. Not that the effect was immediate though. I thought I was fine

I recently came into possession of a new passport courtesy of ICA . It was during the fateful week when the agency was closed to walk-in applicants. I was permitted access because I had applied online the week before and was given the much-coveted pink slip inviting me to collect my new pass to the ports of the world. In a way, my new passport signified a new start to my life. The old one was peppered with the immigration stamps of various countries I had visited with my then wife. They ranged from neighbouring countries like Indonesia and Malaysia to more far-flung ones like the UK and Maldives. The stamps represented bits and pieces of my life, albeit the better ones, as they are recollections of holiday trips past and gone. Looking at them now, however, forces uncomfortable questions into my mind as to what the hell had happened along the way. But it's futile to torture one's mind with questions that cannot be answered in retrospect simply because we don't have the benef

I recently bought 2 pots of hydrangeas from Sinflora , which is located near Sengkang , and which is easily accessible from where I stay. I've always wanted to have hydrangeas in the house for as long as I remember. I had considered other plants to brighten up my new place, but nothing caught my fancy as much as hydrangeas. For those who've never seen this wonderful plant with ball-like flowers, you don't know what you're missing ; ) Take a look at what I've got to the left and I guarantee that you'd be tempted to go get a pot or 2. For one, they're unique in that they can yield different colour flowers depending on the acidity of the soil. The more acidic the soil, the bluer the flowers. If you add alkaline to the soil, you'll get pink ones. And who can forget the ball-like blooms that reward you for watering the plants frequently and having them well-fertilised. They're happy flowers and add colour to even the most dull environment, not to mentio

As we enter the Tiger Year, I can't help thinking of all the Tiger ladies I've met in the course of my life. [I'm not being sexiest here, but I don't have many Tiger male friends, so I can't really comment on them.] Although I'm not into Chinese horoscope, and the Chinese believe that people born in the year of the 12 zodiac animals have some of their traits, most of the Tiger ladies I've come across do exhibit certain feline characteristics. They're strong and smart, but also highly competitive and territorial. In fact, woebegone to anyone who crosses their path. They're fiercely loyal but can nurse grudges, so you need to be on your toes if you work with them. If they're your friends, then you probably enjoy some latitude. But even then, you shouldn't take things for granted because as the Chinese also say, "one mountain cannot have 2 tigers". What I admire most about my Tiger lady acquaintances, colleagues and friends is the fact

I recently moved house after imposing on my brother and my sister-in-law for slightly more than a year. I put off buying a new place initially because I had read about how the property market usually lagged the stock market, and it was supposed to tank in the later part of 2009. But I forgot that economic conditions are dynamic and every recession is different. The one that we just came out of, which threatened to be worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s, elicited unprecedented responses from governments around the world. Over here in our island state, the government introduced the Jobs Credit System, which subsidised companies so that they need not retrench as many workers. This also meant that people can continue to service their housing loans and even buy more properties. So instead of tanking, the market actually went up in tandem with the recovery of the stock market. So I had to decide in Sep 09 whether I should use some of my savings to buy a new place. This was tricky b