Hey you kaypohchi internet blog visitor:


ghettoblaster.blogspot.com will be closing down!

Well not really closing down, but will be idle for now as I'll be moving to

thephunkypharmacist.wordpress.com

A pharmacist is traditionally defined as one who runs a pharmacy. We cannot define a pharmacist as one who practices pharmacy. Rather, he must be defined as one who practices a part of pharmacy which is determined by the activities carried on in one of the subsystems of pharmacy.

WHAT THE FUCK

doesn't that mean the same thing

Reflections: The Sessions @ Parliament

Political Science is an area which I find interesting and would love to explore. Unfortunately I have issues with expressing myself in public, and that I would not want to ridicule a public policy without ridiculing myself.

I started liking Political Sciences after I took up the module ‘Government and Politics of Singapore’.

‘What the F**k is there to study about?’

There’s no government in any country that is not sly, Singapore included. And no matter how transparent, honest and truthful a government is, the dominant party will do anything to ensure its supremacy retention in the parliament. This is, of course, in an Asian/South-East Asian perspective.

I went down to the Parliament this morning after being informed by my lecturer that there will be a sitting in the afternoon. During this sitting, the public is allowed to be spectators from atop, but not allowed to participate in the discussion. The objective of opening up the sitting to the public was to allow transparency in the parliament, and to ‘show how incompetent the opposition can be’, as rephrased and quoted by Lee Kuan Yew when such allowance was introduced in the late 1980s.

Developing nations, including Malaysia will never open up its cabinet sittings anytime soon as the members of parliament (MP) are not ready and mature enough to allow the public to view the process of passing legislations and making decisions for the nations. Hence, I must admire the decision by the Singapore government to be so open about such delicate decisions.

That aside, I wanted to watch this particular sitting as the government was going to debate and propose a controversial issue that existed since the early 1990s: the increase of ministers’ salaries. Proposed in 1994 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, he claimed that the civil service required a salary increment that is pegged/benchmarked to the private sector as then only can the civil service attract top talent to produce top services. He further claimed that if ministers are not paid well, the government will be corrupt and inefficient (direct target to a country I call home LOL). Even though some may argue that it is the national interest that what brings people to the civil services, however patriotic a person can be money is the ultimate attraction. This means to say, the government would have to pay this lawyer who earns 2 million a year in an international law firm 2 million as well to work in the government sector. Opposition retaliated saying money should be better spent else where instead of rewarding ministers who are ‘already earning a stable income for the next 5 years’. The people were skeptical about such a decision and hence gave the opposition some sort of support.

Anyway, they did increase during that term, now after subsequent increases, they want to increase the salaries again. This time, they want to increase the civil servants as well, especially management executives, management supports, and home teams (police, prisons etc).

The salary increment is benchmarked with the top eight (or is it six?) professionals in the country. And thru some formula they created, will determine how much far off is the civil servants underpaid as compared to the private sectors.

The proposal was put forward by the Minister for Defense. He proposed how much percentage should the civil servants salaries be increased, including the ministers and their parliamentary counterparts. As informative and substance as he can be, he was utterly boring the S**t out of me. But I did manage to catch a few stuffs here and there like how much increment should go to where etc.

Further responses came from the members. Most argued that there should be a better way to benchmark the increase in civil servants’ salaries, especially the ministers’, as it is a matter of national controversy. One MP argued that it wasn’t the right timing of such a proposal, as the government just imposed a 7% GST Tax this coming June/July. The People might take it that the hike in tax will be used to fund the ministers’ pocket.

I was actually waiting for the Opposition to say something as they have been against the idea of paying civil talents as much as private talents. Low Thia Khiang, argued that ‘even if you upgrade from giving peanuts to bananas, you might still hire monkeys!’

In fact, that was the only thing I remembered from his speech.

I am MOST DISAPPOINTED with today’s sitting. The opposition was not ready to attack the government with their beliefs. Or rather, they have switched their stand to ‘supporting the government’ and ‘believing that there should be other ways to justify the increase in ministers’ salaries’ (which has been covered by other PAP members). His report and findings were not concrete enough, giving the super-power Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew an advantage to counter his argument.

‘Which country is the only one who transformed a third-world into first world within one generation? If we don’t do this (increase salary), we’ll downgrade into another south-east Asian’ (somehow I feel that he was Zha-ing Malaysia)

Besides that, his command for English was weak. I just have something against such people (even though I’m not that proficient). The Parliament allows the members to speak in four types of languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. I

Perhaps the party didn’t have enough time and energy to research. Perhaps he should not have cited other countries as an example. Perhaps because he was opposition. Perhaps, there just isn’t anything to go against in this issue.

‘I support the increase in salaries, but I feel that there should be other ways to come up with
how much you should increase it by’ that’s my notion.

I agree that by paying top salaries, you can get top talents to run the country. No Ali, Ah Seng or Muthu will work for the government just because of patriotism and nationalism. If you don’t want to give them monetary benefits, you should give them non-monetary ones. But then again, minister cars and holiday houses at Malibu beaches are more controversial than salary increment don’t you think? The other alternative is to give them an attractive retirement ‘after-life’ scheme – something beyond the pension. I’m not really dear with the way they come up with the formula/equation for the increase in the salaries, but if the People have been against this way since 1994, they should realize by now that it is now the right way to do it.

‘The People get the idea that you need to pay a high sum to get top talent, but prove it in another way’

All in all, my visit to the Parliament wasn’t an enjoyable one, coupled with the embarrassment I had getting lost in the building. I felt that the Opposition wasn’t strong enough, or rather competent enough. It is true that you need an opposition in the government for transparency, but if he/she is just not capable/experienced enough, I suggest that he/she just sit down there and follow the pragmatism concept that what makes PAP so successful and sly for the past 4 decades. Perhaps I should give them allowance considering that their presence in the parliament hasn’t been that long. But how long do they need before they can overtake the current government? We never know.

And when the Lord calls upon you, so shall you must.

I took this during our Photo trips to the Malay Village. I thought it was an interesting perspective of the Masjid Sultan with the Stop sign next to it. Most Muslims being faithful and loyal devotees to the Lord Allah, usually pray five times a day. From early morning till late evening. Going to the Mosque to 'renew your faith' is a must every Friday. In the Muslim world, the world stops for you so that you can pray to the only one you love. While the world progresses forward, the mosque stays as a place of tranquility and retreat for the Muslims who are so caught up with their stressed life. At least with a mosque, it gives them time to reflect upon themselves, and wonder whether have they did nothing that is against the Lord's intentions.

I once find Islam rather interesting. While serving my NS, I had to mix with a lot (and I mean ALOT) of Muslim friends. Sometimes I do ask them like 'why do you need to pray five times a day' and 'why can't you eat pork ah' and 'what's the deal of halal' blablabla. Rather than them replying like those hardcore protestants (who would probably ask me to go to a church to get my questions answered), each gave me their own interpretation of what Islam is to them (which are mostly the same).

Don't worry I'm not changing my faith. My I/C still reads 'Buddhist'

Another entry from another library

Hell yeah we do.

air liur meleleh

If you're wandering why my blog isn't like my girl's, it's because I get writer's block everytime I want to write something.

And I want to do 56K killers, just that I've no time to do it!

But I love taking pictures, that's why I got meself a SEK800i, that way I can take anything anywhere anytime!

I join Sheares Photo Comm for a reason: to explore my photography skills. I loved it, just that this comm comes with so many tasks like take pic of this hall event la that activity la blablabla. Of course we do have crashcourses in learning the basic techniques in photography la!

I want to explore sceneries which I can take. I want to be able to mingle with people and just talk about photography. I want the picture that I take to be more than a thousand words.

I want a Digital SLR CAMERA! WOOSH

Pharmacists Trying It Metro

I have very few guy friends in pharmacy. Well partly because there are only 30/120 or so guys in the cohort, and alot of them have cliques or speak too much chinese. (L-R: Shane, DJCK, Kelvin) In class I only hang out with the Sheares Kent Ridge gang (which are predominantly girls) because we are usually late together. So that's why our relationship is closer I guess!

And then there is the Physiology Group Teammate's Friends which I hangout with as well, not as often, but quite fun people to talk to. Again, predominantly girls.

And of course my lab neighbours, which again are six girls and two guys within the vicinity. Sheesh...

And I am blamed for being busy

Bored at central library

Woke up to fine spore still drizzling. Fuck what's wrong with the chinese new year weather! Decided to skip morning lectures and went to central library to prep myself for the german test i had later in the evening. Somehow german is harder to grasp compared to japanese! Even though the the language somehow resembles english. Maybe i'm just not putting enough effort to it. I once wanted to go to Austria for the summer just to learn german and it's culture. Maybe then i can be more proficient in german? A visit by tiang lim in the library was a quickie as he forgot to bring his calculator and he doesn't like the one i had. Cibai it's just a calculator! Tiang lim and i have been getting closer eversince i stepped foot in nus. So close that you wouldn't wanna know what we do when we're free lol. I miss dunman days too, where chun leen is my roommate, and britney, lh, jon and the rest are just a shoutout away. No doubt that we're living in the same hall, but our rooms are so far apart, making it harder to be close too, what's more with our different hall commitments and class schedule. That's why i wonder sometimes how come i'm getting closer to tiang even though he lives at the other side of the hill lol. Guess he's lonely too Haha.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! I would like to apologise to all who were deprived of the chronicles of ghettoblaster@blogspot! Much has been happening during Semester 2 in aNUS! And now that I'm halfway thru the semester, I can say that I've finally SETTLED down for Semester 2!

And the new version of blogspot sucks! I don't know how to upload my pics anymore! I need help! So much has changed with blogspot. Shows how 'karat' I am!

This semester we have a module called 'Pharmacy Practice!' This is the module where I find out that we pharmacists also have to 'chat hai' and suck up to the customers. Seriously, are customers always right?'

Patient: I want my Postinor (Morning After Pill) and I want it now!

Pharm: I'm sorry miss.. erm... or maam, but you need prescription from a doctor in Singapore.
Patient: WhaT! You gotta be kidding me! Look, it's your fault when I'm pregnant with the ugliest and stupidest baby coz of he's god-knows-who's-tat-small-dickhead-fella father!

Pharm: I'm really sorry miss, if you want I could call the nearest GP for an appointment with you? Or I can tell you where is the nearest polyclinic?

FUCK LA.

DJCK: Go to hell. I already said you need prescription! And who ask you to have a one-night stand with some bloody monkey from some longkang? NO TASTE PFFFFFFFFT! Next time keep your pussy to yourself and your fingers!!!

Anyway, we also get to learn how to dispense and make drugs! This is by far the coolest lab practical I ever had! We did stuffs like capsules, inhalations, gargles, mouth-wash etc.

That's my working place on my left. It's made to simulate a Pharmacy's I guess.

Hey all loyal readers,

Ghettoblaster has a new look. Expect an update soon!

The Crew.

Immigrant

It's been awhile since I've posted a REAL post.

Life sucks big time.
I'm running from A to B then C then A then C then A.
I want my simple life back!

Black (or brown so he claimed) Karthik went jogging the other day and stopped by Prince George's Park for an expensive drink. What we saw was what I called 'a moment in time'. The vast international community was walking around the foyer... CHATTING AND LAZING AROUND

I think I will move to PGP in my last year =)

Anyway, Inter-Hall Games have been going on for god knows how long. And I love being transported like an illegal immigrant.















This is Weiming.








View from behind and the side.

























Woah HDB!

Woosh my uncreative update

Some people live for the fortune,
some people live just for the fame,
some people live for the power,
some people live just to play the game.

Some people want it all,
but i don't want nothing at all,
if it ain't you baby,
if i ain't got you baby.

Some people search for a fountain,
promises forever yours,
some people need a dozen roses,
and that's the only way to prove you love him.

Some people want diamond rings,
some just want everything,
but everything means nothing,
if i ain't got you.

Happy Valentines Day Girlfriend!

Jo.Ck forever!

I love NUS. Because I have good company and reliable seniors.

It's great to have a senior-mentor that is so slack. Meet Choon Han, my senior-mentor in Pharmacy who so happens to live in Sheares Hall and is my carpentry boss. The good thing about this Johorian is that DJCK-humour is also Choon-Han-humour. We already had our first 'blow' experience mind you (ok inside joke).

DJCK playing with his tools, mind you the studio box is like a freaking suffocating sauna! So hot and so air-less! I'm on air, or rather on internet waves, every wednesday @ 1pm and every thursday @ 4pm! Stay tune! Only if you are within NUS vicinity la!

I love NUS.

Coz the milo truck comes frequently. And I have free milo to consume. Yummy.

Cup #1: Highest utility
Cup #2: Decreasing utility but slight fall in margins
Cup #3: Still decreasing but the desire for another stays
Cup #4: Because friend said so. Milo became a social thing
Cup #5: Stomach starts acting weird. Marginal utility falls deep
Cup #6: FUCK WHERE'S THE TOILET

I love Milo. I love NUS.

Happy Birthday Girlfriend.