SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

When the authorities introduced the “Do not call” registry, I signed up to be one of those Singaporeans who do not want to receive advertising messages. I was hence surprised that the authorities seems to have an about-turn in this “Do not call” policy by announcing that it would exempt some businesses from the registry. I think the authorities are not firm in implementing this Do not Call registry.

I have not been really blogging on Singapore Short Stories as this blog has become simply too large to manage with many many posts. I have been trying to see how best I can set a new direction for this blog, while preserving that unique Singapore Short Stories flavour characteristic of this blog. As such, I have been experimenting with some blogs here and there. So far, the feedback that I have gotten from all this experimentation will collectively shape my decision on Singapore Short Stories blog.

Dinosaurs have come to Singapore:

Barbie Mariaposa & the Fairy Princess is now in Singapore, Raffles City! Catch a sneak preview below:

It has really been some time since I blog on Singapore Short Stories blog. I still remember the time when I started this blog, the motivation is to encapsulate in a nutshell (this blog) the fun of living in Singapore; to illustrate this, you can take a look at the tabs on the horizontal menu of the top of this blog .... I have not really put up all the related postings there as this blog has far too many postings.... since year 2007... there have been a total of 2,500 postings!

Kinetic Rain woman :I think by now, many of us would have known about the woman who stood on the kinetic rain drops in Changi Airport Terminal One, created a scene and damaged some of these expensive artistic rain drops before being arrested. Her act has endangered some passengers, some was reported saying.

I would like to wish all Singaporeans a Happy Deepavali!

My hair loss is getting more and more severe as I become more stressed, sleep very late, wake up early, has very little sleep, eat unhealthily and eat fast, face with lots of things to do everyday and I just feel that this is a day of a typical Singaporean here. I really think that living on this little island is very stressful though Singapore is always hailed by other countries as a very good country. It is really very very stressful to work and live in Singapore.

Tonight is a very cold night. I relish this cold night as most of the nights in Singapore are hot and humid. The coldness of tonight is on par with the nights of Hokkaido during my wife's and my trip there. I remember the nights at Mount Moiwa and the journey my wife and I walked from our hotel to a nearby KFC and along the way, the nights is cold like tonight in Singapore.

Ashley Madison is “not welcome” in Singapore, said Chan Chun Sing, Singapore’s Minister for MSF. While I am happy that Mr Chan and a few political leaders have expressed disapproval for this website to target Singaporean families, I am not sure whether our Singapore leaders will act so as to prevent Ashley Madison from introducing its concept of operation (to have married personnel having an affair with others). I think if we want to stop websites whose business models are not in keeping with the norms of most Singaporeans, we need to have some good legislations to do so.

I read the news that the authorities are considering tweaking the IPPT format. The standing broad jump may be scrapped while a pumping station will be introduced. Also, the 2.4km run may be extended to a 3.2 km run. At my age, a 2.4 km run to be completed within 12 minutes is taxing, and I wonder what will be the passing timings for the 3.2km run.

I thought I am the only person in the world to really give a strong disapproval to the new Yahoo! Email interface and functions until I read a report in the local newspapers today that thousands of netizens around the world have similarly experienced frustration and anger at the new Yahoo! Email interface and functions.

Today, I was outside and the haze seems to be back. But there was no news of the haze until night time, when it was reported in the news that there was some slight haze. In my opinion, the haze is actually not that slight. I am not really convinced at the PSI readings of today when I checked it out upon looking at the haze. I thought the PSI reading should be higher.

I can only say that these days, the weather is extremely hot! There is not much of a cloud cover and the sun bakes those who goes out on the streets. Is this due to climate change?

My family and I went to the GARDENS BY THE BAY MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL at Gardens by the Bay. There are many good lanterns in the Gardens. There are stage performances too. For this year, the top 3 must-go areas for lanterns viewing are: Gardens By the Bay to see Giant Lanterns, some are dinosaurs lanterns; Chinatown to view lights-up of traditional lanterns and Chinese Gardens to experience a Jurassic Safari (the dinosaurs there will greet visitors). Admission to the 3 above attraction is free except for Chinese Gardens. I still remember going to the Chinese Gardens some years back during the mid-autumn festival and the theme there was Hello Kitties!

Yesterday, I ordered, for lunch, a bowl of curry chicken noodles from a food centre when I was at a particular MRT station. The stall’s forte is Chicken rice as members of the public can judge from the slew of posters and laminated cards bearing the local accolades given to the stall with regards to chicken rice. Though I believe the stall should dish out good chicken rice, somehow, I have a craving for curry chicken noodles (which at $3.50 is more expensive than a plate of $2.80 chicken rice from the same stall), hence I ordered the curry chicken noodles anyway.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) has announced some plans to increase the use of our underground spaces for living, working and recreation of Singaporeans. I believe going Underground is the next frontier as Singapore looks into looking for more land for our next phase of growth. We have all the while, rely on the following strategies to fully leverage our small land size for economic growth: (a) going “vertically” via skyscrapers and taller buildings, (b) reclamation, e.g. the Marina Bay District, (c) conversion of lands for higher-density use, e.g. building new towns in Tampines North and Tengah and (d) the most recent strategy: reprioritising: moving of airbases and container terminals to far-flung areas of our island, freeing up space for higher-density use. So now, we know, Singapore will be exploring the underground spaces for our next phase of growth.

It was reported that Teletext, an information service provided by Mediacorp for decades will go in the way of the Dodo. According to the report, Mediacorp has decided not to continue providing Teletext as there is a spectrum of avenues in this digital age via which the public can consume information versus the backdrop of a declining number of Teletext users.

Heng Swee Keat will chair the SG 50: SINGAPORE’S 50TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS IN 2015 committee as reported. Swee Keat has chaired the Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) committee which has just concluded all the OSC sessions. Yesterday, some of the SG 50 committee members were introduced in a TV interview and they include well-known film makers Roystan Tan of “881” movie fame. From what I garnered from the introduction, the SG 50 committee will crystalize and distil ideas around the “Singapore Stories” themes, in the belief that all Singaporeans, young and old, have their individual and unique stories to tell and share with others.

SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES is currently improving the site layout and site experience to give you a refreshing feel of SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES! As a beginning step, horizontal tabs have been made on the top bar of the blog, linking readers to interesting, insightful and uniquely Singapore stories which has been documented on the blog. Do give me sometimes as I refresh the contents of these links from time to time as it takes time and effort to look through the many archives to dish out the Best of Singapore Short Stories. I have other plans to make Singapore Short Stories even better, so stay tuned! Regards Tom Tom

One Man’s Views of the World is the latest book of Lee Kuan Yew. I am so impressed at the extracts of the book which I have read in the newspapers that I went to a bookstore to see whether I may find the book. The bookshop staff told me that the book has been sold out and there is a reprinting of the book going on. The book features around $37 to $39 (I cannot remember the exact price told to me by the staff) and I find that the price of the book is quite okay for reading the book may give readers insights on the thinking of Singapore’s founding father. Ya, I also know that not all Singaporeans may like LKY but the fact is that it is due to LKY that Singapore manages to be what it is today. I am contented with living in Singapore but I also feel not too happy sometimes seeing that our tiny island is being built up with more and more flats and executive condominiums in many neighbourhoods and that there are more and more people here in Singapore … to the point that every public inf...

Tomorrow, Singaporeans will head back to work after a good long National Day Long Weekends , stretching from 8 Aug to today. So have you made full use of the long weekends to relax, rejuvenate or do your favourite things? For myself, though this weekend is a good opportunity for shopping and relaxing, I am not a shopping kind of person and I do not like the crowds. Thus for most of yesterday, I was musing over where I could bring my family out for an outings as all places in Singapore are getting more and more crowded and executive condominiums keep springing out from all plots of untouched land. I do feel a tinge of disappointment seeing that more and more untouched land is being touched to build more executive condominiums and seeing that Singapore is getting more and more crowded beyond what I can identify with the country.

I did not notice that there was no Red Lions at NDP 2013 yesterday till I watched the news. It was reported that the parachute item was cancelled due to the low clouds cover. Though there was no Red Lions, I saw that there was the Young Lions at the NDP yesterday. There is a Chinese saying that there cannot be two tigers on the same hill, I am not sure whether our NDP could have two Lions at the same parade too?

I have just watched our National Day Parade 2013. Compared with the parades of previous years, this year's National Day Parade is a fusion of pomp, drama and a generous feature of interactive multimedia presentations. I do not really quite like the show after all the marching as I find the themes that the parade would like to present is not clear as I feel that the organizing committee wants to do too much things in the show segment: stories, traditional display and multi-media that the theme becomes too overwhelmed. The fireworks displays though stunning still can be improved in my opinions. I still find that fireworks should not be scattered throughout the finale items of the show but there should just be one grand finale of fireworks which will leave something for all spectators and TV viewers to take away with.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE! Today is Singapore's National Day Birthday and I would like to wish all of us Singaporeans a Happy and Prosperous living in Singapore! Though I am a bit disappointed in not being able to get the National Day tickets, yet again for so many years, I will be singing the following NDP songs to celebrate National Day:

NATIONAL DAY AWARDS 2013 : you can view the list of NATIONAL DAY AWARDS 2013 winners on NATIONAL DAY AWARDS 2013 website .

I believe Dhanabalan, former Chairman of Temasek Holdings will be conferred the top National Day Awards for 2013.

National Day is around the corner but I do not see too many people displaying the National Flag. Such a gesture should come from the hearts of Singaporeans so I am quite amused to see some flats being decorated very nicely by the RCs instead.

I read that more and more Singaporeans are showing an interest in our heritage. Statistics cited include the increased visitorship figures to our museums as well as bottom-up initiatives towards the conservation of some of the iconic and cultural buildings in our country. While I am not discounting the fact that some Singaporeans may be showing an interest in our heritage, I am not sure how the rapid urbanization of Singapore has led to this interest? I am also not sure whether we could call it a growing interest of Singaporeans in our heritage or should it be a growing concern of Singaporeans over the many cultural and traditional places of our country which may give way to mass developments? Everywhere I go, I see new commercial skyscrapers, new condominiums being built on vacant plots of land, there is massive infrastructure building everywhere here in Singapore. I already think that Singapore is overly crowded enough and to think that there are many more new towns, new buildings ...

NATIONAL DAY AWARDS 2013 will be conferred on some Singaporeans who have contributed to Singapore. I believe Dhanabalan, the outgoing Chairman of Temasek Holdings will be conferred the top National Day award this year. NATIONAL DAY AWARDS 2013 : you can view the list of NATIONAL DAY AWARDS 2013 winners on NATIONAL DAY AWARDS 2013 website .

I just sniffed the air outside of my house, it smelt of haze. I went online and read that the number of hot spots in Sumatra has increased! Immediately, I went to check the PSI reading on NEA's website and the PSI reading is good. However, I think if I am not wrong, the haze may come back once again. Today is extremely hot and if there is haze, it will make the weather here even more uncomfortable for Singaporeans.

This year NDP theme song 2013 is not nice at all. I feel not much effort is directed at producing the song. This song elicits no pride from Singaporeans in my opinion. This year NDP theme song is very ordinary as compared to the great NDP songs of previous years .

ALVIVI is not a brand, ALVIVI is the name of the sex couple : ALVIN TAN JYE YEE and Vivian Lee. I think it is time for the media not to sensationalise the couple or to make them hero and heroes by coming out with the name (ALVIVI) that sounds like a brand. This is no good for our youths else they think having sex and making public personal sex acts is common and something fashionable!  This sex blog couple I think loves attention and now they are getting attention. Let us not waste precious trees publicising and promoting this couple as if we do so we seem to promote the lifestyle of these two people. Okay, for myself, I think I will stop talking about these two sex bloggers else I will be promoting them as well!

I watched the TV news yesterday showing VIVIAN LEE and her boyfriend ALVIN TAN JYE YEE escorted by Malaysian policemen as they assisted the police's investigation over a racially sensitive video which they have produced. What I felt is the greatest irony was seeing VIVIAN LEE covering her face as I thought why did she do so when she has shown the world everything of her in the sex videos she and her boyfriend have produced?

ALVIN TAN JYE YEE has made news again, this time its over a video of him and his girlfriend,  VIVIAN LEE  over a dish. Last October, I have blogged about ALVIN TAN JYE YEE about the sex videos created by him and his girlfriend. I am surprised that almost a year on, ALVIN TAN is back with another new video which yet again sparked controversy. I wonder whether this time ALVIN TAN JYE YEE will face a punishment.

Ever since TIM HO WAN , the Hong Kong Tim Sum restaurant opened its flagship store in Plaza Singapura in Singapore in April this year, to rave reviews and much fanfare, hype and publicity, my family and I have been thinking about dining in this world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant for quite some time. We are aware of the long snaking queues which could cause waiting time to average from one hour to two hours but we know that in order to dine in TIM HO WAN , the queuing and waiting is part of the equation (just as how Singaporeans queue for their McDonald’s Hello Kitties). In food-loving Singapore, many Singaporeans like me just want to taste how good the tim sums dished out by one of the Best Hong Kong’s Tim Sum restaurants of Michelin pedigree are. I, in particular just cannot get enough of Hong Kong’s food ever since my tour of Hong Kong some years ago. So it is with high anticipation that we visited TIM HO WAN .

These two days, the weather is very nice. It rains in the mornings and the weather for the rest of day is very nice. I think the haze has gone back after a holiday in Singapore. I think Singapore will not be experiencing a haze of PSI around 300 to 401 as the firespots in Indonesia has receded.

I have now some New $1 coins in my wallet. While there are both praises and criticism for the new $1 coins and other new coins, I wonder whether the possibility of getting heads or tails with the new coins is still 50% since the coins are now made of two kinds of different metals and not of a uniform metal.

Recently, I saw a person wearing the uniform of a popular fast food restaurant here taking the reserved seat of a train while there were many people who require the seat more standing around him. To his “credit” the person was sleeping or was seen sleeping. Though it is this person’s personal code of conduct which was subject to public scrutiny, I could not help but associate the person’s behaviour with his organization. Somehow I did not have a good impression of the organization by looking at the organization’s employees taking on that coveted reserved seat. It did not quite bode well for the organization. Though if the person did not wear his uniform, he was not less culpable for his action, humans tend to associate a perpetuator of non-social acts with the things that they could associate him to.

Though Singapore hawkers (hawkers of Tian Tian Chicken rice and Katong 328 Laksa) have triumped over Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay, to me, it seems that Gordon Ramsay is the real Hawker Hero instead. Why do I say so? Well, how do you expect a hero to be greeted when he is in a public place? Yes, a hero will be mobbed by the public in masses and that was the treatment Gordon received when he was in Maxwell Hawker Centre last week. Don’t you think Gordon is being treated like a hero?

I read the newspapers today which carry reporting of the win by Singapore’s Hawkers against Michelin-starred Gordon Ramsay in yesterday’s Hawker Heroes competition. Singapore’s Hawkers won two of the three dishes in the competition with Gordon Ramsay winning the hearts of the 1,000 voters for his chilli crabs dish. Though the verdict is that Singapore Hawkers have won, but if we are to look at the winning margin of 66.6%, we will know that this winning margin is similar to the winning margin we see in the General Election, after which a “new normal” of politics (i.e. more bottom-up initiatives rather than top-down initiatives) are seen.

HAWKER HEROES LIVE STREAMING? I could not get to Newton Food Centre to witness the live competition between Gordon Ramsay and our top 3 hawkers but according to Singtel's website, it will be streaming the competiton live on Hawker Heroes website from 7pm to 7.30pm. I started tuning into the website from 7pm but the website seems down and access was not available. I logged in, refreshed the website many many times, all this time eating my dinner and going up to my laptop and busy with my fingers to refresh the website. At last, at 7.30pm, I finally managed to watch an interview of Gordon Ramsay with SeeToh and then in just 1 minutes, to my surprise, SeeToh thanked the viewers and the live streaming ended with a note for viewers to come back at 8.58pm to catch the results on the website or at MioTV channel.

Yesterday night, I tasted what could be the WORST RAMEN in Singapore. I would not be naming the name of the Ramen stall but what I would say is that I tasted this ramen of a popular ramen chain in Singapore at a food court in a high class shopping centre visited by many tourists. The first sign of poor experience to come was when I ordered a $8 ramen. When I told one of the two service staff (they do not look like Singaporeans) that I would like to place an order for the ramen, the service staff did not even want to take a look at me and ignored me. It was only after 5 minutes that he decided to take my order. From their body languages and their expression, I could see these two service staff were very frustrated with working in the stall.

My family and I took a long MRT trip and walked a long way from Bayfront MRT station to watch the MYSTICAL SUPERTREES installation at Gardens By the Bay. When the show commenced, the giant trees dimmed down and there played the musicals. It was actually quite boring to see the dimmed trees with lights off and we and other visitors were thinking that there would be a climax towards the end of the installation with bright sky lights illuminating the supertrees on the back of a grand majestic musical masterpiece.

Gordon Ramsay will be taking part in the Singtel’s Hawker Heros contest at Maxwell Food Centre this afternoon, facing three of Singapore’s top hawkers selected by netizens. If you have watched Gordon’s Great Escape, you would have known that in Season 2 where this travel cum food (cum a bit of drama) show came to Southeast Asia, you would have seen that Gordon cooked for the Royalty in Cambodia and cooked for the Prime Minister in Malaysia, hence I am expecting to see Gordon Ramsay cook for a particular member of the ruling party in our country (Singapore) later.

It is reported that David Becknam is in Singapore today. Many Singaporeans are wondering where David Beckham will go to in Singapore. I am not sure whether David Beckham comes to Singapore to support Gordon Ramsay, a UK’s top chef who will be contesting Singapore’s top hawkers in Newton Food Centre at 7pm tonight. I think a possible place to see David Beckham is hence Newton’s Food Centre.

This morning, I was at a hawker centre with my family. The food sold at this hawker centre is fantastic and at the early hours of the morning, there were many vacant seats and tables however we still have to navigate around the hawker centre in order to locate a table that was cleaned. The many vacant tables and chairs were no use to patroners as the plates with the leftovers of the previous patroners were not kept and the table was not cleaned up. I only saw one cleaner there then, trying to clean the tables far but I know she was overwhelmed. I believe the only way to solve this cleaner crunch is to raise the salary of cleaners to at least $2,000 per month.

I went to the MPH Books Sale at Expo this evening. Today is the first day of MPH Books Sale. The pricing of most books are either $5 or $8 depending on the original price tag of the books. So what are the types of books on offer? Well there are many different genres of books at great discounts. To give you an example, the book by Chade Meng Tan "Search Inside Yourself" cost just $8! I bought one solid book on personal improvement, the book should be quite solid as I see there is only one copy lying around in the sales.

PS Group Holdings Ltd, a supplier of fasteners, yesterday launched an IPO, placing 20.4 million new shares at $0.25 each for a proposed listing on the Catalist Board. The placement closes at noon on July 9, with the listing and trading of the shares expected to start on a "ready" basis at 9am on July 11. I believe when someone wants to subscribe to this IPO, he must weigh for himself the competition of print vs online media. Fasteners are used for print media and in this IT era, tablets, iphones, smart phones are very popular.

Ever since the authorities implemented the Travel Early Discount scheme, I see the benefits to the group of commuters who travel after 7.45 am which I am a part of. I experience lesser congestion in the MRT trains and this little experience is something I enjoy from our MRT system after a very long time. Singaporeans are used to the long waiting times of our MRT trains, the congestion inside the trains and the delays but there seems to be some improvements made in these aspects. Our land transport bodies have new bosses since the leadership of former Transport Minister Raymond Lim and former SMRT’s chief, Saw Phaik Hwa in Minister Lui Tuck Yew (a former Two Stars Rear Admiral) and SMRT’s CEO Desmond Kuek (a former Three Stars Lieutenant General). Combined the number of Stars on their shoulders, we have a Five Stars MRT System in Singapore.

Singapore’s soccer team won the Malaysian Super League Champions last night, witnessed by our Prime Minister. The winning score line of 4 - 0 is actually quite close to the 3-0 score line Brazil handed to Spain in the Confederation Cups final on Monday morning (Singapore time). The win is especially notable as it is 100% pure local players in the winning team and this theme is carried in newspapers today. This win is great as it comes after a bout of haze and the on-going dengue epidemic that our country is experiencing.

Singapore has voted the top 3 hawkers to take on Gordon Ramsay and the dishes that will be in the competition are Chilli Crab from Jumbo, Chicken Rice from Tian Tian and Laksa from 328 Katong Laksa in the order of votes. Gordon Ramsay, who is a Michelin-starred chef will face off with our three top hawkers this Sunday at Newton Food Centre. I have no doubts that our hawkers will stand up to this Michelin-starred chef in culinary skills.

Today the haze is very mild and the PM 2.5 concentration is low. This makes for a good day for exercise. To be frank, I have stopped exercising since Singapore chalks up days of high level PSI. This affects my health and delays my clearing of IPPT. To resume my exercising regine, I do it slowly, first via Yoga and then intensive weights training. After exercising, I feel a surge of energy welling inside me, making me feel energised. I hope the PSI will be low which will allow Singaporeans to exercise for better stamina.

Today is SAF Day. With so much talk on recognising our NS men and their families as well as the fact that Defence is of paramount important to Singapore, why not make SAF Day a public holiday for all Singaporeans?

GORDON RAMSAY is coming to Singapore to battle it off with Singapore's hawkers. Actually I did not pay much attention to this Singtel event until I stumbled on "Gordon's Great Escape" which showed at 10pm on Channel 5 yesterday. I was hooked on the 1-hour programme which featured Gordon adventure deep into Cambodia and into its deep forest, all to prepare delicacy dishes for Cambodia's Royal Family! So when Gordon Ramsay arrives in Singapore this month, I wonder whether beside battling it off with the selected hawkers, will Gordon be preparing some dishes for a Minister here? You can vote on HakwerHeroes to decide which hawker will represent Singapore to defend Gordon Ramsay! Gordon is worth at least SGD$ 62 million according to my search results on the internet!

Tomorrow is SAF Day and while I am a NS Man, I think I am more attracted to the promotions that will take place at a slew of outlets tomorrow! When I flash my 11B tomorrow, I will get Free upsize when I order any McDonald's Extra Value Meal! To see the whole listing of SAF Day Promotions, click on this link .

Channel 5 is not showing FIFA Confederations Cup Finals Brazil vs Spain TV screening though it will telecast live the third placing match between Uruguay and Italy at 11.30pm tonight. As Channel 5 has been showing every match of the FIFA Confederations Cup, not showing the final and most anticipated finals between Brazil and Spain is really an anti-climax! Given a chance, soccer fans here definitely want to watch the final match than the third-placing match! Is it due to higher cost for showing the finals? [Correction: Mediacorp did show the finals afterall at 0545hrs on 1 July 2013]

Today, PSI is really good, with PSI under 50. Today's weather is not what the authorities forecasted yesterday as slightly hazy. But despite today's good rain and weather, the PM2.5 is still above average, hence I am not going to restart my jogging routine still.

Buying or Selling Hello Kitties? If you are looking to buy or sell Hello Kitties, you must know that Hello Kitties is really very hot in Singapore, hotter than N95 masks, hotter than our country when the thick haze envelopes our island.

It was reported that there was a lukewarm response to SMRT Travel Early Discount Scheme but as a traveller on the MRT train after 0800 hours, I could really see the difference in the carrying-load of the train after the scheme commenced. I could now stand comfortably in the MRT train though the scheme is not such that one would find more seats in the train. I hope LTA will continue this good scheme as it is a scheme which will reward commuters on both sides of the camp: those who travel before and after 7.45 am.

Today, it rain hailstones in western parts of Singapore. Hailstones are not quite frequent weather phenomena here hence I think people who experience hailstones in Singapore are quite lucky. I am not surprised that hailstones rained in western part of Singapore today as with the very hazy days we have seen in Singapore last week, the haze pollutants are good platforms to give rise to hailstones. Western parts of Singapore are more hazy than others, with a higher PSI than the others, it is no wonder that hailstones rain in western part of Singapore too.

Singapore Haze goes for a holiday today and hence Singaporeans go out of their house into the streets as Singaporeans welcome clear blue skies with the PSI hovering around the 70 to 80 mark throughout today! According to NEA, the change in the direction of the wind contributes to the blue skies that Singaporeans see for the first time in days. This set me thinking though the causes of the haze were man-made, it seems that nature is the solution or at least it is nature which gives Singapore a respite from the haze today!

The haze which has clouded the skies of Singapore seems to show signs of abating with the PSI reading as at 10 am at 96. This "good track record" of haze has been with us since yesterday night. Yesterday evening, I went outside without a face mask for the first time in 3 days. The haze has kept me indoors so much so that I keep blogging and turning this blog into Singapore Haze Blog.

The 3-hourly PSI readings have been downplayed ever since the Ministers told Singaporeans to emphasize more on the 24-hourly PSI; even the NEA webpage features the 24-hourly PSI readings more prominently on its haze information website. Despite the reason given by the authorities, I still stand firm in taking heed on the 3-hourly PSI reading than the 24-hourly PSI as it is more relevant to me. I mean a 24-hourly PSI will take into averages the readings of PSI in the hours of midnight and early morning for which I am sleeping; I need the latest average and hence 3-hourly PSI reading is more relevant to me.

This afternoon, the skies over Singapore finally cleared after the PSI hit 300+ in the morning. I took the opportunity to sweep and mop the floor of my house and opened the windows, 1st time in more than 5 days. It does not really feel like a Saturday being cooped up at home.

Singaporeans are snatching N95 face masks off the shelves. But what is N95? "95" in N95 means that the mask can filter at least 95% of air-borned particles.What about the "N" in N95? N stands for Non-Oil resistant. Do you know that there is O95 face mask and P95 face mask as well? There is also R95,R99, R100; P95,P99, P100 face masks as well (see reference )?

At this time of writing, even with my windows all fully shut, I still cough with the PSI level outside at 326 (hazardous level)! Health is not the only aspects of my life affected by the thick haze, here are other aspects of my life which are affected too: a) No unnecessarily outdoor activities: with the reigning haze, who would want to go out and breathe in all the haze particles? I stay indoors most of the time now and with some time on my side, blog a little more on this blog. I may even have to wear a N95 at home as I keep coughing in my house even with all windows shut.

PSI reaches Hazardous level once more! Singapore PSI reaches 323 this morning (9am)!When I looked at the PSI readings last night which were below 200, I have thought that the PSI readings would improve today, but I was not correct. I believe PSI readings may head even northwards later in the day!

Singapore stocks closed the session today at 0.28% lower, this is much better than the 2.45 southward direction of the previous days. The STI is now at 3,124.45, below the 3,200 support. The Singapore stock market performed in line with the performances of other markets as US Bernake gave a hint that the US may be scaling back the Quantitative Easing. The question on the mind of many is whether is this the time to go bargain-hunting good stocks at discounted prices? For me, my answer is No as there may be better opportunities to enter the market. Many stocks are now still not overly sold.

Where to buy N95 Face Masks? I was at a neighbourhood shopping mall this evening to buy more N95 face masks as that very precious N95 face mask which i have gotten and which I have used for many days have become quite unhygienic and one of the rubber hands have become torn. Imagine my shock when I saw the long and snaking queue from the pharmacy outlet all the way at least 40 metres into the middle of the shopping mall! I proceeded to another outlet in another location and N95 face masks were again sold out!

It was interesting to read the PSI was just 94 at 6 am today. I opened the window and immediately sniffed burnt ash smell. How could this be 94 in PSI?

Singa resigns and this is an interesting article on Singa's resignation .

Read the Food & Beverages Fair at Singapore Expo post.

Changi Airport Group is currently holding an exhibition called "Fascinating Russia". You can read on for more details of " Fascinating Russia ".

I think after the exchange of words in the campaigning of the Punggol By-election, we should tell our boss to promote us so that our colleagues can work harder!

Today, Channel 5 screened for the first time, the movie "2012" on national TV. I have blogged about the movie some time back here . I am happy that all of us survive the so-called Mayan 21-12-12 to watch this movie "2012".

The Land Transport Authority announced today that there will be two additional MRT lines: Cross Island Line and the Jurong Region Line in the decades to come. I believe this piece of news could not be more timely, coming right after the Nomination Day of the Punggol East By-Election when transport woes in Singapore could be a hotly debated topic for the Opposition Parties during their rallies.

I love to watch Borders on Mediacorp Channel 8. This TV series takes viewers to the daily scene in Border towns. This is a good show for Singaporeans to learn about the different conflicts occuring in various parts of the world and for Singaporeans to appreciate the peace and stability in our island. The full series of Borders .

McDonalds has rolled out the Prosperity Burger and its set meal for the coming Chinese New Year. The ad featuring the Prosperity Burger set meal comprising the beef burger, twister fries and orange soft drink looks very appealing to my family and I. This evening, we went to a nearby McDonalds and we order the Prosperity Burger set meal.

PM Lee has demanded that Alex Au,blogger of Yawning Bread take down his blog posts regarding AIM and the town councils. As a blogger, I believe one should always put up facts and opinions which one can substantiate in his postings. This is only the responsible thing that a netizen in today's IT age can do.

MediaCorp keeps screening “Rush Hour” and its sequel during the Christmas and New Year holidays. “Rush Hour” was shown on Christmas Day or its eve. “Rush Hour 3” was shown on New Year’s Eve and “Rush Hour 2” was shown on New Year Day. I don’t know why Mediacorp keeps showing movies which was shown on National TVs for so many times already.

Today is the first work day of a brand New Year. I believe many Singaporeans are quite reluctant to go back to work after two weeks of holidaying. Me too, to a certain extent, as the rainy morning made me reluctant to come out from my slumber.