The Reunion

The Reunion

And so, while battling the dragons and flying cows, we continued our journey, towards South, the land where pork tastes like chicken, and lamb tastes like beef. Where there’s no war nor poverty. Neither was there any natural disasters that wiped out entire coastal villages.

But one thing seemed unstoppable. Petty theft. It seemed supermarkets around this area had always been trying ( read : Never did anything substantial )to curb this problem. It was estimated that 5-10% of revenue was lost each year due to this crime. What’s supermarket petty theft? Well, they include opening packets of biscuits for your own sampling session, stuffing more oranges into one bag, swapping of price tags. Yes, the invention of barcode scanning seemed to have eliminated most of these, assuming the cashiers were well trained ( and conscious ) to check that when you scanned a tray of 12 eggs, the product was indeed that, and not a carton of 100 eggs.

We believe the scare tactic which the sacred land uses, pasting the “they’re watching you” sticker at strategic locations help. And of course, the old housewives who knew that you would not be able to do anything with her even if you were able to catch them in the act, were the problem makers.

Imagine us running a supermart, and you face all these. Somehow, they found a reason to do it. We creatures are very good at that. Finding excuses. Excuses are just bad reasons it seemed? Hmm. We somehow always find a way to m-f ourselves, to do what we like, not what’s right.

We were just debating about work ethics. For example, a lawyer would need to fight for the client, whether justice is served or not. A doctor, would not be able to save a poor patient, if the hospital policy needed to confirm that the patient could afford treatment. We were also talking about our conscience, how we tried ( read : Never did enough ) to reduce the usage of plastic bags, but somehow, couldn’t sacrifice personal comfort for mother earth.

We were also questioning ourselves about the need to have a Chinese new year reunion dinner at one point time. What have we become? But we were superstitious as hell. In the midst of all the contradictory confusion, we have become so illogical that personally, I have drifted off to a world of my own. One which was filled with yellow dragons and flying beefs. It’s too tiring to fight it anyway – it’s illogical, it’s irrational, it’s plain blabbering crap.

We don’t see a point in engaging each other in quality conversations anymore. It seemed that the problem always lied with ‘the world’ at large. The ‘oh-so-wicked’ neighbours. The government. The relatives. The dead. The long forgotten ones, who were still alive. Never was there a point in time when we stopped, and reflected in the perfect mirrors. The ego was too huge, the self-defence mechanism too strong.

The apples have fallen a tad too far from the trees. “They” don’t understand. “They” are too demanding. Too judgmental. It’s too ‘late’ to do anything now. We have heard these over and over again. And boy it was tiring. Seemed to have drained our energy oh so quickly, all these. Depression couldn’t be cured from the outside world. The ability to cry at the snap of the finger showed that there were ongoing stuggles deep within, which surfaced whenever necessary. They couldn’t be resolved, couldn’t be won. Some were buried with the dead, while the world seemed to continue to turn.

Considering the world, there were 30% who were depression addicts. 30% who just jumped onto the depression bandwagon. Another 30% who were trying ( read : Not doing anything at all ) to jump. And the last 10%, were those who tried to help others, normal, and tried to make a decent living with a mundane day-to-day boring job.

Last night, we were dreaming the whole night, or at least that was what it felt like. Read somewhere that dreams which felt as though they went on for hours, actually only took place for 5-10 minutes. Anyway, last night, I had a fantastic idea, supposedly, when I was talking to my dad. No he didn’t spark or inject the idea into me, but rather he just happened to be there when the idea miraculously struck me. And then I was so excited about this idea, that I was immediately doing an elevator pitch, to some woman in NUS enterprise. No, she’s just not any woman, but some high authority there…

We woke up with a BAM and I thought, this is a freaking good idea. But after I freshened up, and all, we realize that it be a good idea if we were working for somehow else, and not in a start up. GG

Anyway, now I understand why so many people decided to just disappear ( in my family at least ), to hide away from all the draining social struggles of the supposedly close ones.

Have a great Chinese New Year 2010. This is going to be a farking good year.