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did this handwriting analysis test...it's really quite accurate.

Yun Hao is moderately outgoing. His emotions are stirred by sympathy and heart rendering stories. In fact, he can be kind, friendly, affectionate and considerate of others. He has the ability to put himself into the other person's shoes.

Yun Hao will be somewhat moody, with highs and lows. Sometimes he will be happy, the next day he might be sad. He has the unique ability to get along equally well with what psychology calls introverts and extroverts. This is because he is in between. Psychology calls Yun Hao an ambivert. He understands the needs of both types. Although they get along, he will not tolerate anyone that is too "far out." He doesn't sway too far one way or the other.

When convincing him to buy a product or an idea, a heart rendering story could mean a great deal to him. He puts himself in the same situation as the person in the story, yet he will not buy anything that seems overly impractical or illogical. Yun Hao is an expressive person. He outwardly shows his emotions. He may even show traces of tears when hearing a sad story.

Yun Hao is a "middle-of-the-roader," politically as well as logically. He weighs both sides of an issue, sits on the fence, and then will decide when he finally has to. He basically doesn't relate to any far out ideas and usually won't go to the extreme on any issue.

People that write their letters in an average height and average size are moderate in their ability to interact socially. According to the data input, Yun Hao doesn't write too large or too small, indicating a balanced ability to be social and interact with others.

Yun Hao will be candid and direct when expressing his opinion. He will tell them what he thinks if they ask for it, whether they like it or not. So, if they don't really want his opinion, don't ask for it!


In reference to Yun Hao's mental abilities, he has a very investigating and creating mind. He investigates projects rapidly because he is curious about many things. He gets involved in many projects that seem good at the beginning, but he soon must slow down and look at all the angles. He probably gets too many things going at once. When Yun Hao slows down, then he becomes more creative than before. Since it takes time to be creative, he must slow down to do it. He then decides what projects he has time to finish. Thus he finishes at a slower pace than when he started the project.

He has the best of two kinds of minds. One is the quick investigating mind. The other is the creative mind. His mind thinks quick and rapidly in the investigative mode. He can learn quicker, investigate more, and think faster. Yun Hao can then switch into his low gear. When he is in the slower mode, he can be creative, remember longer and stack facts in a logical manner. He is more logical this way and can climb mental mountains with a much better grip.

Yun Hao's true self-image is unreasonably low. Someone once told Yun Hao that he wasn't a great and beautiful person, and he believed them. Yun Hao also has a fear that he might fail if he takes large risks. Therefore he resists setting his goals too high, risking failure. He doesn't have the internal confidence that frees him to take risks and chance failure. Yun Hao is capable of accomplishing much more than he is presently achieving. All this relates to his self-esteem. Yun Hao's self-concept is artificially low. Yun Hao will stay in a bad situation much too long... why? Because he is afraid that if he makes a change, it might get worse. It is hard for Yun Hao to plan too far into the future. He kind of takes things on a day to day basis. He may tell you his dreams but he is living in today, with a fear of making a change. No matter how loud he speaks, look at his actions. This is perhaps the biggest single barrier to happiness people not believing in and loving themselves. Yun Hao is an example of someone living with a low self-image, because their innate self-confidence was broken.

Yun Hao is sarcastic. This is a defense mechanism designed to protect his ego when he feels hurt. He pokes people harder than he gets poked. These sarcastic remarks can be very funny. They can also be harsh, bitter, and caustic at the same time.

Yun Hao has a healthy imagination and displays a fair amount of trust. He lets new people into his circle of friends. He uses his imagination to understand new ideas, things, and people.

www.handwritingwizard.com
spoke at : 8:08 PM


it's yet another week in camp. things are picking up, and i think the camp is going to get real busy soon. people will start pushing work around, and the unluckiest will have the most arrows on him. i wish things were much simpler. it's possible, but people just don't see how simple things could be. that's office politics...

went out with bmt platoon mates yesterday. supposed to have lunch together, but one of them overslept and the other don't know went to turn up, so only 3 of us ate pizza hut. movie didn't work out as a result, so we had tau huay at selegie road. then it was orchard central and ion orchard. it was great having good accompaniment. such events are getting rarer for me nowadays.

i also bought myself the 3rd gen itouch. i'm not one who will spend so much money on electronics, but i decided to be nicer to myself. life has been hard...

next week is live range. i'm not sure if i'm shooting, even if i am, i won't be getting money for marksmanship. whatever...hopefully things will be better next week. with an early bookin to mount radios on vehicles.

cheers.
spoke at : 6:25 PM


it's the first bookout after a month long of mc. alot of politics going on in camp, especially with the arrival of the new sergeant who happened to be my primary school mate. although life in camp is generally boring, alot of things i've learned in secondary school is re-enforced, and i learn more things about the world. while others see the better side of life, as in the case of the many success stories available, i see the not-so-good side of life...i guess i would deal with things differetly if i was the new sergeant. i hope things will improve for him soon. it really sucks to have a bad relationship with your superiors.

i had an early bookout yesterday because of the Army Open House. I shan't comment much on it...if you're interested you can go visit it tomorrow. haha.

now for today. i really had a great day. after more than a year, i met up with marcus. it was weird at the beginning, for he had acquired a slang after his first year in college. it was as if i didn't know him anymore. but things got better a while, and soon it was like the past. we chilled at lot 1 before heading to bugis. had pastamania at bugis junction and walked around the mall. it was cool to be able to chill with someone after so long. and i'm both envious and happy for him for being able to lead a new and carefree life there, away from whatever things that are going on back at home. he did say that when he's there, he completely forgets about things here. i guess it really isn't a bad thing after all...

he's not sure when he's going to come back to the region, which means that i may not meet him in a few years. it's kind of sad to think of this, but...it can't be helped. i don't want to be like a burden or something, so i've decided not to disturb him when he's there. but i will bug him to meet when he's in the region. HAHA. on a serious note though, it's cool to catch up with people once in a blue moon, and reminicise the old days.

after he went back to jb, i decided to watch the proposal. it's a hilarious film...and pretty meaningful too. i liked the ending, allowed the audience to decide for themselves how the actual ending would be like.

this meeting with him (and the movie also) made me reconsider alot of my priorities. although his overseas experience made me want to go also, i guess i'm different from him, and probably not cope with it that well. afterall, i'm an introvert. this is truly not an excuse, and all other reasons i had for not going overseas are still valid in some sense. i've also realised that regardless of what problems i'm having now, i need to move on with my life, and live in the present. he's living his new life in waterloo, with a new group of friends and comapny...no reason why i shouldn't.

and the movie...i'm not sure if i know exactly what having a family or being loved by a family is like...but i guess no matter what happens, no matter what differences you have with your family members, they are still your family.

it's time to move on with life (for the last time), and not spend so much time thinking about things that can't be helped. live in the present, and life's gonna be great.

i need someone special in my life now...that's what i'm short of. haha.
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it's time to move on with life, a more serious post the next time.
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it's over.
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I came across this article on The Online Citizen. It's a interesting article. Highlighted a logical flaw made by MM Lee during his recent speech on population control. While I see the need of the influx of foreign workers, I don't think a low birthrate is a good reason for it.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Andrew Loh

On 8 March 2008, the Straits Times carried a report headlined, “Oil prices ‘unlikely to rise further’.” The person making that prediction was none other than Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

At that time, oil prices were trading at US$105. The ST report said, “As crude oil prices hit US$105 (S$145) per barrel, MM Lee believes it is not likely to creep further up to US$110.”

MM Lee said, “’I don’t think it can go up US$110, US$120, US$150 and the world economy goes on. Inflation will go through the roof. Economies of the West will go down, hyper-inflation in many developing countries. So it will go into reverse.”

Hardly two months later, prices rose above US$110 in May. Another two months later, in July, prices shot to US$145.

[MM Lee has also admitted to being wrong in banning Formula One races and for disallowing casinos in the past. The GIC, of which he is chairman, was also wrong in "going in too early" when it invested in UBS and Citigroup, MM Lee said in March this year. See here. In July 2007, MM Lee said Singapore was in a "golden period" - right before the financial crisis hit.]

The point here is that we must not be lulled into thinking that MM Lee is always right. He is not. Even his GIC outfit has lost more than $50 billion in bad investments this past year alone.

Thus when the 14 August 2009 edition of the Straits Times gave front page prominence to MM Lee’s remarks on foreign workers and immigrants, we should take pause and ask ourselves: Is MM Lee right?

His past results in population control is, to say the least, dubious.

Stop-At-Two

In the 70s, then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew introduced the “Stop-At-Two” policy to curb our population growth. The buzzwords then were “Family Planning” and “Two Is Enough”. For those who are unfamiliar with the policy, this was what it entailed, according to this website:

“Birth rates fell from 1957 to 1970, but then began to rise as women of the postwar baby boom reached child-bearing years. The government responded with policies intended to further reduce the birth rate.

Abortion and voluntary sterilization were legalized in 1970. Between 1969 and 1972, a set of policies known as “population disincentives” were instituted to raise the costs of bearing third, fourth, and subsequent children.

Civil servants received no paid maternity leave for third and subsequent children; maternity hospitals charged progressively higher fees for each additional birth; and income tax deductions for all but the first two children were eliminated.

Large families received no extra consideration in public housing assignments, and top priority in the competition for enrollment in the most desirable primary schools was given to only children whose parents had been sterilized before the age of forty.

Voluntary sterilization was rewarded by seven days of paid sick leave and by priority in the allocation of such public goods as housing and education.

The policies were accompanied by publicity campaigns urging parents to “Stop at Two” and arguing that large families threatened parents’ present livelihood and future security. The penalties weighed more heavily on the poor, and were justified by the authorities as a means of encouraging the poor to concentrate their limited resources on adequately nurturing a few children who would be equipped to rise from poverty and become productive citizens.”

The policy was so clinically effective in its application and implementation that by the 80s, Singapore’s falling birth rate was in the danger zone. None of the Members of Parliament at that time sounded any alarms about the danger and all apparently supported the birth control policy. The local state-controlled media went along for the ride, much as it is today.

Yet, instead of a total reversal of the policy when it became clear that it was having adverse consequences, MM Lee introduced another ill-fated idea – the infamous “Graduate Mothers Policy”.

“The government acted to give preferential school admission to children whose mothers were university graduates, while offering grants of S$10,000 to less educated women who agreed to be sterilized after the birth of their second child. The government also established a Social Development Unit to act as matchmaker for unmarried university graduates. The policies, especially those affecting placement of children in the highly competitive Singapore schools, proved controversial and generally unpopular.”

In 1985, the highly unpopular policy was abolished as it was not achieving its aims of having graduate mothers produce more babies. It was only in 1987 that the Stop-At-Two policy was abandoned entirely. By then, Singapore’s birth rate had run into serious problems – we were not replacing ourselves at an appropriate rate.

Population control revisited

30 years later, the same man who was responsible for the “Stop At Two” policy in the 70s, is now telling us that the government “accept only immigrants who increase the average level of competence of Singaporeans” – and doing so to the tune of 1.68 million foreigners presently on our tiny island, in a population of 3.2 million Singaporeans.

This is in response to Singapore’s birth rate problem – it continues to fall, despite government incentives to induce Singaporeans to have children.

Besides MM Lee’s dubious record in population control, the same danger of our Parliamentarians silently tagging along and thus giving support to such policies, as similarly happened in the 70s and 80s, may see history repeat itself – 30 years hence, with future generations living the consequences of this present policy.

Calls from some quarters for the government to re-look its policy on foreigners have been met with dismissive remarks by government ministers. “Just zeroing in on foreign workers alone is not the total solution,” Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong said in August. He also termed such calls “simplistic”.

What concerns Singaporeans are not just jobs or economic prosperity but also the social consequences of having so many foreigners in our midst. This has led to some Singaporeans wondering if the government knows what is happening on the ground, where physical and personal space is now harder to come by, even in the heartlands. This may potentially result in social friction among the various groups, something which the Prime Minister spoke about in his National Day message recently.

The government’s preoccupation seems to be the economy and how foreigners can contribute to this. It has said little about the social consequences, although it has set up the National Integration Council “to drive social integration efforts across the private, people and public sectors”. The success of the council’s effort is left to be seen.

In the meantime, the government has been urging Singaporeans to “embrace and accept” these foreigners, as MM Lee said on 14 August. He also urged Singaporeans to “treat new citizens as equals”. (AsiaOne)

According to the New Population Secretariat website, the number of PRs in 2008 was 79,167, upped from 63,627 the previous year.

The number of new citizens hit a record high of 20,513 in 2008, upped from 17,334 in 2007.

We seem to be in a hurry to bring in foreigners at an alarming rate.

But perhaps all is not lost. The lone voice in Parliament calling for a re-look of the policy has come from the ruling party’s own Member of Parliament, Mrs Josephine Teo. But even so, she is only concerned about the falling productivity level of Singaporean workers. Her argument is that a more targeted approach to the employment of foreigners will help up the productivity level of Singaporeans.

But given how the government seems to feel that the policy is the right one, and ministers have defended it to the hilt, it does not appear that any changes will be forthcoming.

The man and his ideas are not always right

Lee Kuan Yew’s attempt at population control in the 70s and 80s has resulted in a population unable and unwilling to replace itself.

Will our current policy at population control by the same government result in a worse fate for Singaporeans in the future?

Blogger Lucky Tan says it best here:

The real reason for the large percentage of imported labor, more than almost anywhere else in the world, is to keep wages down so that rent, utilities, transport and other costs can go up. It would have been alright if we did it like Dubai where the indigenous population sits on top of the economic food chain while foreigners do all the work. The problem is a large number of Singaporeans are at the bottom of the food chain….crushed.

Anyone who’s had a track record in population control as Lee Kuan Yew has would be seen as a failure. Yet, we are providing front page coverage to MM Lee’s latest thinking on the topic.

MM Lee may have been instrumental in building Singapore.

But neither he nor his government is always right – as history has proved.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Food for thought.
spoke at : 7:31 PM


after 2 weeks at home, i finally sneaked out today. for a movie, and for some chilling out...it's great to get some fresh air after cooping yourself at home for too long.

i really hope i will be more determined this time. i just want my life to be a better one...

anyways, njc produced a president scholar this time. a first in who knows how many years. high profile, relatively good grades, a good heart...qualities of a scholar. yea.

looking at what's happening to taiwan now...i wish i could do something more constructive for them. i've been there once, and i like the people and the culture. and i do see the more humane side of life, which is great. within days charity programmes are planned and recorded, raising millions of dollars of donations from people of all walks of life. yes, more can be done for them, but at such hard times you really cant please everyone. i really can't help but to feel sad for the victims. what have they done to deserve this? that's the harsh facts of life...please, let them tide through these tough times, and let them feel the love.
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let whatever i'm waiting for, be worth the wait.
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