Is that...what I think it is?

It was, it definitely was. It must be.

It was a COOL BREEZE - evidence that Autumn is just around the corner! (Around the corner being possibly another month or so)

That means no more t-shirts with wet patches; no more I'm-not-even-moving-but-I'm-still-sweating moments; no more boiling-freezing-boiling-freezing as you walk in and out of malls/buses/doors; and best of all - SCARVES & SWEATERS!

One love to HK protesters

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19529867

HK people 1 : 0 HK Government/China/Communists

Start school, start starving

By now you should've heard all about the fuss and protests and criticism and hunger strike that's been going on since the weekend in Hong Kong. If you haven't, then you probably live in a hole. Or in North Korea. Or China because your local media would've banned this sort of news.

In case you do live in a hole/China/N.Korea, here's what's been happening - basically the HK Government has been trying to enforce "Moral and National Education" as a compulsory subject for all local schools in this former British Colony, starting with primary school this year.

As you would've guessed, HK-ers, being extra-sensitive about anything that sounds remotely pro-Beijing (and rightly so) are rather quite miffed about these attempts to "brainwash" the next generation, and 8000-41000 or so people (depending on who you ask) took to the streets in protest, ending up in front of the government offices on Saturday, waving banners and chanting slogans and stopped eating.

Why the fuss, you say? It's all in the books. Sources say that "teaching materials proposed compares the Chinese system with Western democracy, and suggests a one party system aids consensus while a multi-party system leads to bickering" (Source: CNN). The teaching manual also "called the Communist Party an 'advanced, selfless and united ruling group', while denouncing Democratic and Republican Parties of the United States as a "fierce inter-party rivalry [that] makes the people suffer"" (Source: Wikipedia, shamefully)

Apparently the only two other countries that enforces "patriotism" classes are China and some other country, probably North Korea.

How long will this last? This will depend on who lasts longer - the government, whose every minute of delay is just digging a bigger hole for itself to climb out of; or the people, whose every minute of hunger strike is digging themselves a bigger craving for dim sums and fizzy drinks.

[edit]
Another good article on the issue http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/12303/in-recent-curbs-hong-kong-protesters-see-chinas-hand#.UEhMLdlYw0Y.twitter

Breathed

My Britain trip (23 Aug - 2 Sep) was a wonderful breath of fresh air:
Cardigans & shawls
Supermarkets with incredible choice of pasta sauce and real bread
Tea and scones
Actual fresh air
Actual green grass
Personal space
Creative television ads
Un-enforced national pride
Healthy dogs
Morning walks

But I'm also expecting the post holiday blues to hit me like:

A tsunami of pollution

A crowd of LV shoppers

A bomb load of emails

Solution to Singapore's shrinking population?

As much as I think that this is an awesomely blunt but well-written rap/song/video encouraging couples to make 'fireworks' aka pro-create, not sure how effective/seductive it actually is to Singaporeans...




(contains lots of references to Singaporean culture and abbreviations that may not translate abroad)

Mon-effing-days

I hate Mondays.

I hate still being ill on Mondays.

I hate the songs that were played on yesterday's boat trip still looping in my head.

I hate the temptation of calling in sick, or convincing yourself that the few minutes more of sleep won't make you late when in fact it definitely will.

I hate the tiredness that causes you to forget stuff and you have to hastily rush back upstairs to grab it but the lift only goes at a speed of 0.5 floors per second and you're already late because you hit the "snooze" button twice too many times.

I hate the feeling of "shxt I should've/shouldn't have...." - eg shxt I shouldn't have worn pants on this stiflingly hot & humid day; shxt I should've just taken a taxi cuz I'm late and it's a stiflingly hot & humid day; shxt I should've just called in sick today etc.

I hate being an ungrateful sod for not seeing how lucky I am to have a job on weekdays so that I have the means to enjoy my weekends.

Ok rant over.

Have I got news for dummies the not-bothered post 80s

There is a gap in the news market.

There is a generation in Hong Kong, generally known as "post-80s", that seems either apathetic / confused / not bothered / ignorant / (or all of the above) to current affairs of Hong Kong. Last week, 90,000 people took to the streets of Hong Kong to protest against the much-debated national education curriculum, yet many around me had no idea what any of that was about.

This isn't the only time when my peers seemed unconcerned or ignorant of newsworthy events of the city that we live in / grew up in / grew to love or hate or both. They're much more interested in scrolling Facebook, checking out pictures of food that their (mostly Asian) friends have taken, complaining about how A&F models in the city are making temperatures score, and discussing which YouTube artist-aka-video-poster does a better cover of Maroon 5 songs. The lack of quality newspapers (apart from sub-par free newspapers or those run by leftist editorial staff) or free English news websites focusing on HK news really doesn't help either.

Who's going to fill this gap?

Don't look at me. I'm only here to rant, possibly start a series posting HK-related news or over-simplified political analysis, and rant some more.