The Resistance.

'Tis the season for the Resistance. Physical distance shall not be a restriction for anyone. And as the VC meeting approaches, the Resistance lieutenants need to be readied for the fight.

Coincidently, one of the best bands of all time, Muse, just released their latest album, entitled - The Resistance. LOL! So their album launch has brought us some images for the cause.

Also, there is now a theme song! Which is the main single for the new album.
Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EtkuHzBVFM
top quality song. google the lyrics too!

So here are some cool awesome pictures.

album cover.






please join now.


my favorite two pictures.





so. preparing notes for the VC meeting is draining. balancing traveling, photo uploading, blog updating, school work (i have only done one reading so far, and slept during all my business classes.), making traveling plans, joining HKish activities. too many things.

need some motivations to resist. argh. its going downhill. writing has gone off. dont feel like doing anything anymore. ahh.

resistance report coming out soon, those who want a copy of the draft, say aye on the chatbox. lol.

this is where we hold them! this is where we fight!

sunday. the day of days. the most awesome day of excitement thus far.

this is one of the reasons why you should and ought to come to hk. but you may not see this while u are here. it was not only a strike, it was a social work strike.


the sw students from hk chinese u.


news reporter also come.


block the whole street! this is only the tail end. the majority of the pple are in front. estimate about 1k plus pple. maybe even more.


i want to be that guy shouting. best job in the world.


YWCA no backbone!

the reason for the strike:

background:
apparently the govt was involved in pressuring YWCA about a social worker who was doing some work in the area of Tai-O (a fishing village). Cos the local district officers were not happy with the work tt the swker was doing. saying it was disrupting the harmony (sounds like a kind of excuse the chinese govt always gives). So there was some pressure from the govt on YWCA. So YWCA transfer the swker into another department. Not satisfied, the swker quit his job.

so.. cos of this. the swkers in hk, sw students from the universities, and probably some affiliated workers all went on strike. about 3 main issues:
1) unhappiness about political interference with the profession
2) YWCA's lack of backbone - i.e. bowing to govt pressure
3) there was one more but couldnt read the chinese words. (not me! MR!)

so, there's a write up about it here.
http://edu.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/nw/show.cgi/15/1/4/41101/1.html

pretty awesome to get the whole profession, including students to strike cos of you. most of them were students anyway. like each uni sent bout 50 pple? there was hku, city u, chinese u, poly u, and other schools and organizations. naturally, i joined in to represent sw from nus. woo! but i didnt wear my sw hand shirt. damn. should have worn it.

so they marched from wan chai to the government house in central. (sth like walking from dhoby ghaut to padang distance) at the government house they "cooked" a crab. (fake one.) cos this whole issue is called river crab. The chinese word, hexie, sounds like harmony. so its about the govt's reasoning of "disrupting the harmony."

most of the chants and shouts were in canto so i dont really understand. only words i can pick up are "sei gong" which means social work. and some other random words. so although i did join in, couldnt really shout with them.

if only we could strike in singapore. would have been awesome for the resistance. cos the social work profession has been too mild in singapore. everyone (generalizing statement) wants to keep it safe and do what the govt wants, cos that's where the funding comes from. shouldnt the social workers be the ones telling the govt what to do, based on their professional knowledge?

whole street of pple!


songs!


police reinforcements coming.


then there's also this camel thing. which has a deep meaning.


for some of the meanings behind the camel and river crab, you can check out this youtube vid. rated M18.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKx1aenJK08
p.s. if u did watch it, click the read more option at the side, which would provide more explanations.

so its another great lesson on true advocacy. to be able to fight for your own profession. the social work profession. and to keep it free from political influence. i guess you may not be able to apply this in a singapore context, cos of the slightly different system here. but totally agree social work should be free from political influence. the key issue here is that even if the local district officers are not happy with a social worker's work, they should resolve it between themselves and not through engaging political pressure.

EXCITING! (9.5 out of 10 stars)


credit to MR and HX for some of the info.

DISCLAIMER

HELLO.

DISCLAIMER: (in relation to the bottom post.)

To prevent further discussion on the topic of lust. I, hereby declare that I DID NOT ENTER ANY OF THEM! ahaha. Was just wandering around.

Don't anyhow anyhow.

gone fishing.

adventure comes yet again. this time, i searched hk in search of doing sth crazy... haha! i needed to buy some stuff.. so i ended up at mongkok. ended up at a nice little quiet street of street shops which i havent explored yet.



its much more peaceful and less stressful then kang kong street. cos its wider and seems more relaxed. but the stuff there aint attractive. anyway. continued wandering around. still couldnt find it despite combing the whole of mongkok.

however i did find some good finds.


egg tart - HK$2 (S$0.40!!), the sticky chewy red bean thing - HK$3. the portion was smaller (tt's why cheaper.) BUT. they were fresh out of the oven. so ULTRA shiok. egg tart is super nice. its the milky kind which i like. but the shop is too out of place to go back again. damn.

so i walked on. and was getting dark, cos i went there after class. and i wandered into... *ahem* area.

i took a photo of this.. and ran away! (ok i didnt run. walked very fast. retrograde. smoke out and run. just like the good old recce days in army.) cos i was super scared some parang wielding triad member would come after me demanding compensation for the photos. lol! it was a not very bright area of the street. and the darkness was coming. was full of adrenaline. rocks... (more pictures will come in fb. coming! after i upload other stuffs.)

anyway. let me attempt at some excellent chinese if u didnt understand the poster. it says:" beautiful women like clouds, free to sth (i cant read that word) free to choose, first rate service, all day special price." haha. my chinese rocks. and yes it's prob a guy's handwriting. i bet if u get a girl to write it in nice-ish handwriting, you could increase your revenue by 30%.

amazingly, china fetches quite a price. its equivalent to a local girl. which is kind of interesting. and russia.. according to life stories from friends.. apparently they er.. are supposed to be quite cheap. so here it was like twice the price. so kind of stunning. but anyway. i think its a scam. they didnt say for how long. like whether it was short time/long time or whether it was one hour or sth.
(Note: Yes! they do have meanings behind those phrases! e.g. "long time." er means to secure services for the entire night till the next morning." so if someone says "let me love you long time." means she/he wants you to pay for her/his services for the entire night plus morning included. short time is 2 hrs i think. learnt this from a friend who had life experience. lol. maybe applicable in certain SEA countries only though.)


so i ran away quickly. and found another one later on. similar prices.. i was so scared cos of a guidebook tt i borrowed from hku library that says the brothels and the sleazy KTVs in the area are run by the triads. and saying you'll get ripped off once u go in. and they'll threaten to beat u if u dont pay or sth like tt. so took photo of the KTV (above photo.) and scooted off. many KTVs along the streets. but they look less intimidating than the brothels. but the lousy guidebook was written in 1999, so i dont really trust it.

so.. while running away, i found yet another good deal. bananas! HK$5 for 4 big ones. so its like 25cents per big banana! rocks! and found a loaf of bread for HK$7! the whole loaf, super soft kind (sth like tt holland v one).


so the night ended inconclusive. i didnt find what i wanted to find. so went back cos quite tired already..

so, i decided to abandon wandering and return to the 21st century and make use of IT. managed to google a shop out. turns out there was one near my hall. a 15 min bus ride away.. and so went out again the next day after class. finally found it after a bit of difficulty.. cos the shop entrance was so small..


so.. excitingly... i decided to buy this! rocks!! it's a beginner set up.



yes! finally can get some fishing done. (ok yes, i was looking to buy a fishing rod.) although i need to first figure out how to use it. lol! perfect time to make use of the internet.

side story: i asked one of the shop attendants whether they knew of any "lessons" kind of thing that was gg on in hk. guess what he did? he said no need. then he walked me to the window in the shop, open the curtains. then he pointed at the pier. "just go there" "see that place beside the bus stop?" "yes go there." and didnt know what to reply him.. lol. basically he just told me to go to the sea and fish. lol.

ok so.. i shall attempt some fishing soon. YEAH! this nigga's gone fishing!

p.s. last line reminded me of this video. for your own entertainment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgjwjaBJ5Do

the high life

choosing...


roasted pigeons.


baby abalone.


the red fish on your dinner plate.


soup.


comes from a humongous container.


sago dessert


fruits.

you can go broke eating like that every day.

i need a bigger budget. lol.

HK$100 per day. rocks.

the health care system in hk really rocks. as a citizen, you pay HK$100 per day, inclusive of any operation done. yes, and cos of my hk student visa, managed to pay only HK$400 (about S$77) for a 3 night stay plus an operation for appendicitis. it probably would have cost S$1000 back in sg. ministry of health please wake up your idea.


a satisfied customer.


anyway. i was at queen mary hospital and it rocks! they all speak english and quite decently as well. so was not bad. and for a c class ward it was kind of equivalent to a b2 in sg. the standard of the hospital was prob like ttsh or sgh standard.

adventure 1.
first night i met a super chio doctor. (but she was wearing a mask, so cant see her full face.) and she was the same age as me!! so she prob jsut grad or sth. and she was rather noob in putting the iv drip on my hand. she put the tourniquet for too long until my fingers were purple. and she didnt really do it properly cause my blood was flowing up the iv tube. lol. and she was a bit panicky, asking me not to worry, etc. so i kind of laughed at her and she laughed at herself. shouldnt the nurse be doing this kinda things? haha. anyway after all the mistakes she made, she finally set it up.



unfortunately, after 1.5 days, my vein died or sth, my hand swelled a bit, prob cos the needle wasnt nicely placed. so in the end, had to poke the other hand for the other 2 days.

then there were air bubbles. after she left i saw this humongous air bubble going into my vein. i tot i was gg to die. cos in army, during the iv drip tt we learnt, they told us must never ever ever have air bubble inside, cos it might kill the person. i guess the army is full of shit. anyway i asked the nurse later on, after many more bubbles went in and they said it was fine.

when she returned later to get more info, manged to make a joke then she laughed at although i didnt think it was funny. but then they transferred me to another ward and i never saw her again. damn.

adventure 2.
at the new ward my miserable life began. i had to wait for my turn in line for the operation theatre so i couldnt eat. they didnt let me eat since i checked in. so in total i didnt eat for about 49 hours. they had a sign for me.



so i had to survive on drip. which made my mouth super itchy. i must kfc when i fully recover. but after the op i got upgraded to fluid diet. which was rice water. what POWs eat. then upgraded to soft diet. which was what oliver twist ate. and finally my last meal was normal diet. i got upgraded much faster than the granny who was sitting opposite me. when i was on drip she was on fluid diet. when i made it to normal diet, she was still at soft diet.

in the new ward, the average age was like 70 years old i guess. cos it was the intestine/colon/rectum problems ward. so pple were doing their business in the ward itself (with the help of pans/bottles/nurses). wondered if i'll be one of them when its my turn to be old.

so. here concludes my adventure in queen mary hospital. conclusion: khaw boon wan needs to shape up.



entertainment. the princessy show thingy. in canto.



my faithful walking stick/iv drip holder buddy. never left my side. and my lunch was hanging on it!