HAPPY BIRTHDAY LULULU!!

FMUS2 and FMUS1

LULULU

benny, this pic not nice meh?

wedding photo of the year=)

zi cha

double-boiled soup!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUU! Mai siann..

How many GMH members does it take to remove 2+7 candles?

Benny snatched away the most choc fudge!!

Benny, i think this pic quite well taken also leh..

Needs more practice

Thanks for the treat lulu! ehh... $30 for the cake.. blkq

*amendi*

an hour away, worlds apart

I spent the entire day today in a village in Batam, conducting interviews on behalf of a charity NGO that builds houses for slum-dwellers and homeless families in Batam. We're doing an impact assessment of their efforts.

For a city boy to go into a village is no small thing.

What strikes you first is the lack of roads. Yes, the ride in was bumpy, but everywhere you step is dirt and mud. The second thing is the number of livestock running around and that faint smell of waste/defecation everywhere. But what really gets you is the hospitality of the people.

All I had was a translator attached to me and I was going house to house asking about how having a house affected the lives of these people. Yet, I was offered shy smiles, handshakes followed by a touch of the heart, glasses of water (which I dared not drink because of my Singaporean fear of unfiltered water, and yet these people have survived for generations like this), and well-wishes as I got on my way from each house.

The answers I got were astounding.

How do I reconcile that this place, just an hour's ferry ride away, has so many people who were simply delighted to have electricity, and shelter from the elements? That the greatest thing that can happen to a person (getting a home), is something I was born with? It also strikes me that no matter how much I try my best to understand them, and no matter how much I tell myself what I'm doing is good for them, at the end of it all I'm going back to my clean big Singaporean home with running water and air conditioning.

Gandhi said that "A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave." These are brave people I saw, people who love each other and have faith in their communities. Young men my age, using their savings to study for a degree from the Open University, even though they're living miles away from the world as we know it. People who opened their hearts to a foreigner who comes from a world so different from theirs.

Sorry about disrupting your post btw OL, my experience today has changed me slightly inside and I think we all need these experiences once in a while, if only to grow into a more enlightened person.

AH

From St. Lucia, with love :)

Thanks OL for the heartfelt post. Hope to see more of the same from other ppl. Sorry for the late reply as I had no internet for the past few wks since I moved in to my new place. Things have only now become more settled especially since the start of semester and the added responsibility of being a tour guide to Luis Mendieta.

Firstly I’d like to apologise to OL for not replying your sms. I know it’s a lame reason but as you know I’m on the most basic hp plan, so every sms and call I make is costing and counts at the end of the month ($300 plus to be exact). I knew you would have contacted mandy and since he knew my birthday was super packed to meet up, he would have told you. Thus I did not reply you, hope you understand and that I appreciate the thought and well wishes!

The point I would most like to respond to is about ‘GMH not going anywhere’. Define ‘going somewhere’. ‘Misfits’ I agree to a large extent. ‘Underachievers’ I entirely disagree. I thought I knew what ‘achievement’ meant until I left sg. It is a super duper subjective term, so I’m unsure what you mean by why we cannot be something like other ppl. In fact, I’d be damned if I were to be like them. But that is a totally different topic for another day.

I understand the point you are trying to get across about other groups being able to meet up often, lend a listening ear to each other and essentially ‘grow’ together.
From my point of view, the crux of the matter lies gravely on societal pressures and trying to conform. As ppl get caught up in rat race, suddenly meeting an emo OL after work becomes a tiresome chore or even an impossibility for some coz of OT. This results in various kts that OL is trying to highlight.

This brings me to the point about making choices. We are no longer in secondary school. I’m darn sure at this age we make the choices about life knowing fully the consequences and what it promises to deliver. Like OL said, we all have different priorities in life. Everyone has the right to make their own choices. I respect that.

Simply put, if you choose a lifestyle or a job that entails draining the energy out of you in such a way that it is a challenge to meet a friend for dinner, I totally respect that and have no ill feelings whatsoever. You have made your decision out of your own free will, with no one forcing you, knowing full well what it means when you signed that contract and entirely aware of the consequences. If this is the life you choose, then good for you. There is no right or wrong coz you are entitled to your own set of priorities. Other ppl may differ, thus the misunderstandings.

I humbly seek your understanding if I have turned down shopping, dining and especially movies over weekends. As I have explained to some, the crowds simply turn me off. I’d rather stay at home and watch CNN than get on the train with 10000 frowny faces to Orchard, especially not after living overseas. As I mentioned above, I prefer to meet on weeknights supper, some of you prefer wkends. No one is right or wrong, just different life choices we made. However, I’m glad and entirely appreciative that I had regular meetups both on wkdays and wkends. This gives me great optimism that for GMH to return to its former glory, everyone has to meet halfway. And I have seen glimpses of that in the months I was back.


I think the entire Kumar post is simply stating the obvious. We all know who we are in his post and exactly what he is referring to. It was just a matter of him putting it down in words. We all know the problems that exist and some just choose to ignore and do nothing about it. I highly doubt his post will have long term effects but OL pls update me if I’m wrong.

One undeniable fact is that we are all pulling towards different directions in life. Some enjoy the busy life, some enjoy the peaceful life. That is why I thank God everyday for his blessings by showing me that there is a totally different world out there that is entirely contrary to the life I was brought up to live in. And I pray that you guys find your sanctuary someday. And if you already did, congratulations!
In conclusion, in the pursuit of happiness, just make bloody sure you are truly happy when you get there.

I attached this vid to lighten the mood and give u guys some options for a holiday or a permanent escape. Enjoy!~





God Bless,
alonso


(ps: I think it’s damn ironic that when OL is putting his point across about ppl being bo chup, 3 ppl chose to not leave their names after reading his post. Out of the 5 comments made, only 2 have a name under it. I have zero idea who the heck the other 3 are, it may be a bot for all we know. But having said that, at least they replied coz I got a feelin some may have read it and choose to ignore totally. Haha…)