Today, my family and I went over to celebrate my cousin’s 21st birthday party. And man, was it big. Well, my cousin (who will be called Daphne henceforth) is currently working in a buffet company, and she called her company (which is a pretty high-class one) to provide all the food. And let me tell you, the food is great! It’s far better than anything that you can get from an ordinary buffet company. And the display and design is marvelous too – nothing short of a 4 star hotel. They even set up flowers and tablecloths and everything.

And when’s all said and done, we had a great time. I met Yi Fen there as well, really didn’t expect to see her there. Who knew that she was a friend of Daph? Certainly not me. Which is why when I saw her there, we were like both:

“Yi Fen?”
“Alvin?”
“What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?”

Seriously, what a coincidence.

And to top things off, the Little Mermaid come to visit. She’s a friend of Daph too. I even got some photos, which I would upload just as soon as my relatives send them to me. Its not everyday that you get to see a celebrity up-close and personal.

But the happiest person there must be Daphne. About 60 of her friends – ranging from those in her primary school days to those in her CCA to those in her Uni – she’s the center of attention there.

Of course, the highlight of the whole thing is the cutting of the cake, which our family paid for (a whopping $150…Now that is not small money). You won’t believe the number of photos that were taken during that time…I even have some saved on my phone (the quality of which leaves much to be desired…But it will have to do, I guess).

All in all, I would say that it’s a pretty successful and enjoyable party for Daphne. May all her wished come true this year and may she enjoy success and live a blessed life.

The third part of my on-going epic on social manners should be up in a few days…Once I can find the time to sit down properly and type it out – time which would be hard to find, seeing how I have tests coming up pretty soon.

Well, that’s it for today. I will see you around.

On the lack of social etiquette among the young and people of today, or, Why the hell people nowadays are so freaking inconsiderate????? (Part 2)

First off, I would like to assure my friend Sheng Hui that the events stated below did not actually take place. They are just my way of making a point. Of course the events are highly blown up, and probably do not actually happen everyday in real life. But it could. That’s my point. Everything I have said down there could very well happen the next time you take the MRT, the next time you take the bus, the next time you walk down the street.

And so what is it actually that brings our society down to this level – a level where the people do not appear to care about the strangers about them, or for that matter, their friends and family members. Well, allow my to share my views on the matter.

As I have said many times before in the past, we are living in the Age of the Self (self as in selfishness). People nowadays do not really care about the people beside them while they are walking down the street. How many times do you actually see someone holding open a door that they have just walked through to allow someone behind them to pass through? Not very often, I would say. Why, this very thing happened to me just as I was making my way out of the LT. A few of my female friends were walking on ahead of me, with me walking just a few steps away. So naturally, they opened the door first to allow themselves to pass through – then let it close shut in my face. And after I make it a point to keep the door open for them (or for anyone else, for that matter) should I know that they are about the go through the door.

I mean, how difficult is it to keep the door open to allow others to pass through? All it would take is a few seconds and a few joules of energy to keep the door from closing. But that is exactly my point. It just goes to show how caring we are towards our fellow man. And us living packed in blocks like sardines fishes in a can isn’t really helping matters much. If anything, it is making us even more selfish than ever.

That ends part 2 of my rant on the lack of social etiquette among the people of today. Stay tuned for final installment of my ongoing rant on this topic that concerns all of our lives.

On the lack of social etiquette among the young and people of today, or, Why the hell people nowadays are so freaking inconsiderate????? (Part 1)

Okay, so you were in the MRT, about to get off at City Hall. The door opened, and you try to step out, only to find that you could not, as you are trying (and failing) to swim upstream against a raging, fast flowing river of people, each and everyone of them desperate to get on board the train. You push, and you squeeze and you push again, but to no avail. Quietly the door closes, and you are still trapped on board the already over-crowded train…only that it’s not as over-crowded as you think. Twisting your head to the left (the only part of your body that you can still move without touching someone in someplace you would rather not touch) you notice that there is a strange lack of people towards the middle of the train. You try telling people to move into the center of the car, but your voice is drowned out by the hordes of teenagers chatting on the latest Razr phone as if they were the only ones on the train. Raffles Place. You try to get out, but the influx of people pushes you back into the train again. Rolling your eyes (now the only part of your body that you can move – and just barely that), you sign.

Day 2: So now you’ve learnt your lesson, and you’ve stopped taking the MRT during rush hours, and instead opted for the next best option – the local bus service. As you board the bus, you spot an empty seat, and took it. A quick scan of the area reveals a group of teenagers sitting near the back, and people occupying the outer seats of the two-sitter sits(I so need to get a thesaurus). Upon closer inspection, you notice that they have placed their bags on the inner sits, thus preventing other people from sitting there. Closing your eyes, you try to take a nap – only to be interrupted by a loud “Kao bae ah!” streaming from the back. Jerking awake, you turn to see what happened, and see the gang of teenagers fooling around, sprouting curse words at each other as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world. Cries of * beep *ing, * beep-a-beep-a-beep *, * beep-a-ding* fills the air. Suddenly, one of the young punks turns and look in your direction, and yells “Look what look, never see before ah?” You shake your head and try to get back to sleep, but now the gang has turn its sights on you. Like coyotes surrounding a lion, they started to curse you, your parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, grandfathers, grandmothers, grand-uncles, grand-aunts, etc etc etc…You try to keep your cool, but their childish taunts are slowing inching its way under your skin. The bus reaches the next stop. You get off.

To be continued…

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Here's me wishing that you have gotten lots of money via your Hong Baos. If you have gotten them via other means, such as blackjack, poker, marjon (however you spell it) or by other...less legal means...Don't tell me about it.

Well, my family and I went out to watch Jack Neo's newest offering, "I Not Stupid Too". And let me tell you, it really isn't all that bad. Its a very thought provoking movie, if I can say so myself.

Do take note: In the upcoming review, there will be spoilers aplenty, so unless you don't mind having your story spoiled so bad that you might as well don't watch the movie, feel free to read on. Otherwise, do watch the movie first before you read my review.

First off, Neo has done it again. We all know that he has a talent for picking out topics that is close to the hearts of Singaporeans (the education system --> I Not Stupid, our 4D craze --> The best bet and a whole host of other movies which happen to slip my mind right now). This time, he has picked a topic that concerns the relationship between parents and their children, and I feel that this movie exposes a number of characteristics that I feel is quite prevalent in our society today.

The movie starts off with a very memorable scene, which i am sure happens all the time. The parents were talking to their children, and all you see are brightly colored symbols coming out of their mouths in great torrents, moving through the ears of the 2 kids (Tom and Jerry, funny enough) and coming out from the other side - your "one ear in, one ear out". Now, don't laugh. And don't say that this isn't happening in your house right now. Be true to yourself. It happens all the time, even when your parents are talking to you about important subjects...Especially when your parents are talking to you about important subjects.

And so the story carries on from there. You see the children been systematically ignored by the parents, and the parents not focusing on the child’s merits, but instead concentrating on the child’s flaws. Jerry is an award wining blogger (don’t ask me how you can win awards from blogging), but instead of praising Jerry for his writing talents (I mean, you got to be good at writing to blog well, don’t you? And be very good at it to get awards, don’t you?), his mother instead reprimanded him, saying things like “Why do you spend so much time blogging and not studying?” and other things like it. All that’s normal and well to the parent, but it really hurts the child, and I think the movie managed to capture this aspect reasonable well.

One scene that stuck me during the movie was the part where Tom’s dad’s computer had a breakdown (it has a big ERROR sign flashing on the screen…That doesn’t happen normally. But at least it showed the famous Blue Screen Of Death that we see so often.). The next day, he forgot to bring the notebook to work. Tom, being the nice guy, decided to fix it and bring it to his dad at work. And what did he get for his efforts? A quick telling off by his father for touching his things. And even when Tom tried to explain matters, his dad just brushed it over by saying a line that’s going to become famous throughout the movie “Eh? Still want to talk back ah? Blah Blah Blah…” and so on and so forth.

In a subtle way, the movie also shows to us that little words said without thinking can have a huge impart on the mindsets of children. Jerry wanted his parents to come over to watch his play, but his parents are too busy to pay him any mind. But he did hear his dad saying “See? They are paying me $500 to buy 1 hour of my time to lecture them…” And wanting his parents to come watch his play, he sold away his prized pokemon cards, and even stole money, all to buy an hour of his parent’s time for them to watch his play. It’s so touching that I could just cry.

And from there, the story continues…It shows us Cheng Ming being expelled from his school, Tom being caned, Cheng Ming and Tom falling into bad company and joining a street gang, extorted by fake cops, and so on and so on.

But well, every movie has its flaws, and “I Not Stupid Too” is not an exception. First off, Tom’s Chinese isn’t too good in the movie (Hey, that’s just like me! Weee!) But, he blogs in Chinese. Wait a minute…Isn’t his blog an award winning one? How can he have an award winning blog in Chinese, when his Chinese stink? But well, this is just me nitpicking at the little loopholes in the story…Its not really that big a flaw anyway. But Neo does have a way of shifting viewpoints a rather abruptly that would cause viewers to experience disorientation. While I must say that it is an effective way for Neo to inject some much needed humor into the darker scenes of the movie to brighten the story, it does disrupt the viewers somewhat.

At the end of it all, we have a touching and meaning story with a strong message for children and parents alike. Teenagers will see a lot of themselves in the characters Cheng Ming and Tom, and this might cause them to look at their parents in a new light as Cheng Ming and Tom did at the end. Parents would be able to recognize elements of their way of handling their children in the different parents portrayed in the movie, and realize the importance of having a strong bond with their children.

I would rate this movie 4/5 upon the Alvin Scale.