A Confused Medulla Oblongata

I cannot keep up. It's dizzying. My thoughts dwelled on the good old days as a student. The simple life. Laughter were abundant then. We played hard to win games, tournaments, accolades. And missed classes, lectures, tutorials, exam tips. Ah, the glorious days of a student life.

Still, when it matter – we studied hard together. Equipped with thermos flasks, we virtually pump caffeine intravenously into our veins. Excited with a newfound gizmo then – the cellular phone, we frequently called our fellow comrades whom had assiduously did and copied the answers for the homework, assignments, tutorials. In the wee hours, we found salvation. Just as miraculously, we passed.

But.

The dawn of a new era has arrived. We're now in the rat race. We gain consolation from the very fact that even the winners are still rats, nonetheless. But we must not lose. We cannot afford to.

Each of us have goals, dreams and aspirations. Mine is simple. Like most Capricorns, I'm cursed with an ambitious mind. Yet I'm realistic. Life is just a little short journey. Maslow's hierarchy of needs gives a good indication that most of our needs are already accounted for, here at home. Shelter and food are the least of our worries.

None of us suffers from hunger or serious poverty. So our problems are not about survival, but of sustenance of a high-flying life. Our monthly budgets are typically wants-driven with the bulk of expenses spent on vehicle-related fees, club memberships, traveling, fine dining, information technology, bills, cable television susbcriptions, recreation, fashion and the arts. I wonder if there's any less dignity for simplicity.

So what if I live in a small little home with neither a butler, nor car, nor plasma TV, nor LCD monitors, nor high-speed internet access, nor a THX-rated entertainment suite, nor five star designed décor? So what ?

I wonder why the society has placed these things as precursors to happiness. I wonder why we would have any fewer friends if we do not possess these things. I wonder why people will look at us as a second-class citizen, or even harbor thoughts that we are not incumbent Singaporeans. I wonder why our people are going head over heels to savour the sushi of Japan and not lentils of Africa, when the Japanese had once upon a time buried our forefathers alive, hacked their heads off and raped our women, among other things. I wonder why I'm wondering.

In any case.

Economic forecasts for this region have generally been encouraging. Singapore's 3 largest banks have posted higher fee-based income, with DBS making a handsome S$1 billion in 2004. Their investments on fee-based income have paid out really well as compared to their nearest competitors, UOB and OCBC. The privatization of HDB loans also has increased fierce competition amongst the banks.

Shipping companies also have posted huge earnings in 2004 – its best in a generation. Across all shipping sectors, boxships, tankers and the drybulk market, profit margins have leapt, vessels are full and cash tills have been ringing. Shipping has always been a barometer to world trade in macroeconomic terms. Thus, it gives a good general indicator on how the other businesses are doing as well. If your business is doing well, you will need more supplies to cater to market's demand. You need to order more stuffs. Shipment will increase. It is as simple as that.

However.

“The Matrix is all around us. It is the world that has been pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth.” That said, we start wondering whether all these are conjured up to alleviate investors' confidence. How did our fledgling little country could have posted a growth rate that dwarves even China and India last year ?

Government spending has increased these few years when our region is in recession. True to Singapore's business sense – save when times are good. Buy when times are bad. When private developers shun away from committing into new projects, that's the best time for the government to grab the contractors for their projects. With little other businesses around, the Government possess greater bargaining power. Putting these firms to work also helps increase jobs, and add some sparks in the economy, making everyone happy.

Singapore Airlines is another classic example. Her acquisition of various smaller airlines such as Virgin Atlantic and some others were done when the going gets tough for the industry. Air New Zealand would have been in her portfolio too if not for the New Zealanders' protests of national interests. Other than the straight-forward benefits that the investments warrants – her real motives were to gain access to the lucrative trans-Atlantic routes (via Virgin Atlantic) and trans-Tasman routes (aka Kangaroo route) between Australia and New Zealand (via ANZ). That route is currently duopolised by ANZ and Qantas by more than 90%.

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Enough said. Let me begin. Begin without a story again. I think. I've procrastinated far too long. Despite being trapped in haphazard shambles, I'm actually finding my way. Even in mediocrity, one may find peace. Zhuge Liang would have agreed with Sun Tzu – “no matter how far the journey, it's one step at a time”. I'm feeling better. Problems haunt me still. Good thing they're volatile. As one dissolves, another evolves - that's the way it revolves. Decision-making is life. We choose from fate's prefabricated menu. And hope that we ordered right. We play by the cards that has been dealt to us. And hope that we've formulised and implemented the right stratagem.

It is just the first quarter. Things do change. This year is proving to be extra special. Ferrari did not win in the first two races in this year's campaign. Renault instead, scored three consecutive victories in as many races. Fernando Alonso is currently tops with 24 points more than the defending champion, Michael Schumacher – who is currently facing a major setback and a podium drought. The new car suffered from mechanical failures despite a searing start – which saw Schumacher's Ferrari sharing the same pole's grid with Alonso at the start of the race.

Arsenal too, has their Premiership and European Champions League dreams thwarted. For the first time in a decade or so, the likely EPL champions will not be clad in red. Even Tiger Woods' is not spared. His reign was blemished for a brief moment by Vijay Singh.

On 28th February 2005, the incumbent Mc Laren F1's reign as the fastest production car has finally been broken. By whom ? Nope. Not the lavish Italians, nor the clinical Germans. Guess again. Hail the new champion – Koenigsegg CCR from Sweden. I have always liked the car. The unfortunate blaze at their factory three years ago must have delayed their R&D for the CCR. It's a worthwhile wait, however. It clocked 388km/h that day. Enough said.

Some things do not change though. Valentino Rossi still leads the pack in his blazing bike through the Moto Grand Prix. Katie Brown still inspires the crowd with her gravity-defying antics once she returned to the climbing scene from a long-term injury. The climbers in Singapore are still a vibrant lot, with most of the familiar faces either still competing actively or have turned to coaching and instruction.

NASA is still pumping a lot of money into projects that many governments would not have bothered and have little if no commercial value at all. The JSF project is underway. Lockheed's X35, after beating Boeing's X32 to win the contract – still has a number of areas where they have to finalize. If things go as planned and not divelge itself in political disagreements and other failures in the closing stages such as the Eurofighter and Raptor programmes, we should see the first planes to enter service in 2008. While I'm at this, perhaps it will be worth noting that Dan Brown's depiction of a HSCT, (High Speed Civil Transports) in his book, Angels and Demons is still a dream to date. At his claimed 11,000 mph – that amounts to more than 2 miles per second, putting it further than just supersonic. It's hypersonic ! Hypersonic speeds creates a myriad of new challenges. Analogous to the differences between Newtonian and quantum physics, many variables change at high speeds. At these speeds, traditional aerodynamic design have to give way to aero-thermodynamic design. The vehicle must produce minimum drag and be free of design features that gives rise to concentrations of heat. Thermal management is also critical. Even the special high-flashpoint JP-7 fuel used in the SR-71 Blackbird cannot absorb enough heat. The only plausible answer is cryogenic fuel. And that too, comes at a low-density disadvantage. Which means that it needs a larger fuel tank leading to higher air frame and subsequent more drag. Higher frictional drag leads to more concentrations of heat. And the fuel needs to act as a structural coolant again. So its like a loop flowchart, you get back to square one. There are many other things in his book that raises my eyebrows, such as antimatter technology. Anyways, do you know how much 1 gram of antimatter cost ? Let's just say that even Bill Gates cannot afford it. And yeah, what about using someone's eyes to pass through a retina scan ? In the biometrics arena, retina scan and tongue print can be regarded as the most secure. I do not think we can simply cut someone's eye out to bypass the retina scan. Your eyes will be dead, dilapidated without blood passing through it. Do read the book though, it's so fun !

Hmm.

Think I've written a little more than I should. I haven't really started even. I shall stop here. I do not even know what is it that I'm writing. I'm supposed to share more of my life experiences. Perhaps I take solace from thinking about other things rather than my own life. Perhaps I should think about Siti Nurhaliza. Perhaps I should sing to her: Siti, I'm not an actor, I'm not a star. I don't even have my own car...