And... another year has gone by...
And seriously, I can't believe it myself that I am still typing this blog even now. Three long years have passed since this blog had its first post published. It's been a really long time...
Before I go on, have to thank all those people who read my blog from the very beginning (not much of you guys left), and also those new readers who I found out recently or not so recently ^^ Especially some of the guys in the "blogs you should read session", those are the blogs that have somewhat provided a good read for me and some of my inspirations to write, but lets not rake history on this fine occasion.
Anyway, once again, I'll not be around to celebrate the blog's real anniversary (which is, and has always been, the 31st of December). Darn, I just want to spend a quiet Christmas in Singapore and then start worrying about stuff, but hey, guess that won't be the case.
Looking back at this year, its been a year of changes for me.
Of course, the first thing that is going to struck you guys is that I am in JC now, and that is quite a big difference. I mean, new school, new campus, new uniform, new rules, new life (to a certain extent)... and you get the idea.
I think after all the changes of this year, I still miss the good old days. The good old days of being able to laze around in school with my classmates laughing at their daily jokes of daily life while gazing at some of the photos that they have taken in school. The good old days of lazing at the gate during assembly while catching people for being late. The good old days where you have a lot of different rooms to go to to catch up with your friends...
I mean, this are things that can be replicated don't they?
But I guess it can't be replicated entirely, and even if it can be... I don't want that to happen.
That's cause those good old days are in my heart and in my mind. I don't want those days to be clouded over and replaced by something else just as similar as what I am experiencing now. The days that I am experiencing now will also eventually one day be stored somewhere in my heart and mind and I'll, too, look back at it and call it "those good old days"
Do you remember the question of why do we usually hurt the person we love the most?
I finished watching saishuu heiki kanojo (最終兵器彼女）and they sort of answered the question although the question was never really posted in the first place. I forgotten which episode was it but...
It's because you care about the person, and that's when it will really hurt you. Look at it this way, if this person was a stranger. He came up to you and say that you suck. Other then the fact that you would feel like sticking a chair up his mouth and whack him upside down, you won't feel much...
But what about a person who you considered a friend, a confidant, your love? What happens if that same person came up and say that to you? Would it be different? A logical answer would be "yes". Of course it would be different. I mean, would you care about some careless comment on the street being flung at you? or would you care about some comment from a friend who's been with you and understands you for some time?
This of course, illustrates the fact that the only true person that can hurt you are those who you care for and love for. The rest of the people out there, you can treat them as transparent, as not being in existence, but can you do that the same to the people you loved and the people you cared about?
Its hardly possible, and this makes it why only the people you care about can hurt you...
However, this brings us on to the question of "why do we usually hurt the people we love the most?"
Point 1: Lets take a look at the above point, who are the people that can hurt you emotionally? Since you are able to treat those people around you who you don't care as invisible, as not being in existence, we already rule out that the large majority can't be from those who you don't love. This leaves those whom you love. It's more of a perception then anything else...
Point 2: Another possibility is because that that person cares for you. When you do some stuff that may put yourself in danger or something, that's when you hurt that person because the other person is trying to protect you. Its kinda confusing here... but I hope you get the idea...
Of course, there is always this argument that too much love tends to hate (we've seen it a lot of times...) While not necessarily denouncing it as false, its another possible explnation for why you ususally hurt the people we love the most. Cause as you love them, you might just go overboard and start to hate...
But I guess we'll reserve this question to another time...
Meanwhile, on a lighter note, it's the end of 2007. Start cheering cause 2008 is coming along. And as they always say, a new year brings a new hope, tomorrow will be a better day!!
So, to all you guys out there reading this blog and also those who I cherish and spend time with and of course to all you random blog readers who just happen to stumbled on this blog, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2008
(I'll be on the plane then, don't forget to cheer with the rest of the world in that timezone)
Haha, see you guys in 2008! And hopefully we might just see this blog in its 4th anniversary (=
Discmon
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Lessons...
I realised something...
Whenever a holiday approaches, there would be lots of chalet and lots of outing and the like. And as with almost all chalets and all outings, they will somehow, through a series of fortunte/unfortunate events, plan a BBQ...
And when there's a BBQ, you realised that somebody has just got to light the fire. Sure, it may seem like a very simple and basic skill and some people has indeed passed it off as "Somebody with enough sense will come and help us light it in the end". Of course, it quickly becomes apparent during the attempts at lighting up the fire that it will not be the case...
And some people have indeed dismissed it as a "simple act of throwing everything together and putting a matchstick there..."
It's a sad case and it demonstrates that should our generation get stranded on some remote island in the unforeseeable future, we would probably die of hypothermia or the inability to cook anything we see on the island...
Anyway... I went to light a fire yesterday at the 1D (2006) chalet. Yes, they are in secondary 2 this year, but as I don't want to confuse myself, its stuck like this. Anyway, you tend to learn things while you are doing stuff, so...
I've compiled this list of lessons learned (I thought it should look apparent)
Lesson 1: If you are a scout, you better know what you are doing
Well, lets face it...
Which CCA in school starts fire to cook their own food using twigs and sticks?
Which CCA does not use solid fuel as their main form of fuel for their fire?
Which CCA does not cook instant noodle during outdoor cooking?
If your answer to all those questions are scouts, you'll be right.
Thus, you can see that when it comes to fire lighting, a scout better be ready to apply what he has learned over all those years that he has spent living. It would be an absolute disgrace if a scout is unable to start a fire at a BBQ. Come on, its so much harder to start a fire without a firestarter and when you are using plain old firewood.
Anyway...
Lesson 2: Make sure you have everything you need to start the fire
A lot of things can go wrong during a BBQ, and one small little thing you can avoid is to make sure that you have everything you need. At least the most basic stuff such as the following list:
-Lighter/Matchstick
-Charcoal/Firewood
-Firestarter/Kindling
-Tongs
-Metal grill
-Food
Of course, some of things up there aren't strictly necessary, although you might like to take a look at the equation below:
NO TONGS + HOT CHARCOAL = PAIN
Lesson 3: Don't borrow stuff from people
Well actually its quite simple to adhere to actually. And there's a lot of reasoning behind it.
Basically it follows the second lesson, which is to make sure that you have everything needed for the BBQ. If you really do not have the item, do go and buy the item and try to refrain from borrowing from people. The problem with borrowing is that you do not know when the other party might need it back, and this could pose severe problems to your fire lighting process, especially when you have lots of problem on the initial part...
Anyway, there isn't much to say here... haha
Lesson 4: Firewood is different from Charcoal
Ok, technically this lesson would only apply to those people who light fires using firewood before and are quite used to using firewood already.
When you are using firewood, the firewood only supports the fire and its takes a short time for it to be burnt until it can no longer support the fire. However, if the wood is very thick, it will take a very very long time for it to start burning and thus it will not create a huge blaze suddenly.
Charcoal however is a bit different. Charcoal is hard to burn initally but once it starts going.... Nothing can stop it short of water. Seriously...
For Charcoal, white embers is enough to ignite another charcoal simply because it can concentrate the fire inside the charcoal and thus burns at a much higher temperature compared to firewood.
To see a very obvious difference, do the following.
Throw a bunch of firewood on top of a blaze and then throw a bunch of charcoal in a charcoal fire...
For the firewood, you'll see the wood quickly burn and the flame would suddenly become much higher then before. However, it will also quickly die down after that. For charcoal however, the flame would not grow any higher for quite some time. However, once it starts to burn, the flame would really start going up and it will be sustained for quite a long period of time...
Anyway...
Lesson 5: Always have a bunch of jokes handy
This should be quite obvious. Keeps the mood up while you are trying to freaking light the fire. Of course, the joke has to somehow be able to connect obviously. No point telling a primary school kid jc jokes ^^
Lesson 6: Failure is only when you give up
Especially true when you are talking about charcoal as charcoal is ... very easy to light.
All you need to do is to get a large fan, which brings me to...
Lesson 7: GET A BIG FAN -OR- BUY AN ELECTRIC FAN
[Kinda self explanatory don't you think...]
Lesson 8: Have a wonderful time there
Yes, this is the STANDARD for all BBQs. Don't forget to try to start truth and dare, and also to start various gossips and lame jokes. Bring in their brothers and sisters who you might know and you'll start getting really interesting results heh ^^
Lesson 9: Do not kill me after this
Did I mention that lesson?
Haha sure did...
Discmon
P.S. I had a lot of fun there incidentally ^^ Its more of ranting and joking here (=
I know they can take a joke =P
Whenever a holiday approaches, there would be lots of chalet and lots of outing and the like. And as with almost all chalets and all outings, they will somehow, through a series of fortunte/unfortunate events, plan a BBQ...
And when there's a BBQ, you realised that somebody has just got to light the fire. Sure, it may seem like a very simple and basic skill and some people has indeed passed it off as "Somebody with enough sense will come and help us light it in the end". Of course, it quickly becomes apparent during the attempts at lighting up the fire that it will not be the case...
And some people have indeed dismissed it as a "simple act of throwing everything together and putting a matchstick there..."
It's a sad case and it demonstrates that should our generation get stranded on some remote island in the unforeseeable future, we would probably die of hypothermia or the inability to cook anything we see on the island...
Anyway... I went to light a fire yesterday at the 1D (2006) chalet. Yes, they are in secondary 2 this year, but as I don't want to confuse myself, its stuck like this. Anyway, you tend to learn things while you are doing stuff, so...
I've compiled this list of lessons learned (I thought it should look apparent)
Lesson 1: If you are a scout, you better know what you are doing
Well, lets face it...
Which CCA in school starts fire to cook their own food using twigs and sticks?
Which CCA does not use solid fuel as their main form of fuel for their fire?
Which CCA does not cook instant noodle during outdoor cooking?
If your answer to all those questions are scouts, you'll be right.
Thus, you can see that when it comes to fire lighting, a scout better be ready to apply what he has learned over all those years that he has spent living. It would be an absolute disgrace if a scout is unable to start a fire at a BBQ. Come on, its so much harder to start a fire without a firestarter and when you are using plain old firewood.
Anyway...
Lesson 2: Make sure you have everything you need to start the fire
A lot of things can go wrong during a BBQ, and one small little thing you can avoid is to make sure that you have everything you need. At least the most basic stuff such as the following list:
-Lighter/Matchstick
-Charcoal/Firewood
-Firestarter/Kindling
-Tongs
-Metal grill
-Food
Of course, some of things up there aren't strictly necessary, although you might like to take a look at the equation below:
NO TONGS + HOT CHARCOAL = PAIN
Lesson 3: Don't borrow stuff from people
Well actually its quite simple to adhere to actually. And there's a lot of reasoning behind it.
Basically it follows the second lesson, which is to make sure that you have everything needed for the BBQ. If you really do not have the item, do go and buy the item and try to refrain from borrowing from people. The problem with borrowing is that you do not know when the other party might need it back, and this could pose severe problems to your fire lighting process, especially when you have lots of problem on the initial part...
Anyway, there isn't much to say here... haha
Lesson 4: Firewood is different from Charcoal
Ok, technically this lesson would only apply to those people who light fires using firewood before and are quite used to using firewood already.
When you are using firewood, the firewood only supports the fire and its takes a short time for it to be burnt until it can no longer support the fire. However, if the wood is very thick, it will take a very very long time for it to start burning and thus it will not create a huge blaze suddenly.
Charcoal however is a bit different. Charcoal is hard to burn initally but once it starts going.... Nothing can stop it short of water. Seriously...
For Charcoal, white embers is enough to ignite another charcoal simply because it can concentrate the fire inside the charcoal and thus burns at a much higher temperature compared to firewood.
To see a very obvious difference, do the following.
Throw a bunch of firewood on top of a blaze and then throw a bunch of charcoal in a charcoal fire...
For the firewood, you'll see the wood quickly burn and the flame would suddenly become much higher then before. However, it will also quickly die down after that. For charcoal however, the flame would not grow any higher for quite some time. However, once it starts to burn, the flame would really start going up and it will be sustained for quite a long period of time...
Anyway...
Lesson 5: Always have a bunch of jokes handy
This should be quite obvious. Keeps the mood up while you are trying to freaking light the fire. Of course, the joke has to somehow be able to connect obviously. No point telling a primary school kid jc jokes ^^
Lesson 6: Failure is only when you give up
Especially true when you are talking about charcoal as charcoal is ... very easy to light.
All you need to do is to get a large fan, which brings me to...
Lesson 7: GET A BIG FAN -OR- BUY AN ELECTRIC FAN
[Kinda self explanatory don't you think...]
Lesson 8: Have a wonderful time there
Yes, this is the STANDARD for all BBQs. Don't forget to try to start truth and dare, and also to start various gossips and lame jokes. Bring in their brothers and sisters who you might know and you'll start getting really interesting results heh ^^
Lesson 9: Do not kill me after this
Did I mention that lesson?
Haha sure did...
Discmon
P.S. I had a lot of fun there incidentally ^^ Its more of ranting and joking here (=
I know they can take a joke =P
Friday, December 07, 2007
Going "home"...
I think its a great feeling to see everyone in disco all over again...
At first I was worried that all my jokes and common lame stuff that I had built up over the last 2 years or so had disappeared and would not be able to fit in with their humour anymore, but I guess I was wrong when about 5 minutes after I entered the chalet, everyone burst into laughter... from one of my jokes...
So at least I know that I can still fit in to the committee that I feel so bonded to and have made the best out of my 4 years in rv. Which is a good thing as the statement of "Once a disco, always a disco" has a bunch of living walking proofs now.
It was a rainy day, but rainy weather doesn't symbolises sadness and depressness. It all depends on whether or not you can make the best out of it. I managed to find my way to the chalet in spite of the heavy downpour (it was raining for the entire day that day) and promptly frighten Geraldine who was trying to scare me when I was walking into the chalet by scaring her back!! Following that, I counted about 5 minutes later when the first joke came out and everyone burst into laughter.
It suddenly feels like the good old days, like I've never left disco, like I've never left this bonded family and friends to go to this new place called NJC. It brings back a lot of fond memories, of disco outings, of eating food, of playing catch with the latecomers (over-exaggerated on that point, I assure you) After a while, it indeed felt like going home, like I've been there all along, telling jokes for the whole of this year to them and hear them laugh and enjoy themselves at the jokes of my daily life...
Of course, there were a lot of other things to laugh about other then my ridiculous jokes that are derived from daily life. Like Geraldine's obsession with bad people on serials, Weilin being scared of "Scary Movie 4" (what?! Scared of a comedy??), Changlok attempting to scare the 3 girls during the viewing of "Scary Movie 4", trying very very very hard not to walk over to the NP chalet and gloat, Jason's story of his failed flights and failed landings (at least he's still there to talk about it =P), Sebastian fanning the fire trying to repeat what happened at PA bbq (I don't want to talk about it)...
Its a nice feeling to be able to laugh at so many stuffs in our daily life, just looking back at it, I think its one of the most enjoyable days of the december holiday so far where I don't have to worry about things happening at home, at school, at my cca, at my own life...
I hope that no matter what happens, disco will always be together... And even as time goes on, we will all be able to somehow come back together and still have this chalet and the reunion dinner that we always have. Once again, converging together to laugh at the good, normal and bad things in life.
As time went on, we see the senior batches slowly drift away from the rest of us. Their jokes and antics no longer a daily part of our lives, or even a part of the chalet or reunions. I seriously do not hope that that will happen to our batch too, so that we can try our best to go turn up, to be there and to laugh once again at the jokes of our life...
And before I go, that blog song that I added to my blog is dedicated to you guys...
(A LOT of people is soooooooo going to find me and hack me into pieces for adding a blog song to my blog, trust me)
It's a great feeling to be able to go back to a home that you sorely miss...
Discmon
At first I was worried that all my jokes and common lame stuff that I had built up over the last 2 years or so had disappeared and would not be able to fit in with their humour anymore, but I guess I was wrong when about 5 minutes after I entered the chalet, everyone burst into laughter... from one of my jokes...
So at least I know that I can still fit in to the committee that I feel so bonded to and have made the best out of my 4 years in rv. Which is a good thing as the statement of "Once a disco, always a disco" has a bunch of living walking proofs now.
It was a rainy day, but rainy weather doesn't symbolises sadness and depressness. It all depends on whether or not you can make the best out of it. I managed to find my way to the chalet in spite of the heavy downpour (it was raining for the entire day that day) and promptly frighten Geraldine who was trying to scare me when I was walking into the chalet by scaring her back!! Following that, I counted about 5 minutes later when the first joke came out and everyone burst into laughter.
It suddenly feels like the good old days, like I've never left disco, like I've never left this bonded family and friends to go to this new place called NJC. It brings back a lot of fond memories, of disco outings, of eating food, of playing catch with the latecomers (over-exaggerated on that point, I assure you) After a while, it indeed felt like going home, like I've been there all along, telling jokes for the whole of this year to them and hear them laugh and enjoy themselves at the jokes of my daily life...
Of course, there were a lot of other things to laugh about other then my ridiculous jokes that are derived from daily life. Like Geraldine's obsession with bad people on serials, Weilin being scared of "Scary Movie 4" (what?! Scared of a comedy??), Changlok attempting to scare the 3 girls during the viewing of "Scary Movie 4", trying very very very hard not to walk over to the NP chalet and gloat, Jason's story of his failed flights and failed landings (at least he's still there to talk about it =P), Sebastian fanning the fire trying to repeat what happened at PA bbq (I don't want to talk about it)...
Its a nice feeling to be able to laugh at so many stuffs in our daily life, just looking back at it, I think its one of the most enjoyable days of the december holiday so far where I don't have to worry about things happening at home, at school, at my cca, at my own life...
I hope that no matter what happens, disco will always be together... And even as time goes on, we will all be able to somehow come back together and still have this chalet and the reunion dinner that we always have. Once again, converging together to laugh at the good, normal and bad things in life.
As time went on, we see the senior batches slowly drift away from the rest of us. Their jokes and antics no longer a daily part of our lives, or even a part of the chalet or reunions. I seriously do not hope that that will happen to our batch too, so that we can try our best to go turn up, to be there and to laugh once again at the jokes of our life...
And before I go, that blog song that I added to my blog is dedicated to you guys...
(A LOT of people is soooooooo going to find me and hack me into pieces for adding a blog song to my blog, trust me)
It's a great feeling to be able to go back to a home that you sorely miss...
Discmon
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Situations that the government put people through...
Sometimes you will start wondering to yourself if the people in the government has nothing else better to do but to create disturbances in our life...
Anyway...
If you guys had been following the news lately, there have been a news on some shop houses going on fire and because of the way the shop keeper has positioned their wares, the people were trapped without a proper way to escape.
So anyway, this is our story...
My grandfather works in a shop house, not totally for profit but more for having some thing to do while in old age. So anyway, if you want to place any of your wares outside your shop, you will need to pay a certain sum of money ($600 in this case). Now, the bad news is that that area is not properly sheltered and is thus quite exposed to the sunlight and the rain. Most of the shop houses there have thus went to purchase their own "curtains" so as to shield their wares from the elements. This would then make it viable for them to place their wares outside...
Anyway, the cost of using that area has just been paid for. So, things were going on fine....
Until...
Somebody from the government came and say that we MUST take away the "curtain", if not, we must pay a fine of don't know how much money. They gave all the shop keepers a time limit of three days, following which the fine will be imposed and various other actions will be taken.
I have a few reasons to feel that this is not justified:
1. 3 days to remove
Well let's take a look at it this way. This "curtain" is very well-secured and it has been in use for some time already. Sure, we can take down the things in about a few minutes (we took about 30 minutes when we really took it down that night), but have you ever considered about the predicament of the shop keepers? How are they going to display their wares now? 3 days to re-organise your shop is, frankly, too little. You need time to plan and move all your wares such that they can fit inside your shop. This is coupled with the fact that most of the shops there are small shops, thus there isn't this sort of big storage areas where they can keep everything...
3 days to move everything and continue working? You got to be kidding.
2. Why do it after people have paid the $600?
Before we continue, it's good to note the sequence of events that has led up to this scenario:
1. Some people went around finding out if the people wanted to use the area in front of their shop. If the shopkeepers decided to use that area, they must pay $600.
2. Some people then went around in the middle of the night (seriously middle of the night) and then painted down the yellow boxes defining the places where we can put the stuff
3. After painting it, some guy appeared and told my grandparents that they must take down the "curtains". If not, they will incur a fine.
Let's see what went wrong:
-If the shopkeepers had known that they are not allowed to keep the "curtains", I would highly doubt that a large amount of people would not want to continue hiring that space to put their wares since it would mean that their wares would be exposed to the elements
-Under further questioning, the person responded that the $600 are non-refundable and cannot be given back. Which means that no matter what happens, your $600 is stuck, even if you don't use that area because your wares are stuck out in the elements.
From what I see, it sounds like a ploy to earn money. (other then saving people from a fire hazard, which I still don't see how... More on that later) Let's look at it that way, a lot of shopkeepers there are wondering if there is still a need for them to use that area. When the rental notice came, most of the shopkeepers just continue using it seeing as they already have the curtains installed. So after earning a quick $600 from all the shopkeepers, they decided to tell the shopkeepers that "Oh, too bad, no more curtains"...
I mean, look at it this way, it sounds like a contract that gives you all the details minus the fine print, and I don't think we should expect that from the government...
Yes, we all know that the reason why this is being put into place is because of that incident that has happened some days ago. We know that safety is of the most utmost importance for all but is there a need for us to go to that extent. To me, the actions that are being taken seems to be less of safety for people but more of a chance to make money out of a situation...
If you are indeed out to protect the citizens from the dangers of fire hazard and the like, won't it be better to educate the shop owners and the people who live there of the proper evacuation methods should a fire really breakout? Won't it make a lot more sense to tell people what they should do in the real case of an emergency rather then to make the lives of the shopkeeper harder by trying to make them waste their money by making them tear down the "curtains" that they had built themselves several years back, all by themselves?
Let's take this, imagine you are trapped in this building and the building is on fire. Now the fire is raging very greatly and you want to get out of this building alive. You KNOW that there is an escape route somewhere but you do NOT KNOW how to use the escape route to get out of there alive...
This is exactly the same situation that we are seeing for the fire escape route for the shop house. The things are placed in such a method that there WILL be an escape route, a good question to ask however, would be how many people really KNOW how to use it.
When it comes down to it, you are just asking yourself who is the easier person to bully?
Will you bully the shopkeepers? Or bully the public? A lot of time it becomes easier to bully the public, and since there isn't any big shops or big companies in this mix, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to bully everybody...
Anyway, I'm predicting that something like this will happen because its typical of what we have been experiencing...
After about 2 or 3 weeks, some random guy from the government may appear and they will provide all the shopkeepers with this new accessory such that they can shield their items from the elements. This will obviously incur another unnecessary cost on our dearest shopkeepers and they'll have no other choice but to buy it anyway...
So, just my take on the situation, anybody has any comments?
Discmon
Anyway...
If you guys had been following the news lately, there have been a news on some shop houses going on fire and because of the way the shop keeper has positioned their wares, the people were trapped without a proper way to escape.
So anyway, this is our story...
My grandfather works in a shop house, not totally for profit but more for having some thing to do while in old age. So anyway, if you want to place any of your wares outside your shop, you will need to pay a certain sum of money ($600 in this case). Now, the bad news is that that area is not properly sheltered and is thus quite exposed to the sunlight and the rain. Most of the shop houses there have thus went to purchase their own "curtains" so as to shield their wares from the elements. This would then make it viable for them to place their wares outside...
Anyway, the cost of using that area has just been paid for. So, things were going on fine....
Until...
Somebody from the government came and say that we MUST take away the "curtain", if not, we must pay a fine of don't know how much money. They gave all the shop keepers a time limit of three days, following which the fine will be imposed and various other actions will be taken.
I have a few reasons to feel that this is not justified:
1. 3 days to remove
Well let's take a look at it this way. This "curtain" is very well-secured and it has been in use for some time already. Sure, we can take down the things in about a few minutes (we took about 30 minutes when we really took it down that night), but have you ever considered about the predicament of the shop keepers? How are they going to display their wares now? 3 days to re-organise your shop is, frankly, too little. You need time to plan and move all your wares such that they can fit inside your shop. This is coupled with the fact that most of the shops there are small shops, thus there isn't this sort of big storage areas where they can keep everything...
3 days to move everything and continue working? You got to be kidding.
2. Why do it after people have paid the $600?
Before we continue, it's good to note the sequence of events that has led up to this scenario:
1. Some people went around finding out if the people wanted to use the area in front of their shop. If the shopkeepers decided to use that area, they must pay $600.
2. Some people then went around in the middle of the night (seriously middle of the night) and then painted down the yellow boxes defining the places where we can put the stuff
3. After painting it, some guy appeared and told my grandparents that they must take down the "curtains". If not, they will incur a fine.
Let's see what went wrong:
-If the shopkeepers had known that they are not allowed to keep the "curtains", I would highly doubt that a large amount of people would not want to continue hiring that space to put their wares since it would mean that their wares would be exposed to the elements
-Under further questioning, the person responded that the $600 are non-refundable and cannot be given back. Which means that no matter what happens, your $600 is stuck, even if you don't use that area because your wares are stuck out in the elements.
From what I see, it sounds like a ploy to earn money. (other then saving people from a fire hazard, which I still don't see how... More on that later) Let's look at it that way, a lot of shopkeepers there are wondering if there is still a need for them to use that area. When the rental notice came, most of the shopkeepers just continue using it seeing as they already have the curtains installed. So after earning a quick $600 from all the shopkeepers, they decided to tell the shopkeepers that "Oh, too bad, no more curtains"...
I mean, look at it this way, it sounds like a contract that gives you all the details minus the fine print, and I don't think we should expect that from the government...
Yes, we all know that the reason why this is being put into place is because of that incident that has happened some days ago. We know that safety is of the most utmost importance for all but is there a need for us to go to that extent. To me, the actions that are being taken seems to be less of safety for people but more of a chance to make money out of a situation...
If you are indeed out to protect the citizens from the dangers of fire hazard and the like, won't it be better to educate the shop owners and the people who live there of the proper evacuation methods should a fire really breakout? Won't it make a lot more sense to tell people what they should do in the real case of an emergency rather then to make the lives of the shopkeeper harder by trying to make them waste their money by making them tear down the "curtains" that they had built themselves several years back, all by themselves?
Let's take this, imagine you are trapped in this building and the building is on fire. Now the fire is raging very greatly and you want to get out of this building alive. You KNOW that there is an escape route somewhere but you do NOT KNOW how to use the escape route to get out of there alive...
This is exactly the same situation that we are seeing for the fire escape route for the shop house. The things are placed in such a method that there WILL be an escape route, a good question to ask however, would be how many people really KNOW how to use it.
When it comes down to it, you are just asking yourself who is the easier person to bully?
Will you bully the shopkeepers? Or bully the public? A lot of time it becomes easier to bully the public, and since there isn't any big shops or big companies in this mix, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to bully everybody...
Anyway, I'm predicting that something like this will happen because its typical of what we have been experiencing...
After about 2 or 3 weeks, some random guy from the government may appear and they will provide all the shopkeepers with this new accessory such that they can shield their items from the elements. This will obviously incur another unnecessary cost on our dearest shopkeepers and they'll have no other choice but to buy it anyway...
So, just my take on the situation, anybody has any comments?
Discmon
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