Problem Sum
J lives in Singapore. He is currently one of the 80% from the average working Singaporean. Based on the above scenario, calculate his life statistics.

Step 1:
Let X be the the potential retirement age

hence X = 70 years old

Step 2:
Average Working Lifespan = (retirement age) - (Age to start work)
Average Working Lifespan = 70 - 22
Average Working Lifespan = 48 years

So, average working lifespan is: 48 years

Step 3:
Life Statistics = (Avg working lifespan) X (Wake up, Go to work, Sleep)
Life Statistics = 48 X (Wake up, Go to work, Sleep)

Conclusion
Hence, an average Singaporean will work like a DOG for 48 years in the near future.

Yes. After about close to 3 months of doing pretty much nothing and yet religiously depleting my already very shallow bank amount, I have finally got some good news to share.

I AM GOING TO START WORK

Tentatively, my first day would be this coming wed, August 13th, 2007. I am going to circle bold and underline this date on my calender. Because I feel 1 year later, I would probably and shamelessly ask for a pay increase if I am still working there. Anyway, the job’s pay isn’t spectacular, but it’s a good clean start. You know how folks like to say - the most important step is always to take the first step. I think I can hear a sigh of relief from my parents, especially my mum. Honestly, I think she is quite sick of me already, but I am quite sure she is gonna miss me eating her lunch.

Just now, I was punching my calculator here and there to count some numbers. The total amount of CPF contributions immediately spoil my mood.  The 20% is really quite sian.

I guess Govt damn scared of beggars, desperate people to spoil their image or ask for welfare. I think it is probably due to my shallow ignorance, but I still feel the CPF scheme can definitely be modified for the better. Anyway, anything that can help free up some cash flow.

I have a resolution. I going to save more and spent less. Just a few things I want, not need - a slim tie, a snazzy black belt and a Newcastle jersey.

I didn’t manage to catch it during their release and it is only yesterday that i saw it on DVD. I enjoyed this wonderfully original story from start to end. A story that reaches out to the heart and soul of Singaporeans on their hopes, dreams and discovering life.

Singapore Dreaming chronicles a working class family living in a capitalistic society, struggling with the frustrations of unfulfilled middle class ambitions. Its explores a Singaporean drive to attain the riches of the 5Cs, feeling frustrated by the gulf between his middle class dreams and his working class reality. There is always a bigger car to want, a nicer condo to live in. It is portrayed as the generalized way of how Singaporeans tend to see, judge and give their respect.

Like how the China beer girl sized us up in the movie, “Singaporeans love to complain about everything, yet they are willing to give up their dreams and do something else - because of money”.

The seven deadly sins or so called the Christian’s capital sins are the attribution of immoral vices that have plagued man since of dawn of society. As I quote from Catechism of the Catholic Church 1998, “sin creates an inclination to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root.”

Do the traditional immoralities of the seven sins have any relevance to society today? In any case, the human capacity to convince and justify their own actions is quite extraordinary. We are naturally self deluding people, who can admittedly commit evil things, and yet choose to ignore or even rationalise it. In a broader sense, giving us an excuse for everything sin that we commit.

Let see how we normally apply sinning in a contemporary setting.

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1. Lust - Excessive craving for the pleasures of the body
Need I say more. Our eyes and hormones are there for certain purposes.

2. Gluttony - Excessive desire to consume more than one requires
Is fine dining and wining your high life? Do you binge alcohol when you go for parties? Do you always fancy a buffet meal, which most of the time you would leave scraps of wasted food behind - even though you know for a fact there are people out there in the world that lives perpetually in hunger.

3. Greed - Excessive desire for material wealth or gain
Are you working simply to survive, or are you carving for more money to give you all the material luxuries that you seem to want everytime you go window-shopping? Is that your life motivation? Do you engage in impulsive buying that is beyond your means, resulting in credit debts or installment terms?

4. Sloth - The avoidance of physical or spiritual work
Do you procrastinate? I figure it is one of the most popular words being used nowadays.

5. Wrath - Anger is manifested in the individual
Are you a racist? Do you have a vengeful opinion of someone which sits in the back of mind, which you occasionally play with the idea that you can seek some revenge? Do you have an uncontrolled anger when someone ticks you off?

6. Envy - The desire for others’ traits, status, abilities, or situation
Jealousy, you know what it is and it not a good feeling. It is pretty close to envy. Do you feel inferior, angry and unfair - because a particular person is much luckier, smarter, more attractive than you?

7. Pride - Excessive belief in one’s own abilities
Pride is called the sin from which all sins, also known as vanity. One could describe pride as the feeling of being superior and better then others. Do you often judge people? Do you form a negative opinion of a person, when you figure that he has a lower education level then you do? When someone gives you an advice, would you belittle it and think they are trying to act smart?

Do you? Do you?