Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Go Bald



Two days in a row, I've noticed this man with a striking shaven head while on my way to work. Striking because he has a nice head shape and because his bald head really sticks out prominently from a crowd of crowning glories.

Anyway, I saw him this morning again. Because he was right infront of me and I had nowhere else to look, I got a good close-up of his head. This guy is positively balding somewhere in the middle. You can tell because that patch looks different from the rest of his scalp. Now I'm not trying to be mean seeing how balding and receding hairlines can have a devastating effect on a young man but I just think it's so cool to go for the perfectly shaven look when you're at the edge of losing it all. It's an ingenious solution.Get rid of the balding look and look good at the same time. It also tells of a confident man who knows he doesn't need a head full of hair to look good.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think balding men are attractive. The key word here is 'bald'. So to all the young balding men out there, my advice to you is go bald.

Go totally bald.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

maid in singapore

I've never agreed with the concept of hiring maids. To me, it's not much different from legalised slavery. The maid leaves home to a faraway place only to come to a foreign land where she has few or no friends. Her salary is small and most of the money is remitted home or paid to the agent who brought her here. Often, they are separated from their own kids and suffering from homesickness. In short, it's a sad existence. Some of them do establish a better life for themselves here (largely depending on how good or bad her employer treats her) but for the most part, they're lonely, earn little and work long hours.

Unfortunately, hiring maids has become a very common practice here. In most homes where there are young kids, you'll usually find a maid, sometimes even two. Parents basically spend most of their time working, earning a living. Parenting takes a toll and is often left to the maids to take care of, on top of her cleaning and cooking duties. Unlike babysitters in the U.S, the maids here are hired on a full-time basis and live in with their employers.

It has come to light recently that some employers are installing video cameras in their homes to check on what their maids are up to while they're away at work. Employers here rationalise that it's the right thing to do, saying that's it better to be safe than sorry. What a ridiculous comment. If you'll rather be safe than sorry, why even bother with a maid? Why not just look after them yourself or get your parents, in-laws to help out? By installing a camera, you're blantantly telling the maid you DON'T trust her! It's no different from pointing a camera at an employee in the office. You invade her privacy and worse, you send a clear message that you don't trust the lady who looks after your kids. This is wrong on so many levels.

Maids take care of their employer's kids. If parents must hire them, they might as well treat them well so that they in turn, treat the kids well. Give them their once-a-week break, decent lodging and let them eat with the family, not the left-overs. Also, I've witnessed so many incidents of kids yelling at their maids, I'm embarassed. Kids ape their parents and I'm pretty sure they picked up such bad behaviour from the very people who were supposed to their role models. What an utter shame.