World AIDS Day

Imagine if Singapore's population was destroyed 5 times over. Killed not once, but over and over and over and over again.

Then imagine seeing all of that massacre within your lifetime.

That's like watching 5 people dying at the same time. Slowly, in front of you, while you are alive, breathing, growing, maturing.

If you ever wondered about the scale of the HIV and AIDS epidemic, UNAIDS reports that 25 million have died from the virus since the epidemic was officially documented. 60 million have since been infected.

That's 10 Singapores' worth of people that are documented to be struggling with this. Not to mention those as yet undocumented.

There's been a blitz on TV these weeks about HIV awareness and promote care and concern for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Singapore idols are apparently singing about this. Hip and cool ads abound.

Just wanted to give everyone some perspective.

While I had Singapore Idols on as background noise, Tabitha sang a cover of "Praying For Time" - an old classic last made famous by George Michael. (Great job Tabby) It was hauntingly familiar, so I took a brain break and googled the lyrics again, which I reproduce below.

As a prelude to that, here's an extract from a 1990 NYT article about George Michael's Listen Without Prejudice album, which sparked a strange sense dejavu in me.

"[The album] also generated controversy when some American radio stations banned the single, ''I Want Your Sex,'' for being too suggestive in the age of AIDS." (Stephen Holden, Sept 16, 1990, New York Times)

Ironic, huh.

"PRAYING FOR TIME"

These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers
This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance
And legitimate excuses
The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But we'll take our chances
Because god's stopped keeping score
I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all god's children
Crept out the back door
And it's hard to love, there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much too late
Well maybe we should all be praying for time
These are the days of the empty hand
Oh you hold on to what you can
And charity is a coat you wear twice a year
This is the year of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there is over here
So you scream from behind your door
Say "what's mine is mine and not yours"
I may have too much but i'll take my chances
Because god's stopped keeping score
And you cling to the things they sold you
Did you cover your eyes when they told you
That he can't come back
Because he has no children to come back for
It's hard to love there's so much to hate
Hanging on to hope when there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it's much too late
So maybe we should all be praying for time

Monday Night in Petaling Jaya

I'd discussed with Anita about co-writing a paper, so took the opportunity to work in a different environment to visit her in KL. Hang out with the Malaysians, absorb the KL mojo.

 

So after a long day staring at the computer (punctuated by the discovery of HALAL meatballs in Ikea KL!!!), Julian wanted a beer, Jo and I  needed a break.

 

How far away to a pub in Pj on a monday night? Apparently 13 turns plus, because we were in a keystone cops routine to figure our way out of Julian's estate. 2 cops on electric cycles were scooting here and there placing barriers at the end of random roads, seemingly confounding us at every turn. Surely this was a public safety measure? Or a road construction prelude? How the F were we to get out, and more importantly, how to get back when the beer is finished?

 

We did overcome the cops in the end, making our way to a relatively occupied pub. A lone man was on stage, with a laptop full of tracks and his acoustic, singing Cliff Richard. A documentary about Monkeys is playing soundlessly on screen.

 

Half a coke later, the audience is singing along with a Filipina called Anne, who is belting out Whitney like nobody's business. When called to encore, she quips 'Hurry up my permit so I can sing here all the time! Tonight just a free stout will do..' bar tender gladly totes over a free pint, smiley face for free.

 

Her drinking buddy Jude goes on and bawls about that brother of his that ain't heavy - just the right amount of stout to get on stage yet remember the lyrics. Right on tune with the perfect dose of emo, malaysia boleh sia, talent everywhere!

 

The documentary had moved on to babboons and how they are diapered in the zoo.

 

One-man band on stage sings about having a bad day, singing a sad song and turning it around. Yeah, F mondays. Move my life along please.

 

Back at my laptop awaits case studies on social models, volunteerism management papers, microfinance exam, financial education white papers, class outlines to flesh out, media strategies for nonprofits. I'm somewhat amused I am actually able to list all this while munching on stir-fried hotdogs and onions, humming to bandman, and sipping coke, at the same time.

 

Yeah F mondays. I'm gonna sing this sad song then turn around, go to bed and wake up to Tuesday.

 

P.S. 20 min after leaving the pub, we are still finding way around the barriers to find the way home. Just keep turning left, Julian says, as long as the blue lights are behind us... 'it's like we're trapped? Can't get in, can't get out... Kinda like Singapore, no?' Chuckle chuckle, left turn again.

 

Exploring the Brave New World of Sharing Platforms

This is a test - to see if I'm brave enough to share my blog to my Facebook world.  If all goes well (I feel strangely ill-equipped when navigating through it, kinda like an old woman on a blog for the 1st time), this post is also on FB shortly.

I had not blogged in a while. FB Notes application makes it easier for me to share my thoughts with people, rather than sending blog notifications to friends on email.  Maybe this will re-inspire more kaypo thoughts from me.  Given what I've been going through since July of 2008, there should be plenty of material to blog about, if I get around to it.....

Test complete. Results yet to be published.