Today is the birthdays of 2 of my family members and it is also the 58th year of independence for Singapore. With the availability of internet, I was able to celebrate with my family via video call. Although they are having a much scrumptious meal as compared to my take away meal, just being able to see them while having dinner does make me feel as if I am sharing the same space with them. We are approximately 3600km apart yet it felt so near and it does nurse my homesickness that I constantly feel each day. I think I am quite a homely person and being far away from home is never easy for me despite having the experience of living a nomad life for more than half of my lifetime. If there is one thing that I wish to have in the future, it would be to settle down at one place and plant my roots firmly on that particular place till the grim reaper comes. I do love to travel but at the end of the day I would prefer to spend the major portion of the year being at a place where I can call home.
My day today was filled with lots of videos of my pets and updates on their quirky behaviors' because my brother is back home to visit my parents. Ginger the golden retriever looks kind of moody during the video call and I heard her ear is infected. The other pets are all doing well and my dog Bow Bow looks more energetic and cheerful today. His coat looks much better too after I gave him a good trimming the last I visit home. I find it hilarious when my brother assumed our pet tortoise had ejaculated on him when he lifted it up today but I had doubts and did some online search. It is interesting to know the white fluid that came out of the tortoise is actually urates which is a waste product that is filtered and excreted by the kidneys. If it is too thick and gritty it could indicate that the tortoise is dehydrated and sometimes certain high protein diet could also affect the consistency. I think we have to review what we feed him and also ensure he is well hydrated despite it being a dessert tortoise.
I also spent some time today reading on NEWater as a way of celebrating Singapore's national day. It is commendable that they identified the need for alternatives since the 70's but the project actually took off in the 90's when there is availability of reliable technology to recycle sewage into safe consumable water. The process uses the technique of microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet irradiation to ensure there's no viruses or microbes that will make the water unsafe for consumption. They even collaborated with some other country to come up with beer crafted from NEWater. There's no doubt that Singapore is a nation that have come a very long way and despite being a small island, they were able to standout on the map and have very high standards. This is also the reason why many of my countrymen always dream to work there and we often admire them.
Having a short glimpse of the national parade on Youtube, I find the performances and the advertisements that were all related to Singapore was quite touching. Touching in the sense that if I were a Singaporean, I will definitely feel very moved and proud of my country. I know that not everything is a bed of roses there but it is the resilience of the people there that made the country great. Their senior parliamentary secretary for sustainability and environment often updates his social media and seeing what they do over there made me wish that we can do the same here. For example, when they banned plastic bags from the shopping mall they set up a stand for people to bring their extra recycle bag so that anyone who forgets to bring their own bag can take the bags from the stand. Then there's the food container where you scan a QR code and take a container to take away food and then return it after use and the container will be properly sanitized to be reuse again. This is really the way forward and as a politician, mr Baey certainly engage with the people a lot and his upcycled outfit today was really creative and unique.
Well, I can only hope for my countrymen to do better and to have better politicians governing the country. At the same time try my best as an individual to contribute back to my country in the ways I could. Oh yeah talking about contribution, I just received a call today from the tax department stating that I have underpaid my tax from 2021. 2021 is like so yesterday and they only detected it after 1 year plus that I have underpaid my tax. Sometimes I wonder what sort of people sits at those position handling important stuff like this.
I think the fireworks must be spectacular tonight over there. Good Night.
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