those koreans...

So, reading the Time magazine on the crowded tube (which in a way was a blessing in disguise because it acted as a human shield in the cold) I read that in South Korea, the pressure to perform is bad for students, that capitalism has taken advantage of a poor students plight to failure…

If you were in trouble in any way, and I can sympathise with these students because I have undergone the same traumatic experience - having your family, most notably your mum, being called upon by your tutor/teacher/principal…this was the most embarrassing and painful experience to go through…

Your own flesh and blood, your family name being disgraced at a private school of which your own dad slogs his brains out for. You don’t want them to know that you are hanging around with the “12 monkeys” or the fact that you cheated on Duke of Edinburgh, or even worse got one detention to many for the most absurd reasons like chewing gum, and shirt hanging out in the cool fashion of left side down front, and right side down back…
A country’s solution….

Form a legal company that will send “fake parents” out with your children…the real parents never know, the teachers don’t know…basically its an agency for “fake parents”. They charge around $30 for a phone call to the school, and into hundreds for personal meetings with school officials…

I don’t want to copy a whole article, but what it fails to impact is the negative impact it will have on our children. Forget nuclear power, terrorism, the main threat in the world is this…to be able to BUY fake parents will no doubt make us more and more independent on any morals, and any responsibility to do well for ourselves. The pressure of performance vanishes, the competition dwindles and all you have is a bunch of fakes and phonies who really havn’t got a clue what is going on, but at least can buy themselves out of trouble…

Im only 25 but at least I know that I want to be sure that I know what my kid is doing. Bright eyed, tall and strong he may be, but I will not be a substitute to an import from Parent Ltd , £300 an hour , “yes Mr Head teacher, my son understands, where do I sign thank you and good day” robotic impersonation of my beautiful self….

Ok a bit hot headed and random…but its always nice to learn a new thing everyday!
Also was able to upload pictures from the Sony 800i that I have had since summer.
Now the many weird looks I have had to endure when I stop in the middle of nowhere or somewhere and flash as eagerly as the Chinese tourist next to me, now at last I have some kind of relief for those stupid common looks!

Heres a sample of life since summer 2006 which involved a trip to the countryside, a job with boxes, and a trip to Japan for Lee’s wedding, and my return more importantly …

5 things I enjoyed on Monday

It was 10, but the day isnt finished yet...

1) Walking through the human maze and confusion that is Waterloo overland station, while humming “Eye of the tiger”. Have you ever seen such a mass of headless chicken run around, stop in the middle, look up for some direction of where to go in their lives…in this case, platform 6 at 9.13am. However do not like the “walk and stop without indicating “ people. The frenzy is a lovely wake up call to a Monday morning under a thick grey dullness.

2) My imagination – today I sat in the office, imagining what would have happened if I said “yes” to my current job at the wee old age of 21, rather than 23…two years of my life? What would have I done. Although the Japanese would have lost out on a such a “productive” individual as myself, I would have been well into my qualification and possibly on the verge of an arranged marriage. I probably wouldn’t have ended commuting between flat, home and girl..stepping over a bicycle in the morning and tip toeing on a cold plastic wooden floor, I probably wouldn’t b e able to say “hello how are you” in Japanese and thus greatly impressing the colleagues I work with

3) My sandwich – simplicity at its best. Ham, cheese, salad…with white bread. Tender and finished in a handful of bites. Already looking forward to next days surprise

4) Looking at my pictures on my mobile of last weekends activities. No gossip caught on camera and no photographic genius here, but still, a weekend of fun caught and filed! Somehow I spent the best part of 20 minutes looking over 15 pictures. Living in the past has always been my weakness

5) Looking forward to getting on the tube and reading my current book “the shackled continent.” It is really alarming that when you are reading something, or do something a bit unique, you start to notice more of “it”. ie, Never looked at an oriental before…now I feel like the British ambassador to all people with paler faces and smaller eyes…Now this is the first time I have read about Africa and suddenly two movies on African issues are being shown. Coincidence? I think not… I feel like this is the “Amit Show”

a very long post

An interesting welcome to 2007

Monday Jan 1st 2007. Floating on to the new year. A happy new year to the few and roughly the same year for many to be honest

So the usual recommendations to oneself to be a “better person,” to be more “ productive” and to be less of a lightweight at the bar…I assume they will last a good week or two for the normal plebs, but for some of us, it acts as a timely reminder to try and focus on something a bit more positive and to somewhat improve if we can…why we have to do it once the digits change, and the year clicks from a 6 to a 7.

So as I sit with my parents, and fidget endlessly with the phone hoping that I get the text messages from those who I expect, and that one person who you don’t expect but kind of want.. I take a look around the room and see where I will be spending the first hours of a new year of my quarter of a century plus one year…

It’s a dinner with the family, my aunt and uncle and a random but pleasant couple. I get a good seat at the end of table. why do I have no texts, or phone calls, and what am I doing drinking tap water on new years eve. …

Then the realisation come, a new era is indeed being born (play with me here on the over dramatic side of things!!) Not as important and the discovery of certain amenities or the end of civil wars, but on a micro level, important for me…I like being alone. The phone gets discarded on the table, under the plate of prawn dumplings. My mum actually has a conversation with me which does not involve her dismay for my passion for the far east. My aunt proceeds to get drunk on red wine. It might seem like a scene from goodness gracious meets the royle family, but at the end of the day, it is a family and not many people have what we have…to be honest, with dad in hospital for the next week or two with this major operation, and my brother leaving for Singapore to yet again travel, work and play , its going to be an interesting bonding experience with me and my mum…two very different apples indeed!

So after a year of studying, passing and failing exams, the switch of loyalties from Japan to China, being witness to one of the most beautiful weddings I have been to, and trying to balance my bank account with the burden of travelling and an overpriced square room with a tiny window, I look to the new year with a dad in hospital, brother in a far away country, a very sensitive, and yet lovable mum, and myself, still one year lost in not doing something I want…and still one year left to decide on what I want to do…

Ok what happened to a light hearted introduction to write something with a little wit and humour. This has to stop. I should bring back another lovely rendition of the CA magazine or even better show you some absurd objective that I have for the year…

To write a travel book for the accountant. The amount of places that I have seen have been as exotic as ” “Battle”, which is aptly named thus due to 1066 battle. I remember the hotel, more of a mansion, which was adjacent to a lovely wood. So out goes Amit, thinking , a crisp jog before work would be perfect. Get the brain cells working in order to tick those important accounts! 10 minutes into the jog, I hear the distant sound of a few dogs barking. Slowly but surely the noise gets closer and more frantic, and so does my jogging. It turns into a fast sprint and I have the feeling that today’s hunt involves mixed Indian stew, fresh with the sweat and some fallen leaves. I rush, a bland word to describe the panic I was in. I jumped from one hard path of mud to another, to make sure that I didn’t lose my footing or a shoe in the sticky dirt.

I ploughed head first through the leaves and the thorns and hands acting as my machete, I chopped my way to the stairs that lead to the main entrance. I pass the windows of the dining area, and catch a glimpse of my colleague having his calorie free diet fry up. I jump the full flight of stairs, and land smoothly as any bollywood stunt man would do on the pebbled car park. I run across the park way, with the sounds of the barking ever closer. I do what I should never have done and forever regret…I turned around, and I saw a brown white blur of something coming towards me. Freaked out now, to get away from this Predator, I fumble in my pocket for the key and slam the door shut behind me, only with a few seconds to spare.

The clawing is immediate and the barking turns to growling. Then after two minutes or so, silence. I look outside through the window, panting, and there are two cocker spaniels, (the same ones who played dead two days ago and wanted a serious belly rubbing)..two words…right plonker

All they wanted was another rub…

Anyway I guess you had to be there to find this idiotic story amusing. Or maybe I still lack the capability of making something on paper sound alive…
Its time to sleep now, for tomorrow the working belt starts grinding again, I have to chomp down onto the slave factory for some more zombie style work…Though I think my mind will be on other things, like my dads operation…Good luck to him