Hazy Daze

For the past week, Singaporeans have been plagued with haze carried by winds from the island of Sumatra. The pollution levels hit record high in Singapore history.

Judging from reactions, the impact from the haze has affected many in more ways than one. Those with a sense of humor conjured up hilarious photos, some of which were not very polite. Others complained about the government's actions in this "crisis" in typical Singaporean fashion. Most of us just tried to carry on as usual while taking precaution against overexposure to the pollutants.

Instead of writing a commentary, I have decided to take the lazy way out and put my comments and observations in point form for easy reading. You can deduce my opinion about the whole situation from there.

1) Indonesian farmers who practice slash and burn are probably doing it because that's how they have been at it for decades. I don't think there is any ill intention, just ignorance or pure obligation to survival. This is not a malicious attack on Singaporeans.

2) I have a feeling that a lot of people, like myself before I came across Dr Vivian Balakrishnan's comment publish in The Straits Times, think that cloud seeding is equivalent to planting seeds to grow clouds. Cloud seeding requires clouds. This link explains that cloud seeding is the process of inducing rain from clouds.
http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/Cloud-seeding.htm

3) What are clouds? I found this very interesting link when I did a search on Google. It is a page meant for kids and explains clouds in a very comprehensive manner.
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-clouds.htm

4) Politics itself is not a bad thing. It is people that make politics sour with their actions or ignorant comments.

5) Money itself is not a bad thing. It is people's greed that turns money into an evil tool.

6) Yes, we may be a victim of acts committed by another party. But in the scheme of things, if you look at the world globally, there are worse things that could happen.

Today is Impact Journalism Day. Newspapers around the world share stories on creative solutions to global issues. The Saturday section of The Straits Times carried these stories. Read it and feel fortunate that we live in Singapore. Other than applaud the creative solutions, look at the issue itself and see if you can help to reduce such problems - don't waste food, save energy, help others worse off than yourself. Easier said than done but don't give up trying!!!
http://www.straitstimes.com/impact

That as a bit of a side track. Back to the haze situation. The haze eased up a lot today and I could actually see the blue sky. After a week of gray, the blue was magnificent. We really take a lot of things for granted everyday. Blue skies and white clouds......

It was a fortunate coincidence for my family that the boys are home on school vacation now. There was no need to ponder over the dilemma of sending them to school or confining them at home. Ryan had a fever on Sunday so we let him stay at home. When he recovered on Tuesday, we figured that it was better to let him stay at home for one more day just in case he was affected by the haze. The haze worsened by Wednesday so we kept him home for the rest of the week.

We have made reservations at Hotel Michael of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). Yes, we are staying at a different hotel this year. We have been staying at the Festive Hotel for the past 3 times we stayed at Sentosa. We are trying a new hotel this year because it is cheaper. We are using my mom's reward points with RWS to redeem the hotel stay. Yes, my mom has that many points because she is a frequent patron of the casino.

Ryan has affirmed that there will be rain before we go to Sentosa on Monday. I wonder how he knows.....I'll let you know when the day comes. Wish us luck with the weather.......

Rain, rain, come my way.
I can't wait for one more day.
Little children, little children,
Little children want to play.