Dissipating Fog...

Yesterday, I participated yet again in another [OC] event... It was held in @ [Raffles Place] area & as usual, I arrived early, so I decided to do a little walking & exploration of the area in general before heading to [Singapore Human Resource Institute]...

I got more than I bargained for with tt decision to walk cause I ended up getting a little overwhelmed by the network of underpass tt connects a few of the office buildings with the [MRT] station... I decided not to go above ground to the [Promontory] cause @ around [1320 hrs], the sun is unbearable & I better listen to the doc & not move in the sun too much for fear of damaging my already damaged eyes...

I was following the underpass from [Exit I] & I ended up walking pass this building tt's called [The Sails] & some residential building... When I saw tt a residential area exists IN THE [CBD] area, I was like, 'Da hell?!' I mean, you've gotta be bloody rich to be able to afford living there... Then again, if you're working in the [Marina Bay] area, where all the financial entities are situated, I guess you probably have wayyyyyy too much money tt you've no idea where to throw it anyway... *Envies*

I reached the starting pt of [Marina Link Mall] before I needed to turn back & head to where I was supposed to be, which resulted in me being too early... Again...

So instead of entering [SHRI], I decided to lurk outside the entrance, looking @ the brochures tt're on display for a while before entering...  Effectively, I was trying to blend into the walls, but it wasn't really working & I was trying not to freak & look like a retard when the lift dinged & spewed out another dude...

It wasn't helping tt when I took a sneak peek of him, he was kinda hot... & since he's attending the same event as me, there's no doubt abt his sexuality & tt simply threw me into the 'lovestruck schoolgirl mode'... The dude hesitate a moment before deciding to enter the office & I was debating if I should follow suit when the lift dinged again & spewed out another dude...

Deciding tt I'm no longer gonna stand @ the entrance like a retard, I hurriedly entered, registered & made my way into the function room... There [Mr. Good Looking] was, seated... I cautiously approached where he was seated & almost plopped myself in 2 seats away from him before reconsidering & move to sit beside him...

& tt was the end... I subsequently took my phone out to distract myself by checking into [4Square]... Tt only lasted for a while before I was resigned to stare @ the facilitators of the event, trying my hardest not to stare @ [Mr. Good Looking]... Another participant came & sat on the other side of [Mr. Good Looking] & after much nudging from the facilitators, both of them attempted some form of a conversation...

I could've jumped into the conversation & network, but for some reason, I was frozen, so all I did was listen to their conversation... Slowly, more guys came & I was just stoning, trying to hide somewhere but failing miserably...

The time came for the 1st activity where all of us have to really talk to one another & everyone seemed to be having a conversation with someone except me & [Mr. Good Looking], the 2 of us just started talking... & I get to know a little bit abt him... Of course, tt wasn't enough & due to time constrain, I didn't get to know him better & I had to move on to interact with more ppl...

I'm still working on the interacting with ppl part cause everytime when it drifted to the awkward silence part & I know it's time to move on, I just don't know how to react & make a nice exit... Walking away abruptly looks rude, so more often than not, I just stand there & stone while conversations continue on around me...

Okay, note to self: Devise an exit strategy for future conversations...


Anyway, the event yesterday was on the topic of coming out to family... & the discussion has been really thought provoking... When it comes to the part where I've to place myself in my parents' shoes, I can't really think of anything tt would make them react badly to my sexuality...

Religion isn't there to say tt I'm going to hell for it... I'm sure my parents know tt [HIV] isn't like casting [Death] & I'm just gonna drop dead on the spot... So really, it got me thinking why am I so fearful??? Just a couple of days ago when the doc @ [SNEC] discussed abt the possibility of me getting a white cane, my dad seemed to take it in his stride & even felt tt it's a good thing for me to be trained in using the white cane & to know a little bit of braille for identification purposes...

So much for me thinking tt they'll be adamant abt me needing such aids... *Snorts*

Yep, so they could also not react badly... & while it seems logical, tt unexplainable & irrational part of me just refuse to understand tt... & with the knowledge tt some other participants in the discussion had parents reacting badly, just seem to magnify tt fear...

We also discussed on how to come out to our parents & certain prep work is required... The 1st is to test the waters before dropping hints... I'm not sure when I should start testing the waters, but I'm feeling tt it should be soon cause it's indeed mentally draining having so many different sides of myself & trying not to let those parts of myself & the respective circle of friends collide with one another...

All in all, it has got me thinking abt the predicament tt I'm in & it has also spurred me to toy with the idea of volunteering for [OC]... After attending a few of those events & feeling how liberating to be able to actually be myself, I'm craving for tt environment again & volunteering allows me to gain access to tt... @ the same time, I could also expand my social circle, have more ppl to discuss what I'm going thru & basically feel tt I'm not alone in this...

Well, when the event ended, I once again engaged in my horrible habit of taking eons to decide... In this case, I was thinking if I should ask [Mr. Good Looking] if he would like to hang out with another participant, of course & get to know 1 another...

I hesitated too long & he left... So now all I have was the regret tt I should've opened my mouth & asked...

Anyway, so I ended up having another participant accompany me after the event... We first headed to [Lau Pa Sat] so tt I could get my dinner & him something light to much on... I wasn't intimidated by him so we managed to really talked & I got to know more abt him & how he deals with his sexuality... He was also really comfortable sharing more things abt him... Aiya, he was doing most of the talking & I was simply happy to listen...

After tt, we took a walk around the [Marina Bay] area cause I told him tt I'm really unfamiliar with the area (the excuse tt I wanna know where the underpass leads to came into handy here) & he offered to sort of show me around the place...

The best part of it all??? We stumbled upon the [NDP] rehearsal as we arrived @ the [Promontory] & so we decided to stayed there to view both the light show & the fireworks...




Good thing he suggested tt or I'll never know how exciting it was to see those jet planes flying over our heads or seeing fireworks personally...

Okay, side note: I know the pics suck... I totally didn't know tt the reaction time for the camera's so freaking slow... Like press le, then 1 sec later it snaps the pic... By then, the fireworks are gone & it's only the black sky tt was being captured... Zzz... -_-"'

By the time we actually decide to move out from [Promontory] it was like [2045 hrs] & everything around the [Raffles Place] area was closed, so there's no way [WX] could've found anything to eat nearby... He subsequently decided on going to [Bugis], but I couldn't really stay out too late, so we parted ways then... I kinda feel bad not accompanying him for his dinner considering tt he was nice enough to spend tt entire evening accompanying me... Urgh... X_X

Taking A Peek Out Of The Closet...

My past few entries have been nth but interesting news articles tt I've chanced upon on the rare occasion tt I actually bother with the newspapers... Not tt I've nth to blog abt... I do... It's just tt my thoughts have always been really jumbled & I see no pt in blogging a short paragraph of thoughts when [Twitter] seems to be able to serve tt purpose more effectively...

The other reason tt I used to blog frequently was tt it appealed to my need for attention... Sometimes it's hard to really pour out my feelings in front of my friends & I would rather they find out how I'm feeling thru this medium... However, most of the ppl in [The Gang] has since got over the allure of blogging in pursuit of more instant gratification... So while tt kinda discouraged me a little in blogging (I mean, if no one bothers abt this, then it's as good as keeping a physical diary & I'm never a diary kinda person), there're still instances when I actually wanna unload just to the interwebz... I guess a small part of me hoped tt if I were to write everything down, my thought would be more coherent & as a result of tt, I would be able to see things in a better perspective, get enlightened...

As much as I hate writing reports & stuff, I can actually get really long winded when I get carried away, which I kinda foresee will happen in this entry...

I've never actually given up [MapleStory]... There were a few periods of time tt I actually grew bored with it & took a hiatus from it, but when new content came out or when I'm sufficiently deprived of games, I'll always go back to this game... Well, this is no surprise considering tt I'm never a huge fan of change...

This was when [XP]'s still playing the game like half a yr back... The monster transformation pots are totally useless, but in the name of fun... Well, can't blame us for trying it & taking some SS, right??? Haha...

O-k-a-y, the actual [Green Mushrooms] tt you see roaming around [Maple World] doesn't have the du lan kinda look, so IDK why the transformation pot makes tt kinda face... LOL...

I was truly amazed by this dragon... In this case, you'll get transformed into a [Dragon] & you can fly yourself to the [Temple Of Time]... A training area tt's totally not suitable for my lv... Nonetheless, it was exciting to discover new stuff like every now & then, rather than grind & lv what what most players do...

I'm just showing off tt I was able to complete the entire outfit tt can only be obtained during [Maple]'s 7th anniversary event tt's still ongoing... The eq set has a lv req of 70 & the stat bonuses is already wayyyyyy better than the normal eqs tt I was using tt has a lv req of 90... Okay, tt's not surprising consigering tt the former is some limited time only items...

Tt's my short snippet of what I've been up to recently, apart from drooling over [Ian Somerhalder] from [TVD] every night... Yep, tt's my new routine for the hols: Work, [TVD], [Maple]... Extremely effective in keeping me preoccupied... & once I'm done with [TVD], I'm just gonna replace it with [Gintama]... *Grins* ^_^

Okay, I guess I should stop stalling & get to the content proper...

I recently completed the movie [Prayers For Bobby] & read the novel of the same title & I've been doing quite a bit of thinking ever since... Trust me, apart  from doing internal debates with myself as to whether I should buy a particular piece clothing, I've never really been brooding over any other issues for this long, ever...

It's actually an account of the mother of a gay son, how she came to accept her son's sexuality a few yrs after his suicide, starting from her questioning the [Christianity] doctrine up to the time where she became an activist for gay rights... The book also gave an insight to [Bobby]'s life from his diary... The movie made me wept several times as certain scenes were seriously touching... One of them was @ the ending:



Naturally, the movie deviated slightly from the novel, but tt's not really impt... What's impt was tt the novel really provided an insight to [Bobby]'s struggle by printing excerpts from his diary... This was something tt the movie couldn't portray & what [Bobby] wrote to a certain extent, mirrors my own struggles...

@ the end of the day, it all boils down to 1 thing... Not finding someone to settle down with (I'm too introverted to be capable of tt)... Possibly more sex (I'm a guy after all)... But rather, just to feel accepted & tt I belong...

It is really placing a strain on myself tt I've to pretend or erect a facade as to who I truly am... Among family members as well as new acquaintances... I'm longing for the day when I can be open abt my desires & not feel like some freak... I did experienced tt kinda feeling on a few occasions, by participating in some [Oogachaga] events and boy were those experiences liberating... For those few hrs, not only could I talk abt issues tt've been bugging me, but I could be understood... The later is something which I doubt my straight friends, no matter how open they are, will be able to understand or relate...

Another thing abt not hiding who I truly am is tt I wouldn't have to lie to my family when I attend those [OC] events... This is another thing tt's been troubling me for a while already... Currently, I feel tt it's inevitable tt I've to constantly spin web of lies to cover my tracks when I'm attending those [OC] events & this makes me feel like I'm doing something dodgy, like I'm committing a crime or something... I feel bad abt constantly telling them the untruths & worse, I'm afraid tt they might one day discover tt I've been deceiving them before I'm ready to come out to them... Of course, by coming out to them, I've to also admit tt I've been deceiving them & tt's like a double whammy...

I know I've managed to survive keeping this side of myself a secret for a while now, but I've no idea if I can still do this when I've finally opened up myself a little to socialise & to attempt to know more gay men... Or actually try to muster up sufficient courage to chat a guy up... It seems like my time in uni is like the best time to know more ppl & yet, being in the closet is kinda keeping me back from doing so...

I'm kinda confused & I can feel the pressure building up within me to come out... Yet I need to stay logical & play my cards right to minimize the potential dmges...

*Sigh* Urgh... My homosexuality is beginning to overshadow the other parts of me... & it seems like this entry didn't really help clear my head...  Will it really get better??? o_O

So Beautiful, It Hurts

Life is sometimes not beautiful, if you are beautiful. That is what Singapore's good-lookers say, in comments that may have the less genetically blessed rolling their eyes.

While their looks have helped open doors, their appearance has also made them the target of catty remarks and even wrecked friendships, say beautiful people interviewed by LifeStyle.

Sure, these pretty faces find it easier to skip the line at a club, break the ice when meeting new people or even get an extra serving of food at the hawker centre.

But MTV VJ Holly Grabarek, 22, recalls being stunned after a secondary school classmate told her that people liked her only because she was pretty.

'I felt judged and had no comeback for that,' she says, adding that her mother has always taught her not to get too caught up with her appearance.

The affable Grabarek, whose pan-Asian looks come from her Polish-American dad and Sinhalese-Chinese mum, qualifies that she does not think of herself as beautiful, though she has been told that she is 'nice-looking'.

She adds that she puts in more effort to be friendly so as not to be stereotyped as arrogant or intimidating because of her looks.

The ugly side of beauty is in the spotlight after a British columnist, Samantha Brick, wrote a piece in the Daily Mail newspaper earlier this month with the headline, There Are Downsides To Looking This Pretty: Why Woman Hate Me For Being Beautiful.

Her claim that women hated her just because of her looks created a global controversy. Brick said that female bosses singled her out at work for the way she dressed and labelled her a distraction to male employees; that she was passed over for a leadership course at work due to 'jealousy'; and that friends stopped inviting her to  their homes if she struck up a rapport with their husbands.

Some of Singapore's own bodacious bunch echoed her workplace woes.

The striking Ms Fiona Rankine, 45, admits that as a young woman, she played down her looks to make sure she was taken seriously at work. She wore glasses and dressed conservatively, and was diligent in her reading and research to always be prepared at meetings.

'I wanted to be viewed as a serious worker and not just a pretty face,' she says, adding that she was working in the male-dominated aerospace and defence industry at the time.

Now that she is older, it is a relief that people focus on her work experience rather than her looks.

Handsome Khalid Badib, 27, who works at a private equities firm, says that while he does get more attention from employers during interviews, it makes him feel awkward. 'The attention is good, but I don't want people to think that I got the job because of looks and not merit,' he says.

Still, it is a beautiful problem that many would envy, especially as The Economist magazine last year reported that the incomes of women and men in the United States who were deemed good-looking exceeded those of their less attractive counterparts by and average of 8 and 4 percent.

Career consultant Paul Heng says: 'In an ideal world, looks would not play a part in whether a person gets the job. But we shouldn't kid ourselves. In some jobs, especially the frontline types, looks could be essential to securing a contract or a deal.'

Ms. Linda Fulford, managing director of Singapore firm Fulford Public Relations, agree, adding: 'I'd like to say being good-looking doesn't matter, but judgments are made very quickly about people. If an attractive person walks into the room, he generally gets more attention. But he has to back it up with deliverance to show what he is about.'

Indeed, those with the X-factor say that a pretty face has helped them make headway in their careers, particularly in jobs such as sales, where first impressions count.

Entrepreneur Fergus Tan, 29, who was a banker with UOB Privilege banking, says that his looks made him more approachable to clients and they paid him more attention. In turn, that helped him hit above-average sales figures.

'Generally, clients are not so guarded because you don't look like you are going to cheat them. Sometimes, the world is a little bit superficial in that sense,' he says.

Engineer Christian Eber, 33, says his looks did help when he had to do door-to-door sales of his company's products and services. 'I guess getting an appointment with the secretaries of potential clients was easier,' he says with a laugh.

Because his wife sometimes gets uncomfortable about the attention he gets from women, the father of one is always quick to bring up his younger daughter in conversations and makes sure that any meeting with female clients takes place before 9 pm.

More minefields loom in other social situations too.

Miss Singapore Universe 2009 Rachel Kum, 27, says that in Hong Kong, where looks can help you get ahead of the line at nightclubs, she has been waved through, while her less attractive friends were denied that same privilege. 'I felt really horrible about it, but I usually try to wrangle the person in or I won't go in without them,' she says.

She adds that her looks make it harder for her to make female friends, as they often feel threatened b her.

He-man types do not have it all their own way, either. Martial arts instructor Juan Wen Jie, 28, may have chiselled features ad a buff build, but these has made him a party-pooper - he has been told by friends to back off from women they like so as not to ruin their chances.

Mr Gideon Tan, 20, who is self-employed, also feels that jealousy over his elfin, androgynous looks has also caused some acquaintances to keep a distance from him.

Similarly, tension has flared between actor Shane Mardjuki, 32, and his friends, especially if he is supposed to play wingman - the guy who helps another man chat up women. 'Sometimes, the girls would go for me instead of the man I was supposed to be wingman for. My friend would get a little upset, but if it's my goal to be wingman, I will keep pushing the atention to my friend,' he says.

Sociologist Paulin Straughan notes that good-lookers' belief that people hate them or feel threatened by them might not be grounded in reality.

'By thinking people are jealous of them, it could be a subconscious way of rationalising roadblocks in their relationships or careers. So it puts them on guard and sets off vibes which trigger negative reactions from those around them. It could be a catch-22 situation,' she says.

Still, these pretty people feel that more often than not, their looks work for, rather than against them, and they are not afraid to work that body, baby.

For example, beauty queen Kum is the face of her own cosmetics line, Rachel K. 'If I look good, people will immediately link that to my products and know that they can trust the product,' she says.

As Mardjuki puts it: 'Looks do matter and it doesn't hurt your chances one bit. You have to use whatever tools you have at your disposal and play whatever cards you have.'

- By [Kimberly Spykerman] & [Cheryl Faith Wee], taken from [The Sunday Times LifeStyle], 22 Feb 2012

It's interesting how news articles with topics that I'm covering for my mods always pop up when my mod's over... The 1st few lessons of my [MNO3313J] class discussed the personality side of employees' misbehavior & 1 of the readings tt I had to read was titled [Ugly Criminals]... In tt research paper, it was concluded tt ugly ppl are more likely to misbehave, engaging in organizational deviance, excluding white collar crimes (surprisingly, these crimes are committed by good looking people instead)... The article highlighted a couple of reasons why this could be so, how good looking people were given more opportunities to excel... As a result, the ugly people, with lesser to lose, would be more willing to commit organizational deviance...

Tt's the gist of it & I admit, my summary might not be THAT accurate considering tt it's been almost 3 mths since I've last read tt article, so I'm bound to forget bits & pieces of the content... Of course, I still have tt softcopy PDF file with me, but I'm not abt to re-read it just to blog abt it (not the main focus of this entry anyway)...

My prof also shared with us an article by the [The Economist] on how good-looking girls might be @ a disadvantage if they sent in their resume with their pic attached, while good-looking guys who do the same might find themselves having a higher chance of getting employed... Such is the reality of this world...

After reading all those articles, being not as genetically blessed as I hope I would be, I would think tt the pros of being good-looking far outweighs the cons of it... For starters, @ least I'll get lesser rejections when I attempt to chat some guys up in [Grindr]... Heck, I wouldn't mind having more guys trying to chat me up too... *Recall's [K]'s boasting abt his hundreds of unread [Grindr] requests when I've none*

Yes, I admit... I'm quite superficial...

Lost...

The last post was approx. 2 mths ago & even so, it was simply to highlight a newspaper article tt I found interesting... Truth be told, it has been really long since I did an actual post, writing down my thoughts...

I could blame it on the likes of [FB] & [Twitter], giving me the opportunities to air my split sec thoughts as & when I want, instead of taking the trouble of logging into [Blogger] & spending anything more than 10 mins thinking of ways to compose an entry tt doesn't come across as being too boring, blah, meh, whatever you wanna call it...

The truth is less complex... I'm simply too lazy to actually spend the time & effort to come up with a long blog post tt I'm notorious for composing... It's apparent tt I've lost focus on the true focus of this blog... When I 1st started this blog, I wanted to keep this like my personal online diary, rather than a physical one... The latter is simply too much hassle... You've to like find a nice book, write nicely, and with my inability to actually come up with coherent thought like on the 1st attempt, it would mean lots of corrections and stuff... I'm sure if I were to really keep a diary, I'll be so pissed even before the end of the 1st entry tt I'll just toss the idea away... Now, with the online medium, I can delete when the words doesn't make sense & it doesn't leave much of a trace anyway... Plus I think I can type wayyyyy faster than I can write... The signs of me being overly reliant with my com & forsaking the pen altogether...

I sense myself starting to digress... Back to the topic, this was supposed to be my weekly haven where I pen down my thoughts... But over time, my focused changed... Friends started commenting & I seemed to want them to read my entries... So when the whole blogging craze seemed to die down within my group of friends and they stopped visiting this blog, I simply stopped writing as frequently as I used to...

I'm not really expecting anyone to read this now, but I simply need to have an avenue to air my thoughts to no one in particular... It beats talking to a wall & having everyone mistaking you for nuts...

Anyway, to be really frank, I've not a clue what to do with my life... It's like I've been studying for so long tt I'm starting to feel... Exhausted... I secretly hoped tt I can do something more with my life, but @ the same time, I'm unwilling to move out of my comfort zone... I keep bemoaning the fact tt I'm still single & available, yet I'm reluctant to actually jump head 1st into the circle & get to know more ppl... I've tried the online way of meeting ppl & more often than not, things just don't go my way... Tt should give any rational dude to hit the gym, get toned, get lean, get hitched... But do I see myself hitting the gym??? Not a bloody fat chance... I see myself as unfit, yet I'm unwilling to do anything to change tt...

I believe it's the insecurity tt's holding me back... Maybe I'm really nuts to think tt strangers @ the gym will be scrutinizing my every move & @ the 1st sign of blunder, they'll mock me... So I've totally regressed to the stage where my [Fujitsu] laptop is now my currently my best friend... [Dragonica] & [MapleStory] won't abandon me... Well, except for every [Wed] where it'll be down for maintenance... But this is a much better deal than having a r/s where you'll only be free to meet like once a wk...

*Sigh* I do recognize tt what I've said reflects how pathetic & boring my life is based on society's norms... & I'm rationalizing my actions...

I guess I need some time to clear my mind before certain perspectives become clear to me & my rainbow path is revealed... For now though, I guess I should take the baby step by 1st doing some stuff tt I've been procrastinating like since the beginning of time, like listening to webcasts & preparing for my [Jap 1] finals next Fri... Or doing the sch's feedback exercise... Or continue my quest to get an internship during the summer vacation, despite the preference to just stay @ home...

Close Encounters With Tech Zombies

If you're wondering what to do this lazy Sunday, go to Youtube and watch what has become the latest Internet sensation since that video of a sneezing panda. Search Facebook Parenting.

The homemade clip features an eight-minute tirade by American father Tommy Jordon, who was so incensed by his teenage daughter's irresponsible use of Facebook - she'd posted disparaging comments about her family - that he decided to detail her sins to the Internet world. And as such things go, it has turned him into an overnight celebrity.

I think his mid-western swagger might have something to do with his newfound notoriety. In the video, he wears a wide brimmed hat, cowboy boots and puffs on a cigarette (probably a Marlboro). But wait, the best part comes at the end when he points a gun to his daughter's laptop on the ground.

'This right here is my .45,' he says before blowing the offending item to pieces. Some critics have since labelled him a trigger-happy redneck, a bad parent and even a psychopath.

But forget the prudes, Mr. Jordan, I'm behind you. After all, if I had a dollar for the number of times I've wanted to blast a gadget out of someone's hands, I'd have money coming out of my ears.

However, my gripe with teenagers and technology is slightly different. I haven't been the subject of a defamatory Facebook post, not yet anyway. But I truly believe that computers, smartphones, tablets and MP3 players have turned young people into zombies. Not the flesh-eating kind, that would be too exciting. I mean the devoid-of-soul kind.

Take for instance my experience last week, when my boyfriend and I had dinner with his extended family.

Deemed a generation younger than the 'proper' adults, the two of us were shoo-ed away to hold the fort at the 'kids' table'. We had for company three teenage cousins, a girl and two boys, who appeared surgically attached to their iPhones.

Still, I was optimistic.

'Hello,' I said chirpily. No one looked up from their toys. 'Am I invisible?' I whispered. 'No, but you're no Angry Bird,' replied my boyfriend.

The soup arrived but by this time, they had their earphones plugged in to Lady Gaga.

'Soup?' I ventured. That didn't register either, though I did get a perceptible shake of the head from one. A sign of life!

By the roast duck course, one of the boys had set up a mini entertainment system between his bowl and chopsticks. Unbelievably, he had perched his iPhone on a stand to allow for maximum viewing pleasure. The girl was lost in a black hole of texting. The other boy, bless his dedication, was probably at Stage 100 of Angry Birds.

It all reminded me of a thread I once saw on an Internet forum titled Does It Seem Like Young People Are Getting Smarter? Voted best answer: 'No. Advances in technology cover up the fact that young people are getting dumber.'

Barely 10 words were exchanged across the dinner table that fateful night.

On the flip side, my boyfriend and I merrily wolfed down a meal for five. 'Their loss is our gain,' said my boyfriend. 'We'll WhatsApp them those words of wisdom.'

I'm no Luddite and I know technology is here to stay. But can that be used as an excuse for this level of rudeness and social ineptitude?

This is now an all-too-familiar malady. Whenever I go to a restaurant, I feel sorry for parents whose kids are so absorbed in Facebooking that they have no interest in the conversation around them. Poor mum and dad, I think. All that money they are paying for their family to have a nice dinner and their precious offspring won't even give them the time of the day.

Would those of us born before the digital age have been able to get away with that? Heck no. My mother used to hang a cane behind my chair to ensure that I sat up properly, ate what was put on my plate and answered whatever questions that were lobbed at me. I dread to think what she would have done had I whipped out my handheld Tetris game.

The issue of respect aside, I sometimeslook at these tech-addicted kids - often with their mouths agape and eyes glazed over - and wonder: Er, is anyone even at home? Why have we let zombie Armageddon happen?

The expert take on this is straightforward: Grown-ups should first look in the mirror. Young people are merely following in the footsteps of role models such as their own parent, who are also reliant on iPhones and Blackberrys but think it is okay because 'it's for work'.

Work or no, the message to the next generation remains the same, that it is acceptable to put the rest of the world on pause.

I suppose the difference lies in one's ability to switch off. Despite our reliance on modern tools, people my age and older still remember a life without them. We know when to put them down and interact like human beings. Those who were born and bred digital natives haven't - and may never learn that skill.

It is official then. i am a finger-wagging old fogey complaining about the youth of today. Perhaps I should be a bit more understanding, given the view that new technologies have blown all social norms out of the window. But in my pique, I much prefer some shotgun diplomacy, Tommy Jordon-style, to get my point across.

Lock up your iPhones, it's time to load up my Super Soaker.

- By [Sandra Leong], taken from [The Sunday Times Lifestyle], 19 Feb 2012