New Life in the Old World

Time zones suck. I find myself readjusting every so forth. But then again it's to be expected. I haven't really blogged about being in Manchester and it's already been two months here.

Another two jobless months.

So I'm pretty much lost here in limbo like always. I guess I'm kinda a fool to think that it would be different anywhere else in the world. Impossible to get a job without a visa. However, in the UK it is different. In fact, discrimination is not just allowed, but it is mandated by the UK government in ways that I think disgusts human rights activists. Sure, I'm not born in the same country, but how does that automatically disqualifies me from working? All other arguments about protecting the social welfare of its own citizens fall flat on their face, particularly since I'm taxed at the same rates as the UK citizens, but I'm not subject to the same welfare privileges. I doubt I'd be able to live on their social welfare system here, which means that my very working here subsidizes the lives of these people. Look, I want to work for you and make money for you, but noooo... I can't. And therefore I'm unemployed, and you're hiring some half-assed bugger stumbling through the job.

So that's basically my gripe here. Bitterness doesn't quite cut it, but I think it's more of to be expected, and I can just sit back and do nothing. But I'm not going to sit back and do nothing, I've got plans, and I am not going to let stupid immigration laws stop me. David, you said a long time ago that nationality is legalized prejudice. You don't know how true those words ring right now.

Now here's a thought, why aren't countries being run by public companies? Think about it, it makes sense, you make politicians as accountable as boards of directors, and then citizens are your basic average shareholders. You select a country that has the right welfare plan, right taxation and right social provisions accorded to you, and then you pay the price in the form of taxes. And in a free market economy, prices rise and fall according to demand, and people can easily trade out their citizenships for other citizenships. This would automatically erase all national borders, and anyone can be Irish, not just on St. Patricks Day. Then on top of that, poorly run countries with almost no citizens would simply be hostilely taken over by another country via financial acquisition. So because of that, it'll make politicians first obligation to the people, because without the people there is no country. We're currently living in an archaic system where we are nothing but serfs to our own government and uncivilized barbarians to the rest of the world. Forget racial discrimination, national discrimination is a glaring problem and we should look at ourselves, and wonder since when is the life of an American of greater value than a Bangladeshi? Or the life of a Brit greater value than a Hutu? Or the life of a Australian greater value than an Indonesian?

Yup, welcome to the Old World.

Anyway, living in Manchester does have it's sights and sounds, and forgive my political rant, but I'm probably going to go off tangent a bit here and there and that's because I've been ignoring my blog. That means I got a lot of deep-seated angst and I'm thoroughly annoyed by a lot of things, like in Manchester, how does someone pay 5,000 pounds per annum of car insurance for a car that's worth only 6,000 pounds? Purely ridiculous, I don't even see how insurance companies can come up with that kind of quote? I believe that Geico would make a killing in the US if it applied its brand of business here, along with its strategies. But then again maybe not, because UK is not a democratic country, despite having elections. It's more of a socialist welfare country, and the results are stark when compared across the Atlantic.

But I digress.

I was at the fish market the other day, and I guess this is one of the things I miss about when I was in New York. There's no way I'm going to the Bronx just to look at the fish in the fish market, but there's one nearby and I enjoy looking at some of the stranger offerings. But then again in Western countries, there are not as wide a selection of fish as in Asia. And I sort of miss the typical Asian offerings whose names I only know in Hokkein, so I can't list them out here. But it's nice to see fresh salmon, really, the kind that has never been frozen before. Those are really good, so I digress. Also I got the chance to see the largest prawns I've ever seen. And yes, I've quested for huge assed prawns before, but these ones are easily over 8 inches long, and clearly huge. Just that prices dictate that I couldn't eat them, so hey, I'll leave that for another time. This picture doesn't quite cut it, but trust me, it's not 2.99 per kg. It's 2.99 per 100gs, and I think that's way too rich for my blood. I think one of them is about 300gs? that's like a 9 pound prawn. Or in US dollars that'd be about 20 dollars. Or in Singapore dollars that'll be SGD33, or in Ringgit Malaysia that'll be RM56. I could go on, but you get the idea. And that's a single prawn. Single, single prawn. One. Meaning whoops, that's it. Yup.

Right now I'm feeling pretty much like an ass. I'm sitting around most of the time, doing nothing, watching the stock market and entertaining my own dark thoughts. Every once in a while, I go out and do something like see the fellow donkeys at a small zoo at Heaton Park. And I guess life's like that, sitting around, eating, sleeping and letting the visitors ogle at me like I'm sort of animal on display. Oh wait, yeah, that's exactly what the metaphor is for. But that's life in Manchester. Oh wait, I definitely got something to say about the beer here in the UK. I don't know why but English beer tastes disgusting to me. Sure, some people like Boddingtons, but that's simply following the principle that someone has to like it, otherwise it wouldn't be around. But for the record, I find myself drinking Kronenberg, Peroni and Tsing Tao over here, as opposed to Bud, Amstel and Stella over there. Yes, Stella Artois is an European beer, but I drink it in the US anyway. I don't know, but somehow I never did quite like Boddingtons. Plus, I don't drink Guinness, which is kinda weird considering how I was in Dublin airport looking for fountains of Guinness, but that's another sidetrack.

Anyway, I know most of you are nay-sayers and that I'm wasting my life away, and you guys have no idea how much I agree with you and how hopeless my life is going for me right at the moment. But then I have my little triumphs where I told you so. I have been dabbling in a little gardening, and for those who realize, "God damn! It's February, who does gardening in February?"

My response would be, I don't do gardening as you'd think. My gardening entails of buying three tulip bulbs, transplanting them into a nice plastic container and leaving them to grow on the window sill there by the sun. At first my sister scorned me and said it would never bloom and that it was a waste of time and money. And happily two weeks later, I got something to show for it. So one has to realize, that if this is exactly the kind of triumph I've been celebrating in my life, then I'm woefully underachieving, and that is exactly how sad my life is right now.

I know I usually publish a list of songs that would mark what has happened to me over 2007. But somehow it doesn't quite cut it for me any more. I've been looking for songs sung by homeless unemployed, but I guess those don't make it out onto the mass market. So right now, writing to you from limbo, stuck in the middle of nowhere, and hoping to make it out someday, that's all folks.