Patriotic Arms, Can’t Defeat the Scientific

The scientific proofs are still, the LOUDEST, even more so, than those, propaganda of the government, it’s, embellishments of how effective the vaccines the government produced is!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Nobody will, talk trash about the nation’s productions of vaccines, because, if it works, it will be, the pride, and joys, of the, Taiwanese people, also, an added of Taiwan’s, biotech industries. 

But unfortunately, the moment of Medigenvac’s surfacing before the people, it’d, been filled with the debatable, of them, the most worrisome, is the political involvement, the government’s constant intervention of the vaccine production processes, which made the hard work of Medigenvac, reduced, drowned out, by the political calls of the government.  And now, the results of the vaccines entering early, it may make the people, ever the more, disappointed, because the vaccine we’re all, looking forward to, may have been prematurely birthed, by political meddling.

Basically, as the nation’s own produced vaccine was available for those citizens who want to have it, it’d, split up the masses, but, as those, “patriotic arms” entered, it still, couldn’t, defeat the scientific proofs, especially as the number of general public started dying off let and right after they received the nation’s own produced vaccines, this will become, even more apparent, as the epidemic continues on.

like this…photo from online

From the many messages we received in the media, we know, that the Medigenvac vaccines may not have as high an efficacy as the other vaccines that are available right now, but, comparably, it has a lower rate of the side effects occurring; and yet, out of our expectations, there are, the cases of death that came after the injections, of course, there’s still this lack of proof that any of these deaths are, related to the vaccinations, it’s just, that when the public see these records, fears inside people’s mind got bigger and bigger, and thus, it’d, reflected on the records of those who’d signed on, but failed to show at the clinics for the vaccinations.

The government should think harder, seeing this sort of a trend, because in the process of vaccination of the Medigenvac shots, there are, a lot of unacceptable political manipulations, especially, the vaccine had skipped past the scientific proof stages of trial studies, it’s, not going to gain the people’s, trusts of it, and now, the reality also reflects, that if the government still refused to face this, it may not be able to, answer to the public at the very end.

What’s more worrisome, the term, “patriotic arms” put that political overtone to the Medigenvac vaccines, hinting, that the people may not be, “patriotic enough” if they don’t get the Medigenvac vaccines.  While, the blind faith of those who are, “patriotic” lacked the scientific proof and support, but they are still, loyal, as the vaccines’ lab rats, does this, NOT embarrass the government?

And now, as the foreign produced, manufactured vaccines start getting in, the government should consider, temporarily, stopping the vaccines of Medigenvac vaccines, and start the trial studies up, until a more complete set of data had been collected, then, put it out, this isn’t just for the sake of all the country’s people’s health, but also, protecting this brand that’s, made in Taiwan too; because, nobody doesn’t want to see Medigenvac fail, it’s, just that solely relying on those, “patriotic arms”, to cover up for the lack of scientific proofs of efficacy of the vaccines, then, the future of Medigenvac, may be, a huge, disappointment, for us all!

And so, this, is the results of the governments, hurrying, to put the country’s own vaccine on the “markets”, because it has its hands in the stakes of the company producing the vaccines, that’s why it skipped the third stages and the trial studies of the normal development processes of the vaccines, and now, as people are dying left and right, and maybe, it can claim, that oh, it’s just, chances, but, how can you leave something that can affect a human life, to chance?  And the government is still, too unprepared for the hard-hitting outbreaks here.

A World Without, A.D.H.D.

How am I, gonna, rip, that BAND-AID off???  Hmmmmm, let’s think………(this is me, thinking!), OUCH!  It went, off!

A world without A.D.H.D, no more children, “hooked up” to them, Ritalin meds, to help them sit still, to keep their, concentration, no more disrupting the class, speaking out of turn, yo, put a MUZZLE on it already, huh???

A world without, A.D.H.D., the world IS, without A.D.H.D., there are only, the VARIOUS kinds of learners, we have our, visual bunches, the auditory kids, oh, and the tiny “proportion” of that group of bodily-kinesthetics, who needed to, touch EVERYTHING, that can’t sit still (wow, that sounds a whole lot like, the checklist of symptoms of A.D.H.D, doesn’t it???  It sure D-O-E-S!

“EARTH calling space cadet!!!“

focus, child!!! Photo from online

A world without A.D.H.D. that reduced the problem down by half, and now, we can, focus on, tackling the other HALF of THAT equation, helping children with dyslexia (as ADHD “cohabits” with dyslexia, in a lot of the special needs children out there!), but, without cutting these individuals’ brains open, and DISSECTING the lobes of the brains, to see exactly, where that wrong WIRE is, how the HECK can we figure out, WHAT exactly, went “wrong” with the neuronal branching???  We can’t, so, we’re, DEADLOCKED, again!

Stop labeling the children as whatever it is, MR (oh wait, there are those, who are, M.R.’s!), ADHD (bodily-kinesthetic), autistic spectrum, etc., etc., etc., etc., and just TREAT those kiddies as people already…

Okey dokey, this session of SPECIAL EDS for ADULTS is over, now, pay your tuitions here, oh, and BTW (by-the-way!!!), it’s now, FOUR cents per article per reader here, just “deposit” your “cash” inside the “collection plate” on your ways in, ways out, either way, it works for the Q-U-E-E-N………

The Regrets, Not Allowed Chen

Commentaries, off of the Front Page Sections, on the Head of Public Health Defense’s bad policies for the vaccines here, translated…

Just as the Tsai government took that sharp turn, to take down the BioNTech vaccine shipments, Bloomberg posted its August defense against MERS-CoV list, of the fifty-three independent economic systems, Taiwan ranked 41^st, and it’s, a place back from July’s list.  Taiwan’s outbreaks is slowly on the decline, so why are we, still, ranked toward the bottom?  We can get partial of what caused this, from the Commander of Defense, Chen’s stating that he was “regretless” toward last year’s BioNTech deals in Asia-East.

The Tsai government’s refusing the Fosun Pharmaceutical Agent for BioNTech, Chen stated, that back then, it was “to go along with people’s expectations”; actually this, was the result of how the government was taken hostage by the populists after it’d manipulated the public to go against China.  And now, turning back, eight hundred lives, as well as the losses in economy, gone like smoke and ashes, Chen still, don’t hold a single regret; but, the international world remembers it, Taiwan can only demonstrate for the world just once: how the “best-in-class”, fall to the bottom so quickly.

The rankings of the flexibility toward the defenses against MERS-CoV signaled, that the mutated strains made the future ever the more, uncertain, and the lowered rates of infectiousness is no longer enough, because of the low vaccination rates, the sealing up the countries, elevating the alert levels, reducing the number of flights coming in to the country, and other causes, losing the flexibility of the defense systems, that, is what caused the economy to fall.  Especially, the flexibility of defense isn’t just related to the spread of the virus, it also involved the tactics of the country’s international strategies as well; when fighting against MERS-CoV meets politics, it’d shown, just how weak Taiwan became.

The researchers from Central Research Agency, Wu pointed out, that the defense against MERS-CoV is now, the new warzone for the countries collective competition of this new Cold War, that we got, stuck in now.

So, it was, Tsai, deciding on Taiwan’s strategic place of war, that won’t allow Chen any regrets; but, as nothing more than a pawn in the U.S.’s chess game against China, Taiwan not only lost its flexibility to defend against the outbreaks of MERS-CoV, the country had, also, lost its, ability to fight and to survive.

And to sum all of that up: yay, we’re all, gonna D-I-E! (high-fives all around for all of us, still living on this, god forsaken, island here!), and it’s all because of the leader, Tsai’s beliefs of taking Taiwan as an INDEPENDENT country, well, can the country stand on its own???  HECK no!  We’re still, reliant, on other nations’ aide, in the vaccines, because the god damn government lacked the FORESIGHT, from ‘bout a year ago, when the outbreaks aren’t this hard yet, it’d, spent its money…wait, where the @#$%, did the government spend ALL our taxes again?  How the HELL should I know, I don’t do the books for the government here!

And, instead of focusing on how to get WE the people (more like WE the STUPID people!) through this hard time of MERS-CoV outbreak, the government is playing that game of politics here, and it still hadn’t learned ITS lessons, Y-E-T!

We’re all, screwed here!!!

After a Full Recovery from MERS-CoV, the Challenges Only Beginning as People Return to Work & School

Those who’d made their full recoveries from contracting MERS, are now, treated like, the virus itself, because let’s face it, we’re all, afraid, seeing how quickly MERS-CoV is, spreading out, all over the world right now, but this, is the WRONG sort of behavior that will, only, tear the society apart more!  Off of the Newspapers, translated…

“My child had made a full recovery from MERS-CoV contractions, but there are the parents in his school, who’d feared that their own children may get infected, didn’t want my son to return back to school, it made us feel cast out”, a mother called out helplessly, this showed, the trials of those who’d made full recoveries from MERS-CoV contraction come out into the open, the Kaohsiung City started up the “Recovered Care Cases for Those Who Had Formerly Contracted MERS-CoV”, called out to the society to stop labeling, that more tolerance, empathy should be shown to those who’d made the full recoveries.

There are about 14 million of the Taiwanese population who are getting out of quarantine, after they are released from the hospitals, they may be faced with discrimination of the society, and, their challenges to return their lives back to normal, is now, only, begun.  The C.E.O. of the Clinical Psychologist Guild of Kaohsiung, Chen told, a lot of the public believed that the virus is too tough, that there were the cases of the recovered contracting the virus again, worried that being in contact, will make them infected as well, there was the parent of a young child who contracted MERS-CoV, and the young child was forced to transfer out of the preschool, the family is still currently being, counseled, “when we’re helpless, if the therapists can be like a cane, at least, they can help those who’d contracted the virus who’d recovered, part of the way. 

The manager of the health sanitation center set by the Department of Health Welfare & Sanitations, Su told, that there are, an assortment of varied situations with the contracted, there was a mentally ill patient who was quarantined because the family member had contracted the virus, and afterwards, the individual wasn’t allowed back to the facility s/he was living in from before; most of the people who’d contracted MERS-CoV worried that they won’t be accepted back into the society, and not wanted those around them to know they’d contracted the virus, and they felt tried, but are all, unwilling, to seek out counsel.

Su also told, that not only was it hard, for those who made full recoveries from contracting the virus to return back to society, the at-home quarantine individuals are also, targets of a “witch hunt”, and this would cast that shadow on their live; after the care hotlines got started in Kaohsiung, the counselors are able to call those who’d returned back home, and as the cases are willing, to accept this help, then, they’d taken that very important, first step, to begin their, recovery, processes.

And so, this is still, combining the diseases, with the individuals who’d, contracted it, like how us Asians are, discriminated against in the U.S. at the very start of MERS-CoV epidemic?  And that’s, just wrong, I mean, these people had fully recovered, meaning that their swabs, their blood, saliva tests came back clean, with ZERO sign of the virus present in their systems, and now, the society still see them as, the plague?  Yeah, that’s something all right!

It is, WRONG, to discriminate someone, just because they have some sort of a disorder, but that’s, what people are, prone to do, and there’s, nothing being, done about it.

The Female Bus Driver, Kind to Treat Every Passenger Like a Member of Her Own Family

With a good work ethics, and a care and concern shown toward her passengers, a gentle female bus driver at work, off of the Newspapers, translated…

There were the passengers who rode the Kingbus Route 1551 from Keelung to Hsintien, who’d commended a female driver with long-hair, for driving very stably, how she’d shown great concerns for her passengers as they alighted and gotten off her bus, and offered her assistance to them.  The bus company found this driver, it was Lee, who drove the Keelung route, a sweet-looking woman, she said, what she did was a part of her, work responsibilities.

The passenger, Ms. Lin left the message of her good experience of riding Route 1551, with the “long-haired driver”, that she drove very steadily, that as the passengers got on and off, she’d been kind to remind them to watch the gap, to be careful, and when there were the immobilized elderly, she’d, gotten out of her driver’s seat to assist them, that all the passengers who rode her bus had nothing but good things to say about her, that she was a gentle, kind female bus driver.

Lee is a married woman from Keelung, originally she was a homemaker, a little over two years ago she passed her bus driver license, became one of close to ninety drivers for the Kingbus drivers, one of three women.  She doesn’t have a set route that she drives, recently, the most frequent route she drove was from Keelung’s Luodong, Route 1880, and the recent route she stepped in to drive, the Keelung to Hsintien, Route 1551.

the female bus driver who was noted for her kindness and gentleness for her passengers…photo courtesy of UDN.com

Lee is a sweet looking woman, over thirty years of age, a mother of two children ages around seven and eight, because she has elder, and children to care for, she’d, shown the special care and concern toward the elderly and the young children passengers who took her bus, treated them as if they were her family, gently reminded her passengers to be careful of the steps as the alighted and gotten off, patiently waited for her passengers to sit down and then, drive.

The milder, gentle nature that is attributed to the feminine, in the workforce of primarily male drivers, she is, very popular.  Lee’s motto for work is, “if you’re gentle to your customers, they will be gentle to you back!”, she is always able to keep good terms with her customers, maintained the amicable means of interactions with them, “I am happy driving every day”, she enjoyed working, always has a smile on her face, is, a gentle female bus driver.

The assistant to the CEO of the bus company, Chen stated, that the company will give her an award for her work ethics.  To which Lee responded, that she was only doing what she is supposed to, that most of the drivers shared her same attitude toward the passengers.

This woman took her work seriously, and, puts her heart AND soul, into work, into providing the services to her passengers, and, it’s her means to show her cares and concerns for her passengers that’s, touched them, this is a woman with the good work ethics!

Biden Refused the Delays in Withdrawing the Troops Out of Afghanistan, an Insider Told, that After the 31st, There will Be More than Thousands Who will be, Abandoned

This, is the U.S.’s ways: invading into foreign soil, make a huge mess, then, leave it!  And, this country still, doesn’t, take from the examples of, Afghanistan???  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The American armed forces is scheduled to depart out of Afghanistan on the thirty-first, on the 24^th, the American president, Biden attended the G7 industrial leadership conferences via webcam, and, refused to lengthen the stay of American armed forces in Afghanistan, that the extraction of the American military will go as scheduled; but Biden also admitted, that whether or not all the U.S. armed forces will be extracted out of Afghanistan will be dependent on the negotiations with the Taliban.

the U.S. president, sitting comfy in his chair in his office…

photo from online

The Allies, with Great Britain as the leader wanted the U.S. to consider extracted the armed forces out, to get the allies in Afghanistan out first; but, the Taliban already warned, that if the American armed forces don’t extract out in the given time, then, they will have to “face the consequences”.

Biden stressed that U.S. is extracting ALL military influence out of Afghanistan by the end of August, that they’re marching toward the goal of ending this, twenty-year-war steadily.  He’d also demanded the department of defense and state to set the alternative plans for it, to adjust the time accordingly, “the extraction plan needed the cooperation of the Taliban.”

The New York Times reported, that the American armies and the NATO allies are all on their way to retreat out of Afghanistan, the 5,800 servicepeople stationed in the Kabul Airport, three hundred had already been sent back to the States.  The NATO armed forces will also, exit with American military services.

ordering the extraction of armed forces out of Afghanistan

photo from online

CNN quoted someone from the inside, that if the citizens of the U.S. couldn’t get to the airports on time, the airports are still, going to get shut down, and it’s estimated, that after the 31^st, there will be, over thousands of Americans who will be, left behind.

The statement issued at the G7 Conferences on the 24^th stated nothing of delaying the extraction of the armed services, only called out to protect the rights, the safety of the locals in Afghanistan, as well as the citizens of all the other countries in the world too, to prevent a humanitarian crisis.  The leaders of the seven nations stated, that Afghanistan shall NOT become that safe harbor for terrorists again, that the countries will work together continually, to fight off terrorism.

The White House disclosed, that since the extraction started on the fourteenth, there are, 80,000 who’d gotten out.

On the verge of American armed services departing, the Taliban group met together with the diplomat from China to Afghanistan, the spokesperson for foreign policies in China, Weng stated, that the Chinese and the Taliban have smooth, effective communication.

how the Afghan people are left, with NOTHING to protect them! Photo from online

Chairman Xi also called up Putin last night, discussed the situation in Afghanistan.  Xi stressed, that China is willing to increase the communication means internationally with Russia, and other nations in the world, to encourage the various sects of Afghan groups, and terrorist groups to dissipate completely.  Putin told, that China, Russia share common interests in the matter of situations in Afghanistan, and that Russia is willing to communicate, to come up with a solution with China, to help Afghanistan through this, transitional period.

And so, this, is how the world’s other major nations, take advantage of the mess that U.S. left in Afghanistan, the U.S. had abandoned the country, when moving in to war wasn’t the right thing to do in the first place, and now, as the new president of the U.S. took office, he thought that it’s best, that the armed services get extracted out, without noting, how the U.S. left this, HUGE mess in Afghanistan that it’d failed to clean up, and, Russia and China saw this as a good opportunity, to establish the ties with the Middle East, and, the Eastern world will band together now, while the U.S., is becoming, more and more, isolated in the world here.  This was, not a, wise decision that Biden as the U.S. president had made, in pulling the armed services completely out of, Afghanistan…

Who Will Guarantee the Work for Women During the Nighttime?

The laws, seemingly set, to protect women, but it’s actually, SEXIST, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Awhile ago, the grand justice interpreted the 807^th amendment, announced that the labor laws that restricted women from working during the nighttime goes against the seventh amendment, guaranteeing the gender equality of work, immediately, out-of-effect.

The labor laws mandated, that by principle, the employers should not force women to work nights, but, after the union or the wages committees’ meeting and agreeing, and the conditions of work must match: first, the provisions of safe necessary sanitary needs, second, when no public transportation is available, the company must provide the female workers with a safe way home, or a dormitory for the female workers, and if these two requirements were met, then, the restrictions of women working nights doesn’t need to be followed.

Originally, the labor laws allowed the rights to a certain degree, to the unions, the wages discussion meets, so the unions can deal with the employers, and demanded the employees enforce the protective measures, as a prerequisite for women working nights, it seemed, that this was, giving women, the upper hand, a good, deal.

But most of the justices, in the reasoning, pointe out, that the makeup of the unions, and the number of male and female members in the unions are diverse, that it’s, uncertain, if it can replace the individual’s desires for working nighttime.  Besides, whether or not the female workers are willing to work nights, has more to do with personal wills, or the related means of wages, that it’s not fitted, for the union, or the board to define and decide for all.

And so, this still showed, how there are, the multiple sides of concerns, in whether or not women should be granted the workhours of late in the nights, on the level of safety concerns, the laws should prevent us women from working nights, but from a gender equality angle, it would be, sexist, because, we would then be, banned from working the nights.  Yet, from the angle men and women being treated equals, we should be allowed to work the nights, just like men, and so, this is, not just a gender issue that’s being, debated on, it’s, more, multifaceted.

A Difficult Predicament, the Dramas of Life

Watching her own father, suffering, in this final days, it’d made her realized, how important it is, to set up the D.N.R. for herself, so when the time comes, her own children won’t be tried as hard as she’d been, a lesson learned, from death here, translated…

She stood, at the end of the hospital bed, and, patiently asked the family members’ willingness to place the patient in the hospice program of the hospital.  The patient’s wife opened up her eyes wide, and, stared lost, into the distance, the daughter frowned, and the lips that opened and closed, made no word out.  She’d understood the hardships, that same expression of not knowing what to do had once, covered her own face from before.

Her father passed four years ago, and before that, he’d been, bedridden for four whole years.  As he was diagnosed, she was already, a resident, and has the basic knowledge, awareness of the treatment options of illnesses.  Her father didn’t have any other conditions, not at high risk under anesthesia either, she’d seen a lot of cases like his making full recoveries, and thought, that her father was only getting a coronary bypass, and optimistically planned out the care and where her father is to go to after the surgeries, and yet, she’d, never expected, that her father was, that, exception.  The day right after the surgery, he’d had a hemorrhage, then, a large area stroke, and in the four years of his bedridden days, he’d started losing his ability for speech, for movement, for food intakes, coughing up phlegm, urinating, and defecating, along with other, bodily functions.

illustration from UDN.com

Although there’s the twenty-four hour care provided by the foreign caretaker, and her mother’s visiting her father at the hospital twice very day, her younger sister’s delivering the filtered juices of fruits, vegetables, the other health products into his feeding tube, but at best, her father’s condition didn’t, worsen.

That final hospital stay had, broken her father down completely, with the series of painful, invasive treatment measures and tests.  As the medication and the respirator could, no longer bring his vital signs to stable, she’d gotten a piece of paper, and, started, swaying between her role as a medical professional, and a family to someone who’s, on the verge of dying—as a family member, she’d wanted to do all that she could, for her father to live longer, but as a doctor, she’d known, that all the measures will, become of, no avail.

In the end, she’d, gazed into her father’s, soulless eyes, and knowing that she should, let go.  After all, her father was quite understanding, of the family’s unwilling to let him go, held in the pains, the illnesses, and continued living for four years, for the family to finally say their, goodbyes to him, then, they should too, give him, a proper, final, farewell.

After her father passed, the family was, hovered by gloom, and the conversations that pass between her and her family was like caring for that scab that started healing up, with much care, but, as she was, left alone on her own, she couldn’t help, but blamed herself; she’d retracted every single decisions from before, reviewed over every tiny detail, to see if she’d, gone according to her own father’s, wishes, after all, as her father retired, he’d loved, hiking around a lot, collected a house full of, antiques, loving life, and she’d now wondered, the four years of his getting kept in bed, was it, a form of, punishment to him?

Until the gnash had, healed into a scab, did the family sit down to discuss, and slowly, they’d, all gotten through that time of, depression, of gloom.  As everything was spoken out into the open, they’d all come to understand, that their father with his optimism would hate to see them in regret, blaming themselves, or getting angry at the situation; while, they’d, selected, on an ordinary afternoon, gone to the hospital, to set up their, do-not resuscitate, to NOT leave the decision-making difficulties behind, for their own, loved ones to handle.

And so, this, is what is taken away, learned, from the death of a loved one, and, there will always be regrets of whether or not we’d done the right things by our loved ones, in these, situation, and all we can do, is live with the choices we made, and this family had learned from losing the father, setting up their separate, D.N.R.’s, so their younger generations won’t be tried as hard as they’d been, with their own father.

Three Habits Plus the Three Present, Helping to Motivate Children to Learn on Their Own

Schools about to resume, and, if your kids aren’t, disciplined, meaning you didn’t start establishing that set ritual during the summer breaks, then, it will be, extremely hard for them, to return to the normal routines of school again, advice on parenting and education of your children, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Before the classroom sessions were halted in May, the instructor of Chingwha University’s subsidiary elementary school, Yeh turned her professional knowledge of teaching to help the students can learn on their own at home.  The following is a first-person interview with her:

A lot of parents are too unrealistic about the children learning on their own, children are playful in nature, with only limited amount of concentration, if there’s no instruction given prior on how to learn on one’s own, they couldn’t come up with a working plan to learn.

The parents needed to spend some time, and, plan out the working plans of learning based off of their children’s learning differences.  The plans should help the child get acquainted with three things: reading, exercising, and housework, all of these, are related to self-monitoring, self-learning.  Reading is for one’s own life, exercising, for one’s own, health, and, the household chores are, to prepare for living on one’s own in the future. 

In my classrooms, if someone finishes her/his work early, s/he can sort out her/his own desk drawers, to pick up the books in the classroom to read for fun; and now, the students are staying at home and going to school online, are there, enough outside reading materials available to them?  During this time, what new skills can they learn?  Like, making sunny side up, cooking rice; what sort of exercises can the parents and children engage in together at home?

The summer vacations should NOT be filled with endless things to learn, the adults should not zoom in on the children’s learning processes, so long as the child can understand what the textbooks say, then, they have the basic skills they are in need of.  Compared to going after the progresses of learning, try experiencing a new way of life with your families, to become more self-disciplined, for the children, this would be, a more interesting, more challenging, tasks, and it also serves as a, precious learning experience for them.

The child has a limited amount of attention, how can we get the child to focus on doing one single thing?  We can start with the three basic steps, “Eyes, Words, and Hands”.  The eyes, confirming that the children are watching what they’re, supposed to be looking at.  Words, to make sure they recite what they’re learning, to check for comprehension.  The hands, this is for the higher elementary school students’ going from reading to writing, a process.

And so, this is how you can, continue educating your own children, even IF the schools are out of session, you can help them set up a routine that they are to follow, to establish a set schedule of when they can do this, when they’re supposed to be learning their lessons, working on their school assignments, and when they can play the video games, or to go out in the yard to play, and  this is on having your children carry the disciplines they have for themselves, which will, serve them very well when they grow older.

My Cellphone that Suddenly, Stopped Working

When it still worked, you failed to realize your dependency on it, but, once as it’d, malfunctioned, you found yourself, lost without its, convenience…translated…

Eleven days before the levels of alert dropped to two, that Thursday evening, having been diagnosed with the addiction of Tetris, I’d finally, overcome the addiction, as I was about to, turn on the app of my electronic reader, my cell phone screen blacked out all of a sudden.

Malfunctioning?  How’s the vital signs?  The body’s still, a bit, warmed up.

I’d, restarted my cell phone by force, pressed the primary key and the power button, continued for a few seconds, letting go, unresponsive still.  Lack of battery power then?  Plugged in the charging cords, unresponsible.  Switching to another cord, another charger, still, nothing.

I had, continued, forcing my cell phone to, restart, for a continued, more than, twenty-minutes on end, I started sweating hard, lifted my head up, it was, as if, I saw the masked doctor, Ying, blinked at me with those, dimmed out, but still agile eyes, telling me, “Dong-Ju, give it up already.”

I’m not Dong-Ju, I’m not doing, CPR, just waiting, for the first episode of the second season of that soap, reviewing over another soap.  And yet, the cell phone was like that patient who’s, already, dead in the soaps, stopped beating in the heart, if it had, a heart.

this…

photo from online

“Oh, cell!  What’s happened to you!”, I’d spoken that Korean, not knowing if it’s, correct or not.  Started wailing loud, like the families of those patients who had, died.

On the following day, working from home, thankfully, the wi-fi at my home was working, I’d, connected with that sense of, normalcy with the rest of the known world.  For lunch, I’d made the Korean style ramen noodles, pulled open my storage cabinets, two packs of it left.  Opened up the fridge, two more bundles of baby Pak Choi, just my serving amount, three eggs, that’ll, last me until tomorrow at breakfast then.  In the freezer, the sides I’d used, the fish dumplings, the shrimp dumplings, not that many left.  Time to, order in then…………

Oh yeah, my cell phone broke, I can’t, call the orders.

Of course, I could, walk down the staircases five stairs, then, down that sharp slope of four hundred meters, to get some groceries from under the hills, then, carry all of that, weighing in at about three to five kilograms, climb up that steep slope for about four hundred meters, then, hike up five floors of staircases home.

Because, my scooter also, broke. 

“Oh my scooter, what shall I do, without, you?”

Eight days after the alerts got elevated to stage three, Monday morn, we were going to work in shifts, it was my turn to go in for work, I’d, twisted the key in my scooter then, pressed the start button, squeezed tight my brakes, and I heard my scooter, started, moaning and groaning, making that sound that sounded like it was, dying.  Couldn’t get it to start the engine, no matter how hard I’d, tried, seeing how I’d continued to try to turn the engines on for almost ten minutes then, if I don’t go, I will be late, so I’d, run down that four-hundred meters worth of downhill slopes, to catch, the MRT.

Gotten too far away from the subject here, back on my broken cellphone.

with this…

cell phone broken…

What’s, in it?  Games, electronic books, emails, video streams, the communication records of my group…………none of that mattered.  I’d become, totally, reliant on my cell in shopping for daily needs, food too.  It’s safe to say, that I’d been, spoiled by it.  Until I recalled how my banking app, and my trading accounts are also, on there, that came, as, a biggest, sort of, shock!  These days, any and everything is, stored on the cell phones, when did that start to happen?

To tell the truth, there’s, nothing wrong with modern day man’s reliance on the cell phones, I just hope, that it doesn’t, break again, in the past two years, enough had already, broken down, the entire world.

mixed in with…

illustration from online, and we modern day people are, totally, SCREWED!!!

And so, it wasn’t until your cell phone broke, did you realize, how much you’d, relied on it, and, as you’d realized this, you wanted to, get off depending on it completely, but you can’t, because our lives are, tied in with, these high-tech devices that we’re all using, for work, for entertainment, and everything else, and, these high-tech devices, made us, into, their, dependents, and we can’t, get off using it.