It has been quite impossible to ignore H1N1 here. Singapore is certainly still living under the shadow of SARS, and as a result, they are taking extremely combative measures to battle its spread. It worked fine till June came and everyone took off for vacations to H1N1 affected areas and came back to spread the love.
Back in the UK when H1N1 first broke out, I never really felt the impact because the place was so huge and the cases were far apart. Right here, it's a happy breeding ground because no matter where you go, there's lots of people. You could get it from taking the MRT. You could get quarantined because a friend of your friend knows somebody who got H1N1, and he met that person, who met your friend, and your friend met you. Next thing you know, you're in jail. I had a joke with a friend once about being quarantined when I returned from the UK. When I talked to her yesterday, she was being quarantined, and I had just returned from outside. It would have been funny if it wasn't so damned ironic.
You start to realise that Singapore is such a paranoid country. It's like Singaporeans have never learnt to take it easy. I guess being surrounded by our dysfunctional neighbours in the north and south makes for a nation of paranoid people. Why else would we have terms like "kiasu" and "kiasi".
One person gets H1N1 here, and the next thing you know there's a press conference to assuage the minds of the locals, the health authorities roll into action and start demonstrating how to wash your hands the right way, all the shops start stocking surgical masks, principals start cancelling CCA trainings and after school activities, and companies start hiring cash strapped students to conduct temperature checks twice daily. School bus operators start disinfecting their buses everyday, as do taxi drivers with their taxis, the Straits Times gives a daily update on the H1N1 situation along with expert opinions from people who have never contracted H1N1, stories of survivors are paraded on the front pages, and people are quarantined and monitored on facebook, email and even twitter.
Big Brother is watching you. He even knows how many slices of bread you had for breakfast, and that you weighed yourself on the scale today and made a face.
Despite that, there are hundreds of cases now. Despite the reminders to be a responsible citizen if you've returned from H1N1 infected countries, to monitor your temperature twice daily and report to the authorities if there's anything unusual, we still got hit by H1N1, big time. You know what this means? It means it's time to go out and celebrate at The Butter Factory. Shit, it's closed? Oh, H1N1 broke out there too. Damn. Good thing I don't club.
My mom made me stop doing my stuff for 10 minutes yesterday to demonstrate how to wash my hands. I don't read any of the H1N1 stuff in the papers, because I'm totally convinced they play up the situation to generate sales. She even went to the extent of making me repeat the steps back to her. I was only half listening but I'm lucky I have a good memory so I remembered the steps and made her think that I was paying full attention.
To all guys, this is a lifeskill you should learn. To appear like you're listening when you're not. It's more important than anything you'll ever learn in school, because it saves listening to a lot more unnecessary nagging.
If anybody wants a tutorial, I can show you the 7 steps to wash your hands. I will guarantee that by the end of it your hands will be so clean, even air is dirtier. As for how to act like you're listening, it's a talent, and like any talent, it gets better with practice.
On an unrelated note, here's the video for WKWSCI's FOC 09.
Be a responsible citizen. Do not attend if you have H1N1 symptoms of any kind. I don't want to go to jail. I don't have $50 to bail myself out.