I AM NOT INDEBTED TO THE SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT

DO YOU STILL NOT

UNDERSTAND ME --

YET, GENTLEMEN?

Themes from the

Middle Kingdom:

Of Gratification; Gratefulness;

Gratuity; Gravy;

Gratuitousness;

and Sex -- And The Discerning

Non-Political Man,

The Serious and Thoughtful

Writer, The Compassionate

Human Being

and The Thinking Senior Citizen

I DECLARE:

I AM NOW -- AS I COULD NOT

BEFORE -- ABLE TO COME TO

TERMS WITH WHAT I

HAVE BECOME (AS A WELL-TUNED

AND DISCERNING LISTENER

TO BOTH CONTEMPORARY

POP MUSIC AND THE ROCK SONGS

FROM THE late 1960s

AND the 1970s)

THOUGHT-IN-PROGRESS :

WHEN A GENTLE, REFINED AND (NOW)

MANLY WRITER HAS BEEN

THROUGH SO MUCH SUFFERING AND

DEPRIVATION (AND HUMILIATION) --

FOR MORE THAN 36 YEARS NOW --

WITH MUCH EXPECTED UNHAPPINESS

AND WITH JUSTIFIED AND

JUSTIFIABLE UNWILLINGNESS

TO ACCEPT HIS OWN ALLEGED

"RESPONSIBILITY" FOR MAKING

HIMSELF INTO SUCH A VULNERABLE

VICTIM OF

SUCH AN UNACCEPTABLE

CONDITION,

PLIGHT AND PREDICAMENT --


THEN THIS IS OBVIOUSLY GOING TO SURPRISE YOU!

HERE IT GOES:

I am getting more and more :

(1) wonderful admirers;

(2) great supporters;

(3) intelligent readers;

(4) discerning guests;

(5) distinguished visitors;

(6) obliging girlfriends;

(7) open-minded female lovers;

(8) keen acquaintances;

(9) serious readers;

(10) thinking followers;

(11) loyal and true defenders;

(12) liberated women-friends;

(13) energetic lovers;

(14) inspiring helpers;

(15) much-need benefactors;

(16) bona fide bankers and financiers;

(17) geuine sympathizers;

(18) brave and kind (but foreign) magazine publishers;

(19) courageous and compassionate (but foreign) book publishers.

I am serious! On a more upbeat and positive note, when was the last time
you had spend a genuinely meaningful moment of companionship and of
conversation? Was it your time spent trying to exchange meaningful items
of information and ideas in general with someone you know? Did she
support you in your effortds to get through the day -- and night -- with
too much worries? Did she assist you in your work as a writer?

Was she grateful to you for having such an amorous, intelligent and honest
boyfriend, partner, and lover like yours truly?

Social Intelligence

The New Science of Human Relationships

Data from multiple sources suggest that wives are more vulnerable to suffer the health costs of a rocky marriage than are their husbands. Yet women do not seem to be more biologically reactive than men in general.

Many surveys of American women show that positive relationships are their major source of satisfaction and well-being throughout life. For American men, on the other hand, positive relationshiips rate lower in importance than a sense of personal growth or a feeling of independence.

[From: Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships (London: Arrow Books, 2007) by Daniel Goleman]