Thoughts on melamine saga and HELLO hokkaido...

I'm sitting in front of the telly. CNN playing at the background. Thinking about what I should blog about....my mind drawing a blank. Well, its not that there is nothing on my mind, in fact, there are so many things that I simply don't know where to start.... The past few weeks have proven to be pretty exciting (and I don't necessarily mean it in a good way). I'm still trying to get used to the idea that yes oh yes...the world is a pretty crazy place AND surprise surprise, this idea of craziness seems to know no boundaries.

Let's talk about the recent contamination of dairy-related foodstuff from China. This contamination has spread from milk powder to other related food stuff and it has impacted Taiwan in such a way that we simply don't know what is safe to eat anymore. The other day, I unwittingly caught myself going through the contents of every grocery that I was putting into my food basket. And before you think that I'm being paranoid, do know that the very next day when I was back in the supermarket, alot of foodstuff was already taken off the shelf for suspected melamine contamination. It sent a little shiver down my spine.

Anyway, I was talking to a couple of friends from China and despite my whining and complaints, deep down inside, I know that they are certainly the most impacted by this disgraceful matter. Out of curiousity, I asked them how the masses was reacting to this affair. Let's just say that I notice 2 major types of reaction.

Firstly, everyone agreed that this was a sordid matter and no one in the right frame of mind was going to consume large amount of dairy contents during this period and until this situation blows over. But that was just where the similarities ended.

I had pretty entertaining conversations with some friends who commented that the culprits should just be literally dragged out by the hair and shot. And on the other hand, there was also a group of "positive thinking people" who were just happy enough that this matter was no longer covered up and that active steps were taken to rectify the situation.

I admit that I was abit surprised about the "positive thinking-ness" in this and could not understand why they would be so contended with the situation. Being a very argumentive person (I admit! I admit!), I found myself challenging their view on this matter, not just for the sake of challenging but really hoping that I would finally be able to understand their views and gradually become a more "postive thinking" person.

To me, I would summarize my opinion as such:.....OK, the authorities are finally "right-ing the wrong", but damnit, its BLOODY HELL TIME THEY DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT!! After 2 months of cover up and 53,000 infants taken ill, am I suppose to be grateful that the authorities have decided to act on it AFTER this matter has blown up in everyone's face.

I admit that the idea of getting kidney stones because of some greedy corporate dude trying to boost up the nutrient level of watered down milk infuriates me. I think that there is no excuse for the people in the business to NOT KNOW the effect melamine has after consumption since we already had a simlar case in the past where people discovered that the reason many pets were dying unexpectedly was due to melamine poisioning which was also used to help "boost"' the nutrient percentage in animal foodstuff. Needless to say, I managed to get a couple of peace-loving people riled up after our conversation. Naughty naught me....:P

Anyway, I thought I would share something quite funny about the impact this has in the office. The office lady noticed a big drop in the number of people drinking coffee recently and she attributed it to the fact that most of us were not drinking because we were not certain that the creamer or milk provided was safe. I ,for one, get extremely grumphy if I don't get my coffee fix in the morning and apparently I'm not alone because the office decided that they had to send the materials to the health authorities to check for contamination.

The results came back certified as negative i.e. FREE of melamine content. Once this information was disseminated, the coffee addicts were back in the queue. People....typical. :P

On a more international front, with the financial troubles of Lehman brother's and AIG, I have had more than my fair share of concerned inquiries on whether I was very impacted since I also work in an insurance company. For the record, NO...I do not work in AIG AND fortunately, the company that I work for is apparently doing well, if not better *winks*, during this troubled times.

Last but not least, let me brag that I probably will not post another blog for at least 2 weeks BECAUSE I'm OFF to Hokkaido for a couple of days to celebrate my birthday and if I may unabashedly say...enjoy a well-deserved break from a helluva challenging time at work. (Just when you thought things can not get worse, the world always seem to prove you wrong).

Certain things just make you want to crawl under the covers and shut out the world. But hell, you already know by now, I'm just not the type to do that..... :P