6th September 2010 , Posted by Dannie

Diversity At The Table

I still maintain pretty close ties to my ex-colleagues. Even though I left the company some 18 months ago, I still take the opportunity to meet up with the various people who made a tough time that much more enjoyable.

And a couple of weeks back, the opportunity arose to meet a solid bunch of them for after-dinner drinks. Another person was leaving the company, this time to further her studies.

We were all in a chillaxed mood, chatting, drinking, devouring buffalo wings by the basket, when suddenly, it struck me. No, not the buffalo wing… a thought struck me. Looking around the table, I suddenly realised that these bunch of pals were totally different, as far as relationships and preparedness for child-bearing goes.

Our girl who is leaving Singapore to study in Shanghai, then Seoul has made no secret of the fact that she’s looking for a man to marry and impregnate her.

Her best friend in office (who was there that night) is a cheerful, roly-poly spinster, with no intention of ever getting attached.

Then we had the four girls from Finance. One is currently pregnant. One has two children from two marriages. One is divorced. Among them, the last is relatively mundane – married with two children.

Amongst the guys, we had a single (I think he likes women, but he pretends to like cameras and cars more), then two guys who are currently trying for kids. One is me (going through IVF with my wife) and the other is one of my best male friends in office who has ‘dated’ a bottle twice, and is now expected to perform his manly duty as and when the hospital gives the green light after scientifically charting his wife’s cycles and temperatures and whatnot. Then, to balance off the group, we have our relatively mundane married man with two children too.

There were actually more people there, but these were the people I was closest with, so I had some inkling of their personal lives. And these people were more or less informed of my personal life, either through constant contact with me, or by reading this blog.

Given that this microcosm of Singaporean society was gathered at our three tables, it’s pretty amazing that our national fertility rate is 2.3. I suppose the next time I go back to my old office, I should smack some people around and demand that they make pledges at the I Love Children bus (make a baby, get IKEA vouchers!) or something. I mean, we are all seriously underperforming here… 0.68 vs national average of 2.3? Come on!!!

But then again, maybe I need not smack anyone around just yet. The alcohol-fueled memories are a little hazy, but I’m pretty sure we toasted to “Mighty Sperm and Powerful Vaginas” at the top of our voices.

And THAT’S the real reason why this blog post does not have any pictures in it!

1 Comment

Celine Yeo

September 6th, 2010 at 3:02 pm    

LOL, great comparison! Guys…chia yu! O and Total Fertility Rate (aka TFR) in Singapore for 2009 is 1.23, not 2.3 In 2008, it was 1.28.

See: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_435407.html

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