Chapter 7 - Recreation

Join the Library
In actual fact, you do not need to 'join' the Library. You can borrow 4 books or magazines for 21 days and check them out using your identity card (NRIC). There is no annual or monthly membership fee. If you wish to borrow 4 more books or magazines or CD or video tape, then you need to pay $21 annual fee for Premier Membership. All Singaporean newspapers and newspapers of some other countries are available for on-site reading. Current copies as well as copies of the last 3 months. Older copies are available in archived formats. Click for library locations and hours.


Surf the Net
There are lots of stuff to read, listen, see, watch and interact with on the Internet. Free of charge, assuming you have unlimited broadband access which should be the way to go.

All things considered, I find that the SingTel's 'mio' 3-in-1 package of home phone, handphone and internet access at $68 monthly is about the best deal around today. Includes a free 3G handphone too. Word of caution : SingTel's helpline is the worst, with waiting time of about 45 minutes.

Have a go at these free fun sites -
For videos - YouTube
For DOMs to read- Sammyboy’s Geylang
For DOMs to see - SgGirls


Read the News online, Free!
You'll be able to read the newspapers of most of the countries in the world once you get Internet access. Doing so will enable you to get other countries' views of Singapore besides the local news in each country. Read the following online newspapers FREE of charge:
Australia : The Australian, The West Australian, The Sunday Times (Perth).
Japan : Asahi Shimbun (Japan), Yomiuri Shimbun , Mainichi Daily News.
Thailand : The Nation, The Bangkok Post .
Malaysia : The New Straits Times , The Star .
Singapore : The New Paper , The Straits Times (only the Forum Page is free).
Channel News Asia (TV news channel).


Take up a Hobby
Remember when you started on your first hobby in primary school? Stamp collecting? It's time to carry on with it, or start a new hobby. Try something new and different, preferably useful and satisfying; like, cooking?

What hobbies?
Digital photography is one of the best hobbies for Seniors. Take out all those photo albums or boxes of old photos of yourself, family and old school friends and scan them and save them as digital images. Revitalise them where they're colour-gone, using graphics software like Irfanview that are free and downloadable from the Internet. Save them on CDRoms, print them on your printer, show them off in your Creative Zen Vision, or keep and show them off in a virtual album (free!) on the Internet. Or show them off to your visitors on a Philips digital photo display.

Or go shoot new ones with your digital camera. Get one if you've not got one (they're very cheap). They use two rechargeable AA batteries, so need a recharger. Get a quick (one hour to charge) recharger and 4 AA batteries for about $40. Get a 2gig memory card for the camera. Now you can shoot about 400 photos without having to buy film! It's like almost free! And that 2Gig card can store about 800 photos!

Go blog
A blog is a web log, ie a diary of sorts that you write and keep in cyberspace, free! thanks to many rich companies like Google. You write anything in it - like your memories of the good old days, your dirty fantasies, your wife's recipes, whatever you like. You can keep it private to yourself or let friends or everyone all over the world read it. You can proudly show your personal particulars and even include a self photo, or keep your identity anonymous. Create your blog in 3 easy steps within 5 minutes. For an example, look at my travelblog scrapbook.

Or, just go read others' blogs. You'll be amazed at the variety, scope and creativity. Here's one about Singapore .


This item - Vacationing overseas - will be relegated further down in this chapter as it is a 'luxury' to many Seniors. It sounds very expensive. However it is not so. It would be nice to live 3 - 4 weeks in Perth, Western Australia, once annually or bi-annually. A bunch of old friends from the old kampong or school could jointly buy a small house and share costs and use. Sharing in a 'retirement village' like Arcadia Waters (owned and developed by a Singaporean) would be nice.


Coming:
cinemas
museums
ssc