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Tym Blogs Too!

The random web scribblings of a person with too many thoughts and too little time

Thursday, March 03, 2005

I procrastinate, therefore I am

KK and I wanted to form a procrastination club in college, but we never got around to it.

Many years later, here's documentary proof of how much I now excel at procrastination:
Dear [Tym],

Re-Registration of NRIC* at the age of 30

I refer to our first notification and subsequent reminders on the above matter. We note that you have yet to re-register your NRIC. You are kindly advised to call in person at our office to complete the re-registration before your 31st birthday.

[Finicky re-registration details snipped]

Please note that under the National Registration Act; registrants who fail to re-register their NRIC once they reach 31 years of age shall be guilty of an offence. You will have to pay a composition fine in addition to the re-registration fee.

Love,
Your friendly neighbourhood Citizen Services Centre
I can't believe I've spent almost a year cracking jokes about how if I didn't get around to re-registering soon --- after the first reminder, and the second, and I think there was a third --- that they would throw me in jail or something. Now I'm facing a composition fine if I don't get my sad act together.

Really, all I had to do was get Terz to take a picture of me, so that I could upload it at the re-registration website. But eleven months have waffled by, Terz's photography skills and exposure are growing by leaps and bounds --- and I still haven't checked what the image requirements are.

If I skip out on the composition fine, do they throw me in jail then?

* For my dear friends who are mercifully ignorant of the term "NRIC", it stands for (I think) National Registration Identity Card, aka our national identification card in a puny shade of pink. All citizens get one at the age of twelve, then you have to update it with a new photograph at nineteen. Apparently thirty is the next point at which the government suspects you might not look like your nineteen-year-old self anymore, especially in this age of heightened suspicion about anyone who might not resemble their 'official' image.

posted by Tym at 11:36 PM

17 comments | Trackbacks

17 Comments

At 3/04/2005 1:06 AM Blogger KnightofPentacles said...

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At 3/04/2005 1:06 AM Blogger KnightofPentacles said...

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At 3/04/2005 1:06 AM Blogger KnightofPentacles said...

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At 3/04/2005 1:07 AM Blogger KnightofPentacles said...

National Registration Act (Chapter 201) section 13(1)(a):

(1) Any person who —

(a) is required to register under this Act, or being registered under this Act, is required to re-register under this Act fails to register or re-register within the prescribed time or period;

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.

 
At 3/04/2005 1:15 AM Blogger KnightofPentacles said...

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At 3/04/2005 1:15 AM Blogger KnightofPentacles said...

Sorry about that the browser misbehaviour.

 
At 3/04/2005 2:52 AM Blogger cour marly said...

Hrm... (a) I didn't know we had to get a new IC at age 30, and (b) I've never received any notice to reregister and (c) am I out $5000(!) for not doing it anyway?

Wait, I could go to jail???

Fuh.....

 
At 3/04/2005 3:25 AM Blogger SilverBullet said...

Gosh... you still haven't re-registered that IC yet? I remember talking about it with you over Dimsum when I was in my first trimester and I'm now scarily close to giving birth to my non-Singaporean baby.

Quick.... send it in... I think the photo details are on the website or that piece of paper they sent us... or better yet... just scan in a photo and send that in...

 
At 3/04/2005 6:57 AM Blogger Mr Miyagi said...

I procrastinate, therefore I will be later.

I haven't gotten that notice either, and it's just a coupla years late.

 
At 3/04/2005 9:24 AM Anonymous TaLieSin said...

"Shall be guilty of an office?" LOL that sounds like something straight out of a Dilbert comic...

As far as I remember you were superb at silly school admin in JC. You should've seen Mr G (my CT) applying his Aussie skills to the task. The number of times I received notification letters AFTER the event/deadline had passed... to quote Mr P, "He's so laid back he's nearly horizontal" =)

My favourite incident was when they made us do the 7 habits of highly effective people in Civics. Mr G. read out no. 1 - "begin with the end in mind". Then we had a good laugh and threw out everything in between =P. Of course, everyone knows that the real purpose of Civics period is to finish your maths tutorial or essay!!

 
At 3/04/2005 10:40 AM Blogger Tym said...

KnightofPentacles --- It never ceases to amaze me how quickly you look up all this legal stuff. I mean, I know how to do it, but you actually get it done and are much more well-informed as a result. I guess a $120 "composition fine" isn't as bad as $5000 outright.

cour marly/Mr Miyagi --- I suspect this "re-register at 30" is something relatively new. Terz is a few years older than me, and he never got any re-registration notices either. Seems like my "batch" always gets to be guinea pigs for everything: Gifted Education, cannot wear shorts at NUS, and now the re-registration of NRIC.

SilverBullet --- I will re-register, really, by the end of the school holidays in mid-March.

TaLieSin --- Hm, the "office" thing could be a typo on my part. My fingers sometimes have a mind of their own. Will check against the original when I get home. And yes, Civics. I think I mostly spent it chatting with the class and giving them lessons in life (or Buffy).

 
At 3/04/2005 5:35 PM Anonymous A. said...

the reason why some folks didn't get re-registration - you may have lost your IC in between? 'cos that's what happened to me and they told me i wont' be called up for re-registration liao.

(hi TYM! u may not know me, but i'm a friend of tris_'s in real life. =))

 
At 3/04/2005 9:47 PM Blogger Agagooga said...

Can wear shorts at NUS what. No one cares.

Anyway now you do your IC at 15. No one asked me to put a new picture at age 19, so I can still get someone else to masquerade as me. Hee hee.

Why don't you wear a Chador for your IC pic? See what they do to you. Claim that they're violating your religious freedom.

 
At 3/06/2005 12:20 AM Blogger Tym said...

TaLieSin --- An update: "office" should read "offence"; the typo was mine. I've fixed it now.

A. --- Thanks for dropping by!

Agagooga --- NUS tried to ban shorts and tank tops in the early '90s. And if they're already threatening to fine me $120, I'm not going to antagonize them further by testing the photograph requirements --- although I just checked the reminder/warning letter and it merely states that I should submit a passport-sized photograph, without specifying that the entire face has to be visible...

 
At 3/06/2005 1:07 PM Blogger kk said...

i still think we should start the club...

 
At 3/06/2005 3:10 PM Blogger KnightofPentacles said...

i still think we should start the club...

And I will apply to join.

Later.

 
At 3/06/2005 8:02 PM Blogger Tym said...

I suspect we'll still be talking about forming this club when I'm 50...

 

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