Just collected our key from HDB, from a typcial civil servant. It was a hastily-arranged meeting - we were only informed of the afternoon meeting on the morning itself...but that's another story.

"Mr Mak and Miss Jiang..." she stared hard at our ICs. "OK you have many many papers to sign." So after explaining our loan conditions and the many charges we had to pay (and killing a few trees in the process), she gave us ten pieces of paper to sign. "Mr Jiang -er, Mr Mak, sign here, and Miss Jiang, sign here...." Another ten pieces came. "And this one, Mr Jiang - er, Mr Mak, sign on every page...Miss Jiang also."

Confused with the barrage of papers and the legal language, I asked,"What's this form about?"

"Oh this form, nevermind lah, just sign. Cannot escape one. All must sign. HDB is like that one....Now this one, let me explain to you. Write your name and answer these 3 questions. Mr Jiang - er, Mr Mak, have you gone for any medical treatment or surgery?"

"No... but I did Lasik. Does that count?"

"What?"

"Lasik."

"Huh? What's that?"

"I used to wear spectacles, but I went for Lasik on my eyes, so now I don't need to wear them anymore."

"Huh? Er, laser ah? If you did that, must write. If not, CPF will bounce back the form."

He meekly filled in the information.

"OK now, the next question you must tick YES because you had treatment. 'Are you suffering from any illness or disease?'"

"Um, but I only had Lasik. I don't have an illness or disease."

"No,no,no... you have laser eyes, so you must write. Otherwise bounce back. Don't worry, they'll know."

"But I'm not suffering from Lasik..." he spluttered.

"Must write,must write. They'll know what to do when they see your form."

*sigh*

We signed another pile of documents, and for each one we signed, she signed too. "Wow, you're smart to use such a simple signature," he marvelled. "It's no wonder, since you have so many documents to sign everyday."

"Oh yes," she gushed. "So many documents, so much work to do. Many days, I just work till I have no voice left - like now. My throat is too dry."

After all the paperwork was done satisfactorily, she happily filed our documents into her folder. "Here are your copies of the documents, everything's done now. Bye!" Having promtly dismissed us by 5.30pm, she turned to her computer. "Wonderful!" she mechanically congratulated her monitor. "You're now a HDB home owner."