Melamine

Before the melamine scare, I think many people would never even have heard of such a word. [I don't think I did either.] At first it started out scary, now it's just downright laughable. Maybe it's callous of me to say so, especially when tens of thousands of babies have ended up in hospital.

Let me explain why: We all thought at first, this is just some China food scare, now the news has said that melamine is found in Malaysia-made goods. [http://ph.news.yahoo.com/cna/20081024/tap-183-ava-orders-malaysia-made-julies-231650b.html] I was just wondering, is there some syndicate out there that's controlling these food productions? If you think this is far-fetched, why should it be? Just as how there are world bodies like the United Nations and WTO, there are the filthy rich mafias and triads that have gone global.

The next question is, why would they want to put melamine in chocolate bars and biscuits? The explanation for milk powder is understandable, it being that the milk powder needs to pass the protein level test and it would as melamine helps to artificially boost the protein levels. But chocolate bars and biscuits? What gain in sales or taste would melamine give, since there is no protein level test to pass? Then, one can only say, these manufacturers are not exactly smart as they put their reputations and businesses to risk by having melamine in these products, which have no apparent use to them at this point.

Am I worried? Not much, even though I have eaten these biscuits MADE IN CHINA AND MALAYSIA all my life. [Think of the many trips I've had to M'sia and coming back with big bags of snacks bought from Giant!] If reports are true, that the levels of melamine are so low that it's pretty much harmless for an adult, I'm pretty much still well and healthy. But my heart goes out to the children who are way more vulnerable.

MediaRing Talk

Go to www.mediaringtalk.com and download the internet call services. I just realised how cool internet calls, PC to PC, is. Last night, I was on the phone with Amanda for 1.5 hours, for free. Voice quality pretty clear, most of the time. Once in a while, it gets choppy for a short time.

Why do I think it's a good service? For one, because it's free, you don't have to keep talking. Sometimes both of us weren't talking at all, but we didn't want to hang up and it wouldn't cost us anyway. Secondly, you can do conference calls for up to 6 people in the conversation. That means, if you're too busy with all your friends to meet up for project, you can have a meeting at 10pm!

In fact, I did have a conference call on my handphone with 4 other people and man, it was 40 minutes! Thank God I have 250 mins of talktime.

How did I get to know about Mediaring? Well the CEO came down to SMU to give us a talk, in lieu of a lesson for the module called Technology and World Change. :D

Back then

19th May, 2007

9th October, 2009

I can't express the well of emotions that spring up in me as I contrast these two photos. Especially for the 1st photo, I'm really puzzled, who is that? I scarcely can recognise myself. Amazing how photos can tell you stuff that no one can.

Board stuff

Brainstorming!
Squiggles on paper
Me, in Koufu foodcourt, with laptop opened. I think I was rather tired at that time.

In SMU, we use the Group Study Rooms (gsr) all the time. Basically, each student is entitled to 180 e-hours, which you can use to book various rooms. GSRs can be used to project meetings, [and thus you can roughly say I spend A LOT of time there], and for self-studying. For project meetings, we use the board often to generate many ideas. My TWC [Technology and World Change module] project mates are the funniest. They call me Prof Han cos I'm usually the one writing on the board. And Shu Hua is called the TA [Teaching assistant] cos she's always taking down the minutes for us!

Yes, project meetings are tedious and tiring. But really, if you enjoy the company, it can be rather fun. Ha, I can imagine the tirade of opposition from my SMU mates if they knew I said this.

Broke

Gosh, for the first in a really long time, I think I'm broke. I have to accounting for what I've been spending. Like now.

I'm swearing off plays and dinners that cost more than $10 [after Amanda's birthday dinner later].

Forgiveness

[I'm not going to provide the sypnosis, watch it yourself]

Some of the comments left on the video are downright vulgar and ungracious. But I'm quite surprised by myself that when I watched the video, I felt such a sense of victory - the true victory of Christ's death on the cross so that we can be truly set free.

Guglielmucci would be the last person you'd expect to confess such things, so you can imagine the heavy weight of expectations on his shoulders all these years. Indeed, his story is nevertheless inspiring because we can only attribute his breakthrough to Jesus, who can take away the chains of bondage of old sins and a shameful past. Guglielmucci lived a life of deception so thick you'd think all is beyond cure but in the end, he confessed and really, the confession is not for us but for himself. Where in the world did such strength and courage come from? He will tell you, it's God.

You could very well twist his story and use it to criticize our own pastors. You can also be more suspicious of your leaders. But I pray that you will see it as a story of love, forgiveness and amazing grace.

Pretty things

http://www.acrossthebloodyuniverse.com/

The above link is to an online blog shop which features some of the prettiest dresses! And they're way cheaper than what you'll find in the usual malls. So girls, shop smart.

BOOM

Jungle speed! A fun, reactionary game at Settlers
Taboo! How can you not know this game?
Me and Hweeyi
Me and Ronghua [aka beaver]

This post is really late because I'm gonna write a review about a play I watched at the DBS arts centre called BOOM last saturday.

Review: The play was about a property agent who dreams of having the place he was staying to be en bloc. The trouble is, the apartment is under his mother's name and she certainly doesn't want to move anywhere. Meanwhile, a civil servant named Jeremiah, who is also a stereotyped scholar serving her bond, is asked by his very 'niao' FEMALE boss to make a cemetery site report. As many characters interplay, several themes appear.

Firstly, the fundamentally different values the older generation and today's generation of young people have. The old mother clings on to her home, despite it being old and ugly, for sheer sake of sentimentality and her son longs for a brand new place, with 'white paint that smells of paint and not sweat'. Secondly, the government's sole interest is to make policies that bring the nation forward and any detractors are to be ignored or squashed. Thirdly, and most obviously in this play, sand in Singapore is more precious then gold.

This play is quite hilarious but not as funny as Pillowman. It's a Singaporean play, so there were several sprinkles of Hokkien and Cantonese dialogue and I couldn't understand them! Ronghua tried to translate for me initially but it was way too disturbing for other viewers, so I had to contend myself with deciphering the body language. It wasn't a big deal anyway. I loved the play. Great set, especially the dead man in front of the stage. However, the old mother played a too familiar role that I see at chinese dramas on Channel 8. Hence, I got a little put off with her emotional acting because it was too cliche.

One thing that I commented to my friends was, plays are getting increasingly expensive, which reiterates my view that the arts are for the rich. How do you expect the laymen on the street to pay $43 dollars for a 2 hour play when he can pay $10 [or less] for a movie? The cheap and free arts are the ones that are usually ignored.

Yes, there is concession for students who want to watch plays but the offered dates are so inconvenient that no busy college student can afford such time!

Nonetheless, that's just the way things are. I just realised that I might be implying that I'm rich, WHICH IS NOT TRUE OK. Talking about money and budgeting can get me going on and on the whole day, so let me not start here. haha.

p.s. My two friends, RH and Hweeyi, are the only JC friends I've really kept in touch with. Tragic? Nah, it's God's blessing that I have actually 2 people I can call friends from JC.

Attracted

You fascinate me
The way your eyes shift to peek
I pretend as if I don't care
Constraint, restraint and I
Be bound
Try though, if you would
You could chase and race
But I'll never stop to turn

Such a tangible tension
Powerful attraction
Honour and resistance
May yet still hold up
As my thin shield

As you wait and wait some more
I wait too
That you would pass me by
And forget me no more

Spoilt Brat

I'm a spoilt brat.

1. I get sent to school and back home almost all the time.
2. My father has given me a nice Canon camera and an Iphone this year
3. I got to go Hong Kong without my parents, without having to fork out a single cent
4. I hardly [or never] help out my Mum with household stuff like cooking

On the bright side,

a) I make quite an effort to communicate with my parents all the time, even if I don't feel like it. It's an accountability thing, on top of the fact that I really respect them
b) I decided to pay $200 for my Iphone, out of my own account, so that I'll learn to have ownership
c) My parents and I enjoy a close relationship and trust that I've learnt to really treasure over the years. It's not tangible yet so real

Note: This is a random post