The AA Show

Hey all, Amanda and I going to Mexico for exchange. We're starting a web series called the AA show (Anna & Amanda). Click on the following link for the 1st episode. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8F6RPopmHw

I used iMovie to edit it. So far, it's just us talking in the room but I hope subsequent videos will have more adventure. Some friends have said that it's funny, hopefully they're not being too kind. OK, enjoy!

Public Transport in Singapore

First I'll like to blog about the recent awesome pantomime called Cinderal-Lah! produced by Wild Rice! Productions. A pantomime is a mixture of theatre genres that aims to localised famous moral stories and inject lots of humor and cross-dressers into it. In Cinderellah, my usual favourite theatre actors were there: Sebastian Tan, Emma Yong, Gurmit Singh, Najib, Chua En Lai (*small scream*), Neo Swee Lin and more. Let me be upfront and say that local musical theatre can never be as good as Broadway, at least not as good as what I've heard on Youtube/soundtracks since I've never been to New York. Vocals wise, we have a long way to go. But as I said in one of my earlier post, I rather go to a local musical show than a foreign one. All the usual wisecracks were there, and I loved everyone of them. And the story is ridiculously ridiculous. So, if you're looking for deep plot and awesome Broadway standard vocals, you can go fly to New York. But other than that, it was a great show, lots of laughter, very interactive, and best of all, very Singaporean flavour. And of course, a great thank you to Josh who generously treated me to this show and got us both really good seats.

Next, I wanna talk about transportation in Singapore. As you know, because I managed to obtain season parking at SMU in the past term, I've very hardly taken public transport for 4.5 months. It's drive, drive, drive, drive and drive. And man, driving is expensive!! Season parking, which ended on Dec 1, had cost me about $450 altogether. Throw in about $100 a month for petrol, $20 a month for cashcard top ups (for ERP and non-SMU carparks), $10 a month for parking coupons (for open carparks @ HDB flats), and the occasional $30 fines (thrice this term) for running out of parking coupons or forgetting. MAN!!!

Anyway, I still loved the privilege for being able to drive around. No waiting for buses or trains and no crowding with the massive crowds. But on the other hand, I had traffic jam troubles especially on Tuesday mornings when I have BP class at 8.30am. To reach on time, I always leave at 7.50am, and ERP would cost me $2.50. It's stressful cos you need to strategize; you need to decide to filter lane or stay; In a traffic crawl, try to stick close to the car in front because you don't want people to cut in, not when you're already waiting like forever. Neither do you want to stick too near because you don't want to kiss another car's ass. PLUS (!!!) my freaking Chevrolet Aveo is a manual car!!! But through it all, I still loved the fact that I could drive as and when I wanted to. Overall, a lot of time was saved.

Since I have no longer any season parking, I've pretty much stopped driving. I simply no longer have a place in town to hide my car. Adults, when they meet, usually park their cars for like 1.5 hours over lunch or dinner and then part ways. But people my age, when we meet, we like to sit and chat and shop, watch movie, hop from mall to mall, and all these require mobility and long hours. I simply cannot afford to park my car at Raffles City for 2 hours for lunch, drive down to PS for movie and then to ION to meet someone else for dinner. Let's not forget the million ERP gantries in town. So what then... Ladies and gentlemen, I've successfully eased back into our beloved public transport system.

First was the decision to NOT drive. It takes conscious effort to leave your car at home and take the bus. In the beginning, I had one or two moments of weakness.. meaning I took cab. (I know, I'm so spoiled!) All the flaws of our public transport system were glaringly clear to me: the waiting the times, the fact that my house is 6 bus stops away from the MRT, bus stop which I walk to from the MRT to go home is a 7 min walk, and worst of all, the crowds. But you know what changed my attitude? It was a comment from my best friend Amanda, I can't remember what she said but basically it totally made me realize I'm actually really pampered (I hate to use the word 'spoilt' but u may say that?) and that this fact might actually make me a bad travelling partner when we go to Mexico. All that driving has made me a weakling, one who fears crowds and walking.

So with a positive attitude now, my perspective on travelling has changed. It's amazing what attitude can achieve. These are my following observations:

1. MRTs don't make you wait long, usually 3 minutes. Even the occasional 6 minute wait is actually a piece of cake in the grand scheme of things in life.

2. Buses and trains in Singapore are uber clean. Something I'll really miss in Mexico.

3. Public transport in SG is safe. In other countries, crowds at subways and bus stations make it an attractive place for petty thieves.

4. Public transport is cheap!!! Cityhall to my place is $1.10. I remember paying 6 or 7 Euros in Amsterdam for a single 20 min train ride.

5. With Distance Fares, routes become faster. Just hop on and off, whatever suits you. I know that LTA recently admitted to some wrong calculation of fares up to $300,000, but still, I think I was one of the people who saved money.

6. With GPS in SBS buses, you can always know when your bus is coming. I usually take SBS buses only, so that totally rocks for me. The sucky thing about waiting is not waiting itself. It's the question, "Is it coming yet?" and the expectation to something to come come be frustrating. But when you know when something is come, the subconscious anxiety is cut off. For those with iPhones, I highly recommend the app SG Buses.

I better appreciate Singapore's public transport as much as I can. For a glimpse into what I'll be expecting at Monterrey soon, the following was taken from the FAQ at the handbook they gave. Oh swell.

Is public transportation safe in Monterrey?

Yes, you may feel safe taking a cab for transportation. However, we make the following recommendations to minimize risks:

Avoid using city buses. Use a cab instead.
Try to arrive during the day.
Don’t share your cab with strangers.

Wrap up of the semester

Alrightey everyone, exams for the term are finally over. From now, I'm starting my break from SMU for another 8-9 months. That's because I'll be going to Monterrey, Mexico for exchange next semester, from January to May, and then I'll be living in the US with Amanda and her aunt for another 2 months. WHATSUP EVERYONE!!! I am so freaking excited, and right now, I'm just having a mini moment trying to imagine what my next year would be like.

I'll like to take some time to blog about my past semester, some parts in excruciating detail. Let's start with the modules:

Marketing Research - I had good profs for all mods this term, and of course, I definitely liked Prof Cathy Chen for MR. When she first stepped into class, we thought she was a little bimbotic and crazy. (nonetheless, a very smart one) She's the kind of teacher that teaches and then tests you if you've understood what she just said. And that is scary because most of us tell ourselves to figure it all out when the lesson's over. But not Cathy, she will call your name and ask you what she just said. It's ok for me cos I always listen in class (teehee!) but some people just go to class to log on FB which I have no idea why. And it's funny to hear them stutter in front of her. Anyway MR is a marketing mod, meaning I LOVED IT, cos I'm a marketing major.

Business Processes - To be honest, BP was boooooring. Prof Demeester is a handsome, grey-haired 50-year old but his class is really the least interesting. But it's not the instructor's fault, it's BP. Sitting through BP is like sitting through e-math classes. The great thing about BP was there was no project, just 4 group assignments and I totally am so grateful that my assignment mates were normal people. (Will explain that later)

International Economics - I think I met one of the best professors in SMU by attending his IEA class, and he is Tan Kim Song. He's like a really good teacher, cos even though he doesn't use powerpoint, his teaching is so clear. But the project was one of my toughest this semester, cos my project question was this: China will be the key driving force behind economic integration in East Asia, do you agree? Yup, I know, it totally qualifies as a WTH question. And though my group mates worked real hard for it, we got a B+. My heart broke a little. By the way, I just had the last exam for IEA yesterday, and it was essay questions. Truth is, I totally wrote rubbish. At some points I panicked cos I had nothing to write, and that's when the rubbish came in. Sigh, so not looking forward to finding out my grade.

Ethics - Last but certainly not the least, ETHICS! This one was tough. Prof Shubhankar Dam has this crazy way of twisting the facts of the scenario and asking you for your opinion again. So we visited several topics over the term: corruption, environmentalism, discrimination, racism, whistle-blowing, kantianism, utilitarianism, libertarianism, egoism etc. For final exam, it was essay-style. Let me try to describe it: 3 women turned up for an office party, that was strictly casual dresscode, and appeared topless. The next day, they were suspended from work. The 3 women pointed out that 3 men who appeared topless at the party were not given any disciplinary action, hence they being suspended from work is a form of discrimination against women. In this case, analyze if there is indeed a case of discrimination against these women. Well, this question plus another 4 scenarios? Yeah, so it really wasn't easy. But I learnt a lot. It's only in Ethics that I've met some of the sharpest minds in SMU and we really had some great dialogues in class. I mean, this is the real interactive learning that I was promised when I came to SMU.

So this pretty much wraps up my academic term in SMU in the past 4 months. I had choir stuff as well, did you know I performed at the Istana in Week 13 (I know, it was crazy mad!) for the President of Singapore? And the choir took a photo with him :) By the way, Josh and I are still together. Yay. Oh i promised to write about the "normal" people in SMU.

The deal is, SMU is a very culturally diverse university. Just full-time students alone, we have a good mix of Vietnamese, Burmese, Malaysians, Indonesians, Chinese nationals and of course, our own Singaporeans. Then we have exchange students from Europe, Korea, Mexico, US and others. Here's a breakdown of stereotypes, and this is just meant to be teasing ok, I don't mean to be racist and I'm not!

- Exchange students are always MIA-ing. I've heard so many stories of exchange students who don't turn up for project meetings and the stupidest excuses they give for not doing their work properly. And when they do turn up, it's hard to understand them cos of their strange and weird accents, especially the Europeans. They have that Frenchy-German overlay in their accents. OK, but you know why they get away with it? Cos exchange students are hot and cute and tall and blonde. Yeah, so they always get away with it.

- Full-time students from Vietnam, Burma and China have very strong asian accents. They don't have same accents, but it's the same problem for us. On top of that, some have poor English and hence their sentences can be quite broken. It's not so bad if it's spoken, but when it comes in the form of report writing, man, it keeps me up another 2 hours in the night just to rewrite what they have written. In any case, I worked with two Vietnamese on the same project this term and they were wonderful. Just because we have obstacles in language doesn't mean we can't work together. We had many moments of laughter and you know, when you see everyone working together, it can be a very sweet experience.

- And of course, the Singaporeans! The Singaporeans are the bitchy ones. We bitch about others and about own people. Because among "our own people", we have other races right? Like Malay, Indian and Chinese. But because this is Singapore, sorry, it's a restricted zone of conversation. In Ethics, we talked about the different races and stereotypes in Singapore, it was damn funny. Prof went "give me your stereotypes of Chinese, Malays and Indians in Singapore". Man, my classmates sure didn't hold back. Also among Singaporeans, we have different classes of people like the "JC kids", "poly students", "deans lister", "all talk but no work guy", "the powerpoint volunteer because he/she cannot write", "the agressive group member", 'have never heard him/her speak", and the occasional chinese dude who speaks in a very polished, angmoh-ish accent.

So there you go. Isn't SMU a great university? It is, because the people are.

Uncle, mian bao?

Today I went to OUBC for a hair scalp treatment. My scalp feels so much more relieved now. Unfortunately I have sensitive & oily scalp, and have recently started using some special Keratase shampoo since August, which makes it much better. But every once in 2 months, I go back to my hairdresser to do a deep cleansing. (I can't see how I can survive without my hairdresser for 6.5 months next year, gosh I'm so spoilt!)

As usual, at OUBC I always order the raisin cream buns from Barcook Bakery. They're freaking awesome, you've got to try them. There's always a queue in the already quite crowded "alley" at the basement of OUBC in front of Barcook. So I bought 3 raisin cream, 1 mash potato bun and 1 bo luo bun. Anyway, I headed back to school cos my car was parked there and intended to go home. Then I passed by this grandfatherly cleaner I always see at the School of Business. But today he was walking towards Pink Orchard, which is a boutique shop at the basement concourse at SMU. When I walked pass him, my heart kinda stopped because I knew at that moment I'm supposed to give him one of my raisin cream buns. I continued walking but then I stopped. He was already several meters behind me. There and then, I knew if I ignored this "instinct" of mine, I would regret forever!

So I went up to the uncle, and he was peering into the window of Pink Orchard that displayed the high-end handbags and purses. I called to him, "uncle" a few times, at first he didn't hear me but then he looked up at me and smiled and pointed to the purses in the window and said, "Piao liang ah! ba shi ba kuai!" Now that I look back at the incident, was he thinking about a daughter/granddaughter/niece? Anyway, I took out my raisin cream bun and gave it to him. At first he stared at me and then he said "xie xie". He kept pointing at the purse and commenting that it was $80. I laughed and said it's so expensive, better not buy.

I'm not sure what really came over me. There's something about this uncle that always tugs my heartstrings. As Abi once commented, when you look at him, you kind of feel the sadness and loneliness. If that's true, then I pray that my extremely small deed had helped chase away some of that today, even if it's for a while.

Not a Staring Incident

It's 1am now, but I can't go to sleep cos my hair is wet from a fresh bath and I hate taking out the hair dryer. So might as well take the time to blog.

Most of us have heard the horrifying news of Darren Ng being slashed and left to die at Downtown East and the other slashing incident at Bukit Panjang. A recent news article just released clarified that the death of Darren was gang-related and not a result of a staring incident. I was not surprised, in fact, when I first read that it was a staring incident I found it hard to believe. As in the words of a friend, it "was obviously planned since they were carrying choppers in their hands and they must have been waiting for him".

So what the are the consequences of these horrible actions? I can tell you that it's not just injuries and one death. I do sense an atmosphere of fear now among Singaporeans. Even when I walk home from the carpark (which is a long walk to me), I constantly look sideways and backwards and suspiciously at those small gatherings downstairs my house. Now that Singapore doesn't seem as safe as before, I'm starting to wonder then how bad it can be in Mexico, which I'll staying for 4.5 months next year.

In the afternoon today, I was scouring the Internet for personal defense items I could buy. I'm particularly interested in the personal safety alarm that can trigger a 90-130 decibel high pitch sound that might help scare away your attacker, or at least stall him for 2 seconds before you run. When I'm going to Mexico, I'll buy 5 of those and hang around my bag and neck.

There was an article about how you can use a small knife, that must have its blade easy to pull out. A small knife is only successful if you defend yourself by catching your attacker by surprise. And there's no point giving a small scratch, you have to penetrate flesh and really hurt the person if you want to get away. Of course it ended of with the advise that said the knife should only be used by an experienced person. What exactly is this experienced person then?

There was also a paragraph about umbrellas cos such items can extend your reach. The thing is, an umbrella is of no use to you unless you practice using it. So for December, I'll have to put aside some time for umbrella practices. Who wants to spar with me?

In the end, the greatest defense is the defense against fear. Fear is crippling and it magnifies all the bad things. My best weapon against it is prayer and love of God. I'm so happy that I have a God who cares for me and promises to be with me. :) We should not belittle the dangers in our environment, be it SG or Mexico, but living a full life is so much more important.

Movie: 71, into the Fire

71 is a Korean war movie, set in August 1950, depicting teenage soldiers who have volunteered to fight. At the start of the movie, teenage soldier Jung Bum is terrified as he crosses lanes and alleys which are caught up in war between the N and S Korea to carry ammunition to another part. So, early on in the movie, one thing is clear: war is bloody. When Jung Bum retreats and goes back to some sort of command centre which is the now-empty school called Pohang Girls Middle School, he finds out that all the trained adult soldiers are going to Nakdong to fight the main war. But Pohang still needs to be protected because it is a somewhat strategic point too. (I'm not sure why, not very well explained in the movie) So, as the soldiers leave, 71 fresh-faced teenagers were given the responsibility to protect Pohang. The adult commanders somehow believe Pohang will not be attacked as the main war will be at Nakdong. Well as the story goes, Pohang is indeed attacked by one arrogant N Korean commander and his troops. With some ingenuity and guts, they manage to hold on until the adult troops came to help. Don't wanna spill too much cos I want you to watch the movie!

While the movie cannot match up to Hollywood's bang and glam, it certainly makes up for its character studies. We definitely see all kinds of teenagers there, how Jung Bum secures his leadership and how they have to fight their fear before they can fight any battle. It's such an Asian film, the people who can most culturally understand this movie will be the Koreans, Japs and Chinese.

When I watched the Town, I found it culturally inaccessible. Firstly was the accent, then the slang. Many Singaporeans probably do not understand how hoods work and how drug gangsters can be really powerful. Cultural accessibility is the main reason why I'd prefer a local performance to a foreign one.

That was a sidetrack. Go watch 71, into The fire! It's a GV exclusive btw, so don't go to the wrong theatre.

The Story of Cosmetics

A while back, I posted this video called, The Story of Stuff.

Recently, I went back to the website and saw a shoot-off discussion about cosmetics. That's how I came across The Story of Cosmetics. (Women, click on the link to watch the video)

I started thinking about all the cosmetics and beauty products I use everyday. Let's see what I have:

1. Shampoo

2. Conditioner

3. Body wash

4. Facial Wash, sometimes Facial Scrub

5. Make-up remover, if I had make up that day

6. Mascara remover, it's not the same at no.5 !

7. Moisturizer

8. Sunscreen

Things I use every other day:

9. Hair tonic

10. Hair oil

11. Hair night repair; As you can see, I'm quite the hair person

12. Deodorant

13. Make-up stuff like foundation, eyeliner, mascara, blush, lipstick

For once in a while:

14. Face mask

15. Fragrance

Wow, that's a lot of synthetic stuff full of chemicals I can't pronounce in 5 seconds. It's scary when people claim these stuff in the bottles have been found linked to cancer. My initial reaction was to brush these comments off, but in times when you're just not too sure, better to walk on the precautionary side yeah?

The solution sure isn't to abstain from these products. I can't imagine NOT putting on sunscreen and moisturizer everyday. Nor can I stop using my shampoo which has only recently proved very effective for my oily and sensitive scalp. I need this whole bunch of hair stuff cos I sometimes use the hair straightener to shape my hair, and that thing does it at 180 degrees Celsius. And with the wonders of make up... Ok, I'm getting carried away.

Right now, I don't really have the right frame of mind to really think about these things. I need to concentrate and bring my game for my projects, which usually consist of reports and presentations. That is why I haven't been very successful in being vegetarian and eating healthily. When my brain goes on an overdrive, it seems to need lotsa junk food and craves meat. My brother interprets this as vegetarian being unhealthy for me. HUH? Anyway, when December comes, I'm going to delve more into these issues and think about what I want to do. :D In the meantime, let me keep staring at my reports to see how I can squeeze an A grade out of my professors. :p

About presentations

It was 9.45pm when I got home last night. The mail pouch (a cloth bag with 3 pouches for my father to separate the mail among my siblings) held an envelope for me. My first thought was "Oh, a card from Clarinda!" I'm not sure what gave me that idea but anyway, when I opened it, the front said "Just wondering... ever u dream of 'someone' to walk hand in hand?" So my next thought was, oh, this is a wedding invitation. And when I opened the card, I just smiled cos it's one those no-rhyme-or-reason card that he sends like once in 6 months? Haha. Anyway, I totally did not understand the front page of the card. It totally needs grammar restructuring to become "Just wondering, have you ever dreamt of 'someone' to walk hand in hand with?" I'm not sure why the word someone has inverted commas though.

I put the picture above on Facebook and got 10 "likes". Gestures of love never fail to make people smile. Josh did say he felt violated cos some parts of the text was in the picture. Haha.

Anyway, now's the time for presentations. After 8 semesters in SMU, this is my 9th, I've seen plenty of presentations. To me, in a business setting, the best kind of presentations are one which speakers are well-prepared, do not hold cue cards unless there's a good amount of data, speak spontaneously, good flow of presentaion and SIMPLE slides. I mean, slides that have minimal animation, just key words, clear and good fonts, and clean template. If you're a real slick speaker, you can pull off with white and plain slides, really!

The hardest parts of multi-speakers presentation is that the changing speakers do break the flow of presentation, a good handover from speaker is crucial. Another one is flow of presentation. As presenters, definitely the info and meanings are good in your head, but often the audience needs to be pointed out the important explanations. When you jump from one point to another without fully showing the relationships of your information, your audience is left confused and forced to make sense of your presentation. But the hardest hardest thing is the speaker him/her-self. Let's face it, not everyone is a Steve Jobs or a professional motivational speaker. We like to think we are, but even the most out-spoken and confident amongst us would tend to lose focus in a presentation simply from the lack of practice. I'm not talking about lack of practice of your speech but simply, as students, it's not our job to face people as a presenter daily. Professional speakers do that all the time, and they naturally get better.

As student presenters, we need a different strategy. For example, know your audience well. These classmates have been with you for 10 weeks, use that to your advantage! Speak to them student-to-student, of course armed with a lot more knowledge, but don't pretend you're a professional, just someone who has done his or her homework. Create opportunities for interaction, throw out rhetorical or simple questions just to keep them on their toes. Basically, do not pretend you don't know your classmates, where they're from and assume they will be listening hard to your presentation.

Just give me 2 more minutes, I wanna highlight the importance of first and last speaker. First speaker needs to set the tone and energy of the presentation. You excite your audience about your topic, why's important and usually, you'll be the one giving the background information. You make sure why they should listen and you have to be a bit drama to get them to focus. The last speaker needs to be very attentive to the audience throughout the presentation. He or she needs to watch out for audience reactions as they listen to 2nd and 3rd speaker cos usually these are data information. Sometimes, due to fatigue or simply bad presentation skills, the audience is simply not getting it. The last speaker needs to reconcile that understanding in an impromptu summary, if needed, before diving straight into the conclusion. And that's why the last speaker needs to be extra clear and confident.

Stressful period ahead

I'm stressed. Let me describe my stress: 1 presentation and report due this Saturday. 2 presentations, one report due the week after.

Marketing Research - My major quantitative survey is nowhere near our targeted numbers. Ladies, if you're Singaporean and between the age of 18-38, please click here to participate in the online survey. Please, pretty please.

The stressful thing is not the amount of work but the huge amount of thinking I'm putting into my projects. Sometimes I feel like my brain is malfunctioning and I can't answer questions. Many times I experience what psychologists like to fondly say, 'groupthink'. This happens when everyone just doesn't think critically and in the end, no much is contributed. I'm extremely frustrated cos I have to keep pushing my project mates for meetings and ideas and basically, getting work done. It's quite a bit of mental strain here.

Every student has 3-4 projects on their plates. So during meeting times, productivity is extremely low. But I don't think tiredness and lethargy are good excuses. The best present you can give yourself is to push yourself mentally, contribute to the meeting and be efficient so that we can all go home early.

Ok back to my IEA report...

No carbon footprint? Wow

During Ethics class, my instructor played a video of a man named Colin Beavan and his wife who decided to live a no-impact lifestyle. They undertook a year-long experiment, together with their 2-year-old daughter, to see how they can live a life without harming the environment. That means no taking public transport (ride bicycle), buying from supermarkets (buy from something like our wet markets aka whole foods market), no buying new stuff (no bags, clothes etc), no detergents and shampoo (make your own), no lights (beewax candles) and no toilet paper. Oh wait there's more, no meat & fish, no taking lifts, planes (for people in the US, it means you can't visit your relatives living in another state), no soda or carton milk (you fill up your milk from like a big big bottle with your own flask), bringing out own cloth bags everywhere, can't eat at restaurants and no fridge. And by the way, they live in New York City.

That was 2007 and the experiment is over. I guess they took back some stuff, probably toilet paper? It certainly put me to shame cos I'm finding it a little hard to maintain my twice-a-week vegetarian lifestyle. This week, I've been trying to do it daily, but slipped into temptation over 2 meals. Amanda, my best friend, tried out vegetarian for 2 weeks in May 2010 and she said, "When I did it, it really wasn't hard at all. I did it because it was a challenge. But now, no one challenge me, so point doing it."

So I'm a little inspired now to try to reduce as much waste as I can. I can't compost my waste even if they're biodegradable, cos my family will have a big issue having me keep soil, worms and decaying stuff in a big box. And my biggest guilt? Driving to school each and everyday. And everyday on a weekend to anywhere. Much as I try to reduce my consumption in other things, i do trump over many of my friends just based on my car fuel consumption. (About 40 litres every 2 weeks?) In Amsterdam, Amanda and Shun and I rode our bike everywhere. It made our trip so much fun and it wasn't tough at all. But in Singapore, it'll be many years before we find any shred of political will to transform our road grids to include bicycle lanes.

So some stuff I'm gonna do:

1. Avoid buying things that require packaging. Er, ok that pretty means everything. Probably I have to bring a cloth bag and a tupperware everywhere I go. So if i want to grab some bread, I will have to ask the staff to pack in it my tupperware. Same for take-aways at coffeeshops. Otherwise, I'd have to eat-in.

2. Think like 5 times first before buying anything. That is going to be a big issue cos I like shopping and buying new things. (I don't even want to think how many shoes I've thrown away) I wanted to buy some stickers at Daiso today, but couldn't bring myself to do it cos i know they'll be thrown away after an event.

3. Try to be a full-time vegetarian. This is hard hard hard. Hmmm, the only vegetarian meal I truly love is salads from Salad Stop! A typical salad will include lettuce, grapes, oranges, toufu, brown rice, apples, broccoli, sunflower seeds, potato, cucumber, string peas, corn, chick peas and a dressing called orange mint. Talk about yummy! But it costs $9.50. I think on the basis of health and nutrition, $9.50 is totally worth it. Yet, knowing I'm a student and having the very Asian value of saving, spending $9.50 is simply put, a splurge. OK, the other two options are yong tau fu and economic rice (aka Cai Fan) which is typically one-third the price compared to salad. (but not as shiok)

I do feel quite alone in all these. Even among my close friends, few agree with me. The familiar saying "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" is true. If you've read this far, I'm super grateful and I hope you'll at least give it some though about your impact on the environment.

Videos. How hard can they be?

I've been watching so many KevJumba videos that I've developed a minor crush on this boy one year younger than me. Haha, kidding la, Josh, I only have eyes for you! But this whole vlog culture in the States is amazing. It certainly looks more fun than blogging! Well, you just look at the camera and talk. The best is, people think you're really confident and cool (& good looking) but the truth is, for that one good take, you had to take 10 lousy ones. Oh btw, vlog is video log, the video version of blog. ("OOOH, i get it now!") And another btw, blog came from the word web log. Cool huh?

So I was saying, you look at the camera and talk about your life. Apparently many people dig it, including me. It's the voyeur in everyone that keeps those fingers clicking on these videos, and before you know, you're a fan of this absolute Nobody in the States. Just like that! The best part about these videos is NOT the video itself, it's the comments!! I mean, I could click on like ten pages of comments and not get sick of it. Wow, I sure know how to waste time!!!

Last night, on the phone with Manda, I said, "Man, we have to do videos in Mexico! We might actually get fans." I continued,

"We could do dance moves as intros!"

"Like a signature tune?"

"Yeah, I can compose one!" [What am I thinking?]

"Well, what are we gonna use to record?"

"In-built webcam la! Or digital camera video function?" [We will be so noob if we do start on this vlog thing]

So what do you think? Should I go ahead with this wacko idea???

To get an idea how cool these videos are, check out my favorite Youtube comedian:

Why i can't study without distractions

When I was sec 1 - jc 2, I could typically study 9 hours a day. You're probably going, "wow Anna, you're a nerd!" Haha, maybe! Did I say I was pretty much a straight A student? (ok, B for A level Physics and GP, but still..)

But since then, 2 to 3 years on, with the YouTube and FB boom, I can't study straight for 15 minutes without picking up my mobile to put up a "status", watch a short clip or simply refresh my gmail page. Like right now, I'm at Starbucks supposedly studying BP... Hmmm.. :)

But really, I can't help but smile. Being distracted allows me to put more steam in my studying minutes (not hours!) It makes me dread studying less, I think! But then again, I'm at the university level, in a biz school. My education is more than memorization and hitting the books. It's involves observation, surfing the net and spending time just mulling over biz issues. (or am I just trying to defend myself here? Haha)

In any case, I do not recommend such ill discipline of studying at the jc/sec levels, can't say for poly! Because at the lower levels, its abt really knowing and understanding the fundamentals, so don't get distracted, ok kids? :)

Just watched Food Inc.

I just watched Food Inc, the movie directed by Robert Kenner and one of the commentators was Michael Pollan. I was like, "Ooh, Michael Pollan!" because I've been wondering for ages if I should buy his book "Food rules".

As you probably know of my twice-a-week vegetarian diet already, you're probably not surprised I'm talking about food again. Unlike most Singaporeans who like to blog about good food finds in SG, I prefer to challenge my readers to think about what they eat. Previously I mildly advocated a vegetarian diet due to the immorality and bad economics of eating meat, or rather of the meat industry.

Food Inc is a documentary on more than that, it talks about other food crops such as corn and soy bean. Food is cheaper today than ever because of mass production. But as the movie goes, the cheap price comes as at a cost. They showed this Latin American family who eat burgers and fries all the time because it's cheap and it's mostly all they can afford. When they visit the supermarket, they just can't buy the healthy vegetables and fruits because they're so expensive. Compare $3 for a head of brocoli to 99 cents for a hamburger. And now the father suffers from diabetes and has to decide between paying for his medical bills or buying healthy food. Well, it's just one story but it does provide a lot of insight.

Now I have to formulate an argument for Ethics class using Food Inc as a starting point and finally applying it to Singapore. Any suggestions?

Fried Rice Paradise

The night before Joshua and I were to meet for a date on Thurs, I impulsively bought a pair of tickets on Sistic online. These were tickets to the musical Fried Rice Paradise for Thurs night, which would cost us a cool $160. [Didn't feel too guilty though, since Josh would pay for most of it. That's another story for another day.]

This Singaporean musical isn't too fabulous, it definitely will not hold a candle to the typical Broadway or West End musicals. But believe it or not, I will watch this again over Phantom of the Opera or most foreign productions. [And I have watched Phantom!] The musical is so fabulously Singaporean that I love it! I was laughing my ass off at so many lines. But of course, the ang moh many seats away was totally stone-faced.

The arts in Singapore are really awesome, just super gui only. [I'm waiting for something of equal brilliance to Pillowman, a psychological drama play I once caught.] If Singapore wants to see more of its people going to Esplanade and be willing to spend the penny, please subsidize students like 30-40% across all ticket categories. Then when we start working, we'll find it really natural to go to theatres. When I look at my parents who have both time and moolah, I realise going to theatres to catch comedy plays or musicals is seriously not in their consideration set at all.

Next up is the Law Musical staged by SMU Law students next Saturday! Yay!

Pick Up Your Visa/Masters Card Now!

Of all classes I'm taking right, the module called Ethics is the toughest. Tough not just because the prof is demanding, the articles we read and discussions held in class and the personal mental ruminating AFTER class makes my brain really tired. In this post, I'll like to highlight Peter Singer's article "Famine, Affluence, and Morality".

To any Christian friends out there who have heard about Singer, we most probably have heard his controversial philosophical arguments on animal rights and even the the suggestion of condoning infanticide. And also, of course, he's an atheist. But putting that all aside and just examining the 1971 article, I find very sound arguments as to why donation to international aid is a moral duty. Since Thursday, I've been telling myself to go donate online to the latest big news: the Pakistan Floods.

But I put off the donation until this evening when I came across the teenager's piano cover of We Are the World by Michael Jackson on Youtube. It moved me to take an action. After 15 minutes, I made a donation of USD$50 via the GreaterGood.org [If you're thinking of donating, please go to a trustworthy organization]

I totally urge everyone of you, who own at least one Visa or Masters or Amex card, to make a donation today. Although the Pakistan flood is not the only case of starvation, famine and poverty, it is the one that has raised the most media attention. There are other programs that you can make a donation to. The UN has recently announced that for some reason, international aid has stalled, leaving 6 million Pakistanis without food and shelter. That's because governments around the world are not giving enough. But don't wait for your government to give on your behalf, you can give today.

I'm Year Three

Give thanks

I want to give God all the glory and praise for bringing me through SMU thus far. It's been 2 awesome years at SMU, I've made a lot of friends both local and international, students and profs. God has also given me the opportunity to travel to St Petersburg, Amsterdam and Israel. Through the past two years, I've made a ton of mistakes, offended some and delighted many. For all my fellow undergrad friends, I hope you'll take time out to think and be glad at where you are.

Year 3 Sem 1

So the semester has started, and the first question I've been asking around as I see familiar faces is "How's your first week?" The responses and mood in SMU here has been great. No one's really psyched for school but people are generally glad to see old faces and make more friends. (I think)

The real highlight of this post is to introduce you to my Ethics module. Ethics and Social Responsibility is a "law" module and all SMU students must complete this course. My first impression of Ethics was shaped by a senior's comment that "it's a soft module", meaning no hard core materials. And my mindset towards to compulsory mod has been "How hard can Ethics be?" Well guys, freaking hard.

Consider the issue when BBC fired a radio presenter for her racist remarks on a private phone conversation to a taxi firm. The questions that this hard core ethics prof kept shooting were: Were her comments really racist? If I want to hire a nanny, would my preference for a Chinese nanny make me a racist? I'm looking for a Chinese girlfriend, does my preference make me a racist?

In another issue, how about the allocation of kidneys to patients? How do we really and fairly decide who gets the kidney, given that demand will always exceed supply? By what rules and can these rules be flexible?

Nevermind the crazy questions that mess your head, the instructor is absolutely the craziest I've met in SMU. He raises his voice all the time, talks really fast, is rude, cynical, condescending and tells students to "shut up!" when someone tries to help another classmate answer his questions. I was writing down my thoughts and opinions when he said, "Anna, why are you writing? It's a waste of time. You just need to think." I went on to clarify before he could brush me off, "Are you telling me I cannot write in class [which is a matter of my own free will]?" Without the blink of an eye, he said, "Yes, you can't."

3 hours of mental attack is no freaking joke. So the question is, why aren't I deciding to drop this class? I'm really tempted to, but I've been complaining for a long time most mods in SMU bore me to death. This is the one course I've come across so far that will promise me an unforgettable learning experience (even if it's really bad) that I won't forget. So I'm gonna take some time to pray if I'm really going through with this module with the instructor.

To understand the kind of style the instructor teaches, you can watch the following video:

August is here

A few things have happened since the start of August. First up, I've quit my job! Nah, just kidding, my internship at SPH ended peacefully, with a wistful sigh, last Thursday. My time at MediaBoxOffice has been a fruitful one and I've much to thank God for during this period. Before I began internship, I prayed to God, "Please grant me favour in the sight of my boss and colleagues." And I believe I've made a couple of good friends at the company.

Secondly, on a mellower note, my dear grandfather from my Mum's side has gone home to be with the Lord. He was a man of few words. Having battled cancer since two years ago, overcoming and then fighting it again, my grandfather never complained, only in the recent months when it got a lot more painful. He always took comfort in God's grace and believed that everything was always in God control. And truly, everything still is. What gave us great comfort during this time of grief was the knowledge that we are only separated for a while, for we shall see him again when it is time to meet our Maker.

The coming week is the last of my summer hols 2010 before SMU's Year 3 starts for me. Year 3! It seems like yesterday that I attended orientation camp. Whoa, scary. No matter how fast time flies, it will always be my heart's desire to make sure my life counts for God. We can do many crazy things and yet still feel like an empty shell when the day ends.

After all the years of being a Christian and cell leader, I believe God is calling me to come back to the basics. And when I think about it, the basics of Christianity is having a really close relationship with God, so close that everything in your life just revolves around it. And now that I've come out to blog this, this is probably the direction of my life now. "having a really close relationship with God, so close that everything in your life just revolves around it"

Super Weekend, a small disappointment

Going Community, 24th July

2 months ago, I was asked to help in the marketing of Going Community. Going Community is a kick-start event to help our youths become more community-centred. Let's face it, we live very comfortable lives, and I live a super comfortable life. Ps Daniel decided that we should go out into the less fortunate community and spread some love, in this case for Going Community: clean one-room flats that elderly folks live in.

Lo and behold, after driving there from YOG training and a short choir practice, I found my cell members stranded at the void deck because the flat owner apparently is a very healthy old woman who cleans her flat regularly and she didn't want our help. So my friends and I were asked to clean equipment from the storeroom. To sum up 24th July's Going Community, I helped cleaned 1 chair and 10 colourful plastic balls. I reached there at 1.30pm, left at 2.30pm and had wasted 1.5 hours of parking coupons.

But to chip in a more positive note, only 2 cells were affected like that. The rest of the youths were cleaning flats. Before I left, one girl came down asking for more bleach and soap. So on a whole, people were blessed and that's more than enough.

The Island, 25th July

In celebrating our Youth Alive's annivarsary (there is no specific date, just the July-August period that marks our birthday), a youth-oriented service was held. In it, there were a youth band (called 365, which I have no idea why..) who led the praise and worship, a skit presentation and special speaker Chris Long from Malaysia. The school hall was very well-decorated. Who's in the full decor team, anyone knows? Well done, you guys!

The Skit. Well, I must say that there were some powerful lines in the skit that touched my heart. Potentially, the skit could have been a really powerful thriller drama. (To Royston, you wrote well) But, it felt like it was written like a movie script, where there are many scene changes. One scene can have 2 lines, which is like huh? But my biggest gripe is the technical errors such as microphones not working. Anyway, that can't be helped as without our own church building, we have to make do with what equipment we have.

So there you go, that was "Super Weekend"

Pastor Daniel just smsed me "Good thing are happening", as a result of this weekend. Despite my feelings, I sincerely hope so. Maybe God is just speaking to me about how I should treat everything with right attitude, or maybe how we need to have open spiritual eyes to see what He can see, that truly good things are happening.

P.S. I understand that perhaps some people may not take so well to this slightly negative review about the Super Weekend, especially since it's a church thing. (All church things SHOULD be rosy and well right?) But hey, I believe in saying what it is. Have a great week ahead!

Since 8th June..

Movies I've watched since 8th June: Despicable Me, Eclipse, Toy Story 3. Liked everything except Eclipse.

Working at SPHMBO: A lot of people ask me very seriously, "So Anna, what do you do at work?" I bet all interns hate this question. Don't you know that most interns don't do real work at work? But it's also because of work that I'm learning to use Excel more smartly (You have to learn the smart way otherwise all that data will crush you and kill your eyes), explore more online options and learn how office politics work. One of the challenges my boss threw at me was: "Anna, please find out how many buildings are there within 500 metres of Raffles Place MRT." Not only did I nail it, I also listed the offices in these buildings every 100m and categorized them. (That's why I know that law offices make up the biggest proportion of offices within 500m of Raffles Place) Ok, enough bragging...

Best day since 8th June: Spending one whole day with Josh. We went to the beach to sun tan and swim. Very the shiok ah.

The Colours of Tibet

Written by Shi Ronghua

Tibet trip was really an eye opener, the scenery are so unforgettable, and the people so simple and interesting.

Mount Trola and Yihun Lhatso, the holy lake of the plateau
As we watch our host's nephews run care-freely along the stream (though dirty and littered)on the grassland (full of cow dung) skipping stones and fearlessly hurling stones at yaks(hairy cow), we can't help but unanimously agree that this is how a child should spend his/her childhood.

The two nephews
You might have thought they are better off studying, fighting for a better life. But who is to judge a better life for them? they are happy, and i don't see how a life can get better than that. i think people are always slogging it out for that future happiness, when it come to that future they work for the further future. to really live a life, we must have some moments where we take our eyes off the future and look at the present, to appreciate how far we have come from the past and enjoy some fruits of labour (fruits rot if you leave them in the basket too long). but of course it is really easier said than done.

Cowboy baby

Baby and Mummy
As mentioned, the tibetans are simple and interesting people. Most of them are really friendly, and very sporting for a photo. it took me quite a while to get started snapping as it would have been some sort offensive in singapore. when they see the photo they always either give you a heart warming big smile or a thumbs up. they make really good photos with their toned skin, colourful clothings, and radiant personality.

Nomad family (photo from charles)

Nomad kids
Tibetans are not devoid of the emotion of sadness. on the way to Yihun Lhatso, we met a nomad family, and there were monks in and out of their tents. someone in the family (grandfather if i remember correctly) has passed on, and there was a wake going on. the head of the house still warmly greeted us, gave us directions for our journey to Yihun Lhatso and invited us to join him later in his tent for tea when we trek back. the head was proud of his family and was not afraid to introduce his family to us.

delicate adjusting of photo light/dark to present the best
A balance of striving for better and being content is very delicate, just as balancing the light and darkness of photo. more isn't always more, and less isn't neccesary best.
Something to think about, introduced to me by Mr Khoo(my history teacher), The Paradox of our age by Dalai Lama

The Paradox of Our Age
by The Dalai Lama
We have bigger houses but smaller families;
More conveniences, but less time;
We have more degrees, but less sense;
More knowledge, but less judgment;
More experts, but more problems;
More medicines, but less healthiness;
We've been all the way to the moon and back,
but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
We build more computers to hold more information to
produce more copies than ever but have less communication.
We have become long on quantity,
but short on quality.
These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;
Tall man but short character;
Steep profits but shallow relationships.
It's a time when there is much in the window,
but nothing in the room.
For anna the beaver.

Ronghua
Nil Sine Labore

More about the writer:

Ronghua was a VJC schoolmate of mine. In Victoria School and VJ, he represented the schools for cross-country running competitions. I met him on the first few days of school and thought him to be crazy. He, together with VS gang, completely spoke a different lingo from me. And soon, they created a nickname for me, Beaver. (Oh well, at least beavers are cute.) Ronghua will go on to study mechanical engineering in NTU, after having completed his hellish (officer mah!) 2 years in army.

Being a greenie, part II

Why Vegetarian?

2 weeks ago, I blogged about being a greenie, about making choices even when they seem insignificant. Choices such as wanting to turn vegetarian is almost laughable in Singapore because some people say that this is a food paradise, and apparently in food paradises, you can't just have veggies.

Some cold facts about factory farming and industrial fishing:

- Modern industrial fishing lines can be as long as 75 miles - the same distance as from sea level to space

- Animal agriculture is the no. 1 cause of climate change; it contributes 40% more to global warming than all of the transportation in the world combined

- 26 pounds of sea animals are killed and tossed back into the ocean for every 1 pound of shrimp caught

But what caught me most were the philosophical arguments and questions posed against animal eating. Because today's factory farming is industrialized and modernized, it's all about efficiency, technology and cruelty. (Read the book!!! Eating Animals by Jonathan Foer) I love God and I've been taught all my life to be pro-life, not just pro-human lives but in all I can, to not to put any creature through intentional suffering. That's why even though I hate vegetables and love meat, I decided to take a tiny baby step toward vegetarianism: To be vegetarian twice a week (Tues & Thurs) and that entails no meat or eggs. As of now, I'm okay with cheese and milk, which I hardly eat anyway. As I told my friend, I'm sad to say I'm not a purist. I'm fine with cakes that have eggs in them.

The Semi-Vegetarian Journey so far..

Josh and I just watched Shrek 4, and were wandering around at AMK Hub looking for a late dinner. At almost all food places we stopped at, we would only stop for a mere 2 seconds before we moved on. In exasperation, I said let's just go home, I could fix myself a salad at home. But Josh insisted we look around more, finally we settled at a HK cafe because we thought we spotted dishes that looked vegetarian enough.

Before ordering my mee sua (noodles), I asked the waiter if the dish was vegetarian, he said no. I asked, could you make it vegetarian? He said ok, and Josh did likewise. 5 minutes later, he came back, he asked, do you want an egg added? I said no. 20 minutes later I left the restaurant happy.

What did I learn? I learnt that you can request for vegetarian dishes, and that contrary to what I expected, no one's going to laugh at you. I guess it helps that in Singapore, there is a sizable group of people who are vegetarian for religious reasons, and meat-eaters have learnt to respect that. But I also learnt that Singapore is not a vegetarian-friendly place. While it is manageable to turn vegetarian in Singapore, it's hard to be pure vegan. When I told Ann that I usually go for yong tau foo or cai fan during my vegetarian meals, she said most veg dishes in cai fan have meat in them and yong tau foo's soup is boiled in fish stock.

Initially I started out to be a Sunday vegetarian, but it got my parents slightly upset. On Sunday, which is our family's only day of the week to gather together, my father will order many dishes of meat and just one plate of vegetables (probably cooked with egg). Food is not just food, it comes with stories and relationships. It's not easy for my family to understand why I must be a Sunday vegetarian because a meal is so tied to family relationships. And so I changed to become a Tues & Thurs veg. (And over the years, I hope to increase the number of days, with Sunday probably being the last day of conversion)

Is this just a fad?

I can't say for sure it's not. Who knows, maybe 3 months from now, I might give up? This sounds deeply philosophical, but there are only few life-changing decisions you can make. Marriage is one of them. PSLE, O'Levels and A'Levels aren't. I think probably turning vegetarian is one, for me at least, because this issue affects me on intellectual, moral and philosophical levels. And I hope you will try it out too. :)

Greenies of the World Unite!

Greenies of the world unite

We'll show them how the Greenies fight

We'll walk through the fields with our heads held high

Cos ain't nobody gonna break our stride

-adapted from a cheer I used to shout in Cedar Girls. (Wow I actually remembered!)

"Going Green"

We've heard about it but done little. The three pillars of going green are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. I always prided myself as an educated undergrad who takes up the call to action with the knowledge I've been receiving. Friends who know me will testify to how I will try my best not to buy bottled water on days I forgot to bring my bottle, how I try to squeeze just-bought products into my handbag because I refused the plastic bag, and lately, my experimentation with vegetarianism.

A half-baked Greenie though...

I'm big on Reducing. I try not to buy stuff I don't need now, I refuse plastic bags, and I reuse them if I don't. But when it comes to recycling, I'm thoroughly ashamed. I hate recycling! Firstly, I have to carry it around and wash that sticky glass bottle/can at the toilet, then walk half a mile just to look for the recycling bin. And when I finally find one yellow bin under the hot sun, it's loaded with garbage! Tell me, who wouldn't give up on recycling?

The way recycling bins are positioned in Singapore is terrible. Let me use the photos to explain the situation at my HDB estate.

Firstly, don't they look dirty? Where's that clean and cool image recycling should have? And secondly, the instructions to handle your recyclable items are written in fine print at the bottom right hand corner of the bin. Are you kidding me? It's weird how they have one common recycling bin for every recyclable item! It'll be messy. No wonder no one takes recycling seriously. Come on, we're supposed to be a first world country. We can do better than this! Veolia, I hope you read my blog.

Enough about the 3Rs.. Moving on...

"We are morally conscious eaters"

2 months ago, my sweet boyfriend bought a book from Amazon and read on it on his Kindle. (Or did he pirated it? Can't remember) Anyway, it's called Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. And every time Joshua finishes a chapter, he summarizes (and scares) it to me on the phone. Basically, it's about how cruel the mass meat production industry is. Poultry, red meat and seafood. (There are still some people who thinks the seafood industry is not affected, they are the "vegetarians" who eat fish) So after all the talking, I always ask, what are you going to do about it? Initially he was reluctant but finally we both agreed to try an experiment. I'm gonna be a vegetarian twice a week for a year and Josh 2 months straight. Twice a week might seem weak and lame but trust me, I'll go into serious cold turkey if I became full vegetarian. We decided to brand ourselves as the Morally Conscious Eaters.

The Bible states that God has given us dominion over all animals and that whatever God has created is good. It's perfectly alright to eat meat and give thanks to the abundance God has provided us. But meat, in the olden days, was never meant to be eaten every meal. Maybe once a week, or once in two weeks. Our appetites have changed pretty drastically since then and the methods of mass meat production are different from what we used to know. (It's very processed and cruel) For full details, please read the book. Or talk to Joshua.

And that's why we want to become morally conscious eaters. More than just being vegetarians, it's about forcing ourselves to take up the call of action rather than to ignore it. We don't want to study for more than 10 years and still not yet learn how to respond rightly to knowledge.

In days to come, I'll write on what it's like being vegetarians. (I'm not really a vegetarian though, just Tues & Thurs) So stay tune.

The first week of internship

My name tent at work. It says: Anna, the intern, here until 6th August 2010. No one noticed it though, gonna have to change the location of it tomorrow!

Hey friends, I have completed one week of internship at SPH Media Box Office. So far, everything's fine. I like SPH so far. To clarify, it's a marketing internship. I have received several questions about journalism and I'm like HUH? And in the department I'm in, we deal specifically with outdoor advertising - nothing to do with newspaper. So it's pretty interesting!

Also had quite a hellish week because we had to rush reports for Israel BSM. With the extreme lack of time, I compromised greatly on my individual assignment. The quality of my learning journal is quite bad that I feel like burying my head in a hole. Note to Anna: Never leave your work to the last hour (literally) again.

I have 12 more weeks of internship to go. May every day count!

Turning 21. Oh wait, have turned 21.

Yikes, I always forget to blog on the most important dates and this time is was my 21st birthday!!! Thank you to my friends and family for the well-wishes, presents (I made a wishlist and had it emailed) and ang paos. Wow, turning 21 is so shiok la. Wah, imagine if I could turn 21 every year. (!!!)

I made a small confession at my birthday dinner, something that shocked my mum: I confessed that 2 nights ago (which was the my last night in Tel Aviv, Israel), I drank too much and got drunk. Not dead drunk but definitely the can't-walk-straight-and-finally-puked kind of drunk. I was 30% sober?

My speech didn't come out exactly the way I wanted to, I knew I should have practised it in front of the mirror instead of in my head! I wanted to say thanks to everyone and that while turning 21 makes me officially adult, I have a long way to go, as can see from my one-time-and-should-not-happen-again-ever experience. I admitted, in a blurt out way, that life is going to be pretty much a struggle between me wanting to be God's obedient child and me wanting to try new things that aren't good for me.

Oh yeah, Joshua sent me a bouquet of different coloured roses through delivery. Thanks, they're sweet but please personally give them to me next time. Haha. :)

Israel

On Mount Scopus, I met a small group of Israeli soldiers. So i took the opportunity to ask this handsome dude to pose with me.

At the Western, aka Wailing Wall, the orthodox Jews read the Torah, sing, some weep.
The Muslim Dome of Rock standing on the platform that used to house the 1st and 2nd Temple of God.

Judean Wildnerness

Hey, I'm blogging from the Metropolitan Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel. Since last Tuesday, I've been to Haifa, Tiberias and Jerusalem. A lot about the history of Israel, Jews and Judaism has been bombarded into my head and I'm nearly exploding! In a strange sort of way which I never expected, much of my Christian faith has been renewed. End-time bible studies conducted by Ps Peter Lui in the past has surfaced in my mind and brought much of my head knowledge to reality as I stand on top of Mount Scopus, Jerusalem.

At the Western Wall, aka the Wailing Wall, I nearly cried as I saw many ultra-orthodox Jews cry out loudly for the return and establishment of God's kingdom at Temple Mount, where a beautiful mosque stands now. I wrote a note to stick in the Western wall, which btw has many cracks stuffed with notes and letters. I prayed for the peace of Jerusalem and the quick return of Jesus, whom I recognize is the Messiah. A Jerusalem described in the Bible, the NEW Jerusalem, will be a city of light and righteousness. Light, not from the sun, but from God Himself. Ok, all this sounds hokey pokey, but hey, what a story. And what awesomeness should it come true!

I've many stories to tell you about Masada, the sea of Galilee, the Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum), the diaspora, Jerusalem, the violence that has plagued Israel and the Jews since like forever. Well, these stories will only be palely retold by me, so come to Israel and see for yourself!

Yes I love SG too!

Singapore is the world's greatest city!!!

2nd stage of Circle line opens

SMU Campus!

Bras Basah Station. It's like so huge (& beautiful). Why the big space?

I took the Circle line from Paya Lebar to Bras Basah yesterday. Wow, the names of the stations are Esplanade, Dakota, Promenade etc. Bras Basah Station stops right in the middle of SMU. Yayness, but it's a longer route for me to take the circle line.

Anybody wants to watch Chicago The Musical?

Fav vids in the last 24 hours.

1. High Five Escalator

2. Frozen Grand Central

3. Human Mirror

4. Grocery Store Musical

All done by Improv Everywhere. A bunch of geniuses.

The Great Move Carnival

How can I explain it? Knowing you'll never step foot into the auditorium that you've been faithfully going for 21 years. That the rooms you danced and sang in as a child will be bulldozed over. That all the nooks and crannies of the church I've complained about will no longer be.

But Ps Chia, our senior pastor, was right in quoting Ecclesiastes: There's a time for tearing and a time for building. This is our time. Goodbye, old building of Bethel. Pray we see you tall and beautiful come Christmas 2011. All glory to God.

Check the switch

There's nothing wrong with my camera!!! Yay, apparently there's a switch on the SD memory card. I must have accidentally switched it locked. How did I know that? I went to Canon Singapore website and emailed my enquiry. And a lady from Canon called me the next day at 8.30am.

I need to be more proactive about taking care of my tech products. For e.g. I can't hear through the personal speaker on my iPhone. So for the longest time, whenever friends call, I always have to put on loudspeaker, and get the whole world to hear my conversations. But I have to go down to ST Com Centre to get it repaired.

So usually how do I deal with products gone wrong? Buy new one lor. But that's not the way anymore! While I'm tempted to ask my father to do everything for me, I shall not. Cos I suddenly realise I'm turning 21, so need to have an adult's perspective. :D Gosh I feel older already.

I cooked!

I and Mum made Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes yesterday. It was kinda fun, except the part about rolling raw meat in your hands to get the ball shape.

The mashed potatoes were made with parmesan cheese, cream cheese, hot milk and butter. Woohoo. Swedish meatball were made with minced pork and beef (kinda weird, next time just stick to beef) and onions, flour and fried in lots of butter. Mum and I were debating, should we go with the recipe and fry them in butter, which is infamously unhealthy but a lot more fragrant? Why heck, let's do it in butter as the recipe says!

Didn't take photos, cos my camera has some problems (It says CARD IS LOCKED!). We ate the meatballs in Pasta tomato sauce. :D However we weren't very satisfied with the meatballs though. It could have been chewer, so we decided we're going to try a different recipe next time. We used the one from IKEA, DON'T USE THAT! The mashed potatoes came out great. Yays.

Things to know about the iPad

Nope, I didn't get it la, but others did!

Read The 10 Most Surprising Things About the iPad. :)

Although the sale of iPhones are skyrocketing, I don't think it'll be the same for iPad. For me, the combination of my 2-year-old-and-really-scratched-and-laggy 3G (no S) iPhone and wonderful lightweight Mac Air will do. In fact, they do real fine.

My Dad said I could change my 3G one to 3GS in June when my contract expires, but I'm like... Is that necessary? Argh, the draw of materialism.

Nothing is so dear as family

Dear cousin Hayley, you are soooo cute. I want a daughter just like you. :D
That's my whole family! Taken on CHU YI of Chinese new Year 2010. It's tradition to take a family photo on the first day of CNY. Dan, Gab and I do look quite alike!

An actual bank robbery!

Burglars tunnel into French bank vault.

They used sophisticated tools and obviously this was planned for a long time. I'm just so taken aback!

A good weekend

Cell Group TMT

This photo was taken in a completely dark room. So when the flash came on, my eyes really hurt and stang. LIKE OUCH! Anyway, thanks Aaron for the camera and your photography skills. The fisheye effect is pretty cool. A few people are missing from the above photos, namely Abi, Ken and Kelly. But it was pretty good attendance anyway. Gosh, I love you guys and will miss the one-ness when we multiply to two cells.

A few of from Just So cast at Laselle

Laselle College of the Arts is so beautiful. Look at the building behind us! Do you notice the bridge? We had a bad dining experience at 15 Minutes, the cafe at Laselle. I waited for nearly an hour for my food, by which when it came, we wanted to leave already. Half of us went to watch Sweet Charity on empty stomachs. I rejected my food. My friends made complains to the staff but they gave us this look that said "if you can't wait cos you have a musical to go for, this isn't the place for you." Oh wells. The weird thing is, I still wanna go back there. Haha. I have this feeling that they do have good food. Must ask Joel for his opinion.

Sweet Charity

Last night, a group of us from the Just So cast watched a musical called Sweet Charity, a broadway musical, at Laselle School of the Arts. The show featured final year students of BA(hons) Musical Theatre supported by year 1 and 2s, alumni and guest artists, in collaboration with BA(hons) technical theatre students.

Here's my take, they were completely awesome. Even though Laselle is a school in Singapore, majority of the cast were caucasian. (yeah, we were really surprise) They could really dance, sing and act. Sigh, it was so so good. All the Just So cast felt that our musical would pale in comparison to theirs.

Nevertheless, it was still a student performance, so it cost us only $12. I felt so sad for the production team! All that hard work for $12 when Chicago Musical is charging $100!! (Oh man, I'm missing this one cos it's so expensive) But there was a really weird part about the musical. The lead character, Charity, was played by 3 actors. At two points in the show, the character was changed. Well, after course, there was a lot of talk on who was the best Charity. I really like the third one but we also felt that her dancing was really stiff.

I felt envious that these students could study what they really loved. :) I wish them all the best.

Not again. S'pore is really damaging her reputation

You can start reading the article discussed first.

What are some of the characteristics of a 1st world, liberal and politically stable country? Let's see, high GDP (check), safe (check), online freedom (check.. in a way), media freedom (er, half check), diverse choices of education (a stronger check compared to 5 years ago), does not sue newspapers for saying ugly stuff about the government (no check). The checks are in relation to Singapore.

For the record, let's think why Singapore sued NYT. Firstly, NYT is a very established newspaper. People listen to them. If I started blogging about why I think PAP sucks, very few people would listen to me. Secondly, the Singapore government isn't very forgiving to people who have "misconceptions" about this beautiful country. The "libellous" article was named All in The Family. Ha, we all know what it means right? And the statement that was probably the best of all? Our current prime minister "did not achieve his position through merit".

I'm not sure how many Singaporeans would support Singapore's suing actions. Among the Singaporeans who do or do not support, I also wonder what the demographics are like. Age, race, religion, income, education?

In my opinion, both sides have issues mans! Let's start with NYT, is the journalist stupid or what? This is your second time being sued for the same thing! Total damages paid was $160,000, OK fair enough, small change for NYT but it's pretty embarrassing. The first time it happened, people were just shock at S'pore's reaction. Next, let's analyze what it means to Singapore. Good to know you like to stand up for your rights but people will now all the more label us as the country with the lowest press freedom and the highest suing response rate.

Do you think Singapore could have settled this issue another way?

New blog?

Blogging has an element of variety-seeking behavior. MEANING, bloggers like to change blog addresses. Think I shall do that when I turn 21! :D Should I, though? After all, this insignificant blog of mine has had 570 profile views!!! I might lose readers. And what the heck, where did these people come from? But this blog dangerously tells anyone in the world with an Internet connection a lot of things about me. You know my face, school(s), boyfriend, family, beliefs, events, and experiences. Since September 2007. When I think about it, it's like whoa, way too much information.

OKOK, back to studying Consumer Behavior. Test in exactly one week. 5 chapters.

Beautiful Things

Jan, congrats on turning 21 this month. Can't wait for my turn.

The cupcakes at The marmalade Pantry were really sweet. Felt diabetic after that. But don't they look yummily pretty? Food and desserts are really expensive there though. The cupcakes you see above are @ $4.2o apiece, and that's before GST and service charge. Sigh, the good life comes with a price tag.

13 March 2010. End of Week 10.

Five more weeks til school ends term. That feels really long.

I don't feel like I'm getting much of an education. It's not SMU, really. SMU has pretty decent professors, or at least the ones I know so far. But I don't feel I'm learning anything. Zilch.

I just realise something today. I can't sing well, especially the high notes, when I'm tensed. And I'm always tensed during Saturday choir practices. I'm a soprano and I know damn well I'm one. I love high notes, but somehow they haven't been easy to sing out these days. But when I'm relaxed and just chilling, I sing better.

Streeeeess. Need to tackle my Excel assignment soon, that requires me to input some VBA stuff. YIKES.

Going under the knife

Watch interviews with people in SMU campus concerning plastic surgery.

Haiz, plastic surgery is an old topic. I don't even know why people bother asking the same question. But one thing's for sure, acceptance to plastic surgery has increased. I like 2 answers. The first was a guy who distinguished constructive and aesthetic surgery. While constructive surgery is necessary, aesthetic is not. I like the last guy's answer too. The face you have was what your Creator has in mind when He created you and that's good enough for him. To want to change that face is quite "disrespectful".

There was once, in a very curious moment, I started googling on Korea's craze with plastic surgery. Ever wondered why it's hard to tell from one Korean actress from the other? Well, they all have the same nose, eyes, cheeks and mouth. Some startling statistics about the percentage of Korean women undergoing plastic surgery at least once can be found here and they are horrifying. Do you think Singaporeans might become like that in future?

Some defend the plastic surgery industry that it is the SAME as applying makeup and doing manicures. AHEM. Yeah, it's painful and invasive to put on make up. And doing a manicure has a the potential to render you unrecognizable. Sorry for the sarcasm but undergoing plastic surgery is a big bold statement to say, "I do not like the way my eyes/cheeks/chin/mouth are like/positioned. Too big/small/high/low." Applying makeup is working with what you have, learning to minimize flaws and highlight the pretty features that God has given you.

Ok, here's the surprise though, despite saying all that, I'm not against doing plastic surgery myself. The existence of plastic surgery is an attack against one's self-confidence. Ok, I admit, I'm vain! Who doesn't want bigger eyes, fuller lips, slimmer legs? (My nose, thank God, can stay the same!) And if I'm going for a nip and tuck, I'm not gonna say lame things like "It's ok to want to be beautiful la. Same as putting on make up what." I'll say, "All the ladies in my office are so slim and their noses are as high as the heaven. I felt absolutely inferior and plastic surgery is one option I decided to do to deal with the pressure." Anyway, as of now, I thank God for creating me beautifully. I know I've been wonderfully made. In a nutshell, I wouldn't be judgmental towards someone who has gone through plastic surgery but I'll be highly critical of how open he or she is about it.

But if you're one of those women whom everyone compliments on looking beautiful and still go for plastic surgery, ok missy/mister, you need to see a counsellor or psychiatrist.