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.

Consumer Behavior Survey

Oh gosh. CB survey took me quite a bit of time. It's not the designing of the survey per se, since Rama has done a wonderful job giving us a sample survey that is specifically for the brand I'm working on. The other groups need to adapt their brands to the survey. Anyway, it's the formatting that really kills me. Maybe I need to switch from MS Word to Mac's Pages. Not sure if Pages is good though. Never really used it. And have not met anyone who uses Pages. Even mac-users.

Rah. Ok, time to work on MA Budgeting.

Ban on Abortion?

South Korea bans abortion.

Unwanted pregnancies are common. I don't think clamping down on abortions will increase birthrate. There's just gonna be more black market abortion clinics, where hygiene and real medical know-how will be scarce. (Imagine a person posing as a doctor just to earn a quick buck!)

I think abortions are ugly, and I'm definitely pro-life, in line with my beliefs as a Christian. But no woman should be forced to keep a baby. What do you think?