The little Prince and his rose

Before he left his planet, the little prince said "I ought not to have listened to her. One never ought to listen to flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity.

The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her."

Women are flowers.

Inglourious Bastards

I watched it with Amanda and Joshua yesterday. We sneaked in Lay, Ruffles and some other snack that I couldn't make out in the dark. Forget the snacks, the movie is good! There was too much killing though, but throughout the movie, the mood is rather light then tense, then funny. Your emotions go on a roller coaster with Inglourious Bastards.

1/3 of the movie's in English, the rest was like French and German. And since I cannot tell the difference between either, had to call on Joshua to let me know who is speaking what. My favourite character was Colonel Landa, the sharp evil detective with a very warp sense of humour.

I've been watching a movie a week, and usually people is quite impressed with how much time I have. But Lebbeus said that he watches 2 a week, ha, so I'm not that bad. :)

Healthcare in Singapore

With the recent fuss about reforming health care systems in the US, I started to wonder, what exactly makes up the health care system in Singapore? Yeah, we all know, because we hear from people, that it's super efficient, super successful and great financing schemes. But do you really know how is works? Shame on you, Singaporeans.

So, tell me the difference between Medifund, Medishield, Eldershield and Medisave.
You can check http://www.watsonwyatt.com/europe/pubs/healthcare/render2.asp?ID=13850 to find out.

I also went to Wikipedia to check out "Health care in Singapore". [No actually, I first Yahoo-ed it, which led to Wikipedia. And yes, I'm so geeky.] Some sentences which are strange and that I don't agree with:

1. Singapore's system uses a combination of compulsory savings from payroll deductions (funded by both employers and workers) a nationalized catastrophic health insurance plan...(italics my own)

How in the world is our health insurance plan a catastrophic one???

2. Singapore's medical facilities are among the finest in the world, with well qualified doctors and dentists, many trained overseas. (Once again, italics my own)

It is, yes it is, implied here that doctors trained overseas are better. Excuse me, to the person who wrote that article, a lot of so-called 'trained-overseas' doctors went overseas because they couldn't get into our local med school in the first place. Yes, NUS med school is that good. And yeah of course, there are exceptions la, some singaporeans have gone to Ivy league med schools.
After reading all that I read, I felt some pride in our nation. God has really blessed Singapore much.

Expectations

Taken from Jonavan's blog http://historymakers-jonavan.blogspot.com/

"My NS expectations

I decided to put this document here so that all those that see it can come and ask me and check with me regularly if I've been fulfilling all that I want to fulfill :) Haha.

Expectations of my 2 years in NS

1) Stand for my convictions and “resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

2) Give my best and do “it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”(Colossians 3:23-24)

3) Be a testimony through my actions and to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should not only look to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4)

4) Be a testimony through my speech. I should neither “let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29) “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4)

5) Glorify God in camp through my speech and actions “that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16)

6) Persevere with a smile “because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:3) “and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

7) Reach out to all my friends in camp and to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) verbally and through my life testimony.

I pray that God will give me strength to abide by these :)

Do keep me prayer! :) haha. I'll see all of you after two weeks of isolation :)

Bye! :D

Posted by Jonavan"

I hope you're encouraged by it!

Week 5

Week 5!!! 'It's Week 5!' is probably the sentence of the week. Every class I go, I would ask, how are you. And I usually get that reply. A Swiss lady, an exchange student, asked me, 'I keep hearing that, is it supposed to mean anything?' Means no more walking, now need to jog to keep up with work.

1. I watch The Ugly Truth with Joshua this week. My movie-watching rate is once a week. I'm so cool.

2. Before choir recruited new people, we were a 24-strong choir. We accepted 26 new people! Now we're huge!

3. Fatimah invited me to her house this evening, for Hari Raya Puasa. Food was good. It's a pity my good friends couldn't make. I enjoyed myself, but in the company of new people, must deal with ambiguity.

4. I learned today. Do not say, 'Hey you remind me of so-and-so!'. You can only say that to someone if you are comparing upwards. For e.g. "you remind me a little of this Korean actress.' Not "you remind me of this girl in my class, so and so, you know her?' 99% of the time, unless that referent girl is hot, the person you are speaking to will be offended, be it openly or inwardly.

Heard of Zune?

Read: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/technology/personaltech/17pogue.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=zune&st=cse
The New York Times: Tuning in to a Zippier Zune

Would you buy it? I'm being very presumptuous, but this is my guess:

No, because you think that the Ipod is way superior. Since everyone has it, that makes Zune and the Zuner outcasts. Bottomline: Apple is hip and Microsoft isn't.

Yes, because you are and want to be different. You know Zune isn't as superior as the Ipod, Apps and store-wise. But you don't care, cos it gives you satisfaction to know you are just different.

I'm usually the 'no' person, and I suspect you are too. But sometimes, I want to be the 'yes' girl.

The suicide pact tragedy

The Home section of Straits Times wrote a good piece covering the recent much-talked about suicide pact between 8 16-year old boys. Ku Witaya, a good looking boy, was a self-professed medium, starting his practice since he was 13. Apparently, he woke up one morning to realise his 'calling'. (His father and grandmother were temple mediums)

As we know more about the story, I keep wondering how in the world did he reach such a mindset? He really believed that 'the only way to become a slayer (and save the world) was to die and be resurrected as one'. The report said that he was inspired by a dream.

The only thing that stopped it from becoming 8 teenagers committing suicide (and becoming 2) was a blocked roof access. I would take that as a sign of God's grace. If there's anything to learn from this incident, it is to realise that the spiritual realm is not one to be played with. Though God is a spiritual being, so are the many evil spirits and demons out there. When you call out to someone who isn't God, you can be sure it's something ungodly.