Selling My Soul to the Government Since 2006 [entries|friends|calendar] clandestine [ userinfo | userinfo ] [ calendar | calendar ]

Moved [26 Nov 2006|09:02pm] [ mood | melancholy ] I'm fed-up with caleida because it ate my entries. And gifs are so much fun. :( So long caleida. it's been 3 long years. I'll still be keeping this blog because every single entry is still very important to me. I'm headed to greener pastures post comment

New breakthrough on the issue of the salvation of Jews [26 Sep 2006|07:06pm] [ mood | contemplative ] I know there's a lot in the Bible that says that only those who believe in Jesus with all their hearts, minds and souls will be saved. Which begged the thorny question of whether the Jews will be saved. Wonder no more, because... "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all of Israel will be saved as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins" (Romans 11:25-27) Yes, it is true that only those who accept Jesus as their Saviour will be saved. But God's promise is that Jews will be saved too because Israel's unbelief is partial (Romans 11:1-10), for a purpose (Romans 11:11-16 says that it's God's plan to save the Gentiles first then finally all the Jews) and temporary (above). post comment

Bite-size book reviews 1 [19 Sep 2006|02:55pm] Tuesdays with Morrie was heartwarmingly simplistic in its story telling. The cutting back to the past weave bits of background into the main narrative, shedding light on the story or the characters. Mitch Albom doesn't lay everything bare - to do so would be uncharacteristic of him - but bares enough to tell you he's trying to be real here, as real as he possibly can. There are many leassons worth learning from Morrie, especially if you still think your purpose in life is to earn big bucks. Mitch learnt that it isn't. Ironically, he is probably earning big bucks from reproducing that good advice. ;) I just finished Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman. Quirky and irreverential look at religion and Good vs Evil. Of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse (Death, Famine, War and Pestilence), Pestilence has been forced into early retirement and replaced by Pollution. The angel guarding the Tree of Knowledge gave his flaming sword to Adam and Eve because they were more likely to need it. Cute. But unlikely to be the type of book that sticks in your memory. Or the kind you'd want to read again. I'm reading Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom). After a rather slow start describing the protagonist and the circumstances surrounding his death, it becomes rather gripping. He meets a guy who died because of him and revenge isn't what he wants. He meets a guy who hurt him but also died for him. Most poignant so far has been his recollection of fighting in the war which shows how senseless, painful, barbaric and cruel it is. And how it changed him. Next up: The Great Gatsby, The Screwtape Letters (CS Lewis), The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Future purchases: 21 Stories (Graham Greene), The Power and the Glory (Greene), The Heart of the Matter (Greene), Death of a Salesman (Arthur Miller), The Pilgrim's Progress (John Bunyan). 1 comment|post comment

I feel so cheated [18 Sep 2006|02:47pm] [ mood | disappointed ] Robbie Williams isn't coming to Singapore on Nov 18 anymore. He cancelled the Asian leg of his "Close Encounters" world tour due to exhaustion. *sulks* post comment

Chill, people [14 Sep 2006|03:42pm] [ mood | bored ] Every afternoon, lovely melodic sounds of an abused car horn floats its way up to my office. post comment

S2006 [13 Sep 2006|10:15am] [ mood | annoyed ] A lot of people are complaining about the lengths that the organising committee of S2006 have gone to: re-tarring roads, pressuring worksites to complete their projects so they can take out the fencing, spending millions on flowers by the roads and transport for the delegates. Singaporeans really like to complain. They complain that the money is being spent unwisely and that the money belongs to them. I'm sorry but the money has been given to IRAS in exchange for not sitting in jail so it's no longer yours. You have every right to think that the expenditure has been in excess. But please also consider that: 1. Everyone uses the roads. They tar the roads, you don't benefit meh? You talk as if the foreign delegates are going to bring the freshly tarred roads home with them when they leave. 2. There are countries that spend millions planting flowers perennially in their fancy gardens. I don't think once in a long long time is too much. 3. You don't like what's being done to your tax money? Go overseas lah. Where they will tax you dry. And then tax you some more. 4. So tax is institutionalised extortion. Or whatever. Deal with it. Every where you go, you'll have to pay taxes, okay? It's like a membership fee. And the club can do whatever hell they want with that membership fee. 5. If Orchard Road/Suntec/ECP looks good, Singapore looks good. I sure as hell wouldn't want Singapore to look like some developing nation. Please find it in you to be proud of Singapore. At least the leaders aren't splurging on branded clothes - think Mrs Reagan. 6. You talk as if putting on makeup to hide flaws and enhance your features is something to be ashamed of. In some other cultures (one, which of course, you are not in), makeup is considered polite and to not put even the simple lipstick is bad manners. If Singapore didn't at least try to put its best foot forward, we would be insulting many very important people in one fell swoop. If you think that it is very important to stay true to "what you see if what you get", be my guest. Don't impose your own principles on others, bigot. And please wear your berms and t-shirt to all future interviews as a reflection of your casual attitude. 7. Please don't be like the civil service and think that if money goes in, money must come out. Sometimes, the things that you invest in have very intangible results. That being said, I think the Four Million Smiles campaign is lame and contrived. I honestly couldn't care less if the delegates see my face amongst one of the 2D glossy squares of smiling faces. I'll be as polite as I am usually (which is pretty good by Singaporean standards) but don't expect me to smile at foreigners just because they are foreigners. I wouldn't want them to think I am some SPG (if I happen to be smiling at Caucasians) or trying to pick them up. Singapore would do better to make courtesy a long term affair and not some new fangled campaign for S2006. I also think it is damn unfair to the retailers at Suntec. How, compensation? post comment

The Darwin Awards [12 Sep 2006|04:01pm] [ mood | amused ] When I snidely remarked aboot cordless bungee jump ropes and Darwinian natural selection, little did I know that there was a Darwin Award for stupid things that people do! It's been around for quite some time, according to Wikipedia: everyone's best friend. And you should check out some of the cool shit that people have done before gallantly removing themselves from the human gene pool (ergo rendered impotent through the loss of certain body parts essential for reproduction or the loss of vital signs). Check this one out. I got it from one of the more famous Darwin Award website. ( This one's titled the 'Rutting contest' ) Happy reading the rest of it at the site, link at the top! post comment

Catharsis [11 Sep 2006|02:01pm] [ mood | bored ] I saw, by the narrow path as I descended the steps, pieces of a small pink slip like a torn-up dream past its sell-by date. And I imagine in slow motion a pair of weathered, tanned hands tearing it into half, quarters. I can't tell if its frustration. Or if he laughs it off as one would a silly idea. "Aiyah, if it's so easy, everyone would be a millionaire, loh!" But still he would dream that millionaire dream and breathe life back into the dream every week. Or he would numbly tear it up in quiet resignation, and mechanically reach for the pencil and rectangular pink form. People with little voices only daring to dream a dream they dare not. A catharsis of hope. I'm not trying to stereotype here but merely reflect what is fact - that most of the people who buy Toto, 4D and whatever else you have are not well-off. I know people who are middle income or middle-upper who are loyal customers of Singapore Pools as well but these people are in the minority. If you want proof, look no further than the queues. Lottery is essentially gambling for the low risk-preference poor. It is a dream of a better future despite (or maybe within) the limitations of reality. A dream co-opted into reality. Ambition having to settle for scraps. Or alternatively, a glimmer of hope of a better life that substitutes for action. That's how I see it. 4 comments|post comment

What's the similarity between memories and C-14? [07 Sep 2006|12:03pm] [ mood | weird ] Memories undergo nuclear decay. After a while, you forget bits and pieces of the original event. Until eventually you forget everything. Well almost, since we know the size of the original sample tends to zero but doesn't completely disappear. It diminishes virtually to zero, only to be triggered by completely random things. post comment

Random entry [06 Sep 2006|04:36pm] [ mood | melancholy ] The most haunting and heart-rending song ever used for a movie has to be the Schindler's List Theme by Itzhak Perlman. Notwithstanding that the violin produces the timbre most associated with the notions of wailing and of course with soppy sad scenes, it is strangely moving, conjuring images of sadness that even the movie doesn't. If you want to see a really sad movie, try City of God (Cidade De Deus) or Hotel Rwanda. It goes beyond sad into disturbing. Especially when you remember that these are true events. Go watch. 3 comments|post comment

How many NUS undergrads does it take to read a newspaper? [05 Sep 2006|03:46pm] [ mood | annoyed ] I was in a restaurant (hint to those in the know: it serves one out of two of my favourite cuisines) celebrating a friend's birthday. It's not like I've not met people who didn't know what the acronyms of my employer-organisation stands for. For sure, it's not like MOE (who hasn't been educated in a school under MOE before) or Mindef (I'm sure the guys need no introduction). So this girl I've met for the first time is baffled when I tell her I the acronyms of my employer-organisation. Of course, being no stranger to that kind of reaction, I proceed to rattle off my ministry's name. Which is quite a mouthful. Which I have gotten used to because I've had to say it so many times. She stares back at me with ill-disguised confusion. And then comes the clincher,"I've never ever heard of that ministry!" And guffaws. For crying out loud. It's not like it's some obscure, low-profile organisation like the BCA (I'd to google for its full name - Building and Construction Authority - but then at least I'd heard of the acronym at least). Not only does that happen to me, it has happened to friends who work in MFA. And it really begs the question: don't NUS undergraduate read the newspapers or even have friends that read the newspapers? And if you ever do find yourself in the situation where you know you're supposed to know the organisation (say an MNC or a government ministry), at least disguise your ignorance and ask a smarter question (such as "What's your job scope?") to at least get a snapshot of what the organisation does. And oh, if you *still* don't know what MFA stands for, here's a hint. Go to www.google.com.sg, type "MFA" into the search bar, click "pages from Singapore" and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky". post comment

Singapore's dropping birthrates [04 Sep 2006|12:25pm] I know it's cathartic to blame the Government for everything but that's just what it is - cathartic. Before you blame the Government for the declining birthrates problem, note that it happens to other countries too. To the smart-asses who say that it's the same as dying - it happens to all, just earlier or later but the Government's "Stop At 2" policies accelerated the process, I say wake up and smell the roses. If you have 4 million people who are not producing enough babies, you have an aging population problem. If you have 8 million people who are not producing enough babies, you still have an aging population problem. No matter how many adults there are, so long as the demands of materialism and competition continue to rise, the birthrates will continue to be low. The earlier/later you're talking about refers to when there's only 1 Singaporean standing. And even so, what makes you think that having 8 million Singaporeans means getting to the last one will be any slower? Ever thought about how many people this island can support physically, socially and economically before people start thinking, "OK, this is it. The competition is too stiff. I gotta bail." OK then maybe if there were more people, the market would be bigger and there would be more companies investing and more employment. But can our infrastructure support it? More roads, more cars, more jams. More schools, more buildings required. More students, more graduates, more jobs demanded. BlahblahBLAHblah. You know what? This could go on forever. I'm not saying the Government is perfect. Maybe they did do something wrong with the "Stop At 2". I'm just saying maybe because you can never tell, can you? You can only tell if someone has made a mistake if there is a right answer in the first place. If you guys are so smart, what would you have done if you were in the same situation that the government was in 1979? And are you sure you wouldn't have screwed up? Maybe screwed up even worse? Just stop picking on them, already. At least if you want to, criticise them over perfectly legitimate grounds. I'm sure you don't need me to suggest any. It's okay to be unhappy with the government. But to stoop so low and nitpick? Man, that's petty. 1 comment|post comment

[31 Aug 2006|12:25pm] [ mood | sleepy ] It's been raining those long, never-ending heavy rains on and off for the past 24 hours now. It's a good chance to use the coat I bought 11 years ago and never really got to use. Really, it's still big enough and no, I'm not that old. I was a tall kid at 12. And I guess my shoulder-width hasn't changed much from then. It's a classic black coat with big buttons and two pockets and a nice pointed collar so I guess it doesn't exactly look dated. I braved the rain to a 2nd hand bookshop I remember from my days in RGS. I never actually frequented that bookshop, having much preferred to borrow books from the libraryand save up my money for BSB or Spice Girls CDs Yes, yes horrible music taste blahblahBLAHblah not listening... So I walked in and asked for help to get "Tuesdays With Morrie" (Albom), "Good Omens" (Pratchett & Gaiman) and "Screwtape Letters" (C.S. Lewis) but only managed to walk out with the first 2. Not bad for $29 though - completely new and wrapped already. And if I don't want to keep them, I can return them after a month and get about two-thirds of my money back. Not bad at all. I've just started on Tuesdays and it has a touching poignance that resonates in its honesty. It's language is simple but the emotions conveyed are deeply touching. It deals mostly with death and the fear of it has been something I've had to deal with. I figure that 40 years from now - if I last that long - I'd have lived enough to not be sorry I'm leaving. But at least right now I'm not that afraid of death. Bravery in the face of certain death. And what it means to truely live. That's what Tuesdays is about. It is reassuring to know that there is life after death. I believe it partly because it scares me that everything I am ceases to exist after I die. I believe it mostly because God says so. And He's never lied to me. Sometimes, when I try to share this with other people, they think I'm some kind of saleswoman. She's trying to sell her religion to me again. But it's not as simple as that. I'm only guilty of caring about you. I have much to be thankful for, though. My bf has seen change in me and says that he admires me for that. "And I don't often say that about anyone," he adds. It warmed my heart so much that a sour note went right up my nose and my eyes reddened. It is good to know that I am doing something right and that there is progress. A friend just commented on one of the old entries I made and helped remind me of what I'd written earlier. To be very honest, I'd clean forgotten about it. But it is a good reminder for me to stay close to Him and to continue striving to grow in my knowledge of who He is. 1 comment|post comment

A little oblivious old lady [28 Aug 2006|12:01pm] [ mood | annoyed ] Having a driver bf myself, I am sympathetic to the complaints of people who hate to drive by my church on a Sunday. It used to be a one way road, so it wasn't so bad - at least there was one lane for dropping off or parking and the other lane was open to traffic. Which wasn't so bad because the amount of traffic was moderate. Until ERP came and pucked up the whole arrangement. Now it's a two-way road (so people can stay within the ERP) and it's terrible because people still need to be dropped off since that is the only road that passes by the front gate (the back is usually locked). I totally sympathise with the drivers who are caught in a tailback, starting and stopping every 5 minutes because someone has to be let out of the car. Which is why I think we should be a little more considerate. Last Sunday, I was seated at one of the wooden benches that flanks either side of the staircase leading up to the front gate, waiting for the tardy bf. This silver car came cruising to a stop 2 metres away from me and honked gently to signal to his passenger that he had arrived. I thought to myself: shouldn't whoever he was going to pick up be there already waiting for him? Bear in mind that this was more than 15 minutes after the service had ended so there was no acceptable excuse for that. She took another 10 second to apppear and came down the steps as quickly as she could for a woman past middle-age. Then, instead of diving straight into the front seat, she opened the back door of the car at her leisure, muttering something to the driver (presumably her husband). In the meantime, there was an entire line of cars waiting behind, stretching about 100 metres. It was only when the taxi driver honked once that she threw something insignificantly tiny into the back seat and quickly clambered into the front seat. For crying out loud! The taxi driver had been amazingly patient. Even when he honked, it was the polite honking, not the prolonged kind. Couldn't she have gotten into the car first and held on to that tiny scrap? Drivers, I'm with you on this one. post comment

Gripe against flyers [18 Aug 2006|03:18pm] [ mood | annoyed ] Why do people giving out leaflets insist on shoving the vile piece of blue/yellow/white paper into my face when my hands are jammed deep into my jeans pocket? Why are you giving out flyers meant for "FULL TIME STUDENTS" at City Hall opposite Capitol? Why do people distributing leaflets cheat their employers and annoy the poor pedestrians to no end by giving out the flyers two-by-two? I don't need two copies of the same thing! 4 comments|post comment

Fainting spell [16 Aug 2006|03:10pm] [ mood | trying to stay awake ] This guy on the MRT fainted on me today. Like literally. It all happened in slow motion. First he leaned towards my right forearm - I remember thinking "What the hell is this guy doing?" - and it only really hit me that he was collapsing when his weight fell on my arm. He's rather stout so I'm amazed I didn't fall to the ground too. So somehow he rolled his way across my torso to slump on the floor against my left leg. And my mom was right when she said that I'm not really the kind to panic in a sudden situation. The first thought in my mind was to get the guy out of the train and onto the platform where we can get help. Unfortunately, the two guys on my left didn't appear to comprehend what I was saying. One had earphones, the other was too busy asking if the unconscious guy was okay. -_-" Fortunately, he was. He regained consciousness half a minute later. He quickly got up on his feet and looked apologetically at me, informing us that he wasn't feeling very well. He appeared to be rather embarrassed though because he apologised a couple of times. But I mean, really. It's not like it's his fault! People were nice though, telling him to sit down. I think someone offered him his seat. And who says Singaporeans aren't nice? post comment

Patriotism [16 Aug 2006|02:21pm] [ mood | annoyed ] This guy wrote in to ST Forum regarding the need for Singaporeans to respect the national anthem and the national flag (as well as the pledge, he forgot to add). He has been to the NDP2006 Preview and some of the handheld flags were found strewn all over the stands in the aftermath. To this, he said "I believe there are many patriotic Singaporeans who would stand and fight for Singapore, who fully live out the Singapore Spirit. To these individuals, I salute them and hope they share the patriotism with the young generation." And what, prithee tell, makes Eugene Chua Yu Cong think that the young generation isn't patriotic? Or that the older generation is necessarily patriotic? Or that the fault of the apathetic young lies squarely with them and that the responsibility should lay on the shoulder of the "old generation"? I hate sweeping labels. post comment

John Corvino's lecture [02 Aug 2006|01:56pm] [ mood | a lil ticked off ] (This is not a defence of God because contrary to what Pastor Alvin says, I think we do not need to defend God. He can take care of Himself. I am protesting John Corvino's ignorance and his attempt to pull a fast one. I admit that I have not been able to watch the webcast of the lecture and assure my friends that I will as soon as I get the chance to and I apologise for any misinterpretation of his arguments. As such, my response is directed at AH's summary of some of the points Corvino made.) From what AH said in his entry, I garnered that what John Corvino was trying to say was that human interpretation is necessarily flawed. To substantiate his claims of how flawed the Bible/human understanding is, he cites the rules in the OT which (from my impression of AH’s post) he writes off as dumb without so much as examining the context. And therefore the moral code (outlawing homosexuality) is questionable too because it relies on human interpretation. Ah quotes. The good, old tools of spin-meisters. I can quote directly from the Bible to say that sinning is not only all right, in fact it is a good thing to do. But we all know that isn’t true. The point is, you can argue which ever way you want if you are taking anything out of its context. My first question to AH was, “Did he have only one quote from the Bible that said we can’t touch pigs? Or many quotes?” Even then, the next logical question is: who is this “we”? Christians? Non-Christians? Jews? Old Testament (OT) Jews? Modern Jews? My second question: did he set the context? Quoting from the Bible is akin to quoting the one controversial line someone said in a one hour interview and spinning a story off it. Unfair? Certainly. To understand what someone really meant to say, we need to listen to the whole interview. To understand the Bible verse that was quoted, we need to put the entire thing in context. So if the laws are dumb, the whole issue about religion vs. homosexuality is dumb, the entire religion is dumb. Which is what he is saying, even though he throws in smoke bombs like “not that God is wrong but…”. The Bible is the word of God. If the Bible is wrong, God is wrong. There is no such thing as God is right but the Bible is wrong. We ought not to dismiss things that we cannot figure out as necessarily dumb. We need to ask, “Why were the Israelites disallowed from wearing clothes of different fabrics?” The OT is full of things we cannot understand precisely because it is the OT – old rules of the game, old covenant with God, old understanding of God. To discredit an issue in the New Testament (NT) with examples in the OT is akin to dismissing Germany’s bid to host the next Olympics because they were WWII aggressors. There is also a difference between the OT and the New Testament (NT). Same God, different kind of relationship. Which also means that the rules in the OT are not always relevant in the NT. For example, there are food sacrifices in the OT for the cleansing of sins. In the NT, there’s no such thing because Jesus is the perfect sacrifice who has the power to cleanse all the sins of mankind. The difference between the OT and the NT is that the era of the OT is the rule of law. The Israelites took the first 5 books of the Bible and followed the directives to the very last full-stop. The NT is the era of grace where the law has been abolished and we are guided not by the law but by God himself. Consequently, a lot of these nitty gritties have been forgiven and abolished by the grace of God, animal sacrifice being just one of the many, and never again mentioned in the NT. Similarly, the fabrics and pigs are a non-issue to modern day Christians. Can we say the same for homosexuality? It is an issue in the OT and continues to be so in the NT. His argument is flawed because the laws and his subject (homosexuality) are completely different and cannot be equated. Firstly, the laws were not subject to human interpretation. If God says, “Thou shalt not kill” then you really can’t. There’s no room for interpretation. Secondly, you can’t equate the two because of the difference between the OT and the NT (as explained above). Thirdly, if people have a tendency to misinterpret things, then what makes him think he's right? You can't explain away everything by the word "misinterpretation". Maybe Christ is a misinterpretation; maybe the whole idea of a Christian is a misinterpretation. Moses was an interpretation and so are Jews. It's not misinterpretation if there's more than one verse saying the same thing. And I can quote you several verses saying that homosexuality isn’t what God intended. Unless you want to discount the Bible altogether. In which case, this would become a non-issue. Ah but he claims that he isn’t trying to discount the religion, just human interpretation. But as the above paragraph has tried to show, there really is no room for interpretation, so if you’re trying to discredit Christians, you’re really trying to discredit the Bible and hence the entire religious movement. I mean honestly, it’s like one of those smoke-screen words like national interest. Whose national interest? What is the definition of national interest? More economic growth at the expense of the bottom rung? Is that national interest? Misinterpretation. So where is the misinterpretation? Can he convincingly give an alternative reading that is in line with the rest of the Bible? AH made a very good point when he said that logic cannot be applied to matters of religious nature. Which is why I am protesting the attempt to dissect religion using logic – a flawed one at that. The speaker attempted to use logic to discredit religion. His argument goes as such: “The Bible says A and B. A is fallacious, therefore we can safely conclude that the Bible is bull-crap and therefore B is fallacious too.” But he can never prove that A is fallacious. And since logic cannot be applied to religion, the whole argument falls apart. And all his disclaimers are mere bull-crap. Take the “not that I am saying that God is wrong” out and it doesn’t change his argument one little bit. Ergo, the disclaimers are at best meaningless, but more like tools of spin. He will have you believe that what he quoted is what he says it means. But I don't buy it. Tag: homosexuality, Bible, God 1 comment|post comment

More photos from USP dinner [27 Jul 2006|05:48pm] [ mood | nostalgic ] Last Saturday. I went around taking photos with the people that matter to me. Some people I would've loved to take photos with weren't there - Smart Ben is happily snapping away in Japan. Some people I like I didn't know well enough to comfortably take a photo with. So anyway these were the ones I got. The first person that I took a photo with! I'm afraid I can't quite place her name. Is it Devi? Help, anyone? But it doesn't mean I like her any less! Just that I haven't had the opportunity to use her name since Digital Informations 3 years ago. Great girl, great conversationist, great smile. Great cardi she's wearing too - green, white and black, the colours of my beloved alma mater RGS. Unfortunately, the girl's from MGS. Oop! That's me and Aaron Ho (unfortunately stuck with the unofficial nickname of Fat Aaron - only because he used to be a coupla kilos heavier and because the other Aaron is dead fit) looking mirthful because I had just earlier prodded him in his squishy (but progressively less squishy) stomach. The dude's going off for a good 6 years. *suppresses the urge to throw my hands in the air and cheer* Honestly, I'm going to miss him. :( Ah, Jiatong! I met him in my first semester in NUS. We were both taking the same science module by Prof Kang that totally massacred my brains. I still remember him as one of the few people who remembered my birthday and got me a present with some of the other people in our group. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to return in kind. And I have also kind of misplaced the bangle. :( But the memory of the gift lives on in my heart. :P Now that's Nilma. IVP tennis defending champion! She's got on a really flattering turquoise dress that brings out her skin tone and her dark hair. So let it not be said that all I did was point out fashion mistakes, right? I can be generous with my praises too, you know. A group photos of a couple of girls that I had the chance to share a class with or meet. From left: Devi (?), Stephanie, me, Nilma and Denise. Another photo of the USP PS bunch! Really similar to the other one I put up earlier. Only this time I decided to go with the flow and tilt my body like the rest. Sorry. Had to consciously suppress the rebel in me. It only occurred to us that we ought to take a photo together, the whole table, long after the official photographer took our photos. Honestly, when is USP going to put our photos up, huh? They snapped one of me and Jiatong talking animatedly too. Back row, left to right (as far as I can recall): Bjorn (whom I just met that day, who is also from HCJC), Nick (very committed Catholic with strong opinions. Gave me a lot of grief during Kenneth Paul Tan's Civil Society module but never mind now.), dude who did the Digital Informations module with me and I always see around but can never recall his name (sorry :|), Shiyang (I think that's what he's called. Discovered halfway into the dinner why he looked so familiar. He worships at Wesley too! At the same service no less! And that's no mean feat considering we have several services.), Aaron (to whom I made mean remarks the entire night but nevertheless sportingly played along because he knows that I make jibes only at the people I adore). Front row, left to right: Alan the ballroom dancing king, Debbie the sweet and helpful girl (whom I also had the wonderful pleasure of working with in my second last semester on a PS project. Absolutely driven and dedicated.), me. The guys were absolute gentlemen. They stood up so the girls wouldn't have to stand up. Except for Alan, who happily remained seated because he could but that's understandable. There is hope for mankind 3 comments|post comment

Photos from convocation! [27 Jul 2006|05:27pm] [ mood | happy ] I promised more photos are here they are! Graduation first. Since it's long overdue. Sorry girls! And there are much more still in Ben's camera. Got to get my hands on his camera pretty soon. Presenting the sweethearts who turned up just to take photos with me on the day of my convocation: This is Cheeeeengwei. The only other girl in my hall cluster who can - literally - see eye to eye with me. Very sporty. Always boh-dai-boh-ji go jogging. In the middle of the night. Around NUS. Brrr. These two girls rushed down here just before class to take photo with me! So touched. *mwawwwwww* They waited for a long time outside on that day because there were VVIPs (go figure) so security was TIGHT. Then they had to rush back for classes. :\ Candid shot of the Ditz and me. Notice how the mortar board looks weird on my head. I couldn't care less. My gown was also a bit too short. But hell. No one EVER looks good in a convocation gown anyway. And I'll have you know that I look much better without that gown. Clockwise from top left: Shake-shake, me, Jit, ISO9002 and Shui-wang-wang. We grabbed a bite later when the VVIPs had left and find ourselves a nice place to park our bums: on the floor behind the buffet table. Easy food access, low chance of anyone noticing us and telling us we couldn't sit down. Thanks girls for coming to my convocation. *hugs* Tags: USP, Tags: NUS, Tags: graduation, Tags: commencement post comment

navigation [ viewing | 20 most recent entries ] [ go | earlier ]