Initial M!oon

long long night yesterday. almost sleepless as well.

thus the droopy eyes todae. and as i stare at this computer screen, my eyes are startin to lose focus. yawn.

respect bbq yesterday and it was just wonderful. Somehow i had that feeling that it was unlike a lot of the gatherings that i have had. Much more heartwarming and we were more close-knitted though so much time was spent apart. All didnt change much. haha. Yongsen still as nonsensical. Still harry and clement doin the bbqing. Still me jac and doris. And i still didnt talk much to van and eunice. Hoho. All still the same.

had a great time with food and fun. and silly games like the donkey level 5 thing and polarbear hunter and victims. lol. attempted to throw chee chee into the pool but plan failed.

Must be the latest ever ive got home in years. around 1am. coz of missed buses and long walks. and shucks, i must mentioned doris’ mum driving skills. hee. doris was giggling on the ride, and though i have to thank her mum for driving me home (definitely not on the way) , the weird driving skills kept me amused.

gaa. anyway. i didnt sleep until 5 in the morn. because me and huang weiting kept talkin talkin talkin. about all sorts of things. aiya we always have a lot to talk about at nite. and maybe also due to the noisy din downstairs coz of neighbours preparing for a weddin, cookin in the middle of the night.

And im still damn tired.

Watched dvds. Tony Takitani and Monster House. Ultimately contrasting. haha. Tony takitani was quite gd. Though the pace was rather slow, i thought they did the narrating quite well. The subject was interesting, with the obsession with clothes of tony’s wife. gosh, city people do face plenty of weird stuff in their life. and i was thinkin if what tony was feelin was loneliness in some of the scenes, then i must have been lonely at some point of time in my life, coz it dawned on me that i had had this feeling before. Monster house was entertaining and cute. Though the animation sux. The mould of the characters was rather ugly and hideous i must say. a bit lame, but to while time away, it was good material. I quite like the little gurl at the beginning of the movie goin hi fence hi leaves hi sky and plop, fell on her tricycle. cute.

anyway, me now have orang utan color hair like this:

in case u’d be shocked, i thought i’d just warn you here first. hee.

those who know me well enuff will know one of my deepest fear and my biggest nemesis is………

THE DENTIST

well, i overcomed my phobia today and went for a dental checkup, on my own accord.

Dr Chan said "So how long have you not been to the dentist?"

"Erm, very very long"

"So how long is very very long"

"2 3 years?"

And i could imagine him grinnin fr ear to ear

my, it wasnt that painful, though it hurt a bit. But those weird machines had really irritating noises that make your hair stands up on end. Psychological effect. Bah. And my whole mouth was bloody.

Then he said. Dirty gums. That’s all. Not much of a problem.

Hohoho. I dont rinse, dont brush my teeth at night. Dont floss. Dont go for regular check ups. and that’s not much of a problem!!!!

Hahaha.

and a dentist earns easy money. Just some screeching and gooing, and then 50 buck goes to him. He must pay a lot of tax. should urge jac to go be a dentist.

but my teeth are still far from beautiful pearly whites. it takes 400 bucks to get your teeth really whiten. and i think that’s totally dumb. unless u smile for a living.

The dentist is really mysterious. Till now, i still dont know what he looks like. He sounds good looking anyway…mmmmm….

shoppin with simin yest was HILARIOUS!

so many boo-boos committed because i was so blur like sotong.

like trying to locate Sasa for so damn long to get a nail polish before discovering that HEY, the heels are wrapped toes, so the nail polish is redundant. hahaha. luckily we remembered in time. nono, si min remembered.

blah. one hell of a shoppin experience.

Linked from http://ephraim.blogspot.com/, ephraim loy’s stand on the GST hikes:

My view is that raising the GST to 7% is just a little 2 points up so no big deal. Although if it keeps getting up, up and up, it may be too hot to handle. Perhaps it should be capped at a certain percentage - maybe 10% or something.

VAT in Thailand is 7% and other countries have much higher tax rates. And by the time it is our new GST is passed during budget debate next year, we would have had sufficient time to adjust to it. Those who had saved their progress package payouts would be the ones laughing now - it’s a good idea to save up for rainy days.

Apart from listening to the grouses, I believe what needs to be done is to formulate policies that will really benefit the people in the lower income range. Our Gini coefficient has been rising through the years (I know this and it is thanks to my attentiveness during sociology class). It is no doubt that the income gap in Singapore is widening.

Singaporeans are very good at formulating policies. But how efficient these policies are, we have yet to see. Maybe to be more transparent, policy makers should have varied solutions for the different groups. What’s most important is to let Singaporeans know that the process is one that is all emcompassing and transparent. That is what leaders have to do - to convince those on the ground that what they are doing is for their benefit.

This way, everyone has a fair share in know what goes behind the debates and the stand of the Government and how these new or add-on policies will really benefit needy families (or those that are in the lower percentiles of the income range).

The way I see it is that the Government wants each and everyone to be self-reliant. Although there is no real safety net, there are policies drafted to help those that sincerely need the assistance.

——

I guess everyone see’s his point and the way i see it is similar to his views. It is definitely true that there are countries who have higher GST rates. But if u brush aside the fact that we are using comparisons which is not necessarily the best way to look at this problem, it is still true that a 7% GST is reasonable for Singapore, if it is true of the government to say that this hike is primarily for the good of the low-income families. But, honestly, hate it when you see "lackin in depth" comments like those that came after this blog entry of ephraim, people whom i guess are angry over their "higher cost of living" and "government is doing this for its own good, not for the people" making the most of these comments. Below:

—-

When you try to analyse the situation and provide evidence for your stand, people label you as trying to "suck up to the PAP". My god, though he’s a YPAP member (i heard), he’s entitled to his own comment and own stand, and his arguments were all logical at least. All citizens of Singapore will be affected by this GST hike and there’s no reason for us to say "YES! GST Hike! We support GST hike!" just because we think the government is always right. Totally bleah. And i would say if these people wants to express their views against this new hike, please do it in a more professional way, rather than be cynical and rude to the blogger. Show each other some respect.

Lastly, if you dare to comment, leave behind a decent name instead of leaving behind any evidence that you are just a cowardly "anonymous" who is scared of bearing full responsibility for what you have written.

went cycling and escape@ downtown east yest

great way to do some catching-up with old friends..

and i had enormous fun attempting the kids playground in pasir ris park, hohoho, with simin. We were tryin out the spidey webs, swings, and weird obstacles. i’m amazed how little kids have all the energy to spring right up to the top of the web when we were struggling to get our bods through those small small gaps.

used to go to pasir ris park every now and then when i was young, still remember papa gong gong bringin us there for satay at night in his lorry. Delicious……

anyway, guanyong joined us for escape. It was kind of awkward at first. Could see he was extremely bored sia. But honestly i didnt know what to say, so we were tryin to think of ways to engage him in our conversation. It got a bit better after the horse-racing carnival game.

Blah, wont say the rides were especially thrillin, especially if the rain keeps spoilin the fun by makin u queue over and over again. We damn suay, everytime we were in the front of the queue, it’ll start to rain then "rides closed for maintenance" what the hell.

On the Viking, was damn funny. Was this malay girl in front of us who kept swearin so me and guihao kept luffin luffin until i nearly lost my voice man. It’s back now, thank god.

our wins!!!

my writing skills are rusty. Cant come up with proper sentences. shit. reading thru what ive written, i conclude this is a badly written entry, pardon me.

anyway, prom’s comin and i havent gotten my dress,im really fussy. Simin said something yest that reminded me that ive not been to the dentist for ages (i think 2-3 yrs) Its time i got over that phobia of having strange machines in my mouth and get an appointment with the clinic. Urgh, the dentist will be shocked at the contents in my mouth!! and an appointment with doris to get my hair cut, seriously, my hair sucks now, the fringe totally resembles a curtain. eurgh. thinkin of colourin, but not sure yet. see how first.

nowadays, cant seem to get any exercise. I have like one free day after every fully packed day. But usually after one fully packed day, my whole body’s like aching so no gym, no jogging, no wadeva exercise shucks. i have to wait till i have 2 free days loh. its stupid lah. my body just doesnt work like how i want it to. blah. i’m feelin lethargic due to a total lack of exercise. unless u can count walkin for the whole day due to extensive shoppin as exercise. but i’d better consider countin that to comfort myself (sex also can count as exercise why shoppin cannot?!?!)

watchin 4:30 on dvd later on. the reason im here to blog so early is because my little sis has "booked" the computer for 1:50pm. barbarism.

kidsread was great fun today. We used our hands and imagination for some bread-basket making.

It should look something like this:

we had pretzels, doughnuts, fat rolls, thin rolls, pratas, burgers, sandwiches and gingerbread man for supper! and those creative kids came up with all kind of stuff, coz we didnt strictly keep them within the boundaries of "bread and rolls". Hence, there were snowmen and caterpillars in the making. Voila!

new volunteers for the next 6 month. this would mean new names to remember. Frankly, i like this new batch if we compare them withe the old ones. More enthusiastic and passionate, maybe they havent shown their true selves, but yeah, i love them. 2 new guys, amorn and toto. toto already an adult, so he’s more experienced. I guess he’s not local, maybe japanese like totto chan hahahaha. gosh i love that name. Maybe should ask my mum go buy toto, try luck. hohoho. Then there are the gals, andrea, dahlia, mag. all lovely company and great help. We had one volunteer to a kid today, crazy. Some kids are havin fun over the holidays and i believe they have forgotten all about kidsread. heh. WE MUST GET THEM BACK. *hands on hips* *looks angry*

not been shootin much lately, and ive been usin more of my 2megapix phone camera rather than the canon point and shoot. a few recent shots:

quality compromised, but i kindof love how the phone camera works the lighting. an orangish yellowish tinge is something i found out works well for some photos. comments welcome.

The Break Up is total crap.

Im dying to own a dvd player, at least those cheapo type that u find in Giant. haha.

Cinenow only dispenses great dvds, and when u want vcds, they suck big time.

I cant believe i actually sat through 50 mins of The Break Up before i gave up in disgust. utter disgust. It wasnt even a movie, just a clip that consists of a couple squabbling, and jennifer aniston’s not even sexy, not even when she bared it all in one scene.

Vivo tmr with my sis. She’s keen on those Mao’s mugs she saw in some catalogue in some magazines. I’m definitely lookin 4ward to the shoppin!

Current status: bored at home

Currently reading: Munch’s biography

Current state of mind: totally blank

Currently listening to: Nothing

I’ve got myself a virtual dog called Ah_Beng in my phone. He’s such a darling. See, i’m going bonkers bein bored.

Tmr will be a busy day. yeah.

Thought this was a rather interesting argument, albeit being one-sided and a little too angry, by Black Blood White Lace, a fellow blogger:

Conservatism sucks.

It makes people think they have the right to judge others. It also makes them sanctimonious assholes even when they’re probably not the least bit religious.

Want an example? Look up MDA’s exact words on the reality show they fined Starhub for.

"It contained footages of a woman engaging in lesbian sex acts with another woman. While pixilation was used during the sex scenes, it was still obvious to viewers that the women were naked and engaging in unnatural sex acts. The programme also showed the woman tied to a bed in a bondage session with two other women. The visuals were deemed to be sexually suggestive and offensive to good taste and decency.

The programme also promotes lesbianism as a lifestyle, which breaches the Programme Code. The woman manages to get her boyfriend to accept her lifestyle and to invite other people to engage in threesomes with them."

Hey MDA, get some brains. 1stly, Theres nothing fucking wrong being gay. It’s time u updated your common sense to be in fucking line with the 21st century. U can’t on one hand have dear PM Lee saying Singapore needs to be at the forefront of the 21st century and on the other act like u’re still in the middle ages can u?

Next, please note that there is no such rubbish as a "gay lifestyle". Your idea of a "gay lifestyle" is that as long as u’re gay, u have a "gay lifestyle", nevermind if one’s a "tv dinner sit-at-home-and-rot" slob, a "Oxford chess club president" sort of bookish genius or the "Soho punk club regular" raver sort. Ok, screw that yea? Lifestyle, my dear misguideds, are not determined by sexuality. Us lesbians? Some of us are outgoing, some are more quiet, some like sports, some like the arts and cultures, some like the sciences. Some of us are students, some are teachers, some are office workers, some are lawyers, some are artists, some are stylist, some are engineers, some are social workers and some are doctors. How on earth are you going to manage to group all our lifestyles into one simply because of our sexuality? Wake up you ignorant lot.

3rdly, what people get up to in their sex lives is NONE of MDA’s business. And anyway, talking about "unnatural sex acts". let me quote 2 famous people who did extensive study and research into sex. U might say they’re experts in the topic.

Alfred Kinsey: "The only unnatural sex act is that which YOU cannot perform"

Sigmund Freud: "The only unnatural sexual behavior is NONE at all"

Who is MDA to decide what is natural or unnatural? Can they please produce evidence that they have in their employ, someone of credible certification to show that they have the right to make such a judgment? Or are they just going to tell us they’re still making such sanctimonious judgments based on some arcane laws whose country of origin it was adopted from has already dropped them in a sign of social enlightenment and civilized evolution? So suddenly MDA is THE authority on good taste? Wow, are they going to decide whether people are allowed to wear socks with sandals next? If they’ve got such good taste why do they allow all those stupid ads to air? (A good example being that ad for that stupid Jack Neo show that kept airing in MRT stations with its "Saturday, Sunday something about winning the lottery thing. It drove people mad. Cartoonist Adam Lee even drew a strip on that)

Finally I wonder if MDA even knows what does being lesbian mean? Being lesbian means you ARE NOT INTERESTED IN MEN. Some girl getting her boyfriend to accept her fetish for bondage anal sex and getting him to join in 3somes with her and other girls DOES NOT MAKE HER LESBIAN! It makes her BISEXUAL at best! Morons.

Maybe MDA really stands for Morons Dunno Anything. 

been out with jiamin yest. watched time.

and lately, she’s been havin make up on almost everytime i see her, she’s makin the girl-woman transition hahaha.

but im still livin in neverland, sharin the same aspiration as Mr Peter Pan, to not grow up, at least not for now. Hence, imagine the daily anguish and state of denial i’m in when my mum rants on about me being "oh-so-not-grown-up" and stuff like that. I understand that she wants me to be independent, but her notion of independence is somehow very different from mine. Hers tend to be about knowing how to mop the floor, doing the laundry and keeping the house clean clean and clean, which i do although i usually try to be clever by acting ‘blur’. My notion of independence is about the way i think, not the way i behave ( i dont want to act like some mature woman when im barely past my adolescent period). And, psst, i think the problem with my mum now is her menopause period is nearing. And her recent anxiety about the scan at kkh makes it worse.

Sigh, little kids in the world wants to grow up fast fast, but im still stuck in this abyss of denial and refusal, and im so not struggling.

and everyone’s getting jobs. Im not frettin bout the money, not so tied up (except that i dont mind a dslr nor a portable psp nor some new clothes). But what the hell. So soon!!! I’m goin to enjoy the holidays first. Bleah.

and everyone’s tryin to lose some weight, prom or no prom. But i cant stop my mouth fr chompin on those oh-so-delicious yummy yummy food. like beloved thosai and calories and starch full of potatoes, ice cream, pratas. hit the running track today and could almost feel my knees click-clacketing. Didnt dare to overdo it, so i started off with jus 2km. Really slow. and did some brisk walking. My idea of weight loss is exercise not cutting down on delicious food. This model (French i think) just died from anorexia and my god, it’s so ridiculous when people in some other part of the world are starvin and living on rations. My god, what is the world coming to? If it was so possible, i’ll fed-ex all my pratas over so that they can enjoy a great meal. But beyond that, i’m almost feeling helpless.

I got back my edvard munch, seems like nobody is keen on it so it was still on the shelves after so many weeks. and i used my times voucher for one jostein gaarder’s solitaire mystery. hahaha. reading time!!!

Did you hear that Milton Friedman’s passed away? Somehow, 2 yrs of economics and you cant help feeling some kind of weird bond between you and him, and i actually felt a bit sad. He seems like a nice man. But he’s kind of short at 1.6m. And i heard John Maynard Keynes was about 1.5. Economists are shorties. And maybe shorties are intelligent? You get what im tryin to drive at.