Friday, June 25, 2010

human beings to human beings

i guess relationships between people really strengthen with time.

was at jc for less than a month, and when i left i almost cried. esp when i went to tables of people to get them to sign on my jc mug. now becky has left too, after six months. the number of presents she received show how attached the team next door is.

gonna leave sfi in another three weeks, marking three months plus. already people are panicking that there'll be no one to do their ppt slides and excel spreadsheets and operational plans for them. i'm feeling very important. esp when S sent an email to E (and me) and cc-ed boss to say "steph has done a great job by...."

Y very openly exclaimed that i'll be missed after i left, and surprisingly manager G, who i've never really worked with but only chatted on a few occasions such as asking about his son's uni education so i have an inkling on what mine will be like, agreed. so touching right!

gonna miss bitching about stuff with the girls.

yog training at sp tomorrow! very excited, will be meeting the newer volunteers. then i have more people to lament with about nus' refusal to start term after yog.

i previously sent a query to nus' office of admissions to ask if they could push back term commencement. immediately i got an automated response saying they'll answer me in five working days' time. them five working days later i get a reply from the office to say they have submitted the question to the officer in charge who will get back to me soon. then two weeks later, today, i got a reply from the supposed officer asking when i can enroll into nus.

"can" refers to ability to do smthn. i can enroll into nus anytime! all they have to do is send me an official letter saying i have to go register, and i can go! but the problem now is i don't WANT to start school before yog! i don't want to miss class, but i don't want to miss out on this opportunity to volunteer.

i think there isn't enough pride about the yog in sg. everybody's like so bo chup. syogoc is obviously trying very hard (and maybe too hard) to hype the island up, but i guess it's just singaporeans who think that it's none of their business, they're not any sporting personnel and all, nothing to be excited about. rawr. the ideal sign that the yog fever exists, imo, would be to see counterfeit yog items selling in the market. tho it obviously spoils the market for crocodile and othering supporting companies, it would at least show the demand of the people.

but nah, nobody even bothers to stop by to browse merchandise at crocodile's yog booths.

Monday, June 21, 2010

pink ≠ steph

there's so much pink on my blog it's freaking me out. but purple just doesn't have the "oomph" factor, you know? and lime green looks freaky! and cyan comes off as very cold.

gonna learn sign language after yog! mad excited.

that sounds like xiaxue. i may have rubbed off some of her personality by being an almost committed blogder (a word she coined from connecting "blog" and "reader")since like, secondary school years.

getting old already. somebody's celebrating two decades of existence tomorrow.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

miracle of the moment

It's time for letting go
All of our if only's
'Cause we don't have a time machine

And even if we did
Would we really want to use it?
Would we really want to go change everything

'Cause we are who and where and what we are for now
And this is the only moment we can do anything about

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss the miracle of the moment

There's only One who knows
What's really out there waiting
In all the moments yet to be
And all we need to know
Is He's out there waiting
To Him the future's history

And He has given us a treasure called right now
And this is the only moment we can do anything about

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss the miracle of the moment

And if it brings you tears
Then taste them as they fall
Let them soften your heart

And if it brings you laughter
Then throw your head back
And let it go
Let it go, yeah
You gotta let it go

And listen to your heartbeat

And breathe it in and breathe it out
And listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss the miracle of the moment

And breathe it in and breathe it out
And listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss the miracle
Of the moment

Friday, June 18, 2010

an attempt at rp's rj.

republic poly's reflection journal, not somebody's raffles jc.

On your way to school, you see a mother trying to deal with her child throwing a tantrum. What do you do?

Witnessing a mother dealing with her child on the street is no different from being a passerby of a quarrelling couple. It is looking at a commotion in public, a commotion that does not concern me.

I would not want to be involved in the case of a bickering couple, for I do not have the faintest idea of what the commotion is about, and I am at no position to take any stand since I am no acquaintance to them. People tend to disagree at times, and couples are no exception. I will make a silent prayer that hopefully they will sort things out and return to being a happy couple. But other than that little contribution, I will not step in. Not even if things turn violent, because that would put me at more danger. Interfering with a fight will put me at risk of being a victim myself.

Similarly, looking at the case in question, the incident is just an example of a mother educating her child, teaching him how to behave in public. This is a family issue, which I have no right to intercept.

Children of today lead the lives of princes and princesses; they are pampered by their parents and so used to having things done their way that once something is not to their liking, tantrums will be thrown, tears will be cried and screams will be bellowed.

I am aware that the above is a sweeping statement, generalizing people born from the nineties onwards. While I can imagine that not all people falling in the age group determined are born with silver spoons in their mouths, it is not difficult to agree with me that most teenagers and children we see today think they are of some royalty descent.

However, me being me, I absolutely cannot tolerate the ear-splitting din created by children. I have been brought up such that all disagreements shall be settled at home, and no dirty linen shall be washed openly in public. Upon witnessing a mother cajoling her spoilt child, I will throw a stare while continuing my route to school. Make that two stares, one at the child for disgracing the mother by not behaving well in public, and one at the mother for not being able to teach her child well.

I do a huge amount of self-reflection. I see things happening to random men-on-the-street and try to put myself in their shoes, imagining how different my actions will be if I were them. After witnessing this saga, I will imagine that I am the mother and look at the event from her perspective. The child will not be my target of imagination, for I cannot fathom the amount of naivety that I have to take up to assume that identity.

One day in the future, I will have to answer to the government’s call and contribute to the population of Singapore. I will be a mother, and I will have to bring my child out. Before we leave the house, I will give him a strict reminder to behave himself in public and settle any unhappiness whatsoever after we reach home. Should he still decide to cry and scream in public, I will discreetly ask him to shut up. Should he refuse to listen, I will let go of the little hand that I have been holding and walk away. Young as he may be, he needs to learn to listen to instructions. He needs to portray himself well under eyes of the public. He needs to be able to reflect on his wrongdoings. He needs to know that life will not present him with a huge bunch of roses sans the thorns.

After this role-play session, I would most probably have reached school. Being at this age and constantly being bombarded by the westernised television programmes showing gossiping people, I will share the experience with my clique of friends, and see what views they have to share. Then I will hope that the child never embarrasses his mother ever again.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

deutschfieber!

got the new post page loaded, then remembered i've got to ask josephine kuehn about german and its tenses.

how is perfekt different from partizip II?

in a bid to freshen my brain from german stagnation, i've read through sowieso 1, half of sowieso 2, then gave up reading these secondary school textbooks because i managed to psycho myself that i'm awesome in german grammar.

actually it's because i think it's too late to clear whatever misconception i have now, especially since i don't have a teacher teacher.

so i better start reading german articles and memorising the worterbuch. like how china chinese learn english. carry a dictionary around.

i rmb honglin used to bring her electronic dictionary everywhere she went so she could translate our conversations and random english words anywhere.

i hope i've got the willpower to do that.

we always complain that prcs snatch away our opportunities, but that's cuz they're more hardworking.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

give angelynn her oxygen!

chic magazine's chic genie's giving away $500 weekly to grant the wish of whoever gets the most "likes" on facebook.

angelynn's suffering from lung problems and requires an oxygen machine just to survive. she's currently renting the machine at $120 a month and constantly has to seek medical attention, adding up to a rather significant amount in the long run. but she can get the machine at $2000, and the $500 reimbursement chic genie can provide will go a long way in lightening her load.

angelynn's a little distance away from the top girl with the most likes, since the girl is popular and has publicity done on not just her blog, but a blogshop as well. the $500 will be put to better use helping an ill girl than providing an abled working person with a macbook.


if you're not a fan of chic magazine yet, i.e. you can't "like" the photo using the above link, be a fan now at: http://www.facebook.com/chicreaders after being a fan of chic magazine, you can then access the link on top again to like angelynn's photo. or just go to "fan photos" and find her entry.

spread this around please! she may be a stranger, but she's a fellow human being very much in need of our help(:

Friday, June 04, 2010

i can has formspring too!

because you know you want to know more about me: