INTRODUCING>>>

MY TOP 5 IDOLS!!!!
(For the year 2008 only)

Not in order of preference, Number 1 is....

Try guessing! Hint:







Got it? Bet you didn't! Ok... he is...

BEAR GRYLLS
Edward Michael Grylls is an English Television Presenter and adventure, known as Bear Grylls on his popular program Man vs Wild.

Why does he deserve this top spot?!
Because he is HOW COOL! He has a degree, speaks English, Spanish and French, served the British Armed Forces, awarded the honorary rank of Lieutenant Commander in the UK's Royal Naval Reserve, works as a motivational speaker and trainer, close relationship with several charitable organizations, climbed Mt Everest, crossed the North Atlantic, paramotoring over Angel Falls etc etc!

He is the only guy I can think of who can impress both girls and guys by being gross, coarse, filthy, disgusting and... just disgusting! (i.e. eating some animal's shit. I can't remember which animal though) But as I said, he is HOW COOL and I bet $5 that he is a really kind and nice person. (I've deadly accurate intuition - don't doubt it! I say nice means nice!) Watch 10minutes of Man vs Wild and you'll fall madly in love with him. (GUYS! BEWARE! He is going to be your ultimate rival once girls start watching Man vs Wild OR WORSE STILL, you are slowly going down the wroooonnnggg crooked path HAHA)

OK NEXT CONTENDER!

SOMERS J

Ok, you guys probably won't know who he is. I don't even know his full name. But I think he is still alive and apparently residing in Christchurch and likes gardening. (I seriously think thats a made-up fact by a friend) Other than that, I've no clue about his personal life. And no, I do not admire him because he is mysterious, he is my idol only because he is HOW SMART! Oh actually, I do know something else about him, he is probably a Court of Appeal judge. I don't even know how to describe how blown-away I was when I read his dissenting judgment. He totally crashed Woodhouse P and McMullin J's judgments, making them look more than a lil foolish.

I know, I know, I sound like a nerd, but he is HOW SMART! Conlon v Ozolins by far, has been the best case I've ever read! Its like, all of them were running the freaking same argument saying how important is s5 of the Contractual Mistakes Act 1979 and blah blah blah and then BANG! Somers J said the case DOES NOT FALL within s6(1)(a) at all! And you can imagine the majority at the background, still arguing that it should be and that Courts shouldn't follow common law and blah blah blah going round and round in circles without realizing the major flaw in their argument is that it will bring unreasonable consequences. And you can imagine Somers J at the foreground sniggering, thinking that they don't make sense at all and have totally missed the point! Lalala he is HOW SMART! I can't find his photo of him, but I reckon he probably looks like one of them:
Ok... next guy on the list... you all probably would know him. He is none other than our investment guru...
NUMBER 1 in Forbe's billionaires list, net worth of $62billion, largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway...

WARREN BUFFETT

He is HOW RICH. Warren Edward Buffett is an American investor, businessman and philanthropist. He was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world as of February 11, 2008.
Why did he make it to my top 5 list?
Because.. he is HOW NICE! Often called the 'Oracle of Omaha', Buffett is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth. His annual salary was about $100,000, which is small compared to senior executive remuneration in other comparable companies. He lives in the same house in the central Dundee neighbourhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, today valued at around $700,000.

Buffett is also a noted philanthropist. In 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% (MIND YOU EIGHTY THREE PER CENT) of it to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. And blah blah blah. In short, he is HOW SMART (else he wouldn't be this rich), HOW RICH (he is the richest person on earth), HOW NICE (already described above) - with those combinations, how can he not be my idol?!?

Ok, I'm not guy-crazy and to prove my point, my next idol is....
A GIRL!!!!!!
I bet you guys definitely know her!!!!

SUZANNE JUNG

She is the face of Prime Time Morning (Channel News Asia). I actually don't know much about her except that she is from Korea, speaks good English, gives me a good impression, makes me think that she is a nice person and, I just enjoy watching PTM when I'm back in Singapore. Uh, I forgot the her co-host's name, but they seem pretty compatible haha. And I heard that she is from AJC. Uh, something to be proud of?

Ok, I'm getting very tired of typing already so I'll make a very brief introduction to my last idol... uh... *thinks hard. Ok, Disney's...

MULAN


I bet everyone knows her, so I don't need to say anything else.

Thats all. Gosh I'm so so so so tired from today's incessant lectures.

Why

Random: Reading the case: Tri-Star Customs & Forwarding Ltd v Denning which was decided by Salmon J in the previous judgment. I feel like eating him. He sounds yummy.

Why titan Bernard Arnault (CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) can hold $24 billion portfolios of more than 50 brands - running the gamut from Fendi to DFS?
Where does he find the time?!
How does he prevent competition from rivals from the same industry who are none other than himself?!

Is it fair that the US Fed bailed out AIG/Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae but let Lehman Brothers sink?

US Treasury Secretary urged Congress to swiftly pass an unprecedented 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan. What are the repercussions? 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan, and then...?

What is happening to China's milk scandal?

Why do aeroplanes hardly crash into each other when flying in the sky? Radar? But there are so one thousand and one planes flying around, is the system that perfect?

Why do I keep dreaming about flying aeroplanes?

Why my laptop's sound system just got to screw up this very moment?

Why doesn't someone franchise Krispy Kreme in Singapore?

Why isn't 'Your arms feel like home' 3 doors down's hit single?

How did Criss Angel do his oasis stunt?

How is former PM of Japan Yasuo Fukuda going to lead his life for the next 10 years?

What is George Bush going to do after he steps down?

Is there really God?

Are there really ghosts?

How about black magic?

Where do our souls come from? Why are there more and more and more new souls accompanying newborns? So.... if there isn't reincarnation, there would be....99999 to the power of 99999999999999999999999 multiplied by 9999999999999 souls plus 99999999999999 to the power of 1000000000000000000000000 souls in future?
If there is reincarnation - maybe we only have 9999999999999999999 to the power of 9999 souls. But what accounts for population growth?!

How about judgment day?

Why are the Davis's carrels occupied by 10AM in the morning?!

How did they build the train tunnel under water linking 2 HK islands?

Why must things be in such a way it is now?

Why am I so tired?

Is there always a solution to everything?

Is there really different time dimensions? Would a time machine ever be invented? If it would in future, someone amongst us must be from the future.

Why do I ask so many questions?

Who, what, where, when, why, how?

Must.stop.here.else.I'll.start.throwing.out.weird.questions.

We talked late into the night about everything and anything. And I came up with another sub-definition of 'good'.

I reckon it is when someone, trying so desperately to do the right thing and being good, turns away from his/her pride in maintaining that 'good' image, and doing something viewed as 'bad' in the public eye, suffering the consequences of being shunned, mocked, criticized, yet bearing in mind that it is something for the greater good.

Maybe thats why every great public figure had been hated by people of his time and yet, revered later in history. How bloody difficult. And if you realized, most heroes experience somewhat tragic endings. Really, how good are you?

Gosh, why am I so caught up with the question of 'what is good?' Does it even matter.
Don't I just love stay-overs? I think better at night.

We met randomly along the streets this afternoon and decided to hang out.
We walked pass the Ferry Terminal on the way to Princess Wharf.
And decided to hop on one and made our way to Devonport in the late afternoon.

My parents have been very busy lately and they hardly call. I haven't been talking to them for quite some time. The other night I had dinner with Uncle, Aunty and Victor and although there were awkward moments, I felt 'safe' - its the closest to family I can get here. You know, that sense of security you feel with your family - that they will never do anything to hurt you regardless of how horrid you've been, that sense of certainty - that they will always be there 24/7 regardless whether you've ever been there for them. I need that sense of security and certainty now. Its been some time since I've called back, maybe I should take the first step now.

The more I think about it, the more stupid I feel about folding my CV and Cover letter thrice and squeezing it into that tiny envelop. I think my potential mentor's first impression of me probably drop by half when he sees that unprofessional presentation =( To salvage my situation, I sent another application, this time in a nice big white envelop with my best handwriting on it. Either he is going to think that I'm blardy kiasu or he would realize how desperate I am and maybe, decides to be kind and compassionate and REPLY ME!!! (I've spent quite a bit for postage costs!)

Aggressivity

ECON 211: Why another Great Depression is unlikely? (16 Sept 2008)

Policymakers now know much more about macroeconomics:

• The Fed knows much better than to let money supply fall so much, especially during a contraction.
• Fiscal policymakers know much better than to raise taxes or cut spending during contraction

Federal deposit insurance makes widespread bank failures very unlikely.
Automatic stabilizers make fiscal policy expansionary during an economic downturn.

CNA: Stock markets plunge as global crisis deepens (18 Sept 2008)

But after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the forced sale of Merrill Lynch, US media said Morgan Stanley was looking for help after seeing its stock drop another 24 percent Wednesday.
(Note: Lehman Brothers actually weathered the capital crisis of the Great Depression.)

I sure hope ECON 211 is true. I have faith (??) in my lecturer.
Is that the reason why I haven't received any replies from any banks? Except Deutsche which stated that I do not fulfill the pre-requisites because I'm not in my last year of studies :(
I feel pretty uneasy now, AIG is in trouble and so are we. Dad sounds pretty worried. Furthermore, this is probably gonna threaten my rice bowl in the future. But I guess I don't quite feel the impact of it, other than reading/watching it on news everyday. Maybe I'm too far down under.

So, I've been in the doldrums for the past few days BUT decided to channel my excess energy to aggressiveness! I continued spamming firms with my CV. These are the victims:

1. JPMorgan
2. KPMG
3. Deutsche
4. Credit Suisse
5. Stamford Law Corporation
6. WongPartnership
7. KhatterWong
8. Colin Ng & Partners
9. Baker& McKenzie.Wong & Leow
10. Drew & Napier
11. Minter Ellison

WongPartnership and Colin Ng are darn efficient. I sent them an email last night and they replied me early this morning which really made my day. Its not a confirmation reply but sounds positive. Actually, I can't really make up my mind whether he is saying yes or no. He gave me the likely dates and asked me to send him another email when the dates draw nearer. So I rule that as I-don't-know. The other one just asked for the dates, so I shall not keep my hopes too high and take it as a wait-awhile-we-are-still-considering. As for the rest... I'm still checking my email consistently and frequently.

I'm pretty excited to work. I really am. Its only 2 weeks per internship and I wanna work my ass off! I just got that sudden urge and desire to do an internship, I ran down to the post office this morning to submit my application for the 2009 Minter Ellison Rudd Watts internship. Usually, I wouldn't even give a thought about it but last night when I was checking my email, they said that they've extended the deadline for applications till 19th (which is tomorrow) and it sounded really cool! Its one day per week from March to Sept 2009, paid, assigned to a team with a mentor and blah blah blah. Most importantly, its a global law firm! I dismissed the thought of applying initially. Then I started daydreaming for awhile, then I realized I've already done up my CV and cover letter, I just needed to send it. Deciding that its something which would make my morning exciting, I decided to give it a try. Early this morning I got the application form, filled it in, dashed to the post office and begged/pointed a gun/bribed the staff to get the documents sent by tomorrow. AND LUCKY ME their POBox was actually IN THE POST OFFICE I went to! That means, they can immediately slot it in so its delivered right at that minute. MUAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *laughs with contentment.

Then at the corner of my eye, I spotted my rival filling in the same distinct red application form! AHHH!!! Haha ok, its really cheap thrill - the sending and the waiting for a reply game. I doubt I would even get an interview, its just fun trying your luck - its like playing with jackpot. I still got a teeny weeny bit of chance okay!

Gosh, I'm so exhausted. These 2 days have been really hectic.

1 post a day keeps the psychiatrist away

When there is nothing else to lose, there is nothing else to be afraid of.

Whats there for me to be afraid of?!
Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!
Yay!

Finally, I managed to spam the banks and law firms with my resume.
I hope they spam me with replies too.

Moot this morning was really good. Surprisingly.

But... hmm... don't know..


Away From The Sun - 3 Doors Down

It's down to this
I've got to make this life make sense
Can anyone do what I've done
I missed life
I missed the colours of the world
Can anyone go where I am

'Cause now again I've found myself
So far down, away from the sun
That shines into the darkest place
I'm so far down, away from the sun again
Away from the sun again

I'm over this
I'm tired of living in the dark
Can anyone see me down here
The feeling's gone
There's nothing left to lift me up
Back into the world I've known

'Cause now again I've found myself
So far down, away from the sun
That shines into the darkest place
I'm so far down, away from the sun
That shines the life away from me
To find my way back into the arms
That care about the ones like me
I'm so far down, away from the sun again

It's down to this
I've got to make this life make sense
And now I can't do what I've done

And now again I've found myself
So far down, away from the sun
That shines the life away from me

'Cause now again I've found myself
So far down, away from the sun
That shines into the darkest place
I'm so far down, away from the sun
That shines the life away from me
To find my way back into the arms
That care about the ones like me
I'm so far down, away from the sun again

yeah, another post again

I know, I know, and I admit that I've been exceedingly emotional (I still don't like the word emo) the past entries.

Yeah, my emotions have been shuttling between both ends of the spectrum uncontrollably I feel so wasted. I reckon you're right, I've been too hard on myself. I think I've been trying to cut all emotions so quickly and so drastically that ironically a lil negative thought would make me crumble.

Anyway, today is the last day of my hols (Did I even mention hols? Why didn't it feel anything like it?) and I am still sour that I didn't get to do what I wanted but it doesn't matter that much any more. I know the remaining part of the semester would be over before I know it. (I really need a break from...EVERYTHING!)

Well, what have brought me through everything? Music. As much as I wanted to do some art, I just...didn't have the time or...mood...or energy...or whatever. Miraculously, I haven't been oversleeping too much recently - I've overslept but the thing is I actually react to my alarm clock! JOY TO THE WORLD! Uh, don't know if its actually that great because I've been having many disturbing dreams so...probably thats why. So this morning, I woke up at the record-breaking time of 9am! (Note: its the LAST day of my hols and its a SUNday) But thats only because I couldn't sleep peacefully with the knowledge that I have an unwritten moot and ill-prepared test to deal with once school starts which is, well the next day.

I felt pretty depressed and thinking about the moot just makes me shiver. I made my way down to the Davis and feeling so helplessly demoralized, I started downloading heaps of songs and you know what, it made everything so so so SO MUCH better. And I started to write something and soon it became 1000 words and soon it just kept increasing exponentially. This is so so random but half way through, I kinda 'heard' my 'mentor' (aka my idol) during my internship at Harry Elias saying: you got to immerse yourself in the legal field, even if you are just a student. You got to think and act like a lawyer, it makes you more focus and daring. Ok, thats not exactly what he said, but something along those lines. I remembered him telling me that on my first day on the way to Court. Yeah, I reckon I've been so clouded with fear such that I haven't really truly enjoy it.

Anyway, I really really really love this song playing on my imeem. It brought me and is still bringing me through this period. Listen, its really, really, really nice.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA
Haven't had such a good laugh continuously for hours for a long long time.
Damn am I good at forced matchmaking.
HAHA.

Its scary what people would do when they have all the freedom to do so, when nobody is looking, when no one would know.
Would you go against your conscience and yield to temptations?
Thats what differentiates the good from the bad. Which one are you?

High School

Randomly, I feel a nostalgia for my secondary/JC days.
Uh, it happens to us every now and then, no?
It must have been this song!
I remember being an ardent fan of rock music like Simple Plan, Good Charlotte and the likes.
My choice of music has changed ever since, but still, haha hearing it every once in awhile feels really good!
I don't know where I got this song from but when it started playing on my iTUnes during shuffle mode, I felt oddly happy.

haha I miss going for concerts. I remembered we jumped and shouted and screamed and cursed till we were all sweaty and faint. -___-'' The atmosphere was awesome and I was convinced half way through that the Suntec Conventional hall was going to collapse and wanted to evacuate - Resonance effect when everyone jumps at the point where SP sang 'JUMP!'

Enough of crying?
Enough of wasting away?
Enough of being tired?
Enough of everything?
Right.
Time to move on.
Huiling steps aside.

No, too many issues.

trust issues.

Nocturnal

Yeah, my sleeping cycle is totally screwed again.
But thank god everything is back to normal, or so it seems.

Uh, its coming to the end of my first week of hols which has been not surprisingly, unproductive.
The past week has been an ordeal but its over and I can finally steer my way back and normalize my daily routine (I hope it isn't too late). It has been wearying but nobody said it was going to be easy. (Although I would like to continue it by saying 'no one ever said it would be so hard')

Enough said of that. There should be a closure for now.

Anyways! My friends came over for a stay over last night and I attempted to cook chicken rice again. Uh, its been a long time since I did that - its too much trouble cooking unless its for a group. I realize it tastes different every time because I do not have a definite recipe to follow. Just a random observation - the rice seems proportionately smaller whenever I cook chicken rice, it seems as if it shrank during the process of cooking. They made nice chilled cheesecake but what a pity, I didn't get to see how it was done.

I think I am so used to people coming over such that I overlooked the need for being a good host. Its only after they've left then it dawned on me. Uh, I actually fell asleep when they were here and I thought thats pretty rude. Haha like, can you imagine yourself visiting someone and she falls asleep when you are there.

Anyhows, there I go again, posting for the sake of relieving myself from the pains of essaying yet minimizing the time left to the deadline - not as if I have much time left. Urgh my plans of going there and there (pointing at least 100km away) are totally zoomed down to here and here (pointing at most 100m away). That means my holiday destinations are zeroed in from Rotorua and Taupo to Waiheke and Rangitoto to Devonport and North Shore to Eden Park and Parnell then ultimately to - Gloria Jeans, Law School, Queen Street and Home. What does it prove? That at the end of the day, I am still stuck in my 100m radius route of travel! I can't believe this! Tell me bout how vast NZ is and blah blah blah and how tiny Singapore is - I bet I travel 100times the distance in that tiny red dot than this long white cloud.

Anyways why am I up at this hour in front of my coolass (supposedly pronounced as 'cool-ass' - Some random name I gave my cool laptop which ironically heats up so quickly I need to get a ventilator for it. Actually, I might change his/her name and gender anytime soon because coolass sounds like cool-less which might mean that its not very cool or that it is clueless) laptop when I should be doing more entertaining stuff.

Not as if you are that interested - more like I am interested to tell you. I'm doing my terribly arduous, mind-boggling, absolutely complicated, puzzling and unmanageable Art History Assignment (spelled as Assingment One on the question paper - shows how 'mind-boggling' it can be).

Nah, I'm just exaggerating - its not too difficult, its pretty intriguing in fact. And precisely because of that, I take forever to finish it because as usual I digress and start reading unrelated stuff. Its gonna bore some of you I reckon, but some stuff are pretty interesting. I was doing this question on how the illusion of 3 dimensional space can be created in paintings and its really quite cool - the use of linear perspective with the orthogonals and Ponzo illusion, aerial perspective and blah blah blah but whatever it is, damn the paintings are awesome! Plus a lil history bout them made it even more compelling.

I'm working on the second question now about meanings produced in paintings. Uh I chose 2 - The Venus of Urbino and Olympia. Both about nudity but the social context behind it was far more complicated (or lets say long-winded in layman's view) than I thought it would be. So it goes all the way back to the story as told in Genesis - Adam and Eve - the first nudes in the tradition: And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was a delight to the eyes...and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband...and the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked...And the Lord God called unto the man and said unto him, 'Where are thou?' And he said, 'I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself...' - They became aware of being naked because as the result of eating the apple, each saw the other differently. Nakedness was created in the mind of the beholder. The woman is blamed and is punished by being made subservient to the man. In relation to the woman, the man becomes the agent of God.

The social presence of a woman is different in kind from that of a man. A man's presence is dependent upon the promise of power which he embodies. By contrast, a woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself and defines what can or cannot be done to her. Men act and women appear. Alright and there are so much more about the other paintings and differences of nudity and nakedness. Passing it off as just another erotic picture would really discredit the artist I reckon.

Ok, I really ought not to carry on because the main thing of reading all these stuff is not to post but to come up with an essay. If I go on and on here and probably hitting a word count of 2000 but still 0 on my word document window, I pretty much will not do well.

Your mistakes do not define you now
They tell you who you're not.