MTV Punk'd and Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde in THE OC

I was watching MTV Punk'd the other day. And guess who I saw on telly....Olivia Wilde! I saw her briefly on one of the episodes of The OC and I would say that she left an impression. In the show, she really gave out the cool rocker girl vibes. Abit like Angelina Jolie - a little.... in your face attitude. Anyway, I thought she was very nice in that episode.

So anyway, back to MTV Punk'd, Olivia Wilde was suppose to get punk'd on that episode and my god...she was SO COOL about the whole thing. I mean if you saw the episodes starring Justin Timberlake and that Frodo dude from LODR, you would slap your forehead. Like LOSER..............

But....Olivia Wilde.....had none of that... she was clearly in control of the situation and while trying to make sense of the entire situation, she had just pure "coolness" pouring out of her pores. She actually was quite amused by the whole situation but at one part she got a little annoyed when the fake policeman was trying to attack her friend. It was very nice of her to protect her friend during their "close brush with the law".

When she finally knew that the whole thing was a hoax, she took it very good naturedly too. *clap clap clap* So I did a bit of surfing and since I'm such a nice person ....here....care and share.

Woman silver medalist who may not be a woman ?!?

TOP Indian woman athlete Santhi Soundarajan , who took the silver in the women's 800m race at the Asian Games in Doha on Dec 9, failed a GENDER VERIFICATION TEST soon after the race and is likely to be stripped of her medals, reports from New Delhi said yesterday.

This is interesting. Read the article. Male or Female runner

Picture on the right, you judge for yourself.

By the way, she has passed gender verification test in other competitions before. Bizarre isn't it?!?

Feminism......does not allow me to accept.....

Merriam Webster Dictionary:
Feminism
1 : the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes
2 : organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests

I used to be quite the feminist when I was younger. At a young age of 10, I would try to “brainwash” my younger brother to agree with me that: “All man and woman are born equal. The only difference whether they succeed in life is whether they work hard for their goals”. I was so successful that my 6 year old brother could chant this sentence on demand. :)

However, today – reading the online news during lunch time (yes! I'm still skipping lunch because my GOD I have so much more pounds to shed!!) I'm acutely aware that in other parts of the world, woman are still persecuted for –to me- absurd reasons.

Title of the article: Pakistani woman in hiding despite Islamic sex law change
Summary in points: Refer to article Today Online Article

1) Pakistan have recently overhauled its existing Islamic sex laws.
*clap clap clap*
Need to share this, this is funny
-an example of the Islamic sex laws distinguishing between rape and adultery as follows –
Formerly rape victims had to produce 4 MUSLIM MALE witness to prove allegations. Otherwise, they may be charged for adultery and if convicted, face the penalty of death by STONING.

Wah KAO! I mean, if she can even find ONE witness (muslim or non muslim, male or female), she would probably NOT be raped right! NND, truckload of cow manure.

2) Despite this Quratulain Sattar, 25 year old medical trainee, still needs to worry. Her story as follows:
a. Quratulain Sattar’s father is accusing her and her current husband on charges of adultery. This is because Quratulain refused to marry her COUSIN in a forced marriage.
b. QS’s father
i. Has previously detained the husband’s parents to force him to divorce her.
ii.Produced false witnesses to say that QS has been kidnapped and is already married.
c. Pakistan’s religious party Jamaat-e-Islami supported the father when he pursued the case.
d. QS and husband is on the run and may have to leave Pakistan for their safety.

*takes a deep breathe*

Enough said. This is SICK SICK SICK……………………………

Free Car Wash Today

I had a free car wash today. Actually, my car had to endure heavy “scrubbing” since last night as it kept raining, raining and yes….more raining.
It was really nice to go to bed last night to hear the pitter-patter but really a horrid experience to wake up this morning because it was still pitter-patter and how I wish I could sink into bed and let the world forget me for just one day.

Hooray!!! Today I’m going to watch Crazy horse….Yes, all of Singapore, I admit, I have yet to go to watch Crazy horse (despite the hype that has come and gone). I’m so looking forward to it as I’ve heard so much about it.

Note: Actually, this old lady with the wrinkly toes (i.e. ME) also have not had a chance to visit the Ministry of Sound for that matter. *blush deeply*. I need a walking stick soon.

P/s: On days like this, I super duper love my Honda Edix MORE MORE MORE.

Showcasing my car..........imagine it in Black tho.

Bless my wrinkly toes - Cross Stitching and more hours of sleep

Well, by the looks of it, I'm certainly getting to be quite the old lady....Bless my wrinkly toes.

For starters, I'm starting to sleep earlier (except for tonight because it is already 1.30am and I should be in bed by 1230am)- I just had enough of everybody telling me that I'm heading to "doomsland" by not getting enough sleep and acting all cranky every day.
Second tell-tale sign is that *gasps* horrors!! my latest craze/hobby is * drum rolls* C.R.O.S.S.S.T.I.T.C.H.I.N.G!

Before you roll on the floor and die from laughter, I'm going to share the story about my cross stitching saga. It starts out like this:

One day, my colleague (and also very nice friend) was telling me that I need to become more patient :). She was reflecting that when she was younger, she was alot like me and yes, we are quite the "pain-in-the-arse" perfectionist. Haha!

Anyway, she told me that I should try to relax a little, work less, have a more moderate life, yada yada. She then suggested that I pick up cross stitching because it might calm me down a little and I could learn to be more patient. I thought to myself:"Oh well, sounds like an interesting idea but aw man.....the cow will jump over the moon before I'll pick up the needle to start cross stitching JUST FOR FUN. *I'm saying this because fully knowing my own character, I would probably tear and burn the cross stitch in frustration if I don't get it right the first time *

So anyway, last Sunday, after attending Jason's graduation from bible school (and also attending the entire service at city harvest. @@) at expo 8, Mak and I headed down to Shislik, a russian restaurant at far east plaza. (Its the first time that I knew there is a difference between far east plaza and far east shopping center. So confusing!!)

By the time we got there, the restaurant was having its last orders and so we had a quick glance at the menu and ordered away. So hungry!! We had a dozen escargots (not say fantastic), steaks, soup and for desert cherry jubilee (which the waitress would prepare in front of the guests, so yummelicious).

After our lunch, we wanted to head to borders but it was raining quite heavily (And yes, Mak - if I should one day ever so run out of jobs, I can work as the weather lady). We wandered around far east plaza and then we saw this cross stitch shop! Amazing!! I don't think I ever went into a cross stitch shop before. We had a nice chat with the store lady - Betty, who is a 50 year old lady and she was so kind and patient in giving us our first FREE lesson in cross stitch. Bless the lady!

Since Mak and I were having so much difficulty deciding what christmas presents to buy each other, we made a pact and decided to each choose a design and so we are going to finish the cross stitch and exchange as christmas presents. THERE! No need to crack our brains to buy x'mas presents for each other this year.

You won't believe it but I'm HOOKED! Cross stitching is so much fun. Everything has its place. If life could only be this simple.....Anyway, I'm already thinking up of new things to stitch..........STITCH STITCH STITCH. STITCH AWAY.

Okay, time for bed.

Seven Wonders of the World

The number 7 is a special number.

In Judaism, we have seven days of mourning, seven days of celebration following a wedding, seven days for the creation of the world (which are our familiar days of the week), the seven commandments and others.................

So let's talk about the seven wonders.............

Seven Wonder of the Ancient World
Today, only one is left standing. Listed in order of construction:
1) Great Pyramid of Giza - Still standing (Egyptians)
2) Hanging Gardens of Babylon - Earthquake (Babylonians)
3) Temple of Artemis at Ephesus - Fire (Lydians, Persians, Greeks)
4) Statue of Zeus at Olympia - Fire (Greeks)
5) Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus - Earthquake (Persians, Greeks)
6) Colossus of Rhodes - Earthquake (Hellenistic Greece)
7) Lighthouse of Alexandria (Hellenistic Egypt)

Seven Wonder of the Middle Ages
1) Stonehenge , UK
2) Colosseum, Rome
3) Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, Egypt
4) Great Wall of China
5) Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
6) Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
7) Leaning Tower of Pisa
------Also famous wonders of the middle ages------------
8) Cairo Citadel, Egypt
9) Ely Cathedral, UK
10) Taj Mahal (India)
11) Cluny Abbey, France

Tourist Travel Wonders:
1) Great Pyramids of Giza
2) Great Wall of China
3) Taj Mahal
4) Serengeti Migration (Tanzania, Africa)
5) Galapagos
6) Grand Canyon
7) Machu Picchu (Lost City of the Incas ,Peru)

Jamie's Wish List:
1) Acropolis in Athens
2) Pyramids , Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa and Cairo Citadel
3) Taj Mahal
4) Stonehenge
4) Grand Canyon
5) Machu Picchu
6) Leaning Tower of Pisa
7) Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
8) And many many more!

There should be a lot more travelling for leisure now :)

I don't know how to .......I'm sorry

I would be scared too....if someone told me that I was dying....how would I say goodbye? Would I just choose not to know and live life as normally as I can.....

We used to visit my grandmother every Sunday when we were young but as we grew older, we became so busy that the family visits became more irregular and then fewer and fewer. It didn't help that I was travelling most of the time. In Bangkok, my mother called me to say that my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. There was a lump that kept bleeding....it must be very serious.

I came back to Singapore and spent Sunday with grandmother. She was playing mahjong most of the time and I sat there as always reading my book. Everyone tried to pretend that things were as normal as could be. I glanced at grandma from the corner of my eye to check if she was okay. She seemed fine.

But when I went to kiss my grandmother goodbye to go home, she suddenly held my hand and kissed it. I was taken by surprise by her sudden action and didn't know how to react. In that instant, her eyes welled up with tears. I felt my heart break into tiny pieces. She was suffering and there was nothing I could do..I didn't even know how to say that I was sorry.

My grandmother is very stubborn and she won't seek treatment because she thinks she is too old from it. My mother tells me that she just wants the bleeding to stop. I think she is just very tired because she overcame alot of difficulties when she had a stroke a few years back. Would cancer hurt alot?

Geography Lesson 004 - Continents and Europe

Well, as usual, if I should be studying for my Jap paper, everything else is suddenly so much more interesting. Taking a break from my 日本語の勉強。。。。。I'm once again back to looking at maps. Big interesting world.....

Although some listed in the World Atlas cannot really be considered as continents, we have 7 continents: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antartica, Europe and Australia/Oceania. (ranked from largest to smallest)

In terms of population, Asia has the largest followed by Africa and then Europe. Taking another slice at the data, terms of countries per continent, the largest would be Africa (53), followed by Europe(46) and then Asia (44 - including middle east).

Having a closer look at Europe today.

From the map above, we can see that Europe is separated from Asia by Russia's Ural Mountains on the right, Caspian Sea and Black Sea from the bottom.

For a nice list of countries by continent, please refer to:
World Atlas - Countries by Continent

One of the interesting things about Europe is the formation of the Euro which is the attempt by Europe to have a single currency. The euro is the currency of 12 European union countries namely Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland. As of 1 Jan 2007, Slovenia will adopt Euro as their currency as well.

The Euro banknotes are managed by the Eurosystem which consists of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central bank of the 12 countries. The Eurosystem has the exclusive right to issue banknotes. Meanwhile, the 12 euro-area member states are allowed to issue their own euro coins. This is managed by the eurosystem that allocates the total value of euro coins issued by each country. So the next time, you see a euro coin, you can find out which EU country produced it!!

Home sweet home and some good news

When I was boarding the plane yesterday, I learnt from this tall and slim (but very scary looking) model-like lady (she had long black hair and some parts were tinted blue and she looked like she had just stepped out of a sci-fi movie) that the the reason the flight was delayed was because the airspace around Shanghai was closed due to military exercise. One look at the electronic board and all the flights were labelled delayed delayed delayed! Quite an experience how unlike Beijing! (in a veryyyy sacarstic tone....you know how I feel about BJ airport)

My immediate thoughts was Taiwan and Mr Chen Shui Bian. :)

Reflection on politics on an increasing scale:
Family - Annoy a family member and you might not be able to have dinner!
Company - Annoy some one up there and you might lose your job!
Country - Annoy the government and have missiles pointed at your country and oh yes! no direct flights.

Enough said!

So I got home, struggled like crazy to keep my eyes open while I washed and cleaned up and then fall asleep on the coach. Didn't know how I ended up on the bed and slept till noon today. I could have slept more if I didn't have to be the chauffeaur and if I didn't have to study for my Japanese paper tomorrow. :P As you can see, I haven't started studying yet.

Good news, I got my LOMA paper results.
LOMA 280: Passed, score 100
LOMA 290: Passed, score 100

Don't ask me how I did it. I don't know.....

Trapped in Shanghai Pudong Airport...thank goodness for krisflyer elite gold

Legs stretched out and propped up against one of the trolleys, I’m in Pudong International Airport, Shanghai. The flight back home to Singapore has been delayed and it seems that the revised estimated departure time is expected to be 2 and half hours later! Thank goodness for krisflyer elite gold perks, at least I get to sit rather decently in the lounge. Otherwise, I know that I can feel a lot nastier if I were sitting outside(probably on the floor since it is a full flight and everyone is waiting impatiently at the gate). If I had known the flight was going to be delayed, I would have gone for at least an hour's body massage just now.

So I haven’t been updating my blog for almost 2 weeks now. I’ve even had a couple of friends asking if I had given up (once again :P) blogging but nah, if you are reading this as you can see, I haven’t given up blogging, it is just that it has been a pretty rough 2 weeks for me.

Yes, you are 100% right, totally work related. I’ve recently been embroiled in some office “rearrangement” and it is not a pretty sight. In fact, it got so bad that at one point I thought…hey I want OUT of this whole thing!! In fact, in a fit of anger, stress and disappointment, I wrote my letter of resignation and sent it out.

If I were to conclude on the entire episode, I would just say that the whole thing was just bad timing. Almost everyone I knew was unhappy with the situation for some time, but everyone tried to keep it under wraps and manage it in their own way but when someone finally snapped, the others followed and like some chain reaction, the dominoes came falling down.

Do I regret my decision? I don’t. I figured that if things remained status quo, I would have left anyway. Life is too short and we shouldn’t spend time doing things that we don’t find worth it.

For me, it was very easy to look at the situation in a simplified way. I wasn’t very happy with the current arrangements and tried to highlight this to my boss…once, twice and then three times but received no reciprocation. I finally made the decision to escalate and certainly I never meant for anyone to get hurt but sometimes when you try to do the right thing, I think that happens. Deep down inside, I just wanted to do a whole lot more but ended up getting very frustrated. The worst part is that I think it is hard to do it to someone you like very much but then again the situation was just too painful to ignore.

So a couple of things that I learnt from my colleagues this week:
a) Do the right thing and ensure your conscience is clear at all times.
b) After you made a decision, look forward and don’t look backward.
c) Just do the work. One thing at a time!
d) Respect other people’s time as you would hope others to respect yours.

Thank goodness for the people who love and support me. I’m sure that without them, I would never have come this far. Bottom line, I’m blessed.

P/s: I still have my job and I'm going to look forward from here onwards.