Scary

I haven't gone to a public pool to swim for years and today I went for a short 30 mins swim. Why only 30 mins? Cos I can't stand being there for any longer that's why.

I passed by the pool yesterday and it was relatively empty so I was quite excited to go today but it was very crowded today (note to self, go on Saturdays not Sundays or find a more private pool) and not only was it hard to swim because there are people crossing your path either from the front or from the side. Most of all, I can't stand people next to me who will cough out phelgm into the 'drains' surrounding the pool. Don't they know what they spit out comes back into the pool? Pure disgusting and that fellow does it all the time.

On top of that, there were a lot of sunbathers in tight g-strings and leopard prints but on the wrong gender mind you...all these on guys...arrghh that's is going to give me nightmares for a long time to come.

Wanderlust

Missing Alaska, Seattle, San Francisco, Manchester, Scottish Highlands, London, Interlaken, New York and so much so much more....of cos if I have the time to go away for a long trip, I will probably want to go Greece, Russia, South America, South Africa, places that I have not been before but had always wanted to go

Must be daydream as I can't wait to get away from work! Le sigh...

Oh What A Day!

Planned to catch a movie today but ended up doing more and had a wonderfully fruitful day! Set my alarm early but woke up even earlier, perhaps body clock is now tuned to waking up earlier. So read a bit of my story book and then shower and left to have breakfast at my favorite lor mee stall....yippee.

Took a train down to Dhoby Ghaut and seeing that I still have time, decided to stop by Smiggles to check out their stock, I saw them promoting the shop outside PS last Saturday but was running late then so went back to check it out today. Despite how early it was the shop was crowded. Didn't buy anything but spotted these tins which I would considered buying if not for the long queue. Basically what enticed me was each tin has their own lid unlike some of the other storage tins they have in this store, some are merely stacked on one another so the 2nd and 3rd tin will ended up without a lid but not these tins i saw.

Next, I checked out Diva (coincidentally another Aussie shop), I passed by that shop a few times and saw that they have this jewellery storage bag but again the last time I was rushing for time and today I was able to take my leisure time. So finally bought it and that's the most expensive stuff I bought the entire day. Hope it will be useful and worth it's value.

Finally, it was time for my movie and I made my way to Cathay. Queue was long due to today being a public holiday. Caught Thor, nicer movie than I thought and I cried a few times till 1 of my contact lens dropped out but luckily I was able to find it hehe.

I had been watching movies monthly but due to time constraints I wasn't able to catch the full movie the last few times so this is actually my first full movie for a longgggg time and it was so worth it. Glad to be able to spent some time relaxing (not that the shopping wasn't relaxing enough hehe).

Next up was Art Friend at Bras Brasah, I popped by the shop last Saturday but they were already closed for the day and I decided to try my luck, hoping they are open today and they were! Goody good, managed to find what I wanted and also some ideas for X'mas as well as some craft stuff. Now all I need is find the time to do them hehe. However, I also realized there are many stuff that are probably available overseas that can't be found here locally sigh.

Once I am done at Art Friend, I dropped by Bugis planning to take the train home but not sure what prompted me to head upstairs to Muji but boy was I glad I did. They have since imported some new items and the new arrivals are not exactly expensive either, bravo! Bought some storage boxes for a friend's birthday given that she really needs to clean up her room (Not meant as an insult) and these boxes should help sort out some of her knick knacks. At the same time, it was refreshing to find out some bags that I was eyeing at Art Friend selling at a cheaper price a Muji. Unbelievable but true. So come X'mas I will be rummaging at Muji but hope they will still have the items I want (Already thinking whether I should go back and get those bags I wanted and keep them for X'mas instead hmmm).

That marked the end of a fruitful day for I am hungry and carrying too much stuff with me although I very much wanted to head to Parkway to check out a book at the book rental place but I shall leave that for another day.

Although it was a weekday but I must say it was very well spent and much more enjoyable than my weekends and the day can only get better. As today is a non-working day I wouldn't need to dial into my weekly teleconference call and I can just chill out in front of the tv and watch all my favorite tv programs - CSI is back again starting tonight!!! Yippeeeeeee

Depression

While the GE results were slowly being announced yesterday I was fairly depressed, when I found out via various Tweets that WP had won only Aljunied and Hougang, I just logged off and went to bed crying. Crying not for WP, not for George Yeo, not for Singapore but the esteemed Mr Chiam See Tong.

Right from the start, he has fought hard to give Singaporeans an alternative voice in Parliament, holding himself accountable to all his constituents, fighting the battle on his own until Low Thia Khiang came into the picture later on. Both of them fought as best as they could on disadvantaged ground, walk the walk and talk the talk and that's why they got so much respect from the ground.

So today marked a very sad day for me as we say goodbye to Mr Chiam as an Opposition Leader and although he has never run in my constituency I had always rooted for his party. Thanks to you all in Potong Pasir and Bishan-Toa Payoh, the WP will now go into battle on their own.

I have nothing against George Yeo, he is a good man, a better man then some of his compatriots, much more deserving to be represented in Parliament but unfortunately as some people commented, the GRCs is a 2 way sword. You can't saw it without 2 parties getting hurt by it. I am sure PAP or the Government will find some place for George but what they can't replace is a great leader, Mr Chiam. As someone commented, Mr Chiam didn't lose the election, Singapore did.

That aside, a few days ago, I ran into a friend and she outright told me she will vote PAP because she received a $800 GSS package from the Government. $800 may be a lot to others but I swear even if the Government were to dangle a $10,000 carrot in my face I would not be sway for my integrity and conscience cannot be bought for any price. There is a Chinese saying, 良心被狗吃了, if you can be bought 1 time, your conscience will always be in question so I will stay away from such friends as it is obvious we don't share the same values.

Quotes

In the wake of the general election happening here, I wanted to share some analogies but instead I will share with all some quotes from some great leaders in our generation which truly truly speaks out to me. If these men are still alive today, how different will the world be today?

From Martin Luther King Jr
- Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
- Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
- Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

From Gandhi
- A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
- A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
- Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
- The moment there is suspicion about a person's motives, everything he does becomes tainted.
- Truth never damages a cause that is just.
- Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

From JFK
- A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
- Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
- Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
- If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
- The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
- Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.

Last but not least, I applaud friends who flew home from overseas the last few days because they were not able to register as overseas voters and they willingly spent thousand of dollars for an airticket home because they believe. Believe that they are voting for their future, the future of our nation and believing mediocracy is not enough . Salute to you!

And thanks to my colleagues and friends who are not even citizens of our tiny nation but had made observations, they don't need to put it in perspective for me because I hold true to my belief :
- Jac, when the election is over, your government will open the gates to another 900,000 foreigners
- Jac, you must admit the government had done a good job in training all of you to be so obedient for the last 40 over years.
- Jac, the tertiary education system you had today where you invite foreigners in to study and live here for free is similar to the bumi system in Malaysia, when your leader break away from Malaysia, he vowed that it is because he does not agreed to that system but 40 years down the road, he is doing the same to your nation. (I forgot to comment, at least bumi are still citizens whereas we are opening our arms out to foreigners and depriving needy locals from the same opportunity so we are even worse off than Malaysia right now)
- Jac, Singaporeans are only good at complaining but not good at putting their words into actions

WFH

Very happy today cos I choose to WFH. Weather is good but I am staying indoors, dry and cosy. And when it is not raining, the windows are open and there is a cool breeze flowing through, unlike in the office, so freaking COLD!

Keep Calm

In 1939, the British government produced this "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster during the beginning of WW II to raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion. However, over the years it has been used by many others to create other Keep Calm statements.

The most recent I saw was utterly funny, in the wake of Prince William's wedding, someone created this.

Indeed it is true, so single girls out there, can continue to keep their hopes up!

My bane

Over the weekends I went out for dinner with friends and we ordered cereal prawns as one of the dishes. As everyone knows, when you eat cereal prawns, you are supposed to eat the entire prawn, the shells and head included which is what I did.

However I forgot that I had some skin allergy recently and I should avoid the prawn head as it is highly potent! True enough, after consuming that, rashes start appearing all over my body AGAIN...arghhh....and to be honest, it wasn't very nice cereal prawns. I have eaten better cereal prawns before!