Raining bear and octopus

Heartware zone

Jingyi made a very sharp remark about the few Thought Collective events we've been to: they make their point by stirring our emotions. It's effective but contents are often traded off to place more emphasis on the build up. 

But perhaps emotion is really the "think" missing in many actions we make in life, as a human, as an employer, as a child, a spouse, a friend. Like what Charlene told Ms Blur, when you fail to experience what the other party is going through, you can only sympathize, never empathize. 

And the main take away from the TPY trail yesterday was precisely this: empathy. 

When US slaughtered the mad cows, Cambodia got angry cos they could have used those cows to defuse/detonate the many landmines claiming countless of lives every single day at almost zero cost. US didn't think of it; they didn't empathize with Cambodia's problem. When UN built the wells hoping it'll reduce women's workload in Uganda so that they can have time for school, they thought of the technical "hard" solutions, solving problem at its surface. But the well was soon filled with stones, by the very women themselves; they felt their only social role got displaced. No empathy, no "heart" solutions. And the same thing for the HDB architects designing the facilities for the sake of designing it, but no one actually uses them...

Still some time to have a life

Here is Mr Very Free getting ready to go out, and a very jealous Mr Not Free snapping the photo as a form of revenge 

Finally had a date at the end of the week and we act yi ge atas go watch some Hungarian show with English subtitle. It was pretty thought provoking though I think it's a little top abstract and the ending was kinda random/convenient (they metaphorically died then cinematically committed suicide, like WHUT). And the main question Ms Blur had (and my thoughts too) is, "why are they so daring to go naked on stage?" Lol I guess some people are really ready to go the extra length to bring some point across. And sacrifice in the name of art, how nice... 

Also very nice is Samsung's auto smoothing of our face; oh look how pretty we both look! 

And this is the backdrop of our stage where we "rehearsed" our audition piece (might not even happen) when the 1.5hour technical difficulties happened before our show. Pretty legit place to bask huh

Next day was swimming and visiting this little one. "看上面，看上面！" and she did haha

Lunch at Serangoon gardens then chit chatted with relative before I went out to get my hair cut and ran some errand then it's back to the hell hole (it wasn't that bad back when all these we're happening cos air con was still up, now... Haiz) 

Also, squeezed some time to show our face at the HDB scholar's gathering at Chen Tong's! 

Fast forward to Wednesday night where Commencement Dinner happened and all the graduates came back and Christine had her usual whole-world-owe-me-$1mil face as with every commencement that made everyone near her unhappy. Staying away from her next year, definitely. And why this photo? Cos Bird drove and this is the breakfast the next morning, which happened to be my free day, which translate to a rare return back home courtesy of Bird-Jie (apparently the night before they drank till 4am and played some ranking game where Brandon was ranked 4th and he harped on it till now) 

Haircut! Wanted to cut "fade" then aunty say "ohhh, high cut at the side ah" haha but ya she still did a faded sort of 

And even rarer, a dinner date with Ms Blur!!! And Jack's place's escargot was fancy~ though I think it's unnecessarily so. Haha. 

After our Lobater Bisque, art was formed... This piece is going for $3mil

And this piece #foodporn is going for $3mil as well! 

And this is us! Happy birthday in advance Ah Blur! :) (typing this now would actually mean it's belated though) 

Saturday morning started with this! Public Policy Workshop with the LKYSPP. Much excites. This also marks the start of my SG100 Think Future Programme and hopefully we'll go far! Went over to the Thought Collective's Post-LKY lecture series after the programme and ended my 14 hour long intensely intellectual day...

And this is the reward the next day. What you're looking at now is part of a 8 Olympic-sized pool; filled with rays (including 3 huge Manta Rays), some sharks, some humongous Grouper, and lots of fish. And yes, we dived in this shit!!! The most amazing experience ever, swimming alongside so many fish in such a tame environment (though it's simulated to be comparable to open waters, but at least we were sure the creatures inside are tame!) 

Souvenir from the second dive in the shark tank; our first time diving with so many sharks (in fact, first time with ANY shark at all haha) and it was shared by many on the "other side" of the tunnel. Yea, visitors in SEA Aquarium! And they thought we were some expert divers (probably drunk to explain our instability and clumsiness underwater). So we enjoyed being one day of celebrity waving at random people and "photobombing" and taking wefies together. Hahaha! A very very pleasant experience that was too much to handle even until today (probably cos the expectation was just really low). Oh, and that's a shark's teeth! 

And that was about all the fun I had the past two weeks 

And this is how my schedule looks like: 9 to 4 then library almost every day; even Thursdays are used for research; not forgetting Saturdays for SG100 and Sundays to prepare for presentations. Oh my tian. Hahaha 

And yup, first time teaching a university class: unnerving! 

After class on Friday was finally lunch and discussion with Pung and May-ge for our $1500 grand-prize policy challenge. And then rushing off for this:

Date with the dragon and Merlion vomiting into my butt. I'll really be impressed if you know where this is... Haha. First time doing site visit with Ms Blur after three full years of her being in an architectural course... I kinda failed as a boyfriend XP. But it was fun, really! Except I wasn't in the appropriate attire. Why so? 

Cos this. Wine bar with the A5 gang, then switched to Clark Quay cos it was too packed at Zouk

Wings Bar! Wings were meh, nachos were impressive! 

And ya, they have this! Interesting...

Went back to hall and chit chatted with the gang until 3 and insomnia till 4 cos there was no aircon... And with 3 hours of sleep, 

This. "Please Disturb" haha. It's one of the role playing segment from the B&J Diversity Trail conducted by the Thought Collective and it was really really informative and thought provocating (really, at this rate these programs are going, my mind will be really provoked; but I'm loving it haha). Maybe I'll post about it some other time 

And now, back to work. Piles and piles of work...

Desmond Lim

I laughed at his video and I didn't feel bad about it four years ago, neither do I feel bad about it now; it was indeed hilarious (thanks to the subtitle). 

But I've never questioned his intention, his sincerity, and his passion. While I may be pro-PAP, it is perhaps true to a certain extent that the positivity from this guy deserves some credit, and maybe even for some of those in white to learn from. The point he made about his willingness to serve the people and his lack of command in English having no direct correlation really made sense, and I'd like to retract my previous criticism on other MPs (such as LTK) for their below-par communicating skills. Perhaps it really doesn't matter (apparently parliament allows presentation using the 4 official languages), especially when sincerity and genuine concern of the masses is hard to come by these days. 

Also, what makes you think he lacks the intelligence to propose good and practical policies? What makes you doubt his willingness to try for betterment (really?)? What makes you question his fighting spirit? Perhaps him coming on for a second run is exactly trying to capture the heart of people like me who felt his flame (and I'm sure the KNN video "backfired" by helping him gain some popularity, as evident in the comments), and I must say it's a pretty successful attempt. 

Lastly, imagine he's a friend of yours; imagine he's your brother; imagine he's your father or grandfather; or just imagine your brother, father or grandfather who has so much passion but lacks in his command of English, how would you feel with all these mockery going around? 

In fact, imagine he's you. Imagine he's a human being...

Cockroach Theory

When we panic at the sight of a cockroach, it is not the cockroach that caused the panic; it is our inability to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that led to us panicking. 

So is the case for being stuck in a traffic jam, failing an exam, waiting for a friend who is late, or any thing in life that doesn't go our way. 

Crisis management (composure; patience; critical thinking; etc): probably one of the most important qualities to survive this world of ours today. 

Adrenaline

4 Level 4000 Economics modules; 

1 GEM; 

StepUp module; 

Research Assistant for Prof Ko; 

Teaching Assistant for EC1101E; 

SG100 Think Future Forum; 

EU-ASEAN Tourism Policy Challenge; 

And of course, various hall commitments...

I'm all pumped up. See everyone at the end of the semester! 

SG50, and Weak 1 again

Moved in, then this for lunch 

Then this with the gang (it's Taufik and Ruien on stage now) 

And then walked over to this for dinner 

Next day was lunch with this gang 

Then this for dinner 

With this gang 

And hammock! 

And this after soccer (plus her pretty sister that really 女大十八变); studying architecture too, 有前途 HAHA 

And finally, Sunday was spent swimming at bro's; packing stuff at home; coming back to hall to deposit things; fetching bro to Padang; watching NDP at home; and finally Liverpool at gardens with Brandon. 

Monday is swimming at sis' condo and then back to hall for the sem to begin...

Skipping Tuesday, this is Wednesday night at MBS, LKY Musical! Adrian Pang really inpressed; and though Sharon Au couldn't sing well, her acting was good! 

Phuket 3/8/15 - 7/8/15

Left when FB reminded me that we are three years old! 

Met our guide, did some "city tour" which basically brought us to some factories to buy stuff; and we did! Look at our matching bags haha. Reached our hotel around 3pm and then we left for the day's activity! 

Carabet show, basically watching the trannies perform/lip sync international songs. Really takes a lot of effort to know the lyrics especially when they don't even speak the language. But the thing that really made the price worth is was the FML guys dancing beside them... LOLOL. Also, tranny boobs are disgusting

Went back to hotel and then went out for the famous Patong beach to get our dinner. Really crowded and interesting, like any other touristy streets with lots of people soliciting us to go for their performances, ranging from Tiger shows to Ping Pong shows. Also, heard people calling our names when buying dinner and bump into the biker gang of Shuhadah, Min Pei, Hui Tien and friend.  

Next morning! Breakfast was goooooood. Cos there was bacon haha. And all sorts of eggs to choose from 

And this is where all the excitement lies (according to and Blur); we did some island hopping; snorkeling; swimming in a lagoon... And when I was trying to take a nap on the way back along a very choppy sea, she didn't allow, I quote, "this is the most exciting part, how can you sleep!" Well it was indeed exciting, but I think watching the fishes swimming about 1cm away from me was much more exciting. Oh wait, I forgot you didn't snorkel haha. One more fear on your check list to overcome next time! 

有山有水，有熊有尼姑 again... 

Dinner was pretty legit; then we went message after that, which was aweeeeeesomeeeeee. First time having a 2 hour long message and it was so good I don't think I can have anything short next time *cough cough* haha. Very impressed by Ms Blur cos her ultra-sensitive skin didn't act up. *clap clap* 

A stormy night led to some power failure. The first time all the lights went off she was bathing; second time we were preparing for bed, and the lights went off one by one; pretty cinematic haha. No thanks to having no air con the whole night, but guess the message helped and there wasn't much disruption to the usually light-sleeper (me). Luckily the ventilator was still working! Otherwise we might end up providing the mosquitoes outside the best meal they ever have...

Brushed teeth with handphone lights before the sun rose the next morning and we left before the problem was rectified (so much faith in them to fix it)

And first stop after picking up a bunch of Chinese at a super posh (5 star) resort aka Naka Phuket (they really are driving tourism everywhere on the planet). Monkey cave was meh, monkeys saw humans also go like meh cos all they want is the food we brought along. No other fucks given. 

Next stop: here we see another relative of monkeys not giving a fuck...

And here on the right hand side of the photo you see the same species of animal having a very different emotion in the same circumstance: forced smile, tightened muscles, and gripping the handles for her dear life. Meanwhile, let's take a selfie! Haha 

Vroom vroom mofos! And byebye white singlet... Haha 

And super fun white water rafting experience! The last time I did it was in secondary school!!! Shiok. And no photo of zip lining; just wait for it to be uploaded (eons later) on her profile haha. And yup, even after all these adrenaline-rush activities, the bumpy ferry ride still tops her list... -.-

And me taking a huge risk here with my phone out in the rapids haha 

It's like we indent the rain-on-demand to make the weather more bearable; rain stops whenever we alight from the bus for our activities and once we step onto the bus to go home, it pours. Not that I'm complaining, but we agree that a day of intense heat would be nice... And same scenario, rain stopped for our plan to eat street food by the beach! 

Then it's patong beach for shopping, and then back to chill by the bar of our hotel. Got this pineapple-coconut cocktail called piña colada (meh), and Ms Blur got coconut ice cream milk shake which was really good! 

Slept in the next morning and had a hard time deciding between renting a scooter (decided the petrol and the need to navigate was too big a turn off) and a tuktuk (here we are!) to get to the Old Town. It was so much easier this way; and it turned out to be cheaper than what was quoted by the hotel! 

And this old town is really a hipster place; evident by the amount of cool looking cafés 

And here is yet another one. Pretty legit, all of them. And after some souvenir shopping, it's time to head home! 

And the final thing just before we go: MANGO STICKY RICE! Rice was good, mango was sweet, but the seeds we dump in spoiled the delicacy. Still, satisfied our cravings (sort of) and also almost spent every cent that we brought over. *tada* that's the end of our short excapade!!!~