OK I should be studying for Structures exam tomorrow, I really should, but before that..... a video clip on Sg bimbos....
"How do you play naughty?"
"Maybe...use my eyes to.....give electricity....."
Waaaaaaaddddd??? Hey the clean energy problem just got solved! Woohoo!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
On Indonesians
Was reading Reader's Digest and came across an article on sleep habits of people around the world..and what pleasantly surprised me is this statistic in the article:
Wow cool! At last something to make us proud of being Indonesians....
Then after dinner I was chatting with my housemate and turns out she recently read a survey that says Indonesian youths are among the happiest in the world. That got me curious on what statistics are available on Indonesia and Indonesians, and these are the results:
1. Indonesian youths are the third happiest amongst youths of South East Asian countries, China, India and Hong Kong. (http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090325-130910.html)
2.The gender ratio in Indonesia is 1.01 male to female. I guess that eliminates any excuses for polygamy in Indonesia!
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html)
3. As of 30 Sept 2008, Indonesia has $151.7 billion of external debt (compare to Singapore's $25.52 billions, Vietnam's $23.72 billion, Laos's $3.179 billions, Malaysia's $54.11 billions). Yeah, we've got the biggest debt this side of Asia...
4. Indonesia has 169 airports with paved runways AND 506 airports with unpaved runways.... rough landing, anyone?
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html)
5. Military spending is 3% of GDP (compare to Singapore's 4.9%, Vietnam's 2.5%, Malaysia's 2.03%). Meanwhile, our education expenditure is 3.6% of GDP compared to Singapore's 3.7%.
Looking at numbers alone, how come the Singapore education system managed to generate so much more stress? Huhuhuhuh.......
6. Indonesia is first on tsunami death toll (104 055 deaths followed by Sri Lanka's 48 677)
7. We are the 7th largest foreign aid recipient, just between Sudan and Afghanistan....
8. We have the highest known mammal species (515 species) AND the most types of threatened mammal species IN THE WORLD! That means a fantastic biodiversity! Oh wow...I should do further research on what's being done to protect this biodiversity (I suspect not much....) Pretty curious now..
9. Indonesia ranks 15th on the most number of male smokers (France is way down there at no 95..)
No wonder I was unfazed by Paris while Singaporeans complain that Parisians smoke all the time..
10. We rank 3rd for cinema attendance worldwide (1st is India,2nd the USA , and France is 4th...) Wow..I think it says something that eventhough we're "just" a developing country, our cinema attendance is up there with the more advanced countries hahaha...
11. We rank 64th out of 65 countries in the Big Mac Index (defined as the price of a McDonald's Big Mac in US Dollars at current exchange rates...which means our Big Mac price is as low as it can go, only higher than China...) Well, too bad I'm a vegetarian....
12. That said, we also have the second least number of McD outlets at 0.003 per 10 000 people (in a survey out of 39 countries) China is again lowest at 0.002 per 10 000 people. Yeah, with the amount and variety (and sheer fantastic deliciousness) of cheap street food in Indonesia, McD shouldn't even have a chance!
(Statistics 6 - 12 taken from http://www.nationmaster.com/country/id)
13. 60% of Indonesians want adulterers to be punished by whipping, according to a 2004 survey by US -funded Global Freedom Institute (Then again, I took the statistic from a website titled "Jihad Watch" ....huhuhu....http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/003904.php)
14. Indonesians are the third slowest to lose their virginity amongst 42 countries surveyed in the Durex Global Sex Survey 2005. Apparently most Indonesians lose their virginity at age 19.1, compared to India's 19.8 , Vietnam's 19.6, Malaysia's 19, France's 17.2 and Iceland's 15.6. Now, since most Indonesians marry young anyway, I'm just wondering whether most of that virginity is lost before or after marriage.....
(http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/spreadsheet/2372916)
15. Less than 2% of Indonesians do not believe in God, according to a 1999 BBC survey (compared to 65% in Japan, and 13% in Singapore) The statistics might have changed a lot now... the thing is that merely stating "I believe in God" doesn't mean anything... Some people believe with their heart but their mind doesn't believe, others believe in their minds and their hearts are unconvinced, still others believe not with their hearts or minds, but just with their mouths... but I digress!
(http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=indonesians+survey+aheist&source=bl&ots=Kgt6KbsW-X&sig=mw22IKSCHDr-cp9S1S6zKGUETXg&hl=en&ei=Iyj3SbnyMs-JkQWTiuHpCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9#PPA53,M1)
Hmm...the post took longer than I expected because it was pretty fun browsing the net just to try and find weird statistics hahaha...
Conclusion: I guess Indonesia is a pretty cool nation after all...
Wow cool! At last something to make us proud of being Indonesians....
Then after dinner I was chatting with my housemate and turns out she recently read a survey that says Indonesian youths are among the happiest in the world. That got me curious on what statistics are available on Indonesia and Indonesians, and these are the results:
1. Indonesian youths are the third happiest amongst youths of South East Asian countries, China, India and Hong Kong. (http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090325-130910.html)
2.The gender ratio in Indonesia is 1.01 male to female. I guess that eliminates any excuses for polygamy in Indonesia!
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html)
3. As of 30 Sept 2008, Indonesia has $151.7 billion of external debt (compare to Singapore's $25.52 billions, Vietnam's $23.72 billion, Laos's $3.179 billions, Malaysia's $54.11 billions). Yeah, we've got the biggest debt this side of Asia...
4. Indonesia has 169 airports with paved runways AND 506 airports with unpaved runways.... rough landing, anyone?
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html)
5. Military spending is 3% of GDP (compare to Singapore's 4.9%, Vietnam's 2.5%, Malaysia's 2.03%). Meanwhile, our education expenditure is 3.6% of GDP compared to Singapore's 3.7%.
Looking at numbers alone, how come the Singapore education system managed to generate so much more stress? Huhuhuhuh.......
6. Indonesia is first on tsunami death toll (104 055 deaths followed by Sri Lanka's 48 677)
7. We are the 7th largest foreign aid recipient, just between Sudan and Afghanistan....
8. We have the highest known mammal species (515 species) AND the most types of threatened mammal species IN THE WORLD! That means a fantastic biodiversity! Oh wow...I should do further research on what's being done to protect this biodiversity (I suspect not much....) Pretty curious now..
9. Indonesia ranks 15th on the most number of male smokers (France is way down there at no 95..)
No wonder I was unfazed by Paris while Singaporeans complain that Parisians smoke all the time..
10. We rank 3rd for cinema attendance worldwide (1st is India,2nd the USA , and France is 4th...) Wow..I think it says something that eventhough we're "just" a developing country, our cinema attendance is up there with the more advanced countries hahaha...
11. We rank 64th out of 65 countries in the Big Mac Index (defined as the price of a McDonald's Big Mac in US Dollars at current exchange rates...which means our Big Mac price is as low as it can go, only higher than China...) Well, too bad I'm a vegetarian....
12. That said, we also have the second least number of McD outlets at 0.003 per 10 000 people (in a survey out of 39 countries) China is again lowest at 0.002 per 10 000 people. Yeah, with the amount and variety (and sheer fantastic deliciousness) of cheap street food in Indonesia, McD shouldn't even have a chance!
(Statistics 6 - 12 taken from http://www.nationmaster.com/country/id)
13. 60% of Indonesians want adulterers to be punished by whipping, according to a 2004 survey by US -funded Global Freedom Institute (Then again, I took the statistic from a website titled "Jihad Watch" ....huhuhu....http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/003904.php)
14. Indonesians are the third slowest to lose their virginity amongst 42 countries surveyed in the Durex Global Sex Survey 2005. Apparently most Indonesians lose their virginity at age 19.1, compared to India's 19.8 , Vietnam's 19.6, Malaysia's 19, France's 17.2 and Iceland's 15.6. Now, since most Indonesians marry young anyway, I'm just wondering whether most of that virginity is lost before or after marriage.....
(http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/spreadsheet/2372916)
15. Less than 2% of Indonesians do not believe in God, according to a 1999 BBC survey (compared to 65% in Japan, and 13% in Singapore) The statistics might have changed a lot now... the thing is that merely stating "I believe in God" doesn't mean anything... Some people believe with their heart but their mind doesn't believe, others believe in their minds and their hearts are unconvinced, still others believe not with their hearts or minds, but just with their mouths... but I digress!
(http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=tAeFipOVx4MC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=indonesians+survey+aheist&source=bl&ots=Kgt6KbsW-X&sig=mw22IKSCHDr-cp9S1S6zKGUETXg&hl=en&ei=Iyj3SbnyMs-JkQWTiuHpCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9#PPA53,M1)
Hmm...the post took longer than I expected because it was pretty fun browsing the net just to try and find weird statistics hahaha...
Conclusion: I guess Indonesia is a pretty cool nation after all...
Sunday, April 19, 2009
C'est encore Paris...
"Across the street someone is playing La Vie en Rose. . . they do it for the tourists, but I'm always surprised at how it moves me. . . It means seeing Life through rose-colored glasses. . .But only in Paris where the light is pink does it all make sense. . . . But I'll have it in my pocket when I get home, and I'll take it with me wherever I go from now on."
Sabrina :" My brain is saying 'stay away' "
Iren :"Then that's what you should do."
Sabrina :"But my heart is yelling 'go for it' "
Iren :"Pick one organ and pay attention to it."
Sabrina :"You know Linus, you should go to Paris. It's the perfect cure for emptiness."
Linus :" I've been to Paris. In fact, I stopped there just a few months ago. For thirty-five minutes."
Sabrina :"Thirty five minutes?"
Linus :"I had to refuel the plane. I was flying to St. Petersburg."
Sabrina :"But Paris isn't for refueling your plane. It's for reinventing your life."
Linus :"Paris is for lovers. Maybe that's why I only stayed there thirty-five minutes."
- Quotes from the movie "Sabrina" , starring Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond
____
Ufh...so I really have a colonial slave mentality for missing a Western European city while being back home in Asia...but Paris...the air thick with beauty and history...the large roads hemmed by old apartments buzzing with speed and modernity, while the little alleys filled with a sometimes mysterious, sometimes chic atmosphere...
Paris....where I strolled along the Seine, wrote pages and pages amongst the books in the Shakespeare, ate delicious falafel while watching street performances, listened to the melodic lull of French that made even curse words sound exotic, sat on the steps of Montmartre while waiting for the sun to set....when Paris transforms from the City of Love to the City of Lights....
I, a believer of cultural differences but not cultural superiority, feels that I might have been infected by a serious case of "white man supremacy". . . to admit that I sorely miss the city and the culture and lifestyle that breathes through it....But if it concerns Paris..oh, the romantic in me has no hope against her...
"When Paris sneezes, Europe catches cold."
-Metternich
On Landscape, Life and Paranoid Parents
Well...so I nailed a scholarship to study landscape in NUS, and after that I'm bonded to a landscape company called Envirospace. I'm going to sign the Letter of Offer tomorrow morning (they actually called it "LOO" ...disgustingly uncreative....) and the more I think about it...the more it seems too good to be true...Not so much the scholarship itself though I'm really grateful for that, but the job I'll get after...
As part of the selection process I was interviewed by the boss of Envirospace, and some friends would testify that afterwards I couldn't stop gushing about it..hahaha...after all, this is a boss that made me open up so much about myself just on the first conversation, to the point that I blurted out: "My biggest ambition in life is just to lie down on grass...." and he actually said, "Wow I love it!" instead of "How weird!" or "How un-ambitious!" I can't really explain...but it's the feeling when you meet someone and after like, 2 minutes, you know you're going to have a great conversation. Well he started the conversation by asking me about Vietnam and travelling and building in small villages...how could I not get hooked...and the cool thing is that the firm actually does building work in small villages all over South East Asia...when he first mentioned it I went "Wow that's great! But can I ask you a question..would that be in my normal job scope or would that be just extra side work that the company is doing?" "No, that would be included in your job scope."
Couldn't be better. I later chatted with a senior and when she found out I'm going to this firm she said, "Oh yea the boss is a really nice man..ah but he will take you to other countries..to small villages..." Yay! Ok I must've sounded like I hit the jackpot...call me naive, call me over-enthusiastic, call me idealist..but for now I truly feel like I've found THE job though it's still 2 years away... Chill, Shiela, a lot can happen in 2 years...you might become so hooked on being a seamstress...or playing the ukulele...or becoming a game-tester for Squaresoft...
Awww..... but when I was so young still I heard that if you want to have a happy life, there are three things that you must get right: what you believe, who you marry, and what you do for a living.
Right now it feels that number three is totally taken care off...at least for a start.... That's two left to deal with =)
Anyway, when my parents heard I got the scholarship, among the first questions they asked me were:
1. will the scholarship bond allow you to get married?
2. what if you get sent to Africa?
Hmm....I know my parents are paranoid but still I was kinda surprised...I mean...hufh..the last time I checked, the Singapore government has not become a 1984 style Big Brother that meddles in people's marriages. (ok they do meddle...but not THAT MUCH...). If anything, the bond should actually force me to get married and hand over babies to the government...
As for the Africa question....I just went speechless for a while and said, 'Dad...I think we won't have landscape jobs in Africa soon...they've got way bigger problems than how to beautify the land..."
They followed up with , "Well yea ok...Africa was just for example..what if like, Thailand is in terrible unrest like now and your bos doesn't want to go and sends you instead and you have to go because you are bonded for 2 years?"
Hufh...actually I feel sad for my parents for having a daughter whose personality and interests are so incompatible with theirs... though I gotta say that from what I gather from my relatives, my parents actually were daredevils too when they were young... Would I turn paranoid for people I love too when I grow old? I guess it depends on how much I'm afraid to lose them...
But I digress. Well, in a way, actually I enjoy doing things just to freak my parents out...yeah, my bad... I do feel that I often have a good laugh on my parents' paranoia and sometimes do or say things just to bring that out....I should be grateful actually because my quirky paranoid parents are so far from boring with the questions they ask... ("Will you be going to Eastern Europe? They have human trafficking there you know!")
I wish they would be happier and relax more, though...lately they've been using the lines: "how could you do all these things to make your parents worry? do you want us to die of heart attack? and why do you want to travel so much and live in a far away land? Aren't you afraid something can happen to us when you are away?"
I hate it. I hate it because yes, it's right...I'll always regret not being around my grandma when she was dying..I don't want the same thing to happen in my parents' case.
And yet. And yet....what is Life for, if not for living? And what is living, if not taking risks?
As part of the selection process I was interviewed by the boss of Envirospace, and some friends would testify that afterwards I couldn't stop gushing about it..hahaha...after all, this is a boss that made me open up so much about myself just on the first conversation, to the point that I blurted out: "My biggest ambition in life is just to lie down on grass...." and he actually said, "Wow I love it!" instead of "How weird!" or "How un-ambitious!" I can't really explain...but it's the feeling when you meet someone and after like, 2 minutes, you know you're going to have a great conversation. Well he started the conversation by asking me about Vietnam and travelling and building in small villages...how could I not get hooked...and the cool thing is that the firm actually does building work in small villages all over South East Asia...when he first mentioned it I went "Wow that's great! But can I ask you a question..would that be in my normal job scope or would that be just extra side work that the company is doing?" "No, that would be included in your job scope."
Couldn't be better. I later chatted with a senior and when she found out I'm going to this firm she said, "Oh yea the boss is a really nice man..ah but he will take you to other countries..to small villages..." Yay! Ok I must've sounded like I hit the jackpot...call me naive, call me over-enthusiastic, call me idealist..but for now I truly feel like I've found THE job though it's still 2 years away... Chill, Shiela, a lot can happen in 2 years...you might become so hooked on being a seamstress...or playing the ukulele...or becoming a game-tester for Squaresoft...
Awww..... but when I was so young still I heard that if you want to have a happy life, there are three things that you must get right: what you believe, who you marry, and what you do for a living.
Right now it feels that number three is totally taken care off...at least for a start.... That's two left to deal with =)
Anyway, when my parents heard I got the scholarship, among the first questions they asked me were:
1. will the scholarship bond allow you to get married?
2. what if you get sent to Africa?
Hmm....I know my parents are paranoid but still I was kinda surprised...I mean...hufh..the last time I checked, the Singapore government has not become a 1984 style Big Brother that meddles in people's marriages. (ok they do meddle...but not THAT MUCH...). If anything, the bond should actually force me to get married and hand over babies to the government...
As for the Africa question....I just went speechless for a while and said, 'Dad...I think we won't have landscape jobs in Africa soon...they've got way bigger problems than how to beautify the land..."
They followed up with , "Well yea ok...Africa was just for example..what if like, Thailand is in terrible unrest like now and your bos doesn't want to go and sends you instead and you have to go because you are bonded for 2 years?"
Hufh...actually I feel sad for my parents for having a daughter whose personality and interests are so incompatible with theirs... though I gotta say that from what I gather from my relatives, my parents actually were daredevils too when they were young... Would I turn paranoid for people I love too when I grow old? I guess it depends on how much I'm afraid to lose them...
But I digress. Well, in a way, actually I enjoy doing things just to freak my parents out...yeah, my bad... I do feel that I often have a good laugh on my parents' paranoia and sometimes do or say things just to bring that out....I should be grateful actually because my quirky paranoid parents are so far from boring with the questions they ask... ("Will you be going to Eastern Europe? They have human trafficking there you know!")
I wish they would be happier and relax more, though...lately they've been using the lines: "how could you do all these things to make your parents worry? do you want us to die of heart attack? and why do you want to travel so much and live in a far away land? Aren't you afraid something can happen to us when you are away?"
I hate it. I hate it because yes, it's right...I'll always regret not being around my grandma when she was dying..I don't want the same thing to happen in my parents' case.
And yet. And yet....what is Life for, if not for living? And what is living, if not taking risks?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
"Touch her heart and her lips will land on your lips, touch her lips and her hands will land on your face."
(Someone's grown up a bit... ;p )
Me: Lho kamu kok kerja di ruang tamu, gak di kamar?"
H: Soalnya kalo di kamar aku bisa denger selimut bilang "Sini, sini, aku akan memelukmu dari malam yang dingin...", bantal bilang "mari kutemani kamu dengan mimpi-mimpi indah", guling bilang "peluklah aku dan aku akan selalu disisimu..", kasur bilang " rebahlah di sini dan akan kuberikan kenyamanan tiada tara...."
Me: "Hmm...iya iya, sebaiknya memang kerja di ruang tamu aja..."
P: "Ya i got scold him, "gak usah sok polos!", then he also know that loh..."
Me: "Hahahahaha...gw pernah denger sok tau, sok keren, sok jago...tp baru kali ini denger "sok polos*" hahahahah....
P: "Subconsciously want himself to be polos..padahal he's not..."
* polos = naive, sok polos= acting/ pretending to be naive
Below is Igudesman and Joo video, "classical" musicians that just makes really really fun music... thanks Ren for recommending! Went to search for all their videos on youtube hehehe...
(Someone's grown up a bit... ;p )
Me: Lho kamu kok kerja di ruang tamu, gak di kamar?"
H: Soalnya kalo di kamar aku bisa denger selimut bilang "Sini, sini, aku akan memelukmu dari malam yang dingin...", bantal bilang "mari kutemani kamu dengan mimpi-mimpi indah", guling bilang "peluklah aku dan aku akan selalu disisimu..", kasur bilang " rebahlah di sini dan akan kuberikan kenyamanan tiada tara...."
Me: "Hmm...iya iya, sebaiknya memang kerja di ruang tamu aja..."
P: "Ya i got scold him, "gak usah sok polos!", then he also know that loh..."
Me: "Hahahahaha...gw pernah denger sok tau, sok keren, sok jago...tp baru kali ini denger "sok polos*" hahahahah....
P: "Subconsciously want himself to be polos..padahal he's not..."
* polos = naive, sok polos= acting/ pretending to be naive
Below is Igudesman and Joo video, "classical" musicians that just makes really really fun music... thanks Ren for recommending! Went to search for all their videos on youtube hehehe...
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Blissfully moody.... Moodily blissfull...
It's post-submission......huaaaahhhh...... *grins wide* and I slept at 10 pm last night hehe.. Actually it's not so much the length of the sleeping period that is nice, but to be able to hit the pillow without thinking about a list of to-dos for the next day....
Traditionally, this is the time where archi students either spend almost the whole day sleeping, or sit around feeling weird because suddenly they have so much time in their hands... It's a good feeling.. =)
Well unfortunately since this is RIBA semester, model submission is on Friday but at least I don't have to deal with spatial planning, construction details and CAD (Computer Aided Design) for now..fiuh!
Going to spend the day making a pretty white bristle board model, while listening to the sound of rain outside the window....
Ah bliss.....
Sunday, April 12, 2009
*ceritanya, lagi ngarang2 lagu tentang penderitaan anak archi...*
Ren: "Wah itu mah parah kalo satu lagu isinya cuma gimana susahnya bikin model..."
Me: "Iya wad.."
. . . .
Ren: Iya si E bakal jadi sutradara.."
Me: "Wah bisa bikin film tuh..ttg susahnya bikin model..trus endingnya, model yg udah dibuat dgn susah payah, dibawa turun tangga, gak taunya kesandung trus modelnya ketimpa badan sendiri..."
Ren : "Gyaaa! It can so happen to me! Jangan bilang2!"
Me: "Hahaha..itu namanya udah jatuh tertimpa tangga pula..."
Ren: "Engga, lebih parah! Itu namanya 'Sudah jatuh menimpa model' . . . ."
Me: " . . . iya juga yah . . . "
Ren: "Wah itu mah parah kalo satu lagu isinya cuma gimana susahnya bikin model..."
Me: "Iya wad.."
. . . .
Ren: Iya si E bakal jadi sutradara.."
Me: "Wah bisa bikin film tuh..ttg susahnya bikin model..trus endingnya, model yg udah dibuat dgn susah payah, dibawa turun tangga, gak taunya kesandung trus modelnya ketimpa badan sendiri..."
Ren : "Gyaaa! It can so happen to me! Jangan bilang2!"
Me: "Hahaha..itu namanya udah jatuh tertimpa tangga pula..."
Ren: "Engga, lebih parah! Itu namanya 'Sudah jatuh menimpa model' . . . ."
Me: " . . . iya juga yah . . . "
Friday, April 3, 2009
Me: "Hey I'm supposed to think about the meaning of my life today! Man.. I wonder where did my 23 years go..."
L: "Haha..how would I know...."
Me: "Yeah....well most of it went to reading books and telling jokes, actually...Is it kinda wasted..?"
L: "Well at least you've mastered the art of freezing people....."
___
I shall refrain from doing a pseudo cool-and-deep post just because I'm 23 now...
Learnt something from my birthday: that nothing beats Facebook as a social networking tool!
I'm long past the tradition of celebrating my birthday, so usually it's a totally calm day with me
L: "Haha..how would I know...."
Me: "Yeah....well most of it went to reading books and telling jokes, actually...Is it kinda wasted..?"
L: "Well at least you've mastered the art of freezing people....."
___
I shall refrain from doing a pseudo cool-and-deep post just because I'm 23 now...
Learnt something from my birthday: that nothing beats Facebook as a social networking tool!
I'm long past the tradition of celebrating my birthday, so usually it's a totally calm day with me
thinking how I can tell more lame jokes
But this time, just having my birthday date on Facebook actually generates so many birthday wishes, including those from people I haven't kept in contact in, in more than 2 years...
I mean...wow...I personally think it's nice that it's easy for people to just drop in a wish like that, to take a minute of their day to make my day...
Everyday I discover that Life, happiness and meaning are indeed closely linked to the people in your life.
I'm glad I decided to retire from being a loner. =)
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