Well, the term "Leaving on a Jet plane" takes on new meaning, when you're leaving on a JET airways plane.. so I really am leaving on a "JET plane". ;p

So for the next 5 weeks, I will be pretty much uncontactable.. (well, my hp will be on, but it costs something like SGD5/min of calls, so I doubt I'll use it much..). If anything, I'm looking forward to the end of these next 5 weeks, cos I'll be going to Bangkok right after! hehe.

Wish me luck!

[Anyway, the new Gmail themes are pretty darn cool. It's raining now, and the background's changed to a lightning image, from one with clear blue skies.... ;p]

My uni has asked me to fill up this survey to find out what the fresh graduates are up to, 6 months after graduation. The first question asked what my employment status will be on 12 Jan 09, and the 2nd question asked if I will be training/studying. So, I said I will be "Employed & Paid, Full-Time" and "Yes" to studying and training. To that reply, I got the following response from the system:

Q2 - You cannot be employed full-time and involved in full-time study/training at the same time.

I was quite amused. Well, I guess NIE is pretty much the only institution in the world which offers paid training for teachers (or rather, MOE pays for it). I often find it a difficult question to answer, when people ask me if I'm working or studying - yes, and no?

That said, I've recently converted my M1 mobile plan to a student plan, so I guess I am a student. ;p

Labels: Muses

ok, by racy issues, I actually meant rac(e)y issues... ;p [since i'm not allowed to blog about racist issues, i thought rac(e)y issues would have been a more appropriate term]

So anyway, Barack Obama was elected the President of the US of A. I recall the day after Obama was elected, one of the headlines on our local tabloid "The New Paper" was "Is Singapore ready for a black PM?" or something like that. I remember at that time, my reaction was "WTF? Who the hell will care about that?".

Apparently, it was a big issue to some people, cos PM Lee was asked this question posted during a dialogue with 350 Malay grassroots and community leaders at the Grassroots Club. (The following is quoted from the Nov 9 issue of "The Sunday Times").

Mr Yang Razali asked if, in the light of Mr Barack Obama's win, Singapore was ready for a prime minister of a minority race, and specifically from the Malay-Muslim community.

Mr Lee said in reply: "It's possible. It depends on how people vote, on who has the confidence of the population"

But the idea that he gave was:

Singapore may have a non-Chinese PM one day, but that is unlikely to happen any time soon. ...Mr Lee said race is still a factor that determines voters' preferences here, although he noted that attitudes have shifted.

My response is, Really? Is that really true? I mean, we have a Indian president right? And our first president was Malay. Does race really play a part when we vote? If that is the case, does that mean a GRC with a non-Chinese MP is less likely to succeed (oh wait, but they're equally (un)likely to succeed since they all have to have a minority race represented in each GRC ward... hmm)

And then of course, I look to the current cabinet, and I think, hmm... if I was to choose a non-Chinese PM from the current cabinet, who would it be? (Maybe the above statement is just paving the day for a non-Chinese PM eh?).

Of course I didn't have to try very hard to find my candidate of choice:
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He's currently the Minister of Finance. Guess who was the previous MoF? Surprise surprise, PM Lee! ;p

And actually, if you compared Mr Shanmugaratnam to Mr Obama, I think they actually look alike! (in some ways!)


So you see, this is my conspiracy theory - the election of Barack Obama is actually just paving the way for the election of Mr Shanmugaratnam as our next PM. :)

DISCLAIMER: This blog entry is based on baseless claims, and should be in no way taken seriously. :)

Labels: Muses

Oh no, I'm finding it hard to find the time and energy to blog these couple of weeks! Last week was Jamboree week (it's a real word btw... haha.. check out the definition). And this week is theatre week!

Against my will, I'm now working on Flare as a production crew. (haha, i sound like i've been forced to do this at gun point, but the reality isn't too far off - I had Joyah breathing down my back.... ;p j/k!) Anyhow, it opens this week, and ends on Saturday - after which, I'll be free!!! mostly anyway...

The world is sooo small. One of my YEP team member's boyfriend is my Mids wing junior! We were in fact, at some point, both Midshipmen Education Officers (MEO) (i'm still an Education Officer though ;p), and he mentioned a nickname (I had) that I've not heard in a looooong time - A Walking BR45. A BR45 is one of the navigational manuals that we religiously refer to in the Navy, and we had an instructor from the Indian Navy (LCDR Rajesh), whom we termed a Walking BR45, cos he was so good with his navigational facts and I was his brilliant successor. ;p And actually, this same teammate is also my JC's classmates' good friend! (so it's far from a 6 degrees of separation in my opinion)

Well, I also have OTHER things to share, but I shall save it for another time. :)