“Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.”
– Don Kardong
I spotted these two monks enjoying their potong (cut) ice cream. When I asked if I could take a picture of them, one hid his ice cream below the photo frame, while the other ate his portion.
Such cut ice creams (the one pictures is sandwiched between wafers) are popular in Singapore, and they are sold by many street vendors.
Go get an ice cream today (or tomorrow) to brighten up your day!
This man was selling lottery tickets to me. While $3 million dollars jackpot sounded enticing, I didn’t buy a ticket in the end. However, it did remind me of how, in game shows, the host never failed to ask the participants, “If you win, what will you do with the (enter prize sum) dollars?”
If I do ever win a million dollars, I will use most of my money to fund my masters in filmmaking education (which has been postponed indefinitely). However, if you ask me this question ten years later, my priorities will certainly have changed. What will remain the same will be my belief that becoming rich overnight does not equal to having a happily ever after life. As the French says, your German cousins may turn up at your door!
Some people have started to think that being a millionaire is a passé (I’m looking at you, Bruno Mars). But, hey, these millionaires make up less than 1% of the world population. Most of us will be (extremely) happy with winning a million dollars.
What will you do if you win a million dollars? Leave your comment!
Today, I took a short respite in the urban jungle. I was more than thrilled to get the reports out of the way. So, I decided to visit an exhibition of contemporary Indonesian photography, and caught “The Hunger Games” with friends. The movie was a good 140-minute escape.
Now, I’m left with my final stage of recharge: a 8 hour long or so of sleep. Then it’s onto the last lap of the academic race. Four days to the first out of the five hurdles!
Have a good weekend, everyone! You deserve the break :)
“Men’s activities are occupied into ways — in grappling with external circumstances and in striving to set things at one in their own topsy-turvy mind.” – William James
When I get overly stressed, I tend to tell myself that stress is a matter of perception. Sometimes, it works. Other times, the anxiety just refuses to go away. What has helped me the most is knowing that the storm will be followed by calmness. That gives me a lot of hope, and makes enduring all the pain worth it.
Two more weeks to the end of my university life!
A line can only be as straight as its context. How true is this? It all depends on one’s perception… and culture.
Based on the psychological theory of holistic and analytic ways of thinking, Asians would tend to agree with the said statement. However, Westerners would beg to differ. What explains for this difference? Asians tend to associate a given object with a context, while Westerners tend to view an object and a context as two separate things.
Personally, I don’t know what way of viewing I’ve been adopting. In Singapore, the Western influences are so large that it leaves my Asian way of thinking muddled up. At times, I am guilty for using the term “global citizen” to excuse myself from this confusion.
From the initial plan of joining the Tête-à-Tête language table in Dunlop Street (Singapore), I decided to drop by Little India earlier for a photowalk. Soon, I realized that 330 p.m. was too early for an afternoon shoot! Besides the scorching heat, the stark contrast between the street and the shade didn’t help at all.
Above are the only portraits that I took. One is of a shopkeeper; the other is of a magazine stall owner. These photos do leave rooms for improvement.
With the many visitors Little India has on Sundays, there are many moments that one could capture. Today, I’ve caught only two of the many.
31 March marked the day for Earth Hour. In Singapore, the main event took place in Orchard Road (Ngee Ann City). One interesting thing that occurred was the human formation in blue. The formation was supposed to drive home the message of switching off the lights for 60 minutes. I noticed a lot of boy brigades participating in the event (top picture). It helped that their uniforms’ color are close to blue! Then, there were some who decided to bring their own candles for the short blackout.
Overall though, the event turned out to be quite disappointing and too low-key. I was expecting a complete darkness for at least five minutes or so along Orchard Road. That didn’t happen. Perhaps my expectation was more realistic for a New Year’s day!
Orchard Road is Singapore’s shopping mecca. It’s not every day that it gets closed down, but today happens to be one of those special days. A section of the road was closed down to serve as a 600 metres fashion runway for “Fashion Steps Out”. The event was a part of Singapore’s continuing effort to boost its fashion reputation.
Did the event succeed? Well, judging the large crowd, it did manage to generate a lot of publicity! Singapore still has a long way to reaching (if ever) a fashion pinnacle. At least it’s taking a strut at a time.
“There was a time when the reader of an unexciting newspaper would remark, ‘How dull is the world today!’ Nowadays he says, ‘What a dull newspaper!’” - Daniel J. Boorstin
I am one of those youngsters who seldom read newspapers these days. The habit died down when I was interning at CNBC six months ago. Since my job scope involved news and current affairs, I didn’t have an outstanding need for reading newspapers. However, I’ve realized recently that I’ve been missing out much on local and Asian affairs.
Hmm, time to start picking up the papers again.
Looking at these ladies reminds me of the unruly state my eyebrows are in. I usually pluck them back to shape, and this means enduring pain. Why do we ladies go to such great lengths in the name of beauty?
Then, there’s the game of make-up. My Mom likes to poke fun at my close-to-non-existent make-up skills. If I have to choose between waking up 15 minutes earlier to do make-up or sleeping 15 minutes more, I’ll choose the latter. Never mind that my Mom would disapprove this!
The birds can poop all they want, and I still won’t change my mind. Bird poop facial, anyone?
