Stefanie sun yan zi

Sunday, November 30, 2008
senseless killings: the aftermath

this week, we witnessed yet another round of senseless killings. area of massacre: mumbai. it is the financial hub of india as most of us know. the way the terrorists operated-by targeting the 2 5-star hotels, railway station and the marketplace, i think... sounds like a combination of the attacks on bali and london. this time the death toll numbered 195 with 26 of them being foreigners from about 10 countries.

my heart goes out to the families of the deceased. to me and to all of us, these people are innocent. most of them, besides the citizens, were there for either work or play. they certainly do not deserve to sacrifice in this manner.

each time when this kind of thing happens, the media will report on the deceased. how people view them, how they affect the people around them. inevitably i will be thinking of how i want people- my family and friends to remember me if i were to just leave one day. would i want to be remembered as an angel or a devil? one who brings more laughter to people or sorrow?

therefore for the past few years, i've been working hard to put what values i've accumulated into use. to try to be a better person...

___* hummed a yanzi tune + 1:57 AM

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Saturday, October 25, 2008
Euthanasia... should it be legalised?

Recently there's been alot of hoo ha over this controversial issue, euthanasia. some wants it to be legalised so that they do not have to suffer in pain during their final days. Others hope that it CAN be legalised so that they do not have to see their loved ones live in agony. However, is it morally right to end a human's live?

Today, this topic of euthanasia popped up in my local newspaper yet again. Here's an extract of what a doctor said. "To me, ending someone's life is the worst harm that can ever be done to another person, what more to a vulnerable population such as the sick, elderly and dying. It is unthinkable that the profession that takes pride in healing, curing and comforting life be also the one that takes it away. It reminds me of the proverbial wolf in sheep-skin, except that the sheep-skin is now that of a white coat." I find this meaningful.

I personally do not advocate euthanasia. because i believe that every live is precious, no matter how small or how fragile it may be. But, it is also most important to note that most of the time the act of filial piety really surface when a child is confronted with the fact that his/her parents are suffering in pain and how best should he/she help them. I believe that if a patient can no longer take the pain further and has discussed with the child as well as fulfilled their last wishes, he/she should be allowed to go in peace.

From an economic point of view, both the society as well as the patient, it may not be such a bad thing to legalise euthanasia too, though every request should be judged on a case by case basis. As Singapore faces an ageing population, can its young and working population really sustain the needs of the working population so that our quality of life can be sustained? Or do we have to be taxed more, even in the current economic situation, so that we can help to pay the hospital bills? From a patient's perspective, if his/her family is only earning enough to get by each month and has exhausted the funds in their medisave accounts, should they be given the go-ahead to end their lives so as not to add to the financial burden of the family?

I believe this is something that should be given serious discussion.

___* hummed a yanzi tune + 7:06 PM

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Friday, August 22, 2008
horoscope reading- i believe, do you?

late last year when Mypaper came out, i looked forward to it as it was another source of reading material for me on my way to sch. among them i would read the entertainment news as well as home and world news. however, the segment which caught my attention most and subsequently became my favourite read was to be the horoscope page.

like many, i did not believe in horoscope reading at first. at least not until i read those "predictions" from Mypaper. like there was 1 occasion where it said i would be facing lack of cooperation from grp members at work and it was true. On another occasion, it predicted that later in the week i would be facing difficulty in managing my finances and again it came true.

just early in the week, on monday, the horoscope reading said that i would be struck down by some sort of viral infection and... you guessed it- i fell sick the next day! then on wednesday after i had finished my exams and left sch, i realised that i had misplaced my admission card and was worrying about how to get a replacement in time for the next paper... the next day, thursday, this free newspaper mentioned this phrase "look around you, and you will realise that you are a blessed person". Upon reading this, i was kind of looking forward to it as by now it would be hard for me not to believe in it after so many things came true. as i folded the newspaper and left it on my coffee table, i went to switch on my handphone(i have a habit of switching off my handphone at night). i saw a missed call from sch. when i returned the call, i was relieved to hear from the admin clerk that someone had found my admission card. and the realisation that the horoscope reading came true again within moments after hanging up the phone left me speechless. i just couldn't ignore the predictions. at least, it worked for me.

___* hummed a yanzi tune + 6:59 PM

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
my thoughts on the olympics

what a wonderful olympics it has been so far... from the spectacular opening ceremony at the grand Bird Nest stadium to the various achievements by the different countries.

for the locals, the best performer has to be 18yr old swimmer tao li, whose fifth place finishing at the 100m butterfly finals allowed her to be the first singaporean to make it to the finals of the olympics. it is not an easy feat to achieve, considering the earlier 2 rounds she had to go through in order to qualify for the finals. in the process, she also set a new asian record of 57.54s, if i'm not wrong. haha...

however, the most inspiring figure to me so far has to be michael phelps of usa. with 11 gold medals so far from athens and in beijing, he is the most decorated olympiad of all time. and that's not all, for he has the opportunity to take it further with 3 more events to go and possibly more olympics to take part in (for goodness sake, he's only 23 yrs old!). yesterday as i watched the american team in the 4x200m freestyle relay, i couldn't help but be amazed by their ability and determination to be the best ever swim team. michael phelps led the team from start, opening the lead to 2 body lengths before handing over to fellow freestyle specialist ryan locht to open up further. such was the confidence in the team that olympic rookie ricky berens was drafted in to be the 3rd swimmer in the relay! the anchor of the team, pieter vanderkaay is also one whom i admire greatly, for he was the one who helped the team to shave almost 5s off the previous world record when with about 25m remaining, the intensity at which he kicked and pushed himself was evident for all to see. even the commentator was gushing "he wants the sub 7 record badly!" hahaha... therefore i think this is truly the most inspiring olympics event i've seen thus far. go! go! michael phelps... i really hope he can achieve his personal dream of getting 8 gold medals to banish the ghost from the athens games. jiayou! :)

___* hummed a yanzi tune + 6:35 PM

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procreation in sg

recently there have been debates by people from all walks of life on the issue of procreation in singapore. the local birth rate stands at only 1.29, which is quite a distance away from the required 2.1 to sustain our population. this morning (14 aug) as i read through the straits times, i came across 2 pages of articles on the estimated costs of raising a child in various countries like taiwan, korea, UK and singapore. surprisingly, when the costs are totalled up, singapore is considered the 2nd least expensive country to raise a child, with the cheapest country being taiwan. but if we were to look at the breakdown costs, singapore's IVF treatment fees can be quite expensive with minimum fees payable at $7500. however, the good thing that i saw were how low our education fees are when compared to other countries (singaporeans always complain abt the enormous fees).

hence, i am really looking forward to sunday night's national day rally in which our ministers will announce some of the plans they have come up with to counter this issue of low birth rate. for myself, i believe further subsidies towards hospital treatment should be made available in addition to childcare subsidies, more flexible working hours and paternity leave of at least 3 weeks per child.

___* hummed a yanzi tune + 6:21 PM

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Friday, August 01, 2008
a day to remember, a night to forget

today, at the prize presentation of the rts competition, together with my classmates and many others, we got to witness at first hand the eloquence and intelligence of our foreign minister as he dealt with ease all the questions fielded by the students.

after the event we got to take pictures with minister yeo as well as the retail lecturers, director of sb and principal! i thoroughly enjoyed myself today :)

when the event ended, we went to have dinner at kenny rogers marina sq. along the way, i was made fun at again and again... leaving me and my co-victim redfaced all the time. they even went to the extent of arranging for us to sit opposite each other. ridiculous man!

as we were waiting for the waitress to return us the change, someone suggested finding a place to chit chat. to my horror, that turned out to be my nightmare as i was hit the hardest when they decided to play truth or dare. i had to hold the hand of my co-victim and tell her that i like her. at that pt in time, though redfaced AGAIN, my co-victim gamely played along to the wishes of my classmates. i must say not many gals can be as sporting as her. anyway, for now... i think i must find a solution to stop them from harassing both myself and my co-victim. its getting really annoying if this things are being mentioned everyday:( sigh!

___* hummed a yanzi tune + 9:20 AM

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Thursday, July 31, 2008
why i like to celebrate my birthday

recently, this subject of birthday celebration suddenly came into my mind. and i have decided to share with all what i have gathered...

birth-day does not just simply refer to the day when u were born. more significantly, it marks the end of the 9-month "suffering" of all mothers as the longawaited day to see the new addition to the family finally arrived!

so when we remember to celebrate our birthday, we are actually paying tribute to our mother- remembering their hardship when they were carrying us in their womb. not only that, some mothers would have told their children that when we we in their womb, we would kick here and there, giving great discomfort to them.

therefore, now that we are older and wiser, we should not simply dismiss birthday celebrations as something we do only when we were young. it is definitely not as simple as whether u get presents from your parents and friends only. hence, i strongly believe in the celebration of birthdays :)

___* hummed a yanzi tune + 5:44 PM

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hurray! the end of sem 1 projects

gulp! more than 2mths never post new entry... gosh! must have been too busy with all the sch projects, with the most stressful one coming from the retail trends and strategies module. anyway today finally mark the end of that project as bg yeo will hand out prizes to all participating teams. to a certain extent, my team is glad to have come in 2nd (yeah!) because, last fri after the top 3 teams were announced, the winning team had to churn out an improved ppt within 4-5days in order to get ready for today's event. i can imagine the tiredness within the winning group as they had to stay back in sch until at least 9pm on most nights so that while they are doing, their teacher mentor could give them additional pointers. therefore, to celebrate the end of this gruelling period, the top 3 teams will be having a celebration after the event. hahaha...

___* hummed a yanzi tune + 5:36 PM

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Saturday, May 17, 2008
a game to forget

coming back after a 1yr hiatus from competitive bowling, yesterday i had a game to forget. i was taking part in my club's drawn pairs game which had a game format of 3 bowls pairs, 15ends. it started on an edgy note for us and we soon started trailing by 7-4 shots in the 5end. but we manage to fight back and even lead all the way until the 11th end where our score read 11-8. from there onwards, it was downhill all the way as i started losing concentration... giving away 1 shot in the next 2ends followed by 5 shots in the penultimate end. however, we did manage to get a little consolation for ourselves by taking 1shot in the final end. This was by no means any consolation as my partner and i could have easily won the game against the so call top seeds in this competition( my opponents were highly experienced meadal winning ex-national players) if we had manage to keep ourselves composed and maintain our momentum. haiz... what a game :(
hopefully, my next game this afternoon will have a happier ending:)

___* hummed a yanzi tune + 6:34 PM

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