Stefanie sun yan zi

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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