likes qualities, loves defects

wednesday- ladies night

Debra and I were at Orchard mrt station. And as usual, we were approached by the hello-can-I-have 2-minutes-of-your-time-I'm-not-trying-to-sell-anything-bla-bla.. people. This time it was a man appearing to be in his early 50s. If he were an actor he'd have gotten the Oscars man. Here's why.

First thing he said was, "you girls look so beautiful". Deb and I exchanged confused glances at each other. That statement was followed by, "you boyfriends must be so lucky". We just stood there with arms folded and giving bored stares, I was so tempted to give a yawn. The he handed us one of those freebie pen. Later he went on to ask us whether we did drugs, or smoked and kept saying " don't take drugs, it's not good for you". It took all the restrain I had in me to not laugh. Not surprisingly at all he took out a worn out folder and turned to a page where there was Donald Trump's picture from The Apprentice ad. Mind you, it was a photocopied picture.

You'd never believe what he told us next. Looking at both of us, he asked "Girls, my company is a business company. We are working with Donald Trump, you got see the show Apprentice? Ya anyway ah, we are trying to help kids who are erm..like dealing with drugs, got alot of them from your race one..(then seeing the look on my face)..er..er.. got other races also la.. you hindu is it? Or christian? Ok so I'm sure you wanna help teenagers like yourself, so you can make a $4 or $6 donation." So, Debra was like stunned and bewildered, and I was shocked and angered.(hellooo...no connection) "Uncle.. What you talking?! You got no right to talk about any race like that you know." Then he was like.. no no.. I didn't mean that. "Anyway where the $4 and $6?!! ", he stuck out his hands demanding for the money.

We were taken aback by his attitude. Then I asked him that if I were to pay, which organisation would the funds go to. He said it would go to his business company! and furthermore he took out the Donald Trump's picture again!. Oh my god! I just grabbed Deb's arm and walked away. Then the old man shouted behind us, " You girls are BULLSHIT!!. Just plain BULSHIT".

That moment that man sealed his fate.

I walked up to him and looked him straight in the eye and in my most audible voice possible, infront of all, " Who is BULLSHITTING all the people here?! You or me?! You go around telling everybody that you work for Donald Trump?! You could get sued for cheating the public! Where is your liscence?!". By then everyone around me was pointing to the guy laughing their asses off. The man just stood there, hunched in defeat.
Smirking with satisfaction, I left him to deal with his embarrassment.

don't mess with sharadha.

The Da Vinci Code- The CRITICally acCLAIMED novel.

Many of us have scoured the books written by Dan Brown. I'm pretty sure they were an enlightening read. And we have all also seen the cornucopia controversies that have surrounded. I can't seem to absorb what the big deal is about, really.

Haven't we all seen or read the plentitude of literature questioning the Christian history, laws and culture? For example there is the Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis or Norman Mailer’s The Gospel According to the Son. So why don't I see the critics turning their gaze towards those books? Why, even J.K Rowling had her own share of some media frenzy, but still people read her books and watch the movies inspired by them, hell, she's even richer than the queen!

"IF DAN BROWN IS A PLAGIARIST, SO WAS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE"

The whole drama about plagiarisms and misleading facts in the courtrooms seems very uncalled for. Shakespeare's King Lear is one great example. Students all over the world have been introduced to Shakespeare at a very young age. Taught, to read into his literary musings and to understand the underlying themes. So what do you make of this then?

A writer is allowed to imagine and concoct his own stories using his own knowledge on the subject, and inventing new ideas to allow others to sprout. That is why he is callled a writer. He has his right to say whatever he wants to, so that his readers will start to question many things that they accepted at face value. He is also given the right to write to let readers themselves explore and become inquisitive to those facts that have been presented to us that we have accepted unquestioningly in the past. In Dan Brown's case, he didn't publish a non-fiction book for it to be disputed about, he merely published a novel, to showcase his brilliant network of a mind and most importantly to enjoy the read.

So my point is, why do the critics keep looking at the supposed bruise, instead of tending to it?! They keep pointing fingers and hurling their insults and administering their disapproval, but for heaven's sake, they haven't even shown us the counter examples pertaining to The Da Vinci Code. Their cynicism is unfaltering. The book has simply caused sensationalism amidst the readers to the extent that critics cannot keep still. This book holds a challenge. To me , it seems, the critics are so very afraid.... of a challenge.

A story is just a story. Whatever it evokes, for good or for bad, radiates a spectrum of the unanswered or the yet-to-be-answered.

The Disclaimer: I did not offend any religion. These are purely my views and comments. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions. So if you disagree, it's not my problem, but yours only. Adios.

You scored as Biology. You should be a Biology major! You are passionate about the sciences, and you enjoy studying cell growth and evolutionary concepts which enable living organisms to survive. Pursue that! Biology 100% Chemistry 100% Mathematics 100% Dance 100% English 100% Philosophy 100% Theater 100% Journalism 100% Psychology 100% Sociology 100% Anthropology 100% Art 100% Engineering 100% Linguistics 100% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com

I don't even see COMPUTING as one of the options.. See! It's a sign.. Shit! I'm doomed!

I'm pretty sure all of you have heard of the line, "match made in heaven". But the more I think about it, the more I doubt it. If match was made in heaven...

~why do most people get married to people from their own country?
Think about it... you are highly conceivable to get married to a person who has an identical nationality to yours. A great number of people who marry actually live near each other(how far apart can you be in Singapore?).

~why do people get into relationships with those of the same race or religion?
Even though there is more and more interracial marriages now, the majority still falls for the ones who share the same ethnicity and beliefs. The reason solely lies in the cultural upbringing of that person in that certain area. Much of the likeness in physique may be traced to the inclination to marry within one's race, inclination in turn being related to the fact that, for the reasons given, one is has high tendency to become familiar with members of one's own race.

-> Universities, for example, since they offer plenty of opportunities for the sexes to meet and to form attachments, account for part of the tendency for mates to show similar educational back-grounds. Religious meeting places may be considered in the same way. Granted that common religious training and faith provide grounds of understanding favorable to mating, it is still true that people cannot mate unless they first meet. A common religion serves a double purpose in providing points of contact as well as harmonies of outlook and practice. Certain similarities in personal and social habits found among engaged couples may be explained in this way.

To sum it up, then, certain likenesses between two persons are guaranteed by the fact of their having met in a group or community whose members are of fairly similar economic, social, and cultural level. On the other hand, two people of widely different economic, social, and cultural backgrounds are less likely to meet, and probably less likely to attract each other when they do.

Luckily there's something called the world wide web, if not more and more people would be incarcerated to the boundaries of their countries and less people would get to meet each other from opposite ends of the world, as the world population increases. And what's worse, we might end up marrying our relatives, by blood, in the next millenia. Ha! And another phrase to chew on "Love knows no boundaries". The irony.


To me it seems that match it not made in heaven.........but in the neighbourhood.

Went to Ravi's house with Raja yesterday, as Raja had to pass this whole stack of notes to him. I was just messing around with Ravi's laptop while the two of them were amusing themselves with stories of the army.
Later we all left to Dhobyghaut to meet Krishna, who was 20 mins early. We checked out The Cathay Cineplex. Most of the movies were either selling out fast or sould out. So we decided to hit, GV PS, where we got tickets to the 9.20pm movie of Poisedon(which btw were selling out fast). Ahem ahem... FRONT ROW tickets! How 'cool' is that?! If it were a Blink 182 concert I'd be so glad.. but it was a 14 row theatre! We craned our necks the whole time as we were practically perpendicular to the screen, so you can imagine the angle of elevation.
Well, the way the movie was shot wasn't bad, but I think it was a remake of the Titanic where they were showing us how the people(other than kate winslet and leonardo de caprio) had died or survived. They should have named the movie, Titanic: Revisited, instead.

guess who's missing? :( haha



wendy's bday!



shanthu trying to act cute..as always..



long walk man



whatdafuck you want?



after dance blues



she's trying hard to point the middle finger, but this is all she can give.



my butt ;)



shanthu's butt...



i noe you guys expected shalu's butt, but it's non-existent.. so ya... this pic speaks for itself. :)

Mee goying shwimmin toodeh.
My brain's having a replay of Shallow Hal.
Now showing.

Behind a mask
My face is blank from practice
My feelings well hidden
Deep within my heart a chamber is filled with emotions
Overflowing from never having been let out.

Until the point comes
When they're too much to bear
So I give in.
And alone in my room
They come out
In tears

Then I pick myself back up
Wipe the evidence of tears from my face
Put on a face smile
And walk back into the world
Like nothing is wrong.

The truth stays behind
Locked within the confides of my bedroom.
My escape

I put my mask back on.

-michelle jay hampton

That day I passed by the neighbourhood where my grandmother used to stay. It was 7.30am in the morning. Where students were safely tucked into school and the low hum of activity seemed to lull its way through. I was on my way to school for relief teaching.

That moment I'll remember forever.

Suddenly slapped with grief, an involuntary tear happened to exist. Brimmed on my eye, threatening to fall. It is not normal for me to tear, as it has been a really long time since I have. I don't cry when I'm hurting inside or when I'm sorrowful or bitter. Only in times of anger do I let them out, that too, involuntarily. I'm just not that kind of person. Those who know me will know.

But the realisation of the tear in my eye made me wonder.
I never cried during my grandmother's death which was just 4 months ago. Sometimes I feel guilty for not displaying my emotions, and for appearing nonchalant. Especially when I was the only person she regarded her dearest and closest. Noone can ever comprehend the bond we shared.

She was the one who saw me grow up, i think more than my mum did. She was the one who shielded me from those scoldings and beatings I used to get when I was young. She was the one who'd buy me anything I asked. She was the one who chucked 50 dollar bills into my hands when she thought noone was looking. She was the one who'd call me everyday to check whether I was home, if not she'd call my handphone, just to check if I was alright. Everyday she'd call.

Imagine, one day I came home, and there were no more calls. No more "how are you my dear?" or "what did you eat today?" or "how was your day?" or the usual "when are you going to visit me darling?". I really do miss her.

I remember one time when she was alive she asked me whether I would cry if she died. Absurd as it sounded then, I told her not to talk about such stuff. Little did I know what came a month later.

The first time I ever entered the ICU, was to see her. There she was, all limp and mellow, wailing in pain, clutching her chest so tightly that made her seem to think the pain would cease by doing that. I stepped into the room, the moment her eyes caught mine, she shrieked out my name. My heart shot out toward her, filled with agony and immense sorrow. And all I did was to take her hand in mine and smile down at her sadly, whilst everyone else was crying. I think she wondered why I was smiling, as she never took her eyes of me. I don't know why I kept smiling, but all I wanted for her was to be calm. I had to be the one who was the pillar of strength for everyone.

Sedation had dissolved her pain only momentarily. But she was a fighter. She lasted 37 days in the ICU after which, the doctors slowly removed the 3 medications she was on. One by One. Finally she was shoved to the normal ward. I didn't know why. But that day she was at the normal ward, I decided to stay with her. I slept beside her all night, while all I could hear was the rythmic puffs of the oxygen pump. Her hands were warm. She was breathing with difficulty. Her chest would heave up and down dramatically. Her eyes would flutter open occasionally, her gaze was always fixed upon me.
I noticed that her tongue was blood red around 4 O'clock am and alerted the nurses. They checked and told me that her gums were bleeding. But I suspected internal bleeding, but never had the courage to voice it out. I guess I was in denial myself. They increased the dosage of morphine. It was only then that most of the hope i held so tightly just vanished.

I went home at about 6, hoping to come back in the afternoon around 12 to visit her again.
At home as I was getting ready, I received a phone call, a sense of foreboding encapsulated my heart. I picked up the phone and it was my cousin on the other end choking with tears managing to spill the words paati(grandmother) and just passed away.
I don't know why either. But in reply and with absolute calmness that just settled upon me, I simply told her that I'd be there in 15 minutes.
I rushed to the hospital to see even the strongest men weeping. My grandmother lay in that bed, I swear, in total golden peace, that even angel would pale in comparison to her. Even then I smiled.

It never really sank in, I guess.
I never dealt with anything so personal before.

Maybe that's what they call delayed grief.

Can't wait for next elections.
I can almost see the shift in results. It's proven in Darwin's theory long long time ago.
Directional selection and then leading to disruptive selection.
No one can escape from the iron grasp of evolution.
Everyone's trapped whether they like it or not.
See for yourselves


1. Directional Selection 2. Stabilizing Selection 3. Disruptive selection

Definitions :

Directional Selection- In population genetics, directional selection (sometimes referred to as positive selection) occurs when natural selection favors a single allele and therefore allele frequency continuously shift in one direction. It is in contradistinction to balancing selection where selection may favor multiple alleles, or background selection which removes deleterious mutations from a population. Directional selection is a particular mode or mechanism of natural selection.

Disruptive Selection- natural selection where subpopulations of a single species within the same habitat exhibit different adaptations. Disruptive selection occurs when a habitat contains distinctly different types of soil conditions, food sources, or other factors, and developing subpopulations adapt to particular features of the area. Disruptive selection results in evolutionary changes and new species; once this occurs, however, the subpopulations enter into stabilizing selection.

Don't get it? replace the words alleles, habitat, soil conditions and etc in context to the topic. You'll get it right away.
Adios!

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen. The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall. Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don't judge life by one difficult season. Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later.

I realise that I've misjudged too many people in my life. Just by a second, just by the look, just by the voice, just by the demeanour, just by the face, just by the stories.
I'm still trying not to judge too fast, but hell, first impression lasts.-Still tryin'- ;)

"There would be no passion in this world if we never had to fight for what we love"

A passion that eclipses anything you ever wanted so badly. One that is sewn into your flesh and fused with your soul.

Our passions are the winds that propel our vessel. Our reason is the pilot that steers her. Without winds the vessel would not move and without a pilot she would be lost.


What is your passion?