Jon Jon.

sigh.

Jon's not the Singapore idol. ( But he's my Idol. )
Really thought he would win, and even when he lost, thought that it was a marginal loss.

But apparently, he garnered a little less than 30% of just over a million votes.

"In no way does this reflect on the performance, or is an endorsement of his qualities" - Ken Lim.

HIS first words were not to the winner, but the loser.

I agree.

I personally thought he was favoured, among the judges, to win, given all the positive comments and hints that he's the next "regional star".

Not going to mull, he's definitely going to make it big.
And I'm going to be buying his CDs.
(and hopefully get them autographed. *grin*)

The pride of local Tamil radio scene

Presenting to you, our very own (drum roll please...)




Saravanan Ayyavoo
Producer/Presenter
Oli 96.8

For more information on our star, please consult this website.Sara Mara at Oli


n.b. tongue in cheek, yet supporting Sara. Tamil radio needs deejays like you bro!

Sg IDOL

Who is your Singapore Idol? Jonathan Leong Hady Mirza Shabir (LOL)    Free polls from Pollhost.com

How to tell an indian from a non-Indian.

You are an Indian if:

1. Everything you eat is savored in garlic, onion and tomatoes.
2. You try and reuse gift wrappers, gift boxes, and of course aluminium foil.
3. You try to eject food particles from between your teeth by pressing your tongue against them and making a peculiar noise like,tshick,tshick, tschick, tschick.
4. You are standing next to the two largest size suitcases at the Airport.
5. You arrive one or two hours late to a party - and think it's normal.
6. You peel the stamps off letters that the Postal Service missed to mark up.
7. You recycle Wedding Gifts.
8. You name your children in rhythms (example, Sita & Gita, Ram & Shyam)
9. All your children have pet names, which sound nowhere close to their real names.
10. You take Indian snacks anywhere it says "No Food Allowed"
11. You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.
12. You load up the family car with as many people as possible.
13. You use plastic to cover anything new in your house whether it's the remote control, VCR, carpet or new couch.
14. Your parents tell you not to care what your friends think, but they won't let you do certain things because of what the other "Uncles and Aunties" will think.
15. You buy and display crockery, which is for special occasions,which never happen.
16. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.
17. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.
18. You keep leftover food in your fridge in as many numbers of bowls as possible.
19. Your kitchen shelf is full of jam jars, varieties of bowls and plastic utensils (got free with some household items).
20. You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel (and travel means any car ride longer than 15 minutes).
21. You own a rice cooker or a pressure cooker.
22. You fight over who pays the dinner bill.
23. You live with your parents and you are 40 years old.(And they prefer it that way).
24. You don't use measuring cups when cooking.
25. You never learnt how to stand in a queue.
26. You can only travel if there are 5 persons at least to see you off or receive you whether you are travelling by bus, train orplane.
27. If she is NOT your daughter, you always take interest in knowing whose daughter has run with whose son and feel proud to spread it at the velocity of more than the speed of light. 28. You only make long distance calls after 11 p.m.
29. If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight.
30. You call an older person you never met before "uncle."
31. When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover you're talking to a distant cousin.
32. Your parents don't realize phone connections to foreign countries have improved in the last two decades, and still scream at the top of their lungs when making foreign calls.
33. You have bed sheets on your sofas so as to keep them from getting dirty.
34. It's embarrassing if your wedding has less than 600 people.
35. All your Tupperware is stained with food color.
36. You have drinking glasses made of steel.
37. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping.


Now, now. How many of us are guilty to admittting to more than 5 points?

connect the dots.

Metro de Paris



Future Singapore MRT System


We're going to be one big connected red dot.

the read project

I love to read.

I devour books whole, not putting it down till my sleepiness (or boredom, if it wasn't my kind of book) got to me.

I even bring my books to the loo. (yes, seemingly disgusting habit, comforted by the fact that many greats do the same.*grins*)

Lately, I've been reading quite a few, like the Jasper Fforde series above. Its amazing, and I could not put it down once I got the hang of things in the book. Its sort of a parallel world to ours, and its written about the 80's. Would recommend it to anyone who reads widely, there are many references of the Book World in it. I can't wait fo the 4th book, am on the waiting list at the Central Library.





Another delightful book (there's no other way to describe it, I was smiling the whole time I read it) is The Little Prince. My brother bought me the book for my birthday a few years back, but never got down to it till recently.

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again.

I love the quote!

That was from the book. Simple language (except for the odd word like lugubrious!) and a very easy read.

The next book I await is from the Harry Potter Series. I know, there are many sceptics out there, but I love it! Another world, clever writing and magical journeys ( yes, as you can see, I am a sucker for fantasy).



Hmm. I wonder how it would be like...

Something about reading books myself that transports me to another place. The protagonist's problems take over and become so much important than mine, and I share the joys and sorrows just like the characters. I become so involved that I lose all sense of time and feelings of hunger, thirst, pain, anger transcend me altogether.

Because this love started young, whenever I feel out of sorts, the natural thing to do is to reach out to my bookshelf and grab a book. It calms me.

My life would be very different, had I not this love to read and had I no access to books. For this, I thank my parents, and my kindergarten teacher Mrs Rama for infusing their love for books to me. Hopefully, I'll pass it onto my kids too :)

p.s. I just got the 4th book! The day looks so much better already. *grins*

what's the deal with all the Cs?

The 5 C's of Singapore, namely: Cash, Car, Credit card, Condominium, and membership(s) of Country club are a term relating to materialism found and used widely in the Singapore Singlish lexicon. It arose as a popular joke based on certain truths attesting to the unstated Singaporean cultural ethos of materialistic obsession and aspiration to achieve these things in order to impress others, both socially, economically and sociologically.

How many of us get to this stage in life, i know not. How many of us try to get there, probably a lot easier to judge. Why work our butts off, on a futile attempt, to get to this utopian stage of having-it-all is a very important question I ask myself, having seen the disastrous effects that it can have on family, life and the general well being of oneself. Nevertheless, I (attempt to) assess ( and not get carried away with) what the craze is all about and why the youth of today are avid "C's-chasers".


C's of Singapore
* 1 Cash
* 2 Car
* 3 Credit Card
* 4 Condominium
* 5 Country Club
* 6 Career
* 7 Certificate

Cash

Cash is self explanatory, and refers more to a person's spending power than the actual amount of physical money in one's pocket. Financial security and affluence is a highly desirable status symbol and for many years was the measure of a person's worth and success achieved in life, more so than other achievements (e.g. great sportsmen were not accorded the same status as great businessmen, unless they happened to be rich, of course).

Of course, there's always never enough of this C. (Ask anyone, who is 10 days and lots of money short, before their next pay) I always dream of times when I wish I had more, dreaming of the so many things I could do, and how much happier i would be, doing all those things. Would i really be happier? Ask me when I really have the Cash. :)


Car

Approximately 1 in 10 Singapore residents have cars (Singapore Land Transport Statistics in Brief 2004). From a Nissan to a Mercedes-Benz, you can find almost any make of car on the roads. Despite high taxation on the import and ownership of motor vehicles (191% on new vehicles, an annual road tax based on engine size, and high pump prices) and a vehicle quota system (Land Transport Authority of Singapore), or perhaps because of it, cars are very desirable and viewed as a status symbol despite Singapore's highly developed public transport infrastructure.

My personal favourite C. Yes, you guys have heard me whinging about not having one, and how I so need ok, want one from my previous posts.

Credit Card

Cards are a visible symbol of one's financial success. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the arm of the government that regulates the finance industry, has stipulated a minimum annual income of S$30,000 and a maximum credit limit of 2 months income for credit card issuers [1] . This automatically creates an easily identifiable sign of affluence, together with owning a car.

Before I extol the benefits of a Credit Card, such as having the ability to pay your gym membership in installments (ahem.), I must say that I have seen my fair share of university graduates flashing this C. Once upon a time, I thought that having a Credit Card was a really difficult adult thing to achieve. But, as I have been adequately informed by dear Shalu, one does not need to earn that much cash to qualify for a Card. *I see light at the end of the tunnel*

Condominium

This refers not to the duplex/quadruplex housing developments in countries with large tracts of land, but to privately-developed luxury (at least compared to government flats) apartments. Due to the limited land in Singapore, freestanding houses are very rare and generally available only to those of high social and economic standing. As such, the condominium is the most luxurious housing for "normal" people. This has generated a trend however, since government-subsidised flats are only available to citizens and permanent residents, that a large minority of owners of condominiums are non-permanent residents.

Luxurious housing, mmm, yes. Who says no to a pool right at your doorstep, sheltered parking (free of bird poo, argh.), greater security and nicer amenties. Not me. Bring it on.

Country Club

As land is severely limited, amenities such as golf courses and country clubs are very rare in Singapore. Therefore it is a testament to the monetary prowess of the holders of the membership cards of such establishments.

Not one of the most important things for me, but will definitely consider should I decide to take up golf. Hee hee.

Career

There's a variation that states Career as one of the Cs too.

Certificate

There is also another variation of the 5Cs that states a "Certificate", representing good results/certifications (e.g. a university degree or polytechnic dipolma) which are extremely important in modern Singapore especially with the competitive environment.

Ah, the paper chase. This one, all of us are all too familiar with. The emphasis on education has always been there and we always push ourselves to go further. Study more, upgrade yourself. Why stop at a degree. When are you going to do your masters. What are you planning to do about it.Do this. Do that.

Sigh. What would I want? A nice Car, so that I drive down to watch the sunset, that gets me to all the different things that I want to do with my Cash, that allows me to get to my Condominium in a jiffy, which I will drive to my Country Club (its membership, I will charge to my Credit Card) to play golf, that I will so need because I am so stressed from developing a Career and chasing for more Certificates.

And i wake up

google & me.

I know, I know. Bo liao-ness has a limit. But fun don't you think? And scary. Why don't you try it and drop a comment? Have fun:)

My mother

Borysenko was in her early 40s before she began to relate to her mother as a person, rather than as her own private critic. The transformation occurred when her mother was dying. The family had gathered at the hospital to say their good-byes, but Borysenko's mother had been whisked off for tests.

"After it was determined that the tests wouldn't make any real difference, I took her back to her room. On the short elevator ride, a miracle unfolded. She looked deeply into my eyes, took my hand, and told me how much she loved me. Then she asked if I could forgive her for all the mistakes she'd made as a mother," says Borysenko. "Years of pain melted away in the time it took for me to say yes."

Why do relations between mothers and daughters seem so much more fraught than between mothers and sons? It's in part because we don't engage in the same dance of separation that boys do to find their own identities.

Research by psychologist Janet Surrey, Ph.D., and her colleagues at the Stone Center at Wellesley College found that girls develop a sense of self in relation to, rather than in opposition to, their mothers. That very closeness can sometimes make communicating with your mother frustrating and competitive if she sees you as an extension of herself.

If you've ever fantasized that your mom lies awake at night thinking up ways to be gnarly and intrusive, you're not alone. But here's the scoop: Most moms don't pester their daughters out of meanness. They're actually trying to express love and concern.

If you can train yourself to look beyond the surface of what seems like nitpicking and criticism, you can develop a deeper relationship with your mom, and separate from her in a healthy way. Here's how to deal with a mother who's brilliant at zeroing in on perceived mistakes you make in work, love, even your appearance.

1. Make a list of the most common criticisms that get your goat. Write out what you think may be your mother's underlying concerns, and then practice a response that opens up genuine conversation rather than closing it down in defensiveness. Her real-life reaction will surprise you.

2. Write your mom a letter, call her, or tell her face-to-face about three specific things that you're grateful to her for. Appreciation means a lot more when it's grounded in specifics rather than generalizations. If she has passed on, you can light a candle and talk to her as if she were right there in the room with you.

3. Send a Mother's Day card to a woman who isn't your mother but who has encouraged you, and thank her specifically for the ways that she's made a difference in your life.


Wise words.Don't know about the deeper relationship though.

sound of hope

Have you heard the sound of Hope?
I have.

It sounds like waves crashing against rocks and sea birds flapping their wings.
It sounds like the gentle breeze rustling in a quiet forest, and the murmur of trees talking to one another.

It is a calming sound, yet refreshing and rejuvenating.

I like that sound, I like hearing it everyday.
I wish I could bottle it and listen to it as I please, whenever I need that little spark.

hot off the press.

"Finally the big day arrived. Surya married Jyothika around 7.02 am
today morning (Sep 11). Jyothika looked stunning in a pink saree and
diamond jewellery. Her wedding saree was worth around 3 Lakhs. Surya
was wearing the traditional silk dhoti and shirt. They made a perfect
pair."



sigh.

the Body.

The Body is merely a shell.
An outer covering, a physical form for our immortal soul.

The Body is merely a vehicle.
A utility device that carries through this life that we fuse with, in the next.

The Body is not ours to keep.
Yet we use and abuse it.
Bulimia, Anorexia, Tattoos, Bodybuilding,
Waxing, Chopping, Self-inflicting, Dyeing.

Dying.

As we age, as we move closer to that sense of finality,
We lose.

Lose control of our bodies
Lose the desire to alter, to abuse the body as we did before.
and struggle.

Struggle to retain the last vestiges of our appearance.
Struggle to accept what the body looks like now.

Because the body breaks down.

The layers crumble one by one.
The brakes are faulty
The headlights are dim
And the engine makes a funny noise.

For you see,
The Body is merely a vehicle.
The Body is merely a shell.

it's the time of the week again

my brains are too freaking fried to blog anything sane right now, but I insist on having something delectable on my blog alomost everyday and hence this post.

MUAHAHAH.

well, any reason to support jon,eh?

hari krishna.

tongue in cheek but hillarious nonetheless.
lol.

constantitis

Main Entry: con·stant.i·tis
Pronunciation: [kon-stuhnt-i-tis]
Function: noun
Meaning: inflammation of the heart due to regretting the absence or loss of a constant
n.b see definition of constant

Main Entry: con·stant
Pronunciation: [kon-stuhnt]
Function: adjective
Meaning: not changing or varying; uniform; regular; invariable
faithful; unswerving in love, devotion, etc.
steadfast; firm in mind or purpose; resolute 


I’m having a bad case on constantitis. Regrettably due to the clashing timetables with my darling constants, and unforeseen circumstances.

I miss all of you.

I hate work.

Ok, I don’t necessarily hate it, but I hate the inconvenience that comes with it. No longer can I just drop everything I have to do as I please. Everything that I want to do has to be carefully slotted and scheduled a week in advance, so that I can accommodate all the many things that I have to accomplish in the week.

After 2 weeks, I met Shalu last Saturday, for a night of mindless dancing. (which I love)Just as she noted, this marks the 1st for us in 2 years.

Wanted to meet up with Anu the bf on Friday but was supposed to meet my mum for a movie, which she cancelled at the 11th hour, infuriating me beyond anything that such a cancellation would normally have elicited.

And this is just one of those times where I tell constants that I can’t meet them due to this that and the other.

I need a car. *bingo*

So that I can zip around as and when I can and need to.
So that I can travel all the way to the other end of the island just so I can enjoy the comforting food at Jubilee Road.
Just so that I can come to school without having to push my way into an already cramped sardine-151 bus.

Yellow curry may boost brain power

YELLOW CURRY: Turmeric (inset) gives the dish its characteristic colour.
Yellow ginger or turmeric which is the yellow root of Curcuma longa, may be good for the brain. The ingredient which is commonly used in curry (giving the dish the yellow colour) seems to boost brain power in elderly people. In a study involving 1,092 Asian people (between 60 and 93 years old) unaffected by Alzheimer's Disease, a research team at NUS discovered that those who consumed curry "occasionally", and "often" did better in a standard test of cognitive function, than those who never or rarely ate curry. Those who ate curry once or more in six months, but less than once a month are classified under "occasionally" — those who ate curry more than once a month, as "often".
The study, led by Associate Professor Ng Tze Pin, Department of Psychological Medicine, was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwj267. It was also featured in New Scientist (August 2006). between objects) ability.
Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties
Past researches have shown that curcumin and other products isolated from turmeric possess potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. In vitro, it has been shown that curcumin is several times more potent than vitamin E as a free radical scavenger. It can also protect against atherogenesis, the formation of atheromas (plaques) in arteries.
The NUS team also did a study using Alzheimer transgenic mouse model which showed that at low doses, curcumin reduced amyloid and plaque burden by 43-50 per cent. Amyloid is a protein deposit associated with tissue degeneration — found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's. Anti-inflammatory drugs and antioxidants are promising neuroprotective agents against Alzhemimer's disease. Long-term use of nonsterioidal anti-inflammatory drugs is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease but their use is limited by gastro-intestinal, liver and kidney toxicity. "In view of its efficacy and remarkably low toxicity, curcumin shows promise for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease," the researchers wrote in their paper, Curry Consumption and Cognitve Function in the Elderly.
The researchers also noted that the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease is purportedly lower in India among the elderly than that of the US. This could be linked to the fact that turmeric is widely consumed by people in India. However, the team cautions that the evidence from their study is only tentative. But it does pave the way for further investigations of curry consumption in relation to Alzheimer's disease.




*cough* any comments kumar?
*grins*

of love

I had a great weekend, but that’s an entry on its own.

This entry is reserved for that special person, who made me realise some very important things over the weekend.

It has most definitely been a trying time, the past 5 months.

Closing one door and opening another.

Many times I ask myself whether I made the right decision and would things have been better had I not done that.

Bittersweet moments aplenty, I questioned myself if I would have been in a better place.

Better, better, better.

Yes.

Better place, better environment, better friends, better understanding of myself.

Was it easy? Most definitely not.

A lot of pain from closing one door, a lot of pain trying to open the other.
A lot of pain trying to open myself up to the possibility that things would work out.
A lot of pain trying to let him go.

There’s still pain, no doubt about that. I guess I wallow just a little ( which many of you would declare the understatement of the year ).

But it is the constant encouragement and talks with the few dearest ones that has kept me going and looking forward to a brighter, happier time to come. So I carried on, not exactly sure what I was getting myself into, and for once, just taking it a step at a time and not planning or banking on anything too much.

I kept pretty much my emotions to myself, not sure how he would react to it. Did he really understand how much Prem meant to me? Did he realise that the pain is much deeper than I show it to be? Does he know that the simple things in a relationship were tough to come to terms with?

So many questions that I knew not the answer to, and was too afraid to pry open the skeletons in the closet, trying to make do with the relative peace I had.

And then, a moment on Sunday.

The carefully constructed wall crumbled. Slowly at first, then with increasing force, just as the wave crashes the stack, till it completely erodes, leaving not much but a few sediments as mere memories of what existed before

He understood

I tried to find words to explain to him all that I felt, but I didn’t have to.

A warm hug, reassuring words and a promise of many more such sessions to come.

And then I knew, he was here to take care of me. He was here to stay.

Its funny how I reach this conclusion 3 and a half months after it all began. Better late than never, as he would say

”I’ll tell you what love is…It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter” - Thursday Next, Lost in Good Book by Jasper Fforde.

“Ditto”-Geetha

Life Diary: Entry #1 ( I don't know)

I tried doing the thinking thing the past few days but it seems that i need an outlet to express myself that will enable this thought process to go smoothly. All i have, as i write this, are jarring thoughts that don't quite seem to fit into the puzzle of my life and i'm hoping sure that at the end of this long post, the fog will lift.

Well, at least slightly.


Things i don't have in order

1. exercise plan
2. savings plan
3. study plan
4. too many activities?


sigh. ok that's a start.


Exercise plan

So after much window shopping for the right gym, have found that Amore Fitness is the best for me. Silly thing being that i can't pay on installments cuz' i don't have a credit card (and probably will get rejected even if i apply for one, argh) which explains why i would want to get on an installment plan anyway. silly companies.

Solution: Borrow from the mother.

*relief*

Savings plan

Owing to my great desires in life of wanting to further my studies, and due to the fact that my parents are not going to support me in this ardent endeavour of mine, i need to self finance. This is where my grand plan of saving $X kicks in. However, given some very unforseen circumstances, $X is just not going to be very possible. sigh. Need to make a designated contribution.

Solution: Wait for the man to get his new job. Get a plan.

Study plan

All this extra time in the office makes me think that I am in this job for a reason. *doh* I should be putting it to good use to figure out what I want to do in the future. All the masters' students in the lab seem to have everything figured out while i sit here rotting, not knowing what in the world i'm going to be doing a year down the road, much less the rest of my life. I wish i had just one really strong passion to pursure, to work on but my heart is in so many places, its not even funny.

Speech therapy? Schizophrenia?( which is what I'm working on, for the uninitiated ) Diagnostic tool for tamil? I'm torn. Speech therapy, I'm interested in. But i won't be at peace with myself til I get a Phd and I'm not sure if that's the line I should be in then. I want to do research, I want to publish. But is schiz the way? What about schiz speech? Does that combine everything? And then what about the diagnostic tool for tamil? Somehow feel compelled to do it. No one seems to be creating a diagnostic tool for Tamil speakers. How does one effectively test them without
appropriately tested norms? Its a sad thing for Tamil speakers. Somehow my love for Tamil and my continued involvement in many things Tamil seems to be a sign. But is that a passion? I don't know at all.

Solution:Read an article everyday.Subscribe to the psychology journal.Attend forums, meetings anything you can get hold of. Speak to the experts (any help here?)

too many activities?
Just recently I was called upon to serve in the Narpani Pearavai Youth Wing. They have been calling meetings for quite some time and trying to get things in order but only last few days have things been settled. I'll be serving in the position of Secretary for the proterm committee ( till the 31st of March 2007). I have no clue as to how IAECs and IAGs work so alot of time will be spent going down to the CCs and seeing how things work.

Is that too much work? I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if things work out for me in this. Yes, I wanted to do something for the community. Whether I can handle it or not, for now, I’m not sure. It is a little daunting, stepping into something quite big and having absolutely zip zilch knowledge. But hey, it’s worth a try. Don’t want to say I missed a chance when I got it.

About my other passion, dance, been wanting to start it again. The pangs keep hitting me especially after watching a dance performance. Why is it so difficult to get down to starting, I don’t know. Sigh. It’s not too expensive, for individual classes which I so badly need. But when? Sundays are out, that’s the only day when I can vegetate at home. Do I want to continue under the same school? I don’t know. This sort of thing is better with friends…

Solution: NOT FOUND.Too many questions, not enough answers. Help.


So many things to think off, so many things i want to do. Too many plans?

Maybe. I developed an aversion to plan after his passing. What's the use i would ask. But i got back the energy, the drive to start planning again, thanks to Krishna. Even then, I'm afraid when i do it. That sense of dread and fear has not left. But that's another entry on its own.

I see a tiny speck of light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully it gets bigger soon.