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A Closer Look: Zimbabwe
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I couldn't believe my eyes when I read this:
According to the WHO, life expectancy at birth for Zimbabwe men is 37 years for men and 34 for women, the lowest such figures for any nation.
Something is dreadfully wrong. And not only that, the Zimbabwe dollar has the highest inflation rate in the world! By the end of this year, it is expected to hit 1.5 million%.
1.5million%. That is seriously no joke.
Plus, a third of the population depends on the World Food Programme for survival. It's ridiculous, i mean, Zimbabwe was once a major agricultural exporter of southern Africa, and now her people have got to depend on supplies from the outside?
If Singapore wasn't managed efficiently, we could end up like that.
Robert Guest, the Africa editor for The Economist for seven years, argues that Mugabe is to blame for Zimbabwe's economic freefall. "In 1980, the average annual income in Zimbabwe was US$950, and a Zimbabwean dollar was worth more than an American one. By 2003, the average income was less than US$400, and the Zimbabwean economy was in freefall.
"[Mugabe] has ruled Zimbabwe for nearly three decades and has led it, in that time, from impressive success to the most dramatic peacetime collapse of any country since Weimar Germany".
Sometimes I wonder why such news are not highlighted to us and I have to dig it all up among pages and pages on the web.
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Saturday, August 25, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
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Raining Gold
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It just so happened that I went for Arts Bash with my OG (the OG with only 3 or 4 guys among 20 girls) and may I add I like them a whole lot. Anyway we had a late late dinner due to overwhelming traffic in Marina, have you any idea what makan sutra looked like from the other side of the road on saturday nights? and the pizza hut queue and all the other restaurant queues at 6-8pm were incredibly long, so much so that we ran from one level to the next frantically searching for short queues. In the end we came up with the idea to queue up everywhere, and whoever gets a table for 14 first calls. So in the end where did we eat? Thai Express. We met at 7pm, and only got to eat at about 8.15pm.
Lesson learnt: Don't go to areas to eat where fireworks will be showcased.
And seriously, the crowd sitting at the steps of marina bay overlooking dxo was crazy! and may i comment that when i came out from dxo at about 2am, my friend and i saw the rubbish left behind by the crowd on the whole flight of stairs. i so pity the cleaners and management staff teh next morning.
and in case you're wondering, did i watch the fireworks? yea hell i did! i would have uploaded those photos here if not for my camera being in my friend's bag currently because i wanted to dance. the fireworks were simply b-e-a-utiful. i loved those where it 'rained gold'. Streaks of gold powder, gleaming in the dark, non-stop, so it looked so much as if it was raining gold. It was simply spectacular! And the view we had was marvellous because it was near the toilets. Those viewers from the stairs had a pretty bad view i would say, because there were trees obstructing their views.
haha and as we made our way down towards dxo my og mate was like muttering 'fireworks cancelled, everybody go home, go home...' cos she was so irritated. that was darn funny.
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ThreesomeDance
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If you go clubbing you would know that the dance starts like late, so pple would just hang around, literally around the dance floor until the right music starts. and that's why it started at about 12.30 and by then 95% of my og zoomed home after the bash (which i call a mash). they couldn't stay for the dance for some reason or another. so all i'm left with is my fellow og mate [A]. that's e awkward situation, i mean, we had fun, but it was odd. it's odd to dance with a guy friend, who is attached, but his girlfriend wasn't present and, i think it's just strange. but he was hot! control, control...
and then his friend [B] came & we danced with him. that was even weirder, like, 3 people in a circle, if u can picture it, pumping to the music. and sometimes when the crowd squeezes us, we become a linear arrangement with me in the middle and i dont' know where to face, and that was even weirder.
clubbing is just weird with 3 pple.
and u know what, before we went into arts bash, we said that if they played mambo we were going to yell boo and we were gonna jump club. cos mambo is a very very awkward dance. to me at least. and the mambo king arrived and all his mambo songs started sprouting like bean sprouts. and [A] and i were like oh my god. so when the crowd was apprently having fun, the 3 of us took a break.
so while we thought that the music sucked, we got ready to go and were on our way towards the exit when they played a hit that we were both waiting for~! then we stopped in our tracks, turned to each other and said 'let's go back [to the dance floor]' and that song rocked. i forgot what song it was lah. i mean, it rocks to have someone who love the same music as you do and i mean it's great that we both wanted to dance to that. i mean, if he was someone who didn't care for it and just wanted to go home, i would have been very upset. so we found [B] on the dance floor again for the rest of the song. haha. so funny. the threesome again.
yea i had fun but after a while the music turned sucky so we left at around 2.30, where he convinced me to share cab instead of taking the NR.
alright! gotta study now. next clubbing is in sept: miss earth 2007! (my friend's a contestant!) :)
___________________________
Raining Gold
___________________________
It just so happened that I went for Arts Bash with my OG (the OG with only 3 or 4 guys among 20 girls) and may I add I like them a whole lot. Anyway we had a late late dinner due to overwhelming traffic in Marina, have you any idea what makan sutra looked like from the other side of the road on saturday nights? and the pizza hut queue and all the other restaurant queues at 6-8pm were incredibly long, so much so that we ran from one level to the next frantically searching for short queues. In the end we came up with the idea to queue up everywhere, and whoever gets a table for 14 first calls. So in the end where did we eat? Thai Express. We met at 7pm, and only got to eat at about 8.15pm.
Lesson learnt: Don't go to areas to eat where fireworks will be showcased.
And seriously, the crowd sitting at the steps of marina bay overlooking dxo was crazy! and may i comment that when i came out from dxo at about 2am, my friend and i saw the rubbish left behind by the crowd on the whole flight of stairs. i so pity the cleaners and management staff teh next morning.
and in case you're wondering, did i watch the fireworks? yea hell i did! i would have uploaded those photos here if not for my camera being in my friend's bag currently because i wanted to dance. the fireworks were simply b-e-a-utiful. i loved those where it 'rained gold'. Streaks of gold powder, gleaming in the dark, non-stop, so it looked so much as if it was raining gold. It was simply spectacular! And the view we had was marvellous because it was near the toilets. Those viewers from the stairs had a pretty bad view i would say, because there were trees obstructing their views.
haha and as we made our way down towards dxo my og mate was like muttering 'fireworks cancelled, everybody go home, go home...' cos she was so irritated. that was darn funny.
___________________________
ThreesomeDance
___________________________
If you go clubbing you would know that the dance starts like late, so pple would just hang around, literally around the dance floor until the right music starts. and that's why it started at about 12.30 and by then 95% of my og zoomed home after the bash (which i call a mash). they couldn't stay for the dance for some reason or another. so all i'm left with is my fellow og mate [A]. that's e awkward situation, i mean, we had fun, but it was odd. it's odd to dance with a guy friend, who is attached, but his girlfriend wasn't present and, i think it's just strange. but he was hot! control, control...
and then his friend [B] came & we danced with him. that was even weirder, like, 3 people in a circle, if u can picture it, pumping to the music. and sometimes when the crowd squeezes us, we become a linear arrangement with me in the middle and i dont' know where to face, and that was even weirder.
clubbing is just weird with 3 pple.
and u know what, before we went into arts bash, we said that if they played mambo we were going to yell boo and we were gonna jump club. cos mambo is a very very awkward dance. to me at least. and the mambo king arrived and all his mambo songs started sprouting like bean sprouts. and [A] and i were like oh my god. so when the crowd was apprently having fun, the 3 of us took a break.
so while we thought that the music sucked, we got ready to go and were on our way towards the exit when they played a hit that we were both waiting for~! then we stopped in our tracks, turned to each other and said 'let's go back [to the dance floor]' and that song rocked. i forgot what song it was lah. i mean, it rocks to have someone who love the same music as you do and i mean it's great that we both wanted to dance to that. i mean, if he was someone who didn't care for it and just wanted to go home, i would have been very upset. so we found [B] on the dance floor again for the rest of the song. haha. so funny. the threesome again.
yea i had fun but after a while the music turned sucky so we left at around 2.30, where he convinced me to share cab instead of taking the NR.
alright! gotta study now. next clubbing is in sept: miss earth 2007! (my friend's a contestant!) :)
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Saturday, August 18, 2007
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week 1
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it's been a lonely week for me.
as in, i've friends of course, thru foc and o week and old friends from college and friends of old friends of college, in this fac, but the fact is, during lectures i have some good jolly company, but when lecture ends, everyone's off to their respective destinations once more, myself included. and it's there where i'm alone, for lunch even. sometimes i get lucky and someone calls my name and i get to lunch at that table. otherwise it gets lonely for me.
but then again i'm quite satisfied with my so called "loneliness" because i get to enjoy reading the moonstone, by wilkie collins, in peace. i'm quite happy being alone, actually. i like shopping alone, and i'm okay with eating alone even in school. i mean, that's the way it is. in my fac there are lots of pple eating alone in the canteens, and it's really fine! cos when you lunch with someone, i mean, it wouldn't do good if it was a silent meal... as in, i gotta think of topics to talk about, which i don't really need to talk about.
________________________________
a problem that resurfaced...
________________________________
in fact i'm quite socially-awkward! because i hate beating about the bush, so words just come right off my mouth sounding weird. i mean, others have commented that they sound weird, but to me it's just direct and straightforward. take for instance that day in the train, i was with a fellow freshie [A] and a senior [B]. And so [A] and i were seated, and i was listening to the radio with my earpiece, so [A] took out his harry potter (it was the dark hallows craze then) and [B] was just standing in front of us. so i found the situation pretty awkward, so i took out my earpiece and i asked [B], since [A] was reading, i asked [B]: "so..is there anything you wanna talk about?" and then [A] smiled at his book suddenly and said "weird..weird question.." and then [B] gestured with his head towards some incident happening on the other side of the train (some kids were screaming) and he said "they're screaming."(or something similar to that) then [A] smiled even more, still reading, "that's a weird answer."
do you get it? i mean, i'm just being direct in my intentions.
and the other day i was on my way to meeting a friend [C] in school when i saw another friend [D] in school sitting on a stone-seat. so i laughed while walking towards [D] because she looked very funny. and [D] laughed too. then after that i met [C] and [D] walked by and i talked to [D]about our modules for a while when [E], whom [D] was waiting for came by. so after finish talking, we just stare at each other, not knowing what to say. then i cleared my throat and said to [D] and [E], "Er, why don't you both make a move first?... Cos, [C] and I are going to make a move too." Then they left, with a weird look on their faces.
I mean, how else can i end the standing-around-doing-nothing moment???
Okay i admit that was weird. But i seriously had no other way of putting it.
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Almost been a bitch.
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Alright!!
It's time for me to complain again! As usual! You can't miss out on what I have to say.
Topic #1: I Can't Stand People Who Talk During Lectures.
I could have been a bitch but i didn't.
I attended my political science lecture that day, and took a nice and comfortable seat three rows from the back of the lt. i was early. and then everyone else settled in and the lecture began.
I was enjoying the lecture, fascinated by both the scope of political sciences and the lecturer's dark jokes about certain politicians and political systems when two idiots behind me started talking. And when they talk it was considerably loud because the whole LT was silent! And i missed out on a LOT of the lecture because of those two idiots, and i'm wondering what did i do to deserve that unlucky seat.
And seriously I had a good mind to tell them to SHUT UP but I didn't. i thought i'd just give them a chance, being fellow freshies.
and no, that wasn't the only incident that pissed me off this week.
I was in the library, for 6 hours that day because I absolutely had to (the next lecture was at 6). And it was all so peaceful, and i had a big table to spread out all my knick knacks, and my delicious readings, when two hours down the road two NOISY idiots came by and settled down noisily to my right. and then guess what, they were talking.
Topic #2: I Can't Stand LT Doors/Please Be Punctual For Lectures.
When the lecturers give us a break, of say, 10 minutes, PLEASE COME BACK IN TIME so that the doors won't keep slamming and slamming and SLAMMING during the lecture. I've got nothing more to say to that. Either the maintenance guys fix up the bloody banging doors or you people stop coming in late. I so get headaches from them. It affects me and all the other pple who are interested in what the lecture teaches.
Topic #3: Stop Asking Me For Directions.
This complaint is not as bad as the above two. Do you know that an average of 3 people ask me for directions around school per day? It is highly irritating because it goes to show that I look like an old bird! I know this place as much as you do, so stop bothering me!
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Overall Week Rating
____________________________
Well complaints aside, I think I've pretty much enjoyed my first academic week of school. I'm going to look forward to next week especially when my cca starts! :) And I'm also looking forward to the reaction paper coming monday. And for tutorials to begin. Let me make a list of the things I'm looking forward to:
THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO:
1) CCA starts!
2) My FIRST reaction paper!
3) Tutorials to begin!
4) Going to Gram's next friday!
5) Arts Bash this sat! And dinner with og!
6) Reading the Tempest! :)
7) Going for lects!
Yeeeeeehaaaaa! ;)
______________________________
week 1
____________________________
it's been a lonely week for me.
as in, i've friends of course, thru foc and o week and old friends from college and friends of old friends of college, in this fac, but the fact is, during lectures i have some good jolly company, but when lecture ends, everyone's off to their respective destinations once more, myself included. and it's there where i'm alone, for lunch even. sometimes i get lucky and someone calls my name and i get to lunch at that table. otherwise it gets lonely for me.
but then again i'm quite satisfied with my so called "loneliness" because i get to enjoy reading the moonstone, by wilkie collins, in peace. i'm quite happy being alone, actually. i like shopping alone, and i'm okay with eating alone even in school. i mean, that's the way it is. in my fac there are lots of pple eating alone in the canteens, and it's really fine! cos when you lunch with someone, i mean, it wouldn't do good if it was a silent meal... as in, i gotta think of topics to talk about, which i don't really need to talk about.
________________________________
a problem that resurfaced...
________________________________
in fact i'm quite socially-awkward! because i hate beating about the bush, so words just come right off my mouth sounding weird. i mean, others have commented that they sound weird, but to me it's just direct and straightforward. take for instance that day in the train, i was with a fellow freshie [A] and a senior [B]. And so [A] and i were seated, and i was listening to the radio with my earpiece, so [A] took out his harry potter (it was the dark hallows craze then) and [B] was just standing in front of us. so i found the situation pretty awkward, so i took out my earpiece and i asked [B], since [A] was reading, i asked [B]: "so..is there anything you wanna talk about?" and then [A] smiled at his book suddenly and said "weird..weird question.." and then [B] gestured with his head towards some incident happening on the other side of the train (some kids were screaming) and he said "they're screaming."(or something similar to that) then [A] smiled even more, still reading, "that's a weird answer."
do you get it? i mean, i'm just being direct in my intentions.
and the other day i was on my way to meeting a friend [C] in school when i saw another friend [D] in school sitting on a stone-seat. so i laughed while walking towards [D] because she looked very funny. and [D] laughed too. then after that i met [C] and [D] walked by and i talked to [D]about our modules for a while when [E], whom [D] was waiting for came by. so after finish talking, we just stare at each other, not knowing what to say. then i cleared my throat and said to [D] and [E], "Er, why don't you both make a move first?... Cos, [C] and I are going to make a move too." Then they left, with a weird look on their faces.
I mean, how else can i end the standing-around-doing-nothing moment???
Okay i admit that was weird. But i seriously had no other way of putting it.
_____________________________
Almost been a bitch.
_____________________________
Alright!!
It's time for me to complain again! As usual! You can't miss out on what I have to say.
Topic #1: I Can't Stand People Who Talk During Lectures.
I could have been a bitch but i didn't.
I attended my political science lecture that day, and took a nice and comfortable seat three rows from the back of the lt. i was early. and then everyone else settled in and the lecture began.
I was enjoying the lecture, fascinated by both the scope of political sciences and the lecturer's dark jokes about certain politicians and political systems when two idiots behind me started talking. And when they talk it was considerably loud because the whole LT was silent! And i missed out on a LOT of the lecture because of those two idiots, and i'm wondering what did i do to deserve that unlucky seat.
And seriously I had a good mind to tell them to SHUT UP but I didn't. i thought i'd just give them a chance, being fellow freshies.
and no, that wasn't the only incident that pissed me off this week.
I was in the library, for 6 hours that day because I absolutely had to (the next lecture was at 6). And it was all so peaceful, and i had a big table to spread out all my knick knacks, and my delicious readings, when two hours down the road two NOISY idiots came by and settled down noisily to my right. and then guess what, they were talking.
Topic #2: I Can't Stand LT Doors/Please Be Punctual For Lectures.
When the lecturers give us a break, of say, 10 minutes, PLEASE COME BACK IN TIME so that the doors won't keep slamming and slamming and SLAMMING during the lecture. I've got nothing more to say to that. Either the maintenance guys fix up the bloody banging doors or you people stop coming in late. I so get headaches from them. It affects me and all the other pple who are interested in what the lecture teaches.
Topic #3: Stop Asking Me For Directions.
This complaint is not as bad as the above two. Do you know that an average of 3 people ask me for directions around school per day? It is highly irritating because it goes to show that I look like an old bird! I know this place as much as you do, so stop bothering me!
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Overall Week Rating
____________________________
Well complaints aside, I think I've pretty much enjoyed my first academic week of school. I'm going to look forward to next week especially when my cca starts! :) And I'm also looking forward to the reaction paper coming monday. And for tutorials to begin. Let me make a list of the things I'm looking forward to:
THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO:
1) CCA starts!
2) My FIRST reaction paper!
3) Tutorials to begin!
4) Going to Gram's next friday!
5) Arts Bash this sat! And dinner with og!
6) Reading the Tempest! :)
7) Going for lects!
Yeeeeeehaaaaa! ;)
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