Memories...
Sunday, November 11, 2007
ON THE END OF 22, 000 WORDS
I was really happy on Fri evening coz I submitted my EUFP essay, which means I have finally cleared all my essays & presentations for this sem. And I can start my revision for the exams soon. =)
My, how I managed to survive 22, 000 words I m not sure as well haha. Sure as hell took a lot of determination, hard work, planning, and brain-cracking.
And to make things sweeter, I got back my essay on Singapore Society, and got an A. Really heartened by it.
Helped to celebrate Xian Kwan, Suffi, and Ethel' s bdaes on Fri night. Haha, I think they have such wonderful friends in the o week commers. And I thought Camy's idea was really sweet. Fabulous group of people. =) It's always a joy to see friendships forged and originated from Arts Club activities. I had like Honours year friends walking past AS6 on Fri evening and were really impressed with the craziness and high spirits of all of them. haha.
Attended this dialogue, coincidentally with Mr Bear yest afternoon:
Politics, economy dominate dialogue session with youth on S'pore in 2030
By Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 10 November 2007 2148 hrs
SINGAPORE: Politics and economics were the hot topics at a dialogue session organised by the National Youth Council on Singapore in 2030.
The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said the 150 young adults had a frank and honest exchange of views.
He also said they shared their anxieties, their fears of complacency and irrelevance, and their hopes for political change.
"The two key issues which came through were economics and politics. (In) politics, as I have said, they hope and wish for greater openness, greater contestability that we hear loud and clear. My answer also was there will be greater contests in the future. We take that as a given. What I am advising is we maintain high political hurdles not in order to reduce contest but in order to achieve political standards. So the Singapore of the future, regardless of who is in power, will be governed by people who are competent, who are honest and able to get the job done and do their best for Singapore." - CNA/ac
Well, we all know that Dr Vivian was the former President of NUSSU and certainly a promising political and Cabinet leader, and so it was a great opportunity to engage in a discussion with him yesterdae. There were quite a number of young MPs there as well, including Mr Teo Ser Luck, Mr Michael Palmer, Mr Christopher De Souza, and Mr Hri Kumar.
I was particularly intrigued by the topic proposed by National Youth Council: "The Singaporean in 2030 in beyond", because it invites participants to gaze into the crystal ball and debate about Singapore's future.
The dialogue got off a to relatively slow and measured start, before 1 of the NYC organizers suddenly stepped foward and encouraged the crowd to really "speak their minds" and be bolder. That got everybody fired up I think. Questions and comments flew in thick and fast, and as correctly pointed out by the ChannelNewsAsia report, politics and economics took center stage. I posed a few questions to Dr Vivian as well, and was impressed with his candidness and forthrightness in his answers.
All said & done, I guess the dialogue was fruitful in that it made u think much deeper and reflect on how Singapore ll be like in the near future.
Went for Lao Da's baby girl' s 1-month bdae at night. Haha, I eventually gave an angbao, as did my other army friends. We all chatted late into the night, over traditional Chinese tea in his wonderfully-decorated new home. All of them re oredi working, and I ll soon join them in May next yr haha.
Man U Blackburn tonight. I have a lot of respect for Rovers esp for their manager Sparky. He was such a wonderful striker for United last time. Big, strong, tough, and powerful in the air, he used to form such a deadly partnership with Cantona. In fact Van Nistelrooy reminded me a lot of Sparky in terms of their playing style.
Always good to see ex-United players doing well. =) Wont be an easy game tonight, but I think United ll do enough to win.
Match Prediction: United 2 Blackburn 1
