The Apple Orchard~

In my recent visits 2 orchard road after my examinations, i've begun to believe that Orchard Road is becoming unbecoming. It no longer seem to carry the kinda of atmosphere that it used to. Firstly the noticably green nets around scotts building. No they are not building a driving range golf enthusiasts, they are building residences in the heart of Orchard Road. Then, there is the new shopping centre they are building next to Orchard Mrt station, causing the place to feel so dusty and cramp. Furthermore to my amazement, there are "beggars", uncles selling chinese chestnuts and baskers the moment one exits from Orchard Mrt station. These doesn't seem represent the kind of top notch retail experience a shopper will get when they go to Orchard Road. On the contrary it feels more like Heartland mall to me. Feels like I'm getting a culture shock. Feels like people in slippers and shorts watching phantom of the opera. Feels like wearing a suit eating in a hawker centre. It just doesn't feel right. It feels like plucking rotten apples in an apple orchard.

Super shacked. Went back to rj today to play badminton, after not playing since the end of IVP.Shacked to the core. I think i won't be able to walk tomorrow man. My legs feel really sore after two singles matches with the 1st and 2nd singles of RJC. My touch was amazingly still intact and i could still play, but the legs just lost it for me.

I drove a mercedes S class today. And i felt like i was a chaffeur of a rich man. Indeed the car i drove was worthy of a rich man's car, and the person i was driving is definitely worthy of a rich man.

The New Look~

This is probably a visual outburst of my boredom at home on a Monday afternoon. Hope u guys will like it compared to its predecessor.

Its Thursday...Again~

Final paper!! Woohoo! Glad that its going to be all over. By 730 tomorrow, i'll be enjoying sashimi with the Aero peeps, a well deserved feast after a long and tiring semester.

Do u know how it feels like to contain a scream?Especially when Wayne Rooney scored in the 91st min to give Manchester United the 3-2 victory over AC Milan in extra time? Its like controlling ur shit, so agonizingly uncomfortable. So...arrrrhhh.....I think if i were to shout tt day, my mom would have come out of her room carrying a family heirloom parang hidden somewhere safe that i did not know of. Instead, I just threw a pillow with considerable force onto the couch, and that woke her up already. She tot a thief entered the house. Anyway, it was one of the most exciting come backs i've ever watched live.The satisfaction further enhanced knowing that manu won without their first team defence. Sweeeet.

I think girls have very good memory, as compared to guys. They can remember almost anything, everything, all the small little details to all the big ones. My memory, only 128ram. Its like they can tell u what u talked abt during a certain conversation that happened like 1 year ago for example. No wonder there are more female secretaries around. They can remember ur schedule by heart, your appointments, ur numbers, ur meeting timings, ur lunch menu etc etc. Maybe that's why there are girls around, to remember things that guys forget. Ok toking thrash here...sorry for the generalisation.

It's Thursday~

and i've got 3 more papers to go. Maths 2 dodged all my bullets and turned around to shoot me in the back of my head. Accounting was a satisfying kill, and effective comm could be dealt with blanks. Nevertheless, one can never be too overconfident about the standard of the paper. For there is moderation. Remaining papers french, astro and maths 3. Must really pia already. I just realised that I will onli have 6 outta 8 subjects counted towards my GPA this semester, and its not very assuring to know that the lesser subjects you have, the more likely for ur GPA to screw up if one paper screws up. Well, just have to lift all of it up to the almighty. Really can't wait for holidays to come. Got aspiring plans to work as a waiter in some french restaurant, for the experience, for the fun. First job assignment will be Aviva Open linesman, think that will be fun but stressful as well. Imagine Taufik Hidayat or Lin Dan giving you that malicious stare when u make a wrong call. I think i'll prob hide my face after that. Haha!! For the experience lah. Who knows i might consider taking up an umpire course for umpiring next time, for the fun of it. I think im toking quite alot of thrash, being so incoherent here. Can't wait to rollerblade at East Coast every Sat again, now that there's no tutorials and work to do, if anyone out there interested to rollerblade every Sat morning at 9, do feel free to drop me a message, although i have lots of friends who call me crazy. "Who the hell wakes up to rollerblade at East Coast at 9 on Sat morning!! Everybody sleeps in!" "Me loh:" Also looking forward to improve some guitar skills this holidays, with all the time available and all, as stagnation is a horrible feeling. I also wanna read a book!! Keep me non senile till school starts. Need all the brain juices i can get for the horrendous year 2. I can't wait to finish exams. 8 more days, 3 more papers, 6.5 more hours to go... In a flash, it will all be over....

say cheesse!! *FLASH*
"aaarrrrhhhh! mommy that uncle just showed me his ****"
"Oei!! Turn off ur flashlight u *****!! Maintain light discipline!"
"What the hell was that!"
"YYAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

An Individual Effort to reduce Global Warming~

1. Take 5 min showers.
2. Drive smaller cars.
3. Stay in hall 2, not hall 3.
4. Attempt not to get fever.
5. Don't exercise.
6. Play acoustic guitar, not electric guitar.
7. Drink barley,winter melon, chrysanthemum, avoid Coke, Sprite, Root beer
8. Switch off lights when sleeping
9. Tell my girlfriends(friends who are girls) to eat more.
10. Don't breathe......*cough cough...ahem ahem..I'm dying...uuuwweh...:X

An Apple a day keeps the doctor away~

In recent light, the Singapore Medical Association has withdrawn the Guidelines of Fees that governs the prices which doctors charge their patients for consultation and also the price of medicine that is prescribed to the patient. In doing so, they hope not to contravene Section 34(2)(a) of the Competition Act (this is pretty interesting stuff), which basically says that decisions of associations should not objectively prevent, restrict, or distort competition in any way. It is heartening to see the the medical industry proceeding towards a free market model. Much as it would make the industry more competitive and help to keep prices in check, it might also cause the prices to increase due to the built up in pressure all these years caused by the Guidelines of Fees itself.

The question is whether doctors will choose to increase or decrease their prices. Based on projections, the demand for doctors will rise with the increase in population and the change in the demography of our population, with a higher percentage of it becoming "lao jiao". Moreover, the intake of medical students has increased to meet the rising demands for doctors. This means that with greater demand, there is a greater supply to counter any price changes.

But in my humble opinion(who the hell cares abt my opinion), if the doctors in Singapore do not concertedly increase their prices- ie machiam oligopoly got agreement one, the overall market prices will not increase because the average patient would inevitably do a doctor hop, regardless of the quality of service rendered to the patient, or the past medical records that the clinic has of the patient. C'mon guys, we're Singaporeans. If there's a place that has it cheaper, we'll swarm the place. So how much do we value quality? Would one rather pay $40 more to save 1 hour of queue time? Or be assured that the quality of medication and consultation is not compromised? Will future doctors be more profit minded because of this?

In a macro perspective, to be effective and efficient in healthcare across the board, the number of patients should be equally distributed amongst the doctors. For example, if there are 100 people and 5 doctors, each doctor should take 20 patients each, assuming that the ability of the doctors are similar and the illnesses of the 20 patients are the same. In this case, the doctors won't be overworked and the patients will not be shortchanged in consultation hours. In the micro perspective, there are those who are willing to pay more for longer consultation hours, better medicine, higher class facilities and special treatment. People might require different needs and different treatments which will lead them to the specialists.

Ok actually I think I should stop writing because there are too many things to consider here and I can’t seem to come to a conclusion because I feel that I can’t take any stand and I will just keep writing what seems to be nonsense. So thank god I’m studying engineering. And maybe I should eat more apples.

Bleah~

Look At the Stars~

Look how they seem so small against the backdrop of the nightsky. Aim for the stars they say, and you will reach the moon. I say, we can't aim for the stars, because we'll probably die before we can even reach the moon physically. In the entire universe, we are sooooooo significantly small, that comparatively, if u assume the sun to be a nucleus, and the planets around the sun to be the electrons orbiting the nucleus, we are just..... Infinitesimally small dust mite like beings on an electron, probably negatively charged. For all the imagination in the world combined, the solar system could just be an atom, the universe could just be a molecule, of maybe some wall paint in a lecture theatre in a university of greater beings. Maybe when Edwin Hubble said that the universe is expanding, it could just be the paint on the wall experiencing expansion due to heat. Before u cut the paper with a scissors next time, or even knock on the door of ur hallmate's room, think that by doing so, u might have well caused the destruction of an entire solar system, even maybe a universe.

Destruction is easier than creation. Are we destroying our world too quickly?

Getting bonkers from studying astronomy~

It was an enjoyable Saturday, starting out with the unmotivated studying session in the morning/afternoon and the relaxing worship practice in the alte afternoon for Upper Room Service. Then I had dinner with Jan and we went to Timbre for dinner, one of the last places I would have dinner at, but a first if I wanted to listen to live music. It turned out a great dinner, great chat, and great music towards the end. We talked quite abit about passion, about making a living out of your passion. Is whatever we are studying now,what we really want to do? What do you noe what you want and like to do? What we like to do is dependent on the dimension of time. "Only time will tell." What we think we like is constrained within our limited knowledge of our perception of the activity. I wouldn't know i would love playing the guitar 10 years ago, I wouldn't know I would dislike studying law until I saw movies portray bad guys getting scot free because of good lawyers. (No offence to lawyers) What we know of the activity, is only the tip of the iceberg. Unless one dives deep, our perception of the iceberg is all but misguided. As Jan says, logically (she's not logical all the time in my ears, but still gets away with it with her argumentative prowess and because I'm a gentleman..haha:)) we must try everything we can, to really find out what we really like. It may be time consuming, it may be painful, but it will be worth it when you really find what you want to do as a career.

Anyway, driving my mom's car at 80km/h down the expressway was total agony, with the empty midnight road making things even worse. We have to run the car in...for the first 1000km, says my dad. Now its at 340. Not bad lah. Another week or so and i can probably drive "normally". "Normally" driving would get me a ticket, especially with Mr Ma ta standing on top of the overhead bridge at PIE before Stevens Road exit. T* M* D*.... Was rushing to church in my dad's car when i saw him, and i really hope i managed to brake in time.

Today Christians celebrate Easter, the ressurection of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Justin was giving me a detailed and maybe abit too explicit description of how it feels like to be whipped and crucified, using his new found knowledge in body anatomy being an enthusiastic medic as he's serving his NS time. Let us just remember the purpose that Jesus came to earth, as flesh, as the ultimate sinner, as the lamb that would be sacrificed to save all. It is finished. Glory be given to the almighty.

Glory~
Great is the Lord God Almighty
Great is the Lordon high
the train of His robe fills the temple
and we cry out highest praise

Glory to the risen King
Glory to the son
Glorious son

lift up your heads open the doors
let the King of glory come in
and forever be our God

Holy is the Lord,God Almighty
Holy is the Lord on High
let all the earth bow before You
and crown You Lord of all

There are beautiful things in NTU.

Things that we walk by everyday, but almost fail to notice, and don't even have the time to stop and appreciate their beauty:)

Da New Car~