Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Have been reading Justin's girlfriend's blog on the sly lately. Her name's Courtney and I only met her once AFTER Justin had officially left Yellowstone ( thus the 'sly'. ) Stumbled upon the link whilst talking to him on his wall a few days back and since I was bored, I thought I'd just check it out. Turned out her posts were both too intriguing and interesting to stop.

I've always enjoyed reading about people's first experiences in a foreign place and that makes me a little upset about being too lazy ( or stupid ) to jot down the memories from the first moment at Yellowstone to the day I first stepped out onto the Geyser Basin with Dot ( which was about 4 days after I've arrived - I never dared venture across the road outside the store. Loser. ) to when people finally arrived and how it eventually became a kind of home which I still cannot let go of.

Anyway her latest entry was one on her participating in a protest against the political prisoners in Iran and as if that itself doesn't raise eyebrows, she also mentioned that her curriculum required her to attend one such session.

That's where the Singapore and US system differs.. I think. They encourage them to voice their thoughts and views by exposing them to it. There's practical learning in this. It's no wonder why they are often much more expressive and opinionated than us. Our learning habits, on the other hand, only teaches us to shut up and memorize textbooks. Better yet, memorize ten year series answers.

Back at the picnic bench outside the dorm, I sometimes hear Kelsey, Justin and Orval talk about their government and about other political issues. I really didn't quite understand what they were saying half the time but they sure did sound good.. if not well-learned. Sure I've heard of bits and pieces in the news before but those weren't enough to form the full picture so the best way out was to keep my mouth shut and pretend to be bothered by things like... how fat the chipmunk/squirrel ( they look the same!! ) was becoming. Her name was Samantha btw. Just in case you'd like to know.

I mean back in Singapore, we talk about the government too. But we bitch. Even if they were merely gossiping, at least it sounded more like a discussion to me. And I've seen the passion in Justin when he talks about some of the issues before. It was... nice?

Even though it's supposedly for our own good, I still think the Singapore government shelters us too much and we are too kiasi to question. And last night's 2012 with Xie makes me feel even more skeptical. ( On a totally random note, the show was AWESOME. Who the hell told me the show sucked? )

We don't even know how true certain local news we read from the newspapers are. Take for example - the economy. Everywhere's talking about how much it has picked up.. but somehow it doesn't show. Just flip through the classified ads - there's hardly anymore job openings for the business sectors. Engineers yes; business no. I was just on the phone with PL this evening and she told me how this week's career fair at NTU hardly have any employment opportunities for the business students. Some of the major banks didn't even get themselves booths this year.

And you gotta protest indoors in major IMF/ASEAN leader's summit! Joke. I know it's good for the safety and all... but.. Singapore's just too small. Too controlled.

I don't know why and what I'm rambling about anymore. Millions of random thoughts flood my mind these days and I find it very very hard to put them out in words. Maybe I'm turning mental.

OR maybe I've got pms.


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