GINGYO (:

and i failed again. ):
scrapped my knee in the process as well.

2 more days to hmt and ss paper!

[/edited]
haha. almost forgot about this.
ms kelda chan damn cool!
she says that she will go poke andrew lim's eyes! :D

it is FINISHED @ 17:36

lol. today napfa 5 items.
4/4's best station: sit and reach!! HAHAHA.
nobody is below 40cm.
and we have 5 guys and 1 girl who reached 70cm(max)! :D
3 steps to flexibility:
1. lean back.
2. push back your shoulders.
3. when pushing, ask your friend to push the scale towards you.
LOL.
and mr tan is kind enough not to spot our "trick". (:

[one more week to higher mother tongue and social studies papers...]

it is FINISHED @ 19:29

Girl Power

[Written speech for the Plain English Speaking Competition 2005 - 1st Runner-up]

Teo Yea Shi

Secondary 4 Grace

.

What do you get when you add Wonder Women and the Powerpuff Girls together? A whole lot of explosive girl power! I've been in all-girls' schools for almost ten years now and so I'm very familiar when it comes to this particular area. Being in girls' schools has also made me very aware of the differences between boys and girls. No, I'm not talking about physical differences, but rather differences between the places that men and women hold in society.

.

In the past, no one cared about women's rights. No, to put it more accurately, no one believed in the existence of women's rights. Women were traditionally regarded as the weaker sex in most cultures and were expected to be subservient to the males. I'd bet that husbands of the past had no idea that one day the reverse was going to happen and that there would even be a term coined to describe such men: hen-pecked husbands. In many countries such as China and India, female infanticide was also common until as recently as the 1970s. A woman's parents were considered to be caretakers whose main responsibility was to deliver their daughter to her husband's family, along with a sizable dowry of course, and so it was thought daughters were nothing but a burden to the family. What disgusts me most about this is that parents cannot see beyond practicality and realize that girls are living, breathing human beings and not commodities with monetary value. I've even read an interview with an aid worker who described mothers in China pouring scalding hot chicken soup down their daughters' throats to kill them. But what was most shocking to me was not this act itself, but rather the fact that such acts were so common that they were done with a casual indifference, just as if one were brushing their teeth or washing their feet. So I must say that I am glad to be born in modern times where such practices are not only illegal, but also repulsive to the general public.

.

By this point, you may be asking yourselves, so how exactly did women manage to change things around? Well, the past of feminism is a dark and murky area filled with both righteous heroines and incidents of violence and hostility. There is however, one person whose contributions to feminism have gone largely unnoticed. This person is Father Nicholas Barre, the founder of my school and one of the earliest to believe in empowering women - and he was a man! Father Barre realized in the 1600s that girls, being mothers, have a large influence on the world and that to reach out to the world, he first had to reach out to these girls. It was for this reason that he started the Holy Infant Jesus schools and provided girls with free education. There are currently dozens of these schools all around the world in countries ranging from Bangladesh to Britain.

.

Nowadays, in most modern societies, women and men are regarded as equals. Many women now hold top positions in companies. Would you believe that the CEO of Hewlett-Packard was a woman? Then of course a name that many in Singapore are familiar with is Olivia Lum, the CEO of Hyflux. But beyond the corporated world, there are also many instances of women gaining equal status as men. Let's then look at the political world. The president of the Philippines is a woman and the Prime minister of New Zealand is a woman. In the entertainment world, we have Operah Winfrey, who according to Forbes magazine, is the world's highest paid celebrity. But sometimes signs women's rights progress may be much more subtle. For example, a woman walking in front of her husband was considered taboo in olden Chinese society but now, no one bats an eyelid when that occurs.

.

However, though women have indeed come a long way and have so successfully fought against the discrimination through the years, there is still inequality around us in today's society. What do you think of when I say the word nurse? Some might think of a gentle and graceful young lady; others perhaps have in mind a plump, matronly woman instead. But i bet few of you, if any, thought of a male nurse. And what do you think of when I say the word plumber? Some of you may think of the young and muscular Mike Delfino from the television series Desperate Housewives while others may think of a fat, portly, middle-aged man. Again, it is clear that despite all the so-called equality of the sexes we supposedly have, deep in our minds there are still stereotypes of what should be a man's job and what should be a woman's job. My brother is one of the victims of such stereotyping. After watching a performance by a Russian ballet troupe, he wanted very much to become a ballet dancer. My parents however, had the fixed image in their minds that ballet dancers were all pink, tutu wearing little girls, not fourteen year-old teenaged boys. Thus they refused to pay for ballet lessons and but rather encouraged my brother to join a more 'manly' acitivity like martial arts.

.

But not all inequality is bad. There are in fact some aspects of the inequality between males and females that I would love to keep. National Service, for example, is only for males in most countries. Recently however, some countries such as Malaysia have extended National Service to females as well. I for one certainly hope that this idea does not spread across the causeway. I am definitely not one of those women want to be Gl Jane. I can't imagine having to get up at the crack of dawn to go for 5-kilometer jogs. I would definitely rather keep the convention that men are supposed to be the 'protectors' of women. When in the middle of war, I wouldn't mind giving up years of feminism. I'd just set all my pride as a woman aside, flutter my eyelids and go "go forth and defend me". Yes, let's give the honour of dying for the country to the guys. Let them go through the rigors of National Service and let them do the fighting and dying. I love my country of course, but still, it's best if I didn't have to die for it.

.

I would also prefer it if the traditional expectation of males to pay for a meal during a date remains because I could always use a free meal. Even though in Singapore meritocracy is practised and the salaries of males and females are thus the same, I'm still a true blue Singaporean who'll go for the free stuff whenever she can, be it free samples in supermarkets or free gifts from shops or in this case, free lunch. I would offer to pay for my share of the food or course, just to keep up the appearance of being financially independent but I'd certainly not push all that hard to take out my purse.

.

I don't believe that there will ever be a day when men and women are truly regarded as equals. This however, does not mean that we should give up fighting for equal rights when it comes to serious issues of gross inequality. In other cases though, it is exactly these inequalities that make life oh-so-interesting.

.

st. nic really girl power. (:

may this be an inspiration for all having english paper tomorrow.

it is FINISHED @ 19:03

my phone is spoilt! ):
and my gfather bought a new phone for my brotherrrrr. ))):
this is just so unfair.

it is FINISHED @ 19:38

to Anderson Choir:
WELL DONE! :D

it is FINISHED @ 21:10

it is FINISHED @ 19:52

i know what tomorrow's chemistry spa is about le! hahaha.
yy, fiyah, jasmine and mr koh was talking about it.
i just happened to stand with them.
after finished talking, yy asked:
eh pat. you finished your chem spa le right?
me: no. hahahah.
yy: OMG!! and you heard everything!!

today history test. just the source based questions.
totally didn't understand what the heck source d is about.
so.. skipped! hahah. it was a 6 marks question.

went back for training today. ^^
the cadets greeted me instead of prashan, the new ncos. hahah.
had pt and played captains ball.
sec 1 lost though. it was against sec 2. lol.

[you needn't have to give me that attitude face.
it was just a joke. and it pisses me off.]

it is FINISHED @ 19:00

sians. just reached home.

morning:
went for church service (chinese translation) with my gparents.
was falling asleep but because it was so damn obvious if you do,
i managed to keep myself awake.
after that had another long lecture at 11am, english one.
it was kind of like a concert hall with those nice red seats, thus i slept. lol.
from the beginning where pastor rony was in the screen,
(videoed from tampines lighthouse)
saying: personal revival is...
until he said: let us all rise and blah blah, then i woke up.
and i realised his real person was on stage. lol.

afternoon:
went to visit my dead great-gparents and relatives.
my gmother's sister was like. wahh, grow until so tall liao.
so quiet some more. last time always so talkative and restless de.
i still remember got this funeral she jumped onto the chair for the priest.
(or something like that) and i went o.O

evening:
shopping at compass and i saw couplessss dating. HAHAH.
gordon and zhiling not surprising. but erh herm and erh herm! hahahah.
now i know your naughty little secret. :D

yesterday:
super enjoyable! thanks to all ncos and cis and junbin for attending!
was super fun lah. especially the iced milo part. lol.
for photos please visit yy's blog!
thanks so much for the wonderful memories.
hope we can have gatherings like this more often! (:

it is FINISHED @ 19:35

woohoo! pop rocks! hahah.
the parade was a great job well done!
thanks to sec threes, fours, cis and junbin!

and also congrats to the following people:
wanie! - buc
asraf! - buc
you'en! - si
yuxuan! - si
amir! - si
me! - si

thanks to the rest of the unit as well for:
-all the good times we had!
-the presents!
-the apologies!
-the cake!
-stepping until my boots are scratched!
-and many other things! :D

somehow my phone is not working.
shall upload the pictures next time!
lol. how long have i been procrastinating?

happy birthday 4/4! :D

it is FINISHED @ 20:51

rahhh. tomorrow got two major events.
my physics spa, on light.
(of all the topics they had to choose light! dammit.)
and also my pop! woohoo!

reached home not too long ago only.
was raining heavily so took 265 to ang mo kio,
then transfered to 86 back to seng kang.
but for god's sake the bus ride was one hour plus and my butt hurts.
haven't study or prepare my uniform yet. zzz.
and oh yah. i'm gonna be a parade marker! hahah.
so cool lah. never done it before. lol.
and i will be orange! hahah. *a little joke of yy's*
wanie: and we will also need parade markers, like this short of manpower le lah.
yy: huh? markers can just go and buy what...
anyway. a caterpillar dropped onto my pinafore just now when i was walking home.
super ewww. used the mahjong paper to sweep it off.

tomorrow is 4/4's birthday! hahah.
o4 - o4 - o8! :D

it is FINISHED @ 21:07

ahhhh! so super tired.
don't know why...
had training just now. wasn't preparing for pop though.
the parade people went for parade and the remaining people knows nothing.
then there was miscommunication and i got hilmie and prashan into trouble. ):

anyway. today pe ran 2.4km to see what's our timing.
surprisingly, for the first time in my life ever, i got a 13. something!
my usual timings were like 16 minutes??
super big difference lor.
i thought i counted wrongly, but was quite sure it was correct.
(contradicting myself, but never mind.)
and i was following meishan and brenda throughout.
weird lah. but still super happy though. hahah.

damn screwed now.
saturday after flag day we're gonna watch a movie and have dinner,
as a belated gift to jialin by treating her.
but! friday is pop, and so my squad is going to seoul garden to have dinner on saturday too.
rahhh. what to do? ):

it is FINISHED @ 20:20

today no homework!!
or rather, there were homework.
but i finished them in school! :D
so cool lahh. hahah.

and today we had council recruitment interview!
saw some people from my peer class and cca! :D
heard from the sec3s (interviewers) that there were alot of weird people.
lol. and their recruitment form all copy one can.
this particular person wrote in his form:
why you want to join council:
cause i have the leadership qualities and the responsibilities blah blah.
what do you think council does:
to serve the student body and ... ...
in the interview room, they asked the same questions. and he said:
erh... *5 minutes later*
i don't know..

i fell in love with kurokawa tomoka! hahaha.
she acted as mouri ran in detective conan.
kawaii ne! :D

it is FINISHED @ 19:30