Shhh! Secret Life of a Princess

Random, provoking thoughts from a self-confessed princess :: with focus on motivational learnings from the media. I hope to inspire everyone to be the best they can be

Thursday, August 09, 2007

NDP 2007 Theme Song: There's No Place I'd Rather Be

It's Singapore's 42 birthday. This year the National Day Parade is going to be one of its kind with performances on a big open platform built on top of the water, next to Esplanade. Fireworks display will be good and jet planes will be swerving and landing on the platform. Singapore is indeed a melting pot of all races with the Prime Minister's speech spoken in 3 languages - Malay, Chinese and English, unlike in Malaysia where it is only spoken in Malay. It's good to be in a country where your skin color is the majority and you get to listen to different accents all the time while exploring cultures of various countries from Philippines, Thai, Vietnamese, Londoners to China in one small island. Yet, there is no place I'd rather be (if you listen to the song, you will know what I mean) ;)

My observations of common traits of Singaporeans:

  • The ladies are immaculately dressed from short skirts that matches their socks to long dangling necklaces with big shiny pendants that matches their bra (did I say that out loud, I mean tops). They are indeed an eye-candy till one of my friend do not mind waiting for me in the MRT station just to oggle at ladies. 'Take your time', he says. 'I am enjoying the view here'.
  • At least 9.5 in 10 ladies here will wear push-up bras wherever they go. Yep, they are not that well-endowed after all, just that they like to show off something they don't have. The remaining 0.5 are the non-Singaporeans that cannot decide to wear or not. I must admit my first purchase in Singapore IS a Wacoal push-up bra which is half the price of what I can buy in Malaysia.
  • At least 9.5 in 10 men here MUST adorn at least 1 thing with a brand name from Tag Heuer watches to LV wallets to Ralph Lauren cuff links to I have no idea what brand ties. Next, they must have a super cool and fantastic sounding job that makes them feel like a high-flyer. After those mandatory criteria, they must top it off with a super branded T-shirt. And even if they do not have all the above, they 'fake' it. Hmmm, see the common traits of people in this kiasu land?
  • At least 9.5 in 10 men here equip themselves with one super-cool sounding and rich men sports so that they can impress ladies. It could be extreme sports like paragliding, snowboarding, body surfing to yatching. The rest of the 0.5 will go for dragon boating, canoeing and jungle trekking which works fine by me. Well, in Malaysia, it's no different, it comes in the form of sport called Golf.
  • The most read bible here is called FHM/Maxim as the women need to learn how to dress up like the pin-up girls and the men need to get the best tactics to sleep with those girls who dresses like those pin-up gals and supposedly big boobs. Once they determine a girl is 'chio' (Singaporean slang for gorgeous aka. worth a one-night stand), they will go in for the kill, with various tactics like using a fake accent, flashing their club membership or credit card, making the girl drunk then pretending to be the knight in shining armor. Hey, not speaking from personal experience okay?

Well, whatever works for them. Like I say, no place like home :)



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How Fast Can You Decide?


People make decision everyday. How critical is your decision? Does it involve the usage of company budget worth millions? Does it involve what you want to have for lunch today? Does it involve choosing the right partner for the rest of your life? Does it involve which medication or procedure will save someone's life?

One scene in Episode One in Season One Grey's Anatomy grappled me. It was the scene where Meredith (played by Ellen Pompea) was paged to attend to a pampered high school girl who suddenly out of nowhere experience a sudden bout of seizures. Nurses were surrounding her getting ready to treat her using whatever medicine and method that will be suggested by the doctors. Meredith was the only doctor there and being an intern, she was clueless as to how to treat the girl who was on the verge of collapsing. Efforts to page the other doctors were to no avail leaving her to tend to the dying patient on her own. In pure trepidation, she suggested a certain medication which the nurses obliged and when that didn't work, she used the CPR (machine) and hiked the machine a few notches at a time. She kept increasing the notches till a level that was almost life threatening but did it anyhow. On the last attempt, the girl's heart rate finally came back. What a relief it was until the real doctors came into the room reminding her with anger to page them immediately next time.

Put yourself in that situation and what would you have done. Everyday, we deal with decision making from choosing what clothes to wear to deciding how your day will be. Some people tend to be indecisive over the smallest things like which meat to have with their rice. The show Grey's Anatomy made me realise that there is a group of people out there who not only make decisions that will save people's life, they need to make it in a split second. Figures out why their education level is so high huh. How important is it that what you do impacts someone's life? It could be putting a smile on someone's face to making someone life's longer but I do have higher respects for doctors now. Learn to make decisions fast, with as little information you have. Not everyone can be put in the best of scenarios. And what if your decision actually causes the life of someone? Imagine Meredith making so many decisions and yet the patient did not survive. And you'd think your decisions was tough. ;)

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Friday, August 03, 2007

Guess Which Malaysian Is Famous in Singapore Now


I flipped through the Style section of the newspaper recently and stopped at the picture of a pretty, lean girl with enough girl next door looks to be approachable and sexy come hither look when she puts on more make-up. The name of the starlet in Singapore rang a bell. Andrea Fonsenka, hmmm....where have I heard of that name before. It is only when I read that she won Miss Malaysia Universe in 2004 that I know why she sounded so familiar. She was the 'fat' winner of Miss Malaysia that everyone cursed, despite high intellectual capabilities and good English. Why, as most people are just not used to seeing a chubby girl representing Malaysia, walking down the aisle of Miss Universe.


After



3 years down the road, look at how she has blossomed. She has lost all her baby fats and is now ready to conquer the world starting with carving a name for herself in the entertainment industry in Singapore. Certainly better than doing it in Malaysia. This is the power of discipline and good diet. Proves that nothing is impossible. Of course, peer pressure from all the lanky slim models in Singapore helped too.