Relaxed Day 1: Collected Bangkok Tix...Emotional Straits Times Articles!

Company is having shut-down this whole week. So it's time to chill out and relax... Went to the gym this morning and I am very proud to say I have improved my 2.4km timing. From 19mins to 18mins! Yeah!!! (*Happy*) But come to think of it, I have not set a target for myself yet. Let me think*** I aim for 16 mins to complete 2.4km run. Abit scary when I divide 16mins by 6 runs, it means I need to complete 1 round (400m) in 2.67mins. Must train hard. Need to go run at stadiums when free. I also have not practised yoga for long time liao. :( Will do that tomorrow morning.

Went Centerpoint Delifrance for brunch and guess what, I met Jenn over there. Not sure if it's her so I test test and called her mobile. She damn funny. The moment she pick up the phone, without looking at who's calling her, she assumes that I'm the friend that she's meeting for facial and started blabbering:"I'm at Centerpoint Delifrance. Wru?" without any hellos.... HAHAHA. ;P glad to see her.

Collected my e-tickets to BKK. I'm trying not to think too much about their attitude. Just think about us going there shopping till our hearts' content. Getting excited although I'm a little bit worried about 3 Jan. It's like coming back to work the next day after we came back to Singapore. Sure shag one. So must rest well during these few days.

Was reading Straits Times on the train ride back. Felt emotional about some of the articles. So wanna share with u.

1) Tsunami, One year on... Honour the dead-and living (On the cover page)
Some excerpts on the mourning: In Indonesia's Aceh province on Sumatra yesterday, President Susilo Bambang sounded a tsunami warning siren at 8.16am - the moment the first wave struck exactly a year ago-to start a minute's silence.
In Koh Phi Phi in Thailand, hundreds of mourners moved one by one, two by two, to the edge of the beach, sat down and stared silently at the sea that killed their loved ones.
In Sri Lanka, butchers hung up all their knives to show respect for all life, Buddhist monks prepared to chant all night and survivors thronged temples, churches and mosques.
The world's grief and compassion returned to tsunami-battered shores all round the Indian Ocean yesterday to mark the first anniversary of the giant waves that laid waste to communities in a dozen countries and swept away at least 216,000 lives.

=> I almost felt like crying when I read this article. So much lives were lost on 26 Dec 2004! Indonesia was hit the hardest. more than 200,000 Indonesians in Aceh died or are still missing. My heart really goes out to all the survivors and I honour them! Despite surviving, they must have lost some of their family members. The pain they go through must be... undescrible.

2) Number of vehicles stolen in Singapore has fallen
833 vehicles were stolen in the 1st 3 quarters this year compared with 855 during the same period. I was actually quite shocked to learn that there are so many vehicles being stolen here. Have not actually heard of it from friends/relatives. So far, cars being robbed yes but not stolen. The main point that I would like to highlight to all: Insurance company Income has warned customers owning Toyota RAV4, Toyota harrier and Lexus RX300 not to drive them to Malaysia as these models were frequently targeted by thieves over there. So pls take note!!!

3) Jail for sex selective abortions (China)
An amendment to their law which calls for prison terms of up to 3 years and fines for doctors & other health workers who assist in telling the gender of unborn babies, leading to abortion. Realise that now this law only fine people previously, no jail term. The one-child policy has actually been implemented in 1979 to curb China's population (now over 1.3billion). Actually, with our Chinese's mindset that son is the one who will "chuan zhong jie dai" meaning they will carry on the family line, some people will definitely take this route to ensure that they have a son to depend on as Chinese's custom is that when girls are being married off, they are considered belonging to their husband's family. This is inevitable, I feel. Unless, they are able to change people's mindset. Perhaps they should change to "The 2 children policy". Their statistics show that 119 boys are born for every 100 girls. Average male-female ratio world-wide is 106 to 100. By 2020, as many as 40 million men in China could be bachelors. I think by then, those foreign marriage agencies could be mushrooming up everywhere in China!

I have only read up to Page 3 of the Straits Times so far and caught these 3 articles. Enjoyed today's Digital Life although I seldom read it as not much interest. But today's articles are interesting.

Just installed Skype since I have a headphone and mic set now! Installed it just to communicate with my dear friend Aggie who is now working in China (Suzhou).