The (weird) things I do when I'm too stressed up

I used to cut my hair whenever I feel stressful, but that was in the past. Hence, I never had the chance to grow out my hair. I think the current hair length is the longest I have manage to grow up to for the past 26 years of my life.
I am determine to grow it longer, yet I am also so tempted to cut it away. I just don't feel feminine is my style.

Anyhow, instead of cutting it, I highlighted my hair.

Do you have any particular thing that you'll do when you feel too stressed up?

Bon Jovi : We weren't born to follow

This meaningful song goes out to all of you! (listen to my mixpod on the right hand side)

Lyrics :
This one goes out to the man who mines for miracles
This one goes out to the ones in need
This one goes out to the sinner and the cynical
This ain't about no apology

This road was paved by the hopeless and the hungry
This road was paved by the winds of change
Walking beside the guilty and the innocent
How will you raise your hand when they call your name?

Yeah, yeah, yeah

We weren't born to follow
Come on and get up off your knees
When life is a bitter pill to swallow
You gotta hold on to what you believe

Believe that the sun will shine tomorrow
And that your saints and sinners bleed
We weren't born to follow
You gotta stand up for what you believe

Let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah

This one's about anyone who does it differently
This one's about the one who cusses and spits
This ain't about our livin' in a fantasy
This ain't about givin' up or givin' in

Yeah, yeah, yeah

We weren't born to follow
Come on and get up off your knees
When life is a bitter pill to swallow
You gotta hold on to what you believe

Believe that the sun will shine tomorrow
And that your saints and sinners bleed
We weren't born to follow
You gotta stand up for what you believe

Let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah
Let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah

We weren't born to follow
Come on and get up off your knees
When life is a bitter pill to swallow
You gotta hold on to what you believe

Believe that the sun will shine tomorrow
And that your saints and sinners bleed
We weren't born to follow
You gotta stand up for what you believe

Let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah
Let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah

We weren't born to follow, oh yeah
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah)
We weren't born to follow, oh yeah
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah)

Christmas woes solved

Every year Christmas, I am always very vexed. All because of the Christmas gift exchange. Its not that I hate shopping, but I just hate shopping in crowded places. And honestly, there is no quiet shopping malls in Singapore when its the Christmas season. Everyone goes crazy shopping for gifts, and retailers bank in on this opportunity by coming up with "Christmas gifts". Cosmetics and parfume coffret sets, body shower products in sets, just almost everything is sold in a "Christmas gift package". Please tell me if you can find something unique. And honestly, I don't really fancy receiving common gifts, so I don't enjoying giving common gifts either. I would much prefer something that is more personal, or having meals and drinks with friends, enjoying ourselves would be good enough.

Last year, my problem was solved when I made a trip to Korea, I bought all my x'mas gifts from there. As for this year, I have got it solved too! Because my package from Korea has just arrived.... I am a happy girl. I can go online shopping (skip the crowd) and give unique gifts (cannot be found in Singapore).

Hooray to internet, efficient infrastructure, and my minimal Korean reading ability. :)

The homeland with no identity

I don't think I am alone in feeling this way, that Singapore is starting to become overcrowded. During peak hours, on weekends, the mountain loads of people just drives me crazy. That probably explain why I refuse to go to town areas on weekends. In any case, Singapore is so boring that the only place people can go to is shopping malls. The fact that more and more shopping malls are built all over Singapore, with many new ones on the way proves the point. When there is demand, they build. The scenery of Singapore is about skyscrapers and malls of different shapes and sizes, something which I called as 'architecture'. Another reason I hate to go out on weekends -- throngs of foreigners in every corner of Singapore. I hate public transport because I am faced with rude people. The PCK adverts don't work at all, the commuters are still barbaric.They still don't let people come out of trains before going in, they still don't give up reserved seats to people who need them, they still don't shift into the middle of cabins. People who drive don't get the last laugh too, because people who drive displayed equally bad behaviour. The wreckless taxi drivers, the ah beng road bullies, the racer-wannabes, the lousy female drivers. What more with the exorbitant COE and car prices, never-ending ERP charges, ever increasing motor insurance premiums, it just doesn't make economic sense to get a car unless you are a salesperson who needs to see clients. Service level in Singapore is not improving, because the highly-educated Singaporeans refuse to take those jobs, and that leaves the service industry in the hands of foreigners who just may not give the shit if the service level is of 'G.E.M.' quality.

Singapore's multi-racial society used to be a 'Singapore flavour', but the way I see it now -- we have no more 'flavours or cultures' that we can label as our own. Singapore has become a place for foreigners to earn money and leave (for expatriates), for foreigners to earn enough to build lands and houses and return home (the bangalas), for rich foreigners to send their kids here for the 'bilingual and quality education' (the chinese nationals), for our neighbours to earn salaries with better currency exchange rate (the Malaysians), the list goes on...

Meanwhile, the rest of us continue to live here and grumble about anything that we are buay song with by posting to Stomp. Ask us what we are buay song with on current issues, welfare, environmental issues etc, we would not give a heck.

Singapore is really a not bad place to live in despite all the above. Just where is the peace and serenity that I need?

Honestly, I'm very stressed up now

Because I have so much catching up to do for my exams. I am on the verge of crying now...

If you happen to see me, please crack some jokes and cheer me up, I'll appreciate that very much. Meanwhile, I have to get out of this house and head to Mcd to study.

Sobs.

Being Positive

Seems like I haven't been blogging lately, that's because I have been sick for the whole of last week. My system was drugged with drowsy medicine and was in no state of mind to write. Work is piling up higher, the peak period before the Christmas holidays. But I am thankful for that, because learning-on-the-job is taking place and the things that I learnt -- its growing at an exponential rate. I still can't see money, but I strongly believe that I will see it soon. I strongly believe that I am a gem, still at its raw stage, polishing up to be a bright sparkling diamond in time to come.

Sounds very positive do I? This is a conscious effort, to remain positive. This is a choice made, to think positive. You will materialise what goes on in your brain, so fill it with positive thoughts.

Evaluating others

In a toastmasters' meeting, other than doing our project speeches and learning to speak off the cuff, one other important skill that we learn is evaluating others. Often, people are quick to point out someone elses' mistakes and impulsively shoot down the other person without much thought. I don't think I belong to that category, and I hope not. In toastmasters, we learn how to criticise in a tactical manner, yet giving valuable feedback that the person need in order to improve. That certainly is not an easy thing to do.

I have no qualms about doing my project speeches, but I am not sure about evaluation. The previous scary experience of doing the General Evaluation is still in my head, and I guess much of my nerves is due to that. What am I supposed to do?