It’s now one of my favorite shots ever. Karen captured a great vibe.

Auntie and the Ang Moh

* So if you really really really want to hear how awesome this mix is, email me and I’m sure I can burn you a copy, along with other great Essential Mixes I have in my computer. I’m sure I’ll be able to think of something for you to pay me back in kind.

‘I went to work in the factory because I wanted to marry a foreign man,’ she told The Sunday Times in a phone interview.
Ms Phuong Thuy got what she wanted.
She married a 40-year-old Singaporean storeman last July and now lives in Jurong.
‘Life in Singapore is much better than back in Vietnam,’ she said.

…and to Sarongpartygirl

And someone actually made me think about this the other day, and I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the reasons why I like dating expats is the fact that they help me escape. I’m getting out of here soon, but in the meanwhile I have to make do. It’s nearly embarrassing I think, this constant striving to break away from the nauseating uneventful-ness that characterizes this place…I hate this place and I want to go away for a very long time.

The desire to ‘escape’ comes from imprisonment (physically or psychologically). I sympathize with the not-here, anywhere-but-here, somewhere-else syndrome because they have not or believe they have not had the chance/ability to be elsewhere. This afflicts not only women, mind you, even though my 2 references are from females. Poverty (or simply the lack of cash) and lack of opportunities (or a self-inflicted belief of that lack) does that. Had I not the opportunities that a stroke of fate dealt me, to born me into a developed nation middle-class loving family who highly encouraged travel, I would likely have had the same frustrations. I can’t empathize because I have been a pretty damn lucky person who have had the chance to live elsewhere, and seen the pros and cons of each place, and see for myself and am certain to create for myself all the chances and opportunities to live in far many more places in the world. Hence, ’tis the lucky me that I have been happy with my heres and nows, everywhere and whenever I’ve been because I never thought of it as a stagnant forever.

While I definitely don’t share the same sentiments as Sarongpartygirl (even though by definition, since my boyfriend’s an ang-moh, I have been thrown into that generic term), I am darn impressed with this post about Singapore.

Saturday morning was spent along Arab Street looking for our bridesmaid dress material (one of my best friend’s getting married. HURRAH! Of my 3 greatest friends in my life, one’s one her way to being a film producer, one’s already passed the Bar, the other’s gonna be a teacher and getting married…*glow* I’m so proud of them…). It’s my first time getting a dress tailor made. Now the only thing left to do is to find out where we wanna whisk the bride away to detox and deprave her the weekend before the wedding.

Ken came by early in the night. Sometimes I think he just comes by only to see the Fat Cat. He writes: "Graciela, a.k.a Fat Cat is still enormous; little does he know that he has probably overtaken the Merlion as a tourist attraction – and in size." The Zouk gang comes by later. I get tweaked out from obscene amounts of caffeine (I was seriously shaking being the friggin’ lightweight I am), while the others consume their alcohol. Palash @ Zouk that night was rocking…only after 330am though. I almost left at 3am with my nose running and sinus clogged simultaneously. I was a disgusting mess. But for some odd reason I stayed, and Palash made it worth my while. He started off his set real slow, which bored me. But after 330am, he dropped heavier shite and went harder and deeper and rocked my boat. Pat and I found ourselves raving in the DJ booth again. When Palash dropped Iio’s "Rapture", probably one of my favorite songs, I lost it. Ahhh…nothing like your favorite track being played when the set’s already rocking you! =D

Which led up to me sleeping till 5pm today, thankful for the sleep I lost sniffling and sniveling all week. Now The Simpson’s are on, and The Kumars at No. 42 coming up next to entertain me this evening, while Pat is at his next job: dressing up as Crocodile Dundee ‘usher/mingler’ in an Aussie-themed IBM corporate function.

All jokes and jesting aside, I will now risk sounding like a oh-my-boyfriend’s-so-cute twat and blushingly declare that I think I have the one of the coolest greatest boyfriends ever, who moved away from a place he loved (SF) to a place with a climate he detests, put his passion (teaching kids in the hood) on pause, adapted himself to an entirely different socio-political culture, cooks for me and my parents, hangs out with my father and his friends weekly for their boys-night-out, re-establishes his own scene here, and always staying open and positive to doing new things. I love and respect you, Patty.

LOOK at it in one way and the general election due in Iraq next Sunday, January 30th, is an inspiring event. After decades of dictatorship Iraqis are being given an opportunity most Arabs can only dream about: the chance to choose their leaders in a free election. Moreover, this choice is being made possible only by the will and power of the United States, under the leadership of a president who declared on his re-inauguration last week that the survival of liberty in America “increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands”.

Look at it another way, however, and the election is in danger of seeming a parody of democracy. Almost two years after George Bush toppled Saddam Hussein, fear and murder stalk Iraq. How free is an election in which the citizen who dares to vote stands a fair chance of being shot, blown up or beheaded for his pains? America’s efforts to stabilise Iraq have so far been so ineffectual that even the location of the polling stations is having to be kept secret until the last minute. And the longer the violence continues, the hollower Mr Bush’s liberty talk will sound. Two years ago, it was reasonable to hope that by helping a democracy to emerge in a post-Saddam Iraq, the United States could set an example for the rest of the Arab world to copy. At this point, many Arabs looking in horror at the chaos of Iraq are liable to draw the opposite conclusion: that it is safer to stick with the authoritarians they know.

So which is it? An inspiring experiment in liberty, or a sham that risks giving the whole idea of democracy—especially when it is imported by regime-changing Americans bearing arms—a bad name?

The Economist has a frustrating propensity at (many) times to sound almost naively optimistic about the benefits of their ideology–a liberal capitalist democracy for all. While I adhere to that ultimate goal (re: sidebar on kellykelly’s current life philosophy), The Economist certainly makes it look incredible (definition: beyond belief).

This is very cool. Telegraph Street right off campus. Oh mannnn…this makes me miss Berkeley!

I’ve not noticed this till lawyer friend Eunice (who passed the Bar exam 2 days ago, WHOOHOO!! Congratulations!!!) mentioned something "funny" at work yesterday. People were using "tenor" in place of "tenure" as she reviewed some corporate law stuff. So funny, right? hahaha! I paused. Umm..not "tenor" meh? Because "tenor" is used most of the time in credit reports/applications at my bank (i.e. "the tenor of the loan is 5 years"). But I don’t trust the English we use one bit.

So I set out trying to find definitions of both. Clearly, the correct one is "tenure" to describe term of a loan. None of them, even the American dictionaries, say "tenor" is interchangeable with "tenure". I asked some collegues. Apparently in the industy, it’s used interchangeably, even in official documents like the information memorandum (I don’t know about legal contracts) especially from America.

I google searched "loan tenor tenure" and a whole list of mainly Asian/Middle Eastern banks seem to use it interchangeably (even in the same sentence! which is silly to me). Arabfinance.com defines them differently:

Tenor–The term or life of a contract. Similar to maturity.
Tenure–The classification of all occupied units as either owner-occupied or renter-occupied.

which I don’t believe is completely right either.

And investopedia only has "tenor" no "tenure" in its dictionary!

I know there are lawyers out there reading this post. Is tenor/tenure kinda like favor/favour? Or is this another major English boo-boo we are making? Help!