Just had a nice home-cooked dinner... in quite an introspective mood now. Guess its due to the topic for dinner - Singapore Presidents. We (me and my parents) were talking about chinese oldies and I was complaining that they were torturing me lst night when they were blasting a vcd of some has-been taiwanese songbird. Yeap... as has-been, which more specifically mean: a face so... ermmm... taut? Is there such a word? I think there is... Well... anyway, that songbird's (hehe... what an irritating word right? makes ppl think of a cheapo 4th class karaoke lounge with mamasans fawning over some pot-bellied, gold-chained old man with curly hair... you know that kind of scene...) face was so taut that it looks as though she had gone through 10 face-lifts - all at one go. Her face... looks like something that was specially made-up for a halloween party - after 5 hours of halloween partying; its was a kaleidoscope of colours... bright red, blue-green, black, white, brown... and I have this strange feeling that the colours may not be at the right part of the face. Ok... such a long paragraph and I haven't even started on her body yet. All I can say is that... when I become that old... I would never wear what she's wearing; not her make-up, not her clothes... I think ageing gracefully would be a better choice.

Anyway, to call her a 'songbird' would be a real irony. If birds sounded like this.. I would've phoned the Ministry of Environment and requested for a crow-shooter(dunno the exact term for it) to have all of them shot. Get what I mean? That's why I call her a has-been. Back to the topic of presidents- our dear has-been songbird was singing (singing is not exactly the correct word for it either... but i think i'd better let it rest.) 'yue liang dai biao wo the xin.' Was talking about that song when I suddenly reminded of the late President Ong Teng Chong. Remember? He played that song on the piano for his wife during one of the charity shows years ago? It really reflects a lot on his character- a good family man. It even got the then political-affairs-idiot, me, stop whatever I was doing, and tell my parents 'this is a good president.' I know this is silly of me to judge a man by the song he plays, its like judging a book by its cover, a big NO-NO. But at that moment, I felt very certain that he's a good man. And he is.

When his wife died and he appeared on tv for an interview, he looked really broken. Yes, I know this is so duh... which husband wouldn't be sad when his wife passes away?? (i'm talking abt normal men, not men with the likes of anthony ler. not that type.) But this is the man, a president who actually performed on a charity show, the only president who has done so, and he played it for his wife... and she passed away... then shortly after, he was dying from cancer too. He reminds me of a swan. Swans mate for life and when one of them dies, the other half would follow swiftly after.

A few years, and one semester or more of Legal Systems and Methods in Law and Mgt later, the more politics-savvy me (i'd like to think so ;P), came across President Ong again. Was doing the chapter on the Elected Presidency and since he's the first elected president, we had to read up about him. Read this interview about him after he finished his term for presidency and I teared. I don't want to elaborate much about the interview, except that it left me disappointed with someone I respect a lot - my idol (my close friends will know who he is).

Ok... I still respect him a lot, I still think that without him, we will never be what we are... especially in times when I travel to our *ahem* neighbouring country and when their traffic police tries to fine my uncle for 'flouting certain traffic laws', and then 'assured' us that the matter can be 'resolved', and the policeman will then look pointedly at our handbags. We'll always pretend that we don't understand malay and give them the blur look, and in the end... frustrated at our lack of understanding for his very apparent meaning, and panicking as he watched more s'pore cars aka money going past, he would wave us away with a frustrated sigh. To think he must've been very elated at the beginning when he managed to stop a s'pore merc. He must be thinking... big money big money... only to have his dreams shattered. Advice to that particular traffic police... when you want to money, at least learn to speak the 1st language of the ppl you want to take the money from, and find a better reason to fine ppl, not some BS excuse.

Alright, anyway, in times like this... I felt thankful that our policemen do not ask for coffee money, and that when such things do happen... its treated as a taboo, not a normal affair- its all thanks to one very admirable and cool person, despite his age. Call me a simpleton, a spineless person or whatsoever... I'm boring, I'm not one of those anti-gov ppl and will never be one... but for that one time, I was really upset over everything. My faith in him is still there, but I realised that he's not perfect. I realised that nothing has changed much throughout the years, and I realised that life can be very unfair. Sigh... but he is still my idol, and the fact would never change no matter what, he's the most power speaker I've even seen. Cheers to that.

Ok... politics aside... I had my hair cut today. Guess who cut my hair for me?? It Amanda's ex gf, Bao bao... had a nice time chatting with her. =) My hair has got more layers than a kueh lapis now... but I like it!! Muahahaha!!