Singapore @ MindSay 
Have you noticed how once you set a goal that obstacles and challenges suddenly arise? Of course they do. If you didn't have the goal or the intention to go in a certain direction, a particular event or object does not present itself as an obstacle. The more you want to achieve something, particularly in a certain planned way, the more an obstacle can challenge you - how much do you really want it?
World Champion, Jana Rawlinson has had her fair share of challenges over an amazing athletic career. At her fittest, she has proven unbeatable on the track in her pet event, 400m hurdles. Her biggest challenge has been in staying fit and healthy for the biggest prize - Olympic glory. A knee injury disrupted her 2004 Games and the 2008 Olympic year has been another struggle for her. She is only just returning to international competition this week. Will her persistence and tenacity drive her to overcome this challenge and enable her to claim her Olympic dream? Often when we are faced with recurring challenges such as injury, there may be lesson that we need to get. Often we resist or fight our challenges rather than responding, like an aikido warrior and going with the challenge and redirecting the force.
What are your challenges? Have you stopped to consider what message it is that you need to get to overcome these challenges once and for all?
Welcome one and all to the show, we're wired up,fired up and we're ready to go - as in the words of the talented Michael Kenji Shinoda.
I've somehow managed to piece my blog together and I'm fairly proud of it since it is palpably decent-esque. Got some freebies in the "bookmarks" bit, so feel free to entertain yourselves if you find I'm ranting on too much. I just threw out some random topics of interest into the forum, waiting for someone to get the ball rolling. I don't wanna act like I'm pluggin it - and even that sounds like a plug - but all the art you see on this page, all 100% homemade by yours truly. (If you look at my profile, you'll notice 'digital graphics editing' as one of my hobbies-I have sneaky feeling that I just coined a new term right there.) I will be adding a Photo Album soon, which will showcase my amateur artistic attempts and other photos, so keep an eye out for that.
Just returned from my birthplace, glorious Singapore, to Hyderabad where I am now schooling. Had a blast on my sunny island 'course. I transformed into a cinema addict before the eyes of the world, caught up on movies such as
Juno(Jason Reitman kicks ass),
27 Dresses (which was bordering on mediocre),
Jumper(which was a complete and utter waste of my time and money),
Cloverfield (I regurgitated my sweet n salt popcorn all over the poor epileptic teenager seated in front of me, and OH YEAH it was a complete and utter waste of my time and money) and of course
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, my latest muse which I watched 3 times :D (thank god for insane barbers which somehow keep us sane).
Was in Dubai for a while too, and people, if you know China as 'The Waking Dragon' and India as 'The Reigning Maharaja', Dubai would probably be 'The Rising Camel' or something 'cos i have never known a desert bursting with more life. The nomadic equivalent of a rollercoaster in Dubai would be the Desert Safari. Do not underestimated those silken undulating dunes and the charming driver of your jeep. Definitely not for the faint of heart. The Emiratis are such warm people, down to earth but extremely savvy. They are at the top of their game, truly.
It feels great though to be back in ISH especially since there are more people. Personally, a classroom of 11-12 people is what I call mentally stifling, simply because the more people, the easier the flow and circulation of ideas. And now there're 21, yes you heard me, 21 students in our grade. Maybe its because I'm used to my having nearly 30-40 people in a class. (that's what's considered a healthy class size in Singapore 
)
I have great memories of Vysh's Birthday party on Saturday (Happy Birthday again if you happen to read this, which I highly doubt 
). Had lotsa fun, although at the expense of the peace of mind of fellow Fusion9 diners.(We're a rowdy lot) Met Vysh's grandmother after the party,a sweet a gracious individual whom I had the privilege of being acquainted with, along with the rest of her family. I got back home and promptly hung the party glowband on my wall. (I latch on to memories like a basket case for those who don't know)
And all Sweeney lovers out there, be sure to check out the poll of the month. And in honour of the occasion, I have here an impeccably done tribute to Sweeney Todd - ALL CRED TO WAYTINO who indirectly introduced me to the infectious magic of Yann Tiersen. This tribute is very aptly named "Revenge"
<<<randomness:(this means the following paragraph[s] are just some of my random musings that I jot down when inspired)
"He left the bistro, shuffling down the street with the look of a broken heart bleeding all over the place. She'd been unfaithful, he'd been unwavering.
And on this oh so gray
Valentine's Day,
He swiped the roses
from the blistered hands of a pedlar
handed the man a 50,
just enough for a pinch of weed,
and as if the beauties were gritty,
he threw them into the dump,
then woefully he said,
'Love is a place where all is rosy red,
and salvation is dead'
'Even pedlars should not sink to the level of promoting love'
The pedlar was left puzzled but content with his easy money.
And he sank deeper into the suffocating trench of heartbreak...
:randomness>>>
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd,
His skin was pale and his eye was odd,
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
Who never thereafter were heard of again
He trod the path that few have trod,
Did Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Sorry, couldn't resist the urge to put that in, heehee :D
P.S. Be sure to give a shout(angry or intoxicated, I won't mind) at my tagboard before you leave.
Today there was a RACIST chinese guy who came into the hairstyling area where i was learning...well...this TARD...was wanted to get his hair cut...he only speaks mandrin by the way.
at that point everyone thought he was alright, he smiled the to chinese cashier. The receptionist sat him down, and intorduced him to the student stylist who would cut his hair. This student, is one who has no attitude problem what so ever, she's very keen in learning, and is very good and work effective, she can cut wonderful hairstyles.
that's not the point. (the student) let's just call her Lolla. she only understands some mandrin. and speaks vietnamese and english very well.
So Lolla is ver attractive to many guys, and she smiled at the customer, and got her shampoo, cloths, etc ready. so now as she's putting her dryer in the drawer after pluging it into the wall, the man asks her "where you from?" (in mandrin). Lolla answers "vietnam".
TARD then rolled his eyes, and rudly said "NO NO" in english. Lolla was confused. TARD was demanding that the teacher come and change his stylist immediatly.
He started to yell and say these sentences in mandrin:" i don't want a vietnamese woman doing my hair! she'll make me botak (bald), i don't pay money to get my hair ruined by vietnamese people, i don't want a vietnamese!"
I was utterly shocked, so was Lolla, this is what i hate about being a singaporean, both younger and older generations have no respect what so ever for human beings! these people are a disgrace to singapore and everywhere in the world. He even dared to roll his eyes at the indonesian student, and I. we didn't even do anything...
these type of people should be in my opinion be put into gas chambers and smoked up. they don't deserve to have respect or life. what did Lolla, myself and other non-chinese races do to you as individuals?!...
One day i hope God will either strike you with lightning to wake you up!
xoxo
chrissie
By Carmen L. Gleason
American Forces Press Service
April 13, 2007 – An alleged al Qaeda leader being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, denied involvement in bombings in both Indonesia and Singapore, according to a transcript of his hearing released yesterday. Riduan bin Isomuddin, known as "Hambali," either declined to answer or said he had no involvement with the operations brought forth during his April 4 combatant status review tribunal hearing at the detention facility.
The tribunal was an administrative hearing to determine only if the detainee could be designated as an enemy combatant.
Hambali said that while he was a member of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian militant Islamic organization, he had no interaction with al Qaeda.
Evidence presented during the hearing showed that he had been the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah and served as its main contact for al Qaeda in Southeast Asia. He also helped recruit members for al Ghuraba, the foreign student organization that helped develop Jemaah Islamiyah organization in Pakistan.
He also had served as the leader of the Malaysia Mujahedin group, according to U.S. government information presented in the hearing. That group's mission is to topple the Indonesian government. During the hearing, a Federal Bureau of Investigation source was cited as having contact with Hambali when he orchestrated and funded the December 2000 bombing of a church in Indonesia that killed 18 people.
An FBI source also stated that in January 2002 the detainee discussed carrying out attacks in bars, cafes and night clubs frequented by westerners in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia. The source said the detainee claimed to have 1 ton of explosives within Indonesia.
After Hambali allegedly discussed bombing such places and having large amounts of explosives, at least 187 people were killed and more than 300 foreign tourists were injured in October 2002 when an explosion destroyed a nightclub on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
In his hearing, Hambali denied having supervised the plan to bomb the U.S., Australian and British embassies in Singapore. However, an FBI source stated that the detainee served as the point man between al Qaeda operatives and the mastermind in this plan, which government officials called the "Singapore plot."
Other evidence presented during the hearing showed that a document seized during Hambali's arrest provided instructions for manufacturing vest bombs used by suicide bombers. However, Hambali said he had "no answer" when he was asking during the hearing what his involvement was in making explosives.
The hearing came to a close when the hearing president said an assessment would be made as to whether the detainee continued to pose a threat to the United States or coalition partners in the ongoing conflict against terrorist organizations. The detainee was told that he would have the opportunity to be heard and to present relevant information later to an administrative review board.
The government implemented the CSRTs in July 2004 in response to a June 28, 2004, Supreme Court ruling in the case of Rasul v. Bush. The court ruled that enemy combatants held by the U.S. government had the right to contest their status before a judge or other neutral decision maker.
Between July 2004 and March 2005, DoD conducted 558 CSRTs at Guantanamo Bay. At the time, 38 detainees were determined to no longer meet the definition of enemy combatant, and 520 detainees were found to be enemy combatants.
Article sponsored by Criminal Justice online leadership as well as police and military personnel who have authored books.
I'm on the bus to Delhi now. I'm leaving so much behind: little hopes and big dreams. The self I was when I first came to India. The program center (the friends I'd found left day before yesterday) and the whole semester. The city I'd become familiar with. I am sad and a little afraid. I crave the adventure—but it terrifies me, too. I want to be the intrepid explorer, going where few dare to go, to see what no one has seen before and walking on distant shores no other foot has touched. Yet I am still shy, I still feel helpless to some degree, I still feel so young and so alone.
I am sad for the things left behing—chances never taken, words never said. I look forward to the future, to making it count. To regretting only the things I do not do, to taking what comes and becoming new every day. This growth is not a comfortable process—I must remember this. But when we stop growing we die, even if our bodies keep moving. To live a simple life is fine—but I cannot bear to waste my life in an office or at home. I can't bear the idea of waking up one day, at sixty, at seventy, at eighty years old and thinking "this was it? This was all there was? This is all I did with my life?" I can't bear the thought of being ordinary. Anything but ordinary—please?
Here I am begining another adventure. First to south India, then Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji and, possibly, Tunisia as well.
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