some things i read about over the past few days, weeks, months, who really keeps track of time when your in the army?

singaporeans are notorious multi-taskers. according to a survey done, singaporeans try to do about 32 hours worth of things within 24 hours a day. wow, we sure maximise our day to do the most of things. no wonder we are so stressful. multi-tasking to the extreme. just like what i'm doing now, having restaurant city running in the background, listening to the radio ad blogging about these facts. lolz.

let us thank the LTA and public transport council for making just eating a sweet or drinking a sip of water a crime. the recent debacle about a woman trying to drink plain water from her bottle in the mrt station got her slapped with a $30 fine. when transport minister (TM) was questioned about it, he made no qualms about saying that he fully supports the decision of his staff and reiterated that NOBODY should be eating or drink even the tiniest amount of any digestables in a station. if you are sick, kindly approach our friendly mrt staff for permission first before deciding to do so. wad next? asking permission to board the trains?

next up is MM lee's comment about singapore depending on foreigners entirely. he's comments that foreign talent is needed to drive singapore's economy and make up population numbers has me cracking up. almost a third of  singapore's poplation is made up of foreign talent, not including PRs. that pretty much makes singapore foreign-pore. ever considered that he's stop at two policy was the cause of this?

and the last thing i found interesting, we're recruiting more pharmacists and doctors from overseas to boost our healthcare system. 30 years ago, for "fear of an oversupply of doctors", singapore cut the number of recognised medical degrees from overseas schools to around 30. now, they've increased numbers to 120+ because we need more doctors, about double of wad NUS produces a year. splendid. ever considered it's the 6 (now cut to 5) years of "housemanship" in singapore's system that is scaring people away, especially the GPs, whom you would need the most to take care of singapore's aging population?

the only reason i'm this cynical about the last point is because i'm looking at how things are going to turn out if i go overseas to study. study until i'm 26y/o, serve my "bond" with HSA until i'm 31, too old to open a clinic (and admit it, "housemanship" doesn't pay much cause you don't have clinical experience, how to save up enough money to open a clinic?), too young to specialise (not that i want to). what am i to do? get stuck working in a hospital as a GP? wow.

in any case, my ORD wishlist is to buy a new basketball (preferably spalding gold series, or something leather and decent, not the one i'm using now where it's practically as smooth as a new-born's behind after 6 years of pounding the cement floor of the court), a new ipod classic (admit it, mine is too old, too out dated, too small-memory-ed, and has problems syncing my photos with my mac), and a crumpler (the ultimate fashions statement, though i have yet to find a nice colour with a decent sized one, but this is the one that is of least importance). but most importantly, is to ORD in peace!

and i'm planning on buying a simple laptop (or netbook as they call the size i'm looking at) for uni. just to play games (uni life is stressful you know) and do some simple typing like homework. i'm looking at sony's vaio and probably something else. still looking. feel free to drop me your recommendations.