I have survived. Yes. I did it. I survived 2 hours of incessant mindless chatter at a church dinner tonight. "Ooh... your daughter knows my son, now she knows my daughter too!" "Ooh... your daughter is sooo pretty." Sometimes I wish I had been born a guy. Singaporean women think they are better than the men, but do they realize how superficial they are? Compared to some of their counterparts overseas who discuss politics, social issues, and business over the dinner table, these local women are only concerned with hair, makeup, which school they go to, blah. And they wonder why there are so few female politicians. Tonight's dinner is ranked #1 on my list of boring dinner discussions, knocking the dinner I had with H and D a few months back to #2. This time round, instead of folding paper napkins while the bimbos were talking, I was tearing the paper envelopes holding the chopsticks. Most people may think this is mad, but as my boss says, you have to let go and be a child again and let creativity flow. That's how I came up with the idea of elongated sachets for tea. At least my time was not put to waste. However, there are people reading this who might beg to differ. They will say that it is because they are a "people" person, that's why they are able to handle such discussions superbly. I just term them "bimbos". A good friend of mine will say that I am getting more and more like Miss Yee. But frankly, people who have been outside of Singapore will know that the world doesn't revolve around Singapore alone, and certainly doesn't revolve around where they do their hair or makeup and other superficial details that no one cares to know.

The older I get, the more I think I am becoming a guy. No. I am not suffering from any identity crisis problems. I cannot stand the superficiality that goes with most women of my age or younger. I somehow find better friends in guys. Of course, there are guys who are as vain, or if not, vainer, than girls. There are superficial guys too. And I'm not referring to gays. Gays are deeper than you think. They have serious issues to consider, emotional problems, family problems, identity problems, that no one seems to understand, not even themselves. I'm glad that I have good buddies. But my inability to identify with other superficial girls have made my crush think I am a les. That's bad. But I guess that shouldn't bother me. I will fight for what I believe in. Mental strength, honesty, integrity.

Talk about fighting for what you believe in. Can a single person who doesn't eat sharks' fins claim to be able to save the sharks? Fighting for an environmental cause or a social cause takes more than one person's effort. It is teamwork. It is creating awareness. It is influencing the mass to take the right action. Take for example the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Singapore. Concurrent with the Eucharistic Congress 2004, the JRS has initiated a project to help the people in Liberia who have been suffering for more than a decade due to civil unrest. They have appealed to the people in Singapore to help these poor souls. Look at us, look at the people around us. How many of us actually throw away food, throw away old textbooks, throw away old shoes, or clothes, or newspapers, or bought new clothes that we don't wear because we find them ugly immediately after we bought them? I'm one of them. Are we wasteful? Yes. Can we do something with these things that we don't want? Yes. It's not only the people in Liberia that need our assistance. There are many people in the world who lead a poorer existence. Nearby Bali is an example. Give a child a dollar, and you made her day. Tens of children will then rush up to you, asking you for money. It happens in India too. Perhaps we can try to help others have a better life. One person not eating sharks' fins when a million others do does not help. To find out more about the JRS, check out: www.veritas.org.sg/jrssg or www.jesref.org (JRS International). Alternatively, check out www.oneworld.net. OneWorld is a nonprofit organization that provides aid to various causes in many parts of the world. They have links to many NGOs all over the world, and help to raise funds for many of the projects that they do. Thus far, it is one organization whose cause I find truly admirable. If you have more time, do check out www.oneworldmarket.nl. It is a portal that aims to facilitate trade between the North (Europe) and the South (Africa). A project that my friends and I helped to do in The Netherlands in 2002. One of the most useful school projects that I have ever done.

Finally, my maid has just broken the Guiness Book of Records for being the most unfathomable creature on Earth. I bought a new blouse that had a hole in the side so that I can thread the ribbon through to tie (sarong style), and guess what? She actually sewed up the hole so tightly that I can't even find where the start and the end of the hole is.