my roommate signed me up for a 'congressional breakfast' with California's Senator, Dianne Feinstein, and so both of us made our way down early this morning to the Senate building for free breakfast... it was more interesting than i thought. On the way to the ballroom where the breakfast was going to be held, we walked past some senator offices and chanced upon 'john kerry'... and so being very suaku started posing for pictures in front of the sign... ppl who walked past us must have been amused with us getting so excited over a tiny sign. sadly to our disappointment when we walked past the same office after breakfast we realized it was prob just an intern office, for interns interning for Kerry... haha oh well. but ya, i was pretty impressed by our short breakfast session, cos Feinstein was really friendly and approachable, introducing the ppl who worked for her, briefly touching on amendments she was working on and patiently explained how things worked... thought it was pretty cool how citizens can attend such sessions... but not all senators do this lah. and then after that i thought about it again... maybe it's like a more high-class version of like our 'meet-the-grassroot-leaders' sessions in neighborhoods?? haha which i have never ever bothered to go for... so i cannot really compare but only speculate... guess the crowd is also different? sigh nmind i am talking nonsense.

Was surfing for things related to my paper and I found the US State Dept's country report on human rights for China... and was just curious and took a peek at the one on Singapore and found this interesting bit of info:

In September, the Economist magazine announced that it had agreed to pay damages to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in connection with an article published in its August 14 issue. The article was taken to imply that nepotism had played a part in the appointment of Ho Ching, the Prime Minister's wife, to head Temasek Holdings, the country's key state investment entity. Newspaper accounts reported that the amount paid was $229,000 (S$380,000) plus legal costs.

In 2002, the Bloomberg news service publicly apologized and agreed to pay $340,000 (S$595,000) in damages to then Prime Minister Goh and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew for an Internet-distributed Bloomberg column that accused them of nepotism in regard to the Ho Ching appointment at Temasek.

An expensive price to pay for defamation huh? no wonder ppl are so careful with their words.... ;P

i think it's so silly that straits times interactive wants to charge subscription fees... and so i wrote my first 'complaint letter' ever haha. but not that it will do anything. hopefully enough ppl complain such that they will scrap this whole thing... apparently 'overwhelming response' by readers has led to a 50% slash in subscription fees. if i have to pay, i'll prob just not read it... i want to be updated on local news... but not enough to want to pay for it. esp when most of the local news is like trivial domestic stuff... it's so bu hua suan to have to pay the few articles worth reading. many respectable online newspaper dun even charge.... and the 'extras' only have a small target audience...i found out what a bipolar disorder is today when talking to my apartment mates... felt rather ill-informed for not knowing this, but at least now i know. it's basically a disorder that causes extreme mood swings, so someone with a bipolar disorder can be extremely happy and hyper at one moment then lapse into depression, think suicidal thoughts the next min or something... scary. it was so cold today that even walking in the cold for 5 min made me sniff quite a bit after i got indoors... and i hate it when the wind is like really strong and really really chilly.... =(

received a package in the mail today, including a pink rabbit thingy which would be rather handy for me! =) i'm afraid to use it though, for fear that i'll destroy it..... also, showing childish excitement over cute meiji chocs in the mail made me realize that the kiddish side of me hasn't really left me after all haha.
spent this morning trying hard to concentrate on reading my book, but kept getting distracted, thinking about what i should do for summer... cannot make up my mind. thought about doing a japanese homestay. or going to japan again to tour.... thought about going home and mugging my jap textbook such that i can take jap 100a next sem, but i think that seems overly ambitious. dreamed about embarking on grand research project in China with a SURF grant but unlikely that will happen cos i am not sure what i want to do research on. also thought about doing the rural china thingy.... or i can just go home and slack for 2.5 months. wanna go to Europe again too.... sigh. in the end i didn't decide on anything and wasted about an hour stoning in front of the computer
=P

my adorable birthday prez.... guess what this is for?  

despite being in a new foreign place, i feel really loved.... for many reasons. everyone's sweet gestures really made my day... woke up this morning to be greeted by a whole table of tiny chocolate cupcakes with candles on them, baked by roommate and suitemate... had dinner with a visiting friend and had the best food i've ever had in the past month; fresh and aesthetically pleasing sushi at this sushi place at Dupont Circle, and yummy italian dessert at Al Tiramisu
an unexpected birthday greeting from a p sch fren, a birthday 'voucher' from sg fren, cards, icq messages and phone calls... just want to say a big 'thank you' to my dear friends, cos i really really appreciate it. =) yes, and i realized that good things come in small packages!
yes, and so i turn 22 today. it actually feels like a transition into adulthood now, more so than last year. perhaps it's cos i matured a lot over the past year? ok i guess i am still dense, still blur, still insensitive and overly emotional at times, but i think i have at least grown up quite a bit and i'm not what i used to be... of course certain traits can never be 'erased' totally. but ya, i hope i'll continue to mature into a 'good person' and make the best of my semester in dc. =)

22 cupcakes, hugs and kisses for a 22-yr-old girl  

free birthday ice cream in the cutest pan ever!