Last Sunday, while I was at the Ong’s, I heard about a cyclone in Burma - their father works there, and was wondering if stories appeared on the Straits Times. Well, it did, like four days after. I’m not sure this is indicative of the responsiveness of the press, or more likely, how Burma is shut out of the world.

As Southeast Asia’s poorest (by far) country, you would think that the Burmese government would want to put out news of a natural disaster externally as soon as possible - to get aid. In any case, with 22,500 confirmed deaths (I’m weighing more with the American estimate of 100,000), it doesn’t look good on the junta: this is the same Buddhist junta that is ruled by omens. Asia’s worst (and deathliest) cyclone since 1991 - not exactly the best of omens.

Sometimes the most unlikely of people shows you what’s important in life. I’m heading in the wrong direction at break-neck speed - and I have no idea what to do about it. Wished life had a pause button. Wished I could have my cake and eat it too. Hmmm cake. Cheesecake. Secret Recipe. Secrets. Oh god, what’s with my mind!

So what happens when you can’t even find one economist to support your stupid gas tax plan? Call them elite. Clinton may well call to build a mile-high tower, told by engineers and architects to be impossible, and then call them elite. They don’t care what average Americans want!

How have you been keeping up?

The thing is, I don’t mind at all getting a B (or B+, which is sort of saying, “I think you’re better than average… but not quite there yet”) for a subject which I learned something. But to get it for a subject which I didn’t learn anything–be it, because the subject is crap or the professor is crap or both–burns. Especially when you took said subject to get an A. Burns.

This, therefore, marks the last time I take a subject for the pure purpose of scoring A (the last time I did that, I got a B+ for Finance 101).

Jason Ong and Joseph Wee, I hates you.

Grades thus far:

PSYC001 - Introduction to Psychology: B+ (expecting B-/C+, hoping for A-)
POSC003 - Introduction to Politics and Policy Studies: A (expecting A-, hoping for A+)
MGMT227 - Corporate Creativity: B+ (expecting A-, hoping for A)
MGMT211 - Career Skills - The Finishing Touch: B+ (expecting B+, hoping for A)

Two more grades to go. Meanwhile, I bidded chances of getting out of my degree program (and thus, sanity) goodbye with the B+ in Psychology.

Finals, finals, go away. It’s gone!

POSC 202 - The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, c. 1500-Present

PSYC 001 - Introduction to Psychology

POSC 003 - Introduction to Political and Policy Studies

ECON 207 - Applied Econometrics

Update: Half done, half dead. Three more days. No, wait. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. HAPPY THOUGHTS DAMMIT.

(OHHH, can’t wait to get sloshed on Thursday)

Update II: By “sloshed,” I mean with sleep. Of course. That’s what I mean, ma. What did you think? Binge drinking? That’s so not sexy.

Update III: The last, and most difficult lap (you could guess - “Applied Econometrics”… even the name sounds evil, no offense Aurobindo Ghosh)

He promises this much, as if it’s in his control. What’s ironic is that all the reforms he’s trying (or saying he would try to) spearhead are the sort of reforms that formed the basis of his 2004 election landslide. Just that he didn’t deliver when he had the political capital.

On a related note, am I the only one dreading a Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak? Suddenly, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sounds a lot more palatable. Why can’t we get a bunny to rule? It worked for the Holy See!

I kinda was expecting newly-elected Charles Santiago, DAP MP for Klang, to be rather entertaining since this. But this is just beyond:

PETALING JAYA: Instead of imposing a levy on employers of foreign workers, Selangor can introduce a minimum wage as a way to reduce the use of foreign workers and encourage employers to hire locals.

Employers could transfer the burden of the levy to their foreign workers by deducting their already meagre salaries, said Klang MP Charles Santiago, an economist.

Let’s just ignore economist Santiago’s economic fallacy (that workers would absorb all of the levy), and move on to the stupidity of trying to restrict foreign migration. What’s wrong with foreign migrants? They lower costs for companies, which in turn lowers costs for consumers, which buys more, which cause such companies to earn more, invest more, and create more jobs. Oh, and remittance from foreign workers are a heck-of-a-lot more useful than foreign direct aid.

So why do we want to dump all that? Because a bunch of pansies, who may not really want a job currently filled by foreigner what with their useless local uni, polytechnic or community college diplomas, can’t get a job. Oh, and eeek! Indonesians! RUN!

Oh, okay, fine, restrict migration. How? Minimum wage? Consider for a moment why minimum wage would reduce foreign migrant employment? Because it reduces employment in general. It is sort of a battering ram, a sledgehammer of sorts. Oddly enough, while Santiago supports minimum wage, his party’s manifesto calls for a more neo-liberal living allowance.

Apparently, it’s unethical. Try to stick to one party per night. Bar-hopping may be acceptable.

(He may have meant political party-hopping, but prrf, unethical? Politicians? REALLY?)

So many have been complaining about the SMU culture, deteriorating as it were. I must wonder, how much of it is a self-fulfilling prophecy? I mean, if you perceive a culture as so, even if it is not, you probably would try to fit in (or not to look that out of place). Which validates others in your surrounding of this culture, and forces them to either conform or not look that out of place.

Just an idea.