Resolutions for my last year on Earth.

If we’re going to believe Hollywood’s interpretation of the Mayan calendar, we know that…

1. The world will end on 21 December 2012, allowing people to spaz about how cool the date 20122012 is (and also making it trend on Twitter) before meeting their end the next day.

2. This will probably be the last year we have on this planet before things come to an end in a catastrophic yet visually impressive fashion.

And, most importantly:
3. Only friends of John Cusack will survive (in giant arks that have gift shops). If you’re the intelligent and good-hearted Indian scientist who actually discovered the impending doom in the first place, I’m sorry, you’re fucked. You can haz giant tsunami wave.

I haven’t yet met a person who really believes that we’re all going to die at the end of next year; after two bung Rapture predictions this year I guess we’re all a little “meh” about these things. Still, since I have a bit more trust in the ancient Mayans than I do in Harold Camping, I’ve decided to be a little bit prepared in my list of resolutions (which in itself is something special, since I generally don’t make resolutions).

The birthday that might not have been.

When you’re involved in a death penalty case, you’re always aware of the ticking clock. Time is running out. There might be no tomorrow, no next week, no next year. Life events like birthdays are no longer just one more landmark to celebrate – they’re tinged with sadness and uncertainty, because who knows if there will be another?

And that’s just how I feel. I can’t even begin to imagine how the family of a death row inmate feels. I can’t even begin to imagine how the inmate himself feels. I don’t think anyone can.

Sex Ed: More than going beyond second base.

The Ministry of Education is going to revise its Sexuality Education Programme (SEP) which will emphasise sexual abstinence over contraception. According to The New Paper (as reported by Yahoo! SG), this programme, the strangely-titled ‘Breaking Down Bridges’ (can anyone explain?) will be taught to Secondary 3, first-year junior college and centralised institute students.

I was rather surprised to read this news. From my own experience of sex education while in high school, I already thought that there was too much emphasis on sexual abstinence. How can there be any more emphasis, short of insisting that all teenage girls take the veil?

Merry Christmas! Love, Me.

What’s Christmas to you? What stops you in your tracks, makes you take a deep breath and go, “Yes, it’s Christmas”? What brings that holiday season cheer into your heart, making you glad to be alive?

Is it the Christmas tree in the corner of your living room, decorated with baubles and shining lights? Is it the reindeer dolls and red-and-white colour themes? Is it the shopping sprees, checking out every sale? Is it the food, or the presents? Is it the snow and the fireplace, or the sun and the beach?

Christmas decor at Changi Airport.

I’ve spent Christmas in a many different places in my life: at my grandparents’, stuffed with char siew mee, or at a restaurant in Rome, a shrill soprano determinedly blowing her way through White Christmas right into our ears. In a crowded backpackers making too much food in the shared oven, or in Ministry of Sound trying not to inhale too much cigarette smoke. Each venue had its own up and downs, but they all taught me one thing: it really doesn’t matter where you are. Only the people matter.

6 Moments of 2011.

2010 was a big year, a year in which so much changed. In many ways, 2011 was a variation on the theme. A much louder variation: more adventures, more new friends, more ideas and more opportunities. It’s hard to imagine that we’re at the end of the year now. I seem to have completely lost track of time; it seemed not so long ago since Christmas 2010, yet things that happened in January and February feel like a lifetime ago.

This October in Manila I met up with an old friend. We had dinner, then took a stroll to one of Manila’s many (too many!) Starbucks. We chatted, talking about everything and nothing in particular.

Halfway through the conversation he stopped and asked, “How did a quiet shy girl in a polkadot uniform become… this?” He gestured with a laugh, referring to the travelling, the documentary filmmaking, the campaigning, the activism, the lobbying politicians, the socio-political blogging… everything.

I thought for a bit, but I didn’t know how to answer him. Truth be told, if you went back in time and told a 16-year-old me about all the things I’ve done this year, I would never have believed you. Perhaps I would have thought it sounded quite good, but I wouldn’t have believed that I would become someone who would do all these things.

But now I am doing them, and hoping to go even further. 16-year-old me would lose her shit.