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?

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.

#SMRTruinslives, what’s the big fuss?

In the news recently: the USA finally marks the end of a 9-year mission in Iraq. Violent crackdowns on anti-government protests continue in Syria. The European Union is headed towards some sort of catastrophic economy crisis (no one can tell me for sure what the hell is going on there). CERN might have found the God particle.

Meanwhile in Singapore: Singaporeans are up in arms complaining over public transport breakdowns and inefficiencies.

My Singapore on the Go

I was born in Singapore. I grew up in Singapore. I won’t say that I will always live in Singapore, but I’m here now, and that’s the important part.

No matter what I say about Singapore, I live in a beautiful city. I might wish for it to be more vibrant, more spontaneous, more artsy and more alive, but it doesn’t change the fact that Singapore is a pretty city as it is. It’s just that sometimes, when it’s hot and humid and we’re running late and the train is crowded, it’s easy to forget.