<body> my alter ego: the rambling nerd
rambling nerd


moon loves to flip pages, she watches the nerd box with enthusiasm, occasionally switches to the giant screen. Normally listens to nothing at all. Loves talking. on and on and on. blogs about almost everything and anything. sometimes it might pain to read what she writes. IM A NERD, and a shopping NERD to make things worse.

what she digs

recent reads

Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World
recent movies

Ludovic Berthillot, Chu Yinping and Louis Leterrier's Kungfu Dunk

Paul Thomas Anderson's There will be Blood
glued to the poison box
娱乐百分百
恶作剧二吻
我猜我猜我猜猜猜
Heroes
in the playlist
Zhang Zhen Yue-OK
Aska Yang-鸽子
Gary Cao-Super Sunshine
her plans

learn advanced malay
exchange programme!!!
Finish dA books
write better
tag here



blogs she read

Friends
Ade
Adeline
Angel
Chao Kiat
Cheryl
Clara
Erwin
Estelle
Guo Hui
Jia Min
Jin
Jin Wen
Justin
Keat
Li Yuan
Marcius
Rui Long
Shannon
Shixiong
Shuhui
Siti
Tracy
Wei Han
Wei Ting Xiao Mei
Wei Ying Er Mei
Welyon
Winnie
Zhan Ting
Zhe Hao
Zhi Wen
Zoe
Others
A Gonzo Journal
A writer's blog my life, my thoughts
Bingfeng Teahouse
Black Blood, White Lace
Cosiety
DanielV
Dawn Yang
Elva
Energy
Fahrenheit
FriskoDude
I Like
Jamie Oliver
Jay
Jolin
Let's Get Fcuked
Malan
Mr Brown
My Play Pen
NickV
Patricia Mok
Rainie
S.H.E
Show
Simply Inconspicious
Singabloodypore
Terelle's Snippets
The Students' Sketchpad
Tim Gunn
Xiaxue
Young
伊能静
her links

Paparazzi
Deviant Art
Friendster
Wikipedia
Youtube
Temasek Junior College
Young PAP
archives

Initial Moon's Archives
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008





credits

One Two Three Four Five
Designer: TheAngryMob

Friday, February 15, 2008

I contemplated attending the parliament seating today, but I had lessons, so was confined to the room and limited to the small google box. But it was satisfactory.

This was Tharman Shanmugaratname's first Budget delivery, can't say it was exciting, though there were a few laughs. The ministers were slouching in their seats and some looked really tired halfway through the speech. Every year, it's like that. It's hard to stand those long hours, and the seats do look very uncomfortable. But I would have killed to be there. :)

It was a largely conservative and somewhat pessimistic budget, I thought, though Tharman tried to add a few optimistic notes. Expected growth rate for the next fiscal year was reduced to 4-6% largely due to the state of the global economy. The US's recession plus the credit crunch have largely hit Asian exports and Singapore being vulnerable to global forces, would definitely be affected. We seem to be already feeling the pinch, as everyone has to tighten their pursestrings to deal with the higher costs of living. Increased oil prices and food prices will affect our daily lives, and higher oil prices do translate to higher transport and miscellaneous costs as well.

I guess the most hyped up part about his speech was the emphasis on R&D and innovation, as several initiatives are going to be implemented to boost innovation in certain sectors and industries. Lifelong learning was emphasized, and we'll reap the gains of the top-ups to our Post-Secondary Education Accounts. There were mentions of university and tertiary education.

He did continue the "no one gets left-behind" rhetoric to explain measures to close the income gap and distribute the wealth more evenly. Estate duty was scraped, thought it was good since it meant that foreigners won't hesitate too much to invest in properties in Singapore. Meant a higher degree of certainty. But it largely seems to be targeted at wooing investors and foreign immigrants.

Didn't get a reduced personal income tax, but there's a tax rebate. I doubt this will put to rests grouses of Singaporeans since the high costs of living is living some ppl high and dry. Ultimately, it was planned for the future, but kind of failed to resolve the immediate concerns and problems. Some Singaporeans might be disappointed.

I do find that Tharman as Finance Minister..hmm, not too bad. His finance policies are better than the education ones, oops.

Sharing of surplus though is quite generous. And surprisingly, we'll be having a budget deficit of 0.8 billion this year.

Well,enough of the heavy stuff then.

Yesterday twas' valentine's day, and singles nite out for us.

Love it.

While people were flocking to high-class restaurants for supposingly romantic candle-light dinners, the bunch was more than satisfied to settle for chilli crabs at Big Eater near City Harvest. We ate damn a lot man. And there were satays too...


Seow Si Min was sick so she had to settle for bland 鱼片面。


My head is on the big side. LOL


YiLing is very kiasu when she sees crab


Seow diao me

Satay

and gluttons....



Chilli crabs! We order like don't know how many mantou can. And mantou got no "FEELING" hoho

Neighbours!

Damn unglam.

The girls talking

the mess we left.

Anyway, we were hysterically laughing all the way back. Or rather I was hysterically laughing. Crazie nite......

Could do without boys. HAHA



finished rambling
5:08 AM <3

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