You go girls!

I'm often surprised at how so few women will admit to being feminist or believing in feminist principles. Feminists and feminism seem to have earned an undeservedly bad name.

I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a feminist. No, it doesn't mean that I hate men. No it doesn't mean that I'm going to burn my bras or deliberately dress like a male. But yes, it does mean that I believe in equality between the sexes in every possible arena and yes, it also means that I believe that true equality in a world where every single important socio-economic institution has been created for and by men is difficult to achieve.

Which is why my heart leapt when Julia Gillard was sworn in as the first female deputy Prime Minister of Australia. Just like it leapt when I found out that the new Premier of Queensland was going to be Anna Bligh. I'm so glad that opportunities for women have opened up to this extent in the highly visible realm of politics. I only wish I could say the same of Singapore.

Another Step

Yesterday, I got admitted as a legal practitioner of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

After about 4 years of study, I can finally call myself a lawyer and not just someone who has a law degree.

The actual ceremony was mildly interesting, vaguely like a wedding ceremony except that everyone was wearing some variation of the basic black suit. You go in all suited up and at some point, you swear an oath to do your best and be honest. It was all terribly archaic and over very quickly, thank goodness. I was just relieved that I didn't have any lines to muff.

Umm... So I'm a lawyer now.....wish I knew what to do next. Do I actually try to work at the law thing? Or try something else? Wish I had some answers.

Tea and Papers

Lately, I've been given the good fortune of having a few days off and I've actually been able to spend time just sitting at my dining table, with the Sunday papers spread before me and a pot of steaming hot tea.

Just a quick update for those back home, my course is over and I'm waiting to gain admission as a legal practitioner of Victoria and also waiting for my PR application results. Meanwhile, I've got a very badly paid temp job as a paralegal.

Life has this habit of speeding up, then slowing down. And sometimes, like now, I feel like it moves both too quickly and too slowly. Too quickly because I'm hitting an age where I feel like I should have achieved more. Too slowly, because I want the waiting to be done and for the next phase of life to begin.

But...for that one hour on Sunday, I just relaxed, drank tea, laughed at the comic strips and caught up with the news.

I don't know where my life is going...and that's a thought that enlivens and terrifies me at the same time. Mostly, I feel like I'm just fumbling about in the dark, hoping that at some point, I'll feel a door knob and the door will open somewhere good.

Where ever the next door leads though, I just hope for the occasional afternoon where I can just enjoy tea and the Sunday papers.

Are you for real?

Over the last few days I've been having some rather confronting discussions with Boy about friendship, the nature of friends and how to tell a good friend from the bad.

Boy is a fan of the school of tough love; he'll pretty much always tell it like it is, straight up, no ice or sweeteners thrown in.

I belong to the school of the politically correct. I try and soften things up for people, use every euphemism and platitude in the book rather than tell people the unvarnished truth about themselves, myself or anything.

Basically, I'm the queen of the little white lie.

But I know I'm not alone. I've noticed that in everyone around me as well. Society functions on the platitudinous comments, the euphemisms that pass for politeness. Who wants to hear the truth when the sugar coated white lie is so much easier to swallow.

But it's hard, really hard to make real friends that way. When you can't tell people the truth about yourself, your past, about their new haircut or that they're spending too much...you pretty much can't tell them anything. You can hang out with them, giggle with them over new shopping expeditions but your real self is tucked away somewhere else.

I made a new year's resolution this year to be more real. To speak up more when something bothers me and to tell people what I think during the times when the truth won't be too cruel. So far, it hasn't worked out very well. It's October and I've notched up less than 5 instances of being real to any of my friends.

The thing is, I need real friends. I need someone I can get safely drunk with and cry with over boys with. Or at least someone I can PMS with. I need someone I can be real with.

Maybe I need to buy a dog.

Because we the FatFat club went fishing

And yes, we DID catch that salmon that we're so happily guzzling down in the first picture =)

The heroes among us

It's late and I haven't got the time to say much about this letter.

Besides, there's been so much comment on it already, that there isn't much more I can add to it.

Except that, this man either has a deathwish, or he's just simply a hero. There isn't much to say, except that there ought to be more Singaporeans, more people like him.

People unafraid of speaking up, of being who they want to be.

He's a good man and I hope he has an Australian/Canadian/anywhere but Asia citizenship/PR as a Plan B. Otherwise, life is about to get very hard for him.

Help me remember

Living overseas, there are times when I've been away too long and I start to have this irrational longing for home. I surf Singaporean blogs, indulge in Singlish and starting thinking of hawker centres the way little girls think of unicorns and rainbows.

Which is why this post, is such a good wake up call. Living overseas, I tend to view home with rose tinted glasses that have conveniently blurred out one of the things I detest about Singapore.

I hate the crowds.

To say that Singapore is densely populated is like saying that the oceans are full of water. It's so obvious that I shouldn't even have bothered saying it. Most Singaporeans I speak to don't have a major problem with it. In fact, they are perturbed by the "quietness" that seems to characterize many Australian towns and cities (with Sydney being a notable exception; I defy even a person used to the press of crowds in Bangkok or HK to find Sydney quiet).

But the thing is....it's going to get worse. It's already badly crowded and expensive as of now. When we reach the 6 million people mark....

Only the rich will be able to afford cars then....and great as public transport is...it is not the same as having one's own transport and....no more wandering around shopping malls without the roar and press of crowds....and...no more wandering around anywhere without a crowd...

I know I shouldn't be so defeatist and I don't even know why it's a problem for me. After all, I did grow up there and I ought to be used to crowds by now.

Maybe I will again when I go home.