Been studying, not really, haha.

Whatever. Double As for my essays, first time ever, I'm riding this high and forgetting about the nitty gritty details of exams for a bit.

Read that Dick Clark died. I remember them mentioning him on Friends.

Lots of articles about 1) NSF who died and 2) the 44 men charged in paying an underage girl for sex

1) It's really sad that he died. I'm not sure why this has been happening so much recently. From what I know army is already a lot more relaxed than in the past. Still, military conscription is a necessity for Singapore. I think perhaps nowadays the reality of being so young when you enlist is becoming more apparent, so when someone goes it's definitely a lot harder to take. There are a lot of shitty things people can say about Singapore. About the PAP, about the transport system, about inflation. But I think that the SAF as an institution to a certain extent must be given some deference. So many of our Singaporean boys enlist and serve two years in the army. When it comes to crisis, they're the ones who will be on the front line. SAF is not just another elite, exclusive institution -- it is the lives of our friends, our family. So there's really no sense in lambasting NS in the aftermath of this tragic incident. The fact is that this NSF died serving his country, and that is one of the highest honors to be conferred upon death. No matter what so many young 'cosmopolitan' Singaporeans enjoy spouting nowadays -- 'I hate Singapore', 'I wanna get out of here' -- this is their home. This is, or was, Dominique's home. If he had to pick up a gun and go to war, I'm sure that he would have. And for that I think we must be grateful, that despite constantly being at threat from all around us, we have Singaporean boys/men who would pick up guns to defend us.

2) Don't even know how to feel about this. Disgusted at the 44 men (if guilty)? Yes. Disgusted at the 17yo prostitute? Yes. Overall just seems like such a dirty affair, a part of me wishes they didn't publicize it so much, I wish I didn't know. My inherent disposition to the girl is one that is generally negative, but I know I am being judgmental and there is probably more to her story. Although I am inclined to believe she was just a girl who wanted money so badly for branded bags or something she sold her body to do it. I've mentioned before, I will never judge prostitutes because you don't know what kind of backgrounds they come from. I qualified it by saying that a lot of them have children, siblings to feed, people to take care of. But when you're a 17YO girl earning up to $850 for one session and have banged over 40 men in the process, I find it hard to believe there is a real sob story behind it. I really don't want to judge her before knowing her full story but I'm sorry to say, I definitely am predisposed to thinking the worst of her and her C-cups. On the other hand, the 44 men: what's new, right? Men will be perverts, that's how it's always been. I'm glad they're getting charged and justice is being served -- not to the girl, because she clearly solicited their attention, but justice for the many people who believed these men to be proper men. Parents, students, Singaporeans, wives, children, colleagues, friends. A good question to ask is: does it matter that top civil servants have committed these crimes? The answer is, very simply, yes. Not because it is probably morally wrong, but because I find it incredulous that these people, apparently the government's pick of the cream of the crop, are going in with this line of defence: "She told me she was of legal age." I mean... seriously?

I tweeted this today, 'is Singapore becoming more unsafe or am i just reading more news?'
Feel like this adequately explains how I feel every single day nowadays.
Long post, boring post, oh well haha