Alina Mak

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Global Issues - Train Services

I have been doing evaluation for global issues recently for one of my module and thought it'll be good to post it up. Pardon me for some of my grammar mistakes or even the lack of substantial ideas. Trying to improve on it!

Transport Issues – Train Services

According to Channel News Asia on 29 August 2012, Singapore is coming up with a new mass rapid transit (MRT) line. The Thomson Line which has 22 stations is estimated to open in 2019 instead of the previous indication of 2018. The new MRT line is expected to provide greater convenience as it will be connected to six interchange stations and facilitate transfer for many residents. The Thomson Line will also be advancement in the transport sector of Singapore as we will see progress in the technology used to minimize the hazard during the process of building the train tracks.

On the other hand, Yahoo News reports on 20 April 2012 on the third major MRT disruption in Singapore since December 2011. It provides an account of how the disruptions have caused the public to be late for school and work. In the article, anger and negative opinions of the public is being voiced out. Many people are criticizing SMRT for their unsatisfying service and sarcastic remarks about how the MRT disruptions are like the recent flooding incidents, becoming so unpleasantly common. Lamenting at how the measures SMRT have put it failed, consumers feel unjustified for the time they wasted due to train disruptions.

From ‘Public Transport Victoria’ on 21 June 2012, in Victoria, Australia, the authorities are coming up with planned disruptions in their train services. Similar to Singapore, they are introducing a new ‘Regional Rail Link’ that will provide new stations. However, the main difference is that they are planning for train services to be temporarily stopped so that they are able to conduct their “maintenance and renewal program”.

I feel that although the new MRT line may seem to provide more convenience to the people, we cannot be sure that the additional of 22 new stations will not result in greater train faults and disruptions. The fact that people are already pushing the blame of increased train faults to the recent opening of the circle line, there may be more complaints and anger if the new MRT line fails to provide quality service. While it may be unavoidable that train tracks may wear and tear, I feel that the building of the new train line should be taken even more seriously by the government than before. Also, what Australia is doing may seem to be feasible. The Singapore government should consider seeking a temporary disruption in the train services so as to allow for better upgrading of the tracks.

References

1. Public Transport Victoria (21 June 2012): http://ptv.vic.gov.au/news/news-promotions/planned-disruptions-to-train-and-tram-services/

2. Yahoo News (20 April 2012): http://sg.news.yahoo.com/mrt-breakdowns--like-floods--are-now-part-of-singapore-life---.html

3. Channel News Asia (29 August 2012): http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1222777/1/.html

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Birthday Wishlist 2012

This year's birthday wishlist came abit late than usual because I totally forgot that birthday is just this weekend. Nevertheless, I thought about it and came up with this list.

1) Personalized Mugs

I always liked the idea of having pictures of friends on mugs like these. Living in NUS now, these mugs will definitely come in helpful and I'd loved to see pictures with my awesome friends on it.

2) Canon DSLR 600D lens

My current DSLR lens make it difficult to photograph at times especially things that are pretty far away. Therefore, a wider lens like this will be good!

3) Massage packages

My massage package with Wan Yang is ending soon so it will be super cool to get a new one since I'll probably do it quite often....

4) Graphic Tees

My tshirts are getting boring recently so having new tees will be nice.

5) Polaroid Accessories

I bought a polaroid camera in July and it lacks accessories. Pens, stickers, vintage bag or an album for it will add spice to my collection.

6) Facial package

Need to do facial soon and more often!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Huixian's AFSG Post Party

So, saturday was Huixian's AFSG Post party where she invited her friends for meetups. I went down late with my sister at around 445pm. Saw the cutie Caden.

My sister said she want to take a photo with the baby of the star. Say hi to Ageyah! haha.

Sam says she want to bring Caden home.. But looks like Caden isn't very keen.....

Caden loves me more, don't jealous Sam!

The clique without yiusi, reginia and virina

Sent sam and yating home before heading back to watch the TVB singing competition and eating honey cornfalkes + milk! After which, Guohao, Mavis and Justin left, leaving roxanne, liyin and I. Joanna came shortly and we started our stayover!They were watching American Horror Story which I thought will be freaky since I don't watch horror. ( I was the only one who don't watch horror there!) BUT, turns out it was okay.

Huixian's parents were so hospitable. Her dad cooked rice while her mum warmed up the food for us. Then, we had bobo charchar. The picture above is the portion that Joanna got from Huixian's mum.. We chatted abit about plans for Huixian's fanclub/fan page/website....

After American horror story was some comedic vampire show before we started watching the curious case of Benjamin Buttons. The show was SUPER LONG! 3 HOURS LEH! NO JOKE! It started at 130am. Liyin was already asleep and huixian joined soon after. I was kinda half asleep in the middle of the show while roxanne and Joanna was so high watching it! Finally slept at 430am.

I woke up at about 830am to move my car before heading back to sleep. Roxanne left and I kept hearing Caden's voice haha. Was super funny to hear how he'll keep repeating "Mama my pants drop". We finally woke up at 1130am and decided to order pizza for lunch after washing up.

Liyin left without lunch cos she had an appointment after that.

While waiting for the pizza..... haha caden got "locked".

We watched The rise of the planets of the apes while having lunch and the show was pretty awesome. Continued with a short part of The Game Plan before we finally left.....

Thank you to Huixian's Mum for buying me another pair of shoe!

It was a really awesome stayover Although we didn't had like HTHT, the time spent together was good. :)

For those who still doesn't know about it, Huixian has a fan page! Do visit https://www.facebook.com/HuiXianSeah for more of Huixian's updates!

Sunsilk Academy Fantasia Champion - Seah Hui Xian

Sunsilk Academy Fantasia has officially come to an end. I am super proud that my dear girl, Seah Huixian has emerged to be the champion. The journey for her wasn't easy: being "locked away" for 10 weeks, filmed on TV 18 hours a day and all the tedious trainings. Although I don't watch heron TV all the time, but honestly, seeing her living her daily life in a more unique way, i really admire her courage and hardwork! As a friend, supporter, audience and in some way, a liasion officer, this journey has been really memorable for me as well.

I didn't exactly go down to support her during her initial rounds cos I didn't know we can go down (where to get the tickets and stuff) and there wasn't anyone to go down with. So the first time I went down to support her, was during the duet round

Yiusi didn't really liked the idea of standing in front and it was quite awkward for me too so we decided to stand at the back. The results: we were stuck behind the sound control station, couldn't really see the contestants on stage, and got squeezed like pancakes.

Nevertheless, we got to know her mum and aunt who were really friendly! Yiusi and I took the train home with them and they were talking non-stop! Her mum was telling us who she think will win and stuff and even bought old chang kee for us while we were waiting for our parents to fetch us at Kembangan MRT!

Her friends who were there to support her during the duet round!

During her dance round, I attended the Starhub TVB awards so I didn't head down to St James to watch our. But, I still managed to catch her at the award ceremony.

Headed down during the musical night round with Yating, Reginia and Virina after family day. Summer night was a really funny performance by them!

This time round, we stood in front! Her performance of Hopelessly Devoted to You was really good! As the CSS people was headed to watch guohao and zijie perform, they left early just right after she finished performing. But they didn't expect that the production crew gave Huixian and the rest of the contestants a special 5 mins privilege of talking and hugging their friends and families. Although there were only the 5 of us left by then, it was good to be able to at least talk to her abit.

Huixian's mum who never fails to go down to support her every week.

We headed to Huixian's house on a tuesday afternoon as the production crew wanted us to film an encouragement video for her. Liyin and I took a cab down because I was running late and we met the CSS people there. Huixian's dad played the piano while we sang yue liang dai biao wo de xin for her!

After that, some of us stayed on for a KTV + dinner treat Huixian's mum and dad. :)

Finally, it was the semi-finals! The whole clique except virina was down to support her! Honestly, it was very touching to see how she has grown since CSS days... Both songs were pretty good and we were really glad she made it through!

Then, it was time for a surprise visit at the academy!

Joanna, Liyin and I were invited into the Academy to spent some time cheering and accompanying her!

It was a really good experience viewing the set! Of course, it was good time spent with our dear friend although it was alittle awkward since you had to be careful with what you say...

In preparation for the finals, Joanna, Guohao and I met up at Huixian's house one friday night and her parents were really hospitable! We made boards from 9pm-1am with fried rice, hokkien mee and tau huey, bought personally by huixian's mum! Not forgetting the cans of drinks she keep serving us!

Top3 Meet and Greet! Met Joanna and huixian's mum at manhattan fish market for some bites before going down. Roxanne and sam joined us and once we reached, we were being called up stage for a game of jenga! Seriously, we were all too short for it! Think we stacked till nearly the 2nd floor. The backstage crew helped us bu eventually, we decided to just give up cos none of us can stack anymore.

The Top 3 performed for us and played the puzzle game with a friend/fan chosen personally by them! Really have to thank this couple who let us take their place at the front so that we could take nice pictures of Huixian!