wants to go running later. MUST. WILL. CAN. SHOULD.

my blogging mojo has been resuscitated. :)

I love the new layout of my blog. The old one just totally disincentivised me from blogging if you know what I mean. The font was too tiny, at time illegible cos of the weird colour and the posts cramped oddly in a corner. This is WAYYYYY BETTER! Totally revived that blogging mojo man! :D Which is why this is the third entry within a span of hours. Which is a Guinness record by my standards!

ok so what shall I blog about now?

I'm supposed to be reading up on my Soft power reading now, by Joseph Nye.

Anyway let me chart my plans for tmr, here:
1) Wake up at 640am, pray.
2) Bathe, go school.
3) Revise till like 2plus or 3 then go pray. (must complete economic & Coercive diplomacy readings)
4) revise again (Complete crisis reading)
5) 5plus: go pray Asar
6) Revise (Rationality & Bureaucratic politics)
7) Do 1-2 practice qns/papers.
8) Go home.
9) Sleep by 12midnight. (MUST!)

Then paper on Friday at 9am. Inshaallah, may Allah guide me through this paper, Amin.

Then after that hang around till like 2 plus or so in school just to wait for susu to appear n meet her at Clementi MRT. Can't wait to see her!! =D

Then Sat: I have this family function thing (to celebrate my cousin Rina's coming-of-age ceremony. hahaha
Maybe join the YWLC girls for the website meeting too.

Sunday: Meet Rahs at Eunos MRT for tea at 120pm like that, hang out for 1-2 hours. Nadzi wants to pass me her membership card at True Yoga for complimentary classes & gym usage for the next 2 months (May & June!!!) So cool right! Cos she'll be occupied with her exams. Shiok! Can't wait! :D
Tuition at 330pm.

Then I'm like FREAKING FREE already lah! I feel like applying for an internship ah, just for the fun of it. hmmm~ Oh, and I saw THE JOB OFFER of the century! (OK I dunno why I'm so dramatic right now, but it sounds way too cool lah. position of Management Trainee for 2 years or so at BHP Billiton and they'll train you in various roles in line with a programme planned by the Uni of Melbourne. AND AND, you'd either be based in Hague or Singapore, awesome or wad! Hague u know! Netherlands! :D I am SO going to apply!

Old, much? (Already?!)

Wow, I was just reading my blog entries from 2007 & 8, and I REALLY do feel so much older. Where has all that zest for life gone to?
Read this for instance: The younger, cooler, funnier & zestier me!

Ok, I pray that this has got nothing to do with growing old and grey but all to do with this last exam paper. Yes yes, it must be. (It better!!)

PS: on another note, Ri hasn't called me yet. Lets see if he keeps to his contract. (Refer to pic in 2 entries ago) :D

(One) Exam Blue(s)

I have one last paper this friday (not for life la, for this sem, but still..) YEAY! :) Its for my foreign policy & diplomacy module. I actually really did enjoy this module. Its been what, 4 months of studying it, 13 weeks or so of exposure to political science and yeah, I definitely have learnt much. Like one of my readings today revealed that the Women's suffrage rights campaign started in 1848 and by 1930, 20 Western Countries have granted these rights. Following which, over the next 20 years till 1950, 48 other nations followed suit. This proves 2 things; (1) that NGOs can be highly powerful and influential. Cos most of the smaller, developing countries granted women suffrage rights only after domestic human rights groups rallied from support from these large transnational NGOs (who will then in turn lobby for support ) & pressure their own govts to pressure those developing govts. Amazing huh, one long indirect process but mission accomplished! (2) That Norms are still relevant in policy making, contrary to what realists believe.
Realists are all for the need to maximise utility &power and discredit the need for normative & ideal concepts. (This came about in the 1970s-80s especially,in line with the increased push by economists for the need to measure utility.) So, realists tried to measure power in terms of material wealth. Let's face it, sure, wealth is an important aspect in measuring a country's influence and standing in the world, but clearly not the only one right?

There are 4 instruments of foreign policy can be used to influence the actions & behaviour of other FP actors (which includes both states & non-state actors), and they are:
1) Military
2) Economic instrument (Trade agreements, quotas, tariffs, embargoes,etc)
3) Propaganda: To influence not just the domestic public but also foreign publics
4) Soft power: Using culture and other normative concepts to advocate certain behaviour
So clearly material wealth is but one form of power, though arguably the strongest form of power.

Okay, if you can't tell already, this is me trying to revise for my paper. :) hehe. But returning again to the topic on women's suffrage rights. Imagine, it took close to a century before women could truly claim to be equals, but that too just "officially". The fight still persists and glass ceilings are still commonplace and permeate societies. Its amazing isn't it? I know I'm beginning to sound like a Femi-Nazi here but think about it, all that campaigning, rounds of negotiations to persist and claim for equalityand today, we're basking and relishing the fruits of their labour. Really oughta be grateful. :) And continue to prove to all that we do indeed deserve equality and can do as well as our male counterparts.

Here, a picture to commemorate their efforts! :)

Source: http://americancivilwar.com/women/Womens_Suffrage/womens_suffrage_summary.html

Ok, that's all from me today! =)