At long last, after much agonizing and sleepless nights, I have finally changed my course that I would be reading come August 2010.

This is for those who are interested in knowing. For those who aren't, well, too bad, cos' ths is MY blog. Yep, a bit possessive I know. Comes from having my handphone stolen right under my nose.

Or rather, beside it. Was slumbering at a level of unconsciousness just a notch above that usually associated with the dead. Hmph.

Back to me. (As always.) From business to social science. Now the next question is, at NUS or SMU? Love to hear your opinions, my legions of fans out there. The great one has deigned to listen to you.

Earth Hour was yesterday. When we were all encouraged to turn out the lights for one hour as a symbol of environmental conservation, reduction of energy consumption, et cetera. A neat, well-coordinated move that no doubt took many months of effort, sweat and cajoling by the organisers to get those bigwig companies online.

Read the important word in the above paragraph. Symbol.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate all the hard work and the effort those guys put in, and as far as publicity goes, that was one hell of a successful event, what with the print and broadcast media advertising about it. And it shows that there are strenous local efforts at attempting to reach out to the masses about the need to conserve the environment. A far cry from earlier years, when most campaigns for the environment was about not littering. (Remember all those beach-cleaning CIP we did back then?).

Kudos to the event. To be honest, the impact the event actually had on the environment? Practically zero. You can figure it out for yourself, it doesn't take rocket science to see that one hour of voluntary blackout doesn't exactly saves all that much energy.

As a means to reach out to the public about the necessity of the environment, it was wonderful. But please, don't be mistaken that the event actually did directly save the planet. It would be like giving Panadol to a cancer patient.

Useless.

The end of the light, the start of the tunnel.

Interesting week.

Student goes amok, stabs professor, commits suicide.
Few days later, another student at another univesity found dead.
Last night, a third from the same school as the first is found dead, apparently by his own hand.

If this marks the start of perhaps a spree of violence in schools, well, thank goodness for strict laws banning guns. Think of Columbia, of Virginia Tech.

Back on the home front, or to be more accurate, the company line, things are a-changin'. Can't say it's for good or bad, it's early days still. To be short, let's just say that the old axiom is true: If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Or in our case, change it.

On positive note, there have been cheerful moments. Like celebrating birthdays!

Army celebrations tend to be a bit over-zealous. Well, of course, when you put a bunch of guys with raging hormones together for a week and force them to live like monks, the laws of physics state that the energy has to go somewhere.

How does one goes about celebrating? Look below...

1. Capture the guy and pin him down. If he knows what is coming and struggles violently, don't do it alone. Get at least 7 others to help out.
2. Drag him to the laundry area, dump pails of water on him, and when he is wet, pepper him with detergent.
3. Now of course our victim, looking like a walking snowman, needs to shower off. When he is in the cubicle, trap him there by dumping dirty water into the cubicle.
4. When he comes out of the shower, strip him.

Now here is the interesting part. What do you do if a naked fella? Read on...

We pinned him to the ground, not without some effort. Then attempted to rub a muscle ointment that, well, burns, onto the most sensitive part of the male anatomy.

Sad to say, we failed. He struggled too much. And well it would have been much too cruel. Any male understands that.

So we rubbed it up his butt crack instead, and spun him about on the floor.

No doubt the shortest, but the most hilarious birthday celebration I have ever seen.

I am so loser.

God, what a terrible two weeks.

You see, I thought I'd try my luck at applying for a scholarship. Low chance of getting it, what with my grades, but hell. Figured that a 1% chance that I would get by applying beats a 100% chance of not getting it if I didn't apply. So I applied.

From the start, I faced 2 snags. One, an essay. It took me 4 attempts and repeated editing by my vastly more intelletually endowed army buddy to reach a point where I am of some confidence that the essay isn't mundane. That turned out to be the lesser of my headaches.

The second one started out innocuous. Just list out your achievements, commendations and/or awards. So fair enough, I took out that big bulging green folder that was the culmulative result was my entire school life thus far, and came up with..... 4 certificates.

Yep, that's all folks. 4.

4 four Four fouR FOUR.

19 years of mugging and just about not having a life, and all I managed to achieved in my life is 4 worthy certs? I... am stunned speechless.

To be fair (to myself), I had a lot more. Mostly certificates of participation. Can't say I didn't try.
Never mind. I don't mind being an under-achiever. That just means I'm full of potential!

Who am I kidding. Oh well. Hope at the very least I can score an interview. If not.... chalk it up to life 1 million, me zero. As the army says, suck thumb and carry on living.

The World's latest sensation.

The world has a new celebrity.

You see him (yes, it's a he) on the covers of magazines, Times, Newsweek, he commands whole pages in The Strait Times, with dozens of photos of him, and columnists debating, extolling, urging, cajoling him. There are dozens of books written about him, yet just a year ago, he was just a nobody, someone who was only occasionally given attention to.

Yup, you guessed it, the fellow is Barack Obama.

Now, with some spare time on my hands (a rarity these days), I'm going to give my two cents worth about him.

Past few days, when we sad army boys were munching food at the crack of dawn, the TV was showing Entertainment Tonight!, that gossipy celebrity show. And Obama was featured many times, be it his dress sense, his wife's dress sense, his many Hollywood supporters airing their views, whatever.

That got some of us thinking. Wah, this guy popular sia, not actor also appear on this kind of show.

True. When Bush was elected nearly a decade ago, there was fanfare, but this? The election, the inauguration, the victory parades- you'd think that Obama was an angel sent from heaven.

But then, he is, even among that sacred group that is the US presidency, unique. Young, African- American, he is coming in at a time when the US, the world's most powerful country, is in turmoil. The financial sector is a mess, the economy is in a slump, unemployment is at a high, the debt is massive, Iraq is a morass, and let's not forget the millions around the world whose sole purpose in life is to die-while harming the US.

The US President doesn't just rule the country. He influences and shapes the world.

His predecessor's record is a matter for historians. Good or bad, the record is a challenge that Obama has to face up to.

His popularity is based on his message of hope, of change, that resonates with millions of Americans who are now in great despair. From all accounts, he does look promising. Being a politician, however, he may have promised far too much then what he can deliver. Or that he may even be a competent President, with all style and no substance.

Only time can tell, if this man can solve the many problems that face him, or add on to the world's woes. One way or another, he will make history. And that, inevitably, will decide the future.