a sixth sense cannot make up for a complete lack of common sense
the resident
-best known as May Ching-
-09/01/1990-
-19 years 1.2 months-
-mugger/slacker/writer-
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Monday, April 13, 2009, 5:01 pm
Garrgh.You, kind reader, might be interested to know that I went to church yesterday. *sweatdrops*
It's not what you think! Hema invited me to see her church production. Apparently in Singapore, 'church production' means the whole hog: service and show. In Malaysia, a show is a show. No religious stuff (apart from the show itself, naturally).
So... it was awkward, so to say the least. There was singing and preaching and praying and lotsa stuff that made me squirm. There were so many people there, most of them my age, give or take a few years. And the service is all the way at Expo!
The crowd trying to get in and out was frightening. So many people trying to get into church.
Recently, I read this article about religion in Singapore. They did a poll: a HUGE proportion of teenagers say they are Christian but their family members aren't. Can you say cult-like? *censor alarm goes off*
Quick disclaimer: I am in no way insulting or disrespecting Christianity, or religion in general. Some (okay, nearly all) of my closest friends are Christian. I am a firm believer in the Constitution which states that freedom of religion is guaranteed to all (freedom of speech is there too, incidentally.)
Back to the discussion. The atmosphere in the church was frightening. People closing their eyes in estacy as they communed with the higher powers. For goodness' sake, there was even a healing session where people laid hands on each other and prayed.
Now, belief is a powerful thing. The placebo effect does have miraculous properties which can make the blind see, the crippled walk and the scourge of cancer disappear. But can we afford to wait for a miracle? Let's take a hypothetical situation. Out of a thousand cancer patients who attend church regularly, one makes a full recovery. Is that a miracle? I, a creature of science, would think otherwise. In fact, I'd harvest her cells and search for cancer-fighting agents (just kidding).
That's over. In other news, there was a massive book fair over at Expo. Hema and I flew in and browsed. For me, it was like a starved child being fed with sumptuous food. But you know me.
In the end, despite the giant savings, I managed to blow $52. But I was - still am - deliriously happy because I found a new manga to read! For an old title, Sakura Taisen is great.
By the way, anyone living here in the west side of Singapore who wants to go over to the east side for fun should have their heads examined. That place is so packed with people one can hardly walk. We tried to pay a visit to UniQlo but guess what? There's a queue to get in. A really, really long queue. Singaporeans are mad. Don't really mind this time, though. The clothes are really nice.
Tampines is crazy! There are three shopping malls sprawled around the MRT station. Three. All of them were packed to bursting to people, even the old ones. Don't even think about getting into Tampines One.
In the end, managed to find some lunch (at 5 something!) before bidding a happy farewell to Tampines.
Today's news: went for an interview over at SMU (Social Science faculty, or SocSci). Madness. The whole time was spent talking about Law.
I don't even want to think about it, nutsy.
Labels: books, church, insane, manga