Archive Page 59
I love the 2nd paragraph of the article below… such a polite way of saying that the women in Britain, Spain and Portugal are delusional.. hahahaha.
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French women, thinnest in Europe, think they’re fat
France has by far the highest proportion of clinically underweight women in Europe, but only half of them think they are too thin. -AFP
Fri, Apr 24, 2009
AFP
PARIS (AFP) – France has by far the highest proportion of clinically underweight women in Europe, but only half of them think they are too thin, according to a new study.
In other European countries the opposite is true: the number of women in Britain, Spain and Portugal, for example, who see themselves as seriously skinny easily outstrips the number who actually are.
"This shows that what people consider an ideal weight in France is lower than in other countries," said the study’s author Thibaut de Saint Pol, a researcher at France’s National Institute of Demographic studies, which published the study on Wednesday.
"If a French person who feels fat were to go to the United States," — which has much higher rate of obesity — "he probably wouldn’t feel fat any more," he told AFP in an interview.
The study also reveals a big gap, both objective and subjective, between sexes.
In western Europe, the mean weight of men in every country except France and The Netherlands tips the scales into the "overweight" category, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.
By contrast, in only three nations do women join the menfolk in crossing that line: Britain, Greece and Portugal. And only among the Dutch does one find more overweight women than men.
France is the one country in which both sexes are solidly in the "normal" weight bracket, and the only one in which more than five percent of women are offically "underweight".
The universal standard introduced by the WHO for assessing weight is the Body-Mass Index (BMI): one’s weight in kilogrammes divided by the square of one’s height in meters.
A BMI of 25-to-30 indicates being overweight, while above 30 means one is obese. The range of normal weight is 18.5-to-24.9. (BMI calculators can easily be found on the Internet.)
The proportion of overly thin women in France has long been the highest in Europe, but has shrunk from 8.5 percent in 1981, to 7.8 percent in 1992, to 6.7 percent in 2003, according to once-a-decade national surveys.
In that same period, the proportion of underweight French men held steady at just under two percent.
Beyond objective differences, men and women don’t perceive their own deficient or excess weight in the same way either, the study found.
"Men denigrate their own bodies when they are underweight, but when they are overweight, they often don’t see a problem," said de Saint Pol, adding that outright obesity was another story.
"When women are underweight, they do not devalue that at all. But as soon as they cross the line into overweight, they find that unacceptable."
While particularly striking in France, this axiom held true across all 15 of the European countries covered in the study.
De Saint Pol pointed to powerful cultural symbols that reinforced these different attitudes, though it is hard to tell whether they are more cause or effect.
For women, he said, the body is related to beauty, and beauty to being thin.
For men, however, carrying weight is felt in oneself and perceived in others — consciously or not — as projecting strength.
"This is especially true the further down one goes on the socio-economic ladder," he said.
Memory. All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days,
I was beautiful then.
I remember the time I knew what happiness was,
Let the memory live again.
while searching for my baby photos, i found a lot of old cards that friends had written to me many years back. i had forgotten that i used to write to this girl in my ballet class who went on to study at a boarding school in UK. the last time i saw her was at Wisma Atria… about 4 years back. she was working with SQ then. i wonder how is she now.
i also came across letters that my pri school classmate wrote to me when she was back in Indonesia during the school holidays. we drifted apart in secondary sch and i completely lost touch with her when she was expelled from school. i wonder how is she too.
i also came across numerous cards & letters of encouragement written by church friends, and many many photos from Senior Sunday School camps, youth choir days, and carolling performances. i was surprised at the number of photos i took with some friends, and saddened by other photos because i’m no longer close to these friends anymore. recalling how we grew up together, i wish i am able to revive these friendships. in my struggle in finding acceptance sometimes, i think i have forgotten their kindness. perhaps when friends get too close, they take one another for granted, and i have sadly remembered the hurts more than the joys. i know i tend to shy away from people when i feel left out and i’m very good at building a shell around me. when i’m truly hurt by a friend’s actions, i tend to bury my sadness and present a nonchalant front, especially when this is necessary for keeping peace. this is not good.
3 realisations i got while searching for old photos leave me unsettled. the first is that many many of my old photos were taken with Fuzzy Pillow & Littlewee. i’ve been trying to contact Fuzzy Pillow w/o success to invite her to the wedding. Littlewee can’t make it, unfortunately, and hasn’t contacted Fuzzy Pillow in a long while too.
the second was a letter written by a very close friend previously. i don’t know how we drifted apart but i feel bad because i think i haven’t done my part in being a friend, and i don’t know if it’s too late to repair the friendship. i get the feeling that my friend isn’t happy about something but is not saying it.
the third is a friend that i never really thought of much before because we’ve never been particularly close… but i’ve taken an amazing number of photos with her! perhaps she has always been faithfully around church and serving quietly such that i’ve failed to appreciate her character and faithfulness to the Lord.
revisiting memories is good. i will try to do something about this.
I think I really like these songs.
Jack Johnson – Do You Remember
[audio:Jack-Johnson-Do-You-Remember.mp3]Photo montage song?
Jason Mraz – Lucky
[audio:Jason-Mraz-Lucky.mp3]2nd photo montage song?
Daniel Ho – For Eternity
[audio:Daniel-Ho-For-Eternity.mp3]Solemnisation march-in song?
Jack Johnson – Better Together
[audio:Jack-Johnson-Better-Together.mp3]Dinner march-in song?
Michael Buble – Feeling Good
[audio:Michael-Buble-Feeling-good.mp3]2nd dinner march-in song?
Left office pretty early today (6ish?) and dropped by my cousin’s place after dinner. My wonderful cousin passed me her very beautifully decorated angbao box, guest book from Novotel (she had her own guest book and didn’t use the hotel’s), which looks much lovelier than Hyatt’s Popular-purchased $9.90 guest book and most importantly, she helped me buy the Trevi PM from France. Yippee!! The bag would’ve cost $400 more if I bought it in Singapore!
My mom thinks the angbao box is very pretty. I said that’s cos my cousin had more time available to do the box. My mom, however, said that even if I had the time, I also wouldn’t bother to do such a nice box. Fine. She’s right. Heh… I don’t have the patience for such handicraft. :P In fact, my mom was prepared to change the wrapper on the box I initially borrowed from Jukebox from grey/brown to silver, and put some lace on it. Hahahahaha. I really hate doing art & craft… though I love to have pretty things. I’m very much a utilitarian sort of person.
Anyway, I just want to say a big thank you to my cousin. :)
Thanks!!
Came across this lovely song on Facebook. Not sure who the singer is… Daniel Ho’s the songwriter.
I used to decorate my NTU hostel room with these photos. They’re some of my most loved photos of me as a kid. Will be using some (if not all) in the photo montage for the wedding… but here’s a preview anyway.
2 weeks old (I was born with a head full of hair!)
Probably about 4-6 months old?
My favourite toy ‘cos you could play “records†on it! Think I was about 10 months here.
Argh! My dad always made me do this idiotic pose.
My mom and Auntie Nanny
When I was in kindergarten. Pic on the left is me celebrating my birthday at Ken World at Parkway Parade.
I loved ballet.
My kindergarten graduation concert! I was sooo proud to lead one half of the dancers. Heh.
Genting Highlands – when I was in primary 4.
Anyone remembers who to play “zero point†or “yay yay� Hehe… (see the girls playing with that elastic string in pic on the left).
The girl in the pic on the right was my classmate who brought me to church.
That’s all the photos for now. It’s getting late and I’m really tired. I’m told my features look pretty much the same… at least that’s what my hall friends said ‘cos almost all of them could pick me out from the photos w/o a doubt. Heh.
i sent out a 2nd round of sms-es today to people who have not replied to my 1st round of sms wedding invitation. some came back and said yes, others said they couldn’t make it ‘cos they won’t be in Singapore. some also said they will get back to me later ‘cos they are still waiting for their travel schedules. looking at the guest list, i must admit that i was rather disappointed that some of my NTU friends are unable to make it. but being internal auditors, i know they travel quite a bit and so they won’t be around.
on the other hand, i noted with great gladness, that some really old friends that i used to hang out with are coming. i was pleasantly surprised at the speed of their replies. some old old friends from TPJC, some of the first batch of Singnet colleagues i worked with, ex-Frankelites who have since gone to other churches and 2 NTU friends who said “yesâ€, despite knowing that they will not know anyone else at the wedding.
i guess what saddens me most is that the group of people that i am supposed to have the most support from, support, i do not have. for whatever reasons there may be, i suppose the bottom line is that i haven’t invested much time with these friends in recent years. i’m starting to believe that even in friendships, it’s better to be hot (close friends) or cold (whereby the friendship can be revived), than lukewarm (where you’re neither coming nor going).
but it’s ok. everything can be worked out. i just need to tap other sources of help. i haven’t asked the intern to do anything for some time now… muahahaha *evil laugh*.
more news on psycho woman! she told an underwriter that she got a private investigator to follow bouncy! that’s why she knows where bouncy stays and who she married, etc. she said she did it ‘cos bouncy has something against her, and once made her wait 1h before meeting, which according to bouncy never happened. she also apparently flashed her tummy to some colleagues on Wed to show them her caesarean scar.
although i don’t like bouncy, i feel freaked out for her. hahahahaha.
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P.S. while all this makes for very exciting news, i think it’s very worrying that she’s the mother of a newborn, as in, what if she does something to harm the newborn unintentionally? given her state of mind, it really doesn’t look like she’s capable of taking care of herself, not to mention the baby. i do hope her husband (who’s apparently also from my company previously) takes her to seek professional help!
Another march-in recommendation, from Azure.
Cute song, especially the chorus… but I don’t think we’ll get to hear the chorus as there’re 2 verses before that…
aiyah… booze queen and i went to raffles city during lunch and we missed all the drama! bigmac just recounted his exciting lunch to me. some woman who used to work for our company came back and got our receptionist to call up everyone she knew in the office. however, no one was around ‘cos it was lunch. unluckily for bigmac, he just finished his meeting with a client and so he was at his desk. this woman called his handphone and then requested that he meet her at the reception area. unsure of what to expect, bigmac went out to see her. the first thing he noticed was that she had a bindi on her forehead (she’s chinese). when the woman saw bigmac, she walked towards him and looked as though she wanted to hug him. bigmac immediately stuck out his right hand to offer her a handshake instead.
bigmac tried to make small talk with her by asking her how she’s been doing, etc. the woman told him that she’s now working as "a maid". bigmac half laughed & said, "you mean you’re a house wife right?". she then reiterated, "no, a maid". she also said that she just gave birth 3 months ago and that her baby’s in hospital. so bigmac asked her, "don’t you need to be at the hospital?". she replied no and requested that bigmac took her for a walk around the office because she "missed the company".
not wanting to provoke her, bigmac acceded to her request. while "touring" the office, she made strange comments like, "i recognise this printer. i think this is the same one i used to use. i love this printer".
when she walked past people she knew, she went, "i know him" or "i know her". she also stopped to chat with dLeow and probably repeated everything she told bigmac about being a maid, etc, to dLeow.
after talking to dLeow, the woman stopped by the "korean woman"’s room and asked if the korean recognised her. when she walked past bouncy’s desk, she said, "i remember bouncy. she’s quite pretty. she married KL right?" she then proceeded to regurgitate bouncy’s personal & job history. bigmac said it sounded as though she had some personal vendetta against bouncy. heh. (note: this woman had already left the company by the time bouncy joined). this woman also remembers bouncy’s boss – and said that he’s a "dao angmoh" (arrogant caucasian) who snubbed her previously.
when the woman walked past upsize’s room, she suddenly said, “i miss upsizeâ€. hehehehehehe.
bigmac & the woman then stopped by aSeng’s desk. aSeng bluntly asked the woman why did she have a bindi on her forehead. the woman said, "i wore this for N", her Indian ex-boss. aSeng told her firmly, "N is now married. his wife loves him very much". this woman then replied, "i know he’s married. but he’ll always be my boss".
finally, the tour took bigmac & the woman to where the finance ladies were having their lunch. they jokingly asked if she was here for an interview and she said, "no. i’ll never work for the company again". the woman also told bigmac that her mom gambles a lot now and can’t wait for the IR to open.
anyway, bigmac managed to get away when swan came back from lunch and took the woman to a meeting room to talk. swan later said that she nearly broke down but swan quickly ended the chat by saying she had a meeting.
her parting words to bigmac was that she doesn’t have enough money to pay for parking ‘cos she drove here… and when bigmac asked her where did she park, she said she doesn’t remember… will “walk around†to find her car…
heh… no bottom line to this story… just something weird to mark the week with. 😛
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