shireenismçš„ä¸»é

shireenismçš„ä¸»é http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:33 EST Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:33 EST Zorpia.com FINALLY......I AM BACK! Two important... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11515 FINALLY......I AM BACK! Two important discoveries during my blissful holidays (which will sadly end next wed ...) are ----- firstly, i can only blog properly when i am pre-occupied by schoolworks; Secondly, holidays are more hectic than school days <IMG height=15 src="http://www.xanga.com/Images/pleased.gif" width=15>   Yeah since I handed in my last exam piece on 30 Dec, i have been soooo busy hanging out and it was not until last night that i have the time to lie quietly in bed and THINK ....u have to understand that people studying or working abroad like to come back AT THE SAME TIME during Christmas and New Year ..so i have to sacrifice my holidays to entertain these ma farn ppl <IMG height=15 src="http://www.xanga.com/Images/laughing.gif" width=15> Nah......these sweet ppl are the ones who truly know and love me and are willing to take up all my whinings everytime they are back!! LOVE YOU ALL !! *kiss*kiss*kiss*  i am really glad that there are ppl keeping me in their hearts whereever they go..... even in cases where we haven't contacted properly for some years.... umm.. the "highlights" of the holiday would be the moot on 16/1 which has taken up my precious time to do the god damn research and get nervous...anywayz it ended nicely!! i'll show u my pics inside the high court room later....wooo i looked SOOOO cool .. u must have a look! Moments like that make me wanna be a lawyer -- but that's it. AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11515 Thu, 22 Jan 2004 09:27 EST lalalalalala again..................... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11516 lalalalalala again..................... Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11516 Thu, 22 Jan 2004 01:07 EST LALlalalalalallllllllllll taking leona's... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11517 LALlalalalalallllllllllll taking leona's advice....... Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11517 Wed, 21 Jan 2004 17:07 EST some problem with my xanga... trying to push... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11518 some problem with my xanga... trying to push the essay down to next page... Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11518 Wed, 14 Jan 2004 14:07 EST Hi all! i am still happily alive!I love... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11520 Hi all! i am still happily alive!I love holidaysssssssssss and all my good old friends!! BUT I REALLY REALLY HATE strict parents (and alike) and homework during holidayzzz Happy 2004!   Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11520 Fri, 09 Jan 2004 11:13 EST some problem with my xanga.....can't open my... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11519 some problem with my xanga.....can't open my page 9 out of 10 times, so don't expect any updates... Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11519 Thu, 08 Jan 2004 22:36 EST FINALLY .........!I know u're not going to... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11521 FINALLY .........!I know u're not going to read this! Just wanna show u MY TORTUREEEEE for the past week! btw. NO Copyright.go ahead and put it in ur diary..<IMG height=15 src="http://www.xanga.com/Images/laughing.gif" width=15>  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p> </o:p><o:p> </o:p> THE DEATH PENALTY IN <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1:place>CHINA</st1:place></st1:country-region>: <o:p></o:p> Human rights and law reform<o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Table of Content<o:p></o:p> Introduction......................................................................................................................... 2<o:p></o:p> Part I............................................................................................................................................ 3<o:p></o:p> A.    International Views on Death Penalty...................................................................... 3<o:p></o:p> B.    Death Penalty in China................................................................................................. 4<o:p></o:p> Pessimistic View.................................................................................................................. 5<o:p></o:p> Optimistic View................................................................................................................... 7<o:p></o:p> Part II.......................................................................................................................................... 8<o:p></o:p> A.   The Scope and Practice of the Death Penalty............................................................. 8<o:p></o:p> 1. Wide Scope of Capital Offences........................................................................................ 8<o:p></o:p> 2. Application in Actual Practice............................................................................................ 9<o:p></o:p> B.   The Criminal Justice System......................................................................................... 10<o:p></o:p> 1. International Standards.................................................................................................... 11<o:p></o:p> 2. Independent, Competent and Impartial Judiciary.......................................................... 12<o:p></o:p> Judicial Independence....................................................................................................... 13<o:p></o:p> Competence of Judges....................................................................................................... 14<o:p></o:p> 3. Presumption of Innocence................................................................................................ 15<o:p></o:p> 4. The Right to Legal Counsel............................................................................................. 16<o:p></o:p> 5. The Right to Appeal......................................................................................................... 18<o:p></o:p> Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 19<o:p></o:p> <SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: ZH-TW; mso-fareast-font-family: æ–°ç´°æ˜Žé«”; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p> <SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: ZH-TW; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: æ–°ç´°æ˜Žé«”; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p> <SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: ZH-TW; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: æ–°ç´°æ˜Žé«”; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p> <A name=_Toc60529619 target="_new">Introduction</A> <o:p></o:p>       <o:p></o:p>         The death penalty is one of the most concerned areas of human rights. It is about the fundamental right to life which is closely related to the criminal justice system of a country and the social and cultural values of its people. <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region>, an authoritarian country with poor records of human rights, has always been severely criticized by human rights groups for adopting a wide scope of capital offences and for falling short of international standards in the safeguard of the rights of the accused. <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region> has adopted an open door policy since late 1970s and has thence made some significant legal reforms to incorporate some measure of the rule of law. Of recent <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region> signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1998 and entered into the World Trade Organizations in 2001. It might seem more likely that <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region> will have to cave in to make more developments on the issue of death penalty. The most crucial point is that the judiciary in <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region> has no autonomy and there exists a wide gap between the revamped statutory provisions and the actual practice. The purpose of this essay is to examine, on a utilitarian rather than a moral basis, the death penalty in <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the impact of its reform on the criminal justice system.        <o:p></o:p>         <o:p></o:p>         This essay comprises two parts. Part I examines the relevant international treaties and the stance of <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Part II looks into two areas concerning the death penalty in <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region>, namely, a wide scope of capital offences and the criminal justice system. The written law and the actual practice will also be examined. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <A name=_Toc60529620 target="_new">Part </A>I <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <A name=_Toc60529621 target="_new">A.    </A>International Views on Death Penalty<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Article 6 of the ICCPR states that â€œevery human being has the inherent right to lifeâ€<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn1" name=_ftnref1 target="_new">[1]</A>.  The right to life is also stated in Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn2" name=_ftnref2 target="_new">[2]</A> and Article 2 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) <A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn3" name=_ftnref3 target="_new">[3]</A>. While the right to life is protected, the treaties do not rule out the taking away of life by capital punishment. As a matter of fact death penalty is explicitly accepted as an exception to the right to life in Article 2 of the ECHR<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn4" name=_ftnref4 target="_new">[4]</A>. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Article 6 (2) â€“ (5) of the ICCPR lays down restrictions about the imposition of death penalty. Article 6 (2) provides that death penalty is to apply only to â€œthe most serious crimesâ€. United Nations Safeguard No.4 states that â€œcapital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based on clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the factsâ€.  Safeguard No. 5 further links the death penalty to Article 14 of the ICCPR which stipulates the right to fair trial<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn5" name=_ftnref5 target="_new">[5]</A>. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> As for the abolition of death penalty, the United Nations is set on restricting the number of capital offences â€œwith a view to its eventual abolitionâ€<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn6" name=_ftnref6 target="_new">[6]</A>. On <st1:date Month="12" Day="15" Year="1989">15 December 1989</st1:date>, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR with a view to abolishing the death penalty. The Second Optional Protocol affirms that the abolition of the death penalty would contribute to the enhancement of human dignity and the progressive development of human rights<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn7" name=_ftnref7 target="_new">[7]</A>. More and more countries have come forward to abolish death penalty: one country a year during the period 1965-1988 but three a year between 1989 and 2001<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn8" name=_ftnref8 target="_new">[8]</A>. By the end of 2001, 89 states (73 in 1995) have abolished death penalty either for all crimes or for all ordinary crimes in peacetime<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn9" name=_ftnref9 target="_new">[9]</A>. Of course not all states are in favour of abolition. At present, 38 states in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:place>Middle East</st1:place>, <st1:place>North Africa</st1:place> and <st1:place>Asia</st1:place><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn10" name=_ftnref10 target="_new">[10]</A> still practice death penalty -- countries with poor records on human rights such as <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region> as well as democratic countries such as the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Japan</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Their argument is invariable that criminal justice system is a matter of national sovereignty which reflects their cultural and religious values<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn11" name=_ftnref11 target="_new">[11]</A>. And some countries, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Singapore</st1:place></st1:country-region> for instance, do not even regard the death penalty as a human rights issue<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn12" name=_ftnref12 target="_new">[12]</A>.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>         It should be mentioned that human rights groups are another force which actively seeks to abolish death penalty in all cases without reservation. Amnesty International views that death penalty is contrary to Article 7 of the ICCPR which states that â€œNo one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishmentâ€ and because it is â€œthe ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that violates the right to lifeâ€<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn13" name=_ftnref13 target="_new">[13]</A>. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <A name=_Toc60529622 target="_new">B.    </A>Death Penalty in <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region><o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region>â€™s death penalty encompasses a much wider scope. In 2001, <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region> executed 2,467 accused which were more than the rest of the world combined<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn14" name=_ftnref14 target="_new">[14]</A> and, as comparisons, there were 139 cases in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region>, 79 in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Saudi Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region> and 6 in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region><A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn15" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn15" name=_ftnref15 target="_new">[15]</A>. Since the Chinese government has always kept the execution figures as a state secret, the actual number could be much higher<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn16" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn16" name=_ftnref16 target="_new">[16]</A>. <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region> has also given rise to much international concern in regard to fair trial afforded to the accused but the Chinese government is adamant about the death penalty. In signing the ICCPR in September 1998, it stated its reservations that â€œin the current stage of social and economic development the death penalty cannot be abolished and that the restrictions mentioned in Art 7 of the International Covenant regarding the use of cruel, unusual and degrading punishment cannot be understood as prohibiting the imposition and enforcement of the death penaltyâ€<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn17" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn17" name=_ftnref17 target="_new">[17]</A>. As for the future development in death penalty, there are two different views as elaborated in the following.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <A name=_Toc60529623 target="_new">Pessimistic View</A><o:p></o:p>         The pessimistic view holds that the process of abolishing death penalty will go slow as ever mainly owing to the ingrained support of the Chinese people as well as the government. During <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region>â€™s long history with dynasties succeeding one another, the use of death penalty is a common and deeply-entrenched customary practice<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn18" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn18" name=_ftnref18 target="_new">[18]</A>. Many feudal forms of capital punishment were employed and the cruelty was well renowned and chilling<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn19" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn19" name=_ftnref19 target="_new">[19]</A> and examples are â€œLing ciâ€ <A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn20" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn20" name=_ftnref20 target="_new">[20]</A> (putting to prolonged death by dismembering the body piece by piece), â€œche lieâ€ <A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn21" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn21" name=_ftnref21 target="_new">[21]</A> (tearing a person asunder by five carts) and â€œ<st1:City><st1:place>yao</st1:place></st1:City> zhanâ€ <A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn22" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn22" name=_ftnref22 target="_new">[22]</A> (cutting the accused into two at the waist). In the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Code contained 840 capital offences<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn23" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn23" name=_ftnref23 target="_new">[23]</A> which were enforced with great frequency<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn24" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn24" name=_ftnref24 target="_new">[24]</A>. For modern <st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the number of capital offences in the 1979 Criminal Code once dropped to a new low of 28<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn25" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn25" name=_ftnref25 target="_new">[25]</A>  but then in the 1980s, the government had found it expedient to resort to capital punishment in various anti-crime campaigns and, as a result, many new capital offences were created and sanctioned by the National Peopleâ€™s Congress<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn26" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn26" name=_ftnref26 target="_new">[26]</A>. Presently, there are 68 capital offences listed out in the 1997 Criminal Code<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn27" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn27" name=_ftnref27 target="_new">[27]</A>. This is a matter of grave concern and as Professor Michael Palmer puts it â€œ<st1:country-region><st1:place>China</st1:place></st1:country-region> is unlikely to cast off easily its traditions of, and ideological commitment to, capital punishmentâ€<A title="" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn28" href="http://premium.xanga.com/Private/xtools/xtoolspremium.aspx#_ftn28" name=_ftnref28 target="_new">[28]</A>.<o:p></o:p> <P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: inte Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11521 Mon, 29 Dec 2003 08:47 EST Give me back my Christmas! Never know that... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11522 Give me back my Christmas! Never know that Christmas meant so much to me until I DON'T HAVE ONE.....I want a warm and romantic Christmas! i dun wanna get stuck in front of the computer writing sth about the death penalty in China..........ummm someone's having BBQ near my place! I can SMELL it!!!!ROAR! I wanna go outtttttt Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11522 Thu, 25 Dec 2003 16:25 EST Playing: Episode 1 å‘å·¦èµ° (come back and i'll http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11523 Playing: Episode 1 å‘å·¦èµ° (come back and i'll show u the rest <IMG height=15 src="http://www.xanga.com/Images/winky.gif" width=15>) Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11523 Wed, 24 Dec 2003 09:27 EST playing: Lonely Christmas [IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAG http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11524 playing: Lonely Christmas <IMG src="http://i.xanga.com/Shireenism/heart3.gif" width=75><IMG src="http://i.xanga.com/Shireenism/heart3.gif" width=75><IMG src="http://i.xanga.com/Shireenism/heart3.gif" width=75> The city is SO "christmas" this year....hope everyone's filled with love like moi! For those who also have to work through X'mas, Let's kick ass! Works remain: 30/12 human rights 6000-word essay 30/12 accounting final Bad News ( from my learned friend JENNIFER TAM): 9/1 skeleton for moot ..... Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11524 Sun, 21 Dec 2003 22:53 EST FUCK (dun read this if u r fucking against... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11525 FUCK (dun read this if u r fucking against foul language) FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK !!!!!!!!!!! I FUCKED UP IN MY PI EXAM THIS MORNING!!!!! The fuckest point is i fucking know how to do it and i have got fucking A LOT of time to do it BUT fucking hell I chose to read all the 3 questions in detail (including 2 judgments) before deciding which fucking 2 Qs i would attempt....SO FUCKINGLY I have left 1/4 of the paper UNTOUCHED.......EVEN FUCKER, i know i am NOT going to fail coz i am brilliant that means i am bound to get poor grades w/o failing.....i won't be so upset if it's out of my laziness rather than stupidity......umm i am going to ask my beloved professor to fail me! would he?! *sigh* the truth is my anger against myself is now replaced by a cloud of depression over my head... i fell apart after the exam and i just burst into tears when i met David...he's so good that altho by the time i rang him, he had already settled down in a restaruant with his 7 colleagues celebrating sth, he left them for me...... *sigh* i haven't cried for a single subject in my U life..Damn i am feeling so bad .........dun tell me it's OK, it's NOT!! Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11525 Fri, 19 Dec 2003 05:19 EST ::: I Love Philip Smart ::::: See what my... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11526 ::: I Love Philip Smart ::::: See what my professor writes in the course forum just now: Well, it is after 10.00 pm and my guess is that most students will now either (a) be trying to relax a little before getting a restful night's sleep or (b) have gone out to party the night away in a desparate attempt to forget that the exam is in fact tommorrow morning. (Sorry, bad attempt at a joke.) The forum remains open, but I am going off-line. If you have any urgent questions then look for me in Lan Kwai Fong after 2 pm (again another sad attempt at a joke ... too slow, too old!) Goodnight and don't worry! Best regards, Philip I LOVE SMARTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT no matter how i am going to screw up the exam tomorrow, i will always be a huge fans of his!!!!!!!!!! And thanks for one "clhmok" (charles mok?) ur question posted at the last minute has FUNDAMENTALLYchallegned my understanding of the topic ....... glad i FINALLY figure out what u mean....... maybe i gotta thank u if it turns up in the paper! Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11526 Thu, 18 Dec 2003 00:45 EST ::: Work is ALL Around ::: Playing: Love is... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11527 <H4>::: Work is ALL Around :::</H4> Playing: Love is All Around This song keeps bugging in my head after watching <<Love Actually>> (except its' the christmas version  +__+) ! that's why i couldn't work at all ! Many Thanks to HIM: <A href="http://i.xanga.com/Shireenism/desktop_nighy_1024x768.jpg" target=_new><IMG src="http://i.xanga.com/Shireenism/t/desktop_nighy_1024x768.jpg" width=400 border=0></A> Early Chritmas everyone! i think i gonna work overnight again to compensate for the lost time... Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11527 Mon, 15 Dec 2003 15:45 EST <<LOVE ACTUALLY>> To relieve the depression... http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11528  <<LOVE ACTUALLY>> To relieve the depression stemming from today's exam, my baby took me to watch <<Love Actually>>! i thought we were going to watch the boys movie <<Internal Affairs III>> and i didn't realize it's Love Actually until......umm....how come they speak English? *LOL*  Love Hugh Grant altho he's very stupid in this one! u know wot, most characters in this movie are UGLY which makes the whole thing so REAL.. I think that's the best part of it tho....  I love that old cake singer and, again, Hugh Grant's sexy British accent!!!!!How come all those blondes so hot??? As for my exam ...it's not THAT bad but it bugs me my effort is not paying off proportionally. I know i am far from being hard-working but u see i HAVE been putting effort in this subject. I have read 70% of the materials......neverthesless, it doesn't make any significant difference from my usual practice of reading 10-20% .......SO WHY BOTHER?! <IMG height=15 src="http://www.xanga.com/Images/angry.gif" width=15> Some how i know my advantage lies in learning new things quick rather than developing sth deep ..This has been my problem all my life... Everyone was impressed by my potentials showed in the beginning but soon get disappointed when they see i can't maintain it . *sigh* an example just cross my mind --  i was admitted into the Junior Wind Band of the Academy for Performing Arts within 3 months of picking up my trumpet.....yet ,pathetically, later in our public show, the conductor invited a senior trumpet player to "assist" me......?<IMG height=15 src="http://www.xanga.com/Images/bummed.gif" width=15> Any suggestion how to cure my inherent defect?? i 'll pay u if it works! btw....i have 14 days left for 3 more exams + 6000-word essay + 800-word essay..... i am thinking of skipping one exam (u know how).... Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11528 Sun, 14 Dec 2003 09:31 EST >> > How Picky are You? http://www.channel4. http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11530 >>  > How Picky are You? <A href="http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/P/pickyquiz/index.html" target=_new>http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/P/pickyquiz/index.html</A> Love the graphics!! i got 44% and "could be pickier"... True?  Guys don't be mistaken -- i am not at all easy to be chased!! I can count all the guys who i have had good feelings for since puberty with both my hands and i strongly believe in Love at first or second sight! <IMG height=15 src="http://www.xanga.com/Images/winky.gif" width=15>   Personal http://hk.zorpia.com/shireenism/journal/11530 Sun, 14 Dec 2003 01:52 EST