I am 19

Being miles away from home does not mean that I do not feel this blood boiling inside me.

For the past few weeks/months, I have been trying to keep up with political news all around the country. Watching multiple videos, reading tonnes of news, this has sorta come into what people may perceive as a political addiction. Or it could be a mere addiction for me which would all seem to die off after a month's pause or so.

But what is the issue with the country? What is WRONG with everything?

Why does it have to be like that?

The main issue or problem I believe with the country is its transparency issues. A very serious issue leading to disastrous concerns - burdening its citizens probably not so much in the short-run, but in time..it is evident that we have felt the after haul of it all. Political bribes, scandals, and criminal allegations are no stranger to what we would derive as common ongoings within the nation. Independence of the executive, judiciary and legislative arms of the government leaves a lot to be said - nobody can trust nobody anymore. It is sad for whom those who are entirely innocent are punished severely by law, and those who commit crimes under a hooded veil (is that possible?) go scot-free and unpunished. But we cannot speak up. Freedom of speech is constrained - entirely, to a microscopic particle.

It is no wonder we cannot achieve modernisation in our democratic government. From young you are not allowed to speak up -

And you probably never will be allowed to do so. Such is the state of the government. If you say a word, you shall be tried.

Suddenly I can't wait to turn 21 to cast my vote and to have a say. I do care about this country. But it saddens me to watch it turn like this.

I'm just a very concerned citizen - I love this country but watching it turn like that and whereby nothing can be done just makes me devastated. All the modern infrastructure, world-class facilities, are negligible when we have to watch the third-world mentalities and inner works of those who hold strong positions.

How do we lie when we say it is a great country? How do we even live there anymore?

Could we possibly be going backwards?

I hope those who hold strong positions know what they're doing. And are not too politically focus and close-minded based on individual career pursuits.

After all, it is a question of salvation of a nation in dire straits.

I can only hope and pray.

Yessss! My plan is working :) Sleeping actually works to my advantage!

SLEEP YOUR WAY THIN?

Sleep yourself thin? No, not quite. But an amazing study of 68,000 women conducted at Harvard Medical School reveals that women who sleep five hours a night 32 per cent more likely to gain 30 pounds or more as they get older than women who sleep seven hours or more. Common sense says that someone who's awake and running around should be using up more calories than someone who's in bed. Running around should make them skinnier, right? But the study, conducted over a 16-year period, reveals that even when the women who slept longer ate more, they still gained less than women who slept less. It's true that the group that slept longer also tended to exercise a little more. And it could be, admitted the researchers, that people who are a bit sleep-deprived could metabolize calories less efficiently than those who are better rested. But no one knows for sure. Until they do, think twice before you cut back on sleep as a way to lose weight! Because over the long haul, it may well make you fat!

Source: Sleep to be Sexy, Smart and Slim, published by Readers Digest, distributed by Bookwise International. RRP $45 from good bookstores.