I’m under 40, and technically not in the breast cancer ‘danger zone’ but I know that breast cancer can strike at any age – even as young as 13 years of age. After reading this month’s The CLEO Girl’s guide to Breast cancer, p.115, I’m even more inspired to find out more about the disease. Here are some apps I’ve downloaded to keep myself informed.

iBreast Check, Free

If you need a step by step video for how to check for breast cancer, this is where you can get it. With this you can also get a risk report which will show you how you can find out how your lifestyle may be affecting your risk of breast cancer.

Keep a breast, Free

The Keep a Breast foundation is focused on exposing younger women to methods of prevention, early detection and support. This has a Breast Cancer Glossary and Facts to fill you in on everything you’ve always wanted to know about breast cancer.

Bliss HD, $1.99

You won’t learn much about breast cancer here, but for $2 or so you get to choose a addictive game and that $2 will go into breast cancer research.

Mother’s day is the perfect excuse for you to treat your mom extra special. Here are a few ideas you might want to consider for this special weekend:

1. Surprise your mom by taking her to a nostalgic place

This can be an eating place that she used to frequent or a building where her kampong used to be at. It’s a great place for her to reminisce about the past, and perhaps for you to learn a thing or two about her.

2. Organize a popiah party with all your mom’s closest friends.

What better way to celebrate Mother’s day than with the people she loves having fun with? Lay out the ingredients for popiah making ( popiah skin, bean sauce, stir fried turnip, bean sprouts, French beans, lettuce leaves, grated carrots, chinese sausage slices and sliced fried tofu, peanuts, fried shallots and shredded omelette), and let the fun begin.

3. Retake your photos together

If your mom is the thrifty sort who will do anything to make sure you save , then chances are she won’t want any pampering without a reason. Retaking your photos are the perfect reason for her to get her hair and makeup done.

4. Send her out for the day and spring clean the house

There are few things better than coming home to spick a span house – even if you are not a mother.

5. Create your own home-spa treatment

You won’t have to bring her anywhere – you can create it right in your own home. DIY your own masks and make some spa food at end to complete her spa experience. Alternatively, you can also indulge her with a Phillip B Four-Step Hair & Scalp Treatment, $170, available at Sccube the Apothecary at Ngee Ann City.

6. Visit Prima Towers for lunch

It’s been a landmark for nearly 35 years and their Mother’s day promotion meal is the perfect way to pamper your mother. The menu consists of awesome things like abalone, lobster, shredded scallop with egg and peking duck – a delicious pampering to tell your mom she’s queen.

7. Make brunch and add in little notes to all your dishes!

So Mother’s day brunch isn’t the most recent thing on the planet, but adding these little notes to your dishes make it that extra special. Better still, make the food that remind her of your shared memories. Writing things like ‘ I remember when you made this chicken soup for me when I was feeling down’ will tell her that you treasure the little things that she does for you.

8. Broadcast your love for your mother publicly

Upload a photo or video of your memories with your mom so that it can be displayed on the Brand’s Brid’s Nest Wall of Love at 313@somerset.

9. Bring your mom ice skating

Or an activity that she rarely does like paintball. Give your mom an opportunity to see an adventurous side of herself.

10. Book a last minute vacation..

It’s too late to book that last minute vacation, but if your mom is a nature lover, then planning a camping trip to Palau Ubin might just be the perfect choice.

To be honest, I’ve always had my doubts about internet romances. When a friend of mine told me she found her one true love through a forum, I was honestly more amused than convinced. But their relationship grew strong and I’m happy to report they they tied the knot last month.

But can you really blame me for doubting a love like that? I mean, how do you communicate something as precious as love, when words like ‘lol’ and ‘lmao’ drown out what you’re really trying to say?

In ‘The Biggest Love Lesson I learnt from my ex’ on p.26 in CLEO in Love, we asked girls what the most important lesson they took away from their failed relationships was. Some of them found that their special someone wasn’t what they first thought to be, which just goes to prove how important strong communication is when a couple first comes together.

It’s not all bad of course, technology can help ‘speed things up’ in your romance. A Men’s fitness magazine in the U.S revealed how nearly 80 percent of women said their relationships lead to sex faster because it was so easy for them to stay connected to their partners while 58 percent of men claimed flirting on Facebook, G-chat and texting helped them get more intimate sooner.  According to this article, texting provides the attention, the emotional connection and the sense of togetherness that is needed before someone can feel comfortable enough to be intimate.

So will technology kill your romance? Perhaps not.  As long as we don’t lose that magic that comes with the art of flirtation, perhaps technology can even help spice up your relationship.

We talked to Visual Kei band, ViViD were one of the performers at the Sundown Festival last Saturday.

1. Tell us about how ViViD came together.

Reno: All of us but Shin have been friends for a long time. We started talking about playing together when all of just broke up from our former bands at the same time.

Ko-ki: We had a member for every musical instrument except for the vocals. So when Shin’s band  broke up, he became our perfect candidate for the vocalist.

2. Why the name ViVid?

Reno: We wanted a name which would characterize our each of our unique personalities, and          we all thought ‘ViVid” was the perfect word, so we all agreed on it.  

3. How would you describe your music?

Reno: Rock! I have always wanted to do Rock since I started making music for a living – I wanted to be the next Eric Clapton.

Ko-Ki: We’ve all liked Rock music from a very early age.

4. Why did you choose Visual Kei?   

Shin: There's less limitations compare to other genre.

Ryoga: Reason was that I didn't realise music can be so powerful to play and to be heard. When I first experienced that it was very new to me.

5.       What are you looking forward to doing when you come to Singapore?
Ko-ki: Can’t wait to see the cityscape and enjoy the food!

6. How are you different from other Visual Kei bands?

Ryoga: We’re a band with a great sound and stage presence.

7. How excited are you for the Sundown Festival?

Shin: Very – we can’t wait to introduce this wonderful form of Japanese culture to Singaporeans.

Reno:  This will be my first visit to Singapore so we don't know what to expect but we can’t wait to play our music.

Singapore might have an efficient transport system, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t get lost every now and then. I for one, get really clueless while I’m behind the wheel. I’ve found out through the hard way that it’s easier to give people directions than to follow directions yourself – one of my first driving misadventures includes driving all the way to Woodlands, when where I really wanted to get to was Pasir Ris.

So it should come as no surprise that I find driving phone apps to be a godsend. Here are some of my favourite apps that help me navigate around Singapore whenever I’m lost.

Gothere.sg ($2.99) – This app knows where you want to go, even if you don’t exactly know where. Throw at it anything you like; postal codes, building names, street names, acronyms - it’ll return with the results you want. The app is also time-sensitive and shows you the available routes according to the time of the day.

Carpark@sg (FREE) – This app shows you the cheapest rates for car parks nearby. This one is a great app to use especially when you’re in town during a busy weekend.

iRoadmate SG (FREE) – There are no push notifications in this application, but this application provides accurate alerts of roads that have jams, helping you avoid them and make your driving a smoother experience

TraffiCam (FREE) – This application lets you know which roads to avoid – with two taps of the screen, you’ll get an overview of the traffic and major roads in Singapore, which includes the Causeway, and major expressways. Updates are done every five to ten minutes.

NTUC income (FREE) – The Accident Toolkit in this app includes a step by step guide of what to do in the case of an accident. It also includes a GPS Accident locater as well as a Camera interface which photographs your vehicle damages.

And hence, driving is now a dream for me - I love the sheer thrill of being able to drive worry free. It makes me think that I really should get my own set of wheels –I drive my dad’s – so I’m glad I got to learn a few things from ‘The girl’s guide to getting her first car”, p. 110 of our September issue. It’s the complete guide to knowing how to get your first set of wheels and its left nothing out. Armed with this car guide and useful apps for driving, I’m pretty sure you’ll soon find your love for cars soon too.

It’s everywhere, too much of it is probably bad for you, and you just can’t get enough of it. I’m talking about social media, and our unfailing obsession with it. It’s something we’ve grown so used to, but many of us still have have yet to learn the art of managing ourselves and our relationships on social media. Here are some rules on social media etiquette that I really wish friends on my favourite social networking sites would adopt.  

1. Access does not mean entitlement

Access is when a person connects with you over a social network and starts engaging with you. But it doesn’t mean the person owes you the rights to his or her privacy. If someone puts their settings to private, they aren’t being snobbish – they’re just not ready to show you their life story.  

2. Quality over quantity

You don’t have to be a writer to know what quality content is.  Take time to think about how people will react to a statement. It’s so easy to forget that when you post something online, you are shouting out to an audience that can be as strong as a thousand people, some of whom you may not even know personally.

3. It’s okay to not respond

You don’t have to respond to every single comment that people make about you. Luckily, the people at Facebook have invented the ‘like’ button, so that none of the other 47 people in the same thread are prompted to log on to Facebook, only to receive the message “Thanks, Josh.”

4. Share the love

Something I wish people would do more of – post more interesting videos and articles. Most articles and videos have a ‘like’ or ‘comment’ button. Take advantage of it, tell us what you like. Online media works in a karma-like cycle, the more you promote their content, the more quality content there will be available.

5. Use a decent photo as your avatar

Many people forget that social media is all about connecting with others, so use a decent photo so that people can recognize you.   

6. Don’t mix work with play

Since many businesses now use social networking as a form of promoting, the line between work and play becomes blurred. If you have work-related question during after work hours, wait till tomorrow to ask your colleague rather than through Facebook or Twitter.   

7. Avoid being emotional

Putting up an emotionally-charged statement can get you into serious trouble. It could also garner unfavourable comments from friends on your account or even land you on the wrong side of the law.

8. Set time away from it

Many of us have already started living our lives around Facebook and Twitter, and with all that influx of information, it’s easy to become carried away with all that information. Sunday is my personal no-social media day, because I think it prevents me from getting overwhelmed with all that info.

Have a personal social media etiquette rules to share? Tell me in the comment section!