The Future is Inky

New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-31T07:57:00.000-08:00

I'm not buying into this whole New Year hype.

So we celebrate the fact that we get to buy a new calender.

Erm... yay?

Right, anyway, I'm sorry... but 2010 is not gonna be a good year. Nope. I've gotta feeling that it'll suck more than this year.

World, prove me wrong if you bothered.

Well, resolutions. I'm such a hypocrite for following tradition, but heck.

1) Write. Yes, write. I didn't complete any of the stories I developed plots for. But I'm gonna work on them. I hope.

2) To update my blog more regularly. Yep. I'm sure all of you would agree, right?

3) A cup of coffee a week. I don't care if I get addicted. I don't care if it's bad for my health. I want my weekly fix of caffeine.

4) Camwhore. I've never done it before. No harm trying, right? I need to update my Facebook profile pic anyway.

5) Buy my first CD. This time, abiding by the law will be empowering. Bet on me getting MCR's fourth album.

6) To be a much calmer person. I realise I like being calm. And hey, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's at ignoring people. That'll help --- immensely.

No, nothing like "Good grades" or even something like, "Grow taller". Too generic for my tastes. I probably won't fulfill them. But maybe I will...

Well, whatever, who knows?

Like everyone says, who knows what the new year may bring (misery, for me at least).

Caffeine & Cards

2009-11-25T06:19:00.000-08:00

Can't believe you people still come here...

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it, but still...

I have lots to update about.

But I don't want to.

Fine, I'll try...

KL Trip rocked. Funny tour guide ("Once I tricked American tourists into thinking that AWAS stood for [All Women Are Sexy]."), bus with two plasma TVs, late nights, early mornings. Benny and I were even lucky enough to receive a suite as our room. Guess who hosted the late-night card game session? Learned this cool party game, Werewolf. Broke my record, sleeping at 4.30 am on the second night. I blame it on the coke and dai di/bridge for keeping me awake and soccer for causing me to fall asleep. And I finally got myself a hoodie, an inexpensive one at that. Bought it from the one decent clothing store in the entire shopping mall that we visited on the third day.

Then... debate chalet, which arguably rocked even more. I was in heaven; we spent the majority of the forty-eight hours there playing 5-card Poker/Dai Di/Bridge/Cheat/Hearts. And I broke my record yet again. I managed to last 'bout thirty-six hours without sleep. In the process, I have also developed a slight caffeine addiction. And I started to learn how to ride a bike. Yes, I never learned how to ride a bike.

And the next major event was the RI Invites. Met Matthias, my primary school debate coach for the first time in two years. And he recognised me. And he told me that he doesn't get the whole RI-HCI rivalry. Best non-HCI senior. We didn't perform that bad this year... only losing one of the three Prelim rounds. But we didn't break. Eh, there's always next year...

Wow, I managed to condense all that into three short paragraphs.

Anyway, I'm finally starting to write!

Halfway done with the suicidal puppet poem.

And dreamt up (quite literally) of this potentially awesome concept:

Gerald Choa is planning to write a story featuring a bisexual Robin Hood-esque rebel in a futuristic dystopian city who plans on liberating the oppressed citizens by holding massive rock concerts featuring his band and mass distributing the city's equivalent of drugs - chocolate. I have a wild imagination. So sue me.

-From my Facebook page

And that's not even half of it.

Let the Holidays Begin

2009-10-26T05:06:00.000-07:00

Nope, I'm not dead yet.
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iSpark Nite rocked. Go to Bryce's blog for full coverage. And Davis, you rock, even if you had to remove your block mountains. Heh, even our form teacher loved it.

And paraphrasing our (male, married) science teacher, "Davis, you looked so pretty!" You rock too, Dr. Tan.
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Guess what? I'm satisfied with my results.

Thought this day would never come. Not so soon, anyway. That 1.17 MSG is very possible. I'm awarding myself with chocolates. Oh, and sleep.
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Our class seems... less chaotic now. Last week's lessons were largely composed of video watching (as expected), so everyone was silent, for once. Gah, I could get used to silence. I miss it.
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Dai di rocks. Cheat rocks. Stress... not so much.

And let's not forget the fingering game.
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FOSH is a failure, in my opinion, if only for us.

Unless the 'SH' refers to 'Straights & Houses'.

Tomorrow though, swimming.

More like floating on the water/attempting to drown each other like savages, but still. Anything to prevent the bloody Sun from scorching our skin till we degenerate into piles of soot.

Actually, that'd be kinda cool.
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Tried changing my blogskin. Didn't work out so well though.

Nevermind, I'd choose run-down telephone booths over an ink-breathing decapitated head any day.

I think.
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My Second Chocolate

2009-09-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

I feel kinda depressed suddenly...

Don't know why.

Want to write again.

After today, I know I still can.

When the exams are over, I promise I'll write.

Write what?

I don't know yet.

Maybe of suicidal puppets. Of torn up photographs; broken memories. Of brittle roses made of paper and ink.

Of the swirling clouds who are very much alive. Who are immensely different, yet immensely similar to the formless ink I'm used to.

Of long nights and dark hours. Of halls of mirrors. Of losing the ability to hear yourself.

And of countless other visions, other dreams.

You know what?

I feel happier now.

Intertwined

2009-09-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

After blog surfing, I decided that I'm gonna make an effort to update more regularly. Shouldn't be too hard right? After all, everyone else can find some trivial detail to blog about every single day. Feel like getting changing the link to my blog. Not sure if I should hunt for a new blogskin too...

Well anyway, I realised that I miss Debate. It's been a few weeks since the last session, and while free time's obviously appreciated, I miss the usual wackiness and chaos, which is incredibly different from that of my idiot classmates. I'm nowhere near fond of my class, mainly composed of irritants and fools. I don't get how the hell a good number of them can actually not have a single ounce of common sense.

But still, that's good in a way.

Not only do you get a good supply of ego boosts, but you suddenly find yourself belonging into a small, yet bonded group, the people with common sense and who are decent company. And we're a very elitist group. Like today, during lunch, when we dao-ed an entire table of classmates and found a remotely located one to sit at instead.

Rantings aside, iSpark Nite rehearsals were held yesterday. Naturally, our neighbourhood Diva, Davis, was the star of our performance, which is basically a spoof of Idol-like shows. Speaking of that, I don't care much anybody insists, but this year's Singapore Idol has a huge lack of talent. Yep. Our whole show revolved around a certain prop of Davis', his assets (i.e. breast implants made of newspapers stuffed in plastic bags).

What? We couldn't find balloons.

So picture this: Davis dancing to 'Gee' while shaking his... melons and seductively blowing kisses to the guys acting as judges. Sadly, I'm acting as Simon. Bryce was Paula, who borrowed his mother's shawl specifically for the performance.

Heh, the seniors loved it.

So after that, went with the above-mentioned group to KAP for Benny's lunch. Debated with myself over whether to buy a packet of fries or not. I did. Ain't you surprised Alvin? Then we tried to study for our Chinese test but ended up playing Truth or Dare. Typical.

Afterwards, Bryce & Davis persuaded me to deliver their disgustingly colourful letters to Shanisse, who I finally met in person after all the stories 'bout her. Was surprised to find out that she was quite thin, contrary to Davis' vivid descriptions of her being a french fry-loving glutton who was obsessed with her bellybutton. And no Bryce, she doesn't look like a slut. Met Xing Zhi too. 6K has got to meet up on Tao Nan's anniversary...

Bombshell Week

2009-09-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

It's that screwed up time of the year again...

Didn't want to wake up on Monday... felt like something awful would come my way.

I was right.

Greeted by bout half a dozen bombshells the moment I stepped into the classroom. Shall not elaborate.

Still, the rest of the week was surprisingly bearable.

'specially Friday.

Where I found out that I was exempted for IH and LA. So that's two subjects worth six papers which I don't need to give a damn about anymore. Plus, I finally have a valid excuse to rid my poor, overwhelmed files of those pesky Geog notes.

There's still Math & Chinese though, both of which I loathe intensely.

At least I actually scored a decent mark for my 作文 this time.

Then after the usual lessons, our group performed for RTA. Our props included a plush kitten (meant to represent a skull) and a glittering shawl-like thingy for Davis' flamboyant (i.e. utterly gay) performance. Would've gone well but we had to settle for an A2 after some technical difficulties.

Afterwards, Bao and I headed off to the Drama Centre to receive our Project's Day awards. Though we had to wait close to three hours before we even received it. Nevermind though, 'cos Kah How('s group) won the Grand Finals. Bet it was due to him standing next to leaves for the entire presentation. Nevermind, in-joke.

School aside, been lurking around DeviantArt more than usually do recently, reading random pieces of prose and poetry... Just want to forget about the exams for that short span of time when I'm doing so...

August Thirty-First

2009-09-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

A/N: I STARTED WRITING THIS ON 3 SEPT & FINISHED IT ON 20 SEPT

Heh, Teacher's Day celebrations "kind of" rocked. It could have rocked more if Rey told me he changed his mind again. But nevermind that and moving on...

So sadly we still had to attend school. And sadly the concert was the same standard as Tao Nan Teacher's Day concerts: generic, cliched, boring. Not to mention they were fake. Incredibly fake. The performances were either unoriginal, lacking in entertainment value or just plain annoying in the case of that Chinese card trick. That one guy wouldn't shut the hell up. The only thing barely humorous was the staff performance, which had two teachers, a male and a female, dancing theatrically and over-effeminately to "Don't Cha" and the dreaded "Nobody". Sec 2 iCouncilors' performance was also decent. Probably why I hated the concert was because it ended half an hour late...

...so I had less time to spend in Tao Nan. Chionged there, and saw Edi, spectating the annual Student vs Teacher Basketball match, as expected. Then made my way to the table tennis... tables. Met Darren Low and Jue Ying there. Waved to each of them, received blank stares. Only after I approached Jue Ying was when I realised they couldn't recognise me...

Saw Alvin R. and Jun Hao next, who also went on about the "amazing makeover" I had. Then met up with Rey, Marc and some other Hwa Chongians to ~~harass~~ visit some old teachers, including Miss Leong, who appears shorter now. Heh. Couldn't stay for the Tao Nan Teacher's Day concert though, nor could I wait my other former classmates 'cos of my oh-so-brilliantly timed Piano Exam... which I shall not talk about...

...and instead skip ahead to Tampines Mall, which I rushed over to after receiving Jun Hao's call and went with a rather measly group (comprising of him, Alvin, Melvin, Ying Bi, Ying Tong, Ker Rui and the surprisingly boyfriend-less Callie) to watch Where Got Ghost. Not you guys don't rock, but I was expecting more people... so I interrogated Jun Hao and found out that Rey rescheduled for a fourth time. Argh. Nevertheless, the company was great. Miss old times... The movie was... a typical Jack Neo film, good for cheap laughs if you can stand the lack of a plot that actually makes some sense. The horror bits were... funny? The second story had some freaky parts which I could respect. But the ones in the third had me laughing. Probably because the mother's ghost appeared in the strangest of places to haunt a person (e.g. a broken television or the section of the bed where the pillows are located)...

So after the movie ended, we met up with the others! Playing truth or dare... typical... Heh, they look shorter now. 'specially Chun Yen, Dommy and of course, Jun Hern. Then things got even better when Rey told me they had spited and chased Joel Lim Jun Han away. Heard they almost made him cry. Brings tears (of joy) to my eyes. Yes, I bear grudges.

Following that, the other group went for their movie and Anton just happened to notice the arcade, which prompted him to spend $140 on credits. So we spent some hours playing arcade games... until the others exited the cinema. Said our goodbyes, then headed to the MRT station with Alvin.

Next mass gathering on 11 Nov?

Summer Is Dead

2009-08-28T02:54:00.000-07:00

Hello...

Is anyone there?

Well yeah, I haven't been updating much.

Or at all.

So sue me.

But anyway, I should be now officially free from posting LA homework on this blog. Not that I did the past term. *cough* Can't be bothered not to bother about punctuation/grammar/spelling though, so all my posts will be in proper English.

Sabbat(ical) Week just ended... so no more slacking/Scrabbling, sadly. Don't feel like recounting the past week. I'm just glad to know I've improved even more. Also ecstatic about how it rained on four consecutive days. Yes, August (and more importantly summer) is finally over, replaced by three upcoming months of pseudo-autumn.

Say a prayer, the summer nights are dead...

And speaking of songs, I just downloaded forty-odd of them, courtesy of Shan. Makes mornings in the classroom much more bearable.

Three more days to Teachers' Day. Can't wait to go back, didn't have the chance to on National Day thanks to CIP... My lack of luck once again keeps me from enjoying it to the fullest... my Piano Exam falls on that day. But hell, I'm not going to miss it.

Guess that's all...

Oh right, been lurking on DeviantArt. I recommend checking out Miss-Deathwish. She's got some wit. Here's an excerpt from one of her poems...

i shut my hand in the clothing dryer this morning;
the skin now recoils from my knuckles to expose stark bones. upon seeing it
i want to vomit, but that is only because it is beautiful, isn't it?

And to end off, an inspirational picture, entitled, in regards to silence: deux...

Okay nevermind, I can't upload it, check it out here.

Long Awaited Update

2009-07-11T05:10:00.000-07:00

Hey.

Yes I still have a life, though my blog doesn't reflect it.

E-learning's over, along with the first week of school.

It sucked.

Like most things in life.

But that's not including, Half-Blood Prince. Currently 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (yes I check daily)! The best rating of the films so far, plus it hands-down owns the 49% rating Twilight received. Already made plans to watch it next Sunday, can't wait to see Harry's and Draco's bloody battle, the infamous Inferi scene and Snape killing Dumbledore. That's one good thing to look forward too...

...in the usual sea of bad things... Like an absurdly early Maths test, something called the second (third?) week of school and Project's Day semis.

No I'm not happy.

What else to update? Er... the IS teacher for Term 3 actually has good grammar! And one month of the most dreaded season has past. Two more of them of sun, heat and disgustingly bright blue, cheery skies to go.

Cool, it started raining. Thank the heavens.

Discovered some great songs during the holidays though, like Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional, Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World, My Darkest Hour by Scary Kids Scaring Kids and Four Year Strong's punk version of Sara Bareilles' Love Song. Time to blast them...

Random Thoughts

2009-07-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

"The Dancer" - 55 Fiction
It was the late afternoon when this batch arrived.
She was tired, but nonetheless began work.
She began to spin, began to enchant.
Spinning, her trade.
Her fate.
She loved the attention, though she knew that she was simply a tool for their entertainment.
The tourists left, and the spider crawled back to her web.

"Rest in Peace" - 55 Fiction
It was finally Victoria's turn, after ages of waiting in silence.
She looked around.
Nobody shed tears, yet a solemn affair it was.
It was a breathtaking sight.
Never before had her mother looked so beautiful.
So peaceful.
She spat on the corpse, spite in her eyes, thinking,
Death brings out the best in people.

That Little High

2009-07-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

Q: The casino being built in Singapore is supposed to be a money-maker and job creator. However, many people have spoken against it. Talk to a parent or adult and get their view on the casino. Listen to the NPR and YouTube offerings and choose one that substantiates your viewpoint and include a quote from it as well. Your blog entry has to be at least 200 words and you must either support the casino or condemn its construction and ultimately the hardships it will cause in Singapore.

It's about revenue, they say. About opening up new industries to benefit Singapore's economy in the long run. While we cannot deny this fact, in my opinion, it is the harms that outweigh benefits. There are three parties that will be harmed here: the individual, the family and ultimately, society itself.

Gamblers don't just gamble for the money. If they did, then a lot more people would stop if they've already won some. Gamblers gamble for the fun of it. The thrill that is obtained. That euporia. That high. And even if it only lasts for a while, they are instantly hooked onto it, jusg like how many get hooked onto drugs. That's just it, gambling is just like a drug. They work the same way, and have the same consequences, to the state of the body, and the mind of the addict. The addict won't ever stop gambling. And even if he loses a considerable sum of money, the thing is that they will always believe that there is a chance, a chance to gain back all the money they've lost by winning the jackpot. But this chance is one in a million. And even if they win that jackpot, it is not likely that they are going to stop. Addicts will continue to play, to double their winnings, and to double their thrill.

It's not hard to become addicted. A few games won't harm, you think. But after those few games, you'll tell yourself again, maybe just some more. It's a vicious cycle. And as you progress, it'll become harder and harder to satisfy your desire for gambling.

Addicts will not only harm themselves, but the people around them. If the man of a house were a gambling addict, wose income supports the whole family and their needs, if he becomes addicted to gambling and wastes all that money away, then his wife and his children will suffer. Suffer for no good reason. Losing is always bitter. And consecutive losses might make an addict become bitter, violent, cold. Then the whole family is harmed, not only emotionally because they've lost a family member but possibly, also physically as a result of rash actions.

So add gambling to our society and see what happens. It is inevitable that morals are going to be degraded. It is a valid theory that once the casinoes get introduced, more people will flock to them, and more people will become addicted. One may argue that many Singaporeans already flock to Batam for their gambling needs. But bringing casinoes to Sentosa means bringing gambling closer to Singapore and also, more accessible and less troublesome. The social fabric of our society might be threatened in the long run. And at that point of time, what really matters? The amount of money that we've brought in from gambling, or our degraded morals?

The issue here is that of our economy versus our society. And ultimately, in the long run, it is not our economy that matters more, for it is society that supports it. And gambling will ruin our society, and while it may boost our economy short-term, at the end of the day, our economy's going to be ruined too...

Edgar Allen Poe

2009-06-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

The first ever well-known American writer who attempted to earn a living solely through writing, Poe suffered greatly for his art. But yet there are not many words to describe the brilliance that he possessed. This brilliance stems from the fact that Poe is able to make use of every single minor detail to enhance the atmosphere of the poem or story, which is a huge part of a poem and greatly contributes to the storyline itself.

Take of his most famous poem "The Raven" as an example,
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Raven_(Poe) [full text too long to be posted up here]
Every single emotion is fleshed out clearly, sorrow, anxiety, fright, joy, wrath and finally a descent to madness. The varying degrees of the narrator's feelings adds suspense and flavour to the poem. The surroundings are not ignored either, from the rustling of curtains, to the dying embers of a cold and bitter winter, these contribute to the ominous and sombre feel of the poem.
Poe is also bets known for his tales in the macabre and horror genre. There are a few recurring themes that appear in his writings, namely, disease, "perverseness" and the death of a beautiful woman. It is the events that happened in his life that caused him to focus on these themes. Tuberculosis and chlohera epidemics plagued that era, and caused the deaths of many important individuals in Poe's life. Stories such as "Masque of the Red Death" are based on these. His troubled childhood may have affected his view on life and human nature, seen in the following poem, "Alone".

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw — I could not bring
My passions from a common spring —
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow — I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone —
And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone —
Then — in my childhood — in the dawn
Of a most stormy life — was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still —
From the torrent, or the fountain —
From the red cliff of the mountain —
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold —
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by —
From the thunder, and the storm —
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view —

And the death of his wife, Virginia Eliza Clemm, is the inspiration for another of his poems, "Annabel Lee", http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Annabel_Lee

What intrigues me most about Poe is his critique of human nature and his portrayal of the narrators. It is through the narrators' eyes that one can connect with the story being told and feel as if though you were the one killing a man because of his winking eye or obsessing over gleaming teeth (this made possible also because of the vivid descriptions of the atmosphere).

And finally, there is almost always a shocking revelation at the end of each of Poe's stories for the narrators are most unreliable, their sanity questionable.

The Conqueror Worm

2009-06-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

(Yes, this is a piece of homework from E-learning, hah!)

1.How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?

The Conqueror Worm by Edgar Allan Poe
Lo! 'tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years.
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre to see
A play of hopes and fears
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.

Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly;
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their condor wings
Invisible Woe.

That motley drama--oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot;
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude:
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes--it writhes!--with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.

Out--out are the lights--out all!
And over each quivering form
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, "Man,"
And the hero, the Conqueror Worm.

1a. Personification
• Example: “While the orchestra breathes fitfully”
• Purpose: The keyword is “breathe”; it is what makes the personification, a personification. And as breathe is a world commonly associated with life, survival, and the fact that when the orchestra starts playing that the play itself starts, as if the orchestra is the one breathing life into the play, the whole purpose of the personification is to illustrate that a new life has begun.

1b. Hyperbole
• Example: A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes – it writhes! – with mortal pangs.
• Purpose: These few lines are clearly emphasized, to emphasize the sheer power of Death, so powerful that it can gobble many mere mortals in an instant, so powerful that it one can never escape it. The second line shows how sudden Death is, how it can easily interrupt a peaceful life and end it once and for all. The last three words, “with mortal pangs” seem to be implying that Death is ever-hungry, that it will always be on the search for food, mortals, and that it will never be satisfied, never be vanquished.

1c. Metaphor
• Example: “The curtain, a funeral pall,”
• Purpose: Here, the curtain is being compared to a pall, the cloth that covers a coffin. The curtain comes down at the end of the play, to end it. Similarly, it is a pall that it placed when a life has been ended. The line “Comes down with the rush of a storm” also compares how sudden and how quick the end of the play can be. Similarly, Death can occur at any time. As the play represents life, the curtain represents the end of it, Death.

1d. Symbolism
• Example: “That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”
And the hero, the Conqueror Worm.”
• Purpose: It is the last two lines that summarise the whole poem, and it is the last two lines that are the clearest uses of symbolism. Indeed, the whole poem is a use of symbolism. Poe compares the plot of the play to life itself, with its “Madness, and more of Sin, and Horror”. The mimes are a representation of Man, lifeless puppets that are controlled by greater, unknown forces, who shape the world we live in, who decide our every action, represented by the stage crew. The Phantom can be interpreted as many things, something that Man is hunting, something that Man desires very much, something that he cannot reach, cannot achieve. It is the Phantom that instigates the madness of life, the chase for the Phantom. The “blood-red thing” is Death herself, the one who ends Man, the one who ends life, the one who ends the play, certain when her cloth “comes down with the rush of a storm”. And it is she who is the hero of the play, the Conqueror (as for worms, they used to be associated with Death, thank you Wikipedia).

2. Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” seems to be the whole logic behind the poem. The poem is one big metaphor of life, its toils and its troubles. And it illustrates this using the elements of the theater. I marvel at how Poe manages to use every single component, from the plot, to the actors, to the curtain and the orchestra to represent a certain part of life. The resemblance of the theater to life itself is uncanny and, beautiful.
Additionally, the poem is a critique of Man. I find myself agreeing with Poe on Man’s pitfalls and flaws, and again, admires how he manages to illustrate it with the theatre.

One thing I do not agree with him, however, is his representation of Death. While portraying it as a creature of horror it fit for the poem, is not Death a much more beautiful thing? After all, it is Death that brings out the best in human beings.

The poem is also great food for thought. Poe says through the poem that something out there is controlling us. It certainly is ominous to note that we are merely pawns of a greater force, an unknown force in his little game.

Philosophy 5: Not Just Skin Deep

2009-06-17T07:05:00.000-07:00

Q: What is beauty?

They used to say that beauty was about perfection. About having grace, elegance, sophistication and charm. About youthfulness, complexion and symmetry. The perfect person to be admired.

They used to say that beauty was about art. How artists could paint such picturesque scenes with just a paintbrush and a pastel. How sculptors could shape their clay into any form they willed it to take. Masterpieces to be admired.

They used to say that beauty was about music. How composers could create such magnificent sounding songs to place the listener into a state of utter bliss. How different instruments can be played together at the same time to achieve melody and harmony. Sounds to be admired.

They used to say that beauty was about, mathematics. How proof is simply so elegant that it can be compared to music or poetry. How everything in mathematics is based on equilibrium. Perfect equilibrium to be admired.

Now they say beauty is about sexual attractiveness. About having curves, a desirable body, one for men to lust for. About having a seductive features that can make anyone receive an instant nosebleed. Features to be admired.

Now they say beauty is about glamour. About Hollywood and all its superstars. About their fashion style, about their looks. About living in luxury, about being better than reality. About receiving admiration.

Now they say beauty is about commercialisation. About manicures, expensive handbags, fashionable clothes, plastic surgery. All to achieve "beauty", all to strive to be admired.

I say that beauty is to be admired.

Yet I say that beauty is none of those things.

Beauty is more than perfection, more than aesthetics, more than whatever pop culture classifies beauty as.

Beauty is how a single young shoot struggles to grow in the middle of a vast wasteland, without water, without light, yet it has the determination to grow. And it does, despite all the odds, and it is admired.

Beauty is how a fallen scarlet ibis struggles to survive even though blood is drenching its wings, even though it knows that it has absolutely no chance of survival. But it tries, it tries hard, and it manages to fly, despite all the odds. And even if it still falls again after a while and dies, it is still meant to be admired.

Beauty is about not having a lack of flaws, but embracing them. It is about a struggle with oneself. It is how an ex-convict with a troubled childhood faces it and no matter how painful it is, comes to terms with it and overcomes it. And how in the end, he changes, and changes for the better and achieves true happiness. A victory to be admired.

Beauty is about a dim light in the middle of a vast darkness. How it slowly, but surely, grows brighter and bigger, overcoming the darkness until there is nothing but glorious light, shining proudly. But then the darkness overwhelms it and forces it back into that pathetic existence it once had, insignificant and dim. And eventually, it is snuffed out and forgotten, never recognised, never admired.

Philosophy 4: Power of Belief

2009-06-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

Q: If many people think something is true, is it true?

People can be stubborn. Oftenly, new ideas aren't accepted so easily by society and the "fools" who came up with them are ridiculed and labelled as fools. Similarly, they hang on to their beliefs dearly, with no will whatsoever to give them up. And will is powerful. It is will that has led great leaders to achieve what they wanted to achieve. It is will that has greatly affected this world. And when they is a will, they is a way, even in the most difficult of situations. So when people have the will to believe, than the power is transferred to the belief.

And that power is great. It affects the individual, the believer. People gain a belief because of certain factors. They may be born and bred in a certain culture and believe that certain traditions bring good luck. One may be surrounded by people who all carry the same belief. Peer pressure comes into play and he gains that belief too. These factors all have a similarity: the majority. The social norm of that particular society. Everybody thinks that its true, and there's no proof to, disprove it, then why oppose it? And even if its truly false, if this people still believe it, then what does it matter? It'll still be true in their hearts, and they'll carry out actions based on the belief that it does end up true, at least to that certain group of people.

And this certain group of people can be whole civilisations. Belief has affected and shaped the societies of the world. Honestly, is everything considered true really true? We see that back in Ancient Greece, five elements that shaped the whole world existed. That was true, even to top scholars and philosophers. It was written in countless of books, told by countless of people, believed by countless of believers. To some extent, it was true.

And this belief that leads things to be true can be unconscious too. Let's take a local example. So scholarship in Singapore is claimed to be strictly based on meritocracy. But when we see that students from elite schools are the ones who get the most opportunities not just because of their merit, but that label, that reputation, how meritocratic are we real. And even when people do believe that a mediocre student from an elite school may not be smarter than the top student from a non-elitist school, they subconsciously do believe the opposite because of the label and it does end up true that the elite school student is "smarter" even though he's not.

Perhaps this a measure, a clue, to how screwed up, to how confusing this world really is, that even truth is subjective, that there can be different extents of truth. That something like true or flase, which is supposed to be so straightforward, isn't really. So are we all living a lie? After all, this society is supposed to be based on nothing but the truth...

Philosophy 3: Emotionless

2009-06-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

Q: If you could eliminate one emotion from the world, would you? Which one? Why?

Emotions are strange little things. Strange how they can last for just a few seconds or for a few years. Strange how they are often ignored yet can sometimes be given comprehensive media coverage. Strange how they can drastically affect the outcomes of majorly important events. And they're complicated too. Very complicated. Isn't it true that we often find ourselves winded up trying to make sense of another's, or even our own? Scientists can't even explain them right. Sure, they say it's all due to hormones released by the body, yet no, emotions can't be expressed scientifically. They're different. So different that most of them can't be expressed in words, even though a good portion of the dictionary is already devoted to them and their varying extents.

Emotions also depend on each other. They fuel one another. Anger fuels hatred. Pride fuels envy. It seems impossible then, that eliminating just one of them will not have adverse effects on the rest, doesn't it? If you see where I'm going then yes, I would simply wrench every single feeling, every single colour out from the human heart and crush them into a hopeless pile of smithereens, effectively rendering this world emotionless, leaving it completely dull and grey.

Think about it, we're better off without them. Crimes won't be committed due to intense hatred. Ruthless tyrants won't rise to power simply because there is a lack of lust for power. And we won't procrastinate as much 'cos we won't ever feel sian even when confronted with particularly tedious tasks. All time Man ever wasted because of his emotions interfering would be save and be put to better use, improving our society.

Everyone would in essence, be mindless, hardworking robots with the lack of any distracting thought, which means increased productivity. A world solely based on logic so that gadgets can still be invented without all the "I have a dream" hoopla. The only thing we'd need to do besides improving ourselves would be to eat, drink, breathe and sleep. Choice, belief, or free thought won't even be basic needs. Everyone would make the same, logical choice. Those who can't (sense the euphemism) will be cared for, put into residences with high class facilities or to work in labour-intensive industries. We could achieve what we've achieved today centuries ago. And it's better than your typical (satisfying to read) dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction. Everyone is equal. And not more so than others. A world that constantly seeks to improves. And won't feel satisfied when it reaches its goals, just sets new ones to work on.

In a sense, if the details are worked out correctly, it'd be perfect. A theme in your average dystopian fiction, sacrificing emotions/thought for productivity.

No, doesn't sound right? Of course it doesn't. That's because of your emotions.

Book Review 1: American Gods

2009-06-07T03:52:00.002-07:00

Book Read: American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Author's preferred text)

There are many concepts that come into your mind when you hear of the word, "god". For example: power, influence, omniscience. Yet the many gods in Gaiman's novel embody nothing of these. They are weak, forgotten and desperate. Their true identities hidden, the gods blend in with the crowd, disguising themselves as butchers, undertakers and even prostitutes. It is this that makes the novel shine and stand out, in addition to its well-characterised human characters, most notably Shadow, the ex-convict with a big heart, who in the progress of the story, comes to term with the death (and near-resurrection) of his wife, the good and evil of the ordinary people he meets, his realisation of the direction America is heading and his very own death.

What I feel the most amazing thing of the novel is, however, is its main conflict of the old gods and the "New Gods" and how the idea of belief fits into the entire thing. The old gods are the weak ones, those who represent tradition and culture. The so-called "New Gods" are representations of technology and modernisation. Such examples of these include Media. Mr Town and the violent car gods who receive many sacrifices each day. In Gaiman's universe, the gods feed on the belief and worship humans provide them with. The two sides are fighting for the lion's share. Naturally, the "New Gods" are winning. This is the big statement that the novel makes, that today's society (or at least those of most first-world countries) is much more concerned by modernisation and has largely failed to recognise tradition and culture, which has become obsolete and unimportant. It also implies that technology has become the ruler of the human race.

A large part of the story also centers around the fact that America is a big melting pot. Along with the main plot, there are several small glimpses into the past, whether be it 2000 BC or the 1700s, they are all narratives of how people from faraway lands immigrated to America, bringing their gods along with them. That is the reason why Kali of Hinduism, Horus of the Ancient Egyptians and Odin of Norse paganism all exist in America. The book highlights America's characteristics, how it contains so many different cultures and religions, how it is beginning to ignore these cultures and so on. Compared to Singapore, the difference, surprisingly, is not that big. Singapore can also be called a melting pot in its own right, only on a much smaller scale. Indeed, similar to America in the past, all sorts of races travelled to the little red dot on the map in the pursuit of a better future. And it is also similar to Singapore in the fact that both countries are increasingly more focused on modernisation, and that the younger gneration is starting to ignore their culture and tradition. There is also a third similarity. It is stated in the book that its not hard to find the heart of Norway, or the spirit of Mozambique, yet America is constantly seraching for an identity. Aren't we too? We are a relatively new country. Have we possibly modernised too fast, such that we've forgotten about what Singapore really is? Not on a surface level, anyoe can tell you we're a metropolitan city-state, but on a cultural level.

There is, of course, a war in the story. A big one. And one usually expects the fight to be the climax. I did, and believe me if you constantly read "The storm is coming" over and over again, you would expect that war to be the climax too. But it was Shadow's self-actualisation that was the real climax. Something that happened when he was hanging from a tree and the events that took place immediately after (shan't spoil too much...). Throughout the story, Shadow is plagued by his past, his troubled childhood, three years in prison, so on and so forth. But then he is offered to sell away his old name. His true name, in exchange for the truth. He takes that deal and after some shocking revelations (read the book to find out more...), finally puts his past behind him, as he put his name behind him forever. At this point of the story, the atmosphere is subdued and mysterious, yet it is clear it is the climax, for the battle over oneself has been finally won.

It is interesting to note that Gaiman himself is a British immigrant, which is most likely is inspiration for writing the book. The book is about finding America and what it really is. As such, a large part of the book's plot takes plce on a road trip. Shadow travels to the many diverse cities of America, all which have their unique cultures and is amazed by the difference between each city. It seems then, that the book is aimed at Americans, not just newcomers but even those who have lived there all their lives. America is a huge country. It is probably a fact that no single American knows everything about it. And the book wants them to reliase this fact and that there a multitude different cultures out there, you don't need to travel the world, just look in your own backyard.

Just like how most of its events happen on a road trip, American Gods is exactly like one. Having its fair share of twists and turns, this fantasy is an instant classic (yeah, I know how cliched a closing this is).

Questions addressed:

20. What lesson did you learn from this story? (Application)
26. If your story happened in a foreign land, compare that land to Singapore. (Analysis)
48. The climax of any book or story is the exciting or interesting part. Tell what you think is the climax of the story and why? (Synthesis)
51. Who do you think the author intended to read this book and why? (Evaluation)

Philosophy 2: Rulers of the 21st Century

2009-06-07T03:52:00.001-07:00

Q: Do we control technology or does technology control us?

We've come a long way since the 21st century. We've invented things that we've never possibly imagined just a few decades ago. Computers, video games, high-tech mobile phones and the like of it. They've become a vital part of our life. The digital industry is huge. A good measure of this is the fact that many of the richest men on the planet earned their wealth through it. It's worth billions of dollars, almost worth as much as the food and beverage industry. They've become basic needs. Just look at the streets. Any street. You'll see youngsters blasting music on their iPods, people rapidly texting SMSes and businessmen engrossed in whatever they're looking on their laptops in some cafe with wireless connection. We can't survive without technology.

And these people, although possessing different devices, all have one thing in common: they're in their own little world. Not paying attention to their surroundings.

It's true that technology has such an effect on us. For example, whenever we switch beloved the computers on, it immediately sucks us into a totally different world. The cyber-world. A world huger than ours, containing even more webpages than the total number of the world's cities. It took just decades for the World Wide Web to grow as massive as our planet, which took billions of years. Yet it's much faster to travel in this world. It just takes a simple click. We don't need to visit the library, browse through loads of books before we finally find what we really need but just enter a search query on one of the many search engines out there. That's what sucks us in. We can do whatever we want, search for whatever we need, be whoever we want to be. And for many people, we don't only use technology for its helpful functions, but to escape reality and all the stress that comes along with it.

And we worship technology. There's always talk about how amazing a new product is. Talk about its outta-this-world functions. Then there's talk about how many Facebook friends one has. Talk about the latest MMORPG coming out. talk about how HD is so clear. Talk about Youtube's newest videos. We think it's great. We depend so much on them. And we offer our sacrifices to them. Millions of lives sacrificed to speeding vehicles, infinite amounts of time spent online and watching television. Technology's the god and the religion of the 21st century. Isn't that the truth? We might have created technology, invented the devices but ultimately, at the end of the day, they rule us.

Philosophy 1: Back to Basics

2009-06-02T01:52:00.000-07:00

Q: What is the right way to live?

In today's society, the "right" way to live, though it is never explicitly stated, is a modern life. A life centered around nifty gadgets and cold, hard cash. This conclusion has arisen from the Western way of life. Of course, it modernisation benefits the economy and overall living conditions of nations, yet what is the Western world to make such a judgement and impose its views on other regions? Are they really right?

Let's also look at today's societal problems. A large number of them involve greed, selfishness, vanity and such other vices. Vices which have evolved and become prominent as the result of modernisation. In today's society, emphasis is all on looks, wealth and possessions. Emphasis on the more material things in life. Emphasis on the wrong things.

So assuming that this is what's keeping us from living the right way, how do we solve the problem?

In my opinion, take away all the luxuries that we enjoy right now and leave only the basic needs. It might seem harsh, but didn’t our ancestors start from nothing? Didn’t they manage to survive?

Imagine such a world. One without money, where people get food by growing them, which in turn leads to a pollution-free and more importantly, greed-free world. One without materialistic idols or violent video games, where entertainment is sought by observing the environment, uncovering hidden beauty, exploring the land. And since we don’t know of any other ways to live, won’t we be content?

Then again that could be a flawed idea, too utopian in nature to achieve. They are still some people who will commit crimes. What about getting even more basic then? For every single individual to be isolated in small rooms where only the basic things for survival are given to them. Where nobody knows that there is something out there, other people out there? Again, because we do not know, because we will be ignorant, won’t we be content too?

They say ignorance is bliss, so is ignorance also the right way to live? Think about it, doesn’t knowledge corrupt? It doesn’t if it evolves to wisdom, but sadly ingrained deeply in human beings, is an inability to do so.

Term Two Grades

2009-05-29T07:31:00.000-07:00

How coincidental this coincides (...) with the earlier blog prompt which I have more or less forgotten to complete... Well anyway I'll cut straight to the point. Enjoy...

Language Arts - A1 (78) OMG YES! I didn't fail Lit!
Higher Chinese - A2 (72) Good enough an improvement.
Integrated Mathematics - A2 (72) First test - 30/40, second test - 28(...)/30
Integrated Humanities - A2 (71) Geog - 21.5/30 History - 14/20 (both missed A1 by one measly mark...)
Lower Secondary Science - A2 (73) Test - 25.5/35 (ARGH!)
InfoComm Studies - A1 (85) <3

So basically, I improved on the subjects I needed to improve on and those that I had gotten A1 for last term I ended up receiving an A2 due to one mark. In four subjects. ONE MARK. I hate myself.

That brings my MSG to 1.67. No change at all... Stagnant.

Guess what? The average for 1I3 for Term 2 is 1.53. And I topped the class (which by the way, is not a great achievement to boast about, it's 1I1 after all), so what does this mean? More teachers asking us to look up to 1I3 s role models. Curse you Darrel and your perfect MSG of 1.

So back to the blog prompt. Plans? For Term 3, I'm aiming for a 1.33 (hopefully I'll achieve it, high chance I won't). Plus, I need to speak like siao during Science lessons and complete extra Chinese ACE if I want to live.

I so want to jump.

Nevermind. You read nothing.

My First Semester

2009-05-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Q: Write about your first semester as a secondary school student.

It's been tiring. Gruelling. Unfamiliar. Overwhelming.

Yet it's been interesting. Fun. Exciting. Fresh.

It's been different.

Different from all the other years of my life. Incredibly different.

I find it amazing, amazing how that in the short span of a few months, how life has changed so drastically. How primary school is such a big leap away from secondary school. How much I had to adapt myself to fit the new system. The first semester has been in essence, a roller coaster. full of its ups and downs. Its highs and its lows...

So naturally for the overtly pessimistic person I am, I'll start with the bad. The negative. The ugly (yes I'm fluffing, it's a handy procrastinating technique...). And naturally for any normal Singaporean teenager, let's start with homework. The lovely stacks and piles of homework. Yes, not only do we have more homework, but also harder homework. Homework that actually requires the person completing it to think. A lot. And when every single piece of it is graded, one must constantly do his "best".

Then there's an issue of time. We arrive back home hours later than we did the last few years thanks to our CCAs. And we don't have the luxury of simply taking five minutes to walk back to your HDB flat. And when we come home later and yet have more homework, it's not very pretty.

And my class.

Can't say I adore every single one of my classmates. Especially when there are people disrupting the lesson every single minute (and not amusingly, like in 6K '08). And when virtually every single teacher who teaches us detests our guts. Need I say more?

Now the pro's. Secondary school gives us freedom. Much more freedom. I like that. I like freedom. How we can stay in the classroom during recess. How we can choose our own assignments. How we can choose to participate in our desired sabbaticals.

And CCA. I love it. I don't care that it makes me stay at school seriously late. 'Cos I get what I like to do and hang out with the people I want to hang out with. Debate's a small CCA. And that's why it rocks, 'cos every one of the twenty-two of us are so, so close.

The lessons aren't bad either. That is, the stuff that we learn.

Will be writing about my plans later...

Blog Prompt Six: Net-Net-Working

2009-05-16T22:05:00.001-07:00

Q: Write a short story about how a teenager goes missing a few months after joining a social networking site.

(Wait... what? Okay that's just stupid... let me modify it...)

Q: Write a short story about how a teenager becomes heavily addicted to a social networking site and how it affects his/her life.

(Much better, on to the blog prompt...)

She grabbed the laptop and dashed into the room, swiftly closing the door behind her. She jumped onto the queen-sized bed and switched the device on. She fingered with her hair impatiently as she waited for it to load. It may have just took a minute or two, but to her it seemed like ages. When it finally did, she quickly clicked the iconic blue 'e' at the corner of ther monitor, went to the "Favourites" tab and scrolled down to the bottom.

Click.

Her eyes lit up as the familiar home page of her favourite social networking site loaded. She logged in immediately. A box suddenly sprung up at the bottom of the page. "You have t#wenty-two new friend requests!" it read. She added all of them without any further considerations. It did not bother her that they were all complete strangers. All she cared about was to expand her ever-growing list of "friends".

Click.

She went to her profile page next. Before doing anything else, she gazed at the monitor dreamily and admired it, a representation of her hard work. All those months of building up an online persona paid off. It constantly attracted new friends, new opportunities to meet new people. It did not bother her that her profile listed that her favourite food was sushi (she detested it, but it was one of the foods that had the most fans) or that it stated that she was a number one fan of Jimmy Eats World (she had never listened to any of their songs, but it allowed her to gain 243 new friends in the short span of three days). She did not care that her display picture was the image of a model who she had found using Google or that her profile displayed her age as 19, a whole five years away from her current age. All that mattered was that it could allow her to gain more friends.

Click.

She went to her friends page next. A list of hundreds of people who came from different nations and backgrounds. She couldn't help but chuckle. Only a few months ago she was a nobody. She was part of the unpopular clique at school. Her group of friends consisted of misfits, klutzes and weirdos. They were close though. She smiled at the memory of sharing her food with her friends every recess. But that was different now. She spent her recesses at the computer lab now. She grew distant, grew apart from them. But it did not matter. She had so many friends now. Sacrifices had to be made.

Click.

And of course, her grades suffered from spending too much time on the computer. Once she was a straight-A student, now her report card was made up of C's and D's. But that did not matter either. Sacrifices had to be made.

Click.

She grew distant from her family too. Refused to attend family outings, gave homework as an excuse.

Click.

And sometimes, she didn't even eat, didn't even bathe. Her top priority was building up her online persona.

Click.

And on some days, when she looked at the mirror, she would stare at her reflection disbelievingly, not recognising herself. She would look tired, worn out, deprived of any energy, from hours of staring at the computer screen and the lack of sleep, a far cry from the bouncy and goofy person she once used to be.

Click.

But that did not matter either. After all, sacrifices had to be made.

Click. Click. Click.

Take This, Twilight!

2009-05-02T23:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm blogging after two weeks of inactivity, and why?

HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

Yep, a new trailer was released, and it rocks. It rocks so, so good that I've forgotten about failing my Lit (darn time limit!).

And the things I love about it...

The opening scene (stormy seas + creepy-esque music)
The clouds ominously lighting up.
The prevalent lack of colour!
Images of Voldermort flashing one by one and the fire. Gotta love the fire.
Ginny actually having at least one line in this movie. o.O
"These girls, they're going to kill me Harry!" xD
"Voldemort has chosen Draco Malfoy for this mission." Finally, he gets to act like his age.
The dementor face in the clouds. <3
The spirals of darkness (woohoo!) invading London and killing all the Muggles one by one. <3<3<3
Young Tom Riddle glaring at Dumbledore then vanishing into the shadows.
Katie Bell rising up into the air and wailing like a banshee (although she looks like she's opening her mouth to rinse it after brushing her teeth o.O)
The Inferi clambering out of the lake, prepared to drag the two into their watery graves.
Harry's and Malfoy's duel.
Fire + Darkness = Awesome Scene
The bridge collapsing and the Muggles screaming in utter fear.
Bellatrix's demented laughter.
Malfoy's angsty mirror scene.
Dumbledore controlling the inferno.
More dementors!!!
"Fight back, you coward! Fight back!"
REMIXED THEME SONG! Yes, it sounds more epic, more war-like and darker.

Sigh... if only the Harry Potter series was real.

Redefining Talent

2009-04-22T06:25:00.000-07:00

In this world we live in today, celebrities are glorified. Everybody wants to be like them, rich, famous, good-looking and apparently, talented. But how much an extent is talent that important in distinguishing celebrities from normal people, compared to wealth and looks that have come to define society's pop culture today?

Take Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Chris Brown, for example. All are famous for their looks and their supposed abilities - great voice, good acting skills, so on and so forth. Yet how much of it is really true? Do people just think they have talent for the very fact that they are famous and good-looking? And many of these talent scouts and agents, do they recruit people based on talent or do they recruit them based on looks? Modelling is a whole industry that relies on looks. Models usually just have to be skinny and attractive to succeed in their career.

Yet it's funny. Funny how they can earn so much more than a blue-collared worker or even a professional. Funny how these so-called ordinary people need to right skills and a whole lot of hard work to make a living many times smaller than a person who works in the entertainment industry. And yet that person actually contributes to the society even more. A construction worker risks his life to build the very buildings that these models and actors work in. And these people, what do they do? Provide us with entertainment?

Yes, one may argue that entertainment is actually a need and not a want. But do we really need all the glamour and glitz of today's entertainment industry? In the past, when there a red carpet or a runway ceased to exist, the people still managed to keep themselves entertained. There were entertainers back then too of course, but they argubly relied much more on skill and talent.

And take Susan Boyle's example. When she came on to stage, looking all unglamorous, the audience laughed. They ridiculed her, thought she was a joke. But she had the last laugh, showed them a display of raw talent. Everyone was amazed despite the low expectations. And everyone in this world, including you and me wonders how someone like her could be so talented. We are all guilty of thinking that someone with good looks would perform better, proving how much looks comes into play insteda of talent.

At the end of the day, looks don't count for anything. They're going to wear away eventually. But talent never wears away. And that's why it counts more.

Still in the Running

2009-04-19T00:24:00.001-07:00

So yesterday was the Scrabble competition. 13-2, spread of 2000+, still in the running to break into the finals. How did that happen, I have no idea.

Assembled at the open-air carpark, and shared fries and chicken cutlets, yes, the plural form, with my team. Arrived at Woodgrove, called Dommy, saw Austin, gawked at the freebies. Hokkaido chocolates! Woodgrove is definitely not a cheap school...

Heh, I won the first round by four points! It was epic really. The guy made a fatal mistake, he could've won. He panicked, 'cos there was like a few seconds before the flag on his clock dropped. We won 3-2 with a negative spread. Right... that's a good start. Only consolation was that the opposing team was made up of Sec 3's and 4's.

For the second round, we were against CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls. Jian Shun was so angry at the previous round that he played all his moves in seconds. The minute hand on his clock quite literally, did not move. Heh, his opponent was desperate. I played a phony bingo in my second round (BEGLOVED, what, doesn't it sound like a real word?). Won this one 5-0.

Was up against Clementi Woods for the final Prelims round. Another bingo (MATCHED) but I had to play a phony word to play it (FOREE). I pronounced it as 'FOREI' so my opponent bought it, thinking it was some word of French etymology. So cool... Won the last round 5-0.

So I'm not sure whether we'll break into the finals, but if we do, then we'll meet RI, RGS, SJI, NUS (*coughjoellimcough*) and all those other premier schools. Speaking of that, did you read today's overly unintelligible article in The Sunday Times? Shy and hardworking, whatever... And most of us are thin! And have better-looking glasses! Don't understand? Then read the news! Right... so our goal if we break into the finals is to come first for the last division. 'Cos we're not as awesomely fantastic as Li Ki's team's 15-0 and 4000+ spread.

So anyway, I achieved a 'Gold' for NAPFA, 26/30. Partly because I count as a twelve year old. Argh, I hate 2.4 though. 1.6 is like a piece of cake compared to it. I always die during the last two rounds. Scored my only C because of it. -_-

And yes, I got a new blogskin... again. Isn't it awesomely creepy?

Blog Prompt Five: National Observatory

2009-04-12T04:07:00.002-07:00

Q: Imagine a chaotic scene of the aftermath of a natural disaster. How would it be like? In what ways could a natural disaster affect a country and its citizens? Describe such an imaginary scenario. You can be as creative as possible on the possible impact.

Scrutinising the ground, she walked cautiously across the dusty road. Then she saw something odd sticking out of the ground. Her eyes widened. Was it, could it be? She surveyed her surroundings before approaching the object. She bent down and grabbed it. She gasped. She was right, it was a potato.

She stood there for a moment, stunned. Then she ran, sprinted as fast as she could to the tiny hovel down the street.

She imagined how happy and proud her father would be. Imagined the gleam of delight he would have in his eyes. Then he would cut it into three equal pieces. One for himself, one for her and one for her mother.

Her mother - her poor, sick mother. Like many others, her mother had caught a disease after the Disaster. What disease she did not know. She was too young to comprehend. But she knew that thousands of survivors in the ruined city were suffering from it. And hundreds more caught it each day. Living conditions were bad, there wasn't even any proper sanitation. The drains were flooded with sewage. This made it easy for bacteria to spread. Yes, the Disaster brought pestilence.

Her eyes watered at the thought of her mother's low chance of survival. But then she remembered the glorious treasure she held in her hand. Yes, her father would cut it up for each of them to share. She imagined sinking her teeth into the soft vegetable. Chewing it, savouring it wonderful taste. Her mouth watered with saliva. She had not eaten for days.

The Disaster had destroyed the country's crops. Nothing could survive in the intense cold. And of course trade routed had been cut, so nothing could be imported from other nations. It was a problem that plagued many. People had to eat roots just to survive. Only the luckiest could manage to spot real food, something that had run out ages ago. Yes, the Disaster brought famine.

And she was one of them, the lucky ones. Thank God for blessing her with this potato! She could not ask for anything better. But she had to be careful, and on the look out. The hunger had driven the people to desperation. People fought for even the tiniest of crumbs. Thieves, gangs, bandits, they all existed. It wasn't money they were looking for - no, that was useless now. Money was nothing but kindle to start fire with. Any many people died as a result of riots for food. The streets were littered with dead bodies. She held her potato even tighter. Yes, the Disaster brought war.

Suddenly she felt as if she was being watched. She turned and stopped right in her tracks. A whole mob of people had been following her and she had not noticed. She ran faster and faster, only to meet another group of people down the alley. She was cornered.

"No, I found it! It's mine!" she yelled at the top of the voice. But the people did not care, they were savages. They were close now, very close.

"No, please!" she pleaded weakly, but in vain. They began grabbing her coat. She tried to fight back, but was easily outnumbered. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she realised they she had no other choice. She threw the potato.

It splattered onto the ground. There was mad dash. The crowd scrambled to the mess on the floor. There was pushing, shovelling, kicking. It was not a pretty sight. And all just to get a cold, hard potato. Blood spilled, shrieks were heard. A frail, old lady dropped to the ground. But nobody stopped to help her. She was trampled on, killed instantly. Yes, the Disaster brought death. Death, death and more death.

She ran and ran and ran aimlessly until her legs tired out and she could not run anymore. Then she wept. Wept for her sick mother. Wept for her family. Wept for that old lady. Wept for why things had to be this way.

She did not understand why there was the Disaster, but remembered very vaguely what her father had whispered to her once.

"It is our fault, dear Emma. It might have been forces of nature which destroyed the once glorious city of Paris, but it is our fault that the world is in such a state of disrepair."

Colourful Monotony

2009-04-08T04:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, the title of this post is ironic, but fitting. There's nothing much to talk about, but life's been messy.

So for Founder's Day, some of us went back to TNS. We saw Ms Leong this time, couldn't recognise her with that brand new haircut O.0.

Heck, we (Bao, Shan Wei, Darrel and myself) had to miss the JG semi-finals to watch 'Tan Kah Kee - The Epic Drama'. We left after two speeches, then rushed to Victoria Theatre. Good news though, HCI broke to the next round! We beat MGS 4-1, something we found out when the show was starting. Heh, bad timing... Anyway, we're up against RI (surprise, surprise) for the finals. Will be our Sec 4 seniors last secondary school debate. So, as Kah How describes it, it's 'judgement day'. They've won two out of two of the other competitions this year. Let's continue our winning streak, jiayou!

What else to blog? I dunno...

Eh, tomorrow's Project's Day, so it's half-day. Hope we pass. I also hope my new glasses pass. Yes, tomorrow is my very own personal judgement day.

So during the weekend I'll post two/three blog prompts, a long overdue commentary and er... life? Well, whaddya expect, it's a blog for ACE...

A Single Act of Bravery

2009-03-31T06:17:00.000-07:00

Q: Write a 300-word report on one great leader in history. Include what are the plus points of the leader that you admire, the minus points of the leaders (they are humans, after all) and the reasons why you think he/she is interesting.

He stood there in slacks and a white shirt, carrying what seemed to be his groceries. On June 5, 1989, an unidentified young man stood before a column of tanks near Tiananmen Square located in Beijing, China. Christened "The Unknown Rebel", his single act of bravery took the world by storm.

It was the time of a modern revolution, when the people, blue-collared workers, teachers, students, soldiers began to fight back and occupied Tiananmen Square. The government fought back hard. They killed hundreds mercilessly in a bloody massacre. And when the streets were empty, that rebel, that nobody was suddenly the man of the hour.

His bravery amazes me. He did not just protest against a column of tanks, but the Chinese government itself. He challenged them, he questioned them. "Why are you here? My city is in chaos because of you," he says to the driver. It's no great speech, like the ones delivered by Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr, but yet that very single, short sentence is a representation of the people's suffering. This one young man has alone taken the burdens of millions of people. He is one against hundreds of his country's leaders and officials. Yet he represents millions of people suffering and struggling. It resembles a piece of symbolic literature, an allegory, a real-life allegory.

Yes, his only flaw is that he didn't have a speech to convice the people. Technically, he didn;t even lead the people. But actions, they say, speak louder than words. And it is precisely because of his courageous actions that he became a hero overnight, a hope for China. Yet nobody knew his name. And he departed from the limelight as soon as he came into it. But he will always be remembered. Remembered for that single act for courage. A single act that meant so much...

Source of Information: http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/rebel.html

No Such Thing As Perfect

2009-03-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

Since the dawn of time, humans have strived to achieve perfection - and nothing short of it.

They have dreamed of living in a idyllic world. I don't blame them. Who wouldn't? A world not plagued by the horrors which have been released by Pandora. The horrors that plague our very daily lives. But imagine living in a world without the Seven Deadly Sins, without Original Sin, without the very concept of Evil. A world where there's no such thing as bad, or not-so-good, or fair, or even good. Everything is perfect. Untainted. An apple which no one has even bitten into.

But we never did find utopia, no matter how hard we tried. Man dreamt, wrote, pondered and even planned perfection. It was always managed to evade us. But why?

The saying goes, "Nothing is perfect", which by the way, everybody never fails to use as an excuse once in a while. It's true, of course. Nothing is one-sided. Nothing is one wholly positive or wholly negative, no matter how pleasant or terrible it may seem. For example, pride. It is the downfall of many, who have thought themselves so great that they underestimate everything else, only to fail, and fail badly. Yet pride is motivation too. We work harder because we want to achieve results, results that can get us recognised. Scientists all work harder in hopes that their names will go down in history forever. And even the greatest of problems can yield a good outcome eventually. The economic crisis is devastating the world. But when it ends, you'll be sure that there will be new measures taken and the economy will end up even stronger than before, even if it takes ten to twenty years.

So what will happen to mankind without obstacles? We will have no motivation to work harder. No goals, no dreams, we'll never improve. A citizen living in utopia may be book smart, but he'll never be able to put his brains to good use. We'll have everything provided for us. The result? We'll all be spoiled brats.

And even if we do achieve something that seems perfect, it never is. There will always be something wrong with it. 99.99% good still doesn't mean that it its perfect. There will always be a tiny flaw, lurking. And if we think that we've achieve prefection and that tiny flaw grows into a big one, we'll fall even harder.

In addition, nobody has the foresight to predict the future one hundered percent accurately. Even after we've solved let's say, natural disasters (although that's probably never gonna happen), what about asteroids that could crash into Earth any moment? My point is that we are never going to control everything. We are mortal. We simply can't. We are never meant to play God. It is against the course of nature.

It is these reasons why utopia can simply never be. The idea itself is imperfect. Utopia is not perfection, it is imperfection. Ever since Adam & Eve were banished for the Garden of Eden, the world has been flawed. And no matter how perfect that garden was, if we were to live in it, we would have no knowledge about the outside world at all. But maybe it isn't imperfect, maybe ignorance is the only way to achieve perfection.

Wits & Words

2009-03-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

Six days without blogging... yeah I know my blog's very active, there's no need to remind me. So... what's been interesting these past few days? Er... I attended another CIP event on Monday (spam!), we cleaned up the Dialysis Centre.

Then on Tuesday, ten hours of CIP, muahahahaha! And it was at school, and part of debate. HCI held a primary school debate competition. No, TNS didn't even take part... uber disappointing. So anyway I was an usher for the first few hours and a chairman for the two rounds of debate, i.e. the guy who explains the rules, times the speeches, etc. And instead of those cool metallic bells, we were given some buzzers. I was kinda confused on how to use one 'cos I had never seen one of those ungainly contraptions ever in my life before. So, when I was demonstrating the *ahem* 'ringing' sound, the thing kept buzzing and buzzing after I pressed the button and I was completely clueless on how to stop the darn thing. Everybody was staring at me wide-eyed. Then I realised I just needed to press the button again. Heh...

Listening to the debates was... interesting. And it brought back lots of good and hilarious memories that urged me to join Debates in the first place. But I also realised how different primary school style is from secondary school style. Shall not elaborate, since there's a great use of terminologies. But moving on, it made me realise the huge gap between Primary 6 and Secondary 1 in the short time span of one and a half months. Remember the 'culture shock' you got when you entered secondary school?

Okay anyway, there was a relatively long break in the middle. Quite literally we were slacking and earning CIP hours at the same time. You just gotta love the system. Then I hosted again. Thankfully I knew how to operate that infernal thingamajig that time.

That's it, I guess. Gained over 10 CIP hours, surpassing the requirement!

Can You Tutor My Son?

2009-03-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

Back from camp, not gonna blog about it. It was... uneventful. We didn't do any crazy stuff, not even sliding into the darn 'Milo Pool'. It was raining. -_- On the other hand, I found out that Shan Wei can tell some awesome bedtime stories.

So anyway Hwa Chong lost the third round of the JGs... to MGS (who also beat RI, by the way). But we still broke to the Semi-Finals, in last place. xD And it's official, my MSG (not to be confused with MGS) is 1.67. I got two 74s. Two! I mean one is infuriating enough... but two!?

Moving on, all Sec 1 iSparkians had to attend a CIP event this morning. It was kinda fun, considering all the priceless quotes and moments.

We were supposed to go around HDB apartments to collect newspapers from the residents and hand out flyers. I was grouped with Bao, Zheng Jie, Xin Jie and Leon, whom I shall now refer to collectively as the Nanyang Boys, and two Sec 4 seniors from ProEd. So anyway, the start was already quite amusing, with adorable yet ferocious little dogs guarding practically every apartment in the block, and me being freaked out by a large realistic grinning buddha statue in one of the apartments. No, I am not being religion-ist, it was just so... real. And wide grins freak me out.

Eh... now what? Cool, my dad just won second place in 4-D. Random.

Err... okay, so when the truck picking up the newspapers arrived, the driver offered us a guitar. A broken one. And Zheng Jie took it and hid it. Then we played Pepsi-Cola with Bao. Y'know, the game which you used to play in primary school where you step on people's feet. Yeah, that one. Then we went to another block, saw some NJC student's homework, more 'automated' guard dogs. Seriously, it's like we just walk past the door then the barking goes on and on and on, even if the door's closed. And there were vicious chihuahuas. Ah... here comes the oddly funny part.

At one apartment, the guy who answered the door saw us and asked us the school we studied in. We promptly told him. "Hwa Chong Primary, arh?" T.T Then after some confusion, "Orh... Sec 1 issit? But you look like Primary 1!" He was referring to me. T.T 1.58m is not that short... Continuing, "What about you?" he questioned, referring to the senior. "Primary Four, Hwa Chong Primary!" xD Then he started to ask each and every one of us for our PSLE T-Scores. "Wah, all so smart! Can tutor my son? He this year taking PSLE! Very stress!" T.T "Erm... actually, we're supposed to collect newspapers." "You tutor first, then I give you? Come back at 11.30 am!" T.T

Besides that, there was nothing much except for a guy who had a newspaper stack that almost reached the ceiling. When we asked if he had any newspapers to donate, this was his response, "NO! Don't have!" Diaoz... And we actually finished one and a half hours earlier than expected. I guess CIP can be fun after all.

Simplicity

2009-03-10T06:01:00.001-07:00

Before I continue, just want to let people out there know I'm going for camp, so I won't be posting for three days. See, I provided a valid excuse this time! Moving on, I wanted to post some long overdue blog prompts, but decided against it. Is it me or are the topics getting less interesting and more general? Instead I'm just going to make observations. Lots of them. Like Benny's blog. Anyway thanks guys for your intelligent comments, maybe I shouldn't reinstall by Cbox after all. Yeah, I got a new blogskin. The old one was too hard to navigate and the font was hard to see.

Anyway, coincidentally enough, this blogskin relates to my observation. You might be wondering why I chose this particular one. Basically, it's simple. They aren't a lot of pics, just one background displaying splattered paint. Yet the effect is great. When I was searching for a new blogskin, it stood out. Not just because of the fact that it was aesthetically pleasing, but it was different. It wasn't overly flashy, wasn't trying to impress anyone. Just stood there sulking on my computer screen. Yet it was bold. It had something that all the other skins didn't have --- character.

I've always appreciated everything abstract, simply for the fact they have no meaning. Unlike all other paintings in an art museum, abstract paintings or sculptures are undefined. Everyone can intepret it in their own way, no one's is the same.

It's amazing. How just one simple picture without any meaning can... mean so many things. How it can illustrate so many ideas. How it can have such a great impact. Goes to show you that complicated things aren't always the best. You can build a sculpture with thousands of carvings and shiny trinkets, then paint it in a dozen different shades of a dozen colours. Yet another sculpture of a white block falling off a black one will mean so much more. And it will intrigue more people. The first sculpture may be beautiful, but the second one illustrates an idea. Racial disharmony, conflict in society, battle between good and evil, the inherent monster in all of us?

Simplicity.

They say a picture paints a thousand words. I say an abstract picture paints a million.

How will you intepret this image?

Mob Mentality

2009-03-09T05:29:00.002-07:00

We're doing The Lottery for LA now. Nice story, don't know why it had to be banned. Maybe people just can't accept the fact that the human heart is inherently cruel and that we all have the ability to be very, very, very, very gullible. It's amazing how our perceptions and opinions of certain issues can be drastically changed after a simple sentence. That's not an exaggeration. All it takes is a quote, no matter how simple, from a person whose occupation is 'scientist' or 'doctor' or has some sort of authority to change most minds. There's the sceptics and the critics, of course, but they live sad, sad lives.

Maybe its because we grew up learning to listen to figures of authority. Remember how you used to think that your parents and preschool teachers were omnipotent and knew everything that was to know? We were not trained to analyse and infer the consequences of 'not washing your hands before you eat' or 'not drinking your water' but instead had to listen over and over and over and over again to our parents' nagging. We did not have the knowledge to tell them that washing your hands (even with soap) doesn't get rid of every single tiny microbe on your hand or that drinking too much water can eventually drown you.

Then there's peer pressure. Self-explanatory. We all want to fit in. Humans are a social species. We yearn for companionship. Without it, we are lifeless ragdolls. That's why few want to speak up and be different. They're all scared of rejection. No matter how many times we are told that we should be ourselves, to be unique and different, nobody really listens. Conformity is the norm (yeah, blatant...) and being different is... different. That's the case is today's society. A society where majority ultimately rules all.

There are many morals to this story. Actually only one that can be phrased a hundred different ways... So here's my take, being rebellious and stubborn can actually be a good thing. Maybe the critics are right after all...

Goodbye 1.17

2009-03-08T04:57:00.000-07:00

Great... I just logged in to the ISP. The marks haven't been keyed in but I went to the examinations schedule section and saw that I could calculate my marks of Term 1.

Chinese... B3 [68%] -_- (Test 1 - 40% -_- When I saw that, I was like... there goes my A2...
Situational Writing - 5% each
Composition - 17.5% each
Comprehension Exercise - 7.5% *dies*
Subject Verb Object Exercise - 7.5%)

IH... A1 [80%] I love the fact that History is only 50% of the whole thing. :P

IM (Integrated Mathematics)... A1 [81%] Tests are worth 50% each.

IS... A1? A2? I remembered that the marks for my test (which is 100%) was 24 as displayed on the screen, but the percentage was 74%. ARGH, can't afford another MSG mark!

LSS... A1 [79%] Test is 100%.

LA... I'm going to kill myself (please do not take that literally).
The situation writing test is only 60%... [50%]
The comprehension exercise (The Tramp) is 15%... [9%, *dies*]
The Flowers for Algernon assignment is 10%... [dunno yet]
The conventional/start with climax exercise is 15% [dunno yet]
Which means my current score is 59/75, *di- puts down virtual penknife* Hey wait, that's still an A1. *throws away virtual penknife*

Okay, so my MSG will either be 1.33 (A1 LA & IS) or 1.67 (A2 LA & IS) or 1.5 (A2 LA & A1 IS)...
I should be happy since I expected a MSG of 2, but 1.17 and 1.67 is 0.5 MSG points apart. Blame my optimism... now you know why I'm so cynical all the time.

That reminds me... VISIT! http://kevan.org/nohari?view=Gerald%20C.

Bittersweet

2009-03-02T04:35:00.000-08:00

Life is like a piece of dark chocolate. Like the mocha-flavoured truffle I'm currently savouring. It's never the same. Bitter at times, and sweet at others. It's never straightfoward, a complex mix of happiness, sorrow, fear, panic, anger, envy and all the other many ingredients that make it up.

Well, that's a random analogy. But how it applies to all of us...

Anyway, DEBATE ROCKS! I love my CCA, I really do. Whoever thinks that its plain boring is so, so wrong. On Friday, we took a bus to CHIJ St. Josephs Covent for Round 2/6 of the JGs. One and a half hours, standing up, a real bumpy ride and listening to some funky duck song from Shan Wei's iPod, don' t you think they're perfect sleeping conditions? Amazingly, I did. I was half-asleep about two thirds of the ride. Motion was THBT ASEAN has failed, HCI won 2-1. And RI lost to Methodist Girls School. *evil grin*

The next day most of the Sec 1 and 2's went back to school for sparring. Our motion was THB in coeducation. Kah How, the one and only judge that day, said that our cases were all really weird. I spoke about the forbidden fruit effect, Bao spoke about the world being a dark box if there was an absence of either one of the genders (Eddy Avery...) and Shan Wei had an awesome tagline for his speech, "Boys can wear bras!" Wow, how that's weird? Sec 2's had an awesomely funny debate which motion I cannot write here or I'll surely die. Ask me in school. The only funny detail which I can reveal to you which is family-friendly (barely) is that one of the POIs started as "Bull$^!#, sir!" instead of the typical "Point, sir." We Hwachongians are so creative.

Results...
I've never felt this way about results before since Primary 1. I can't freakin' believe it really. Science - 27.5/35 (Near borderline A1), I honestly thought I was going to fail! I even wrote in my Chinese situation writing that I scored a B4! Second Math test - 35/40 (2nd in class, tied with Nigel & Adriel). No way, man. My Math used to suck so much in P4-5... Language Arts situational writing - 25/30 (Or 24, Ms Soh, why did you write 24 on the pink sheet of paper?) Ok this one I don't really want to comment on, 'cos it makes me seem so arrogant and complacent. So I shan't. Bet you though I was going to brag about it all over my blog, huh Benny?

Next on the list, History. The one that makes me really mad... I was absent on the day everybody took the History test, so I had to take a make-up one (completely different paper). So I saw my marks. 17/20 and I jumped for joy (in my heart, I would probably attract a lot of unwanted attraction if I did it literally.) Then I saw a comment on the side. "Valid MC," so far so good, "capped at 69%". Epic bombshell. I looked at Mr Chua. He nodded. I felt like Adeline-ing at that point of time. You're telling me I got B3 after scoring 85%!? What type of school policy is this? And how ironic that this was directly after the whole principal's dialogue on Hwa Chong's lenient rules. But... when I was banging my head on the table, Mr Chua suddenly reminded the class that History & Geog were one subject on the report card. 90% + 69% / 2 = HA-HAH! (Borderline) A1! Thank you Malthus! But seriously, what kind of rule is this? Valid MC, valid mind you, capped at 69%. What if that person scores a 100 on the make-up test!? I'm still going to address this issue on the PSB.

Life is bittersweet...

Li Ki Loves Apple Pie

2009-02-25T05:16:00.000-08:00

Wow... I can't believe it. I've posted in three consecutive days, which brings my total to... 25. Well, 25 and one non-existant one that will appear when I feel like writing my blog prompts. Okay, today was ANGLES grand finals. iSpark won! First and second places went to us. Yi Han finished in third place, so that's still cool. Then I went to debate training, which was optional but definitely did not regret going. Li Feng, our coach actually baked us apple pie! Although I know that the image of about a dozen sweaty and tired teenaged boys grabbing pie crust and baked apples with their grubby fingers and then eating them and savouring every single bite while licking their fingers clean will put lots of people off, but it was freakin' delicious. And that was exactly a fifty-word sentence. Moving on, I found out our 36th High School President is rather gluttonous. Imagine Li Ki gobbling down a quarter of the crust (which by the way, rather ironically, we agreed was the best part of the pie, no offence Li Feng) and three slices of apples, if I'm not wrong, in one or two bites. later Woon Wei told me that Li Ki is at the top of the literal food chain.

Anyway, after the trial debate, which was before the whole apple pie thing, being the observant Sec 1's we are, spotted a rainbow. Shan Wei rushed out first, followed by the rest of us and Li Ki. Then the Sec 2's and the Sec 3's and the debaters from another school who came for practice. And we were like fussing over that rainbow (which was real clear) and snapping photos with our phones for ten minutes. And then we shouted to the college students below, "Look! Rainbow! Don't look at us! RAINBOW!" And I think we gave them the impression that we were mad.

In other news, I got 27/30 for Geog! Yes! I thought I would have gotten an A2! In your face Darrel! And I actually came in second in the class, along with Shan Wei. Zheng Jie you lucky devil... I should probably talk about my not-so-fantastic marks too like my first Math test (30/40, just scored A1 :P) and Chinese (70/100, just scored A2 -_-). But that's all so far, and I still have to worry about my History, LA, second Math test and... LSS, which I'm currently panicking over...

That's all, tomorrow I still have to complete Math numeral worksheet, blog prompts and Harry Potter characterisation thing...

P.E.E.

2009-02-24T01:57:00.000-08:00

Eh... no good articles on Yahoo. Well, that depends on your definition of good. Good = scandalous, then yes, many of those today. Moving on, I can't find a waffle counter... only stuff that's actually cool, helpful and logical. Anyway, cool that people are visiting my Nohari window already. My top vices are... cynical (YES!) and irrational (okay lah, if it equals to illogical). So visit and click on the words, essentially you're insulting me without getting totured/killed/punished (until the next day), so why not? Okay, anyway this post is supposed to be an educational analysis of my vices using P.E.E. (Point, Evidence, Elaboration) *cricket chirping* What? It's an LA ACE (let's call it LACE from now on) blog, isn't it? Read the disclaimer, it's there for a reason.

I am impatient.
At least that's what I used to answer all those reflection questions stating, "What are your weaknesses?" again and again and again. This is best shown when I throw a tantrum when my computer lags. Then a vicious cycle starts when I start to kick/punch/shout at it, it somehow magically restarts and my 7-page essay is erased forever. Reason for this: I NEED TO HAVE TIME.

I am intolerant.
People get on my nerves. Easily. Just ask most of my classmates last year, particularly Dommy. They'll tell you that I'm a ticking time bomb. But that's not the only definition. Some people make a very bad first impression to me. Their actions, what they talk about, heck, even their voices can irk me very easily. And although I don't mention it to anyway, I start to hate that person. If he's especially irritating, I won't even acknowledge him. Cold, maybe? That leads me to my next point.

I am aloof.
And this is completely contradictory to when I answer all those reflection questions, "What are your strengths?" (I put social and friendly.) As a result of my intolerance of many, I can be a very cold person. And I don't really try to make new friends sometimes. Especially in once-in-a-week group tuitions and classes. I don't see the point. Unless I feel they're cool or nice people. I just wait for them to start a conversation then answer whatever the guy wants to know. I don't smile much either in an unfamiliar place. But that greatly contradicts my next vice.

I am insecure.
I am always nervous, anxious and doubtful of what people think of me. Was that action uber lame, am I using the right tone of voice, right words, did I insult him, did he insult me, why the freakin' heck is that guy staring at me like that? This partly stems from the fact that I need to be accepted. Heck, call me Charlie Gordon (except that I'm not 37 and my IQ is higher than 68, no offence to the mentally challenged, and people who are 37). I doubt what my close friends think of me sometimes. I am easily paranoid.

I am cynical.
Maybe that'w why I'm insecure, 'cos my thoughts are usually negative. I'm not a very optimistic person. But I'm not emo either! I just think that the world is a dark, scary place and things will never improve. I've learnt that there is no such thing as paradise and that everybody could be lying or plotting something behind their backs. I've learnt not to trust even those close to me. Past experiences can be traumatic. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration but there's no better word. I strongly believe in "Ignorance is bliss". Oh, by the way, I think optimists are kinda creepy.

I am cruel.
Speaks for itself. Man's nature anyway. But my cruelty is a little different. I view it as a little of something like justice, or righteous retribution. Sort of like the death penalty, which by the way, I think, should not be abolished. I like to make people suffer if they've ever insulted or hurt me. It feels... good. I don't really believe in forgiveness but "A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye".

I just relalised I want to ask Ms Soh for a teacher nomination for the Councillor thing. Did I just blow my chances? Think about it this way, I can identify my flaws well, can't I?

This Is Why I Didn't Have A Blog In The Past

2009-02-23T05:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, homework is much more important than blogging! No time for some stuff... And I haven't even done my two new blog prompts... But I'm safe, since I already did four out of seven. Anyway Miss Soh should be checking all blogs by this weekend, which gives me about 4-5 days to edit all my posts so they sound logical and "educational", finish my blog prompts and write a review on whatever random news article I can find on Yahoo.

So anyway I ate a waffle today. Yay me, a second one. I'm thinking of getting a waffle count for my blog if I can find a gadget like that one. That reminds me, I don't know how to enable comments and have a decent blogskin at the same time... But I'm learning HTML coding next term so, maybe, yeah...

Can't believe it, Term 1 over so soon... But somehow, I don't think it's faster than last year (PSLE :P). Or maybe that's flawed thinking... I dunno, I'm sure most of you would disagree though. Scared of my marks... seriously, how long does it take for them to get released? Most of our tests were 2-3 weeks ago and we only got our FIRST math test and our Chinese test (still got A2... ha...) back. And another thing, why are our tests in Week 6-7? Shouldn't they be later... like now? Funny, funny system... At least there's no mid-years (do they have mid-years in RI? Huh, huh?).

Anyway, I'm debating (with myself) on whether to be a councillor or not. I know many of you out there expect it but I'm not so sure... I'm not like a super-powered hardworking mindfreak like Darrel (*coughcough*) or Yi Han. I've always liked to have time, time is nice, it means... okay that's technical but it's like having power and control. Yes, I'm a megalomaniac (EDIT: Okay, I swear I read it up somewhere that it was being obssessed with power and not wealth/ego... but let's just assume it is). By the way, other than that, I'm insecure, aloof, sadistic (let's go with... violent), intolerant (*coughphiltthewcough*), impatient and cynical. Nohari windows are cool... check mine out... http://kevan.org/nohari?name=Gerald+C. I'll put it under my links. Why can't all reflections be this simple and fun?

Okay, next time you check on my blog, this will be probably over a blog prompt which has magically appeared out of nowhere...

Hectic

2009-02-17T05:27:00.000-08:00

I think secondary school is starting to take its toll on a lot of people now, what with all the tests. I still have Science & Geog tomorrow, not to mention another Math test next week. But it's not like we have a choice, don't we? Things are just gonna get tougher and tougher until we retire and die. Caught a glimpse of a senior's... life. Easily ten times as busy/scary as our life is now. Admit it, it's a sad world. So, enjoy Sec 1 while it lasts...

Anyway, HCI defeated RI 7-0 in the NUS debate competition. Go seniors! And I finally attented my first normal session today. Didn't come on Friday and couldn't even make it on Saturday to see our team win... Yes, I get sick easily, with a history of pneumonia... Shan Wei and I went to the college section before training to buy his chocolatey drink. The cafe is awesome! But small. Still, it's real nice. At least that'll be something to look forward to four years down the road (but then again, we can go there anytime we want).

Flowers for Algernon ACE

2009-02-13T01:06:00.000-08:00

6. Linguistic:
Imagine you were Charlie Gordon and had the choice of running risk of becoming super smart for two years but ultimately going back to square one versus living your present life as it is, write a letter to one of the scientists explaining your decision. It should be no less than 400 words.

Dear Doctor Strauss,

Thank you for your kind offer but I thot about it and I dont want to become smart again. I can remember that the last time I was smart I become dumb again very fast and it made a lot of peple very sad. But dont pity me becos I am doing well in Warren Home. There are a lot of nice nurses and doctors who take care of me. They said wow Charlie youre a fast learner. I guess its true because I usualy spend my spare time reading the dictionary. See, my speling has improved by a little and I know more new words now like pity, spare and maze. I dont really understand what a maze is tho. Ive also learned how to use the comma again even tho Im not so good at it yet, and spent some time learning what tenses are. It is so… fasinating. Thats another word I learned from the dictionary. You see Doctor Strauss, I dont need to be smart to learn, I dont even need Miss Kinnian to teach me anymore. I can learn by myself as long as I work hard. I am… indeependen. Yeah, thats the word I think. I also tried to learn math. I know now what 3 x 3 is (its 9 by the way) although sometimes I forget but when that happens I can always look at the timetables that I hanged up on the wall. I also read books. Lots of them. I just finished Animal Farm yesterday. I dont really understand a lot of it but I know that it is about good pigs who become bad humans.

I also dont want to be smart again or Ill become dumb again and many people will feel sorry for me. I dunno why but I dont like it, it makes me feel bad inside. I am happy now with my current job. The peple there laugh a lot too and I think that they are my friends. Real friends. Why just the other day Fay invited me to her birthday party. It was fun. They didnt force me to drink and I ate lots and lots of cake. They laughed and said wow you have a good appetite Charlie. Oh yes, I know what appetite is too, I looked it up in the dictionary after asking them how to spell it. They looked confused. I dont understand why tho. I dont understand why whenevre I try to learn peple ask me questions. Why cant a dumb man learn if he wants to?

I also have dreams about seeing another man in the mirror when I stand in front of it. It is really creepy because the man looks a lot like me but he looks neater and smarter. But he is always frowning or angry. I also had a nightmare once when I laghed at a dumb boy like me for dropping dishes. When I woke up I felt really bad because the boy is just like me. It is the same bad as the bad I feel when people are sorry for me. I dunno why, but I think that I was that kind of person when I was smart. I dont want to be that kind of person. I dont want to be sad and angry all the time and lagh at peple when they hurt themselfs. It is mean and makes me feel bad.

So you see Doctor Strauss, being dumb isnt so bad. I think its better than being smart because smart peple can be very dumb sometimes. No offence. And I also would like to tell Miss Kinnian that Ill be alright and I will become smart so youll be proud of me. And that Ive also had dreams about you and me just sitting next together and I dunno why but I keep calling you Alice. But it feels nice.

Yours sincerly, (I dunno what it means but Fay tells me peple use it when they finished writing a letter)

Charlie Gordon

P.S. Did you remember to put flowers on Algernon’s grave?

Yay Waffles

2009-02-11T23:29:00.000-08:00

Yeah... I know I haven't posted in a long time, but with the tests and everything...

So lemme recap this week's events... On Saturday, I went for debate training, 8 am to 7 pm. Seniors are sick, HCI debaters rock (the judges think so) and RI debaters only won the last round 'cos of technical error. Lucky baskets. And I met my old coaches, from RI by the way, and they gave us hell after seeing us in HCI uniform. It was funny.

Tuesday we had a situational writing test, Wednesday was Maths (woo hoo, finished bonus question) and today was IS (easy) and Chinese (...). Then tomorrow we'll have History, then Science and Geog next Wednesday. Haiz...

You can stop reading now 'cos the following paragraph is extremely random and lame...

Anyway, I finally ate an entire waffle today (I bet RI doesn't have waffles, right?) Why am I so happy about that? It all started... well, a long time ago. Zheng Jie and I were rushing homework during recess, then Xin Jie suddenly came in with a jam waffle and papaya/pineapple/apple/dunno what juice. So Zheng Jie, Davis and I were like... Xin Jie, why didn't you buy waffles for us? Blah, blah, blah, we won't speak to you again! So the next day I tried buying waffles, but then the stall had already used up all of their waffle-solution-thing, so I headed back to the classroom. Then I saw Xin Jie and asked him if he was going to buy waffles. He said no. Later, he entered the classroom with a waffle. Thanks a lot, man...

Then on Tuesday, we went to SDC (Discovery Centre) and guess what? They sold waffles. Jia Chin told me. So I went to buy a waffle after paying $1.50. But then, the teacher-in-charge said that we had to leave for the next area and my waffle wasn't ready yet. So to solve the problem, I was given a hot dog, which was also $1.50. A lousy hot dog. Then during break I tried to buy another waffle, but they were sold out. And Jia Chin had already finished his waffle. Curse you Fish! As you can guess, I finally bought one today.

Okay, that's all for today...

Blog Prompt Four: Onsens

2009-02-07T06:00:00.001-08:00

While Japan has onsens, France is known for its gastronomic cuisine and the US is famous for its unlimited spending, one of the things that is probably uniquely Singapore is... Singlish. Yes Singlish, the infamous local creole, or slang, of Singapore. The government has been trying to get rid of it for a long, long time. But have they ever considered that Singlish might actually have some benefits? That it is not all bad? Well, my stand differs greatly from the government. I believe that Singlish should not be gotten rid of.

Singlish connects people. Everybody speaks it. The educated, the uneducated, the rich, the poor. It is like the de facto language of Singapore, something that everyone can comprehend. Go to a market or a hawker centre and you'll see that everybody uses Singlish to communicate. Every exchange between the seller and the customer has at least a few grammatical errors, Hokkien words and the like. It also connects people from other races. Singlish is composed of many words that have stemmed from dialects, Chinese, Malay and even a few from Tamil. Doesn't the government want Singapore to be a multi-racial society? Singlish is a clear example of how different races from distinct backgrounds mix in the melting pot that is Singapore. And don't forget about age. Our ancestors were from mainland China. They grew up speaking Chinese. Obviously (if they can speak some English), they can't have speak grammar and know all the words in the dictionary. Thus, they speak Singlish, not giving a "Hoover Dam" about grammar and replacing some words with their Hokkien counterparts. What I'm trying to say is that the old can then communicate with the young, by using Singlish of course. The young and old will get along much better.

Singapore is largely different from America. While the US is one of the most liberal nations in the world, Singapore is still relatively conservative. In an uptight society like Singapore's, you sometimes want to escape it, to be free and have fun. That's another reason why people speak Singlish. Yes, it is crude. But at the same time, it is witty, inventive and colourful. You are bound to trigger some bursts of laughter if you make an exclamation like, "Wa lau eh! You got itchy backside izzit?" Imagine a conversation between a cabbie and a customer without even a little bit of Singlish. Then imagine the taximan in "Taximan's Story" using perfect English. Sure it might seem perfectly normal in countries like the Great Britain or Australia, but this is Singapore we're talking about. Conversations in Singlish seem warmer and less professional, which would be way out of context in this scenario.

I'm not saying that we should speak Singlish everytime, everywhere or that we should replace English lessons with Singlish lessons. Sure, when we're in a formal gathering or interview, we will use proper English, but besides that, eliminating Singlish will be like erasing a huge part of Singapore culture. So, c'mon, let us talk cock lah!

Source of Information:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501020729-322685,00.html

The Taximan's Story

2009-02-07T04:50:00.000-08:00

1. What is the irony in the story?
Throughout the course of the story, the taximan complains about youths in general. “Today, young people they are very trouble to their parents.” [Pg 76] is just one of his many expresses of dislike toward youths. “Some of them really make me mad... they just pay, pay, pay and they make love in the taxi…” [Pg 77] However, even after fully acknowledging these facts, and the anger he felt after seeing his daughter just like "one of them", he still makes this interesting and of course, ironic comment: “Must go off to Hotel Elroy - there plenty of young people to pick up.” [Pg 79]

2. What are the themes raised in the story?
One major theme of the story is the disobedient and rebellious nature of youth. The taximan portrays all youth as spendthrift nuisances. Another major theme is the greed of human nature. Greed is a trait of many of the characters in the story. The more evident example is the taximan himself. Although he detests the youths, he still prefers to pick them up instead of any other ordinary person just because they pay much more money. To a lesser extent, the teenage girls who supposedly have “Western” boyfriends are also portrayed as greedy. They seem to sell their body just for the sake of money.

3. How realistic is this story?
Assuming that the story takes place during the 1970s, which was when the book was published, the story is quite realistic. At that point of time, the youth population were beginning to develop a more Western mindset, shunning traditional and more conservative Chinese culture. This widened the gap between the young and old generations, leading to situations like the one illustrated in the book.

4. What do you think of the taximan? Do you feel sympathy for him?
I do not feel any sympathy for the taximan as I feel that he is not only greedy, but also hypocritical. Although he says that he hates the youth because they are lazy and sneaky, it is implied that he actually approves of their behaviour as he can earn a lot of money from them.

5. Do you agree with his lamenting?
Not really, because he contradicts himself in the story. However, if he simply stated that he was angry and disappointed at his daughter for lying to him, then yes, as he would just be a concerned parent who wants the best for his child. As many youths during that time usually participate in all kinds of undesirable activities, it is completely reasonable that he woud have this fear.

6. What about the other characters in the story? Do you feel sympathy for them?
I feel a little sympathy for the taximan’s daughter. In the story, there is a constant stereotyping that all youths behave badly. However, there might be a possibility there the daughter just went out with some friends for some harmless fun. In that case, she would’ve been humiliated by her father for nothing.

Quick Update

2009-02-05T05:06:00.000-08:00

Just a short post, yes! It's official, I'm in DB8! First meeting is tomorrow, oddly enough we're the only non-sports/uniformed groups CCA that has to wear P.E. attire. Okay, er... who's in who... Shan Wei ended up in Track & Field even though he got in DB8 and put it as first choice, sounds like they're really desperate... Fish got in to Scouts, Zacky's in NPCC, Rey the slacker who won't update his blog is in softball. I know that 'cos he SMSed everybody at 8. -.- Anton is in EP3, okay, that's all I know.

Having a fever sucks big time... I'm praying I can make it to school tomorrow...

Errr... Lame Attempt

2009-02-02T05:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, seriously, it's getting harder to think of topics to blog that are decent and which contain family-friendly language... but after re-organising my homework file which was seriously messed up, I came across my notes. "Write in-depth about every small observation you make, even if its a small one." and "Limit your posts to about 250 words." So this is my incredibly lame attempt to try to write a blog post that fit those two criteria... 85 words so far...

So I was speaking to some friends I couldn't help but notice the number of "uhs", "ahs", "lahs", etc. that were spoken. It seemed like every sentence had at least two fillers. Yep, I wikied it to find out what they were called. That got me pondering, "Why do we say lots of fillers in our conversation?" I came up with a few possible reasons:

It's too unnatural having a conversation without any fillers at all. Imagine no "lahs" in a simple, normal talk between two Singaporean teens who happen to the best of friends. It's weird, don't you think? It would seem so fake, just like a script. But in reality, nobody's grammar or pronunciation or vocabulary is perfect (at least for Singaporeans), there are always times when you don't know what to say. That's where fillers come in. They give you some time to think of something intelligent to say.

It's spontaneous. We just can't help it, we are too used to using fillers in all our sentences. Can you resist not blurting out a single "lah" in any particular, perfectly normal conversation? I realised I can't help it at all. It just comes out from my mouth. Same for everyone else, it's like a bad habit we just can't curb.

So there, that's my fantastical educational observation.

Word Count: 300 (Great... -_-)

Blog Prompt Three: Black And Sour

2009-01-30T23:18:00.000-08:00

Q: The human body today is laden with processed foods that are bad for it. Discuss this with particular reference to your own diet.

First of all, I would like to start by defining 'processed food'. Unlike popular belief, it is not limited to fast food or sausages and such, although they are the more popular examples. Instead, processed food includes most of the things that we consume today. Examples include 'fresh' milk and even diced carrots. Then what isn't processed food? Easy, any food that hasn't been changed in any way. Such food can be bought from farmers' markets. Organic food is a clear example.

Now let me start relating to my own diet. Let me start with spaghetti sauce. My mother likes to add Prego sauce to noodles and other kinds of pasta when cooking dinner. The sauce is made up of mashed vegetables, chunks of meat, salt, sugar, and water. The key here is the veggies. As they have been processed, they now contain less vitamins and nutrients. In addition, you will gain more calories if you consume the sauce, because of some extra ingredients added. This shows how even something 'green', when processed, is not as healthy as its original form.

Now, moving on to JUNK FOOD. If you remember my Jan 28 post, you will recall I went to KFC with some friends. There, I ate some pieces of chicken and drank a whole cup Pepsi. It's quite obvious that the fried chicken they serve there is very unhealthy, they have been stripped of their nutrients because of processing, have chemicals added in them to prolong their shelf life and growth hormones to make the chickens grow faster. It is also high in calories and fat. Eating it can cause many diseases, such as cancer and conorary heart disease. Did you know that the average fried chicken meal has a whopping 110 more calories then a baked chicken meal with mashed potatoes?

The conclusion is that processed foods have lots of drawbacks, the main ones being more calories and less nutrients. Maybe we should all give organic food a try? Being healthy is always of the most importance.

Sources of Information:
http://www.principalhealthnews.com/nutritionHome
http://energyfanatics.com/2008/06/15/why-junk-food-bad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_processing

Funny Ties

2009-01-30T06:03:00.000-08:00

This is just a post for the sake of posting... Let me try to blog as much as possible... this could be short.

Okay, yesterday during IS I succeeded... in pulling down my marks... picture 9, 10, 9, 7, ARGH... darn adult/baby/boy!

Then during Science we burnt stuff. Yay.

And today I finally wore a tie...after a long, long time. And a real one too, not those velcro thingies. But that's not the point, it was seeing Wise, Marc, Rey, etc. in ties that kind of made the morning.

Then there was a 1I1 CMC meeting, which made me realise how much my handphone rocks. Yeah, fill in the gaps.

That's all I guess, tomorrow I'll probably be doing another blog prompt, and ACE and stuff.

CNY

2009-01-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

This time the CNY celebration was not particularly eventful, and I'm expecting a decrease in my red packet money 'cos of recession...

Anyway, today I went TNS again to meet up with Wise, Rey, Seal and Timmy Lung. We helped (okay, they helped, I was late) Miss Ang to clean up the classroom and begged for her to give them CIP hours. Then we went to the computer lab to blog and spam Wiseley's c-box...again. After that, Mr Jake treated us to KFC! He rocks, but he's leaving TNS, sad... I guess that's it, not much to say...

Oh, and we couldn't meet Ms Leong again 'cos apparently she's in the hospital right now with some viral infection...

And 1I1 people, visit the class forum, it's so DEAD!

Blog Prompt Two: World's Cheapest Car

2009-01-24T22:19:00.000-08:00

Q: Imagine your group has just invented an electronic device that helps other students better in the classroom. Write a short press release that describes this new device and explain how it will promote learning.

Our device is called the "Personal Student Assistant" or the PSA. It acts just like a mini-laptop and allows students to take down notes during class. It comes with a mini-keyboard for those who prefer to type and a stylus for those who prefer to write. What is so amazing about this product is that students can organise their information in anyway they want.

They can draw mindmaps, tables or separate information by using different fonts and font colours. After taking down the notes, they can then save their documents for future reference. Additionally, if they want to view it at home, they can send it to their e-mails. There is no need to download anything new into your computer because the documents are saved as Microsoft Word documents.

The PSAs also act as personal organisers. Students can key in timetables and daily homework or to-do lists into the PSAs. At the end of the day, students can review their PSAs for homework and other activities they need to complete by the next day so they won't forget.

Plus, the PSA is not only a great tool to use, it is also solar powered, meaning that it is environmentally friendly.

The PSA will be available in schools nationwide soon. It will be located in a small pouch under the desks of the students. We hope that the PSA will help students in their learning.

TNS Reunion

2009-01-23T04:01:00.000-08:00

Argh...so tired... Ms Soh, forgive my awful grammar...

Today was the Tao Nan Reunion, reached TNS at 11.00. Before that was the Hwa Chong CNY celebration and it was hilarious... Besides the usual performances and stuff, there was an orange peeling competition and they purposely chose the "Western" teachers to take part. But the funniest part was when [Mr.] Tan B.B. went on stage "due to popular demand" to play Don't Forget the Lyrics and he ended up in last place.

So anyway I rushed to Tao Nan when the RI people SMSed me that they had reached TNS already (I was at home), couldn't bother to wait for the lift so I dashed down the stairs, then I had to deliver something to a friend, so I ran to Blk 28, took the lift, delivered the stuff, dashed down stairs and finally walked to Tao Nan. But when I got there, the security guard said I had to enter from the other side, so I walked one whole big round to the main gate... "Hoover Dam" tiring okay!

But was worth it to meet all old friends like Dommy, Colin(Hwa Chong still better than RI!), Eddy, Xing Zhi, Jun Hao etc. And teachers like Mrs Gurung (ran away when she saw Darren Ho), Ms Theng (chased Rey down the stairs when he started a Hwa Chong cheer, seriously funny), etc. Sadly Wise couldn't make it then could have 6K'08 reunion. Anyway, I will probably be accompanying him on Thursday 'cos my house is so close to TNS and there's no school on that day 'cos the CIP was cancelled (am I right, or is there school)!

Of course, I also met some people who I didn't want to meet. When that crazy drunken prawn saw me, she immediately chased me down the stairs... And of course, my long-time enemy was there too... Hopefully you guys trashed him in table tennis!

Okay, so about two hours later, I met up with Yi Han 'cos there was an EXCO'08 reunion too... Then both of us found out that the girls (and no, 1I1 people, the person in your mind right now is not one of them) just arrived... So we waited and waited and waited and waited when the girls finally had all their reunions and helped their ex-teachers. Then one of them had to run home to change... But in a way it was worth it 'cos I met some DHS friends like Jun Hern, Johan and Suzy.

Then we finally walked to Parkway, ate McDonalds, took Neoprints (bleh, girls forced us to). Oh and a funny story is that whenever Yi Han, the ex-head prefect of TNS, entered a store with sensors, the sensors' alarm activated and he had to go to the counter for inspection. Apparently, his hand was magnetised or something...

Then I had to walk all the way back home... Really got a lot of exercise today... Okay that's all. TNS guys, see you during Teachers' Day or something!

P.S. Yeah, I know my posts are getting longer and longer. Archives located in "We are the dealers" under "Journal".

Debate Trails: Part Two

2009-01-21T23:48:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know I haven't updated in a long time, sorry people, too caught up with homework. What else? Anyway, found out last night that I made the DB8 Team! Oh yeah! So, I guess I got to blog about the trials...

SATURDAY (Round 1 Part 2)
Okay, after the debate, we took a General Knowledge quiz. Questions asked include, "Who was the only U.S. president to resign?", "Write a short paragraph on 'Capital Punishment." and the easiest question of all, "What's the best secondary school in Singapore?"(no, I'm not making that up)! Which is of course, HWA CHONG INSTITUTION!

Then, the group interviews. Five people were interviewed at a time. I was with Bao Huei, Xin Jie, Bryce and Jia Chin. Okay, that's it for the first round.

TUESDAY (Round 2)
Ha, the events before the trials were verrrry funny. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but still. Ask Shan Wei, Benny or Xin Jie for details. Oh, and Bao's favourite song is now "Disturbia".

Anyway, we started the trials with a debate. I was on the Prop team with two others and I was against Benny, Shan Wei and another guy. The motion was "THW abolish National Service". And I was the third speaker. We covered points like how NS could be life-threatening from strenous exercises, the security of Singapore, lessons that could be learnt from NS, etc.

After that, individual interviews. A senior would ask us to elaborate on current issues like the financial crisis and basic stuff like whether you'll be committed or not.

Anyway, besides me, Bao, Shawn Wei and Benny also made it. Congrats man, 1I1 ROCKS 'cos we're the class with the most people who got in to DB8.

Okay, that's all, and HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR.

Oh, and TAO NAN REUNION tomorrow! Can't wait for it! 6K'08!

Debate Trials: Part One

2009-01-17T20:09:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, just found out I made it to the second round of the DB8(that's what they call it) trials! So I'm on cloud...seven now? I'm not that happy, 'cos there's still one more round to go, which will be on Tuesday.

So the trials were actually really fun, I wasn't a bit nervous. While we were waiting for the forms to be photocopied (amazingly the seniors claimed that almost every photocopier in the school wasn't working), one guy told us some Hwa Chong ghost stories. [ominous music starts playing] One of them was about the "Baby Room", which is located at the end of a very long, dark and abandoned corridor. He said that you have to walk the corridor in pairs, or they'll fine a pair for you...0_0 What does that even mean? And it's called the "Baby Room" 'cos during midnight or something, you could hear a baby giggling and then someone speaking Japanese and then... well you get it.

Oh, and before that, Li Ki told us some information about the two girls who rejected him.

After the ghost story telling session, the trials officially commenced. The first part was to watch a debate, with the motion "This house would make scholarships exclusive to the poor", and jot down anything about it on a piece of paper. I felt that the opposition won, 'cos the other guy misinterpretated "exclusive" as "mostly", defeating the purpose of the whole debate...

Okay, I just realised that this thing is getting too long... so I'll continue tomorrow.

Blog Prompt One: Fishy Business

2009-01-17T02:18:00.000-08:00

Q: You are a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and want to raise awareness of the cruelty of whaling in Japan. Prepare a speech to be made at a public forum on the cruelty of the fishing industry to whales in Japan.

Good afternoon to all, my name Gerald Choa Kai Kit, and I'm a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. I am here today to speak to you about the cruelty and inhumanness of commercial whaling.

Whaling must stop. It is not only cruel, but unnecessary. Of course, there are many other reasons besides that. Most importantly is their conservation status. Many factors have led at least five out of the thirteen great whale species to become severely endangered. Whaling is the most prominent factor. In fact, unregulated whaling has reduced the population of blue whales, the largest animal on Earth, by 89% over a span of seventy years. If this continues, the blue whale and other whale species will join the list of extinct animals.

Another reason is that whaling deprives the much more harmless ever-growing industry of whale-watching. Nowadays, countless tourists flock to destinations such as Hermanus, South Africa to catch a glimpse of these gentle giants. If these whales are hunted down, much less tourists will go to such destinations where whale-watching is the main attraction. Taking to account the economic benefits of hotels, restaurants and other tourist amenities, whaling is actually a net economic loss.

Finally, certain whale meat products have found to contain harmful toxins and pollutants which pose a risk to one’s health if consumed. Why risk getting food poisoning just to eat a so-called delicacy? Why not stick to foods which are positively safe to consume?

This the truth about whaling, it has much less pros than cons. Thus, I would advise you all to stop whaling at once. It is a major threat to the environment! Thank you for your kind attention.

Sources of Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling
http://www.stopwhaling.org

Fish Are People Too!

2009-01-16T02:05:00.000-08:00

Today was Current Affairs, and I was one of the panellists (the whole KooBits thing was scrapped). My role was the fishes and the fishermen... (Better suited for Jia Chin, but I'm Sea, so yeah...) Anyway, let me evaluate my good/bad points... I attacked the opponents, I presented cold, hard facts, but I rambled and I looked at the paper too much. Argh! And since they're only three catagories (0-2 CP), I'm frankly not sure what I got. So Jian Shun and Keeve, although it's probably too late, have mercy!

Moving on, I thought the discussion was going fine until out of nowhere, flood walls, genetic engineering and crappy attap houses were mentioned. OUT OF POINT, PEOPLE. And, with all due respect to Philmann, I don't think he should be one of the best speakers. Most of his points were irrelevant (e.g. "What can we get from a piece of calcium carbonate?" referring to coral, somehow forgetting everything that was mentioned before...)

Anyway, yesterday I went for the English Drama trials and I know that a lot people are planning to go for the trials (which is kind of surprising actually...), so let me warn you that your role can range from a has-been singer to a baby girl.

And Debate trials have been rescheduled, they'll be held tomorrow instead. I'm probably going to see a lot of you there, judging by the overwhelming response. Good luck, I guess.

School Life

2009-01-13T01:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, because of some people who have requested me to blog more about school life, I am dedicating this post to my school life so far which I have not mentioned in my previous posts. I am in class 1I1, of the consortium iSpark. which is like Hwa Chong's version of GEP. Some subjects that we take include: Language Arts (LA), which is Literature, and is the replacement for English, RTA/AAP (Arts and Acts of Persuasion) which is like a public speaking course, IS (Infocomm Studies), which speaks for itself, (we recently learnt C++ programming) and RS (Research Studies).

There are 27 people in my class, 7 of which were from Tao Nan, including me. And yes, those 6 other people are not my only friends, I have made new ones. I'm the General Secretary of the CMC (class version of EXCO). I guess that's about it.

Anyway, I just read some of the chapters of Little Ironies, the book that we are analysing/studying for Term 1 of LA, and it's incredibly... ironic. *gasp*

Oh, and I just realised I've linked many people who probably realised I haven't linked them yet, namely Keeve, Wei Zhi, Darren Ho and WEE TING YIT (NPCC guy). Go to his blog and you'll see an awful picture of me... and find a link to LI KI's blog.

And I just remembered that today, we had to vote for the president of the 36th High School Council, and I hope you guys voted Li Ki man, 'cos (I'm tried of using because!) the other guy is fake. So, so fake. Well, that's only my opinion anyway.

Half-Blood Prince

2009-01-11T04:38:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpCPvHJ6p90
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ8dXUtxY4A

Yeah... now you know how big I am a fan of Harry Potter, but I just had to share these! Their "Three Gorges Dam" epic/intense!

CCA Orientation

2009-01-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

Ah... finally the CCA/EP3 Orientation is over. Today was the last day and we covered all the non-elite sports and the clubs we didn't cover on Wednesday. And Debate Club just had to be the very last one... Anyway, when we actually got there, I found out that many, many people signed up for it (there were like 3-4 pages of names) and they're only recruiting 6-7 people this year. So, my chances are kind of low... unless of course, I do well in the trials. And I'll be up against Darrel and Bao Huei who used to be speakers for the Tao Nan Debate Team. I, on the other hand, was only a "researcher". So I'm keeping my fingers crossed I make it!

On an another note, this morning, the seven people from our class who were RANDOMLY selected to be trained as Current Affair hosts today, including me, received our training. Big surprise. And we found out if we do well, we'll get TWICE the ACE points as everyone else. Of course, we have to do some extra work but... TWICE the ACE points as everyone else. So yay, Ms Soh you rock! And no... I'm not saying that just to get extra ACE points, because I probably already will.

First Post

2009-01-08T02:04:00.000-08:00

So...hello. I'm Gerald and this is my blog. I've never blogged before, so this is kind of a new thing to me. If you have time, just leave a comment in the c-box when it's up. Anyway, to any non-HCI people, this is an educational blog, so please mind your comments. Thanks.