I really don't know

Bloob Bloob

2010-11-07T21:42:00.002+08:00

i distinctively recall moments where i have flashes of interesting things which i cld blog abt. not quite genius, but at least things which wld make for interesting reads. and i remember telling myself, i've got to blog those things, or write it down somewhere. and when i actually hv time/access to a laptop, i forget what it was that i had thought about. i wonder whether this goldfish syndrome is a sign of old age?

I'm BACK!

2010-11-03T20:44:00.002+08:00

right. i've left updating this blog for far too long.

but now i have a bit more time. at least for the next couple of months so i hope to start writing more. not that i'll be writing any great pieces of work, bure would be more like random stream of consciousness about various subjects which are close to my heart... or anything that pops into my mind, or pique my interest, or irritate me. so... well... if there is still anyone reading... watch this space for more! :)

“You won't improve schools by mixing the bad with the good”

2009-08-10T00:20:00.002+08:00

Following is an article from some UK newspaper (I can't remember which one exactly...). The bolded parts resonated greatly with me...

ANY SUCCESSFUL school will know that a good reputation is hard won and easily lost. Such schools will thus be very wary of Schools Secretary Ed Balls's warning that good state schools face being marked down by Ofsted, the inspections watchdog, if they do not take part in mergers or federations with poor schools.

According to Mr Balls, the “best education providers are to provide chains of schools run by a single overall leadership, with a shared brand, with some shared management and governance, with a shared ethos and identity”. This is why he is proposing that the cap on heads' salaries of £120,000 be lifted for heads who add neighbouring schools to their portfolios.

A few years ago, in west London, it was suggested that the Church of England high school that I was running could establish an “annex” to help the local authority to increase its secondary school places. Places in a church school would have been easier to sell; it was a popular brand. I declined, for I had taught in a split-site school, which is what Mr Balls wants to create, and I would not impose this on my staff. It was pointed out that, with a larger “school” to run, my deputies and I would be entitled to larger salaries; but for my staff there would only have been the difficulties and frustrations of trying to work effectively in two separate communities.
Mr Balls is proposing management by threat. That's all he can do, for, ambitious headteachers apart, few people will see the benefits of such proposals. But if he implements this madness, he will destroy what little trust remains in publicly funded education.

He is also confused about the nature of education and its provision. He uses the language of edu-babble, condemned only last week for its ability to disguise and confuse. He assumes that a human institution can be run like a distribution centre, dispatching cereals and tins of beans, inanimate materials that, conveniently, will not react adversely when mishandled.

Who are these educational providers of whom he speaks? Parents who teach their children to read and to listen and to treat their fellows as worthy of concern and consideration? Teachers in a classroom with real children doing their best when they aren't ticking boxes or trying to digest the latest government directives? Does he have in mind volunteers, who teach all manner of useful and constructive things in organisations for young people? Other adults, employers of young people at weekends and during holidays? Or does he mean some sort of business that would be as happy to “deliver” education as easily as they deliver self-assembly furniture? Talk of delivering education suggests that the stuff has simply to be packed up in the back of a truck and driven off to a lucky school somewhere near you.

To put it bluntly, Mr Balls proposes an even larger burden of school management to be financed, motivated and rewarded. Teachers are easily rewarded and easily motivated. Just allow them to get on with teaching most kids without the need to provide tick-box support to the non-teaching managerial pyramid that needs constantly to justify its existence, and see that a few words of thanks and praise reach them from time to time. Balls says that his plans would ensure that “no pupil is abandoned”. Does he not realise that a considerable number of them are abandoned before they get anywhere near school?

Turn it upside down, Mr Balls. Start at the bottom, in the homes into which children are born. Look to the parents for your leadership, your inspiration and sense of burden of responsibility. But you daren't, like most politicians. You find it much easier to play silly buggers at the top of the pile, with fewer individuals who can be more easily managed with money than with parents whose children are let down so badly - by them and by the rest of us.

The trouble is that we believe that educational supply chains can be switched on from Whitehall by a directive from the Secretary of State and responsibility passed on to some NGO, like Edexel, for instance. In such a mad, mad world, who will children be able to sue if this plan fails them?

Peter Inson is a former headteacher and the author of the novel 'dunno'.

Perfectly imperfect

2009-07-06T22:22:00.003+08:00

i know this has been out for a while... but something today triggered a memory of it and i realised that i've not posted this before. i think this must be one of the more better govt adverts made. not sure whether it'll actually be successful in getting more people to set up families... but it's nonetheless a touching advert.

sigh.

Thanks

2009-07-05T00:44:00.002+08:00

received a message from someone today which made my day. and reaffirmed my desire to go back to my old job.

one and a half more years left...

Give me a Break

2009-07-01T23:45:00.002+08:00

i know i'm lagging behind... but i've only recently started to be hooked on Prison Break. the season that's being shown on tv now. and by that i mean the non-cable type.

i think i'm drawn to how the motley crew of people come up with cunning schemes to outwit their advesaries, beating the odds to accomplish ludicrously difficult tasks. i guess i just like rooting for the davids in their fight against the goliaths.

but one thing i cannot understand. why is it that Michael have to always be the one performing all the critical things? he has this big ass tumour in his head which causes him to have fits, making him not able to see clearly, walk properly etc. doesn't he know that he is a liability if he has to be in situations which is physically strenuous? sure. he's the genius, the one with all the ideas, the person with all the great plans. all the more he should plan it such that someone else gives Don the sucker punch and takes Scylla. not him.

of course, one could say that it's all for plot development. if linc had been the one to take out Don, then that would be the end of the show. so Michael had to be the one. so that, just at the right moment, Michael has one of his attacks and Don takes back Scylla. i.e. more drama.

but are there people who are really like that? who think themselves to be so indispensible that even when they acquire some deficiency, become somehow impaired because of injury or old age or disease or something, they still put themselves in a key position which requires them to operate as if there is nothing wrong with them and thereby jeopardizing the entire team and compromising the mission.

i suppose there are probably people like that around... these people should learn to take a break. let someone else take over. move on to something else which is not affected by their acquired deficiencies and plan for other people to pick up the slack.

heh... i just realised something... what started out as a very innocent post could be read to imply something rather politically sensitive. but... honestly, i swear. i really meant for this entry to refer to nothing else other than Prison Break...

argh. better stop now...

Random Thoughts

2009-06-28T21:23:00.001+08:00

Jeremy had this as his MSN nick thing: "Bangkok rocks".

to which my comment was: "yes... bangkok rocks and that would be ok. but if rocks bangkok... now that would certainly hurt."

REALLY MISS

2009-06-18T23:23:00.002+08:00

my previous job.

the interaction, seeing the fruits of my labour, the growth, the positive changes after going through struggles and overcoming challenges...

AFOB Too!

2009-06-14T22:20:00.003+08:00

strangely, the fact that i've not been blogging has resulted in my not reading other people's blogs as well. and while skimming through BOng's, XH's and Cheng's blogs, i remembered how much i enjoyed reading their blogs. for various different reasons.

AFB

2009-06-14T21:57:00.002+08:00

away from blog. that's what i've been. it's not because i don't have things to write about. on the contrary, after the last few months, i have quite a lot to write about. but... over the last few months, i have felt immense inertia to write.

i think it's partially because i sit in front of the computer at work a hell of a lot more, hacking away at the keyboard (sometimes i do wish that i was really hacking the keyboard... or at least hacking something...) that i've become averse to sitting in front of a computer for any length of time once i'm out of the office.

well... in any case, i guess i'll try to blog more, but (not that i think that anyone would), don't hold your breath for it.

for my dearest friends who still visit my blog once in a while, thanks. i'm fine. most of the time.

till the next time... stay happy!

History in the making.

2009-01-23T01:18:00.002+08:00

from the Lincoln Memorial to Capitol Hill, from one African American to the next. indeed our generation has been fortunate enough to have witnessed history in the making.

You know it's Christmas

2008-12-25T23:43:00.002+08:00

when you turn on the tv and you see different adaptations of Dickens' A Christmas Carol showing. today... there were 2 different versions, one on Channel 5 and the other on OKTO. different flavour, the former darker, the latter more bright and kiddish.

i wonder... if, without fail, you get A Christmas Carol showing on TV every Christmas, do the decendents Dickens' get compensated for the use of Dickens' intellectual property...

Dreaming...

2008-12-22T14:50:00.000+08:00

the previous entry was actually a question in this year's A-Level's General Paper. thinking about how i would go about writing an essay for the question greatly alleviated my boredom during invigilation. and the more i thought about it, the more i felt that i should actually sit down and write the essay.

i don't think that what i've written would actually make a good GP Essay as such. for i do not know what makes a good GP Essay. but what i've written is what i truly think about dreams.

important for people who aspire to greatness, who wish to make something of their lives. and important only if you do something about your dreams, if you put in the Herculean effort that is often needed to realise those dreams.

so.

to my dearest students. if you are reading this. some of you have shared your dreams with me. (and i thank you for that) i think you guys have fantastic dreams. be it to have your own boutique, to be a doctor, a lawyer, a chef, or to travel the world. but dreams don't become reality just like that. as you move on to your next stage in life, remember to keep your eyes fixed on your dreams and give your all to fulfilling those dreams.

Importance of Dreams. edited

2008-12-22T14:33:00.002+08:00

We often hear people say things like: "I dream to be a pilot when I grow up", "I dream to go to the Carribean for my honeymoon" and "I dream of earning my first million by age thirty". Indeed, our dreams are synonymous with our aspirations. They are goals which, while at times far-fetched, we hope to achieve. However, far-fetched as dreams sometimes may be, there is still a place for dreams in our lives. Rudyard Kipling very succinctly sums up the importance and significance of dreams in this one line: “If you can dream and not make dreams your master”.

A person’s dreams push him to work harder, to struggle and strive so that he can fulfill his dreams. It is then through this process of struggling and striving that they achieve greatness. A good example would be Li Ka-Shing. He is the richest person of Chinese descent and has been touted as Asia’s most powerful man. However, he started life with very little. Yet, even at a tender age, he dreamt of being rich and powerful. This dreamt sustained his drive even under adverse conditions and helped him through the toughest of times. His efforts culminated in him building a multi-billion dollar business empire.

An individual’s dreams sometimes do not only affect himself. A single person’s dream can serve as a rallying point for a group of people, galvanizing them into action. This group of people thus inspired can often work miracles. Singapore is a product of such a process. Lee Kwan Yee had a dream of changing Singapore from an under-developed island into a bustling metropolis. This dream inspired people like Goh Keng Swee and Hon Sui Sen to join in his cause and brought people of different races, languages and religions together to build a developed city state in a short span of forty-three years.

Dreams are not only limited to individuals. A group of people can have a collective dream. In fact, many nations were built on their own respective dreams. Indeed, many countries are still pursuing their dreams. China demonstrates this very well. It is the collective dream of the Chinese People that woke the Chinese Dragon. It was China’s dream to be a global superpower, to be on par, if not superceding, America which drove China’s inexorable growth, allowing them to achieve a decade’s worth of double digit annual economic growth. The pursuit of this dream saw China sending their own astronauts and space shuttles into orbit, holding the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 and accumulating a sovereign wealth fund in excess of one trillion US dollars.

Of course, dreams do not always lead to good things. When Hitler dreamt of creating a thousand year Reich, he inadvertently plunged the world into a living nightmare instead. Hundreds of millions of people died in humanity’s greatest tragedy simply because of the power of a single megalomaniacal person’s dream. This shows how much dreams can change the course of humanity and hence their importance.

There is however one common trend in all the cases discussed thus far. All the dreams that have been mentioned were important only because those who dreamt those dreams were willing to put in extraordinary amounts of effort to fulfill their dreams. Woe is to the dreamer who gets lost in his reverie and does nothing. For such a person shall, instead of being inspired to greatness, languish in ignominy. We see this often in history. After the First World War, the world dreamt of a future without war. The League of Nations was set up as an attempt to realize this dream. However, without sufficient political will, all the best laid plans came to naught. After the Second World War, world leaders dreamt of a world where economic stability was ensured and financial catastrophes such as the Great Depression will not happen again. Thus was born the IMF and the World Bank. However, without concerted effort, these two institutions have been shown to be powerless in stopping the recent financial Tsunami from sweeping across the world, resulting in the greatest destruction of wealth since the Great Depression. Though the entirety of the damage has yet to be accounted for, some economists have predicted that it might even be greater than that of the Great Depression. Dreams are therefore important, but only if the dreamers are willing to grit their teeth and put their backs into turning their dreams into reality with the sweat on their brows.

Finally, there are people who function perfectly well without dreams. These people are content with a stable, albeit staid, existence. Just like the Deltas and the Epsilons in Huxley's Brave New World, these people are fine having no ideals and big ambitions. They do not need dreams to spur them to greatness, in fact, they may eschew greatness. It is not surprising that we do not hear great examples of these people, because these people are happy with their mediocrity. But we must face the reality that these people do exists in great numbers and that dreams are of little importance to them.

In conclusion, dreams are important as they can spur us to achieve greatness. They serve as beacons of light, beckoning us to excel. But dreams are only as important as we are willing to commit effort to realizing them. Without effort, dreams will remain as ethereal fantasies, insignificant and inconsequential.

Ideal

2008-12-18T11:55:00.002+08:00

back when i was still idealistic... i thought that this song described the essence of my perfect ideal of what love.

Plato and a Platypus Walked Into a Bar

2008-12-13T16:41:00.002+08:00

is the title of a book which i bought and finished reading today. anyone considering a course in philosophy would stand to benefit by starting on this book first. it is witty and funny, ergo interesting, informative, incisive and thought provoking.

the book deftly uses jokes to elucidate and explain some of the key concepts in philosophy. while by no means conclusive, the concepts and ideas covered are some of the more major ones in the history of philosophy.

a good read.

Policy making

2008-12-10T11:38:00.003+08:00

it is important to have good pubic policy. neatly cropped, kept clean and dry whenever possible.

Memories of the Southern Clouds...

2008-12-09T15:57:00.002+08:00

this song reminds me of my Yunnan trip last year. i think of the 3 times i went to Yunnan, i am closest to the group of people i went with last year. i will miss them... well... let's hope we really are able to keep in touch... ha... facebook certainly does help!

In God We Trust

2008-12-01T00:07:00.002+08:00

no. i've not turned Christian.

but i have been thinking much about the recent financial turmoil. and about the financial system as a whole.

our modern financial system works, to a large extent, on trust. i give you something of value to you, trusting that you will give me back something of value in return, if not now, at least some time in the hopefully not so distant future. that is what paper money and credit essentially is. and because we trust that sometime, somewhere, somehow, someone is going to give us something of value, we continue to purchase, to buy, to acquire all that our hearts desire. all with the magic of a few pieces of paper (which have now been replaced by a few electronic pulses).

now that the financial crisis is deepening further, nations scramble to ease the flow of credit, to keep the system going. i believe that this only means that the system is going to be artificially propped up, perhaps setting up for a harder fall. who, in the end, benefits? the rich. so that they can continue spending, continue consuming. but what is the basis of their consumption? who gave them the ability to go on consuming? have they really created that much value in our world, in our lives such as to warrant such astronomical ability to consume?

trust. we trust that they have. but where has that trust led us? we borrow from banks, banks borrow from us, nations borrow from its people, banks borrow from nations. in the end, who is it that pays?

Earth.

Freedom!!!

2008-11-19T23:52:00.003+08:00

i can't remember the context... but KO was talking about free willy... and for some reason... that made me snappish. and snap i did...

me: free willy free willy... you talk some more, i'll free your willy from you.

unfortunately, that did not stop KO talking about willies. instead, that only encouraged him to tell us more about his willy cleaner...

sigh...

Fantastic Stuff

2008-11-19T01:23:00.001+08:00

let's all reward greed and stupidity of the very sharp and sophisticated people! huzzah!

One Person One Half...

2008-11-10T00:05:00.001+08:00

while randomly youtubing... i found this song... and it brought back a flood of memories of last year.

sigh... you know who you are...

Differences

2008-11-02T21:55:00.002+08:00

i was just doing some work on MS Word. and i spelt defence as... well... 'defence'. MS word showed that it was wrong. and it reminded me of a joke i heard in the UK on the 'Bremner, Bird and Fortune Show'. it says that it is easy to know when you are in the US and not in the UK. because they spell the word defence differently. in the UK, it is spelt 'd-e-f-e-n-c-e'. in the US, it is spelt... 'a-t-t-a-c-k'.

it was a sarcastic jibe at the second Iraq War which was supposed to be defending US interests and security. that,as we all know, is bullshit. and that is what the Bush administration will be remembered for. BULLSHIT.

let's hope the American People chooses wisely. that the next President won't be as jingoistic and myopic. i.e. not the team with Sarah Palin in it...

Discovered

2008-11-01T02:51:00.002+08:00

i've found some people's blogs. i wonder how they would react if they knew that i know of and have read their blogs...

Being Poignant Again...

2008-11-01T01:48:00.005+08:00

一切恩爱会
皆由因缘合
会合有别离
无常难得久

难得才可贵。但愿我们彼此之间的缘分不会就此为止。。。

i think the people whom i'm addressing know who they are... that is if they are reading this...

Having Fun...

2008-10-28T20:59:00.003+08:00

so V was sitting on J, as girls do... then i commented to KO and R that when girls do it, it's perfectly acceptable. but if guys do it, then you will have to wonder whether the guy being sat on is hard at play.

at which point, KO started singing, "You raise me up..."

Civil Society

2008-10-28T20:46:00.002+08:00

i think that the recent Highnotes Minibonds debacle has demonstrated that Singaporeans do have the ability to spontaneously organise themselves for a cause that they care passionately about. just that this cause has nothing to do with freedom of speech, freedom of expression, human rights, etc.

this however, doesn't mean that civil society in Singapore is dead. it just reflects the priorities of the people, that Singaporeans, in general, is very pragmatic. i think the government would do well to recognise 2 things:

safeguard our livelihoods. ensure that people's wealth is well taken care off.
if not, Singaporeans can very quickly organise themselves to show their displeasure and take action.

Horror...

2008-10-27T00:39:00.003+08:00

just watched this show on Okto's Sunday FilmArt called Pulau Hantu. i must admit... that the did give me the creeps. but i put it down mainly to the music and a few eerie scenes. other than that... the show was rubbish. theme was shallow, acting was bad, no character development. it's a far cry from the great horror shows of the Far East. i think that Japanese, Korea, Thai have a warped and perverse talent for shocking, scaring and traumatizing audiences with their film creations.

i think what makes their shows so successful is that these shows leave most things up to your own imagination. so you don't really see the thing that is supposed to scare you. and the most frightening things are usually just at the periphery of your senses and yet suggesting the most horrible terrors, such that as you strain to see/hear them, you actually end up forming scenes of your own and hence scaring yourself.

all these are taken to a whole new level because very often these shows very often make use of everyday objects, places, throw in masterfully chosen camera angles, mix it up with simple yet eerie sound effects, and what you get is a show that really toys with your mind. of course, there must be the mandatory little 'boo' effects (i.e. things dropping suddenly, abrupt changes of camera angles just to reveal freaky things combined with sudden loud music following relatively softer sound effects). and the worst part of these shows are that they leave a very deep impression in your mind (because you were the one who formed most of the scariest images).

Lowering Standards

2008-10-15T08:45:00.003+08:00

in Singapore, teachers who are university graduates have to do a post-graduate diploma in education. the course name is very often shortened to "post-grad dip in education". and that's what the course is. after you come out of a degree course, for you to teach, you must lower your own standards. or more correctly, be able to bring yourself to the level of your target audience, i.e. the students. most of the time, this does indeed mean having to bring yourself down to their level.

this is not because the students are not intelligent. but more because students lack the training and experience to analyse problems in the context of the academic subjects. a teacher therefore has to be able to explain concepts in ideas which the students are able to relate to and therefore find easier to comprehend. unfortunately, there are teachers who teach as if they expect the students to be just like them, which more often than not means that teachers expect students to be studious and bookish and able to grasp abstract concepts quickly.

but that is not the case. especially with primary school children. which is why i think that demanding that all primary school teachers be graduates might not necessarily translate to a rise in education standards. i might be clever. i might know my stuff very well. but that might make me a horrible teacher because it is and has always been easy for me to do well academically. which therefore means that i might not be able to simplify concepts and to explain ideas in a manner that the students understand.

i'm sure you know what i mean. you must have had a teacher who, when you ask him/her a question, looks at you and says "aiyoh... liddat so easy you also don't know ah?" then rattles off at the speed of light. and at the end, you walk away learning nothing and perhaps even feeling a little discouraged.

it might make sense to have graduate teachers perhaps at a higher level, tertiary, JC or maybe even when dealing with high ability secondary school students. but for the majority of students, they need teachers who are amongst other things, patient, able to use various strategies and strict yet approachable. not all graduates have that. and many non-graduates have those qualities as well as sufficient academic knowledge and experience to teach at the primary school. what's more, many non-graduates are better placed, because of their personality, to shape the minds and behaviour of primary school children.

what determines whether a person would make a good teacher is not what degree he/she has from which university/institution. rather, it is his/her attitude, personality and ability to simplify to use different methods and most importantly, to relate, intellectually and emotionally, to the students under his/her charge.

Free Speech?

2008-10-13T11:00:00.002+08:00

to the proponents of free speech. take a look at Thailand. that's what freedom of speech without due responsibility brings you. it makes a complete mockery of the idea of a democratically elected government and utterly disrupts economic development, leaving the poor to continue languishing in poverty.

no... i'm not saying that we shouldn't have freedom of speech and expression. but take it to its extreme and it becames a farce.

Dumb and Dumber

2008-10-10T23:57:00.003+08:00

i was looking at some of my older entries. i.e. those written before i started work proper. i seemed to have a greater depth of analysis on a broader range of topics. it seems that i have lost much ground recently. i put it down to my having less time to sit down and ruminate about things, to hold flitting thoughts, delve deeper and expand on those ideas.

in short, because of a more packed life, i think i have less time to reflect about many of the issues that bubble up but i do not give priority to.

either that or i have become dumber.

Misplaced Trust

2008-10-10T08:24:00.004+08:00

the current financial crisis is known, in Chinese as 信贷危机, which literally translates as: crisis of trustworthy debt. which i think sums up the cause of the mess we are in rather neatly.

we trusted the bank executives, the fat cats of Wall Street, to know what they were doing. they trusted the people they lent money to, trusting that doing so will make money for their organisations. and on that trust, we bought shares. on that trust, they paid themselves handsome salaries. alas... it has now turned out that all that trust were ill-placed.

on hindsight, it seems obvious that the banks shouldn't have made lent so much to people who clearly did not have the ability to service their loans. but at that moment, when the prospect of making money existed, which fat cat executive would turn away?

the one thing which i think we all feel strongly against is the fact that these executives who are responsible for the crisis have made insane amounts of money and yet most probably are not going to suffer any form of reprisals. instead, it is the middle income group, the ordinary citizens, the 小市民, who have to bear the burden of this error in judgement.

where in is the justice?

this is one of the problems of our economic system. money can be made, wealth can be built, not by hardwork, not by really being productive, but by being cunning, being devious, being able to fiddle with numbers. while there has and will always exist a class of looters, our modern economic system allows these looters to operate completely within the boundaries of the law and hence making them legally irreproachable. yet these are the people are said to be working smart and thus are held up as models who many a young college student aspire to be. in light of this... is our world enroute to becoming the dystopia that Rand described in Atlas Shrugged?

That's what we call news...

2008-09-30T21:01:00.004+08:00

with mass media as it is... it is no wonder that the majority of our generation and the youths are as weak minded and lacking of critical thinking as they are. of course one could argue that the mass media is just a symptom of a far deeper affliction. regardless, i think that it forms a negative feedback loop.

Money Honey

2008-09-30T20:58:00.001+08:00

the chorus of this song has been stuck in my head since i heard it yesterday. it is just so tremendously catchy.

Random Poignant-ness

2008-09-30T00:11:00.004+08:00

saw this on someone's MSN nick:

人生几时真相惜，
长叹增岁人非昔，
几寸红尘覆前尘，
故人忽思已末及。

and it triggered a wave of poignant emo-ing.

JibJab

2008-09-29T23:18:00.006+08:00

i think that this is fantastic. really questions the value of 'democratic' elections. i am sure that the cumulative costs of campaigning is indeed billions of dollars. is it really worth it?

Too good to be true...

2008-09-25T23:34:00.004+08:00

if you live in a country whose government gets 100% of the votes, then you should be very wary. that government is probably not a good custodian of taxpayers' money. because in every society, there are bound to be scoundrels, wastrels, cheats and general bastards. and if even these people support the government, it means that such a government is giving in to the demands of these people and pandering to their desires. this includes just giving money to people who, even thoughthey could work, don't work because they would rather survive on financial hand-outs.

Soundtrack to my life...

2008-09-24T00:58:00.002+08:00

if i had a soundtrack for my life... this song would definitely be in it. and i know just how that scene would look like. and the next scene would have this song as the soundtrack (don't bother about the video...)

Argh...

2008-09-23T12:15:00.002+08:00

i think i'm falling, if not already fallen, ill.

it's that sensation... the itch in the gums, the soreness of the throat, feeling cold one moment and hot the other and sometimes both at the same time, aching bones, snifles and coughs.

argh...

Random Findings

2008-09-23T11:57:00.003+08:00

We don't see any purpose dictated to human beings in nature. Human life does have a purpose, but it is a purpose that we invent for ourselves. It takes a certain act of courage to look at nature, not see any plan for human beings in there and yet go on and live good lives, love each other, create beautiful things, explore the universe. All these take more courage without having some divine plan that we discover, but one that we rather create for ourselves.

~~ Steven Weinberg, interview with Newsweek

this so much better describes what i was trying to say in response to the question Emz posed regarding the meaning and purpose of life.

i'd rather not have a divine plan that i merely follow. i'd rather be the one creating my own story, for better or worse, blemish and spots and all.

i pulled of the quote from XH's blog. he had something about how he thinks it is not right to concoct the essence of human and attribute that to a glorious creation. this reminded me of the analogy of a lotus that is so often used in Buddhist philosophy.

a lotus grows out from mud but yet it is beautiful. we may start off as base, grow up in less than ideal conditions, but that doesn't mean that we have to be tainted by our environment, that should not stop us from being beautiful.

Meaningless Debate

2008-09-20T11:01:00.003+08:00

i laughed till i doubled up. i think this is a very good example of how human beings, despite our much vaunted intelligence, can be stubborn as mules. to the extent of creating whatever 'information' we like so as to support our believes and how we reject anything else that is not within our schema of reality.

the problem with 'debating' with such people is that there is no middle ground upon which to meet. if the person only accepts that things in the Koran (in this case... but could just as well be the Bible, the Mahabharata, any of the tens of thousands of Buddhist sutras) are true, then naturally he cannot possibly lose this debate. because this debate is whether the Koran is right about the shape of the Earth and the motion of celestial bodies. and that is the problem with attempting to hold certain discussions with religious fundamentalists. they reject anything that contradicts whatever is found in religious scripture, regardless of evidence. and therefore these people, while pretending to be reasonable, are actually resorting to a "i don't care what you say, you are wrong because i say so" attitude. that's not a debate. it's intellectual dictatorship that stifles not only the mind, but the human spirit as well, shackling us in anachronistisms that prevent us from progressing.

that said. the 'scientist' in the above debate also has gaping holes in his scientific knowledge. the mass of the moon is not a sixth that of the Earth's. the gravitational field strength of the moon at the surface is about a sixth that of the gravitational field strength of the Earth at the surface of the Earth, the mass of the moon is only about 0.0123 that of the Earth. the reason for the gravitational field strength of the moon being a bigger fraction of that of the Earth despite the relative masses is due to the fact that the moon also has a much smaller radius.

Evolution

2008-09-15T09:00:00.002+08:00

evolution serves the survival of the species. it therefore attempts to give the species an edge over its own greatest threats. for humanity, our greatest threat is, rather uniquely, ourselves. so the next step in evolution would have to save us from ourselves.

Password

2008-09-09T13:26:00.001+08:00

Johnny tried to use 'penis' as his password. but the computer said that his password was not long enough.

Random Thoughts

2008-09-07T23:50:00.002+08:00

so i was having an MSN conversation with my brother (who's in Australia... we are not that dysfunctional) about whether the Government could do anything via legislature to make the country more accepting of diversity and less prejudiced against what it currently holds as taboo.

he thinks that it can be done. he believes that if we have a constitution that institutionalises acceptance, then we will have a society that is more accepting. however, i countered, a constitution (or any law for that matter) is only as good as it is able to be enforced. and who does the enforcing? the people. so if there isn't good enough reason to get enough people to enforce any laws, then the law is powerless and therefore pointless. worse, it might lead to resentment against the government.

what the government can do is to slowly prod the society this way and that and gradually encourage the populace to change its opinions, become more liberal or conservative, depending on which will enable a more survivable society.

my brother then said that this is a sad reality because he feels that it seems like Singapore is becoming a society of robots and robot minded people where there is no freedom of expression. which i disagreed with. it is precisely because there is freedom of expression that there are such prejudices. people with these prejudices are free to express their prejudice. and it is just unfortunate for the people who suffer being prejudiced against that the people who hold these prejudices are the majority and hence have a louder voice, thus their opinions and prejudice becomes the accepted social norm. what most people call freedom of expression essentially means we are taking away the freedom of expression of that group which has a louder voice. is that then fair?

of course, it isn't fair. but nothing is. which led my brother to bemoan the lack of equality. of course there isn't equality. because, i think, the only way for there to be equality is for all of us to be the same. i.e. to be a society of identical robots. ironic isn't it? either that or we become the Gaia at the end of Asimov's Foundation series. or the Buggers in Ender's Game. or, for a more dystopian version, Huxley's Brave New World.

is this really a sad state? perhaps. perhaps not. it all depends on what standards we use to define the state of affairs. i choose to measure it with how survivable the society/nation/species is in that state. if a change makes the society/nation/species as a whole more survivable, then it's good. rather... evolutionary, i suppose.

Rise, Denizens of the Nether World!

2008-09-07T21:35:00.003+08:00

that's what my one of my students said she did as one of her most significant achievements in school.

she was involved in the event where the host city for YOG was announced. and she was responsible for 'bringing up the spirits amongst the crowd'. so she brought little Casper up, nurturing him into the matured ghoul to haunt the Padang. i'm sure propsective employers would be rather amazed by the accomplishment.

Wall.E

2008-09-07T20:11:00.003+08:00

SPOILER WARNING...

well... not quite. don't worry... i won't overtly reveal the plot of the show.

i think Pixar has lived up to expectations.

Wall.E was enjoyable, touching, entertaing and funny, all rolled into one. the animation was fantastic, definitely cutting edge technology.

that's not the best part. the best part is that the show can be watched at so many different levels. if you just want to watch it as a kiddy cartoon show, you can. and still get great entertainment value out of it. if you want to watch it as a romantic action comedy, you can too. and get much laughs and aww-factor out of it.

but you can also dig deeper and look at it as an incisive critique of the current state of humanity.

through its very simple plot, the show talks about the need for environmental conservation, it discusses our dependence on technology, to the point where we lose our humanity, it looks at how because of technology, we are so plugged in, so greatly networked together, yet so distant, so out of touch with one another. the show illustrates how a stale stability devoid of struggles stifles the spark of creativity that makes us human. it questions whether it is right for us to divest the responsibility of taking care of ourselves to others, be it an institution or another being which we somehow trust to have our interests at heart, i.e. of whether it is better to live without volition under a benevolent dictorship (similar VIKI in I, Robot). the show also demonstrates how very often, it takes a renegade, who isn't quite programmed to follow the set rules and hence free to choose and decide upon his on actions can set an entire society free from its incarceration of stability.

oh... i could go on and on...

in a sense, the show is very prophetic, showing us the shape of things to come if we do not alter the course of 'progress' that we have set ourselves on now.

all in all... i think Wall.E is definitely worth watching in the theaters.

Just out of curiousity

2008-09-01T23:16:00.001+08:00

if you met a young person, say 17 years of age, and this person told you that he/she wants to be a member of parliament, what would you think? what would you say to him/her?

Marriage and procreation

2008-09-01T00:02:00.002+08:00

had an interesting conversation with Ying and Jasmine about marriage and procreation. it started out because Ying told us how she got reminded about how much older she is now because one of her friends is going to get married and is buying a flat.

i asked the girls whether they feel compelled to get married and then have kids. Jasmine said that it is like the sale mentality, when you feel that "it's now or never, and it's the fear of the never that pushes you more than the attractiveness of the now that draws you."

i think it is particularly difficult for people to have kids now because we have grown up having so many other things that we could otherwise be doing, which we find to be equally meaningful as having kids. and it's not only that we are afraid of how much it might cost to bring up a child, but also because we think that we might be bringing up a child in an environment where the child ends up being completely unhappy. so we keep considering, analysing whether we can help the child cope, whether we can give the child all the opportunities we had. we become paralysed by our own need to think, to calculate and analyse. and the result of this analysis is that we are afraid to bring a child into this world, this society with its systems because we are more sure that it would unhappy regardless of what we are able to do than we are sure it would be happy because of what we can and will do.

so monetary incentives will not be enough. society would have to change so that mindsets change. else birthrates will not rise significantly.

Replying notes

2008-08-21T14:38:00.002+08:00

i think i have written about the above topic somewhere in my blog but i can't be bothered to look for it.

but essentially... to answer the note from Emz...

does it matter that we "we were just plopped onto earth to merely exist for a few paltry years before dying and never ever existing again"? does that fact make our life meaningless? purposeless?

i don't see why it does. so what even if i were just to exist for a few paltry years? my life matters to those around me. my mother will probably die within the next a couple of decades. that will put her lifespan at 80 years. yes that might be paltry. but she has led a purposeful and meaningful life. i can attest to that. similarly, when i expire, i would have, i hope, touched some people, impacted some lives, created something, left some legacies.

so perhaps life deson't have an absolute meaning. but our interations, our relationship with one another, the intricate web of interdependencies that we weave as we journey through these few paltry years in life creates meaning for that journey relative to one another.

one of the issues that i might have with the afterlife is its implications on our motivations. if i believe in an afterlife and therefore strive to do good so that i can have an eternal time in heaven, then i am driven to do good not because i believe it is good, but because i am effectively selfish and egotistical. doesn't that make me no more than a dog, acting only to be rewarded?

further, without the afterlife, without having a pre-defined standard of judgement of the meaning/purpose foisted upon me, i am then free to create whatever purpose/meaning of my life. that freedom is what makes me human.

Cheng... i don't think he/she/it can be classified as an executive trannny (a la Eddie Izzard). but a battalion of those as paratroopers, heli-inserted deep behind enemy lines would most certainly win any war.

the enemies will die from a) shock, b) utterly grossed out, c) laughing to death.

Death and Orchard Road (not related...)

2008-08-14T23:26:00.002+08:00

strange that emz brought it up. i've been thinking about death a lot these days: the moment just before you are about to die, the moment you die, and what's it like after you are dead. and my conclusion is... no... i don't believe in life after death.

the reason why i've been thinking about death is because i've started reading Garth Nix's "The Old Kingdom" trilogy. and death features a big part in it.

well... on a lighter note... was walking down Orchard Road just now. i've not been there for quite a while. it has changed a fair bit. not unrecognizable, but definitely different. Cats in the Cradle was playing at Indochine, Wisma. and passers-by like me who are too cheapskate to go in and get a drink at hyper-inflated prices (this happened even before the recent spate of inflation... pretty prescient of them, eh?) could just stand and watch. and sure enough, there was a huge crowd watching. though some of them were as likely to be watching the band as they were watching this Tranny. not that being a Tranny automatically draws attention. but this Tranny must have thought it was Wednesday and she/he/it was in Zouk. cos she/he/it was unleashing this entire repertoire of grossly mutilated mambo moves and hooting what she/he/it must have thought to be complimentary but to the rest of us sounded like a banshee cry.

yeesh.

and i think the Tranny made me think really weird things. like when i saw Miss Selfridge, i suddenly thought... why sell fridge? why not toasters? or ovens? or better yet, toaster ovens? washing machines do well too! why selfridge?

and if there's a Daniel Yam, perhaps we should have a Richard Potato. or William Tapoica.

hey wait... i thought of all these before encountering the Tranny...

erm....

Just a thought

2008-08-13T08:42:00.002+08:00

time, per se, stretches on into eternity and is thus infinite, yet we never seem to have enough of.

but it is meaningless to talk about time per se. while there may be an infinite amount of time, we are miniscule vessels which can only hold so little of it such that we never have enough of it to use for our purposes. our lives are like a brief spark of light in the infinite darkness of an eternity before birth and inexhaustible time after death. upon what shall this tiny spark shine? what will this tiny spark illuminate?

X-files

2008-08-13T08:35:00.002+08:00

it was 10 years ago that i watched the first instalment of the X-Files movie. i still remember it quite vividly. i went with 2 friends. one, a girl who had a thing for me, and the other, one of my best friends in school who had a thing for that girl. i still remember how our little triangle seemed to matter the entire world to us then. how our troubles and problems then seem so trivial in retrospect.

i lost contact with the girl. i still meet up with the guy. he's a father now. while me... well... i was considerably more naive, idealistic and innocent then. now... i think i am a little more grounded in reality, perspectives tinged by darker shades, perhaps slightly more cynical. i have seen more darkness in the last 10 years than i did in the first 18 of my life.

how quickly time leaves its mark on us!

Cliffhanger

2008-07-29T23:27:00.003+08:00

Red Cliff ended on a cliffhanger of sorts. and rather abruptly. i think it paid way too much attention to details. despite that... it was an alright show. wouldn't mind watching how John Woo ends it.

one thought though... despite having all the supposed best generals (the famed Five Tiger Generals) and one of the most celebrated tactician in Chinese history, Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei still lost. in fact... so did Cao Cao nor Sun Quan or their descendents.

i think this proves that heroes do not gaurantee victory, genius does not gaurantee triumph. any army or organisation, country or society that depends entirely on a select group of exceptional people will inevitably fail in the long run. and that's why dynasties inevitably fail. because statistically, a family's luck will run out sooner or later and you will have an idiot rising to power.

so what's the solution to this problem of creating a sustainable society with a stable political landscape? i don't know. i'm still thinking about it...

Red Dragonfly

2008-07-22T23:27:00.003+08:00

i know the fashion sense, hair style, etc in the video is hideous by today's standards and the song seems an anachronism in today's age of hip hop and rap. but something today triggered a sliver of memory which teased out the chorus of this song from the labyrinth of my mind.

i used to love this song. it appealed to a certain naive idealism that i had then. and thinking about this song made me realise that i've lost quite a lot of that along the years.

sigh. there are a lot more things that i had wanted to write. but i shall leave things here first. i'm sure i'll get back to it soon enough.

Long Story Short

2008-07-13T15:20:00.002+08:00

went to watch Hellboy II: The Golden Army... was disappointed. the plot was... illogical. i mean there's a difference between having things which defies physical principles, like... magic, a hot babe spontaneously flaming up and still staying alive, etc etc. but... the story still needs to be logical. things should happen in such a way that you can believe it should follow one another and actually need to happen. but that's not the case for Hellboy II. and here's why

spoiler warning...

see... Prince Nuada (the bad guy) and his sister Princess Nuala are linked. you hurt one, you hurt the other. you knock one out, you knock the other. therefore, just when Prince Nuada is about to kill the good King, the Princess could have just given herself a tranquilizer jab. or chopped off her own arm. or killed herself, which is what eventually happened. which is the reason why i felt a little cheated. all the big bang boom pow and in the end, the little lass just goes and stabs herself. leaves one wondering... why didn't she just do that in the first place? or anything less drastic but still able to incapacitate her brother.

and there's also the part where the Hot (in more ways than one) girl just melted the crown at the end. again, one must wonder why that was not done earlier. it could have prevented soooooo much trouble.

ah well... i wonder whether the Dark Knight will live up to all the hype.

Economics

2008-07-10T18:46:00.003+08:00

there have been a few articles in the papers not too long ago about how the market for private tutors (called tuition teachers in this country) is flourishing. many parents are willing to shell out shetloads of dosh to either compensate for their child's lack of intelligence and/or diligence or just to ensure beyond a shadow of a doubt that their child gets an A. this creates an avenue of an alternative source of income for school teachers, who, because of their experience with the syllabus and exams, are in the best position to be private tutors.

interestingly, this alternative source of income can be a lot more lucrative than being a teacher. and what a private tutor gets is directly proportional to how hard he/she is willing to work, very much unlike being a school teacher.

and of all the subjects, i would say that being a private tutor for economics is most lucrative. you see... as it is, there is already a shortage for economics teachers in the JCs. this is not surprising. considering that most people with an economics degree usually end up in a job in a bank or consultancy firm or marketing or any other place in the private sector. even within the public sector, there is a whole host of jobs where an economics graduate will fit very nicely. so the supply of economics teachers in school is already limited.

the demand is not helping the situation either. now with the H1 and H2 system, the number of students taking economics has grown tremendously. further, with the way the Singaporean economy is devoloping, the financial sector seems to be where a big bulk of our JC going kids aspire to be in. so there is a large number of students who want to take econs as an A-level subject.

as such, the ratio of econs tutors to students is not favourable. where do the students turn to then? private tutors. as such, private tuition for econs can get pretty expensive. therefore, if i am an econs teacher in a JC, after the 3 year bond there is many incentives for me to quit and be a private tutor instead. firstly, if i were to stay in a school, i take mroe classes than most of my colleagues and probably have as many non-teaching duties. and yet i'm paid the same amount as my other colleagues. why should i accept that? secondly, i would be teaching less students, therefore able to concentrate on them thus better able to help them improve and get better grades.

so...what is the motivation for an economics teacher to stay in the system? why would someone be willing to work more than his/her colleagues and be paid the same amount when he/she can teach less and earn more as a private tutor? that person must be a very resilient idealist. he/she must derive his/her reward from something very intangible. it would have to take a very noble (some would say foolish) breed of people.

i hope our students and the system appreciates these people and the sacrifices that they are making.

Soppiness

2008-07-02T23:51:00.003+08:00

I heard this song over the radio while driving home just now. it brought back memories of a trip i had last year and made me think about a whole host of other things.

sigh.

Sex(ism) and the Silly

2008-06-30T17:14:00.002+08:00

watched Sex and the City.

i don't understand what gave Carrie the right to be upset with Big. it was clear that she was being a selfish bitch to want to have such a huge wedding. she buried the sanctity of marriage in a mire of ostentatious pomp. it was no wonder that Big started to have his doubts. if i were him, i would wonder whether she really wanted to marry me or just have a show of marrying me. she brought whatever humiliation she felt upon herself.

and then the rest of the show just went on to show how much Carrie suffered. and we are led to sympathise with Carrie. but what about Big? i'm sure he suffered a lot more. through that part (and it was a major part) the dominant thought in my mind was that Carrie is an idiot who deserved every shred of suffering she was going through and has no right to complain nor seek any form of repartriation from Big. in fact, if anything, she should be the one making up to Big.

the treatment of Miranda and Steve's problems was a lot more balanced, more real. it is conceivable that the mundane chores of everday life, working, looking after the kids, cooking, cleaning, washing, etc, dull the shine of romance in a marriage. and then both parties say and do something stupid and the marriage is on the rocks. that's when the relationship is tested. that was a lot more real.

and then there is the whole thing about all the clothes, shoes, bags. man... that's the reason why there are starving children in Africa. people who splurge precious resources on such frivolous things. perhaps it is because my upbringing makes me anathematically against such wanton consumerism. i mean... if you have enough, stop. the world is dying already. you don't need more of everything. and if you are that rich, buy a few sacks of rice and send it to Africa, Szechuan, anywhere with starving children. or give your money away to some organisation providing education for children or giving vocational training for young adults. eesh... the thought of it is making my skin crawl with disgust. grr...

Price of Oil

2008-06-19T09:40:00.002+08:00

BOng has a number of entries about the skyrocketing price of oil...

i think we all saw that coming since a long time ago, but we pretended that it won't happen. i remember when i was in Uni, i thought that the one area of research that Singapore should go into, in a big way, is the production of energy and the efficient use of energy. more so than Life Sciences.

and there is so much scope. biofuels (i read now that swamp algae might be a good source of biofuels... damn... shouldn't have reclaimed Jurong!), solar, more efficient extraction of fossil fuels, more efficient ways of refining, hybrid cars (Cheng's Honda Civic Hybrid is quite an example of this technology...) and other methods to improve our energy efficiency, of cars, buildings, anything. and it's not just limited to this. i'm sure that there are other interesting topics in the area of energy production and efficient usage that i don't know about. so it is strange that Singapore isn't pumping as much resources into this area, isn't creating as much hype about our efforts, isn't getting as many people into this field as we did for Life Sciences.

KL

2008-06-18T12:11:00.002+08:00

went up to KL last weekend. bunked in with Cheng. it was a good relaxing trip. ate good food. one particular one that stood out is this mamak called 'Murni'. it's like Al-Ameen of Singapore, only much much better.

Murni was the first thing i ate in KL. it was a few years ago, my first visit to KL. i flew there, Cheng picked me up from the airport and en route to his house, we went to Murni for supper. i wasn't impressed by the looks of the place. it looked like eating food from there will give you a serious bout of dysentry. it didn't help that it doesn't have a menu as such. you either know what you want to eat already, or you don't. or you point to what someone else is having and say, 'yar... that one... that's what i'm going to have...' and then you find out that that thing the other person is having is called Roti Special... then you start to wonder what you are eating... but one thing is sure... whatever it is... it is damn good.

the thing about Murni is that it has such great potential for expansion... as it is, everytime i've been there, the shop is overflowing with customers, such that they have to sit on the curb, by the road, at least a good hundred, 2 hundred meters away from the actual shop. which made me wonder why Murni has not thought of expanding. is it because it is difficult/detrimental (in any way) to teach more people the recipe to its food (the success of Murni is the food it serves, which are rather out of the ordinary)? see... trouble with the food business is that the secret lies in the recipe, you teach that to someone, thinking that that person will work for you, but what if he/she doesn't? what if after learning the recipe, he/she goes off and sets up shop somewhere else?

i do hope, however that someone with the capital can bring Murni to Singapore. the Roti Special,the Claypot Low Xu Fan, the drinks (there's one weird Ribena concotion) are really fantastic. but i don't see that happening soon... ah well...

damn... all this talk about food is getting me hungry... grr...

Another Genre

2008-06-14T01:02:00.002+08:00

and as a reflection of my more eclectic taste in music... here's the more soppy thpe of songs that i like...

this song also brins back much memories... of my final year in Bristol... sigh...

Glorious Years

2008-06-14T00:47:00.000+08:00

鐘聲響起歸家的訊號　在他生命裡
彷彿帶點唏噓　黑色肌膚給他的意義
是一生奉獻　膚色鬥爭中

＊年月把擁有變做失去
疲倦的雙眼帶著期望

＃今天只有殘留的驅殼　迎接光輝歲月
風雨中抱緊自由　一生經過徬徨的掙扎
自信可改變未來　問誰有能做到

可否不分膚色的界限　願這土地裡
不分你我高低　繽紛色彩閃出的美麗
是因它沒有　分開每種色彩

you don't hear many of this type of songs anymore...

Beyond...

2008-06-14T00:40:00.002+08:00

今天我寒夜裡看雪飄過

懷著冷卻了的心窩飄遠方
風雨裡追趕霧裡分不清影蹤
天空海闊你與我可會變 (誰沒在變)

多少次迎著冷眼與嘲笑
從沒有放棄過心中的理想
一剎那恍惚若有所失的感覺
不知不覺已變淡心裡愛 (誰明白我)

原諒我這一生不羈放縱愛自由
也會怕有一天會跌倒
背棄了理想誰人都可以
那會怕有一天只你共我

仍然自由自我永遠高唱我歌走遍千里

the MTV isn't that impressive. but this is sung by the original singer. the other clip which i have linked to in my previous post is more loaded with emotions though.

Heh Heh

2008-06-13T16:54:00.002+08:00

kudos to jaggedice for finding these two clips... rofl...

Skeptism

2008-06-08T00:06:00.003+08:00

i wonder whether our youths today are ever skeptical. not cynical. i have no doubt that many of our young are indeed cynical. but skeptical? do our youths observe and learn, think and reflect on what they have observed and learnt? do they trudge through the mire of popular sentiments with tools of reason to find nuggets of truth, apply the razor of wisdom to cut to the core of what is right and wrong for themselves, the situation, the time? or do they just expect to be told broad generalisations of what is right and wrong, stereotypes of what should or should not be done?

are those abilities the privilege of a select group of 'elites'? should we not expect the majority of our youths to be able to think, not just intelligently, but also wisely? if not, should we not, at least expect those amongst our youths who would aspire to leadership to gather information, analyse, question, think and from that process, synthesize and create?

Cowell at his best

2008-06-07T18:09:00.001+08:00

never judge a book by its cover...

love the change of expressions of the 3 of them. especially of Simon Cowell... what he said here is really, i think, him at his best.

Emo

2008-06-07T17:43:00.003+08:00

i got reminded over the weekend of the songs by the hongkong band, Beyond. spent much time listening to their songs over youtube.

i was reminded of their songs because one of Beyond's greatest songs,"海闊天空" was given new lyrics as a theme song (of sorts) for the Sichuan earthquake. (the new song is titled "承諾").

i used to listen to "海闊天空" and a few other of Beyond's songs a lot (i.e. put on endless repeat) in my first year of uni. hearing that tune again transported me back into that room and revived many many memories along with the corresponding emotions...

it didn't help that the video of "承諾" is... sigh... and another related one really gets the emo juices flowing. having said that, the videos can be fairly inspirational too.

well... not all that coherent... probably less so than normal. not that i'm very eloquent to begin with anyways...

Too stressed out?

2008-06-03T10:17:00.002+08:00

have sex. according to this website, "Volunteers who had had penetrative intercourse were found to be the least stressed, and their blood pressure returned to normal faster than those who had engaged in other forms of sexual activity such as masturbation."

so perhaps one of the reasons why men have such bigger sexual apetite (and thus have a greater propensity to visit prostitutes) is that we, for whatever reasons, get stressed easier/more.

Exploiting and exploited

2008-05-23T23:39:00.003+08:00

Tammy left this note:
"I think prostitution is in its own way a form of gender inequality. Sure , you see male prostitutes now and then, but the main bulk of them are females.To me prostitution makes women seem like objects for the sexual pleasure of guys. And ultimately contributes to the gender stereotypes of women being deemed as inferior to men."

i agree that prostitution is a form of gender inequality, but not in the favour of men, but in the favour of women.

as Tammy rightly pointed out, there are far fewer male prostitutes than there are female ones. this is probably reflective of the greater demand for female prostitutes compared to male prostitutes. as such, this means that it is more viable for women to earn money through prostitution than it is for men. does this not, practically speaking, give women, on the whole, an economic advantage over men?

not only that, this additional avenue of economic production is made possible because women are able to exploit men's innate weakness: our lust, our desire for the physical gratification of sexual intercourse. does this not mean that men, not women, are the exploited in the transactions of prostitution?

From Rugby

2008-05-10T00:50:00.004+08:00

Cougars,
I know that any words of consolation that I attempt to offer will sound empty and nothing I say will assuage the great pain that you feel. Nor will I cheapen the sacrifices you made in your struggle for the plate by telling you that it was just a game.

But I do want apologize and to thank you.

I want to apologize for not being around more for you. I also want to apologize for not doing more for you. I wasn't even able to rouse the supporters to cheer for you with more spirit. I'm sorry.

I want to thank you for the perserverance, courage and strength that you have shown throughout your journey thus far. I cannot even begin to fathom how tough it must have been to get so far given where you started from. It has inspired me greatly.

I also want to thank you for the fun, laughter and even silliness that you have brought me. I will always recall fondly the couple of times we ran together. Thanks for making me feel part of you.

Finally, I have two wishes for you.

I wish that you would find that your blood, sweat and tears have made you stronger people. I also wish that the friendship and camaraderie amongst you that you have forged through surmounting the many challenges together will keep growing and that even many years later, you will still count on each other as you have done on the pitch.

Well... it has been tough coming thus far. I hope that you have found it worthwhile nonetheless. Do continue to strive and do your best in the rest of your endeavours as you have done for rugby.

Hopefully there will be a chance to run with you guys again.

Philosophical Ruminations from Geylang

2008-05-05T13:27:00.002+08:00

J1: ooh... look at those creamy lumps of flesh!

J2: ya! look at how it jiggles when you hit it!

R: we are still talking about durians here right? i mean... come on... we are in Geylang.

it was a fruitful (pun intended) trip to Geylang last Saturday. We feasted on yummy food and gorged ourselves silly with delicious durians and Jeremy showed us his ability to polish his seeds till they acquire a shiny sheen... :)

we also took a walk to the even lorongs, just for the heck of it, which proved to be an eyeopener for some of the ladies. SH was, as expected, grossed out. and i've been trying to get her to tell me what exactly is wrong, ethically, about prostitution. unlike drug peddling, it doesn't overtly set out to harm people. is it not just a value judgement that we look at prostitutes and say that what they do is to be frowned upon? what is the basis for such aversion, what fuels our disdain?

i think it is because monogamy, sexual loyalty to one particular mate has been pivotal in humanity's ability to develop societies and consequently civilisation. and this is a key development that gave human beings, as a species, an evolutionary edge. as such, anything, any behaviour within the species that threatens to buck such a trend is seen as deviant and thus to be strongly discouraged. and thus, as prostitution is a form of sexual disloyalty, disrupts this order which allows for the smooth forming of society, it is seen as something to be objected to.

and yet it exists. why? because at our basest, evolution has hardwired into the males of the species to have as much sex, and thus spread our own genes as far as possible. so the case of prostitution is a struggle of that which links us to other animals versus civilisation, it is also a struggle between the individual's desires and the collective well-being of the species.

500!!!

2008-04-17T14:18:00.002+08:00

there ought to be fanfare, blaring trumpets, thumping drums, symbals clanging, a parade marching through, celebrations all round.

but... there isn't. it is just my 500th post. a landmark of no significance whatsoever.

:)

The Grasshopper

2008-04-17T08:37:00.005+08:00

inflation is now, more than ever, a very real problem. even the aunty working downstairs know that while the price of everything is going up, wages are not. especially for those who are not highly educated and without a specialised skill.

many people then blame the government. saying that, even if the factors leading to the increases in price are beyond the government controls, the government can and should do something to lower the cost of living. but the government will not. this is not a government that will take steps to distort prices.

however, what the government will do is to give financial assistance, distribute some wealth. it has done so in the form of growth dividends, GST offset package and even WIS. the government claims that the amount of money that it has given out to the lower income is more than enough to cover the increase in prices. of course, the caveat is that this ang bao can really only cover the increase in prices of basic necessities, not luxury items. and it will only help the lower income if they do not spend it all at once, but rather, save what they have received and use the money to pay for their living expenses. however, someone with a lower income has a higher propensity of spending a windfall within a short period of time, thus leaving him with little to tide him through the rest of the year. so this ang bao from the government won't help him much and he will still have to deal with higher prices on his own income.

what can the government do about that? is it the government's fault that people spend what is given to them quickly rather than use that money to offset the increase in prices? i am not saying that what the government has done will solve all our problems. many of our material aspirations will still be dampened because of the rising prices. however, to foist all our problems onto the government is irresponsible. we, ourselves, also have to think of ways to solve our own problems, fulfil our dreams.

Circles...

2008-04-16T10:23:00.003+08:00

"have no corners. not like triangles. triangles have corners... have 3 corners... see..."

a line out of "I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry".

sometimes our lives are very much like circles... no corners, just going round and round. like Zhao Zilong in "The Three Kingdoms: Rise of the Dragon". all his life fighting and in the end, he returns to the same place. one big circle. the flasback at the end (spoiler alert) where he is back at the temple/fort where he first made a name for himself was particularly poignant, especially if you are someone like me who would think about all the emotions that i would feel if i were in a similar situation. i would be thinking of the impendeing end, all the things that i have done, the name that i have carved out for myself, the journey that i've taken which has brought me back to where i first began. i would feel poignant, there will be an aching in my heart and a slight sour taste in my mouth. but my lips will be curled upwards in a wry smile, my eyes will be focused into the distance, with a glint of joy, joy in the knowledge that while i have spent my life going in a circle, i have seen many beautiful things along the journey.

it is not the destination that is important. for all our final destination are the gateway into Death's dominion. but the experiences that we have had, the people we have met, the lives we have touched, the story that we have left behind.

it may be a circle. but let it be a beautiful one.

Increased Productivity

2008-04-14T23:44:00.003+08:00

I think that I will be blogging a fair bit more nowadays, thanks to my latest buy...

I've been spending much time exploring its functions, seeing how it can help increase my productivity. The GPS will most likely be useful, and so will its ability for me to scribble thoughts, ideas, to do lists, etc. With luck, I would have helped the govt spend its money well...

But for now, i'll be satisfied with using it to allay my boredom... And man... Am I bored or what! I now understand why we say that we are bored to tears... Cos when you are really bored, you tend to feel sleepy. And when u try to stay awake, you inevitably tear. Well, at least that's what happened to me...

I wonder whether it's faster for me to use this keyboard or whether it's faster for me to use the stylus and write... ha... perhaps it will be my little research project to kill time... which seems to be crawling slower than a drunk snail....

grr... need more fun things on my phone to... erm... increase productivity.

hehs.

Specters

2008-04-08T23:24:00.001+08:00

from the past haunt me.

i chanced upon this clip.

i think if you were to make me go through it again, i will be paralysed with fear when i reach the Jacob's ladder.

An answer

2008-04-08T08:34:00.002+08:00

i wasn't referencing to our need for sex in my previous post. i was talking about something more fundamental, that which fuels the need for sex: the biological imperative to propogate our genes, the undeniable drive to ensure the survival of the species.

what inspired that post? perhaps what i've been reading. Orson Scott Card's Ender Series. Ender's Game, the first book, is a great read. not as good as Huxley's Brave New World and definitely not as good as Rand's Fountainhead, but probably on par wth Asimov. but it's good enough for me. i don't think i'm in the right frame of mind to go through something more powerful and moving.

Do you know how a butterfly thinks?

2008-04-06T01:46:00.003+08:00

we would think that once a butterfly tastes the sweet air of freedom, experiences the thrill of soaring through the air and sees the beauty of the light, it won't ever want to go back to the dark imprisonment of its chrysallis.

however, the above is highly anthropomorphic. we have no way of knowing how a butterfly thinks (or not). and it is not realistic to think that the butterfly would value its 'freedom' after the metamorphosis as much as humans value our 'freedom'. the only thing that we can be sure of about the similarities of a butterfly and a human being is that we are both driven by the same base desires to ensure the survival of the species.

lastly, the light that the butterfly is attracted to might well be some bug-zapper thing.

bzzt...

Control

2008-04-01T23:41:00.005+08:00

i had to muster every single ounce of self-control, draw on every single little lesson in every form of philosophy about patience and tolerence just to stop myself from unleashing the fury of hell... oh but in that moment, how i wish i could bring fire and brimstone hailing down on some people!

why are some people just so infuriatingly stupid?

and so this post is my catharsis. to allow the rage that was boiling in me out as a gentler, more benign stream of steam, still scalding, but less, far less, damaging.

GRRRR!

What are you worth?

2008-03-31T21:33:00.000+08:00

On my way...

2008-03-31T21:16:00.002+08:00

to my 500th post. after this... another 9 more. and then the next target would be to hit a thousand... alas... i'm not as verbose as some of the people i know and given how work can bog me down... that might take a while... ah well... one step at a time... slowly we plod on.

That's what friends are for...

2008-03-31T13:34:00.003+08:00

i shall blog today. just so that Rambling Alcoholic doesn't turn purple and die... see bro, that's the great length that i am willing to go for you. in addition to introducing the love of your life to you of course. so you'd better appreciate it, repent and mend your errant ways.

;)

well... i've been reading some students' blogs. interesting how some of them think and feel. perhaps i ought to let them know that i am reading their blogs... else they might think that i am invading their privacy. and you know how touchy people that age are about their personal space.

one thing (amongst many others) i gleaned from the blogs that i have been trawling through is that students are more disposed to keeping running commentaries about their lives, listing the things that they did that day than to give opinions and thoughts. of course that is very stereotyping. i am sure there are students out there who are insightful and insicive, using words as a surgeon would a scapel, delicately yet with absolute certainty, cutting straight to the heart of many a complex issues. Gayle Goh for example. but then again, she's a rare breed from a place of a very different culture.

and that's the thing about language. use it or lose it. not just that. what you say, how you say it very much reflects the environment you find yourself in, says a lot about the people you spend time with. in the time since i've left university, my English has deteriorated much. i put it down to not having to keep up with the subtle nuances that people like the Warden lace their conversations with. i have been trying to make it up by reading.

ah well...

Coffee induced...

2008-03-29T03:46:00.005+08:00

i am feeling some strange emotional aversion to blogging. perhaps it is because i have not done it for such a long time that now, what used to be a regular ritual, seems to be so unnatural that i can't bring myself to believe that i had once been so immersed in it. consequently, i find it difficult to bring myself to blog once again.

a lot has happened since my last entry and i have changed much in that time, gained different experiences which have consequently shaped my views and outlook. it has taken much out of me. and i won't deny that i am not tired (pardon the double negatives... somehow it just sounds nicer... though Orwell wouldn't have approved... but heck, who cares about him...). it is the sort of exhaustion that festers in the core of your being and slowly hollows you out, making you physically fatigued and emotionally drained, leaving you with a lumbering empty shell. perhaps this is what people call being burnt out.

oh well... i didn't mean to write all that. i meant to write about Vantage Point. and it was meant to be funny... more like the posts when i first started this blog (i.e. random, warped sense of humour). it had something to do with getting a new handphone. wait, what does Vantage point have to do with getting a new handphone? well... have you noticed how, in Vantage Point (if you have watched it, that is), despite all the running about, explosions, car crash, etc... Tom's handphone is still in perfect condition? what a marvellouslly tough handphone it is! just right for a clutz like me.

but what's more miraculous is how, after all the ordeal that Tom goes through, at the end of the show, he is still immaculately dressed, tie still in place, not a scratch on his suit. Bruce Willis should learn from Dennis Quaid... but then again, some people might find a man with rippling muscles in a sweat drenched singlet sexy.

and of course there is the amazing confluence of multiple coincidences (spoiler alert...) at the end of the show. the most incredible was the one where the bad guy swerved to avoid hitting Anna (an innocent little child looking for her mom... aw... so sweet...) and thus resulting in the complete failure of an otherwise ingeniusly planned operation that was immaculately executed. why would anyone who is willing to blow up a packed plaza and all but demolish a hotel lobby be worried about running a little girl over?

but it's only a show. i guess we should suspend belief and give grace to poetic license.

right. the coffee is finally wearing off. i am going to sleep now. when will i next blog? i don't know. but i don't think anyone is holding their breaths.

How long has it been

2007-12-23T23:06:00.000+08:00

since i last blogged?

eons it seemed, though it was only a couple of months back. lots have happened since. much have kept me occupied and thus the lack of time to update my blog. and sometimes, even when i do have time, i wonder whether i have much that is worth blogging about, whether what i write would, in anyways, add value to the sum of what humans produce.

ah wells...

anyways.

yesterday as i was at Max Brenner's, i had a thought. you know... girls can't quite get that fat eating chocolate. cos you see... i have it on good authority that for girls, eating chocolate can be quite orgasmic. and as we all know... orgasms burn calories. lots of calories. though it would be quite messy if a guy has orgasms when he eats chocolate... then the chocolate won't be the only thing that is sticky and gooey...

well... it will soon be a new year. any resolutions?

Socially Enterprising

2007-10-31T01:58:00.000+08:00

Cheng sent me this URL for what can pass off as a social enterprise:
http://www.fuckforforest.com/

Cheng sent it to Brandon too. Brandon, after seeing this, said that there is no hope for the human race.

well... i won't be so pessimistic. these people are creative... albeit in rather perverse ways (in more ways than one...)

Sitting in the middle

2007-10-27T00:30:00.001+08:00

some of us are left brainers. some right brainers. some... unfortunately... are no brainers...

What's better than Godiva Chocolates?

2007-10-16T23:00:00.000+08:00

a student gave me Godiva chocolates today. i was pleasantly surprised. but today was a very long day of much running around. because of my portfolio, i have my hand in many many pies. so i didn't think much of the chocolates. i finally found some time to eat the chocolates. shared them with a friend. and that made me happy. but not as happy as when i read the card that came with the chocolates.

written in his characteristic scrawl (almost, but not quite, as bad as mine), it said this:
This is a little gift fromme, i would like to thank you for all our guidance throughout the year and the time and effort.

reading the card lifted my spirits completely in a way that the chocolates could not have. and i'm sure that this card and other cards and tokens of appreciation (like the 'bouquet' of 'flowers') will sustain me through many tough times.

thank you.

Pleasure

2007-10-13T01:07:00.000+08:00

or Raku in Japanese. is a fine fine restaurant at Holland V.

had the following:

Metsu Sashimi set. it's fantastic. pricey, but really great, fresh, rich flavour, fabulous texture.
Unagi Kabayaki. just heavenly. but i may be biased. cos i normally already really like unagi. and i also like it sweet and all...
cha soba. nothing fantastic this one. texture not as good as what it could be.
gindara nabe. if you like plain stuff... then this one is for you. definitely healthy. but... a bit too bland for my liking.
soft shell crab maki. was sooooo..... YUMMY! with lots and lots of salmon roe. dip in a bit of soy sauce and some ginger. YUMMMMMMMMY!

ambience of the place... well... it's a small place. nothing much to boast about. service was quite good.

well... that was my dinner. now i'm tired. and going to sleep. such a pig right? (but i did walk around sixth avenue after dinner... for quite a while... so not that much of a pig la...)

Beware...

2007-10-09T23:22:00.000+08:00

i should be more cautious about the things that i typed on my blog. and also perhaps get rid of some of the things which might come across as objectionable. i've heard of far too many cases about how people lose their jobs (my line of work...) because of their blogs. and one case was even punished for things that he wrote before formally becoming a teacher.

ah well...

Facebook

2007-09-27T01:24:00.001+08:00

just started on Facebook... it's quite... idiotically addictive... grr...

How to save a life?

2007-09-25T12:44:00.000+08:00

Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
And you begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong,
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
And pray to God he hears you

Where did I go wrong,
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you've followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he'll say he's just not the same
And you'll begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong,
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

sometimes, when i have songs on my blog, there are specific reasons. sometimes, there isn't. there isn't any particular reason why i have this song on my blog. i guess it's just that it sounds... emo... poignant. and recent events have put me in a rather pensive state of mind. J has this as his MSN nick, "in the end, what are we if not ashes in the wind?" how true.

sigh...

CPF Changes

2007-09-20T08:45:00.001+08:00

problems with the adjustment to the CPF scheme:

I have worked hard, I want to enjoy now
the other problem that the government faces is the mentality many older workers have. many feel that they have worked hard, contributed to their families and nation. they ought to have the luxury of enjoying themselves. psychologically, the delay in the DDA is to these people a great blow as they find themselves having to push back their plans to 'chill'.

of course, our government, being clinically rational, has good intentions for the delay in the DDA. the move is necessary because it is a fact that Singaporeans are going to live longer. the question is whether people, while living longer, will be living better as well. or will these people, while living longer, become a financial burden to the state. the idea is then that the government should do something to ensure that Singaporeans, while living longer also live quality, independent lives. the way to do this, in the government's view, is for people to save more for themselves so that they rely on themselves. the government's role, in their own opinion, is therefore to set up schemes and put up structures to help Singaporeans save more to ensure long quality lives.

however, rational as the government's thinking might be, it still does not address the psychological and emotional impact on a person who was hoping to retire and enjoy life's luxuries. this is further compounded by the second problem.

Employability of lowly skilled, lowly educated elderly workers

our economy has evolved to become a 'knowledge economy'. jobs created are in the higher end scale, demanding for highly educated people or at least someone skilled enough to operate in an environment of high technology. while this is happening, jobs at the lower end, production line staff, technicians, are quickly dwindling. lowly educated workers find themselves irrelevant to the new economy.

for those who are younger, they might be able to retrain, re-educate themselves. employers might even find it worthwhile, economically, to provide for this retraining and re-education. the mathematics is simple. a young worker, if i spend $x training him, he might be able to provide me $10x worth of value-add because he can work for me for many years. but what about the older workers?

they are caught by 2 problems. firstly, a good portion of them are trained to fit into the 'old' economy, one where manufacturing was a very major engine of the economy. now they find that much of what they do are either relocated to other countries or taken over by machines with cheaper processes. the same pool of people now fight for less jobs, possibly resulting in many of them losing their jobs. secondly, they find that they do not have skills/educational level that allows them to be re-employed in the high growth sectors of today's economy. many of them do not have the financial resources to re-train/re-educate themselves. employers won't want to do so either, because it just does not make economic sense.

the delay of the draw down age therefore means that those who lose their jobs at say 50 would potentially have to live 15 years without a stable source of money. now if the government legislates that employers hire these older workers, the knock-on effect would be that the young lowly educated and lowly skilled will now have to compete with a large number of lowly skilled and educated workers, all the while the pool of work available is shrinking.

therefore, it would be a good idea for the government to seriously consider how to constantly ensure that workers, not just older ones (because by the time the worker becomes old, it is already too late) upgrade themselves to stay relevant to the changing demands of our economy.

personally, i will take care of my parents. since i'm already taking care of my parents, why should i take care of other people's parents? if i want to take care of anyone's parents, i will do it on my own, not through the government. i therefore object to the tax money that i pay to be used to take care of other people's parents. so i want a government that creates an environment where people can take care of themselves, take care of their own parents without depending on the state to give out money. of course that is ideal which in reality cannot be achieved. that being the case, i want my government to create a situation where it can minimise the amount of money being given out. train workers so that they can continue working, increase the returns on investments of our savings. at most supplement income. but as a citizen, i am completely against the idea of just handing out money. the day that happens, i think that the government would have failed, that we, as a people, would have failed.

Life...

2007-09-17T18:19:00.000+08:00

is unpredictable.

is fragile.

you will be missed.

V for Vendetta

2007-09-16T16:37:00.000+08:00

Just watched V for Vendetta... it's too heavy a show for a Sunday afternoon, especially since i woke damn early this morning to make it for the Run for Hope thing. one of the more thought provoking quotes:

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.

The people should not be afraid of the government, the government should be afraid of the people.

in light of a number of things which have happened, V for Vendetta is timely. could 9/11 be the real world equivalent of the fictional virus attack at St Mary's, Three Waters, etc? how far would/should a government go to claim that it's the vox populi and the expression of the general will and thus how much would/should a government do to 'protect' its people? and if the government fails in its duty or oversteps its mandate, then it is the people's duty to do something about it.

Initialize this...

2007-09-16T01:13:00.000+08:00

Branch Secretary: BS

Senior Assistant Director: SAD

any others you have come across/heard of/think of?

I Survived...

2007-09-12T21:09:00.000+08:00

a great ordeal of unimagined proportions.

i was starved, isolated, shut up in a tiny hole...

well... not quite.

my internet connection at home was down for the last... erm... week or so. it took quite a while before i figured out what was wrong and how to fix it. and in the mean time... it was really really painful! just goes to show how much a slave of technology i am...

A Badminton match

2007-09-11T14:13:00.000+08:00

it was a match that didn't matter. regardless of the outcome of that particular match, the team would have been placed third. nonetheless, the pair played their best. they lost the first set. in the second set, they were 20-14 down. one more mistake and the match is gone. the pair steadied their nerves, held out against the relentless assualt of their opponents. point by point, they ran their opponents down. when they eventually won that set, a rapturous cheer went out from the crowd who supported them. i swear, i had goosepimples.

in the third set, they played hard. they did all they could, but they have not trained for a long while and the game took its toll on them. they saved 3 match points, but eventually broke, losing 23-25.

winning and losing was secondary. of course it didn't feel good that they lost. what was important was that they went down fighting. they displayed their grit. and the crowd cheered, not only for them, but for their opponents. that's the kind of spirit we are proud of.

well done guys.

How Embarassing

2007-09-06T13:21:00.000+08:00

so i was in a shopping mall the other day. there was some PS2 promo going on. you know, one of those where you can try the games for free... so i did. some basketball game. as i played, this teenager came along and joined in the game. so i ended up playing against him. my goodness... i kena tok big time.

it made me realised that i am really malcoordinated. and that kids nowadays have really developed thumbs which can do many wonders.

in other news... i was in this toilet the other day. it was in one government building. and as they usually have in government buildings, there are little posters of quotable quotes pasted on the walls, so that while peeing, you can read these quotes. one read something like this "Be There. It is about sharing the moment with the people around you..." er... i am peeing... i don't really see how i can share that moment with the people around me... and i don't think they want me to do that either.

but there was one that was quite meaningful. it read something like "Play is not an activity. It is a state of mind that brings new energy to the things that you do."

so... what are you playing with today?

More Suggestions

2007-09-01T01:55:00.000+08:00

i had suggestions for daughters... for sons...

can either call them Weng Kin (i actually know this guy who studied in UK who's called that... lucky for him, he's VERY muscular...) or Foo Kin.

hi, what's your name?

i'm Weng Kin.

what? now?

or better yet...

hi, what's your name?

i'm Foo Kin.

EEEWWWW. get a room!

your son will so love you.

You are...

2007-09-01T01:31:00.000+08:00

you are the source of my greatest frustrations and most profound joy.

you are my most exhausting endeavour and greatest source of strength.

thanks for the flowers, the windmill, the pomelo, the cards and kind words.

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up... To more than I can be.
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

i'll do my best so that i won't let you down.

I really don't know

Bloob Bloob

I'm BACK!

“You won't improve schools by mixing the bad with the good”

Perfectly imperfect

Thanks

Give me a Break

Random Thoughts

REALLY MISS

AFOB Too!

AFB

History in the making.

You know it's Christmas

Dreaming...

Importance of Dreams. *edited*

Ideal

Plato and a Platypus Walked Into a Bar

Policy making

Memories of the Southern Clouds...

In God We Trust

Freedom!!!

Fantastic Stuff

One Person One Half...

Differences

Discovered

Being Poignant Again...

Having Fun...

Civil Society

Horror...

Lowering Standards

Free Speech?

Dumb and Dumber

Misplaced Trust

That's what we call news...

Money Honey

Random Poignant-ness

JibJab

Too good to be true...

Soundtrack to my life...

Argh...

Random Findings

Meaningless Debate

Evolution

Password

Random Thoughts

Rise, Denizens of the Nether World!

Wall.E

Just out of curiousity

Marriage and procreation

Replying notes

Death and Orchard Road (not related...)

Just a thought

X-files

Cliffhanger

Red Dragonfly

Long Story Short

Economics

Soppiness

Sex(ism) and the Silly

Price of Oil

KL

Another Genre

Glorious Years

Beyond...

Heh Heh

Skeptism

Cowell at his best

Emo

Too stressed out?

Exploiting and exploited

From Rugby

Philosophical Ruminations from Geylang

500!!!

The Grasshopper

Circles...

Increased Productivity

Specters

An answer

Do you know how a butterfly thinks?

Control

Importance of Dreams. edited