Thursday, August 28, 2008
Slack
Ack. I sense a lack of motivation to write these past few days. Yes I'm slacking. What irony, slacking has a king in it. That's a king no one wants to be crowned. Will write soon, I promise (not that my promises mean much nowadays anyway).
Monday, August 25, 2008
Resume?
Explaination of previous post
Whoever you are, whatever you think about the previous blog post, it is wrong. Yes seriously, it means nothing. Well, nothing that you will get anyway (insert 'contextual knowledge needed' here). Post title means nothing, first paragraph of post refers to something, but nothing particularly important. Dammit, I always wanted to create a misleading blog post, then I suddenly succeed without planning it. This reminds me of ambiguous endings, or rather ambiguity in general, which is a very useful tool. It can give people who truly understand the hidden meaning a special pride in being the select few who understands, it can mislead, it can piss other people off, and it can also give the user a certain recognition for being able to wield such a powerful tool so well (think Nostradamus).
Then again, when repeatedly re-reading the previous post, it can mean so much, the possibilities are endless. I swear this is how the writers of short stories, or writers of anything in general, feel after they complete their written piece. They read, other ppl read, and with each person's point of view and previous knowledge that they carry with them, they interpret a new meaning each time. And who can say what the true meaning of the piece is? The writer can. The true meaning is what he was thinking of when he wrote that piece, or what if the true meaning is what his subconcious was thinking of when he was writing that piece, and that the first meaning was just a cover, a veil of lesser truths over the underlying one. The piece of writing means everything, and nothing at the same time, and at any point of time before each person's personal conclusion, it is in a state similar to that of Schrödinger's cat. I now leave it up to you readers to give these words (and those before them) the meaning they deserve.
Why isn't there a false start for swimming O_O?
Whoever you are, whatever you think about the previous blog post, it is wrong. Yes seriously, it means nothing. Well, nothing that you will get anyway (insert 'contextual knowledge needed' here). Post title means nothing, first paragraph of post refers to something, but nothing particularly important. Dammit, I always wanted to create a misleading blog post, then I suddenly succeed without planning it. This reminds me of ambiguous endings, or rather ambiguity in general, which is a very useful tool. It can give people who truly understand the hidden meaning a special pride in being the select few who understands, it can mislead, it can piss other people off, and it can also give the user a certain recognition for being able to wield such a powerful tool so well (think Nostradamus).
Then again, when repeatedly re-reading the previous post, it can mean so much, the possibilities are endless. I swear this is how the writers of short stories, or writers of anything in general, feel after they complete their written piece. They read, other ppl read, and with each person's point of view and previous knowledge that they carry with them, they interpret a new meaning each time. And who can say what the true meaning of the piece is? The writer can. The true meaning is what he was thinking of when he wrote that piece, or what if the true meaning is what his subconcious was thinking of when he was writing that piece, and that the first meaning was just a cover, a veil of lesser truths over the underlying one. The piece of writing means everything, and nothing at the same time, and at any point of time before each person's personal conclusion, it is in a state similar to that of Schrödinger's cat. I now leave it up to you readers to give these words (and those before them) the meaning they deserve.
Why isn't there a false start for swimming O_O?
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Memoriesz
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you. It isn't so easy just to forget, and leave everything behind.
I've been going out the past two days (Fri and Sat) and hence the lack of time. And I'm also slacking. O wells, looks like some things haven't changed.
I've been going out the past two days (Fri and Sat) and hence the lack of time. And I'm also slacking. O wells, looks like some things haven't changed.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Most Unproductive Day 5
Was going to write a long post, was going to do homework, was going to accomplish alot of stuff. But did nothing in the end. Sian.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Daily - August 19
*has changed his status from (blank) to tired, and wont be changing it back anytime soon*
I feel more tired these past few days, and was wondering why. I couldn't really put my finger to it, until today, where I had a great revelation on the way home from school. The last bus stop that I get down at just before walking to my home was shifted 25 metres further away, as part of an ongoing effort to upgrade our bus stops. This results in a great change from my usual routine of walking home from school after taking bus, and this extra undue effort on my part has left me exhausted and unable to function properly. I hope that the workers and contractors would hurry up and fix the bus stop, then maybe I wont feel so tired.
Oh, and I can't seem to stay awake so much nowadays, having to resort to MUDs to repay the sleep debtors. I must be getting on in my years, reaching the point of maximum sleep, eternally. Or maybe I am still lazy, I nap, then forget to wake up, lazy to get up. It's quite exhausting to get up from the comfortable bed, or sofa for that matter. How I'd like to just lay there, thinking, dreaming. Oh that reminds me, I had this scary nightmarish dream yesterday while MUD-ing. Forgot most of it, but it involves this really irritating imp-like thingy that keeps bugging me, controlling me, and when I tried to destroy its source he reinforced it so it had no effect =( Then there was this staircase that led down to the depths of the depths. Then when I started walking upwards it started moving downwards. But there were others with me, but I can't seem to remember who they are. Weird lol.
Oh, and my iop is but a shadow in the greatness of the iops presented today. One chance, do it right, do it beautifully, and maybe there won't be any need for regrets later on.
Wavering resolve. Promises fading. Intensity needs to be adjusted higher, but that'll only increase the amplitude. How then? Add an inverse wave? No, that'll make everything equal to nil. Remembering promises... How how how? Aha, idea. Flip the bottom part of the wave up, in other words modulus it, then it'll forever stay high, above zero, positive, good. Negative useless stuff should not be neglected, but instead purposely avoided, then it won't not only dissappear, but appear on the other side of the x-axis. Promises remembered. Poisson distribution, many many possible opportunities to happen, but it happens rarely. Must account for that. Accounts, logs, lists, numbers, statistics, data. Waiting to be organised, just there asking to be organised. I'll handle you all later, really, I will.
"The time where I skipped school for homework" - taken from ibquotes.com. All too true, judging from the people around me, but I've yet to do that. It won't be soon before long that that happens to me.
I feel more tired these past few days, and was wondering why. I couldn't really put my finger to it, until today, where I had a great revelation on the way home from school. The last bus stop that I get down at just before walking to my home was shifted 25 metres further away, as part of an ongoing effort to upgrade our bus stops. This results in a great change from my usual routine of walking home from school after taking bus, and this extra undue effort on my part has left me exhausted and unable to function properly. I hope that the workers and contractors would hurry up and fix the bus stop, then maybe I wont feel so tired.
Oh, and I can't seem to stay awake so much nowadays, having to resort to MUDs to repay the sleep debtors. I must be getting on in my years, reaching the point of maximum sleep, eternally. Or maybe I am still lazy, I nap, then forget to wake up, lazy to get up. It's quite exhausting to get up from the comfortable bed, or sofa for that matter. How I'd like to just lay there, thinking, dreaming. Oh that reminds me, I had this scary nightmarish dream yesterday while MUD-ing. Forgot most of it, but it involves this really irritating imp-like thingy that keeps bugging me, controlling me, and when I tried to destroy its source he reinforced it so it had no effect =( Then there was this staircase that led down to the depths of the depths. Then when I started walking upwards it started moving downwards. But there were others with me, but I can't seem to remember who they are. Weird lol.
Oh, and my iop is but a shadow in the greatness of the iops presented today. One chance, do it right, do it beautifully, and maybe there won't be any need for regrets later on.
Wavering resolve. Promises fading. Intensity needs to be adjusted higher, but that'll only increase the amplitude. How then? Add an inverse wave? No, that'll make everything equal to nil. Remembering promises... How how how? Aha, idea. Flip the bottom part of the wave up, in other words modulus it, then it'll forever stay high, above zero, positive, good. Negative useless stuff should not be neglected, but instead purposely avoided, then it won't not only dissappear, but appear on the other side of the x-axis. Promises remembered. Poisson distribution, many many possible opportunities to happen, but it happens rarely. Must account for that. Accounts, logs, lists, numbers, statistics, data. Waiting to be organised, just there asking to be organised. I'll handle you all later, really, I will.
"The time where I skipped school for homework" - taken from ibquotes.com. All too true, judging from the people around me, but I've yet to do that. It won't be soon before long that that happens to me.
Most Unproductive Day 4
Wah there seems to be a larger influx of MUDs now that I'm suppose to be a mugger. Oh noes what is my world coming to... Anyway about school, IOP and chinese oral done. YESSS IT'S OVARR. And I know a dude who has both on today, good luck lol. IOP was a slight bit of success, I hope, well if I didn't shoot myself in the food, then everything should be fine. Though I think I talked abit too fast and too much, with too little quotes. O well, gg then.
Anime-wise, I found an awesome MAD on nico nico video, and have been watching it a few times. And in unrelated news, I've changed my wallpaper from Shana to something else, some old 2005 anime, which was one of the best series I've seen so far. Let's see who can guess it.
Still falling behind in my work, but that shouldn't be the case soon enough. Must work harder to keep my promises. =)
Vote on dumb poll here (Below the tag board) and do the Jo/No-hari window thingy if you got alot of free time ----->
Answers for 3 questions: (Answers for frog riddle coming right up)
1) Cabbage
2) A glance
3) Cauliflower
Anime-wise, I found an awesome MAD on nico nico video, and have been watching it a few times. And in unrelated news, I've changed my wallpaper from Shana to something else, some old 2005 anime, which was one of the best series I've seen so far. Let's see who can guess it.
Still falling behind in my work, but that shouldn't be the case soon enough. Must work harder to keep my promises. =)
Vote on dumb poll here (Below the tag board) and do the Jo/No-hari window thingy if you got alot of free time ----->
Answers for 3 questions: (Answers for frog riddle coming right up)
1) Cabbage
2) A glance
3) Cauliflower
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Random Stuff
Compilation of random stuff:
Singapore's Olympic Women's Table Tennis Team lost the gold to China a few hours back. But no one was sad. Hrmm can it be true that winning the gold is not everything in this world of ours? But winning simply just a medal (be it silver or bronze) would be enough to satisfy the expectations and hopes of everyone? What then is the worth of achieving the fifth place in the international stage? The fame a medal winner gets is a lot more than the fame the fourth or fifth place person gets. Should this be the case?
But if one was really chasing fame, in all sense of the word, then what about screw-ups and mistakes that the world sits up and takes notice of? I was just thinking about this a short while back, while watching the Track 100m Women's finals. The world cares about the first, a significantly less bit about the second, similar amount for the third, and practically no one cares about the fourth onwards. But everyone will comment and take notice of a mistake (e.g. tripping in the 100m race). Can that be still considered fame? But which true sportsman who embodies the spirit of the olympics would risk all that they have just for some fame? I hope no one.
I went to pay my respects to my grandfather today, it is the anniversary of his passing. O how I lament the loss of tradition that is happening right before my eyes. As the generations pass, the amount of culture and tradition being passed on is decreasing in an alarming rate. I predict in a few generations time, the world (actually probably only Singapore) would've lost a large portion of its culture, for the better or for the worst?
Test of how connected you are to other people through a certain way of communication.
What's the connection between these words:
Home <---> Good ~~~ Me <---> Of
(a certain person who seems really proficient in this particular way of communication couldn't figure it out, so maybe it is a lousy test)
What has a head but cannot think?
What can you steal but not be caught for?
What flower isn't actually a flower?
(All these will be answered, along with the previous frogs on a log riddle, soon)
Singapore's Olympic Women's Table Tennis Team lost the gold to China a few hours back. But no one was sad. Hrmm can it be true that winning the gold is not everything in this world of ours? But winning simply just a medal (be it silver or bronze) would be enough to satisfy the expectations and hopes of everyone? What then is the worth of achieving the fifth place in the international stage? The fame a medal winner gets is a lot more than the fame the fourth or fifth place person gets. Should this be the case?
But if one was really chasing fame, in all sense of the word, then what about screw-ups and mistakes that the world sits up and takes notice of? I was just thinking about this a short while back, while watching the Track 100m Women's finals. The world cares about the first, a significantly less bit about the second, similar amount for the third, and practically no one cares about the fourth onwards. But everyone will comment and take notice of a mistake (e.g. tripping in the 100m race). Can that be still considered fame? But which true sportsman who embodies the spirit of the olympics would risk all that they have just for some fame? I hope no one.
I went to pay my respects to my grandfather today, it is the anniversary of his passing. O how I lament the loss of tradition that is happening right before my eyes. As the generations pass, the amount of culture and tradition being passed on is decreasing in an alarming rate. I predict in a few generations time, the world (actually probably only Singapore) would've lost a large portion of its culture, for the better or for the worst?
Test of how connected you are to other people through a certain way of communication.
What's the connection between these words:
Home <---> Good ~~~ Me <---> Of
(a certain person who seems really proficient in this particular way of communication couldn't figure it out, so maybe it is a lousy test)
What has a head but cannot think?
What can you steal but not be caught for?
What flower isn't actually a flower?
(All these will be answered, along with the previous frogs on a log riddle, soon)
Fun
Take a helium-filled balloon, and tie a long string to it. Carry the balloon out into the open (make sure it isn't raining or it'll be dangerous, but even more fun). Let the balloon go, and as the end of the string floats just above your reach, jump and catch it. Repeat. The adrenaline rush is one of the best feelings you can get, all from just a balloon and some string. One mistake and the balloon will fly away into the clouds, never to return. Dont make the mistake.
When was the last time you let your inner child take over? One of the problems of growing up is that we leave our child-like attributes behind. And that is a loss that no one notices.
When was the last time you let your inner child take over? One of the problems of growing up is that we leave our child-like attributes behind. And that is a loss that no one notices.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Olympics
A tribute to the best swimmer of our time.
A class above the rest, a god amongst men, a name that will be immortalized in history past, the present, and histories yet to be written - Michael Phelps.
I saw history being written today, at slightly past 10am on this bright saturday morning. Beamed live from China's Water Cube, I saw the olympian take his seventh gold, and set his seventh Olympic record. (The first six were world records and world records are olympic records, but not neccessarily the other way around) I'm sure many of you have heard of this before, but exactly how much is 0.01 second worth to the olympian? Well, the question has just been answered today, it is the difference between Gold and Silver, a First and a First-runners-up, a Champion and a Hero.
A note to all those who have not seen the footage of the 100m Butterfly Men's Final - go watch it. Maybe it is purely by luck and chance, but the way the strokes end up is beautiful. One man's last reach for the gold to defeat the giant, and the giant'sarms flippers coming from behind to hit the board that'll stop time, and start a legacy.
The olympics is prestigious, it is widely recognised, but the system may seem flawed. Contestants are given only one chance to perform, it is do or die. And maybe this is what makes it beautiful, when humans give their best, when people strive all out to achieve their dreams. One chance every four years, and that is if you qualify and not make any mistakes during the trials and heats. Make a mistake and it is four years gone, make two and it is a shame, make three and your whole career and hopes and dreams are gone. The olympics tolerate nothing but the best, and the best shall show themselves to the world.
Detractors would say he did not set a seventh world record, he only set six thus far, and he should not be revered and respected as much as he currently is. But I say it does not matter, I know a champion when I see one. Being hailed as a great sportsman is similar to proving a truth in science, all it takes is just one failure for everything to fall apart. The law of gravity is a law, as nothing substantial has proven it wrong thus far, but all it needs is for one phenomenon to consistently break this law for the whole law to fall apart. Similarly, a great sportsman is great as long as he doesnt make a mistake, and show his human side. Roger Federer was considered the best, till he made some mistakes recently and lost to some relatively low ranked guy. However, for now, Michael Phelps remains as the best in swimming. He has won gold in every single event he has taken part in, set multiple world records, and by multiple I mean all except one. When people compete against him, they do not only compete against themselves, they compete against this man.
As a note, it is quite interesting and humourous to see the impeccably dressed men in awesome blue suits stand at the end of the swimming pool to ring bells at the swimmers to tell them that it is their last lap. O the horror/hilarity if one of them would trip and fall in, I await the day that it happens.
A class above the rest, a god amongst men, a name that will be immortalized in history past, the present, and histories yet to be written - Michael Phelps.
I saw history being written today, at slightly past 10am on this bright saturday morning. Beamed live from China's Water Cube, I saw the olympian take his seventh gold, and set his seventh Olympic record. (The first six were world records and world records are olympic records, but not neccessarily the other way around) I'm sure many of you have heard of this before, but exactly how much is 0.01 second worth to the olympian? Well, the question has just been answered today, it is the difference between Gold and Silver, a First and a First-runners-up, a Champion and a Hero.
A note to all those who have not seen the footage of the 100m Butterfly Men's Final - go watch it. Maybe it is purely by luck and chance, but the way the strokes end up is beautiful. One man's last reach for the gold to defeat the giant, and the giant's
The olympics is prestigious, it is widely recognised, but the system may seem flawed. Contestants are given only one chance to perform, it is do or die. And maybe this is what makes it beautiful, when humans give their best, when people strive all out to achieve their dreams. One chance every four years, and that is if you qualify and not make any mistakes during the trials and heats. Make a mistake and it is four years gone, make two and it is a shame, make three and your whole career and hopes and dreams are gone. The olympics tolerate nothing but the best, and the best shall show themselves to the world.
Detractors would say he did not set a seventh world record, he only set six thus far, and he should not be revered and respected as much as he currently is. But I say it does not matter, I know a champion when I see one. Being hailed as a great sportsman is similar to proving a truth in science, all it takes is just one failure for everything to fall apart. The law of gravity is a law, as nothing substantial has proven it wrong thus far, but all it needs is for one phenomenon to consistently break this law for the whole law to fall apart. Similarly, a great sportsman is great as long as he doesnt make a mistake, and show his human side. Roger Federer was considered the best, till he made some mistakes recently and lost to some relatively low ranked guy. However, for now, Michael Phelps remains as the best in swimming. He has won gold in every single event he has taken part in, set multiple world records, and by multiple I mean all except one. When people compete against him, they do not only compete against themselves, they compete against this man.
As a note, it is quite interesting and humourous to see the impeccably dressed men in awesome blue suits stand at the end of the swimming pool to ring bells at the swimmers to tell them that it is their last lap. O the horror/hilarity if one of them would trip and fall in, I await the day that it happens.
Weekend
Finally some free time to actually do the masses of work I plan to complete. But again I fall back into the traps and sins of my old life, wasting time on useless (when viewed from certain academic points of view) gaming and the such. I should find a balance between my excessive gaming and work.
Work gives a sense of achievement when completed, and this sense of achievement swells for each event after the completion of work - when at school you feel less stressed cause the work is done, when people ask you about the work and you show them the completed stuff, when teachers come in and you hand in the work with pride and satisfaction. It's been too long since I've felt these feelings, wayy too long, and the motivation that it wont be too long before I can experience these feelings again should be enough to make me do my work.
On the other hand, the achievement and high from gaming is short lived, no one cares if you've defeated the computer opponent for the 100th time. Very few people care if you've defeated your friend in a game, namely you and your friend. And about anime, I've paused most of my anime watching already, it uses up alot of time, but I believe the satisfaction and achievement you get from completing a series is quite significant, so I shall piroritize it above my gaming in the future when I've gotten everything sorted out.
Hrmm, and on the topic of emoing, it sucks being emo. Really. Well it was fun and interesting for the first few hours or maybe the first few days, but then it gets boring. Being emo has very very few benefits to you or the people around you, in fact it more often than not negatively affects all those around you, like random people you happen to treat worst than normal just because you feel life sucks. Even if life sucks, then keep that to yourself, and strive to make life less sucky for other people cause you know how freaking sian it is for life to suck for you, and you dont want other people to feel the same. It's like social sciences, you notice what people do, and you must attempt to empathize with the subject before you can not only know but truely understand the motivations and thought processes that go behind each and every action. Well emoing was fun, so was spiking my hair for a day, these two should not be done too often, but when done once in a while, it provides me insights on myself and on how others view and treat me, which is always good to know. Here marks the end of one of my most emo times, and the start of the new and hopefully mugger me =)
Work gives a sense of achievement when completed, and this sense of achievement swells for each event after the completion of work - when at school you feel less stressed cause the work is done, when people ask you about the work and you show them the completed stuff, when teachers come in and you hand in the work with pride and satisfaction. It's been too long since I've felt these feelings, wayy too long, and the motivation that it wont be too long before I can experience these feelings again should be enough to make me do my work.
On the other hand, the achievement and high from gaming is short lived, no one cares if you've defeated the computer opponent for the 100th time. Very few people care if you've defeated your friend in a game, namely you and your friend. And about anime, I've paused most of my anime watching already, it uses up alot of time, but I believe the satisfaction and achievement you get from completing a series is quite significant, so I shall piroritize it above my gaming in the future when I've gotten everything sorted out.
Hrmm, and on the topic of emoing, it sucks being emo. Really. Well it was fun and interesting for the first few hours or maybe the first few days, but then it gets boring. Being emo has very very few benefits to you or the people around you, in fact it more often than not negatively affects all those around you, like random people you happen to treat worst than normal just because you feel life sucks. Even if life sucks, then keep that to yourself, and strive to make life less sucky for other people cause you know how freaking sian it is for life to suck for you, and you dont want other people to feel the same. It's like social sciences, you notice what people do, and you must attempt to empathize with the subject before you can not only know but truely understand the motivations and thought processes that go behind each and every action. Well emoing was fun, so was spiking my hair for a day, these two should not be done too often, but when done once in a while, it provides me insights on myself and on how others view and treat me, which is always good to know. Here marks the end of one of my most emo times, and the start of the new and hopefully mugger me =)
Friday, August 15, 2008
Most Unproductive Day 3
Keeping track of how many unproductive days I have in a school term, or school year. Its up to number 3 liao, that's abit too many... Darnit. How can I afford to have no work done when there's so much work... At least now I won't feel so sleepy, 10 hours of sleep is quite refreshing.
I'm searching and finding out all the reasons why I'm emo, and I've found 6 liao, but only 3 are important, maybe I can solve this stupid emo problem once and for all. Then I can be back to my usual happy-go-lucky happy self =)
I'm searching and finding out all the reasons why I'm emo, and I've found 6 liao, but only 3 are important, maybe I can solve this stupid emo problem once and for all. Then I can be back to my usual happy-go-lucky happy self =)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Daily - August 13
I feel like I'm just going through the motions of daily life, nothing new is happening, nothing particularly interesting or exciting is happening. Routines - Wake, Travel, Sleep, School, Sleep, Schoolwork, Travel, Sleep, Home, Homework, (Sleep). Repeat. Torturous, Boring, Sian. How long can one endure this before he breaks down? Screw it lah, mountain of homework waiting to be completed, promises made that are waiting to be fufilled, how much longer can they wait before they give up? My to-do list, the list of stuff that governs my life, is getting longer day by day. I have no time to arrange it, or even to attempt to start completing and clearing the tasks to be done. I have this urge to delete it, then maybe I can start anew, a clean slate, no more of my previous records and thoughts and life. Hrmm, is it better to know something unpleasant, or to not know anything at all?
I just killed a cockroach. It is strangely satisfying, beating the shit out of a lower-life form. Just because we can. Isnt that how life is? The stronger ones take advantage of the weaker ones, and the weaker ones just find people weaker than them to take advantage of. Sometimes the weaker ones take revenge on the strong ones, upsetting the delicate balance of life, creating a revolution. When this happens, isnt it more exciting? How do you think the cockroach of whose family you have just gassed to death with motein feels when it pollutes your food, causing you to have illnesses and a quicker death? I once saw a TV show, where they show short horror stories. What happens if one day, we awake to realise that there are larger and more powerful beings out there, and they have the power over our lives? That as we treat ants, these beings treat us. We do not care if that single ant lived or died, and we actually gain some sort of pleasure destroying an ant nest. Maybe one day these beings will decide that we should die, and procced to destroy our existence. Only then will we realise our folly in our current actions, or is it way too late for that?
I once believed in escapism, using games and other forms of entertaintment to drown my worries and sorrows. I believed that if you run long enough, the homework and stuff would just stop chasing after you, and give up. But what really is given up, is the hope and expectations that people have of you. Thrown on the floor and trampled upon, destroyed, burned in a fire, torn to pieces and thrown into a fjord, stolen by others. People just stop believing in you. Disappointment is worst feeling you can cause other people to have, worser than anger and pain and the others. I can't count the number of times people have asked me about work, and I have no other reply except that "I haven't done it lol, will do later". And the lol is just there to make myself feel better, to give this pathetic situation a little laughter and light heartedness that shouldnt be there. The will do later is a false promise, made both to the person and to myself, with me knowing full well that the promise wouldnt be fufilled in time. Fuck you Darrell, you freaking suck lol, go die in a fire.
In other news, did chinese oral today, it went fairly well, but terribly bad compared to how much more prepared the other people are and how well they will do, because their teachers are quite slack and nice. I could more or less answer everything, except for HOW do you love your pet dogs? Now if that question was a 'What ways' or a 'Why' or a 'Who' or a 'When' then it'll be alot easier, but how do you answer such a HOW question... in chinese summore. O wells, what's done is done, no use crying over split milk, save the sadness and tears for other things, and let your pets lick up the split milk. If I get a 6 for chinese, I'll know who to blame... It's all my fault. No shit?
Note to self and all: When receiving chain emails, and all you see is a photo and the sender asks you to stare at it for awhile. First note if the pic is a jpg or a gif, it makes a world of a difference. And I didnt get trick lol, so there.
I just killed a cockroach. It is strangely satisfying, beating the shit out of a lower-life form. Just because we can. Isnt that how life is? The stronger ones take advantage of the weaker ones, and the weaker ones just find people weaker than them to take advantage of. Sometimes the weaker ones take revenge on the strong ones, upsetting the delicate balance of life, creating a revolution. When this happens, isnt it more exciting? How do you think the cockroach of whose family you have just gassed to death with motein feels when it pollutes your food, causing you to have illnesses and a quicker death? I once saw a TV show, where they show short horror stories. What happens if one day, we awake to realise that there are larger and more powerful beings out there, and they have the power over our lives? That as we treat ants, these beings treat us. We do not care if that single ant lived or died, and we actually gain some sort of pleasure destroying an ant nest. Maybe one day these beings will decide that we should die, and procced to destroy our existence. Only then will we realise our folly in our current actions, or is it way too late for that?
I once believed in escapism, using games and other forms of entertaintment to drown my worries and sorrows. I believed that if you run long enough, the homework and stuff would just stop chasing after you, and give up. But what really is given up, is the hope and expectations that people have of you. Thrown on the floor and trampled upon, destroyed, burned in a fire, torn to pieces and thrown into a fjord, stolen by others. People just stop believing in you. Disappointment is worst feeling you can cause other people to have, worser than anger and pain and the others. I can't count the number of times people have asked me about work, and I have no other reply except that "I haven't done it lol, will do later". And the lol is just there to make myself feel better, to give this pathetic situation a little laughter and light heartedness that shouldnt be there. The will do later is a false promise, made both to the person and to myself, with me knowing full well that the promise wouldnt be fufilled in time. Fuck you Darrell, you freaking suck lol, go die in a fire.
In other news, did chinese oral today, it went fairly well, but terribly bad compared to how much more prepared the other people are and how well they will do, because their teachers are quite slack and nice. I could more or less answer everything, except for HOW do you love your pet dogs? Now if that question was a 'What ways' or a 'Why' or a 'Who' or a 'When' then it'll be alot easier, but how do you answer such a HOW question... in chinese summore. O wells, what's done is done, no use crying over split milk, save the sadness and tears for other things, and let your pets lick up the split milk. If I get a 6 for chinese, I'll know who to blame... It's all my fault. No shit?
Note to self and all: When receiving chain emails, and all you see is a photo and the sender asks you to stare at it for awhile. First note if the pic is a jpg or a gif, it makes a world of a difference. And I didnt get trick lol, so there.
Daily - August 12
Back to school after a longer-than-usual break. As usual, accomplished nothing during the long weekend, but that is all about to change. Things will be different now, actually doing work is the way to go. Surprisingly, I stayed back at school till 10pm today, completed a math worksheet, and a fair bit of physics option G worksheet. Hrmm, that's quite little, considering I spent so much time working in a proper workable enviroment. Never mind, things can get only more efficient from here on. But reaching home at 11pm +- is a really bad move, oh noes I can't keep this up.
More random stuff.
Read through a good portion of my Theory of Knowledge notes on the social sciences recently, which was taken from a chapter of some philosophy book. It was fairly interesting, comparing the natural sciences and the social sciences. Here's a cool quote - "I cannot move a finger without disturbing the stars"
On the topic of homework and work-related stuff, here's a quote I remembered from a friend of mine; it concerns mugging. "Mugging is like rolling a ball/rock up a hill, you spend alot of time and effort rolling the ball/rock of muggerness up the hill, but once you go past the top, it gets alot easier to mug, and you can mug alot more alot faster." Hrmm, will I be able to pass the top of the hill?
Even more random stuff.
Physics teachers all have bad grammer, they go around saying things like "u is 3.0cm" or like "u is related to v." Even a young child who has basic grammer would be able to tell you that "u are" is the proper way to say it.
In chemistry, we learn that if you draw a line that extends at both ends, and stuff that is at one end of the line is called "Not Stable", then naturally the stuff that is at the other end is called "Horses".
Spent a portion of my weekend playing an old game for a while, no prizes for guessing what it is. It involves a highly evolved chatting system, which censors most words and phrases that happen to be remotely vulgar or explicit. E.g. Bass --> Bas* or something like that, because you know ass is such a bad word and it shouldnt be said to other people cause it could hurt their feelings. Here's the best insult I've found in that game, that rivals some of the trolling a certain friend of mine is famous for - You smell and your mum doesnt love you. Ouch, now that would've hurt me so deeply if it was said to me, but it wasnt, so yay I dont smell and my mum loves me <3
Was reminded of a phrase that I used to say alot - "Long time no see, thought you mati" hey it rhymes.
More random stuff.
Read through a good portion of my Theory of Knowledge notes on the social sciences recently, which was taken from a chapter of some philosophy book. It was fairly interesting, comparing the natural sciences and the social sciences. Here's a cool quote - "I cannot move a finger without disturbing the stars"
On the topic of homework and work-related stuff, here's a quote I remembered from a friend of mine; it concerns mugging. "Mugging is like rolling a ball/rock up a hill, you spend alot of time and effort rolling the ball/rock of muggerness up the hill, but once you go past the top, it gets alot easier to mug, and you can mug alot more alot faster." Hrmm, will I be able to pass the top of the hill?
Even more random stuff.
Physics teachers all have bad grammer, they go around saying things like "u is 3.0cm" or like "u is related to v." Even a young child who has basic grammer would be able to tell you that "u are" is the proper way to say it.
In chemistry, we learn that if you draw a line that extends at both ends, and stuff that is at one end of the line is called "Not Stable", then naturally the stuff that is at the other end is called "Horses".
Spent a portion of my weekend playing an old game for a while, no prizes for guessing what it is. It involves a highly evolved chatting system, which censors most words and phrases that happen to be remotely vulgar or explicit. E.g. Bass --> Bas* or something like that, because you know ass is such a bad word and it shouldnt be said to other people cause it could hurt their feelings. Here's the best insult I've found in that game, that rivals some of the trolling a certain friend of mine is famous for - You smell and your mum doesnt love you. Ouch, now that would've hurt me so deeply if it was said to me, but it wasnt, so yay I dont smell and my mum loves me <3
Was reminded of a phrase that I used to say alot - "Long time no see, thought you mati" hey it rhymes.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Daily - August 11
It's the 11th of August. And 11 is made by combining my favourite number with itself. Yes my favourite number is 5.5 (no lol, it's 1, along with 5 and 20(I think)). The number 11 appears many times throughout my life, mainly my house number (of the house at which I've lived my whole life), and my register number for one year (I think sec 1). This causes my emails to have that number inside. August is my birth month. Therefore, August 11 should be special. And it is. Because it is a holiday, yay.
School-given holidays translate to class outings, or other outings. And this holidy happened to translate into a class outing. Went with 4 other classmates to arcade, to bowl, and arcade, and eat, and arcade. Yay, my bowling happens to be most tyco amongst everyone there today, and I managed to achieve a three-digit score - 110 on the second round. Hrmm, information to note so that I may replicate this achievement in the future.
1. Use 8 pound ball (I know it's light, but it suits me)
2. Start with your right foot, take 3 steps and toss the ball on the 4th step
3. Try to roll the ball without much spin, unless you want to act pro.
4. ???
5. Profit.
and now back to school life and homework.
School-given holidays translate to class outings, or other outings. And this holidy happened to translate into a class outing. Went with 4 other classmates to arcade, to bowl, and arcade, and eat, and arcade. Yay, my bowling happens to be most tyco amongst everyone there today, and I managed to achieve a three-digit score - 110 on the second round. Hrmm, information to note so that I may replicate this achievement in the future.
1. Use 8 pound ball (I know it's light, but it suits me)
2. Start with your right foot, take 3 steps and toss the ball on the 4th step
3. Try to roll the ball without much spin, unless you want to act pro.
4. ???
5. Profit.
and now back to school life and homework.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Riddle
There are ten frogs on a log. Three decided to jump off. How many frogs are there left on the log? (Answer will be given soon)
Daily
Here's an interesting recount to an event today. I was thirsty, and my home ran out of plastic bottles to bring whenever I'm going out. So I decided to go buy drink(s) at the supermarket. Reaching the drinks aisle, I saw Vanilla coke! It's been really long since I drank vanilla coke, and I like vanilla, and coke, so yay. The smaller bottle, 500ml, costs $1.15, which is pretty okay price for a bottle of soft drink (usually $1 +-). I was happy and contented with my 500ml vanilla coke at the price of $1.15, then my friend pointed out that a 1.5L bottle of the same drink costs only $1.75. That's effectively $0.60 more for a larger bottle plus 1L of vanilla coke goodness. So I decided to take both bottles, after all, one cannot have too much of a good thing. Then my friend pointed out beside the vanilla coke, there was 500ml of sprite going for $0.95 only, and 1.5L of sprite going for $1.55. Hrmm, what a dilemma, but vanilla coke is nice, so heck the sprite. But then, my friend pointed out that further down the row of drinks, a 600ml (you get 20% more! (or so they claim)) of pepsi costs only $1.15. Hrmm, now what..? Remembering my objective of getting a bottle to bring water to outings and school, I decided that the 600ml bottle would be better. So I got that. And only the smaller vanilla coke too because it is nice. My friend decided to get the sprite as it is best value for money.
Then I reached home and got scolded by my mum for buying soft drinks, as they are bad for my teeth. =( I saw this one coming. Then again, I has bottle get. So I happy. =)
Then I reached home and got scolded by my mum for buying soft drinks, as they are bad for my teeth. =( I saw this one coming. Then again, I has bottle get. So I happy. =)
Battle
Walking through the high grass... and suddenly the screen splits into a million pieces.
A wild ??? ??? ??? has appeared.
I throw out my best. Shadowelf, I choose you!
The battle begins.
??? ??? ??? starts first, it uses confusion.
Shadowelf is unaffected.
Shadowelf uses scratch.
It has no effect.
??? ??? ??? uses confusion.
Shadowelf is confused.
Shadowelf is confused, it attacks itself in its confusion.
??? ??? ??? uses leer.
Shadowelf's defense fell.
I threw a poke-ball, ??? ??? ??? struggles and breaks free.
??? ??? ??? uses tackle.
It's super effective!
Shadowelf has low health left. Shadowelf uses sleep. He regained hp.
??? ??? ??? uses hyper beam.
It's super effective!
Shadowelf has been defeated. Teleporting to the nearest town....
I awoke to find myself at the door of the hospital in the nearest town, lost, confused, and defeated. The journey back to that place would be long and tiring, a waste of time. But I have to cross that place, in order to reach the end. Who'll accompany me on this long walk? But I've learnt so much in this battle, what to do, what not to do, what's effective, what just isnt. If I meet that opponent again, will I be able to defeat him...
A wild ??? ??? ??? has appeared.
I throw out my best. Shadowelf, I choose you!
The battle begins.
??? ??? ??? starts first, it uses confusion.
Shadowelf is unaffected.
Shadowelf uses scratch.
It has no effect.
??? ??? ??? uses confusion.
Shadowelf is confused.
Shadowelf is confused, it attacks itself in its confusion.
??? ??? ??? uses leer.
Shadowelf's defense fell.
I threw a poke-ball, ??? ??? ??? struggles and breaks free.
??? ??? ??? uses tackle.
It's super effective!
Shadowelf has low health left. Shadowelf uses sleep. He regained hp.
??? ??? ??? uses hyper beam.
It's super effective!
Shadowelf has been defeated. Teleporting to the nearest town....
I awoke to find myself at the door of the hospital in the nearest town, lost, confused, and defeated. The journey back to that place would be long and tiring, a waste of time. But I have to cross that place, in order to reach the end. Who'll accompany me on this long walk? But I've learnt so much in this battle, what to do, what not to do, what's effective, what just isnt. If I meet that opponent again, will I be able to defeat him...
Questions
Well, I seem to be asking more questions in my blogs, whether they are rhetorical questions or normal questions. Am I? What does this mean? Do I even know? Really? Okay that's enough. I think it shows that I am addressing it more to the supposed audience of my blog, which is few and select. Or it could mean that I am getting insecure, and am constantly trying to find confirmation and affirmation of my thoughts and feelings. The questions have been asked, will you answer?
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Words
English, a language made of words. What's the definition of words - go check it out yourself. How does one master a language? By learning all the words? Or by learning how to use them? Nevertheless, there are many things that I want to talk about words.
My vocabulary is supposedly good, as mentioned before by my siblings. But I do not think so. I used to read widely, or so I thought, till I found out the breadth and depth of literary works which my friends have explored; I read wayy too little. Then again, when asked with the meaning of a certain word, a gist of the meaning of the word would form in my mind, like an intuition or gut feeling, and it is more often right than wrong. Does this happen to everyone? For example, when asked of the meaning of the word "portend" what do you think it means? It means to signify or to mean something.
In Theory of Knowledge (ToK) lessons, we learn that certain words carry emotional baggage. Because of this, there are words which sound nicer than others, when both have exactly the same meaning. Short <--> Vertically challenged / Died <--> Kicked the bucket / Dneo <--> Awesome / Prostitute <--> Call girl / and so on and so forth. My point is, the objective of words is to bring across the message, and how you do so shouldnt be that important. Does phrasing certain things in a nicer manner change the effect of those things? Not one bit, but it does show that you make an effort. Thanks
I once read a newspaper article, that we should say things in a nice manner, because it is always better. As an example in the article, the word weird becomes unique/interesting. This substitution works in most events, and I've used it in my daily life since then. However, because of it, my view of the word unique/interesting has changed to include the meaning weird. So when people use the word unique/interesting, I may intepret it as weird... which I shouldnt. But then again, it is beneficial when people call certain categories of people of which I belong to weird, which I then intepret to mean that I am interesting and unique.
In other news, my text twirl skillz sucks. I can get to like, 3 words before I die. So I enlist the help of my friends, and we go on and on and on, until the application gets overloaded and cant load. The buggers who created the program should be shot for not maintaing their server load well. =(
My vocabulary is supposedly good, as mentioned before by my siblings. But I do not think so. I used to read widely, or so I thought, till I found out the breadth and depth of literary works which my friends have explored; I read wayy too little. Then again, when asked with the meaning of a certain word, a gist of the meaning of the word would form in my mind, like an intuition or gut feeling, and it is more often right than wrong. Does this happen to everyone? For example, when asked of the meaning of the word "portend" what do you think it means? It means to signify or to mean something.
In Theory of Knowledge (ToK) lessons, we learn that certain words carry emotional baggage. Because of this, there are words which sound nicer than others, when both have exactly the same meaning. Short <--> Vertically challenged / Died <--> Kicked the bucket / Dneo <--> Awesome / Prostitute <--> Call girl / and so on and so forth. My point is, the objective of words is to bring across the message, and how you do so shouldnt be that important. Does phrasing certain things in a nicer manner change the effect of those things? Not one bit, but it does show that you make an effort. Thanks
I once read a newspaper article, that we should say things in a nice manner, because it is always better. As an example in the article, the word weird becomes unique/interesting. This substitution works in most events, and I've used it in my daily life since then. However, because of it, my view of the word unique/interesting has changed to include the meaning weird. So when people use the word unique/interesting, I may intepret it as weird... which I shouldnt. But then again, it is beneficial when people call certain categories of people of which I belong to weird, which I then intepret to mean that I am interesting and unique.
In other news, my text twirl skillz sucks. I can get to like, 3 words before I die. So I enlist the help of my friends, and we go on and on and on, until the application gets overloaded and cant load. The buggers who created the program should be shot for not maintaing their server load well. =(
Nothing matters anymore
Recently, I said this phrase, and was reminded of a past event. I remembered the time I last used this, it was a few years ago. My life revolved around an MMORPG, and I had a friend I had never seen in real life before. I met him online, and he helped me out. We became friends, and we played together alot, helping each other through the long hours of grinding, making it bearable. Then one day he said he was quitting the game, it wasnt fun to him anymore. I was shocked, my world collapsed around me. I added him on msn, but it just wasnt the same as ingame. We had less things to talk about, we grew distant, we eventually stopped talking. He's still there on my msn, an old friend, but he's hardly online now. I started to emo (I didnt know this term then), nothing mattered anymore. Looking back, I was stupid, it's just a bloody game dammit, why so serious?
Fast foward to the present, it's a totally new situation, it's a no longer a game. Nothing matters anymore now. In the future, will I look back and think that I was stupid for thinking like this now? No. Oh wait, maybe. But since when did it matter?
Fast foward to the present, it's a totally new situation, it's a no longer a game. Nothing matters anymore now. In the future, will I look back and think that I was stupid for thinking like this now? No. Oh wait, maybe. But since when did it matter?
Format change
Format change needed. The old format sucks. I shall now evolve my blog, and screw the one post a day rule. When I feel like writing something, I'll just write it in a new post, with a single header and no sub-headers, rather than my current format which is a post a day, with multiple sub-topics. This'll definitely allow me more freedom to post stuff, and I'll post more. Yay.
It's over
But how can something that didn't start be over, you ask. Everything that has a beginning has an end, but can those with no beginnings have endings? I should think so. Anyway, I saw this coming long ago, but could do nothing to change it. There are some things that are beyond one's control, reflex actions, laws of physics, death, taxes, and emotions? It's like being able to stop time, but still being hit by the bullet coming at you. I clung on to the hope, to the minute chance that my suspicions are wrong, but they were right. O wells, what to do? For stuff that are beyond control, one can only wait and see. And hope that it turns out well.
Sleep
Wayy too tired these past two days to even attempt to blog, but I've have been collecting thoughts and ideas on what to write. So I will post backlog posts soon. Anyway, sleep and time solves all problems. I sure hope I'm right.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Wednesday - Daily
Emo
The amount of emoness in a person varies between days, depending on how many emo incidents happen, or how much sleep or contemplative quiet time the person has. Somehow, my emoness level fluctuates from low to high to low to high to low in a week. So if you plot a emoness against time graph, you get a sine curve. Then if you happen to have a good friend, a best friend, who is highly similar to you, then he may have the same emoness curve as you. However, the two curves may not be aligned properly, and in this case they happen to be opposites. Like a sine curve and a cosine curve (or rather, an inverse sine curve). At any point in time, both persons will not be max happy, or max emo. When one is happy, the other is sad, and vice versa. So what implications does this have? At any point in time, the happy one can happify the sad emo one, and later they can swap places. Hrmm I wonder if it is better this way.
Pain
Saw a video about a character who feels no pain. It's interesting to put yourselves into such situations and start wondering what can happen. It's like the emotionless boy post I wrote so long ago, maybe I'll write a "painless" post sometime in the future (yes I know all my current posts are painful).
The amount of emoness in a person varies between days, depending on how many emo incidents happen, or how much sleep or contemplative quiet time the person has. Somehow, my emoness level fluctuates from low to high to low to high to low in a week. So if you plot a emoness against time graph, you get a sine curve. Then if you happen to have a good friend, a best friend, who is highly similar to you, then he may have the same emoness curve as you. However, the two curves may not be aligned properly, and in this case they happen to be opposites. Like a sine curve and a cosine curve (or rather, an inverse sine curve). At any point in time, both persons will not be max happy, or max emo. When one is happy, the other is sad, and vice versa. So what implications does this have? At any point in time, the happy one can happify the sad emo one, and later they can swap places. Hrmm I wonder if it is better this way.
Pain
Saw a video about a character who feels no pain. It's interesting to put yourselves into such situations and start wondering what can happen. It's like the emotionless boy post I wrote so long ago, maybe I'll write a "painless" post sometime in the future (yes I know all my current posts are painful).
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Tuesday - Daily
Spikes, Yikes!
Today, I quarreled with my barber / was assaulted by the hair waxgel monster while I was sleeping / was electrocuted with high voltage / swapped places with my evil twin. Or alternatively, I gelled my hair. Stuff to note: People with sparse hair should not spike hair unless they want their naked scalp to be seen by all. Here's 7 uses of a spikey spiked hair-style:
1. Apply massive amounts of wax, then impale your enemies by ramming your head into them.
2. Attempt to up your cool factor
3. The hairs can be used as feelers or antennas to feel you mon. I mean, to give advance warning when head on which hair resides on is about to crash onto objects.
4. To boost your height by 6cm. No really, you can be taller with spikes, I have multiple case examples.
5. To give yourself an extra weakness in the sense that anyone who is pissed off at you can fuzzy your hair, and make it look damn bad.
6. To shock your friends by being out of character, and making them promise to shave your head bald if the shock continues over the next few days. (the shock didn't continue)
7. It can be used by attention-whores who want everyone to notice them. Or by invisible people who want to be noticed.
Cheated =(
I was cheated of 40cents today =( After school, I took the 1 half - 2 hour long bus ride from school to Bedok, and stopped at the interchange. Was suppose to buy food back for people at home, so I went to buy chicken rice. It costs $3.20 per plate/packet, and I bought two. Being the kind of person who doesn't like alot of small change in his wallet, I gave the guy $10.40. The guy noted the 10 bucks, but didnt notice the 40cents, so he gave me $3.60 change instead of $4. I was a little shocked, so I decided not to ask for my money back. There goes 40cents =( To atone for my wrong, I donated another 40cents to NUS flag day and got a sticker, which I predict that I will stick onto random classmates in the near future.
P.S. Because this is a tuesday post, I predict in the near future that I'll be cheated of 50cents by some school vendor, as she counted wrongly. $10 - ($1.50 + $1.50 + $0.40) = $6.10? I hope not.
Accounts
I keep a log of all my expenditure for each day, maybe because I like to play with numbers and statistics, or maybe because I have an obsessive compulsive disorder to record/store/horde information. Occasionally, I would find 30cents +- missing for no apparent reason, which I can not account for. I can either a) rack my brains attempting to think of where I could've spent 30cents for that day or b) insert an entry called mystery $$$ and record that it used up 30cents of my money. I usually try to do a) first, then get bored and tired and sian so I'll do b) instead.
Today, I quarreled with my barber / was assaulted by the hair waxgel monster while I was sleeping / was electrocuted with high voltage / swapped places with my evil twin. Or alternatively, I gelled my hair. Stuff to note: People with sparse hair should not spike hair unless they want their naked scalp to be seen by all. Here's 7 uses of a spikey spiked hair-style:
1. Apply massive amounts of wax, then impale your enemies by ramming your head into them.
2. Attempt to up your cool factor
3. The hairs can be used as feelers or antennas to feel you mon. I mean, to give advance warning when head on which hair resides on is about to crash onto objects.
4. To boost your height by 6cm. No really, you can be taller with spikes, I have multiple case examples.
5. To give yourself an extra weakness in the sense that anyone who is pissed off at you can fuzzy your hair, and make it look damn bad.
6. To shock your friends by being out of character, and making them promise to shave your head bald if the shock continues over the next few days. (the shock didn't continue)
7. It can be used by attention-whores who want everyone to notice them. Or by invisible people who want to be noticed.
Cheated =(
I was cheated of 40cents today =( After school, I took the 1 half - 2 hour long bus ride from school to Bedok, and stopped at the interchange. Was suppose to buy food back for people at home, so I went to buy chicken rice. It costs $3.20 per plate/packet, and I bought two. Being the kind of person who doesn't like alot of small change in his wallet, I gave the guy $10.40. The guy noted the 10 bucks, but didnt notice the 40cents, so he gave me $3.60 change instead of $4. I was a little shocked, so I decided not to ask for my money back. There goes 40cents =( To atone for my wrong, I donated another 40cents to NUS flag day and got a sticker, which I predict that I will stick onto random classmates in the near future.
P.S. Because this is a tuesday post, I predict in the near future that I'll be cheated of 50cents by some school vendor, as she counted wrongly. $10 - ($1.50 + $1.50 + $0.40) = $6.10? I hope not.
Accounts
I keep a log of all my expenditure for each day, maybe because I like to play with numbers and statistics, or maybe because I have an obsessive compulsive disorder to record/store/horde information. Occasionally, I would find 30cents +- missing for no apparent reason, which I can not account for. I can either a) rack my brains attempting to think of where I could've spent 30cents for that day or b) insert an entry called mystery $$$ and record that it used up 30cents of my money. I usually try to do a) first, then get bored and tired and sian so I'll do b) instead.
Monday - Respect
And once again another event happens that generates debate amongst those affected. This'll be my first time joining in, I am after all a new kid on the block. And I'm posting late in fact, due to certain circumstances. Reading my friends' blogs, I feel compelled to add in my view on the matter. Though I may not be blessed with such eloquence and clarity of thought as my fellows, please bear with me.
Was he right? Was he wrong? Well I'll leave that for you to decide by yourself. The facts are that he did it, in a way many would think was uncalled for. He gave his reasons, justified them, and proceeded to impose the appropriate punishment. There's nothing lawfully or logically wrong about that, after all, he acted within the limits. Who can say that he overstepped the boundaries with those actions, and that he should face disciplinary action? Probably no one. So what's wrong then?
Well, the questions are: Are his reasons suitably justified enough? Were the punishment appropriate? Were the punishment given to the appropriate people?
Returning on the topic of this post, respect. This word as a noun has many definitions, and as a reference to a trusted source, dictionary.com gave 8 different definitions, of which two are ones of interest - number 3 and 4. I may be wrong, but I believe that my friends are referring to only one aspect of the word - number 3, and as I have not asked the teacher or plan to ask the teacher, I would not know which meaning of the word he is referring to. As such, we must always take into consideration that he could be referring to the other meaning of the word - number 4, and then all the arguments about the matter will have a chance of being irrelevant.
The definitions hinges on two words - esteem and deference. Esteem refers to how the person gives a value to or regards a matter, while deference is about yielding and giving in or accepting something. The former is more personal than the latter, and by that I mean there is less room for discussion on what is respectable in the deference sense.
As for the well known quote about respect being earned, it applies to both definitions of respect. If a leader or figure of authority shows that he is capable, the people would no doubt hold him in high regard, or respect him, and that respect is earned by him proving his abilities. But on the other hand, if a person is of a higher status or more advance in age, do those attributes make him deserve respect? I would say yes. And why?
Was he right? Was he wrong? Well I'll leave that for you to decide by yourself. The facts are that he did it, in a way many would think was uncalled for. He gave his reasons, justified them, and proceeded to impose the appropriate punishment. There's nothing lawfully or logically wrong about that, after all, he acted within the limits. Who can say that he overstepped the boundaries with those actions, and that he should face disciplinary action? Probably no one. So what's wrong then?
Well, the questions are: Are his reasons suitably justified enough? Were the punishment appropriate? Were the punishment given to the appropriate people?
Returning on the topic of this post, respect. This word as a noun has many definitions, and as a reference to a trusted source, dictionary.com gave 8 different definitions, of which two are ones of interest - number 3 and 4. I may be wrong, but I believe that my friends are referring to only one aspect of the word - number 3, and as I have not asked the teacher or plan to ask the teacher, I would not know which meaning of the word he is referring to. As such, we must always take into consideration that he could be referring to the other meaning of the word - number 4, and then all the arguments about the matter will have a chance of being irrelevant.
The definitions hinges on two words - esteem and deference. Esteem refers to how the person gives a value to or regards a matter, while deference is about yielding and giving in or accepting something. The former is more personal than the latter, and by that I mean there is less room for discussion on what is respectable in the deference sense.
As for the well known quote about respect being earned, it applies to both definitions of respect. If a leader or figure of authority shows that he is capable, the people would no doubt hold him in high regard, or respect him, and that respect is earned by him proving his abilities. But on the other hand, if a person is of a higher status or more advance in age, do those attributes make him deserve respect? I would say yes. And why?
Because firstly, the deference is towards his "privileged position". The person has power over you, so you have to respect him. Would you be disrespectful to an incapable dictator, where at his command your life could be forfeit? A rational person would not be disrespectful, as the respect is given towards not the person's abilities but his power. Secondly, the deference is towards his age. Chinese culture dictates that all children should have filial piety. The reason for this, in my opinion, is that deference and respect should be shown to those who have lived in the world longer. We are not taking into account life experience here, though that is one good reason why we should respect the elders. Should a boy genius who has experienced much of the world give respect to a middle-aged cripple who has seen nothing but the four walls of his house? Yes. Because the cripple has managed to survive in the world till middle-age, whereas the boy genius with all the experience in the world has only survived till boyhood. Well, looking at it another way, the middle-age man is closer to his death, assuming that all people die at the average age of 70, and we should respect people that are closer to dying than us. Looking at the world now, we respect the sick, the handicapped, the dying, and most of all, the dead. We may respect the dead, those who have achieved much in their lives, but we also respect the dead, those that have done nothing. Death is a privileged position, as those who have achieved it are beyond us. Immortality is a curse. But I digress.
Returning to the matter at hand, should the speaker deserve respect? Or should we give the speaker some respect? Yes, basic respect would not be too much to ask for. I’m sure one good reason why the speaker is up there speaking is that she knows what she is talking about; the topic is related to her profession.
As for whether people need to give other people of similar age and authoritative positions respect, that is another matter altogether. But I believe that the reason why certain people were let off early, was, firstly the guy meting out the punishment had no authoritative right to punish his colleagues, even if they were disrespectful and in the wrong. Also, the objective of the lecture in the first place was to educate the students, and not the teachers.
To answer the three questions mentioned above at the start: The reason of no respect was given when it should have been given was justified. The punishment was appropriate, as it was not too unreasonable. And it was given to the appropriate people, meaning to all the students (as for those who left earlier, it doesn’t really make a difference).
After so much talk about whether respect should be given, did I give respect to the speaker? No. And for that I am sorry (I’m sure most of you who did not pay attention would feel bad for the speaker, who is there speaking while the intended audience isn’t listening). If given the same scenario again, what would I do? Probably the same thing which I did before. Now what does this signify? A lack of self-control.
P.S. Sorry if I seem incoherent halfway, it was finished at around 4am.
Sunday - Hangover
Hangover
That which happens after the party and the fun and enjoyment. It's this feeling you get, when the party you so highly anticipated for has finally come and gone, or the days right after a stayover camp, where your thoughts are centered on nothing except for remembering and reminiscing the events that have just passed. I believe in the duality of things, what goes up must come down (doesnt apply to entrophy), happiness is accompanied by sadness, and so on. The reasoning is that relative to the fun and enjoyment that you have experienced recently, your normal mundane life is boring and sucky. It's like when you put one hand in ice water for a while, then wash both hands in tap water, only one hand will feel that the tap water is warm. Well, these type of hangovers are similar yet different from alcohol hangovers, and so the ultimate cure is shared by the two - time. With time, everything is solved, alcohol is flushed from the body, and you get used to your life and dont find it so boring and sian anymore. I wish this feeling would hurry and go away.
Combiwords
Yay, I made some of my own combiwords. They are fantasome or awestic (<-- I came up with those on the spot, so they suck), errr... ya. Well I've recently encounted only two, one's chatative. (Has this been found out before?) Which I can be on certain days when I've had enough sleep and I have enough material to talk about. The other word is minriod, pronounced as mean-reird (rhymes with weird(damn I have a habit of spelling weird as wierd, as someone has pointed out to me before)). A minriod refers to a block of time in the schedule of a student. E.g. How do you survive a 40 minriod with Mr. xXx? Combiwords are awesome no?
That which happens after the party and the fun and enjoyment. It's this feeling you get, when the party you so highly anticipated for has finally come and gone, or the days right after a stayover camp, where your thoughts are centered on nothing except for remembering and reminiscing the events that have just passed. I believe in the duality of things, what goes up must come down (doesnt apply to entrophy), happiness is accompanied by sadness, and so on. The reasoning is that relative to the fun and enjoyment that you have experienced recently, your normal mundane life is boring and sucky. It's like when you put one hand in ice water for a while, then wash both hands in tap water, only one hand will feel that the tap water is warm. Well, these type of hangovers are similar yet different from alcohol hangovers, and so the ultimate cure is shared by the two - time. With time, everything is solved, alcohol is flushed from the body, and you get used to your life and dont find it so boring and sian anymore. I wish this feeling would hurry and go away.
Combiwords
Yay, I made some of my own combiwords. They are fantasome or awestic (<-- I came up with those on the spot, so they suck), errr... ya. Well I've recently encounted only two, one's chatative. (Has this been found out before?) Which I can be on certain days when I've had enough sleep and I have enough material to talk about. The other word is minriod, pronounced as mean-reird (rhymes with weird(damn I have a habit of spelling weird as wierd, as someone has pointed out to me before)). A minriod refers to a block of time in the schedule of a student. E.g. How do you survive a 40 minriod with Mr. xXx? Combiwords are awesome no?
Saturday - Birthday
This birthday post shall be a recap of events that happened over yesterday and today (and thursday night).
Recap
I wanted to write a post on routine and daily stuff, but that'll have to wait. And so the routine of my daily life was broken, to mark the start of the awesome weekend celebration. Thursday night, I missed my 11pm anime =( Was driven by my dad (this seldom happens, so when it does, yay!) to a certain house somewhere, that happens to be much much MUCH closer to west coast park than Bedok. Slept for the longest time in 5 days, but woke up still tired. Went to cross country, ate macs, slept summore on the grass by lying on a classmate's bag. Yay. Dunno what went wrong (or maybe it was planned this way) with the organizing of the run or something, but we had an hour+++ to slack before the year 5 mass run. The route is supposedly 3.2 km, and I didn't walk at all the whole day, not much of a feat. I jogged really really slowly for the parts where I was tired, and sprinted at the end. This year's route is quite nice, and misleading in the sense that we had no markers or indication of how far we've run during the run. Finished the run, took a car (yay!) to a house. Freshened up, went to watch movie. Dark Knight. Again. One of the only shows in the last 5 years that made me want to rewatch on the big screen. The title of the other one is also two words and starts with D for the first word. Due to a flaw in planning, we had very little time after the movie to rush to school to watch Choir + Dance Festival of Arts (FoA). After the movie, we literally ran to the mrt station, caught the correct train, incorrectly ran out of the next stop, realised our mistake, correctly ran back into the train, correctly ran out of the train at the second stop, and managed to reach on time. After alot of running. Watched concert, Dance items were abit too short to savour, but that's dance for you. And we saw our very own guai zai grow up to be a grown-up guai zai. Awesome. We went to support choir because there were 4 people from our class in choir, making it 4/24 or 1/6 of our class is choir ppl. That's alot. Choir was nice, though there were some gripes about them not singing enough english songs. Went to macs (again) after the concert due to lack of dinner. Congratulations, you have defeated an upsized extra value meal. You gain 2000 calories, and obtained item - Olympic cup (basketball version). Random event: you found another 3 more Olympic cups lying around, discarded by various other parties after they killed the mobs. Yay that's four cups. 1 guy 4 cups. Walked back to the house and slept.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Recap
Day 2 - Birthday (saturday)
Went to english make-up/extra lessons at school in the morning. Due to breakfasting, missed first part of the lesson, and all of a student presentation =( had alot of fun learning about the two plays (I'm serious, it was fun), then went back to house. Slacked till afternoon, whereby I packed my bags and left. Left one bag behind that is. Then I left the house. Went to Plaza Sing, owned a noob at Guilty Gear, then went off to become a lampost shining light onto a couple's date. Remind me never to do that again, it was quite disturbing. So hung out with the couple, all the while attempting to be the best lampost I can be. Watched FoA no. 2 - Band that night. Tried to sneak into the second storey but got caught =( Band's music was pleasent, and the conductor was awesome. Heard that he is leaving the school, and that was his last concert. What a fitting last event for a great guy. After the concert, wanted to hang out longer, but was driven back home (again! yay!). Really tired, off to sleep.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Recap
I wanted to write a post on routine and daily stuff, but that'll have to wait. And so the routine of my daily life was broken, to mark the start of the awesome weekend celebration. Thursday night, I missed my 11pm anime =( Was driven by my dad (this seldom happens, so when it does, yay!) to a certain house somewhere, that happens to be much much MUCH closer to west coast park than Bedok. Slept for the longest time in 5 days, but woke up still tired. Went to cross country, ate macs, slept summore on the grass by lying on a classmate's bag. Yay. Dunno what went wrong (or maybe it was planned this way) with the organizing of the run or something, but we had an hour+++ to slack before the year 5 mass run. The route is supposedly 3.2 km, and I didn't walk at all the whole day, not much of a feat. I jogged really really slowly for the parts where I was tired, and sprinted at the end. This year's route is quite nice, and misleading in the sense that we had no markers or indication of how far we've run during the run. Finished the run, took a car (yay!) to a house. Freshened up, went to watch movie. Dark Knight. Again. One of the only shows in the last 5 years that made me want to rewatch on the big screen. The title of the other one is also two words and starts with D for the first word. Due to a flaw in planning, we had very little time after the movie to rush to school to watch Choir + Dance Festival of Arts (FoA). After the movie, we literally ran to the mrt station, caught the correct train, incorrectly ran out of the next stop, realised our mistake, correctly ran back into the train, correctly ran out of the train at the second stop, and managed to reach on time. After alot of running. Watched concert, Dance items were abit too short to savour, but that's dance for you. And we saw our very own guai zai grow up to be a grown-up guai zai. Awesome. We went to support choir because there were 4 people from our class in choir, making it 4/24 or 1/6 of our class is choir ppl. That's alot. Choir was nice, though there were some gripes about them not singing enough english songs. Went to macs (again) after the concert due to lack of dinner. Congratulations, you have defeated an upsized extra value meal. You gain 2000 calories, and obtained item - Olympic cup (basketball version). Random event: you found another 3 more Olympic cups lying around, discarded by various other parties after they killed the mobs. Yay that's four cups. 1 guy 4 cups. Walked back to the house and slept.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Recap
Day 2 - Birthday (saturday)
Went to english make-up/extra lessons at school in the morning. Due to breakfasting, missed first part of the lesson, and all of a student presentation =( had alot of fun learning about the two plays (I'm serious, it was fun), then went back to house. Slacked till afternoon, whereby I packed my bags and left. Left one bag behind that is. Then I left the house. Went to Plaza Sing, owned a noob at Guilty Gear, then went off to become a lampost shining light onto a couple's date. Remind me never to do that again, it was quite disturbing. So hung out with the couple, all the while attempting to be the best lampost I can be. Watched FoA no. 2 - Band that night. Tried to sneak into the second storey but got caught =( Band's music was pleasent, and the conductor was awesome. Heard that he is leaving the school, and that was his last concert. What a fitting last event for a great guy. After the concert, wanted to hang out longer, but was driven back home (again! yay!). Really tired, off to sleep.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Friday - Eve
Eve
If? Eve. Pre. Before. عَشِيَّة، لَيْلَة (وُقوع الحَدَث) 前夕 předvečer vooravond künnis aatto veille der Vorabend παραμονές vmi előestéjén rétt fyrir menjelang vigilia 直前 직전 priekšvakars išvakarės przeddzień véspera ajun канун predvečer predvečer víspera tiden omedelbart före arife
Etiquette
I have much to learn about blogging etiquette. Nvm, the road ahead is long, there will be more than enough time.
If? Eve. Pre. Before. عَشِيَّة، لَيْلَة (وُقوع الحَدَث) 前夕 předvečer vooravond künnis aatto veille der Vorabend παραμονές vmi előestéjén rétt fyrir menjelang vigilia 直前 직전 priekšvakars išvakarės przeddzień véspera ajun канун predvečer predvečer víspera tiden omedelbart före arife
Etiquette
I have much to learn about blogging etiquette. Nvm, the road ahead is long, there will be more than enough time.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Most Unproductive Day 2
Yea, what the title says. This time it's cause I didnt sleep on sunday night, so I was damn tired the whole monday, so went home and collapsed on bed. Just woke up, getting ready for school now.
In other news, I've decided to stop backdating stuff, cause it doesnt accurately reflect when I posted it. In other words, screw the post once daily rule. I've missed like, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and woops Monday's post, oh noes. Will post something to cover for these days later on.
"I dont like human jams."
"Yea me too, I prefer strawberry jams, they taste much better."
"O_O"
In other news, I've decided to stop backdating stuff, cause it doesnt accurately reflect when I posted it. In other words, screw the post once daily rule. I've missed like, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and woops Monday's post, oh noes. Will post something to cover for these days later on.
"I dont like human jams."
"Yea me too, I prefer strawberry jams, they taste much better."
"O_O"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)