BYWK

2009-10-09T07:15:00.001-07:00

i just found the most mothereffing phenomenal photography. ever.

http://superhyperreal.com/test/

Viva La Vida

2009-10-06T05:39:00.000-07:00

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of sand pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you know there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never an honest work
But that was when I ruled the world
(Ohhhh Ohhh Ohhh)

Hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter will call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
(Oooooh Oooooh Oooooh)

YOU (HEART) US

2009-10-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

JIAXIN: HELLLLLLLO KWK! I HACKED INTO YOUR ACCOUNT, I WIN YOU :D HAHA.

KEVIN: PW ROCKSSSS YAY!!!!! (:

blast from the past.

2009-10-05T04:02:00.001-07:00

okay i think mr bywk deserves a lil bit of an update here. so promos are over and in a month or so chineseAs+pw will be too. time pretty cruel if you think about it. it always goes forward, you never get to go back& relieve the good memories. yes graduation has come and gone, yes postos has come and gone, orientation, msas, CTs, preusem, ayc, promos and now. now now. so many things have changed, 09 has been quite a rollercoaster. aside from totally slapping my social landscape upside downside, apart from pushing me to extremist emotions, aside from this and aside from that and hey. i think its really time to catch a breath and. reflect. realise. look back. and submerge as a zeitgeist of your year. i would like to think about what this year means to me. perhaps it's time to do a bit of self reflection now than in december. maybe the last three months could be a bit different.

okay things i did wrong this year:
-be lazy. i can't even begin to count all the things i was lazy for. i was lazy for council selection camp, i was lazy for preusem preparation, i was lazy for msa1, msa2, cts and promos (yes i didn't study consistently for any exam despite the warning flashes coming from the first set of tests and somehow they didn't fit in), i was lazy for simun prep (until the end), i was lazy for lots of lessons, pw. wow. i think if 09 was summed up in a year, it would be: slack. i think contrary to everyone else, i worked far lesser for o levels than my first year in jc. here's to me not fainting when i see my scores on 16october (au contraire miss zhou said i wrote a pretty decent lit essay for wuthering heights! i am so boomz). i guess one reason why i can afford to slack is my lit as a h2. lit requires less content preparation and more skills based drilling. so yeah i could most of the time walk into a lit paper not more than glancing through my notes (which i know is impossible for all you pcme dudes/ettes out there).
oh i was also lazy about replying a hell lot of smses. and lazy about being a friend. i hardly wished 30% of the birthdays this year which is extremely bad for someone who usually makes an effort (how ironic, facebook publishes birthdays, i [used to be] on fb all the time, and i couldn't find time to write on somebody's fucking wall)
XOXO
i was also lazy about managing my life- everytime i went out i would be out late. like 99% of the time. i know its fashionable to be late but whatever man. it just shows you have zero time management skills (me btw, lolzz) so i resolve to be less late and less pathetic and less time management zilchy. and i also cannot manage my cash. i have yet to save any money at all. how pathetic.

haha. right now i can't really think about the things i did right. maybe make good friends like you :) the only thing right i did this year.
okay wr and chinese papers beckons.

boomz :)

LLZ

2009-09-19T09:13:00.001-07:00

THE WORLD IS JUST AWESOME.: i got new glasses!!!
THE WORLD IS JUST AWESOME.: hahaha
Li Zhi: lol
Li Zhi: congrats
THE WORLD IS JUST AWESOME.: -.-
Li Zhi: hahaha
THE WORLD IS JUST AWESOME.: youre supposed to say i look hot
Li Zhi: OMG YOU LOOK EFFING HOT
THE WORLD IS JUST AWESOME.: HAHAHAHA
Li Zhi: LOL THE SUN HOT
THE WORLD IS JUST AWESOME.: thats totally going on my blog
Li Zhi: HAHAHAHAHA
Li Zhi: WTF

photo entry #1

2009-08-23T01:44:00.000-07:00

hey friends.

today is sunday. sunday is when i curl into a ball. and insert myself into my room. and insert my life into bywk. and write stuff here and keep all of you informed about me. not that you would want to be anyway (haha fake humility, oriental cliches). so yeps. my life. has been pretty fun the past few weeks i have to say. getting my ass thrashed by my school and j getting hers thrashed a gazillion times more.

kyt its pretty amazing how we're now in this coolios thingum we have right now right? i mean its like we landed ourselves into this coolios ayc people club. and its pretty amazing how we even got into ayc. and pretty amazing how we're close after ayc. i guess its easy to say its too early to say and maybe it'll be different once different people leave (yes i'll miss you clx if you're reading this though no one reads my blog anymore oriental cliches again).

ayc really changed a lot for me. i guessed my eyes were really widened. i definitely wasn't a frog before this but to actually talk to the sky, it's quite something. so as the many people around me got smarter and smarter day by day, i realize how quickly my life slips into degeneration.

okay enough of pseudo philosophy. let's start by doing with what dyzpa said i should do a long time ago: blog about my life. or at least what goes on in it. and what better way to explain tt through the photos in my phone?

photo entry #1.

this is mua, at the airport. photographer: lim mu yao (and co study partner who didn't really study. me neither.)
it doesn't really say anything but i just like how i look here so it goes on my blog (narcissist i hear lyt?)

i like taking photos of what i'm working on, like whats on my table at the moment.
at the moment (not the moment): hot lemon tea (i ordered hot ice lemon tea har), lmy's phone and econs notes.

moment i got infected! har har (i hope you aren't reading this jiax!)

weird dj is calling now. AFPFL IS FROM BURMA. (rlyinside joke)

SLEEPING IN MATHS CLASS! which explains the horrible stats results! from an arts class no doubt. the consecutive number of sleepers is actually 4< just that my phone wasnt wide angle nuff.
from left: fat, me, alex, dj.

okay the most recent of all photos (yes i underutilize the 2mp camera on my phone)

clx and kyt, each happy that they can do the cool card flipping thing and i can't.

OKAY MY LIFE IS OVER COME MONDAY. god of wengkeong morph him into a mugger for the next seven hours please.

string#1

2009-07-06T03:58:00.001-07:00

things are picking up again, albeit not socially. school assignment, church stuff, ayc, a level oral. it's gonna get busier, and i better start to get my life together. i just realised my MSAs are a freaking day after AYC. z. i haven't exactly finished current cts (paper5 for lit) and i'm already checking the dates to my next exams. MSAs (CA2 in vs terms) are coming in THIRTY SEVEN DAYS while promos are in 79 days. aside from these are still pw datelines and chinese a levels. SATs? haha.

ON A TOTALLY SEPARATE NOTE (wrote the following paragraph yesterday without publishing it), just like how some of my friends still buy cds- loving the plastic cover and the nice lil booklet that gives you song lyrics and stuff. I LOVE MY BOOKS. true, books' out of fashion rate isn't really declining as fast as the cds but they will one day. With kindle and all just trying to snatch a bigger part of the paper publishing pie, I suspect by the next decade every body will be on kindle type readers reading instead of carrying paper.

sigh.

i still very much am a paper person. in this age of great technology, i insist on being luddite with paper. i keep a moleskine- even though i have an phone good enough to keep my todo lists and calendars together. i need things to feel beneath my fingers, and for ink to flo. screens don't quite cut it. i'm no technophobe, but there's some things i just need to keep relevant in front of me- amidst the world of increasing memory (512mb ram being the basic ram for laptops 3 years ago and now it's 4gb. that's 8x increase), memory space (20gb was the capacity for entry level ipod classics, now it's 120gb- 6x increase), thinness (just look at the old ipods and the 2g ipod touch today), function (compare old ipods and new ones, the touch ipods do everything from calculate your monthly budget to book plane tickets. the old ones, well, let you listen to music).

lol, my concept of tech is extremely narrow. whatever though, sucks that all the technews i get is apple. or at least what i decide to get. so the point is despite all the super change i still like a bit of yesterday in my everyday.

has anybody checked out this new gossipgirl wannabe that's filmed in reality format? this time its actually real kids with real lives shown on camera. and parts of it are really laugh worthy. like what the heck are some of them doing with their lives; sex and drugs? just a one way street to manic depression. which will end up with you sitting in a psych's office spending 200 bucks an hour. sg boys and girls: live your lives like them if you want, but just don't end up like the people on the papers lately with the labels 20 and deep in debt.

go check it out, nyc prep. rad entertainment.

inconsistencies.

2009-07-02T07:43:00.001-07:00

there have been points in my educational life where i gained epiphanies and revelations of the relevance of my education, and how i actually enjoy doing what i'm studying, and how sudden passion suddenly erupts for studying. i wouldn't say mugging this time because i actually enjoyed it.

even my secondary school science concentrated curriculum didn't discount this experience. i constantly genuinely enjoyed chemistry, i think i still do today. physics manifested in how i saw the world. yada yada, and yet there came a certain barrier to which i never could conquer: consistency. even the spsls told me that in my psb interview. i'm never consistent. ever. in fact, i'm going to delete this post one day just in case future prospective employers see this and decide not to hire me. but yes, i'm never consistent.

list of inconsistencies: running? check. blading? check. photography? check. art? check. chem/phy/bio/amaths/emaths/ss/history? check. history/lit/econs/maths? check. graphicdesign? check. writing? check.

lol, if i were a lit book inconsistency would be a recurring motive and symbol AND the overall theme for the book. har har har. its recurrence is so repetitive its not even funny anymore. in fact its past worrisome. its boring. B.O.R.I.N.G. if i whine shit i'm so inconsistent to my friends, they'll look up and say. whats new.

so right now, as i'm reading revolutionary road, ulysses, parts of shervin/vjc's disgrace, (intensely reading) wuthering heights and persuasion (19th century chicklit hahahaha) and generally basking in literary fervor, i can't help but wonder when this will all end?

WEB TWO POINT OH.

2009-06-30T07:56:00.001-07:00

hello world, whoever spends time reading the crap i write (yes i acknowledge the degenerating theme that seems to string all my posts together, if bywk was a stock it would certainly send investors' hearts pumping every night hoping it would jump back up) you should be happy now cuz here is an update from me!

tomorrow at 12am would officially mark the middle of 2009! this is only applicable if you count the year month wise, day wise the middle of 09 would be 2nd june 12am. oh shit my internet just screwed up. its always doing that. sigh. the starhub modem i've been using since 2004 has not been changed since 2004 and perhaps it has decided to take a bow (rihanna lol lol) okay its back up again yay. i can now see all my friends displayed on msn.

have you wondered why we add people on msn? is it really to talk to them? or is it to boost your ego that you have a hell lot of friends? or is it to boost your friend's ego to say that you treasure them enough so you let yourself be contactable when you're online? or is it because they added you? or is it because it just seems like what everybody is doing? or is it because you want to stay in contact with that person but giving your number seems too personal? or is msn more personal for you?

haha. lots of questions and if we can have the answer we'll find out the societal significance of instant messaging in the singaporean community. then again what msn means for me might not be what it means for someone else. singapore albeit a little red dot, still has a significant demographic spectrum. humans themselves are complex and hence we can only draw generalizations from what things mean to us. hence social hypotheses are only as accurate as its level of generalization?

my recent more intensive drowning in bloghopping, twitter and facebook status updates (see the parallel between t and fbsu? fb is trying to copy twitter) has led to a observation that we as a web community seem to be building some sort of anarchist nineteen eighty four (which is obviously a colossal paradox). for those of you who have yet to pick up the orwellian masterpiece, 1984 is a work of fiction that details a society with no access to freedom and no excess of privacy. or wait, no privacy at all. the lives of the people are subject to the scrutiny of the greater power (in this case, the government) and their actions effect huge consequences.

in this case, the anarchist nineteen eighty four seems to be the web that we're spinning (pun intended) as we pour our lives onto walls and twitter timelines and blog entries (which are undoubtedly more passe now then years ago). when blogger caught on as a social craze, naysayers exclaimed at such an explicit concept. today, we have taken this many levels further. i know when somebody is in the toilet, i know when somebody is at starbucks (which one even if i know them well if enough to know where they work, study etc), i know when somebody is cycling, running, working out, eatdrinking. and it won't be long before the location factor comes into popularization. fyi you can tweet your location if you have gps on your phone.

this flurry of knowledge that WE are giving out to the world- webcompanies included, seem oddly parallel to the nineteen eighty four i was talking about. instead of telescreens (two way cameras in the book) that monitor every citizen's movement, the citizens are the one choosing to give out that information. it is self-motivated. what are the consequences of these actions? will they be as tragic as the ones ending in orwell's novels? (i consider them tragic fyi, if you don't, then... get a dprk citizenship)

or will it not be? since the motivations for the proliferation of information is completely different, motivated by a spirit of self-interest instead of state domination. whatever the outcome might be, we must take caution. the hoarding of personal information by billion dollar dotcom firms (fb, twitter) could be exploited financially. how many of you actually read the t&c of facebook anyway?

as web2.0 gets more intimate with us, lets celebrate the change that the internet has brought to mankind. guns were never intended to attack, but to defend. and so were the peaceful purposes of dynamite. think.

p.s. wow look where rambling brought me!

knn

2009-06-27T06:47:00.001-07:00

haha im such a loser to be really liking shopaholic- the movie and the book. i finished confessions of a shopaholic in one day, which is usually the sign of one of these
a. easy reading
b. addictive reading
c. bimbo reading
d. really good writing

i think its a combination of all of the above. haha. but a and c hold larger portions. now i just want to finish the whole series.

and yes, ladies and gentlemen, i identify a lot with rebecca bloomwood. no, my money spending habits are not as bad as hers. but how she manages her money is really like how i manage my time.

god, this sucks. it's like a million things gnawing at me.

heya all. cts coming right at ya. i think i should start make a list of things i bade farewell too.

oh. and i realised how impersonal my blog is 99% of the time.

Step back.

2009-06-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

you start thinking why you're doing the things you're doing. studying the intricate details of the cold war, complex formulas of organic chemistry, mathematic equations nobody cares to think of in their daily life, the failed policies of thai kings. and then you realize what you're doing is part of a cycle, a pattern, a structure, a mould. yes, a mould.

it is very important that we remember why we are becoming this mould. are we the clay in moulds because of the mould? or do we have a larger purpose?

think.

dream food

2009-06-18T04:45:00.001-07:00

List of things I want to eat:

-~~Footlong Italian BMT with wheat bread, cheese, toasted, vinaigrette.~~
-~~Fillet O Fish with fries and chili and mayo and Macdonalds Ice Lemon Tea.~~
-Carls Junior's natural cut fries with fresh salsa
-Carl's Juniors chili cheese fries
-Blueberry muffin from starbucks and mocha frap
-~~Smoked salmon pasta, swensons~~
-Siew mai hargau chee chiong fun with prawns and char siew
-char siew fan with a hell lot of sauce and siew yoke
-KFC's am burito american style thing
-mussels and clams at pastamania
-~~Arnott's Tim tams~~
-Bon bons
-Mars Bar
-Chippy's black oil fish and chips
-chicken mushroom puff from old chang kee
-~~PAO PAO CHA! (OMG OMG OMG. passion fruit + green milk tea + pearls from each a cup)~~
-KOI MILK TEA
-nice bowl of udon from some random jap house
-ramen? not really sure bout this one [orchard danial? haha]
-cereal prawns!
-beef noodles from east coast park

OKAY THIS SUMS UP THE FIVE MAIN TYPES OF FOOD I LUBX MOST IN MY LIFE:
-Cantonese
-Singaporean
-Jap
-Italian
-Fast

AH! GIVE ME MY FOOD. NOW.

on second thought that tasty pork porridge (EUNOS MARKET) i had for dinner wasn't so bad. I'M JUST LASTING ONE MORE DAY.

hello world.

2009-06-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

i'm on a severe wanna binge on buying books rampage right now but the current shortlist SUCKS. oh wells no discounts will just mean me looking through amazon.com and listing what i want to buy HERE. so bear with me :/

1. Zhao Ziyang's memoirs!
2. My southeast asian history readings.
3. 7 habits of highly effective people
4. Shanghai Girls, Lisa Lee
5. The Reader, Der Vorleser (just watched the movie, SORRY BEUJEH its not a holocaust sympathizer IT ISN'T IT ISN'T)
6. Pride and Prejudice (think i might just join the jane austen book club har har har)
7. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

that'll probably set me back 200 oh wells oh wells oh wells.

YES PEOPLE, the past few days have been terrible. today is officially day number EIGHT i have painful lips. it sucks, i miss subway so much i want an italian bmt but i can't eat anything except porridge (day seven of everything porridge). so yes, thank you nurses at east shore hospital you guys were awesome but my own room is more awesome. har har har. albeit with no one to make my bed.

OKAY GUYS BACK TO MUGGING. cts are in slightly more than a week PLEASE DON'T SCREW UP, lots on the line here :D

orgaorgaorganization

2009-06-07T19:28:00.001-07:00

hello world! it's been a while since i've updated! it's a monday morning and i'm sitting in my chair waiting for some tv show to finish downloading before i head up into the shower and proceed to pigeonhole #86 to submit my literature assignment at saints village. of which afterward i would proceed to buona vista to meet kyt before going to confucius institute for ayc briefing. and then a 10km run slots in somewhere. and so does hardcore reading and making of notes from sloman's 6th edition (which rocks btw).

damn i'm so far back for econs. i kinda regret sleeping in all those monopoly/oligopoly lectures but then again i would really benefit more by reading sloman by myself. is this a sign that i should be ponning econs lectures and huddling myself in the library mugging sloman the next time? :D

okay preusem was a not bad adhoc event. the people were really fun. i think i would have been a more fun person if not for the headaches and stuff on day4. thanks for the concern on some of your faces people! haha. i'm fine.

pw is still zilch. i have no idea what i'm going to do. damn scared. better chiong early then got more time to back up. okay since i'm blogging as well make more productive use of this time right? i shall published THE LIST on bywk.

THE LIST
-International History Revision (Lectures 1,2,3,4,5,6. 1,2A,2B,3A,3B)
-SEA History Nationalism Revision (Vietnam, Burma, Malaya, Indonesia, Philippines...)
-Economics Revision (SS/DD, Elasticity, Firm Structure, Market Structure)
-Wuthering Heights Chapters 1-10
-Taming of the Shrew
-Literature Unseen Preparation
-Maths!!!!!! Probability, Binomial, Normal Distributions.
-Photocopying of Notes for all the damn readings for everything up there.

YAY. If I do this I will ace my CTs! Wish me luck :D

sunshine on a wet day

2009-05-26T02:23:00.001-07:00

i lost my earphones today. i keep losing things. this losing things part of me is a fraction of why i can't get my life together.

list of things i've lost in recent memory
-kayanos in lt3 on the second day of orientation
-starbucks bottle a from singapore
-starbucks bottle b from seattle (i'm damn sorry esther chee)
-in ear earphones from apple
-sony earphones
-countless pens
-my file containing essential notes
-my wallet
-green (fake) ipod sock

shit. this sucks. my life isn't getting back together. the glue is melting. oh wait, it melted long ago. the fragments of my broken porcelain lie shattered on the ground.

har har har. emo.

EXCEPT IT ISN'T! TODAY WAS AN AWESOME DAY :D
haha, i took panadol extra plus coffee bing before chinese class and went really high hence i was alert and stuff throughout chinese class (:D). and then j was super super awesome. super. the subject matter was awesome. had no idea women in literature would be such an awesome subject matter- thought it was all feminist bs before it came to today. and i was complimented! omfgoodness.

so yes. life is looking better. i just need to study harder, be more diligent, finish my homework three days before it's due (har har har) and be a nicer friend!

thanks everybody for all your support all this while. esp with the j thing.

看星星一颗两颗三颗四颗连成线

2009-05-25T04:10:00.001-07:00

hey peeps. it's been long since i wrote about detailed details of my life so maybe i will start again. seems like viewership is rising! haha thanks to the 23 people who came on sunday, you guys amaze me with the time you bother wasting to read my blog. if this goes on i can finally sign up for nuffnang though it'll probably be 3008 before i get my first fifty dollar cheque (yes, like a whole lot of you guys i am listening to boom boom pow too).

i didn't go to school today, and pretty much slept the whole day away. my life is getting messier, more deconstructed everyday. i really hope to pull myself together, i never have been the focussed determined overachieving sort. and i realized that like everyone i'm mixing with especially in sa, we all have great potential. we just don't bother to work on it. i only woke up at 5pm? and went to the docs to get my mc, unluckily all the marine parade central clinics were "out for dinner". so i got my ass to pp and sat in the only clinic open at that time. (lotsa people there). silver lining somewhere though, cuz it cost 21 compared to the usual 30 you pay at the crescent area.

i am really hooked on chinese pop now! har har har! so surprising right. i guess it really grows on you after sometime and you start liking it more and more. the catalyst was the karaoke with momma's side of the family. could you spell awesome more awesomely?

okay this is my life here ladies and gentlemen. nothing fancy, wild, extraordinary. please keep coming back, i don't care if you don't comment. i just need twenty visitors a day! this might be the only economically efficient part of my life. the rest of it is just dead weight lost, lost in god knows what.

P.S. Totally random but if you need to stay awake really badly and you feel damn sleepy, try this. Take a caffeinated food substance and then quickly sleep for fifteen minutes (it takes some time for caffeine to be flushed through your intestinal tract, so while its spreading use that time to fall asleep) and then wake up to find yourself damn refreshed. coffee is good but panadol extra contains 65mg of caffeine, which is equivalent to about a cup of coffee. yeps yeps, practical tips for a jc student.

fantasies

2009-05-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

hello people. long time since i've updated but i've suddenly been inspired by mr shawn woo to write something about my life.

this entry is about my dream job
my dream job is to live out of a huge backpack, armed with a 40d plus some basic redline lenses and a macbook air. and with my gear i will generally travel anywhere my boss tells me to go and i'll just get my ass everywhere with the most varied transportation methods. and my shots will be so awesome and my articles will be so awesome they'll be published everywhere and hopefully that'll be enough to keep me financially afloat. and if i have no work i will find some un relief effort to volunteer in, maybe in kabul or darfur. and if that doesn't work out i'll teach little kids in vietnam how to read english. and if that doesn't work out either i'll get a new writing assignment by then. i'll start of with the ktm komuter in singapore all the way up to kl. and then take a bus up to hatyai. boat from there to some deserted islands in the southern islands. trek up thailand to cambodia. to laos. vietnam. china (china!) and i think i'll spend a hell lot of time in china. and through this all will be me and the camera capturing humanity and how they live and i'll write all this down hoping someone will pay for it.

IT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

Modern and Traditional. 2008 O Level Higher Art Paper.

2009-05-11T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. i was drawing some birthday cards for classmates and going though the art stash of paint and paper and charcoal and whatnots when i discovered all sketches and stuff i did for art last four years and it really made me miss what i used to do and then i remembered i spent months on this silly eight boards for my final art project and nobody except art classmates and teachers and bloody moe people who gave me a2 for all the shit ive done saw it. so im going to share this with the world and you guys can come see how my brain worked for the last six months to the o levels :D

prodedness is discipline, hardwork and smarts.

2009-05-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

i'm sitting down and studying econs. i look in front and look beneath. the screen is a picture of columbia's library. beneath is sloman's sixth edition. beneath gets you in front. but everything is so bloody uncertain. sa has one of the worst scholarship rates any jc could have, in the past decade i dont think anybody from sa has ever gotten a psc. but then again only 60+ people get pscs. life is bloody uncertain and bloody hazy and foggy and you really can't see the front. all you gotta do now is to remember everything and oligopoly has to offer, everything southeast asian in the past century, everything cold warish, anything shrewish, anything wuthering heightsish. and you not only have to memorize that you have to be able to organize that information smoothly in your head. it should be so smooth and you're so in control of that information that its like water flowing through your hands. you're a magician of knowledge, able to analyze, evaluate and play around with the huge pile of papers to please the cambridge peeps. and you have less than eighteen months left. be scared, be very scared.

oh, don't forget the sats too. columbia will need them.

HELL ITS A LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG SHOT :(

twentytwentytwentyONE:)

2009-04-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

TODAY IS A MOFO AWESOME DAY AND I LOVE TODAY IT WAS DAMN COOL AND DAMN FUN. JORCHUA! YOU KILL THE CANTEEN ***** AND MARRY THE ******** OMG OMG OMG.

KMN BUT IM JUST USING THAT FOR THE SAKE OF USING IT HAHAHA.

YAY THANK YOU PEOPLE YOU MADE MY DAY AWESOME :)

oh and please visit facebook for the photos from me :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116998&id=530530952
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116998&id=530530952
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116998&id=530530952
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116998&id=530530952
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116998&id=530530952
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116998&id=530530952
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116998&id=530530952

Saggy week

2009-04-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

Been a total wreck this week. The J thing totally ruined my week, which made me question lots of other things. Like how I should have taken art instead of lit (unfortunately I don't think SA offers heam), and how I walk pass all the blue and white uniforms (sometimes, sometimes only) wishing they were beige. And how I have to deal with some other crappy sap story stuff. And it's all a big mix of different things- watching the SC commendation (that, I didn't regret, surprisingly) and trying to come to terms with a whole lot of stuff. Which made me a total wreck. I'm really hoping for someone to like just sweep in and make it better but I was totally barking up the wrong tree. And I always tell myself to go back, to go back, but I don't. Which again reinforces train wreck.

I'm listening to three days grace today, how emo and angsty is that. I should like quit listening to them. But it's strangely therapeutic. Aha.

Oh well, the easy way out of all this crap would logically be work. And studying my way out of it. I paid thirty bucks to skip school today. And yes, perpetual liar. She is so correct. I'm just a big phony.

Three days grace now sings "I feel so much better now that you're gone forever" but it's obviously a big lie. A big delusion to all heartbroken people to listen and deceive themselves that they're really not hurt and actually happy. Everyone's just living a lie in an attempt to feel better but they forget that, really, it's the truth that sets you free. How now brown cow, I need a new copy of the Taming of the Shrew :(

Okay I'm just a soldier trudging through the aftermath of war now. I remember a lit poem about that from ms rachel zhou at the beginning of the lit syllabus but I'm not gonna post it (or find it) cuz I know we all don't read emo poems on blogs (although it's really not emo).

Blogging is really fun, I should do this more often. Haha :)))) So yes, shoutout to all the readers out there! Hope your life is better than mine! Hope that you still have a spring in every step you take because it sucks not to have one!

:(

2009-04-13T04:55:00.000-07:00

God I'm pathetic.

Okay rant over :) hope you guys have been enjoying the micro entries, I know they aren't really awesome but they're really spur of the moment stuff. I like type it out immediately after thinking it. So yeah. Today was not bad, it was quite cool really, especially in Chinese class. I have a great Chinese teacher! Okay see you guys I am now a productive student okay. Got gp, hist, pw and Chinese to do ciao!

twitter

2009-04-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

HELLO WORLD!

Okay I have joined twitter pretty long ago but I didn't really use it cuz:

1) They don't support Singapore users
2) I have to send a message to the UK in order to get whatever published
3) No one really uses it

Basically, twitter is microblogging. It's you updating your twitter feed through little blog entries of 140 characters or less. You can update it from a variety of programs, the website itself, or sms! What makes it fun is that you can sms from your phone anywhere and it'll appear in your feed. It's so versatile you can also post your feed in your blog (above above!)

And why I'm using twitter again is because... I don't have to send an sms to the UK anymore to update it! I can sms to an sg no. and it'll update from there.

So jump on the bandwagon. This is what you need to do:

1) Register a twitter account.
2) Send an sms "twitter register" to 92721192 (Singapore no.)
3) You will receive a reply asking for your twitter email. Send it back.
4) Another reply requesting your twitter password. Send it back.
5) Now you're all set! Text "twitter update " to 92721192 and it'll appear on your twitter feed!

You can configure your twitter feed to be linked to your facebook profile too. So sending the sms will also update your fb status. The publishing platform for twitter is really versatile.

So start tweeting today :) It's the next facebook. And yeah, follow me at www.twitter.com/talkkok. You can also check out that page to see my entire archive of tweets.

Have fun!

HIRING!

2009-04-04T08:14:00.001-07:00

hello this is an advertisement for someone who will consistently scold me for free. job description: wengkeongkiller! you are expected to remove every decaying matter from my innate nature to slack and decompose. so yea, you should be able to bombard my inbox with messages like "get your ass off that computer chair you loser and start working you bum. dont think you can grow onto your plastic chair like the lady who grew into her chair but you should sit up all the same kns!"

you are expected to ensure that i cry because you scold me for not being on task. you have to break me, break every lazy bone break whatever crap i pull.

your pay: satisfaction from me being a sorry ass and slave to you. AND ULTIMATE JOY OF SEEING ME REFORMED FROM VICTORIAN/SAINT SLACKER TO REAL NILSINELABORE/UP AND ON-NESS! come on people send me your cvs today to bigfatsmiles@gmail.com

(JOB REQUIREMENTS: PHONE AND NO NITPICKYNESS WITH WASTING SMSES) (danial u dont have the first one damn you damn you damn you SO YOU CANNOT APPLY)

angst. HAHAHA.

runner!

2009-04-01T05:32:00.001-07:00

hello world:) i am back to the www after this hiatus, which you my faithful readers, should be used to by now. i am struck with a lack of hardcoreness like the meridian friends and rafflesian friends i have whom i am very sure are mugging their lives away but i am not! this is bad.

WHY I DON'T MUG.

1) i dont have the motivation to. i look at my homework/tutorials/revisionnotes and i go gahh, i rather watch heroes.

2) basically thats all.

damn. i never had the motivation to do this kind of shit since secondary school. and i realised it takes something more to be a hardcore person. but im not. im just an average wanna lifer who just tries to do a lil better than average.

okay so let's say, if i actually become productive and finish all my work now, i would have to do this: (maybe writing it down will make me feel better and more motivated)

-finish two history tutorial questions on international history
-revise southeast asian history on burma and malaya
-read new econs lecture notes/sloman
-understand binomial distribution
-finish the looooooooooongggggggggggg list of chinese homework
-finish pi for pw

its only 6 items but it will take a damn long time to finish and i just wanna cry and run away from it because thats what i do when i see things i dont like, i run. run. run. run.

so i should stop running and face up to the shit i have accumulated. bye world.

Gossip.

2009-03-28T00:14:00.000-07:00

A woman was gossiping with her friend about a man she hardly knew. That night she had a dream, a big hand was pointing down at her. Thinking that God disapproved her gossiping, she went to confession the next day. She got the old parish priest, Father O' Rourke. She confessed to him the whole thing. "Is gossiping a sin?" she asked the old man, "Was that the finger of God Almighty pointing down on me? Should I be asking you for absolution, Father? Have I done something wrong?"

"Yes," Father O'Rourke answered her. "Yes, you ignorant, badly-brought-up female. You have blamed false witness on your neighbour. You played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be badly ashamed."

So, the woman said she was sorry, and asked for forgiveness. "Not so fast," says O' Rourke, "I want you to go home, take a pillow upon your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me." So, the woman went home: took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to her roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed.

"Did you cut the pillow with a knife?" he says.

"Yes Father."

"And what were the results?"

"Feathers," she said.

"Feathers?" he repeated.

"Feathers; everywhere, Father."

"Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out onto the wind,"

"Well," she said, "it can't be done. I don't know where they went. The wind took them all over."

"And that," said Father O' Rourke, "is gossip!"

From the movie, Doubt.

midsaintlife

2009-03-19T23:33:00.001-07:00

its pretty fashionable to talk about your terrible workload on the blog these days, perhaps i should flip my coin and see if im really a ranter at heart, trying to find my place in this big scary world. the hols has been a pretty awesome time, with minimum productivity. productivity is a major deficit in my life. i need to be productive but the juices arent flowing!

theres preusem preparation to be made ah ah ah and then theres ya proposals to write. and then theres taming of the shrew and wuthering heights to read. and theres maths to catch up on since i slept in the previous lecture (albeit really professionally! haha. no one except my side people could tell i was sleeping ahuh) and theres chinese 40 mothershitting chengyus to mothershitting remember. but yea its a new competitive world and meridians and rafflesians and victorians are all girdling their loins and running the rat race so why shouldnt the saints be a part of this 21st century madness?

the sudden influx of writing juice is purely superficial, the bloghoppping has led me thinking that im severely deficient in the www so yea i shall try to rip my face off facebook and start being productive again.

taming of the shrew! (sucks, but oh wells, i got to have my maths cut into half why should i be complaining now yea?)

ps! movies to look out for: grantorino, crossing over, 17again (yes i know i said i wont ever watch another effron flick but i am seventeen this 09 kthxbye)

Excited!

2009-02-16T06:19:00.000-08:00

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Cean Chaffin
Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Eric Fellner
Milk - Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen
The Reader - Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Redmond Morris, Donna Gigliotti
Slumdog Millionaire - Christian Colson

Best Director
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Winslet – The Reader

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin – Milk
Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Best Original Screenplay
WALL-E - Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter
Happy-Go-Lucky - Mike Leigh
Frozen River - Courtney Hunt
In Bruges - Martin McDonagh
Milk - Dustin Lance Black

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgan
The Reader - David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy
Doubt - John Patrick Shanley

Best Animated Feature
Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson
WALL-E – Andrew Stanton

Best Foreign Language Film
Revanche (Austria) in German - Götz Spielmann
The Class (France) in French - Laurent Cantet
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) in German
Departures (Japan) in Japanese
Waltz with Bashir (Israel) in Hebrew - Ari Folman

facebook twenty five virus

2009-02-15T05:17:00.000-08:00

Taken wholesale from my fb profile page!

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you!

1. I am eating a prune now. I don't frequently eat prunes, nor do I particularly like or dislike prunes, but I'm eating a prune now.
2. I am tired now. It is natural for people to just crash when their tired but I don't do that immediately when the time is eight pee am. For some reason I think sleeping at eight pee am is a waste of time and I try my best to stay up till nine.
3. I celebrated Valentine's Day for the first time this year and financially invested in this cliche occasion only to see very high returns. Happy smiley faces are worth more than my money.
4. I was worried about doing this tag because I thought maybe I'm not interesting enough for people to sustain reading until number twenty five.
5. My phone just rang, even though I was quite sure I switched it to silent mode.
6. I like staring at myself, which is also why I like full length mirrors in topman fitting rooms and underground MRT Stations with reflective doors.
7. I want to be a crazy JC guy who goes out everyday and I want to be the crazy JC mugger who mugs everyday. Am I making sense?
8. I want to bagpack through Southeast Asia, preferably with someone close.
9. I give sweets to strangers in lectures to look like a nice person!
10. I have been losing my optimism.
11. I have terrible financial planning skills. I might go bankrupt one day.
12. I think Coffeebean makes nicer coffee than Starbucks but I still buy Starbucks because I think its cooler.
13. I am eating blueberries now. No, I'm not a health nut. It's all a coincidence.
14. I didn't bother to enter all my OG mates' telephone numbers into my phone for about a week. I love them but I don't like inputting numbers.
15. I used to be a compulsive facebook friend adder.
16. Facebook is usually the first website I visit when I get online.
17. I don't react to change well. Which sucks because change happens quite frequently.
18. I am extremely fickle. My mind darts between food choices every few milliseconds when I look at a menu. This only applies to food though (rest assured future soulmate! Wherever you are! Haha)
19. I enjoy stationery and book buying the most. Although I'm a more compulsive book buyer. Walking into Borders is orgasmic.
20. I just ate a strawberry. They came together with the blueberries on a plate. So no, I am not a health nut.
21. I used to blog a lot, now not so.
22. I still like clothes from Topman, even though everyone seems to be wearing them now. If I have time to shop I will still go back there! Screw individualism hahahaha.
23. My mom and dad made me in South Africa. Maybe that's why I have curly hair. Screw you secondary school mates!
24. I cry at movie parts when absolutely no one is crying. I like it that the cinema's dark so no one sees me doing this.
25. When I sit absolutely still with corrected vision, I can't tell whether I'm wearing glasses or contacts.

valentine was a saint!

2009-02-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

Today is a happy day. Happy day because I bought two sunflowers for two awesome people and cycled with the kyt all the way to the middle of Changi park connector and then ate sinful food later and gave her the sunflower and then took a taxi because I was late for the second date of the day with the estherchee to have, erm, water, haha, at bakerzin yishun and it was an awesome conversation and I gave her the second sunflower so yes it is the first valentines day of my life and it's been awesome so far.

So whatever sine curve that sets my emotions in rapid crests and troughs I hope they disappear for the rest of my life because I have awesome new friends and awesome old friends which basically mean I have awesome friends! Which lets me wake up in the morning feeling cheerier and looking forward to the sun rising and these sort of happy optimistic things which I forsook months ago when tragic instances of crappy relationships crept into my life. Somewhere along the line I know I'm not making sense to you but I am I am.

So to whoever is reading this (yes I realize I still have a readership), remember that God can make a difference in your life when you actually give it to him. And remember that life is as good as you want it to be. So stand up and be proud! And say your name out loud :)

Happy valentines. Omg its 12:02 that means its not valentines anymore :(

But happy vday anyway :)

Turns (sharp)

2009-02-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

No one reads this anymore so I guess it's pretty safe to publish something this explicit about my life. At this stage of education everyone's really mature and experienced with regards to networking and being friendly and stuff. I was reading the lit text yesterday night and it mentioned something about this acrobat's tits popping out during her routine and I was like shit, am I in school? Since when did school become so RA? Then it dawned on me that next year everyone in our class would be eighteen and that means in most of the world we can actually watch porn legally so what's the big deal with the mention of a lady's tits in the lit text right?

Okay, so my point is, everyone is really growing up and more expert at this friend making thing. Everyone has new friends, everyone is in new social circles, everyone is having fun, everyone is having the time of their lives, and if I say I'm not, then I'm really deceiving myself. My class is freaking awesome, relative to other SA classes. Everyone is friendly, everyone talks, everyone is cool. And then there's the OG. My goodness, the first people I knew in SA. If there's any nostalgia in this short two weeks of saintlife its the week of orientation and they are my nostalgia. Hence I really like them a lot.

But these people I just met like, what, two weeks ago? What about the friends from last year? Or last last year? Or last last last year? I freaking freaking miss them, but they all seem to have their own lives now. Just like me. Every facebook status reads blah blah "loves his og" or "loves orientation" or "why is orientation ending?!?!?!" and yeah I feel like that too. But there's this part of me thats longing for everyone I used to know. And seeing them so happy with new friends just kills me. But this is life.

I remember when I left primary school I kept trying to bring people back together. I kept trying to organize class gatherings, class activities. And then people stopped coming, and then I felt hurt. And then it came to the stage where I just shut everyone out and just started a new life in VS. And had awesome friends and then almost never talked to anyone I spent 6 years of life with again. Somehow I have this crappy feeling it's gonna happen again. Like now.

Of course there are friends who always stand by you. Because that's what real friends do. They stand by each other. I'm still freaking lost now, but some people make it much easier. Much much easier. So now I will just take a step back and enjoy what saintandrews has to offer. And be extra nice to my classmates and ogmates to make up for this sucky mentality I had to offer them.

OG21, 09A07 :)
Thanks to people who have stuck by, you know who you are!

12 JAN

2009-01-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

I realise JC opens a whole new horizon of social life, be it renewing old friendships, making new one and relighting those whose flames have already died. Its so sad that in life we come to know so many people and yet we never have enough time for everyone and we can be so happy together and bonded and together during times of togetherness yet few months later we can all forget and lose that bond. All that is left is memories. And memories fade. But this is life, there is only 24 hours a day so let's treasure the people around us now because they can only be there at that time.

And I'm angry also at the sheer probability that seems to manifest from who is going to listen to my fears and secrets and all the shit in my life the next two years and who's shit I'm going to hear. The friends I have in the next month determines from a variety of sources: how well they did in Os, how the orientation program deals them into ogs, what cca they choose and what they study. At least the last two options seem less... random. But the first two are retardedly cosmic and improbable. But I always fail to realise GOD is cosmic and GOD decides that even the 1/1000000000000000000 probability gets to be executed. God gives you the best and I always, always, always fail to realise that.

I've come to stop worrying about the Os. And what I get. I hope this will hold true until the SECOND I get my results slip. Here is my life for you.

TWELTH JAN

2009-01-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK (from lizhi) FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

11

2009-01-01T05:26:00.000-08:00

History Econs Lit Maths. The combination I've been waiting for in every Physics tuition class is pretty much confirmed. What's not confirmed is where. I have this super strong feeling that I'm going to get 12 and the more I think about 12 the more I want to die because 12 is not going to get me to VJ and I'll be in some other JC which is actually not as bad as I think it is but I can't convince myself its good. Here is the list of equations that can very well define my life.

18-2=16 Serangoon, Innova, Pioneer, Yishun
17-2=15 Serangoon, Innova, Pioneer, Yishun
16-2=14 Serangoon, Innova, Pioneer, Yishun
15-2=13 Jurong, Tampines
14-2=12 Catholic
13-2=11 Nanyang
12-2=10 Anderson, Meridian, St Andrews
11-2=9 Anderson, Meridian, St Andrews
10-2=8 Anglo-Chinese
9-2=7 Anglo-Chinese
9-4=5 Victoria
8-2=6 Temasek
7-2=5 Victoria
7-2=5 National

11 more days. 11 more days. I am freaking out every second. I know I'm supposed to trust God and everything so even if I get the worst score possible God would have planned that and crafted an awesome future in that score but the natural and my pride and my flesh and my weakness is preventing me from seeing that.

Damn. 11 days.

:)

2008-12-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

I am officially a retarded blogger because
a. I don't blog
b. When I see my blog empty I don't feel guilty
c. I am like spending hours of my life on the internet every day and that makes me stupid. (yes internet overdose makes you dull)
d. My blog has flies
e. Nobody reads my blog. Hell even I don't read my blog.

Okay I can only come out to e. See this is why I am retarded. Retarded. Retarded.

Oh wells. We should all read ABIGAIL'S BLOG because her latest entry just says everything I feel like saying. #457: Survive This Holiday talks about everything we need to know about not letting our holidays come to naught these last few days.

Yay! Retarded blogging is retarded!

I am so gonna delete this entry tomorrow.

Top Ten

2008-12-14T05:35:00.000-08:00

Top ten shit today:

1) Oprah
2) SDP

Only got two till now. Maybe our world is not as bad as it seems. Shall update whenever I feel strongly against something.

Me

2008-12-02T05:16:00.001-08:00

I'm picking up photography again. It's back to basics: shutter speed, exposure, aperture, iso. I'm rusty as hell. When people ask me why I'm not ambitious, why I'm so daunted by where photography can take me, why I feel so flattened, I never tell them because I'm a slacker. I never tell them I actually suck because sometimes I can't even get a picture sharp. I never tell them I stopped taking a hundred shots to get just one image good. I never tell them I'm actually a slacker.

There's nothing much hindering me from being a photographer again. I have a DSLR sitting beside me right now. I take too many things for granted. The opportunities I've been blessed with in this life have been wasted. On me. The creative influences that have surrounded me have been nothing less than professional and expert. Yet the honing and helping haven't amounted to much. Someone else would have been far more successful in my position.

There was photography. Which I started with in Sec 1. I grabbed a camera on the night of Evening of Music and Drama and sat of the steps of Victoria School Auditorium. I took photo after photo, shot after shot. I changed CF card twice. Mr Ong was appalled. None of the shots were good, obviously. But I worked harder. Practiced like shit. I thought I was going to do photography for O Levels. I really thought. Turns out not. Like everything I slacked and soon everyone was ahead of me.

There was graphic design. Which started when I was Sec 1. I sat through and watched the seniors work their magic on Photoshop. Afternoon after afternoon during the holidays I would take the train all the way from Woodlands to Bedok so I could work on The Victorian. It was three hours on the train everyday during the December Holidays and I worked like hell. I got better and soon I did bigger stuff and learnt more in the VIctorian 2006. Art Direction, graphic direction, whatever they called it. I gave ideas and did the shit. I got better.

But like everything else I slacked and soon others did better than me. I lost my grasp with Illustrator and Photoshop. I stopped wanting to learn. I lost focus.

And then there was editorship. When Muyao left there was only me and Lizhi. So naturally for all the work and shit I put in I was given the role of editor in 2007. I still think the outcome was fantastic, I still think Victoriana 2007.2 was one of the best issues I've worked on (given that I've worked on pretty many Victorianas since I entered publications in Sec 1), But the process of the entire Magazine was pathetic. I was freaking slack, I pushed back the dateline a million times and the reason why the second publication every year is not in August by January (yes 5 months back) is because of the delay of the one issue I edited. So yea, when everyone was working hard and pushing themselves to their limits I went just a teeny wee bit further and stopped there.

And then there was writing. I got selected for Commonwealth in 2007. Commonwealth! Victoria School! Oh my freaking shit. Well. It wasn't that good anyway. I made it through school selections but didn't even get Commendation through the brits. The story was cliche and boring and stale. Yet I thought I was a good writer. Ha. Ha. Ha. I told myself I'd write something better in 2008 and look where I am now? If I ever get A1 for English I'd think Cambridge was slipping because the composition I wrote for English was crap. C. R. A. P. I copied Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer and it wasn't even a thousandth as good. I betrayed by own voice. On the day of freaking O Levels. Which was the only thing that made my writing any good.

And then there was running. And then there was guitar. And then there was swimming. And then there was blading. AND THEN THERE WAS O LEVELS. Who knows what else? Jack of all trades doesn't even begin to symbolize who I am because Jack
's pretty powerful in the game of cards.

The White Tiger

2008-11-27T19:33:00.000-08:00

Indian literature has all this while been usually been centered around identity, migration, roots. It's not surprising, since the concept of identity is unusually poignant when being placed in a foreign land. There is Jhumpa Lahiri, Hari Kunzru, Kiran Desai etc. who all deal with similar issues. These issues are important and close to the heart, but then again, in the 21st Century globalising world, there is more to what they have all written about. Which is why I believe Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger won this year's Man Booker.

I know I'm late but it was O Levels! You don't expect me to read a whole book during O Levels do you?

The White Tiger talks brilliantly about the ~~widening~~ hyper wide divide between rich and poor in the India that has come to ambitions for world superpower. It illustrates the life of Balram, who comes from The Darkness (how aptly put) and how he has broken out of his poverty and gone into The Light. Except his story does not follow convention. People do not break out of poverty in India, it is their caste, their life, their destiny. The reason why they were born to this state is because of all the sins they committed in their past life. Or so they say.

It is the first Man Booker I've ever finished reading. It is an easy read, I read it through in one sitting. Social consciousness is never enough to deal with this issue. But then how can we?

Post-'O' Level Trash

2008-11-20T10:02:00.000-08:00

This is scary. Here I am sitting in front of the computer screen at 2am on a Friday morning typing this just because I feel obligated to. Within 2 hours already this blog has received two hits! Two hits! From 12mn-2am. This is supposed to be the blog no one reads!

Thanks to everyone who came on Tuesday 18th November and I deeply apologize for not treating this perimeter of expression as seriously as I should. 23 unique visitors and 19 first time. That means 19 of you came on Tuesday.

I must confess I am extremely out of touch with current affairs. The recent week has been a continuos swoon of events. Before Bio Paper there was PSLTC which I must say was a heck lot of fun with a heck lot of memories. After Bio Paper came Postos chalet which was the first time i stayed up for all 24 hours without sneaking a minute of sleep. Everyone there made it totally awesome especially the mahjong mahjong.

After that was usual Saturday hectic, then the steamboat on Sunday which sent me into East Shore Hospital at 4am. I knocked out the whole of Monday which then brings me to Straits Times Competition where I didn't sleep from Tuesday morning all the way to Wednesday afternoon. Which is also what's keeping me awake now because I'm anxious about results. I just heard the top prize comes with a three week internship. Which is worth more than the six hundred dollars. Which will evaporate all my disappointment of not being able to get a job.

Which brings me to Thursday where I spent time wandering Orchard with Clement and Mingyang- the first day of nothingtodoness which brings me to now. This post is totally crappy but I feel I have to write something.

Oh well. Hope I get some sleep. Thanks for coming folks.

The Real Assault on Reason

2008-11-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

Somebody's politics is risky business; it's almost like religion. It's a badge, an identity you wear around. It does not define who you befriend yet it defines who you intellectually agree with. Your best friend can be Liberal while you Conservative and yet, you can still be best friends! It is, how can I put it, intellectual religion?

But here is a confession: through this entire U.S. election I have largely never "endorsed" (by endorse I mean going beyond throwing him/her on SuperPoke and supporting that candidate on a psychological level) any candidate based on the intrinsic issues that the candidate stands for, but chose candidates to support on a more superficial, emotional level. Firstly, Barack Obama is a Democrat which spells "left" on American politics. The Singapore equivalent is inexistent yet it is rage among youths to be PAP-bashers. I think I have seen no less than 70% of my friends on facebook describe themselves as "Liberal" regarding their politics.

Hence coupled with Barack's youthfulness (compared to wrinkled faced McCain) it is no surprise that most youths pick Obama over the Mac. It is also popular logic that George W. Bush is a failure as President, and the two terms he spent in the White House was characterized by his inaptness. Yet how many of us know why he actually failed? How many of us has read about the failed Bush policies and actually understood why he is discredited? We can all scream Iraq Iraq but what exactly made the War something to cry about? We all hate war but aggression in foreign policy in hardly a good reason to negate his 8 years as total failure.

My message today is that we cannot just take popular opinion and phase it as our own just to appear smart or just to be in the crowd. Because if everybody does that any person with more than half a brain and slightly more charisma can collect the support of supporters who support because their friends, too, are supporters and (slowly but surely) build a fan base so big ~~he can control the world~~. Take charge of what you believe in, back everything you think is true by sources you can confirm. The world is not black and white. Nothing is 100% true and 100% false. Even the most centrist writers can have a leaning at heart.

You can read Al Gore's The Assault on Reason and believe that the GOP is manipulating democracy and also find truth in a Republican doctrine. You can watch Chee's video and completely believe what he says and yet think that PM Lee's National Day Rally was actually apt. We live in a world where everyone is trying to present his information as truth. That's his job. Your job is to decide what to believe in and not be the clueless crying fan.

かやの！

2008-11-06T03:24:00.000-08:00

My new Asics Kayanos! In Sec One I was super naive and superficial and since everyone in school was wearing some cool Nike/Adidas sneaker I made my mom buy me Nike basketball shoes (of all things some more, I never play basketball). Today I told my mom I bought a pair of Asics (which is, obviously, more brand orientated than buying Nike since like, Asics is Asics). Guess what? She said, "Sorry hor, never hear before." Talk about where advertising can take you. Next time you see an aunty picking up running, she'll be wearing Nike.

Oh wells. Hope I run better from now on! The adidas adistar took me 300km. Hope I can hit 500km by November next year! And no, I did not insist on green again. It was purely coincidental!

Blurry lines

2008-11-05T00:02:00.000-08:00

Chinese today and I think I wrote a rather startling piece for 报章读后感, essentially, newspaper report. It was really intriguing subject matter and I think really hit home for many candidates out there. The topic in English essentially went like this: 90% of teenagers polled today say they cannot live without their mobile phones and that it has become inextricably part of their lives. Comment.

I doubt the accuracy of the poll which I assume was put together by some Chinese editor at the local gossipy tabloid, who nonetheless must have gossipy sms-addict teenage friends (oh the stereotypes), but despite what I think is merely a numeral inaccuracy, the fact of the matter is, yes, we (every individual in society) are gaining traction to be so reliant on our mobile phone, that we cannot live without it.

Scary, no?

On a Friday night when I was happily chatting with Danial and Yun Sol and Jun Rong I was so engrossed in conversing that I did not even bother checking the phone. When I finally did, I realized I had 6 unread messages and I was like Shit, I've lost touch with the world. It was only then I've realized that I've never lost touched with the world, and the world was right in front of me.

What we are so dependent on is not our phones per se. It is the fact that our phones represent the continual presence of our friends, whether we are physically apart or not. And when we do have to communicate by phone the lines between the world and this virtual world are very blurred. When conversing with a friend at starbucks and then receiving a message that will lead to a conversation will you converse with the friend in front of you or the friend on your phone? I would say, most likely, both.

But the fact is that the friend in front of you should deserve your full attention because, after all, he is in front of you. But that isn't the case anymore. Not with the invention of our mobile phone. And who knows what will happen when we put MSN on it ;)

Strength in numbers

2008-11-03T18:17:00.001-08:00

He stands by the road. Cars whizzing by, back and forth. They never seem to stop, they always have somewhere to go. He stands there, waiting for them to stop. But they never do.

He needs to cross that road; get to the other side. He stares into the whizzes of light streaming across the night tar. The surrealist in him starts to be excited, but he just stands there, wanting to cross the road.

Then he notices a group of men walking past. They too, stand at the edge of the concrete, waiting to cross the road. In some thick heavy mandarin, they shout "One, two, three!" Strength in numbers, he thought. He ran along with them. Through the streaming lights, through the night tar.

Four or five pentagons came so close to them, but "strength in numbers" was all that was going through his mind. "Strength in numbers, strength in numbers."

They reached the other end. The group of men chattered excitedly, again in thick heavy mandarin. "There's one more! There's one more!"

He stole a quick glance at them, then quickly pranced away into the night tar.

后记

In small font I shall include snippets of my life since my blog seems hardly about my life anymore. 'O's are ending and since my blog has minute readership I shall be explicit here and state that I might be going to double digit TPJC. At night in the dark when you're sleeping (or about to sleep) and you start pondering and thinking about anything I thought about the consequences of my slack, and I realize TPJC wasn't a bad place after all (who said it was bad in the first place you evil elitist muaha).

And then there's me going to pick up Japanese! I have memorized about 90% of hiragana so that's pretty cool. Everything is Malay now though. Read and not understand. ハハ.

There's also me trying to improve my Chinese: for professional, emotional, identity-related and cultural reasons. I am now attempting to read (and fully understand) the first 10 pages of 爱新觉罗溥仪's 我的前半生. By the way, 溥仪 is Imperial China's last emperor so I thought it'd be pretty interesting to read about his transition from absolute monarchy to communism.

That's all about my life (for now). After the 13th November my life will be: running, reading, katakana, hiragana, kanji, travel, straits times npc, blading and learning chinese. And hopefully hopefully Borders.

Oh and I just have to post this.

Growth

2008-10-14T06:18:00.001-07:00

I'm standing on the bridge
I'm waiting in the dark
I thought that you'd be here by now.

Oh my god so emo! Haha.

My room is a complete mess, I just woke up (say groggy), and this is totally not a typical post I usually do which is usually something to do with stuff that makes the headlines or whatever or whatever or whatever. But I just got back from a number of blogs and it kinda reminded me on how I used to write during the BFS days. About mundane details about the day that still managed to attract 50 hits a day.

I remember in Sec 2 when I was so obsessed about those numbers, and then now my blog is totally cricket sound but I don't really care. Some people think I've lost so much, but I view it more as a shift of priorities. This sounds so mature but it actually isn't, I still get obsessed over lame shit stuff that actually never matter but I make it matter anyway.

Growth is on everyone's agenda. It's typical cliche to say that I looked at my archives and see how much I've grown. But sometimes I think its the circumstances that turn us into who we are instead of who we are that influence what we do. Haha, sentence thrill rides.

Take October 14 2007 for example (a year ago!). I was talking about getting the Christmas spirit in October! For god's sake's, that was EOY period. I think I must have been really distracted from my exams to think like that. If I were a Sec 3 at that particular circumstance I think I would have thought the same way. Growth? Nah.

How about fashion? In primary six I thought wearing anything from OP, Converse and Giordano was actually cool. Haha. And then in mid secondary school there was the IP Zone/Samuel And Kevin thing going on. And now when I'm sixteen it's Graniph/Topman/Nike. It's just this continuos fluctuation of public opinion and seeking of self-identity that ultimately moulds the clothes you wear.

(When will I be rich enough to shop in the boutiques of Haji Lane!)

Change is peeking everywhere. Don't try to run; its the big black dog that will always catch you.

O

2008-09-30T03:01:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been updating so read this. It's good.

Becoming Ang Mor American

2008-09-25T04:01:00.000-07:00

(Click for larger image!).
Courtesy of Reason.com

Pretty interesting draw-up. This gives us quite an insight into the issue of immigration in this year's race. Enjoy!

Next week!

2008-09-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

It's a Saturday but I'm looking forward to next week already!

Television
Monday (22nd)- Heroes Season 3 Premiere!
Thursday (25th)- Grey's Anatomy Season 5 Premiere!
Sunday (28th)- Desperate Housewives Season 5 Premiere!

Politics
Tuesday (23rd)- Start of General debate- UNGA 63rd Session!
Friday (26th)- First 2008 Presidential Debate! (Alarm clock for GOP fanatics)

Birthdays
Monday (22nd)- Yu Changda's Birthday!
Tuesday (23rd)- Shervin Lim's Birthday!
Friday (26th)- Esther Kok's Birthday!
Saturday (27th)- Nigel Keith's Birthday!
Sunday (28th)- Hillary Duff's Birthday!

Stuff
Tuesday (23rd)- Shervin/Changda's Birthday Thing!
~~Tuesday (23rd)- Hillary's New Album!~~

and...

Monday (22nd)- Mugging! (23 days to Os!)
Tuesday (23rd)- Mugging! (22 days to Os!)
Wednesday (24th)- Mugging! (21 days to Os!)
Thursday (25th)- Mugging! (20 days to Os!)
Friday (26th)- Mugging! (19 days to Os!)
Saturday (27th)- Mugging! (18 days to Os!)
Sunday (28th)- Mugging! (17 days to Os!)

Short Selling: The Hoo-hah

2008-09-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

With all the big hoo-hah on short selling now I thought I'd give a little digestible entry on why its such a big deal on Wall Street and what's actually going on. (Read the unfun New York Times entry here or read what's below! Smile!)

In a time when stocks plummet and business sucks, it is only ordinary that individuals find some way to make some cash out of the situation. And here comes the scenario of short selling. Media has told us that in short selling, investors want stock prices to go down, and not up- which is diametrically opposed to traditional investment (when investors want share prices to go up). So how does this really work? And why is the New York Attorney-General trying to ban it?

Let's start with the profiteering stock buyers.

Short sellers will first attempt to borrow stocks from Brokers (someone who buys and sell stuff for couch investors). They are now in a "stock debt" and owe the brokers the stocks they borrowed.

Let's say that now the total cost of the stocks borrowed are valued at $1000 in the open market. The short seller then sells the stock to any investor bidding in the crazy place where everyone is shouting.

The short-seller now has $1000 and an existing stock debt. He cannot clear his debt with the thousand dollars because his work would have come to naught.

For some reason the stock price drastically drops! (Earthquake/SARS/terrorist attacks/whatever)

The short seller now quickly buys up these cheap stocks and then returning them to the Broker he borrowed them from. He now makes a profit!

Note to all: I have never studied Economics in my life (although I hope to next year) and have almost zero foundational knowledge in this subject. In any case should you wish to correct anything you view wrong in the above entry, please feel free to do so in the comments section.

In my opinion this is a rather nifty way of earning some bucks and takes some real risk, adrenaline and brains to actually execute it. But the current legal dispute about it now is that short sellers, in order to ensure maximum profit, are spreading rumors about the market in order to ensure stock prices fall. This is creating an extremely distrustful, investor unconfident market sending Wall Street into further turmoil.

What do you think?

Think

2008-09-17T06:29:00.001-07:00

Following the disastrous reports of the Wall Street nightmare on CNN came the glamorous shots of Obama and McCain campaigning through the cities. The first words that came out of my mother's mouth was "Shouldn't they be helping out in this crisis and work together instead of the continuous debating and fighting?"

I immediately dismissed that as shallow thought, only seven weeks exist before "America Votes 2008" and Obama would need all the campaigning and debating he can get to gain and edge over the Palin-McCain combo. (Or, if you're Republican, for Palin to convince America that McCain's their man) But then I reconsidered, amidst the turmoil that Wall Street is facing, with touting of a second Great Depression, is it still legitimate for campaigning to be carried out in such a festive matter?

Of course we could argue that it is only through the debates etc. can we gain more insight into these densely economic issues and search for viable solutions. At the other end, regular television watchers can only jump into the conclusion that leaders are merely fighting and not coming to a conclusion. This Wall Street shakeup has its tremors felt all over the world, Singapore no less.

Who we are.

2008-09-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

I think this is such a powerful message; and should be the story for all Malaysians, Singaporeans and humans.

***

On a side note, today is the day Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is suppose to enlist enough MPs to topple the ruling coalition of Malaysia. He has previously repeatedly emphasized a stance on multiracial rule in Malaysia (a controversial, sensitive issue to all Malaysians), which I believe brush aside the hidden agendas, is a correct decision. Because race shouldn't even be a word.

So on such a momentous date, let's hope that people around the world continue to break prejudices against other people, no matter how difficult. Because we're all human.

HMM...

2008-09-08T04:29:00.000-07:00

I'm quite tickled by how Starhub/MDA/SINGAPORE censored the Madonna/Britney/Christina kiss at the VMA Awards. At first I thought it was just some hype cum effect they were trying to create but I realized the Michael Jackson one was not censored. OH WELL POOR GLBT SINGAPOREANS! Even the famous kiss is not allowed for your innocent eyes!

Ear Licks

2008-08-26T04:09:00.001-07:00

I just love indie bands, you listen to them and a smile just comes to your face. Sunny day, rainy day you just seem to cheer up and everything is warm and fuzzy. Think of it as disney endings for self proclaimed alternative hippy-esque people. Ahaha. Right now this is my list of ALL TIME favorite singers whom I love love love forever and ever. Yay. Haha.

Anya Marina, The Ting Tings, Switchfoot (plus Jon Foreman!), Jason Mraz, Feist, KT Tunstall, Three Days Grace, Yael Naim, Tanya Chua and Corrine May

and bands/singers who might just make it to the list are: Tilly and the Walls, I'm From Barcelona, Ingrid Michaelson, Mariah Taylor, The Shins, Natalie Imbruglia, The Last Goodnight, Ok Go, Augustana, Relient K, The Raconteurs, Incubus, Click Five, McFly, Dixie Chicks, Relient K, Duffy

Me

2008-08-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

I walk down the streamlined corridors of the building and think about funny things and happy things and stupid things. It's a ritual really, that I come to practice every morning and afternoon and night. This place is like a distinct home from home. It's like set apart as a safe spot, a bomb shelter, a nourishment zone. In this corridor there's this big armchair like those in cold European countries where people sit by the fireplace and drink hot cocoa and read a book and be happy. And now I get to sit on it, and think about funny things and happy things and stupid things.

I start to think if there's a person that's just like me somewhere else in the world. Maybe in Communist North Korea, or standing on a piece of undiscovered large floating ice in the middle of the Arctic. We look the same, talk the same voice and say the same things. Just that we speak different languages and experience different challenges everyday. Me One has too deal with food shortages and stupid dictators and pseudo Communist lifestyles and whatever and gross. Me Two has to feed his pet polar bear and build igloos and light fires to keep warm. Me has to deal with school and media influence and friend influence and school.

The corridor grows a fireplace, just like how trees grow fruits. It's a welcome addition to my home away from home, just that home is Singapore hence home away from home is too Singapore and Singapore is hot thus does not need fireplaces. I keep sitting on my armchair wondering why the corridor didn't grow an air-conditioning machine instead. I start to sweat and little beads of very diluted urea appear on my forehead and on my chest and everywhere. The diluted urea (aka sweat) starts seeping into the back of the armchair and this makes a stain. I start to worry, I'm soiling the prized European chair! But my anxiety evaporates instantly when I realize this is my home away from home so this chair must be mine too! I get to do anything I want with my chair.

Some thousands of kilometers away in Communist North Korea Me One manages to escape to the 38th Parallel. I have never been to North Korea and Pyongyang and the DMZ so I haven't really experienced the place whatever so this is really PSEUDO Communist DPRK and not the real thing like you'll find in some thriller or mystery novel down at Borders. Welcome welcome to pseudo writing where experience does not play a part in the process of this story.

So Me One manages to escape the clutches of all the petty corrupt Communist officials from his home in, erm, Pyongyang (that's the only North Korean city I know) and starts an espionage all the way down to the 38th Parallel. Except this time he isn't a spy for America or Russia or Kazakhstan. He is a spy for himself, his future, his life. He is higher than the propaganda-ed, brainwashed citizenry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He is a born intellectual and can envision the larger world than the Communist dictatorship he lives in. Due to sheer luck and intelligence he hitchhikes to the DMZ- where the Korean War ended some decades ago. He doesn't know the truth of the place, his history has been whitewashed by the proletariat government who liberated him.

Which is why he is a spy. He is the spy for truth, for freedom. For whom nobody stands for. Because countries cover their tracks and erase the bad parts. They replace talented sopranos with girls who lip sync because the lip syncing girl is cuter. They ban the sale of controversial material and books so you have to cross the border to get them. They bring people halfway across the world to someone else's country and torture them because their own country is a lighthouse for human rights and doing that on their own soil would be contravening their own policy. They recognize the sovereignty of a country which so clearly doesn't deserve it because of their own vested interests. This is the world. This is the sphere we are living on. And Me One is a spy for everyone out there who deserves to know better. To understand better.

Some even thousands of miles further away where Me Two lives is a land of desolate icy coldness. Although it is is desolate there's some form of beauty in it. Like the Ice Queen who rules Narnia with an iron grip. But who reads Narnia anyway? We are hip sixteen year olds and can't read this sort of books. They are blasphemy to everything cool and in. They are the Anti-Hip. Walk down the school canteen and wherever you are with young people and they start to set you apart. You are different. We don't like you. You don't dress like us. You don't talk like us. You don't listen to our music. Go away. We don't like you.

But Hip and Cool isn't really one big group like outsiders and naysayers think it is. We are homosapien, capable of intellect, personal choice and freedom. Hence everyone really is unique and has their own personality. No two person dresses exactly the same way (unless one of them are copycats). No two person talks the same way (unless one of them are copycats). No two person listens to exactly the same music (unless one of them are copycats). So everyone is cool and hip and whatever in their own unique sort of way. But because we are also homosapien and feel the need to bond, we get closer to people who we think are a bit like us and form a clique. Then we have clique wars. Haha.

But Me Two doesn't care about hip and cool does he? He is actually living on a piece of ice with his father and mother and brother and sister and grandmothers and grandfathers. He has never seen another human being apart from them. His best friend is his polar bear who swam to him one day because it was dying. Apparently it had escaped from someplace called a "zoo" where the temperatures were so hot algae was growing on his fur. So Me Two is basically cut away from Civilization. But he doesn't know that does he. He thinks grandmas and grandpas and mommy and daddy and his brother and sister IS Civilization. And so do the rest of them.

Actually they are.

In the morning he goes out with his father in the boat to catch seals for lunch. They sail out hundreds of meters to the seal spot. On the way out, he senses something different. The water was a bit dirtier, and very black! What exactly was happening? Had they made the Gods angry? Had she/he come now to take away their most precious resource? Where the only way they obtained it was through the four taps? This was catastrophic! This was Armageddon! Me two and his father rushed back to the block of ice he called home, anxious to spread the news to every homosapien on the world.

When they reached home, they started detailing the quality of the water, the blackness of it, how nightmarish it was. Grandpa A said it was nothing! He had seen this happen when he was the first human in the world! When he hadn't found Grandma A yet he had been living on another block of ice and had seen the dark liquid. Grandpa B was fuming now. HE was the first human in the world. How dare Grandpa B blaspheme his Adamity. He shouted back at Grandpa A and they got into a fight. They started boxing one another and soon blood dripped down both of their faces. Me two's pet polar bear smelt the blood and got into a frenzy, joining in the fight and tearing them to bits. Soon they were nothing but a pile of fresh blood, bones and flesh.

Grandma A and B were now terrified! Their husbands were gone! They breathed no more. The world had just seen its first two deaths. Grandma A said they they had to eat the Grandpas in order for them to stay with humanity forever. Grandma B cheered in unison. They rallied the family, finding the first diluted practice of cannibalism. Me Two cried out loud, together with his sister and brother. They had lost their grandfathers! They did not want to eat them.

Just as Grandma A started to take out her chopsticks, Mother saw a bright yellow lifeboat in the distance. She was shocked, her faced turned pale. In the boat were the 10th and 11th humans in the world! Me Two was very scared, and ran away, hiding in the boat he and his father made.

THIS IS STILL WORK IN PROGRESS! FEEL FREE TO INPUT AHUH AHUH.

Entries from long ago

2008-07-27T04:53:00.001-07:00

Ernest and the JC1 peeps have been interesting me with this subject called KI which you can do in lieu of GP in JC. One of the factors that led me to seriously consider this subject was that I didn't have to take Maths (hooah, as a certain someone would say). And it did seem rather intriguing, parts of it integrating philosophy and all.

Which is when I stepped into Wikibooks searching for "Philosophy", which is also when I started getting pretty intrigued by this whole revolutionary thought thing. I mean we are humans, we do have thoughts, processes which pass through our minds every day. Some people define themselves as "intellectuals", relating that to their thought processes which they deem higher order than that of other people.

But then again, thought is highly subversive, secret and clothed. How can we say that the washerwoman who walked down the dirty alleys of 20th Century Hong Kong didn't think the same thoughts as those of Socrates? How can we proof that because she is merely (society's view) a washerwoman, her thoughts are consumed with menial things like how to wash her clothes in the quickest time possible, how to feed her children etc. etc.

Perhaps some people are actually great thinkers in their own right, yet never manifesting it even to the point of deluding people to think that they are of a far lower intellectual class than that of themselves. Perhaps great thought exists in everyone, yet some of us are too timid to publicly embrace it, or some of us just don't know how.

And then comes the whole subject of Philosophy. I was talking to Clement about this and he was relaying in how "retarded" the entire subject was. The concept of personhood? The endless debates on whether choices in life are determined by chance, science or free-will? The deep thinking of Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics and Epistemology? How relevant is all this to our lives actually? Why are Philosophers dissecting our thought processes to such minute details and debating endlessly among themselves? Why do they have so much time to do such things? Who pays them anyway?

I argued back to Clement saying this was how the Kinetics Theory of Matter was derived- from Metaphysics. Philosophy was in some way the frontier of Physics, always looking forward as to where we are now. Ethics: Utilitarianism, Deontology etc. etc. helps us define if the laws and punishments executed are moral and justified. It has however, not managed to penetrate into mainstream society as a way of life; religion has done that. How many of us can say we are "Existentialist"? Or a supporter of Utilitarianism and takes that support into how it governs his life? Philosophy is an examination of what we have already built, yet lesser than building a new form.

Oh well. Philosophy isn't easy, if it were that would just be an insult to the human thought. We are complex, we are simple. What does it matter? We are human.

***

Of all the people you already know, you the socialite, who sold your life to the people around you. Who had hundreds of friends and had trouble deciding who to disappoint when they realized they weren't on the invitation list to your birthday party because your house was simply to small. Of all the people you laughed with and smiled with and loved with and ate with and worked with. Of all the people you threw your head on (their shoulders) and of all the people you supported and gave a nudge whenever they needed one.

You only cry when you see that one. That one. That one. You'd only die for that one. You'd only give up your whole life for that one. You'd do anything One wanted. You'd do anything One said. One could manipulate you and use you and backstab you and whatever but in the middle of the night when even the deepest darkest dark couldn't penetrate into the centre of your brain you know, you know, you know that you still love One and it doesn't go away. It doesn't. It stays and it stays and it stays.

You want to wrap your hands around, keep your bodies warm. You want One to be the reason you stay alive, you want One to be in your bed waiting. You want to sell your soul. You want One.

It just takes One.

***

The steps weighed immaculately heavier than usual. On the way stretched those tall powerful bridges, this was suburban working class Singapore, yet the class divide had crept into the homes of every citizen. Prices were soaring everywhere, yet it seemed like an economic duty. Four fifty student meals were reasonable; because we were part of an economically viable, growing nation.

The steps weighed heavier than usual. Anxiousness quickly crept in but left as quickly as it came. The need to be confident and strong was exceptionally powerful today. Almost duty, he had to be up and front, the charismatic subtle know it all.

***

Move Along

2008-07-08T07:40:00.001-07:00

I feel like everyone around me is just pressing on and keeping on and going forward. It's not that I don't have a vision for my life or anything, I just can't find myself to get enough motivation to get those feet moving. Maybe that's why I took up long d running. Like some kind of psychological lie to tell myself I can persevere and endure. But it has never been that case, I've always been the closet slacker, fooling the whole world.

):

2008-06-22T04:44:00.001-07:00

Let's just say tomorrow will be my biggest Monday blues ever.

生命

2008-06-15T08:55:00.001-07:00

Edging back and forth, jaggedly, jaggedly inching yourself forward. The course has no precedent, it is new, uninformed, unknowing. We live on this course, each day tasting new flavors, smelling jasmine and tea tree eucalyptus. Each day brings something different, unique, unaware. We journey it like an unexperienced driver, always checking to make sure the doors are properly closed. That is the day, that is the day.

I am an unfocused person. If I ever get focussed and ever get my life together and ever get the fragments that surround all of me and get piece together the pieces of my puzzle and fix those lazy jigsaw pieces and blow the air inside my balloon, I'm quite convinced that there's no reason for absent success. I have suddenly fell in love with the pictorial forms again- cinematography, photography. And I really regret the lost fragments and the helium I should have bought from the craft store.

The Edge of Heaven is definitely a solid movie. You guys should all watch it, or ask me to watch it with you.

Typing in the new room is fun (:

W

2008-06-08T18:41:00.000-07:00

Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names and/or objects, but nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person you got this from has the same first initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question. And Have Fun With It!

1) 4 LETTER WORD: Wash, When, What, With, Whom.
2) BOY NAME: William, Wally, Will, Wayne.
3) GIRL NAME: Wren, Wendy, Winnie.
4) OCCUPATION: Weather-girl? Washerwoman.
5) A COLOR: White, Wheat, Wisteria (Fine i copied the last two from Wiki).
6) SOMETHING YOU WEAR: Wellington boots, Wristwatches.
7) BEVERAGE: Wine, Whisky.
8) FOOD: Wonder Bread, Waffles, Walnuts.
9) SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Water!
10) A PLACE: Wellington, Wyoming, Woodlands.
11) REASON FOR BEING LATE: WengKeong Wouldn't Walk.
12) SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: "Wah!"

Fields

2008-06-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

Xiaogang skipped through the vast fields, overgrown with bluegrass and wheat. The wind blew gently; the sky a mix of orange and blue. The temperature was slightly chilly, and Xiaogang continued his journey into the never-ending plain. He was alone in this vast, vast field, and with high spirits he sang a song. "The east is red, the sun is rising. China has brought forth a Mao Zedong." Familiar lyrics from school.

The skipping motions of his feet soon broke into a walk. Black strokes of paint added to the orange sky. Soon, it was dark, and the walk was now a trudge. Xiaogang kept walking, his song getting softer and softer. "He works for the people's happiness, he is the people's great saving star" the words listlessly forming at his lips.

He finally stopped, finding himself still in the middle of the vast field. North, south, east and west were just captors of the repetitions of that Kentucky bluegrass. The moon shone brightly, and owls made their owl noises though there seemed to be no trees. Xiaogang felt alone, albeit that was the case since the day. He sat down with a jolt and looked up into the sky. It was as vast as the field he was in now.

He looked at the stars, some of them clouded. He tried to make out the constellations he had learnt in school; yet the school had never taught him such things. Feeling the strain in his neck, he decided to lie down on the soft cool grass. His hands tucked themselves behind his head, his eyes began to close.

The lyrics of the song started to ring in his head again, and tears began to form at his eyes. "The Communist Party is like the sun, bringing light wherever is shines. Where there's the Communist Party, there the people will win liberation."

He tried to feel liberated, and kept on trying.

四川大地震

2008-06-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

I chanced upon the flowers in the woods.
Sprung fangs,
bit my finger.
Recoil.

I slated my legs ahead of each other,
burdensome and horrid,
I was frightened.
Scared.

Every edge of the woods were now filled with these flowers,
thousands and millions.
I scream, useless.
Hysteria.

The fangs snap loudly, decibels above ranges
Overwhelmed and cursed
I collapse.
Brave.

It is a front, because this nightmare will never end.

Inspired by A Culture Rethinks Psychology by Melinda Liu.

Haha

2008-06-01T06:05:00.001-07:00

I watched the infamous CSJ video today, definitely not worth your time, it's just a list of overly played, heartstring tugging motions. What really amused me though was because of the MDA involvement, viewership for this climbed from just over seventy to who knows how many thousand now. Oh well, protocol is still protocol.

Food for thought

2008-05-26T02:04:00.000-07:00

"We need to think more critically about how democracy and good governance can be achieved together, rather than yield to the illusion that if people surrender their freedom, they will get peace, prosperity and justice in return."
-antineodem

Really stunning statement, for someone who has always believed that prosperity is only possible with a sacrifice in personal freedom.

1984

2008-05-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Nineteen Eighty-four is a genius, a masterpiece whatever. I regret putting it off for so long, always treating it as another cliche in the book lists. George Orwell now holds the place as my most respected author, because of his integrity and brilliance.

For those who believed that Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four was a failure because of the success of Animal Farm, I absolutely disagree with it. Animal farm was pure, as the original New York Times Review of 1984 put it, mechanical allegory. It was a situation for situation transfer of situations. 1984 was a mark of fiction; exploring the abominations of totalitarianism and what society could transform into. It was challenge to the current system; a voice of social concern.

Big Brother, however much drawn as a parallel to Stalin, I believe, was not Stalin. Big Brother was a representative of the party, because a human figure was always easier to identify with than a "party". The party had conjured up this image as propaganda toward the people (although now even the use of the word propaganda seems shallow because we know what really happened was far worst than that).

Nineteen Eighty-four was a social warning, and damn well it has served its purpose.

Fat Man

2008-05-20T06:59:00.001-07:00

I just slept for whopping two and a half hours- from seven to nine thirty. I have that dreamy post-sleep-like state right now. It's kinda cool but kinda stupid at the same time, cuz I really can't think coherently (seriously). The post-sleep-state is also lasting longer than usual, after sleeping I just sat up and stared into space. Maybe my great grand daddy was a starfish.

You know you're getting old when a ten year old adds you on facebook. Ten year olds don't use facebook! Ten year olds don't even come online! Six mere years have passed and I am already feeling the heat of generation disparity. This might be more nightmarish than I had prepared myself for.

Can any more hyped up Desperate Housewives person scream in agony! WHO IS SUSAN'S NEW HONEY! Like seriously the writers can't do this to us! And we have to wait till, like what, SEPTEMBER? To find out?! This is ridiculous! I think we should sue ABC!

Okay I can't believed I actually typed a blog entry. No one's gonna read this anyway so yea I better *sobs* do Chinese Ten Year Series. It sucks to be 16.

(If I sound radically different from usual, I blame the starfish gene!)

Rerun, sort of.

2008-05-08T21:53:00.001-07:00

I watched the Kite Runner today, the silver screen adaptation to the world's fiction darling. It definitely spares the viewer a lot of heart-pain- the omission of Sohrab's attempted suicide, the worry of whether American adoption agencies will approve of his adoption, the difficulties of Amir's publication et cetera et cetera. But it does introduce a lot of spine chilling shit-ass crap as well- stoning in Shri'a, the fight between Assef and Amir and the fucking ball thing in Assef's eye. Like. Right. In. His. Eye. He was bleeding and I was just going shit shit shit shit.

But watching in on screen has brought many new revelations towards why Hosseini crafted such an ending. Emotional aspects of the work aside, The Kite Runner really embodies the fate of Afghanistan herself. Sohrab represents the little hope (that's hard to kill, yes) we have in Afghanistan. His autism and inability to connect with others is really the embodiment of Taliban-ruled Afghanis. And the mad rush of climaxes towards the procurement of Sohrab really is about Afghanistan's horrible dealing of cards. The war with the democratic republicans, then the communists, then the Taliban. This is just the 20th Century. Ancient history has shown this country in constant turmoil.

My friend walked on me while watching the film and immediately mentioned that all the men looked like Osama Bin Laden. Maybe we need a shift in perspective; shift in views. Maybe we all need a time-out. Pray for Afghanistan, because there nothing more left to do.

Cent-worth

2008-05-03T01:46:00.001-07:00

The only real adidas stuff my Dad has are all from the eighties. Maybe, just maybe, the allure of brands and glam fade with age.

Feel?

2008-04-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Life's rigor has been taking a toll. Ingrid Michaelson does nothing more than amplify the theme of keep breathing in the very life I'm living in. I guess what really makes things special are the special people around you who throw you a rubber float.

I just browsed wefeelfine.org which is such a stunning piece of work. Browsing through the porny bits, the sad bits, the happy bits, my heart spins in so many directions. Honestly its quite an emotional rollercoaster browsing through the photos. My heart sank when I saw "I feel like describing all the gay sex I've had". It brought perspective- that there are deeper holes and louder cries.

Right now I'm mentally and physically exhausted. But my heart has such an immense urge to purge something out. I don't even know what I'm trying to say. It's ducky swimming here and there in this large pond. Even my analysis sounds so irrational and whatever and whatever and whatever.

Take a look there: wefeelfine.org. Maybe everything there sums up what I want to say.

mfgphhht

2008-04-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a rather disorientated day. In fact most days are disorientated. I go on severe mood-swings, a lousy surfer riding colossal waves. Such is the state of my brain in the morning.

I didn't eat breakfast and recess today, resulting in a 19 hour fast. I did it before but today was enormously horrible. How does one sits through the side effects of anorexia amazes me. It's really not the hunger that kills you, but the headaches and drowsiness and lack of energy and this and that and shit.

Prelims are in 15 days and for the first time in my life I'm actually giving a damn. The bad part about that is you're affected by the results you achieve. Because if you do badly and you worked hard it means you suck.

I need to sleep early. Disconnect.

Damn you

2008-04-04T06:50:00.001-07:00

It doesn't take much to push around the angular borders of the human dense carriage. A bit of excuse me, a bit of elbow, a bit of thank you, and it takes you to a spot more comfortable than before. The keyword is really than before because what things really are later is largely the same thing: squashed, confused sardine conditions. What I really yearn for is that despite the jostling and pushing and cramp and claustrophobic spasms, I have this really nice pole to lean on. It's cold, it's lifeless, it's doesn't give a damn. But at least I can lean on it till I get home.

Get on the train, it's time to move on. How come my feet freezes?

Quick reply

2008-03-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick reply to the latest comment before I hit the bed. Perhaps you noticed that my mentioning toward reading between the lines was about the final scene where Juno and boyfriend were singing to each other- and not the contrasts in relationships. Perhaps you'd like to take a longer time to read before commenting the next time.

Juno

2008-03-10T10:36:00.001-07:00

I sneaked into Juno today, or rather, yesterday, since its already 1:20AM. It certainly lives up to all the Oscar, Golden Globe, Rotten Tomatoes hype. But its rather disconcerting to find that someone can be as witty as the dear Juno (it is of course, when you snap back to reality, that you realize it's probably a million people who gave super long hours of thought to this brilliant script and not a spur-of-a-moment thing as Juno acts and, yes, I know this is a really long sentence but since I've got here let's make it longer.)

Juno is not only an exploration about teen pregnancy and all its trauma. Writers and Directors have chosen to take a much softer approach to the show: we really know that Juno is going through a far bigger wave of emotions. The movie portrays the storms of her teen preg as mere brunt dialogue between her and her loved ones.

The movie also shows how life can still be as screwed up, even if you're a mature, thinking, grown-up person. The divorce of the ~~adoptees~~ adopters is really such a contrast to the messed up Juno. And of course we learn that love is not a fruit of time; despite the years together, the adoptees chose separation. Yet Juno found out what love truly was, within the sixteen years of life.

I might be reading too much between the lines around here but maybe the final scene is just a revelation that love is long and tedious. That we need effort to keep going, that things come and go but we still stay around each other.

Not your typical warm and fuzzy.

Update on your blogger's life.

2008-03-09T03:20:00.000-07:00

Half lying on the bed with the laptop on my lap, The Shins, Maroon 5 and Ingrid Michaelson playing on my eighties Sony stereos. The sun is just about to set and I'm talking to Samuel Choo on MSN. Hmm... It seems like a perfect Sunday evening and in fact, it is.

Oh my goodness, last week at this time I would have been worrying about shit I have to finish by tomorrow. Holy crap what kind of life have I been living! One of a deranged traumatized person! What is happening to my bildungsroman? It's going up in flames! Let's take some time to wallow in pretentious self-pity, I conclude that it's actually healthy. One cannot live a life like mine and not indulge in self-pity for a while.

So anyway, my TransEuropa has arrived from the US but it's still with Esther! (Wallows in self-pity again) I need to get it soon because it's such a fun game and we all need to share fun games don't we :)

I'm going early to school tomorrow! 1) To send out my laundry so the hostel laundry people can help me wash them. 2) Meet the delicious Glen to voyage to our PRSS! 3) And lastly so I can hitch a ride from the patriarch. I have such a fun life.

Inaugural SLC on Tuesday! Let's all be happy lads and lasses!

Why we think the way we think.

2008-03-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

I just finished Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Now I know why graphic novels are so popular, the gorgeous illustrations, visual feasts. A picture paints a thousand words; saves a lot of work for the writer.

But the real flashing neon here is the increasing number of publications from Middle Eastern countries that really put a face to their nation. We've seen Khaled Hosseini and his duo of bestselling books. And Persepolis being not only a bestseller, but also an Oscar-nominated film. And then the many other movies that have made it to the various film festivals.

It's really important that we take note of them, because, I quote Satrapi, an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists. Countries in the ME who have excruciatingly low GDPs are usually judged as terrorist countries with creepy bearded men and mysterious masked women. We haven't understood that there's a lot beneath the surface.

So yea, I'm not surprised if we're gonna see the next bestselling author from Iraq or Pakistan. Or maybe he's already somewhere there and I'm just pathetic. Both ways, we really have to be responsible with what we believe in these days.

Write spring.

2008-03-02T01:32:00.000-08:00

His eyes stared intently at the mere amalgamate of light waves. His fingers nervously danced through his gelled hair, as if every strand were a choreographed masterpiece. The image looked back, this time more confident. His hands then tucked into his back pockets, and surreal motions of the ladylike blushed behind him. He ignored them and opened his mouth to sing. It was then that that voice was crushed by the arrival of the train.

Up there was meant to be the start of an essay but I thought it was more suitable as thinking space. What you're meant to think about is really anything at all. Of course the way I wrote did north a message; but the human brain has boasted variety. So comment on what you thought it was about, I'd be happy to hear from you.

Our generation is stabbed by image. Materialism and wealth, I have noticed, is a quietly exiting "so yesterday". In its place, its manifestations, is the plague of the way others see us.

The blockquote's subject matter is reflective underground MRT doors. Because of the lack of light from the other end, much of the light our corneas receive are our own reflections. They make excellent mirrors because of the size of the thing, which allows you to see yourself in entirety.

2nd March 2008. It's been three years now, goodbye old friend.

The Hours

2008-02-23T08:45:00.000-08:00

I'm currently watching The Hours on Channel 5 now. I think its fucking insulting to have a trailer of rubbish local sitcoms playing adjacent to an Oscar-winning film during commercials.

A note on globalization

2008-02-12T06:26:00.001-08:00

The first time I felt sad after watching a JibJab video.

Big Box Mart | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Identity Crisis

2008-02-09T01:16:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year has been a time of thought provocation, except most of the time I'm too tired to think anymore. Sometimes I get worried my intellect would just run away from me; my creativity would take flight and go bless someone else. Sometimes I get scared, because who I am isn't really who I am but what I have. Minus your talents, your looks and who you are, there isn't really anybody out there sticking out for you.

My life has been consumed with keeping a low profile these days; maybe its just an environmental influence. Sometimes I wonder if it would affect my performance, credibility when I get out into the workforce. After all, a diplomat is supposed to be one of those networky; know everybody everywhere kind of person isn't it? But then when I draw back into reality I realize it's the people who don't tell people who they are that have the most substance. It's the people who don't sell themselves that really have something to sell.

But sometimes I question myself again; after all selling yourself is an important skill. Though the most important thing in everything is being yourself; letting people see the real you. And I wonder if I'm the kind that does or doesn't self sell. The kind that networks or keeps it low. Because I realize I can do it if I want to. But recently I haven't been doing that; preferring to keep it low. Cross referencing this to my Lower Secondary days its been a whirlwind of change! So what am I?

What am I. I am me and yet I don't know what I am. Weird.

我真的真的喜欢新年期间！

2008-02-02T23:08:00.000-08:00

I just got Yael Naim's latest album (yes, I love Apple that much) and when Toxic came onto my iPod i was seriously stunned. I heard this before. I heard this before. kept chanting in my head.

Note: The new MacBook Air ad features Yael Naim's New Soul, and like other music on Apple ads, they end up in Apple fan's iPods immediately.

When I got home I quickly googled the other singers who performed this song. And lo and behold, it was first performed by pop princess Britney! Haha, I guess part of the love for mainstream pop hasn't left me yet. I still like Yael's version of this song though!

Albums on the iPod now are: OneRepublic's Dreaming Out Loud, Yael Naim's Yael Naim, The Shin's Wincing the Night Away and Paramore's Riot. My taste in music is bending toward Alternative, Indie and Folk, although, like I said earlier, nobody can escape the clutches of mainstream pop.

Abigail (and Danial) whined about my blog's subject matter: society and culture and stuff not Weng Keong. Having been an avid blogger since Primary Six (close to four years soon), my subject matter has gradually migrated toward the surround rather than self. I don't really consider this a bad thing; just an inclination. But since feedback is such I shall try to write closer to home.

The Woodlands home is now drenched in a mass of Chinese New Year stuff- shitake mushrooms, pineapple tarts, kuey bankit, oranges, tacky decorations, nuts, ang pow jua, love letters, weird chinese food, abalone, herbs, tea leaves, sweets and a whole entourage of other things. Walking through the kitchen and hall is just a stunning revelry of Chinese New Year-ness. The smells, I believe, have been brought all the way from Chinatown to my home.

On a happier note, I have spent three quarters of my budget for new year clothes (In the past people only got new clothes at the new year, now it's just another excuse for teens to buy stuff). And I bought new jeans (I have been surviving on one pair since November) from Gap! I now think that based on comfort alone, Gap totally trumps Levi's. After the first wear, I was overwhelmed by the feeling of the jeans rubbing against my skin. It feels freaking good. Haha, sorry.

Other out of the blue CNY things include the Victoria Hall (hostel) CNY celebrations on Tuesday night, and, erm, that's all. Of course there's the usual chuxi (eve) dinner, chuyi (first day) visiting and chuer (second day) dinner. I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy this rush of tradition but for certain it'll feel much better with fatter angpows.

新年快乐！

Welcome to Paradise

2008-01-26T23:20:00.000-08:00

I just finished watching Paradise Now for the second time. This time was with my Dad, who described it as "a good film" after the credits starting rolling. It's classified M18 under the Singapore Board of Censors because of the sensitive theme it holds in our society.

Basically, the film illustrates the last 48 hours of two Palestinian men who live in the West Bank. They have chose to end their lives as suicide bombers in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Many times in society we are prompted to deem these people as cold, unfeeling, inhuman individuals who don't actually have hearts, and are just tools of destruction. Politicians look at things in black and white. They see that everyone is phased under two umbrellas- "right" and "wrong". There is no in-between. Many times, we see it that way too.

But what is black and white anyway? Black is but a mixture of every other color there is. And white is the absence of color.

Nobody is white. Nobody is perfect. But nobody is black either. The truth is, everybody is in-between. There are so many colors, how can everybody only be two? A week after the terrorist attacks against London, Madrid etc. comes cover stories on these people. We look at them and dismiss them: they are not worth the attention. But does anybody consider the fact that NOBODY makes a decision to kill a bunch of strangers in just a snap? There is always a road.

Why did these two young man choose to give up their whole lives for a mere operation? You'd be shallow to just brush it off; think they're naive. How on earth will you expect people to react when you torment, tyrannize, intimidate them? They are human too, and vengeance breeds in the flesh of every human.

After watched the film for the first time, I remember thinking. This is odd, Said was the one who backed out first. Khaled was the adamant one. But in the end, it was Said who detonated the bomb. The second time, I probed myself with that question. Then I realized: religion, philosophy are but the kerosene to start the flame. The match still comes from themselves.

Some of us have inner demons, and maybe because there was this avenue Said took the plunge.

"The politicians want to see it as black and white, good and evil, and art wants to see it as a human thing.

-Hany Abu-Assad
Director Paradise Now.

4 Siglap Link

2008-01-23T20:26:00.000-08:00

Staying in the hostel brings a deficiency of contact with the outside world, while the working-class suburbs just draws you closer to a bigger reality. It is only when you're in contact, face-to-face with the bourgeois, will you really come to know the problems that our people are facing. Looking back now, traveling on the MRT at 7pm rush hour was really very surreal. The faces of our Singaporeans just say so much about how much they're working for to keep breathing.

Victoria Hall has brought me a lot more convenience. I take 30s to reach "home". I can rush back after P.E. to take a bath. I can get my tie if I forget it. It's just a myriad of possibilities. There are, though, sacrifices to every good decision made. This has been some sort of self-jailed prison, a wire that restricts me to watch the lives of everyday Singaporeans whiz past.

There are snaps however- trips to Parkway and back. I enjoy them quite a bit. I guess 3 years of commuting Singapore end-to-end has left me some sort of urban nomad.

But I guess to every land there is its own story. And after 11 years of being a Northerner, it's time to take a break.

Colophon

2008-01-22T22:24:00.000-08:00

Culture de sac has degenerated into a symbol of my declining brain activity. Today I write incoherent, childish things that have little to do with my life or the life around me. I do, however, have sparks of inspiration now and then, which usually end up as standpointless (that's not a real word, by the way) GP essays with horrible grammar, punctuation, and most importantly a bywk perspective. Enjoy.

written on the middle of 2009, 30th June.

Culture de sac is a portmanteau of the words culture and cul de sac. I'm not anti-establishment, my facebook political views says "Moderate". But certainly aspects of our practices will hit a dead end.

These writing exist to (hopefully) engage more individuals in current issues and affairs that actually affect them- directly or not. It is thinking space, for us to ponder about how society is changing our lives and how we can change society. I think what is important (and foundational) is that everyone today is informed, because only with an informed public can we have an informed government. And we all know where the lack of information throws us- to the backwardness of history.

So take a seat and look at things around you, this is a commentary. Telling, shouting, criticizing but not forcing (I hope at least!) views on you so you can have a look at various opinions. Take charge of what you want to know in life, be your influence.