singzeon.


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31 May 2011:

Friends.

(This is by far, my shortest post title.)

Simply put, I feel I am not being appreciated.

No, I do not want a whole group of people fussing over me. What I want is a group of people, or even one person, who shares their troubles with me, and I do the same.

I don't see a point in being nice anymore, to people whom I am not very close with. After all, they have their own groups. When their own groups don't care about them, they post a distress signal.

And when I go over and see what's wrong, I am rejected. What does this mean? To me, it simply means that I am more like a hi-bye friend to many.

I meet people in school, say hi, say bye, and that's it. That's all I can achieve in my friendships. People are showing their affection towards their friends all over their place, and I am but a loner. People acknowledge my presence, but that is all.

Well, of course, when they need me, suddenly the "friendship" seems stronger. People definitely would say: "Oh, these people were never your friends."

If I exclude these people from "friends", who would I be left with? Maybe a paltry few? But hey, they have their lives too. I can't bug onto them all the time; it's not nice of me as well.

So sometimes I think: Why am I such a loser? Is this sort of revenge for being so mean to so many people previously?


30 May 2011:

билингвизм

Yesterday, I had a little Twitter conversation with an ex-schoolmate. One minor thing we were talking about was effectively bilingual.

Frankly speaking, a few years ago, I would proudly declare that yes I am someone effectively bilingual. Now? Hmm, I'm not so sure if I can still say it.

Like what I said yesterday, I used to focus more on Chinese, then focused more on English. Now, you can probably say I am 兩竅不通. Seriously, sometimes I find myself wondering why, and since when, did my bilingualism standard drop till so low.

Previously, I was able to switch easily from English to Chinese, or from Chinese to English. (I do not mean Singlish, where English, Chinese, and dialect is brought in.)

I still remember a time a few years ago when I was searching through my fridge for something to eat when I thought of a sentence in English. I tried translating it to Chinese, and it was rather difficult. Then, I thought of another sentence in Chinese (totally different one from English). I tried translating it, and I did it almost instantly!

This left such a deep impression on me, since I could never find out why I can only translate "one-way". Now, I am much better at translating, but I still find that my standards have dropped. And because I have focused more on English since the start of the year, I find that my Chinese vocabulary is slowly fading off. Not as common ones are being forgotten now, such as ... tie pin? I know, most people won't use it, but still, I used to know it. Ugh.

And so I abruptly end my post. By the way, it's something I've never tried before, but I am going to translate (manually, not running it through Google Translate) my entire post above into Chinese. Here goes.

昨天,我在推特上與一個舊同學進行了小談論。其中談到的小話題就是雙語程度。

老實說,要是幾年前,我能肯定地稱自己是個精通雙語的人。現在?我不大確定能否這麼說了。

就如我昨天所說的,我之前一直注重華文,之後注重英語。所以,現在我是名副其實的兩竅不通。說真的,有時候我會自問曾幾何時我的雙語程度會降至今天這樣,而且,為何會這樣。

之前,我能夠很輕易地從英語轉到華語,反之亦然。(我指的不是新語,即英語、華語、方言一同摻進去。)

我還記得幾年前,我在翻找冰箱有沒東西吃時,想到了一句英文句子。我嘗試把它翻譯為華語,相當的困難。之後,我想了一句完全不同的華語句子,翻譯為英語,這下子就很容易。

這給我留下深刻的印象,因為我始終不明白為何我的翻譯只能「單方面」的。現在,我在翻譯這方面好多了,但是程度還是算下降。而且因為我在年初時就已經轉而注重英語,我發覺我的華語詞彙已經慢慢的被忘記了。比較不常用的如……領帶夾?我知道大多數的人不會用到「領帶夾」這三個字,但是,我曾經知道的。嗄。

我就這麼結束我的文章吧。對了,我將嘗試一件「前所未試」的事情,即把以上的所有字翻譯(不是完完全全使用穀歌翻譯帶過完事)成英語。開始了。


27 May 2011:

Considering that my readership has dropped to a miserable low of 9, it's time I have a new post.

(My titles are really long, aren't they.)

Anyway, the holidays have started. But first, about my results. I'm not really happy with it, since my Sciences dropped to B3, all of them. I expected Bio or Chem to at least hit 70, but no. It's really time I did something. I kept telling myself previously that it was just because I did not answer in full; I knew all these. Then again, it's an excuse. In that case, why did I not answer in full?

Combined Humanities ... Although I failed, but I'm rather happy! Happy being that from an F9 from CA1, at least I managed a D7 for SA1. (Still, I shouldn't have failed Social Studies. I could have written slightly more and completed my explanation.) In the end, it averaged out to E8. Not good, but not very, very bad.

華文使我最失望。說真的,這是自小學以來,我第一次沒有拿到A,或相同的分數。除了沮喪,是後悔。後悔自己在備考時,過於自信,認為華文試卷應該難不倒我。我錯了;徹底的錯了。

跟以往一樣,理解問答一直不容易做。這項目,就像冤鬼似的,不停地糾纏我。當然,我瞭解理解問答是華文當中的重要部份。所以我也無能為力。

但是,能做的事拼命的練習理解問答題。可我沒有。回到那句話,我太自信了。我一直認為,自己的華文程度過得去,甭幾多練習也可以的。結果,在考試中,出了兩篇讓我抓破頭皮的文章。沒法做,真的。我就只能含糊的找出幾個似是又非的答案。成績大家自有分曉:幾乎不及格。

上個星期五與王老師談話的時候,我們就聊到華文這方面。她問我為何我們學生一群都不大喜歡華文,甚至華文文學。咳,這要從何說起……

噢,我已經稍微離題了。說道離題,這讓我想起我的作文。實用文沒問題,19分。但是作文這方面才是個大驚嚇。也是一個差點不及格的。但,比起理解問答,我比較生氣的是作文。老師之所以給我如此低的分數,大部份是因為我寫的太少。根據她的經驗,學生要是在會考中寫如此少,肯定拿不了多好的分數。

但是,我覺得不公平。爲什麽她就不能「好好地」批改我的卷子呢?爲什麽她的第一標準就是篇幅呢?我承認我這次的作文寫的太少了,但是不至於拿到那麼低的分數。說真的,這事我蠻確定,要是給別的老師批改,可能可以多拿個4分吧。

不過算了。都已經過去了。我就只好在年終考試加油吧!


25 May 2011:

So today, it was the elections.

After a year, I finally voted again. I don't think I would regret my choice. I was as unbiased as possible; I did not vote for people just because I am close to them.

There were 10 speeches today, and I must say all the candidates were super awesome! Although they were very nervous, but they were able to control it and go on properly. :)

但是我有些醜話。必須在這裡說,因為我也不想在影響力更大的社交網站上公開。雖然是不會提及名字,不過對於那個人總是不好的。如果她在這裡看到了,那 too bad 你註定看到吧。

當中,有一人提到自己的優點是能夠「接納」別人的意見,並且儘量依照這些意見來計劃東西。我非常不認同。雖然在先我必須承認自己對於那人是存有些偏見,但是我相信這次的判斷是最公正的。原因是,前幾天,我因為對於一件事發表了一些反對的意見,就被她給忽視了。

她對於那件事的瞭解不是全面的;盡聽到了支持她的那方人所表達的意見。於是,她就是對於那件事抱著非常偏激的想法。雖然如此,我還是不明白爲什麽她需要如此的反應。所以對我來說,她說那是她的優點,我非常否認。

所以,當然,我沒有把票投給她。我真的懷疑她要是當了我們的頭六位領導人,能夠做出怎樣的貢獻。我相信其他的人才能夠把我們學生理事會做得更好。

有些人講話真的沒有經過大腦,說了一些可能會害到朋友的話。性格作祟吧。


24 May 2011:

Tomorrow would be an important day.

After a year, it's finally election day for Council. I still remembered last year when I - clueless then - was first told to stay back one afternoon for something relating to Council. I went, and listened to their speeches, and voted. It's going to be the same this year. Last year, it was held at the Multi-purpose Hall at Innosphere. This year, it is going to be held at LT1.

I do not remember my choices then, but I remember being more or less happy and satisfied with most of the choices that were made. Till now, I am very grateful that we were being led by such a capable ExCo. About a month later, it would be our time to step up and lead. It is certainly a very sacred thing (at least to me), and of course I really wish that our batch as a whole, would be able to push the board to even better heights.

This time, there are 10 candidates vying 6 spots. Of course, I am not going to publicly air my views about them - since it may be considered as instigation, and it would be unpleasant and incorrect for me to do - but I would like to say some general things.

Disclaimer as usual. Although I may be saying all these things, please do not assume I am claiming my superiority over them. They are the same as me: Sec 3s. But what I have here are some thoughts only. Though I might say mean things, it is never obviously against a person. I am - in no way - being 

Among the 10 candidates, I roughly have my thoughts on who should assume a role. Some will almost certainly bring about bad change to the board. Some will unleash their potential to a maximum, and set an even higher standard for the board.

The sad thing is that some very talented people were strongly against being part of Top6. (No hypocritical sense here, if you know what I mean and have comments about this statement.) Well, maybe this is the pattern of our board instead.

I strongly desire a post of Section Leader instead. Although I would be able to serve more people (i.e. the whole board instead of only a section), but I feel that I am more "fated" with my section. Without discrediting SK or HQ, JY or V, or even previous Section Leaders, I feel that the section still has room for more progress. No doubt, the four of them did push the standards of the section up. They even made me feel strongly for the section and the board, in contrast to a repulsive former self when I first entered. (Sadly, critics often labelled this as 'brainwashing.) I felt out of place previously; now I am fighting hard to take over and manage my section.

I actually have other thoughts as well, but they are certainly too volatile to be published here. Oh well. Let's see about it when the results are finally out.

To all candidates out there: good luck! :)

Just for nothing, there was a problem on my Physics worksheet involving Kate today. My first reaction? Add in Spade. What else can I say ...


22 May 2011:

What constitutes a leader?

Of course this isn't a lecture-post. I am not trying to educate or impart anything to my readers out there. But I thought of this when someone said something to my face today.

You are so stupid, how can you be a leader?

Well, I do have something to say about it in rebuttal. I may not be the best leader out there, and may never be the best leader out there, but I definitely have something under my name. Even if it's the least significant of matters that I accomplished, I still did something under leadership.

If one were to Google "qualities of a leader" or anything like that, you will definitely find a lot of different quality combinations. I picked the first one.

Exemplary character. I do suppose I have that.
Enthusiastic about their work. I am definitely interested and excited about Section3.
Confident. A bit lacking but still there.
Function in orderly and purposeful manner in times of uncertainty. Haven't really experienced such a thing, but I guess it's about there.
Tolerant of ambiguity and remain calm. Yes, I can keep calm.
Keeping the main goal in sight. Unsure about this one ... I tend to lose track sometimes.
Committed to excellence. Yes, too. I will try and make sure Section3 is even better.

There is my very self-encouraging post. I also don't know why I created this post actually, but oh well. I am just rambling off.


17 May 2011:

An explanation to my actions.

What I am gonna say might not be very 中肯 to you; you might think of it more like a story of defence and excuse to shirk responsibility. Either way, I am just going to say everything here, you may be the judge. If you don't accept it and think of it as rubbish, I'm fine with it. But anyway.

May I start of to say that at that point of time, I was suffering from a rather bad bout of depression. For the whole time, I was very isolated and down. I turned anti-social. So what I did and said were definitely what I would have done normally. Little things made me very irritated, and I suppose I was especially angry because I felt this was more than a little thing; I cared about it.

Basically, what made me that mad was that I was always ignored. To me, I was being nice and concerned to you. And often, my replies or efforts to communicate were left hanging. Maybe you were busy, or you were simply disregarding my replies. Of course, I don't blame you, since most of my replies were actually very insignificant and "lame". It was sort of replying for the sake of replying. But somehow I felt that I'm doing it because I actually care.

I must say, you misunderstood me on the apology agenda. Or maybe, it was my choice of words that led you to such a basis. I don't feel like debating that now, since it is very irrelevant presently. During those few days, what I experienced was being ignored, followed by apologies. What I meant was: basically, I see no point in the apology. To put it very bluntly, I don't see the meaning behind them. You put it to me that the apology was for me not to get offended. In actual fact, I was already offended, and didn't really cared anymore. So what I am trying to put to you is that: I would rather have you stop doing whatever "hurtful" things that you were doing, instead of apologising.

Of course, maybe I am the only weirdo that dismisses apologies lightly. By normal social convention, an apology is required when a mistake has been made. But they lose their meaning after a while, don't you think so? It would be good manners and that to apologise, however multiple apologies just make people wonder: why would there be so many apologies? Is there something really wrong with either party?

On my post on 14 May, I ended it with

Not saying anything sometimes work better than clarifying and making it worse after that.

In retrospect, I regret the statement. Indeed, this statement would make things seem very negative. I must also admit, that I was in a dejected and angry mood at the time of that post. What I said would have been different if I were not in that particular mood at that time. Personally, I disagree with my own statement. Irony? I prefer to think of it as the difference in attitude and thinking when one is in a differed mental state.

My opinion of you did not change, for a simple reason that you stated as well. We all make mistakes. Definitely, I would not have pinned down so hard on you if not for what I was experiencing those days. (I am, in no sense, blaming you for my bout of depression.) My choice of words in the relevant correspondences were - I must say - very harsh and undeserved of. You need not experience such a treatment. Unfortunately, I had decided rashly and wrongly to be so harsh on you. I understand your stand that we should be more forgiving; maybe I should keep that in note more.

You mentioned

If you are daring enough to say it, then be brave enough to admit it.

I believe your opinion is still that of I asking you a question about why you were so dao. That was not me, by the way. But I did "ask" you a question: the one about your blog's layout. I am not the Number One expert on web semantics and visual design, but being the perfectionist, I felt compelled to point it out to you, albeit slightly rudely.

Lastly, I am not totally a "man of steel". I do have feelings too, right? Although I went all out, I still do care for you. I did bear some anger towards you at the start, but that did subsided. After all, how could I be angry when most of all this was caused by me? So I must say, your implied meaning in your last sentence is rather incorrect to me. But nevertheless, I still appeal for an end to all these unnecessary skirmishes, which I had immaturely created.

Thank you for your time.


16 May 2011:

What shall we eat in China?

Not that I'm heading to China in the next few days, but I read an article about China's food safety (or rather, lack of) in Saturday's issue of Today, and I wanted to talk about it.

Since [insert year here], China has been plagued by food scandals. And, may I emphasise plagued. The number of small and big food scandals China face is seriously alarming, yet the situation does not seem to be rectified in any way.

Among the most disgusting and [insert word here] incidents are those like the soy sauce incident back in 2004. Soy sauce was made from human hair. They used a kind of hydrolysis process to extract amino acids from human hair. By the way, the human hair was taken from hospitals, salons, so it was mixed with germs, bacteria, viruses, and condoms. (Link included to prove that I am not faking it ...)

I also wanted to mention the cardboard bun scandal, but according to Wikipedia (the same link as up there), it was a hoax. Frankly speaking, I don't know if this was a cover-up done by the Chinese government, or did the reporter really made up the whole news item.

My point is ... These people are doing all sorts of stuff to reduce their costs, while maintaining their foods' flavour, but it is of course inedible! The result? People in China are, themselves, afraid of their own food. Isn't it very ironic?

I must admit: the Chinese are very clever. But aren't they doing it the wrong way here? Instead of spending dollars on R&D of foodstuffs, they rather keep the money by using illegal and harmful methods of food production. In the short-term, it may seem beneficial for them, since they get to cut costs. In the long-term, once anyone falls sick and finds out, they are GG.

///

I wonder in China, are there any old folks who are passionate about foodstuffs, who have carved a brand name of their own. With all the food scandals and scares, more and more local Chinese are turning to foreign products. The younger Chinese have probably ruined it for the older Chinese which I mentioned, those who really use their heart and soul to produce foods, and have never wanted to use the industrial chemicals and that.

I would want to go in search for foods in China that have never been subjected to such chemicals. Is it possible? What shall we eat in China?


15 May 2011:

About the Chinese Challenge 2011


華文智多星在上個禮拜六結束了。舉行了13集,我參與了一集。

先聲明:我不是因為沒有贏得比賽而在這裡吃著酸葡萄。我實在觀看了最後一集大決賽之後,有了一些感受。

大決賽的後頭,有一個關於「琴棋書畫」的回合。我認為,這個回合完全沒用。說的比較難聽些:除了那些中國人,還有誰(指學生)在乎那些書法、墨畫等等東西?當然,也不排除那些熱衷於書法的本地朋友。但是,把指認書法當作比賽的最後回合,會否有些extra?

我想,這個比賽本來就是來激起人們(特別是學生)對於華文的興趣。在我國,已經有大部份的學生不喜歡華文了。對他們來說,讀華文是一種累贅,只把它當作必考科目來修讀,並非當成一門有趣、有用的語文。

當然也有者把華文搞得非常非常好,但那隻是因為他們意識到中國未來(或者說現在已經開始)的崛起。日後要是能夠以流利的華語溝通、以優美的華文書寫信函等,那麼,他們將能夠在客戶、老闆的腦中烙下非常好的印象。

我鄙視這些唯物主義者。

話說回來,把那個回合加入比賽是多此一舉的。如果撰稿認為這樣能引起注意,……不知道那個回合中有沒有更多人把電視關了?

不過,我必須承認目前本地的電視劇的標準是有稍微提高了……LOL.


14 May 2011:

I probably have something like post-exam depression.

I don't know why, but it seems like since I was in Sec 1, there will be this period of time after the MYEs that I will suddenly be very depressed.

I will become very depressed, very pessimistic, and very anti-social. I will shirk away from as many gatherings as possible. It baffles me too: what kind of weird pathological disorder am I suffering from? I certainly do hope to have an answer.

For the past few days, there has been a lot of conflict, which I have played a part in making it worse, or being a central character involved. Thinking back, I really didn't need all these drama. But then again, it might have not been futile, since I got to have a closer look at who really would stick with you.

I'm not saying that I am very popular or anything, but previously I used to think that I generally got along quite well with most people. I understand that some people don't like me for whatever reason, but I took it that it's normal for everyone to have haters. Y'know, haters gonna hate.

But no. It wasn't that good for me. On the surface, people were good with me, they talked with me, and etc. When I have troubles, they are nowhere to be found. When I want to talk to someone, be it to pour out everything, or just to kill time, all of them seem to have a cloak of invisibility or something: I can't find them!

All these people are going out with their cliques and all that. I'm okay with it; I don't expect them to always invite me, since I wasn't very close with them, but I really did not need the isolation.

I'm wondering: after reading all this, will there be some guy going "This loser probably deserved it."? Frankly speaking, I don't care. Say whatever you want, label me as a loser, a nerd, a bootlicker. My only response would be "okay". Because, seriously? If I'm gonna listen to all that, I'd probably be committing suicide by now.

///

During this period, I also realised how weak are apologies.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an apology is:

1. A formal justification, in terms of either excuse or defence;
2. An admission of error or discourtesy accompanied by an expression of regret.

I think apologies will lose their meanings if one uses it too often. If you need to frequently apologise, it just means that you keep doing the wrong things, or that the person is very sensetive, so you need to keep apologising so he/she doesn't take offence.

Either way, it doesn't sound good for one party. So maybe after a while what people could do is ... Just shut up. Not saying anything sometimes work better than clarifying and making it worse after that.

TTFN.


10 May 2011:

This post continues the results of GE2011.

As I was saying in the last post, I was really really tired that day, so I decided not to type out my opinions. If not, I'd probably seem illogical and my opinions would be very weird.

Okay, I'm alert enough now. Sleeping at 10, waking at 7.30, I know what I want to say already. But first ...

In this post, I will be slamming both the PAP and the opposition. So please, don't not keep thinking that I am one of those people who are 100% against opposition or 100% against PAP. My belief is that I attack at whatever I feel is wrong, regardless which party proposes that.
Back to my opinions. Let's start with the SMCs. I'll talk about the ones that I know of, since I am very unfamiliar with those in the West.


Hougang. Congrats to Yaw Shin Leong (left). It is evident that what Low Thia Kiang (right) has done for the ward has been witnessed by everyone, and they have decided to extend their support for the WP even without Low himself.


Joo Chiat. Joo Chiat is my constituency. During the campaigning period, what has both parties done? Besides rallies that I did not and could not attend, there were only articles sent thru the mail. Neither candidate came to my house and shook my hand, talked to me and my parents. The newspapers have been reporting the both of them conducting walkabouts, with beautifully posed pictures of both candidates shaking hands of old and very happy people, yet, I ask again where were you? Did the both of you happen to forget about this part of Joo Chiat? No doubt strictly speaking I live in Siglap-Marine Parade, but I'm still in Joo Chiat constituency! A day or two before cooling-off day, the PAP sent an envelope to our house. I read it and wasn't impressed. It was just like propaganda in a very subtle way. Although I support the PAP, but this is no way to garner continued support. Maybe that's why WP's candidate almost won PAP's candidate.

Now that Charles Chong has been elected as the MP for the Joo Chiat area, I hope that within this 5 years, he delivers his promises. If not, even I won't be supporting him. It's true that the both of them have very few things to do here in Joo Chiat, since most of the area is private estates or landed houses. Charles Chong said he'll look into converting drains to pavements, and using that existing space as parking lots, which residents complained a lack of it. Well, we'll see what he does.


Potong Pasir. Sitoh Yih Pin has won narrowly with 114 votes. 5 years later, I suppose Potong Pasir shall be upgraded more or less fully. I really respect Chiam See Tong. He really was a very determined and passionate opposition member. However, I feel he should not have left Potong Pasir, then maybe Sitoh Yih Pin would not have won. Never mind. In the news, it was said that Chiam See Tong is planning a five-year plan to start again. Wishing him the best of luck.


Ang Mo Kio. Ang Mo Kio is the only GRC that saw an increase in the support of PAP. All I can say is, this shows our PM has really contributed, and the people could see it. Or, it could be the other party that contested this GRC was too weak. One member from that party said that they were contesting AMK GRC to allow voters to vote. Uhuh? That's all you wanna do? Let them vote? Okay, no wonder so many people voted for him.

(I could go into a whole post about how magnificent our PM is, and how much I admire him, but I am too lazy to do so. But, I must say, after hearing his lunchtime rally, I felt more confident of the PAP's stand. Before that, I was doubtful of how many votes the PAP can actually receive. And it proved to be true.)


Bishan-Toa Payoh. Many Singaporeans were angry with Wong Kan Seng for the Mas Selemat incident, among others slip-ups of national security. I would defend him by saying that Singapore is actually much safer than other countries! (Just today, Egypt had a riot over religious matters.) However, it is true that the incident was a little serious on the scale. He had better not have anymore mistakes, or the Cabinet may lose him this time.


Marine Parade. Let me start by saying *haiz*. One is an experienced veteran in politics who was once our Prime Minister and is currently our Senior Minister. Another is ... a very inexperienced person. I support PAP, but I totally do not support Tin Pei Ling in being MP for Marine Parade GRC. I believe she is not ready for the real thing. Using what one opposition member said previously, Tin Pei Ling is merely sailing into Parliament.

Also, a complaint against her was filed regarding comments appearing on her page during cooling-off day. She blames it on her admin Denise He. How bout I post some derogatory remarks here on my blog, have it read by 6,949 people (the number of people liking her page as of 9May). Then I post the next day saying that it was the mistake of my admin. How will the people take it? They will be very unconvinced, I suppose!


Best for the last, even though it came first according to alphabetical order. Aljunied. The hottest topic probably in the whole election. Singapore has lost a very excellent Foreign Minister. George Yeo has spent 6 years strengthening ties with other countries, yet now he is unable to continue.



Would you just look at how gracious he was when accepting defeat. He did not have any instance of sour grapes, unlike some party which boo-ed when they lost a GRC.

There is a petition going around getting Tin Pei Ling out of Parliament. Then, a by-election can be held, and George Yeo can be the Foreign Minister again. Even opposition suporters are supporting this cause; this just goes to show how respected George Yeo is, and it proves that people have really seen his contributions to Singapore.

George Yeo really needs to be back in Parliament. The country really would be different without him.

Moving on to Zainul Abidin Rasheed. Although I don't know much about him, but his being slated as the next Speaker of Parliament, would mean that he really is good too. Could he run as President in this year's presidental elections?

Others have listened to the WP's message and pushed George Yeo for President. This is not a suitable choice, since the role of a president and the role of a Foreign Minister is different. He is very good at diplomacy, but he may not be as good in managing the country's reserves.

George Yeo should be returned to where he is destined for.

///

If you are moved by my post, here are some petitions for you.

Removing Tin Pei Ling as an MP
Having George Yeo back in Parliament

That's all. TTFN. #100factsaboutme can wait.


9 May 2011:

With all that furore, the GE2011 has ended.

Single Member Constituency
Bukit Panjang: Teo Ho Pin (PAP) with 20,349 votes (66.26%).

Hong Kah North: Amy Khor (PAP) with 18,149 votes (70.61%).

Hougang: Yaw Shin Leong (WP) with 14,833 votes (64.81%).

Joo Chiat: Charles Chong (PAP) with 9,630 votes (51.01%).

Mountbatten: Lim Biow Chuan (PAP) with 11,965 votes (58.65%).

Pioneer: Cedric Foo (PAP) with 14,581 votes (60.73%).

Potong Pasir: Sitoh Yin Pin (PAP) with 7,973 votes (50.36%).

Punngol East: Michael Palmer (PAP) 16,969 votes (54.53%).

Radin Mas: Sam Tan (PAP) with 18,591 votes (67.11%).

Sengkang West: Lam Pin Min (PAP) with 14,667 votes (58.08%).

Whampoa: Heng Chee How (PAP) with 13,015 votes (66.11%).

Yu Hua: Grace Fu (PAP) with 14,081 votes (66.87%).

Group Representation Constituency
Aljunied: Low Thia Kiang, Chen Show Mao, Faisal Abdul Manap, Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim (WP) with 72,165 votes (54.71%).

Ang Mo Kio: Lee Hsien Loong, Yeo Guat Kwang, Ang Hin Kee, Inderjit Singh, Seng Han Thong, Intan A Mokthar (PAP) with 112,544 votes (69.33%).

Bishan-Toa Payoh: Wong Kan Seng, Ng Eng Hen, Zainudin Nordin, Hri Kumar Nair, Josephine Teo (PAP) with 62,282 votes (56.94%).

Chua Chu Kang: Gan Kim Yong, Zaqy Mohamad, Alvin Yeo, Low Yen Ling, Alex Yam Ziming (PAP) with 89,605 votes (61.20%).

East Coast: Lim Swee Say, Raymond Lim, Lee Yi Shyan, Maliki Osman, Jessica Tan (PAP) with 59,895 votes (54.83%).

Holland-Bukit Timah: Vivian Balakrishnan, Chris de Souza, Liang Eng Hwa, Sim Ann (PAP) with 48,682 votes (60.10%).

Jurong: Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Ong Kim Huat, Halimah Yacob, Ang Wei Neng, Desmond Lee (PAP) with 76,489 votes (66.96%).

Marine Parader: Goh Chok Tong, Seah Kian Peng, Fatimah Lateef, Tan Chuan-Jin, Tin Pei Ling (PAP) with 78,182 votes (56.65%).

Moulmein-Kallang: Yaccob Ibrahim, Lui Tuck Yew, Denise Phua, Edwin Tong (PAP) with 44,828 votes (58,56%).

Nee Soon: K Shanmugam, Lee Bee Wah, Lim Wee Kiak, Mohd Faisal Ibrahim, Patrick Tay (PAP) with 80,659 votes (58.39%).

Pasir Ris-Punngol: Teo Chee Hean, Teo Ser Luck, Penny Low, Zainal Sapari, Gan Thiam Poh, Janil Puthucheary (PAP) with 100,382 votes (64.79%).

Sembawang: Khaw Boon Wan, Hawazi Daipi, Ellen Lee, Vikram Nair, Ong Teng Koon (PAP) with 84,185 votes (63.89%).

Tampines: Mah Bow Tan, Masagos Zulkifli, Heng Swee Keat, Irene Ng, Baey Yam Keng (PAP) with 72,664 votes (57.22%).

West Coast: Lim Hng Kiang, S Iswaran, Lawrence Wong, Foo Mee Har, Arthur Fong (PAP) with 72,465 votes (66.57%).

(Due to some "circumstances", my posts are delayed by one day. So the info you'll be seeing is all pretty old by then. Hopefully I can rectify it soon.)

I stayed up till 3am to watch the election results last night. The show hadn't even finish when I went in to sleep. Pity those reporters who are all dispersed throughout Singapore, for having to look awake and refreshed on TV.

Less than 6 hours of sleep (I woke up around 9) really makes me very cranky. What I originally wanted was to have an uber long post about the results (above) and what I think about them. But seeing the number of typos I am making while typing all that, I think the opinion part can wait for the next post. If not, I'd probably sound like a grumpy ahpek ranting.

I do have some rantings to do (haha), even for the PAP. So it's TTFN, do look out for the next post ...!


8 May 2011:

Much ado about voting.

Yesterday from 8am to 8pm, people all over Singapore flocked to polling centres to cast their vote. This election has been the most firecely contested since 1963.

In the morning, the authoritarian called his brother about whether or not my grandma needed to vote. He was afraid that she would be fined if she did not. The authoritarian did not know that under the rule, people who did not vote would have their names struck of the Electoral List, and their eligibility to vote for future elections will be forfeited.

Once he knew that, he phoned my grandfather, and successfully persuaded him not to vote as well. It would save trouble for the authoritarian.

I reasoned that since my grandfather was so old, shouldn't he be voting, since it was a memorable thing to do? Then came the reply, "He is already so old, why should he still vote? What else can the MP help him in?"

So ... People are voting because of personal benefit? No doubt, you vote for the candidate whom you believe is able to help your constituency the most. But, ain't this thinking a little materialistic, and non-patriotic?

There are people that want to vote, want to have change, yet they cannot. And there are people who treat voting as a chore once every four years. There are people who rather they not be involved - "voting? leave me out" - and shy away from it.

Yet these people are concerned about local happenings. Irony much? Isn't voting a way to be concerned as well?


7 May 2011:

我開始覺得我活在這個世上是沒有意義的。我沒有朋友。改正一下,應該說是摯友。我有的朋友,都是一些可能過了十年就會擦肩而過的。

一直以來,我都很珍惜友情。友情不容易得來,所以我特別去呵護它。每次,都是我在主動的問好、主動的開口……人家回應,可是之後呢?無聲無息。

在臉書上看到一段話:我們應該自我隔離一下。如果人們在乎你的話,他們會發覺你的不在。如果人們根本不在乎你,那麼,你就知道你在他們心目中是什麽位置。

非常的真。今天,我領悟了一件事。對於很多人來說,我的存在是可有可無的。我這個朋友可有可無,沒了沒損失,有了也不怎樣。雖然平時會有人向我揮手,向我問好,但在我真正需要的時候呢?

你們不是很愛揮手問好的嗎?怎麼,突然忙碌起來?所以選擇性地逃避我?這不禁讓我想到:我這個朋友,對他們來說,有什麽好處呢?我有讓他們從我身上學到東西嗎,互相切磋?還是,他們把我所有的榨乾,棄在一旁?

我不知道。樣子看起來真的如此。我能夠列出許多朋友,可是每次到了真心好友這方面,我沒話說,說不出口。我不懂誰才是我的好友。誰真的可以在我需要的時候伸出援手,或給我聆聽的耳朵?

有些朋友的存在只是爲了明白習題。我知道,這些不是真正的朋友。好吧。那算算我真正的朋友。真正的朋友。。。誰?

都是一些Hi-bye friends。見面,打招呼,消失。見面,笑一個,消失。其他人在外面喜歡組成「黨」。每次,他們都很順便地排掉我。

讀到這裡,那麼,你肯定會說:「肯定就是你的問題」。我也是這麼認為。可是,爲什麽,平,所有人對我蠻好呢?難道,他們真的只是因為有求於我?

要是有一天我走了,不說死吧,我忌諱。要是有一天我無聲無息地移民了。有誰會想我嗎?有誰會——在沒人的提醒下——曉得「噢,他不見了」。還是,我需要等到:「哎呀,我的這個問題不會做。噢,他不見了」。

我經常幫助人。主動地幫助人。雖然我這麼做不是專門爲了得到友誼,但是,難道你不能看出來嗎?

人在悲傷的時候,想的東西可以很多。如果我在這個週末自我隔離,有誰會傳個簡訊「喂,你怎樣了呀?」我想不會有吧。我的手機快變成啞巴了,有多少天沒響了。當然,我也不是想要一群人包圍著,手機響到喉嚨痛的地步。但,難道,我付出了這麼多,就換不回一個真心朋友嗎?

通常,那些有很多朋友的人,都是出風頭的。我不希望出風頭,因為不必要。但是,難道不出風頭,就沒有一些關心你的朋友嗎?真的要在臉書上有1000個朋友,才能在悲傷洩氣的時候有人回應給予你支持嗎?

我不知道。我只能說這一切可能就要歸咎于我這個態度有問題的失敗者。


6 May 2011:

Today is cooling-off day.

Physics paper was quite okay today, considering I totally slacked at home yesterday night. I did not read any of my notes. Until today morning, where I rushed through 5 chapters of notes in a summary form.

I was expecting the Physics paper to be rather difficult, but it was still manageable to a large extent. And I was quite happy towards the end, since (1) I could solve an 8-mark question cos of a brain spark, and (2) I finished the paper with one hour to spare!

So I hope the marking scheme won't be very strict until I get penalised for the careless mistakes that I made. I have a feeling that I made quite a few careless mistakes ... Oh but my MCQ was crappy ...

Tomorrow is Polling Day. After that, it's Sunday. Followed by Monday and Tuesday without exams / lessons! Thanks to polling day~! And of course thanks to the fact that I am not taking Pure Geog. (Who takes Pure Geog? The ultimate memorising subject.)

Yay. That's about all. TTFN.

#19: I can be very pleasant if I want to. But step on my toes and you will regret. I am the kind of person that will wait 10 years just to stab you for revenge.


5 May 2011:

Now suddenly I am very pro-PAP.

I watched PM Lee's lunchtime rally videos yesterday. Somehow, the videos gave me a comforting feeling. Prior to that, I always felt that the PAP wasn't doing very well. After listening to his speech, I feel confident that the PAP is back to its former glory, albeit a little lacklustre in some minor areas.

Also, last night, I was reading Xiaxue's blog post. She was criticising those who were 100% against PAP. Like what she said, I would think it's okay if you "just wish to have some opposition voices in the government". But being 100% against PAP ... I can only give you [...], which means I have no words to describe at all.

Maybe you should just read her blog post. I think she makes more sense than me, so I'll TTFN.

In case you didn't know, TTFN stands for 'ta ta for now'. PM Lee used it on his web chat on Facebook yesterday. I didn't expect PM to say things like this, but it is more of a pleasant surprise ... :) (I didn't even know what that meant!)

Oh wait. Just an update on my boring life. I finished History paper today (just now), the most worrying paper of the whole exam period. I must say it wasn't that nerve-wracking. A lot of people were disappointed because Hitler did not come out at all, and that the LoN was set as the essay question, which a lot of people did not think so since it was largely practised already. A lot of people were expecting Stalin or Hitler's rise to power to be the question.

But I didn't expect that we had to do two essays. In the O Level, we only need to do 1 out of 3 essay questions. I suppose since we don't have enough content, that was the best they could test us on.

Following with a quote that I personally like:

One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic. -Joseph Stalin

Okay, TTFN.


4 May 2011:

Read the screen shot.



This screen shot has two Facebook status updates from the same girl. (She is Sec 2, by the way.)

I have nothing against people that support the opposition. I take it that their views and ideals are slightly different. However, look at what this girl is saying. Does she know what she is talking about?

Evidently not. From her line of thought, I would safely presume that whats she wants is a Singapore with 0% foreigners. I'm sure even the opposition would disagree to that notion. It is impossible to have not a single foreigner on our shores.

Obviously, this girl is very shallow-minded, and has no idea of how things work "in real life". She is probably living in a fantasy world where everyone is a loccaly born Singaporean, where there are no "foreigners in Geylang".

Or does she crave for a Communist Singapore? Singapore won't be Communist, but she can go to the other side of the Iron Curtain.

///

On a side note, I am having my Elective History MYE tomorrow. Wish me luck; I should need it. I really hope my essay can at least pass. That is, if I can get at least an L3 out of L5.

#18: For most of the time, I am quite objective. Hahah, I know, self-flattery. #100factsaboutme


3 May 2011:

There are only four more days to the Singapore General Election.

Since I was born, I had only experienced three General Elections. However, I was too young to remember the ones held during 1997 and 2001; my earliest memory of any election was during 2006.

During the 2006 election, the contest wasn't as fierce as it is now. Then, only 47 out of 84 seats were contested by opposition. Now, 82 out of 87 seats are being contested, with only Tanjong Pagar GRC led by founding father Lee Kwan Yew having a walkover.

I don't exactly remember the trend of the youth in the 2006 elections, but the general trend now has been very "anti-PAP". All over social media, people under 30 have been spreading messages of how the PAP has failed in leading Singapore. The opposition seems to be talking with a louder voice now.

It does seem like this "anti-PAP" message has been - and is - spreading. I suppose that is because young people are easily influenced: all you have to do is to list a few negative points about the PAP and they are more or less swayed against their side.

The opposition has become stronger since the 2006 elections. Personally, I am rather fine with the Workers' Party. I feel that they are at almost the same level as the PAP. This is unlike some other parties, that do not even seem to have internal stability within their party. Or others where all suffered from the inability to remember details.

I have also noticed that it is only during this time, that suddenly the skeletons from the PAP's closet all emerge, having been dug out by one person or another. What about the opposition? Do they have no skeletons to dig out at all? Or are the people practising double standards, purposely sparing the opposition candidates so as to that PAP is worse than them?

This election has been a much publicised one, especially with the rivalry between TPL and NS. They both are under-30 female candidates, contesting in the same GRC. Lots of people have dug out bad things about TPL, with the thing about her 'Kate Spade', and her stomping her feet when she could not answer a question.

What about NS? The people seem to be very kind towards her ... Besides that vulgar tweet that someone sieved out. Apparently, that tweet was deleted very soon after news of it appeared. May I question the intent? Was this a facade put out by the opposition to mask how cultured one of their candidates' actually is?

I'm not a total PAP supporter: sure, there are some things that I disagree with PAP too. But I see no need of having double standards towards the opposition and the ruling party. To me, I see this as deliberate incitement of the public's reactions. I suppose the opposition's supporters would hope that under a rash moment, the people would vote the opposition, having heard so much negative news about the ruling party. They would want the ruling party to go down.

Luckily PM set a cooling day for this elections. I think this elections really do need a cooling day on May 6. It would be good that the people thoroughly decide on what really works best for Singapore. On a sidenote, I really look forward to seeing who will drive the Singapore Bus.

#17: To beat procrastination, I have installed a Google Chrome extension called StayFocusd (actual spelling). This extension will block me from all social networking sites and Youtube and Hotmail once a daily limit is up, so I won't waste my time away. Or at least, only 2.5 hours is wasted a day. I know it is still a lot (especially since now is the exam period), but it's a good start. :D #100factsaboutme


2 May 2011:

我的博客流量的數據告訴我有些讀者來自馬來西亞的一個關於廁所音響系統的網站。

從那些網站過來的朋友們,你們好。請問,我的網站為何會出現在你們的網站里?我的哪個文章提及廁所、音響系統嗎?
我不是生氣,我只是非常的好奇。我明明沒有談到廁所音響系統的事情呀……


1 May 2011:

關於報紙那件事。

我非常討厭那些看了報紙然後不整理好的人。把報紙亂疊,然後走掉,實在非常不負責任。
我知道我的完美主義在作祟,可是,這真的很不好看。
於是,我從來不讀沒整理好的報紙。這是我自己的一個怪癖。

#17: 由此可見,我是一個十分挑剔的完美主義者。



aboutme.

From Singapore. 20 years of age. Blogs as and when inspiration comes, in British English (and Singlish), Traditional Chinese and (hopefully) Russian. Not a lifestyle blogger, expect posts to be serious, dull or even obscure. I enjoy comedy, in particular British humour.



interests.

[more or less in order] medicine | forensics | theatre | modern world history | typography (including style and grammar) | visual design | Taiji | Chinese language and literature | Mandarin pop (and singing) | Apple products.



typography.

PT Serif for main text and links. Ubuntu Condensed for dates, post titles and sidebar headings. Both fonts from Google Web Fonts.



credits.

singzeon. by Sing Zeon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence. Pictures used here either come from my Instagram (instagram.com/singzeon) or Google image search. For the latter, I do not own those pictures.



quote.

Hard to love. 認真你就輸了。