singzeon.


(closed)



31 May 2012:

The happiness you get when you finally understand something.

After tuition just now, I was still a little unclear about electromagnetic induction. My tuition teacher was trying her best to explain the chapter to me, but I think my stupidity made that rather difficult for her. Especially the part where there was this a.c. generator; I had such a hard time visualising the generator.

I was feeling rather relieved previously, since I had managed to understand the chapters on current electricity and household electricity. Magnetism's around 50%, with some concepts still unclear. (I think those magnetic field lines are just sucky to draw.) Things got slightly better during electromagnetism, since I could at least understand Fleming's left-hand rule and teach it to JL.

When I was handed the worksheet on electromagnetic induction just now, I was simply lost. My teacher had just gone through the chapter with me, until the part on transformers, yet I almost couldn't do a single question. The only things I knew were 'vomit questions', those that were sure to score if you memorised the factors.

But I don't want to be clear of only those questions. When I returned home I checked Youtube to see what I could find. And thankfully I found Brightstorm.


Brightstorm is a free educational video website. It's American, so their syllabus is slightly different from our British (or rather Cambridge) one, but the content is more or less there. I watched three videos on Faraday-Lenz's law, electromagnetic induction, and the right-hand rule. And suddenly, I could understand the whole thing!

The teacher in the video was this enthusiastic guy with a ponytail (or whatever you call that), and he kept drilling the idea of 'SYSTEMS DO NOT LIKE CHANGE' until I knew how to look at the magnetic flux and decide its current. He explains things clearly, and sort of became the missing link between Mr L, my tuition teacher, and me.

There's also videos for biology and chemistry and maths (which includes AMaths), but I haven't viewed them yet. Brightstorm has videos on English, again I haven't viewed them, but I'm not sure if they might fit since its American English they're using. (Probably so, since it's not spelling videos yeah?)

So if you're struggling with physics (like me), or any other subject, you might wanna try out Brightstorm.

FYI: I'm certainly not paid for this yeah. I did this just cos I felt this website's really good.

~

School was alright today, with some not-so-happy moments squeezed in. J came to school for whatever reason, so I accompanied her for a while. I don't know why she's so terrified by FG guys, except for the fact that one guy in there is madly in love with her.

Chinese lesson wasn't used to write compo, as everyone thought so with the message telling us to bring dictionaries. We covered a 課文 and learnt how to be a '精華'. Physics was the worst moment of today, when I paired up with an arse named R. It's very mean to say so, but when he goes to America to study next year, it's good riddance to him.

People constantly insult him about his size, but it's actually his awful character that makes people pick on him. There are others who are equally big-sized, and not get picked on because they are not like him.

Oh for one, I do not advise people to sleep on the benches at councourse. It simply gives you a sore half-arse and a numb tail bone, as I sadly found out just now.

I think our vice-principal loves soya bean a lot. Yesterday she came in with at least 10 containers of 老伴, and today with soya bean milk.

Why am I so random? TTFN.


30 May 2012:

Today I went out with the Investiture Comm.

With I, V, J, ZJ, J, and T. T also came for lunch. We left school around 3, and went to the chicken rice stall outside school. We were deciding between Fish & Chips (authentic British food) or chicken rice. In the end we went for chicken rice since J had a bad throat. But actually eating chicken was also no good for a bad throat, so he ended up eating cup noodles. (Which I also wonder the effect of cup noodles on bad throats.)

After finishing we went to Teo Heng KTV. But we had to wait for around 45 minutes for an empty room, so we went to play pool to kill time.

Singing karaoke made me aware that I can sing. Ha, so shameless right. Well I'm certainly not the best singer, but at least I know that I can manage a song okay. Of course, I still wish to learn how to sing backup vocals like J can.

Tomorrow and Friday I will have two consecutive days of Physics tuition. I shall think of it positively and not be bored by the fact. Actually it may not be a bad thing since I would need some help for the chapter on electromagnetic induction.


29 May 2012:

Ленинградское Оптико Механическое Объединение ...

... to think that Russian would have an influence on photography terms.

Anyway, Mr Y conducted his final lecture on Cold War for us just now. It was supposed to end at 1420, but it dragged on till 1445 or so. Still, it was very meaningful. Especially the part where he told us about how he studied these things when he was a student as well. It turns out that although he may look old, he's not even 40! Communism broke down when he was in JC, so he was learning of these same things at that time.

Mr Y recalled reading news articles about these happenings in Singapore then. What an experience it would have been. He showed us some clips about the Berlin Wall just now, and it was saddening for a country to be separated like that. Many people wanted to defect, most were unsuccessful and got shot. 

I think the thing about 'market economy' and 'command economy' struck me quite a bit. I was telling KL about how our canteen was a command economy just now. Command economy is usually present in dictatorships or totalitarian environments, so hint hint. There's also another thing that was so bureaucratic (gosh, I'm starting to love this word) in the school (just now, in particular), but I shalt not say it in case I suddenly become a 'dissident'.

It seems like now's the season for people to fall sick. (I make it sound like it's coordinated ...) KL was sick previously, I was last week, LJ too today. Who knows how many other people would fall sick in the coming days? The weather's not as hot as the previous weeks, I feel, but it's still hot enough to drench my T-shirt in sweat, which is disgusting and inconvenient since I can't rest my back on the bus seat even when it's aching.

I was giddy just now; puked around 4 pm. I don't know what caused that, but I think it started when taking the MRT to Paya Lebar. I'm alright now, but just now was simply bad. 

~

*boring part ahead*

Newsweek carried an article about Putin weeks ago. It wasn't a commentary or opinion piece against him, but more like a biography, and some explanations as to why he is leading Russia in this way.

I used to like Putin a lot, especially during Fudan days, where I would try not to miss any Putin-related news. China carries lots of Putin's news, since (1) they're allies and (2) Putin was having re-elections at that time. But when re-examining his actions now ... I'm not so sure.

He is different from Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. They are reformers. He is more conservative. Russia does not need someone like him as their leader, especially when he is bringing the country back to the Cold War state.

There's a lot to infer from his background. Perhaps that explains why he is doing such actions. He recently declined going to America for a summit, but is now heading to China. I don't want the world to have another Cold War, yeah? Haiz.

TTFN.


28 May 2012:

「天氣冷得像個笑話,日子過得像句廢話。」


《暖冬》 is a film done by students from Xiamen University, for a film competition amongst unversities (if I'm not wrong). It's a real touching film, although some parts were a little fake. Still, this production is by no means professionally assisted, so you can't really blame them for the amateurish look.

There's also a continuation on Youtube as well. Go check it out if you liked this first one.


What are the boundaries? Who sets them?


27 May 2012:

How long have I been without Twitter?

我也不知道啦,沒去算。剛才突然「想念」推特,所以找個朋友的帳號去看一看。

現在我才發現,原來相當多的朋友的帳號是保密的,只是因為以前我也有帳號,所以關注了就沒發覺。可現在我這個沒帳號的人,就進不去啦。

進了這朋友的帳號,我看到好多之前關注的人的帳號。大多數的人的用戶名稱沒有編導,還是有以前的熟悉感。不過有些的頭像卻有換到。

我從朋友的帳號,間接的看到@fakecchms這個帳號。這個肯定是一個非常、非常無聊的初中生搞出來的,現在竟然連網站都有啦。(我說呀小弟你也未免太認真了吧?)

看到以前和我經常在推特上聊天的帳號,我是有些感慨。畢竟現實生活中我與這些人並不熟,現在沒了推特,就完全「斷絕關係」了。

推特好像變了,又好像沒有變到。我在看某人的帳號都是些無聊的東西。這也就是我為何刪掉推特帳號的原因吧;我可不想傳播無聊的信息。

我的確有想過,想我這種非常內向的人,沒有了推特豈不更糟糕?其實也沒有變差,不過也沒有變好。我還是跟一般人好,偶爾跟一些人好,多多少少就這麼維持著。

那就好了。


26 May 2012:

Things have been interesting.

In case you're not aware, there's a storm brewing in Singapore's blogosphere with Xiaxue's post. I personally think it's very interesting and support her.

I don't know why these people are so extreme. The general election was last year, this year there's a by-election because of special circumstances. Why are people still harping on these things?

Like what Xiaxue said, these people have really spoilt the image of Singapore's opposition. I believe that not all opposition are like the commenters on Facebook, cos then perhaps I might turn to PAP, since all these people can only flail around.

Just because you don't like PAP, it doesn't mean you should attack every single thing related to it. I do disparage them and their policies or actions, but I won't resort to slamming people who support them. I might debate with them to further enlighten both parties, but I would not force them to change their mindsets. If one is so extremely against PAP and thinks that only opposition should rule Singapore, aren't you no different from the PAP, whom you accuse of being domineering and authoritarian?

Also, I really don't know why so many Singaporeans are against Xiaxue. They say that she's a bimbo and all that, but how much do they know her? (Granted, I don't know much about her as well.) However from her blog, she claims to be married to her only boyfriend (who is angmoh), never had underage sex, and came from humble backgrounds.

I don't really think she would lie about these things, since her blog has high readership, and readers can easily sieve out untruths. People slam her because she's married to an angmoh. Would they do they same if it was, say, a Vietnamese man? (I just used Vietnam as a random country; no special meanings.) People automatically assume that she goes for angmohs because they are superior and she wants to rise above the ranks as well. But what if this angmoh is the genuinely good kind guy that's she lucky in finding? Wouldn't that be a great injust to her? Besides, so many other girls get married to angmohs as well; why no complains?

The thing with her having plastic surgery is controversial. I personally won't do plastic surgery (even though I am nowhere near good-looking and it's always nice to have looks) because I don't see a need to. However, I won't stop anyone who has plastic surgery for a few corrections, unless they go overboard and splurge on plastic surgery. A few nips and tucks here and there won't hurt, will it? Yet, I don't know why so many Singaporeans are so against it. Is this part of being conservative?

Back to the photo, what if in the photo, it was someone else instead of Xiaxue? Say, a middle-aged woman (of course not with all that cute makeup) showing her support. Would the criticisms be toned down? Would less people call the woman a prostitute?

These commenters are just mean. Why would you call them prostitute just because they support PAP? Do you have any common sense at all? From the Oxford Dictionary,

prostitute

noun
a person, typically a woman, who engages in sexual activity for payment.


The PAP is a political party. How does this link to sexual services? Just like what Xiaxue wrote with sarcasm: "... because well, you know, PAP supporters are all prostitutes". I'm sure these people have elderly parents who probably support PAP because of past reasons. Do they qualify as prostitutes? Would you think of your mum and dad as prostitutes because they support PAP? #nolink.

... These people are simply uncouth, to put it simply. Attacking people because of some differences online is simply wrong; I learnt it the hard way last year. Xiaxue was right: politics really does divide people. This is especially so when you have extremist sources like Temasek Review. Last year during election period, I tried finding out more from the opposition's perspective cos mainstream media was still quite controlled by the ruling party.

I visited The Online Citizen and a few other sites. But Temasek Review struck me as too extreme, and so did one or two more. In the end, I relied on The Online Citizen since they are balanced while being anti-establishment. (It's a pity they received lawyer's letters previously.)

Okay, okay, enough of this issue. Today's voting day for the Hougang by-election. Let's see the results later on.

~

I got my report book back yesterday. This time it's a nice 991. It's a big improvement but frankly speaking, I could have done better on subjects like Chemistry. My class got highest for Chemistry; I think I might be one of the lowest then.

With Mr Y leaving, we would have a new History teacher. Most probably it's gonna be Mdm L, and I've already heard stuff that her teaching is not good, or that she's more suited teaching Social Studies. Oh well, I shall experience her teaching for myself. But of course if what I heard is true, then I'm probably doomed for History.

Ms K is leaving as well. She really did a lot to help my Social Studies. G, JL, and I pestered her quite a bit before the exams; she was still so willing to help us. It's not that Mr Y is no good, but being a new teacher, I suppose he doesn't really know how to engage us in his teaching. Also, his use of sarcasm is not as polished as Mr Y. (Gosh, initial confusion here. You'll know who I'm talking about if you know them.) So while the older Mr Y is able to leave us tongue-tied with all that wit, the younger Mr Y leaves us with a bad taste in the mouth. That certainly doesn't help to make us more interested in learning SS. By the end of the lesson, most of the class is in synchronised sleeping.

The previous SS lesson was interesting, though. We tried marking others' scripts to further understand how come our scripts would get such marks (generally low ones). I hope that SS lessons would continue to be interesting, so does History. Mr Y will be 'helming the lectures' (his exact words) on the final frontier of O-Level History (okay some exxaggeration here), which is the end of the Cold War. Such a significant topic to be taught by such a wonderful teacher; I must say our batch is lucky enough. The next batch would have to settle for other teachers then. Or perhaps, with the new syllabus, they won't even study this.

~

An interesting tumblr that I have been stalking following is Euphoric Insanity. He has selected really interesting photos, mainly sexual ones. There are also some LGBT ones, so if you're homophobic don't enter and cry cos you saw pictures of two men or women kissing. Oh also there are pictures of cigarette use and drug use. I don't encourage those but the pictures are classy to look at.

That's about it for today.

TTFN.


24 May 2012:

今天算是第二學期的最後一天了吧。

嚴格說來明天才是最後一天,但是明天根本沒有上課,而是聽聽校長致辭,然後清理課室等等。

今天的確蠻開心的。成績冊收到了,雖然還是有3個丙等(C5、C6),不過在排行方面倒是有進步。

我還是贏不了我想贏到的人,可是沒關係,我下次再來。

華文課的時候,我們沒上課,反而玩遊戲。記得最深刻的遊戲就是把身上所有的物品拿出來擺在地上,最長的那組獲勝。結果大家都很配合,把手機、錢包、甚至鞋子襪子都脫了。我想只差沒脫衣服吧。

物理的時候L老師講的內容其實相當有趣的,但是我不知為何支撐不住,睡著了。我是有些不好意思的。高級數學課的時候最棒了,老師就坐在前頭讓我們自己獨立做功課。我和A完成了0.5個華文假期作業和0.25個高級數學作業。

現在想想,我倒不希望六月假期持續這麼久。對我這種人,我只會把大部份給浪費掉。也許讓我們休息兩周就够了,我覺得。假期功課其實並不很多,只是很多張紙,所以大家都覺得很多很多。

歷史老師要走了。下個學期將是另外一個老師,我希望是那位比較好的呀。我的歷史才剛進步,如果老師不好,豈不前功盡棄?到時還得自己靠自己。現任的歷史老師將到某學校擔任副校長。我真替他開心呀。不過呢我覺得他教書非常棒,如果當了副校長就沒能教書啦,那不很浪費?

副校長也要走啦。學校至今還沒宣佈新的副校長呢。我們拭目以待吧。



對啦明天是冷靜日,星期六就是後港補選了。明天誰也不能發佈任何消息,不然這就違反新加坡的法律。

好吧。那我在今天2012年5月24日就說明:請後港人要明智的選擇呀。整個精選期間發生的所有事,相信大家也看入眼簾了吧。所以呀所以,大家加油啦!


23 May 2012:

Sometimes saying something = not saying it at all.

(Think about that title throughout my whole post, alright?)

1. It's a short post, cos I really have to complete my testimony by tonight, else I will be doomed. This is very important, and I'm certainly not gonna procrastinate on this one.

2. I saw in the papers today, someone succumbing to the tricks that PAP has played. Oh well, I really feel sad for them. And I resent the PAP even more. Frankly speaking last year, I was rather supportive of them even till the very end. This year, I am almost a hardcore 'oppositionist'. But I study history, and I must always be balanced, so yeah.

3. About the issue of dialect in media in Singapore, it seems like the useless and completely stupid ban is staying. As usual this just shows how rigid the government and its agencies are, reiterating 'official viewpoints' which are nothing less than bull____.

4. I wanted to talk (again) about LGBT rights, but oh I was really so tired so haiz I'm gonna procrastinate.

5. I really hope for a better world. Everywhere: here in Singapore, in China, in UK, in Russia, everywhere. Not only in the macro scale where everything seems to be well. But in the micro scale, where it involves people's relationships here and there.

TTFN.


22 May 2012:

The best never rest.

(Okay I don't know what's with the title.)

I met R and his girlfriend just now while waiting for the bus on the way home. He was saying how lucky it was for people who have low L1R5s, since they do not need to study much during the June holidays.

But then again ... The top pupils in our cohort will surely never rest; they will continue to study hard during the holidays to keep up the high standards, isn't it?

DH was saying just now that he only has 11 points for L1R5. If you compare it to people like me, it's so good already; I would wish for a score like that for prelims. Don't even mention those who get 20+ points.

Sometimes people in other classes resent students from the top two classes, saying they are nerds that are very proud. Apart from the PRCs, it really doesn't seem that they are nerds. They just know how to balance time very, very well. As for the proud, it's because they say things like 'only 11 points'. To them, it's really disappointing since their standards were so high to begin with. To others, it's like they're showing off.

The best never rest; to me, the best isn't only from triple science classes, but anyone that works hard. So 大家加油吧.

TTFN.


20 May 2012:

Simply superb, one in Teochew, one in Mandarin.




Also from Chen Show Mao:


And finally from the man himself:


May 26 ah.


19 May 2012:

It's a sad, sad moment.

There was duty just now; I'm very, very tired now and don't feel like typing all of it out. But to put it simply, I have not been enjoying yesterday and today very much, because of something that has been going on.

都是和生命里的兩個女人(也許可以說是三個女人)有關。

Normally when misunderstood, I would explain fully and make sure that my point is received fully and clearly understood. Now, I'm so tired I don't even care. If you want to continue to misunderstand me and get upset with me, then too bad.

There are two issues; you are the one who have mixed them up and combined it to be one. Because I oppose your position on one issue, it does not mean that I fully disagree with you. I'm not taking sides with either party: furthermore, since I am supporting the 'common enemy', doesn't this statement make it more reliable, and is worth more pondering?

還有另外一位。

I don't dare to talk to you anymore. It's very sad. I hope I'm the one being an arse all the while and you're not at fault, but now I'm so messed up I can't judge anything.



17 May 2012:

一次死裡逃生的經歷。

Okay lah, I'm exaggerating. I didn't escape death, but I did nearly get electrocuted.

I plugged my laptop charger into the extension socket, and there were sparks inside! Whoa that freaked me out. Especially since I learned about household electricity in chapter 19 of Physics. Mr L was saying how there could be electric fires or electrocuted or other tragic consequences.

The spark caused both sockets on the extension to off, when the switch showed it was on. That just made it worse man. I really didn't dare to touch it. I thought of getting a pair of thick rubber gloves, since rubber is an insulator and charges won't pass through my hand.

But sadly our house doesn't have them. Luckily, I thought of a simpler, and should-have-been-done solution. To off the mains switch. I was really (-.-) at that time, since I didn't even think of that. The first thing should really have been to off the mains, so that at least there's no current, yeah.

After I switched the mains off I wasn't so afraid. I off-ed and on-ed it again and thankfully it was alright. Just that I don't dare to unplug when switched on anymore. It was just during Physics exam that one question was about this. Wow.


16 May 2012:

But how does life go on?

My results ... they aren't exactly lousy, but certainly not good enough. I have an L1R5 of 19, which can only get me to Yishun JC currently. Of course, I do know that prelims are much harder so most probably this 19 points will reduce to less than 10 by Prelim 2.

Life goes on rather good this exam season, or rather post-exam season. As compared to previous exams, this exam showed improvements in some subjects, and this has helped my parents overlook the not-as-fantastic subjects. That's not to say that they are all-smiles; perhaps it's true that Asian parents are simply never satisfied.

Never mind, I'm slowly but steadily improving. Life goes on right after two days of pointless debriefs, with normal lessons resuming. For E and AMaths though, our class has finished syllabus, so there's no more teaching to be done. So it's free periods or some rather relaxing ones.

Homework will start coming in soon; in fact, there's already my testimony to be written and submitted. There's also the final AMaths assignment to be submitted. There'll definitely be more homework in the coming days. I'm thinking: should I start my 'homework diary' system again, or stick to using my handphone's Reminders app? Also, should I rearrange the layout of my table to make it more productive?

Today my table was in a mess, with so many irrelevant stuff on it. Papers were everywhere like last time. This calls for urgent tidying-up measures. My 'three transparent files' system is also failing due to my laziness.

~

Life goes on after reading two fantastic books by starting on What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures. I've finished about four stories in there. Frankly speaking, it's not as fantastic as the previous two books, or as his previous two works (Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven).

Perhaps it's because this time it's non-fiction, and with a more serious tone. Or perhaps it's because to me Gladwell seems to be rambling on with so many details injected all over the place. At the first story, I was already put off by the sheer number of names he introduced. No doubt Gladwell was trying to show some sort of lineage and legacy in the family (and extended family), it really made me want to skip it.

Even so, I will finish the book, since maybe the stories will get more interesting from where I've stopped.

~

Source A: A report by Channel NewsAsia on the Nomination Day results.

Study Source A. How different is Png Eng Huat from Desmond Choo in terms of their attitudes?

... Okay forgive me, somehow I was lame enough to do this like a History paper. But I am really driving a point here, alright.

My first reaction when reading this part of the article was disbelief. Why was Choo giving a 'thank you' speech? A 'thank you' speech is given when you need to express your gratitude to your target audience. You express your gratitude to your target audience only when they have done something in your favour or caused you to benefit.

In this case, did Hougang residents do something to benefit Choo during Nomination Day today? I don't think so. Choo - as well as Png - had received their certificates which made them eligible to contest; this both parties could have achieved without the support of any Hougang residents, matter-of-factly.

Hence, from this I infer an arrogant and high-handed attitude of Choo. From what I interpret, he is probably thinking that he is going to win Hougang over this time. And if it really was the case, then yes, it would make perfect sense where he says 'thank you', as I explained two paragraphs above.

More is to be unravelled if you examine Choo's short snippet. "... we have served the residents hard, the residents know." To say that this sentence is without motive is a lie. But what kind of statement is this? To me, it almost seems like a threat. The residents know that Choo and his team have served them hard, so they must vote for him.

If that is really what is being implied, then I would safely say that the margin would increase again, with the PAP losing even more miserably. It's been a year after the General Elections and it seems like this old-school style of high-handed and top-down campaigning still hasn't changed much. PM Lee has joined Facebook (in a bid to 'engage people') but ranks below, his people are still as usual. They make such statements (coupled with those from our two DPMs) to try and pressure voters to vote for them.

Png was direct and straight-forward in two things. (1) He wants to be their MP. However, he did not imply in any way that he was pressuring voters to choose him. He did not add a 'burden' to voters that he too has served them well, so they should vote for him. There is no 'threat' here. (2) This is a local election no doubt, but it is as well a "fight for democracy".

I'm no urging people to be populist and vote in the Opposition just to dilute the concentration of PAP members in Parliament. If the Opposition really is inferior to the PAP, then I'd rather stick with iron rule but with guaranteed stability.

However in current times, the Opposition has shown themselves credible enough to take on the PAP. Since they are both on 'level ground', then I would say 'vote for the Opposition' so that PAP does not dominate the political arena. When domination takes place, it is almost certain that this is no democracy, but perhaps socialism.

~

For the daughter of the innocent taxi driver who died not long ago, life goes on for her. This is surely a big bruise to her emotionally and physically, as well as her family members. Fortunately she has received assistance from her MPs for her university education.

Today on the papers, there was an article by Peh Shing Hui (a reporter I like a lot). He was reporting about PRCs who scolded the PRC Ferrari driver as well. It turns out that he was indeed a 富二代. One thing I did not think about yesterday was that the past few serious road incidents happen to be caused by PRCs.

A PRC hijacked a taxi and killed an Indian cleaner; a PRC bus driver ran off an elderly woman (and killed her if I'm not wrong); and now this incident. Frankly speaking, the one reason why I detest PRCs is not really cos of their accent, it's cos they do not assimilate into local culture.

They think they since the government welcomes them here, they can do what they want, which includes the plethora of social ills that they have bred from back in China. Even in Hong Kong, mainland drivers are flamed when they recklessly use the roads.

Back in China, they can talk loudly, spit on the road, drive recklessly, and hijack taxis. Unfortunately, they are not allowed to do all these (okay talk loudly isn't really illegal but not usual) here in Singapore. Singapore governments should create propaganda specially for them to indicate to them the dos and don'ts of Singapore culture, since they are likewise bombarded by propaganda in China; maybe it works this way instead.

TTFN.


15 May 2012:

Life goes on just as it's supposed to.

Today I know all my results already. Biology was really something unexpected. It really gives me hope, cos it shows that at least my dream of forensics might not really be dashed after all. The two maths were good. Physics was as usual disappointing, passing by a few marks only. I don't know to feel happy or sad that the average for Physics is also round C5. (Parents will forever refute such statistics and question why I can't be the 99th percentile even when the mean is C5.)

Two days after I did a poll for readers to vote on what book I should start on next, the poll garnered only four voters. Thanks a lot to the four of you, which I really hope are not bots trailing in cyberspace. I shall begin to read What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell then. I'll post about how good / bad it was to me when I'm finished. Hopefully it's as good as the previous two books I've read.

~

As you know (or maybe you don't), there was this fatal road accident on Saturday involving a Ferrari and a taxi and a motorcycle.

The driver and passenger inside the Ferrari has died, so has the taxi driver. I may sound mean, but the driver of the Ferrari deserved to die. He was the one at fault, ramming so fast into the taxi when the light was green for the taxi's side.

At 4am, what was he speeding for? The most possible reason would be to show-off to the female passenger his car. I am not sure about this, but I feel that this is a classic example of a 富二代, someone from China that inherited or gained large amounts of money from his rich parents, and proceeds to flaunt the wealth around. If he is, all the more he deserves to.

The taxi driver was the most innocent, in my opinion. He was driving safely and rightfully on the road at 4am when all of a sudden this Ferrari driven by this PRC rams into his taxi. You could say that he should have been more alert as well to check, but frankly speaking, what could he have done else?

All in all, it still points back to the PRC driver. Once again, after not being contented with causing so much trouble in their own fantastic home country, they have decided to arrive in the form of foreign talent and wreak havoc here.

Singapore has a low birth rate; the consequences are disastrous for us if nothing else is done. But using such a method might instead backfire. We may retain our economic strength with all the foreign talent, but socially, we would deteriorate.

Yes, yes, not every PRC is so evil / corrupted / selfish / inconsiderate / loud / unhygienic / , but all it takes is a few significant ones to cause a great pimple to Singapore's social skin, waiting to burst and flood Singapore with disgusting pus.

Clap for my poetic nonsense, if you may. But seriously, this is a serious problem. Life goes on, but with what changes (for the worse)?

~

As can be seen obviously, the media is still controlled by the PAP, which showcases its candidate for Hougang's by-election Desmond Choo much more than WP's candidate Png Eng Huat. I strongly disbelieve the explanation that it's because Png does less stuff than Choo, so there's less to feature. Reporters are known to dig out stuff; if they really wanted, they could even arrange for a feature interview (although that's weird too). My point being, they are obviously not treating the candidates fairly.

The reason for hogging the limelight would definitely be to try and elevate Desmond Choo's standing, but I believe that it has strongly backfired in the Internet age. (The PAP really doesn't know how to change by now.) All the more, people (like me) will head to the Internet and complain about how unfairly Png is treated in terms of less chances in media and etc. People sympathise, empathise, and PAP would have shot themselves in the foot.

It also doesn't help that our beloved DPMs are also offering their 'two cents worth' into this by-election. Basically, their words make me want to slant to vote for WP even more. Especially of the reasoning that voters should vote for PAP since WP would still service them and they would receive two MPs' service. My logic is sometimes flawed, but this is so many times more flawed than mine.

If I were a Hougang voter, okay then, I will vote for the WP. Why? Because according to the PAP, they will not give up and continue to service me. Isn't the exact opposite of our DPM's logic? Instead of voting for PAP and enjoying WP's complementary service, I will vote for WP and enjoy PAP's complementary service. There is no counter-argument, since the PAP will again be shot in the foot if they claim that they will 'give up' if they do not win this time. They would never do that, so Hougang voters can rest  be assured that by the logic (or rather the opposite logic) of our DPM, voting for WP is not bad too.

Our PM has written a note on his Facebook page (which was faithfully reproduced by pro-PAP mainstream media), once again poking at the fact that the WP was irresponsible in allowing Yaw Shin Leong to leave behind his constituents. Please, this is degrading to political rhetoric.

It's not to say that we should completely ignore this matter. It's for a fact that the Yaw did let down Hougang voters in one way or another, but there's certainly no point in constantly peeling open this scab anymore. Evidently, PM is trying to target Hougang voters' emotions, hoping that they would have the mentality that 'since Yaw (representing WP) let me down, I should try for the PAP'.

Please, lah. In all respect, do you really think that hardcore Hougang WP voters would fall for such a rhetoric? It would only come across as him being like a flailing attacker - trying to attack blindly without really addressing concerns.

After the election, life goes on, with Hougang still in the hands of WP. I am anticipating the margin of votes that Choo will lose by. If it's anything higher than the 2011 General Election, that shows a lot.

Another thing. Our other DPM has stressed that this by-election should be very local. On the one hand, it sounds logical, since it's only a by-election for Hougang. On the other hand, this simply reveals that even he knows that if national issues were pulled into the picture, they would suffer a greater defeat. People are still not very satisfied with the outcome of things one year after the election, and Hougang voters would represent this unhappiness of Singaporeans in general by voting.

Sometimes, silence is better, so much better. In my opinion, our two DPMs have did nothing but damage PAP's campaign for Hougang even more. They are the old-school politicians that are used to top-down instructions and 'engagement', partially by dominating mainstream media to propagate their ideas. How wrong they are to continue employing such futile methods in this day and age.

~
To end off,


14 May 2012:

I have received 5 out of 9 results already.

What I would like to say is ... -sigh-.

English wasn't that bad, but my composition writing (both types) is still very sucky. Writing this blog doesn't seem to help anymore eh.

Chinese ... I really think I need to consult the HOD (or at least my teacher) whether I should drop the idea of studying Chinese in JC. It's my passion but sometimes results just aren't proportionate.

Combined Humanities had slight improvements, which I'm really happy. Still, I'd really hope I would get at least one L4 (or even L5) for SBQ. The highest was L3. Oh well, I know how to improve. So hopefully by Prelim 2 it'll be better.

Chemistry ... another disappointing one. Chemistry is the "pillar" of all three sciences, and yet I am getting so low. Besides, chemistry is very, very important in forensics. How, like that?

Tomorrow there shall be the both maths, biology, and physics. Fingers crossed for slightly better results. Especially AMaths please.

Remember I said I finished reading 《那些年,我們一起追的女孩》? There's a movie as well (Captain Obvious speaking ...), and I've downloaded it (shh). So in the holidays I shall watch it. Maybe I'll be more critical, since I've read the book and known most of the plot. Who knows? Please help to vote for what book I shall read next~

TTFN.


13 May 2012:

昨天我讀完了《那些年,我們一起追的女孩》。

對比之前的The Sense of an Ending,這本書我只花了2天的時間讀完它。這本書比較直接,不想之前那本處處都是文學意義,要慢慢讀才能讀懂。

《那些年,我們一起追的女孩》……我只能覺得作者很勇敢。他很勇敢,把之前的經歷,以真人真名的方式寫了出來。台灣的某些網友竟然用人肉搜索找出「沈佳儀」真人,害得她請了一年的假去大陸陪老公。

《那些年》的結局並不像其他的故事一樣,男女主角都在一起。《那些年》就這麼生活化的結束了。我覺得,這樣的故事才是最真實的。如果每次都讓男女主角在一起,難道這反映了現實嗎?現實中,真的那麼多「有情人終成眷屬」嗎?

我不是悲觀呀。只是,現實果然如此。故事的後面,沈佳儀找了男友,分手了。搭上廖宏英,分手了。最終找到了她現在的老公。現實中就是可以那麼多波折。小說、電視劇卻嫌那不浪漫,都選擇「甜蜜到爆」的無聊寫法。

我已經把《那些年》放回我的書櫥啦。近期來我是不會讀這本書的。不是因為我討厭它,而是因為我想要繼續讀點別點。前年去年,我忽略了「讀」。所以今年即使O水準來臨,我也要好好的「讀」。

下一本書,我想讀英文的,就這麼輪流語言吧。昨晚我讀了Newsweek,終於也讀完了一期啦。(可我還是嚴重落後好幾期。)昨晚真是太好啦,好好的享受讀小說、讀雜誌。沒有課業要複習的日子可好啦。

我該讀什麽書呢?查看書櫥,有一些選項。

我該讀什麽呢?

pollcode.com free polls 

幫我選選吧。


12 May 2012:

談談我的情史吧。

讀完了我超級喜歡的The Sense of an Ending,前兩天我開始讀《那些年,我們一起追的女孩》。裡頭就寫說作者的情史。既然我想不出再寫什麽,不如回顧我的情史。

我的情史從幼稚園開始。哈哈,想不到吧,我這個人竟然從那時候就「動了心」。其實,這段回憶我也不很清楚,因為大多都給忘了,其餘的是家人告訴我的。

我幼稚園的時候喜歡了M,那時竟然誇下海口說一定要娶了她。家人聽後都笑翻。現在,這個段子成了家人證明我「負心漢」的例子。不知道M現在人在哪,怎樣啦?我家裡的相簿有張我和她的合照,可惜我真不記得那張照片是幾時拍的。可能在幼稚園畢業時吧。這張照片,將是我和M的唯一記憶吧。

接著下來,我又在小學把目標轉移到F。我和F是小一到小三的同班同學。她後來到了泰國,最近回來了。以前,我和F坐在一起,她喜歡用鉛筆(小學的時候,還不能使用筆)敲打我的頭。我記得久了我也生氣她這麼做。現在想想,這好像好像沈佳儀不停用筆搓柯景騰一樣。

說真的,我也不清楚她到底有喜歡過我嗎。我只知道,三年來我和她相處時,我們倆是挺開心的。

如果要嚴格說來,其實我在小六時小喜歡過T。不過,那不算吧,因為我自己也不打清楚我喜歡她什麽。

再到中學。三年裡,已經有比較多的事情發生了。中一的時候,我認識了JL。她……不完美,不過深得我心。中二的時候,我繼續喜歡她。當時有一段時間搞得幾乎很明顯,我其實蠻怕她知道后會對我反感。

然後有一段時期,我感覺到我跟JL是不可能的,因此開始對她死心。那時有人曾經說:「如果你能說死心就死心,就代表你之前不是真正的喜歡她。」

中三是最多事情發生的一年。我的第一段戀情。這段戀情持續了快兩個月。最終雙方鬧得非常不愉快,我承認大部份的錯是我的。(不過那時我挺氣憤的就是對方使用的一些手段。)希望她能夠好好的找到另一個男生。

就在那個時候,我發覺我自己仍然是喜歡著JL的。這麼一個女孩子,三年來纏繞著我的心,實在不簡單呀。也許那個人是對的,我就是因為真心喜歡她,所以不能就這麼死心。當時的死心,……我也不懂得如何解釋。

有人喜歡對方時,24小時都去看看他/她在社交網站的動態,希望瞭解他(她)的每一點。我卻不曾那麼做。老實說,自從推出推特與面簿之後,我也把她的用戶名給忘了。但我認為,喜歡一個人不一定就是要stalk他(她)。即使你瞭解了很多很多,你又能怎樣?還不是遠遠地看著他(她)?

情人節的時候我送了她東西。其實不是親手做的,是買來的。送她的時候我心跳好快好快哦。她收到的時候的表情我不會忘記。就是有點搞不清狀況的可愛。非常可愛。

我知道我和她是不可能的。說不定今年過後,我們倆去不同學校,她不會記得我啦,又或我會忘記她。這種事說不定。


可偏偏我沒有時間啦。


9 May 2012:

I want to act, be a drama king.

Okay maybe not drama king, but rather king of drama. Drama king is a male who habitually responds to situations in a melodramatic way. (I thought this phrase was Singlish, turns out Oxford carries this entry.)

Anyway, back to where I was. On Monday I went to the library with S. After she left I stayed for a while, looking for local scripts. Thankfully I found works by Haresh Sharma and Alfian Sa'at.

I've read about the controversy over Alfian Sa'at. He was denied a relief teaching post simply because (not 100% confirmed lah) he was too anti-government, and the top guns at MOE were afraid that he'll stop the students from getting brainwashed by PAP. (Okay the last part was my description only.) The HOD said he was satisfied with Mr Sa'at, yet unfortunately he just had to leave.

This - in terms of History - sounds exactly like a purge, just like what dictators would do. The MOE can't blame us netizens for thinking the wrong way, if they really had a decent reason. All they bothered to do was to send a bureaucratic e-mail back to Mr Sa'at stating again that he had failed to meet the criteria. In his clarification e-mail, he had asked specifically what criteria he failed. There was no reply. It's either (1) MOE is simply too inflexible by even refusing to release their criteria so that others can better improve themselves or (2) they are simply purging him.

Alright, alright. In the library, I found Cooling Off Day by Mr Sa'at. It was a very, very recent book, since it carried details of its second run in March 2012. The script's not exactly anti-government (although I only flipped through it), but it does highlight normal people's concerns regarding the elections. Why it was named as such, I infer (hopefully correctly) that it was because Mr Sa'at did not believe a cooling-off day was needed before the elections last year, and he was ridiculing it.

Frankly speaking, I was almost certain that such politically sensitive books won't be found in library bookshelves, since National Library Board is somehow linked to the government. (Everything is linked, lah.) Surprisingly, I was wrong. There it was, 2 brand-new copies of it. Which is a good thing, cos I believe that Singaporeans should be more politically aware, since Singapore's future (a.k.a. government) can be changed by the people if necessary.

Perhaps it was because I was in drama when I was young. That's why I am so inclined to drama now. To some, drama is about watching people act out a story. That's it.

What? No! That's not it! Drama is about the story, it's a form of art as well. The story would be nothing without costumes, sound, lighting, directing. A story can only remain as a story (perhaps in a novel) without all these elements.

I feel like directing. (Of course, I'm not even qualified to act, how can I direct?) I like directing, because I enjoy it when under my direction, the play goes well. Some say that "oh, the director's the easiest, he just has to bark instructions". Please. If it were that easy, people would be flocking to be directors.

To be a director you need some sort of flair. You need to know the script inside-out, to be able to understand every character. When you tell the character to move from here to there, would there be any special meaning? Would the sequence of events be affected in any way? It's not that simple.

... I wish I studied in CCHMS 40 years ago. Then, it was really chi-na. (Note: chi-na ≠ PRC, but that was then.) People were either doing Chinese Literature, or passionate in Chinese Drama. It was like a golden age for such things. What a good atmosphere it was to be able to pursue such interests.

TTFN.


7 May 2012:

我相當討厭簡體字。

Warning: This is going to be a 'boring' post about language. If you're more interested in other stuff, skip this post then, instead of riding it and ridiculing me in your head.

有沒有發現我是新加坡人,可是使用繁體字?如我的文章標題所說,我相當討厭簡體字,甚至可以說是恨簡體字。

爲什麽呢?有人會問。簡體字讓我們少些很多比劃,那不是好事嗎?難道你想自討苦吃,寧願多寫?不是的。

先說一段歷史好嗎?中國政府在1950年進行第一次的字體簡化,在1968年總結出《簡化字總表》。此次有2288個漢字被簡化,當中有「聲」、「薦」等熟悉的字。

他們是怎麼簡化字的呢?基本上,就是找個可以省的地方,把它省掉了。比如「寧可」的「寧」。現在的簡體字為「宁」。他們把字的中間拿掉,留下偏旁「宀」和「丁」。又比如「畫」。現在成「画」。他們這次把子的上面「」縮成一個橫(一),留住「田」,卻把下面的橫「複雜化」成「凵」。

是不是亂七八糟?他們明明就是在那些筆劃多的地方省掉比劃。否則,便是找個根本不搭的來簡化本來有意義的字。先看看「冬」的演變過程。


再看看「圖」(图)的演變過程。


請問,這是怎麼回事?怎麼「圖」突然變成了「图」?裏面的「冬」,跟圖根本沒有意思。「圖」裡邊的「啚」,指的是艱難。也就是說,「圖」原本的意思是「計劃」。現在的意思即「圖畫」,是一種比喻。圖畫要經過細心的計劃,因此得意。但是,這到底和「冬」有什麽關係呢?我不得而知。

由此可見,第一次的簡化字已經有些問題啦。但是還沒哦!中國還搞第二次的簡化字,叫二簡字。甭說也知道,二簡字比一簡字更加失敗。

新加坡教育部曾在1969年自己出臺自己的簡化字,知道1976年才使用中國整合完畢的簡化字。當中,「留」變成了「畄」。很奇怪吧?「留」這個字明明相當簡化了,比劃不多,還需簡化嗎?很顯然的,中國(和新加坡的某些字)就是爲了簡而簡,並不考慮到字的正題。

漢字的形成最初是由古人在石頭、甲骨上刻的圖,叫甲骨文。經過兩千年的演變,成了繁體字。繁體字的每一個字都有他背後的意思,保留了漢字是「圖畫」的特點。歐美的語言都不用這種方式。

但到了簡體字,這種美卻被破壞了。最糟的還有。例如「血」。6個比劃,應該沒什麼刪了吧?錯,他們還把裏面的兩豎「丨」拿掉!(電腦打不出)「部位」的「部」成了「」加個豎。簡直是笑話。

最終,二簡字的方案沒有通過,但是有些地方已經使用了,包括最廣為流傳的報紙。《人民日報》當年就使用了二簡字。


你認得出什麽字嗎?都是一塌糊塗。「副總理」的右邊是「宣傳部」,看看以前被搞的怎樣。

所以說,我討厭簡化字。我認為這不止破壞漢字的魅力、美麗,也造成諸多不便。所幸現在中國做完基本的簡化啦。可是,問題仍然存在。例如「漾」。按照他們簡化的方式,不是應該變成「洋」嗎?「榜樣」的「樣」變成了「样」啊。怎「漾」不等於「洋」呢?

你若翻字典,仍有很多字沒有簡化。中國不是想簡化所有的漢字嗎?怎麼停了?「鯞」怎麼不成「鱼彐」呢?!

好吧,讀著我的廢話,你也悶了吧。就這樣。


5 May 2012:

“There is accumulation. There is responsibility. And beyond this there is great unrest.”

5.6 Thus how might you express an accumulation containing the integers b, a1, a2, s, v?


5.7 Or is that the wrong way to put the question and express the accumulation? Is the application of logic to the human condition in and of itself self-defeating? What becomes of a chain of argument when the links are made of different metals, each with a separate frangibility?

Okay, okay, I know you might be thinking I am some mental case going on about some enigmatic equation and some theory on accumulation ... It's just that this piece is a significant quote (with such a length, can it even be called a quote?) in The Sense of an Ending.

Yes, it's my nth time mentioning The Sense of an Ending, and you're probably bored by all this hype over a book you've never read, and probably won't. Well, go read it; I think it's a fantastic novel that's just nice at 150 pages.

Y'know when doing The Outsiders and The Clay Marble during Sec 1 and 2 for English literature, I never really was interested in them texts. To me they were just like textbooks and I read them once, twice, and that was it. (Okay, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds attracted me more, but that's another story cos that's drama.)

But for The Sense of an Ending, I really went to analyse and research about this story. It's short, shorter than both Outsiders and Clay Marble, but there's so much more material to question. The themes of human condition, the relationship between history and memory and perception, the different viewpoints that we might not have considered ...

Almost every book review site I visited recommended a re-read after the first time. No doubt, this isn't the kind of book you read and put it back into your bookshelf (or return it to the library) and forget about it. Anyway, I supose most people would re-read it because of how the book ends. There's lots of questions to be answered, and you would certainly have to revisit the whole thing again.

I completed my first re-read yesterday on the bus. For a while this felt as challenging as calculus, because you have to use your brain and consider what Barnes (yes, the author) is trying to tell you. The last few pages are very vague, and it's almost like a mystery.

It was a very pleasurable experience reading this book, although I did it mainly while on the bus. However I probably won't read it the third time, cos I want to move on to read other books that I bought, like 1Q84. It's a temporary closure, sort of.

~

The exams are almost over. Next week is the final week of exams, with four papers left. AMaths will be difficult, with the assurance of Mrs P. I hope, then, that the triple science papers are not difficult.

~

Today is Vesak Day.


1 May 2012:

For a fact, I am short.

And yes, I am bothered by it. I constantly hope that I would grow much taller than I currently am now.

Relatives always comment that I have grown much taller, but I am still one of the shortest for guys my age. In class, I am the shortest.

It doesn't help that now even she is taller than me. This just increases my inferior complex. I can't blame her for choosing a tall, dark, handsome guy that is much better than me, can I?

I also can't blame my parents for giving me short alleles, since there is at least a 40% chance that I can be tall genetically. Even if they are homozygous short, I still can't blame them, cos then I would have to start blaming my ancestors.

Still, my only hope is that since height belongs to continous variation, it can be changed by environment, so I can still grow some more.



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。