30 October 2013:
Life perestroika.
ПЕРЕСТРОЙКА, -и; ж.
1. к перестроить и перестроиться.
This is the month of October now. It's been a year since O Levels have passed, and it's a year to go till A Levels. So technically, this is a mid-point of one's two-year A Level career. And I think it's about time to do a stock take of things.
I began school in February. In the eight months since, ... it has been a whirlwind of activity. A senior once said that JC can be really hectic and really fun at the same time. That is indeed true. Unfortunately, I seemed to have focused too much on the latter.
In particular, for Twelfth Night. It's my first time in an actual drama production since primary school days, so I really put my heart and soul into it. And that become ignoring tutorials conveniently.
In retrospect, that was one of the stupider things I did. Procrastinating on those tutorials meant that I had to spend June holidays catching up, while others were already done with those and went on to revision.
Also, as I realised in term 3, those topics which I skipped or postponed on were crucial for future topics, such as chemical bonding in chemistry. Again, that meant that I had to buck up while others were already cruising smoothly.
Thankfully, I'm slowly getting the hang of it. However, it is still necessary for me to chart out my course of action and what I should do for the next 12 months. I really don't want a tragic repeat, especially not in JC2.
The main thing I need to improve would be my attention deficit. I don't know, maybe I have attention deficit disorder. Whatever it is, I need to stop getting distracted by other things. So I'm thinking of going on hibernation mode for social networks.
In 2011 (I think) I abstained from social networks, and I did write about how that is actually liberating in some ways. I think it's time for me to re-create that experience, just so that I can complete tutorials and sleep earlier, instead of wasting time in between.
Another thing would be time management. Actually, this problem has been solved slightly, since I have been faithfully using iStudiez. Although it's more suited to the American style of education, most of its functions still work well for me.
As a result, I'm able to complete my homework more promptly by focusing on more important tutorials first. (Side note: I really hope they can release their iOS 7 update soon, really thrilled about an even better study app.)
But of course sometimes I still do procrastinate. So that has to go. I'll work towards it one step at a time. And it's all for the sake of my education. While Russia had five-year plans, all I have is one more year to make it or break it.
TTFN.
23 October 2013:
I am ashamed of telling others I am a ‘history student’.
This may be my own personal opinion, but I view history students differently. I view such people as critical thinkers that are able to analyse complex events and deliver arguments. At risk of being called ‘elitist’, history students are different from the rest.Why so? Because I know that history is about thinking; it is utterly a thinking subject. Yes, content mastery is undeniable, but that stereotype of history being a ‘memorise and regurgitate’ subject is fading fast.
I know this, because I am a history student. I have been through secondary school history, and am currently taking Advanced Level history. And because of what I have gained from learning history, I appreciate the subject a lot.
History teaches people to think. This is probably my third time mentioning this just in the words above, but it is absolutely true. A common claim is that ‘history is boring / useless because whatever happened in the past stays as it is’.
While it is true, that’s not what history is about. History is also about the interpretation of the past. It is about giving your take on historical events. Therefore, the two most commonly used question words in history would be ‘why’ and ‘how’.
These two, unlike ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘who’, force people to think. The four can be settled with a simple one-line answer in many cases. That is near impossible to do for ‘why’ or ‘how questions. You need to explain things.
And this is what trips many people taking history, including me. Back in secondary school, we were taught the PEEL method of structuring paragraphs for our history (and social studies) essays. I would falter at EL, which stands for ‘explanation’ and ‘link’.
My problem would be that I end up writing about the 4Ws. My explanation statements consisted of little or no ‘why’ and ‘how’ answers. Eventually, I did manage to solve this problem by the O Levels, not without a struggle.
However, it seems like this problem is coming back with a vengeance at the A Levels. My latest history exam results are evidence for it. I received an ‘ungraded’ grade, which in other words means that it is really lousy, the bottom of the lot.
That was a real blow to me, in fact, it still is. I still cannot comprehend why I scored so badly. However, this is the reason why I would start off by saying I am ashamed. I do not feel like I should associate with the category ‘history student’, because my results say otherwise.
It’s been a while since the release of exam results now. And I’ve been thinking: what went wrong this time? The most obvious problem would be that my essays went out of point and I didn’t answer the question.
But why? (See, I’m thinking, okay.) This is the tough part, though. Actually, I really don’t know why I would underperform by so much this exam. It wasn’t that my history results for the mid-years were sterling, but they were acceptable.
There are about 12 months left to my A Levels next year. I cannot carry on like this (allusion to Gorbachev, heh). So yes, I have taken some action, the first of which would be to take history at Higher 1 level instead of Higher 2, something like AS level in the UK.
I made this decision not without hesitation. When I first decided to take history, I knew that taking Higher 2 would be challenging, since I am foreign to half of the syllabus. H2 includes international history and SEA history.
Because I took elective history in secondary school, I am only more familiar with international history (the part on Cold War). SEA history would be completely new to me, since I did not take pure history. However, since the school allowed 4 H2s, I decided to try.
And so I did. My initial impression of SEA history was proven wrong: it wasn’t as boring as I imagined. In fact, I’ve grown to like it. Nevertheless, there were certain aspects of the SEA history module that I did not enjoy.
SEA history is studied via case studies of various countries. However, I am not used to this kind of studying history. I prefer to focus on a certain event (e.g. Cold War), instead of a theme (e.g. nationalism) and then zooming on countries as case studies.
In theory, actually, it isn’t that hard. Each case study illustrates a point relating to that theme. What is required would be to pick out relevant case studies as evidences of one’s arguments in essays.
However, to even tidy up the whole mess of case studies, that takes a lot of time. Next would be to identify what each case study demonstrates. Only then can one use it when answering essay questions.
I don’t have that time. I know: everyone has 24 hours, if others can do it, so can I. However, I am unable to cope with doing all that (for SEA history), doing things for international history, and three other subjects.
Therefore, I decided to drop SEA history. I will be left with international history next year. And yes, I really hope to improve my history grades. I need to get at least a D for next year’s common tests.
History is a passion of mine. As I mentioned above, history taught me how to think. I am really interested in history, and therefore cannot afford to do any worse than this time. The only way is up.
I would really hope that, by March next year, I would be able to proudly say that I am a history student, without feeling embarrassed that I am shaming history’s ‘reputation’. I want to be able to demonstrate personally that history isn’t boring and useless.
That aside, I also wish that more students would take history next year. I really don’t understand why history is so underrated as a subject. Maybe very little will concur, but I really think that more students should be taught how to think.
TTFN.
If you were to notice, this post of mine has no fixed direction. It is more of me rambling on and on, vaguely about a topic. This, I realised, is another weakness of mine when writing history essays.
22 October 2013:
One item on my wish-list.
The typophile in me is screaming out loud now. 50 versions of Helvetica (a.k.a. best font in the world) with support for fractions, ligatures, ordinals, scientific inferiors, subscripts, superscripts, discretionary ligatures (!!!) and kerning!
Have I mentioned that it supports Latin (almost all Western European languages), Greek and Cyrillic (almost all Eastern European languages)? ... Excuse me while I wipe the froth coming out of my mouth.
But, and this is a big BUT, its price certainly is steep. €3160 is around SGD 5356, according to Google. That's almost $110 per font, and the whole thing can be a low-income worker's salary for nearly half a year.
So, no, I certainly will not waste money like that. Besides, a Macbook comes with Helvetica Neue (although with not as much support). Spending $1500 for a 13" Macbook Air makes more sense in the practical way.
But wait! That's not all! Apparently, after there is also Helvetica World, which supports Vietnamese, Arabic and Hebrew scripts! This, and Helvetica Neue, covers almost all languages (excluding the minority ones) except CJK.
Which, to me, is fantastic enough. And of course, if only I could own all of these typefaces. But then again, yes, it's very expensive. Helvetica World sells at €165 per typeface. If one were to get the four basic ones (55, 56, 75, 76), that's already €660 a.k.a. $1120 SGD.
Therefore, these fonts can only remain in my wishlist. Or maybe one day when I'm rich (and crazy) enough, I'll really buy them all. Helvetica just has this appeal that not many other fonts have; I'm crazily in love with it.
I know there are other font heavyweights such as Frutiger and Univers, to mention two, but somehow Helvetica catches my attention the most. Of course those two are nice in their own ways, as well.
TTFN.
15 October 2013:
Absolutely deplorable behaviour of Speedbit Ltd.
I am now waiting for a reply from Speedbit. I was not exaggerating when I said that I cannot trust the company as per before. It is scary to think that an extension can resist deletes and stay within one's computer.
During the installation of DAP, they did recommend installing Speedbit search and other programs at almost every other step. I am still fine with that, I understand as a company you want maximum usage of your products. So I merely un-ticked some boxes.
But this is unacceptable. Without my consent, an extension was installed into Google Chrome. Worse still, it is un-deleteable! I really cannot fathom why Speedbit can be so desperate to resort to such tactics.
TTFN.
14 October 2013:
Brief notes relating to the gay-sex law challenge lawsuit.
Context: I went to Yahoo! Singapore to read a news report about this case. Then I read the comments following it. What a bad move that was. It is filled with homophobic bigots. But first:1. It is wrong of two men to be having oral sex in a public toilet. This I cannot and will not deny. There has to be a differentiation between the public and private sphere.
2. The couple are arguing to repeal S377A. It forbids men to have sex with men. It has nothing to do with public sex. That is their point.
3. Many homophobes argue using slippery slopes. If S377A is repealed, there will be more gays, more gays will flock to Singapore, Singapore's fertility rate will drop, ... DOOMSDAY FOR SINGAPORE.
4. This slippery slope is also founded upon ignorance and bigotry. They think that gays and lesbians choose to be that way and can 'infect' others.
5. A lot of homophobes have very bad logic. Besides slippery slopes, they also have so many logical fallacies I really couldn't bear to read. It really is painful when you can see why their logic falls apart.
6. While some gays and lesbians lead deviant lives (promiscuous etc.), not all are like that. I cringe when people use generalisations to taint the whole LGBT community.
7. Repeatedly appealing about this case does do a disfavour to the plantiffs. As a report mentioned before, civil rights in Singapore cannot be enforced through a hardline stance. There has to be gradual influence and acceptance.
8. For this, Pink Dot can be a better platform, instead of going to the courts.
9. I find it extremely reprehensible when a promiscuous heterosexual male (multiple sex partners; unprotected sex) labels a gay couple as 'digusting', when they have been together for a few years and have only one sex partner.
10. Currently, I don't think Singapore is ready for gay marriage. Our country is secular, but one religion has quite a massive influence on politics and laws so nope.
11. However, S377A should be repealed. Not so that 'gays can have sex anywhere they want', but to remove the discrimination towards gays. (Notice how technically lesbians are allowed to have sex?)
12. In place, there should still be a law to ensure no one has sex in public and gets away with it.
13. I realise the irrational human mind is extremely creative at thinking of doomsday scenarios, negative consequences, logical fallacies etc.
14. A portion of the irrationality, I blame religion. Theist religion.
15. Not all that support LGBTs are LGBTs themselves. Some are enlightened so that they realise too that discrimination against LGBTs are wrong, or are simply not blinded by theist religion.
16. M Ravi seems to be all over the place. Freedom fighter much?
17. I shall see what will happen in this lawsuit. (But seriously, that's a lot of money to waste.)
18. The G claims that they cannot repeal S377A because the public mindset is still conservative. Being conservative is one thing but being blinded by logical fallacies is another.
19. Taiwan allows same-sex marriage. One was performed Buddhist style last year. So far, I don't hear of any 'gay invasion' or 'gay takeover' of the country.
20. Someone actually argued that it's okay for other countries but not for Singapore because we're small (in physical size). The amount of logic here is just -234896892.
TTFN.
10 October 2013:
Possibly the worst foodstall at the hawker centre opposite school.
I rarely say that things are not nice. I eat almost everything. Because I am so neutral on food, if I say something sucks, you better believe me. Then again, it's still my opinion on it.
Today I went to eat at a stall that I never patronised since starting school. It was at the corner of the first row, first block. I don't remember its name but its main dishes were wanton mee and shredded chicken horfun.
K ordered the former while I ordered the latter. Hers was $2.50 while mine was $3. The stallholder had added chilli for mine. Although I didn't specify that I didn't want it, I think it is a standard practice to err on the side of caution and ask.
But that's a small matter. What was horrible was that it was way too spicy. Granted, spiciness threshold depends on the invididual. However, the noodles were so flooded with chilli sauce that I could barely taste anything else!
Y'know when you eat meepok with chilli, besides chilli sauce (or paste) they will add the stock / base gravy? It's either (1) this stall didn't add such a thing or worse, (2) it was added but the chilli simply overpowered it.
K tried a little of my horfun and she agreed, even though she was able to tahan spiciness more than me. So it's not about the threshold anymore. According to her, her wanton mee sucked too. I didn't try it, so I can't comment about it.
Nevertheless, the horrible horfun experience was good enough for me. Hours later (i.e. now), I have visited the toilet twice to defecate. And guess what, I had a ring of fire, if you know what I mean.
Technically it's my 'fault' since my arsehole is just too delicate and gets burnt by the capsaicins ... Yet it can be traced to the fact that they could've asked before adding a shitload (pun intended) worth of chilli.
Also, as K mentioned, the food was horrible. Its saving grace was the soup which tasted of ikan bilis. However, the cynic in me feared for a possible generous concentration of MSG in it, and didn't drink all of it.
Sidenote: maybe to others not finishing soup is common, but for me, I strive to finish any soup that I am served, down to the last drop. Literally, because I feel that it's a waste of hours of boiling (ideally). However, as in this case, the fear of suffering a MSG overdose (twice is good enough) was too compelling for me to adhere to my principle.
Conclusion? I'm never buying from that stall again. Its stallholders are zealous, always beckoning people to order. I think I know why that's necessary now. Those stalls with good quality food and service ... queues form without their hollering.
TTFN.
9 October 2013:
Today is Wednesday.
Today is blur-me-keep-thinking-it's-Monday-day. Honestly, for the whole day I kept thinking it was the start of the (school) week and nearly wanted to wear my uniform in the morning. Thankfully I remembered (1) it's Wednesday and (2) to wear house tee for Sports Carnival.Today I realised that the PE department is the lamest ever. The Sports Carnival wasn't even anything like its name, it was 6 rounds of weird games involving a volleyball. Why not have something more interesting ...
Today I've been irritating my classmates by singing the chorus to Roar and Applause for many times over. Sorry but I recently listened to amazing covers of Roar so yes I shamelessly imagine myself to be one bit as good as them.
TTFN.
P.S. Today is also the start of PW crunch time and drama crunch time. Okay not so much for drama but then again it's gonna build up till SYF.
8 October 2013:
Some random musings XII.
1. Promos are over. My hiatus is over. (Okay actually I broke my hiatus a few days before it was supposed to end.) I don't think I'll be writing a post about promos, it was simply disappointing, to say the least.2. Went to BP to eat twice with people from my class. The food there is rather expensive ... I felt very painful for my wallet. But okay the second day was more worth it cos it was a set meal, instead of an ala carte which cost around the same.
3. One of the GP essay questions was 'Religion is for the weak. Comment.' or something like that. I was so tempted to write it, but then I was afraid it would degenerate into a tirade against fundamentalists.
4. I am rather anti-theistic, in that sense. Every time I see how people praise some omnipotent being that may or may not exist, I face-palm on the inside. It's true that atheists have higher IQ generally, and I can tell why.
5. I have rebooted my Twitter and Facebook and Ask.fm and Instagram accounts!
6. I have finally updated to iOS 7. Previously I was afraid that the new design would distract me from promos so I purposely waited. Besides, it was also to see if there were any patches so I don't need to download multiple times.
7. America is quite jialat now. I don't have much to say except #what'snew.
TTFN.
6 October 2013:
Some random musings XI.
1. I am thrilled that this is the eleventh random musing post already. On the one hand it means I think a lot. On the other, I probably think of too much, too much random things.2. If you have been a constant reader you would know I love discovering new blogs. Recently I discovered three (one more after yesterday's post) and I am simply chuffed to bits about it. Maybe I'm selfish but I'm not releasing their addresses yet, maybe next time.
3. Building on to the previous point, I absolutely love it when people have good English. Writing prose (on a blog) doesn't discount the fact that you are using the English language. There isn't a need to be prim-and-proper but at least don't misuse it.
4. I think it's amazing of student-couples in JC. They manage to motivate each other and study together and work hard for each other's sake. That said, things could very easily go the other way if they end up being too involved with each other as well.
5. I think it's very mean of people to say that '[school name] has no hot girls / guys' in response to the question 'Anyone caught your eye?'. Come on, are you that good-looking yourself for people to be attracted to you?
JOKE TIME!6. I have wasted the whole Saturday doing everything else except chemistry. Considering that I can't even remember what reagent to use for what reactions, this is academic suicide. Therefore Sunday is the only time I have left to buck up, whatever I can.
Jack was going for a blind date and he was worried. "What if she's really ugly? I'll be stuck with her the whole night!" he told his friend Tom. To that, Tom replied: "Don't worry. When you go to her house to pick her tonight, if you don't like what you see, just go 'ACKGH' pretend to have an asthma attack at the door!"
That night, Jack went to the girl's doorstep and rang the doorbell. The door opened and there was a gorgeous woman before Jack's eyes. His worries were completely unfounded. He stuck his hand out when 'ACKGH!!!' the lady gasped and slammed the door in his face.
7. Acid hydrolysis eludes me; it's seemingly simple yet I just cannot recognise when it's used. Atomic structure isn't very solid too (pun intended); can't decide when to talk about electronic configuration or nuclear charge.
8. I have resorted to watching Youtube videos about chemistry. That'll pique my interest and hopefully enable me to remember better.
9. I really should have listened to Mrs C when she said to revise a mechanism every day from Monday to Friday. It sounds stupid but it's actually a good way to remember things permanently. The same goes for redox reagents.
10. For those who are still embedding music on their blogs and have no way to shut it off: hello, it's 2013. That was so 2009-ish. Literally, because around that year it was almost customary. Now it's just annoying and I will close that blog if I can't shut the music.
11. If you fancy a girl simply because she's good-looking, be careful, there may be an attached bad temper, bad habits, no outlook etc. other problems. Too bad.
12. It's scary when the prospect of not being able to promote is rather real. That may not be a problem for some but after going through the papers ... Let's just say I now know why people aim to 'pass promos'.
TTFN.
5 October 2013:
I am a happy chap for I found yet another wonderful blog to read.
This blog is interesting because its author breaks one stereotype: those who smoke / drink are ah bengs and are good-for-nothing. Indeed he does all that (and maybe more), yet, he is not a goner.He likes books. If anything, that is a smack on the face of those who label such people as uneducated and hopeless etc. It's true the author took a longer route of Normal (Academic) for his secondary education. But, so what?
Judging by his thoughts (at least those from his blog), they are no less inferior than an Express student. In fact, his style of writing is marvellous. The words flow from sentence to sentence and I actually feel sad when a post ends.
The only peeve I have about the writing is that it's very American, with uniquely American phrases and American spellings of words. Nevertheless, the excellent writing compensates for the above. I look forward to his writings and wish for more inspirations.
TTFN.
3 October 2013:
Have I mentioned how
I don't really like blog poststhat behave like poems because
they shouldn't?
Poems are poems and
they should be properly cast
as a poem instead of
Being stuck in a blog post
since it spoils their beauty but
maybe it's just me
Another thing about poem-
blog posts is that the spacing
is so off and you can't tell
Whether the author is deliberately
'stepping' or doing it because
there's an actual meaning to it
Like me I just
broke my sentences into
threes and voila
It would seem like some deep
poem but no it's just crap as
you can tell so why
Do such a thing it's
really quite irritating and
bad for the eyes
Since they have to trail
according to the breaks and
can't read it properly
BUT
I recently found a very nice blog that manages to do what many others can't, and for once, I actually like this kind of 'poem-blog post' genre of writing. I shall not recommend his address here because I don't know him (from my school) and it seems weird.
If you are able to find it though good for you it's really wonderful to read, honestly.
TTFN.
2 October 2013:
好人。
From Old Man Found Dead on Train Station Bench, Monk Prays For Him. 阿彌陀佛