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28 May 2014:

Recent happenings.

1. Tomorrow is drama elections, where Exco gets to step down and a new batch is elected. It'll also officially mark the end of CCA for drama for the J2s. The J1 batch this year has around 10 people only. I don't know if it's a good thing or not.

On the one hand, the 10 of them may be more bonded and closer to one another. My batch had 30 people and there are cliques forming as a result. I'm not in any clique (which makes me a loner) but neither do I have bad relations with anyone.

So perhaps the 10 of them may band together to be a 'large clique', which would certainly make the CCA a cohesive one. On the other, if a rift were to occur, it'll be worse than our batch.

For them, it may lead to polarised 'us versus them' situations which is certainly bad. At present there are no visible fault lines and I hope it does stay that way. I just hope that the J1s can stick together and continue the good work.

There are two productions coming up for their batch. Since there are only 10 people, there isn't much room for slackers to push around and siam roles. So in this way everyone contributes by participating in either production, or even both.

As for the new Exco, I hope they can succeed us and continue to further TjDrama. There will be a rough ride but our batch's Exco has shown to make it out alive. (YAY.) Besides, they have less people to manage.

Till now I'm still considering if I should write a summary of my journey in TjDrama. I'm rather certain that it'll be a half-hearted effort, since I would aim to include as many details as possible yet get tired of it after a while.

Yet, I'm afraid that there would be no record for my future self to look through. So ... I really don't know. Also it's not every day that I get the 'mood' to sit down and type for an hour or so, like today.

2. Mr F has left Singapore to Taiwan, where he will marry his soon-to-be wife. Yesterday in class he showed us some wedding photos and they really look very happy together. However, that is not the main point.

KW remarked that Mr F did a 'good job'. The 'good job' referred to the fact that Mr F's wife was rather pretty and that he 'made the right choice'. That whole idea, although probably expressed as a joke, reeked of misogyny.

I felt rather compelled to rebut that but decided against it. KW has shown himself to be a misogynist at times and there's no point, really, in engaging in a debate about why it's wrong of him to make such a statement.

Yet, I am appalled. I am appalled that of all things he could focus on, he chose to focus on her looks. I admit, she is rather pretty, all the more so after deliberate make-up. Yet, is that the only thing that women are for?

I believe not! And I believe Mr F chose to marry her not because of her looks. It was probably because she had positive characteristics and was compatible with his ideals and ideologies, proven through years of courtship.

At best, looks were a bonus. However that doesn't seem to be the case for KW. To each his own, but I would certainly think congratulating someone for marrying a pretty girl is very superficial and misogynistic.

I mean, marriage is (ideally) a life-long commitment. If you're only after someone for their looks, I'm predicting a divorce or separation by the time she turns 50 or so. Either that, or she is forced to undergo plastic surgery to maintain her looks.

In those cases, I recommend a blow-up doll. It never ages (at most wear and tear), it has no feelings (that misogynists don't have to deal with) and it is available for sex any time of the day. Isn't that the ideal for misogynists?

(The above don't necessarily apply to KW. It was just my viewpoint on misogynists in general and a suggestion for them.) I just really can't stand men who objectify women through their looks or sex appeal.

And that was a short feminist rant on behalf of the females, who are pressured in one way or another by misogynists. Whilst being an extreme example, there are cases of women who undergo plastic surgery so as to keep their husbands happy.

3. Pink Dot 2014 is coming, in about a month's time. Once again I am unable to go, but as a feeble show of  support I will be colouring my profile picture pink for the month of June. This year's Pink Dot seems incredibly controversial.

I wouldn't want to go into the details, but this year there seems to be more opposition than previous years. Once again they come from certain religions groups. These are fundamentalist in nature and more scarily, powerful and influential.

This year the rhetoric seems to be that LGBTs are all about destroying 'family', which is then defined as mother, father and child(ren). They harp on the fact that LGBTs can't reproduce, which would mean they can't have families of their own.

Well ... honestly, it's not exactly true. Nowadays it's possible for two men or two women to have their own child through surrogacy. Of course, this would be labelled as 'unnatural' by the opposition.

Or they could adopt. But then again they would be accused of 'corrupting the young'. Fact is, many kids of same-sex parents are straight, and not LGBT. This proves that sexual orientation is inborn, not something that can be conditioned.

So this year's anti-LGBT slogan has been that they are 'anti-family'. Their evidence is the above, and the 'fact' that LGBT couples don't last long. However, these are obtained from equally anti-LGBT websites, so they aren't the best sources either.

Also there are disgusting references to how Pink Dot is aking to a mass orgy session in Hong Lim Park, or how these people are all pushing for same-sex marriage in Singapore. Maybe the second one is still plausible indirectly, but the first is way off.

Anyway, Pink Dot is about the freedom to love. Of course, people have differing definitions. To me, I think it's just about being non-judgemental about others' sexual orientation. If you are straight, you respect and understand that not everyone is.

4. JCTs are coming soon. Each subject has so many topics to study, and I really cannot waste any more time. I've already limited my iPhone game time to only two games which I know there's no way I can get addicted to.

For maths this time, the department has decided to test sequences and series, a whole theme of topics that I am weak at. One reason why I did rather well for MCTs was because the whole theme of calculus was included, which was my love.

This time, S&S is really going to kill me. Perhaps my best topics within S&S are MI and binomial expansion, the others just serve to trip me. And have I mentioned they are testing functions and graphs too?

... Seriously, I still can't visualise graphic transformations and get really anxious when presented with such questions. Hope I don't foam at the mouth during JCTs. Thankfully statistics is also included which I am largely okay except P&C.

For chem, they are testing almost the whole syllabus (which is actually good). Organic chemistry is fully included, which hopefully can help me again. I noticed during MCT that my last-minute efforts certainly harmed me.

I scored 6 for organic deductive questions out of 10. Perhaps that is considered good for those struggling with organic, but honestly I had scored >8 before and was looking for similar results. So let's see for JCTs.

Then there will be the murderous equilibria, which is very conceptual and requires understanding, not memorisation. So I really must understand what is going on before I can even practise questions on it.

5. To be honest I worry about my portfolio. I have never been a person who participates in things for the record only. But now I start to worry: what have I done? I remember last year I rejected offers to go for things like SLC.

Again, I'm not saying that I should have gone only for the portfolio record, but apart from being able to know more people and learning things, I could've used it. Now I'm left with CCA and (possibly) CIP.

And since I'm not a nerd either, I can't state things like chemistry or mathematics olympiads. Which, yes, is very worrying. I just hope that eventually I would be able to squeeze something out, or maybe undertake certain things.

(I could go on about how this holistic development thingy is forcing students to pursue records only but nah, it's not worth it.)

6. I really need to exercise. Apart from the fact that I'll be entering NS next year, exercise keeps my body fit, not anyone else's. It's ultimatly for my own good. I really envy those who are fit and healthy. Fortunately, it isn't unachievable.

7. Since we are on the topic of evolution now in school, I suddenly thought of the song Darwin (達爾文) by Tanya Chua (蔡健雅). So here's a random lyric quote:

有過競爭 有過犧牲
被愛篩選過程
學會認真 學會忠誠
適者才能生存
懂得永恆 得要我們
進化成更好的人

This song was written by 小寒, who used to be a microbiology researcher. (Yup, what a career change!) Which is no wonder this song's lyrics adhere a lot to real evolutionary concepts, such as selection, competition and survival of the fittest.

This is a gem of a song, in the sense that it relates a biological theory to life and love. And, in fact, it makes sense, doesn't it? In the search for a mate, you go through competition. Even animals have such processes.

Which, as a biology student, make me go 'aw'. It's the wonder of nature that makes me love biology.

TTFN.


16 May 2014:

I have been slightly lagging in tutorials recently.


And, I admit, it is because I have not been doing them. For the past two weekends, I don't know what came over me but I was simply procrastinating. I did nothing at all. As a result, I had to furiously do work during the weekdays.

But of course, work came piling in on the weekdays as well. In the end, I did slipshod work. This week, I cannot let the same happen. I have managed to clear almost all the backlog from the past two weeks.

The photo above is homework that is 'new'. It really is a lot, but I shall try to complete as much as possible during the weekends. JCT is coming and I cannot slack any longer. Otherwise, it'll be a repeat of secondary school.

~

Things that make me happy when doing homework:

1. A full or near-full pad of foolscap. I love the backing it provides and the crisp paper.

2. A black Signo 0.38 pen that is about 2/3 used. I've realised that for my pens, the first 1/3 and last 1/3 of ink is less nice to write with. First 1/3 because it is new and it may be too thick at time. Last because it is thinning off and hard to write with.

3. Maths tutorials. Don't judge me, but I start my tutorials way more willingly if there is maths to do. Mainly because I'm better in maths and am able to do the tutorials better. But not for all maths topics, though, like functions and graphs (ew).

TTFN.


12 May 2014:

傘內·傘外

淡瑩(新加坡)

玲瓏的三摺花傘
一節又一節
把熱帶的雨季
乍然旋開了

我不知該往何處
會你,傘內,還是傘外
然後共撐一小塊晴天
讓淅瀝的雨聲
輕輕且富韻律地
敲打著古老的回憶

聽雨的青澀年齡
管它是否已尾隨
喧噪了一個夏季的
蟬叫,陷進泥潭
只要撐著傘內的春
我們便擁有一切,包括
沼澤里笨拙的蛙鳴

二月底三月初
我摺起傘外的雨季
你敢不敢也摺起我
收在貼胸的口袋裡
黃昏時,在望遠樓
看一抹霞色
如何從我雙頰飛起
染紅湖上一輪落日



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。