30 November 2007

Of fate and death (Part V)

I just realise how closely-related I am to the deceased dragonboaters. Reuben and Wei Cheng are my second-degree friends while the rest are my third-degree friends.

It has been more than 24 hours since their bodies were cremated.

It has been more than 24 hours since they no longer exist in tangible forms.

It has been more than 24 hours since we must now treat the victims as "virtual beings", for they now only exist as memories, exist in photos and videos.

29 November 2007

Of fate and death (Part IV)

死亡并不是最痛苦的,火化遗体才是,因为火化后你将永远失去你最挚爱的人,留下的只有抽象的他。

最可怕的,最痛苦的,莫过于认知实质的他已不存在。

实质的他们现在应该已经不存在了。

Tears, moving tributes, poem at memorial service for 5 dragon boat rowers

Over 1,000 attend memorial service for dragon boaters

Of fate and death (Part III)

可能现在他们都已灰飞烟灭。

下午1时41分

Of fate and death (Part II)


黄意会-《河水继续流》
2007年11月29日 联合早报

我看到5张灿烂的笑脸,我看到他们由衷发出来的喜悦。虽然我与他们非亲非故,但是我还是多么希望时间可以重来,回到相机快门按下的那一刻。

这5张灿烂的笑脸属于5位年轻的龙舟队员。几天前他们与队友在柬埔寨金边的洞里萨河划龙舟时,不幸因龙舟翻覆而葬身河底。悲剧的发生令所有国人深感痛惜。

原本是满怀理想、希望和愿景的年轻生命就这样骤然消失,让我们想起,原来悲剧的发生就是那么残酷无情,没有什么道理,只能说意外就是大意。

失去亲爱的人的痛楚我们曾经尝过,伤痛的心也只能用时间来抚平。如果说我们再也回不到从前的快乐时光,那就要放下现在沉痛的悲伤,勇敢面对未来生命的挑战。时间真的是最好的疗伤剂,曾经走过的人会告诉你。

二哥在19岁那年因为“意外的天意”而结束了他短暂的生命;大哥在他68岁的几天前在昏迷中静静的离去,不管他们的生命是长是短,至今他们留给我的是他们曾经拥有的生命里焕发过的点点滴滴美丽的光芒。

5张灿烂的笑脸依然浮现在我眼前,安息吧,你们已完成了人生的旅程了,安息吧!

水能载舟,亦能覆舟,没有对错也没有成果。洞里萨河的河水会继续的流,生命也是……


Memorial service for 5 who died in dragon boat tragedy begins

今天12时55分过后,这5名划手的遗体将被火化。

火化是冷酷的。它硬生生地将一切记忆与想念化成灰烬,一切情感与理想灰飞烟灭,硬生生地将死者的躯体从现实空间里除去,唯一留下让亲戚朋友和死者联系的,就只有他生前所拍的照片影片,死者的衣服、玩物、电脑、卧房、背包、枕头、床单、手机、Friendster/Facebook account、心仪的球拍及船桨,以及会越来越模糊朦胧的记忆。

就连一个冰冷的躯体让亲戚朋友瞻仰、触摸、拥抱也没有,一切只能凭空想象。

曾经的嬉戏打闹,过去的拥抱,以往的玩伴/Gang/Clique,霎时成为了虚拟;曾经的经历,顿时成为了梦境。失去他(们)的真实似乎比他(们)曾经存在的真实还真实。

若我是死者们的家属或好友,我还真的会不知所措。以往天天见到的面孔与躯体突然永远不会再你眼前出现,我还真的不知道该如何适应。更不用说同时失去5位曾经和你一起同舟共济,有难同当的好友、战友,更不用说像国家龙舟队的教练一样又同时失去他最挚爱的父亲,那种多重地、接踵而来地、来自四面八方地打击,不是你我能够想象的,不是拥有再好的语文能力就能够用笔墨来形容的。

我真得害怕,如果有一天我失去了我最挚爱的好朋友,我真的会崩溃。

“时间真的是最好的疗伤剂,曾经走过的人会告诉你。”作者黄意会这么写道。可是,就像现实生活中的药物一样,效果因人而异,也不是每个人的悲伤都能随着时光的流逝而减弱。

很难想象,没有我的父母亲,没有我现在这些朋友的日子会是怎样的。

为什么我们这些好人(我并非圣贤,但至少我不是个大坏蛋!)就不能安详地活到80岁,然后就在睡梦中在毫无痛楚的情况下死去?

20几岁,我还不想死。

写于下午1时

28 November 2007

Of fate and death

Dragonboat accident in Cambodia (Link 1)
Dragonboat accident in Cambodia (Link 2)

我和这5名逝世的国家龙舟队划手素昧平生,非亲非故,但是他们所遭遇到的不幸让我感触良深,也替他们的亲朋好友感到无比的悲伤。

他们的离去,不仅仅是一个躯体的死亡,更是希望与理想的幻灭,更是亲情、友情与爱情的终止,更是美好未来与憧憬的破灭。

他们真得还很年轻,才20多岁,最大的不过31岁,还有很多事情还未了成,真得很不值得那么早就结束生命。

也因为这起意外,让我思考起命运与人死后的归宿等问题。

“青少年越来越早熟,他们迫切地对生命进行探索。”原本以为这句话只不过是华文文学笔记里对王文兴的《命运的迹线》的分析罢了,没想到我竟然就是这句话里所指的“青少年”。

我开始畏惧死亡,因为我还有很多事情还没完成,还未经历,对生命抱着美好的憧憬。尤其当我从报章上看到其中一名死者的家属,从死者的数码相机里看到他在意外发生前所拍下的欢愉镜头后,欣慰地表示至少死者生前活得开开心心的,我更加地对生命与死亡的神秘和不可预知感到畏惧。

在这秒钟你可能正与友人嬉戏打闹,下秒钟你可能就失去了知觉,或者你可能在为友人的不幸哭泣。

这话虽然听起来悲观,但是悲观的思想却能使人更懂得惜福。当你学会了珍惜,至少有一天你若得匆忙地离开大伙儿们,你不会留下太多遗憾;你会很充实地到另一个世界报到,因为你懂得在活着时珍惜你的一切。

****

我开始担心。担心那一天我突然走了,我不知该如何是好。或许届时我也无需担心该怎么办,但是一想到在死亡前那段本能性为了生存而挣扎的痛苦,我不寒而栗。试想想那5名逝世的划手在断气前的垂死挣扎,试想想他们逝世前的寂寞与孤独,试想想他们在黑暗中的恐惧,我无法也没种继续想象。

那种痛苦,那种无助,我不可能百分之百的了解,你也不能够完全理解,因为我们都没有经历过。只有那5名划手清楚了解其中之感受,而他们却无法和我们分享,我们也无从透过他们的叙述与形容了解那种感受。

我真的很害怕那段挣扎求存的过程,也对我死后的归宿感到恐惧:我死后真的会去天堂吗?天堂美丽吗?有没有我爱吃的食物?有没有电脑让我写博客?或者我会下地狱?地狱是不是充满了妖魔鬼怪?是不是得接受严厉的酷刑?我死后还会不会有知觉?没有知觉的感觉又是怎样的?

****

命运真的是一个很悬的东西。我们对这玩意儿是多么的好奇,千方百计地要了解它,要征服它,要占有它,但我们却始终无法得逞。

命运说穿了就是冷冰冰的数学方程式,每个人遭遇不幸的几率皆相同。在铁面无私的命运面前,我们都是平等的。坏人终究会得到报应,但是好人也会有受到不公平的待遇的一天。这5名划手,生前奉公守法,又深得亲友们的爱戴,他们的死,就是不公平;他们就是在这个铁面无私的制度下的牺牲品。

他们的逝世,不单给了我们“欺山莫欺水”的启示,更讽刺地表现出再强壮的人类在命运的面前是多么的脆弱,多么的不堪一击,多么的束手无策。

练得一身的肌肉又如何?暴毙的暴毙,被水冲走而最终溺毙的还不是虎背熊腰的壮汉一群?

我们辛辛苦苦地健身、运动,为的还不就是强身健体,维持健康强壮的身躯,但是偏偏却在体育运动中丧身,这是何等的反话啊!

长期的锻炼,依然敌不过命运无情地作弄、残酷地安排,这些努力和日积月累的成果都枉费了,也无助于事。

****

我现在才真正开始珍惜生命。因为我怕死。因为我怕命运那一天作弄我。

25 November 2007

Self

I don't know if you have ever observed this strange thing, the self. Often the more you look the more it doesn't seem to be like it, and the more you the more it isn't it.

After that I went about observing other people, but whenever I observed other people I found this detestable omniscient self of mine interfering, and to this day there is not one face it hasn't interfered with. This is a serious problem, for when I am scrutinizing someone else, I am at the same time scrutinizing myself. I search for the faces I like, or expressions I can tolerate, so I can't get rid of myself. I can't find people with whom I can identify, I search without success, everywhere: in railway waiting rooms, in train carriages, on boats, in food shops and parks, and even when out walking on the streets, I am always trying to capture a familiar face or a familiar build, or looking for some sign which can call up submerged memories. When I am observing others I always treat the other person as a mirror for looking inwardly at myself. The observations are inevitably affected by my state of mind at a particular time.


--From Chapter 26 of "Soul Mountain", written by Nobel Prize for Literature awardee Gao Xing Jian. Translated by Mabel Lee.

24 November 2007

不约而同

Immediately after the Biology Paper 1 examination ended, I smsed my good friends (who all happen to take Bio except me) on their thoughts about being liberated from examinations and studies. Here are their responses:

Kay Siong: numb.

Ming Wei: haha. not much feeling lor...haha. ma mu le...

Ying Cheng: Ha ha no feeling leh. Played too much during A levels le.


**********

This is "不约而同" at its best. This is probably a display of the highest level of friendship -- our souls and mind converge, unite and have similar feelings, thoughts and opinions. Like how nations belonging to the European Union function -- their economic and political systems are almost integrated and homogeneous, but not quite there yet as each country still has run on its own independent system. The highest level of friendship has each individual in this friendship having almost identical thoughts and emotions, but each still have their own unqiue behaviour.

**********

Yet, I find their feelings ironic. The problem does not lie with them but within me. I have anticipated their responses and when reality does not match anticipation, I became confused. I had expected them to leave their examination venue the last time with much mirth, throw their arms in air with much ecstasy, cheer "Hip! Hip! Hooray" three times and throw confetti.

But alas! They probably left the examination venue with a poker face. They are listless about the end of examinations. They are not excited about the OFFICIAL END of examinations.

Yeah, some of you may say so what's the big deal about people not feeling excited over the end of examinations? I agree, it's not a big deal. Yet somehow deep down in my heart I am still shocked.

It's like I couldn't even understand how my best friends think. It's a disappointment -- disappointed that their reactions are different from what I had guessed, disappointed that we cannot share the same enthusiasm together, disappointed that the three of them share the same feeling but I am the odd one out.

***************

Or is it a thing for BCME students? Do subject combinations really have a part to play in morphing students into different personalities? It seems that many PCME students looked forward to the end of examinations, but BCME students are nonchalant about acquiring this ticket to a decadent life?

I don't know how to handle such widening gap between us. "Us" refers to me and my best friends, and me and my other friends pursuing a different passion form me whom I used to be close with.

************

Our first outing after A's will be a cycling session at Sentosa this coming Monday.

23 November 2007

What Type of Student Are You?

After classifying JC boys and girls into various categories, some of you may find it a spot of bother without having any sense of belonging. Fre not. The following classification will certainly give you some form of identity. Examples are provided for you to draw parallel to.

THE FOUR DIFFERENT TYPES OF JC STUDENTS:Science-science, Arts-science, Science-Arts, Arts-arts.

1. Science-science Students:
Typical students from research programmes, science "talent-grooming programmes" and the like. As the name suggests, humanities and the Arts don't exist in the worlds of these scientist-wannabes. In fact, the Arts and humanities are taboos, like Voldermort and these words must not be mentioned in their conversations. Instead, a replacement term "These-Subjects-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named" is used.

Science-science students only embrace Science. They do not see a need in learning or appreciating the humanities. Probably because they consider the Arts subjects as too simple and unchallenging for their dense grey matter in their brain. After all, for Arts subjects less understanding of conceptual knowledge is required, which Science-science students thrive on. With their uppity, condescending attitude towards the Arts subjects, Science-science students in turn despise their fellow schoolmates in the Arts stream. Some even cosider the Arts students to be stupid for not being able to grasp Science.

Or perhaps, Science-science students just simply suck at writing argumentative essays in a clear, logical and organised mind. They can only regurgitate facts and perform tedious calculations, but applying theories to different situations or deciding on the spot the most important factor of the cause of a particular event proves to be daunting for them. They don't want/don't like/cannot think on thier feet, something which they find insecure doing.

Science-science students hate reading newspapers or informative magazines like TIME, Newsweek (though I find Newsweek a crappy publication) and National Geographic. They are nonchalant about the happenings in the world. A few are more concerned about the latest scientific breakthroughs, but most only have, in their agenda, achieving the best grades in their Science subjects. To some extent, Science-science students are synonymous with Nerds.

In fact, Science-science students dread the new requirement over subject combination, in which all students must take up a "contrasting subject", and hence Science-science end up having to read an Arts subject which is of no interest to them. They protest in silence, claiming that this new requirement denies them a chance to pursue their "passion" (arguably called "passion" because many of them just simply choose the Science stream for its safe and secure career prospects) in all fields of Science -- Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Not surprisingly, a close inspection on their grades would one realise that their worst-performing subject is almost always their "contrasting subject".

More often than not when questioned their lack of interest in the Arts subjects, Science-science students tend to give a unanimous answer (that affirms the fact that they lack creativity and spontaneity) which stems from pragmatism -- "What future do you have if you do Arts?"

In short, Science-science students hate Arts subjects. They do not allow themselves to be brainwashed by the notion of embracing the humanities, and frown upon the "Humanities activists" who constantly advocate the notion of placing more emphasis on the Arts and less on the Sciences in a meritocratic education system like that in Singapore. Science-science students are just simply allergic to studying Arts subjects.

Examples of Science-science students:
Joshua Ting
Lionel Chen
He Songhua

2. Science-Arts students:
Science-arts students allow both disciplines to co-exist in their lives. However, from the name of this category, we can infer that JC students belonging to this group are inclined towards the Sciences, i.e., they prefer reading Science subjects to the Arts subjects, though they do not necessarily detest the latter.

Science-arts students feel that as much as Science is part and parcel of our everyday life, there is a need to embrace the Arts for a balance in life. They understand the importance for a knowledge and appreciation of the Arts so that life will not be overly rigid and mundane. They know that with humanities, human interaction will not be "technical" and lack the "huamn touch".

Usually, Science-Arts students do not mind doing an Arts subjects. They probably did consider such a decision even before the new subject-combination requirement was implemented. Your seniors doing the typical PCME or the BCME combinations should fall into this category (that's assuming they choose their subjects based solely on their areas of interest). Hence, the new requirement does not cause any hullabaloo amongst this group of students.

Science-Arts students tend to do well in subjects of both disciplines, though sometimes their slightly better results in their Science subjects may be due to their interest in the Sciences. However, as mentioned above, that does not mean that students in this category do not have any interest in the humanities. Rather, they just simply have more interest in the Sciences than in the humanities.

Examples of Science-Arts students:
Loh Kai Herng
Chia Minghao

3. Arts-Science Students:
Students belonging to this category have more interest and passion in the Arts more than in the Sciences. They prefer to see the world operating through feelings, impulses and emotions rather than operating through logic, proposed theories and mechanisms, though they understand that the world cannot function if it is devoid of logic and mechanisms totally. Arts-Science students appreciate the fact that modern gadgets like the television and the computer are created based on the discovery of the electron and will not demonise it like how Arts-arts students (to be elaborated later on) do.

However, just like Science-Arts students, Arts-Science students do embrace both disciplines as well. The main difference between Arts-Science students and Science-Arts students is that the former sees the need of Science in a world of humanities while the latter appreciates the necessity of the Arts in a world of Science.

Arts-Science students, like Science-Arts students, tend to do well in subjects of both disciplines. But there may do slightly better for Arts subjects than for their Science subjects. However, as mentioned above, that does not mean that students in this category do not have any interest in the Sciences. Rather, they just simply have more interest in the humanities than in the Science.

Examples of Arts-Science student:
Terence Heng (Yup! That's me!)
Ng Chin Kiat

4. Arts-arts students:
Arts-arts students believe in the exact opposite ideology from Science-science students. Arts-arts students just cannot accept Science. They question the need for Science and doubt the reliability and credibility of Science. They also feel that in this world where life is so heavily dependent on technological developments and inventions based on scientific discovery, Science is in fact overrated. They perpeptually challenge the idea that Science is important and challenge the idea that Science is the main force that drives our daily lives.

To Arts-arts students, they cannot accept the idea that everything can be done systematically by applying formulae or accepting proposed theories. They start questioning the credibility of these widely-applied formulae and these widely-accepted theories. They claim that Science lacks creativity and originality as scientists only accept what has been done and seldom do they challenge the works of previous scientists.

To Arts-arts students, questioning and discussion is paramount in daily lives. They believe in engaging with each other intellectual debate and discussion, which, they claim, will in turn complement or even add on to the current knowledge bank. They feel that scientific discovery and invention are based heavily on the works of previous scientists and this does not equate to a "discovery"; rather they consider it as an "adaptation" or a reiteration of previous discoveries.

Arts-arts students believe in spontaneity and originality. They do not appreciate regurgitation, and thus they hate to memorise concepts and model answers. They prefer to think on the spot and apply what they have learnt in classrooms. They also enjoy the liberty they have in exams which allows them to take a stand, instead of following and accepting the ideas of previous scientists without a chance to question these theories.

Hence, like Science-science students, Arts-arts students have their own uppity and condescending attitude towards those in the opposing camp and they think that Science-science students are inferior to them because they think that Science-science students lack the ability to articulate their thoughts or to debate. They think that Science-science students are rigid and do not have a mind of their own.

In short, Arts-arts students feel that they are suprerior than Science-science students because they can articulate their thoughts way better than Science-science students and are more creative than them. Arts-arts students also love to challenge existing theories and formulae, an action which are frowned upon by Science-science students, like how Galileo Galilei's proposal that the Earth revolves around the Sun was frowned upon at his time. Arts-arts students just cannot force themselves to blindly accept Science. They want to be persuaded to believe in Science.

Examples of Arts-arts students:
Jasmine Koh

***

So, what type of student are you?

21 November 2007

What Type of Boy are you?

How can it be complete if I only wrote a guide to understanding girls without writing another for girls to understand we boys?

I think I am better with boys -- one, I am one myself; two, there are more boys around in school giving me a larger sample size to make observations; and three, I have got like 6 years to do my observations.

Boys can be easily classified into 5 different groups: Alpha Males, Metrosexuals, Nerds, Average Joes, The Perfect Ones. You are less likely to find boys entagling themselves in different categories because we are the more straight-forward sort. (It's like men go shopping with a shopping list already in their head and they grab only items on the list while women go shopping to first generate a want-list, then eliminate items from the want-list to generate a shopping list, before the actual purchase of the items.)

Here goes, the 5 types of Boys:

1. Alpha Males (33%):
Alpha males are almost always sporty boys, who almost always come from a sports CCA. They have extremely high levels of self-esteem and thanks to the lionized persona they have built up for the masses, the acknowledgment of any kind of failure (in terms of losing a game or unable to push through their suggestions and initiatives) would represent a complete contradiction to their public image. Their perceived perfection has been built up to such an extent that they can no longer afford anything less than complete success.

In short, they have to beat others, and their desire to win often accentuates into cockiness and arrogance. They also like to belittle others, especially Nerds and Average Joes, by showing off their exemplary skills in their respective specialised sporting event (though sometimes they may not be THAT good.) or by just whining about not attaining the maximum possible score of 30 points for NAPFA in front of Nerds or Average Joes who are struggling to pass the assessment on physical fitness.

Alpha-males also love to hit the gym and pump iron. They want melon-sized biceps, washboard abs and B-cup pecs. Rationale? To have a hot bod for sweats to roll down after their game to attract female fans.

Alpha males often form cliques of their own, be it with their team members, or their soccer "khakis". You are likely to see them congregate around one canteen table to eat or to change into their gear for an upcoming game, or around the street-soccer court with sweaty jerseys lying around, or around the basketball court again with sweaty shirts all over the place, or in the gym discussing the most effective method to build melon-sized biceps. In short, they have their own cliques and unlikely can anyone be able to gain membership to this clique.

Often, together as a clique, alpha-males will compete with another cliques. Like to see which clique has the best soccer skills, or which team can win the championship title during the National Inter-School Championships.

It's all about male pride lah.

Outside of the sporting arena, alpha-males are also rather aggressive in politics -- if they cannot get what they want, they will be at loggerheads with the opposing camp. And surprise surprise! Alpha-males are usually the ones who badmouth and their words of mass destruction(WMDs) can inflict more damage than those from Bitches.

P.S. I actually wanted to cite examples, but decided against it to avoid unnecessary conflict.

2. Metrosexuals (18%):
Metrosexuals are the fashion police of the school. We (Yes, I consider myself as one) cringe when we see students in P.E. shirt and their respective pants or skirts of their school uniform appearing at scholarship talks, conferences or dialouge sessions; we cry when we see boys wearing OBS T-shirts appearing in Victoria Theatre; we convulse when we see fat girls wearing tees that are not long enough to cover their love handles.

Metrosexuals care a lot about their fashionably-styled hair. Our styled hair is FRAGILE. You must handle with care. Better still, hands off our hair. See no touch. We can spend around 10 to 20 minutes (or even more for extreme cases) just to style our hair using Gatsby's wax, clay or mud. You probably will not see us with an unkempt hairstyle nor do we ever have a bad hair day.

Metrosexuals are highly fashion-conscious. We talk about matching colours of our top and bottom, and even the design and the colour of our belt matter. The particular ones will even select matching footwear. We don't like to dress up in T-shirts, but even if we do, we will not make ourselves look sloppy. We will still dress up to a particular style or to present a particular image. We don't treat clothes as articles to cover our body. Rather, we treat clothes as tools and accessories to bring out the best in us. We staunchly believe in the saying "first impression counts".

Metrosexuals also love to shop for clothes, though we may not be as extreme as those fickle-minded girls who can take up to 3 hours just to buy a pair of shoes. We like to shop, but we will be decisive when it comes to the purchasing of items.

In short, metrosexuals just cannot accept themselves being sloppy in front of others. We will put in a lot of effort to groom ourselves and we are very sensitive to the latest fashion trends. We also know what to dress for different occasions and we just simple love to dress up. =)

3. Nerds (15%):
Nerds can be found in all JCs, though the population of nerds in each JC is proportional to the ranking, 'A'-Level results and other achievements of the school, i.e. a higher concentration of nerds can be found in Hwa Chong, RJC and NJC.

It's easy to spot one: they carry backpack-bag filled to its maximum capacity with textbooks and lecture notes, carry ring folders filled with tutorials, more lecture notes and other miscellaneous handouts, or hug Ten-Year Series and SAT Practice Workbook to everywhere they go.

Nerds are the apples of teachers' eyes, especially of the old-fashioned and conservative ones or the discipline master (mistress) because nerds will never allow their shirt to be tucked out. They will literally entrench their shirt way deep into their pants and will put on calf-length socks. They either don't pay much attentin to their hair, or have their hair gelled neatly to give a shiny, oily look with a centre or side parting. Also, nerds will never allow their hair to reach the collars of their uniform or to let their fringe grow beyond their eyebrow.

And oh! How can I forget the fact that nerds are almost always bespectacled? If they don't wear spectacles, it is not because they wear contact lenses. Rather, it may be due to the mutation of their genes and will continue to have a perfect eyesight.

Nerds also tend to be devoid of general knowledge and life skills. Many of them can't go home from Orchard Road. Many of them don't know who Britney Spears is. (Trust me, one Nanyang girl really don't know who that promiscuous bitch is) Many of them have no idea how much a copy of The Straits Times costs. Many of them cannot differentiate between Mee Siam and Mee Rebus. They don't coo over the latest handphone models, or go crazy over the match between Manchester United and Liverpool. They don't listen to the radio, or watch TV, or log on to MSN, Facebook or Friendster. They go for minimal number of outings and shun from participating in mass dances/social dances or water bomb "war games". They frown upon being send down to cheer for their school's athletes during comptitions.

Lastly, just like Alpha-Males who like to compete to beat others in charm and strength, Nerds aim to beat others through obtaining the highest score for lecture tests, class tests and examinations. They will CRY (yes, boys do cry) when their performance does not qualify them a place in the Top 50 students list. They will sulk when only one of their subjects did not get an 'A' grade. They are vexed when they can't top their class.

Oh, nerds. Our beloved nerds.

4. Average Joes (33%):
Like Average Janes, Average Joes are average people. Of average intelligence, of average built, of average height, of average looks, of average charm, of average eloquence and wit, of average family background, of average results, of average fashion sense... etc.

They just appear to be rather negligible. I mean, the attendance of an Average Joe will not cause much brouhaha, unlike detestful people who would turn off others, or hot guys who would attract horny girls.

Average Joes also don't spend much time or effort in grooming themselves. They just simply cannot be bothered, like our Average Janes.

You can sometimes even say that Average Joes (ditto for Average Janes) have no aim or goal in life. To some extent, they themsleves CHOOSE to be average and have no idea what is their purpose for living. They tend to just go with the flow and follow the crowd. They are passive and are devoid of a zest in life.

Average people. Shan't spend so much words on them.

5. The Perfect One (1%):
He's the individual champion for a cross-country competition or a judo competition. He's at the same time the winner of A*STAR Talent Search. He's a model councillor too. He scores 4 As for every exam. He's tall, tanned, charming, gorgeous, has a boyish smile and a body to die for. Unfortunately, all hot guys are gay.

But he's a rare species too. That is, if he is straight as well.

***

So which boy are you?

19 November 2007

What type of Girl are you?

This post is specially requested by and dedicated to Rachel. Haha...

***

Some men say girls are complicated creatures. I beg to differ. In my attempt to differentiate the girls into different "types", I realise that the majority of the girls (around 80%) fall in either one of the following two categories: Sporty Bimboes or Average Jane. Of course there are other types of girls but they only make up about 20% of the entire female population, and they are the ones who give me a hard time because it's difficult to write about them given the smaller sample size available for observations to be taken.

Sporty Bimboes (40%):
Have you realise that girls from any sports CCA tend to be bimbotic? They are the ones who would put on those big and thick plastic hairbands, wear cutesy earrings (if not those big ear studs of bright colours and regular shapes like square and triangle), carry bags that scream "I am the spokesperson for Bimbotism", e.g. white Adidas bags with pink or brown sides, or some random PVC bags that is dyed with loud, gaudy colours with a meaningless logo emblazoned on it that only these bimboes will find meaning in it. And it's not your usual 乖乖 "backpack-bag" -- it's an enlarged version of a "briefcase" modified accordingly to suit female users which users (ost of the time bimboes) would insist on slinging the bag onto their shoulder to carry it like a tai-tai handbag.

Bimbo!

And somehow, the term "bimbo" seems to be synonomous with "sporty girls". You don't see a nerdy bimbo. It's morally wrong. I guess usually sporty girls are bimboes because they need to nullify the masculine image they present on the arena so that they can still remain attractive to boys, or just simply to remind the boys that they are girls -- girls who yearn for protection from boys and girls who are, in real life, not their aggressive and competitive self like when they are on the arena.

I mean, they just wouldn't want to turn off boys by constantly presenting themselves in a sweaty, unglam manner with flushed face and unkempt hairdo while screaming "杀" or something equally aggressive. They need to doll up themselves when they are off the training grounds -- afterall girls still need boys in some way.

Of course, there are some bimboes who are not at all sporty. But they remain as isolated cases. The way mechanisms work in the female human being still fascinates and intrigues me.

Another observation: bimboes tend to be very flirty. They allow boys (usually the alpha-males, whom I will elaborate more in my upcoming entry) to poke fun at them for any reasons, or to poke at them literally. (Think of the "Poke" function in Facebook, and yeah, you know what I mean) They just love contact with boys, be in verbal or physical. Some just allow boys to tickle them, pinch their cheeks or to "massage" them. On the surface it seems like a massage, but you really never know what the organ beneath the "massager's" clothing is reacting. If you watch "Survivor: China", you would get what I mean. Just think of the scene when Frosti massaged Courtney.

In short, bimboes:
1. Views image and presentation of themselves seriously
2. Have good fashion sense
3. Enjoys boys' companion

Average Jane (40%):
For girls, you either know how to dress or you don't. Bimboes know exactly how to dress up; Average Janes are walking illustrations of "fashion disaster". They don't apply blush, mascara or eyeliner. Yet, they insist on showing their flabby arms that pendulate whenever they wave excitedly at their friend across the street. Or their favourite bottom would be a tight-fitting jeans fading in colour which further exaggerate the curves on their thighs and bums. Or maybe they just wear the same white-coloured T-shirt from Giordano each time she attends your class outing.

In short, fashion is non-existent in their world. Most of the time, they just cannot be bothered.

As how some quip in Chinese: " 世上没有丑女人,只有懒女人。", which means no woman is ugly, but there are certainly lazy ones in English.

Character-wise, Average Janes are really average. They are pretty boring. They aren't those who have the gift of gab, or those who excel in sports. they don't necessarily suck at everything, but they certainly don't ace in anything.

In short:
Average Janes are really boring people. You would not particularly detest their presence, but you certainly would not miss hanging out with them. And they tend to have horrendous fashion sense, most of the time due to their nonchalant attitude towards self-grooming.

P.S. Actually if Average Janes spend a little effort on grooming, many of them actually look pretty and will get boys talking about them. =)

Bitches/Gossip-mongers(15%):
'Nuff said. Bitches are bitches. They can bitch at you for almost anything that happen. Even a falling leaf can be a source for her bitchiness. They are especially hostile towards strangers, and will tend to launch WMDs (Words of Mass Destruction) at unsuspecting stranger who invades into her social circle.

Or they can "tsk" at you for the slightest reason possible. Even praising her nicely-decorated file is sufficient to exchange for a "tsk". I was a victim before, so the moral of the story: It doesn't pay to be nice to a bitch. Just let her die in pain when you see one being knocked down by a car.

You can never satisfy a bitch. Bitches can complain about the slightest error they can possible find. Like how the food is too sweet, too salty or too oily. Or how the temperature in the bus is not optimum. Or how the singer is singing that note half an octave too low. Or how that boy's abs are not defined enough. The list goes on.

Usually bitches are gossip-mongers, though seldom is the other way round. Bitches LOVE to badmouth people and to spin incredibly authentic stories intended to damage ones' reputation. Their source of creative juices never run dry -- they can come up with new "stories" every second just to annoy those they dislike.

On the other hand, gossip-mongers can be nice fellas. They just love to spread the latest rumour that their eardrum had picked up without questioning the authenticity of the news. They are just stupid by nature, blindly follow others to spread news, but they certainly don't stand to gain or feel good from spreading.

Loud Lians(4%):
Loud Lians are not necessarily Ah Lians. The only way to differentiate them is through their spoken language -- Ah Lians speak boorishly, with an excessive and liberal use of profanity, while Loud Lians just speak loudly. Loud Lians are unglam girls, but unlike your Average Jane, Loud Lians just don't understand how to BEHAVE decently while Average Janes cannot be bothered to GROOM themselves properly.

Loud Lians laugh loudly, talk loudly, badmouth loudly, whether they are in a posh Chinese restaurant or at the library mugging with their friends, or worse still, when the person under her words of attack is sitting behind her on the bus.

In Chinese, Loud Lians are 大喇喇,meaning they are just unaware of how embarassing their behaviour can be or can bring to their friends.

Sometimes, they even sit with their legs wide open, or put one of their legs on the chair despite wearing a skirt. I've seen a lot of such girls in Hwa Chong sitting in such manner and boy! They sure do not look sexy at all; rather they just turn me off depsite the fact that they reveal all clothing beneath the skirt to me (maybe because being an Aquarius man, I prefer girls to present themselves in a glamourous way)

The Perfect Ones (1%):
They are immaculate. Perfect facial features, perfect head:body ratio, perfect figure, intelligent yet not overbearing or snobbish, sporty yet not overly aggressive, easy-going, allow their boys to choose DOTA over talking to her on the phone, do not complain when poor boys like us wants to go Dutch for dinner,... and the list goes on.

The bottom line is: they are what we boys want, they have the qualities that we boys are looking for. Unfortunately, they are rare, making up only 1% of the entire female population. Like those endangered giant pandas in China.

*****

So, which girl are you? =) Post your comments, rebuttals or agreeance on my tagboard.

18 November 2007

Analysis of 'A'-Levels

Since I have finished my examinations already, I think it would be appropriate for me to do an overview and projection of my performance for my first big-scale national examination in 6 years.

General Paper:
My performance for General Papaer was fair I guess. No major blunders made I presume. And neither did I write anything brilliant. Just like most J2 students out there, I did question 10 which is "Is it possible to protect the environment when many countries increasingly need energy for progress?" for Paper 1. However, unlike the other students who did this question, "Kyoto Protocol" never made any appearance in my script. I feel that this time round I had a lot more discussion in my essay -- instead of peppering examples aimlessly, I explained that it is still possible to protect the environment while levels of energy consumption need not be reduced, i.e. an equilibrium can be achieved between environmental protection and economic development.

Paper 2 caught me off guard. If the questions were to be set two years ago accordingly to one theory, then I would have expected the theme of the comprehension passage to be on "Happiness" since the report on World Happiness Rankings was first released in 2005 and had since stirred up a lot of discussion and itnerest in this topic. Never did the issue of gender equality come across my mind. Nevertheless, I still think I did pretty okay for the paper.

Projected Score: 33/50 for Paper 1, and 30/50 for Paper 2, giving me a total of 63/100.

Projected Grade: Since the entire cohort takes General Paper, I presume the distribution of marks will fit a normal bell curve almost perfectly and the grades would in turn follow the recommended cut-off criteria (given by MOE0) very closely. Hence, I predict a 'B' grade for General Paper

Chinese Language and Literature (CLL):
Paper 1, which is mainly the language component, caught me off guard. For the first time, you are required to USE YOUR OWN WORDS in a Chinese comprehension. And I did not study the two questions that asked for the background information of the two prose written in ancient Chinese language that appeared in the paper.

On top of that, I felt (and am still feeling) uneasy about the essay that I wrote. Hopefully it's the type of style that is required and will be appreciated by the marker. I mean, an essay weaved with many personal experiences instead of revolving around only a single one seems like an unorthodox way of writing a narrative essay.

Paper 2 was very-well done in retrospect. Apart from the samll hiccup I encountered under the section on Tang Poems, Song prose and Modern poems, in which I did not study all of them and ended up attempting a question which I am not confident in at all, the other questions were either expected or practised previously.

Projected Score: 73 / 100 for Paper 1, and 78 / 100 for Paper 2, giving me an average of around 75%

Projected Grade: A minimum of 'B' is expected. But, I am not sure if my score is good enough to earn me the 'A', especially if Paper 2 was generally considered to be easy by many of those taking this subject across the nation. The bell curve may not be that normal in that case. I am still keeping my fingers crossed nevertheless, I still expect an 'A' for CLL.

Mathematics:
Paper 1 was badly done. Till now I still can't find the area of the triangle in any given situation using the differetiation of parametric curves. The question on arithmetic and geometric progressions (AP & GP) baffled me. Plus careless and minor mistakes here and there can snowball into something penalising. Interestingly though, I don't find question 9, which was on a weird function and proving and finding a sequence difficult, when this question is widely considered to be a difficult question. Yet, questions deemed to be easy like the area-finding question through differentiation and the AG/GP question stumped me. *Shrugs*

Paper 2 was much better. I could do almost every single question without much difficulty and halfway through the Statistics section I was feeling rejoiced over the simplicity of the paper.

Projected Score: 63 / 100 for Paper 1 and at least 85 / 100 for Paper 2 (if I haven't made too many careless mistakes in my script), giving me an average of around 74%.

Projected Grade: Given that most students find the overall difficulty of the Mathematics examination is low, a score of 74% may not be enough to earn me an 'A'. But there may still be a chance! Haha.. I am still crossing my fingers...

Chemistry:
I find the overall difficulty of the Chemistry examination realistic, although to my horror I discovered that I actually overlooked a 2-mark question in Paper 3, and several careless mistakes were committed here and there in Paper 2 and Paper 3. Nonetheless I still managed to finish Paper 3 and find the paper do-able despite only finishing the paper on the dot, literally.

Paper 2 caught everybody off guard as no question on electrochemistry and ionic equilibria appeared as expected by ALL Chemistry students, teachers and departments across ALL JCs. But Paper 2 was still relatively fine in my opinion.

Paper 1 was very well-done I feel. I am expecting to score about 35 / 40 for Paper 1.

Projected Score: 52 / 80 for Paper 3, 48 / 60 for Paper 2 and 35 / 40 for Paper 1, giving me a total of 135 / 180, which translates to 75%.

Projected Grade: Given that many people whined about the unrealistic time management required for Paper 3 and the overall difficulty of the paper, I think 75% is enough to earn me an 'A' grade.

H1 Geography:
The Geography paper was the hardest paper I've ever done or seen, and in turn my worst performance ever in the subject. The question on the 2005 Boxing Day tsunami was unexpected as we were not taught explicitly the process of a tsunami formation; we were only taught that tsunamis can be caused by earthquakes. Period. (Just to digress, the tsunami question only proves that the paper was set two years ago -- immediately after the disaster occured it is featured in a national examination that is to be taken by students two years later.)

The question on traffic survey was alien to us too. Nobody, not even the H2 students knew what on earth is a traffic survey. Many, influenced by the upcoming Mathematics paper on Statistics, wrote something about quota and stratified sampling, while I "employed electronic sensors and image-capturing devices" to "conduct" the survey. It turns out that my answer, upon a quick check online subsequently, is the closest. Haha! Hopefully I can salvaged about 2 marks out of this 5-mark question.

On hindsight, my essays were not well-written. I forgot that the oil company Shell is a Netherlands-based company (Royal DUTCH Coporations) and I wrote that Shell is based in United Kingdom! How embarassing, given that my assessers are from UK. But surprsingly, a quick check on Wikipedia reassured that my answer is somewhat correct, since Shell is a company based in BOTH UK and the Netherlands. Haha..

Projected Score: 71 / 100
Projected Grade: I am not sure how the other schools find the paper. Apparently they were taught on Hydrologic Processes, which if they attempted on instead on the question on Globalisation and Urbanisation where the evil question on traffic survey came from, they may have an upper hand. I am expecting a 'B' on this subject. A real pity, considering that my best subject has always been Geography.

H3 CLL:
H3 is an unpredictable subject, as creative writing assessed based on subjectivity accounts for 50% of the assessment. I wrote a short story based on a given picture which illustrates a mother nagging at her son to find a girlfriend while studying hard in university. Instead of the conventional appraoch taken by some of my peers to write about how possessive and controlling Asian parents are, I wrote about a mother asking her gay son to find a girlfriend in attempt to turn him straight. I just hope that my marker is open-minded enough accept a story with a homosexuality theme.

The analysis of an unseen prose was okay I think. Ditto for the section on the analysis on set text, as it is something that I had studied and prepared for.

Projected Grade:Merit. My analysis on unseen prose and set text, in comparison to my peers, hasn't always been exceptional. Thus, a "Merit" grade would be realistic.

****************

Overall: AAAB|B|Merit, or ABBB|B|Merit, or AABB|B|Merit, or maybe even AAAA|B|Merit though highly unlikely.

16 November 2007

LIberated

I feel like the hydrogen gas formed when an alcohol is reacted with a piece of sodium metal, when phenol reactes with aqueous sodium hydroxide, and when a carboxylic acid reacts with aqueous sodium carbonate.

LIBERATED!!!

Editted to add: To my horror, I just realise immediately after my Chemistry exam, I forgot all my Chemistry concepts... Phenol does not liberate hydrogen gas upon reaction with sodium hydroxide. Neither will a carboxylic acid liberate hydrogen gas upon reaction with sodium carbonate.

11 November 2007

尿

从尿道排出,对你的
思念,染黄了马桶边缘。
里头浊了的水映出我朦胧的
脸。

决定。
冲了水后,
一切洁白清澈,
如从前。