I remember the days when blogging used to be a weekly activity. But now the last update was about 1.5 months ago. I've missed out on commenting so many current affairs. Oh well...

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I'm quite lucky recently to have discovered and read 2 books that interest me:

NOTHING TO ENVY: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
by Barbara Demick

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6178648-nothing-to-envy

Factory Girls
by Leslie T. Chang

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2635587-factory-girls

Nothing to Envy brings outsiders into the the ordinary lives of North Koreans from the 1950s to present day. After interviews with North Korean defectors who are now living in South Korea, Demick presents us with details on the finest aspects of life under the Great Leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, and how the ever-loyal residents, brainwashed willingly or reluctantly, have prospered and suffered. Some of the stories are set in Chongjin, a heavily-industrialised city probably nearer to the Russian border than to Pyongyang. In the 1960s, when the West talked about the Korean Miracle, they were talking about the Democratic People's Republic, which had a Gross Domestic Product per capita of about thrice that of the Republic. After the Korean War, life turned for the better, with immense Soviet support, and it steered into a slippery downhill slide ever since the Soviet Union broke up. Some North Korean elites started doubting the government, but most believed that the Kims would provide for them, and that they really have nothing to envy in the world.

Is it true that if a certain ideology has been drilled into the minds of the masses, they will really accept it as the truth, and therefore lose their ability to distinguish between their delusions and the truth? Is that the power of propaganda?

Factory Girls presents the ever-changing lives of migrant female workers through the author, Harvard graduate Leslie T. Chang's personal encounters with them. She also presents the harsh truths of dealing and doing business in today's increasingly-capitalist China. The book is easily as good as Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah, which I thoroughly enjoyed because of the inter-cultural references. The author, an American Chinese, also traces her familial ties in back in her ancestral China, a land which she is entangled with but which is not her real home. Having grown up in USA, and being ethnically Chinese, and luckily being rather proficient in Chinese thanks to her parents forcing her to attend weekend Chinese lessons during her teenage years in New York City, she presents the whole book in a manner which a Westerner might not be able to.

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I visited the Singapore Book Fair 2011 today at Suntec City Expo, and it was greatly disappointing. There was definitely a limited range of books. Today was the last day. I would recommend you to head to Kinokuniya, Ngee Ann City for the biggest collection of books for sale, or to the second hand bookshops in Bras Basah Complex for precious books, and for Chinese books. There are a few bookstores which specialise in Chinese books.

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After listening to Korean pop music for about 1.5 years, I realise that the Taiwanese and Hong Kong Chinese pop music market is so highly saturated and not very creative. I always prefer Taiwanese Chinese music from the 90s and early 2000s, not the latest hits. For Hong Kong, majority of the singers can't even sing well.

I've only been listening to a few genres of Korean pop - hip hop, rap, trot, jazz and house - and I haven't even paid real attention to mainstream K-pop. After searching and listening to so much, I've barely scratched the surface of huge market. I still don't really listen to songs by groups which are made ubiquitous - SNSD, T-ara, 2NE1, Kara, C N Blue, FT Island, Shinee, Super Junior, BigBang, After School, 2AM... Yup - when I tell you I listen to Korean pop music, I mean Clazziquai, Epik High, Jang Yoon Jung, Dynamic Duo etc. - groups that you might have never heard of, but which you should begin listening to :).

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Weekends are getting boring. When we were students, weekends were always for studying or doing homework, but now there's really nothing to do. I wish Singapore were more interesting. Hmmmm...

Yes there is the Great Singapore Sale, but I dread shopping. Maybe life will be better if someone can convince me that shopping is interesting.

More often than not, we find ourselves trying to keep ourselves busy so as to not waste any minute of time. But perhaps, when we grow old, and mature, we'll understand that it is perfectly normal to waste time and be bored. Life doesn't have to be interesting all the time. It's not possible for it to be interesting all the time. I think.

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Cliche as it sounds, time flies. 10+ more months to the completion of National Service. And most probably I'll be flying to Melbourne for university. It's not Harvard or MIT, but I'm still looking forward to it.

Labels: books, chinese pop, korean pop, music, my life, shopping, university

World Cup 2002 Song - Let's Get Together Now (Japanese version)

South Korea and Japan. After having a history of unwelcome invasion by Japan, South Korea and Japan's relationship thawed when they jointly organised the World Cup in 2002. Organisers put away the bad history and focused on creating the best ever Asian soccer event. They forgot how a Japanese linguist patriotically defined Korean as a 'dialect of Japanese' - a scientifically inaccurate statement - during the Japanese invasion.


Coat of Arms of Korea under Japanese rule. The 'CHOSEN' refers to 'Joseon/Chosun etc.' (Korea; land of the morning calm; 朝鮮)


Flag of the Japanese Resident General of Korea. (1905-1910)




World Cup 2002 Song - Let's Get Together Now (Korean version)

Which one of the 2 versions sounds better?

Labels: japan, korea, music

The name, Häagen-Dazs, does not derive from any of the North Germanic languages; it is simply two made-up words meant to look Scandinavian to American eyes (the digraphs "äa" and "zs" are not a part of any native words in any of the Scandinavian languages). This is known in the marketing industry as foreign branding. Mattus thought that Denmark was known for its dairy products and had a positive image in the U.S.^[4] He included an outline map of Denmark on early labels, as well as the name of Copenhagen.<sup>[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A4agen-Dazs</sup>

Labels: food, ice cream

Honestly, if I'm in Tokyo now, I won't feel worried about radiation. But I'll return to where I came from so that my family won't worry about me. And that's about the only reason.

Earth Hour just commenced in Tokyo earlier than anywhere else. A courteous and conscious people, the Japanese have voluntarily reduced unnecessary electricity consumption, resulting in a not-so-illuminated Ginza these few days.

From China and Hong Kong, the panic has caused thousands to stock up on salt - sea salt, which is mostly sodium chloride. Prices have been jacked up by 600%. People are selling salt online. How... amusing.

Labels: disaster

It's hard to forget this MV. It's probably the best in Asia in 2010. Dramatic. I've watched it a few times for the past few months, but every time I reach 3:23, the realisation of what had happened to the male runner is always appalling. Too bad this MV didn't win any awards for the 2010 prize presentation ceremonies. And there are about 936000 views to date. Let's make it a million!

On the other hand, it is obvious that a few American singers have been dominating the world, or at least, in music and youtube. For instance,

Justin Bieber - Baby ft. Ludacris

Music video by Justin Bieber performing Baby.

• by JustinBieberVEVO
• 1 year ago
• 489,271,873 views

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

Music video by Lady Gaga performing Bad Romance...

• by LadyGagaVEVO
• 1 year ago
• 357,197,200 views

Katy Perry - Firework

Official music video for Katy Perry's "Firework...

• by KatyPerryVEVO
• 4 months ago
• 142,952,585 views

Bruno Mars - Grenade [Official Music Video]

© 2010 WMG. http://www.brunomars.com Directed b...

• by ElektraRecords
• 3 months ago
• 116,727,459 views

Phenomenal.

The Road - Clazziquai Project (English)

it's never good when you have so many paths to choose from.

I have to make a rational decision, and it's difficult. If I were not so ambitious, things would be easier, but no - I hope to deviate from the status quo. And I hope that's possible. The location, distance, culture, nature, course, costs and funding. Wow. That's just a few of the factors. By no means is it easy to decide rationally and speculate accurately.

Who would ever think that the world's second largest economy will be so fragile in the face of unstoppable threats...

Or perhaps that is not fragility.

Or perhaps the people of Japan have always anticipated natural disasters, since their nation is dotted with volcanoes and converging plates, such that it is just part of their lives to experience an epic disaster.

Or maybe some might choose to call that 'fate', though I won't.

And even in shops near Sendai, the horrified denizens still obey their usual practice of extremely courtesy and politeness, and there have not been chaos in shops when they frantically purchase their necessities, not to mention looting- that would be almost nonexistent.

In some ways, it was lucky that the offshore earthquake did not occur right outside Tokyo, since that would cause even more disastrous tsunamis.

I also realised the shortcomings of those shock-resistant features on structures, which have been a big area of research. Indeed, the waves on the ground merely shook the buildings, and they swayed vigorously from left to right, and few collapsed. However, any building and any kind of preventive measure is futile in a tsunami.

And channelnewsasia just has to showcase their overzealous attempts in earning money by asking business partners to purchase spots asap for advertisements during broadcasts of Japan's situation.

Back to history.

Personally, I have absolutely NOTHING against Japan.

But I'm not sure of the Koreans feel hatred towards Japanese, even now in 2011, because of the Japanese invasion, and because Japan somehow caused a divided Korea.

In fact, there are actually reasons for Korea to feel threatened, since historically it has been influenced so greatly by its 2 giant neighbours - China and Japan. Perhaps now it's time for both the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to cherish their sovereignty - politically and culturally.

After the Korean war, North Korea actually had a higher GDP than did South Korea for a few years, until the South Korean economy took off in the 1970s. The 1988 Seoul Olympic Games was probably the indicator that South Korea had become a first-world nation, merely 40 years after the war had ravaged everything. In some ways, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games can also be seen as the similar indicator. Keeping the years 1988 and 2008 in mind, Japan was decades earlier in reaching this benchmark, as it held its first Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964.

According to a Time article in 2009, Beijing and Tokyo are the cities which are most prone to earthquakes in the 21st century. When the epicentre moves itself to those places, the aftereffects are unimaginable.

Labels: countries, disaster, random

Epik High - Over

You got so much to prove
Hoping they approve
The only thing that's true is all you ever do is do
You're moving shoe to shoe but you're not going
You stop growing, the moment that you stay at the top
The only way is to drop
Freefalling down the stairs that you climbed up
Lined up to freely mount the air
But you dare not air drop
Tied up like a hair knot
Hiking down without a chance of stepping on a fair rock
And so, you stand still in a stand-still
Hands still building castles on a sand hill
"Man chill," is what your friends say
But you're not hearing what little men say
Anyway, keep on going, and taste the stars
Keep on growing, and raise the bar
You're living life for the As down to the Zs
After the hill you got a mountain to seize

You are an overachiever
Do what it takes 'til it takes everything you are
You are an overachiever
Do what it takes 'til it takes everything you are

Who can tell?
Your living is an organized hell
The mansion of your mind just an oversized cell
The pressure, everything is done to a measure
In the sea of competition sunk like a treasure
Like a feather falling slow spiraling to the floor
Strung up like a broken violin to your course
Opportunity is knocking at your door
But you never left a welcome mat (it doesn't matter anymore)
Or anyhow, but you're too late to turn back
Fate pushing you into the wall like a thumbtack
Ain't no comebacks in this game of life
Roll the dice again
Roll it once, never twice

Keep on going, and taste the stars
Keep on growing, and raise the bar
You're living life for the As down to the Zs
After one drop you got a fountain to seize

You are an overachiever
Do what it takes 'til it takes everything you are
You are an overachiever
Do what it takes 'til it takes everything you are
You are an overachiever
Do what it takes 'til it takes everything you are

Wanna break from the world, but the world wanna break you
The weight makes your backbone curl up and make you

You are an overachiever
Do what it takes 'til it takes everything you are

Wanna break from the world, but the world wanna break you
The weight makes your backbone curl up and make you


Epik High's songs have been the most played ones on my iPod touch for the past half a year. This song, Over, is from their latest 'special' full album , released in March 2010. Even though lyricist-rapper Tablo of Epik High is Canadian-Korean, not many songs are fully in English, except for this.

Tablo is no small fry. His popularity in Korea is allegedly due to the ancient link to Confucianism -- he is academically a high-achiever too, having graduated from Stanford with a Bachelor's degree and Master's degree in English and Literature within 3 years, and with straight A+'s. However, with an IQ of ~180, that might not be too surprising.

Many statements are controversial and lacking evidence to some extent...

The complexity of a language probably depends on the levels of intelligence of the people who speak it on a daily basis. However, in what precise ways will intelligence affect the language? Before I explore further, in this case and only in this post, we shall assume that Intelligence Quotients are accurate representations of the degrees of intelligence of people, and that IQ tests and surveys conducted on a sample size in the respective nations are all of high reliability. Also, we have to assume that as such, a nation with a higher national IQ consists of generally more intelligent people.

Wait, people. Hold your comments. I understand that every single statement and assumption can be challenged. And that every one of these is controversial and possibly biased in every possible manner. But we shall deal with these controversies on another issue, and concentrate on the current topic.

Not quite surprisingly, east Asian nations have topped the charts in national IQ levels, with Hong Kong and Singapore having national IQs of 108, and both Koreas having national IQs of 106. No prizes for guessing which countries are runners-up -- Japan, China and Taiwan at 105. All these figures are obtained from IQ and Global Inequality, a controversial 2006 book by psychologist Richard Lynn and political scientist Tatu Vanhanen.

The Korean language is one of the more complex languages in the modern world, with numerous conjugations and verb endings. Each verb (action verb or descriptive verb) can be conjugated in approximately 40 ways, depending on the mood (and here it doesn't refer to being happy, or sad), tense and level of politeness (there are 7 levels altogether). Add in honorifics, a Subject-Object-Verb sentence structure and consonant changes, and you get a mystifying language of level IV difficulty, according to the USA Defense Language Institute.

Can we conclude that the Korean language has developed into such a complex one because the Koreans have been intelligent enough to develop, understand and communicate in such a difficult language? In addition, has it not been simplified throughout the centuries of use, because the Koreans have proved capable of learning and mastering their language despite the difficulty? The language might not be an easy one to learn, but because Koreans had inherited high levels of intelligence (and to some extent, linguistic abilities), they can cope with it.

Yet from another perspective, if a certain racial group is highly intelligent, they may, on the other extreme, simplify their language gradually in ways that allow even easier communication. Some may debate that Koreans could have developed and simultaneously simplified their language into a more efficient version that requires less effort to learn.

Indeed, intelligence has somewhat played a role in increasing literacy. In 1443, King Sejong introduced hangeul, an all-new self-created Korean alphabet for writing Korean. Previously, Chinese characters and special, non-standard symbols were used for writing Korean language, and the inaccessibility and difficulty have left most of the people, except for scholars, illiterate. With hangeul, literacy had soared.

Korean, Japanese and Chinese are extremely complex languages, especially the first 2, even though many would concur that Chinese is equally tough. Here, we have to note that Japan, South and North Korea are extremely homogeneous nations, with at least 98% of the respective populations of each nation belonging to the native race. In PRC, at least 92% of the people are ethnic Han Chinese. Is it a coincidence that the 'level of difficulty' of a language is proportional to the racial IQ?

On the other extremes of geography on Earth, certain other races with lower 'measured IQs' have even more complicated language structures. I got this idea from a certain book; I forgot which it is. It states that traditionally, European conquerors had this concept that advanced civilisations would use highly complex languages, while more laid-back ones would use languages which are simple. However, the book presented an alternative view, that is, the most excruciatingly difficult languages in the world are spoken by tiny pockets of peoples who are not assumed to be of the top tier on national IQ levels. Without naming examples, there are a few minority groups in certain European-dominated nations which speak languages that are extremely succinct and agglutinative, and highly inflected and declined. It would have been a scenario of stereotyping, but the European colonial masters probably would never regard those peoples as 'advanced civilisations'.

Yet on the other hand, would such minorities have kept their languages because they have collectively failed to understand the importance of simplifying their languages, in order to allow more people to achieve literacy?

To sum up, the Koreans are statistically a high-IQ people, and their language is difficult to master. However, given such a high level of intelligence, could they also have learned to simplify their language so that it is more easily picked up? Also, the world's most obscure languages are spoken by minority races which are not exactly proven smart in terms of statistics. Is there any link between national (and therefore in some cases, racial) IQ levels, difficulty of languages and literacy rates?

There are so many controversies involved in this writing, because many statements and statistics are based on assumptions and conjectures. Therefore, many statements are not necessarily true.

Labels: thoughts

Can't really believe that it has already been one year. Just one year ago 7 or 8 of us sneaked into town to celebrate Kim Yong's birthday days before our first A level paper. This year we gathered at the same place at Fish and Co. at Dhoby Ghaut. It's amazing to know that time flies, and that I have served more than 1/4 of my 2 years!

This isn't something new, but my battalion has just shifted from Gloucester Camp to Sembawang Camp. That actually happened in late September. In case you were wondering, Gloucester Camp is along Portsdown Road, and it's really in the middle of everything. On bus, it's 12 minutes from Vivocity, 5 minutes to IKEA and Alexandra Hospital, 10 minutes to NUH and NUS, and it's just opposite Science Park! With all these in its vicinity, Gloucester is definitely a prime location.

I kind of miss the months spent in Gloucester Camp as I spent my first days as a clerk there. It's tiny, and the fact that there's only one toilet in the whole camp explains how miniature it is.

Sembawang Camp is much bigger. At first, I didn't fancy the idea of shifting of camp (but of course I couldn't object -.-), since I loved the location of Gloucester, but after spending one month in this brand new building in Sembawang with state-of-the-art facilities (ok that's exaggeration), it isn't a bad thing after all.

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All right, 5 days to my Basic Driving Theory Test. I'm not very willing to read through my book of 300 Q&A for the BTT because it's less interesting than learning Korean. Ugh. I'll just have to make sure I get 45+ so that I wouldn't have to retake it.

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Speaking of that, I'm learning Korean! This is mildly puzzling, as the songs SNSD, Shinee, Super Junior and BigBang aren't the most-played ones on my iPod Touch. In fact I only have a few of them. My Hangugeo is still rudimentary, so I can only understand parts of the language. I am always in search of books for beginner learners of the Korean language, but apparently Korean language is so popular that those books are always on loan. Nevertheless, I borrowed a relatively good book by the publisher Tuttle, named Practical Korean. There are numerous errors and mismatches between the Hangeul and romanizations, but it is well-structured and concise.

Labels: my life

After booking out of Sembawang Camp from a 24-hour Ops Duty, which consumed an otherwise perfect Saturday, I headed home for a short respite before my overseas trip which involved the grandeur task of crossing an international border.

Henry and Yang Sheng crossed the Woodlands Immigration Checkpoint, and headed towards Johor Bahru. The checkpoint in JB was gargantuan, silver colour-based and majestic, but drove everyone in circles as we walked from one end to another to access the immigration counters. Nevertheless, that extra walk would serve as a compensation to my lack of exercise, an extraterritorial physiotherapy session for Yang Sheng's injury, and a good practice for Henry in his future kicking endeavor in MT.

I haven't blogged for months, but I have not diverted away from my usual and habitual digression. Well that's not important.

The first place we went to was City Square; being next to the checkpoint, it was inevitable. McDonalds is certainly cheaper there than in Singapore. Not to mention they have a different menu. We grabbed 3 black pepper chicken burgers and were good to go.

I probably haven't walked along JB's streets (out of City Square) since 13 years ago, when my family joined a shopping trip to there. Needless to say, there have been changes. It's such a unique place. Don't compare JB to Singapore, HK or cities in China because there is nothing like JB. There are street scenes unique to this city, such as the perpetual bus queue along Jalan Wong Ah Fook, juxtaposed against the modern office tower of City Square, and the four or five HDB point blocks across the straits in Marsiling. The very presence of HDB blocks in our view make us feel that we're not really that far away from Singapore. Haha.

Not long after, we arrived at the museum Yang Sheng had been talking about. 新山华族历史文化博物馆. It was a miniature museum carved out from one of those old shophouses ubiquitous in JB. No photography was allowed, so Yang Sheng was... mildly disappointed. There was a truckload of information about how Chinese people settled in Johor Bahru and its surroundings, and I was genuinely interested. But somehow, other than the 2 Chinese scholars who came in for a short glance, there were absolutely no other tourists or visitors. Hmmm.

Following the museum visit we stopped at a traditional coffee shop for tea. One of the aunties there works at the Poolside Restaurant at HCI too. It was no surprise that she could recognize Yang Sheng, but I was a less frequent customer and I couldn't really believe that she remembers me. Hmmmm. Maybe she has superb memory or I was extraordinarily eye-catching or something. Haha. The toasts there are way better than those at Ya Kun's.

We walked along the Indian street which was replete with goodies for Deepavali, which would come quite soon. It was quite festive, though it was not as grand as what you would expect to see in Little India in Singapore. Then, apparently Yang Sheng wanted to avoid harassment from a few surveyors, so we made a detour to the back alleys, which also served a plethora of food, and quirkily had Singapore HDB flats in the far background.

Following that was shopping at City Square, and early (at least that was an early one to me) dinner at a joint which served steak/meat on a hot slab of stone. My ribeye wasn't bad, and I always prefer real beef to ostrich meat which is halfway between chicken and beef :).

So that was JB for this afternoon.

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On a side note, I have almost exactly 18 months to go! Before I ORD! For the umpteenth time, I say that I can't wait for the academic semester to start. Gee... I've just spent 6 months in army. Oh...

Labels: food, travel

Recently I watched Mao's Last Dancer, which was spectacular but in some ways exaggerated. But still, it is a movie that some people would totally love. But if Iron Man II and other movies of the genre are your cup of tea, then Mao's Last Dancer might not satisfy.

I'm glad I've treasured my NJC school days. I generally did not dread going to school last year, and from the beginning of JC I knew that in the future when we're working, we're going to miss our school life, regardless of how many tests we had flunked or how many hours had been spent in the library. However, the definition of treasuring 'good times' is vague. Methodically how do we treasure such times? One method is to not take the good old school days for granted. School days would always come to an end. I've gone through a few heart-wrenching graduations, and prior to the end of those school days, I would always allow myself to immerse totally in the spatial and social environment of the schools which I would not attend anymore. So what if we had treasured 'good times'? Would they last longer? Scientifically, if you were to graduate on 9 December 2009, and you are 10 days from it, treasuring your last moments does nothing to elongate those hours.

But the irrationality of the human mind makes people feel that certain one-hour periods of time 'fly', while others are dreadfully long.

Regardless of all that, I miss the tiniest and most minor details of my life in NJC.

I miss...

the times when we had to rehearse 3 to 4 times a week from 4 to 9pm, when I voluntarily stayed back without complaints, even though the LT1 aircon is always off, and it's annoyingly hot to practice outside LT1...

the maths lessons in J2 which were on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, when it was conducive for a nap, and the ONE instance Mr Tsang woke me up from my shallow slumber... I don't really sleep during Maths class!

the lunches at the canteen which would either consist of chicken rice or Japanese rice - nothing else...

the Pokka Milk Tea / Milk Coffee which kept me awake during afternoon maths lessons...

the delightful discovery of the almost-complete collection of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell books in the NJC library...

the really hot days when we would perspire after walking from the canteen to TB34, which is really far away...

the moderately-long bus journeys on 74/852 and 163...

the delightful discovery in J2 that the absence of PW makes up for much free time that can be allocated for Wikipedia and Facebook...

the slippery and smelly toilet at the canteen...

the lack of toilets nearby on the same floor as TB34...

the indescribable euphoria upon solving a maths question...

the worry, and the subsequent determination to excel, after knowing my horrendous J2 June Common Test results...

the situation in which I put down my bag on the shelves outside the library, and bring in EVERYTHING except for the bag itself into the library, simply because bags aren't allowed there. The result is myself holding a 15-cm thick stack of various notes, in addition to my pencil case, Creative ZEN and my water bottle (which I smuggled in)...

And then it's just me, but occasionally during the mundane office hours, such poignant memories of school hit me like a boulder in the head, and my heart would skip a few beats.

Labels: school life

These few days have changed me considerably. I met lots of people, and thankfully, most of them were nice and pleasant to be with. I learned how to interact with people who were different. I had an insight into how working life would be in the future. I experienced whatever one can never get from school, which I miss so badly. Yes I miss NJC a lot a lot. Every aspect of it. I can't wait to pursue my next level of education; I can't wait to learn. But it's just not the time to enroll in an university yet, for the obvious reasons. I like those days when I woke up to go to school, and hopefully, get educated, learn or understand whatever needs to be understood.

Yeah so I hope I'll get used to this kind of lifestyle quickly, and I think I've already acclimatised to some extent. And don't countdown - the huge number of days left is depressing, even though people around me often claim that time flies.

A few hours ago I felt so different upon exiting through the turnstiles from Sengkang MRT Station to Compass Point. The bright lights, the crowd, the queues and the advertisements - and the awful stench of commercialization and privatization - all reminded me that I'm warped back into the comforting reality, regardless of how much I detest that awful stench of commercialization. At least I see civilians :).

Learning never stops at this inevitable part of life. BTT followed by driving shall come soon. And there are language lessons. Yeah I promise - I'll have a life!

Labels: what else?

What an eventful day. I haven't been to NJC for a month, and yesterday I revisited the great old college in the afternoon just in time for the Harmonica practice. The place looks the same as it did in January, though there are major changes from last year...

I wore the white Aerius 2010 T-shirt and bermudas, and got stopped by the ever-friendly security guard. I said I graduated last year and I came back to visit my CCA. He gladly allowed me to enter, but just before I walked away, he asked me the ultimate question: Which school are you from?

"NJC duh!"

He said ok, and I walked on...

There goes the basketball courts where Kar Woon used to shoot the hoops. The basketball courts are now a construction site. A multi-storey sports complex will stand there soon, but as of now it's an unsightly mess. The track is still open for use, but the long strip of tiled floor between the grand stand seats and the track is also under construction - I don't know what they're building though. Maybe the tiles are just being replaced.

The first wave of nostalgia hit me like a blunt and heavy hammer. It wasn't emotionally comfortable. I recalled those Monday and Tuesday afternoons in J2 when we had PE and assembled at the left side of the grand stand. And Mr Irwan would single out the NAPFA failures. And it didn't feel good when you're one of them. Not that the prospect of playing captain's ball or basketball would be much more exciting than training for an insignificant one hour at the gym, but being coerced to train for a test was rather gloomy. Of course I trained, and in the gym I saw the usual few guys from my class or other PE classes who had to train as well. At least the idea that I wasn't the only one there was rather comforting:).

Now, looking back, PE lessons in J2 were still somewhat gloomy affairs.

The staircase leading to the canteen were the same, of course. And the canteen was still a hot place. The school was full of secondary school-aged students in dark grey shorts or skirts. The grand flight of stairs that led from the canteen to the circular walkway is now converted into another construction site. In a few months time it would probably be a library for the Junior High students.

Yesterday's harmonica practice ended at 7.30pm. Not too early or too late. But I can't help being reminded of how busy I was exactly a year ago, when practices quite often ended at 8 or 9pm, and there's still another project waiting for me at home. There was homework too.

How nostalgic. As I walked past every place, I remembered the numerous things I had done there. At the big TC classroom where the combined session was held, I had GP lessons 2 years ago during PAE, and also Monday's Human Geography lessons in J2. And that's also the classroom where we had our harmonica camp in J1's March holidays. Then the amphitheater was another eventful place. From Orientation 1, when OG 20 had our pizza meal there instead of dancing in the hall during the.... erm.... I seriously forgot the name......, to the harmonica exco elections to the house activities to occasional harmonica group practices there (J1 before the camp), I can only say that it's now all over.

I was so helpful. I helped to carry one music stand from the TC classroom to the harmonica store. It's really far away. Like last year, by the time practices ended, it's already turned dark. We had done this so many times last year - leaving school moments before the side gate is closed. The last of these days was last April, so I haven't experienced such a busy day of CCA since then, and yesterday I found it hard to imagine leaving school at 8pm and having to do work at home, and reaching school the next morning by 7.40am. So hectic! I survived it, but now I wonder how I actually managed to manage. Haha

In NJC I was not one of those who returned home early everyday, or at least immediately after CCA. I spent countless late weekday nights out at dinner, even if there was school on the next day. Dinner at KAP McDonalds, Serene Centre McDonalds, Plaza Singapura, Zhen Fa Huo Hai Xian at Novena, dinner at Jurong Point at Boon Lay, dinner at Subway at West Mall, dinner at j8... It was tiring by the time I reached home at 10pm++ during those days, but they were definitely fun.

To think that I'm not going to experience any school life so soon! Can't do anything about it though...

Labels: school life

I just dreamt of myself being stuck in an EARTHQUAKE in HONG KONG last night. How cool is that.

Labels: random

On an even gloomier note, I'm worried. I'm worried that unis won't give me places. I'm really worried. And I need to keep myself really busy to stop these worries. I don't know if always appear worried, but yes I am worrrrrrieeddd.

Labels: thoughts

It's not my first time posting this picture - I've posted it on Facebook and this blog last year. But it's really so applicable to me. Perhaps my character isn't suited for a mundane life. In fact, the busier the better. Being busy gives me a sense of accomplishment, prevents procrastination and deprives me of time for excessive worrying and thinking. I keep thinking of this period of time one year ago. I was really busy with Harmonica practices for SYF and the SLA Spatial Challenge, but in retrospect it was enjoyable, or at least, satisfying. And a few months ago, mugging for A levels was the priority, and it was sort of good to be busy mugging because I know that ultimately it helps. (On another note, intense H2 Mathematics practices DO help. It's not something new, but I'm really thankful to all my maths teachers who forced/encouraged me to practice maths. From a score of 26% in the June Common Tests [and being called by Ms Ling HC, who really cared a lot for all her students:)) ], to that elusive A in Maths for A levels, it definitely wasn't some kind of divine intervention. It was months of hard work on a subject that wasn't exactly my best one.)

A few months of holidays ain't good at ALL. I've never ever had such a long break before. I hate to admit it, but the HOLIDAYS are taking their toll on me. I want to be PRODUCTIVE. Ugh.

And when I post such things, I'm not exactly the happiest person on Earth.

I'm feeling totally lazy now, but I wish I were busier. I think I'm on my way to becoming a workaholic in the next 2 years, in uni and in work, but why am I not acting like one now?

I feel like I'm living the life of a retiree. Ugh.

We're too young to understand the complexities of the world; we're too old to study in JC and enjoy student fares. And being 18/19 years old, (are you sure that) we're supposed to be in the prime of our lives?

In any point of time in your life, you are either earning or spending money, directly or indirectly. And it happens that most of the time, unless you work 24 hours a day, you are somehow using up money.

You might remember me posting the above status updates on Facebook before. Those ideas or thoughts make me guilty and worried. I don't know. I'd rather be in school now, or totally busy at work or something. Having too much free time is lethal. I've lost the concept of the preciousness of time to a large extent.

Labels: thoughts

If an apocalyptic war were to occur, and you were only allowed to rescue one book before civilisation ends, which one would you choose?

In this movie, apparently Eli held on to the Braille version of the Holy Bible until the end. Well, not really the end, since the leather-covered Bible was taken away by Carnegie, the so-called antagonist of the movie. After the apocalypse, who would ever imagine that the maximum-security prison on Alcatraz Island would become the doomsday vault for books and knowledge? In this movie of ludicrousness and irrationality, that is possible. The journey on foot by a blind man (presumably so) from the interior of the United States to the 'West' is also possible. On IMDb, there is some debate on whether Eli is totally blind, or partially, or has perfect eyesight, but regardless of how fervently Eli assures that he 'walks by faith; not by sight', it's still impossible for a blind man to walk from wherever he started (probably in the deserts of Arizona) westwards to San Francisco, without a walking stick or a dog that guides him! If he's not blind, it's also absurd for him to think that walking is the best way, when he actually has access to vehicles. Talking about cars, the director seems to imply that regardless of how badly America (and the world) has been damaged by a war, there will always be one perfectly-paved tarmac road that leads from Arizona to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and that the San Francisco cityscape would remain intact despite the widespread damage in all other places.

The list of absurdities in the movie goes on, but I assure you that on the overall, it's quite an enjoyable watch. Apart from the numerous factual and logical flaws the director has spiced up the movie with, the story of a man with a mission to rescue the last copy of a book is actually watchable, and the movie itself does not pale in comparison with the other March 2010 ones. At the cinema last Thursday, we somehow chose to watch The Book of Eli instead of Zuo Ren or The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and till today I don't regret my choice, so this movie is recommendable.

Oh according to Wikipedia: "Eli (אלי) (إل), a variant on the name of God as spoken in Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic." So that's how the movie got its name from. Eli is also a common first name in Hebrew.

Labels: movie