Sunday, November 22, 2009

Flame flame flame flame flame

My my, what have we here? An armchair aristocrat alienated from the circle, or an incompetent machine, only capable of delegating tasks and the questionable job of "overseeing"? Either way, he should be burnt at the stake shouldn't he? Instead, in a bitter twist of injustice (or irony, depending on how adept your inferential skills are), that tragic excuse for a leader has been elevated to the top of the ladder, complete with showers of flower petals and palace maids, dressed to the nines and primped up to perfection.

As if your display of toothlessness in its most dismal manifestation were not enough, your sidekick has proven herself to be another joker. Dominating everyone else as if she were the queen of England and disdaining the rest as if they were disposable cutlery, she is definitely a force to be reckoned with, but one which no one wants to have anything to do with. Worse, her social skills have served her only too well, evident from the fact that she prances and dances all the time around people who have the potential to prop her up.

I may be a cynic, but I do not like to see something which I feel has been a significant part of my life crumble into ashes and washed away by the monsoon rains which have inundated Bukit Timah, though watching the incumbents fall from grace (which they never had) would be entertainment Gossip Girl never provided me.

If you truly desire status, power, and all the bling bling that would inevitably follow, then act like you deserve it. Do not resort to craven acts that have become all too characteristic of Robert Mugabe.

Worthless One-liners

I'm buying The Fame Monster tomorrow. It better be good.

I'm reporting to Jurong Island for my first day of research tomorrow.

They better have good food there.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

More nonsense

The new media of often touted by GP students (I'm guilty of it too) as a potent weapon of the masses, who are only too eager to use it to campaign for issues or just make themselves heard. Indeed, no longer do we have to submit ourselves to the heavy handed tactics of dictators (or just about any no-life bully) as although barriers of information, just like the Berlin Wall, are technically sound, it will only be a matter of time before they come tumbling down.

However, this weapon is only as competent as the people who wield it. And let's face it. Although the new media creates a new marketplace where ideas can be bounced off each other, the quality of ideas will determine whether it is merely a fish market or one in which substantial discourse can take place. More often than not, we log on to the Internet not to be connected to the rest of the world, but only to use it as another cave where we can cloister ourselves in. (which is what I'm doing right now - see the irony)

I remember reading somewhere that blogs are making societies more atomised than ever, and come to think of it, isn't it true? We air our (unpopular) opinions and chirp happily about our mundane lives as if everyone cares. (irony again)

The glaze on the surface of this vaunted invention could merely be a trick of the light.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Comments on Paper One

I just attempted Paper One of this year's 'A' Level GP examination. Below are my comments for each question.

1. Is the elimination of global poverty a realistic aim?

This is a cinch, provided that you know your stuff well. Unfortunately, I did not choose this question because I do not know my stuff. Well, if nothing else, this is a sign that 5I should not bother compiling notes on poverty since the chances of this topic coming up next year is pretty slim. In my humble opinion, poverty is a relative term. Unless economic equality is eliminated (an insurmountable task), the poor will always remain an integral part of society.

2. "Only educated people should have the right to vote in elections." What is your view?

The Winston Churchill quote comes to mind. Something about the strongest argument against democracy is a five minute chat with an average voter. It's quite a "damned if you do, damned it you don't argument". If you agree with this statement, you will seem elitist. If you do not, it will be an uphill battle explaining away the fact that the electorate has a weird tendency to vote with their hearts, not their minds.

3. Are certain types of writing superior to others?

Why certainly. Jane Eyre is better than Harry Potter which is better than bloody Twilight. The challenge obviously is to classify writing into several distinct groups which should be ranked according to criteria defined by candidates. Now the issue is how to avoid coming up with a crude literary pecking order.

4. Should a love of one's country still be encouraged?

Must wei4 guo2 zheng1 guang1! Yes we must be nationalist and ban all imports! This is another easy question as this issue is very relevant to Singapore. Brain drain anyone? Then one can discuss about how the Olive Tree should not be subsumed by the Lexus in this highly globalised age yadayadaya. For the uninitiated, tradition and values are represented by the former and globalisation symbolised by the latter. Majulah Singapura!

5. To what extent has technology had an impact on both privacy and security in your country?

Big Brother is watching you. This is a 100% content-based essay as it does not even require you to present a personal opinion. If, for some reason, you are a pro in this area, this is a sure A topic. For the rest, including me, there is no way our spotty knowledge can sustain a 7 paragraph essay that does not send the marker howling in laugher or screaming in horror.

6. "History records male acts, written by males, and holds little interest for females as a result." Is this a fair comment?

First of the four sure fail questions. I can't even begin to comment on this as I know nuts about history, much less about how sexism comes into play. Let's see, how many female historical figures do I know? Margarat Thatcher, Queen Boudica (if that counts), Cleopatra, Empress Dowager Cixi...

7. How far should religion influence political decisions?

Second of the four sure fail questions, and quite possibly the toughest question of the lot. Not only does it involve religion, a more or less kamikaze topic, there is also a need to clearly define when it should influence and when it should not, a line which at best will be arbitrary. By the way I do not see the link between these two areas. What, a leader decides not to re-elect because the fortune teller tells him not to?

8. Should every country have to right to carry out unlimited scientific research?

This is by far the easiest question for an average GP student. Possible issues to include in this essay:

1) Rogue nations like North Korea and Iran pursuing nuclear technology
2) Spillover effects of technology underscore a need for a concerted effort at regulation
3) We should recognise that ethical beliefs of countries are not coterminous with each other. Those with belief systems that allow for controversial technology like stem cell research should not be controlled by countries that believe in stricter control. Otherwise it would be unjustified subjugation. However, we must not that less control does not equal to no control.
4) A regulation system would be unfair as those contributing most to its budget would have greater say in decision making that could put some countries at a disadvantage.
5) A regulation system, no matter how well-funded or efficient, will still not be able to have eyes and ears everywhere.

My essay was based on the above structure and I scored 37. Evidently, I did not touch on major issues like medicine or the developing vs. developed countries duality, hence keeping me well clear of the 40-mark barrier. Wrote the entire essay in 70 minutes.

9. Assess the impact of foreign films or foreign TV programmes on the culture of your society.

Another sure fail question simply because it deals with media. I don't think there is much impact, if any though. We are still a largely conservative society even though Gossip Girls and the like have invaded our television sets. Has Bruno made us more receptive to homosexuality or for that matter flashing our genitals every few minutes? Perhaps Jewel in the Palace caused a Korean craze, but its effects were fleeting and should not be exaggerated.

10. Can the transport of food over vast distances be justified?

HILARIOUS question I tell you. Like since when has this been an issue? The food will not be fresh anymore? The smell of fish will stink up air cargo compartments? It seems to be a non issue considering how globalised the global food supply chain has become. We can no longer go back to the age when food was produced locally, as we crave diversity. Furthermore, some countries, like Singapore, do not have the capacity to feed its residents via domestic agriculture alone, so there is obviously a need to tranpsort food into the country.

11. "Fashion is as much a good thing as a bad thing." To what extent do you agree?

The last of the sure fail quartet, and two hapless souls from my tuition classes attempted it. According to Mrs Khan, we need to discuss the issue on the micro and macro scale, such as how change in fashion trends can affect an entire economy. This is a weird question considering the fact that fashion is not a GP topic, not even close. Oh fashion is bad because self-proclaimed atas aunties will make poor people like me feel inferior. Boohoohoo.

12. As long as people in the public eye do their job well, does it matter what they do in private?

If that were true we would not be rivted on the sexy scandals that Silvio Berlusconi has get himself into. Come on, we want to care about what public people do in private not because of righteous reasons, but because we want to satisfy our morbid desire to see how they fall from grace.

In all, this is a rather difficult paper. All of the questions are content-based. Absolutely no idea-based questions that people like me need to smoke through. Plus, one third of the questions are sure fail, so good luck to those who attempted them. And good luck to me, because it is highly unlikely that an easy science and tech question will come up next year.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Suck up baby

We always complain that the world is a hypocritical one, and that plastered on each face is a mask that disguises a black, cold and cruel soul underneath. Although this metaphor borders on the melodramatic, there is no denying that the moral implications are anything less than far-reaching. If we were to accept the above statement as true, we can trust no one but ourselves (another platitude we do not need but I can't think of any other way to express this).

We can also hardly challenge the usefulness of a disguise, especially one when is attempting to ascend the ladder of some sort of system. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on whether you are cunning or righteous (refer to the post below), everyone loves to have their toenails licked, boots polished, and what not. Compliments regarding one's dress sense, intelligence, or even those that hardly make any sense can prove to be useful while schmoozing with one's superiors. These people, who have the power to place their subordinates in an advantageous or disadvantageous position, often fall for such gimmicks hook, line and sinker.

Just look around you, there are bound to be many who have slept their way to the top. (Exaggeration, but the underlying reasoning is the same). And who can blame them, since this is an extremely competitive world in which any head-start is welcomed.

What surprises me is not the fact that these people derive any sense of satisfaction from their not-so-well-earned success, but the fact that most teachers are incapable of detecting bootlickers. Being our so-called mentors, aren't they suppose to be wise enough to detect fake smiles and even faker words?

My parents told me to put up an act in front of my teachers (read: bootlick), and no one can blame them since this tactic has proven to be useful.

Self-righteousness

We are perhaps biologically predisposed to be self-righteous. After all, who doesn't revel in a position in which one can claim moral high ground? By criticising the supposed flaws in the value system of others, we inevitably feel that we are somewhat higher up in a crude moral pecking order. This self-appraising criticism applies across multiple contexts - for example, one feels more mature while complaining that someone else is childish, which, if I might add, is a sign of childishness itself.

But is there anything wrong with that kind of mentality? If our constant castigation keeps others on the straight and narrow, why should we discourage this system of moral calibration, even though the motive of the castigator could be personal satisfaction rather than the gains of society as a whole?

The assumption of the above argument is that there exists a single set of morals that everyone agrees on and swears by. However, this world is not black and white as there is no line that one can draw in the sand to demarcate the separation between what is wrong and what is right. Consider the ambition of the Western world to impose democratic ideals on other nations (yes this is example is getting old but it remains useful nonetheless), and it's subsequent epic failure. Why were such "timeless" ideas rejected by those who would supposedly benefit most from it? Was it right to subjugate an ideology under another? Questions and doubts abound.

Yes, there are certain ideals that are cast in stone, such as integrity, but once we get closer to the blurry region, our attempts at self-righteousness seem more like posturing than anything else. Under these circumstances, what is needed is not an unjustified lecture, but an objective application of reason. Even though a definite conclusion might not be reached, the end result would at least be a result of logic, not an abstension from it.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Thank goodness

H1 The Bane of My Life IS OVER!

and I thought today will never come. This deserves a post itself, so I did not combine it with the one below.

Hallelujah

Since OP is over, I have no excuse not to blog, do I?

As for how it went, guess it was okay. It seemed like another rehearsal, truth be told. Decent eye contact was difficult to maintain as I also felt like I was staring at the assessors. Oh who cares at least I did not swallow any of my words, or any screws (you know, the Chinese way of saying it). Q&A was ridiculously easy (What was the greatest obstacle?) and out of the blue since the examiners threw a curveball at the previous group. Well, I'm not complaining. My classmates told me that my answer to the question was longer than my actual speech. Whether it's a good thing or not is another story though.

Just took a look at the "O" level Higher Chinese Paper. The questions for both papers are easier than that of last year's. Paper 1 especially, in which one of the question was like "A Misunderstanding". This sounds familiar, I wonder why. Oh, I remember! I wrote essays on that question (and all of its various forms) once in Primary 3, once in Primary 6, Year One and so on. To think I thought my year's narrative question was easy. Pooh. Paper 2 was also quite easy as most of the answers to the third passage require simple photocopying skills only. Granted, the last comprehension was difficult, but in my year, both the last two passages were helluva rides.

I love Overcome by Alexandra Burke. For the benefit of the uninitiated, Alexandra Burke is the most recent winner of X-factor, the show that produced Grandma-balladeer Leona Lewis. While, Alexandra Burke is a more versatile singer: just listen to both Hallelujah and Bad Boys. Plus, though Leona is only a singer, Alexandra is both a singer and a performer. Beat that. Overcome is definitely a stronger album than Spirit, simply because it has a larger variety of well-produced, well-sung, and generally well-executed songs. Not that this is a difficult task, since Spirit could have been a tortorously long song instead of an entire collection of separate songs.

And in case you're wondering, Overcome is better than Three Words by Cheryl Cole, one of the judges on X-factor. But I guess you're not.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Council Camp

Couldn't have imagined I would be typing this right now, but I'm actually quite happy that I've been to council camp. The second half of the second day was quite worth the entire thing, even though it still doesn't deserve the time spent away from PW and the $50.

First day left much to be desired. Station games that have been played time and time again, and a murder mystery with a wafer-thin plot which isn't even coherent in the first place. The family tree was like the one in "One Hundred Years of Solitude"; nothing short of a complex labyrinthe. The motive was extremely obvious (power and money) while the execution of the murder was meh. To think I was still thinking about the denouement of "Murder on the Orient Express".

Had drills in the afternoon. Yes, footdrill. They made us teach the rest five commands in 30 minutes, when SJAB spends months perfecting senang-diri and sedia. But they were actually quite good considering that some of them were exposed to the commands for only half-an-hour.

What else hasn't been said for squeeze and spread? It turned out to be bizzarely emotional, despite the fact that I had decided to take it with a roll-my-eyes attitude. Oh just go read the blogs of the other councillors there are sure to be some sort of an account that will give mine a run for its money anyway.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Losing control

(Please do not highlight the chunk below if you do not want to see me spinning out of control and uttering things that I do not really mean.)

I don't usually do this but

OH MY GOD PW SERIOUSLY SUCKS REALLY WHY THE HELL IS IT PART OF THE A LEVEL GRADING SYSTEM AS IF 4H2 PLUS GP WEREN'T BLOODY HELL BAD ENOUGH. AND I AM SICK, UTTERLY SICK OF THE WAY WE ARE BEING TREATED I HATE YOUR FREAKING ATTITUDE WHO DO YOU THINK WE ARE YOUR LAB RATS? FREAKING HELL OF ALL PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS DAMN THING. AND FYI I DON'T PLAN TO BE A BLOODY SUCKUP TO EVERYBODY HELLO IF I DON'T LIKE SOMEONE THEY CAN JUST GET LOST FROM MY LIFE. IT MAY LOOK LIKE I DESPISE A LOT OF PEOPLE BUT IT'S BECAUSE I'VE BEEN BLESSED/CURSED WITH A LARGE SOCIAL CIRCLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. HELL THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD WHO DESERVE NO SYMPATHY. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME WELL ENOUGH TO MAKE SUCH COMMENTS? IF I WERE SO ANTI-SOCIAL/STUCK UP SHITASS I WOULDN'T HAVE SO MANY FRIENDS LIKE I DO RIGHT NOW. THESE PEOPLE MUST BE TOO BUSY HAVING THEIR TOENAILS LICKED BY THE DISGUSTING SUCKUPS. I HAVE MADE SOME REALLY BAD CHOICES IN MY LIFE BUT THE TIME WHEN I DECIDED TO GO AGAINST MY MOTHER IN 2004 IS THE WORST OF THE LOT.

That was therapeutic.