The thought of having one week (10 days to be exact for me =P) break really perks me up. YIPPEE!! But the sudden flash of having all my termpaper deadlines in early october doused that short-lived joy in me. Sigh... oh well... Seems like i have a lot of catch-up to do this break. =(
*WARNING! BORING CONTENT!* Ok... i shall do a recap on what i've done yesterday... I went to school quite early in the morning to submit my termpaper. Gosh... i do not have good feelings of how my score will turn out... but oh well... what to do? Anyway, i had lunch at Arts Canteen (Hong En came with his friend later on)before going to Central Library to watch a video on Batam.
I mean you guys would be like 'WHAT? Of all things to watch you watch BATAM??' Yes... it's a documentary of Batam to show how S'pore (unknown to alot of people out there) has exploited the poor (especially young Indonesian females)and resulted in disastrous social problems in Batam itself. It indeed opened up my eyes to the real situations around me, and brought about a new perspective in the way i see Population and Urban geography studies. It seems that most of the things i've learnt in A-levels for geog have become obsolete. Pretty disappointed that MOE's way of teaching A-level human geog was inadequate and 'incorrect' to a certain extent. Most theories i've learnt were overthrown by the lecturers as either being UNTRUE or too EMPIRICAL and we were taught to disprove all these theories. Geez. And i know you guys would notice that i've changed the tone for this segment apparently for a very obvious reason. *wink*
And you all dirty old men cheekopehs out there can you guys just STOP going over to Batam for your own sexual satisfaction? Yah yah... some of you guys will say "we're doing them a favour by supporting them in their living expenses." I could not believe my ears to hear that kind of trash that comes out of your wicked and deceitful hearts. I could not endure the thought of these men thinking they are such 'saints' to do 'charitable deeds' to these prostitutes by giving them money for their services. Look right into their hearts... yes... look right into YOUR hearts dirty old men... what is your MOTIVE for going there? to do charitable deeds? there are much more people who are in need of your cash like the children dying of AIDS in Africa, the homeless and poor in 3W Countries etc... and you dare say you're doing charitable work???? Your intent is just to take advantage of the cheap sex industry available there and to satisfy your own innate desires. Isn't that what you guys want you capitalistic cows!
Simple concept... Demand VS Supply... no demand no supply. You don't go there to seek prostitutes... there won't be a driving force to increase the sex industry on the island. Ya ya.. you guys will refute again we're giving them capital to drive their economy. Just think about it... why not you let your daughters to be prostitute so that you can have some capital to pump into the S'pore economy huh! No country will develop or modernise bcos of sex industry... just name me one country that has its core industry in sex industry. If you are going to tell me Thailand.. you can jolly well go read up more and get your facts right before you come answer me with your brainless answers.
Don't you realise the disastrous impact this has on Batam? Sex, drugs, violence, AIDS, impeded devt, increased inequality. This aside, many female prostitutes in Batam risked their lives to come over the S'pore to serve in our Geyland industry. Yes! You cheekopehs not only go out to rob people, but also lure them to our homeland to be robbed. And create social problems even among our midst. Argh... ok ok..i shall stop here...for fear a blood vessel will burst... *breathe breathe*
After the documentary, went over to Swimming pool to swim. Gee... felt so tired after the swim. Went to do some research at YST Music Conservatory Library for my art and philo project. Nice place to sleep..so quiet and tranquil unlike central lib... Heehee.
Went to this Sakura Buffet at Clementi Woods to celebrate Yiqiang's belated birthday. Wah... i really was in the mood to eat lots of stuff loh. Had an early lunch at 11... swam until exhaustion... of cos hungry lah. Haha... Decided to go down to Ginza to find a arcade but lo and behold... arcade doh dnio liao. Went down to West Coast Rec Ctr... same case too. In the end went back to Yiqiang's house to watch 8 under. =)
Rosie and Aik enjoying the meal. Seems like Aik has some trouble with his starter.
The most hypocritical photo ever taken. I was disgusted with the satay and Yibin who was beside me... how come i could still smile so happily... eeks. Haha!
Yes, i had my maiden late night in central library until it closed just now. I could not believe i spent the whole evening and night piahing out my art and philosophy essay to hand in the next day.
Today was an exhausting day too. Imagine carrying a backpack with 2 Laptops from Kent Ridge Hall via BiZ to Central Lib and then back again... Oh gosh... i think i can start training for Mt Everest expedition or something. But thanks to Joshua for lending me your laptop. =)
Alright... i'm getting into momentum already. And before i forget... for the 1st time in my Semester life i actually understood what the lecturer was teaching in chinese language lecture today. WOOHOO! Goodness... that was so startling and impossible to believe...BUT I DID! WOW!
Wafa Sultan (Arabic: وفاء سلطان) (born 1958?, Baniyas, Syria) is a secular Syrian-American psychiatrist (from a Nusairi family) who lives in Los Angeles, California. She has become notable since the September 11, 2001 attacks for her participation in Middle East political debates, with Arabic essays that circulated widely and some television appearances on Al-Jazeera and CNN.
On February 21, 2006, she took part in Al Jazeera 's weekly ninety minutes long discussion program "The Opposite Direction". She spoke from Los Angeles and she argued with host, Faisal al-Qasim, and with Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli about the Samuel P. Huntington Clash of Civilizations theory. The six minute composite video of her remarks was subtitled and widely circulated by MEMRI on weblogs and through e-mail. In this video she is scolding Muslims for treating non-Muslims differently and for not recognizing the accomplishments of non-Muslim society, while using its wealth and technology.
I ate 4 curry puffs, 1 slice of papaya, 1 slice of water melon, 1 slice of honey-dew, 1 packet of skittles, 1 cup of teh during Chinese Lecture today. And this was after my lunch (chicken rice) at the Arts Canteen. I figured that if i were to have Chinese Lecture everyday, i might really grow fat for once. hAHHA.
And poor hong en sprained his foot. Gee... poor thing. Treat it as a break from all the hustle and bustle of your hall activities. =)
Ok, i can foresee a routine Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to come. Probably i should name this wk's blog entries "The Routine Series" or something. Haha...
Went for a morning swim in school with Mingyuan. I know i did donated blood the day before but i just could not resist the temptation of working out some sweat. Swim was good, enjoyed it alot. Don't ask me why, i just did enjoy it. Haha...
As i had 4 hours to burn after my swim, i went to the library to read... and sleep.
Oh ya, by the way, i read somewhere that eating lots of fibres (fruits) can aid in the discharge of fats in our system. Therefore, it is always encouraged to eat more fruits after meals. But!! (especially to my most beloved, loves to read in between my lines, super rebellion bro aik keong) it doesn't mean you can eat buckets and buckets of KFC everyday and make compensation by eating fruits after every meal of KFC... it will NEVER work that way. Gee...
Art and Philosophy Lecture Z Monster's favourite arena. I have to munch on my ROULETTE sweets and Wu Hua Guo throughout the lecture to stay awake. Now i'm beginning to get worried about what i'm going to bring for picnic at the Chinese Language Lecture.
Couldn't believe that's about it. Oh man... that's how my day went... gee... *yawn*
One lesson i've learnt today: Always have QT right in the morning before heading out into the world or else things will just keep going wrong. And what i mean by 'things' is not the external, but that of the internal.
Rushed down to have a super quick breakfast with YB before heading to school for a morning swim. Haven't swam for a week or so and i could see the effects already. Gee... However, it was pleasant to see that there were not many people in the pool.
After wash up, i adjourned to the student lounge at YIH for my QT. The ambience was pretty good. It was quiet, cool and extremely condusive to take a quick nap. Oops... I have to confess i was pretty distracted by 1)my tiredness and 2)my weariness (the 2 don't necessarily mean the same thing). Forced myself to be awake and one can expect the end result to be not so satisfactory.
Had lunch at Arts Canteen (as usual) and for once (I know people are going to be so shocked when they see this) i actually bought myself a cup of KOPI. YES!!! I bought myself a cup of KOPI! Be bewildered! Be shocked! Open your mouths big big cos i bought myself a cup of KOPI! I had to say i really hated the after-taste of drinking coffee. I just felt so POLLUTED! Like my bloodstream has been infiltrated by some disgusting organisms (caffeine) wrecking havoc in my system. Eeeks! In order to counter this yucky feeling, and my guilt of cos, i went to buy myself 1 papaya, 1 watermelon and 1 honeydew. I was so bloated after eating the fruits. Gee... But i felt so good after that... like that of rejuvenation potion effect. =) Nature's Best!
Population Geog lecture was pretty ok. Although i have to comment that Ms Peggy did get a bit too feministic at times. Gee...
Ok... blur sotong me has done it again. I didn't know that there wasn't any Climate tutorial today and i goondoo goondoo went for the tutorial only to realise that i was locked out of the E-Lab. It's only when i went to the comp lab to check did i realise my blunder. Gee... so i went down to HSA in the afternoon to donate blood. And frankly speaking, the 2 hours i spent at the Apheresis Centre was an enriching QT for me.
*You know sometimes when you try to prepare something secretly for someone to the best of your ability and yet last minute that person kind of cancelled the whole thing. It feels like my heart has just been pierced through by a big rusty nail. I'm seriously in between the struggle of hardening my heart or living with the pain... but one thing for sure i'll be fine after a prayer and a good night's sleep.*
Had Yong tau foo for breakfast. Decided to start the day right with a healthy choice of food. And come to think of it, i'd better start savouring all the Arts Canteen food before it closes for renovation in November.
My Chinese tutorial was first on the list for today. A tutor named Ms Hou led us through the tutorial. I kind of like her cos she did reminded me of my dentist last time during secondary school - so angelic. Hee hee. From the things she said (language is a gift from God),i kind of suspected she might be a Christian. And when she asked the class if anyone knew the story of the tower of Babel in the Bible, it kind of double confirmed that thought. Anyway the whole class seemed to have question marks on their head when she popped the question. So i put up my hands and told the whole tutorial group about the story of Babel, trying my best to exemplify Man's sinfulness and God's Holiness as well as compassion in the story. The story ended with lots of whispering in the background. i heard something like "Wah... he is a Christian!" Gee... i need to buck up in my behaviour and attitude in class from now.
I made a big blunder today. I thought my 'Climate' tutorial was today but in actual fact it is tmr. And gosh i didn't bring any notes for cities in trans tutorial. But thanks to my helpful new-found friends in the tutorial, i did manage to understand the tutorial even without the notes. The tutorial was pretty interesting... and i'm so not going to smile at the IMF peeps in town. In fact given a choice i would've given them a fierce glare... one step short of protesting. Well...i hope i do not get exiled for making that statement. gee... if you want to know the reason why i'm so disapproving of the IMF, do ask me.
tore the bottom of my foot after the tutorial...*ouch* had to limp my way around.
Had arts fish soup bee hoon for lunch in Arts Canteen
Followed by my Art and Philosophy tutorial. Gosh... i think my lecturer was on a high today. She did admit that she was on some anti-histamic drugs and indeed she was pretty high on them. Hmmm...
Hydro lecture after that was pretty torturous. Had a great battle with the fearsome Z monster. But i did obtain victory from the battle. Yeah!!
Had pig's liver mee suah for dinner And when i was walking out of the canteen, Ms Hou said 'hi' to me.... oh... so angelic... ok i better stop this 'angelic' nonsense once and for all.
Just some pics of my Saturday's xing peng you ju hui:
Potluck dinner before the start of fellowship
1 sane and 2 insanes
Rozie and I preparing for Worship and Games
Group 1 : I'm supposed to be in their group But my heart lies with Group 2 for my own group has forsaken me And of cos who can resist my super funny not-cold jokes!
Feasted on Leo Tolstoy's 'Master and Man and Other Stories' for the past 2 days. The power of Leo Tolstoy skill in language is that of captivating the reader with vivid imageries that leads them to a total experience of being part of the story itself. Besides that point, i was disturbed (in a positive way) by the novel "Father Sergius" in the book. Reading how these puritans sought to live a holy life, to forsake everything in their life just to seek after God, brought me to utter shame. How serious they were that they would rather (literally i mean) chopped off their fingers just to prevent themselves from lusting in their minds. And here we are modern Christians, playing right into the devil's ploy of treating Puritanism as a passe, or even to the point of laughing over it as a joke. I really love to read books written by Puritans like Brother Lawrence, Thomas A Kempis, John Bunyan etc to sort of remind myself how wretched i am compared to them during that time. How I always fall into the trap of seeking 'God-and' and not 'God' for Himself alone. The more i pondered over this, the more i thank God for His tremendous grace and patience on me. Sometimes i really wondered to myself, how come Jesus can die for a horrible person like me? Even after coming into faith, I did blatantly disobeyed Him so many times out of my own desires and self-will, yet He was patient and always pulled me back to the right path. But truly truly, seeing we can never save ourselves on our own for we are helplessly wretched and wicked and so inclined to sin, that's why God has to come down to save us, or else we would all be led to our own destruction.
Quote of the day: Law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out. -DL Moody
When I Survey The Wondrous Cross
When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died; My riches gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it Lord that I should boast Save in the death of Christ my God All the vain things that charm me most I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet. Sorrow and love flow mingled down; Did e'er such love and sorrow meet Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were an offering far too small Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.
May we always remind ourselves of the Cross on Calvary, that Christ Jesus died for us, for the sins of the whole world. And may we learn to give our all to our Lord, our Saviour.
First and foremost, just wanna tell all of you guys out there that Borders is currently having a 20% discount for all students and teachers (pls bring your student pass along) until tmr. Therefore, if you guys wanna get any books, please do make your way down to Borders tmr for the offer. =)
Went to get a haircut just now at Far East Plaza with Yibin. Really love my hairstyle. Roy always give me a new hairstyle every session. Great skills! Anyway, after having dinner at Pastamania, i decided to make my way to Borders to source for some books while Yibin left for his jap class.
An account of the struggle within me on covetousness: FRED PERRY bag! i can't get it off my mind. But the thought of me not working aka no salary doused the fire immediately. Soren Kierkegaard's chosen parables!! Argh, i haven't even finish his other books in my collection. Leo Tolstoy's "what is art"... oh... yummy... but i figured i won't be needing it after this semester.
However, that being said, i did purchased 2 books. One for my sister's bday pressie, the other for my own reading. Shan't divulge what i've bought but let's just say they were both written by Leo Tolstoy. =)
Indeed so many things had happened this week, and yet i do not know how to type them out in words. I don't suppose anyone of you would be interested in reading my accounts of being an ARTS student in NUS. Gosh... i might end up falling asleep reading the accounts myself. *yawn*
Well... let's just say that i will try to do something more interesting so that i can blog more interestingly. Haha! Adieu!
I'm currently in the Arts Comp lab typing this blog entry as i'm feeling abit bored. Haha. Just finished my Pop Geog tutorial which was pretty fun and interesting. Really love Peggy for her wits and queer sense of humour. Felt pretty weird as i practically just kept voicing out during the tutorial and did not feel an ounce of shyness at all. Goodness... what's happening to me?
I'm already hoping for the day to end soon. Once it ends, YESH!! the rest of the week will be so slack! Haha... Alright...i better go
Quote of the day: I am sick of hearing people asking for crumbs from God's table. Crumbs are good enough for cats and dogs, not for sons and daughters. -DL Moody
It was appalling to see how people can treat sin as a very trivial matter. And this not from unbelievers, but from the household of faith. I think what Yi Qiang said was so correct. Never were there any instances in the Bible that teaches us to be immune to temptations. The instances were always telling us to 'flee' or to 'make no provision'. It was just shocking to hear people saying that we can boost our immunity to sin (in terms of lust) by exposing ourselves continuously to the temptation of lust. If indeed the effects of sin would be so easily dealt with by human means, Christ Jesus would not need to come down to the world in flesh to die for the sins of the world.
Anyway, Yiqiang and I went down to Clementi Sports Hall at 7 to play table tennis. I was so paiseh cos i was practically causing the ball to fly in all directions. Oops... i was just telling YQ that i was totally using the genes my father passed down to me in playing and none from my own skills. Hahaha... but that being said, my father really was a fantastic ping pong player. Sadly the tradition did not continue in the next generation. =P
After that, Huijun, jas, junyao, zhiguang, rebecca and ruth joined us for badminton. Pretty exhausting and YES i did lots of stupid thing as usual. Tripping over shoelace, falling in all awkward positions etc... yup... pretty funny sight. So not professional loh! Haha.
Wah... tmr still got a long day of lectures and tutorials... *feeling giddy* Better go zzZZzz now...
QUote of the day It is God's Word, not our comment on it that saves souls. - DL Moody
Went back to school on Friday to print and bind some documents. I know people will give me this weird stare as in "Why on earth when you have no lessons on Friday do you come back to school for?" Oh well, i was pretty bored and i figured out since the school is near i might as well make a short trip to settle some stuff. =)
While walking to YIH from AS7, i happened to bump into Brendan outside the central library. Haha, what a small campus! That's before heading to Engine Fac for lunch with Yibin.
Wanted to swim in campus pool, but i changed my mind. So i took a bus down to Queenstown Swimming Complex to have a swim. Geez... so crowded... but i got myself a lane anyway. However i kept reminding myself that i shouldn't piah so much for i gotta go jogging with CX later on in the late afternoon.
In the late afternoon, i took a long weary busride (on board bus 32) from holland to siglap. And gosh i'll never take that bus again cos it's super duper long and winding. But i did almost finished my "Divine and Human" by Leo Tolstoy during the ride. The novel was just so captivating that i could not let go of it. =P Met up with CX at his house and went for a jog at ECP. WoW... pretty crowded as it was TEachers Day and the young kids did have lots of fun there. Haha.
*do apologise for my incoherence and bad ENglish before i go on =S*
Let's see... Saturday morning was spent accompanying my beloved bro (guess who?) to Bkt Batok Polyclinic for a body checkup. Oh well, the primary motive of me dragging my body out of bed in the early morning to accompany him was that i wanted to hear him scream when the nurse draws blood from him for lab tests. *evil grin* Anyway, a pity i did not hear his scream. Sigh... wasted!
And this evil bro of mine tempted me to eat KFC for breakfast in the morning. Unable to resist the temptation, i accidentally revealed the sparkle in my eye and before I knew it, i was enjoying my 3-piece chicken meal in the fast food restaurant. Argh, talking about being health-conscious, i really am being double-standard here. But the chicken thighs were really yummy! *hee hee* Let's just count that as a break from my healthy regime. =P
That shall be the last time... i'm not gonna be tempted by this evil bro anymore! Haha...
Quote of the day The Bible is the only news book in the world. The newspaper tells what has taken place, but this book tells us what will take place. - DL Moody
The most hypocritical photo ever taken. I was disgusted with the satay and Yibin who was beside me... how come i could still smile so happily... eeks. Haha!
