Thank God
God is so gracious today. Due to my poor time management skill, i spent the whole day rushing projects and in the end had no time to prepare for my Bible Study in fellowship. Had to call my beloved brother for help. Thank God he went through with me the materials before the fellowship and i was so sure that it was the Holy Spirit that led me through leading the BS just now. Praise the Lord. Which really reminded me i ought to buck up on my time management skills for fear situations like this will happen again. =S
Gotta rush out project now...cya!
It Has Been Ages Since i've Caught a Movie
Caught the show 'the Guardian' at Marina. Really inspirational, though i find it an uncanny resemblance of 'the Perfect Storm'. Next jas, aik and I went for some arcade. Goodness... really was not in the mood for such games. Supper at Esplanade was next... had an overpriced 8 bucks Orh Lua... before taking NR 8 home. zzZzz
Boredom...
Here i am in the Arts forum, enjoying the cool breeze (yes! clean air!!), typing this blog entry, immersing myself into the background jazz and watching people going about their various activities. Ok, i think a group of guys and girls who suddenly appeared in front of me are going to do a cheerleading stint soon. That's pretty cool but i sure do hope i wouldn't have to use any of my medical skills during the show. Oh well, the in-borne pessimism of the medics haha.
Singapore: City Centre VS Suburbs
Just finished a lecture on Cities in Transition - Residential Landscape. Found one segment of the lecture pretty amusing thus my motive of sharing this in the blog entry. I think Dr Pow was kind of in his queer humourous mood today haha. Dr Pow was going through the differences in perceptions of central city vs suburban housing in Singapore. And basically, the differences can be categorised into 3 aspects:
1)Physical - accessibility to facilities/amenities/nature
2)Environmental - noise/pollution/congestion/greenery
3)Social - lifestyle/nightlife/relationships/safety* i feel like i'm revising for my exams already =P
So he was like using quotes from Singaporeans to kind of justify the difference in perceptions of Central City and Suburban Housing. And i seriously found some of them really funny.
**Central city has poor access to nature
"I love Marine Parade, as it is romantic with all the trees and the sea. I always take a walk with my girlfriend at the beach... You can't get this in the city."MARINE PARADE ROMANTIC!?!?!?! Hahahaha!! I mean West Coast Park also have the trees and the sea mah... plus container ships going honk honk too... even more romantic. What has the definition of romantic degenerate to these days?
**Suburbs have easy access to nature
"After a hard day's work, I get away from this pressure cooker [being an exchange trader] ad retreat to my home where I can sip a cup of hot coffee at my balcony and enjoy the sight of Xiao Guilin to unwind after a stressful day. It's such a soothing sight. it's like being sucked into nature."XIAO GUILIN??? SOOTHING SIGHT??? SUCKED INTO NATURE???
(rolled around on the floor with laughter... tears trickling down from both candy eyes)
i certainly don't feel like being sucked into nature looking at the abandoned small scale quarry site in Bukit Batok having all the HDB flats around me. More like being sucked by mosquitoes than being sucked into nature.
**Suburbs has lack of congestion/noise/pollution
"My place [Pasir Ris] is very quiet, can see a lot of trees and birds."Erm, i can see a lot of trees and birds in Orchard too... as well as in Holland Village... even more in Jurong Bird Park. I mean 'is very quiet' with 'a lot of trees and birds'... sounds pretty weird. I don't suppose you;ll find a bunch of crows perched on a tree outside your window crowing away pretty quiet huh?
**Central City has fast pace of life/vibrant nightlife
"In the city you feel like everything is moving at quantum speed"
Pretty obvious that this guy hasn't been through the horrendous morning rush-hour traffic at Tampines or Bedok. Gosh... that's really quantum speed. Housewives dragging their kids to school, career women sprinting up stairs in a 3-inch stilleto heels with ease, office guys elbowing their way into the train carriages etc... you get what i mean...
Alright...gotta be off for Chinese lecture. *yawn*
*a continuation*
On my way back from school certain thoughts dawned upon me. It seemed like at the rate of me drinking Teh and eating candies during really boring lectures, i might really lose all my teeth by the age of 30 or so. Goodness. But i just couldn't stay awake if i do not have anything in my mouth. And i was really tempted to take part in a chinese song writing competition coming up. Not that i really want the money or i want the trophy... but i just want to fulfil a passion i've had ever since JC. I think the performing itch has finally bitten me again. geez... i'll see how bah.
Was pretty amused when i saw this primary school kid pulling his trolley bag walking briskly before me. However, to my utter horror, i realised that any innocent pedestrians could trip over the boy's trolley bag easily as it was pretty 'out-of-sight'. It was in fact a safety hazard, especially during rush-hour when the crowd may just tripped over the bag accidentally causing a domino effect, increasing the cases in the A n E dept of the hospitals. They ought to address this often overlooked situation... either ban the towing of trolley bag during rush hour or ban kids from towing trolley bag =P. Haha... thank God i'm not going to run for elections to be part of the Cabinet or else you can see at least 30% of the Singaporeans migrating elsewhere Hahaha.
Nice weather to sleep...
Yibin's Xiao Zhu
Had an enjoyable night. Great sharing and fellowship with the brothers and sisters in Yibin's xiaozhu. It was indeed really edifying and i'm sure everyone has learnt alot from tonight's fellowship. Indeed, the issue of the prosperity gospel is one every one of us make be clear and discerning about. I kind of am so tempted to attend their xiaozhu every wednesday nights. Aiyoh... how??
jus a thot
Despite the haze, i still went on with my swim after a quick lunch with bin. Oh, i was more bothered with the condition of the water than the condition of the air. For a moment i thought i was swimming in a swamp haha. The wind brought about a shower of leaves into the pool. And i was pretty amused at why the leaves seemed to agglomerate at my lane rather than at the others. Probably i was so weak that the backwash of the other stronger swimmers swept the leaves to my 'rather-calm-and-tranquil' lane. But seriously, the air was pretty bad... and i had a hard time gasping for fresh oxygenated non-polluted air.
I wonder when the haze will be gone. So many politics going on among countries just because of this haze caused by irresponsible people. Just when one country wanted to desperately DO something about this haze issue, the other country felt 'infringed' into their sovereignty. C'mon, i think this pride and sovereignty issue is getting too far. I mean what can you have pride for when you do not even have the power and authority to control the haze situation in the country? This just shows the inadequacy and inefficiency of the government. C'mon, let's face it, of cos no neighbouring countries will spit right in your face that comment right? Bcos there's something called 'diplomacy'. We wouldn't want a second 'The COnfrontation' to occur in the near future to come would we? You wouldn't even need to set up an army by then, just burn more trees and we'll surrender haha. Save money on clearing land at the same time save money on buying weapons. =P Ok... a bit of personal attack here. Sigh... i think my lecturer is so so right. There is politics in every situation becos man are political creatures. Hard to admit? If you could say that you do all things without a personal motive then congrats you are out of the human race! oops... that sounds pretty condemning too. erm... sorry. I hate to say this, but i'm really beginning to agree with John Cage's anarchist stand... politics is the obstacle to solve 'easy-to-solve' problems in the world. Do AWAY politics. But i baffled at the thought... that is really naive.
Now I see how desperately helpless we are. May God have mercy on us all.
Charles Wesley "The preparations of the heart." Proverbs 16:1
1 LORD, teach us how to pray aright,
With reverence and with fear;
Though dust and ashes in thy sight,
We may, we must draw near.
2 We perish if we cease from prayer,
O grant us power to pray!
And when to meet thee we prepare,
Lord, meet us by the way.
3 Give deep humility; the sense
Of godly sorrow give;
A strong desiring confidence
To hear thy voice and live;
4 Faith in the only sacrifice
That can for sin atone;
To build our hopes, to fix our eyes,
On Christ, on Christ alone;
5 Patience to watch, and wait, and weep,
Though mercy long delay;
Courage, our fainting souls to keep,
And trust thee though thou slay.
6 Give these, and then thy will be done;
Thus strengthened with all might,
We through thy Spirit and thy Son,
Shall pray, and pray aright.
PSI 50
Guess what? i almost puked in the swimming pool today. Not once, not twice...more than that. EEEKS. Haha... but being a civic-minded NUS student, i discontinued my swim when the nauseating sensation welled up in me, for fear of contaminating the water, and embarassing myself. (Oops... i ought to put the welfare of others above myself... hAhA) I will not forget Jasper's facial expression when i told him i wanted to vomit... hahahaha.
Rushed off to Engine to meet Yibin for lunch. The chicken rice was not that bad... considering i ordered long beans and cauliflower alongside with the chicken on the rice. Sometimes i really wonder how come we could have such endless conversations with each other... is there really so many things to talk about? And seriously, come to think of it, pretty most of the stuff we talked about were not unwholesome or meaningless stuff. Hmmm... that's pretty amazing. Alright... i better stop talking about him for fear people starts to get wrong ideas. (yes...if u haf any funny thots pls dismiss them now...i say NOW!!!)
To Central Library next to finish my John Cage's HPSCHD portfolio due during lecture time.
Ok... Art and Philosophy lecture was a killer for me. Not that the lecturer is not good, in fact i think she's really great. But it's just that her voice could be a bit monotonous and drowsy... giving a kind of hypnotic effect to the receivers. This was accompanied by a 3-hit combo: 1)a swim in the morning 2)after a heavy lunch 3)lack of good night sleep. But thank God i did manage to keep myself awake during the lecture by furiously scribbling down extra notes on my lecture notes.
After going through BS with Rosie in prep for this Fri, we went down to Outram to source some travel agencies. I intended to ask for the cheapest airfare available to Christchurch during december holidays. And mine mine was I so beat-around-the-bush. Asked the agent for a free-and-easy package... then asked for car rental package... then asked for only hotel with airfare... then asked for airfare alone... wasted so much time....i should've just asked for the airfare right at the start. Sigh...
Walked to Esplanade from Pearl's Centre. Borrowed a CD featuring works of John Cage. Shall try to 'appreciate' it later. hee hee...
The weather was so good today. PSI around 50 plus like that. Glad i did not waste the day today. Hopefully tomorrow will continue to stay like this... =)
Medics All Are We!
My health has taken a toil due to the continuous hazey situation in Singapore. It seems like the remedy to this problem remains pretty hazey still. Irritated eyes, kind-of-sore throat plus watery nose and feeling tired physically all the time... the negative effects of this haze things. I've used to love walking from one faculty to another on foot, but i kind of changed my mind after today's walk from SRC to AS 7... not that i do not have the stamina, but i do not have clean air to breathe.
Halfway during my Geog tutorial (Hydrology), someone called me on my handphone. Seeing that it was Yibin on the line, and kind of figured out it might be an emergency, i answered it. Yes i was right. He called saying that he has this guy lying on the road pretty semi-conscious and bruised. So i just told him to kinda stay calm, call for the ambulance (which he did before he called me) and try not to shift the guy (for fear of spinal prob) and keep him conscious by talking to him (keep him alert). Well, the point i'm trying to make here is not about the guy, nor about Yibin... but about me. Haha... yes i know i sound pretty egocentric here. But it seems like everytime someone has an illness, or meet with some emergency mishaps, the first person they'll think of is me. And for those who will be puzzled as to how come i'm always the first in thought during these situations, it's bcos i am a medic spec. And gee, after today's incident, it kind of reminded me what i've learnt in Army is not 'rubbish' and i should still continue to revise (especially CPR and AED) as i never knew when i'll need to use them in reality. Hope it doesn't sound like an advertisement for SAF...oops. Sorry Mr Teo, my heart is now with Mr Tharman, so sorry there...i'm taken.
God has been so gracious. To open up opportunities for me to share the Light to others today. Thank God for the courage... =)
As for now, i hope a hugamonga thunderstorm will come and clear the haze.
Platelets Crisis
Went down to Queenstown swimming complex for a swim this morning. Nice weather, nice crowd, clean water, great swim. Sometimes i still do prefer the serenity of Queenstown than the bustle of NUS pool.
Had lunch at Margaret Drive. Ate the famous chicken rice. YUM YUM! haven't had such superb heavenly delicacy for so so long. Good food always makes me go ecstatic. Yippee... the chili, the ginger, the rice, the chicken...just so so good. You guys really ought to try it for yourselves to believe me.
Took a bus down to SKS. Yes...i spent a BOMB there again. Seems like i have to scrimp and save once more.
Donated blood at HSA next. The nurse there said that my platelets were running low (sounds pretty scary doesn't it?) so they would only extract my plasma. Seems like going for monthly donations really isn't a very good idea afterall. I'm running out of blood... gee
Back home for a quick nap
To school for BS.
Dinner at void deck coffeeshop with the 2 fu zhu zhangs and yibin
*yawn*
sorry to bore you guys to death... oops
i'm really very tired so please pardon me for my one sentence entry...
=S
Secret Society
Oh well, i guess the most interesting part in the morning should be my urban geog lecture. Topic: Reimaging the City. Some interesting things which the lecturer said...
Petronas Tower used to the tallest tower in the world but has since been overtaken by 101 Tower in Taipei. Now why not blasting the whole building to the ground so that it can be the longest building in the world?
Next, he was going thru Suntec City as a case study for urban representations. And he showed some photos of some famous personnels walking around the fountain. So he was like wanting us to guess those people in the photos which were pretty small lah. Then we were like guessing "is that wee kim wee?"
His reply?
Please don't insult the late wee kim wee until like that ok?
the guy we mistook for WKW was the former president of the Philippines...
ok..point taken.
i think you guys should know the recent development at Marina Bay. And people are rejoicing in the fact that a casino/ or a new entertainment paradise will be built for us to enjoy.
THink again!
ok....i shan't talk about casinos cos i think i did address it before. Right now, i'm just going to talk about this whole Marina Bay thingy
The gahmen has paid 400 000 sing dollars to an advertising company to advertise for this development project. And couldn't they come up with a better name than 'MARINA BAY'?!?! You know how many Marina Bays are there in the world? 400 000 bucks to retain the name Marina Bay....ok... fine. That's exceptionally brilliantly original. So original until it retains it's original name too... for 400 ooo bucks. Great job.
Also, haven't it occurred to you that the residential areas built in Marina Downtown will be private condos? There will be no HDB in the vicinity. Now what does that tells you? This development is creating a new Downtown that caters towards the business class. Now this means social exclusion, the marginalisation of the heartlanders, a clear division of social class. This is a blatant 'showing the fist' to the whole nation of this movement towards division of classes among the people. So if you guys think that we will get to enjoy the benefit of this devt, i highly doubt so...not unless u got wealth and affluence that is.
"when the city is reimagined, reconstructed and represented... it bears the mark of power and authority. The dominant images presented in city marketing schemes are not innocent of social authority and political power. The city is written from a particular perspective for a particular audience..." (Short and Kim 1998: 72 & 74)and in this case... you ought to know who the particular audience is....
Coming back to NUS, i have something to say about the newly completed Yong Siew Toh Music Conservatory. I do have to say that the whole building was pretty clean and nicely built although there's one thing which i totally abhor. The whole compound was too concrete. Although trees were planted...but the number was utterly pathetic. Frankly speaking, why would the structure need such a large area of concrete ground at the entrance? First, it's a wastage of resources. It would look nicer if it's green with grass than grey with concrete. Secondly, it produces more long wave radiation....not as if the temperature in Singapore is not high enough. Thirdly, it generates high volume of Horton overland flow during rainstorms and more efficient drainage needs to be built around the YST to prevent flooding. Fourthly, high maintenance (cost) needed to clean the concrete floor compared to just watering and cutting of grass. Last but not least, the opportunity cost of that concrete ground is the amount of oxygen the grass can contribute to the air. Sigh... nice building...but impractical... and environmentally unfriendly. If i'm the architect, i'll try hanging faunas and floras on the pillar to make it look jungle. Hee hee.
Oh... went for haircut with Yibin today. Roy got me a new hairstyle. Pretty short and nice. Oh... i can't seem to find the right word to use except for 'nice'. Haha... and for that i got suaned by Tien Jie.... *sob* But really thank you Tien Jie for lending me so many books on John Cage. It really saves me the trouble of running to the library. Haha...i thought you said you were going to lend me 2... i counted 8. kinda regretted telling you 'Uni has taught me to read 1000-page book in 1 hour.' Haha....but i'll try nevertheless.
Project deadlines.... sigh
I Need Endorphins!
Yes, i've finally gone for a swim this morning with Jasper. Come to think of it, wah, i haven't swam for more than 1 week already. Okok... but according to my standard, one week of NO exercise is like asking Yibin to go without supper for 1 week. Erm... quite out of point.... oops.
Alright... pretty surprised to see that the pool was not crowded today. There were a few free and available lanes. However, i was just commenting to Jasper that the PSI underwater seemed to be even higher than that on land. And both of us suspected some really uncivic-minded guy must've been bathing in the pool. EEEKS! But seriously, the water was pretty cloudy, one step away from being a white precipitate.
Wah... the absence of a week of exercise really makes a difference to one's fitness. Swam a few laps and i could feel the lactic acid built up within my limbs. Sigh... seems like age has finally caught up with me.
Rushed off to YST to meet Yibin before heading towards Engine to have lunch. Gees...i don't think i will ever eat the Yong Tau Foo @ Engine anymore. Firstly, it's pretty expensive. Secondly, the soup isn't that nice. Thirdly, the uncle shortchanged me (either deliberately or by accident) and there's no free flow of chili and sweet sauce. Sigh... charged so much and give so little... hmmm... i still adore ARTS FAC YTF!! That's before doing some research at YST Music Conservatory for the rest of the day till 1400 when i had to go for my Art n Philo Lecture.
Let's see... i went home and had a great great dream. Haven't had such good dreams for a very long time. Kept running through caves...one after another... hmmm... don't know why also.
Ok... project deadlines are coming up... grrrrr...i'm just looking forward to my hair cut tmr. I have to confess openly here that yes...i'm going for a haircut tomorrow and that's why i might be missing Da Zhu. Oops... i hope no one read this.
Haze in a Haste
While everyone's talking about the recent 'haze' issue, I was in a haste to finish all my essays. And LO AND BEHOLD, i've finally completed all my individual assignments. Phew... although i'm pretty sure i'm not gonna get good grades for them. Sigh... Ok lah... i shall stop lamenting over my essays...
Pretty upset that my camera kinda had some problems. Couldn't take any shots already. Think i might have to send it to the service centre for repairs. Sigh...so that means no photos for quite some time... sigh sigh sigh....
Oh well...
Haze Haze go away
Please don't come even for a day
S'pore to hold C'wealth Games. R U JOKING?
Here i am in the Central Library once again, trying hard to do yet another one of my essay which is due on Monday. Super unproductive... Not that the essay is hard to do, in fact i think it is feasible... it's just that there's not much research materials around and thus i do not know what to start with.
Just an observation while doing research. I went to the Melbourne 2006 C'wealth Games website and i was pretty impressed with the whole webpage design. It really was professionally done. Nicely articulated and easy to use, i would not mind surfing the site a little bit longer for it was pretty enjoyable too. However, when i entered the official website for Kuala Lumpur 1998 C'wealth Games, sorry to say, but i was pretty disappointed. In fact, i think i could've done a better job with the webpage myself. It was plain, wordy, lifeless, and totally unprofessionally done. I was thinking... such a big event and yet the webpage is like that? That definitely is not a good image portrayed to the world. Hmmm... not that it's my business anyway for i'm not a Malaysian. To clarify things, i'm not trying to be a patriot here causing yet more divisions between the 2 countries. I'm just making an objective stand comparing both webpages that's all.
I seriously have NO IDEA why i'm doing this essay question on how do i argue my case on Singapore bidding for the 2014 C'wealth Games. C'mon...let's face the fact... Singapore cannot host a C'wealth Games alone lah. You need at least a 80 000 seating capacity stadium for the opening ceremony (fact gotten from past Cwealth Games) and the newly gonna-be-redeveloped Sports hub aka NEW NATIONAL STADIUM can house only 55 000 homosapiens. Can't even organise a opening ceremony still want to think about providing facilities for other game events. HAHA... it's really funny. Oh man...i feel so hypocritical doing this topic...argh...
Kind of love this pic... Really like the Next American Model quality... HAHA. Alright i shall stop all these gibberish and daydreaming.
Stressball anyone?
I have an utter distaste for essays. Yes... essays are disgusting, yucky, ka-phui, eeks, urks, gross. I remembered the last essay i did was on population geog and i practically spent one whole day working on it (with the aid of kopi-O) till 2 plus am in the morning. I really had dizzy spells after the essay. Goodness. And just when i thought i could finally have a breather, i was reminded i have one urban geog essay due next monday, art n philo portfolio essay 2 wks later, pop geog proj essay few more wks later, urban geog proj essay few few more wks later. URGH!!
So there, ain't i justified for my absence in blogging for so long?
Indeed pace has been picking up, workload has been piling up, blood pressure has been rising up, even bus fare has gone up (sorry...quite duh) and the only thing that has been going down is my energy level. Sometimes i really wonder how my bro can sustain himself with practically 2 hours of sleep everyday. He told me he runs on supernatural fuel... i really do believe that for i've seen it with my own eyes. How i aspire to be like him, able to do work with just 2 hours of sleep everyday. But cannot lah... i adore sleep too much.
Can't wait for end of year to come.
Might be going to New Zealand for a climbing course with some bros and sis.
Not only so,
might be going to Japan to tour with my family after NZ trip.
Wah... am i a bit greedy to grab the best of both worlds?
Hmmm...
YES...i admit...
HAHA
