An aside on JC demographics

There is a recent trend on my facebook wall where friends (mostly female) are sharing pictures of orientation in their JCs. Naturally this stirs up the "nationalist-esque" part and HEY MY JC IS BETTER THAN YOURS!!!

This wasn't something we could say 4 years ago, when we were still in school. We barely even say it now. Objectively, we have become better, much better than anyone expected, but we still can't say we're better or even on the same level as most people.

I think it's only natural that we have this inferiority complex. Nobody genuinely wanted to be there during orientation of 2008. During appeal period, we were looking at more people leaving than entering.

Today, there has been a massive, almost stunning turn of events. People actually wanted to be there, for possibly the first time in the school's history. I'm sure it will flabbergast many people if they went back to talk to the students.

It does raise a problem though. (of course it does.)

Currently, we are at 13 points for both arts and science stream. 13 points used to mean a hell of a lot, but what's more telling is that there are now fewer 2-digit schools. Only 3 schools stand "below" us in terms of cut-off points and they all happen to be in the West. There is a seemingly large gap between 13 point schools and 16 point schools. In fact, most schools seem to be clustered around these numbers, 20, 16 ,13 and then 9 and up. I'm sure statistically there is something interesting about this regarding the effect of Higher Chinese being more widespread in schools and CCA points adding up but I'm not interested in that (ok I'm not THAT interested enough to start a new post)

As an alumni member (alumnus?), seeing the alma mater "level up" and be on par with our neighbours is definitely very satisfying. AT FIRST. but then there is a tinge of sadness that people of our calibre today would not have had the same opportunities that we had. Today, if I were to be applying for school all over again, I would more likely be travelling toward the West side to get a JC education.

I believe this is a serious enough factor to consider a polytechnic education as a potential alternative, regardless of how much the kid would have wanted to study in University.

The inner workings of higher management in JCs and the education Ministry in general is not something I am privy to. However, if the principal really does have any kind of influence over the intake of students, it would be a serious time to consider deflating the cut-off for my school.

My conversations with teachers have revealed that there hasn't been a marked increase in intelligence of the students coming in in recent years. Of course this is subjective and should be take with a pinch of salt, but nevertheless, it should be noted that our teachers have been capable to educating those who would be rejects in other colleges to a level that could be a serious competitor on a national level. 

Thus, I feel that it is in fact prudent to lower the cut-off score artificially for the school, not just for the sake of the national population, but for the school as well. I think it's a much more beneficial endeavour to take in students selectively, regardless of their score. Either way, we would be taking students that are on the lower spectrum of students who are eligible for JC anyway. 

In an ideal situation (enough manpower and time to filter through all CCA and testimonial records), I find it much better to accept students who have either shown a serious commitment to either their education or to their chosen area (sports, music, CCA, etc). And I don't mean superficial things like Achieved Gold in SYF. It's more of a soft skills and personality approach. Generally students who have revealed the ability and willingness to persevere and sacrifice for their, and I hate to use this word but, passion.I believe such qualities, even when shown in areas outside academia, can be properly tapped and channelled towards school work and, perhaps even more crucially, create a on-the-whole, more focused student body.

Those are just my 2 cents. Of course in an ideal world, the 4 great wizards would put a bit of themselves in a hat and let that decide after their passing.

Vocals and Lyrics

Stupid stupid shit, on stupid stupid people

See, I have this friend, and he will definitely know I'm writing about him because he is pretty much the only person who reads this blog aside from the 20 hits I get from bots and IT programs very other week. I've heard him, and by him I mean you, say that it's easy to go back to being depressed or being numb or whatever whenever you, and by you I mean him, hear certain songs.

And I heard him, you, say that you, he, listens to the lyrics when it comes to music. Obviously, most of the sentimentality (I'm not sure if I'm using that word right), comes from the words. I, on the other hand, am more of a mixed bag of tricks. Because I have some kind of hearing deficiency that doctors have not yet identified, I can't pick up lyrics as easily as other people can, so I enjoy music that generally have a very nice tune.or rhythm. or melody. Basically everything but the lyrics. I can't remember words, almost as badly as I can't remember sounds. What I can do is mostly recognize songs, like in the first 2 seconds, which is a very weird trick. So, to be frank I'm less of a mixed bag of tricks, and more of a empty bag save a hammer. But hey, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

An interesting story about lyrics, or vocals to be more exact. One song I really enjoyed, and still do. is How To Save A Life By The Fray, so after listening for about 500 times, I decided to learn how to play the piano part. I was watching the tutorials on youtube when I noticed that after 4 "cycles" (I don't know what they're called) the melody repeated itself. Which I thought was strange, given that I have no training with any musical instruments (recorders don't count). So I listened to the full version again, and right at the part when the "cycle" is about to repeat itself, the guitars and the vocals pick up, masking the piano. That felt strange to me, but yet it reminded me of that Linkin Park song in the Transformers movie, the first one, not the other ones. That too had a starting melody that got covered up by louder instruments.

So, intrigued as I was, I blew out a puff from my smoking pipe (I didn't have a smoking pipe) and decided to play the other common pop songs at that point in time, which if I remember correctly was The Script. Interestingly enough, I found out that most (very obvious in The Script) songs actually feature the vocals as another instrument as opposed to rhythmic poetry. If you listen closely enough, most songs without vocals sound like a different song entirely, which is strange as it is. What the vocals does is that it takes the song in another direction tune wise, and makes it possibly more palatable. And that is why most pop songs actually feature very very bad instrumental versions.Because more often that not, the vocals play a key component of the entire melody.

"Now where are you going with this, old chap?" asked Watson, flustered. I paced around the room back and forth, trying to figure where the hell that voice came from.

Anyway, with this newfound understanding of the music world that I just blew you mind with, it becomes easier to appreciate songs as not so much entertaining poetry, but music which doesn't have meaning. But it's not as easy when you lack my (dis)ability. I suggest J-POP songs. Typically the only j-pop songs I picked up where openings from popular anime shows such as:

Pretty good for newbies, it actually has TWO words that you understand at the start and more if you listen on.

Also one of my favorites.

More ladylike, no less, um, loud?

Also more recommendations, Opening from Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann, and the collected works of FLCL (which is the full name of the anime just FLCL). the entire album of FLCL is pretty awesome. There was also an opening from Gundam SEED which I can't seem to remember.

Disclaimer: I Don't Watch Much Anime, As You Might Think.

There is a side effect of listening to J-pop music though. When you eventually listen to the translated lyrics, it may turn out that the very hard rockish music are actually talking about some more fluffy idea like friendship and trust and some weird crap like that. Also another side effect, I will repeat those same wrong lyrics, loudly, and in public. This may not happen to you though.

I get that some people just like their music with a bit more meaning than just coordinated sound, I totally get that. I wish most things in life had a deeper meaning. But why keep doing it to yourself and feel sad, or nothing if that's what you feel. I used to be the same way. Intuitively, something told me that what I was listening to was affecting me at some level, whether conscious or not, and I steered the fuck away from those music. In fact, one of the songs I kept on repeat was "When It's Over" by Sugar Ray, which was very "happy" in some sense, but at least I felt like *meh* instead of *teardrops* or *cutting-myself-to-make-the-pain-go-away*. And the *meh* was very funny because that's how I would feel if I failed an exam at that time. Music has a strange way of reprogramming our moods, and trust me listening to happy music when you're sad does make you happy. People just don't do that because it doesn't "fit" with the atmosphere or they just want to go back and sulk or brood.

DEDICATIONS, BITCHES: to Zhengyang, because he's the only one who still reads my blog.