Monday, July 27, 2009
Great Art, Okay Relatively Mediocre Art
is made of 2 parts creativity, 1 part inspiration, and 1 part sleep deprivation. feel free to substitute any ingredient with hallucinogens
the art scene
The local art scene in singapore? cannot make it la
that's what you typically hear from any singaporean
typically
but why?
why do our people feel so bad about our own abilities at something that should be intrinsic, something that should be a part of life?
here's the thing, just because someone is bad at something doesn't mean it cannot make it.
think about it, if we felt that way towards everything that we were bad at, how would our major industries be?
soccer: it's about as much a national sport we will ever have. how many of you agree that local soccer is vibrant and youthful? those who answered no, watch a bit more news and read the new paper more.
then how many of you would agree that its' something we're actually good at? we don't have the capacity to go global, not now, probably not in 20 years. but have faith in that there will be people who are passionate enough to take that chance and push it all the way there.
now back to the art scene. no matter who you ask, people, young, old, student, office worker, they are going to say that our local art scene is boring and/or non-existent. if you ask them why, they will give a variety of reasons, like not enough culture, too much science and tech, not enough exposure, blah blah blah
excuses.
i am a very practical person. if i ever become head of any creative project, i will make sure that everyone is of a different nationality, or culture. i appreciate what other perspectives and viewpoints that only people who have been brought up differently can bring to the table. but under no circumstances will i give any preferential treatment, because then there's no point, might as well give him the director's chair and sit back.
If i could only pick one "artist" for the lack of a better word, i would pick locals, because we share the same heritage and it would do the community a favor to know that it is possible to make it in the art scene
but lets' tackle the reasons one by one,
not enough culture. really? our culture is everywhere from hdb to shopping malls, we just choose not to look because its' nothing fancy to look at. we have many traditions which are unfortunately dying with the previous generation. here's an example, have you considered this to be apart of the singaporean culture, malay weddings in void decks, followed by chinese funerals. or the wet market, selling all sorts of food we don't even know the names of. these are all parts of our heritage and yet the young are choosing to "disown" them. we always complain that they are not interesting, yet we spend hours upon hours googling whether we should call people -chan or -sama. why is it that we are so fascinated by other cultures that we frame them up and romanticize them, while letting our own deteoriate. Are we really helping anyone? we have this very strange attraction towards being high class, like wearing branded lolex and heavy necklaces. because we came from migrants, understandably, our traditions revolve around practicality and family, because that was the only thing that they had in the past. now our "traditions" revolve around materialistic goods and making a good impression. people gradually become somewhat disgusted by the ways of old due to its down and dirty nature and we become 'stuck up'. as a gentle reminder to those still unaware, not all culture is "high" culture
and you're complaining that we don't have enough culture, open your eyes
when has too much focus on science and technology ever been a hindering factor? if an arts-oriented little boy or girl, and by arts i mean fine arts like painting, grows up in a place like silicon valley or bangalore,india and wants to become a great artist, he/she will find no problems other than that which he sets on himself. remember the old adage, if you can believe it, you can achieve it? i don't see why that doesn't apply here. if little johnny likes to cook, he and hopefully his parents will find ways to help him be the best he can be, even if he is surrounded by people who only know how to knit sweaters. if little jane loves making movies, she too can do it, and nobody can tell her otherwise.
so then, why do we still have a "bad local art scene"? people aren't willing to take the leap, but not without a good reason. think about it, considering that he likes both equally, if a person has an equal aptitude in both dance and maths, naturally he will pick maths and take jobs like accountancy, because its more secure. its like if a person had aptitude in both medicine and politics, he will take medicine if assuming that everything else remains constant,(i.e ceteris paribus). our art scene remains shaky because people aren't willing to take that leap of faith. its' kind of like a vicious cycle. initially, the poor art scene makes it difficult and risky to make a good career out of it, then nobody joins due to the risk and it doesn't help the community, then lack of people joining means the scene won't improve and so on.
not enough exposure, another excuse people like to hang around their tongues. since the birth of the internet, this has become an obsolete justification for just about everything. click of the mouse and you will see results in the thousands. so why don't we have a booming art culture?
singaporeans not willing to give other singaporeans a chance. make sense? given the choice between an foreign musician vs a local musician, almost everyone will choose the foreigner, but yet mediacorp did a survey with a "blind" music test and found out that people are equally, if not more receptive of local bands. but yet the moment we realize its from someone from the same land, we suddenly reject it, even without listening to it first. did the chords become mangled the moment you realised that singaporeans produced it? no. are we really so "opposite-of-xenophobic"? ah but author, you must muse, aren't you a little hypocritical to say that since not a single song on your playlist is from a local band. actually that is true. but not for the reason you think? over about 4 years of listening to 987fm, i have quite a small collection of what i find are good local songs, unfortunately, being the rarities that they are, it was impossible to download just 1 single track like the others. and i don't like the idea of purchasing a whole album just for one song i will eventually put on loop.
i'm not really blaming anyone for this predicament that we're in. actually i'm blaming everyone equally so you shouldn't feel too bad about it. our art scene cannot be one where all the initatives are top-down. only when people start to initiate their own brand of art, then it becomes "sustainable" in a sense.
actually after all that, our arts scene isn't as bad as you think it is. aparrently Forbes,(or somebody, i can't really remember) thinks we are among the top 10 locations with a booming arts scene. many world class productions like cirque du soleil and avenue q are coming down to perform here and our artistes are going abroad to act. that's' a tall order for a country with only 40+ years of history.
so the next time you start romanticizing about the fashion scene in milan or the gourmet chefs in paris, why not contribute to your own society. maybe when you grow old and you look back, you can tell your grandkids, i helped to make it happen.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
that's what you typically hear from any singaporean
typically
but why?
why do our people feel so bad about our own abilities at something that should be intrinsic, something that should be a part of life?
here's the thing, just because someone is bad at something doesn't mean it cannot make it.
think about it, if we felt that way towards everything that we were bad at, how would our major industries be?
soccer: it's about as much a national sport we will ever have. how many of you agree that local soccer is vibrant and youthful? those who answered no, watch a bit more news and read the new paper more.
then how many of you would agree that its' something we're actually good at? we don't have the capacity to go global, not now, probably not in 20 years. but have faith in that there will be people who are passionate enough to take that chance and push it all the way there.
now back to the art scene. no matter who you ask, people, young, old, student, office worker, they are going to say that our local art scene is boring and/or non-existent. if you ask them why, they will give a variety of reasons, like not enough culture, too much science and tech, not enough exposure, blah blah blah
excuses.
i am a very practical person. if i ever become head of any creative project, i will make sure that everyone is of a different nationality, or culture. i appreciate what other perspectives and viewpoints that only people who have been brought up differently can bring to the table. but under no circumstances will i give any preferential treatment, because then there's no point, might as well give him the director's chair and sit back.
If i could only pick one "artist" for the lack of a better word, i would pick locals, because we share the same heritage and it would do the community a favor to know that it is possible to make it in the art scene
but lets' tackle the reasons one by one,
not enough culture. really? our culture is everywhere from hdb to shopping malls, we just choose not to look because its' nothing fancy to look at. we have many traditions which are unfortunately dying with the previous generation. here's an example, have you considered this to be apart of the singaporean culture, malay weddings in void decks, followed by chinese funerals. or the wet market, selling all sorts of food we don't even know the names of. these are all parts of our heritage and yet the young are choosing to "disown" them. we always complain that they are not interesting, yet we spend hours upon hours googling whether we should call people -chan or -sama. why is it that we are so fascinated by other cultures that we frame them up and romanticize them, while letting our own deteoriate. Are we really helping anyone? we have this very strange attraction towards being high class, like wearing branded lolex and heavy necklaces. because we came from migrants, understandably, our traditions revolve around practicality and family, because that was the only thing that they had in the past. now our "traditions" revolve around materialistic goods and making a good impression. people gradually become somewhat disgusted by the ways of old due to its down and dirty nature and we become 'stuck up'. as a gentle reminder to those still unaware, not all culture is "high" culture
and you're complaining that we don't have enough culture, open your eyes
when has too much focus on science and technology ever been a hindering factor? if an arts-oriented little boy or girl, and by arts i mean fine arts like painting, grows up in a place like silicon valley or bangalore,india and wants to become a great artist, he/she will find no problems other than that which he sets on himself. remember the old adage, if you can believe it, you can achieve it? i don't see why that doesn't apply here. if little johnny likes to cook, he and hopefully his parents will find ways to help him be the best he can be, even if he is surrounded by people who only know how to knit sweaters. if little jane loves making movies, she too can do it, and nobody can tell her otherwise.
so then, why do we still have a "bad local art scene"? people aren't willing to take the leap, but not without a good reason. think about it, considering that he likes both equally, if a person has an equal aptitude in both dance and maths, naturally he will pick maths and take jobs like accountancy, because its more secure. its like if a person had aptitude in both medicine and politics, he will take medicine if assuming that everything else remains constant,(i.e ceteris paribus). our art scene remains shaky because people aren't willing to take that leap of faith. its' kind of like a vicious cycle. initially, the poor art scene makes it difficult and risky to make a good career out of it, then nobody joins due to the risk and it doesn't help the community, then lack of people joining means the scene won't improve and so on.
not enough exposure, another excuse people like to hang around their tongues. since the birth of the internet, this has become an obsolete justification for just about everything. click of the mouse and you will see results in the thousands. so why don't we have a booming art culture?
singaporeans not willing to give other singaporeans a chance. make sense? given the choice between an foreign musician vs a local musician, almost everyone will choose the foreigner, but yet mediacorp did a survey with a "blind" music test and found out that people are equally, if not more receptive of local bands. but yet the moment we realize its from someone from the same land, we suddenly reject it, even without listening to it first. did the chords become mangled the moment you realised that singaporeans produced it? no. are we really so "opposite-of-xenophobic"? ah but author, you must muse, aren't you a little hypocritical to say that since not a single song on your playlist is from a local band. actually that is true. but not for the reason you think? over about 4 years of listening to 987fm, i have quite a small collection of what i find are good local songs, unfortunately, being the rarities that they are, it was impossible to download just 1 single track like the others. and i don't like the idea of purchasing a whole album just for one song i will eventually put on loop.
i'm not really blaming anyone for this predicament that we're in. actually i'm blaming everyone equally so you shouldn't feel too bad about it. our art scene cannot be one where all the initatives are top-down. only when people start to initiate their own brand of art, then it becomes "sustainable" in a sense.
actually after all that, our arts scene isn't as bad as you think it is. aparrently Forbes,(or somebody, i can't really remember) thinks we are among the top 10 locations with a booming arts scene. many world class productions like cirque du soleil and avenue q are coming down to perform here and our artistes are going abroad to act. that's' a tall order for a country with only 40+ years of history.
so the next time you start romanticizing about the fashion scene in milan or the gourmet chefs in paris, why not contribute to your own society. maybe when you grow old and you look back, you can tell your grandkids, i helped to make it happen.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Investiture
Today marks the day the 21st ends their term
today marks possibly our first ever outing as a council
today is a good day
surprisingly, there was no recounting of good old days, no tears, no memories
everyone was just overjoyed with the sheer joy of it being all over
maybe it's a good thing
it's good to feel this good
right?
anyway, had a great dinner at the end of the day at sakura
feels good to be in the company of friends
www.lightamillioncandles.com
today marks possibly our first ever outing as a council
today is a good day
surprisingly, there was no recounting of good old days, no tears, no memories
everyone was just overjoyed with the sheer joy of it being all over
maybe it's a good thing
it's good to feel this good
right?
anyway, had a great dinner at the end of the day at sakura
feels good to be in the company of friends
www.lightamillioncandles.com
Monday, July 20, 2009
This
this is just an exercise to see who would have cared, anyway while you're here, might as well enjoy and have some fine reading
Sunday, July 19, 2009
I am reminded
as i go about my days of typically avoiding homework, among other things, i sometimes forget that where i really want to go is britain. and subconciously, i will always put australia as my top choice when i go about and be exposed to media of many kinds.
and then i get reminded again
Proof there is a benevolent god. hahas
and yes her voice is sexy as hell.
Q.E.D (Check It up). Case In Point
Today 19/7/09, I am reminded of the joy of going to britain, even though i never went there before.
actually, sometimes i feel a little scared. my dad used to tell me that sometimes when you think that you know a certain country is going to be full of gorgeous girls or guys (for the ladies), and then when you go there, all those you seem to meet are always butt ugly. for instance, Japan, any nerd who watches anime will tell you that its their first choice if they ever had to migrate, hell they would even do it if they didn't need to.
but sadly, it's not how the media portrays them. korea is the same, australia is the same, hell even china is the same. and thats' speaking from experience.
so there is still that little inkling of fear, of disappointment really. Keeping my fingers crossed, however that helps.
oh yeah, and i finally finished reading Y: the last man. awesome comic/graphic novel, however you like to call it. it was 60 issue long and took 5 years. it starts off very exciting, then slowing down and then followed by even more excitement with a nice little ending, that's a little bittersweet. anyone who wants to read can ask from me, i have a thumbdrive of the whole set
someday, i'm going to write about why i hate reading novels.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
and then i get reminded again
Proof there is a benevolent god. hahas
and yes her voice is sexy as hell.
Q.E.D (Check It up). Case In Point
Today 19/7/09, I am reminded of the joy of going to britain, even though i never went there before.
actually, sometimes i feel a little scared. my dad used to tell me that sometimes when you think that you know a certain country is going to be full of gorgeous girls or guys (for the ladies), and then when you go there, all those you seem to meet are always butt ugly. for instance, Japan, any nerd who watches anime will tell you that its their first choice if they ever had to migrate, hell they would even do it if they didn't need to.
but sadly, it's not how the media portrays them. korea is the same, australia is the same, hell even china is the same. and thats' speaking from experience.
so there is still that little inkling of fear, of disappointment really. Keeping my fingers crossed, however that helps.
oh yeah, and i finally finished reading Y: the last man. awesome comic/graphic novel, however you like to call it. it was 60 issue long and took 5 years. it starts off very exciting, then slowing down and then followed by even more excitement with a nice little ending, that's a little bittersweet. anyone who wants to read can ask from me, i have a thumbdrive of the whole set
someday, i'm going to write about why i hate reading novels.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
Saturday, July 18, 2009
I've Forgotten What I Want To Write Again
I Started looking at some cool gifts like comics words BAM ZAP wallpaper and then i forgot that i had opened blogger
I Made A Revelation Today, all this time the only characters i really enjoyed watching in those really irritating disney shows were the supporting characters, like that pianist girl from high school musical (she's cute), the black dude with cornrows from that's so raven and every other actor in hannah montana, except anyone who has the last name cyrus and those actors that just show up in 1 show and then subsequently for all the ridiculous renunions
Even when i was young
maybe that's why i prefer shows where there is no real distinct MAIN characters, or more than 4, like friends and even stevens and leverage.
but house is still awesome.
harry potter comes out this week, actually came out. the producers who decided to make the book into a film hit the jackpot of all jackpots.
the harry potter film formula can be broken down into:
3 parts cockney (British) accented kid actors
1 part tween fans who are willing to spend ridiculous amount of said franchise
1 part plot that has already sold millions to said fans
and 2 parts awesome CGI effects only possible thanks to said fans
it's what made twilight popular !! although they skimped on the actors
i keep forgetting what i want to write
I Made A Revelation Today, all this time the only characters i really enjoyed watching in those really irritating disney shows were the supporting characters, like that pianist girl from high school musical (she's cute), the black dude with cornrows from that's so raven and every other actor in hannah montana, except anyone who has the last name cyrus and those actors that just show up in 1 show and then subsequently for all the ridiculous renunions
Even when i was young
maybe that's why i prefer shows where there is no real distinct MAIN characters, or more than 4, like friends and even stevens and leverage.
but house is still awesome.
harry potter comes out this week, actually came out. the producers who decided to make the book into a film hit the jackpot of all jackpots.
the harry potter film formula can be broken down into:
3 parts cockney (British) accented kid actors
1 part tween fans who are willing to spend ridiculous amount of said franchise
1 part plot that has already sold millions to said fans
and 2 parts awesome CGI effects only possible thanks to said fans
it's what made twilight popular !! although they skimped on the actors
i keep forgetting what i want to write
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Shirt printing day
yesterday marks my third trip to queensway of memory, my second with regards to shirt printing
i went with sam to print some shirts for council. its still a damn long bus trip. met her in school after her lessons and then took the stupid 153 bus.
anyway, we reach there and we go to the shop where we called beforehand, on the phone he quoted 13.50. which i was like, okay not bad. we didn't have any print out of the design, just a soft copy in the thumbdrive. he showed us the catalogue and i saw, easily the most useful catalouge i will ever see in my life, why? it showed the different fabrics and colours with the cardboard over to keep it intact. it was a little weathered, but i would have still offered to buy it from him. anyway, sam wanted to see how it was printed, she wanted silkscreen printing EXACTLY. and i was like, i know a version which sucked but i didn't know the name. the guy said he wanted to see the design, so we had only the thumbdrive and he couldn't see it because the guy with the laptop wasn't here today. so we just looked the shirts he had as samples. sam couldn't find anything nice. so we went somewhere else. we also couldn't see a print sample because most of the shirts he does are for teams, so there are like jerseys and giant block names and numbers.
so went went upstairs and the first shop we saw was, well, professional, professional enough. she had the same sample catalogue, but the thing that probably set her shop apart was that she had shirts for you to try and an actual changing room. so she was talking to sam and i got out my paper with the details and i overheard something like $12.70, i was like ok, we can check it out. so we stayed there for some time trying the size and all that. after what, 45 minutes, we decided on the "right" blue, which on decision, thought, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE FROM MY ORIGINAL BLUE. anyway, it wasn't even my blue, it was the threadless'ss blue. we had to re-arrange the sizes because the shirt was a bit different from ours. but anyway, we were about to finalize all the details, then we realised one person we forgot, so we scrambled through all the lists and realised that we actually forgot one, and more importantly it was our teachers'. good thing right, lucky. well, we got the numbers down and then at the end, i saw at the price at the receipt, $17, the red light started going off in my head, and i was like giving this look to her, because the auntie was staring at us and it would be embarrassing to just scream out WTF. she also had this look like "i don't know". exactly what she didn't know i was confused. did she not know what i was trying to say without opening my mouth. was she confused about the price like me. was she thinking what in the world could make my face turn like that.
so she signed the receipt and the i paid the deposit. we walked out to the outside of the tattoo shop and i was like, wth so expensive i thought you said $12, then she also didn't know, so i said call her back and ask her about the quote at the start. so she did, and the shopkeeper said she would slash the price by a dollar. i doubt that would cut into her earnings by alot.
anyway, sam wanted to eat at ikea's, so we went there, and basically there were a lot of people. there was a queue where sam conveniently took her apple pie from, because "the queue was for the cooked food, you can just take the food from the counter." so she just took it and paid at the register where there is a significantly shorter queue. she asked me to get some shrimp on a bread, which i then promptly went there, stared at the counter for 5 minutes, while people were looking at me and then found nothing, i went back and she got it herself. and i also dropped a dollar on the floor without knowing, because she apparently gave me 6 dollars while i only took 5.
so i waited while she ate and started to observe the people around ikea. anyone notice that there are a LOT of middle aged people there. the ikea is becoming the one stop place where people go to feel more high class about themselves. its like the sushi restaurants when they opened, where people who go there surprisingly aren't japanese. come to think of it, i have never seen a japanese in a sushi restaurant ever. anyway, we went to subway because i wanted to eat there. i was ordering the sandwich while i realised i had only 2 dollars after paying the deposit, so i said you do take nets right. they didn't, so i panicked and asked sam for money, she didn't. i asked for the nearest atm which was downstairs. i ran down, but it was UOB, so i decided hey man, maybei could take my card and charge me a little for it. i tried twice, both failed. i ran over to ikea using the overhead bridge and finally got my money. i paid the guys from subway and promptly ate my footlong. footlongs are good. sam is quite disgusted by the amount i eat. hahas. anyway, that there was another chapter in my book of goofs, complete with the birthday incident. i bet i could make a killing selling my autobiography as a comedy book. hahas
no one asked me about the donating blood thing yet? what are you waiting for.
www.lightamiliioncandle.com
i went with sam to print some shirts for council. its still a damn long bus trip. met her in school after her lessons and then took the stupid 153 bus.
anyway, we reach there and we go to the shop where we called beforehand, on the phone he quoted 13.50. which i was like, okay not bad. we didn't have any print out of the design, just a soft copy in the thumbdrive. he showed us the catalogue and i saw, easily the most useful catalouge i will ever see in my life, why? it showed the different fabrics and colours with the cardboard over to keep it intact. it was a little weathered, but i would have still offered to buy it from him. anyway, sam wanted to see how it was printed, she wanted silkscreen printing EXACTLY. and i was like, i know a version which sucked but i didn't know the name. the guy said he wanted to see the design, so we had only the thumbdrive and he couldn't see it because the guy with the laptop wasn't here today. so we just looked the shirts he had as samples. sam couldn't find anything nice. so we went somewhere else. we also couldn't see a print sample because most of the shirts he does are for teams, so there are like jerseys and giant block names and numbers.
so went went upstairs and the first shop we saw was, well, professional, professional enough. she had the same sample catalogue, but the thing that probably set her shop apart was that she had shirts for you to try and an actual changing room. so she was talking to sam and i got out my paper with the details and i overheard something like $12.70, i was like ok, we can check it out. so we stayed there for some time trying the size and all that. after what, 45 minutes, we decided on the "right" blue, which on decision, thought, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE FROM MY ORIGINAL BLUE. anyway, it wasn't even my blue, it was the threadless'ss blue. we had to re-arrange the sizes because the shirt was a bit different from ours. but anyway, we were about to finalize all the details, then we realised one person we forgot, so we scrambled through all the lists and realised that we actually forgot one, and more importantly it was our teachers'. good thing right, lucky. well, we got the numbers down and then at the end, i saw at the price at the receipt, $17, the red light started going off in my head, and i was like giving this look to her, because the auntie was staring at us and it would be embarrassing to just scream out WTF. she also had this look like "i don't know". exactly what she didn't know i was confused. did she not know what i was trying to say without opening my mouth. was she confused about the price like me. was she thinking what in the world could make my face turn like that.
so she signed the receipt and the i paid the deposit. we walked out to the outside of the tattoo shop and i was like, wth so expensive i thought you said $12, then she also didn't know, so i said call her back and ask her about the quote at the start. so she did, and the shopkeeper said she would slash the price by a dollar. i doubt that would cut into her earnings by alot.
anyway, sam wanted to eat at ikea's, so we went there, and basically there were a lot of people. there was a queue where sam conveniently took her apple pie from, because "the queue was for the cooked food, you can just take the food from the counter." so she just took it and paid at the register where there is a significantly shorter queue. she asked me to get some shrimp on a bread, which i then promptly went there, stared at the counter for 5 minutes, while people were looking at me and then found nothing, i went back and she got it herself. and i also dropped a dollar on the floor without knowing, because she apparently gave me 6 dollars while i only took 5.
so i waited while she ate and started to observe the people around ikea. anyone notice that there are a LOT of middle aged people there. the ikea is becoming the one stop place where people go to feel more high class about themselves. its like the sushi restaurants when they opened, where people who go there surprisingly aren't japanese. come to think of it, i have never seen a japanese in a sushi restaurant ever. anyway, we went to subway because i wanted to eat there. i was ordering the sandwich while i realised i had only 2 dollars after paying the deposit, so i said you do take nets right. they didn't, so i panicked and asked sam for money, she didn't. i asked for the nearest atm which was downstairs. i ran down, but it was UOB, so i decided hey man, maybei could take my card and charge me a little for it. i tried twice, both failed. i ran over to ikea using the overhead bridge and finally got my money. i paid the guys from subway and promptly ate my footlong. footlongs are good. sam is quite disgusted by the amount i eat. hahas. anyway, that there was another chapter in my book of goofs, complete with the birthday incident. i bet i could make a killing selling my autobiography as a comedy book. hahas
no one asked me about the donating blood thing yet? what are you waiting for.
www.lightamiliioncandle.com
Thursday, July 09, 2009
In The Shower
Got this idea when i was in the shower
to teach politics, let the students run for a presidential election
sounds simple enough
many of my friends has problems in this topic because they lack the necessary jargon or lexicon in the topic, like socialism, liberalism, secularism, etc
a simple and engaging way to let them learn is through an election.
let me explain
a lecture style of half hour before lessons to teach and half hour to discuss.
Step 1: make sure you have at least 5 weeks, preferably 10 weeks, to play around with the syllabus.since it can be used to encompass many topics like ethics, science, politics, government, singapore identity, blah blah blah, it is justifiable to use that much time, i think. i dunno
step 2: split the class up into 2 halves, preferably 10 on each side. either simply use just split them into halves by their seating arrangement, or let them do a questionnaire on political ideology, like abortion, pro or anti, that kind of thing, which i think is better.
Step 3: nominate a presidential candidate, among other positions. this can be done by students completely or to speed things up, the teacher nominate 3, ask for any additional volunteers then the individual groups, hereby called parties, vote for their own candidate.
Step 4: choose the other positions, obviously the other students also need to do some work. so they could either decide themselves or let the teachers decide.
they will preferably have jobs that either suit their personality or strengths OR clashes with them, putting them outside their comfort zone. jobs include,
(i'm avoiding the departments so that the individual students do not further segregate themselves.)
Campaign Manager- basically a leader, inconsistencies or problems will be referred to him
Organizer- Any event, i.e rallies, fundraiser, speeches, explained later, will be planned by this guy. justifies each and any event that the party wants to organize.
Press secretary- writes and monitors public reaction through the media.
Account manager- writes any justifications for spending or earning
Publicist- separated into 2 different forms of campaigning, getting the message across and negative campaigning, such as smears.
each job is taken by 2 people. for most writing exercises, what they need to do is write up on various campaigning that the party plans to do. so essentially, each person write around 1-2 page as to why certain actions should be taken when things happen, which as the teacher, you make happen, using the simple AREEC structure, as a guideline.
and for added fun, you can compile all the write ups and make it a report!
so naturally things must happen throughout the election to keep things interesting. for the US 2008 elections, the economy crashed, so that was interesting to watch. i think the teacher can "organize" several interesting things to happen like maybe radical teens riots across western states, for example. so each candidate must think of ways to tackle the problem without compromising the votes.
i think the natural way that it should end is with a "televised" presidential debate. send out an open invitation to anyone who is remotely interested to watch. write several questions and watch the presidential candidates argue it out. let the team prepare for maybe a week, but then again can you ever really prepare for anything televised.
There should only be a population of 1 person, who is the teacher who ultimately decides who wins, based on thier performance and/or policies. of course the teacher can make up statistics on the fly to reflect an actual voter base, just to give the students an idea of how and who to target for more votes.
just the overview, not very simple but hey its' cool.
for the actual lessons, as an average, if each class is given 3 hours per week, in 1 hour lessons, the first lesson can be a lecture of a particular topic, followed by certain probing questions like, should any government act like this? for example. the 2nd lesson should be a fake newspaper article that shows like certain trends or events that has happened, like the israel conflict, along with the aftermath of the actions they took last week, and then give them time to work out what actions they want to take. the 3rd lesson can be handing up of the report at the start of the lessons, and then a comprehension practice, preferably on the same topic. then corrections will be gone through the 3rd lesson of next week and so on.
i think many questions that they will ask themselves during the discussion will be AQ like questions, but thats just my guess.
this is a rough idea whiteboard that i have. obviously there are many loopholes and problems that i, due to tiredness and lack of will to write, failed to recognize. to the future me, if i ever become a teacher, keep this in mind.
In my future home, there will definitely be a giant whiteboard for me to put my ideas.
oh yeah, and some people from my school went to shave HER head for charity. i quite respect her for that even though i don't really know who she is. i like to think i would have gone if i had some friends to do it with me. i realised that many or the moral decisions i make depends on whether it's convenient for me or not, even though i REALLY REALLY want to do it. for example, i want to donate my organs when i die and i want to donate blood now when i'm still young. i never really found like any event or like roadshow promoting it, ever, just a lot of flag days and tin cans.
i'm gonna tell jelena now.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
to teach politics, let the students run for a presidential election
sounds simple enough
many of my friends has problems in this topic because they lack the necessary jargon or lexicon in the topic, like socialism, liberalism, secularism, etc
a simple and engaging way to let them learn is through an election.
let me explain
a lecture style of half hour before lessons to teach and half hour to discuss.
Step 1: make sure you have at least 5 weeks, preferably 10 weeks, to play around with the syllabus.since it can be used to encompass many topics like ethics, science, politics, government, singapore identity, blah blah blah, it is justifiable to use that much time, i think. i dunno
step 2: split the class up into 2 halves, preferably 10 on each side. either simply use just split them into halves by their seating arrangement, or let them do a questionnaire on political ideology, like abortion, pro or anti, that kind of thing, which i think is better.
Step 3: nominate a presidential candidate, among other positions. this can be done by students completely or to speed things up, the teacher nominate 3, ask for any additional volunteers then the individual groups, hereby called parties, vote for their own candidate.
Step 4: choose the other positions, obviously the other students also need to do some work. so they could either decide themselves or let the teachers decide.
they will preferably have jobs that either suit their personality or strengths OR clashes with them, putting them outside their comfort zone. jobs include,
(i'm avoiding the departments so that the individual students do not further segregate themselves.)
Campaign Manager- basically a leader, inconsistencies or problems will be referred to him
Organizer- Any event, i.e rallies, fundraiser, speeches, explained later, will be planned by this guy. justifies each and any event that the party wants to organize.
Press secretary- writes and monitors public reaction through the media.
Account manager- writes any justifications for spending or earning
Publicist- separated into 2 different forms of campaigning, getting the message across and negative campaigning, such as smears.
each job is taken by 2 people. for most writing exercises, what they need to do is write up on various campaigning that the party plans to do. so essentially, each person write around 1-2 page as to why certain actions should be taken when things happen, which as the teacher, you make happen, using the simple AREEC structure, as a guideline.
and for added fun, you can compile all the write ups and make it a report!
so naturally things must happen throughout the election to keep things interesting. for the US 2008 elections, the economy crashed, so that was interesting to watch. i think the teacher can "organize" several interesting things to happen like maybe radical teens riots across western states, for example. so each candidate must think of ways to tackle the problem without compromising the votes.
i think the natural way that it should end is with a "televised" presidential debate. send out an open invitation to anyone who is remotely interested to watch. write several questions and watch the presidential candidates argue it out. let the team prepare for maybe a week, but then again can you ever really prepare for anything televised.
There should only be a population of 1 person, who is the teacher who ultimately decides who wins, based on thier performance and/or policies. of course the teacher can make up statistics on the fly to reflect an actual voter base, just to give the students an idea of how and who to target for more votes.
just the overview, not very simple but hey its' cool.
for the actual lessons, as an average, if each class is given 3 hours per week, in 1 hour lessons, the first lesson can be a lecture of a particular topic, followed by certain probing questions like, should any government act like this? for example. the 2nd lesson should be a fake newspaper article that shows like certain trends or events that has happened, like the israel conflict, along with the aftermath of the actions they took last week, and then give them time to work out what actions they want to take. the 3rd lesson can be handing up of the report at the start of the lessons, and then a comprehension practice, preferably on the same topic. then corrections will be gone through the 3rd lesson of next week and so on.
i think many questions that they will ask themselves during the discussion will be AQ like questions, but thats just my guess.
this is a rough idea whiteboard that i have. obviously there are many loopholes and problems that i, due to tiredness and lack of will to write, failed to recognize. to the future me, if i ever become a teacher, keep this in mind.
In my future home, there will definitely be a giant whiteboard for me to put my ideas.
oh yeah, and some people from my school went to shave HER head for charity. i quite respect her for that even though i don't really know who she is. i like to think i would have gone if i had some friends to do it with me. i realised that many or the moral decisions i make depends on whether it's convenient for me or not, even though i REALLY REALLY want to do it. for example, i want to donate my organs when i die and i want to donate blood now when i'm still young. i never really found like any event or like roadshow promoting it, ever, just a lot of flag days and tin cans.
i'm gonna tell jelena now.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
Saturday, July 04, 2009
PhD
see more Funny Graphs
getting to call yourself a doctor is probably the most compelling reason, for me, srsly
i need a new blog where i can post pictures more easily, blogger sucks at that.
anyway, i was a chomp chomp with my family jus now, jelena smsed me to say that she saw me and called my name but i din hear. note to future people who may do that, FUCKING DON"T. i spent the whole meal looking for her, i was like looking up every time someone with longer than shoulders hair was around.
i was looking back everytime i took 2 steps.
i even goddamned looked around the whole hawker centre looking, even at the corner where there's nothing but people minding their business and looking at you.
what's worse was that she took bloody forever to respond. so i was like anticipating , and then i looked at my phone, then i looked at it again, then i looked at it again, then i set to to general profile, then when i shifted my seat i thought it vibrated and looked at it, AND THEN she responded.
its incredibly irritating, especially when i was eating. its' like if people told you a riddle but didn't tell you the answer. you keep thinking about it and didn't even know that you got it right.
anyway the college day celebrations was just now.
i know its the 20th college day and its supposed to be a big ceremony. but i think there was too much commotion over one day. i mean i could understand if it was for some big sponsorship or donation, but i doubt whatever they are giving can't be worth more than what you're shelling out.
i think its very much a thing about image. it's like a formality kind of thing. it's hard to ignore this event completely and you don't want to look like a kind of cheapo in front of guests even though it's ok to deprive other areas of funding, like ava. but its my opinion anyway.
and to be very very objective about it. it was not very interesting. it wasn't so much a celebration as it was a large scale gathering of people to tell them about our history and achievements, and that getting this principal was not a completely bad idea. the only really interesting part was when uncle henry and the drinks stall auntie got the service award. and of course some of the teachers as well, some more than others. but henry and the auntie got the loudest of it i think.
both the speeches were way too long and uninteresting. thorough out the speech i was thinking about what kind of face i should give next time i take a picture. it looks something like this :O and i also thought about how close a person has to be to be violating your "personal" space. generally if you were to stretch out your hand, from the tip of your fingers to the bottom of your palm is where most people whould be if they were talking to you 1 on 1. from that point to your elbow is if that person is talking about something very serious and for some reason wants to tell only you, like you have been blacklisted by the terrorists and he should be telling you about it. from your elbow all the way to your person is when a person i hugging you, if he/she is not, you are legally allowed to kick him in the groin or slap him/her. ok i made up the legal part, its more like socially tolerated.
i can't remember what else i have been thinking about for the past week. but i know it was quite a good week for me. i slept only like twice during all the lessons of the week. for some reason, i feel very confident and scared at the same time. its quite contradicting.
i also debated with elizabeth yesterday about religion, well it was more like i was invalidating her religion in particular. i find that i have to say different things to different people to convince them. that's why people are never fully convinced when they debate. because when they debate, they are only fact checking their own arguments. meaning, if pro and anti-abortion people debate, they always argue on the basis that they are correct as opposed to why the other side is wrong. so you can't ever fully convince the other side that they are wrong. this fact becomes more obvious when it comes to religion because priests already have an assumption that the bible is absolute, its' not possible to even hypothetically argue on the grounds that it is not, that's why its all from quoted from the bible. while scientists or atheists argue on the merit that it is POSSIBLE that it may be wrong and we should look for other sources for evidence, priests can't really do that. and worse still there is no real compromise for that assumption, its not like saying, it is possible to both earn money in a capitalistic way AND reduce pollution at the same time. you can't say you have believe in a bible.
anyway i have 2 very simple theories about the world, but it's incredibly difficult to convince people of it
Faith is irrational and
Either be happy or constantly try to improve, you can't have both. in order words, if you keep trying to improve, you will never be happy for a long enough period of time. i had a better phrasing in my head but i couldnt get it out.
faith is irrational is surprisingly hard to explain for some reason.
annyway, think about both of them, it's interesting to read the responses even though i know no one will bother, like all the past post pleaing for a reply.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Jun Hols: An Epilogue
Today is the last day of the june holidays
if we want to be incredibly precise, i did an infinite times more work than i had in previous holidays. if you understand any basic math, you would realise that that is only possible if i did nothing in the past and i actually DID something this time. i actually did do 2 practices on my own, not that it is actually a homework assignment, i just needed to brush up on some maths and remembered that the topics where i suck at, i lost the entire tutorial booklet. so i ended up doing what i was good at, relatively because i suck at everything else, if i merely write more than 3 lines, its considered good.
so this holidays i made an attempt to do some kind of work. unfortunately, cambridge does not accept attempts. feeling really guilty over this. every night before i go to sleep, i keep telling myself tomorrow, first thing in the morning, i'm gonna finish blah blah blah before i switch on the computer. and never has that actually happened, except the 2 times. to the future me, whom i know will read this. The moment something good happens, don't break the flow, don't say, i'm gonna take a break and then come back the next day. the breaks never gonna end. ever. EVAR!!!
ok. wow
writing that did not make me feel any better. at all.
i decided to break my 4 weeks of holidays to review them more carefully.
week 1: 1/6 to 7/6
this is probably the week with the most promise of actually doing anything, because we had to come back for 2 or 3 days for tutorials and lectures. I did not sleep, i think. i rushed mass effect with the hopes of finally starting on actual work, which i promptly did after i finished. i was proud of myself for that. but sadly the streak only lasted for 2 days, i went back to gaming.
week 2 : 8/6 to 14/6
this was probably marked by the start of my downward spiral. i discovered bob.com.sg, which was an singapore xbox forum. so i went on to the marketplace, bought a second hand game, prototype, at slightly cheaper than retail, then hoping to sell it quickly back so to minimise losses. i did, and in my rush, i had already forgotten about school. i also bought 2 months worth of online time at around $17, which further fueled my descent.
week 3: 15/6 to 22/6
the descent basically continued, i woke up, played, ate or skipped lunch, play somemore, dinner, play, sleep. at this point, the only things going through my mind was very basic, i wanted to get to the end of my game, and not end up late where i meeting my next seller to deal. i got fallout 3 and too human, on 21st.
week 4: 23/6 to today, 29/6
technically i went to penang from 22nd to the 24th. it was a great trip, ate great food. visited my grandma, who is slowly getting hard of hearing and seeing. visited my aunt who just suffered a stroke. they shaved her head, and now she has 2 big scars on her forehead. one of her doctors doesn't even speak english or chinese or any other language they understand, he just speaks malay. and there's some kind of drama going on in my extended family, my aunts' immediate family members, that i don't know about, and my mom's not telling me. funny how a tragedy brings out the best in us. and before you say you busybody, not you or your mom business go and mess up. it actually is my mom's business, because it involves and my mom and her husband, my dad paying for her sister, my aunt's hospital bills. so yeah, it involvoes my mom.
penang food is really great, any random stall you pick out in the street is going to taste awesomer(ya, i went there) than any stall in your vicinity, even those kind where you have to go out of your way to locate, because the shop owner decided to park his shop at some weirdass location, penang has about 1 stall per coffee shop of those quality of food. so you kind just about imagine the kind of food even penang-ians consider good, and the best part is i tasted them before.
so i came back on the 25th, got jet lagged and rested up, on the 26th, gt a headache and my left eye started twitching. after that i don't really have an excuse for not doing work. this is also the time i started to feel guilty and reflected. i started to think, among other things, that is the a levels path, the way i want to. don't ask me, i haven't yet come to any meaningful conclusion.
i also kept skipping lunch throughout the holidays, not because i was overwhelmed with work, my maid just sucks at cooking plus i wake up late so i end up eating lunch at 3 and dinner with my parents at 9, which apparently is not healthy. so to avoid scolding, i skip lunch and eat dinner at 7. but now my stomach doesn't feel so good. i'm probably just a few years away from getting some kind of gastric related illness like my father.
the season 5 finale of house was awesome!!!
i actually thought episode 23 was the last episode, but it was the second last, so the cliffhanger ended with one major character sexing up another. which i guess was ok for a season finale because then you have something to build on for the next season. then i went to surf around and only then did i realised there was another episode after that. i felt stupid. so i couldn't wait, and i torrented as quickly as i could. so there's a tale of how stupid i was. but anyway THE SEASON FINALE OF HOUSE WAS AWESOME!!!
www.lightamillioncandles.com
if we want to be incredibly precise, i did an infinite times more work than i had in previous holidays. if you understand any basic math, you would realise that that is only possible if i did nothing in the past and i actually DID something this time. i actually did do 2 practices on my own, not that it is actually a homework assignment, i just needed to brush up on some maths and remembered that the topics where i suck at, i lost the entire tutorial booklet. so i ended up doing what i was good at, relatively because i suck at everything else, if i merely write more than 3 lines, its considered good.
so this holidays i made an attempt to do some kind of work. unfortunately, cambridge does not accept attempts. feeling really guilty over this. every night before i go to sleep, i keep telling myself tomorrow, first thing in the morning, i'm gonna finish blah blah blah before i switch on the computer. and never has that actually happened, except the 2 times. to the future me, whom i know will read this. The moment something good happens, don't break the flow, don't say, i'm gonna take a break and then come back the next day. the breaks never gonna end. ever. EVAR!!!
ok. wow
writing that did not make me feel any better. at all.
i decided to break my 4 weeks of holidays to review them more carefully.
week 1: 1/6 to 7/6
this is probably the week with the most promise of actually doing anything, because we had to come back for 2 or 3 days for tutorials and lectures. I did not sleep, i think. i rushed mass effect with the hopes of finally starting on actual work, which i promptly did after i finished. i was proud of myself for that. but sadly the streak only lasted for 2 days, i went back to gaming.
week 2 : 8/6 to 14/6
this was probably marked by the start of my downward spiral. i discovered bob.com.sg, which was an singapore xbox forum. so i went on to the marketplace, bought a second hand game, prototype, at slightly cheaper than retail, then hoping to sell it quickly back so to minimise losses. i did, and in my rush, i had already forgotten about school. i also bought 2 months worth of online time at around $17, which further fueled my descent.
week 3: 15/6 to 22/6
the descent basically continued, i woke up, played, ate or skipped lunch, play somemore, dinner, play, sleep. at this point, the only things going through my mind was very basic, i wanted to get to the end of my game, and not end up late where i meeting my next seller to deal. i got fallout 3 and too human, on 21st.
week 4: 23/6 to today, 29/6
technically i went to penang from 22nd to the 24th. it was a great trip, ate great food. visited my grandma, who is slowly getting hard of hearing and seeing. visited my aunt who just suffered a stroke. they shaved her head, and now she has 2 big scars on her forehead. one of her doctors doesn't even speak english or chinese or any other language they understand, he just speaks malay. and there's some kind of drama going on in my extended family, my aunts' immediate family members, that i don't know about, and my mom's not telling me. funny how a tragedy brings out the best in us. and before you say you busybody, not you or your mom business go and mess up. it actually is my mom's business, because it involves and my mom and her husband, my dad paying for her sister, my aunt's hospital bills. so yeah, it involvoes my mom.
penang food is really great, any random stall you pick out in the street is going to taste awesomer(ya, i went there) than any stall in your vicinity, even those kind where you have to go out of your way to locate, because the shop owner decided to park his shop at some weirdass location, penang has about 1 stall per coffee shop of those quality of food. so you kind just about imagine the kind of food even penang-ians consider good, and the best part is i tasted them before.
so i came back on the 25th, got jet lagged and rested up, on the 26th, gt a headache and my left eye started twitching. after that i don't really have an excuse for not doing work. this is also the time i started to feel guilty and reflected. i started to think, among other things, that is the a levels path, the way i want to. don't ask me, i haven't yet come to any meaningful conclusion.
i also kept skipping lunch throughout the holidays, not because i was overwhelmed with work, my maid just sucks at cooking plus i wake up late so i end up eating lunch at 3 and dinner with my parents at 9, which apparently is not healthy. so to avoid scolding, i skip lunch and eat dinner at 7. but now my stomach doesn't feel so good. i'm probably just a few years away from getting some kind of gastric related illness like my father.
the season 5 finale of house was awesome!!!
i actually thought episode 23 was the last episode, but it was the second last, so the cliffhanger ended with one major character sexing up another. which i guess was ok for a season finale because then you have something to build on for the next season. then i went to surf around and only then did i realised there was another episode after that. i felt stupid. so i couldn't wait, and i torrented as quickly as i could. so there's a tale of how stupid i was. but anyway THE SEASON FINALE OF HOUSE WAS AWESOME!!!
www.lightamillioncandles.com
Friday, June 26, 2009
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Reality Bites
i don't why or whatever compulsion i have for marking this
but for some reason i feel like there's a need to write this down
today i saw a link on a contact of msn. it said a sale.
first thing i thought of was that it was some clothing blogshop but i clicked anyway trying to click links and get to somewhere with more interesting things, maybe gadgets or funny shirts.
so i click on it, and saw a rather polished shopping site, not like the typical blog shops with different entries as their shopfront, a sidebar with tagbox for ads and arbitrary stuff like that.
anyway, it was a shop selling clothes for ladies. and more importantly, i saw an old schoolmate as the model for most of their products.
what struck me was that, for possibly the first time in my life, i saw someone use their natural gift to help themselves out, by natural gift, i meant looks and by help themselves out, i meant earn free money and merchandise.
i mean of course, i've heard of people using looks or talking to get their boyfriends to buy them stuff, but that was always from word of mouth, there was never any real confirmation that they explicitly did reveal a little skin and got a branded bag in return.
so, i felt high for who knows what reason and decided to blog it down. anyway, at least she's pretty. it would definitely help her business that she didn't have a camwhore-y look, which ot me is definitely a deal breaker. she does have the potential to be a model, or something. but that's her own gig, i mean i never even talked to her back in school, so i guess i don't stand to gain anything.
as per my to-do list, i decided to break down the average singaporean salary and show how i would splurge on it.
based on MOM stats, the average salary for 2008 was $3977 per month.
without doing any math prior, i will try to break that down to see how much i would spend.
looking at the CPF rates, i would have to give up 20% to the government, that's $795.40
and then there's food. If i spent an average of $4.50 per meal ($3-$4 for the food itself and $1 for drinks, give or take) so i would spend $13.50 per day. Assuming i eat everyday, i would spend $405 on food per 30-day month
For transport, if i take public transport and i travel to work 6 days out of 7, assuming i spend 70 cents per trip, if i'm lucky enough to work close to home. i would work 26 days and spend $1.40 per day, hence, $36.40 per month. plus trips i take on my off day, so around maybe $15 for all 4 days if i were to take taxi once per month, plus buses for the rest. so around $51.40 per month for travel
and then for rent and utilities bills, just as a projection or a target ( meaning by 25, i want to stop living with my parents), i would want to live in a 3 room apartment, if i'm still single. for electricity, i'm guessing 55 to 60 and maybe another 5-10 for water, so around $70 i guess. for rent, i'm guessing around $1500 from all the classified ads i'm getting on the net.
For phone and online bills, my phone plan now is around, $20-$30, but i'm thinking more people will call me when i grow up HOPEFULLY, so maybe $40 for phone. And for my internet plan, if i had the choice, i would go for the fastest net service plan, so around $90.
and then for different small little funds, where i keep my money for a rainy day, or when playstation 4 comes out.
i'm thinking around $80 per month for games.
$150 per month for medical and other emergency bills, if i don't use it, just save for next time.
$1000 per month for my parents, preferably
so after all that, adding them all up, i would get
$4181.80
i exceeded my salary by about $200. which is quite reasonable because i could just scale back a little on internet and games and whatnot.
but don't forget, there are probably other fees i haven't took into consideration like insurance, paying off debts, and romance, because girls are more or less high-maintenance. so i'm guessing probably $1000-$2000 over my salary.
so yeah, that's a lot of money.
on to other news, we had a 2s10,2s11 combined barbeque. OMGWTFBBQ. Quite fun, at least people didn't separate into their own separate cliques like my past experiences. the food was good, not much gigantic wastages. so great job i guess. thanks to samuel and everyone else i don't really now was involved in organising the bbq.
woohoo.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
they have 2 million already
but for some reason i feel like there's a need to write this down
today i saw a link on a contact of msn. it said a sale.
first thing i thought of was that it was some clothing blogshop but i clicked anyway trying to click links and get to somewhere with more interesting things, maybe gadgets or funny shirts.
so i click on it, and saw a rather polished shopping site, not like the typical blog shops with different entries as their shopfront, a sidebar with tagbox for ads and arbitrary stuff like that.
anyway, it was a shop selling clothes for ladies. and more importantly, i saw an old schoolmate as the model for most of their products.
what struck me was that, for possibly the first time in my life, i saw someone use their natural gift to help themselves out, by natural gift, i meant looks and by help themselves out, i meant earn free money and merchandise.
i mean of course, i've heard of people using looks or talking to get their boyfriends to buy them stuff, but that was always from word of mouth, there was never any real confirmation that they explicitly did reveal a little skin and got a branded bag in return.
so, i felt high for who knows what reason and decided to blog it down. anyway, at least she's pretty. it would definitely help her business that she didn't have a camwhore-y look, which ot me is definitely a deal breaker. she does have the potential to be a model, or something. but that's her own gig, i mean i never even talked to her back in school, so i guess i don't stand to gain anything.
as per my to-do list, i decided to break down the average singaporean salary and show how i would splurge on it.
based on MOM stats, the average salary for 2008 was $3977 per month.
without doing any math prior, i will try to break that down to see how much i would spend.
looking at the CPF rates, i would have to give up 20% to the government, that's $795.40
and then there's food. If i spent an average of $4.50 per meal ($3-$4 for the food itself and $1 for drinks, give or take) so i would spend $13.50 per day. Assuming i eat everyday, i would spend $405 on food per 30-day month
For transport, if i take public transport and i travel to work 6 days out of 7, assuming i spend 70 cents per trip, if i'm lucky enough to work close to home. i would work 26 days and spend $1.40 per day, hence, $36.40 per month. plus trips i take on my off day, so around maybe $15 for all 4 days if i were to take taxi once per month, plus buses for the rest. so around $51.40 per month for travel
and then for rent and utilities bills, just as a projection or a target ( meaning by 25, i want to stop living with my parents), i would want to live in a 3 room apartment, if i'm still single. for electricity, i'm guessing 55 to 60 and maybe another 5-10 for water, so around $70 i guess. for rent, i'm guessing around $1500 from all the classified ads i'm getting on the net.
For phone and online bills, my phone plan now is around, $20-$30, but i'm thinking more people will call me when i grow up HOPEFULLY, so maybe $40 for phone. And for my internet plan, if i had the choice, i would go for the fastest net service plan, so around $90.
and then for different small little funds, where i keep my money for a rainy day, or when playstation 4 comes out.
i'm thinking around $80 per month for games.
$150 per month for medical and other emergency bills, if i don't use it, just save for next time.
$1000 per month for my parents, preferably
so after all that, adding them all up, i would get
$4181.80
i exceeded my salary by about $200. which is quite reasonable because i could just scale back a little on internet and games and whatnot.
but don't forget, there are probably other fees i haven't took into consideration like insurance, paying off debts, and romance, because girls are more or less high-maintenance. so i'm guessing probably $1000-$2000 over my salary.
so yeah, that's a lot of money.
on to other news, we had a 2s10,2s11 combined barbeque. OMGWTFBBQ. Quite fun, at least people didn't separate into their own separate cliques like my past experiences. the food was good, not much gigantic wastages. so great job i guess. thanks to samuel and everyone else i don't really now was involved in organising the bbq.
woohoo.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
they have 2 million already
Sunday, June 07, 2009
It Took 30 Hours.
I completed mass effect
in 5 days
30 goddamned, repetitive, bloody long, too many motherf***ing words, long hours
but don't get me wrong
it was a good game, worth every penny
good plot, good gameplay, but it was really really long
you can shorten it significantly by skipping sidequests
but your game will be significantly affected, in other words, you will suck more, and suck harder.
the sidequests are so damned repetitive, and you have to talk to so many retarded people who actually thinks your opinion matters. for example. you can talk a person out of "gene therapy" for her unborn child. when you only know her for 2 seconds.
anyway, going to replay the game to get achievements. so, at least i'll be busy
onto other news, i can't remember which days i need to go back to school
and i need to find/make a blogskin because i want to put some to-do lists and i'm too awesome to use a pen to write them down
i actually have 3 to-do lists
Work To-Do List:
revise past work
- Finish the yellow book for maths
- Do the questions in that chem paper and that weird yellow book called the ten year series
- Read up on Economics tutorials and lectures and draw mind map on my bedroom wall, just kidding, tattoo it on my forearm so i can bring it to the exam hall
- Do the physics night study worksheets
Game To-Do List:
Finish Mass Effect [check]
get money to buy assasins creed
get money to buy team fortress 2
get elite license on burnout paradise
help my bro buy MS points
I cant remember the rest
Blog To-Do List:
get a new blog skin
write a post on stereotypes of players of certain instruments
break down the diferent things i would and have to spend money on with an average singaporean salary
write something about interest, how is it that something can be interesting to one but not the other
write about that pro-gun argument i heard from a podcast
write about how to sound smart
save the world from utter destruction, or just downtown tokyo
time to get cracking
www.lightamillioncandles.com
help end it
in 5 days
30 goddamned, repetitive, bloody long, too many motherf***ing words, long hours
but don't get me wrong
it was a good game, worth every penny
good plot, good gameplay, but it was really really long
you can shorten it significantly by skipping sidequests
but your game will be significantly affected, in other words, you will suck more, and suck harder.
the sidequests are so damned repetitive, and you have to talk to so many retarded people who actually thinks your opinion matters. for example. you can talk a person out of "gene therapy" for her unborn child. when you only know her for 2 seconds.
anyway, going to replay the game to get achievements. so, at least i'll be busy
onto other news, i can't remember which days i need to go back to school
and i need to find/make a blogskin because i want to put some to-do lists and i'm too awesome to use a pen to write them down
i actually have 3 to-do lists
Work To-Do List:
revise past work
- Finish the yellow book for maths
- Do the questions in that chem paper and that weird yellow book called the ten year series
- Read up on Economics tutorials and lectures and draw mind map on my bedroom wall, just kidding, tattoo it on my forearm so i can bring it to the exam hall
- Do the physics night study worksheets
Game To-Do List:
Finish Mass Effect [check]
get money to buy assasins creed
get money to buy team fortress 2
get elite license on burnout paradise
help my bro buy MS points
I cant remember the rest
Blog To-Do List:
get a new blog skin
write a post on stereotypes of players of certain instruments
break down the diferent things i would and have to spend money on with an average singaporean salary
write something about interest, how is it that something can be interesting to one but not the other
write about that pro-gun argument i heard from a podcast
write about how to sound smart
save the world from utter destruction, or just downtown tokyo
time to get cracking
www.lightamillioncandles.com
help end it
Thursday, May 28, 2009
I have a lot more enemies than i thought
or you know, that 1, measly enemy likes to visit my blog, who knows?
Monday, May 25, 2009
Alternative mediums
I saw a great video "lecturer" if you can call him that. Daniel Floyd, *Character Animator (in training)* . He did a few great pieces regarding video games which make quite a few good arguments to push video games as an art form. While most (3 out of 4) of his videos typically have more relevance for media students or game developers, his one piece make a lot of sense to me, us or basically all students.
he talks about tangential learning, first introduced to me by Randy Pausch, lecturer of The Last Lecture, as he calls "head fakes".
tangential learning or Self-motivated learning is a much greater way of learning because, for the teachers and parents, it results in greater absorption of the knowledge, meaning when you understood differentiation, you can remember it longer than a week if you did it through tangential learning.
but what is it exactly, lets' use an example to illustrate. say you watched a movie about da vinci, called the Da Vinci Code (subtle right), and you got really interested and you googled da vinci, just for the heck of it. you could have just learnt about the vitruvian man and his other great works, and probably a bit about the renaissance in Italy or the history of the bible and all that. now you must be wondering, hey man not everyone does that, but just think about it, if only 10% of the audience googled, 57,600 people would have benefitted, and thats only counting the people who bought the book itself.
a lot of times, alternative mediums of learning are being overlooked simply because it wasn't direct. Turns out, according to scientific research, indirect learning is better. sometimes, i feel quite disappointed that such alternative means are not being used in the classroom more often. the suits always say that we are trying to expand your horizons by teaching outside the classroom" you mean it never occurred to anyone that the location doesn't make as big an impact as the cost suggests. i enjoyed the video lectures that are used in our GP lectures, not because the teacher is boring, but because they help people remember facts better.
if you watched the video, which some of you may while some of you won't, i'm not surprised, i myself am tired of looking at videos of korean boy bands and girl bands dancing and lip synching in my friends blogs also. anyway, i do reccomend watching them, great wealth of information in delightful animated format.
i am a fan of animation, and comedy. thats why i found this video to be so appealing. because i enjoyed being fed new information in a refreshing context. if you have any idea what kind of person i am, you would realize that i don't study for the sake of a piece of paper. i study because i want to know more about the rest of the world. that's why i don't mug, per se.
i'm not asking the gp teachers to go nuts and attend animation courses,(though i wouldn't mind spending MOE's money on something useful) but you may be wondering what other ways of transfering information is there besides the awesome animated shorts.
well, there's debate. i find it quite sad that this isn't used much this year, i really enjoyed them last year in miss ni's classes, even though they are more like presentations. i think underestimating debates is quite a big mistake. first of all researching for the materials and argueing, you already have one layer of information in the students' heads already, and for those who are arguing for the opposition, because you have to argue, you actually have to listen and you can't switch off and hibernate. and then there's the rebuttals and coounter and counter counters and ........ but you say, its too much stuff for one person, and if i set them up in groups, people slack off. well, its not really too much for one person, if you help the group split it up or "facilitate" the delegation of work, without giving away any answers. so everyone actually needs to work, and if need be the teacher can decide who to be the next to argue so people again cannot slack off.
and then there's the problem of people not doing work at home. well, torture is always an option. hahas. i really really understand this problem because i am guilty. heck i am so guilty that. well, its not a pretty solution, but there's the stress on CA marks or that seeing parents after prelims or something like that, should CA marks not work. i think a very good solution would be to use an interesting topic to start with. and strangely, you don't need an inherently interesting topic to start with. it doesn't need to be something likely debating the use of abortion or even something more local like whether Direct School Admission is good for Singapore. Heck it could be as boring as the canteen aunties. it simply needs to be "packaged" as something interesting like debating the need for staff and workers vs the alternatives (eg robots or vending machines). we are the Internet generation, the Japan-ised generation, we want instant gratification and nice packaging at that. we don't want big words and retarded statistics. ever.
and then there's the problem that it doesn't help you directly. well, content is most obvious. but the researching itself allows students to exercise the skills in considering all levels or PERMS or SPERM or whatever MREPS. As for presenting and arguing itself, students can be "reminded" to organize their arguments and present using AREEC or they are disqualified and punished to write an essay or something like that. if getting good grades for MYE meant less work, i would have gotten an A, trust me.
i know that teaching is a tough job. and i know that you guys out there are or know a lot of great teachers. its a stressful job as well. i'm just offering a simple manner to help you help us. hell, criticise this as much as you want for all i care, but let me know. i'd rather get insulted but improved, than insult you back and not benefit from anything. i hereby extend an invitation to anyone to criticise my plans in my tagbox.
i should be studying for economics, but this is actual economics at work, affecting workers all around me.
i finally know what subprime mortgages mean
http://www.crisisofcredit.com/
help them light a candle
www.lightamillioncandles.com
he talks about tangential learning, first introduced to me by Randy Pausch, lecturer of The Last Lecture, as he calls "head fakes".
tangential learning or Self-motivated learning is a much greater way of learning because, for the teachers and parents, it results in greater absorption of the knowledge, meaning when you understood differentiation, you can remember it longer than a week if you did it through tangential learning.
but what is it exactly, lets' use an example to illustrate. say you watched a movie about da vinci, called the Da Vinci Code (subtle right), and you got really interested and you googled da vinci, just for the heck of it. you could have just learnt about the vitruvian man and his other great works, and probably a bit about the renaissance in Italy or the history of the bible and all that. now you must be wondering, hey man not everyone does that, but just think about it, if only 10% of the audience googled, 57,600 people would have benefitted, and thats only counting the people who bought the book itself.
a lot of times, alternative mediums of learning are being overlooked simply because it wasn't direct. Turns out, according to scientific research, indirect learning is better. sometimes, i feel quite disappointed that such alternative means are not being used in the classroom more often. the suits always say that
if you watched the video, which some of you may while some of you won't, i'm not surprised, i myself am tired of looking at videos of korean boy bands and girl bands dancing and lip synching in my friends blogs also. anyway, i do reccomend watching them, great wealth of information in delightful animated format.
i am a fan of animation, and comedy. thats why i found this video to be so appealing. because i enjoyed being fed new information in a refreshing context. if you have any idea what kind of person i am, you would realize that i don't study for the sake of a piece of paper. i study because i want to know more about the rest of the world. that's why i don't mug, per se.
i'm not asking the gp teachers to go nuts and attend animation courses,(though i wouldn't mind spending MOE's money on something useful) but you may be wondering what other ways of transfering information is there besides the awesome animated shorts.
well, there's debate. i find it quite sad that this isn't used much this year, i really enjoyed them last year in miss ni's classes, even though they are more like presentations. i think underestimating debates is quite a big mistake. first of all researching for the materials and argueing, you already have one layer of information in the students' heads already, and for those who are arguing for the opposition, because you have to argue, you actually have to listen and you can't switch off and hibernate. and then there's the rebuttals and coounter and counter counters and ........ but you say, its too much stuff for one person, and if i set them up in groups, people slack off. well, its not really too much for one person, if you help the group split it up or "facilitate" the delegation of work, without giving away any answers. so everyone actually needs to work, and if need be the teacher can decide who to be the next to argue so people again cannot slack off.
and then there's the problem of people not doing work at home. well, torture is always an option. hahas. i really really understand this problem because i am guilty. heck i am so guilty that
and then there's the problem that it doesn't help you directly. well, content is most obvious. but the researching itself allows students to exercise the skills in considering all levels or PERMS or SPERM or whatever MREPS. As for presenting and arguing itself, students can be "reminded" to organize their arguments and present using AREEC or they are disqualified and punished to write an essay or something like that. if getting good grades for MYE meant less work, i would have gotten an A, trust me.
i know that teaching is a tough job. and i know that you guys out there are or know a lot of great teachers. its a stressful job as well. i'm just offering a simple manner to help you help us. hell, criticise this as much as you want for all i care, but let me know. i'd rather get insulted but improved, than insult you back and not benefit from anything. i hereby extend an invitation to anyone to criticise my plans in my tagbox.
i should be studying for economics, but this is actual economics at work, affecting workers all around me.
i finally know what subprime mortgages mean
http://www.crisisofcredit.com/
help them light a candle
www.lightamillioncandles.com
i got a lot of things i want to say, but i forgot
from an old friend and seniors blog.
before you go to sleep tonight, ask yourself this question. would you rather have a dream or a nightmare?
before you dismiss this, think about it. very carefully
when you have a dream, sure its nice and awesome and all that, but you still have to wake up some time and realize its not there.
but if you had a nightmare, there's always the amazing relief to wake up and say HOLYWTFOMGBBQ.
that was really food for thought.
and she went on to explain about not being able to realize the dream of going to Delaware, USA.
i'm not going to elaborate here
so i thought about it myself
i don't really have any really life altering or traumatic nightmares before yet so i can't say much about that.
about dreams,
for a really long time, i have made a small but true observation about myself.
i have no endgame. If you watch any action movie or anything where a plan is involved (particularly one where they rob a bank), its how you make the escape and then spend all that cash you so dirtily attained on a beach with some hot babes in bikinis around your arms.
but i digress, anyway, i don't know what i want out of life, i have no plans whatsoever. i don't even have a really legitimate reason for studying, at least i can't convince myself that it is true. for that matter, i don't even have a passion to pursue. at least for some people, if they left school, they could go on to be photographers and drummers and artists and all that. i don't have that. i don't have any "real" passion. what i have are "pastimes" or extended sessions where my hands are kept busy. the only reason i do any of the stuff i do is so that when the internet crashes or i'm in an mrt, i wont go nuts. i have an incredibly short attention span, and if i'm not interested anymore , i move on. and these extended sessions do not get me anywhere. i can't set up a magic show and be a professional magician. i can't barely juggle for nuts. i suck at pool. and i barely play games long enough for me to go pro.
so there. i'm really stuck. heck i don't even know what job i'm gonna take in the future. i don't wanna be a soldier, i can't run a friggin 2.4 km in 15 mins, and girls break that regularly. i don't wanna be an engineer, i just wanna play with a newton's cradle and some magnets. i don't wanna be an architect, i just like looking at buildings, i don't even have a portfolio. i don't wanna be a teacher, i just fancy the idea of saying things and people listening.
and all this i'm just talking about my career prospects. i don't have a girlfriend. heck i don't even know if i can get one within the next five years.
and then there's the other people, the poor and the less fortunate. all my life, i knew deep down i was lucky, and i knew i had to pay someone back. but i don't know whether that day will ever come where i pick up the courage to lend a hand. i knew i wanted to change the world, but thats just a rough hazy idea just floating around. i need solid concrete plans.
holy crap, wake me up.
i think i just bummed myself out writing this post.. anyway, that was not how i intended to write this. the post above is separated so i have a non-bummed out version
before you go to sleep tonight, ask yourself this question. would you rather have a dream or a nightmare?
before you dismiss this, think about it. very carefully
when you have a dream, sure its nice and awesome and all that, but you still have to wake up some time and realize its not there.
but if you had a nightmare, there's always the amazing relief to wake up and say HOLYWTFOMGBBQ.
that was really food for thought.
and she went on to explain about not being able to realize the dream of going to Delaware, USA.
i'm not going to elaborate here
so i thought about it myself
i don't really have any really life altering or traumatic nightmares before yet so i can't say much about that.
about dreams,
for a really long time, i have made a small but true observation about myself.
i have no endgame. If you watch any action movie or anything where a plan is involved (particularly one where they rob a bank), its how you make the escape and then spend all that cash you so dirtily attained on a beach with some hot babes in bikinis around your arms.
but i digress, anyway, i don't know what i want out of life, i have no plans whatsoever. i don't even have a really legitimate reason for studying, at least i can't convince myself that it is true. for that matter, i don't even have a passion to pursue. at least for some people, if they left school, they could go on to be photographers and drummers and artists and all that. i don't have that. i don't have any "real" passion. what i have are "pastimes" or extended sessions where my hands are kept busy. the only reason i do any of the stuff i do is so that when the internet crashes or i'm in an mrt, i wont go nuts. i have an incredibly short attention span, and if i'm not interested anymore , i move on. and these extended sessions do not get me anywhere. i can't set up a magic show and be a professional magician. i can't barely juggle for nuts. i suck at pool. and i barely play games long enough for me to go pro.
so there. i'm really stuck. heck i don't even know what job i'm gonna take in the future. i don't wanna be a soldier, i can't run a friggin 2.4 km in 15 mins, and girls break that regularly. i don't wanna be an engineer, i just wanna play with a newton's cradle and some magnets. i don't wanna be an architect, i just like looking at buildings, i don't even have a portfolio. i don't wanna be a teacher, i just fancy the idea of saying things and people listening.
and all this i'm just talking about my career prospects. i don't have a girlfriend. heck i don't even know if i can get one within the next five years.
and then there's the other people, the poor and the less fortunate. all my life, i knew deep down i was lucky, and i knew i had to pay someone back. but i don't know whether that day will ever come where i pick up the courage to lend a hand. i knew i wanted to change the world, but thats just a rough hazy idea just floating around. i need solid concrete plans.
holy crap, wake me up.
i think i just bummed myself out writing this post.. anyway, that was not how i intended to write this. the post above is separated so i have a non-bummed out version
Monday, May 11, 2009
From Plato,
Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils - no, nor the human race, as I believe - and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day
from wikiquote
quite an awesome quote
the only reason i can remember it was because i was introduced to it in the from of "plato believed that the government should be run by a small group of "philosopher kings""
philosopher kings is the awesomest phrase i have ever heard.
i could say it all day and never get bored of it.
without me, its just aweso
Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils - no, nor the human race, as I believe - and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day
from wikiquote
quite an awesome quote
the only reason i can remember it was because i was introduced to it in the from of "plato believed that the government should be run by a small group of "philosopher kings""
philosopher kings is the awesomest phrase i have ever heard.
i could say it all day and never get bored of it.
without me, its just aweso
Superpowers
after watching heroes
i started to think about superpowers
woohoo. a little bit about my choices and the history behind it.
when i was in primary school, which was like the power rangers era and the still watching channel 8 drama and don't worry be happy era.
boys would always ask, if you can choose one superpower, what would it be, super intelligence or super strength. the answer would always be super intelligence, and the explanation is that if you had super intelligence to create other superpowers and give yourself. simple right.
and then i went through my secondary school years, trying to be some kind of loner because that was what i thought was cool, which now sounds stupid, but still cool.
at that time i wanted to be invisible. because that would totally blend in with my loner persona and i was totally not trying to conceal the fact that i suck or anything. SERIOUS!! (jkjk)
but ever since i saw the flash, which i cannot remember when exactly, but it is most likely justice league.
anyway, i wanted to and still want to have super speed. part of the reason is probably because the flash is funny, i've always liked certain superheroes for that 1 reason, like spiderman, the flash and deadpool a bit.
but super speed would still be on top of my list, along with electricity manipulation, i don't really think i have an explanation for that force lightning is just cool.
but still there are definitely some powers i would put as low priority
like:
super strength
flight
laser eyes
high tech suit (which isnt really a power)
anyway, tts all i have been doing for the weekend instead of studying.
oh ya and finding old tcs shows songs like 我爱精灵 2 福满人间 and 敢敢做个开心人
still gt some others but you can find them by yourself.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
i started to think about superpowers
woohoo. a little bit about my choices and the history behind it.
when i was in primary school, which was like the power rangers era and the still watching channel 8 drama and don't worry be happy era.
boys would always ask, if you can choose one superpower, what would it be, super intelligence or super strength. the answer would always be super intelligence, and the explanation is that if you had super intelligence to create other superpowers and give yourself. simple right.
and then i went through my secondary school years, trying to be some kind of loner because that was what i thought was cool, which now sounds stupid, but still cool.
at that time i wanted to be invisible. because that would totally blend in with my loner persona and i was totally not trying to conceal the fact that i suck or anything. SERIOUS!! (jkjk)
but ever since i saw the flash, which i cannot remember when exactly, but it is most likely justice league.
anyway, i wanted to and still want to have super speed. part of the reason is probably because the flash is funny, i've always liked certain superheroes for that 1 reason, like spiderman, the flash and deadpool a bit.
but super speed would still be on top of my list, along with electricity manipulation, i don't really think i have an explanation for that force lightning is just cool.
but still there are definitely some powers i would put as low priority
like:
super strength
flight
laser eyes
high tech suit (which isnt really a power)
anyway, tts all i have been doing for the weekend instead of studying.
oh ya and finding old tcs shows songs like 我爱精灵 2 福满人间 and 敢敢做个开心人
still gt some others but you can find them by yourself.
www.lightamillioncandles.com
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Where to study
I used to think Australia would be the best place to study, after hearing all the cool stories from other people who studied there.
but now it has achieved 2nd place, but a close second nonetheless.
i now want to study in London, or anywhere in Civilised parts of the European Union.
firstly, its a relatively cold country, compared to australia which is dry and uv light is burning through
then there are the chio bu(s), i think people from both country are beautiful, though not as beautiful as brazilians, drools... But still, think of the accent.
and then there's the different atmosphere. Australia is the more outdoor kind of people compared to UK, which in my book is a good thing, until i realise i'm not even half as fit as them.
these are just some reasons i can think of off the top of my head. i still want to go to LA, California or New York to work or live some day, but not as a tourist, as part of the culture.
but now it has achieved 2nd place, but a close second nonetheless.
i now want to study in London, or anywhere in Civilised parts of the European Union.
firstly, its a relatively cold country, compared to australia which is dry and uv light is burning through
then there are the chio bu(s), i think people from both country are beautiful, though not as beautiful as brazilians, drools... But still, think of the accent.
and then there's the different atmosphere. Australia is the more outdoor kind of people compared to UK, which in my book is a good thing, until i realise i'm not even half as fit as them.
these are just some reasons i can think of off the top of my head. i still want to go to LA, California or New York to work or live some day, but not as a tourist, as part of the culture.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Euthanasia
There are two Hindu points of view on euthanasia. By helping to end a painful life a person is performing a good deed and so fulfilling their moral obligations. On the other hand, by helping to end a life, even one filled with suffering, a person is disturbing the timing of the cycle of death and rebirth. This is a bad thing to do, and those involved in the euthanasia will take on the remaining karma of the patient. However, the same argument suggests that keeping a person artificially alive on a life-support machines would also be a bad thing to do.
-Wikipedia
moral conflict
-Wikipedia
moral conflict
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