It did not feel much like the start of anything new. It just felt like a continuation of an ongoing project. Since I have been working in school for my FYP for the entire of this summer holiday already, being in school is no stranger to me.
Well, life still goes on and I continue to be rather 'unobsessed' with studies. But I am taking 6 modules by the way, realised that life is sadly going to be quite difficult for me this coming semester. Sigh...I was wishing to put in mediocre effort and summon the powerful SU options! Hwa hwa!
Body building continues and yes, my lack of updates does not spell an end to that quest for the muscle. It is just that I have not been as consistent in updating as I should have been.
We shall see how this semester goes....
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Numbers and Figures
I have never understood the significance of SBS and SMRT's allocation of bus numbers to specific services of these routes. They do not follow a logical pattern, yet are reasonably memorable although random in every sense.
Does anyone out there know the purpose of their allocation?
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Self Knowledge
It took me a relatively long time to phrase this question within my head, but as time passed - words came to me and the question that revealed itself yields more confusion that it does clarify anything.
I had puzzled over the fact that, though marvellous the whole Earth is and all the living creatures in it, no living creature knows exactly how itself functions. With maybe the exception of humans but even humans do not fully comprehend their own physical, let alone mental bodies.
It is amazing and strange for a creature to function healthy and well, yet also know completely nothing about how and why it does the things it does, totally independently from it's own body. To illustrate this puzzling scenario, think about evolution for a moment and wonder why on earth it did not decide to let the mind and the body evolve as one but as separate entities totally. If survival were to make sense, one should make the body be aware that it had a mind and vice versa. At least then it would ensure that the body knew what it was made of and what it needed to do to progress and preserve it's own kind.
I can already think of a few counterpoints to this argument. For one, animals and humans do know how to heal themselves, they know how to hunt for food, some creatures know which parts of their bodies are more vulnerable to attack and how to nurse their young. But that is not what I am exactly referring to...things like knowledge about their cell structure, genes and other functions are supposed to be known. You may frown upon this thought but pause for a moment and think...it really does not make sense that you...yourself, your body and you do not know much about how it REALLY works. It seems to run very well even when you do not take good care of it. Studies claim this and that is not good for you and if you have an 'unhealthy' lifestyle you definitely will die young. Is this true? Of course not. These studies are not even sure of themselves, study after study reveal contradicting find after contradicting find and are never really sure of themselves. Can we really say we know everything there is to know about ourselves?
The argument I am trying to put forth here is a contradictory one. However it would make sense that we should know ourselves if we did come about from evolution. There is one hypothesis I want to propose but before that, it is important that you get an illustration:
You create a robot toy. This robot toy does every movement a human can do and performs tasks well. This robot however has no working knowledge about itself - only you know. Lets say that even if this robot had self awareness, it would not know why it could do certain things. It wouldn't know what made it tick - only you would.
This illustration points towards a creator who has evidently designed us. Hard for me to take in but yes, indeed there is a highly intelligent being out there who has created all things the way they are and apparently designed it too complex for even creatures like us can fully comprehend.
I had puzzled over the fact that, though marvellous the whole Earth is and all the living creatures in it, no living creature knows exactly how itself functions. With maybe the exception of humans but even humans do not fully comprehend their own physical, let alone mental bodies.
It is amazing and strange for a creature to function healthy and well, yet also know completely nothing about how and why it does the things it does, totally independently from it's own body. To illustrate this puzzling scenario, think about evolution for a moment and wonder why on earth it did not decide to let the mind and the body evolve as one but as separate entities totally. If survival were to make sense, one should make the body be aware that it had a mind and vice versa. At least then it would ensure that the body knew what it was made of and what it needed to do to progress and preserve it's own kind.
I can already think of a few counterpoints to this argument. For one, animals and humans do know how to heal themselves, they know how to hunt for food, some creatures know which parts of their bodies are more vulnerable to attack and how to nurse their young. But that is not what I am exactly referring to...things like knowledge about their cell structure, genes and other functions are supposed to be known. You may frown upon this thought but pause for a moment and think...it really does not make sense that you...yourself, your body and you do not know much about how it REALLY works. It seems to run very well even when you do not take good care of it. Studies claim this and that is not good for you and if you have an 'unhealthy' lifestyle you definitely will die young. Is this true? Of course not. These studies are not even sure of themselves, study after study reveal contradicting find after contradicting find and are never really sure of themselves. Can we really say we know everything there is to know about ourselves?
The argument I am trying to put forth here is a contradictory one. However it would make sense that we should know ourselves if we did come about from evolution. There is one hypothesis I want to propose but before that, it is important that you get an illustration:
You create a robot toy. This robot toy does every movement a human can do and performs tasks well. This robot however has no working knowledge about itself - only you know. Lets say that even if this robot had self awareness, it would not know why it could do certain things. It wouldn't know what made it tick - only you would.
This illustration points towards a creator who has evidently designed us. Hard for me to take in but yes, indeed there is a highly intelligent being out there who has created all things the way they are and apparently designed it too complex for even creatures like us can fully comprehend.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Money Yah, Time Nah
"Oh sorry, got other things on for that day. Sorry!"
"I'm already booked for that day yeah."
When it comes down to parting with money for charity, I notice Singaporeans find it relatively easy to do so. That isn't a bad thing at all, just that when it duty calls for time to be given to helping people personally, I would think only a handful would go all the way to shift other priorities out of the way for the sake of helping strangers.
Perhaps Singaporeans have this pre notion that charity with money is good. Again that is not a bad thing at all, it is just that they believe money does the rest of the job done when helping people. Of course it doesn't, because money in itself has no value until exchanged for something that one desires. When one needs help, people and not money are the ingredients required.
I am curious about the thought processes of most Singaporeans when it comes to the idea of helping out in charity work with solely altruistic desires. I guess that - since they do not want to be seen to the public as selfish people, they would part with their cash. But in truth they would rather not spend time with old people or children too often because it does not 'reap economical or personal tangible benefits' so to speak. To help people means going out of one's way in order to make another's better and by doing so, it may not feel to them like much personal benefit has been derived from that. I hope that is not the case with most Singaporeans.
It seems that according to statistics, the amount of hours put in to community work is rising steadily. Does that mean that more people are starting to care for others? We must remember that some penalties in the Singapore justice system requires that you perform a certain mandatory hours of community work, that also includes some school requirements to graduate. Community work also earns you cca points in some schools and that would translate into tangible benefits for people who like those things. Of course I am taking the pessimistic view.
I would think they vast majority of Singaporeans would want to care for others but the system here just ensures that you are already heavy burdened with work such that in your free time, all you can do is think of personal rest time or leisure and charity work becomes lower on your priorities list. Being busy is a Singaporean thing and don't even start talking about holidays....even in holidays we are packed. Or rather...we pack ourselves with things to do.
It is not always this scenario in other countries and I think this is something also unique to the island of Singapore. Not a really good trait... favouring to give money over time. it does say something about us, through such actions.
"I'm already booked for that day yeah."
When it comes down to parting with money for charity, I notice Singaporeans find it relatively easy to do so. That isn't a bad thing at all, just that when it duty calls for time to be given to helping people personally, I would think only a handful would go all the way to shift other priorities out of the way for the sake of helping strangers.
Perhaps Singaporeans have this pre notion that charity with money is good. Again that is not a bad thing at all, it is just that they believe money does the rest of the job done when helping people. Of course it doesn't, because money in itself has no value until exchanged for something that one desires. When one needs help, people and not money are the ingredients required.
I am curious about the thought processes of most Singaporeans when it comes to the idea of helping out in charity work with solely altruistic desires. I guess that - since they do not want to be seen to the public as selfish people, they would part with their cash. But in truth they would rather not spend time with old people or children too often because it does not 'reap economical or personal tangible benefits' so to speak. To help people means going out of one's way in order to make another's better and by doing so, it may not feel to them like much personal benefit has been derived from that. I hope that is not the case with most Singaporeans.
It seems that according to statistics, the amount of hours put in to community work is rising steadily. Does that mean that more people are starting to care for others? We must remember that some penalties in the Singapore justice system requires that you perform a certain mandatory hours of community work, that also includes some school requirements to graduate. Community work also earns you cca points in some schools and that would translate into tangible benefits for people who like those things. Of course I am taking the pessimistic view.
I would think they vast majority of Singaporeans would want to care for others but the system here just ensures that you are already heavy burdened with work such that in your free time, all you can do is think of personal rest time or leisure and charity work becomes lower on your priorities list. Being busy is a Singaporean thing and don't even start talking about holidays....even in holidays we are packed. Or rather...we pack ourselves with things to do.
It is not always this scenario in other countries and I think this is something also unique to the island of Singapore. Not a really good trait... favouring to give money over time. it does say something about us, through such actions.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
The Final Word
This day marks the end of something that I have left hanging in the air for a relatively long period of time. For a long time, I had considered her to be someone I truly liked. Every other time I was with her - I was happy. But somehow, I had noticed that she has been changing quite a bit and seems relatively more cold in nature and it saddens when I think about it. Perhaps it was work, perhaps it was the sophistication of modern society and living in Singapore. Maybe it is just me and how we always somehow just can't get along in that way I would have wished. I have admittedly been looking for signs that somehow she had similar feelings toward me. There are evidently none.
So yes, today was an internal decision I made to end it with myself, a relationship that never started and never even had a proper classification in the first place. It can be likened to a story board that was scraped before materialization, I would have liked something more to come out of this friendship (as I always wished for many many years) but it seems that we are just going to remain normal friends. Friends that meet occasionally.
I hope I can clear this situation with myself because my mind and emotions are my greatest enemies...
So yes, today was an internal decision I made to end it with myself, a relationship that never started and never even had a proper classification in the first place. It can be likened to a story board that was scraped before materialization, I would have liked something more to come out of this friendship (as I always wished for many many years) but it seems that we are just going to remain normal friends. Friends that meet occasionally.
I hope I can clear this situation with myself because my mind and emotions are my greatest enemies...
Living On A Cloud
Here is one more thing I have established from my years of experience in life itself. It is that I have a tendency for vast amounts of inspiration after stimulation. By Stimulation (do not ...go there....I Mean iT!), I refer to the watching of an inspirational movie, drama serial, piece of music, experience. I find that the post effects of such events are not as profound on other people than it is on myself.
I find it half a curse and a blessing. For one, it helps me create things and compose things that I never would have been able to do in 'normal' mode. However, it always brings me up to a point where I just get over obsessed with it and its really distracting. When I have the inspiration, waiting is simply impossible. I have to get up and make it or compose it right away.
Usually it would take a few days for the inspirational feeling to die down and my normal mode will resume. For example...I remember after watching Predator, I would go all crazy and imagine myself in the predator suit, my behaviour will resemble predator for a few days. Then there was heroes, same thing....then there was 24! Wow, I really loved the character of Jack Bauer and my behaviour tended to mimic him almost everyday for almost a week after the whole series finished! Point is...it seems whatever show I am emotionally involved in, I would have this huge urge to do something about it.
The case in point here now is this: Secret Garden. While I am not usually the one to fall head over heels in love with romance shows, this one has been really interesting and surreal. where perfect boy meets perfect girl and all that cheesy nonsense. But somehow after watching it, I seem to be behaving strangely like the guy in the show. It's so irritating, yet amusing to catch myself in those moments. I just wonder why I am like that.
Yeah, so now I am living on a cloud - a cloud of a fantasy world that will last for at least another week after the show finishes. Its more or less the same thing that happened when I had finished watching boys over flowers, but this one...has somehow more impact...yeah, definitely it should have....it was rated higher than boys over flowers...or at least soon will be...haha.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
My iPhone
The iPhone phenomenon in Singapore goes without saying. The success story of the iPhone in other countries however has yet to make its mark. Yes, no doubt it has sold millions worldwide, but percentage of the population wise, Singapore has undoubtedly got to be the highest. With everyone either carrying the iPhone gs or the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 4 white (which just came out recently), the market for phones here has been obviously dominated.
Now I have been pondering this trend for a while and tried to come up with some reasonable explanation for it. I can only come up with one theory and it goes like this:
I believe that the iPhone has become a social status item. To put it more clearly, it sort of is something you can live without but would sure as hell feel inadequate if it weren't there. The densely packed population of Singapore has a role to play in this theory.
As I have said sometime back, I am quite convinced that the MRT is a trend setting arena. Everyday, one would go to work on the public transport and unconsciously or consciously observe trends, be it the latest gadgets, clothes, accessories, hair-do among other things. This is the perfect environment to place pressure on people according to my theory of why iPhones are becoming social status items.
When iPhone was first starting out, it was no doubt cool due to the multitouch screen which just seduced the user into a whole new interaction between man and machine. The screen rotation with orientation was just cool, the form-factor was cool, the wi-fi was cool, the 3G was cool. These were the first things which attracted users over to the new phone giant.
The difference with Singapore and the rest of the world comes here: because Singapore is so small, news spreads fast. People are just crowded together and in their free time just curiously look at what others are doing ( last time it used to be looking at someone else's newpaper ). People started to notice that more and more people were starting to get iPhones, naturally one would become curious as to how come such a gadget is so infectiously popular, and if that is so, something definitely must make it stand out! So...why don't I go check it out myself? Or I would go ask my friends!
Then the process of the word of mouth begins, and the cycle continues as the new iPhone convert starts sharing about the phone, becomes a new person on the train with an iPhone, who gets observed by a brand new stranger who wonders what's so special about the iPhone and yeah, you get my point.
We fast forward to now, where almost 1 in 1 people on the train have iPhones. Think about the people who initially hated the phone, or knew nuts about it. They would feel really left out! Middle class people have it, Rich people have it...oh come on! Even the old man has it! The grandma across the street at the coffee shop has it! I should get one or I would just feel left out and lower class than them.
What the iPhone has done in Singapore is that it has successfully created a 'iPhone class' to establish a certain level in society you obtain when you get one, or rather...a level in society you remain in...because if you do not get the iPhone, you just get left behind in the dumps.
But of course, that's my theory. I have many theories. Some stupid, some do explain certain types of behavior. Who cares really...it is just my way of understanding the world little by little one step at a time.
Now I have been pondering this trend for a while and tried to come up with some reasonable explanation for it. I can only come up with one theory and it goes like this:
I believe that the iPhone has become a social status item. To put it more clearly, it sort of is something you can live without but would sure as hell feel inadequate if it weren't there. The densely packed population of Singapore has a role to play in this theory.
As I have said sometime back, I am quite convinced that the MRT is a trend setting arena. Everyday, one would go to work on the public transport and unconsciously or consciously observe trends, be it the latest gadgets, clothes, accessories, hair-do among other things. This is the perfect environment to place pressure on people according to my theory of why iPhones are becoming social status items.
When iPhone was first starting out, it was no doubt cool due to the multitouch screen which just seduced the user into a whole new interaction between man and machine. The screen rotation with orientation was just cool, the form-factor was cool, the wi-fi was cool, the 3G was cool. These were the first things which attracted users over to the new phone giant.
The difference with Singapore and the rest of the world comes here: because Singapore is so small, news spreads fast. People are just crowded together and in their free time just curiously look at what others are doing ( last time it used to be looking at someone else's newpaper ). People started to notice that more and more people were starting to get iPhones, naturally one would become curious as to how come such a gadget is so infectiously popular, and if that is so, something definitely must make it stand out! So...why don't I go check it out myself? Or I would go ask my friends!
Then the process of the word of mouth begins, and the cycle continues as the new iPhone convert starts sharing about the phone, becomes a new person on the train with an iPhone, who gets observed by a brand new stranger who wonders what's so special about the iPhone and yeah, you get my point.
We fast forward to now, where almost 1 in 1 people on the train have iPhones. Think about the people who initially hated the phone, or knew nuts about it. They would feel really left out! Middle class people have it, Rich people have it...oh come on! Even the old man has it! The grandma across the street at the coffee shop has it! I should get one or I would just feel left out and lower class than them.
What the iPhone has done in Singapore is that it has successfully created a 'iPhone class' to establish a certain level in society you obtain when you get one, or rather...a level in society you remain in...because if you do not get the iPhone, you just get left behind in the dumps.
But of course, that's my theory. I have many theories. Some stupid, some do explain certain types of behavior. Who cares really...it is just my way of understanding the world little by little one step at a time.
Tired
I am supposed to be asleep at this very time. However, since my body temperature is still relatively high from just returning from a class reunion gathering at cafe biz @ trader's hotel and I am unable to get myself to sleep, so hence here I am. Dang, that reminds me of something I watched relatively recently. The song 'here I am' was sung by 4men, the acoustic version sounded really beautiful in one particular scene. The series is a korean drama titled 'secret garden' I was coaxed into downloading it by ming hoe who recommended it some time ago. Never really got down to watching it till about just last week actually? Its quite nice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ8hX8kIjbA
Anyway, that's not the point. My point in coming here was to update on personal matters. I am going to reclassify my blog tags properly. There would be a bit of house keeping going around in this blog so perhaps it would be a good time to see where I am headed with this increasingly unread blog. It may become a diary of some sort while also being a thoughtPAD of some sort where I discuss world issues and things people do not usually talk about in meal conversations. There may also be a technical information tag and who knows what other tags. To label all 367 posts to date would be quite a challenge I'd say...
The trailer video I have done for the contemporary dance is complete and now on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8KV5ng2NfU
I desperately want to improve my filming and editing skills but equipment and experience frequently elude me and I continue to slowly learn from others by perhaps leeching off their knowledge and skills. I do want to aim to produce a few movie trailers, perhaps a short film and many interesting short amusing clips/parodies. Its what I really enjoy doing now. Not studying...but I know whatever I like to do somehow has no economical application here in Singapore. So...dreams are just dreams.
My final Holidays are coming to an end. I wouldn't count the December holidays as much of a holiday, judging by how I would still be going to school for all my lab work anyway, so ... wait... a minute....this holiday isn't even a holiday at all! I'm working aren't I? oh man...I have already bypassed my final true holiday of my study life...that was last December....ah well. I am not too keen to begin studying again. Motivation to improve is gone. I can't get my honours, not even third class so whatever...I don't really know if I should even push that hard any more to climb any further in these final semesters.
Well, I guess It's time to try and sleep no matter how 'untired' I feel...have gym, among other things important like lab work. Gosh...tiring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ8hX8kIjbA
Anyway, that's not the point. My point in coming here was to update on personal matters. I am going to reclassify my blog tags properly. There would be a bit of house keeping going around in this blog so perhaps it would be a good time to see where I am headed with this increasingly unread blog. It may become a diary of some sort while also being a thoughtPAD of some sort where I discuss world issues and things people do not usually talk about in meal conversations. There may also be a technical information tag and who knows what other tags. To label all 367 posts to date would be quite a challenge I'd say...
The trailer video I have done for the contemporary dance is complete and now on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8KV5ng2NfU
I desperately want to improve my filming and editing skills but equipment and experience frequently elude me and I continue to slowly learn from others by perhaps leeching off their knowledge and skills. I do want to aim to produce a few movie trailers, perhaps a short film and many interesting short amusing clips/parodies. Its what I really enjoy doing now. Not studying...but I know whatever I like to do somehow has no economical application here in Singapore. So...dreams are just dreams.
My final Holidays are coming to an end. I wouldn't count the December holidays as much of a holiday, judging by how I would still be going to school for all my lab work anyway, so ... wait... a minute....this holiday isn't even a holiday at all! I'm working aren't I? oh man...I have already bypassed my final true holiday of my study life...that was last December....ah well. I am not too keen to begin studying again. Motivation to improve is gone. I can't get my honours, not even third class so whatever...I don't really know if I should even push that hard any more to climb any further in these final semesters.
Well, I guess It's time to try and sleep no matter how 'untired' I feel...have gym, among other things important like lab work. Gosh...tiring.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Saranghe
Here is a nice... but no link title to start of this post. Time has indeed flown since I left this place for more than a week now. Since then, gym still goes on, work still goes on, occasional outings still go on. As these things pass me by, I wonder what really is the meaning of life - should there be no god.
With more and more people embracing the idea of a godless world and more and more evidence finding favour in the theory of evolution, the way seems set and geared towards a godless world, powered by the one religion that has followers in every country and continent - Science.
What is life? These are the questions we ask ourselves sometimes and just shrug it off, thinking that it is ridiculous. But really, is it that stupid to be thinking about such fundamental questions? Are we mad at questioning our existence? Why suppress the very thing that distinguishes us from animals? (ok maybe not...since detractors are now finding some proof that dolphins may possess such abilities.) If life was a product of evolution, can we totally rule out the possibility of an intelligent being such as God? Does Creation and Evolution have to be on two sides of the battle line?
Ok then let's say that yes there is a God - Is he the God of the bible? Is He the Allah of Islam? Who is he? Did he create the Earth in 7 days? What days? How were days defined back then? Was it figurative? Did it mean a thousand years? Favouring the side of evolution now: so the universe spawned perhaps just one or two unique lifeforms and these grew in complexity and shape and function over millions of years. Is that chance really that probable? There are many clear lines of evidence that mutations occur in humans and these mutations cause a change in appearance and behaviour when observed over a short period of about a few decade. Does that make evolution true? So if Evolution is true, does it necessarily still oppose the Bible when it said that everything was created as it is? Do we really understand creation and evolution as it is? Not really.
So back to the question of what is the meaning of Life? As I was brought up with religion, I cannot imagine how a life without a supreme being in command can be. Well, there are many people in this world who do not know God, and do not seem to have any problems with this life either. The bible did say that if you do not know God, you are going to hell. Is life really that tragic? How many people are Christians just because they fear going to hell, rather than because they love God? I have pondered these thoughts knowing they were sort of taboo...because its just like, its just really unsettling when you have been living a peaceful nice life and suddenly someone comes up to you and shouts at you saying that if you are not Christian, you are going to hell!
I have been trying to understand non-Christian perspectives for quite some time now and I realise that yes, sometimes life is without assurance, without comfort. Their mere existence purpose is to serve their family, obey the law and country, contribute to the economy - then die. If somewhere along the line, they lose their loved ones, they find no reason to live and proceed to take their own lives. When a non-Christian comes into a church and hears all the messages, to them it seems to be biased and one sided especially when the pastor starts saying things about non-Christians and apparently attacking them.
It is sad how sometimes through our efforts to bring people to a gift, the one free gift of God - the gift of salvation. We push people further away and even make them hate us. The idea seems simple and almost laughable when we reject it....to illustrate my point...you have a need, someone comes to you and gives it to you. But you get mad and push him away. That's exactly what we are, that's exactly what sin made us to be, it defies logic because one should be happy when one is given the solution the problem, but that isn't what's happening in the world today!
This rambling is without a conclusion and people can continue to talk about this for ages and will never arrive at any reasonable end. Why? God cannot be proved, his existence cannot be proved by pen and paper. Things may seem to prove it, but it will never be so. God wanted us to have faith, that is why faith is so hard. God already said the world will hate him and deny him. It is sad to realise that....to imagine a life without God in it.
With more and more people embracing the idea of a godless world and more and more evidence finding favour in the theory of evolution, the way seems set and geared towards a godless world, powered by the one religion that has followers in every country and continent - Science.
What is life? These are the questions we ask ourselves sometimes and just shrug it off, thinking that it is ridiculous. But really, is it that stupid to be thinking about such fundamental questions? Are we mad at questioning our existence? Why suppress the very thing that distinguishes us from animals? (ok maybe not...since detractors are now finding some proof that dolphins may possess such abilities.) If life was a product of evolution, can we totally rule out the possibility of an intelligent being such as God? Does Creation and Evolution have to be on two sides of the battle line?
Ok then let's say that yes there is a God - Is he the God of the bible? Is He the Allah of Islam? Who is he? Did he create the Earth in 7 days? What days? How were days defined back then? Was it figurative? Did it mean a thousand years? Favouring the side of evolution now: so the universe spawned perhaps just one or two unique lifeforms and these grew in complexity and shape and function over millions of years. Is that chance really that probable? There are many clear lines of evidence that mutations occur in humans and these mutations cause a change in appearance and behaviour when observed over a short period of about a few decade. Does that make evolution true? So if Evolution is true, does it necessarily still oppose the Bible when it said that everything was created as it is? Do we really understand creation and evolution as it is? Not really.
So back to the question of what is the meaning of Life? As I was brought up with religion, I cannot imagine how a life without a supreme being in command can be. Well, there are many people in this world who do not know God, and do not seem to have any problems with this life either. The bible did say that if you do not know God, you are going to hell. Is life really that tragic? How many people are Christians just because they fear going to hell, rather than because they love God? I have pondered these thoughts knowing they were sort of taboo...because its just like, its just really unsettling when you have been living a peaceful nice life and suddenly someone comes up to you and shouts at you saying that if you are not Christian, you are going to hell!
I have been trying to understand non-Christian perspectives for quite some time now and I realise that yes, sometimes life is without assurance, without comfort. Their mere existence purpose is to serve their family, obey the law and country, contribute to the economy - then die. If somewhere along the line, they lose their loved ones, they find no reason to live and proceed to take their own lives. When a non-Christian comes into a church and hears all the messages, to them it seems to be biased and one sided especially when the pastor starts saying things about non-Christians and apparently attacking them.
It is sad how sometimes through our efforts to bring people to a gift, the one free gift of God - the gift of salvation. We push people further away and even make them hate us. The idea seems simple and almost laughable when we reject it....to illustrate my point...you have a need, someone comes to you and gives it to you. But you get mad and push him away. That's exactly what we are, that's exactly what sin made us to be, it defies logic because one should be happy when one is given the solution the problem, but that isn't what's happening in the world today!
This rambling is without a conclusion and people can continue to talk about this for ages and will never arrive at any reasonable end. Why? God cannot be proved, his existence cannot be proved by pen and paper. Things may seem to prove it, but it will never be so. God wanted us to have faith, that is why faith is so hard. God already said the world will hate him and deny him. It is sad to realise that....to imagine a life without God in it.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Late Post
I am here, to just state facts - then I'll be gone again for a few days. I am pretty busy now during this period I must say...for the past weekends I do remember filming with the NTU students for their upcoming august concert and spent the past days editing the footage. Also in the line are my usual body building program (which is painfully slow in its progress ) and my internship, which is taking the lesser spotlight in my endeavors here...
Admittedly I am losing interest in studies in general, my study energy is wasting away and I doubt research work will be anywhere in list of future prospects. Voice acting and the media industry are my visions, but they do probably come with a price I guess, (if I even manage to get in) being in the media always means constant attention which can slowly wear you down and drain you dry. People just cannot get enough, and they love news of anything going on. It eats away at your chances for solitude and your chance to regain sanity of some sort. So those are the trade offs I guess...
So yes, for the next few days I may be MIA but yeah, my mind is still constantly bursting with things to share but just not right now. I would also like to do a review of transformers 3, but that will have to wait as well...
Admittedly I am losing interest in studies in general, my study energy is wasting away and I doubt research work will be anywhere in list of future prospects. Voice acting and the media industry are my visions, but they do probably come with a price I guess, (if I even manage to get in) being in the media always means constant attention which can slowly wear you down and drain you dry. People just cannot get enough, and they love news of anything going on. It eats away at your chances for solitude and your chance to regain sanity of some sort. So those are the trade offs I guess...
So yes, for the next few days I may be MIA but yeah, my mind is still constantly bursting with things to share but just not right now. I would also like to do a review of transformers 3, but that will have to wait as well...
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Back from the future
Here I am, back to lament about how pessimistic I feel about the world and what it is right now and what it is about to become. The way I see it, the world will have to end very soon and very possibly within this next century I dare say...and my predictions do not come with little evidence. Yes, sure there will always be counter arguments and optimistic views, but that's not my point, so let me talk here!
There are a few major reasons why the world must end soon. First thing I have noticed is that the world population can only go one way - UP. And when I mean up, I mean exponential up, in just a matter of years the 6.5 billion will eventually reach breaking point of about 9 billion and then it can only increase further. Through the mathematical model I have seen and following the normal population trend curve, the logistics population model:
indicates a population maximum, a theoretical population maximum a certain environment can successfully maintain without the eventual devastating decline. Sadly to say though, I think that point has either been reached or is going to be reached soon. I have my own mad theories as to why this is the case and I will continue to explain:
In the past, a certain plot of land would support a certain number of people living there. As the population grew, more resources would be drawn from the plot of land to sustain the growth of the people. When the population started using more resources than the land could support, people would start to have resource scarcity, population growth would slow to a halt and even start declining.
In modern times, the same thing is happening! People are using up far more resources than the earth can sufficiently sustain. We have one distinct 'advantage' and that is our technology. Technology allows us to push our resources to the limits - allows us to cheat nature - at least for a while. Our technology does wonders for us, it makes desert land into irrigated edens of pastures and farms. Allows more people and more people to be crammed into an ever smaller region of space than ever before (skyscrapers). What I find remarkable as well is that technology also allows us to obtain food in more and more synthetic ways rather than natural.
What I am trying to illustrate here is that technology has come to delay the symptoms of our severe resource crisis. To use an analogy, imagine a pyramid made up of individual blocks, the base represents the resources we have and anything placed on the top is our demands. The resource base always has to be higher (larger) than the demands placed on top of it or else it will topple over. In our case however, we cheat by using technology, perhaps call it glue or something, to hold the blocks together and forming a pyramid the bottom side up, with more demands placed on it than it can handle.
Of course this type of model can remain stable for a while, but sure enough...it would collapse someday because this model is simply not viable enough.
Now enough with population and resource scarcity, other things that can result in the downfall of the world is war. With regards to war, I am thoroughly convinced that wars are an integral part of human history and there was never really peace on earth as you would like to call it. Even when there is peace, people fight over petty things in their own countries and neighborhoods and families. War will always be with us to stay, but the thing I am worried about is that with the past, we did not have weapons of mass destruction. We say we won't use nuclear weapons in war, but are we really that sure? We also say that we won't shoot medics in war and never torture prisoners, do we?We could very well wipe ourselves out in that way.
Disease is one thing that I fear as well, the spread of a new mutant form of virus. Already there are minor ones running about the world creating trouble but I say the big one is yet to come. The last time it came (Spanish flu which killed 15 million), it took people by surprise and last time, populations weren't so interconnected as we are now. We just managed to create a perfect setting for the spread of disease through transport by aircraft and through the subway. The next pandemic will be literally disastrous for the entire planet if it occurs and stopping it will be virtually impossible.
Our short term thinking is one thing that will force us into crisis as well. I find that true of many people including myself, even if I had plans to save the world - I still like my bed, I still like my lavish way of living, savings, leisure and games (even if it costs the environment something). I just do not want to sacrifice my standard of living so that the world will have sustainable living and all. Truth is, when family matters come along and other more important things come into our lives which demand attention - the environment saving plan becomes far from secondary and may even be forgotten.
Governments could set laws to regulate how people behave, but can only be useful to a certain extent. Short term thinking is so powerful and has shown itself over and over again through time how it had led to the demise of people. The people who mocked at Noah were such people, civilizations like the Mayan, Roman Empires also had relatively short term thinking and all led to their untimely fall. I really treasure visionary Lee Kwan Yew and his team of leaders during the early days of Singapore and the incredible power of foresight.
Since foresight is not in the mind of the common folk like us, it is hard to convince anyone right now to stop eating beef because it would lead to eventual flooding of the world. It is also difficult to convince someone to turn off the lights because it could lead to eventual global warming. Hard also to imagine how people would find it more useful to take a public transport to hospital or to get somewhere in a hurry because more cars equals more greenhouse gas.
Short term goals cloud our minds and prevent us from dealing with an imminent future problem at hand. We aren't ignorant to the fact that we have a global environmental problem at our footsteps. It's just that this world is too complicated and we just cannot say: hey change to alternative fuels now! and expect everyone to implement it tomorrow, just doesn't happen that way. You need to convince them its more economically viable, make it simple, make it cheap. Make them upgrade and maybe it'll work. Its sometimes even more difficult than this...
Our world is in peril. Gaia ...the spirit of earth can no longer stand its terrible destruction.
She sends five magic rings to five special young people.
That excerpt was from the start of Captain planet, a childhood tv show geared towards environmental awareness for children. I guess it worked for me because I am indeed more environmentally aware, but that doesn't change my nature and how I still would like to live in a nice house, drive a nice car and have leisure - all that while still contributing to global warming and all. There is a limit to how small your environmental footprint can be.
With the population only set to go higher and higher in the next few decades, I really fear for the future. Especially when I know probably I will live to see it come to past.
There are a few major reasons why the world must end soon. First thing I have noticed is that the world population can only go one way - UP. And when I mean up, I mean exponential up, in just a matter of years the 6.5 billion will eventually reach breaking point of about 9 billion and then it can only increase further. Through the mathematical model I have seen and following the normal population trend curve, the logistics population model:
indicates a population maximum, a theoretical population maximum a certain environment can successfully maintain without the eventual devastating decline. Sadly to say though, I think that point has either been reached or is going to be reached soon. I have my own mad theories as to why this is the case and I will continue to explain:
In the past, a certain plot of land would support a certain number of people living there. As the population grew, more resources would be drawn from the plot of land to sustain the growth of the people. When the population started using more resources than the land could support, people would start to have resource scarcity, population growth would slow to a halt and even start declining.
In modern times, the same thing is happening! People are using up far more resources than the earth can sufficiently sustain. We have one distinct 'advantage' and that is our technology. Technology allows us to push our resources to the limits - allows us to cheat nature - at least for a while. Our technology does wonders for us, it makes desert land into irrigated edens of pastures and farms. Allows more people and more people to be crammed into an ever smaller region of space than ever before (skyscrapers). What I find remarkable as well is that technology also allows us to obtain food in more and more synthetic ways rather than natural.
What I am trying to illustrate here is that technology has come to delay the symptoms of our severe resource crisis. To use an analogy, imagine a pyramid made up of individual blocks, the base represents the resources we have and anything placed on the top is our demands. The resource base always has to be higher (larger) than the demands placed on top of it or else it will topple over. In our case however, we cheat by using technology, perhaps call it glue or something, to hold the blocks together and forming a pyramid the bottom side up, with more demands placed on it than it can handle.
Of course this type of model can remain stable for a while, but sure enough...it would collapse someday because this model is simply not viable enough.
Now enough with population and resource scarcity, other things that can result in the downfall of the world is war. With regards to war, I am thoroughly convinced that wars are an integral part of human history and there was never really peace on earth as you would like to call it. Even when there is peace, people fight over petty things in their own countries and neighborhoods and families. War will always be with us to stay, but the thing I am worried about is that with the past, we did not have weapons of mass destruction. We say we won't use nuclear weapons in war, but are we really that sure? We also say that we won't shoot medics in war and never torture prisoners, do we?We could very well wipe ourselves out in that way.
Disease is one thing that I fear as well, the spread of a new mutant form of virus. Already there are minor ones running about the world creating trouble but I say the big one is yet to come. The last time it came (Spanish flu which killed 15 million), it took people by surprise and last time, populations weren't so interconnected as we are now. We just managed to create a perfect setting for the spread of disease through transport by aircraft and through the subway. The next pandemic will be literally disastrous for the entire planet if it occurs and stopping it will be virtually impossible.
Our short term thinking is one thing that will force us into crisis as well. I find that true of many people including myself, even if I had plans to save the world - I still like my bed, I still like my lavish way of living, savings, leisure and games (even if it costs the environment something). I just do not want to sacrifice my standard of living so that the world will have sustainable living and all. Truth is, when family matters come along and other more important things come into our lives which demand attention - the environment saving plan becomes far from secondary and may even be forgotten.
Governments could set laws to regulate how people behave, but can only be useful to a certain extent. Short term thinking is so powerful and has shown itself over and over again through time how it had led to the demise of people. The people who mocked at Noah were such people, civilizations like the Mayan, Roman Empires also had relatively short term thinking and all led to their untimely fall. I really treasure visionary Lee Kwan Yew and his team of leaders during the early days of Singapore and the incredible power of foresight.
Since foresight is not in the mind of the common folk like us, it is hard to convince anyone right now to stop eating beef because it would lead to eventual flooding of the world. It is also difficult to convince someone to turn off the lights because it could lead to eventual global warming. Hard also to imagine how people would find it more useful to take a public transport to hospital or to get somewhere in a hurry because more cars equals more greenhouse gas.
Short term goals cloud our minds and prevent us from dealing with an imminent future problem at hand. We aren't ignorant to the fact that we have a global environmental problem at our footsteps. It's just that this world is too complicated and we just cannot say: hey change to alternative fuels now! and expect everyone to implement it tomorrow, just doesn't happen that way. You need to convince them its more economically viable, make it simple, make it cheap. Make them upgrade and maybe it'll work. Its sometimes even more difficult than this...
Our world is in peril. Gaia ...the spirit of earth can no longer stand its terrible destruction.
She sends five magic rings to five special young people.
That excerpt was from the start of Captain planet, a childhood tv show geared towards environmental awareness for children. I guess it worked for me because I am indeed more environmentally aware, but that doesn't change my nature and how I still would like to live in a nice house, drive a nice car and have leisure - all that while still contributing to global warming and all. There is a limit to how small your environmental footprint can be.
With the population only set to go higher and higher in the next few decades, I really fear for the future. Especially when I know probably I will live to see it come to past.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Let's Get It Started...
Projects come and go and holidays continue to be consumed at a pretty prodigious rate indeed. To date, already half of the holidays have been spent and when I looked at one of my emails I was reminded that my Korea University International Summer Program was supposed to happen about now. It was far too expensive that was why my parents recommended I pull out of the already successful registration. I was pretty hyped about it of course, but life is life and you can't always get everything you want (the cost for the entire 6 weeks all inclusive was over 7000SGD).
Right now, I am embarking on two rather ambitious projects, one has already been started and would continue to become more and more time intensive and that is my pumping iron program. The other is a video project which I have volunteered to help with, now this is a rather interesting experience and I get to work with the NTU contemporary dance group and produce a few videos for them. These are all promotional videos or half-music-videos as I would call them. They call for a huge leap in quality of my video editing skills, I realise after looking back on the productions I have made and admit that they really fall short of music video quality. Switching video editing software would also be a good idea and adobe premier seems like a viable alternative.
Elsie's wedding is tomorrow. One by one all my cousins are getting married, haha and its funny to observe how it actually goes by age! Like from oldest cousin to the youngest. Theoretically, my turn is about 1-2 years down the road. But the thing is, I am a guy...all my other cousins are girls...so not counted. Haha...
Right now, I am embarking on two rather ambitious projects, one has already been started and would continue to become more and more time intensive and that is my pumping iron program. The other is a video project which I have volunteered to help with, now this is a rather interesting experience and I get to work with the NTU contemporary dance group and produce a few videos for them. These are all promotional videos or half-music-videos as I would call them. They call for a huge leap in quality of my video editing skills, I realise after looking back on the productions I have made and admit that they really fall short of music video quality. Switching video editing software would also be a good idea and adobe premier seems like a viable alternative.
Elsie's wedding is tomorrow. One by one all my cousins are getting married, haha and its funny to observe how it actually goes by age! Like from oldest cousin to the youngest. Theoretically, my turn is about 1-2 years down the road. But the thing is, I am a guy...all my other cousins are girls...so not counted. Haha...
Friday, June 17, 2011
What is Learning?
What does it mean to be a fast learner? What does it really mean to learn something?
In university, I dare say I have learnt the least academic knowledge but have learnt more life and communication skills. The learning process is still something I am trying to understand. Because if we actually do know how well or how fast we can learn something, it would really be a major battle won in our lives. So many people go out into the working field thinking that they have learnt something from school or university - only to be let down when they realize they have not learnt anything at all.
Let me tell you what learnt is not. Learning isn't cramming, that is memorizing. Learning is not reading and recalling, that is also memory work. I dare say that learning is not even how much experience you have, because if you have been in something for a long time, your learning process has probably dulled to a certain extent.
Learning is a continual process which requires internalization and reflection. You definitely can gain knowledge during a class, but very often the real learning takes place as you think about what you learnt in class and apply it yourself in a certain situation that requires it. In that way, learning never takes place within the day. It should take weeks or even months to really 'learn" something and fully understand it.
Afterward, the learning process may dull due to prolonged exposure or when boredom sets in. To further enhance or reignite it, taking the problem from another point of view or a change of perspective is required. Changing of perspective in my opinion is one of the hardest things humans can do. The wall of perception is notably what makes the greatest minds stumble and arguments and debates to occur. To stubbornly maintain a certain perspective makes one blind to the real situation and progress in that area will be greatly hindered.
Learning is a really difficult thing. I have asked myself, if I have learnt anything in this life...what are they?
They tend to be things that I have reflected over a long period of time. Academic stuff really take the minority, and that is the hard truth - that studies are minor and should take up a small portion of your life. Skills are what you can learn and never forget. Knowledge can be attained faster, but it is lost easier as well.
In university, I dare say I have learnt the least academic knowledge but have learnt more life and communication skills. The learning process is still something I am trying to understand. Because if we actually do know how well or how fast we can learn something, it would really be a major battle won in our lives. So many people go out into the working field thinking that they have learnt something from school or university - only to be let down when they realize they have not learnt anything at all.
Let me tell you what learnt is not. Learning isn't cramming, that is memorizing. Learning is not reading and recalling, that is also memory work. I dare say that learning is not even how much experience you have, because if you have been in something for a long time, your learning process has probably dulled to a certain extent.
Learning is a continual process which requires internalization and reflection. You definitely can gain knowledge during a class, but very often the real learning takes place as you think about what you learnt in class and apply it yourself in a certain situation that requires it. In that way, learning never takes place within the day. It should take weeks or even months to really 'learn" something and fully understand it.
Afterward, the learning process may dull due to prolonged exposure or when boredom sets in. To further enhance or reignite it, taking the problem from another point of view or a change of perspective is required. Changing of perspective in my opinion is one of the hardest things humans can do. The wall of perception is notably what makes the greatest minds stumble and arguments and debates to occur. To stubbornly maintain a certain perspective makes one blind to the real situation and progress in that area will be greatly hindered.
Learning is a really difficult thing. I have asked myself, if I have learnt anything in this life...what are they?
They tend to be things that I have reflected over a long period of time. Academic stuff really take the minority, and that is the hard truth - that studies are minor and should take up a small portion of your life. Skills are what you can learn and never forget. Knowledge can be attained faster, but it is lost easier as well.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Truth Of Touch
I did promise a while back that I would dedicate an entire post to discussing the importance of touch to the human body. To a typical person, touch would just be one of the 5 (or 6 ) senses which are used by our brains to collect information from around us. Touch is useful for us to send or receive information - it is frequently relied upon to convey certain emotions to people and for us to be aware of things that are in contact with our bodies.
Now the secondary function of touch is relatively uncharted ground, no one can say for very sure you cannot survive without another human's touch. Research has been done with link human touch at young age with bonding and good emotional and mental health. "touch deprivation' as some people coin the term, can lead to low self esteem, ill-health and isolation in the long run.
I wonder if any of you have ever experienced such a thing. Just try and remember a not so distant past where you have not been hugged, been pat on the back or massaged in a few weeks or months. Think about your health back then, was it good?
Touch directly stimulates the central nervous system and its seemingly endless array of nerve endings. These nerve endings when relaxed can be stimulated in the right way to produce a feeling of happiness and peace. It makes one feel almost on cloud 9, such can be achieved by going for a massage. Usually you will get it from family or loved ones, but nowadays in our socially declining society and the faster and faster pace of life, distances develop within these family ties and touch is frequently overlooked as a source of bonding.
It is no wonder now that people turn to massages and therapies for help to improve their mental and emotional health. I used to think that a massage once in a while has its effects lasting quite a while. This however is not true and the body seems to need touch almost on a daily basis. It signals for 'help' with nervous stimulation after your short afternoon nap or when you are relaxed on your bed watching tv or playing your game. It starts off with your hands or feet asking to be touched by something, then when you perform a self massage, you actually feel a wave of nerve tingling sensation all over your body and soon, your feet or hands will also feel it. The whole process is actually amazing and it helps you appreciate that the body's entire nerve network is connected.
Hope this helps enlighten you a little on the importance of touch in our lives. Now on for a massage?
Now the secondary function of touch is relatively uncharted ground, no one can say for very sure you cannot survive without another human's touch. Research has been done with link human touch at young age with bonding and good emotional and mental health. "touch deprivation' as some people coin the term, can lead to low self esteem, ill-health and isolation in the long run.
I wonder if any of you have ever experienced such a thing. Just try and remember a not so distant past where you have not been hugged, been pat on the back or massaged in a few weeks or months. Think about your health back then, was it good?
Touch directly stimulates the central nervous system and its seemingly endless array of nerve endings. These nerve endings when relaxed can be stimulated in the right way to produce a feeling of happiness and peace. It makes one feel almost on cloud 9, such can be achieved by going for a massage. Usually you will get it from family or loved ones, but nowadays in our socially declining society and the faster and faster pace of life, distances develop within these family ties and touch is frequently overlooked as a source of bonding.
It is no wonder now that people turn to massages and therapies for help to improve their mental and emotional health. I used to think that a massage once in a while has its effects lasting quite a while. This however is not true and the body seems to need touch almost on a daily basis. It signals for 'help' with nervous stimulation after your short afternoon nap or when you are relaxed on your bed watching tv or playing your game. It starts off with your hands or feet asking to be touched by something, then when you perform a self massage, you actually feel a wave of nerve tingling sensation all over your body and soon, your feet or hands will also feel it. The whole process is actually amazing and it helps you appreciate that the body's entire nerve network is connected.
Hope this helps enlighten you a little on the importance of touch in our lives. Now on for a massage?
Mental Fitness
Now this post doesn't exactly come at the most effective time of the year when we all are having exams and need the best of our minds to perform tasks. Nevertheless it will be a piece of useful information for us to always keep in handy.
I like to think of our minds as a muscle. Mean to degrade a wonderful piece of design into a mere cell, but to make an important analogy here. Just as you do not exercise or workout 8 hours a day, so you do not study continuously 8 hours a day either, simple as that. We can get tired mentally and when we do, the frightening thing is that we may not even realize it.
I first appreciated the existence of mental fatigue when I was preparing for examinations one year ago. At that point I was really studying almost 8 hours a day including weekends and really wonder how anything managed to get absorbed after all. The mundanes of doing the same studying over and over again, day after day just crept in and soon, I found myself stapling my notes, filing them and going home on the bus. By the time I reached home, I had learnt nothing, remembered nothing. At that point I knew what was happening. Over studying
After taking numerous exams, the realization came to me that you may actually be reading, copying and thinking you understand during your revision period, but the thing that really counts towards answering questions in your exam was your effort put in during the school term itself and NOT in the few days spent mugging.
That is not to say I do not mug a few days before the exams, just saying that the amount of stuff you really learn tends to be much less. I am sure most of you have experienced the feeling of seeing an exam question and struggling to remember something that you had heard the professor emphasizing in class, however you were too busy typing that sms to your friend. Classic experience and excellent example of how important continual effort is.
Why I say all this is to hopefully prevent the scenario of week after week of cramming. Which will eventually lead to mental fatigue. Studies have shown that cramming is very much less effective than continual effort during the semester. To bring in the muscle example, to achieve a certain health condition you do not exercise a muscle everyday, seven times a week for 8 hours a day do you? You put in about some hours every day over a period of time. In that way, your muscle gradually recovers and becomes stronger. Same with the mind, every night when you sleep, memories are reinforced, things you learn and emphasized after class during your revision will stick better in your head. Your memory and hence your learning will be much better boosted.
I hope these tips go a long way towards helping you understand mental fatigue. Never ever underestimate mental fatigue...it is the greatest barrier towards any learning goals. Rest well, eat well and develop good study habits!
I like to think of our minds as a muscle. Mean to degrade a wonderful piece of design into a mere cell, but to make an important analogy here. Just as you do not exercise or workout 8 hours a day, so you do not study continuously 8 hours a day either, simple as that. We can get tired mentally and when we do, the frightening thing is that we may not even realize it.
I first appreciated the existence of mental fatigue when I was preparing for examinations one year ago. At that point I was really studying almost 8 hours a day including weekends and really wonder how anything managed to get absorbed after all. The mundanes of doing the same studying over and over again, day after day just crept in and soon, I found myself stapling my notes, filing them and going home on the bus. By the time I reached home, I had learnt nothing, remembered nothing. At that point I knew what was happening. Over studying
After taking numerous exams, the realization came to me that you may actually be reading, copying and thinking you understand during your revision period, but the thing that really counts towards answering questions in your exam was your effort put in during the school term itself and NOT in the few days spent mugging.
That is not to say I do not mug a few days before the exams, just saying that the amount of stuff you really learn tends to be much less. I am sure most of you have experienced the feeling of seeing an exam question and struggling to remember something that you had heard the professor emphasizing in class, however you were too busy typing that sms to your friend. Classic experience and excellent example of how important continual effort is.
Why I say all this is to hopefully prevent the scenario of week after week of cramming. Which will eventually lead to mental fatigue. Studies have shown that cramming is very much less effective than continual effort during the semester. To bring in the muscle example, to achieve a certain health condition you do not exercise a muscle everyday, seven times a week for 8 hours a day do you? You put in about some hours every day over a period of time. In that way, your muscle gradually recovers and becomes stronger. Same with the mind, every night when you sleep, memories are reinforced, things you learn and emphasized after class during your revision will stick better in your head. Your memory and hence your learning will be much better boosted.
I hope these tips go a long way towards helping you understand mental fatigue. Never ever underestimate mental fatigue...it is the greatest barrier towards any learning goals. Rest well, eat well and develop good study habits!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Blue Skies Smiling At Me
Everyone at some point of their lives should (hopefully) look up at the sky and wonder why it is blue. Well that answer should be obvious to you now. If it isn't... google it up :) I have wondered however why clouds look the way they look in the sky. I had tried looking up why they were white and came to the conclusion that water vapour has to condense on certain 'condensation nuclei' in order to form clouds. They look white because they they reflect all colours of light. The mysterious thing came when I was thinking why clouds looked black/dark. The answer according to the internet was that they were so thick that they managed to absorb the light that penetrated them from the top, hence appearing dark at their bases. So according to this explanation, big and thick clouds should look white at their tops and progressively darker towards the bottom. This photo challenges this theory. I saw it on my way back home from the bus.
The existence of thick white pillars of white cloud and the presence of relatively smaller dark clouds along side it just defy logic. They can't possibly absorb all the light to appear dark right? Since they are so thin and small! Something about the previous explanations just do not click. Perhaps this is something you can ponder about....
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Life Update 101
I meant to post this yesterday but I was just too much in a rush for time. If I were to put yesterday in present tense it would go like this:
I am very very excited about today. What began as a small comment by graham for the conception of a night games torture chamber grew in size, scale and complexity to become the full scale battlefield of logistics and creative inputs that we have before us.
It is the first time I have been so hyped up about such a thing in a long time. Perhaps its because organising a torture chamber has always been something I liked. Something interesting, fun, scary for the youth campers of the retreat. New bold daring plans have been set on the table, things that have never been tried in previous camps. On my side, my chamber was divided into 4 major sections: one for girls/noobs XD...two for medium core and one for hardcore. The names of the stations were: reception, physical, fear cell, alley way and gas chamber. Of all, I was the proudest and most excited about the gas chamber. Using dry ice (which was the biggest spending point! $66 for 10kg!!! )as the gas of the chamber, it aims to turn the dark stairwell into the most frightening place on earth. The music was epic, taken from the horror film: mirrors. There would also be a figure from scream the movie over there to scare the wits out of every soul that enters it.
Now for the one in present tense:
Its been a long day. Games ended at 4am today. In the end, people were tired but happy. Nothing was more satisfying than hearing people say that the chamber was scary, created the mood and was fun. Although I conceived the idea of the chamber, the thing that really counted was the help I received from Chris, Nicky, Ivan and Zhi Xian. Even they agreed the whole place looked eerily scary after it had been set up. There was one massive downside though, it was terribly hot. A fan would have been good, just one.
Some things didn't go as well as planned in theory. First of all the lights in the reception went off and could not be turned on. It may have been a good thing, but considering that it was pitch black and we had already put cellophane tape on the lights to change the colour to red...it was sad. The next thing was that the gas chamber dry ice failed. The flow was terrible...If I knew better, I would have read up abit on how to effectively make the dry ice melt and smother the whole floor full of it. The place was too hot and victims were too hot to be scared at all...sometimes it was scary but all in all, it was a big fail.
After games was over we realized that even a small globule of dry ice could emit a epic cloud of gas. It needed maximal surface area and maximal hot water! Both of which were not achieved in the gas chamber and therefore contributed to the failure. It was funny and we learned from the many mistakes that occurred in the chamber and hopefully in future ones would make the logistics simpler and make the entire chamber more scary and fun!
Today I woke up at 1pm. Great. Now my body clock is permanently screwed up my biological clock will only want me to sleep today at 4am??!?! I hope not that terrible but lets see how it goes. Anyway I had a great time again today, like right after today's games, there was a nerf gun competition that was held in pasir ris. I loved it to the max, it was with primary school friends and the atmosphere was pretty fast paced and adrenaline was pumping through my veins.Wei Xiu, Say Koon and I formed TRIPOD! Just 10 minutes of competition divided into two rounds of 5min each with half time. That 10 minutes seemed like literally eternity! It was more fun than it looked to be! Shooting targets was more difficult than it seemed to be as well! I loved how the competition had a commentator who provided the funniest comments ever.
The competition began and the rules were in our mind:
tag two dart boards to allow entry into the opposing team's territory. Shoot one more board to enable our defense person to use the mega blaster to defend our flag. Once done, we could either capture the opponent's flag or we could proceed to shoot more targets at the opponent's base. We could also choose to shoot the opponents themselves! Which would result in them having a 10s detention in their base before they can return out to shoot.
The blaster we were using were the worst I have ever played with in my life! They kept jamming! The most embarrassing moment I would say happened during the very start of the game when the horn was sounded. I ran lightning speed to the front to shoot the enemy dart board and realised I couldnt fire! I searched frantically for the gun cocking mechanism but it continued to elude my senses! I looked hopelessly at the referees... who were standing right beside me, probably thinking what a noob I was...and asked for help. They showed me and I said....ORH!!! I actually knew how to cock the gun, but at that point just simply forgot...lol....the funniest thing was right after I was about to reload the gun again, I forgot how to cock the gun again!
The game was so fun and so exciting I wish I could join yet another one. I hope to join the one next year when the opportunity arises. Meeting up with primary school friends was a fun experience and these events are just some of the activities of my holiday weekends.
I am very very excited about today. What began as a small comment by graham for the conception of a night games torture chamber grew in size, scale and complexity to become the full scale battlefield of logistics and creative inputs that we have before us.
It is the first time I have been so hyped up about such a thing in a long time. Perhaps its because organising a torture chamber has always been something I liked. Something interesting, fun, scary for the youth campers of the retreat. New bold daring plans have been set on the table, things that have never been tried in previous camps. On my side, my chamber was divided into 4 major sections: one for girls/noobs XD...two for medium core and one for hardcore. The names of the stations were: reception, physical, fear cell, alley way and gas chamber. Of all, I was the proudest and most excited about the gas chamber. Using dry ice (which was the biggest spending point! $66 for 10kg!!! )as the gas of the chamber, it aims to turn the dark stairwell into the most frightening place on earth. The music was epic, taken from the horror film: mirrors. There would also be a figure from scream the movie over there to scare the wits out of every soul that enters it.
Now for the one in present tense:
Its been a long day. Games ended at 4am today. In the end, people were tired but happy. Nothing was more satisfying than hearing people say that the chamber was scary, created the mood and was fun. Although I conceived the idea of the chamber, the thing that really counted was the help I received from Chris, Nicky, Ivan and Zhi Xian. Even they agreed the whole place looked eerily scary after it had been set up. There was one massive downside though, it was terribly hot. A fan would have been good, just one.
Some things didn't go as well as planned in theory. First of all the lights in the reception went off and could not be turned on. It may have been a good thing, but considering that it was pitch black and we had already put cellophane tape on the lights to change the colour to red...it was sad. The next thing was that the gas chamber dry ice failed. The flow was terrible...If I knew better, I would have read up abit on how to effectively make the dry ice melt and smother the whole floor full of it. The place was too hot and victims were too hot to be scared at all...sometimes it was scary but all in all, it was a big fail.
After games was over we realized that even a small globule of dry ice could emit a epic cloud of gas. It needed maximal surface area and maximal hot water! Both of which were not achieved in the gas chamber and therefore contributed to the failure. It was funny and we learned from the many mistakes that occurred in the chamber and hopefully in future ones would make the logistics simpler and make the entire chamber more scary and fun!
Today I woke up at 1pm. Great. Now my body clock is permanently screwed up my biological clock will only want me to sleep today at 4am??!?! I hope not that terrible but lets see how it goes. Anyway I had a great time again today, like right after today's games, there was a nerf gun competition that was held in pasir ris. I loved it to the max, it was with primary school friends and the atmosphere was pretty fast paced and adrenaline was pumping through my veins.Wei Xiu, Say Koon and I formed TRIPOD! Just 10 minutes of competition divided into two rounds of 5min each with half time. That 10 minutes seemed like literally eternity! It was more fun than it looked to be! Shooting targets was more difficult than it seemed to be as well! I loved how the competition had a commentator who provided the funniest comments ever.
The competition began and the rules were in our mind:
tag two dart boards to allow entry into the opposing team's territory. Shoot one more board to enable our defense person to use the mega blaster to defend our flag. Once done, we could either capture the opponent's flag or we could proceed to shoot more targets at the opponent's base. We could also choose to shoot the opponents themselves! Which would result in them having a 10s detention in their base before they can return out to shoot.
The blaster we were using were the worst I have ever played with in my life! They kept jamming! The most embarrassing moment I would say happened during the very start of the game when the horn was sounded. I ran lightning speed to the front to shoot the enemy dart board and realised I couldnt fire! I searched frantically for the gun cocking mechanism but it continued to elude my senses! I looked hopelessly at the referees... who were standing right beside me, probably thinking what a noob I was...and asked for help. They showed me and I said....ORH!!! I actually knew how to cock the gun, but at that point just simply forgot...lol....the funniest thing was right after I was about to reload the gun again, I forgot how to cock the gun again!
The game was so fun and so exciting I wish I could join yet another one. I hope to join the one next year when the opportunity arises. Meeting up with primary school friends was a fun experience and these events are just some of the activities of my holiday weekends.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Pumping Iron week 3
First of all, sorry that I have not been updating on how my program was progressing. I was just too caught up to actually write about it. It has been going rather well with nice progression made during the first two weeks of proper training. The training schedule looks like this:
Day 1Major
Exercise | Sets | reps |
3 | 8-14 | |
Pec Flyes | 3 | 8-14 |
Leg presses | 3 | 8-14 |
Shoulder front press | 3 | 8-14 |
Close grip machine Seated rows | 3 | 8-14 |
Ab crunches and leg raises | 3 | 8-14 |
Day 3 Major
Exercise | Sets | reps |
Military press | 3 | 8-14 |
Inclined bench press | 3 | 8-14 |
Close grip cable Seated rows | 3 | 8-14 |
Underhand Cable extension | 3 | 8-14 |
Ab crunches and leg raises | 3 | 8-14 |
Lat pull down | 3 | 8-14 |
Day 5 Major
Exercise | Sets | reps |
bench press | 3 | 8-14 |
Leg extensions | 3 | 8-14 |
Lat pull down | 3 | 8-14 |
Shoulder front press | 3 | 8-14 |
Ab crunches and leg raises | 3 | 8-14 |
Close grip machine Seated rows | 3 | 8-14 |
Day 7 Minor
Exercise | Sets | reps |
Inclined bench press | 3 | 8-14 |
Lying triceps extension | 3 | 8-14 |
Underhand Cable extension | 3 | 8-14 |
Dumbbell curls | 3 | 8-14 |
For now, I am still on the moderate intensity, moderate volume regime. Within a few more weeks, I will be switching over to a new high volume, low intensity program. Apparently, studies have shown (and i am thoroughly convinced that this is the way to go towards good muscle growth) it is also known as the german volume training (GVT) and it involves high number of sets and high number of reps with low weights. There are a few examples I can think off right away that proves that high volume exercises work to encourage hypertrophy much more than low volume, high intensity. So yes, I am working towards that goal.
For now, sadly I have done a few errors in my training. I have made the mistake of deviating from proper form for some exercises just to get the reps up. I have also assumed progress to be too slow and jumped weights too fast. I will be watching out more for these errors and correcting them as I go along.
In the meantime, I will keeping strict records of my training schedule and hopefully post it up someday for reference.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Core 2 Duo
Random topic title just to get into the mood. Yes I know the processor model is outdated but that's not the point and you get what I mean...
In recent days, my activities have just simply taken a turn for 'skyrocket' (lousy English there) adequate planning would be required in order for everything to run on clockwork schedule and yet still have some nice free time in store.
For starters, there is Elsie (my cousin) and Chris's wedding, and being in the family I definitely cannot shy away from much responsibilities. I would be glad to be of any help to her though and it no doubt will be another interesting fun-filled experience.
There is of course my regular gym schedule which is almost set to turn killer full-time in just two or three more weeks. I find myself getting more and more hyped up about going to gym. It's now become a hobby to me. The hype has certainly built many times upon itself since the start of this February when I started gyming for the first time in a few years.
Of course we cannot neglect the other friend catch up outings. I would rather maintain fewer closer friends than many acquaintances. A balance of both are good I would say and you really cannot have all close and no acquaintances. They (acquaintances) actually play an important part in our lives, without them we lose our ability to casual talk in my opinion. Too many acquaintances can also be bad when we cannot delve into personal issues and cannot be informal in the way we speak. So my point is, do not forget your long time friends, other than the fact that some day you never know when you need help, it is always nice to have friends who care for one another.
Holidays are really beefing up and spicing up! Wasn't that what I always wanted? A well-planned eventful holiday? Or would I rather have had an uneventful, slack, rejuvenatory holiday? I really do not know...
I have also one more thing I have to just let go...
these past few weeks since my emotional state of love that I should not have been, I have since recovered and have not thought much about it. I have been thinking very objectively about my feelings toward her though, like why do I even like her? What really draws me to her despite her obviously having no romantic interest in me whatsoever? I am battling an emotional war between thinking that she may have feelings for me and on the other hand knowing so crystal clear that she does not! I have also considered that it isn't good to really go into a relationship now and also leave the friendship nice as it is. So the conclusion of the matter is that I am going to keep the matter firmly to myself, not pursue, let go basically. It would be sad story for me in the long term (3rd person perspective) seeing how I have actually liked her for so long yet not really done anything, and would never do anything and eventually seeing her get attached and eventually married to another person. Its really 'romantic drama' like if you will...
'I can never have you'
That also happened to be the title of the song in which I have composed for her and not yet given a bridge for but rest assured I will be completing it soon and hopefully get some music penned down. Anyway, since that is now out of the way, let life continue!
In recent days, my activities have just simply taken a turn for 'skyrocket' (lousy English there) adequate planning would be required in order for everything to run on clockwork schedule and yet still have some nice free time in store.
For starters, there is Elsie (my cousin) and Chris's wedding, and being in the family I definitely cannot shy away from much responsibilities. I would be glad to be of any help to her though and it no doubt will be another interesting fun-filled experience.
There is of course my regular gym schedule which is almost set to turn killer full-time in just two or three more weeks. I find myself getting more and more hyped up about going to gym. It's now become a hobby to me. The hype has certainly built many times upon itself since the start of this February when I started gyming for the first time in a few years.
Of course we cannot neglect the other friend catch up outings. I would rather maintain fewer closer friends than many acquaintances. A balance of both are good I would say and you really cannot have all close and no acquaintances. They (acquaintances) actually play an important part in our lives, without them we lose our ability to casual talk in my opinion. Too many acquaintances can also be bad when we cannot delve into personal issues and cannot be informal in the way we speak. So my point is, do not forget your long time friends, other than the fact that some day you never know when you need help, it is always nice to have friends who care for one another.
Holidays are really beefing up and spicing up! Wasn't that what I always wanted? A well-planned eventful holiday? Or would I rather have had an uneventful, slack, rejuvenatory holiday? I really do not know...
I have also one more thing I have to just let go...
these past few weeks since my emotional state of love that I should not have been, I have since recovered and have not thought much about it. I have been thinking very objectively about my feelings toward her though, like why do I even like her? What really draws me to her despite her obviously having no romantic interest in me whatsoever? I am battling an emotional war between thinking that she may have feelings for me and on the other hand knowing so crystal clear that she does not! I have also considered that it isn't good to really go into a relationship now and also leave the friendship nice as it is. So the conclusion of the matter is that I am going to keep the matter firmly to myself, not pursue, let go basically. It would be sad story for me in the long term (3rd person perspective) seeing how I have actually liked her for so long yet not really done anything, and would never do anything and eventually seeing her get attached and eventually married to another person. Its really 'romantic drama' like if you will...
'I can never have you'
That also happened to be the title of the song in which I have composed for her and not yet given a bridge for but rest assured I will be completing it soon and hopefully get some music penned down. Anyway, since that is now out of the way, let life continue!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Results Day
Okay, yesterday was results day and not today. During the course of this semester, I knew my priorities had shifted, I knew that studies were not taking the front seat anymore. It should have been quiet time and devotionals but no, it was another thing. It was my gym program. Now that it is the holidays, that gym program has now become almost full time. So yeah, this semester my effort was honestly rather mediocre.
Nothing could have surprised me more. First surprise, I woke up at the same time that that the sms was sent to my phone. The interesting thing is that the phone was off. I looked at the sms and did a nervous scan through and thought...WHAT?
My results were almost described as awesome! (if you compared it with all my other semesters results) I had scored 3 A-s! I had 2 Bs and one B-. Now what had I done to really deserve this? I couldnt help but compare my effort to the previous semester in which I mugged very hard for the better half of the whole semester and this semester - in which I was gyming. I had dreamt the previous night that I would get a C in my physics and I was more or less prepared for the possibility but when I looked at it and saw it was a B I was glad.
What is God trying to tell me with this results? I rather not interpret really...I will just continue what I always want to do, just stay healthy, study well and leave the rest to Him.
The rest of the day was pretty anti-climax to say the least. Here I was, on my way to work and monitoring the background concentration of particles in the lab (as I have been doing for the past week) and met the rest who also did very well. After some discussion, we finally agreed that because the smarter people left for industrial attachment, hence the happiness was there to stay. Haha...which also implied that next semester it would be business as usual, no more triple A anymore.
I can live with it actually. I don't really expect any grade to top this semesters grade. Would not ever have dreamed that in a whole university life where only one A- was acquired...that in one semester I would get three in one go.
The most anti-climax thing was my dad really, who had almost no flinch whatsoever when I broke the news to him. What?? My mum was the really more happy one for some reason. For that same reason, I think I decided that results weren't that great a deal afterall, which was true to a certain extent. After everything was settled I felt that the day just went on anyway.
Now that results are out and everything is more or less back to normal, I guess I can safely return to my holiday mood and back to whatever I was always doing.
Nothing could have surprised me more. First surprise, I woke up at the same time that that the sms was sent to my phone. The interesting thing is that the phone was off. I looked at the sms and did a nervous scan through and thought...WHAT?
My results were almost described as awesome! (if you compared it with all my other semesters results) I had scored 3 A-s! I had 2 Bs and one B-. Now what had I done to really deserve this? I couldnt help but compare my effort to the previous semester in which I mugged very hard for the better half of the whole semester and this semester - in which I was gyming. I had dreamt the previous night that I would get a C in my physics and I was more or less prepared for the possibility but when I looked at it and saw it was a B I was glad.
What is God trying to tell me with this results? I rather not interpret really...I will just continue what I always want to do, just stay healthy, study well and leave the rest to Him.
The rest of the day was pretty anti-climax to say the least. Here I was, on my way to work and monitoring the background concentration of particles in the lab (as I have been doing for the past week) and met the rest who also did very well. After some discussion, we finally agreed that because the smarter people left for industrial attachment, hence the happiness was there to stay. Haha...which also implied that next semester it would be business as usual, no more triple A anymore.
I can live with it actually. I don't really expect any grade to top this semesters grade. Would not ever have dreamed that in a whole university life where only one A- was acquired...that in one semester I would get three in one go.
The most anti-climax thing was my dad really, who had almost no flinch whatsoever when I broke the news to him. What?? My mum was the really more happy one for some reason. For that same reason, I think I decided that results weren't that great a deal afterall, which was true to a certain extent. After everything was settled I felt that the day just went on anyway.
Now that results are out and everything is more or less back to normal, I guess I can safely return to my holiday mood and back to whatever I was always doing.
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