A moment of life~

Greetings,

How long has it been since I last felt inspired to write? How long has it been since I last decided to record my thoughts in this form? Well once again here I am, in this place now so unfamiliar.

Some days ago a friend of mine gave me an interesting thought through our conversation. We were talking about the upcoming FOC and she was saying that I might meet some girls of fancy there if I patronize. And she said:

“...at least it is something special that can happen in your uni life…” -Laurie

For a moment I was dumbstruck. For it was a sentiment that had never occurred to me before. To have something special in any part of my life. Suddenly, so simply, yet subtlety I realized that throughout the many phases of my life that I had lived, I had never once thought about how I might be able to define it as to have “something special” about it. Needless to say, to have something special in my university life.

It is not just about something special as in a relationship or anything of that sort. It is about whether I had anything special that I could use to define my life. Or any part of it for that matter. Something I can so confide in, that I can so honestly call it truly special to me, in my life.

By her few simple words, she made me realize that, I have never thought, never tried to make any part of my life special before. That I have resigned to the fact that I will live an ordinary life. How shameful. Have you thought about how you can make your life special? I know now I have not.

Let us change that shall we?

Fortuitously, just moments before, another friend of mine gave me another interesting thought through our conversation. We were talking about how our lives have been after the tumultuous exams and how we each have some misgivings about how we ought to be spending our time. And she said:

“…nvm lahx. juz focus on wad u wan nw. enjoy ur moment of life…” -Doreen

It was apt for us since we had practically no life prior to our exams. But after I gave it some thought, I realize that this was not just an apt phrase. It is particularly defining phrase and reminder.

A reminder that our life is afterall, just a brief moment in time. That we only have by standard of history, a brief moment to live. And that we only have this so very short time, blink of eye, bright flashing fragile spark of life that we can make our lives worth living.

If you have read Stephan Hawkins’ book, “A Brief History of Time”, you’ll concur how our history is indeed very brief, amidst the great depths of discovery that awaits us, in the vast void of oblivion that is the reality we exist in.

Shall we make the most of this “moment”?

=]

http://www.sold.sg/?afcd=friend&friend_id=c2f7ed1ee64244a83699d29345ce1e93a07a2d9a

Donna Donna...

Greetings,

I have a song share... oh...

On 179 bound for NTU

There's a student with a mournful eye

High above him there's a swallow

Winging swiftly through the sky

How the winds are laughing

They laugh with all their might

Laugh and laugh the whole day through

And half the semester's night

Donna donna donna donna, donna donna donna don,

donna donna donna donna, donna donna donna don

"Stop complaining," said the Lecturer,

"Who told you a student to be

Why don't you have wings to fly with

Like the swallow so proud and free?"

Students are easily bound and slaughtered

Never knowing the reason why

But whoever treasures freedom

Like the swallow has learned to fly

How the winds are laughing

They laugh with all their might

Laugh and laugh the whole day through

And half the semester's night

Donna donna donna donna, donna donna donna don,

donna donna donna donna, donna donna donna do....

Vindicated

Greetings,

Reading a newspaper article yesterday enlightened me to a new terminology! How very refreshing, given that its been ages since I came across anything intellectually gratifying. muahaha..here it goes

The psychologist Martin Seligman gave the world the term "learned helplessness". His expriments indicated that animals that perceive themselves in a situation of unavoidable discomfort will finally just learn to accept the situation unconditionally.

Human beings do that too. We learn to act helpless, even if we have the power to change circumstances. "Once that happens, they become passive recipients, and there is no motivation for them to do anything."

Im sure this rings a bell to every Singaporean. Especially the guys... Learned helplessness... NS. No analogy required. haha. We have a common name for it even, "Lan-Lan Suck Thumb".

NS aside, hasn't it always been said and told that Singaporeans are an apathetic bunch? Think of the average you and me. How often have we felt that, "This is impossible, there is no better way than that, I will need this before I can move on, I cannot achieve this unless I am like them", etc. Often even in school, we are told that "things are just this way". "Accept this", "Just do it like this". Helpless.

Over time we have learned to be helpless, that unless we have this and that, we are helpless. Are we really ever helpless? How much of our life have we let slip out of our hands by simply denying that we can clench our own fate?

Think Michael Phelps. The goofy guy who won 8 olympic medals, breaking 7 in world record times. Many have told him it cannot be done. The rest is now legend.


For all of you out there who have a dream, don't lose faith! Life is lived in your own way. And for those who don't yet have a goal in life, take heart and carve your own path.

Don't learn to be helpless!!!

So nice wor~

Greetings,

Heres a little something I received from from one of my specialists who has since ORD-ed. Nice guy..

Dear Sir,

Wah lao why go NTU? Come NUS! Haha. Anyway time really flew ever since we started working together since mid June 2007. It has been a memorable and fruitful seven months of partnership. All the EXs ah, the admin stuffs and platoon related issues that we overcame with flying colors. All these experiences have forced [me] to become a more mature person. This "forced" growing process was an invisible force. I did not even know what hit me until the process was complete. I was transformed from a spoilt kid to today an ambitious youth with lofty dreams in mere months. All these would not have been possible without your influence.

Yok Zuan you are an awesome commander and a good friend. You are like an owl of our platoon. An owl with sharp eyes that watches over us all the time, swooping to our rescue at first sight of trouble. A good friend that offers a listening ear to all who needs it and golden advices it comes with. This is starting to sound like a testinomial but even if it is one, this one is really from the bottom of my heart.

I want you to know that i really appreciated all the [care] and guidance during my time in our platoon. I have been excited about this day for as long as I can remember with all the hype about fresh start and new chapter in life after ORD. Now that the day has finally arrived, I do feel reluctant to leave behind such a wonderful company. I'm only leaving with a tinge of reluctance but no regrets because I know our guys are in good hands under your leadership.

Yours sincerely,

Yi Xin

Awww... thx for letting me post this up, Mr Yi Xin. haha. Cya at TSG. ORD loh~!

Are you Social?

Greetings,

I recently came across somewhat of a revelation on what it means to be human. While I take pride in thinking that I knew much aplenty on the physical and biological aspects of what makes a human being, it has never quite occurred to me the importance of one particular facet of humanity. That humans are, very much meant to be social beings.

I sometimes resign myself to being anti-social. Even to the extent that I tell myself, “yes, it is a good thing”. Its a way of preventing oneself from getting into difficult interpersonal situations. And sometimes it is even a requirement in our working or learning context to be somewhat anti-social.

So why does things become this way? Many people blame it on “Society”, but why does society, the very definition of which is the extension of the human social instinct, drives people to the state of being anti-social?

Individualism. No doubt this is the inherent and hidden buzz word of many a cultures one can find abound. In fact, if you take a little time to listen to any commercial or speech you will be hard pressed to find any mentioning of phrases like, “our success”. You will be more likely to hear phrases of, “your success depends on..” or “my success depends on...”.

When it comes to relationships, individuals think it is a choice for one to choose whether to enter into or to withdraw from. We increasingly think in terms of “what you owe me” rather than what we owe others. We feel that one has the rights, the rights to certain possessions and we think very defensively.

Have you ever thought of what you will teach your children next time to help them succeed? We expect to teach our children the street-wise skills of doing well in school, fighting for jobs, surviving in politics, fighting for your rights. How about the skills of how to maintain relationships or cultivate good ones? Have you thought of that?

With the age of individualism, the law has provisions for human rights. And while it is indeed important to prevent exploitation of people, no one has ever bothered to explain that these laws are "legal negotiations, not ethical statements". Your rights are legal, but how you exert them should be based on your own moral and ethical beliefs.

Our doors have never been stronger, and our window grills never been safer. Surveillance and security cameras have never been more advance. And suicide rates have never been higher.

We can have wealth and health and many an intellectual pursuits. You can build defenses around your life to minimize social contact but without this very human, very innate element of being social, are you ever as much as you can be? Are you happy?

Which came 1st? De Chicken or De Egg?

Greetings,

Let us take a moment and return to ze age old question that we never really bothered to attempt while we were kids... Which came 1^st?

The Chicken or the Egg?

You might say that there is no answer to this question. I say there is! And theres more than one!

1# The Egg came 1st!

Most of mainstream science agrees that all life on earth once evolved from simple organisms like bacteria. Through evolution as creatures slowly but surely accumulate changes and mutations in their DNA, more and more complex organisms appeared. Like the dog from wolves and man from apes etc. One can envision that once upon a time, chickens came from a kind of bird that didn't look like chickens. One day, a slightly mutated chicken-ancestor laid an egg that bore the genes to create the chicken that we know today. And voila~! Our beloved chicken has arrived from the egg of a non-chicken. So the 1^st chicken was born; from the egg!

2#The Chicken came 1st!

From a taxonomic point of view, of course the chicken came 1st! The world as we know it, is only

as we define it. Just as noise is only defined as noise when someone is there to hear it. In the

beginning, when humans 1^st decided to categorize the Chicken (Gallus gallus, sometimes G. gallus domesticus), they look to the bird itself and recognize the species from that bird, not so much the egg. Thus, that bird 1^st become known as the “Chicken”, from the fowl, and not from its egg. Thus, as far human's description is concerned, the “Chicken” came 1st!

lalala~

Tribute to the moon

Greetings,

Heres a little something interesting to share...