Question

Have the girls finished their exams?

女人们，加油！！

hihi! i believe exams are around the corner for the girls and so jiayou to all of you. i need a lot of oil too..

ntu exam ends around early or mid may and after that, we'll be havin HOLIDAY til late july or early august... nus shld be around there oso rite? so u guys may want to take that into consideration for the next class outing. yeapz. kbox or beach.. its fine with me..

most imptly, good luck to all. angeline, you are not forgotten!! 保重 and keep in shape! muahaha...

to the guys, i have a song for you all...

"NS-ing, happy-ing, 心情就像是坐上一台喷射机...."

heyaz.... realli interesting to see a sudden influx of great entries frm quite a number of ppl.. haha.. well thx to bina who graciously put up an interesting n rather inspirational entry on education in our dear country n even abt the whole idea of education itself.... so since we're still on the topic of education (or am i a little too slow.. hahz.. :P) maybe i'll juz write abt wat i tink abt education n wat i got out of it... maybe nt so much abt how itz like in singapore... but more abt education as a whole...

well i'm nt writing to debunk anyone's case on education... coz i do believe dat everyone is entitled to their own views no matter how strongly i feel abt themn in no way will i impose my views to warp those of others... dis is my disclaimer as well as one of the few principles i adhere to in life.... so if wat i write seems to disagree with ur views in any way... pls bear with me... i realli dun mean to degrade ur beliefs in any way....

well anyway to me... i do appreciate the knowledge gained frm education.. as fish has mentioned in his entry dat knowledge is power... the power to build... to destroy... to edify... to corrupt... but to me... wat i realli value abt education is dat thru education... we can develop a taste for the quest for dat knowledge... as most cliche-ists profess -- itz nt the end dat matters... itz the journey b4 dat matters more... i tink bina has brought dis up strongly in her entry but i muz emphasise dat itz the analytical n applicative skills dat we pick up with learning n the constant refining of those skills dat realli matter the most... datz wat realli makes us learned n essentially wat makes us human....

i do find it a great pity dat the art of philosophy is nt taught in our education system here in singapore.... perhaps it requires too much resources dat would result in too little or even no returns in future... well as they say most if nt all things boil down to money... hahz... well anyway philosophy is realli an art of thought... it teaches us nt onli to recognise knowledge... but also how to deal with it... itz realli an art of refining thought.... the art of logic by connecting truths and knowledge to form something with meaning... or the science in metaphysics which i frankly dun realli subscribe to.. hahz.. :P or the depth in ethics which deals with the veri essence of wat we shld essentially be like as human beings.... n something dat our deteriorating world desperately needs...

i do tink dat philosophy is essential as part of education... bt well.. as bina has mentioned again... itz hard to force feed students with stuff they're nt interested it... perhaps itz our whole mindset toward education.. where grades r all there is to it n stuff w/o grades dun matter at all.... i guess with dat mindset itz hard to bring philosophy into the picture at any rate.... itz realli a regrettable loss but such is life...

well i guess i onli haf dat to say abt education.. hahz... but anyway i'll juz like to respond to wee lee's entry... i'm glad u didn't respond to such a situation in indifference... i guess there would be some who would be so self-centred dat they would tink of such a situation as a re-enactment in a serial instead of something datz so real n relevant to all of us as in the case of the second person.... or in the case of the first person a sense of commonality instead of an utter disgust in witnessing such weakness or even failure of the human spirit.... well i do appreciate wat u mentioned in the last paragraph.... i do believe dat everyone doesn't need to learn how to treasure ur family n frenz the hard way... altho such a situation would be more of an ideal than a reality... well... sometimes it can't be help when the onli means of gain is thru loss.... well anyway dun worry abt ur english.. haha... as long as u can get ur points across ur thoughts r still as significant.... ^^

well i'll leave it as dat... catch up with ya peeps soon... (jieyu: class outing!! weeee~~~)

aching story

something to share with you guys... A fresh batch of recruits just came to my camp for BMT, within 4 days, I had sent 2 guys to the SAF ward. SAF ward is a psychological ward which houses soldiers who are in " psychological distress ". The first guy who went in was a guy who was admitted due to suicide intent, who was obviously a " kengster ", he told me that this place was " shiok" like chalet like that. I felt like giving him 1 tight slap! there was the other guy, who had depression and was " zi bi". He kept bowing his head down, and when you ask him anything, he will say "i dont know" in chinese and keep staring at the floor. I think after the 3 rd day, he started to not speak at all and after 48hrs, i was told to sent him to the SAF ward at Alexendra hospital. upon reaching there, we were told to wait for the doc, in the meantime, me and his commander tried talking sense onto him for 3 hours, non-stop! because i heard from the medics there that the doc may sent him to woodbridge. I tried to get him to talk so that the doc will know what is his problem but to no avail. Than his father came, I talk to him, as we talk, i saw that at the corner of his eyes, tears were welling up and he started to choke on his words. The guy lost his mother at a young age and his father is supporting a whole family of 5 ppl and he is earning quite little. To see his son in such a condition, it wrenches his heart+ mine too. I felt very sorry for the father and helpless at the same time that i cannot do anything more to comfort the father. After that i felt so lucky that i have a nice family.

Sometimes it takes a little reminder to realised that you are actually very blessed to have your family members around you, and that things that you take for granted seem so significant when you lost it. i hope that you guys would treasure your family and friends and that no painful lesson is needed to remind you of it!

Cheers,
(P.S dorry for my poor standard of Eng :) )

Mayo Jar and the 2 Cups of Coffee (repost)

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle,
when 24 hours in a day are not enough,
remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.When the class began,he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.He then asked the students if the jar was full.They agreed that it was.The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.He shook the jar lightly.The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.He then asked the students again if the jar was full.They agreed it was.The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.Of course, the sand filled up everything else.He asked once more if the jar was full.The students responded with a unanimous "yes."The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed."Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided,"I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.The sand is everything else---the small stuff."If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued,"there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.The same goes for life.If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you."Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.Play with your children.Take time to get medical checkups.Take your spouse out to dinner.Play another 18.There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter.Set your priorities.The rest is just sand." One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend." Please share this with someone you care about.

Got this from Uncle Gerald's blog.. jzu reposted it.. coz i thought it was realli meaningful....

fish says

I don't know why there is a reference to Deb there..but well i juz hope tat everything is well and fine for her....

I guess if anyone wants to see what education gives, we juz need to look at what bina and tee typed... contrasting it maybe, it's views that comes when someone is educated. Be it through books or through life, education comes in many forms... and we all will one day realise out limits in the world of academics, it's not the end of e route. It's juz the beginning of another.

I'm not going to discuss much abt what they typed..i'm jzu going to pur my thoughts out..in this early wee hours of 0310. Knowledge... to me is Power... i see knowledge as power. Which is why pple crave knowledge. By knowing more, they "know" e way to go, the things to do, the "right" choice. At least the choice that is right to them. Education will fail if fails to impart values. More than often, education as focus solely on knowledge, i mean knowledge in the quatitative side of life. White collar crimes are definately not to due to the lack of knowledge, but rather to a lack of values. It hurts me to see a knowledgable person, heading down the path of crimes due to a lack of moral intergrity. The years of education had done nothing but to put the power to destroy himself in his own hands. Education have done him no good, and that he wld be better off as an uneduated farmer in the rural areas, living a simple life.

I think we have all been trying too hard to do well academically. Till a point that sometimes we can try every trick in e book to do "well" academically. Here I am... writing abt this, i feel rather guilty... guilty because i do not know how to say no.. yes how to say no..to a friend who ask me to help her type an assignment. No, not juz to edit, but to do an assignment. The way that she goes..." when the topic was given, the first thing i thought abt is you. Coz i rmb u wrote something similiar" It didn't strike me as a compliment that I was engaged to help, but it rather make me feel sad... sad that someone in the higher level of education can actually have so little pride in their own work.

It set me thinking, thinking abt myself. I guess I went down this road too, the road of copying homework just to make sure that I completed it. Perhaps, that why i never love maths, becoz i have nver prided myself in completing my own assignments. In that one or two times that I did it all by myself, i felt a sense of satisfaction, but that wasn't stronger than e need to finish the work to avoid punishment. Come to think of it...i feel ashame of myself now... coz i copied work... i wasn't proud of my own work... and i realli regretted doing such a thing in the past. But I dare say that I have never at least consciously, asked someone else to do my assignment and claim it to be mine.

I dunnoe how many pple are doin it now... when i told Khor, he told me amny pple in uni do that... tat's kinda of sad... perhaps in this quest for knowledge, or in this quest to attain the honours, we have lost our moral compass somewhere. The integrity..... somebody once said, integrity won't feed you. I borrowed it and said it a few times... perhaps it's true..but izzit that worthless? I guess it's not for me to judge....

Breaking away from all this crap shit.... i'm GOING into ORDing mood...i'm so looking forward to finishing my national service... I think it have given me something, putting things into perspective for me. It has taken much from me too, but that's only fair..i guess... and now for something even mroe lighthearted... i think I got the STEAL of the month...haha... thanks to mr Khor who convince me tat it is... and I have not regretted it ever since i bought my new WALLET...haha...

Guys lets have another class outing... soon alright... dateline..b4 my birthday..*hint hint* when e girls are free and e guys are not confined.... acutalli i'm thinking of Kbox... maybe becos i only been to kbox once, and that was with e class...and the other few times that u guys go, i have missed out on it... either by my own undoing or commitments. Anyone, anytime????

Wow, finally a more serious tone has set in in this blog.
Kinda inspiring i should say.
"The only thing that cannot be stolen from you is knowledge. If it does, you are already dead."
I have very contradictory views about this.
In my view, there are two points of focus in the sentence. One is "only", the other is "stolen".
"Only" being an absolute and "stolen" being so strong. When both are placed together, it gives this very solemn kind of feeling to me.
While i believe that knowledge is something that cannot be stolen but being the only thing?
Without any doubts, I think this statement is a great motivation for one to pursue knowledge. But is knowledge a derivative of something greater, stronger? Like passion?
Passion to move forward, to succeed, to overcome.
Passion to learn, to retain, to renew.
That is passion in this aspect.
If knowledge can be stored, it must have been dealt with a great deal of determination and (pardon me)passion.
We have strived for details, facts, skills for the past 20 years and im quite sure we have lost some of them. Skills we may have not but nonetheless i believe that they can be stolen from us by time and arrogance in some cases.
Maybe we should view the issue in a more optimistic way.
The ones that are not being able to be stolen can be considered as knowledge?
Wisdom do not actually have to be attributed solely to academic, skill efficency or physical strength.
Wisdom, knowledge, virtues and their true meanings are so vague in this vast space.
Life.
Maybe, just maybe it matters in a more personal charisma. Knowledgable anot, we leave it to the consequences to decide.
Yet we have to take into account that the lives that are led are not by others or by the situation but rather by the one living it.

damned

Went back to school...

Went back to visit NYJC yesterday and managed to talk to Mrs Tan. I wanted to talk to Mr Adrian Tan too but he was busy. Damn. Had a short chat with Ms Fernandez. Anyway, seeing the very un-selfish person that I am, I asked her to write something nice for the class in case ya'll don't have time to visit her... and she did:



In case you guys don't know (probably I was the only one), she's pregnant and due to deliver on the 3rd of June! We just might be able to go to her house when her baby is one month old. Our class never had the chance to go over to her house before, so it's ABOUT TIME!



I'll be back again next time to chat! Ooh, and keep the where/what you studying coming!

Compilation

I know it's a bit bo liao nowadays but just for fun, I'd like to know what EVERYONE's doing in UNI - ie what course and which uni you're at. Because it's difficult to remember, it'd be nice to come up with a list. FOR THE HELL OF IT. So just scribble it down in the tagboard or start and entry and I'll be doing the compilation! :P

Me - NTU - Information and Communication Studies.

happy bday

hehe... well... here's a realli realli belated happy bday to both weijie's... haha... well juz tot i'll put in an entry b4 my due date for yh pestering is up.... haha... well anyway haven't heard frm tan weijie.... hope life's great in armour... n as for mr tee.... here's wishing u all the best for ur commissioning... haha... i'll see if i can make it or notz for the parade... see if anyone gg with me oso..hah.... ok larz... to all those studying/slogging it out for coming exams/quizzes/projects.... well.... haf fun? haha... well juz wish u ppl all the best n all the strength to get thru with them too... so til the nxt entry.. ciaoz... ^^

PS: well juz let u ppl noe dat me blog is baq up again... juz recently cleared up the cobwebs n added a couple more entries... so if u guyz haf too much time in ur hands n juz need to kill time... u can murder it at me webbie n kill some brain cells at the same time... hahz... ciaoz...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY T WJSssssSSSS

since i see no post i decided to take the liberty of wishing both wei jie s a v happy twentieth birthday
my first blog in....months
sad to see that right?
alright i'll skip this part since im in commissioning mood(that is a mix between extreme tireness, elation and depression)
i thought pleng's entry on the quote about the penny thing is quite interesting
and i do like those pictures posted
ok i don't have anything to say alr(if you can see how pathetically im trying to churn out thoughts)
my laptop is chui and i don't really have a platform now :(
anyway, guys if you all want to come for my commissiong its on the 11th march at SAFTI MI parade square from 17.15 onwards
Im sorry i don't have buffet tickets and grand stand tickets left as they cost quite a bit and its kinda limited so.....its nothing much actually the parade
have fun studying people!
and protecting Singapore too!