keep it simple

clever things on toilet walls

2011-05-16T17:42:00.002+08:00

six
this sentence contains thirty ~~eight~~ letters.

qs

2011-02-08T21:05:00.000+08:00

way overdue. but i ate so much for new year my fingers couldn't each hit only a single key until today. so during my teaching stint last month, there're many people i want to thank and have thanked one way or the other. this is the last bit. i want to thank the people on my bus. when you take a bus at approximately the same time every day, you're bound to see a couple of familiar faces after awhile. and i was kinda happy to see them, even if we didn't really talk.

in no particular order,

the bus driver(s) - ok i didn't really notice you guys, but i'm thankful for the many 'oh! it's almost the red light! i'm gonna beat it!' moments that made sure i wasn't late.

the caucasian - i spent the better half of the month wondering where you were heading in a shirt and pants at 7 plus in the morning. fellow teacher maybe?

the peicai girl - thanks to you, i began thinking about why it was so important to be in school on time 6-7 years ago. i'm serious. now that i think about it, being on the dot/borderline late for school doesn't really have a big direct impact on your life, and it's kind of cool you realise this now, and i'm only finding out now.

the nsf - :) you'll be done soon.

to kill a cat

2011-01-26T17:03:00.000+08:00

i honestly have no clue. for xo, which is the hug and which is the kiss?

the other side of the glass door

2011-01-16T22:46:00.000+08:00

so i've been on school attachment for 2 weeks now! it's been a pretty good experience so far, and i guess as a student when i looked for a teacher in the staff room, i would wonder what goes on in the nice little comfy air conditioned cubicles they they had in there.

two weeks into the job, one thing's obvious. after school as a student, i would want to go out (ok fine, i'm just pretending i had many friends to go out with). now, i just want to go home. and the feeling gets stronger as the week passes. so yesterday, i left school, took the bus and immediately went home, no lunch no time wasting. then i just did...nothing.

seriously though, i've really been quite inspired by the teachers there. it's one thing to be able to teach a subject, it's another to teach 2 or 3 different ones. and it's another to teach them to different levels. and it's yet another to teach them to kids of different abilities. so it's been pretty amazing to see them in action, doing their thing and making it look easy.

some things i've learnt. that canteen food's cheap, but not always good. that there's a difference between home and a home. that we all have different needs. that 5 years make A LOT of difference. that things have changed a lot. that some things never change. and that teaching is easier and more difficult than i thought.

cheers to another two weeks!

stats stats

2011-01-02T22:44:00.000+08:00

ok so i only *just* found out you can find out stats about your blog! how nice of blogspot! i'm a little addicted to it i think. must be an ego thing sigh. i like check it maybe twice a day.

did you know i have readers from latvia and germany? muahahahaha *proud beam*. ok fine it's only 2 page views, so they probably came by, found it boring, then left. sigh.

but stats are still cool!

bus and more!

2010-12-26T17:31:00.000+08:00

three in a row! on a roll.

when you're sitting alone in a bus, most seats are half-taken up (one person sitting), then a stranger decides to sit next to you, i think there's a feel good feeling! like out of so many people heshe could have sat next to, heshe picked you! it's probably a really really subconscious thing, but just have a think about it. ok, maybe it's just me.

on a completely unrelated note, my family doesn't really celebrate christmas. so when i was young, i would imagine boxing day as a day where everyone got together and just er...have boxing matches. and then i would like think why the day after christmas had to be so violent. growing up was fun.

elevator!

2010-12-26T16:56:00.000+08:00

watched this during a psych class. good stuff!

white lie

2010-12-26T16:44:00.001+08:00

heard the song today on tv. lovely.

routine post

2010-12-18T22:48:00.000+08:00

i think there are two types of routines.

the first is the wake up and play games and eat and watch tv and study and use my com type. they can vary in order, but some things appear and pop up really often in my life. these things i'm very very comfortable with.

the second is the let's go to this place once a week, or i will blog every 8 days, and stuff like that. this type i'm not very good at.

for very long i've struggled to answer the question-are you a 'routine' person? and i think i finally figured out that the above is the answer. i think. i think.

just saying.

laws of the male toilet

2010-12-07T10:03:00.000+08:00

unless on brink of desperation, there ALWAYS should be one unused urinal between two in use.

home

2010-11-21T17:48:00.001+08:00

and so i've touched down safely. weather notwithstanding, i feel pretty blessed i'm back. cause i've ate and slept. and ate. and realised that i can get a meal here for less than $5!

coming back i've realised a few things. first, that pretty much everything that was routine is still routine. i still can close my eyes and go through the take clothes-turn on heater-shower (no elaboration since this place is family friendly :))-dump clothes in basket routine. i still know where to plug in my laptop charger. i still know how to place the fan at night so i can sleep comfortably. (yes! i slept through last night without the air-con and didn't wake up sweating- achievement of the day!). the set top box at home has been changed so channel surfing isn't as intuitive, and i was a little disturbed by it, but i'm getting around. all in all, familiarity's nice. like anqing said, makes me feel like i belong :) conclusion: 19>1

second. having come back from a year of independence for the first time, i think i'm feeling a little restricted (hahaha luckily my parents don't read this). not that i'm not allowed to go where i want to, i think it's more of i'm expected to let them know where i want, and i've to be accountable. so i'm less prone to going out on a whim i guess. another thing to get around i guess

third. i think it hit me today that the people i see everyday now are my parents and my sister, not friends (ok la ok la, family :D) from b&g and anu. different. very different.

fourth. the. weather. is. pretty. unbearable. i think i'll have 3 showers today.

on a happier note, i've already had local food! the chicken rice on board the flight wasn't that bad, so i'll count it. carrot cake, bean curd, curry puff, chee kueh, and dumpling soup down!

ooh my dad just bought taupok back! one more down!

yay

edit: baby kailan. and i finally finally had my old chang kee. i can sleep a happy man tonight

yay

2010-11-19T07:00:00.002+08:00

yes, it's quite exciting i'm going home :)

the mechanics of friendship

2010-11-02T19:01:00.000+08:00

i figure that more than 10 different people are readers of my blog. that makes me popular! yay! irony of it all is that i don't really want everyone to find my blog. i was just on someone's blog (you can guess who you are!) and again i realised that the feeling you get when you're mentioned on a blog is really a nice one. one day when i feel brave enough i'll have a go at that too i guess. but it got me in a blogging mood anyway.

i think that when two strangers meet, and each has reason to think they might meet again, the idea of a possible friendship pops up in their heads. at this point, each sets up an imaginary meter measuring how much is given and taken in the relationship. based on past experiences/personality/first impression, the allowance either way varies with each individual.

we do this, i believe, because we have no better way of finding out whether someone can potentially be a good friend. so we decide to be willing to risk/give a varying amount. if this giving is not reciprocated, and goes past a threshold, the 'good friendship' likely will not form. not to say its dead for good, but something special would have to happen for it to revive. if the give/take balance is maintained, the allowance either way then increases gradually, and one is more willing to give without return to a larger extent, with experience suggesting that it will eventually be paid back.

'true friendship' then only occurs when this meter is forgotten/thrown away/not used. but this obviously takes time for meter to expand and grow enough to the point that one decides it's no longer useful or needed. and it is at this stage, i guess, that one becomes a close friend/bff/bro and what not. of course definition of these terms vary, i'm going by mine.

so to something related, about giving and receiving. have shared this with a couple of people. i liken a giver/act of giving to be a source of water, while the receiver/receiving is the container eventually holding. many variables here, like the speed at which water is poured, size of container, shape of container. basically not all water poured will end up in the container. which really is like how our best intentions are not sometimes interpreted the way we would like it to. this is where i think putting yourself in others' shoes comes in, since it's something we often say but rarely do. and while giving takes a whole lot of effort and heart, it really is an art to know how to receive too.

one light year

2010-10-28T21:28:00.000+08:00

distance traveled by light in a year. yes, i actually only found that out today! revelation of the day!

on a bittersweet (:D) note, it's the end of the year. but the start of exams. but close to a flight back home. but close to two months apart too.

i think that

2010-10-20T16:45:00.002+08:00

the good thing about opinions is that you can disagree with them, but you can't argue against them.

could it be...

2010-10-14T10:47:00.002+08:00

that i've finished all my assignments for the semester? :D

great expectations

2010-10-09T12:35:00.000+08:00

i swear i'd written something about expectations here in the past, but a detailed and lengthy 5 minute search yielded nothing. so ah well.

for the longest time i've had a bit of a struggle with the idea of expectations, basically whether they're a good thing or not. the arguments for both sides are pretty common ones. expectations give you something to work towards, a tangible goal to strive for. but not meeting them always adds that extra bit of disappointment, even if it seems like we have given our best.

so let's see if this works. i think it makes a lot more sense to divide expectations into 2 categories and deal with them separately.

first there's the random events, positive and negative, in life. this includes striking the lottery (if you've done this let me know pls, i'll be your best friend :D), finding out your favourite team just won a game, an earthquake taking place etc. what defines this group, i think, is that we generally agree we have little control over what happens and, more importantly, that there is no continuity and no predictive pattern, at least on a personal level. we hope, but rarely dare to expect, such things to happen or not. and if we come to expect them time and again, i think that's when we start to blame our luck/life/our dog/ and basically start getting negative about life. hoping, on the other hand, opens us up to happy surprises and small things that make our day.

then there're what i call 'people things'. because this group mainly involves dealing with things on a personal level, things we interact with and have some sort of a bearing on, just like, well, people. this possible includes things like how we perform in exams and the like. in this case, having no expectations intuitively still does has short term gains like being surprised. but in the long term, this means attributing everything good that happens to a collection of things that we don't really have control over, rather than on the people (us/others) who made it possible. take for example a friend who has been on time for meetings 10 times in a row. we don't just hope, but expect that he will do the same the next time. this expectation also means we trust that this will be done, and at the same time builds up an image of responsibility and punctuality in our minds. it is only through this process that we have progress in relationships in the long run, when we come to expect things of others and ourselves because we know the person in question is capable of doing so. this knowledge is a sign of an investment in the relationship and evidence of efforts to get to know yourself/others better.

i'm not really making sense to myself actually haha, if i can properly translate my thoughts into words i'll have a go at this again.

if you're happy and you know it

2010-10-06T08:44:00.000+08:00

clap your hands!

children's day!

2010-10-01T12:28:00.001+08:00

when we sang the quirky little children's day song.
when we had the aces day workout.
when the half day off was all i cared about.
when teachers would buy us ice cream. (teachers?? being nice to us?!)
when i had no clue what we were celebrating exactly.

to all parents, without whom there would be no children.
to all teachers, who made the day extra special.
to all friends, who probably had no clue either what children's day meant.
to the inner child within all of us.
to all children, it is your special day after all :)

happy children's day :)

confusing overextended metaphor #2

2010-09-23T14:13:00.001+08:00

people are like buildings. sometimes they're open, at others, they're closed. find out when it's best to visit.

2: there's only so much you can see from outside. get in there to explore and see for yourself the different levels.

3: sometimes the main door's a little rusty, because the last person who entered or left did so a long time ago. spend more effort to get the door open; it may just be worth the effort.

4: in an emergency, the main entrance may be locked. break in if you need to. it may not be appreciated at first, but if you think it's worth it, go for it.

5: reinforce it when you can. it increases the likelihood it survives an earthquake or any other disaster.

confusing overextended metaphor #1

2010-09-20T23:12:00.001+08:00

people are like raindrops. you've got to let them hang out with their closest friends to see them for who they are. just like you can truly see the strength of rainfall only when it hits a puddle of water, and not the ground or grass.

2: and like rain, people can not appear for long periods or appear all of a sudden. but their presence can often be predicted with great consistency. this knowledge gives us great comfort in consistency, that we believe tomorrow is going to be just like today.

3: like rain, when people show you who they are, appreciate them for it, and be thankful you can see them as an individual, or it may be lost forever, like rain after it hits the ground or enters a pool of water.

short posts..

2010-09-18T13:46:00.002+08:00

..appear to be cryptic.

pair up!

2010-09-15T09:01:00.000+08:00

spoon fork
beauty beast
even odd
on off
day night
apple orange
bitter sweet
black white
up down
brother sister
yes no
eat drink
work play
happy sad
empty full
first last

the pursuit of happyness

2010-09-12T13:40:00.000+08:00

simple, never-fail way to be happy.

when you're sad :(:(:(

1. take the last ( and bring it to the front. then you get (:(:(:

2. space out the smiley faces, then you can't go back to being sad. (: (: (:

easy! haha

lessons from simon and garfunkel

2010-09-10T15:15:00.003+08:00

don't talk; speak.
don't hear; listen.

uh..

2010-09-06T16:15:00.001+08:00

facebook is too scary. i enter my password wrongly and leave the tab there and forget about it. ten minutes later it sends an email apologising for me having trouble logging in and offers password help. wow. really?

facebook is too scary.

so says (sings) coldplay

2010-08-29T15:49:00.000+08:00

but if you never try, you'll never know, just what you're worth.

game dynamics

2010-08-25T16:37:00.000+08:00

food

2010-08-24T22:22:00.001+08:00

i need my old chang kee.

childhood

2010-08-23T19:12:00.001+08:00

so, first off, i want to acknowledge the great game of tetris. i recently rediscovered the joy of arranging odd shapes into rows (especially when you clear 4 at once with the long one! such a 'yes!' moment!). it also brought back memories of playing on a monochrome handheld device, hopscotch, catching, five stones, pick up sticks, lego, nursery rhymes (my favourite, of course, being the correct but not well-known way of singing the alphabet song), and many many more. guess there was a time that computers didn't exist, then.

being a child's weird though. it's when your brain has the capability to learn the most, yet it's when you're the most restricted by authority figures. it's when you're disciplined (ok maybe an asian thing) the most, but is the time you miss the most upon 'growing up'. i remember having 3 canes at home, one for each of us. i actually think it's pretty funky and cool now (in addition to it being a waste of money), but back then i guess they worked pretty well. do something wrong, and YOUR cane would be waiting for you. pretty powerful warning sign.

i guess the one thing that appeals to me the most about childhood is how you get away with things. it's kind of amazing how being a child absolves you of long lasting consequences. and with that comes the lack of self-censorship. which is something that's desperately needed in the adult world. a child who speaks freely is pure. an adult who does the same, sadly, is more often than not frowned upon.

in a completely unrelated thought, when i'm back in singapore at the end of the year, i'm going into tourist mode. i'm going to the zoo, night safari, bird park, science centre, ubin, the flyer, sentosa. it's a little alarming knowing how many of these places i haven't visited in years.

and ok tiff, i owe you a drawing.

numbers

2010-08-17T22:02:00.000+08:00

one ton
two cool
three blind mice
foursquare
five stones
six pence
seven(th) heaven
figure of eight
nine lives
perfect ten

coolios!

good stuff

2010-08-13T14:53:00.000+08:00

three blind mice

2010-08-09T09:57:00.000+08:00

i woke up today and somehow immediately thought of the the nursery rhyme. so here it is! (ok i had to google the lyrics cause all i could remember was 'three blind mice see how they run'

Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run,
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a thing in your life,
As three blind mice?

and did you know that this originated in some religion thing? apparently the daughter of some king (farmer's wife), who was a staunch catholic, persecuted 3 protestant noblemen (the blind mice)! power of the internet! and we (ok fine..i) have been happily singing it for the past 20 years.

the melody is admittedly super-catchy though. and clearly i just woke up.

snow

2010-08-03T19:38:00.000+08:00

i really really want it to snow. please?

circles and dots

2010-08-01T21:16:00.001+08:00

2nd bit from theories in the shower. my artistic prowess simply failed. i couldn't draw a circle, so let's just use imagination. imagination's good. it forces you to think. plus, it allows me to be lazy.

this is a relationship model just seems to make sense (well, to me anyway). of course, plenty to expand on hopefully in the future.

first off, imagine. imagine a big circle. this represents everything about you - your personality, actions, beliefs, interests, where you go on monday mornings, basically, well, everything. and then a dot somewhere in the middle. that's you. right at this moment. now.

so as time passes, this circle changes, expanding and contracting in different areas. this world is an entire venn diagram of circles, 7 billion of them. and some are going be independent. some will overlap, some more so than others. and that's how relationships come about. because the dots (us) are always going to be their own circles, when two dots come into a shared space in their circles, things happen. friendships are forged. and the bigger the overlap (more similar traits, hobbies blah), the higher the chance a positive relationship develops.

and here's where knowledge and awareness comes in. dots clearly have the power to move around, and can consciously move in and out of shared spaces, and we do. choosing whether we want to be part of a group or be alone, temporary or permanent. choosing (at times) how our circles should expand. but of course, we don't always know about others and their circles. and that's when we float unintentionally into shared spaces, good thing or not.

so there we are, just dots floating about in our circles. raw yes, but maybe, just maybe, this could work. don't you just love math. :)

.

2010-07-30T15:02:00.000+08:00

so between purposeful and manipulative lies intent.

a little less conversation

2010-07-25T10:23:00.000+08:00

so hot showers in winter are miraculously idea-generative! must be something about the hot water molecules reacting with hair follicles that stimulate the brain and stuff. yeah i know i make complete sense.

anyway, 10 minutes in the cubicle, and i think it's at times easier to talk to strangers than to friends because of

1. reduced expectations

2. availability of fixed 'introductory' question sets

3. less pressure/obligation to stay in a conversation

4. fewer expected relationship repercussions ---> less self censorship

which then brings me to my favourite movie quote -

'why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bs in order to be comfortable? ...... That's when you know you've found somebody special. When you can just shut the f up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence.'

give it a go, and see how you do.

and of course, moral of the story. have a hot shower today!

one more from the 'theories in the shower' collection out soon, once i get down to drawing some circles.

the double edged sword, the mightiest of them all

2010-07-16T01:06:00.001+08:00

the ego.

thought of the..

2010-07-09T15:35:00.003+08:00

just think of any one friend, go back to when you first met him/her. come back to the present, how things are now. then go to the in-between, the entire in-between. and tell me you totally expected the way things are today. no chance.

and that's why maybe, just maybe, fate does exist.

guess who's back!

2010-07-08T05:41:00.000+08:00

new-found motivation that may or may not last.

the abuse of most

2007-04-16T00:02:00.000+08:00

well ok here goes..

way back in primary school i remember we had this debate or something about fashion and men and women. some gender thing. im getting old and i can't remember exactly what, but i think i was arguing against something like fashion is women-dominated or something. yeah sounds strange so it's probably not it but something like that la. anyway my last question to the opposing guy was 'so as long as something is above 50%, you would consider it "most"? ' again for the exact words my memory fails me, but he simply replied 'yes'. and i was dumbfounded. he (maybe it was a she) was right.

which brings me to my point. whenever someone declares that 'most blah blah' it is difficult to prove him wrong. it is too vague a word, yet it sounds so powerful. having 99 of 100 people taking a bus to school everyday would mean most do it, while having 51 of 100 people obese would mean most people are obese. i think you get the point.

and it doesn't help matters that there is so much of everything, so it's easy to get away with making a statement that involves 'most' as compared to 'all'. the numbers are too huge to be tabulated and accounted, so finding the required half to prove me wrong is too tough. all books are non-fiction. most books are non-fiction. there.

and it's this property of 'most' that results in it being abused. too many times i have heard it being used loosely. and of course here the use of 'too many' is also to save me from any argument, because i define 'too many'. in fact, most words are so subjective that it is quite difficult to argue many things. hats off to debaters. and those who see through the previous sentence.

i just read the whole thing over and actually it doesn't really make sense to me -.-

but this post is mostly right.

money

2007-01-30T22:53:00.000+08:00

i shall postpone the 'abuse of most' thing, because i think it's always good to have a topic to talk about in reserve, in case i run out of things to talk about one day (yes di bei le, once a week). it's like saving money. you don't need to (and probably will not) spend it, but the more the merrier. and it makes me happy.

right, since we're on the issue of money, and the new year's coming, i shall share something that i've been doing the past 2 years. and then you can see how easily satisfied i am. or how weird i am. or both.

one fine day a few years ago, i was desperately in need of money. to buy extra assessment papers to mug. no la. but anyway, i looked around the house for money and i chanced upon some ang paos, and i opened them. and there was money! i can't remember how much exactly there was, but it was over 20 bucks, enough to buy me enough papers to move up a grade. and i was very very happy. after that incident, i decided that from all the money i received during chinese new year, i would set aside about 40 dollars for my desperate-for-money secret fund. i would put the money in separate ang paos and basically hide them all over my room. one in my drawer, one in a cabinet, and so on. until i forgot where i put them.

the idea is that when we find money unexpectedly, there is a feeling of indescribable joy. and gain. and satisfaction. and that combination basically makes you happy, which in turn brings prosperity and longevity like the macdonalds burgers, only that you find money instead of paying. so now when i'm desperate for money, i search all the ang paos i can find in the house. and find money. so, join the finding-money-unexpectedly club today! call me for an appointment. i'll drop by your house to suggest potential ang pao-hiding locations, and then you can too derive joy from finding money! disclaimer: i bear no responsiblity for money that really disappears because of your brother/sister/dog/cat/hamster

well that's it for now. on a side note, happy 18th liwen!

on another side note, i'm need to get human traffic up. so i'll be in shamelessly-advertising mode for the next few days ie. my blog address will be in my msn name. you can do your part too!

ok that's it byebye.

the good old times

2007-01-28T00:01:00.000+08:00

yes i'm back after nearly 4 months. hmm actually i wasn't being lazy. i just wanted to test the popularity of my blog, by not blogging for a long period of time, then post something randomly and seeing how long it takes for someone to tag. and today's the random day. believe me. sure :D

anyway, if you've read my previous posts (assuming you bothered to), you would (or should) have realised that i don't blog about my daily life, or how i feel about some event or what some person said today. yup. to me, it's easy. if u want to know me, open your mouth and talk to me. this is probably the closest you'll get to a personal entry. (hmm i think i actually sound like i'm reacting to something here. i'm not, it's just..um..something random)

so, since i'm talking only about non-personal stuff, i shall touch on...my impossible is happier theory. there, i've touched on it. bye bye.

ok, seriously, the way i see it, most people find the 'old times' better. i've been talking to people, reading blogs, eavesdropping (nah), and somehow, 2 or 3 years ago, we were more carefree, life was less restrictive, there was more freedom, we weren't closed down as much. that's probably due to us preferring to remember happy memories. so when we look at our current lives, where ups and downs are everyday, the difference is apparent. expect the same people to say the same things a few years down the road.

hmm if that didn't really make sense to you it didn't to me either..so....in any case, in my next entry, expect to read about the abuse of most. see? a topic that doesn't make sense again. intrigued? disturbed? come back for more! (see a wonderful way to get people back to your blog. PLUS you won't forget what to blog about next)

so, a post, as promised. more to come. byebye for now.

and the award goes to..

2006-10-07T00:15:00.000+08:00

so, promos are finally over. it's been a hard 2 weeks, so i thought some awards need to be given out..

the arrgh-i-died award: physics
this was a no-brainer. midyears were definitely easier, and i was completely stumped by section b. i was sunk into near-depression. so the panel was unanimous in awarding this to physics.

the arrgh-i-died-again award: economics
i thought i was much better prepared than the midyears, but came out of the room feeling just as uneasy as 4 months ago. so i died again. ki was a close second, but i wasn't really expecting to perform, so what happened what i thought would happen.

the this-set-of-notes-is-killing-me award: superposition
super-what? nope, not even the chem topics came close to this. partly because i skipped the first superposition lecture, partly because i'm no genius, and partly because i think i nearly drove my brother nuts when he tried to explain it to me.

the cram-to-the-max award: maths
i hope the teachers don't see this, but i spent a grand total of 2 hours for all the maths topics. compare this to one full day for market structure, and it's not hard to see why the panel did not deliberate in awarding this to maths.

the i-didn't-study award: chinese
i just had this so that every subject would have a prize, or at least be mentioned. -.-but a subject is conspicuously missing here. no prizes for guessing what and why.

that's about it for the once-in-a-lifetime (i hope) promotionals awards. all award recepients are to collect their prizes by this week, or the prizes will be donated to a charity determined by the panel.

question of the day: who make up the panel anyway?

daily routine

2006-09-27T21:15:00.000+08:00

yes it's almost been a month since i last blogged here, so you can guess that yes, i've been mugging for the promos since september the third. of course i have. to prove it, let me being you through my daily life. i wake up at 4.30 and take out my chem tys, doing mcqs until 6.12 when i prepare to go to school. i get to school at about 7.15 and spend my most unproductive 25 minutes of the day waiting for assembly to start (assuming there is assembly). i then lament the 5 or 10 minutes wasted in between assembly and lessons before they begin at 8. i diligently pay attention and make extra notes at every lecture and tutorial, and at every break, i call people up to see if they have one-period lectures i can sit in to be more prepared. after lessons, which sadly end very late for me, i immediately go to the room, sit down, and take out physics and maths notes and stare at them till approimately 7.43 when i take out my physics tys and do all the questions i can till about 11.17, when i leave just in time for the last bus. On some occasions i have had to chase the 135 for about 2 bustops to get on the bus, but the mugging makes the running worthwhile. i get home and bathe, and since it takes about 3 hours for my hair to dry i take out past year maths papers and do them until my hair dries/i feel tired, whichever comes later. i usually get to sleep by 3.30. rest and repeat schedule.

ah, the stress of exams.

time to get back to mugging, i've just wasted a good 7 minutes. bye bye and good luck.

fun fact of the day

2006-09-03T21:33:00.000+08:00

try this: bend your fingers so that each forms a n-shape. hold that position for about 5 seconds or so and you would be able to feel your pulse. cool huh.

of horoscopes and prediction

2006-09-03T21:30:00.000+08:00

have been wanting to do this one for some time now, so here goes...

i'm not sure how many people believe in the horoscopes that can be found everywhere, but here's one way to look at the ones based on zodiac sign: you're telling me that more than half a billion people share the same fate everyday, or should do the same thing everyday. go figure.

anyway, saw an interesting one in the sunday times today. this one's for virgo.

"Those of your zodiac sign understand the value of building lasting things. You're taking baby steps now and the quality of your intentions and actions will have ramifications for the future."

now, if it were to be believed, and everyone reading the virgo section belonged to virgo since it applies to them, the first sentence is quite pointless. why bother to say 'those of your zodiac sign' when everyone the horoscope belongs to are of the zodiac sign anyway?

another thing i have against horoscopes is that they are so general. so it says whatever we do now will have an impact and a consequence in the future. wow. that's surprising. of course it won't apply to everything, but surely most of our actions will have a bearing on what happens next. my point being? the horoscope is pretty redundant.

of course, this is my personal opinion and everyone is entitled to theirs. so if you disagree with anything here let me know. it's just that i'm a little tired of people saying how this prediction they read from some paper turned out to be true, so here i am ranting.

what if..

2006-09-03T21:04:00.000+08:00

ok this was supposed to be posted on 22nd august (ie. wilson's birthday), so its way overdue (emphasis on way) no prizes for guessing the subject..that's right..what if wilson lee never existed (ooh what a cool thought :D)

- i wouldn't be typing this
- where else do you find a guy who says yes to practically anything?
- i wouldn't be spending 6 hours trying to think of more points
- free supply of swiss rolls would be gone
- monster would be left without a successor

yes so happy belated belated birthday mr. too-nice-guy! we celebrated your 17th together, now let's see if we can do the same for your 71st (cheesy enough?). if anyone has any other points (i'm sure there are, i'm having a mental block right now) feel free to add them through the comments.

family tree

2006-09-02T22:23:00.000+08:00

yes as you can see one and two line posts have been all the craze for the past 2 to 3 weeks. ok seriously i have just been pretty lazy, so this probably the first meaningful post (ie. a post with more than 2 lines) in a long while. again, i apologise for this, and will try (note try) to post regularly. anyway, there have been many events in the past week or so, and i do owe myself and some others a few posts, so you'll probably be seeing a few today.

will talk a little about family tree today. the whole thing didnt really kick off till about 11 when people started coming. but hats off to dennis, who stayed at the flying fox tower for the whole day. there's basically nothing to do up there except talk, which explains him flying down with his bag when he eventually did. he wanted to mug -.- the uncle ringo ride was quite fun i guess. but it's kind of scary to even think of how much they brought in..easily two thousand i think.

hmm that was really just a little, but ah well..that'll be about it, watch out for more posts soon! check back every hour or something..

yay

2006-08-31T00:55:00.000+08:00

yeah my blog is dying

thought of the day

2006-08-14T01:15:00.000+08:00

isn't it interesting how an online conversation can be littered with hahas, lols and rofls when all we're doing most of the time is typing with a straight face?

what if.

2006-08-13T01:52:00.000+08:00

well i thought a top ten list was too common, and it's everywhere, so i decided i would start a 'what if' column. basically, it's a hypothetical column (actually, it exists..ok failed joke) about the implications if some things that are weren't. i'll try to keep this going, and we'll start off with 'what if the thumb didn't exist, and we only had 4 fingers'

- many more deprived babies with nothing to suck on (pacifiers are NOT satifactory substitutes)
- 1/5 less fingernails' worth to chew
- the rule of what?
- what's good and what's bad?
- no more writing! (actually i'm sure we'll figure some way to do it, ah, masochists)
- well actually how would you hold ANYTHING?
- what middle finger?
- birth of the 'indexdrive'

well that's about it..if you have something to add might want to comment instead of tagging so that it'll stay where it belongs. looks to me like some top ten list actually -.- just that i can shorten and lengthen it at will. wow my shortest post yet. oh yes, send in your ideas for new topics!

strength in numbers

2006-08-10T00:25:00.000+08:00

ever wondered to know why it's fun to belong to a group? and not when you're a loner? now you can find out by just paying a one-time fee of $59.99! just send a cheque to me (it can be blank, i really don't mind) and you will get an answer within 3 working days (i rest from monday to sunday). satisfaction guaranteed! if not, too bad. :) note: price does not include gst and service charge. add it up yourself and send me the correct amount. if it's wrong (ie. you do not get a reply within 3 working days) then you'll have to try again. cash accepted too!

wow that was one paragraph of nonsense, but seriously, if you still feel like sending me the cheque or cash, go ahead. i won't stop you. anyway, there has to be reasons why we see people in groups. there's a reason why restaurants don't have tables with a single seat. i'm sure the reaction to what i'm going to say would be 'gee, i knew that too!' lol

we are all looking for a sense of belonging somewhere, somehow with someone (or someoneS). face it. we feel good when we walk/eat/watch movies with others. it makes us feel wanted, and that there are people who want you around. it gives us a sense of satisfaction and pride. we like it when people are supportive of our stand. contrast it with opposition of just about anything we say. it's kind of strange when you have movements that encourage you to 'be different', and it ends up everyone becomes different in the same way.

and then we have people who strike it out alone. these are the people who have truly radical views about what they see, and as a result, get ostracised by me and you. but if you were to think about it, the reason they're left out is not so much because we don't like them. it's because we fear them. we suscribe to a certain school of thought as to what 'normal' is, and deviation can take place in many ways. as a result, we do not know how a certain 'deviant' behaves, and we are afraid to get closer to him/her to find out more, and we are afraid of getting hurt somehow. hence we decide to just leave him out alone.

hmm wow see that was what you would have gotten $59.99++. well i figured it wasn't worth the money, so i just made it free. -.- but again, if you think you have benefitted from the above, please write a blank cheque to 'the wong wen hui piggy bank fund' and send it to me. i'll send you a hard copy of this as a momento or something. and i just realised something. my posts are too long. if this keeps up i'll be struggling to hit a hundred posts. i'm not even at 10 yet. in line with this, i'm going to start a tongue-in-cheek top ten list that will be up every week (or maybe 2 weeks or maybe a month) so send in your ideas! if your ideas are used you'll get free publicity here! with an average daily readership of 1.78 people! (yes i'm included)

of names and numbers

2006-08-05T20:45:00.000+08:00

hmm sort of a follow-up from the last post about phones. no answers, but something just struck me yesterday.

it seems like the abundance of, um, everything has made it impossible to give just about anything a proper name. and by proper name i mean words that define and describe an item. we resort to numbers to differientiate between items with similar yet unique functions. think television sets, think computers, think pencils, think phones.

seems like there's a pattern here. its the appliances that have been introduced only recently (i don't mean the last 6 months) have had an issue with names. imagine if our food were numbered in a similar way. hey, have you tried the e54 satay recently? it tastes good! -.-

then, of course, if we didn't resort to numbers, picture walking into an electrical appliance store or something. some salesman begins ' sir, would you like to have a look at this able-to-fit-104-clothes-at-once, takes-only-5-minutes-for-a-full-wash, guaranteed-to-keep-your-clothes-clean washing machine. yes sir, that is the name of the washing machine.' or an extract from a daily conversation. 'look! i have the newest 3g-bluetooth-comes-at only-$890-with-a-2-year-plan-phone-with-an-18-megapixel-camera!' isnt it cool? yeah, your 3g-bluetooth-comes-at only-$890-with-a-2-year-plan-phone-with-an-18-megapixel-camera is cool!' ok that was a mouthful lol, but you get the point.

but of course it's quite sad that we are turning to numbers to define items we use in our everyday lives. it's almost as if we've lost our bond with these items, and just treat them as another insignificant part of our lives. just like inmates who are identified by only numbers. not a very appropriate comparison i guess, but still..

just e54 satay for thought.

phones

2006-08-01T21:59:00.000+08:00

well this is the last of 4 promised posts..so after this i'll be free again! which means you probably wouldn't see a new post tomorrow, and the next one will come in some time (always a subtle way to say a long time). before we get to the main topic for today, i'm going to complain for a bit.

slept for less 3 hours yesterday to compile survey results for pw (i need 15 hours of sleep a day, so just do the maths and realise how sleep-deprived i was). after i finished there was actually a sense of satisfaction because there was finally something substantial i could show to my st after about 7 months? then they had to have the dialogue thing with the 2nd permanent secretary for education drag on past the second period, effectively ending pw. so basically i did the work for nothing. besides the fact that i won't have to do anything for thurday's session.

wow whining sure takes up a lot of space. anyway let's get to today's topic proper: phones. have you ever wondered how mobile phone companies come up with names for different models. like why do they call it the v3x, why not v4x? or w3x? or the l6 and l7. why l? and not j or k or something.. (yes you can see a pattern here, i'm shamelessly promoting motorola phones)

it's the same thing with nokia, with the 6230, 6280, 3120, 8310, 7610, 7380 and blah blah (yes lol i did my research). other companies have similar names for their phones, so i believe there's no need to elaborate further. maybe they pick winning 4d numbers from 6 years ago and then use one to start a series by adding 10 or 50 to each new phone in the same series. or maybe they engage some experienced fortune teller and get his parrot to pick the numbers. ah well. but if anyone does have an answer, do let me know.

well i guess that's it while i get back to my work, which is still piling up. i heard the other day that people have begun to mug for the promos, while my resolution for august was to do (all) my tutorials. go figure. haha..well it was fun while it lasted, but i guess you won't be seeing anything new soon. maybe this weekend or next week.

on a side note, now at least my archives for august won't be empty :D

byebye.

random musings

2006-07-31T22:30:00.000+08:00

ok i'm more than halfway through and with the completion of this post i'll be setting a new record! but of course it won't stand for long. before we move on to the main topic of today, let's try something.

don't read this paragraph. stop reading it right now. it's going to be a waste of your time. seriously, you'll regret it if you continue so i advise you to just stop and move on to the next paragraph. u'll be kicking yourself for wasting 1 min of your precious time. because the paragraph ends here. and i bet u just read all of that. feel cheated? :D

ok, that was random and uncalled for, but let's move on. watched lake house on saturday night. wasn't that good a movie i guess..a little draggy at times. so after awhile (maybe 20 minutes) i knew the whole movie wasn't going to make sense, and hmm..i think the what i'm trying to get across isn't very clear, but i must say it's incredibly difficult not being a spoiler here. so kudos to film reviewers. i think i'll try to do a proper review next time. that will probably deter me from watching another movie soon.

anyway, on to more interesting stuff. heard something pretty cool on radio the other day. the story (it's not really a story, but..) goes like this. a boy buying sweets in a shop would always approach a certain cashier (say A) and not any other one to get his sweets. why? when he asked for 100 grams of sweets, the others would grab a big handful exceeding 100g and remove sweets one by one till it hit 100g. A, on the other hand, would grab less than 100g and slowly add one sweet after another till it hit 100g. all before his very eyes. different method, same result. naturally, the boy preferred to see sweets being addded rather than taken away. this is what i call the sweet selling theory. as with all theories, let's try to apply it.

i was thinking that maybe that's what haggling does. i'm sure many of us have been to china and gleefully pushed down prices by one third, half or even more after seemingly endless bickering with the shopkeeper. so the marked price in this case is the instance when the small handful of sweets are placed on the scale, the bringing down of the price is the addition of the sweets and the deal is done when both parties reach a compromise, when the scale reads 100g. we walk away happily calculating the percentage discount and then brag to others, while the shopkeeper shuts up but knows deep inside that he/she has pocketed a handsome profit. because they would have factored in the haggling process and upped the marked price. fun huh.

wow this post is getting quite long, so i think i'll end here. well i'm 3/4 done, and still not believing i initiated such a dumb deal. but maybe i'll be more inclined to blog after this 4 day spell. or maybe i'll grow bored of it. we'll see. thats it then. time for pw.

byebye

tv

2006-07-30T16:50:00.000+08:00

well it's the first time i'm posting in the afternoon (the first one's not counted, the time thing was screwed up then) and i must say it feels different compared to posting at midnight or something<---dumb statement of the day. i mean it's so bright! as in there's sunlight! wow! -.-

it's been a pretty uneventful weekend (nope, college day's not worth a mention. oh, and i just mentioned it.) i think i'll talk a little about something else. there's nothing worth watching on tv on weekends (don't tell me about cable..i'm too poor to afford it) i turn it on, surf through a few channels and turn it off again. why, i think the games played on channel u like the tank thing or the waterbomb shooting one before transmission begins are more interesting la..i find myself glued to the screen waiting for someone to kill the guy with the highest score and then wonder if the guy will come back for revenge/cry at home/start swearing or something. yup..kind of shows how boring weekend tv is..

anyway, a few years back, there would be this bollywood movie every sunday on central, from 1 to 4 in the afternoon or something...now that was cool! i remember it would probably be the only show worth looking forward to the whole of saturday and sunday. yes i can see your mouths wide open now but seriously, the movies were full of action, comedy, dancing, lip synching..basically everything that would rescue a boring weekend. but they're gone now..there're still movies, but they're not as good. sad :(

hmm well let's see its nearly 5 now so i think i'll get back to homework. pw. argh.. before i forget i'll have a list of stuff i'll blog about tomorrow.
-lake house
-theory of sweet selling
not much of a list, but we'll see how it goes. and i bet you're thinking what the second means, so come back tomorrow to find out! (always a good way to get people to come back to your blog :D)

byebye.

dumb people do dumb things

2006-07-29T00:36:00.000+08:00

yup, that's right, and i just did something dumb, so track my progress as i TRY to post for 4 consecutive days. now that would qualify as a hot favourite for my lifetime achievement award, which kind of highlights how sad my life is actually..but moving on..

keeping in line with doing dumb things, i just remembered a pretty cool bet i made a few weeks ago. someone (can't remember who) wanted to bet with me that a certain event (again i can't remember what, but it was something quite unlikely to happen) wouldn't take place in my lifetime. the cool part? if it takes place while i'm still alive, then i win the bet and the stake (again i can't rememver what). if it doesnt take place, he/she can only win after i die, so there's no one to claim whatever we betted. so either way i don't lose! fun!!

hmm ok i had no lessons the whole day (or the whole half day) but i went to school! just for college day rehearsal. and i reached school like at 7.20? in essence i stoned for about 3 hours..yup another case of dumb man doing dumb stuff..

ah well..something random..i find that my posts are always longer than i feel they are when i'm typing. it always feels short when i'm typing but when i publish it it's like whoa! lol ok nvm..like i said it's random..

so i think this post will turn out longer than i expect as well. last point. it's fun to play with time! i need to have 4 posts in total, one each day, so since its just past 12 it's saturday! which means i can post on sunday night which is like nearly 48 hours away..which means it's 2 days but only 1 day! right..thats it for post number 1 in the record-breaking series..

blog hopping

2006-07-23T22:59:00.000+08:00

ok i think this is something that will never happen again..2 posts in consecutive days! this is a candidate for the achievement of a lifetime, so let's see who manages to read this first..after yesterday's post, i'm sure no one comes here now (you have to figure out how come people still tag, if you do let me know) and if you're the first, tag! (-.-) and maybe there'll be a prize. maybe.

anyway, i've been blog hopping by clicking on that next blog thing at the top right hand corner. so basically i've been visiting strangers' blogs to see what they talk about. and i think if you were to do the same and focus on teenage singaporean blogs, you would find a common theme (most of them at least): anger

so basically a blog could be something like 'i hate life cause life sucks and i want to go kill someone or something' and after seeing many (not all) blogs like that, it's quite amusing but worrying as well. so again we come to the why question.

maybe it's because life in singapore is so stressful teens need an avenue to rant/scream/vent frustrations. maybe it's because parents give their children so much pressure they can't take it anymore. since their peers face similar problems it's sometimes not enough to tell others. enter the virtual world. or maybe having an angry blog is just in line with being 'cool' so one can brag to his friends.

before i get ki-ed again (i promise i will talk about this one day lol), just want to end off. personally i've seen enough of bloggers posting a two line post about some vague topic. i mean seriously, if you're blogging, i think you would want to be understood. if you want to remain mysterious, then write in a diary or something. then again i can't control people, so just a thought. yup.

pass or fail?

2006-07-22T21:15:00.000+08:00

well i think if i delay my post any longer i'll probably be dead by monday afternoon, so here goes..

what's the benchmark for a pass or fail for a test/assignment/examination?

i suppose half a year into jc, it's still quite hard to accept 45 (as compared to 50) as the passing mark. But why should 50 (or half the total marks) be seen as a pass, and how is 45 less of a pass than 50?
it seems like we have been accustomed to regarding half the total mark as a the passing mark. case in point: 1 month ago(?), wilson was talking about some race he took part in where there was some point system. the winning team 'failed' in the sense that they didn't manage to score half the maximum points. yup..lousy example, but still..

really, if you think about it, who said that you had to get 50% to pass? its just that at the primary and secondary levels (and maybe kindergarten), we 'failed' if we didnt get half the total. so 7.5/16 for a maths test was a fail, and a 5/10 would be a pass..

but on a happier note, it's now mathematically easier to pass! like if you ignore all other variables (ie. ceteris paribus) we now have a 55% chance of passing! compared to 50%! which is like a 10% increase! (in terms of the 50 la) but on a more realistic note ceteris paribus does not exist in the real world (that would have gotten me 1 mark for econs) which means we need to STUDY so go mug for promos instead of coming here so often..peer pressure is amazing..well that's my second post!

i have a blog

2006-07-03T14:42:00.000+08:00

Well yes, after about 2 years of deliberation, i've finally decided to start a blog.
Um, a few points:
1. I'm LAZY. there's a reason why im starting to blog only now..i don't know how long this can last but we'll see.
2. It's going to be mostly crap here. If you want to see cool philosophical stuff, go to my brother's blog (which, incidentally, has a similar template. He copied me, even though he got his blog started first, figure out how that's possible) . I'll TRY to have a few links up soon. Meanwhile, if you're dying to visit his blog, go to http://www.starrk.blogspot.com.
3. Do tag (once the tagboard's up, if it's ever going to be up :D)
4. I'm not sure, but i think this boring template's going to stay awhile unless maybe some IT whiz offers help (hint hint)
ok, have fun!