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Tuesday, August 31, 2004 Why should we make it big? As I'm writing this I know my entry for the day is going to sound anticlimax. Forgive me if it does. You should all become rich. Or well if that's pushing your luck too far, you should at least earn enough money to get your own toilet, your own computer room (with all the msn, cookies enabled, etc), and your own TV room. I was waiting in the student TV room trying to catch the news, nonetheless failing miserably (or I wouldn't be here complaining about it, would I?)because of this bunch of people talking (loud enough that I knew they're talking about someone's handwriting which tends to get smaller and smaller as she writes during a chinese test. Gee, do I need to know all this shit?)I have to bear with all this nonsense when ALL I wanted to know was this new documentary about Imelda Marcos. Heh. ( If anyone of you get hold of it, do tell me. I want to watch =). Someone actually said "There's little Imelda in all of us" there. Hell, is that even a compliment?) And didn't it say STUDENTS' TV Room?? Why was there a bloody meeting for some CCA there? A freaking entourage if you ask me. But no,I didn't murder anybody. I just put on this strained smile. I didn't even try to increase the volume and I couldn't lip-read! Just trying to be civil. See? Unlike them I understand the concept of the students' TV room being there for public use. Anything public can't be good. Public TV. Public Toilet. Public Computer... Arrrggghhhhh. The only one I can stand is public transport. And that's because buying a car here isn't a very smart option. And public transport minus all the stupid, inconsiderate people in it, is actually pretty decent, wouldn't you say? Public school is alright I guess. And oh my blog's public too. Hopefully it's decent enough for your eyes. Ah I sidetracked. Anyway, I gave up watching as soon as I realised those people weren't leaving. Off I went to the band room, trying not to get too pissed about the whole Imelda Marcos business. It was an experience jamming with the guys. I believe in talent, I really do. Those without it may double their effort and practice time and still come up short against those who has it their blood. Dang has it in his blood. And when I heard him playing, things felt right. HAve you ever had that experience? When you just watch someone do something and it feels right? As it should be. Grinning Goat at 8/31/2004 11:05:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Manipulation. I love to manipulate. But it requires some technique, yes?? Po: What's your theoretical yield? R: A whoping 98.5%! Wow. It's too high to be true don't you think? Po: Hmmm....more accurate eh? mine's lower...98.2% R: You dropped your crystals - a sizable chuck of it- and refused to pick it up remember? Po: ah yea...but how was I supposed to pick it up anyway? R: hmmm...good point...adding on to the impurities eh? all those dusts on the floor? Hahaha Po: Actually....with such high percentage yield.... we can afford to make it impure a bit? To make it look more real? R: Hahahahha....Aren't we hard to please. Too low and we think our technique's utter shit. Too high and it looks unreal... heh :: :: R: Damn, what's the theoretical yield again? Is it 3.19? I miscalculated the damn thing. Po: Yep R: My crystals' mass was 3.47!!! That makes my experimental yield higher than the theoretical yield! But that's impossible... Po: So....lucky I dropped my crystals??? Hahaha R: Hahahaha. Owww Damn. I should've dropped mine too? :: Po: you know...something's wrong... R: Definitely. The weighing machine we used was erronous? Po: maybe... R: akkhhhh should I fake it? Work backwards to get 98.5%?? Po: How bout you follow me 98.2%? R: That'll look suspicious don't you think? Po: Okay then you add 0.1% to it... R: 98.3%? Po: Yep. So 98.3% it is. Grinning Goat at 8/31/2004 01:55:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Monday, August 30, 2004 Teacher's Day- a day to bootlick? Okay, teacher's day is approcahing. I'm wondering if I should go back to TJ. If i were to go, it'd be to see My Bio and GP tutor. They don't treat me like a kid. They treated me like an adult. (although yes, they call the students "kids" in the teacher's lounge) Before the 'A' Level, my bio tutor gave each of us a personal note. Mine said "I see a lot of potential in you, Ross and i know i can't be wrong" Nothing like a dose of an ego-booster eh? But seriously, it felt good to know that someone had some faith in me. Someone who matters. Anyway, as I was online just now... R: your nick....heh...it's supposed to be "I fight for my lovED ones" not "lovES one" Ric: what do you want for present tomorrow? R: Huh? Ric: Teacher's day...You're my teacher... R: I don't think tuition teacher counts... :: Ric: I have a blog....I write it in english R: Wow. Really? I gotta go and see. Ric: Http://mushasi.multiply.com R: Are you gonna be updating it regularly? Ric: everyday.. R: Okay good. Put a tag board there. I'll read it everyday and correct you... :: :: R: We need to improve your english....FAST.... Ric: thought so... Grinning Goat at 8/30/2004 10:06:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Education |ady Death wrote "Books and certificates don't make a man". They certainly don't. But that's how the society judges people- by their level of accreditation. And either consciously or unconsciously, you do too. It helps you build your image of a person- especially strangers. Not hard to understand, we're almost always what the society makes us to be. (Ah, I make it sound like we're sheep following the dogs) The thing is if that's how society perceives education, that's how the system's going to be. We can't change the system. Or rather, we can but that means we have to succumb to the present education system FIRST. (Who's gonna elect an uneducated person as an MP?) Me? I'm all for education. Sure, education doesn't make a man. But your brain's there for a reason eh? School's where you can pit your skills. (even if it's a pissing contest, it still needs some skills. Not everybody can piss and make witty (I said witty, not stupid) retorts on the spot. I've witnessed enough debators making stupid rebuttal. Heh) Brain needs to be utilised. Grinning Goat at 8/30/2004 09:03:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Things people do I laughed so hard on this one...Heh. (I'm "I'm SUPPOSED to be studying. Someone kick my arse") I'm SUPPOSED to be studying. Someone kick my arse says: What's up at PGP? Anything interesting? υЯϊэ¶ says: nothing... just that one morning i struggled with this bug that flew into my room.. for the whole morning that i missed my lecture... I'm SUPPOSED to be studying. Someone kick my arse says: HHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH. God, trust you to do that... Grinning Goat at 8/30/2004 12:19:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Sunday, August 29, 2004 Kids and their big mouth I'm out of practice. Some kid from Holland THRASHED me in a 1-1 match. Ah. Talk about my dignity taking the hit. TEN to ONE. ONE!!! Aaaarrrgghhhhhh. Do you know when I first started out I was an axe and he was just a chick.(I actually TAUGHT him how to play) And now, he's three ranks above me. He's a double silver axe and I'm still an axe! Heh Oh well. He messaged me all of a sudden today. I wondered why. But not for long. Gamer: hey it's you again. So finally you can play eh? R: Yep. Weekends!! Gamer: Guess what rank am I? Ah....so he greeted me just to show off.....Kids.....forever showing off..... R: double silver? Gamer: yeah...I see you're still an axe... R: Nice What was I supposed to say? Ooooohhhhhhhhh GREAT??? Freaking AWESOME??? I need some serious practice. Heh Grinning Goat at 8/29/2004 06:27:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Saturday, August 28, 2004 Unfounded fear? "A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention". How about the reverse? "A poverty of information creates a wealth of attention" You know, the reverse might just be true. People love reading/watching stupid things. Several reasons why you read someone's blog: 1. Friend loyalty, no more no less 2. Appreciation of a "great work of art" 3. Amuse yourself with the silly things people do in real life. Makes you feel half the idiot that you are. 4. Boost your ego. How can ANYONE write THAT bad?? 5. You're voyeuristic. (Not just in the sexual context. Don't be thick) 6. You're terribly bored. Unemployment, if you ask me. 7. Count the number of stupid people walking on this earth, exhausting our oxygen, polluting the ozone layer. And think "the next time I'm gonna sound as stupid as this person, I should shut the hell up. FAst" 8. Doing a little self-reflection. Re-think things from a different perpective. 9. BAsk in the knowledge that extreme opinions thrive in places you wouldn't expect. And acknowledge that most of the time you can't change people's mind. You're not their mother for goodness sake, and that's assuming their mothers are capable of such feat. 10. Take a little pleasure watching people stabbing each other's back online. Staying at a safe distance. Boy, don't they have great entertainment value? Heh. Some people get pissed easily when someone voices out an opinion that's not mainstream. What is it with people and extreme views? Why does it scare them so much? I mean if you know you don't think the same way and are so vehement about it, you don't have to worry about people changing your mind, right? Isn't the fear unfounded then? Or maybe they don't have that much faith in their beliefs in the first place that it pisses them off when someone's spouting nonsense to tip that delicate balance. Where would that leave them? You know sometimes there ARE truth behind extreme views. (I'm not talking about terrorists and their extreme views here, just the extreme view an average Joe might have. Right and wrong are relative but I do wonder about the extent some misguided people are willing to go to when they have too strong a conviction) It may just be a matter of how you deliver your opinion that makes it sound extreme. Be really straightforward and you'll offend people along the way. Be a fence-sitter and you'll look like this dimwit without an opinion. Ah it's hard to be a person. Grinning Goat at 8/28/2004 02:17:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Study materials What kind of study materials are they? GOOD! 
and BAD 
Showie can't hold a candle to Mc Murry. Heh. New updates at Sneak Peek . Do have a look =) Grinning Goat at 8/28/2004 01:59:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Friday, August 27, 2004 Not everything has an answer, face it I was served the bill for the hall recently. I should REALLY start staying in this hall on a more permanent basis. It was my choice now I'll just have to live with it. Besides, my neighbours have started to ask questions, give subtle or not-so-subtle hints about my disapperance. "So....Ross....are you staying tonight?" "Why have I never seen you around?" "So where is it gonna be tonight?" "Eh...hey....u staying?" Yep. So here I'll be, starting next monday. During lab today, Prof Too (is that how they spell his name? Heh) was asking this question. "I'll give you 50 cents if you can answer my question. That's how much I have right now...Yesterday in my lab.my researchers discovered a compound..(blah blah)....so how many pI does it have?" At first I found that to be interesting, this professor gambling in front of our very eyes (okay so it's just 50 cents but that's not the point) But then I realised that he's asking that same question to students on other tables as well, repeatedly. The exact same one, right down to the 50 cents and yesterday-in-my-lab bit. The novelty was lost on me after a while. The answer: the question doesn't deserve one because it's "senseless" and "how can anybody answer such a question"? See, I know that not every question has an answer. Questions surrounding moral or social issues especially. But why is it that when it comes to science people tend to forget? As though every question has an answer. Deserves an answer. (But then again you can't just approach your professor saying "Sir, your questions are shitty they don't deserve answers") It restricts our thinking. We'd try (sometimes too hard) to figure out answers when there aren't any to begin with. When they're stupid questions to begin with. Stupid questions don't deserve an answer. They deserve another question. Doesn't necessarily solve the problem, but it certainly tickles the mind. I want to write more but I have a meeting in uh,... okay the meeting has started so I guess I better make my way down. I'll continue some other day. Grinning Goat at 8/27/2004 08:09:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Thursday, August 26, 2004 A reason for (almost) everything Okay a confession before I start. I'm writing this in the central library, trying to write as I give answers to my student. He's uh...AT SCHOOL right now...DOING SOME MCQ GEOGRAPHY TEST, while trying to squeeze answers from me using his msn-enabled handphone. (Ah, the joy of technology...or should I say the curse of technology?) Hmmm...What's the difference between erosion and weathering? I'm ashamed to say that my memory failed me.Blah. Which proves my point: Rote-learning gets you nowhere. Yesterday Dedel was staying over. We talked into the night, which explains the state I'm in now. French class in the morning, trying to stay awake. Not too daunting a task since I got one perky lady as a tutor. (I'm still amazed with how even the simplest sentence can sound so exotic. Heh. Maybe it's just me) One long day ahead though. It'll be a longgggggg time before I can sleep. Anyway, we were talking about Kiasuism which I'm appalled to say was somewhat PREVALENT here. (I suppose that is to be expected. Still,it doesn't mean I have to like it) Every lecture group seems to have its share of overly-enthusiastic..erhh... dilligent students who'd rush down the aisle to enthusiastically greet the professor and enthusiastically ask their (many) questions. Okay I guess you can pretty much read in between the lines and judge my sentiment. The problem I have with it is that it seems to me there's no reason for my intense dislike towards them. I'm not obesessed with finding reasons behind my every actions although I do like to think that I have logical reasonings to back the way I behave. I can't find any. Why is it so easy to dislike someone without knowing the reason why? Have you ever met somebody and dislike him in an instant, when you haven't even talked to him? HEh. Prejudice in its finest moment, I know. I reasoned that: 1. Maybe subconsciously we know that those people are the epitome of good students (I guess that's arguable) and that we should try to somehow emulate them but we can't/don't want to. And this subconscious self-guilt makes us shift the blame to others (because it's always easier to blame other people than yourself). IF they're not there, we can live life peacefully, in the absence of the knowledge that good students are supposed to be as uhh.....enthusiastic as that. (Again, this part is arguable) 2. MAybe deep down we WANT to be like them??? ( My answer to this is a RESOUNDING NO. How can I want to be the very thing I loathe? Consciously or sub-consciously?) It's something I haven't figured out. Not that I think about it much. Dedel wasn't convinced with my reasoning as well but didn't rule out the possibility. I am an open minded person. Chant that everyone. It's easier said than done. I believe I am an open-minded person, really. But when it all comes down to it, am I??? Grinning Goat at 8/26/2004 10:27:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Wednesday, August 25, 2004 A Quest to avoid living in solitude I'm back to the hell hole. Here are the steps taken to avoid pre-mature insanity: 1. Harboring ill____ immigrant in my r___ (well at least just for today) 2. Bring the ultimate weapon no matter how heavy it is or how stupid I look carrying it on the bus. (Let's just say I have one CD player less in my house) Of course the assorted Cds as well. 3. Handcuff to keep me from banging my neighbours' door which might irritate them greatly and leave me watching over my shoulders for snide remarks in the near future. 4. Training the eye to see which PC in the computer room has internet connection (preferably those that allow venturing OUTSIDE NUS websites...)and of course honing the skill to trick other users in the room to give up those very PCs 5. E-MESSENGER!!! (yes, it's slow but hell, what other options do I have?) 6. Borrow lots and lots of books, hoping to remember the due dates. There's no need to make the library rich unecessarily. 7. HAndphone to call people during desperate times. (And I mean DESPERATE times). There's no need to make Singtel rich unecessarily too. Hmm...trust me I tried to stretch it to 10 (it's just this thing I have for even-number) but bloody hell those'll have to do for now. I'll add in due time. For now I shall get the hell out of this library before somebody writes in to the newspaper column tomorrow about the death of a girl who froze her ass off. We're not talking about frost bites here but instant chilling of the blood. MAybe I AM suited to the weather of the equitorial despite my insistent claim otherwise. Grinning Goat at 8/25/2004 08:43:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Tuesday, August 24, 2004 Affinity I think I have a certain affinity for flooding labs. Chem lab especially. See I'd taken precautions...putting the hose from the condenser exactly where it should be- in the sink. Simple enough? I was then away on some errands (taking flasks, reagents, filter pumps etc) and when I came back my bench was FLOODED. Because the bloody hose had taken the liberty to free itself out of the sink -how it did that escaped me- spraying water all over my work table. Hell. Reminds me of how I flooded TJ's chem lab with Potassium Manganate. Not a very intelligent move considering it's done under the watchful eye of the invigilator for the SPA and that Potassium Manganate's not colourless (so you can't just say "my water containing distilled water" leaks, during which people will give a pitying glance but will shrug it off eventually. Imagine: the enitire floor beneath your table drenched in liquids the colour of blood and people will ask an entirely different question: WTF did you do?. And it's not pitying glance you'll have to face anymore, it's "Are you think in the head" stare. HEh)and considering of course that I'd broke the pipette earlier. I think I can be disastrous in a lab. God help me. So when everybody else was busy messing with their reagents, I was busy mopping. *grumbles* How labs in NUS can't compare to those in TJ: 1. No weird smell 2. sparkling white table without suspicious stains of exotic colours 3. You have your OWN fume cupboard! What pissed me off though was this guy who was my neighbur. He was in the same bench as me, and you know how chem lab's seating plan's always arranged in such a way that you'll have to get past all those people before you can go to the alley to collect your stuff? Well, he was practically leaning on his table, his butt jutting out into the common corridor/walkway. Not that his butt was any exciting to look at. Blah. Him and his butt.Inconveniencing the people from THE WHOLE BENCH. Heh Other than that everything was smoothsailing. And I think I produced decent enough crystals. Ah. Grinning Goat at 8/24/2004 08:40:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Reflection of our image SHowie was replaced by somebody else!!!!! Somebody who claimed to be a colleague/friend of his... R: Awwww...don't tell me he's gonna turn out to be another show-off.....One I can take...but two....is pushing it too hard... Po: We'll never know....Your friend is a reflection of your image... R: Oh so you're a reflection of my image? Po: hmmmmm.....I can be. Remember the paranoia?? R: Hahahaha. Good point. Okay this is how it went. We were coming for those walk-in-interviews in some company whose office's in some shophouse that looked eerily run down. The signboard there said " Goldknight Company" (or was it enterprise? Well, it's one or the other) R:Hmmm....yellow lights.....not a bad place... Po: air-con too.....hmmm.... :: after a while... R:Why do they require us to write our parent's and siblings' name??? Po: curious..curious.... R: what does THAT have anything to do with anything??? Po: You're right. Come to think of it, look around....they just have this nice secretary in front to serve us. And one telephone. I mean, there isn't even a computer in this place.... R: Hmmmm...yea....look in the corridor...it's kind of dark. Wonder what's in there... Po: And those cardboxes.....do you think they put it there to give the impression that they're involved in some important business dealings??? R: man.....no photocopier even.....that's kind of a must in every office isn't it? Po: Yep :: R: (asking the other interviewee) Err....so...are you guys gonna fill up this form or what? Stranger: Yep...just fill it up and they'll call you in for some interview... R: (to PO) You know how paranoid I can be. If you want to go through with the whole interview business you're free to do it...Ignore me... Po: You just plant the paranoia seed in my head you know... R: Ops...hahaha... :: R: Hmmmm.... Po:... R:... Po: Wanna get the hell outta this place? R: I was waiting for you to say that... Po: Let's go man... R: Hell yea... Well anyway I was in this meeting with the band just now. And guess what- the guy...from the Tedjo story (I'm not gonna repeat badmouthing him, so feel free to look up the story in the archive or something)- HE'S A MEMBER OF THE FREAKING BAND TOO..... AWWWWWWW MANNNNNNNNNN............Why didn't I see all the signs????WHY???? Heh. And there was this Vietnamese guy called Dang (pronounced as Dung) who's supposed to be the guitarist. His name may not be very flattering what with the pronounciation being exactly the same as something extremely unappealing, but man can he play. He played Joe Satriani's Starry Night too! Hmmmmm.... Someday.......someday...I'm gonna be like that.....Heh Grinning Goat at 8/24/2004 12:12:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Sunday, August 22, 2004 ONE Gold? My student was asking me the other day if I had a sore throat. "No, why?" "A lot of people get it," NOW I get it. Akkkkhhhhh. Damn. By the way I was pretty pissed yesterday for missing the badminton's final. WE ACTUALLY WON. Hell. It seems as though when I was watching, we're always losing and the moment I turned my head, we're winning. Ck. Where's the fairness in that? Taufik won. Yes, the asshole with the ego problem won! So at least we get ONE gold medal. Quite sad compared to the good old days. Too bad the deal's different back there. No 1 million bucks to bring home. Li Jia Wei must've had a hard time sleeping...letting the $ 1 000 000 bucks slipped through her fingers like that. Dedel's account of the game: Dedel: It started off with the score 7-1 in favour of the other player.....then....Taufik catched up. 13-7....wow...he's really good........the other player scored one more 13-8 now......and then Taufik finished him off. 15-8. Hahah... R: Gosh, that's detailed.....I might as well skip watching altogether eh? Dedel: Ahahahaha. I'm in a good mood now.... R: How bout the female? Dedel: Fat hope R: Damn I WANT MY SUSY SUSANTY BACK!!!!!!!! Grinning Goat at 8/22/2004 01:52:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Saturday, August 21, 2004 Some honesty wouldn't hurt I woke up, feeling pretty re-freshed after a sleep-deprived week. Yes, I missed the live final table tennis match between Li Jia Wei from Singapore and Korea. But not to worry, because the moment I went online I saw Andri on the msn with the nick "Singapore ain't got no medal? Congratulations". You can't blame her. She's just against the whole concept of importing athletes. Well so am I, but I do think it's the practical thing to do to get a name in the wold's sports arena fast. Heh. Anyway, I finally got round to treating Biwi, honouring my solemn promise. We ate in this pasta place. We were talking about nice people. Yep. NICE people. Complaining about them. Does that sound evil to you? I guess the bottom line is that we just don't believe truly nice people exist. We believe nice people do have their (evil) moments too. It's got to be, because the last time I checked, anger, resentment and bitterness was still pretty much human. They can be hard to control and it's normal to lose it once in a while. I'd like to think I'm a civil enough person but not without my ugly temperaments and dark side too. What I can't stand is the whole pretension. The good person facade. There's just an aura of dishonesty around it. And it's bluffng nobody. (Well of course in reality, stupid people exist so there are always idiots out there who're naive enough to be taken in). You can't be good all the time. You can't love everybody. There's got to be something or someone who pisses you off. The only difference is whether you'll admit those things. Sometimes it's frustrating to talk to a nice friend. You can never get an honest opinion. If all I want is politically correct answers, I can just flip on the newspaper editor section, talk to some MPs or some strangers at some party. I don't need people to paint me this beautiful picture of the world. Because I know in reality it's NOT. All I need is some form of admittance. When something is boring. It IS boring. Not "not bad actually" or "pretty interesting".When some people irritates the hell out of you then they irritate the hell out of you. Is that so hard to do??? And Biwi's (hall) neighbours happen to be nice people. Some asshole: Hey people....vote for me okay??...okay???...okay?? Biwi: Nah....I think I'll just skip voting altogether... Some nice person: She said vote for her. Just vote for her lah... Biwi: (gggggrrrrrrrrrrrr) What was that? Vote because SHE TOLD YOU TO VOTE???? Whatever happen to freedom to choose? Hell. Sometimes I wonder if nice people have brains to support their balooning sense of self-righteousness. Under normal circumstances, I'd probably just shut the hell up. And skip voting altogether of course. That's what Biwi did by the way. I think it'll be interesting if we can actually not vote for anybody but vote against someone. She can count on me voting that then. I'd appreciate some honesty. Really. Grinning Goat at 8/21/2004 09:10:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Friday, August 20, 2004 True Blue Traveller Long day today. I went from Clementi to Bukit Timah to Tanah Merah, back to Clementi then to Serangoon. (Please note the last stop wasn't Clementi. It should have quite a significant impact on my mental state.) Freezing my ass off on the bus, on my student's house, on the mrt, at the toilet, at YIH. People like me make the transport business profitable. Hell. And on my way home I caught two people speaking Indonesian. I was about to approach them when I remembered I wasn't inside NUS and should probably stopped all this Indonesian-hunting madness.Heh They were auditioning for this band yesterday. And I missed it. Damn. But this guy then smsed me saying I can still come down today. Auditioner: Hmmm...If you were the vocalist, how would you see the other members? R: Ahh? What do you mean? Auditioner: Just..you know...how you would see the guitarists or say..the drummer? R: (I had no idea the direction this was taking. I'm not some moron who's obsessed with finding the model answer but the least thing I can do is answer the correct question, right?) Err....as equals?? Then he looked thoughtfull and stroke his goatee... And later on I got the hint that there had been occasions when they got a big-headed vocalist who thinks too highly of himself, can't stand criticism and has his nose too high in the air for his own good. So "as equals" put me in the correct direction. I think. And that thoughtfull look wasn't a what-the-heck-was-she-talking-about look. God forbid. All I have to do is drop the offer by the Voices and I'm in!!! (because of a possible practise/gig clash) He made it like it's supposed to be a tough choice for me. Do think about it. Tell us before Sunday. But it isn't hard at all. Hell. So I have until Friday to find ONE reason why I should stay with the Voices. I haven't figured out any. "Do you have a problem with jamming once a week?" IS he kidding? I'd be the earliest to arrive every week. Heh I'll be PART OF A BAND!!! WHOOOPEEEEEEE.....This is like making up for those times in the leaf school when our ambitious plan were abandoned for the pursuit of education. Blah.(That's putting it in a nice way. Actually the plan was conceived when we were about to graduate, so messing around wasn't a very smart option) Although I'm still recovering from yesterday's shock (Hall night, you understand) I shall put up pictures I took yesterday in my room.I shall call it the "hell hole". The corridor isn't included because although my mental state was a bit disturbed yesterday, I was still sober enough to stop myself from venturing into the night to take pictures of the corridor. That's just too weird, don't you think? Yep so do check it out at Sneak Peek Okay. Time to head to bed. LAterz y'all. (yes, i'm in an excellent mood) Grinning Goat at 8/20/2004 11:45:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Thursday, August 19, 2004 Why shutting up is a good idea I just came back from the KR toilet.(See? I'm being good and start living in the hall)On my way in, there were two naked, screaming kids running around and a woman trying to catch hold of them. More like trying to dress them up. I think. So I did my business and on my out asked the maid, whose kids are they? Then the kids stopped crying. I'm not making this up. The older one even answered me," The Angstein's downstairs' auntie,". I was like who??? But hell, kids aren't meant to be understood. And the younger one -who was dressed by then- stopped crying to stare at me. I looked at him. He looked at me. I stuck out my tongue. And he was silent. I left, thinking who the hell is Angstein's auntie from downstairs who left her kids up on the third floor??? Doesn't matter. I have the power to silence kids. I just wish I have the power to silence lecturers.Especially the show-off kinds. I came to Showie's lecture again today. And was beating my head throughout. His pronounciation was preposterous. You'd expect better of someone with a PhD. One who likes to show off at that. It's the 'A' level. Not the 'EY' leve. It's very not welly. It's progress. Not plogless. And it's marvellous not malvelous. And it's argument. And it's opportunity. And... GOdammit. The text book can explain better than him. His lecture notes are just the summarised version of the book except that it's written in a language only HE understands.( John Mc Murry's book shall be my bible for now). Not that it's difficult mind you. It's all the grammar screw ups. Heh. I guess I've seen worse. For Molecular genetics I get a professor who GIVES THE WRONG INFORMATION on his notes. Akkhhh. They can all shut up. Like Po said, " HEll, we don't have to come to this lecture. We can just catch the lecture broadcast online tomorrow" " And do what those guys in front of us do?" " Checking their mails and chat on the msn during lecture?" " Yep" " Yep yep" Grinning Goat at 8/19/2004 09:03:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Dehumanization What strikes me during the audition is this. I wasn't nervous because the judges weren't being very professional. When I told them what song I was going to sing, somebody technically whispered to somebody else."Technically", because although they were trying to do it discreetly, I noticed and could actually make out what was it they were discussing. Somebody:.....what song is it again?.... Somebody else:.......you know...the one that goes......(some humming here...O' God)... Somebody else who was sensible: Shssssshhhhh.... If you see some of the arguments people give on why "Singlish" should be preserved, (My personal opinion: That's utter rubbish) you'll discover that some people actually find that Singlish connect/bond people more. That's not true. The way I see it, people are just (tend to be) less intimidated when others talk to them with broken disjointed english. I don't know, is it their superiority complex kicking in? Or is it just comforting to know someone speaks at the same level, if not worse than you? I think professionalisation is a dehumanising process. When you're a professional, people expect you to speak flawlessly, present yourself well, show enough sincerity yet maintain adequate distance.(No doubt so that it's easy to back out should the need arises. Ask insurance companies). Perhaps efficiency can be maintained by being professional and you don't piss people off so often. But it's still different. It looks sincere in a non-sincere way.You look friendly because you have to, not because you're happy with, say...your customers. Imagine. If Voices got professionals as judges, I'd be there sweating because they'll be in their most business-like mode. You! yes, YOU! SING! Now? yes, NOW! Done? Okay, NEXT PLEASE...(Did I just confuse rudeness with professionalism?) The point is, there'll be no silly nonsensical whispering to soothe your nervousness. So, I don't know. Is being professional good? Grinning Goat at 8/19/2004 12:54:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Wednesday, August 18, 2004 Oppss After an endless wait, staring at this guy scribbling away on the floor (reminds me of the detention room in the leaf school), I strolled in. Smiling Lady: Can you sing without your guitar? R: ahh???....but I thought you guys said we're supposed to bring in accompaniments ourselves? Smiling lady: errr...Are you auditioning for Resonance? This is audition for Resonance. Maybe you want to audition for Voices?? R: errrr....where might that be? Smiling Lady: next door. Ah. Great. Another long wait. I ended up auditioning for two things. Hell. The one with the Resonance wasn't a matter of saving my dignity. (my cover was pretty much blown by bringing in that guitar)It's a matter of not wasting the long wait that involved staring at some guy scribbling away on the floor. Hell. All I remember from the first round of audition is that there was this smiling lady. That's all. How was I to know WHICH smiling lady (judge) I was supposed to be seeing?? They all looked the same. Hell. What other CCA do you have? (beaming with pride) THE RIDGE!!! I'm IN THE RIDGE, lady. So you're a writer? Hell yea. The audition was alright I guess. I can be a horrible singer/guitar player/song-writer/runner/basketball-player/swimmer but I just CAN'T be a horrible writer. I take it as a personal insult. I'll never be a very good guitar player but I'll live with it. Writing on the other hand is different. I know I will never be as good as Adeline Yen Mah, or D.H Lawrence or Mc Court (Chricton isn't in the list because I read his books for their contents, not language use). Perhaps I just can't get over that idea completely. I shall strive not to be a horrible writer. Grinning Goat at 8/18/2004 11:59:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Tuesday, August 17, 2004 Screw up I used to curse Channel 5 for forcing us to watch the Athen's Olympics. (Think, the only rival corporation that doesn't get into the whole Athen Olympics concept is Mediaworks. Not much option is there??) But I discovered that I stayed up late for two consecutive nights watching the live broadcast of some of the events. I happened to watch weightlifting and synchronised swimming. The thing about weightlifting is this: You see those puny women (puny in terms of stature, not muscles mind you)trying to lift up weight twice their own body weight. 53kg woman lifting up to 125 kg at one go. It almost made me cringe. Sure, it's not easy to do that, but what's the point of straining yourself like that?? Risking injuries, tearing your tendon to pieces, permanently disfiguring yourself. What's so attractive about this sport (if you can call it sports?)that each and every Olympics, there are always people competing? The sheer power you have to show? And even when the commentator said "It's a good lift! She did it with ease", I'm not convinced. She did it with ease? Her face was contorted (with pain?), her jaw muscle tight. Reminds me of what my dad once said, "Use your brain, not sheer power". I guess there's always the money factor.You weightlift to earn a living, to put food to your kids' mouth. To carve a niche for yourself, let the world know you're this amazing person who lift up to what...230 kg? - the record-breaker. But admit it, not everybody makes it far in the game.And when you're training and taking all those protein supplements, are you sure you won't ever regret that in the future? Some things can't be undone. Stop training and all those muscles turn to fats. You can't train forever, you have to stop at some point. Like when age's catching up with you. Your biological clock can be merciless. What really hooked me was observing how people react to their own success/screw ups. I admit the screw ups somehow have greater entertainment value. This one in particular was a major screw up. The China pair was leading throughout the game (in synchronised swimming you're given a couple of dive-the type and difficulty will be up to the athletes to choose, I think- and the marks awarded to you for each dive is accumulative). It was almost impossible for others to clinch the gold, because the lead was quite far ahead. Until the very last dive when the China pair totally screwed up. They were awarded ZERO, for an "uncompleted dive". That's just enough to put them to the bottom position. And suddenly EVERYBODY's eyeing the gold. I wondered what were they thinking. Screwing up their chance to get the gold just because they made ONE fatal mistake. The gold was practically theirs for the taking. I saw one patting the other on the shoulder- The picture of despair. The Greek- who weren't particularly impressive or hopeful at first- ended up winning the game. Hell, this is a good year to be a Greek. I guess this isn't ROSS's entry if something funny doesn't happen. So i'm gonna include this last bit at the end. In the middle of the game, the two divers who were supposed to do their dive suddenly stopped short. They kept stretching themselves. I was quite baffled until this commentator said: "We saw someone on the pool. Wonder how he get there. As you can see, security is very tight here. All entry points are guarded, bagages checked....As of this moment nobody knows how a member of the public can get into that pool....I guess we'll find out in tomorrow's paper..." Well, this is quite a long entry. I shall end it here then. Grinning Goat at 8/17/2004 11:56:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} INDEPENDENCE DAY Yep yep. Today's the 17th of August. Our independence/national day. I'd have forgotten had Andri not remind me. Okay I don't want to hurl any insults today. (tomorrow perhaps? just not today, besides there's this long queue of people complaining and a long long lists on what's wrong with my country, I can skip insulting altogether. Those people will probably convey what I want to say anyway) So let me sing this song: 17 Agustus tahun '45! Itulah hari kemerdekaan kita. Hari merdeka. Nusa dan bangsa. Hari lahirnya bangsa Indonesia. Merdeka! Sekali merdeka tetap merdeka! Selama hayat masih dikandung badan. Kita tetap setia. Tetap setia. Mempertahankan Indonesia. Kita tetap setia. Tetap setia. Membela negara kita! And, no I'm not that patriotic actually. Grinning Goat at 8/17/2004 12:58:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Monday, August 16, 2004 Show Offs You thought somebody of that calibre (pHD holder cum lecturer)would know what modesty means. You thought you're sitting there listening to something constructive and educational. You thought it was a pitty you couldn't be in the real LT, listening to the lecture LIVE and were stuck in some other LT listening to the broadcast. As usual, I reached there in time, meaning all the seats had already been occupied. (trust me, I was there on time. Lecture's scheduled for 12:00 and like a model student I was there at 11:57. Apparently that wasn't early enough. Hell) But oh heck, I should probably be late because the first half an hour was utter crap. His lecture was totally irrelevant. As he himself pointed out: Lecturer: Don't worry about this, I'll go back to it again during the real lecture... R: What so this is a fake lecture?? Po: (snickering while shoving me in my ribs) :: Lecturer: Chemistry is very interesting, especially this part...but you won't get to learn it now.....freshie years are the boring years but....foundations must be built, see.....I'll cover more of this when I lecture chapter one. R: What?? So this is chapter zero??? .......(more snickering and rib-shoving)............... It went on and on. Like that. The part I hate the most: Lecturer: Not everybody gets to be pHD you know? You think getting a pHD is easy? Wait til you sit for my test. I always make it a point to set a hard test, see....I'll set a test that'll require you to think....No point if you can't think..some students say my tests are harder than those in the textbooks....... WELL DUH!! Test is supposed to make us think. And OF COURSE not everybody gets to be a pHD, just like how not everybody gets to be a CEO....Geez. Give us some credit. We maybe stupid but not THAT stupid. Lecturer: Some of my students have become pHD and come back here to teach. See, I do a lot of research....so what I tell you would be first hand experience.....blah....blah....blah......If you think you're bright enough and want to sit in my pHD lecture you're welcome to join in. If you can understand of course... Some of my students even join me as lab assistants in my research lab. If you think you're good enough you can approach me.....but nah...I think there's not enough vacancy... a lot of students are interested you know.......blah...blah...blah... Oh please. Spare me. Like I said, you'd have thought someone of that calibre will know the value of being modest. Hell, MODESTY IS A VIRTUE. MArk my words. And what's with telling us about the lab assistant shits when he knew ALL ALONG there weren't any vacancy to begin with. I'm sorry but truthfully that didn't, doesn't and will never impress me. And oh Po and Jackie came in to the lecture hall , armed with Pocky and Halo Panda. Good arsenal to cure gastric for lunch skippers like us. The ultimate weapon though was this: BREAD. Hahahha. Jackie actually brought the whole packet-full of them last lecture. To "dilute" the smell of Pocky perhaps. (Pocky and Halo Panda are lethal stuff you understand, their smell travels miles and miles) Anyway, I may ramble on and on in this entry but to tell you the truth I'm in a JOLLY MOOD now. I'm gonna join THE RIDGE soon!! HAHAH. It's not Asian Jounal or Times or The Straits Times but hell, I might just be on my first step there you know. Like Huiwen once said, "what's better than writing is being appreciated". What she said should drive the point home. And oh because I told Biwi all this, we had another ALL CAPSLOCK conversation. Hahaha. And I'm supposed to give her a treat. Oh heck, it's probably worth it. Any day someone takes me seriously as a writer is a day worth celebrating. Cheers you all! Grinning Goat at 8/16/2004 11:50:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Didn't see it coming LINDAN LOST. I guess it was a close one (15-12; 15-10)but still, it's 2-0!! Lindan didn't win even ONE round. What's wrong? Ronald Susilo. (the traitor ass? But hell, who can blame him for wanting to change citizenship. I'd grab the chance at first opportunity) Ronald Susilo actually WON. AGAINST WORLD'S NUMBER ONE: LINDAN. How does THAT add up? Forgive my lack of faith, my friends. I still think of him as an Indonesian. Sigh. Perhaps he should change his name to something more chinese-sounding. Ronald Susilo and Taufik Hidayat. I wonder who'll make it further in the game. As much as I loathe Taufik, I do hope he makes it far. My country has nothing to be proud of, but badminton. Well, it USED to be badminton before all the good players head for the exit. (Susy Susanty, Rexy Mainaky and Ricky Subagja duo who were my favourite) And it's just sad when athletes with good potential ran out to some other country (for better pay, recognition and perhaps quality of life, opportunity? as well as training facility??) And throughout the match, the spectators seemed to be cheering "INDONESIA!!INDONESIA!!!". I find that ironic. Here is this guy who ran out and changed citizenship but the spectators still identify him with my country. Maybe he should really change his name. (But now that everybody knows him after defeating Lindan, maybe changing name doesn't sound like such a good idea) Wedy: ci, do you know there's a live match tonight between Susilo and LINDAN?? HAHAH!!! Susilo will lose in no time. R: (wonder what the heck I was thinking then. I certainly made a stupid response) Susilo? Why would a presidential candidate play in a badminton match??? Of course Lindan will win??? Wedy: ( a look of disbelief. well, more like "Are you thick?" look actually) NOT SUSILO BAMBANG!!!!!! R: Oh hell, what was i thinking??? It's that Susilo guy who's playing for Singapore eh? Wedy: (shaking her head) YES. Ono predicts it's going to be 2-0. Hahahah :: after the match, still dazed by the astounding result... Wedy: I can't believe Ono is right. R: Yes, but 2-0 IN FAVOUR OF WHO??? Wedy: Heh yea. This is unbelievable. Grinning Goat at 8/16/2004 01:44:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Sunday, August 15, 2004 Extreme Paranoia Read the title. Read it again. Now tell me if I fit that description. After I'm done writing the article, I downloaded this programme - plagiarism detector. The report says: "Out of 100% of all words have been examined, 0%congruent words found on the internet". So should I breathe a sigh of relief? Hell, I WASN'T PLAGIARISING someone's work. That's the lowest thing I can do. But I'm skeptical about this programme you know. I tried to copy and paste one of my entries in this blog to Microsoft Words and run it. And they didn't detect it as plagiarism. I mean of course my writings aren't plagiarised works but technically, I AM plagiarising myself. They found one or two of congruent words on the net and give me a bibliography on which websites I can find those words. A COUPLE OF CONGRUENT WORDS???? Try EVERYTHING. AN EXACT MATCH. http://chapera.blogspot.com ISN'T EVEN IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY. Heh. How reliable is this Plagiarism detector exactly??? Grinning Goat at 8/15/2004 05:45:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Unjustified Justifications I should probably start writing the article for The Ridge, which hopefully will land me a part-time job as a journalist. Ross The Journalist. The Free-lance Writer. Ah. That'll be something. But let's just see how it goes. I stumbled upon this interesting website The Philosopher as I was surfing just now. Which was a relief- as you probably know the Web is full of junks. I'd try not to write too much about it or I'll lose my inspiration for the article later on. (yes, my inspirations aren't limitless) As the title suggests, it's about philosophy. But the section I was reading just now was about taboo and morality. They even have this test . I think the test is there for statistical studies, not only for our entertainment. So, have fun surfing The Philosopher By the way, I particularly recommend this test Grinning Goat at 8/15/2004 01:34:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Saturday, August 14, 2004 Silent defiant indignation I'm experimenting. Students aren't sponges. They do all sorts of things but absorb informations. They stare at you. Stare at the books. Stare at the ceilings. Comment on your handphones. Offer you drinks (I don't mind but that's not the point). Telling them things are not good. What's the difference between a class in school and a tuition then? I discovered that being mean can sometimes do the trick. R: So what's the answer? Student: 8 point 32.... R: WRONG Student: akkhh??? ermmm..........But you said it was done like that in the previous page... R: I was right. You are wrong. (Ah. Aren't I an arrogant prick??) :: the point of being mean is this: the next time they want to present their shitty answers they'll need to think twice. They'll think twice as hard to give me a decent answer so for once I'll be the one looking stupid. Students just like it when teachers are wrong. I'll just need to rely on their indignation for them to figure things out. To think on their feet, without me prompting them to think. Grinning Goat at 8/14/2004 09:29:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Friday, August 13, 2004 Silence is deafening Now that I found this incredible (or maybe not so incredible, since MSN's disabled in most PC) place called the computer room, I think I'm gonna be hogging it for long. Or maybe not. At least I won't be completely cut off from blogging, which is therapeutic. Hell, anything's therapeutic when the alternative's staying in the room. Silence kills. I even borrowed a couple of books, but I need to save it for later at night. No more baking today so the pantry's silent as well. Perhaps they give up the brownie-making idea? Might not be such a bad thing. NUS broadcast. They have all the local channels except Surya. Hell, they even have CNN, BBC and National Geographic. The only problem is that there's no speaker plugged to the PC. So much for wanting to watch. Sigh. I'm not one of those people who can watch without having the sound on. That's not watching, that's staring. Or lips reading. The lecture this morning. It was awesome. You know what's the best thing about being an undergraduate? People treat you like a human. Everybody knows it's a lie when a tutor in a JC says that JC students are treated like young adults. Like hell we did. They did more telling than suggesting. Spoonfeeding is definitely a sign of absolute trust in our capability to think for ourselves. Why, we won't make it through without them feeding informations..... And it's hard to stop. As long as there are tutors who spoonfeed, it's hard to put a stop to the rest. Competition drives schools to the edge. Everything is about statistics. Spoonfeed or no, maintain the statistics. Spoonfeed it is then, since it's the easiest way out. We're producing generations of (spoonfeedee??) rote learners. If memorizing a chunk of materials thrown at you isn't rote-learning, what is? I like discussion type lectures where everybody can just speak up and argue (sensibly) in class. When there's no right or wrong answers. It's more thought-provoking, you know? Sharpen your mental faculty. Especially when what others say makes you rethink your stand on certain issues. And the tutor's name didn't make it any less interesting as well. Her name is USA - yep, spelled just like the name of the most powerful country in this world. Lady on the phone: What's your name again? Can you spell it for me? Usa: U.S.A Lady on the phone: No no no.....not where you're from but your name...... Grinning Goat at 8/13/2004 08:56:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Freshies ain't stupid, lady There is this programme in NUS where students can actually sign up, pay (annually) 200 bucks in return for a free teeth check-up as well as fix (filling, extraction, removsal of plagues, etc) Po was still making up her mind when the lady at the counter was telling us how, there's been no complaints by students so far, how it's "too good to be true", how the company is actually losing money. She must've thought we're idiots. The company's not making money my ass. R: But it doesn't make sense that the company still exists now if it's losing money is it? Lady: Well, we might just went bust anytime soon. We might not be here next year. OOoooohhhh, the lady's not much of a debator. For saying that, she lost the debate. Straight. Just like that. We might not be here next year? what kind of an argument is that??? Try "We're actually trying to pull people into this so we can cover up our losses by increasing the number of customers"? Might be a smarter option than "we are bankrupting ourselves silly" Sigh. See? Never underestimate people. Grinning Goat at 8/13/2004 05:31:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Thursday, August 12, 2004 Silence Finally after getting locked out of my room for several days (because I forgot to code my matric card), I'm going in today. My room was uh well....at best pragmatic...at worst...bleak. No pictures, no soft toys (hell yea, my neighbours bring their soft toys along), nothing to indicate it's my room, really. Think practical. Why bring in so many unecessary stuff when I'm gonna have to move out at the end of the year. (Allocation of room's rotational. So you'll move every semester). Why torture yourself carrying heavy bags full of SOFT TOYS at the end of the year?? Why bring soft toys at all??? WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR? You're not primary school kids for goodness sake. But of course, it's all down to personal choice. Why, people just love to torture their shoulders carrying heavy stuff they don't really need. And my room still has that smell. You know the wood smell? I wonder how my neighbours get rid of it. It's like some people have this ability to unsmell a room while some don't. I probably need to air it a bit but I can't be arsed to sit around inside waiting for the air to circulate. It's too silent. No laptop. No TV (unless you I want to play gooseberry because the last time I checked, the lounge-where the Tv is-was used as a place to date). No stereo. Damn. I think I'm intoxicated with technology. The bane of living in the 21st century. It turns out that I didn't need to bang on my neighhbours' doors. The lady next door- who owns ten pairs of shoes in her closet- was there with a bunch of people trying to bake a brownie. I was there to laugh. Because despite using a brownie mix, it still turned out to be pretty screwy. Brownie? Try a brown half-done spongecake. I suggested them bluffing their way through by saying it's a spongecake and not brownie. They're too honest for their own good. So while waiting for the oven to do its trick on the brownie (they kept reheating the thing, hoping it'd improve things until someone shouted out O God, the brownie melts...) we entertained ourselves in the pantry. Playing guitars and singing. We looked like a bunch of idiots but hey I was desperate for some sort of an entertainment alright?? Grinning Goat at 8/12/2004 08:42:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} What are you complaining about??? Gunbound maybe a childish game. But it's a place where you can meet people from different parts of the world. Different races, age, sex, and temperament. I actully learnt some spanish from Spaniards out there. And some french. And how to handle kids. See, kids like to show off, they'll tell you all sort of things like how they move up from a chick to a double wooden hammer in one day (that's like jumping rank). Whether you want to know doesn't matter. Whatever they tell you, just say "Nice" and they'll shut up for good. Be skeptical and they'll give you another long lectures about what they're capable of blah blah blah which is the last thing you can ever want. Please those kids and they'll leave you alone. Really. One of my Gunbound friends is this guy from Brazil. He said Bahia-the place where he lives- suck. He hates the goverment. (He called the government thief by the way). He hates politicians. Well, who doesn't??? Along the way, I discovered that he has two daughters when he's just 15. So I fished for information. Are you married? No. And he hasn't even graduated from high school. High-school that requires its students to come for four hours everyday. A stupid school he calls it. When you only have to come for four hours, I can't really argue with that. I think Singaporeans (well, let's not be discriminatory and include stuck-ups of other nationalities) need to meet more people like this. People from different parts of the world. People who're unfortunate enough to live in a country whose education system falters behind, where poverty is rampant, with substandard infrastructure. Where having kids at such young age is common occurence. What are people complaining about sometimes? Complaining over little things that are insignificant. While it's true that complaints serve as critics to improve, they have to stop at some point. We need to look back, see how others are doing. You won't know appreciate all the good stuff you're having until you compare. Comparison can be deadly. Now, I am not innocent of this. I, too complain too much sometimes. By the way he introduced me to this song "Voodoo Child" by Jimmy Hendrix. And it's marvellous. And uh some Brazillian rock songs too. That is something new. Grinning Goat at 8/12/2004 02:46:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Wednesday, August 11, 2004 I'm no fun Wedy: How do you describe a character? R: There are lots of ways you can do that Wedy: Okay, let's say........try to describe me R: Aawwww must I do this? Wedy: Yes, quick. R: Hmmm...Wedy likes to cry. Wedy: That's all? R: Wedy likes to cry. Loads and loads. For no reason.Cries like she owns the ICe Mountain or Evian company. Cries like tears are cheap....Cries like... Wedy: OTHER than that? R: Erm......hm....okay....Wedy has rashes? How's that? Wedy: NOT that. It has to be something that I have for a long time. I just developed the stupid rashes recently. R: Hmmm...okay.....Wedy has freckles. Wedy: Can you give me something more specific.... R: Okay.....Wedy has lots of freckles. Wedy: Arrrggghhhh. You're no fun Grinning Goat at 8/11/2004 07:58:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Tuesday, August 10, 2004 My first It didn't start so well. See, we suddenly realised that we needed to buy the lab coat for tomorrow's practical. The co-op must be making a lot of money with all those people queuing to pay. Heh. Anyway, the lady at the counter was somewhat obsessed with the word "armpit" because she kept using it as a reference point in choosing the size of the labcoat that we needed to buy. She'd take a good look at me and said. Hmmmm....this one's no good. Your armpit can't move much and you need to move your armpit during practicals, don't you?? Errr....I guess......Okay then you take this size, your armpit can move better. My armpit can move??? My armpit ain't moving, lady. I move my arms. Moving armpits are just too scary, thank you very much. So because of this whole armpit business, we were a bit late for the lecture. But oh no, we didn't miss much because the first lecturer was this counsellor cum professor who kept talking about "How to be a succesful students". He went on and on about how guide to success is all in your hands. Yes, your hand. Go on, look at your hands right now. Your thumb says something about managing your time well. Whether you'll do well depends on it. Whether yor thumb points up or down................................ ?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And to top it off, he posted something on the web for "our reference". Here let me quote: "In JC, the teacher is on your side and the enemy is Cambridge. At the NUS, I am not just your teacher, but also the judge and the executioner. If I were your JC teacher and you all got A’s, everybody would be very happy, and I would probably be promoted. If all of you get A’s on this exam, my exam has not been set properly, and I would get in trouble with the university." Just now's lecture was the verbal version of that. Pretty much. Oh well. Finally after a draggy 30 minute, he passed us on to this other professor who finally was going to talk about something relevant about the module. This kind professor actually made copies of notes to serve as supplements. And those people just RUSHED down the aisle to grab it. Ckckckckckck. Look at them all. Mouth watering, hands stretched out, eyes fixed on those notes. Those notes sell like peanuts I tell you. Not that he charged us anything. Po and I were staring at the hordes of frantic crowds down there, considering whether to slowly make our way down when this person beside Po suddenly offered her service. "Would you all like the notes? I'd help get it for you" Wow. So kind people still exist. Po: She just made my day. R: Hahaha. Aren't you easy to please? Po: She just made my day man R: Yep. Really nice of her. She just made mine too. And this professor was a bit off in the head. He was rambling on and on about how bacterias don't reproduce decently, the way they only partially tranfer the chromosomes. "Now, humans....they reproduce in a decent way. FULL-transfer of the chromosomes. You just need to bring the lady over and do your business" I change NO part of it. He really really said that. Heh By the way, I think I'm going mad with all those textbooks I need to buy. Exorbitant price. Sigh. Second hand books anyone??? Grinning Goat at 8/10/2004 08:10:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Retribution I must admit I have double standards. I expect people to speak proper english but would squirm when someone speaks proper Indonesian. It's too opera-ish and Tv-show-ish you know? Somehow it sounds like that in Indonesian to me. But not english. Oh well I can't pass one day without teasing Qutu about her speaking in proper indonesian when I do see her. (she seems to get worse after moving in to NTU because apparently her neighbours speak even more properly. OWwww. BAd influence. God knows how proper Qutu is as she is now) And now that I've made clear my stand- How I feel uncomfortable with people speaking in proper Indonesian- I just have to get a student who speaks like that. And to top it off my indonesian gunbound friend speaks proper Indonesian too. But not the kind with proper grammar, more like Medanese- Indonesian style without all the slang. Well, actually proper wouldn't be quite the word in this case because most of the time I think he doesn't even get what I'm saying. Which is pretty bad in a conversation. Or game. Friend: Have you any songs to recommend me? R: What do you want? Rock? Pop? Fast or slow? Friend: Rock or pop will do. FAst ones. R: Okay, ermm...try New Found Glory . Friend: wow. congratulations. Friend: with your glory R: Huh?? it's a band name Friend: hah really?? R: yes Friend: I thought you just found glory. R: Huahahahahaah The following will be in Indonesian, so forgive me my english-speaking friends for not providing translations. I just don't think it sounds as funny when translated. Qutu will get a kick reading this. Hahaha Friend: gua in a game sekarang R: Yea. I noticed. Ya uda gua tunggu. Loe kelarin dulu aja (remember you have to pay fine for quitting halfway) Friend: gua uda kluar R: loh??? ngapain? kelarin dulu ajaa... Friend: kelarin apa sih? Gua tidak ngerti (see how proper this is?? heh) R: kelarin artinya selesein Friend: Ohh. Gua kira loe tulis keluar tapi salah ketik. R: Huahahahahaha. Sue dong loe. Huahahaha Grinning Goat at 8/10/2004 03:55:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} It screams G.A.Y Okay. Blogger pisses me off. What's with refusing to log me in? And a fat lot of good Mozilla did me. I have a migraine too. So don't blame me if I'm not being very coherent today. I just came home from attending this PINUS (Indonesian studnets) gathering in NUS. Half the guys there is more feminine than even ME. They gossip like ladies gossip. They danced like women. They are dressed impeccably, like women. They don't walk. They SASHAYED. (Now don't give all those metrosexual shits okay? Everybody knows metrosexual is just a euphemism. It says GAY, basically) God, the place reeked. It screamed G.A.Y. I've seen enough in one night to last me half my life. Akkhh. Dedel: You know that ____guy? I had goosebumps just looking at him. R: Hauahahha. Hell, me too. I pity his girlfriend if he has one. Dedel: You know, maybe he isn't even looking for one. R: Huahahaha. Good point. And this shocking revelation. I got an sms a couple of days back. From this indonesian guy who apparently lived in the same block as me in KR. Yea so I was pretty excited. (it was those desperate days, you understand) Because I thought there weren't that many Indonesians in KR. And he sounded pretty normal in the sms. But O and behold, he screamed G.A.Y too, the moment I saw him in real life. Akkhhh. They're everywhere. Reminds me of this former schoolmate of mine. He had a full-time nurse looking after him from primary school right UP TO SECONDARY SCHOOL. He turned out to be very uh...she-like. He talked softer than even me. He's gentler than even me. It screams W.O.M.A.N. I looked at him and couldn't help but wonder if perhaps his mother wanted so desperately to have a daughter when she actually bore a son. Heh. He was a pretty nice guy so I couldn't really diss him. Maybe he's just a victim of his environment?? I don't know. Tell me why these things happen. The abnormalities of it all just give me the creeps you know. Grinning Goat at 8/10/2004 12:45:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Monday, August 09, 2004 French couple One of my gunbound friends is this french guy. We played jewel just now and it just so happened that his wife's there too. It's kinda sweet looking at them play. Husband and wife. Playing gunbound. Hahahah. Against common enemies. They're actually in the same room in real life, so I asked him. R: so you can actually just talk to her right? You don't have to type?? Badrogh: lol. yea. But it's not funny. It's funnier to type. R: Hahahaha. :: R: 25!!!! (drooling) Badrogh: What's drooling? R: You said Erwan's still a baby, right? BAdrogh: And? R: You notice how he seems to constantly wet his mouth with his saliva? That's called drooling Badrogh: ah. Like granny. R: Your grany drools??? Badrogh: I think so. I saw her once. R: And you tell me all this. Bad Grandson. And somehow, I felt like I needed to be more polite to the wife than to him. I wonder why. Her screen name's Shamarina but calling her that sounds weird. But hell, Mrs Badrogh sounds a hell of a lot weirder. Then she needed to leave halfway to bathe their son. Hahahha. When Badrogh almost missed his turn, I asked and he said he just helped her wife bathe their son. Hahahahha. They make me feel young, you know. At the age of 27 and they still play gunbound. Hahahaha. God I'm young. Grinning Goat at 8/09/2004 02:26:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Sunday, August 08, 2004 Another sign I know I play gunbound too much when my gunbound friends said: 1. You again??? 2. You don't have anything to do today??? 3. How long have you played exactly??? 4. Don't skip your lunch. You'll have gastic pain 5. Breakfast's good, thank you for asking. My wife's preparing lunch now... 6. Yea, I need to do my homework. So I'll see you after??? 7. Were you up all night?? 8. What time is it again there?? Get the idea? And ever since I use the screen name Noquestions, people tend to think I'm Spanish for some unknown reason. Now where does that come from? MAybe in spanish there's such a thing as no que stions??? What could it possibly means? And to tell you the truth I disapppointed a lot of people. Gamer: Hola R: Hola. Como esta? Gamer: Bien. De donde eres? R: de Indo eres. GAmer: ..........................(something in spanish I can't dechiper) R: erhh......puedes hablar ingles?? (Do you speak english??) Gamer: no. R: Awwww. Yo no puedes hablar espanol. ( I don't speak spanish) Gamer: .............................(more foreign stuff) R: ?????????????????????? Grinning Goat at 8/08/2004 06:32:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Cold Feet Man. I'm having cold feet again. Lectures start on the 10th of August. I was jolted awake this morning with with a sense of dread. Today's the 8th. Heh. I'm a chicken. No more gunbound in the near future. No Tv. No internet connection. Akkhhh. I'm moving out. I have too now that I have postponed it this long. Just look at my neighbour. Tell me how I should be enthusiatic about moving??? In the mean time if I do move, I won't be able to update as often until I get a laptop. By the way, Wedy's pretty pissed yesterday. Her hamsters were gone for good. Just like how I cried when my chicken (Prix) died, Wedy cried too. Awwww. Except that I could sympathise more. All I got when I cried was," What? You're crying over a chicken???" Akkh. Probably for the better since Prix's crippled. I wonder what the security guards think last night when two ladies came sauntering in with hamsters in hands and went out empty handed. Heh. Tomorrow's National Day. Woopheeeee. Holiday. I won't comment more. I'm neutral about the whole national day business. Although I do find certain the national day songs rather irritating. By the way tomorrow, there's going to be another gathering of Indonesian students. Only this time, it's NOT held by the ISCF. Great. I'm gonna come and see how it goes. Wish me luck guys. (By the way, I think my tag board's screwed up. Do use the HaloScan to air your view. It's there as back-ups anyway) Grinning Goat at 8/08/2004 04:18:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Saturday, August 07, 2004 First Born God I live in a pig's den. The state it's ALWAYS in whenever my mother's away. I think I shouldn't be the eldest. It should've been Wedy. She has that same capacity as my mother to nag to get the job done. And the funny thing is when she nags everybody'll squirm. Yes, I'll wash the plates, yes I'll put the book back in the shelves. (but still, No I'm not mopping. Probably the only thing we dare to defy in her face) She locks the door. Check to see there's no gas leakage in the kitchen every night before bed. Nag at my brother to study, practise his oral etc. Seriously, nagging's exhausting. Blessed are those who're nagged at. Heh. What? You disagree??? try nagging... It's not even appreciated by people. The thing about being a firstborn is that you'll be the subject of an experimental procedure. See, for the sake of making my point here, I'll admit that I have a flat head.(When you see me, don't bother to spot the flatness, I've mastered this amazing technique to hide it.) And that's because my mother let me sleep too peacefully when I was a baby, not daring to move me so I get a roughly equivalent amount of time sleeping on the right side of my head and on the left side. You get the idea? Only after I came out flat-headed did she realise that woupss, she shouldn't actually leave the moulding of the shape of the head to the baby. Babies will only screw their own heads. First borns will also be the ones they experiment on, in methods to dicipline a kid. Will caning do? How bout a feather duster?? or locking up in the toilet or (my favourite) facing the wall or no tv??? When I was a kid, my father opened this shoe shop. There was this particular brand of shoe whose company gave away shoe horns as promotional items. And when we misbehaved we'd get a whack in our legs with the shoe horn. It must have left a deep impression on me because until now, I still hate that shoe brand. It's called WM (Woodmill??? Woodman??? We were so used to call it the darned bedevilled WM shoe horn, I have no idea what does the abbreviation stands for) I even remember what the shoe horn looked like. It's shaped like the profile of a woman- so it looks like this 2-dimentional naked woman. Heh. Exotic? I think not. It came in three colours. Green lady. Maroon lady. And the Blue lady. Only Kaka and I experienced the WM days. Wedy had NO IDEA WM shoe horns even exist. By the time Wedy was born, my dad had mellowed a lot. Sometimes I wished my father open a paper shop instead. I doubt any paper companies will come out with something as creative as a shoe horn with such interesting shape. Blah. See?? I don't want to be a first born. Sure, the authority and amount of trust I get is good and all that. But being a kid you parents experimented on has its downside too, you know? Like how am I going to fix my head now that it turns out the way it is??? Grinning Goat at 8/07/2004 07:26:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Friday, August 06, 2004 The Riot I never talk about the riot. Perhaps because I kept avoiding the subject. As of this August, I have officially been here for 6 years. I know I complain a lot about this place. But truth be told, I'd pick just about ANY citizenship over the one I'm holding now. I always thought it won't be something I'll keep for life. I will migrate just you wait. I don't know where exactly but I WILL. Someday. Somehow. I won't live in a country where my citizenship doesn't matter. And whatever professional analysts may predict, I'll never be freed of this conviction that my country is one doomed for destruction. Read this entry again in 20-30 years time and you'd think I'm some holy priest with a third eye. We didn't move in 1997. We were still hanging on to that thin thread of hope that order would be restored. Until those calls from my aunt started coming. She was trying to influence my father to move. I was happy where I was (or at least I thought I was, then) so I felt like shooting my aunt's mouth with a cannonball. I more than realised what she's capable of in a matter of blowing things out of proportion. And true enough, my father decided for us to move. (Obviously my cannonball didn't land at the exact spot where I wanted it- her mouth) There's no stopping my father. So we're definitely going to move, but where? First destination: Batam. But what the hell, if we're gonna move, we're gonna move far. We don't move to a place where we'll still be STUCK in the same country. Second destination: Penang (my stupid aunt's recommendation. I think my cannonball didn't even hit her) But hell, no. If we're gonna move, we'll move somewhere where we won't be STUCK with the same language. One that won't take us far in life. Trust me, I'm not being racist here. If we're gonna start from scratch and learn another language, it won't be anything remotely resembling Indonesian. It's gonna be English. Figure out why. We ended up in this country. Conveniently close to home yet on a totally different island. I remembered coming here, wide-eyed. Scared shitless. Stuck, finally in a country that doesn't speak my language. Felt for the first time, what it's like to be part of the majority. Experienced my first real chinese new year. With the adsence of shitty relatives, never mind that I didn't get their money. It was probably WORTH IT. I've come a long way. I have a lot to be thankful for. (My freaking aunt might contribute in her small yet irritating way in our moving here. Still, I don't think I should thank her) I guess what I have to say is this. If I, a foreigner learning english from a scratch, can get to where I am now. Others can. I expect them too. Especially the locals. So forgive me if I'm short on my temper when someone doesn't speak proper english. Don't abuse the languge Dammit. Smoke if you have to, abuse your own lungs, just don't abuse the language. Learn it. It's there for you to conquer. Grinning Goat at 8/06/2004 07:36:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} THE gathering It was alright. I just know one thing though. I can never be some thai thai whose day to day jobs is to hold parties and entertain people- strangers or friends alike. It's tiring. God I hate crowds. Give me the riot batch and I'll die a happy woman. Orientation and ice breakers are just NOT meant to be fun. The sole purpose of their existence is to beat people into submission that hey, you don't know anybody here, FACE it. Put up that fake smile or you're out of the game. Heh. But today's gathering was alright at best, tiring at worst. Not exactly mind-shattering I must say. I don't see how socialisation fits into the objective of this gathering though. I could barely remember any names. And oh the irony is that this gathering was actually held by ISCF. ISCF. Indonesian Students CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP. Oooppppsssss. So after all the fun and games, we had to sit through this brain-washing videoclip of why we should all join the ISCF, what they do.......all the prayer meetings......etc etc etc... The best part was this. Someone came up and tried to convince us that we were really a bunch of lost kids, not knowing where life might take us and so the perfect solution is to really, come to this other gathering that they're gonna hold on wednesday about our "future path". And we're supposed to fill this survey form that required us to give our address and contact number. Po: Ross, you need a pen? R: Nah. I'll be fine Dedel: So are you gonna fill it up or what?? R: Actually I lost my piece of paper......... Po/Dedel: (eyebrows raised) Ah........... R: I'm NOT getting any brochures, leaflets, invitations or what-nots fom them allright??? And I found this girl (one that I approached on the bus upon overhearing her speaking Indonesian.. God, do I have a knack for talking to strangers or what???) who looks like Pony. She has that stare-people-down look, just like Pony. She can even talk as fast as Pony. I also found some other people to look familiarly like someone I know. I'm wondering if I just miss them or if these people really look like the people I know. And you know that geek in the Tedjo story? That's right, the one with the hair so slick you'd think his father own a gel factory who just LOVEEEEEDDDDD to hear what Tedjo had to say in class (when nobody else did) ,whom I detested. He WAS THERE. AS MY SENIOR. Awwwww. Damn it. The least thing I can do is BE HIS SENIOR, but no, it had to be the OTHER way round. Heh. How's that fair?? The only good thing I can say about him is probablythe fact that he no longer thinks his father owns a gel factory. His hair's lost its sickening slickness. And another interesting revelation: Rhymes playes Gunbound!!!!!!!! I'm gonna pit my skill against her tonight. In a battle TO THE DEATH. Grinning Goat at 8/06/2004 01:05:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} Thursday, August 05, 2004 All the blabbering Yesterday as I was tutoring one of my students, we came across this conversation during practice for oral. R: What food have you ever cooked? Ing: Fried rice. Instant noodle (and I thought I was pathetic in the kitchen). MAngo pudding R: Wow. MAngo pudding? How do you make those things?? Ing: well you know those puddings? Just put a mango together with it R: as in on top of them? Ing: Yea R: That's not mango pudding. That's a pudding with a mango on it NTU's QET result's out today. Biwi was one of those people who screwed up their GP, very much like me. Biwi: I passed!!!!!!!!!!! woohoo R: I told you. Worrywarts Biwi: huahahahaha R: Huahahahha. Goodie goodie Biwi: YAY. Lalala R: Huahahah. LET'S ALL TYPE IN CAPITAL Biwi: OK. HAHAHA R: THIS CALLS FOR AN ALL CAPSLOCK CONVERSATION Biwi: ANOTHER GOOD NEWS I WANNA SHARE WITH YOU. I GOT INTO THE WINDSURFING SUBCOM AS COURSE COORDINATOR. R: HUAHAHA. SO TODAY'S A GOOD DAY EH BIWI? Biwi: HELL YEA. ACTUALLY I KNEW THE COURSE COORDINATOR THING LAST NIGHT. BUT YOU WERE PLAYING GUNBOUND. CHILDISH GAME. R: HAUHAHAHA :: Biwi: NOBODY FOLLOWS THE RULES R:HUAHAHAH. SWEET. COME ON SAY THE NEXT LINE BIWI Biwi: I CAN'T. JELLYMAN??? R: NO, IT'S "TOTALLY" Biwi: HAHAHA. RUSTY ALREADY R: HAHAHA. GO AND WATCH NEMO AGAIN Biwi: OKOK Okay back to normal font. Doesn't that just give you an eyesore? Huahaha. By the way, the all indonesian student gathering is on tonight. I'm gonna update you on how it goes. Hopefully it'll go well (no preachy assholes or stupid irritating woman who just gives me nothing more than a passing glance) Grinning Goat at 8/05/2004 02:32:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} All the jargons My blogger's been a pain these days. Refuse to let me log in. GGGGGRRRRRRRR. Okay so now that I (hopefully) have solved this problem by downloading this great browser called Mozilla, I'm gonna ask all the tech-savvy people out there all these jargons that's been bugging me. COOKIE. What the hell is a cookie????????? And don't tell me Famos Amos. THAT I know. Browser. I have a general idea what a browser is but can someone just enlighten me on the more technical details??? How do you get rid of pop ups?? It's been screwing my game pretty often. ggggggrrrrrrrr Java Script. What does it do exactly??? Trust me, I've looked up these terms on the net. But somehow it escaped me. Maybe it's in the way my brain is wired. Heh Grinning Goat at 8/05/2004 01:41:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Wednesday, August 04, 2004 NO english modules for me One of my greatest regrets is screwing up my GP. I panicked, writing two compositions parallely in one go. Ending up with the worst compo I've ever written in 2 years. I read what I write and think WTF had I written??? I deserve to fail for that one compo. And if it's up to me, I'll fail myself. But no, I passed but I had to take the QET. The name alone insults me. Qualifying English Test. Geez. And the GP trauma sticks. I actually wondered if I'll pass my QET. And I passed. HAHAH. It'd be a major blow if I didn't. Because by God, I think I wrote a decent compo that day. It'll be an insult too. If I fail my QET I might as well give up writing as a potential profession. Probably good bye to this blog too. Heh Wooohhhooooo. I pass. But oh well, I'm supposed to pass. It's not like it's lit test. And as I was checking the name of those who are required to take the extra english modules, there was this interesting discovery. There are two people with exactly the same name. Even the surname, so they need to include the matriculation number as well. Hauhahaha. And there's somebody called Yonathan Budiwan Heruwatono. And Po said that one name could be a name for three people. I quote: gila tuh 1 nama bisa jadi nama 3 buat org. Huahahaha. Man. Grinning Goat at 8/04/2004 09:20:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Scribbles Someone: its a must? Ross: nah it's optional Ross: They send me this letter of application to learn LAF under SEP and they accepted me Someone: watever the abbreviations mean Ross: huahahhaha LAF: language Elective Programme. SEP: Student Exchange Programme Someone: wow Ross: but I don't know if I'll go to France at all Someone: think u will Ross: but hey, I'm happy doing the elective without needing to bid Someone: hell yea, lucky u Ross: they just deduct one point. Which is like a giveaway Somene: how long is e module? Ross: well, somebody just went to MAlaysia And saw a shooting star AND to Shanghai in the same year Someone: it's indonesia ok. Bintan Ross: oh yea. Huahahhha. I forget. Someone: i enjoyed a gd 1st half of 2004 Ross: my bloody lovely country that everybody thought is part of Singapore. Geez Someone: haha Ross: And Pulau Tekong is part of Indonesia and so is Pulau Ubin Someone: reaLYY?? I thought that is part of s'pore Ross: Huahahaha. Nice try. Someone: Seriously, man Ross: No of course it's NOT. Huahahhha Someone: are you sure?? it's part of indo?? Ross: No it's NOT .It's part of yr country. Huahahahha Someone: What the Ross : I was being sarcastic Someone: Darn Grinning Goat at 8/04/2004 08:26:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Flagging's no funny bunny, lady I didn't use to flag much. I thought there are soooo many people at the bus stop, surely one of them will flag the bus?? Wrong. And I learnt this the hard way. That day I was almost late to school and Bus 24 was inching its way towards the bus stop and PASSED BY without stopping. It just zoomed past my face. The bus driver probably saw this idiot flagging away AFTER the bus had passed but he couldn't possibly stop. Heh. Obviously I was late that day. So from then on, I flag. A lot of people or not. And today as I saw the bus approaching, I dutifully flag my hand. And in the process hit some old man's pot belly. Woups. Sorry, sir. No problem. I'd like to apologise more but my bus has come. Sure, go ahead and board it, you didn't puncture my pot belly or anything like that although you probably should have, it being so big and all... (of course it's just an imaginary conversation, except for the sorry part) At least that wasn't so bad. THIS was what happened a couple of years ago. Kaka and I were running towards this (elusive) bus. Too busy looking at the bus and nowhehere else. I didn't flag. (That was before that day when I was late) Kaka did. And Kaka flagged her hand, RIGHT INTO this (open) car window that was parked on the side of the road. The person inside must have been shocked at the preposterousness of it all. But I didn't see it. Too busy looking at the (elusive) bus. So it matters whether you flag. And more importantly, WHERE you flag your hand. Grinning Goat at 8/04/2004 08:02:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Voyeurism Reading someone's biography/blog/book amuses me. It's like they're leading parallel lives. Lives that could be well mine had I been born in a different family/time/place. I always thought that human reaction is less of an instinct than something that is nurtured by the environment. Like how do you know you're supposed to get mad when someone punches you (on the nose til it bleeds) and not, say grovel in gratitude or be sad that you're such an asshole people need to box you on the face? The problem with this argument is of course, WHO started out the whole thing? The first humans won't have any parents. (God won't be around to tell them what to do- note that I use the term "around" loosely so don't start preaching just yet. Do they say anything about that in the bible?) And how this behavourial pattern gets passed down to our generation. If it's instinct it'll be easy enough to explain. But somehow I can't get over the notion that it doesn't all depend on instinct. Don't tell me culture doesn't influence you in the least. Culture is an exteranal factor. Not instinct. I was thinking if I enjoy playing Gunbound because I enjoy looking at how gamers react to shots directed at them. Like "WHY DO YOU SHOOT ME? NO DUAL TEAM PLEASE. SHOOT SOMEBODY ELSE FOR GOD'S SAKE" or "He's MY KILL, okay?? he's OFF LIMITS" or " I TOLD YOU YO USE SECOND SHOT YOU MORON. NOW LOOK. DIDN'T LISTEN TO WHAT I SAY. NOW WE LOSE. YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT THAT??" Or how people screw up their shots and (probably) beat themselves for it. Or how some egotistical maniac insults the newbie when they aren't that good a player themselves. (anybody using Bigfoot can NEVER be good) But that's weird. People ARE like that in real life. I don't need a game to remind me. Still this whole voyeurism business disturbs me. Is it even healthy?? Perhaps I'm talking about the whole behaviourial pattern to find an excuse. But voyeurism does exist. Ever heard of this art exhibition where this two guys live in a glass box so people can stare at them?? Maybe it IS healthy. Like how humans tend to be busybodies, perhaps they tend to be voyeuristic as well. Grinning Goat at 8/04/2004 02:37:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Sense of humour Before I fell asleep yesterday I was watching the news on CNA. Somebody apparently invents this thing that'll help remind you to water your plants. Check the temperature, humidity, soil condition etc. And you just need to press a button to water it. Gone are the days when you use a bucket to water. You can even water the plants VIA the phone when you're at work or overseas. Ckckckck. And then after telling us what a great machine that is, the newscaster said this as the closing line "The only downside of this is that you may look dummy when your plants die on you" Sleepy as I was I couldn't help but laughing. CNA has a sense of humour. Wow. Grinning Goat at 8/04/2004 01:25:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Freaks clogging up the system I was bidding for this module just now. "Rethinking technology, origins and people" And it took so boody long just to log in because of____________(read the title). And when I'm done it took even longer to log out. What the hell. All I want to do is to log OUT. Heh. I was thinking of simply closing the IE but Po put the fear of God in me that not logging out might have a certain disastrous outcome. Heh. And this actually happened yesterday too as I registered for the pracs and tutorials. Bloody morons clogging up the system. It's like when they say registration/bidding closes at 1.00, EVERYBODY will go at 1.00. They just CAN'T GO BEFORE that. Okay, let's be fair. I go at 1.00 too. But that's because this process is so draggy. I actually went at ELEVEN. Grinning Goat at 8/04/2004 01:16:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Tuesday, August 03, 2004 O' And Behold I am past being surprised now. I came to his house feeling all lethargic, having had only 3 hours of sleep, and to tell you the truth I couldn't be bothered to nag at him to study (I'll leave that part to his mother. Hopefully she can knock some sense into him and not just buy him Micky Mouse soft toys. Heh) Ric: Ci, You said we're gonna do maths today right? R: (squinting my eyes) I said that? I thought you want to do maths. (Of course he doesn't . All he wants to do is play) Well, Maths's fine. At least do something. Ric: Okay. See, I found your notes the other day to be useful and informative..... R: I see where this is going. You just want me to scribble some notes for you so you can play eh? What game is it this time? Ric: Warcraft. Too tired to argue much, I just sat there, sneezing my nose off. (I got this bloody flu all of a sudden. Well maybe there were symptoms but I was too busy playing gunbound to notice) I wrote him 6 pages of notes. I even numbered them so there's not going to be another "Can you write me the formulas for..." because by God, I was trying to squeeze just about every formula you'll ever find in a secondary school maths text book so the next time he asks I can conveniently say something along the line " If it's not on page 3 then it's on page 4" or God forbid, "And WHY DID YOU LOSE MY 6-PAGES NOTES???" And it might as well that the game was Warcraft. If it's Gunbound, there's this remote possibility that I may snatch the mouse away from him. Grinning Goat at 8/03/2004 07:35:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} A Sort of an entertainment??? The one student I don't think will ever ask me for a tuition session, actually asked me. Hmmmm. But see, I can't be too optimistic just yet because the last time he did that, he called only to cancel on the day itself R: So you still want that tuition today? Ri: No. R: I just knew it. Ri: I wanted to play football!!!!!!!!!!!! See what I mean? And I don't place too high a hope on today's. You'll know why. Ri: I want to have a tuition today R: really? No, I mean REALLY??????? Ri: yea. I'm bored. ???????????????????????????????????? I was thinking "I have this math problrem" or "I need to buck up now that I keep failing" might do the trick. But no, he has to go with he's BORED??????????????????????? ???????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grinning Goat at 8/03/2004 02:18:00 PM pontificated | {buzzz out} Who says it's easy??? (NON GUNBOUND FAN PLEASE SKIP) I spent one whole night trying to figure out how Boomer works. It's complicated. Change in wind speed or direction can change the accuracy of your shot. Boomer covers greater angles, twice that of an sate but can't move much when there's obstacle. If style is what you want, boomer's your vehicle (God, I can be selling cars for all you know....the way I sound...). It can do Back Shots. High-angle shots. Hooks (This is the coolest. I still haven't got the hang of it even after one whole night) Come to think of it a sate's really EASY to use. Boomer's the killer. Master it and you'll master all. Well, not all exactly but it's great to master it. I had my own personal tutor. Haha. We tried the normal shots (No shotgunning, he said it's a "noob" way to shoot) Then the backshots and high-angles. Against other vehicles that's stronger at long range like a sate or the weaker, irritating bigfoot. Against a moving enemy (he's the punchbag Bob. Haha) Finally against real enemy. R: So Do I pass? Tutor: Not yet :: R: So...Do I pass now?? Tutor: Not yet :: R; How bout now??? Tutor: Nope Arrrghhhhh... Think. Boomer's the one vehicle that makes you think before you shoot. What shots to use to achieve the maximum desired effect. I kept missing. Tutor: You need to use your brain R: hmmmmmm... I miss again Tutor: You're not using your brain.. GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...........If I didn't know he's an Argentinian with a poor command of the english language I'd take the insults personally. Heh. Grinning Goat at 8/03/2004 09:42:00 AM pontificated | {buzzz out} |
 "Stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump
Archieves for the-nothing to dos
SNEAK PEEK |
