Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Time to clear up the spider webs and cockroach eggs here…
Throughout this term 2, many (random) thoughts came across my mind, but I didn’t really have the time to pen them down. Life is so busy, you don’t even have the time to stop and take a breather. I had never felt so proud when I gave myself a day off during a few of the weekends. Wonder if this is really the life that I want. (okay.. I’m getting a bit emo here. But that’s true)
Leadership Symposium
This event started of by giving the whole school an impression that this is some elitist thingy when we had to call individuals to come for the symposium (implying that we chose them according to merits). To a certain extent, it is somewhat elitist, but as Gerard pointed out, if we open to the whole school to sign up, I guess some jokers will sign up for fun and spoil the whole thing, so better to be safe than sorry. What I learnt from LS is that the world outside is not an easy world to live in. Everything we do, we must go through this bureaucratic process, which always end up having our initial ideas being changed to something very different. When I say bureaucratic, it can be VERY troublesome. There were complaints from the participants which I think it was quite reasonable and I guess we have to work a lot harder next year. (Well at least it doesn’t screw up in my year). For the past few days, I have been receiving mails from all the sapphires scholars saying that they want to be in next year’s LS org comm. Gosh, do you guys really have to mail EVERY SINGLE PERSON and let the whole world know that you are interested? It’s good to see initiative, but I guess that is a little bit overboard here…
Badminton nationals
DAMN! We put up such a good fight this year and we didn’t get through because we had a difficult pick. Against ACJC and TJC leh… on paper, its really hard to win them. But our guys really fought hard and walked out of the hall as men of courage and determination. Though Albert didn’t win the crucial games, I think he is still one of the greatest guys around; he just got to shake off the “court”-fright. Moving on the EXCO elections, the results are finally out. Not surprisingly, I didn’t get into EXCO. Somehow, I feel that the current EXCO don’t really like me at all, partly because of the lack of full commitment and partly because my status as a sapphires. I know they want the best of the best to serve in the EXCO… I guess I’m just not good enough. Though I wasn’t entirely disappointed, but I felt a little bit uneasy after then announcement of the result. Guess I just got to stomach it somehow.
Talking about sapphires… I think the status as sapphires is really giving a lot of pressure from all directions. People around you tend to see you differently if you are a sapphire; somehow they think that you are one of those who get the better treatment and composing the small group of people which makes this society more elitist than ever. I don’t know why people have such predisposition. DUDE! We are still humans (homo-sapiens to be exact); we are still walking on two legs and going to the same school. So spare me and the rest, treat us like NORMAL PEOPLE.
SISC
How I missed SISC! I miss all the friends that I’ve made during this one week event. Hard to imagine, science is something which transcends across geo-political boundaries, cultural differences and language barriers. Imagine some Jap guy (like Atsushi Ohno) talking to freako Zachary from Florida. Some of the research projects out there are really good and these young people out there looks promising to become potential talents in the research field. It’s really hard to say goodbye after meeting so many cool people, especially those from Mahidol, Cantebury, Minjok and Fort Myers. Not only their education systems are different, but the school and research culture are so diverse. Those guys who came from china, they treated this whole competition so heavily, as if they are carrying the hopes of their people. On the other hand, we have peeps from UK and US, who just heck about it and enjoy their time here! But nevertheless, all these people are freaking good, especially those guys from Israel and Russia, really smart and funky at times. SISC really taught me that there is a much bigger world out there, waiting for us to explore and discover, I just can’t wait for LIYSF to come and put myself into the shoes of an overseas participant.
On another note, I think Ern Sheong, Sasha and Yisong should have won at least a distinction in their SISC challenge!!!! It’s so unfair. Not that the champion school is particularly good, just that they have some well rehearsed speeches and perhaps some nice images. They hardly substantiated their points, while we went around the world just to explain one “heaty” problem…
Aristal
-So called the finale to our SISC (as Joel mentioned on stage)- I think Aristal 2007 was totally amazing, showing how talented our dance groups are. Even though some of them didn’t get their GOW (with special mention), they got my GOW (with lots of special mention) haha. I guess the biggest controversy was why MD senior section only got a bronze. Perhaps their dance was too “contemp” as I heard from somebody in the crowd. Nevertheless, after watching their dance for like 5,6 times, I can tell all the pain and conflict that they are trying to express. Another talking point was the “striping” part of the IP contemporary dance. Well… in the name of art, I shall not use the word “striping”. Call it “release” maybe? After watching that dance for like n amount of times, its quite easy to spot certain parts where they made the mistakes. But hey! Not every day is a sunny day, u just got to accept the imperfections sometimes. It was still a very well choreographed dance (whether the judges liked it or not). Then the YFC head down to KAP for a midnight meeting. Now that was really a midnight meeting! It ended at twelve thirty! And that is the time where there are no more public buses, no more MRTs, but only with Taxis that charge 50% more. With 4 people taking one taxi, the fare was $26.75. That is the most expensive taxi ride I ever took!
Peer tutoring!
This is the first time I really consider myself a good, loving and caring senior. So im tutoring this little guy Weiquan from 07IP04. This little guy is nothing else but cool, coz he has a PDA phone, can run long-D, hang out with friends and can draw pretty good! okay.. shall not mention his maths grades here, but he is just like one typical IP guy who is enjoying his IP life I suppose. Perhaps I shall be the “bad guy” and destroy his life by slave driving him to do his maths hw and revision. (when im not even revising for my maths CTs) Hope I can really inspire/motivate/drive him to at least do something with his maths grades. I mean… maths is the easiest subject to get A (though im no where near it), all you need to do is mug the entire TYS. Right reg?
IBN attachment
I guess im regretting right now. I should have gone for the TLL programme. I just want to fulfill my dream of working in IBN, after they kicked me out 2 years ago. Now I realize that my dream… turns out to be a nightmare. No allowance and have to work from 830 to 6 everyday, just like any other adults in the lab. And guess what? When I walked into the labs at 845 in the morning, not even half of the admin staff are there! And there are more people in the pantry than people in the office doing their work! And they are freaking getting paid!?!?!? Perhaps I should have stayed in IMRE…
Altruistic Surrender
Umm.. this idea of altruistic surrender is some theory proposed by Sigmund Freud (my PW project! YAY?!), saying that a particular individual feels so lonely that he needs to “give himself up” to the people around him to interact. i.e. surrendering himself for a greater benefit. Yea, I think I’m one of those around having this problem. I got to watch pirates of the Caribbean alone and watch shrek with Yisong and some unfamiliar RI guys whom yisong met during SISC. I mean… this is weird! Totally weird. I guess I need to do something to spice life up a bit. But then and again, where to find the time? I surrender myself to sapphires, badminton, research attachment, floorball, handong’s S-cube…. This is driving me nuts!!!! I guess Handong was right, I’m doing some things which I don’t like or enjoy. I don’t find the meaning in doing some of the things! I guess I really need to find a direction in life. yea, like what Teo Ho Pin said, got to find a passion to go after it. Perhaps research isn’t my cup of tea.
A “cup of tea” is all I want… where to find it?
Read, You Must...6:55 AM