TimeShard 57116: The last few moments of innocence

To the other world and back

2005-05-05T18:33:00.000+08:00

5th day of the Month of the Fracture, in the Year of Confusion

After a considerably lengthy weekend (in which I fell ill, again), I went and missed tertiary education for 72 hours in a row to attend orientation processes at Nanyang Polytechnic. (The teachers must think I'm a very, very bad boy.)

Now that three days worth of orientation passed, it seems the best that the others remember about me is that I originate from one of the more widely acclaimed secondary educatory facilities in the land. That, and I'm a few sandwiches short of a picnic. I shall not harp further on the matter since most will not comprehend what I might talk about, but it seems I'll be missing morning school next Wednesday.

I'm such a bad, bad boy.

The results for choir were not much of a surprise, but then again it's probably my attitude towards events in life. Thanks to my ability to numb myself of all possible emotion, I have gained immunity towards any form of success or failure, so it doesn't faze me much. (If anyone from choir happens to be reading this, please tell me in advance so I can write my will when Ms. Lim discovers this.)

Oooooooon the entertainment frontiers, we have May catching a Skitty, and I understand why some people really, really dislike 4Kids. As my partner-in-crime subtly put it, you wouldn't believe what the censorship dudes on the other side of the globe believe is offensive. And once again Kids Central displays itself as incompetent in doing Pokémon trailers -- a shame really, they weren't doing a bad job until then -- by spelling Seviper with an 'A'. Honestly. Over to Lilo & Stitch, it's Phantasmo, also known as Experiment 375: a devious ghost-like creature with the ability to take control of any inanimate object. An episode I haven't seen in a while.

CTF shall be posted tomorrow, seeing how so much stuff clashed today.

Consider The Following: High art of today

2005-04-28T17:56:00.000+08:00

28th day of the Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

Art has always been meant as something of volatile form, to counter the rigidity of the sciences and allowing Man to find solace and meaning in the hectic world of work. However, as of the present world, that definition has certainly changed.

As diverse in medium, presentation and type it can be, high art can be easily identified and categorised under the three following characteristics: it must be abstract, it must be anti-commercialism, and it must make all who see it scratch their head when they leave. Otherwise, it's considered laymanistic, and an insult to human intelligence. No wonder parents have been known to shove gallery visits, silent movies and the like down the throats of their usually unwilling children.

Granted, high art does represent part of the identity of each country and culture, but it shouldn't be to the extent that people are judged by their participation in it. It almost appears that most artists who perform high art have forgotten that one of the reasons why art is widely accepted is because it helps others to relax. As much as it might be good for one's development in terms of disciplining the mind and looking beyond the rat race, constantly being stunted into thinking can't possibly be permanently beneficial.

It must be remembered that the popular art that everyone sees is part of identity too. While all of it may not be beneficial, it's a section of us we cannot ignore. What's really important that a balance must be achieved between the "high" and the "low". Otherwise, high art will simply be a mainstream out of the mainstream.

Me: Probably the reason why the government encourages people to participate in fine arts and not be intimidated by it is simply to make sure they still have a brain before going back to work.

I can see Clare Lee now, Lorraine is gone...

2005-04-27T19:54:00.000+08:00

27th day of the Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

Thankfully this week looks to be getting more motivational thus far. For once in a blue moon (maybe with orange stripes thrown in for good measure), the laws of probability must be smiling down on me.

The performance today, while quite in tune compared to some of our practising instances, was really, really, lacklustre. Apparently, the members of Greenlink are as organised as I usually am, or they simply have a severe need for new recruits. (If this goes on they'd probably have to save themselves first, not the environment... or there won't be no one to save the environment to start with!) Here I must give gratitude to those who have given us support, all this time.

In case you were wondering, the title for this archive entry originated from one of the teachers in charge of choir, Ms. Teo, who told a story related to the lyrics of our performance which was so incredibly lame, it outclassed my daily production by at least a two digit number, without decimals. As much as I would like to repost the original comic tale, I am aware that the multitude of people believe that lameness is detrimental to the brain, so for the sake of the bigot public, I won't.

Seeing that I actually have inspiration tonight, I won't continue.

Eudora: Don't worry, they still love you.
Me: Maybe that's because there's no one else to love... (indicating fact that there's only one a capella group in school)

Cumulonimbii over my cranium, followed by relentless precipitation

2005-04-25T22:58:00.000+08:00

25th day of Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

It's really not easy to deviate from topics of depression and negativity, because that's really all there is. The situation for SYF is not very encouraging at all, and confidence has never been one of my fortés. It doesn't make it better that I've realised my technique has been incorrect all along, and I have a new format to enforce. Top it up with a combination of mind-numbing/boggling/short-circuiting subjects, time constraints and a hint, just a hint of writing block, and hoo boy. It's enough to make one long for the insufficiently long weekend.

Thankfully, because of the lack of variety, the depressing news never prevail for long.

Lilo & Stitch: The Asteroid. Still no Cannonball, Swirly or Hunkahunka. (I don't count the last two because I never saw the whole episodes. So there.) On the other hand, Pokémon had some pretty interesting stuff. Camerupt is one of the cooler new Pokémon for Ruby/Sapphire, in my opinion. What really didn't go down too well was the Trainer's Choice for the week -- a Pokémon is profiled, along with three others, and a question is asked. For example, Alakazam could be profiled, with Banette, Hitmontop and Weezing as choices, and the question could be which of the choices would be best to use against Alakazam. (Answer: Banette, because Ghost-types are strong against Psychic-types.) This week's question, though, was which of the following -- Beedrill (Bug/Poison), Nuzleaf (Grass/Dark), and Magcargo (Fire/Rock) was best to fight Camerupt (Fire/Ground). Not exactly prime choices as any Pokémon player would note, since both Beedrill and Nuzleaf are weak against Camerupt's Fire side and Magcargo weak to Ground.

The answer, which should shock me as much as you, was Nuzleaf, of all things. Naturally 4Kids must have been only considering Camerupt's Ground-type part, which is weak against Grass-type moves. But then, when one remembers that someone once said Hitmonchan's Fighting aspect was strong against Dodrio because of it's Normal-type bit, it's completely reasonable I guess. (By the way, Dodrio should destroy Hitmonchan because of its Flying-type element.)

I'll sign off now. It's not going to be a pretty day tomorrow, and I need to build up energy to face it.

Consider The Following: The point of competition

2005-04-22T12:37:00.000+08:00

22nd day of Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

Usually this article would have been theorised and properly uploaded the day before, but due to time constraints as a result of unforseen circumstances, it had to be done today.

I recall a conversation I had with my Literature teacher and two other students in the last year of my intermediate level of mandatory education, one that had stemmed from a discussion about the future we would be facing. In it I voiced my opinion that since we are merely one species of animal, which does not interact with other organisms on the planet to sustain economic or social stability (or on any planet for that matter), why would there be a point for struggling to survive? We have withdrawn from nature, no longer needing to hunt or forage for our nutrition; instead we have controlled farms and plantations. We set frontiers and boundaries to mark our territory, which are impenetrable by any organism (other than the microscopic and aerial ones). The situation that we live in is one that is enclosed -- we trade with each other, and logic states that when someone in the world makes a profit, naturally someone else on the other side must make a loss. What then is there a point to keep on conflicting if the rich will always stay rich, and the poor will always remain poor, if such a world situation is to be maintained?

Unfortunately the discussion had to end, as my teacher had some other matters to attend to. One of the students recommended a literary work, named "Chariots of Gods", and encouraged me not to be so negative on the outlook of life. It was certainly unfortunate, because he missed my point completely.

As long as we remain as one people, one planet, with no interaction beyond this planet, we will thus remain as one system. All the trading and other economic activity that we do will end up within this one system, and the sum total will not have any gain or loss whatsoever as a whole. Bringing us back to the one point: when someone makes a profit, someone else will make a loss. In order to survive, we will need to continue taking from others, and others will need to continue taking from us. Thus in actuality, removing the need for competition with each other altogether anyway. The reason why everyone isn't equally rich is because the time has yet to come when the poorer countries take from the richer countries, and with globalisation this looks even less likely to happen.

And, probably when the time comes that people realise this and stop the competition with each other, judgement day will happen. (I have this hypothesis that when there's worldwide peace or economic stability or something utopic, apocalypse will come down on us. Life's so tricky that what it'll probably do anyway.)

Cough, sneeze, choke, hack

2005-04-18T10:20:00.000+08:00

18th day of the Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

For those who are currently in National Junior College choir, you'd probably understand why I haven't added in a new entry for a bit. Or haven't gone to attend mandatory educational periods for that matter. That's right, I caught the influenza virus. (Thankfully not the 1918 variety or the new fowl type.) And for once, though I detest admitting it is so, I agree with my biologically related maternal guardian that I have been staying up to use the computer for one night too late.

Barring that, let's move on to less depressing news.

Lilo & Stitch still displays random episodes, in spite of what I hoped for. I must've seen Gigi's debut at least four times now. Usually I wouldn't complain, but Gigi isn't exactly one of the better episodes, and I have yet to see Cannonball's or Hunkahunka's opening scenes. Oh well.

Over to Pokémon, Togetic is featured, and I see why some Pokémon fans dislike the translation job. The week before Shedinja was said to have high defensive skills, which is grossly incorrect. More accurately, its physical attack power is its strongest asset, and its miserable one hit point make any defences it could possibly have completely redundant. If anyone's thinking of raising a Shedinja, just a note -- Lonely, Adamant and Naughty will all work brilliantly, since its disgustly miniscule health will negate any defences. Speed will be necessary to give this physical sweeper an edge in doing any damage at all, so Brave isn't advisable.

Right, I'll stop ranting now. My brain needs a break.

Consider The Following: The relationship between education and birth rates

2005-04-14T12:39:00.000+08:00

14th day of the Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

I refer to the article by Cheong Suk-Wai: Kidding ourselves into delayed parenthood. In recent years to problem of tackling our low birth rates has been increasingly emphasised, over and over again, and in the first instalment of my new weekly column I delve into one area responsible for this social phenomena: education.

Females in our society no longer follow the traditional roles the requirements of basic organisms usually do. They are no more merely vessels to carry the next generation of creatures, or the labourers of household maintenance, but now they have equal opportunities as their male counterparts to climb the ladders in society and economy alike. They learn that they are the same as the males in terms of performance if not better, and studies continue to show more and more aspects where the females can better their gender rivals in the working arena.

Except for one major difference: they make the babies, the males do not. How do they go about this problem? Simple enough: they don't make any babies, instead they set their minds upon pursuing the highest possible job or rank, followed by rewarding themselves richly with what they feel they deserve.

Of course my addressing is not solely focused on the females, neither is it disapproving of gender equality in society. (If it was then I can expect to be trounced by 51% of the world population.) In order to survive in the world today, we have been wired for success as children. Multi-tasking to be self-sufficient. Regurgitation of knowledge in determining educational competence. Generally doing whatever it takes to get to the top.

And after all that, naturally we would want to enjoy the fruits of our labour, not share it with some whiny little kid. The point is, the more successful we want to be, the more we delay our potential parenthood. And as the government continues to rightly tell us, it's not a good trend for the economy. A country of past achievers is worthless without younger people to take their place, competent or incompetent.

However, when you think about society and the world today, people have no choice but to chase paper and get a better job, since the weak economy and increased competition means one would require more to prove themselves. And to do so, one would need to spend more time on education and career. Even if this was achieved, there's no guarantee you could support yourself, even at middle class. Resulting in parents telling us to study hard, to get a good job. And face it, with females striving to achieve even more in society as well as the need for richly deserved self-gratification after slogging in school and the office, there's even less focus on having children for men and women alike. So what's to be done?

The way I see it, the new generation of our country needs to be re-educated. Seriously. We need to be told that success is not everything, that there's more to life than work followed by enjoying oneself. And to do this we need to be in an environment where such an attitude is conducive, instead of one which constantly emphasises on getting that MBA, that doctorate, that high-pay job, and making life hell on earth for us if we don't. As I quote Miss Cheong's article:

"My primary school classmate, Jenny, mused how our friends living in small Malaysian towns were onto their second or third kids, while she and every urban dweller she knew couldn't see how to fit even one child into their lives. 'Tells you something, doesn't it,' she said ruefully."

Tells us something, indeed.

It's that democratic time of any school year once again, folks

2005-04-12T14:22:00.000+08:00

12th day of the Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

If you've been in high school or secondary school, this has probably happened to you. At the same time each year you have a taste of what it's like spending eighteen years of existence -- that's right, you get to vote over who's going to place restrictions on your life for you, outside your circle of biologically-related older-generation figures.

Unfortunately after gradeschool or primary school the process of deciding which lucky bunch of kids gets to rule over which unlucky bunch of kids doesn't become as simple. Authority then decides to give power to the younger learning generation to decide their leaders, which usually changes from choosing the most exemplary representatives of leadership to choosing who's the most popular. Seriously, most of those student leaders probably only work because of their social status. Any leadership they have would've been tutored over and over or simple mimicry. I'd continue, but the point now is the selection process, not the leaders themselves, so I'll save that for another entry.

But the most painful part of the whole thing is undoubtedly the election period. For those who remember, back in Raffles Institution, the Raffles Institution Prefectorial Board (known as RIPB for short) would always hold election campaigns for candidates each year, inclusive of speeches every morning for a week (known as URGH for short). And the posters get worse every single year, from plain bad puns to completely irrelevant art with initials added as an afterthought. At least in my first year, the main thing that was there was simply self-proclamation, which really isn't that bad. Compared to pun after pun after pun, it makes you wonder if being excessively corny was a prerequisite to joining the club. (If it truly were so and I was less negative, I might've considered.)

Of course the most pointless bit that many Rafflesians have pointed out is that the elections don't matter. Most if not all of the candidates always make it to black shoe land, except for one or two. Making all the enduring of posters and speeches all the more infuriating.

There was one year, however, where there was a bit of excitement. A certain individual who was according to mass opinion so sickening and (what Singaporean adolescents would define today as) "extra" made it in, in spite of apparently low support from his peers. A big hoohaa erupted over the weightage of the teachers' votes, to which the prefect master furiously denied anything dodgy. Had I been still in my primary school, goody-goody mindset, I would've stood on the side of the teachers, but now that I've lost faith in either side I simply disregarded the topic altogether.

Naturally, all the people I recognised up there on the podium today completely do not surprise me. (For explanation, see above.) I'm somewhat expecting a similar trend here in National Junior College. However, since we have females in the fray of competition, the election speeches and posters for one should be more sensitive. And noticing how many candidates there are, the chances for disappointment might be higher (I say "might" because I don't know the maximum quota).

If it does happen, then I'll delete the translation patch I have for Fire Emblem 6. (And then I'll wait for the newly improved one.)

Grab life by the three-dimensional loci of points equidistant from a fixed point

2005-04-10T22:41:00.000+08:00

10th day of the Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

...or, to be more technically specific, foam-filled fabric sewn together to form what looks like constant diameter cubes, albeit a bit squashed here and there. Since that's what happened at youth group fun week today. That's right, you recognised the movie trailer catchphrase from last year, we played dodgeball. (Even you could've told me that.)

Much as the physical activity is necessary in the development of one's body, it must be recognised that I do not feel at all comfortable being around those people. Must be the general lack of interaction, or my amazement that they can converse over vastly scandalous rumours and still be serious about religion, or the simple fact that therein that company lies a character that has haunted the primetime of my innocence, the utopic period of a person's life. Much as he is presently non-offensive, it doesn't hurt to take precautions of avoidance, and there's still his older biologically related counterpart of my unfortunate acquaintance.

Which is also why I find to my chagrin how disgustingly proficient I am at pondering over philosophy when I am in their vincinity.

Planck units are rapidly slipping away, as they always do. Tomorrow dawns another 168-hour long period of... oh come on, why am I telling you this, you probably know the drill already.

Warning: Experiment 513 activated. Primary function: Geological destruction

2005-04-09T19:09:00.000+08:00

9th day of the Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

Another Saturday flies by, like they usually do, paving the way to another week of mind-numbing toil, charm free fifty-minute periods, and being dead on one's feet.

Of course, there're always the pool marathons, a capella practices, and homegoing to look forward to. But first things first.

Randomly accidental research has proved that Kids Central is airing Lilo & Stitch: The Series -- from today onwards, by the looks of it, since they did show the first episode: Richter, more technically recognised as Experiment 513. Take a Ankylosaurus, flatten it a little, give it small ridges on its verterbrae, a goofy countenance, lilac body exterior layer, a tail that looks like an Ace of Spades and poof -- instant earthquake-maker.

Besides that, highlights on today's electronic box session featured the return of Misty in Pokémon: Advance Generation, also a mystery behind her Togepi, and the debut of Ninjask and Shedinja, evolved relatives of Nincada. Peculiarly enough, Ash wasn't flipping out his Pokédex upon seeing the Ninjask and Shedinja. Concerning the sequel seven days later, it involves Togepi advancing into Togetic, Misty sending out her Gyarados and a teary goodbye at the end. Togepi also gets struck by a barrage of Shadow Ball attacks -- which as those in the know about elemental affinities would realise, just isn't possible. Still, bearing in mind that it all takes place in the animation universe where even Electric assaults can stun Ground creatures, they pretty much give the age-old strategy guides a swift kick out the window... and that applies to age-new strategy guides too for that matter.

Right, now we go on to stuff other people would probably rather hear.

Friday saw the birth of a new song the gang of TTBB had to learn for Earth Day, April 26th -- and there'll be VIPs there to see it once performance quality has been hopefully achieved! Shock horror! Accursed computer won't let me install Sibelius anyway, so arranging Save Tonight will have to be put off, again.

Amazingly, ceasing slumber process at 0550 hours wasn't so bad. Must've been the coffee. The general achievement level of today's practice was raher high -- a breakthrough from all the rest, to keep it simple. Right now, a new chapter of Pokémon Emblem undergoes constructing -- in other words, end transmission.

The forging of new bonds, and the breaking of old ones... possibly

2005-04-07T14:02:00.000+08:00

7th day of the Month of the Android, in the Year of Confusion

Time -- it slips every so softly through whatever miniscule pore in life it can find, no matter how much we try to preserve it.

This electronic time capsule has been generated to archive the remaining thoughts of adolescence I still can create, before the requirements of society require me to be immersed into their world of commuting tribes, survival of the elite, and forcefully imposed high-class culture (as previously defined by society) as a substitute for the inevitable loss of identity. Or else.

Though, specifically for now, it will serve as a portal so that the members of National Junior College's seventh batch of students taking the Science courses from the First Intake can come and view the transcriptions of my logic, in the event that they are unable to find any other Internet-based activity that happens to be worthy of their life span.

The current situation of the newly refreshed 05S07 has been better than what I expected it to be, although at this point in time it has yet to be as integrated as the original group during its peak activity. The male members have merged together with their remaining comrades of the original bunch and have become one, as have the females. Caijie, Wanling and Crystal, the only females of the original group left, have assumed their positions as the new Tran, Melissa, whatnot. Although it has not yet erupted, the prospects of another Nationalia Chronicles Series is likely, and I am hoping for it. Certainly it would provide much needed entertainment in the mundane culture of intensive muggery. Otherwise, I would have to resort socialising exclusively with my a capella group, and while that is a very attractive option, by the definitions of our adolescent society, it would be extremely sad, and for once I actually agree.

Things have most obviously changed. The Little Fighter 2 marathons have changed into Yahoo! Pool ones, and I often find no one who can be a listening ear to my logic.

Wait a minute, I never had a listening ear for my logic.

I'd continue, but unfortunately for most of the week my thoughts have been pretty much focused on a few subjects, and philosophy was definitely not one of them. Also, I am aware that by this point some people might have brain oozing out of their ear canals (in liquid form naturally), so I won't go on.