Humility Won’t KILL YOU!

Disclaimer: The following post is NOT (i repeat, NOT) directed to anyone at all in particular, i.e If you think this is about you, e.g. Lionel, Yuzhou, Paul, etc etc… It’s not. So relax. There are many teams out there, soccer, basketball, etc. This is a post directed to ALL arrogant people, so if you think you’re not arrogant, then this post is not for you. =)

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HAVE SOME HUMILITY!

Humility will NOT kill you!

So let’s face it.

You’re human, I’m human, we’re all human. Why should there even be any comparison between people? Especially people who have proved themselves worthy?

I’m mad about something I read on someone’s blog.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, BE HUMBLE!

Okay, so you lost. Your team lost. You’re sour. You’re jealous. You’re bitter. I understand that. You’re free to say anything to make yourself feel better… “It’s JUST a competition”, “The competition is stupid”, “Now I’ll have more time to myself”, but AT THE VERY LEAST acknowledge the fact that you lost out to another team, good or bad!

You cant just say, “I don’t believe our team lost to so-and-so team when our team had less mistakes and less faults compared to the other team”.

For God’s sake, hear yourself. You sound like some egomaniacal thing who assumes you would win anything and everything under this big fat golden ball of fire called the sun!

You will not win anything. Frankly speaking, with that attitude, I’m surprised you can do anything well at all. If you lost, you’re sour. I get that. Smash some chairs. Knock some tables. Vent your frustration. It’s okay.

But if you say that the other team, your competitor(s), do not deserve to win, that DISGUSTS me.

If your competition has beaten you, then they deserve to win! It’s a hard and fast rule. Don’t say what shit about how ur team/you is/are better and good at so-and-so, the fact is that u lost out to your competitor, so the competitor must be better than you!

It’s the simple act of being humble! Don’t be so almighty and fucking high about your skills and whatever shit u think u are good in, until you think no one can beat you or that u are above everyone else, because here’s something you need to know: THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE WHO CAN KICK YOUR PROUD ASS.

Sounds cliche but it also sounded cliche, how those proud, arrogant people only used to exist in my storybooks. Guess they exist in real life too.

Wake up, loser. Be angry, be mad that you lost, be furious, whatever. I don’t care and at the very most, you’ll get my consolation and would-be understanding. But if you say your competition, who has beaten you, is actually worse than you, then I have no other feeling but disgust at such a poor showing of sportsmanship and humility.

Grow up. In this life, no one can be the best.

You lost. Grow up. Get over it.

Additions to my blog

New additions to my blog!

1) New tagboard courtesy of CBox, as recommended by Shawn after the new one was horrendous again.

2) 100 links! At long last, ONE HUNDRED LINKS! Though some may not work, I think, but I havent had time to check them fully.

3) THE BEST PART OF ALL! Music is back on my blog, with an input media player playing one of Chantal Kreviazuk’s big hits called ‘In This Life’. It’s not autoplay, so the music will only play if u want it to. Scroll down the side bar and see, below the tagboard, a media player, and click on the Play icon for the music.

For people who love Chantal Kreviazuk and my blog at the same time, that’s great for you! Also, I chose Chantal because her song represents what I feel and what this blog hopes to allow you to feel. She is one of Canada’s best artistes, though her album not sold in Singapore, and for those who have been hearing so much of her from me (Alaric, Shawn, Issac, Yao…) this song is a good representation of her music.

After hearing her music and you wish to hear more of it, support her by purchasing her CDs! They are not sold in Singapore as yet, but I hear HMV will get into its hands a coupla copies of her upcoming new album Ghost Stories, so you can get it from HMV. Alternatively, you can do what I do and purchase her album online at http://www.amazon.com. Support the artiste you love and stomp out piracy!

There we go. New stuff on my blog! ENJOY!

A Day in 2020 (Part 2)

A Day in 2020 (Part 2)
Note: The work here is entirely fictional, and the author HAS used the following names purposely, but with no intention of harm or maliciousness. =)

Another Day in 2020. I’ve had so much catching up to do lately, what with new cases coming in all the time and me being up to my neck in law firm work. Last time I got a chance to do some catching up, it was with my ex-6A friends. Now it’s time to catch up with my old pals from 1G/2G from Raffles.

Well, let’s begin with some of my closest friends with 1G/2G. I’ve known the following people for such a long time – Bryan Nah, Mingzhe, Seng Henk.

Bryan Nah has kept in contact with me, what with him being the father of one pretty daughter and being kept busy with his office work. He works in a big shot bank, btw, and he’s fast rising to become one of their top executives. He met his lovely wife at university five years ago, and they got married within three and a child came not long after. I was at his wedding with my girlfriend, and Nah and his wife looked so radiant. Ahhh, people in love. They are both friends of mine, and Nah and I also constantly go out with Mingzhe, cos only MZ knows where to eat in Singapore…

Speaking of him, Mingzhe is also one of the 3 friends I was closest too that has still kept in contact. He, now being a bigshot restauranteur, is also working for the Straits Times Life!, and he has even been groomed by the famous Teo Pau Lin, Life!’s outgoing and very famous Food Correspondent. He writes a few occasional articles for Straits Times! Life too, but his specialty is all about the food.

Seng Henk is the one that has mysteriously vanished. But in a good way. After taking off to Germany right after his NS, he has earned a degree I think, though I do not know what in. I have lost contact with him (German telephone numbers give me a headache) but I hear he is doing quite well in Germany. What in, I’ll have to CALL him to find out first. Siigh…

Christopher “Blue Devil” Weidya is what they call him at his company in the US. One of the leading companies that design computer games and gaming software, Chris is the big boss that everyone looks up too. He’s the pro in computer games. Don’t play play okay. He sent me his first prototype of a new game and I was never my real self again. All the ‘piu-pius’ sent me over the top.’

Eugene “Gene-icist” Ang is a scientist, truly pro, in biochemical engineering. He discovered a way to genetically clone animals in the mother’s womb, hence able to create identical cloned twins, and that put little ol’ Singapore on the map. Very smart.

Paul Sim is a doctor now. I call him the Medicine Man. He’s smart, talented in the use of medicine, and a good expert on medicine. Plus, I visit him, I get discounts eh. He’s working in Gleneagles Hospital now, a bigshot there, and an excellent surgeon to boot. All at age 29!

Shangcong’s business is really taking off well. He got his trading business up and going within a few months of a capital loan from the bank Nah is working in, and it has now boomed to a good healthy business! He’s currently in the talks with Jinkang, who’s also a businessman, married to his girlfriend of 6 years (12 years they known each other now, since JC, when he met her) and they work well together. Jinkang also used to be part of a GRC, but I don’t know how that turned out. Could ask him about it when I have lunch with him soon.

Speaking of GRC, thats what Chee Yang is doing now. Ol’ Chyang is in Grassroots Committee of Pasir Ris, and he’s doing a good job of it too. No sweat for him, I’m sure.

Kok Leong is a dramatist now, a playwright/director, belonging to part of Beatrice-Chia Richmond’s new theatre group. He’s made quite a name for himself, admittedly, acting in Eh! Cinderella! the new sequel of Oi! Sleeping Beauty!

Enter computer genius/engineer extraordinaire Lum Hui. Working for tons of money being one of the engineering consultants for Creative Technologies, and doing one hell of a job. He was behind the new Zzzzzen Technology, 5 times as good as the Zen Tech 20 years ago.

I’m going to have lunch soon with Justin, who’s a national sailor and is a sailing coach for the national team now. He’s not only a coach at 29, but he’s also heading back to RI to coach the new award-winning sailing team there. Im going to have lunch with him at J8 one day after his coaching, with his new girlfriend there too.

On the TV is one of my good friends Quan Wei, big star now that he’s won the 7th season of Project Superstar. He is in Taiwan now promoting his new album, and I recently got a new copy of his album for free! Delivered from Taiwan eh. Good thing he hasn’t forgotten me yet, if not I’ll remind him of that Morrison meeting. =)

Chue Hsien is having lunch with me and Chen Xuan tomorrow, and I havent seen either of them in such a long time. Chue Hsien is a national badminton player, and is currently studying in NUS going for that big Bachelor of Science degree. Chen Xuan is a national water polo player, recently back from the ASEAN games where he and the team (he’s captain) won another consecutive gold for another year. Undefeatable streak.

Nicholas and Hong Xiu are probably two friends that I see most often on TV. Nicholas, of course, the huge swimming star/model/actor that is doing well in the pool and on the runway and on the screen. He’s gotten real good (not so black anymore) and I must give credit to his acting chops. Hong Xiu is a rocker now, and his band (he’s lead singer) is out with their sophomore album, Short Distance Phone Balls, and it’s really selling well in Singapore and in Asia.

An Shing is probably doing the most noble job amongst us all. He’s following in his father’s footsteps, only at the sea. Coast Guard/policeman, he’s protecting the seas from foreign threat. He’s married, and has one girl one boy, and is really doing quite well. He loves his job.

Bryan Soh is another one of the bigshots, and he’s calling all the shots working in his MP post. Newly elected NMP, he’s smart, driven and head of Potong Pasir… (ahem). Cant wait to have lunch with him one day.

Lu Ruijun is also in politics, though in a different way. He’s the ambassador for China, working at our embassy in relations to China officials and government. More busy than ever, now that Singapore’s ties with China are strengthening greatly, and it’s a good thing, surely.

Julian Goh is in politics too, one of the famed Speakers of Parliament. To think all the times Zhang Meisuo used to make him do Kuai Le 5 Fen Zhong (Happy 5 minutes, roughly translated), and now he can speak like a pro. Last time if he’d spoken like that for oral exams, surely full marks one!

Speaking of good speakers, Daryl Lim Wan Cai is also a good speaker! In fact, he’s so good that in court, it’s a close fight. Sometimes I win, sometimes he wins. Lawyer on lawyer, we have a lotta fun. We go out for lunch often too, usually because of work. But it’s good to catch up on old times with an old friend.

Zongwen vanished after getting a uni degree, last I heard was that he moved to Canada and got a lucrative job at a consultancy firm. He’s smart, and talented. Possibly the next Donald Trump, only in canada. I’m trying to get through his secretary to get lunch with him. It’s tough. But I don’t blame him. Sometimes work is really very important.

Dawei and Jinsei are working in the artistic line. Jinsei is a translator for books and speeches, one of those people that converts Korean to English for the betterment of society. He has also taken over his father’s construction business but only does that in his spare time. Moonlighting is as far as it goes, what with the fact he can just hired workers. Dawei is a professional artist, his works so famous and sought-after that he’s made Singapore a spot for art appreciation. He also designs posters and ads, as well as selling his works worldwide.

Well, that’s all the people I could manage to meet up with. Really tired and my schedule is fully booked. Can’t wait to start seeing my old friends again and see how they’ve grown! For then, I’m signing off. So proud of all of them and it’s time to go catch up once again!

THE Timbaland

Why is Timbaland so sought after? Okay, apart from the fact he is one of the BEST and most FAMOUS music producers on the Hollywood music scene now, my prediction is that he’ll become even more famous in the future… (maybe as early one month from now).

Here are 5 reasons why:

5) He made Nelly Furtado from “I’m like a bird! Yayyyy!” to “Promiscuous Girl!”

4) His Mostly Music label is garnering MILLIONS of dollars a month.

3) He turned Justin Timberlake into a dance icon. DANCE. As in, Madonna, Kylie and Pussycat Dolls. In other words, he made JT a gay music icon.

2) He is the only one who can possibly turn Houston around. As in, Whitney Houston. He’s set to work with her next. Shocking right? Later turn her into another dance icon. Then we have a powerhouse Cher-Houston.

1) With a name like Timbaland? He’s GOTTA be good.

Okay lah, lousy post, I know. What to do? CT period eh.

A Quick Post

1. Finally the line ‘Obviously you don’t see things well’ has been used.

2. Alanis Morissette is the BEST BEST BEST BEST in the world and in the history of music! I just love her songs! Meaningful lyrics, with relations to God, life, being a teacher, being a leader and what amazing tunes!

3. The cosmos are sending me signs. They’re telling me to take a break.

4. Alias final season is coming back! Season 5 is finally returning! And I’m extreeeeeemly excited!

5. Have confidence in yourself, and what happens will happen.

The Art of Fun

They say that RI ‘boys’ are boring.

Apparently, RI guys are boring students who only know how to mug.

Apperently we cannot distinguish between Nicky Hilton and Nick Lachey, but we can distinguish a monocyte from a polymorph, or a phagocyte from a lymphocyte.

We do not know the who’s who about entertainment and movies, but we sure know the who’s who when it comes to The Great Gatsby.

We do not know how to hip-hop and pop, but we know how to alter photos and crop.

We don’t give a damn about Condoleeza Rice’s morning ‘do, but we only care about Middle-Eastern conflicts when we have to write damn loads of it on a piece of paper for expository essay.

The Art of Fun. That’s what I want to talk about. I want to talk about just how little fun RI guys experience, and what is the typical reaction to the word ‘fun’.

This is how a typical conversation with a typical RI guy might go during the month of Oct. A meets B, the RI guy, on Orchard Road, and they talk:

A: Hello! Heard your exams are starting soon.
B: Yeah lorh! I tell you hor, Friday the 13th! Bad things bound to happen!
A: Oh yeah. Friday the 13th. Your exams start on the day we end.
B: Ayah what to do? Teachers all crazy one.
A: Hmm, okay. So what you doing here at Orchard?
B: Oh, looking for book to do for ERP. Overdue lah. Later minus marks.
A: Har? Your daily work is graded too?
B: Of course! Now RP, so must mug everyday, if not when pop quiz kena, then die.
A: Pop quiz?
B: Oops! I meant – Topical Assessment!
A: Erm. Okay…
B: I find my book from Borders then must go home and study?
A: Oh. Why not just go across to Shaw and catch a movie with me? I’m free!
B: Movie? ARE YOU CRAZY?????!!!!! This is the month of OCTOBER! CTs happening in Week 5! English! SS! HMT! Chemistry! Physics! Maths! Geog! History! Lit! C-lit! In chronological order!!!
A: Um… just one movie. Maybe Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby…
B: Talladega? What’s that? Like phagocytosis ah? Or is it redox?
A: Um… not really…
B: Anyway, I have to go home to study. My recent Physics quiz did badly, so I must straightaway go home to mug!
A: Okay… anything interesting happen in school lately?
B: I dunno. Got these fellows from Beat Society come down and rap.
A: Was it nice?
B: I dunno. I just stoned. When the rappas told us to pump our hands up and down and be some thugs, I was stoning. They wanted us to do some ‘Aight’ thing but it ended up being a joke and future reference for parodies.
A: Rap? I love hip-hop! When Beat Society came down to our school, we had so much fun! We all got up on our feet and danced along and everyone just got into the groove. We were sporting!
B: I dunno leh. We got a few sporting people lah. One crazy burping guy and one fat like siao Big M, whom everyone made fun of afterward just because he was having FUN. He was having fun, and that’s good! Isn’t it?
A: Har? Really? What else?
B: I think Power 98 and Ronin are now afraid to come down to RI because the moment RI is mentioned the entire P98 crew groan at the boringness of it all. That time they came down to RI and performed in LT1 for the Sec 4s and I think some people actually fell asleep in front of RONIN! Some people even left such a wonderful performance just to go to some National Survey thing at Comm labs.
A: Yikes! That must look really bad to Ronin! Our batch stayed through the performance the whole way!
B: Somemore for Rafflesian Spotlight, you wouldn’t believe the most amazing thing!
A: What? What? People sing badly?
B: Not only that, but they think they sing good somemore! Afterward complain complain like siao. Come on lah, it’s so obvious right? If a person has been rejected so many times, by professional competitions even, it’s obvious the message is: YOU DON’T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES! So just accept it and move on with an infinitely more important life!
A: Yeah! That’s the raw truth! Some people want so badly to be acknowledged for their singing, but sometimes they don’t realize that the vocal quality only counts for one thing. HUMILITY is the other. Don’t think you’re so pro until you expect yourself to get through automatically or be first choice or anything. And don’t resent the competition or the judges and whine so fucking much about their ineligibility to be judges and whatnot. If they can reject you, bring in Dick Lee or Ken Lim and he’ll just reject you harder.
A: Yeah lor! Whatever happened to singing for the sake of singing? Singing for the fun in itself?
B: So right!
B: For RS ah, I notice the bands ah, all Sec 4 one leh! No Sec 3 bands at all you know! All the Sec 3s dunno go where! Probably training and being their leadership positions! Then Sec 4s ah, so fun one, so many bands, and got this one comedy group that consists of a basketball captain, a cross-country captain, a prefect and a GEP student that can bring the house down with laughter! And the only Sec 3 showing we have is that of a lame comedy duo which tells lamer jokes.
A: Tsk tsk. Your Sec 3s not sporting meh?
B: It’s some sort of chain. They don’t want people to laugh at them, so they don’t do anything against the norm. The norm being mugging, being boring and being serious about everything.
A: No one can be serious all the time.
B: You’re right, no one is. It’s taupok, taupok and more taupok as a notion of enjoyment. If not then it’s computer games like dota and Maplestory.
A: Hmm… wah later something happen like Stay Alive?
B: Stay Alive what stay alive? I want to die ah, mugging all this crap.

See what I mean?

Okay, so this isn’t really a real conversation one would have with an RI student. A real RI student would be more aggressive and would undoubtedly take a prop case to the stand (sorry, Debators!)…

The point is, myself, being an RI student, I already see so many growing trends that signify our ‘boringness’ as a batch. As a batch, we could most possibly be so boring…

Where is all the fun? Is it all squashed down to 4 classes of Lit students? Is ‘fun’ now defined as the bitches who go around dancing and singing to Buttons, Don’t Cha and Lady Marmalade?

Don’t agree with me. Tell me that fun is still alive in Raffles (or Ruffles, a Nabil pun) Insitution, and tell me that the bitches can have less fun than, say, a typical RISE Chairman (sorry, Adriel, just had to make a point). Disagree with me and tell me that we don’t mug 24/7, or at least most of our waking time per day.

Try doing that, and find me proof to counter my points above.

There are many ways to have fun. The easiest way, and most sure way to do so, tried-and-tested, is to forget all your commitments, and what shit, forget about your worries for a moment, and for as much time as you can possibly manage, just let your hair down.

For some people, letting your hair down may be tough (pun TOTALLY intended). But the generation is that of a new one. The older generations, the ones who still think ABBA and the BeeGees are hot, are over. It’s time for the new Maneaters, the Show Stoppers, the Punk Rockers to have Public Affairs, Breaking Free. It’s time for Me and You to bring Sexy Back. Life is a Highway, so Don’t Stop Me Now.

Having fun isn’t a bad thing you know. For once don’t be so uptight about the rules, about tucking in your shirt and keeping short hair. How much fun can it be? For once just don’t worry about the GPA and the nearly-there A, and just have fun, and appreciate life the way it is supposed to be – something that is genuine, beautiful and a treasure.

Think about it.

Is it that hard?

The Art of Fun is something we all had at one time… that time, I believe, was when we were all toddlers who didn’t know where babies come from, and that Jack was nothing more than Jill’s brother, not the term used to humiliate someone and bring his esteem down.

Bring back the Art of Fun. It’s time for us, Sec 3s 2006, Sec 4s 2007, to take over. Start bringing up the energy in life. It’s time for a whole new generation.

CTs begin

Thou marks the start of the CT period… 3 continuous weeks of non-stop hell, some might relate to a marathon, some might say is a torture chamber, but whatever it is, here’s what I got to say to the CTs:

BRING IT ON!