The internet is for... surfing!

I just spent some time surfing the web to get my near-daily internet morphine! So I surfed Economist, etc to read all sorts of trivia and think about stuff. It certainly eats up my mugging time - so this is quite bad in the short term, considering that A levels are one week away!!

But at least I'm not as screwed up as thousands of Chinese youths that they have to attend internet addiction boot camps. I was listening to the BBC whilst studying and I heard this poor boy got beaten to death during his boot camp. So unfortunate. Kena booted out forever! :( Those horrible instructors even used electric shock therapy. It reminds me of biology - like how the cells form transient pores when you subject them to heat shock therapy in CaCl2. :(

Okay. Really gotta get sleeping now!

P.S. What do you think about the link between environment and sentencing? Criminal sentencing is based on choice, culpability & freewill. If there wasn't a penalty for having bad genes (an environmental factor) in the first place, how can we "reduce" that penalty? Conversely, to the extent that sentencing serves to keep dangerous people away, he should have been given a harsher term!! Hmm, at present this all seems like a mumbo jumbo to me, so I gotta think deeper about it... like after As.

Red herring indeed

It really raised my eyebrows when I read the papers (quite a few days ago). Press freedom has no clear correlation with violence that is ongoing in a country. So the examples of turmoil in Ethiopia, etc are simply irrelevant when we are comparing press freedom. If you know what I'm referring to. Nicely corroborated with a friend.

Nice book about van Gogh my childhood hero. Look at how much it costs!! O.o

Cutest boy

Today I saw the cutest boy I've ever seen, in the RI library! He was this chubby little sec 1 blob that was patiently listening to instructions from the tyranical librarian on how to do stock taking. Being the dwarf that he is, he had to stretch to reach the upper shelves...with a stack of books by his side. Little rimmed spectacles + chubby cheeks + squeaky voice + short blob-like stature = super cute!!

Awhile later his Indian friend walked over, and the cute boy squeaked, " would you like to help me do stock taking??". And then the Indian boy retorted, "NO" and ran away. So evil!!

Ahh sooo cute.

I miss Austin and Brina. :( I can almost hear them chanting "The Internet is for Porn" - from that infamous Avenue Q musical. In the background they boom "Porn. Porn. Porn". Filles mauvaise.... Garcon mauvais.... ><

P.S. Wei Jian made me realise how silly I am today (again!!). He told me that internship apps is only for MINISTRIES. I actually applied to work at the Courts & AGC (which are organs of state). I think the person reading my application will go "LOL". Ah, I'll see how.

Say no to freud!

"Did you have an interview recently?" Was my first question. Austin postulated that the interviewer could have been surprised by the supposedly poised and professional look I exude whenever I put on a neutral face (it's the default..). The only kind of evaluation he gave was that I was an "interesting" person. I'm not sure what it means, because there are things which are unique to me that can be good or bad, depending on your perspective. Anyhow, after awhile I gave up analysing my interview with my friends for it kind of veered towards a rather speculative, freudian analysis. I can only say that I tried my best, as always. Ah well, it's over! Now I shall pray hard for everyone I know, including myself, for the coming months.

Anyway, I was happy that I had cleared my nervousness before the interview, because I led this Indian girl from UWC who applied to Oxford to J block (actually she approached me). I thought that the Camb interviews were there too but I spent some time searching up and down, before locating the exact place - under the G.O.! O.o Nice one. As Douglas Adams would have it, DON'T PANIC! I must say panicking beforehand immunizes you in a way.

Now that all the applications and interviews are out of the way, I think everyone should just focus on A levels. Ah well. Good bye!

Interview tomorrow

You know, I'm having my interview tomorrow at RJ. Yay! My interviewer has a kewl surname. Still, it is quite unnerving to think that I will be engaged in an 'informal discussion' with someone important for 20-30 minutes. I thought deep and hard about things like human rights law and IP (which I wrote for the test) so I hope he quizzes me on them. I feel really excited, because this will be a little milestone to realizing my goals of reading law, living in a foreign country (and, on a site note, visiting art museums for free!!.) When I think of Cambridge, I think of Europe and that makes me think of the Hague and Geneva and the place of PEACE. Ohm... This brings me closer to the possibility of working for an organization that advances the development of an international peace process. This brings me back to the question of why I applied to read law at Cambridge - because I wish to be part of the legal system that upholds order and justice - and Cambridge is not the only way but the superior way, most siginificantly in terms of pedagogy and reputation.

In light of my applications over the past couple of months for various stuff, it has crossed my mind that potential gatekeepers may stumble upon my blog. Now, I already know that a hell lot of random people follow this space (don't think I don't know). But this time round it's not just randome people, but Gatekeepers. I feel rather ambivalent about this because my blog is neutral. Even when I take a stand, I usually justify, justify, justify. BUT they will still be privy to my ongoings - which reveal my way of life, my thinking and my modus operandi.

The most dangerous thing is having people judge you parochially, based on a collection of posts in all their pixelated glory. So, if any of you are reading this, just bear in mind that my blog reflects who I am, but not EVERYTHING about me. Thanks!

P.S. I don't wish to lock my blog, because I want to broadcast my thoughts to all friends! But you can be sure that I don't reveal confidential/vital information. I not stupid.

Isolation

"I had become, with the approach of night, once more aware of loneliness and time - those two companions without whom no journey can yield us anything." - Laurence Durell, British Novelist.

There is also another quote that goes "we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen." I love it. It just encapsulates so much about life - as well as the existentialist philosophy that I am inclined towards.

A friend recently lamented to me about the "ebb and flow of nothingness that is life". I didn't dismiss it just because it's mugging season - that will be too naive. I know that bugging feeling, and it grinds at people everyday in an imperceptible manner. That's why some people turn to religion. Or drugs. Or just SOMETHING like football and beer. Even though relgion appears to be the ultimate answer (think: God is the Alpha and the Omega), you still get backsliders or ostensible deviants don't fit into religious cells. I think most people search for things beyond and above and about and around. The "ebb and flow" eludes us, in terms of whether we can or should even remedy it. Unfortuantely, I still don't have an answer that is satisfying intellectually and emotionally - but perhaps there is no "and" but only the truth. Well, in the end I naturally asked him to consult with someone who is much smarter... after which he kinda forgot about it.

On a side note, it is SUCH a pity that the Singapore Writer's Festival coincides with A level mugging season. :(

Birthdays

There are ALOT of birthdays coming up - at least 5 close people I know - not an understatement at all! I am overflowing with joy at the thought of making birthday cards. Writing my heartfelt thoughts on a little piece of organic fibre, then sealing it tight, possibly together with an insect that might spring out (just joking)... I cannot find a better way to end the day, for it represents an alternative universe to mugging. Also, I will be celebrating my mother's birthday tomorrow night although it was on Tuesday. :)

It is quite a mystery how I make alot of scorpio friends, because they're supposed to be my astrological hell. Gemini = breezy, while scorpio = intense. But I find that most of them are really good/fun people to hang out with. There is an astrological maxim that air and water do not mix; however, they complement each other. Air's logic helps water signs learn how to reason in a cool and detached manner, while water's emotions help Air signs deal with feelings that they subconciously suppress. You're perfectly entitled to think that astrology is crap. Sometimes I do, too. That's why I'm not the sort who follows my daily horoscope religiously.

Talking about horoscopes... I recently visited the facebook profile of my ex-crush after EONS. He is the first and only guy that I have ever carried a torch for in the MILDEST sense, simply because he was sufficiently tall for me to possibly like (i.e. >182) Guess what I saw on his wall?

_____ Checked his Aquarius horoscope on Friday.
...
_____ Checked his Aquarius horoscope on Thursday.
_____ Checked his Aquarius horoscope on Wednesday.
_____ Checked his Aquarius horoscope on Tuesday.
...
_____ Checked his Aquarius horoscope on Monday.
_____ Checked his Aquarius horoscope on Sunday.
..... (continues)

When I saw that I almost fell off the chair LOL-ing. This makes me glad that I never ever REALLY liked him, some weird Aquarius guy who's a horoscope maniac. >< HAHA. I can't stop laughing at him. Oh dear, I hope that wasn't too mean. Someone reassure me.

Anyway, currently the two scorpio friends that I'm hanging out with like to talk about sex most of the time. HAHA.