handsome suit
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 (11:56 PM)
handsome suit is but a japanese version of 200 pound beauty starring 阿鸿, 林依晨 and 萧雅轩.
胸无大志也是一种幸福
Sunday, March 29, 2009 (5:21 PM)
从小到大，我们未曾没听过努力读书将来必能成大业？
父母对我们的期望不是做医生，律师，就是经理或总裁。从小灌溉的观念似乎已把成大业变成人生唯一的目标。达不到便是失败中的失败。人生的目标一但失去了，我们就找不到活着的意义。就算达到了，生命也似乎随着我们的理想结束了。人生失去了方向，便陷入低潮。严重的话还会换上忧郁症。
小学的我成绩算不错。每年必定在班上拿前十名以内。到了中学，开始感到9个科目的压力。第一年就落到班上最后第二名。有3-4科不及格。非常担心会被责骂的我不敢让爸妈知道。但是有些事是逃不掉的。爸爸没责骂，只是露出了失望的神情。妈妈则说下次努力就好。连续2-3个学期的历史科都不及格，开始对历史感到害怕，压力也开始增加。但是每次跟妈妈说了话后，总是感到轻松。
考得不好，下次再努力就行了。
这是妈妈的名言。到了中四，少了外加的压力，多了自己的期望，也非常情愿地努力。第一次考了班上第三名。当时虽然能报读初级学院，但我却想报读ITE。妈妈听了，不但没什么大反应，还说了只要是自己要的，想清楚了就去做。一向来非常依赖妈妈说法的我，顿时感到彷徨。该是自己做决定的时候了。经过了一些思考，与朋友的讨论后，被派去初级学院的我决定了转到理工学院去。
在理工学院的那三年，好像变成了自由人。父母再也不过问成绩考得怎么样。我也开始不太在乎能不能考得非常好了。似乎变成了胸无大志。对自己的要求并没有很高。好就好，不好就不好。不需要给自己太多的压力。过得开心，没有对不起自己就好。心情放松了，对喜欢的科目也非常自然的努力了解，成绩也不错，能报读大学。
父母虽然没要求，但我知道他们也希望家里能有个大学生，就报读了新加坡国立大学。第一个学期，开始厌倦了读书的生涯。有了退学的念头。告诉妈妈后，希望妈妈能给自己一些鼓励，甚至是逼我继续读。但意料之外，妈妈却说，“不想读就别读。但要想清楚，决定了才退学。得了文凭，却发了疯有什么用？我不需要一个大学毕业的疯儿子。”
仔细想了想决定读下去。有个文凭就好，成绩差我也无所谓。一个学期后成绩比想象中还好，便开始告诉自己该努力一点成绩会更好，也开始读了自己有兴趣的科目。本以为只能拿个普通的pass，结果考到了 bachelor with merit 还能读个算不错的学位。
一向对自己要求不算高的我，很幸运的这一路走来都还算顺利。常常跟妈妈开玩笑说，我们没有压力因为我们胸无大志，对自己根本没有很大的要求。想做的事，成功的话是个bonus，失败了也无所谓。
周杰伦的“稻香”也说明了一句简单的事：
得不到的梦想换个梦不就得了。
对一些人来说，这或许有点胸无大志。但至少我的人生活的开心，活得轻松，每天都能带着笑容面对人生。几十年后，回头看看我这短暂的生命，我是否活得开心，充实，还是花了半辈子过着压力重重的生活，拼了一番事业，但却错过了半个世纪快乐生活的一次机会？
我的答案，现在开始画上笔画。
performance outside yasukuni
Friday, March 27, 2009 (10:48 PM)
in spite of his insistence to visit the yasukuni shrine annually to the protests of many chinese and koreans tortured or know people tortured under japanese aggression during the 2nd world war, koizumi junichiro seems to be a better candidate to the position than his successors.
in 2005, koizumi attempted to pass a Postal Reform to privatize postal services in japan so as to relief financial burden on the government. this move was rejected by the upper house and at the risk of losing his prime minister post, koizumi dissolved the lower house, expelled rebel LDP members and called for a general election. this move was not welcomed as koizumi appeared to be attempting political suicide but his popularity rose instead and won the general election. the Postal Reform was then passed.
5 years after taking up the position, koizumi stepped down and his successors couldn't impress. 1 year into service, abe shinzo resigned. fukuda yasuo took over and resigned after another year. they didn't visit the shrine, but they didn't do much either.
he may have incurred the wrath of many with his visits to the yasukuni shrine, but he also publicly apologised twice for the atrocities of world war 2, which had nothing to do with him. and people still weren't satisfied. why force someone who did no wrong to apologise to the world? what purpose does that serve?
did you ever consider the fact that koizumi was only 3 years old when the war ended?
一张嘴征服一国人
Thursday, March 26, 2009 (8:03 PM)
老实说，你觉得希特勒帅吗？
戴上一顶帽子，他也只不过是个来自奥地利的卓别林。
他却凭着一张嘴征服了一国人。
但却在他自禁的半个世纪后，一为蛋糕师傅因为一位 4 岁男孩的名字里有‘阿道夫 希特勒’而不肯在男孩的生日蛋糕上写上他的名。
即使被世世代代的人们憎恨，也是名留千古。
flying time
Sunday, March 22, 2009 (12:12 PM)
not all things that have wings fly. and not all things that fly have wings.
time flies? i have no idea but to me, it seems to disappear instead. there are times when i don't even recall what i did with my 24hours a day especially during my time in uni. i can only remember 15 hours of the 168 hours in a week where i sit in class and stare blank, trying my best to look deep in thought. the rest of the 153 hours doesn't seem to have existed in my life.
time doesn't just disappear when you're having fun or enjoying yourself. time disappears when you don't do anything.
when you sit on the couch, and waste away your life. when you head straight for your bed as soon as the weather turns windy. when you sit in front of your pc blogging about this.
i just lost a good amount of my could've-been-better life. and you just did the same by reading this.
fooled by randomness
Monday, March 16, 2009 (8:02 PM)
not that i read the book. rather, it's more of how we seem to think too much over really simple and random occurences in life.
don't think too much. things are only signs when you make them out to be. and the consequences do not come with 30-day money back guarantees.
random = random = random. don't give me the oracular reasoning shit.
obscenity
Saturday, March 14, 2009 (8:32 PM)
being in this industry for some time sorta gave me some interesting insights into the mechanics behind censorship.
a certain episode of oprah created some thoughts in me.
this particular transgender who used to be a beautiful woman became a man and married another woman. some time later they decided to have a baby together but the wife was unable to bear the child for some reason. so, they used the transgender's womb for the baby instead and there the transgender became the first pregnant "man" ever. the media is pretty lame because it's obviously a pregnant woman. i digress.
the papers then showed an image of a topless him with his pregnant body. and this got me pondering, what is it about a woman's body that makes her being topless obscene? why is the transgender's breastless body allowed to be shown when the body is in fact a woman's body to begin with? what's the rationale for censoring a topless pregnant woman but allowing a topless pregnant transgender to pass?
is it because of the missing breasts? but what about the breasts make the person different from a fat man whose breasts may not necessarily be smaller than a woman's? does that mean women with really small breasts can go topless on public media?
even though the transgender is supposed to have become a man, that doesn't change the fact that it's a woman's body. unless maybe they mutilated her head and attached it to a man's body.
and what about the term "transgender" makes the body a man? being a man has become such an abstract concept, it seems that calling yourself one is good enough a reason to go topless in the public. you girls can try doing that. but if you do, let me know. i'd like to catch you in action.
raison d'etre
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 (11:55 PM)
it is perhaps the most asked question and many christian converts i've met have, at some point, been pondering about the very same question before signing on to the church.
i don't know how much answer one can get and i don't know how much answer i can offer. but at the very least, i can throw you one daring question.
do you work to live or live to work?
interestingly, i've only seriously tried to think about the question on my purpose of being some days ago and at the snap of a finger, this very question popped in my mind. no doubt it doesn't answer all my question. but at least it is guiding me to some direction in life.
we spend so much time trying to establish our career beginning as soon as we stepped into school. that was to prepare us for work and when we finally get out of school, we strive hard to climb the corporate ladder. we scrimp and save for the future but at the end of it all, what have we achieved? being part of a large corporation that may last for the next 158 years and go bankrupt overnight? whether it survives or not, we wouldn't have left any impression to anyone. much less any impression to ourselves. we can barely recall what we have done with our life. all we can see is what we have done to it. by then, it's done.
to answer the question i myself threw, i was almost living to work. now i'm working to live. at least i try...
你好吗？
Saturday, March 07, 2009 (12:30 PM)
刚刚通过表妹的博客读了一篇文章。也启发了我以中文表达我对常常碰到的事情的想法。
那篇文章写的是我们在无意识中逐渐地把单纯与开心的距离拉远了。这两件事的关系本来很紧密，但在繁杂的都市生活中，渐渐地被遗忘了。
这也让我想起了在日常生活中常碰到的交谈。一句很简单的，“你好吗？”已被繁杂的社会事物扰乱了它的单纯。
记得上日文课时，老师教到，被问“元気ですか？”时，无论如何，必须回答“はい、元気です。”上泰文课时，被问"sabaay dii ree khrap?" 时，无论如何，必须回答"sabaay dii khrap."上西班牙文课时，被问"¿como estas?" 时，无论如何，必须回答"bien." 这是一种礼貌。
曾认识一位50多岁的加拿大人。至今，她仍为了一家非盈利机构发展的规划而日夜奔波。但无论她外表再疲惫，每当我问到，"how are you doing?" 时，她总是面带着笑容地回答，"i'm doing good."
相对的，新加坡似乎已被 pragmatism 彻底的淹没了。"how are you doing?" 后，常常会听见，"not good." 福建的"ho bo?” 后，常常会听见，"bo ho leh." 中文的，“你好吗？”后，会听见，“不是很好。”就连马来文的，"apa khabar?" 后，也会听见，"tak baiklah."
跟许多本地人上了外语课后，听见与别人不一样的回答。
A:元気ですか？
B:いいえ、元気ではありません。
A:sabaay dii ree khrap?
B:sabaay may dii khrap.
A:¿como estas?
B:muy mal.
一句简单的问候，招呼，似乎被我们视为一句很严肃的问答题。这或许是国家的 ideology 搞的怪。当我们认真的思考时，豁然发现，一句句的“不好“，“いいえ”，"sabaay may dii", "muy mal", "bo ho, "tak baik", "not good", 都在以社会的经济发展为标准来定夺。想想，我们又何曾以周遭较简单的事物来决定我们的人生快乐与否？
最后，我想问一句，“你好吗？”
jay chou is a porn star
Friday, March 06, 2009 (8:53 PM)
let's straighten things out
Thursday, March 05, 2009 (10:57 PM)
some time ago, the english majors were discussing the mechanics behind let's. for some reason, they were trying to explain why let's is not a contraction of let us, which i thought it was. but the conversation just started on the premise that it is not a contraction and they were trying to find an explanation for it.
i recall priya came up with the most acceptable answer which went something like, contractions only occur with succeeding verbs like be. us is not a verb, thus no contraction can take place. for example:
she is -> she's
he is -> he's
they are -> they're
we are -> we're
in spite of that, i still think it is a contraction of "let us" because contractions don't just occur with verbs. look, i just used one. don't.
not is not a verb but it can still be contracted with the verb do, can as well as many others. with this evidence to the contrary, the premise accepted before cannot stand.
but this got me thinking... hypothetically speaking, if let's is really a contraction of let us, but can't and don't do not exist. without the evidence to the contrary, how can we disprove the hypothesis we first came up with?
even without evidence, can't something be an exception? let's think...
world's largest industry
Wednesday, March 04, 2009 (8:32 PM)
the church is a business entity selling abstractions...
are you deficient? oh sorry, it's me
Sunday, March 01, 2009 (8:39 PM)
the first thing we did this morning was to pull a stunt. unknowingly, that is.
guang and i were catching valkyrie at gv plaza this morning at 11:10am. we went in the theatre early and settled ourselves comfortably at our seats M-03 and M-04 in hall 1, when this guy came over and said their seats are M-02 and M-03. i was like, "wha? ours is M-03 and M-04."
how the hell can there be an overlap? the guy then doubted himself and went towards his lady friend standing behind and checked the tickets. i glanced back and saw the huge number 3 on their ticket and said to them, "yours is hall 3" and they went out the theatre.
i turned to guang and said, "they didn't see the number 3? maybe see wrongly." a few moments later, the guy came back and said, "excuse me, this is hall 3"
i laughed and went, "oh, we got the wrong theatre. sorry, it's us... haha" in a seemingly calm manner, but deep in my heart i was like...
shit