Hi everyone.
Lately I've been too lazy to blog. Probably because of the facts that exams are over. You know, after exams my brain is completely switched off. Nothing really gets through my head now, even if I try hard to focus and pay attention. Hence this post will not be that long-winded post which I like to do, but it will be just a short one with me telling you what you have just read above. I will blog later with a longer entry.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Debating Is The Professional Way Of Quarrelling
I actually got into a heated debate/quarrel/argument with my parents about this statement. I was the one who brought it up. They say that Debating and Quarrelling are two different things. I disagree with that. I'm going to explain why.
See, when two people quarrell, they have conflicting ideas and statements about a similar issue and want to prove the other wrong by telling them the facts and "convince" them that they are wrong. It's just that they do it in a more uncivillised way, with swearing and cursing and everthing. When they quarrell, they flare their temper at each other and usually one of them will give in or give up and sometimes emotions will run high after an argument. Obviously it isn't a good way to settle issues but people usually use it subconsiouly. For example, I usually quarrell with my parents over certain issues, which ends up in them reprimanding me for getting too flared up over something. So, you can come to a conclusion that Quarrelling is in a way uncivillised and rough.
Let us look at Debating. Debates are usually done in Parliamentary Sessions, Court Sessions and competitions. They too have conflicting ideas and statements over a certain issue and they want to convince each other to believe them and also to tell them they what they said is correct. They do not swear at each other but they throw the facts at each other. They do not shout or scream at each other but rather they moderate their tone at the right time. A favourite weapon of politicians, Debating is more professional and civillised as it ends in an agreement and decision between the two parties. However, I think the consequences of losing a debate is more than just emotions running. Sometimes, losing a debate have more sever consequences.
Let us take a look in the courtroom. Losing that debate would mean having a deep impact on the life of the client, whether it is the defendant or the plaintiff. Debate is therfore more formal, serious and professional.
To back up my point even further, let us take a look at boxing and soccer. It may sound irrelevant but it clearly illustrates why debating is the PROFESSIONAL way of arguing. I emphasize the word "Professional". Boxing is a sport where people punch each other till one of them is too tired or unconscious to get back up on his feet again. Strict rules are enforced to prevent the death of their contestants. At this point I want to ask, what is the most "prehistoric" form of boxing? It's fighting. Fighting is something where there are no rules and it is used when people go crazy or they want to beat the living crap out of someone because he/she detests him/her. Is it uncivillized? Yes. There are incidents where people die when they get into fights. People made fighting professional and it is now a popular sport worldwide.
Let us take another look at soccer. People used to play soccer in a violent and barbaric way where cities were up against cities and people would kill to win. Over time, since soccer was so popular but yet so barbaric, rules were added, the sport was made professional by limiting the number of players and also adding goalposts and enforcing rules such as the Red and Yellow card. Soon it changed from the most violent to the most popular and beautiful game in the world.
Same goes for Debating and Quarrelling. Quarrelling is uncivillised and barbaric and using that method to solve issues is very difficult. Therefore people have agreed to sit down and throw the facts to convince others that they are right. There are professionals who do this as a carrer, for example Lawyers and Members of Parliament. Therefore this shows that debating is a more professional way of quarrelling, as only through debating would people resolve things in a more civillized and effective way. Please leave your comments on this as I am open to suggestions and feedback.
See, when two people quarrell, they have conflicting ideas and statements about a similar issue and want to prove the other wrong by telling them the facts and "convince" them that they are wrong. It's just that they do it in a more uncivillised way, with swearing and cursing and everthing. When they quarrell, they flare their temper at each other and usually one of them will give in or give up and sometimes emotions will run high after an argument. Obviously it isn't a good way to settle issues but people usually use it subconsiouly. For example, I usually quarrell with my parents over certain issues, which ends up in them reprimanding me for getting too flared up over something. So, you can come to a conclusion that Quarrelling is in a way uncivillised and rough.
Let us look at Debating. Debates are usually done in Parliamentary Sessions, Court Sessions and competitions. They too have conflicting ideas and statements over a certain issue and they want to convince each other to believe them and also to tell them they what they said is correct. They do not swear at each other but they throw the facts at each other. They do not shout or scream at each other but rather they moderate their tone at the right time. A favourite weapon of politicians, Debating is more professional and civillised as it ends in an agreement and decision between the two parties. However, I think the consequences of losing a debate is more than just emotions running. Sometimes, losing a debate have more sever consequences.
Let us take a look in the courtroom. Losing that debate would mean having a deep impact on the life of the client, whether it is the defendant or the plaintiff. Debate is therfore more formal, serious and professional.
To back up my point even further, let us take a look at boxing and soccer. It may sound irrelevant but it clearly illustrates why debating is the PROFESSIONAL way of arguing. I emphasize the word "Professional". Boxing is a sport where people punch each other till one of them is too tired or unconscious to get back up on his feet again. Strict rules are enforced to prevent the death of their contestants. At this point I want to ask, what is the most "prehistoric" form of boxing? It's fighting. Fighting is something where there are no rules and it is used when people go crazy or they want to beat the living crap out of someone because he/she detests him/her. Is it uncivillized? Yes. There are incidents where people die when they get into fights. People made fighting professional and it is now a popular sport worldwide.
Let us take another look at soccer. People used to play soccer in a violent and barbaric way where cities were up against cities and people would kill to win. Over time, since soccer was so popular but yet so barbaric, rules were added, the sport was made professional by limiting the number of players and also adding goalposts and enforcing rules such as the Red and Yellow card. Soon it changed from the most violent to the most popular and beautiful game in the world.
Same goes for Debating and Quarrelling. Quarrelling is uncivillised and barbaric and using that method to solve issues is very difficult. Therefore people have agreed to sit down and throw the facts to convince others that they are right. There are professionals who do this as a carrer, for example Lawyers and Members of Parliament. Therefore this shows that debating is a more professional way of quarrelling, as only through debating would people resolve things in a more civillized and effective way. Please leave your comments on this as I am open to suggestions and feedback.
Friday, February 22, 2008
DIY Cube!
I bought a DIY cube today. It was really fun to fix and play with. Now all I need is to learn the Fridrich Method which will improve my timing by alot. And it's not easy. There are loads of permutations which you need to memorize. But I'm not giving up yet. Because Rubik's Cube is a chick magnet. Lolz. No la... Because I want my timing to improve from 1 minute to about 30 seconds. Beginner's method is slow and inefficient. I'd rather do F2L.
Monday, February 18, 2008
An Uncommon Common Test
Wanted to write something about Total Defence at first because of something which made an impact on me last friday, but I needed to get this off my head first. The Total Defence Post will be postponed to later. I want to talk about the Common Tests first.
Yep. It's that time of the year again. Common Test Period. A time where everyone will be rushing in order to memorize their elements in their periodic table, how to differentiate Tropical Rainforests and Mangrove forests, studying why Singapore has such good leader, blah blah blah. The experience is different from last year, where everything seems like a breeze and honeymoon to me. Those were the times where the students in sec 208 had so much fun. Sec 3 is a whole new experience and a wake-up call, which makes me come to this conclusion.
Sec 1 and Sec 2= Honeymoon
Sec 3 and Sec 4= Marriage
Haha. No offense to married people here. Common tests in Sec 3 feels like final-year exams to me. To add to my revision and my workload, it just happens that my season is during the common test week. This means that my revision time is cut short by trainings and matches. Hence I have to work late every night and de-stress on my computer. I was thinking, "If I feel this way in Sec 3, Who knows what will it be like when I reach Sec 4?" I discussed this issue with my friend today and we came up with something really crappy.
If Sec 3 Common Test feels like Final-Year Exam,
FYE will feel like O-Levels
O-levels will feel like A-Levels
A-Levels will feel like University Entrance Exam
University Entrance Exam will feel like Working
Working will feel like dying
When you die, you can't feel anything anymore.
Sigh... This is a test for me. Not just academically but also in character and time-management. My common test result will show how well I manage my time and study, and so far I don't really think that I may make it to top 5 or top 10 this term. My Social Studies hangs in the balance as I think that I did not do very well for the paper... Need to practise more SBQs. If not I will really suffer for the Elect Humanities papers. The first day of the long 4-day battle is over, and there are casualties on my side. Here's hoping that I can do well for the important papers ahead. Espacially my Full Humanities, A Math, E Math and Physics. Wish me luck.
Adios!
Yep. It's that time of the year again. Common Test Period. A time where everyone will be rushing in order to memorize their elements in their periodic table, how to differentiate Tropical Rainforests and Mangrove forests, studying why Singapore has such good leader, blah blah blah. The experience is different from last year, where everything seems like a breeze and honeymoon to me. Those were the times where the students in sec 208 had so much fun. Sec 3 is a whole new experience and a wake-up call, which makes me come to this conclusion.
Sec 1 and Sec 2= Honeymoon
Sec 3 and Sec 4= Marriage
Haha. No offense to married people here. Common tests in Sec 3 feels like final-year exams to me. To add to my revision and my workload, it just happens that my season is during the common test week. This means that my revision time is cut short by trainings and matches. Hence I have to work late every night and de-stress on my computer. I was thinking, "If I feel this way in Sec 3, Who knows what will it be like when I reach Sec 4?" I discussed this issue with my friend today and we came up with something really crappy.
If Sec 3 Common Test feels like Final-Year Exam,
FYE will feel like O-Levels
O-levels will feel like A-Levels
A-Levels will feel like University Entrance Exam
University Entrance Exam will feel like Working
Working will feel like dying
When you die, you can't feel anything anymore.
Sigh... This is a test for me. Not just academically but also in character and time-management. My common test result will show how well I manage my time and study, and so far I don't really think that I may make it to top 5 or top 10 this term. My Social Studies hangs in the balance as I think that I did not do very well for the paper... Need to practise more SBQs. If not I will really suffer for the Elect Humanities papers. The first day of the long 4-day battle is over, and there are casualties on my side. Here's hoping that I can do well for the important papers ahead. Espacially my Full Humanities, A Math, E Math and Physics. Wish me luck.
Adios!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
You Only Have One Life, Go Crazy
I'm not sure whether what I write next will be something good, but I want to get this off my head. Let me start you off with this incident which happened last week.
It was a wednesday. A half-day because of Chinese New Year eve. I went back to my primary school to visit my classmates. We haven't seen each other for quite a while, so we went to CDANS (country club) for bowling and also to do some catching up. Most of my friends were bowling (Matthiasm Wei Xuan, Amelia, Li Yi, Imran, Selva and two other guys). I didn't join them because I only had enough money to eat lunch. So I just sat there and played with the Rubik's Cube which I borrowed from Wei Xuan. I was curious to see Friend X (I don't want to name him as I want to keep his identity confidential) sitting there watching them play. Being curious, I walked over and asked him why he wasn't bowling. He replied that his wrists was injured due to a bicycle accident. It appeared that he was cycling at high speed where he saw another cyclist and his bike spun out of control. He fractured both wrists and dislocated his left shoulder.
"That's really gotta hurt. Did you go see a doctor?" I asked. He just shook his head and said nothing. So... I said "Why did you do such a thing? You should be careful." He replied with the title of my blog entry. "You only have one life. Go crazy".
That statement set me thinking. If he can say such a thing at 15 years old, when his other purpose in life is to seek thrills and go crazy, who knows what Friend X can do when he grows up and still keeps this kind of thoughts? It was then this thought came to my mind. I know it sounds elite but I was thinking "Why is it that majority of the people who come from neighbourhood schools have this kind of thoughts and crazy ideas but majority of the people who come from better schools do not?" Correct me if I'm wrong, and I think that most people will probably disagree with what I've said above. However, you can see (or think) that most Ah Bengs or Ah Lians seldom come from the better schools and majority of the friends I know in SJI and other better schools does not have such a "Moral Value" which tells you to live your life by seeking thrills and going crazy.
I'm thinking. The way he acts now is caused by his:
1. Education?
2.Upbringing?
3.The personal moral values that they have?
4.The kind of friends they have?
5.The type of school they go to?
Friend X used to be from a good class in primary school and he was... not the type of guy like he is now.Perhaps you may say that I don't understand him but from his actions and words, this is what I think of him. Based on that fact I think that I can cancel out 2, which leaves me to number 1, 3, 4, 5. Number 4 and 5 belongs to Number 1. So I'll categorize it further into
1. Education
2. Personal Moral Values
Speaking of number 1, I was thinking "Why is it that people from neighbourhood schools are always classified under the majority who misbehaves while people from better schools are always classfied as the more civillized one?" This made me question the quality of schools in Singapore. Why is it that some schools are able to educate all-rounded students and some schools educate lesser all-rounded students? Is it because they are unlucky? I don't think so.
And speaking of number two, that's really more of a personal issue, but part of it is still linked to number 1. We students sometimes need to know what's wrong and what's right, and this job is left mostly to parents and schools. While the parent is out working and has no time to educate the child, this job is left to the school. There is a chinese saying. "人之初，性本善", which means that all humans are born kind in nature. Whatever happens after that depends on Number 1, 2 and 3 in the first section. Let us take a look at Friend X's case again. I would like to ask:
1.What is the main factor or reason which seperates the good schools from the bad besides their academic results?
2.Why is it that the so called "bad schools" cannot do as well as the "good schools?"
3. The classification between "Good" and "Bad" schools. Is it based on the academic results or more of the type of students they produce?
4. If the school produces bad students, is it more of the school's fault or more of the student's fault which results in this phenomenon?
Well, these are the question which are runnning through my head now. I'm sorry if some of my words are offensive and please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm open to suggestions and comments. My deepest apologies to Friend X for using him as an example. Please feel free to leave your comments!
It was a wednesday. A half-day because of Chinese New Year eve. I went back to my primary school to visit my classmates. We haven't seen each other for quite a while, so we went to CDANS (country club) for bowling and also to do some catching up. Most of my friends were bowling (Matthiasm Wei Xuan, Amelia, Li Yi, Imran, Selva and two other guys). I didn't join them because I only had enough money to eat lunch. So I just sat there and played with the Rubik's Cube which I borrowed from Wei Xuan. I was curious to see Friend X (I don't want to name him as I want to keep his identity confidential) sitting there watching them play. Being curious, I walked over and asked him why he wasn't bowling. He replied that his wrists was injured due to a bicycle accident. It appeared that he was cycling at high speed where he saw another cyclist and his bike spun out of control. He fractured both wrists and dislocated his left shoulder.
"That's really gotta hurt. Did you go see a doctor?" I asked. He just shook his head and said nothing. So... I said "Why did you do such a thing? You should be careful." He replied with the title of my blog entry. "You only have one life. Go crazy".
That statement set me thinking. If he can say such a thing at 15 years old, when his other purpose in life is to seek thrills and go crazy, who knows what Friend X can do when he grows up and still keeps this kind of thoughts? It was then this thought came to my mind. I know it sounds elite but I was thinking "Why is it that majority of the people who come from neighbourhood schools have this kind of thoughts and crazy ideas but majority of the people who come from better schools do not?" Correct me if I'm wrong, and I think that most people will probably disagree with what I've said above. However, you can see (or think) that most Ah Bengs or Ah Lians seldom come from the better schools and majority of the friends I know in SJI and other better schools does not have such a "Moral Value" which tells you to live your life by seeking thrills and going crazy.
I'm thinking. The way he acts now is caused by his:
1. Education?
2.Upbringing?
3.The personal moral values that they have?
4.The kind of friends they have?
5.The type of school they go to?
Friend X used to be from a good class in primary school and he was... not the type of guy like he is now.Perhaps you may say that I don't understand him but from his actions and words, this is what I think of him. Based on that fact I think that I can cancel out 2, which leaves me to number 1, 3, 4, 5. Number 4 and 5 belongs to Number 1. So I'll categorize it further into
1. Education
2. Personal Moral Values
Speaking of number 1, I was thinking "Why is it that people from neighbourhood schools are always classified under the majority who misbehaves while people from better schools are always classfied as the more civillized one?" This made me question the quality of schools in Singapore. Why is it that some schools are able to educate all-rounded students and some schools educate lesser all-rounded students? Is it because they are unlucky? I don't think so.
And speaking of number two, that's really more of a personal issue, but part of it is still linked to number 1. We students sometimes need to know what's wrong and what's right, and this job is left mostly to parents and schools. While the parent is out working and has no time to educate the child, this job is left to the school. There is a chinese saying. "人之初，性本善", which means that all humans are born kind in nature. Whatever happens after that depends on Number 1, 2 and 3 in the first section. Let us take a look at Friend X's case again. I would like to ask:
1.What is the main factor or reason which seperates the good schools from the bad besides their academic results?
2.Why is it that the so called "bad schools" cannot do as well as the "good schools?"
3. The classification between "Good" and "Bad" schools. Is it based on the academic results or more of the type of students they produce?
4. If the school produces bad students, is it more of the school's fault or more of the student's fault which results in this phenomenon?
Well, these are the question which are runnning through my head now. I'm sorry if some of my words are offensive and please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm open to suggestions and comments. My deepest apologies to Friend X for using him as an example. Please feel free to leave your comments!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Happy CNY!
As a CNY gift, I'd like you guys to check out this video I found on Youtube. Wedding Dance Turned Funny.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Hello Everyone
Hey guys.. I guess it was a really time since I updated this blog. TA1 is just around the corner and I'm currently in my "Intensive Revision" mode. I'm pretty worried about my three sciences and Math. I still haven't got that level of confidence yet. That's why I say... Chinese New Year is not for playing anymore... Sigh... It's for mugging. I really miss the times in primary school where everything is so carefree and fun....
And do you believe that I just started playing WarCraft III yesterday? Haha. I'm damn lag at computer games. The game it's DAMN FUN. I know I said this like... 3 or 4 years late, but it's still damn fun. Gives me something to play over the chinese new year. The hard part is, it's addicting. I'm afraid that I'll get addicted to that game. DOTA and WarCraft is damn fun la.... But my TA is coming. Cannot let that affect my results.
I really don't know what to say now..... So I'll end my blog post here with a promise that I'll post a good one later.
And do you believe that I just started playing WarCraft III yesterday? Haha. I'm damn lag at computer games. The game it's DAMN FUN. I know I said this like... 3 or 4 years late, but it's still damn fun. Gives me something to play over the chinese new year. The hard part is, it's addicting. I'm afraid that I'll get addicted to that game. DOTA and WarCraft is damn fun la.... But my TA is coming. Cannot let that affect my results.
I really don't know what to say now..... So I'll end my blog post here with a promise that I'll post a good one later.
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