Lesson 3 - A Humourous Poem

Hi all,

This is just a funny take on primary school, no offence on anyone's feelings. Apart from remembering my so-called primary school days here, I am also remembering someone. See if you can guess!

It's close to noontime, and something evil's lurking in the dark

Under the sunlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart

You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it

You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes

You're paralysed

Cause this is lesson, lesson time

And no one's gonna save you for the teacher's gonna strike

You know it's lesson, lesson time

You're fighting for your life against a killer, teacher to die

You hear the door slam, and realise that there's nowhere left to run

You see the cold eyes, and wonder if you ever see the sun

You close your eyes, and hope that this is just imagination

but all the while, you hear the teacher creeping up behind

You're out of time

Cause this is lesson, lesson time

There ain's not second chance against the thing in all its might

Lesson, lesson time

You're fighting for your life against a killer, teacher to die

Crazed teachers calling, the mad start to walk in their masquerade

There's no escaping the scream of the teacher this time

(Mouth open wide)

This is the end of your life

They're out to get you, there's mentors closing in on every side

They will possess you, unless you've done your homework all the while

Now is the time, for you and I to unite close together, yeah

All through the day, I'll save you from the terror on its feet

I'll make you see

That this is lesson, lesson time

Cause I can thrill you more than that teacher would ever dare try

Lesson, lesson time

So let me give you fright and share a

killer, diller, chiller, thriller to die.

Hope you like it!

Cheers,

Darrel

Anyone Lived In A Pretty How Town

Hi all,

         The performance "If There're Seasons..." yesterday was simply stunning. The beginning scene began with this poem by E.E.Cummings, but composed into a song "anyone lived in a pretty how town". It's purposely in small letters, by the way. What I'd like to do is to comment on this poem and its theme.

           A brief summary: Anyone and no-one are the most individualistic. The "someones" and "everyones" of the town exhibit no individuality and spawn numerous repetitive generations. The children, with the imagination of youth, realized the love between anyone and no-one but forgetting it as they grew. When anyone dies, the townspeople only bury his body, but the grief stricken no-one mourns his passing and is buried with him. The two then find further love after their burials, more in death than the townsfolk ever knew in life. The townspeople then go on with their lives. 

            It's a tough poem to understand when you only read it once, and I took further reading and explanation by the characters later in the muscial that it actually meant that to be living a normal life can be more interesting than the people who don't, for the people living the normal life, "anyone" and "no one", actually are able to love and appreciate life well, while the people who sought for a life that was exciting, "someone" and "everyone", soon fell into the social mould of a loveless and lifeless society. When anyone and no one died, someone and everyone didn't mourn them, but there may be a day which they will, after a long time.

           And how true it has become these days! Love is only rediscovered and developed after many eyars in life! Many affluent businessmen, Bill Gates being and example, in the end, contribute back to society through similar means as normal charity workers. Speakign of charity workers, Susan Boyle shot to fame only through her normality, her individuality in a normal, peaceful life. Normality, though brushed aside and condemned by fame, is soon a servant of fame, for fame is only a temporal normality, which centres on greed and ignores anything else, while normality is eternal and perennial, because it remembers life, it remembers love. 

            Everyone lives in a pretty how town, it's only a decision whether to become a singularly unique anyone or a conformist everyone.

Cheers,

Darrel

P.S. I know this is very complex, for I'm not very sure myself on whether my analysis is better. Ah well, maybe there'll be a day where I can understand this poem better.

What are values?

Hi all,

        This is a real story taken from a blog. The original writer was very shocked at his own decision for the test. I want to share the story and then provide my own comments, cause  it's really shocking. It's really unexpected too. A note though: The original post was in Chinese (I don't regularly read Chinese blogs, or any blogs as a matter of fact, it was my father who introduced this post to me), so I translated it. It's taken from http://blog.omy.sg/hoeytheory/archives/27.

My friend held a newspaper in his hand, and asked if I wanted to take a simple psychological test. Curious, I agreed.

        Question 1: There is a pregnant woman.  She has had eight babies. Three of her babies are deaf, two of them are blind and one of them is mentally slow. Furthermore, she is a drug addict. Would you encourage her to abort this baby?

        Before I could answer, I was stopped by my friend, who asked me yet another question.

        Question 2: You have to choose a leader for the world. Which of these candidates will you choose?

         Candidate A: He is constantly in contact with distrustful politicians, and consults astrologers. He has a wedding affair, and smokes regularly. He also drinks 8-10 cups of martinis daily. 

        Candidate B: He has a record of being fired twice, and sleeps till noon everyday. He tried opium in his university days, and drinks a large amount of whiskey every evening.

        Candidate C: He is a decorated war hero and a vegetarian. He never smokes, and seldom drinks beer, and when he does, it is only a little. He has also never had an affair.

        After my friend let me write my answer down on a piece of paper, he told me the real profiles of these candidates:

        Candidate A: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States. 

        Candidate B: Winston Churchill, once Prime Minister of Britain. 

        Candidate C: Adolf Hitler, German Chancellor from 1933. 

         My friend stared at me sombrely. "Did you just choose Hitler for the world? So would you still advice the woman to abort her child?"

         I said of course, we have been aiming to search for safe births, safe education, safe lives, we don't want any babies to suffer because of their family and any highly likely diseases. Of course I would encourage her to abort.  

        My friend declared, "Then, you just killed Beethoven, that lady was Beethoven's mother."

        My friend asked, "Are you shocked? What you thought was the most humane, most obvious answer, was actually to create a Hitler and to kill Beethoven?"

        His conclusion: Don't act according to values.

        Ultimately, what are values? In my opinion, values are not something that everyone can have. They aren't materialistic, neither are they tangible. I think the friend's conclusion wasn't that correct, for ultimately, what he thought was that values are characteristics and physical conditions. However, I beg to differ, as I have mentioned above. Ultimately, the Beethoven question would have been difficult to avoid getting wrong, for the most normal and rational decision would have been to abort, to reduce the child's pain and the mother's burden. But really, what is normal? Do we really have the moral authority to decide? Ultimately, do we not witness the famous disabled with respect, for they are crippled birds who soar higher than those who aren't?

         For the leader question, in hindsight, it might have been better to have asked for an analysis of these candidates' psyches, to really understand their values. 

         What was your decision? Did you create a Hitler and kill Beethoven?

Cheers,

Darrel 

Digression from serious work

Hi all,

I have absolutely no idea why I am posting this, cause I'm supposed to be doing my worksheets to allocate time for revision tomorrow. But anyway, I'm just posting this cause I most likely want to have a quick break before I set off to this mysterious restaurant to celebrate my mother's upcoming birthday:).

But anyway, speaking of digression from serious work, how do you digress from a topic in conversation? (Why am I saying this? Personally, I have no idea, but that's no the point.) In a conversation, let's use me and Timothy (no offence to him, it's just that its a good real life example.) The conversation basically goes like this.

Tim: How much is Lea (a very good friend of mine who is a girl and unfortunately mistaken to be my crush) worth to you?

Me: She's worth a lot to me as a friend.

Tim: What about a GIRLFRIEND?

Me: Er...she's not my girlfriend, so no worth there. 

This will go on till the end of lessons, so this is bad. To digress, this is how it should go.

Tim: How much is Lea worth to you?

Me: She's worth a lot to me as a friend. By the way, how is doing in ? Do you still call her commonly?

Tim: NO!!! She's not my crush!

Me: Are you sure?

Tim: YES!!!

Me: I don't believe you. Anyway, we should pay more attention.

Tim: OK.

Digression successful!:)

Cheers,

Darrel

Susan Boyle - the sensation shocking the world

Hi all,

I'm here to talk about the sensation rocking the world right now - "Britain's Got Talent" Susan Boyle. Highly praised by the judges, ther youtube video of her singing has garnered 18 million views - and counting.

What was it that made her win so astonishing? As one blogger pointed out, she was not exactly the best looking lady. As she made her way onto the stage and answered the question, "Which singer would like to resemble most" with "Elaine Page". Everyone laughed then, for the beauty of her voice is just too great. 

In fact, I would like to do some soul searching, as many bloggers are. Was what made her win espsically stunning her innocent smile and her wondeful voice? Was the world surprised that a woman who is not exactly Miss World can stun the world with one song? Is this a sign of society that outer beauty has started to reign supreme over the simpler, yet morally more hauntingly beautiful and everlasting inner beauty?

This is just some food for thought. Here is the video of her singing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

I have to do this, because the embeding of her video has been disabled by request. But it's worth a listen. Furthermore, the song itself is beautiful as well. 

Cheers,

Darrel

Finger Lickin' Good Friday

Hi all,

Here I am now, typing while my dad, uncle and cousin are displaying their mahjong prowess and discussing a Mediacorp online memory games that can win you a $50 voucher. I mean, hello, $50? But that's them. Another elder cousin of mine is listening to music. Two younger cousins of mine are playing "Settlers", a board game about strategy and tactics. My mum and aunt are watching a Channel 8 variety show about local food. They're switching to Korean drama soon. The poor me, on the other hand, is still attempting to figure out how to refine the tweaking of my project. I'm not saying that everyone out there is more free than me, though. 

Previously, I went to swim. Is it surprising that I went to swim? Don't be surprised, cause even though I have a Gold in it, I swam to teach my P3 cousin how to swim (it's part of its school curriculum. I think people in NPCC have to learn too for LEAPS.) Following that, I had a substantial KFC dinner. My aunt was like, "Are you full?, when I had eaten:

• 3 spicy chicken
• 1 coleslaw
• 1 shipped potatos
• 15 french fries

But still, she's a nice person. Now, my target is to

1. Complete my Science revision
2. Complete my Chinese worksheet
3. Do my Debate blog
4. Prepare ppt for most likely Prelim 2

All before my cousin leaves at 11.30. That should be manageable.

Cheers,

Darrel 

Coke: The Dominance of a Beverage

Hi all,
I believe everyone has drank a coke before. In fact, Coke, or Coca Cola, its more commonly use name, has practically become a household brand all over the world. While everyone drinks it, has anyone wondered, why has Coke become so widely recognised? Sure, food and drinks transcends any boundaries there might be in language, but why the great craze over it? I think I have the answer: Its advertisment. More specifically, its music. This particular song was a great hit in the past, if I'm not wrong, in the 1970's. This is not the original version, but I think Coke adapted it and instantly made Coke a worldwide hit. I'm posting both the Coke version and the original version. For those who listen to Chinese radio channels, you'll know that Radio 1003 once used it as its morning theme song. But so much for my talking. The Coke song is only 1 minute long, while the original is 3. Still, I hope you can enjoy this song.

Sorry, just a note before I leave you to enjoy this song. If you listen carefully to the lyrics, you'll notice that they are actually advocating for world peace. So yeah, that's all. Enjoy the music!





Cheers,
Darrel

Gender power balance

Hi all,

On the way back from my very long debate training today (5 hours), I heard this on the radio, "A man is gay because of women. I mean, come on, how heavy is a handbag? When men carry it for women, their hormones go off balance." 

I know that many of you out there will go giggling away at the g-word, but seriously, this is cause of thought. There's this facebook post going around and its really very popular - its about how female and how male are you. Basically, there is this list of criteria, and all you have to do and see how many apply and convert it to percentage.

Are men servants of women? An impromptu answer would be a strong, "NO!", but then, consider it. Worker bees slave their lives off serving the queen bee. All worker ants want when they work is to mate with the queen ant. The lioness hunts the food, thus exerting some sort of control over the majestic lion. Are these signs of the fact that men are actually under the strict control of women?

A "non-animalistic" example is this - when a man falls in love with a woman and vice-versa, how many times do we see men proposing elopement? Practically none, for its the women that does that. To quote a very famous Chinese saying, men will "love a women till the earth cracks because of age". We don't see the opposite.

To conclude, till the 1900s, male chauvinism was rampant and we use "Man" to signify men and women. Today, however, I wonder: Is this simply a bully complex of the mind of men that men are weaker than women? I really wonder. 

Clarification: I am not a feminist. This is simply a casual thought. Do comment upon this article. 

Cheers,

Darrel

Piano...again

Hi all,

Sorry for double posting, but I neglected to mention something. i went for my last piano lesson yesterday. My piano teacher was relativelty focused on the area of my scales and my pieces, which weren't very good. She said that I don't have to take this year's exam, but I need to mantain and improve my current standard. It's sort of weird, how I had thought I would never come back, and did. But now, I'm sure I'll come back, to visit her when I'm free. And when I go back to visit my primary school (it's only a fifteen-minute stroll away from my piano tuition centre)

Cheers,

Darrel 

2300 - little thoughts of a passenger

Hi all,

Sorry for the really depressing and confusing post, I really felt like that. I feel so much more better after venting my feelings. 

Anyway, the previous night, i was travelling home after the match between Liv'pool and Man Utd. As commented in the class blog, a 4-1 win is seriously very surprising. Even though I said that only serious Liv'pool fans would bet on such a score, I asked one of my relatives, who is one of them, and he said that 2-1 was very good already. In the end, it's Singapore Pool who takes the most money. 

Anyway, while my dad was fetching my cousins home with me on the car, at the traffic light near the overhead bridge that is very close to our school, we saw a young man drop his handphone at the bus stop as he was crossing the road. A Samaritan immediately got off the 132 bus next to us, picked up the phone, and shouted for him to come back here. 

(Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to hear the moral,P6 Oral stuff.) I feel that this is very good, for we live in a self-centred society, where coldness enshrouds every single person's heart, and it is good to know that within some of our hearts, the little bright seed of warmness can still emnate with glory and brightness, it can still rip off that blanket of ice over a person's heart. A flame may be small against an iceberg, but if the small flame is hot enough, it can melt the iceberg, and this is exactly what I saw.

Anyway, any good moral views that I had was thrown out of the window when my cousin commented that both were of the same race, with no offence meant to anyone. I apologise for attempting to be so politically correct, but I don't want my comment to set off a furore, virtual or reality. I sincerely mean no offence to any race groups. 

Anyway, after we had left that scene, we saw a police car next to us. As we were in a car that was supposed to sit only 5, and there were 6 in the car, with one of us without a safety belt, naturally I would get panicked, thinking that a fine was in order, but the police car just drove off. Being really really puzzled, cause I thought that the police were supposed to be really strict, I voiced my inquiries. My two cousins, both serving N.S., nearly laughed their heads off. Through the laughter, I heard one of them say ,"You cannot believe in the police one! Inside the car, one of them is regular, the rest of them is like us one! Driving around at 2330 already very sian (boring), where got check one! They supposed to shine torchlight into car, but who really care!"

"Really?", I replied, not really believing that this was true, for if it was, why were the general public so afraid of the police?

"Yeah! Only traffic police on motorcycle than you scared, this one don't need la! You know on TV, they say what 'the steel within', right? You see them go do duty, all of them slack one! They sit under the tree in the hot sun, say vulgarities, never do any work, two minutes only, all will go 'Sergeant, smoke break leh!' Don't know one hour got how many smoke break."

  After hearing my cousin enlighten me (no offence to any NSmen who feel deeply insulted, and I'm not being sarcastic), I truly understand why Singapore wants to make peace with every other country to fight the terrorists. (No offence to any military personnel.)

Cheers,

Darrel

P.S. Saw a really big rat on the void deck of my cousin's house. 

Why do all good things come to an end...

This song by Nelly Furtado kept on echoing in my head the day before.

Yesterday was my last piano lesson, after my Theory exam. As I entered, my teacher was still explaining stuff to a cute little small boy, who seemed to be in Grade 1, so I didn't dare to play my atrocious piano pieces, instead preferring to play my scales. 

After him was me. As we practised, she constantly spoke about me having to practise my piano and not let it fade away. She also wanted me to make time to take my Grade 6 practical exam next year. As she thought and corrected me, my mind was constantly wandering. My mind returned to the first piano lesson, where I was an innocent P3 boy who had stopped piano at Grade 2 for 1 year. Then it slowly flitted though the four years I had been there, where my theory was slowly brought back to life and a 100/100 paper was to be expected. My piano playing ability also rose to quite a high level. I also thought about the highs and lows I had there, about the time where I cried because I had got 88/100, about the time where I was so happy that I received a Merit for my Practical...

Soon, it was the end of the lesson. My piano teacher asked me, "Can you come on the 21st?" I told her that I was not sure and was most likely unable to because of the Gala Dinner. After she thougth for a while, she said she would be there on Wednesday and I should come along if I could. However, there was a feeling the air that I was not coming for any official lessons ever again. As I walked out of the door, my heart was in deep turmoil. How do you say goodbye to a person who has witnessed you through your maturing years? 

Leaving the classroom, I avoided the eyes of the counter clerk, who seemed to be looking a t me. Leaving the centre, I heaved a long last sigh before silently bidding the place farewell. 

As my father would not be there till around 1o minutes later, I went to walk around the mall my centre was situated at, knowing very well it might be the last time I came here. As I walked around, it suddenly struck me that i had stayed only on the second floor, I knew so little about the others. It is funny, when you look back at your bitter experiences, you feel happy, but when you look back on youur happy ones, you feel sad.

I walked around the place for around 10 minutes before I left. I constantly looked back, for I was wondering if the tears flowing down my face and dripping onto the floor would be obvious. Is parting sweet sorrow? I really wonder.

However, apart from the grief at leaving, there was another deeper emotion inside me. It seemed to be related to the fact that I would never be taking my Grade 6 using the current syllabus, which would change in two years time. What was it? Was it the sadness at wasting my hard work? Or was it disappointment at not fufilling my teacher's last wishes? Whatever it was, I would most likely never find out.