Sunday 11 December 2005

Blogicide

Learnt of a new term (or internet fad) not long ago: Blogicide; basically a merge of the words blog and suicide. The act of killing your own blog.

Now I suppose everyone has a certain right to do so, especially when like a situation arises where people have been reading your private information and have been mistreating it, and you cease the blog's existence to protect your own dignity.

But when people commit blogicide for the sake of publicity? Now that sounds very much like a disorder to me. It almost sounds irritatingly cute in fact, with a Happy-Tree-Friends-esque feel to it when people actually subject their fondly tangible blogs to homicide. I guess it's just sad what society's turning to because of all the possible avenues of getting famous provided by the mass media like the internet and reality TV.

When blogging first began, the attraction and appeal of it all lay in the fact that it was almost an ironic desire to have a diary that is not only privy to the writer but to that of many other internet surfers as well. In other words, there was a subliminal novelty in the idea that your so-called private details can be seen by anyone else, either deliberately or in all randomness.

But now, pop-blogging is all about telling the world about yourself. Where it was once a bold move to splurge a secret on oneself to the rest of the world, people now actively participate in thoroughly attention-seeking expressions of 'private' info. Exhibitionists emerge claiming it isn't for the fame. Who're they kidding?

Man... No point getting too worked up over this though. It just happens to be one of my online pet peeves. Maybe next time someone wants to proclaim to the world about his or her sex life or present a plastic pretty face, just do us all a favour and proclaim that it is for the infamy and stop acting all coy because it really is very irritating to say the least.
Anyway, on one occasion when we were mounting duty, my Whiskey crew and I decided to all load the vehicle and head down to the tower. The thing is that not everyone is entitled to taking the vehicle - apparently the old CO never wanted to indent vehicles for us (coz he thinks we should be garang but stupid), but after much fighting for rights and shit the bigwigs of CDS just short of CO relented and got us vehicles, on condition that not everyone gets a free ride.

Which is obviously very stupid, since there's enough remaining space to make you feel like an idiot after only two out of the four crew gets on and you realise you have to walk 2km to Whiskey with your SBO and rifle. So we decided to all hop on, and when we reached Whiskey tower the DSC on duty that day promptly caught us for questioning and later gave us a stern warning.

If you've played Advance Wars on the GBA you'll know about the APV and it's usefulness in transporting infantry troops. Qinhong and I mused that if the CO you chose for the mission was LTC Kuet, if you tried to click on your troops to shift them into the APV, you can't. He just won't let the men load the vehicle. Haha. And if you used his 'CO power' your army will lose mobility and walk in the opposite direction (because of his infamous inability to convey messages properly and his tendency to instil uncertainty in his own men) and murals will sprout from the ground...

Recently, a couple of American warships docked at our wharf so we had an opportunity to interact with some of the American naval personnel who were doing watch at Whiskey (they're known as LOs, L-something officers, and they just do basic watch duties over their ship), and I've had a couple of interesting conversations. There was this dude who stayed in L.A. but he didn't like the glitzy culture there because everyone acted like they were crazy for fame and attention due to it being the home of Hollywood. He claimed his ex-girlfriend even had a part in the movie The Dukes Of Hazzard, where she played one of the sorority girls who held the door open for the main actor or something like that. Everyone there's fighting for a shot at the big time. Then he added stoicly that perhaps one day if she really made it to the big screen at least he could say, "oh you see that actress? I used to date her." lol.

If they weren't asking about the local places of interest, they'd be talking about their experiences out at sea - most of which were seemingly pretty much numbing journeys and tales of homesickness. Especially in the submarines; you had to be special or you'd go insane. Many of them are young sailors who signed on because of the comparatively more lucrative nature of the job and its scholarship opportunities.

Other times, we just patronised and humoured them. One American pointed out that he never understood why alot of the world doesn't like the United States coz he said that the US does more than its fair share and contributes alot to poor countries. To which Qinhong irritatedly pointed out (not in his presence of course) that the bloke didn't realise the proportions of their donations (somewhat like according to their donation to GDP ratio, which is pathetic) are miserable in comparison to that of much smaller countries, so they presume that like, America donating $5m is a much nobler sum than say, Singapore donating $1m. Shrugs.

Saturday 26 November 2005

Super-Sperm Week

I read this from someone's Friendster blog in all randomness and I wasn't really paying attention until it hit me that it was kinda amusing. Check it...

you know i realized that sometimes, we human beings, dont give ourselves enough credit. i realize i'm always berrating myself for the things that i could have done that i didn't do (which is not always a bad thing), but then i forget about all the great things i have done.

i mean i never even celebrated my biggest accomplishment up to date - my successful life as a sperm that fertilized the egg, which resulted in me.

i mean if you think about it, it takes a lot to fertilize an egg. during ejaculation, millions of sperms fight and struggle to reach that one egg in order to fertilize it and only one can come out the winner ! there's no first, second, or third runner up. the rest all perish.

you beat the rest. you're the best!

every single living person out there has at one time or another been a sperm struggling to fertilize the egg. for having beaten out the millions of others, you are the special sperm, the lucky sperm,

so i have declared today here in Friendster Land,

SUPERSPERM WEEK

the day where every single one of us can celebrate our success as the sperm that beat out the rest of the competition. oh yeah!

say it with me now : i am the super sperm. there is no sperm better than me.

HAPPY SUPER SPERM WEEK EVERYONE!

Tuesday 15 November 2005

There was a segment on CNA about Deng Xiaoping earlier and I think my dad's a fan of his, and was like talking about DXP's idea of one-country-two-systems and how the poor-didn't-go-to-school-but-turned-into-a-national-leader-bloke called the world his university.

That led me to think that ironically, the modern privilege of going to school from young somehow stifles our children and enforces a systematic rhythm to society, and that's where all the social ills of a cold and failure-condemning world like Singapore comes about. The elusiveness of study and the harsh situations people like DXP had to endure gave them a passion for learning and a purpose in life. So, with all due respect to the honourable people who've went through a shitty childhood without proper education and became leaders, I guess maybe not being able to go through any form of institutionalised study can be a privilege in itself that many people now won't dare to risk taking.

I've always been one to advocate free learning in place of study drills, art instead of science and creativity rather than conformity. I think it's laughable to think that art can be taught the way they are now in schools. As a victim of conformity largely in part due to my folks, I've been going through my academic life via the science route, when it was obvious my inclinations are very much towards art. I was at my prime in lower secondary and even managed a top 10 placing due to general art and design technology studies, and when I embarked on the triple science journey that everyone else seems to wanna take, my results just hurtled downhill. Once again due to societal and familial pressures I went on to take maths, chemistry and physics in junior college, and emerged with pretty mediocre shit for my As. Unsurprisingly, GP was my best subject and paper, the only thing I'm proud to mention about after two years of slogging through. I've never been one to sit down and mug coz I really really detest reading for the sake of studying, and anyway I can't sit down just to swallow notes for nuts, so it's really no wonder now I feel so unfulfilled after all these years and I'm more than determined to go to perhaps mass com or take arts and social sciences in university. I'm always convinced that there really isn't a point ultimately to study something you don't believe in or lack a passion for because you're not gonna benefit from it other than getting that grade for a subject you actually find distasteful, so in the end I guess it's all about how true you wanna be to yourself.

I recently read an article by Colin Chee in the Newpaper and there was this quote which caught my attention: "... be a society that can stare failure in the face until it blinks." And he mentioned about a society that has individuals who dare to take the lead and show the way without having to look for someone more senior in age or appointment, and how very true that statement is. That article was about the rigidity of modern Singapore.

Sunday 30 October 2005

In fact, I think humans are a bloody interesting species worth analysing for a laugh, or proof that idiocy and insanity does exist in the universe, if I were another greater being in another galaxy. Everyday, nature supposedly determines what happens on Earth and every species out there has some kinda personal instinctive agenda to complete the cycle that goes on everyday. Put homo sapiens in the picture and you fuck the whole system up.

Just consider this. Why do we always have things to do, to say, to talk about? If everybody wasn't so uptight about something or intent on achieving some selfish personal purpose, things would probably carry on as usual, we'd just worry about the offspring and finding food to eat and survive, and life would be nice, easy and dandy. Haha. Just think about the days back in school. Someone would become a third party in someone else's relationship and cause a crapload of issues to happen, inciting juicy gossip among others. Some retard would do something like bringing porn to school and get himself expelled, making the rest of the schoolboys think their school is damn paikia and cool and proclaim about it. Out in the media scene, celebrities would be harrassed by the paparazzi. Stupid boybands would make their rounds around the globe and crazy fans would go to the ends of the Earth to get a chance to see their idols. It's a totally chaotic effect to the order of things sometimes, but that really makes life so full of, admittedly interesting, shit. Plus, they give you a chance to laugh at something so it isn't so bad I guess.

Saturday 29 October 2005

Dear Mr Cheebye Towkay,

Thank you for your time.

I have many unresolved issues that need your bloody attention. (if you actually bother to listen at all)

1) For all the comments and policies that you have implemented, irregardless of your mens' feelings. If you bother to offer a rational explanation to them, i'm very sure they wouldn't mind working their guts out for you. However, it seems that you are forever smoke-grenading your way out. The dialogue sessions haven't helped much because you throw their questions back at them. You just go ahead and implement your dumb policies on them just because you think it is a rave idea to do so. This is fucking frustrating. You don't know how tough their job scope is because u sit in your plush office all day long and wank. If you bother to reason, fine. But you don't! If you don't think that the men's feelings are worth considering, then i don't think they really appreciate calling you 'Sir'.

2)Apart from being a bad boss, you're also a lousy fund-giver. We have to work for you 101% and put up with your nonsense 24/7. For example welfare. You want your men to die for you but you wring them dry with no benefits given. For example, we highlighted we needed more EquipmentWeWanted, but you said no and went ahead and bought EquipmentWeDidNotWant. In addition, EquipmentWeDidNotWant turned out to be a dud and expensive and definitely, EquipmentWeDidNotRequire. We did not show our exasperations because we know it would be futile and anyway you're a complete moron who thinks that you're a superior being to all us inferior kotek-heads. No point infuriating us further with you incompetence.

3)You have always told us to speak up because you want us to Know-What-We-Did-Not-Know and turn it to What-We-Know-Now. Well, for sure we know now that you're a complete dick-head and a pretty small one at that so please just go stuff your head up some wall with cracks in between. Yeah you'll feel pain, but hey, Pain Is Weakness Leaving The Body right?
I know you'll never understand why are we so fucking pissed off and we don't hope you to know but hopefully, when we come back for reservist, you won't cause us such grief any longer.

Regards,Your damn buay song men

July 2005

I'd say he nailed the point right in the head.

Sunday 19 June 2005

Anyway. I've another thought. Sometimes it just seems that at any one point in time, there's bound to be a nice mix of all kinds of people you'd meet in life. No matter where you are, there'd be the typical nerd, the athletic guy, the bossy girl, the demure angel, the adonis, the loud-mouthed bitch. When there are couples there'd be the sassy ones, the quirky ones, the sweet ones, the high-end ones. It's like, there's this higher order somewhere which determines who turns out to be like what, and as a result ensures that there's enough of every personality to go by. This kinda makes me think of astrology and stuff.

And I think fate's an excuse for free-will, and free-will's an excuse for fate. Like for example when your fate messes up we can all blame your free-will because you chose to go against your fate and all that shit. And think vice versa and this'll make a little more sense.