Believe.
Believe: Uniquely Baltimore
Yayy I finished my book review! Now 55% done :)
When I was reading the book I suddenly thought of something interesting.
When I last talked to Shireen she mentioned Hogfather, Terry Pratchett and teenage fiction, and I told her that I grew up reading Chinese books.
I realised that there is NO SUCH THING as teenage fiction in Chinese, at least not in my era. Children's books in Chinese are around Chinese historical figures, simplified versions of 西游记、三国演义、水浒传、聊斋志异 and as usual, fable stories translated from English.
When I entered secondary school, I went on to read to fiction and essays by 倪匡、蔡澜、李纯恩, and even though there are authors for teenagers such as 刘墉, their books are more like self-help books than anything else. Other authors recommended by teachers such as 张小娴、梁凤仪、亦舒 etc are essentially for adults too, though I don't read them.
And of course 武侠小说... they are even more for adults actually because of all the politics involved. Then we will dig up books like 东周列国志、康熙大帝、雍正王朝 etc. I don't essentially read these, but I read a lot of other historical texts and stories.
Then we progressed to write 2 full A4 pages of 报章读后感, competing with each other (for fun) and see who can get the 0.5 points extra from 卢老师, and try to prompt her to say the classic "不可以这样写" :P (Yeah we are crazy.)
Though the Chinese texts lack one thing: the idea of 'BELIEVE'.
Aren't fairy tales all about believing that these wonderful things exist? Santa Claus, Peter Pan and Harry Potter appeal to people because of our inherent hope that these things really exist.
I was taught to believe not by the stuff that I read; I don't know where I learnt it from but I guess I do.
Hope in human society builds upon the foundation of believes. I need to believe in humanity, love, and justice because it gives me hope... my hope that nice things will necessarily happen. I have full respect for individual autonomy because I believe everyone has a soul which makes him/her different from the rest; I do my best I can because I believe that honesty and hard work will be rewarded; I take the weird classes I am taking now because I believe that with the knowledge I attain from them I will be able to serve society better.
Without these I don't know what I'll be. I will keep asking myself why (not as if I am not asking, but oh well, at least I am not asking why for everything) because I cannot predict what the outcome will be, I don't know why I end up in that situation, and I have nothing to depend on.
Yeah people get disillusioned... all the time. Well, if you are disillusioned right from the start, what kind of world would this be? I can foresee that it would be really miserable to see the world utterly critically, not trusting anyone and hence unable to love and be loved.
Alright, enough of these universalist ideals. Anyway, the book that I read was
The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon by Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee. It is a cool book... check it out.
Labels: Values
Soft Toys.
Tk came up with this. I loved it :)
Haha wonder why we like soft toys. Even GCS used to have a penguin. It's true that I feel better when there is a soft toy with me when I sleep... Maybe to us this is some kind of substitute for something that we lack? Though would that change?
Ching Hua once used my Snoopy to launch a discussion on existence with me :P
Labels: Random
超低能 , 勁搞笑
I watched this thing 3 times and at the third time I still laugh until I want to die :D
YouTube: 林海峰 - 是但噏踎低噴飯 - 超低能 , 勁搞笑I don't know why I didn't hear about him earlier! Hahahaha I only realised how powerful those six words are after he dramatised them.
The phrase can rationalise everything for me, and yet if I want to give up or dismiss something, it works too.
"我真係超低能 , 勁搞笑..." (giving up)
"超低能嘅真係丫，勁搞笑..." (rationalising)
Well, for those uninitiated, the six words roughly mean
'super retarded and ridiculously funny'.
Last day of lessons! And exactly one week to the end of finals!
Labels: Sharing
Mum.
Wanted to post this yesterday, but I was too tired by the time I finished my final paper...
Anyway, quite a few of the posts here and my articles to Zaobao are inspired by mum one way or another. This is one example.
We started discussing about whether it is reasonable to charge for plastic bag usage when I called back yesterday. Despite being very supportive of environmental protection and recycling efforts, mum does not like the idea at all. She feels that a better system would be to give small rebates to customers who bring their own shopping bags, as the punitive measure is apparently unfair to those who have limited access to information via the mass media, and these are the people who would be the most affected because they tend to belong to the lower social classes.
Then she went on to tell me about commodity prices. She pointed out differences in perception on changes in the costs of living between different social classes. The upper-middle class (people like us) does not feel it: imported vegetables from China, live fishes (i.e. those that are still swimming in tanks when they're in NTUC), junk food (like cookies, chocolate and ice-cream), decent dim sum (like Crystal Jade), etc. are getting ubiquitous because of an increased supply and demand, and this resulted in relatively stable prices for these commodities which are considered more expensive. The most extreme case she pointed out is the cost for a plate of chicken rice in Chatterbox: it has dropped from $28 to $22! For people who eats chicken rice at Chatterbox only, their costs of living actually decreased in this respect.
But to the lower classes, well, as the cost of a cup of coffee increased from 60cents to 80cents, they experienced a 33.3% increase. Even if a plate of chicken rice in the hawker centre opposite my house remained at $2 since 1994, we observed that the plate is getting smaller and smaller. This kind of intangible increase can be worse than those observable ones.
Singapore has an obsession with numbers. Whereas anthropology tells me that numbers are only one of the many lenses which tells us about society, numbers is everything in Singapore. When you make a subjective argument, you are asked to support it with numbers. When you make a complaint, the government digs into the records and shows you a bunch of numbers which basically tells you that your complaint might not be valid after all.
(Just a sidenote: who says that subjective and emotional arguments should be dismissed, especially in national issues that affect everybody?)
In an anthropological sense, this is not acceptable. That is why a graduate student we spoke to told us that there is a lot of tension between public health and anthropology: because, when we make policies, we have to rely on data. It is impossible to make a separate policy for everyone.
Then my mum brought in the issue regarding the ministers' pay hike. Although I agree that there is a reasonable rationale behind the hike, I contend that all Singaporeans have the right to and must make noise about it. So far, from all sources, I have gathered the following problems:
1.
Conflict of interest. Using everyone's money to raise your own salary is a conflict of interest, whatever the nature of your job. Even CEOs of listed companies cannot do that, and leaders of organizations who do that get charged in court. This is the impression I get; people who have insider information convince me that this is not the case.
2.
Lack of moral high ground. By benchmarking the ministers' salaries against the private sector, the government is demolishing its own moral high ground despite its claims. The message is clear: working for the government is a competitive career choice! When
competitiveness comes into the picture, the morality and nobility disappears. No one needs to sacrifice anything to work for the government. This might be good in attracting talents into the government, but oh well, we don't really care about how we attract them anymore. Now, the civil service is not any different from the private sector, no matter what the government says.
3a.
Extremely poor PR. The government, even in sensitive issues such as this, is still conveying the message to the people like a father preaching his son. The message got to the people: the people understood that it must be done, but they cannot accept it. The government makes no effort in helping the people swallow the bitter reality. That's why we have Mr. Brown making the satirical
Bak Chor Mee Man 2, and quoting from Grace's MSN nick,
'wait your mother sister all have to become maid'. How telling is that?!
3b.
Inherent assumption that all Singaporeans are able to understand the rationale perfectly. Well, the fact is, only people like us are capable of dissecting the budget to pieces, discussing it over dinner, putting it against the realities Singapore is facing, and come to the conclusion that 'what more can you expect the government to do'. What about the uncle who wears a singlet and shorts to the coffee shop opposite his house to drink kopi everyday? How can you expect him to know how competitive it is outside Singapore when he is not IT literate and all he reads is Xin Ming?
3c.
Assumption that these people, argh, are not important: an official statement is all that the government needs to issue. However, these people make up most of the population. Even the Chinese government, obviously authoritarian, is making a conscious effort to reach out to the people, listen to their problems and address their problems in official policy statements. Whatever the actual result, these efforts are welcomed by the population. They have the impression that their leader cares, and they can find solace in that. That is what a government should do!
Hmms this is my two-cents' worth. I know it is very hard to swallow if you have been a believer of the government. Just to reiterate: I am not anti-government, but I want it to always improve itself. If you agree with me, good for you. If you do not, I look forward to your opinion! :)
Labels: Policy and Politics
New Photos.
Some new photos are uploaded to the
Photo Journal.
Labels: Life
Dad.
It is very nice to have my dad coming to visit :)
For the first time in 8 months, there is hot food waiting for me on the table when I got back from classes today! Though the usual nagging ensued (like complaining that my knife is not sharp enough) it is still a very nice feeling... The feeling of being pampered and
not having to do everything myself :P
Brought him down to Obrycki's to eat crabs and crab cake. It is my first time there, and I am glad that he liked it :D we had 6 crabs altogether, and again, for the first time in 8 months,
I don't have to pay for the meal because someone I am close to is paying for me.
I don't really mind missing Singapore Day actually. I could have dragged my dad along, but to me it makes no sense to put him on a 4-hour one-way journey to NYC just to eat chicken rice. And for sure, I won't be attending those satellite events like the SIF tea and the post-event party if my dad comes along...
He doesn't mind missing it either. So on Sunday we'll go to DC instead...
Though Singapore Day looks really really fun... haha never mind I guess, I will be home in exactly 9 weeks :)
_____________________________________________________
Anyway, this guy has some interesting perspectives on women:
On Female MediocrityI don't completely agree with him because I think that he is over-stereotyping and he failed to acknowledge that there are a lot of males who fall out of his general assumptions (me included; I don't have a hobby which I am genuinely passionate about, and my life largely revolves around home, family, friends, school and career too). Nevertheless, to me, females who are overly conscious of their outlook are insecure and lack self-confidence. I do not see the merit of sitting in front of the mirror for half an hour everyday before lecture; I would rather you sleep through the half an hour.
Girls
do not need to be pretty to be attractive. Christmas trees are pretty but certainly they are not attractive.
What makes a girl attractive is not how she looks but who she is. How I hope everyone agrees with me on that :P
(If you understood me as saying 'pretty girls are not attractive', I suggest that you take a course next semester called 'Introduction to Common Sense and Simple Logic'.)
Anyway, being
objectively pretty is certainly not a blessing because these girls tend to attract a lot of random guys who are, well, random. Though,
subjective beauty depends on a lot of factors, so discussion on that will lead nowhere.
Of course, you don't have to agree with me, but don't try to use a reciprocal argument (e.g. it's men's expectations that made us like that!) or a sociological argument (e.g. beauty is an important factor in women's success) to rebut. Both arguments are inherently fraud because the first help to emphasise my point, and there are countless examples that speak against the second :)
Labels: Life, Values
Firearms.
I saw the video the gunman sent to NBC.
Risking sounding insensitive:
Can we ever prevent such things from happening?
I believe not.
Massacres like this don't happen in Singapore because it is difficult for people to get guns. People with weird states of mind do exist... Medics who are/were on duty every month at AH and are/were on standby for Tekong during enlistment period will know what I mean. We have mad husbands stabbing their wives (and vice versa) all the time. I believe you should still remember the one who chopped his girlfriend into pieces and dumped her into Kallang River and the one who hired a group of kids to murder his wife. How can you guarantee that these people won't go onto a killing spree if they have the means to?
Every society will have a group of people like that without fail. It is impossible to single out every such individual, and there is no guarantee that the individual will respond positively to society's intervention.
The only way to prevent such incidents from happening again is to adopt strict firearms control and make access to firearms difficult. Limit available weapons to steak knives, hammers and wood saws will make a massacre almost impossible, and the result will be a society which the most remembered murder case is the one in 1986 in which a guy killed his wife and made her into curry.
But with the
Second Amendment of the Constitution and strong lobby groups like the National Rifle Association, what can America do?!
Yeah, nothing can be taken for granted. We should really thank our laws which throws you to jail for the possession of spent rifle catridges and hangs you if you fire a gun. At least, I don't have to worry about being robbed at gunpoint, and I can choose any way I want to go to the airport to meet my dad tomorrow night. Waiting for the light rail alone with a laptop in my bag at 9:00pm in downtown Baltimore is just, unthinkable...
Labels: Policy and Politics
Clean-up.
The emperor will be arriving in 2 days...
In order to make sure that he will have a pleasant stay (or rather, to ensure that I will have a pleasant weekend with minimal nagging to withstand), I invested 1 whole hour of slacking time tidying up piles and piles of notes, random paper, books, files, as well as cleaning up every single speck of dust conceivable to the human eye. Now my room is in perfect stand-by condition :)
It is scary how much my possession grew. Just my bookshelf alone is already more than half full (Yiran says that I have a 'library' :P). I will have a hard time moving house... Don't want to think about it now :P
Oh yeah my room isn't vacuumed yet. I'll get back my vacuum cleaner from Lynn and do it tomorrow.
P.S.
We are pretty shocked by what happened in Virginia Tech on Monday... although so far I know no one affected directly, something like this affect us all. I sincerely hope that the American society can stand strong together to prevent such incidents from happening again.
May peace be with the victims, and faith and strength be with their families and friends...
Labels: Life
Google Earth.
Went on Google Earth to check the exact location of Obrycki's Crab House after talking to my dad just now, and realised it is actually very near the medical campus (5 blocks only!). Hahaha when my dad comes I am sure to get a free crab feast :D
Google Earth has published my placemarks! Now all the buildings in Biopolis Phase 1 are labelled (I don't know the Phase 2 ones); in addition there are 3 extra placemarks on Pulau Ubin, and 2 more in Bedok North. I just added 2 more that I wrote previously. Pardon my bad English on the placemarks though :P I just edited them, but it'll take some time to be replaced :P
P.S.:
Have to steal this from my sister.
林海峰是但噏踎低噴飯 - 勁歌金曲06The HK Hossen Leong. He's very very good!!!
Hahaha this medley is the finale of one of his stand-up comedies. After finals I'll dig up everything by him that is on YouTube to watch :D :D :D
But his shows are very specific to Hongkongers... Just like Hossen Leong being very specific to Singaporeans. Hence only Hongkongers and people who know HK very well will find him funny :P Haha I encourage all who know Cantonese to watch him though :D
And have to say this:
"... our Physiotherapy Department was told stay behind and 5 booklets of notes are issued to us, they are Biomechanics, Anatomy 1, Kinesiology, Sociology and Physiology. Interestingly as I flipped through the practical book, I found that we have to examine cadaver, to puncture our own skin for blood and to starve our own body for experiment. It sounds fun to me."
~ my little sister.
Hahaha I am happy that you have a positive attitude facing the challenges ahead (cos although I am already extremely used to lending my veins for IV practice, and walking looong distances without decent food (biscuits, fruit bars and horlick sweets?!), I still don't find getting poked and starving fun at all). Yes have fun in NYP, be prepared to tackle a lot of physics, good luck with your HK Poly U application, and hmms if you think you cannot take it just look farrrr ahead and you'll see a rich doctor husband who drives a car 100x more stylish than mine (probably Nissan vs. Ferrari) at the end of the tunnel. So Persevere :D
Labels: Life, Random, Sharing
Tired.
Very tired. Consequence of: 3-page research proposal/wed; organic chem mid-term/thurs; anthropology paper/fri; triple helix paper/fri; in addition to routine lessons, lab, and work. Hence, slept very little the past few days... it's a miracle that I managed to keep awake today during cell bio lecture.
Hope I did well for organic chem though. I never seem to remember reactions for esters... and cell bio, well, according to a friend, 170+ pages of big Alberts?!! Oh well :I
I'm going to break a record by going to sleep before 10pm today. There will be another cell bio mid-term on monday, though will still be going out tomorrow night, and will be helping out at spring fair sunday afternoon. Pray for me :P
>Note: I'm a pig. Slept at 10:00pm and woke up at 10:30am. 12h 30mins :D ~1045h/140407
Labels: Life
#1. Civil Servant Pay-rise.
For the next few weeks until 27 April or 4 May at least, I'll only be posting things that I have written in the past. There is simply too much work...
This is the first one.
It is this kind of thinking that we seriously and consciously need to guard ourselves against, and it is this kind of thinking that we need to constantly challenge if it is our politicians and civil servants that possess it. They need to know that this is ridiculous, unacceptable, and will definitely hinder our progress. If you have been following blogs recently, you will know where all these come from. It is not a trivial matter if this is widespread among scholars, professionals and government officials.
(Regarding the Ministers' imminent pay-rise:)
The question to be asked by the critics of their proposed pay increase is this- are you criticizing because you honestly do not believe that the Ministers are entitled to a pay increase or is it because you are simply envious?
(Regarding politics in Hougang:)
One cannot claim that he is a taxpayer and should benefit from the likes of those in a PAP constituency when he voted for the opposition.(Btw, I support the pay-rise. It is not because I might also benefit from it, or me being unconditionally and brainlessly pro-government (obviously we all are not, since you are still reading my blog :P), but I see a long-term rationale to it. It is not as simple as 'keeping talents in the government' and 'hmms even though you don't raise the salaries for ministers they also won't leave'...)
Edited 9 April 2007, 8:00pm
Labels: Policy and Politics
Internet Streaming.
After lamenting that I can't get anything to stream on my computer, almost immediately I got everything back in order!
1. Y.E.S. 933 and other Mediacorp stations have been blocking US IP addresses since a few months ago... but stupidly I forgot that Singapore's radio industry is not monopolised by Mediacorp :P Zaobao reminded me that there is still UFM 100.3 :D and it works! And Power 98 works too!
2. After almost 3 weeks without peekvid, Grace told me about alluc.org over dinner tonight :D Haha I can resume watching House! Though the problem is they do not have every episode, especially season 2 :P just live with it first lor...
Ok ok back to writing :P but with FM 100.3 in the background now :D Thank you SPH and SAF...
Labels: Life
I'm.
It is getting insanely cold again after a few days of warmth. The weather channel has some weird theory about the Gulf Stream, but anyway we'll be expecting snow tomorrow. Craziness...
Anyway, you might want to support this I'm thing if you have been wondering what that is for :P I don't think by adding an emoticon-equivalent to our MSN nick will attract spyware...?
Labels: Random
Ouch.
Zaobao on new Chairman Lim Chuan Poh:
他会把他在武装部队的作风带到新科研，向团队清楚说明他的期望，并以身作则率领团队一起达到目标。
Haha great. So who will be reading RO everyday?
He wants to train A*Star scholars to set up our own companies after '4-5 years of experience, and having some discoveries of our own'. Well, Sir David Lane set up his own lab in Imperial in 1980 (one year after he discovered p53 as a post-doc, and after his 2-year attachment at Cold Spring Habour), and it was only 16 years later he set up his own company called Cyclacel, which has developed 2 anti-cancer drugs currently under clinical trial. So with 4-5 years of experience (or maybe plus my 3(or 5?) years PhD and 2 years post-doc (or 3-4 years MD?), so 10 years) what do I have to start a new company?
A bit unrealistic I guess? Anyway, research can be easily misdirected if it becomes mostly profit-, policy- or society-driven. In the end you waste money, achieve nothing, and stir up unnecessary social turmoil. Lessons from history...
Argh I guess I am happy doing my own research. Certainly I would love to be involved in translational work, but set up a company? Either you wait till I really have something worthwhile on hand, or someone set it up and then I'll sell you my patents. I am more of a planner than a risk-taker :P
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews
/view/268298/1/.html
Anyway, Bio-Rad is setting up a manufacturing plant in Singapore! So does that mean that we'll get our PCR machines fixed faster? And maybe we can get high quality molecular biology-grade Bio-Rad brand fat-free milk powder for free too :P
(Hmms people use fat-free milk powder in labs to make protein blots. Sorry not for coffee.)
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews
/view/268438/1/.html
Labels: Studies and Career
Spring.
Spring is really, really, really the most delightful season for the year. Gradually it is not cold anymore. It is balmy, warm, and sunny; trees start budding green, flowers start to blossom, and soon you have flowers of different colours over all the trees. There is a feeling of life, the beginning of life... with birds chirping, and squirrels running around, well, suddenly you know that this is why you are in this world. Certainly not for getting 4.0s every semester.
The colour of new leaves is the prettiest colour of all. Though this is applicable only when they are on new leaves under the sun, not on the shirts people wear (that's why my blog is green! and it also has a seedling on the title bar!).
Yeah and the Americans seem to love the sun. The Beach is filled with sunbathing people these days. Haha to us, I guess we just absolutely don't see the logic behind putting ourselves in the sun to bake. This doesn't apply only to Americans, Europeans are like that too... still remember how comical it was when the Austrians started lining themselves up along the river banks to bake when I was in Salzburg last year :P
Wonder whether spring has arrived in Europe? I want to go back to the Alpine pastures :) I guess, that is the place closest to heaven one can ever be while still in this world :P
So just some photos from last year first. I will remind myself to bring my camera out to class tomorrow.
Labels: Life
Not April's Fool (Hopefully).
I think this site is becoming my source of information regarding A*Star's policy.
And I guess new Chairman will still be pretty much under his influence...
ANY A*Star scholar who is interested in an eventual MD/PhD, FYI:
philip yeo // Apr 1, 2007 at 9:20 am
Case by case.Every scholar who meets the A*STAR academic threshold has the privilege of funding support for the BS-PhD (UK/US) or MBBS-PhD (UK or Spore) for up to 8 years with a 6 years service obligation. After the 3 years BS, the remainder funding is 5 years only. If a BS scholar wants to pursue say the Duke MD-PhD (4 plus 4 years) then he/she has to find his/her own OR third party funding for the MD part. The third party say MOH may require additional service obligation.__________________________________________________________________
Just wondering if Astar has ever considered letting a given percentage of its scholars pursue an MD-PhD after their bachelor’s degree…_
i.e. It is
not cannot. Though if I am eventually doing it I hope to make it 3+3 instead of 4+4.
i.e. See what happens lor...
Labels: Studies and Career
April's Fool.
Parents called me yesterday night (i.e. Sunday morning in Singapore) trying to fool me into believing that they have just arrived in Baltimore :P
From now on I guess I should make an effort to keep my posts short. They are getting disgustingly long...
Anyway, check this video out! My sis posted it on her blog some time ago, and have been wanting to steal it for some time :P The kid is very cutttteeeee :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKKW5Q7ccDc&eurl=Hahaha he lives in Australia, and should be 12-14 years old now... I wonder whether he still can speak Cantonese so well? Or has English completely drowned it...
And yeah elections. I'll be treasurer for the SSA in the coming year :)
Labels: Life, Random
