Mr N Speaks

God has a plan for everything, even if is not in one's immediate foreseeabiliy of His wisdom. Trust, that's all He asks.

HaZe

Our plight seems slight in the eyes of the southern government, who with high pride, only manages the issue with a heart too light.

Quote

我愿化做石桥，受五百年风吹，五百年日晒，五百年雨打；只为你能从桥上经过.

<<剑雨>>

Mr N Speaks

On Thu, my plan was to finish marking by Sun.

On Fri, my plan was to finish marking by Mon.
Yesterday, my plan was to finish marking by Tue.

I guess it isn't too hard to guess what my plan is today.

Nobel Prize Is Seen as Rebuke to China

Few nations today stand as more of a challenge to the democratic model of governance than China, where an 89-year-old Communist Party has managed to quash political movements while creating a roaring, quasi-market economy and enforcing a veneer of social stability.

Edward Wong, International Herald Tribune

Mr N Speaks

Yiheng

 Nay,thy hitch is introspective,for ye pedagogue yons regalment of docents mileage of gamut,or dole for thy pedagogue to see ye's docents execrable harvest

Me

Yiheng, you write of a bohemian style, arcane it inclines, yet such scribal pedantry will find no practicality in today's lingustic modernity, marring your intended lexicality, and henceforth rendering void, communicativeness.

Mr N Speaks

As the examination comes to a close, will it be joy or woe for the candidate?

Mr N Speaks

In a suburban town of USA, a family, who failed to pay for fire service subscription fee, witnessed their house burnt down; the fight-fire team stood by with their fire-fighting equipment, refusing to barge. 

Mr N Speaks

It was the sheer monotony of assessing work that Millionaire City flourishes during my respite.

Mr N Speaks

Could it be the time of the year where voluminous workload envelops one, causing one's immune system to fall below par?

Mr N Speaks

Does the Commonwealth Games celebrate the integrity of the former British colonial states in the Commonwealth, or a remembrance of the waned colonial hegemony of the United Kingdom?

Mr N Speaks

What can be sweeter than having her dedicated most of her lifetime with you in love, and enough memories built with you, and for you to luxuriate? A legacy of memories, she would have left you.




Mrs LKY, RIP.

Mr N Speaks

Beneath the veneer of an iron man, lies a husband whose unfailing love lingers even as she succumbs to life's natural course.

Mr N Speaks

Singapore won her first gold in shooting at the Commonwealth Games. Congratulations. May we have a brighter shine on the international sporting stage.

Mr N Speaks

A comparison of the ticketing system employed in New Dehli 2010 with Singapore 2010 thereof, is akin to juxtaposing Third World with the First, as anecdotally evident from BBC World Service.

Mr N Speaks

The discussion of the past, irreversible though it may be, ought to be encouraged, if such discussion leads to a betterment of the future.


Fought war must be discussed and in fact, studied, for the incumbent government will then realise how violence will only beget more violence, and not mitigates any wrongdoing.

A thought

Maybe hedonism ought to be a primary pursuit in living, yet life, beset by the hegemony of survivability, affords one to only taste the fineness of life, finely.

Quote on Canadian's selection of hockey players

This specious validity of the self-fulfilling prohesy perpetuates a reign of error. For the prophet will cite the actual course of events as proof that he was right from the very beginning.

Robert Merton

Defence of Singapore's judiciary

If we do not do so and allow vicious falsehoods to perversely masquerade themselves as truth, we will eventually lose our moral authority and, with it, our effectiveness to achieve our mission to keep Singapore safe and secure.

~Wong Kan Seng

Quote

To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.

The Art of War by Sun, Tzu

Music Project

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Form into groups of minimally 1 person, and maximally 5 persons.
2. Select a musical piece you intend the melody of your composed lyrics to be sung.
3. Based on the number of syllables per line, compose your own lyrics.
4. The lyrics MUST be composed to the theme of MY DREAM, MY HOME, MY SINGAPORE.
5. Write the composed lyrics onto the paper distributed by Gregory.
6. You need only to write 2 verses and 1 chorus.
7. Print out the original lyrics and attach to the paper.
8. Submit everything LATEST by 30 July 2010 (Friday).

Curiosity of a mind

The curiosity of man, in generality, is innate; yet such gift is oft beset by societal over-zealousness in ascribing hyperbolized benefits to academic excellence. The statistical pursuit has led one to toil, perhaps akin to drudge, just for transcendence so as to be ranked higher for the purpose of undefeated placement in the few invaluable, and much sought-after higher academic vacancies. 

However, such a mission, even when completed with extolment from the especial educators, may likely, based on current educational system, have done enough damages inasmuch as to dull the brain to a point of no return, imprecating curiosity of the mind so as never to have it revived, leaving only a debilitated soul encased by an enervated epidemic shell. Just like Edison, an academic reject since his impressionable years, he would unlikely have achieved the success he is notable for today, had he been forced to fit into a system not meant to inculcate individualism, but collectivism. 

‘Education’, what ideology should it takes? Perhaps, as is happening now, though still in its infancy, greater differentiation provides a better alternative to the then one-size-fit-all system. Hence, is it better to integrate the differentials, or allow continuance of the differentials to remain different?         

Awaiting materialization...

JOINT STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG AND PRIME MINISTER DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB TUN ABDUL RAZAK AT THE SINGAPORE-MALAYSIA LEADERS' RETREAT ON 24 MAY 2010

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak met in Singapore on 24 May 2010 for the Leaders’ Retreat. Both Leaders expressed their satisfaction at the present state of relations and cooperation between the two countries. Both Leaders discussed a wide of range of bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest, in particular enhanced bilateral relations and new initiatives for cooperation.

Both Leaders are pleased to note that in furtherance to the spirit of enhanced bilateral relations, the Singapore Consulate-General in Johor Bahru started operations since 4 January 2010.

Both Leaders are pleased to announce that as a result of the various discussions undertaken by the Joint Ministerial Committee on Iskandar Malaysia (JMC), the following have been agreed so as to increase connectivity between the two countries:-

• Cross-border scheduled bus services will be doubled with the introduction of 8 new additional routes (4 from each side) between Pasar Bakti and Larkin in Johor and the two Integrated Resorts, Boon Lay, Yishun, Newton and Changi Airport in Singapore; and
• Cross border taxi services will also be liberalised with taxis being allowed to pick up and drop off passengers from any location on the domestic leg of that journey, instead of only at the designated taxi terminals.
• The Malaysian Automated Clearance System had been implemented to facilitate cross-border immigration clearance for frequent travellers between the two countries;
• A Cross Border Land Checkpoints Committee had also been formed to facilitate cooperation on operational management of cross-border traffic;
• On tourism, both countries are looking into the possibility of twinning an eco-tourism product;
• To share experiences and jointly develop plans for river cleaning in line with the efforts being undertaken in Iskandar Malaysia; and
• To optimise further existing road connectivity between Malaysia and Singapore, in particular through increased utilisation of the Second Link. To this end, the two Leaders have agreed that the toll charges for the Second Link will be significantly reduced on both sides. The reduced toll charges will be announced within a month.
• Both Leaders also discussed issues arising from the Points of Agreement (POA) on Malayan Railway Lands in Singapore and reached an understanding to move the issues forward. In this regard, the POA shall be supplemented by new terms and conditions to maximise the full potentials of the MRA Lands in Singapore. To that effect, both Leaders agreed to undertake the following steps:-
• The Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) station will be relocated from Tanjong Pagar to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint (WTCP) by 1 July 2011. Malaysia would co-locate its railway CIQ facilities at WTCP. Singapore would facilitate the relocation to the WTCP and ensure bus service connectivity from the KTMB Station at WTCP to a nearby MRT Station for the convenience of train passengers.
• A company known as M-S Pte Ltd will be established as soon as practicable but not later than 31 December 2010 with Malaysia’s 60% held by Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Singapore’s 40% held by Temasek Holdings Limited.
• The three parcels of land in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands and three additional pieces of land in Bukit Timah (Lot 76-2 Mk 16, Lot 249 Mk 4 and Lot 32-10 Mk 16) will be vested in M-S Pte Ltd for joint development, which in turn, could be swapped, on the basis of equivalent value for pieces of land in Marina South and/or Ophir-Rochor. Both sides will conduct their respective valuations and Prime Minister Lee will visit Kuala Lumpur within a month with a proposal for the land swap for Malaysia’s consideration.
• The transfer of the said land parcels to M-S Pte Ltd will take effect at the time when KTMB vacates Tanjong Pagar Railway Station (TPRS).
• A rapid transit system link between Tanjung Puteri, Johor Bahru and Singapore aimed at enhancing connectivity between the two countries will be jointly developed. The rapid transit system link will be integrated with public transport services in both Johor Bahru and Singapore. For the convenience of commuters, the rapid transit system link will have a single co-located CIQ facility in Singapore with the exact location to be determined later. It is targeted that the proposed rapid transit system link will be operational by 2018. Thereafter Malaysia may consider to relocate the KTMB Station from Woodlands to Johor.

Both Leaders agreed to task a joint implementation team, to be led by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore to further discuss the implementation details, which among others, would include as follows:-

• establishment and the framework governing the M-S Pte.Ltd;
• rapid transit system connectivity between Johor Bahru and Singapore; and
• co-located CIQ in Woodlands Train Checkpoint.

The joint implementation team will complete its works by 31 December 2010.

The outcome reached by the joint implementation team on the matters discussed should be reflected in a written instrument to be signed by both countries upon approval from their respective Governments.

Both Leaders agreed that the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station Passenger Terminal building would be conserved given its historical significance and would be a centerpiece for the new proposed development on the site. In addition, the old Bukit Timah Railway Station building at Blackmore Drive can also be conserved.

Both Leaders also discussed bilateral cooperation in the joint iconic project in Iskandar Malaysia. The Leaders support the “live work play” wellness township concept proposed by the Joint Ministerial Committee on Iskandar Malaysia (JMC) which will offer holistic wellness services and facilities. The proposed iconic project will involve a sizeable development of up to 500 acres of land, designed to be vibrant, culturally distinctive, yet socially harmonious and environmentally friendly. A unique feature of the proposed iconic project will be the encapsulation of “wellness” within activities throughout the township, alongside the integration of traditional healing methods, complementary alternative medicine and modern treatments. Both Leaders agreed that Khazanah Nasional Berhad and Temasek Holdings Limited will form a 50-50 joint venture company to undertake the development of the iconic wellness township project in Iskandar Malaysia which would involve the participation of private sectors from both countries. Both Leaders look forward to the launching of the project within a year.

Prime Minister Lee informed Prime Minister Najib Razak that upon the expiry of the 1961 Water Agreement, Singapore would hand over the waterworks under the 1961 Water Agreement to the Johor water authorities free of charge and in good working order.

Prime Minister Lee and Prime Minister Najib Razak expressed satisfaction that the arrangements relating to the POAwould facilitate resolution of the issue which has been outstanding for more than 19 years. Both Prime Ministers reaffirmed their commitment towards further strengthening bilateral relations and mutual collaboration in various areas.

Saturday, I love you!!!

What greater bliss can one demand more, where the volume of one's desire, simple to most it may be, is realized in every nook and cranny? Work; it's merely a distant concept, purged far afield, beyond sight. Saturday, I love you much in ways unfathomable.     

Hallelujah

Love and Sacrifice

春よ、来い

Girl born without a face

http://www.julianawetmore.net

Britain's Got Talent

Songs from past serials of Mediacorp/ TCS/ SBC

新瑶

Fortitudine Vincimus

Fortitudine vincimus; by endurance, we conquer.

Endurance may not always yield victory, yet failure of achieving such is unlikely to have one's experiential gain void ab initio. Hence, endure nonetheless in situation where a win is an impossiblilty for the exposure to life's lessons is what will emerge victorious.

Single Ladies (Beyonce) vs Single Ladies (Young Girls)

Wow...

Quote from FB, with some editing

When you close the door of chance, you close the door of failure, but with that, you also close the door of success and permanently so.

Shall we try this for Music Lesson?

Fun Facts

NASA spent $5000000 on a pen that works in space. Russia just used a pencil.

A political suicide

A song sung during Shanghai Expo 2010 Opening Ceremony 時の流れに身をまかせ

Shanghai Expo 2010- South Korea vs North Korea

As the Shanghai Expo welcomes the world to the sprawling plains of Pudong and Puxi, the two vis-a-vis banks of Huangpu River (黃浦江), which just a decade earlier were farm lands, the world is awed by the modernity transformed not merely in the vicinity of the Expo, but by its immediate environs and yes, beyond too. 

While I have not personally attended the Expo, currently bound by my teaching responsibilities, I have gained some valuable and rather oxymoronic insights of the Expo through research, in preparation of my eventual visitation in September this year; I'm keeping my fingers crossed for not being thronged by China's potent human impetus. 

Expo originates from 'Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations' or her more widely and affectionately known alias, 'The Great Exhibition', a brainchild of the then Prince Albert , husband of the famous Queen Victoria, of the United Kingdom, which original intent was to showcase manufactured products from the colonies of the past seemingly omnipotent United Kingdom in 1851. 

Such was the history of Expo which had then evolved through its inaugural massive success, that akin to Olympics, it has enshrined into an unbroken tradition of not just her first host, but a tradition of the world. Never would Prince Albert envision the legacy he left for not merely United Kingdom, but for the world. He left a legacy of hope for aspiring developing countries to one day be able to stand alongside their bigger and richer counterparts, showcasing much sought-after and futuristic autochthonous works, in the same piece of estate. 

(To be continued...)         

South Korea Pavilion

 

North Korea Pavilion

What defines us?

This note is a response to a FB post by Chang Yi, who asked "What defines us, the things we do, or the people we are?"

My response.

What defines us? Life's a stage and we are merely actors (as adapted from a quote by Shakespeare); yet, when we go off the stage, can we shed in totality the masks we wear? What defines us? Our surrounding takes precedence, but it does take one intrepidity, and perphas some recklessness, to not be defined by the surrounding, but to define the surrounding.

Many artiste strive to marry true self with reality, but are beset by the harsh creulty of moneylessness in the arts; the posthumously famous Vincent Van Gogh is one. Van Gogh lamented, "As a suffering creature, I cannot do without something greater than I- something that is my life- the power to create." He was suffering, and it doesn't take one much to guess his sufferance, which was rather evident from his life- impecuniousness.

So, what do you think? What defines you?

A Chinese 'Swiss-Army-Knife'!!!

Choir- Tribute to Star Wars

泣いてもいいですか

WE LIVE HEXAGON 2009

南明奈のスーパーマイルドセブン

The Mom Song

UK- The First Election Debate on ITV1: 15th April 2010

Message from the Blood Bank

Dear B Blood Donors, your type is needed urgently. Please help and donate at Bloodbank@HSA this week. Please call 62200183 for more info. Thank you.

Geylang Serai rojak stall owner charged

Retrieved April 27, 2010, from http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100427-0000059/Geylang-Serai-rojak-stall-owner-charged

The National Environment Agency (NEA) is taking court action against the licensee of the Geylang Serai Rojak stall, Sheik Allaudin Mohideen, whose contaminated rojak claimed the lives of two people last April.

NEA says the hawker faces three charges: One of selling food unfit for human consumption under Section 15 of the Sale of Food Act and two counts of failing to keep the fridge tray and chopping board at the stall clean under the Environmental Public Health (Food Hygiene) Regulations. The case will be heard on May 11.

Bunga Sayang

Is it really important?

When everything is important, nothing will be.

Henceforth, for those who classify ALL matter as 'IMPORTANT', think twice before doing so, for so doing indiscriminately will insomuch have your savior finding lifting his less-used little left finger outrageously strenuous; the sanctity of 'IMPORTANT' been far too often a time savagely abused. 

Dick Lee- Life Story

C G/B
Wake up, she said
B7 Em
Look it’s a beautiful day
Dm
Downstairs to the kitchen door
G
And then away
Into the night
Morning feeling is on
Come the clouds, the moon
And morning is gone

Born today some years ago
And had a happy childhood
But I fell in love and out
Nothing changed
Lived a life of nothing much
But then how much can one expect?
So there you are
My life has gone
But I’m the same C
Just my life story
G/B Am Em/G
Minute by second a story
F C Dm G
That goes on forever with each breath that I take
This is my life story
Uneventful a story
That ages with each year and birthday cake

Get up, he said
Hurry or you might be late
Everyday you hurry off to keep your date
Learn something new
What are you hoping to prove?
Make some money
Find a wife
Have a kid or two

Thinking back
I like to dream of things I would have done
If I were braver then again or not
What can I do?
Maybe if I had another chance
I’d go into my past
And make my life a better one
For me and you

Just my life story
Minute by second a story
That goes on forever with each breath that I take
This is my life story
Uneventful a story
That ages with each year and birthday cake

When its time
And I must close
I’ll write a book
And sign it X
And send it to some true romance type magazine somewhere
Then the world will read of me
And say there lived a hero
But too late my friends and enemies
I guess life isn’t fair

So my life story
Is quite explanatory
Would you please start from page one
And please go on
Till I’m done
Till I’m done
Till I’m done

Dandelion's Promise 蒲公英的約定

鄭中基

Quote from FB, with some editing

We are given: Two hands to hold. Two legs to walk. Two eyes to see. Two ears to listen. But, only one heart, because the other has been given to someone else, for us to find.

Freddie, from FB

A Difficult Path in Goldman Case

Binyamin Appelbaum. (2010). A Difficult Path in Goldman Case. International Herald Tribune. Retrieved April 22, 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/business/20sec.html?src=me&ref=business

WASHINGTON — In accusing Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors, regulators are not only taking aim at a company with deep pockets and a will to fight — they are also pursuing an unusual claim that could be difficult to prove in court, legal experts said.

Rather than asserting that Goldman misrepresented a product it was selling, the most commonly used grounds for securities fraud, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil suit filed Friday that the investment bank misled customers about how that product was created. 

It is the rough equivalent of asserting that an antiques dealer lied about the provenance, but not the quality, of an old table. 

To a layperson, the case against Goldman may seem clear cut. 

After all, investors did not know some information about the product that they might have considered vital, and they lost $1 billion in the end. But the rules that govern these kinds of transactions are not so plain. 

Several experts on securities law said fraud cases like this one, which focuses on context rather than content, are generally more difficult to win, because it can be hard to persuade a jury that the missing information might have led buyers to walk away. 

They added, however, that the strength of the S.E.C.’s case is impossible to gauge until the agency discloses more of the evidence it has assembled. So far it has provided only a sketch. 

The stakes are huge. The S.E.C., battered by its failure to identify or prevent several major frauds in recent years, is eager to re-establish its credibility as an enforcer. But in choosing such a difficult battlefield, the commission also risks losing a case at a time when it is trying to re-establish its reputation as a tough watchdog. 

Goldman’s sterling reputation, a foundation of its financial success, is also on the line. Rather than settling with the government, it has so far chosen to fight back. The company says it provided its investors with all the information required by law. It has also stressed that it sold the securities to financial firms that were sophisticated investors.

The commission’s core accusation is that while Goldman provided to those firms a detailed list of the assets contained in a security it built and sold in 2007, it concealed the role of John Paulson, a hedge fund manager who worked with Goldman to pick what assets went into the security. Mr. Paulson then placed bets that the security would lose value. 

In essence, the buyers bet that housing prices would go up, while Mr. Paulson bet that prices would fall. 

Goldman was not legally required to provide any information to the investors, because Goldman found the buyers without offering them on the open market. But for any information that Goldman chose to provide, it was required by law to give a complete and accurate account. 

Goldman outlined its likely defense arguments in two letters sent to the S.E.C. in September in response to a notice from the agency that the company was under investigation and could be sued. 

In the letters, Goldman’s lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell wrote that the company Goldman hired to manage the deal, ACA Management, was “no mindless dupe that could be easily manipulated.” Furthermore, the letters said that the downturn of the housing market was not a foregone conclusion, and that it was therefore misleading for the S.E.C. to consider the transaction through the lens of “perfect hindsight.” 

The letters went on to argue that, contrary to the S.E.C.’s assertions, Goldman disclosed all information about the deal that was material. In particular, the letters drew a sharp distinction between information about the security, which the company said it provided in full, and information about Mr. Paulson’s role. 

The second letter said, “It is this concrete information on the assets — not the economic interest of the entity that selected them — that investors could analyze and use to inform their decisions.” 

To win its case, the S.E.C. must prove that Goldman was not merely silent about Mr. Paulson’s role but actually gave investors the wrong impression, experts in securities law said. Then it must prove that the missing information was material, a legal term meaning that investors armed with that knowledge might have decided not to buy the product from Goldman, or to do so at a lower price.

Allen Ferrell, a law professor at Harvard, said the suit rested on an unusual definition of material information. 

“We normally think of material information as specific to the mortgages, not somebody’s prediction about the future course of macroeconomic events,” Professor Ferrell said. “So who cares whether Paulson is bullish or bearish? Whatever his personal opinion is about the future course of housing prices, the question is, did the investors have access to the underlying mortgages?”

But Donald C. Langevoort, a law professor at Georgetown University, said the case was consistent with other government efforts in past years to broaden the definition of material information. “The S.E.C. has long insisted that context is important,” Professor Langevoort said. “If you think of it more broadly in that way, this isn’t an unprecedented case.” 

Professor Langevoort cited as an example the commission’s 2003 settlement with 10 investment banks over accusations that their research departments were providing recommendations to investors without disclosing that favorable reviews were used to attract underwriting business from the companies issuing the stock. 

Adam C. Pritchard, a law professor at the University of Michigan, said that the S.E.C.’s focus on the construction of Goldman’s security reflected the increased complexity of financial instruments. Construction has simply become a more important part of the process, he said. But he added, “The basic idea that an undisclosed conflict of interest could be misleading is pretty much as old as stockbrokers.” 

In pursuing a new twist on an old idea, however, the S.E.C. has deeply unsettled the financial markets, opening the way for investors to file claims against banks that sold similar products, and forcing firms to reconsider their own liability. 

Richard W. Painter, a corporate law professor at the University of Minnesota, said the novel nature of the fraud charges made it important for the S.E.C. to disclose more details quickly, so that markets were not paralyzed by uncertainty over the boundaries. 

“The S.E.C. needs to step to the plate with very specific facts and make it clear what they think Goldman did that was wrong,” Professor Painter said.

SEC v Goldman Sachs

Love

The following essay is written by Ryan Foo of 4E2, BBSS, 2010. The essay is produced raw and unedited.

Before the dawn of time, the omnipotent presented a doubled-edged sword, in front of Adam and Eve, the quintessential form of humans. The almighty professed ‘thou shalt possess indomitable power with this weapon. However, such raw power comes with a price’. Eve was notably neutral towards the sword, but Adam, consumed by greed and impulsivity, sauntered past the almighty, and brandished that very sword. He felt euphorically enthused and was already feeling the unadulterated power coursing through his veins. Eve watched in awe, as she watched Adam being consumed by the power of the sword. This sword, is what enabled him to ensure continuity of their own kind. Without it, Eve wouldn’t be attracted by Adam in the first place, if he had not possess the qualities of the sword.

That double-edged sword as we know today is love. The extended metaphor above is an apt description of love. Love is the consummation of the best feelings in the world. Yet, love, despite being magnanimous and unconditional, has its consequential damaging effects. That is the other end of the double-edged sword that has been ignored by many, including Adam himself. Being in love, may be the best feeling in the world, as described by fortunate ones. Love manifests itself in all forms of life, even the most miniscule creatures are not ignored. Ants are the exemplary creatures that exhibit this quality. Feral creatures such as lions and tigers, expresses their affection for their offspring as well. They can toggle between the roles of a caring mother or a malevolent hunter. When their loved ones are threatened, they would undoubtedly assume the former role. They would fend off whatever adversaries that are threatening their offspring. This shows how love is manifested in different forms of lives.

How about love among humans? Because of our superior intellectual abilities, we have interpreted something so simple, as something so vastly different? Love, as we interpret it to be, is full of intangible complexities that one, cannot possibly decipher, no matter how conscious one is. If we look at it simply, love creates a mutual bond between two individuals and the established bond ensnares them subconsciously. If only we humans, were simpletons. The very existence of us spawned several incarnations of love; namely lusty love, respectful love, motherly love, et al. These emotions offer us a spectrum of positive effects, but I digress. The most peculiar thing about love is that, It wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a detrimental side plaguing it. After all, it takes two hands to clap. Men has always been extolling the pulchritude of love, and yet, lambasting it when they are finally sober. That is why love is a great paradox, as it is perplexing to see that such euphoria is accompanied by its depressing cousin. To substantiate my claim, you only have to recall how many suicides are induced because of love?

Love is the most profound, yet confounding feeling one will ever experience. It captivates humans, but yet many have fallen victim to its ineffable bait. That is why I would prefer to take the plunge when I have matured to a certain extent. We are the most impressionable at this age, and I wouldn’t want my perception of love to be tarnished, just by a wrong move. But, one must bear in mind the inexorable anguish when love itself is tainted by oneself.

Gary Barlow- Forever love

BBSS AAC 2010

Quote from FB

It's funny how men extol the beauty of love, and then lambast the crude reality of it when they're sober.

Ryan Midget

Talented singer!!!

Give me wings

I've been looking around
There's a whole new world I see
And so many things that I can do
With your strength in me

Now I ask you to hear
As i sing of brighter days
For I need to have you very near
Come and find the way#

* Give me the wings
Of an eagle
I will soar into the sky
Give me strength
to hold a brother's hand
As he's passing by
Give me the eyes
Of tomorrow
Let me see what I can find
If you lead me
I will follow now*
Give me wings to fly@

You've been watching me grow
As you gently lead me on
It's your love and power that I know
Guides and keeps me strong
(repeat# to @)

High above the clouds
I can see the beauty down below
And I know you're holding me
I'll never fly alone
Alone
(repeat * to *)
Give me to reach the sky
Moving up I'm rising high
Give me wings to fly

TODAY: It ain't easy being foreign

An article from TODAY, by Phin Wong.

I HAD an Australian teacher in secondary school. Her name was Mrs Rose Harland. Gosh did everyone hate her.

She had arrived, fresh off the Boeing, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, eager to teach the students of Ghim Moh Secondary School the glorious wonder that is the English language. Or at least the difference between "their" and "they're".

But these were kids who constructed sentences around colourful Hokkien phrases involving someone's mother. These were kids who said things like "I call my brother, then you know" - and had absolutely no intention of introducing you to an actual sibling over tea and scones. These were kids who got frisked.

In fact, I'm not even sure they were kids - some of them were there before I got in and were still there after I had graduated. Ever met a Sec 2 student with stubble? It looked like a father of two was sitting in to brush up on his algebra.

Mrs Harland didn't have a chance in hell.

It wasn't that she was a bad teacher. In fact, compared with our last English teacher - who corrected the only other English-speaking student's commendable use of the word "strumpet" to "crumpet", thereby changing his tale of a scorned harlot into a composition about tasty baked goods - Mrs Harland was pretty awesome.

It's just that she was so ... foreign.

For a start, she had never been to our little island, so she had no idea what to expect. The first time she walked into a funeral wake, she thought it was so lovely of her neighbours to have decorated the void deck of her HDB flat with pretty flowers. It didn't take long for her to realise it wasn't a garden party. The corpse was a dead giveaway.

It's hard to fit in when you don't look like everyone else. And Mrs Harland didn't fit - literally. At over six-feet-tall, she towered over just about everything except the Tembusu tree behind the canteen. And she was blonde. You could spot her from just about anywhere in the school, looming in the distance like a magnificent skyscraper, providing shade from the afternoon sun for flocks of migrating ah lians on their way to home economics class.

Then there was the accent. It's hard to teach effectively when your students don't understand a thing you're saying. Her audience was used to hearing Miss La La speak, and now they had Dame Edna telling them it's I before E except after C.

I didn't have a problem understanding her though. I'd already watched A Cry In The Dark three times by then. Such a great film.

Mrs Harland's biggest predicament with being a new transplant to Singapore, however, was her inability to grasp a foreign language. Which was exactly what our names were to her.

Xiao Ching? Shao Xiang? Jie Wen? Forget about it. She'd read your name right off the register and you wouldn't recognise it. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you talking to me? I thought you were having a seizure."

Because it took too much time to address a student by saying, "You, there - third Asian girl from the left, next to the 30-year-old kid with stubble", Mrs Harland took to calling us by our student numbers. It's hard to like someone who refers to you as 36.

It also made our English lessons sound like mathematical problem sums. If 12, 22 and 8 ganged up on 13 because 5 told 22 that 13 stole 10 bucks from 22, how many sweets would Jane have sold by Thursday?

We hated her for reducing us to anonymous digits. Years later, as a Singaporean transplant lost in translation in Melbourne, I understood a little better how difficult it can be for an out-of-towner and forgave Mrs Harland just a little.

My first week in school, an Aussie classmate asked warmly if I'd ever had "an Aussie barbie". I replied that I never even owned Malibu Barbie even though her beach house looked fabulous. I never got that invite for steaks.

When someone asked how my "arvo" was, I replied that it was a little sore from assembling all that Ikea furniture myself. (Someone explain how "arvo" could possibly be short for "afternoon"?)

Then there was the harrowing 30 seconds in a cab where the driver didn't understand my repeated instructions to make a U-turn. "Go back!" I sputtered, mere millimetres from the turning. "Turn right here - here - and go back the other way! U-turn! U-turn!!!"

"Oh, chuck a U-ey?" replied the cabbie. "Why didn't you say so?"

You may have heard they speak English in Australia. You would have heard wrong.

Just as I was convinced that any communication I'd have in Australia would be between me and the dust bunnies reproducing under my futon, a student stopped me on campus to ask if I had the time.

"Three-thirty," I mumbled.

"Wow, you speak really good English!" he said, surprised at this Asian kid's vast vocabulary of two words.

Yeah, I know my numbers really well. And it's all thanks to Mrs Harland.

Vote for Eugene in Doodle 4 Google!!!

Science vs Humanities

PART I

What would this world be without Edison? Will we live in darkness? Yet, with Einstein, we went through a period of darkness, where nuclear bomb annihilated two cities not too far from us. Science; is it a bliss, or a curse?

On a lighter note, Shakespeare taught us that all that glitters is not gold, and henceforth, we should, as adage so often warned us, that books should never be judged by its covers; the content is what matters. Yet, so many people, despite the advice told since days of yore, nonetheless succumbed into fallacy. Well, even Einstein, a Scientist, has not the obtuseness of a commoner, to say, "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." 

The society of today has much reached a consensus that a progress, relative to the past, which may not even be too distant, has indeed happened; anyone basing his conclusion on his prima facie observation of today's technology would probably attest to it. Yes, we may have progressed with respect to the technological arena, but have we done likewise as a basic human being? At the very least, even humanity does not stride in tandem with the Science, does it remain constant? Or, much to anyone's horror, has it regressed?

This, I am not so sure. Are you?

   

I Just Want to Praise You

My response to someone's message on FB

Slow your pace of life, and slowly, and somewhat miraculously, your life will pace towards appreciation of the beauty of life so often ignored by the rushing of life. Are you living a life, or merely lving to live?

Skyscraper Farm

Psuedonym

As requested, HJ shall be known as SPK henceforth.

EL Homework

1. Read TB Pg 112 to 116.
2. Do Exercise 1 and 2

Acapella- Michael Jackson Medley

They've Never Heard of Jesus

The steeples rise up to the skies all across the land,

While lovely churches grace each town, it's hard to understand

Why Christ is still the Savior that so many never meet;

People halfway 'round the world, right across the street.

They've never heard of Jesus, they never call His name.

And without His great love and hope in their lives,

Their worlds will go on unchanged.

And they need Him so. We all need Him so.

They've never heard of Jesus , you and I must let them know.

Their eyes look out each morning on another day:

Their faces speak of heartache that their words might never say.

From busy city sidewalks to strange and distant shores.

How they need someone to tell them just what living's really for.

They've never heard of Jesus, they never call His name.

And without His great love and hope in their lives,

Their worlds will go on unchanged.

And they need Him so. We all need Him so.

They've never heard of Jesus , you and I must let them know.

We are the world- Then and Now

Then...



Now...