Been a Good Day...

I went to Pulau Ubin with some of the JC gang today! Fun!

And....

I rode a bicyle!! 

And....

I actually RODE DOWN SLOPES!!!!!

And....

We got to see Chek Java (the famed coastal area that's the most biodiversity-rich spot in Singapore) at low tide! I went there several times before but had never managed to catch it at low tide..

...Huah.... Am tired, but it's the kind of satisfied tiredness where you are immobilised on the bed with a big smile on your face... (ok in my case I still need to make some models for tomorrow after this, but heck..)

So yeah, went cycling to Ubin island today with 5 jc classmates... and last night I was actually quite nervous because it will be my first time on a bycicle again after my 'little' accident... Well, cycling isn't a big deal for lots of people, but let's just say that since 2 years ago, seeing people cycle downslopes make my hairs stand on end.. I actually remember the impression when my whole face hit the road after I flew off the bycicle.. that split second that felt like...well it felt like my face was slammed down on the gravel hard... not a nice feeling...

BUT! But today I overcame that cursed fear of riding bicycles! So happy!!!!

After the incident, I went back to Ubin several times with my trekking buddy (who was there on 'that fateful day' also...in fact I was transported to hospital on his dad's car huhuhu...), but I've always insisted that we walk around the island, not ride. This time...I kinda just decided to go along though I know the plan is to ride around the island...because:

1. I'm fed up of being afraid of riding a bicycle... I mean, when I was in Europe I was practically scared to visit the Netherlands and kept postponing just because I might have to ride a bike there.... (ufh it feels good to make that confession...)

2. My jc classmates will be there...n there's something about them that makes me feel at ease and kinda calm when we gather... I don't really know why... maybe because jc was the time when I opened up to people and I've spent 2 great years with them (minus the fact that we had to study for the A levels..)

So yeah.. when we reached the bike rental shops on the entrance of the island I was kinda nervous...in fact at first I told my friend why don't I ride on a tandem bike with him...huhuhu.. Am glad that in the end I just chose to get it over and done with..this riding a bike business...

At first, I went sloooooooooooow even on totally flat ground, and nervously got down from my bike and walked everytime there's a sign "Warning: Deep Slope Ahead". But eventually I started enjoying the breeze, the sun (I love it when my arms become reddish-brown tanned haha..I feel so healthy! ), the scenery...and just lost that fear of suddenly losing my balance, or braking to avoid people, or crashing into other people.... Then, I boldened myself to go through the gentler slopes without dismounting from the bike....Then, it was on to the deep slopes....Slowly, slowly, keep the  back brakes functioning...be in control..... and heck, now I can ride down steep slopes without the nagging feeling that something WILL DEFINITELY go wrong =)

Oh when I went down slopes I still have a bit of flashes of memories where I couldn't control my bike at all and...that split second of slammin'.. but I just focus on operating the brakes huhuhu..

I'm really grateful too that my friends kept checking on me throughout the whole journey, asking whether I'm ok, not letting me be the last person of the convoy, and being totally understanding though I slowed them down a lot at the beginning...

Add this to the list of friends to treasure: those who understand the silly daredevil in you, and yet they also understand the little coward you sometimes are.(and not laugh!)

The Ubin-Bike-Trip was officially closed with a round of cold young coconut in the Changi Village Hawker Center, and honestly, that was a fantastic ending! =)

"Fear not the man who has 10 000 moves practiced once...Fear him who has one move practised 10 000 times."

- Dada, Chandni Chowk Goes to China

(it's this totally weird but funny movie where an Indian cook went to China to learn to be a kung fu master huhuhu... First time I see Chinese kung fu fight scenes with Indian beats as background music..but totally cool!)

I love mix-culture stuff =)

....something's on my mind now.....tomorrow....I'm going cycling on the first time after my accident... On the place where the accident happened, no less... Pulau Ubin,here I come!

BUT! My JC classmates will be there =)

Superman, Bollywood version...

Ever wondered how it will look like if The Man in Pants danced around like..uhm.. bollywood actors?

Don't ask how I came across this video (of an Indian movie starring Superman, with a Spiderwoman to boot...whoo....), but I just cannot resist posting this in the blog....

"The duty of comedy is to correct men  by amusing them."

- Moliere, French playwright

"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

- bits of church sermon

I think this is a very good quote to tackle the "conversion mentality",i.e. I'm only interested in you because I want to convert you into Christianity. Ok it's not as bad as how I put it, after all people evangelize because they are sure the Gospel is something truly worth evangelizing about. (and I believe that too, only personally I just can't evangelize until I resolve my internal conflicts since I'll just confuse the poor listener....)

Anyway, to be able to make people feel that you genuinely care about them - that you are genuinely interested in their lives, their dreams, their cultures, their languages, their fears, their happiness - is something really worth learning....

On Pleasure and Meaning

"Je voudrais bien savoir si la grande regle de toutes les regles n'est pas de plaire."

(loose translation: "I shouldn't be surprised if the greatest rule of all weren't given to pleasure.")

- Moliere

"The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it."

- Jung

"We like to believe that there is a type of magic in certain things in this world. A shred of sanctity we call 'meaning'. Against our senses and reasoning faculties we make illogical but beautiful romanticizations of the things we see, feel and do. This is the curse of the human being, the ironic result of a fusion of incredible imagination with a pitifully limited knowledge."

- taken from a jc friend's blog, Jason a.k.a Yuen Hoe a.k.a Mr.Chan-magnet ;p (I never could forget this paragraph...It's beautiful...)

Quite some time ago I asked a friend what's his motto in life, and he answered something like, "To find pleasure wherever I can..." . Admittedly, at first my mind was thinking of kinkier stuff, but he explained that pleasure could be simple things... sunset, food... and it got me started on the different ways of thinking about Life, Pleasure and Meaning... maybe it's just me, but I think in more conservative societies if people say they wanna live for the sake of a pleasurable life, the reaction would be like, "But it's so shallow! But life's not about pleasure only! But what about higher ideals, values, morals etc?" The perception is that a pleasurable life is ultimately selfish and meaningless. On the other extreme, the "pleasure people" will say that a disciplined, purposeful life is likely to be boring, rigid, and pitiful if the happiness of the individual has to be suppressed. (Classic case: arranged marriage to uphold family values..) Gotta say that for the most part this is a result of a successul "religious" campaign to label anything remotely related to pleasure as sin...

Hmm... relating it to my own life...i'd want my life to be filled with BOTH pleasure and meaning hehehe... (like WHO DOESN'T WANT THAT???)  Well, deep down in me there's a person who wants fun for fun's sake, who'd do things spontaneously, keep exploring, keep pushing boundaries just because it gives me a giddy, youthful pleasure... But it's true that pleasure for pleasure's sake can only keep me satisfied for so long, before starting to feel hollow (and the same friend who told me his motto also said that the thing about pleasure is, you gradually need more and more things to feel the same amount of pleasure...). I thought about how I think (does this make sense? yes right?), about how I see the world, and ultimately, I'm a meaning-driven person.

What this means is, I realize that each time I do something, I JUST HAVE to try to find something more, something beyond, something meaningful as a reason....doing things not for myself but for other people or higher ideals.. For example, when I was in junior college, I had to keep telling myself that I wasn't studying just for the grades (looking back and seeing the amount of stuff that I've totally forgotten, I gotta admit it was just for the grades..), I just had to say I'm studying for the sake of knowledge and curiosity, that no way am I your typical "how-to-get-straight-As" nerd.... Architecture? Well at first I wasn't passionate about it (and even now sometimes) and I have to tell myself it's not just about me..when I study sustainability it's about helping the world, helping people blah blah blah... Relationships? Part of why I could "survive" being single for so long is that I can't see any meaning in getting together just for the sake of getting together..

And yeah, there are lots of other examples where I'm either not interested in things because I don't find them meaningful, or else I'll be "inventing" meaning for something that I'll have to do anyway. Because if I have to do something that I feel is utterly meaningless, I just won't function. Wonder how come it's taken quite long for me to realize my own "mechanism"..

In the end...  well..  the ideal is of course  to find meaning in the things you think are pleasurable, and to find pleasure in the things you think are meaningful... At the end of my life (Wonder when it is..) I want to be able to say: "Hey I've had fun and I've contributed.." (like WHO DOESN'T WANT THAT???) 

Oh well, so Reader, are you meaning-driven, or pleasure-driven? ;p

Really....?

..... ok..... I guess I'll have to agree that Sg is a pretty cool place to live in... IF your kids don't have to go into the government education system... thinking about it, the reasons I don't want to stay and work in Singapore for long is because:

1. the mentality of "live to work" and not "work to live"

2. only 2 weeks of holiday are given per year for non-expats (i.e yours truly included..)

3. my kids, if I have them, will hate me for imprisoning them in Singapore schools... Either that, or they would be too apathetic, ignorant and obedient to realize that something is wrong with the schools...

While we're at it, this morning there's an article on the newspaper that Singaporean parents are panicking because the traditional Ten Years Series - a compilation of past year O level papers - has not yet been published, due to some copyright disputes. It says something about Sg that parents are the ones getting really upset because now their children cannot do assessment papers.....

To be fair, though, I felt fine for the most of my educational period. Granted, I became a study-robot nearing O-levels, and before the A-levels I studied until I literally got the urge to vomit... (I didn't know what's the logic/ mechanism behind it till now...), but well, I wasn't extremely stressed or anything.....

Ah well, I've digressed too much. For better or worse,at least for the next two years I'll still be  stuck in this sunny little island. Might as well enjoy it.

On Food

"Is it a coincidence that DESSERTS is STRESSED spelt backwards?"

- writing on Bakerzin menu book when me,Do n Ren went there to eat..

"Two seconds on the lips, two years on the hips."

- what my German studio master said on one of the studio outings. He is wise.

I've always been a firm believer that food is something to be enjoyed, not to be feared, and the whole time I was in Europe, while gulping down all those pastries and guzzling down all those gelatos, I kept telling myself: "Some things are worth getting fat for." (which is also what I told my girl housemates when we realise we can't stop eating milk puddings, crepes, chocolate-flavored yogurt and other such divine French dairy products....)

But then, I came back from France. To Singapore. To people who kept saying I'm "chubbier", "bigger", "seems healthier", "rosier" etc... None of them actually used the word fatter, so I was thinking it couldn't be that bad...I mean, the scary part is, I didn't even realise my face was changing..huhuhu....

Oh, let's not pretend I'm not shallow.. If people around me keeps saying different variations of "You're fatter", of course I'm bothered... which was why what followed was some going up-and-down-the-19th-floor-stairs (cheap, convenient, quite effective ;p ), jogging in MacRitchie, and caterpillar lifestyle (lots..lots..of greens.. also effective)

The thing is, I'm no stranger to being fat, because I was a fat kid... and yeah, fat kids get teased a lot... but when I became vegetarian and then shortly discovered a love of walking in Nature, my weight problem kinda took care of itself. Which is why I now revert back to these two things hehe..

And lately, people around have been saying, "Hey' u've shrunk!" , "Oh wow u'r a lot less fat.." (Now then they say the word fat...hmph...), "I think u're thinner.." . . . . . 

Oh man, do I get to blame my bimbo genes for happily taking these as compliments? But it's a nice feeling indeed.

I'm shallow. Yup, there's no denying it.

Bits and pieces...

"Global.Is.Asian"

- words on the wall of the NUS Law Faculty

Had the first sketchbook class today... and turned out it wasn't a sketchbook class but the professor told us we've unwittingly all been entered for a pavilion design competition for the NUS Law Faculty. Excited but well...part of me wants vacation ("It's my RIGHT! For goodness' sake!") and another part wants to go all out since I didn't manage to do that during semester.

Oh well, the new studio rules:

1.NO PHOTOS

2.NO COPIES

3.NO COLOURS

4.NO TRACING PAPER

5.NO SHALLOWNESS

Hmm.. thanks to rule no 5. I realise that if I'm now so much more of  a thinker, it's because of archi... The phrase "Think out of the box" has become a sort of mantra in this increasingly design-driven world, but I think for us, we've been taught to consider the box, put ourselves inside it (since architects still must always consider the reality and  practicality of design), but then we punch through the walls of the boxes, we dismantle the sides, we  push through and strecth the box to breaking, so much so that people won't recognise the box anymore. And all these are done from INSIDE the box. Nice pseudo-philosophy,no? ;p

Anyway, moving on to that eternal conflict between architect and civil engineer, everytime I meet my civil engineer friend and end up making jokes on them, I'll console them with this phrase "But c'mon, architects dream and we need a civil engineer to realise that dream..it's very important!" Then, yesterday I met a church friend, whose civil engineer friend told him this: "An architect's dream is a civil engineer's worst nightmare." Oh wow that puts a sharp end to my "we-need-you-civil-engineers-to-realise-our-dreams" argument.... Let's hope my friend's friend doesn't end up spearheading the "Away with Architects!" movement..

Moving again to a random direction,  Ren recently said, "I think Youtube is the beginning of the decline of society." I'm too sleepy to discuss that at length but that sentence came out as we're talking about amateur porn (At this point I would like to assure the readers that the conversation merits a mere Parental Guidance rating,not a Restricted one.)

Amateur porn. What a concept. I thought people only do porn movies (that's Professional Porn, mind you) because it's lucrative..but apparently now there's a group of people who just film themselves doing it and puts the video on the net for THE WHOLE WORLD to see. There is something rather disturbing that people would, voluntarily and with full conscience, take something very,very,very private and make it public display. (Well one could say blogging is about the same.. but then the things I blog about are things that are personal, but maybe not THAT personal..)

Wonder what's the motive.. what motive could be worth it?

 

Ah well, that's people for you.

Les Voyages en Train (Train Journeys)

This is a song cum slam poetry by Grand Corps Malade, in my humble opinion one of the best French artistes though I don't know a lot.. It's titled "Train Journeys" and it compares love to taking a train... 

And here's a very good english translation of the lyrics that I found on the lit-hop blog renouvellement.wordpress.com:

You could say that love stories were like journeys by train,
And sometimes when I see those travellers I’d like to be one again,
Why do you think so many people wait at the platform gate?
Why do you think we stress so much when we arrive a little late?

The train often pulls away when you least anticipate,
And the love story carries you off from those who commentate,
The commentators are you mates who say goodbye at the station
They watch the train pull away with a look of trepidation
You wave back at them and imagine their comments going round
Some say you’ve made a mistake, that your feet aren’t on the ground,
Each one makes a prediction for how long the trip will last,
Most of them think the train will derail at the first stormy blast.

Real love, it’s no surprise, changes the expression on your face
So, from day one you should carefully choose your place,
A seat by the aisle or next to the window glass,
What do you choose, a love story in first or second class?

In the first few miles you can’t take your eyes from her face,
You barely notice out the window the passing green open space,
You feel light, life is a flower and you’re drinking its nectar
You feel so good that you almost want to kiss the ticket collector,

But the magic only lasts a time, your story’s running out of steam,
You tell yourself you’re in it for nothing, ‘it’s all her fault’, you want to scream
The train’s rumble makes you drunk, you feel sick at each bend,
You’ve gotta get up, walk out and find a way for your heart to mend.

Now the train slows down, it’s already the end of your tale,
And what’s more you’re like a fool, your mates are at the other end of the rail
You say goodbye to the one you’ll now call your ex,
In her address book, she whites out your name in tippex.

So you see that love stories are like journeys by train,
And sometimes when I see those travellers I’d like to be one again,
Why do you think so many people wait at the platform gate?
Why do you think we stress so much when we arrive a little late?

For some Life is all about trying to catch a train,
To feel love and find their energy bubbling up like champagne,
For others the aim is to arrive with time to spare,
To have a safe trip and live life without care.

It is easy to catch a train but make sure you pick well,
I got into two or three but not the right carriage, I could tell,
For trains are temperamental, some you try to reach but fail,
And I don’t always think it’s possible on Network Rail

For some the trains are always on strike or so it seems,
And their love stories only exist in their dreams,
Others jump on the first train without paying attention,
But, of course, they get off disappointed at the next station,
Still others stress about commitment as they’re over-emotive,
For them it’s too risky to hold on to the locomotive,
And there are the adventurers who take trip after trip,
Once one story is finished onto the next page they flip,

I suffered for months after my only real journey,
We both agreed to leave, but she agreed more than me,
Since then, I hang out on the platform, watch the trains pull away
Some doors open, but for now it’s on the platform I’ll stay

It seems that train journeys end badly, more often than not,
If that’s the case for you hang on, don’t tie your heart in a knot,
Because one thing is certain there’ll always be a termin-us

Now you’ve been warned – next time you can take the bus.

It's THAT time of the year.....

.....to vote for the sexiest vegetarian alive =) PETA organises the "Sexiest Vegetarian Alive" competition annually and it pleasantly surprised me that there really are famous names in that list, including Shania Twain, Alanis Morrisette, Carry Underwood, Fiona Apple (Fiona Apple??vegetarian??? Do, u wanna follow her footsteps? ;p ), Pamela Anderson (yeah I was surprised too..), Stella Mc Cartney, etc....

From the guys' side, we have people like Alec Baldwin, Bryan Adams, Kevin Bacon, Ruben Studdard, Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf himself, for those who doesn't know..), and Tobey Maguire. (ok I've never loved Spiderman more than now hahaha...) 

So yeah, cast your vote dudes!

http://www.peta.org/FeatureSexiestVegetarianCelebrity.asp

On Mistakes

"We are not so much the result of our achievements as we are the culmination of our mistakes."

- Phin Wong, Maladjusted

The phrase just sticks with me because I'm thinking, in my case, how true it is. Maybe I take my achievements for granted, having the kind of brain to which achievements come rather easy... Maybe my definition of achievements is screwed (Singaporeanised, more like...)  but I never did realise till now just how much I value my mistakes, or so-called mistakes, much more than my achievements... (or so-called achievements, yeah..)

Question of the day: If my mistakes make me who I am, shall I still call them mistakes?

I guess why we call a mistake a mistake is because even though it teaches us a lot, we still would not want to repeat them. (Like, my freak bicycle accident reduced me recklessness and make me consider my parents more before doing things... but to again "fly" and kiss asphalt? No thanks..)

Anyway, I realise too that I have friends from very varied backgrounds, ranging from pure conservative to bloody radical to just plain unique (read: weird ;p ) that whatever I do will most probably be "right" in one circle and "wrong" in another. I think most people are in this kind of position too... and it's a good one, for it forces one to think for oneself and not merely sway with the crowd. (I'd have to admit, though, that at times it sucks to have so many different AND opposing inputs.)

Ah, well.... let's close with some quotes:

"All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes."

- Winston Churchill

"Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes."

- Oscar Wilde

"..relationship is like a pendulum, it can swing to the other side in just an instant...."

- Dodo

(Dahsyat,man... ;p )

"Say what you mean and mean what you say."

- Negeri van Oranje

"Better pass a danger once than be always in fear."

- quotation on my housemate's wall

Hmm... today is the day of cool quotations....

On Being Alone

Was reading the newspaper column Maladjusted by Phin Wong, which I adore for his sarcastically humorous takes on mundane yet intriguing issues. This time, it's about him trying to find some 'alone time' with himself just to find out how unbearably banal and unexciting he is to himself...
And I quote:

" It's terribly important to have 'alone time'. How else will you figure out what's going on inside? How else will you be made aware of your own hypocrisy when society is too polite to point it out to you? Who else but you knows you well enough to call you out on your crap? Unfortunately, it's also appalingly boring. . . . . . . . . . The problem with spending too much time with yourself is that you're made acutely aware of how ridiculously uninteresting you are. . . . The truth is, we are only as interesting as the company we keep. We don't gather in groups to have an audience (well, not all the time at least) - we need people around us so we can consider new ideas, and so that we may, hopefully, become more interesting."

Hm.....when I first read it I was like, "Nah, I don't have problems spending time with myself, and time alone doesn't make me think I'm boring..." But then, I realise that I don't actually spend my time alone to think a lot about myself..... I spend time alone to read books, think about new ideas, see Nature, take photographs, explore new places, write, play music, plan new pranks....in short, yeah, I spend time alone to enrich myself, and as a result I become more interesting when I'm with people.... Haaaa.....

Somehow the realisation is pretty cool..... I mean, sometimes when people know I love to spend time alone they think I'm a self-absorbed weirdly egoistical individual who thinks that other people are too boring to keep me company (F.Y.I, I don't think like that... ok at least not most of the time..)
. . . but hey, I just realised that even among my other friends who are loners, most of the time we are alone, we are doing activities that take the focus off ourselves anyway..... Oh wow it's good to not feel like a self-absorbed weirly egoistical individual hahahahaha.....

That said, spending 'alone time' do make me more aware of myself.... It's just that when we are not surrounded by people - who unavoidably bring in their values, their thoughts, their judgments, their pretenses, their truths, their influences - we are free to form our own thoughts and judgments, however unexciting or radical it is, and that's such a liberating thing.

Even for people like me who end up publishing their either unexciting or radical thoughts in a blog anyway =)

Taxi uncle: "So, you are taking a Master's at NUS?"

Me: "Yes uncle..still 2 years, very long..."

Taxi unce: "But it's good you know..when you finish, the government will help you find a boyfriend."

me: "Huh? Wad? Hahaha seriously uncle?"

Taxi uncle: "Yes it's true!! It's because the government want the smart people those degree people to marry degree people also..."

me: "Wow.....ok......"

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Saat lagi naik bukit Kaliurang yg lumayan terjal sama sepupu2, dan ada yg udah ngos2an...

Guide: "Udah, ini puncaknya udah deket kok..."

Sepupu: "Bu ini turunnya.... ah nggak jadi deh..."

Me: "Napa lu?"

Sepupu: "Engga gw mo nanya pertanyaan yg hampir stupid..."

Me: "Hampir stupid? Halah apaan coba.....lu mo nanya apa emang?"

Sepupu: "Bu, ini turunnya gak pake naik kan yah?"

Me: "Hm....iya sih, hampir stupid..."

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