K I'm back. So, haven't posted in a while, but believe me, I tried. I made like 4 or 5 drafts over the past few months but either stopped because it got too weird (I have one sitting around being nostalgic and shit) or because I ran out of things to say, and I felt there wasn't enough content (readers of this blog will recall that my posts are basically walls of text). Also one where I wrote like pages and pages of shit and the draft wasn't saved. As I recall it was about Lord of the Rings.

Anyway. I suddenly recalled that last year I found my Might and Magic 6 disc and tried to go back to play it again. Now, MM6 is a pretty significant game for me. I think it was my first RPG, or at least that I could remember. I was really young when I played it and it was a really great game. So I reinstall it thinking to play through the whole thing again, but guess what, it ended up being rather disappointing. The controls were rather annoying (arrow keys to move?! no WASD?!), graphics were, naturally, pretty lousy (although I expected that the graphics wouldn't be too good, I thought it would be better) and the game just didn't have the feel to it. But the thing is, it's not a bad game. In fact, for its time, it was the equivalent of Skyrim today. Okay maybe not, but still a pretty great game. Still, I wish I hadn't reinstalled it and played it because overexposure to more modern games have pretty much made me used to them, so I tend to find older games less interesting because of the different interface and sometimes graphics, though usually I'm okay with poorer graphics. I would rather that this game had remained perfect in my memory as an awesome RPG rather than just a game with poor (w.r.t. gamers nowadays) controls and other such annoying things. I mean, frankly, when you're playing games where you can just pick up something on the street and throw it at the city guard, then run to another town and proceed to rob a house, MM6 doesn't seem like much.

2 key points here.
Firstly, we do tend to remember the positive parts of our experiences and forget the negative parts. Though it's been proven that we store scary or traumatic memories better, I doubt games are scary enough or suck enough to be traumatic. So some things should really just be left in memory, because once you take it out and relive it again, you'll start noticing all the flaws, and it sort of depreciates because of that.

Second, a lot of (so-called) "gamers" nowadays, when playing older games, their first complain (or even comment) is that "THE GRAPHICS SUCK". And they would probably be right, but do remember that everything is relative. Suck graphics to you were ground-breaking 10 years ago. 10 years later when people look at our games they will say too that our graphics suck. More importantly, GRAPHICS DO NOT MAKE A GAME. Good graphics does not equal a good game, and bad graphics do not equal a bad game. Case in point: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was released a few years ago. Fairly decent graphics, but criticised heavily and in my opinion was a pretty poor game as well. They had a few things going, such as a somewhat fresh combat system, but it got repetitive, and it seemed like the developers were so giddy with excitement over their "innovations" that every chance they got, they tried to draw attention to it or maximize it. The result is grills with spikes on them in every possible location where you can have a battle, because you can kick enemies on to them. The storyline was also devastatingly linear for an RPG (although it was actually an action game) and characters were meh, with most of them simply being annoying or just stupid (doing things like getting stuck on a SINGLE STEP on a flight of stairs.) Lots of bugs too. So it had good graphics, but fairly meh. Compare this to a game such as Baldur's Gate. First, a graphics comparison:

Dark Messiah:


Baldur's Gate:


Admittedly, not a super fair comparison because they're somewhat different genre, (Action Game vs RPG) but that's actually besides the point. Now, Baldur's Gate has what we would now consider pretty lousy graphics, especially when you have Skyrim:

(Image is too big and my blog space doesn't do it justice, check it out here)

However, I've actually played through Baldur's Gate and despite being released in 1998 (That's right, the game is 14 years old) it is actually one of the best games I've ever played. I realise at this point non-gamers may start to get bored so I'll spare you the details (there are a lot. ask me about it if you care).

My point, ultimately, is that graphics are negligible in a game. Gameplay is what is important. It should be obvious actually. I mean, Game -> Gameplay. Not exactly rocket science.

Back to my main point (didn't even realise I was digressing there), on old games. I think (and I am stealing this chunk here from a draft I wrote awhile ago. ALSO, PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN TL;DR -ING CAN START READING FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS)  "I guess ultimately why I feel happy when I think of *A game which I will not name* (naise, it rhymes), and why I feel nostalgic, is because it was representative of that time in life when everything was easier and relaxing. No stress. I go to school, slack through the day, come back home, shower and game. I had so much freedom then. I couldn't think of a time when I had to tell anyone "I'm not free that day". Now life is still easy, as compared to the life of someone living in, for example, a third world country on $1 a day, but it wasn't as easy as it was before. And now we have more stress. Studies and other stuff we have to think about, consequences that are permanent, people who will remember a grudge rather than saying "don't friend you already" and then play with you a few days later."

I suppose what I'm trying to say is, life really was better when you were younger (well, duh.) but you don't really realise it until you progress to the next stage of life. I suppose when we graduate, go through uni (or not) and transit into working adult life, we will look back on our teenage days and think of how slack it was too. And ultimately I think it is important that we retain some of our childishness (the positive parts, not the negative parts) as we grow up. I know, this has been said many many times, and a lot of you will agree and say yeah, that seems like a good idea. But really, stop for a moment, think about it carefully and consider if that's what you're doing. The aspects of being a child, which I think (therefore you may have differing views) are worth keeping, are not the immaturity or naivete of a child, but the open-mindedness and simplicity. Again, this sounds very fluffy, but actually try to make it work. When you see a person jumping around, when there's a perfectly good path to walk on, and this guy is climbing, or jumping or whatever, do you think "lame" or "childish" (probably not, you people will probably think parkour, but that's not it, and neither is it the point)? Do you stop to consider, when was the last time you did something like that? If it was very long ago, why did you stop? Why did you stop living life as a child does? Children have the most fun, don't they? Admittedly, yes, you have to make way for adult life, but don't eliminate, compromise, if you are in fact willing to retain your inner child. Don't make excuses for yourself like "I have no time" or some such nonsense. Time is always there, and if you're willing to grasp it, you will have it.

Okay that last paragraph sounded very fluffy and idealistic (the common definition, not the philosophical one), but actually read it, think about it, and maybe if you agree try to apply it. I'd hate for people to read my posts and like just treat it like the "philosophical" shit people post on facebook and go like, "awww" or "that's nice". It's easy to read someone's blog post and say, "that's nice". It's easy to say, "I'm gonna do this" and forget about it by next week. But actually think about what is being said. Ask yourself whether you agree. Why or why not? If you don't agree, what is your view? Ask yourself these questions every time a claim is made. Btw this like, helps you with GP also, so, added benefit from reading my blog yeah? Anyway if my writing always sounds fluffy or idealistic, it is because I'm trying to establish an overarching philosophy. The more general you get (the bigger an army you have, lol jk. K, sorry, not funny.) then the more vague you have to be to encompass more fields, and so it starts to sound idealistic.

Okay this blog post seems rather long so, in conclusion:

1. Positive memories are better left as memories lest they become tarnished by reality.
2. Graphics do not make a game
3. Life is better when you're younger; in other news, try to retain your inner child.
4. Think critically when someone states a claim or stand.

Last word is, I hope that, starting with my readers (All 3 of you. Lol jk I don't know how many readers I have), we can become more intellectual and think more, so that when I want to talk philosophy or something I actually have someone to talk to. Admittedly, somewhat selfish, in that the motivation for my wanting you guys to think more is so that I have someone to talk to, but you cannot deny that being more intellectual is actually a benefit for you as well. If you have nothing to get started on, Google Idealism vs. Realism and consider your personal stand on this issue, and support it with valid reasoning or examples (or both. Both are cool.)

And finally (I have been dragging this post a bit haven't I) I apologise if this post is a little substandard cos I really had nothing much to write about and just tried to squeeze out a post. More content to come in the near future.

An open letter to my social life

My dear social life,

Over the years, our relationship has been that of a balance of give and take. I think we've both gotten a lot out of our relationship for the past 10 odd years. Lately, however, I find myself unable to commit to this relationship. I will not lie: there is someone else. She sits on my computer table now, her sleek exterior of steel made all the more stunning by her great inner beauty.

I try to tell myself, my social life, that you are more important, but that is just not true anymore. This stunning beauty on my computer table beckons to me daily, and I find myself unable to resist her charms, much like Odysseus before the sirens. Not a minute goes by when I do not think of her. She calls to me across the boundaries of space and time, coaxing me to explore the world of Skyrim with her. So, it is with great regret and sorrow that I am writing this letter, to inform you that our relationship must come to an end for now. Alas, would that it were possible for me to entertain both of you, but this is a situation that is beyond my control. The fates have forced me to choose, and I have chosen my new computer. So fare thee well, my social life, and perhaps some time in the future, we will cross paths again, and I would be able to devote myself more fully to you. Till then, I bid you goodbye. I embark on my journey within Skyrim on the morrow, and it may be weeks, maybe even months before I return.

Sincerely,
TC

Okay in all seriousness though, I've finally gotten my new com and I'm getting ready to adventure. This is just an announcement to state that I'll be going on a bit of a hiatus. Kthxbai.

K lah.

K, here comes an update. Unlike all my previous updates I don't actually have any ideas in mind when I start writing this time so bear with me if it becomes non sequitur. Also I'm kinda tired but you know, I'm an awesome blogger so I push through the fatigue to bring you the fantabulous blog posts you love and sometimes (but not always) deserve.

I won't talk about exam results because, you know, some people like theirs, some people don't. And it's already done with so no point whining or bragging about it anymore, unless you're gonna rub it in the faces of people with giant egos, in which case, rub away. Just one point I wanna mention though. A lot of people instantly start comparing their results to others the moment they discover their marks. While this is not an inherently wrong act (or rather I would say, it's not wrong at all), I just wanted to mention that I don't think we should bother. When you compare your marks with others, one of two things will happen. They score better than you, and you feel bad(the "if they could do it, why can't I" sometimes appears), or they score worse than you, and you feel good (the "Hah, pwn3d.") Either way, your marks won't change, so you're still at the same level, and you may end up feeling different, for better or worse. Even if for better, it's still a very superficial kind of satisfaction, at least to me, to score higher than someone for a test. Because the fact is that, unless you are the 1st or last, there will be people who score better and people who score worse, and it's just pointless to compare, because I can simply find people whom I know will score worse, compare my scores to theirs and think "Wow I'm actually pretty good." I feel then, that instead of comparing with others, why not just compare with yourself? Think about it, it's the ONLY fair competition, so to speak. Other people may have started off smarter or stupider, they may have had more or less help, more or less sleep before the exam, they may have studied more or less. So many variables, all of which were beyond your control. If instead you compare with yourself, assuming that your behaviour is more or less consistent, then it's the most ideal comparison because everything is constant except the test itself. Furthermore, would you feel better if for example you scored 80 this test when you scored 60 for the previous test, knowing that you improved by 20 marks, or would you feel better if the top student in class happened to slip and drop to 59, and you maintain at 60 and "beat" them? I don't know about you guys, but I find no joy in scoring better than others when there is no improvement in myself. Knowing that I have improved by 20 marks, even if it means that I am still losing to the same people, is more satisfying than knowing that I have beaten them, because ultimately it doesn't matter that you beat someone at a test in JC. And when you compare with others, where does your motivation come from? It stems from the need, the desire to be better than others. In other words, your motivation is external, because without anyone to beat, you would not need to be better than them, and you stop progressing and improving because you lack the motivation to work harder. If instead you compare with yourself, your motivation comes from within, the desire to better yourself simply to be better than you were the day before. Since you always exist as long as you exist, your motivation will always exist as well. As long as there is room for improvement, and you can tell yourself, "I can do better than that", then you have motivation to work harder and improve. The motivation to be better than yourself is the greatest motivation you can have(I mean, not counting dramatic hollywood-esque scenarios where the love of your life is hanging off a cliff. That's different because it's specific to one event, whereas the motivation I am talking about is for your whole life in general). Because every time you best yourself, you have something new to work towards. You can always work to be better than yourself. Even the strongest man in the world would have to put in effort to be better than himself, as compared to all the billions of people who are not as strong as him.

TL;DR version of the above chunk: Don't compete with others, simply compare yourself with yourself, and aim to be better than you were the day before.

At this point I should remind you that as this blog deals with philosophy sometimes, please don't take it as a manual. The things I write on this blog are merely my own musings and thoughts. They are NOT meant to be a guideline for you to live your life. You live your life the way you live it, not the way people tell you you should live it. That being said, I like to think that some of the things I write are in fact good pieces of advice. Still, it is up to you to heed it or, if you disagree, to NOT heed it. Also, btw, if anyone ever disagrees with my points, please comment/tag and let me know. Monologuing is rather boring sometimes(though what with my ego I do enjoy listening to, or rather I would say, reading myself talk/think) and discussion is always welcome on this blog. As long as you hold back the personal attacks and objectively argue your point, I would love to hear what you guys think.

Now, onward. I was shown this epic video the day before:


I'm not a dancer, I don't know shit about dancing, but tell me if that wasn't some m4d 5killz in that vid. Also, the music is awesomesauce. K, got nothing more to say about this vid except, check out his other vids.

I have been informed that some of you guys turn off your speakers/headphones/earphones when you visit my blog. -.- K first thing to note is that the music I share on my blog nowadays is generally not the kind that most people will dislike. I.e. I don't use metal, not even hard rock, I don't use gangsta rap and I have yet to use dubstep. Secondly, the music is AWESOMESAUCE. So please, do listen to the music.

Got linked, so, some epic Drum n Bass coming up.



Seriously, the vocal sample in this one is eargasmic. Also, if anyone can find out where it's from I will be eternally grateful. Or, k maybe only grateful for awhile. But still.

K I was gonna continue but I'm really tired so maybe I'll write more soon. My blogging is more or less constant at about 1 post/month. If I miss posts then usually I post multiple times in a month. Kthxbai.

P.S. the new Title section, with the pictures, naise right? Rather than "K, Can", you get a series of 3 pictures that express more or less the same idea. Marketing, lol: making people feel like the product is different when in fact it's about as different as pop music nowadays and shit.

So my dreams keep getting weirder and weirder. But maybe it's the fever.

Anyway, combo-broke my health streak, so down with the flu, after a few months. And before that it was like a year or something. Symptoms are fever, sore throat, occasional blocked nose, lethargy and sometimes general confusion. Sucks. These few days I'll probably appear dazed and confused so if I behave strangely or anything do ignore it kthx.

Saw someone's facebook status and it triggered my memory about a post I was gonna write a while back. Then again I may have posted about this topic before, but I can't remember it now. If I have just bear with me.

So it's safe to say that almost 100% of my readers are students? In view of that, here's a question: why are you in school? I don't feel like our generation thinks about this enough. Why are you in school? For the certificate? Because there's nothing else you can do so far? I don't feel like you can properly study and learn unless you can answer that question. If you don't know why you're in school, how would you motivate yourself to study.

I'm talking about this because most people I see just seem to go through school in a daze and shit. My idea of education is to learn how to learn, not to memorise stuff. Granted, the school doesn't really do that a lot(which does put a damper on my attitude towards school), but I do still try to go to school for that purpose. I don't think it's right to go to school expecting to be given information and then just absorbing that information. You don't need to go to school for that. You have Google and textbooks. I think the point of school is, in the words of an overused analogy, to teach you how to fish, rather than to give you fish. In view of that then, what is YOUR purpose for going to school? I don't know if this is accurate, but I'm guessing that many of you are doing this just to get the certificate at the end of your JC/Uni life. But then again, so what if you get that cert? If all you did was memorise a whole bunch of stuff to obtain that cert, without really picking up all those other essential skills on the way, what use are you to anyone? The certificate, when people came up with that idea, was supposed to represent the fact that the bearer of that certificate has been through education, and has all those skills that they're supposed to have. But I feel that more and more, students have been neglecting those skills. Rather than learning how to learn, we've become more focused on remembering certain things just to get that A in an exam, and then we forget it after the exam. It may not be our fault - after all, schools have become more focused on these things as well, all for the sake of competition, but what sort of impact does this have on future generations? Will we have a generation of people who only know how to regurgitate information? Who cannot innovate, or cannot learn on their own? Time will tell.

To add on, I don't feel like it's wrong or anything to be aiming for that cert at the end of school life. It's just, how you're getting that cert. Although personally I can't stand studying any more. It's getting very boring. Sure, the Uni cert gets you a job with more money, but do you really want/need all that money? I have been told that my current belief that I would not strongly desire to be affluent in the future will prove to be erroneous, but I think it'll stick.

Birthday Update

K here comes the long awaited birthday update. Some cock-up with blogger zzz.

3rd August 2011
Firstly, thanks to Ventures for the taupoks and the burgercake(Burger+cake = Bake?!)

Secondly, thanks to everyone else who remembered it was my birthday and wished me happy birthday, even if you didn't get me a present(it's alright).

Thirdly, thanks to everyone else who didn't remember it was my birthday because now I've seen/heard the word birthday too many times and it's starting to look/sound weird.

I started this post off having a lot of things to say but I kinda forgot, so instead I'll just end of with this video. It was on my facebook page but it sort of got buried beneath all the birthday wishes. If the video is too small view it on Youtube please. It's hilarious actually, so make sure to watch the whole thing. The beginning isn't as funny.


So once again thanks for everything, guys. xD

8th August

Today's National Day Celebration was quite abysmal. The emcee in the red shirt was bloody annoying. Actually, everyone should have noticed, but if miraculously you didn't, I'm sayin'. Bloody annoying. People should speak to her in that accent and tone, see if she gets pissed off. I understand if you're trying to speak good English but people have proved time and time again that you DO NOT NEED AN ACCENT to speak good English. Tone is important, but there's no need to over-dramatise it. Even on National Day. Or the National Day celebrations.

So anyway, since we're talking about National Day, you can almost definitely expect me to throw in a cynical post. Not in the sense of the Greek philosophers, but more of the modern dictionary definition of cynical. Every National Day, people will go "I love Singapore", blah blah blah and all sorts of patriotic proclamations. While that is just simply fantastic, how many of you truly mean it? It's one thing to say something. It's another to believe in it and live it. It's another as well, to make yourself believe that you believe it and are living it. I'll give you an example.

When I go training, I'll look at a gap from afar and say to myself, "I can jump that". That's the proclamation. As I'm standing next to the gap, I'm still thinking, "I can totally jump that". That's making myself believe I can do it. But when it comes time to jump, I can't do it. Either I think the gap is too far, or I'm afraid I'll jump too far or lose control, and fall over the edge, or I'm just scared. And that's realising the self-deceit. And here's the crazy thing. You don't realise that you're lying to yourself until it comes time to validate or prove those lies. Because otherwise it wouldn't work. So yes, you can tell yourself something, you may even really believe in it. If you truly and absolutely do believe in it, good. Fantastic. But from time to time, you may want to ask yourself, "Am I really thinking like this? Do I really believe it to be so?" and you will find that maybe your perspective will change. I'm not saying to doubt yourself. No, self-confidence is an important part of living a happy life. But what I'm saying is to challenge your own beliefs. It's easy enough to challenge others' beliefs. Can you challenge your own? Do you dare to tear down your own lies? This doesn't apply only to National Day proclamations of loving your home, where you grew up etc. This applies to your everyday life. When you say something, do you really believe it?

When you challenge yourself rigorously, physically and mentally, then you will discover a more fulfilling life, or at least, that is my experience. And when you discover your own lies, and find your true beliefs, then you can lead a life that is more true to who you are. The value of such is of course debatable, but I suppose the general consensus is that being yourself is just wonderful, what with so many teenagers going on and on about it in their blogs(irony lulz), twitter, facebook etc. I don't claim to have much experience, but based on the 17 short years that I've lived, I've found out that being yourself, being who you really are, is at the same time so easy, and so difficult to do.

Speaking of challenging yourself, I find that much of today's youth, especially you privileged lot living in cities and urbanised areas, are way too comfortable. You're living in sheer luxury, but you don't know it. So, as I'm in sort of a nice-guy mood today, here's a challenge to you. How strong is your willpower? Are you able to step out of your comfort zone? It doesn't have to be something big; you don't have to go and climb Mt. Kinabalu tomorrow or anything, but a sufficiently strong challenge. If you're a gamer, how long can you go without gaming? If you drink coffee all the time, like me, how long can you go without caffeine? Many of the activities we indulge in are actually bad for us, either physically, mentally or both. Caffeine is a drug, and like many drugs, you can get addicted to it. And there are withdrawal symptoms. Have you ever heard of people who experience headaches just because they didn't have their cup of coffee that morning? Or people who fall sick when they don't have their usual coffee break? Those are withdrawal symptoms. And people who say that drinking coffee doesn't help them stay awake? That just means their body has built up a tolerance to caffeine. So, how able are you to overcome your own mental barriers?

My own challenge will be to try and go two weeks without taking any caffeine, and if that works out well maybe I'll take it further. This effectively means no coffee, no tea, no milo, no energy drinks(most of them, anyway). Once I figure out what to drink in the morning if I don't drink coffee, tea or milo, I'll start this challenge. So come up with your own challenge today. Challenge yourself and you will find the limits of your willpower, and maybe even push beyond it. Also, do tell me about it and your experiences as you try to complete your challenge. I'm rather curious to see how this works out.

Of course judging by past experiences the odds are that none of you guys will do anything I mention in this post, so I'm ready for disappointment.

Here:

On the Consumption of Diplopoda.

In light of recent events, I present to you this handy side by side comparison of millipedes to one common delicacy many of us(but not me) enjoy --- Crabs. Not the parasitic louse, mind you, but the crustacean. Without further ado, let us proceed.

Millipedes - Taste bad raw.
Crabs - Taste bad raw.

Millipedes - Taste questionable cooked
Crabs - Taste questionable cooked.

Millipedes - Have many legs
Crabs - Have many legs

Millipedes - Have no endoskeleton
Crabs - Have no endoskeleton

Millipedes - Have an exoskeleton made of chitin
Crabs - Have an exoskeleton made of chitin

Millipedes - Have two antennae.
Crabs - Have two antennae.

Millipedes - Good source of protein
Crabs - Good source of protein

Millipedes - Stink.
Crabs - Also stink.

Millipedes - Found everywhere on land
Crabs - Found everywhere in the water.

Millipedes - Slow-moving
Crabs - Slow-moving

So as you can see, crabs and millipedes are rather similar, so really, if you eat crabs, don't diss people eating millipedes. But surely there are differences, you say. Of course.

Millipedes - Curl into a ball when poked.
Crabs - Tear off your finger when poked.

Millipedes - Cannot feel pain (according to a study by Norwegian scientists)
Crabs - Can feel pain (according to recent studies)

Millipedes - Require only your bare hands to catch. In fact, it's more of foraging than catching.
Crabs - Requires hours of waiting with a cage or walking around in water with a spear.

Millipedes - Will not be stolen by eager survival-mates
Crabs - Can be eaten by eager survival-mates when you're not looking.

Millipedes - Not slang for anything negative, and has not as of yet been associated with anything negative.
Crabs - Also the term for a parasitic louse that lives in pubic hair and gives you a nasty infection.

Millipedes - If uneaten, can be used as bait to catch fish.
Crabs - If uneaten, useless.

Millipedes - Can be juggled.
Crabs - Will tear your hand off when juggled.

Millipedes - Can be stored for future eating, or as a crunchy on-the-road snack.
Crabs - Are a pain in the ass to carry around.

So as you can see, there are many differences between crabs and millipedes as well, but would you look at that --- these differences show that it is less tedious, dangerous, and more humane to eat millipedes, which are more useful than crabs even when not eaten, and don't bring up any disgusting imagery.

Giant Cheese Taco

So, what up? Today's blog title isn't random, go google it, I DARE YOU. Warning: It's NSFW. VERY NSFW. You probably shouldn't have eaten anything for the past 30 mins. And hopefully you don't plan on eating for the next 30 mins either. If you value your stomach's contents, or if you're squeamish, don't google it, whatever you do. Of course, now that I've said don't do it, the negative suggestion will just keep bouncing around inside your head and make you feel like doing it more. So don't say I didn't warn you.

So check out this song by Aerosmith. "Livin' On the Edge". It basically talks about some social issues in the world, I'll leave you to interpret the lyrics yourself, they are as follows:
NOTE: Before you watch the vid, I should inform you that there is a 20 second or so shot of a naked Steven Tyler just covering his crotch with his hand.

Livin' On The Edge Lyrics:

There's somethin' wrong with the world today
I don't know what it is
Something's wrong with our eyes

We're seeing things in a different way
And TC knows it ain't His
It sure ain't no surprise

We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge

There's somethin' wrong with the world today
The light bulb's gettin' dim
There's meltdown in the sky

If you can judge a wise man
By the color of his skin
Then mister you're a better man that I

We're livin' on the edge
You can't help yourself from fallin'
Livin' on the edge
You can't help yourself at all
Livin' on the edge
You can't stop yourself from fallin'
Livin' on the edge

Tell me what you think about your sit-u-a-tion
Complication - aggravation
Is getting to you

If chicken little tells you that the sky is fallin'
Even if it wasn't would you still come crawlin'
Back again?
I bet you would my friend
Again & again & again & again & again

(solo)

Tell me what you think about your sit-u-a-tion
Complication - aggravation
Is getting to you

If chicken little tells you that the sky is fallin'
Even if it was would would you still come crawlin'
Back again?
I bet you would my friend
Again & again & again & again

There's something right with the world today
And everybody knows it's wrong
But we can tell 'em no or we could let it go
But I would rather be a hanging on

Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself from fallin'
Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself at all
Livin' On the Edge
You can't stop yourself from fallin'
Livin' On the Edge
Livin' On the Edge
Livin' On the Edge
Livin' On the Edge
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself from fallin'
Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself at all
Livin' on the edge
You can't stop yourself from fallin'
Livin' on the edge
Livin' on the edge
You can't help yourself
You can't help yourself
Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself at all
Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself
You can't help yourself
Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself
You can't help yourself
Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself from fallin'
Livin' On the Edge
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, you got to that now 

So anyway the entire post before this point was a draft that I wrote in like March or April. And I'm very serious about not googling Giant Cheese Taco. You do not want to see it.

Anyway, school's been getting boring recently. Not saying it wasn't already but....okay it wasn't, before this year. I actually kinda had fun. But it got boring. I don't know why, maybe because it just is. It's boring and not only that I now have nothing to look forward to. Training under 武坊 is boring and to me kinda useless. Hopefully it gets better soon. In Ventures we're looking forward to Survival Camp but argh two more months to go. Coping well with studies except Econs, because frankly it's more boring than an Oscars acceptance speech that has gone on too long. I get how it might be useful(not many instances where I can apply it though) but at this level it's usefulness is quite limited. And I have no interest in it whatsoever. Not the slightest bit of interest. At all. Zero. Sub-zero, even. Frankly, I have more interest in rocks. Literally. Rocks. As in, the stuff mountains are made out of. 

So. Moving on. Recently came across this pic:

Allison Stokke. Hottest woman in the world, and also an amazing athlete. She's a pole vaulter, which just makes her so much more awesome. Apparently I'm lagging a little here because she's been famous for quite awhile now.... Just thought I'd bring this to your attention in case you've never heard of her. Google her! No idea how to pronounce her last name, but I hear reporters pronounce it as "stocky".

Recently finished the Transitions trilogy by R.A. Salvatore, which continues the story of the Companions of the Hall from the aftermath of the war between the allies and the orcs in the Forgotten Realms. For people who keep up with R.A. Salvatore's books(which I assume, in my reader base, are none), Obould Many-Arrows establishes an orc kingdom and makes peace with the dwarves. Luskan devolves into chaos and falls under the control of High Captain Kensidan, who gains power after killing Deudermont(captain of the Sea Sprite), who defeated the Hosttower of the Arcane and seizes the city from the wizards. Losing you guys already, I see. Go read his books. They're good. If you like fantasy. Anyway, in the final book of the trilogy, *spoiler alert, even though I've already leaked tons of spoilers* Catti-brie and Regis DIE. And Bruenor sort of haz a sad. Cadderly, the priest, dies as well. Drizzt gets pissed. Anyway, in the next book involving Drizzt, titled Gauntlgrym, Wulfgar and Bruenor die too. And there go the Companions of the Hall.

Back to non-geeky stuff. Had a very emotionally intense dream. Won't disclose the contents of course. Just understand that it has to do with emotions and it's intense. It's not sexual. I wonder if it's a sign of me becoming more emotionally "mature"? I've always been a little detached(not as much as Junwei) and can seem so-called "immature" at times, but wouldn't it shock you to know I have an emotional side. I just don't tell people(because what's the point?). I'm also somewhat apathetic and that's the way I like it because I don't see the need to get involved with everyone's business. Anyway, it was an interesting dream. But it sort of beat up my thoughts and sent them into a washing machine, because they're all sort of just tumbling around right now, so forgive me if some of what I'm saying makes no sense. And I've always wondered: are emotions an extension of our logical reasoning? Perhaps, hardwired into our brain is a code that contains the programming for our emotions, much like our code for logic. Except, the code for emotion is more complex. Like if logic was a flash game emotions would be the equivalent of the Pentagon's defense system. Maybe that's why it appears to defy logic sometimes. Back to the dream. It felt quite real, and even after waking up, I feel like it could happen. But logically, I know that the chance of it happening would be equivalent to an apple falling on my head and knocking me out as I walked under a tree. Ok we're done here.

What does emotionally mature mean, anyway? From the examples I can think of, it seems to actually suggest that being emotionally mature means overriding your emotions with logic and/or discipline. Which is actually becoming more logically mature isn't it? Kind of a misnomer there. And I'm also interested in how emotions work. Something happens, that triggers your brain to command your body to release certain chemicals that force it to take certain actions. For instance, you're hiking in the jungle, and a tiger jumps out and roars in your face. You instantly release pheromones that convey fear, and you also proceed to shit yourself. Well, okay, fear is simple enough to understand. You see something that poses a danger to you, you command yourself to get away from it. What about things like "love"? I put it in inverted commas because I doubt it's existence as of now, but perhaps I will be proven wrong. Scientists believe that it is induced by chemicals released in the brain. That's gonna be a bit of a problem isn't it? Why, you ask? Well, 2 things.

First: Alot of our fluffy beliefs are founded on the assumption that love is this mystical, pure and unstoppable force that compels us to perform heroic acts of self-sacrifice blah blah blah blah. 

Second: What if we found a way to induce the release of those chemicals? Suppose you have pills that make your brain release those chemicals. Now, you feed those pills to someone, and their brain does as it is supposed to, and now they're "in love" with you. Would you still treat it the same? Logically, your brain tells you it's the same. The exact same chemicals are being released, provoking the exact same responses, but your emotional side tells you that you so-called "artificially" induced it, making it less real somehow. It's all up to you to decide.

While we're on philosophy, what is altruism? I was thinking about this last year. Altruism is what people usually describe as "doing good without expecting any sort of reward". A crude definition, but it more or less sums up the whole idea. Now, some people do good because other people are watching, and it is socially more acceptable to do good rather than be apathetic. Evolutionary biologists believe this type of behavior occurs because altruism comes at a cost to the person doing the helping, and thus is a form of the handicap principle in action. You can thus sort of argue that this isn't really altruism. Alright, now suppose there's no one else except you and the guy you're helping. The guy is unlikely to ever tell anyone either. Now you help him, and you don't expect him to compensate you or anything. Is this altruism? Yes, you say, definitely! Consider this then. Did you get a warm, fuzzy feeling when you helped him? Did you know that would happen? Of course you did, and of course you did. We've been conditioned since young that altruism is it's own reward(this should set off alarm signals in your head already) and that you'll enjoy a warm fuzzy feeling from helping people. So now, if you do help people for the warm fuzzy feeling, is that not a type of reward? So is it still altruism? Since altruism is defined as doing good without expecting any benefit to the self, we can further argue that true altruism is when you do something good and don't care about it, no? Even if you do a good deed, and your reason was, "because I just felt like it" or "because I wanted to", doing it still brought you a benefit, because you sated your desire to do good, didn't you? So ironically, true altruism would stem from apathy. Because only when you truly don't care and didn't do it for a reason of any sort can you call it altruism, when you use the definition as mentioned above. Of course, practically this is all a little pointless, because what's the point of arguing this is altruism, that isn't blah blah blah if the main point was to encourage people to help other people when they can. I just thought it would be a fun thought exercise.

Personally I've always wondered whether our desire to help and preserve the lives of our fellow humans, even those we don't know, is a result of social conditioning or whether it is some innate "moral" code. Think about it: leaving more people around in the world will only lead to more competitors for resources, and saving the weak will only propagate weak genes in the gene pool, thus compromising our strength as a race and slowing down our evolution. On the other hand, your heart tells you that leaving all these people to die is wrong. Logically, I am all for the pure evolution route: survival of the fittest. Emotionally, I am unable to follow through. How can you, when you know that doing so involves killing millions, possibly billions, of "innocent" people? And therein lies the subject of my interest. Is this reluctance to weed out the weak genes in our gene pool a result of years of social conditioning, growing up in a society where the weak have learnt to utilize concepts like morality and ethics to garner protection from the strong, or is it part of us since our birth? My hypothesis is that because humans are physically weak as individuals(and we are, don't deny it), survival has demanded that we group together and win by strength of numbers. Now, survival requires that we do not live alone, or we die, and this becomes hardwired into our genes as we evolved. To survive in a society, we agree to provide protection and receive protection from others in our group. Prehistorically, this meant the tribe you belonged to, or the village you lived in. However, our genes aren't that specific, and can only tell you not to do harm to other humans, and not specifically which humans. Thus, with the advent of globalisation, we begin to see people who previously we regarded as different from us(thus making them somewhat "inhuman" and hence a race we can have no qualms about vanquishing) as one of "us". Now, our "tribe" is the entire human race around the world, and that is why we see the need to preserve and protect everyone in our tribe. Just my hypothesis, of course.

Well, that was quite a long post and it's like way past 2am. So I'll leave you guys with another song. Before I go though, I would like to state that as usual, my arguments are not perfect, I may sometimes be wrong, and it is your duty as a reader to poke holes in my arguments where there are weaknesses, by posting in the tagboard. Kthxbai

Oasis - Supersonic

Cheeseburger

Hey all, updating here. This post is actually to inform you guys that I've changed my blog url. You should know, actually, since you're here. Just in case you didn't, I did.

It's the beginning of the third week of school, and already I hear some people complaining about stress. Personally, no idea what you guys are talking about. What is this stress you guys keep talking about? It's only been 2 weeks of basic stuff, there is no stress. If anything it's more relaxed than previous years. Stress is when you have 10 hours 'til your Bio exam and you don't know anything. Stress is when you're standing on a ledge high up on a building, about to make the precision jump of your life, and if you mess up, it's 30m of plummeting doom. I mean, sure, now I actually have to study, but then again you guys have been studying for all this time that I haven't so I'm not really sure why there's a feeling of stress in you guys when I don't feel it.

So anyway, nothing much going on. Watch The Big Bang Theory to pass time, if you haven't already, here: http://www.watch-the-big-bang-theory.com/episode_guide.html
Use the links from veevr, wisevid or zshare, those usually work. It's funny, and so deliciously geeky.

If Pokemon was an integral part of your childhood (and of course that means anyone between the ages of 3 and 24) then you should read this article, so that you can have your childhood come crashing down around you. It's kinda depressing, some parts don't really make sense and some parts it references in the anime are just not true, but yeah it's still really depressing. Some also say creepy, and I agree with that as well. In any case, read it and weep.

So that's all, short update.

Pancake

It's interesting how you don't really notice a glaring fault/flaw in someone's behavior/personality sometimes. It's probably always been there, but maybe you don't see it, or don't want to see it. It always becomes apparent after enough exposure to that person though, and you learn to tolerate it or you don't. Meh. See this observation explored in the episode Spoiler Alert from How I Met Your Mother.

Anyway, Zhiyang mentioned this interesting rendition of Flo Rida's song Club Can't Handle Me:

So, watch it, if you have some time. Must see: the body lotion part at 2 mins ++

First week of school, I got through it more or less alive and cheerful. Still, I feel like I'm spending too much time doing school work instead of slacking. Gotta slack harder.

PE is probably gonna be really tough for the next 3 months or so, at least, so looking forward to that, though I really gotta improve on my endurance. Muscle aches all over already, but as I've mentioned to many people before, I like that feeling, that tired, aching feeling. Makes me feel like I accomplished something, which I usually have.

For those of you who don't already know(i.e. haven't seen the pic on facebook yet), I beat QWOP on 24th December at about 8.40pm, here's the pic(click for larger version).

In the bottom right corner is the tooltip from my messenger, with my email there and it says signed in, just to prove I didn't steal this pic from someone. It was Christmas eve, and I hadn't really done anything big that day. So at 8pm I was sitting at my computer, and I thought, well I need a challenge. So I thought of the most challenging thing I knew of at the time(beating QWOP) and I said to myself that I would beat it before Christmas. After about 40 mins, I did it, surprisingly. It's an epic feeling, to beat QWOP. Of course I was then faced with the problem of what to do for the next 3 hours or so, since I had allocated 4 hours to beating QWOP. And also then had to face the fact that it isn't really that hard a game.

I started this post wanting to talk about something interesting but I kinda forgot, so I'm gonna here. Will post again if I remember what I wanted to talk about.

Also, hi to any new readers I may have gotten over the new year. Hi. Am gonna keep this tradition of saying hi to any new readers after every new year. Even if I don't have any new readers. I suppose it's time I put that nuffnang thing back on just to keep track of how many readers I have.

Hey guys, bored, so here's an update.

For all the crap that Korea has given us and the rest of the world, she is not without merit, as Korea has produced many great persons. One famous example is Kim Jong-il. Lulz jk. It's funny how most people say Korea and people will automatically assume it's the Republic of Korea(a.k.a South Korea). Has it never occurred to you that a pretty girl group may come from the north? ........................Ok maybe not. Still, we should seriously start referring to the south as the south, instead of just Korea. Anyway, for all the crap that the Republic of Korea has given the world (e.g. Shinee, Super Junior etc.) she has produced persons that are as good as the aforementioned groups are bad. Take for instance, this amazing violinist called Jiyoun Kim, a.k.a sori1004jy on the internet. (According to some guy, "sori" means "sound" in Korean and "1004" when spoken in Korean sounds like the word(s) for "angel".)

Also, check out her epic version of the Super Mario theme:

Other good things that come from Korea obviously include food and the quality of plastic surgery they offer.

And now for something, completely different. As the progeny of nature, mankind has made much progress from the days of Urk the caveman. We've ended up where we are now, which frankly is not a very enviable position. Yet, I was thinking the other day, that we came from this Earth. Everything we've made has come from this Earth. So are issues such as global warming really our fault? It is a bad thing, global warming, we can all agree on that. I'm not so naive as to believe my interest in slowing or eliminating global warming is due to a love of nature; rather it is due to a love of survival. We are still animals after all, and no matter how intelligent you are, your greatest motivation is survival. I'm digressing. Anyway, since the materials that resulted in global warming came from the Earth that we live in, and we as children of this Earth were capable of manufacturing these materials into what they are, perhaps it was meant to be. That's one view. The other would be to believe that what we do and what happens around us is not influenced by this system we call "fate" or "destiny". In that case, then yes, it is totally our fault, we screwed up, we screwed up BIG. But I just thought it was interesting there exists the possibility that we were SUPPOSED to mess up the earth. I mean, the human brain is ultimately an Ultra-computer. Like any computer, we have programming. The more complex the programming is, the less it seems to be like a machine, and more like what we call "sentience". Yet, computers are computers, and the limit of a computer is in its programming. Were we programmed to destroy the Earth?

There we are, some of my inner ramblings. I think about these things when I'm sitting on the bus, or can't sleep at night, or blogging at 2am. Anyone smarter or has a better idea than me, please feel free to tear apart my reasoning or shoot me down on the tagboard or comments section. (You guys don't even care about the comments section of each post, do you?) I get the feeling that there's some flaw in my reasoning somewhere, but I can't think of it now, or am just not smart enough to ever think of it before someone points it out.

Haven't done my GP homework. I said I'll do it today, and in fact this is the reason why I didn't go the BBQ for 2B chalet (sorry 2B'08). But you know, I just didn't feel like it. And even though I had nothing much to do, I still didn't do my GP homework. I was thinking about doing it tomorrow awhile ago. Then I realized, hey, I haven't been punctual with my homework for the past 6 years of my schooling, why should I change now? And it being a new year, doesn't quite kick it. So I figure, I'm not gonna do it, and I'll wait until I get pwn3d really bad or something before I do it. Let's hope Ms Seetoh Peiling(think she's my GP tutor) is a nice person.

Anyway, New Year, so Happy New Year. Right, one year has passed, so let's look at some of my past year's resolutions and see if I did accomplish them.

----Extracted from my post dated January 14, 2010----

15 pull ups. Meh. I'm actually further away from this than when I wrote down that resolution. Time to start training like mad.

Reach basketball hoop. Got there once. It was a nice day.

Master b-kick. Ok when I said master, I actually mean GET. Francis pointed out to me that MASTERING b-kick would take many many years, and personally I think it might be at the Jet Li or Bruce Lee level of fitness. I got b-kick though, so WOOT.

Run to new school campus. I did this one time, while going to school before heading for CID field trip. Didn't run all the way, since I was carrying my bag and kinda strained my neck a little. But yeah I ran for most of it.

Eat philly cheesteak. NOOOOO. I NO CAN HAZ PHILLY CHEEZSTEAK! Didn't get to eat one. 

15 sec handstand. Almost there..... I'm not sure, but I think I got a 12 second one once.

I will do my chinese homework. More or less accomplished

I will not be too sarcastic/hurting towards classmates because they are my only lifeline during O levels for HCL. Hmmm......I will TRY. Turns out, I have no idea why I wrote this down. I mean, O levels for HCL is easy, and when it got here, I wasn't really concerned about it. That said, I was much nicer to people in 2010

I will grow taller than Jean. Argh, didn't manage to do it. I'm like stuck here.

I will not play so much basketball/soccer that I am incapacitated and am unable to do homework. Easy. Done.

I will do homework. Meh

I will at least try to do homework if I am unable to complete it. Meh

I will at least pretend to try if I don't even feel like trying. Meh

I will not leave shoe prints all over walls in the school should I feel like trying something out, but will instead leave FOOTprints if I have to, because my soles are not as immediately recognizable as the soles of my shoes. Managed to not leave any prints at all. I think.



So yeah, my new yaer resolutions from last year. So about a 64% success rate. That's cool. Resolutions for this year, alright!


Will start studying for subjects like Bio. This is major. It will be the first time I study in my entire life.


Get an Aerial. It's only the start of the year and my cartwheel is more or less ok, so probably will be able to get aerial this year if I train hard.


Learn a new instrument. I have a goal to be able to play at least 10 instruments before I die. So, currently we got:
Drums.
Guitar, considering that I can learn a song with tabs and can play simple riffs. I still suck at guitar though.
Harmonica.
Beatboxing.
Singing. Your voice is technically an instrument.
Castanets. Cheating here, but hey, who sets the rules?
Cowbell. Blatantly cheating.
Triangle. Yep.
Tambourine. Learned it when I was 6.


So yeah, that's nine already. Just need 1 more instrument. Most people can play alot of these instruments(usually the bottom few). See, people need to start giving themselves more credit for things.


Ace at least 3 of my subjects, and get no lower than a B for the rest. I'm fully capable of this.


Make 10 new friends. Widening my social circle is important. If you count the indians we danced with and said happy new year to at the countdown at Boon Lay I'm already halfway done lol. But no, we're not counting those guys, though they're really happy people. Or really drunk. Or both.


Obtain a medal/trophy. It's sad but, in my entire life, despite the great, handsomely chiseled chunk of awesome that I am, shining with brilliance, I have never gotten a medal or a trophy. In the entire cabinet in my house devoted to medals and trophies, only one of them has my name on it, and it's for getting full marks in New South Wales (Science) when I was P3, so, you know, doesn't count. Every time I have a chance at a medal or trophy, something happens that makes it not happen. Sports day in primary school ---- I was one of the representatives, and it was a telematch. I take the lead early on by excelling at all the ridiculously easy tasks(e.g. toss the beanbag in the hula hoop positioned 2m away), but my teammate not only fails at most of the tasks, but also happens to slip in the wet grass, since it just stopped raining. Ok, not his fault, but really, we were so close. We could have been 2nd place, at least. Every badminton tournament I've been in ---- We get pwned at the qualifiers. The QUALIFIERS, ffs. We win some matches, lose some, but always get eliminated at the qualifiers. Oh well, someone has to get eliminated. Sports day 2007, I'm running 4x400m, a sec 1 guy running with all the sec 2 guys. Didn't have a chance. Still, I am told I overtook this sec 2 guy from dance. Not bad. RVHS Cross Country 2009, ran, ended up 37th place or something. I suppose that's okay. Sports day 2009, I had to either run relay or play frisbee. Decided to support our class' frisbee team, since we got good runners already. Our runners get 1st in place, while our frisbee team gets eliminated at the semi-finals because we were pitted against 4B, with Ying Wai. He is a beast man. So I felt it was kinda unfair for us, 'cause it was the final 4, and our game with 4B was the only elimination match. 2010, no sporting events, since I didn't run for sports day and Cross Country run was cancelled or something. Inexplicable. Well, let's hope I get a medal/trophy in 2011. I'd hate to die in 2012 without ever achieving a single trophy.


15 pull ups, since I didn't get it the previous year.


15 sec handstand, since I didn't get it the previous year.


And we're done, I can't think of anything more to write about.