Timeless

03Feb10

Or rather, no time.

It’s in the busier and faster paced times of secondary three that I will hold fast to the principles that I hold dear – immovable, unshakeable principles to live by. I can press on again, having found strength in them – not from ambition, peers or the ego – principles.

Truth, compassion, community.

Will post sometime or anytime.

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Deimos and Phobos

09Nov09

Hmm, being away at ISO exhibition meant that I missed the last day of school, and  in extension, the last day with 2I.

From secondary 1 2I had been crazy – the shouting, the action, the drama and all that. Through it all, as monitor, I think that I’ve slogged hard enough to keep things going and the friends I’ve made in 2I helped make things easier. From the start, I’ve always seen 2I to be half – half – crazy, rambunctious and with a significant portion of apathetic people but in the end, when things came to a head, there would be a moment where we would actually standing shoulder to shoulder defending ourselves in so many fields. I can think of so many times when crisis struck and we would be discussing in hushed tones of how to get out of it; manoeuvres behind the scenes.

Well, I can’t exactly say we came together only when faced with such issues. In lighter moments, before tests, sleep-deprived mornings, frisbees in the classrooms, there has always been a core band of people keeping the camaraderie and spirit alive. To Alex Chan, Alexander, Brandon, Min Seok, Jax, Yongjie, Marcus, Daniel, Clarence and all the others who have made the difference in the past 2 years – 2I has been fragmented, it has been moribund, but more often than not we have fought to keep the things we hold as important.

Thanks guys!

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No Country for Old Men

09Nov09

Last week has seen a slew of RIPB duties – Fundraising dinner, ISO Exhibition and touring duties for ORA. ORA and fundraising dinner mainly involved interaction with alumnus of Raffles Institution. Was touring a genial group of three men who seemed mainly preoccupied with recounting their old days at RI; there was one moment that did remind me of the pragmatism the older generations had that helped shape Singapore in the first place. We were passing by the science labs where some slightly new murals were on display and when i told them so, the reply was, “Ok… but was the money used to renovate the insides too? That’s what important you know.” Simple statements like these are the ones that I take the longest to forget.

ISO Exhibition was insanely exhausting and boring at times, but hey, it gave me time to catch up with fellow RIPB mates and old friends – primary school classmates who went to ACSI and HCI. Not to mention making new ones too. I think the standard of GEB projects has gone up considerably; Yi Zhuan’s “This is primary school work!?” exclamation was proof enough anyway. Aand the kids. The first day wasn’t too good as at the first sign that I was asking a question half of them would make a grab for the prizes. The second day wasn’t too bad, except the time when all of them raised their hands at the same time and promptly made me feel insanely guilty by giving me the best hangdog expression whenever I didn’t choose them ):

The fundraising dinner was interesting in that the alumni seem to be overflowing in disposable income. Except, of course, the younger 30-ish ones who took up a whole table at the back and talked very loudly. Strangely enough, although we were there to serve only because RGPB had not replied to the request for help, RGS choir and cheerleading were performing there.

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Take Me Home Country Road

09Nov09

RIPB training camp was very telling – that after one year of working, slacking and slaving away together, the first batch of prefects for my batch has come together and learned to do more than live with each other – we’ve gone far beyond that already. Sleep meetings past 1am at the Junior Block, friendly ribbing in between games, silent walks in the darkening campus – we’re starting to see ourselves as more than a band of people who got past the elections; we’re a team now.

Of course, the camp was a time for getting to know the newly elected prefects and preparing for a year ahead working with them. Surely, after previous perceptions have been put aside, I’ve found them to be great partners and better leaders in their own right. Hopefully I can remember the secondary ones’ names by the end of the year

The main thing would probably be Mr. Paul Lim’s training session with us. I think after going through the session, I can honestly say I’ve grown to see different aspects of RIPB – where it can be improved, where it is working, where it is not. While I can’t call it an empat mata (four eyes in malay, meaning a private, confidential conversation) session, I do feel that this will be a shared experience we will not easily let go of anytime soon.

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Facing Future

26Oct09

There are still quite a fair bit of things to do even after the exams – NCC, Moot Parliament, CAP Mentorship, Arvon Creative Writing Workshop, OBS, Foreign Scholars Orientation, RIPB Training and RSP overseas trip. Certainly a lot of acronyms and capital letters there…

I don’t really intend to fall into a mess of computer addiction and stagnancy like last year – at the very least, this holiday is going to be quite a busy one. Not that slacking is bad, but the mind thus to regress when left to rot.

I’ve got quite some things going for me into 2010, things to look forward to, responsibilities to manage, but lots of prepping and planning will be needed beforehand and that’s what I’ll be filling the rest of the free time with (barring recreation!). I’ve got to get back into contact with friends and go out more after the long period of reclusiveness brought about by exams too.

The feeling now is the same as what I got a few months back at Raffles. There had been an absolutely huge storm that had cleared the sky of all the clouds (unlike temperate countries, Singapore’s sky is almost always covered with some form of clouds) and there was nothing but blue.

A sense of release and clarity, with the knowledge of things yet to come.

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Celton Wish Ball

26Oct09

A pretty exciting event I want to talk about.

As part of Interact Club EXCO (VP), we were invited to attend Celton Wish Ball, which was essentially a charity auction cum dinner for the Make a Wish Foundation. At first we thought it was to help out as volunteers in one way or another but it turned out that we were there to witness a method of raising funds.

The address was a problem; it wasn’t on usual directories so the cab driver dropped us off about 100m away from the actual site. But it didn’t really matter since the walk to Keppel Island was great – across a steel bridge overlooking a marina with all the yachts on our right and the open sea on our left.

The marquee itself was located farther in so we had the chance to look at the cars on display. Not that the cars owned by the attendees weren’t already exotic enough on their own.

The marquee was really dark with mist machines so it was too dark to get proper photos. We met the man in charge and the Rafflesian whose parent had probably sponsored our table – Mrs. Georgia Lee who very kindly introduced herself to us.

The performances were okay – a stand up comedian who made gender jokes and the Dim Sum Dollies but the auction segment was interesting. The first item sold below the estimated price but after that the prices just kept going up – the last one, a Tiffany Watch I think, went for eighty thousand dollars. Oh and the food was excellent – the cod melted in the mouth. Luckily I didn’t forget Western dining etiquette (what little I know gleaned from Harry Lee’s memoirs).

Certainly one of the rare times when I get to see the cream of Singapore society going about their usual business on the cocktail circuit.

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Clean Slate, Planning Ahead

26Oct09

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every year after the exams end I go into an insane cleaning mode for a day, thrashing, filing, wiping – basically scrubbing every trace of the year that I won’t need anymore away. it does get out of hand sometimes (I found myself using glass cleaner to polish my timepiece at one point) but in the end I get a nice clean desk and a sense of neatness and organisation. Certainly something I would’ve been missing for the past few months.

Theo’s encouragement notwithstanding, decided to post again as people begin drifting back to their blogs after months-long hiatuses. There’s quite a lot of things that’s happened in the past few months but I’ll just write about the main highlights later.

Secondary 2 life has really been about lessons – ones that changed myself and how I view things. Even reading my notes from the start of the year was a revelation; untidy, large scrawls have straightened out into neat dark script. An indication perhaps of some of the changes – a little more morose, a little less assertive, but certainly for the better.

There are some things I don’t throw out though – there are two boxes of plastic soldiers stuck in a cupboard that I can’t really find it in myself to throw away.

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Tidbits

13Aug09

Here and there I find interesting bits of quotes, news and pictures that I feel I should share. An old man walks past the 6830 pairs of cloth shoes that placed in a park in memory of the dead Chinese forced laborers in Tokyo, Aug. 9, 2009.  (Xinhua/Ren Zhenglai)

I’ll tell you another quick story. There was a woman named Rosemary who long ago retired from Procter & Gamble. Rosemary was a cafeteria worker, and at the time at P. & G., we actually had a cart that would come around at 7, 7:30 in the morning. They would ring a bell and you’d go get a cup of coffee and a doughnut or a bagel or something to start off your day.
And Rosemary had an uncanny ability to discern who was going to make it and who wasn’t going to make it. And I remember, when I was probably almost a year into the organization, she told me I was going to be O.K. But she also told me some of my classmates who were with the company weren’t going to make it. And she was more accurate than the H.R. organization was.
When I talked to her, I said, “How’d you know?” She could tell just by the way they treated people. In her mind, everybody was going to drop the ball at some point, and then she said: “You know you’re going to drop the ball at some point, and I see that you’re good with people and people like you and you treat them right. They’re going to pick up the ball for you, and they’re going to run and they’re going to score a touchdown for you. But if they don’t like you, they’re going to let that ball lie there and you’re going to get in trouble.”

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Life at the Top

22Jul09

So apparently one of my classmates has H1N1 and so the class has been “isolated” at the top floor of the S.R. Block. Which would have been fine, except that there were no air cons there and we have to walk seven floors up and down every time we make a trip out. Some enterprising classmates decided to steal fans from other class and now we have like six standing fans around the classrooms. So every now and then my worksheets get blown off and I get a bad cold from the wind ><

One of the benefits though is that we’re still excused from CCAs so there’s more time after school. Also recess is half an hour earlier, and ours is separated from the rest of the schools’ (except for the other isolated classes) so the queues are nonexistent (: But there are lots of people absent, averaging around 10 every day.

Hopefully life gets back to normal soon.

And the clouds blocked the eclipse today ):

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Evaluating People

22Jul09

Watching the various movies in the Harry Potter series on Channel 5 brought to mind an old quote dog-eared from the Goblet of Fire book:

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” – Sirius Black

Which is timely advice at this stage when getting along with people is necessary, and the first step to that is by getting a proper measure of a person. It might sound manipulative, but knowing what motivates someone and playing by those guidelines goes a long way when dealing with them. The quote also points out what I’ve seen happen before: people may be friendly and nice enough when interacting with seniors or equals, but are entirely different among those they consider inferior.

It is mainly because there is often a need for one to impress those of higher rank or status in order to progress, and is quite the opposite for one’s inferiors. Not exactly a nice notion, but it is nevertheless true. It is an accepted hypocrisy, especially when there is great competition, and the sad fact is that most people seem to take things at such shallow face value.

Basically, this post is not about acting in a different manner – deciding just how to treat others is a personal choice. It is about how to make a measure of others well, to figure out just who they really are inside. This quote is in fact the easiest and best measure of people – to discern whether or not if they simply view others only as means to further benefit themselves.

Because sometimes the easiest way to get to the top is to climb on others, and the choice between what is right and easy is very often the hardest and most important of all.

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