Friday, May 29, 2009
The Human Spirit's limitless bounds 1st edition
Well here is the first of many editions of the topic on the human spirit and it limits. This should be an interesting topic to some as it pertains to the many aspects of life.
Well the human spirit is often known as the human will or the human drive. This is the very basic ingredient in the process of self-discovery and victory. Without it, many accomplishments that we see today would have been unable to be accomplished in the first place. take a look at Thomas Edison. It took him over 2000 times before he manged to invent the light bulb or to be precise, the light bulb filament. If he had very little will power to succeed and continue, would he have been able to overcome the 2000 step challenge? Also on that fact, 2000 steps just to invent something as small as a filament, is a true example of how limitless the human spirit can be.
The human spirit is, in actuality, a combination of a multitude of different parts. The above is what is known as the human drive to succeed. Now let us talk about the will to survive or the spirit to live on component.
In India, there lives a man with a unique genetic mutation that has been unprecedented. His body grew tree-like barks all over his body giving him the appearance of a walking tree. For most people. living with that kind of appearance would mean total disaster and shame. Most would just give up on life and just kill themselves but not this fella. He told the whole world on television : I only have 1 life. Just because I am unique does not mean that I should kill myself just so as to not tarnish the image of society. I am still human, just a different kind of human.' If he no faith in himself to believe that he should live, then he would have died a long time ago. His heart showed him the light that he should continue to live on. For him, his heart represents his human spirit and his will to live on in the face of certain oppression is his way of showing limitless bounds of spirit.
That's all for the 1st edition. Will publish 2nd soon.
Matthew Lamketeer03 signing off: Who masked the Mask?
++ Memory Stored at 10:38 PM ++
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The end of another term...The begining of the final ascent
Well the time has finally arrived. The end of term 2 has come upon us. Looks like it's full steam ahead from here on end with a straight shot to the A-levels. Never mind the mid-years and what results you get. Use the mid-years as a gauge to what you need to focus on and how to managed your time during a paper.
Well as for me, its full gear for me. Gonna use this June hols to brush up on my subjects. Gonna have to put all others aside as its now or never. A make it or break it race as of this moment and I'm not gonna be on the break it side. My target is set and time to stop slacking. I've had my fun but now is time for the pain as the saying goes 'pain is necessary for victory' and I want to see ultimate victory in the A-levels. To hell with what others say. I have my goals and if others think they're dumb then let them. I will work for my goals and when I attain them, I will have the final laugh.
But I never thought that term 2 would finally end. Its been a hectic term for everyone with teachers rushing to finish the syllabus and students struggling to keep up. We are just about finished with our syllabus with about 3 topics from each subject yet to be completed. I feel that this is too slow. We need to move faster for the sake of those who do not understand the topics. Its been tough on us, but we have pulled through. Congrats JC2s, we have officially entered the final obstacle in this A-level race. The obstacle of our limits. Can we strive to beat the odds and surpass our limits? Well I certainly can and I will. Its time I even the playing field in SRJC. I certainly have no intention of lagging behind.
So guys who are reading this blog, with the exception of Elvent who I know is reading this, remember, its all revision and mugging from here on in and we must 'choing shua' all the way. I look forward to seeing you surpass the limits. Here's a simple gaol for some of you. Give Elvent some competition beside Clarence. I mean, one competitor is boring. Make it a race. As for the classes after 2S02, let's give them something to worry about. They hold the top spot at the moment. Let's make that tough for them. Oh and btw, Elvent, the above message does not mean you don't need to mug. Its for those who have not 'woken up their idea'.
Well, on the point of goals, set one for yourself. I have mine. To enter MIT and graduate a specialist in atomic research. Its a high goal I know, but at least I have something to work for. Can the same be said for you? Set something to aim for. Even though its low, its something worth working for. I'll be praying for everyone, praying very hard that we all do well for the A-levels. Please guys, WAKE UP! I really do not want to see anyone retaining! At this point, this reminds me of a song I heard a long time ago. The song title is 'wake up and pay attention' and the lyrics go like this:
If you wanna be somebody
If you wanna go somewhere
You better wake up and pay attention
Hey...
So you think you've got the answers
To all that lies ahead
Well, in my mind I thought the same one time
And I hear you spouting much talk
'Bout how you ain't being lead
Ain't no one telling you what to do
But attitude will catch up with you
And keep you from your destiny
CHORUS:
If you wanna be somebody
If you wanna go somewhere
You better wake up and pay attention
When the time is now or never
To make your dreams come true
You gotta wake up and pay attention
[Ryan Toby]
I ain't buyin' no more lyin'
'Cause truth don't cost a thing
Denyin' what's inside's too much to pay
It's 'bout sweatin' without stressin'
There ain't no other way
You know you can't get much without much givin'
Oh, expect from yourself and you'll respect yourself
You control your destiny
CHORUS X 2
Time to wake up, everybody
Time to wake up, children
Wake up, everybody
(ooh...)
CHORUS
If you wanna be somebody (wake up)
Go somewhere
Wake up and pay attention
When the time is now or never
To make your dreams come true
You gotta wake up and pay attention
Slackers, guys who give up easily and those with no willpower to move forward, this song is for you!
If you wanna go somewhere
You better wake up and pay attention
Hey...
So you think you've got the answers
To all that lies ahead
Well, in my mind I thought the same one time
And I hear you spouting much talk
'Bout how you ain't being lead
Ain't no one telling you what to do
But attitude will catch up with you
And keep you from your destiny
CHORUS:
If you wanna be somebody
If you wanna go somewhere
You better wake up and pay attention
When the time is now or never
To make your dreams come true
You gotta wake up and pay attention
[Ryan Toby]
I ain't buyin' no more lyin'
'Cause truth don't cost a thing
Denyin' what's inside's too much to pay
It's 'bout sweatin' without stressin'
There ain't no other way
You know you can't get much without much givin'
Oh, expect from yourself and you'll respect yourself
You control your destiny
CHORUS X 2
Time to wake up, everybody
Time to wake up, children
Wake up, everybody
(ooh...)
CHORUS
If you wanna be somebody (wake up)
Go somewhere
Wake up and pay attention
When the time is now or never
To make your dreams come true
You gotta wake up and pay attention
Well on that note I end it off. I leave you with a quote my friend Levin loves: 'we have one shot at life! Let's do the best we can, live it and not waste it'. Yes, let's not waste our lives away slacking off and being bums. Let us do well, celebrate and succeed in life and let us truly make the dream of "Confucius says, 2009 A-level cohort see everyone getting 88, 89, 90 points for A-level...ooooh this is the official document from Cambridge!" Come on guys! Lets make that a reality! Let us mug like the nerd who has got an exam tomorrow or even harder! From June to December guys! Remember this well!
Matthew Lameketeer03 signing off: Confucius says, man who want pretty nurse, must be patient
++ Memory Stored at 7:45 PM ++
Friday, May 22, 2009
The secret to success
Ok I know, this is probably the ironic thing coming from me seeing as my results don't show greatness. But seriously, just becuase I don't show it, does not mean I don't know the methods. Its just because I'm lazy to follow them:P.
The first method, memorize like there's no tomorrow. This is especially good for subjects like chemistry, biology, economics and geography. Reason being, these subjects have a fixed style of writing and answers. You don't have to understand why it happens but only need to know how to answer it. That's the advantage of these subjects and the main reason why most people take these subjects.
The second method, practice like there's no tomorrow. This now, is especially good for subjects like math, physics, General Paper and other languages. These require constant practice to help retain the skills and knowledge of how to apply skills learnt. This is also good because it helps to familiarize yourself with the many different forms of a question and this is an asset for math.
The third, love the subject you do. When you like the subject you are doing, you tend to do better at it then other subjects you do not like. This is useful for the sciences as they require a liking for them to enable better marks. This holds true for physics because unless you like the subject, you tend to have a mental block for it and you will never appreciate the subject to its entirety and you will tend to do badly at it.
The last method I can give to all those who can't use the above three. The last is go and see a teacher or a friend who is good at the subject. They would be the best help for you if you can't understand it. Of course, don't be ridicules and ask them to teach you the whole topic. They would sooner kick your butt then help you do that.
Well that's all for this week. Will get back to this next week after exams.
Matthew Lameketeer03 signing off: Confucius say, 2 wrongs don't make a right, but 2 rights make a U-turn.
++ Memory Stored at 8:38 PM ++
Saturday, May 16, 2009
To boldly go where no man has gone before
A phrase that I must agree with. This phrase is part of a core phrase that drives the United Federation of Planets in the series Star Trek. The full phrase is as such: 'Space... the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.' Well of course in today's world, space should not be our final frontier but it should be the strive for peace, stability and the ability to surpass our limits through healthy and fair means. Our phrase in life should be: 'human limits... the Final Frontier. This is the goal of the human race. Its life-long mission: to encourage and materialise eternal peace; to ensure stability in all affairs; to enable the growth beyond the human limit through fair and healthy competition and means; to boldly go where no man has gone before.' This should be our driving phrase that we should adopt. We must remember that in today's world of suffering due to war and other acts of violence, a need for peace is not just required, it's neccesery if we are to live on in this world. Cause I definately do not want to live in a world full of hate, strife and turmoil everyday.
Anyway, since we are speaking about the star trek phrases I must mention that I just watched the new Star Trek movie today. Well all in all I must say that for a Star Trek movie, it did pretty well. Considering that it took out most of the original elements of the Star Trek series so as to enable normal people to understand it. The story depicts the prequel to The Original Series and how Captain James T Kirk came into commanding the Starship Enterprise and how he came to form his legendary crew with whom he will make bonds for life. Particularly that of Spock, his first officer and the only true friend of that half Vulcan half human. Well here is a poster of it:
For those of you who are not Trekkies, I must recommend that you watch this show. This show serves as a good representation of the whole series till date. For those who are not Trekkies but love science fiction, this is also a good movie for you. For the Trekkies, don't miss this movie. It will be a sin if you do.
Well that all for today. Will be getting back to this after my mid-years. So this will be me saying: may you live long and prosper
and may you go where no man has gone before.
Matthew Lameketeer03 signing off: your mama so fat that when she walks, the whole planet registers a magnitude 12 earthquake.
++ Memory Stored at 7:45 PM ++
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Vicious Cycle of violence
Well most of us wonder, why do terrorist do what they do? Well firstly, the main reason is to try and get the attention of greater and more powerful governments and organizations in a bid to tell them: 'We're human too. Don't ignore us and our requests and at least try to solve them.' This is due to the fact governments don't take them seriously and these governments always think that they are just out to cause trouble. This is because the request made by them are not in line with what the government wants. These are usually the kind of terrorist known as the 'peace terrorist' they demand for peace using methods that utilize peaceful methods such as the peace protest in Myanmar. The monks held peaceful protest in a bid for a pro-democracy government along with nuns to express their solidarity with the Buddhist monks jailed in Myanmar and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. However, the junta or military government branded them as terrorist and began a nation wide crackdown on then using force. This sparked a world-wide effort for humanitarian laws to be established. However till this day, no such laws have been established and so I ask this, is this kind of 'terrorist' act acceptable? Cause in my opinion, it is, considering that this is more of a demonstration-in-demand-for-a-democracy and not some terrorist act.
Now we look at the real kind of terrorist that we should brand as 'terrorist'. These kind of people use force from the start to gain their demands. But first of all, I would like to ask this question to you. What is the main objective of terrorism? If you answer: 'it is to kill people' then you are wrong. The death of the many innocent bystanders are just byproducts of the real reason of terrorism. Terrorism is to create terror and confusion in the citizens of a nation. This is usually to tell them: 'your government or leadership sucks as we don't like it. Get it changed'. Now I don't wish to be racist or anything or even generalize but have you noticed that it is only the jihadist or Muslim-extremist that are doing this? Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that all of Muslims are like that or even saying that I hate them. I just want to draw our attention to the fact that these extremist definitely do not have the value of tolerance or even the wisdom or 'reading between the lines'. Firstly, most do not like the west becuase why? Because the west is full of activities and sin that their religion does not accept. By their law, these people who commit the crime must die. Hello guys, is anyone home? We are in the damn 21st century. Please keep up with humanity and its rights. Who cares if the person is unholy and deserves punishment? He is still a human created by god regardless of religion and he should be subjected to humane and fair laws that are correct in the eyes of god.
Now some of these people become terrorist for revenge purposes. Reason: 'he kill my family, I kill his'. This I'm afraid to say, is not the way it should be done. Can't we just forgive and forget? Live and let live? Why the revenge? So you kill the guy yes. Then what? The guy's next of kin kills someone else close to you and the cycle continues endlessly bringing on more death. Did the guy think this through all the way? What? You thought by killing the guy responsible for your loved ones death would solve it? You thought: 'oh he dead liao. problem solved. I'm happy so everyone is'. Well hate to break it to you guys but this will guys cause more deaths and thus you will never stop killing as they would want revenge on you and then next thing you know, you want revenge again....and again...and again. And don't give me that bullshit about how your religion says that killing is legal and that it is all correct in the eyes and law of your god. No religion and no god would place you on the Earth just so you could kill each other with no penalty. As I always said, people with shallow or no insight will someday get their just desserts for their actions-with-no-thought as I call it.
Some terrorist I would call ungrateful. Mas Selamat is a good example. He was raised in Singapore and was given everything here, education, a family, a home and everything and how does he pay us back? By plotting to bomb us that's how. How ungrateful can that ingrate get? We give him a gold coin and he bombs s to the kingdom come with a big thank you. I really hope he sees the error in his ways and change for the better
Now will you agree that all these acts don't bring about utopia that terrorist dream of? They claim that their actions are for the good of man but they just bring about more sorrow and sadness. They very nutrients for hate, suffering and more terror acts which would result in more wars and more deaths and the cycle continues on till one finally gives up. Do we want to live in a world like that? I would not and I don't think the terrorist want it as well. So i suggest that they had better wake up and see the light that their actions bring about more sorrow and sadness and not the utopia that they want.
Well that's all folks. Pleas forgive me if there is any part that is inconsistent. I wrote this on the spot and well I did not get a draft ready so if there are any discrepancies please let me know.
Matthew Lameketeer03 signing off:It's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.
++ Memory Stored at 3:02 PM ++
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Mas Selamat caught...again...
Ans so we have it, Mas Selamat is caught...yet again...for the fourth time running and by intelligence provided by none other than the Singapore ISD yet again. You'd think he'd had learn how to evade the police after getting caught 3 times... The phrase 'once bitten, twice shy' definitely does not apply to him cause he ain't learning from his mistakes. Maybe he thought that people would actually take this poster seriously:
Perhaps he thought that we would be fooled? Or maybe he slack to much. Perhaps he mugging bombing strategies so much he never notice Malaysian police knocking at his door. Well in any case, Singapore had better put him in a bomb proof 10 foot thick concussion proof steel truck when they bring him back to Singapore. Maybe they should add a couple of iron balls and chain those to his leg. His cell...well...I'd say about 20 feet of solid gold outta do it. If he can escape through that...Houdini might as well give his title to him.
My friend had an interesting theory about this whole saga. She theorizes that Singapore deported Mas Selamat to Malaysia. The, they whip up this whole story about how he escaped just to get the minds of Singaporeans off the high cost of living. When this was achieved, they drop it till a time when a boost was needed. This year, after announcing that Singapore was in a recession, they suddenly was able to 'capture' him. This effectively moves the focus from the recession to him straight away. Thus, the people would be given a boost to work harder and boost the sense of togetherness between Singaporeans.
This is an interesting theory but however...I think that the government has better things to do than to kick up unnecessary trouble.
Well in any case I'm glad that he is back where he belongs, behind closed doors...literally. I don't want him wandering around again where he can cause hurt to others and prolong the vicious cycle of violence that would bring about 'peace'. I will talk more about this cycle for 'peace' issue another time.
Well that's all I have for today. Please stay tuned for more exciting posts from the Lamekeeter03 HUD(Hip and Up to Date) News
Matthew Lameketeer03 signing off: An American tourist was visiting a temple in Singapore when he noticed two statues of a man and a woman by the altar.
He asked the monk what was the significance of the two. The monk explained that in the Chinese system of yin and yang, positives must always be balanced by negatives, and having the two statues ensured that the universal balance was maintained.
"This statue of the woman is the Goddess of Mercy, Kuan-Yin."
"What about the other one?" asked the tourist.
In a hushed voice, the monk said, "This one is the God of No Mercy, Kuan-Yew."
++ Memory Stored at 4:57 PM ++
Sunday, May 3, 2009
SR OLYMPICS EXCO
Well this is quite late for this kind of post but now that I have finally managed to sort out the pictures I can finally write on it.
The exco of SR OLYMPICS is a fun bunch with many differing and 'interesting' personalities. I personally had fun planning and I am very glad that I had the opportunity to actually help these people plan for such a grand event. I feel that the exco has grown from a bunch of strangers to a very close and tight-knit group and that these friendships will last a lifetime. Here is a pic of the group:
Starting from the left : Ivan, Kumar, Kai Siang, Ianson, Siong Wei,Victor(ia),Ms Rivera, Clara,Yeo Mei(bottom), Wan Ru, Omar, Jack(back),'Prince Saputra(hope it's right)' aka Yehfri, Yan Ping, Jasmine, Shafim, Jun Hong and last me. Missing are Kelly, Yong Xin, Felicia and Michelle.
A pity we were not able to get a whole group photo but this is good enough for the memories.
As for the event itself, it was a blast. Everything went off smoothly and we were praised for the excellent job we did compared to last year. I am very thankful for that.
Well all good things must come to an end but memories do not and so do friendships. Even though the A-levels are coming and stress will soon peak for most(I myself need to study hard) I hope that we will all look back and remember the interesting times we had through this event.
So to the exco of SR OLYMPICS this is a memoir from me. All the best in your exams and may god watch you and bless you and may all your future endeavours be successful.
Matthew Lameketeer03 signing off: If you see 2 Chinese men holding hands & you call them "gays", what do you call 10 Chinese man holding hands ?
Answer : CHINGAY !!
++ Memory Stored at 6:50 PM ++