Wednesday, May 30, 2007

scientist

after proofreading sera's paper on nutrition and education (wah char also doing nutrition... what a small world!), i have concluded that God has been extremely kind to me by leading me away from a life in the scientific field. i remember that during my GEP orientation camp, i wrote down my aspiration as "scientist". as shuyun says, "heng." heng my art teacher Mdm Cheah "discovered" me in sec 3 and pressured me into taking art. heng i decided to take literature even though i got b3 in sec 2. otherwise i really would have become a scientist.

i don't know how anyone can find scientific papers interesting. but then again, i guess the point of scientific papers isn't for them to be interesting, but to be well, scientific and anal and world changing and all that. precisely why i am so not suited for science. OH but my boss at keppel now is really teaching me how to be anal. which, i guess, should be good for me since i have to start work in a year's time!

but anyway, so glad that my life is reasonably filled with art, literature and music, and that both my left and right brains have been lovingly nurtured all these years.

and if i manage to cease my procrastination, i might even cut an album. oh and since we're on this subject, i love coldplay's "scientist"! especially the music video. so cool.


squashed

amazingly, 2 days after playing squash for the first time since december, i am not aching! except for the big toe on my right foot, which was kinda crushed from the numerous times I jabbed it against my new shoe. i suspect it might have something to do with the fact that i actually do stomp around the court like an elephant, even though i never liked to think so. or maybe i just try too hard. need professional training man! so whoever's going to play squash/badminton/tennis, jio me ok!

on another note, miss japan (now universe) is gorgeous.


Monday, May 28, 2007

online friendship


Read an article in the Straits Times today that appeared to be condemning the rise in online friendships. Is it really that bad? Pen pals have been in existence since i dunno, decades ago? What makes a disembodied friend any less of a friend than one whom you can see and/or touch? Fundamentally, friends provide comfort, support, encouragement and listening ears. Do these actually require a physical presence?

There is often a great concern that when a friendship is limited to online communication, there is no way of knowing whether the person on the other side is really who he/she claims to be. People often fudge their descriptions to make themselves appear more attractive, even going to the extent of using fake photographs and completely false identities. My question is, so what? If my girlfriend dumps me and I have no one else to turn to, does it matter that the online friend I pour my troubles to isn't really a 19 year old blonde theatre student in UCLA? What matters is that she/he is there to listen, to give advice and to comfort an aching heart. Yes, of course people get tricked into potentially dangerous relationships via online chat rooms, but with our increasingly discerning and media savvy users, and with the right angle of education, such situations are definitely avoidable. Abhorring the idea of online friendships is in my opinion, pretty backward looking.

This is not to say that online friendships are better than "real-life" friendships. Nor are they worse. They are just different, and should hence serve different purposes. One obviously should not totally depend on online friendships, otherwise one might become socially inept in a world that is still very physical in nature. However, just relying on "real-life" friends can be difficult for some, and downright traumatic for others. In a society that heaps so much importance on physical appearance, being ugly can be as big a handicap as being, well, handicapped.

I have friends whom I play sports with, I have friends who are my housemates, and classmates, and I also have friends whom I have never (physically) met before. All these people make my life a rich and multi-layered one, and keep me happy and contented in a world that can often be cruel and lonely.

So for the author of that article, I would want to urge her to try out online friendships, before she makes sweeping judgements like that. Of course, I think that having 1000 friends on facebook is just excessive, much like having an 80gig music library. Friends should be more than just statistics.

So on this note, I'd like to thank everyone out there who is my friend, whether material or immaterial. Thanks for helping me weave the beautiful web that is my life :)

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Invisible

This is a new song I wrote... the first verse has been in my head for like months.... and yesterday something just clicked and I wrote the whole song down :)

Take my hands
And lead me through this maze of thorns
Dry my tears
So I can see again
Pick me up
For my legs refuse to stand
Touch my heart
So I can feel again

And let your fingers play
Their rhythm on my face
I'm dancing to your strings
They are invisible
Invisible

Spin me round
So I feel alive again
Sing me songs
That never fade away
Hold me close
Let your fire fill my soul
Set me free
But never let me go

Your breath is on my skin
It sways me like the wind
I'm floating on your wings
They are invisible
Invisible

There's nothing like surrender
To a face I cannot see
I know by now it's pointless
To resist what's holding me
So calm this heart and help me
To believe that you are near
Invisible
Invisible