IDeas

The main problem I find with maintaining blogs is that there are just too many things to blog about that eventually nothing gets blogged about. I therefore need your help (yes, you!) to figure out what my next topic should be.

If you have any questions or just want an honest opinion on something, please feel free to comment! I'd be happy to share my take on whatever's out there :)

Samsung i900 (aka OMNIA 1st gen) Re-review

As some of you know, I bought a Samsung Omnia 2 years ago during my first year in uni (you can read about it here: http://gilbertchia.blogspot.com/2008/09/responsible-use-of-wealth-sirach-13-3.html). At that time, touch phones were just getting popular and iPhones were already marking their territory all over the place. My previous phone was a Nokia 3250, which was fine and all, but I gave it to my sis before coming over to S'pore.

Big n Bulky

Like they say, when in S'pore, do as the S'poreans do. So there I was getting my hands on my first ever touch phone. It was cool at first, having a phone without a keypad. Then, the problems started cropping up, namely, windows, and samsung. Having a windows os meant that the phone was really laggy and even though it didn't hang very often, it didn't exactly go at the speed of sound either. Internet on the phone was a nightmare. I'd rather go to the library and access the web there than to stare like a dummy into my phone for ages waiting for pages to load. Another downside is that there is an irreplaceable earphone, literally. It only came with the original phone, and can't be purchased. This, along with not-so-stainless 'call' and 'end-call' buttons and a 'lost' navigation system, is a big enough letdown for me. It didn't help that samsung had very poor customer service, with only ONE service centre in the WHOLE country. However, it wasn't all that bad, especially with a very reliable 5mp camera (probably my favourite function of the phone). 

Very expensive letdown

What's the next step, you ask? Well, having used a touch phone, keypads just don't feel the same. And although there's windows mobile 7 and samsung has already improved a fair bit from then, but considering the bad experience with windows and samsung, they're both out of the equation. Honestly, I see a lot of potential in Android phones. I haven't tried any of them for myself, but I've been hearing good reviews so far. Who knows, the future might actually belong to droids after all (for the record, apples are meant to be eaten. period)

Christmas

Christmas decorations have come up all over Singapore which means only one thing - sales, sales and more sales. People all over the country are going around doing their Christmas shopping, whether or not they celebrate Christmas. The other day at the neighbourhood mall, there were 5 or 6 announcements of missing children from 4-12 years of age. Their parents must've been really into the shopping mood :)

Despite all the hype, Christmas is not for another month or so. For us Catholics, Christmas comes only after four weeks of Advent, which is a time of spiritual preparation for Christ's coming. It signifies the thousands of years of waiting of God's people for His promised Saviour. In modern times, we are still waiting for His coming, a second coming. Life on earth, I believe, is a preparation for that second coming, when we will be judged.

However, in modern times, the physical preparations for Christmas far outweigh the spiritual preparations done to receive the child Jesus. We go through so much trouble shopping, getting gifts, new clothes, new furniture, preparing feasts an so on that we actually forget what the celebration is really about. And when it's time to celebrate Christ's coming, we drop dead with exhaustion and stop celebrating just as Christ comes into our lives. 

(For those who don't know, Christmas is the 2nd most important celebration for Christians, with Easter being the most important. It starts on the 25th of December and lasts for 12 days. However, most people only celebrate and make merry on Christmas eve and Christmas day itself, after which life goes on without meaning.)

That is why, I for one, will pledge to spend Advent preparing for Christ's coming (as well as exams :| ) and celebrate Christmas fully knowing that Christ has come into my life and the time will come when we are all judged. So I urge whoever that's reading this to join me. To prepare for Christ's coming just as how His people were waiting for Him in times of turmoil and suffering and to prepare for His second coming by the giving of ourselves to Him.

I leave you now with this quote: 

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. 

~ C.S. Lewis ~

Arrows

So, I'm finally finding the time to blog again. This comes as no surprise, since I'm stuck in front of my laptop typing report after report after report (I've got like a dozen reports to submit this semester). Eventually anybody will get bored. So, I thought I'd spend some time arrowing some not-so-innocent bystanders :)

First off, we have some education minister somewhere who wants to make history a compulsory subject to pass in order to move on with life. Well, if the history that they are teaching is sound and true and full of facts and nothing but facts, I would actually support the idea, simply because a lot can be learnt from history. From the politics behind the two world wars, the economics behind the industrial revolution, the strategy behind the greatest battles in history, the psychology behind terrorism, and so on, one can see the true colours of humanity and learn from their mistakes. However, if what they're teaching is just political preaching, then who cares whether u pass or fail history. It's his story (dia mia pasal in bm). By the way, I came across this article which highlight the great Malaccan empire as taught in our history, or lack thereof. (http://www.malaysia-today.net/archives/archives-2010/35605-demise-of-malacca-addendum) Check it out if you are just as curious :)

Here is an insight as to what will happen to my homeland if nothing changes and people in power remain the same. Going on the current trajectory, I expect the brain drain to continue or even escalate, if history becomes compulsory. Brain drain will mean that the amount of high income professionals and the like will be stagnant or possibly dwindle over the years as the economy shifts back to low tech and labour intensive relative to similar developing nations. This will mean that GDP will probably not increase and this will be even worse when we run out of petroleum. With corruption still at large, we expect a significant portion of national income to go the the "minority" and hence lesser available income to spend on useless projects like the future 2nd tallest building. This will mean even less money will be available for subsidy to the people, thus inflation waiting to happen. Since most people's income is not expected to rise by much, more and more will move into the lower income group (not poor yet as defined by the government). At this point, the descriptions sound utterly similar to that of some third world countries where the rich get richer and poor get poorer. And the 80-20 rule where 80% of the nations riches belong to 20% of the population might skew toward 90-10 rule or maybe even 95-5 rule, depending on the number of "minority".

Next up, we have an outgoing president of a university which has dropped considerably in rankings. Needless to say, the mythical figure behind all my university woes will receive an arrow from me :) Even though some of it are caused by other people in his team, the arrow still goes to him because, simply, it's his team. One policy worth mentioning is the elimination of small class tutorials. while other world class universities are trying to increase teacher to student ratio, he's trying his best to increase student to teacher ratio. He must be patting his back now that one lecturer can tend to 500 students at once, it's simple economics. Another is probably the promotion of monotonic lifestyle of students, grooming a new generation of robots. While this might not be true for some majors, the majority of the student body, namely engineers, definitely experience this. The requirement to stay on campus is to be active in only ONE club or activity, and no credit whatsoever goes to those who are all rounded and participate in many clubs. In fact, with this ridiculous rule, most students only participate in one club and strangle each other for the top posts, which yield the most points. What a way to get students prepared for the rat race ahead.  By the way, just check out what's in store when the new president comes in: (http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/12/ntu-campus-revamp-includes-pub-cinema/)

Well, I can go on for another few paragraphs but I'd better stop here, lest I get in trouble for voicing my opinion. Back to typing reports nobody reads :|

Back to Singapore

It's been awhile since I last mustered the strength (or rather discipline :P) to blog. 5 weeks into the new academic year, life is as stressful and hectic as always. Unfinished tutorials, due projects, lectures skipped, and what not. Alas, lifestyles of the slack and lazy. Nonetheless, my world has changed since I last blogged.

As many of you now know, I've finally set foot into the world of companionship and togetherness, although togetherness isn't exactly what we're experiencing at the moment. I'll come to that shortly :)

Towards the end of the previous academic year, I found myself growing very fond of this particular girl back home. I never knew I could connect with somebody so well and often, we found ourselves chatting into the wee hours of the morning. There were days when all I could look forward to was to chat with her. Then it suddenly dawned on me. Why am I longing so much for her? Is this what I think it is? Had I fallen for her? Goodness knows.

When I went back for the holidays, I decided to tell her how I felt. It took every single ounce of courage I had. A million questions raced through my head. How will she reply? Does she feel the same way? What would be of our friendship? What if she said no? How could I face her then? If she were to say yes, it'll be a long distance relationship. What then? I had no answer for all those questions, but one thing was for sure; I needed to tell her how I felt.

The answer she gave (or lack of one) sent me into panic mode. I didn't know how to react. "She's gonna say no, dude", I thought. In an effort to salvage what was now an awkward relationship, I told her to brush it off, saying it was nothing but a 'spur of the moment'. I didn't know what else to do.

The months that followed were truly the hardest I had to endure. Being around her all the time in church, around other friends, and we even had to organize a camp together. It was both joy and pain with a pinch of awkwardness. I found joy in being close to her and also pain in suppressing my feelings. "We're just friends" became some sort of a daily mantra I had to recite to myself.

To be honest, I was actually looking forward to coming back after the holidays, or rather, looking forward to getting away. I've had enough, enough of pretending not to like her, enough of being close to her, but not having her, enough. It all had to end. I figured that a new academic year is what I needed to get over her, to start afresh, to finally be sane again.

The night before I left was probably the most eventful and the highlight of my entire vacation. The girl I went head over heels for finally told me how she felt, how she, too had a hard the past couple of months. We ended up talking about 'us' the whole night (and morning too). The journey back to Singapore was a surprisingly pleasant one. It was like those agonizing months didn't even exist. All was right in the world. In mine, at least.

What actually made her tell me how she feels, what actually happened, is another story altogether. Like I said, it was an eventful night.

Whenever we're apart, I find myself wanting to be with her more than ever, to hear her voice, to see her smile. And sometimes when we're together, it's as if all my worries and troubles are as far away as could be. I miss you, dear. Happy 2-months!!