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Similarly, the “this year” that instinctively comes to mind is one where I slacked around for a couple of months, did a few odd jobs here and there, made a trip to china, and of course, became an NSF. Of course it wouldn’t do justice to the time and memories past  that I simply gloss over the last eight months as “being an NSF”. The last eight months have been a period of self-realization. It hasn’t been a glamorous eight months. In the first few months of these eight, I’ve given up certain opportunities, and there is certainly a lot more that I could have done. Nonetheless, even if time were to replay itself as the result of a bizarre malfunction of the space-time continuum, I would probably have made the same choices given the circumstances of those times.

Whether it’s out of self-consolation or genuine self-realization, I guess that’s how life is supposed to be. We make choices at certain points in time, often without full information of the consequences of these choices. The associated consequences are a mixture of the good and the bad, never solely consisting of one without the other. The composition of this mixture will tend towards either end of the spectrum, resulting in a general sense of (dis)satisfaction with the choice made. I’m trying not to sound like a generalist, but perhaps the essence of the art of finding happiness lies in admiring the good, while acknowledging the bad in the consequences of the choices we make.

That said, I think the reason why the past year seems to have passed so quickly is because of the lack of particularly memorable events, at least for a large portion of it. I’ll gladly acknowledge the more memorable occasions, but to a larger extent, it’s mostly been about spending each working day anxiously looking forward to the end of the day, or to the end of the week. I hate to sound cynical or depressive, but maybe that’s how working life for most people is like. Spending each working day battling trolls and monsters at work, and hoping for the quick arrival of salvation, either in the form of the end of the day, or the next well-deserved break.

With that in mind, I’m pretty convinced that I shouldn’t live through 2010 in as mundane a manner as I did last year. Life looks set to get better, in more ways than one. It’s up to me to keep the momentum up, to keep things moving, to try new things, to do cool shit, to live the good life. 2010 here I come.

Related posts:

1. 12th july 2009
2. 19th december 2009
3. A Year After Sorry Day

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A Year Since - This entry marks a year since I decided to re-skin this blog from the dull and unoriginal default skin to something else a little more interesting, and start writing about matters outside of the technical domain. The skin that you see today comes two revisions later but the changes you’ll see are more than just aesthetic. There has probably been a marked, consistent change in the content of the entries posted within the past year. The frequency at which entries are posted has taken a notable decrease, largely due to my full-time occupation as an NSF. Hopefully, this decrease in frequency is but a transient observation that will change with today’s blog entry.

The Only Constant – In the most vague and general terms, the past year is one where there has been a distinct adoption of interests and re-prioritization of existing ones. These changes have surprised myself, and at least a handful of the people who are close to me. Along the way, I’ve probably stepped on a number of toes. It’s not something I’m proud of, and in most cases, I apologize for my transgressions. But as the cliched phrase goes – change is but the only constant in life – I hope these changes will turn out to be for the better.

Gummy Bears - I haven’t lost my mind nor have I developed an unhealthy obsession with these delightful sugary confections. But seemingly cryptic as it is, gummy bears have a mysterious ability of either making me smile like a demented fool or cry like a baby, sometimes simultaneously, or at least with one following the other in rapid succession. I’m certainly not giving up my gummy bears for anything in the world! While I’d like to be verbose in the public domain, the grace and elegance of subtlety carries a certain magic to it. Since it is often said that a picture speaks a thousand words, at 12 pictures per second for 161 seconds, that’s almost 1.9 million words. So this is it. I’m a yummy, tummy, funny, lucky gummy bear! (:

Related posts:

1. 2009 – a year in retrospect
2. 12th july 2009

As the current Chinese Premier Wen Jie-bao [sic] once said in his address to the Chinese People’s Congress… He went on to say that history has shown that China had never harboured any imperialistic ambition and had not occupied an inch of anyone’s territory.

I cannot verify the accuracy of this quote, but I would like to believe that it is an approximately accurate quote of what was said. However, one should really consider the disparities between China’s actions and its rhetoric. Particularly in Chinese politics, there is a tendency to make vague statements pertaining to political stances and ideology that can be easily circumvented by clever political maneuvering. Perhaps China does not harbor imperialistic ambition in a militaristic sense, which makes it seemingly benign in comparison to the strong-handed tactics of the British Empire and Spanish Armada of yore. But does it really have no imperialistic ambition at all?

It is a well-known fact that China has an increasingly powerful global presence, especially in developing countries around the world. In places like Sudan, China is establishing itself as a powerful economic force and trading partner, selling arms in exchange for oil imports from the impoverished state that has been wrecked by the senseless violence of civil war.

Similarly, there is the hotly debated issue of the alleged annexation of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China. Despite having been “placed under the sovereignty of the Chinese Government” since the 1950s, civil unrest in Tibet has occurred as recently as the “314” (March 14^th 2008) riots which saw an uprising of the people being suppressed by the Chinese Government in the form of a major crackdown by the People’s Armed Police (中国人民武装警察部队).

Considering all this, the writer’s use of quotes from the Chinese Premier in such a context probably doesn’t reflect very well on his understanding of actual political circumstances in the real world. And by the way, the writer might want to note that the Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China is Wen Jiabao (温家宝), not Wen Jie-bao. Also it’s called the “National People’s Congress” (全国人民代表大会) not the Chinese People’s Congress.

And so the West, and in particular the U.S., want now to teach us how to run our countries according to their model of Democracy. Beware of their pulling cotton wool over our eyes. Do you seriously believe there is genuine Freedom and practice of Human Rights in America? May I refer you to Noam Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Consent”, a book that exposes American Democracy as a sham?

Even if we overlook the seemingly juvenile language used in the quoted argument above, the inherent sense of cognitive disconnect in the article rears its ugly head again. My understanding of Chomsky’s argument against the existing state of democratic practices in the United States is that the political agenda in Washington tends to revolve around backroom politics and private-sector lobbying, rather than the actual needs and desires of the people.

However, it should be noted that Chomsky is also one who has great hope in America’s continual ability to uphold it’s reputation as the Land of the Free, where civil liberties are upheld and freedom of the individual is observed and ensured by the State.

Clearly, the writer of the article in question fails to acknowledge the fundamental difference between the practice of democracy and the notion of civil liberties, where he refers to the latter as the “genuine freedom, and practice of human rights in America”. In an ideal world, you would probably have both of these ideological concepts in practice, but in the real world, one can always exist without the other.

Besides, Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Consent” is a 1988 publication that puts the blame on government for not only making use of mass media, or what we call the mainstream media today, as a means of influencing the ideology of the populace, but also effectively silencing news outlets that seek to deliver an alternative, allegedly “subversive” perspective. There’s no point in calling the kettle black when you’re a blackened pot yourself, but doesn’t Chomsky’s argument also ring true when you consider the circumstances in which the mainstream media operates in Singapore?

Right up to the second half of the 20th Century, Afro-Americans were still fighting their white counterparts to be accorded equal rights. Martin Luther King Jr. had this to say:

“I have a dream that the children of slaves and the children of former slave-owners will one day sit at the table of brotherhood”.

Martin Luther King Jr. may well be more than surprised should he be alive today to witness that an Afro-American, a coloured man holding the highest post in ‘the Land of the brave and the free’, the post, that is to say, of the President of the United States of America.

The writer should be commended for acknowledging the significance and non-triviality of the progress in civil rights that is reflected in the election of Barack Obama to the highest position of office in the United States of America.

However, this acknowledgement turns into the Achilles’ heel of the general argument brought forth by his article. Considering the fiery rhetoric where he questions the existence of freedom and individual liberties in America, isn’t it a tad ironic that the election of an African American to the Office of President of the United States demonstrates the ability of America to rise above its troubled history and ensure that freedom reigns in the land – where a man who would have been denied the right to vote before the National Voting Rights Act of 1965, was not only able to see his name on the ballot, but win the election itself.

After all, to paraphrase the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself, in a world where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, the notions of freedom, democracy, and individual liberties are not an American concept, nor a European concept. Neither are they an African concept, nor an Asian concept. They are a universal concept that should apply to anyone and everyone who considers themselves a member of the human race.

So let freedom ring, not just from the paddy fields of Burma, or the killing fields of Darfur, or the mountaintops of Tibet.

Let freedom ring from every village, every city, every state, every nation, and every nook and cranny of the universe.

Let freedom ring.

As a final note, the provenance of the article in question already suggests the inherent bias that is to be expected from an officially sanctioned mouthpiece of the youth wing of a political party. However, even if we set aside our differences and seek to adopt an objective perspective, this very brief analysis of the article shows the lack of depth and intellectualism of the article in question. Seriously, is this really the best that the up-and-coming political elite can come up with, or am I expecting too much? I wonder.

Related posts:

1. 2008 Human Rights Report: Singapore
2. My Country, My Home.

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1. A Tribute to the Civil Rights Movement
2. Australia

等我们成家立业，事业有成以后，我们的父母又会如何谈起我们?

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1. Hey you!

Sorry isn’t the most difficult word to say ( whateverwaiwan.tumblr.com )

After these few days, I’ve begun to wonder whether I would have the courage and the strength to leave Singapore when it is my turn two years later. I mean, if saying goodbye to just two people is so difficult, how will I ever bear to say goodbye to everyone in Singapore – my family, my friends, the places that I loved to go to, and my home.

I guess for them it must have been the same feeling, and that made me feel all the more speechless. While they were packing, out shopping for things to bring overseas, it must have felt like a dream. I didn’t know what I could say, or how I could say anything at all in the first place. I was awkward, afraid, anxious, unsure and petrified all rolled into one. It was all so surreal until the moment I looked at the clock and realized it was just about time for them to check-in their luggage and walk through to look for their plane.

I guess it has already sunk in that many people are on the way to greater things in their lives. All I can say is that I’m terribly proud of them. Of where they are now, and where they are headed. I’m proud of the courage that they have had to venture out into the open – to a bigger ocean, a bigger lake, a bigger pond.

They have, after all, matured into greater and bigger fish, fully capable of taking on the world.

Wherever you guys/girls are – if there is anything I can do, I will do my best. A thousand times over. (Like Hassan said in The Kite Runner – “For you, a thousand times over.”)

well said, wai wan. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

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1. National Band Competition 08
2. 9 March 2009