Cliffhangers

Well, not exactly, but these exams give me that feeling. Don't know what to expect, dread for it to come, yet yearn for it to finish fast.

Nevertheless, Last Saturday was Ree Yi's birthday at Aloha Chalet #5, the same one as Clarence's. I got a clock for her birthday. I'm so sorry though if she was affected by it. But anyhow, I received clocks before and, I will never be so superstitious to such a degree. When I first saw it, I thought, "hey lovely clock!" Then Daniel said "ya.." And I was thinking "Hmm..clock..good meaning! Time is precious, use your time wisely" along those lines.

Although Russell later said it's bad omen to give a clock for a birthday, eventually we had a unanimous decision to buy it. Besides, let's not be ridiculously superstitious because of a clock!

Anyhow, pictures of the party I've uploaded on facebook..here's the link : http://ntu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11383&l=67f1e&id=672308195

Oh...guess who I saw..en teng(?sp). He kinda like pretended he didn't see me. So I did likewise. Heard from Ree Yi's he's her primary school friend. Small world eh..

The birthday cake was..well..see it yourself in the pics. The most strawberry, cheesy-cake tasting cake i've ever seen. STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE FTW!

Oh and check out the SADAKO hottie, lol.

Anyway peace. I've just gotta take a retreat from blogging and facebooking for this exam period. Cheers!

THE PERIOD!

Just finished with a makeup quiz, one on one, face to face, with the man. I think prof Vincent is a funny hongkie, should have attempted to listen to him during lectures more, he's actually pretty good!

Anyway I felt relieved. This is round 2 of the quizzes, right smack after round 1 and ends 1 week before exams. I think it's just madness. Tomorrow I have maths, testing on Laplace transformation. Next week I've got physics and bio on thursday. On the 6th I've got energy balance quiz. Exam starts on the 19th and ends on the 30th.

I'm 26 days away from exams and 38 days away from holiday. WOW. Oh and I think I might be flying to HK on the 3rd or 4th can't remember...

I just wanna SCREAAAM!! I think I'm placed in the wrong course...it's too much to handle BAAH. It's like..LIFE SCIENCES...+ engineering maths. sweet..triple science combi! And I'm not the only one groaning..ugh. I..wan ..to...slack!

I miss my games. I miss gaming all day long. I wanna play many new games that came out, like HALO 3. Hellgate sounds like fun too. Oh and yea, Bioshock! Orange Box looks nice. Always wanted to play the PS2 range of Final Fantasy..especially the newest one. Days of lying down on the couch just playing PS during those school holidays back in secondary school. AHHH where did those days go too???

To top it up School of Biological Sciences suck! I have a lecture in an hour and the lecture notes are NOT UP...bleeeeeh..what's up with this elective man..

SCREEEAAAAAAAAAAAM

Jonathan-
stressed..

Fail!

Opps..failed my driving test.

1 immediate failure ..when returning to the test centre! w00t.
i was turning right and the stupid truck opposite me looks like it was tilted and turning left w/o signal so i thought he was turning..he went straight and so did the handbrake..sigh..

think i got an easy test road though..when i exited one stupid taxi stopped and i tagged behind after exiting right. he then moved off...and stop again!!! I was..stupid taxi. Didn't overtake cuz they normally move off fast and my instructor always tell me no need overtake cuz moving off..so when the TP told me to overtake i followed..but i forgot to signal..bleh

oh and i kan choing when starting off forgot to release handbrake..baah
nvm..can take again ^^ thought it was pretty fun though..just hope can take asap and not cut in the middle of semester again..right before exams somemore!@! Bah..tmr got physical chemistry test and i really dunno anything..i'm so screwed..

Choice: Is it yours to make?

I suddenly recalled something Dr.Tan said while I was showering earlier. He once said (something along these lines), "Medicine is a regression to Mankind's progression" or "Medicine is a regressive science to Mankind"

It sure was food for thought. The progress in medical frontiers translates into better health and thus people live longer - Life expectancy increases as a direct influence of medical advancements and education of course. Is this a bad thing?

Well according to Dr. Tan, whatever then happens to the 'evolution' of Mankind? Whatever happens to 'survival of the fittest'? With medicine, 'survival of the fittest' is obsolete, because people are born inferior physically or mentally will have due care and treatment that increasingly becomes better. People used to fall prey to infectious diseases such as smallpox, and all but the resilient ones or those with immunity will be subjected to 'natural selection'. As with non-human species, the weak die and are unable to reach the age of propagation and hence are selectively disadvantageous. And so according to Neo-Darwinism theory, these weaker ones will die out and the stronger ones will continue to propagate and, on top of these traits, some may hopefully 'mutate' such that these stronger ones become even more selective advantageous and get BETTER..and BETTER. Well that's how WE - Mankind, came about according to the evolutionists.

And so, because of medicine that took away the need for 'natural selection', Mankind can no longer evolve into a stronger specie(s). (Of course, Mankind has replaced 'natural selection' in another form as the wheels of society turns and turns)That's the whole gist of the argument, and I'll leave it at that for you to think.

Now something about what I was talking with Russell about.

The cure for Aids

The question posed was, what would you do if you found the cure for Aids?
Would you release it to save the whole, the millions that are infected and become one of the richest and most powerful man on earth while doing so?

Or would you not release such a potent drug or cure? Knowing full well that promiscuity, being on the rise, would scale to unprecedented heights? I just read a survey: 69% of Singapore youths have AIDS as the top sexual concern. What would happen if AIDS becomes an obsolete concern? Pause for a moment to think of the moral decay of society in the present situation and then...would you still release the cure?

If you decide to say, no, that what if, just what if, someone close to you is suffering from AIDS? Your closest family or friend perhaps? Would you still knowingly let that person die because you refuse to allow moral decay to seep into society? Or what about the poor children suffering from AIDS from reasons other than sexual promiscuity? Such as child prostitution, or perhaps a congenital infection carried down by pregnancy? Is it fair to let these people die? Who gave YOU the choice of LIFE and DEATH for these people? Would it be tantamount to be playing 'god'?
What then, if you say that these people are the exception and ought to live, who or what gave you the authority to judge over the lives of men, whether they be guilty of sexual promiscuity or otherwise? I believe that as a doctor or scientist, they very well should adhere to the Hippocratic Oath - essentially to save a life be it a criminal on death row or any citizen of the world.

It is a tough choice really...what would YOU do? The right thing? Which is? Giving to save lives regardless whether they are deserving of it or not? Or, not giving to curb the down-spiraling of society into decadence and lawlessness?

I would give. I think saving lives first is paramount. I cannot play god and judge lives, nor do I have a say to someone else's life and death. Most importantly to rid the curse of being ridden with AIDS, especially to someone innocent and unsuspecting, yet to be eternally cursed in this form, a highway , a point of no return, to a certain horrible death? Subsequently the effects of such an invention would be globe shaking. I'm certain of that outburst of immorality too. Nevertheless, the immediate problem as I see it is a life and death situation. Rather, life OR death.

So, what is your choice?

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Growing Up

What does growing up mean to you?

The day when you hit 21?

Freedom? Booze, RA movies, cars and babes? Sex?
Anything goes, but Whatever is cool.

Neither for me. 20 made me feel old. 21 was nothing special.
Well, at the very least i ROD from army and get to do things I love to do.

26 Sept 07 - Wednesday

Class outing:
The day spent at esplanade library was fantastic. What place to enjoy the scenery and get lost in literature and music and the arts. Simply the joy of life. Unfortunately, I was doing my lab report. Either way, the piano in the practice room was enticing..except that it costs money for rental for the hour.

Like many smart Singaporeans, me and dear went to enjoy a free performance, a string ensemble by dunno-whom. A typically chinese string orchestra, except that there were some non-chinese pieces played, which were pretty interesting. The chinese ones on the other hand though, some of them sounded pretty nostalgic, like playing Elysium or other chinese martial arts based games.

Dinner was a simple and quick affair by the bay. The esplanade open food court, or other wise known as makan-sutra foodcourt (i think) was pretty expensive, but oh well. As usual we talked cock even when we got no cock to talk...

The group later split up. Some went Zouk to Zonk themselves out, while the other few - Alex, Meilin Rende Dom Esther and me went to (supposedly settlers) starbucks to chill. Had a few good laughs really. Showed them my 'ahem' video. Spending the night travelling back to Boon Lay sucks; Needless to say we missed the last bus. We saw 2 girls looking at the 199 signboard and thought they too missed the bus, so we tried to call them to take cab. We assumed wrongly; made an ass of ourselves haha. We (actually Rende) tried to call out to the remaining girl as she was walking towards the road. Finally she turned around and we asked her if she was taking cab to NTU. She turned around and shook her head and laughed. Blab.

28 Sept 07 - Friday

Not exactly eventful for the earlier half of the day, except that Esther cannot remember, till now, the food we ate for lunch. Let me tell u la! It's nasi-briyani(sp?) and Muthabak...haha...silly you.

Anyway, friday evening at 8pm was the first time I attended Lighthouse Woodlands. My, it has a grand lobby and a huge interior. I thought it was a grand 5* hotel lobby haha. It was the once every 3 months "Holy Ghost Meeting". I get to see unusual manifestations, at least the last time I went. I shan't elaborate too much on this.

Nevertheless we ended at 10pm, met Russell (as usual he was late). His philosophy: Other people will surely be late so I(as in him) dun need to be early. Anyway we took a cab down to ECP. At 10pm? Yup.

We had an organised overnight cycling for the cell group to meet at 11pm at the previously known costa sands resort. I'll try to recall who went: Daniel, Russell, Lisa, Lie Cong, Eugene, Flannery, Zhi Wei, Esther and me.

I'll just bring up the general route we took (photos below and more to be added):
From costa sands we wrote to the other end of ECP. Near the end of ECP, Zhi Wei was taking photos on his bike, and i thought, Wow cool idea. Esther was saying "wa, so skilled" and the next thing he braked and fell. His camera broke..ouch..599bucks(he later bought the same model at Mustafa) Quite a shocking start... anyway we headed down to fort road>>
Anyway, shopping at this hour with very little people to contend with gives me a certain...thrill and excitement. Makes you feel like buying everything if you stay there for long, or so Eugene says. And so we did...stayed there for a tad too long...not too sure but it probably was an hour or so.

And thus our troubles began..
The trip back was fraught with danger. It was the road leading up all the way to Serangoon, and the road was treacherous to the inexperienced. The pavement was narrow and littered with lamp posts and dust bins that threatened to knock over the unsuspecting rider. Knocking into them is okay, but there is that danger of falling on the wrong side of the road. That person is Esther. She was so wobbly with every obstacle I got really worried, and cycling behind her initially was amusing because she kept banging to the sides of things, such as the construction fence and poles and such. But at this point of time the cars were threateningly close and fast, and danger was real.

There was a junction where things got really bad. There was literally no pedestrian crossings. The first we took we had to cut across the road when the lights turned red. Bear in mind that as we were cyclists we need to take turn to take off. This particular crossing Esther tried to cross and stumbled, and it turned green when she was halfway across it. The cars and buses, which were now increasing in numbers, were ever speeding. So it was a moment of panic and chaos and all of us, who were waiting on the other side of the road shouted: Off the road!! Go up! Up! As cars and some buses zoomed so close to us, I did feel my rear tires so close to being run down. The next crossing also had no pedestrian crossings, we crossed only when our side turned green and had to take turns as the ones at the back cannot cross in time. I was particularly worried about Esther as she has problems starting off, almost every time wobbling and sometimes stumbling. Somehow, we got across that huge circle junction eventually...I think it's Macpherson something?

Anyway, dawn was breaking and the number of buses and cars were speedily increasing as we made our way east towards Ubi. What a mad decision. An experienced cyclist like me know how treacherous that road was. The busy hussling of cars and buses, as well as undulating pavements, if there were any present was difficult for the less experienced cyclists. Before we reached Ubi however, the road along Serangoon was bad enough. The lamp posts made the pavement to cycle very narrow, even I had difficulty and fear of knocking into the lamp post and falling unto the roadside into on coming cars. Esther had a much worse time than I had. Everytime she stumbled she cannot catch her balance as her bike was too tall for her. That whole stretch made me worry excessively as to how to handle Ubi...ohh treacherous Ubi. We resorted to walking at certain stretches of the road due to the stupid lamp posts.

Anyway when we finally reached the Paya Lebar side of Ubi, there was a close shave for Esther. She braked at the junction and somehow lost her balance and nearly, just nearly, toppled unto an on-coming bus. It was insanely scary and I could scarcely breathe. That particular junction was excessively tricky to cross, when you keep stumbling each time you start off. The other side of the road we got to had no pavements, and the road was narrow and the buses shave pass your bike if you would cycle too close. A little while later I realised Esther was shaking involuntarily and very stressed. I would think so too...so many life threatening situations and a long way more to go back to ECP.

Eventually, we made our way to Eunos. There was some incident at yet another crossing that Esther broke down in tears from the overwhelming stress and fear...nevertheless we pressed on. Wei ling met an accident. She bumped into a lady and got the lady's leg scratched. Poor lady. Anyway, we eventually parted ways after crossing a junction as the people in front decided to head towards the main Ubi connecting to parkway and I thought...CRAZY!! No way am I going that way...so I brought Russell(he too agrees) and Esther and went our way through Tanjong Katong, through Parkway, and eventually reaching the underpass and its safety. The sight of Parkway was unprecedented in the way it gave the assurance of safety. We finally made it. Amazingly alive and unscathed safe for a few scratches from the bumps that Esther had. Amazingly she didn't fall unto any oncoming traffic which I feared so much throughout the later half of the journey I was literally praying under my breathe all the time. She broke down...but I too was very stressed... Life and Death was very real...and suddenly the human being seems very frail and vulnerable.

And so, I thank God for bringing us through safely...all 9 of us. It was, undoubtly, an enjoyable and memorable event after all. But I would, the next time round, consider very carefully safety as the top priority now.

Anyway, Russell and I, thought to be crazy, ran from costa sands (we finished everything at 8 plus in the morning) to Mac. After 9 hours of cycling we think we could be Iron pussies. It was a good run though and I felt my body was strange in that nearing Mac I was neither tired nor breathless as I normally would. But that was enough anyhow.

We rested, played sandcastle:

Yep that's Daniel..dunno what he doing.

Went subway and had a very hearty meal (and drink). Yummy. Makes me crave for some subway now..NOW!!

I taught the group how to play this ice-breaker game I played during Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) FOC. We had a good, extremely good laughing session. I swear, Daniel is extremely amusing in this game. I'll teach the game the next time we(whomever 'we' is) get to meet.

Anyway, we ended around 12 plus and simply had to head home. On the way out of ECP we did this:



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Other photos:

First pitstop at esplanade @ 12+...look at the faces!

Hmm sugar cane rox!

The hungry men!!

He's got that "WHAT U WANT?" look...3+ 4 at Chinatown Chok shop..