Prefects Investiture

Prefects Investiture today was in the new hall. Definitely bettee than last year.

Looking back at Sec 1, I realised that the 3 people I voted for CEC in Sec 1 are all prefects now.

Coincidence or superb foresight?

CA for CA: Poor Turnout closes Singapore Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse troupe performing

Another one comes and goes just as quick as it came. Crazy horse, the cabaret show, so famous in Paris but a ho-hum to Singaporeans, closed its doors in January, just more than a year after its opening.

You are in school and your friend runs up to you and say, "I watched Crazy Horse yesterday night, there were long queues and the show was a sell-out, and it was fantastic to watch." There are 2 loopholes in this scenairo. Firstly your friend will not be able to watch the show as he is under 18, and secondly the show has never been a sell-out (except for once).

Social Perspective
But why don't the Singaporeans watch these shows where in Paris, the show has been running for many years and recieve a good amount of viewership every day? Firstly, compare our museums and heritage sites in Singapore to those in Paris. I think our museums have more wax figures that visitors in them, but in Paris, just look at the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, etc. which are bustling with visitors every day. Another comparism is their shows we watch to those the Parisians watch. We watch almost meaningless shows like Singapore Idol, the Dance Floor, Project Superstar and other comedy and competition shows. What the Parisians watch is soap operas in which they really appreciate. It just goes to show the type of culture we apprecite and what the Parisans appreciate. It's not surprising that the two crazy horse situations are so different. I mean, if Singaporeans want to watch half-clad women dancing, they can just watch it at home on their computers. Technology is so advanced now that people can do everything at home, on their computers, compared to 30 years ago. Other examples of falied cabaret shows now is Neptune, which also closed not long ago. It was very popular in the 1970, where people didn't have computers and wanted entertainment, so they watch these shows, but the situation is so different now and people don't like to watch these shows, and the Neptune's viewership has dipped since the 70s. Singaporeans' mindsets are sterotyped- if you watch these shows, you are not appreciating culture but you are a 'dirty old man'.

Political Perspective

What the Singapore government is trying to do is to promote this show to both Singaporeans and tourists.But it isn't doing much to help improve viewership of these shows and expose Singaporeans to appreciate new cultures. Firstly, the government has too many restrictions on the shows, for example banning advertisments on the Crazy Horse shows on bus stops and on newspapers, beside the Movies section in Life. The government also ins't doing anyhing to promote these shows. Maybe they could have a minister watch Crazy Horse so he can 'endorse' the show. This might abolish the steryotype that make Singaporeans scared to watch the show. As for tourists, why would they want to come here to watch a second-rate show where they can go to Paris and watch the real and original performance. The atmosphere here is also not 'conducive' and the theater will be almost empty. Tourists go to different countries because they want to see the countries' specialities, which for Singapore is the food, warm weather, shopping and our 'kiasu-ness', and not to watch these shows. Perhaps when the 2 IRs are open more people from Batam and other parts of the world will come here to gamble, and convinently enjoy some form of entertainment through the cabaret shows. But not for now.

Source:

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070125/5/singapore254709.html

Does anybody hear her- Casting Crowns

CA for CA: Indonesia Floods Leave 145,000 Homeless

Residents use a makeshift raft to help a motorist cross a flooded street in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2007. Severe storms caused the worst flooding in Indonesia's capital in five years, forcing rivers to break their banks, inundating thousands of homes and businesses. [AP]


Hey, all you people sitting in your comfortable chairs, sipping your coffees (or soft drink or milk, if you are) and reading this post on your computer, have you ever thought of how lucky you are to be in your current situation. Just look at the 145,000 people in Indonesia who are homeless. They don't even have a roof to cover their heads, much less the computer you are sitting in front of now.

You many say that it is just another flood (after the Malaysia floods), just a natural process which just happens to certain countries and not others. We know that they are homeless and despearte for help. But we cannot understand what they feel, because we have not experienced it, thus cannot empathise (not sympathise) and it will be hard for us to put ourselves in their shoes.

Needs and Wants

Our society, the upper class society is talking all about what we want, good food, computer games, the 5Cs, and even though we have a lot already, we want more and more and more... even though we got what we actually targeted. But people who are working very hard to make ends meet, like atking up 3 or 4 jobs a day, all they care for is things they need, not want, like basic necessities such as clothes, and they would be grateful to even get a little of those. So we ask ourselves this question, are we demanding too much?

We think that going to school is a boring process of life that we go through everyday just beacuse the government forces us to, and we are sick and tired of it, and we want air-con, more recess, blah blah blah... but in Indonesia, the children would be estatic just even to be able to go to a basic school wih no fans or air-con, and tables and chairs made out of wood, and dusty blackboards.

Effects in Indonesia

The floods have brought out the best in some and the worst in others. When someone is in distress and see fellow people who are in the same boat as them and need help, people will lend a helping hand and try to the best of their abilities to help others (as shown in the picture above). That's what I think is one of the positives that can be taken from floods. However, looting is also common after floods, where looters break into other people's homes and steal anything they can find. The reason why they do this is because they too, are desperate for money and goods and so resort to looting, and in some way we can sympathise with them. But looting is immoral in the first place they they should not have done it.

The floods will also teach the Indonesian government an important lesson in what they have gone wrong in by having poor urban planning and not having an adequete sewerage system.

So just spare a thought for the people who are so very homeless and desperate for help, and be thankful that you are not in their shoes and appreciate what you have.
P.S. Donations Welcome too

Source:
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070204/ap/d8n2m9tg0.html

CA for CA: Indonesia Bans Sand Exports

Land sand for export

The Situation and reason
Oh...so Indonesia has banned land sand exports. I don't know if Singapore was prepared for this, but this came as a sudden thing to those who only read the newspaper (which is quite a lot for kids like us these days). However it has hit the republic island quite hard, considering that most of the sand which comes here is from Indonesia, after Malaysia banned the same thing in 1997. Note that people think that land sand is used for reclaiming, but in fact it is used for producing cement, essential in the construction industry. Indonesia has banned the sand due to environmental reasons and to protect Indonesia's borders. However it is stated that much of the sand mining is done inland, and is unlikely to affect outlying islands and Indonesia's borders.

Effects on the 'little red dot'
As stated earlier, lots of sand used here comes from Indonesia, and by this ban, will have an impact on the construction industry. However the government and BCA (Building and Construction Authority) states that the impact will not be significant, and won't really slow down the construction sector, in which they can use sand from their reserves. The fact is that at this time, major works are happening in Singapore, the building of not one, but two IRs (Integrated Resorts), the MRT Circle Line, Marina Barrage, and lots more. It would be difficult to say that we would not face problems in the coming future.

Solutions
What Singapore will have to do when her reserves run out is to import land sand for concrete from other countries further away around the region, and there will undoubtedly be higher costs. Eventually, the higher costs will have an effect on the people and consumers (that means US) will have to pay for this increase in costs when they buy or use facilities. What we can also do is to use sustainable construction methods to build buildings and stuff, and the BCA states that it will cut consumption of sand by 60 to 70 percent.

The ban takes effect on the 25th of February 2007 and gives exporters us to 5th February 2007 (today) to honour it's existing sand export contracts.

Reflections


Indonesia

I felt that this ban by Indonesia was something that would be expected someday or another, and it just happened today. Indonesia's decision to ban the export totally at one go was in my opinion, a little too sudden. What I think they should have done was to inform on the ban a few months before to give the countries which obtain the sand from them to find other sources before the ban kicked into place, or maybe they could have phrased out the ban, which will allow countries importing the sand to deal with the situation slowly and gradually, and eventually have time to come up with ways to solve this problem. However you have to look at Indonesia's situation and know that they are losing lots of sand and they need to protect their borders. There is also environmental issues, where animals will lose their habitat and erosion will speed up, thus causing more land to be lost.

Singapore
I thought that even though the ban came as quite a shock to the countries that import sand from Indonesia, especially Singapore who imports most of its sand from there, the BCA (Building Construction Authority) has done quite well in preparing and foreseeing this might happen by having lots of sand in our reserves and having other sources around the region where we can import sand from. The government has also done quite a good job by providing subsidies and cheaper rates to those contractors and building companies which have been affected by the shortage of sand and the price hike. However, I think that this can only be a short-term solution because eventually, we either switch to sustainable construction methods which do not use sand or look for other countries around the region for sand to import, and this will certainly increase costs eventually and thus the people who will pay more will be the consumers too, us.

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/254450/1/.html

About me (For the CA for CA)

Yes. This is me. Koh Yong En a.k.a. Ernie by 1/2Q and some others.

Tokking about CA (current affairs) for CA

Sigh...Homework's here again. This time it's an English CA thingy on CA (Current Affairs). For the time period of about till end of Term 2, there will be some posts on Current Affairs. Anyway, will still continue to post.

Sec 3 OBS

Back from OBS. 5 days 4 nights. Was with more than half my class in a group called Dhanabalan (don't even know who he is, juz noe he's some minister)

Day 1-
Got to skool same time as usual, took a bus to some ulu punggol jetty then got onto those OBS bumb-boats. Went to camp 1 so we were residential, 2 nights in bunks and 2 nights in bashas (mobile ppl had 4 nights in tents). Our instructor/trainer was Cindy and so first we did some admin stuff lik taking away ur wallets and handphones and doing a little bit of icebreakers. Lunch was at the canteen, had catered food which consisted of rice, 3 dishes and a soup. Food tasted ok, similar to the dining hall one. After lunch was kayaking. where we fisrt learned some drills such as capsizing before going for a 2 to 3 hour trip to Pulau Ketam (Crab island), cutting thru the mangroves halfway before going back to camp 1. Heard Manek capsized 6 or 7 times. Nightime was dinner in the canteen again and we got our rations for the next 2 and a half days.

Day 2-
Morning and some part of the afternoon was spent doing some activities about trust, like blindfolding urself up and ur friend leading the way. After that was learning how to belay and then doing something like rock climbing but vastly different from it. Lunch was at the canteen again. Then we camped to camp 2 carrying our heavy bagpacks which was somehow straining my lower back and we managed to get to camp 2 in 23 minutes (record time according to Cindy), berting her other groups' record of 24 minutes. We cooked rice for dinner which was slightly undercooked and anchovies in chilli and mushrooms with minestrone soup. We also pitched our baashas. Dinner was considered quite good for first or second timers and then we intended on taking a powder bath but after looking at the female shower cubicles in the far end of the campsite with proper doors and of camp 1 standard, we decided to have a shower. After that we decided to sleep...
12.30 am. Woke up feeling wet on my socks and shirt. Realised that it was raining. We moved over to the holding area where we slept on tarps on the hard concrete floor for the next 5 hours. Very hard...

Day 3-
Woke up at 6am and ate breakfast, changed and went to do business (big) in the cleaner ladies toilet. Then headed off 1 hour behind schedule at 9am. We started trekking around Ubin Island, looking for yellow plates on the way. Halfway,...

To be continued...again

School- Sec 3

School's started again. Feel a little wierd, waking up at 6.15 every morning. 3J this year, 28 ppl in class, 3 scholars. It's been quite ok so far, the only major difference is the new teachers and the non geepers, which seem to have quite different characters from the us, more rowdy and noisy (doesn't apply to all). FT is Mrs Ho Wai Lin and many of the teachers teaching us this year are quite un-GE and quite new. Classes have been quite ok so far, except for Geography. Mrs Yak is our geog teacher and my class is so wierd that I dunno hu I can do project work with. Anyway OBS is next wk and I haven packed my bags yet.
Kudos and have a good year ahead.

China trip- more extensive blogging

It's been some time since I came back from China. Here's an account on what happened.

People Count
10 total
4 of us
3 uncles and aunties
3 cousins

Took SQ 801 to Beijing. Only one runway was working so spent a long time queueing up to take off. Reached Beijing at about 3 something pm. Beijing airport still quite the same as 2002. Had to wait for the Air China flight which only arrived about 1 hour later. We got out of the airport at about 5pm and it was dark already. Temperature about 3 degrees Celsius. Heard snowed a little that morning. Went for an acrobatic performance and then had dinner before checking into Jing Guang New World hotel. The room was small but was warm. Had ESPN there so managed to catch some Champions League action. Next three days went to the usual places one would go in China. Watched the famous Wushu performance there which was way cheaper than in Singapore or other places (180 yuan compared to 100 over Sing bucks). Managed to climb up to the fourth tower of the Great Wall, wasn't very tiring or hard. A lot better than the last time I tried to climb (only managed 3 steps). After that we had ice-cream which wouldn't melt. Went to Chengde on the way there. Watched Rob-b-hood during the bus ride there which lasted about between 3 to 4 hours. At Chengde, it was so cold that the inside of the window panes of the bus froze so we did some 'paintings' on the window. We stayed at the best (ironic) hotel in Chengde which was only 4 stars. Big room but the thing that was horrible about it was that the heater wasn't working. And when we called up reception, they only brought blankets. So we slept in almost freezing temperatures through the whole night. Next day went to some place which had the 'Hong(2) Lou(2) Meng(4) ' and 'skated' on the ice (not really skating lah) before visiting some thing which was very similar to that big Tibet red building. Then headed back to Beijing where we watched some lame 'Ju(3) Qi(2) Shou(2) Lai(2)' movie. Went to some swimming pool cum sauna cum hot spring cum dinner cum performance place (sounds like a country club) at night. Stayed at the Great Wall hotel at Juyongguan, just under the Great Wall. Pretty nice rooms and working heater. Managed to catch some Chelsea vs Arsenal action on BTV 6. Third last day went to the Ming Tombs (didn't manage to go into the tomb unlike the 2002 trip)Second last day was spent walking around. Supposed to go Tianjin but was cancelled bue to fog which closed the expressway there. Went to Tong(2) Ren(2) Tang(2), the TCM clinic and then to XiushuiJie for the second time and then some arts street and another small palace garden. The night was wierd, going to some unknown jade and jewellery shop called Jiu(2) Jiu(3) Fu(2) where there was the owner who claimed to be Singaporean and gave us crazy discounts on bracelets and stuff which were supposed to be real (200 yuan for jade necklace, 200 sing bucks for some diamond necklace and bracelet). The last day in Beijing was spent having steamboat for lunch and going to the airport very early and spent 3 hours in the waiting area playing cards. The Air China domestic flight was not bad, had personal television, bigger than SIA's but toggling through the menus was a nightmare and the video and game range was very un-wide. Landed at Shanghai Hongqiao airport where we met up with our friend and then took the 20 seater bus which would be the transport we would use for the next 3 days. Checked into Charms hotel which I thought was the best in all the hotels I have stayed in during this trip and then we took a walk down Nanjing Road. Dinner was freakingly cheap, about 150 yuan (30 bucks) for the 10 of us, and it was those 8 cai(4) 1 tang(1) type of food. The next day was spent at yu(4) yuan(2) where we walked around and ate xiao(2) long(2) bao(1). We ate at the higher class section but not the highest. Then we walked around and bought some Bread Talk there. Then we went to some shopping place which was horrible, bringing us through one small and cramped room to another with all the fake goods inside. Then went to our friend's house for dinner and then went for a walk with then down the Pudong side of the river, looking at the Bund. Next day went to Zhouzhuang where they had people living on the water (shui(3) shang(4) ren(2) jia(1)). Nothing much to see but their food was nice, especially their pork knuckles. Then went back to Shanghai for some shopping which was totally horrible and boring, completely unlike shopping in Beijing. The malls were either dark and crammy and smelly (of smoke), or were new and empty. Then had dinner at some Japanese restaurant in which the shabu-shabu was horrible. Then took the Bund Tourist Underground Tunnel and went up to the second level of Oriental Pearl TV tower. Then took an MRT back to the hotel. Last morning stayed in the hotel playing cards while the adults went to book city (shu cheng). Afternoon was spent ay yu yuan and we ate the xiao long bao for dinner, but this time eating the cheaper one (16 for 10 yuan (2 sing bucks)) and queued up more than 1 hour for it. After that went to Pudong airport very early, about 6 hours before our flight. Took about 1 hour to get to the airport which was about 40 km away from the city centre. Found out that the check in counter was only open 3 hours later so we went to a cafe while my dad and I took the maglev to and fro. It cost 80 yuan for a two way ticket and the ride was a little bumpy and the train didn't go very fast, only about 300km/h, way lower than the fastest speed. At about 9.30pm, we checked in and went into the waiting area where my uncle bought a can of coke for 18 yuan (3.60 sing bucks) from a cafe when about 20 meters further down, there was a vending machine selling the same thing for 8 yuan (1.60 sing bucks). Then we played more cards and waited till 11.40 pm when we entered the plane for our trip back. Spent most of the time sleeping but the Kris flyer on the way back was horrible.
Fun trip

Stuff I did with cousins and brother:
Play cards
Walk and Talk
Imitate Rusell Peters

China trip

Came back from China yesterday. Went to Beijing and Shanghai. Total about 12 days. Left on 6th early morning and came back yesterday (17th) early morning. Quite fun but very tiring trip. Will post about the trip later.

Master Card

Electricity bills for sleeping in a air-con room right after bathing without drying yourself: $1

A pair of scissors to multilate yourself: $1.95

Two packs of Yakult to gulp down in a day: $6.95

Getting sick and a MC to ponn Gym: Priceless

There's some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Master Card.

Weekly update

THis week was quite fun. Went class 'chalet' at Aaron's house and we went Seletar Country Club, and 5 of us squeezed in the back of Aaron's car. We got there and played pool, table tennis, bowling and maybe 1 or 2 arcade games. I bowled a 163, 3 strikes in a row in the first game, then I tried curling the balls (no pun intended) in the second game, dieded at first but ended up ok. Tuesday to Friday was quite ok, OBS meeting on Tuesday, and Wednesday to Friday was mostly spent at my cousin's house playing and more playing and doing nothing (ponned Gym). Saturday was Rockwall climbing with church, and it was raining heavily and lots of people got wet (haha). The rockwall was indoors so there was nothing to worry. I climbed thrice; twice on the walls with flat surfaces, one easier and one harder. I managed to reach the top both times (even though I had do change my shoes because they were too big, so no grip), then the third time I climbed the wall that was slanted out, but I only managed to reach the third or fourth panel (only church people will know this, about 1 and a half storeys). I didn't know that there were those holes in the wall which you could step on. My dad came back from his one-and-a-half-week business trip to Germany and he bought me a 345 euros train (model train) engine (quiet expensive). The train is fun, with all those train sounds such as the braking (screeching) sound and the whistles and even the shoving coal sound. Quite worth it.

I realised that a lot of people are going Hong Kong this december; my cousins (10 people) and lots of friends. Think it's because of Disneyland. Anyway I'm going China (Beijing and Shanghai) this December for 12 days. Will be leaving on the 6th. Still a long way to go.

Gym

It's plain stupid. 7 (or rather 6) times a week for 5 weeks, non-stop. 8.30 to 12. Sparstic. It's just that horrible than I can't quit (and change). 2 more years, then I QUIT.

Yess...Noo

Ok, the results were out today, almost all. Pretty much a mix of emotion, with those imba and sucky ones. From best to worst:

History: 23/25 (top in class)
Geog : 27/30 (3 rd in class)
Maths: 43.5/50 (5th in class)
Science: 30/40 (sucky)
Chinese: 53.8/100 (die...)

The end of year and GPA:
History: 88/100 (4.0)
Geog: 80/100 (4.0) (top in class)
Maths: 76/100 (3.6)
Science: 78/100 (3.6)
Chinese: 61/100 (2.8)
German: 64.5/100 (3.2 if they round up)
English...
I need a 4.0 for English to get a 3.6, but it's highly unlikely, so bye bye 3.6, no more 11 subjects. Sigh...

Give Thanks

As Nigel Fong posted on his blog, we ought to give thanks to God, especially after what he has done this week. Firstly, during Maths test on Thursday, I was left with 2 un-done and un-known questions with 20 minutes to go. Then I prayed, and suddenly the ideas came flowing into my mind and I managed to finish all but one part of the 2 undone questions. Secondly, today was our church's anniversary party which was outdoors. Thank God it didn't rain and the psi was about the 40 to 60 range, which is very low nowadays. Thank God.

P.S. Prayer Works

CTs...yay

Yay. The Ct's are finally over and it's time to relax. However, it's quite boring at home when you have a brother who hasn't even started his exams and you can't play anything besides computer which is so boring. Oh, we got a 32 inch LCD tv and an XBOX 360 as a free gift. But same thibg, I can't open it till my brother's exams are over, so pissing.

Argh...Regret

Argh...
Why didn't I run for prefect
Mr Jee asked me if i was going for it
Then after the nominations Mrs Lim asked me why I never run for prefect because I had leadership qualities but was juz naughty in class.
Nobody would and will ever believe it.
But I somehow have the 'leadership capabilities'
Now the chance is over...
Must wait until go to RJC then try again
Argh...Regret

Free

It feels so good...
not to have to go back to the torrid place of mats and springs
No more
Constrains
Tied down by those rules
Those unreasonable rules
The people who tell you not to do things and yet do it themselves
The...people
The cold, hard (obvious) place
No more of those
Wish it could last forever...
But it won't
A few more weeks, months
Prometheum day
2007
It'll be over
soon...

Some acronyms

Future problem solving---FPS---Friday ponn school
Teachers' day celebration---TCD---Thursday don't come

I wonder what they're trying to imply...