Wednesday, July 30, 2008
read today's paper, and there was a particular article which caused my mind to start churning out arguments against certain views. of course not views of the reporter for it was a report rather than a column like those done by tak yek keak and sumiko tan.
the article i'm referring to is the one about the eating competition recently held in Singapore, featuring two champion eaters. there were people who wrote in response to the article reporting on the event, damning (ok maybe it's too strong a word) it, questioning the purpose of it and labeling it disgusting in light of soaring/increasing food prices globally.
seriously i find such arguments ridiculous. don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that we should have more of such competitions when food prices are going up. but to come out so strongly against an eating competition because of food prices increasing (all of a sudden?) is so strange and well, short-sighted i think.
i feel that their argument is flawed, firstly because if one draws parallels or extend their logic, then it doesn't seem to make much sense to hit out at eating competitions only. the organizer made a good point when he/she (i can't remember!) said something about why not stop the sport of F1 racing in view of rising fuel costs?
those who wrote it also said that it's sick to have some competitions not only because of rising food prices but mostly because of the widespread hunger in the world. people in africa are starving, or closer to home, our neighbours. yet we have eating competitions. i'm supposing they call such competitions disgusting because of their seemingly unnecessary nature. with so many problems, we should try to cut off the ropes that link the ship to deadweight, that the situation may improve. assuming my earlier assumption is true, then many things in life suddenly becomes unnecessary. it becomes unnecessary for us to have fast food restaurants, to have restaurants selling gourmet food.
they say, let's not waste resources doing stupid stuff like eating competition. i say let's not waste resources powering 24hours macdonalds, let's not waste money on restaurants (ok fine not gourmet ones but even billy bombers, kenny rogers etc) because i'm sure simple hawker fare will do just fine filling us up no? but let me see, they probably won't agree to it because they still want their convenience food, they still desire to indulge themselves with stuff like steaks and all. i guess one could say there is a demand for it. i guess one could say that they like such stuff.
ok fine... be perfectly human, and immediately "lash out" of sorts at something you find pointless and not in your interest but would without hesitation take back your argument when asked to give up other equally unnecessary stuff because of rising food prices. if you really want make an issue out of wastage of resources in Singapore while others starve, i'd say you make the first move, show everyone how it's done and start some project to give up a significant bit of your income, leaving only enough for you to live comfortably (by the standards of those whom you are helping), and use the funds collected to buy food and deliver it straight to those who need the food to avoid corruption.
if you do that, i would respect you. if not, i'd say just shut up, be glad you have more than enough rice to fill your bowl twice over during meals, and quietly think of ways you can be more constructive towards your cause rather than destructive.
just a note: names of restaurants used were mere examples and i have nothing against them. really.
now that was a weak argument. but who cares? i got it off my chest.
sc
whimsical nonsense @ 12:29 AM
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Friday, July 25, 2008
seriously. it's close to 3.15am and i'm still online. doing chem IA sucks. i hate it. and previously i was doing tok essay. o my gosh i am like half screwed because it's so late. i just really really hope my stamina doesn't die totally with it. sigh.
sc
whimsical nonsense @ 3:14 AM
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
ok there is just so many things to do!
and i'm not doing them. wow. fantastic right? what the...
i just realised i didnt' comment on my mid year results, which i got back last friday.
i think i did quite well. 35 or 37 points. i think it's 37, if what people tell me about grade boundaries prove correct. that's quite good for me, considering how everyone else did. i just hope i can do better in future. really really. rawr!
i finally ran today. during pe where it was free. as in we could do whatever we want. most of my class either played touch rugby or soccer. i went to run 2.4 and take timing. it's like so -.-
daniel yee helped me to time. 9:26. i guess it's a new personal best, beating my previous timing of 9:28 achieved on a monday, 7th april. 2 days after aq. i improved by 2 seconds! ):
all those months! what the.. but then again i don't think i should be complaining. since april 7, things have been so erratic. train train until cross nats on 23rd. then never train, or run much much less on my own, (there were no trainings, no official ones anyway i think) until 3 weeks after cross nats. then 1 week i train. then go wow. so another week gone. which makes that 1 week of training useless. come back from wow and the next 3 weeks of holidays i train. then the first 3 weeks of school never train. 1st week had mid years. train a little bit only. 2nd week tuesday light trianing, thursday track heat. after that never run! stupid lazy sam chan ): so yeah. considering my lack of consistent running, not warming up (if it helps...) i should be quite happy that i actually manage to improve by 2 seconds and not deprove. rawr rawr i wanna be faster!
i shall try to run tomorrow. better start thinking of a route... i want to do the haw par villa route, but i need to follow garry. can't tomorrow because he has track finals. whee! so exciting. haha. as in his finals are soon, so gotta taper.
sometimes i think i'm a bad boy. stupid hypocrite.
sc
whimsical nonsense @ 12:07 AM
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Sunday, July 13, 2008
today is 13th july 2008. which means that my k810i, roxanne (the name of my phone) is exactly a year old! ok not really because i bought it the evening of 12th july. but i first used it on 13th july, a friday. 1 week before bob 07. and it also means that my mac is exactly a month old! it is still unnamed. trying to think of a nice name. haha.
went national library to study. wow i think that place is an awesome place. ok not study but rather try to get materials for history ia. keyword: try. yeah. i don't think i succeeded much. got distracted later on. yay i bought starbucks at the end! henry, ariel, kevin and sam lee waited for me. boo i feel bad. white chocolate mocha frap, grande, no whipped cream. haha it's not bad i guess. o yeah coffee based, not cream based. met up with daniel, louis and kevin at fish and co earlier though. then at the library were other acs people. timo, ging ting, isaac lee, sheryl, etc. i don't want to go name the rest already. lazy.
back to school. sian. seriously. at least i had starbucks today. so not too bad (: haha
sc
whimsical nonsense @ 11:52 PM
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Friday, July 04, 2008
my one and only track heat is over. haha interesting experience i must say. i guess i should be happy since i ran somewhere between 2:16 and 2:17, which is my personal best! haha doubt i'll qualify though. but there is always next year. i shall train hard with today's experience in mind, to own everyone next year (: heh like it's going to happen. haha
now that mid years are over. now that track is over. time to focus on assignments. time to look forward to school cross country. ahhh i want to improve faster! haha
sc
whimsical nonsense @ 12:15 AM
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Wednesday, July 02, 2008
right. track heats tomorrow morning. scared. and then i think i shall go back to school after that. o well. i shall try to sleep earlier tonight. haha.
yay i bought new shoes today.
aye it ain't a very good picture.
GT-2130.
yep they're blue. i wanted the red one, but apparently there is only one colour.
maybe it's a newer model. i have no idea but i'm pretty darn sure i saw red GT-2130s days ago.
o well. retail price 192 bucks. after discount 144. somehow my parents let me buy. yay!
i really hope i don't regret buying it. i hope it'll feel good while running.
and speaking about running. my heat is tomorrow. ah!
sc
whimsical nonsense @ 11:15 PM
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008
and so my midyears ended.
i went home to watch my japanese drama thing. 11 episodes.
i finished 4. i sat down and prepared myself to finish the whole thing.
although i never expected myself to watch the remaining 7 episodes at one shot. from 1255 until 630. i hardly got off the sofa.
ultimate couch potato. haha quite fun.
then i went to watch the special episode where there's actually a more proper closure. yay!
done (:
now that i have finished watching my show, there isn't much else for me to do (in terms of relaxing). maybe it's time i start on my EE, TOK and IAs. and maybe bb stuff too. ahh!
work. i'm not ready!
apparently my track nats heat is this thurday morning. o dear i'm not ready. haha the time has come for me to get owned. o well just for the experience. i have to tell myself that. for some reason i'm really scared.
sc
whimsical nonsense @ 12:07 AM
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profile
Samuel Chan
7 January 1991
affliations
shuqun primary school
Henry Park Primary School
Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)
acdb8 / bb12thcoy / acspb / ac cross country
