Reflection TIME #04

Special Sacrifice for Academic Goals

…There was once a woman pompously boasted to her friends about her persevering boy that prepared his exams by studying incessantly till midnight. She was proud of him and ensured to all her friends that his boy would get a straight A’s on his exams. Consequently, her child came back from school, bringing astonishing news. He got a straight F’s on his exams. He told her mother that he fell asleep during the test and he answered no question. The woman was flabbergasted, her mouth opened widely followed by the giggles of her friends…

However, the story is only a narration of the cartoon I found in The Straits Times weeks ago.

Obviously, the simple satire cartoon on The Strait Times was depicting the recent cases among the Singaporean youths, lack of sleep. Nowadays, many teenagers become unaware of their sleeping time; they only take a sleep for a period of time that is less than the recommended time. Generally, it takes about 9 sleeping hours for a teenager to completely replenish their energy after being used for the activities. It means if they must wake up at 6 am, they should go to bed at 9 pm. Yet apparently, there are still many teenager ignore it. Is it that hard to sleep early? Why do they ignore the recommended sleeping time? Actually, there is a lot of factor contributing to the case of lack of sleep, including teenagers’ job as a student. They ignored the essential “charging” time as they are demanded to finish all their tasks; as if that sleeping time is something that should be sacrificed to achieve their goals.

One factor that influence the most usually is the work that should be done by the teenager. As a student, they have additional work such as homework, performance task or revision sheet from the teacher. In fact, the purpose why teachers give them homework is to ensure that the student make an effort to keep in touch with the subject, to revise it although they are not in the school. Generally, Singaporean youths will start to do their homework in the evening (i.e. after dinner). Sometimes, Student may have a pile of homework and find out that the time after dinner till 9 pm is not enough for them to finish up all their homework. The revision for the tomorrow-test also compounded their problem. Even in extreme case, teenagers have to finish all the tasks and revise for the upcoming test until they are impelled to sacrifice their sleeping time. If they have the opportunity to sleep earlier, most likely they will not use it to charge their energy. It has been embedded in their mindset that they ought to revise their subject for the next test or to study just to fulfill personal demand, so that they can sleep earlier during the day before the test as they have revised the subject in advance. Obviously, though they can sleep earlier, they will use the time to revise again. In the other words, it has become an endless cycle of revising.

The other factor is about the mindset of some of the teenagers. Apart from all the homework that they should do, they want to have their own time by playing game, loitering around or watching television. Sometimes, they cannot control their desire to achieve their own leisure time; hence they prioritize indulgence rather than finishing their tasks. They start to procrastinate, ignoring the homework and end up with, again, a pile of tasks. Time management also becomes a very crucial matter here. Most students usually fell to the tempting temptation that gives them ephemeral pleasure only. But, later, they would practically die to finish up all the stacked homework. ( Remember! Procrastination is the thief of our precious time! )

In this case, teenagers’ demand is a matter of pursuing academic goals. As if that the academic goals are running relentlessly and they should chase it. Yet the problem is the academic goals are still running although the pursuers, whom are the teenagers, are sleeping. Thus they need to diminish their sleeping time to dwindle the distance between them and their goals; therefore they can keep up chasing them.

Honestly, lack of sleep may be detrimental to the teenagers’ health, either physically or mentally.
(to be continued on this Saturday…)

Wasting Phone Memory

The Blatant Randomness

These photos are taken today, 23rd August 2008 (common time) and 7th Firemonth 0016 (Alvinian time) with my very own handphone camera. These are only some expressions of my randomness and strangely, these photo resemble something...somehow...

Anyway, let's see whether you can guess the place where these photos are taken...

Please take a look. Thank You.
(By the way, the author is still an amateur in photography)

The Mozaic of Life

Life is a mozaic, full with smithereens aspects that will demistify the world

The Staircase of Deception

look deeper and you'll know...Life is full with unperceivable enigmas...

An Ubiquitous Sight

Haha...Singaporeans' common sight...Everyday, everyplace...

TIME Trivia #02

Strange but True

Yay! it's strange but true...
It was once made me grue...
Depressed me until I felt blue...
But now, I found my lost ACCESS CARD!!!yohoohoo...
By the way, dining hall got some improvements too!!!

Yeah!
I'm happy now...
I found it yesterday....yohohoho...
I lost my access card one week after I came back here,
it means...I SURVIVED THE WHOLE FIVE WEEKS, without access card...!!!
I found it on my drawer when I was looking for my books....Thank's God!!!

Moral of the story:
"Take care of your belongings"
"Check your drawer if you lose something"

Another info, I saw improvement on dining hall!!
Last friday, scrumptious BURGERs became the victims of ravenous boarders!!!
and this Sunday, I got "Bandeng Presto" for my lunch!!
En passant, Bandeng presto is the name of Indonesia food. It's not about magician's "battle cry" to trick the innocent children. It is like fried fish, but the fish is different! It is soft-boned fish....
Really, really nostalgic...

Random Story

It has been a long time since last time I post something new on this semi-neglected blog. Now, I'll show you another post. This is my story which I create two weeks ago. It's just random story based on my friend's experience, but of course with different approach. Enjoy!

A Simple Story

Again, this was his third time in a row to burn the candle at both ends.Working as a secretary was not as easy as people thought. He must complete his stacking reports which were the compilation of his friends’ works. The only thing that he wanted to do was to finish up his works quickly and then come back to his home sweet home. The ticking sound of the office clock suddenly became audible, bothering him who hardly attempted to concentrate to hisworks. By the time he finished his reports, it was already midnight.

Slowly but discernibly, he trudged to the exit door, showing his ID card to the one and only awaken security guard besides the door. “Why do you come so late??...Inoue Murakami. Ok! You may go!” said the security guard whiles his eyes matching my face with my other face on the card. (Yeah! His name was Inoue Murakami…) Without replying, Inoue nodded his head and smiled at the guard languidly. Outside his office, he discovered that a slight drizzle had begun to fall. He opened up his old handbag, rummaged in it and seized an umbrella.He was the only people stood on the cul-de-sac on the front of his office. He knew that he didn’t have any vehicles and there was no more taxi; moreover, he lived in the outskirt of Shizuoka and it was already midnight. He opened his umbrella slowly and prepared himself to endure the cold, rainy night. He started to walk.

A pellet of rainwater struck his vulnerable body continuously, soaking his denim jacket although he had covered his body with the umbrella. The rain had quickened. A gust of rain started to come out from the dark sky. The droplets had transformed into heavy drops, blown with the mighty power of swiveling gale, mirroring the machinegun as the rain barraged his umbrella. His umbrella was not enough to protect him; the rain had begun to spatter on his face.Ashe ventured further, the atmosphere became creepier. The thunder flickered on the night sky like an electric sword, becoming more intimidating andfiercer. The road had started to get flooded, drenching hisshoes with damp, uncomfortable cold water, making his steps heavier and heavier. The sound of rainwater splashed down to the floodwater had successfully made a cacophony that kept reverberating on his ears.

Beside the road, Inoue could see a small ramen stall overcrowded with people albeit it was raining. The ramen’s aroma was damn tantalizing, seducing him to devour it. Considering his budget, he only smelled ramen’s scrumptious aroma; at least it could alleviate his hunger. Abruptly, the thunder raged again, illuminating the horizon with blinding light, urging him to go back to his home quickly. He shambled, continuing his heavy steps.
Suddenly, from far apart, a child dashed to where Inoue was, calling him with loud voice. The child’s arrival was very obvious as she was running with earsplitting stepping sound due to her geta (Japanese wooden sandal). She wore small kimono and had its body completely soaked with rainwater. The child accosted Inoue and asked for his help to find her lost item. The child was approximately seven years old, he knew it from her juvenile face and childish voice. She looked very panic as if she had met a bogeyman.

“Onii-san*, can you help me to find my lost item? I don’t bring my umbrella. Please…” Said her exhaustedly with droning voice.

“Whoa! Why are you still outside in the late midnight? Okay, I’ll help you, but after this you should go back!” He answered with low voices. The child seemed barely heard it amidst the rain.

“ArigatouGozaimasu**, Onii-san!! But you have no need to send me home after this. Once I find mine, I’ll go home in no time….” The child replied with sardonic sneer.

“Oh…really? Are you sure?”, responded him unbelievably.

Without concerning anything, he piggybacked the child and continued his quest to help her. On the way, she nothing other than singing Japanese folk song with droning voice, whereas he thought about something peculiar. A child in the late midnight lost its items. At the most the child lost its money or toys. Whatever it is, he only attempted to do it quickly.

“ This way, Onii-san!” Said the child while pointing its index finger to the small alley.
He stopped his steps for a while, thinking,was it rationale for a child to lose its item on graveyard? However, he still did it.

“ You can put me down here. Bye – Bye Onii-san! I’ll take my items myself!” Said the child happily.

“ Ok! Be careful, it’s still raining!” he replied.

Without saying anything, she smiled to him and ran to the graveyard. He waited until she disappeared from his eyesight, then he started to walk again.

Suddenly, silence prevailed. He couldn’t hear the sound of peppering rainwater that was reverberating on his ears just now. “What happened?” thought him. Impending danger might happen.

“……A…arigatou g…gozaimasu, Onii…-san!....”Interrupted a familiar voice. It was the child’s voice. He threw a glance behind his back to see the child, but no one was there. He didn’t even feel anyone’s existence. The atmosphere became ghastly. He could hear the stammering voice again. Twice. Thrice. The voice kept saying thank you in Japanese to him. Being skeptical to phantom’s existence, he believed that it must have something to do with the child and the graveyard. So, he went further to the graveyard.

There was nothing other than graves and dead trees. Flashed on Inoue mind, his grandfather’s story about Western ghosts; abysmal Will-o-wisp, which comes out from the grave, and appalling Banshee who always wails every night. Anyway, those dubious stories won’t decimate his will. He trod lightly, trying to make a little noise on the graveyard, while his eyes were looking for the child. Nothing could attract him until he saw something bizarre under the dead trees. It was a piece of white cloth covering something. The cloth was very dirty and stained with red-colored blotch, which he believed that it was blood. He took it very slowly, uncovering something beneath it. Seeing what it was, his jaw dropped rigid. It was the child’s body in very frightening condition. Her body was mutilated, some parts of his limb were maimed and backside his head was completely ruptured. He recognized the child from her face that was stayed untouched. Everything was covered in gore; seemed that the child was murdered a few days ago. In fact, he had helped the child’s ghost to find its lost item, its own body.

Note:
* Onii-san means brother
** Arigatou gozaimasu means thank you
They're all Japanese words.

Reflection TIME #03

DEMOCRACY

Democracy is one of the most preferred governmental systems. Literally, democracy is the form of government which is led by the eligible members of a state, political sovereignty is retained by the people and either exercised directly by citizens or through their elected representatives. Every people on the state play instrumental part in this system for the sake of the state. Most of the countries with the highest level of human development, such as Singapore, Korea, or US apply democracy as their governmental system. Democracy, by most people, is associated with the power to maintain stability. Indeed, democracy not just provide boon for the state. It also brings bane to the state. But, why is there still a lot of country use democracy as their governmental system?

The most vivid aspect from democracy is the representative government. Representative government involves the election of the leader who will both represent the whole state and lead the state or in other words, every people in the state must freely choose whoever candidate they want to vote. As we know that diversity in every state is inevitable, it implies that there would be an uneven distribution of citizens. Thus, it will lead the state having the majorities and minorities. In fact, the chosen candidate should be chosen due to the fact that majority of the people vote for them. It is good when the chosen leader able to control the state excellently in the sense he / she can address every person’s aspiration, but what will happen if the leader just support the majority, benefit the majority on the expense of minorities? The answer is quite obvious. Majority rules. In some developing country, the government rarely address minorities’ issues; somehow they underestimate minorities’ needs because maybe they think that majorities’ issues are more precious to be brought up. Apparently, it seems impossible to maintain integrity in such condition.

However, after reading the article by Mrs. Anita Inder Singh, I agree with her argument. Actually, it is the people themselves who choose their own leader and way of life. Democracy can be seen as a machine that opens our access to our own life. Both democracy and people can be reciprocally reinforcing. As democracy system gives the people freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of live and another freedom, we as the part of a state, should use our freedom to vote to most suitable candidate; A candidate that wouldn’t support only one side, a candidate that wouldn’t confine people’s freedom and a candidate that would address every issue, for the sake of our state.

In conclusion, basically democracy is a good form of government. Democracy doesn’t control people. People should control democracy instead. The future of the state lays down on the most important “controller” government, which are all the people on state. Whoever the representative should be able to bring up every problem from both sides, minority and majority, and avoid any majority sovereignty. Therefore, if it is realized, I believe that maintaining integrity is not a difficult thing to do.

Reflection TIME #02

MARRIAGE

Marriage...
An interesting thing to be discussed.
For most people maybe marriage is necessary thing, but for some people getting married is unecessary or even such an onerous thing.

From the Article " I'm Single, And My Career Has Little To Do With It " by Mrs. Irene Ng ( The Straits Times April 22nd, 2001 , we can she how the marriage caused a quite big problem. Mrs. Irene Ng got into the dilemma, she must choose either to continue her career or married. She was just the one who suffered on this condition, there are also a lot of people stick in this dilemma. Most people choose to work before they married, they think that if they are not working now, their future family will be broken ( especially economically broken ). The other reason why they choose to work first is probably they want to check whether they are independent or not and to gain experience from it. I think that all are to make sure that if they have family, they will not neglect their family.

Now, the problem is most of the time, people become 'addicted' to their job and they start to work and work, hoping for the tremendous amount of money, and.....Finally, when they start to propose their crush, they have been old already. Usually people will university in the age of 18-20, graduated from university in the age of 24 -27, they start to work ( 27 - 30 )and work until they are about 30++. Instead of getting marriage, people start to think 'why do I need to get married in this quite old age???' . People start to have this dilemma. Perhaps age is the greatest factor why they don't get married. They have been old already, if they get married, it is very hard to have children and it is very hard to raise the children in such old age ( 30++ ). They will focused on their work and forget about marriage. 'The important thing is to make a success of the single life if you are single, and to make a success of the married life if you are married.' This was what she said about it.

The other factor maybe is they are afraid of the life 'aftermarriage'. Mrs. Judy Syfers is one of the examples. She wrote the article "I Want A Wife". In this article, she tells about her annoyance because of her husband. Some people may think that her aspirations is quite egoistic, she want everything. But, from the other point of view, she becomes the 'victim' of unconcern husband. She has done everything for him. She cares the children, arranges expenses, cooks, washes, does the daily jobs, be the wife that is always listen to the husband, and satisfy him. But, what happened at the end?? Her husband is looking for another wife!!After she has done everything for him, his return is he wants another wife. I'm sure that she is very sad.

I think this case has been quite pandemic. This case happens not just to one or two family, but a lot of family. The husband is bored with his wife and start to neglect them and search for the 'fresh and newer product'. He thinks that wife's rank is below his. They just want pleasure, without thinking about the others. The meaning of marriage is contorted from marriage to get close to each other by the love bind or marriage to get children to marriage just to get pleasure. Actually, wife's job is not just to satisfy his husband and husband's job is not to neglect their wife and family. Husband and wife's job are to care each other and the children and to synchronize with each other so that they will have a glorious family.

In conclusion, it is true that to choose whether we will get married or working is very hard, but if we can manage it well, we can overcome it and become the glorious worker or glorious family, not a pathetic husband that neglect their family.

TIME Trivia #01

TIME Trivia

Yo everyone!!! This is my first publication of TIME Trivia.....

Here, In TIME Trivia i'll post anything....everything.....make sense or nonsense....important or unimportant......good or bad.....AND that will be a trivial!!!!

OK just read it....remember to inform me if I make any mistakes...

This is the end of TIME Trivia #01....Sorry to give you just a nonsense fact about TIME Trivia...!!!

Yatta!!!!!!