Concert Photos (2)

No!!!!!!!! I don't have a mistress!!!!!!

A man trying to explain himself out of trouble

Happily ever after. Super bear hug
(I think I look like a bear.
Pow commented that the swiftness and
the intensity of my hug made
it look like a pornographic film.
Yeah, I'm a porn star. Haha... )

Concert Photos

These are the photos taken when I was performing on stage.
These great photos are taken by Raffles Hall Board of Photographers.
Thanks BOP!

Darling... You're the only woman in my life.

Oh no, this old woman is going to say those stupid things again.

You're supposed to stay take care of our girl! Did you?!!!
(I think I look cool here. Hehe...)

Forgive me!

My seduction style?

Understanding Irony

* Philips HD1172. This is the iron I'm using. This design has been used for more than 20 years. Simple, elegant and timeless.

I've to say that understanding irony, is the most interesting module that I am taking so far. The title itself spells out its objective, to understand irony. Why understand irony? Other than the challenges it poses (it's a difficult-to-score literature module), I choose it because irony is a typical phenomena that I experience in my everyday life. For instance, it is indeed ironical that an engineering science student would find such a module more interesting than the science and engineering modules. Interestingly, some folks, knowing that I'm an engineering student, misheard the title of this module and thought that it's "understanding ironing". Well, I don't mind. I really need to improve my ironing skills to waste less time on doing laundry. (I spent 2 hours per week ironing clothes. But ironically, I enjoy it.)

Most importantly, I study irony because I believe it reveals he "truth" or more precisely the reality. My opinion is that irony occurs when there's mismatch between our expectations and reality. Thus, recognizing irony, I deduce, means seeing the mismatch and readjusting our expectations, thus discovering the reality. For example, as an engineering student, I am expected to be more interested in science than in humanities. (This is a reasonable contemporary assumption.) The irony reveals a reality: I'm more interested in humanities. (This is only argument's sake. In fact, my interests in humanities and sciences are oscillatory and anti-phase in nature.) Of course, this is just a trivial example. In this module, I wish to explore several of these more significant issues:

1. Ironies of life

"The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive."
Robert Heinlein (1907 -1988)

Understanding such ironies might give insight to the purposes of life.

2. Ironies of mankind

"We have guided missiles and misguided man."

I saw this on YH's msn nick. It is a great pun by Martin Luther King. It is ironical that missiles are more guided than man. It reveals a reality: our scientific capability is advancing much faster than our spiritual and moral capability.

3. Ironies of love

"我一定会爱你到地老到天长
我一定会陪你到海枯到石烂"

This is the lyrics I found in a 1990s Chinese pop. Isn't it ironical that such promises that supposedly last till the "eternity" are made (usually) in a moment of impulse when our passions are intense? Shouldn't there be more contemplation? The reality? Love is probably irrational.

Now, I hope I have convinced you the importance of understanding irony. For the meanwhile, I have this unfounded (stupid) fear. I am worried by the possibility that after the Understanding Irony course, I might end up concluding that irony cannot be understood. That would be the greatest irony indeed. Haha...

Regional Outlook Forum

As part of the privileges of being an intern in Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), I had been invited to participate in the Regional Outlook Forum 2007 at Shangri-la Hotel. I was impressed by the scale and the importance of the event. Diplomats from all over the world attended the event. I had seen the delegates from the European Union, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. Interestingly, I was seated in between a Japanese diplomat and a African diplomat. (As I was late and there were few seats available, the usher had not choice but to seat me there) Apart from the luxurious decoration of the ballroom, which seems to have unlimited amount of crystal chandeliers, the meals were excellent. Despite the "conducive" environment, I regret to say that after listening for one whole day, I can only recall 30% of it. (Not a bad ratio actually, considering the fact that I did not use the ACP skills. Haha...)

Here are some of the things that I remember:
1. Prof M, the speaker for Malaysia's economic outlook, gave the least impressive presentation. Ironically, it is this "least impressive" that made an impression on my mind. He gave sufficient attention to the economic data, but did not assess the possible economic impact of political issues like ethnic relations. That is what I wanted to hear.

2. Prof Emil Salim, the chairman of Indonesia's Economic Advisory Council, is a great visionary and idealist. His speech was enlightening. I learned from his speech that most issues are usually symptoms of a deeper problem. For instance, haze is actually a symptom of unsustainable development. His call to establish a spiritual and knowledge-based lifestyle and an sustainable economy that co-exist with our tropical rain forest struck the idealist chord in me. But the most difficult part of the haze problem is still the implementation of the measures.

3. Dr Victor Fung, the luncheon speaker and the Chairman of the Greater Pearl River Delta Council, gave the best speech. He was there to promote Hong Kong. I think he was probably "invited" to speak because the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office sponsored the lunch. His use of analogy is awesome. He compared the geographical position of Hong Kong as that of the narrow tube on a hourglass. While the top bulb is compared to the Southern China, the bottom bulb corresponds to Southeast Asia. Using this analogy, he then said that Hong Kong is the center for 4 flows: Capital flow, talent flow, goods flow and information flow. Great analogy to convince people.

All in all, it's a great experience to attend a forum like this. I hope I'll get to attend another one like this. And school is going to start. It's time to switch off my politics/economics learning mode and switch on my science and literature learning mode. Yeah! So exciting!

Semester 2 Outlook

A new year, a new semester, a new start. Thinking about the challenges ahead of me really excites me and scares me. These are the challenges:

1. Handling 7 modules
Yes, I'm mad. This is the number of modules I have decided to take for Sem 2. On top of my 3 core modules, I plan to take 2 USP modules, 1 seminar module and 1 foreign language module. That's 7.

2. Leading RH Orientation Marketing Committee
Yes, I am the head of the so called OMC. It's rare for a year one to head a committee, especially so when I have no direct experience in doing marketing work. As the head, I am responsible for leading the committee's sponsorship-seeking, fund-raising and materials-sourcing efforts. Without this committee, there will be no money for orientation and no materials for the float. That's how important it is. I'm really grateful to the JCRC (Junior Common Room Committee) for putting faith in me to do this job. When there's challenges, there's opportunity. The prospects of boundless opportunity to learn is exciting indeed.

3. Designing solar-powered fruit dryer for Indian farmers
This is a great opportunity to make use of all the knowledge I have learnt for the past. But so far, I have absolutely no idea what's going to be the end product. I guess I have to spend a lot of time to find out.

4. Writing a script for next year's hall play
I have made good progress in brainstorming. The gist of the story is already there. But I'm still very far away from completion. It's difficult to come out with ideas, and more difficult to write into a script. I don't know what this will lead me to. I expect a tough journey ahead.

5. Hall Cultural Concert
I'm in the hall choir.

I hope I am not over-ambitious. But I'll never know. To quote a line from my favorite movie, Gattaca , "No one can tell you what you can or can't do". Yeah, not even myself.