Maths CCT was just wrong. After mugging all that Geometrical Proofs, staring at Worksheet 1 and 2 for hours, just trying to understand a stupid theorem, what comes out in the CCT? One five mark question. After completing the earlier part of the paper (which I must admit was quite ok), I had around 8 mins left for the last question. I stared at it for five whole minutes, before deciding to check the rest of my answers instead. When I came back - no time left. Why do they even set question more than 50 % of the class can't even solve? I know that because after the CCT, my class went into a rage. Everyone became really pissed, and started telling (or shouting to) each other how they hadn't managed to complete the last question.
EDIT:
Yay! Apparently, part b of the last question has been cancelled (since it cannot be solved), so now the paper is upon 27. Is that a good thing? ._.
Chem OBA, on the other side, was quite ok. It was quite sneaky though, they put a tedious balancing equation just before the last question, so a lot of people got stuck on the balancing equation question, and didn't have time to finish the last question. ):
Sigh. Tests, tests, tests.
On a slightly lighter note, did you know the iPhone was first conceptualized in 1983? (: And it looked like this..
Interesting how a concept can go so far into creating/innovating a product that is now one of the most sold in the world.
Sometimes there's a limit to things. Sometimes there's a line to be drawn. Sometimes you should know when to stop.
... And sometimes it just isn't 'funny' anymore.
There are those who stick by you till the very last second, and there are others who flee at final moment.
Here's a big thanks to those who've been there.
And a bigger thanks to those who've fled. For making me realize.
Sunday, July 12, 2009 @ 12:45 PM
Overkill?
I was listening to 987 FM last night, and there was this Michael Jackson song playing (Smooth Criminal). After the song ended, the DJ (the programme was Say it With Music, I think) started talking about how much of an 'overkill' all this media coverage of his death was, and that 'everywhere she looked, she saw something about Michael Jackson'. She even said in a conversation / discussion with a listener that it was so much, that she wanted to 'kill herself'. Yes. Her exact words. At that point, I seriously 'HUHed' aloud.
Personally, I think that not even all this media coverage and all the post-death fame can cover all the bad coverage and notoriety he had received when he was alive. I mean, when he was alive, people accused him of child abuse, plastic surgery, and what not. They didn't stop and think about his past, and bothered to look into what he had been through. And now that he's gone, they respect and admire him, and say 'oh, he was a great man' and 'oh, we will miss him', and what not. It is certainly true that an artist gets more famous when he dies.
In his memorial, Reverend Al Sharpton received a standing ovation when he told MJ's children,
"There wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange was what your daddy had to deal with."
I've been waiting for it for so long! To experience something new, to finally take a break from all that mugging, and to catch up on work before the EOYs. Now it's to be substituted with normal lessons.
I'd like to quote here Martin Lim's 'essay'. It's quite interesting, addresses a few concerns regarding H1N1, and how the school has dealt with it / is dealing with it, and it has quite a few pretty good arguments why all these event being cancelled should not be cancelled.
IMHO everything all comes down to how one chooses to look at this outbreak. Most of us Rafflesians have come to regard this outbreak as something inevitable, something unavoidable - it is estimated that there are already more than a million H1N1 cases in the US alone; according to MOH, ‘13% of patients with flu-like symptoms are due to H1N1’. Most of us have realised that it is really quite impossible to contain the spread of the virus, and even the Government has realised this too [viz. the move to ‘mitigation’ instead of ‘containment’, stepping down contact tracing/issuing of HQOs, advising patients with mild symptoms to remain at home instead of hospitalisation etc.] Most of us are going about our normal routines [or trying our best to do so], knowing full well that we might be exposing ourselves to ‘additional’ risks, but also knowing that 1. the virus is still relatively mild and 2. if we get infected - so be it -- essentially we're just taking everything in our stride.
On the other hand, I personally feel that the school has yet to realise this, continuing [to try] to keep us apart and prevent possible transmission. Mr Kwok does have a point, though, in that although measures to ‘distance’ and ‘segregate’ us may be imperfect, they still should still be implemented - some protection is always better than none. But then again, all this comes at a cost. One always has to weigh the benefit brought about by a particular measure against the inconveniences it causes to the school population [i.e. us], and honestly speaking, when the benefit gained is so negligible and the inconveniences so great, it simply makes no sense at all to sacrifice so much just for such meagre added protection. And, of course, in this case the measure that we are talking about would be cancelling DMP.
First, even without DMP, mixing of students would occur anyway. Talks such as the Ambassador's Series are still on, and although recesses and lunches may be split up, there are still two different levels [or more, if one includes those Sec1s and 4s with 3rd period PE] in the canteen. Furthermore, classrooms are still being shared - a notable example being G2-07 and 08, being used by the Sec3 and 4 RA classes as well as Sec3 EL2. This ‘desegregation’ of students is also especially prevalent after school, as more than half of the school population descends onto Junction 8 and the MRT.
True, having DMP would make this problem a little worse, and abolishing it would afford some slight form of protection. However, given the current state of things, it appears that holding DMP would really not have much of an impact. There would be mixing of students and teachers, for sure, but then again teachers are already teaching many different classes and even different levels - and as for us students, we often meet up with other Rafflesians from different classes and levels - our friends, CCA mates [CCAs might be cancelled but we still know each other] and so on. I really don't quite see how having DMP could make this problem much worse.
Second, DMP might actually be a good thing by way of ‘segregation’ and ‘social distancing’. Why so? The DMP timetable is structured differently from the normal school timetable, thus us seniors usually choose to go for recess and lunch at certain times so as to avoid the crowd of Sec1/2s. This serves to reduce the crowd in the canteen - and no, it does not create a new ‘Sec3/4 recess’ - the structure of the DMP timetable [which can provide a great number of free periods] gives us a lot of freedom to choose when we want to eat. Also, many Sec4s utilise the time during the DMP period to study for their EOYs, and thus try to keep their timetables as empty as possible. During these free periods, unless they happen to be sandwiched between two lessons of course, many of us would rather be at home than in school - DMP thus has this added purpose of emptying the school, and also staggering dismissal times - we get to leave after our last period of the day, which can be any time from 9 to 1.
In conclusion, given that the amount of mixing going on in the school right now is still rather significant such that cancelling DMP would have not much of an impact, and from the amount of displeasure generated by the cancellation of DMP - some of which you can already see here - there is really not much of a case for cancelling DMP. Furthermore, one should also consider the intrinsic value of DMP itself - the fun in choosing our own modules, of learning what we want to learn [for a change], and of the knowledge gained through all the modules -- and it soon becomes obvious that cancelling DMP isn't really worth it. In the broader context of things, further spread of H1N1 appears to be unavoidable, and although some protection is usually better than none at all, in this case it really isn't worth it.
School's back on! I don't really know whether I should be happy or sad..
First week of school has been fine, I guess. Quite a lot of work, projects due, and tests. Certainly seems like a 'wake-up call' from all the slacking during the holidays.
The past few weeks (including holidays), I've been going around with 2M people a lot! Lunch many many many times, Raph's house, Raph's house again, Edmund's house, movie, etc, etc.
We've been playing lots and lots of 'Werewolf' (don't ask me why, lol!) and I finally learnt how to play Mahjong! (although I really suck at it :D )
It's been great to go out with old classmates, now that we don't see each other much.. Hopefully we're still as close to each other many years down the road!
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As you might have realized, I have a new skin! I don't really know why I like it, though. Probably 'cause I wanted something simplistic. And woody. I like woody stuff. :)
Oh, and on a totally random note, I found this cool pen which looks like a pencil!
