kiasu-ism

Monday, March 22, 2010

As I was pondering on an interesting and personal topic to pen down my thoughts on, my mind drifted back to an incident I witnessed two weeks ago.
This took place on an MRT at Jurong East.
I was headed for my tuition in the late morning. I stepped into the fresh coolness of the air-conditioning of the train carriage and sought a seat to no avail; I thus grabbed onto the nearest pole I could find. Just as I was about to dig my head back into the book I had been engrossed in, I spotted some poor soul who happened to let two $2 notes fly from his pocket onto the ground. Before I had the chance to alert him, this auntie immediately stood up and rushed forward like a hawk to its prey and grabbed the notes. Honestly, I was shocked. I always grew up to the notion that Singaporeans were 路不拾遗，拾金不昧, or in other words, honest and not greedy. This auntie had not a single pinch of guilt written on her face; rather, she was hastily rummaging for her purse to store her stash. It seemed as if she thought nobody saw her action. Actually, most of the people in the carriage were staring at her incredulously. Not wanting to attract any bad feelings, I quickly turned away back to my book.
As I type this out today, I ponder if this is yet another manifestation of the oh-so-Singaporean quality of kiasu-ism. I wish I had verified this by rolling a 20-cent coin across the floor...anyway, a direct translation of kiasu is "afraid to lose". Indeed, Singaporeans are always competing to be the top in anything and everything. Meritocracy has become one of the most widely used political formulae, but certainly Singaporeans exhibit the immense desire to achieve the top grade much more than any other country.
My mother recounts an occurence when she was in her university in Edinburgh. Every time she takes the lift, a strange thing will happen: out of the ~14 people in one lift, only she and a Hong Kong-er would actually press the close button. This really shows how anxious we are to be the quickest in getting anything! Such trivialities might seem ordinary here where everyone does it, but in the Western world we would stick out like sore thumbs.
Singaporeans beware. Do not succumb to the depths of kiasu-ism. I know the lollipop is right there in front to tempt you, but are you sure you want to suck it?

11:03 PM

palettes//4

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Day 4 
Amanda here tending to your desires.
I am the multitasker, the ultimatum of work jugglers. I balance work, play, home, fashion, fitness, health, enjoyment, relaxation, duty and reward. With so much on my platter there is hardly anything to ask for any more. 
After a longer day of work I oft enjoy a glass of dry martini. It happens without fail that the olive rolls of my toothpick and onto the floor, filling the room with a dull smell of vermouth. I then know it is time to kick off my heels and lie comfortably on a sofa with ambient music drifting away into the distance. Who cares about work any more? 

Labels: palettes

9:32 PM

palettes//3

Day 3
Hey. I am Jacob. 
I am what parents call a 'trouble kid': a teen who spends more than 90% of his time on the computer, tapping away at the keyboard on a social networking site or a chatroom. BTW did you know that 73% of statistics are made up? Hah, just some interesting FYI. Txting language has bcom the norm. It is irreversible. It is inevitable. I <3 the internet.

Labels: palettes

9:22 PM

palettes//2

Day 2
Gerund's the name, steampunk's the game. I have successfully programmed a series of metallic items of the artificially intelligent nature to set forth upon the earth and make a, what should we call it, a revamp. Soon the human race will be wiped out. The world will be a stagnant and dead place. Resistance is futile. Ha-ha-ha-ha-*blip-

Labels: palettes

8:50 PM

palettes//1

Day 1
My name is Ophelia.
It is my duty to fulfill the stereotype of modern-day white-collar workers. I sit behind an impeccably varnished wooden desk, staring away at the minuscule digits on the numerous spreadsheets laid out on my computer monitor and flawlessly completes the project precisely within the stipulated time frame. There is not a single shift in my programmed schedule. I arrive at work at sharply nine in the morning. At the tick of noon, I slip away to have a regular sandwich and a cuppa, to which I always add a teaspoon of caramel. Precisely at two, I return to my desk, only to tick away like a clockwork machine until the day ends at five. It is more of a strict regulation than a roughly followed routine. I like it this way. It leaves me little room to have to use my brain much.

Labels: palettes

8:45 PM

palettes//intro

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Edit: I decided to string all the palettes into a collation of short descriptive paragraphs. Look out for updates! 
Aha. Another introductory post.
Before you do anything, go to this website.
Recently I've been hooked onto COLOURloving. It has become something akin to a passion. To put things simply, on COLOURlovers you can create three things: colours, palettes and patterns. Colours are straightforward: just choose a hex code and name it. Palettes are groups of up to five colours arranged with certain widths. Patterns are just tileable designs that you can assign colours to. Simple.
If you look at my profile (refer to link at bottom), you can see that I have the least palettes amongst the three types. A spark of inspiration told me that writing a paragraph or two on each would be interesting and fun.
Somehow, even though my palettes are many and the number of them keeps increasing, I feel that I would complete (or at least until the latest one) this series before the Clazziquai project because...well, simply because I have more motivation for this. :) Enjoy.
 
 -- Fight for love in the colour revolution

Labels: palettes

4:06 PM

bias

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Taking a breather from the Clazziquai project, I have entitled this post 'bias'.
What is bias? Bias is a particular tendency or inclination, according to dictionary.com. In short, bias = prejudice.
Bias is shown in many forms. Even though we may not encounter racial or sexual bias within Singapore, many other subtle forms of bias are evident.
Firstly, parental bias. Picture this scene: you and your sibling are fighting over who gets to use the computer, then a parent comes in and mediates, then allows your sibling to use the computer first. When you question the reason, it is always vague and/or repetitive. Somehow parents get away with this all the time, be it on a small scale or an outright prejudiced viewpoint.
Secondly, meritocratic bias. This is often performed by teachers to the highest degree of perfection. In essence, this bias is: if your grades are good, I like you; else I hate you.
Simple but deadly. Many a student have come under the shelling of teachers for no reason in particular, or some rubbish made up on the spot like "You ask too many questions." The whole aim of being a student is to learn, so what is wrong with asking questions? The teacher shrugs away this comment and you are left without any closure. Indeed, good results are often the motive for bias.
Thirdly, impressionistic bias. It happens to all of us: we judge some stranger, and this first impression fills up most of our brain space dedicated to this person, and we are therefore biased based on it. For example if you see somebody sitting on a reserved seat on a bus, you may think that he is selfish and uncaring, and if you end up becoming acquaintances this idea may stick. Although first impressions are usually highly erroneous, few people would want to acknowledge this fact.
Of course to add to this list there are racial and sexual bias, but I will not be elaborating on that.
What is important is that bias is a vice. It gives different people unequal and unfair treatment. If you want somebody to accomplish something, they should be on the same platform or level as everyone else. Personal opinions are just that, personal and subjective. If they influence your fairness then something has gone terribly wrong. FFT.

3:43 PM

clazzi//electronics

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Electronics. A wholly intriguing word.
I shall be discussing this word as a relationship to technology, and please don't mind me if I constantly stray off topic as I am just penning down my (landu0mu) train of thoughts.
Indeed, right now as you are viewing this at least 2.1 million people are using some form of electronic appliance. No, I just made that up.
Certainly technology has eroded its way deeply into our lives such that we may not survive without it. Perhaps you may offer somebody $100 to delete their Facebook accounts, and yet I'm sure most of them will decline your generous offer. It has become a social norm in developed countries to be involved in as much technology as possible. Just look around: how many people own an iPod, handphone, laptop...et cetera. The number of people on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter is astounding. The Internet (now spelled internet) is gradually swallowing the cosmos and breaking barriers and boundaries. It is no longer, as the Chinese have always loved to think, needed for you to take a step outside your house to gain the much loved artifact called information. In fact you don't need to take a step away from your computer, let alone outdoors! The world is SHRINKING!
Technology as its own entity is rapidly expanding within the oblate spheroid of what is left of the Earth. Just look at the highly successful Apple. They started out with the original Mac, and now the MacBook Pro rocks the world. They began a series of Walkman-esque devices called iPods, and now the variations of iPods cover everybody's needs. They created a good use for touchscreen, and now this has blossomed into the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. In fact they started a trend of using a small 'i' in front of a descriptor to personalize everything. Seriously, who can doubt that countless organizations have plonked an 'i' in front of a product name and released it into the world?
Aside from this, science has proven to be the major driving force for technology. Nanobots, remote control robots, microchips...the list is endless. This is actually what is advocated in the music video. It depicts the construction of robots and mechanoids. They are assembled piece by piece and prove to be of an identity similar to artificial intelligence and emotions. Light and electricity simmers sporadically throughout the video and portray an ever-changing world of technology. In addition, the common colour scheme associated with technology (bright coloured skeletons on black) is continued. There is a constant pulse, bringing about the feeling of continued progress. Indeed, an innocently designed music video brings about many stirrings to the observant viewer.

Labels: clazzi

11:06 PM

clazzi//intro

This is an introductory post of a series of posts which I will be embarking on.

As a creative output, I have decided to create some posts based on the titles of songs in Clazziquai's mini-album, Metrotronics. These show some inspiration and ideas as a new outburst, and will give me much space to explore the realm of humanity.

For a heads-up, the contents of this album is shown here (or, at least the songs that DMPCE uses):
1) Electronics
2) Flea
3) Love Mode
4) Color
5) The Night Stage
6) Creator
7) Come to Me
8) Freedom

Labels: clazzi

9:04 PM

elearning//2

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Spatial

refer to here for a map of Maycomb county.

8:40 PM

elearning//1

Musical

to the tune of "Colours of Sorrow" by Tsukasa

The scene in your mind
The cloudless night
Tread down the road
A light bulb shies outside the jail

An ominous view
Can't rest 'cuz of you
Smile for me now
And don't let it down

See the anger and pain
I will find in your face
Don't take his life away
It's not over for him 'til the end

In the darkness of days
Jem and Scout please go away
Appealing with you
Touching your identity
A relief of love

7:01 PM

multiple/intelligences

This is the order of my multiple intelligences, starting from highest/strongest to lowest/weakest:
1) Musical
2) Visual/Spatial
3) Interpersonal
4) Logical
4) Linguistic
6) Intrapersonal
6) Naturalistic
6) Kinaesthetic

Honestly, this was the result I was expecting. I mean, not exactly but perhaps in a similar order. If I were to rank myself, I would do so as such:
1) Musical
2) Visual/Spatial
2) Logical
4) Linguistic
5) Interpersonal
6) Naturalistic
6) Kinaesthetic
8) Intrapersonal
Well, there are some differences but basically the structure is similar: musical and spatial right at the top and kinaesthetic and naturalistic right at the bottom.

What could be the implications? Certainly music and rhythm is the most optimum method for me to absorb knowledge. (Something which I already knew.) And amongst the 'regular' learning styles of {spatial, logical, lingustic, kinaesthetic}, learning through vision is the best. So combine the two and get: music videos! Nah just kidding. But videos may certainly be one method of extra-textbook learning that could appeal to my brain. (By 'extra-' I mean outside of, not excessive amounts of.)

Something that I did not expect was the increased position of the interpersonal intelligence. I don't feel that I work well in teams actually, as I would often begin to be the dominating party and wishing for the project to incline towards perfection; a goal which my group members often dislike or deem impossible.

All in all, it is just a sample test, and its results may or may not be accurate. But then again my intrapersonal intelligence is at the depths of my brain, and it may be that I don't really know myself that much after all. :)

9:55 AM

profile

i'm alvin.
i come from hwa chong institution in singapore.
i'm in class 2i2. yes, i'm a sparkie.
i'm 14+ years old; celebrated my bdae on feb 12.
my hobbies r simple: reading, piano, com games.
i like animals, especially cats mudkipz.
enjoy my blog.
thx.

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