COUNTDOWN Day 01

There's never a wish better than this,
The Edna Man

GOOD LUCK, EVERYBODY

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the COUNTDOWN.


Merry Mugging to all, and to all a good night.
The Edna Man

Karma

The days flowed by like water. Swiftly the wheel for formations turned, and soon the cycle of examinations was upon him once again. Like ants, the child people worked. Like ants, the child people worked towards their goals, their individual desires, their eyes never wavering from that goal, that final perfection.

It was during this procession towards the end of days that a thought struck Uncletheddna. In the process of meditating on his sacred texts, he thought, wouldn't it be fun, wouldn't it be interesting to write his commentary verses in the style which the manuscripts were originally written? Wouldn't it show, wouldn't it express that he knew of the style in which it is written like the back of my hand? For what better way to show understanding, to show knowledge, than to produce an imitation, to reproduce the original?

His heart laughed at the thought. It would be a symbolic cycle, a renewal, a circle. It was karma, that fateful cycle of events, which would have the reader in the examiner, and the examiner in the reader. And his heart filled with delight at the thought.

This, o reader, are some of the thoughts which have crossed my mind.
Uncletheddna.

Only Human After All

So I was watching Improv Everywhere's latest musical when I click on a link for one of the photographers and I find her blog. It's rather nice, since it's more of a photoblog, and her photographs are really quite nice (and her cat is adorable). So halfway down I find a link to her husband's website and apparently he's a freelance filmmaker. There's an awesomely choreographed video on the front of his site (when you first visit) which reminds me of this video which I've seen before, which is awesome in its own right (the music isn't very though). So anyway if you browse around the site and come across the videos, the first one that opens when you click that tab is a rather interesting video about the buskers in New York (if you don't see that video then click the picture of the glue bottle on the right). Aside from the video, which is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching at the same time, the song, which I assume is written by the busker with the guitar and harmonica, is a really nice one. I couldn't find the lyrics anywhere, so I guess it's an original song. But it's nice.

-----
Only Human After All (?)
Well if I was a fountain
Would your wishes bring good luck?
And if I was a jacket
Would you always hang me up?
But if I was a jukebox
Would you play me all the time?
And if I sold my guilty soul
Would you pay any (mind)?

Well if I had direction
I'd be sure to steer you right
And if I was a freight train
Would you ride me every night?
But if I was a season
Would you catch me when I fall?
And if I gave you everything
Would you just take it all?

But if the answer's yes
To the questions I already know
There would be nothing left to prove
I wish I had the time
But you're fine
With my fate on the line
Don't need to know the truth
It might just break your heart in two
And I've done sniffed up all my glue
The (new) conclusion that I drew
I guess I'm only human after all

Well if I was a smile
Would you turn me upside down?
And if I was a whirlwind
Would I spin your world around?
But if I was a hotel room
Would you be here to stay?
And if I went and stood you up
Would you just walk away?

Yeah, if I was a riddle
Would you see me as a joke?
And if I was a pocket
Would you come and take me broke?
But if I was a junkie
Would you try and get me fixed?
And if I was a cigarette
Would you decide to quit?

But if I'm never there
Don't despair
'Cos I don't really care
As long as I'm not getting caught
Now just escape the pain
Of (this stain)
Let me level my brain
From your forget-me-nots
(Me tell) you give it all you've got
So watch me take me another shot
You're bound to make my stomach rot
Forgot I'm only human after all

Well if I was expensive
Would your wallet set me free?
And if I was a letter
Would you ever let me be?
But if I was a stop sign
Would you still be on the go?
And if I was a roadmap
Would you let me take you home?

But if I sing my song
Is it wrong
If you don't sing along
But still support me in the end?
'Cos like the setting sun
It's been fun
But it's over and done
I'm moving on my friend
Until the day we meet again
I'll wallow in my medicine
And know that I'll feel better when
You realize that I'm human after all

-----

In other news, I've learned what esoteric, meningitis, and scuttlebutt mean from playing Clockwords.
The Edna Man

Clockwords

Hey, so exams are coming closer and all that, but what better way to spend your time before eminent doom arrives than playing games!

Clockwords is an awesome word game which is slightly different from other word games (like Text Twirl or Bookworm). It's awesome awesome fun and it's replaced my "Take a Break, have a GAME!" game of choice lately. It's like Tower Defence, Scrabble and a Typing Speed Test all in one! Go try it, and you can tell your mom that you're improving your English or something.

In other news, Improv Everywhere has a new musical.
The Edna Man

Once Upon a November

Wake Me Up When November Ends, parody of Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day
Year Five has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when November ends

Like my other friends in class
Three more weeks will go so fast
Wake me up when November ends

Here comes exams again
Mugging day and night
Textbooks to cram again
And more essays to write

As my memory fills
Anymore and it overspills
Wake me up when November ends



Prelims have come and passed
The stakes are high and the die is cast
Wake me up when November ends

Time makes its slow advance
Like we're working in a trance
wake me up when November ends

There goes my brain again
You won't comprehend
Drenched in my pain again
Awaiting for the end

All the things I have revised
Didn't work as advertised
Wake me up when November ends


[[Instrumental]]


Once we get that forty-five
I'll reawake and come alive
Wake me up when November ends

Two more fortnights of IB
Just two months and I'll be free
Wake me up when November ends
Wake me up when November ends
Wake me up when the papers end

-----

Apparently people are willing to lie through their teeth for their curriculum vitae. Say hello, all you University Application Deans!

Maybe I've been the problem, maybe I'm the chance of rain
The Edna Man

My First Children's Day

Hooray, blogger seems to be fixed. Back to regular updates!

This has been a really nice half-week, with lots of fun for all the family. Not only are prelims over, I spent three days out of the house! (Not consecutively, of course.)

So after the stats exam on Monday we had one of those famous "class" outings. We headed down to Cineleisure and had a brunch at Burger King (I'll have a Croissant-wich and some fries and coke on the side). Because nobody knew which movie to watch, we ended up deciding on Whiteout, which was at like, 1.30pm, 2 hours away. So we went to hunt down a LAN shop while Justin got his Omnitrix fixed, and managed to find one who was willing to hide our school-uniformed customership in the back. Played CounterStrike for about an hour; Jun Siong is a damn good (and damn irritating) sniper. But meh, I got better over time. Then we went back to watch the movie. It wasn't too bad, but the plot was a bit forced, I think, and there wasn't really a point to the story or anything. But yeah, still thrilling.

After that we split up because of differing agendas; Ernest and JS went to play badminton, and the girls went to watch Gamer, while Levin, Mong and Justin went to get computer parts. So I wandered over to Kino and lost myself in the comics section (again), and I just have to say that Marvel's Secret War event looks amazing, and so does DC's Blackest Night. Sigh.

Then on Tuesday, I went over to Hui Jun's house again for an afternoon of fun and laughter. Played X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse for a while, which was kinda infuriating because some people just want to destroy everything with a health bar, even though it's not necessary. It felt nice being experienced at a game for once. Oh yeah, before that Ernest was thrashing me with Soul Calibur, which he was competition-trained at until Sec 1 before he decided to give it up. I guess I will never be good at fighting games. So after X-Men we returned to Raving Rabbids, which is this Wii party game. It has an awesome TapTap-esque minigame, and awesome dancing one, so yeah!

Then at night, we started a game of Munchkin with JC's brand-new expansion packs, with dungeons now which affect all players. It was quite fun, especially the gender-changing one, but I had to leave halfway to make sure I could catch a bus back. But before I did I borrowed three books from Hui Jun; more on that later.

Okay, then yesterday was a full morning of OM-related activity. First I'm supposed to wake up at 8am but for some reason I must have been so tired that I switch it off while not even waking up, and it's only at like, 9.20 does my mom come in and ask me what time I have to be at MGS. Aaah! So I rush out of the house and get on the first bus down to the school, and I apparently make it just in time to surprise the OM girls for Children's Day. Ta-dah! Well, I didn't manage to get any sweets but Mrs Hah had a whole fridge of them (literally, stockpiles of it) and I just helped give them out. Meh. Oh well. So June and I hung around until the Children's Day concert, which I was quite curious to see, seeing that I haven't watched a Children's Day concert for about six years. It was quite awesome, actually, seeing the teachers go up and perform for their students. I think that it's brilliant; it really reminds the teachers that they're not just there to teach, but to make them happy, which is great. Hints for Youth Day, instead of just ice-cream.

So then June and I went down to town for lunch, chicken rice a la carte. We wandered around town, shared an Auntie Anne's pretzel which I haven't eaten since I was ten or eleven, I think. (Actually, "shared" is a bit of a euphemism; June claimed she was full and only accepted a small chunk.) Then it was off wandering around Kino (again) and we found this AWESOME series of books. They're like textbooks, but all in manga style. That's right. Typical Japanese manga girls and nerdy-looking boys explain Newtonian physics, molecular biology and calculus. June was complaining how she never had these books in her time.

After that June said she had never explored Orchard Ion, so naturally an expedition was in order. Thank goodness this time I managed not to get lost, and we wandered around looking at posh tea houses and expensive fashion accessories. Then it was time to go home.

And what I've been doing at home is reading. Lately, Hui Jun has been like a library to me, and I've been borrowing from his extensive (read: he has books shelved behind his books) collection. I'm supposed to do a review on them soon, so keep your eyes out for that. In order: Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, then Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician series, and now two of Eoin Colfer's: The Supernaturalist and The Wish List, as well as Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, which is the only one I haven't yet read. Will get to the reviews soon, I guess.

Happy Children's Day!
The Edna Man

The Sad, Sad Situation

Link: "Wanton Disrespect from Another School"

I refer you to the above forums for more information about this post.

Firstly, you can see that Singaporean Internet commenters are no different from American Internet commenters (seriously NSFW). Nice to see civility taking a backseat when hiding behind the anonymity of teh interwebz.

I think most of the people condemning the act are too quick to judge. They are quick to blame the teachers, the school, the education system, before getting the full story on the situation. I think the intent of the initial forum poster, to rile up emotions on this event because of the apparent shocking nature of the pictures, was achieved quite well. People tend to react more violently or strongly to images or events which throw a wrench in their system, which might affect their rational judgment about the situation.

From what I can gather about the nature of the project the students were supposed to undertake, I think that it is brilliant. This is the kind of education method I prefer: something which exercises creativity and exploration, not just extraction from a textbook. I think it is effective because you can see how the students really got into the role-playing and the systematic process of taking over the rival school. On the basis of understanding the mindsets of colonists and putting the student in their shoes, which was allegedly the aim of the exercise, this was a fantastic idea. However, what was not mentioned was the aftermath: learning from your mistakes. After all the laughter and humour was over, did the teacher explain the detrimental possibilities of their plans? Did he or she take them back out of context and ask them to look at what they had thought up? Did the students recognise the potential of the atrocities they might commit if they had the opportunity to put their plans into action? That should be an important lesson here as well, not just the understanding of colonists.

That aside, we return to the "public's" reaction to this so-called "despicable slandering". First comes the Victims, who are offended by the "stereotypes" portrayed and demands that teachers be sacked, schools admitting apologies, ministries coming in to investigate, and all that jazz. These are the same type of people who hate Islamists just because of a few fundamentalists. I will never understand the human tendency of association, especially the Singaporean idea of "each student represents the entire school". In any organization (especially those in which membership is not voluntary), there will be rebels, or at least deviants who do not totally believe in whatever mission or ideal that the organization represents. But thanks to the media, these anomalies are hyped up to such an extent that the layman thinks they represent the entire organization.

I've been studying statistics for the past few months, and one of the basic principles of sampling is that a sample is never an exact representation of the population. It gives indicators, sure, but is not a photocopy. Once that is understood, then the second concept to understand is that correlation does not imply causation. So, a few students with the propensity to think up such ideas and with the intelligence to post them on a public domain does not immediately mean that the entire school is like them. As if schools could control the every action and thoughts of every single student that passes through their halls. The same argument applies for all the people who believe that the whole ACS fraternity is highly offended. Some commented that they found it highly amusing and mostly harmless; for who can blame them? They must have done it in their own time as well.

Then there are also the slights on racism, discrimination and stereotypes. Those happy people who believe in the racial integrity of our stable country insist that these type of stereotypes and generalization, if applied to the more emotionally-manipulating subject of racism, will bring instability to our great nation. To these happy people, I invite you to watch a liberal musical called Avenue Q, in particular a song called Everybody's a Little Bit Racist. If you understand what it is trying to say, you will see that everybody makes little judgments, not just based on race, but on whatever organization or stereotype you belong to. And the whole idea is not to escalate it to such violent, rioting levels, but to accept it as part of human nature.

So there is my take on this whole shebang. Now to get back to stats.
The Edna Man

Scallywags and Scoundrels

Ahoy me hearties! Terday be anoth'r Talk Like a Pirate Day, and woe betide it falls on a Saturday, with naught a social gatherin' all day. Talk Like a Pirate Day ain't much fun, if yer don't have nobody ter talk ter.

I allow'd meself ter write me cap'n's log terday, being one o' them special days and all, and since I miss'd September 1st 9th and 11th, I made sure ter commemorate tha special occasion.

It ain't much fun, like I said, but me be studyin' me organic alchemy to tha excitin' instrumentals o' tha Pirates o' tha Caribbean soundtrack. S' better than naught.

Ye bilge rats and landlubbers should be more appreciative o' tha special days o' tha year, as they be making tha borin' and mundane inter somethin' diffrent and un-monotonous. But well, one mate's treasure chest is another mate's booty, if ye know what I mean.

Avast, and belay that bilgewater.
Cap'n Edna Mann

Bike Trip!

So we went biking on Friday and I'm only writing about it today. Partly because of distractions and partly because damn Blogger is screwing up its XML or something. It really puts me off writing when the formatting of the submit form is all over the place.

Anyways, bike riding was awesome. As expected, not many people came, but a couple new faces this time. We took a different route from before, but ended up at a place with cheaper rentals than before, in a way. And what an epic bike journey it was. We cycled all the way down to Changi Airport, which was a first for me (I can do turns now!) and EPIC when we tried racing the planes taking off. Unfortunately, the bikes from this rental place were so overused that my gear-change system didn't work and I was stuck on high for most of the ride, meaning that I couldn't coast, limited to short bursts of speed. Still, not as bad as Guangda, whose rear tyre somehow acquired a dent which interfered with his braking system, causing him to pedal with all his might just to keep moving.

Arun and Charmaine joined us for dinner, at Carl's Junior (best place after a three-hour bike ride) over a fascinating discussion about superstitions and the supernatural. It was really interesting, coming from the skeptic point of view, and it's good because you keep your mind open to all the various possibilities and explanations. Huh.

Anyway, on the MRT ride back, there was another interesting conversation about NS with the China scholars. After I changed to the red line, I let an old man take my seat on the train. One of the few times I actually had a seat on the train to give up. Anyway, he didn't sound as grateful as some of the other elderly I've helped; not that I'm expecting, I just noticed he was different. But good karma goes around, I guess, because the bus driver waited for me while I hobbled to the bus stop with my injured leg.

That's about it I suppose. Mugging is back with Prelims, and there's no break to the IBs, so.

Need to fly away in a costume of colours,
The Edna Man

Holding out for a Teacher

Holding Out for a Teacher - Parody of Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler

Where have all the tutors gone?
And where are my textbooks?
Where's the stupid search engine
Telling me to look?
All these facts and figures are running through my brain
I need help to sort through my head before I go insane!

I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher till the end of the term;
He's gotta be smart
And she's gotta have heart
And he's gotta be friendly but firm
I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher so that I can learn
She's gotta be sure
As an entrepreneur
Or the finals and exams will burn
Exams will burn

Though this class ain't perfect
And it just gets on your nerve;
Idiots and geniuses,
Taken from both ends of the curve.
But ask yourself one question; ask your own true heart:
Would your life be better if we spent our year apart?

I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher 'till she marks my essay
Don't come into my dorm;
Sign my CAS form;
Don't tell me it's another survey?!
I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher until Teachers' Day!
Jarrel Seah can't explain,
His words are too arcane
And it leaves me in more disarray
More disarray

"Madam could you please write my testimonial?
I need to apply for Uni."
"No please don't confiscate my
MP3!"

Through the toilet breaks and long timetables
Fire drills without smoke
We will all study hard
So we can get your jokes

I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher who is also a friend,
Don't need no professor;
Or Internal Assessor;
Or someone who just condesceneds;
I need a teacher!
I'm holding out for a teacher who really comprehends
We gotta remember
'Cos the end of November
Doesn't mean that these friendships must end
Friendships must end

-----
My tribute to all my teachers, past and present. Happy Teachers' Day, y'all!

In other news, today's T-Day performance was one of the best EVER. I mean, I don't know how the older teachers are going to appreciate the hip-hop and stuff, but having the Senior Admin in feather boas and a sparkly top hat must surely make any performance an instant sellout.

Somebody give me a grade!
The Edna Man

Got these Chains on Me

Got these Chains on Me - Phineas and Ferb
I woke up this morning, and the world was gray.
Haven't seen the sun since they hauled me away.
The boss man says there's no use in trying,
He won't let me color outside of the lines.

Got these chains on me,
And they're draggin' me down.
Got these chains on me,
Hear that clanking sound?
Got these chains on me,
Mister, hear my song
Don't say imagination is morally wrong

Mm-hmm
Drink of water, boss?

As long as I've been here I got nothing to show,
Try to make something but the boss says no
Wanna be creative but the man won't hear it
That big boss man, he's trying to crush my spirit

Got these chains on me,
They won't let me fly
Got these chains on me,
Won't tell me why
Got these chains on me
Mister, hear my song
Don't say imangination is morally wrong

No, they won't let us dance or bang that gong,
Cause they say imagination is morally wrong.

How Many Times Has This Happened To You?

-----
Images taken from here and here. Don't ask why both have hoodies; I was searching for one for the emo model but found the girl to be quite nice.

On second thought, I should have hosted this on my devart.

Order now and we'll throw in a Soulmate^TM ABSOLUTELY FREE!
The Edna Man

Coming Soon...

Levin started it with his H1N1 movie. Then I wore my hoodie out in a public place. Thought about how the shield could be a symbol for some secret society. One thing led to another. Need more photoshop skills though.

How free are you?
The Edna Man

Music and Lyrics

Yes, I realize that I've been to way too many FoA performances this year. I couldn't help it! The sounded good beforehand and well, I had friends there. What's a guy to do? I guess, being the last year of seeing these people perform, I might as well just go. And I wasn't disappointed.

Levin can sing Jazz! And Ernest... well, we all knew Ernest could play anything with a trumpet, so no big surprise there. But still the music was awesome. THEY CHANTED HOIST THE COLOURS. Instant-win in my book. Oh, and now I feel like going to watch all the Broadway musicals that I've missed over the past few years.

Things to do:
1. Movie poster
2. Superfriends story
3. Review Keys to the Kingdom
4. Parody Graduation
5. Write song
6. Satire PQs
7. Story about procrastination, destiny, Venice/Paris

Probably won't be doing them so soon, since there's something screwy with Blogger and the stupid post interface is HTML-ing up somehow. Ahh well. Will try for story next.

IF YOU WERE LOOKING FOR A SIGN, THIS IS IT
The Edna Man

Up

And so my parents dragged me out for a movie anyways.

Up was nice. You can't go wrong with a Pixar movie, that's for sure. The 3D effect was quite nice, for a change of boring 2D. Seems like all the upcoming movies are aiming for the 3D visuals now. Wonder how that'll change things.

It must be nice to fall in love. To go to the ends of the earth for someone else.

In other news, this year's NDP was quite nice. Nice music. Funny. Rare, that one. It was really colourful this year too, I noticed. Mmm.

Things to do:
1. Movie poster
2. Superfriends story
3. Review Keys to the Kingdom
4. Parody Graduation
5. Write song
6. Satire PQs
7. Story about procrastination, destiny, Venice/Paris

Thanks for the adventure. Now go have yours!
The Edna Man

Tainted

I got food poisoning over the weekend. From Friday, to be precise. Still don't know what caused it, but I had gut-wrenching stomach pains, and coupled with the fact that I couldn't sleep but was really really tired, gave me a hint of delusional mumblings. Then came the vomiting, and everything fell into place.

Well, check "Get food poisoning" off my Life's To-Do List.
The Edna Man

Decrypting a Printer

Wednesday, Jarrel Seah and I got interested in a printout from Neil's printer which has this mass of gibberish on it. Due to some printing error (probably the buffer memory), the characters all got replaced by its precedent (probably also by the ASCII, numerically). So we spent the better part of an hour decrypting the binary Caesar shift and generally having a lot of fun. Seems awesome to cryptography in real life, though I assume it wold never be so easy. I mean, we had an awesome crib in the form of a URL, so that pretty much gave the game away.

Still, it was quite fun
Sgd Dcm9 L9m

Down in the History Books

Just a thought while doing war poems. I noticed that we have no problem calling those war recruitment posters "propaganda" but now we dare not even mention the word. Why? Which led me to think: the best way to run a country is to imagine you are a historian from the future writing about yourself now. Is what you're doing now considered "propaganda" to those future historians who have not the bias you have?

Just a thought.
The Edna Man

Oh vassal, miscreant

So I've come back from the Drama Festival of Arts: The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew. And I guess it's kinda okay, much more comprehensible than the avant-garde performances of three days ago (sorry). I guess it's quite pffft that they don't do pure comedies anymore, because these days, with all these tragedies, we do really need a good laugh. Joshua and Jesmond almost did the Thriller dance in the intermission though, which was exciting.

Speaking of tragedies (sigh), it's quite something to be critiquing the play, noting the use of foreshadowing and irony throughout. And man oh man, the freaking use of RHYMING COUPLETS TO END THE PERFORMANCE. DAMN YOU SHAKESPEARE.

Dear sir, forebear,
The Edna Man