Sushit

I'm officially deadbeat.
7 days of 3-6 hours of sleep and having the madness to take a light jog after my last paper, it pains me so much just to type this line.
And so presenting...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz II

24th April 2007
It's back.
Again.

The dreaded monster leers lasciviously at his object of desire.

The astucious Kelvin knows evil is around the corner. But yet, he wonders why isn't his worst nightmare commencing an attack. He shifts uneasily in his seat, armed to the teeth.

Suddenly, a stifled laughter...
And it was gone, like an darting apparition.

MLE1101: Introductory Materials Science and Engineering

25th April 2007
Night falls... But today is certainly unlike the others.

Kelvin has learnt his comrade, Kevin has fallen to another variant of the beast. Bad news spread like wild fire and the macabre description of what was left of him was definitely not pretty.

Kelvin is a lone warrior. A confident fighter he is, but what shackles him in fear isn't the demise of his comrade.

It was a single-line admonishment that his pal gave just before his death:
"IT gets stronger, daily."

How many days has it been, Kelvin ponders...

*creak*
Then pain was felt.

Yes, the protagonist of this bewildering tale has been attacked. A gleaming kris embedded in his right shoulder, narrowly missing his subclavian arteries.

Kelvin whips out another cup of Robusta Coffee and hurls it above his head. Like a poor ripoff of Spider man, the Z Monster somersaults off the ceiling.

Don't be surprised, I've already warned you that it gets stronger.

Now that's an improvement, the Z Monster muses as he steadies itself for one final attack.

Kelvin panics.
The scatterbrain hero has misplaced his weapons.
A heavy price to pay... He is defenseless.

Kelvin opens his mouth to call for help, but nothing is heard.

Victory is indeed sweet, the Z Monster grins from ear to ear literally.

Just before the hero surrenders his consciousness, the tables turn. I mean not literally, cos' that wouldn't make a lot of sense.


"Kelvin, are you falling asleep?!"
His mother enters the battle scene and with uncanny accuracy, she delivers a triple ingredient shot: Brewed Ginseng, 500mg Vitamin C and a Brand Chicken Essence pill.

Back stabbed! It curses aloud unintelligibly
And like all other days, it was gone.



Nope. Kelvin isn't a lone warrior after all. :(

BN1901: Principles of Bioengineering

Rocks

At the verge of a metal breakdown, my mind subconsciously conjures up a typical examination scene...

Student is seated at table. Realizing that the table is unstable, rocking back and forth, he raises up his hand to signal to the nearest invigilator.

Invigilator: Yes? Do you have a problem?

Student: Yah, the table rocks.

Invigilator (puzzled): No. The table is made of plastic.

Student: What?? I mean th...

Invigilator (interrupts student): Sorry. I know what you mean actually. But I can't help you cos NUS rocks.

Student: ???!!!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

It is that time of the year again. The Z-Monster is back.
His new prey: Kelvin Lim

22nd April 2007
The Z-Monster circles his new found prey. Armed with a blunt and crude tool at hand, he approaches from behind. As if by instinct, Kelvin whirls around and fends himself even before an attack could be made. A quick splash of diluted Ginseng and it was gone.

23rd April 2007
A humiliating defeat, the Z-Monster recalls the night before with embarrassment. It takes out a sharp but rusty dagger and decides to take aim at his day old prey.

Then, it throws.

*Twang*
The rusty old dagger bounces off the table. The Z-monster is a boboh shooter, apparently. Alerted of the danger, Kelvin throws a small cup of Rubusta coffee. The Z-monster ducks, sustaining only superficial injuries.

Now you don't have nothing left, the Z-monster smirks to itself
It takes out its spare razor blade and lunges at his prey. But alas, Kelvin is prepared too. He whips out a full-blown ginseng concoction and sprays copiously at his ugly sleep-inducing monster.

Then, it was gone.

MKT1003: Principles of Marketing

Remember

Psalm 77 (New International Version)
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.

¹ I cried out to God for help;
I cried out to God to hear me.

² When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands
and my soul refused to be comforted.

³ I remembered you, O God, and I groaned;
I mused, and my spirit grew faint.
Selah

⁴ You kept my eyes from closing;
I was too troubled to speak.

⁵ I thought about the former days,
the years of long ago;

⁶ I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart mused and my spirit inquired:

⁷ "Will the Lord reject forever?
Will he never show his favor again?

⁸ Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
Has his promise failed for all time?

⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"
Selah

¹⁰ Then I thought, "To this I will appeal:
the years of the right hand of the Most High."

¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

¹² I will meditate on all your works
and consider all your mighty deeds.

¹³ Your ways, O God, are holy.
What god is so great as our God?

¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples.

¹⁵ With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
Selah

¹⁶ The waters saw you, O God,
the waters saw you and writhed;
the very depths were convulsed.

¹⁷ The clouds poured down water,
the skies resounded with thunder;
your arrows flashed back and forth.

¹⁸ Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,
your lightning lit up the world;
the earth trembled and quaked.

¹⁹ Your path led through the sea,
your way through the mighty waters,
though your footprints were not seen.

²⁰ You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

It's Coming

A week is fast drawing to an end.
No thanks to a rather ill-timed phlegm spewing cough, I think that the upcoming exams might just be the most disastrous in terms of time and effort spent.

If preparedness for the upcoming exams was directly related to the amount of money I have, I would be Dr. Chee Soon Juan.

Kelvin Lim

Rotten

Inspired by Wei Guang's rotten grape, I'm reminded of a rather rotten-looking muffin I ate yesterday.

Yummy.

Presumptuous Assumptions

PM Lee asks:
Will nation be better off if a wider pay gap makes it harder to attract potential leaders?

Rather than viewing the question as a rhetorical one, I feel compelled that this seemingly innocuous and sincere question contains 3 basic assumptions:
1. There is a pay gap.
2. Smaller "pay gap" makes it easier to attract "potential leaders".
3. Without so-called "potential leaders", Singapore is worse off.

But alas!
The typical NUS Bioengineering student decides wisely against dirtying his hands with this imbroglio, especially with less than 2 weeks to examinations.
Later, he decides...

Acronyms Acrobat

1 Lecture in Cell Biology (LSM2103) on Apoptosis:
Apaf1, AIF, Bcl2, BH3, Bcl-XL, Bax, Bak, Bad, Bid, tBid, CAD, Casp3, Casp8, Ced3, Ced4, Casp9, CARD, cIAP, Cyto C, DED, DD, DISC, Diablo, FLIP, FAS, FADD, IKK, Noxa, puma, P10, P20, P53, Smac, TAK1, TNF, TRADD, RIP, TRAF2, TNFR1, NFkB
Acronym Count: 40

22 Lectures in one Semester.
22 x 40 = 880 Acronyms

Be Mindful of The Affective Gap

While I've never been an ardent fan of novels and short stories authored by local writer, Catherine Lim, her political commentary "A Great Affective Divide" was proof to me that she could produce more than secondary school literature.

Today, my respect for her has been cemented. Permanently.

Be mindful of the affective gap
By Catherine Lim, For The Straits Times (5th April 07)

I HAVE followed with intense interest the current debate on increasing ministerial salaries to match those of the highest earners in the private sector. And I have noted the impassioned arguments from both sides: the Government insisting on its necessity if top talent is to be recruited to ensure good leadership, and the public expressing its reservations, doubts and unhappiness.

I would like to go beyond the emotion and the rhetoric, and see the issue in the larger context of the PAP model of governance, in particular its special brand of pragmatism in solving problems. It is a hard-boiled pragmatism which even the severest critic will concede has contributed greatly to the Singapore success story. And one which, paradoxically, even the strongest supporter will concede is liable to harden into inflexibility.

In the case of ministerial salaries, the PAP leaders' thinking seems to have gone along these lines: Singapore needs a good, strong government if it is to prosper or even survive. Hence, it needs to recruit top talent. Since there is competition for this from the private sector, it has to offer equally attractive salaries. It has to act quickly and decisively, otherwise the country will face a serious crisis of leadership, which can occur in three increasingly dangerous stages:

· Talented people will not be attracted to government service.
· Even if they are, they will soon be enticed away by the private sector.
· But even if they are not enticed away, they will resort to corruption as compensation for their inadequate salaries, and thus bring ruin to society.

Rounding up the austere dialectic is the urgent plea to doubting Singaporeans: Do you want Singapore to go the way of corrupt societies?

I would like to point out, respectfully, a basic flaw in this rationale. In keeping with the overall, hard-nosed realpolitik that has characterised PAP rule, it fails to take into account the affective factor that is present in any relationship, whether between individuals or ruler and ruled.

This factor comprises that special constellation of emotions, moods, attitudes and ideals which somehow elude being quantified and reduced to monetary terms. I first analysed its role in the relationship between the PAP Government and the people over a decade ago in a political commentary titled The Great Affective Divide, noting the emergence of a serious emotional estrangement despite the country's stability and prosperity.

Subsequently, I variously described the conflict in terms of the people's wish to see a greater role for Heart as opposed to Head, EQ as opposed to IQ, Heartware as opposed to Hardware, etc.

The policy regarding ministerial salaries illustrates this conflict. Its definition of the talent that is eagerly sought as ministerial material does not appear to take into account attributes beyond those of intellect. It assumes that what is good for the corporate world must be good for government, and that therefore there is a common target of talent out there, which both will compete fiercely for.

But in reality, the commonality of talent is only in those attributes of mind and personality such as great intelligence, far-sightedness, boldness of vision, creativity, determination of purpose, etc, that are the hallmarks of today's high achiever. Beyond this overlap, the emotional aspect comes into play.

And here, there is a dramatic parting of ways. For while the ideal political leader is imbued with nobility of purpose and altruistic instincts, the ideal CEO is impelled by the very opposite - raw ambition and ruthless drive. The first set of qualities is desirable for a life of public service; the second would be disastrous.

Indeed, a brilliant achiever without the high purpose of service to others would be the worst possible ministerial material. To see a potential prime minister as no different from a potential top lawyer, and likely to be enticed by the same stupendous salary, would be to blur the lines between two very different domains.

Next, the rationale goes against the very spirit of the social contract that it is supposed to protect. There is a compact, largely implicit, that governs the government-people relationship in every mature society in the free world, and it has as much to do with what is felt deeply in the heart as with what is worked out logically in the head.

By this compact, political leadership is less a salaried job and more a vocation, with all that this implies of selflessness and sacrifice on the part of the leaders, and trust, respect and regard on the part of the people. It is this reciprocity that defines a social compact and confers upon it a sort of sacrosanct quality. The ultimate reward for the leaders, whether or not they consciously seek it, is a revered place in the nation's history, in the hearts and minds of future generations. Hence, material reward is only secondary.

Nevertheless, no Singaporean with any practical sense of the real world would want to see a minister denied a salary commensurate with his status and dignity, or living less well than any prosperous Singaporean. If the average Singaporean still aspires to the famous '5Cs' representing the good life, he is only too happy to see a minister already well in possession of these.

But, at the same time, no Singaporean would expect a minister to feel disgruntled if he is paid less than the top CEO. If the disgruntlement actually causes him to leave his job, then he was not cut out for public office in the first place. Thus, to offer him a matching salary to enable him to stay would be to demean that office.
There is clearly a need to balance material needs and public service. The balance, in the view of many Singaporeans, has already been achieved with the existing ministerial salaries, if benchmarked against those of high-earners across a broad range of professions, and also against the salaries of ministers in countries such as Sweden and New Zealand, consistently ranked among the foremost, corruption-free democracies in the world.

The policy of increasing ministerial salaries may have the effect of upsetting this balance and, more seriously, doing away altogether with the compact of trust and respect. It will create a new affective divide, or reinforce any existing one, between the government and the people, and reduce their relationship to a purely impersonal business contract.

Even in a society often described as aggressively materialistic and coldly efficient, there are, fortunately, Singaporeans who believe idealism has a place, and that the fire, passion and commitment of the Old Guard, who saw Singapore through the difficult early years with little hope of financial reward, are still alive in some young Singaporeans.

The policy on ministerial salaries will, at the least, breed weary resignation in Singaporeans: What's the use of giving one's views at all? And, at the worst, give rise to toxic cynicism: What's the use of teaching our young such values as caring and selflessness and sacrifice if each carries a price tag?

Catherine Lim is a freelance writer.

Extra Reads: A Great Affective Divide

In My Room

I was in my room this morning, queuing up to use the ATM, when a CHEEBYE BANGLA come by and GRAB MY ASS!!!!!!!!!

I got so angry I shouted at him! But you know what the fucker did? HE IGNORED ME AND CONTINUE TO GRAB MY ASS!!!! I was going to confront the CHEEBYE BANGLA further, but I was scared he might punch my fragile new fake nose, deforming it permanently and leaving me ugly forever. :( So I walked away quietly.SO ANGRY! I HOPE HE DROPS DEAD AND TWITCHES IN AGONY BEFORE HE DIES, THAT LOUSY, MUTHAFUCKING CHEEBYE BANGLA!

I am so fucking irritated with that CHEEBYE BANGLA! So what if he is a CHEEBYE BANGLA? Doesn't mean he can just GRAB MY ASS like that. If every single CHEEBYE BANGLA come and GRAB MY ASS, I still need to live meh?!!


Special Thanks: kennysia.com