Jude's Goo

2008

2009-01-01T15:54:00.010+08:00

This post is supposed to be due yesterday but from my fuzzy memory, “do not procrastinate” has always been one of my New Year resolutions and apparently, it will continue to be.

Exactly a year ago I was deciding on new resolutions, feeling excited about having ORDed, looking forward to being able to go back to studying after 2 boring and miserable years of NS and dreaming about great stuff that could possibly happen during the year. Well, 2008 turned out to be a hell of a year and one filled with much craziness, such as ridiculous crap which I never thought exist, as well as many great things I could only dream of previously. But in a way, I’m really glad things, even the bad ones, turned out the way they did. I’ve also met many awesome people in NUS who have changed my perspectives on many things. Also, after countless attempts, I finally got NUS to relent and approve my transfer to Science (although it came with a little twist and I really have to thank a certain professor for everything). Of course, getting in is only the beginning and it is no time to be arrogant and let my head swell for these joys could possibly be ephemeral.

Anyway, despite all the crap that has happened and the times when I’ve felt hopeless, 08 has been a great year for me on many levels and hopefully for many others as well and I’m sure 09 will be as well. Of course, with greatness come many other things as well but ultimately, I truly believe it is how you perceive and make use of the experiences that decides whether things will turn out to be as great as you wish they would be. I’ve been told that I’m overly optimistic sometimes but oh well, I probably am but at least it’s contagious.

This might possibly be my last post here as I’m getting sick of the green layout and I haven’t decided what to do to the blog yet but well, I’ll have to see how it goes.

Happy New Year and I hope 2009 will be a year filled with things to look forward to for everyone and if they don't exist, create them. Forgive the optimism but the occasional dose of it can’t hurt, can it? Have fun.

Goodbye 2008.

You're planning to fail

2008-12-09T20:11:00.007+08:00

When I was a little younger, and a little more naive(not that I'm not now), I was ever so convinced by those nicely packed phrases that come with ribbons in a fantastically looking box. Wow, they look like christmas presents, so lovely and so definitely true. And in one of the countless number of pretty boxes lay this certain phrase/sentence.

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

So short, yet so powerful. Before you know it, you are an avid subscriber to this fantastic phrase and then one day, things don't follow the plan. In comes chaos and you're thinking why in the world did you start planning anyway.

Actually, the phrase is right. IF you don't plan, you are going to fail. It didn't promise you success or fame or fortune. However, with their most obvious indication, I'll have to disagree. If you don't plan, are you really going to fail? Well, I don't know what the "plan" here means exactly, it can be quite ambiguous but in my sense of the word, it meant to work out very detailedly everything and everything else. Do you really have to plan in such detail? Okay, step 1 blah blah blah. At this moment I'm going to be dealing with this problem whatsoever so let's solve a problem before it even happens. Why?

I'm not a cynic of every phrase that comes out from lovely packaged boxes. In fact there are many phrases that I do like. But, instead of the lovely boxes, I like those with a dash of reality and a whole lot of thorns. That phrase above, yes it is nice, but it would also be something a salesman would love. Nothing bad about it, at all, and now I just need to come along and sell you a whole world of stuff to help you plan your route to success. Money, yes. Success, maybe not.

If there's one thing I believe in, it is faith. I believe, you don't have to map out your life in such detail. The thing you should have, is a goal. I don't view having a goal as a plan; I view it as having something to work towards. Along the way you stumble and fall and get up and run and walk and breathe and sweat and cry. You make mistakes and you learn from it. Everything else between you and your goal are obstacles. It is up to YOU, your own determination, belief and faith to carry you through the tribulations and trials, not some carefully worked out plan.

You never know what's going to hit you. Just move along and whack them back just as hard as the problems hit you in the face. Who said life was easy. Oh yeah, about phrases, I do remember one, it's by the joker, whole thing is awesome but the part is when he talks to Dent.

Out.

What Difference Does It Make?

2008-11-08T00:05:00.016+08:00

Two days ago, I went for the final Genes & Society lecture and somehow lectures seem to be more interesting towards the end of the semester. And in fact, this lecture changed some of my opinions in interesting ways. The lecture was about ethics and implications of developments in biotechnology and this particular scenario was raised: There is this fatal disease that is genetic in nature and if you carry the mutation, you will die by 30-40 and of course, to make things interesting, there is no cure with current medicine. However, we have the technology to sequence your genes to determine whether you carry this mutation. If you do, you will die. The question is would you do it?

Having a particular appetite for ethical questions regarding science, I immediately said to myself, “Sure, even if it’s incurable, the person can at least make full use of whatever time he or she has left and live a fuller life.”

I was dumbfounded by the professor’s reply. “Why do you need to know that before you can live a fuller life?” he asked.

Damn. He was right. Why didn’t I think of that? It was so obvious.

That somehow made me question whether diseases, or the lack thereof, are indeed convenient excuses and justifications given for not making full use of our lives. What difference should it make, whether we have some terminal disease or not, when it comes to deciding how we live our lives? Logically speaking, it shouldn’t make any difference but despite that, I instinctively fell into the trap of thinking that it should.

The experience was a refreshing one and it somehow reminded me of my priorities. Things seldom change my opinions but the professor's little statement did exactly that, in a good way.

A Day In Life

2008-11-02T20:34:00.023+08:00

I thought the occasional story telling is fun and therapeutic, especially for such an eventful day; well, in a way.

Somehow Japanese lessons never fail to entertain and I always seem to have the honor to be taught by kawaii tutors—both in Ikoma a couple of years back and now in NUS. Well, I attended the last TA tutorial for LAJ2201 today (the module has 3 different tutorials, TA, TB and TC taught by 3 different tutors with 3 different groups of tutorial mates) and damn, it was kinda melancholic; considering that TAs have usually been some of those more interesting tutorials, and that it was taught by such a kawaii sensei. I’m sure gonna miss having TA lessons with everyone but oh well, there’ll probably be more of them to come if I decide to continue taking Japanese in the next semester. Hopefully with kawaii senseis as well.

Moving on, I had another two lectures which were bleah, normal. Then, fast forwarding to 6 in the evening, the fun began.

Boy, the psychology lecture at 6 was probably one of the most bizarre lectures I’ve ever had. It presented some remarkably astounding information that I kinda rather not have. The topic was on personality and apparently, a genius known as Sigmund Freud decided that there are reasons for people developing personalities the way they do and he explained some of those in theories which are, well, interesting. Basically, he classified early development of personality into three different stages—according to age—namely the Oral Stage, the Anal Stage and the Phallic Stage. Before we get overly intrigued with the oral and the anal stages, as fascinating as they may sound, I would like to say a little on the last stage, which is the most fun of them all; trust me.

This stage is basically said to happen when we are 3 to 7 years old and boys in this stage are believed to prefer sticking to their mothers. Here comes the fun part: while boys desire their mothers, they are also scared of their fathers, who are apparently stronger “competitors”. A young boy believes that his father will take “preemptive strikes” by taking away whatever is causing lust towards his mother: his penis. As a result, in fear of losing his highly prized asset in the bleak battle against his dad, the boy understands what it’s meant by “when you can’t beat them, join them” and decides to identify with the man who his mother loves: his father. Smart move. So this process is said to allow the boy to take on attitudes, morals and values of his dad. Skeptical? Me too, but that's not all.

Girls aren’t spared either. A girl is said to blame her mother for not giving her a penis so she decides to love her father more because he has a penis and she’s envious of it. However, since the girl’s dad loves her mom, she is said to mimic her mom in hopes of winning the love of her dad, which allows her to get the penis, or whatever. Well, it appears that there’s some pretty intense competition going on, practically revolving around penises.

Now I know why I always had nightmares when I was a kid. Girls were out there trying to steal my reproductive organ and the fact that my dad could have conveniently slit it off while I was sleeping wasn’t exactly the most comforting thing to know. Regardless, I have to say that I’m glad I grew up fine, at least anatomically speaking. In any case, if your sons or daughters happen to avoid you like the plague in the future, you can at least come up with some plausible explanations. However, before you worry that an epic penis war may break out anytime soon or decide that mankind is doomed for having our personalities being derived from penises, it might be comforting to know that this theory doesn’t hold much ground in modern psychology. Phew.

That pretty much concludes the day and I’m off to continue looking forward to December… Oh and I've added Google Adsense as you can see to the left cause it's fun to see what kind of ads it generates from all these crap I'm posting.

December

2008-10-29T00:40:00.012+08:00

For as long as I can remember, I have loved December. It's the month of much desired school holiday back then when I was in school, it's the month of Christmas, although it doesn't mean much being in a furnace like here, and of course it's the last month of the year; which means people get to make a brand new set of ambitious new year resolutions... that is probably pretty similar to the last one they had. But isn't that the whole point of resolutions--to forget you made them, at least until it's time to make them again.

I actually started this with the intention to write a bunch of thoughts about the year but I figured I'll just save it for the end of the year. Random life stories probably aren't that interesting right now. Oh and once again I've submitted yet another application for change of course and hopefully it'll be the last. If I had kept those rejection letters from previous attempts I could have easily made a pile out of them. But since they don't seem to get tired of sending those letters I shouldn't be tired of getting them to either. I can probably start a new hobby of collecting rejection letters and in fact, on hindsight, I should thank them for it.

Anyway my point is December is great; it's that silver lining that all of us has been looking for all year long. Let's look forward to it.

laughs, smiles, tears and everything else

2008-10-10T01:20:00.006+08:00

its been a horrendous two weeks. everything seems to be shrouded by a perpetual(yet oh-so temporary) blanket of false happiness.

on the surface, the smiles and laughter are there, and others imagine genuine joy radiating through every particle of the body... the truth, so much darker.

deepest concerns and worries stay hidden, locked away, protected by a protective shell. one so thick and impregnable even your closest friends have given up trying to break through.

you appear strong and tough, jaw squared and ready to face the world. the lights, once turned off, however, you let everything out; the emotions, their turmoil, everything is whirling inside your very being. questions of who you really are haunt you, taunt you. who're you? who am i?

sometimes, when you're lucky, you manage to fade away in your sleep, and enter the other dimension. the dimension where everything and anything seem possible - the realm of dreams.

carefree lighthearted and bursting with joy
elves hiding in mystical forests you chase
hoping for a blessing of magical water
you bask in its sheer beauty of freedom

the beautiful-er world you try to grasp on
shattered to a thousand smithereens
by
the resonance of your bedroom alarm

as it jerks you unceremoniously from the other world.

really, who were you yesterday? who are you today? and who'll you be tomorrow?
solve these before you tackle anything else, derek.

bye'

the judesgoo-ers

2008-09-23T11:38:00.004+08:00

I truly believe, the best and surest way of looking into a person's life is through his everyday action and daily speech. And of course, by the day to day way of communications and body language, you can sometimes tell what somebody is like. In this age of technology and internet and I-pods, msn conversations are commonplace, at least in my heart, and in the hearts of the truest-bluest judesgoo-er. Actions speaks louder than words and copy-and-paste from conversation beats description whichever way you look at it. Here goes, judesgoo-ers at their best....

rek says:
just say wadeva u please later lol
jude says:
tier one 30 pop fiends dk rod
jude says:
tech to tier 2
jude says:
get slaughter, 2 statues, 1 lich, burrow on fiends
rek says:
unicorns have horns
jude says:
armour upgrade...tech tier 3 for destroys
rek says:
cows have milk ducts and udders
rek says:
and 4 stomachs!
jude says:
cats have whiskers!!! and they are jealous of the little snowball!
rek says:
elves have pointy ears and they look at humans timidly, scampering in patches of green in forests
jude says:
do u have any ideas how to catch elves? arthas is on a mission to destroy the elves, we need to preserve them
rek says:
i will preserve them, single handedly
jude says:
oh where, how? arthas is all powerful, and now he's the lich king. how can u do it? are u archimonde?
jude says:
but archimonde is dead...
rek says:
i can uninstall warcraft and the frozen throne and let them scorch in the everlasting sunshine in neverland
jude says:
but u did that once, and the lure of the lich king was too great, far too great for his alluring magic made you reinstall the game itself
jude says:
it's a vicious cycle
jude says:
the elves, poor elves, are doomed
jude says:
seriously this deserves to go on judesgoo
rek says:
well i can keep on doing that my entire life, as long as it delays their destruction, till i find an everlasting solution to be an epic of salvation for the cutest elves who have graced the sweet earth of our world with their tiny petite feet
jude says:
judesgoo-ed

I love this, it's obvious.

You’re A Failure vs You’re A Probable Failure

2008-09-22T17:33:00.010+08:00

It occurred to me that to be happy, you need to be successful, in whatever way you define success as. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll assume that success brings happiness, failure brings unhappiness and everyone prefers to be happy. However, as we proceed on our ambitious journeys to success, we will inevitably come across Mr. Destiny.

This destiny thing had me curious. Firstly, I wonder if it exists. Secondly, I wonder what we are supposed to do if it does exist. Well, I figured that there are two possible manifestations of it if it does exist. One is that the laws of physics and the universe have somewhat “determined” how everything goes—down to the smallest particle we are made of, whatever that is. A ball dropped at a certain height will reach the ground at a certain time with a certain speed; all being pre-determined. Integrating everything ensures that the current state of everything will inevitably and consequently lead to another state which can be “calculated” and derived from the current. In a way, if this is how things work, then even “freewill” is not that free after all since the way everything your mind processes has been pre-determined and this “freewill” thing is nothing more than an illusion. As bad as it sounds, I doubt this is the way things work because it sucks. I want my freewill.

Moving on, quantum mechanics, from my fuzzy understanding of it (which may be totally wrong), state that, contrary to classical mechanics, one can never make predictions on the outcome of a certain situation with arbitrary accuracy as there may be more than one possible outcome for any given situation. So with this in mind, a single particle has only a probability of acting a certain way, as compared to definitely acting that way. Applying this to a larger system, such as our brain, body or the world, we can say that if we know enough of how everything works, we can basically calculate the probabilities of certain outcomes. Hence, in a sense, when someone is born, he or she has will be destined with let’s say a 20% chance of being a doctor, a 50% chance of being a lawyer and a 30% chance of being jobless, or whatever. I am pretty sure I am not applying the theory correctly but if this is correct by chance (probability ftw), we’re pretty screwed with our destinies governed by some random probabilities.

Having those considerations in mind, our journeys to success are nothing more than parts of a story, or a few stories, which have already been written. Page 5273 of your life book states that either you will be reading this now or you have a 86.3% chance of doing so. At any rate, if asked the question of what we can do if the above is true, I’ll say ignore it. Living in ignorance beats living knowing that I have an 80% chance of being a failure and a 20% chance of being a bigger failure.

The destiny thing is probably crap anyway. Go ahead and be happy.

Lone & a physics joke

2008-09-17T23:28:00.003+08:00

–adjective
1.
being alone; without company or accompaniment; solitary; unaccompanied: a lone traveler.

From lone stems several words but there are two very common ones; alone and lonely. It was a long time ago but I clearly remembered seeing this thing about being alone and being lonely. Went like this:

Blah was alone but he is not lonely. But blah-blah was not alone yet feeling lonely.

This is simple logic but I suddenly just had to urge to write about this, especially so when I heard someone shouting across the canteen to his friend, " EH, why so sad one person eating ALONE?" It's nothing close to be mean or vicious towards the guy who made the remark but it just sparked off some jude'sgoo in me so here I am, here it is. Anyway, I've always thought it's not THAT sad to be eating/doing-stuff ALONE. I don't think I've felt lonely for the past, many many times I did that. Not counting the 81201271249301exp^12 hours I've spent MLAR-ing alone. But maybe I do feel lonely, maybe I am just in self-denial. Who knows. If all else fails, I have the diabolical little chocolatety things to fall back on.

Anyway, since I am blogging now I am going to tell you people about this physics joke I've heard about in class before I forget all about it when every bit of data in my brain osmosises into my pillow. So there was this person named Wolfgang Pauli. He's interesting; maybe I should dedicate one whole entry to him someday. So story goes like this....

Wolfgang Pouli was writing this really complicated mathematical equation on the board and he just wrote on and on and when he came to one part, he paused for a while and just after finishing that line, he said very matter-of-factly," This is obvious."

So a very brave student stood up and asked him, "Sir, why is it obvious?"

Upon receiving the question, Pauli thought about it, walked out of the class, paced up and down the corridor furiously for 10mins while being in deep thought, before he returned to class, back to the board and concluded,

"Yes, it is obvious."

(PS: You either love it or you don't kind of joke. I loved it.)

Chocolate

2008-09-11T00:36:00.002+08:00

No, not that terrible thai Kill-Bill wannabe movie, I actually meant REAL chocolates over here. And, not just chocolates, it's those addictive jellybean-like coated chocolates in a slim long tube. It's freaking addictive. I bet they have like drugs inside that thing, it's ridiculous.

So here's what happened, I bought that specific chocolate today. Wrapped in shiny transparent plastic to give it that shimmering look, and it looked like this shining beacon calling out to you to buy it. And inside that plastic, the cute little cartoons on the cover seemed to be telling you how angelic and innocent this small tube of chocolate is. On the contrary, in fact. Under that shiny mask of innocence is the work of a devil. Those small little, sweet chocolatety things are purely diabolical. If you placed them beside Diablo, he looks like pikachu. You know, the thunderbolting mouse? (well, coincidentally Diablo uses lightning too....)

On a more serious note than Diablo, I honestly think the chocolates are coated with some drug. Once you open the damn tube, you can't stop pouring the little fiends into your mouth. Think potato chips and multiply the popping-into-the-mouth factor by 10 and that's a rough gauge. And while I am blogging about this thing now, I'm on to my last few pieces of it. I think I will spend another $5.60 on a new tube tomorrow....

Stop Staring at Me

2008-09-10T21:41:00.003+08:00

This is to the imaginary friend of mine in red: stop staring at me. Even when I’m not looking I can feel that you are staring at me all the time so why don’t you actually do what imaginary friends are supposed to do: like actually be an imaginary friend.

Honestly speaking I have no idea when you started to exist and I have no idea what your name is but I do know that the only thing you can do is stare. Are imaginary friends supposed to be this boring? Can’t you use some imagination and do something useful so that my efforts in imagining you actually pay off? You probably think it’s my fault that you have no imagination since theoretically speaking, you are actually a figment of my imagination but I do not really think that has anything to do with your imagination. I prefer to substitute reality with my own version of it so you have to deal with it. And well you see, as you are not exactly a result of my conscious imagination, which is what I used to explain why I have no idea where you came from, I expect you to have an imagination of your own – one which does not require my conscious intervention.

I doubt you understand any of these and it’s too troublesome and complicated for me to imagine you understanding what it is to have an imagination. Besides, I’m not that free to go around imagining imaginations that don’t belong to me you know. How would I even know what kind of imaginations you’ll like me to imagine for you to begin with. Having an imaginary friend is enough trouble so don’t expect me to give you an imagination of your own. Who knows when you’ll start making imaginary friends of your own with that imagination of yours and then what? I have to imagine that you imagine an imagination for your imaginary friends too? No thanks. So basically, stop staring at me. You are not getting that imagination of yours anytime soon. Not that you have any other choices at the moment without that much needed imagination but no, I’m not doing it.

Before you, not my imaginary friend but you, think I need some help, I’ll like to say that I do not actually have any real imaginary friends. I’m just pretending that I have one and I blame it on having to write a paper on schizophrenia.

No, I don’t have any imaginary friends. Really.

8 Pages of Beauty and Heartbreak

2008-09-07T17:04:00.004+08:00

Something to feel touched over. If you're the kind to.

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/5408800.html

Sleep

2008-09-05T18:14:00.009+08:00

A new post in ages. It’s finally the Friday of a sleepy week. I’m the sleepy one to be exact (and not the week) but whatever. First off, on the bright side, I did manage to get quite a lot of work done and have some really interesting and entertaining tutorials, such as those of psychology and japanese - the last one was hilarious. On the darker side, which probably dwarfs the brighter one, I did not get as much sleep as I would like and that is already pretty bad by itself. It sort of accumulated down the week and I ended up being the grumpy sleepy person I am now.

To make things worse, my trustworthy raptor (the hard disk of my pc), not knowing when a better time is, decided to die. Like die. Dead. The entire process wasn’t quite as simple (it actually took quite a while and yes I did try CPR, epinephrine shots and all; I finally understood the meaning of ‘we’ve done everything we could’). The fact that it brought all the work I’ve done with it, although most of it was old stuff which probably don’t really matter much, didn’t help at all. I was actually depressed for a few hours and that could have possibly been much much longer if I hadn’t stored my music somewhere else. Not all hope was lost - for now - since I remembered that there are companies out there which actually specialize in data recovery. Think of them as organ harvesters of sorts. They’re sadistic people waiting for your lovely disks to die so they can rip them apart and in the process, rip you off along with it. It didn’t take more than a short call and a quote of ‘500-1000 for basic mechanical faults’ to confirm that. Information is priceless huh? Totally.

Anyway, the week ended with me having attended all six of my tutorial classes and in the process meeting a mind-boggling number of new people. Nothing beats saying hi while trying to figure out in my mind what’s the person’s name and where I met him/her. Okay not even recognizing enough to say hi is worse but the point is the same. So with all sincerity, if I do not recognize you or remember your name, please forgive me! The number of people around is ridiculous but I’ve really tried to remember. Well, I’ll like to think that I did.

That pretty much summed up the sleepy week and in a nutshell, I’ve summarized (made up) the list of stuff that could have caused this sleepiness.

MLAR – 75%
Death of raptor – 10%
Assignments – 10%
Random stuff like names – 10%

Yes they probably add up to more than 100% but I’m too sleepy to count. The MLAR part is gonna be worth it though, I hope. It better be.

The Evil Tasting Water

2008-09-03T23:42:00.005+08:00

thirst |θərst|

noun
a feeling of needing or wanting to drink something : they quenched their thirst with spring water.
• lack of the liquid needed to sustain life : tens of thousands died of thirst and starvation.
• (usu. thirst for) poetic/literary a strong desire for something : his thirst for knowledge was mainly academic.

verb [ intrans. ] archaic
(of a person or animal) feel a need to drink something.
• (usu. thirst for/after) poetic/literary have a strong desire for something : an opponent thirsting for revenge.

ORIGIN Old English thurst (noun), thyrstan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch dorst, dorsten and German Durst, dürsten.

Heart pounding with trepidation, I reluctantly lifted the lever of the water cooler, watching on as the seemingly harmless, steady stream of cold water fill up the bottle. Beads of water from condensation appeared on its body, as if the bottle itself was sweating from the fear of the water. I'd be sweating like that myself too, if I was the one being filled with the water.

Before long the water level caressed the smooth neck of the bottle, deceptively, as it signaled that it was time for the arduous, painful task of thirst quenching.

Praying, I took a mouthful of... ...it.

The cool of the water masked the metallic bloodish taste of the water but as it increased in temperature, the tongue and mouth were assaulted by a myriad of disgusting flavors bursting. Taste buds numbed as it struggled to seek refuge from the sinister tastes swashing around the tongue.

Wincing, I swallowed the water.

The evil tasting water failed to quench the parched throat. The throat protested furiously as the evil water rolled down. It screamed in silence as the metallic river passed through, squeezing out sensations that the throat had never felt before. Like a rain of bullets, the metallic taste wounded and hurt the throat till it was sore and red and hoarse.

I gave out a raspy sigh of resignation as I prepared myself for another battle-a swallow of the evil water.

Thirst quenching has never been such a chore.

The throat, exhausted from the ongoing wars with the constant flow of vicious, metallic, snail-like liquid, decided to retire today.

This very day, a policy of boiling the hell out of the evil tasting water from the sinister looking cooler has been announced. It is hoped that the throat will soon announce its decision to come out of retirement.

peace to all, and death to evil snails that i am so convinced have polluted my water supply

Auto Taps

2008-06-09T21:12:00.003+08:00

Don't you people agree that the most irritating invention to be created is the Auto Tap. By that, I meant those frustrating Taps at certain places which works by censoring a hand and then proceeds to provide a pathetic amount of water. This is plain dumb. Just because it has a fixed amount of water released each time it sensors the hand, it would, for most times, not provide enough water at ONE shot to actually clean your hands. What's the alternative solution to that then? Well, being already in front of such an idiotic tap, you can either 1) not wash your hands. 2) Wash it halfway. Or 3) Move your hands in and out of the sensor like an idiot. I can only remember the toilet at LOT 1 at Choa Chu Kang having that. Maybe Plaza Sing has it too, can't remember. Anyway it's plain idiocy.

WHY? Why couldn't they make it manual? At least you can like control the amount of water that you need. Or at least, Auto Taps that only need to sensor your hand once like the one at Changi Airport. All these small things make washing hands a much better experience. The pleasure to wash your hands with a strong enough gush of water for a long enough time to fully accomplish your mission can really make things much more convenient and not to mention, saves more blushes.

Wheels, Roads and GPSes

2008-05-30T19:50:00.010+08:00

Cars and roads apparently now have state of the art safety features which sound like science fiction just years ago. Some of the high tech stuff include road sensors, computers which can control your car if you steer off lane, GPSes, air bags, seat belts, the seats, the tissue box you put in your car and... Well, that’s about it I guess. These amazing innovations can literally save lives on the road once everyone starts to have them – especially the GPS. Yes, the GPS. It saves lives by stopping people (or at least me) from deciding to drive into the nearest lamppost in frustration when they get hopelessly lost in a web of roads which looks the same everywhere. And also by preventing last-minute-four-lane-wide-crazy-u-turns when the road signs tell you that you’re on the wrong damn road.

It is beyond me why those people in the past never thought of the idea of having the GPS as an actual part of the car when they actually invented cars. They can think of the wheels, the steering, the seats, the doors but why not the GPS? It’s all good that they made something that can move and transport people around but how did they expect people to know how to get to where they want to go when there is no GPS? They probably thought it was funny when people spend hours trying to get to their destinations only to end up anywhere except where they wanted to be.

However, my observations on the roads tell me that most people either a) pretend to know the way or b) really do know the way. As much as I would like to live in my own version of reality and think it is the first, I probably need to, as what pros say to noobs, learn2drive.

iPhone

2008-05-23T20:03:00.004+08:00

It is rumored that iPhone 3G will be launched on the 9th of June. Great. The wait is over. This is goodbye to my legendary phone for good.

Say hello to a shiny new phone!

Yes, glory glory Man United

2008-05-22T15:52:00.003+08:00

This is hopeless. Wearing the jersey didnt help. Typing a demand on the blog didnt help. In the end, the cruel reality of football sets itself in yet again. Chelsea lost, in the worst possible way.

1. Chelsea hit the post 3 times.
2. Drogba got red-carded.
3. Lost in penalties.
4. Ronaldo's miss didnt lose Man U the title.
5. John Terry missed the decisive penalty.

Man u, probably the luckiest team in the world. People say you need the heart of a champion. I'd say you need the luck of manchester united. But the season is over, what's done is done. Man u wins a double so congrats to all the Man U fans out there. Celebrate, for luck will run out for you guys. And yes, glory glory Man United, even though I hate to say it.

Pwn

2008-05-21T20:30:00.005+08:00

This is properly one of the most underrated words of the 21st century and whoever invented it must be a genius. I can't believe it cannot be found in most dictionaries. It simply describes certain situations so perfectly by condensing a bunch of complex feelings and complicated descriptions into a three-letter word. Now which other word can actually do the same?

A student was playing a hand held video game during a class.

The teacher called on the student and asked him what he was doing.

The student replied that he was trying to master the game.

The teacher said, "There exists a state in which you will not attempt to master the game, and the game will not attempt to master you."

The student asked, "What is this state?"

The teacher said, "Give me your video game, and I will show you."

The student gave him the game, and the teacher threw it to the ground, breaking it into pieces. The student was enlightened.

Pwned. I seriously doubt there is another word in the English language that can describe this feeling so perfectly. This makes me wonder how people actually live without having such a convenient word in the past. Thanks to the internet, we have not one but a myriad of new words added to our vocabulary - useful words. Anyone else is teh noob?

Now, if we extrapolate from the direction we’re heading, our grandchildren will probably be using three-word sentences to describe what we need a whole paragraph to. Sounds great doesn’t it; although I have no idea how they’ll work out but hey, our grandparents didn’t know what pwn is or what noobs are; and they probably still don’t.

Get out and start pwning.

No Face Palm

2008-05-20T09:46:00.007+08:00

I was sitting at my computer doing absolutely nothing when my grandma came up all of a sudden and told me one of the many unbelievable things that could be done by my maid. Pro. There she was, using a pair of PALM SIZE scissors to cut TREE BRANCHES. And, to side-note, the pair of scissors was used to cut MEAT and FISH. Seriously. I don't know, I just couldn't help but decide to grant this action with a No Face Palm reaction. No face palm should look something like this.

Seriously.

NPNT

2008-05-16T18:01:00.012+08:00

Right, after just a few entries, The Goo Project is getting as many cries for pictures. It was initially a project to write nonsense to help us remember how to write again as well as trying to make things interesting but since readers suggested it, why not just put some photos to make everyone happy.

I was thinking what to put as a picture. This is the GOO PROJECT yet it somehow didn't live up to the gooey reputation as yet. However, I happened to dig up this extremely gooey photo of who knows what. Never could I muster enough courage to stare at it long enough to question its authenticity or wonder what exactly is inside the picture. Here goes, definitely NOT FOR THE LIGHT HEARTED.

Show picture (Click at your own risk)

I wonder if there would be anymore readers after this photo is posted. Lol. Long live the goo project.

Legendary Phone

2008-05-15T21:26:00.013+08:00

I'm holding on to several pieces of state-of-the-art equipment like awesome green lasers but the one I really need to mention is my legendary Nokia 6030.

Some of the key features include:

* High-resolution color display with up to 65,536 colors
* Multimedia messaging (MMS)
* GPRS and WAP 2.0 services
* Address book, calendar, and reminders
* Xpress-on covers
* MIDI audio playback (up to 16 channels)

Yes that is polyphonic you’re looking at. As impressive as that description may seem, it really doesn’t do this uber piece of equipment any justice. After years of using it, there are two things I’ll like to add. First of all, the battery life of this thing is incredible. It lasts up to a week without a single recharge and I do not think any phones come even remotely close to that. Second, it is useful as hell. One of the unlisted features of it is that you can basically use it as any tool you can think of. You know those Swiss things which have the knife, toothpick, nail clipper and the thing that makes holes in belt? Yea, this is something like that. Use your imagination.

If you’re wondering how they actually make something so perfect, I’ll have to say that it comes with a price. The manufacturers are smart people after all and smart people work efficiently – they remove things that are unnecessary. So in order to stuff so many great features into this thing, they decided not to give it Bluetooth, USB, Wi-Fi, mp3 player as well as a 5 megapixel camera. Who need those anyway.

But then again, I will take a phone with a camera, Wi-Fi, 3G, mp3 player, multi-touch touch screen, GPS, not forgetting an accelerometer and a proximity sensor, over this anytime, for a change. Yes Mr. Jobs, if you couldn’t tell, I am waiting for your fabled device so hurry up with it already.

So, Justice League anyone?

2008-05-13T23:50:00.009+08:00

Right, in a world far from perfect, people find themselves being governed by something far from being actually defined. The world and its justice, or would you rather call it injustice because there are so many things that should be happening that are not happening, right?

Since justice is so hard to define, let us try to do it and see how things go. Justice is the act of doing something just, is it not? Rightfully so and then this leads us to the word just. No, not just kidding or just eating, no, in this instance just is..... being just?

Okay, that didn't make sense at all. Let's try again. Define just. Just would mean choosing to side with what is right and not with what is wrong. And then now we have to talk about what is right. Wow, this is getting nowhere, I rather be practicing Zen and trying to think of what sound does one hand make. When people talk about what is right, how do they, from the abyss of their hearts, draw the conclusion that they could even be remotely right. There definitely has to be a relative, a guide, a reasoning or some kind of symbol of righteousness. It could be anything really. Right and wrong could have came from a friend's advice, a TV drama series which never fails to somehow be of relevance to your own life or maybe right and wrong requires divine intervention. Talking about just these 3 would most probably then not lead this whole wild goose chase for righteousness back to square 1. First 2 should be fine so let's talk a bit bout the last one.

Good is good because it comes from God because as the phrase goes "God is good." However, this would also mean even if something bad is being commanded it is also good because it came from God. That's a little bit absurd isn't it. So then the other way round should be right. Good is good such that God commands it because God is good. Yet, this would mean to say good existed first. Which means to say it’s not really right to say it’s right the other way round as well because righteousness and good existed on their own as shown above. So probably the divine intervention part got to go.

So this is square 1. Just is doing the right thing and the good. Check. What is right? No, not checked. Turning things around and talking about the direct opposite, wrong, might offer some insights into this problem. The word 'Wrong' brings about a 1001 possibilities and examples. He drinks. She smokes. It robs. So on and so forth. That's just being able to list which is not something that should be done here. Listing out every single item associated with wrong would still leave people with no idea what 'wrong' actually is. This is really interesting. How could people, who knows deep down in the abyss of their heart what is wrong and list out so many associations of 'wrong', find it so difficult to explain what is 'wrong'. It would appear going by the direct opposite way doesn't give way to any sort of insight.

And the fact that people cannot define right and wrong. Rephrasing that would mean, people don't know anything about right and wrong. The wrong could be right and the right could be wrong and everything is just this circle and hopefully someone could help me get out of this bafflement.

Or perhaps, people know what is right and what is wrong or at least they think they know what these two things really are. Right and wrong couldn't have been defined like how a word like cry can be defined. Maybe right and wrong are just opinions but that would make Justice an opinion and since it's an opinion everyone has every bit as much as everyone else. So murderers and social helpers have every bit the same amount of humanity, but then again that sounds absurd. And it really cannot be an opinion, rather it must be something concrete and right and wrong probably could have been some work being passed down time and time again. It was a certain characteristic that, at a single glance, renders it right. And being immersed in this world and its structures, humans learnt that by characterization certain things are good, certain things are not. Maybe this is how I understood this world and this is how I understand what is right. It's not an opinion. Righteousness is an instruction. Justice is also another instruction since it stemmed from righteousness. Maybe it's just there which would probably explain why it's impossible to explain it. At least that's how I figured for now, at 1am in the morning. Help me out because I'm probably still thinking bout it. So, in the meantime, Justice League anyone?

Glory glory Man United?

2008-05-12T00:37:00.003+08:00

Okay, this one is sensitive but I have to say it.

MAN U SUCKS. I'd rather chelsea wins. At least they have Joe Cole and Ballack. In Man U, they have my "favourite" player, Nani. They have maximum cockiness in Ronaldo. They have forgettable in Carrick. And hearing their name just turns me off. But they're currently halfway to a double now, after clinching the title by beating Wigan. Seriously, what was Wigan doing. They could draw Arsenal, Chelsea and then when it comes down to them to do it ONCE AGAIN against good ol' Man U, they had to lose 2-0, making Chelsea's title as impossible as a 30-0 scoreline. Now, the only saving grace is for Chelsea to win the Champs League. PLEASE, don't let Man U run away with the double. I promise to wear your jersey more often if you beat Man U.

Let US, the anti-ManU and the Chelsea fans, choose over the lesser of 2 evils and pray for the BLUES to win b4 the red DEVILS start to gloat and go all smug over a double season. I really cannot envisage the smug on the Man U fans if they win the double. Please, let there be some justice done. And, GO GO Chelsea.

Happy Birthday

2008-05-11T22:07:00.007+08:00

The recent months appear to be a great time to give birth (at least that was the case in 1987). There have been a lot of birthdays recently and while they are fun, memorable and exciting (yes exciting), there is one thing about them that is worth mentioning – they cost.

Birthdays are great and that’s a fact I have to admit. They commemorate our nth year of wonderful life and we should be glad we get to celebrate them as proofs of being alive but deep down in the subconscious we just want to avoid them as they are quite expensive. Individually they’re manageable but when you get home to see your inbox full of invites to 'My 21st Birthday Celebration's, there will definitely be a change in opinions – at least a little.

Presents. These can probably be considered as bad an invention as birthdays and in fact, without presents, birthdays would probably be much more pleasant, for those people who are celebrating birthdays other than their own, that is. Apart from the occasional ‘memorable’ present, it’s easy to say that more than half of these presents do nothing but be presents. However, as much as presents are useless, receiving one does show that the person or persons giving it does care, or at least pretend to care, about you so be glad about it.

Anyway, for those whose birthdays are around the corner, well, happy birthday to you. It’ll be your day and it signifies your 21st year on Earth so go ahead and have fun. Just remember the sacrifices others have to make to allow you to have a memorable time.

First Post

2008-05-11T15:54:00.003+08:00

First post on Jude's Goo! Let the goo flow!