The marathon taught me a few things about myself and life.
1) I'm a weak-willed piece of turd.
I was managing fine, all the way up till 38 km, and then my entire left leg (calf + thigh + hamstring) simultaneously cramped up. Of course, the pain forced me to stop and walk for about 30 seconds, which would have been okay, except that 20 seconds after i started running after the walk, i stopped again, unable to conjure up the willpower to do the "mind-over-matter" thing. This occurred a few times until...
2) Ego is good for you.
...until some woman came puffing past me in her pink tights, and i was like "@$@#%@#", and somehow, my ego managed to override the pain, and gave me renewed mental strength. People along the streets would have noticed me grimacing in pain, but hey.... whatever works.
3) It's all in your mind.
So, at the end of the day, sitting around the Padang, looking at the participants, i really think it's all in your mind. I mean, sure, 42km is ridiculously long (roughly the longest diagonal of Singapore), and yeah, 4-8 hours is a ridiculously long time to spend continuously on the move, but 70+ years old can finish just 20 minutes behind me, people who are like 45 kg overweight can finish it in 5+ hours, whats your excuse?
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
662nd Place
i finished in 662nd place out of 9683 participants in the full marathon. I am 595th placing in the male category. Which means that only 67 females beat me. Woohoo!!!
5 min 42 sec per km was my average speed, which is not too bad.
5 min 42 sec per km was my average speed, which is not too bad.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The abstract, the obscure, the nameless.....
Its difficult to feel engaged in what i'm doing. Sure, i enjoy the banter with the young ones, but surely that cannot be the reason why i'm here. At the end of the day, its about making a difference, cliched as it may sound. It's difficult to describe the 'difference' that i'm making, let alone quantify it. So if i cant measure it, how do i improve it? How do i make a 'bigger' difference? Can we even judge who is making a 'bigger' difference if we cant even measure it? Some people like to say that the difference we make takes time. Maybe ten years down the road, blah blah blah. Which may or may not be true. More importantly, it will be difficult to attribute the 'difference' ten years down the road to any particular/specific person. So who takes the credit? Or the blame?
Maybe we can try a different tack. Instead of using such a vague, all-compassing phrase, let's try..... 'making them into critical thinkers'. Now that's something that might be amenable to measurement. But in this, education fails miserably. People compartmentalise what they've learnt. Sure, they can solve some problems in social studies, math, and even around their community. But when faced with overwhelming 'evidence' or 'supporters', they fail to consider the other side. One of my pet problems is with people who are convinced global warming is taking place AND also convinced that Earth is less than 10000 years old. On a superficial level, these people probably haven't read any of the research papers, know nuts about statistical science, and jump behind the global warming banner because...well... it SEEMS right. No prizes for guessing why they're convinced that Earth is less than 10000 years old. But here's the problem, global warming SHOULD be based on cold, hard facts - scientific evidence. So when some bigwig scientist comes out and says that global warming is a MAJOR problem (note that i didn't say its not taking place, but whether its a MAJOR problem), based on numerous scientific models endorsed by numerous high profile research institutions, these people lap it up. HEY! Global warming is a problem. But the same (almost) people and the same institutions endorse that Earth is probably a couple of billion years old. So why do these people still believe that the earth is less than 10000 years old!
God may or may not exist. But i'm pretty convinced that Earth is older than 10000 years old.
Now generally, i dont really care what you believe in. I mean, at the end of the day, you dont touch me, i dont touch you. But when your beliefs spill over into public domain, then you have to be prepared for hits below the belt. I do not understand why religion is sacrosanct. I suspect its only so because it has so many holes in it. You'll never see mathematicians going "ok... let's not discuss the BTL theorem anymore. Let's just agree to disagree. I believe its true. But thats my belief."
Sigh.... let me just concentrate on making $.
Maybe we can try a different tack. Instead of using such a vague, all-compassing phrase, let's try..... 'making them into critical thinkers'. Now that's something that might be amenable to measurement. But in this, education fails miserably. People compartmentalise what they've learnt. Sure, they can solve some problems in social studies, math, and even around their community. But when faced with overwhelming 'evidence' or 'supporters', they fail to consider the other side. One of my pet problems is with people who are convinced global warming is taking place AND also convinced that Earth is less than 10000 years old. On a superficial level, these people probably haven't read any of the research papers, know nuts about statistical science, and jump behind the global warming banner because...well... it SEEMS right. No prizes for guessing why they're convinced that Earth is less than 10000 years old. But here's the problem, global warming SHOULD be based on cold, hard facts - scientific evidence. So when some bigwig scientist comes out and says that global warming is a MAJOR problem (note that i didn't say its not taking place, but whether its a MAJOR problem), based on numerous scientific models endorsed by numerous high profile research institutions, these people lap it up. HEY! Global warming is a problem. But the same (almost) people and the same institutions endorse that Earth is probably a couple of billion years old. So why do these people still believe that the earth is less than 10000 years old!
God may or may not exist. But i'm pretty convinced that Earth is older than 10000 years old.
Now generally, i dont really care what you believe in. I mean, at the end of the day, you dont touch me, i dont touch you. But when your beliefs spill over into public domain, then you have to be prepared for hits below the belt. I do not understand why religion is sacrosanct. I suspect its only so because it has so many holes in it. You'll never see mathematicians going "ok... let's not discuss the BTL theorem anymore. Let's just agree to disagree. I believe its true. But thats my belief."
Sigh.... let me just concentrate on making $.
Friday, September 7, 2007
weird
In my new school, for some reason, i feel much more alienated from the students... disconnected. There is some inexplicable and ultimately irrational fear of getting too close. I still msn occasionally with my students from my neighbourhood school. I deny the existence of a msn account here.
I think there is a stronger sense of entitlement in the students here. They feel that they are entitled to certain things, with a strong sense of who is supposed to do what. "But you're supposed to do this! It's part of your job!" One NEVER hears this in other schools. In other schools, any 'extra' or additional help given, like remedial during recess, or staying back after school for remedial, is never taken for granted, here, its obligatory. Maybe its got to do with their family backgrounds. No one ever gave them anything, so any 'good deed' really seems like one. But of course that's overgeneralising.
I think there is a stronger sense of entitlement in the students here. They feel that they are entitled to certain things, with a strong sense of who is supposed to do what. "But you're supposed to do this! It's part of your job!" One NEVER hears this in other schools. In other schools, any 'extra' or additional help given, like remedial during recess, or staying back after school for remedial, is never taken for granted, here, its obligatory. Maybe its got to do with their family backgrounds. No one ever gave them anything, so any 'good deed' really seems like one. But of course that's overgeneralising.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Momentum...
Ran 59:32. Same route. Lost the five bucks that i slotted in my back pocket. Damn. Work proper starts tomorrow. Will be in the same school for the next 2 years. Hopefully will learn a lot of things.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Base. Base. Base
In preparation for upcoming Marathon in December, i need to get in loads and loads of aerobic exercise. Ran 58:02 today. Huge improvement on tuesday's timing (same route). Need to get in at least 3 runs a week. Two short runs during the workweek, and one long one on sunday. Really need to get that bike trainer. Have not been biking for months!!
I think its ironic that i have high blood pressure and that the popular remedies for it is to exercise more and to reduce sodium intake. I'm already exercising a lot! And everytime i go on long races, i take sports drinks which contains ridiculously amounts of sodium! Something to do with electrolytes and all that. Dont take can die in the sun kind. So...how?
I think its ironic that i have high blood pressure and that the popular remedies for it is to exercise more and to reduce sodium intake. I'm already exercising a lot! And everytime i go on long races, i take sports drinks which contains ridiculously amounts of sodium! Something to do with electrolytes and all that. Dont take can die in the sun kind. So...how?
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Perspired, Inspired
Went juggling, got my shirt wet, and in the process, something reignited. Reckon i will be going down pretty often from now on. Life's good.
In other news, if you're free, go join frograce
In other news, if you're free, go join frograce
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
Training
Swam about 40mins. Muscles abit sore. Surprisingly, my legs are sore too after the easy run yesterday.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Time to start training for Stan Chart
Ran 40:08 mins, roughly 7+++ km. Enjoyable, talking pace. No pain experienced in joints/knee. Good to go.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Bintan trip
An hour's ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal whisked us away to this island called Bintan, with its numerous shops selling Polo at 20% off.
Activities which involves $$$: kayaking, snorkelling, billard, snooker, SILK (the club), pasar oleh oleh,
Activities which were free and fun: Table soccer, swimming at the pool, playing slides at the pool, catching crabs at night at the beach, playing water polo, beach volleyball, snakes and ladders (with alcohol), driving the buggy around, campfire at the beach with marshmellows, talk cock,
So u see, dont really need $$$ to be fun or to keep occupied
All in all, not too bad.
Activities which involves $$$: kayaking, snorkelling, billard, snooker, SILK (the club), pasar oleh oleh,
Activities which were free and fun: Table soccer, swimming at the pool, playing slides at the pool, catching crabs at night at the beach, playing water polo, beach volleyball, snakes and ladders (with alcohol), driving the buggy around, campfire at the beach with marshmellows, talk cock,
So u see, dont really need $$$ to be fun or to keep occupied
All in all, not too bad.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Modern Teaching Theory 101
It is common knowledge that in some schools, teachers' performance bonuses are tied to the students' Mean Standard Grade (MSG) , the grade point average of the students. If the average is higher than par, then your pb will be higher. We shall explore the prospect of a rational way to optimize return given fixed effort, where effort is defined as the number of overtime hours that a teacher puts in to help the student outside of normal curriculum time and return is defined as the percentage improvement of the MSG (with respect to the previous MSG). Subsequent entries shall explore the possibility of the existence of a convex efficient frontier (since return-effort changes in a non-linear fashion as individual weightings are varied) where effort can be optimized (read: slack) given fixed return (say, just to maintain a C performance grade). (ok, i just typed that to impress. Who's impressed?).
We can express an entire class of 40 students' grades at any point in time as a vector with 40 entries, (x1, x2, x3, ..., x40), with the position of each entry representing the grade of a particular student. The average of these 40 variables will be the MSG. Firstly, we assume that an unit of effort expended on, say, student A will produce a percentage change in grades which is almost always different from a corresponding unit of effort expended on student B. In other words, the same amount of time spent on tutoring different students will produce different results. Secondly, we assume that it is almost always harder to increase an A2 student's grade than it is to increase an F9 student's grade. In other words, it is harder to help someone improve from 70 points to 80 points, than it is to help someone improve from 10 points to 20 points. Subsequently, *cue drumroll* it is intuitive that each unit of effort should be expended on students who can produce the greatest marginal increase in grades. (For the weak reader, please refer to proof * below). So it is plausible that the majority of teachers' approaches are not producing the maximum returns (unless you're a pessimist who thinks that teachers expend zero units of effort in the first place, which is already an efficient position).
This conclusion is rather startling, in the fact that teachers tend to spend a lot of effort on the 'good', attentive students who have demonstrated fantastic attitude (relative to the rest of course) in class with consistently good grades, but possesses considerably less 'up-side', less scope for improvement in their grades. We propose a change in the strategy of teachers in that more effort should be directed at the weakest students, as they will bring about a greater increase in the MSG.
Of course, all these rest on our second assumption, that it is easier to bring F9 up, then to bring A2 up. In our above expose, we have tagged the effort required to the grade of the student, that a F9 student requires a certain amount of effort, and a A2 student requires another certain amount of effort, but in reality, this amount of effort often depends on the attitude and motivation of the student. It could very well be the other case, where an F9 student is unmotivated and a 'blackhole' - no amount of effort spent is going to produce results. Hence, a more detailed analysis would include the students' grade, level of motivation, probability of getting motivated, prior history of improvement (momentum) etc. However, given the optimistic nature of teachers in general, coupled with the general sentiment that 'there is no such thing as students who cant learn, only teachers who cant teach', i think the second assumption is reasonable. There are certain extreme cases in which the proposed strategy is obvious. For example, in a class of 39 F9 students and one A2 student, it is quite clear that a lot more effort should be spent identifying that one F9 student (or two) who has the most potential and helping him/her than to help that A2 student.
(* Proof: For arguments' sake, suppose that we started with 38 students with 50/100 points for their first test, student A with 10 points and student B with 80 points. Hence the MSG is 49.75. Given our second assumption (and for simplicity), we assume that 1 unit of effort is required to boost student A's by 10 points, and 2 units needed to boost student B's by 10 points (In theory, we should posit a hyperbola or exponential for the effort required to boost a students' grades to reflect the increasing difficulty, as the grades get higher, in improving the students' grades). Suppose we adopt a strategy of increasing student A's and student B's grades by 10 points each, (A: +100%, B: +12.5%), we would have increased the MSG to 50.25, an increase of 1%, with an outlay of 3 units of effort. However, if all three units of effort is spent on A, we can boost student A's grades to 30 points, boosting the MSG to 50.5.)
We can express an entire class of 40 students' grades at any point in time as a vector with 40 entries, (x1, x2, x3, ..., x40), with the position of each entry representing the grade of a particular student. The average of these 40 variables will be the MSG. Firstly, we assume that an unit of effort expended on, say, student A will produce a percentage change in grades which is almost always different from a corresponding unit of effort expended on student B. In other words, the same amount of time spent on tutoring different students will produce different results. Secondly, we assume that it is almost always harder to increase an A2 student's grade than it is to increase an F9 student's grade. In other words, it is harder to help someone improve from 70 points to 80 points, than it is to help someone improve from 10 points to 20 points. Subsequently, *cue drumroll* it is intuitive that each unit of effort should be expended on students who can produce the greatest marginal increase in grades. (For the weak reader, please refer to proof * below). So it is plausible that the majority of teachers' approaches are not producing the maximum returns (unless you're a pessimist who thinks that teachers expend zero units of effort in the first place, which is already an efficient position).
This conclusion is rather startling, in the fact that teachers tend to spend a lot of effort on the 'good', attentive students who have demonstrated fantastic attitude (relative to the rest of course) in class with consistently good grades, but possesses considerably less 'up-side', less scope for improvement in their grades. We propose a change in the strategy of teachers in that more effort should be directed at the weakest students, as they will bring about a greater increase in the MSG.
Of course, all these rest on our second assumption, that it is easier to bring F9 up, then to bring A2 up. In our above expose, we have tagged the effort required to the grade of the student, that a F9 student requires a certain amount of effort, and a A2 student requires another certain amount of effort, but in reality, this amount of effort often depends on the attitude and motivation of the student. It could very well be the other case, where an F9 student is unmotivated and a 'blackhole' - no amount of effort spent is going to produce results. Hence, a more detailed analysis would include the students' grade, level of motivation, probability of getting motivated, prior history of improvement (momentum) etc. However, given the optimistic nature of teachers in general, coupled with the general sentiment that 'there is no such thing as students who cant learn, only teachers who cant teach', i think the second assumption is reasonable. There are certain extreme cases in which the proposed strategy is obvious. For example, in a class of 39 F9 students and one A2 student, it is quite clear that a lot more effort should be spent identifying that one F9 student (or two) who has the most potential and helping him/her than to help that A2 student.
(* Proof: For arguments' sake, suppose that we started with 38 students with 50/100 points for their first test, student A with 10 points and student B with 80 points. Hence the MSG is 49.75. Given our second assumption (and for simplicity), we assume that 1 unit of effort is required to boost student A's by 10 points, and 2 units needed to boost student B's by 10 points (In theory, we should posit a hyperbola or exponential for the effort required to boost a students' grades to reflect the increasing difficulty, as the grades get higher, in improving the students' grades). Suppose we adopt a strategy of increasing student A's and student B's grades by 10 points each, (A: +100%, B: +12.5%), we would have increased the MSG to 50.25, an increase of 1%, with an outlay of 3 units of effort. However, if all three units of effort is spent on A, we can boost student A's grades to 30 points, boosting the MSG to 50.5.)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
A long Hiatus
Through no fault of mine, blogger was down (just for me), and was unable to post. On the Work side, nothing much. Got my posting, 12 hour workdays staring at me in the face. All quiet on the exercise front. No sweat for weeks.
What is this thing about engagement? So you hold a party telling everyone that you have 'committed' to getting married (not legally via ROM, not traditionally via wedding dinner) to this particular person, probably with some champagne and truffles, but you're not married, just boardcasting. Which seems kinda weird. Because if they're your friends, and you're head over heels into this guy, then theres probably no need to tell them that you have decided to 'till death do we part' with this bloke, since that was already a foregone conclusion. So whats the point? Is there a point? Celebrate your so called 'commitment'? And then? Celebrate it again at ROM? (Although i suppose i can accept the 'drama' scenario of broadcasting to your 'rival-since-fifth-grade' EX-girlfriend of your husband-to-be, but it seems awfully childish, but hey, vengence calms the soul better than say, winning toto).
Which brings me back to the topic of premarital sex. Of course it's wrong when it's practiced amongst minors. Wrong in the sense of economics (pregnancy, no $$ to deal with abortion, blah blah), not morally (although if its practiced WITH/ON minors, that's another story altogether, read: pedophile). Anyway, if it's two consenting adults, with legitimate financial means, and assuming adequate prior knowledge of biology, contraceptives and consequences (brimstone and the works if you're so inclined), then i dont think people should object to it, especially when the objection stems from religion, but is disguised with seemingly logical morals. There is NO need to bring to bear the legal apparatus of ROM, or the holy sanction of *insert theistic figure* to authorise your copulation. If you have 'committed' (whatever that means) to the relationship in your brain, then there can be no harm in premarital sex, is there? If she gets pregnant, hey, you're going to take responsibility, cos you're committed. If she doesn't, then hey, great. So wheres the harm?
The harm, i believe, stems from the fact that some humans are unable to comprehend the probability distribution inherent in all relationships. Some believe that the legal powers vested in that document they sign when they ROM somehow 'seals' and 'confirms' the commitment. But what has changed? Some ink got splashed on some pulp and suddenly you're committed? And seriously gals, do you think that this guy is committed to the relationship simply because he decided to sign something and hence incur legal consequence should he break that legal contract? Dont let your emotions run havoc over statistics (about 30% of marriages end up in divorce).
Of course, we could argue from the other side of the log. If you're committed, then where's the harm in ROM-ing? Since you're committed anyway, so with or without the legal consequences, nothing changes. No cost is incurred since you are not going to break that contract anyway. And i would have to agree with you ... IF you can just walk in anytime and ROM. But darling, you need to book in advance for a ROM date, but hey, your place is just a cab ride away. And if that's inconvenient, there's always mine. Heh.
What is this thing about engagement? So you hold a party telling everyone that you have 'committed' to getting married (not legally via ROM, not traditionally via wedding dinner) to this particular person, probably with some champagne and truffles, but you're not married, just boardcasting. Which seems kinda weird. Because if they're your friends, and you're head over heels into this guy, then theres probably no need to tell them that you have decided to 'till death do we part' with this bloke, since that was already a foregone conclusion. So whats the point? Is there a point? Celebrate your so called 'commitment'? And then? Celebrate it again at ROM? (Although i suppose i can accept the 'drama' scenario of broadcasting to your 'rival-since-fifth-grade' EX-girlfriend of your husband-to-be, but it seems awfully childish, but hey, vengence calms the soul better than say, winning toto).
Which brings me back to the topic of premarital sex. Of course it's wrong when it's practiced amongst minors. Wrong in the sense of economics (pregnancy, no $$ to deal with abortion, blah blah), not morally (although if its practiced WITH/ON minors, that's another story altogether, read: pedophile). Anyway, if it's two consenting adults, with legitimate financial means, and assuming adequate prior knowledge of biology, contraceptives and consequences (brimstone and the works if you're so inclined), then i dont think people should object to it, especially when the objection stems from religion, but is disguised with seemingly logical morals. There is NO need to bring to bear the legal apparatus of ROM, or the holy sanction of *insert theistic figure* to authorise your copulation. If you have 'committed' (whatever that means) to the relationship in your brain, then there can be no harm in premarital sex, is there? If she gets pregnant, hey, you're going to take responsibility, cos you're committed. If she doesn't, then hey, great. So wheres the harm?
The harm, i believe, stems from the fact that some humans are unable to comprehend the probability distribution inherent in all relationships. Some believe that the legal powers vested in that document they sign when they ROM somehow 'seals' and 'confirms' the commitment. But what has changed? Some ink got splashed on some pulp and suddenly you're committed? And seriously gals, do you think that this guy is committed to the relationship simply because he decided to sign something and hence incur legal consequence should he break that legal contract? Dont let your emotions run havoc over statistics (about 30% of marriages end up in divorce).
Of course, we could argue from the other side of the log. If you're committed, then where's the harm in ROM-ing? Since you're committed anyway, so with or without the legal consequences, nothing changes. No cost is incurred since you are not going to break that contract anyway. And i would have to agree with you ... IF you can just walk in anytime and ROM. But darling, you need to book in advance for a ROM date, but hey, your place is just a cab ride away. And if that's inconvenient, there's always mine. Heh.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
LBE
One of the most fundamental tenets of leadership is Leadership by Example. If you have been through military leadership schools, you would have been exposed to this, either in a positive light, or negatively. We've all had our fair share of "Do as i say, not as i do" leaders. Bastards who tell us to do one thing while they skive off and go for extended lunch breaks. WTF listens to this people?! On the other hand, we respect those who feed us first, then feed themselves. "Take care of the troops first, ourselves second".
As we all know, there is this thing called the TAF program in schools, for the, ahem, un-thin. Of course, recently, it has been scrapped, in favour of a Holistic Health Framework. What baffles me is the kind of message we've been sending. Without a doubt, there are un-thin teachers in school, some even ... very un-thin. Aren't we subliminally telling the students that it is okay to be un-thin? That you can still be a functionally, patriotic, fully useful citizen even though you are, gasp, FAT? So why is there a need to torture these kids by stigmatizing them and making them come early every morning? If we are being principled about this, all these un-thin teachers should be made to come early everyday as well.
As we all know, there is this thing called the TAF program in schools, for the, ahem, un-thin. Of course, recently, it has been scrapped, in favour of a Holistic Health Framework. What baffles me is the kind of message we've been sending. Without a doubt, there are un-thin teachers in school, some even ... very un-thin. Aren't we subliminally telling the students that it is okay to be un-thin? That you can still be a functionally, patriotic, fully useful citizen even though you are, gasp, FAT? So why is there a need to torture these kids by stigmatizing them and making them come early every morning? If we are being principled about this, all these un-thin teachers should be made to come early everyday as well.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Starfish
Many have heard of the Starfish story. Heck, i get reminded of it everytime i whine about my job. The Starfish story has a moral to it - That no matter how hopeless the situation seems (millions of starfish washed up on the beach!), you should still do something because your efforts matters to that particular one (it gains another shot at life), even though its might just seem like a trickle in the sea. But this story, while apt, trivialises the effort in saving a starfish. Pick up starfish, throw back into the sea only what, how difficult can it be?! That is why this story was chosen. Pick up starfish so easy, why you dont pick up?! Can save one life leh! A slightly more accurate version would go something like this:
Once a man was walking along the beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a few cranes and barges, with groups of people frantically moving back and forth between the surf's edge and the beach. As the man approached, he could see that there were hundreds of whales stranded on the sand as a result of the natural action of the tide.
The man was struck by the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many whales. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the scene, the people down there continued about their seemingly impossible task.
As he arrived on the beach, he said, "All of you must be crazy. There are thousands of whales here. You can't possibly make a difference with your meagre supply of cranes and barges. The group of people looked at the man. They then proceeded to load one whale onto a barge, using one of the creaking cranes, bring it out to sea, before releasing the whale back into the rough seas. After 4 hours of herculean effort, upon returning back to shore, one of the crew turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"
Once a man was walking along the beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a few cranes and barges, with groups of people frantically moving back and forth between the surf's edge and the beach. As the man approached, he could see that there were hundreds of whales stranded on the sand as a result of the natural action of the tide.
The man was struck by the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many whales. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the scene, the people down there continued about their seemingly impossible task.
As he arrived on the beach, he said, "All of you must be crazy. There are thousands of whales here. You can't possibly make a difference with your meagre supply of cranes and barges. The group of people looked at the man. They then proceeded to load one whale onto a barge, using one of the creaking cranes, bring it out to sea, before releasing the whale back into the rough seas. After 4 hours of herculean effort, upon returning back to shore, one of the crew turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"
Sunday, April 22, 2007
On *gasp* religion
Amidst a bevy of beautiful, overwhelmingly non-chinese, Hooters girls and 10 pieces of Hooters wings at a dollar a piece, coupled with a pitcher (not a jug) of Tiger Beer, the topic of pre-marital sex naturally popped out. Of how its immoral and all that. Well..... whatever.
The more pertinent question is on religion, on how some people choose to devote themselves to one religion, and of course, in the process, condemn me to hell. Of course, all is good if they are just ignorant, with little exposure to the internet, or education, having been brought up in a religious family etc etc. But what happens if this guy/gal happens to have had the opportunity to study overseas, have straight As, touted as an "elite", with critical thinking and all that? And then he goes on to refute carbon-dating?!? Of course carbon dating has its limits, maybe about 50000 years or something, but there are other isotopes with much longer half-lives than carbon!
What this guy doesn't understand is that most of us (including him) are atheist to some extent. Most Christians, like him, dont believe in the Jade Emperor. Or Monkey God. Or any of the Taoist deities. I'm like him! I dont believe in all these either! Except that i go one God further. I dont believe in his God too. =) That's all there is to it.
But of course this generic issue of religion is not as sexy as the topic of sex (by definition). in particular, pre-marital sex. As a swinging bachelor, i support his views on pre-marital sex. Its sinful, and in older days, its called fornication. On the "things not to do if you dont to burn in hell" list, its ranked up that with the other big no-no: Adultery. In fact, all guys should hold his view. Do not have sex with your girlfriends before marriage. In fact, to be absolutely safe (since you dont really know what "sex" means 2000 years. You could probably get hanged for wearing a bikini just a 100 years ago you know), no kissing or fondling or holding hands in public allowed. Just dont tell the gals that its sinful. Heh. =)
The more pertinent question is on religion, on how some people choose to devote themselves to one religion, and of course, in the process, condemn me to hell. Of course, all is good if they are just ignorant, with little exposure to the internet, or education, having been brought up in a religious family etc etc. But what happens if this guy/gal happens to have had the opportunity to study overseas, have straight As, touted as an "elite", with critical thinking and all that? And then he goes on to refute carbon-dating?!? Of course carbon dating has its limits, maybe about 50000 years or something, but there are other isotopes with much longer half-lives than carbon!
What this guy doesn't understand is that most of us (including him) are atheist to some extent. Most Christians, like him, dont believe in the Jade Emperor. Or Monkey God. Or any of the Taoist deities. I'm like him! I dont believe in all these either! Except that i go one God further. I dont believe in his God too. =) That's all there is to it.
But of course this generic issue of religion is not as sexy as the topic of sex (by definition). in particular, pre-marital sex. As a swinging bachelor, i support his views on pre-marital sex. Its sinful, and in older days, its called fornication. On the "things not to do if you dont to burn in hell" list, its ranked up that with the other big no-no: Adultery. In fact, all guys should hold his view. Do not have sex with your girlfriends before marriage. In fact, to be absolutely safe (since you dont really know what "sex" means 2000 years. You could probably get hanged for wearing a bikini just a 100 years ago you know), no kissing or fondling or holding hands in public allowed. Just dont tell the gals that its sinful. Heh. =)
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Training continues
Woke up at 745am on sat, swam 2.5km with a float. Swimming stance is still like shit! Gotta find some real coach or something.
Woke up at 8am this morning, proceeded for a 11km run. Speed is kinda slow, gotta start building it back up. Sux.
Woke up at 8am this morning, proceeded for a 11km run. Speed is kinda slow, gotta start building it back up. Sux.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Vroom
8km in 43:27. Right knee.... OK. All systems go!! Haha. Looks like i'm ready to seriously begin training for this season's races. Woohoo.
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