D-310, on 1/1/17

Yes, it's been a long time. Sorry for not writing any post. I've been... addicted to gaming? Whatever the reason is, I'm back.

Nothing much new to update, I guess (There are actually a lot, including issues in Korea, but I'm gonna be extremely busy). Boring New Year resolutions that I've not been keeping in my entire life... Yet I've always told myself that I would do so. I've never kept to my promises. Next year, it's gonna be the same. I would like to study harder.

Besides that, I'm scared of going out.

It's much more comfortable to be "antisocial" and sit down in front of a computer to play my Korean game, or League of Legends. I don't usually play with my friends online (except Javier). I have no idea why though. Maybe because I'm lazy to contact my friends to play with me. Or maybe because I'm scared to be perceived as a gamer. Anyway, I'm just not used to asking people out for playing with me; be it online or in real life.

I am just scared to meet my friends in real life. I got a strange feeling that I hate to go out. It's like, there's no reason to go out. At home, there's my mom and myself that I can reflect through the virtual reality. Yes, it's pathetic, but I've been feeling like I need this reliance. It's addiction, actually. Even World Health Organisation (WHO) claimed that gaming addiction is a real form of addiction. It almost equates to smoking and drinking. Games have been giving me the illusion that it feels better to be at home than outside. The fact is, it's better to be outside than at home. I won't be studying hard when I'm at home as I feel more comfortable and I will be inclined to play computer games eventually.

One thing I realised was that I'm scared of meeting people (other than frinends) as well. There's nothing much I can be proud to share, other than getting promoted to JC 2. That ain't a very nice achievement. 80% of my schoolmates achieved promotion. In 2016, my aims were to get promoted and obtain A for PW, and enjoy the life in JC. That was a wrong decision which I might regret for the rest of my life.  Those people from other better JCs or good Poly courses, or those in relationship or in larger social circle, made me ask myself why I'm in this small, stagnant pool of dense fluid. It's like there's this heavy force spiralling me downwards, which I would like to call it inferiority. I'm not from good JC, yet am I getting good results? Negative. My overall grades were ABCDE. Some people obtained worse results, but I don't really care about these things anymore, as I feel that people won't recognise me if I don't get good results. It's like, there's nothing special in me, which leads to the inferiority.

I've been thinking yesterday night and thanks to that, I could quit gaming today. Out of the blue, I felt extremely anxious and I couldn't sleep. Remaining insomniac, I got up and started doing my holiday Maths homework and I could only fall asleep around 4AM (and I did something to relax, as I still felt nervous; eww). It was terrible. I was very nervous, thinking that if I slept before A Level examination unprepared, I would definitely get a U grade without any doubt. It was a sudden realisation that made me feel so tensed up. Hence, today, I came up with a timetable guide after having a talk with my mom.

Before talking about the guide, I would like to tell you what my mom told me. She said that she would feel extremely happy if I could go to NUS or NTU. She realised all of a sudden as well. It was purely coincidental. She told me that it would be the best day of her life as it would mean that I succeeded in something finally. Now I realised that it was my mom giving me the pressure to study, not myself. I've been thinking it was okay to play, but my mom was saying "no" all the time. She's been building my superego (search for Freud's 3 main ideas on psychology: superego is like control and guilty). That could be why I felt so bad when I've not studied hard over this holiday period.

Anyway, the guide is that there are tentatively, 310 days are left to first paper of A Level, which is GP, assuming it's on 7 Nov, just like 2016. I subtracted 10 from that to make it easy for counting (= 300 days), as I might not be studying some days and I might as well be prepared before 10 days of A Level. I came up with some terms like BN, GD and NJ.

From calculations, only 3 days can be invested at most on one topic of H2 Chem in 300 days. There are 21 chapters to study for Chemistry.

(300 / 5) / 21 = 2.99...

This shows the short length of our time left to A Level papers.

To add, I watched one Korean video saying that 8 hours of focused studying can lead me to any university I want to go. I derived that every 32 minute session (denoted as BN, which is a short form of "bbeun, 쁜", means "pretty" for getting pretty girls in future) with a 5 minute break (denoted as NJ, which is "nolja, 놀자", means "let's play") in between, I can study for 8 hours with 15 BNs in total. It sounds tiring, but after trying 5 BNs today on H2 Maths, I felt that it was indeed worth spending time and in fact, it felt rather short while doing so. I feel like this is the most effective way to study for the rest of my A Level journey. The key is, 5 BNs must be spent on each subject, and only 3 subjects must be studied in one day (= 3 GD, 3 "gada, 가다" . Each gada is 1 subject per day. It means "work hard" and also means "move"). You can move up to 30 BNs in one month from your strongest subject to your weaker subjects. However, you cannot remove any session. You must strictly follow 15 BNs per day.

In March, I will be having Block Test, and I've realised that 8 hours of studies will definitely not be enough. In August, there will be Prelims, which will be even more rigorous than preparing for Block Test. Hence, by studying longer and being more effective through session-break approach, I believe that I can grasp this last chance to go to for Computer Engineering course in NTU or NUS (BBB/C). If this works out, I'll definitely be extremely happy like my mom. I will never regret making this timetable guide and sacrificing times on other things. I'll definitely make up for these 15 BNs.

Additionally, I will be doing 18 hours challenge once again before New Year arrives. It's just studying 18 hours in 1 day. That would be like 33 BNs. Holy crap.

Good luck to everyone taking A Level next year, including myself. I'll be putting up (probably the last) post in 2017 about my New Year resolutions. Thank you!

Oh yes, and one more thing.

First of all, let me swear.

Fuck you.

I don't think I'll need you at least for next 5 years. You've been a guy who's been pulling me down so badly; you were trying to change who I am.

Then you always told me the same thing over and over again; do whatever you like. Do whatever you want and do the things that what you want to do. And I did. Then your reaction was horrendous; you were like, why? I'm just bemused. Are you talented at contradictions? Because sorry, I'm very retarded but I try my best to be logical. And whenever I see your decisions based on your emotions, I feel nauseous and keeping you away from me.

So I'm doing it already.

Stop thinking that you'll never be the problem in my life; at most you will think will be like, "Oh, he's on that mode again", or "What did I do wrong?". Or you'll call my name and try to explain in your own words, as if you understand a single bit of me. You can't and you don't. You shouldn't dare to change me. You should let me do whatever I want and stop being sulky about it, when YOU HAVE NEVER LISTENED TO ME AND YOU PRETENDED AS IF YOU DID. Why, are you gonna object this with your contradiction? Then come up with something logical; I'm in a better school than you. You're stupid.

I hate contempt and I try my best not to show it. And as I try not to do so, I see you doing that so many times that I cannot forget them already. Say whatever you want. I will cover my ears with my hands and be egoistic, like what you said to me.

I blame myself. You should be blaming yourself, not me. Don't frame it to me.

One more time

If you get reminded, I will seriously blame everything on you and I will move on. Please stop coming back.

I hate you.

Allergy

This isn't normal; it's not normal anymore. Back then when I was in the secondary school, I realised that I was not born to be a leaderleader. 

So I tried. Coming to think of it now, I tried quite hard. At least harder than now.

I had stayed quiet in the classroom when I was back in Korea. I had nothing much that I could show off. I couldn't belong to the so-called "cool" clique. I didn't even dare to ask for an eraser from my friends, because I thought I was causing inconvenience to them.

And this dreadful symptom is coming back again.

It's very easy for us to lose confidence; it happens when you look at others who are like apparently so much better than you. This amplifies when that person is an arrogant bastard who has everything that he needs and wants. It's very easy to feel that way, because it's normal to be inferior.

Just that it no longer is a joke when this is silencing me all the time, whenever I want to speak up. 

I've been not trying hard in whatever things I've been doing; I felt so enervated and I was giving in to the old bad habits that I've always detested, and now, I feel like I am younger, in a very bad way. All those things which I couldn't do when I was younger are still "things" to me only. They're no longer tangible. It feels so hopeless and despairing when I feel like I can't grasp anything that I've been dreaming of.

As though I've been depressed, I've encountered many incidences where I was talking to myself. And as time passed, that conversation gradually ceased, and I felt like a second trying to talk to myself is a waste of my time. As if it changes anything. Then I talk to the others, but what I hear is an echo from the wall of my thoughts. It's basically the same thing over and over again.

That only means one thing; I have to really stand up and show the people that I can do things. I have to intrepid by failing, not doubting. I've failed so many times in my life that it's becoming a calculable gradient in my descending graph. I have no idea what happened to me, but there's one thing I'm very sure of.

I am tired and I'm letting myself feel tired.

Yes, I'm tired of social interaction. I'm tired of everyone, studies, interacting, feeling, exercising, or even eating. At this moment, I would love to watch a movie by my own and then get myself dressed up in the night, then walk around some secluded places around where no one can disturb me. I want that time where nothing can hinder my thoughts process. Maybe I need a rest, but. 

Do I deserve it? 

I don't think I do. My mom scolds me all the time for sleeping at home and that admonishment wakes me up all the time during that truce. I needed to be alone but I couldn't separate myself from the world. I would love to sleep more and not having to wake up again. In order to so, I have to try hard for something, so that no one can judge me and I can do whatever I want.

I've been doing what I wanted, but why do I feel like I need to do something that I don't want in order to change? And that change is like vomiting  onto other people's bowls; it's something unusual to others and myself as well, making me feel so uneasy, giving me a headache. It's like an allergy.

Yes, this is an allergy. I've got no cure for this, but I have to adapt to these difficulties by trying assiduously for what I want. And that process will never be sweet, but the end will always be. I know it is. 

Let me be solitary. Then, I'll be free temporarily.

I dreamt of her.

First of all, fortunately, it wasn't a wet dream. It was just a dream, which made me feel pleasant for a while.

She was an adult in that dream. Still short, she was clad in a black top tank, which made her look sexy. I had no sexual appeal on her at all, though. The fact is that she invited me to her house, which was surprising. It seemed like she has transformed and finally became matured. Her house was white and clean, but some parts were a little messy. I don't remember the details of the items at her house. I sat with her in the dining room, at morning, when nothing but whiteness was the clear hint. Throughout this whole dream, she was smiling, and I felt that she was more matured than me. She cooked for me some breakfast and put it on the transparent glass table, and she looked at me while I was eating in a hectic manner. She was pretty. I wanted to hug her.

It's not because I still like her or whatever, but I do feel that whenever I spot her on other people's Instagram photographs, I feel that it's such a waste. She's really quite pretty, in my opinion. Somehow, her personality says the otherwise and I feel that that's not very good of her.

I daydream of the day when she suddenly approaches me and implores for my apology, or seeing each other at overseas alone, without any acquaintance. With joy, I think I'll talk to her and link coincidence to having a meal together. I've always wanted to reconcile with her, but situations didn't allow me to do so. Probably, when we become older and more matured, I hope this happens and I wish I can still remember you. I wish fervently for her to do so, too.

I don't want her to be my girlfriend, however. I guess she will feel the same too. Unless she has proven to me that her personalities have changed and stop influencing me to her Christianity, I won't ever start liking her.

The moments that I hate nowadays are when I can relate to love songs closely.

It was a dream. It was a pleasant dream.

Trying for things which can be done. Part 2

V is a type of person whose religious views are completely different from mine, and sometimes we have opinion clashes. I also had opinion clashes with my other friend who spilled the beans, but he couldn't listen to whatever I said. A lot of factors play when coming to listening of opinions. Firstly, it is about self-regard. If you think that you are good, most likely, you won't listen to others. And surprisingly, these people are very obedient to superiors. I might be doing that superficially, but most of the time, I'm not doing that inside, unless it is someone whom I respect a lot and those who listen to my wholehearted opinions and ideas. That is where I open up my heart, because those who don't listen to others don't deserve my attention. V always listened and replied to my views and they were very sincere, unlike some other guy who just said that he couldn't understand what I was saying. Basically, it's about respect - if you don't have this sense of respect for others, there is no proper communication.

I have always tried to listen out to people's opinions and always tried to do something better out of them. I wanted those who are not as good as me (but I am not that good either), or those who aren't very good, to be acknowledged and heard. I am always trying. True friendship is very important because you need one or two people whom you can trust and who they can trust as well. It is about balance. One person shouldn't feel envious of other one, but really encourage that person to be better. Yes, human's sin is envy and it can't be gotten rid of. Hence, we have to try. At least when we try, we see the efforts and we can know that that person is doing trying his or her best to change. When we try to really help others and support each other, that is where true personality comes in. At least if we try, we can be honest to ourselves that we have done something right.

V is wonderful. She's been wonderful throughout my journey in my school and she will be someone whom I can really talk to when I feel low. Thank you so much, V!

I like girls. I can talk to them in depth about what's going on and it feels more reassuring in that way. Most guys and men have this stereotypical mind-set that they must be strong mentally and physically, that they can support girls and be the pillar. This century is when sexual equality is going to be real. Maybe not worldwide, but at least some regions will seek some light on this issue of inequality, and lives will definitely change. There will be a time when girls and guys talk to each other without much discomfort, and with much respect to each other. I'm trying, and we all have to try for this. I don't love who I am right now, but I wish I can definitely love who I am in the future.

V is typically judgmental, sadly. I understand that she has her own views and I was also like that when things were not going well. It's not because I didn't try hard, but because things were just shaped in a way that I couldn't perform the best in some areas. However, reason why I'm focusing so much on assiduity is for the boost of self-esteem. I've never been so hopeful of things going around me even though they're becoming harder than anything else. Maybe it is a false hope but I really feel like it can be done this time, with a slight feeling of failure that might make me feel down. Still, I want to make a change in my life, and I hope she can make a change in her life as well. I wish her to try her best in her environment as well. I wish her all the best in her studies.

Life is seemingly getting tougher, but this is a part where we should find some comedy to relax. Life isn't full of tragedy, as it is a series of drama. We live in reality where we don't act at a totally happy or sad side. We mix them all around and that's how this society circulates. We strive for better to be good, and strive for the best to be better. We can never try our best, but we should never not try our best. I know I suck, because I'm not a very handsome guy compared to other Koreans out there. I'm not very good in studies. I'm not that great in singing even though that's what I like. I'm not good at talking, reading, writing and I am now laughing at myself, because I suck so much! Then now I realise, that yes, I'm good at laughing. I know I can make things positive and uplift the mood. I'm not sensitive enough but I can sense things around. This also reasons why I like this friend V.

She's extremely caring. Usually, when I talk to others in such lengthy sentences, people get bored or don't even reply to me. I sent her messages of thankfulness and sang a song (because that was my best ability, and yeah, it's also my favourite song), and she actually felt honoured for this. My friends would have found it so cheesy and shut me up for saying all these, but she kinda thanked me back for this. I don't know her true feelings about all these but I know that she's a better person than me in a whole, and she definitely deserves better. I really want to treat her as my best friend but I suck at friendship. (I am expert in friendzone, however! That's where plot twist comes in, and I sit down at corner weeping... Ah, LIFE!) She is probably one of the best people I've ever met so far, or maybe it's too early to say all these. Yet, she's a person whom I must treat the best and not lose. She will definitely be the person whom I'll need and I don't want her to stay away from me.

So, what should I do now? Yes. I must try my best to start talking less to her because she will find me annoying some day if I talk to her only. I must try to make her feel happy by, let's say, acting retarded in front of her. I must be someone whom she also can trust, but that will be quite hard because I think she trusts herself more than me. That should be normal for others but for me, the other way round is.

Thank you for reading this post again, V. No one else is actually taking time to read all these old-fashioned and boring posts, except you. Sometimes I wonder why you haven't slapped me or punched me hard in the face yet. Then now, I answer my own question: we should be closer to each other! :)

Let's try to punch each other.

Trying for things which can be done.

I have always had a bad perception on myself and a low self-esteem. I have never tried hard enough to change, and that is one reason why I am stuck in a same pattern routine.

Recently, I looked at acquaintances' Instagram photographs and I came to realise how badly I am shaped. Comparing those pictures to my mirror image, I felt demoralised and weak. Why am I not good? Most likely, I believe that this happened because I was treated too well by my parents when I was younger. Or maybe the opposite, from a perspective that I wasn't treated well - my parents and other relatives think that I was treated well, but that's not what I think. Their views are on economic support. I'm on the view of familial relationship.

This isn't something that I should be proud to share, but I don't really like my family members a lot. That doesn't mean I hate them, however.

Talking about my paternal side, my father's family is a headstrong and conservative community (but in terms of politics, almost liberal). They are mentally very strong in a sense that they do not give up easily and have very stable occupations, capable of supporting their own families. The fact that my father is not capable (because of his way of operating his business). All my uncles there are quite reluctant to listen out for advices, and sometimes egoistic. When they visited Singapore recently, it was honestly quite stressful for me. My mother was stressed out because her own business was not going well, and my brother always was not at home for first few days. My aunt was extremely hot-tempered, and I suspected her religion view. That's when I started to think that I think I can be a better Buddhist than her even though I lived like one quarter of her life. However, some uncles were still better than my father in terms of personality. (Sadly, they're now economically as well. Sorry, dad! I love you!) I could talk about my career path to one of them because he asked me to talk about it, and told me in details about his family. I was reassured by one fact. Personality isn't heredity.

I had a lot to reflect on myself, but I could learn a lot from these aunt and uncles on my father's side during their trip to Singapore. (That's where I decided to stay as a free thinker because of my aunt.) To talk about my aunt, I would like to share one episode before I go to matters of my mother.

She has irritated a lot of people during this trip due to her uproar of hot-temperedness. I mean, maybe because of menopausal syndrome and her own health, she could have felt irritated as well. However, I think she was more or less aware of how she's making the whole situation worse by adding barrels of oil into already large fire, turning to possible conflagration. It did happen. One of my uncles asked her to stop complaining in the restaurant, and on that night, my mother, another younger aunt and uncle talked about that eldest aunt in the family. Even though they did not badmouth her, that discussion part was quite significant for me. Still, I also felt that it wasn't right for her to act that way, and I stepped up to join in that discussion, with a gulp of one cup of beer that reddened my face given by the usually calm uncle. With unsatisfactory answer, we concluded that we should just deal with her. Two days later, the uncles and the younger aunt left, but my grandmother and that eldest aunt stayed in Singapore for one more week.

Before I went for school camp, I woke up late and I went into a bathroom in a hurry to finish my urgent business(!) and keep my toiletries into my backpack. I turned the Wi-Fi on my mobile phone, but it didn't seem to work. Since I had no time, I didn't really have a luxury to look into my phone to update myself about entertainment news. As I scurried out, my aunt asked me if the Internet is working. I replied a quick "no", and could predict her next sentence at that moment. Every morning, she listened to monks' speeches (or some scripts read off, which I don't really know) when she arrived to my home, and without Internet access, it was impossible to play them out. She asked me something obvious at the next moment and I told her I was in a hurry and already late (but in the end, I was not, and I have never been late for school. I hope I can say this for next month as well.). I left my house and bade farewell to my mother, and saw my aunt's face from the closing door's gap in a little bit of displeasure. Without much thought, I walked briskly to the lift lobby and departed for the camp.

When I returned home, my aunt and my grandmother have already gone back to Korea. My mother asked me if I have done anything with Internet. Well, I had tried to use it but to no avail, so I replied her a quick "no", but just that it was my mom this time and I didn't know what she was going to tell me. Then, she told me that aunt blamed me for disabling the Internet before I left. I became some evil guy who manipulated this whole Internet system at home to confuse my aunt. My mother then tried to fix the Internet modem and router by plugging out all cables and, it still didn't work, coming to a conclusion that this time it isn't working because my mother touched it. My aunt must have thought that we are deities of technology, where contacting any machine becomes a miracle of dysfunctioning. Okay, sorry - it's a pandemonium. My aunt told my mother that there must be a bad relation with her and herself, that is creating this bad vibe. Halfway her narration, my mom then claimed to me that what the aunt said is basically to cut this relationship off and worst kind of thing to say to justify something that's not going well. I couldn't help myself but to nod my head in a jolt of agreement.

My mother is a good person but she is also hot-tempered in a sense, where she gets irritated easily as well. Just that she isn't as much as my aunt, but she is also inclined to that type. She's also very realistic that she doesn't think positive of me when I bring back discouraging results to her. Usual routine at home is that I get angry at her for not encouraging me but always criticising me with caustic remarks. She's sometimes very pessimistic (even worse than me) and I've not seen her sincerely apologising to me for any bad deed. I mean, mostly because I did more misdeeds to her, but sometimes, there are her faults as well. She can't admit mistakes. That's where I get angry, and I experienced it when I travelled to Lijiang last year with her. Even though she's a person whom I can really talk to about life, hardship and my older brother, she's still too judgmental that I can't take it when I'm not in a good mood.

Yes, I didn't say I have good personality. Personally, I feel that I am one joker who can't control emotions and always needing some place to rant over. Blog might be good, but since (I think) I suck at writing, I can't seem to de-stress. That's where I approach watching videos on YouTube when my mom is not around, and best of all, sleep. Emotions surprisingly use up a lot of energy and to save it up, I go to sleep and after I wake up and look at the clock, that's where stress comes in again. That was my cycle of bad personality. I didn't take things positively and here I am - a guy who is a free thinker and has a liberal view on politics, then lazing around typing on this phone on my reflection of my own and others' personalities. One thing to say is that personality might seem to pass down because of the environment. In my belief, people have different capacities that they can hold in emotionally, and I'm probably not very good, in that sense. My family isn't very bad as everyone is well-educated in both of my families. At the same time, this isn't very good because not only I feel demoralised when I underperform in my studies, but also the demotivated mind-set on why must I be trying so hard to achieve something higher. Of course, nowadays, I don't feel the same because I have set my own goal and I am striving to do so. Yet, seeing others whose families are in unison and always having time to have dinner together, makes me feel small and envious of them. Why is my family, even though we don't lack anything in particular, so separated? Yes, my mother has to work everyday and my brother always goes out of home to, from what he says, study. My father is in Korea. I'm always alone at home when I come back from school. Only weekends are the days when I see my family members and really talk to my father.

Even when I complained so much about my parents about their personalities, I start to miss the time when we were together for dinner. Why are we so hardworking in our aspects, but not doing so for each other? I mean, we are doing that, but indirectly. Showing love indirectly isn't very efficient, even though it's so much better than being indifferent. It's not that I hate my family members because I love them, but I've talked about some of their issues to reflect on why my personality isn't very good. In fact, talking about my parents on this post is already... Quite stupid. Yet, I want to say that I love my mom and dad. They are the ones who made who I am and I'll forever be grateful for it. Whatever issues they have, I believe very strongly that they can be resolved one day when we are less busy in the future. I just wish we can relax together, like what my father told us that we should go Indonesia one day to lay off burdens as a family, during the paternal side's trip. (My grandfather passed on at quite an early age, and this fact was used by my uncle to state that their family became independent from then on.)

I have always needed friends who could really talk to me because I didn't really have time to start conversation with my brother or mom in Singapore. Some don't even find me that significant and in my opinion, true friendship must be equal to each other. The thing is, it's not, for my most friends, whom I thought that they were my true friends. I only knew that when that guy spilled the beans about my family issue that he can never be trusted. Yet he trusts me somehow about his credentials. Well, when things get serious, I think that's a normal human behaviour. I'm not a type of guy who will do some revenge by pulling off notes from my friends' bank accounts anyway.

Recently, this friend called V made me feel so emotionally supportive. I guess this is what true friend is. True friends know what's going on even when they don't talk? Rubbish.

Friendzone

"There's no such thing as the friendzone. The only reason why you're lonely, is because you're fat and gay."

I've been friendzoned for many times, and recently, a reply of friendzone came from the girl I was interested in. It hurts a lot to hear this kind of "Let's be friends" from a girl after your confessing to her. The ironic thing is, from then on, you don't actually become friend with her anymore. To all single guys around the world; translation, it means, "I don't like you.", or "I have no interest in you as a guy."

The first quote of this post is taken from Friendzone Song on YouTube. It will probably make you feel better because you thought the reason why you've been friendzoned is because of what you said wrongly or something. Simply put, it is most likely because of your physique and attitude.

Imagine a guy who doesn't talk at all, and very handsome. Imagine again of another guy who is very cheerful but he isn't very handsome, but ain't that ugly as well. Who will the girl choose? Obviously the former - usually, girls don't choose the nice guys. Not because they don't know that these guys are not nice, but it is about the first impression which determines their minds. Disclaimer: This post is mainly focused for guys. For girls, you can also take a look at it but I won't guarantee a help in this post for you.

IMPRESSION

For you to get out of single status, you have to do transform in order to become coupled. There are various reasons why you remain as single, and I'll go through them pertaining to our impressions.

Firstly, you are not handsome. Let's face it, literally. (Please get the double entendre here.) Why do you think girls like handsome guys? Let me ask the guys this simple question: do you like pretty girls, or ugly girls? If you're going to say that you like ugly girls, don't lie. Humans' natural instinct on the first sight is to look at how pretty or handsome the person is respectively, for female and male. It is a question that has an apparent answer, and where do you belong to? Yes, you are most likely to be mediocre or ugly. However, there are many solutions to this point. I'll go through them thoroughly after the next two points.

Secondly, you are not fit. Same dichotomous question goes again: fit or fat? I'll choose the former, obviously, but some might choose latter because they think of the body shape and muscles. What I mean by fat here is those people who rarely exercise and are quite fat already. To change yourself, this will probably the easiest and the hardest one, because this can be done through efforts put in. At the same time, without any effort, this will never change and will be the worst obstacle in your life. There are some people who don't really care about their fatness. However, to me, this is quite important because you should give a good impression on girls, or to guys - if you're a girl or homosexual. (I'm not being partial here! Don't get me wrong!)

Last but not least, you are "gay". Colloquial meaning of gay basically means you're not masculine and you probably act like a girl. Or it can also mean immature - you might be very humorous to your friends as you pour a whole loads of sexual innuendo and bawdy jokes. Conversely, this may not give a very good impression on girls because they won't find any guy who's "desperate for girls" attractive. This is an easy aspect to alter because you just have to be matured and check when you're annoying or not.

Now, I'll number each aspect I've mentioned here for thorough solutions.

1) HANDSOMENESS

- If you think you look fine or other people call you handsome, you can skip this point.

I myself think that I'm not handsome, but a few people call me handsome, and they are my family. Family members have this tendency to care for their own ones because they're protective. It's like how you don't really want to say that your mom is ugly in front of others, even if that's the truth(!!!). In this case, you should try not to listen to others, and have an opinionated view upon yourself. Am I handsome or pretty? Critically think and judge if you're handsome or pretty. Then, let's improve on your face.

There are some spots on your face which can change, and they are your hair and skin. Your hair covers up at least one-third of your face, and changing your hairstyle will make you go through metamorphosis. (Of course, in a good way.) Google on what kind of hairstyle fits you the most. Next, choose some accessories to put on your face, maybe simple ones like spectacles. Spectacles really cover up your eyes and make you look smarter, unless you wear those grandpa doctor glasses that make you look like some idiot. (Sorry to all senior doctors! I was just kidding.) For girls, this can be done through make-up. Brush your teeth everyday so that your teeth will be white. Yellow teeth make your face look very ugly whenever you talk. Sprinkling dry lettuce powder on toothpaste helps a lot (even though I didn't try this method yet. Oh, so I have good teeth?). Clean yourself often and make yourself look neat to look better. That is how you change your externality for better impression.

There is a very easy solution called plastic surgery for this, but are you really that desperate for change? Think about it once again if your face is that ugly. If you think so, please consult a plastic surgery consultant so that you can get a better view over plastic surgery and your face.

2) FATNESS

Easy. Exercise regularly and have a very orderly lifestyle. Reason why you're getting fatter and fatter is because you're lazing around at house and you are doing work only. You need some time to cheer yourself up, and exercise is one good way to release stress as you apply more pressure on your body. Do not think that exercise is something that is boring, or something that doesn't fit you. That's basically because you aren't fit (that double entendre!) and you have this negative mindset that halts you from doing any vigorous activity. I was also a guy who didn't like exercises. However, as I look myself more on mirror, I see myself getting fatter and fatter. To make sure that I don't become a very fat person, I started exercising and now I'm trying to change my diet as well.

First things first, stop sleeping and wake up early. Do some things that make you feel like not doing right now. This includes like cleaning up of your house, going out of house to do an errand, or going to gym where you have this feeling of demoralisation. Do something that you don't really want to do as quick as possible, when it is something that you must do eventually. This will build a sense of responsibility and discipline in yourself that makes you have a routine. This is a first key step to make yourself healthy. Use Pomodoro technique whilst doing this.

Next, go for an exercise. Most of us have smartphone with us and this is very useful when it comes to fitness. Go for running and use Endomondo application. Go for 100 Push Ups application for your tricep and a little bit of your abs. Go for Caynax Abs Application for your six packs. There are so many applications on your smartphone which can help you along for your exercise. Something that you should never do is WhatsApp while exercising. I prefer to quiet myself down when exercising and focus only on it. This will be extremely important when it comes to consistent exercise which requires you to have a set plan.

Have some meals which make you feel full but high in protein, low in fats and mediocre in carbohydrate. This includes like chicken breast, fruits, vegetables and tofu. Avoid consuming snacks as they're very hard to stop eating, like potato chips and bubble tea. It is important to control your diet so that you can get a nice shape of your body. Search more online on foods and diets you should consider based on your weight. If you're too thin, having some fattening foods will help instead.

3) GAYNESS

Please take note that this is "gayness", not "gaiety". What you should be focusing on should be the latter because you should always be positive in your life. Girls don't like gays apparently, as gays like other gays or guys only. (unless you're bisexual!) For you to stop looking girly and be masculine, external physiques are very important, and I've covered them already. The most important one is your attitude and the way you speak.

Do not be influenced by others who are single as well and they seem to know everything. Girls really hate guys who are arrogant and senseless. Girls like smart guys for sure, compared to dumber ones. Smart might not mean academics, but I would like to highlight on your "sense". It is about knowing when you should shut up in front of a girl and sprinkling a few straps of humour for the better taste. Girls love guys who are funny, but hate those who insult them and make fun of others. Please be mindful of whatever you say to girls because they are fragile, just like you getting friendzoned and crying at the corner. You can check "How to Stop Being Annoying" if you are single. You have to be sensitive for others and be confident of what you're doing.

Remaining quiet might make you look attractive, but this will not last for very long. For people like me who can't keep mouth shut for very long (unless I'm friendzoned, for f*** sake). What I am trying to do is trying to be serious at times when you're supposed to be, and funny at times when you can tickle a girl without even touching her. This will make you look very attractive as girls will think that you are full of senses and smart. If your voice is very high-pitched, try speaking slower and in a clearer way (examples like, opening your mouth bigger when you're talking).

I have covered a lot of things how to get out of your single status, and you might not think it is helpful because some are what you already know. However, I would like to tell you that these obvious things are the model answers, literally. (Model! Do you get it? Model as in like good physique and all that... Yeah, I'll shut up.)

I've been friendzoned two days before the Valentine's Day and I've never been in a relationship before. Yet, reason why I can say so many things which can let me out of this single status is probably because I know what is going on, but I have not tried them out yet. And after that day when I got friendzoned, I started to realise how stupid I was, and be serious about all these. Word counts ran out! Thank you for reading. :)

By sight, not by faith.

The title should be the opposite, but this represents how I have been feeling about you. To me, you are still pretty (looks only), but why do I constantly think nowadays, that I should not feel this way? I want to know a specific reason, so I need to ask you. I don't love you anymore, but I have to ask you.

Why did you do that?

This question has always been recurring in my mind. It was very unreasonable for you to do that, do you realise? I always feel that you were wrong at that moment. You've done something very wrong, which always pricks me a sense of guilt, even when I have not done anything wrong against you. Why the hell did you even say that, and reacted that way? Were you too young? Probably. You were way too younger than me. However, at the same time, I was young, too. Hence, that does not give you a luxury to reason why you made such bad remarks of me. It was not fair.

You've always reminded me of impartiality - a fairness, an equilibrium in this unfair society, where having this will be a utopia. Something that never exists, but what I wish to, is what you always reminded me. You humiliated me and gave me a sense of reality, after making that statement that was out of a logical sense. I talked about Miranda Warning last time in the Auburn Society to denote what you have done wrong, and what others around you have done wrong as well. This is a problem in our society, but at the Auburn Society, this is completely disallowed.

One thing to claim is that, you seem happy - very jubilant, indeed. You can't imagine how you hurt other people by coming up with your illogical, childish and ill-minded nonsense. When people trust you, you use it maliciously to hurt them, by not only backstabbing, but also by making others, who will go against people like me, to trust you temporarily. I am not saying that I am innocent. However, if badness has a weight, yours is much heavier than mine. I hope someday karma avenges you. Believing in Jesus Christ is the best humour I have heard from you, because you are not a true believer. Right after I witnessed your stupidity over your religion view, there was no reason for me to love you anymore.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish, such that Job's real meaning befalls on you wrongly, as you take it in a literal sense. Realise your callousness and stupidity as you grow older, and let me see if you can keep up with any word that you had said against me. Trust me for once - you will neither have matured thoughts in future, nor will you beg for apology from me, or others who mistrusted you. You are that kind of person. People don't change until they discover their flaws, and you will never succeed in doing so. I know your bad habits more than yourself.

Your sarcastic motto - by faith, not by sight - exactly represents how fake you are. Can you even answer that italicised question above?

How to Write a Poem

Many people would have pondered across this question, as they go through a Literature course or after they read a poem. In fact, we face many poems in our lives, which are music lyrics, phonics, children's books, and the fiction or romance books. Poem is an intuitive matter which jolts up people's minds, as it can be very concise, yet emotionally overwhelming. Perhaps, this simplicity compels people to reading poems.

However, do you not feel that reading poem is insufficient? You feel so many emotions as you go through series of events in your life. Writing a poem will make you surge your emotions to a level where you can express them wisely. It is like an art form of texts - it can take a very long time, or can take a few seconds to write in impromptu manner. Yet, we should not forget the original purpose of poem - to deliver a message, and to deliver emotions.

Writing a poem, for me, is extremely difficult. Anyone who sees my poems will not understand anything, but thinks it is cool because there are difficult vocabulary used, or simply because, you can't understand. This is a completely wrong mind-set when you read a poem - when you don't understand, it is either because that poem is bad, or you are a bad reader. Usually, it is the latter, but for my poems, the former applies greatly.

There may be grammatical errors which were unintended, yet people might misunderstand them as a message due to poetic license, allowing me to write a poem in a sense where grammatical errors can be ignored. Let me give you a preview of such poem:

Aunt Jennifer’s TigersBy Adrienne Rich 

Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer’s finger fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

Don't you feel that there is something amiss? Yes, it is grammar. This is one feeling you get as you read a poem. Writing a poem does not require you to write by following specific regulations. This is a luxury of liberty you get when you write a poem, in my opinion. You might find it very weird at first when you are used to write essays and journals, but as you start writing, you will be allured to this only-available aspect of poem, and continue on.

However, whenever you write a poem, there must be something you must remember all the time. It is to deliver a message to a reader. Let us read a different form of a poem, called haiku, a popular Japanese-oriented 5-7-5 poem type that is used widely in many genres of cultural arts.

• An afternoon breeze
  expels cold air, along with
  the fallen brown leaves.
  
  (from http://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Nature-Haiku)

I gave an example of haiku because it follows a specific order. Let us look at Shakespearean sonnet, which follows an iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme which consists of ten syllables, according to Wikipedia. At the same time, a rhyming couplet, which is a rhyme at the end of line, is used simultaneously.

PROLOGUE

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

(from http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.1.0.html)

William Shakespeare is a genius - he had put in a unique order in his poem, and calls it a sonnet. This is a prologue of Romeo and Juliet, where Chorus reads it out before the start of Act 1 Scene 1, to give audience a brief summary and a forewarning that the story is a tragedy.

There are so many literary devices which you can use to ensure that you can write better in your poems, and these are extremely important to make sure that what you are delivering in the poem is emphasised through your analytical skills. However, do keep in mind that this might disturb your reading skill of poem, as you're looking into the woods, but not the forest. There are rhymes, alliterations, imagery, symbolism, similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and so many more. These are usually associated with poems and they are widely used in different languages due to their purposes. Do you remember nursery rhymes, or ABC songs? They are easy to remember not only because of simple music with repetitive notes, but because specific rhyme schemes are used to end off the sound with a pronunciation respelling of "i:"; at Shakespearean era, there was no script, and how would actors have memorised those long texts? With the help of rhymes, it was possible to do so. Let's look at ABC song and churn this properly.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G
H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P
Q - R - S - T - U- V,
W - X - Y and Z
Now I know my ABC's
Next time won't you sing with me.

(from http://www.metrolyrics.com/alphabet-song-lyrics-children.html)

Well, but is this everything in writing a poem? Not really, in my opinion. To write a poem, you must continue writing until you get sick and tired of it. This is to make sure that you can keep up your constancy of writing a poem and feel so used to writing one that you become more expressive. Whenever I have a feeling to write a poem, I always do, and do so on my phone, because I hate my handwriting. In my opinion, poem does not necessarily have to be written with pencil or whatever. That is a very traditional and conservative thought that many poets might be thinking of, but this is 21st century. Write your own poem that is full of imagination and your new order. Numbers of poems you can write are infinite, just like how you cannot imagine how big this world will be. No matter how long, or how short your poem is, it is still a poem. That is how you write it. Imagine, think, express, and ensure that readers can decipher them, not only yourself. Simply typing some bullshit with keyboard does not let you create a masterpiece.

Before I end, I would like to state that writing a poem is not easy. As you write more and more, you will feel that writing a poem is a very hard task. Firstly, people may not understand them, and if everyone can understand, it fails as a great poem. In my opinion, a great poem is something that leaves us with a floating question mark above our heads, and turning them to exclamation marks. I didn't say that the colours of those punctuation will be akin to each other, nor the shape. There might be different opinions on one specific poem, but real answer only lies on the writer. It is completely fine for readers to be ridiculed upon writer's message, unless you feel that you've done a bad job in writing that bemused them unnecessarily. Do not over-complicate, but try to simplify your language, and write a very concise poem. As long as you can deliver your emotions correctly to readers, I believe that it is a successful poem.

Do not be afraid of writing a poem. What others may see are a simple text, a black colour, a white paper, or painting - but you know it yourself. You wrote an extraordinary text, that is unique, and only you can write it. Be bold and be different from others; be innovative, in terms of imagining and expressing. That is how I write a poem, and how I recommend you to start writing a poem.

Do you hate cockroaches?

I hate them. I really hate it when I see one of them at a kitchen or toilet, suddenly crawling up my leg without any warning and then even worse, when it flies with wings spread open.

You find them disgusting too, don't you?

However, what if I were a cockroach, trying to amuse a person? And then, it fails quite badly.

You see, life isn't really perfect - there are failures which you deserve because you did not try your best. Yet, there are some reasons why you could not try your best. Maybe there was something wrong with your relationship and you couldn't get it past your mind. You could not made up your mind because you were addicted to gaming and could not get out of that whirlpool of coaxing. Yes, things like these make you feel vulnerable, and start to think: "Why am I so bad in everything?"

Let me look at this matter with a cockroach's point of view.

I am a cockroach now. I was born in the sewage consuming this and that waste materials. I see so many awesome creatures up there in the limelight. Rats, cats, dogs, and then I see humans. Humans are the best creatures, are they? I search for the best path as I aspire to learn from them. I approach them with curiosity, trying to get a closer look, as I'm short-sighted. Then this person approaches me with a distorted look, fleeing away from me. Oh, I see.

Whenever I see a creature, I should be running away from it.

I try my best to run away, but my eyesight does not help me at all. Is it about something that I don't have? I have six legs and humans only have two legs. Why are they so agile? Oh, because they are big. I get pounced by a large item, and I feel extremely painful, but I still struggle to live by crawling up with my broken legs. And then, I try to fly - oh, broken wings. Now I wait for tissue paper to cover me and be part with the sewage once again, by going into that whirlpool of toilet bowl. My already bad vision gets even more blurry as I enter the water.

I tried my best to amuse someone very much but that person finds me the other way round. It was an abhorrence that the person found from me. People are born with strengths and weaknesses. I am born with strength of influencing other people with words, and with weakness of inability to influence myself with words I said. Basically meaning, I cannot keep my words. There is something very interesting about cockroach, and it is its longevity. Cockroaches are the creatures which reproduce rapidly and survive by coping with the surroundings. Living in dark places where you rarely visit, they consume matters which we rarely touch on.

My point is simple. Don't try your best to amuse a person, but do your best at what you are strong at. Look at that cockroach trying to be a human being. Yes, imitation is a good way to follow up, but copying every single movement will be a bad choice. There is no way cockroaches can live under light, nor suddenly grow big just like humans to run away faster with 6 legs. That doesn't happen in reality. We have to face it - failure is a failure, but do not be jealous of what other people are doing, and not follow their steps very closely that you lose your own colours. Life is not always full of happy episodes. It is indeed weird for you to find happiness and gratitude of life frequently in this society. You are failing and you do not know what to do? Let's wake up and face the reality. It's time to wake up. You are not a cockroach, but you can become one if you follow footsteps to failure.

Those who are proud of themselves and conceited over their strengths? Don't care about them! Just think of yourself in your own league, and try to imitate what they are doing, but not follow exactly what they are doing. You are different from them.

I'm not going to be in a relationship for at least 5 years.

Why? Simple! Because it isn't fun, and it's actually very serious.

I always feel that I am not handsome, kind-hearted, smart or muscular. There is nothing appealing of me yet and thus makes me feel so vulnerable when I come to a relationship. Once I start a relationship, I think I will plunge into despair because I'm really an emotional person, and someone already made me do so. She said that I cannot be forgiven, and I'm letting her go as well. As she really showed her true hatred towards me, I'm not going to be a bastard who approaches her and forces her to change. No.

Yes, I am a stalker. I agree partially because I stalked her Facebook for her birthday, but I've never done any kind of stalking to any girl (in fact, not even to guys) before, especially that someone, because I already knew that it would be damn scary for a young and short girl like her to see a big figure like me following her. I texted to her that day when I scared her behind the pillar at the bus interchange that I am really not stalking her to give her some reliance. But since it is no longer in my phone, I cannot prove it right, so this statement will not be valid. Whatever the thing is, she somehow thought that it was a stalking. I think this is because of what I've done to her. There were some things I've done wrong to her - I talked to her too comfortably. I could rely on her so much that I told her too many things honestly. And that's where a snowball begins to become a large avalanche - a thick, cold and despairing army of words which bruised me rather brutally. She developed a misconception on me.

I don't know why, but if you are a close friend with her, you should be telling her never to jump to a conclusion, because people around her gets affected a lot, and they cannot even prove her wrong if it happens. I mean, firstly, look at how demoralised I am. Actually, before meeting her, I thought I was fine, but I just felt inferior to her after encountering her and I didn't really think that I deserve her. What if I didn't meet her. Or what if I was more logical and better-looking. There are many hypothetical questions that ridicule me. But you know what's the reality? There are no what-ifs, only what-is, and it is damn obvious and clear, so it doesn't confuse me at all. What is this guy doing. What is he saying. What is he doing to that small young girl. What is, what is, WHAT IS THE FUCKING PROBLEM. Damn clear, really.

See, from my experience, starting a relationship is very painful and I don't think I can open my mind up to any woman around me. And the reason why I'm saying this is because there's no other woman who made me feel reliable on, except her. She really is a nice person, but it's just that she started not to like me one day. I hate how people change all of a sudden sometimes. That person becomes very unfamiliar and threatening, even if that person isn't really that unfamiliar or physically bulky. Hence, for at least 5 years, I'm not going to have a relationship. I am posting this so that there will not be any misconception on anyone saying that I'm a stalker who still likes that girl or anything. No, fuck you! I'm not some fucking rapist stalker and I'm not going to let anyone get influenced by some illogical behaviour of her towards me. I HATE STALKERS, MY GOD. AND I LOVE MYSELF. LOGICALLY THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE RIGHT. I say I am ugly and not generous but I like the way I am.

I will say this honestly. She is a nice person, she really is a nice person, and that's why I fell for her. Also because she's very pretty. Ha-ha. And yes, she is nice because she's a good person to talk to. She responds to you almost instantaneously, unless she has some lessons or doing homework. Even when you spam her on WhatsApp, she will still reply without much complaining, and I think that's the beauty of her. You will get a feeling that she'll always be there for you when you need her. I think you can ask her close friends about this as well. They will know more than me about this.

If you are aspiring to be her boyfriend, then please take note that she is a type of person who gets creeped out very easily. And if you are a tall, ugly and not good at talking, please train your speaking skill and body before talking to her. She likes muscular guys and smart guys. I wasn't. LOL. I mean, I also like muscular guys too! It's not like she's a slut who goes for those kinds of boys, come on. She isn't, really. Just talk to her one day. However, once she seeps into her own thoughts, it will be difficult for you to tell her that you done things wrong and ask for apology, because she closes up all possibilities. I am struggling to do so as well, and I am planning to do it after my O Levels. Just don't be stupid and spam her with saying sorry to her when she does not want to talk to you. Because I did that and she blocked me everywhere on SNS. HAHAHA. Dammit. What if I didn't... Oh wait. What is this. No! Reality time!

I don't know why but now when I come to think of it, we were quite incompatible, because I really sucked at whatever I did. I don't think it's her fault. I truly think that the problems were with me, and I will let the time heal this living wound. Someday, I will meet her again somehow, not even when I stalked her or anything, because Singapore is small. Then I just wish to say hi to her normally. That's all I want to do. I really wish her to have a nice boyfriend (I think he is apple and she was sensitive to not tell me about who that guy is) because she truly deserves a person who's so much better than me. And I wish she doesn't meet a bastard who creeps the fuck out of her. I'm always sorry that I didn't give a very nice impression of me to her. I thank her for always being such a nice person to me and others. I really like her as a person. Last but not least, even when she realises what she has done wrong (but I don't think she will because her hatred towards me is quite serious) and says sorry to me or whatever, I have no confidence to start a relationship, at least for the upcoming 5 years. Okay, let's be clearer. I will extend this to 1 January 2020. I just wish the world doesn't end so that I will be blessed enough to date with a girl. He-he.

To C:

Please take note that you will get some things from me after O Levels. Don't worry, there won't be any tracking GPS device. I'm seriously not a stalker lah, please. And whatever I said on Facebook about you... They may be true but the real truth is that you gave me good memories which made me open up to you even more than my close friends. You are so special in that way, so quit thinking that you're not. Because there will always be this old man here, looking up to you. Oi, don't think dirty, okay. Not that look-up lah! Sorry for letting my friends holding me when you walked out of school. They suck. HAHAHA. No lah, they are good friends but I just didn't tell them to stop doing it. My fault again. :)

I really wish you to have a very nice future boyfriend. Please take care, pretty girl!

Love, the most useless value when it comes to progressing - scientifically, theoretically and historically.

Let us question ourselves: What is love?

Love is a value that is generally depicted beautiful, heart-warming and also, heart-wrenching. Love is also associated very closely to heart, because it makes us feel nervous when we love someone, and when we confess love to someone we like and fail, our hearts sink. Of course, this is an abstract expression. I am not being logical to this because love is something out of logic. Love is also a very powerful value that can make us do something crazy and achieve our goals. At the same time, love can also be very shallow to this erotica level, which is called "lust." (YAY, LUST!!! No. I'm just kidding.) Lust is not love, but if you love someone, there is a possibility that you will have lust on that person, regardless of what sex chromosome that person carries.


Love is usually associated with heart, because it makes your heart beat faster in its presence. Opposite in its absence, however. It kind of stops your heart for awhile.

And love is a value that is very special to mankind, because we think that it is not present in animals or micro-organisms. What they are doing would be called mating and reproducing, but that is not love. It is unique in its definition. The funny thing is, love is not defined completely, because science does not work for love.

Here is the main question that Mrs Sui asked us to work on: "Is love the most important value?"

Personally, love is the most useless value if it is perceived from a reasonable perspective, but the most important value if it is perceived from emotional perspective.

Love is the most useless value in science, such as Physics and Chemistry. Imagine the world that there was no love in mankind, and we have no knowledge on this thing called love. Then we will become what we call the machines, the things without any feelings but working for the same objective. It may sound very extreme that I am using the word 'useless', and weird, because I am saying that we will become machines which have no emotions, but let me tell you - that is because of love.


Can you please talk properly?

It is normal to get confused at here. Please try to focus, as it is something that is very deep - without love, we will not be the humans that we all know. A creature without any emotive value, but only physiologically living in order to reproduce and dominate the whole universe. Yes, in terms of evolution, the large barrier that is obstructing humans from developing further into better intelligent beings is love. Love is a catalyst which makes us do things that are not logical. We will be automatons if we do not have emotions, just like what you see from Terminator.

  
Some movies that make us ponder on mankind's evolution. Terminator, Equilibrium, and Prometheus. (Coincidentally, they are all single word!)

Let me bring up some movies to add to this seemingly difficult topic. In Equilibrium, Christian Bale appears as a man who is extremely skillful at killing, and forming this city where dictation takes place, and one has to take an injection every day in order to 'kill' the emotions inside. The thing at here is that the person does not lose emotions completely, but there is no feeling of compassion. Of course, love is not something that exactly makes us compassionate, but imagine yourself spotting a beggar asking for money - what do you feel? The action of putting down a penny into that dirty, little can of the disheveled, hideous man is done out of love. Equilibrium also presents how emotions equating to rationality become so dangerous, as people become psychopaths who cannot function as proper human beings.

So, if we do not have any emotions, there is no love. Humans will just be the most dominant and intelligent beings all over the universe. This is depicted very well in Lucy of how dangerous a human can become, if brain surpasses our normal capacity.

 
Personally, I didn't really like Lucy, but for this topic, this movie can be used for reference purpose.

The reason why I am using movies to explain my point is to vividly describe to you how dangerous a person without love can become, but what if all humans have no emotions? That is something which is not possible (but maybe possible from some dictator, like Kim Jong Un), but theoretically speaking, it is going to be extremely efficient if we do not know what love is, because we will lose emotions and move on to viral beings multiplying our numbers.

 
Love will really be the most useless thing to the whole mankind, if we are viruses, just like ebola. Just imagine that you will feel sympathy for killing a person or an animal.

However, this may be the most useless point at the same time, because this is not practical at all. Is love something that we are going to lose? Probably in five billion years (that is when our Earth dies), but the funny thing is, humans can live around 100 years. Mankind, however, may be perished very soon. Just look at what the hell that Kim Jong Un is doing. That is because of love as well. For those who do not get my point, let me reiterate and continue in the next post on why love is the most important value for mankind as well.

My stand is: Love is the most useless value in mankind's development, evolution and reproduction (or maybe not. Since you will be in coitus and do some exciting push-pulls during that process). It is also the most potentially dangerous value that can destroy the whole mankind.

Now, let us look at this question from other perspective.

Reflections on Dead Poets Society and Literature

This was my Literature homework that I had to submit. I think it is worth sharing, and do comment if you have your own opinion, too!

1.    My reflections in general…

I watched Dead Poets Society when I was Secondary 1, but with the help of Korean subtitles. I felt the shiver down my spines again, when Ethan Hawke stood on the table, around the end of the movie, and says: “O’ Captain! My Captain!”. (It was also because of the air-conditioned environment at my home, and AVA. What a coincidence!)

It felt so much different from then, because I could only understand it superficially. Watching it again this time, I tried to listen out closely, especially for the music used and hilarious jokes. I was immersed very deeply into Robin Williams’ act of John Keating. Being a teacher who seems like going out of the rules that incarcerate the students, for me, I thought it was to symbolise the harsh education system of higher standards wanted. I was so surprised because Dead Poets Society was a film directed in 1989, and yet, there is almost no change to the education system – maybe except that there is no more teachers-rule-students pressure. Teachers’ Day coming up, I also felt that this is what a true teacher must do, in order for students to be creative and intellectual, but not acting stupidly – the strong bond that embodies teachers and students.

Another thing I felt was about Robin Williams’ death. I felt like standing up too at AVA, to show him my small gratitude of his decease. I could not believe that he could suffer from depression with such friendly manners he has acted out in the film. Maybe because time passes, and time wears things out – something that was connected to reality with the film kept on reminded me of jovial but uncomfortable moments of my life.

Indeed, watching it again was not boring at all. It was a new experience after all, as this time I was watching it in a much different perspective, thanks to the literary devices I have learnt from Literature.

2.    After these 7 months, I feel that…

I feel that there is something different in me drastically. Perhaps it could be due to the musical, but what I believe very steadfastly is the learning process of Literature. I have never felt that studying Literature could be so fun, because I found books very dull and boring. I did not understand why I had to read books, even though some were fun, because it took so much time for me to read one book. I could not even finish a single English book in the rental date given from the library. I also had the feeling that I could never reach the realm of my mom, being so knowledgeable of histories of the world and how it has advanced.

It was unapproachable, but after these seven months, I could take a step into that realm.

A step – I believe that each step makes me walk, and soon run, then leap. It enabled me to read. Books were not boring but they were filled with so much entertainment. Imagining each scene from the page was so inspiring and dream-like; I had no sense of focus into reading, until I recently read Murakami Haruki’s Kafka on the Shore.

Every movie poster seems different to me now; because I know that it signifies something. Every inference from the poem, intertextuality – portray what the writer wants us to decode by encoding it. It is like discovering a password and logging into the system, as though I am hacking into the cyber world that I was always interested in. These seven months trained me to think that there is a purpose for anything that the writer does, even though some may not have been intended. While reading Murakami’s book, I said to myself: “Who cares, it is my thought anyway!”. No matter how I translated to the contents into my brain, as long as I got the main message, nothing could go wrong. I believe so strongly that these seven months were very valuable and happy moments for me that would be unforgettable, and I do not want to forget them at all, because they are very precious for me to put a step here.

3.    I realise that I now…

I realise that I now am a better person than last time. Films were always watched with Korean subtitles, as they were difficult to comprehend with English sometimes. That obstacle was removed magically as I joined Literature and I chew the words one by one, not eschewing them. I feel that I can express myself more confidently.

However, it is an adverse effect too, as confidence becomes conceit usually. I cannot express fluently because of my lack of basic knowledge on sentence structure and grammar. That is my disadvantage which I feared before joining Literature. I thought to myself: “How am I going to read a poem if I cannot even read a single book properly?”. Indeed, it was the other way round. It was to read a poem first and to analyse the literary devices used in the poems, and their purposes served, then reading a single or six-hundred paged books could be read within two weeks, without any difficulty.

I always realise that I can understand English texts much better and I try not to miss out the details. This is a problem again because I do not look at the big picture again. I tend to look at the trees instead of the forest, because I feel that the details should not be left out. Indeed, this is the other way round again, most of the time – but I only realise it when I get my English essay back, having failure marks. I realise that I am still weak at the subject English itself, and have to work doubly or triply harder for attaining better marks for my favourites subjects – English and English Literature.

4.    My favourite lines from this film are…

“It's not the Bible, you're not gonna go to Hell for this.”

-       John Keating

This was a humorous line that made me laugh of John Keating. There are two reasons why I giggled at this line. Firstly, it was fun in a way that Robin Williams’ said it, and the reactions of the students were active with laughter. Secondly, it was a brutal fact of education in many countries around the world, aiming for higher standards, where every introduction page and nonsensical rules matter as well. We fear that we will go to Hell, in fact – but we do not feel that the book is not a Bible, but a textbook.

“Just don't let your poems be ordinary. “

-       John Keating

This was said by Robin Williams when Hopkins came up with an incredulous and effortless poem: “The cat sat on the mat.”. A simple rhyme that is weird to be called as a rhyme, because it is not on different lines, was detected by John Keating as a ‘negative score on Pritchard scale’. He emphasises too that he is not laughing at Hopkins, but the things surrounding him. Teacher encouraging a student who is acting very weird, which may be purposeful, instead of reprimanding him, made me feel very thankful that I have such teachers around me in the school. Students sometimes deserve to be scolded, but when it is unnecessary, I assume that teachers should cheer the student up to be different from the original style, which may be wrong.

“Yawp!”

-       Todd Anderson

Todd, being so introverted yet wants to show his thoughts that were planned carefully, was motivated by Mr. Keating to ‘yawp’. A barbaric loud cry or yell, for such person, seems to be impossible, but Todd does it. This reflected me on how I should entrust my juniors during CCA times and allowing them to have time to catch up with what they are slow at. Being patient yet uplifting at the same time made me recall on how I instructed my juniors.

“What will your verse be?”

-       John Keating

Speciality and talent always lie in every member of human race. It shines or not, is to be found out by the students themselves, but teachers should be able to guide them properly to let them think of it. We, being special, sometimes do not even know that and goes off-course during medical studies, which is coerced into the students in Dead Poets Society, and real-life society. A verse, also defines about speaking, other than the line that is in textual form, is trying to tell us what we want to say, and catalysing us to say something that we want to speak for, but do not hide it. That verse, will be the motto that will carry your life.

“O Captain! My Captain!”

-       Todd Anderson

Perhaps the most heart-warming yet heart-breaking scene of this film, Todd stands upon the table like he is a daring, barbaric warrior, ready to ‘yawp’ for his teacher, leaving the room, being his last day. There is no way he will come back, but that courageous sound of Todd who was initially reticent, encourages Mr. Keating instead of how he developed such students. Other students stand up as well, and this is the most memorable scene of DPS, other than Neil committing suicide. “Thank you, boys. Thank you.”. This speech ensues by John Keating.

Personally, I did not add Neil’s line, because I did not like the intention of the director of suicide being the best choice for Neil. In School 2013, the Korean drama, it is conveyed like an inference of Dead Poets Society of suicidal but he gives up suicidal, with the help of the poem that the teacher read out, and he masticates it, giving up dying. There is no way it can be “Nothing.”. A hopeful message instead of realism was more emphasised for me, so I disliked Neil’s line at that scene, saying “Nothing.”.

Welcome to Auburn Society!

I am very glad to meet all of you, even though I don't have any idea who you are and did not meet you at all. (Are you self-contradicting from the start?)

Some have already come here through my Twitter or Instagram profile, and if you realise that all the posts are gone, I would like to say, yes - you're correct. I deleted all the past posts because I wanted to restart my Blogger. Please understand my own opinion, as there was a personal issue that I raised.

For the Auburn Society, it is meant to be sounding similar to Urban Society, which is the world we are living in. For better understanding, here is the meaning of auburn:

adjective

1. 1.

   (of hair) of a reddish-brown colour.
2. 
   

Emma Stone's auburn hair. Stoning.

As you can see, auburn is a word used for hair. The reason why I say this Blogger is called auburn is not because I am trying to discriminate anyone. As I have said earlier, brown colour is something that is processed, something that seems wasteful, but in fact it is like rudimentary and essential form of our life.

For example, woods, soil and defecation that you do as your daily basis (please see a doctor if yours is red, not this Blogger!) are usually brown-shaded. They all contain one similarity - they are all from nature, and is natural to do such stuff.

These are important for our livelihood. Maybe except that s**t.

In Auburn Society, we become Bear Grylls.

I am just kidding. Personally, I don't have any experience of stepping into the forest and masticating a big, fat-grown, yellow caterpillar. The scene of it already disgusts me, I swear. 

"Rrrr!" Bear cried. 

The Auburn Society is ironic in a way it is titled, because what I am trying to convey is about our society in nature, whereas the meaning of the word urban means, pertaining to the city. (not Urban Dictionary!) In fact, our world is basically ironic in itself, as there are many mysteries, and a lot of crazy things happen globally. Something that does not make sense at all with a normal thinking - it happens.

Instead of looking at the problem directly, I believe that hearing for the opinions and voices from the people are more important, to build a strong and convergent society. In my opinion, this is the normal thing we can do, but most people cannot even do this. It is not because they lack intelligence, but lack their morals, and we, in Auburn Society, use our seventh sense - common sense.

In this Blogger, I will be covering things happening around me, which are superbly stupid, and sharing opinions through comments or Twitter are also possible for you. When I post anything that is related to you and you feel it, do share the Blogger link and even comment on it. I would appreciate to see your reactions.

I also established Lame Joke Corporation two years ago, which is stagnant and not updated at all. I promised that I would update it after learning Adobe Illustrator CS6, but I did not. I am really sorry for the procrastination (but for some, it is better, because lame jokes cause cancer, not cure cancer), but I will still learn Adobe Illustrator CS6 whenever I can.

The Auburn Society not only lets you informed about what is orbiting in the world and yourself, but your personal hobbies too! If you want me to do anything, please comment on the post as well. I will try to do something that is possible within my range. For me, I like origami and programming, so I will keep it updated!

Thank you so much for reading it until here. Please be a part of the Auburn Society, by saving this website as your Favourites and visiting the website often!

1. http://hairbyjennifermarshall.com/hair-color-trends-2014/emma-stone-auburn-hair-with-highlights
2. http://www.austinhealeywood.com/
3. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soil.jpg
4. https://twitter.com/poopemojis
5. http://www.firelabel.co.uk/blog/out-and-about/surviving-bear-grylls-survival-academy.html