Monday, April 21, 2008
One more day! And I'll be Home! With a capital H! Not too bad a semester I have to say, I love all my subjects, they didn't require much effort which I;m glad for cos I;m already really fatigued and all. Met new great people and I'm managed to culturally enrich myself!
One thing I really appreciate Ann Arbor for is their liberal culture. There is't a place as accepting as here. Ann Arbor totally brings diversity to a whole new meaning, blacks, hispanics, asians, koreans mixed blood e.t.c.e.t.c, and what's better is that everyone totally lives together side by side in harmony, most of the time anyway. The courses we have are focussed on diversity and acceptance as well...with PCAP that encourages helping out and humanitizing prisons, social justice, human rights classes, lgbt, e.t.c.
I've always kind of rejected this overly-pc approach to society and kind of aligned myself with the Ave Q song: Everyone's a litle bit racist. I.e. there'll be abit of racism in society, but it good if everyone's not too sensitive and take it with a pinch of salt; maybe this will help more then lways being cautious and all. I'm not saying overlooking hate crimes, but things like, people telling me, Your english is very good! because they think I'm not a native speaker of Englsh due to my accent. Overlooking these, or laughing these off, may do a whole lot of good better then picking on these as racism. (I;m not kidding, it was actally brought up in one of my seminars as an example of racism). Take it as an opportunity to enducate others, and in doing so, maybe we'll be educated ourselves. It is inevitable that people will mkae mistakes about other races from time to time, the world is huge and we can't expect everyone to know everything about everybody else. (esp when we don't really come from a very large place that is very near USA)
That said, coming to Ann Arbor made me feel the full force of what is meant by USA being a melting pot of races and cultures. Even the americans are never purely americans. Most of them can trace their lienage to Ireland, Portugal, Poland, or what not, and most are a mix of different races and all. Singapore, for all its multi-culturalism and all, is definitely not as diverse. OUr citizens pretty much come from the same place and went through the same experiences (At least b4 recent years when we've seen a ridiculously high influx of foreingers) And I've come to understand waht is meant by the volatile nature of this mix of race and I got a sense of this whole social equality movement thing (i.e. the thing I find maybe a bit too sensitive), wher ethey come up with a whole lot of PC terms and all.
Over senstiive I may find it, I think in such a culture where there are so many different people, it may be good that it balances out the social injutice that exists(which may really become disgusting). And I'm glad I'm able to get a feel of the American social justice movement.
But I digress. Back to the point. Ann Arbor. So this liberal cultural brought about plenty of eyeopening events. Dalai Lama just came for the weekend. Chinese students protesting against his talk (peaceuflly and maturedly, i assume) GSIs protesting and holding a walkout and picket line(peacefully and orderly). I suppose this is kind of like the epitome of democracy. Where the citizens are matured enough to deicide for what they want, and can be trusted to do these things against authorities peacefully, and the authorities are reasonable and can be trusted to do waht's best.
Then again, I reject this model for a large nation, and I all the more reject this for Singapore. Singaporeans are still not matured enough for such a liberal society, and the circumstances are larger. Maybe I've been bought over by the whiteppl, but I see Singapore as some kind of benevelent dictator. Sure, there are problems. Singpaoreans complain about the rich poor gap, among many others. I only have this to say, the poor in other countries have it much worst; there is a obvious disregard for the poor. I would say at least Singapore strives to avoid that, with proper medical care for everyone, food is affordable, housing is of a reasonable standard. Can be improved, of course, but its of a reasonable standard. Rich poor gap seem to be somewhat of a phenomenon these days, and I trust that Singaporean govt knows that it is detrimental in the long run and they'll strive to avoid or at least lessen that. There was an article once about Singapore being the happiest nation. Of course, some disagree, some agree. Those that disagree categorised those who agree as part of the elite class. But maybe its not a eliteand lower classissue. I see it as more of a those-who've-stayed-abroad, and those who haven't issue. The efficiency, anti-corruption, in Singapore is something taken for granted. But maybe those who have lived abroad would understand how long it takes to get something done overseas. IN even more extreme cases, imagine a place that is corrupt. Where you can't trust the government to do anything. To put this in greater perspective, here'sa real life example from the old Soviet Union. Govt secretly authorised injecting hormones into newly born babies for the sake of reserch. What if you can't give birth in the hospital without worrying about what ppl wil ldo to your child? What I love about Singpaore is the order and proper checksin everything.
Of course, I should be happy. I'm probably a desired product of the SIngapore dream. Doing well in classes they want me to do well in, going where they want me to go, and finally, accepting and embracing the whiteppl. *shrug.* A flaw I do see in this is that if there happens to be one day that the whiteppl does not have good leadership, we're kinda gone. At least with USA, their p is kind of an idiot but it'll still do well, because its in built in the system of democracy. In a few months, he'll be gone and another hopefully better one wll come in. You don't see USA relegating to a thrid world backward nation. While I do support whiteppl squashing down on
certain opposition who i find just plain immature, there are good opposition like w which they should encourage. They can't expect to hold power forever. As a amtter of fact the tactics whiteppl used in the latest election kinda shocked me. It seems very underhand.
...and I've realised that I've digressed. The main point of this was to recount how many cool stuff I've been to and appreciate. Dalai lama was one, before the DalaiLama I attedned a talk, where they had another Buddhist monk, Phillip Glass, Richard Gere, and Bobby McFerrin. Yest I went to a Chick Corea Bobby McFerrinand JOhn something jazz concert, which was damn cool, cos it was just 90 mins of pure improvisation. Imagine taht. One month ago I watched Lang lang. Its ahrd to imagine a small town with all these huge personalities. At such a low price. Priceless, I'd say.
tis xmas, plz stay wit me..
xx
6:27 PM
# # # Friday, April 18, 2008
It's amazing where restlessness takes you. At the witching hour between yest and today, xiaowei whipped out a box of BEANBOOZLED for the beanboozled challenge.
Rules of the Game:
What happens is there are 10 different coloured beans in the bag. And for every colour, there are 2 possibilities as to what the flavour is. I.e. a cream coloured bean can be caffe latte or earwax. a black one maybe be licorice or skunk.
So we separated them into their respsective colours, and chose a color to play. We picked blue. I took a blue bean, Kevin took a blue bean. And we make a guess. I think mine is toothpaste. He thinks his is berry blue. So I propose a swap. We would swap if he wants, but since he doesn't, we leave it to the divne forces - we play scissors paper stone. I win, we swap. We pop it in, and both are berry blue. Since he guessed it right, and I didn't, he wins. If its a draw, the banker wins.
Amazingly, the winner of the whole competition is the most reluctant - szeyen. HEHEHE.
tis xmas, plz stay wit me..
xx
12:40 AM
# # # Wednesday, April 16, 2008
End of classes - i love my classes this term alotaltoalot. =)
tis xmas, plz stay wit me..
xx
4:42 PM
# # # Monday, April 14, 2008
America has made me lazy. No doubt I'm studying less and getting sian faster now than I ever did. *drums fingers*
tis xmas, plz stay wit me..
xx
9:34 AM
# # # Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Suddenly, like REALLY suddenly, I see alot more meaning in my life now then in my life last time. As much as I would love to return to a life where I slack around in Singapore visiting shopping malls and doing frivolous stuff, I know I won't be satisfied. Strage how I only JUST realise it. I think its the college education.
tis xmas, plz stay wit me..
xx
2:03 AM
# # # Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Few random lines to update my life since I'm so boredddddd with econ
1. Physics angmohs are cute. VERY cute. *heart pumps veryvery fast*
2. I found the Way. (i.e. I aced another religion quiz! :))
3. Weather's alot better. Flowers are blooming birds are chirping sun is shining people decked in sunglasses and shorts are lazing on the grass patches. In other words it's resembling the opening from a disney cartoon. Had a religion lesson in the grass patch outside the league, and I'm startng to love having humanities lessons. The GSIs are creative and laidback, the prof is passionate, I think using a Blue Book and writing papers with real citations and everything is COOL. PROFESSIONAL. Call me inexperienced or cheapthrilling or whatever, but I guess what I love is the mix of subjects I'm allowed to take and I believe major maketh thy man. Each different subject comes with a different breed of people - profs, gsis, students - refreshing and passionate in their own way. Enchanting.
4. Life is full of magic. Langlang is one example of magic. Did you see his hands? IMPOSSIBLY FAST. And music always creates the magical feeling anyway.
5. Music frenzy - classical, love, smooth rock, disney.
6. It's a few weeks left to efficiency, green, public transport, large crowds, familiar faces. If you get my drift :)
7. I've washed my hands off - with a mixture of eyerolling, avoidance, and laughter. Childish, but I beleive I'm still eligible to be a child.
8. *drums fingers on table*
tis xmas, plz stay wit me..
xx
12:04 PM
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