Poem
Came upon this
website when surfing the net and found this
poem:
This Compost.
Walt Whitman
1
SOMETHING startles me where I thought I was safest;
I withdraw from the still woods I loved;
I will not go now on the pastures to walk;
I will not strip the clothes from my body to meet my lover the sea;
I will not touch my flesh to the earth, as to other flesh, to renew me.
O how can it be that the ground does not sicken?
How can you be alive, you growths of spring?
How can you furnish health, you blood of herbs, roots, orchards, grain?
Are they not continually putting distemper’d corpses within you?
Is not every continent work’d over and over with sour dead?
Where have you disposed of their carcasses?
Those drunkards and gluttons of so many generations;
Where have you drawn off all the foul liquid and meat?
I do not see any of it upon you to-day—or perhaps I am deceiv’d;
I will run a furrow with my plough—I will press my spade through the sod, and turn it
up
underneath;
I am sure I shall expose some of the foul meat.
2
Behold this compost! behold it well!
Perhaps every mite has once form’d part of a sick person—Yet behold!
The grass of spring covers the prairies,
The bean bursts noislessly through the mould in the garden,
The delicate spear of the onion pierces upward,
The apple-buds cluster together on the apple-branches,
The resurrection of the wheat appears with pale visage out of its graves,
The tinge awakes over the willow-tree and the mulberry-tree,
The he-birds carol mornings and evenings, while the she-birds sit on their nests,
The young of poultry break through the hatch’d eggs,
The new-born of animals appear—the calf is dropt from the cow, the colt from the
mare,
Out of its little hill faithfully rise the potato’s dark green leaves,
Out of its hill rises the yellow maize-stalk—the lilacs bloom in the door-yards;
The summer growth is innocent and disdainful above all those strata of sour dead.
What chemistry!
That the winds are really not infectious,
That this is no cheat, this transparent green-wash of the sea, which is so amorous after
me,
That it is safe to allow it to lick my naked body all over with its tongues,
That it will not endanger me with the fevers that have deposited themselves in it,
That all is clean forever and forever.
That the cool drink from the well tastes so good,
That blackberries are so flavorous and juicy,
That the fruits of the apple-orchard, and of the orange-orchard—that melons, grapes,
peaches, plums, will none of them poison me,
That when I recline on the grass I do not catch any disease,
Though probably every spear of grass rises out of what was once a catching disease.
3
Now I am terrified at the Earth! it is that calm and patient,
It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions,
It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless successions of
diseas’d
corpses,
It distils such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor,
It renews with such unwitting looks, its prodigal, annual, sumptuous crops,
It gives such divine materials to men, and accepts such leavings from them at last.
I thought it was absolutely fascinating. It's a mix of fear and fascination of earth, that everything ends up in a circle. So I just thought that I would share. Enjoy!
Harry Potter sites
Check this out!
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire trailer 1I think Ron and Harry need to cut their hair, though the more you look, the better they look! Here's another one of the trailer :
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire trailer 2Thought that Hermoine was gorgeous, Fleur was pretty ordinary and Prof Moody was so NOT prof. Moody. That eye glass thingy that he wore was not depicted in the book, but then I suppose they could not really put a "magical" eye in his socket if there is already a nice, healthy eye in it. I wonder how he will take out the eye to wash... And I thought Cho Chang was very pretty!
And here is another site for the muggles (i.e us, i suppose) :
MugglenetI never believed there were so many mistakes in the books until I checked out this site and double-checked it against the actual books in my cupboard.
My my! Haven't I been copying material from other sites?
Arts (argh) - (It rhymes!)
Watched the Musical - The Whizz with Pearlin on wednesday night at victoria theatre. I'm beat. I've been on the computer for 4 hours straight and I need to sleep. The musical was good! It was on Wizard of Oz, very funny version and kind of modern. The actresses/actors all very good, although they are all secondary school kids with a few adults. An evening well spent!
I don't like my present literature tutor. She drains my enthusiasm for lit out of me. She's a new tutor, 1st time teaching students. I see her and the way she talks and comments, I hate her already. Maybe I'm exaggerating. Ok, I just dislike her. Intensely. Therefore, I have to go visit my secondary school lit teacher to renew that enthusiasm for lit. Yeah, right. I'll just go there say hi, thanks, bye. haha, plus a bit of crapping.
I'm tired, forgive me for my typos and shorthand and whatever-not. Too tired to write properly.
National Day Rally - mr brown/new media
whoots! Media propoganda, I say!
This is pretty amusing. I read this from
Mr Brown's blog, who got it from
Merv's blog, that within an hour after the ND Rally, "
CNA has already concluded that Singaporeans are inspired by Mr Lee's vision".
Whoots! haha.. sorry, I just find it amusing. Although I do feel inspired in a way.. haha, it's just that, haha.. I don't know, I'm being dumb...
Ooh, this is the Two-Step Flow Theory I learnt in Communications and New Media (CNM), where Merv is probably the Opinion Leader, and then he influences Mr Brown(an Opinion Follower) and convinces him of the same idea (that
sarcasm). And I'm probably just another Opinion Follower as well, either under Merv or Mr Brown.
Haha... I'm trying to see relate CNM theories to the real world, so that I actually have a chance of passing this module well.
Ooh, I have other cnm theories I can put down as well, but never mind, I won't bore you with it. I'm still tickled by that first few sentences.. whoots!
National Day Rally - 2005
Finished watching the rally which lasted perhaps 3 hours and ended promptly at 10pm instead of at 11+ every other year before. Really, it is the 1st time I have watched it from beginning to end in ENGLISH although I did try to listen to the chinese version.
PM Lee Hsien Loong did talk about a number of things. Among which include topics on the economy, education, service and healthcare. Or was service under the topic of economy?
Anyway, I could only remember these few points vaguely and want to give my 2-cents-worth on them.
1)Education
I remember PM Lee talked about the polytechnics and ITEs a lot. He mentioned quite a few names from certain poly and ITEs where students have beaten other students worldwide in some software/technical competition and poly/university students in another IBM competition, respectively. It's kind of amazing, isn't it, when you look at these students in the normal social-discriminating way and they beat these "cream-of-the-crop" students. So, these "cream-of-the-crop" aren't really "cream-of-the-crop" afterall! HAHA! *points finger at them* Oops, I'm laughing at myself..
Then there were these films made by the (if i'm not wrong) mass communication students of Ngee Ann Polytechnic that were really not bad, and the slides by Nanyang Polytechnic students. I'm like, "Woah! Fine, I'm feeling stupid now!"
Apparently the government has no intention of changing the polytechnics into universities now, although I thought that the reason PM Lee gave was not really that great. He said that then people will be going in there for that piece of paper (meaning the certificate) and not for the practical skills to be learned when the polys-turned-universities start issuing degrees instead of diplomas. I think he forgot that singaporeans don't forget so easily. We don't forget so easily that these polys-turned-universities were once polys. So I thought that if there could be a place where you could get a degree and get a practical and specialised skill at the same time, wouldn't it be better? Anyway it is true that some people will be there for the paper. But increasing number of A-level students are going to polytechnics anyway, and change of names for ITEs hadn't seem to make a significant difference, so it isn't a big issue.
I was also thinking about how in the world experience count more than your certificate sometimes...
Oh yar, PM Lee also talked about the financial aspects and that I THINK there will be a post-secondary grant given out so that all singaporean kids will be able to get a post-secondary education, something to that effect. Which is really great! (grumble grumble, more competition...) haha...
2)Service
Also in the speech was the service sector in Singapore and how bad it is, blah blah blah. Oh no, he didn't talk about how it was all only the people-behind-the-counter fault. He said that not only those who provide service need to improve (I'll elaborate a bit later), the consumers also have to change their mindsets. At this point he showed that short film (as mentioned above) showing how a woman taking orders at a noodle stall in a hawker centre is rude and has that kiam-pa and yet damn funny look on her face, treats her customer badly, making the customer's request for more "dao gay" seem stupid.
Then he showed another short film with the roles reversed, i.e, the woman is nice and smiley and the customer was rude. Customer's friend turned up and requested her to help him buy another 3 packets. She agreed and asked the woman for another 3 packets, upon which the woman awkwardly shook her head, a man behind told the customer that her friend should queue up, and as the woman hands the customer the packet, the latter stares at her most accusingly and then walks off without the noodles or paying.
Obviously people recognized themselves as the customer in the 2nd short film and PM Lee certainly didn't miss it either when he said that there is more laughter for the 1st film than the 2nd. He attributed it to the fact that it is always easier to blame those providing the service, afterall we always laugh at them. Yay! I'm so happy that he said that! Being in the service sector, I absolutely agree with him.
But then he brought up another point that I previously had no idea of. He said that in other countries, if you enter a store, the person there would greet with "Hello/good morning/g'day!" in their own language. However in Singapore, when you walk into a store and if you are lucky, you get "How can I help you?" or if you are not so lucky then, "What do you want?"
When he mentioned it I nearly couldn't catch the point. It was so interweaved into our culture to say that that we don't find anything wrong with it. Afterall, tons and tons of salespersons in tons of stores across town use that phrase. I always thought it is the tone of that sentence that really matters, but now that I think of it, I guess "Good morning/afternoon/evening!" or "Welcome!" would really be better. After all, how many times have we walked into a store and feel pressurised by salespersons who ask us "How can I help you?". Well, maybe not you, but I do. So I have made up my mind that the next time I do sales again I will NOT use "How can I help you?" as a greeting phrase.
Hmm, I wonder if we walk into stores from tomorrow onwards would the salespersons say "Morning!" now instead of "How can I help you?"
Oh, did you know that Giordano uses "Welcome!" as a greeting towards customers who step into their stores? Well, at least the one at Hougang Mall and Bugis do, I don't know about the others.
3)Healthcare
This is really very brief. There are some changes to the medishield and medisave. For medishield the age will be raised to 85 from 80, although I don't really understand the impact of this as I don't have basic knowledge of medishield. As for medisave, I can't even remember what is the change.
I also remember something about having a HDB grant thingy for the lower income people so that they would be able to buy a HDB flat more easily. It's supposed to reduce the gap between the lower-income and higher-income people. Good! Think it should turn out alright.
That's about what I can recall from the speech. It was actually fairly interesting. I think I shall catch it again next year. Wrote so much, I'm amazed. Had not even blogged about how school was. Ah, well... And I'm giving up tuition coordinating after this month. It sucks like big-time. Get me a proper job, although I'd probably hate it. Ok, get me a proper job which I love.
Dream on.
Relieved!
I feel relieved.
1) I just found out I am not the only one attending most module lectures alone. The one girl in my class who went with me to FASS is facing the same problem. Even worse, she is attending 4 out of 5 lectures alone. Suddenly I don't feel so bad anymore. I guess that happens when we find people in the same or worse situation as you.
2) I just confirmed that I can do a physics minor. There were some complications and confusion, but I e-mailed one of the professors and he clarified everything for me. Yay! Now only left to plan modules properly. I suck at planning. I think too much and everything turns out confusing.
3) I got my psychology book for only $20! Yay! $5 and $10 cheaper than what other seniors and the bookstore are selling for, respectively.
All in all, it has been a good day.
HATE
I hate school! I hate myself!
Ok, more of I hate myself. So difficult to arrange the tutorial timings. I might end up going home at 6pm on 3 out of 4 days, which I absolutely loathe because the transport systems is always packed at that time and people are always grouchy when they want to get home quickly. Me included.
I hate myself! Why I always don't know how to choose tutorials and modules?! So frustrating. Clash exam dates, clash lecture timings, clash tutorial timings, not enough time to travel from science faculty to arts faculty! Why did I even come to Arts?! I'm so afraid I have made the wrong decision. And so many lectures I have to go alone! Why? Because I was from SCIENCE stream in JC! My class girls only got 1 come with me to Arts ok! And she doesn't take the same modules as me! This sucks!
I'm so fed-up I think I will go for the acapella audition.
Only 2 weeks from the start of lectures and I hate school already. I said I hated it from the first day ok!
Ok, I don't really hate school. I just hate myself. Why? Because of the reason as described above and because I basically don't have a sense of fashion. Sorry but I don't understand why we have to dress up for school.
You know people look at me through that tainted glasses when they see me and then you can see how is their reaction. Sorry lah, I don't know how to dress-up mah! Damn pek chek! Not like I never try ok! So this is like, what, reason number 3 why I hate myself.
Ok maybe I exaggerated the above a bit. But I know how to read expressions ok!
Sometimes I really wish I had gone science. At least there is yixin and jenny there. And if I went, I would major in physics, same as yixin, I would have at least company, and not stuck here, alone in most of the modules. I don't even know what major to take and if I can take physics as a minor. WHY must I be that type that loves both science and some parts of arts?
Maybe I'll end up taking Psychology as a major, then what the f***, come NUS do psychology! Go overseas lah, even better! Psychology from NUS worth what? Can't even practice! Not enough for employers and too many psychology majors out there! I think I'm really stupid... and naive... and not street-wise... and inflexible...
Haiz. Ok, I'm just fed-up and frustrated and needed to release a bit. But it's all true up there.
And can somebody tell me how to erase that comment in the "comment" link at the bottom the previous entry?
Lost Hp!
I lost my handphone today on the train from city hall interchange to dhoby ghaut mrt. It was a relatively brand-new nokia 7620. I am feeling positively upset (oxymoron) right now. If you had read my previous entries, you would have known how much I like my phone.
I don't know how it happened either.
At about 2.54pm today, I took out the phone at city hall int. while waiting for the train to arrive. I checked the time on my phone and was chatting with liu yin. I then put it back into my bag and I CANNOT remember if I had zipped it. Most probably I did not. It could not have fallen out, though. The depth and position of the phone in my backpack would have disallowed it to fall out. I think. The train came the moment I put my phone back into my bag and then I boarded the train together with liu yin. Somewhere along the journey, I instinctively put my hand up to my backpack and felt my bag open. I think I did not close it. I DON'T REMEMBER! Out of habit, I put my hand in to feel for my phone and realized that I could not find it. I thought that it was buried somewhere in my backpack and so did not think much. We alighted at that moment at dhoby ghaut and I stood at a corner for a while to search my bag. I still could not find it. Ironically at that crucial moment, I remember telling myself not to worry because it was not uncommon to have my phone buried somewhere under the umbrella or my pencil box. It usually turns up anyway. Ironically, I felt so bloody calm. On the way to the travellator, I realized I REALLY could not find my phone. LY called my phone and after it connected, I didn't feel any ringing or vibration. I knew then that I had lost it. We went back to search the platform, but to no avail.
Came home, called singtel (got scolded by my mother), cancelled the line and made a police report. I told the policeman that I was sure I had zipped the bag. Argh, I feel so guilty that I said that. The stupid report took 1 hour to complete coz had to do a draft report, and then take my statement. Well, the fact that the policeman was good looking kind of compensated a bit. =)
Anyway, I can go to any Hello! shop and get my replacement sim card and get another phone for 10% discount. Haiz. Recommend me on what phone to get. Should I get my old phone model?
Haiz.
The point is that I lost my beloved phone which I got for barely 2+ months. My contacts are so lost. If you want to contact me, either sms my mom's phone or call my house number. Ask me if you don't know either number.
I am so dispirited that I can't bring myself to capitalise some words in the entry so far which needed CAPS.
The only consolation is that the policeman is quite handsome, I didn't lose my wallet, and LY and me enjoyed ourselves cursing the person who stole my phone.
Thanks, Liu Yin!
Want to give me a nokia 7260 as an early birthday present? *hopeful*
haha, just kidding. That I can get a new phone is not much consolation... I want my nokia phone back!!!
Xinfony VI - Photos
Alvin, Pearlin, Liu Yin, Yizhen, Me, Jiaxing
Jiaxing (on left), (Top row) Pearlin, Liu Yin, Ruifang
(Bottom row) Yizhen and me
Almost the whole current percussion section of XMSB'05, with some of the X-winds percussionists
Repeated picture here!
I tell you ah! We don't even have a proper full section photo lor! At the top most picture, ruifang was missing because she was snacking in the refreshment room. In the 2nd and 4th picture, Alvin was missing because he had not reached yet, then in the 3rd picture, which was taken at e end of the concert, Alvin again not there coz we thought he had left.
Haha... fine! We will take loads of pictures the next time we play together again! Whoever will be playing then, I mean...
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