; the little -details- xXx

a ton of assignments, two tests, a quiz and the beach run next week. and i still have to practice for my upcoming grade 8 piano exam since i still can't fucking play even a piece properly yet (ah, the mark of a proscratinator).

bloody hell. nobody told me that life would be so hard before i was born; if i knew, i'd think twice about coming to the world. xD

yessh. anyway: my worst fear that i hope would never ever, ever, happen to me.


i have a mild fear of airplanes because i have a strong fear of falling. that's quite funny since i'm a pretty frequent traveler during the holidays, shuttling back and forth between jakarta, singapore and any other indonesian cities i'm lucky enough to get whisked to (this just hit me: would this reflect horribly on my carbon footprint?). the passengers of the qantas plane were lucky to survive, but going through a 6000 m drop? honestly, i'd faint. or pee in my pants. or pee in my pants before fainting.

i think i need a study whip (junyi just told me what a 'government whip' is during NE Quiz--which by the way three NUSH teams participated in and brought home... COPs!) to motivate me to study. but i don't know why time seems to be accelerating--shrinking, to the point that by the time i get home, shower and eat, i have no time left to study and so tired i just want to sleep. i need to make the most of my weekends, but weekends traditionally have been off days for me, and old habits die really really hard.


meanwhile, the sudanese government has warned the UNSC and ICC that if al-bashir is indicted, the AU and UN peacekeeping force safety would be compromised. i hate the fact that al-bashir is a president--he has the power to call the shots by threatening the UN and ICC for the former to freeze the latter's investigation by playing on the fact that in the pursuit of justice, peace may be sacrificed; should more darfurians, aid workers, AU and UN soldiers lose their lives because ICC wants to make an example out of al-bashir to all the tyrants and wannabe-tyrants out there?

obama's europe tour seems to be a resounding success--200 000 germans showed up to listen to this guy who isn't going to be their president (but is in line to be the most powerful man on earth in november) and so far, obama's winning foreigners' hearts. i especially like his foreign policy beliefs--almost conservative (kinda weird for a democrat, but times have changed and people change) but i think it's something that all the west should take note of: democracy should not be imposed on countries; the only way to help a country to develop and form their own democratic governments is by giving the people what they want: jobs, food, homes; economic development is to precede democratic development if the west wishes for countries to peacefully turn democratic. (i still think that democracy may not be suited to all countries as like what many western intellectuals like to believe, but if the usa changes its stance from "you turn democratic, and maybe i'll help you" to "hey, you need help; i'll help you", it would be for the good of the developing nations as well as the world--although economic aid from western superpowers may be very expensive and this idea may not be very popular with the governments there).

angela merkel, the german chancellor, welcomed obama in berlin while t-shirts like the one pictured above have been circulating around ever since his plans to speak in germany (he's only going to speak publicly twice throughout his tour) surfaced.


and nicolas sarkozy--my favorite politician! (for all of his on-and-off-office antics :) )--has nimbly paved the way for a mediterranean union that seems to be a closer possibility than ever before. him and his juggling of foreign diplomacies are such a beautiful thing to read in newspapers--that is real talent. compare that to bush, who seems like a klutz when it comes to foreign policies.


also last week, bayern lost the supercup to dortmund 2-1 although now that the cup is not recgonized by dff, it's pretty much an exhibition match in which klinsmann sees how the team fares with the seven internationals now joining them already and tests out the 3-5-2 formation as well. ribery's back in munich (in clutches--get well soon, franck!), new jerseys are unveiled (the really wacky dancing supermodels are a, uhm, nice touch?) and schweinsteiger has decided he's bored by his old platinum blond hair and dyed it back to his old hair while it seems like klose's cut his hair (goodbye, beautiful haircut that i really really <3).

now that miotv offers me a way to watch my favorite tv episodes (distractionsdistractions!) earlier than waiting for half a year for them (or resort to uhm, ways that the internet provides), all they need to do is just put in a channel in which i can watch bundesliga and i am sold.

(woah. how'd this post get so long?)

my tuesday, 15 july 2008, summarised:

1.

it's a starry night today, isn't it?

sadly, very few seem to notice that. it seems that the only thing most people see when they look up towards the sky is the bright half-moon floating on the black screen above us, reminiscent of a very goofy big grin. The dark violet clouds are not as thick today; they resemble blobs of watercolor paint on a black canvas, a thin layer brushed across the pitch black surface. The stars, the small dots that sometimes glitter on that same black canvas have come out to play but they pale in comparison to the big smiling half-pearl that is the moon.

Let's touch on science a bit; between the stars and the moon, only the stars naturally give out light while the moon just reflects light from stars (in this case, the sun) off its surface. Because of the distance between the earth and the stars, and the earth and the moon, however, the faint light that the moon gives out seems to be relatively much more brighter than those of the stars.

It's a lot like life, isn't it? People with real talent always seem to fade in the background, quietly shining, glittering against the dull mass of people. Like the saying goes, the rice plant with the most number of rice bends in the paddies while the ones with the least rice stands up proudly. Sometimes, a sharp eye or a well aimed telescope will spot the stars, peeking out of the clouds and they'll appreciate the stars' beauty--the quiet charm and beauty that have always been there to decorate the boring night sky, but always taken for granted.

Most of the times, however, people look up to the sky and only spot the beautiful moon. Crescent, Half, Waxing, Full, Waning... The moon sure does come in different sizes and shapes, huh? Always seems to shine oh so brightly, catching all our attention greedily when all it can do is reflect light off its surface. The moon sure is like some people in our lives, huh? These people never do have a real light shining in 'em, but somehow they always manage to stay in the spotlight, so bright and dazzling, taking the credits for what they don't really do. Just like how the moon fools human race for centuries before some genius astronomers realise the truth, these people are great actors and actresses. Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms has once noted that when the moon shines, its brilliance overwhelms that of the stars around it; there is no way that stars can exist around the moon. Always overshadowing--or shall we say, overlighting--the real talents, these fake show offs always steal the show and we believe them. "Hey, that girl is so perfect, so pretty, so smart, so athletic." "Hey that guy is like the rugby captain, and like so involved in community service and also in leadership board. Woah!" Get a telesecope and see closer. The girl may cheat in her studies and even if her sports are good it's because you're comparing it to the rest of the girls who play with her, who are not exactly brilliant. The guy is just doing all those without putting his heart into them and secretly ask outside people to help him out just so that he can get all the credit and decorate his beautiful portfolio.

There is a time when the moon disappears and the stars cheerfully adorn the night sky. That's when the truth comes out and we realise the real talents that we have missed for so long while feeding the moon his ego.

Look out of the window tonight, people. A half moon is hanging off the sky. And stars glitter in the blackness around its pale pearly light.

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I feel unbelievably... philosophic now. =D

I feel particularly inspired. Hmmmm. I just finished reading Could Do Without, a 96 chapter, 50,000 plus words Yuffentine drabbles. That can be the reason why. Shall do a fanfiction before I turned in tonight (it is the holidays and I do deserve to enjoy myself just a bit...); it's been so frikkin' long since I last wrote something. Mhmmmm. Shall it be a Yuffentine? An Aurikku?

And by the way, Daniel Craig is hot. Yes, that's like damn random, but it's a universal fact. (: Now go paste a poster of him on your bedroom, because one look at Daniel Craig a day keeps the doctor away. Or you can opt for a George Clooney poster. Or a Kimi Raikkonen one. It's all has the same positive effect. Just don't put a Hamilton poster; it's bad for your health.

Yes, I have something against Hamilton. People who can actually stand his whining and proud arrogant boasts need to see past his talent and to his personality. Why'd you idolize someone with such a lousy personality? Kimi on the other hand, is a great guy focused on what he does in the car, and then knows how to blows off steam outside the car without much boasting to the press--in fact, he acts like he's not an F1 driver at all. He continues life like a normal person--or how normal you can be when you are a millionaire world champion F1 driver.

Since we're on the topic of sport scenes, let's talk about the two big sport events of 2008. Ding-Dong, yep, one of them is the China Olympics 2008. Can you guess the other one? Well, you have to know a bit of soccer to get this: it's the Euro Cup 2008. And guess what? I'd so much rather watch Euro Cup than the Olympics. It can be the fact that I'm more interested in soccer than athletics-track-swimming-etcetc and that I find Miroslav Klose cuter than the possible athletes going to Beijing (well, I haven't seen all of them yet so I may stand corrected). And it can also be because China is a stubborn ally of Sudan and is therefore contributing to the genocide in Darfur. Beijing knows this and do they care? They believe that it is foolish to mix up politics and sport together. But when you're talking Olympics, you're talking the whole world. You're talking about the whole world, well, politics will come into play. Duh. We watch Olympics, we give Beijing money, Beijing uses money to buy more oil and send weapons to Sudan, Sudan use money and weapons to arm Janjaweed, Janjawed kill Darfurians.

Just tune in to the Euro Cup 2008. No England (whatever, you Beckhamfanatics-slash-JoeColenatics-slash-Gerardfangirls-slash-<insert Three Lions Player> Get over it; England is not the only good soccer team in the world. You'll know that if you watch soccer but unfortunately nowadays a lot of girls pretend to watch and understand soccer because they think it's cool and guys will notice them if they start spewing out names like Liverpool and Gerrard and Torres and Beckham and Mourinho, etcetc). So what? Italy, Portugal, France, German, Greece... all them genuinely good, stable, consistent and less emotional teams are still there. It should be a very entertaining cup since Euro Cup can be very unpredictable and shocking.

Much like F1, really. With stricter regulations on traction aids this year, expect more exciting overtakings! =D Now we can see who is the excellent driver--technology can't save 'em no more. And let's see if Hamilton is really the prodigy that he is. I expect new McLaren (who by the way is a sneaky cunning cheating team; still can't forgive them for cheating off Ferrari) sensation Heiki Kovalainen to actually be the new golden boy and steal Hamilton's spotlight away.

Check this out if you don't believe it http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080314/tsp-auto-prix-aus-practice-5820418.html

And I just found out that Arsenal is facing Liverpool on Champions League. Urghh. If the Gunners are facing the Reds in Premier League, I won't be worried since Liverpool is hardly a threat in the Premier League, but in Europe? Since Gerrard and Co already know their hope to lift the Premier League Cup is as likely as Tom Hicks being a fan favorite, they are giving their all in the Champions League. Whatever. If Arsenal lost, sure I'll feel resentment and sadness but hey, Premier League is now like THE league even all of Europe. They should concentrate on keeping the top. If they win, then double awesomeness to Arsenal, and double whammy to Liverpool (nyehnyeh; sorry, LFC is not my most favorite club around).

Woah okay this post is like turning out too long when I just meant it to be an essay on the stars and the moon around us. =D Shall end here.

-------------------------------

How many people actually read my blog?

just a few days after steven spielberg announced that he's quitting as beijing 2008's olympics artistic director because the chinese government is still defendings itself for being an ally of sudanese government, who is accused of backing janjaweed militia to massacre civilians in darfur, still-president george w bush decides that he's still going to watch the olympics. 

"it's a sporting event," he said. 

this, despite many pleas from top athletes and politicians in the world to beijing to pressure the sudanese government to end the darfur crisis and also many people around the world questioning why the us is not doing anything more to help the refugees and alleviate the massacre. 

it's just a few more months to november when the election for the next most powerful man/woman on earth. whoever wins, i hope he/she will be more sensitive to the issues our world faces today, let it be humanitarian or even climate issues.

everyone knows about what's happening in myanmar now. the juntai. the monks. the fight for democracy. aung san suu kyi. the whole world's outraged by it. even pm lee hsien loong was the first asian to condemn the vicious and brutal acts done by the juntais against the peaceful protesters despite singapore not being significantly affected by myanmar in terms of trade or anything except for being a member of fellow ASEAN.

and hence, this post. because people do care about violence and suffering about other people in other countries.

my whole sl project has been confused as to 'raise awareness' or 'raise funds' for the darfur victims, but after a lot of discussions, (even mr lim suddenly asked me about this), many agree that singapoeans simply couldn't be bothered about what is happening out there in africa, far far away from their homes and comfort zones. raising funds would be almost impossible and raising awareness would prove to be quite tough. simply because singaporeans couldn't care. singapore does not have any link to sudan at all, no trade, nothing.

well, all but one, that is, being two countries in this world made up global citizens who are all a part of the human race.

the violence in myanmar is bad. it needs to be stopped. the newspapers have put this on the front page almost on a daily basis nowadays and everyone is so concerned about the whole thing. my inbox is flooded with petititions begging to be signed to ask india and china to stop supporting the juntais (in terms of trade). but what i'm trying to say is that this is a step forward to opening our eyes to the world around us, especially the violence and killing and unfairness in other parts of the world, far away, but still a part of our world.

it's a step forward, nearer to be more aware of our global surrounding, and to help other people, not because they have economic ties or there can be economical or politlcal advantage if we do so, but because we're all people. it's, as george clooney says, our responsibility as a human being to help other human being. although in today's capitalistic profit-driven self-minded world, many people only do things to their own advantage--even humanitarian things for god's sake--but i'm sure there is still a small part of us, deep inside, that feels obliged to help. everyone of us has a moral compass. it's just a matter of how sensitive it is to the rest of the world.

yes, we're all animals, driven by our need to survive, to make profit, to do things to our advantage. but over the course of thousands of years, we have all evolved something that make us a human being. morality and humanity. many humanitarians are afraid that the capitalistic nature of our world today may have slowly rubbed this away, but i'm sure that it's just hidden, somewhere inside all of us, waiting for one day to come out again.

so look up, perk up your ears. be aware. unlike what many believe, raising awareness does help. yes it may not physically protect the victims from abuse or violence and may not fill their stomach with hunger. but it's a step closer to getting more physical help for the victims. how can you raise funds for something you don't know anyway?

then, after that, help. the smallest fund, smallest effort put in my be just a ripple in the atlantic ocean, but it does make a difference. a small difference, but hey, everyone starts small. believe what you want, but by then, you would've done your part for humanity, and you would've fulfilled your responsibility as a human being.

and if you want to know more about the burmese situation:
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
http://www.mizzima.com/



i made that poster about four weeks ago. it's been collecting dust in my computer ever since. i thought about letting it out for a while. =D

After Hotel Rwanda, do we really need Hotel Darfur? After Holocaust, after Myanmar, do we want yet another millions of innocent people slaughtered all in the name of a little difference?

400 000 people--an under estimation-- have died and two to five million people have been forced out of their homes while the Janjaweed militants, who are out to cleanse the country--to kill all of them--have been picking them off one by one. They slaughter the children, rape the women and kill the men, just because they are a little bit different from them.

The Sudanese government have been out to crush the Darfur rebels who accuse them of being bias against non arabian people, and they sponsor the Janjaweed militants, give them weapons, money, armors and coordinate attacks with the Sudanese army to 'eliminate' the rebels and its supporters. Although all of them are African, and are Sudanese, this fact does not make them hesitate to kill off the people in Darfur.

Thousands of people are dying each other and countless of children are dying of hunger while disease outbreaks are rampant. Water is scarce and only 50% of these hungry people are being helped by the UN Food Program, which is decreasing its food supply for Darfur because of a lack of fund. People there do not have toilets, they barely have a house. They sleep under the trees, and when it gets cold and they need to gather firewood, some of them who go out do not ever return home. Wherever home is.

The Darfur conflict has been called a genocide. The worst humanitarian crisis in the 21st century, according to the UN. And even as the world is finally paying attention and putting pressure on the government to stop this slaughter, many people still think it will get worse. UN peacekeeping forces are not allowed there and the 7000 African troops stationed there have been asked to leave. But we can do something...

And here's where you play a part. Everyone in the world, as human beings, have the responsibilities to stop this madness, to help these poor victims. In Singapore, Darfur is indeed a strange vocabulary, and no organization or events have yet been dedicated to Darfur right here in the city of lions.

No organization or events have YET been made.

Watch this space, watch the walls in the school and watch out for us during morning assembly. Open your eyes, your ears and your hearts, and for once, stop looking at only yourself or localized problems just right around you, but know about what's happening outside of your comfort zone. If celebrities like Don Cheadle and George Clooney can risk their (really valued) lives going right to Darfur and looking, smelling and feeling the conflict itself personally, you don't have any reason not to help.

Please support us, and Darfur.