Where chaos stops and more chaos ensues. Where Filia plays the electric keyboard.
Where anything goes.
-//o_O\\7 *Home of the Awful, Mediocre and Pathetic* -//u_u\\7
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Where chaos stops and more chaos ensues. Where Filia plays the electric keyboard. Where anything goes. -//o_O\\7 *Home of the Awful, Mediocre and Pathetic* -//u_u\\7 |
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Saturday, August 28, 2004 Yet another rant cursing and condemning children, the vaporous little vermin that they are, pestilent scourge of the earth. Well, not totally, but given the inclination toward those smiling devils which many grown-ups have, it makes a rather attention-grabbing first line, don't you think? And finally, another weekend when I summon up the strength, the courage, the grit and the determination to actually get out of my house and go somewhere. In this case, to the stretch of Orchard Road to browse around and do some shopping. And what should I run into but children, kids, infantile little demi-humans ... the bane of my life, all of them! Whether it is tripping over them at the MRT, or tripping over them between the clothes racks at any department store, or tripping over them at the bookshelves in the library or at Kinokuniya ... I seem endlessly to be tripping over children! What the hell is wrong with them? Or rather, noticing how few other people tend to trip over children, what the hell is wrong with me? I confess that a great fault in me is to disrespect youth as much as I respect the aged and the experienced. Which basically means I hold in negligible regard anyone not dumb enough to be totally unable to decide for themselves, yet not smart enough to verbally or physically defend themselves. Technically, that last descriptive includes disabled people, of which I acknowledge (but not effusively so), for their inabilities were inflicted by the odd turn of fate. But children, on the other hand ... children, children, children! Why is it that the higher the adult (or far-too-elderly teenage) lifeform is in the order of intellect, the further down their offspring (I resist the urge to coin them 'offal') must be in their knowledge of basic common sense? Yes, a large degree of my distaste for children would be my inability to respect them in any form. Other reasons? Well, not being bound by the cords of humanity and affection, perhaps I don't have enough kind consideration to actually understand the natural weaknesses in children and make way for them. Not to mention my heart never holds tenderness toward a child ... with propagation (in the 'natural' form, at least) not featuring in my thoughts, it only makes sense that I am immune to any kind of appeal that a child may have towards its mother, or, for that matter, to other humans. They say that the large eyes and heads of anime characters were modelled after the shapes of babies, which naturally incited affection from fellow humans. Well, anime characters usually have a decent hairstyle to go along with the large eyes and attractively misshaped features. And, being made of either pixels or paper, they aren't likely to get in your way and trip you over. Or maybe ... maybe it's just that I run into (or have run into me) children of unusually small size, enough to render my fairly average height an obstacle enough in perceiving them quickly enough to avoid them. Who can discern the true cause of this most unusual and appalling phenomenon? Still, given all of my distaste of children, I encountered a specimen today which not only did not trip me up, but actually exhibited intelligence and awareness enough to leave me in awe, impressed at the precocity of such a minute little semi-organism. It was a kid on the MRT, a little boy, just somewhat more than knee height. Like an anime character, he had an unusually large head and big eyes, just like ... well, like normal children do. But this one in particular had a most unusual shape to his cranium, a bit like Flattop from Dick Tracy (no, I do not know anything about Dick Tracy apart from the fact that there's a detective in yellow coat called Dick Tracy and a mobster with a flat head called Flattop). Being a rather academic (I hesistate to say 'intellectual', for fear of being caught out on the fly and embarrassed) person, I'm always one to be impressed by a display of intelligence and awareness, and, seeing as to how my standards are drastically lowered for those little whelps of ours, this boy amazed me utterly even from a simple conversation about the nature of the Mass Rapid Transit with his mother. Questions like "How does the MRT run?" or "How were the MRT lines constructed?", while seemingly simple questions to us obviously very much more knowledgeable (and hopefully mature) people, astounded me when coming from the mouth of such a dimunitive little kid like the one I saw. His queries delivered in eloquent English, I actually spent the moment to consider his race and (consequently) his parentage, his mother being Chinese. I suspected that the precocity in his blood might have originated from some Western source (Western teenagers aren't as smart or as studious as Asian ones, but in the absence of formal education Western children are definitely more likely to impress.) but, lacking an accent and with his mother replying in similarly fluent style, I put the cause down to an effective and disciplined upbringing by his parents. It really doesn't seem like much in text, but I was, sincerely, so impressed by this child which wasn't tall enough to warrant a fare on the MRT that I nearly missed my stop, as, listening to this kid, my heart filled with joy knowing that there was still some semblance of intelligence among the increasingly lazy and retarded children of our day. I may not know who that kid was, but I wish him the best of luck, to grow up to be someone schooled, skilled and successful. And maybe to win Singapore's Brainiest Kid on the side. Then again, his smartness almost stirred that vein of jealousy within me to lash out with an elegantly aimed kick and put the chatterbox out of his senses for ever. Because everyone hates a smart person ... and smart people hate someone who's ... well, too smart. But I desisted, of course. Only time could tell whether either that kid or his intellect would survive, to be the next raving teenage blogger of tomorrow. posted by Charlotte | 4:51 pm (0) comments Tuesday, August 24, 2004 Try this link to hear piped-in music from all kinds of console games. The most popular ones which are featured happen to be, of course, by Square, but see how many other pieces of music from other games you can recognise. Maybe you will be surprised at the wide variety of interesting or inspiring music from all authors. http://lan2k.no-ip.com:8004/listen.pls The only problem is the randomness of the choice of music might give you rather strange combinations of songs. Like I got two remixes of Aeris' theme with only one song (from FFVIII, it happens) between them. But if you really don't like the song that's currently playing, just close your music player and re-open the link to choose a different song. And it's all free, and not illegal in the slightest. Enjoy. Why not PC games, though? Seeing as to how the music is being played on a PC, one would expect that PC game makers to exploit their home ground to take on the music rippers on advantageous terms. Anyway, most PC game makers allow you to acquire legitimate copies of their game music (as Blizzard does) or, otherwise, programs to extract desired PC game music are easily available on the internet. So just give it a try, anyway. You won't get arrested. posted by Charlotte | 4:26 pm (0) comments Sunday, August 22, 2004 Ever felt frustration melt into depression before? Allow me to assure you that it is a most unpleasant sensation indeed. And so it is official. Singapore's brief flirtation with actual, real hopes of achieving that elusive Olympic medal has finally ended. For a moment, it was not merely an issue of us being there to prove our worth as a small nation, to do our best among the sporting greats of the world. It was to actually win something, snatch a prize from the grasp of foreign competitors who seemingly took their unshakeable positions for granted. Stories of our sportspeople defeating World Number Ones (the term has been bantered about so much it now seems more derisive than proud to hold such a label) has raised the hopes of this minute nation's population to insurmountable levels. And that, having disposed of many of the top players in their fields, our sportspeople could be expected to cruise past weaker opponents and onto that sacred pedestal of fame. Unfortunately, the people of Singapore, narrow-minded and shortsighted as they are, tend to forget that what goes around, comes around. And our champions were dumped out by the very people they were expected to steamroll, as they themselves had done to higher-ranked opposition in the preceeding rounds. Of course, I am not faulting our players in the slightest. Not being a sportsperson myself (and, barring the devil's miracle, a chance of participating in the Men's badminton), let alone being a worthy player in their field, I am most unwilling to criticise the professionals in this area, and will staunchly defend them against any foolish ignoramus who dares lay the slightest blame upon them. But, being a viewer and supporter, I feel that I have full rights to criticise the very people who allowed their expectations to soar to such (not unattainable, not unrealistic) levels, and expect them to be fulfilled with ease and without the slightest exertion on their part. What I mean is Singaporeans were thinking too high above their station to so quickly entertain hopes of their players seizing the coveted Olympic medals. And now I embark on one of my rants again. As I have already said, I'm no sportsperson, but I'm confident that many thinking people, sporty or not, will back me up when I assert that the weight of expectations is often the heaviest thing dragging down people who are aspiring to greater heights, whether in the field of sports or in any other competition, or in everyday dealings or worklife. Obviously, because I wasn't in Athens, I have not a clue as to how much our players were aware of the climbing expectations of their fellow Singaporeans halfway across the globe, but the terrible pressure our sportspeople must have felt is certainly perceptible, especially considering how Singapore has not won a medal since that ... oh, come on, you know, Tan Howe Liang, Rome 1960 etc., and also considering the immense amount of funding the government has poured into the games of choice in the quest to achieve in the sporting arena. I'm not saying that players from other countries don't feel a similar form of pressure, but at least in the larger countries, they can afford to, well, take medals for granted. Failing to win means that the individual sportsperson loses the opportunity to win glory for themselves, but at least it isn't the weight of an entire country's expectations which they are forced to hurl off their shoulders to shatter on the floor. But Singapore, on the other hand, grasping at every chance to even get close to winning a medal, can enjoy no such luxury, and this time, with victory seeming so near within grasp, I feel the people of Singapore made that terrible mistake which can be afforded by a larger, more successful country, but ultimately crippling to a small one ... the mistake of taking victory for granted. Our sportspeople already knew that there was no alternative to victory ... only defeat and the hard fall back to reality. But the ignorant supporters back home in Singapore, so overconfident in abilities which were not their own, required, no, demanded not merely a victory but a walkover, based on facts like rankings, previous match-ups, and other assorted statistics. But statistics lie, and the Straits Times revealed (alas, too late) how in these later stages of the competition, it was not so much the players' rankings but their mental strength which mattered. And the weighty demands of Singaporeans were, I feel, the factor which ultimately tipped the scales in the disadvantage of the very people they were trying to support. So, then, what do I advocate? Because I'm the reasonable sort who never criticises (or at least, never criticises very loudly) anyone or anything without providing justifiable reasons and a viable alternative. But my 'viable alternatives' often consist of simply not performing the action which resulted in the negative effect (viable, isn't it?), and as such, with regards to this issue of supporting players, I hold the same view. That supporting players too much is far worse than not supporting them at all. Whether in the field of sports or any other endeavours, I have never really been in a position where I felt many people were behind me, and, in some cases, did relatively well all the same. And no, it is not a matter of being of comparatively greater ability (although, if I am ever to dare to join a competition, that should usually be the case ... *shine*). But even when I was supporting and sustaining the hopes of few, I know the terrible strain that comes out of bearing the burden of others' expectations, while if one surges forward on one's own, you only need to live up to the expectations of only one person. The most important person of all, yourself. For (unless it happens to be an audience-voting event like Pop Idol) most of the time, one's performance in any situation depends on oneself and on no others, and if one is comfortable in themselves and their abilities, then that is all the support that is needed to perform to a reasonable level. Of course, there is no reason why a certain degree of support might not spur people on with greater fervour ... in no way am I denying that. And there are definitely some people out there who have a modicum of talent or ability, but simply cannot perform unless they can be assured of the backing of people around them. Normally I would criticise such persons as having a lack of self-belief and accountability for not being able to function effectively as individuals, but I am fully aware I am likely to have the counter-accusation shot back at me, that I am irresponsible and unreliable and cannot and will not hold the trust of others. Let's simply lay it down to that there are different kinds of people, like introverts (yes!) and extroverts (...), who function with varying efficiency under different environments. Perhaps we should analyse our sportspeople and players to find out more about them, and thus 'tailor' the government-sponsored backing for them? Haha... but when one happens to operate in a high-profile situation, there is little one can do to control the circumstances immediately surrounding them. So, I am out of touch, probably. But I would just like to share my views on the reaction of Singaporeans regarding the issue of the Olympics, and hopefully influence the thoughts and considerations of those who do seriously consider the conditions surrounding our players. And who, of course, read my posts. posted by Charlotte | 4:55 pm (0) comments Disclaimer : The Slayers and Filia Ul Copt and all images thereof are the property of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. I don't own any of them, although if I had a choice I would want Filia ... ~//n_n\\7 |
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