Having nothing to do during my super long chinese new year break, I went through some of the old reading material I had sitting on my shelf. I found two quotes that I felt tempted to place here.
"How much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of Creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatalogical mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements?"
Joseph Heller
"The Babel fish," said The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy quietly," is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy recieved not from tis own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech pattern you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish."
"Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existance of God."
"The argument goes something like this: 'I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, 'for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.' "
"'But,' says Man, 'the Babal fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves You exist, and so therefore by Your own arguments, You don't. QED.'"
"'Oh dear,' says God 'I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic."
Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I think there is no need to elaborate on the quotes any further and it is safe to assume that the authors of these quotes are atheist. These quotes do make sense, they are logical and they both deny the existence of God. But with me trying to be a God beliving and a God fearing person the question is who screwed up? It is God or logic? I know what my answer is, how about you?
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
I hate shopping
I hate shopping. There is no mincing words about that, I hate shopping. But with the lunar new year coming I had to shop for some new clothes to wear for the occasion. That makes shopping a necessary evil. It is the most vile, macilious and deathly evil of necessities. If you think I am exaggerating or using any form of poetic license to express my hatred of shopping, you are wrong. I mean what I say. I hate shopping.
I decided to do my new year shopping today because since I am already out and about going to church I can do it after the church service is over instead of dragging my ass out of the house on a Monday morning to do something I hate to do.
I went to Tampines Mall with the utmost reluctance, walking around the clothes section of Isetan. I said to myself, "this is not so bad Eugene, least you are still alive." I stumbled upon a pair of black jeans that caught my eye. As I took it from the shelf to have a closer look, the salesperson came up to me and say,"excuse me sir, the jeans here are for women, the men's jeans are on that shelf."
Yes laugh all you want, but how am I to tell the difference between ladies jeans and man jeans, there wasn't even a banner or poster saying those jeans were for women. This is one of the many reasons why I hate shopping. It is an endless source of complete embarrassment, I might as well be making an utter fool of myself.
Finally, after deciding to buy two short sleeve shirts and queuing forever just to pay for them, I went back home a completely broken man. My mum saw the bag from the shopping centre and asked, "you went shopping? What did you buy?" "Some clothes for new year," I replied. She took the clothes from the bag looked at them and commented, "aiyo boy ah, why you like this kind of boring colours, try something new lah!"
Reason number two of why I hate shopping, critique of your acquired merchandise. After torturing and embarrassing myself, I have to put up with my mum commenting about my colour and fashion sense. I whined at her to keep her fashion comments to herself trying very hard not to break that commandment about honouring your parents but the fact remains. I hate shopping.
Ironically, the SAF commandos have a brilliant strategy for shopping haters like me. They had it all along but did not realise it. It is called a deep strike raid mission, commandos love to do that kind of mission, you can take it from me, I know. But instead of the target being an airfield or a MLRS launch site, it will be something you want to buy. Collect all the intel possible then go in. Strike hard and fast, buy what you want and get the hell out. Worked for me so far. But I still hate shopping.
One thing still bothers me though, most women love shopping and in the unlikely event I get a girlfriend she will most probably love shopping and would naturally want me to accompany her on her shopping trips. What would be my reply to that? How about this, "Dear I love you with all of my heart, but ahem... I hate shopping."
Wonder what would be her reaction.
I decided to do my new year shopping today because since I am already out and about going to church I can do it after the church service is over instead of dragging my ass out of the house on a Monday morning to do something I hate to do.
I went to Tampines Mall with the utmost reluctance, walking around the clothes section of Isetan. I said to myself, "this is not so bad Eugene, least you are still alive." I stumbled upon a pair of black jeans that caught my eye. As I took it from the shelf to have a closer look, the salesperson came up to me and say,"excuse me sir, the jeans here are for women, the men's jeans are on that shelf."
Yes laugh all you want, but how am I to tell the difference between ladies jeans and man jeans, there wasn't even a banner or poster saying those jeans were for women. This is one of the many reasons why I hate shopping. It is an endless source of complete embarrassment, I might as well be making an utter fool of myself.
Finally, after deciding to buy two short sleeve shirts and queuing forever just to pay for them, I went back home a completely broken man. My mum saw the bag from the shopping centre and asked, "you went shopping? What did you buy?" "Some clothes for new year," I replied. She took the clothes from the bag looked at them and commented, "aiyo boy ah, why you like this kind of boring colours, try something new lah!"
Reason number two of why I hate shopping, critique of your acquired merchandise. After torturing and embarrassing myself, I have to put up with my mum commenting about my colour and fashion sense. I whined at her to keep her fashion comments to herself trying very hard not to break that commandment about honouring your parents but the fact remains. I hate shopping.
Ironically, the SAF commandos have a brilliant strategy for shopping haters like me. They had it all along but did not realise it. It is called a deep strike raid mission, commandos love to do that kind of mission, you can take it from me, I know. But instead of the target being an airfield or a MLRS launch site, it will be something you want to buy. Collect all the intel possible then go in. Strike hard and fast, buy what you want and get the hell out. Worked for me so far. But I still hate shopping.
One thing still bothers me though, most women love shopping and in the unlikely event I get a girlfriend she will most probably love shopping and would naturally want me to accompany her on her shopping trips. What would be my reply to that? How about this, "Dear I love you with all of my heart, but ahem... I hate shopping."
Wonder what would be her reaction.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Too Sexy
Today when we were lazing around in bunk, the radio played the song "I'm too Sexy". Stanley exclaimed all of a sudden, "wah, this song is retro man!" It is retro, it came out in 1993, but it is a huge paradigm shift for me when something that came out in the 90s can be considered retro. If that is the case, what would the 70s and 80s be regarded as? Classical?
I cringe with fear at the thought of a song by linkin park or eminem making it to the classic hits radio station Gold 90 FM in the near future. Oh my God, the world will end.
I cringe with fear at the thought of a song by linkin park or eminem making it to the classic hits radio station Gold 90 FM in the near future. Oh my God, the world will end.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
ATEC
This week was my battalion's ATEC evaluation, in it my detachment was being evaluated for rappelling. I was being evaluated personally on a weapon called the AGL (Automatic Grenade Launcher) with my detachment mate Hon. Although this week was relatively simple, the weeks before was not good. I have stripped, assembled analyzed and memorized the IA drills of more weapons than I can count, and rappelled off the airborne tower more times than what normal people would consider sane. But rappelling is one thing, rappelling in full battle order with an almost 9kg MG (Machine Gun) is quite another.
In my fiddling around with the weapons and finding out how those weapons work, I am amazed at how good we got at building stuff that kills other people so well. Fighting wars has drove us to push the limits of design and technology, in fact many things we use in everyday life was first developed intended for military use.
And as for the weapons that kill people so well, they will continue to kill people well and the new ones that will be developed will continue to kill people more efficiently. If only we could find those design talents responsible for designing those weapons and ask them to make things that help people instead of kill them the world would be a better place. Naive? Of course! But a guy can dream can he?
In my fiddling around with the weapons and finding out how those weapons work, I am amazed at how good we got at building stuff that kills other people so well. Fighting wars has drove us to push the limits of design and technology, in fact many things we use in everyday life was first developed intended for military use.
And as for the weapons that kill people so well, they will continue to kill people well and the new ones that will be developed will continue to kill people more efficiently. If only we could find those design talents responsible for designing those weapons and ask them to make things that help people instead of kill them the world would be a better place. Naive? Of course! But a guy can dream can he?
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Hitler
I borrowed my copy of "Hitler: The Rise Of Evil" to Weida, one of my camp mates who was struck by a sudden curiosity in that time of history. After watching the show he told me that he was amazed at how talented a speaker Hitler was, how he was such a genius to be able to manipulate people to do his bidding, able to make people see his point of view as the correct one. Stanley, after watching "Downfall" told me he how people shooting themselves for their beloved "Fuhrer"during the closing days of World War 2 was quite disturbing.
There was a side story in the movie "Downfall" about two children (not older than 13 or 14 I think) manning a Flak 88 with which they managed to take down a few Russian tanks with. Hitler heard about them and decided to go out of the safety of his bunker to present them with iron crosses for their bravery. At the end of the movie, those two children decided to shoot themselves when their position was being overrunned. One of them pointed the pistol at the other and pulled the trigger before turning the gun on himself, both of them doing the Nazi salute as their last act before dying.
There is no question what Hitler did was evil beyond compare. Millions died in concentration camps and the gas chambers. But there is also no questioning the genius that is Hitler, he was able to take control of Austria and Czechoslovakia without firing a single shot. There is no question about the hold he had over the people of Germany at that time, every man, woman and child look to him as a hero, messiah, superstar, they only fall short of giving him God-like status. They were willing to die for him like the two children mentioned in the previous paragraph.
"Downfall" caught a lot of flak from people who think the show makes Hitler look too human, there are scenes in the show where he is kind, he jokes and shows affection. But I think that is the point the makers of the show (who are all German by the way) wanted to put across. HE IS HUMAN! Modern history has done much to make Hitler look like the very personification of evil, the devil incarnate. But you can be assured that he is as human as human can be.
The decisions that Hitler made (right or wrong) made him the person he was and affects the way we remember him today. But there is no denying the bottomline. He is like us, capable of extreme affection or extreme evil and if we are not careful, we might become like him or worse. The choice is yours.
There was a side story in the movie "Downfall" about two children (not older than 13 or 14 I think) manning a Flak 88 with which they managed to take down a few Russian tanks with. Hitler heard about them and decided to go out of the safety of his bunker to present them with iron crosses for their bravery. At the end of the movie, those two children decided to shoot themselves when their position was being overrunned. One of them pointed the pistol at the other and pulled the trigger before turning the gun on himself, both of them doing the Nazi salute as their last act before dying.
There is no question what Hitler did was evil beyond compare. Millions died in concentration camps and the gas chambers. But there is also no questioning the genius that is Hitler, he was able to take control of Austria and Czechoslovakia without firing a single shot. There is no question about the hold he had over the people of Germany at that time, every man, woman and child look to him as a hero, messiah, superstar, they only fall short of giving him God-like status. They were willing to die for him like the two children mentioned in the previous paragraph.
"Downfall" caught a lot of flak from people who think the show makes Hitler look too human, there are scenes in the show where he is kind, he jokes and shows affection. But I think that is the point the makers of the show (who are all German by the way) wanted to put across. HE IS HUMAN! Modern history has done much to make Hitler look like the very personification of evil, the devil incarnate. But you can be assured that he is as human as human can be.
The decisions that Hitler made (right or wrong) made him the person he was and affects the way we remember him today. But there is no denying the bottomline. He is like us, capable of extreme affection or extreme evil and if we are not careful, we might become like him or worse. The choice is yours.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Happy lonely new year!
There is always something anti-climatic about holidays, especially so for the year end christmas-new year period. You will start to get all excited before the holidays, where am I going, What will I do to enjoy myself? Lets go have some fun! But when the day itself actually comes, things turn out to be very different.
I went to a new year steamboat at Shaun's house. Frankly I was very reluctant to go because my back was aching and that put me in a foul mood, a bloody good way to start the year. Despite that I decided to go to the steamboat anyway, who knows I might enjoy the company. Well, I enjoyed the company, I enjoyed the food but the pain in my back really spoiled the whole evening for me.
I decided to leave early and try to sleep the pain off, so after saying my goodbyes I took a walk to the nearest MRT station and boarded the train. I took out my book and MP3 player trying to kill the time it took to go back home. On the train my attention was diverted to a couple seating opposite me looking so much in love. For all of you perverts out there, no they were not lip locking and doing that sort of thing, they were just seating beside each other talking, holding hand always wearing a smile.
Then on my MP3 player the lonely sounding solo saxaphone kick in, the sadest song known to man started playing...
Once I laughed when I heard you say
That I'd be playing solitaire
Uneasy in my easy chair
It never entered my mind
Once you told me I was mistaken
That I'd awaken with the sun
And order orange juice for one
It never entered my mind
You have what I lack myself
Now I even have to scratch my back myself
Once you warned me that if you scorned me
I'd say a lover's prayer again
And wish that you were there again
To get into my hair again
It never entered my mind
Hearing the song and seeing the happy couple made me feel miserable to be unattached. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy the way I am. But it made the whole day very anti-climatic, for the next few hours I was feeling miserable lamenting to myself how nice it would be to be able to share the holiday with someone special whosoever that someone might be. Something is wrong with this picture isn't it. I was suppose to enjoy the holiday not feel miserable.
So that was how I started my new year, in unnecessary misery, good thing the feeling started to wear off and disappear the next day as I woke up angry at myself for not controlling my emotions well enough. But ok enough rambling. Here's wishing all a blessed new year.
I went to a new year steamboat at Shaun's house. Frankly I was very reluctant to go because my back was aching and that put me in a foul mood, a bloody good way to start the year. Despite that I decided to go to the steamboat anyway, who knows I might enjoy the company. Well, I enjoyed the company, I enjoyed the food but the pain in my back really spoiled the whole evening for me.
I decided to leave early and try to sleep the pain off, so after saying my goodbyes I took a walk to the nearest MRT station and boarded the train. I took out my book and MP3 player trying to kill the time it took to go back home. On the train my attention was diverted to a couple seating opposite me looking so much in love. For all of you perverts out there, no they were not lip locking and doing that sort of thing, they were just seating beside each other talking, holding hand always wearing a smile.
Then on my MP3 player the lonely sounding solo saxaphone kick in, the sadest song known to man started playing...
Once I laughed when I heard you say
That I'd be playing solitaire
Uneasy in my easy chair
It never entered my mind
Once you told me I was mistaken
That I'd awaken with the sun
And order orange juice for one
It never entered my mind
You have what I lack myself
Now I even have to scratch my back myself
Once you warned me that if you scorned me
I'd say a lover's prayer again
And wish that you were there again
To get into my hair again
It never entered my mind
Hearing the song and seeing the happy couple made me feel miserable to be unattached. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy the way I am. But it made the whole day very anti-climatic, for the next few hours I was feeling miserable lamenting to myself how nice it would be to be able to share the holiday with someone special whosoever that someone might be. Something is wrong with this picture isn't it. I was suppose to enjoy the holiday not feel miserable.
So that was how I started my new year, in unnecessary misery, good thing the feeling started to wear off and disappear the next day as I woke up angry at myself for not controlling my emotions well enough. But ok enough rambling. Here's wishing all a blessed new year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
